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While a slow increase seems like a good thing – the truth behind the numbers is troubling. Health care spending is down because people who’ve lost their jobs can’t afford to see doctors anymore. Regards, immediate annuities
Thom. Tough for me because wife and I drive a long ways to work .. like your video on this subject.
I also work in transportation ..hard to not LIKE new source of North American Fuel.
IF .. IF IF if .. it get built anyway ..WE..need to demand a North South Railroad be build on the right of way. America has NO N toRr in the West except the Coast.. and Agree why not build a refinery in N Dakota? Eh ; )) then they could power the refinery with Wind
DOJs Criminal Division must be made up of....criminals! And Obama's Department of Justice is really Obama's Department of Just Us!
Breaking from Newsmax.com Got this e-mail today. Interesting.
Obama, Tea Party Duel in Ads on Energy Record
President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is releasing its first 2012 broadcast advertisement as his team seeks to counter attacks and get a jump on Republicans while they battle over selecting their nominee to challenge him.
The ad, called “Unprecedented,” highlights Obama’s record on clean energy and responds to what it says are “secretive oil billionaires” making inaccurate charges against him. It began running Thursday in Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin, according to a campaign official.
Editor's Notes:
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Top Doctors Share Secrets to Surviving Cancer
The move begins a new phase in the campaign cycle and provides another outlet for Obama’s drive to engage Republican candidates and outside groups supporting them with millions of dollars in ads aimed at the president.
This week the independent group Americans for Prosperity, founded by billionaire David Koch, started a $6 million ad campaign in swing states Obama won in 2008 that spotlights the president’s ties to bankrupt solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC. The Obama campaign official declined to disclose the cost of the ad buy.
The ad, which closes with a narrator saying Obama has kept his promise to “strengthen America’s energy economy,” follows by one day the administration’s denial of a permit to build TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline. That announcement, while expected, has drawn criticism from Republicans, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney. He said the decision shows Obama isn’t serious about “achieving energy independence.” The Obama campaign official said the ad’s timing is unrelated.
Even though the ad won’t air in the battleground state of Florida yet, Obama is traveling there to announce a strategy for promoting tourism. The state, where the unemployment rate is 10 percent, will award 29 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. The Democratic candidate carried the state twice and the Republican twice in the last four elections.
Priorities USA, an independent political action committee founded by former administration officials to support Obama, already has run ads in several states. The super-PAC is banned by law from coordinating its activities with Obama’s re-election campaign.
The group has spent an estimated $660,640 in this cycle, according to data from New York-based Kantar Media’s CMAG, a company that tracks advertising. Priorities USA has spent the most in Florida: $214,310.
The Tea Party-aligned Americans for Prosperity is spending $5.2 million to place its ad, called “Obama Sacrifices Pawns for Politics,” on network and cable stations, as well as another $1 million through social media forums.
The group’s ad hit the airwaves Wednesday in Charlotte, N.C., where Democrats will hold their national convention in September. Americans for Prosperity also plans to air it in states that include Ohio, Iowa, Virginia, Wisconsin and Michigan, according to Tim Phillips, the group’s president. All are battleground states that Obama won in 2008.
The Obama administration’s $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, which filed for bankruptcy in September, has become a focal point for the president’s Republican critics. House Republicans, who are investigating the bankruptcy and the administration’s ties to the company, have said politics influenced the Department of Energy guarantee, which the White House and Solyndra’s backers have denied.
Koch and his brother, Charles, control Koch Industries Inc., a closely held refining and chemicals company.
Obama’s advisers have said spending by independent groups will change the landscape of this election. His chief political strategist, David Axelrod, said that is among his top concerns for the re-election effort this year.
“They’re talking upwards of half a billion in negative ads aimed at the president from interest groups who don’t disclose and who can raise unlimited amounts of money,” he said on Jan. 15 on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The president’s campaign committee and the Democratic National Committee raised a combined $224 million last year, including $68 million in the last three months of 2011.
By comparison, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who won the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, reported raising $56 million in 2011, the most among the Republican presidential contenders.
The Republican National Committee, which will support the party’s eventual nominee, had raised almost $77 million through November, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission. Finance reports for the final quarter are due at the end of the month.
The Obama campaign also is considering running ads in media markets for Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada and Pennsylvania, the official said.
© 2012 Bloomberg News. All rights reserved.
Hi guy,s my name is Stephen mills from not so sunny Scotland in the UK ,i am a huge Thom Hartmann reader.The last hours of ancient sunlight should be required reading for every secondary school pupil on our planet.
