Obama on the Precipice: The Ten Worst Things He Could Do When He Takes Over

It's All Going Down a Rat Hole ...

That "rat hole" is the trillions in toxic debt that will suck up up any signs of life the "Stimulus" might generate. The failure of the economy will diminish all Obama 's efforts, and no matter what the Republicans say, they want Obama to fail and fail badly.

There are over 150 trillion of unknown derivatives in Wall Street Banks and over 500 trillion spread around the financial system. No sane bank will take any risk whatsoever given that these pools of potential "financial weapons of mass destruction" ( Warren Buffet ) could implode and take the economy with them.

These derivatives are going bad as you read this, meaning more resources will be needed to re-capitalize, then re-re-capitalize banks to the tune if hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars.

Without a financial "Bank Holiday" any recovery plan is a plan built on sand. The "Stimulus" will be money and more importantly, credibility waisted. Without an economic stabilization, let alone recovery, Obama is destined for failure. An FDR Bank Holiday would scrub the banks' books so that banks wouldn't be afraid to lend to customers and just as importantly to other banks. Without the FDR Bank Holiday the economy sputters and chokes always finding a new lower level of activity while hundeds of billions if not trillions of dollars are thrown down a rat hole while the people go wanting for programs that work.

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half-white, half African

That sounds strangely racist.

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Changes will be slow in coming but they will come, naturally. No amount of anxiety or judgment will realize them any sooner. In what context does it serve progressives to define failure like conservatives? Successive progress is just that, successive and progressive. We would all do well to remember this as we endeavor to resolve the consequences so deliberately and methodically invited our way in the last 30 years. Yeah, it all started with Reagan so that it might rot with Dubya.
So can we stop this '2-4 year' crap? Give Peace a chance and some time. In the meanwhile, just breathe...

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Mistake I:
“Where Obama puts his money really matters. Sara Robinson writes, "It's got to be big. And it's got to be now. Anything too small -- or too late -- and the American economy will be at serious risk of stagnating the same way Japan's did in the 1990s."

Sorry but it isn’t Obama calling the shots (as if these Alternet pundits didn’t know). The Organized Corporate Crime Estate that bought and brought Obama to circus Washington are key malefactors that created the global financial crash. These are the very same parasite lowlifes that have written Obama’s script from day one.

To do real reform would mean transforming the system, not using it to loot and steal from the nation’s people the way Obama has urged his fellow Congressional stooges to do. Valid reform would mean abolishing the private Ponzi farce “Federal Reserve” Corp built to gut and extort America from its first day of operation.

Mistake II:
"We need to recall the reason we went to Afghanistan in the first place. … Our purpose was to deny the use of Afghan territory to terrorists with global reach. That was, and is, an attainable objective.”

This is the usual rubbish dressed up as phony 9/11 “war on terror” patriotism. (Remember 9/11? It’s still a coverup.)

The reason the U.S. went to Afghanistan is to protect heroin black ops profits and a tans-shipment point for Big Oil pipeline traffic. Also as a base in Eurasia to challenge Russia for (what else) Big Oil and strategic supremacy in the region. As for “Al Qaeda” it has been a cooked con job since it was kick-started by the CIA and ISI out of Pakistan.

The rest of this piece is about as weak and offensive as these 2 examples. Don’t have the time to bust them all. But I hope others do…

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95 bucks a day is what taxpayers are giving for the most part to private contractors to incarcerate persons suspected of being in this country illegally, these contractors in turn kick back money to supportive congress persons in the form of campaign contributions...

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But what is so shocking about the promotion of "clean coal" is that it only deals with part of coal's dirty legacy -- the burning.

Great article, guys. But please don't fall into the trap of imagining that "clean coal" does anything on the burning side either. Actually, it's the burning of coal that has the planetary consequences due to global warming from carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere. Not a single coal-fired power plant actually features carbon capture and storage (CCS). Even if CCS technology is developed, various studies show its costs would be prohibitive. For example, California regulators found that electricity from CCS would be 17 cents per kilowatt hour, versus 9 cents for wind and 13 cents for solar thermal. See CoalSwarm's roundup of comparative cost studies here. The cost problem is just for starters. Others include the sheer quantity of liquified CO2 that would have to be transported and storage, involving an entirely new pipeline and pumping infrastructure estimated to exceed the size of the current oil pipeline and pumping infrastructure. So why bother with fake "clean coal" when truly clean alternatives are also turning out to be cheaper?

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It's a fantastic list--but with one fatal flaw.

Item No. 1--stop Republican election fraud--is missing.

Earth calling Democrats. The Republican election-theft machinery is still in place. The system has not been fixed.

Mark Crispin Miller estimates that Obama's victory was cut in half by Republican gerrymandering, vote caging, vote suppression,vote challengeing, dirty tricks, and rigged machines.

