IS IT TRUE MARCH 5, 2015

1. It’s the epitome of hypocrisy for republicans to hand out welfare to millionaires and billionaires but call the poor lazy for feeding their kids with food stamps because Wal mart pays them like a slave.

   • Ghost – It was a Democrat mayor and a Democrat city council that took this action.

2. Springfield like GM and the UAW should be out of business.

   • Sounds like your wish with Springfield being history will happen next year.
     Deregulation of Wall Street Finances led to the bubble and collapse of this business sector.

     • It’s not the deregulation that’s the problem, it’s the rescuing them from the consequences of their choices that’s the problem.

   • Springleaf, not Springfield. I believe the latter makes rifles or goofy 1980’s pop songs ?

   • Springleaf, Sorry, must have had my trusty little 22 on my mind.

     • ..totally fun gun.

       • The 22 caliber Henry rifle ……… totally fun plinker.
         Buy history or just don’t buy………

         http://www.henryrifles.com/rifles/golden-boy/

3. It’s nice to see details laid out like this. Now I suppose I will have to step up my understanding of such things.
   I gather that Evansville was played like a cheap … disposable fiddle? …

   • I believe it was, played like a cheap wh***!

   • It’s going to make my house harder to sell. Property values will take a hit if even 300 jobs are gone. I wonder if the mayor already knew about this when he bragged about the jobs he saved and brought in.

4. The GOP comes under criticism, fairly, that it has become the party of “no”…….it has lost its mojo to the Democratic Party that IS full of ideas and a vision of where IT is perfectly willing to take the country. (The GOP doesn’t like that, hollers about it a lot, and then says “NO.” Platitudes? Sure, but nothing with substance.)

   The GOP? It has been reduced to “We’re not for THAT!” “You want that? No.” “That idea? No.” “We don’t like that direction….NO.” It’s not too romantic or visionary. The internal complaint about the GOP is….”We are nothing but ‘the party of no.’ We can’t win elections for the Presidency by saying NO. We have to be FOR something. We have to have a positive message, because all we are known for is negative criticism and saying NO.”

   Sound familiar? The City County Observer IS the voice of NO in Evansville. Read today’s IIT…it is all bitching, griping, “we don’t like this”…”look how bad this is”….”this is how screwed up things are”…..

   EDITOR SEEMS TO HAVE TAKEN ON A NEW ROLE
   I don’t think ANYONE here disputes….like FOX NEWS is not a news outlet, but rather is the propaganda machine for the Republican Party………the CITY COUNTY OBSERVER is not a news outlet, but is rather the propaganda machine for the Gail Riecken Campaign. (That is not illegal, after all this is America. But it IS accurate.)

   And like the Republican Party’s criticism of Obama……..the CCO today, and every day since Joe Wallace left the CCO…..is doing little other than saying “No” ….and “No, that’s bad. This is bad. Bad idea. This place is horrible.”….in effect, the CCO and it’s editorial content has become little other than the ‘Fox News’ for Gail Riecken for Mayor.

   • How is information about Springleaf propaganda for Riecken? This was a Democrat Mayor and Council. You were on here earlier this week talking about the CCO being liberal. I’m not one for accusations, but your mood/personally swings are bizarre. Your post today is irrelevant to the topic and incorrect.

     • Well stated. Here’s the thing R-T. It is totally relevant. Remember the EBOLA scare? It was all the GOP talked about in the two months before the midterm elections. Was that about politics? No. Was that about liberal or conservative? No. Did the Democrats have anything to do with it? No. But the GOP hammered, hammered, hammered the ebola story and generated as much fear about it as possible…..because it works as an election strategy to promote fear and instability when you are trying to displace an incumbent. (I’m answering your question on how it is exactly relevant to the Mayor’s race. The Editor knows that creating fear and doubt is good for Riecken.)

       • Are you new to this site? It began as a discussion board under Weinzapfel. Oh how we have gone from the frying pan to the fire!

       • I thought you have said you’re voting for Riecken? And by the way, hello kettle, this is pot. Why don’t you read your own posts before you talk about anyone else being negative and critical.

         • I want to vote for Riecken….the cross thing with Winnecke – stunningly ignorant. Enough to immediately lose my vote. But “not being Winnecke” is not enough. The other points are dead-on R. Sorry Sir.

         • She’s already bagged for the machine as well. They know that asshat mayor you have now is toast, so they sport the next best thing to auger it into you with the same, same. Cronies Set lines that’s all same load “o” cronies fueling crap. So.

   • Please share the vision of the democrat party with us. All I’ve ever heard is hope & change, punish the achievers and job creators, acquiesce to the Iranians and ISIS, stir up more racial tension, obliterate the second amendment, federalize the internet, just to name a few. What else you got?

