Barack Obama's Pledges, And How He's Doing...

...and this story comes to you by way of http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-10-28-obama-promises_N.htm#table. As you can see, I'm still having a small problem with Blogger posting the links to the story. What is one to do?

Tracking delivery on campaign promises

President Obama made hundreds of pledges to get elected. USA TODAY's Richard Wolf reviews some:

Taxes

Promise: Offer tax cuts of $500 for individuals with income up to $75,000 and $1,000 for couples with income up to $150,000. Obama said 95% of working families would benefit.
Quote: "This is a tax cut, paid for in part by closing corporate loopholes and shutting down tax havens, that will offset the payroll tax that working Americans are already paying." - Janesville, Wis., Feb. 13, 2008
Status: Obama settled for $400 and $800 as part of the $787 billion stimulus package passed by Congress in February. The non-partisan Tax Policy Center estimated that 91% of families with children would get tax cuts averaging $538. Overall, 75% of taxpayers would get reductions averaging $385. Obama's proposals to close loopholes and target tax havens are pending in Congress.

Jobs
Promise: Offer $3,000 tax credits in 2009 and 2010 to existing businesses for each full-time employee hired.
Quote: "I will give American businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every job they create right here in the United States of America." - Canton, Ohio, Oct. 27, 2008
Status: Obama dropped the idea during stimulus negotiations because of concerns in Congress that businesses could cook their books. As unemployment worsens, however, the White House is reconsidering it.

Home ownership
Promise: Create a $10 billion Foreclosure Prevention Fund to help people stay in their homes. Give a tax credit to middle-class homeowners to cover 10% of their mortgage interest every year
Quote: "This fund will help homeowners sell a home that is beyond their means, or modify their loan to avoid foreclosure or bankruptcy." - North Las Vegas, Nev., May 27, 2008
Status: Obama created a larger, $75 billion program in February, a month after taking office. It includes a one-time, $8,000 refundable tax credit for new homebuyers that expires in November.

Type in the link at the begining of this post for even more stats on Obama's financial regulation promises,healthcare, and stem cell research along with a host of other campaign promises which Obama made.

Wall Streets Bundled Life Insurance Policies...

... are another attempt by those gouls on Wall Street to pass off a different product to you which will more than likely screw you in the end. Remember those mortgage backed securities?
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/28/798049/-STOP-THEM:-Wall-Street-to-Bundle-Life-Insurance-Policies

STOP THEM: Wall Street to Bundle Life Insurance Policies
by War on Error Wed Oct 28, 2009
Wall Street banks, beaten down by the financial crisis, and propped up by
government bailout money are looking to get their securitization machines humming again. USING LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES.
Personally, I find this repulsive, ghoulish, and possibly dangerous. Please hit the orange REC button on the right side so others can see this. And while we have time to stop this.
The earlier the policyholder dies, the bigger the return — though if people live longer than expected, investors could get poor returns or even lose money.
Either way, Wall Street would profit by pocketing sizable fees for creating the bonds, reselling them and subsequently trading them.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Call Congress and the SEC to end this brain child NOW, before it launches. Life and death should never be something Wall Street gets to gamble on.

And if Wall Street dices up and securitizes life insurance policies, like they did with mortgages, who will be responsible to pay a Life Insurance claim? Could we see life insurance bankruptcies erupt at the very time the boomers claims become due?
How many ways could seniors be manipulated to die sooner? How many would have to die to insure a large return? Appalling as these questions are, I believe they must be asked.
Indeed, what is good for Wall Street could be bad for the insurance industry, and perhaps for customers, too. That is because policyholders often let their life insurance lapse before they die, for a variety of reasons — their children grow up and no longer need the financial protection, or the premiums become too expensive. When that happens, the insurer does not have to make a payout.
But if a policy is purchased and packaged into a security, investors will keep paying the premiums that might have been abandoned; as a result, more policies will stay in force, ensuring more payouts over time and less money for the insurance companies.
ibid, nytimes
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
There is a growing demand for a long-term hedge against improving annuity mortality. We have shown how innovation in swaps and bond contracts can provide new securities which can provide the hedge insurers need.
http://www.allbusiness.com/...

Swaps
The same cash flows, [B.sub.t] to the insurer and [D.sub.t] to the bondholders, can be arranged with swap agreements and no principal payment at time T.
ibid, allbusiness.com
Yes, there will be Hedge Funds that will make new fortunes Betting on our Lives!
HOW GOOD IS THE HEDGE?
We point out that, given the distribution of survivors, there is very little variance in the cash flows.
ibid, allbusiness
I have a hard time seeing the words Hedge and Swap used when the product is a life insurance policy.
Our life span and death date will be packaged in swaps and insurers offering bonds to investors.
It is deja vu Mortgage Default Swaps, only lives, not homes will be the foundation for the Wall Street traders. But, you can't reposses a life!
MetLife could be the next IndyBank if I understand this Wall Street scheme to bet on our very lives.
For a list of failed banks you can go here. They failed because of the Wall Street Housing Bubble:
http://www.fdic.gov/...