U.S. Representative Scott Garrett: Franklin Rains- 'Calls For Fannie & Freddie Mac Reform'

Source:U.S. Representative Scott Garrett- former Fannie and Freddie Mac CEO Franklin Raines, being interviewed by CNBC.

"Franklin Raines, former CEO of Fannie Mae, said financial reform will not be complete without reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in an interview with CNBC this afternoon.

CNBC: "The president spoke forthrightly about the need for financial regulatory reform. But I don't believe I ever heard him mention the words Fannie Mae or Freddie. Can you really reform finance in this country without reforming Fannie and Freddie?"

Raines: "In terms of reform dealing with "Too Big to Fail" and those issues, I think that ultimately you can't have a completely reformed system without figuring out what you're going to do with these two very large companies..."

From US. Representative Scott Garrett

Perhaps Frank Raines is not the best spokesperson to be talking about financial housing assistance right now. After all, he was the President of Fannie Mae that when it went down in 2008. Which was one of the reasons for the housing crisis because of all the mortgages that FM were holding. Which help lead to the Great Recession of 2008 along with the collapse of our banking system. 

If you're going to bail people out and generally bailing people out is not a good idea especially for bad behavior, because that encourages more bad behavior and making the problem worst, but if you're going to bail people out, bail people out that are in trouble for no fault of their own. People that got screwed by big banks and now owe more money on their homes than they are worth. 

The people who were screwed by big banks are overwhelmingly middle class, at least before the Great Recession and how still have their homes. But are at risk of losing their homes, because they owe more money on the home than it's worth and they can afford to pay back, their savings and retirement funds were wiped out.

Because of the collapse of Wall Street and the banking system, these one time middle class workers are now out-of-work as a result of the Great Recession and haven't worked since. Or lost their savings during the Great Recession, or a combination of some or all of these factors. And that's what President Obama is addressing with his new financial assistance program, to help people refinance their homes and retire some of their mountain size debt, so they can keep their homes. Start spending money again and jump start economic growth which would lead to job growth. 

The fact is we can't get our economy going again, economic and job growth, unless people especially the middle class start spending money again. Retiring some consumer debt would help jump start consumer spending again. And the only way thats going to happen, is we get a lot of our consumer debt paid off. Refinancing homes giving homeowners the resources to refinance their mortgages and paying off their debt.

Which is why I support a few things in this area

Home refinancing, like some type of housing insurance system. To accomplish this that people would pay into based on how much their property is worth. That they can collect from when their home is worth more than they can afford to pay back to help meet their mortgage payments. 

As well as public assistance for people that they can pay back who have underwater mortgages in the short-term and also some type of tax credit or tax deduction. That would be temporary that people could collect to pay down their debt.

And after that an extension of the Payroll Tax Holiday for workers and apply that to employers as well. For the middle class and low-income people, so they can have some extra money to spend. And then a Consumer Tax Credit that people can collect, but they can only spend it. By a certain amount of time to help boost consumer spending.

We'll never get the economy going again which means strong economic and job growth and a falling unemployment rate, unless we start spending as consumers again. And we can't do this until we retire a lot of our consumer debt and get past the housing crisis, a big part of the Great Recession. 

I'm all for tax cuts, regulatory reform, infrastructure investment and creating a national energy policy, that leads us to energy independence. But none of those things mean much, without consumer spending. And we need to retire a lot of our consumer debt before we can get the consumer spending that we need.

Reason Magazine: Matt Welch Interviewing Edward Stringham- 'Policing is Too Important To Be Left For Government'

Source:Reason Magazine- Edward Stringham, at Freedom Fest in 2011.

"Because police are so important, I think that we should abandon the idea that government needs to provide it." says economics professor Edward Stringham.

"Wherever we see government it's not helpful, it's bureaucratic, it's not serving its customers and I would say that especially applies in the area of police."

At FreedomFest 2011, Reason's Matt Welch sat down with Stringham to talk about privatizing security, real world examples in the United States and why this won't lead to police protection only for the rich."

From Reason Magazine

I'm just about to lay out why I'm not a Libertarian, even though I've been classified as a Libertarian over and over. 

Here's an example of where libertarianism can go too far: if you look at what government is supposed to do, defend, protect and to serve, and look after the general welfare of its people, which is very general. And generally speaking government does a pretty good job of this, except for the Welfare part. Where they've made their job even harder and the people who are dependent lives even worse. Just look at our poverty rates.

But then look at what's the role of the private sector: be profitable, make as much money as they can, beat the competition, etc. That doesn't fit in very well with defend and protect. Because protecting and defending and serving costs a lot of money, that means investing resources. Resources that a private law enforcement Agency aren't going to want to invest. Because it's going to hurt their bottom line the thing they concentrate on most. Which means as a result the security of their customers get hurt as a result.

Gov Track: U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions- 'Honest Budget Act'

Source:The Cannabis Advisory- U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (Republican, Alabama) Ranking Member of the Budget Committee.

