Unless progressives stop showing up with a knife at a gunfight they will continue to get ripped off, ignored and bamboozled. This is not the time for 'can't we all get along and talk it out' as our new President is finding out the hard way.

NeoCons, NeoLiberals, whatever you call them will go to the mat, lying, stealing and cheating as they are run out of the building. They have no shame; know most are too apathetic, stupid or ill informed to organize and are counting on just that.

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The quickest way to create jobs all across the U.S. is to get rid of NAFTA and CAFTA and other trade agreements in certain basic sectors of the economy, using a phase-out approach.

This isn't protectionism, but it does mean allowing democratic oversight over trade decisions. For example, states should have the right to keep polluting corporations that violate human rights from doing business in their state - regardless of where they are doing their polluting. If it isn't allowed here, why should we allow it elsewhere?

This means that a radical review of U.S. economic and foreign policy is needed - but is it going to happen? It may not really matter anymore what the Washington elite decides to do, in any case. Practical reality is quickly catching up - not that the Republicans want to admit it. It's just a question of whether we'll be prepared for it or not - and if Republicans keep getting their way, the answer will be, as in Katrina, "not".

The failure to seat Daschle and Obama's choice of a Republican to run Commerce (after Richardson was eliminated for his own "financial relationship issues") don't bode well for future health reforms, that's for sure. Gregg's top industrial donors are:

Insurance - $386,499
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products - $352,048
Health Professionals - $295,648
Lobbyists - $252,541
Securities & Investment - $236,505

Daschle, on the other hand, had proposed a public health insurance program, rapid approval of low cost generics, an new focus on preventive health care, and a complete investigation and overhaul of the practices at the CDC and FDA - and the insurance and pharmaceutical companies don't like that, which explains why Daschle was targeted by Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee after his hearings, and then lynched by the corporate media. The New York Times led the way - and it's completely irrelevant that they have an ex-CEO of Schering-Plough Pharma and a Carlyle Group director on their corporate board - totally irrelevant.

At this point, just two weeks in, we can already essentially forget about any real health care reform, as things currently stand.

So, what to do now? More tax cuts for Morgan Stanley! More service cuts for everyone else, and a steady continuation of the government contracting arrangements in Iraq and Afghanistan - Obama just agreed to a 19-month "timetable" or is it a 26-month "timetable"?

This is getting ridiculous, isn't it?

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American citizenry are very slow to get angry, but once they get fully pissed off protests take off in earnest. Our federal government at present keeps ignoring needs of average Americans and favors the wealthy Elite.

We the People have to force the government to do what is right. Even if it requires massive protests. Perhaps 10 million angry people marching on Wall Street, in New York City, screaming no more money for banksters might wake up the fools in Congress. If We the People do nothing,then Elite will grind us all into the dirt. Call for a nationwide labor strike to shut-down all commerce or surround the White House with tens of thousands of people shouting for New Deal programs or else.

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In fact the only solution Naomi Klein and her ilk offer is "nationalizing" money power under a corrupted Washington circus already run by Organized Corporate Crime (FASCISM) anyway. In other words more concentration of power in fewer hands. Exactly the sordid hands that now bankroll all play-actors at the Washington-MSM madhouse that rigged the financial crash to begin with.

Bad old "capitalism" coined by Karl Marx by definition requires real free markets (there are none) and real democracy (there is none). “Free-Market”"Capitalism" as Klein’s boogeyman DOES NOT EXIST. It did not exist when Marx invented the word in the 1870s where monopoly robber barons ruled the earth.

It is FASCISM that clearly does exist to run virtually everything on the globe. Either Klein promotes decoy garbage by design or she offers serial incompetence. Either way the decoy artists of the world have zero answers for not getting the questions. Notice: the Naomi Kleins of the world never touch on the private Ponzi farce "Federal Reserve" Corp that was never federal with less than nothing for reserves. This criminal Fascist charade and others like it are the epicenter of every manmade crisis for hundreds of years.

When those “too small too save” have no place at the table, the “too big to fail” set are FASCISTS for FASCISM no matter what the label is, how packaged, “nationalized” or “de-regulated”. Beware those that point the finger at false boogymen to offer transparently phony solutions.

Without focusing on core issues humanity will be herded down an old tortured path to commit the same endless cycle of blood money horror for the same string-pullers. It is the 9/11 path of more extortion for extortionists that have cooked the scene from (as FDR said) “the days of Andrew Jackson”. We all know where that path leads.

By any name, it is the path of criminal insanity.



“banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency the banks will deprive the people of all property… The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.”
President Thomas Jefferson (In a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin, 1802)

“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the government of the U.S. ever since the days of Andrew Jackson.”
President FDR (on de facto Fascist rule in a letter to corporate monopoly charlatan “Colonel” Edward M. House, co-founder of the Council on Foreign Relations and ruling class political fixer. House also handled President Wilson. 11/21/ l933 from "F.D.R.: His Personal Letters")

“Competition is a sin…The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun.”
John D. Rockefeller (Fascist cartel robber baron and promoter of the U.S. “Federal Reserve” Act with the Rothschild bloc. Grandfather to David Rockefeller instigator of the World Bank and IMF. 1839-1937)

“Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are U.S. government institutions. They are not…The sack of the United States by the Fed is the greatest crime in history…The truth is the Fed has usurped the government. It controls everything here and it controls all our foreign relations. It makes and breaks governments at will.”
Congressman Louis T. McFadden (Chairman, House Banking & Currency Committee, charging a private “Federal Reserve” Corporation with conspiracy, fraud & treason. Congress, June 1934)

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Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Going Back in Time...

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I suppose if it makes people feel better about it taking to the streets may have some point. The reality is that short of actual violence against them nothing is going to affect the real wealth in this country. That's not going to happen so they will manage to buy up some more of America at firesale prices.

Exteme talk? Sure, and 1776 was a nice calm occurance. I suppose that was a different breed - or something. I'm not advocating a darn thing since there's nothing legal that will dissuade them from stripping the country bare, but fooling ourselves about it is also silly.

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unfortunately, argentina's outburst only produced a temporary stay of execution... as i sit writing this in buenos aires, i can see the same elites, dressed in their faux populist finery, still lining their pockets and feeding from every available trough... the good news is that it's happening without imf and world bank debt... the bad news is that the poor are still poor and getting massively poorer by the day...

