This Is One Reason Why the United States of America is Screwed

Basically, as tons of evidence shows, it's a result of Washington policies that screw over the American masses in order to help the tiny number of people who happen to have stolen the money from the rest of us.

This has been going on for thirty years, and it doesn't help that the so-called Democratic Party is equally enthralled with these criminals.

You have to wonder about the I.Q. level of members of Congress or whether they are simply crooked themselves.

How Did the Crooks Get Away With It?

In my view, the blame starts with a "c" and ends with an "s" and means screwing over the American people:

Watch The Untouchables on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Etc.

It's not acceptable for anybody to take public money and not be held accountable for spending it.

This is little more than legalized theft.
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Speaking of theft, apparently it doesn't exist when it comes to the banksters.
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Many blacks are hard pressed to admit Obama is more of a privatizer of public education than any Republican.

He's gotten away with a lot of shit, as far as I am concerned, when it comes to policy.
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If you are inclined, here is a link to an article reporting that WCSD's Pedro Martinez will have an "online chat" at 3:30 today.

A snip:

Comment From Jim
With the poor economy, how will we attract higher quality teachers to this area?
3:39
Pedro Martinez: It begins with ensuring that every one of our schools has a good working environment, where our teachers feel supported and valued.
3:40
Pedro Martinez: I plan to do a lot of outreach to our feeder universities like UNR, which has a strong College of Education, to try to attract some of their brightest students to some of our highest-need schools.

Oh, my god:

Comment From Martin
Mr. Martinez: Prior to coming here, you were with the Chicago School District, came here to serve under then Superindentent Morrison, then left to become the Deputy Superintendent with the Clark County School District, and then were a finalist for both the position with Washoe County, as well as with the Philadelphia School District. My question is what assurance can you give both this community, and the teachers and staff of the WCSD you will remain for an extended length of time, and not continue to seek other positions? In essence, what is your committment to this community and to the teachers and staff of the WCSD?
3:47
Pedro Martinez: One of the decisions that my family and I made early on was that once I chose to become a superintendent in a community, my trajectory was going to be between a five- and ten-year period.
3:47
Pedro Martinez: My role models-- whether it's Arne Duncan who was in Chicago for seven-plus years before becoming Secretary of Education, or Tom Payzant, who was in Boston for ten-plus years-- showed me that it takes that long to take a district to the next level.

My question and his response:

What do you intend to do to hold administrators more accountable? All I see are "reforms" designed to target teachers, but incompetent or vindictive principals keep their jobs or else are moved to the central office. Nothing is done to improve the workplace environment.
3:50
Pedro Martinez: We are pushing our principals to ensure that we have supportive environments for our teachers. We know that in our community, 95 percent of our teachers are either effective or highly effective, and our job is to make sure that they're supported. This is non-negotiable for me.

3:51
Pedro Martinez: We will deal with the five percent or less-- working with the association which is very supportive of us-- that we take the proper actions on behalf of our children.

I'll believe that when I see it. His answer sounds good, but I ain't hopeful.

He's big on "Common Core," too. He wants kids to be algebra-ready by middle school. Considering most students do not have the cognitive readiness to handle abstract concepts, this is a recipe for failure. But that's okay, for we will simply track the "failures" into special ed programs.

link

Schools are already graduating too many teachers. Where the problem in education lies is not with the teachers but with the idiot administrators.

Nothing will be done to them when they screw up. They just move from one make-work central office job to another.

Obama Is a Tool of Wall Street

That's why he won't put the banksters in jail:

News, Etc.

The Feds are still using "our" money to bail out Wall Street crooks.
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The Obama Administration continues to support right-wing propaganda disguised as "talk radio" or television "news" by gutting the Fairness Doctrine.

It is hardly "outdated" but is no use to the plutocrats who wish to brainwash people further.
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It appears would-be students are finally waking up to the scam that is for-profit colleges and universities.

