THERE
ARE NOW 40 MILLION ILLEGALS IN OUR COUNTRY, WHICH ARE IN OUR JOBS, JAILS or
WELFARE.
“While
43.6 million Americans live in poverty, the richest men of finance sure are
getting pissy.”
OBAMA,
THE BANKSTER OWNED LA RAZA DEM
“The response of the administration was to rush to the
defense of the banks. Even before coming to power, Obama expressed his
unconditional support for the bailouts, which he subsequently expanded. He
assembled an administration dominated by the interests of finance capital,
symbolized by economic adviser Lawrence Summers and Treasury Secretary Timothy
Geithner.”
*
OBAMANOMICS: Soaring Profits for Wall
Street, Soaring Crimes of Bankster Donors, Soaring Foreclosures and Soaring
Unemployment for Americans (Legals)…. STILL CALLING IT “CHANGE”???
Importing Poverty:
Immigration and Poverty in the United States: A Book of Charts
By Robert Rector
The Obama
administration has also cut worksite enforcement efforts by 70%, allowing
illegal immigrants to continue working in jobs that rightfully belong to
citizens and legal workers.
*
THE ENTIRE REASON THE BORDERS ARE LEFT OPEN IS TO CUT WAGES!
By and large, the new jobs created pay
much less than those lost during the crash. According to Friday’s figures,
average hourly earnings for production workers have risen by only 2 percent
over the past year, a figure wiped out by rising prices.
"We could cut unemployment in half simply by reclaiming the
jobs taken by illegal workers," said Representative Lamar Smith of Texas,
co-chairman of the Reclaim American Jobs Caucus. "President Obama is on
the wrong side of the American people on immigration. The president should
support policies that help citizens and legal immigrants find the jobs they
need and deserve rather than fail to enforce immigration laws."
Obama and Justice Sotomayor Vow to
Illegals to SABOTAGE E-verify!
VIVA LA RAZA SUPREMACY?
THE OTHER SIDE OF
OBAMAnomics: HIS WALL STREET CRONIES ARE DOING WELL!
The corporate cash hoard has likewise reached a
new record, hitting an estimated $1.79 trillion in the fourth quarter of last
year, up from $1.77 trillion in the previous quarter. Instead of investing the
money, however, companies are using it to buy back their own stock and pay out
record dividends.
February employment report masks depth of US jobs crisis
By Andre Damon
9 March 2013
The number of jobs in the US grew by
236,000 in February, and the official unemployment rate fell to its lowest level
since 2008, according to the Labor Department’s latest jobs report released
Friday.
The media jumped on the jobs
total—significantly higher than the 165,000 that had been predicted—to proclaim
an economic turnaround, while the Obama White House said the report indicated
that “the recovery that began in mid-2009 is gaining traction.”
In reality, the jobs gained are a drop in
the bucket compared to those lost during the recession. In the downturn that
started in 2008, the US economy lost 8.9 million jobs, and if previous economic
trends had continued, another 5.9 million jobs would have been added. Since the
end of 2009, the economy has added only 5.7 million jobs.
At
February’s rate of job growth, the US economy would not get back to the
pre-recession level of unemployment until 2017.
By and large, the new jobs created pay
much less than those lost during the crash. According to Friday’s figures,
average hourly earnings for production workers have risen by only 2 percent
over the past year, a figure wiped out by rising prices.
In addition to paying lower wages, an
increasing number of new jobs are part time. Compared to late 2007, 5.8 million
fewer people in the US are now working full time, but 2.8 million more are
working part time. The share of people working part-time has grown from 16.9
percent at the start of the recession to 19.2 percent today.
Even
as payrolls increased in February, a significant number of people simply
stopped looking for work and dropped out of the labor force. With 130,000
people dropping out of the workforce, the labor force participation rate fell
to 63.5 percent, the lowest level in over three decades.
The percentage of the population that is
employed fell from 63.3 percent in February 2007 to 58.5 percent in February
2010. This figure has stayed essentially unchanged at that level since then,
with the latest figure coming in at 58.5 percent.
