Welcome to the World Famous 12HoursInACity Media Blog. This is the point of contact where you will be able to follow the travels of Robert Paisola, Nationally Known Photographer and Journalist as he travels the world in search of the Perfect Models Worldwide! Stay Up to date at 12HoursInACity.com and VegasNightsLive.com If you are in the media, send your request to media@12hoursinacity.net
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
CreditInAmerica.com by Robert Paisola from WJLA and NBC4: The James Smith Real Estate Investor Story, Robert...
CreditInAmerica.com by Robert Paisola from WJLA and NBC4: The James Smith Real Estate Investor Story, Robert...: "To my many friends, collegues, associates and clients around the world: As many of you know, I have had the luxury of speaking all over th..."
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Robert Paisola and The Free Capitalist Rick Koerber 2011 (No Open)
It all started with a representative in Utah who introduced Utah House Bill 477. Never in his wildest dreams dis he think that the American Public would be watching so closely. Watch as Robert Paisola interviews "The Free Capitalist" Rick Koerber on "Privacy in America"
If you are seeking assistance with a governmental entity, timeshare company, real estate matter, home owners association or anything that might interest the American Public , Check us out at www.WesternCapitalVip.com and www.WesternCapitalNews.com
If you are seeking assistance with a governmental entity, timeshare company, real estate matter, home owners association or anything that might interest the American Public , Check us out at www.WesternCapitalVip.com and www.WesternCapitalNews.com
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Death At The Orlando International Airport, Robert Paisola Reports LIVE for JetBlue AYCJ
Death At The Orlando International Airport, Robert Paisola Reports LIVE for JetBlue AYCJ
Death at the Orlando Airport.
Watch the videos to Come. We walked out of the terminal and this man fell off of a bus. EVERYONE simply stood there and did NOTHING... FOR 22 Minutes. I could not just watch this. I had To do SOMETHING! Watch the 3 videos and then lets see what YOU would do ... HE LAID THERE FOR 22 MINUTES. NOBODY DID A THING, BUT WATCHED. I turned it into a teaching moment to show my daughter how valuable Firefighters are.. Discretion is Advised in Watching these 3 Videos.
Robert Paisola
Western Capital Multimedia USA
Copyright Robert Paisola 2010
877-517-9555
- WNTO PBS Seminole County, Altamonte Springs
WCEU PBS Volusia County, Daytona Beach
- WEVU - UPN Channel 7 Lee County, Ft. Myers
- WINK - CBS Channel 11 Lee County, Ft. Myers
- WGCU-TV PBS Channel 3/30 Lee County, Ft. Myers
- NBC Channel 2 Lee County, Ft. Myers
- ABC Channel 7 Lee County, Ft. Myers/ Collier County, Naples
- WUFT PBS 5 Alachua County, Gainesville
- WCJB - ABC TV20 Alachua County, Gainesville, Lake City, Ocala
- WOGX FOX 51 Alachua County, Gainesville
- WJCT PBS Channel 7 Duval County, Jacksonville
- WJXX ABC 25 Duval County, Jacksonville
- WJXT Channel 4 Duval County, Jacksonville
- WOFL FOX 35 Seminole County, Lake Mary
- WPBT PBS 2 Miami-Dade County, Miami
- WFOR CBS 4 Miami-Dade County, Miami
- WTVJ NBC 6 Miami-Dade County/ Broward County, Ft. lauderdale
- WSVN FOX 7 Miami-Dade County, Miami
- WPLG ABC 10 Miami-Dade County, Miami
- WLRN PBS TV-17 Miami-Dade County, Miami
- WBFS UPN 33 Miami-Dade County, Miami
- WBZL WB39 Miami-Dade County, Miami
WDZL 39 Miami-Dade County, Miami
- WSCV TB1 51 Miami-Dade County, Miami
WPXM PAX Channel 35 Miami-Dade County, Miami
WLTH FOX Gadsden County, Midway
- WBCC-TV PBS Channel 68 Cocoa, Orlando, Daytona Beach
- WESH NBC 2 Orange County, Orlando
- WCPX CBS 6 Orange County, Orlando
- WFTV ABC 9 Orange County, Orlando
- WKCF WB18 Orange County, Orlando
- WMFE PBS 24 Orange County, Orlando
- WTGL IND 52 Orange County, Orlando
- WRBW UPN 65 Orange County, Orlando
- WOLF Fox 35 Orange County, Orlando
WACX REL Orange County, Orlando
WOGX Fox51 Marion County, Ocala