"In the Senate, it shall not be in order to consider any bill, joint resolution, or conference report that designates as an emergency requirement, pursuant to section 403 of S. Con. Res. 13 (110th Congress, the FY 2010 Budget Resolution), section 4(g) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, or section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 any provision that creates discretionary or direct spending or decreases revenues." 

From Gov Track

I know people must be dying from sunburn in Greenland right now, because I actually agree with Senator Jeff Sessions (Republican, Alabama, Ranking Member of the Budget Committee) on something, finally. 

If you passed Senator Sessions bill in Congress, Congress would then no longer be able to pass appropriations bills, until the House and Senate first passed a budget. Which would end the annual omnibus spending bills that Congress passes every year and the President signs, just to keep the government open, where every wish list that a member of Congress has, is thrown into the annual omnibus bill, with no Congressional hearing on it and of course it isn't paid for. 

ESPN: CFL 1995- Baltimore Stallions vs Calgary Stampeders; Short Video

Source:Darcy 757- The Calgary Stampeders and Baltimore Stallions for the CFL Grey Cup, in 1995.

Source:Real Life Journal  

"This is a clip of the opening minutes of the 1995 CFL Grey Cup game between the Baltimore Stallions and the Calgary Stampeders. It was played in November in Regina with 80 km/hour winds and a -20 wind chill. Baltimore became the first and only U.S. team to win the Grey Cup." 

From Darcy 757

One thing that was great about the CFL American experience in the early and mid 1990s was that we got to see a North American Football Championship game. Not once, but twice in 1994 and 95. 

The Stallions lost to the Vancouver Lions (as I call them) in 1994 and then beat the Calgary Stampeders in 1995. 

Baltimore, being one of the premier American football markets and now with one of the premier franchises and premier histories as well. 

Calgary, being one of the premier Canadian football markets, franchises and has one of the best football histories in Canada. 

The Stallions and Stampeders, were clearly the two best teams in the CFL in 1995. And both had a host of players that either played in the NFL, or went on to play in the NFL.

The CFL American experience didn’t fail because of lack of quality talent on the American teams. But because outside of Baltimore the franchises weren’t run and marketed very well. And outside of Baltimore there wasn’t a CFL American market that badly wanted in to or back into the NFL. 

Baltimore loved the Stallions, but they also used the Stallions to get another NFL club to show the NFL how much they wanted another NFL club by the way they supported the Stallions. And as a result Baltimore is the only city in the world actually, that has won the NFL Championship, including multiple Super Bowls, the USFL Championship and the CFL Grey Cup Championship.

The CFL American experiment, was a good idea that was poorly executed. And if the USFL ever comes back, they should look at the CFL as a possible merger with let's say ten American clubs that are all outside of NFL markets. With 9-10 CFL clubs and play a couple inter-conference or inter-league games for each club in this new league. So fans in both countries can see how they play against each other. Play in the spring and summer, instead of the fall and winter. So they’re not going up against the NFL. Get a player agreement with the NFL so they can have access to NFL players who are talented, but aren’t playing much right now. Because they are not ready and need experience. And get a revenue sharing agreement as well. And this new Can-Am league I believe would do very well both in America and Canada.

Center For Independent Studies: Jacob T. Levy- 'Rationalism, Pluralism, and Hayek's History of Liberal Thought'

Source:Center For Independent Studies- Jacob T. Levy.

"The classical liberal economist F.A. Hayek frequently wrote on the history of liberal ideas, trying both to recover half-forgotten truths and to find the sources of what he viewed as pernicious intellectual errors. He believed that understanding past ideas was important for the correct diagnosis of contemporary ills, since those had so often come from theoretical and philosophical mistakes. He went so far as to propose naming what became the Mont Pelerin Society, the preeminent postwar grouping of free-market economists, the 'Acton-Tocqueville Society,' after two nineteenth century liberal political theorists whose writings on economics were cursory at best.

In this talk, Jacob T. Levy describes and assesses Hayek's history of liberal thought, suggesting that he correctly identified key issues in liberal constitutionalism but was too quick to jump from constitutional to economic questions. He wrote histories of rationalism and pluralism in liberal thought, but mistook them for histories of economic planning and free markets. Clarifying this can help us see the often-uneasy relationship between pluralism and markets, and to recognise trade-offs that classical liberal political economy sometimes has to make." 

From the Center For Independent Studies

If you are Liberal such as myself (not a Libertarian or Socialist) you are a believer in individual liberty and liberal democracy, which means people have the right to live their own lives as they see fit, again as long as they are not hurting anyone else with their freedom. 

Liberals aren't anti-government, we are anti-big government and pro-limited government and these things are different. Lay out what government should be doing based on what it's good at, does better than the private sector or something only government is capable of doing like national security, law enforcement, foreign affairs, and a few other things. And don't create a new government agency or raise new taxes just because you have a new idea for the public good, but weigh it to whether government should be doing that or not. Thats what limited government is about, its not about being anti-government, but pro-limited government. 

