US Fed Chairman demands plan to cut social programs

[Hannah Bell]

Testifying Wednesday before the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke demanded that Congress and the Obama administration map out a program of austerity measures to bring down record budget deficits. Bernanke made clear that the heart of this program should be sharp cuts in social spending, including basic entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

“Maintaining the confidence of the financial markets,” Bernanke said in prepared remarks to the committee, “requires that we, as a nation, begin planning now for the restoration of fiscal balance.”

The phrase “confidence of the financial markets” is a euphemism for the interests of Wall Street and major international banks and investors. In demanding the preparation of austerity measures to be imposed on the American people, Bernanke was speaking in behalf of the financial elite whose massive taxpayer subsidies have been the major cause of the explosive growth over the past year of the federal deficit and the US national debt.

He made clear that his prescription for “fiscal balance” was dramatic cuts in what remains of social programs, rather than tax increases. He zeroed in on the basic programs upon which tens of millions of Americans depend—Social Security and Medicare.

This week, (Obama's) treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner...spoke of a permanent reduction in the “discretionary spending” of the American people.

At Wednesday’s Budget Committee hearing, the ranking Republican, Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, articulated even more openly than Bernanke the ruthless policy of the US ruling elite toward the working class. He...urged the Fed chairman to adhere to the central bank’s “commitment to price stability”—in other words, to pursue a deliberate policy of keeping unemployment high in order to bludgeon the working class into accepting wage cuts and other concessions.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, speaking for the Democrats...said the Democratic-controlled House planned to pass legislation before its July 4 recess to establish “pay-as-you-go” rules, which, he said, would require that any increase in spending be offset by cuts in other programs.

In addition, he said, “We need to address entitlements.”


http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/fed-j04.shtml


The fuckers are going to kill people.

[EFerrari]

1. Yes, they are. n/t

[DJ13]

2. Start with our most costly social programs

Corporate welfare, and the bloated military budget.

[progressoid]

10. Exactly. e.o.m.

[bjobotts]

90. Never dawns on them to roll back the Reagan tax cuts...problems solved

[bjobotts]

92. Enough money to rebuild infrastructure and cover free education with roll back

[bjobotts]

93. Medicare is a deficit ONLY because it covers the elderly and disabled alone

[bjobotts]

94. If everyone were allowed Medicare it would always be solvent and cover dental also

[bjobotts]

95. Our military spending alone is double the costs of all other nations combined

[bjobotts]

97. combined spending for defense. We have answers but the wealthy don't like them

[bjobotts]

98. They would rather buy off congress and the media and rob the treasury blind

[bjobotts]

99. and after milking it all say we don't have enough to cover SS or Medicare.

[bjobotts]

101. The money to cover all these programs and more is in your pockets.

[bjobotts]

102. We the people demand regulation, and rolling back the tax cuts on the wealthy and their corporations

[wolfgangmo]

119. There is a subject section and a message section.

Just thought you should know.

[Johnny Noshoes]

164. He's been posting that way for ages...

nothing you say will change it...

[maryf]

146. Tax on stock purchases

of.01 percent as recommended in Hr676 would provide billions and cost very little to the buyer...

[imdjh]

154. That's because we provide security internationally.

The countries which aren't spending on the military, don't have to because the US is there to protect them.

[Amonester]

204. Yeah, but the f*****g Elites PROFIT obscenely from it.

And who (or what...) do you think Rules the world?

Don't expect the Money Party to ever end their party.

Their party will only end when millions will demand it in the streets.

At the same time, and at the same places.

Without that, forget it.

[wryter2000]

118. Also the drug benefit

Part D was designed specifically to make Medicare too expensive. Immediately allow Medicare to negotiate for the mass purchase price. Require Medicare to do that.

[CoffeeCat]

181. Yes, isn't that interesting...

The Bush Administration bloats up Medicare, by banning the government from trying to negotiate drug
prices with big Pharma.

We've had several years of big Pharma making out like bandits---with our tax dollars--and now they'll
use the high cost to nix the entire thing.

big Pharma gets their payoff, the politicians get kudos from their corporate buddies---and "We The People" get screwed.

Anyone really think this isn't by design?

[ohheckyeah]

220. Absolutely it's by design and exactly

what the Republicans wanted when they set out to bankrupt the country. It was all to get rid of "socialistic" programs.

[wryter2000]

222. It's absolutely by design

That was the premise of Krugman's book, The Great Unravelling. Until I read that, I didn't see that it was all a coordinated effort to make it impossible for government to provide for the general welfare. If only, we could get more people to see the big picture.

[Sebastian Doyle]

177. Even better

Roll back the Kennedy tax cuts.

[biermeister]

106. ding, ding, we have a winner here!! nt

[BrklynLiberal]

167. YES!!!!!!!!

[midnight]

192. Yes. Let's start with corporate welfare. The most costly

social program there is.

[Omar4Dems]

229. My thoughts exactly.

'Nuff said.

[leftstreet]

3. You know, in South America they used to have to do this by coup

Assassinate/remove the leadership.
Deregulate.
Privatize.
Gut social spending.

Now they just do it without firing a single shot.

This is fucked up

[Sebastian Doyle]

178. Well, that's because the same people were responsible.

The Bush Crime Family, and more recently their partners, the DLC. :grr:

[Triana]

4. Get out of Iraq, cut all military spending, make churches and corprats pay taxes...

...that'd take care of it.

But nope. Wall Street & corprat AmeriKKKa will not be happy until they have every last drop of blood and money from the American People. The DLC and Pigshits have been drooling to cut out Medicare and SS for eons. They see this is as a good excuse as any. MORE disaster capitalism!

If there's another drop of blood to squeeze from the American worker/taxpayer - they're gonna get it. Then, we can all just fucking drop dead.

That's the plan.

[Deep13]

We have a winnah!! nt

[chill_wind]

5. Needs to be seen. K & R.

[That Is Quite Enough]

6. Whaddya know, it's the cabal rearing its head in public once again.

Not good.

[azurnoir]

7. Begin a repayment plan for the bailouts n/t

[Statistical]

48. Repayment.

Some of the banks want to repay in full, now.

Every week the number of restrictions and guidelines on repaying grows.

[The Hope Mobile]

57. WTF? I hadn't heard that. nt

[Statistical]

News hasn't been playing it up not very populist story.

That is major reason why financials are rallying
Most have been able to float secondary offerings of stock to raise funds to enable repayment.
Those who can pay off the govt and not have a carrying cost of 5% will have a competitive advantage over those who can't.

TARP repayment applications increase
http://www.onlineforextrading.com/blog/tarp-repayment-increases/

Federal reserve raises requirements for repayment
http://topnews.us/content/25456-federal-reserve-raises-standards-tarp-repayment-banks

Obama maintains control over banks by refusing to accept repayment
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123879833094588163.html

Goldman Sachs tarp repayment plan raises questions
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/goldman-sachs-tarp-repayment-plan

Fed to toughen terms for TARP repayment
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a29LCkoZOz2M

Now some of the most broken banks like citi will not be able to repay for sometime.
During that time though taxpayers will be collecting a 5% dividend.