We can't count on a landslide for every election. If we don't stop Republican election fraud, it'll be Jeb Bush for sure in 2012.

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I agree with almost all of these prescriptions, perhaps not in degree but in overall concept. I think, however, that Obama can squander an enormous amount of capital by backing off the war on drugs, even though the war as it is conducted now is absurd. He would alienate millions of people who manage their lives without illegal drugs, without a visible benefit to society. The problem with stopping the war on drugs, sensible as it may seem on one level, is that the result is just more people, mostly at the lower end of the scale, screwing themselves up and hurting others.

Let's say that smoking dope and possession of modest amounts are largely decriminalized-- what will be the impact on highway deaths, to name one eventuality? If the result is a 10% rise in fatal accidents, particularly among young people, the benefit of letting people trash their minds freely is not worth the cost to the rest of us.

My own view is that the average drug and alcohol abuser deserves what he gets and should be free to ruin his life if he wants. However, I don't want the dope smoking and alcohol abusing dregs of society screwing up my life.

The problem is similar to the argument that the drinking age should be lowered to 18 since the 21 year limit is the most widely overlooked, or abused category of law besides speed limits. Unfortunately, were the drinking age lowered, the result would be increased carnage on the roads and more pain and suffering among not-yet-quite grown ups and the people they impact.

The way to deal with the war on drugs is to stop using drugs. If you have a compelling need to smoke dope, (and to support the colossally evil Mexican drug cartels, by the way) then I frankly don't care if you get nailed and wind up in the slammer. I would rather pay to have you there than out driving around. The more morons are locked up, the fewer there will be messing up law-abiding people's lives and polluting the place with their imbecilic spawn.

One thing missing from this list of mistakes Obama could make to omit making a national commitment to long-term health. I am not in favor of giving full health coverage to unfit, obese, alcohol-addled smokers who spend all day stuffing their faces with cake, pop, and chips. People who are unhealthy by their own choice of destructive life style should have MINIMUM care and nothing more until they give up the alcohol, tobacco, and dope, stop eating sugar and grease, and lose enough weight to get their blood pressure and cholesterol down to some tolerable level. I would never pay for a knee replacement for a three hundred pounder who needs an electric scooter to make the rounds of WalMart's cookie aisle.

Obama should be talking about personal responsibility for everybody. That means responsibility for the 18 year old black gang member whose goal in life is to be the biggest gangsta on the block, and the 18 year old white kid in the privileged community whose goal in life is to stay stoned and do as little as possible of value or merit. I am talking about the simple-minded PWT spending her entire allowance on cigarettes, alcohol and lottery tickets, and the fully-employed suburbanite waddling out to his SUV from the tavern where he has cleaned up a bucket of fried chicken and a six pack, without even the nicety of wiping the grease off his ears.

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Just follow the money. Where does the AIPAC money go? Why did Wall Street dump tons of money on Obama? The recent pro-Israeli war vote by the new congress reveals that the Democrats are just as vicious as the Republicans. Read their excuses for ignoring the massacre taking place in Gaza: why do the vast majority of elected officials repeat Zionist lobby talking points? Why do they keep throwing away money to the banks? Why is Wall Street more important than the ordinary citizen?

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Since the creation of the CIA by Congress in 1947, the CIA grew quickly into a very powerful secret element of this government. President Eisenhower warned against the increasing power of the military-industrial complex. Bill Moyers Secret Government documentary aired on PBS in 1987 warned of this "secret government".

President Eisenhower would never have guessed that in the few years the CIA would move its operations onto United States soil and kill President Kennedy. The CIA had already overthrown the government in Iran in the middle 1950s. They would go on to overthrow by political means including assassination many government leaders in various countries. This of course was explained as necessary in the Cold War. In reality, the CIA supported the military industrial complex in its plan to steal the resources of what we refer to as "Third World countries". They are third world countries because the "economic hit Men" manipulated them into irreversible economic hardship for the benefit of the military-industrial complex.
These same "hitman" who do the bidding of the private central banks of the world, the Federal Reserve Bank, the Bank of England, etc. have perpetrated an economic 9/11 on this country.

Obama Is the front man for this secret cabal whose purpose is to create a new world order with one government and one monetary system. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

It is the perfect set up. Most people, even those who consider themselves to be very well-informed and politically astute, think that Obama will save us. No matter what I or any of those few people, who realize that Obama was put there to further the agenda of the New World Order say, we will be marginalized and thought to be pessimistic.

Obama will be at the helm when martial law is declared and people will accept his word that it was necessary. People will accept his word that Israel was compelled to attack Iran. People will accept his word that a new monetary currency is necessary since the US dollar is now defunct.

Feel free to marginalize me but the "endgame" is at hand and as usual the general populace are unknowingly being led to their slaughter.
Go to www.911insidejob.net

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see this link w/Israel for exactly what it is, toxic.