Long-term unemployment has likewise
increased significantly in the most recent report. The percentage of unemployed
people who have been out of work for more than half a year hit 40.2 percent in
February, up from 38.1 in January. At the end of December 2007, this figure
stood at 17.4 percent.
The latest jobs report came after a
surprise drop in the United States’ gross domestic product in the fourth
quarter of 2012, which was revised up to a growth of only 0.1 percent. The
combined economies of the advanced industrial countries in that quarter shrank
by 0.2 percent.
The US public sector once again shed jobs
in February, losing 10,000 positions. Since June 2009, 742,000 state, local,
and federal jobs have been eliminated, half of those in public education.
The slashing of government jobs is only
likely to intensify with last week’s passage of $1.2 trillion in ‘sequester’
job cuts. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the imposition of the
sequester will result in 750,000 job losses, and significantly increase the
unemployment rate.
Friday’s US jobs report appeared the same
day the DOW Jones Industrial average hit the highest level in its history. The corporate cash hoard has likewise
reached a new record, hitting an estimated $1.79 trillion in the fourth quarter
of last year, up from $1.77 trillion in the previous quarter. Instead of investing
the money, however, companies are using it to buy back their own stock and pay
out record dividends.
Corporations have sharply increased
dividend payments to investors. The New York Times
reported Friday that S&P 500 companies are expected to pay over $300
billion in dividends this year, a sharp increase over last year’s payout of
$282 billion. American corporations bought back $117.8 billion in their own
stock last month, the highest total on records going back to 1985.
“Corporations are flush with cash and that
cash sitting in the corporate coffers is earning next to nothing,” Rob
Leiphart, an analyst at Birinyi, told the Times. “Companies
have to do something with it.”
The rise in corporate stock buy-backs
harkens back to the period prior to the 2008 crash. As the Times noted, “Similar buyback
activity occurred the last time stocks hit record highs. During the housing
boom that ended in 2007, S&P 500 companies ramped up their share buybacks
to what were the highest levels in history.”
After four years of “recovery,” the US
economy is nowhere near its pre-recession level of unemployment. Instead of
investing in production, major corporations, flush with cash and with their
stock at record levels, are paying out dividends and inflating their own stock
values.
These actions work to further enrich the
financial elite, which has seen its wealth increase dramatically with the rise
of the stock market. This is made possible in large measure by the US Federal
Reserve’s vastly expansionary monetary policy, which is throwing $85 billion a
year into financial markets and ultimately into the coffers of the super-rich.
The
unprecedented combination of mass unemployment, falling wages and an influx of
free money from the Federal Reserve has led to a boom in corporate profits,
which have set records for three years in a row. In the third quarter of 2012,
corporate profits as a percentage of the total economy were 14.2 percent, the
highest level on record going back to 1950, while the share of national income
that went to workers, 61.7 percent, was at its lowest level in nearly five
decades.
THE LOOTING OF AMERICA
POVERTY RISES AS WALL ST. BILLIONAIRES WHINE!
These guys profited from puffing up the
housing bubble, then got bailed out when the going got tough. (Please see The Looting of America for all the gory details.) Without
taxpayer largess, these hedge fund honchos would be flat broke. Instead,
they're back to hauling in obscene profits.
These billionaires don't even have to worry about serious financial reforms.
The paltry legislation that squeaked through Congress did nothing to end too
big and too interconnected to fail. In fact, the biggest firms got even bigger
as they gobbled up troubled banks, with the generous support of the federal
government. No bank or hedge fund was broken up. Nobody was forced to pay a
financial transaction tax. None of the big boys had a cap placed on their
astronomical wealth. No one's paying reparations for wrecking the US economy.
The big bankers are still free to create and trade the very derivatives that
catapulted us into this global crisis. You'd think the billionaires would be
praying on the altar of government and erecting statues on Capital Hill in
honor of St. Bailout.
While 43.6 million Americans
live in poverty, the richest men of finance sure are getting pissy. First
Steve Schwartzman, head of the Blackrock private equity
company, compares the Obama administration's effort to close billionaires' tax
loopholes to "the Nazi invasion of Poland." Then hedge fund mogul
David Loeb announces that he's abandoning the Democrats
because they're violating "this country's core founding principles"
-- including "non-punitive taxation, Constitutionally-guaranteed
protections against persecution of the minority, and an inexorable right of
self-determination." Instead of showing their outrage about the spread of
poverty in the richest nation on Earth, the super-rich want us to pity them?
