Taxpayers Bailout The Banks

Last week Bear Sterns got help from the Fed and Chase. What no one mentioned was that it was the government using Taxpayers money to BailOut the Bank.

Yep! The GW Bush Republican administration did just what the Bush Sr. administrations had done. While it was the GW Bush administration, WITHOUT the Congressional oversight, who bailed out Bear Sterns with the taxpayers money, his father, George Bush Sr. administration in 1989 bailed out John McCain's best friend Keating and his Lincoln Savings & Loan costing American taxpayers Billions of Dollars.

Like father, like son!

Bear Stern bailout story source on abcnews.com: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=4516226&page=1
Lincoln Savings&Loan story source copied from abcnews.com in its original form: http://questioningwhatissaid.blogspot.com/2008/02/sometimes-i-have-to-hold-on-to-original.html

Stolen Government LapTops-The Trend?

In July 2006 a Florida Government Laptop was missing from the Government Vehicle of a special agent for the Department of transportation. Gone is the sensitive personal information of 133,000 Floridians. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/09/AR2006080901177.html


In September 2006 it was estimated that 250 LapTop computers disappeared of the Census Bureau containing names, incomes and social security numbers. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092101602.html


In June 2006 it was reported that a government IRS laptop also went missing that contained the names, birthdates, social security numbers and finger prints of its employees. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13152636/


In February 2007 a government laptop disappeared. It contain the sensitive information of patients, names, medical data, medical diagnosis, at the National Institute of Health study.


You might think that these are just a few Laptop computers from a few locations with just a few people affected by it, but that would be a lie. First off the total of information stolen, which I listed so far, was more than 100,000 personal data on people. More than 500,000 total. Just the few I listed gives us close to if not over 1000,000,000.


Back in September 2006 there was an article about the numbers of computer laptops that have vanished since 2001. Between 2001 and 2006 the number of laptops was 1,100. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092101602.html

Since the number of computer laptops was last configure in 2006 there has been quite a few more incidences of stolen government laptops. However the number data of how many is not know since the reporting is not all collected in one place, and most times they consider the computers to be missed placed.

Delay In Reporting Patients' Information Stolen

I read an interesting story in the Associated Press Political news today about the government waiting over a month to let 2,500 patients know that their medical records, which were not encrypted, stored on a laptop computer were stolen.

"The stunning failure to act ... raises troubling questions," said John Dinglle who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee who is looking into why the delay and why was there a violation of federal security policies regarding the patients records not being encrypted.

The National Institute of Health Study did not take the proper steps in protecting their patients from exposure.
Since 2006 when 26.5 million Veterans personal data on laptops were stolen, the government has required that any sensitive data store on laptops were to be encrypted.

50 Something Year Old Moves In With Parents

I read an article today on ABC news, written by Emily Fredrix, of a woman who moved into her parents home at 52 due to the poor economy and the loss of her job. The Associated Press business writer tells us the woman lost her job, sent her daughter to live with her husband since she could no longer support her daughter, then in Dec 2007 moved in with her parents, was able to get another job with the Experimental Aircraft Association, is living close to her ex-husband to be close to her daughter, does not pay rent or barely contributes for food because her parents let her.

Yet since the woman is not spending anything to help her parents who are on a fixed income, she says she could have her 5% down payment to buy herself a home by June this summer.

OK, now back up a minute. If she is getting paid enough to be able to save for a 5% down payment to buy herself a home by June, why doesn't she just get herself an apartment. If I was able to save that much from the time of December 2007 to the time of June 2008 and have that much as a down payment on a home, then I know that I could rent and pay my own bills in a small one bedroom apartment and just wait longer to buy a home. Yes, it might take a full year, or it could take two years. But if she down scales, she could do it.

The thought of burdening my parents with them providing for me especially if I could save that much in 6 months is shameful since my parents are on a fixed income, as most seniors are. In this economy seniors are getting hit as well. It's OK to except help from our parents when we are struggling. I and my husband have been struggling since 2002 when my husbands secured permanent HIGH TECH job was OutSourced to India and our Medical Insurance and his retirement fund disappeared. But to move in with my parents so they can support us when one of us had a job and pay nothing while saving to buy a new home because we did not want to rent an apartment when we were able to do so, just sounds wrong to me.

Yes, I do know what it is like to struggle. My husband's jobs have been temporary contracts, too far in-between, and too few. We are even close to foreclosure every time he is between jobs. But I will not live with my parents unless we loose our home and have no income of any kind coming in which would cause us to be turned down to rent an apartment.