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Fantastic article, yjoseph!!! Michael Hudson, the economist, knows what it's all about...
"Of course the government will have enough money to pay the monthly Social Security checks. The Social Security administration has its own savings – in Treasury bills. I realize that lawyers (such as Mr. Obama and indeed most American presidents) rarely understand economics. But this is a legal issue. Mr. Obama certainly must know that Social Security is solvent, with liquid securities to pay for many decades to come. Yet Mr. Obama has put Social Security at the very top of his hit list!
The most reasonable explanation for his empty threat is that he is trying to panic the elderly into hoping that somehow the budget deal he seems to have up his sleeve can save them. The reality, of course, is that they are being led to economic slaughter. (And not a word of correction reminding the President of financial reality from Rubinomics Treasury Secretary Geithner, neoliberal Fed Chairman Bernanke or anyone else in the Wall Street Democrat administration, formerly known as the Democratic Leadership Council.)
It is a con. "
This deal will help the President's political standing. Unfortunately, it will hurt the economy.
Obama was never a Progressive politician, but he was a reformer interested in incremental change. He felt he had to compromise to get incremental changes adopted. Because of those compromises, the Left stayed home in droves in the 2010 election and did themselves and the country as much harm as in the election of 2000. The election of a Republican-led House, which could have been completely prevented if Democrats had voted, gave the Corporatists the leverage to adopt a radical right-wing agenda and get most of it passed.
The take-home message from these events is not that we should not have elected Obama, but that we should always vote. We should vote for the better choice even if it is not our ideal choice.
JoelShapiro: I'd certainly vote for Elizabeth Warren for President...not many people around that has her integrity and smarts. But, unfortunately, she might be smart enough not to run for President...knowing how corrupt the system is and what she'd be up against. But she would sure be a world of difference from a Michele Bachmann! Michele Bachmann would be disastrous...even more so than Bush or Obama. I don't know if any really smart person with real integrity would lower themselves to follow in the footsteps of such clowns. But that's the thing...the system has devolved into putting the useful idiot bumpkin into office that will have their strings being pulled by their ruling elite puppet masters. The Presidency is just for show...just a distraction..just another player in the bad cop..good cop machinations that results in the ruling elite getting just what they want.
Hmmmmmmm . . . .
Palindromedary, your response sounds a whole lot like somebody who didn't click the link or read it all the way to the end, including the comments.
You wouldn't really try to make a case without reviewing more of the evidence, now, would you??
M.L. "LeeB" in Redmond, Washington
I'm sorry Emelle, but it is way past established that Obama has not done us progressive liberals any favors and has readily bargained away any leverage we may have had ...repeatedly. There are a lot of pretend liberals and pretend liberal organizations who are trying to trick us into supporting their views...which ultimately will stab us in the back. Obama has done nothing but acted like a Republican so in my book he is one. Obama was the pretend Democrat and it took actions (or inactions) on his part to eventually show the world just who he is. He is every much a puppet for Wall Street and the banksters as any Republican. Even think about touching the social programs and he's out...in my book. I won't vote for him again.
Thanks for that article, DRichards!
Here's a quote from it that I think was quite notable:
"Obama is but a figurehead of an unelected government in the US. This unelected power of corporate elites – commercial, financial, military – governs with the same core policies regardless of who is sitting in the White House. Whether these policies are on social, economic or foreign matters, the elected president must obey the direction ordained by the unelected elite. That kind of untrammeled power structure conforms more closely in practice to dictatorship, not democracy.
As Michael Hudson and Ellen Brown reveal in their analyses of the US budget debacle, Obama is pathetically doing the bidding of Wall Street – much like an errand boy [1] [2]. "
Brown writes: “The debt crisis was created, not by a social safety net bought and paid for by the taxpayers, but by a banking system taken over by Wall Street gamblers. The gamblers lost their bets and were bailed out at the expense of the taxpayers; and if anyone should be held to account, it is these gamblers.
