Posted by Shirkdog on 09/01/09

From the filing. Please keep following this site for  updates. I did not hear anything about this appeal until I went looking around.

http://news.justia.com/cases/featured/new-york/nysdce/1:2008cv09595/335178/

STIPULATION AND ORDER STAYING ORDER OF AUGUST 24, 2009: The parties agree as follows: Accompanied by an emergency stay application, the Board shall file its notice of appeal within three business days after it is authorized to do so, but in no event later than September 30, 2009, based on the Board's undertaking to obtain a decision on authorization no later than September 25, 2009, authorization to pursue an appeal or otherwise decides not to pursue an appeal. The Board will not oppose a motion filed by Bloomberg under Rule 2 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure for a suspension of the applicable rules for the purpose of expediting the Court of Appeals' decision. The Court's August 24th Order is hereby stayed pending the outcome of the emergency stay application in the Court of Appeals. At the time it files its notice of appeal and emergency stay application in the Court of Appeals, the Board shall seek expedited treatment of the appeal. (Signed by Judge Loretta A. Preska on 8/28/2009) (jpo) (Entered: August 28, 2009)

Posted by Shirkdog on 07/17/09
Last updated 07/17/09

HR1207 270 Cosponsors (as of the morning of 7/16/09)

Every house Republican has supported the bill 178

Pure Rumor: (I have no reference, except people speaking of it) There is a possibility that HR1207 could be brought out of committee, onto the floor of the house by the end of the month, but Barney Frank has not spoken for or against the bill.


S604 13 Cosponsors (as of the morning of 7/16/09)

Cosponsors include Sen. Feingold and Sen. McCain.

Jim DeMint brought a copy of S604 onto the senate floor as a provision to add to legislation, but was turned down due to a particular rule
violation (that the Democrats were violating in every other piece of this bill, where legislation can not be attached to spending
bills)

Republican Senator Jim DeMint, who has been pushing for greater transparency at the Fed, failed to get the provision attached to the must-pass annual spending bill that includes funding for the GAO for the upcoming 2010 fiscal year.

Democrats who control the Senate blocked the South Carolina Republican's amendment on the grounds that it violated rules prohibiting legislation attached to spending bills.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE56567F20090706


Other information:

The Federal Reserve has threatened the American People and Congress, in so many words, that if we audit the Federal Reserve, they will
raise interest rates (or the legal definition of Extortion: "which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion" From Wikipedia)

Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said opening up some of the U.S. central bank's most sensitive decisions to political scrutiny could result in higher long-term interest rates and hurt the United States' credit rating. Kohn was speaking before a Congressional panel where he was seeking to beat back a proposal that would open policy decisions by the U.S. central bank to audits by a federal watchdog agency.

"Any substantial erosion of the Federal Reserve's monetary independence likely would lead to higher long-term interest rates as investors begin to fear future inflation," he said in testimony prepared for delivery to a House of Representatives Financial Services subcommittee.

A bill put forward by Representative Ron Paul, a Texas Republican, would expose the Fed's decisions on monetary policy and emergency lending to audits by the Government Accountability Office. It has won
support from a majority in the House of Representatives.

The GAO is currently prohibited from auditing these areas. Kohn said removing this exclusion would be highly detrimental and could lead investors to worry politics -- not economics -- would guide the Fed's
decisions.

"The Federal Reserve strongly believes that removing the statutory limits on GAO audits of monetary policy matters would be contrary to the public interest by tending to undermine the independence and
efficacy of monetary policy," he said.

He also said it could "cast a chill" on monetary policy deliberations by making officials nervous ideas they throw around behind closed doors could become public.

http://www.reuters.com/article/wtUSInvestingNews/idUSN0945907120090709

Posted 07/17/09 BillNM , NM

The only principle that guides the FED's decisions is theft.

Posted by Shirkdog on 06/22/09

More regulation is the plan for the Fed. I did not get a chance to get to my last C4L meeting, but one thing I wanted to bring up, is that there is a subversion of all of our efforts on 1207, by way of new regulation and new power to the Fed.

