Obama Signs Unemployment Bill

The unemployment extension bill has finally been passed, and signed by President Obama.

Checks Are Coming: Obama Signs Unemployment Bill

Checks coming soon: Obama signs hard-fought extension of long-term jobless benefits

Federal checks could begin flowing again as early as next week to millions of jobless people who lost up to seven weeks of unemployment benefits in a congressional standoff.

President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law a restoration of benefits for people who have been out of work for six months or more. Congress approved the measure earlier in the day. [...]

At stake are up to 73 weeks of federally financed benefits for people who have exhausted their 26 weeks of state jobless benefits. About half of the approximately 5 million people in the program have had their benefits cut off since its authorization expired June 2.

They are eligible for lump-sum retroactive payments that are typically delivered directly to their bank accounts or credited to state-issued debit cards.

Elephant Poo Déjà Vu

Hasn't this country already suffered enough harm from their crap?

Seeing the Elephant

William Rivers Pitt:

The Republican Party has become a preposterous farce, dominated by the likes of Sarah Palin and Michael Steele. The Tea Party movement is basically nothing more than a Trojan Horse filled with hard-core GOP base members whose views on everything from religion to the constitution to freedom of choice is not shared by roughly 75% of the general population.

They are the Taliban of American Christianity, and the only reason they have gotten so much ink is because the national press corps likes to take the easy way out whenever possible. Add to this the fact that the Tea Party has shot the GOP in the foot several times already by running off electable Republicans and nominating the cast from One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. [...]

If people need a reminder, one is readily available. We are, of course, in the middle of a gut-twisting recession that a lot of smart people believe is about to get worse again. The response of the GOP and the far right, of course, is to offer up a repackaged version of trickle-down Reaganomics that would, if enacted, char the economy to cinders. Not to worry, because the very rich would get theirs, but the rest of us would wind up standing in soup lines and selling apples to stay alive.

If people need a specific reminder, they can look to the obnoxious drama that has been unfolding in congress over the last several weeks. Democrats in the Senate have been trying to extend unemployment benefits to millions of Americans who desperately need help. Senate Republicans have filibustered the extension of these benefits at every turn, insisting that these benefits be paid for by either tax hikes or spending cuts. This view is shared by virtually every Republican in the Senate.

But wait, there's a solution right in front of them: the bloated, unaffordable Bush-era tax cuts for rich people are about to expire, and the GOP is in a tizzy. Democrats want to keep those tax cuts in place only for people making up to $200,000-$250,000 a year, and dump the tax cuts for anyone making more. This would generate billions in revenue that could pay for, among other things, extending unemployment benefits for Americans who have been screwed out of their jobs and homes by Bush-era economic policies.

But no, says the GOP, we have to keep those tax cuts as they are. Their desire to make sure unemployment benefits are paid for does not extend to making sure these Bushian tax cuts are paid for. If Senate Republicans get their way, the unemployed will get screwed and the super-wealthy will keep getting pornographically huge slices of revenue we absolutely cannot afford to give them. As it stands, the GOP's filibuster of these benefits is already screwing the people, and if the Republicans were in the majority, well, we've read this script before.

Been there. Done that. Didn't work.

GOP: Bad Drivers

Bad driving isn't the only problem the GOP has. Refusing to admit and accept responsibility, and working towards fixing what they've messed up are more problems they won't work on.

Remarks by The President at DCCC Dinner

St. Regis Hotel
New York, New York
May 13, 2010

"After they drove the car into the ditch, made it as difficult as possible for us to pull it back, now they want the keys back.

"NO!

"You can't drive. We don't want to have to go back into the ditch. We just got the car out."

Obama: GOP Drove The Country Into A Ditch. 'Now They Want The Keys Back'



tpmtv

"...it would have been nice to get a little help from the other side of the aisle, just once in a while. You would have thought at a time of historic crisis that Republican leaders would have been more willing to help us find a way out of this mess -- particularly since they created the mess."

Piles Of Crap

Senate Subcommittee Investigating Financial Crisis Releases Documents on Role of Investment Banks

April 24, 2010

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released several exhibits that will be among those discussed on Tuesday at the fourth of its hearings on the causes and consequences of the financial crisis.

The exhibits are available at this link.

Using Goldman Sachs as a case study, the April 27 hearing will focus on the role of investment banks in contributing to the worst U.S. economic crisis since the 1930s, resulting in the foreclosure of millions of homes, the shuttering of businesses, and the loss of millions of American jobs. The Subcommittee, whose Chairman is Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and whose Ranking Republican is Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has conducted a nearly year and a half investigation into the 2008 financial crisis.

“Investment banks such as Goldman Sachs were not simply market-makers, they were self-interested promoters of risky and complicated financial schemes that helped trigger the crisis,” said Sen. Levin. “They bundled toxic mortgages into complex financial instruments, got the credit rating agencies to label them as AAA securities, and sold them to investors, magnifying and spreading risk throughout the financial system, and all too often betting against the instruments they sold and profiting at the expense of their clients.” The 2009 Goldman Sachs annual report stated that the firm “did not generate enormous net revenues by betting against residential related products.” Levin said, “These e-mails show that, in fact, Goldman made a lot of money by betting against the mortgage market.”

Goldman Executives: "No Regrets" for Deals That Accelerated Crisis

One of the testier exchanges thus far was between Sparks of Goldman and Levin. It surrounded one of the offshore deals Goldman peddled called "Timberwolf," which included securities backed by subprime mortgages that were most at risk if the housing market dropped.

Goldman documents show that the firm's sales force was told to make selling Timberwolf a priority. In 2007, Goldman sold about $300 million of Timberwolf securities to a hedge fund that collapsed later that year. A senior Goldman executive later described the deal as follows: "boy that timeberwof (sic) deal was one shitty deal." According to the subcommittee, 94 percent of the securities in the deal were from other offshore deals.

The hearing room then erupted in laughter — low titters at first, and then bigger laughs — as Levin repeatedly asked Sparks about the "shitty" deal and the e-mail.

Levin asked: Did you tell your clients that "this was a shitty deal?"

"Your top priority was to sell that shitty deal."

"Should Goldman be trying to sell a shitty deal?"

Levin later grilled Viniar about the e-mails or comments in which Goldman employees referred to specific deals as "crap" or "shitty" or "junk." What did he think about such disparaging comments — and how would clients feel about them? Levin asked.

MSNBC video [5:58]

Levin grills Wall Street execs

April 27: Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mi., quotes from an email as he repeatedly refers to "a shitty deal" while grilling bank executives during a hearing on Goldman Sachs' activities during the housing crisis.

Is Goldman Sorry It Sold A Security One Employee Described as #$%&*?

Throughout the hearing, Levin kept returning to the argument that Goldman should have told clients its opinion of the security. Goldman should also have told clients if it stood to profit if the security performed poorly, Levin suggested.