Enrollment is plummeting.
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As long as he thinks teachers and their unions have nowhere to go, he couldn't give a shit less whether or not they like his neoliberal, privatization policies destroying education in this country.

We need a different candidate--a Democrat.
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If you want to know why Congress just doesn't give a shit about people, take a look at the "top 50" richest members.

It takes a net worth of six million dollars to make the list.
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Obituary of note: Famed rock 'n' roll lyricists Jerry Leiber, who with partner Mike Stoller penned some of Elvis Presley's biggest hits as well as many for other artists, has died at the age of 78.

The cause was cardio-pulmonary failure.

From the obit:

The team of Leiber and Stoller was formed in 1950, when Mr. Leiber was still a student at Fairfax High in Los Angeles and Mr. Stoller, a fellow rhythm-and-blues fanatic, was a freshman at Los Angeles City College. With Mr. Leiber contributing catchy, street-savvy lyrics and Mr. Stoller, a pianist, composing infectious, bluesy tunes, they set about writing songs with black singers and groups in mind.

In 1952, they wrote “Hound Dog” for the blues singer Big Mama Thornton. The song became an enormous hit for Elvis Presley in 1956 and made Leiber and Stoller the hottest songwriting team in rock ’n’ roll. They later wrote “Jailhouse Rock,” “Loving You,” “Don’t,” “Treat Me Nice,” “King Creole” and other songs for Presley, despite their loathing for his interpretation of “Hound Dog.”

Who Says Crime Doesn't Pay?

It does if you are a Wall Street bankster.

When Congress is Bought Off By Wall Street,

nobody should expect any real reforms to occur:

Congress isn’t doing a thing about Wall Street because it’s in the pocket of Wall Street. Dodd’s outburst at the Street is like the alcoholic who screams at a bartender “how dare you give me another drink when all I’ve done is pleaded with you for one!”

Dodd is right about one thing. The American people are frustrated, and the failure of Congress to pass real financial reform is insulting. But in trying to place responsibility for this appalling failure on Wall Street, Dodd insults us even more.

Misc Whatever

Frank Rich made some good points in his recent piece about Wall Street, but of course in the WSWS's eyes, he didn't go far enough.
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Since atheism and religious belief are two sides of the same coin, there shouldn't be any debate over debating the unanswerable issue of whether God exists.

In fact, nobody knows that; it's a matter of faith or having a faith that He doesn't exist. And when it comes to the hereafter, nobody knows what is on the "other side," and therefore EVERY person, whether he or she admits it, is an agnostic.
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Wall Street did better than anybody else in this country last year.
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A man died trying to save his dog, who was hit by a car. The man was struck and killed by a bus:

John Christopher Morgan, 22, was buying some beer at a Plant City convenience store just after 7 p.m. when he saw his dog jump out of his car and run onto S.R. 60, according to his friend, Jason Braden.

The dog – a pitbull-cur mix named Jersey, who Morgan always called "Pup" – was hit by a car, Braden said.

So Morgan ran onto the road to get him, Braden said.

Morgan probably ignored the oncoming bus that, seconds later, would hit and kill him, Braden said.

"I know him long enough to know he saw the bus was coming," said Braden. "He would take the hit, but it was worth it for him for that dog. That dog was all he had."

Jersey, the dog, is reportedly alive.
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Because they are losers who believe women are nothing more than garbage receptacles. There is no point trying to sugarcoat it.

I Know Robert Reich Wasn't Born Yesterday,

but does he really believe Obama is going to bite the hand that feeds him, i.e., Wall Street?

Going after Wall Street interests has to be done for this economy to have a prayer of recovering, but Obama as well as politicians in BOTH political parties have no intention of doing so.

Reich:

What happened to all the tough talk from Congress and the White House early last year? Why is the financial reform agenda so small, and so late?

