Goldman Sucks
If you've read this blog with any degree of regularity, it's no state secret that I've been fairly hard on the Democrats in the last few years - and with damned good reason, Jack! Let's be honest; they are light years - and beyond - from being the party of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But for all of their many faults, I think most of them mean well. (and by "most" I mean a bare majority). They're impotent cowards - befuddled and pathetic. But let's give the silly bastards credit where credit is due: At least their hearts are in the right place. And once in a blue moon they are able to overcome their innate incompetence and deliver to the American people some tangible and meaningful legislation. That appears to be what might happen in the next couple of days. They seem to be on the cusp of delivering financial reform legislation. All they need to do is bring over two Republican senators to their side and it's a done deal. Which brings me to the "party of Abraham Lincoln".The Republicans are no longer a political party. What we have here is an organized criminal organization. At this moment they (along with one thoroughly corrupt Democrat - Ben Nelson) are in the process of preventing a debate on the senate floor regarding pending legislation that would regulate (or re-regulate) the financial industry. When Wall Street was deregulated during the reigns of Reagan, Clinton and the two Georges, cooler heads stood up and tried to warn us that it would only lead to the economic mess that we find ourselves in today. While a small handful of people made a hell of a lot of money in the interim, many Americans suffered terribly. There are tales too numerous to tell of people who were forced to go back to work after retirement because their pensions had been gambled away by these clowns. The GOP is perfectly content to let this unspeakable situation continue. They don't represent us. They represent the people who have spent the last thirty years looting our economic infrastructure. If that ain't criminal, I don't know what is. If it walks like a freaking duck....
After today it will be impossible for the Republicans to continue to justify their opposition to financial regulatory reform. As I write these words a long overdue hearing is underway in Washington, DC. The top executives of Goldman Sachs are about to be humiliated in front of a nationwide television audience. When the sun goes down this evening, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner and company are going to have one hell of a difficult time if they continue to defend what is morally indefensible. This is going to be really interesting.
As Jimmy Paige once wrote - or was it Robert Plant? - "It makes me wonder". I wonder what defect it is in the psychological makeup of a group of human beings that would have them place the health and well being of millions of other human beings behind the private profit of a very few. Most of these lawmakers who live in the pockets of the Plutocracy call themselves "Christians". Have they ever made a serious study of the books? You know! - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? - Those guys! How do they justify their actions? How do they sleep at night? We're talkin' major hypocrisy here! That's what makes them so much fun to watch! I always get a certain twisted delight in watching their fake piety. Imagine Wendy O. Williams being cast as Bernadette of Lourdes; or Marilyn Manson as Mahatma Gandhi. It's kind of the same thing.
Sooner or later our right wing friends, within the Congress and without, are going to be forced to admit that the era of anything goes deregulation was a really stupid idea. You can only sit calmly in a burning house, ignoring the flames all about you, for just so long. Sooner or later you'll be forced to flee for your life. After making your escape, if you still refuse to acknowledge that the house is indeed on fire, you're beyond the point where you can make rational decisions on your own. You've entered Librium Country, hombre!
The legislation being put forward by the Democrats is nothing to get ecstatic about. True to form, what they have offered is such a cowardly watered-down version of what is really needed that it is hardly worth more than a halfhearted thumbs up. Essentially what they have come up with is a band-aid for a blood bath. I think it is revealing that even in this moderate and mushy form, the bill is too much for the Republicans to stomach. They want their "clients" to be given license to plunder our national treasure. You don't agree with that? Then please explain to me what else could possibly be the motivation behind their opposition. It makes no sense otherwise. None.
In recent weeks Republican members of the House and Senate - John Boehner and Mitch McConnell in particular - have been meeting privately with the big wigs from Goldman Sachs (among others) in order to kill any reform legislation. When McConnell tells us that the purpose of those meetings was to improve the proposed legislation (Let's get real, shall we?) that doesn't even come close to passing the the giggle test. I was born very early in the morning, but it wasn't this morning. These people no longer even make any pretense as to who they're really working for - and it isn't us. We might as well stop kidding ourselves.
