Why I Hate Mondays: Dealing Ourselves into Oblivion, Sinking the Economy Further
July 31st, 2011 - by: danny
In case you missed my analysis predicting that a deal would be passed, here it is.
Monday Blog, Final Edition:The Deal And What It Will Do To US
And so it came to pass on July 31 2011 that the United States of America took a giant step backwards. Official BS still to come. (And it is coming with the President kissing the GOP and vice versus. So predictable. So disgraceful!)
We have all been dealt a bad deal involving two TRILLLION in cuts. We are cutting ourselves and condemning ourselves. Until now, cutting has been a psychiatric problem for individuals who inflict bodily harm on themselves. Now its become a political problem on a massive scale.
The Washington Post does some math: “
“WE (SIC) HAVE A DEAL
“Assuming no hiccups in the House — and that might be a big assumption — we’ve got a deal. The deficit-reduction side includes $1 trillion in cuts now, $1.5 trillion (or more) in deficit reduction later, and a vote on a balanced budget amendment. Meanwhile, it raises the debt ceiling by $900 billion immediately, and either $1.5 trillion (if the second deficit reduction package or a balanced budget amendment passes) or $1.2 trillion (if neither pass) later. Either way, the Treasury should have plenty of borrowing authority to get us to 2013. “
Yet it’s bad and badder than you think. It’s now up to Congress to ratify this disaster that will incapacitate the government just as the economy needs government help, assuring a continued downward cycle. A small group of Taliban jihadis with suicide belts could not do worse damage.
The financial crisis was caused by the white collar crimesters on Wall Street, crimes that he government did not stop or prosecute. Now the government has ratified the new gangster/bankster political order with measures that will hurt who knows how many millions, cause more job loss, and fail to stop the ship from sinking,
Notes The New York Times in a most genteel manner:
“The nation’s political leaders agreed on Sunday to spend and invest less money in the American economy, a step that economists said risks the reversal of a faltering recovery, in the hope of improving the nation’s long-term prosperity…
“Last week brought the disconcerting news that the economy grew no faster than the population during the first six months of the year, in part because of spending cuts by state and local governments. Now the federal government is cutting
Here’s how The Guardian in England played it:
Dick Durbin in Huffington Post:: Debt Deal Will Be The Death Of Keynesian Economics
WASHINGTON — The Republicans are killing Keynesian economics with their attempt to cut spending as the economy rebounds from a recession….
So far, Nancy Pelosi has not promised support. But Congress is being ordered to move quickly on the deal according to the AP report.
Boston Globe: The agreement must pass both chambers of Congress, a prospect that still is uncertain. Party leaders planned to speak to rank-and-file lawmakers today and bring the measure up for a vote as soon as possible. House consideration is likely today.
What Obama Said:
Likely Impact
The outline of a deal would complete an about-face in the government’s role from post-recession spending to cuts.
Winners and Losers: The Times Meets Few Compromises It Cannot Rationalize
A full victory lap was not expected — or, perhaps, deserved — by those on either side of the debate, which has consumed the capital, unnerved the financial markets and infuriated Americans.
Now read Robert Reich and weep at the extent of the stupidity and gamesmanship in high places:
The headline: “Anyone Who Thinks The Debt Deal Is A Victory For America Understands Neither Economics Nor Politics”
Daily Beast Sees Tea Party Party: Tea Partiers did not have to face a parallel leftist wave or bargain over a war on terror.
While the details of the debt-ceiling deal remain fuzzy, this much is clear: Barack Obama may be president, but the Tea Party is now running Washington.
How did this happen? Simple: This is what American politics looks like when there’s no left-wing movement and no war.
Let’s start with the first point. Liberals are furious that President Obama agreed to massive spending cuts, and the promise of more, without any increase in revenue. They should be: Given how much the Bush tax cuts have contributed to the deficit (and how little they’ve spurred economic growth), it’s mind-boggling that they’ve apparently escaped this deficit-reduction deal unscathed.”
The Daily Beast says the Tea Party was a winner—and the left which I have been upbraiding for its failure to engage in the fight for economic justice a clear loser. No surprise there.
Here’s my chronology from last night when this shameful accord was reached.
At 9:01 PM, The NY Times reported:
News Alert: Congressional Leaders Have Agreement Framework Deal on Debt; Will Present Deal to Party Members on Monday
President Obama spoke moments later at the White House, telling reporters that “the leaders of both parties in both chambers have reached an agreement that will reduce the deficit and avoid a default.”
“My message to the world tonight is that this nation and this Congress are moving forward and we are moving forward together,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada said from the floor of the Senate.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said, “There is now a framework to review that will ensure significant cuts in Washington’s spending.”
The announcement came even as House Speaker John A. Boehner was holding a conference call with his Republican members.
The Washington Post reported; Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid said Sunday evening that all congressional leaders had agreed to a compromise plan to lift the debt ceiling. “We’re moving forward together,” Reid said. Immediately afterward, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declared “there is now a framework” for a deal. (Boehner endorsed it too.)
Earlier: The Senate voted down Harry Reid’s already compromised debt deal bill, The House had dumped it earlier. At the White House the lights were on as marathon bargaining went down to the wire. There was a big rush. The Deadline was fast approaching. Wall Street was waiting. The tears are yet to come.