[The Hope Mobile]

128. wow - had no idea - thanks! nt

[truedelphi]

165. Thank you for all these URLs

Good for reference.

[asolarski]

186. Good reference?

A link to Fox's Stuart Varney is not a good reference.

[truedelphi]

226. Well thanks for that information, too

I wouldn't know Stuart Varney from a hole in the wall, as I never listen to Fox.

[Statistical]

81. Dupe

Dupe

[girl gone mad]

150. Maybe because the Obama administration correctly values future solvency.

Of course the banks are dying to get out from under any government controls on pay structure, etc. Too bad for them that paying TARP back early threatens their long term balance sheet health. You'll earn more credibility when you tell the whole truth.

[anaxarchos]

8. Yup... here it comes.

A couple trillion of spending, demanded as bailout and stimulus just 6 months ago, is now going to be "inflationary" as they see "light at the end of the tunnel". Add to that, the wad of cash that was released as credit was declining, at twice the level of spending, and half of that by Bernanke himself, and it is austerity time in America. And this while unemployment continues to rise into next year, unemployment compensation runs out, and virtually no real "relief" comes out of the stimulus package or the budget.

What's it going to be? Social Security? Medicaid? Where else?

Just one small modification: they are already killing people... maybe as many as 90 million if the World Bank is to be believed. It just isn't happening extensively within the borders yet. You are right, though. That will come.

[dkf]

9. And why are we making it hard for the banks to pay back the TARP?

That money should be paid back as soon as possible.

[Statistical]

24. Same reason the banks want to pay it back.

Control.

If there is one thing Washington likes more than $$$$ it is control.

I am no big fan on Barney Frank on most things but in this instance he is right. If the banks want to pay back let them.
Others in Washington see it as revenue generated.

Most US federal debt is 10 year T-bond which recently were sold @ around 3.0% yield.
The TARP funds have a 5% dividend.

The govt can collect the worlds largest free float.

Sell $700B in debt @ 3%..... collect dividends @ 5%. 2% of $700B the govt never had, pretty sweet.

I only wish I had the credit rating to do that.

[HamdenRice]

28. True: TARP 1 generates $7 billion profit for the US annually

There is a lot of misinformation about this, but you put it very pithily. My only disagreement is that $700 billion was authorized, but only $350 billion was actually disbursed.

The math is simple. The government borrowed that $350 billion at ~3%

Cost of borrowing $350 billion @ 3.0% = $10.5 billion

Income on TARP 1 investments @ 5% = $17.5 billion

Profit to Treasury = $7 billion.

[Statistical]

30. Pretty cool to make $7B on money that was never your. n/t

[dkf]

37. You're right that the TARP is a money maker for taxpayers.

Isn't it amazing how most people think we simply gifted that money to banks?

[Statistical]

38. Misplaced populism is fun.

Now the AIG money.... we likely will never see that back.

[dkf]

40. Citigroup, AIG, GM and Chrysler.

Those were bad loans. The rest should be fine.

[Statistical]

47. Some symetry there

2 bad loans for auto companies
2 bad loans for financial companies

[DireStrike]

83. What's more amazing is that this is the first I'm hearing of this

I haven't noticed anything about this in any threads regarding tarp.

[anigbrowl]

172. That's because most people don't want to hear about it.

There was this idea floating about last November that Wall Street would somehow collapse in a heap of rubble, everyone's ATM cards would stop working, and we'd magically transition into a Star Trek society where money is unnecessary. Or something. In the absence of this, pretending that we handed trillions directly to the personal checking accounts of bank CEOs seems to be more emotionally satisfying for a lot of people than dealing with the facts.

[Hannah Bell]

105. Tell us the details on the trillions the fed disbursed.

[HamdenRice]

216. Between $1.4 and $2 trillion were for the Fed's commercial paper program, also profitable

The direct purchase of commercial paper is something that the Fed did during the New Deal. I assume you believe the New Deal was also some sort of capitalist plot.

Another several hundred billion Fed program is a currency swap facility with other central banks.

Since the commercial paper market has not broken the buck, and no central bank (except Iceland's, which the Fed did not swap with) has gone bust, these arrangements also have not cost the taxpayer money in the long term, but instead exposed the Fed to greater risk.

If you try reading news from sources other than World Socialist Web Site, you might have a more nuanced perspective.

[Hannah Bell]

217. no, the *details*. & you're silly, tonight i've posted from at least 3 sources besides wsws.

& if you weren't such a s---l, you might be worth paying attention to.

[davekriss]

221. now, now

I find you both incredibly interesting and informative posters. No fighting amongst comrades!

[anaxarchos]

111. Your diversions are impressive...

It has nothing to do with profitability. In recession, commodities can't be sold. Credit deflates. The total amount of money in circulation is equal to cash plus credit. If nothing else is done, currency deflates as a direct function of the deflation of credit. That is why government can spend money or "print money" in recessions without worrying about inflation. That is why Keynes is famous.

As the recession hits bottom, circulation "stabilizes" and credit is restored. Now the debts incurred in the interim are an increase in credit while the money that was printed is an incremental increase in cash. Meanwhile, anything but a very rapid "recovery" means that the sphere of circulation is reduced in comparison to the period before the recession. The result is monetary inflation.

Bernanke doesn't give a shit whether TARP is profitable or not. He is not in a position to increase interest rates and suck the $2 Trillion plus wad of stinking cash, that he released, back out of circulation. That would, "hurt the banks". He also doesn't have the means to compensate for the increase in public debt. He wants to take it out of "spending" instead.

The only things large enough to really make an impact are "defense" and "entitlements". The first is sacrosanct: as it was to Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and now, Obama - gotta have an Empire. So... it's "austerity" to avoid the dreaded inflation (bad for business). "We fight inflation with austerity"... That has been the meme since 1970.

Hannah is correct, soup to nuts. She even translated it into real terms: "They are going to start killing people."

You, on the other hand, are talking about comets and shooting stars.

[girl gone mad]

151. You continue to spread lies and disinformation.

TARP has been a money loser. The government does not want the banks to pay TARP back early because they've seen the balance sheets and early payment poses a real danger to the long term solvency of these institutions. We will likely never recover the money we sunk into AIG. Citi has just announced another massive planned dilution. This will add to the estimated $100Billion we've lost thus far.

[girl gone mad]

153. Around $600 billion has been disbursed, not $350 billion.

and you accuse others of being misinformed.

Taxpayers were sold on the Troubled Asset Relief Program with the promise that the government’s investment in failing banks would turn out to be a boon for them. As it turns out, the government - and therefore the American taxpayer - are losing billions as the recession continues to deepen and losses are realized.

According to research think tank Ethisphere, the federal government has doled out roughly $590 billion of the $700 billion allocated for TARP. As of April 10, that investment has yielded a net loss of $104 billion, according to Ethisphere which equals over $900 for every American taxpaying household.

