Recent comments

  • This report was released probably midnight, EST, so I skimmed through the 127 pages and I am sure there is much more detail.

    Now TARP is not at all the total taxpayer money (see our most popular blog post ever for what's at risk) but even TARP has 12(?) different programs...

    it's so complex, there are all sorts of places to hide evil deeds.

    I sure hope SIGTARP has a division of forensic accountants because it's amazing how convoluted all of the bail outs are.

    If you see or read something of particular note, please post in the comments, I'm sure there is more deadly incriminating details w/in those 137 pages.

    Reply to: SIGTARP January 2010 Report   14 years 9 months ago
    EPer:
  • It worries me that so many people are relying on social security to live on. Even if you are 50 you can still sock away money for the next 20 years to help with retirement.

    How very droll, consumer person. Quoting a clown from the National Association of Manufacturers, whose very first president, and one of the original founders, was none other than George W. Bush's great-grandfather (evidently those NAM prezes don't breed too well, just spawn like degenerates).

    Now how does someone who has been consistently laid off, while their jobs have been consistently offshored, and can't find any work due to the (illegal, but congress and presidentially-sanctioned) importation of scab workers, and has their savings eroded by attempting to survive amidst all this illegality, supposed to be saving money?

    Perhaps by jacking all those Hummer drivers? Now there's a good start to buttress your leap into nonsense.

    And presently, since numerous studies (you can find them by perusing the content of this site for the past year) have shown and proven that zero jobs have been created by the private sector over the preceding 10 years in America.

    Can you spell douchebag? Apparently, not.

    Reply to: BASIC DUAL NATURE OF SOCIAL SECURITY   14 years 9 months ago
  • It should be pretty obvious to all by this time that this financial system was indeed meant to fail.

    That what they are doing now is simply trying to squeeze as much ill-gotten gain out of it while they still can.

    One still hears the same tired, moronic drivel from the likes of the media critters, even Bloomberg (that Reilly person) who proclaim: "I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist or a tin hat fashionista...."

    After all the info about Timothy Geithner (the clown) at NY Fed, and all the collusion among private equity firms (Citadel, et al.) and Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, et al., Henry Paulson (Goldman Sachs' on-site Treasury Secretary), etc., with regard to AIG, TARP, etc., nothing really more need be said: when all the evidence categorically says criminal conspiracy, anyone who denies a criminal conspiracy is either a paid professional liar or a complete jackass in denial.

    Reply to: SIGTARP January 2010 Report   14 years 9 months ago
  • Social Security was never meant to be a retirement program. It is INSURANCE, in case you need it if you should be disabled, widowed with children, reach old age and do not have enough to live on. It worries me that so many people are relying on social security to live on. Even if you are 50 you can still sock away money for the next 20 years to help with retirement.

    ...“A democracy is always temporary in nature: it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority will always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship.”

    Reply to: BASIC DUAL NATURE OF SOCIAL SECURITY   14 years 9 months ago
    EPer:
  • You want a better idea for stimulating this failing economy? There are approximately 300 million people in this country. Obama spent over $787 BILLION last year to stimulate the economy. What happened? We lost MORE jobs and incomes. How about taking all the adults over the age of 18 and sending each of them a stimulus check? Assuming that number would include approx. 200 million people, we spent $3935 per person on last year's stimulus effort, and what did the American worker get out of it? More unemployment, less security, and more foreclosed homes. Oh, I get it, "we" are not smart enough to understand all the ramifications of individuals having enough money to pay our bills that big business and the GOVERNMENT keep handing us. Oh well, guess we'll just starve to death outside.

    Reply to: Obama's Employer Tax Break for Jobs does not require employers to hire U.S. workers   14 years 9 months ago
    EPer:
  • I think about a 50% unemployment rate, about 10% of GDP going to the drug cartels, yet something like 1.5% of GDP also lost from...the drug cartels (anybody aware the Miami boom in the 80's was also the drug trade, hey folks this is big bucks!) and new reports of some sort of cocaine running deal between Columbian drug cartels and just one Mexican cartel...which equals, even more violence in the Cartel wars. and as we saw from the last election, these people cannot get an even break.

    ===========

    Soy similar. Miro y vivo en del pasado.

    Reply to: Tierra y Libertad   14 years 9 months ago
    EPer:
  • Under the Constitution, you must be a citizen and at least 25 years of age to run for the House, 30 for the Senate. How does a corporation establish citizenship? If it did, one might expect that such an entity could also be tried for treason.
    Frank T.

    Reply to: What should be in Obama's State of the Union address, but isn't   14 years 9 months ago
    EPer:
  • The first thing farmers teach their children is "Don't eat the seed corn". That's exactly what America has been doing for decades. We send all of our manufacturing and high tech jobs anywhere it's cheaper. One would think that prices would be dropping, but they still seem to get higher.
    Whenever you hear that a corporate exec receives an ungodly bonus, remember that that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's likely hundreds below him that also receive huge bonus and salary packages. Guess who pays for those? You and me!
    How Not to hire Americans

    Reply to: Tax incentives to offshore outsource your job are great! So says the Obama administration   14 years 9 months ago
    EPer:
  • I must be missing something. Why should corps pay taxes anyway?

