Obama -- Daley? -- Chicago and the Theft of American Democracy

[JDPriestly]

If you live in Chicago, you may or may not know that your city gave up the right to open its streets for street fairs, that its parking meter revenue does not flow to city coffers and that your aldermen do not have or at least did not have the power to change the hours that you must pay your parking meters.

I learned these facts from a book by Matt Taibbi: Griftopia.

And whether you live in Chicago or not, if you care about your country, you need to read that book, especially the chapter entitled "The Outsourced Highway."

There, Matt Taibbi describes how Mayor Daley leased the parking meters and therewith authority over the use of the streets for street fairs and the right to decide whether you pay the meter on Sundays or between 6 and 9 pm in the evening. To whom was it leased? To a Morgan Stanley fund that quite probably includes a large minority of investors from, let's say, Abu Dhabi or maybe Saudi Arabia -- just guessing as to the true identities of the investors.

What does this have to do with Obama? If you recall, Bill Daley, Obama's new chief of staff used to work for Morgan Stanley. What is more, he is the brother of the former mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley.

Well, according to Matt Taibbi's book, while Mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley "arranged a lease deal with Morgan Stanley, which put together a consortium of investors which in turn put a newly created company called Chicago Parking Meters LLC in charge of the city's meters." Taibbi, Griftopia, pgs. 165-166. This deal was rushed through the Chicago City Council in December 2008 right when the whole nation and the city were in fiscal crisis.

Imagine. A 75-year lease of Chicago's parking meters to a group of investors, many of whom neither live in Chicago nor care about America or Americans.

And, now, Obama has appointed the brother of the author and pusher of this scheme as his Chief of Staff. The close relationship between Bill Daley and Morgan Stanley, the institution that organized this investor coup, is well known. Whether Bill Daley had anything to do with the sale or purchase of the parking meters of Chicago to the Morgan Stanley investors, I do not know.

Think about what happened there. First, 75 years is a long time -- too long -- to lease anything, much less a city's parking meters. After all, the meters belong to the people of Chicago. And I'll bet that most Chicago residents don't realize that when they put money in the meter at any time over the next 75 years, the money will not go to City Hall but to a small clique of the already uberwealthy, some of whom, if not all of whom, live in some faraway country.

Second, leasing your parking meters or a freeway in your state to a foreign investment firm is not like leasing privately owned land.

A government agency that leases a highway or parking meters or its water or its jails and prisons to private investors is relinquishing its control over those public facilities. What impact does that have on democracy?

Well, for one thing, it seems to me that it deprives voters of their ability to influence through their votes the way that public facilities are used. This is or at least was true in Chicago where, according to Matt Taibbi, the people of Chicago were told they would have to pay the investors, the lessors of the parking meters if they wish to hold a street fair on a street on which meters are placed. What if there were a huge demonstration that shut down a city street? What law would prevail? The First Amendment of the US Constitution? Or the contractual rights of the owners of the parking meters to collect revenue?

Apparently Chicago got leasor's remorse soon after closing its deal, a fact that has made other cities reconsider entering into similar deals.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-15/morgan-stanley-chicago-parking-windfall-makes-cities-redo-deals.html

http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/11/17/cities-learn-from-chicago-parking-meter-debacle-did-goldsmith/

That leads me to the next and most important question. What role, if any, did Bill Daley play in this deal? If he played a part, what sorts of nefarious dealings, if any, are he, Obama and our Republican Congress plotting against the American people at the federal level? Have they already entered into any contracts that could deprive the people of ultimate control over public property and assets?

We need some answers here. You can be sure. This sudden mania about balancing the budget is not just coming out of concern for our country. It is simply the latest propaganda campaign from the same old uber-wealthy who want to rob us of our sovereignty, make a mockery of our democracy and enslave us and our children.

75 years. That is insane.

Please comment.