Why are Wall Street's billionaires so whiny? Is
it really possible to make $900,000 an hour (not a typo -- that's what the top
ten hedge fund managers take in), and still feel aggrieved about the way
government is treating you? After you've been bailed out by the federal
government to the tune of $10 trillion (also not a typo) in loans, asset swaps,
liquidity and other guarantees, can you really still feel like an oppressed
minority?
You'd think the Wall Street moguls would be thankful. Not just thankful --
down on their knees kissing the ground taxpayers walk on and hollering
hallelujah at the top of their lungs! These guys profited from puffing up the
housing bubble, then got bailed out when the going got tough. (Please see The
Looting of America for all the gory details.) Without
taxpayer largess, these hedge fund honchos would be flat broke. Instead,
they're back to hauling in obscene profits.
These billionaires don't even have to worry about serious financial reforms.
The paltry legislation that squeaked through Congress did nothing to end too
big and too interconnected to fail. In fact, the biggest firms got even bigger
as they gobbled up troubled banks, with the generous support of the federal
government. No bank or hedge fund was broken up. Nobody was forced to pay a
financial transaction tax. None of the big boys had a cap placed on their
astronomical wealth. No one's paying reparations for wrecking the US economy.
The big bankers are still free to create and trade the very derivatives that
catapulted us into this global crisis. You'd think the billionaires would be
praying on the altar of government and erecting statues on Capital Hill in
honor of St. Bailout.
Instead, standing before us are these troubled souls, haunted by visions of
persecution. Why?
The world changed. Before the bubble burst, these people walked
on water. Their billions proved that they were the best
and the brightest -- not just captains of the financial universe, but global
elites who had earned a place in history. They donated serious money to worthy
causes -- and political campaigns. No one wanted to mess with them.
But then came the crash. And the things changed for the big guys -- not so
much financially as spiritually. Plebeians, including me, are asking pointed
questions and sometimes even being heard, both on the Internet and in the
mainstream media. For the first time in a generation, the public wants to know
more about these emperors and their new clothes. For instance:
•
What do these guys actually do that earns them such wealth?
• Is what they do productive and useful for society? Is there any connection
between what they earn and what they produce for society?
• Did they help cause the crash?
• Did these billionaires benefit from the bailouts? If so, how much?
• Are they exacerbating the current unemployment and poverty crisis with their
shenanigans?
• Why shouldn't we eliminate their tax loopholes (like carried interest)?
• Should their sky-high incomes be taxed at the same levels as during the
Eisenhower years?
• Can we create the millions of jobs we need if the billionaires continue to
skim off so much of our nation's wealth??
• Should we curb their wealth and political influence?
How dare we ask such questions! How dare
we consider targeting them for special taxes? How dare we even think about
redistributing THEIR incomes... even if at the moment much of their money comes
directly from our bailouts and tax breaks?
It's true that the billionaires live in a
hermetically sealed world. But that doesn't mean they don't notice the riffraff
nipping at their heels. And they don't like it much. So they've gotten busy
doing what billionaires do best: using their money to shield themselves.
They're digging into their bottomless war chests, tapping their vast
connections and using their considerable influence to shift the debate away
from them and towards the rest of us.
We borrowed too much, not them. We get too much health care, not them.
We retire too soon, not them. We need to tighten our belts while they pull in
another $900,000 an hour. And if we want to cure poverty, we need to get the
government to leave Wall Street alone. Sadly, their counter-offensive is
starting to take hold.
How can this happen? Many Americans want to relate to billionaires. They
believe that all of us are entitled to make as much as we can, pretty much by
any means necessary. After all, maybe someday you or I will strike it rich. And
when we do, we sure don't want government regulators or the taxman coming
around!
Billionaires are symbols of American individual prowess and
virility. And if we try to hold them back or slow them
down, we're on the road to tyranny. Okay, the game is rigged in their favor.
