(Lincoln was a liberal... :D - promoted by poligirl)
On this 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, I am reminded of some very intriguing ideas, that he brought to the National Dialog. As one of our greatest Americans Presidents, his words and ideas are certainly worth remembering, heeding, and perhaps even studying.
Here's an intriguing example, of Lincoln's likely Progressive leaning:
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed".
-- U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864
(letter to Col. William F. Elkins)
Ref: The Lincoln Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY)
Corporations have been enthroned?
Kind of sounds like Lincoln was the 1st Champion of Labor!
(on banking, sunshine, and regulation... - promoted by poligirl)
I'm sure most people here know who Paul Volcker is but have you heard of the Group of Thirty and the 18 Recommendations released prior to the inauguration called Financial Reform: A Framework for Financial Stability?
I know that economics is a boring topic. I keep nodding off over the keyboard myself. But restoring confidence in the U.S. market is all about our being able to pay our bills again. Those recommendations are vital to the continuity of an economy in our nation. Guidelines that will have an enormous impact on the future of this nation and how we live.
Below the fold is a diary that first explains some of the challenges these reforms face, followed by an explanation of Mr. Volcker's guidelines. Then there is a look at the government that protected Americans compared with the one that did not. There is also an objective look at the present government and Mr. Volcker followed by the forces that stand against real banking reform.
Please read it and please recommend this diary because if we don't have Paul Volcker's back then perhaps nobody does and business as usual will continue.
On Thursday an economists' forum named the Group of Thirty released a report called Financial Reform: A Framework for Financial Stability.
The report addresses flaws in the global financial system and provides 18 specific recommendations to: improve supervisory systems by redefining the scope, boundaries, and structure of prudential regulation; enhance the role of the central banks; improve governance practices and risk management; address pro-cyclicality via capital and liquidity standards; enhance accounting practices; strengthen the financial infrastructure; and increase coordination internationally.
Paul Volcker, the head of President-elect Barack Obama's special economic recovery advisory board was the lead author.
"The issue posed by the present crisis is crystal clear," said Volcker. "We [must] restore strong, competitive, innovative financial markets to support global economic growth without once again risking a breakdown in market functioning so severe as to put the world economies at risk."
(economic food for thought... - promoted by poligirl)
In most of the recent economic downturns, we've been concerned about inflation. In fact, for years, decades, we've had pretty consistent inflation. With inflation, the advice we hear is to put your money in gold, or strong stocks, or something reliable which will grow at at least the rate of inflation. Cash or money in a savings account loses value.
In most of the recent past, governments have been concerned with keeping inflation in check as the economy expands. If it gets too steep, we could descend into chaos like Zimbabwe, or Wiemar Germany, with stacks and stacks of bills having little to no value. Wheelbarrows full of twenties to buy a loaf of bread.
This is a new Tuesday evening event, replacing the former Rolling Lounge. I'll still host the occasional RL when something transportation-y seems appropriate, but it seems that Reality Bites way more often!
So, traveling down this highway of life in the ole US of A, let's gather some reality around us to fend off the wingnuts, whackos, and others with their fingers in their ears singing "la la la la la la..."
Reality isn't always the most fun or even the most popular, and in politics, it is certainly not always easy to discern. Still, like a good swift kick in the pants, reality has a habit of trumping the alternative so it's a good idea to keep an eye out for it.
As is our norm around these parts, there are 2 rules:
Reality, not conspiracy theories, reign - make a claim, expect to back it up with something other than "some say..." or "I read it somewhere..."
(if we'd only listened to Brooksley Born in 1997... - promoted by poligirl)
I'm getting sick of writing about this whole Milton Friedman faith based economic theory. I'm weary of bleating about the Ayn Rand cultists and how they have ruined my country. (Read my essays on Sheldon Wolin's "Democracy Inc: Managed Democracy and Inverted Totalitarianism and on Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine".) When will we ever learn that "the smartest guys in the room" are dangerously close to actually being morons. How many times have I as a woman rolled my eyes at utter stupidity coming out of male bosses' mouths? How many insufferable conversations did I have sit through before I learned to say, "Enough, you are speaking gibberish."
Turns out that another one of those uppity women was annoying the "three marketeers", Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, and Lawrence Summers back in the 1990's.
