Pres. Obama and Congress have now turned to focus on passing financial reforms that are long overdue. Fox News and the Republicans tried trotting out the same Goebbels/Rove playbook on this one but it’s really hard to convince people that corporations are the victim when they are being fired and foreclosed on by them and have had their pensions and/or nest eggs stolen by them through fraud.
So, faced with a majority of Americans supporting Obama and the Dems on this, after attacking the Dems of being enemies of democracy by passing HCR despite the poll numbers against it, the Repubs naturally first chose to bathe in hypocrisy like an elephant taking a mud bath and kept right on espousing their latest Luntz talking point (see: “lie”).
However, once they let the poll numbers settle in on them, they must’ve realized that being so open about defending corporations’ right to dominate and destroy our economy and democracy, might not be the ideal campaign platform to attract a majority of Americans.
So, even if their intent is to slyly sabotage financial reform from the inside by pretending they want to work with Dems on it, the Republicans also claim they want financial reform.
What is deafening though is the silence from the Teabaggers. Funny, ain’t it that their defense of their apparent racism and hatred towards Pres. Obama has been that they are only concerned about financial issues and oppose him so angrily for that reason?
Uh-huh.
Anyone hear about any Teabaggers marching for, let alone supporting Obama on financial reforms? Wonder why that is? It just seems so black and white.
Though AZ’s descent into 1900’s racist laws (now we know that “We want our country back!” literally means that) has reignited immigration reform, there does seem to be a coalescing of people, parties and organizations around reigning in corporations.
The oligarchy that has replaced our democracy in this nation was dealt a setback with the election of Obama and the consensus in this nation after the economic crash against their inalienable right to dominate our democracy, economy and society.
However, in light of the SCOTUS ruling allowing them to drown out the voices and interests of The People with unlimited tsunamis of money and as we saw in HCR and are seeing in financial reform, their ownership of one political party and many in the other party, a time of reckoning needs to come.
This is a civil rights issue, a constitutional crisis, an issue of economic justice and viability for this nation, an issue of the salvation or demise of American democracy and even the right to the pursuit of happiness.
Corporations are not democratic, they do not operate as democracies, they do not respect democracy nor do they have any financial interest in sustaining a democracy. They happily deal with and in some cases prefer to set up operations in countries with the most oppressive societies and tyrannical leadership.
Corporations may have succeeded in defining themselves legally as “people” but since they currently have only one legal responsibility as a “person” that negates all others, to generate profits to their shareholders, they are de facto sociopaths.
And yet, these sociopaths have the greatest power (even more in light of the SCOTUS ruling) in our democracy. So what would be the logical direction in which corporations would want to steer this nation?
Perhaps towards a society where they control the government and the people don’t, wages and the standard of living are low so their expenses for labor are low, government services and entitlements for citizens are reduced or eliminated so there is more money to be drained from our government by them.
Maybe even a country with a citizenry that’s overweight, under-educated, prescription drug dependent, distracted by entertainment and continuously terrorized, all conditioning them into a state of virtual impotence…but thank goodness there’s an array of prescription medicines for that.
Corporations don’t even support capitalism. They base themselves offshore to avoid paying taxes and supporting America’s troops, education, infrastructure, etc. For example, Exxon earned $45.2 BILLION in pre-tax income…and paid $0 in U.S. Income taxes.
How else do corporations show their spite for capitalism? They smash unions (collective bargaining is a historic component of American capitalism), they game the financial market to cheat investors and sabotage America’s long term economy and as we’re all familiar with, they believe that losses should not be suffered by them but in a twisted view of capitalism, should be paid off by the helpless taxpayers who they just victimized.
As potential evidence that the next major national campaign for civil rights may be the fight against corporate power, here are a some excerpts from MoveOn.org’s latest email blast (from Justin Ruben), apparently making this a new sustained battle:
Dear MoveOn member,
This is an unusual email, to ask for your help in launching what may be MoveOn’s most important campaign ever.
