Category: Economy

WILTON, CT-Michael Chandler looks out the windows of his sun room, past the swimming pool and guest cottage, to the wide backyard where his two children are playing with their pet dalmatian, Scotty. At a time when Americans everywhere are sharing the struggle of a once-in-a-generation recession, Chandler can’t help but wonder how he and his family fell through the cracks.

“It’s just not fair,” said the 49-year-old real estate developer and grandson of oil baron Duncan Chandler. “Everyone is worrying about an uncertain future and coming together to express their outrage, and I don’t get to be a part of it.”

Staring out at the ornate garden where workers were installing a large marble fountain, Chandler sighed and added, “It’s like I don’t even exist.”

According to the multimillionaire, the past 18 months have been incredibly difficult to endure, as he is often left feeling excluded from an American populace that includes millions who struggle every day to make ends meet. Chandler, who watched helplessly as his enormous fortune easily withstood the market freefall, has been “completely left out” of one of this nation’s most significant cultural moments.

“Everybody’s suffering,” Chandler said. “And here I am, not scrimping and saving at all, with no demoralizing periods of financial hardship, or frantic weeks living paycheck to paycheck. What about me, you know? Where’s my struggle?”

“Everyone’s supposed to get a fair shake at this misery,” Chandler added. “Even incredibly wealthy people of privilege like me.”

[snip]

“Every month they announce tens of thousands of layoffs,” Chandler said, “and every time, I’m not one of them. No matter what I say or do, it’ll never be me. My only memory of this historic point in time will be the prosperity I have always known.”

Added Chandler, “Dear God, when’s this recession going to end?”

more…

  I know that the GOP hasn’t taken over the House yet, but at the same time the markets are considered to be “forward looking indicators” by respected economists.

 Given that, let’s look at what has happened since the huge Republican victory in November.

What I have copied over the fold is a declaration issued recently by a self organized group of French workers, a statement of solidarity and strategy in the face of the global neoliberal push (putsch?) for “austerity”.  They call for global resistance based on the following principles:  

– We can take control of our own struggles and organise collectively.

– We can discuss together openly and fraternally, we can speak freely with each other.

– We can control of our own discussions and our own decisions.

Can the workers of the world unite?

  Merriam-Webster named its Word of the Year for 2010 based on the number of searches. That word is the 14th century noun “austerity”.

 If you watched 60 Minutes the other night, you would have heard New Jersey’s Republican governor Chris Christie tell us how we have no choice but to slash wages and benefits and lay off thousands of school teachers, police, and firefighters in every state.

 You will also hear lots of economists use the phrase “competitive”, as in “the American economy needs to be more competitive in the world”. What they really mean is that we need to accept lower wages and a lower standard of living. If we do this then it will be “good for us”, that there is economic value in this.

 What is really going on is a set of false choices that even the world’s financial leaders don’t believe.

So here’s the deal. Grab your bootstraps and pull as hard as you can. Elbow everybody else out of the way, and climb over any mountains of bodies in your way. Or stomp them if they won’t be reasonable and just die.

Do unto others before they do unto you, and you too can make the big time. Baby.

The top of the mountain waits for you! The shining city on the hill where the streets are paved with gold and you’ll never have to look another whining starving emaciated worthless shiftless lazy ass bum in the eye again and all the beautiful people look like they just walked off the cover of a magazine.

God loves you and he wants you to live a rich life in heaven on earth.

Believe, my friends. Believe, and you too can live the American Dream. Jeezus loves you too and this is God’s Country my friends!

Give up your whining socialist fantasies and screw the suckers. Be a real self made man or woman. The brass ring is there just waiting for you to grab. You can do this!

Buck up, straighten up, and fly right. If you miss it you have only yourself to blame for being so worthless. The world doesn’t owe you a living. You have to get out there, grab a live baby, and rip it’s heart out with your teeth if you want to live the blessed life of a fulfilled human being.

The only winners are those who die with the most toys. You know this in your heart of hearts, and everyone else is a loser. Just fertilizer. Shit. Made to serve you. The ground upon which you strut in silver slippers, my friends.

It’s get better on the flip…

   Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has raised the ghastly specter of Reaganomics.