And, yes, I DO take it personally

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God gave Noah the rainbow sign
No more water
The fire next time

Anyone who seriously denies the fact that the shit is about to hit the fan are about to receive a truly disturbing surprise. Anyone whose been paying attention could see this coming -including myself:

"2008 will be remembered as the year our entire economy collapsed. Take that to the bank. On second thought, stuff it under your mattress"

From "The Rant"
30 December 2007

Why do you think the Bush Mob were sending out checks inn the amount of several hundred dollars last year? They were trying to forestall the collapse they knew was coming. I said as much on June 8 of last year in a piece called, "Gentlemen, Start Your Rhetoric".

Anyone who couldn't see this coming was blind.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes(?)

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

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As usual, I am not surprised. Obamas so called "stimulus" package will do nothing but help the rich get richer. Do you really think the banks are going to shell out loans to people weho cant afford to repay them? No, they are going to soak up other banks! Want a REAL Stimulus package? Give the money to those who need it most, the SHEEPLE! Let them make their mortgage payments, thier car payments and their credit card payments. The money will filter back into the economy, and those who need it most get it! Does this make any sense? Of curse it does and that is why it will never happen!

RT
Privacy Center

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The nationalists verses the globalists, pick a side. Babylon always falls and the merchants of the world weep and mourn, for who will buy their goods. Welcome to the revolution of 2012.

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If the economic stimulous was concentrated at the bottom (like FDR did), then each and every hand that those dollars touch on their way back up to the top of the economic rungs (trickle up theory for a real change) would add value to those dollars. The more hands that touch them, the better. This is why concentrating any stimulous at the lowest points possible would give us the most value and bang for the buck in return. When we're printing money like it's going out of style, that devalues the dollar. If we don't counterbalance that with the right strategy to add value back, we're heading in the wrong direction.

Even too much can be not enough when it is misdirected.

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The banking and political megacrooks will only abdicate their power or change their self-serving bailout plans when righteous dispossessed citizens pop a cap in some of the leaders of this fraud, or storm their estates. Put yourself in their position - stealing the labor and wealth of the middle classes has been so addictive, easy and predictable they feel entitled to it. Corporations OWN the government and media, and control the riot police and SWAT teams who have billions in technology provided by these same oligarchs to break street protests, declare martial law and fill up some nice Haliburton constructed detention camps in fly-over states. What they don't have is the ability to be everywhere at once. Several million unemployed, dispossessed and foreclosed Americans with guns, a target, patience and a plan can dispense justice one bullet at a time until we get leadership of by and for the middle class. Heroes with nothing to lose are the new soldiers needed to turn the tide of class warfare which we have been losing prodigiously since Reganomics. It is time to eliminate an entrenched cabal of 40,000 people to ensure the survival of 300 million. The days of street protest are over. You can find many of the people most responsible for this debacle at http://www.marquiswhoswho.com/

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If we give companies money, they'll inevitably do the smart thing during a downturn--save it, an idea that's been lost on most folks since they started ignoring history.

The democrat-controlled Congress handed the repub president a bill to spend up to 700B to help the banks begin lending. And now they're doing the smart thing for them--hoarding and weathering the bad times.

How foolish would we be to hand out more of OUR productivity and OUR savings to help failed mortgage holders, failed lenders, failed companies and failing state budgets limp along a little more...towards the precipice.

No thanks. If we're going to rain down money borrowed against the very working flesh of our unborn grandkids, we should just write all of us checks for the balance of $865,000,000,000. Even it out to a cool trillion, and it's about $3,000 for every man, woman, and child citizen of this country. A family with two kids would get almost $12,000! Perhaps enough to catch up or pay the worst bills, stay in a house, afford enough equity for a refi*, or--at the very least--enough to walk away from a bad mortgage decision and afford some decent rental for a full year, perhaps more.

Maybe even some of us can save a part of that and eventually pass it on to our descendants with "sorry" notes.

Congress, in collusion with banks and business, have brought about this failure. Give us our damn money, lots of us can do the basic "maths" you folks don't care about!

*Puhhhlease read the contract this time?

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Over the last eight years we have witnessed the largest redistribution of our nation's wealth in precisely the worst direction (all at the top) for the Good of the Whole in our nation's history.

If you take one hand, put your fingers all together, hold them perpendicular to the floor, then take the pointer finger from your other hand and point it in the air above your hand at a distance six times higher than the width of all your fingers combined, you have an impromtu chart of the distribution of wealth in America. Your fingers represent the wealth of the bottom 99% and your pointer is the distance before you get to the top 1%. Now spread all your fingers apart just a little bit. That illustrates how you solve our financial crises. The bottom 99% would all be better off, the top 1% would still be incredibly well off, and our nation and economy as a whole would be healed again.

Money trickles up far faster, more reliably and effectively than it trickles down.

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Another million or so home foreclosures, 20% unemployment, homeless people lying at the curbs of shelters and churches, armed homeowners threatening sheriffs who are there to evict, 13 year olds looking for work, general strikes, investment companies' office buildings burned to the ground, banks closed and business suits cast off...fast food restaurants with boarded windows, big box stores parking lots a haven for shanty town squatters... dozens of community and home gardens in back and front yards, goats gnawing on grass and chickens clucking outside kitchen windows, neighbors trading recipes for spaghetti sauce and pickles, fall canning parties, cars parked on city streets missing doors and fenders, flat tires and rusting steel, fire wood stacked by the back doors, neighborhood artisans, repair broken furniture and build simple tables and benches to sit, weave baskets, crochet scarves and afghans, fix leaky roofs, and turn unused copper plumbing into art, women nursing babies, children frolicking with their friends on empty streets, and simplicity rules the day.

peace

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A thought crossed my mind which made me wonder how I ever thought that the Mad Max movies were a load of nonsense.

Maybe I was wrong!

Seems there is a time problem here in getting out of this mess, of course that is besides the $$$$$$ problem!

We are in trouble are'nt we?

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Old Europe knows from experience that one cannot allow too many homeless people to accumulate because at a certain point they cease to be a pitiful minority and become an army capable of destabilizing government. It seems the US will have to learn this again – the hard way.