The Goldman execs basically disagreed with Levin. They argued that when Goldman sold mortgage securities, it was not acting as an adviser to clients. Instead, they said, the company's role was to sell clients whatever they wanted to buy.

"The investors that we're dealing with on the long side, or on the short side, know what they want to acquire," CEO Lloyd Blankfein said. "I don't think our clients care, or that they should care," what Goldman's opinion is, he said.

It went back and forth like this for hours this afternoon, with variations on the theme. But there was one break in the monotony. It came when Levin was questioning David Viniar, Goldman's CFO:

LEVIN: And when you heard that your employees, in these e-mails, when looking at these deals said, God, what a s***y deal, God what a piece of crap -- when you hear your own employees or read about those in the e-mails, do you feel anything?

VINIAR: I think that's very unfortunate to have on e-mail.

'God, What a Piece ofCrap'

Viniar's answer told us all we need to know about the banal but profound immorality of Goldman's business culture: "I think that's very unfortunate to have on e-mail."

A flabbergasted Levin cut in with "On e-mail? How about feeling that way?" and Viniar, apparently moved by jeers of ridicule from the audience, conceded "I think it is very unfortunate for anyone to have said that in any form." Pressed further by Levin asking, "How about to believe that and sell them?" the CFO finally conceded, "I think that's unfortunate as well." To which Levin responded, "That's what you should have started with."

But Goldman's executives didn't start with any such moral qualms or end with them, as was made clear in the testimony of Goldman Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein that followed. Blankfein basically pleaded ignorance about the company's scams, making it clear that offering the details of such products was below his pay scale. That would be $68 million in 2007, the highest in Wall Street history, when Goldman's bets against its customers paid off so handsomely. What was clear is that his job was to ensure the company's immense year-end profitability with no questions asked about the methods used. "I did not know" he replied when asked about the details of the company's trades, and at another point he added, "We're not that smart." Then there was "I don't have any knowledge" on selling short, and finally, "We did not know what subsequently occurred in the housing market."

The Senate tries to get the bankers to admit they sold America a pile of crap.

The question at the center of Tuesday's Senate hearing on the role of investment banks in the financial crisis: Are Goldman Sachs bankers criminals or merely a big bunch of jerks?

Put another way: Did the employees of Goldman Sachs deliberately mislead investors by failing to disclose that one of the people creating a certain mortgage-backed security was also betting against it, as a new lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges? Or did they simply recommend mortgage-backed securities to investors, then turn around and bet against them—essentially betting against their own investors?

Investment Banks And The Financial Crisis, Directors
C-Span, Apr 27, 2010: Senate Committee Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs

Related:
Computerized Front-Running: Another Goldman-Dominated Fraud

Also called High Frequency Trading (HFT) or "black box trading," automated program trading uses high-speed computers governed by complex algorithms (instructions to the computer) to analyze data and transact orders in massive quantities at very high speeds. Like the poker player peeking in a mirror to see his opponent's cards, HFT allows the program trader to peek at major incoming orders and jump in front of them to skim profits off the top. Note that these large institutional orders are our money - our pension funds, mutual funds, and 401Ks.

When "market making" (matching buyers with sellers) was done strictly by human brokers on the floor of the stock exchange, manipulations and front-running were considered an acceptable (if morally dubious) price to pay for continuously "liquid" markets. But front-running by computer, using complex trading programs, is an entirely different species of fraud. A minor flaw in the system has morphed into a monster.

Jobs For Main Street

In a 217 to 212 vote Wednesday evening, the House passed the Jobs for Main Street Act (H.R. 2847) "to create or save jobs here at home with targeted investments ($75 billion) for highways and transit, school renovation, hiring teachers, police, and firefighters, small business, job training and affordable housing – key drivers of economic growth that have the most bang for the buck. These investments are fully paid for by redirecting TARP funds from Wall Street to Main Street."

Deficit Economy

Despite Republican claims otherwise, a new analysis released today by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that Bush-era policies are what caused our economic downturn and huge deficit.

The Source of the Deficit Mess

Steve Benen, Washington Monthly:

Republican lawmakers and far-right activists have suddenly discovered, after eight years of dramatic fiscal irresponsibility, that they care deeply about deficit reduction again. Worse, they're absolutely convinced that President Obama and those free-spending Democrats are responsible, putting a terrible burden on future generations.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report today, analyzing the existing deficit in detail, and what factors created it. Here's hoping Republicans and Teabaggers are paying attention. [...]

This isn't just about pointing fingers for self-satisfaction or partisan vanity. It's important for the public to realize who's responsible, in large part because it's important for the public to weigh policymakers' credibility. If GOP lawmakers embraced policies that are almost entirely responsible for the deficit those same lawmakers are now complaining about, it's a relevant detail.

And on a related note, for those who believe deficit reduction must be a top national priority -- a group that's apparently pretty large -- it's important to recognize which party's proposals are effective in improving, or not, the fiscal landscape.

President Obama will deserve plenty of blame over the course of his presidency, but holding him responsible for getting us into this budgetary mess doesn't make sense.

President Obama Largely Inherited Today’s Huge Deficits

Economic Downturn, Financial Rescues, and Bush-Era Policies Drive the Numbers

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

Special Series: Economic Recovery Watch

Some critics charge that the new policies pursued by President Obama and the 111th Congress generated the huge federal budget deficits that the nation now faces. In fact, the tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the economic downturn together explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years (see Figure 1).

The deficit for fiscal 2009 was $1.4 trillion and, at an estimated 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), was the largest deficit relative to the size of the economy since the end of World War II. Under current policies, deficits will likely exceed $1 trillion in 2010 and 2011 and remain near that figure thereafter.

The events and policies that have pushed deficits to astronomical levels in the near term, however, were largely outside the new Administration’s control. If not for the tax cuts enacted during the Presidency of George W. Bush that Congress did not pay for, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that began during that period, and the effects of the worst economic slump since the Great Depression (including the cost of steps necessary to combat it), we would not be facing these huge deficits in the near term.

While President Obama inherited a bad fiscal legacy, that does not diminish his responsibility to propose policies to address our fiscal imbalance and put the weight of his office behind them. Although policymakers should not tighten fiscal policy in the near term while the economy remains fragile, they and the nation at large must come to grips with the nation’s deficit problem. But we should all recognize how we got where we are today.

continue reading...

Analysis Behind and Beyond Government Economic Reporting

See the charts at Shadow Government Statistics:

Inflation, Money Supply, GDP, Unemployment and the Dollar

Galbraith Interview

Bill Moyers interviews James K. Galbraith, son of John Kenneth Galbraith, about the economic downturn that the Bush administration and its minions knew was happening and chose to ignore.

From the transcript:

Bill Moyers: Suppose that your father were around today, and '08 had happened, the Great Collapse. Do you think he might have said, "Aha. Told you so?"

