Billionaire Swindlers Line Up for ObamaCare Cash

An information technology (IT) company in line to bid on billions in new contracts as a result of ObamaCare is the subject of a growing list of scandals and investigations in which its alleged that, among a number of abuses, the company has produced low ball bids in order to win Medicaid related contracts, only to create overages that balloon the expense of the project as it is implemented.
The name of the company is Client Network Services, Inc (CNSI) and it’s headquartered in Maryland. The company will be able to bid on billions in new ObamaCare-related IT contracts because, in order for states to receive new grants for expanded Medicaid rolls, ObamaCare requires states to have IT systems that are able to share data at so-called finger-tip access. Because most states have antiquated systems, such overhauls will often require the assistance of companies like CNSI.

In March, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal canceled one such contract between CNSI and his state after it came to light that a federal grand jury was investigating the relationship between one of his top aides and CNSI.
Front Page Magazine interviewed Tom Aswell, a blogger and author from Louisiana with more than three decades of news experience. Aswell has been writing about the case from the beginning.
Aswell said he first became aware something was amiss in June 2011, when Bruce Greenstein went before the Louisiana Senate Governmental Affairs Committee to be confirmed as the secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH), the equivalent of the US Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary.
During the proceedings, things became contentious and confusing when Greenstein refused to divulge the recipient of a contract to upgrade the State of Louisiana’s antiquated computer system, which electronically processed Medicaid health care claims.
Greenstein went back and forth with lawmakers for quite a while before he finally admitted it was CNSI, his own former employer. He assured the state legislators at that hearing that he created a firewall between himself and his former employer during the contractual process.
That turned out not to be true, and, instead, in March 2013, news was leaked that a federal grand jury was investigating the potentially illegal relationship between Greenstein and CNSI during the process in which this contract was awarded.
Once that came to light, not only did Jindal cancel the contract, but Greenstein resigned shortly after. Aswell said that all sorts of issues were raised with CNSI’s bid ($194 million), and a number of people in the media raised concerns that CNSI would not be able to achieve the contract for the pre-arranged price.
In 2012, Southeast Michigan Healthcare Information Exchange (SEMHIE), a multi-stakeholder initiative trying to integrate a health information exchange throughout southeast Michigan, sued CNSI for breach of contract after CNSI allegedly failed to provide SEMHIE with prior agreed upon software. An email was left unreturned by SEMHIE for this story. Jennifer Bahrami, press secretary for CNSI, also didn’t respond to an email for comment for this story.
In 2011, CNSI was accused of lowballing a contract in South Dakota, only to have expenses increase exponentially as the project wore on. A local story on the affair explained:

The South Dakota Department of Social Services has paid $49.7 million so far for a new Medicaid processing system that at this point remains inoperable.
The original contract was for $62.7 million, but the new system is now expected to cost far in excess of $80 million to complete and will take two to three more years to get running, according to court documents filed as part of a lawsuit between the contractor and the department.

The most in-depth investigation of CNSI occurred in Maine in 2006, and it was conducted by the magazine CIO, a journal for IT professionals. In that piece, CIO concluded that not only did CNSI’s system end up costing 20% more than the company’s originally bid, but its implementation was a logistical nightmare.

The department’s Bureau of Medical Services, which runs the Medicaid program, was being deluged with hundreds of calls from doctors, dentists, hospitals, health clinics and nursing homes, angry because their claims were not being paid. The new system had placed most of the rejected claims in a ‘suspended’ file for forms that contained errors.
Tens of thousands of claims representing millions of dollars were being left in limbo.
About 15 IT staffers and about 4 dozen employees from CNSI, the contractor hired to develop the system—were working 12-hour days, writing software fixes and performing adjustments so fast that Hitchings knew that key project management guidelines were beginning to fall by the wayside. And nothing seemed to help.

Because CNSI is a private company, their financials aren’t published, and thus, the exact amount of business it does with our government isn’t known. Furthermore, because most IT-related Medicaid contracts are done on the state level, tracking the amount of IT business that ObamaCare will create is also very difficult to do. It is clear that one company that should be happy with the implementation of ObamaCare is CNSI because it is without a doubt a boon to a company like it. The company’s behavior before and during the implementation of ObamaCare should therefore be watched very carefully and Front Page Magazine intends to do so.