Those losses include $30 billion to failed insurance giant American International Group, $25 billion to Citigroup and $2.4 billion to Wells Fargo.

Government losses are expected to mount over time. The government has not only been sinking money directly into banks, but it has also bought, subsidized and guaranteed a whole host of toxic assets. Elizabeth Warren, who heads the Congressional Oversight Panel responsible for keeping tabs on TARP, estimates that for every $100 of TARP money that the government sunk into the banks, it received stock and warrant issuances worth just $66 at the time. In all likelihood, the value of those assets have deteriorated even further since the time of purchase.

[HamdenRice]

215. Your source is wrong right off the bat. AIG is a separate bailout

and began before the TARP 1 bill was even passed in Congress.

As for the alleged "losses" they are explained here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5776461&mesg_id=5782118

[dkf]

223. AIG is the one entity that should have been allowed to fail.

There should not have been winners off the AIG CDSs.

[Lasher]

11. All the last 8 years I kept hearing how we can't afford our social programs.

But we can afford massive tax cuts for billionaires. And Lord Vader's big adventure in Iraq. Then we pull a trillion dollars out of our asses and hand it to the bankers. WTF? How could we afford that if we couldn't afford Social Security?

'We need to address entitlements', you say? How about I address my foot right up your ass?

[Broken_Hero]

13. ........

:thumbsup:

[EFerrari]

14. What we need here is a good old shoe throwing. Bernanke is entitled to that.

We owe him.

[leveymg]

115. We should lock him in a cell and play "21st Century Schizoid Man" at 120db

It really is schizoid that on the same day the Fed Chairman says this the White House is preparing to roll-out National Health.

Fundamental diconnect here.

I think Mr. Chairman is the one who is about to be disconnected.

[Demeter]

129. Alas! Would That It Were So!

I've been praying for it, and I'm an atheist!

[robinlynne]

52. well put.

[Lasher]

72. And you know what else, we didn't hear that shit until the Worst President Ever was elected.

Saint Ronnie and Greenspan promised everything would be fine too. All we had to do was double on payroll taxes for 30 years and get screwed out of a year or more of Social Security by waiting until 66 or so to start drawing anything out. Surprise surprise we're getting this coming and going. Well fuck them! Let them 'reform' something else. Social Security is just fine, the only danger to it is government 'reform'.

There, I just got mad all over again.

[progressoid]

12. Confidence of the financial markets”

Right. Fuck everybody else.

Just as long as the Wall Street a-holes get theirs - That's all that matters.

[Hardrada]

15. George Carlin said those guys want it ALL.

I guess this is what they have been planning for 30 years.

[Greyhound]

88. Implementing for 30, planning for 50. n/t

[frog92969]

16. Are we there yet!?

I'm even more pissed than I was yesterday.

I can't type what I'm thinking.
How much are the wars costing us again?

[democracy1st]

17. If this happens that will be Obama's downfall !

[kjackson227]

59. If this were any other administration besides President Obama's...

I'd say that what Bernanke was spouting off probably could happen. But there's no way in the world that this would happen with Obama as president. So, he can just put a sock in it.

[bobbolink]

82. Why? Who cares?

YOu don't notice anyone proposing ACTION on this, do you?

[Chulanowa]

18. "The fuckers are going to kill people."

Cut the social safety net, expand the wars.

You made a hell of an understatement there, Hannah

[malaise]

19. He's still pushing the neo-liberal model

even though Greenspan declared it dead. Poor fool. Fugg him.

[Hannah Bell]

20. just a poor fool - who runs the fed.

[mmonk]

21. And I demand cuts in the corporate and MIC programs.

[Downwinder]

103. As a citizen and tax payer I second that. CUT CORPORATE WELFARE n/t

[melm00se]

22. While his target may be objectionable

from an ideology point of view, and his wording stilted, the fact of the matter is that the US government must develop, promulgate and stick to a plan to reduce spending and federal deficits.

One can not continue to spend money that you don't have by either continuing to borrow or by printing money without causing significant damage to the economic structure.

While some can say "take us back to the days of Ike and tax the 'rich' at a 90% level", they have to understand that the world and domestic economy as well as quality of life issues are so incredibly different that the impact of imposing a tax at the level might have some unintended and surprising consequences.

Back to Bernanke's sentiment: overspending the federal revenues by 20-30-50-100% is NOT sustainable for very much longer. Both "sides" of the budget will have to bear the brunt of the hard (and politically unpopular) choices that will have to be made and the sooner they are made, the less severe and painful that they will be.

[tiny elvis]

27. ideology wants to sleep on your couch

Next thing you know, your daughter's pregnant and there's money missing from your dresser. I've seen it a hundred times.

"the ... issues are so incredibly different that the impact of imposing a tax at that level might..."

Since we discovered the screaming obelisk on the moon.

"Both 'sides' of the budget will have to bear the brunt"

Who bears the brunt first? The brunt will be borne by Bernanke in promises for the future that never pan out. The banker brunt will be http://www.oftlog.com/2005/08/poor-man-cafe-s-not-good-deal.html">Phase II.

[melm00se]

31. you get a choice:

fiddle fart around, delay taking action and the system crashes HARD

or

suck it up, take the modest hit now and the system keeps humming along.

Politics, especially American politics works around the concept of compromise and the historical American compromises were made on far far larger issues than what is being quibbled about now.

Both sides of the aisle have lost sight of the shared goal

[tiny elvis]

49. I am all for killing the poor

but as a poor man, I worry. What can regular Joes like me do to restore confidence to American enterprise in the interim?

[bobbolink]

85. At least you're honest. That's more than most "progressives" can manage.

Many of us would gladly accomodate you.

So, start agitating for giving us the right to end it all, eh?

[Riverman]

144. No Shared Goal of Corporate Welfare and Endless War

This is the filling of the tub, next drown what's left of the social safety net - disaster calitalism, if you will, in its final death throws - for us!

[nichomachus]

50. For someone who just gave trillion-dollar bonuses to failed bankers

Bernanke is all of a sudden all tough talk when it comes to poor people, the elderly, and the sick.

[Statistical]

53. Loaned. Loans which will generate $7B in revenue for taxpayers this year. n/t

[nichomachus]

67. Stop. Stop. You're cracking me up.

:rofl:

You keep this up and I'll pee myself.

Loaned. Yeah, right. They'll find some way to steal that $7 billion.

[Statistical]

75. Then why are they trying to pay back money they stole?

I have never seen a bank robber, rob a bank, and then few months later try to pay the bank back with interest.

You crack me up. So hypothetically if they do pay it back in full with interest will you still be peeing yourself (from embarrassment)?

[nichomachus]

78. Because they realized they went too far

People were ready to start building gallows, so they're doing a little cosmetic damage control and paying some of the money back. Meanwhile Bernanke is going to balance the books on the back of the poor, the sick, and the elderly -- and the spiffy corporate jets are still flying.

