Robert Oak, an online friend of mine, has a post up….

‘Politics is distasteful…..’

Check it out. It might change your view of a few things….

Anothere take on ‘Outsourcing’…heh…

Yep, I was on the phone to India while getting ‘support’ for my installation of MS Small Business 2007 and you will never, never, believe how I finally got it ‘installed’.

Don’t forget to vote and don’t forget to stay tuned afterwards to track what is being done…

In your name.

The translation of this song, interestingly it’s about separation, is here.

Progressives in Congress show the right way to ‘right the market’.

Dear Democratic Colleague:

The House of Representatives rejected the $700 bailout yesterday. Distinguished economists across the world have stated it would not have solved the problem at hand. However, we can potentially solve this liquidity problem at little cost to the taxpayer. I am proposing that Congress drop the Paulson Plan, and instead pass the No BAILOUTS Act. The No BAILOUTS Act provides an alternative to the Paulson Proposal to address the current credit crunch. Once Congress addresses the liquidity shortfalls in our financial markets, a Democratic Congress can turn to Democratic solutions to address the broader economic crises we face today. Specifically, Congress can work to resolve the housing crisis across the country and pass effective job stimulus, which is the response Main Street America expects and deserves.

While Democrats and Republicans may disagree on the underlying solutions to solve the economic crises we face, the No BAILOUTS Act – a regulatory based proposal – has the potential for significant bipartisan support.

The Paulson Premise Flawed

Simon Johnson, a former chief economist as the International Monetary Fund, stated today in the New York Times of Paulson’s plan, “It’s our view that this package, in a fundamental sense, will not solve the problem.” Other economic analysts noted yesterday that the credit markets around the world were almost entirely dysfunctional even when political leaders and investors assumed that Congress had reached a deal and would easily approve the bailout. There is no reason to believe Paulson’s plan will work.

Alternatives

We have credible alternatives to the Paulson/Bush $700 billion gamble. William Isaac, the chairman of the FDIC during the previous worst financial crisis in the United States during the 1980s, believes Congress can address the current crisis with simple changes to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules. Mr. Isaac points out that while we face serious financial challenges today, many banks are still in good shape. This allows Congress to take swift, uncomplicated steps to ensure the financial markets return to working order. After that, we can work to resolve the housing crisis and pass effective job stimulus.

Today I am offering an alternative to the Wall Street bailout that will correct the capital shortfalls experienced by many financial institutions and help protect the integrity and quality of the securities market. My plan could be implemented promptly meeting the demands of the Bush Administration to act immediately without putting the American taxpayer on the hook for billions of dollars.

No BAILOUTS Act

Bringing Accounting, Increased Liquidity, Oversight and Upholding Taxpayer Security

1) Require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to require an economic value standard to measure the capital of financial institutions.

This bill will require SEC to implement a rule to suspend the application of fair value accounting standards to financial institutions, which marks assets to the market value, no matter the conditions of the market. When no meaningful market exists, as is the current market for mortgage backed securities, this standard requires institutions to value assets at fire-sale prices. This creates a capital shortfall on paper. Using the economic value standard as bank examines have traditionally done will immediately correct the capital shortfalls experienced by many institutions.

2) Require the Securities and Exchange Commission to restricting naked short sells permanently

This bill will require SEC to implement a rule that blocks naked selling, selling a stock short without first borrowing the shares or ensuring the shares can be borrowed. Such practices many times harm the companies represented in the sales and hurt their efforts to raise capital. There is no economic value produced by naked short sales, but significant negative effects.

3) Require the Securities and Exchange Commission to restore the up-tick rule permanently.

This bill will require SEC to implement a rule that blocks short sales without an up-tick in the market. On September 19, 2008, the SEC approved a temporary pause of short selling in financial companies “to protect the integrity and quality of the securities market and strengthen investor confidence.” This rule prevents market crashes brought on by irrational short term market behavior.

4) “Net Worth Certificate Program”

This bill will require FDIC to implement a net worth certificate program. The FDIC would determine banks with short-term capital needs and the ability to financially recover in the foreseeable future. For those entities that qualify, the FDIC should purchase net worth certificates in these institutions. In exchange, these institutions issue promissory notes to repay the FDIC, counting the amount “borrowed” as capital on their balance sheets. This exchange provides short term capital, with not cash outlay. Interest rates on the certificates and the FDIC notes should be identical so no subsidy is necessary.

Participating banks must be subject to strict oversight by the FDIC including oversight of top executive compensation and if necessary the removal of poor management. Financial records and business plans should be subject to scrutiny while participating in the program.