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On health care reform of course we need coverage for all Americans

But the issue is also WHAT we pay for in addition to HOW we pay for it

Also while we are on Health Care the appointment of Sanjay Gupta - a neurosurgeon media star- tied to all that is wrong with American Medicine- is a mistake(not a HUGE one)

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton,Pa

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ICE should not be utilizing holding tanks. Illegals should be shipped out as soon as their status is confirmed. Unscrupulous employers are using them to cut wages, increase American unemployment, and increase taxes via social services for illegals. Hospitals in this area are closing because they cannot handle the amount of unfunded treatment for illegals they are required to provide.
This is not racism. I have Mexican ancestry. The Hispanics are not the problems--the bosses and corporate management are, and they have created the recession by their employment policies.
Simultaneously, union membership should be encouraged at all levels for all legals, immigrant or native-born. Corporations organize, human resources managers have their own trade and industry organizations. Denying workers the same privilege should be entirely illegal. At the same time, open shop laws should be used to integrate workplaces. All-white, all-male or female, all-Christian non-church-owned workplaces need to be busted.

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No doubt about it, it will be interesting to see what Obama does. Anythign he does will surely be better than the NOTHING Dictator Bush has done over the last 8 years. Good Riddnace to the Bush Regime!

Ripley
Is your ISP spying on you?

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Great article folks.
The reason the Dems have been such wimps is because they have mostly been in the economic strata that benefitted from the policies or have coddled the money people and corporations who helped them get elected and who continue to pay for their way of life. If every candidate for every office got the same amount of money - paid for by our taxes - and it was illegal to use one cent more to campaign, the situation would change dramatically.

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..."centrism" is another word for liberal conservatism.

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No matter WHAT Obama does, he will be looked upon with scorn by SOMEBODY!!! Bush has left this country in such a shambles, it would take a miracle worker to bail us out (Wall Street excepted. All THAT will take is more taxation on the average guy, his children, and grandchildren.) If Obama tries to walk the center path, he will be scorned by both parties. How the public PERCEIVES his presidency will depend on the media and how it reports (read SLANTS) the news. He should make some big moves that can succeed as soon as he gets in, not try, like Clinton did, to tackle some issue (like gays in the military) that affects relatively few people, thereby alienating a LOT of others in the process. He's going to have to make bold moves, but on issues that affect a LOT of people, not just a minority, even if their cause is just. And if he walks the center line expecting Republicans to reciprocate, he's going to be sorry, just as Clinton ended up being. He's in a real tough spot. I hope he succeeds in repairing the mess that Bush and Cheney got us into with the approval of the majority of American voters.

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The Tennessee Valley Authority's gigantic coal slurry spill, maybe the largest environmental disaster in American history, has completely disappeared from the airwaves. The Exxon Valdez spill, back when our "news" organizations were more honest, made the news for weeks. The monster spill of toxic slurry coursing down major rivers as we speak? Not a peep about it now.

What Obama needs to do for number eleven on the list is work with the FCC to return honesty in reporting to the news, and develop punishments for any serious, outright lying that is discovered in news broadcasts. The First Amendment does not apply in slander and libel, and the american public has the right to receive honest and accurate reporting free of politically-motivated omissions.

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The fact is, once again, it was plurality of people, not just progressives who engaged and voted for the our new President-Elect, soon to be President.

The question asked, about what things the incoming President Elect can do to screw it up, is a totally misplaced question. It was not asked as a question but it is presupposed in the answers.

First, the term Post Partisan, is not one used by the President Elect, but that is one that you heard very soon from the Media. What the President Elect is about though, is reaching across and bringing in people from all parties, to work together to have American Solutions, which doesn't deny the fact that there are different views, but rather that these should not get to the point to where we can not work together to get our national house in order.

The fact, once again is, that Progressives by themselves did not win Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania. It was a plurality of people-not just one group, and the sooner that is realized by all groups, the quicker that we can realize that being from the big 'Center', is not for those who have no courage, but it is precisely where we find ourselves after this election.

Do I agree with all of his choices, no and I don't know of a President with whom I have. But I agree that his approach is right.

The question isn't what the President Elect can do to screw things up. Rather the question, is to us.

What can we do to screw it up, or more importantly, what can we collectively do, to succeed.

So, instead of wondering what can go wrong, to quote Denzell Washington's character in the movie, Glory--'time to anty up, and chip in.'

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For President Obama to allow the human filth of the Bush administration to escape punishment for what they've done to our nation and our world.

“If we whitewash the abuses of the past eight years, we'll guarantee that they will happen again.” Paul Krugman


FREE AMERICA

REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY

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All of the folks who support Obama are pro-war apologists. They probably don't like to think of themselves that way but if any wish to explain away the fact that their candidate has a pro-war record and supports aggressive US intervention around the globe and increased military spending and troop levels and yet they seem to think of Obama as an anti-war candidate I'd be interested in hearing that message.

