Republicans are filibustering while they're sitting by the pool with their billionaire donors...
By louisehartmann
Like the House – the Senate is now on vacation too – but not before Republicans could latch on to a procedural gimmick to keep President Obama from making a recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Over the next month – a series of “pro forma” sessions will be held that technically keep the Senate in session even though no Senators are in town and no business is being done – just so Republicans can keep up their opposition to the new consumer rights agency that would stop big banks from screwing over the rest of us.
Leave it up to Republicans to figure out a way to filibuster while they're sitting by the pool with their billionaire donors.
Comments
#2
Even Senator Conyers, who was the first supporter of Obama, is now saying that progressives need to march on Washington to show Obama how wrong he has been in giving away the country to the Republicans. Obama was the one who offered up Social program cuts. Obama is pathetic!!!
#3
"Infinite growth paradigm" I wonder if we would both be saying the same thing, I have long maintained that capitalism, specifically publicly held capital, is flawed at its face because its growth is derived of or is reliant on parameters that are finite. At some point for growth to continue, it must resort to canibalism, devour/shed its workers, devour/shed other capital entities. Ultimately, it must implode or have become the final source of power over the population to continue its existence. Just sayin'
#4
Thom or Louise-Please have the webmaster turn on spell check
#5
Exactly, but while you are right on about capitalism, I don't think that it is specific to one economic system. State socialists are probably just as guilty insofar as they pursue economic growth as opposed to a steady state economy.
But my point is also that the real world meaning of 'growth' is lost to the public and economists alike. In reality, economic growth is a direct reflection of the physical, real-world expansion of energy production and in the absence of that, economic growth will not only cease but will contract. Peak Oil is a reality and less known is that we are at Peak everything - coal, natural gas, and uranium. Energy production, economic growth, population growth, and CO2 production all follow the same curve. It is to be expected that as oil production and total energy production plateau and then decline, economic growth and population will follow. It is not a pretty picture.
The study of Economics has never existed in a long-term reverse growth context. I don't buy anything anybody says about an economic forecast unless they address and embrace this reality.
#6
The so-called debt ceiling crisis has nothing to do with the government running out of money. It is about the creation of a super committee, a council of thirteen, designed to circumvent Congress and ignore the will of the American people.
The ruling elite have a plan to take America down. The takedown has a timeline, a schedule, and it has been interrupted and set back by Congress. Despite the fact Congress usually does whatever the globalists tell them to do, certain members hold up the agenda by holding hearings and introducing resolutions on everything from the Federal Reserve to the globalist wars in the Middle East, South Asia and now Africa.
The handpicked "super Congress" - six members from the Senate, six from the House, and the president forming a committee or gang of 13 - will now push through the elite's agenda behind closed doors in direct violation of the Constitution.
Like the Supreme Soviet, the Council of 13 will take on the trappings of democracy - because the committee was proposed by elected officials, namely Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his counterpart Majority Leader Harry Reid with the consent House Speaker John Boehner - but will act as dictatorship by committee. If allowed to stand, the United States will have its own Central Committee, just like the former Soviet Union.
The Constitution allows each house of Congress to set its own rules. Early on, debate and filibuster were added to the rules. The Committee of 13, however, will strip Congress of its power to filibuster. It will prevent the Speaker from stopping a vote in the House. It will end amendments to laws and only allow an up or down vote on legislation. It will turn Congress into a rubber stamp even more than it is already.
In their wisdom, the framers envisioned the House as a place of heated debate and the Senate as more staid place where rhetoric would cool down. It has its origins in the concept integral to our political system that the rights of the minority must be protected from the force of the majority. The idea and practice of a super Congress, a Committee of 13, puts an end to this tradition. It is a totalitarian steamroller.
By voting for the so-called debt ceiling bill, both houses of Congress are voting to legitimize the Soviet-style super committee of 13 globalist grocery clerks. It is another step by the elite to throw the Constitution under the bus.
As a first step, the Gang of 13 will impose taxation as a solution to the astronomical debt placed on the American people by the international bankers who own the private Federal Reserve. A super committee will be required to keep the debt and debt slavery scam going now that an increasing number of Americans understand that the Fed is nothing but a money printing machinedesigned to devalue the worth of our currency under the guise of stimulating the economy and the perpetually unfulfilled promise to create jobs and prosperity.
