it appears penn & teller

are running our banking system (well i think it actually would be going a whole hell of a lot BETTER if they were)

where the hell is the accountability in this administration? (don't answer, i know the answer already. the question was rhetorical)

Regulator Let IndyMac Bank Falsify Report
Agency Didn't Enforce Its Rules, Inquiry Finds
By Binyamin Appelbaum and Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writers
A senior federal banking regulator approved a plan by IndyMac Bank to exaggerate its financial health in a May federal filing, allowing the California company to avoid regulatory restrictions only two months before it collapsed, a federal inquiry has found.

The same regulatory agency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, allowed similar legerdemain by other banks, according to a letter sent yesterday to members of Congress by the Treasury Department's inspector general, Eric Thorson. The letter did not provide details about the other incidents.

The finding that OTS on several occasions "blessed a fiction," in the words of one congressional staffer, renews questions about the agency's relationship with the companies it regulates and about its complicity in the collapse this year of several of the nation's largest thrifts, including Washington Mutual and Countrywide Financial.....

once again our king george

does NOT disappoint. he and big big big bid-nez (i.e. the good ol' whiteboy network) are suckling off each other. we? well we're not getting fed at all

not only are the fat cats getting fatter, but rome is burning. on top of ALL OF THAT, we don't know how this money is being spent OR where it went

Executive Pay Limits May Prove Toothless
Loophole in Bailout Provision Leaves Enforcement in Doubt
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Congress wanted to guarantee that the $700 billion financial bailout would limit the eye-popping pay of Wall Street executives, so lawmakers included a mechanism for reviewing executive compensation and penalizing firms that break the rules.

But at the last minute, the Bush administration insisted on a one-sentence change to the provision, congressional aides said. The change stipulated that the penalty would apply only to firms that received bailout funds by selling troubled assets to the government in an auction, which was the way the Treasury Department had said it planned to use the money.

Now, however, the small change looks more like a giant loophole, according to lawmakers and legal experts. In a reversal, the Bush administration has not used auctions for any of the $335 billion committed so far from the rescue package, nor does it plan to use them in the future. Lawmakers and legal experts say the change has effectively repealed the only enforcement mechanism in the law dealing with lavish pay for top executives. ........

did he really help terrorists on purpose

OR could it be totally innocent? i don't know and i don't think ANYONE else really knows right now.

i work in the insurance/financial industry. i can tell you there are WICKED STRICT anti-money laundering laws out there (as part of the patriot act i will add) for the industry (i know, i worked on the implementation of the laws into some of our systems).

Ex-Congressman Indicted In Terrorism-Funding Case

By Dan EggenWashington Post Staff Writer
A former Republican congressman from Michigan who has dedicated himself to building ties between Christians and Muslims was indicted in federal court yesterday for alleged ties to an Islamic charity that sent money to suspected terrorists.
Mark D. Siljander, who served more than two terms in the House in the 1980s and later ran as a Republican candidate for the House from Northern Virginia, was charged with money laundering, obstruction of justice and conspiracy.
The indictment alleges that he lied to the FBI about his work on behalf of the Islamic American Relief Agency, which the Treasury Department designated as a terrorist organization in 2004. ........

Ex-lawmaker charged in terror conspiracy
Former Congressman Charged in Conspiracy Involving Terror Fundraising Ring
LARA JAKES JORDAN
A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan. Mark Deli Siljander, a Michigan Republican when he was in the House, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists.
A 42-count indictment, unsealed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., accuses the Islamic American Relief Agency of paying Siljander $50,000 for the lobbying — money that turned out to be stolen from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Siljander, who served in the House from 1981-1987, was appointed by President Reagan to serve as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations for one year in 1987..........

makes ya wanna go

w t f ?????????????????????

IRS paid $188,000 for $38,000 clerk
IRS Paid Contractor $188,000 to Provide $38,000 Clerk
JIM ABRAMSAP News
The Internal Revenue Service paid a contractor $188,000 to provide one person to do clerical work over 11 months
The contract was included as one example of financial waste in a government report Thursday on the tax agency's involvement in a new program ordered by President Bush in 2004 to develop more secure ID cards for federal workers.
The Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration said the IRS also needlessly spent almost $2 million on a computer security system that the tax agency doesn't plan using at this time.
The IRS was responsible for developing and implementing the program for providing more secure identification cards to some 150,000 employees at the Treasury Department. The projected cost of the Treasury program was put at $421 million over 14 years.............

if you are a terrorist do NOT even think of buying exercise equipment

because your name is on a LIST! that is all well and good BUT if your name is the SAME or SIMILAR to that of a 'suspected terrorist' YOUR name is on that list too and YOU won't be able to get a car, a home, or a good life.........

i know we have to protect ourselves from terror. i know AND agree to that. i also know this is going way too far

Ordinary Customers Flagged as Terrorists


By Ellen NakashimaWashington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, March 27, 2007; Page D01
Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list.
The Office of Foreign Asset Control's list of "specially designated nationals" has long been used by banks and other financial institutions to block financial transactions of drug dealers and other criminals. But an executive order issued by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has expanded the list and its consequences in unforeseen ways. Businesses have used it to screen applicants for home and car loans, apartments and even exercise equipment, according to interviews and a report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area to be issued today.............

................"The law is ridiculous," said Tom Hudson, a lawyer in Hanover, Md., who advises car dealers to use the list to avoid penalties. "It prohibits anyone from doing business with anyone who's on the list. It does not have a minimum dollar amount. . . . The local deli, if it sells a sandwich to someone whose name appears on the list, has violated the law.".................