…after consulting with thousands of MoveOn members, we’ve made a decision: to launch a massive campaign to fix our democracy and put We the People back in charge.It’s a hugely ambitious idea. It won’t be done this year, or next, though I think we can make real progress quickly.
The first step is to bring together millions of people who share our frustration with business as usual in Washington. Change this big will require an honest-to-God people’s movement, and this is the right moment for it. There is overwhelming voter anger right now, and the number of people who believe that lobbyists and special interests hold sway is literally without precedent.
So we’re also going draw up a bold blueprint for renewing our democracy: a sweeping set of new rules to limit the influence of big money, corporations and lobbyists.
This will face enormous opposition. And take years. But it’s the only way we’ll ever build the America we all know is possible, with real freedom, opportunity, and shared prosperity.
Though the RW has said this about Gay Marriage, Terri Schiavo and keeping the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, this is genuinely a battle for the future of America’s soul, its future and its democracy.
What we all do : BOYCOTT –
Boycott Arizona (as many already are, per Huff’s main) – & boycott large corporation : banks, unfair retailers etc.
I boycotted HomeDepot last year, forever, when news broke of 250,000 layoffs, immediately followed by the CEO of Home Depot taking off on a fancy jet for a 3-week vacation – ruining the lives of 250,000 families & ……going off to enjoy Mai Tais ??
Boycott is what we can all do NOW –
The thing that puzzles me most about teabaggers is why they’re not angry with the corporations — why they blame everything on the government.
My brother was ranting about all his company expenses the other day…UI insurance, SS insurance, equipment insurance, liability insurance….at some point I realized by far his biggest expenses were to insurance companies, not to the government (he runs a small construction company). But this otherwise intelligent man has been so stupefied by O’Reilly/Hannity, he has somehow got all his “other” expenses listed under the “resent government” column. Amazing.
It’s all self rationalizing for Republicans. He probably blames the need for all this insurance on government like they blame the high cost of healthcare on malpractice law suits when those costs are relatively tiny. I think like 80% of premiums doctors pay on malpractice goes to lawyers and profits, not jury rewards.
President Obama’s full statement after Republicans say no again.
Excellent! He and the Dems in Congress need to keep hammering away on the GOP about this, knock the viability of them taking over government right off the table for voters.
KQ, Obama is handling this issue very well. I feel pretty confident that financial reform will pass soon. I agree with others here who say the Reptilians are losing this big time.
AdLib, did you not write about Moyers going out with a Bank?
You do know that one of Obama’s biggest contributors was Goldman-Sachs?
Check out this site – http://politifact.com/ – if you haven’t already.
I love Obama, but he has to play a game, and one must ask themselves why so many of his players are Wall Street?
I voted for Obama and will vote for him again, but even I admit that Obama caters to the elite.
We are so screwed and with the SCOTUS, we are really screwed.
It’s a reality that we must all face.
No matter how much we believe that Obama and Democrats are for the working man, they always will bow to Wall Street.
So when the teabaggers call for a revolt, and I hate them just as much if not more, but I agree with them that we need a revolution, because corporations are ruling the world.
I just don’t know how we join together to do that.
Maybe Rome must burn first, but eventually we will unite.
It was a play on words, on “going out with a bang”. Moyers show was actually hosting the authors of a book about how corporations and the banks have turned our democracy into an oligarchy. They also did a great job in explaining how the Goldman Sachs fraud was done.
Does Obama cater to the elite? I wouldn’t go that far, I would say that he has brought them to the table and works with them as well as for those who elected him. I would prefer he works only for we the people but I wouldn’t say that he always places corporate interests above the people’s.
I have to disagree with you that Obama is bowing to Wall Street on this reform. Why is WS trying so hard to kill this legislation if it’s good for them?
Those who are legitimate about their opposition to corporations controlling our countries and the world should stand together but as the recent poll of the Tebaggers shows, they are not among such people.
As I asked in my article, have you heard of one protest outside a bank or corporation by teabaggers? One word of agreement with this Financial reform bill? In fact, one peep out of them on this at all?
The teabaggers are a fraud. They are not seeking a revolution to put the country back in the hands of the people, they are a racist Republican front group trying to put the country back into the hands of Republicans, the wealthy, banks and corporations.