Liberals and Libertarians as well as Classical Conservatives all believe in individual liberty and maximize freedom. And we are anti-collectivism, but one difference being, that Liberals and Classical Conservatives believe that government should step in when individuals abuse innocent people with their liberty. To stop those actions and punish them. There are so-called Libertarians that don't even want government to do that. 

I have a lot of respect for libertarianism in the sense that they are anti-big government, but I have more respect for Libertarians who are anti-big government, but not anti-government and there's a difference there. But I don't see libertarianism as classical liberalism, but as a separate political ideology thats farther to the left of liberalism, not right because of how anti-government Libertarians tend to be.

Reason Magazine: Nick Gillespie- Steven Brill: 'On How to Fix Public Schools'

Source:Reason Magazine- Steven Brill on public education in America.

"[Teaching] is the only workplace, the only occupation, where by and large you are not paid, promoted, recognized, measured in any way having to do with your performance, only having to do with how long you've been breathing," says journalist and media entrepreneur Steven Brill.

His new book, Class Warfare, chronicles the rise of a reform movement that's bringing a measure of accountability and choice to public schools. The book grew out of Brill's widely read 2009 New Yorker piece about the "rubber room," a holding pen for New York City teachers who couldn't be fired after they were removed from their classrooms for poor performance." 

From Reason Magazine

Steven Brill said it perfectly and says this in his book as well, that public education is the only profession in America where the professionals are judged by how long they've been doing their jobs, rather than how good they do their jobs and hits the nail on the head. 

Thats exactly what doesn't work with public education and if we fix that, we'll fix our public schools. If we don't fix that, we won't fix our public schools. Twenty years ago America was in the top ten in the world in education, we fell so far within just ten years that President Bush and Congress decided we needed to reform our public schools. 

Education reform was one of the important issues of the 2000 presidential campaign. In 2002, Congress passed a bipartisan education reform law called No Child Left Behind. That was passed in a Republican House and a Democratic Senate. Written at the time by Senator Ted Kennedy (Chairman of the Education Committee) and at the time Representative John Boehner. (Chairman of the Education Committee in the House)

NCLB didn't fix the problems with public education because it was about testing students and educators to a certain extent and passing unfunded mandates down to the states in order to pass these things and tell them what they believe they needed to do. 

NCLB is not about how you reform public schools especially if you the Federal Government that has very little role in running schools if any, they are mostly about enforcing the Constitution and funding to a small extent as well as research. 

The way to reform Public Education in America (if your are the Federal Government) is to look to see how states and school districts are doing and what works and doesn't work for them and then try to incentivize (not mandate )what does work. And then the states and school districts can decide what works for them in their community. Because all schools districts are different. And then the states and school districts can do what works for them and help them finance that. 

The U.S. Department of Education does a very good job of researching what works and doesn't work in public education. And to a certain extent can lay out a vision of what we can do as a country in public education. But they are bad at mandating, because they don't know what exactly would work for every school district. How could they, they are not there. So they can help with suggestions and incentives instead and let the school districts decide for themselves. 

One thing that does work in education that we haven't been doing for the most mart is educator accountability: having educators teach what they are qualified to teach and are well-trained in. And then pay them for their quality of service, not time of service. And eliminating things like teacher tenure. Which basically makes it impossible to fire poor educators once they've served a certain amount of time. 

We should instead pay the good educators more and give the high qualified educators higher benefits and starting pay. 

We should also retrain the low-performing educators, suspend without pay or fire them and encourage well- educated people to go into education and teach in under served communities. 

If we moved to a public education system in America thats based on accountability, just started there and see where that goes. Just doing that, we could go a long way in finally reforming our public education system. That we have to do in order to have a strong economy in the future. And create good jobs and keep good jobs at home.

Joey Sykes: The Tonight Show With Jay Leno- Meredith Brooks & Queen Latifah: Lay Down From 1999

Source:Joey Sykes- Queen Latifah and Meredith Brooks, on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, in 1999.

Source:Real Life Journal 

"Meredith Brooks Lay Down, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." 

From Joey Sykes

I'm not a big Meredith Brooks fan, but I like her blues rock sound. Especially the song lay down. And love watching her perform this song because she looks just like a sexy rocker chick should look. She's a beautiful well-built tall brunette, performing in her go to black leather jeans and black leather boots.

She has good voice, but her lyrics and sound are what are impressive about her. She's not a headbanger or a pop star, but a blues rocker. A combination of classic rock and blues, similar to Sheryl Crow. But I think she doesn't sound as good. Or Meredith Etheridge, but I believe she sounds better.

And she gave this performance back in 1999 or 2000 at the Hard Rock Cafe, performing Lay Down as well as Bitch and a few other songs. And she performed Lay Down with Queen Latifah. Who she did the Lay Down music video with, as well kids singing group and they did a great job. She gives great performances and makes sexy music videos which makes her a great rocker chick.