SUNDAY OF SHAME: TALKS UNDERWAY, THE DEBT CEILING DRAMA, ACT THREE

SUNDAY OF SHAME: TALKS UNDERWAY, THE DEBT CEILING DRAMA, ACT THREE–NOW THE DEAL

July 30th, 2011 - by: danny

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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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