By day's end, the "party of Lincoln" (TEE! HEE! HEE!) will have found themselves teetering on the edge of a very unenviable precipice. Every poll shows that over sixty percent of the people want serious financial regulation reinstated into the economic marketplace. It is going to be amusing (to say the least) watching the verbal calisthenics performed by the right wing in the next week or so. I can see it now: Boehner is on the floor of the House of Representatives, weeping tears of rage and despair, decrying the very idea that the "socialist agenda of this radical president and his cohorts in un-Americanism, have trampled our sacred flag and the United States Constitution in one fell swoop!" Oh, this is going to get ugly. Very ugly indeed....
Which reminds me - would someone please explain to me what the hell "one fell swoop" means anyway? Are "two fell swoops" even possible? Or how 'bout "two/thirds of a fell swoop"? I'm sorry but these are profound questions beyond my philosophical grasp.
It's highly unlikely that any serious reform is going to be put forward until the Republican presence on Capital Hill has been significantly diluted if not eradicated. I do not believe that it is a given that they are going to gain major ground come Election Day. In fact there is every reason to believe that they will only continue to self-destruct between now and then. They can't win without the section of the electorate who describe themselves as "moderate". The moderates are taking a good look at the train wreck that is the modern GOP and by all accounts they're becoming more and more disgusted by what they see. Any party whose most visible spokespersons are certifiably bat-shit-crazy reactionaries like Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin is going to have serious "issues" to be sure. They are now cheerfully marching toward the edge of the cliff. GERONIMO!
Keep your eye on this story! Watching these Republicans attempt to justify the continuation of the policies that have led to our economic ruin will be amusing to say the least. This ought to be a scream!
Tom Degan
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
SUGGESTED READING:
Reforging The White Republic:
Race, Religion, and American Nationalism 1865-1898
by Edward J. Blum
I received a copy of this extraordinary book courtesy of its author, Edward J. Blum. It tells the story of the years following the end of the Civil War, and how a golden opportunity to bring about a new era of racial brother and sisterhood in this country was thwarted primarily by the American Protestant Church - by so-called "Christians" - in their efforts to convert the American ideal into a White Nationalist cause. Below is a link to where you can order it on Amazon.com. It is essential reading in order to understand how we got to where we are today - and, I believe, where we might go from here.
http://www.amazon.com/Reforging-White-Republic-Nationalism-Conflicting/dp/0807132489/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1272386022&sr=1-3
Mr. Blum has also written a biography of W.E.B. Du Bois which, although I have yet to read it (I will! I will!) has received excellent reviews.
"God wept; but that mattered little to an unbelieving age;
what mattered most was that the world wept
and still is weeping and is blind with tears and blood
-W.E.B. Du Bois
For more recent postings on this site, please go to the link below:
"The Rant" by Tom Degan
posted by Tom Degan @ 10:25 AM
37 comments
37 Comments:
Exactly. Back in 2002 when George W. Bush was promoting these huge tax cuts for the super-rich, he sold the idea as being an incentive to business and thus improving the economy. Instead it has been a dismal failure for the economy, and the George W. Bush Presidency was a dismal failure. Now I'd like to see the Democrats for once have the courage so these corrupt tax cuts for the super rich are removed. Everyone tells me, "Don't worry, they will expire in 2010 (When in 2010?)", but I have to see it to believe it.
I'd like to suggest that expressing the belief that the so-called Democrats are capable of helping out the people is just so last year... We have never lived in a democracy, at least I haven't. The whole thing was set up as a cash cow for the rich white land owners of the 1700s. The rules change a bit, they let women and blacks vote but not on the real legislation. That shit is taken care of in the back rooms with Mitch and the boys. That is where the real rules of the game are worked out. Our rules, the ones that say you have to work and honor contracts and not cause great suffering, are for losers like us. The real winners are the rich, because they NEED money. They need money to buy whores so they feel attractive. They need money to hire slaves to beat so they feel strong. They need money to buy speech writers to supply them with intelligent communication. I say lock them all up in cells with several billion $1 bills which they can sew for clothing, or use as toilet paper or burn for heat in the winter. NEVER let them out.
