As bad as we hate it, but do we, the American Populace, the 70%
MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION, hate it enough to rise up and
CHANGE IT?  There will be NO CHANGE with Republicans of any stripe.

There are people doing life in prison under three strikes laws for stealing a pack of gum
at the grocery store.

Meanwhile the purpose of government has become aiding and abetting those that stole
a whole country.

Our government has become a competition of lies, built on bribes, and graft.

In the end this can only go one way, the death of the united states, either through civil
war, or economic collapse. It’s over. It’s Not a question of if but when.

I agree. It’s shocking to watch the Democrats simply ignore the working people of this country as their lives are being destroyed. No jobs program, no investment in green technology, no conditioning bail-outs on the car industries staying here and keeping Americans jobs in this country? I will never forget Obama coming out and defending the multi-million dollar bonuses paid to Wall Street CEOs on the grounds that “they work hard.” So do I, but nobody ever gave me a million dollar bonus. Particularly when we realize that Wall Street is a criminal enterprise that pays enormous bribes to politicians to avoid prosecution, it’s almost like Obama standing up for the Godfather.

I’m beginning to join the crowd that says don’t bother voting. It’s better if a Republican takes over because then maybe people will finally get off their lazy asses and get out into the streets, organize, work together to end this corporate looting of our country. If Obama gets another four years, what will we get? The same thing we got already: nothing. He won’t end the wars. Refuses to create a real national healthcare program (my premiums have gone up 38% in 14 months). He’s enthusiastic about firing and punishing teachers, shutting down schools. He refuses to indict, prosecute, imprison, seize the assets of the Wall Street criminal enterprise. So exactly what good does it do anyone to support him? 

I don’t see any value in having Obama in the white house. Mostly, he just dazzles a lot of people and keeps them from getting active, because they’re in his fan club, and they think he’ll save us, it’s just a question of time. It’s like the Van Jones/Move On e-mails suddenly going out asking progressives to join them in creating a new platform for a new nation. Van Jones? He’s an Obama guy, right? So is this a sneaky effort by Obama to corral progressives into supporting him with front groups that claim to be independent? How much lower will the Democrats stoop?

Of course they will likely succeed in getting most liberals out to vote Democrat once again, and ask for nothing in return. The terminally optimistic.

Dave L., July 6 at 10:55 am

I think you waste your time, frankly, with any attempt to sway Lafayette from his unyielding and, in my opinion, unreasonable loyalty to the Democratic Party. The post in this thread show rather plainly that he cannot even understand illegalities when they are as plain as day.

Coincidentally he posts his whitewash of the Financial Community just after Bank America was forced to pay over 8 billion dollars to defrauded investors. Almost funny that juxtaposition.

Now his last effort here is the reason for my response here, frankly. I find , in his post entitled:

AMELIORATION FOLLOWS REFORMATION

absolutely nothing with which to disagree. To be so very insightful in this post and so very ,very wrong in the prior one is a puzzling thing indeed.

Obama’s got nothin’, as he just proved again, this time by way of Twitter—to
which one apparently has to belong in order to ask the man a question. He’s
like some kid in a candy store with this tech stuff.

He’s like a kid in general. A wimpy one easily pushed around by Repub bullies
on the D.C. playground. He’s hardly a guy about to hold anyone accountable;
he’s too frightened. Obviously. Of exactly what isn’t entirely clear, but of
something—loss of favor, I guess.

Sure, it’s about his financial backers and all too, but that just doesn’t account
for this man’s utter failure to get something going. He deserves to lose the next
election, though Bachmann might well be the alternative. People will vote again
for Obama just to avoid Bachmann. This has only been going on for about three
decades, while income disparity has been increasing the whole time, and the
economy becoming ever more fragile and prone to failure.

So much for voting for the lesser of two evils. What would Bachmann do that
Obama’s either not doing or would do? I can’t think of much, while we’re
terrified of the very idea of her in power.

We ought be terrified of Obama in power. (Another reason for Ralph not to run
is how he was abused by leftists who absurdly claimed he cost Gore that
election. Who needs that kinda grief? Thanks a lot.)

If anyone has one or two good ideas, he or she is dismissed as a loser idealist,
a moronic dreamer not up on realities of (insert here—from terrorism to arcane
financial markets or even more arcane rules governing the
Senate to intricacies of foreign relations).

There IS more talk in dopey big media when not preoccupied with a trial or a
penis, about increasing income disparity. No mention yet of the reality of a new
aristocracy-plutocracy.

Mostly, it’s all good according to media and pols. America is where you too can
get rich and then carry on like a mugger who will never be held accountable.

What is Rich talking about? He thought they would be held accountable? Who
still thinks that likely or even remotely possible? Speaking of reality.

Reality is that crime really does pay, and screw the victims, baby. Tough luck, too bad, do better.

I just wish Obama would shut the hell up. Stop talking that phony line all the
time. It’s nauseating to listen to the most blatant ideological crap.