Part of the answer is that the American public has moved on. A major tenet of US politics is that if politicians wait long enough, public attention wanders. With the financial crisis appearing to be over, the public is more concerned about jobs. Another 85,000 jobs were lost in December, bringing total losses since the recession began in December 2007 to over 7m. One out of six Americans is unemployed or underemployed.

Yet if the president and Congress wanted to, they could help Americans understand the link between widespread job losses and the irresponsibility on Wall Street that plunged America into the Great Recession. They could make tough financial reform part of the answer to sustain-able jobs growth over the long term.

David Sirota, Like Matt Taibbi,

seems so shocked about Obama, and yes, Democrats, selling out to Wall Street interests.

It's bad because the Democratic Party is supposed to stand for the people, and now the people don't have a party representing their interests. It's the Democratic Party representing big business while talking populist rhetoric about helping the messes, and then there is the Republican Party that represents big business while pandering to the crazies.

Some choice, but that's all we've got.

Sirota:

When Senate Democrats ratified Obama's nomination of New York Fed chief Tim Geithner as Treasury secretary, they rewarded yet another shill who also fell down on the regulatory job. When those same Senate Democrats considered the nomination of Gary Gensler to head the agency regulating derivatives, they could have rejected him for championing derivatives deregulation as a Clinton official and then cashing in as a Goldman Sachs executive. Instead, Democrats backed his nomination and effectively told every other Gary Gensler-like parasite that misguided actions and corruption don't prevent future promotion.

And let's be fair -- it's not just Democratic politicians who are creating political moral hazard. Many Democratic pundits, activists and voters continued cheering on President Obama while he stuffed his administration full of Wall Streeters -- and many of these rank-and-file voices attacked as disloyal those progressives who raised questions. That told Obama he faces few consequences -- and even defense -- from his own base for promoting those who engineered the economic meltdown.

Readers were warned on this blog about Obama's neoliberal tendencies.

Why in the HELL is Matt Taibbi

shocked Obama is the neoliberal he ALWAYS was, not the pseudoliberal, pseudoprogressive rock star hero of the election campaign?

Why should ANYBODY be surprised he's giving handouts to Wall Street (while of course screwing over Main Street)? Why should anybody be surprised he is marginalizing or asking those who care about Main Street to hit the road? Why should anybody be surprised he is further manning his administration with Wall Street hacks? Why should anybody be surprised he's doing little about job creation, which is necessary to get this economy out of the ditch? Just ask WHERE all of the money donated to his campaign came from, and it wasn't just from small donors, either.

My initial belief of Obama being a "ringer" is coming to pass, I am afraid. I don't want it to be so.

Taibbi:

These are the kinds of voters whom Obama's gang of Wall Street advisers is counting on: idiots. People whose votes depend not on whether the party in power delivers them jobs or protects them from economic villains, but on what cultural markers the candidate flashes on TV. Finance reform has become to Obama what Iraq War coffins were to Bush: something to be tucked safely out of sight.

Around the same time that finance reform was being watered down in Congress at the behest of his Treasury secretary, Obama was making a pit stop to raise money from Wall Street. On October 20th, the president went to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York and addressed some 200 financiers and business moguls, each of whom paid the maximum allowable contribution of $30,400 to the Democratic Party. But an organizer of the event, Daniel Fass, announced in advance that support for the president might be lighter than expected — bailed-out firms like JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs were expected to contribute a meager $91,000 to the event — because bankers were tired of being lectured about their misdeeds.

"The investment community feels very put-upon," Fass explained. "They feel there is no reason why they shouldn't earn $1 million to $200 million a year, and they don't want to be held responsible for the global financial meltdown."

Which makes sense. Shit, who could blame the investment community for the meltdown? What kind of assholes are we to put any of this on them?

This is the kind of person who is working for the Obama administration, which makes it unsurprising that we're getting no real reform of the finance industry. There's no other way to say it: Barack Obama, a once-in-a-generation political talent whose graceful conquest of America's racial dragons en route to the White House inspired the entire world, has for some reason allowed his presidency to be hijacked by sniveling, low-rent shitheads. Instead of reining in Wall Street, Obama has allowed himself to be seduced by it, leaving even his erstwhile campaign adviser, ex-Fed chief Paul Volcker, concerned about a "moral hazard" creeping over his administration.

