Fast Blast: News 9.18.11

So, again - there's just too much going on for my coffee laden mind to focus on just one news story. I had contemplated discussing the jobs plan but it just makes me too angry. Not the plan itself - although you'll be hard pressed to find actual layouts of the plan amongst all the useless political deliberation and verbal excrement clouding the points of the bill. And therein lies the catalyst to my anger. What the fuck people? Can I get through one article about possibly desperately important legislation without getting into a dick measuring contest about 2012, and this party and that party and he said this and they did that. If everyone's so fucking frustrated by government ineptitude, why the fuck do we keep feeding into it?! WE NEED jobs, WE NEED an economic boost. All other conversations hold no place in the discussion of the JOBS plan. This incessant child like interpretive dance around issues and solutions fuels a downfall already in rapid motion. Our own apathy, ignorance and arrogance don't help either.

On that note...the news:

Bathroom time limit: An F16 fighter jet escorted a Detroit bound Frontier Flight to ground on 9/11 (paranoid much?) when flight attendants became concerned at the length of time three passengers (separately) spent in the bathroom. One was an Arab/Israeli woman who subsequently complained of racial profiling and the other two were Indian men, one of which was apparently sick. So, word to the wise: if you gotta go, I mean really go - try to take care of it before you get on the plane. Because apparently longer than 5 minutes denotes you in there with the anarchist cook book and a pipe bomb kit.

Give me your poor...: According to the latest Census Bereau data, 46.2 million Americans now live in poverty - defined as an income of $22,314 for a family of four. The median income also dropped to the lowest levels since 1996: $49,445.

Commonwealth Ave vs. Wall Street: Outspoken Wall Street critic, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau advocate and Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren announced that she will run for US Senate in Massachusets next year. She was originally slated to head the CFPB (whose duty is to protect consumer rights against banks and large financial corporations) but the Republican response disallowed Senate approval...big fucking surprise there. So, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I hope for, but as always, can't dare to expect big things from her...

Sick man: Speaking of corporations, Rick Perry fell into some hot water when information surfaced detailing his very close ties to the pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. ; for example, mandating the use of Merck's HPV vaccine on young girls. In return of course, Merck contributed upwards of $30,000 to his campaign, a bit more than the $5,000 he admitted to at a debate. Beyond that chunk of change, Merck has also contributed more than $380,000 to the Republican Governors Association, an Association that has in turn contributed over $4 Million to Perry's campaigns over the years...oh, isn't corporatocracy fun?!

Racism is racism: A popularized protest song in South Africa called "Shoot the Boer" has been banned by a Johannesburg court. The song, about killing white farmers was a favorite by activist Julius Malema, leader of the youth wing of the ruling African National Congress. The ANC complained that the court was "trying to re-write South African history." Ummmm, bullshit. Just because I don't go around singing songs about how great slaves are doesn't mean that I am pretending slavery never happened. While the banning of anything under the banner of free speech is a tricky subject, racism is racism. There's no such thing as reverse racism or the idea that racism is an appropriate form of retaliation for former trespasses. How can you move forward if you're still stuck in the back and forth? Hate breeds hate. Quit copulating past ills.

Civil War: The threat of civil war in Iraq's Anbar province is certainly not forgotten, and it looks as though it's not gone either. Last week, gunmen attacked a Shiite bus on a pilgrimage, forcing women and children off, only to slaughter the 22 men on board. It's marked as a response to several attacks on Sunnis in Anbar. Both sides complain that the government is doing little, Sunnis in particular, feeling that the Shiite-led government is too laissez-faire in regards to violence against them. Ah, glad we have our guys in there handling this one.