The problem, dear friends, is that when you get rid of the wealthy assholes who ran this country into the ground you will find that slightly less wealthy assholes are already lining up, lying through their teeth, waiting to be put in charge of our money. I have a suggestion which will sound like madness to those who have spent decades being saturated with propaganda, but at least think about it. What about a society where there is NO money? Everything is free. People work like always except for the part about the green paper. THINK about a society wherein no payment is expected. It would evolve into a society where payment might be an insult. Do it like a sci-fi novel, fill in the blanks with dialog. A society where you wake up, eat, go do work somewhere and interact with others doing much the same thing. You barter goods and services. If you cannot produce goods you must provide services. Now, if you are married with kids you know that if your child brings you a scruffy weed as a flower gift, you take it, admire it and love the child. So in this society if somebody produces a good, like a chair, that isn't very good they can still barter that chair for breakfast because the intent was pure and the knowledge of making good chairs could be taught. Make the kid an apprentice to the guy who makes good chairs.
Our greed was a gift from our society. To make less greedy people you need a society where greed is not a virtue. Don't encourage greed and violence and you won't end up with America.
Really great post, very informative. I have no great expectations of the leadership in Washington, but I still take satisfaction in watching the Republicans sidle up to Goldman Sachs, while the Democrats finally grow a pair.
Ok, if you're going to make "lee" the epitome of conservatism in the previous post, then....
Looking at the guys at the hearing today, I shudder to think that these weasels were in charge of monies for millions of people through their backroom derivitives and other products. John Ensen compared them to and said they were worse than Vegas. They are frauds.
It appears that Golman Sachs and many others committed fraud. Will they be convicted? Don't hold your breath.
Tom, here is the origin of "At one fell swoop."
Fell, from Old English, means awful, terrible or horrible. The word's stem can also be seen in "felon," which now is mostly used to mean someone who has been convicted of a felony (a serious crime), but which formerly meant one who is terrible, horrible or awful in behavior. The "swoop" is an onomotopoeia, indicating a fast movement. All together, "one fell swoop" means a swift, horrible blow.
Shakespeare, originator of so many English catchphrases, may have dreamed up this one too. It appears in "Macbeth": "What! all my pretty chickens and their dam/At one fell swoop?" (act IV, scene 3) laments Macduff, upon learning his wife and children have been killed by Macbeth. This appears to be the earliest recorded use of the phrase, although it may have been in common usage before Shakespeare wrote it down.
It's interesting that "one fell swoop," which originally had such a dire connotation, is now a mild term meaning "all at once."
I think the original meaning of the phrase is more appropriate your context.
Great post. I the press would only stop chasing sound bites and get back to doing true reporting and analysis, then maybe we could actually start to get some civic dialogue going again.
Darlene!
What the heck would I do without you? Thank you for enlightening us. Your pearls of wisdom and insight are always welcomed and much appreciated.
You rock, kiddo!
Love,
Tom
Tom, you summed it up real good. Abraham Lincoln must be turning in his grave.
If Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin are the new face of GOP backed by Teabaggers then I wish my American friends well. If they or their kind ever get into the Whitehouse then my advance condolences.
A Synaptic Ramble:
The 11th Business Commandment: “Plausible Deniability” has replaced what was previously known as conscious.
In the early 1960's JFK committed the nation to a lunar landing by the end of the decade…we were successful.
We have been trying to extricate ourselves from our dependence on Foreign Oil since the Gas Shortage of the early 1970’s…we have been woefully unsuccessful.
Ford Pinto gas tanks didn’t rupture and explode until Ford’s Accountants said it was cost effective to embrace the truth.
911 responders were in no danger from breathing in toxic “air” until they all succumbed to respiratory ailments 9 years later…the admission was made by “experts” during a class action suit.
Over the next 5 years there will be no connection between airplane “malfunctions” and the Icelandic Volcanic Ash Cloud…
Gypsy
Stop spamming craigslist.
