Tag: Main Street

Playing Games With People’s Lives

Daily Agitator

I have pointed out many times the silly little pathetic games that politicians are playing with people’s lives and livelihood……..health reform is one of those games and we can talk and talk with NO common ground…..either you think Americans need adequate health care or they do not….it is that simple but the lawyers in Washington, those people we call our representatives, care not…the only thing that is important to them is the GAME…….

There is other place these pathetic little toads are playing this game….one of the newest is with unemployment benefits….in an article written by Patrick martin:

Inaction by the US Senate last week will result in the cutoff of extended unemployment benefits and COBRA health care coverage to more than one million workers. The cutoff, which began to take effect Sunday night, demonstrates the unbridgeable social gulf between the working class and the denizens of Capitol Hill, both Democrats and Republicans.

The bill to extend unemployment benefits and COBRA coverage was blocked by Republican Senator Jim Bunning, an arch-reactionary from Kentucky who took advantage of a Senate rule requiring unanimous consent to bring the legislation to a vote before the weekend.

Bunning, who is not running for reelection, was contemptuous of the suffering that he was helping inflict on more than one million workers, including an estimated 60,000 from his home state. He demanded that Senate Democrats agree to pay for the extended benefits without creating new debt, and declared that his actions were intended “to send a message to the American people.”

The Democratic leadership calculated that by allowing Bunning to block the extension they would be able to put the Republican minority in a bad light. Reid, Durbin and Vice President Joseph Biden issued hypocritical statements denouncing Bunning, but there was no move to invoke cloture.

Instead, the Democrats said they would bring the bill up again next week. Responding to the political embarrassment, Republican Whip Jon Kyl said Sunday that while he supported Bunning in principle, the Republicans would vote to approve a 30-day extension for the unemployment program while further negotiations were conducted on a bipartisan bill to extend the program for an entire year.

As I have said….a pathetic pack of arrogant, self-indulgent pr*cks…..they are playing with you LIFE….do you NOT understand that?

I know I should stop asking this question….when will the American people wise up to these false prophets (in case you wanted a biblical reference)?   BTW, that is NOT a rhetorical question!

The Creeping Cancer Known As Inequality

As we speak, the divide between rich and poor is widening. mainly because the middle class is disappearing into the clutches of poverty…..

New studies reveal that the social divide between rich and poor in the US has grown much starker in the current economic crisis, and that even before it hit the country was the most unequal of the advanced economies, with great wealth and extreme poverty having become virtually hereditary conditions.

President Barack Obama has done nothing to reverse decades of wage stagnation, mounting poverty, and attacks on the social welfare system. On the contrary, following George W. Bush, he has seized on the crisis to redistribute wealth to a tiny financial elite through the ongoing bailout of the finance industry.

This demonstrates a fundamental political reality: no reform that benefits the broad masses can come from a government and two-party system so openly in the clutches of Wall Street. The financial aristocracy’s grip over all the levers of state power must be broken.

The sharp polarization that reveals itself in fabulous wealth for a handful, on the one hand, and unemployment, wage cuts, homelessness and hunger for broad layers of working people on the other, marks an intensification of longer-term trends.

According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), “While many middle-income families have lost jobs, homes, and retirement savings during the latest recession, their economic woes date back much further.” In the 30 years before 2008—the onset of the current crisis—nearly 35 percent of total income growth in the US was cornered by the top one-tenth of 1 percent of income earners. The bottom 90 percent shared only 15.9 percent of income growth in the same period.

The vast polarization of wealth in the US will only intensify. According to the Obama administration’s rosy economic estimates, unemployment will not return to its pre-crash levels before the end of the decade. More realistic observers, however, acknowledge that mass unemployment will be a fixture of US life, and higher-paying jobs destroyed in the recession will never return. Combined with declining home values, skyrocketing health care and higher education costs, chronically high unemployment will result in steadily rising poverty.

