to permit yourself to be called out by an idiot like Boehner,this is truly the new low point for Barry’s 1 term presidency.

I too am thinking about voting for Sarah, after all, we are on our way out, we might as well pull this band-aid off quickly. There is nothing worse than lingering, awaiting the inevitable. It’s time to privatize social security, eliminate medicare, erase what regulatory bodies remain. The only tax money paid out should be political salaries and the pentagon. It’s time we all pulled a collective “Slim Pickins” and strattled this bomb and shouted “Yee-Haw” all the way to ground zero.

On the laughability listening to Democrats cry
foul with the Supreme Court’s Citizens United Decision.

The Party made it very clear during the last presidential
primaries…..it is their party and they make the rules.
So could they not make the parties own spending rules?

Could they not change the very corrupt delegate and the
really awful very corrupt Super delegate process and
go to a popular vote?

Could they not work with the states to make this awful
expensive and corrupt primary system more compact and
delivered in half the time?
Lets say in three different batches of elections
instead of the primaries being drug out as to milk the
money and not a damn thing more is learned about the
candidate after the fouth month.

Yes , they could, but they never will.
This isn’t a democracy, never was.
However, it is no longer an inverted facist state.
The pigs are in complete charge now, you know it Mr.Scheer
quit pretending like our votes make a difference now.
Over a period of years, social security is going to be
completly phased out, you know it as well as I.
We are owned now, by the owners of our debt, they dictate
on how the money is going to be spent, so don’t worry
about lobbyists to much either,  they will not be needed
so much in the future, they won’t matter. The legislation
will more and more be written in the law offices of the
owners of our debt.  The massacres will continue (p.s. they are not wars).  And us citizens, for a few more
election cycles, we will still be fed the FOX, MSMBC,
there is a differnce crap, until everyone realizes that
the republic is lost, by then , the food shortages will
not be masked and the prices sky high.
Mr. Scheer, over in Europe they are using the Austerity
word quite a bit, isn’t that the proper word?

The Audacity of Hope!
I felt a lot better when I gave up hope.
In war truth is the first casualty.
They have cut down the tree of life,
Death becomes an artistic expression.
Little dreamer,dream on.

First of all, everyone who comments here needs to read Nassim Taleb’s book “The Black Swan.”  It will explain to you that what you think you know is vastly overstated.  Secondly, go back and read the author Kurt Vonnegut, who in 1979, explained the exact nature of the political process in America.  The real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers.  Democrats and Republicans are both in the Winners party.  You and me are in the Losers party.  Get it?  The fix is in, and you and me are screwed!

A question for Obama apologists: Why is Alan Simpson co-chair of the “Fiscal Responsibility Commission”? A well seasoned bastard is still a bastard. The media would howl to the moon if it was discovered that a President locked boots with a seasoned whore for sex, but there is not a problem when the same plays footsie with a former Senator who has revealed time and again his complete disdain for the American people. Obama would of course claim he is trying to find “consensus”; others who have a slightly different view would see POTUS actually shoveling more manure back into the barn he is suppose to clean out.

HIP, HIP ,  HORAAY

FOR SHIRLEY SHERROD !!!!!!!!

SHE TOLD OBAMA AND VILSEK TO S T U F F   I T ! ! ! !

They were the real culprits in that sad affair…...

That’s right Mr Scheer. Obama needs to throw a few more advisors under the bus. He’s already guaranteed Congress’s decimation this fall. He’s beginning to rival Hugo Chavez in his survival techniques.

Remember Sen. Frank Church*s comment at a 1974 inquiry into the power of
the oil industry: “We are dealing with corporate entities which have many of the
characteristics of nations.’
Sen .Dick Durbin recently said “The bankers own the place .’’
The top 5 % of Income-earners account for 35% of consumer spending.
The bottom 80% of income -earners account for 20% of consumer spending.
The ‘‘economy’’ (Stock Market) does not need the “little people’’ to get jobs .We were told 2 years ago that we would have a ”’ jobless recovery .’’ That*s code for the top 1% getting richer than ever.Did any Multi- Million Dollar News
Anchors, Ballplayers , Actors, or CEOs take a pay cut ? No.The unemployed are are a wonderful tool to be used by the “right ’ and “left’’ to create status anxiety and Fear among the rest of the us .The capitalist system is not creating jobs any more .
Only fear , war and division. It*s for the Empire,Stupid!

Sorry about the double post, but us nonthinking Palindrones need to get the word out!

Though I suspect the problem is a Congress full of opportunists, I see real hope and change for a third party,...... which is why I am voting for Sahara Palin in 2012, lets face it,  how many of you can gut a Moose while at the samee time bearing a child named after one of the seven dwarfs?  Vote Palin 2012, she has my vote but only after more than several Tequilas!