Well what do you know......turns out the greedy psychopathic capitalist pigs couldn't be trusted ?? Golly what a shock !! See, this is what happens when people who feel they are in some way elite or privileged believe their own bullshit for so long it becomes their warped reality !! By moving back and forth between government and the private sector it was easy for these assholes to rig the system like a crooked card game. It now seems that regulators in Federal agencies are people who all came from the industries they purport to regulate. Isn't that clever ?? It all falls into place for them so nicely......no formal "conspiracies " are needed. The interests of these psychopaths are so congruent that unethical behavior occurs quite naturally on every level. Must be nice not to have any shame or conscience.........
I am not "spamming" Craigslist. I have a point of view, I believe what I have to say is important, and I believe you ignore me at your own peril. Just call me a silly, left wing demagogue!
But understand me; when I receive a notice that something I have posted has been "flagged for removal", I will put it back up immediately.
I believe we all have a right to be heard - and I include you in that assessment. Why do you think I did not delete your comment?
Sincerely,
Tom Degan
PS - Great comment, Ellis!
What a complete load of horse shit! Not one single democrat seems to understand economics and how business works!
Any company is in business to make money. They make a product and sell it for a competative price. With the money they make they must pay their taxes, pay the mortgage or rent for their factory, pay their utilities, pay for maintainance on their facility, purchase materials, pay employees wages and benefits and pay their own wages and benefits. Only with what remains can they pay for research and development, develop new products and then expand to manufacture those new products. It is these new products and expansion that create jobs. Of all the costs I mentioned above only 2 can be reduced or eliminated without cutting existing jobs. Taxes and Research, Development and expansion. The rent is not going to go down, Utilities and plant maintainance aren't going to go down, Employee wages and benefits aren't going down either and if the owner has a family he can only reduce his own wages and benefits so far.
If taxes don't go down then research, development and expansion must be reduced or eliminated. And, heaven forbid taxes should actually go up. This means that the company can't even make improvements to it's current product and within a few years won't be able to compete in the marketplace.
I am not saying cut taxes on the wealthy. I am saying that we must strike a balance that allows business owners to grow their businesses so they can grow jobs!
I am also saying that many folks in this country seem to be forever dragging themselves back to the 17th and 18th centurys.
All I hear about are "Rich White Land Owners", "Slavery", "Opression of the masses" and "Conspiracies to keep the poor man poor"! Unless all my history teachers and books were wrong this country banished all of those things by the mid 19th century.
This country abolished discrimination in any form in the 1960's. Several generations have gone by since then and we are mostly grown out if it by now yet I hear people playing the "Race" card all the time. Usually when they can't get what they want thru merit.
Come on people, we are more mature than that! Aren't we supposed to be the "Enlightened" generation?
Playing the race card just to get what we want is not very enlightened!
People should not be fooled by the hearings. They are in place just to make people THINK that our lawmakers care. Let's see what happens to Goldman-Sachs. My guess, they will get some token fine at best, and complete exoneration, at worst.
Right now, I believe that the only thing keeping the lid on complete corporatocracy is fear that the American people will figure it out fully, and revolt. They're just grazing the sides of the huge pile of shit our last 5 presidents have created, and still there are those that stand against it...
Republican, democrat, doesn't really matter, both parties are corpurt!!! both parties are power hungry and extreamely greedy.
but, that's nothing new.
what amazes me is this... in a country that prides itself on choice, we limit our choise on the very thing that matters the most...our leaders.
just walk into any place and see your choices, want a burger? single, double, triple, what about a hammer, want a claw, rip, framing, wood handle, fiberglass, curved??? want a political leader, you get republican or democrat, period!!!! and both are as greedy and power hungry as the other, it is truly sad when your voting and you base your decision on, not who is best for the job, but rather on who is not going to screw up as bad. lets be totally honest, both political parties are so out of touch with the common man, that they haven't a clue anymore.
i purpose this... before anyone can run for office, they have to pass a test on the consitution and bill of rights. since those are the two documents are great nation was built upon. maybe then we can get some descent political leaders.