In some sporting contests, they stop the clock but not in this one:
CLG reported:
Liberal Democratic leader says won’t back US debt deal 31 Jul 2011
Representative Raul Grijalva, who heads a group of liberal Democrats in the House of Representatives, said on Sunday that he would not back an emerging debt-ceiling deal surrender crafted by Republican and DemocRATic leaders. “This deal trades peoples’ livelihoods for the votes of a few unappeasable right-wing radicals, and I will not support it,” Grijalva said in a statement. Grijalva heads the 74-member Congressional Progressive Caucus. [Exactly! ‘
Scr*w you, Obama, and your Wall Street/GOP overlords, six ways to Sunday! Invoke the 14th Amendment and be done with it! MSNBC interview (no link) with Kathy Hochul, D-NY, in a heavily *Republican* district people were asking why the wealthy did not pay their fair share, and that they DID NOT want Medicare or Social Security touched. (Hopefully, they don't want Medicaid touched, either.) This was a GOP district/phone town hall w. 6,000 callers on a Saturday afternoon! Obama, you f*cked us on the public option, the Bush (now Bush/Obusha) tax cuts for the wealthy - not to mention the Patriot Act, Guantanamo Bay, Bagram -- and a thousand other lies, obfuscations and betrayals. --Lori Price]
Obama’s base: We’ve been “thrown under the bus” 31 Jul 2011
Even without a debt-limit deal completed, liberal lawmakers and activist groups are already lining up against the outlines of the agreement, saying President Obama and congressional Democrats are risking Social Security while squandering a chance to force tax increases. “Today we, and everyone we have worked to speak for and fight for, were thrown under the bus,” Rep. Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who is co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Sunday as top senators began to describe the deal they are trying to strike with Mr. Obama.
Bernie Sanders issues Statement:
“The Republicans have been absolutely determined to make certain that the rich and large corporations not contribute one penny for deficit reduction, and that all of the sacrifice comes from the middle class and working families in terms of cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, LIHEAP, community health centers, education, Head Start, nutrition, MILC, affordable housing and many other vitally important programs.
“I cannot support legislation like the Reid proposal which balances the budget on the backs of struggling Americans while not requiring one penny of sacrifice from the wealthiest people in our country. That is not only grotesquely immoral, it is bad economic policy.”
From IAVA: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association
Some IAVA members have told us their VA checks for August have arrived. Meanwhile, Admiral Mullen told troops in Afghanistan yesterday that August 15th would be the first DoD payday jeopardized. But we have yet to get assurances from Washington that troops and veterans are a top priority in the debt talks, or real answers about how a potential default will ultimately affect military pay, GI Bill benefits, disability payments and more.
Last week, IAVA sat down with the White House to voice the concerns of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families. We also testified before Congress and met with both Republican and Democratic leaders, urging them to find a solution that would protect our troops and vets.
Conspiracy Theory of the Hour: Yikes!
“The debt limit negotiations are not what they appear to be. The negotiations are being used as a diversion to cover up a devious plan to push the USA into a default. Americans are being ‘played like a fiddle,’ while great treason is taking place behind the scenes.
A select number of US Senators are in collusion with Barack Obama to bring about an intentional economic default, declare Martial Law, and then bring about a dissolution of the Senate and House of Representatives. This plan has been engineered and ordered by the New World Order Elite who put Obama into power.”
Moving on….
LETTERS
Denis Rioual writes from Sebastopol Ca.
These are all just simptoms, whether its bank bailouts or climate
change or deregulation and watering down of regulations that protect
citizens the conversation never gets to campaign reform which is what
is desparitly needed to take back this beautiful country of OURS.
campaign reform is something you never hear anybody talk about, but it
would solve all these issues and more. let tax dollars pay for
elections then we can say “what’s YOUR corporate lobbyist doing
talking to MY legislator”. there is nothing wrong with capitalism or
corporations but how can they be allowed to interfere with a
government in any way shape or form. they harness us like cattle and
have milked us dry and they want more. corporations somehow have the
same rights as individuals but they live forever and have years to
alter policies, not fair or right. the conversation any conversation
should ALWAYS be brought back to campaign reform until everybody hears
it, and maybe then if we can separation from corporate and state, WE
THE PEOPLE will have a country.
Thanx for your good work.
Andy Zap writes:
I agree that it is Kabuki Theatre, although not necessarily for all the reasons you enumerated. The real snow job will come when they regale us with stories of hypothetical budget cuts projected into the distant future. I promise you that not one will actually materialize. Politicians derive power from spending (our) money. The function of government is to sustain itself and to expand whenever possible. We are Greece waiting to happen.
Doc Hilliard writes
The Donkey-in-Chief (DIC, a.k.a. DIChead) wants only new taxes and a new credit card and brays a lot in front of the cameras, but contributes nothing useful toward anything positive for American citizen taxpayers. He has just got to go ASAP.
View From Europe from Gijs Graafland of the Planck Foundation:
Last week both Italy and Austria have skipped a planned government bond action (as they were uncertain of the success of it).
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/25/markets-bonds-austria-idUSVIE00364620110725
“Italy’s decision to cancel a mid-August bond auction, citing “large cash availability and the limited borrowing requirement” may ease pressure on Italian yields next month.” (Wall Street Journal)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903999904576469632414841072.html
Governmental funding will derail sooner or later. Not for only the so called PIGS or ClubMed nations, but for all nations. As governments structural spend more than they earn, they’re depending on the cash flow delivered by their bond auctions. Declining market demand/trust will deliver first severe higher rates on the bonds, that will turn into a buyers strike. As it will no longer possible to roll-over their debts, the liquidity of governments will decline severely. Some of them get to the point that they will have to chose no longer to serve the existing debts by interest/amortization payments, but spend the tax revenues on other budget items.