[msongs]

1. disgusting. look over there! cruise missles nt

[emulatorloo]

2. Do you have evidence that Bill Daley was involved in this particular deal? ON EDIT: No, you don't

ON EDIT:

Oops I see this sentence in your OP:

"Whether Bill Daley had anything to do with the sale or purchase of the parking meters of Chicago to the Morgan Stanley investors, I do not know."

[JDPriestly]

6. Just to be very, very clear, I have no such evidence.

That is why I am asking the question. I would like to know.

I would also like to know what Bill Daley thinks of the deal although I did not put that in the OP.

We have economic hit men working on our country right now. It is something we will regret greatly. Many Americans are naive and think it can't happen here.

I think it is happening here. Please read Matt Taibbi's book. It is just brilliant.

After further research, I discovered this:

Since then, Daley has been a success on Wall Street. In 2001, he jumped into the private equity firm Evercore Partners, run by another Clinton administration alumnus, Roger Altman. After lobbying on behalf of the telecommunications giant SBC Communications, he won a job at JPMorgan Chase, which brought him back to Chicago in 2004. He was chairman of the Midwest region and in charge of corporate responsibility, including government relations. (2)

http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/William_Daley

That is from a Facebook page. Assuming it is reliable information, Daley has been with JPMorgan Chase since 2004. So he was there in 2008. That does not mean that he worked on this deal. But the question becomes all the more legitimate.

[xchrom]

3. Recommend

[ProSense]

4. "are he, Obama...our Republican Congress plotting against the American people at the federal level?"

Welcome to the period of shit flinging, all conspiracies welcomed.

"our Republican Congress"?

Your?

[JDPriestly]

7. ProSense, Please read Matt Taibbi's book.

And yes, our Republican Congress. The House has a huge majority of Republicans. And there are a number of Republicans who ran as Democrats or Independents in the Senate -- people who vote with Republicans on enough issues to hardly qualify as Democrats.

[former9thward]

5. To top it off parking enforcement is still done by the Chicago Police Dept.

So they are enforcing the payment of money to a private group. I lived in Chicago for 30 years and watched Daley try to outsource everything that moved and much that didn't.

[Hannah Bell]

17. wow.

[mopinko]

8. as it happens, i do live in chicago. i would like to take

issue with your premise, here.
so, i have not read the book, so i can only go on what you report here. but it sounds like a pretty gross distortion of what happened.
what i do know is that it was not a newly formed company that did the meter deal. it was laz parking, which operates several parking lots in chicago already, both public and private. they have done several similar deals in a lot of other cities. they have been around for quite a while. 10 years at the very least. morgan stanley owns a large share of the company, but that does not mean that they have any influence or make any decisions about the company. they may, but it does not follow like 1,2,3. i honestly do not know.


and to be clear, which no one ever is- the city of chicago did not lease it's parking meters. i repeat. the city of chicago did not lease it's parking meters.
the contract with laz was to remove the antiquated coin operated meters which were at their functional limit. it was physically impossible to raise parking rates with the old meters. they would not hold the quarters that would be generated in half a day. they were a major pain to use. you had to have the foresight to have a dozen or more quarters in your pocket if you wished to run a short errand downtown. sometimes you do, sometimes you don't.

they had also become too outmoded to perform their actual function, which is not to take in money, but to manage the usage of parking places in the city. the purpose of a meter is to control the turnover of scarce on street parking. they were barely doing that in a way that was useful for motorists. like i said, a dozen or more quarters for a couple hours of parking downtown.
in an increasingly cashless world, coins like that are outdated. when was the last time you bought a pop or a candy bar out of a machine that only took change? and have you ever bought a pop from a machine that only took quarters? and the shrinkage and labor of collecting those quarters was a major problem.
for the convenience of motorists, it was time to come into the digital age. but with the budget crunch that descended on everyone a couple years ago, there was just no money for the huge investment of replacing those dinosaurs.
enter laz parking. they did not lease the meters. they replaced coin op meters all across the city with a digital kiosk where you can use coins or credit cards to park. the machines connect to your credit card issuer to verify your card, then they give you a ticket to put on your dash. it has the added benefit of adding parking places by virtue of removing the strict division of available spaces, and allowing cars to park in an optimal fashion.