Add to that Obama has received more funding from Wall St. than any other candidate in the history of US presidential politics and has a perfectly consistent record as being pro big business every single step of his career and you have to in complete denial if you think he is going to be bringing about any meaningful change to the ordinary citizen.

And about that change. As Obama appoints cabinet members that embody the DC status quo how is it folks can even seriously regurgitate such phony marketing slogans as "Change" when describing this corporate shill.

Supporting Obama and supporting the Democrats in any way shape and form is a serious political disorder that perpetuates the criminality of this grotesque economic order and vicious Imperial juggernaut no matter how much lipstick you apply, no matter vhow much history you ignore.

Barack Obama: The Empire’s New Clothes


Barack Obama and his followers continue to revise the history of his ascendance, pretending his campaign was rooted among the "outsiders." The public line is a fiction, as even the most rudimentary research reveals. In fact, Obama's own words document his intense courtship of the rich and powerful. Unfortunately, "few if any of" Obama's staunchest supporters "have bothered to read a single solitary word of Obama's blatantly imperial, nationalist, and militarist foreign policy speeches and writings," says the author. "And my sense is they never will."


"Obama is an act of system-legitimizing brilliance."

"This is bigger than life itself. When I was coming up, I always thought they put in who they wanted to put in. I didn't think my vote mattered. But I don't think that anymore."

The speaker of these words is Deddrick Battle, a black janitor who grew up in St. Louis's notorious Pruitt-Igoe housing projects during the 1950s and 1960s.

Battle was speaking about the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama. He was quoted on the front page of last Sunday's New York Times in a story about the pride many African Americans are naturally feeling in Obama's candidacy. The story contained numerous examples of American blacks who have been encouraged by the Obama phenomenon to think for the first time that "politics is for them, too" [1].

But, as The New York Times' editors certainly know, "they" still "put in who they want to put in" to no small extent. The predominantly white U.S. business and political establishment still makes sure that nobody who questions dominant domestic and imperial hierarchies and doctrines can make a serious ("viable") run for higher office - the presidency, above all. It does this by denying adequate campaign funding (absolutely essential to success in an age of super-expensive, media-driven campaigns) and favorable media treatment (without which a successful campaign is unimaginable at the current stage of corporate media consolidation and power) to candidates who step beyond the narrow boundaries of elite opinion. Thanks to these critical electoral filters and to the legally mandated U.S. winner-take-all "two party" system [2], a candidate who even remotely questions corporate and imperial power is not permitted to make a strong bid for the presidency.

Barack Obama is no exception to the rule. Anyone who thinks he could have risen to power without prior and ongoing ruling class approval is living in a dream world.

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I watched the election night returns on MSNBC.

The scariest thing I heard about Barack and Michelle Obama was said by a Harvard professor, who was an instructor to both and is yet a friend. I didn't catch the man's name, so if anyone can provide that I'll be grateful.

Anyway, what I remember is he said that when he first met Barack and Michelle Obama, they were so conservative he thought they were Republicans!

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11 mess with social security and medicare..........

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Unfortunately, there is too little here to cope with the financial crisis.. why anyone still seems to believe that the rich will spend their money on expanding business, that the middle class will do anything except prepare for the coming storm, certainly not go out and buy new cars etc., or that the poor will do anything except keep the roof over their heads and food for the family.. is beyond me.. until we accept that there is no going back to the standard of living that we once enjoyed (you will not spend your way out of this mess)that we got here on the backs of the rest of the world and by mortgaging of our own futures by too much debt... until we get that a new economy will necessitate our turning back the clock on the damage that our ecomonic policies have done for the last 25 plus years... closing our maufacturing plants, job sourcing over seas, deregulation, on and on.. all designed for short term profits with no eye on the impact over the long run.. we are exactly where we voted to go...and we will continue on the present path under obama.. if the throwing away of the fist 350 billion didn't get your attention, maybe the next one will..it will also fail as it does not sufficiently target the problem of mortage debt. the very first step should be to "right the $350 billion 1st giveaway before a singly dime is given away again under "fear" of doing nothing .. slow down... we have done nothing sense the crisis began in Nov and we are still here.. actually we did more harm than if we had done nothing.. by letting the problem grow worse with our incompetent misappropriation of the 1st 350 billion. But no our "well it is already gone so lets look the the future now" mentality of the last 30 years brought to a new level of passing the buck/puttting our head in the sand to responsiblity with bush and the democrats over the last 8 years. "runining in circles and shouting,the sky is falling" or in this case hurry and spend the next 350b without even a token conversation from experts who saw this coming years ago... but no, obama surrounds himself with the very fools who either stood on the sidelines or applauded the action leading to this failed economy.