Okay, they got bailed out while the rest of us didn't -- especially the 29
million people who are jobless or forced into part-time work. But what matters
most is that in America, nothing can interfere with individual money-making.
That only a few of us actually make it into the big-time isn't a bad thing:
It's what makes being rich so special. So beware: If we enact even the mildest
of measures to rein in Wall Street billionaires, we're on the path to becoming
North Korea.
Unfortunately, if we don't adjust our attitudes, we can expect continued
high levels of unemployment and more people pushed below the poverty line. It's
not clear that our economy will ever recover as long as the Wall Street
billionaires keep siphoning off so much of our wealth. How can we create jobs
for the many while the few are walking off with $900,000 an hour with almost no
new jobs to show for it? In the old days, even robber barons built industries
that employed people -- steel, oil, railroads. Now the robber barons build
palaces out of fantasy finance. We can keep coddling our financial billionaires
and let our economy spiral down, or we can make them pay their fair share so we
can create real jobs. These guys crashed the economy, they killed billions of
jobs, and now they're cashing in on our bailout. They owe us. They owe the
unemployed. They owe the poor.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was no radical, but he accepted the reality: If America
was going to prosper -- and pay for its costly Cold War -- the super-rich would
have to pony up. It was common knowledge that when the rich grew too wealthy,
they used their excess incomes to speculate. In the 1950s, memories of the
Great Depression loomed large, and people knew that a skewed distribution of
income only fueled speculative booms and disastrous busts. On Ike's watch, the
effective marginal tax rate for those earning over $3 million (in today's
dollars) was over 70 percent. The super-rich paid. As a nation we respected
that other important American value: advancing the common good.
For the last thirty years we've been told that making as much as
you can is just another way of advancing the common good.
But the Great Recession erased that equation: The Wall Streeters who made as
much as they could undermined the common good. It's time to balance the scales.
This isn't just redistribution of income in pursuit of some egalitarian utopia.
It's a way to use public policy to reattach billionaires to the common good.
It's time to take Eisenhower's cue and redeploy the excessive wealth Wall
Street's high rollers have accumulated. If we leave it in their hands, they'll
keep using it to construct speculative financial casinos. Instead, we could use
that money to build a stronger, more prosperous nation. We could provide our
people with free higher education at all our public colleges and universities
-- just like we did for WWII vets under the GI Bill of Rights (a program that
returned seven dollars in GDP for every dollar invested). We could fund a green
energy Manhattan Project to wean us from fossil fuels. An added bonus: If we
siphon some of the money off Wall Street, some of our brightest college
graduates might even be attracted not to high finance but to jobs in science,
education and healthcare, where we need them.
Of course, this pursuit of the common good won't be easy for the
billionaires (and those who indentify with them.). But there's just no
alternative for this oppressed minority: They're going to have to learn to live
on less than $900,000 an hour.
Les Leopold is the author of The
Looting of America: How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance destroyed our
Jobs, Pensions and Prosperity, and What We Can Do About It Chelsea
Green Publishing, June 2009.
*
Obamanomics:
How Barack Obama Is Bankrupting You and Enriching His Wall Street Friends,
Corporate Lobbyists, and Union Bosses
BY
TIMOTHY P CARNEY
Editorial Reviews
Obama Is Making You Poorer—But Who’s
Getting Rich?
Goldman Sachs, GE, Pfizer, the
United Auto Workers—the same “special interests” Barack Obama was supposed to
chase from the temple—are profiting handsomely from Obama’s Big Government
policies that crush taxpayers, small businesses, and consumers. In Obamanomics,
investigative reporter Timothy P. Carney digs up the dirt the mainstream media
ignores and the White House wishes you wouldn’t see. Rather than Hope and
Change, Obama is delivering corporate socialism to America, all while claiming
he’s battling corporate America. It’s corporate welfare and regulatory
robbery—it’s Obamanomics.
Congressman Ron Paul says, “Every
libertarian and free-market conservative needs to read Obamanomics.” And
Johan Goldberg, columnist and bestselling author says, “Obamanomics is
conservative muckraking at its best and an indispensable field guide to the
Obama years.”