Speaking of Middle East quagmires...: The US embassy in Kabul was attacked this past week, along with the NATO headquarters. 16 people died and newfound fears at the capabilities of insurgents were fostered anew - people left wondering how 10 attackers were able to construct and carry out such a plan in one of the most heavily guarded and secured areas in the Middle East. Meanwhile US Ambassador Ryan Crocker quotes "It's not a very big deal." Well, I'm glad we can downplay it whilst simultaneously keeping the fear factory churning out the hits. Again, glad we have our boys and girls over there handling this one. May not be a big deal to you Crocker, but to the men and women and broken economy and infrastructure, it is a very, very big deal.

2,000 years ago: Looks like the feuds of old are just aching for a come back. Egypt and Israel are back at it - last week, a mob of Egyptians destroyed the Israeli embassy in Cairo, apparently a response fueled by the killing of Egyptian soldiers by Israeli soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula last month. Not to mention that most Arabs aren't big fans of the Israeli occupation and just outlook in general on their culture, in particular the Arab Spring. Stubborn boar Netanyahu doesn't make matters any better, from his banter with Turkey to his pig-headed response on the Gaza issue. As with most altercations, it's a two way street. But if you wanna find your way forward, you're gonna have to embrace change, something Israel is historically shitty about. Egypt is going to have to simmer down too - let the revolutionary guise fall to diplomacy. Let the fires go out boys, lay down your swords and try talking - it's not popular these days, but hey, you never know what kind of revolution you could set off by not being stereotypically revolutionary.

Our economic abyss

As I walked through downtown LA today, I passed Wall Street. No, I'm not horrifically lost or high. There is in fact a Wall Street not too far from where I live, and as I saw it, I paused to take a picture. What if the Wall Street we all know looked the same way? Ironically enough, a few blocks up is Main Street, newly renovated with multi-million dollar lofts, art galleries and boutique coffee shops and clothing stores. How I wish that was prophetic...but I don't think it is.
While the Senate will more than likely squash Rep. Paul Ryan's horrendous bill that passed the House last Friday, that's just the beginning. We're in deep shit. And I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that, just like we didn't need Standard and Poor to tell us that - the same people that gave two thumbs up to mortgage-backed bullshit securities until the actual day the housing bubble burst. However, as the Chicago Tribune writes, the possible demotion of our credit rating is a "disturbingly big deal." If we get docked a notch, the remote stories of Greece and Ireland could become all too real. And just as physics suggests, when the big ones fall, they fall hard, and that hard fall will reverberate throughout the global economy. Supplement that with the fact that we are rapidly approaching our $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, unsure if it will be raised before we turn into the economic equivalent of cat food.
So, what words from the wise wizards on Capitol Hill? "lja^%%(IHUTFJYKiasdf896uyy%EW*&)IIUFUDUmhgasuk8ii7t%Tj"
That's a direct quote...
might as well be.
Politicians from the lowliest Senator to Obama have yet to say anything worth its weight in gerbil testicles about this economic precipice. They do continue to banter - oh my, do they banter. House Republicans have even threatened to vote against raising the debt ceiling until Democrats agree to slash spending. Meanwhile, Democrats are attempting to get through their tax hikes while Republicans flatly refuse. Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever taken a fucking MATH class up there?
Numerous economists, having gone through Ryan's bill, mark the money saved against what it would cost to blindly slash all government funded programs, employees, grants, etc. It will cost them MORE - that's right, it will fucking end up being more money to pull the rug out from under us than to let us stand with the little pride and dignity these corporate cunts allow us to have. And on that same note, tucked in the folds of his bill, is a repeal of the Dodd-Frank law: protect taxpayers from having to bail out failed financial institutions. So in effect, taxpayers would be responsible for all future Wall Street fuck ups...I wonder how much Ryan is getting paid to rape us on that one.
Hmmmm, meanwhile: tax cuts for the rich, no tax hikes for anyone, well...maybe the remnants of the middle class.
I need to punch something...
...
Here we are, standing at the abyss , closing our eyes, repeating the age old arrogant mantra, that we, are too great to fall. As Michael Schuman in Time Magazine pointed out, we are one of the very few debt-ridden economies with absolutely no "credible plan to control deficits and debt." We find it much more fun to play politics, hopping in those company cars and playing chicken with each other while the road crumbles underneath. What the fuck people?!
I take it back - maybe I am high.
Because I can't seem to understand how an entire nation of people can be wholly oblivious and/or OK with this cluster fuck of a situation! This is beyond fucked!
Let's not even ask how the hell we've managed to outrun a $14.3 trillion debt ceiling because I might burst a blood vessel - but seriously, how do we not just make a decision. I have to say that as much as I hate Republican ideas, they are bold and they get the spotlight - enough so the apathetically ignorant American will lean towards the right, if only because they're the loudest. You need to raise taxes right now - you can not just pull out government funds from necessary programs - you just fucking can't. All studies and research suggest that's a terrible idea. But here we are. And as much as I'd like to be optimistic (I really do try), I can't seem to muster up enough bullshit psychosis to believe that Republican ideas will be struck from the eventual bill. The experience trained cynic in me suggests that we will sink deeper. We will barely squeak by with a below average solution that keeps us out of the fire until the next guy comes into office. Then, we'll do the same.
We will continue on this road until the captains of industry look out over their graveyard of homicidal works: an American people crippled by lack of money, livelihood, education, health care and above all, rights and freedom. And that's where we'll be - you and me, a sad, pathetic representation of the arrogant behemoths we today claim to be.
We have to stop treating this like it's a fucking video game - it's not. The people made to represent us aren't. And we pay them to - indeed we do. The problem is, we don't pay as much as corporate lobbyists. In effect, our own employees are fucking us over with money stolen from our pockets by racketeers in business suits. Think about that.
If that doesn't piss you off - if that doesn't make your insides writhe, you have no central nervous system.
This is our country, these are our problems, and they will not go away.
We HAVE to Do Something.