It is contempt for the Constitution and the intellectual and spiritual laziness of our so-called representatives that has allowed this atrocious state of affairs to exist under the excuse of confronting a debt the American people do not owe.
Direct political action will be required to put and end to this monstrosity. Short of that, we can expect another dagger to be stuck in the heart of our liberty as the global elite continue step by step to build their authoritarian control structure designed to turn the earth into a sprawling slave labor gulag and plantation.
BY KURT NIMMO
#7
I have an idea to confront their fillibuster approach to holding us hostage and destroying our democracy.Let's have a grass roots movement to fillibuster their local offices and disrupt their daily operations through peaceful civil disobedience. If we camp in their offices and demand to be heard like little Madison Wisconsins all over the country perhaps the power of the people can make a difference to stop the madness. People rise up look to Greece, Spain , Arab Spring, everywhere they are doing the same song and dance over in Europe they call it austerity but the people stood up for themselves. We need to do the same keep it peaceful but assert our rights and take back our Democracy before it is to late. Peace people
#8
Yes WE must march call E-mail Protest & Not donate Speak out now Tell Obama & your reps in both houses of Congress often. GOP Baggers lies, corp cuts & gutting our kids education, old sick on medicaid, disabled, and SS -Medicare will not stand . GOP Ryan hatchet job will not fly Mr Obama .We still have Bush tax cuts This bill done under duress, threat of default is very UNFAIR We got
NO end to giant corp OIL loopholes and subsides This can not stand Pres Obama and Bagger run Congress We must FIGHT hard TO SAVE USA OUR ECONOMY,WAGES / JOBS Folks Please Hammer this home often till they listen.to reason. Not Tea Baggers who are anti US, ANTI middle class, anti women , anti GOOD jobs but PRO CORP BILLIONAIRE LOOPHOLES -SUBSIDES
#9
Great ideas Any near Chciago ?
#10
I've always wondered how French peasantry could cheer "Vertical Deportations" - also known as Republican Marriage - wherein a man and woman were tethered and dumped in the Loire - to resounding applause.
Known as the French Revolution's Noyades at Nantes... Jean Baptiste Carrier used boats with trap doors to dispense with thousands of pesky Royalists - but again, I ask myself - how could that have been entertainment?
This morning I got my answer. I awoke to a news story about Steve Jobs and Apple buying a million robots - to replace beleaguered and suicidal Chinese workers. This is their 'solution' to the ongoing management crisis of distraught workers.
Next I read about a necklace bomb and ransom note attached to the daughter of one of Sydney's most wealthy businessmen.
Horror of horrors, my immediate reaction was - Way to go Aussies!
Where is the revolutionary gusto in Cupertino California! Ashamed? ... hell no.
Disclaimer - I am 63, self employed, and haven't suffered much at the hands of the multi national crowd. So, imagine the fantasies of those who don't enjoy my relative comfort.....
I want Steve Jobs, Lloyd Blankfein, Jamie Dimon to live in Terror.
..... each is a bit too relaxed for my tastes. Their lives should be ransacked - made to live behind razor wire and moats, with mandatory - EXPENSIVE round the clock security for their extended family. [even the pets!]
We've been far far to easy on the likes of these monsters..... American is yearning for a good hangin judge. Robespierre ... where art thou?
#11
While the billionairs are sitting by the pool, have Bernie Sanders do a quarm call. When no one answers, the senate will no longer be in session.
#12
What can be done while these guys are sitting by the pools working on skin, liver, and lung cancer? First cut off their socialist pay checks and then their socialist health insurance, and eventually their inevitable socialist unemployment and food stamps.
How can anyone be talking about who won the deficit reduction deal? Hello... we are in a recession and one trillion will be cut now with a couple more to come. Even the banksters will lose as wall street implodes, no bailouts this time! Unemployment will take off like a rocket. By not listening to economic experts like Krugman and Thom's guest, Prof. Wolff, our elected officials are showing a complete disregard for the welfare of this country.
