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"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have too much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little… I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clothed, ill-nourished."
- Roosevelt's second inaugural address, 1937
Perhaps FDR did save Capitalism from itself, but its looking more and more that it was a temporary save. I believe that as Wall Street funnels more and more wealth from the average citizen and moves it up to the wealthy non-producers, it is creating an ever destabilizing society that will topple. The S&P credit downgrade seems to only be the beginning of the fall. Whether S&P is putting the blame on Republican'ts or Democrats is relatively irrelevant, what is relevant is where is the Stock Market is going to be sitting at the end of this week. It seems to me that S&P just torpedoed Wall Street, for whatever reason they did it, it does not bode well for the country as a whole, and just may be the beginning of the end for Capitalism as we know it in this country.
N
I'm guessing that this downgrading of the US credit rating is going to have a major effect on the Wisconsin elections tomorrow. Either voters are going to be more motivated to show up because they're seeing the writing on the wall, or they are going to stay home because the figure all it lost.
I think we'll see a record number of voters at the polls tomorrow. But I'm going to be keeping my ears attuned to the turn out results. I truly believe its going to give an accurate snapshot pulse of the American people.
I'm also expecting all sorts of shenanigans to take place. The Republican't party has been very lucky to find missing ballots and voting irregularities the day after elections take place, that always seem to favor them... overwhelming numbers are often not enough it seems.
N
Thom, did you write this under a pseudonym? :-) And while you're at it, Paul Krugman has a very decent review of the S&P downgrade today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/opinion/sunday/what-happened-to-obamas...
It almost seems too obvious, but I agree and have long believed that conflict of interest exists in regard to high paid talking heads reporting the truth when it comes to unfair revenue collection and related politics. Their postion makes it easy for them to filter out and twist reporting in favor of the tiny income bracket, "number of tax payers," they belong to. In addition I agree the threat of republicans denying "acess" is equally to blame for blocking the truth the vast majority needs to hear about, which is why I refuse to watch television period. Like many I rely on people like you Thom for truth in reporting.....radio free America!
Senator Sanders better be on the gang of twelve or it's another dagger in the integrity of the Democratic party. Senator Sanders remains one of the few elected officials actually representing the vast majority in a true Democratic manner, as opposed to his Govt. co-workers who get funded by the VAST MINORITY and legislate accordingly.
Well, most of the people need to wake up. I have an engineering Degree and an MBA, I do not watch the popular news channels because they are corporate owned, cspan or cnn or the public network will do. I think we can all agree that The Federal Reserve’ which is not a government entity’ as well as the US Chamber of Commerce, both run the World economic environment for the last 70 years. Both control the Military industrial Complex ‘as well as the media’ not the President. Money is made by the interest rate at which the Government borrows from the Federal Reserve at an Interest rate that the US taxpayers pick up the tab for. Get the picture! I suggest reviewing ‘Executive Order 11110’ that President Kennedy signed before he was assassinated. The Federal Reserve is made up of the top Banking Institutions in this country and half of it is Foreign owned. Get the Picture! That is why they do not care about outsourcing our jobs. The US Chamber of Commerce is made up of the top business Corporations in this country of which more than half is Foreign owned, getting the Picture! That is why they do not care about outsourcing our jobs, of which was the wealth of the this country’s economic base. When you start a war, the media is already scripted so the Federal Reserve can make its huge profit from the money borrowed, and the US Chamber of Commerce is already well invested in the products needed to complete this Act, so all that is left is for the US TAX PAYERS to PAY FOR THE COST. This is the most CORRUPT SYSTEM IN THE HISTORY OF THE HUMAN RACE…..PLEASE WAKE UP those that dont understand!!!!!!!
Vince
I will be in Madison WI, tuesday
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."
"We The Millionaires" brings to mind the many repeated and HISTORIC failures related to unregulated capitalism. In the end it's always "We The People" that get screwed whether it's getting bankrupted by ass-n-nine wars and tax cuts for the rich, Wall Street fraud/bubbles, or robber barons, it always leads to poverty for millions, high unemployment, general unhappiness, and inequality on all levels.
Speaking of history, many of our founders could read the ancient philosophers in their own Greek language. I'm sure some like Jefferson read the speech Pericles gave at a funeral of some fellow citizens killed during the Peloponnesian wars. Here are some excerpts from his speech........"Our Government is a model for all to copy. Ours is a Democracy, the power is in the hands of the people, IT IS NOT IN THE HANDS OF A SMALL GROUP. Everyone is equal before the law. We do not care what class a man belongs to we care only about his ability. No one is kept from taking part in Government because he is poor. Everyone should have an interest in Govt. We do not say those who are not interested in politics are minding their own business. We say they have no business here at all! MAKE UP YOUR MINDS TO THIS, OUR HAPPINESS DEPENDS ON OUR FREEDOM."