Though I suspect the problem is a Congress full of imbecilic opportunists, so for me I see real hope and change only in a third party,...... which is why I am voting for Sahara Palin in 2012, lets face it,  how many of those whiners out there in self proclaimed progressive land, can gut a Moose at the same moment preforming child birth and name your cute little brat, after one of the seven dwarfs?

Vote Palin 2012, ......she has my vote but only after partaking in more than several Tequilas!

balkas, we are going to try to fix up ,,

I am sure Sara would love this.

I knew you bullshitting about a good looking ass.

YOU’RE SO BEAUTIFUL WHEN YOUR ANGRY!! I’M LOVIN’ IT!!

  You’ve all said it so well. Thank you.

prole: Excellent!

According to R. Scheer, the problem is not quite Obama but Geithner and
Summers… and Clinton and Bush. There’s no way Obama, who was a politician,
didn’t know what he was doing when he was planning his strategy to win the
election. He must have known what he could count on in terms of his own
corrupt party as well as who the Republicans were. And he believed in
expanding the Afghanistan war before he became president. On top of that, he
had the nerve to make “change we can believe in” and “help me take back
America” his campaign slogans. He made a pact with the devil because he wanted to be president.

Mr. Scheer, you don’t have to adhere to any ideology or political group. It would
be very helpful if you could simply stick to the facts. Otherwise, your comments end up contributing to the tragic political fantasy we live in.

They Go or Obama Goes? Well obviously Obama goes. Do you think “they”, and the banksters they represent, are going anywhere? Sorry, they can’t be voted out. Just ask Dick Durbin, they own the place.

Baal is dead because he lost his guards and their watchful eye over him.
Yahweh, god, and allah—i order them by seniority rights—are alive because of guardians like ellis.
As soon as ellis stops guarding and guiding god or jesus-god, he’d drop dead in an instant.

So, take it easy on ellis; he’s just keeping god alive. Is that such a big crime?

In any case, his god, methinks, only cares about her-his souls. Mind u, souls don’t eat, dwell, think, or do anything—bodies do that.
And that’s not god’s, allah’s, or yahweh purveayance.

So, according to ellis’ knowledge 1[or god’s knowledge 2], ellis is right! And even palin and me are right by what we know.

Now, don’t go anywhere or say a word even in holy english or hebrew unless u grant every human her/his right to know s’mthing.

I leave the word “know” undefined and treat it as undefinable.

If u want to influence and win palin’s heart or mind or mind-heart, u better tell her that she’s right everytime. tnx

Most are not elected—and many operate outside the scrutiny of the Congress:

Federal Reserve Bank (Privately Owned):

1) Ben S. Bernanke: Chairman of the Board of Governors of Federal
Reserve. Term ends 2020.
2) Donald L. Kohn: Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of Federal
Reserve. Term ends 2016.
3) Randall S. Kroszner: Member of Board of Governors of Federal Reserve.
4) Frederic S. Mishkin: Member of Board of Governors of Federal Reserve.
Term ends 2014.
5) Kevin M. Warsh: Member of Board of Governors of Federal Reserve.
6) Paul Volcker: Chair of Economic Recovery Advisory Board
7) Alan Greenspan: Advisor to Board of Governors of Federal Reserve.
Recent Chairman.

Federal Reserve District Bank Presidents:

Eric S. Rosengren – President, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
- Charles I. Plosser – President, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
- Jeffrey M. Lacker – President, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
- James B. Bullard – President, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
- Gary H. Stern – President, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
- Thomas M. Hoenig – President, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
- Richard W. Fisher – President, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
- Janet L. Yellen – President, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Jewish Banks That Own The Federal Reserve System:

* Rothschild Banks of London and Berlin
* Goldman Sachs Bank of New York
* Kuhn Loeb Bank of New York/Shearson American Express
* Lazard Brothers Bank of Paris
* Israel Moses Sieff Banks of Italy
* Warburg Bank of Hamburg, Germany and Amsterdam
* Lehman Brothers Bank of New York
* Chase Manhattan Bank of New York (David Rockefeller)

Our “keepers”—the keepers of the security, both economic and military are the
following who have loyalties, it seems, to Israel over the U.S.:
Jewish influence in the US Government:

White House Chief of Staff – Rahm Emanuel
Deputy White House Chief of Staff – Mona Sutphen
Special Presidential Adviser – David Axelrod
Secretary of Treasury – Timothy Geithner
Deputy Secretary of Treasury – Neal Wolin
Under Secretary of Treasury – Lael Brainard
President of the New York Fed – Carole Sonnenfeld
Economic Advisor to Obama-Biden – Robert Reich
Economic Advisor to Obama-Biden – Robert Rubin
Ambassador to Middle East – Dennis Ross
Director Centers for Disease Control – Douglas Shulman
IRS Commissioner – Richard Haass
Director of Management and Budget – Peter Orszag
Chairman of Commodities Futures Trading Commission – Gary Gensler
U.S. Solicitor General (Supreme Court Nominee) – Elena Kagan
Chief of Staff to Vice President Biden – Ron Klain
Chairman Council of Advisors on Science and Technology – Eric Lander
Co-Chair of Advisors on Science and Technology – Harold Varmus
Deputy Secretaries of State – Jacob Lew and James Steinberg
White House Director of Communications – Ellen Moran
Middle East Desk National Security Council – Daniel Shapiro
Chairperson Securities and Exchange Commission – Mary Schapiro
Chairperson Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) – Sheila Bair
Major Legal Advisor to Obama-Biden – Sally Klain
Special Envoy to Pakistan/Afghanistan – Richard Holbrooke
Head of Small Business Administration – Karen Mills
Chairman Federal Trade Commission – Jon Leibowitz
Chairman Federal Communications Commission – Julius Genachowski
Commissioner of Food and Drug Administration – Dr. Margaret Hamburg
Deputy Commissioner Food and Drug Administration
- Dr. Joshua Sharfstein
Assistant to President for Legislative Affairs – Phil Schiliro
National Finance Chair – Penny Pritzker
Chief of Staff for Michelle Obama – Susan Sher

Obama’s Czars:

Economic Czar – Larry Summers
Regulatory Czar – Cass Sunstein
Pay Czar – Kenneth Feinberg
Guantanamo/Military Jails Czar – Daniel Fried
Car Czar – Ron Bloom
Border Czar – Alan Bersin
Climate Czar – Todd Stern
TARP Czar – Herb Allison
Non proliferation Czar – Gary Samore
Terrorism Czar – John O. Brennan
Science Czar – John Holdren
White House Medical Czar – Ezekiel Emanuel
Environmental Czar – Carol Browner
Domestic Violence Czar – Lynn Rosenthal
Govt. Performance Czar – Jeffrey Zients

(continued in next message)

Unfortunately, this is the modern opiate of the masses.  Today, the Democrats still get the votes from the people stoned on this political heroin who believe the fantasy that voting Democrat is somehow voting in opposition and thus might lead to change.

The people still want change.  That of course means by definition voting for someone different.  And you’d have to be a complete moron to believe that Palin and the Republicans would bring change.

But, don’t wait for the corporate TV set and the corporate parties to suddenly give you a candidate for ‘change’.  That’s certain to be another fraud.

Real change is going to take grassroots organizing. Real change will come from us.  We’ll be told that it can’t happen, that we have to be realistic, that the change we want is just not possible, all the way up until the day we win and achieve the change we want.

Mr Scheer,  what is the excuse for ALAN SIMPSON????

“Barack Obama and the Democrats”…that George W….”led to a stunning victory two years ago are going down hard in the face of an economic crisis that he did nothing to create but which he has failed to solve.” Obama owes his “stunning” victory to Bush’s stunning incompetence and rock-bottom unpopularity at the end of his reckless reign. Obama, in turn will no doubt pass on the favor to the next puppet president, chosen in reaction to Obama’s own sorry interregnum, another false messiah laid to rest. “That is somewhat unfair because the basic blame belongs to his predecessors, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who let the bulls of Wall Street run wild in the streets where ordinary folks lived”…but only somewhat since the ambitious community organizer was seduced by power without putting up much of a fight. So now ACORN is defunct, no federal bailout money for the grassroots groups, and Wall St. is still raking it in with lots of philanthropy from the Community-Organizer-in-Chief. Looks like the slippery Harvard lawyer got out of ACORN just in time, at least he still has a job, and more than one nice mansion. So shed no tears for Bullshit Barry, he knows which side his bread is buttered on. To fret over his irrelevant “legacy” is low comedy of the worst kind. 
  “The core issue for the economy is the continued cost of a”…system of power that effectively excludes any democratic control and that leaves it all in the hands of a few slimy insiders like Summers and Rubin and Greenspan. The Bush’s and Obama’s are interchangeable useful idiots. “Derivative packages made up of suspect Alt-A and subprime mortgages” and “the Commodity Futures Modernization Act” are simply outgrowths of that venal system, an effect not a cause. “Obama’s continued deference to the sensibilities of the financiers and his relative indifference to the suffering of ordinary people” likewise stems from the same systemic roots. “The subject of housing foreclosures is inherently boring unless you happen to own a home being foreclosed… But few of the well-paid pundits on television are in such a position”…and neither is the well-paid pundit in the Oval Office, who like Clinton can expect to make zillions in outside fees and favors when he leaves office.
  “There is no way that Obama can begin to seriously reverse this course without shedding the economic” system that “got us into this mess in the first place”. “Obama gained credibility through sacking Gen. Stanley McChrystal for making untoward remarks”…but the “untoward” occupation of Afghanistan and all its crimes goes on unabated under the more ‘toward’ Petraeus. “Why not sack Summers and Geithner for untoward policies that have inflicted such misery on the general public”…only to buy time to continue with the “untoward” economic structure that preserves elite rule unchanged?

