The Day after the Earth Stood Still

Can you say change has come to the Red, White and Blue? We better add brown to the list of all American colors now that for the first time in our history we have elected a black man President of the United States. Here in the United States of Texas the news is not good. We reelected the same knee jerk, backward and determindly ignorant Republican Senator John "Corndog" Cornyn. Locally, in another step backward, eighty five year old Ralph "I'd drill on my grandpa's grave" Hall was reelected in what can only be seen as a repudiation of reason and discourse. Ralph has survived into the 21st century with an iron grip on his 19th century view of America. He still peddles the nonsense idea that we can drill our way out out of the energy crisis despite the fact that rational people know better. He never met a social program he could love or a corporate welfare bill he didn't. Don't tell him Texas leads the nation in uninsured children, he doesn't care. He and Cornyn are two peas in a pod. They still think big bid'ness is the be all and end' all of what makes this country tick. And they will do any thing they can to keep the ill gotten gains of those folks on Wall Street from trickling down to the people they despise, the average American. 

I don't know about you but I feel an immense sense of relief now that the election is almost over. I say almost because there are still important Senate races where all of the votes have yet to be tabulated. Two important ones are Franken vs Coleman in Minnesota and Jeff Merkley in Oregon. 

Al Gore wrote an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal on Sustainable Capitalism,

That would be the opposite of the kind we have now. And just to give you a flavor of what is to come in the Journal now that Ruport Murdoch owns it there is an editorial on the Shameful Way Bush has been Treated. ??

Arriana Huffington's post today is on Why All Americans have a Reason to Celebrate.

The country lost 157,000 jobs in October

So much for UNsustainable capitalism.

Huffington Post  October 29th 2008

Rose Ann Demoro

Hockey Mom or Neiman Marxist?

The secret is out. There is a Marxist in the Presidential race. She's just not on the Democratic ticket. The real Marxist is in the McCain camp, the Neiman Marxist adorned in that fetching $150,000 wardrobe.

Contrast that with say, Geri the nurse who can be outfitted in scrubs for just $10 for a hospital shift. The same $150,000 would outfit 15,000 RNs.

At the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee we've created our own fashion statement -- a new website www.dresslikepalin.com that let's you imagine other ways the Republican Party, Sarah Palin and John McCain could have spent that $150,000.

In addition to the 15,000 scrubs, the same $150,000 would buy 15,000 chef coats, 5,769 painter's bibs, 5,000 police shirts, 4,687 auto mechanics' coveralls, 3,750 pilot uniforms, or 3,571 housekeeper uniforms. You know, all those working people McCain and Palin pretend to stand for.

Not bad for one month of threads. That's an annual clothing budget of $1.8 million, right up there in Richistan territory. That's the world described in the 2007 book by Wall Street Journal Wealth Report columnist Robert Frank, the land of people who buy 450-foot yachts or 60,000-square foot homes with built-in bowling alleys and 2,000-gallon aquariums.

Somehow Palin's shtick about being the "hockey mom" and the voice of "Joe Six Pack" rings a little hollow when you're strutting around in your $500 Cole Haan Boots swaddled in a $2,600 Valentino Jacket with your $865 Louis Vuitton handbag on your arm.

Dressing up Palin in her Neiman Marxist line doesn't quite square with the faux populism the McCain camp has been running out as the champion of Joe the Plumber. Indeed, the $10,000 devoted to two weeks of hair styling is more than the average Joe the plumber earns in two months.

Palin and McCain want us to believe they suddenly feel the pain of families crushed by un-payable bills. It's a harder sell when you're festooned in a jacket that would pay the entire winter heating bill for two Midwest families, or adorned with makeup that would pay for 224 mammograms, 651 flu shots, or provide 14 years worth of the cholesterol lowering drug Lipitor for one patient.

Then again, maybe Palin is just aspiring to reach the lofty standards set by Cindy McCain, she of the 9 houses and 13 cars.

Cindy McCain, of course, earned her own Richistan spurs when she sashayed across the stage of the Republican convention last month in her own wardrobe estimated to ring up the cash registers at some $313,000. That includes her three-carat diamond earrings, four-strand pearl necklace, Chanel J12 White Ceramic watch, designer shoes, and her $3,000 Oscar de la Renta dress.