So, if we really want to focus on joining hands on stopping corporations, reaching out to those frauds would be a waste of time.
Good points Adlib.
The point is there is room in the Democratic party to have them fight for the people. Republicans will never ever fight for the people.
I also don’t think it takes a revolution. It takes building on one more left leaning achievement after another and holding power for a block of time. Repugs whole strategy is to feed of the apathy and impatience of most Americans who do lean left. That’s how Repugs moved this country so far to the right.
Very well said, KQ. In a few words, you instill reason and a realistic, optimistic path for success.
Cool!
Javaz all interests donate to the party they think is going to be in power before elections. It’s much more important to see who Wall Street is giving to now while legislation is being written and that’s the Republicans.
Face it if Republicans were in charge they would deregulate Wall Street more. At least Dems try to do something. Your blanket statement does not reflect reality.
Great piece adlib and very timely.
The GOP and Ben Nelson voted as a block to block bringing the financial regulation bill to the floor. Every American should remember this vote because above all it shows that one party will never be for the people.
President Obama had some harsh comments for the party of no.
Thanks KQ!
I think the Dems need a full court media press to pummel the GOP over protecting Wall Street by trying to kill a vote. Now is the time to invest a lot of the advertising to cement that reality into the public’s minds.
Republicans even admit the stalling is over derivatives trading. They are trying to make a Warren Buffett rule to grandfather derivatives. I think even the public will see through this crap.
And I think the concept of fighting for less regulation on Wall Street is big trouble for them.
If I was advising the Dems, I would urge them to stand tough, let the GOP drag it out until the public gets really pissed off at the GOP and they fold to accept tough laws.
This could be the straw that breaks the GOP’s back on being The Party of No. As upset as people are with everything else, if the Dems crystallize for the public that the GOP only care about Wall Street and the wealthy getting what they want, November could be a lot more disappointing for them than the Dems.
It’s absolutely backed by the vast majority of Americans so Dems can stand firm whereas the healthcare legislation was a heavy lift. Unlike HCR the bill will also get stronger on the floor not weaker because it was the Dems that needed to reach agreement before.
I think the Senate is safe now but the House is still up in the air. The shame is the most progressive body will be the ones blamed for not being progressive enough by Dems sitting on their hands in the midterms.
In essence Pelosi will be fired for passing the public option and climate change bill in her house. It does not make sense does it?
And as we already know, corporations will soon be claiming rights to time.
Right now, I can see it’s a Nabisco past Victoria’s Secret. Time for Kraft.
I’ve got a quarter to Spam.
Just saw this in our news widget:
First rate, AdLib! Napolean’s ultimate put down of arch nemesis Britain was to call it a “nation of shopkeepers”. We’re on our way to becoming a nation of Willy Lomans, and that’s a lot worse.
Thanks WTS!
And all the Willys will be left to sell is McDonalds Value meals.
Cher – This wouldn’t fit in the small reply box. The first part of Idiocracy:
I’ll say it again. That movie was stupidly brilliant.
Of all the movies that predict future society “Idiocrisy” could be the most accurate.
AdLib, it is not so much comedy, as prophesy! And funny too!
In my house, instead of saying something is stupid, we just say “electrolytes.” (But as you know from previous posts, we tend to name other bodily functions politically too.)
AdLib – this is spectacular analysis, thank you! To all of us, it is clear that remedies for the past 34 years of erosion of both capitalism and democracy will take time. But I read with dismay that we may lose control of the House and that people who voted for both Dems and Obama now have “more confidence” in the Republicans!
What can we do to stop this insanity? I liken it to embrace of the arsonist who burned down your house because the fire deparment is having a hard time putting out the gasoline-soaked fire. “Support the Arsonists! Vote Republican!”
I no longer am content to say we get the democracy we deserve because we do NOT deserve another siege from the Reeps! Whatever can be done to make people see sense, and, precisely, where IS the source of the problem? HuffPo cited a Virginia teacher who is still teaching because of the federal help – and has lost confidence in the Dems who kept her employed. She is going to vote for the Republicans. What?????