this was an enormous project. it cost the taxpayers nothing, netted them a lot of up front money, and was a big improvement for those of us that have cars. the city does still get a portion of the proceeds. the city does set the hours of operation. and the street festivals have gone on unimpeded. the alderman makes a request to use the street, so far laz says yes, and the events go on. they do technically have control, but there is a process for making that decision that is not simply monopolistic.

like most deals made with your back to the wall, it was probably not the best deal that could have been made. but the upfront money saved our bacon here. too much of it has already been spent, but it did prevent cuts like those that have affected so many other government entities.

i take these daley slams a little personally, because a) i love my city passionately, and b) ritchie daley is actually pretty well liked and appreciated here. he won the last election with 70% of the vote. when you take a slap at daley, you take a slap at the majority of the voters of the city of chicago. since we are mostly capital d Democrats here, you take a slap at the party as well. we are the heart of blue here. we do things the blue way. that is why we are faring much better than a lot of other places. daley had a choice- start cutting city services or take the money. it was not that hard of a choice.

[JDPriestly]

14. Here is what Bloomberg says about it.

Here is what Bloomberg News said about the parking meter deal

Chicago drivers will pay a Morgan Stanley-led partnership at least $11.6 billion to park at city meters over the next 75 years, 10 times what Mayor Richard Daley got when he leased the system to investors in 2008.

Morgan Stanley, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Allianz Capital Partners may earn a profit of $9.58 billion before interest, taxes and depreciation, according to documents for a $500 million private note sale by their Chicago Parking Meters LLC venture. That is equivalent to 80 cents per dollar of projected revenue. Standard Parking Corp., which runs 30,000 spaces at the city’s O’Hare and Midway airports, earned 4.84 cents on that basis last year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The deal illustrates how Wall Street banks, recipients of more than $300 billion in taxpayer bailouts in the worst credit collapse since the Great Depression, are profiting from helping states and cities close record recession-induced deficits by selling bonds and leasing public properties. Chicago gave up billions of dollars in revenue when it announced in 2008 that it leased Morgan Stanley its 36,000 parking meters, the third- largest U.S. system, for $1.15 billion to balance its budget, said Alderman Scott Waguespack.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-09/morgan-stanley-group-s-11-billion-from-chicago-meters-makes-taxpayers-cry.html

Here is more:

Bloomberg News reported in August that Chicago’s agreement may earn the Morgan Stanley group 10 times the $1.15 billion lump sum Mayor Richard Daley got when he forced the City Council to consider the deal on a few days notice in 2008, according to documents for a planned private note sale by the Chicago Parking Meters LLC venture. The experience shows the pitfalls of a hasty process that doesn’t weigh all the costs, said former Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman.

“It’s a mistake to rush into a deal for such a long period of time without a full public accounting of the pros and cons,” Hoffman said in an interview.

Among the cons for Chicago was that the city was unable to take advantage of falling interest rates by borrowing against parking-meter revenue, Hoffman said. Chicago Parking Meters, the partnership of Morgan Stanley, Allianz SE’s Allianz Capital Partners and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, did.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-15/morgan-stanley-chicago-parking-windfall-makes-cities-redo-deals.html

I posted these

[mopinko]

26. hoffman was running for the senate.

so there is that. and the alderman who bash in now are playing cya because they voted for something that has made us a national laughing stock even tho it is completely misrepresented.
and hind sight is 20/20. revenues for the city absolutely crashed when the real estate market crashed. we were up against it.