If only one single nation will make this choice, governmental bonds will loose their build-in guarantees (which were not based on actual income, but based on easy funding by debt increase) and become very unfavorable. They will get the same valuation and imago as the CDOs got, when those fell over the cliff in 2007/2008. The domino effect takes care of the rest. Only those with very low debt/GDP ratios will have some access to the capital market.
The result of this will have huge impact: Almost all governments will have just/only access their nett tax income available for both spending and debt service, and not a dime more, as funding will can’t deliver artificial budget extension anymore. Relations of the payment officials of the governments will be paid on time, others will have to wait for ever. To make things more complicated: their tax revenues will fall, as pension funds and other financials will fail as huge parts of their asset portfolios are getting sour and they will go on what’s euphoric called a bank holiday.
Governmental budgets will shrink/contract instantly, not by any political agenda or dogma, but just by the lack of available cash. This will influence nations severely as large parts of their economies are feed by the governmental funding. Governments will have to make dramatic choices with huge impact on people. The pressure on governments will be huge. The temptation no longer service the debt (by interest payments and amortization) will become huge and many nations will stop to service their debts. This will destroy the last standing governmental funding and the governmental bond market worldwide will come to a complete standstill.”
And back in the USSA: Hahaha….
Andy Borowitz: WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – In an historic eleventh-hour bipartisan accord, the United States’ debt ceiling was raised Sunday night before the Tea Party understood what it was.?
?In an effort to gain as many Tea Party votes as possible, the debt ceiling bill was drafted entirely in one-syllable words, congressional aides said.??But even as the final agreement was being put to bed, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) urged his Republican colleagues not to rest on their laurels: “Now, let us begin the hard work of creating the next crisis.”
This Just In: Al Jazeera To Become Available on New York Cable
To all of our Muslim friends and colleagues, Ramadan Kareem!
Your comments and disgust about the debt deal to dissector@mediachannel.org
See the whole Post / →
SUNDAY OF SHAME: TALKS UNDERWAY, THE DEBT CEILING DRAMA, ACT THREE–NOW THE DEAL
July 30th, 2011 - by: danny
Friday: This week’s News Dissector Radio Show on ProgressiveRadioNetwork.com. is now online at as a podcast on the PRN website and on iTunes. Guests: media literacy advocate and web wonder Irene McGee as well as radio host and media critic Maria Armoudian.
It hurts to be right
So now, as I suggested in my essay posted Saturday morning and below, the deal making is underway with the two sides that seemed so far apart waxing optimistic about a compromise in the offing. This is happening in the face of all the news reports about the stalemate of all stalemates, the feigned anger and predictions of a default and downgrade.
“Significant Progress” is being reported. But, progress for whom?
This game playing shows just how orchestrated this whole scenario has been. What it also shows is that the Republicans, egged on by the Tea Party, used their righteous anger and overheated rhetoric to intimidate/harass/squeeze the Democrats and the White House into giving up even more in the name of a “responsible” compromise.
They had a strategy to use polarization to force a policy shift. They used transparently obvious (except to most media) tactics as well. Their bullying seems to have worked.
And, of course, the spineless (“gut-free”) right-centrists on the Democratic “left” who had been begging for a deal will now get one — on bended knee. Obama ruled out invoking the 14th amendment section on public debt, and for that matter, really fighting back. Know it or not, there will be political costs for him in this charade of phony compromise. Bye-bye base?
Welcome to the new age of American Austerity and more cutbacks even as the economy hits a new low and urgently needs government intervention. Whether they admit or not, the depression is here. Only this time, there is no FDR or militant labor movement.
Sunday 5:54: The Deal Is About to Be Closed
The Hill: Reid signs off on bipartisan debt deal
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has signed off on a bipartisan deal between President Obama and GOP leaders to raise the debt limit.
After meeting with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) for over an hour and a half on Sunday, Reid and other Senate Democratic leaders must now sell the deal to their caucus.
Another factor finally revealed. Wall Street is pushing for the deal with lots of lobbying power. (John Boehner recently became a grateful recipient of their largesse.)
From the story: “Bankers have deluged Congressional staff members with research reports outlining the bleak consequences of a default, or even a downgrade of United States government debt by the major rating agencies. And in corporate America’s version of grassroots mobilization, Allstate e-mailed 45,000 employees urging them to call their local members of Congress and demand a deal.
Hedge fund managers, normally among Wall Street’s most secretive tribes, have been stepping out of the shadows, too.”
Here’s the AP on this Sunday of Shame:
“WASHINGTON (AP) – White House officials and congressional Republicans are reaching toward a potential end to their bitter debt limit showdown, raising hopes that a deal could be in place by Tuesday to avert a possible federal default.
After weeks of strident partisan conflict, the two sides were discussing an accord that would raise the government’s borrowing authority in two steps by about $2.4 trillion and cut federal spending by slightly more, according to knowledgeable officials.”
The Guardian in England reports Republicans are confident now of a deal.
“The White House and Republican leaders in Congress have made significant progress toward a deal to raise the US debt ceiling and avert a potentially catastrophic default, according to officials familiar with the talks.”
Late Last Night: Here’s more on the countdown to a new calamity. Just keep asking yourself. Who will benefit and who will be hurt?
Le Monde Diplomatique in Paris comments: Blackmail in Washington – Serge Halimi
The squabbles between President Obama and the Republican majority in Congress over US debt obscure the main point: under covert pressure from his opponents, Obama has agreed without further ado that $3,000bn, more than three-quarters of the budget reduction he wants for the next ten years, will be covered by cuts in social services. Not content with this victory, the US right wants more – even if its unrelenting demands are likely to be unpopular with voters.
10:50 Saturday Night: WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says negotiations aimed at resolving the debt-limit standoff are under way at the White House.