Obama defends these obscene pay packages. “I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth,” he said of the eight-figure rewards for the same financial executives whose firms have benefited from trillions in taxpayer support. “That is part of the free-market system.”

In fact “most of the American people” not only begrudge these ill-gotten gains. They wonder why they have yet to see news footage of bankers and traders arrested and hauled from their plush offices. Now working class anger is becoming increasingly trained on the political system, which, as a year’s experience with the Obama administration has taught, does the bidding of Wall Street regardless of which party controls the White House and Congress.

I would like to thank Tom Eley of wsws.org for excerpts in this piece….

All the news is that the middle clkass is taking it in the butt…..while the wealthy (which is normal) get all the benefits and the bailouts…….as a reader of my blog, Terrant of My Corner To Vent (go to blogroll to get there) has observed that the US is starting to look a lot like Latin America where the middle class is small or non-existent……of course this means nothing to you if you are one of the wealthy……but the middle class needs to find someone, anyone that will watch their backs for them….Washington is NO help at all….

You Really Want To Worry?

Of course you do……living conditions for most Americans leads to worry…..

There is much that we have to worry about….most important is employment…..we always get the “good” news from the tube but sorry to say, there are a few things that need to be pondered.

While surfing I came across an article written by Dan Froomkin of the Huffington Post and he outlined some things that, if you must worry, then these should be the most important:

No. 1: The middle class may never be the same again

The full effects of the crash of 2007-2008 on the lives of regular Americans has yet to be fully appreciated. For most members of the middle class, their sense of financial well-being was largely based on the size of their 401(k)s and their equity as homeowners. After the collapse of stock prices and with the steep drop in home prices, many may never feel the same way again, or spend their money as confidently.

No. 2: The recovery could take a really long time

Even assuming that we are at the beginning of an enduring recovery, there are many signs that it will be a slow one, and that it could be as long as a decade until most American families return to the standard of living they enjoyed before the crash.

Most notably, unemployment is widely expected to be astronomically high for at least another year or two — remaining around 10 percent through 2010.

No. 3: The recovery could only be temporary

For the past decade or so, the growth of the U.S. economy was primarily fueled by the credit and housing bubbles — which now turn out to have been illusory. So what will spur growth this time? Especially with so many Americans out of work? Where’s the demand going to come from?

Citing, among other things, the likelihood that the U.S. savings rate could go markedly higher in the coming years, Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz warns that “we are not seeing a recovery of sustained consumption,”and says there is a “significant chance” of a double-dip recesssion for that reason.

No. 4:  This time, we don’t have the tools to get out of a recession

The recognized way of dealing with a recession is to lower interest rates in order to stimulate the economy. But the Federal Reserve can’t lower the rate to below zero, so that’s out.

The government can pour vast amounts of money into the economy, either through a stimulus or a massive bailout — or, as the case may be, both.

But next time around, that money might not be there. Not only could the political will be lacking, but there is an upper limit to just how much money the country can borrow and spend at one time without it doing more harm than good.

No. 5: The ‘very serious’ people in Washington are still obsessed about the deficit

In Washington salons and newsrooms, you are not considered a serious person unless you are very, very worried about the deficit. The principle that reducing the deficit is of the greatest urgency (and must come at the cost of entitlements) is for some reason firmly lodged in the halls of power in Washington. An example of just how uncontroversial deficit hawkery is among Washington’s elite was provided by The Washington Post earlier this month when it apparently didn’t think twice about turning over its news columns to an organization funded by Peter G. Peterson, the billionaire investment banker on a crusade to reduce the deficit by looting Social Security.

But deficit hawkery right now is not just ludicrous, it’s dangerous. As New York Times columnist Paul Krugman noted recently, “the calls we’re already hearing for an end to stimulus, for reversing the steps the government and the Federal Reserve took to prop up the economy, will grow even louder.”

