That's just the excuse that will convince some that "it wasn't Obama's fault". But Obama was a Republican useful idiot (or more clearly a useful idiot for the ruling elite...the Republicans are as well) from get-go. He could have made some progress...especially early on but he too willingly was more interested in compromising it all away to where we got nuttin' at all. The rich got it all.

Obama is just now making more "campaign" sound bites for all of the sucker fish out there who didn't learn the first time that Obama is not on our side. Action...not talk...is what matters. If you fall into the trap, as Obama hopes, that "you have no other choice (but to vote for him)" then we will be stuck with 4 more years of more of the same. And I am not talking about Republican animosity and obstreperousness (although, I'm sure that will go unabated as well)...I am talking about Obama's actions....or inactions.

The ruling elite will get their 99.99%, while the rest of us starve no matter whether a Republican is in office or a Democrat is. The Republicans are more in-your-face about it but the Democrats (some are still ok) are more back stabbing-promise us anything but give away the store to the criminal ruling elite. Is it really better to have a back-stabbing two-faced liar who pretends to be on our side buy then aids and abets our enemies? Enemies? Yes, it is a war that was started and wages some 30 years or so ago and we are losing. The wealthy are winning.

I watched BookTV lecture by Wall Street Journal Investigative Reporter Ellen Shultz on her new book "Retirement Heist: How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers".

"Ellen Schultz documents the biggest heist in history, all the more horrifying because it is legal. Accounting tricks, perverse tax incentives, and bonus- hungry executives have taken the retirement money American workers have saved over decades. Meticulously researched and as gripping as a crime novel, this is essential reading for anyone who has, had, or hopes to have a job."
-Nell Minow, co-founder of The Corporate Library and author of Watching the Watchers: Corporate Governance for the 21st Century

Ellen Schultz argues that many employers have plundered employee pension plans over the past decades. She also talks about the crisis this "theft" has created. She tells of a widespread criminally deceptive practice of many companies who drained employee's retirement funds and at the same time funneled much of that money to CEOs and other top execs in bonus and other kinds of compensation. And then if any retirees complain or try to sue...the companies claim that their pension fund is an albatross and would result in bankruptcy of the company if the judge ruled in favor of the claimants. And the judges are often business oriented anyway. Very interesting. It wasn't just Enron....but a widespread practice...and Congress and the legal system almost always sided with the Corporate criminals against the hard working retired employees.

She mentioned the practice of companies hiding their funds in life "Dead Peasant" insurance policies on their employees (getting tax breaks) and then reaping 100% of the payoffs when the employees died and not one cent to the employee's families. Banks were taking out life insurance policies on their depositors for the same reason.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2009/02/24/dead-peasant-policies-the-next-big-t...

Having such policies give the companies a very strong incentive to "work you to death" by causing excessive stress...etc. They really are hoping you die so they can collect..and you also wouldn't be able to collect on pensions or social security.

If any of the over 200 bills from the 111th congress under Democratic majority, had ever reached his desk to be vetoed, then I could give you point. That however is not the case, they all languished under the weight of the Senate Republican super minority.

Blame where blame is due.

In any case the occupation has begun!

The Occupation is spreading, coming soon to city near you. Google might reveal that it already has. Outside such direct shoes to the street,

Corporations are not people, http://movetoamend.org/, if you are on these board and have not signed, why?

Same goes for rebuild the dream at, http://rebuildthedream.com/

Time to put the analysis on hold and act!

http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution 

Bernanke's slashing of benchmark interest rates effectively to zero has worked out just fine for Wall Street banksters; hell, it's all CHAMPAGNE and record bonus checks. Ben did his part for his friends and I don't believe for a second he's surprised nothing trickled down. He made the super rich more super rich..... just don't tax them fairly, that would hurt the recovery and be to much like shared sacrifice. What he said the other day, to put it bluntly, is that.... the economic woes of people that actually work for a living is something out of his jurisdiction, let congress fix it.