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First off, I am called to pointedly ignore and shun the organized blogging campaign, coordinated by an ad agency and funded by the nuclear industry, which blogs to amazing excesses on this progressive board. I will not, and by rights should not, be cowed by one or more people who abuse this board's good graces with encyclopedias of rhetoric. I've found through experience on Alternet, that when I successfully challenge such bloggers' arguments they dodge the question as if this was a press conference for gullible members of the public, as opposed to a common seeking of what's true. This turns me off to them.

- - -

In energy terms, some people have calculated that nuclear energy installations deliver just over 1 kilowatt-hour of energy for every kilowatt-hour invested. Financial subsidies are easy to hide but energy equations are pretty honest. Others have nuclear energy as a net loser of energy over the plant's full life cycle, a type of energy Ponzi scheme. The calculation differences have to do with how much safety is necessary.

Either way, nuclear energy is a disastrous way to front-load any of the limited energy resources that we have now into our energy future. Extremely energy-profitable investments can now be made in wind power, in energy efficiency and in installing more windows facing south in cold climates. Furthermore, low-tech research, innovation and mass production is driving all of the wind, energy efficiency and solar prices steadily downward. Behind the above-named technologies are a host of wannabe energy technologies, each of which has an honest chance of breaking through.

Two years ago Congress happily plunged into corn ethanol, which returned 1 gallon of alkafuel for every 0.9 gallons of oil invested in fertilizer, tractor fuel and so on. The Obama Administration is now threatening to mess up and plunge into nuclear energy.

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1. International relations need to be rebuilt. Whether the issue is ending coal use, ending wars, labor or the environment, true progress will require international collaboration. This means that the public has to pay close attention to U.S. foreign policy.

2. Trade deals need to be drastically reduced - no more 900 page NAFTA documents - instead, we need to go back to democratic oversight of U.S. trade policy by our elected state and national representatives. This is THE central environmental (and labor) issue - because right now, environmental (and labor) regulations in the U.S. are avoided by offshoring and outsourcing to corrupt and not-very-democratic countries like China and Mexico. However, environmental pollution respects no national border... especially with unfair, unregulated trade in action (tasty Chinese toy, anyone?).

3. Offshoring tax havens for U.S. corporations need to be eliminated - see the WP story on how AIG, BofA and other bailout beneficiaries are moving the money offshore: www.washingtonpost.com

4. Banking regulations need to re-implemented, starting with Glass-Steagall, which will re-draw the boundary between commercial and investment banks. Banks should not be allowed to make loans to corporations that they hold shares in, period!

5. Capital liberalization laws that allow the fast transfer of money offshore (see#3) need to be eliminated - these rules are written in to trade agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA, etc. and are not currently subject to ANY democratic oversight.

6. We need a infrastructure investment program, not a stimulus package. This program must include updating the national electricity grid, building rail lines, repairing bridges and roads, and also creating favorable conditions for investment in renewable energy. Currently, government tax and subsidy policy favors the expansion of coal and tar sand crude and shale oil - dirty and polluting. That needs to end.

7. The "Drug Issue" needs to be moved to the area of public health policy, under the FDA, and the DEA needs to be eliminated or absorbed into the FBI. Nine out of ten drug overdoses in the U.S. are due to prescription drugs, not illegal heroin. For the best perspective on that, see LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

8. Fixing the education system will require a repeal of the privatization agenda advanced by free-market idealogues over the past forty years or so. This is a Reconstruction-scale effort, because the educational system in this country has been deliberately destroyed by class warriors who believe that poor people should be ignorant, not informed and uppity. This means an emphasis on science, math and accurate history - not the "history as propaganda" theme that dominates today.

9. The media needs to be subjected to anti-trust law and broken up into small, independent units that are not beholden to billionaires and national governments. The U.S. nonprofits are just as bad as the for-profits - they all get their money from wealthy private foundations funded by corporate conglomerates and billionaire "philanthropists".

10. The privatization of the national government's military and civilian sectors needs to end. This means that the fattened hogs who feed at the taxpayer trough - the contractors who operate government-owned facilities, the KBRs and Halliburtons and Bechtels and BWXTs and Battelles and SAICS and Booz Hamiltons, are going to see massive revenue losses. That's inevitable.

This is the end of empire, folks. We can either go down in flames or get used to the idea of being just one more nation on planet Earth - the choice is ours.

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America has ended its time of being a Republic and is now an Empire. America will not go back to being a Republic. We live in an authoritarian state that appears to be in the midst of rapid decline. The federal government will pass more and more repressive laws, because that is what declining empires do.

Of COURSE we should pay attention to hostile moves by government and business, but DONT BOTHER complaining that “the Constitution forbids...blah blah blah”. The people running this country don't give even half a shit about the Constitution. It is now a historical document. It DOESNT MATTER what "the law" says, because THERE IS NO LAW. There's only rich people scared of becoming less rich, and poor trying to survive.

