Letter to Senator Jay Rockefeller on Immunity for Telecoms

March 17, 2008
Jay Rockefeller, Senator
Democrat – West Virginia
531 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Re: Your Vote on Telecom Amnesty
via U.S. Mail

Mr. Rockefeller

This letter is to let you know my disgust with not only your vote, but your support and sponsorship for the renewal of the telecom “spy” bill that allows conversations and emails of Americans to be listened in on without a court order. Most disturbing is your zest to protect telecom companies who were illegally spying on Americans without a court order. What is wrong with you?

Your conduct in this matter as a Democrat is beyond any possible explanation. Having worked as a member of the telecom industry for nearly 36 years, I assure you each and every one of these companies you are so anxious to protect were aware they were breaking the law. Ample proof is when Joe Nacchio of Qwest Communications refused to comply with the request for access to accounts by Justice and Homeland Security. There is no doubt in my mind the CEO’s of the other telecom companies were just as informed as Mr. Nacchio.

Fortunately, the House of Representatives (so far) has more sense and guts than you. Your conduct is shameless and despicable. I want you to know I can’t wait until November to cast my vote against a whole bunch of traitorous Democrats. I plan to do all I can to make sure you, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Gabrielle Giffords do NOT get re-elected. I will make campaign contributions to whomever is opposing you. What a bunch of self serving sorry assed representatives. I guess I know which companies will be lining your campaign contributions in the future?

Your conduct enables a “criminal” who has somehow managed to remain in the White House for over seven years to continue his reign of terror on the American public and the world. You are shameful and I can only pray you will end up out of office at the end of your term.

Very Sincerely
Gregory E. Sweet, President
Acquire Telecom Services, Inc
Reno, Nevada

Letter To the Editor New York Times

To the Editor

Roger Lowenstein's article on Ben Bernanke (The Education of Ben Bernanke, NY Times Sunday Magazine, January 20, 2008) was the best summary of how the Federal Reserve operates and the historical reasons for its creation I have seen. Considering the world-wide market panic that occurred within two days of its publication, Mr. Bernanke may have left the car keys in his pocket a little too long. I am amazed an MIT educated former Princeton Economics Chair relies heavily on computer models and advice from security brokers for economic forecasts. Had Mr. Bernanke taken a break from his private dining room to have lunch with an average person on the street at a diner or cafeteria in D.C. he would have seen this melt down coming at least 2 years ago. So much for Great Moderation. Jim Cramer was right. Bernanke is a "pushover" for Wall Street.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ARTICE ON NYTIMES.COM

Gregory E. Sweet
Acquire Telecom Services, Inc
Reno, Nevada
January 21, 2008

Letter to Tucson Citizen on Gabrielle Giffords 1st Year in Office

To the Editor and Mr. Morlock

I am glad Gabrielle Giffords is happy with her 2007 performance representing Southern Arizona, because I wouldn't give her the same report card. (Giffords happy with work done in her district- Citizen January 10, 2008) Her comment that "we just don't have the votes" to end the war is offensive considering she and her spineless Democratic peers have not used a filibuster one time to show the people who elected them they are serious about ending the Iraq war. Quite the contrary, Giffords has not only voted continuously "for' the war funding, but has added hundreds of millions of dollars in shameful "earmarks" to support defense contractors. The term I use for that kind of representation is "Judas".

Gregory E. Sweet, President
Acquire Telecom Services, Inc.
520-320-1900
gregsweet@acquiretelecom.com
http://www.acquiretelecom.com/