James Galbraith: He did say, "I told you so," in this book, in--

Bill Moyers: THE GREAT CRASH?

James Galbraith: --in THE GREAT CRASH. He talked about the conditions under which it would recur, and he said, "No one can doubt that the American people remain susceptible to the speculative mood, to the conviction that enterprise can be attended by unlimited rewards in which they, individually, were meant to share. A rising market can still bring the reality of riches. The government preventatives and controls are ready. In the hands of a determined government, their efficacy cannot be doubted. There are, however, a hundred reasons why a government will determine not to use them."

And that's the point about the crisis, is that it could have been prevented. The people in authority two, three, five years ago, knew how to prevent it. They chose not to act, because they were getting a political and an economic benefit out of the speculative explosion that was occurring.

Bill Moyers: You mean, the people who could have prevented the dam from breaking were too busy fishing above it, and reaping big rewards to want to fix the crack in it?

James Galbraith: Sure. The Federal Reserve, in particular, knew that the dam was cracking. Alan Greenspan, I think, almost surely knew this, and chose to wait until it had washed away.

* * * * *

Bill Moyers: I want to show you something that resonates with what you're saying. I've been looking at it for a while now. It's an excerpt from a speech that Franklin Delano Roosevelt made in 1944, in the midst of war, a speech that not many people have seen, but take a look at this excerpt.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: In our day certain economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. A second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, or race, or creed. Among these are: The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines throughout the nation. The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation. The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living. The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom, freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad.

The right of every family to a decent home. The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health. The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment. The right to a good education. All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward in the implementation of these rights to new goals of human happiness and well-being. For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.

Bill Moyers: What do you think about, listening to that?

James Galbraith: It's wonderful. It's splendid. It defined what we should have achieved in the last 50 years and in many ways, what we still need to achieve.

It's a test. It's a test for the country as a whole, as to whether we have the capacity to state and pursue a truly public purpose. We've come through a generation where we have really denied the existence of a common good or a public purpose. And I think we've recognized that that path leads to collapse, the collapse that we've seen. And that the way out is to somehow reestablish for ourselves this vision of what we really could be.

PBS video here.

Legislation to Return Excessive Bonuses Passed In House

Bonus Recoupment

As a result of extraordinary abuses of the public trust by companies rewarding employees with excessive compensation while receiving billions in taxpayer assistance, today the House passed legislation (HR 1586) to hold companies, including American International Group (AIG), accountable for the bonuses that were paid to their executives. After receiving more than $170 billion in taxpayer funds, AIG paid $165 million in retention payments to executives – most of whom have mismanaged their company into near bankruptcy. The top recipient received more than $6.4 million and more than 73 of these executives were paid over $1 million in retention bonuses. After receiving their retention bonuses, at least eleven recipients left the company.

Edward Liddy is the GOP Hypocrite of the Week for killing bonuses at Allstate but not at AIG

Boy, when it comes to the Wall Street Bailout/AIG scandal, just point a finger and find a hypocrite. What about all the Republican senators who were opposed to restricting bonuses and now are outraged -- we tell you -- just outraged! [...]

But the hypocrisy for Liddy, as we pointed out in a BuzzFlash Editor's Blog on March 19 is that he knew he could hold the AIG execs who helped destroy our financial system accountable -- and deny their bonuses -- without legal repercussions because he did it at Allstate, according to the Chicago Tribune.

...The agents sued. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued -- twice. Liddy fought those lawsuits, and Allstate has won at every stage.

And none of the Allstate agents helped crater an economy by selling snake oil default swops and derivatives beyond what AIG could cover so that it would increase their bonuses.

Moral Decay Swirls Around Banking Bailout: Time for a Criminal Investigation

Those who stole billions in 401(k)s of innocent victims were rewarded handsomely, rarely needing to break the laws their lobbyists purchased. [...]

Instead of taking bonuses, the culprits should be taking perp walks.

I'm not just referring to the swindlers in the Financial Products Subsidiary of AIG who devised and sold those insurance policies on derivatives that brought the world economy to its knees. They do seem deserving of a special place in hell, and presumably the same divine power that according to Scripture labeled usury a high moral crime and threw the money-changers out of the temple will consider that outcome.

However, the enablers are the AIG leaders who, as New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo revealed Tuesday, signed those bonus contracts a year ago to reward the very people "principally responsible for the firm's meltdown." That's a cool $44 million divided among the top 10 shysters, even though the depth of their chicanery was well known to top management.

As Cuomo noted in a letter to Rep. Barney Frank: "The contracts shockingly contain a provision that required most individuals' bonuses to be 100% of their 2007 bonuses. Thus, in the spring of last year, AIG chose to lock in bonuses for 2008 at 2007 levels despite obvious signs that 2008 performance would be disastrous in comparison to the year before."

The lame argument that those bonus-baby employees needed to be retained in order to sort out the mess they had created was also shot down by Cuomo, who revealed after his office's initial investigation had pierced AIG's veil of secrecy that "[e]leven of the individuals who received 'retention' bonuses of $1 million or more are no longer working at AIG, including one who received $4.6 million."

Wacky Weekend

Summers: ‘It Would Be A Manifest Abdication Of Responsibility’ If Obama Didn’t Walk And Chew Gum

Earmarks only became prominent when GOP took House in 1995, so Republicans are the party of earmarks

Earmarks and the People's Business

Meghan McCain proves there are new young faces for the GOP, but the new ideas aren't there

Make Your Republican Race to the Bottom Picks Starting Today

Republican Districts Lead the Way in Foreclosures - and Bailout Need

Mark Sanford puts SC unemployed at risk, turning down $700 million in federal stimulus bill

McConnell Bumbles When Asked For GOP Alternative To Obama’s Budget: We’re ‘Getting Down In The Weeds’

McHenry's game is classic Republican Destruction Politics: bring down support for Democrats

Jindal Budget: Let's Un-employ MORE Folks!

After string of gaffes, Steele ‘has called a halt to his television appearances.’

There's Mythmaking, Then There's Propaganda

Karl Rove Falsely Claims He Never Threatened Anybody Who Disagreed With Him

Cheney on Limbaugh: ‘I love him.’

Cheney’s Excuse For Economic Failures Under His Watch: ‘Stuff Happens’

What about all the attacks under Cheney's watch?

Five Alarmer: Seymour Hersh Says Assassination Squad Reported Directly to Dick Cheney

Bush policy institute ‘unlikely’ to ‘emphasize’ the Iraq war.

Dear Republicans: Your toe tags are ready

There is such a plethora of alleged criminality in the G.W. Bush Administration that the mind boggles.

Truth or Reconciliation? Bush's Family of Secrets

They are really coming. Official investigations of the George W. Bush Administration are on the way.