Obama's job is to apply a sedative to a dying patient. That is all. He will attempt to restore American's "faith" in our government, and many people will buy it (many already have). But the natural course of history is bearing down rapidly, and a fake-left president cannot change this course. It's time to be coldly rational and realistic about the near-term future of this country, and do some survival planning for yourself and your family. This "ten worst things" list is just pissin' in the wind.

dboy

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The authors do not understand that an economic recession is the process of liquidating money-losing investments, transferring capital to appropriate areas, and reinvesting. Thinking the pain of this process can be avoided is delusional. The "stimulus package," by trying to keep inappropriate investments in place, exacerbates the problem and delays adjustment to economic health. Mark Read Pickens

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I was all ready to write a reply to the details of this article, then realized that I've been reading too many of these kinds of pieces from progressives.

My key point is that "Doing what works" is not equivalent to being centrist. As a professional mediator, I know "doing what works" can mean listening to everyone's needs, then crafting a solution that's never been thought of before that meets people's true needs.

The underlying problem with the Bush regime has been its widespread cultivation of fear and devisiveness (which are tools of greed and power-mongering). Let's not saddle Pres. Obama with our continued use of those tools--let's just trying breathing a lot, staying amazingly activist about all these critical issues, and living our values in hope (remember?), rather than continuing the fearful, reactive position we've been forced into for far too long.

With a lot of work and caring for each other (including for conservatives!), this will be a nation we can be proud of.

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Obama has already answered, by his nominations and rhetoric, what he will almost certainly do. That only qualifies as a one out of ten score, on this articles test parameter. That one unfortunately is VI which suggests a heightened battle against so-called man caused "Global Climate Change" . Global Warming is a swindle and a hoax as evidenced by the proposed solutions. These exempt China and India, the most populous countries in the world, from penalty, while at the same time further driving down the standard of living in the west. This solution means CO2 levels will skyrocket, at the same time as all the jobs that are left, leave the free world and migrate, to where there are no barriers to total capitalism and pollution of all kinds. Us suckers however will lose every construct of dignity and privacy as the climate police monitor our every move. The Carbon Tax and Cap and Trade swindle will further handicap the western peoples, with the money funding an emerging world government. Without this funding a global government could not come into being. Coincidentally, the global warming catastrophe, came along to provide just such badly needed funding, for a world dictatorship, in the nick of time. Obama has shown, he himself, is a globalist, by his nominations and selections to his inner circle. A cynical person might conclude that Obama is merely a pawn in a bigger plan. Adored and adulated without ever making a single, positive contribution, to the United States, a one term senator is ready for idol worship, based on prepared speeches and a fawning press. His blackness itself, we are told, is enough proof for sainthood. Sadly his appointment to the Presidency is as coincidental as man caused global warming. The New World Order selected this man, and in the coming months be sure to observe that the only change this man brings, is accelerated globalism, and a World regulatory system, that will once and forever, extinguish any form of self rule and democracy. Stated simply this man has been chosen to end the United States, using left wing cover, in much the same way as George W. used right wing cover, to get us where we are now. If he succeeds may God show mercy on our souls.

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Obama has already sent word NAFTA will not change.

Infrastructure? Exactly where is the electric grid needing updating?? Are not the electric utilities private corporations? Rail lines and bridges to nowhere?? I smell DEMOCRATIC PORK. If you don't, see a physician soon.

Offshoring Capital?? Can't companies that are multinational move their registered headquarters to Dubai?? Do you really believe they won't??

Privatization of necessary services to the Government? And exactly who will fill the gap??

'Fix' education? With forced bussing, bazillions from Washington ( via us...the taxpayer ) why has the underclass remained where it is? Could it be the people themselves? Are not big city school systems under control of Democratic majorities? Where exactly did they fail?? What?? No answer?? How exactly did 'class warriors' destroy the educational system??

Offshore fast transfer of capital?? Not seen? FYI all transactions over $10,000 are registered, by law. How do you think the cheap clothes you are wearing right now and the computer you are writing on and the LCD display are paid for?? With credit?? LOL. The foreigners are not that stupid.

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The fear of
the darkness
again disappears
when my
memory lives,
saving the pleasure
of a natural life;
and a thanks
overcomes, like
a delicate bird
near a shining
fountain.

Francesco Sinibaldi

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i would bet virtually everything i have that obama will do every one of these things. if a financial crisis of this magnitude coupled with two wars can't snap obama and the rest of dems of out dlc-style centrism - absolutely nothing will.
the only good thing will be that it could have been far worse.
still, at some point somebody in power needs to explain reality to the american people without flinching at the consequences. s/he should start by explaining that voting for a trillion dollar war and massive tax cuts for the wealthy (in 2004) means that someone is going to have to pay for it someday.

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To end the embargo and normalize relations with Cuba.