WOPX Orange County, Maitland
- WJHG NBC 7 Bay County, Panama City
- WMBB ABC 13 Bay County, Panama City
- WFSG PBS 56 Bay County, Panama City
WBQP Escambia County, Pensacola
WEAR Escambia County, Pensacola
WHBR Escambia County, Pensacola
- WFGX Television Okaloosa, Ft. Walton Beach
WWSB ABC Sarasota County, Sarasota
- WCTV CBS 6 Leon County, Tallahassee
- WFSU PBS 11 Leon County, Tallahassee
WFSG PBS Leon County, Tallahassee
- WTXL ABC Channel 27 Leon County, Tallahassee, Thomasville, Valdosta
- WTLH FOX 49 Leon County, Tallahassee
- WEDU PBS 3 Hillsborough County, Tampa Bay
- WFLA NBC 8 Hillsborough County, Tampa Bay
- Cable TW 09 Hillsborough County, Tampa Bay
- WTSP CBS 10 Hillsborough County, Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg
- WTVT FOX 13 Hillsborough County, Tampa Bay
- WUSF PBS TV16 Hillsborough County, Tampa
- WFTS ABC Channel 28 Hillsborough County, Tampa
- WWWB TV32 Hillsborough County, Tampa
- WTOG UPN 44 Hillsborough County, Tampa, St. Petersburg
WXPX PAX Hillsborough County, St. Petersburg
- WWCI IND 10 Indian River County, Vero Beach
WTCN IND Martin County, Stuart
- WPTV NBC 5 Palm Beach County, West Palm Beach
- WPEC News 12 Palm Beach County, West Palm Beach
- WXEL PBS 42 Palm Beach County, West Palm Beach
- WFGC IND Channel 61 Palm Beach County, West Palm Beach
- WFLX FOX Palm Beach County, West Palm Beach
- WTVX UPN Palm Beach County, West Palm Beach
- WPBT Channel 2 South Florida's public television
- WCLF REL Pinellas County, Largo
- WESH NBC Orange County, Winter Park
- WWCI TV10 Indian River County, Vero Beach
- WPLG 10 Broward County
- Boca Raton News
- Diario Las Americas Miami
- El Nuevo Herald
- El Heraldo Online Ft. Lauderdale English & Spanish
- Miami Herald
- Palm Beach Post
- Palm Beach Daily News
- Sun-Sentinel Broward County, Ft. Lauderdale
- Palms West Press Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee and The Acreage
- Waterfront News Fort Lauderdale - Miami
- South Florida CityLink Broward and Palm Beach weekly news and entertainment connection
- The Town Crier Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee
- Miami New Times
- Coconut Grover Monthly News
- Charlotte Sun Herald
- Fort Myers News-Press Lee County
- Naples Daily News Collier County
- Times of the Islands Lee County, Sanibel
- Sunday Morning News Hendry, Glades, and Western Palm Beach County
- Marco Island Eagle Collier County
- Boca Beacan Boca Grande's weekly newspaper Lee County
- Cyberconch Florida Keys
- Keys News
- Florida Keys Keynoter
- Florida Today Online Newspaper Space Coast, Brevard County
- Daytona Beach News-Journal
- DeLand Beacon West Volusia News
- Ocala Star-Banner
- Orlando Sentinel complete online source for Orlando news and information, Orlando weather, Orlando shopping, Orlando sports and entertainment,
Orlando restaurants, Orlando jobs and business, and classifieds. - Osceola News Gazette Kissimmee
- Polk Online
- The Ledger Polk County, Lakeland
- Daily Sun Lake, Marion and Sumter Counties
- Orlando Business Journal
- Orlando Weekly
- Chronicle Online Citrus County
- Tampa Tribune
- Gulf Coast Business Review weekly publication
- St. Petersburg Times
- Hernando Today
- The Newscaster covering news and events on Florida's Nature Coast.
- Bradenton Herald Manatee County
- Englewood Sun Herald Sarasota
- Herald Tribune NewsCoast Manatee, Sarasota, Englewood, Venice, Charlotte, Northport
- Venice Gondolier Sarasota
- Jacksonville Daily Record daily business and legal news source
- St. Augustine Record
- Gainesville Sun One
- The Beaches Leader Duval County, Jacksonville
- The Florida Times-Union Duval County, Jacksonville
- Palatka Daily News Putnam County, Palatka
- Jacksonville Business Journal
- News-Leader Fernandina Beach weekly news Nassau County
- High Springs Herald Alachua
- Northwest Florida Daily News
- The Star Gulf County
Serving Northwest Florida - The Walton Sun Walton County
- Tallahassee Democrat
- Panama City News Herald
- Pensacola News Journal
- Apalachicola Times Franklin County, Apalachicola