Luckily for the new nobility, they are the ones who never have to come into
contact with reality, who live in the dream world, and I don’t mean the one
Aboriginals talk about.

The punks and bullies on all the playgrounds got and keep on getting theirs, and in the real America that’s the idea, indeed
the entire meaning—a la Ms. Rand, one of history’s most astute idiots.

You work, they live. And they ain’t about to give up that arrangement, never
mind rat out one another.

You’ve got to be kidding Lafayette. You think if the Republican criminals are “in charge” rather than the Democrat criminals anything will be different? You fail to realize that neither of them are “in charge”. They all take their bribes and work for the same criminals on Wall St. No where in your post did you mention the core of the financials crimes, the Federal Reserve.

@Layfette:

“Because ours is a nation of laws. And it is only with great difficulty that we can prove
wrongdoing. Yes, they bent the rules ... but they did not break them. In any penal case, one
must prove culpability and for any DA to do so the task is titanic.

I personally do not see how the Credit Rating Agencies cannot be questioned about their
negligence as regards the SubPrime Risks. It is patently obvious that large numbers of
mortgages were written without valid substantiating creditworthiness checks.”

It would seem that banks who are willing to “settle” must have done something wrong. 
Presenting an investment as sterling to your investors when you know it’s trash and you short
it in anticipation of its failure seems to be proof of both fraud and insider trading. Why would I
bailout a bank who’s engaged in that behavior, not once, in the case of Bofa, but twice?  Not
even a reprimand!  As in the case of Madoff, SEC and Regulators did not do their job—the
culpability is widespread.

Banks always do credit checks.  Even with No Doc loans, banks do credit checks.  They knew
exactly what they were doing.  I bet you $100 that credit checks were pulled on everyone who
got a mortgage.

those feeling betrayed, it didn’t happen in a void
- Publisher: Progressive Press; 1st edition (June 2008)

Obama: The Postmodern Coup - Making of a Manchurian Candidate [Paperback]
Webster Griffin Tarpley (Author), Bruce Marshall (Author), Jonathan Mowat (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)

http://tinyurl.com/6538cu

I wish Frank Rich would read Simon Johnson’s economic writings.

Simon Johnson portrays a much more nuanced portrait of the current economic stagnation.  It never comes out and points the finger at Obama, but it is difficult to read those writings and come away feeling Obama is a victim of his mere imcompetence.

Obama is a victim of his collusion with Wall Street, while Wall Street keeps the national economy strangled.  The economy is strangled by Wall Street’s effective obstruction of both taxation decency and also the needed structural reforms to keep economic players ethically out of the kleptocratic gutters.

Obama’s collusion comes through Geithner’s playing the whole Administration’s economic policy according to the dictates of Wall Street, regardless of what the mediocre “reform” legislation put forth last year.

Obama’s/Geithner’s collusion appear to be the bait they are holding out to catch the Street’s campaign donations for the next election cycle.

The President in happier times:

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2010/05/06/killin/

AMELIORATION FOLLOWS REFORMATION

Gerard: Here we had this great flexibility called “democracy” and we blew it.

It is still there. But we don’t know how to exploit it for our purposes.

There are fundamental reforms that are necessary to both our economy and our political system that must precede any amelioration of the present situation.

For instance:
Economic Reforms
* Cap Health Care costs by implementing a National Health System with the power to set HC-service fees.
* Give secondary-school education incentives to meet “through-put quotas” (of students graduating into tertiary-education) to assure they obtain credible skills/talents.
* Begin infrastructure renewal spending across the board to create jobs.
* Reduce DoD expenditures in order to fund the above two goals.
* Higher progressive tax on incomes above $250K to confiscatory levels above $5M. Increase capital gains taxation to 50%. Both measures to fund the above goals.
* Pass laws that prevent both predatory loans and fine credit institutions for fraudulent substantiation of creditworthiness. Insist that the Fed employ its authority to oversee the professional ethics of Credit Institutions.
* Take from the Fed and give to the Treasury the oversight regulation of the Finance Industry, by means of a professional body of regulatory experts.
Political:
* Employ a Constitutional Amendment specifying that all electoral donations must be made by individuals and not corporations. Place a cap on individual donations somewhere below $5000. Permit only a nonpartisan institution to receive donations to enhance voter turnout.
* Pass laws that support the rule of “one-person-one-vote”, specifically outlawing gerrymandering in both state and federal elections.
* Institute proportional voting in Federal elections.
* Constitute a third-party option to allow more choice in the proposition of economic policies.

MY POINT

And that’s just for starters. 

We must make it understood that the present degree of Income Unfairness in our economy is deeply immoral and therefore unacceptable. A people cannot function harmoniously if we continue to believe that the singular pursuit of wealth is the sole justification of our existence.

Income Unfairness has brought exaggerated divisions in the social makeup of our nation. History tells us that such deeply warped unbalances inevitably undo nations.