I understand the Republican plan to destroy the country in order to put some idiot in the White House, but why in hell are we citizens allowing this to happen, how about a 10 million man march on Washington? The ffffnnnn right wing mass media would be forced to cover it!
#13
If I could ask Obama just one question, it would be this: "Tell me, is there ANY situation in which you would just kick ass and take names among the republican party? Is there ANYTHING the republicans could do that would cause you to just lose it and go presidential postal on them?" Because every day he's looking more like a congenital woos to me. Kennedy used to get injection of drugs to help him perform his presidential duties. Maybe Obama could get testosterone injections or something. And if the injections work, he could tell Harry Reid about them.
#14
Lots of varieties of causation, one of which involves "ennabling." The reason those jerks are able to sit by the pool as they're "filibustering" is that the Senate rules are arcane and broken. Those rules could remain functional only as long as everybody played fair. ’Tain't happening. The Republicans won't play fair, and consequently the rules are not just ineffective, but destructive.
I remember Bobby Kennedy junior's saying something about the "commity" of the Senate. You duke it out, but honor the Marquess of Queensbury's rules. You accept there are things that are "done" and things that are not done.
No more. From the Republican side, there is no respect for honor. There is no acceptance of commity. In circumstances like that, where the kids in the sandbox cannot be trusted to play fair or to resist the urge to cheat and bully…?
We have a problem here.
#15
Let's ask (insist) that Prez. Obama makes sure that he names the offenders--outright. He uses some nice language .... which is nice ... i.e. members of congress were in recess ....
BUT!!!!
I think it is much better to name the culprits outright--and for him not to forget the FAA and all of the taxes and the layoffs they walked away from too.
WHO is destroying the economy?????
Who is NOT creating jobs???
It's NOT Obama.
I say, Obama should just tell the American people that a Republican based Congress and strong-leaning Republican Senate Simply" left" with a bunch of very important unfinished business, I say, obama should name the exact tax losses and tie it all into the exact number of needless layoff of Federal aviation and the PRIVATIZED construction workers. ALL these people are now gravely affected by such disruptive and mean-spirited actions. How can those workers ever possibly beleive that Republicans are FOR a strong economy and job growth?
I SURE CAN'T.
Thanks Tom--You're so hip! I'm about to agree with many .... OUR DEAR Obama is too nice! They are using this to destroy him. He needs to call it for what it is. Not in his campain--he should do it NOW.
#16
From a caller on Thom's show....."READ MY LIPS TAX THE RICH" ...... Remember most of this money came from the sweat of all of our backs, not theirs!
#17
I honestly think this is so irresponsible of the politicians, especially of the GOP who have already vowed to destroy the CFPB.
If you honestly do want to do something about all this, then why not just vote the GOP out of office? By now, it should be obvious to everyone, including the world, the priorities for most of the GOP is not the people, only the corporations.
Just yesterday something came to my mind as I was reading through many news articles. Do you all remember the horrible working conditions of the 1800's in the UK? Are you aware of even the horrible working conditions that the Nike Corp pays 50 cents an hour to Indonesian slave labor with quotas? (If you are not aware of that, Google it!) What came to my mind was that I see a trend to where the GOP and the corporations here are taking the American people. By effectively removing the tax revenue the US govt needs to run properly and help Americans, they are creating the conditions I just mentioned above.
Another market crash is coming along with a recession because now the US govt will be forced to lay off so many employees. Things are also NOT sitting too well with international companies in the stock market and China is getting pissed too because all this is happening. I wouldn't be surprised if China all of a sudden wanted to drop all the bonds or treasuries they have bought so far. That would definitely cause serious damage!
Ladies and Gentlemen! There is no question about it, we all have to vote all Republicans OUT of office!!! Even Republicans who do NOT earn $300k a year, need to honestly think about what their own GOP party is doing to them. We all need to stop the madness!
There is also a petition that I stumbled upon and I thought everyone should sign it. Please click for more information.
http://signon.org/sign/treason-against-usa.fb1?source=s.fb&r_by=435637
#18
March on DC... Labor day weekend. What better day for working people to stand up and be counted? Scrap the trade deals NOW!!!! Put working people back to work. End outsourcing, kill the incentives that PAY BIG BUSINESS to move jobs off our shores. When will blue collar people wake up?
