The Great $50 billion “Ponzi” Scheme Fraud Part 2.

If you google Madoff you are offered the Hoovers.com site whih reports on  Bernard L. Madoff Invesment Securities LLC which is described as a “market maker”    yeah digg that “market maker” don’t you just love it. Even worse Hoovers.com has this to say: 

“Madoff Securities Company Description

Madoff makes markets. Founded in 1960, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities (aka Madoff Securities) is a market maker in US stocks, including all of the S&P 500 and more than 350 Nasdaq stocks, as well as bonds and other financial instruments. It is also a member of the London Stock Exchange. The firm moves large blocks of stock for institutional clients by splitting up orders or arranging off-exchange transactions between parties. It also performs clearing and settlement services. Clients include brokerages, banks, and other financial institutions.In addition, Madoff Securities manages assets for high-net-worth individuals, hedge funds, and other institutional investors.”  Have they no shame at Hoovers.com!  

You can pay for – yes you can pay for a report though you can get one for free:

“The Company Description provides a historical perspective of Madoff Securities’s organization from inception to current status.

Produced by Hoover’s in-house editorial team, the Company Description tracks ownership transitions, company progress via mergers and acquisitions, major growth milestones, and strategic initiatives, to provide a holistic view of Madoff Securities’s evolution in the marketplace.”

So can we observe that Hoovers.com produce analysis (a holistic review – what!)  not worth the paper they are printed on!   Surely, there must be some very red faces at Hoovers.com

Are there any more surprises like this (major fraud)  ahead?

JOHN ADAMS (1735 – 1826)

We have been impressed by the recent TV series, shown on the More 4 TV channel, based on the life of John Adams, American revolutionary and the USA’s second president (1797 – 1801) having served as vice-president to George Washington (1789 – 1797). The lead character played by Paul Giameti. The series has been very nicely crafted and produced.  The TV series included  the difficulties, complexities and differences faced by the revolutionaries including: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin.  We hope it stirs some interest in the history of the American revolution in this country and people will be generate an interest to read about those events.

Gordon Brown More Confident.

Yesterday’s PMQs showed a Gordon Brown now far more confident and beginning to takes PMQs in his stride and getting the better of the infantile Tory leader, David Cameron. Cameron’s claim of his noviceness is shared with President- Elect Barak Obama was rather wishful thinking as Barak Obama’s agenda is closer to that of the Labour Party and he has far greater experience than Cameron can ever have. 

The important issue is that Gordon Brown is now settling in to PMQs and is handling the sessions very well. He has reacted quickly to helping to resolve the current economic crisis, there are going to e difficult days ahead.   We need policies to promote economic growth and employment.

BARAK OBAMA WINS.

An amazing night, the victory of Barak Obama the first African-American President- Elect is truly stunning. Some 40 years after the death of Martin Luther King Jnr America has its first black president. Barak Obama himself is striving to overcome the hyphenated descriptions and portrays himself as American,  stressing the unity of the people. Senator John McCain made a magnificent and gracious  speech of concession. 

This means a new course for the United States of America a chance to banish the negative legacy of the Bush administration.

Democracy – Exciting.

According to James Naughtie’s report this morning on BBC Radio 4, Today programme it is believed some 35 to 40 million Americans have already voted in those states that allow early voting. If so this represents a magnificent turn out and it is thought there will be a record poll for a presidential election.  Local polls still put Senator Obama ahead in many states: in some states it’s going to be tight. It will matter to which candidate: Ohio, Pensylvania, North Carolina, Virginia and Florida will go- formerly won by Bush in 2004.  The key is the hunt for electoral college votes.

The mood is for change and Senator McCain has suffered from the antics of President Bush. If  Senator Obama wins he will inherit a budget that has been used by President Bush for high spending and redistributing wealth from the bottom-up. There is no doubt that this year’s presidential race has been exciting and continues to be.

The 44th President of the United States of America.

The US 2008  presidential election campaign has been exciting. The election of the 44th president of the USA may well be historic.  It is quite possible that Barak Obama will become the first African-American president with support from a Democratic party led Congress. We may well see a demise of the Republican party damaged by  the George W. Bush administration and the handling of the economic crisis facing the USA. As the USA is in recession so the ghosts of the past are rising. Will the new administration launch a new deal in the style of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt? It is clear something needs to be done and as we see Keynesian is no longer out of date and may guide the economic future of Great britain and the USA.  