As a result, the Nevada Democrat postponed a test vote on a Democratic debt limit proposal that had been scheduled for shortly after midnight. He says he’s delaying that vote until 1 p.m. Sunday to give negotiators time to work out an agreement.
The Hill: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday that he would postpone a vote on his bill to raise the debt limit to give negotiators at the White House more time to work.
He said the Senate would vote on his plan at 1:00 p.m. Sunday, instead of 1:00 a.m., as was originally scheduled.
In a brief statement on the Senate floor, Reid said that many parts of the potential pact remain to be worked out.
Earlier, Washington Post: Boehner debt bill passes House, fails in Senate
The House narrowly passed GOP debt-limit legislation Friday after Republican leaders revised it to gain the support of recalcitrant tea party conservatives, but the Senate swiftly moved to block it from consideration in their chamber. “Late stab at debt-limit deal to avert US default
After weeks of intense partisanship, Republican congressional leaders and the White House made a last-minute stab at compromise Saturday to avoid a government default threatened for early next week.”
What more will the Democrats give up?
The Kabuki Play On Capitol Hill Comes Right Before The Deal
By Danny Schechter
Director of Plunder The Crime Of Our Time
Oh, the gnashing of the teeth, Oh, the flamboyant tactics. Oh, all the breaking news excitement on cable news as the debt ceiling countdown saga went down to the wire with an intense political confrontation of a kind we haven’t seen before …
Or maybe we had—in the TARP debate and so-called Obamacare vote, to cite but two moments of high political drama. Once again, all the key players knew the outcome but wanted to keep us guessing because it served everyone’s interests.
For Boehner and the boys on the GOP side it was the great leadership test subplot. He would prove how tough he was, demonstrate his leadership mettle, get equal time with the president, and even look presidential. The orange tan was gone. His moment had in the sunlight had come as he roped the Tea party kids into the politically correct corral. The Congressman from Ohio was now a national force to be reckoned with,
Lets not forget that he had become Wall Street’s butt boy, had been put on their financial slush fund, had many of the big money lobbyists on his side even as the financiers whined and complained about exaggerated threats to the world economy.
They made some noise but not too much. They well remember the wit and wisdom of ex White House wide and now Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel about a crisis being a terrible opportunity to waste,
The Wall Street powercrats are high stakes poker players and this was one game they knew they would win in a political arena dependent on their beneficence.
‘
At the same time, as the media compared the charade to the uncertainty of who would be chosen as this week’s Bachelorette reality TV Show. The Tea Party even got Charles Schumer and Jon Stewart going by reaching into the home video collections for sound bite from Ben Affleck’s flick, The Town, a bank robbery shoot em’ up set in Charlestown MA. ‘
‘Only the pols on the hill they had their eyes set on slightly bigger banks as they served bigger banksters.
Some analysts put their tactics down to “lunacy.” Others to irrationality but this gambit was far more rational than most commentators realized. It reminded me of Richard Nixon’s well-concocted madman strategy to make the Vietnamese think he was crazy enough to blow up their dykes or even drop the big one. It was a well-calculated fear tactic, a shrewd maneuver in a game of psychological warfare.
Paul Krugman understood what was going on, seconding my own analysis of the kamikaze tactics the right was using He wrote what most of the media obfuscated about:
“The facts of the crisis over the debt ceiling aren’t complicated. Republicans have, in effect, taken America hostage, threatening to undermine the economy and disrupt the essential business of government unless they get policy concessions they would never have been able to enact through legislation. And Democrats – who would have been justified in rejecting this extortion altogether – have, in fact, gone a long way toward meeting those Republican demands.”
And, oh yes, the President had some big skin in the game. It gave him the posturing moment he needed to show how “balanced” he was, and how centrist he could become.
Fairness and Accuracy argued that Obama talked left to move right, as the Washington Post explained:
“Forget about “winning the future”–Barack Obama wants to win the center. That’s what the Washington Post is telling readers (7/25/11):
Obama ‘Big Deal’ on Debt a Gamble to Win the Center?
Advisers think securing his plan would ensure general-election victory
The Post’s Zachary A. Goldfarb (who can’t be held responsible for the headline) explained that Obama was making Republicans an offer they couldn’t refuse….
He added:
“Obama’s political advisers have long believed that securing such an agreement would provide an enormous boost to his 2012 campaign, according to people familiar with White House thinking. In particular, they want to preserve and improve the president’s standing among independents.”
FAIR dipped into their own archive to reminds of us of an article from September 2009 which showed the President was under pressure even then to drop a focus on jobs to concentrate on the deficit.
In other words, this whole strategy is not new but years in the making:
“Parroting the Republican Party, corporate media have recently devoted much energy to deploring the federal deficit and chastising President Barack Obama for not focusing enough on balancing the budget. Very soon, media warn, either spending must be cut or taxes will need to be raised across the board—an argument that rests on the assumption that deficit reduction is, indeed, the top economic priority”
And, so, White House priorities shifted subtly to please the plutocrats and try to neutralize the Tea Party fanatics by co-opting their program the way Bill Clinton did in 1996, It was called “triangulation” then. Obama’s own supporters call it “betrayal” now; Obama’s pro-Wall Street economic team assured they wouldn’t give the men on The Street too much to worry about.
And so what happens now? The Republicans get their bill, unify their ranks even though it’s just more show and tell. As Reuters explains, its all a prelude to coming back to the bargaining table at the 11th hour to make a deal that both sides can use to political advantage.