but my exact point is that they did not lease anything to laz. we allowed laz to replace a completely antiquated system with a modern system that was a benefit to drivers, and to the city, in that it served the actual purpose of the meters, to control street parking. short term parkers had no chance to get a short term spot because commuters hogged them all. they were a lot cheaper than the regular lots. so they would sit at a meter all day, maybe sneak out to feed the meter (which is illegal), maybe cross their fingers that they wouldn't get a ticket. this is a really important function.
and laz is a known entity here, running many municipal garages, and paying the city for the privilege.
the system also allows people to move their car within a designated area and not pay another fee. this is a real help to the neighborhood shopping areas.

so, i repeat my point- we did not lease the parking meters. parking meters are a thing of the past now. we have a modern parking system where motorists can finally pay by credit card. the city did not have the money to do this. laz gave us a billion dollars, and did it for us. and we still do get some of the money. in the future it will be a lot easier to increase the rates, also.
and this isn't a new thing that came about due to the recession. they have done this in cities all over the country, and have been doing it for a long time.

[highplainsdem]

9. Here's an earlier topic on privatization that mentions the parking meters. Any street repairs, like

street festivals, mean Chicago has to pay the private contractor for the lost meter fares.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x578853

And there are lots of problems with privatization elsewhere. Read the article that topic links to for what happened in Auckland NZ.

We're in for much more of this, with Republicans now controlling so many state legislatures, and many of them pushing model legislation from ALEC:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x658572

See the quote in that OP about "extracting value from government assets" from "asset divestiture (the
outright sale of government land or assets) and asset leases (long-term leases of public assets to private sector investor-operators)."

[JDPriestly]

25. Great links, highplainsdem. We have to be vigilant now.

Wow, the flack I got for posting my questions about Daley and Morgan Stanley. Unbelievable.

[NYC Liberal]

10. Let's cut to the chase. There is no connection demonstrated here.

There is no proof nor even evidence that Obama was involved in the deal, much less that he has done anything wrong. And there is certainly nothing demonstrating that Obama is involved in a "Theft of American Democracy," as your title states.

Save for one sentence, which mentions that Obama has appointed the brother of the mayor involved in the deal, the entirety of the first 13 paragraphs of this post presents no evidence of anything beyond the undisputed details of this deal.

The "connection" apparently is that Obama appointed the mayor's brother as his chief of staff. But, wait: "Whether Bill Daley had anything to do with the sale or purchase of the parking meters of Chicago to the Morgan Stanley investors, I do not know." (emphasis mine).

All we have are a lot of questions,

"What role, if any, did Bill Daley play in this deal?"
"If he played a part, what sorts of nefarious dealings, if any, are he, Obama and our Republican Congress plotting against the American people at the federal level?"
"Have they already entered into any contracts that could deprive the people of ultimate control over public property and assets?"

and absolutely zero answers.

[Swede]

11. It's the old "some people are saying"

Not surprised when it comes from the right,but from the left,well I don't know anymore.

[JDPriestly]

13. Here we go.

Matt Taibbi -- Griftopia

I already posted these quotes, but for your convenience I will post them again.

Here is what Bloomberg News said about the parking meter deal

Chicago drivers will pay a Morgan Stanley-led partnership at least $11.6 billion to park at city meters over the next 75 years, 10 times what Mayor Richard Daley got when he leased the system to investors in 2008.

Morgan Stanley, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Allianz Capital Partners may earn a profit of $9.58 billion before interest, taxes and depreciation, according to documents for a $500 million private note sale by their Chicago Parking Meters LLC venture. That is equivalent to 80 cents per dollar of projected revenue. Standard Parking Corp., which runs 30,000 spaces at the city’s O’Hare and Midway airports, earned 4.84 cents on that basis last year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The deal illustrates how Wall Street banks, recipients of more than $300 billion in taxpayer bailouts in the worst credit collapse since the Great Depression, are profiting from helping states and cities close record recession-induced deficits by selling bonds and leasing public properties. Chicago gave up billions of dollars in revenue when it announced in 2008 that it leased Morgan Stanley its 36,000 parking meters, the third- largest U.S. system, for $1.15 billion to balance its budget, said Alderman Scott Waguespack.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-09/morgan-stanley-group-s-11-billion-from-chicago-meters-makes-taxpayers-cry.html