We hope that Barak Obama wins the presidential election, we hope the margin of victory will be a landslide. We look forward to new and wise government from the White House.

Record Turnouts for Primaries.

Without doubt the current season of primaries and caucases in the presidential campaign has mobilized millions. The Institute of Policy Research at the University of Cincinatti has released statistics of participating voters.

The Democrats have mobilized so far 22 million voters, what is even more astonishing is that even when appalling weather conditions hit some states; when you would think people would stay at home; people still turned out in record numbers to queue, yes queue to vote.  The Republicans have so far seen 14.1 million turn out to vote in primaries.

Clearly, the Democrats have the edge in voter turnout so far and this record breaking turnout places the Democratic Party in a good position for the presidential campaign.

Mrs Clinton’s Abuse of Experience.

History News Network has published an interesting article by T Alissa Waters and Scott Kaufman on the very issue of Mrs Clinton’ “experience’. We have only picked up a few points in the following in our own words.

As Mrs Clinton stumbles her way through rallies and debates she is very fond of repeating she is a candidate of experience. Just what does this experience constitute? Eight years of First Lady of Arkansas and then to the United States, she gained the experience of choosing wallpaper and furnishings, she may well have had breakfast with her presidential husband and tittle tattle over breakfast hardly constitutes as experience! Rosalynn Carter, First Lady to husband Jimmy Carter was involved in certain acitivies in a supporting role, attending cabinet meetings and so on, Mrs Clinton did none of this. The First Lady has no constitutional role and neither should she. Mrs Clinton was appointed by her hubby to head a taskforce on reforming health care not a success. Mrs Carter, on the hand, lead a successful commission on mental health. Mrs Carter was a far more active lady than Mrs Clinton as indeed were other First Ladies. Mrs Clinton has certainly had her share of experiences in scandals. She has of course been a Senator for New York for eight years.

She says you can’t pick up a manual for the Presidency from day one, but then this is ridiculous, George Washington and other less experienced presidents including John F. Kennedy have coped from day one and they had no use for manuals imagined or otherwise.

Senator Barak Obama has had more political experience in government; eight years in the Illinois state senate before entering the US Senate in 2004. So he has more direct political experience. He has authored 152 Bills and sponsored 820 in his career to date. Mrs Clinton has authoured 20 Bills in the US Senate, many rather trivial.

Mrs Clinton’s contribution at last night’s Cleveland Debate started by telling the media off for being unfair to her – umh. This lady wants to be president and all she can do is whinge about fairness! Her campaign is just composed of stunts, flying kites – and to use her own words – no substance. Mrs Clinton doesn’t really have presidential qualities.

Mrs Clinton Unsuitable for Presidential Office.

Mrs Clinton’s ongoing clowning casts doubt on her suitability for the most important job in the USA. Her whinging in regard to election flyers, her mocking of her rival’s campaign style in Rhode Island illustrates her immaturity and instability for office. She moves further from policy debates to stunts – perhaps a reflection on reality as her campaign hits the rocks.

If she attains the presidency, perish the thought, and behaves like this towards world leaders we may yet witness nuclear strikes. Senator Barak Obama is not a perfect candidate we would like to see more clarity with his programme although he remains the most suitable for office and would no doubt make a good president.

Ralph Nader is now once more going to act as the spoiler and his intervention will make Senator John McCain’s campaign, assuming he is the Republican Party candidate, easier. Nader really needs to think about the possible consequences of his intervention and if he really cares about the things he believes in then he really ought to be backing Senator Barak Obama.

Homicides in Los Angeles.

As we are treated to the gathering of stars, glitz and glamour of the Oscar ceremonies in Hollywood give some thought to the continuing carnage on the streets of Los Angeles. Recently, we entered an earlier posting on this subject. To today so far, since January 1st, 105 homicides have been recorded there may well be dozens more. The Los Angeles Times is recording incidents of homicide, stabbings, shootings, in the city, often gang related violence.

The victims tend to be Afro-American and Latino youths and sometimes White. These killings are draining the lifeblood of the city, youths who because of failure to find gainful employment and trapped in a cycle of poverty and drug culture, yet have we heard any real concerns from presidential candidates on how to tackle this hemorrhage of youths? Unfortunately, this subject seems to be escaping all presidential candidates, this blog just refers to L.A. and yet all major American cities witness similar events daily.

What is happening in the city of glitz, glamour and wealth is a tragedy and it is being added to everyday and yet outside the local community, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Times there is a deafening silence and ultimately a complete failure by all politicians to address this issue.