Saving trees, killing dreams

It's no secret that I abhor big banks. They are a gleaming stone in the centerpiece of all that is evil and corrupt in this country. And when I feel as though there is no possible way that I could emotionally be filled with any more disgust, any more hatred, any more vehement abhorrence, something else comes up.
This is particularly grotesque, so if you need to pop some heart meds or take a little nap before you read this, please do so now...
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Banks foreclose and have been foreclosing on about 1 million houses per year since the "Great Recession" started. Families can't pay their bullshit mortgages and default on their payments, handing over their American Dream to the greedy little shit birds in the top office. In order to make this possible, the proper paperwork is obviously required.
Wall Street authored these subprime mortgages and forwarded them to the banks who made the loans. Now, the housing bubble that burst was a result of too many of these mortgages being doled out after the peak of the bubble in '05/'06. After that, it was a downhill spiral. And Wall Street knew it, so they threw out as many of these horse-shit mortgages as they could to as many poor saps that would take 'em.
And, in order to save on time, they decided to cut out some steps. Namely, the contractual step.
No, I'm serious.
These banks completely left out the part where it states that they own the loan, that they own the fucking house they're taking from you!
Again, I'm serious.
So, as you sit there, dotting your "i's" and crossing your "t's", trying desperately to keep your home, they don't even have a piece of paper with "i's" and "t's" on it. So, in reality, they have no right to take your house.
Thousands of homes, bundled into securities and traded back and forth from investor to investor, done so without a trace of paperwork. And with good reason: you can make a shit ton of money with just a few keystrokes on the computer - why wait for signatures and faxes, overnight document delivery - when you can press "Enter" and make enough for a sweet family vacation?
For example, Lynn Szymoniak, a lawyer and fraud specialist who went to court over the attempted foreclosure of her home. As she got to court, the bank admitted that it didn't have some key documents for her home, including the keystone: the assignment of mortgage document, which details who owns the loan.
A year later, the bank "found" it and all the other pertinent documentation....
Considering her profession, Lynn asked for copies of all these documents and checked 'em out.
The glaring fraud wasn't even covered up well. On her assignment of mortgage document, the date of acquisition for the mortgage was about 6 months after they sued her for foreclosure. So, somehow they pre-emptively sued her for a mortgage they didn't even have yet - how American of them. What the FUCK?!
And that's just one example. Ready for some more?
Realizing that they needed to get these documents out ASAP, banks outsourced some of their magically appearing paperwork. One of these companies was DocX, a company that hired people at $10/hour to sign fake contracts as Vice Presidents and Asst. Vice Presidents, Witnesses and Notary Publics (you know, the people who are supposed to validate a document's authenticity)!
These people worked in a relative signing sweatshop - signing up to 4,000 documents a day, with of course, fake names. One example, Linda Green, so chosen because it's short, easy to sign and simple. Going through documents, Lynn found that there were a myriad of "Linda Green" signatures, obviously signed by a myriad of different hands.
Of course, DocX has since been closed down and all the big banks deny having any knowledge of these shady dealings. And that's where those questions seem to have stopped...um what the fuck?!
To further showcase their arrogance, the contracts themselves were drawn up using language such as "Bogus Assignee" instead of the actual name of the homeowner. Um, fucking really?
Furthermore, instead of writing the name of the bank, many contracts would say random names, such as "Bad Bene" obviously not a bank I've heard of, or would fucking borrow from!
And these contracts were passed off as the real deal - went through COURTS OF LAW as legitimate assignments of mortgages, being the difference between keeping a home and losing it. People became homeless because of pieces of paper with literally bogus names and bogus signatures on them, about as real, and cloaked with lies as the American Dream.