     • MEGA-DITTOS…boy, are you wrong. We’re getting our ass kicked by the Dems. What YOU describe as problems….they are describing as historic victories. You happy being left on the bench to watch them? Cause THAT is failure…

       M-D…This is what the Dems brag about…and gives perfect evidence the GOP is getting its butt kicked: (cut and pasted from Dem website : Health Insurance Reform lowering uninsured rates to historic levels including discrimination against people with pre-existing medical conditions…Immigration Reform…The Economic Recovery Act cutting taxes for 98 percent of Americans…Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, to make the largest investment in college aid in American history…Wall Street Reform, to rein in reckless practices on Wall Street, end taxpayer-funded bail-outs and “too big to fail” institutions…Credit Card Holders Bill of Rights, to ban the worst practices by credit card companies…Hate Crimes Prevention, to extend federal protection to people who are victims of violent crime because of their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability…The U.S. Manufacturing Enhancement Act, to help American manufacturers compete by temporarily suspending or reducing duties on materials and products which are not made domestically…Children’s Health Insurance legislation, to provide affordable health care coverage to 11 million children, who did not have coverage….Tobacco Regulation, to have the FDA regulate the manufacture and marketing of tobacco, especially to children….allowing Stem Cell Research, to end former President Bush’s ban on federal funding for lifesaving embryonic stem cell research…..

     • Mega Dittos, ISIS finally did something that “may” even cause the liberal left to want to retaliate. This act, to the liberal left, is indefensible……… yep, it could only be:

       “BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Islamic State militants have set fire to oil wells northeast of the city of Tikrit to obstruct an assault by Shi’ite militiamen and Iraqi soldiers trying to drive them from the Sunni Muslim city and surrounding towns, a witness said.”

       ISIS is contributing to greenhouse gasses and global warming! I even saw clips where ISIS drives SUVs. What barbarians!

       https://ca.news.yahoo.com/islamic-state-torches-oil-field-east-tikrit-witness-100124173.html

       • BINGO! Just found the real and unspoken reason why Obama and the liberal left make excuses (Crusades, colonialism, lack of government provided jobs, etc.) for the “greviences” of the radical Islamic barbarians (ISIS among others). ISIS and other radical Islamic terrorist are simply victims of…………………………….
         yep, global warming.

         “A preventable drought-triggered humanitarian crisis sparked the 2011 civil war, and eventually, ISIS. ”

         To the liberal left, the Jihad to kill all infidels has nothing to do with ISIS other radical Islamic terrorists. They are simply victims of global warming in need of cooler temperatures to grow crops in an environmentally friendly manner.

         http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/04/1368214/-ISIS-may-have-roots-in-climate-change

         • And, Joe,——Unemployed. Look for a QE6 in Libya.

         • The gift that keeps giving. Looked up the “dailykos” to see what the heck it was. According to Wikipedia, the following great Americans contribute content to the “dailykos” which claims that ISIS was caused by global warming:

           Numerous political figures use Daily Kos to publish frequent or occasional content, including consultants, candidates, and sitting members of Congress. Prominent posters include:

           Current & former officeholders

           Mark Begich[14]
           Earl Blumenauer[15]
           Debra Bowen[16]
           Barbara Boxer[17]
           Mark B. Cohen[18]
           Steve Cohen[19]
           John Conyers[20]
           Richard Durbin[21]
           Russ Feingold[22]
           Bart Gordon[23]
           Alan Grayson
           Christine Gregoire[24]
           Tom Harkin[25]
           Jane Harman[26]
           Steve Kagen[27]
           John Kerry[28]
           Larry Kissell[29]
           Jim McDermott
           Jeff Merkley
           Brad Miller
           Jim Moran
           Chris Murphy
           Barack Obama[30]
           Frank Pallone
           David Paterson[31]
           Nancy Pelosi
           Tom Perriello
           Jared Polis
           Harry Reid
           Andrew Rice
           Bill Richardson
           Ciro D. Rodriguez
           Brian Schweitzer[32][33]
           Chuck Schumer
           Joe Sestak[34]
           Louise Slaughter
           Ron Sparks[35]
           Linda Stender

           Jon Tester[36]
           Mark Warner[37]
           Henry Waxman
           Jim Webb[38]
           Anthony Weiner
           Robert Wexler
           Lynn Woolsey
           Rocky Anderson[39]
           Birch Bayh[40]
           Chris Bell[41]
           Jimmy Carter[42]
           Jon Corzine[43]
           John Edwards[44]
           Ted Kennedy[45]
           Bob Kerrey[46]
           Eric Massa[47]
           Eliot Spitzer[48]
           Tom Vilsack[49]

           Former candidates

           Lt. Col. Charlie Brown
           Jack Carter
           Wesley Clark
           Paul Hackett
           Lois Herr
           Ned Lamont
           Jim Martin
           Lois Murphy
           Scudder Parker
           Jeff Seemann
           Jonathan Tasini
           Joe Miklosi

           Consultants

           David “Mudcat” Saunders
           David Sirota
           Larry LaRocco
           Jerry Northington
           Barry Welsh
           Alexi Giannoulias

