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The appointment of Former F.B.I Director Robert Mueller as Special Counsel for the Trump-Russia investigation seemed like a decent choice for the task. I had only heard good things about Mueller and looked forward to getting to the bottom of whether or not there were actual, illegal ties between Trump’s campaign and Russian officials. Unfortunately, by one single action, Robert Mueller has now revealed himself as a person unfit to be special counsel. This action was his selection of Andrew Weissmann as a key advisor in the investigation. Mueller has simply discarded his integrity. Andrew Weissmann is an outrageous, criminal human being.
Robert Mueller knows full well that Andrew Weissmann should be jailed for misconduct, or at the very least, disbarred. The one job that Weissmann should never again have is that of prosecutor. There are two very well-known, high-profile court cases I will briefly overview which will show Weissmann’s lack of any moral compass and highly unethical legal practices.
The first example is the famous Arthur Andersen case. The list of egregious behaviors by Weissmann runs long:
In an effort to make a name for himself, Andrew Weissmann brought an indictment against the Arthur Andersen firm as an entity, instead of only against the partner that allegedly committed a crime. No indictment against a company for the action of one person had never been done before — or ever since. This is especially important because Weissmann knew, that in the context of a “Big 4 CPA firm,” bringing an indictment — even if no conviction were ever accomplished — would automatically and completely destroy the firm and all of its employees, which is exactly what happened.
Once he issued forth the indictment, he used malicious and unorthodox methods to pursue his case, including threatening indictment of numerous individuals if they testified for the defense, intentionally distorting the “crimes” that Arthur Andersen allegedly committed, and refusing to allow Arthur Andersen tell their side of the story to the Grand Jury.
If that wasn’t enough, Weissmann lambasted Arthur Andersen in court for legally shredding documents, which they – in accordance with their firm’s existing policy and existing law — had no obligation whatsoever to retain. Most outrageously, Weissmann made changes to the definition of the “crime” and its level of criminal culpability (intent) in the jury instructions. With all these procedures, Weissmann strongly urged — and convinced the jury — to find Arthur Andersen guilty – even if the firm had no knowledge that its members had done anything wrong.
What’s worse is that in the end, no crime was actually ever committed, as determined later by a unanimous 9-0 Supreme Court decision. At oral argument, the Court viciously ridiculed the theory that Weissmann used in order to charge the crime in the first place. Unfortunately, that exoneration came too late: Weissmann had destroyed an 89 year-old accounting institution and eliminated 85,000 jobs by distorting the law, denying the defendants a fair trial, and taking intent out of the jury instructions, all for no purpose whatsoever, except possible personal gain and fame.
The second case high-profile case, involving Jim Brown of Merrill Lynch (also related to Weissmann’s position on the Enron task force), is equally appalling:
Andrew Weissmann persecuted and prosecuted Jim Brown, a Merrill-Lynch executive, for a deal with Enron which Weissmann argued in court was a bogus deal. The problem is that Jim Brown never extracted a deal at all; he opposed it and was not a privy to it. The deal in question involved a solicitation from Merrill-Lynch to provide $7 million cash for minority holdings in a company that electrical power barges near Nigeria; Enron held the majority interest. The crime in question was the allegation that Enron had agreed to buy the barges back later, thereby making its accounting as a gain from its sale to Merrill-Lynch wrong. Weissmann alleged that since Jim Brown was one of four Merrill-Lynch executives, he was a culpable party.
Much of the case hinged on a phone call where the deal was discussed — a phone call that Jim Brown wasn’t actually on. Weissmann met with Brown voluntarily to hear his opinion of the telephone call, and despite hearing the exculpatory explanation, Weissmann nevertheless had Brown indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice. Weissmann later produced an email that mentioned the phone call, written by Brown in a different context and a year after the phone call in question, then urged the judge to prevent any evidence that would explain the email’s actual meaning.
