Does anyone else wonder how the hell shit hit the fan so rapidly in the past six months? At the beginning of 2008, before President Obama was even believed to have a glimmer of a chance, the economy was presumed to be "sound". Sometime after it became clear that President Obama would win this election going away, the economy all of a sudden hit the glass going 160 mph. What the fuck happened?
Economists say that the so-called "credit crunch" has had a domino effect on the rest of the economy and that this "credit crunch" has been caused by the foreclosure crisis. As a result, the government has poured billions of dollars into Wall Street investment banks to shore up these mismanaged entities, supposedly recapitalizing them. Has this even done anything to affect the "credit crunch" or stop foreclosures? People still can't get loans. The amount of money being poured into these banks should have effectively wiped clean the so-called losses they've had as a result of the foreclosures. What the hell is really going on? I don't believe for one minute these banks are experiencing a so-called credit crisis. They're still collecting mortgage payments from a majority of Americans. They're still collecting credit card payments at exorbitant interest rates. They're still making money hand over fist. Just because they SAY they can't make loans doesn't mean they actually can't. How does one explain Citigroup buying a $50 million dollar jet while at the same time taking a multi-billion dollar bailout from the government?
They are nothing more than a bunch of Robber Barons. History is repeating itself right before our eyes. Milton Friedman would be proud if he were alive today. They have manufactured this crisis to sabotage the incoming Administration, specifically pro-worker, pro-regulation, and fair tax initiatives Democrats usually advocate when in power.
Proof? Just this week, Microsoft, Home Depot, Caterpillar, Sprint, and Pfizer have announced layoffs. All of a sudden, they are revising their quarterly reports and OMFG! there are losses they hadn't noticed before.
I don't fucking think so. There is blatant sabotage taking place here to affect the 2010 election cycle. They are sabotaging America.
With the revelation today regarding Home Depot's involvement in trying to take down the Employee Free Choice Act, I'm not surprised that Home Depot has announced layoffs. Why not? The co-founder of Home Depot was on a conference call basically demanding that business sink money into a campaign to stop the EFCA. These same companies, to be sure, were also holding out their hands for a bailout. AIG was among the companies on the call.
Bailout Recipients Hosted Call to Defeat Key Labor BillThree days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists and business officials to organize opposition to the U.S. labor community's top legislative priority.
Participants on the October 17 call -- including at least one representative from another bailout recipient, AIG -- were urged to persuade their clients to send "large contributions" to groups working against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), as well as to vulnerable Senate Republicans, who could help block passage of the bill.
Bernie Marcus, the charismatic co-founder of Home Depot, led the call along with Rick Berman, an aggressive EFCA opponent and founder of the Center for Union Facts. Over the course of an hour, the two framed the legislation as an existential threat to American capitalism, or worse.
"This is the demise of a civilization," said Marcus. "This is how a civilization disappears. I am sitting here as an elder statesman and I'm watching this happen and I don't believe it."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/27/bank-of-america-hosted-an_n_161248.html Home Depot wants to stop the EFCA. Home Depot lays off workers during an economic crisis. They are creating a crisis to justify why their particular wish should be granted. You can't possibly pass the EFCA now, not with
this economy and worker cuts!!!1
Microsoft laid off workers. Microsoft!! That's like the government laying off workers. What could they possibly be pissed off about?
Yes, faced with the possibility of having to actually hire American workers and pay a prevailing wage to outsourced workers, they are doing their part, acting as just another corporate cog in the manufactured crisis machine.
Then look at the auto manufacturers. All of a sudden they don't have money and need a bailout as well. Now they can close plants, lay off workers, bust union contracts, and it's no problem because they're in crisis mode.
What we have here is corporations demanding the largest transfer of wealth to them in U.S. history. History is repeating itself, but on a much grander scale.
Is it possible that some corporations are actually conspiring with each other to manufacture these crises to effect the policy making decisions of the new Administration? Listening to the tapes of that anti-EFCA conference call, I have no doubt these thieves would do so. They were willing to sink money in front groups to effect an election. I have no doubt that some of them are taking advantage of an existing problem and purposefully expanding it into crisis mode. They are no doubt being assisted by some so-called "conservatives". These politicians are doing so with an eye on 2010.
Fuck em. Fuck em all.