John McCain, in his effort to show empathy with the plight of those so long discarded and disdained in the Bush-McCain years, now says he wants to help families facing the foreclosure of their homes. Maybe he could start by auctioning off Cindy's GOP duds.

The Cindy McCain outfit by itself exceeds the median price of a house in Miami, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Atlanta, New Orleans, and St. Louis.

Or if they really want to impress those battleground states, they could use the price tag for Cindy McCain's outfit to buy two homes in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Columbia, Mo., Columbus, Oh., or Ocala, Fl.

Oh, go ahead. Splurge. For the same cash you could buy three houses, and really impress the voters, in Saginaw, Mi., South Bend or Ft. Wayne, In., Erie, Pa., or Akron, Toledo, or Youngstown, Oh.

You remember those towns. The same ones devastated by the tax breaks McCain and George Bush gave to corporations to ship the towns' jobs overseas, back before McCain suddenly converted to the people's hero.

Richistan is not a real place, it's a state of mind and wealth. Neiman Marxist isn't a store. Neiman Marcus is a store. And when you're wearing their $150,000 line, it's hard to pretend you're someone else.

If you think Ralph Hall still has his wits about him, you have to watch this video. Glenn Melancon is a great democrat and a smart, caring man. We need to dump Ralph Hall for STILL being a fan of all things Bush and Cheney.

How We Lost Our National Treasure

The Republican religion of "free" market capitalism, deregulation and a government dedicated to serving the interests of ruthless giant corporations, the greedy speculators and the super wealthy has failed. This year the Republican party put on numerous celebrations of Ronald Reagan's legacy. This week we taxpayers started getting the bills for that legacy. Now we are left with a bankrupt economy littered with failed banks, insurance companies and brokerage houses. In the Savings and Loan failures of the 1980's the bill was in the billions and it kept this country in a recession that lasted for at least two years.

The truth of that not to distant reality has been drowned out since then by the Republican lie machine. They told us it was essential that we deregulate Wall Street and let the free market solve all of our problems. Their candidates have preached to us like the converted that the free market was the only way to fix health care, Social Security, unemployment, inflation and even our failing environment. Because of the tenants of their free market religion over the past decade social programs have been cut to the bone, the minimum wage was not raised for ten years, even as the real value of those wages went down.

Privatization of countless federal agency services was an unfortunate result of this belief in the free market. One stark example of the wisdom of this approach is the case of Walter Reid Hospital's outpatient rehabilitation services for wounded veterans. The "Walter Reed Scandal" was nothing of the kind. Instead it was the private company (a Halliburton subsidiary) in charge of outpatient rehabilitation that failed our troops. Privatization of government services was a pillar of the Bush administration's management agenda that was declared in 2002. Given the ubiquity of this policy and the hundreds of government agencies involved we can safely assume that lucrative contracts have been channeled to Bush and Cheney cronies and that they have not been held accountable.

No matter how the details play out through the insider deals that are being made now without our consent, each of us will pay more in taxes and receive less in government services for many years to come. Deregulation always was an excuse to let insiders who payed off politicians get away with theft of our tax money. The Bailout was initially defeated for good reason. It's focus was in turning over the keys to the Treasury to Wall Street with little attention paid to the millions who struggle every day to stay in their homes. But it is unavoidable that we the taxpayers will have to pay in the end. Even with the bailout our economy is going to need the equivalent of the New Deal to have half a chance to recover.

The Republicans like Tom Delay took power through wedge issues, then converted lobbyists into ATM's for the cash that kept them in power so long. Because maintaining power became their singular goal they abandoned their legislative oversight responsibilities and focused on giving control of legislation to the lobbyists. In Reaganism terms this was completely reasonable. His acolytes, like John McCain, Phil Gramm, Tom Delay, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush turned deregulation into a science and a religion. Unfortunately, now that they have allowed Wall Street to plunder our economy through legal (deregulated) and illegal means we are broke and in monstrous debt.

And Reaganism won't die because of these results because the Republican marketing geniuses are already re-framing the issues as to cast blame on everyone else. Their propaganda machine (the mainstream media) is extremely efficient in manipulating the opinions of the general public. Our only hope is the application of knowledge gained through the alternative media in serious debate and militant advocacy of the truth. And I have no illusions that the Democratic Party is capable or willing to perform either task. We are the change we have been waiting for. It is up to each of us in our own ways to remember the crimes perpetrated by this regime and demand that truth overcome the fictions of the Republicans Party and it's Reagan religion.

