Forum Post: Mr Lame Duck President
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 15, 2011, 7:34 p.m. EST by PartyX
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Does being President have any value? If I were President I would do more in changes with in agencies, as opposed to being a lame duck. I'm sure you can do some hiring and firing up there Mr. President
I think that many confuse the Office of the President with the local Walmart manager...
The President's actual powers are limited, the large majority of appointments must be approved by Congress, at times it is unpolitic to 'fire' someone as it would do more harm than good.
It sure would be nice if it were that simple...come to think of it, everyone who works whether appointed or elected works for us. We are technically the 'managers' who can hire or fire.
Funny, how that Bastard Bush and his evil empire got their way.
That's easy. 9/11 (which, by the way, I do not believe the CIA, the NSA, or the little green men from Mars were responsible for) was every Republican's wet dream. Traditionally speaking they are the party of aggression in the international sphere, which makes them quite suited to the politics of warfare and foreign aggression. The trick of Rove & Co. was to leverage everyone's anger at reactionary Islamic fundamentalism to push reactionary Christian fundamentals and serious curtailment of civil rights as the answer, and for a time it worked.
Good PR.
No, that's actually not true. The only people who are subject to approval are relatively few slots at the top. There are many thousands below in SES, department head, Deputy Assistant Secretary for whatever-type positions and related staff that roll over every time there's a change in administrations. Basically, you have what are career employees at each of the agencies who represent the stable workforce and then probably another 10% to 20% who are political appointees in some way. Most of these jobs go to people who were active in campaigns or otherwise supported the party or brought in as staff by those who did. That applies to both Democrats and Republicans.
This is why I suspect that Abe and JFK got shot. They out-stepped their role and respected the wishes of the people.
Hmmm...
Some of the people that President Obama has tried to hire (appoint), have been stuck (pigeon-holed) by Congress.
Way to go Congress, Taxpayers are paying you huge salaries and benefits to basically block, obstruct, and defeat anything that Obama has proposed.
Party of "NO"
What ever happened to a good ole dual. Slap a senator and challenge him to a dual...
well thank God, and our founding fathers, we can stop the Idiot.
actually, YOU can't stop him..
You're just the lowest level corporate crony.
The congressman that obviously step all over you worshippers can.
Who would you fire??
Who would you hire??
Head of SEC and FCC for starters...Hire more Vets and fire BerStanky too
Why fire Mary Schapiro??
Why fire Julius Genachowski??
Why subscribe firing people you can't even name??
Why Bernanke??
By Mike Whitney
March 15, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- After a year-long investigation, court-appointed bank examiner Anton Valukas has produced a deadly 2,200 page report which details the activities that led to the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. The report is a keg of dynamite. The question now is whether anyone in government has the nerve to light the fuse. Valukas provides powerful evidence that Lehman executives were involved in “balance sheet manipulation” by implementing an arcane accounting procedure called “Repo 105” which masked the bank's true financial condition from investors and regulators. According to Valukas, Lehman was “Unable to find a United States law firm that would provide it with an opinion letter permitting the true sale accounting treatment" using Repo 105. So, Lehman executives went outside of the country in an effort to enlist the support of a London law firm that would approve the procedure.
It is impossible to overstate the significance of Valugas's findings. The report exposes the opaque but central role of the repo market which provides essential short-term loans for financial institutions. (Lehman used repos to conceal the full extent of its collapse, by dint of the amount of leverage it was using, meaning the pitiful asset anchor tethered to a vast zeppelin of debt) More importantly, it shows the cozy and, very probably criminal relationship between the country's main regulatory bodies and the Wall Street behemoths. The activities of the New York Fed (NYFRB), which at the time was headed by Timothy Geithner, is particularly suspect in this regard. The report should trigger an immediate Congressional investigation, probing the whole affair and most importantly the role of the Fed.
"Quite a few observers... have been stunned and frustrated at the refusal to investigate what was almost certain accounting fraud at Lehman. ....The unraveling isn’t merely implicating Fuld (Lehman’s CEO) and his recent succession of CFOs, or its accounting firm, Ernst & Young, as might be expected. It also emerges that the NY Fed, and thus Timothy Geithner, were at a minimum massively derelict in the performance of their duties, and may well be culpable in aiding and abettingLehman in accounting fraud and Sarbox violations....
“We need to demand an immediate release of the e-mails, phone records, and meeting notes from the NY Fed and key Lehman principals regarding the NY Fed’s review of Lehman’s solvency. If, as things appear now, Lehman was allowed by the Fed’s inaction to remain in business, when the Fed should have insisted on a wind-down .....
“…at a minimum, the NY Fed helped perpetuate a fraud on investors and counterparties. This pattern further suggests the Fed, which by its charter is tasked to promote the safety and soundness of the banking system, instead, via its collusion with Lehman management, operated to protect particular actors to the detriment of the public at large.
“And most important, it says that the NY Fed, and likely Geithner himself, undermined, perhaps even violated, laws designed to protect investors and markets. If so, he is not fit to be Treasury secretary or hold any office related to financial supervision and should resign immediately." (Naked Capitalism)
Repeat: "Accounting fraud", "collusion", "aiding and abetting." This is strong language from a woman who spent than 25 years in the financial services industry, alternately working at Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Co., and Sumitomo Bank. Smith typically chooses her words carefully and is not easily given to hyperbole. Yves Smith again: "Here is the part of the report that discussed how the Fed aided and abetted Lehman misconduct:
If I were Obama, I'd probably try to bring Paul Volcker back. Replacing him with someone like Greenspan was ridiculous.
The problem is that when it comes to presidential appointments, they can't make any of their beliefs known until after Congress approves. This is what makes finding replacement appointments so difficult.
Michigan is among just a handful of states raising taxes on low-income working families while cutting taxes for other groups, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities said in a report released Tuesday
Not sure how that was on topic... But, anyway, why the hell did Michigan vote for a Republican best known for outsourcing jobs in his business career??
I'm actually from PA, but I think the whole Republican Party could aptly be renamed the "F**K Michigan" party, yet they still win elections, there.
first get a sense of humor, second, the answer is what have they done to make life of the common man better? Bernake, is part of the biggest heist in history...
I wouldn't hire or fire anyone. I would engage in a massive purge - and that is why I'm not running for President.