[Statistical]

80. Sure. Well keep building that gallow if it makes you feel better n/t

[anigbrowl]

174. Bwahahahaha!

That's the best one I've heard so far.

[Amonester]

207. Well, they *took* that interest from somebody's pockets...

Now, from WHO's pockets would that be?

Lemme guess...

Customers? Workers? The "captive" ones, mostly.

And what did they actually *produce* (apart from thin air) to *take* these interests?

Outrageous rates hikes? (Shylocking.)

I thought so.

[kjackson227]

61. Ain't it the truth. How can these services be cut, when poor/working poor...

people are having a hard enough time even WITH these programs. What a jerk.

[bobbolink]

86. WHO will stop it?? Do you see "progressives" hitting the streets in support of poor folk?

:shrug:

"How many deaths will it take before they know that too many people have died?"

[JDPriestly]

68. Cut military spending. That's where the fat is.

[Hannah Bell]

74. social security is self-funded. medicare & medicaid = single payer for less than we pay now.

other social programs are a miniscule part of the federal budget.

tax the banksters, we can't afford them.

[bobbolink]

84. Yet, when poor people can no longer survive and try to kill themselves,

the ones who don't succeed will be put in hospitals, and THOUSANDS will be spent to convince them to live.

Just give us the pills now and spare us all the pain.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

138. But we could cut back on military spending

and that would bring even more savings.

For some reason, Republicans and Conservative Democrats (not a dime's worth of difference between the two, maybe a nickel's worth) act as if military spending isn't government spending.

[lib2DaBone]

23. Like George Carlin said, "They're comin' after your retirement.."

"they got your house, your job and your car.. now they're comin' after your retirement.. they'll get it too... they'll get every last fucking penny".

[Orsino]

25. We need to address the conservative sense of entitlement.

Tell him to get back to us when we're not hemorrhaging hundreds of billions in Iraq, and have found the integrity to restrict executive bonuses in our bailouts.

[Kitty Herder]

62. Amen. n/t

[Shireling]

26. Chalmers Johnson

and others have warned that continued war would bankrupt our country.

The social safety net is so inadequate that it doesn't even meet a person's basic needs, let alone allow him/her to have a decent life. Those who become disabled before being established financially are looking at the poor poor poor house. And then we bail out the bankers under the guise of helping the economy, when most of the money goes for bonuses and to help the CEOs and wall street.

I find myself wondering if the New World Order conspiracy theory was right. Is big business merging with government in order to take over the world and turn us all into slaves?

I hope not.

Obama, hire new people!! Show come balls!! I know you can!!

[icnorth]

29. Is big business merging with government?

Not really. Fait accompli.

[Subdivisions]

32. I posted about this before...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5781509&mesg_id=5781509

[lumberjack_jeff]

33. ... because they don't fear the reverse. n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

34. Exactly what the IMF and the World Bank have been doing to vulnerable economies

... for 50 years.

[redqueen]

39. Yep, they've got it down to a science now. (nt)

[BelgianMadCow]

163. Predictable disaster capitalism indeed. Usually, the IMF does that to 3rd world countries

go figure

good call!

[slipslidingaway]

35. Another reason for HR 676 nt

[L0oniX]

36. Let's start with cutting the entitlements for the senate and congress and the pentagon.

[Amonester]

208. Sorry. Without millions in the streets everywhere, senate & congress...

will never vote to cut their own entitlements.

The millions not in the streets are on message boards, and they don't give a damn about message boards.

In fact, they LOVE message boards. It keeps the millions (not in the streets) busy (arguing each other) and... *quiet*

[Vidar]

41. Hanging Wall Street bankers would send a more proper message.

[cliffordu]

44. I'm wth you.

[ArcticFox]

100. Seconded

I just hope the rioting doesn't kill all the decent people.

[rpannier]

161. Ain't it the truth

[redqueen]

42. Close the tax loopholes first, and wait till we get out of Iraq.

Then we'll talk about the need to address entitlements.

[anaxarchos]

43. The 800 lb. gorilla in the room...

What is the cost of Empire?



They have "debated" everything BUT the obvious...

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

45. Who is he to say where the cuts come from?!! Cut some defense spending!

Bring home the troops. Not just in Iraq but from where they are stationed around the world in obsolete Cold War posts.

[Badgerman]

46. see this DU thread...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5776461&mesg_id=5776461

[The Leveller]

51. Austerity

for the poor. Gravy spills for the rich!



Corporate lackeys runnin' the show.

[tomm2thumbs]

54. keep printing Bernanke and STFU nt

[dusmcj]

55. let the financial markets eat cake, and fuck themselves with it

they can eat it out of each others' assholes like they already do. Chocolate anyone ? What's that on my nose ?

[The Hope Mobile]

56. They already have killed MANY IMHO nt

[keepCAblue]

58. Schwarzie is doing the same in Calif...

Call me crazy, but this almost smells like an orchestrated effort to de-socialize America by obliterating all the social programs which help the poor, indigent or disabled. And fuck the elderly too, many of whom will be left with no social security or Medicare. What the hell.

[varelse]

77. It certainly does smell that way

Distaster capitalism strikes too close to home this time.

[Grinchie]

127. They would rather seize the elderly's assets when they die.

It's an elegant, direct tax.

[anonymous171]

60. I hope that he someday ends up dangling from a lamp post for this.

We need to start fighting back against these parasites before they kill us all.

[xxqqqzme]

63. 'Disaster captialism' out in the open w/ absolutely

no apology from the neo-cons. The Dept of Offense spending goes unchecked but, god forbid, the other 99.8% of the population should have food, clothing, health care or shelter!

[pleah]

64. END THE FUCKING WARS!

What an asshole.:grr:

[Ganja Ninja]

73. Yup.

Stop spending on military boondoggles. Cut the size of all three branches of the military and tax the crap out of people like Bernanke. If they want war we should give them hell instead.

[Octafish]

65. Economic Hitman free to roam the Homeland

Don't forget to pocket your bonus money first, Ben.

[JDPriestly]

66. Read your Naomi Klein

This is textbook Chicago economics. And guess where Obama is from?

I'm 66 and can't get a job in spite of my degrees and intelligence. I get .05 interest on my meager savings and my social security. I have a house payment and a student loan (small amount) every month. Ben Bernanke, Henry Paulson and their ilk made millions cheating people, and now they want to cut my Social Security payments, which, thanks to their mismanagement of the economy, is my primary income. Do they really think that Americans will put up with this?

Kucinich looks better every day.

[Grinchie]

132. They are counting on Americans to put up with this.

When the banks don't provide an honest rent of your money via Interest, people are forced to spend it all, otherwise lose it all in the 12% inflation we see annually.

The only thing my bank is good for is the safe deposit box I use to store my cash. They can be happy with my tiny sum I keep in their for the occasional check, otherwise I'm all cash, all the time.