No. 6: Whatever is making the stock market go up could go away

The giddiness over the recovering stock market makes it easy to overlook some key questions about its rise. But what exactly has sent the Dow up almost 70 percent since March? Could it be another bubble? And could it burst?

No. 7: The hugely irresponsible financial sector remains unchastened

But the big banks, with their enormous political clout, appear to be managing to duck the re-regulation that seemed inevitable a year ago — and they are now in fact more powerful than ever. The ultimate litmus test is that the banks that are “too big to fail,” rather than being broken up, are now making huge profits — and paying astronomical bonuses — based on the implicit guarantee that the government will pay their debts if they ever face bankruptcy. Indeed, that government backstop gives them every reason to place riskier bets than ever. Even Obama’s latest, much more assertive and populist proposal to limit bank activities does not break up those banks — and faces an uncertain future in our nearly paralyzed legislative branch.

A helluva list and I would agree with him on most of them….there are a wealth of issues to worry about…let the high paid pundits lie to you….IT IS THE ECONOMY. STUPID!

Main Street America does NOT care about all the posturing for political gain…..they want work!

Cash For Caulkers

Another brilliant idea…..it accomplishes very little…..A rather ingenuous label……trying to tie it in to the semi-successful program of Cash for Clunkers….cute……But what is this program all about?

The program contains two parts: money for homeowners for efficiency projects, and money for companies in the renewable energy and efficiency space.

The plan will likely create a new program where private contractors conduct home energy audits, buy the necessary gear and install it, according to a staffer on the Senate Energy Committee and Nadel at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

Big-ticket items like air conditioners, heating systems, washing machines, refrigerators, windows and insulation would likely be covered, Nadel said.

Consumers might be eligible for a 50% rebate on both the price of the equipment and the installation, up to $12,000, said Nadel. So far, there is no income restriction on who is eligible. That would mean a household could spend as much as $24,000 on upgrades and get half back.

A good idea?  IMO….HELL NO!  Why?  This will only help a small percentage of Americans…..think about it…..let us say you are a home owner who is finding it difficult to keep up with the mortgage payments….where will you find the money to spend on this?  Or better yet, 1 in 6 Americans is unemployed…that alone would not make it feasible to spend much needed money on home improvements….and then there is the tight credit for individuals….need I say more along that line?

Just where is the jobs creation?  At best, it is a band-aid for a gunshot wound……

So far the Obama Admin is doing NOTHING substantial to create jobs or to help Main Street……is this the change we voted for?  Not my idea of change but then I am sarcastic SOB……

It’s Jobs, Stupid!

Finally, the admin has addressed the need for jobvs on Main Street, they have already made Wall Street more profitable and now they want us normal people to go back to work….a helluva idea…..it is about time……he is in a hurry noiw because the Dems are losing support and will most likely lose one House of Congress in the next election…..but what does he propose…..

Obama is proposing initiatives to help small businesses grow and hire new staff, spend money to modernize roads, railways, bridges and tunnels, airports and seaports and a new program to provide rebates for consumers who retrofit their homes to become more energy efficient, such as weatherization measures, a White House official said. The official didn’t release further details.

How does that sound to you lowly workers?  Time magazine composed a list for the admin to consider:

Target an Industry and Stimulate Demand

Pay Companies to Hire People

Hire More People to Work for the Government

Boost Access to Credit for Growing Businesses

This is a lame attempt, in my opinion…….pay companies to hire people?  What will that accomplish if unemployment is still high there will be NO demand for the product and with an increase in inventories….lay-offs will follow…..I am still working on this one…..what good is a rebate to weatherize one’s home if one has NO job to afford the materials to weatherize?

And then there are the ideas that the Repubs have onb fixing the job market……Cut regulations. Freeze spending. Cut taxes. No new taxes…..gee the same crap that they propose for every situation that needs a fix….don’t you just love the originality?…..

