What will it take for some people to get the message? In the case of Illinois Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich when U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (he’s the guy that succeeded in convicting former Vice-Presidential aid “Scooter” Libby) comes knocking on your door, the news can’t be good. Blagojevich’s first response:  “You’re joking, right?” What isn’t a joke is how the Illinois governor...

Digging deeper into the write-in responses from the Capps/Zogby Poll entitled, What Americans Expect from the Next President and Congress, I was struck by the direct, sometimes blunt language and emotion from Americans. In response to what qualities the country needs most from the next president, most offered a list of traits, many more took the time to put forth their own...

Your son comes to you asking for a loan to help his struggling company. The company has been successful in the past, but due to the current economy, no bank is willing to loan him the necessary funds.  So, he now pleads his case with you in an effort to help him return to stability while the economy recovers. While...

Everyone and their brother is giving advice to President-elect Barack Obama these days.  (Mine was put forth in a letter addressed to both candidates the day before the election.) Listening to NPR’s “Morning Edition” yesterday, correspondent Steve Inskeep reported that Phyllis Palmer’s kindergarten class (not pictured) in Essex Junction, Vermont wrote their own memo to President-elect Obama. Here’s the advice the Vermont kindergarteners had for...

“Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders’ equity, myself included, are in a state of shocked disbelief.” So said a somber-faced (but he always looks that way) Alan Greenspan as he testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Remind you of anyone? Now I’m not suggesting that the former Fed...

“The contractors are making a killing.  The lobbyists are getting their fees… Everybody is making money here — except us.” So said Army Space and Missile Defense engineer Michael Cantrell when speaking about his kickback scheme from vendors who do business with the government. The New York Times reported (Oct. 12) that Cantrell “…along with his deputy, Doug Ennis, had...

Dear Hank: I know you and your staff at Treasury are busy managing the $700 billion bailout of the financial sector, but when you have a chance could you, or someone in your office, take a closer look at what they’re doing at A.I.G.? A.I.G., they’re the ones that we gave the $85 billion bailout “loan” to not long ago...

In explaining the importance of a $700 Billion dollar plan to shore up the economy, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson said in an interview that, in affect …the American people don’t understand this. Mr. Paulson is a finance guy, not an education guy. Moments before the House was due to vote on a very complex and highly contentious bill,...

No, not that Mr. Smith, the other one, Gregory W. Smith, the former program director of the “royalty-in-kind program” at the Interior Department.   Gregory Smith is one of 19 officials (about one-third of the program’s staff) who accepted gratuities from oil companies including Chevron and Shell, while conducting official business. As the New York Times reported (Sept. 11), the Interior “…department’s...

If you vote by mail, then die before Election Day, does your vote count? Not if you live in South Dakota. According to a (July 25) AP story, “Laws in at least a dozen states are evenly split between tallying and dumping the votes.” Most voters had not heard of this until the issue was raised during the last primary...