           Commentators

           A. Whitney Brown
           Michael Moore
           Keith Olbermann[50]
           Michael Schiavo[51]
           Sam Seder
           Cindy Sheehan

           Authors

           David Brin
           Bob Altemeyer
           John Dean

           Wow! Now we know why the liberal left thinks ISIS (not Islamic remember) has legitimate greviences. If only they had better growing conditions for their crops, none of this Jihad thing would have happened. Congresswoman Gabbards approach to dealing with ISIS is clear and competent(wish she was President), which surprisingly to the above “dailykos” geniuses including Obama, has zippo, nothing, nada to do with make believe global warming:

           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgedIYGOZ0c

       • They have really crossed the line now!

5. Riecken has to do more than give platitudes. She has to do more than gripe. The CCO is her propaganda machine….I think we all know that.

   But Gail has to give ideas with substance more than “I”m not the GOP Winnecke. I’m a Democrat. You can vote for me.”

   • Shem
     I must agree with your assertion: ” it is all bitching, griping, “we don’t like this”…”look how bad this is”….”this is how screwed up things are”…..
     Having given you that: Most if not all the criticism is factual and deserved. AND don’t we have to assess where we’ve been and we are … before we can chart a course for the future?
     I would also agree: that no-one should vote for Gail because she is female … or because she is a Democrat and not a Republican.

     Setting these aside: this reader is not enamored with either Mayoral candidate.
     They both seem to be scratching and clawing their way to the Taxpayer’s Credit Card …
     in order to build worthless crap in the Downtown Dead Zone …
     with no thought to cost or utility.
     BTW: G’Mornin’ to ya! …

     • https://www.facebook.com/evansvilletransparency?fref=photo

       • V, thanks for the link. I think Evansville Transparency nailed it re: Adams 180 degree flip flop on the Hotel. Also, his quote was so snarky and flippant: “let’s build it, that lot has been vacant yada-yada-yada”. Wow, now there’s good vetting of $ 20 Million of public funds: ” it’s an eyesore, vacant, we must spend the money !”.

         Maybe we could install another FENCE around the vacant Hotel (ala Owen Block and MIller Electroplating)–but maybe make it out of WOOD so we don’t have to witness such vacancy each day ! Oh, the horror: a vacant lot–AIIIIIEEEEEEE !!!

         I issue a challenge to Evansville Transparency: take the Beyonce song ‘Put a Ring on It’, and make it ‘Put a Fence on It’.

         • In reality that hotel will not sport the traffic to support itself , if anyone does the convention thing around that part of the country they’ll go to Owensboro, and even that’s scored by the barbeque accesses and entertainment.
           This is the age of forward communication no venue or business can invest much in something you can watch on your phone on the way home.
           What needs to be done there is the realization that that’s how its going to play out. Your city sucks when it comes to climate change actions, but our recovered data is still painting it as an goldilocks zone set to climate migrations. Really, clean the place up and build some useful infrastructure that’s affordable by todays standards set forward. No big deal, however where your municipalities infrastructures are already failed is exactly the wrong place to start the recovery plan. “What’s in your driveway” shouldn’t be combined sewer overflow that’s an given.
           And ” everybody knows it”.

       • ET article on 3/2/15: they are endorsing Conor O’Daniel for CC at Large, democratic primary.

         Really, ET ?? Conor O’Daniel is one of the guys (along with J. Friend) who sat in the Exit Conference meeting with the State Board of Accounts–you remember, the one which Stephanie B. Riley recorded. Therefore, Mr. O’Daniel KNOWS THE CITY’s BOOKS ARE COOKED, yet Conor took no action to protect the citizens against such corruption by the City Controller, he failed to stand up to the SBOA Whitewash.

         Voters, please resist voting for Conor O’Daniel. He had a chance to go public with his knowledge of changed audit opinion, but he took the coward’s way out. He is not deserving of your vote for this reason. At least Friend had the decency to retire after his ‘Weapons of Mass Distraction’ rant.

         • YOU WANT EVIDENCE EDITOR IS DIRECTIONLESS….

           …here are several posts, from another web address, Evansville Transparency (a Facebook page nonetheless), that has to be added to the CCO website in order to get at issues facing Evansville.

           Not only are Evansville Transparency’s content AND its posts being added to the CCO…that E-T content and its subjects themselves are being debated in the CCO comments section!

           That is humiliating…..and is perfect evidence of the emerging problem of the CCO’s vacuum in editorial leadership.

         • Owwhhah a grudge match………………..

     • I guess that’s my point BUBBA. It is disheartening to see that the upcoming Mayoral election is little more than “The same campaign we’ve always seen.” There is not Dem or Rep in Evansville mayor’s races. There’s more of the same coming, and I wish Riecken would be different. And more than that…I vote. I won’t accept crappy, old platitudes….from Winnecke….OR Riecken.