Now, just exactly what was the crime or even the problem? Essentially, Goldman Sachs packaged up a bunch of the bad home mortgages bankers were forced by the government to issue to people who plainly couldn't repay the loans with good loans to spread the risk and then sold the instruments, called derivatives, to investors who actually thought the borrowers would meet their financial obligations. Goldman Sachs didn't think they would and hedged their bet. The investors lost the bet and Goldman Sachs won.
And it's going to happen again. The government forced the banks and lenders to refinance the bad loans at lower percentages to the same poor risk borrowers and those loans are now going into default because the payments are still too high for the unemployed poor to pay. The Obama administration has worked toward forcing lenders to forgive past and future due interest payments and more recently has strongly hinted at principle forgiveness which would effectively give away the houses. And Obama wants us to believe that he's a supporter on capitalism and the free market. Well, maybe the free part I can believe, but not the rest of it.
This comment has been removed by the author.
At my house, we call those things swell foops.
I'd like to see Blankfein and the FAB Fab burn in hell. I'm one of those retirees who lost big for no reason. My retirement is ruined, the inheritance I hoped to leave my children will be needed to sustain my poor old hide, and I just needed to be aimed in the right direction to detonate. You'll be able to hear it at your house.
Tom Degan proves there is as much creepy spamming scum on the left as there is on the right. Tom Degan posts spam messages on craigslist politics section to attract more readers to his blog. When rejected he posts more.
Tom Degan sucks more
Yeah, advertising on an advertising site, who does he think he is???
Love the integrity of posting your criticism under the name 'anonymous'. What a backbone!!
Good point, Bill. I have friends in Eugene, Oregon and wanted them to see my blog. Unfortunately the people who read it out there (or at least one of them) kept flagging me for removal. They would not have done so, I'm sure, had I been a right winger. They only believe in the First Amendment as it applies to them. It really is a pity - and terribly sad.
Cheers!
Tom Degan
It is true that both political Parties have their faults. None, however, can surpass the unconscionable acts of what occurred on Wall Street and the politicians who turned a blind eye. There are those who do not want more government, which is different from governing in the way of being accountable and transparent. Let us hope this never again reaches such dastardly proportions and that the feet of Wall Street are held to the fire.
I must respectfully disagree, sir.
This is neither a Democrat problem nor a Republican problem. It's a problem of politics in general. We, the American people, give them their jobs; they accept bribes/payola/kickbacks & special considerations. We need to VOTE all the incumbents out of office. Establish strict term limits to insure against career politicians. And, end the constant stream of $$ they are able to accept. Your assertions are still addressing political parties, which are not really important anymore. As an American citizen you need to be addressing how WE, THE PEOPLE can truly bring change ourselves by exerting the rights we have under the Constitution of the United States of America. Does this have any place in your civics class?
VTY, Marsha Harris
Tom Deegan is now living the European Socialist dream life style. Never mind 6 weeks vacation, he gets at least 25% of the year off being a teacher in East Buttfunk, NY. He now molds young minds with his progressive dogma in the area of civics. It is doubtful in his civic classes that he spends much time on The Constitution and how our government was originally designed to limit Federal power and balance its power.
Being in the Teacher's Union, it is almost impossible to be fired even if he was a crappy teacher.
He is definitely against a school voucher system, not because it might provide better education to the young at a lower cost, but because it threatens his monopolized position.
Regardless of how much money is given to the public education system, the teacher's union always complains that it is not enough. Of course in the public school system, just like in most government agencies, as more taxpayer money is spent there is not a corresponding increase in results.
Tom's hero is FDR whose Socialist policies helped prolong the Great Depression. Had someone rolled his wheelchair into the Hudson, the depression would have ended sooner.