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...of corruption and imbalance to the economic foundation of our body politic.

It's design, underpins, enables and sustains corporate power through purchased, political surrogates and is fundamentally and absolutely destined to fail violently as a law of nature. Life, and markets, abhor imbalance.

What's particularly frustrating about Obama's doomed bipartisan approach, is his own seeming inability, so far, to communicate, identify and explain the daunting problem, and to plan a course of action that addresses it's remedies.

Our economic system HAS been designed by banking interests to THEIR owners seethingly singular interests. It's defacto as evident as it could possibly be. It violates every model of a sane, sustainable and equitable economy that has ever existed which serves ALL social constituents. It IS tyrannical, and attempts to preserve can only make it ever more so. We witness it's effects daily, and it cannot be corrected unless the fundamentally flawed nature and distorted structure is publicly and officially acknowledged and articulated. Obama failed in his first statement as President. We DO need to apologize and desperately need to atone.

Of course, the likelihood of that happening is practically nil, Obama's relative humanistic approach of "fixes" is unfortunately about as close as we'll get. But it's not enough to hedge, to "compensate", to leverage and to stimulate. Treating the symptoms of cancer alone result a dead patient. And to be sure, our economy AND supporting society is terminally ill and forced to contemplate it's mortality. How much time do we have, doc?

The so-called "conservative" politicians of this country are the most perverse economic enemies of equity and the most philosophically compromised against principles of justice and freedom. Jesus, unrecognised, is crucified daily in the venom of Rush and the hatred denial of the homeless veteran.

The so-called "liberals" are the enablers of their enemies, weakened by collusion and political cowardice through abandonment of their constituent minority interests in favour of lining their own pockets. The Judas party of Blagoism will, in the end, suffer the same fate of choking on a lineage of the ridiculous denial of moral bankruptcy.

Obama may be the ironic historic victim of this collusion in spite of what I think is a sincerely humane sensibility albeit Harvardly noble intent. But it does not exempt him as President of this train wreck from the responsibility he has engaged, and it doesn't exempt us from the consequences of the continued insanity of protracted intransigence.

It seems that America has near completely lost it's sense of aspired to values in the artless cacophony of the sales pitch for the goods of Gecko greed and the tolerance for it's wasted humanity, wasted environment and wasted opportunity for a now unimaginable existential good.

It makes us collectively criminally complicit with these soul-less aspirants of self. Our tolerance of it is our societal crime and we're beginning to serve a deservedly long term sentence without lenience, without parole and without commutation because, for the most part we sociopathically deny through cultural delusion, our national guilt of serial crimes.

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TARP corporate welfare recipients use 114 million for lobbying:

http://www.truthout.org/020509S

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governments that respond to a crisis created by free-market ideology with an acceleration of that same discredited agenda will not survive to tell the tale

Can any Naomi fans put some facts behind this?

what response so far from the Obama has been "an acceleration of free-market ideology"?

or is she referring to those free markets in western Europe(lol)?

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A march on Washington culminating in the erecting of a guillotine in plain view of Congress. The press will have to cover it.

Think that will send the appropriate message?

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The Repbulicans (GOP) is digging a very deep hole for themselves and don't even realize it. The American people voted for change by electing Obama to the Presidency and they continue down the same road that has gotten this county into this horrible financial crisis. I thought we told them with the recent election that we are sick of their policies and divisive ways to keep this country off track and not toward prosperity. I ask all of those who voted for change by electing Obama to send another messege that is loud and clear that we are tired of the Republicans favoring the rich over the average american, we are sick of them dividing this country for the worse, we are fed up with greed and corruption by govermental, business, and wall street hoodlums and we are fed up with the Republican Party. Enough is enough!

I ask you all who voted for change to email, fax, call, mail etc. all Republican congressionals and let them know that change has come to this country and that we will no longer tolerate their tired, old, divisive and useless policies.

Join me in the crusade to vote all Republicans out of office.

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James A. Swanson, Los Altos, CA
www.bushleagueofnations.com [for FREE download of entire $25.95 book]

Naomi, it’s time for the good citizens of Iceland to send us their pots and pans. We need them!

From Reagan’s presidency through that of Bush II, the GOP used government power to create the Second Gilded Age in America, at the expense of common men and women.

Give trillions of dollars to the Super Rich and Big Business, with minimal stimulation and no accounting. Run up multiple enormous unsustainable deficits and debts.

Bankrupt America both morally and financially. Plant the seeds for the GOP Great Depression II.

Deregulate, deregulate, deregulate.

Screw generations of the unborn by making them pay for everything. Take the money and run.

And now—in this historic moment of HOPE—Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi seem most interested in appeasing the GOP and the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

Are we nuts?

Jim Swanson, Los Altos, CA
“The Bush League of Nations”
www.bushleagueofnations.com [for FREE download of entire $25.95 book]

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Excellent article! President Obama ran on a platform of CHANGE and I believe that it is about time for it to start! I for one am tired of both Republican obstructionists and their Democratic supporters continuing to bray about tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations (even though the phase used is "business")! I am tired of seeing hard-working Americans being turned out from their homes by banks that have received my tax $$$$, and yet they refuse to renegotiate terms! If these homes were over-valued, it was not done in a vacuum, someone appraised these homes - and it wasn't the homeowner!

I'm tired of hearing the drivel that no one knew what was going on! WTF!!! How much are these people getting paid, and yet they don't know - then what the he-- are you still holding your job for! Over the last 8 years, it does appear that incompetence, irresponsibility, and avarice have been rewarded beyond measure! These "titans of industry", and "masters of the universe" need to be publicly flogged - yes flogged - for all to see! Bernie Madoff walking around with that simple smile on his face as thousands of people have lost their life savings! ENOUGH! ENOUGH! ENOUGH!

As much as I am trying to give the President a chance, what he needs to realize is that you cannot compromise with spoiled, over-bearing, bullying children! The way to handle them is to forcefully slap them down, and let them know what they will be allowed to do! Especially in a democracy - it is time for the people to re-engage - get informed about the issues, don't just listen to the drivel you representative is spewing - they are proving daily that they are corporate shills, write letters to your representatives, demand answers, start the "new conga line" to the Capital demanding reform, results, action - the time is now like no other!!!!