Katrina Vanden Heuvel has the story at The Nation.com and alternet.org. "The Woman Who Could Have Prevented this Mess Was Silenced by Greenspan, Rubin, and Summers." The woman's name is Brooksley Born who 10 years ago was the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. http://www.alternet.org/workpl...
I wrote a lengthy diary on dailykos.com November 13, 2007 with this title. It's based on Milton Friedman's belief that Keynesian economics is a mongrel. Friedmanites wanted no part of "mongrel Keynesian compromise"; "an ugly hodgepodge of capitalism" where crazy ideas like state ownership of essential services were working quite well for most, but not making the rich into the super-rich. It was annoying. But mostly it was unclean and impure. It was messy; not neat and tidy. For a great many people order is what they prefer. But when taken to a neurotic, even psychotic extreme, we get Utopians and purists who lack either the capacity or the will to get into other's shoes. These are people who will not compromise in what I call their science of selfishness.
Hereis a section of that diary that talks about South Africa. Last year I thought there might be a connection. http://www.dailykos.com/story/...
Was there a further coup when the Congress took over in January, 2007? Did they cut a backroom deal like the Congress did in Bolivia in 1985? OR South Africa offers another possibility. Were our Congress critters,in the euphoria of victory, concentrating so hard on gaining and distributing power that they missed the big picture? Did they not get that they were being hoodwinked by first class snake oil salesmen?
(more interesting thoughts on the economy, Part II... - promoted by poligirl)
Robert Scheer calls it what it is "Financial Facism".
http://www.thenation.com/doc/2... In an article for The Nation, columnist Robert Scheer calls the "bail out" is akin to what Mussolini did in Italy. Mussolini called the merger of corporations and government, fascism.
Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., condemned Paulson's proposal as an effort to "take Wall Street's pain and spread it to the taxpayers." He added, "It's financial socialism and it's un-American."
He's wrong on that last point, for what is proposed is not the nationalization of private corporations but rather a corporate takeover of government. The marriage of highly concentrated corporate power with an authoritarian state that services the politico-economic elite at the expense of the people is more accurately referred to as "financial fascism." After all, even Hitler never nationalized the Mercedes-Benz company but rather entered into a very profitable partnership with the current car company's corporate ancestor, which made out quite well until Hitler's bubble burst.
Smell a rat if Congress approves the Paulson plan without severely curtailing CEO pay and putting a freeze on the mortgage foreclosures that are threatening to destroy the homes of millions of Americans.
(some interesting thoughts on the economy, Part I... - promoted by poligirl)
Dean Baker writes on TPMcafe.com http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsme... that the basic element in this crisis is "trust". These guys knew that this was a bubble. They knew that what they were doing was a huge Ponzi scheme. Alan Greenspan was being knighted by the Queen of England back when the non fundamentalist economists like Dean Baker were warning of the coming debacle. So now mistake after mistake later, none of these people in charge or the ones making millions off this meltdown should be listened to, let alone given money to spread around.
Unless the conditions are written in stone, for example specific rules that limit executive compensation using the same type of language that CEOs use when they sign contracts with their companies, there is no reason for the public to believe that they will get a fair deal in this bailout. The public should also demand that some genuine outsiders, representatives of labor, consumer groups and other non-Wall Street segments of society, have a direct oversight role in this deal.
Instead of seeing Obama surrounded by bankers like ex Fed chairman Paul Volker and ex Goldman Sachs now Citigroup former Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin last Friday, I wish Barack Obama had been huddled with Leo Gerard of the Steelworkers, James Hoffa of the teamsters, Naomi Klein author of "The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Wolfe, "The End of America" , Nomi Prins, "Other People's Money" and Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com.
Yesterday, former Congressman David Bonior held a press conference call to announce his return to the organization he helped found five years ago, "American Rights at Work". http://www.americanrightsatwor...
Executive Director Mary Beth Maxwell joined him in a very well attended conference call. As always, Congressman Bonior was chuck full of facts and historical perspective on the workers'rights movement. Most of the reporters' questions revolved around how Barack Obama will focus on workers' rights in his campaign and Bonior answered them clearly and directly while returning to his message of how he will be organizing to get the Employee Free Choice Act passed with a majority of workers rights advocates elected in 2008.