For the umpteenth time, Robert Scheer supposes that Obama is something other than what he really is.  There is no Henry Wallace or Adlai Stevenson or Paul Wellstone waiting for precisely the right moment to disappear into the phone booth, take off his Goldman Sachs suit and dash out onto the sidewalk as Progressive Man.  Obama is The Grand American Quisling, the rotten, phony, power and money grubbing politician from the bottom of the barrel.  If the fairy tale Robert Scheer believes about Obama makes him feel better . . . well, it’s better than heroin.

Do you have $30 million?

That’s the apparent cost of getting Obama to give a damn about your plight.  Wall Street gave him about that much, and look at how Obama is always so very worried about anything that might upset them.  The “Health” corporations gave about that much to get their mandated customers and government subsidies.

So, do you have $30 million?  That’s what it costs to get Obama to give a damn about you.

If you don’t have $30 million, then voting for the people who only serve those with $30 million would seem to be a very bad idea.  Please stop.

The first sentence leads with Democrat propaganda.  Who says Obama had nothing to do with creating this economic crisis?  Was he not a US Senator from 2004 onwards?  Was he not already being anointed as a leader in the Democratic party after getting his keynote speaking slot in 2004?

The Democrats in the US Senate never used the filibuster to oppose any of Bush’s economic policies or appointments.  Never.  Which means they signed on to the same policies.  There were always more Democrats in the Senate during Bush’s years than there are Republicans today.  Yet, notice how the Democrats never stopped or even slowed down any of Bush’s policies or appointments.  Today we see clearly that the 45 Democratic Senators could have done so.

Don’t tell me Obama didn’t have anything to do with this crisis.  If you doubt this, remember him flying in off the campaign trail to twist arms and vote for Bush’s first wall street bailout plan.

If we want to solve the problem, we have to learn to identify the true culprits.  And who’s on our side and who has never been on our side.

Personally, although I was duped as were so many others into electing Obama, I find no reason to bemoan his current plight. He knew what the situation was, who and what caused it, and what his average American supporters expected of him. That he chose to maintain the status quo surrounded by the “usual suspects”, spit in the face of justice and human rights, and attempt to salve the frustration of the Progressive base by throwing them a few crumbs, lies and, excuses only reinforces my belief that he is nothing more than a run of the mill opportunistic politician in thrall to the corpoatocracy. The fact that the “right” continues unabated to bring him down is not because he is “liberal” or, even more absurdly, Socialist, its because he is of color and they are unredeemed bigots afraid that those “others” may gain a foothold onto their prerogatives. Gibbs let the cat out of the bag when he slammed the Progressives and the sick, twisted intolerance, greed, and aparthied mindset of the Chamber of Commerce, Koch bros., and tea party nit-wits not withstanding does not cloud the reality that our current POTUS is much more attuned to the needs of the plutocrats, oligarchs, and/or fascists in control of this nation than the rest of us who are considered nothing more than a commodity to be exploited in that grand scheme of the neo-liberal ideology. Whether Obama stays or goes is irrelevant to the dismal future of this country. The system must be replaced!

John Ellis stated?  “The vast majority of humans were born with a conviction
that they deserve to be rich.”

It could also be said, a not so vast majority; of humans but a majority anyway; were born with the deserving label of stupid!

My dog was born with a conviction to bury bones and crap on my neighbors lawn.

If I was born with a conviction,..... it would be that I am deserving of identifying moronic statements when seen.

Beerdoctor, it is nice to see your return from the hiatus, I occasionally find the need for a hiatus, but I try to give it up. probably because I was born with convictions.