- Cedar Key Beacon Levy County
- 88.3 WBIY 91.5 WFYO Kingdom.FM Ft. Myers
Radio for the Kingdom of God - 88.7 WAYJ Way FM Ft Myers
Contemporary Christian - 89.5 WSRX Praise FM Naples
Contemporary Christian - 90.1 WGCU Public Media Florida Gulf Coast University
- 90.9 WSOR FM
Ft Lauderdale / Miami Metro Area
West Palm Beach / Ft Pierce Metro Area
Orlando Metro Area
Tampa Bay Metro Area
Gainesville Metro Area
Jacksonville Metro Area
Tallahassee Metro Area
Panama City Metro Area
Pensacola Metro Area
Southeast
- 610AM WIOD News Talk Radio Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
- 710AM WAQI Miami-Dade County, Miami
- 790AM WAXY Sports/Talk Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
- 1140AM WQBA Spanish News/Talk Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
- 1180AM WQBA Spanish News/Talk Radio Miami-Dade County, Miami
- 1360AM WKAT Spanish Talk Miami-Dade County, North Miami Beach
- 1490AM WMBM Gospel Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
- WSRF-AM Rock Broward County, Ft. Lauderdale
- 88.9FM WDNA Public Radio Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
- 89.7FM WMCU Religious Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
- 91.3FM WLRN Public Radio Miami-Dade County, Miami
- 93.1FM WTMI Classical and Jazz Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
- 93.9FM WLVE Love94 smooth jazz Miami/Fort Lauderdale
- 94.9FM WZTA Rock Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
- 95.7FM WXDJ El Zol 95 - Merengue, Salsa, Baladas Spanish Radio, Miami-Dade County, Miami
- 96FM WPOW Miami-Dade County, Miami
- 97.3FM WFLC Contemporary rock Miami-Dade County, Miami
- 98.3FM WRTO Miami-Dade County, Miami
- 99.9 Kiss Country Hollywood
- 100.7FM WHYI Hits Miami-Dade County, Miami
- 101.5FM WLYF Lite Adult Contemporary Miami-Dade County, Miami
- 102.7FM WMXJ Oldies Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
- 103.5FM WPLL Adult Contemporary Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
- 105FM WHQT R&B hits and oldies Miami-Dade County, Miami
- 107.1FM WOMB Miami-Dade County, Miami Beach
- 107.5FM WAMR Romantic Spanish, Miami-Dade County, Miami
- Call FM Modern Christian Music Miami-Dade County
- 940FM WINZ News Radio Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
- WQAM Sports Talk Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
- WEDR-FM
- WSUA-AM
- WAFG-FM Religious News/Talk Broward County, Ft. Lauderdale
- WBGG-FM Rock Broward County, Ft. Lauderdale
- WKIS 99.9 Kiss Country Broward County, Hollywood
- WLRN FM Public Radio Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Florida Keys
- 88.1FM WAYF Adult Contemporary/Christian West Palm Beach
- 92.7FM WZZR Rock/Classic Rock West Palm Beach/St. Lucie
- 94.3FM WOLL Oldies Palm Beach
- 97.9FM WRMF Adult Contemporary West Palm Beach
- 103.1FM WPBZ Rock Alternative West Palm Beach
- 104.3FM WEAT Adult Contemporary West Palm Beach
- 107.9FM WIRK Country West Palm Beach
- 1040AM WJNO News/Talk West Palm Beach
- 1590AM WPSL News Talk West Palm Beach/St. Lucie
- WKGR FM Classic Rock Palm Beach/St. Lucie
- WBZT Talk Radio West Palm Beach
- WLVJ-AM Religious Palm Beach
- WMBX-FM Adult Contemporary Palm Beach
- WPBZ-FM Rock Palm Beach
- WXEL-FM Classical Palm Beach
- WRMB-FM Religious Palm Beach
- 98.9FM WGUF Smooth Jazz Collier County, Naples
- 99.3 WJBX Adult Contemporary Lee County, Fort Myers/Collier County, Naples
- 106FM WJST Rock Collier County, Naples
- 106.3FM WAFC Country Lee County, Fort Myers/Collier County, Naples
- 107.1FM WCKT Country Lee County, Fort Myers/Collier County, Naples
- 1480AM WODX Sports Talk Collier County, Marco Island
- WDDV 92.1 Sarasota - easy favorites from the Dove.
- WENG 1530 Englewood - news, talk, and sports, from The Wave.
- WJBX 99.3 Fort Myers - new rock 99X.
- WMDR 96.5 Sarasota - includes a RealAudio feed.
- WOLZ 95 Fort Myers - plays oldies.
- WSGL 104.7 Naples - music, appearances, and pictures.
- WSPB 1450 Sarasota - news, talk, and sports.
- WSRZ 106.5 Sarasota - oldies.
- WWGR 101.9 Fort Myers - country.