Conservative Class Warfare

Conservatives Are Blind, Deaf and Dumb to Class Warfare

Are right-wingers really claiming that the U.S. has never been riven by class resentment? Get out your history books.

Jim Hightower, Creators Syndicate:

David Brooks was upset. You can tell when this conservative and rather-professorial columnist for the New York Times gets upset, because his words almost sag with disappointment -- you can practically hear the tsk-tsks and the heavy sighs in each paragraph. When most commentators on the right see things that offend them, they get snarling mad; Brooks gets sad.

What saddened Brother Brooks this time was Barack Obama's budget. In a recent column, he noted that the $3.6 trillion total is "gargantuan" (we columnists are paid to make keen observations like that), but what really upset him was that the tax burden to finance universal health care, energy independence and other big initiatives in Obama's budget "is predicated on a class divide." [...]

Leaving aside the fact that such things as health-care coverage for every American and a booming green energy economy will benefit the rich as well as the rest of us, Brooks' column was echoing a prevalent theme in all of the right's attacks on Obama's economic proposals: Class War! Indeed, the Times' columnist even suggested (sadly) that Obama's budget was fundamentally un-American: "The U.S. has never been a society riven by class resentment," he sniffed.

Whoa, professor, get a grip! Better yet, get a good history book (Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" would be an eye-opening place to start). While our schools, media and politicians rarely mention it, America's history is replete with class rebellions against various moneyed elites who act as though they're the top dogs and ordinary folks are just a bunch of fire hydrants. [...]

If Brooks & Co. are so isolated as to imagine that our citizenry harbors no class resentment, they should go to any Chat & Chew Cafe across the land and listen to the locals express their innermost feelings about today's greedheaded Wall Streeters who wrecked our economy for their own enrichment. There is a fury in the countryside toward these plutocratic purse-snatchers who are being allowed to keep their exalted executive positions, draw fat paychecks and get trillions of dollars in bailout money from common taxpayers. People don't merely resent them, they yearn for the legalization of tar-and-feathering!

Yet, Brooks and his political brethren are now bemoaning the plight of the plutocrats, assailing the "redistributionists" who talk of spreading America's wealth. In his column, Brooks cried out for a conservative vision of "a nation in which we're all in it together -- in which burdens are shared broadly, rather than simply inflicted on a small minority."

Do we look like we have suckerwrappers around our heads? Where were these tender-hearted champions of sharing throughout the last 30 years, when that same "small minority" was absolutely giddy with redistributionist fervor -- redistributing upward, that is?

With the full support of their political hirelings from both parties, this minority created tax dodges, trade scams, corporate subsidies, deregulation fantasies, financial hustles, de-unionization schemes, bankruptcy loopholes and other mechanisms that turned government into a redistributionist bulldozer, shoving wealth from the workaday majority into their own pockets.

Brooks might have missed this 30-year class war, but most folks have been right in the thick of it and are not the least bit squeamish about supporting a national effort to right those wrongs. After all, even a dog knows the difference between being stumbled over -- and being kicked.

Corrupt Deals And The Financial Meltdown

An article well worth reading:

$5 Billion in Lobbying for 12 Corrupt Deals Caused the Multi-Trillion Dollar Financial Meltdown

Robert Weissman, Multinational Monitor:

What can $5 billion buy in Washington?

Quite a lot.

Over the 1998-2008 period, the financial sector spent more than $5 billion on U.S. federal campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures.

This extraordinary investment paid off fabulously. Congress and executive agencies rolled back long-standing regulatory restraints, refused to impose new regulations on rapidly evolving and mushrooming areas of finance, and shunned calls to enforce rules still in place.

"Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America," a report released by Essential Information and the Consumer Education Foundation (and which I co-authored), details a dozen crucial deregulatory moves over the last decade -- each a direct response to heavy lobbying from Wall Street and the broader financial sector, as the report details. (The report is available at: www.wallstreetwatch.org/soldoutreport.htm.) Combined, these deregulatory moves helped pave the way for the current financial meltdown.

Here are 12 deregulatory steps to financial meltdown:

1. The repeal of Glass-Steagall ...
   
   
2. Off-the-books accounting for banks ...
   
   
3. CFTC [Commodity Futures Trading Commission] blocked from regulating derivatives ...
   
   
4. Formal financial derivative deregulation: the Commodities Futures Modernization Act ...
   
   
5. SEC removes capital limits on investment banks and the voluntary regulation regime ...
   
   
6. Basel II weakening of capital reserve requirements for banks ...
   
   
7. No predatory lending enforcement ...
   
   
8. Federal preemption of state enforcement against predatory lending ...
   
   
9. Blocking the courthouse doors: Assignee Liability Escape ...
   
   
10. Fannie and Freddie enter subprime ...
    
    
11. Merger mania ...
    
    
12. Credit rating agency failure ...
    

The Going Gets Tougher, The Weird Gets Weirder

Bad, Bad, Bad Jobs Report: Unemployment at 8.1 Percent

Econopocalypse: Unemployment Climbs Even Further

1/3 Of America Is Crazy: They Think Their Jobs Are Safe

Solis: "Destructive Cycle of Job Loss"

Biden to AFL-CIO: Employee Free Choice Act Key to Rebuilding Middle Class

Fox News characterized not-so-secret Biden appearance at AFL-CIO meeting as "secret"

Emerging Research on Health Care as a Human Right: They Get It

Limbaugh the Ultimate 'Straw Man'

Limbaugh runs with homeless-cell phone smear

Democrats blast Limbaugh for comment on Kennedy

It's like deja vu all over again

Are Republicans Suddenly Concerned About Deficits or Do They Just Want to Embarrass Obama?

The Dittohead Party: Why the GOP Is Screwing Itself

Michele Bachmann: A Wordsmith She Ain't

Joe Scarborough Health Care Plan: Socialism and Murder

Scarborough baselessly claimed "we're spending ... $2 trillion this year ... just to pay interest on the national debt"

Michael Steele Rejects Calls for His Resignation: 'Not Me Baby!'

Steele takes down his blog.

50 Signs That Conservatives Are Screwed

Dept. Of Pots And Kettles

Republicans Living a Fairy Tale, Ayn Rand Style

The repugs lie about Obama raising taxes

$250,000 Lie - The Truth Behind The Tax Increase

When is a Tax Cut for 98% of Us Considered a Tax Increase?

Newsweek: Obama? Yes! GOP? Thanks, But No Thanks!

GOP: Friends Of Fail

They are failing as good and respectable Americans, and they are failing the best interests of our country. Must there be a complete and utter failure of the GOP before they finally realize that this is one country and we're all in it together, and that we all need to work together for the common good? If they ever do finally wake up, I think it will belong under the miracle category. In the meantime, it is really sad to watch this party's continued crazy march to the bone yard.