At the same time we are trying get 1207 into the House, block health care reform, there will be a bill that will give the Fed more power then during The Great Depression.

We must be wary of the underhand legislation that will make it's way through congress.

Posted 06/23/09 AmericanEagleWON NEW CASTLE, IN

YES!!! These 2 MUST DIE... HR 1207 & health care reform...

Posted 06/23/09 AmericanEagleWON NEW CASTLE, IN

Shirkdog - KILL my previous post - I was think-N & typ-N past myself... what i meant was... I WANT THE FEDs DEAD & KILL THE HEALTH CARE RE-KILL-US bills!!!!!!!!!!!!! period...........

Posted by Shirkdog on 05/14/09
Last updated 05/14/09

An interesting news item came up today on Fox Business News, with an interview with the Maryland State Comptroller, Peter Franchot.

As his office has been going over the 2008 tax returns for the state, an alarming trend has surfaced. The individuals with more then one million dollars in taxable income, has fallen by 33%.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-maryland-plan-tax-millionaires-backfires-top-earn
ers-disappearing-/2009/05/14/4179614.htm

Maryland is one of the few states (maybe the only one?) which has a higher tax for millionaires. The real numbers will not be known until after October, when the tax payers who filed for extensions will be finished, but the numbers will probably not get much better. They are also guessing that these people fled the state, as this new tax went into effect in 2008, and will be law until 2010. So where do you think the 1.1 billion dollar revenue shortfall will come from?

From the article:

Many taxpayers in that bracket likely filed an extension and won't complete their returns until October, but a trend is emerging that indicates a "substantial decline" in the number of residents and small businesses with that kind of income, Comptroller Peter Franchot wrote in a letter to Gov. Martin O'Malley and legislative leaders.

"The revenue figures are ugly," Franchot said in an interview. "Right now, we're digging through a pile of tax returns and trying to understand this." The recession provides an obvious explanation. Capital gains have become almost nonexistent as stock markets have tanked. Corporate executives have seen their salaries slashed. And small businesses, many of whom file individual income tax returns, have seen their profits gouged by the economic downturn.

Posted by Shirkdog on 04/27/09
Last updated 04/27/09

My letter to Dutch Ruppersberger about HR1207. Don't forget to contact your representatives in the House.

Dear Congressman Ruppersberger,

Transparency and accountability are things you have mentioned in a previous correspondence as important aspects of reworking the TARP program. You mentioned the Bush administration removed certain financial regulations, but there is another part of this financial crisis of which you have not spoken, and that is of the Federal Reserve.

Currently, there is no transparency or accountability in our central bank as it has manipulated interest rates, and our monetary policy since 1913. Keeping interest rates artificially low (Post 9/11) led to increased borrowing which lead to the creation of high risk mortgage-back securities (such as those arranged at Fannie-Mae and Freddie-Mac). Real estate investors, as well as the owners of sub-prime mortgages eventually ran into record foreclosures. During the summer of 2008, and through the end of the year, the Fed took certain measures that were suspicious and not available to the public. The U.S. Treasury, under Henry Paulson, was only allowed to recklessly spend taxpayers' dollars because of the secrecy of the Federal Reserve.

Even though there is deflation in the economy, printing more money will lead to inflation in the coming years. Banks and other financial institutions are hording the money in savings to weather the storm. Once they spend the money, we will severely devalue the currency in circulation. We have increased the money supply so drastically, that it will be impossible to recover in the next 10 years. But how can we really know how much money the Federal Reserve is holding, or what types of institutions were given money? Numerous requests to name TARP recipients and other information from the Fed has been denied, and U.S. law does not guarantee that they have to say a word (minus the reports to the House and Senate finance committees). So what is the solution?

Ron Paul has introduced HR-1207, which will amend subsection (b) of section 714 of title 31, United States Code, to allow for the auditing of the Federal Reserve. We will finally get a handle on what types of transactions have been taken by the Fed, and have transparency into the most important financial institution that directly influences government policy. I urge you to support this legislation for true transparency and accountability.

As always Congressman, I thank you for your time.