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THE MOST TRUSTED NAME IN NEWS JUST STOLE YOUR COMPUTER

long wonky story with all the details Many people who watched live streaming video of the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama on Jan. 20 may not realize that their PC was used to send the video to other PCs, too.

Why should you care?

Deceptive marketing, cost-shifting to ISPs, costs to end users, ludicrous licensing terms, security vulnerabilities, etc. Basically they tricked people into saving CNN money.

No one has suggested that Octoshape is doing anything other than relaying live video streams to other PCs.

In a blog comment, Johan Ryman, Octoshape manager of strategic partnership and sales, assures users that the app is well-behaved and stops consuming upstream bandwidth within five seconds of a live stream being closed.

Many companies, however, have policies against sending data outside their LAN. How many CIOs will be comfortable with an app that sends unknown information to random PCs?

I think that is normally called fraud.

Now I know why my friend at Kaiser could not watch the inauguration. She told me the medical provider shut off the live stream from the company computers. I am glad they did, I bet there are hackers who would LOVE to peruse (look it up) our medical records.

It looks like ISP companies and consumers may have some serious damages. I hope some one starts throwing RICO statutes at CNN, this is organized crime.

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>The Tories have just come back with a revised budget: the pet right-wing policies have disappeared, and it is packed with economic stimulus.

..and 65 Billion in deficits over the next 5 years. The original Tory plan was to run modest deficits. Instead they had to buy themselves a life-line to prevent another election. Why is that a good thing? Why is creating massive debt for your grandchildren for short-term gain, good?

The original Bush-backed/Democrat-supported $700 billion stimulus already passed, and the Obama $800 billion stimulus is on its way. That's over a trillion dollars your grandchildren will have to pay off, in addition to the massive debt you already have, and the trillion dollar deficits Obama promises to run, AND more stimulus bills coming your way.

Spending is too easy. Way too easy.

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I was involved in the anti-war movement of the '60's (yes, I'm old). We were destined to change the world (or so we thought).

There were hundreds of thousands of protestors in the streets of cities all across America, due in no small part to the draft. It was the Age of Aquarius, a time of peace and flowers.

And then four college students were shot dead on the campus of Kent State Ohio. No one has ever been indicted or convicted for those murders. Lesson: the ruling elite will kill even children to retain power.

Things got ugly after that. Black Panthers were assassinated by police as they lay in their beds. There were over 400 bombings a year in this country. The FBI infiltrated protest groups. There was a police riot in Chicago in 1968. And so forth and so on.

What did we accomplish? You're all writing about it in these posts.

There will likely not be any mass protests, and in any event they will be herded into "free speech" zones. The war on terrorism will come home to round up enemies of the state.

You will all eat the bitter herbs of defeat and disappointment, and in time you will come to embrace it.

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The bottom? Yes,the bottom. The 52% of us that have to try to survive on $35,000 a year and less. The 52% of us that are the 'foundation' of our Country's house.

When your foundation is crumbling you don't get a home improvement loan and remodel the attic with it. Unless you're a Republican,you fix the foundation so your house will be strong. Right now our foundation is sand. I'm not an engineer but I don't think sand is a very sound foundation for our 'house'.

Piss on all those whinny twerps that say bailing out the poor and working poor would be a bad economic move. It's a damn site better move than feeding the greediest bastards that ever lived!! Money given,I must add, without the demand for full repayment,in fact the government is willing to accept the idea that they might never get paid back the original 700 billion. Just try getting any loan with a 'I might not pay you back' clause. If you find one,tell the rest of us!!

Big O has nothing and I mean NOTHING in mind for shoring up our sagging foundation. This foundation might not have jobs,might be ready to lose their homes,might even be on the edge of suicide. Buy we do have one thing...legs.
Legs to carry us down the road. Legs to move us across bridges,down highways,down the roads and streets until all 52%,a little more than 150 million poor,out of work,foreclosed,work disabled and homeless show up at 1600 Penn. Ave
and refuse to leave until the Congress and this President does right by the very people that have been trampled by the Greedy jerks you all just gave 700 billion to.

10 trillion to zero out the debts of everyone that earns less than 250,000 a year, regardless of income source, is a hell of a lot better deal than to deal with the civil war that's coming and it is. Because Big O told us 'We will bring change to Washington'
'WE' are the People,'WE' are pissed and 'WE are bringing the change. So be polite,we're only doing what the President asked us to do.

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America should have been banging pots & pans for the past eight years, but noooooooooooooooooo, most were content to sit on their fat hineys on their couches watching "reality" shows, lulled into a false sense of security that THEY'D always have a paycheck, that THEY'D never have to apply for food stamps, that THEY'D never be homeless, and a myriad of other humbling experiences that are "daily bread" for the already-poverty-stricken in this country.

And for those who live in states like Florida, whose "public servants" care only for their own political ambitions, their own "cash stash," their own healthcare, their own welfare, and their own rights.

Florida's governor Charlie Crist, or "Uncle Chuckie" as I'm so fond of referring to him (and new wife, "Bridezilla") are only concerned about getting out of Florida as politically unscathed as possible, and heading north to embrace the social life of DC (yuck, I personally cannot think of anything more revolting, boring, & phony in this life, but Republicans seem to positively LIVE for such "scenes").

To make matters worse, media outlets in FL are as corrupt as they come, finding all manner of lame excuses to keep me from exposing the truth about FL (thank you AlterNet for being more open-minded).

So America, please help me bang some pots & pans & sign this petition:

http:www.thepetitionsite.com/1/equaljusticeforall

Thank you.

Carol Tucker, MA
Pensacola, FL
a/k/a "Redneck Riviera"
Court Reform-NOW
http://courtreformnow.ning.com

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Did you ever wonder why the repubs hate "big government"? Big government is their only enemy.