Rick Santelli's rant was a preplanned right-wing scam to torpedo Obama's economic agenda

Rick Santelli is a traitor to this country and he should be fired immediately along with all those that participated in this fraud. The rest should be exposed and made to answer for this charade.

Eric Cantor Tries To Distance Himself From Rush: ‘I Don’t Think Anyone Wants Anything To Fail’

Limbaugh reiterated his hope that Obama fails ... But Limbaugh is not alone. In fact, as ThinkProgress has documented, the list of right-wing conservatives who hope Obama fails is growing. Just this week, the following conservatives joined Limbaugh:

Rick Santorum: “Absolutely we hope his policies fail.”

Tom DeLay: Asked whether he wants Obama to fail, DeLay responded, “Well, exactly right. I don’t want this for our nation.”

Michelle Malkin: “Yes, I hope that fails.”

On Friday, Limbaugh conceded, “The dirty little secret…is that every Republican in this country wants Obama to fail, but none of them have the guts to say so; I am willing to say it.” According to Limbaugh, Eric Cantor must be one of those Republicans without the guts to say what he really feels.

Limbaugh at CPAC: It’s Not Over Until the Fat Man Rants.

Rushbo cemented his GOP "party leadership" role as the unapologetic spokesman for the "Mad as Hell" crowd of the top 1% of wealthy Americans who see Rushbo as a Gift for God because of his ability to lure low income white Americans into thinking that they are victims of big government, minorities, and Feminism. And while Limbaugh has played the Pied Piper to the hilt, the ultra wealthy continue to pickpocket and ruin the economic opportunities for Rush's "lowbrow audience" that gets its feeling of victim hood daily stoked by the hedonist (and with which sex remains open to question), Oxycontin illegal drug use, and $40 million dollar man. [...]

In reality, conservative no longer means what it did before the right wing boiled up into a juggernaut after the defeat of Barry Goldwater. As Limbaugh tossed out "red meat" right wing jihad proclamations like confetti during Mardi Gras (eat your heart out Bobby Jindal), he touched the emotional core of modern "conservatism": greed and F*ck anyone who’s not wealthy.

Limbaugh misquotes Constitution while arguing Obama policies are ‘bastardization’ of Constitution.

During his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday, Rush Limbaugh got some of his loudest applause when he declared that President Obama’s policies represent a “bastardization of the Constitution.”

Rush is to GOP as OxyContin is to Rush

...Rush Limbaugh is like a drug to the GOP: he makes them feel better about themselves.

But his advice for them is truly terrible. The last thing they need to do is stick with the same old ideas that have failed this country for the past 8 years, and the second-to-last thing they need to do is spend all their energy trying to destroy the Democratic Party.

The way to win is by helping the country win. Rush Limbaugh's strategy for victory is to have the country fail. That's stupid, and it will lose every time.

From Ditto to Dodo! ...Now with half the nausea!

At first I felt a twinge of fear, some doubt and confusion, but then listening to him... (I know that thought is nauseating, but hold your nose if you must) and listening to his audience's reactions... I began to experience relief, joy and then yes... LAUGHTER!

Limbaugh actually calls for NO compromise on conservative ideology. And you have to wonder: "How in the hell does he expect to win politically in 21st century multi-cultural America with that shit?"

And then it hit me!

...he doesn't know...

His audience never got the memo...!

The Ditto-heads have no clue...!

They actually think that they still represent most of Americans!!

CPAC's popularity contests tell us a lot about the Right

And for some perspective on how completely out of synch with the rest of the American public they are, remember this:

RNC Chair Michael Steele on Limbaugh: ‘Yes, it’s incendiary. Yes, it’s ugly.’

Last night, RNC Chairman Michael Steele appeared on D.L. Hughley’s show on CNN and disputed Hughley’s statement that Rush Limbaugh “is the de facto leader of the Republican Party.” “I’m the de facto leader of the Republican Party!” Steele insisted. Steele admitted that Limbaugh’s shtick is “incendiary” and “ugly”:

STEELE: So let’s put it into context here. Let’s put it into context here. Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh, his whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it’s incendiary. Yes, it’s ugly.

Transcript: More

‘Fair and Balanced’ Fox News allows only Republicans to debate Obama’s budget.

...on Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace welcomed Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) to discuss President Obama’s budget plan — with not a single congressional Democrat or White House representative present to defend it.

Kyl’s Earmark Hypocrisy: Requested $118 Million For Earmarks In Budget, But Railed Against Them In Stimulus

According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) requested $118 million in earmarks in fiscal year 2008. On Fox News Sunday yesterday, host Chris Wallace pressed Kyl about his earmarks, saying it is an example of how Republicans have “lost credibility on the issue of spending restraint.” “Who are you to lecture the Democrats on spending?” asked Wallace.

Vanden Huevel rips Rove: ‘It’s laughable for you to talk about fiscal responsibility.’

It’s laughable for you to talk about fiscal responsibility from someone who helped plunge this nation into trillion dollars of debt, through tax cuts for the very rich and a war we never should have fought. And also starving the beast. Starving government has been a Republican role in terms of government.

What Are These 'Better Solutions'?

Newt Gingrich told the CPAC audience the other day, "It's not our job to be the opposition party. It's our job to be the 'better solutions party.'" Sounds good to me. Let's hear some of those "better solutions."[...]

Half of the agenda -- six of the 12 -- are proposals for more tax cuts.

The Insanity and Depravity of the GOP

It is stunning to think with our country in a deep recession, the GOP is taking a political path to self-incineration grounded forever in tax cuts, mainly for the richest Americans. Yet, this is the path they continue to follow. However, they have become wackier and wackier now that we have seen the new leaders of the GOP, which include Joe The Plumber, Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, and crazier-than-a-loon Eric Cantor. These folks are their rising stars? [...]

Yet astonishingly, after the November 4 election in which Republicans lost the presidency and seats in both houses of Congress, the Republican response to the gargantuan economic collapse that they created is to repeat over and over the bromide that tax cuts are the answer to the economic catastrophe.

After Bush left office, he bequeathed to Barack Obama a $1.2 trillion budget deficit, two wars, soaring unemployment, near-total collapse of our banking system, escalating bankruptcies and home foreclosures, and Wall Street Ponzi scheme swindlers who had free run of investors' money that they squandered on get-rich financial contrivances such as derivatives, junk bonds, hedge funds, and credit default swaps (even the name sounds dishonest). [...]

We're only a little over one month into Barack Obama's administration, yet the level of incendiary rhetoric and heightened call for violence by the Republicans is only in its incipient stages. It's not enough for the GOP to just say "no" to the stimulus bill. Their real and dangerously treasonous agenda is to advocate armed rebellion, disorder, and sabotage of our government. [...]

Now, the GOP is threatening to take their frenzy of physical force to a domestic level.

I like the Robin Hood Metaphor

Several Republican talking heads have compared Obama's budget to Robin Hood.