Warren Buffett: Scrap Obamacare and Start All Over

                                                           
When asked, "Are you in favor of scrapping [Obamacare] and going back to start over?", famed investor Warren Buffett said , "I would be — if I were President Obama.”
Buffett insisted that without changes to America's health system average citizens will suffer.
"We have a health system that, in terms of costs, is really out of control," he added. "And if you take this line and you project what has been happening into the future, we will get less and less competitive. So we need something else."
Three debate-ridden years later, millions of Americans still agree.
But now that the exchanges are open, Obamacare has finally kicked off.
The government program, which some economists call the biggest tax increase ever in the United States, is also one of the most hated bills in history.
Ask millions of Americans what they think about the new law, and chances are they're ready to pop a jugular.
Critics heavily oppose the mandate requiring them to purchase health insurance. They're also furious at all the new taxes, fees, and higher premiums they'll be stuck paying, thanks to Obamacare. 
Yet, while millions of Americans loathe every facet of The Affordable Care Act, as it's officially titled, another group of Americans see it as a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to get rich: Investors.

Obamacare may cost Americans 25% of their paycheck or more on January 1st. Are you at risk? Find out here.

According to Wall Street expert and Money Map Press Chief Investment Strategist, Keith Fitz-Gerald, Obamacare will create unheard of riches for investors who tap into the right companies.
"Obamacare is one of the single biggest wealth creation opportunities to hit the markets in decades," says Fitz-Gerald. "That's because huge amounts of money - trillions - will be spent as Obamacare gets rolling."
"And trillions more will be reallocated," he adds.
Not all companies will benefit -" but a select few are primed for higher returns on a scale that was simply unimaginable before this legislation was passed."
These companies, and their investors, are set to make a fortune in the next several months - and years - as the full Obamacare plan gets underway.
Fitz-Gerald says main street investors will have a chance to reap big paydays - provided they know which sectors stand to benefit most.

Publisher's Note: Fitz-Gerald reveals the two sections of Obamacare that will create a new generation of millionaires.

With the implementation of Obamacare quickly approaching, Americans are asking what they can do to prepare for all the new costs and rules.
One expert, Betsy McCaughey, former Lieutenant Governor of New York and constitutional scholar with a Ph.D. from Columbia University, recently wrote a best-selling book showing Americans how they can survive Obamacare.
McCaughey is one of the only people in the country -- including members of Congress - who has actually read the entire 2,572 page law.
Her book, titled Beating Obamacare: Your Handbook for Surviving the New Health Care Law breaks down the complicated bill into 168 pages of actionable advice.
The book, written in an easy going, easy to read style, shows some startling facts about Obamacare not seen in the mainstream press.
For example, she points to a little known passage in the bill that shows how you could get slapped with a $2,000 fine for not having health insurance - even if you do actually have it.
She also goes into detail explaining how one third of all U.S. employers could stop offering health insurance to their workers.
In one chapter, she shows how ordinary Americans will get stuck paying for substance abuse coverage even if they never touched a drink or drug in their life.

According to McCaughey's research, senior citizens will get hit the hardest. "If you're a senior or a baby boomer, expect less care than in the past," she says. "Hip and knee replacements and cataract surgery will be especially hard to get from Medicare in the months ahead." Details on how to pick up her book here...

She warns seniors to get some of those types of procedures done now before Obamacare goes into full effect.
In addition, many will find it difficult to keep their medical records private, according to McCaughey.
"The law will compel Americans to share with millions of strangers who are not physicians confidential private and personal medical history information they do not wish to share."

.....

Real facts and figures about the hidden Obamacare taxes and fees and how they will affect everyday Americans and seniors are hard to find. As a courtesy, Money Morning is offering readers a free copy of Betsy McCaughey's new book Beating Obamacare: Your Handbook for Surviving The New Health Care Law. But only a limited number of copies are available. Please go here to reserve yours today.

The Calls To Fire Eric Holder Should Worry Wall Street

Isn’t it about time we saw a replacement for Eric Holder? Photo credit: ryanjelly

There’s recently been a sharp increase in the bipartisan calls to fire Eric Holder, an opinion we endorse. We want the Obama administration to fire Eric Holder and replace him with someone who will prosecute Wall Street. Here we’ll show a few excerpts from the recent calls to fire Eric Holder and explain our position. First, the excerpts:
From Jonathan Turley, Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University:

I am neither a Republican nor conservative, and I believe Holder should be fired.

From Michael Gerson, Washington Post opinion writer:

His tenure will not be remembered for its ideological bent. At times he has displayed the legal sensibilities of a flower child. At other points, he has provided the legal justification for President Obama’s expanded drone war or pursued the broadest attack on press freedom in decades.