It seems to me that two years ago in the lead up to the presidential election, the titans of finance made a shocking discovery, that their businesses were propped up with trillions of THEORETICAL money, that did not exist, and as their money making enterprises began collapsing they played Geo. Bush like a fiddle and got him and his administration suckered enough to push through a bailout of REAL Federal money.  Now the banks are flush will all time highs in CASH and most Fortune 500 industrial businesses are making great profits.  Instead of investing the profits in the multiplier effect to create a fresh surge of spending consumers with pay in their pockets, and hiring or increasing pay and getting the economy moving (myth: government caused undertainty is making them leery of hiring) these F500 industries are socking away CASH and buying their own stock.  In other words, the money industries and the manufacturing and other F500 industries are essentially colluding to punish the middle class by sucking as much money out of it as they can, to cause as much misery as they can and allowing their Republican puppets to point a finger at the Obama Administration; its quite a lot their fault the economy is stalled (myth: its not taxes or regulation, its cash hoarding by banks and industries.  There is no lack of money in the economy, it is just being hoarded as punishment to the public so that they will re-install the industry’s favorite puppets, the Republicans.

BarbieQue’s comment hits the proverbial nail on the head. Strange that bean counting never applies to the military. The dead Alexander Haig said its budget was “sacrosanct”. Well Al is gone and maybe his maxim should follow him.

bpawk,

Your absolutely right.  Obama’s hopey changey thing is about to go into fearmongering against the how much worse the Republicans will be than his own administration.  We are about to see the most negative campaign fights of my lifetime.

“Unfortunately, there is no evidence that the Obama administration’s efforts to address the foreclosure problem will make an appreciable dent.”

Newsflash! This is not a bug, it is a feature. As per Steve Waldman:

http://www.interfluidity.com/v2/933.html

“On HAMP, officials were surprisingly candid. The program has gotten a lot of bad press in terms of its Kafka-esque qualification process and its limited success in generating mortgage modifications under which families become able and willing to pay their debt. Officials pointed out that what may have been an agonizing process for individuals was a useful palliative for the system as a whole. Even if most HAMP applicants ultimately default, the program prevented an outbreak of foreclosures exactly when the system could have handled it least. There were murmurs among the bloggers of “extend and pretend”, but I don’t think that’s quite right. This was extend-and-don’t-even-bother-to-pretend. The program was successful in the sense that it kept the patient alive until it had begun to heal. And the patient of this metaphor was not a struggling homeowner, but the financial system, a.k.a. the banks. Policymakers openly judged HAMP to be a qualified success because it helped banks muddle through what might have been a fatal shock. I believe these policymakers conflate, in full sincerity, incumbent financial institutions with “the system”, “the economy”, and “ordinary Americans”. Treasury officials are not cruel people. I’m sure they would have preferred if the program had worked out better for homeowners as well. But they have larger concerns, and from their perspective, HAMP has helped to address those.”

I fully concur with Waldman on that one: All the actions of Geithner and Summers have been targeted at saving the bacon of the big banks, at the quasi-exclusion of any other consideration.

Obama still listen to them. (One would be tempted to say “only to them”) He deserve a big part of the blame too.

I enjoy reading the stories on this site, however as I read this story, as a Canadian, I am intrigued that Americans have always rejected third or fourth parties and prefer the “lesser of two evils” two parties and then go on to wonder why nothing gets done. You flatly rejected Ralph Nader thereby making Obama your left wing for progressive change. The joke is on you though as he knows you have nowhere else to go and he can behave anyway he likes as long as it is “left” of the Republicans (not hard to do). I think a lot of people are seeing that the adversarial laissez faire capitalist system is dead (see more successful models in state capitalist China or Germany’s triad of business/labour/government co-operation) and we need to look to other models. I think Obama (and the Democrats and Republicans) are part of the old school way of thinking and so are all of his cronies (Geithner, Summers, Bernanke et al). North America needs a new model.

sorry, forgot to close italics   See if this fixes it.

John Ellis – “The vast majority of humans were born with a conviction
that they deserve to be rich.” 

Are you just making this up or do you have some demographics?  There
are about 6.7 billion humans in the world, just to remind you.

” Whereas, a chosen few were born with a conviction that this day of
life is more then they deserve. “ 

This is more drivel and dross.

Why not say what you think “freewill is all about.”

Inherit the Wind,
You continue after, at least a year now, continue to repeat the lie “nobody else wanted the job” with regards to Summers and Geitner.  I responded previously with why this is a lie but you don’t care.  Your deception of course has to do with your very unique definition of who “nobody” is!  Obama, plan and simple, screwed up a once in a lifetime opportunity to fix our banking system.

Scheer’s article is indeed “dumb” in that it continues the narrative that Obama is really a progressive being held back by the evildoers with which he surrounded himself.  Obama is far more likely to defend or “do a better job communicating the accomplishments” of Geitner/Summers than to fire them. 

And at this stage Obama’s economic policies have largely done their damage.  Once the Democrats loose more Congressional seats in the upcoming elections and we truly have an incapacitated deadlocked legislature with regards to partisan issues, there will not be much chance of getting any meaningful economic stimulation past the legislature.