- Florida Keys Radio Network Monroe County
Radio Guide for the Florida Keys - 102.5FM WPIK Country Monroe County, Summerland Key
- 95.5FM WNDD Rock Marion County, Ocala
- 1370AM WOCA News/Talk Marion County, Ocala
- WHIJ Christian Radio Marion County, Ocala
- Wind-FM 92.5 Gainesville, 95.5 Ocala, 107.9 Levy and Gilchrist Counties
- 90.7FM WMFE Classical Orlando/Daytona Beach
- 93.1FM WKRO Rock Daytona Beach
- 98.9FM WMMO Adult Contemporary Orlando/Daytona Beach
- 99.3FM WLRQ Lite Rock Orlando/Daytona Beach/Cocoa
- 101.1FM WJRR Rock Orlando/Daytona Beach/Maitland
- 103.1FM WLOQ Jazz Orlando/Daytona Beach/Winter Park
- 104.1FM WTKS Talk/News Orlando/Daytona Beach/Maitland
- 105.1FM WOMX Mix Orlando/Daytona Beach
- 105.9FM WOCL Oldies Orlando/Daytona Beach/Longwood
- 106.3FM WCIF Religious Orlando/Daytona Beach/Melbourne
- 106.7FM WXXL Orlando/Daytona Beach
- 107.1FM WAOA Orlando/Daytona Beach/Melbourne
- WGNE-FM Country Daytona Beach
- 1240AM WKIQ Classic Country Daytona Beach/Eustis
- 1520AM WTLN Religious Orlando/Daytona Beach
- WUCF Orlando, University of Central Florida
- 104.1 Real Radio Brevard County
- 99.3FM WLRQ Lite Rock Brevard County
- 107.1FM WA1A Brevard County
- 1590AM WPSL The Talk of the Treasure Coast
- 94.7FM WBBE Treasure Coast
- WPGS Talk Radio East Central Florida
- 1130AM WBF Oldies Polk County
- 95.3 Power Orlando's Power Source
- Martin County Amateur Radio Association (MCARA) Florida amateur radio club and emergency weather information.
- WNDB 1150 News & Talk Radio Volusia County, Daytona Beach
- 95.7 Classic Rock Volusia County, Daytona Beach
- Star 94.5FM Smooth R&B cna Classic Soul Orlando and Central Florida
- 88.1FM WJIS Christian Tampa/St. Petersburg/Sarasota
- 88.5FM WMNF Community Radio Hillsborough County
- 90.5FM WBVM Classical Christian Tampa
- 91.5FM WLPJ Adult Contemporary Tampa/St. Petersburg/Port Richey
- 92.5FM WYUU Oldies Tampa/St. Petersburg
- 93.3 FM WFLZ Todays Hit Music Hillsborough County, Tampa
- 94.1FM WSJT Smooth Jazz Hillsborough County
- 94.9 WARM Hillsborough County
- WMTX Star 95.7 FM Today's Music Alternative Hillsborough County, Tampa Bay
- 96.5 WMDR Sarasota
- 97.9FM WXTB Rock Hillsborough County
- 100.7 WAKS Rock Alternative Tampa
- 104.7FM WRBQ Country Tampa
- Q105 - WRBQ 104.7 Country Hillsborough County, Tampa
- 105.5FM WTBT Classic Rock Hillsborough County
- 106.3FM WSRZ Oldies Tampa/St. Petersburg/Sarasota
- 106.5 WSRZ Oldies Sarasota
- Sarasota Emergency Radio Club
- 106.9FM WSRZ Oldies Hillsborough County
- 107.3 WCOF Hillsborough County
- 107.9FM WYNF Classic Rock Tampa/St. Petersburg/Sarasota
- 570AM WHNZ News & Talk Radio Hillsborough County, Tampa Bay
- 930 WKXY News Talk Radio Sarasota
- 970AM WFLA News Radio Hillsborough County
- WQYK 1010AM The Superstars of Talk Hillsborough County, Tampa Bay
- 1040AM WMTX Sports Radio Tampa
- 1130AM WWBF Tampa/St. Petersburg/Polk
- 1420AM WBRD Gospel Tampa/St. Petersburg/Sarasota
- 1430AM WLKF Talk Radio Tampa/St. Petersburg/Lakeland
- 1450 WSPB Sports/News Talk Sarasota
- 1530 WENG The Wave - Sports/News Talk Englewood
- WGUL-AM News Talk Tampa
- WTMP-AM Tampa
- WUSF-FM Tampa
- WDAE-AM Sports Talk Tampa
- 1340AM Tan-Talk Clearwater
- 89.1FM WUFT Alachua County, Gainesville, University of Florida
- 97.7FM WRRX Adult/Alternative Alachua County, Gainesville
- 103.7FM WRUF Rock Alachua County, Gainesville
- 1390AM WAJD Alachua County, Gainesville
- 92.1FM WJXR Talk/Country Duval County, Jacksonville/Baker
- 93.3FM WPLA Alternative Rock Duval County, Jacksonville
- 99.1FM WQIK Country Duval County, Jacksonville
- 104.5FM WFYV Rock Duval County, Jacksonville
- 690AM WOKV News/Talk Duval County, Jacksonville
- 1460AM WZNZ News Duval County, Jacksonville
- 91.9FM WAYL Christian St. John's County, St. Augustine
- 1240AM WFOY Talk Radio St. John's County, St. Augustine
- Chuck Baldwin Live Radio Talk Show Escambia County, Pensacola
- 88.1FM WUWF Classical/Jazz Escambia County, Pensacola, University of West Florida
- 99.5FM WKSM Escambia County, Pensacola
- 100.3FM WNCV Adult Contemporary Escambia County, Pensacola
- 101.5FM WTKX The Rock Alternative Escambia County, Pensacola
- 105.5 WYZB Country Escambia County, Pensacola
- 107.3FM WYCL Oldies Escambia County, Pensacola
- 1260AM WFTW Talk Escambia County, Pensacola
- 100.5 WOYS Oyster Radio Franklin County, Apalachicola
- 88.9FM WFSU News/Information Leon County, Tallahassee
- 89.1FM WFSM Public Radio Leon County, Tallahassee
- 91.5FM WFSQ Classical Leon County, Tallahassee
- 98.9FM WBZE Adult Contemporary Leon County, Tallahassee
- 99.9FM WWFO Classic Rock Leon County, Tallahassee
- 103.1FM WAIB Country Leon County, Tallahassee
- 1330AM WCVC Christian Leon County, Tallahassee
Friday, September 10, 2010
The Meltdown of Mickeys House, Robert Paisola Reports from Orlando Florida For The Wall Street Journal, Via Jet Blue AYCJ
The Meltdown of Mickeys House, Robert Paisola Reports from Orlando Florida, for The Wall Street Journal
For Immediate Release
Orlando, Florida
September 10, 2010
By: Robert Paisola
"I have no idea how in the world we can stay in business" he said with a tear in his eye. We have been here for 20 years and it is as if everything just ground to a halt"
This is the story of the South Florida Economy. Dismal, In Despair, In Financial Ruin.