       I-E said it best Sunday after reading Riecken’s response….”OK, but what are you going to do Gail?” (He was criticizing the blah, blah typical platitudes all candidates say.)

     • There is a big difference in complaining and constructive criticism. You have to know where you really are if you are going to get where you want to go. I know where I really am and it makes me want to be somewhere else.

6. What is Shem smoking today. Did you even read iit today

7. Motel ?

   • That’s what it sounds like to me. I don’t think it should be built. Why should the people pay out all of that money to put a sleazy motel across from the Civic Center?

8. When I read this news in the paper, I thought that this couldn’t be good news. I hope nobody loses their job, but it looks jobs will be lost. Springleaf already knows what they are doing. They didn’t spend billions without a plan. If the news was good they’d have said so. They want employees to stay until they get done with them and if they announce that layoffs will happen, some will leave early.

9. Jonathan Weinzapfel was “all in” from the the beginning on taxpayer incentives for American General/Springleaf. From early in his first term I do not think there was a time when AG did not have some sort of expansion project going on that was heavily supported with tax dollar through the Evansville Redevelopment Commission.

   If we EVER are able to obtain the data showing the amount of local tax dollars poured into the AG property during the 8 years of the Weinzapfel administration, citizens are going to be shocked.

   What is taking place right here in Evansville with this news should serves as the stake through the heart to such open ended give away programs of taxpayers hard earned dollars.

   Any damned fool who achieves office can put on his Santa suit and start the deficit spending spiral that leads to ever increasing taxes in order to meet debt service. But you can not do it forever.

   It became such a burden to property tax payers that they finally revolted. So what did Santa do? He went to the legislature and the next thing you know we had a local option INCOME TAX placed on our earnings.

   Well you might be interested to know that for the Evansville Civil City, for the year 2014/pay 2015, the city’s share of the COIT will amount to almost $17. Million. (see Evansville Civil City in this 2015 DLGF Budget Order)

   http://www.in.gov/dlgf/files/Vanderburgh_County_2015_Budget_Order.pdf

   • PK, Was that local option tax not started at 1/4% right before the Airport was built in the mid 80’s?
     Was it not suppose to end when those bonds were paid off? My 1990 tax return look to be 3/4%.

10. Editor

    Thank you for the news which is a few days old. Is this what our watch dog is going to become, reporting news that is days old ? I notice that the comments are now from a select group of moaners and groaners. Let’s take a look at Springleaf ( Springfield ):

    They lost 360 million in 2011, lost 305 million in 2012, and then made 77 million in 2013. 2014 results are not public as of this date. Their financials are manipulated at best, and this is not a rumor, straight from the Evansville accounting staff. Now they lost 588 million in the last reported three years, yet this last reported year, their equity increased 360 million. Is it true ?

    It has not been a secret, in Evansville, or Wall Street, that Springleaf needed to make major changes.

    Is is true, Editor, you have nothing new to add that hasn’t been expressed in the local news ? Is it true, if you continue your editorials, as you have since taking over from Joe, that your failure will be the next to report ? Is it true, you have a select few readers, that just want to moan and groan and discuss wanting to leave this God forsaken city ?

    Givemeabreak

    • Givemeabreak
      Try plenty of fruits vegetables and high fiber foods. …
      Take Ex-Lax … as needed. …

      • Perfect!

        • Brains…you are more than a choir member. C’mon…it’s insulting.

        • I agree. Perfect diet for rogues.

    • GIVEMEABREAK is 100% correct of course. I thought exactly the same thing when I read the IIT. Old news.

      And WOW! Talk about getting called out. GMB is correct….Editor is slow on this subject, taking direction from the CCO Posting community, and is following the lead.

      Old news, today’s IIT was just throwing some red meat to the anti-Winnecke people.

    • The announcement was they are moving their corp offices. It saw a report that there is only one corp level officer in E-ville at this time. How many are planned to move at this time hasn’t been said. What we need to do is let’s go very negative on Springleaf. Hammer them daily for awhile. Then they may send the service jobs somewhere else. That way we would then have several carping sessions about how they abandoned us and the people without jobs. Times will good then.

      • …that’s excellent. Your sarcasm makes points so well Cowboy.

        AND you point out what many people here (who have never run or operated a business, and show it with their comments) seem to forget is the objective of a business: to make money. They hire people to make money. They exist to make a profit.

        How can it be a shock to realize America is a country that at its core is a free enterprise economy? It makes no sense to question the morality of companies striving to make a profit. (You can question morality on other grounds, but not the ambition to make a profit.) To do so only reinforces you don’t have any common sense about business.

        The gripe about incentives should be focused on economic development officials. Not the company.