Based upon the above facts, there is no way anyone could think Jim Brown could be accused of a crime. So, in order to win that case, Weissmann (1) concocted evidence; (2) terrorized anyone that would come forth to support Jim Brown’s position; and (3) threatened prosecuting individuals who would testify for Jim Brown. More outrageously, Weissmann also hid Brady material (evidence known by Weissmann that would be important to the defense and which by law Weissmann was required to turn over); he then repeatedly lied to the court about having such material. In a truly incredible incident, a document was discovered in which Weissmann highlighted in yellow magic marker evidence that would have gone a long way to proving Jim Brown’s innocence — at the same time he was telling the court that he had no such evidence!
The atrocities don’t end there. In another example, Katherine Zrike, a key individual in the Brown transaction, virtually exonerated Brown in her testimony under oath to the Grand Jury. Weissmann hid this information from the defense (a clear Brady violation) and subsequently lied to the Court about having relevant information. Jim Brown was ultimately found guilty of fraud, conspiracy, perjury, and obstruction and sent to prison. The fraud and conspiracy charges were later overturned.
On October 26, 2011, six years after the Arthur Andersen case was decided and less than two years after the Jim Brown debacle concluded, Robert Mueller announced the appointment of Andrew Weissmann as FBI General Counsel and Deputy Director under Mueller’s watch. What’s more, in 2015, the same Weissmann moved to the criminal fraud section at Department of Justice. And now, Weissmann is a part of Mueller’s special counsel team investigating allegations of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia. This truly is the story of the fox -with blood on his lips – guarding the henhouse!
The current Trump-Russia investigation requires evenhanded, impartiality, and integrity. It’s as important as any special counsel in history. That fact that Mueller would even consider someone with such a heinous, tainted history as Andrew Weissmann to work on his team shows incredibly poor judgment. It is absolutely imperative that Robert Mueller resign now.
by | ARTICLES, BLOG, FREEDOM, GOVERNMENT, TAXES
Over the past 15 years, France’s tax on the wealthy has resulted in a capital flight of 35 billion euros ($41 billion). 10,000 wealthy have left the country over it, which currently applies to personal assets of more than 1.3 million euros. Noting the substantial loss, France will amend their budget so that the tax will be levied only on real estate, thereby exempting “other forms of wealth such as shareholdings in companies” in the coming year.
I wrote about this phenomenon as it was happening in 2014. It bears repeating once again: high taxes drive away citizens who wish not to hand over to the government the money they have saved and earned — just to see it misspent and frittered away.
by | ARTICLES, BLOG, ECONOMY, FREEDOM, RETIREMENT
Forbes has published a continuation of John Mauldin’s essay from September 16. He reiterates that “the coming pension and unfunded government liabilities storm is so big that many of us simply can’t get out of the way, at least not without great difficulty. This holds true not just for the U.S. but for almost all of the developed world.” Read his essay below:
Getting back to the topic, we’re all trapped on small, vulnerable islands. Multiple storms are coming, and evacuation is not an option. All we can do is prepare and then ride them out.
And we all have some very important choices to make.
It Will Be Every Man for Himself
Although I’m known far and wide as “the Muddle Through Guy,” the state and local pension crisis is one that we can’t just muddle through. It’s a solid wall that we’re going to run smack into.
Police officers, firefighters, teachers and other public workers who expect to receive the promised retirement benefits will be bitterly turned down. And the taxpayers will complain vigorously if their taxes are raised beyond all reason.
Pleasing both those groups is not going to be possible in this universe.
So what will happen?
It’s impossible to say, just as we don’t know in advance where a hurricane will make landfall: We just know enough to say the storm will be bad for whoever is caught in its path. But here’s the twist: This financial storm won’t just strike those who live on the economic margins; all of us supposedly well-protected “inland” folk are vulnerable, too.
The damage won’t be random, but neither will it be orderly or logical or just. It will be a mess.
Some who made terrible decisions will come out fine. Others who did everything right will sustain severe hits. The people we ought to blame will be long out of office. Lacking scapegoats, people will invent some.
Worse, it will be a local mess.
Imagine local elections that pit police officers and teachers against once-wealthy homeowners whose property values are plummeting. All will want maximum protection for themselves, at minimum risk and cost.
They can’t all win. Compromises will be the only solution—but reaching those unhappy compromises will be unbelievably ugly. In the next few paragraphs I will illustrate the enormity of the situation with a few more details, some of which were supplied this week by readers.