And like I said, that's where it ends. That's where the 60 minutes special left us off.
How the FUCK can it end that way?
Is that it?!
Is that just how it is, like we're reading a fucking story?!
Is this acceptable?!
1 million homes - how many were bogus? Aside from the fact that the mortgages themselves were bogus to begin with - how many were compounded with fraud by not even having the paperwork to prove that they're assholes?!
I mean, come the fuck on!!!
Are we, as a people, going to sit here and apathetically shrug our shoulders, react by cursing to the wind and then DO NOTHING?!
Does their arrogance deserve no vengeance? Does their complete and total disregard for human life and rights deserve no retaliation?
Do they deserve their golden pedestals and diamond lives, while we struggle to survive? Do they?
Are we that low? That insignificant - that storied proud people, lower than shit?
I sure as hell am worth more...and every family that has had to suffer from the greed of the few is worth more, and the many must DO SOMETHING.

Bailout a good idea?

So, the snuggly insurance giant, American International Group (AIG) has paid back about $4 billion of their bailout debt, leaving them with an outstanding balance (including interest) of about $21 billion.
So, what the fucks with the heading of this post?
Well, some analysts are saying that because of the amount of interest already gained and to be gained from the payback of bailout funds, the government will come out way on top. So far, the Treasury Dept. has raked in $1.4 billion on its investment in Goldman Sachs, $1.3 billion on Morgan Stanley and $414 million on American Express. The five other banks that repaid the government: Northern Trust, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street, U.S. Bancorp and BB&T, each brought in $100 million to $334 million in profit.
That sounds like a lot of money...until you look at the figure that was doled out for the bailout: $700 billion. Now I'm not a math major but the reclaimed funds, plus AIG's recent payment does not equal $700 billion. In fact, if you take into account the precipice we stand on with giants such as Citi Bank, Bank of America, American International Group, the mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the automakers General Motors and Chrysler, we're still closer to fucked than home free. Tack on toxic mortgages that the Treasury Dept has guaranteed for billions of dollars and that rosy $4 billion starts looking like a flea loogie in giant's bucket.
On the flip side however, having read and researched the possible unspeakable madness potential had the banks not been bailed out, I'm not necessarily saying the bailout was a complete failure. In the cluster fuck situation we were in, any decision would have yielded significant cons outweighing the pros. The question now is, what does the future hold?
For some, the idea of government getting the fuck out of the private sector is a much anticipated and pushed for scenario...
“The taxpayers want their money back and they want the government out of our banking system,” Representative Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican and a member of the Congressional Oversight Panel examining the relief program, said in an interview.
Ummmm, representative Hensarling, fuck you.
Your precious little private sector banks wouldn't even be living and breathing if it weren't for the corporate pawns at the top handing out meal tickets. The private sector is the reason we're in this cluster fuck to begin with! The Federal Reserve remains a private corporation...oh, do you think that maybe they had something to do with the tumbling of Wall Street and our economy? No, they only handle our money! Privatization of the economy is synonomous with the top 1% greedily hoarding and dealing our money with little to no say from the other 99%. Sounds great, sign me up!
The bailout was not a good idea. It was a bad idea in a terrible situation. Letting all the banks and monster corporations fail...also a bad idea. The only way to stop this from happening again is to show corporate America that this handout wasn't a friendly donation. It was a disaster loan, needs to be repaid and will not be repeated. They need to be put in a choke hold, not given a longer leash. Put the lobbyists and corporate puppets where they belong, as far away from our government as possible. Of the people, for the people and by the people. Not of the corporations, for the corporations and by the corporations.

