Banking Establishment Ripoff Exposed in MSM

Thinking Americans know the sordid story:

Since the financial crisis, Bank profits are UP 136%... But Bank lending is down 9%.

Perhaps a more interesting story is that this is featured in a mainstream media article; Time Magazine, September 26, 2011, "After Three Years and Trillions of Dollars, Our Banks Still Don't Work."

I could take issue with the phrase "our banks;" yes, we should "own" them having bailed them out, but frankly, instead of we owning the banks, the banks turned the US Treasury and Federal Reserve into lending institutions for the benefit of the banks and the people reaping profits from those corporations.

But, don't let me tarnish the good news with side issues. Time Magazine deserves credit where it is due.

We Didn't See it Coming

For Some reason, my comments on Paul Krugman's blog don't seem to stick. Below is my comment on his post entitled: How We Failed

The "We didn't see it coming" thing drives me crazy. My experience in seeing it [the bubble burst] coming is reflected in three clear memories.

First, The Great Unraveling by... some economist from NJ, pretty much had me change my ARM to a fixed rate mortgage a couple years before the bust.

Second, people with good jobs in my solid middle class neighborhood were saying, "If I had to buy my [modest row] house today, I couldn't afford it." I remember exactly where I was, walking my dog.

Third, it was going to by systemic: "Systemic Risk: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Role of OFEHO," February, 2003, which lost Armamndo Falcon his job. http://www.ofheo.gov/Media/Archive/docs/reports/sysrisk.pdf

Israel's Spring

Israel is a country where a tiny minority of families and individuals control a hugely disproportionate amount of wealth.

Last Saturday [Aug 6], hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets of a Middle Eastern city.

Demanding change, they were fed up with the ruling elite and said their government was no longer listening to its people.

Sound familiar? The protests have continued and have grown.


Source: BBC Israel's 'social protests' rattle Netanyahu government Aug, 12, 2011.

Will the US have its own version? If policy makers continue on their same path we will. An early test will be October 6, 2011 in Washington, DC.

Oct. 6
14th & Pennsylvania, Ave., NW
12 Noon

USUncut Tag Line:
Human Need, Not Corporate Greed. This is an occupation.

More on Oct. 6 DC Day 1 of the US Spring

Democracy-building in Maryland

Taking Back the Budget Debate

A TOWN HALL MEETING

Tues., Sept. 20, 7:30 p.m.
Silver Spring Civic Center
One Veterans’ Place (Fenton & Ellsworth)
Silver Spring

Turn your anger and outrage over the budget deal into ACTION!

Speakers: Rep. Donna Edwards, State Senator Roger Manno, economist Heather Boushey, IPS Fellow Karen Dolan
Master of Ceremonies: The NAACP’s Elbridge James
Music: Singer/songwriter Christina Van Norman

You will have the opportunity to ask your questions and then to help us organize for real, progressive solutions.

Here’s our action agenda:

* Put America back to work
* Institute a fair tax system
* Protect Americans’ health and save the environment
* Preserve Social Security
* Bring all the troops and military contractors home

Don’t miss this important event--invite all your friends!

Our Money . . . Our Voices . . . Our Budget Priorities

Sponsored by Fund Our Communities, Bring the War Dollars Home
A Maryland Coalition
www.OurFunds.org

The Game in a Nutshell

Bailouts put the private debts onto the public (tax payer) balance sheet. Now Congress and the White House are poised to finish the job by putting that debt onto the backs of America's most vulnerable people.

Who are the Tea Party Rank and File?

Someone actually has data!

Beginning in 2006 we interviewed a representative sample of 3,000 Americans as part of our continuing research into national political attitudes, and we returned to interview many of the same people again this summer. As a result, we can look at what people told us, long before there was a Tea Party, to predict who would become a Tea Party supporter five years later.

They're not the mass media portrays them to be:

... while the public image of the Tea Party focuses on a desire to shrink government, concern over big government is hardly the only or even the most important predictor of Tea Party support among voters.

To that leads to the obvious question:

So what do Tea Partiers have in common? They are overwhelmingly white, but even compared to other white Republicans, they had a low regard for immigrants and blacks long before Barack Obama was president, and they still do.

What else do they have in common?

• Number 1 predictor is being Republican.
• Social conservatives, who oppose abortion, for example.
• Desire to see religion play a prominent role in politics.
• Small Government is low on the list.

Source: David E. Campbell, an associate professor of political science at Notre Dame, and Robert D. Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard. Crashing the Tea Party.

Talking Point: US Government Debt and Jobs

Job, Jobs, Where are the Jobs?

The talking point is simple. Average Americans are not spending money, and the economy is stalled, because they don't have much money. It's no use giving tax breaks and low interest rates to product manufacturers, because the people who would normally buy their products don't have money. People need jobs.

It is debatable whether the American public is responsible for 70% of domestic spending on goods and services, but by sheer number their spending potential is huge. They might make up 70% of domestic spending if they had money to spend, but they don't have good jobs.

Why not? Government policies over the past several decades, supply-side (trickle-down) tax policies and corporate globalization policies, have created a record wealth gap. A study by three Citigroup analysts indicates that the top 1% of Americans earn as much annual income as the bottom 60% and the top 1% possess as much wealth as the bottom 90% of Americans. The analysts concluded “economic growth [in the US] is powered by and largely consumed by the wealthy few.” [1] This is borne out by recent statistics showing that growth in domestic product sales have declined at discount stores and have grown in high-end stores and luxury products.

The Solution:

The government needs to set policies to put money in the pockets of average Americans, and I'm not talking about a $600 check; it needs to be tens of thousands per year, which simply put means temporarily creating jobs. The money for these jobs needs to come from the places that it is being hoarded: The richest 1% of Americans and transnational corporations who have benefited greatly from government policies over the past few decades.

After people have had government-sponsored jobs for several years, they will have the money to buy more products and services they need. This will create a market for private sector products and, in turn, support more jobs in the private sector. Eventually, the government can get out of business of job creation.

And yes, these jobs will require more government revenue in the near-term, but will also generate new revenues. In the long run, we'll be more likely able to pay down the US Government debt.

Agree? Let policy makers know:

• Contact the Broadcast Media
• Contact the US Senate
• Contact the House of Representatives

Sources:

1. Can the Middle Class be Saved? Atlantic Monthly, September, 2011.