“The debt ceiling crisis is a manufactured one, engineered to extort concessions that will lock the middle class in debt peonage for decades to come. Congress is empowered by the Constitution to issue the money it needs to pay its debts.”
Obama’s servile toeing of Wall Street’s line is not the behavior of a free leader boldly defending the interests of the people and the greater good. Rather, his behavior is that of one doing what he is told to do – and doing it with grateful deference. "
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25853
Saw the new movie Cowboys and Aliens today...at first it looks like the aliens are so overwhelmingly powerful that the cowboys don't have a chance....but then, of course, through all kinds of ridiculous and improbable stunts the cowboys win. Gee, I hope I didn't give it away to anyone who hasn't seen the movie yet!
I wonder if they will now have a sequel....Cowboys and Republicans where the evil Republicans with seeming overwhelming odds (all the gold and political power) will be reduced to a burning cinder. And if anyone else has seen the movie...take note of the jihadist moment in the movie and ask yourself how you felt about someone like that, fighting for their cause, fighting against a technologically superior, evil, and occupying bully, who was willing to sacrifice their lives to oppose that force.
I know...I watch too many movies...!
But it might be a good idea if masses of people march on Washington with placards of pictures of guillotines on them. Might send a message worth thinking about. If the French can do it...so can we. We have to send the message that the masses will not stand for being screwed by the rich and their puppet politicians. Just like the French king and many aristocrats who wouldn't pay their fair share of taxes we have our own aristocrats who refuse to do so as well. The people will take only so much before they explode into a rage that the aristocrats won't be able to hold back. The aristocrats are counting on the masses being too lazy or afraid to defend themselves against the greedy aristocratic criminals who have gamed the system and committed war crimes and economic crimes against the people.
Of course, anyone who is not a millionaire or billionaire who thinks they are Republicans are just being useful idiots for the millionaires and billionaires. Many of these people are business persons who will also be badly hurt by Republican policies because their policies will make it so that no one has any money to spend on their goods. It will be a naturally occurring boycott. They are just shooting themselves in the foot by their right-wing selfish attitudes.
I agree , sadly, but Thom is right on, as usual. Obama should be labeled the " Caver ", I am beginning to think that Obama has another agenda here, one that is linked to the Big Money. I don't think there are anymore honest politicians anymore, they all know what side their bread is buttered on and that is MONEY. It takes millions to run a campaign and even with all the sweet words that we all love to hear, in real life, it takes that Big Money to keep a campaign healthy, wealthy and wise. Lovely speeches and cute slogans keep the base happy. I think one of the main problems here is that the Liberals and Progressives injected their dreams into the Obama figure and projected their ideology onto Obama. We all expected some pie in the sky outcomes, like an total withdrawal of troops, closing Gitmo, creating jobs,balancing the budget,etc. Trouble is, Obama was not this super hero we all projected and expected. He just happen to be a smart, well spoken man of color. Not some caped crusader. I know, as one the baby boomers who lived thru the Vietnam frustrations and outrages of Nixon,etal,and set our sites on the Man Of Change. But I think we were hoodwinked and suckered in by the media and the smart marketing folks who knew just how to push our buttons. It sure did work. I am sorry to say that WE can no longer trust what we see or hear in the future. TRUST NO ONE.
I saw a lot of long lines at banks today....hummm!!! It's just beginning, I'm afraid.
The rich aristocrats in France didn't want to pay their fair share of taxes either and the king had no other choice but to tax the ones who could least afford it. Was he a weak king or just a scoundrel who didn't care. That's what I am wondering about our President.
Maybe we should march on Washington with placards of pictures of guillotines to get the message across. A lot of aristocrats as well as the king lost their heads because they deserved it. The aristocrats and others in the kings gallery lost their heads first and, I understand, several months later they finally did the king as well.
The smartest guy in school just had his lunch money stolen by the class idiots again, and these clowns are handing it all right over to the Kochs!
