Make no mistake, democracy itself is at stake.
Treasury officials noticed a $2 trillion error in S&P's math that delayed an announcement for several hours. S&P officials decided to move ahead, and after 8 p.m. they made their downgrade official.
http://online.wsj.com/...
"In a document provided to Treasury on Friday afternoon, Standard and Poor's (S&P) presented a judgment about the credit rating of the U.S. that was based on a $2 trillion mistake. After Treasury pointed out this error — a basic math error of significant consequence — S&P still chose to proceed with their flawed judgment by simply changing their principal rationale for their credit rating decision from an economic one to a political one. S&P incorrectly added that same $2.1 trillion in deficit reduction to an entirely different baseline where discretionary funding levels grow with nominal GDP over the next 10 years. Relative to this alternative baseline, the Budget Control Act will save more than $4 trillion over ten years — or over $2 trillion more than S&P calculated. S&P acknowledged this error — in private conversations with Treasury on Friday afternoon and then publicly early Saturday morning. In the interim, they chose to issue a downgrade of the US credit rating."
http://yro.slashdot.org/...
One can wonder why, but with the financial sector being on the top of the coalition hoping for an end to any Democratic Party representation, let alone rule. One is allowed to think that the Republican attempt to bring the country to the brink of economic collapse is merely continued by the "Galt" thinking at "our" --too big to fail oppose banks.
I smell holding the American public hostage in perpetuity. Elect a Democratic Government? Well just destroy the economy. Ayn Rand's cold stiff hypocritical fingers are all over this treason against our land.
Why show this scene from "The Town" as a "motivational" video to the Republican Caucus? As the Republican leadership did during the final moments of the 'debt ceiling' hostage taking. So many Americans asked why. Why choose this small scene? What is the similarity to Republican/Bank actions and this crime film? The video itself is explanation enough. Its right up front.
And the Republican caucus did as they were told, and the financial sector began doing their part. One would be forgiven for realizing it was a foregone conclusion, well before the Capital Hill Hostage Taking. Even the tea party droids are bit players in this coup.
Don't for an second doubt: we are, our country, our democracy is just a pawn in the creation of the plutocracy.
This is high treason. We need some people to start fighting as if this were democracy itself on the line, because it is.
The Shock Doctrine
Based on breakthrough historical research and four years of on-the-ground reporting in disaster zones, The Shock Doctrine vividly shows how disaster capitalism – the rapid-fire corporate reengineering of societies still reeling from shock – did not begin with September 11, 2001. The book traces its origins back fifty years, to the University of Chicago under Milton Friedman, which produced many of the leading neo-conservative and neo-liberal thinkers whose influence is profound in Washington today.
They are playing for keeps.