Here is more:

Bloomberg News reported in August that Chicago’s agreement may earn the Morgan Stanley group 10 times the $1.15 billion lump sum Mayor Richard Daley got when he forced the City Council to consider the deal on a few days notice in 2008, according to documents for a planned private note sale by the Chicago Parking Meters LLC venture. The experience shows the pitfalls of a hasty process that doesn’t weigh all the costs, said former Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman.

“It’s a mistake to rush into a deal for such a long period of time without a full public accounting of the pros and cons,” Hoffman said in an interview.

Among the cons for Chicago was that the city was unable to take advantage of falling interest rates by borrowing against parking-meter revenue, Hoffman said. Chicago Parking Meters, the partnership of Morgan Stanley, Allianz SE’s Allianz Capital Partners and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, did.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-15/morgan-stanley-chicago-parking-windfall-makes-cities-redo-deals.html

[JDPriestly]

12. I recommend that you read Matt Taibbi's book.

I am asking questions. That's what I am doing. The first chapters of Taibbi's book explain the derivatives market, in particular the roles of big players like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in the breakdown of our economy. Read the book and let me know what you think.

In the chapter on The Outsource Highway, Taibbi explains SWFs -- Sovereign Wealth Funds, which are quite popular in the Middle East, and ties them to the purchases of various American assets - parking meters, a toll road, even a port. page 197 in Griftopia.

He discusses the 1973 OPEC embargo, an event with which I am particularly familiar because I was working for a small oil company in London which did some trading on the oil spot market at the time.

Matt Taibbi relies upon statements form Rey Colon, Chicago's 35th Ward for much of the information about the Chicago Parking Meter deal.

Here is what Bloomberg News said about the parking meter deal

Chicago drivers will pay a Morgan Stanley-led partnership at least $11.6 billion to park at city meters over the next 75 years, 10 times what Mayor Richard Daley got when he leased the system to investors in 2008.

Morgan Stanley, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Allianz Capital Partners may earn a profit of $9.58 billion before interest, taxes and depreciation, according to documents for a $500 million private note sale by their Chicago Parking Meters LLC venture. That is equivalent to 80 cents per dollar of projected revenue. Standard Parking Corp., which runs 30,000 spaces at the city’s O’Hare and Midway airports, earned 4.84 cents on that basis last year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The deal illustrates how Wall Street banks, recipients of more than $300 billion in taxpayer bailouts in the worst credit collapse since the Great Depression, are profiting from helping states and cities close record recession-induced deficits by selling bonds and leasing public properties. Chicago gave up billions of dollars in revenue when it announced in 2008 that it leased Morgan Stanley its 36,000 parking meters, the third- largest U.S. system, for $1.15 billion to balance its budget, said Alderman Scott Waguespack.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-09/morgan-stanley-group-s-11-billion-from-chicago-meters-makes-taxpayers-cry.html

Here is more:

Bloomberg News reported in August that Chicago’s agreement may earn the Morgan Stanley group 10 times the $1.15 billion lump sum Mayor Richard Daley got when he forced the City Council to consider the deal on a few days notice in 2008, according to documents for a planned private note sale by the Chicago Parking Meters LLC venture. The experience shows the pitfalls of a hasty process that doesn’t weigh all the costs, said former Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman.

“It’s a mistake to rush into a deal for such a long period of time without a full public accounting of the pros and cons,” Hoffman said in an interview.

Among the cons for Chicago was that the city was unable to take advantage of falling interest rates by borrowing against parking-meter revenue, Hoffman said. Chicago Parking Meters, the partnership of Morgan Stanley, Allianz SE’s Allianz Capital Partners and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, did.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-15/morgan-stanley-chicago-parking-windfall-makes-cities-redo-deals.html

Read the book and see what questions you have after you have read it.