How silly for economists to warn us that you can't cut your way out of a recession, where did they ever get that idea?
Fox as well as the rest of the right wing mass media, will go down in history as playing a major role in the economic devastation the most vulnerable among us are all about to face.
For the life of me I still can't figure out what the teabaggers think they are gaining from enriching the already rich while at the same time all but guaranteeing economic collapse for many of those who voted them in. What the hell is their heads?..... I know dumb question!
Either way it’s the common village folk suffering. Not only is it a difficult place to live in, extremists within the country oppress them, and the US army too targets them. What are they supposed to do?
I took your advice and followed the link. Thanks for posting. I was feeling pretty beat up by the process, and I thank you for calling us on the pity party. If these are the facts of the deal, then I'm okay with it. Obama has never been comfortable with taking credit for accomplishment. I believe he may ascribe to the notion "There is no limit to what you can accomplish, if you have no need to take credit for it."
That being said, I understand all the sentiments expressed here today, and want to thank you all, and of course Thom, for your company today.
If Gabby Giffords can keep fighting, well I guess I can too.
He will be viewed as a president with unlimited potential but also as one who does not understand economics.
Term limits making a president one-term? That is silly. Many presidents get more done in their 2nd term.Voters are the ones who determine term limits. As for Congress, much of the hoohah over this came from brand new conservatives who always checked first with ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Commission), a group funded by the Kochs and other billionaires and corporations, who draft "model" laws for the conservatives use.
Oh, and they also make sure they are in line with Grover Norquist.
I think we're in for a very rough time for the next , , , how many years? I doubt that I'll be alive to see it change.
When you have a "successful" two term former POTUS endorsing the 14th amendment option, I think it is wise to follow that advice. My belief in him aside, it is the president's footing in future negotiations with the GOP that has been decimated. He has proven once and for all that he will cave to threats and demands every time, regardless of the consequences, and has the most severe case of tunnel vision I have ever seen. His narrow minded belief that the mythical non-partisan Independent voter will appear in a flash of light in his greatest hour of need and lift him back into the oval office on high in 2012 is a dangerous delusion. I don't have the will or desire to defend this latest debacle, and as the economy crumbles even further into the abyss, I dread to think of the end of the year when this "Super Congress" has to decide what next to cut (all the while ignoring the will of the American people and refusing to tax the rich). Mark my words, when the time comes the TP will band together and block the recommendations from this panel in lock step, activating the so called "triggers" and gouging the social safety net by trillions.
C'mon, people! Click on the link!!
Or are y'all really enjoying this Pity Party way too much to give it up for a different perspective?!
Here you go . . . Another chance:
Read all of this, including the comments:
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2011/08/paul-krugman-is-political-rookie-or-how.html
This analysis is the absolute opposite of everything you all are thinking.
M.L. "LeeB" in Redmond, Washington
As with all the corporate party provided non-choices, Hartmann's push poll provides no choice for sane sensible well informed people to choose. Both choices are wrong.
The YES vote is wrong because Obama isn't weak. He hasn't been taken hostage. He isn't surrendering. He simply doesn't care about the American people, because Americans are no longer producers of wealth for the Market-State that owns the Corporate States of America, and the American people are no longer capable of being the uber consumers of the world's resources that they were. Americans are now disposable to the corporate party's (R)s and (D)s. What the corporate (R) & (D) party's voters regularly reliably voted to do unto others throughout the world is now being done unto them. 99% of 2008 American voters voted to do unto themselves what they had been doing unto others... neoliberal policies of ruthless exploitation.
The NO vote is wrong because it implies that being a corporatist (a fascist) is evidence of being a respectable mature and responsible person. Responsible, yes. Mature, perhaps... as in rotten. Worthy of respect, no!
Obama is doing what a corporate party Democrat POTUS is purchased to do... Greater Evil.