Giffords happy with work done in her district
BLAKE MORLOCK
Tucson Citizen

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., just completed her first year in Congress as part of a new Democratic majority, and it's been a whirl of activity producing mixed results.
The war that Democrats were elected to stop has been expanded, immigration reform died a painful death and Congress has dismal approval ratings.
From her junior position, Giffords, who represents the 8th Congressional District, has been a bolt of energy.
Seven bills and amendments she introduced were signed into law. She settled a border dust-up over a checkpoint south of Green Valley, held off the Federal Emergency Management Agency from declaring Marana a flood plain and has been a force behind federal support for solar power.
"I knew I had to prove I could produce right out of the gate," Giffords said at a Tucson Citizen Editorial Board meeting Wednesday.
Her work in her district has been the most rewarding, she said.
Green Valley residents were upset with a Border Patrol plan to build a 10-acre permanent checkpoint six miles south of the retirement community. Giffords said she got a group of residents to sit down with the Border Patrol and hammer out a compromise reducing the size of the checkpoint.
FEMA's plan would grind Marana development to a standstill, but the Congresswoman managed to get the feds to hold off while Marana officials show how Interstate 10, the Union Pacific railroad tracks and berms along the Central Arizona Project canal can protect the area from flooding.
She's also gathered southern Arizona solar power experts together in a long-haul effort to improve the potential of that energy source.
"I ask community leaders to come together and take responsibility for success, rather than tell them what to do," she said.
She faces a likely Republican challenge from State Senate President Tim Bee of Tucson, who formed an exploratory committee last year to raise money.
She said she's as frustrated as her fellow Democrats over failure to restrain the Bush Administration's escalation of the war in Iraq.
Salette Latas' husband Jeff Latas ran against Giffords in the Democratic primary on the platform of ending the war. The Latases - he's a former fighter pilot and she's an Air Force air traffic controller - had a son serving in Iraq who died of leukemia this past summer.
They have both become leaders among "progressive" Democrats in Pima County and in the state. Both are frustrated that Giffords and other Democrats have not cut off funding for the war.
"Democrats need to show some backbone," Salette Latas said. "The American people sent Congress and the Senate to Washington to end the occupation of Iraq."
But the votes just aren't there in the Senate to cut off the funds for the war, Giffords said.
"It's very difficult to articulate to the American people why Democrats have a majority but can't end the war," Giffords said. "We just don't have the votes."
Paul Eckerstrom, former county Democratic Party chairman, said he also is frustrated that Democrats haven't been more confrontational with the president but doesn't blame Giffords because she represents a plurality of Republican voters.
"I can't fault her for voting with her district," Eckerstrom said. The district includes all of Cochise County, Green Valley and the eastern and northern sections of the Tucson metropolitan area. Republican Jim Kolbe held the seat for more than 20 years before Giffords.

THOUGHTS ON THE ECONOMY & THE SUB PRIME LENDING FIASCO

In my opinion, the real beneficiaries of Federal Reserve rate cuts are on Wall Street. This is probably short-term relief. Until recently, Traders have been too self-absorbed to realize the economic reality.

Rate cuts, by themselves, will not help liquidity if financier’s do not gain the confidence to lend money. Currently that is what’s happening worldwide. Lenders don’t know who or how much is involved in this sub prime, bond and junk financing fiasco. Central banks worldwide continue to pour billions into their economies for banks to borrow and re-lend to corporations. Yet, very little lending is actually taking place. The current rate cuts and infusion of cash may be too little-too late and should have been done months ago when the crisis first became evident.
Many big lenders have closed and locked their cash drawers for lending to each other.

Unfortunately, there is little trust when one does not know who is holding "the old maid" card.
The inability to borrow creates a lack of liquidity and financial markets rely on liquidity to function. The US and world economies are "faith based" and there’s little confidence at present. If big banks won't lend to major corporations, they are not going to lend to small businesses. Capital necessary to grow and hire employees will be unavailable, or available at terms and interest rates that are prohibitive.