The above words were spoken over 2,400 years ago and I firmly believe our founders wanted to pass this baton of wisdom on in the form of Democracy and were very clear headed about it. Jefferson himself said...."This was the object of the Declartion of Independence. Not to find new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and so firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take."
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are rights the Govt. must make secure by consent of "We the People", not by the consent of Republican extremists who only recgonize and want to secure these rights for only "We the Millionaires."
It's interesting to note that Pericles in 449 BC organized a congress of all Greek States with the idea of creating freedom and peace for all. His Democratic ideals won him many enemys among the conservative aristocrats. In 444 BC they accused him of wasting Govt. money in his public works programs. Public opinion however was on his side, NO FOX NEWS BACK THEN, and his works went forward.The fabulous result was the architectural beauty that remains to this day on the Acropolis. This massive public works project employed architects, sculptors, painters, craftsmen and large numbers of general laborers, a win win situation for all.
Pericles and our Founders were on the the side of right. Todays Republicans are on the side of darkness and whats always historically proven to be wrong. "We the People" must demand an end to the current political barbarities being inflicted by the Republican terrorists and move to a real Democracy, one that is filled with reform of trade policy, ends the purchase of our Govt. buy those with the most money, fair tax laws, a Supreme Court without a radical right agenda, a scaled back military industrial complex- instead with jobs shifting to green energy-" the real battle front."
Learnyerfacts, Indeed.
We lowered our long-term rating on the U.S. because we believe that the prolonged controversy over raising the statutory debt ceiling and the related fiscal policy debate indicate that further near-term progress containing the growth in public spending, especially on entitlements, or on reaching an agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed and will remain a contentious and fitful process.
Guess you missed CNN's coverage on Friday. Anderson Cooper repeatedly read that sentence and more than once said that S&P "singled out" Republicans. I'm a Dem and despise the TP but really the left needs to stop with the "it's the media's fault" thing as an all-purpose whine. We're supposed to be the reality-based ones.
It's good to be a millionaire,
Try and live elsewise, if you dare.
Those who aren't rich made poor choices,
Home Theatres to escape their voices!
Every lumpy derriere
is lipo-ed if you're millionaire.
Each toenail gleaming in the sun,
dreadful paint the Spa calls "fun."
Why can't we have just one million
so we all can have cotillion?
Just one is all I need forever
Since with nothing I endeavor.
XXXXX
Think Progress has a good breakdown with the Cliff Notes available <s> http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/08/05/289861/breaking-s-p-downgrad...
Um...So you don't see this as an attack on the Republicans? Reminding us that they are unwilling to compromise? We know the sentence is refering to their assumption on the expiration of the tax breaks, but thanks anyway. We can all put 2 and 2 together, but the corporate-owned mainstream media know where their bread is buttered. Mercifully, in poll after poll, the people know the backstory - unfortunately for you. Enough with the false narratives. This isn't about one side winning anymore. This country is on the road to 3rd world status. But kudos to you and your minions for destroying the middle class! Now you can go work for a still AAA rated socialistic Scandanavian country and try to promote social Darwinism there!
I have to wonder a few things. Was this crash planned by Wall Street. How many big investors pulled out before the crash, only to jump back in while prices are low.
If the new super committee is deadlocked, the trigger is pulled, with automatic cuts to Medicare providers, which means it will be harder for seniors to find someone who will take Medicare. The cuts to the military I have heard don't have to be to arms, they could be cuts to pensions, medical care for injured troops coming home.
For the revenue side, Matt Taibbi (Evil Corporate Tax Holiday Gains Bipartisan Support) suggests that there will be a push for a Corporate tax holiday. Maybe instead of having to pay the 35% they owe, or the 5% of what to pay, they might have to pay 25% as the raising reveneu side of the discussion. It will set a precidence that all the wealthy have to do is wait a few years and they can bring their money back at lower rates when they actually need it. All done in the name of raising the revenue we need to prevent further cuts. Wealth wins again and people lose.
I would like to read the bill, but haven't been able to find it online. Could Thom post a link on the website. I looked, but couldn't find one so far.
Um.
The sentence you quote is not referring to the downgrade. The changed assumption the sentence refers to is regarding the baseline revenues moving forward, which hitherto assumed the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and now assumes they will remain due to GOP opposition to their expiration.
It does not in any way say that because the GOP is resistant to tax hikes that this is why they changed the rating and it is extremely dishonest and misleading to write as such.
If you are are wondering why the mainstream media does not focus on that sentence, it's because it does not actually mean what you apparently think it means.
Someone is being lazy, but it's not the media.