From Matthew Filipowicz, host of the Matthew Filipowicz Show:

I’m sorry, but I do not buy that the Justice Department is powerless. They are not powerless here. Or if they are, it is 100% by choice. Eric Holder could prosecute Wall Street for their crimes, and the fact is he has chosen not to.

That last quote mirrors our opinion. If you’ve read the details of the specific crimes on Wall Street, or if you’ve seen Frontline’s documentary “The Untouchables,” you know that some Wall Streeters deserve jail time for the actions leading up to, during, and after the 2008 crash.
Frontline’s documentary was so powerful in proving the guilt on Wall Street and Washington’s lack of action that the day after it aired Lanny Breuer, the assistant attorney general, resigned. So there is clear proof that with enough public knowledge and enough public outcry over injustice, reform can happen.

What is perhaps most important, though, is that the public unites to demand that Holder’s replacement be someone who will hold Wall Street accountable.
As the links above show, we know that there are guilty players on Wall Street. We now just need someone with the political will to act on that knowledge. If Eric Holder is fired, it will at least give us that chance.
This isn’t a matter of satisfying some base desire for revenge. We don’t hold the view that all bankers are evil. We just know that if guilty Wall Streeters aren’t punished for their illicit activities in the financial crash, those activities are likely to continue over and over. It’s a matter of moral hazard, and it needs to be addressed quickly—before we find ourselves in another crisis.
It’s time to fire Eric Holder and replace him with someone who will hold Wall Street accountable (someone who didn’t work for Wall Street’s law firm, Covington & Burling).
***
If you haven’t followed the story on Holder and Wall Street, this clip below from Jon Stewart gives a quick overview.

Sen. Warren Asks AG Holder Why No Wall Street Prosecutions

 Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder inquiring as to why the Department of Justice failed to prosecute a single major Wall Street bank executive in the wake of the financial meltdown.

“Have you conducted any internal research or analysis on trade-offs to the public between settling an enforcement action without admission of guilt and going forward with litigation as necessary to obtain such admission and, if so, can you provide that analysis to my office?” wrote Warren.

The letter was also addressed to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White.

In a May 2012 Daily Beast article, Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer and veteran journalist Peter Boyer reported that Holder’s DOJ has failed to prosecute a single top Wall Street executive and that DOJ financial-fraud prosecutions are at 20-year lows.

Furthermore, Schweizer and Boyer revealed that Eric Holder’s former law firm, Covington & Burling, counts among its clients top financial firms and banks, including: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Deutsche Bank.

Holder also installed other Covington & Burling lawyers in the Department of Justice, as well as others whose past firms represent the big banks:

Lanny Breuer, who had co-chaired the white-collar defense unit at Covington with Holder, was chosen to head the criminal division at Obama's Justice. Two other Covington lawyers followed Holder into top positions, and Holder's principal deputy, James Cole, was recruited from Bryan Cave LLP, another white-shoe firm with A-list finance clients.

With Holder now under intense fire for the Associated Press-DOJ snooping scandal, it remains to be seen whether Warren will get the answers she seeks about the DOJ’s refusal to prosecute Wall Street. Given Schweizer and Boyer’s revelations last year, perhaps Warren would do well to revisit the crony connections between Eric Holder, Lanny Breuer, Covington & Burling, and Wall Street.

Is Wall Street Killing America? Don’t Ask Jamie Dimon; He Just Wants to Talk About His Wealth

Is Wall Street Killing America? Don’t Ask Jamie Dimon; He Just Wants to Talk About His Wealth

By Pam Martens: March 4, 2013 

Cover of the German Magazine, Der Spiegel, November 5, 2012

Last November, one of Europe’s largest publications, the German news magazine Der Spiegel, splashed a terminally ill Uncle Sam on its front cover. Inside we are told that “Many developing countries are now looking to China instead of the US as a role model on how to structure a country. They are no longer seeking the light of the American beacon on the horizon.” 

One of the reasons cited by the article for America’s decline is that our best and brightest no longer focus their talents and energies on enriching America’s future, but rush to Wall Street to line their own pockets: “About a third of the students in every graduating class at Harvard University accepts jobs in investment banking and consulting, or with hedge funds — that is, industries that produce one thing above all: fast money…” reads the article. 