As part of my cross country for Jet Blue and their All You Can Jet Program, I ended up in the "Most Magical Place on Earth", however after only a short 3 hour walk, I quickly began to see a pattern that was not being reported in the national newspapers.
Florida was in a Financial Tornado. What Happened, The Details
As I walked down the main highway that connects Kissimmee and Orlando Florida. Hotels that once thrived, were boarded up. Tourist attractions that once stood tall, had for sale signs everywhere.
It was very obvious that the financial crisis in America isn't over. It's ongoing, it remains unresolved, and it stands in the way of full economic recovery. The cause, at the deepest level, is a breakdown in the rule of law. And it follows that the first step toward prosperity is to restore the rule of law in the financial sector.
First, there was a stand-down of the financial police. The legal framework for this was laid with the repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999 and the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000. Meanwhile the Basel II process relaxed international bank supervision, especially permitting the use of proprietary models to value complex assets—an open invitation to biased valuations and accounting frauds.
Key acts of de-supervision came under Bush. After 9/11 500 FBI agents assigned to financial fraud were reassigned to counter–terrorism and (what is not understandable) they were never replaced. The Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision appeared at a press conference with a stack of copies of the Code of Federal Regulations and a chainsaw—the message was not subtle. The SEC relaxed limits on leverage for investment banks and abolished the uptick rule limiting short sales to moments following a rise in price. The new order was clear: anything goes.
Second, the response to desupervision was a criminal takeover of the home mortgage industry. Millions of subprime mortgages were made to borrowers with undocumented incomes and bad or non-existent credit records. Appraisers were selected who were willing to inflate the value of the home being sold. This last element was not incidental: surveys showed that practically all appraisers came under pressure to inflate valuations in order to make deals happen. There is no honest reason why a lender would deliberately seek to make an inflated loan.
Mortgages were made with a two-or three-year grace period, with a low, fixed interest rate called a "teaser." These were not real mortgages; they were counterfeits, whose value would collapse when exposed. As with any counterfeit, the profits came early, when the bad paper was first sold. After the grace period, rates would reset, and the lenders knew that the borrowers, who were already stretched by their initial payments, would either refinance or default. If they refinanced, that would mean another mortgage origination fee. And if they defaulted, well ... on to step three.
Third, the counterfeit mortgages were laundered so they would look to investors like the real thing. This was the role of the ratings agencies. The core competence of the raters lay in corporate debt, where they evaluate the record and prospects of large business firms. The value of mortgage bonds depended on the behavior of tens of thousands of individual borrowers, whose individual quality the ratings agencies could never check. So the agencies substituted statistical models for actual inquiry, and turned a blind eye to the fact that the loans were destined to go bad.
Fourth, the laundered goods were taken to market. The investment and commercial banks transformed the bad mortgages into bonds, obtained the AAA ratings, and sold the stinking mess to American pension funds, European banks and anyone else who took the phrase "investment grade" at face value. (Later chumps would include the Federal Reserve.) The European crisis now underway is a direct result, as their banks and investors, stung by losses on American mortgage bonds, are dumping their risky Greek public debt and seeking the safety of U.S. Treasury bills.
When the crisis went public in August 2007, Henry Paulson's Treasury took every step to prevent the final collapse from happening before the 2008 elections, extracting billions from the Federal Housing Authority and from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to relieve the pressure on bank balance sheets. It worked until it didn't. In September 2008 the collapse of Lehman triggered the collapse of American International Group (AIG) and the steps that led to the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) and to the effective nationalization of the commercial paper market, meaning that the Federal Reserve has become the primary short-term funder of major American corporations.