Will the wall fall?

Is it better to do a little or to do nothing until you can do a lot?
That's clearly the question Russ Feingold of Wisconsin was asking himself as the Senate walked in to decide on the Wall Street Reform bill.
He decided to wait.
The majority however, decided to do a little and pass what many are calling "the most-sweeping set of changes to America's financial regulatory system since the 1930s."
Of course, as politics is a debating game, much of the proposed legislation present in the bills infancy had been ripped off by the back-and-forthing (yes, that's a technical term) of our mature and distinguished two party system.
Obama said that this is the kind of "reform that will prevent the kind of shadowy deals that led to this crisis, reform that would never again put taxpayers on the hook for Wall Street's mistakes." I wish it were that simple. Critics of the bill, and realists in general make note of several shortcomings of the new bill. While many critics also tout the positives of even such a watered down reform bill, there are a few glaring issues citizens should be wary of.
First of all, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. I'm not just talking about the get rich quick schemes or penis enlargement, the same cynical judgement should be used when reading about life altering changes born in the stuffy, stagnant halls of congress.
As you may have noticed from my previous posts and any other information you may have dug up on your own, corporations are the governing party with the three branches the bejeweled figureheads of their crown. There's no way in hell or Helsinki that a bill strong enough to deflate corporate power would ever make it through the first security checkpoint in congress. Don't believe me? Take a look at this: the bill sets up a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau inside the Federal Reserve that could write new rules to protect consumers from unfair or abusive practices in mortgages and credit cards. That would be a good deal if the Federal Reserve wasn't a fucking corporation! Here, I have an idea. Why don't we get BP to be in charge of the National Oil Commission? I'm sure they'd be equally as honest as the guys from the Fed. We're asking what is arguably the most powerful corporation in our country to police the other corporations? Right. Until the Fed is nationalized and brought under the yolk of the republic, I trust them about as much as I trust that shady character who hangs around the bus stop at 2am with a whisky bottle in his hand.
Furthermore, CNN reports that part of the negotiations led to Wall Street Banks still having the right to "get wiggle room to make limited risky bets, which is tougher than the current law, but weaker than earlier drafts." What exactly constitutes wiggle room? What does that translate to in billions of taxpayer dollars? Can we get a technical term, or is wiggle room all our current education system allows us to understand?
I do applaud the "little things" such as limiting Wall Streets' speculative bets on their accounts and ownership of hedge funds, along with an effort to curb the evil derivative, a favorite scapegoat of the financial crisis. My applause is bittersweet however, when I read comments from Wall Street cats such as: "“If you talk to anyone privately, there's a sigh of relief. It'll crimp the profit pool initially by 15-20%, but there's no breakup of any institution or onerous new taxes.” Another investment banker and ex-Treasury deputy shared that he felt the health care bill will affect its industry “exponentially more than this legislation is going to change Wall Street. It's not even close.”
So, is it better to do a little or wait till you can do more? Will this bill just give Wall Street all the more cocky brashness to do whatever the hell they want, or will it curb they haywire wild-west financial game of Russian Roulette?
We wait with baited breath.