    Reply to: Full Spectrum Inequality   14 years 9 months ago
    EPer:
  • (blobfish)

    Reply to: What should be in Obama's State of the Union address, but isn't   14 years 9 months ago
    EPer:
  • everything will be OK.

    By destroy, I am not total destruction - just enough to restore balance to policy.

    Reply to: GDP 5.7% in Q4 2009   14 years 9 months ago
  • Michael Moore was the covert campaign manager for Sarah Palin, so yes he did run a potted plant, but it was for VP.

    Reply to: What should be in Obama's State of the Union address, but isn't   14 years 9 months ago
  • What I am saying is certain MNCs have some agenda, so then they come up after the fact with some manufactured philosophy to justify that agenda.

    You are stuck on "neo-liberal" but I can point to "open border" being a front for a massive plan to have global migration, controlled by MNCs de facto and the reason they want this is global labor arbitrage. People don't realize this but I've seen more than one set of powerpoint slides, from MNCs and this is the reason...

    hardly anyone realizes we have an entire political rhetoric, which they believe is for the "down trodden" which is in fact generated by corporate lobbyists to agenda a global labor arbitrage agenda...

    See what I mean? They create a political philosophy or I like to say:

    the philosopher king creates a new religion for king Midas to peddle to justify his greed

    ...but it's after their financial/business agenda has long been formulated.

    Take the China PNTR...that was all about financial sector, very much Citigroup, wanting to be China's banker.

    So, you get all of this crap about "raising all boats" and "it helps the 3rd world" and all sorts of crap for the left to feed off of because it pulls on their heart strings, meanwhile you get similar "philosophies" to the right about "free markets" and "global trade is good" and whatever to appeal to their political appetites...

    but this political meal is tailor made....all designed to advance a special interest financial agenda that frankly is usually fairly short term.

    I know for a fact corporate lobbyists spin this stuff which you are believing is some political viewpoint....

    I'm not kidding, Harris Miller, 1980, he started the entire open border/migration/illegal immigration agenda and it was because his client wanted to bust the Farm Workers union, and Microsoft, ITAA has also assisted heavily in this "political view", but it's manufactured, spun behind the scenes....

    Political "philosophies" are manufactured, behind the scenes, the same as a factory making Campbell's soup.

    Reply to: GDP 5.7% in Q4 2009   14 years 9 months ago
    EPer:
  • It's not actually mine but I like it and it makes sense. I will cross post it from rebelcapitalist.com today. Hint: similar to Schumer/Hatch

    RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.

    Reply to: Obama's Employer Tax Break for Jobs does not require employers to hire U.S. workers   14 years 9 months ago
  • Much of what you mention is only possible because of neo-liberal policies including our engagement in globalization ie - Free Trade is great for everybody, the emergence of MNC.

    Neo-liberal policies have created the huge income inequality we see today. There are consequences to income inequality - the biggest one is that those with the most money and power will fight to keep their status. So what you see is lobbyists run amok in Washington to make sure the neo-liberal status quo is preserved.

    It is because of neo-liberal policy dominance that we see the dominance of lobbyists in Washington or the level of de-regulation we experienced in 80's - 90's.

    RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.

    Reply to: GDP 5.7% in Q4 2009   14 years 9 months ago
  • It looks pretty good, except for a few things...

    firstly they must once again define "eligible worker" as someone with U.S. citizenship/LPR only, on U.S. soil is the worker...

    But there is another question here and this is the problem with all these tax cuts.

    Anyone knows, who deals with their own finances, you are not going to take advantage of a "tax cut" unless you already have profits and need something.

    You are not going to buy a home with an 8k tax credit....
    unless you need it, most importantly can buy a home and also believe you will not lose your shirt with prices going lower. You may sit like a vulture at auction sales...

    but the people who really need housing, well, they do not have the money to buy a home in the first place.

    Kind of the same thing. If business is dried up and you really don't need more people to do your business, you are not going to hire someone.

    Still if they tie "eligible worker" to U.S. citizen/LPR one element which is not being talked about, this gives a 6.2% cost reduction...

    which might be the edge to get some companies to hire Americans instead of importing foreign guest workers or offshore outsourcing that job.

    In other words, it might assist with unfettered global labor arbitrage, but again, this is only if our Congress/administration grows a pair and makes the requirement for "eligible worker" be Citizenship status.

    Reply to: Obama's Employer Tax Break for Jobs does not require employers to hire U.S. workers   14 years 9 months ago
    EPer:
  • and say it's really not about "philosophies" and it's so much more about lobbyists, multinational corporations getting very specific agendas through Congress and administrations.