Read this and as you do, read between the lines;
“The House of Representatives approved a Republican deficit plan on Friday that has no chance of becoming law but could pave the way for a last-ditch bid for bipartisan compromise to avert a crippling national default.”
This was the scenario—more akin to a Kabuki play than a real political fight. It’s more like professional wrestling of the kind they perform at the Capitol Arena not far from Capitol Hill.
The audience is hyped. The wrestlers pretend to hate each other, and arouse the crowd with acts of physical aggression. The match looks fierce, but, as everyone knows, it is fixed and scripted.
They musclemen throw each other around the ring, sometimes even gushing blood. The big bruisers denounce each other until it’s over to the count of 1-2-3; the bad guy always goes down.
The match ends, imagine that, just in time for a commercial break. Here it will end at the debt ceiling deadline. Each side will claim victory.
There is no ceiling on these political shenanigans. It’s just part of fast-paced game designed to keep the public on the sidelines and on the edge of uncertainly while the media keeps the politicians in the spotlight and excites the base in both parties,
In the end, the media will salute both sides for putting country above party. The only deficit here is one of political morality and honesty.
You tell me: am I too cynical, or is this the way what some call politricks has become?
News Dissector Danny Schechter writes a blog at newsdissector.com
Comments to dissector@mediachannel.org
Elizabeth Warren’s Swan Song (RSN)
From: Warren, Elizabeth
Sent: Friday, July 29, 2011 1:18 PM
To:
Subject: A new chapter
Four years ago, I submitted an article to Democracy Journal that argued for a new government agency called the Financial Product Safety Commission. I threw myself into that piece because I felt strongly that a new consumer agency would make the credit markets work better for American families and strengthen the economic security of the middle class.
In 2007 and 2008, I wrote about the new consumer agency in a number of places, and I talked about the idea with anyone who would listen.
And then in 2009, something amazing happened. In June of that year, the President invited a few hundred people to the White House as he unveiled his initial outline for financial reform. It was the first time I had ever been invited to something like this. Just before the President stepped out, aides passed around a summary of the proposed reforms. I grabbed a copy and started tearing through it. As I skimmed over derivatives and capital reserve requirements, I turned a page and saw it – a proposal for a consumer agency. Until that moment, I wasn’t certain whether the new agency would be part of the reform package or not.
Under the leadership of Secretary Geithner, Michael Barr, Eric Stein, our own Peggy Twohig, and so many of our other colleagues, the Treasury Department began to refine and improve the initial idea, preparing a proposal to submit to Congress. With strong support from the President, early leadership from Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, and grassroots efforts launched by many consumer groups, the agency began to gather momentum. Despite repeated declarations from the financial services industry and some in Congress that the agency was “dead on arrival” or “going nowhere,” the proposal moved through two nail-biting committee votes, four nail-biting floor votes, and one nail-biting conference committee. It was a hard fight, but the result was a strong and independent new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with the tools needed to make a real difference for American families.
And then something even more amazing started to happen. Good people started turning the idea into a reality. With Wally Adeyemo as Chief of Staff to keep it all organized, we were underway. Smart people with a wide variety of backgrounds – banking, consumer advocacy, government, business, teaching – focused their energy and enthusiasm and creativity on building something new – something that would work for American consumers.
All along the way, the pieces came into place. We set critical priorities for the new agency, including streamlining mortgage disclosure and making credit cards easier to understand. We focused our efforts on the challenges facing military families. We organized the most aggressive and effective outreach effort anywhere in government to make sure that our goals were clear and we got as much input as possible from those who will be most affected by the agency’s work. We designed a high-speed, effective HR system, and we figured out how to get in place necessary procurements to support our work. We developed legal concepts to guide our work and procedures to make sure we always honored the law. We created an innovative supervision program. We generated rules of the road to guide our enforcement and fair lending programs. We designed the systems necessary to meet our statutory deadlines and to complete ongoing rule-writing passed from other agencies. We organized an approach for connecting with consumers all across the country through our website, consumer response system, and more. And we did it all in full view, working with Congress and the media every step along the way to make sure the American people are engaged in our work and able to hold us accountable to our mission.
That is only a small summary of what we have accomplished together. We did it – and we did it well. And we have some independent verification of that: Two weeks ago, our inspectors general – a tough and independent pair of judges – wrote a glowing report about our stand-up period.
Whether you have been here for long months or only a few days, I want to thank you for choosing to be part of this agency. I know that every one of you had other options. I also know that we chose you because we believe you have something special to add. I am grateful that you came here to make a difference.
Today is my last day at the Bureau. I leave this agency, but not this fight. The issues we deal with – a middle class that has been squeezed and business models built on tricks and traps – are deeply personal to me, and they always will be.
I will cheer as you open a new chapter in our ongoing push for a strong and independent CFPB. You can realize the vision of a 21st century government that holds law-breakers accountable and that enforces basic rules that make markets work honestly. An honest market will give companies that provide fair value to their customers a chance to flourish, free from competition with cheaters. And an honest market will give American families better information, better prices, and better products – and a chance to achieve real economic security. Now it’s up to you – and I couldn’t be more hopeful about what lies ahead.
ew
Your Letters
Comments: James Winkler. “I just read your article on the debt debate over at http://www.facebook.com/l/xAQCYw4bG/www.globalresearch.ca. I don’t think you’re too cynical at all. They are going to cut our social security and healthcare. It’s sad. Really, really sad.”
Gerry Gras writes: I read your article:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/30-1
You said “You tell me: am I too cynical, or is this the
way what some call politricks has become?”
Ok, I’ll respond.
You might be too cynical, you might be just right, or
you might not be cynical enough. How’s that for a
definitive statement?