In 1982, Congress approved a program, known as the Net Worth Certificate Program, that allowed banks and thrifts to apply for immediate capital assistance. From 1982 to 1993, banks with total assets of $40 billion participated in the program. The majority of these banks, 75%, required no further assistance beyond the certificate program.

5) Increase the FDIC Insurance limit from $100,000 to $250,000.

The bill will require the FDIC raise its limit to provide depositors confidence that their money is safe and help eliminate runs on banks which are destabilizing to the industry.

Sincerely

Peter DeFazio

Member of Congress

Call your congress person and demand they support this instead of George The Robber and Nancy the Fluffer’s giveaway to the rich. It’s your’s and your grandchildren’s money they want.

Tell them NO!

Do You Ever Wonder Why the Roads in Your Town are Turning into Gravel?

Wonder no more. It’s because ‘some people’ are not paying their fair share of the cost of government. Otherwise known as taxes. I know this story has been in the corporatist press but I thought this post:

Based on IRS records, a recent GAO report indicates that many corporations claimed to owe $0 in U.S. taxes from 1998 – 2005: roughly 28%-53% of large foreign-controlled and 23%-38% of large U.S.-controlled corporations. [The GAO considers a "large" corporation one with at least $250 million in assets or $50 million in gross receipts.] 

From NoQuarter had a lot more detail and so link to it.

There is a growing opportunity for those of us who are economically literate, a tiny minority, to take back the high ground in the never ending debate about taxes, government and what should be done by same. The ‘conservative’ shills who’ve been preaching the Friedman Lunacy for decades are gob-smacked that the ‘trickle down’ theory has at last been proved to be the utter bullshit that it is. There is a desperate air of ‘now what do we do…’  as the third artificial bubble of ‘asset building’, housing, pops following  the dot.com bubble and ‘financialization’ coming from the morons such as Greenspan who’ve been ‘supervising ‘ our economy. As Ol’ Shakespeare opined, ‘The truth will out…’ and now folks are waking up to the realization that while their real income has declined every year since Nixon under the Republican fantasy machine corporations and very wealthy individuals merely extract whatever amounts of cash they need from the U.S. Treasury, that’s us Homer, in the form of  taxes not paid.

This report points a finger at why you, yeah you Homer, ‘can’t’ have healthcare, good schools, well-maintained roads, safe food and on and on…. The next time some low-info fool tells you, ‘Oh, we can’t afford that…’ about some needed social program tell them the following:

‘Of course we can afford that. If corporations and the uber-rich would pay their fair share of taxes instead of bribing Congress to give them a free pass we’d’ have plenty of money to take care of the real, immediate needs of our society.’

And if they start bloviating tell them this:

‘Surely you are not advocating that some, particularly those best able to pay, should be excused from their social obligation to pay their fair share of the costs they helped create are you?’

More on how your are being screwed solely because you are NOT rich in future posts.

Say…Anyone out there really give a fuck? Really……Well here’s one member of your government who does.

What do you care about? Your health? Your family? Your children? How about something that is affecting all those and in a decidedly negative way? Let’s watch the third ranking Democrat in the Senate the Senator from North Dakota Byron Dorgan talk about how your government is doing.

Let’s listen to him talk about the American worker:

The Employee Free Choice Act:

Notice how he points out that the fat corrupt toads who have historically, and continue to do so it would seem, sat in the chamber of ‘The Greatest Deliberative Body in the World….’ had zip to do with helping workers?

Here’s ‘The Money Pit Part I:’

Anyone really think some of that 18 Billion never left the States…or just made a quick round trip to to some selected Solons…18 Billion in cash….no accounting. No wonder Bush can wear $7,000.00 boots, eh? Maybe the continuous, unrestrained voting  for more unaudited, off the books spending is starting to seem a little…er, understandable?

Anyone really think some of that 18 Billion never left the States…or just made a quick round trip to to some selected Solons…18 Billion in cash….no accounting. No wonder Bush can wear $7,000.00 boots, eh?

Let’s wrap this up with the Senator speaking at length on slave labor Immigration.

If any of this got ya going here are some phone numbers:

Madame Speaker of the House the Honorable Nancy Pelosi: (202) 225-0100

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: 202-224-3542

And most importantly call Senator Dorgan here: (202) 224-2551 and thank him for his work. He surely deserves some praise.

Oh..yeah…I almost forgot…..This………………………..