Kucinich looked good when the M$M ignored him entirely in the GE. He is the lone farmer out in the field willing to bend over to pull a weed and fix the fences, or put a fallen bird back into the nest.

All the rest are operating bulldozers in the orchards, uprooting a productive farm in order to get subsidies for a crop of GMO Soybeans.

[JDPriestly]

168. How right you are -- bulldozers in the orchards, uprooting a productive farm to get subsidies

That is the mentality. "I'm going to take mine while I can." That is their motto.

[Pacifist Patriot]

69. I am all for belt-tightening and cutting spending.

Imagine what our budget would look like if we stopped invading and occupying foreign territory.

[Kitty Herder]

71. Yep. n/t

[Kitty Herder]

70. This is how you turn the world's only superpower into a third-world hellhole.

The wealthy do very well for themselves in third-world countries. The return on their investment is higher because they don't have to pay for exorbitant things like living wages,health care, overtime pay, or pay taxes to support an adequate safety net. Michael Parenti has been saying for a while that the rich in this country have been trying to turn this into a third-world nation. They may well have succeeded now.

The budget problem isn't that hard to solve. We could end our wars of choice. We could return to the top marginal tax rate under Eisenhower of 91% or something lower but still much higher than we currently have and we could raise the cap on the social security tax. It ain't rocket science. That these simple solutions aren't even considered shows the true priorities of those in power. They don't give a shit about the majority of Americans so long as those at the top are still eating caviar off of golden platters on their yachts.

[varelse]

76. Who elected this motherfucker and put him in charge of our President?

oh wait, that's right - we "the people" aren't in charge of the U.S. government's fourth branch.

[droidamus2]

79. What they wanted all along

Bernanke's suggestion for cutting Social Security and Medicare is a Republicans wet dream. The conservatives plan all along has been to starve the federal government for money to stave off any new large social programs (single payer healthcare anyone?) and then go after the big two Social Security and Medicare. They don't give a damn how much they hurt the middle class because as far as they are concerned they would like to see two classes the very rich and the really poor (think 3rd world country). As others have stated until they are willing to make substantial cuts in the military and make sure their gods the corporations pay their fair share of taxes I say keep your greedy hands off of SSI and Medicare.

[DebbieCDC]

87. Fuck you Bernanke

Where were you when chimpazoid was running the train off the tracks? Didn't hear you crying about deficits then did we? Fucking bastards.

[diane in sf]

89. Fuck that, end the warring and tax the hell out of the upper 1% and the corporations

that have been ditching their part of the tax burden for the last 30 years. Read David Cay Johnston.

[diane in sf]

91. Also, raise the income cap on taxing for social security.

[Hannah Bell]

209. why? so the gov will have even *more* money to "borrow" to fund the general budget

& keep bill gates' income taxes low?

gates gets $1 in salary, so he doesn't *pay* Social Security taxes.

He gets bundles in dividends, capital gains, rents, & profits though.

None of it subject to social security taxes.

like most of the mega-rich.

[florida08]

96. dirty S.O.B

Thank you Hannah for posting this..first time I've seen anything about this. Rescind the Reagan tax cuts. Amazing itsn't it..now that they've robbed us of our jobs, pensions and bank deposits they want to rob us some more. Go to hell Bernanke. Cut ex presidents'
damn retirement they get..politicians pay your damn health care. Talk about NWO!

[femrap]

104. The Chair of the Fed should hold

only citizenship of this country. Does he really care about this nation and this nation only?

After these horrid years of W and now the dems paying back Wall Street and The Banksters for buying the WH for Obama, I can only see The Decline of the American Empire. The military takes all of our money. What's left goes to pay interest on our debt.

Soon the Corporations will take your pension and 401Ks....or maybe they'll just lower the value of the dollar by half and POOF...you've got half what you thought you had.

Pitchforks.

[november3rd]

107. THEY BETTER FREE THEIR MINDS INSTEAD

If all they can see is the bottom line, they're not even going to get a glimpse of THE REVOLUTION we had in 1789 to disenfranchise megalomaniacle aristocrats.

Throw down the royalists and the feudal aristocracy. Equality first.

[ChiciB1]

147. And WHEN Or HOW Will this Begin To Take Place??? All I See Is More Of

the same from the American people. I'm up for REVOLUTION, but very few here at DU are from what I can tell!

I've talked about it for quite some time, and EVERY SINGLE time I say something there's a post telling me WHY this WILL NOT WORK!

I don't know, guess we can just follow the LEADER, like the Pied Piper said!

[rhymeandreason]

108. We need to address

how to get rid of Geithner, Bernanke and the lot of these corrupt and compromised scoundrels.

[Raster]

109. First of all, dipshit, Social Security is NOT an entitlement.

We, the citizens of this country, have paid into Social Security, not the government.

[rhett o rick]

110. What's the matter with Pres Obama? Bernanke and Geither must go now.

The health of Wall Street is more important than saving the middle class. These guys are capitalists with a capital K (for Kill the middle class).

[rhett o rick]

112. Bush failed to kill Social Security. Pres Obama may succeed. nm

[kjackson227]

120. President Obama will kill Social Security???? Lets not get carried away.

[leftstreet]

125. Not him personally. But the nastier pills are administered under Dem majorities

Think Clinton/Nafta as just one horrific example

The Ruling Class sorta likes to put a friendlier face on their fascism

[kjackson227]

133. I guess you're right, ~SIGH~

[dflprincess]

185. You mean faux Dem majorities

With all the corportists in Congress we really don't have a majority.

[leftstreet]

199. True

They've managed to make us believe there were two distinct positions/parties for a long time.

The lines are pretty blurry at this point.

[rhett o rick]

193. So how do you take the OP? nm

[Hannah Bell]

210. If you've followed what what's gone on in Europe, it's the "left" parties who often

do this kind of dirty work.

The left-leaning fight when the right tries it, but cave when their own parties do it.

[blindpig]

218. And that is because they are 'reformists'.

When the 'left' engages in reform and compromise the result has been capitulation. Consider the European socialists at the beginning of WWI.

Consider the 'lunch-bucket' politics of the unions.

Consider where we are now.

This is what happens when people forget which side they're on.

[windbreeze]

113. How about we TAX those who hold all the money, like we should...n /t

[biermeister]

114. Ask your Rep to support HR 1207!!!!

To amend title 31, United States Code, to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported, and for other purposes.

This bill already has 186 cosponsors. Follow the link and see if your Rep is supporting it.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d111:18:./temp/~bdaS9Z::|/bss/|

We, the people, need to apply some badly needed oversight & pressure on these crooks.

[Juche]

116. Or we could rebuild healthcare from the ground up and make SS taxes progressive

Medicare probably wastes $150 billion a year or more because our healthcare system is so messed up and expensive. A fundamental overhaul (like Taiwan did in the 1990s) would easily cut medicare costs in the future. Countries like Taiwan, Japan & the UK offer everyone healthcare for 8% of GDP. Maybe we couldn't do that but with major overhauls we could probably cut it from 16% down to 12% or less. About 30-50% of medical expenses are unnecessary or wasteful according to some of the data I've seen.