It's amazing that they would choose this comparison since it is so apt, but they haven't followed it to its logical conclusion. If Obama and the Democrats are Robin Hood, that would make Republicans the Sheriff of Nottingham, protecting the corrupt and the powerful from the weak and the downtrodden. Robin Hood was merely reclaiming what had been stolen from them.

And isn't it ironic that chest-beating Republicans heap praise and admiration, as we all should, on those in the armed forces who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country, their lives, yet whine like little girls about giving up another three or four percent of their net income to save not only the U.S., but the world?

This Is the 'Vision' Republicans Want for Americans

If comments like these are called loving your country and patriotic -- We're totally doomed.

For my part, I'm praying Americans will shun this type of cheer leading and instead help the current administration to make their vision work.

No matter how you 'get there', every politician claims to want the same thing in the end. They all want a booming economy, a safe and secure nation, peace on earth, energy independence and a environmentally safe earth.

For those reasons alone, we should 'all' want our leadership to succeed.

Economy Heads Towards Depression

The NY Times is finally reporting what economic blogs have been saying for months: this "recession" will be deep and long. And at some undefined subjective point, a "deep recession" becomes a Depression.

Buzzing Around Cuckooland

Daily BuzzFlash Minute for February 27, 2009:

Repuglicans are living in an imaginary “Leave It To Beaver” world! It shows where their growth and development were stunted and stopped; it shows how old-fashioned and delusional they really are! Their actions reveal they do not have a sense of reality!!! First they brought us everlasting preemptive war, then came “torture” and the shredding of the Constitution and then they sent the economy to hell -- and now they say they are the “Party of solutions”! Frankly they are a party filled with the insanity of deranged men and women who live in a fantasy world!!!! They are the Nest of Cuckoos!

97,913,200 reasons Bobby Jindal is our GOP Hypocrite of the Week

Bobby Jindal's made-up Katrina tale was just standard right-wing MO

Bobby Jindal's Fishy Katrina Story:

Bobby Jindal, darling of the "new" Grand Old Party, keeps taking hits after his disastrous national debut. [...]

The only problem with that story? It contradicts what Sheriff Lee said in a 2007 interview [...]

Today, Governor Jindal's office was forced to admit the story is not true [...]

Right. They didn't mean to insinuate the Governor was actually there. I mean, who are you going to believe....them or your lying ears (and the transcript)?

Further discussion can be found in turneresq's diary.

Reagan, Jindal and the moral lesson of Katrina:

Katrina was a call for an active, big government, competently executed, efficiently organized, run by experts who both understand the complicated nature emergency management and believe in their responsibility to do good works for the country. In the end, this is what the moral of the Katrina story is all about.

There was a time when Republicans, conservatives, and libertarians used to at least pay lip service to the notion that the federal government must respond energetically in a time of crisis. A natural disaster, like say a hurricane, would offer the perfect example of the right time for government action. This is in part what made Jindal's homily about the failure of government so ill conceived.

A small lie from a big liar:

Okay, admittedly this isn't the biggest deal: FOX News reporter Carl Cameron falsely claims that Bobby Jindal skipped the Conservative Political Action Conference because he had to attend to "state business," when in truth, Jindal was actually on vacation with his family in Florida -- at Disney World.

But it is a perfect example of how FOX lies about all things, big and small, to make the Republican Party look good.

GOP's 'Disneyland to Las Vegas' lie has deeper consequences

Jobless Angry at GOP Governors for Playing Politics over Unemployment Funds

Obama’s Energy Budget Begins To Repair Bush’s Toxic Legacy

Obama Budget Lays Groundwork For Reducing Health Care Costs

Obama Health Budget: It’s A Boat Load Of Money, But Good Health Reform Demands Even More:

Details are slowly leaking about the health care provisions in Obama’s budget and so far, the news sounds promising. The administration plans to set aside $634 billion over 10 years for reforming the health care system, lower costs and expand coverage.

Obama’s budget includes family planning funding protested by Republicans during stimulus debate.

Carl Rove condemns Obama's budget: 'This is going to do long-term fiscal damage':

I'm not sure any member of the Bush administration should be making this kind of speculative charge. Especially considering that their budget-making in fact did inflict long-term fiscal damage.

Matthews Slams Issa for Using the Term "Democrat Party"

Kay Bailey Hutchison’s Bizarro World: ‘Every Major Tax Cut In History Has Created More Revenue’

Rep. Hensarling: Recessions are just ‘a part of freedom.’:

This morning on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, a caller asked Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) how Republicans would solve the current economic crisis. He replied by insisting that the best cure was more tax cuts, and said that recessions are simply “part of freedom” ...

Limbaugh Responds To Sanford: The ‘Hell We Don’t’ Want Obama To Fail! Just Need ‘The Guts’ To Say So

McConnell: ‘Who wants to hang out with guys like Paul Krugman…when you can be with Rush Limbaugh!’

CPAC and the Dumbing Down of the Republican Party

Obama to nix so-called "conscience rule":

Remember Bush's little parting Christmas gift, in the form of issuing a rule that allowed health care workers to refuse to participate in treatments or procedures that would violate their "personal, moral or religious beliefs?" Remember that?

Well, it's a new day, folks:

Obama administration may rescind 'conscience rule'
Officials say the move seeks to clarify rules for health care workers

Talk about divide, confuse, conquer and destroy ... between the budget and this move, social conservatives and tax-cut freaks must be feeling like a whole hive of confused bees thwacked out of their comfort zone and buzzing around trying to figure out where to sting first.

Obama Addresses Congress

Full text and video available at Huffington Post

What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.

Now, if we're honest with ourselves, we'll admit that for too long, we have not always met these responsibilities - as a government or as a people. I say this not to lay blame or look backwards, but because it is only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we'll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament.
. . .
So the recovery plan we passed is the first step in getting our economy back on track. But it is just the first step. Because even if we manage this plan flawlessly, there will be no real recovery unless we clean up the credit crisis that has severely weakened our financial system.
. . .
And to respond to an economic crisis that is global in scope, we are working with the nations of the G-20 to restore confidence in our financial system, avoid the possibility of escalating protectionism, and spur demand for American goods in markets across the globe. For the world depends on us to have a strong economy, just as our economy depends on the strength of the world's.

As we stand at this crossroads of history, the eyes of all people in all nations are once again upon us - watching to see what we do with this moment; waiting for us to lead.

Republican Circus Circuit

The Strange Workings of the Neo-Cons Minds

Republicans: Evil, or Stupid?

The Hill, UPI uncritically reported false GOP claim that Dems steered recovery money to ACORN

The Republicans' Next $2.7 Trillion Lie

War Profiteers angry over Wall Street Bailout

Republican Governors: All Hat, No Cattle

At Least 22 Lawmakers Have Touted The Money From The Recovery Package They Voted Against

Former Bush administration officials are having trouble finding work.