Berry: Yeah, I know what you mean about the potential job loss presented by all of these gadgets. I think about the bank tellers that they don't hire, or let go, because of the ATMs. I think about the grocery checkers that are not hired or let go because of the automated check out counters. And unfortunately, I am hooked on using ATMs but not necessarily the automated check out counters. I seldom have problems with ATMs but those checkout counters are sometimes very troublesome...so I just go to the checkers..half thinking that I am also helping to justify hiring people as checkers. The digital meters..well they still have to send meter readers through the streets, I believe, in order to read the meters...I'm sure that, if they could, they would even do away with that function. I'm just glad that the meter readers no longer have to come onto the property to read the meters. That leaves me free to shoot anyone else who I find on my property...just kidding!! The only way you can do that and maybe get away with it is if the intruder is threatening you with a dangerous weapon and it really is self-defense. Even if they are stealing stuff you can't shoot them. And if they break a leg in the act of stealing from you ...they most likely can sue you....what a country...eh?
One often has to leave the country to find objective reporting... occasionally the BBC, the only place I could find mention of your point... in an op-ed piece at that.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14431319
"Mark Mardell
How Washington's politicians downgraded America
The downgrading of America is a humiliation for a nation constantly fretting about its potential decline. It reinforces a very common belief here, that the squabbling politicians in Washington are to blame for many of the country's ills.
It was indeed a major theme of candidate Obama that "business as usual" couldn't continue and, by an effort of will, America had to come together.
The decision by Standard & Poor's to push America into the second division, when it comes to trustworthiness about paying its bills, puts the USA below the UK, Germany, France, Singapore, Finland and 14 other countries.
The reason it gives is what all America has been saying: Washington doesn't work. The S&P report says: "The political brinkmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America's governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed."
A clumsy sentence, yet it encapsulates the frustration of many Americans. They don't think too much of the plan they did eventually come up with at the last minute.
"Our opinion is that elected officials remain wary of tackling the structural issues required to effectively address the rising US public debt burden in a manner consistent with a 'AAA' rating and with 'AAA' rated".
They warn America's debt will continue to balloon and they have little hope of the politicians fixing it.
They say they think dealing with the debt remains a "contentious and fitful process". They say no-one is serious about dealing with the programmes that eat up money, like Medicare, health care for the elderly.
They single out Republicans for ruling out tax rises. "It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options... Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues.""......
Some one needs to give the I.R.S. the news on these crooks. Perhaps they have not heard they have work to do.
Pal > Thanks for your input. I just got drift of these meters and I was just thinking about another possibility of job loss. I do take video's with a grain of salt, unless I find it necessary to do the research in which I aways look for three or more reference points and pin them against each other ,so I may weigh them in. I just never heard of such a thing and was wondering what people are thinking neg~pos if any ).. I do not have one of these beauties, But Again thanks, "Points Well taken.
Part of the plot to take over America by the Uber-wealthy is to shake out nervous investors and later come in to scoop up a greater share of the market at rock bottom prices. Just another way to concentrate wealth even more.
Berry: Ok, I watched that youtube video link you gave us and my opinion, having been in electronics most of my life...including military radar systems, radio and tv, ic chip manufacturing, and computers....and I was most amused with this video.
Cell phones and microwave ovens and high voltage lines and weather and/or military radar...haarp...only to mention a few things are much more to worry about. Sticking a cell phone up against your ear all the time may be a problem...but I don't think we have to worry about the digital electric meters or gas meters broadcasting on the little power they do out to the street in front of your house. Cell phones have to at least transmit to the nearest antenna and you stick the cell phones right up to your ear...practically right against you brain.
I used to use a cell phone for work all the time. That was before the concerns about cell phones became well known. It may mean nothing at all but I've noticed that my right ear cartilage is much stiffer than the other ear..and the canal has reduced in size...and it itches a lot compared to the left ear. I always used the cell phone against my right ear. So is there a connection? I don't know but I practically never use my cell phone anymore.
And if you are worried about getting cancer...well, it might be a good idea to get rid of all of the cleaning fluids..eat the right food (or not eat the wrong foods)...stay out of the sun....and a whole bunch of other things. Don't go through the porno scanners at airports.....in fact, it might be a good idea not to fly at all because you are increasing your exposure to a number of different kinds of radiation up there. If you live in certain parts of the US you are exposed to more radiation than other places...just from the terrain or altitude...the higher you are the more you get...or in desert areas...
Just because this old guy has a gadget that makes a lot of alarming noise when he holds it up to the meter doesn't mean anything except it is good theatrics.
Oh, and "dirty electricity?" That's a good one! Yes, I know you can have noise on electrical lines...all kinds of higher frequency noise (or signals) can be heterodyned or mixed on a 60 cycle line.
Just the same way that the telephone land line can be used at the same time for voice as for DSL (which is a much higher frequency than voice) and with the proper filters they won't interfere with one another...it is possible to use the AC wiring in one's house to serve a dual purpose and transmit other signals as well. I am wondering, myself, if that might not be a way of spying on people...although, perhaps the local transformers might not allow higher frequency signals through unless designed to do so.