I can’t give a coherent reponse. I think those guys
are out of my league. But there are some things I can
say.
- I have been saying for a long time that Republicans
are wolves in wolves clothing, and Democrats are
wolves in sheeps clothing.
- Warren Buffett said that there is class warfare and
his side is winning.
- I think most elected officials, including all the
leaders, don’t give a damn about Main Street.
- I have seen several articles talking about this,
including some talking about constitutional requirements,
that make it quite clear that we are hearing a lot of
lies from D.C.
- I have heard from several people something to the effect
that Obama is fighting for reelection, and he will be a
lot better after he gets reelected (and I don’t remember
them saying “if”). I don’t believe it for a second.
- I do think the most serious domestic political problem
in the U.S., and probably the world, is class warfare.
(In fact I think it is time for a global grassroots
movement. I know a lot of people say it won’t happen,
but what else will work?)
- If forced to make a choice, I would say that you are
probably not cynical enough.
Clare Walsh writes from Spring, Texas:
No you are not cynical. You are right. And let’s add stock market manipulation to this rigged game. This is driving the market up and down and the insiders are making a killing. Your analogy to wrestling is good – except – the wrestling audience isn’t terrified, believing their lives could go down the drain depending on the outcome of the match.
IMHO it borders on treason, what Congress and the President are doing. Certainly it rises to the level of a terroristic type of theater. So much for Homeland Security.
Michael Hamilton hits me with some Tea Party “truth.”
No you are not cyncial. You are right. And let’s add stock market manipulation to this rigged game. This is driving the market up and down and the insiders are making a killing. Your analogy to wrestling is good – except – the wrestling audience isn’t terrified, believing their lives could go down the drain depending on the outcome of the match.
IMHO it borders on treason, what Congress and the President are doing. Certainly it rises to the level of a terroristic type of theatre. So much for Homeland Security.
Tea Party Booster Michael Hamilton calls me a “media mogul,” and a lot worse:
“You and many other media moguls commonly come out against the Tea Party as though they are not the middle class that you claim to be defending. The Tea Party IS the middle class. The Tea Party is middle class Americans who have grown tired of our ever increasing debt. They have grown tired of all the left wing bums with their hands out. Contrary to what so many liberals in the media profess, they are not religious fanatics, either. I haven’t been to a church in over 25 years. True I am a Christian. But I do use profanity, I drink, and I like to look at pretty women even though I am married.
I am 49 years old and I do not want anything from the government other than its fulfillment of its obligations only to those things that benefit all of us. You watermelon liberals always use the elderly and children and poor as a reason to have the government steal from those of us who produce for themselves to give to those who were too irresponsible to take care of themselves. Yes I am white. No my last three employers did not know that before hiring me.
I was raised by very uneducated lower class poor foster parents who beat us for, sometimes, no apparent reason. My foster mother did not progress past the 7th grade. I was even homeless for a while and had to live in my 1972 International Scout. Yet I managed to pull myself out of the rut I was in and the government did nothing to aid in that endeavor.
The biggest problem with our national debt is it should not exist in the first place. Why don’t you reporters and opinion writers ever report on that? Why don’t you expose the fact the Federal Reserve bank is a private bank that controls our government through controlling our money? Why do you think a one ounce gold coin still says $50 on it? That fact is, if we still had a commodity base money system, we would not be defaulting on our so called debt. Things do not cost more money to buy. You just have to pay for it with real money, like a gold coin or a certificate that is backed by gold. We do not use real money. We use IOUs to pay out credit cards. How stupid is that? What did you thing a Federal Reserve NOTE was? Money??
Oh, and clumping federal employees in with the elderly, children and poor just makes you look very stupid to educated people. The whole point of shrinking the government is to reduce government intrusion, government control of our private lives and private businesses. When we do that why would we need so many federal employees? If the government was not so big, there would not be so many federal employees to begin with. The government’s purpose is not to provide jobs.
It is no wonder you had to get this article published in a middle eastern periodical. You were probably laughed at by all of the self-respecting, left wing media outlet here in the USA. You do write very well. It just goes to show that a well-educated writer can still be brain dead.
If you want to really be a hero, honored by Americans, write an expose’ on our commercially controlled court system and expose why we no longer go to a Constitutional Court for “income tax” infringements. Ask a tax court judge if he goes to that particular court under oath. I’ll bet you won’t get a straight answer. Why don’t you expose the fact that most Americans are not legally required to pay income tax? There has been so much evidence to back this, but panty waste left wing liberal reports like you do not have the stomach to expose that. You would not have to worry about getting executed for doing so, because no media outlet in the united states of America would allow you to do so.
But then again, you are used to running away to get published in a media outlet that the vast majority of Americans won’t even read.
Sandra E Parson thanks me for letting her vent:
ou are right. It is all just a play. I am not even paying attention except to write to Obama to tell him I won’t vote for him again. The end of the play has already been written. As a whole, the congressional representatives and senators have no souls, no values, no morals or principles by which they live; at least not evident to me. I am really disgusted by everything our government is doing by way of starting and maintaining wars, doing the opposite of what the people want in poll after poll, and stealing our money by taxing the middle class to death. I don’t mind paying my share of taxes but I do have a problem with corporations and obscenely rich people paying little or no taxes or at least a very small percentage compared to what I pay as a middle class working stiff. Even though I am a professional social worker, I identify with the working class because that is what I am. And I can only meditate and try to be kind to strangers to maintain what sanity I have left.
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House Passes Boehner Bill; Have We Come Down To Wire Or Is A Deal Imminent? Will There Be Any Winners?
