Tag Archives: Ted Stevens

How TARP Begat Obamacare

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Wall Street titans successfully lobbied Congress for TARP in 2008. Their success made Obamacare possible. [Credit: UPI]

Wall Street titans suc­cess­ful­ly lob­bied Con­gress for TARP in 2008. Their suc­cess made Oba­macare pos­si­ble. [Cred­it: UPI]

Oba­macare goes live on Octo­ber 1, when new­ly-cre­at­ed gov­ern­ment exchanges are to begin sell­ing health insur­ance and enrolling peo­ple in Med­ic­aid. The date car­ries an eerie sig­nif­i­cance. Octo­ber 1 also is the fifth anniver­sary of the Sen­ate vote that made Oba­macare pos­si­ble: a 74–25 vote to cre­ate the Trou­bled Asset Relief Pro­gram, the $700 bil­lion Wall Street bailout bill, more com­mon­ly known as TARP. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

When Crony Capitalism Goes Bad

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The government has finally found someone to blame for the mortgage meltdown: S&P, a ratings agency. But the accused says the government has other motives. [Credit: Boston Globe]

The gov­ern­ment has final­ly found some­one to blame for the mort­gage melt­down: S&P, a rat­ings agency. But the accused says the gov­ern­ment has oth­er motives. [Cred­it: Boston Globe]

What hap­pens to crony cap­i­tal­ism when things go bad­ly? Every­body lawyers up and charges and coun­ter­charges fly hard­er and faster than in a nasty divorce. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

The Moral Hazard of Government

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Sting wrote the stalker's anthem, "Every Breath You Take," a song that takes on new meaning in light of newest NSA revelations. [Credit: Davids Zondy]

Sting wrote the stalk­er’s anthem, “Every Breath You Take,” a song that takes on new mean­ing in light of newest NSA rev­e­la­tions. [Cred­it: Davids Zondy]

The intel­li­gence community’s gild­ed rep­u­ta­tion, already tar­nished by months of unau­tho­rized dis­clo­sures, was dragged into the realm of the creepy last Fri­day when an NSA offi­cial told a reporter about an agency employ­ee who had tapped secret gov­ern­ment data to spy on his ex-wife. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Abuse With Impunity: The Ted Stevens Case

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The late Sen. Ted Stevens, a powerful Washington figure, was brought low by a government that abused its power. Can government be held accountable for its abuses? [Credit: Arlington Cemetery]

The late Sen. Ted Stevens, a pow­er­ful Wash­ing­ton fig­ure, was brought low by a gov­ern­ment that abused its pow­er. Can gov­ern­ment be held account­able for its abus­es? [Cred­it: Arling­ton Cemetery]

The late Sen­a­tor Ted Stevens (R‑AK) was once a pow­er­ful man.   Unbowed before col­leagues and Pres­i­dents, Stevens’ pow­er proved no match for gov­ern­ment lawyers and FBI agents, who, accord­ing to a lengthy court-ordered report, lied, hid evi­dence and delib­er­ate­ly deceived a judge and jury to obtain a guilty ver­dict against the Alas­ka Sen­a­tor just weeks before the 2008 elec­tion. Con­tin­ue read­ing →