The reason there was no Jobs Commission established by President Obama (unlike his unconscionable Cat Food Commission), is because our President and Congress have no intention of rebuilding our manufacturing base, or bringing our jobs back to our nation. PERIOD.
I for one, am all done on this mass delusion, denial and self-deception that President Obama is either naive, or doesn't know what he is doing. He knows exactly what he is doing, and he always has known what he is doing.
For instance, this week while we were all watching the two shinny decoys being tossed in the air: The Cat Food Commission and the Extension of the Bush Tax Cuts, Congress and our beloved President are working on a Full Pardon for the Banks/Mortgage Industry.
After years of negative judicial decisions about the use of a straw-man on mortgages, MERS was about to lose its existence as well as its credibility. But now all of that is set to change as Wall Street money is pouring into the coffers of those who are receptive (i.e., almost everyone in Congress). The legislation is already being drafted under the interstate commerce clause to ratify MERS and everything it did retroactively. It appears that the Obama administration is ready to pardon all the securitization deviants by signing this bill into law. This information is corroborated by several people who are in sensitive positions — persons who would be the first to know such proposals. Fortunately, there are some people in Washington who have a conscience and do not want to see this happen.
Besides the obvious seediness of this maneuver, it runs roughshod over state property laws, and the rights of investors, homeowners and borrowers. It amounts to a permanent installation of a Federal system that supersedes the county records for recording property rights. Off-record comments I’ve heard from people in power are outraged at this assault on states’ rights. But these people are not legislators, who are getting promises larger than anything in your imagination, if they will support such a bill. It might be couched as a uniform law to be adopted by the states to get around the states rights issues, but it will permanently remove some of the power over property that lies solely within the jurisdiction of the states and place it preemptively within federal jurisdiction.
All of this is scheduled to happen during the lame duck session of congress between now and the end of the this year, 2010. That means in a manner of days, some bill that may look like it has nothing to do with property, mortgages or foreclosures is going to have attached to it a provision whose effect will go even further than the notarization bill that went through Congress like S–t through a goose and almost got signed by the President. We caught that one AFTER it was passed by Congress unanimously but before Obama signed it. We announced it as an attempt at a presidential pardon to all those who committed crimes in the notarization of documents that were fabricated and forged, all those who committed forgery and perjury and all those who created counterfeit documentation that was presented to courts as original documents.
http://livinglies.wordpress.com/...
If you will recall, the exact same kind of sleazy underhanded shitty thing happened not that long ago. Remember this? I do.
H.R. 3808 - Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act of 2010.
This is a Banking Industry Bill that seeks to legalize electronic interstate notarizations. This bill only has three co-signers and moved rapidly through Congress just as Ally announced that it was halting foreclosures in 23 states. Ally is just one of several national banks (Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo) that are under investigation for illegal notarization practices in a number of states.
How they Voted: (So much for accountability)
Apr 27, 2010: This bill passed in the House of Representatives by voice vote. A record of each representative’s position was not kept.
Sep 27, 2010: This bill passed in the Senate by Unanimous Consent. A record of each senator’s position was not kept.
On the surface, the bill appears harmless. But a closer examination reveals that this bill could cause serious financial harm to consumers. Banks demand we follow every letter of their contracts. We must demand they follow the law. It’s that simple. Please join me in urging President Obama not to sign the bill by sending an email or calling 202-456-1111.
Thanks for working together,
Jennifer Brunner
Ohio Secretary of State
That particular bill was right on President Obama's desk ready for his signature when Jennifer Brunner 'outed' the bill, and because of the public outrage, President Obama did not sign it. Now there's another equally (only I think even worse) nefarious bill working its way to the President's desk.
If you want to continue to believe the President Obama doesn't know what he is doing, or is naive, or has some kind of secret plan to pull his own inner FDR/MLK out of his magic hat, then go right ahead.