July 29th, 2011 - by: danny
REPUGS PASS REVISED BILL IN HOUSE, SENATE WILL NOT ACT ON IT
The Hill: House Republicans on Friday narrowly approved legislation authorizing a limited increase in the $14.3 trillion debt limit in exchange for more than $900 billion in spending cuts.
The 218-210 vote occurred nearly a full day after it was originally scheduled as Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) agreed to revise the legislation to win enough conservative support to carry the House.
The Republican Budget Control Act faces a near-certain demise in the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has declared it dead on arrival. The White House has said President Obama would veto the measure if it ever reached his desk.
Reuters pretty much reports that the Republican measure that has no chance of passage is actually a stalking horse for a deal, the very argument I made in the blog this morning.
Read closely:but also read between the lines. A deal is coming!
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The House of Representatives approved a Republican deficit plan on Friday that has no chance of becoming law but could pave the way for a last-ditch bid for bipartisan compromise to avert a crippling national default.
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Breaking News: There is no recovery. None!
WP: The U.S. economy slowed in the first six months of 2011 to its weakest pace since the recession ended. High gas prices and scant income gains forced Americans to sharply pull back on spending.
Friday Afternoon (NYT) Wall St., Prepared for the Worst, in Wait-and-See Mode Contingency plans are in place, positions established and cash sidelined. Now it’s a matter of wait and see.
The White House Has Already Sold Out. A Deal Is Coming.
With Casey Stengel, the great Yankees manager, I believe in the axiom that ‘it ain’t over until it is’ and as of today, it sure ain’t over with lots of twists and surprises still to come on the debt ceiling drama. As anyone who follows this must have noticed, the Obama Dems have come closer politically to the Boehner Repugs, with a last minute deal very much on the table even as some Tea Party holdouts in the House vow to get their last drop of blood.
Could they take it all down, force default or a downgrade, and further terrorize the financial system? Possibly. Will they? Unlikely. They all have districts “too feed” and represent. Remember TARP when the bill was rejected on the first vote? Did it all go away? No way. The bill was changed, and many of the “rebels” were paid off or scared off after the market collapsed.
The Senate then voted first for it, and the House went along. I was with a Democratic Congressional candidate last night, a former member of the House Financial Services Committee, who believes that is the scenario. (He also believed TARP worked!)
The hard-heads of the Tea Party jihad may or may not prevail on every issue but their intransigence and unity has already forced the whole debate to the right. The Dems have already given up key policy demands. There will be no progress on ending the Bush Tax cuts or raising new revenue. Social Security and Medicare will be sliced and diced, and there will be no joy in Mudville as this disgusting game of high stakes poker goes to the wire.
Watch: In the end the Boehner heads will show how “responsible” they all are, and the President will praise them for putting county over party.
Everyone is just trying to please their core constituencies before abandoning what “principles” each side claims to holds aloft.
Gag me with a spoon.
Last Night: The Pressure Was On: Republicans Were On the Vote Hunt But Couldn’t get Votes
Hill: House Republican leaders have postponed indefinitely a vote on Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) debt limit bill after they could not persuade enough Republicans to support the measure.
“No vote tonight,” the third-ranking House Republican, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), told reporters after leaving Boehner’s office shortly before 10:30 p.m.”
This was seen as a big failure by the Speaker who talked tough but could not deliver.
Earlier, The Hill reported late yesterday: “House Republican leaders are desperately looking for the votes to pass Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) debt-limit bill and have delayed a vote that had been expected for around 6 p.m That vote was once again postponed..
The National Journal explained: … passage was still uncertain with running counts by National Journal and other media outlets showing that some two dozen Republicans remained opposed
Washington Post: Bosses spent hours nagging, debating, pep-talking and outright badgering a small band of legislators who were still on the fence.
They couldn’t close the deal and, at the end of a very long day, both sides had learned bitter lessons: Political newcomers learned what an old-fashioned Washington squeeze play felt like. Party leaders learned that old-fashioned doesn’t quite work as it used to.
Prayers Over Polics
An AP story on the pressure police: “House members pressured on debt limit seek sanctuary, report no mistreatment by GOP leaders
WASHINGTON — The stare-down over the debt limit debate had become so fierce that a trio of South Carolina Republicans, pressured by their leaders to agree to a bill they didn’t like, sought answers from a higher power.
“I’m going to pray on it,” Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., said late Thursday.
He ducked into a locked, little-known room tucked between the Rotunda walls and House Speaker John Boehner’s office. Soon, fellow South Carolina Republicans Mick Mulvaney and Tim Scott punched the door combination and joined him.
Scott seemed the least burdened of the three. For him, “divine inspiration already happened.”
“I was a lean no. Now I’m a no,” he said with a grin.”
The O Base Is Also Upset
National Journal: Dwindling support from independents has cost President Obama his onetime edge over a generic Republican opponent, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press that found voters evenly split over his reelection.
Here’s a reality sandwich from Economist Michael Hudson as posted on Naked Capitalism.com. Hudson was in my film Plunderthecrimeofourtime.com:
Michael Hudson: Mr. Obama’s Scare Tactics to Get Democrats to Vote for His Republican Wall Street Plan
You know that the debt kerfuffle is as staged as melodramatically as a World Wrestling Federation exhibition when Mr. Obama makes the blatantly empty threat that if Congress does not “tackle the tough challenges of entitlement and tax reform,” there won’t be money to pay Social Security checks next month. In his debt speech last night (July 25), he threatened that if “we default, we would not have enough money to pay all of our bills – bills that include monthly Social Security checks, veterans’ benefits, and the government contracts we’ve signed with thousands of businesses.”