Nearly 70 million maniacs feverishly provided a popular vote mandate for him to do it. They wouldn't be so surprised now if they weren't so deaf, dumb and blind when they voted.
The Devolution of Liberalism:
http://chenangogreens.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id...
Maybe we need a violent revolution for these people to GET THE F***ING HINT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! Its not radical or extreamist to say that, after all our founding fathers revolted over less!
Actually, your taxes WOULDN'T have gone up. that';s just something they say to scare you so that the rich can keep everything they've stolen from US...and now steal more.
I figure America ended July 31, 2011.
I ain't voting for this republican again.
I'm so disappointed right now, I honestly find the words to describe how I feel fully.
To be honest, I would have preferred to go through a default, where the Bush tax breaks would have been invalidated to help the US govt recover. Yes, taxes would have gone up for a poor person like me, but it would have also gone up mandatorily for everyone else. Once the money from the Bush tax breaks would begin coming in, Obama would have had the revenue to cover the normal govt spending and also have enough left over to pay back the deficit.
Yes, the downgrade would have hurt the country overall, but please remember, what are the deficit and Bush tax breaks doing to America right now?
Unless I'm wrong in my assumption!! Would someone more knowledable please help me see if I'm wrong?
U.S. Debt: How did we get here?
http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/07/29/n_vause_debt.cnnmoney/
It's time to get really concerned. I have been a strong supporter of Obama but Obama simply lacks the ability to lead. He seems to have a problem with accepting that the Republicans are his enemy and have stated their number one objective to destroy his presidency. Obama wants to act like the adult in the room at all times. What people want to see is someone who is willing to hit some Republicans in the mouth. The news media is incapable of holding Republicans accountable and are a major contributor to the lack of understanding of what is factual. This is part of the problem in why the Republicans often win the messaging battle. The other is that this country is full of dumb people which account for this country going backwards 40 years to a period of racial divide. They are easily lead to false premises and simply appear unable to comprehend the degree to which Republicans, as instructed by Corporate America, want to change our way of life. I'm sure there are a few Republicans who wonder how they got to the point they have sold their souls to the rich and powerful and understand there is no retreat. Corporate America has no interest in what is in the best interests of America. They can't seem to make enough money to make themselves content. They do not care if they ruin our land, air, and water, worsen the health of fellow citizens, put our economy of constant jeopardy of collapse, take away the dignity of a chance for a reasonable way of life, force our children to have to care for their parents when they retire or lose their employment, ratio health care under a profit motive, etc. Try and name anything the Republicans have ever done for the average citizen. If you are not a racist, make over $500,000., think the Civil War should be fought again, believe God had chosen you to deliver the message only white people with your religion are worthy in the eyes of God, believe the civil rights laws should be abolished, think that Aayan Rand should be worshipped more than God, dumb enough to believe that what is good for Corporate America is good for America, believe that everything bad is due to unions, or believe no one has the right to tell you what to do but you have the right to tell others they can't have an abortion you should realize that the only way to win this war is to get involved and vote the Democrats into office. If you don't think we are in a war youe kidding yourself. The only people who can protect our way of life is you and me. Otherwise you will come to understand you may never have another job, your children will have little chance for success, you will need to rely on your children to support you when you get old, your life span will shorten due pollution of land, air , and water, if your children get sick you will need to beg for help for them. We have a bad habit of not acting until something happens in our backyard. It will too late then.
.... and stopping election fraud before the election. Otherwise each election becomes more dysfunctional, and "the people" are more and more disenfranchised.
I agree. I am a fiscal conservative and social moderate that believed Obama would use his communications skills and large backing to make the HARD decisions and get us out of the mess that the congress, both houses, both parties, the last 4 presidents, the activist judiciary have brought upon us. And really, we have seen the enemy and he is us! See Americans Elect 2012 This is where I am going.....The money hungry/power hungry extremeist on the right and left should be FIRED!!!! What a bunch of sorry ass___les!