Wednesday August 25, 2010 08:03

Hello Mr Stifel,

I read How to navigate a secular bear market

The good news is that we are well into the current secular bear market. The bad news is that it could still last for several more years. Secular bears usually end when no one wants to own stocks anymore, and I don’t think investors have reached that point yet.

Jim Cramer Thursday August 19, 2010 warns

Thanks to new energy-efficiency standards that will be phased in from 2012 to 2014, regular incandescent bulbs will effectively be banned as they burn too much electricity.

of possible electricity problems shortly.

EPRI electrical engineer Rick Shumard commented on Economics and electricity on April 27, 2010 in Albuquerque.

Retired physics professor Melvin Davidson wrote The Energy Dilemma in 1972 relating electricity use to GNP.

We are concerned that large-scale solar generation of electricity may be a fraud and will do little or nothing to alleviate future electricity problems.

We are in the process of requesting expert help from EPRI:

http://home.comcast.net/~bpayne37/eprishumard/eprishumard.htm#specker

If, in fact, electric costs soar and shortages appear how do you think that this will effect the US economy?

Thanks in advance for a response.

bill

____

Links at http://home.comcast.net/~bpayne37/index.htm

For Democrats to be successful there people have to trust that government can
make things better. Part of establishing that trust means investigating the
wrongs of the past. No matter which party that affects. The failure of Obama to
appoint an independent prosecuters to look at misdeeds done by the previous
administration was a huge breach of the people’s trust in govt. Clinton quashed
investigations into the previous administration of George H. W. Bush that, had
they played out, may have tainted the Bush name to the point where a run for
president by Bush 43 would not have been successful. The american people
need desperately to hear the truth spoke plainly. The problem is that the right
wing has dominated the airwaves with misinformation for the last 20-30 years.
Most of these efforts have been to erode trust in govt. This is part of the reason
for the rise in libertarianism. These people are just disgusted with the two
parties they to choose from every election.

I am about the same age as the President. In my life there have been several
reincarnations of “the best and the brightest.” From Robert McNamara(Vietnam
War) to Arthur Laffer (Supply Side Economics) to Alan Greenspan (irrational
exuberance) to Donald Rumsfeld (Afganistan/Iraq) to now the “Axis of Wall
Street” Geithner, Summers and Bernanke. Failures all. I can understand the
president needing people around him who he trusts implicitly, but right now
the country needs him to step outside his comfort level. None of his economic
team saw the problems in the economy developing and therefore their
suggestions for fixing the economy have been off the mark. Further they have
actively worked to weaken the voices of those, Shiela Bair, Joseph Stiglitz, and
Paul Volker among others, who predicted the problems and can provide the
best advice for righting our economy. The president would do well to change
his economic team at the earliest possible time. It would show the public that
he is serious about fixing the economy and getting people back to work. The
Clinton “Wall Street friendly” model the democrats have adopted wins elections
but will destroy our economy only slightly slower than any republican plans.

The president needs to dust off the bully pulpit and lay out facts for the public.
His efforts need to be buttressed by a coordinated push by the DNC and
progressive groups to change the public’s perception on a few major issues,
economics, energy, and social security for starters. He needs to stop organizing
his administration around the 2012 election and take care of business now or
he will join the ranks of the unemployed around Jan. 2013.

Adding insult to injury is the daily pounding of Obama by the likes of CNBC and
Fox Business News for being “anti-business”. They are terrified that Obama is
going to follow through on his campaign pledge of letting the Bush tax cuts
expire for those making over $250,000 a year. The titans of industry complain
about the “uncertainty” of the economy as reasons they can’t hire. Like when
hasn’t there been uncertainty in the world. They are paid to manage in a world
of uncertainty. And of course they whine all day long about the new regulations
imposed on them which aren’t even that tough. The HARP program has been a
dismal failure and Obama should be pounding on the banks to get their act
together. The stupid excuses that are being put forth are easily addressable. It
is unreal what we are allowing the banks to get away with. Since Obama is being
accused of being anti-business anyway, he may as well get really nasty with
them. What we are seeing right now is the true power of Wall Street over our
daily lives. The fear they have created is making America a less tolerant country,
one that is looking for scapegoats. It could be a very bad year for Democrats.

That is the utter derangement of the Republican Party.  The GOP is
not the party of the people and their bipartite attack is both racist
and elitist.  Their self-serving pathology is shown with every single
public statement they make.  They have no program that would
benefit the American People.  They would only further profit only
those who have the wealth.  The Democrats need to become a unified
party or all of the rest of America will lose every inch of ground hard
fought since 1776.  To do anything else is self-annihilation. 