    For example, right now interest rates are near zero. So are banks lending to U.S. small business? No. They are lending, pouring, flooding U.S. based loans to businesses....that set up/expand in...

    China, India, Brazil....i.e. "emerging economies" where they believe they will get the most returns.

    This was a major reason Citigroup et. al pushed the China PNTR...it was all about making huge profits by being the capital resource for moving a manufacturing plant and so on....to China.

    So, I would call these multinational corporate lobbyists' agendas. You could say the same thing with say Halliburton. I mean lord knows what inane decisions were involved to go into Iraq, but the war profiteers made out like bandits, much to the royal screw up on actual execution.

    I believe that people need to be much more focused on "follow the money" than some political flavor. Often that flavor is coming from some lobbyist white paper to justify their real agenda.

    So by thinking it's this "neo-liberal group" or this "neo-conservative group" or this "social conservative group"...

    all of that to me is a front, a mask, usury of a group of crazy people as a front....to push some corporate lobbyists, multinational corporate agenda and even some foreign national agendas....into our laws and policies.

    The U.S. stock market crashed....because China said it was going to put a few breaks on lending...why would that affect U.S. markets? Because so many financial institutions are busy getting free money here in the States and lending it in....China.

    These institutions are not paying a dime's worth of attention to the U.S. economy really. I mean is it insane to do a small business on a personal credit card? yes, yet that is often the case, and at some absurd interest rate.

    I'm looking for small business credit stats at the moment and all I have so far is trillions have been denied credit. working on this.

    Reply to: GDP 5.7% in Q4 2009   14 years 9 months ago
    EPer:
  • Here it is: Neo-liberal economics has been widely debunked particularly during this crisis. The entire foundation of "Chicago School" economics blown away - efficient market hypothesis, monetarism, de-regulation.

    If you want a source of destruction of the Middle Class just look to neo-liberal policies.

    So why does anyone who spew this non-sense have any credibility? BTW, Limbaugh, Beck and Fox News are just neo-liberals dressed up as entertainment and propaganda.

    Because neo-liberalism is the status quo - it is the current dominant economic policy in Washington. Business media, corporations, executives and financial conglomerates want the status quo. So the status quo is trumpeted from the roof tops from every main stream news source and pushed hard in propaganda sources such as Limbaugh, Beck and Fox News.

    See, it's not about class warfare - it's about war over economic policy. Neo-liberal vs. Keynesian. The best economy is a balance between the two. Unfortunately, we are too far to neo-liberal side right now and that is why Middle Class is disappearing.

    RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.

    Reply to: GDP 5.7% in Q4 2009   14 years 9 months ago
  • You're not alone on the tax cut mantra and if it worked, obviously we would not be in the mess we're in.

    A host of people who know a thing or two are also ripping up Obama, Lind over on HuffPo, called it a mix of tax cuts and green hippie pipe dream. ;)

    I'm glad he pointed out the deal with fast speed rail. We had an obsessed person on high speed rail but it really didn't add up in terms of what was going to give the biggest bang for the buck.

    People get tunnel vision on some idea they want and it doesn't stand up in terms of the national overall economic interests, most bang for the bucks.

    Then, they get even more spending, not based on more objective economic "bang for the buck" analysis, but on some political scoring play....

    You forgot no-bid DoD contracts, the outsourcing of our military.

    ;)

    Reply to: GDP 5.7% in Q4 2009   14 years 9 months ago
    EPer:
  • I view spending trillions on 2 wars as wasteful. Spending money on weapons systems that are ineffective and redundant is wasteful.

    Others would view spending money on food stamps as wasteful - I do not. Or spending money on education as wasteful - I do not. As for taxes, lower taxes ALL the time is as Bush I said is "voo doo economics"

    One thing people often fail to realize is that lower taxes mantra has had a trickle down effect. Lower taxes means less revenue and usually means spending cuts in social programs such as education. So this means less money going to states from federal government which means less money going to cities. Then consider this - Lower tax mantra is also fervent at state and municipal levels. So that means even less revenue as well and more cuts. But wait, what happens if economy tanks? Oh, no, that means we have to raise taxes to cover expenses and fill the whole left from lack of federal funds. At state and municipal levels there is little to no waste left and even more cuts means cutting into bone.

    The biggest fallacy of the "Lower tax is always the answer crowd" (read: neo-liberal) is that tax cuts pay for themselves or the don't cost money - WRONG. Tax cuts do cost money just look at federal deficits compiled under Reagan, Bush I (until he raised taxes), and Bush II.

    My point is two fold: 1) "Lower tax is always the answer" mantra is fiscally irresponsible and 2) tax policy should be used more as a counter cyclical measure than anything else.

    RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.

    Reply to: GDP 5.7% in Q4 2009   14 years 9 months ago

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