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Bush was not a conservative, he was a neocon. So are the majority of the Republicans in office. To blame this mess on conservatives is a gross injustice.

Conservatives don't like wasting money on things, especially WARS. And we don't like the government printing money for hyperinflation, like Obama will try to do.

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the only thing that makes one conservative is the aversion to public sexual expression.

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We are now firmly emeshed in a new paradigm of the "politics of emergency decree"

It's all about maintaining the shock doctrine, the endless state of continuous war, emergency decree after emergency decree, "legal normality" never allowed to return and hence no need for the protections of the constitution.

The goal is to exist between the letter of the law, A LEGAL VOID ARENA PERMANENTLY ESTABLISHED that enables a dictatorship for, by, and of, the people....

KISS THE CONSTITUTION GOODBYE!

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Our population is growing exponentially. In fact, though it is one of the few things that can be accurately quantified, politicians and media are terrified of the implications here. It may mean that we have to limit family size and get very real about our immigration policies for truly pragmatic reasons.

At the same time, and while ignoring population growth, our government is doing everything it can to promote economic growth. At this very moment, in fact, our leaders from both sides of the aisle are contemplating the best ways to encourage greater spending. So what happens if both population and consumerism continue to rise at their current rates? Catastrophe lies ahead if these two elephants continue to dance around unnoticed in our collective living room. Resources are finite, folks. We don't have much time to get really clear on these things.

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If the average non-violent drug offender in prison spends 5 years there and the average lifespan is 70 years, then for 9 non-violent drug offenders you have a combined total of 45 years off of their lives from prison, equal to 1 murder if the average age of a murder victim is 25 years old.


How can you possibly say they deserve to be there?

They harm no one but themselves. You would harm them in mass to such a level that it equals murdering 1/9th of that non-violent drug offender population in human years lost.

Don't kid yourself in thinking its not comparable. How many of those non-violent drug offenders would choose to live to the age of 65 and spend no time in prison rather than lose 5 of the best years of the middle of their lives to a prison sentence? Probably damn near all of them.


So like I said, drop dead PJT.

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Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, We Are Opting Out of Credit.

All of Our Economic Problems Find They Root in the Existence of Credit.

Out of the $5,000,000,000,000 bail out money for the banks, that is $1,000 for every inhabitant of this planet, what is it exactly that WE, The People, got?

They Bail Out, We Opt Out

The Credit Free, Free Market Economy

Is Both Dynamic on the Short Run & Stable on the Long Run, The Only Available Short Run Solution.

I Propose, Hence, to Lead for You an Exit Out of Credit:

Let me outline for you my proposed strategy:


✔ Preserve Your Belongings.

✔ The Property Title: Opt Out of Credit.

✔ The Credit Free Money: The Dinar-Shekel AKA The DaSh, Symbol: - .

✔ Asset Transfer: The Right Grant Operation.

✔ A Specific Application of Employment Interest and Money.
[A Tract Intended For my Fellows Economists].


If Risk Free Interest Rates Are at 0.00% Doesn't That Mean That Credit is Worthless?

Since credit based currencies are managed by setting interest rates, on which all control has been lost, are they managed anymore?

We Need, Hence, Cancel All Interest Bearing Debt and Abolish Interest Bearing Credit.

In This Age of Turbulence The People Wants an Exit Out of Credit: An Adventure in a New World Economic Order.

The other option would be to wait till most of the productive assets of the economy get physically destroyed either by war or by rust.

It will be either awfully deadly or dramatically long.

A price none of us can afford to pay.

“The current crisis can be overcome only by developing a sense of common purpose. The alternative to a new international order is chaos.”

- Henry A. Kissinger



They Are Bailing Them Out, Let's Opt Out!

If You Don't Opt Out Now, Then When?


Let me provide you with a link to my press release for my open letter to you:

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, Quantitative [Ooops! I Meant Credit] Easing Can't Work!



I am, Mr Chairman, Yours Sincerely,

Shalom P. Hamou AKA 'MC Shalom'
Chief Economist - Master Conductor
1 7 7 6 - Annuit Cœptis
Tel: +972 54 441-7640
http://edsk.org/

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So what happens next for people dependent on Californian Welfare "needy families and the elderly, blind and disabled" and even "college students"

Isn't California one of the richest economies in the World?

How can this be happenning? Is the rest of the US going to bail out California - or are they bust too?

Strikes me that it is time to start growing your own food, storing your own water supply and composting your own excrement

Extract

"California controller to suspend tax refunds, welfare checks, student grants
John Chiang announces that his office will suspend $3.7 billion in payments owed to Californians starting Feb. 1, because with no budget in place the state lacks sufficient cash to pay its bills."

linked text

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I immediately spotted something different about him - from at least two different locations from his train trip.

Check out his eyes. He doesn't look forward - only left and right - in fact there is something altogether strange about his eyes that was not apparent before he got elected.