 “If we cut taxes for the wealthy, while maintaining massive military spending in support of two wars, then the new Republican Congress will be empowered to cut social programs in order to reduce the deficit,” Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., a longtime friend and sometimes critic of the president, said in a statement. “So it will be a choice between cutting programs for the poor, children, the unemployed, the uninsured and veterans or allowing deficits to pile up. That was President Reagan’s strategy: A ‘starve the beast’ plan of lowered taxes and increased military spending that would force Congress to make deep cuts in program for the most vulnerable.”

 Is Obamanomics really Reaganomics? And is that a bad thing?

  Many people think that Reagan was one of our greatest presidents, and Reaganomics was his defining legacy.

 This is a good place to stop and examine exactly what Reaganomics was and what it means. Most importantly, let’s look at the raw numbers so no one can confuse us with spin.

  We’ve heard a lot about how the economy has created one million jobs since the end of the recession in 2009, but until recently we haven’t heard anyone break down what those jobs are like.

  That changed last week when David Stockman appeared on CNBC.

Stockman interview begins three minutes in

 “The jobs that they count every month and people get excited about are really part-time jobs,” he said.

I’ve been accused of specializing in oversimplification. And of ranting. So be it. This is probably a prime example of those twin failings.  

Yesterday, Bernie Sanders spoke in the Senate for 8 1/2 hours to remind us that while millions of people in the United States are suffering, others are doing quite well, thank you.  Those doing spectacularly well represent 1 or 2 per cent of the population.  The rest of us, well, we’re not doing so great.  Those who are doing so well, of course, don’t need the government’s assistance, but they’ve bought and sold this government, so it’s only natural that their investment in politicians should be rewarded in the current tax deal even if there is no rational reason for doing so.  These people have power and money and they get what they want, even if they don’t need it; everyone else, not so much.

“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”

– Mohandas Gandhi

 The global mega-banks may control our politicians, but they don’t control the public.

All around the world the recently subservient serfs are causing all sorts of trouble for the ruling oligarchy.

 That trouble could start as early as tomorrow.

 Bank managers across France were waiting a little nervously for the start of business on Tuesday after the former football star Eric Cantona urged his compatriots to stage a bank run and trigger a revolution.

 Around 40,000 people in France have pledged to withdraw their money from the banks tomorrow. Another 9,000 in UK have pledged to do the same.

  You can find the organization’s web site at bankrun2010.com.

 Of course this is just one of the many grassroots revolts underway in the world.

Someone please diary this info. I do not have time and this is really huge

chart

Banking giants leaned heavily on Fed in crisis

* Fed releases details of loans made during crisis

* Barclays took largest loan from broker-dealer window

* Citigroup, BofA sought support well into spring 2009

* Korea, Harley Davidson borrowed commercial paper (Recasts, adds details, analyst reaction)

By Pedro da Costa and Rachelle Younglai

WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N) Citigroup (C.N) and other big U.S. banks repeatedly sought help from the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis, according to data on Wednesday that showed just how precarious their situation was at the time.

Many of the firms now boasting solid profits had to rely on funding from the U.S. central bank, which essentially acted as the glue holding the financial system together in the tumultuous months that followed the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.

Citi tapped Fed window 278 times during crisis

Goldman tapped Fed window 84 times during crisis

  A few days ago Bonddad basically did a call-out diary to all skeptics on the economy. He called everyone who doubted the strength of the recovery a “Zombie Bear” (i.e. unthinking pessimist).

  He then went on to unload nearly three dozen charts.

 The one thing I could never accuse Bonddad of is an inability to read a chart. He’s got that down. My criticism of Bonddad has always been something else – he never asks “Why?”

 Since Bonddad would count me as a skeptic, and since Bonddad felt it necessary to call me out, I feel obligated to respond in kind.

  Most people who have been following the news about Ireland are aware of the austerity measures, such as middle-class tax hikes, the lowering of the minimum wage, and massive layoffs. But the most outrageous action the government is taking concerns pensions.

 Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin attacked the intention to use the National Pension Reserve Fund to help provide a further €10 billion in further capital for the banks. In total, the banks could end up getting another €35 billion if their losses are bigger than expected.

 It’s a case of blatant theft. The government is stealing from the working class to give to the wealthy bank creditors.

 Ireland is not alone.