Fish in a barrel

The finding of articles that support my theory that the position of CEO is attractive to morally insane people (or psychopathic personalities) is a job that is all too easy. Here, though, is an article which practically begs the interpretation:

Massey Energy's Blankenship: No shame, but plenty of blame

This is a man that lets no evil outcome deter his purpose or actions. He refuses to take responsibility for his actions, and not only fails to pity those his actions have killed, he manages to feel sorry for himself to boot.

Not news

The tax-cuts passed by president Bush did not have a stimulative effect on the economy.

Spending American greatness for a tax cut is cheap.

The urgency of combating global warming is in direct disproportion to political activity, while being in direct proportion to carbon-fuel subsidies.

Our all-volunteer armed forces can no longer operate without the use of mercenaries (thugs).

Death panels have been operating inside for-profit insurance companies for years. They call their sentences "recission".

Sarah Palin lies a lot, is mean-spirited, and not good at governing.

Fox is to news as Glenn Beck is to a newscaster.

Obama's poll numbers explained

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll this week found that nearly 6 in 10 Americans believe the country is on the wrong track and a majority disapproves of President Obama’s handling of the economy. Nearly two-thirds expect the economy to get worse still.

Source

Unsurprisingly, turning the treasury over to the reprobates that engineered the crisis is bad economics and bad politics.

Unsurprisingly, trading the support of Democrats to court Republicans gains neither crucial votes nor enthusiastic supporters.

A president should not put up with a team that achieves such ignoble results.

Obama's poll numbers explained

Voting is primarily an emotional decision for voters, and nothing highlights this like a poll which finds...

"In numerous polls, the public has voiced their displeasure at the much maligned bank bailout, but most don't know which president signed the controversial act into law. Only a third of Americans (34%) correctly say the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was enacted by the Bush administration"

Source

People are angry and they know what for, but not whom to blame.

President Obama hasn't done much to reverse this public perception, making him a far worse politician than I thought.

Obama's poll numbers explained...

I am always on the lookout for quotes that illustrate why the poll numbers for president Obama are so low. I think this one by Brent Budowski nails it:

Voters pray for action, but all they hear is self-praise from those who don’t listen, and all they see is vanity and self-indulgence from those who don’t care.

Source

Obama's poll numbers explained

Robert Reich writes recently...

Average Americans are hurting. But their pain isn’t coming from government. It’s coming from an economy whose benefits are concentrating ever more at the top, whose giant corporations are controlling ever more of our democratic process, and whose costs and risks are becoming ever more burdensome for the middle class and the poor. Public schools, parks, and libraries are closing or reducing hours and staff. Median hourly wages are dropping. Unemployment is at levels not seen in decades; long-term joblessness hasn’t been this bad since the 1940s. Social safety nets — unemployment insurance, Social Security, and Medicare — are endangered.

Yet corporate profits are reaching unprecedented levels, and the richest Americans — CEOs, other top corporate executives, investment bankers, and hedge-fund managers — are raking in as much or more than before the Great Recession.

Source

I contend that the movement of money from middle-class Americans to rich Americans was facilitated by politicians every step of the way.

I also contend that the Clinton administration did improve the lot of the middle class and that fact explains his popularity and Obama's unpopularity.

We voters wanted real change not spare change.

More right-wing violence

Here is yet another example of a violent gun-toting white guy spewing right-wing ideology:

Raymond Peake

I wonder if a little fox was whispering in his ears?

The ties that bind

What unites Byron Williams (the man who loaded up his truck with guns in order to shoot up a non-profit organization) with the Pentagon shooter, the Holocaust Museum gunman, the pilot who flew his plane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas, and the Pittsburgh cop-killer?

Right-wing ideology that's what.

No you can't

I'm all for getting illegal immigrants out of the country, and I'm doubly for getting criminal-minded illegal immigrants out. My support stops with measures that are cruel or treats law-abiding citizens as criminals.

So, I oppose the Arizona law for being hard on citizens, not because it is hard on immigrants. Those people are here illegally, eroding wages, and should be deported. I'm also in favor of jailing the businesses that hire them.