Not that there are not factions in the world that attempt to destroy this
country that must be repelled, but the people of this country can be
sure it will be engaged in eternal world wars depleting every cent of its
national treasury that would go for essential needs of the common
people because the GOP is the war machine party, which keeps feeding
the wealthy and powerful by fomenting causes for war. 

Obama has brought out the very worst in them, which seethes under
the surface of their public two-faced obsessively hoggish interests. 
And that is his biggest strength.  We get to see them at their most
degenerate. 

Most of those in America who have significant money prey on the
American people and conspire either overtly or by silent assent of those
who do to extract every cent and dispossesses every shred of integrity
ordinary people would have.  It is our responsibility to stop them and
keep them from the powerhouse they are attempting to have to take
over our government and they are using every depraved means to
acquire it.

This is not their country, it is ours.  That is the plain and the simple fact
of it. and we must not let them take it from us.  I have really never felt
a them/us dichotomy until these last few weeks when the fever of their
vehemence has vividly been made public.  I always thought it was good
to have opposition in order to keep corruption at bay. But the
Republicans have ratcheted up their vile and malignant rhetoric that has
struck a chord of such disgust in me that my usual centrist tolerance
has almost been depleted. I hope to retain some sense of rational
tolerance, but it is worn thin.

If you do not want the Republican Party to rule this country, it is your
responsibility to do something to stop them.  You must be vocal, you
must spread the word, you must defend your right to whatever
resources are there for yourself and everyone’s good, and you must
PAY to stop them.  I don’t know exactly how you would do that except
to join grass roots organizations and seriously get involved.  At the
same time we do not want to violate our own belief in justice and
freedom that are imperative for a civilized society.  We must not be
reduced to savagery ourselves.  So I do not endorse violent anarchic
revolution!  This must be done with evolved humanized action,
otherwise ultimately we lose and they win.

As to the suffering of ordinary people and also the not so ordinary, on the campaign trail Obama may have talked the talk but neither he or Michelle Obama intended to walk the walk. That being said Obama will have to address this problem, because, as Scheer points out in this well written column, it adversely affects many lives and in fact the entire country. It’s far from over, especially considering that the unemployment rate keeps climbing.

“Is it deflation or is it inflation? Actually it’s both simultaneously—easy M3
money for them that we never see, and tight starvation-rations deflationary M1
checkbook money for us who don’t have enough purchasing power in our loop
to pay our debts, taxes and rent and keep our families fed and our gas tanks
full.

Ol’ Dick Eastman’s two-loop hidden-class-warfare thesis of 1999 confirmed. 
This is what is going on.”

The “ruling class” make the rules with their tribal partners in the Federal (not)
Reserve (none).  Goyim suffer with job losses, credit contraction, and being
saddled with the drunken sailor spending on bankster bailouts and war while
the complicit (tribal-dominated) mainstream media presents “role models” for a
morally and fiscally bankrupt way of life while fanning fears and pitting religion
against religion and race against race.

Echoes of the Bolshevik revolution…brought to the world by Lenin and Stalin
who felt it appropriate to change their tribal names—mostly likely to hide their
affiliations.

Who own/control mass media?  Who own/control the unauditable Federal
Reserve?  Who dominate Congressional lobbying efforts and our foreign policy
of a cultural war with Islamic peoples?  I’ll bet Robert Sheerer knows who.

Are you trying to tell me that John Boner is right about firing Geithner and Summers?

‘’. . . don’t rattle the financial titans whom we must rely on for’’ political
CONTRIBUTIONS.

In 1981 Fannie Mae issue its first mortgage passthrough, called a mortgage-backed security.[8] In 1983 Freddie Mac issued the first collateralized mortgage obligation.[9]

If you want to blame the RMBS and CDO markets, this is where it all started. Personally, I blame Alan Greenspan, for keeping interest rates too low, for too long. It was a massive expansion of credit that facilitated all of this. Cheap, easy money, will almost always find mal-investments. RMBSs and CDOs turned out to be mal-investments. Liars loans, are mal-investments.

The fact of the matter is that the housing market is still highly over-valued in most of the country. The loan modification program is nothing but a back door bailout for the banks. People who are in houses, with mortgages that they can not afford, should not be there. I’m sorry, but that’s the reality.

Of course, the people who wrote all of those liar loans should be in a cell next to Jeffery Skilling. The upper management of the companies that sold those mortgage securities should also be in jail, but that doesn’t change the facts. People who are homes that they can not afford, do not belong there. Write them a check for the first six months rent on an apartment, and let them save 20% for a down payment, and rebuild their credit, for a fixed rate, 30-year loan.