        And the debate about clawback provisions…..NO ONE agrees to clawback provisions with unlimited timelines. It’s like making no deal at all. It means…you don’t have a deal. (And it shows the people who commented that…don’t know squat about negotiating parties and running a business. )

      • https://jfunfun.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/whiplash-rides-again7.jpg

    • CCO may have been beaten others to the presses on this news, but I virtually guarantee the C&P or local TV stations made no mention of the incentives that were previously given to American General/Springleaf by City Council . The point that the CCO is making that his happens regularly. Corporations come in a make big promises about expansion and job creation in exchange for tax abatement and other incentives. More often than not, they don’t live up to their promises and the taxpayers of Evansville are left holding the bag.

      • exactly. The CCO gives us the other side of the story. While Paul Harvey gave us “the rest of the story” it was always a one sided story. Here the CCO emphasized how much money the city put into this company over the past not just that they were leaving town. They are leaving town with a lot of our money.

        • Move on, Who is leaving town ? Do you have insider info like on your boat fire expose ?

          • Hopefully you are leaving town. Everything I said about the boat fire was and is right on the money. Hell the EFD had already ruled the fire’s cause as Accidental before even looking at the boat which was still underwater at the time the chief investigator was declaring the fire accidental. He probably was basing that on what the lady on the boat told him and his coworkers. Evidently the Insurance Companies didn’t agree with him and wanted to pull the boat out of the water and look at it.

          • Move, The other question. You missed one. Who is leaving town ?

11. LKB

    Where are you ? Are you now our source of old news ?

    Is it true, Old News, Gail runs well from Illinois ?

    • You need to learn to make the distinction between HISTORY, which is vital knowledge, and OLD NEWS. Gail has a HISTORY, and it is there for everyone to see. Things slow at DMD today?

12. Please do some analysis on why this action was taken. I seem to recall that Wallace predicted this last year. I am sure it wasn’t just a guess. Tomorrow’s IIT will be interesting since it will be the first since Joe’s departure that requires some real mathematical analysis to have value. My bet is that there won’t be any.

13. I like the writing style of the new CCO much better. It was hard to read with all the “that”s in there. I really wish the City Council would pass an ordinance (or whatever they call it) that would require all incentives in the future to have a claw back provision.

    • I haven’t been reading CCO regularly very long. I don’t know what is going on with a lot of the hateful things some people say to eachother and I don’t know why they keep reading if they hate it so much. I know the local paper and tv stations aren’t much, but that is where I read news. This is someplace to learn more about what they tell us and talk about it. If the criticism the bitchers are giving out was constructive, it would be okay. It isn’t constructive and it isn’t okay.

      • @ wino – Here’s a tip. Your best bet is to read CCO comments minus those of Riverfront shem. The negative edge and many times downright venom that this poster brings do not add to a good discussion. Try that for a awhile. As always, these opinions expressed are those of this writer.

        • Thank you. That’s what I’ve decided to do.

          • Good decision.

    • +1 on clawback requirement. Should have happened years ago.

      • You are right they really have needed that feature claw back with all paws.

    • ‘ … all incentives in the future to have a claw back provision.’
      Yes, an effective one with teeth, backed by the giftee’s bonding company. No exceptions.

      That simple move alone, a measure rooted in honesty and accountability, would save money that is currently given to corporations that make promises that mean absolutely nothing. Promises they’d probably on some level like to keep but will quickly jettison when a better deal comes along. Can’t really blame them, they exist only to make money. We can hold them to their promises if we have the will to do so.

    • They do.

      • Earthcare?

        • It was put in place since then

14. Big Pappa,

    The new writing style of THE CITY COUNTY OBSERVER is this:

    “Laura K. Blackburn wants Gail Riecken to win the Mayor’s race.”

    That’s it. No mystery. No other agenda. That is what this Editor perceives the job to be. That is the agenda of the IIT from now on it appears.

    Nothing illegal about that. But it is totally accurate. Few will likely think that is anything other than incredibly short-sighted…unless you are one of those that want that too at all costs.

    This Editor is a communications deputy for the Gail Riecken for Mayor Campaign. There is no other agenda.

    • Nothing in today’s or yesterday’s IIT had anything to do with Gail Riecken. They both had to do with how the city does business (current and past). I don’t have a vote on who wins the Mayor’s race, but I know I don’t want Winnecke to ever win another election. Not even as dog catcher.

      • Why do you care ? Why do you comment ?

    • Don’t know about all that but they still moderate comments some.

      • Normally, once a poster is approved the first time, their future comments do not show up to be moderated again. I think the issue with some your posts is the links that you insert. I don’t see an issue with your links, but they sometimes get flagged in our system.

        • Got it. Thanks for the explanation.

