Friday, November 18, 2011

Prohibit the use of corporate funds ... for political purposes

The Other 98%: "It is necessary that laws should be passed to prohibit the use of corporate funds directly or indirectly for political purposes; it is still more necessary that such laws should be thoroughly enforced.
- Theodore Roosevelt, 1910."

'via Blog this'
"Let us not be afraid to help each other—let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and Senators and Congressmen and Government officials but the voters of this country."

Read more at the American Presidency Project:Franklin D. Roosevelt: Address at Marietta, Ohio.http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=15672#ixzz1e4RqxqCp

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

A good day to be a Democrat?

(I'm not a Dem, but I usually vote with them)

Were Democrats having  bad day on election day in November 2010? Did they have an array of hopeless candidates, each more abusive or nuttier than the rest? Did they have unelectable candidates that were still the main attraction in the 24/7 news cycle? Were they proposing legislation in many states to disenfranchise voters? Were they proposing legislation to make women 2nd class citizens?

No.

Democrats, perhaps from some funky mix of lethargy and overconfidence, just plain did not go out and vote. For this, we got shocked toward banana republic political status, retreating on the economy when we should have been charging forward, and let union workers, teachers, firefighters, homeowners, etc., be blamed for what Wall Street did to the Global economy.

The lesson, today, whether we vote to repeal union-busting in OH or vote to declare zygotes persons, is that if we don't vote, things will change. Not for the better.


Saturday, November 05, 2011

How Bank Transfer Day Will Help The Banks It’s Trying To Hurt | The New Republic

Simon Van Zuylen-Wood: How Bank Transfer Day Will Help The Banks It’s Trying To Hurt | The New Republic:

Typical of propagandists, Zuylen-Wood chooses not to mention the single-most important aspect of a story, in hopes that we will take his fractured journalism as fact.

Banks make their profit from each depositor by reinvesting their money at a profit. Some accounts are more profitable than others, but each enlarges the pool - as the saying goes "it takes money to make money" and we give them our money so they can make money with it. Traditionally, banks have not charged fees or given interest on small accounts, but the trend is obvious: to charge fees and only give interest on huge accounts.

If a bank can not turn a profit on the money I give them, they don't deserve to be in business.

Name and Shame? Obama May Go Public with Lawmakers' Funding Requests - Reid Wilson - NationalJournal.com

Name and Shame? Obama May Go Public with Lawmakers' Funding Requests - Reid Wilson - NationalJournal.com:

Go Big, President Obama.

You have much Executive Power that you have not used. We see that you came from the Senate to the White House with a sincere desire to unite and to use compromise as a way to involve all sides in solutions to our big problems. We also see that you have run into a brick wall from a united Republican front, whose only desire is to drive you out of office.

The Republican establishment is still seething from, of all things, Watergate, and they feel that Executive Power should be pumped up so presidents can operate with impunity in getting elected at any cost to our Democracy. At least use powers at-hand to right some of the abuses that have been allowed to happen in our government. At this point, every election, legislator and legislation are bought and paid for by powerful and wealthy interests - the People, and voters have been robbed of their voice.

You have the support of over half of the American People, and Congress has the support of less than 10% of us. Reflect the will of the People.


Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Mr. President, I am among the lucky few.


Dear Mr. President,

I am in the lucky (and add many more luckies) position to make a home purchase today, in Southern California no less. I have been renting since 1997, hoping to buy, but watching prices bubble up while the sanity of loan offerings turn cold and my income has shrunk to 60% of what it was the last time I owned.

There are many forces at work here, and many forces that you have Executive Power to address directly, and vast influence to address otherwise.  One example is your proposed changes to HARP, which are a start but won't address the fundamental problems. The other is the failed Bowles Simpson plan and the pre-failed Supercommittee; they presume to cut our way out of a hole, which only makes a bigger hole, and they need to be told to address the debt problem by only addressing those elements in our government that caused the debt such as taxation changes and wars, not addressing it by cutting social insurance programs we already paid for or with any other cuts that only hurt those who did not cause the economic meltdown.