[JDPriestly]

15. Bloomberg News on the deals.

I have no idea whether Bill Daley had anything to do with these deals. He was working at Morgan Stanley at the time they were made. The purpose of my post is to ask whether anyone knows whether Bill Daley had anything to do with the deals..

I posted these links already several times in response to the outraged answers to my posts:


Here is what Bloomberg News said about the parking meter deal

Chicago drivers will pay a Morgan Stanley-led partnership at least $11.6 billion to park at city meters over the next 75 years, 10 times what Mayor Richard Daley got when he leased the system to investors in 2008.

Morgan Stanley, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Allianz Capital Partners may earn a profit of $9.58 billion before interest, taxes and depreciation, according to documents for a $500 million private note sale by their Chicago Parking Meters LLC venture. That is equivalent to 80 cents per dollar of projected revenue. Standard Parking Corp., which runs 30,000 spaces at the city’s O’Hare and Midway airports, earned 4.84 cents on that basis last year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The deal illustrates how Wall Street banks, recipients of more than $300 billion in taxpayer bailouts in the worst credit collapse since the Great Depression, are profiting from helping states and cities close record recession-induced deficits by selling bonds and leasing public properties. Chicago gave up billions of dollars in revenue when it announced in 2008 that it leased Morgan Stanley its 36,000 parking meters, the third- largest U.S. system, for $1.15 billion to balance its budget, said Alderman Scott Waguespack.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-09/morgan-stanley...

Here is more:

Bloomberg News reported in August that Chicago’s agreement may earn the Morgan Stanley group 10 times the $1.15 billion lump sum Mayor Richard Daley got when he forced the City Council to consider the deal on a few days notice in 2008, according to documents for a planned private note sale by the Chicago Parking Meters LLC venture. The experience shows the pitfalls of a hasty process that doesn’t weigh all the costs, said former Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman.

“It’s a mistake to rush into a deal for such a long period of time without a full public accounting of the pros and cons,” Hoffman said in an interview.

Among the cons for Chicago was that the city was unable to take advantage of falling interest rates by borrowing against parking-meter revenue, Hoffman said. Chicago Parking Meters, the partnership of Morgan Stanley, Allianz SE’s Allianz Capital Partners and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, did.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-15/morgan-stanley...

I suggest strongly that everyone read Matt Taibbi's book, Griftopia.

[Dappleganger]

18. I'm reading it right now.

It's taking awhile to get through it and will probably have to re-read, but it is really full of a TON of good stuff.

[NYC Liberal]

22. If you want to focus on that deal and the consequences of it,

I'm right there with you. You are providing a lot of information about the details of the deal and that's great. I think it's a pretty serious issue (not just with this specific deal, but as you mentioned, the consequences re: the First Amendment, etc.)

However, you have no evidence to back up your title: "Obama -- Daley? -- Chicago and the Theft of American Democracy." That's what I take issue with. There's no evidence that Bill Daley, much less Obama, has been involved in any wrongdoing here.

[JDPriestly]

23. I am asking a question. That is why I have a question mark by Daley's name.

And that is why I ask questions in my post.

All news, all important information, starts with questions. If I had the answers, I would have provided them.

It is very hard to prove a negative, so in that sense I agree that Daley should not have to prove a negative -- that he had nothing to do with the deal.

On the other hand, we need to be on notice if any sort of similar deal is proposed by the Obama administration or by Congress. Let's say sale of some regulatory agency or of some federal interest in the airports or the freeways or waterways. We have to be very careful these days.

I would not have voted for Obama if I thought he was a many who could be easily corrupted. But I did not vote for some of the people who are around him including Daley. It's not that I think they are corrupt. It's that I just don't know.