Last week, Wall Street’s insufferable fixation on fast money without regard to the dimming American beacon came into focus when the Chairman and CEO of our country’s largest bank, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, actually bragged in public of his outsized wealth by putting down a lower salaried Wall Street employee at the company’s own investor conference. 

The question was a hypothetical one, posed by banking analyst Mike Mayo, regarding whether higher capital at rival bank UBS might create a competitive advantage against JPMorgan. Dimon responded:   

Dimon: “You would go to UBS and not JPMorgan?”

Mayo: “I didn’t say that; that’s their argument.”

Dimon: “That’s why I’m richer than you.” 

Dimon is the man who less than 9 months ago was sitting before two Congressional panels explaining how his bank had lost billions gambling with its customers insured deposits. The losses the company has disclosed now total over $6 billion. In just the last three years, JPMorgan has paid over $16 billion in litigation expense, defending itself against charges of looting the public and its customers. Notwithstanding any of that, Jamie Dimon has not been demoted or fired and has grown even richer and more arrogant; sending another clear signal that America has lost its moorings and any basis for calling itself a meritocracy. 

In the meantime, the country in which Dimon’s children will raise his grandchildren, is sinking toward developing nation status in many critical respects. 

According to a September 2012 report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the U.S. ranks 14th among 37 OECD and G20 countries in the percentage of 25 to 34 year olds boasting higher education attainment, putting the U.S. 20 percentage points behind the leader, Korea, at 65 percent. The report also found that American students struggle more than their foreign peers to top their parents. The report said that the odds of a young person in the U.S. attaining higher education if his or her parents did not do so are 29 percent, ranking as one of the lowest levels among OECD countries. 

The OECD study also found that the U.S. ranks 26^th in the percentage of 4-year olds enrolled in early childhood education programs. 

In the area of high childhood poverty rates, the U.S. ranks 34^th out of 35 economically advanced countries surveyed in a May 2012 UNICEF study. Only Romania had a higher relative childhood poverty rate.   

According to the 2012 World’s Mothers report from Save the Children, which examined the well-being of mothers and their children in 165 countries, mothers in the U.S. face a one-in-2,100 risk of maternal death, the highest of any industrialized nation. Forty countries were ahead of the U.S. for lower childhood deaths before age 5. 
The report noted that maternity leave policies in the U.S. are “among the least generous of any wealthy nation. The United States is the only developed country that does not guarantee working mothers paid leave.” 
The deplorable statistics can be laid to rest directly at the feet of Wall Street’s institutionalized wealth transfer machine which has hollowed out the middle class, thrown millions into poverty for the first time in their lives, redirected tax revenues to Wall Street bailouts and away from social safety nets, and continues to thrive because of insane campaign finance laws which allow Wall Street to maintain an iron grip on the reins to the U.S. government and its regulators. 
According to studies done by Branko Milanovic, an economist at the World Bank’s Development Research Group, the U.S. has a higher level of income inequality than Europe,  Canada, Australia and South Korea. The depth of the inequality is underscored by a study released last year by the National Bureau of Economic Research, showing that 50 percent of the U.S. population would not be able to come up with $2,000 within 30 days for an unexpected expense. 
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 46.2 million people in America, the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing figures on poverty, are living at or below the poverty line, defined by the government as $23,021 annual income for a family of four. 
How can a family living on $23,021 a year compete for a voice in Washington when under current campaign finance laws, one rich individual can contribute a total of $117,000 within any two-year period to Federal elections ($46,200 to candidates and $70,800 to all PACs and parties). If you’re a wealthy couple, that means you can spend $234,000 in any two-year period – almost a quarter of a million dollars – making sure your voice is heard in Washington over the poor and middle class. (Check out the Goldman Sachs graph below to see why America is sinking fast as a democracy.) 
So blinded by personal wealth are people like Jamie Dimon that they can’t see that they have charted a course to leave to their grandchildren the nightmare legacy of a crippled Nation that sends a beacon of hope to no one. 

Goldman Sachs Top Political Donors, 1989 to 2012, Center for Responsive Politics

Dr. Judy Wood at New Horizons - Where Did The Towers Go

Dr. Judy Wood - Where Did The Towers Go? - Chapters 1 thru 22
http://drjudywood.com/towers/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~­~~~~~~~~~~
On 11 Sept 2001, astounding events unfolded in the USA -- including the complete destruction of World Trade Centre Towers 1, 2 and 7. These events changed the world -- changed all our lives. Yet, it was years later that an official investigation was launched. All mainstream media sources generally take a view that those official investigations were adequate - and no one should have cause to seriously question them. However, the pictures show that WTC 1 (like WTC 2) did not "burn up", nor did it "slam down" -- it was turned into dust in mid air -- leaving almost nothing of the building itself.