15. An October 29, 2014 post on another website which foretold the acquisition of Springleaf by OneMain also stated that ‘Included in the analysis is between $200 million and $400 million in cost savings by closing less productive branches in both companies, and eliminating headquarters staff in both companies” –which is typical in such corporate acquisitions, as the next move is often to ‘cut the fat’ and make the company more profitable, or perhaps make people do more of what was previously was just one persons job. How truthful that number is one cannot be sure, and what the long-term impact will be upon Evansville employment is uncertain, but what might surprisingly be less uncertain is the future of Subprime lending. Skeptical ? Consider the following question:

    How did Springleaf raise money for the deal ? The answer to that is the same as how Springleaf, a company loaded with toxic subprime debt ala the 2008 financial crisis and valued(& sold) to Fortress Investment Group for only $125 million dollars, was able to later sell the aforementioned toxic debt for $7.2 billion dollars to the governments TARP Public-Private Investment Program(PPIP)just after Fortress hired a man named Adam Siegal, who was, just prior, ousted from Royal Bank of Scotland for exaggerating mortgage securities values to the Department of Treasuries Public Private Investment Program, to ‘expand Fortress’s mortgage business’ .

    Were the mortgages really worth $7.2 billion, or are the taxpayers the ones being ripped off so that a sleazy subprime lender can stay in business to continue to exploit the poor and desperate with 35%+ personal lending rates ? Did it take the hiring CEO Jay Levine and Trader Adam Siegel with contacts in the federal governments TARP program which was started by Ben Bernanke to get the government to buy the toxic debt at the expense of the taxpayers ? Did Fortress have to pay Levine and Siegal handsomely to gain this connection to rid it self of the toxic debt ? If Fortress’s subsidiary Springleaf Financial had not been bailed out in August 2014 with this mortgage sale, would the Financial System have collapsed, as was this the reason the public was given for the creation of Tarp by financial messiah Ben Bernanke ? Some people seem to profit greatly from large-scale financial crisis, while the majority of citizens pay for it.

    How acceptable that your tax dollars and the size of the nations national debt used to pay for such things depends I guess on how much you believe in the value and importance that subprime lending is to our society. The government or at least Ben Bernanke did.

    What I don’t understand is why so many people would be willing to purchase loans from companies like Springleaf and OneMain for no less than 35% ‘State Max’ rates.

16. It’ll take more than a two footprint tree high Lego hotel to keep the “jiffy pop” above water, the __ord center was a mistake from its first conceptual drawings as well. The medical school and the hotel will not be any different unless they have the valuation given by working 21 century infrastructure.
    Utilities that are affordable and efficient. Improved logistical throughput for efficient timing and rapid supply side interaction. The downtown in old Evansville lacks all of that, whereas, the other more vibrant commercially available locations in and around the southwestern Indiana metro regional already do have the modern infrastructures.
    Yet the majority of the population that must buy in to that old downtown mess will see little in road and traffic improvements in their dailies. Needed cost improvements with the customer side delivery of the ESWU is a must, and the power utility is one of the highest rates in the nations grid.
    Where else does Vectren supply power from that location and at what rate charge?

    In tomorrows IiT someone should focus on what the cost percentage into project bidding that is to address the logistical and utility infrastructure issue that does now and will then affect the useful valuation of such properties without the added cost per. That City Council best take a hard look at what E.T. calls a ” Bait and switch” tactic, as that seems to consistently sneak up on the revenue base per that location.

    https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8409/8702518768_471378bc0f_z.jpg

    http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-bait-and-switch.htm

17. An October 29, 2014 post on another website which foretold the acquisition of Springleaf by OneMain also stated that ‘Included in the analysis is between $200 million and $400 million in cost savings by closing less productive branches in both companies, and eliminating headquarters staff in both companies” –which is typical in such corporate acquisitions, as the next move is often to ‘cut the fat’ and make the company more profitable, or perhaps make people do more of what was previously was just one persons job. How truthful that number is one cannot be sure, and what the long-term impact will be upon Evansville employment is uncertain, but what might surprisingly be less uncertain is the future of Subprime lending. Skeptical ? Consider the following question:

    How did Springleaf raise money for the deal ? The answer to that is the same as how Springleaf, a company loaded with toxic subprime debt ala the 2008 financial crisis and valued(& sold) to Fortress Investment Group for only $125 million dollars, was able to later sell the aforementioned toxic debt for $7.2 billion dollars to the governments TARP Public-Private Investment Program(PPIP)just after Fortress hired a man named Adam Siegal, who was, just prior, ousted from Royal Bank of Scotland for exaggerating mortgage securities values to the Department of Treasuries Public Private Investment Program, to ‘expand Fortress’s mortgage business’ .

    Were the mortgages really worth $7.2 billion, or are the taxpayers the ones being ripped off so that a sleazy subprime lender can stay in business to continue to exploit the poor and desperate with 35%+ personal lending rates ? Did it take the hiring CEO Jay Levine and Trader Adam Siegel with contacts in the federal governments TARP program which was started by Ben Bernanke to get the government to buy the toxic debt at the expense of the taxpayers ? Did Fortress have to pay Levine and Siegal handsomely to gain this connection to rid it self of the toxic debt ? If Fortress’s subsidiary Springleaf Financial had not been bailed out in August 2014 with this mortgage sale, would the Financial System have collapsed, as was this the reason the public was given for the creation of Tarp by financial messiah Ben Bernanke ? Some people seem to profit greatly from large-scale financial crisis, while the majority of citizens pay for it.