As far as Social security, just lift the cap from 102k up to about 200k. Or do what Obama has talked about, build a donut hole from 100k-250k, then tax everything above 250k at 4% a year (as opposed to the 12.4% people pay on the first 102k).


Its not that these problems aren't solvable, its just that solutions like these are hard to implement and end up harming the wealthy and vested corporate interests.

But its solveable. Do what Taiwan did and rebuild healthcare, make SS taxes more progressive and if needed raise medicare and SS taxes a bit. That would keep them solvent.

[Metta]

117. Happy karm, fascists. They'rw not interested in helping people. How about ending corporate welfare?

Enjoy your suffering and devolving into people of denser vibrations.

[onethatcares]

121. besides writing letters and pissing up ropes

what can we do? Our elected representatives don't give a crap, they're in on the scam too. Are we gonna give up our jobs and protest??? They got that one locked down already.

We are truly farked.

[proud2BlibKansan]

122. They are "going to" kill people?

They have BEEN killing people for as long as I can remember.

[Moral Compass]

123. We can restore fiscal balance if...

The single biggest item on the U.S. budget is our military. We have an army, navy, and air force that has an offensive capability that dwarfs anything in history. This at a time when we have not a single country out there that shows any signs of wanting to start a traditional war.

We are spending ourselves into penury buying weapons that are inherently not productive. Weapons destroy--that is what they are designed to do.

If we as a nation continue to support uncapped military spending we will collapse under our own weight. Our current military posture is not sustainable and never has been. The only way to sustain a vast military empire is to exact tribute. We are not doing that.

Fiscal balance cannot be restored via domestic tax hikes (although taxes on the wealthy investing class should be raised very substantially), domestic entitlement cuts, or any other measure. The numbers just don't add up.

We are behaving as an empire behaves. But we are not exacting taxes and tribute. That is simply not possible for very long.

Rome survived for several hundred years by financing their way of life through taxation of their "client" (conquered) states. They eventually ran out of money. Read the history. The empire fell because as they incorporated more territory into the empire they ceased to be able to exact tribute. Taxes were not enough given the military posture they maintained. All empires have ended this way.

Bernake can talk all he wants about cutting programs and indeed the programs might well be cut. But that will not solve the essential issue. We are maintaining a huge standing military in a time of relative peace. We are not manufacturing goods that other countries want to buy. What work there is is being outsourced to lower wage nations. From a macroeconomic standpoint we are bleeding ourselves dry. We have invaded two countries and are not exacting one penny of tribute. We maintain a massive military presence in Germany, Korea, and in Japan (Okinawa). Yet we do not charge one penny of taxes.

One of the biggest drains on our resources is our military. Every dollar spent on a weapon is a dollar not spent on the development and well being of our homeland.

There is no corollary in history for this. We are blundering down a dead end road and there is a cliff that we are about to fall off of.

Just add it up folks. It doesn't make any sense.

But the military is the sacred cow and they can't touch that. So, they have to go after the social programs. It is the price of empire. But it's still not sustainable.

[Jkid]

124. Military...sacred cow

I say we slay it! Especially scrap the missile defense programs.

[Grinchie]

126. I take it that Gethners report on China indicated some Hostility...

Thus Bernanke showing a case of the Jitters.

The Central Banks are starting to show some fear! Maybe they see the end coming.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

130. oops I thought we were socialist?

[jwirr]

131. LOL Maintaining the confidence of the markets - go to hell Bernanke. nt

[valerief]

134. Yep. That's what they do. Time to move to a REAL country. nt

[defendandprotect]

135. Bounce Baucus and Bernanke -- MEDICARE FOR ALL --

[colsohlibgal]

136. Enough Is Enough

Why don't we just cut out huge tax breaks for zillionaires instead. Seriously, we may have to storm the gates to get much dome for average people.

[ChiciB1]

145. Wasn't That ONE HUGE Promise Obama Made Over & Over & Over???

Get rid of tax breaks for the rich!! So WHERE did THAT little "thingie" go?? But that's just ONE little "thingie" that is making me VERY nervous.

While I KNEW what McCain was going to do, I must say I NEVER thought an Obama administration would have done some of the things that have been done to date!!

VETO POWER is all I can say, unless he agrees with THIS ONE TOO!!!

Call me stupid, call me what you will, but I don't think "we the people" are being considered very much these days! I no longer know WHAT is going on, OR WHAT will be going on!!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

137. Start by cutting back the military to actual defensive needs

But that might reduce the value of the shares that Bernanke probably holds in military contractor corporations. :sarcasm:

Are we the land of the free or the new Roman Empire? Inreasingly, it's looking like the latter.

[dflprincess]

201. The empire won't last long

I heard someone on Thom Hartmann's show this week refer to Afghanistan as "where empires go to die" (they should have that on their license plates) and Obama has made it clear he intends to continue the endless war policy there.

[Mnpaul]

139. I have an idea for Bernanke

How about we stop diverting SS and medicare funds into the general fund. If you want all these corporate giveways and defense spending, raise taxes to pay for them. Where is Al Gore and his lockbox when you need him.

[snappyturtle]

140. K&R Bernanke can go suck an egg! Yeah, let's protect Wall Street....

some more....again. eom

[ChiciB1]

141. All I REALLY WANT TO KNOW IS... Where Does The Buck Stop????

There IS the power of the VETO, and even if ALL of this goes through our "illustrious corrupt" people in Congress... then OBAMA NEEDS to step and say.... NO WAY JOSE!!

Anyone taking any bets on this?? From what I've seen of late, I WOULDN'T bet for NOTHING!!!

We have a small IRA, but my husband retired early and is on Social Security, does anyone think we should pull our money out from the IRA with Morgan Stanley??? It's mostly invested with mutual funds.

I'm really beginning to get VERY scared!!!

:scared: :scared: :scared:

[RandomThoughts]

142. This kind of stuff is why at times I think total collapse of the monetary system may be needed.

Quite simply the power of money, or people with money, can be completely removed by removing money. A complete total collapse of all markets and systems, effectively zeroing out all balances effectively puts the rich in a place where their value, not the ability to buy media coverage, and not the use of money to hide their actions, is what they will have to negotiate with.

However the severity of such a thing makes me believe things can be managed without such drastic measures.

In a purely logical sense, if any group thinks difference in classes is a war, or differences in monetary resources should be used as a weapon against another group, then the problem is easily solved by removing the entire element, money or wealth, that creates the ability to wage that war.

[wishlist]

143. Repubs would benefit if voters blame Dems for cuts in social programs n/t

[maryf]

148. The fuckers are going to kill people.

Already millions in this country without homes, heat, healthcare, won't take much for them to succeed in killing more than are already dying indirectly...General Strike anyone, can we have action of some fucking kind here?? PEOPLE are dying!!!

[Grinchie]

158. I've been Successfully "On Strike" since 2003!

I've never been happier.