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Any mass protests aimed at the culprits must now void of aims at the WH. We should have done that before BushCo left office. I would find it unfair and counterproductive to march on the WH. Such Protests would undermine the view that We have demaded change and are moving towards that goal- at least at this point.
Instead we need to focus such action towards the financial districts (NY & SF), HQ's of Multinational corps and most towards The House & the Senate who have alloweed our country to be conquered by these Logo'ed Noble Elites.
Let's not forget to include those blue lap Dogs who have aided this Corp Conquest of our Free market Democracy either. They have aided and abetted this hostile takeover the entire time. The 'founding' of the DLC's 'Thrid Way' corp agenda was established,oh so appropriately in 1984 with the Clintons as their leaders. FYI there is No 'Third Way', In fact there isn't even a 'Second Way' , there is ONLY the American Way.And that has always meant 'For the People and By the People', Not the corps, not the wealthy and not the Religious Zealots. What these 'Repugs' and theri lil dogs have done is topple the very foundation of the ideology which this country was established. They have infected our Free market Democracy with a feudalistic Caste system- the same one our founders ran out during the Revolutionary War. Kicked one King Georges Ass only for his reincarnate to return as our last Self anointed King- 'W'. Teh term "king maker" takes on a whole new nafarious meaning when you review the careers and disasterous agenda of Cheney, Rumsfeld and wolfie. Rather Ironic, and Treasonous, don't ya think?

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If we all had the same level of outrage, anger, disgust, and awareness of the economic situation as THIS GUY America wouldn't be falling apart.

Wake up people!

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I am neither a Republican or a Democrat but rather I am an American who grew up believing in this country and not just my little piece of grass. We need to get back together as one nation and not just small groups that can be picked off easily. What is going on now was created by both parties and it is up to us to make sure this movie does not have an even worse ending for Americans.
When was the last time your elected official, regardless of party did what you wanted? I know the pain. These people in Washington do not care one wiff, they do not even read the bills they pass, what is it that they are to busy doing that they won't read what they are making law? Naturally one would only read something they could make a difference about so our representatives either must by helpless to change things or they are in agreement with it. You decide.
Between RFID'S and One World Order, North American Union, FEMA camps, The military operating in our streets, the lack of assistance given to "We the people", instead of they the corporations and connected, the NSA wiretapping, Trilateral Agreement, Counsel on Foreign Relations, torture, illegal wars, the military not getting what they needed to protect themselves, Continuity of government signing, Blackwater operating in the U.S., media consolidation, our government paying reporters to act as shills, no one except the low level get prosecuted for crimes, the Supreme Court hands a person the presidency and private property to corporations, ground zero workers being told it was ok to breath the air, the keystone comedy act of our military response to the attack.
This is not the America I love and care about, the one I thought would always try to do the right thing. Does anyone else feel the same way?
We really need to get back to being a nation founded on something more than profit and consumerism. For a long time people of the world came here, at great hardship to themselves and their families, to have a better future and live the American dream, somehow that dream is now keeping us awake at night, not so comfortable anymore.
We are headed for a collision with our destiny, what that will be is determined by each American and where they stand when the time comes, be a part of the solution and not part of the problem. Don't give away your rights and freedoms to those who would claim it's OK or when they say it will be OK If you just follow me. Go to YouTube and or Google to look up some of the things I mentioned earlier like FEMA camps and RFID's ect..
We need to take our country back legally we are all Americans, jam the phone lines of government, email, write letters but do something, do not wait for someone else to do it for you. It may never get done and you will be at the whim of others. Tell them how you feel about what you are seeing happen to this country.

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What is it about people in the USA that keeps them in line with the government? When Wall street loots 20 billion in bonuses, there should have been a mob with pitchforks running through Goldman Sachs. Could it be all that high fructose Corn syrup that is in everything.


I take the progression one step further than Naomi does with the problem being the deregulated capitalists. I look at history and find the ah ha moment in capitalism was when the medieval banker who kept gold in vaults realized that not everyone came back at once demanding their gold back which allowed him to print a few extra paper certificates for gold that he did not have. This fraud has morphed into the Fractional Reserve Banking of today where banks are allowed to create money out of thin air at a 10 to 1 ratio to the actual money they have. When times are good, everyone feels flush with the 10 to 1 air money raining down on them, then when things turn south, all it takes is a collective psychology of panic to show that there is not enough money in the bank and everyone feels desperate trying to grab at 10 to 1 money that simply is not there. A system based on fraud will eventually catch up to itself. The whole system is a Ponzi scheme.

Right now, only the US government is paying into the Ponzi scheme, with taxpayer money. It is never a good position to be the last one into a Ponzi scheme. Of course, the bankers are currently taking money out of the scheme in the form of bonuses. I really don't think that the stimulus package is about trying to fix the Ponzi scheme; it is about trying to buy off an insurrection. That is what FDR did with the New Deal. It did not stop the Depression; World War II did with 50 million victims. I am wondering now how many financial whiz kids are whispering in the halls of power about another war.


Yankee Running Dog

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We'll never see Democrats acting the role of opposition party a la South Korea. Instead, these useless bums aid and abet the neocon agenda while dangling "programs" befoe our eyes -- as if that can hide their sins.

Progressives need to stop blaming the neocons or trying to shame them into doing the right thing. Instead, the target should be the Democrats. Unless they start fighting for us, they should suffer consequences at election time.

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The Left-Greens are the Green Party of Iceland - a fairly new member of the Green movement.

At this point, they are vital and equal partners in the interim government, and favored to win the new elections.

Iceland is suffering, suddenly and severely, from a crisis that began in the US. The Icelanders went out and brought down their government, and they get it that BOTH their "centrist" parties are implicated in the disaster. They can see that it's time to try something new.

Why can't we? How many betrayals does it take, before we catch on?

(It's a real question, because I jumped a long time ago. Clinton convinced me I wasn't a Democrat any more, and boy does the new guy remind me of him.)

If you're ready, check out the Greens at www.gp.org.

Oh, yeah: our economy is collapsing and so is our empire. It's a little late for baloney about strategic voting and who "can win." They can win if you vote for them (and help get them on the ballot, and campaign for them). It's ultimately very simple. All it takes is guts - or the sudden realization that the game is over.

Otherwise, the capitalists and their political stooges keep on shocking us until the old ticker gives out. Do YOU want to find out what that really means?