    How acceptable that your tax dollars and the size of the nations national debt used to pay for such things depends I guess on how much you believe in the value and importance that subprime lending is to our society. The government or at least Ben Bernanke did.

    What I don’t understand is why so many people would be willing to purchase loans from companies like Springleaf and OneMain for no less than 35% ‘State Max’ rates.

    • Whew, excellent comment. I am amazed at the information and insight of some of the posters.

      • agree. …

      • Watch as the Investment Industry media touts and perhaps exaggerates Springleaf stock as a great investment as some of them may even have money invested in the stock themselves and make money on the rising price as the hype escalates.

        Personally, I feel sorry for those desperate enough to take out such loans, many of them now will be auto loans now rather than mortgage loans, only to have that vehicle eventually re-possed, the car re-sold, and their personal credit further destroyed and be described as ‘deadbeats’ when they really may just be the victim of massive layoffs during a time when globalization is sending jobs outside the U.S. The government should force some of the outsourcing/migrating employers to keep a % of their workforce in the U.S. if they want to sell to the U.S. market, but since corporations use their money to influence elections and government legislation, this will likely never happen.

        There are some other, deep questions usually left unsaid that I will now ask at the risk of being politically incorrect or accused of being anti-semitic:

        Q:I’d like to know if the kinship felt between all of the Jewish players in this transaction(Bernanke who started TARP, Yellen current head of U.S. Treasury, Jay Levine, current CEO of Springleaf, and Siegel, managing director of real estate investments at Fortress only 2 months before the sale TARP sale, helped them reap huge financial rewards by exploiting taxpayer dollars using a federally administered program at the expense of the U.S. taxpayers and their children’s future indebtedness.

        Q: I’d like to know why Jewish heads of the department of Treasury keep appointing Jewish successors to their positions. We haven’t had a non-jew hold this position since Paul Volcker left in 1987 !

        • Well SCALES. You might have had some points about usury.

          But if there was a better way to excrete your credibility faster, I don’t know what it was.

          Jesus Christ!

          (By the way, he was Jewish too.)

          • I may have ‘excreted’ my position with you, but I think it is wrong to think that a Jew is always the best person for such a high Financial position. There are lots of smart people in the world, and there is always a danger of bias in assuming that anyone of a particular race is the best person for a job(s).

            Shame on you, Shem

    • When foreign governments were calling the administration in Washington and explaining that if these assets, which they held in their government portfolios for things like employee pensions and the like, were indeed next to worthless, it was likely to cause a world wide financial crisis. Starting with major currency collapses.

      What we witnessed in this country was our government desperately scrambling to come up with a fix that would stem the bleeding and restore the value to the foreign government holdings.

      All of this pain and misery for a stupid social experiment that any damned fool, with the possible exceptions of Barney Frank and Ted Kennedy, knew was doomed to failure.

      How much of this debt has the underwriters and their insurers paid for? How much of the debt is the American taxpayer on the hook for?

      • Please keep in mind that the $7.2 billion Springleaf real estate portfolio sold on 8/9/2014, long after the economy was said to be in danger of collapse, which makes the entire transaction even more questionable.

18. Scales
    Forgive me for injecting myself into a subject I know little about and assuming to communicate with one well over my head but … Setting aside all legal moral and personal dilemmas … who better to affect such a monumental and lucrative endeavor?
    You have to give it to them
    Jews have a way with figures and money.
    No? …

    • Many ethnicities are stereotypically…….Great family people. Great at raising kids. Great at reinforcing the need for the highest quality education possible. Great tradition of community leadership…those qualities reinforced every day lead to all kinds of success.

    • Are you saying that a non-Jew can no longer successfully hold such a position ? Wouldn’t that reflect a certain kind of prejudice ? Paul Volker’s money tightening policies ended a long-term period of stagflation/inflation that lasted many years in this country.

      You’re entitled to your opinion, but I think there are many non-Jews who could hold that position, and I feel the financial crisis could have and should have been handled differently.; which is admittedly contrary to popular public opinion.

      I believe there is a real danger to nepotism taking place in such a I high position, and that Bernanke is not the messiah that he is currently thought to believe. Corporations should take a ‘hair cut’ rather than be bailed out so freely.

      • It is near futile to have a reasonable exchange with someone holding such a bigoted view. (And to your credit, I have seen a LOT worse…take that as a back-handed compliment.) But these positions are held and appointed by people totally unrelated to their ethnicity.

        Your comments unrelated to the ethnicity comments have valuable insight. Leave the other stuff alone Sir.

    • If they are so damned smart, why is the American taxpayer always having to bail them out?