The Problem Is Reaching a Critical Point
Let’s look at a few more hard facts. Pension costs already consume more than 15% of some big-city budgets, and they will be a much larger percentage in the future. That liability crowds out development and infrastructure improvement, not to mention basic services. It forces city leaders to raise taxes and impose “fees.” Let me quote from the always informative 13d letter (their emphasis):
Consider the City of Los Angeles, which Paul Hatfield, writing for City Watch L.A., recently characterized as being in a state of “virtual bankruptcy.” After a period of stability going back to 2010, violent crime grew 38% over the two-year period ending in December 2016. Citywide robberies have increased 14% since 2015. One possible reason for this uptick: the city’s population has grown while its police department has shrunk. As Hatfield explains:
The LAPD ranks have fallen below the 10,000 achieved in 2013. But the city requires a force of 12,500 to perform effectively… A key factor which limits how much can be budgeted for police services is the city’s share of pensions costs. They consume 20% of the general fund budget, up from 5% in 2002… It is difficult to increase the level of service while lugging that much baggage.
What about subway service in New York City? The system is fraying under record ridership, and trains are breaking down more frequently. There are now more than 70,000 delays every month, up from about 28,000 per month five years ago. The city’s soaring pension costs are a big factor here as well. According to a Manhattan Institute report by E.J. McMahon and Josh McGee issued in July, the city is spending over 11% of its budget on pensions. This means that since 2014, New York City has spent more on pensions that it has building and repairing schools, parks, bridges and subways, combined.
There are many large, older cities where there are more police and teachers on the pension payroll than are now working for the city. That problem is compounding, as those workers will live longer, and the pensioners typically have inflation and other escalation clauses to keep their benefits going up.
Further, most cities do not account for increases in healthcare costs (unfunded liabilities) that they will face in addition to the pensions. Candidly, this is just another “a trillion here, a trillion there” problem. Except for the fact that the trillion dollars must be dug out of state and local budgets that total only $2.5 trillion in aggregate.
Now, add in the near certainty of a recession within the next five years (and I really think sooner) and the ongoing gridlock in national politics, plus the assorted other challenges and crises we face. I won’t run down the full list—you know it well.
I just have to wonder, what are we going to do?
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John Maudlin writes a compelling piece this week on what he coins “the bubble in government promises.” He claims it “is arguably the biggest bubble in human history. Elected officials at all levels have promised workers they will receive pension benefits without taking the hard steps necessary to deliver on those promises. This situation will end badly and hurt many people. Unfortunately, massive snafus like this rarely hurt the politicians who made those overly optimistic promises, often years ago.”
This is a theme I have been focusing on for years. His essay below is a must-read in its entirety:
This time is different are the four most dangerous words any economist or money manager can utter. We learn new things and invent new technologies. Players come and go. But in the big picture, this time is usually not fundamentally different, because fallible humans are still in charge. (Ken Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart wrote an important book called This Time Is Different on the 260-odd times that governments have defaulted on their debts; and on each occasion, up until the moment of collapse, investors kept telling themselves “This time is different.” It never was.)
Nevertheless, I uttered those four words in last week’s letter. I stand by them, too. In the next 20 years, we’re going to see changes that humanity has never seen before, and in some cases never even imagined, and we’re going to have to change. I truly believe this. We have unleashed economic and technological forces we can observe but not entirely control.
I will defend this bold claim at greater length in my forthcoming book, The Age of Transformation.
Today we will zero in on one of those forces, which last week I called “the bubble in government promises,” which I think is arguably the biggest bubble in human history. Elected officials at all levels have promised workers they will receive pension benefits without taking the hard steps necessary to deliver on those promises. This situation will end badly and hurt many people. Unfortunately, massive snafus like this rarely hurt the politicians who made those overly optimistic promises, often years ago.
Earlier this year I called the pension mess “The Crisis We Can’t Muddle Through.” Reflecting since then, I think I was too optimistic. Simply waiting for the floodwaters to drop down to muddle-through depth won’t be enough. We face an entire new ocean, deeper and wider than we can ever cross unaided.