Thom is so spot on the problem facing our planet today is our cultural story,s,the culture of which we emerge is causing the demise of our culture,we have to at this stage in our evolution re-write a new cultural story.
There is a consciousness raising conversation going on at The global Conversation .com and is based upon the new book the storm before the calm by Neale Donald Walsch.Nothing can stop a movement who,s time has come.
On the oil story everything that can be made from petroleum can be made by the living soil and plants ..hemp for one could replace everything that, s not sustainable on our planet.Have you ever wondered why there has been a war with cannabis since the 1930,s ,Du-pont,William Hearst,big oil cotton industry the list goes on and on WAKE UP PEOPLE YOU HAVE ALL BEEN HOODWINKED BY THE 1% ,its time to free humanity from dependance which is truly our Achilles heal,freedom is the essence of life and we are life,occupy the planet take back the future and lets make decisions based upon the 7th generation to continue our future as a species not just for profit survival mentality and a few sociopaths but for the highest good of all.
Economics is stifling reason and evolution of humanity,the first thing that we need to do is separate the economy from politics and understand that politics is our spirituality demonstrated.
This is my first post here Thom you are a a gift for humanity one of the cognoscenti(THOSE THAT KNOW) i have read the Prophets way and understand what we have to do.
We are all one ours is not a better way ours is another way!
Go easy with me folks its my first post.
namaste
Eric Holder and Head of DOJ’s Criminal Division Were Partners for a Firm Which Used to Represent the Big Banks, Fannie, Freddie and MERS
Obama’s Department of Justice isn’t prosecuting any big fish.
Indeed, the Obama administration is prosecuting fewer financial crimes than Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush or Bill Clinton.
This is true even though the big banks – such as Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo – committed some fraud, but their entire business model is fraudulent. See this, this, this, this andthis.
The same is true of Fannie, Freddie. And even more so with Mers, where its entire purpose – from day one – was fraudulent. Here, here, here, here and here.
So why haven’t the fraudsters running these chop shops been prosecuted by Attorney General Eric Holder, and the head of the DOJ’s criminal division Lanny Breuer?
Reuters helps explain why today:
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division [watch this to get a sense of Breuer], were partners for years at a Washington law firm that represented a Who’s Who of big banks and other companies at the center of alleged foreclosure fraud, a Reuters inquiry shows.
The firm, Covington & Burling, is one of Washington’s biggest white shoe law firms. Law professors and other federal ethics experts said that federal conflict of interest rules required Holder and Breuer to recuse themselves from any Justice Department decisions relating to law firm clients they personally had done work for.
Both the Justice Department and Covington declined to say if either official had personally worked on matters for the big mortgage industry clients. Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said Holder and Breuer had complied fully with conflict of interest regulations, but she declined to say if they had recused themselves from any matters related to the former clients.
Reuters reported in December that under Holder and Breuer, the Justice Department hasn’t brought any criminal cases against big banks or other companies involved in mortgage servicing, even though copious evidence has surfaced of apparent criminal violations in foreclosure cases.
The evidence, including records from federal and state courts and local clerks’ offices around the country, shows widespread forgery, perjury, obstruction of justice, and illegal foreclosures on the homes of thousands of active-duty military personnel.
***
While Holder and Breuer were partners at Covington, the firm’s clients included the four largest U.S. banks – Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo & Co – as well as at least one other bank that is among the 10 largest mortgage servicers.
***
Covington represented Freddie Mac …. [and] MERS Corp …. Court records show that Covington, in the late 1990s, provided legal opinion letters needed to create MERS on behalf of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and several other large banks.
***
Covington in 2004 also wrote a crucial opinion letter commissioned by MERS,providing legal justification for its electronic registry. MERS spokeswoman Karmela Lejarde declined to comment on Covington legal work done for MERS.
This isn’t as bad as Department of Justice lawyer John Yoo’s letter justifying torture by the Bush Administration, but it’s arguably somewhat analogous, as it is a legal opinion trying to justify blatant illegality.
No wonder top financial crime expert Bill Black says that we have to fire Eric “Place” Holder and all other government officials who are blocking prosecution of the criminals who caused the economic crisis.
Indeed, it makes one wonder whether the Department of Justice still dispenses justice … or has turned into a “protection racket” for the rich and powerful.
Of course, most of the rest of boys in D.C. are not much better.
Thom's monologue at the ending of RT was very riveting and educational!.....great show!