      • HOW ELITE ECONOMIC HUCKSTERS DRIVE AMERICA’S BIGGEST FRAUD EPIDEMICS

        http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/06/bill-black-how-elite-economic-hucksters-drive-americas-biggest-fraud-epidemics.htmlIf they are so damned smart, why is the American taxpayer always having to bail them out?

      • Sorry about the bad link. Here it is:

        http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-elite-economic-hucksters-drive-americas-biggest-fraud-epidemics

19. Some races and religions benefit from the stereotype, which is not always true.

20. Why don’t we all just agree that ethnic bias exists, both positive and negative, and get away from the edge of which some of you are dangerously close? I cannot be here all day, so step away from the theories about Jewish people.

    • Great job Editor.

      +1.

      • I think the editor was talking about you too, Shem.

    • I believe my questions, not ‘theories about Jewish people’ were worth asking, albeit difficult to address without offending someone. Still, I think they should have been asked.

      My goal is not to indict all Jews, but where the possibility of networking exists, people should be able to floor the question without being accused of Antisemitism if that behavior is occurring at some levels. If this forum is to live up to what it supposed to be, primitively playing that card only assures that such conduct, if occurring, will continue.

      Furthermore, I probably couldn’t have gotten a job at Universal Studios as an intern and started my career impersonating a director on a set with Joan Crawford in a episode of Night Gallery at age 22. If I tried to impersonate a director in such a capacity, I probably would have been fired and escorted out of the building by security.

    • I further believe that excessive interest rates applied by one class to another has notoriously caused societal problems throughout history. Read Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’.

21. Where are average things manufactured?
    The satisfactory.

    • Your a bigoted ‘urinidiot’.

22. Editor: Great job on today’s IIT. Looking forward to tomorrow’s TIF report.

23. Load “O” diversions from the media there. The guy running in the 2nd ward seems more in tune to what the place needs than any of this drizalling racially social religious crap floating all over this once noticeable blog site. he speaks of knocking the frontend outta his vehicle in a short trip too a main road just to get too work. Our global social economic environmental consortium (IE Group) sees that very problem every single day ,hour and minute. We observe others, other regions, its sad you just cannot see what you are going to have available as the climate migrates, and it does and it will and it did just to your south today. Commercial traffic on Kentucky interstate roads where stomped to a halt today. That’s nada ,nothing , no logistical valuation per some interstate highway infrastructures people.
    You where frozen in place by a third of the value allotted per actual conditionals. Kicked your butts , not really those that had business simple just did it. Why ,how, because you are in the spot that’s not being hammered like the others.

    • Here’s a load of typical Bovine scat that drives you people , whether you like it see soe useful civic valuation in it or not.

      https://www.facebook.com/swinchamber

    • You are and always will be an incomprehensible ignorant goof who talks to his imaginary friends (The Consortium-ooh reminds me of a Robert Ludlum plot-other than the crazy) I am currently stranded in your neighborhood–I can only hope and pray that whatever has causes your butter and biscuit to separate isn’t catching.

      • Yeah well your number isn’t tough to line up either . You goddamned political idiot. Consider that . You little non-important jerk. Your buds are setting you up as we write. you damn stupid putz.

        • Any buds that are setting him up are probably out of the bad bag his dealer laid on him, I doubt if he has any friends.

      • Yeah….we can see it and you can’t. Putz.

      • Psst…. wait……………………………………………………………………. Putz

        • That putz………………… is a localized shitbird politico . Oh god forbid! Yep. god should forbid the idiot. Makes no sense and “everybody knows that! Big time LMAO… : )

          • I leave for a moment and you begin sputtering gibberish as per the norm and your more articulate wannabe assume that I partake of the same reality shifting drugs you are on. Is it jealousy or perhaps delusion? As you say: “everybody knows that” dumbass. ‘Dana why don’t you light another one up and dream of your wasted pontential.

        • Still a dumbass……………….

          • Hey beaver try a different pathway.

          • Piece of it , come on man . bald headed piece of crap. Do it for your ,pride , if nothing for else. You no good for nothing little turd.

            Yep we own your junk . every time you post anything .
            “Beaver the frigging weaver.”
            Who couldn’t pull a zit off a missy for nothing ever scored?
            Go a head sport it off. you stupid idiot , we will watch and score and as is usual you will fail. Dumbass.

          • We’re all an idiot in someone’s eyes. I’ve posted tomorrow’s Is it True early. Why don’t we just move on? There’s a whole new set of topics to make people angry.

24. What do you folks think of Hillary having to explain her way out of another scandal? Here are some observations on old Hillary.

    She is and has always been a passenger on the SS Slick Willie. If it were not for her sham marriage to a charismatic ex president she would never have been a Senator or the Secretary of State and she sure as hell would not be considered to be a serious candidate for the presidency. She is just like the latest Bush boy. Quite frankly, if it weren’t for her husband, not a one of us would have ever heard of her.

    How the hell can anyone vote for someone for president who is nothing but a coattail rider?

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