This is not remotely true. But it has become the scare theme for over a week now, ever since the President used almost the same words in his interview with CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley.
Of course the government will have enough money to pay the monthly Social Security checks. The Social Security administration has its own savings – in Treasury bills. I realize that lawyers (such as Mr. Obama and indeed most American presidents) rarely understand economics. But this is a legal issue. Mr. Obama certainly must know that Social Security is solvent, with liquid securities to pay for many decades to come. Yet Mr. Obama has put Social Security at the very top of his hit list!….
Rob Johnson comment: The debt crisis has been manufactured to further redistribute wealth upwards to the rich. According to Rob Johnson, senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, America does not have an acute problem with default anytime in the next 15-20 years. Meanwhile in order to increase America’s debt ceiling, President Obama is making concessions to the Republicans who control the American Congress, such as budgetary cuts to social security programs.
The Murdoch Chronicle: Follow TV critic/humorist Marvin Kitman on Rupert Murdoch
Reader Supported News: Carl Gibson, Pay Your Taxes, Murdoch.
“If you had only paid a 6% tax rate over a 4-year period, accumulated $7 billion in offshore profits not subject to US taxes, had over 150 accounts in tax-haven countries like the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, and used the money from your tax dodging to buy another company, you’d be wanted for tax evasion and money laundering. But for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, that’s business as usual.”
Afghanistan:
Gareth Porter, IPS: Ex-PM Says Taliban Offer Talks For Pullout Date
KABUL, Jul 28, 2011 (IPS) – The Taliban leadership is ready to negotiate peace with the United States right now if Washington indicates its willingness to provide a timetable for complete withdrawal, according to a former Afghan prime minister who set up a secret meeting between a senior Taliban official and a U.S. general two years ago.
They also have no problem with meeting the oft-repeated U.S. demand that the Taliban cut ties completely with Al-Qaeda.
Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai, who was acting prime minister of Afghanistan in 1995-96, told IPS in an interview that a group of Taliban officials conveyed the organisation’s position on starting peace negotiations to him in a meeting in Kabul a few days ago.
Finnish Bomb Suspect Arrested
Finnish police have arrested an 18-year-old man after searching his home and finding items that can be used to make explosive devices. Police said Thursday they were tipped off after finding 10 kg of ammonium nitrate fertilizer from Poland addressed to the suspect. They said they have not found any connection to the Norway bomb and gun attack in which an anti-Islam extremist killed 76 people on July 22.
Federation of American Scientists Fears More To Come: Anders Breivik’s Manifesto Predicts Violent CBRN Attacks
(WASHINGTON DC) A preliminary analysis of Anders Breivik’s 1500 page treatise —2083: A European Declaration of Independence— concludes that the nature of his attacks, compounded with the extraordinary content of his manifesto, raise important questions. His treatise predicts greater acts of terror and destruction than those visited upon Norway on July 22nd.
• Brevik made claims that he is in league with extremist cells and that some of these co-conspirators “are already in the process of attempting to acquire chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear materials.”
• Brevik was motivated and capable of credibly pursuing low-end CBRN attacks—specifically those likely to result in mass effect as opposed to mass destruction
Lawyer Bob Fitrakis on New Evidence of 2004 Stolen Election in Ohio
In the new court filing in the King-Lincoln-Bronzeville case, instead of us and others being dismissed as “conspiracy theorists,” people can make up their own minds. They can look at the architectural map showing how J. Kenneth Blackwell, then-Ohio Secretary of State, allowed private contractors to outsource the Ohio 2004 presidential vote count on election night to a private company, SmarTech, in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
…Also, the contracts signed by Connell’s company and SmarTech can be read in the filing for the first time. This isn’t ancient history. It is state of the art vote theft. It is tied directly to Karl Rove and partisan Republican IT operatives. It could happen in Ohio again, it could happen anywhere in the country. It appears to have just happened in Wisconsin.
Pro-Publica, The Anthrax Case
“A federal judge has blocked, at least temporarily, a Justice Department attempt to back away from court admissions that appeared to undercut previous FBI’s assertions that an Army researcher was responsible for the 2001 anthrax attacks,” report Greg Gordon, Mike Wiser and Stephen Engelberg. In an order issued earlier this week, U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Hurley said the government must “show good cause” before he will allow it to change the original filing.
New Film From South Africa
If you are interested in learning more about South Africa and the pressures on its poorest people, see Oliver Schmitz’s brilliant film Life, Above All. I saw it a the Lincoln Plaza cinema in New York yesterday and was blown away by its intimate look at the realities most Americans have no idea about. The film was feted at Cannes. It is a feature but with a documentary feel.
Here’s the description: “Just after the death of her newly-born sister, Chanda, 12 years old, learns of a rumor that spreads like wildfire through her small, dust-ridden village near Johannesburg. It destroys her family and forces her mother to flee. Sensing that the gossip stems from prejudice and superstition, Chanda leaves home and school in search of her mother and the truth. LIFE, ABOVE ALL is an emotional and universal drama about a young girl (stunningly performed by first-time-actress Khomotso Manyaka) who fights the fear and shame that have poisoned her community. The film captures the enduring strength of loyalty and a courage powered by the heart. Directed by South African filmmaker Oliver Schmitz (Mapantsula; Paris, je t-aime), it is based on the international award winning novel Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton.”
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About Danny Schechter
Danny Schechter is an Emmy award winning journalist, television producer and independent filmmaker who also writes, blogs and speaks about media issues.
His latest film is PLUNDER The Crime Of Our Time.
Mr. Schechter is NOT the Godfather of Soul.
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