Since the GOP is on the ropes and has run out of gas, it's time for the corporate/Wall Street interests to contaminate the Democratic Party. Obama was their tool.

Brief Outrages

While the average person in America is doing worse than ever economically, the crooks on Wall Street are doing better than ever.
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Wall Street

is full of shit, as usual.

Until the unemployed are working again, there is NO "recovery."

I think Bernanke and the rest are employing happy talk in order to boost consumer confidence to jumpstart the economy, but that's not going to work.

The political party that now controls both Congress and the presidency say they represent the "little guy." So far, they have only aided the rich and greedy on Wall Street.

The economic elite owns BOTH political parties.

The Booming Economy

About one in five Jackson and Josephine County (Oregon) residents receives food stamps.
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Wall Street celebrated the rise in jobless claims.
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Job Destruction

continues unabated, and the current administration seems to be continuing the trend.

Wall Street rules and everybody else can go to hell.

Obama

proves with his actions regarding GM he doesn't care about workers, only about Wall Street.

And speaking of Detroit, look at what the privatizers affiliated with the Eli Broad Academy are trying to do with the schools:

The alliance to completely dismantle the Detroit Public School system is rapidly growing, including both foes and ostensible friends.

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm’s DPS czar Robert Bobb has announced that Detroit’s children can expect to see at least 50 more schools close in the coming year, accompanied by thousands of lay-offs, to offset an alleged $306 million deficit.

“The unions aren’t involved so far in discussions on the closing process,” Phil Schloop, Business Agent for Operating Engineers International Union Local 547, said. “We know schools are going to have to close, because we are losing another 10,000 students, but we must maximize our retention and offer programs that will attract Detroit students.”

Evidence Abounds

the Obama administration is a tool of Wall Street interests:

Policies that are extraordinarily favorable to the financial elite that were put in place over the past month by the Obama administration have fed a surge in share values on Wall Street. These include the scheme to use hundreds of billions of dollars in public funds to pay hedge funds to buy up the banks’ toxic assets at inflated prices, the Auto Task Force’s rejection of the recovery plans of Chrysler and General Motors and its demand for even more brutal layoffs, wage cuts and attacks on workers’ health benefits and pensions, and the decision by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to weaken “mark-to-market” accounting rules and permit banks to inflate the value of their toxic assets.

At the same time, Obama has campaigned against restrictions on bonuses paid to executives at insurance giant American International Group (AIG) and other bailed-out firms, and repeatedly assured Wall Street that he will slash social spending, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

If Obama doesn't reverse course, expect a furious backlash.

The Republicans are counting on it. That is why they basically gave up last fall after the economy crashed. They expect to return to power in 2012.

The Sudden Surge of Wall Street

is proof the robber barons and others in the financial elite have more confidence in our economy while the rest of the country doesn't.

Say what you want about WSWS and their beliefs, but they are right on the money on the rising unemployment rate and Obama's despicable treatment of the auto industry.

Will the Unions Succeed

in demanding Obama demand the resignation of B of A's CEO Ken Lewis?

I wouldn't hold my goddamned breath. While the auto industry, a key sector of this economy, gets shit on, it's the Wall Street mess which precipitated the decline in ALL industries, including the auto industry, not the other way around.

But Obama remains a tool of Wall Street. Don't count on him to do one damned thing in this regard.

Wall Street Mess

The global market continues to dive into the crapper.

The Dow fell briefly under 8,000.

If the current mess means the end of "American capitalism" meaning Friedmanism, I say goodbye and good riddance.

Instead of people putting flowers on Uncle Miltie's (Friedman, of course, not Berle) grave, I suggest pissing on it instead.