The Bill Moyer's show on PBS, tonight, was also very good...he had on David Stockman and Gretchen Morgenson.
David Stockman said that we no longer have a Free Market economy..that it was Crony Capitalism. (Not news to many, I'm sure). I had previously been using the term Laissez Faire Capitalism but I guess even Laissez Faire Capitalists are ticked off at Crony Capitalists which would be the more proper term to use to describe what they are today. The former took calculated risks and expected to actually lose money if their risks turned sour. They didn't expect a hand out from the Government every time. They also did not have to rely on bribing and even controlling the Government. Crony Capitalists basically owns the Government and controls them with no oversight or enforcement.
David Stockman sounded pretty convincing that our future is pretty ominous..because nothing has been done to correct the problems that led to Crony Capitalism. Obama has done nothing except to encourage the process.
They also talked about how over the years the bail outs, which have occurred several times since the bail outs of the Mexican Peso, in 1994, has led to our current failed Capitalism system. That was done without Congressional Support and done to bail out wealthy Americans who had interests that stood to take a beating. And the history lesson that Thom gave on RT shows that the economic war waged by rich people against the majority of the people reached way back 3 Presidents before FDR.
It has been the continual bailouts of very wealthy people that made very risky decisions and expected our tax-payers to bail them out that has created a very addictive and ruinous path to destruction for our overall economy...particularly for those 99% who are burdened with most of the taxes and who are suffering from many cruel realities...like no health care, housing, or even food for some.
David expects that we have not seen the last of the bailouts and expects another one very soon. He said the problem is that the Free Market Capitalists took risks and accepted their losses when they made the wrong decisions.
Crony Capitalism as it has come to be not only expects Government to bail them out, after making wild and reckless speculations, but they have become so strongly controlling of the government that there is no possibility of oversight or enforcement of wrongdoing. In short, the criminals are running the show. The system is corrupt.
David didn't say the system was corrupt but it is. He did point out that Obama appointed the very people that caused the problem and has done nothing to fix it so bailouts won't happen again.
Gretchen Morgenson, a NT Times reporter and author of a couple of books on investing, money, the economy and her latest..."Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon" pretty much agreed with David Stockman and added a lot more to the story.
They both praised the brave and dedicated people who are part of Occupy Wall Street and said that this shows that the American people have finally got it and will no longer just take it. They said that trying to correct the system in the usual ways...calling representatives, voting, etc will no longer make any difference. It will take an overwhelming uprising of the people.
This was a really interesting and educational show. I highly recommend it. I am so glad Bill Moyers is back!
Bernie Sanders on Bill Maher show tonight..got kind of heated...sparks flew...between Bernie and the Republican leaning guest. Kudos to Bernie...defender of the people!!!
We occupied the Federal Court building in Albuquerque today. I was disappointed with the turnout....about 150 folks. Weather was perfect. Pictures at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Albuquerque-Official-Burque/1310571...
I live in Vicky City, Victoria, BC.I was in all the Occupy protests.The national day of student protest is every Feb 1st, so get in front of the Legislature at noon.Last year at peak, we had 3,000 debt laden scholars.Education shouldn't be a debt sentence.May 1st, will be a national day of protest for the Occupy Movement, commemerating the 1930s On to Ottawa Trekkers-the Trekkies.We are also taking Mayday back from Kaputalism.It was very sad that they shut down the Occupy encampment here in Vicky just to set up a little rinky dink teflon skating rink.Vicky City Council has to know that as long as we are poor, the movement won't go away.
I would have enjoyed Occupying the Courts but I couldn't. I have one Occupy arrest and learned the hard way, I cannot afford free speech. $3,500 for an attorney and I haven't been arraigned yet. Cha-ching!! 5,000 voices have been pepper-sprayed, bludgeoned, scattered and stiffled. I am surprised anyone is left to Occupy the Courthouse steps. I urge everyone to go their local courthouse and get a first hand look at what's going on inside. Peace!
When I hear about all these activities going on I feel sad that my husband and I are not so young anymore and find ourselves pulled and pushed in every direction to satisfy so many causes. We do belong to the party and we do participate in caucuses and meetings. We support our unions retirement council to make sure the members are politically informed. We donate money small amount of money to people like Elizabeth Warren and our local Dems plus the local and national party. However it is just not possible to do everything and be everywhere. Our hope is that a younger generation is out there doing what we used to do. We thank them for that.
California universities are very expensive. I wish something like this could be done in California. They are pricing student right out of the market. Even the community colleges have become so much more expensive.