If you’ve wondered what’s happening
to America, as the federal government swallows up the financial sector, the
auto industry, and healthcare, and enacts deficit exploding “stimulus
packages,” this book makes it all clear—it’s a big scam. Ultimately,
Obamanomics boils down to this: every time government gets bigger, somebody’s
getting rich, and those somebodies are friends of Barack. This book names the
names—and it will make your blood boil.
*
Obama Is Making You Poorer—But Who’s Getting Rich?
Goldman Sachs, GE, Pfizer, the
United Auto Workers—the same “special interests” Barack Obama was supposed to
chase from the temple—are profiting handsomely from Obama’s Big Government
policies that crush taxpayers, small businesses, and consumers.
Investigative reporter Timothy P.
Carney digs up the dirt the mainstream media ignores and the White House wishes
you wouldn’t see. Rather than Hope and Change, Obama is delivering corporate
socialism to America, all while claiming he’s battling corporate America. It’s
corporate welfare and regulatory robbery—it’s Obamanomics. In this explosive
book, Carney reveals:
* The
Great Health Care Scam—Obama’s backroom deals with drug companies spell
corporate profits and more government control
* The Global Warming Hoax—Obama has bought off industries with a pork-filled
bill that will drain your wallet for Al Gore’s agenda
* Obama and Wall Street—“Change” means more bailouts and a heavy Goldman Sachs
presence in the West Wing (including Rahm Emanuel)
* Stimulating K Street—The largest spending bill in history gave pork to the
well-connected and created a feeding frenzy for lobbyists
* How the GOP needs to change its tune—drastically—to battle Obamanomics
If you’ve
wondered what’s happening to our country, as the federal government swallows up
the financial sector, the auto industry, and healthcare, and enacts deficit
exploding “stimulus packages” that create make-work government jobs, this book
makes it all clear—it’s a big scam. Ultimately, Obamanomics boils down to this:
every time government gets bigger, somebody’s getting rich, and those
somebodies are friends of Barack. This book names the names—and it will make
your blood boil.
*
Praise for Obamanomics
“The notion that ‘big business’ is
on the side of the free market is one of progressivism’s most valuable myths.
It allows them to demonize corporations by day and get in bed with them by
night. Obamanomics is conservative muckraking at its best. It reveals
how President Obama is exploiting the big business mythology to undermine the
free market and stick it to entrepreneurs, taxpayers, and consumers. It’s an
indispensable field guide to the Obama years.”
—Jonha Goldberg, LA Times columnist and best-selling author
“‘Every time government gets bigger,
somebody’s getting rich.’ With this astute observation, Tim Carney begins his
task of laying bare the Obama administration’s corporatist governing strategy,
hidden behind the president’s populist veneer. This meticulously researched
book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how Washington really
works.”
—David Freddoso, best-selling author of The Case Against Barack Obama
“Every libertarian and free-market
conservative who still believes that large corporations are trusted allies in
the battle for economic liberty needs to read this book, as does every
well-meaning liberal who believes that expansions of the welfare-regulatory
state are done to benefit the common people.”
—Congressman Ron Paul
“It’s understandable for critics to
condemn President Obama for his ‘socialism.’ But as Tim Carney shows, the real
situation is at once more subtle and more sinister. Obamanomics favors big
business while disproportionately punishing everyone else. So-called
progressives are too clueless to notice, as usual, which is why we have Tim
Carney and this book.”
—Thomas E. Woods, Jr., best-selling author of Meltdown and The
Politically Incorrect Guide™ to American History
*
·
Hardcover: 256 pages
·
Publisher: Regnery Press (November 30,
2009)
·
Language: English
·
ISBN-10: 1596986123
·
ISBN-13: 978-1596986121
OBAMA,
THE BANKSTER OWNED LA RAZA DEM
“The response of the administration was to rush to the
defense of the banks. Even before coming to power, Obama expressed his
unconditional support for the bailouts, which he subsequently expanded. He
assembled an administration dominated by the interests of finance capital,
symbolized by economic adviser Lawrence Summers and Treasury Secretary Timothy
Geithner.”