I'm all done. I'm done reading and rereading and re-re-reading, all the bullshit articles by the Neo-Liberals who keep saying over and over again: President Obama better decide which side he is on - Main St. or Wall St. I know what side he is on, and that has become painfully clear to me.
Ben Bernanke, along with Timothy Geithner and President Obama and our entire Congress have one central goal: Keep the 'Cover Up' covered up, and keep the Corrupt status quo in place, regardless of what it costs our nation, and regardless how much it destroys the Middle Class.
Do you honestly think that our government really cares if a senior citizen is eating cat food, or is without heat and will freeze in their apartment this winter? Do you honestly think that our government is the least bit concerned about a family of five now living in their car, or on the streets? Do you honestly believe that anyone in the Senate is suffering from qualms of quilt or insomnia because young soldiers are committing suicide at an all time high rate, over in the Middle East? Do you honestly believe that the destruction, and the slow cruel genocide of the Middle Class is any different from the British starving the Irish out of their own country during the great potato famine? We'll here's a clue: there is no difference between what is going on in our nation and that time in history. The Great Class Wars, are over; the Robber Barons have won, and we have lost. What part of that don't we understand?
For banks and servicers, the motive was money. Banks profited by packaging and selling those toxic home loans. Then they profited again by betting against those same securities. A bet, in essence, that a fraudulent loan wouldn't be paid back. But why would politicians allow this? The simple answer is to stay in office. Giving people huge government incentives to buy houses made them happier and thus made their politicians more likely to keep their jobs. And at the same time, the financial services sector -- the banks making all the money -- were donating to their political campaigns. In 2008, the financial sector was the top donor to both the Democratic and Republican candidates.
So where are all these toxic loans now? We own them! At the Federal Reserve, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. And the banks and politicians will do whatever it takes to prevent a legitimate foreclosure proceeding...one which would easily reveal the lack of qualifications and bad documentation in the loans sold to the government.
Finally, the last and most important why: Why isn't the government dealing with it now? Simply because it could reveal systematic criminal and civil fraud at the highest levels of America's banks and in its political corridors.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The reason that I continue to go back to the themes of systemic corruption and the continued 'Cover Up,' of what really occurred as President Bush/Hank Paulson were leaving the White House (the Great Heist of 2008) is because until we as a nation face up this moral rot, this hidden cancer that is eating our nation alive, we will continue to get more of the same, if not worse. Cat Food Commission? Extended Bush Tax Cuts? The Endless Wars continuing? Millions of Americans will continue losing their jobs (which are not coming back) and their homes, and their unemployment benefits, leaving them starving and destitute and before you know it, guess what? Someone like the Rev. Mike Huckabee starts to look mighty fine, indeed. Think it can't happen here? Think again.
And now to hear about this new legislation (yes, let's all keep pretending President Obama is clueless about this too) the new presidential pardon to all those who committed crimes in the notarization of documents that were fabricated and forged, all those who committed forgery and perjury and all those who created counterfeit documentation that was presented to courts as original documents. This is how 'they' all play us, over and over again. This is nothing more than a repeat, only worse of the old, H.R. 3808 - Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act of 2010.
As Dean Baker reminds us:
Just over two years ago, the Wall Streeters were running around Congress and the media saying that if they didn't immediately get $700 billion the world would end. Since they own large chunks of both, they quickly got their money. Even more important than the hundreds of billions of loans issued through the TARP was the trillions of dollars of loans and guarantees from the Fed and the FDIC. This money came with virtually no strings attached. It kept Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America and many others from collapsing. As a result, folks like Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein are again pocketing tens of millions a year in wages and bonuses, instead of walking the unemployment lines. Instead, 15 million ordinary workers are being told to just get used to being unemployed; it's the "new normal." But wait, it gets worse. The thing about Wall Streeters is that no matter how much money you give them, they always want more. Now they are using their political power and control over the media to attack Social Security.
snip....