Financial Fat Cats Paid for the Yes Votes on Bailout

Finance Sector Gave 51 Percent More to House Bailout Backers

Published by Communications on September 29, 2008 8:33 PM | Permalink

The Bailout: King Paulson gets to control every aspect of the bailout and reward the wildest speculators

New York Times- Treasury Would Emerge With Vast New Powers
Forbes - Sold to US taxpayers for $700B: banks' bad assets
LA Times- Banks love bailout, hate credit card curbs
Bloomberg - Asian Stocks Fall on Concern U.S. Rescue Won't Bolster Growth
New York Times- House Rejects Bailout Package, 228-205; Stocks Plunge
Politico- McCain takes credit for bill before it loses
TomDispatch.org - Pentagon Bailout Fraud



Specific Details of The Bailout

The term ‘‘financial institution’’ means any institution, including,
but not limited to, any bank, savings association,
credit union, security broker or dealer, or insurance
company

TROUBLED ASSETS.—The term ‘‘troubled assets’’ means—
(A) residential or commercial mortgages
and any securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to such
mortgages, that in each case was originated or issued on or before March 14, 2008, the
purchase of which the Secretary determines promotes financial market stability; and
(B) any other financial instrument that the Secretary, after consultation with the Chairman
of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, determines the purchase of which
is necessary to promote financial market stability, but only upon transmittal of such determination,
in writing, to the appropriate committees of Congress.

AUTHORITY.—The Secretary is authorized
to establish a troubled asset relief program (or ‘‘TARP’’) to
purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase,
troubled assets from any financial institution, on such terms
and conditions as are determined by the Secretary, and in
accordance with this Act and the policies and procedures
developed and published by the Secretary.

(c) NECESSARY ACTIONS.—The Secretary is authorized to
take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary
to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without
limitation, the following
(1) The Secretary shall have direct hiring authority with
respect to the appointment of employees to administer this Act.
(2) Entering into contracts, including contracts
for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5,
United States Code.
(3) Designating financial institutions as financial agents
of the Federal Government, and such institutions shall
perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act
as financial agents of the Federal Government as may
be required.
(4) In order to provide the Secretary with the
flexibility to manage troubled assets in a manner designed
to minimize cost to the taxpayers, establishing vehicles
that are authorized, subject to supervision by the Secretary,
to purchase, hold, and sell troubled assets and issue obligations.
(5) Issuing such regulations and other guidance
as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms
or carry out the authorities or purposes of this Act.

Secretary shall publish program guidelines, including the
following:
(1) Mechanisms for purchasing troubled assets.
(2) Methods for pricing and valuing troubled
assets.
(3) Procedures for selecting asset managers.
(4) Criteria for identifying troubled assets for
purchase.

(e) PREVENTING UNJUST ENRICHMENT.—In making
purchases under the authority of this Act, the Secretary
shall take such steps as may be necessary to prevent unjust
enrichment of financial institutions participating in
a program established under this section, including by preventing
the sale of a troubled asset to the Secretary at
a higher price than what the seller paid to purchase the
asset. This subsection does not apply to troubled assets
acquired in a merger or acquisition, or a purchase of assets
from a financial institution in conservatorship or receivership,
or that has initiated bankruptcy proceedings
under title 11, United States Code.

(2) GUARANTEES.—In establishing any pro- gram under this subsection, the Secretary may develop guarantees of troubled assets and the associated premiums for such guarantees. Such guarantees and premiums may be determined by category class of the troubled assets to be guaranteed. (3) EXTENT OF GUARANTEE.—Upon request of financial institution, the Secretary may guarantee timely payment of principal of, and interest on, troubled assets in amounts not to exceed 100 per- of such payments. Such guarantee may be on terms and conditions as are determined by the Secretary, provided that such terms and conditions consistent with the purposes of this Act.

(b) MANAGEMENT OF TROUBLED ASSETS.—The Secretary shall have authority
to manage troubled assets purchased under this Act, including revenues and portfolio
risks therefrom.