Additionally, I think if AIG had been left to it's own devices, paid GS the 60% they were offered on those insurance policies written to protect against losses, everything would have come out OK. But GS didn't want 60%, they wanted 100% and they had the clout to get it via Hank Paulson & Lloyd Blankfein. The real reason for the crisis is Goldman Sachs wanting even more and more $$. Of course, none of this was known immediately, was it? But, we did know AIG was huge, they would have figured it out if the game had been allowed to play out without government intervention. Which simply means, OMG, someone was actually going to LOSE some money on Wall Street. The Fannie Freedie MGIC, etc. all failed because of the corruption in place. These are facts. Look them up. Or, better yet, listen to Dylan Ratigan on MSNBC daily @ 4PM Eastern time. Reality check done.
Archie, your comments explains everything. I can't believe the young minds of this country have to listen to Tom Degan's filth.
What a miserable life these leftist teachers live...then brainwash the students to ease their own pain.
Thanks for the background Archie...
Harry from Mass
How can something so damned depressing make me smile anyway? When it is given the brilliant analysis that you give it. I hope the Democrats grow a spine and that they push reform through with the same force that the GOP employs when they are in the majority and want to strip more protections from the citizenry.
You'd think that the Democrats would be more passionate in supporting us the voters. Of course, I'm not surprised that the GOP is just as passionate in supporting their corporate & financial industry overlords.
W.D.Shirley, sadly, is right.
George Carlin was right.
We seem to be partying like it's 1898 & the GOP is Mark Hanna's party, not the party of Lincoln.
See Arianna Huffington's post today: "Of the committee's ten Senators, only Ted Kaufman has not accepted campaign contributions from Goldman." The senators, whether they're Dems or Reps, are hypocrits. I know what you're trying to say about the Dems, but until they stop their own corrupt deals with these criminals on Wall St, and stop looking the other way, they are as much to blame as Goldman and all those supporting them.
“A man's character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation”
Mark Twain
Explain this you liberal turd!
Linda Bentley writes an article saying Obama’s Selective Service System registration, 61-1125539-1 was verified by entering his last name, date of birth: Aug. 4, 1961, and Social Security number 042-68-4425, a number issued in Connecticut between 1976 and 1979, which is when Obama was attending high school in Hawaii, to an individual born in 1890.
ror your information, fascism is a left wing ideology. But, of course you already know that! You use the term to deflect criticism fof the fascist in the White House because most people think fascism is a right wing ideology. Progressivism & Fascism are twin brothers joined at the hip. This country fought a great war against fascism in Europe in the 1940's and now we are faced the same evil ideology in our country that killed millions of people during WWII. How far are you willing to go to implement fascism as the only political ideology allowed in our great country? Would you follow in the footsteps of Hitler & Moussolni? Fascism cannot allow competing political views to exist & we all know what happened to those in Europe spoke out against Fascism.
NO! We,the American people, cannot allow ourselves to fall victim to same evil ideology that cost the lives of millions of people in WWII! We will prevail!
Anonymous....
I see you've cheerfully swallowed the Glenn Beck Kool-Aid. For more on this subject, read what I wrote a couple of months ago:
http://tomdegan.blogspot.com/2010/02/adolf-hitler-fightin-liberal.html
All the best,
Tom Degan
My God, people!! We don't have a Democracy, we have a Republic! Go look up both terms & learn the difference!!
Ok, Tom! Let's get some facts straight! I don't give a rats ass what Glen Beck says, I don't listen to or watch his show! My views come from experience. I lived thru WWI, did you? I had family who fought in that war & Korea, did you? I've watched every president from FDR to the lame brain community organizer currently in the White House. He can't hold a candle to those who preceeded him! I can't trust any politician who spends millions to hide his past. I can't accept as president, a man who isn't legally qualified to be president. I don't care about the birth certificate! I do care that his father was a British subject and therefore Obama is not a natural born citizen according to the constitution! I refuse to repect a man who trashes our friends and bows to our enemies.I revile a man that is spending our country into bankruptcy. How can one respect a man who takes a vacation amidst a national disaster? You can't run a country according to Alinsky's Rules for Radicals!
So Tom, when you get to my age, will you look back on Obamas' presidency and say "Those were the days" or will he fade away from your memory like dust in the wind?
Sorry for the typo, Tom! I lived thru WWII,not WWI.
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