Rick Santelli said the economy was healthy right before it crashed

McConnell Peddles Old GOP Lie About Small Business Taxes

Dear Rush Limbaugh, Why Are You Hell-Bent On Protecting A Radio Market That Limits Free Speech?

The dark circus of Limbaugh, Santelli and Keyes

10 Things You Can Do When You are Pi**ed off at RWTR Before the FD

On Capitol Hill, Money is the Root of All Hypocrisy

Generational Theft? Sorry, That Money's Already Been Stolen

America's Municipal Meltdown: It's Tough Times for Troubled Towns

10 Dirty Tricks Wall Street Con Artists Will Pull to Keep the Rip-offs Going

Krugman: Who Will Stop the Economic Pain?

Frank Rich: How Far Down the Economic Hole Are We Headed?

GOP Tax Mantra: Same Old Song and Stance

R. J. Matson

Ending the Hidden Agenda Behind Tax Cuts

Joe Brewer, Perspective:

Something as simple as a metaphor can mean the difference between shared prosperity and widespread suffering.

It's time to tell the truth about tax cuts. This phrase dominates political discourse and is coughed out every time a conservative public figure opens his mouth. It is treated like the basis of sound reasoning, yet no one points out what should be obvious - that "tax relief" and "tax cuts" are just code words for destroying the capacity of government to serve the public. […]

Now is the time to nip their bankrupt idea about taxation in the bud. The way to do it is simple. Take their reasoning to its logical conclusion and see what happens if it is applied to the real world. We can test the conservative belief about taxation against our own and decide what's best by looking at the outcomes.

First, we'll need to be very clear about just what conservatives and progressives mean by taxation. Then we can apply these understandings to the world to see their consequences. (The insights that follow come from linguistic analysis of cognitive "frames" that shape political thought.)

Taxation as Conservatives Understand It

I've already alluded to an interesting metaphor that helps make sense of conservative thought about taxes, which I'll call Taxes Are a Burden to make it explicit. The understanding of taxation that follows from this metaphor can be seen in this story:

Hard-working Americans are in need of some tax relief. Years of mismanagement by tax-and-spend liberals have taken money out of the hands of working people and put it into bloated government programs that serve special interests. We need to cut taxes, return fiscal responsibility to government, and put money back in the hands of taxpayers who know best how to spend it.

This perspective is grounded in two beliefs: (1) The world is comprised of individuals; and (2) People are inherently bad and must learn right from wrong through self-discipline. I like to call this the "Me First" perspective because it assumes that people must help themselves before thinking about others. It can be summarized with the declaration, "You're on your own!" The Me First perspective assumes that any assistance from the community would be "coddling" or "spoiling" us. This claim is asserted as truth in the conservative worldview.

Taxation as Progressives Understand It

Progressives have a different understanding of taxation that can be expressed through a variety of metaphors: Taxes Are an Investment, Taxes Are Membership Dues, Taxes Are Pathways to Opportunity, Taxes Are Infrastructure and Taxes Are a Duty. (Read more about progressive taxation in "Progressive Taxation: Some Hidden Truths") Reasoning that emerges with these metaphors can be seen in this progressive story:

Our great nation was founded on a promise of protection and opportunity. Through our shared wealth, pooled together by taxation with representation, we have invested in the public infrastructure that makes possible the creation of new wealth. We have a sacred trust to keep this promise alive throughout our lifetimes, expand it as we are able, and pass it along to our children.

This perspective is grounded in the beliefs that (1) Individuals are influenced significantly by our communities; and (2) People are inherently good and benefit from cooperation with others. I like to call this the "People First" perspective because it assumes that people must help each other in order to enhance their ability to help themselves. It can be summarized with the declaration, "We're all in this together!" The People First perspective assumes that we are greater than the sum of our parts and that new opportunities emerge when we make wise investments with the common wealth we share. […]

The Hidden Agenda Exposed

The progress of our nation is being held hostage by a malicious metaphor. Treating taxation as nothing more than a burden is tantamount to declaring that citizenship is nothing more than getting all you can for yourself … everyone else be damned. Conservative elites have undermined the responsibilities we have to one another to advance their agenda. They are fully committed to crafting the world in their image, as we've seen all too clearly these last eight years and throughout the current debate about economic recovery under the Obama administration.

I say enough is enough. Let's call this tactic out for what it is. People are hurting in every corner of the land and they're looking for help where they haven't dared to look for quite some time - in the service of our representatives in the federal government. Conservatives will try to convince us that our hardships are caused by excessive government. The truth is that we are suffering under excessive conservative ideology of governance, which is a very different beast. They continue to claim that we can't get ahead because we're overtaxed. This claim is absurd! […]

What can we do to stop the conservative agenda? Call it out for what it is. When someone says, "People need tax relief," respond by letting them know that "We really need to invest in one another." Make it clear what the consequences of tax cuts really are - the destruction of our mechanisms for protecting and empowering one another. And let's stop taking their language for granted just because everyone is doing it. […]

The time is ripe for moving beyond the era of misguided individualism. Let's take the momentum we've built in the last few years and place the United States back on a course that resonates with our deeply held values - caring for one another, expanding freedoms to the marginalized, and recognizing that our shared prosperity is at the core of our success as a nation.

"Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society." ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Stimulus Bill Will Be Signed Today

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

The House:

On February 13th, Congress passed the Conference Report of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, H.R. 1, to save and create jobs, get our economy moving again, and transform it for long-term growth and stability. The bill now goes to the President. This landmark legislation is the first dramatic new investment in the future since the creation of the interstate highway system a half century ago. On January 28, the House passed the initial American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, H.R. 1, working from priorities shared with President Obama.

The Senate:

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111th Congress - 1st Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate

Vote Summary

Question: On the Conference Report (Conference Report )

Vote Number: 64 Vote Date: February 13, 2009, 05:29 PM

Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Conference Report Agreed to

Measure Number: H.R. 1 (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 )

Measure Title: A bill making supplemental appropriations for job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and State and local fiscal stabilization, for fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes.

Vote Counts: YEAs 60 NAYs 38 Not Voting 1

OpenCongress Summary:

This is the economic stimulus package that was passed by Congress on Feb. 13, 2009. The final version is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to cost $787 billion over the 2009-2019 period.

The two portions of the final agreed-upon bill text can be downloaded here in .pdf form (Div. A - appropriations and Div. B - tax provisions).

Countdown: Limbaugh excels at complaining

(At reading a .pdf, not so much.)