Storms from Nowhere?
This year marks the first time on record that two Category 4 hurricanes have struck the US mainland in the same year. Worse, Harvey and Irma landed directly on some of our most valuable and vulnerable coastal areas. So now, in addition to all the problems that existed a month ago, the US economy has to absorb cleanup and rebuilding costs for large parts of Texas and Florida, as well as our Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands territories.
Now then, people who live in coastal areas know full well that hurricanes happen – they know the risk, just not which hurricane season might launch a devastating storm in their direction. In a note to me about Harvey, fellow Rice University graduate Gary Haubold (1980) noted just how flawed the city’s assumptions actually were regarding what constitutes adequate preparedness. He cited this excerpt from a recent Los Angeles Times article:
The storm was unprecedented, but the city has been deceiving itself for decades about its vulnerability to flooding, said Robert Bea, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and UC Berkeley emeritus civil engineering professor who has studied hurricane risks along the Gulf Coast.
The city’s flood system is supposed to protect the public from a 100-year storm, but Bea calls that “a 100-year lie” because it is based on a rainfall total of 13 inches in 24 hours.
“That has happened more than eight times in the last 27 years,” Bea said. “It is wrong on two counts. It isn’t accurate about the past risk and it doesn’t reflect what will happen in the next 100 years.”
Anybody who lives in Houston can tell you that 13 inches in 24 hours is not all that unusual. But how do Robert Bea’s points apply to today’s topic, public pensions? Both pension plan shortfalls and hurricanes are known risks for which state and local governments must prepare. And in both instances, too much optimism and too little preparation ultimately have devastating results.
Admittedly, public pension liabilities don’t come out of nowhere the way hurricanes seem to – we know exactly where they will strike. In many cases, we know approximately when they’ll strike, too. Yet we still let our elected officials make impossible-to-fulfill promises on our behalf. The rest of us are not so different from those who built beach homes and didn’t buy hurricane or storm surge insurance. We just face a different kind of storm.
Worse, we let our government officials use predictions about future returns that are every bit as unrealistic as calling a 13-inch rain in Houston a 100-year event. And while some of us have called pension officials out, they just keep telling lies – and probably will until we reach the breaking point.
Puerto Rico is a good example. The Commonwealth was already in deep debt before Irma blew in – $123 billion worth of it. There’s simply no way the island can repay such a massive debt. Creditors can fight in the courts, but in the end you can’t squeeze money out of plantains or pineapples. Not enough money, anyway. Now add Irma damages, and the creditors have even less hope of recovering their principal, let alone interest.
Puerto Rico is presently in a new form of bankruptcy that Congress authorized last year. Court proceedings will probably drag on for years, but the final outcome isn’t in doubt. Creditors will get some scraps – at best perhaps $0.30 on the dollar, my sources say – and then move on. We’re going to find out how strong those credit insurance guarantees really are.
“That’s just Puerto Rico,” you may say if you’re a US citizen in one of the 50 states. Be very careful. Your state is probably not so much better off. In 10 years, your state may well be in the same place where Puerto Rico is now. I’d say the odds are better than even.
Are your elected leaders doing anything about this huge issue, or even talking about it? Probably not.
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On the heels of the tragic Houston floods, the mayor has added insult to injury and proposed at 9% property tax increase to “help pay for Harvey costs.” The mayor stresses that the tax increase would only be temporary — but when have we ever seen a tax not become permanent?
The Houston City Council has approved a recommendation from the Director of Finance to do that. The city will now hold three public hearings before being able to vote on the increase. Those hearings are planned for Monday, Sept. 25 at 6 p.m., Monday, Oct. 2 at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Oct 11 at 9 a.m.
So besides having to rebuild homes and lives, residents have to worry about incurring additional personal costs instead of the city tapping the rainy day fund.
by | ARTICLES, BLOG, FREEDOM, POLITICS, TAXES, TRUMP
This past April, some Republicans approached Attorney General Jeff Sessions to look once again into the case of Lois Lerner and the IRS targeting scandal. Today, the Department of Justice released a statement that “reopening the criminal investigation would not be appropriate based on the available evidence.” Though the response was expected, it was still disappointing; Lois Lerner deserved to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for her conduct.