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"The pattern is clear: governments that respond to a crisis created by free-market ideology with an acceleration of that same discredited agenda will not survive to tell the tale." Yes indeed, the old order and the old patterns have come to their end. The people of the world are ahead of the leadership. With detachment one can see how our politicians and economists are hobbled by the old ways of thinking and doing business. Soon we will see new leadership emerge as the space is created by the vacuum. This leadership will respond to the people and institute a system based upon sharing of resources so that justice and peace will reign.

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It is definetly getting ridiculous. The question is what are we the people going to do about it. Will we sit back comfortable in our homes with all our distractions, and do nothing? or will we do as others have done and our currently doing around the globe? For the 90% of us who are not billionaires we really need to go with the latter.

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It's time for revolution. Enough of the Plutocracy and time for real democracy!!!

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VOTE ALL REPUBLICANS OUT OF OFFICE!


The Republicans (GOP) are digging a very deep hole for themselves and don't even realize it. The American people voted for change by electing Obama to the Presidency and they continue down the same road that has gotten this county into this horrible financial crisis. I thought we told them with the recent election that we are sick of their policies and divisive ways to keep this country off track and not toward prosperity. I ask all of those who voted for change by electing Obama to send another message that is loud and clear that we are tired of the Republicans favoring the rich over the average american, we are sick of them dividing this country for the worse, we are fed up with greed and corruption by governmental, business, and wall street hoodlums and we are fed up with the Republican Party. Enough is enough!

The Obama administration has proposed pay limits on executives from banks that receive TARP money from the bailout and yet Republicans have come out opposing the pay limits. If you are an average American who’s struggling to provide for your basic necessities, regardless of party affiliation, why would anyone oppose having pay limits to executives who are the main culprits in causing this financial crisis. Republicans just don’t get it! They only represent the rich and powerful and not the average American. I hope everyone wakes up and realize that this is not about Democrat or Republican; it’s about doing what benefits the average American and not the rich.

Let’s not forget the 8 years of Republicans being in charge of the White House and Congress and all of the things that are happening now were caused by them. Two wars that will cost Americans nearly a trillion dollars, worst financial crisis since the great depression, torture, illegal wire-tapping, greed, corruption, wasting the first half of the 700 billion bailout by giving money to bank executives with no oversight etc. The Republicans caused all of these things and more, yet they want the new administration to continue down the same road that they have paved for us. I say NO! I say it’s time that was all wake up and vote overwhelming democratic and remove all Republicans from office.

I ask you all who voted for change to email, fax, call, mail etc. all Republican congressionals and let them know that change has come to this country and that we will no longer tolerate their tired, old, divisive and useless policies.

Join me in the crusade to vote all Republicans out of office.

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...I read that congress is contemplating bowing to the confederate anarchist Republican demands that funding for states to keep teachers, pell grants and head start be gutted from the stimulus.
And the students and teachers here are doing NOTHING????!!!!!
People had better organize, and fast.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson can be seen on her website talking to PTA members. But, this very moment in time she and her crew are stabbing the students and teachers in the back.

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Everything in Ms. Klein's piece about Revolt is true and heartening - except the information about Canada.

The new budget was not responsive. It was a snow job. There are enough weasel words in it to choke a horse.

The fact that the GG adjourned Parliament, rather than allow a non-confidence vote, and allowed the neo-cons to regroup is a disgrace.

During the adjournment, the leader of the other major party was replaced by a member of the elite who has commanded (no exceptions) that his party members vote in favour of this charade.

Changes have been made to the M-1 (money supply) and the Central Bank (by policy, not amendment of the Bank Act) is now allowed to take all the worthless paper in circulation - almost half the Bank's assets are Miscellaneous - three guesses what they are) as collateral.

We had one major bank hanging by a thread and another that had taken a major hit; a third was just fined in the US, and another was saved by the ABCP leger-de-main that stood the law on its head - allowing self-confessed fraudsters immunity (they would not settle unless the courts agreed there would be no civil or legal action - isn't that by deduction an admission of malfeasance?).

Only a billion plus of $32 Billion has been repaid to private short-term investors (individuals) to buy their votes to approve the deal; and the rest was converted from short to long term paper that even the wildest optimists predict will return only 75% of face value in just less than a decade to "institutional" investors - governments, pension funds, corporations, city governments, etc.

First hailed as a private sector "solution", the government had to wade in anyway as US and other "partners" backed off.

And we still have a ton of other "paper" in the system; and a ton of new fiat currency. Banks recently tried to sell preferred shares at 6.5% - you know of fluid they can be. Why?

So in addition to all the new cash from the Bankers' Banker, they hope to re-capitalize in the only way possible - the TSX is a non-starter.

Canadians - unlike others in your story - are in denial. They are being deluged with government ads and lies about how things are solid here. Well look at the Index, Fund Performance, Resource Prices and the fact that only taxpayer money though the Central bank plus "cash for trash" has kept most banks liquid.

Our major trading partner is the US. If the US is in the tank, how can Canada possibly be high and dry? Yet people need to believe the lies. They are not big on demonstrating - the police and the military - as in the US are on stand-by.

Demonstrate here, and you get hurt - big time. And the propaganda machine, including inept media, has even other countries and other media fooled (or other countries don't care enough to find out the truth - can't blame them).

I have Argentinian friends - they ask me what is wrong with Canadians? They cannot understand the docility. So please don't list us among the worlds proactive countries. We are in the same mess as everyone else, but so far, we are better at hiding the truth.

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Take a snapshot people. A black man talking about taking away guns as the only real change in store. FEMA camp legislation going through Congress as the elite watch European countries riot. The Federal Reserve which is privately owned and at the cause of the current meltdown, as they were in 1929, being given the treasury along with more powers. All the unconstitutional legislation passed since 9-11 staying and talk of forced service to the Federal government. Battle hardened troops being deployed on American soil and the constant drumbeat of Global Government and a new world order. When Americans start starving and an estimate 300 million guns are floating around the U.S. don't expect a lot of pot banging when the whole shit house goes up in flames as Jim Morrison predicted.

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Lets free market the tax payers if we pay for any portion of it we own it and get the returns on the invesment. Why is it that Alaskans get checks from the oil corporations and all of us arn't getting checks from Wall Street.