The really incredible part of this story is that we should be talking about increasing Social Security benefits. Benefits are quite low by international standards. The portion of wage income replaced by Social Security is considerably lower than the retirement benefit provided by the systems in Australia, Canada, Germany and most other wealthy countries. As a result, many of the retirees who are dependent almost entirely on Social Security have incomes that are only slightly above the poverty line. A modest increase in benefits could make a big difference in these people's standard of living.
In addition, the near retirees, the people directly in the gun sights of the Wall Street TARPers, have just seen most of their wealth destroyed by the collapse of the housing bubble. The Wall Streeters now want to kick them yet again, by taking away Social Security benefits that they have already paid for. If Congress and the media worked for the public, we would be debating Wall Street speculation taxes right now. Insofar as we need to do something about the deficit in the longer term, taxing Wall Street speculation is a far more economically desirable route than taking away the Social Security benefits that ordinary workers have already paid for.
We could easily raise more than $1.5 trillion over the next decade with a broadly based financial speculation tax than would have almost no impact on anyone except the Wall Street crew. Even the IMF is now pushing higher taxes on the Wall Street types, recognizing the enormous waste and rents in the financial sector. But the media and Congress do not respond to economic reality, they respond to money. And Peter Peterson and the Wall Street crew are not paying for an honest discussion of the country's fiscal and economic problems. They are financing a rigged debate that is intended to result in even more money flowing to Wall Street and less to those who work for a living., just to get by, and paid, every single damn paycheck for their Social Security and Medicare.
http://www.counterpunch.org/...
Thanks Dean Baker, because you always nail it to the wall, with a tripled power nail gun on high volume....again:
The thing about Wall Streeters is that no matter how much money you give them, they always want more. Now they are using their political power and control over the media to attack Social Security.
Until we are able to find a real leader in our nation who is willing to find his own FDR/Harry Truman inner strength and integrity to put the people of nation first and foremost, to call the systemic corruption and continued cover up out into the open (as difficult as they may be for all of us to face), we will continue to remain on the same course we are on, which is in fact this horrifying unconscionable slow and cruel genocide of the Middle Class and the American people. Anything less than a total National Strike, or an extended massive and continual march on Washington DC, or even a huge shake up in our own party, is whistling past the graveyard.
I'm all done with my own denial, self delusion, as far as President Obama goes. I had great hopes for our President and like many of you I worked tirelessly to help him into the White House. Believe me, I tried awfully hard to keep up this farce, for a very, very long time, but the time for reality has come, at least for me:
He's not demanding a jobs commission, because he doesn't want one.
He’s not demanding an end to the tax cuts, because he doesn't want them.
He’s not demanding an end to the wars, because he doesn't want to.
He’s not demanding the preservation of Social Security, or shoring up Medicare, because he doesn't believe in those programs, or the New Deal.
He’s not prosecuting the bankers, Wall St., et., al, because he decided from day one to sign on to the continued 'Cover Up,' and status quo.
He will not stand up for the Middle Class, or the mortgage foreclosure scandal, because that would mean holding those responsible and accountable who tanked our entire economy, got paid off for doing it, and are still looking to pick off the carcass of what is left of the Middle Class.
It is not that President Obama does not understand exactly what he is doing, where he is going, and is somehow naive. President Obama is in fact as complicit as the majority of our Senators and Congress people are and to continue to give them or him a 'stupid pass card,' is not only delusional, it is exactly what our so called leaders are hoping we will do. This is how they play it, this is how and why they are winning and why we are simply enabling this same corruption, that is destroying our country day in and day out.
Wish it were not so. But it is.
Oh, one last word, you might want to keep an eye out for this new legislation which is already being drafted under the interstate commerce clause to ratify MERS and everything it did retroactively. A full Presidential pardon - immunity for the Mortgage/Bankers? Oh right, why does this remind me so much of FISA?
Good thing we still have that two party system, all the checks and balances and 'stuff.'
Thanks as always.
Ms. B.