The recently announced amnesty for sub prime borrowers orchestrated by President Bush and Secretary Paulson is not a bail out. It is a promise to work with some of the borrowers and help them if they qualify. Whoa, wait a minute! Do we really think 1.2 million or more sub prime borrowers will qualify to freeze low teaser mortgage rates for five years or be allowed to convert existing ARM’s to low rate 30 year fixed loans? A Wall Street Analyst recently stated the rate freeze program is voluntary and politicians (including President Bush) have greatly overestimated the generosity of Wall Street. In other words the investors have the final say. Most banks and lenders don’t have the power to extend those teaser rates because they don’t own the loans. The loans have been cut up and distributed into CDO's (collateralized debt obligations) and other securities of recent invention. They were sold to investors all over the world. These investors will expect a return on their money. Most have other channels for philanthropic ventures.

The recently announced bank super fund put together by Citi Group, Bank of America and Wells Fargo is already falling apart. These banks have such high losses in their own investment portfolios, they can't afford to set aside billions of dollars to bail out smaller banks or each other. The rats are jumping from the sinking ships and there will be more CEO's getting the axe from blue chip investment firms.

This liquidity mess was caused by greed and stupidity and plenty of both were going around. Regardless of what anyone says, the Federal Reserve (as well as Wall Street and the Bush Administration) has been unable to understand or accept just how deep and far reaching the liquidity problem really is. If four little towns near the arctic circle in Norway have their budgets destroyed because they lost over $64 Million in sub prime investments, one must ask just how far globally this fiasco is going to reach? No one knows. However, it does answer a question; "where was all the money coming from to buy houses in the US"? Now we know. It was coming from all over the world. When the new fangled securities go bust, investors in these securities world wide will suffer.

A broker in CA summed it up recently. He stated "The real problem is we Realtors sold $375 K homes to many people who could only qualify to buy $200 K homes. Many sub prime and NINA (no income, no assets) borrowers will be unable to remain in their homes even if their current mortgage rate does freeze for 5 years". This is where the real problem lies. Consumers went in over their heads. They borrowed against their home equity for cars, vacations and to pay off credit cards. Home purchases and refinancing certainly fueled the US economy after 9/11. With the sub prime fiasco coming into full light, home prices in most parts of the country are dropping like a rock. And they may have a long way yet to fall. Many US houses are mortgaged to the hilt with some having home equity loans on top of a first mortgage. Many homeowner loans in excess of the present value of their homes. No more piggy banks to rob, so homeowners are loading up their credit cards (again) to continue consuming. Credit cards will be where the next crisis will arise and that should peak sometime in the next two years.

However, sub prime loans are not the only area of concern. In the age of loose credit, homeowners were not the only ones doing risky borrowing. There were a lot of corporations with less than stellar credit risks borrowing large sums of money as well. Junk bonds and junk financing were used by small and large businesses alike. So, it won’t be just homeowners defaulting on loans. One might argue US exports will keep the economy strong. The weakening US dollar does make US products more attractive overseas. That can be a good thing. However, the United States is carrying record levels of debt. A large amount of US debt is being held by other nations, such as China. These countries are seeing their investments erode as the US dollar rapidly loses ground against other currencies. At what point do these countries decide to unload dollars in favor of Euros or other currency causing a panic selling of US securities? US interest rates would have to increase in order to attract investors back into US debt.

Fortunately, for the rest of the world, oil prices worldwide are in dollars. While the US sees higher prices for many products related to petroleum, other countries are not yet experiencing the same effects of $100 per barrel oil. Although that my be short-term. All roads lead back to the problem of “faith”. Until lending institutions and investors feel confident they are going to be repaid, they will not lend money to people or corporations. Until money starts to flow again, the current credit crunch will remain in place. How long before it adversely affects the rest of the economy is anyone’s guess?

Fasten your seat belts. Now is not a good time to be holding large amounts of debt. The next two-three years are going to be very ugly and many people are going to suffer dearly. However, for those flush with cash, there may be some real bargains on real estate, boats, classic cars, etc during the next 2-3 years. Unfortunately, this may be the way Americans learn to live within their means. The Federal Government is in debt up to its ears as well as a vast amount of Americans. The easy credit policies to any and all have gotten the world into this sub prime and securities mess. It is now time to pay the piper.
Copyright Gregory Sweet Tucson, AZ January 4, 2007