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As the proverb goes, so it now is....
I've only recently awakened to much of the reality around us; globalization, social/military/religious population control, corruption, and the fact that the way the world works right now is unequal and wrong. Naomi is such a powerful and intelligent writer that I feel privileged to have found out about her and her books. We need more people in this world willing to say what needs to be said, and do what needs to be done.

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The Corporate Media & the Corporate Republican Party are modern day kamikaze pilots, crashing their insane babble & waist deep toxic bull---- into the very foundations of our country, putting our way of life at increasing jeopardy with each passing day!

President Obama as Commander in Chief at some point you MUST realize that we are at WAR with an enemy from "within"!

The Limbaugh Republican Party & the unchecked Corporations are a CLEAR & PRESENT DANGER!

Like the old movie Invasion Of The Body Snatchers we are being invaded by a Corporate Media that equates lies with truth, a Corporate culture that rewards greed & criminal conduct, & by a Limbaugh Republican Party that gives political cover to Corporate thieves & liars!

In the McCarthy witch hunts of the '50's we were told to worry about the Communists infiltrating our government, our schools, our movies, our entire country.

That Communist invasion of course never happened. But "TODAY" & for decades a dark deadly dangerous force fueled in large part by massive military spending year after year since World War II has built a Corporate climate that has one goal, MORE MILITARY POWER, taking us on a long & as is now clearly proven with our current economic crisis, the dead-end road of EMPIRE that always leads to a graveyard.

The Limbaugh Republican Party along with the Corporations are "the POD people" wrecking our country, our very lives. Commander in Chief Obama we are at WAR with an enemy that has no soul, an enemy that is "suicidal"!

911 was a pin prick compared to what these "POD people" have done & will continue to do, unless they are stopped!

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How does taking more than half of a person's income (IRS+inflation tax) make this a free market system? People are not free to keep the products of their own labor but rather have it forcefully diverted by the government to the pockets of the ultra wealthy. Having more rules, regulations and restrictions on every facet of our lives than any person could ever even read does not make this a free market. Having government force us to use the fiat currency of a private bank for one half of every trade we make does not make this a free market.

It seems that the only part of the market that is free is that the government is free to rip us all off and control every aspect of our lives at the behest of the ultra wealthy multinationals. That isn't freedom, that is robbery and slavery. So please, get your labels and facts straight. It is government sponsored theft that we should want to put a stop to, not economic freedom.

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50 people and one sign isn't the kind of tectonic shift that's going to change anything.


FREE AMERICA

REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY

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Not Realising that as Soon As These War Criminals Set Foot Anywhere In The World That Has Agreed To The Geneva Convention

They will Be Arrested

So I would suggest to Tony Blair that he takes up Permanent Residence On Bush's Farm in Paraguay

Oh Has Paraguay Just Decided It doesn't Want Any Of These Evil Bastards in Their Country?

So There is No Hiding Place

You Are Going On TRIAL For War Crimes Against Humanity

The Detail of All The Cases Is Now Being Prepared.

You May Think You Are Free Now - But Already Your Conscience is Torturing You For All The MILLIONS OF HUMAN BEINGS YOU Have Been EVIL To

We Will Get You

And You Will NOT Be Executed

That Would Be Too Kind.

Tony

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The article like the politicians is NOT getting at the root cause of the current mess which are as follows using the US as the example.

[1] Under President Clinton, the Glass-Steagall act to be repealed. This act made it illegal for depository banks to be investment banks. If this act had not been repealed, much of what transpired would NEVER have occurred. The US needs to reenact this law, and all the nations need to put the equivalent of the Glass-Steagall act into law.

[2] Derivatives need to be outlawed.

[3] ARMs with Options and/or large balloon payments need to be outlawed.

[4] Financial instruments that can NOT readily be understood need to be outlawed.

[5] No mortgage should be allowed to be written for more than the REAL VALUE OF A PROPERTY, i.e., not for the inflated value which will result in the inevitable bust.

Let’s eliminate the root causes so messes like this NEVER occur again.

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On the sides of mobile pig pens (cop cars) in many cities are the words "To Serve And Protect" but there are a few words left out. It should read "To Serve The Rich And Protect Them From Everyone Else". Otherwise if there are protests in the streets by banging pots the pigs will shoot to kill just like Kent State. When I see a pig I see a brown shirt with a swastica on the sleeve and not a blue uniform.

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take whatever $$ you got out of the bank and stash it somewhere around the house... with deflation, you'll come out ahead...

cash your paychecks, if you still have a job, don't deposit it...

quit with the credit and debit cards... use cash or barter...

take the hit on the 401k and be done with it... see idea #1

sure there's going to be bills due so pay them in cash or get money orders...

$$ is the root of power in this game, if we refuse to give them our $$ we should get someone's attention... and don't tell anyone you are doing this or your yard will look like a bombing range overnight... and get a huge dog with a bad attitude for inside...

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In fact, we already tried that last year on stopping the passage but for the first time and it was surprising, more Democrats voted for the Wall Street bailouts than didn't while it was just the opposite on the Republican side. I'm sure the Republicans were trying to pull a last minute election stunt just to hope that they could take back enough seats. Too bad it's no secret that both parties are Wall Street puppets.

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If what I've seen on the news and posted on these sites is true, this rescue will not rescue the economy. The effort to placate the Republicans with added tax cuts and rebates that will return 10cents to the dollar (if Rachel Maddow's numbers are right) and the apparent inclusion of pork in the stimulus package also bodes ill. What is with the incentive to "homeBUYERS"? The help should be going to homeOWNERS who are struggling with ballooning mortgages -- not to the new breed (soon to be born) of speculators taking advantage of the latest federal windfall.

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I wouldn't know how to calculate it, but since Social Security is NOT really a retirement plan, but is really just double-taxation, I bet the SS scam could be bigger than this scam. Since social security is paid only on the first $100,000 of income, it creates a redistribution of wealth upward just as this bank bailout scam does.

And if you think about it, because of this redistribution upward on all W-2 income under the cap, if you aspire to EVER be wealthy or at least financially free than you HAVE to start generating off-books income.