[KharmaTrain]

27. This Was All Richie Daley...

First...President Obama never served in Chicago city government...he was a State Senator and had few, if any, contacts with the Daleys prior to his becoming Senator and then the relationship wasn't that close. Nothing personal (and I understand why you are posting and asking...using the Taibi article) but there's been a contant attempt (especially on the right) to try to tie Obama to the Daleys when no real connection existed.

The parking deal was controversial at the time it was brought up but Richie Daley wanted it and as was the case during his tenure, he got it. With a virtual rubber stamp City Council it led Richie to play with the books and this ended up in several budget shortfalls. This was a scheme to fill one of those gaps that has proved to be a total bust. It's a costly lesson, but one that every city, county or state that tries the "privitization" route will ultimate run into.

[JDPriestly]

29. Thanks. I take it that you don't know whether Bill Daley's position

and relationship with Morgan Stanley at the time of the deal influenced it at all. I have no evidence to that effect, but the question almost raises itself.

And why did Obama appoint Bill Daley as his chief of staff if the Daleys weren't close to Obama? I wonder who suggested that he do that.

[Hannah Bell]

16. Of course it's insane. It's rent-seeking by the super-rich, most of whom, as

the author says, live somewhere other than chicago, including foreign countries.

the parking meter revenue, which would have once helped fund city operations, now goes into some private person's pocket. They probably get some kind of tax break on it as well, as it's "investment income," i.e. they will pay less on that income than you will on your own income tax.

And this is what they want to do with all public functions & assets. Every bit of economic in the country should provide a reliable rakeoff to the ruling class. For which they do absolutely nothing.

[JDPriestly]

20. Thanks. Hannah Bell. I have been attacked quite intensely for my OP.

At this time, no matter which party is in power, our country is crippled by corruption.

As a citizen, I feel it is my duty to question whenever I see facts that cause me to pause. The fact is that Mayor Daley of Chicago entered into a deal with Morgan Stanley which was very favorable to Morgan Stanley at a time when Mayor Daley's brother was working for Morgan Stanley. It may have been an utter coincidence. The deal may have been justified by the circumstances.

Prior to the housing crisis, I saw lots of indications, had lots of information that should have caused me to question more about whether there was something wrong, very wrong in the mortgage and banking sectors. I thought the cases and facts that came to my attention were just aberrations, just a few bad apples. Later when the mortgage crisis nearly crippled our nation and perhaps the international economy, I realized that I should have blown the whistle.

That is why I am asking questions now.

It makes my wonder why people are so sensitive about the fact that I am raising these issues. It does not discourage me. Rather, it makes me want to ask more questions than ever.

And this on top of the Blagojevich affair. Wow! Does Chicago have a mean machine.

[Canuckistanian]

19. That was a sweet deal

For a small maintenance fee, there's an unlimited cash flow at a guaranteed profit.

And if someone refuses to pay, the Chicago police will impound your car, fine you or potentially put you in jail. All at NO COST to the consortium.

It's like shooting snails in a barrel.

[Blue-Jay]

21. Damn you, Fartbama!

[somone]

24. Recommended

[SidDithers]

28. What does this have to do with Obama? Nothing...nt

Sid

[truedelphi]

30. Many of us knew that Obama was planning on selling us out the

Day in December 2008 when he spoke of Timothy Geithner as being his choice for the Secretary of the Treasury post. Good ol' Tim Geithner, whom you might remember as being the chief referree deciding during the Autumn 2008 "Financial Crisis" which Big Wall Street Firms got what from Paulson over at the Federal Reserve, didn't deserve a promtion, what he deserved was a RICO lawsuit and consequent prison term, but then when you are a member of officialdom, you almost never have to say you are sorry. (Tim was heading the New York Federal Reserve at the time of these crimes.)

There will hopefully be special places in hell for many in this Administration.

Hopefully while in hell, the buffet table will be loaded with Monsanto GM stuff.