You are probably getting more electricity through your body just by the house wiring when you use your appliances. And I get a lot more than that because a high voltage line runs right behind my house. There are certainly more important things to worry about...for sure...like your neighborhood aging major gas line rupturing and blowing up and frying half the neighborhood.....contaminated turkey...and a disastrous economy...and the crashed ufo in the north Baltic Sea between Sweden and Norway..(just kidding...it's really an unusually round outcropping of rocks and nothing more...the aliens have already taken over planet earth and Obama is one of the leaders ;-).
The facts are plain to see, the rich continue to get richer and the poor get poorer. Equal opportunity not in every community. Class Warfare is being waged and the majority are drinking the mass media propaganda punch, 3 parts filtering information and 2 parts distorting the truth mix it all together and serve it up with talking heads. Pursuing happiness to the tune of a million or more and then weasling out of paying any taxes is extreme greed on steroids. Freeloaders or leeches in their own pursuit of doing well while enjoying the security, and other benefits of being a Citizen without paying a dime for it. Meanwhile the working class and people who pay their fair share and support them.What lowlifes lurk in our midst.
I wonder, if 1400 millionaires didn't pay taxes. How many other millionaires paid less than their fair share?, simply because they couldn't dodge the tax man as well as his fellows.How many total millionaires are there? The reduced tax percentages are more proof for the argument cut the rich mans taxes and he will put more people to work. As unemployment rises and jobs continue to go overseas or produced by our prisoner labor force the rich are allowed to rob us by taking more profits.The next step is to give millionaires a bonus check based on how well they can avoid paying them just like GE 's tax credit rebate checks.If lower taxes to the elites creates jobs we want the proof.
We are being kicked in the teeth again. The shoe is getting bigger and it ain't made in America anymore. Peace
So now it looks like S&P downgraded the US from AAA to AA+. The Republicans are yelling a little louder now that Obama is bad and the Dems are yelling back that the Republicans always want it totally their way...to wreck the social programs. So now interest rates will go up....making the banksters pay more at the Fed (no more .25% interest rates they were getting) and they won't be able to make such a killing on the spread when they buy BRIC bonds with a return of 5-3/4%....awwwwwhhhhh...poor banksters. Of course, they are trying to say that everyone else down the food chain will also have to pay more for loans....loans??? what loans?? the banksters would never loan all of that bailout money anyway. And with Wall Street buckling under...cash is king....and people's mattresses are getting lumpy...or soon will be!
Yes, Berry, I've got one. And I initially had reservations about it because of some reports of people having problems with their electric bills. There was some complaints by people whose electric bills were higher than normal and it outraged some. I don't know what the outcome of that was but, so far, I think my meter is probably not overcharging on KiloWattHours. I've been watching it and so far, so good.
Digital read outs are a little easier to read so you can easily keep watch and confirm that you are being charged the number of KWH you should be charged (if the meter is accurate). The only way to know if it is accurate is to know how to assess what all of your electric devices use.
And I would much rather no one at all went into my back yard to read the manual meters. It is much better that they read them from the streets and not trespass on my property. You never know when some meter man/woman might break a leg stumbling over something and try to sue.
The digital meters let the meter readers read your meters from the street as the signal is broadcast as a digital signal. Don't think the range is much greater than just the street. One of the benefits that they say you have with the digital meters is that you can actually read your electric usage (as recorded by the meter person...I suppose) by going on-line to the electric companies web site. You can get data going back a number of years in order to compare your usage on a yearly or monthly basis.
Years ago, I had bought a WattsUp?Pro to help me assess what electricity various devices use. It tells you a lot of things like voltage, watts, kilowatts, kilowatt hours, and if you enter your price per kilowatt hour for base line, and the price for over base line it will tell you how much your device is costing you per month.
The biggest electricity hogs are the refrigerator, the electric range and oven, the electric clothes dryer...as I have a gas water heater...I don't need to worry about that. Of course, if I use the air conditioner...that will really pig out on electricity. During the winter, I have ditched using the central forced air furnace even though it is gas and I use electric space heaters for only certain rooms of the house and keep the doors closed or hallways sectioned off with ceiling to floor drapes. So my electric bill is larger than it would need to be in the winter time...but, overall, I manage to waste a lot less energy, electricity and gas combined that I would if I used the gas forced air furnace.
In most of the conversations I hear Millianairs, the so called successfull people, saying why you want to punish them with more taxes. Because they are the one who consume most of the resouces of the country. A direct resource tax without any strings attached should be levied across all the resources for individuals, corporations, non-profit/profit organisations without any exceptions/exemptions
Has anyone heard about these smart meters for your home electric service? They are a radio frequency microwave meter that communicates to the Smart Grid. If these things take over what will they do with the meter reader, who goes to house to house ? ~ The Smart meter >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci5GGqEPecE