Upon taking office, President Obama had a chance to change course and didn't take it. By seizing the largest problem banks, the government could have achieved clean audits, replaced top management, cured destructive compensation practices, shrunk a bloated industry, and cut the banks' lobbying power and therefore their capacity to obstruct financial reform. The way to write-downs of bad mortgage debt and therefore to financial recovery would have been opened.
None of this happened. Instead the Treasury administered fake "stress tests" and relaxed mark-to-market accounting rules for toxic assets which permitted the banks to defer losses and to continue to carry trash on their books at inflated values. This reassured the banks that they would not be permitted to fail—and so back to bonuses-as-usual they went. The banks survived, and the administration today claims this “proves” they didn’t need to be taken over. But to what end did they survive?
The banks are bigger, more powerful, and moer obstructionist than ever—and largely uninterested in making new commercial, industrial, or residential loans.
Today the former middle class is largely ruined: upside down on its mortgages and unable to add to its debts. With housing prices low and falling, banks are delaying foreclosures because they don't wish to recognize their losses; it is a sick fact that the cash homeowners conserve by non-payment is one source of the anemic recovery so far. But construction remains depressed, state and local budgets, like that in Florida continue in a death-spiral of spending cuts and tax increases, the stimulus will soon end, and exports may soon fall victim to international austerity and the rapidly declining euro.
Meanwhile the deficit hysterics seem determined to block unemployment insurance and aid to states today, and to cut Social Security and Medicare tomorrow.
In this way, the financial sector remains a fatal drag on the capacity for strong growth. And the financial reform bills about to clear Congress will not cure this. The bill in conference has some useful elements but it is neither sufficient nor necessary to clean up frauds, which have always been illegal. Nor will it clean up private balance sheets and permit lending to restart. Still less will it set a new direction for the financial economy going forward.
How Can The Problem Be Fixed?
To restore the rule of law means first a rigorous audit of the banks and of the Federal Reserve. This means investigations—Representative Marcy Kaptur has proposed adding a thousand FBI agents to this task. It means criminal referrals from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, from the regulators, from Congress, and from the new management of troubled banks as they clean house. It means indictments, prosecutions, convictions, and imprisonments. The model must be the clean-up of the Savings and Loans, less than 20 years ago, when a thousand industry insiders went to prison. Bankers must be made to feel the power of the law in their bones.
How will this help the economy? The first step toward health is realism. We must first stop pretending that bad assets can be made good, that bad loans will someday be repaid, and that bad people can run good banks. Debt crises are resolved when debts are written down and gotten rid of, when the institutions that peddled bad debts are restructured and reformed, and when the people who ran the great scams have been removed. Only then will private credit start to come back, but even then the result of bank reform is more prudent banks, by definition more conservative than what we've had.
So yesterday's borrow-like-there's-no-tomorrow America is done for in any event; there will not be another bank-sponsored private credit boom. The housing crisis (and therefore the middle-class insolvency) won't go away soon. There is no cure for falling housing prices except time and patience; debt relief will at best stabilize the middle class. It follows that the private banks and dealers and borrowing by households are not going to be at the center of the next expansion.
We need to do what the U.S. did during the New Deal, and what France, Japan, Korea, and almost every other successful case of post-crash (or postwar) reconstruction did when necessary. That is, we need to create new, policy-focused financial institutions like the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to take over the role that the banks and capital markets have abandoned. Thus, as part of the reconstruction of the system, we need a national infrastructure bank, an energy-and-environment bank, a new Home Owners Loan Corporation, and a Gulf Coast Reconstruction Authority modeled on the Tennessee Valley Authority. To begin with.
A reconstructed financial system should finance the reconstruction of the country. Public infrastructure. Energy security. Prevention and mitigation of climate change, including the retrofitting of millions of buildings. The refinancing of mortgages or conversion to rentals with “right-to-rent” provisions so that people can stay in their homes at reasonable rates. The cleanup and economic renovation of the Gulf Coast. All of this by loans made at low interest rates and for long terms, and supervised appropriately by real bankers prepared to stay on the job for decades.
The entire host of neglected priorities that we have seen during this short trip around the country, clearly shows that now is the time to deal with the problems we are facing. To hold off and pretend that the problem simply does not exist, as the crowds chant "Yes We Can" is taking America down a path never before seen in the history of mankind.
Robert Paisola is a National Reporter based in Las Vegas Nevada and can be reached at robert@westerncapitalmultimedia.com
For Immediate Release
Orlando, Florida
September 10, 2010
By: Robert Paisola
"I have no idea how in the world we can stay in business" he said with a tear in his eye. We have been here for 20 years and it is as if everything just ground to a halt"
This is the story of the South Florida Economy. Dismal, In Despair, In Financial Ruin.