Deek Jackson explains it all in this video

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2opghmqY-wc

NO HEROS FOR ISRAEL

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Frank's observations on the evils of centrism hit the very middle of the bulls-eye. "Centrism" is nothing more than a literary pat on the head to dismiss anyone who advocates liberal ideas. It is pure garbage. It also is the reason why I will forever regret Bill Clinton having been president.

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What's with all these lists of 10 and 15 ib Alternet these days? Are they hiring Cosmopolitan's writer?

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Wow, you Alternet pundits are no better than the Ann Coulters and Sean Hannitys, maybe you should feature their mindless rants here.

79% of Americans are optimistic about Obama's administration and are willing to give him YEARS to fix the country. Why isn't that reported here, oh yeah you only report doom and gloom.

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Well at this point I will take anything. It will surely be more than that mORON Bush has done over the last 8 years. Good Riddance to the Bush REgime!

RT
Privacy Center

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I just want thank you for this post and re-emphasize that so-called Clintonian "centrism" is a fraud, and its DLC neoliberal triangulation is really a full accommodation toright-wing moneyed elite interests, a collusion and joining with them against the people's interests. We got NAFTA, repeal of Glass-Steagall (a MAJOR cause of the current great depression), American exceptionalist thinking, refusing to hold Bush and Co. criminally accountable for their anti-Constitutional crimes, and so on. Obama: please don't go down that road to be a conventional Bilderberg Group "success'' - it's the same wrong retrograde way we've been going since 1980 (going backwards to conformist competitive individualism and/or resisting moving up the spiral to neo-communitarianism [a new "trans-socialism" - really an interdependent "integralism" containing full individuality [independence], and/but aware of the transcendent connection of all to all - our planetary interdependence, a necessary awareness now, sooner than we had thought, perhaps.]

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My Wife and I have decided we need to meet some more Native Americans and are hoping to do so in a few weeks time

We were thinking somewhere a few thousand miles south of California - but maybe you have got a better idea?

We did invite you to Latitude last year but maybe you didn't understand

Tony

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if you donot change the system that made the mess, what do you expect???

To cure the nation you need good salaries and social securities for the WORKERS and not for the bankers.
Dream on....

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I read the article and the list and found that most of what are supposed to be mistakes of things Obama should avoid are, in fact, Obama campaign promises. The ones that aren't are things he's said he'd do in other conversations and in his voting records.

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Wish I could've checked this story earlier...but here's my belated take, one that will be about as popular as my "so what?" take on Rick Warren:

The worst thing Obama could do in his first few days of office is devote his time and energy to issues that'll be spun as "culture war" material by the far Right. If the first things he does when he walks in the door are fiats concerned with gays, the Culture Warriors of the far Right will mobilize their fund-raisers and re-resuscitate the "culture war" frame that's served them so well these last 30 years.

The first things Obama should do when he walks in the front door is tackle the economy, Gitmo, and Gaza. He needs to dribble out stuff concerning sexuality and stem cells under the cover of his big policy pronouncements regarding the larger issues, when everyone has something else to talk about. (It'd be nice if the media'd definitely debunk the various myths promulgated by the far Right regarding stem cells, too, such as the idiotic James Dobson lie that a fetus has to be destroyed to get each stem cell.) It'd also help if he makes a few more "brothers need to pull up their pants" statements and perhaps a few similar statements about gay people (something like, "You have the right to live your life as you chose...you'd don't have the right to go through life in a bubble never hearing an opinion about your lifestyle that you don't like," which I'm sure he could express far more eloquently than I could) to state emphatically that we've reached a new day when we can talk openly and honestly about these kinds of issues without either far-right fear-mongering or absurd liberal political-correctness.

Done right, the first couple weeks of the Obama administration could kill the "culture war" and "political correctness" both in one fell swoop. Such an accomplishment in itself would make Obama one of the greatest modern presidents.

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Relax, folks. As long as Obama can keep the rich getting richer and not threaten their vast corporate influence over national policy, they'll keep him on board and allow him to offer a few palliatives that will perpetuate the delusion that the people who elected him have anything to do with their lives. Meanwhile the runaway train, chuffing along purely on the eroding confidence in greed, continues its headlong course toward the washed-out trestle. I weep for Obama because he truly seems like a good man, but he's taking on a hopeless system. You can't polish a turd and that is what our over-consumptive, over-commercialized, sabre-rattling militaristic value system has become. The only solution is flush it down the toilet of history and start fresh with an economy based on real things and real people, not the whims and wisps of empty, debt-structured financial misfeasance.

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Great article.

I hope single-payer universal health care will emerge as one of Obama's first initiatives.

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is what were seeing. Now it's gonna be China's turn to take center stage like England did before us. Don't expect Obama to pull a rabbit out of the hat, it ain't gonna happen.

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