Feb. 16: Worst Persons: With the many items Republicans are complaining about regarding the stimulus bill, Rush Limbaugh has added the computer format to his list of belly aches. Watch in Countdown’s Worst Person in the World.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

3:34

The Audacity Of Nope:

Rep. George Miller summed up disgust at Minority Leader Boehner (R-PermaTan) and the GOP strategy of just saying "no":

Today when this country cries out to help this economy, to help America's families who are unemployed, who are losing income, losing jobs, President Obama stepped forth with the American Recovery Act. The Republicans step forth with saying 'no.' It was reflective when Minority Leader John Boehner's instructions to his colleagues to oppose the bill, even as President Obama was traveling the Hill to meet with them and discuss this bill with them, they decided in advance of that meeting they would say 'no.' Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia has said that 'no' is going to be the Republican strategy on this economic crises. 'No' is going to be their strategy, he said. The Republican national spokesman of late, radio host Rush Limbaugh, added that 'no is the strategy by asserting on the air he wants President Obama to fail. Does he understand if President Obama fails, that the American families lose income, they lose their jobs, and the crises continues? And here we see the repeating of 'no'.

Good to know that the GOP is against any progress, any solutions...anything at all that might get us out of the mess we're in. Can you say disingenuous?

Limbaugh's remarks expose him for what he is:

It's all about politics.

Just more of the usual Washington struggle for power and glory.

Only it isn't. When you look at the state of the world economy, indeed in how much we have lost in just four months, the fact is we can't afford to wait four years to fix things. [...]

So whether he realizes it or not, when Limbaugh says he hopes Obama fails, he is hoping for an economic disaster of near-apocalyptic proportions.

In my book, that makes him a traitor to the American people, at least those who aren't in the top 1 percent.

Senate Passes Stimulus Bill

The Senate has passed H.R. 1 (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) in a 61 - 37 vote.

Measure Title: A bill making supplemental appropriations for job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and State and local fiscal stabilization, for fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes.

Economic Stimulus: That WAS The Whole Point

Lesson To Be Learned From the Stimulus Wrangling: The GOP Will Be Known By That Which They Destroy.

Clearly, it's hard for Republicans to change. All those GOP Congresspeople watched the election returns, and they also heard Barack Obama's inaugural speech. That's when he pointed out to them, "the ground has shifted." He explained that Americans "have chosen ... unity of purpose over conflict and discord [and] ... the time has come to set aside childish things." President Obama offered to "extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist." (Well, that line ostensibly was directed at foreign leaders. But many fists are still clenched in Washington.)

What Does The ‘Gang Of Moderates’ Gain By Slashing Education Funding In The Stimulus?:

This compromise entails making devastating cuts to the proposed education funding in the bill, a significant portion of which is aimed at low-income, disadvantaged students. A draft of their proposed cuts includes:

- 50 percent of Title I funding, which goes to disadvantaged students ($6.5 billion)

- 50 percent of Head Start funding, which goes to low-income families ($1 billion)

- 50 percent of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funding ($6.75 billion)

- 100 percent of state education stabilization funding ($24 billion)

Update: The Nelson and Collins gang is also proposing cuts in funding for Food Stamps, firefighter and police hiring, and child nutrition.

New ‘Gang of Moderates’ cuts target women and children again:

Eliminations:

Head Start, Education for the Disadvantaged, School improvement, Child Nutrition, Firefighters, Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard, Prisons, COPS Hiring, Violence Against Women, NASA, NSF, Western Area Power Administration, CDC, Food Stamps

Senate Dems Compromise Away Best Parts of Recovery Plan:

In order to get the votes of two Republican (Maine's Susan Collins and Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter) and perhaps another (Mainer Olympia Snowe) that were needed to undermine the threat of a GOP filibuster, Reid surrendered $86 billion in proposed stimulus spending. In doing so, the Democrats agreed to cut not just fat but bone, and to warp the focus and intent of the legislation.

The Senate plan is dramatically more weighted than the House bill toward tax cuts (which account for more than 40 percent of the overall cost of the package). This is despite the fact that there is a growing consensus -- among even conservative economists and policy makers -- that tax cuts will do little or nothing to stimulate job creation in a country that lost almost 600,000 positions in January alone. [...]

The Senate's increased emphasis on tax cuts comes at the expense of the aggressive spending in key areas that might actually get a stalled economy moving.

Spending for school construction that would actually have put people to work -- while at the same time investing in the future -- has been slashed. (Almost $20 billion slated for school construction is gone.)

Money for Superfund cleanup, Head Start and Early Start child care, energy efficiency initiatives and historic preservation projects -- all of which create or maintain existing jobs -- has been cut.

Supplemental transportation funding has been hacked.

The House's proposal to help unemployed Americans maintain their health benefits has been chopped down.

Axed, as well, has been $90 million that was to have been allocated to plan for and manage a potential flu pandemic that economists and public health experts worry could shutter remaining businesses, bring the economy to a complete standstill and throw the country into a deep depression.

The bottom line is that, under the Senate plan:

* States will get less aid.

* Schools will get less help.

* Job creation programs will be less well funded.

* Preparations to combat potential public health disasters -- which could put the final nail in the economy's coffin -- will not be made.

In every sense, the Senate plan moves in the wrong direction.

At a time when smart economists are saying that a bigger, bolder stimulus plan is needed, Senate Democrats and a few moderate Republicans have agreed to a smaller, weaker initiative.

Senate centrists’ plan = 600,000 fewer jobs:

The Senate “centrists,” led by Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan Collins (R-NE), are cheering the fact that they’ve cut $86 billion in spending from the economy recovery package. “Spending for the states and education took the biggest hit, compared with the House bill. State fiscal stabilization funding was cut back $40 billion, school construction dropped $16 billion, and a proposed $3.5 billion line for higher education construction was zeroed out.”

Here's a list of what got cut by the Senate centrists.

The Nelson-Collins War On Green Jobs


Merrill Lynch Economist: Real Unemployment Rate is 13.9%:

When that amount of slack in employment is taken into account, Mr. Rosenberg found that the ‘real’ unemployment rate has actually climbed to 13.9%, an all-time high for the period he studied, and up from 13.5% in December and 11.2% a year ago.

Supporters Of $1.3 Trillion Bush Tax Cuts In 2001 Now Call $900 Billion Recovery Plan Billion ‘Too Much’:

Such objections are indeed ironic coming from some of the greatest advocates for President Bush’s $1.35 trillion tax cut package in 2001.

Unspinning the Right: the Rich Don't Really Bear Most of the Tax Burden:

Based on the cold facts of statistics and percentages, the poor are paying a greater share of their incomes.

Plunder and Blunder; How the 'Financial Experts' Keep Screwing You


John Cole: I really don’t understand how bipartisanship is ever going to work when one of the parties is insane.

Yup. It's literally impossible to be meaningfully and productively bipartisan with a party of crazies (Tom Coburn, Jim Inhofe, Jim DeMint, Jim Bunning--what's with all the crazy Jim's?), liars (Graham, Grassley, Thune, Chamblis), egomaniacs (McCain, Hatch, Kyl, Sessions) and idiots (pick 'em).