March 6th @ 5pm - reminder

Something is very wrong, don't you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyTHxOUPF48

It's the economy, stupid

Although, I was more into GI-Joes than into politics in 1992, that phrase could certainly use a resurrection today. It seems that the people, whether they be gun-toting Republicans or tofu-eating Liberals can agree that the economy is crap. However, our constituents, on both sides seem to be doing nothing. The right continues it's ever entertaining quest to defile the name of Obama and his supporters, seeming to forget that to defile the name of an elected official is to defile the name of the American people...tricky. The left seems to be suffering once again from the teetering, I-want-to-please-everyone syndrome of being too vague, too slow and too indecisive as to what needs to be done.
So, where does that leave us?
No other political issue is as pressing as the economy. The right screams and shouts like a paranoid grandmother that there are terrorist on every corner. Obama seems wrapped up in the bloody gauze of healthcare bill that has yet to make clear anything other than its own disabilities to reach a clear consensus and heal an ailing system.
As if trying to avoid the giant dollar sign in the room, Obama has yet to speak out decisively on any economic issues, such as unemployment. As many politicians do, he got that over with on the campaign trail and now seems quite content to enjoy the white house, where men in Boss suits are wined and dined at the expense of those eating ramen noodles for dinner.
Speaking of campaign trails and dashed hopes, consider that many of Obama's biggest supporters during the campaign were bankers and lobbyists from the very institutions which the people are now suffering at the hand of. Thanks to the Supreme Court, big corporations now have even more leeway in ensnaring politicians into their web, giving them huge piles of cash for their political souls. I wonder how much the Supreme Court judges got for that decision. I hope enough to retire to a nice little island where the people, if they ever wake up, can't rise up and slay them.
And yes, I do blame us. I blame politicians for their uncanny ability to skirt issues, sell their souls and fight amongst themselves. However, we watch it all as if it's a particularly entertaining episode of Jerry Springer.
We must act. We must force those who represent us to act. There can no longer be apathy. This is our country and we have to save it from itself. A government FOR the people, BY the people, OF the people, not FOR big banks, BY lobbyists and OF paid off pawns.

Public Interest vs. Corporate Interest

Free market fans will try and tell you that corporations support public interest by competing amongst each other to offer the best products, thereby leaving it up to the consumer to choose who will indeed succeed and who won't, in this glorious deregulated market. They will say that government regulations stifle the American dream, that they squash a company's ability to be all it can be.
Let me say bullshit. The free market theory has been tested in numerous countries all across the globe. The lab results are in. It sucks. Regulations serve as protectors of competition and public interest. Free market ideology allows the biggest corporations to do whatever the hell they want, because they are answerable to no one, not the people and not the government.
Take our friends up at Wall Street, in particular Citi Group. Citi recently hiked up interest rates to astronomical levels. When questioned, the only response was that it was the fault of the customers for not paying back their loans. Um...what?! This coming from a company who has yet to pay back $25 billion of a $45 billion handout?!
Simply put, Wall Street knows that they can play high risk. Uncle Sam will be there to break the fall. They keep the winnings and distribute the losses on the little people down below, via bailouts and interest hikes, job losses, privatization and unaccountability.
It's our job to hold them accountable. The government is supposed to be a reflection of the people that they govern. Is that true?
Between now and December 15th, Phil Angelides and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission will try to get to the bottom of this financial meltdown. I wish them all the best. In an age when corporate interests headed by cocky, overpaid lobbyists take precedence, I fear it will take more than a commission to break down the over-inflated pedestal these corporations and financial institutions find themselves on.
What do you think?