*
THE
REASON OBAMA BROUGHT IN GEITHNER, BUSH’S ARCHITECT FOR BANKSTERS’ WELFARE, WAS
TO SIGNAL HIS BANKSTER DONORS THERE WOULD BE NO CHANGE!
“Rattner’s evident involvement in the scheme underscores the
criminal character of the Wall Street financiers who the Obama administration
put in charge of destroying the jobs and living standards of auto workers.
Selected by Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers—who were both deeply involved
in the deregulation of the finance industry and the Wall Street bailout”
Here’s
what Obama did for GM and against the workers:
The crisis in the auto
industry—provoked by the 2008 financial breakdown and the plunge in auto sales
to the lowest per-capita rate since World War II—was used by Wall Street and
the US government to destroy jobs and wages and transform the industry into a
lucrative investment for the same speculators who provoked the catastrophe.
*
wsws.org
A union-free America. Growth down a little, employment down
a lot. Profits and productivity up, wages flat. Health-care costs up for
workers, down for employers. The return of a thriving middle class? Dream on.
After
the elections: Behind the Democratic debacle
4
November 2010
Only a day after the midterm
elections, the US media quickly coalesced around a narrative, accepted by
everyone in the political establishment, that the victory of the Republican
Party was a popular repudiation of the supposedly left-wing policies of the
Obama administration. In his press conference on Wednesday, Obama himself
adopted this analysis, pledging to work closely with the Republican Party, find
some compromise on tax cuts for the wealthy, and improve his relations with
corporate America.
Underlying this claim are two
premises, both of which are false: 1) that Obama has carried out an
anti-corporate program during his first two years; and 2) that the population
as a whole has used the election to give a rousing affirmation of capitalism
and big business. These premises are not only absurd, they clash with the basic
facts.
In the flood of political
commentary, no one in the mainstream media has suggested a far more plausible
explanation: After coming to power by posing as the tribune of “hope” and
"change you can believe in," Obama, through his pro-corporate and
pro-war policies, has succeeded in alienating and politically demoralizing
large sections of the population that had voted for him.
The event that secured Obama's
election was the spectacular collapse of Wall Street in September of 2008,
which shattered whatever was left of the credibility of the Bush administration
and deeply discredited the capitalist system itself. Obama came into office
with an overwhelming mandate for radical reform.
The response of the administration was to rush to the
defense of the banks. Even before coming to power, Obama expressed his
unconditional support for the bailouts, which he subsequently expanded. He assembled
an administration dominated by the interests of finance capital, symbolized by
economic adviser Lawrence Summers and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
The administration opposed any
constraints on executive compensation and rejected out of hand sanctions
against or the prosecution of those responsible for the economic catastrophe.
Over the past two years, the wealthiest individuals have vastly expanded their
share of the national income and the largest banks are expected to hand out
record compensation packages.
The economic crisis has led to a jobs crisis unlike anything
seen since the Great Depression. The administration has rejected any government
hiring programs. Throughout the crisis, Obama has endlessly repeated the claim
that employment levels are a “lagging indicator.”
After bailing out Wall Street, Obama oversaw the forced
bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler, demanding that workers accept deep
cuts in jobs, wages and benefits. As a result, profits for the auto giants have
soared while the assault on auto workers’ wages has become the model for
wage-cutting in every economic sector and in every part of the country.
The consequences can be seen in the
collapse of support for the Democratic Party in the industrial Midwest, the
site of half the seats lost by Democrats in the House of Representatives. In
Michigan, a center of the auto industry, the Republicans swept state and local
offices, amid a turnout of only 45 percent. In Detroit, which had voted for
Obama overwhelmingly in 2008, barely one in five voters showed up at the polls.
The principal domestic program for which Obama
is associated is the overhaul of the health care system. The bill was entirely
tailored to the interests of insurance companies and giant corporations. For
the sake of “bipartisanship,” Obama abandoned anything that hinted of
progressive reform, including the “public option.” Elderly voters, in
particular, quite correctly saw the entire measure as a step toward cutting
Medicare benefits and rationing care, resulting in a significant electoral
swing to the Republican Party, which recorded an 18 percent advantage among
voters over 60.
Joseph Kishore