Unlike the folks at Huffington Post, I cotton to this new federal approach which screens fingerprints collected as people are arrested. You can read about it here:

Extra-criminal behavior

Why should we welcome someone that is here illegally and has been arrested on top of it? What's in it for us?

Obama's poll numbers explained

Despite frantic Tea Party exhalations, objective measures say that the Obama administration is tougher on illegal immigration than George W. Bush. For instance...

"The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency expects to deport about 400,000 people this fiscal year, nearly 10 percent above the Bush administration's 2008 total and 25 percent more than were deported in 2007."


Source

While the Tea Party continues to disparage president Obama anyway, he is engaging himself in activities which annoy his base.

Do democrats in Washington spend all their time cooking up schemes that are self-defeating?

Too Big to Fail

Robert Monks discusses the effectiveness of the new financial regulations with respect to "Too Big to Fail".



Once again president Obama seems to think he can sell a weak bill that is primarily a concession as "sweeping" reform. Once again he uncle tom'd his base without a spirited defense of their values.

Quick Krugman

"The only problem Republicans ever had with George W. Bush was his low approval rating."

- Paul Krugman -

Source

Say it plain

Sometimes, if you say a thing plainly it is easier to understand. In Afghanistan we hear the following from the Pentagon:

If we are not successful in Afghanistan it means we need more troops.
If we are successful it means we need to stay indefinitely.

Is it patriotic to defend America to the point it can no longer pay for schools?

Is the Fed playing Obama for a sucker?

The more I see experienced economists like Robert Reich (i.e. here), and Paul Krugman (i.e. here), raising alarm bells over the economy in conjunction with inaction by "The Fed", the more I find myself wondering if "The Fed" is deliberately putting the brakes on the economy.

Why would that be?

Perhaps president Obama is less in-league with Wall Street than I imagine and more easily duped than I imagine.

Maybe, even now, he believes the old Canard about rising tides lifting all boats?

If this is the case Obama might regret continually snubbing his base and courting the imaginary middle. By the time he turns around he may find himself alone.

Wondering...

What banks seem to be doing at the moment is taking advantage of low interest rates set by the fed to buy Treasury bonds. So, they get money for next-to-nothing and a safe return on their investment.

But, I've been wondering, could we be setting up a Treasury bond bubble?

Should taxpayer money be used to enrich a finance industry that doesn't lend?

It's a good gig, but how can it last?

Obama's poll numbers explained

"71% say that they don't care what economists were saying, that we're still in a recession"

Source

Obama's poll numbers explained

When Wall Street wants money it gets bipartisan support, lightning quick action, and no constraints.

When those unemployed as a result of Wall Street's actions want assistance, Blue Dogs have tin ears.

Obama's poll numbers explained

When the GOP is in the majority, they get their way. When the GOP is in the minority, they get their way.

Little Cat Feet

Both the democratic and republican parties have abandoned their historical agendas in order to promote corporate interests. Historically the usurpation of government by corporate power is known as Fascism, and it looks a lot like the BP spill.

One mitigating factor of corporate power is populist power, or more properly, democratic power. When the right of the People to rule is not a word on a page, or a blog, but a reality, then there is pushback against abuses of corporate power.

Instead we get treated to sad sycophantic displays of politicians apologizing to BP for being asked to take responsibility for its actions.

Instead we get a president that claims to respect the rule of law clutching undemocratic powers to his chest.

Instead we get bailouts for bank-robbers, rather than jail sentences.

To understand this trend a little better, you might wish to read a new article by Jim Hightower:

Reclaim populism

Chicago

Chicago-style economics promotes class warfare in such a way that adherents feel virtuous about plundering. It seems to have finally succeeded to the point where "consumers" (citizens) have lost their "confidence" (money).

It is obvious that increasing "confidence" means putting money in "consumers" pockets, or else finding different "consumers". Because of this, I expect America's next great export to China shall be Chicago-style economics.

America shall become another day older and deeper in debt.