"Obama has spent years denigrating revolving-door lobbyists and 'fat cats' from Wall Street, yet he has populated his administration with them. By all accounts, Jack Lew is a serious, smart hard worker. But his resume is everything Barack Obama ran against." Continue reading →
"Into whose pockets does this gargantuan parasitic skim flow? Hint: not the lower 90% of the American populace. The perfection of the Neoliberal order is a parasitic financial sector protected by the Central Bank and State. That is the U.S. Status Quo in a nutshell." Continue reading →
"Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who oversees stakes in some of the largest U.S. banks, said the nation’s lenders have rebuilt capital to the point where they no longer pose a threat to the economy. Buffett’s firm has investments in at least four of the seven biggest U.S. lenders by assets, including a stake of more than $14 billion in San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), $5 billion in Bank of America and warrants that allow it to buy $5 billion of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shares. Berkshire also has a holding in U.S. Bancorp." Continue reading →
"It was all a lie – one of the biggest and most elaborate falsehoods ever sold to the American people. We were told that the taxpayer was stepping in – only temporarily, mind you – to prop up the economy and save the world from financial catastrophe. What we actually ended up doing was the exact opposite: committing American taxpayers to permanent, blind support of an ungovernable, unregulatable, hyperconcentrated new financial system that exacerbates the greed and inequality that caused the crash, and forces Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup to increase risk rather than reduce it." Continue reading →
"Here are the most significant challenges we must address to put our federal fiscal house in order. Each includes a brief description. Click on the link that follows for more discussion of the particular challenge, including examples and stories from my experience as well as other recommended references." Continue reading →
"Congress has voted to keep intact an independent office that polices the behavior of House members. Lawmakers approved the Office of Congressional Ethics as part of a package of rules that will govern the new Congress, which convened Thursday. The terms of four of the six members of the office's board were set to expire this week — raising concerns among congressional watchdogs that the office would lose its investigative powers. The new rules drop term limits for board members, allowing top congressional leaders to reappoint current members." Continue reading →
"In an official statement published on the group’s website, the current leader of Al Qaeda said that Congress’s conduct during the so-called 'fiscal-cliff' showdown convinced the terrorists that they had been outdone. Mr. al-Zawhiri said that the idea of holding the entire nation hostage with a clock ticking down to the end of the year 'is completely insane and worthy of a Bond villain.' 'As terrorists, every now and then you have to step back and admire when someone else has beaten you at your own game,' he said. 'This is one of those times.'" Continue reading →
"The 'fiscal cliff' legislation passed this week included $76 billion in special-interest tax credits for the likes of GE, Hollywood and even Captain Morgan. But these subsidies weren't the fruit of eleventh-hour lobbying conducted on the cliff's edge. The Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012 was copied and pasted into the fiscal cliff legislation, yielding a victory for biotech companies, wind-turbine-makers, biodiesel producers, film studios -- and their lobbyists. So, if you're wondering how algae subsidies became part of a must-pass package to avert the dreaded fiscal cliff, credit the Biotechnology Industry Organization's lobbying last summer." Continue reading →
"WSJ has the stats on income categories and wealth categories for Americans." Continue reading →
"Your paycheck will most decidedly go down because the bill that just worked its way through Congress failed to extend the 2% payroll tax break. But it is not the same for friends of Obama. I already pointed out that Hollywood will get a tax break, but so will Warren Buffett. Nick Badalamenti emails to point out that the bill has a tax break for railroads in it. In February 2012, Bloomberg reported that in addition to spending billions on core railroad projects, 'Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. plans to boost [other] capital spending at its railroad.'" Continue reading →