Let’s pause, for a second, to appreciate the brilliant rhetorical framing. A no-cost jobs plan! Without adding a single dime to the deficit, the Republican’s plan will ameliorate the worst unemployment crisis in 30 years. One wonders how a political party capable of such innovative thinking ever lost its hold of power.  (thanx to Andrew Leonard for the observation)

And the Repubs just keep saying that the Obama technique has failed and failed miserably….but the CBO does not agree with that assessment……that it had added 1.2-3.2 points of GDP growth that would otherwise have not occurred and added 600,000 to 1.6 million jobs……So without the stimulus, judging from the CBO report, one can assume that the economy would still be contracting, and unemployment would be higher than it is now.

I will agree that it is jobs, stupid…..but things are not looking like these will be a long term sustaining answer to the problem…..neither party is doing what is needed to put Americans back to work….

Goldman-Sachs Spits On The Taxpayer!

We all have an opinion on whether the bank bailout was a good thing…the problem for Wall Street is that more Americans feel betrayed by their government for handing over massive amounts of cash to these thieves while they have to struggle just to keep food and clothing and shelter….and yet there is still NO demand from the people for the heads of these gtamblers that have pissed away America’s economic future…….

The WSJ is reporting that the CEO of Goldman is talking and apologizing:

Blankfein made a startling confession Tuesday. He apologized for Goldman’s role in the financial crisis, saying that the bank “participated in things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret.”

This is the same egotistical bastard that last month said:

he made an embarrassing comment in an interview with the Financial Times, saying that he was just “doing God’s work.”

YOU should be mad as hell at the audacity of this a/hole….why?

He got paid $400+ million last year…the year that he was a driving force in the demise of an American economy……he is the a/hole that is setting aside billions to give bonuses to the employees……this is the a/hole that got a massive transfusion of taxpayer money and in return he is spitting in the face of every taxpayer in America.

But Professor he apologized…..did he?……what did he apologize for?  Did he apologize for wrecking the economy?  Is he apologizing for stealing from the taxpayer to pay himself?  Just what is he apologizing for?

If this is a PR ploy then it is piss poor….Americans need to stand up and DEMAND that these thieves be held accountable for the destruction of the American economy….We do NOT need to accept their apologies….why?…..these bastards are insincere…if they were truly remorseful then they would be handling all this situation differently….the people need to send the message…….a FAKE apology is NOT accepted!

The Good News Is…………….

A lot of economists say that the recession is over……but few actually live on Main Street or even care what is happening to normal Americans.  I see NO end to the recession, the economic crisis, anywhere…jobs are lost, homes seized and investors making all the gains…..

CNN Money reported:

More than 80% of top economists believe that the recession that started almost two years ago is finally over. But most don’t expect meaningful improvement in jobs, credit or housing for months to come.That’s according to a survey released Monday by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). The group asked 43 top economists last month if they believe the battered U.S. economy has pulled out of the worst U.S. downturn since World War II. Those surveyed include economists from leading Wall Street firms and major corporations, as well as from highly respected universities and research firms.

Economists in the survey forecast that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3% in the three months that ended in September, though the official reading of gross domestic product won’t be out for weeks.

And all of the economists surveyed expect the recovery to be slow and painful, leaving many people and businesses feeling the effects of the downturn for years to come.

There you have it….the RECOVERY will be long and painful….that means Main Street will continue to take it in the ass until Wall Street decides that they have been fucked enough.

That means that the American worker will continue to lose their jobs and their homes and their health insurance…all the time investors will be rolling in the dough…..the only pain that the thieves on Wall Street will feel is that of any minor regulation the government may put on them….as with the recession and the economic crisis, they lose very little.

The people need to wake up and smell the pile of manure in front of them…..they WILL NEVER get a fair shake from the government…no matter which liar is elected and bought….

Was It As Bad As They Said?

It has been a year since the massacre of last October, economic massacre that is…..but was it as bad as they all said it was?