#19
Throw a poo in their pool.
#20
Recall
#21
I know I'm an Obamapologist, but my feeling is he should just make the appointment, stating the procedural sham is bogus, and let them squeal about it. It probably wouldn't work, but it would focus attention on this ridiculous setup. Right now, I'm thinking the GOP is ripe for the picking as far as highlighting their callousness. Thousands of FAA-related people out of jobs because these government saboteurs have left town. Now, will the corporate media report such a story? That is another question.
#22
Start developing -- as soon as humanly possible -- an extensive "August to September Constitutional Campaign for the People" (or something else, with whatever name, along these same lines).
I think a number of commenters have made excellent suggestions. I wish their suggestions could all be combined into what might be characterized as an "August to September Constitutional Campaign for The People." That is, a social movement to fight back -- with all of our inventiveness and resources -- against the selfish and the greedy. This would be a political and social movement against: the greedy and insensitive wealthy who refuse to contribute their fair share to our society and its difficult problems; and the selfish, insensitive, and greedy politicians who are apparently happy to carry out the will and philosophy of these greedy wealthy people.
This "August to September Constitutional Campaign for The People" might consist of all, or some, of the following elements (ALL of them taken from, or inspired by, thoughtful comments by my fellow listeners above):
1) Organize a very well-publicized March on Washington over the Labor Day Weekend (and perhapsmore than one day of marching, since some people making the trip to Washington can then stay for more than a single day, and others can march on either day -- i.e., a day when they can make the trip to DC).
2) Firmly "insist" that Democratic Party "leaders" in Congress join the already courageous Senator Bernie Sanders in his efforts, and work with him directly to fight back against this inhumane insanity (I don't know what else to call it) that has infected so many of the public officials in Congress, the US Supreme Court, and as well, I regret to say, the President and the Presidential advisors he apparently listens to.
3) Firmly "insist" that the current leadership of the Democratic (National) Party (i.e., the Democratic National Committee, et al.) either explicitly and overtly fight this inhumane insanity, or else move aside and let more progressive Democrats take over the reins of the party -- now.
4) Develop digital educational/messaging material, and have Internet-hosted teach-ins by teleconference or webinar, where the Campaign can remind, or teach, people all across the country what happened in the 1920s and 1930s (and which politicians, appointed officials, and Presidents took constructive action in that era and helped the country maintain or rebuild its democratic humanity -- and which people in Washington, with what economic or political philosophies, during that era did NOT help rebuild the society in this way).
5) In conjunction with #4) above, develop a Campaign "speakers bureau" of the best (i.e., most gifted) public speakers and/or teachers on the subject of how, why, and where this country has made huge democratic and economic mistakes, and how the society could possibly correct these mistakes. This bureau should not discriminate against those without the "ideal" meritocratic credentials. In other words, it doesn't matter whether they are economic professors, articulate and intelligent media hosts, knowledgeable and seasoned union leaders, or very active but "ordinary" middle-class citizens who have a sense of history and who understand most of the current problems. What should matter above all is: can they communicate with various elements of the the public about this inhumane insanity, and help them/us understand what can be done about it.
6) Flood the mainstream (and otherwise most influential) media, by whatever means, with true and unexaggerated stories of how this current federal government (i.e., any or all of the 3 federal branches) is ruining or painfully affecting so many people's lives with these inhumanely insane laws and broad court rulings, and these destructive and obstructive "parliamentary" or legal procedures.
This is my (spontaneous) contribution for the moment. I welcome others to suggest additional elements for this kind of Campaign. It is already August 3rd; time is running short, it seems to me.
#23
Executive orders? Appt. Cordray... when the republicans did not get their way, they always figured a way around it
(some legit, some not), why can't that creative process apply here in the obama administration?
#24
The Republicans have made very clear their agenda . . . shut the government down is all they know how to do. They are not interested in governing. They only want to find ways to help their billionaire friends and international corporations. They have become an active terrorist organization. There is no integrity in their ranks.