Bad decision by Obama. We need to make this decision right now. This is how George Bush would have done it and look how well that worked for him (Iraq War).
Obama Pushes Hard to Protect Big Banks from Fraud Prosecutions … But We Can Stop HimPosted on January 20, 2012 by WashingtonsBlog
Because Obama is making a giant push to pressure the states attorneys general to settle all of their mortgage-related fraud claims against the banks for pennies on the dollar.
Yves Smith – who has an ear to the ground on this – warns that a settlement which hurts consumers and the economy will happen very quickly if people don’t raise a ruckus.
Smith is asking people to call their state attorney general (not their elected reps) to oppose the settlement
The answer is renawable energy. I live in SW Ontario. We have the most progressive solar and wind energy legislation in North America. Take a drive from Detroit to Toronto and you will pass 600 wind turbines and a hundreds of large solar collectors. On the Eastern end of the Province we have close to 1000 turbines. Each turbine powers 600 homes. Guess what, the raw material is free. This is the future for us all. We are at the crux of a new age. Just as it was when whale oil become obsolete, so it goes for fuels from hell. We need fules from heavan. My toughts but we are going to run out of the shit in the ground. By the way, the tar sands oil is toxic beyond belief and very expensive to produce and sucks up precious water and leaves moon scape.
Need to stop wasting effort on non-issues, it is the money....stupid! If real americans focused on over-turning the courts treasonable act of making a person out of a inanimate object, while synonymously 100% legitimately disenfranchising corporate existence nation wide, we, E Pluribus Unum and our secular democracy will survive and thrive. If we allow any distraction to these two goals we will loose what little is left of our civil rights and this court will find a way to justify more treason. We need focus and consintration of funds and message to get these things done, ignore distraction, concentrate! Joe
"Secular democracy is the only true form of a free state; all theocratic ran governments prove the worth of separation of church and state". -unknown source-
Prime Minister Harper is from Alberta. Home of big oil and he is their friend. They are doing a remarkable job of redirecting people away from the topic to a sovereignty issue. It is now about "radical environmentalists" from outside Canada. Here is a quote from Peter Foster of the National Post today. "Promoters of oil and gas development are in the business of creating jobs; radical environmentalists are in the business of destroying them."
The last thing we want is a pipe line through B.C. As a native indian it is going right through Native land. Then we are going to pump it into oil tankers that don't sink. Please. Canada put a moritorium on oil tanker off our BC coast in 1972 because of Exxon Valdez. This is a nightmare waiting to happen. By the way. The tar sands oil into the Keystone pipeline was destined to go to China, not the USofA as the right claims. This shit is toxic and should be shut down. The only people is benefits are Oil guys and the Alberta bank account.
I have a point regarding social security benefits. I have never received any SS money directly, but the $1200 / mouth my parents received as benefits was $1200 / month I didn't have to provide to care for my parents after they could no longer work. The same goes for medicare.
I don't understand the sense of piping the oil to the Gulf, only to have to take it through the Panama Canal to Asia and on to Europe around Florida and up the East coast and across the Atlantic--to South America might make sense--it seems like a long way and the chance for too many things to go wrong. Why doesn't it go through Canada to the east and west? It doesn't seem that the US will benefit--except maybe the oil barrons--but will take much of the environmental risk. Jobs will be created here only in the building process--it will take few to monitor--many more could monitor, but we wouldn't want to cut into profits for the robber barrons.
I say, let China have those dirty tar sands. They don't seem to care about their people, the planet, or the children who will inherit the dirty legacy of their comun-capitalisim all that much.
But as Thom says, the best solution is to leave these tar sands in the Earth.
Of course Canada and the US will have a pipeline. We need to get off middle eastern oil and become energy independent. Read any President's National Security Strategy since Ford, including President Obama's, and they all make the same case. After the oil pipeline, natural gas is next. Like it or not America, natural gas and coal are our energy deposits -- pretending something different doesn't change the truth. Vote against the future and go bankrupt (oh wait, we already are). Or embrace the pipeline, embrace energy independence, embrace capitalism because they are the right answer. In the end, after our vast debt and social programs bankrupt us, we'll have to get our energy wherever we can. Vote No to energy solutions and we will surely owe our future survival to those who vote Yes.
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We allow people to drive cars, but we have speed limits and stop signs to reduce harm. We allow guns, but we frown on using them to make bank withdrawals. Similarly, we'd like some changes in law to enable the obvious benefits of corporations while reducing their harm. DC Credit Union ll Womens shoes