The AP has published a pretty good list of then and now sort of stuff:

• $11.2 trillion: Total losses in the stock market from the Dow’s peak in October 2007 to the March 2009 bottom.

• $4.6 trillion: Total gains in the stock market since March 9.

• 6: The number of the 10 worst point drops in the 113-year history of the Dow that occurred in 2008. The 777-point drop on Sept. 29, 2008, ranks No. 1.

• 3: The number of the 10 worst percentage drops that occurred in 2008. The Sept. 29 decline of 9 percent is the third-biggest behind 22.6 percent on Oct. 19, 1987, and 10 percent on April 14, 2000.

• 92 percent: Decrease in Citigroup Inc.‘s share price from Oct. 10, 2008, ($13.90) to March 9 ($1.05).

• 341 percent: Increase in Citigroup‘s share price from March 9 to Friday’s close of $4.63.

• 18-20: The historical average for the Volatility Index of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, also known as the VIX, or “Fear Index.”

• 89: Where the VIX peaked last October.

• 23: Where the VIX was on Friday.

• 16 percent: The amount by which the Dow’s closing level on Friday was higher than its average close the previous 200 days. Earlier this month the number hit 20 percent, the highest since the early 1980s.

• $6.5 trillion: Value of assets in stock mutual funds at end of 2007.

• $3.7 trillion: Value at the end of 2008.

• $4.5 trillion: Value at the end of August.

• -$72 billion: Net cash flow (money put in minus money taken out) for stock mutual funds in October 2008.

• -$25 billion: Net cash flow in March.

• $4 billion: Net cash flow in August.

• $9: The amount, out of every $10 investors put into mutual funds in August, that went into bond funds.

• $855.40: The price of an ounce of gold on Oct. 10, 2008.

• $1,048.60: The price of an ounce of gold on Friday.

• 6.2 percent: Unemployment rate a year ago.

• 9.8 percent: Unemployment rate today.

• 95.2: Consumer confidence two years ago. Reading above 90 means the economy is on solid footing; above 100 signals strong growth.

• 25.3: Consumer confidence in February — record low.

• 53.1: Consumer confidence today.

• 2.8 percent: Decline in retail sales in October and December 2008.

• 2.7 percent: Increase in retail sales in August.

• 4.75 percent: Federal funds rate two years ago.

• 1 percent: Fed funds rate last October.

• 0 – 0.25 percent: Fed funds rate today.

• 4.81 percent: London interbank offered rate (LIBOR), the amount banks charge each other to borrow money for three months, at its peak, on Oct. 10, 2008.

_0.28 percent: Three-month LIBOR rate Friday.

• -0.5 percent: Personal savings rate in 2005 as home prices were soaring.

• 6.9 percent: Personal savings rate in May.

• $975 billion: Credit card debt held by Americans last September.

• $899 billion: Credit card debt held at the end of August, down 8 percent.

• 7 million: Home resales in 2005, a record year.

• 4.5 million: Home resales in January at annual rate.

• 5.1 million: Home resales in August at annual rate.

• $245,000: Median price of homes sold in 2006 — record high.

• $213,000: Median price of homes sold last October.

• $195,000: Median price of homes sold in August.

Like I said a pretty good list….but what does it all mean?  If you are rolling in money then all this means that you will probably make more money to bath in….but if you are human and have lost your job or are worried about your job then none of this means CRAP!  So they make the news for people with money….the rest of us know that it is unrealistic to say the recession is over…..go shopping and tell the world just how much you appreciate all the good economic news….

More Good News On The Economy….NOT!

I was told that by Bloomberg.com:

In another sign the worst of the U.S. recession is over, a gauge of current conditions showed the economy steadied last month.The Conference Board’s coincident index was unchanged in July after falling in 17 of the 19 months since the contraction started in December 2007, figures from the New York-based private research group showed yesterday. The more closely watched gauge of leading indicators, which shows the outlook for the next three to six months, climbed for a fourth month.