As part of my cross country for Jet Blue and their All You Can Jet Program, I ended up in the "Most Magical Place on Earth", however after only a short 3 hour walk, I quickly began to see a pattern that was not being reported in the national newspapers.
Florida was in a Financial Tornado. What Happened, The Details
As I walked down the main highway that connects Kissimmee and Orlando Florida. Hotels that once thrived, were boarded up. Tourist attractions that once stood tall, had for sale signs everywhere.
It was very obvious that the financial crisis in America isn't over. It's ongoing, it remains unresolved, and it stands in the way of full economic recovery. The cause, at the deepest level, is a breakdown in the rule of law. And it follows that the first step toward prosperity is to restore the rule of law in the financial sector.
First, there was a stand-down of the financial police. The legal framework for this was laid with the repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999 and the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000. Meanwhile the Basel II process relaxed international bank supervision, especially permitting the use of proprietary models to value complex assets—an open invitation to biased valuations and accounting frauds.
Key acts of de-supervision came under Bush. After 9/11 500 FBI agents assigned to financial fraud were reassigned to counter–terrorism and (what is not understandable) they were never replaced. The Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision appeared at a press conference with a stack of copies of the Code of Federal Regulations and a chainsaw—the message was not subtle. The SEC relaxed limits on leverage for investment banks and abolished the uptick rule limiting short sales to moments following a rise in price. The new order was clear: anything goes.
Second, the response to desupervision was a criminal takeover of the home mortgage industry. Millions of subprime mortgages were made to borrowers with undocumented incomes and bad or non-existent credit records. Appraisers were selected who were willing to inflate the value of the home being sold. This last element was not incidental: surveys showed that practically all appraisers came under pressure to inflate valuations in order to make deals happen. There is no honest reason why a lender would deliberately seek to make an inflated loan.
Mortgages were made with a two-or three-year grace period, with a low, fixed interest rate called a "teaser." These were not real mortgages; they were counterfeits, whose value would collapse when exposed. As with any counterfeit, the profits came early, when the bad paper was first sold. After the grace period, rates would reset, and the lenders knew that the borrowers, who were already stretched by their initial payments, would either refinance or default. If they refinanced, that would mean another mortgage origination fee. And if they defaulted, well ... on to step three.
Third, the counterfeit mortgages were laundered so they would look to investors like the real thing. This was the role of the ratings agencies. The core competence of the raters lay in corporate debt, where they evaluate the record and prospects of large business firms. The value of mortgage bonds depended on the behavior of tens of thousands of individual borrowers, whose individual quality the ratings agencies could never check. So the agencies substituted statistical models for actual inquiry, and turned a blind eye to the fact that the loans were destined to go bad.
Fourth, the laundered goods were taken to market. The investment and commercial banks transformed the bad mortgages into bonds, obtained the AAA ratings, and sold the stinking mess to American pension funds, European banks and anyone else who took the phrase "investment grade" at face value. (Later chumps would include the Federal Reserve.) The European crisis now underway is a direct result, as their banks and investors, stung by losses on American mortgage bonds, are dumping their risky Greek public debt and seeking the safety of U.S. Treasury bills.
When the crisis went public in August 2007, Henry Paulson's Treasury took every step to prevent the final collapse from happening before the 2008 elections, extracting billions from the Federal Housing Authority and from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to relieve the pressure on bank balance sheets. It worked until it didn't. In September 2008 the collapse of Lehman triggered the collapse of American International Group (AIG) and the steps that led to the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) and to the effective nationalization of the commercial paper market, meaning that the Federal Reserve has become the primary short-term funder of major American corporations.
Upon taking office, President Obama had a chance to change course and didn't take it. By seizing the largest problem banks, the government could have achieved clean audits, replaced top management, cured destructive compensation practices, shrunk a bloated industry, and cut the banks' lobbying power and therefore their capacity to obstruct financial reform. The way to write-downs of bad mortgage debt and therefore to financial recovery would have been opened.
None of this happened. Instead the Treasury administered fake "stress tests" and relaxed mark-to-market accounting rules for toxic assets which permitted the banks to defer losses and to continue to carry trash on their books at inflated values. This reassured the banks that they would not be permitted to fail—and so back to bonuses-as-usual they went. The banks survived, and the administration today claims this “proves” they didn’t need to be taken over. But to what end did they survive?
The banks are bigger, more powerful, and moer obstructionist than ever—and largely uninterested in making new commercial, industrial, or residential loans.
Today the former middle class is largely ruined: upside down on its mortgages and unable to add to its debts. With housing prices low and falling, banks are delaying foreclosures because they don't wish to recognize their losses; it is a sick fact that the cash homeowners conserve by non-payment is one source of the anemic recovery so far. But construction remains depressed, state and local budgets, like that in Florida continue in a death-spiral of spending cuts and tax increases, the stimulus will soon end, and exports may soon fall victim to international austerity and the rapidly declining euro.
Meanwhile the deficit hysterics seem determined to block unemployment insurance and aid to states today, and to cut Social Security and Medicare tomorrow.