I liked this in particular:

‘…administration and military officials say it’s not that easy to distribute the money. They contend that Iraq’s lack of spending isn’t due to laziness or corruption, but rather Baghdad’s inability to determine where its money is needed most and how to allocate it efficiently.’

In other words they’ve got so much money they can’t figure out what to spend it on first. Thanks Madame Speaker, thanks Harry, thanks especially to ‘The One’ who has voted for every ‘emergency appropriation…’ for Iraq. And they are all, every one ‘….emergency appropriations..’ and not included in the nation’s budget. Budget…hah, what a concept.

Food for thought….

From The California Progress Report we have and excellent post about what we progressives should be doing. Advancing an agenda not a candidate. Here is the opening section:

40th Anniversary of Poor People’s March on Washington is Opportunity for Californians to Act on King’s Dream

By Jenny Oropeza
California State Senator

This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the “Poor People’s Campaign” to address issues of economic justice conceived by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. shortly before his death.

Clik on thru and read the whole thing. As I commented to this post, ‘This what we should be doing as Progressives. That is, putting forth an agenda, a program, not a candidate….’ go on read the whole thing.

Hey! You are in good company. Malcolm…MLK…Bobby, Seale that is, all my heros from my Radical Youth….

Yep, wiretapped from thanks to the ‘SellOut’ Dems and don’t forget, as if

I or any other real progressive would let you, that Senator Barack Obama has

no problems with this.

Yep, it’s all good since he’s gonna be President next and we all know we can trust him.

Right?

Right?

All you followers of The Magic Man are gonna get to find out what it’s like to be on

the ‘eat shit and die’ end of the argument. Sites, which I will not name, which heretofore have been hot beds of Obama support are filled with angry commenters shrieking in rage. Talkin’ about, ‘Sellout…copout…Coward….’ and worst the very, very worst of all, ‘That asshole ain’t gettin’ a dime.’ not one.

Enough, time to get on with fighting for our and our children’s freedom. Obama will fix himself.Good riddance.

Jane, a progressive’s progressive, is responsible for the poster and the pushback agains Fascism

that goes with it. Check it out and take action it seems a good idea to you. I did and you can
right here…………….

Until various issues are sorted out I will not be creating content for the D/L site. I’m not doing this
to sell their ad space especially when it gobbled up our community blog links. Plus the mechanics of
blogging there now are like doing it with a broken leg.

I will make one more stab at it and see if we can’t get things straightened out. Don’t hold your breath.

Cost of Gas as Per Cent of Income Nationwide

                                       clik for bigger image

This is of course heavily depdendent on how far you drive. Wonder what
it will look like at $8.00/gal?

How’s Yer Pocketbook like that ‘Diversity’ We got…

Way back when Edwards was still in the running I used to try and talk about this issue. Nobody cared. It was all about ID politics and the wonderfulness of a woman and a black man running for President. Well, we got that out of the way. Now what?

Are we gonna keep on with our ‘national dialogue about race..’ maybe tack on the word ‘gender’ to that? Before you all start clapping and cheering check this out:

‘But only 7% of US households earn more than $150,000; only 18% earn more than $100,000; more than 50% earn under $50,000 (7). Once you have Democrats who consider people on $200,000 as middle class and in need of tax relief, you don’t need Republicans any more. Clinton and Obama are the emblems of a liberalism which has made its peace with a political ethics that will combat racist and sexist inequalities, while almost ignoring inequalities that stem not from discrimination but from exploitation. The candidates’ death match prominently features charges of racism and sexism.’

That’s from an article by Walter Benn Michaels is professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago you can read here……..

Next time we will be talking about GINI, that’s not a person and ‘she’s’ not gonna be Obama’s Veep, what it is and why you aren’t happy with the way things feel.

48.7 to 35.7…..and beyond $4.00/gallon gasoline……

No issue I’ve discussed lately with my associates who do not follow politics much and to whom the vicious race between Obama and Clinton is just sort of a background murmur. Nothin’ to get excited about that’s for sure since, ‘All politicians are crooks and liars and such. But bring up the fact that….

…gas is over $4.00/gal and folks start talkin’ like they are ready for ‘The Revolution’.

Well…it’s great for me because I can then get these folk’s minds ticking over a little. The actual price of gas is a somewhat complicated issue to understand. Those two numbers in the title of this post? They have something to do with it fer sure…

To learn why they are important and a lot of other incredible stuff about the how oil is priced read:

You better get used to $4 gas

With the knowledge you get from this article you should be able to estimate how much gas should be if you know the price of a barrle of oil.

Economics can be fun!

Well, sorta….