It would be nice if others joined in and made it count however, because after all, there are economies of scale that enhance the impact of individuals withdrawing from the system that the Government depends on to function.

It's really simple:

When they say buy stuff, I go buy what I absolutely need at a flea market.

When they say pay taxes. I work for myself on day to day living.

When they say Invest in the Stock Market, I say, "Fix the corruption first"

When they raise my property taxes, I appeal and win, considering they have added no new services in 10 years.

When they say Panic! I sit back and enjoy the show.

When they raise the spector of War, I laugh at the lunacy of a system out of control.

When they say "Move Along" I sit down and make them carry me off.

When they say "Stay Put" I find a way to go around them.

When they offer me credit I pay with cash.

When they refuse to take my personal check, I cancel the transaction and go to a store that can handle a personal check.

When they try to sell me a tool made in a foreign country, I'll buy American, even if it is an Antique that I need to restore. I'm better off in the long run.

When they tell me GMO food is safe, I buy Organic and wait for the evidence to be concrete and statistically correct.

When I see Chicken on sale, I scan the headlines for recent outbreaks of disease in the vast Chicken CAFO's and generally avoid the tainted supply until they liquidate it to the suckers.

When they tell me that people are foregoing Organic food due to economic hardship, I go out and join the Absolute Throngs of people crowding the local Organic food store, and pay the real cost of natural fresh food.


This is the only way I can strike at the system, because I have departed the rat race years ago. Even the steps above will make one realize how dependant most Americans are on the current social system, which is manipulated to benefit the ones we have be coerced to be dependant upon.

[bertman]

189. I'm headed your way, Grinchie! Thanks for a great "to-do" list.

:hi:

[blindpig]

227. Well and good, but....

we need noisy masses in the street to get their attention, while you're no doubt pleased with yourself such actions by an individual has no effect. We'll all need to sit down in the street, show them we are not only defiant but united too.

[Old Codger]

149. FUCK Bernanke

In the ear.

[Qutzupalotl]

160. Careful...

that's how you get hearing AIDS.

[Old Codger]

171. LOL

Hell I thought that was from listening to assholes like that.

[boomerbust]

152. Never happen

Political suicide

[imdjh]

155. Why don't they sell the national parks?

[Jazzgirl]

156. How about we just get rid of Bernanke.

n/t

[MasonJar]

157. Let's see...hhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmm! Withour W and his wars and

Bernanke and his bailouts there would be no deficit. Bill Clinton left a surplus. Stop bailout: that is a social program we should never have started.

[Dr.Phool]

159. How about we all quit paying our taxes!?

Until they stop two stupid wars, cut the military budget, and until the rich and the corporations start paying their fair share of taxes. No more off shoring dummy tax havens. Let Geithner and every other politician file a correct return, before they get appointed to a higher office, and get scrutinized.

FUCK YOU BERNANKE!!!!!!!!!!!

You piece of shit!

[Grinchie]

194. I'm with you on the Tax thing

In the film "America: Freedom to Fascism", Aaron Russo sets out to discover the exact section of the Law which requires to pay income Tax on Wages in Exchange for labor.

He even went so far as to interview the IRS, and what he found was shocking to say the least. After watching the film, I set out to find out for myself, and I'll be Dubya's Uncle if he wasn't on to something. I can't find the law mandating income taxes on wages anywhere. It's important that one identify "Wages for Labor" and discriminate it from Profits or Gains from Business or Corporate dealings, both of which are legal applications of the tax code. I have no problem with those, but apparently the Corporations do.

Also one gets the impression that Federal Income Tax Withholding is designed to force people into filing a 1040 to get money that should not have been taxed in the first place, which enables the States to require the filing of a Local Tax return!

We have lots of direct taxes on Fuel, Auto, Telecommunications which apply to everybody equally. I can avoid Fuel taxes by not consuming fuel.

Then there is an indirect tax, which must be apportioned equally to the states. When was the last time you saw the detailed expenditures of the Government of your Income Tax?

You give the IRS a sworn affidavit of how your money worked for you every year, punishable by imprisonment if you make an error, which basically violate the protection granted by the 5th Amendment. While the Government, spends 700 dollars on a toilet seat, or loses track of a billion dollars here and there.

Watch the film on Google Video, do your own research, and please share your thoughts. If more people get wind of this, the PTB are going to be pissed.

[Hannah Bell]

211. *That* would be worth trying to organize. Because there's support on the right side of the aisle

too.

as well as equal anger re the bankster bailouts.

[mrs_p]

162. ok then - start

with his salary. let's see how he feels about social programs when he has no means of paying his medical.

[BrklynLiberal]

166. Fuck you Bernanke!!! and all those that rode in with you.

Cut the damn defense department budget....

[bridgit]

169. Ah, there it is...the other shoe. Been waiting for that one to drop

Entitlements For The Entitled Dammit!!

[bertman]

190. "Entitlements for the Entitiled"

Beautiful!

[KamaAina]

170. Who the hell elected Bernanke to anything, anyway?

Having read that, I wouldn't vote for him for dogcatcher. Not even if his opponent was allergic. :eyes:

[Hippo_Tron]

173. The fed doesn't control fiscal policy so this is nothing more than hot air

[Hannah Bell]

212. you think not, eh?

[Hippo_Tron]

224. They don't...

Sometimes an ambitious fed chairman can try to blackmail a President or Congress into doing something with fiscal policy by threatening to do something they don't want with monetary policy. That won't really fly since interest rates are as low as they possibly can be due to the economy and there is pretty much a consensus that that is the way things have to be right now. Plus Obama can replace Bernanke in a year and a half.

[ljm2002]

175. "Fiscal balance"?!?!?!?!

These assholes have the unmitigated gall to talk about the "confidence of the financial markets" and "fiscal balance" -- when it was the financial rulers themselves who destroyed the system by their gigantic FRAUD perpetrated first on the citizens of the US and secondly on the fools in the rest of the world who bought worthless, complex derivatives that were laundered by AIG into A-OK AAA-rated financial instruments... except for one small, niggling detail: they were no such thing.

Well the good news is, they can only retain power so long as we all agree to pretend that the bits and bytes that their amoral mathematical bright boys send flying around the globe actually have any intrinsic value at all. You think you've seen a bubble pop, wait until we all turn around and say, you know what? This construct with its usurious interest rates and its ability for bankers and politicians to create money out of thin air just so they can squeeze more out of us -- this is just one giant man-behind-the-curtain pile of BS whose sole function is to control the little people while allowing the corrupt bastards to live like royalty and then some.

This fool Bernanke is promoting IMF-style "austerity measures" to apply to the US, just as it has been applied to so many other nations around the globe. And why? Because they want to break the middle class and make us into a two-tiered country, with a nice class system where the great unwashed quit trying to pretend that they deserve to live in nice homes and drive nice cars and send their children to good schools and even college.