Let's be realistic. Every 15 months, the USA generates another trillion dollars of debt (this includes new spending plus compounded interest on the current debt). Is this EVER going to be paid? Is it even LIKELY to be paid? Treasury auctions are failing now, and they are covering it up by using the large commercial banks. This is why they cannot simply allow the banks to fail...they are the primary way that the US government launders money.

Plan on the US government defaulting on its debt, resulting in a complete crash of the US Dollar sometime before 2012..You heard it here:-) Move your money to other currencies (and perhaps gold), and at least *entertain* the idea of relocating overseas. Anyone who leaves will probably be very happy they did.

dboy

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...to voice our collective rage and raise a legitimate threat. I suggest we do so. It's our tax money that is being stolen and misappropriated. Breach of contract, it looks like to me.

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the far right's "talking points. Why is this happening? They, the right, like to mix their lies with a little truth. Then they do their "baffle you with bullshit" thing. When they see that you aren't going to go with them, they start their "reasonable minds disagree" programs.

I find registered democrats spouting "republican talking points". They, the republicans, spend 1,000 million dollars per year creating "spin" or talking points. This usually gets them 5 or 6 new lies a day. It is hard to keep up. Worse yet it is hard work to keep up.

If you are already working three jobs to try to keep with Bushonomics, you don't have the time or the strength. They are hiring young, strong, people to do this full time. So what are you to do? This is a toughy.

The 6 0'clock news repeats these things in the interest of being "fair and balanced". The correct response is "yeah sure". Struggle on.

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Who does the new Prez assign to head up the "Economic Group" that's gonna take us right on out of this?

P Volcker. Look up his biography back for a few years. "Shock Therapy" ring any bells?

From all evidence, the vast majority of political actors being recruited into this new administration are veterans of that good ole "Washington Consensus" and the "Chicago School of Economics". What is being said and what is being done still do not quite mesh. It's just our turn -- after the experimentations done in other countries such as Chile, and Argentina. Since those places don't count for much for Big Bad Us they were the Laboratories. Now we get that good ole "discipline" -- in full accord with their 'leadership'. Just sit and watch.

National and International Oligarchs and Plutocrats might be tensed up just a little, but overall, they're happy as clams.

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Take a look in Wikipedia for Trilateral Commission and you will find Paul's name as one of the group....enjoy..... then look up Council on Foreign Relations and see who is there and why. Make sure you read all that's there to get the full impact. These guys are not Boy Scouts they are all part of the same team and they are not on our side, but rather are on the side of world domination. See you in the FEMA camps.

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A few of the States are waking up...check out what's going on in New Hampshire, Arizona, and Texas. Search Google for "New Hampshire HCR 6". This is a reminder to the federal government that the various States came together to create a United States, and the things that could cause termination of that relationship--->

Short excerpt of New Hampshire House Concurrent Resolution 6, (Feb 2009):

"That any Act by the Congress of the United States, Executive Order of the President of the United States of America or Judicial Order by the Judicatories of the United States of America which assumes a power not delegated to the government of United States of America by the Constitution for the United States of America and which serves to diminish the liberty of the any of the several States or their citizens shall constitute a nullification of the Constitution for the United States of America by the government of the United States of America. Acts which would cause such a nullification include, but are not limited to:

I. Establishing martial law or a state of emergency within one of the States comprising the United States of America without the consent of the legislature of that State.

II. Requiring involuntary servitude, or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war, or pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

III. Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service of persons under the age of 18 other than pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

IV. Surrendering any power delegated or not delegated to any corporation or foreign government.

V. Any act regarding religion; further limitations on freedom of political speech; or further limitations on freedom of the press.

VI. Further infringements on the right to keep and bear arms including prohibitions of type or quantity of arms or ammunition; and

That should any such act of Congress become law or Executive Order or Judicial Order be put into force, all powers previously delegated to the United States of America by the Constitution for the United States shall revert to the several States individually. Any future government of the United States of America shall require ratification of three quarters of the States seeking to form a government of the United States of America and shall not be binding upon any State not seeking to form such a government; and

That copies of this resolution be transmitted by the house clerk to the President of the United States, each member of the United States Congress, and the presiding officers of each State’s legislature."

dboy

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It was the government encouraging lending to people who can't pay it back. Of course those who supported that policy (which is the majority) are now whinning that the government took money and pissed it up against the wall. Well, yeah, just like you asked them too. An actual free market is nowhere near as unstable as a fiat money/loan subsidisation system.

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TIMELY WORDS
FOR BUYERS AND SELLERS IN 2009

Despite the poor economy that most of us are dealing with today, the megayacht industry will have its largest EVER year in 2009 with over 1,000 megayachts over 80' in length on order. The largest increase is in orders for boats in the 150-200' size range. All told, the orders would stretch 24 miles if laid end to end. It does seem a trifle - what's the word - 'bizarre' that there is a segment of the world's population that is doing so well.

For the rest of us who are engaged in the boating industry whether we are sellers, buyers, brokers, lenders or dealers the recreational boating market has declined 30% in the past three years. In a nutshell this means brokerage houses are more than ever educating their customers about the importance of real time values, dealers will be holding the line on floor plans and looking for new value added customer services, marine lenders are going to require higher credit scores and debt-to-income factors will come into play more than in the past. For sellers it means coming to grips with today's boat values. For buyers, it is a heyday.

This says it all and it is real.

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It will not work…Japan has tried this 8 times.
It did not work for FDR, it lengthened the pain by 7 years.

Its at least a trillion tax dollars with interest.
Its all borrowed money on your VISA.

Your kids will still be paying it back.
It robs the private sector of money and promotes serious inflation.

It encourages states to be irresponsible over spenders.
It buys blue state votes and pays lefty groups back.

It has hidden radical items for social (not just economic) change.
The permanent jobs will be in gov-meant growth to manage all this (bureaucrats).

Many programs will never go away and cost taxpayers.
The DOW looks 6-9 months ahead and knows baloney when it sees it.

The average recession lasts 11 months without gov-meant interference.
It fails to make permanent the current tax cuts on income and inheritance.

Excuse-making will wear thin by summer when IRAs are still stagnant…reality rage will grow.
http://conservablogs.com/theconservativecrawfish/

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Ill beat my kids as well if they throw any precious food anywhere but in their mouths. How can people THROW FOOD AWAY?

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