Sad, but true: The corp. criminals that created
this mess are the same corp. benefactors that ALL
politicians court in order to get the campaign funds
for a shot at the White House.
Where a Rep. or even a Senate seat can be obtained
on a “grassroots” campaign, when the Presidency is
sought one must have the Wall St. Husslers money to
do it.
With all the various issues and priorities in D.C.
the one over-riding common denominator is GREED.
Liberals, Conservatives, it doesn’t matter - they
are the best of friends wallowing in the stolen
wealth of the common citizen, we learn to do with
less while government employment grows by leaps &
bounds, with pay raises & bonuses for all.
The noise of Repubs vs Dems (or vice versa) is all
smoke & mirrors. The political elite are a class of
their own - the parasites that wish a “Matrix” like
existence where We The People are stored and used
for their purposes.

A TITANIC TASK

FR: There has been no legal, moral, or financial reckoning for the most powerful wrongdoers.

Yes, we are all very upset by what happened. The Filthy Rich pulled one off on us. The banksters ruined the economy but got rich doing it. The dislike or the hatred is clearly palpable.

But what do you want a PotUS to do? Why are there not enough perp-walks to give heart to the notion that “something is FINALLY being done”? Why?

Because ours is a nation of laws. And it is only with great difficulty that we can prove wrongdoing. Yes, they bent the rules ... but they did not break them. In any penal case, one must prove culpability and for any DA to do so the task is titanic. 

I personally do not see how the Credit Rating Agencies cannot be questioned about their negligence as regards the SubPrime Risks. It is patently obvious that large numbers of mortgages were written without valid substantiating creditworthiness checks.

Besides, the mortgages were all packaged helter-skelter into Debt Instruments, which were then sold as Triple-A rated “realty backed” investments. But how does one prove fraud when the evidence is in a pile of Toxic Waste that is impenetrable. I suppose it could be done, but it would take years.

The Senate conducted its own Quikie Investigation and, aside from a momentary media embarrassment, nothing issued that could be used in a court case against the heads of the Wall Street firms that benefited most.

But, one thing I do know. If you want deregulation to be palliative and if you want these people to get away with SubPrime Mess Redux, then vote Obama out of office. Because with the Replicants in power there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of any harsh regulatory oversight will be imposed. Why?

Because, Lead-head showed us the truth of regulatory oversight. If a sitting PotUS does not want an industry regulated, s/he will put into the Attorney General’s office one of “their people” and regulation will be only cursory.

MY POINT

We are indeed heading for another financial catastrophe if the Replicants regain the White House next year.

There are many brilliant stories on Truthdig, and there are just as many intelligent
responses to those same articles in the Comments section.

It now seems abundantly and painfully clear that President Obama cannot lead our
nation out of its many woes.

The question is: “How can we ordinary but uncommon citizens fight corporate
power and repression?”

Would it be helpful if Truthdig added a column dedicated to taking back the power
from the rich? Are there helpful hints or strategies families can pursue? I’m sure
there is a lot of wisdom out there amongst the readers of Truthdig.

I don’t recall the president condemning the fraudulent acts of these banks and
promising American citizens that a full investigation.  The Republicans, of
course, act as blase as expected.  Where are the Democrats?  Where are their
voices, their outrage?  As Rich points out, how can our elected officials pursue
justice when they take money from the criminals.  Isn’t that why Whitey Bulger
wasn’t arrested for 16 years, because the FBI had been sleeping with him?

What I find curious is the nonchalantce with which Obama faces a disappointed
base.  Instead of addressing his voters directly with detail, he engages in lofty
rhetoric that masks a concrete point of view.  It’s almost like the president is
determined to get re-elected without promising anybody anything.  Anyone
who has received a campaign call from Obama from America has to be amazed
by the lack of persuasiveness.  It amounts to—just have faith and it’s better
than a Republican.  According to the phone caller, she was hearing a lot of
disappointment and outrage from 2008 voters…which explains the president’s
trolling for votes in Puerto Rico.

If the Republicans were in charge completely there would be no
Social Security, Unemployment, Medicare, or Medicaid.

On this issue alone, I lost all confidence in Obama.  After so much campaign rhetoric about ‘change’ we got the same exact Wall Street bailout that Bush had begun. It was at this moment that I realized I was living in a plutocracy.

May be right, but replacing a Democrat with an EXTREMIST Republican
seems unlikely and ALL Republicans are EXTREMISTS and vote
EXTREMISM in lock step.

The double bind seems to be that Obama can’t call the rich boys to account because he needs their money to get elected.  And the people can’t do it because the repressive Bush “surveillance” policies which Obama apparently couldn’t revoke have so squelched and neutered “the people” that they lack the confidence to do what is needed. That leaves—who? The Media? The Pentagon?  The Courts?  The Churches? Congress? The unions? The Chamber of Commerce? Peter Pan?

Seems like statis (refusal to innovate) always digs its own grave. Here we had this great flexibility called “democracy” and we blew it.