This is going to be rather short, was going to wait and place in an open thread but thinking it really needs a stand alone and frankly many more separate posts and discussions or ability to add reports from around the country.
This isn't a new dangerous problem it's been growing for the last couple of decades and especially in the recent past one, especially the health problems.
In a previous diary I discussed the notion of progressive ideology, which suggests that basic tenets of "progressivism" prevent it from articulating any sort of meaningful political resistance to neoliberalism, which in this era is the one ideology which has triumphed over all of the others, and thus the one ideology which matters.
In today's discussion I will put forth the political meaning of this ideological formation: political economy in free-fall.
This weekly diary takes a look at the past week's important news stories from the perspective of our leading editorial cartoonists (including a few foreign ones) with analysis and commentary added in by me.
When evaluating a cartoon, ask yourself these questions:
1. Does a cartoon add to my existing knowledge base and help crystallize my thinking about the issue depicted?
2. Does the cartoonist have any obvious biases that distort reality?
3. Is the cartoonist reflecting prevailing public opinion or trying to shape it?
The answers will help determine the effectiveness of the cartoonist's message.
:: ::
Chris Britt, Comics.com, see reader comments in the State Journal-Register
A growing expectation of a double-dip recession is evident in a new poll of financial executives...the poll found more than half of financial executives predicting another downturn, and most expecting jobs recovery to lag into 2011.
The predictions don't end with just this poll. Nouriel Roubini is also warning of a second leg down, and even more disturbing is this report.
• More than 52.5 million total beneficiaries including:
• 9.7 million disabled persons under age 65 and dependent family members
• 6.4 million survivors of deceased workers
• 36.4 million retired workers and their families
It's interesting to read the news on today's unemployment numbers with a first line of WORST OVER? It then goes on to explain how the numbers were "better than expected" even though the economy continues to bleed jobs.
Sure, not everything in the report was bad news...just most of it. The media was quick to report that temporary jobs were increasing, but failed to mention that the U-6 was also increasing, that the number of people on permanent layoff was increasing, and that people not in the labor force but still want a job was increasing.
Let me take you back to Christmas Eve, 2009. It was a time to wrap gifts for loved-ones. That's how the Obama Administration felt about the financial industry when it lifted all caps in emergency bailout money to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That means the taxpayer was on the hook for all losses at these two mortgage giants no matter how big the losses are.
The move caused a slight stir, but never got the attention of the American public because the announcement was timed to coincide with the peak season of distraction. And so it was forgotten...but not by Fannie and Freddie.
Indonesian police have used tear gas and water canon to disperse about 2,000 anti-government protesters who tried to enter the parliament building in the capital, Jakarta.
The scuffles broke out on Tuesday as members of parliament began a debate over the possible impeachment of the country's vice-president and finance minister.
...
His vice president, Boediono, and finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, approved the bailout and opposition leaders have demanded their resignation saying they must be held accountable for losses to the state.
What an amazing concept!
Imagine holding politicians accountable for the loss of public funds from controversial bank bailouts in 2008. Imagine the citizens of the nation taking the time off from watching TV to protest the funneling of taxpayer money to wealthy, politically-connected investors.
I wonder if such wacky ideas could catch on in America?
Heintz has written on a wide range of economic policy issues, including job creation, global labor standards, egalitarian macroeconomic strategies, and investment behavior. He has worked as an international consultant on projects in Ghana and South Africa, sponsored by the International Labor Organization and the United Nations Development Program, that focus on employment-oriented development policy.
His current work focuses on global labor standards, employment income, and poverty; employment policies for low- and middle-income countries; and the links between macroeconomic policies and distributive outcomes.
When it comes to state budget crisis, California gets most of the headlines. When it comes to states that are going bankrupt the quickest, Obama's state of Illinois has taken the lead.
"The state is in utter crisis," said Representative Suzie Bassi. "We are next to bankruptcy. We have a $13bn hole in a $28bn budget."
The state has been paying bills with unfunded vouchers since October. A fifth of buses have stopped. Libraries, owed $400m (£263m), are closing one day a week. Schools are owed $725m. Unable to pay teachers, they are preparing mass lay-offs. "It's a catastrophe", said the Schools Superintedent.
In Alexander County, the sheriff's patrol cars have been repossessed; three-quarters of his officers are laid off; the local prison has refused to take county inmates until debts are paid.
Collectively the states have a $156 Billion hole to fill this year. There will be a lot of pain to go around.
Because of the Republicans new found concern for budget deficits, 1.2 million American families will be cut adrift today.
Nearly 1.2 million unemployed Americans - including 27,000 in Wisconsin - face an imminent cutoff of government unemployment checks if Congress cannot pass emergency legislation to extend federal benefits before funding expires Sunday.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) pushed this week for Senate passage of a stopgap 30-day extension of jobless benefits, which also includes a 30-day extension of a federal COBRA health insurance subsidy for the jobless. But as of late Thursday, Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) objected to each attempt to bring the issue to a Senate floor vote, balking that the measure would further inflate the nation's debt.
Remember, this is the same Congress that took less than a week to bail out Wall Street banks for $700 Billion. There were no questions at that time about where to get the money for their criminal friends in banking.
The Unemployment extension bill is $10 Billion.
When I wrote this essay a lot of people asked me, "What should we do about it?"