The fundamental reason why many of these homeowners are underwater, behind in payments, or foreclosed, is simple, and clear. They were sold mortgages, which were then resold and collateralized, and these securities tanked with small changes and cycles in the global economy taking the rest of the economy with them...our worshipped billionaires faltered, demanded bailouts from the government, fired their employees, and mortgage debt couldn't get paid.

In other words, we deregulated our way to this.

Banks shouldn't be allowed to be brokers, they shouldn't be allowed to sell short to make a profit from their own failures, they shouldn't be allowed to collaterralize debts without potential for devastating loss, they shouldn't be able to socialize the loss while we privatize the gain.

I wish everyone the opportunity to buy a house, if they want, like I can right now. I'm afraid if we let the bankers and brokers buy our elections, legislators, and legislation as they do now, my children and theirs won't have a chance for a home, a good job, and a secure future. I can see that my chances for these have required more work - I work three jobs, and my dad only worked two - than my parents, and I hope that we can move forward to a better system that allows opportunity for all, not just the few.

Debt, Defaults, and Defiance - It couldn't be simpler.

The corporate media continues to paint a picture of overspending Walmart housewives throwing our global economy into chaos. Who Do "Wal-Mart Moms" Blame for the Down Economy?

People want to buy houses. Banks lend them money. Banks sell the mortgage. Mortgages are combined into a security that is traded on the global market. The global market slips a little, jobs are lost and people can't afford the mortgage after adjustment, but the banks make money on the losses, after selling short! The mortgage owner forecloses and gets to sell again!

Do we blame the homeowner for wanting a house, taking a mortgage, or losing their job because a few Banksters, Brokers, and Billionaires bet the farm? Of course not.

Do we blame people for taking to the streets because for 30 years we have wasted the wealth of the middle class on an increasingly smaller and wealthier few? Of course not! It's not Life Liberty and Happiness for a few Oligarchs, it's Justice for All. It looks like the Occupy movement has started to give a voice where one was needed, but it's just a start.

We must first stop blaming the poor, the immigrant, LGBT, abortion, teachers nurses & firemen, liberals, those born with brown skin, the elderly, the sick, the homeless, Muslims...those not born White, Christian, and Wealthy. In fact, we must stop blaming. We have to learn from the past, look deeply at where we are today, and design our fix for tomorrow.

There is a Supercommittee in Washington preparing a fix for our global economic meltdown, and they are first and foremost planning do do this by decreasing the debt we owe by punishing those Americans least able to afford it, and those who didn't cause it. Each and every member of this Supercommittee is part of the 1%, with their elections, jobs, and daily lives bought and paid for by wealthy and powerful interests, and these legislators should be the last people to have extra power and influence over this critical Super-Issue.

We are in a Depression. With little hope for 99% of us every having hope for prosperity, health, and a secure retirement because we as a nation redistribute these to a few already-wealthy individuals, there is no other word for it.

Debt did not cause this. The poor, sick, elderly, etc. did not cause this. A few miscreants playing the rest of us like dominoes did. They deregulated banks and investing, they ran wars for profit like Bernie Madoff ran retirement accounts. They bribed seniors with Medicare Pt D, unfunded and unneeded. And now the rest, and most, and best of us will be paying for it for the rest of our lives.

Walmart mom - you may have spent too much, but they convinced you to. They run bright shiny Chinese-made objects and expect you to buy more, they run bright Kardashian shows on TV and expect you to watch more and want more, they pay for issues to be hoisted up like scarecrows during elections, issues that will never  come up for a vote, in order to get you to vote against your self interests.

Instead of wondering which of the GOP candidates in their Reality TV Debate series will be the next president, use your new voice. In body or spirit, don't join the self haters that think they caused the global economic meltdown - join the movement that has given voice to the 99%.