Thanks to the financial services modernization act the shell game on Wall Street has turned into a legalized stick-up, it's never been easier to loot and steal from hard working citizens trying to invest for retirement. I wonder how many working people like myself have all their savings parked in credit union accounts earning less than 1% due to this. Bernanke's actions have also tremendously hurt people who worked all their lives and have depended on decent CD returns etc. This environment makes conservative investing impossible, forcing many to unwillingly risk money on Wall Street, probably not a coincidental outcome of Ben's policies.

Yes, the Republicans are dreaming of a great depression to achieve their number one objective of removing Pres. Obama from the White House. However, what sweet and divine justice it will be when this objective touchs off a revolution leading to Democratic Socialism, I live to see the look on Mitch's, and Randron's, faces then!

I agree that the official lies of 911 are very outrageously, in-your-face, obvious to those of us willing to open our eyes and minds long enough to parse sense from the psy-ops slop that we are given by the criminals who are in control of our nation. And anyone who continues to think that Obama is different should ask themselves why he has become what he preached against when running for the Presidency.

The futuristic movie "Minority Report" is no longer just a fiction:

"According to the new American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) report, 'Drastic Measures Required,' under President Obama (who had vowed to create 'an unprecedented level of openness in Government' when he first took office), there were no fewer than 76,795,945 decisions made to classify information in 2010 - eight times the number made in 2001."

"There are layers of secrecy that cannot even be penetrated by most members of Congress. In the recent debate over the re-authorization of three sections of the USA Patriot Act with sunset provisions, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), who is a member of the Joint Intelligence Committee, declared in the Senate in May 2011 that there was a secret interpretation of Patriot Act powers that he could not even tell them about without disclosing classified information. [2] 'When the American people find out how their government has secretly interpreted the Patriot Act, they will be stunned and they will be angry,' said Wyden."

"We do know that the use of data mining to assemble a chain of associations and digital linkages could have serious consequences for anyone flagged by an algorithm primed to detect suspicious behavior."

"It is not just the nation's police forces that have been trained to compile Suspicious Activity Reports (now the subject of FOIA litigation). School bus drivers are being enlisted in the fight against terrorism, and 20,000 mall security guards are being recruited to spot terrorists among shoppers, while the DHS' "If you see something, say something" campaign is being expanded from transport systems to Walmart stores, the Mall of America, hotels and the sports industry."

Just what we need....more "Mall Cops" checking us out!

http://www.truth-out.org/nation-suspects/1314810046

They are now using video surveillance cameras almost everywhere to monitor even our facial expressions and in reading license plates. They have RFID chips embedded in our passports, our drivers licenses, our credit or debit cards, and even inside the products that we buy. Buy a shirt or a pair of shoes and that RFID is there to track wherever you go.

Yes, there are the RFID chips that are used for preventing theft...and you can remove those after you buy the product....but I'm talking about RFID chips so tiny they can be weaved into the fabric...or behind a label...inside the heel or sole of the shoes. If you have a shopper's card from a grocery store that gives you discounts for having that card....they monitor what you buy...even if you pay cash...the card gives you away. Discounts come at a sacrifice of privacy.

You keep coming up with solutions. You would get fed in prison. I don't know about food quality, but it's probably better than rat or mouse. Plus, from what I've heard about prisons, "Hide my Ass" would be words to live by.

TX come on show Gene, you can do it..........

You can't make a sociopath care. If you told any one of them that they are a sociopath, they would tell you how loving and kind they are, that they give to charity, and that they are NOT sociopaths, and--- how could you say such a thing? And they would say this with a fake insincere smile, but they would not know that some of us can see right through them. You can't fake caring, if you care, it shows. If you don't, you cannot pretend. They have "theirs" so they don't care if you or anyone gets anything. And, they are paid by the taxpayers, US---- they have salaries, insurance and retirement, all funded by the tax payers. Yet they say that the government is evil (learned from Reagan) but they work for the government and that that is fine and dandy with them. But you, you common people, you get nothing. Go get a job, that is what they say in this economy. If you don't have insurance, too bad for you. Not caring for the poor, the elderly the handicapped, is immoral and unethical. (Yes, there are people who take advantage of the system but that does not erase those who truly need. And, they would say that they are NOT like that but instead they would say that they are upstanding citizens, family people, blah blah blah.