(c) SALE OF TROUBLED ASSETS.—The Secretary
may, at any time, upon terms and conditions and at a
price determined by the Secretary, sell, or enter into securities
loans, repurchase transactions, or other financial
transactions in regard to, any troubled asset purchased
under this Act.

(c) CONSENT TO REASONABLE LOAN MODIFICATION REQUESTS.—Upon any request arising under existing investment contracts, the Secretary shall consent, where appropriate, and considering net present value to the taxpayer, to reasonable requests for loss mitigation measures, including term extensions, rate reductions, principal write downs, increases in the proportion of loans within a trust other structure allowed to be modified, or removal of other limitation on modifications.

SEC. 110. ASSISTANCE TO HOMEOWNERS.
(1) IN GENERAL.—To the extent that the Federal property manager holds, owns, or controls mortgages, mortgage backed securities, and other assets secured by residential real estate, including multifamily housing, the Federal property manager shall implement a plan that seeks to maximize assistance homeowners and use its authority to encourage servicers of the underlying mortgages, and con- sidering net present value to the taxpayer, to take advantage of the HOPE for Homeowners Program under section 257 of the National Housing Act or other available programs to minimize foreclosures. (2) MODIFICATIONS.—In the case of a residential mortgage loan, modifications made under paragraph (1) may include— (A) reduction in interest rates; (B) reduction of loan principal; and (C) other similar modifications. (3) TENANT PROTECTIONS.—In the case of mortgages on residential rental properties, modifications made under paragraph (1) shall ensure— (A) the continuation of any existing Federal, State, and local rental subsidies and protections; and

Obama wins the debate with independents

Melancon Responds to Financial Crisis (unlike RalphHall)

Melancon: “Never Surrender to Financial Terrorism”

“The wizards of Wall Street are threatening the survival of our republic and the free market,” said Glenn Melancon, Democratic Candidate for US Congress in Texas’ Fourth Congressional District. “They want Congress to surrender budgetary authority to the President just like it surrendered War Powers during the debate over Iraq. It was wrong then, and it’s wrong now. We must have democracy, accountability and transparency.”

The Constitution is clear—Congress, not the President nor the Federal Reserve—is the “decider.” Congress decides how much to spend and what to spend it on. George Bush’s request for a blank check to bail out Wall Street strikes at the very heart of our Constitution.

“George Bush’s irresponsible plan to save Wall Street throws back the curtain on corporate hypocrisy and control,” said Melancon. “Every time average Americans demand a fair chance to compete in the global market place, large corporations spend billions of dollars to fight them. They’ve said “no” to affordable health care, clean energy, smaller class sizes, and fair trade.”

“We must never surrender to financial terrorism,” said Melancon. “Congress should demand a fair price, real security, transparency and accountability in exchange for check.”

Corporate Transparency and Accountability

1) Punishment for corporate executives: Any out-going executive asking for a government handout must agree to surrender all stock options, bonuses, and “golden parachutes.” Failed executives shouldn’t be rewarded with tax-payer dollars.

2) Require performance-based compensation packages: Stock holders must be the ultimate beneficiaries of a company. Executive pay must be directly tied to long-term stock performance.

3) Restore Independence of Directors: Corporate boards must be composed of individuals who are free of conflicts of interest. Large stock-holders shouldn’t sit on their own boards.

Marketplace Transparency and Accountability

1) Expose derivatives to public scrutiny: Secret derivatives are insecurities, not securities. Publicly traded companies must disclose all mathematical formulas used to calculate profits and risks.

2) Restore the firewalls between commercial and financial banks: In today’s market financial fires spread faster, not slower. Firewalls are essential to containing the disaster.

3) Require increased capital reserves: Banks and other financial institutions can’t function without real assets to back up their loans. Banks must have sufficient capital reserves to cover their losses.

“There are two basic requirements for representative government and free market capitalism—transparency and accountability,” said Melancon. “Neither can survive if secret deals allow a handful of people rig the system. We must have real changes to protect our hard-earned money.”

www.MelanconForUSCongress.net

A New Kind of Politician

The Daily Show

McCain, Palin and repubs in congress demand drilling based on research by the Dept of the Interior, the same group charged with sharing drugs and sex with oil company lobbyists.