Is this all about message? Have we lost the battle there? I simply don’t understand the loss of confidence in the party that has rapidly undone so much of the harm that the Reeps did over the last three decades. I DO understand that Dems from Carter to Clinto and members of Congress bear some of the blame, but the REAL disaster came with the Reeps 2000-2008 – why would any working person vote for them?
I am so depressed by this turn of events because the things you have written seem to me to be self-evident but are not. Joe the Plumber is met by my postman who calls himself “a recovering Democrat” and blames unions for ruining CA. When I pointed out to him that Californians blame HIM, a union member, for ruining the post office, he bristled. I noted that we’re all pointing fingers at each other rather than at the policies and practices of corporations and the last 8 (if not longer) years. He could not “hear” me.
What can we do? It’s just not clear at all. How can we live with another incarnation of Reeps running and ruining America?
And who is the premier corporate candidate? Palin, Inc.
Palin is more of a pawn than Bush was and would be the perfect corporate delivery system if she wasn’t so obviously shallow.
Even most Teabaggers who’ve been polled say they don’t want her as president. They just like that she gets so much in the press attacking Obama and the Dems, that’s the only role they want her in.
Minister of Propaganda.
A huge problem is the binary thinking that is programmed into the lesser-informed people.
If I’m happy with most things right now, support the people in office. If I’m not, vote for the other party.
There is no critical thinking or reason. No long term thinking. This is knee-jerk, childish, simple-minded thinking passing for political opinion.
Many Americans, Dem and Repub, are convicted in their beliefs…even though many more Repubs are convicted in court for them too.
Many so-called Independents though have little in terms of accurate information and principles and will gladly support a candidate tomorrow who stands for overturning everything the last candidate they voted for supported.
They are children and think like children. “I want to feel good now, I don’t want long term planning! I’m mad now and want to throw a tantrum to let everyone know how mad I am! Scott Brown for Senator!!!”
I would suggest that polls in April have absolutely no meaning. It does seem like the economy may be recovering, if people are getting more jobs and feeling less worried about the economy in November, as they may, then the current polls will prove to be totally worthless.
It is far easier and logical for the arsonist to watch the fire he caused and rally the angry mob against the firemen for not putting it out fast enough…that way, the angry mob isn’t focused on them as the perps.
What you seem dismayed about is the gullibility and ignorance of far too many to swallow such BS without a second thought. I agree, it is dismaying that so many people are not equipped with reason.
That’s why I think it’s important for informed and reasoned people to work hard to get their voices out there into those people’s heads that are only used as echo chambers.
It’s not fair that those who are honest and support what’s best for the majority in this nation have to fight to get people to support their own interests. However, that is the way things are and we can either participate or concede.
And I know, many here just don’t do “concede”.
Adlib
Cher, very glad you mentioned this, I heard someone else addressing the true nature of the Boston Tea Party last week and thought, “This should be on The Planet!”.
It was anti-corporate, as you describe. Anti-monopoly. Parallels the situation we now have with banks and corporations.
And not at all what today’s Teabaggers whine about (to hide that they are just radical, racist Repubs), deficits, HCR and taxes.
“Taxation without representation” referred to a lack of power and democracy back then. The only comparable dynamic today is the corporate vs. people dynamic.
Our taxes are taken by them in part by the politicians they put in office and we have little to say about it.
At least, that’s how it has been. Maybe not so much in the current atmosphere.
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BT! That is the perfect scene– I just mentioned that movie in my comment above!
Love your hair.
Do you mean the new avatar? That hair was the closest choice, Kalima– but I cannot see the new avatar on my computer!!
Yes and that is such a shame. Going to sleep for the 4th time tonight, sending you fairy dust and twinkly things, the hair looks great.
Thank you!!– For the fairy dust (and the hair.)
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HEH! Me too. The thing that amazes me is how corporate Hollywood can produce and distribute such an anti-corporate message. That tells be either, A, they are so sociopathic that they do anything that makes $$ or B, they know nothing can hurt them.