Lois Lerner headed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt groups. An inspector general’s report in 2013 found that the IRS had singled out conservative and tea party groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status. Many had their applications delayed for months and years. Some were asked improper questions about their donors and even their religious practices. Yet, Obama’s Department of Justice concluded in 2015 that they had “found no evidence that any IRS official acted based on political, discriminatory, corrupt or other inappropriate motives that would support a criminal prosecution.” By then, Lerner and others embroiled in the scandal had resigned or retired.
It is a national tragedy that the woman who harassed taxpayer groups, interfered with evidence, and colluded with government entities to suppress thought remains absolved from her transgressions.
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The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly Strassel had some sharp words regarding Jamie Dimon’s hefty donation to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC):
Corporate America will do almost anything to stay on the safe side of public opinion—at least as it’s defined by the media. CEOs will apologize, grovel, resign, settle. They will even, as of this month, legitimize and fund an outfit that exists to smear conservatives.
The press is still obsessing over President Trump’s incompetent handling of the violence in Charlottesville, Va., and that has suited some profiteers just fine. The notorious Southern Poverty Law Center is quietly cashing in on the tragedy, raking in millions on its spun-up reputation as a group that “fights hate.” Apple CEO Tim Cook informed employees that his company is giving $1 million to SPLC and matching employee donations. J.P. Morgan Chase is pitching in $500,000, specifically to further the SPLC’s “work in tracking, exposing and fighting hate groups and other extremist organizations,” in the words of Peter Scher, the bank’s head of corporate responsibility.
What Mr. Scher is referring to is the SPLC’s “Hate Map,” its online list of 917 American “hate groups.” The SPLC alone decides who goes on the list, but its criteria are purposely vague. Since the SPLC is a far-left activist group, the map comes down to this: If the SPLC doesn’t agree with your views, it tags you as a hater.
Let’s not mince words: By funding this list, J.P. Morgan and Apple are saying they support labeling Christian organizations that oppose gay marriage as “hate groups.” That may come as a sour revelation to any bank customers who have donated to the Family Research Council (a mainstream Christian outfit on the SPLC’s list) or whose rights are protected by the Alliance Defending Freedom (which litigates for religious freedom and is also on the list).
Similarly put out may be iPhone owners who support the antiterror policies espoused by Frank Gaffney’s Washington think tank, the Center for Security Policy (on the SPLC’s list). Or any who back the proposals of the Center for Immigration Studies (on the list).
These corporations are presumably in favor of the SPLC’s practice of calling its political opponents “extremists,” which paints targets on their backs. The group’s “Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists” lists Mr. Gaffney (who worked for the Reagan administration); Maajid Nawaz (a British activist whose crimes include tweeting a cartoon of Jesus and Muhammad ); and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (a Somali refugee who speaks out against Islamic extremism).
The SPLC has tarred the respected social scientist Charles Murray, author of the well-regarded book “Losing Ground,” as a “white nationalist.” Mr. Murray has been physically assaulted on campus as a result. He happens to be married to an Asian woman and has Asian daughters, so the slur is ludicrous. But what’s a little smearing and career destruction if J.P. Morgan Chase gets some good headlines?
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A soda tax in Philadelphia, implemented specifically to raise revenue (not to fight obesity) has failed to bring in the projected funds promised by the tax wizards. The tax was supposed to raise some $92 million a year, but people have taken to purchasing their soft drinks outside of the city, because the tax that is levied is a 1.5-cent per ounce tax.
The Tax Foundation studied the tax and its effects and found that, “According to some local distributors and retailers, sales have declined by nearly 50 percent. This is likely primarily due to higher prices, which discourage purchasing beverages in the city. Earlier this year PepsiCo announced it was laying off up to 100 workers because of the tax, which the company blames for costing a 43 percent drop in business. Philadelphians are also no longer able to buy 12-packs or 2-liters of Pepsi products in grocery stores due to the tax.”