Ok, I'm a little confused here. This Ben Bernanke who tells the republicans in congress that our jobs situation is very serious- is he the same Ben Bernanke who punched some computer keys to "print" billions and billions of dollars to give to his republican friends in the banking industry and his republican friends in Wall street? The same Ben Bernanke who told our middle class, "I have to print all this money and give it to my republican friends, or they will destroy you. But if you let me give these billions and billions of dollars to my republican friends, they will help you." And sure enough, once Ben's republican friends got their hands on all that free, give-away money, they did help us. They helped us by illegally foreclosing on our houses. Then, when they realized that we needed more help than that, they hiked our credit card rates from 12% to 29%. Andthen, good Samaritans that they are, those saintly republicans saw that we needed yet more help, so they put "use" fees on poor peoples' debit cards.

You know, with a track record like that, Ben's the guy I'd trust to tell me what America needs. Ok, now the truth: the only thing I can figure out is that Benny boy has figured out that if he criticizes the republicans in congress, his republican friends in banking and Wall Street will be able to somehow steal more money from us. I really, truly, and sincerely can't even begin to believe that Ben Bernanke cares as much about jobs, as he cares about- oh, I don't know- as much as he cares about the South American people that his banking and corporate friends have enslaved to the drug trade.

I think it's interesting that the republican in congress won't listen even to their boy Ben unless he's talking about getting them more bribe money so they can continue to betray America. I guess republican means the same thing as traitor.

Well P, I agree with you about the self esteem issue. I don't believe it's legit, but I don't see how you get from a woman with small boobs in Quebec to right wing Republicans. Everything is not political. In fact, in my life nothing is political. I try to live my life doing what I believe is right. I certaintly wouldn't depend on a politician to feed me, clothe me, or provide me with "kitty" porn. You may be on to something with the "kitty" porn. All you need is a couple more cats and a video camera. Film the cats when there in "action", transfer it to DVD's and sell them on Craig's list. It will supplement your income. And pretty soon, you may have enough money to buy the corporate jet and mansion you desire. Isn't the free market wonderful?

Priceless Mr. Savory! Are you the author? If so, I can put your name behind it in my collection of quotes.

Unlikely that those money-stuffed shirts give a damn about the rest of us. They don't need us. They have the corporations, which earn 2/3 of their money from us and more likely ALL in the form of corporate welfare (don't such people look down on humans who take welfare?). Congressional rethuglicans are just there to protect the corporations from the people (who produce and purchase their products/services). How oxymoronic since corporations are supposed to be people. I'm dumbfounded by the illogic and the stupidity and the unethical and undemocratic nature of the problems and destruction unleashed by this ruling.

Dylan Rattigan has a petition at getmoneyout.com to get money out of politics. Please, everyone, visit, sign it and post it on FaceBook/Twitter/LinkedIn, etc and send it to everyone you know.

Are we ordinary flesh-and-bone humans allowed to give unlimited amounts or are only the corporations permitted that privledge? Anyone know that answer?

The problem with the Republican constituency is that the voters do not use logic. They do not care what their Republican Congressmen are doing. The vote Republican because to them it is like their religion. They do not think, they believe. Several friends are staunch Republicans, when I attempt to show them the problems their elected officials cause for the nation, they dismiss my facts and tell me that President Obama is a socialist. They have a knee jerk reaction that occurs without benefit of thinking. They are like children without ability to make hard choices. They prefer to be emotional than to be rational. The only hope in 2012 is for Democrats and Independents to reclaim the majority that we hold and vote. We have to make certain that everyone who feels as we do registers to vote and votes. In several states that are dominated by Republican's in the legislature and Republican governors are passing laws that are aimed to make it more difficult for poor people, aged people, disabled people, college students, and for some minority groups to register and to vote. We must counter those actions with progressive voter registration and get out the vote efforts. The Republicans are mad. They are mad because a black American is sitting in the White House. They cannot stand for him to be successful even if it means that American unemployment remains high. We have to take the high road and make sure every vote is counted and that every vote counts.

Philip Henderson, ethical magician and oxen teamster