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Why does it seem that there in so much corruption in Washington, and why are people like Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner able to set WH policy and continue raiding the Treasury and robbing you blind? Why do the House and the Senate seem to bend over backwards kowtowing to Wall Street and Banking Industry fat cats?
“They Frankly Own the Place”
by Matt Renner, Editor and Washington reporter for Truthout.
What happens when a powerful senator goes up against an industry which has received roughly four trillion dollars in taxpayer support to stave off complete collapse? The senator loses.
Or at least that seems to be what happened last week when an amendment, which would have given bankruptcy judges the ability to adjust or “cram down” mortgages to help borrowers avoid foreclosure, was not able to garner the 60 votes needed to overcome a self-imposed invisible filibuster, which continues to haunt the Democrats in the Senate.
A procedural step to cut off debate and move to vote on the amendment was defeated by a 45 to 51 vote on the floor of the Senate, with 12 Democrats crossing the isle to vote with a unified Republican Party.
After the vote, Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin, the second highest ranking Democrat and author of the legislation, broke a taboo of the Senate with a charge of institution-wide corruption.
“And the banks – hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created – are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place,” Durbin said.
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We pay for it. They use it. The Senate is the MOU’s bitch whore.
Athens Greece.
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The place meaning no only the US but the world.
I caught a little of the hearing on C-Span — Durbin’s pitch, voting, etc.
My blood pressure shot up, as I listened to the smug bastards deciding whether or not they’d give a few “crumbs” to struggling Americans. They with their healthcare, their wonderful homes and pension security — that we PAY for. Of course, the “extra” monies derived from the lobbyists makes it all the better for them. And it’s not enough that we bailed out the f..king banks to boot — in short, we paid for what THEY did — Americans are NOT to derive anything out of their tax-paying dollars, only the assurance of continuing to pay them. Everything is being done to fight healthcare for Americans, too. And there’s talk of reducing Social Security payments and making people work longer years, and there’s some that want to “gut” Social Security — take the funds for “fiscal responsibleness.” The drive continues to push out the so-called “middle-class” and the elderly.
Taxes paid by Americans are proportionately much higher than those of highly-paid CEO’s or other individuals and corportions, because they are given all kinds of tax breaks and afforded many “loopholes.” The average Americans have NO such breaks afforded them.
Everything, but everything, is so askew as to be nearly unfathomable! One thing about it all, though, is the more joblessness and homelessness there is, the less taxes are being paid.
money can buy.