This loss of revenue has begun to create further problems with the city budget. The tax was first passed to fund pre-K programs, but “in practice it awards just 49 percent of the soda tax revenues to local pre-K programs. Another 20 percent of the soda tax revenues fund government employee benefits or city programs, while the rest of the money will go towards parks, libraries, and community schools.” Thus, in July, city officials had to lower their beverage revenue projections which in turn affects the pre-K programs that are supposed to be funded by the tax.
In the final nail of absurdity, the report found that “that the tax is 24 times higher than the Pennsylvania tax rate on beer.”
Folks, here’s a prime example of how people change their behaviors — even the simplest ones like buying soda — in response to egregious, illogical, taxes.
by | ARTICLES, BLOG, BUSINESS, ECONOMY, FREEDOM, OBAMA, OBAMACARE, POLITICS, TAXES
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have published data which projects that 1,332 counties (over 40%) will have only one health insurer on Obamacare in 2018 and 49 will have none. According to CNSNews, “the data comes from the Health Insurance Exchanges Issuer County Map, which shows projected issuer participation on the Health Insurance Exchanges in 2018 based on the issuer public announcements made prior to late July of 2017.”
Successful healthcare systems do not continuously lose insurers, accumulate massive debt, and leave citizens with little to no choice. Obamacare has continued to wreak havoc on our citizens. It has to go. We can do better.
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Last week, the Social Security Board of Trustees released their annual report on the long-term financial status of the Social Security Trust Funds. The news does not continue to bode will for the long-term survival of Social Security — but on the other hand, this is nothing that we haven’t heard before. Unfortunately, no one really wants to tackle the problem of reform.
Straight from their press release:
“The Social Security Board of Trustees today released its annual report on the long-term financial status of the Social Security Trust Funds. The combined asset reserves of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Funds are projected to become depleted in 2034, the same as projected last year, with 77 percent of benefits payable at that time. The DI Trust Fund will become depleted in 2028, extended from last year’s estimate of 2023, with 93 percent of benefits still payable.
In the 2017 Annual Report to Congress, the Trustees announced:
- The asset reserves of the combined OASDI Trust Funds increased by $35 billion in 2016 to a total of $2.85 trillion.
- The combined trust fund reserves are still growing and will continue to do so through 2021. Beginning in 2022, the total annual cost of the program is projected to exceed income. (emphasis added)
- The year when the combined trust fund reserves are projected to become depleted, if Congress does not act before then, is 2034 – the same as projected last year. At that time, there will be sufficient income coming in to pay 77 percent of scheduled benefits.
“It is time for the public to engage in the important national conversation about how to keep Social Security strong,” said Nancy A. Berryhill, Acting Commissioner of Social Security. “People understand the value of their earned Social Security benefits and the importance of keeping the program secure for the future.”
Other highlights of the Trustees Report include:
- Total income, including interest, to the combined OASDI Trust Funds amounted to $957 billion in 2016. ($836 billion in net contributions, $33 billion from taxation of benefits, and $88 billion in interest)
- Total expenditures from the combined OASDI Trust Funds amounted to $922 billion in 2016.
- Social Security paid benefits of $911 billion in calendar year 2016. There were about 61 million beneficiaries at the end of the calendar year.
- Non-interest income fell below program costs in 2010 for the first time since 1983. Program costs are projected to exceed non-interest income throughout the remainder of the 75-year period.
- The projected actuarial deficit over the 75-year long-range period is 2.83 percent of taxable payroll – 0.17 percentage point larger than in last year’s report.
- During 2016, an estimated 171 million people had earnings covered by Social Security and paid payroll taxes.
- The cost of $6.2 billion to administer the Social Security program in 2016 was a very low 0.7 percent of total expenditures.
- The combined Trust Fund asset reserves earned interest at an effective annual rate of 3.2 percent in 2016.
The Board of Trustees usually comprises six members. Four serve by virtue of their positions with the federal government: Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury and Managing Trustee; Nancy A. Berryhill, Acting Commissioner of Social Security; Thomas E. Price, M.D., Secretary of Health and Human Services; and R. Alexander Acosta, Secretary of Labor. The two public trustee positions are currently vacant.”
View the 2017 Trustees Report at www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TR/2017/.