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Especially back then, corporate Hollywood needed the creative people (liberals) to make the movies they could profit from.
In a way, how different is that from Fox having Family Guy on its network, attacking McCain/Palin in the middle of an election by showing their campaign pin on a Nazi.
For the greedy, liberal money is as green as conservative.
At the same time, Fox denied “Idiocracy” from getting a real release and tried to bury its DVD release afterward.
Yep. And it’s got electrolytes!
BT, this is one of the primal scenes in movie history for me, what a fantastic choice!
Paddy Chayefsky was a true visionary in extrapolating out the death of democracy and journalism under the weight of corporatism.
What is sad is that in 1976 when “Network” came out, it was a parody to portray news organizations as entertainment vehicles for greedy corporations, that dispensed with real news for the revenues that could be generated by crass exploitational pandering.
Here in 2010…it is the way things are.
Chayefsky did have the benefit of witnessing first hand this corporatization process as it was occurring to journalism back then. He just observed that the ways of the past, respecting journalism as an end unto itself was dying and thus came this epic project from him.
Now I live in Arizona and I think the truth needs to be told about the short sighted politicians and their Anglo-purity laws.
Politicians here had been trying for decades to woo people to come here to live the “carefree” life. There is even a town called Carefree. But it was seen as a one horse state. The last of the lower 48. The old frontier mentality and the gunfight at OK Corral in Tombstone. Well then Alaska became a state and Arizona was no longer the old frontier. Then the real estate developers hooked up with or became politicians and the race was on. If you build it (cheap houses with cheap Mexican labor) they will come.
Now we are 2 years into the worst recession since 1930-1940. And population growth has slowed. So now the politicians are looking around wondering where did all the illegal Mexicans come from. Duuuuuuuhh. Mexico.
Yeah but they don’t need them now so criminalize being Mexican.
What is interesting, I recently re-read about the history of the criminalization of marijuana and though there was a puritanical aspect to it, one other reason for laws against it was a normal practice of Mexicans to smoke it for relaxation the same way Americans drank alcohol.
There was a big migration of Mexicans into the US at the time and a lot of prejudiced white people wanted to stop it. So, they trumped up stories such as this current rancher one in AZ (there is no proof that a Mexican killed this rancher yet it’s the main rallying cry against Mexicans) and decided that if they made marijuana illegal, that would instantly have the tools to criminalize Mexicans.
What is happening now in AZ has happened before. I hope that this time, those who have learned from history and those who are a bit wiser will expose these racist politicians and those in AZ for who and what they are and use the law of the land to crush their attempts to legalize prejudice.
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BT – I think AZ is unique in this area. Here in Cali, we have our share of racists and haters but they represent a small minority.
And Cali now has a majority population that is not white, non-Hispanic whites make up only 42.3% of the population.
So unless there are a lot of self-hating people in CA, there’s no way that AZ mindset could win out here.
Just finished watching Rachel, you are so spot on it hurts. Not one demo about issues close to the heart, why is that?
It’s because the Baggers are exactly what they were originally portrayed to be. An invention of Fox News and FreedomWorks, which is funded by Corporate and RW Republicans.
It was and is a a fraud that enough real people, who are selfish and racists, were fooled into believing was real and now help populate.
The Tea Party Movement is merely a heavily funded Republican campaign hiding behind economic issues to cloak their real intentions, to undermine and destabilize Obama and Democratic control of Congress.
When Clinton was president, they financed an industry to undermine and destabilize him. This is just the new and improved version.
Thank you and oh God!
I knew they weren’t real, not one issue they shared except about taxes. So tell me, who doesn’t pay taxes?
Exxon doesn’t pay taxes to the U.S. Neither do many billion dollar earners.
They drain the U.S. of money and resources and put nothing back.
They are leaches, they need to be stopped.
As for the whiny Baggers, these liars who claim it’s all about economics and taxes, are the only ones who haven’t a clue that their taxes have gone down under Obama.
So, if they aren’t hating him for real reasons, wonder why they blindly hate this black president?