After semi-recovering from watching one of the most egregious political processes in the history of our country take place (yes, I am talking about the debt ceiling "debates"), I can't stop wondering now, "where do we go from here?"
The Onion aptly described this debt ceiling fiasco here:
http://www.theonion.com/...
Briefly, what brought us to this madness? Our political system now has become so corrupt it's difficult to imagine how it could get much worse, but how did it get this bad?
In 2008 we experienced a massive economic collapse caused by the biggest fraud perpetrated on the American people by the deregulated and consolidated financial sector with the complicity of credit rating agencies (like S&P). For a great documentary on the cause of the collapse I highly recommend Inside Job. http://www.sonyclassics.com/...
Millions of Americans were kicked out of their homes, millions lost their jobs, and to this day millions are still unemployed or underemployed because of the criminal actions of those on Wall Street. Clearly, financial reform was needed more than anything, but what did we get?
http://www.cepr.net/...
Washington, D.C.- Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, issued the following statement on the passage of the financial reform bill by Congress:
"The final bill passed by the Senate today and already approved by the House of Representatives will improve regulation in the financial sector. However, given the severity of the economic crisis caused by past regulatory failures, the public had the right to expect much more extensive reform.
"On the positive side, the creation of a strong independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau stands out as an important accomplishment. Such an agency would have prevented some of the worst lending practices that contributed to the housing bubble. It will be important that President Obama choose a strong and effective person, such as Elizabeth Warren, as the first head of the Bureau to establish its independence.
"The requirement that most derivatives be either exchange-traded or passed through clearinghouses is also an important improvement in regulation. However, important exceptions remain, which the industry will no doubt exploit to their limit.
"The creation of resolution authority for large non-bank financial institutions is also a positive step, although the fact that no pre-funding mechanism was put in place is a serious problem. Also, the audit of the Federal Reserve's special lending facilities, as well as the ongoing audits of its open market operations and discount window loans, is a big step towards increased Fed openness.
"On the negative side, there is little in this legislation that will fundamentally change the way that Wall Street does business. The rules on derivative trading will still allow the bulk of derivatives to be traded directly out of banks rather than separately capitalized divisions of the holding company. The Volcker rule was substantially weakened by a provision that will still allow banks to risk substantial sums in proprietary trading.
"More importantly, there is probably no economist who believes that this bill will end the risks of too-big-to-fail financial institutions. The six largest banks will still enjoy the enormous implicit subsidy that results from the expectation that the federal government will bail them out in the event of a crisis.
"Also, the fact that no regulators, most obviously Ben Bernanke at the Fed, were fired for failing to prevent the crisis leaves in place serious doubts about the structure of incentives for regulators. Cracking down on reckless behavior by politically powerful financial institutions will always be difficult for regulators. On the other hand, if regulators know that failing to crack down carries no consequences, even when it leads to disastrous outcomes, we can expect that regulators will have a strong bias toward ignoring reckless behavior.
"It is possible that Congress may eventually take stronger steps toward restructuring the financial sector, most obviously in the context of a financial speculation tax. While this was not included in the Dodd- Frank bill, in the context of severe budget pressures, a tax that can raise $150 billion a year in revenue may look more appealing than most alternatives. Such a tax would do far more to restructure the industry than this financial reform bill."
Emphasis Mine.
So, here we are 3 years after the 2008 collapse and we still don't see any Wall Street accountability; in fact, we see a watered down financial reform bill that will essentially allow Wall Street to continue to operate with impunity. But this is not what the corporate media wants us to concentrate on. No. We are told that it is not the mass unemployment and underemployment that is the problem now. No. We are told that what Americans truly want to concentrate on is the deficit. Clearly, this is the major concern of all patriotic Americans, right?
In a time where poor and working class Americans are hanging on by a thread, where the middle class is quickly diminishing, where home values are plummeting, Congress decides to debate how much of the social security nets we should cut to save money. HUH?!! That's right. Clearly, this is the time to do it, as President Obama stated, "If not now, when?" http://www.whitehouse.gov/...
Well, Mr. President, how about when we're not suffering from the effects of a massive recession? How about when we're not fighting numerous wars abroad? How about after we raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires, who seem to be doing just fine in this economy? Why don't we leave social security, which doesn't contribute one dime to the deficit, alone? Why don't we try to address the rising cost of health care, by giving the public a real option, instead of cutting medicare? Why don't we try another stimulus to put people back to work, put money in people's pockets to get this economy moving again? No. This would be ludicrous left-fringe talk, what we need to do is focus on this DEFICIT. Cue the debt ceiling debates. Cue Shock Doctrine.
We saw the Republican Party, apparently controlled by the Tea Party in the House, take the entire country hostage to save tax cuts for the wealthy and to further shift tax burdens onto the poor and the middle class. We saw a Democratic Party, led by President Obama, accommodate these terrorists and pass a bill that puts the future of our social security nets into the hands of a Super committee. This Super Committee is comprised of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, but in order for the bill to pass only a simple majority is needed. Can we guess who the Republicans appointed to this committee? And can we guess who the Democrats appointed to this committee?? Is there a single hopeful Democrat left out there who believes we won't be sold out by at least ONE Democratic politician???
Lets look at this Committee, real quick:
Our worst fears have been realized – that this Super Committee is likely to put a big bulls-eye on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Super Committee co-chair Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) has even called Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid “cruel Ponzi schemes.”
Our research team has already pulled together the voting records and statements of all 12 Super Committee members. At least six of them are in favor of deep cuts to Social Security (most, if not all of these six, want to privatize the program), ending Medicare as we know it, cutting $1.4 trillion from Medicaid and continuing the Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans. We can’t afford to lose even 1 out of the remaining 6 votes between now and November 23 when the Super Committee must report out its plan.
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/...
Click on the the link please and sign the petition, but when you're done please tell me where do we go from here? How do we shift the debate and get off our heels. If you're a liberal (yeah I said LIBERAL), how do we get off the damn ropes and start swinging back? I'm tired of this bullshit. Where do we go from here?