Obama uses DOJ as political vendetta machine against S&P

Robert Samuelson: The vendetta against S&P - The Washington Post: "Until the bubble burst, few understood what was happening. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke recently admitted that he was caught off guard by the crisis. But the Obama administration holds S&P to a higher standard. There must be villains, and they must be punished. Someday this case may be settled. But for now S&P is a scapegoat, and the Department of Justice has become the Department of Blame."

Prosecutors subpoenaed millions of pages of S&P emails and other documents and grilled dozens of its employees, yet were unable to produce convincing evidence of a companywide policy to inflate ratings for profit. S&P denies wrongdoing and refuses to settle. S&P's assumptions about the health of the subprime market matched those of the Treasury and Federal Reserve. The agency and the government used similar forecasting models and came to the same rosy conclusions about the real estate assets before they became worthless in 2007 and 2008. (source Investors.com--see below)

First there is Fast and Furious, then Solyndra, then the Kim Dotcom case, then Aaron Swartz, and now--S&P--all evidence of a corrupt and politically motivated Department of Justice under Eric Holder and the Obama administration--

Ahead Of New Debt Showdown, Obama Threatens Agency That Downgraded - Investors.com: "Staring at a another debt ceiling crisis, the president's punishing the one credit rating agency that dared downgrade U.S. debt in the last crisis. And Wall Street analysts say the timing's no coincidence. Just weeks away from the next debt-limit showdown, the Justice Department filed a whopping $5 billion lawsuit against Standard & Poor's for alleged fraud. The case appears weak, but the message it sends S&P and the other independent rating agencies is clear: Don't downgrade anymore. "It's a foregone conclusion that no more downgrades will be coming," said Euro Pacific Capital CEO Peter Schiff. Curiously, Attorney General Eric Holder can't explain why the administration is targeting only S&P in its unprecedented investigation of Wall Street's credit rating industry. S&P's subprime securities ratings were virtually identical to those of Moody's and Fitch, yet the government's singling out S&P for prosecution. The reason seems obvious: Unlike Moody's and Fitch, S&P embarrassed President Obama ahead of his re-election bid by downgrading U.S. debt to AA+ from AAA. . . ." Read More At IBD: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-perspective/020813-643819-obamas-sandp-lawsuit-political-payback-for-downgrade.htm#ixzz2KQ8SHZnu

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Silicon Valley and Obama's Solyndra

From Obama to "greenies" to VCs, John Dvorak speaks "truth" even when it hurts--

H-P’s malaise signals a wrong turn in the Valley - John Dvorak's Second Opinion - MarketWatch: " . . . Once HP goes, if it goes, the entire Silicon Valley is at risk. Tech investors take note. It began a few years back when the Valley began to lose its mojo. . . Silicon Valley. . . a construct invented by creative writers. . . It essentially consists of a large geographical area beginning south of Redwood City and scattering about various industrial parks on both sides of the San Francisco Bay all the way down to Scotts Valley. Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, San Jose, Milpitas, Fremont, Santa Clara are all cities that are more or less in Silicon Valley. The area feeds off itself. It is also financed by the local banks and the slew of venture capital companies that back technology firms. I was struck on a recent drive past Fremont and into Milpitas by the abandoned and “For Lease” mega building that looms on the left side of southbound Highway 880. Solyndra was still emblazoned on the side of the structure. Yes, like a monument to abject failure, Solyndra stands out on the road. All part of a dead love affair with all things green. "This is what happened to suck the energy out of Silicon Valley. Elsewhere most of the world’s lesser venture capitalists were throwing their funds into MEMs (micro-electrical-mechanical systems). The Silicon Valley boys were going after trendy “green” inventions. . . . The green thing began with Obama and the emergence of numerous green funds, many looking for government handouts. The ludicrous appearance of Al Gore as a venture capitalist working with Kleiner, Perkins highlights the errors. And while there is nothing wrong with going green for some conscientious reason, it’s a distraction insofar as modern tech is concerned. The single concept that a semiconductor material can convert light into energy is a great concept that needs research, yes. But a wholesale creation of green funds and green initiatives was lunacy. This to me was pretty much like watching all-time great basketballer Michael Jordan decide he was going to play baseball. “How hard can it be?” At this point the Valley is teetering on the brink of destruction and its symbol, Hewlett-Packard, will mark the beginning of the end or a new beginning. . . " 

Only one thing, Dvorak didn't quite get to the real problem with Obama's Solyndra--

Barack Obama's Solyndra scandal smells like it came from Chicago's City Hall -September 18, 2011|John Kass- Chicago Tribune: "Those of us from Chicago know exactly what the Solyndra scandal smells like. And It doesn't smell fresh and green. The Solyndra scandal cost at least a half-billion public dollars. . . . But back in Obama's political hometown, those of us familiar with the Chicago Way can see something else in Solyndra — something that the Washington crowd calls "optics." In fact, it's not just a Washington saga — it has all the elements of a Chicago City Hall story, except with more zeros. The FBI is investigating what happened with Solyndra, a solar panel company that got a $535 million government-backed loan with the help of the Obama White House over the objections of federal budget analysts.  Obama and Vice President Joe Biden got a nice photo op. They got to make speeches about being "green.". . . Washington bureaucrats warned the deal was lousy. And White House spokesmen flail desperately, like weakened victims in a cheesy vampire movie. So forget optics. What about smell? It smells bad, and it's going to smell worse. Or, did you really believe it when the White House mouthpieces — who are also Chicago City Hall mouthpieces — promised they were bringing a new kind of politics to Washington? This is not a new kind of politics. It's the old kind. The Chicago kind. And now the Tribune Washington Bureau has reported that the U.S. Department of Energy employee who helped monitor the Solyndra loan guarantee was one of Obama's top fundraisers. . . . It's the Chicago Way, but instead of a paving or trucking contract, it's a "green" solar panel contract. . . . "

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