In this way, the financial sector remains a fatal drag on the capacity for strong growth. And the financial reform bills about to clear Congress will not cure this. The bill in conference has some useful elements but it is neither sufficient nor necessary to clean up frauds, which have always been illegal. Nor will it clean up private balance sheets and permit lending to restart. Still less will it set a new direction for the financial economy going forward.
How Can The Problem Be Fixed?
To restore the rule of law means first a rigorous audit of the banks and of the Federal Reserve. This means investigations—Representative Marcy Kaptur has proposed adding a thousand FBI agents to this task. It means criminal referrals from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, from the regulators, from Congress, and from the new management of troubled banks as they clean house. It means indictments, prosecutions, convictions, and imprisonments. The model must be the clean-up of the Savings and Loans, less than 20 years ago, when a thousand industry insiders went to prison. Bankers must be made to feel the power of the law in their bones.
How will this help the economy? The first step toward health is realism. We must first stop pretending that bad assets can be made good, that bad loans will someday be repaid, and that bad people can run good banks. Debt crises are resolved when debts are written down and gotten rid of, when the institutions that peddled bad debts are restructured and reformed, and when the people who ran the great scams have been removed. Only then will private credit start to come back, but even then the result of bank reform is more prudent banks, by definition more conservative than what we've had.
So yesterday's borrow-like-there's-no-tomorrow America is done for in any event; there will not be another bank-sponsored private credit boom. The housing crisis (and therefore the middle-class insolvency) won't go away soon. There is no cure for falling housing prices except time and patience; debt relief will at best stabilize the middle class. It follows that the private banks and dealers and borrowing by households are not going to be at the center of the next expansion.
We need to do what the U.S. did during the New Deal, and what France, Japan, Korea, and almost every other successful case of post-crash (or postwar) reconstruction did when necessary. That is, we need to create new, policy-focused financial institutions like the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to take over the role that the banks and capital markets have abandoned. Thus, as part of the reconstruction of the system, we need a national infrastructure bank, an energy-and-environment bank, a new Home Owners Loan Corporation, and a Gulf Coast Reconstruction Authority modeled on the Tennessee Valley Authority. To begin with.
A reconstructed financial system should finance the reconstruction of the country. Public infrastructure. Energy security. Prevention and mitigation of climate change, including the retrofitting of millions of buildings. The refinancing of mortgages or conversion to rentals with “right-to-rent” provisions so that people can stay in their homes at reasonable rates. The cleanup and economic renovation of the Gulf Coast. All of this by loans made at low interest rates and for long terms, and supervised appropriately by real bankers prepared to stay on the job for decades.
The entire host of neglected priorities that we have seen during this short trip around the country, clearly shows that now is the time to deal with the problems we are facing. To hold off and pretend that the problem simply does not exist, as the crowds chant "Yes We Can" is taking America down a path never before seen in the history of mankind.
Robert Paisola is a National Reporter based in Las Vegas Nevada and can be reached at robert@westerncapitalmultimedia.com
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Welcome to the JetBlue.com Live AYCJ Worldwide Feed, Robert Paisola Repo...
Welcome to New York City!
The History of 12 Hours In a City and Our Great Friend Clark Dever, Robert Paisola Reports!
How It All Began! The History of 12HoursInACity !
On August 12, 2009 JetBlue Airways announced their All You Can Jet promotion. For $599 you could book unlimited flights between any JetBlue destination. On August 13th, 2009: Two guys hatched a plan. Joe Dinardo and Clark Dever decided to quit their day jobs and travel to as many destinations as possible during that time period. The catch, they wouldn’t allow ourselves to spend more than 12 hours at a time on the ground!
This was the beginning of 12 Hours in A City! We are honored to follow in such magical footsteps as we bring you Season Two of this Magnificent Journey around the Globe. This project is being underwritten by the Belagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, The Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, The Robert Paisola Organization, and The Team at Jet Blue Airlines and VegasNightsLive.com And will be Broadcast Worldwide on 12HoursInACity.Net !
Thank you so much for the inspiration my friends
Robert Paisola
President and CEO
The Western Capital Multimedia Group
The Western Capital News Network
Vegas Nights Live USA
For Media Inquiries:
Please Email MediaRelations@WesternCapitalMultimedia.com
To Contact Robert Paisola
Robert@RobertPaisola.com
Follow Us On Facebook
www.Facebook.com/RobertPaisola
Follow Us on Twitter
@12HoursInACity
@RobertPaisola
@ReneMagazine
@VegasNightsLive
Follow us on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/12HOURSINACITY
Learn About The Robert Paisola Foundation
www.RobertPaisolaFoundation.com
Labels:
12hoursinacity,
clark dever,
CNN,
Jet Blue,
Jet Blue AYCJ,
Las Vegas,
National Public Radio,
NBC,
NPR,
robert paisola,
The Associated Press,
The Discovery Channel,
VegasNightsLive.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)