All of this “American Dream”, home ownership crap, is nothing but bullshit social engineering.

At this point in America’s history, the worst thing that could have happened did happen.

While Obama didn’t have the nerve to press for reconciation, despite his majority, the country burned.

And so, as Robert Scheer points out, the illness that America suffers from remained largely untreated. The symptoms were addresssed only cosmetically, while the root cause of the disease continued to fester and grow.

So, now the country is on it’s death bed, with the states poised to address those problems in the absence of the federal government.

Obama’s apologists are out in force, but this time it’s not enough. We can’t afford to cut him any slack, the stakes are too high.

It all sounds so good.. get rid of the bad guys.. but don’t Summers and Geithner work for President Obama? Would he be firing them for going rogue and not doing as they were instructed? What have been Obama’s plans and instructions to tackle the economy’s woes (other than force-feed Wall Street)? And more importantly what will be his plan of action after the play-lynching of his ivy league buddies?

Here’s more.. when did people in debt, more debt than they can afford, become the responsibility of the public treasury and the taxpayers? Do enough people defaulting on their mortgages become, taken as a group, too big to fail? Wouldn’t the banks and securities firms benefit as much or more from propping up these borrowers and the real estate market? So any plan to aid borrowers is also more money for banks.. already bursting with money. Hmmm.

About the real estate market.. it’s way past time for a real adjustment.. downward! The over-inflation of real estate values was a very mixed bag of blessings if you weren’t a real estate broker or a banker, selling paper for profit.

Any broad steps by the government that props up the real estate markets will be a huge mistake.. we’re living with some pain right now.. and especially for Obama supporters (I count myself as one) who want some way to keep him in office.. But we need real change.. and more grease (as in public money) in the gears of the status-quo isn’t going to solve anything.. Look how that fixed Wall Street!

Besides all that.. if the government is going to ‘save’ underwater homeowners.. what will they do for the balance of people, I’ll wager the majority of people, who didn’t overextend, live within their means, have some money in the bank and pay their bills? ... all the talk about ‘benefiting the larger economy’ sounds a lot like a new type of TRICKLE DOWN!

Adios!

Scheer is usually smart.  This article is just plain stupid.  How can Obama enact ANY policy when
a) the GOP will say “no” no matter WHAT it says or does
and
b) the Dems in the Senate are too spineless to force the issue.

The ONLY reason not to get rid of Geithner is nobody else wanted the job.

The continuation of fellow Harvard denizen, Summers, has always been inexplicable.

They Go, or Obama Goes….

This ought to be an interesting discussion.

Despite repeating the disastrous folly of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, most of America’s Got Talent Americans consider such reports to be simply policy wonk shop talk that they pay little attention to.
The professional journalist class judges President Obama’s performance by inside Washington standards that they also adhere to. The vast majority of Americans, if asked, can not tell you who is Treasury Secretary, and little if anything about the hidden toad Larry Summers, or what the Chairman of the Federal Reserve actually does.
Outrage for the unconnected masses is usually reserved to cultivate irrational xenophobic fears, whether its Muslims or contaminated eggs. The ‘progressive’ elements of journalism will continue to rage against the dying of the light, while the Sarah Palins of this world will remind their entertainment starved followers that there is great wisdom in their cultivated stupidity.

We seem to be giving Barry the luxury of an excuse, that being his incompetence.
My take on things, considering I believe he will not run for election again, is that
his flat out capitulation to corporate interests has pretty much been his game
plan. I also believe he and the powers that be did make a deal with Hillary and
Bubba during the presidential campaign. Does anyone else remember those secret
meetings just before Hillary capitulated to Obama and Company? Hillary got
Secretary of State to bolster her image for four years and to seem more worldly.
Don’t forget, Barack Obama appointed eleven members of the Trilateral
Commission to top-level and key positions in his administration within his first
ten days in office. As far as Emanuel is concerned I think Barry is stuck with him
based on Zionist manipulation. Thanks for all the help and entertainment Barack,
hope and change my ass.

It would sure be a lot easier for this Administration to deal with the Bush/Clinton/Summers/Geithner mess if this Country was not blowing more than $2,000 per second occupying foreign lands 8,000 miles away.

Count to 5. That’s $10k. 24/7/365

If you paid $20,000 to Uncle sam last year in income tax you funded 10 seconds of this horrendous mid east clusterpunk

Every US Citizen alive could have been given $1 million dollars as a stimulus and the Military/Industrial/Congressional complex could have still spent at least $1 trillion, 70 billion dollars.

Cost of war since 2001:
1,070,394,814,838 thats 1 trillion
http://costofwar.com/
Visualize a trillion dollars:
http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html