Obama Tags Businesses for Failure Watch

Snoopy is not doing any "Happy Dance" while MetLife is fighting off the "Risk Tag" from the Obama regulators. MetLife is at odds with the overreaching 2010 Dodd-Frank Law providing under the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Its mission first was to identify and combat threats to the nation's financial stability as a banking law, but now it is also charged with identifying non-bank firms with ''risk tags" that warrant scrutiny too. It lets the government intrude into businesses and interfere with any impose laws as it sees fit. MetLife said in a securities filing that it will challenge its designation as a systematically important financial institutions (SIFI).

The Dodd-Frank Law succinctly describes both the Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton's liberal, progressive big government over-reach plans. It is 'Big Brother" not only watching, but also knowing what's best for you. Here is what actually happened in the 2008 Mortgage Crisis, a fault of big government regulations too.

All insurers include a full range of coverage products traditionally have been under state insurance regulators. However, because of the enormous 2008 implosion of AIG, the American International Group, it was their concentration of insuring toxic home loan assets that were due to:

• under-qualified, buyers secure sub-prime mortgage loans in home real estate 
• primary mortgage lenders dealing in risky secondary mortgage resales
• unregulated bond insurance which guaranteed risky collaterallized assets  
• mortgage-bond investments collapsed as buyers default on their toxic loans
• a run-on-the-bank scenario to cash out policies to cover losses to raise cash

Historically, prior to 2008 in the U.S. less than 2% of people lost their homes to foreclosure. However, those statistics were based upon past 'qualified', not bloated 'sub-prime' mortgages numbers. So, those rates climbed far higher due to the federal government pushing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into the idea that everyone deserved to buy a home, regardless of their qualifications or ability to make payments. It was a sub-prime loan rationale formulated for failure, and it did too.

Meanwhile Metlife under the state insurance department rules is capitalized as required for any losses. They are unlike banking institutions with loan instruments tied to volatile systemic risks subject to panicked consumers trying to liquidate assets to raise cash according to the Dodd-Frank Law parameters. So if the Financial Stability Oversight Council were to instruct them to hold back more capital to bolster reserves, it could create a working capital shortfall of meeting competitive pricing pressures in the marketplace to cover higher cost margins by seeking to increase product pricing. It would be a further cost burden that would have questionable value-added protection in the end to the insurer and ultimately to the marketplace seeking guaranteed safety.  

This big government interference amounts to just that, interference.  So the free market has risk, that is why there are bankruptcy proceedings if a business fails. It does not require government to provide a bail-out safety net for every little boo-boo that people get. The Financial Stability Oversight Council has 10 voting members and 5 nonvoting members and will be returning a decision by early January to Metlife. Hopefully, their decision keeps all of our insurance premiums lower which will allow Metlife to breathe and take a break from one more onerous, hidden price increase. Metlife, though, has only been around since 1915, is the largest insurance company and so should have learned a little about economic volatility in the world over those years.

Obama Cries Wolf Again

Background Facts to date: After the shooting by the St. Louis police of Michael Brown, an eighteen year old, young black man that some preliminary evidence was released with witness accounts, anecdotal facts and then forensic findings were released. (The trial still has to be conducted to determine guilt or not.) 

• A convenience store video shows a 'strong arm robbery', a 'bully takeover grab', by Michael Brown stealing a $48.99 box of Swisher Sweet cigars from a small store clerk just fifteen minutes before he was taken down. Although this incident happened before the shooting, it is not known if the policeman knew of this prior to his confrontation with Brown. It certainly offers worthy conjecture on whether Brown thought the officer was alerted about his 'strong arm' store robbery and reacted to the officer because of guilt or the officer was actually aware of Brown's description and had been on the lookout for the suspect to arrest him. 

• Dr. Michael Baden, a renown forensic coroner hired by the Brown family, conducted the second autopsy and found all of the multiple gunshots fired entered as frontal wounds exiting through the back of the body indicating Brown did not get shot in the back while running away as was alleged. Furthermore, his arms were shot while down as the bullets exited into the torso.

• Dr. Baden stated during the autopsy that marijuana was discovered in Brown's system. Further detailed drug toxicology tests to determine any other drugs are being conducted and will be available in about two weeks. 

• Dr. Michael Baden noted that six bullets entered Brown's torso consistent with witness accounts that Brown forced the policeman as he pushed the officer down on his back onto a seat and attempted to grab the officer's holstered gun. It will need further witness collaboration to determine if those shots were discharged in the car during that struggle.

• Detective Mark Furman, a former Homicide officer, in speaking to crime scene witnesses reports that a struggle occurred in a police car and that Brown apparently held him down with his left hand as he struggled with his right hand to wrest the weapon from the officer. Brown then jumped up, started to run and then double-backed toward the officer. The policeman had his weapon drawn and pointed it at Brown as he came toward him.  

LIGHTING MOLOTOV COCKTAILS TO THROW AT POLICE.Here’s some curious facts on the latest violence in St. Louis surrounding the Michael Brown shooting.

There’s a lot of talk on the ground about a communist group, The Revolution Club Chicago, that was bussed into Ferguson from Chicago joined by the New Black Panthers and their leader Malik Shabazz. They provoked the police with Molotov cocktails and looting the night of August 13th while the local protesters peacefully protested. That’s when police responded with gas and flash grenades.

The Revolution Club Chicago's reported goal is to make the protests go super-violent, spread across the region, and spark a revolution. They are said to visibly stand out from the local protesters in how they respond to police and intimidate reporters when photos and video are taken of them. 

LOOTER STEALING BOOZE.

The black community was outraged and was, sadly, pounced-upon by race-hustlers who were far less concerned about igniting a dialogue about race relations than they were about igniting hysteria and outrage. 

Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and the U.S. Department of Justice didn’t get the job done with the Trayvon Martin case, so these race hustlers have moved on to Michael Brown, their next racial martyr, to incite riots and violence. It furthers the Progressive agenda to take more individual rights away under the Federal laws by treating Ferguson residents at large as a population to occupy, not citizens to protect. Doesn't anyone see that dynamic?

Here are just a few questions that can be asked: 

1. Where are these 'outsiders' coming from and who is paying for their time and expenses? 
2. Why suddenly do cities need such firepower to quell civic unrest; especially with Federal intervention in local police matters?
3. Why has President Obama again stuck his two cents in and caused more consternation with half-baked comments? 
4. Why are the Federal agencies overstepping their authority again, except for the obvious grandstanding politics and further incursion into states' rights?