The coincident index tracks payrolls, incomes, sales and production, which — combined with gross domestic product –are the same measures used by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based National Bureau of Economic Research to determine when contractions begin and end. The NBER announced the current recession, the deepest since the 1930s, had started one year after the fact.

Do any of you buy this crap?  I mean does you life seem to be getting better?  We keep getting good economic indicators and all the pundits want to call the recession over….but I have a problem with the so called experts and their opinions.

To me we have a statistical recovery at best……but there is no recovery inreality.  By reality I am talking about the indicators like forclosures, unemployment and consumer confidence these are no where near recovery levels.

Unfortunately for us on Main Street…we are forced to live in reality and reality is telling me that our short term future still sucks!

In case no one is paying attention:

When 2008 census data is released next month, it is expected to show a dramatic increase in the number of Americans living in poverty and without health insurance, according to Rebecca Blank, undersecretary of economic affairs for the Commerce Department.

The number living below the official poverty threshold increased in 2008 by 1.5 million people to 38.8 million, a number equivalent to 12.7 percent of the population, the census is expected to show.

The poverty rate is telling, but it is far from the only measure of the impoverishment of broad sections of the population. According to the Center for American Progress, between June 2007 and December 2008, personal wealth declined in the US by nearly 23 percent, the sharpest decline on record—far more than the 12 percent decline triggered by the oil crisis of 1973-1974. Family wealth declined by a similar proportion, wiping out some $15 trillion.

Just another indication of how bad reality is on Main Street…….thanx to Tom Eley of wsws.org.

The Economy Is In Slow Recovery

At least that is what is being championed by the Obama mouthpieces on the Sunday talk shows and by the Prez himself in his radio address.

The Prez used his speech to pat themselves on the back.  Obama used his weekly address on Saturday to hail the GDP figures as a vindication of his economic policies. He said that his stimulus package and his “other difficult but important steps” had “put the brakes on this recession.”

“We took unprecedented action,” he continued, “to stem the spread of foreclosures by helping responsible homeowners stay in their homes and pay their mortgages. We helped revive the credit markets and open up loans for families and small businesses. And we enacted a Recovery Act that … provided relief to struggling states to prevent layoffs of teachers and police officers and made investments that are putting people back to work rebuilding and renovating roads, bridges, schools and hospitals.”

Tom Eley observed:

One can only wonder: What country is Obama talking about? State and city governments are slashing jobs and social programs to meet the most crippling budget deficits in modern history. New data released this week reveal that bailed-out banks continue to deny loans to consumers and are hoarding cash more now than at the beginning of the year. As for helping “responsible” homeowners, foreclosures in the first six months of this year hit a record 1.5 million.

The supposed success of his policies, Obama suggested, vindicated his unquestioning support for the profit system and his drive to relieve businesses of their health care obligations to workers. That this is the underlying aim of his health care proposals was made clear by his call for “a health care system that makes it possible for entrepreneurs to innovate and businesses to compete without being saddled with skyrocketing insurance costs.”

All of the policies of the Obama administration have been focused on protecting the interests of a financial aristocracy that exercises a de facto dictatorship over the social and political life of the country. Now, the crisis which the bankers precipitated is being used to effect a permanent reduction in the living standards and social position of working people.

There will be no return to the already depressed wage levels and paltry social benefits that existed prior to the crash of 2008. Instead, a further redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top will be carried out through the destruction of all that remains of past social gains and an immense intensification in the exploitation of the working class.

Mr. Eley sounds a bit radical in his observations, but I will have to agree with him….I see nothing on Main Street that says we are doing any better now than we were a year ago.  In the same vein, Wall Street is doing just fine, so much so that they are handing bonuses.  The stimulus money is well spent if you happen to be in the Wall Street clic.  Unfortunately, most of us live on Main Street and that road is full of potholes and speed bumps.