#25
Might work, but how long can people camp out on their lawns...we have an idea too...shutupvotethebill.org
#26
I agree totally with Phil... We are dealing with internal terrorism. These people don't want a government; they just want the benefits the government can hand to them, like life-term health care, retirement, etc., while they happily make sure that no one else gets it -- Does anybody get it? When will we get it? We go around the world sticking our noses in everyone else's elections to "supposedly" make sure there is no hanky-panky... And right here under our noses the Koch Brothers are helping to send out phony ballots. Is there no law against this? Or has the Democratic Republic of the United States of America become so degraded that the fundamental premise on which it is built: Free elections -- no longer exists???
#27
No legislators in DC on labor day weekend, try our idea...shutupvotethebill.org
#28
Have you noticed that THE BIG SEVEN problems this country has can trace their roots back to who owns the legislature...multinationals and the gazillionaires...10 million marchers in DC, HEY THOM AND LOUISE, can we stop by your place for a quick potty break? We have another way...shutupvotethebill.org...Let us know what you think
#29
You can't be serious ... what a joke! The economy is being destroyed by Obama. He has passed 409 regulations that have cost the private sector $10 billion. While he inherited a bad economy that was a result of both Dems and Reps committing to several wars on the backs of US taxpayers and foreign interests willing to lend us money, Obama has done nothing but pour gasoline on the fire. The $1 trillion in stimulous he pushed through did not go to shovel ready projects. The money was paid to state and government unions to keep his voting constituents employed. It did nothing to stimulate our economy. This disaster is on Obama's watch ... I voted for him, but seriously regret the decision now. As far as Reps holding America hostage, wrong again. They are trying to prevent a complete collapse by reigning in the growth and size of government. No one is actually cutting spending. Government growth projections are based on a 7% increase to all program year-over-year for the next 10 years. Reps are asking what all Americans have had to do and that is to baseline the budget at current levels. Maintain a no growth policy from these already elevated levels. So the cuts everyone is screaming about are actually only a reduction in the growth of spending and will NOT reduce the current budget. In fact, under Bush and Obama (more signficantly the later) the size of the Federal budget has increased over a trillion dollars. The market is reacting to the policies and overregulation of Obama that has killed jobs, and mounting debt the Obama administration created.
#30
Nothing Can Stop Obama From Adjourning Congress, Making Recess Appointments http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/06/21/nothing-can-stop-obama-from-adjourning-congress-making-recess-appointments/
"In Article II, section 3, clause 3, the President is given the ability to adjourn Congress. So he could do so, or threaten to do so, and then make his recess appointments. There’s certainly plenty of reason for the President to play hardball on this if he wants: Republicans are holding multiple positions hostage for unrelated policy changes, and any action by the House to stop an adjournment of the Senate to block appointments (where the House has no duties) would be a major expansion of legislative power.
Keep in mind that an adjournment motion cannot be filibustered, so 50 votes in the Senate can get it done. That, combined with the Presidential power of adjournment, gives no excuse for Democrats to say that Republicans are “blocking” recess appointments. They’re most certainly not. It’s in the Constitution."
#31
Labor day weekend-- I'll go.
#32
Article II, Section III, "He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper..."
#33
I think you forgot to change the air in your head the other day mate. Regulated the private sector out of $10 billion, stimulus-nothing got fixed the money went to pay off those who got him elected... seriously listen to your doctor and change the air in your head more often.
#34
Been a while, perhap you'll see this or not but precisely on point, not "specific to one economic system" or the other, the ultimate failing of both can be understood squarely in the attempt to establish either one or the other as peeminent of the other, better heads and tails of the same coin.
"In reality, economic growth is a direct reflection of the physical, real-world expansion of energy production and in the absence of that, economic growth will not only cease but will contract." Nice, a specific articulation of one of the many "finite parameters" that I spoke of on which capitalism is reliant or as you point out a any economic system at this point is reliant.
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Tom - Dr. Wolff is speaking very eloquently and it is refreshing to hear a Marxian perspective. I listened to him online on Conversations with Great Minds. But respectfully, my comments of yesterday still apply, however - any conversation about economics should touch on the failure of the infinite growth paradigm, especially in the context of Peak Oil.