Dr Judy Wood, a former Professor at Clemson University, USA, with degrees in Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Engineering Science, will present rarely seen graphic evidence which proves what really happened to those enormous structures. Her detailed scientific study exposes a challenging conclusion which most people have never had a chance to see, hear and evaluate. Dr Wood is the only person to submit elements of her forensic study in a US Federal court case in 2007, news of which was censored.

Aired November 14th, 2012
Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura - Season 3, Episode 2 -- *Death Ray*
Jesse interviews Dr. Judy Wood & John Hutchison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MJPpW...

http://wheredidthetowersgo.com/
http://www.drjudywood.com/

This presentation is available on DVD at:
http://www.checktheevidence.com/

Recorded at New Horizons, St Annes, UK, 24th Oct 2011

WATCH
Dr Judy Wood at the Breakthrough Energy Movement conference, 2012 Holland
https://vimeo.com/57923364

How to Disappear Completely - A Short Film About Dustification
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuTp7H...

Solyndra caught destroying it's own parts

FREMONT (CBS 5) — After filing for bankruptcy last year, Fremont solar company Solyndra still owes American taxpayers half a billion dollars. But CBS 5 caught them destroying millions of dollars worth of parts.

At Solyndra's sprawling complex in Fremont, workers in white jumpsuits were unwrapping brand new glass tubes used in solar panels last week. They are the latest, most cutting-edge solar technology, and they are being thrown into dumpsters.

Forklifts brought one pallet after another piled high with the carefully packaged glass. Slowly but surely it all ended up shattered.

And it's not a few loads. Hundreds of thousands of tubes on shrink-wrapped pallets will meet a similar demise.

Solyndra paid at least $2 million for the specialized glass. A CBS 5 crew found one piece lying in the parking lot. Solyndra still owes the German company that made the tubes close to another $8 million.

So why is a bankrupt company that owes a fortune to creditors, including American taxpayers, throwing away millions of dollars worth of assets?

Solyndra is not commenting. But court documents reveal the company received permission from the bankruptcy trustee to abandon the high grade glass, the court agreeing that it was of "inconsequential value" because the cost of storing them exceeds their value.

An employee for Heritage Global Partners, the company in charge of selling Solyndra's assets, told CBS 5 they conducted an exhaustive search for buyers but no one wanted them.

But how exhaustive was that search? The tubes were never included on the list of Solyndra assets put up for sale at two auctions last year.

If they were, David Lucky told CBS 5 he would have bought them. "We certainly would have bid on them, yes," Lucky said.

Lucky owns several large warehouses near Las Vegas. He buys and then resells manufacturing equipment and components all the time.

"Our company has bought a lot of stuff over the years. Truck loads and warehouses full of inventory that companies were just ready to send to the dump, because they don't want to take the time to find markets for it," he said.

When Solyndra shut down last year, he bought hundreds of fully assembled solar panels at the auctions and is reselling them on eBay. "They're going for a third their original price. They are a great deal," Lucky said.

He said if given a chance he would have snapped up the tubes too. "One day some manufacturing company would eventually need those," Lucky said.

Solar scientist Greg Smestad agreed they have value. "As a scientist I said 'Wow, this needs to be studied,'" he said. Smestad has consulted for the Department of Energy.

He recently bought a Solyndra solar panel to study its technology, which is completely different from traditional panels. "It can accept both the direct sun and also track motion, because it's a cylinder," he explained. "The technology is very promising."

Smestad wrote a letter to the auctioneers, asking if they could donate to Santa Clara University any of the leftover tubes after the Solyndra auctions are completed. "Let one student use this as an inspiration for their career and that will be worth something," he said. But the auctioneers wrote back saying they couldn't do that.

"That really makes me sad," said Smestad. "Those tubes represent intellectual investment. These could have had a better value to do public good. I think they owed the U.S. taxpayer that."

Solyndra was hoping to have sold the entire company by Thursday, but they called off the sale because nobody bid for it.

CBS 5 asked more than once for Solyndra, the auction company and the bankruptcy trustee to talk on camera. But they all refused.

CBS 5 also called the German company that made the glass tubes to see if they would have wanted the tubes back. After all, they are still owed almost $8 million dollars. A spokesman said he had no idea they were being destroyed.