I once had a very enlightening conversation with a big executive at a well known corporation whose business includes coffee. He indignantly pointed out that the people on the coffee farms in Kona actually expect to have color TVs and automobiles. I told him, well sure they do, they live in the US, and those are pretty minimal requirements to function in our society! His response was, they should see how other people in the coffee business live around the globe. Now the fact is, this gentleman (I use the term loosely) had flown in to Kona on a corporate Lear jet. Yet he had no notion, none whatsoever, of his own hypocrisy as he tried to press the point that the Little People should all sink down to a level of barely scratching out a living, while people like Himself should continue living it up and flying around on corporate Lear jets because, after all, He was just so important, while they expected too much in wanting simple amenities.

It's class warfare, folks. It is truly, truly sad how few people understand this simple fact. I suppose it will only come home when we do have starving masses, and when we start to see a critical mass of people who truly have nothing to lose. Not something I want to see, but some days it seems inevitable.

[bertman]

191. Yes, it is ljm2002. And they consider themselves the "brilliant" class who deserve far

more than us simple ones in the "dumb" class.

Based on the reaction of the dumbs to this fleecing and ass-whuppin' by the brilliants, they just might be right. Sad to say.

[Sebastian Doyle]

176. Bernanke, read my lips you goddamn criminal piece of shit.

FUCK the "financial markets"

FUCK Wall Street

FUCK corporate America

FUCK the "defense" industry

and most of all....

FUCK the international criminal cartel of private bankers operating under the blatant misnomer of the "Federal Reserve".


What part of government of the people, by the people, for the people do you fucking bastards NOT understand?? :grr:

[Locrian]

179. abso-fucking-lutely

BEST POST EVER,

FUCK the "financial markets"
FUCK Wall Street
FUCK corporate America
FUCK the "defense" industry
and most of all....

FUCK the international criminal cartel of private bankers operating under the blatant misnomer of the "Federal Reserve".

And so it begins. THIS is the fucking class warfare that the MASSIVE redistribution of wealth has gotten us. Think they give a rats ASS about anyone but themselves ?

You can add Geitner and Summers to the piece of shit list too.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

[RufusTFirefly]

180. Meanwhile, Grover Norquist is at the bathtub standing by

"I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub." -- Grover Norquist

[loudsue]

182. There WILL be blood in the streets if they go along with this.

I've about had it with this whole "conservative" idea of "screw the people til they bleed, and feed it all to the corporations".

[INdemo]

183. The Obama administration is acting more like Republicans than Republicans

Obama keeps appointing Republicans and Geithner keeps catering to his Wall St. buddies..I am really sorry I voted fro this guy...he is breaking campaign promises and then telling us we gotta cut back while giving the banking industry blank checks...Obama is in over his head....

[earcandle]

184. From whom does this Bernanke get his authority to tell our President what to do?

See what Greenspan did to us?

I don't get. They are a private organization with nothing at
stake
that has to do with our PR and Sales taxes.  Why don't we
raise our
own capital and diss these folks?  Credit Unions.  Start
saving in them.  

[Grinchie]

195. Why, Bernanke is the Head of the Federal Reserve! Empowered to Counterfeit Money!

Right out of thin air!

It performs an important duty to remain an Anonymous consortium of Banks that manipulate the economic policy of the United States, and is designed to be "Insulated" from the unpleasantness of partisan politics.

They do a good job, and make all their insider friends very wealthy in the process.

Meanwhile, they toss a bag of Monopoly money at people and get them to play along.

[ContinentalOp]

187. Obama will replace this guy in 2010 right?

Right? :shrug:

[anaxarchos]

202. Out of the frying pan and into the fire...

There has been broad agreement on "monetary policy" and "austerity" to prevent inflation since Arthur Burns became Chairman in 1970. Since then there have only been 4 other Chairmen (Miller, Volker, Greenspan, and Bernanke). Volker is part of Obama's team.

Geithner, Obama's Treasury Secretary, was the head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank and a full member of this fraternity. The speculation is that Obama appointed Geithner in place of Larry Summers because Summers is slated to replace Bernanke.

If you like Bernanke, you are going to love Summers...

Bernanke is speaking for the "team" on this. Otherwise, he would not have opened his mouth.

[JDPriestly]

188. Looks like Obama is going to have to choose which side he is on.

So far, he has been all for the banks and Wall Street and nothing at all for Main Street -- at least far, far too little for Main Street. We need jobs, President Obama, and it is your job to make sure we have them. That is part of making America secure.

[anaxarchos]

203. The choice happened when Obama appointed his economic team.

The game's been the same since the appearance of "stagflation" in the Nixon era. Inflation is the mortal enemy of corporate profits. The IMF and the World Bank have been organized on this principle since the 1980s. Welcome to the Third World.

[Warren Stupidity]

196. Right out of the play book. First the SHOCK and then the REMEDY.

They are going to do to us what they did to many other nations.

[peacetalksforall]

197. Does that xxxxard know how dependent most of the citizens are on their ss and medicare?

He thinks it's our discretionary spending money. What horse crap. What gall. What arrogance. The wealthy have no idea what they are talking about.

[pam4water]

198. You know he's bought in to the right wing nut job think when he calls them entitlements.

[Stardust]

200. Fuck Bernanke.

[farmboxer]

205. Wall Street should be cut. It's easy to cheat a 90 year old

person out of his social security, but they dare not cut a billionaire, afterall, he needs more money, mansions, let the poor/middleclass starve and die in the street. Not health care for "We The People", but Congress has Universal Health Care, ohhhhhhhh, but they can afford that.

America is like France, "before" the revolution.

The rich got rich by cheating "We The People" out of everything. Ameica can't afford health care, but Europe can. So much for living within a plutocracy.

[havocmom]

206. It's all about class warfare and a pissing contest

with FDR. They just won't acknowledge that working class and the poor are human beings too. We are just chattle to them and if they can't exploit our labors, they just want us gone.

If deficits suddenly matter again (now that we have a DEM in the WH & DEM controlled Congress) then taxes for the top levels can fucking go up. Corporate taxes can go up. Workers have been making wage and benefit concessions since Reagan and we are old, worn out and sick.

The top can pay the the tab this time.

[and-justice-for-all]

213. End the occupations and cut the Pentagons's budget...

then there is not need to kill social services.....which I will add, that returning vets do use.

[northernlights]

214. I don't think Obama would come close to implementing this

unless he truly wants to be a one-termer.

It's not just people already on SS who would rebel in '10 and '12. It's people nearing retirement age. And the generation behind them. And possibly even the generation behind them.

Because deep down they all realize it's *their* necks coming up sooner or later. That if the example they set to their children is that we throw granny and gramps out on the street cause they're 'useless eaters,' their children will turn on them someday.

That's why social security has *always* been the "third rail" of politics.

Bernanke can make all the demands he wants. He can't force congress or Obama to commit political suicide.

[davekriss]

219. I see the fascist agenda is proceeding as planned (nt)

[moondust]

225. Banks gettin' hungry again?

[Orwellian_Ghost]

228. Kick