It's a good question, but its also a trap. I'm not so arrogant as to believe that I know the perfect solution to our economic problems. Anyone that tells you they know is either a fool or a liar.
However, that doesn't mean we can't discover where we went wrong once you apply a little logic and data to the situation.
For instance, if you realize you have taken a wrong turn, it makes more sense to turn around and go back to the corner where the mistake was made, than it does to drive in a general direction and hope you can find your way home.
When it comes to the economy, its pretty easy to discover when the wrong turn was made - 1972.
CBO: Stimulus bill created up to 2.1 million jobs By ANDREW TAYLOR, The Associated Press - Feb 23, 2010
WASHINGTON -- The economic stimulus law added between 1 million to 2.1 million workers to employment rolls by the end of last year, a new report released Tuesday by congressional economists said.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office study also said the $862 billion stimulus added between 1.5 to 3.5 percentage points to the growth of the economy in 2009.
[...]
CBO projects that the stimulus measure to have a greater impact this year, boosting gross domestic product [GDP] by 1.4 to 4 percentage points and lowering the unemployment rate by 0.7 to 1.8 percentage points.
Crossposted at Daily Kos. If you choose to recommend it there, the Rec Button may have been pushed to the bottom after the last diary comment made.
THE WEEK IN EDITORIAL CARTOONS
This weekly diary takes a look at the past week's important news stories from the perspective of our leading editorial cartoonists (including a few foreign ones) with analysis and commentary added in by me.
When evaluating a cartoon, ask yourself these questions:
1. Does a cartoon add to my existing knowledge base and help crystallize my thinking about the issue depicted?
2. Does the cartoonist have any obvious biases that distort reality?
3. Is the cartoonist reflecting prevailing public opinion or trying to shape it?
The answers will help determine the effectiveness of the cartoonist's message.
:: ::
Chris Britt, see reader comments in the State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL)
"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime." - Balzac
Capitalism hasn't failed. What has failed is the economic system in place today.
No amount of government taxes, trade barriers, or regulation caused it to fail.
No investigative reporter, or congressional oversight committee, or regulatory watchdog, exposed the massive fraud and corruption in the financial system today. All of the safeguards put in place to protect the public, and the current system from itself, failed.
The global financial crisis came to light because what amounts to a falling out amongst thieves. They simply stopped trusting the ability of each other to pay their debts. Once lending stopped, credit creation froze, and the Ponzi-scheme that parallels our financial system broke down.
This so-called "Great Recession" isn't cyclical, it's secular and the problems are systemic. We didn't get here by accident. Choices were made by very wealthy and powerful people, thus those choices can be reversed.
It's important to understand that we aren't fighting Adam Smith's Invisible Hand. We are fighting against the Money Trust.
The Food Stamp program has always been a contentious, heavily partisan issue. A recent New York Times article highlights the back-and-forth that has characterized the highs and lows of the program, and where it seems to be headed. Today I've chosen to write about this controversial subject to, in part, document of my own direct personal experience. Though food stamp usage might have been more stigmatized in an earlier year, there is unfortunately still much bias and prejudice directed towards those who take advantage of its existence. Until this is eliminated, others will refuse to apply and find their poverty and need considerably worsened. If this be Welfare, it is one of the most essential safety nets ever devised and my fear is that a resurgent GOP presence will eliminate it altogether, or prune it back considerably.
Today the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates. Quantitative easing efforts (read: monetization) are also coming to an end.
The central banks are worried about inflation due to the massive money printing of the past two years. Should they be worried? Probably not.
David Rosenberg from Gluskin Sheff said lending has fallen by over $100bn (£63.8bn) since January, plummeting at an annual rate of 16pc. "Since the credit crisis began, $740bn of bank credit has evaporated. This is a record 10pc decline," he said.
Mr Rosenberg said it is tempting fate for the Fed to turn off the monetary spigot in such circumstances. "The shrinking in banking sector balance sheets renders any talk of an exit strategy premature," he said.
Bank lending is the money multiplier in a fractional-reserve banking system, and banks aren't lending.
All those trillions of dollars bailing out Wall Street was meant to fix the credit markets, which means to get the banks lending again. This effort was a complete and total failure...unless you count banker bonuses.
Yesterday, I reported on the incredulous national reaction fellow Democrats had to Senator Dianne Feinstein's (D, CA) proposed amendment to the upcoming Jobs Bill, the one where she wanted to suspend the Endangered Species Act protections to migrating baby salmon and Delta smelt in the Sacramento & San Joaquin River Delta, with the excuse that increased water pumping out of the Delta to her billionaire water broker donors would "increase jobs."
This ignored the fact that the salmon fishing season has been suspended the past 2 years on the CA coast and may be heading for a 3rd year of cancelation because of the collapse and crash of the salmon population.
I found a letter from CA Assemblyperson, Chair of the "Water, Parks, & Wildlife Committee," Jared Huffman, to Mark Corwin, Director of the CA Dept of Water Resources (DWR) from 1 week ago, Feb 10th. In it, Chairman Huffman asks why the CA Dept of Water Resources (DWR) is flouting the CA Endangered Species Act (CESA) with regards to Judge Oliver Wanger's opinion Feb 5, 2010, that Delta water pumping extraction must decrease to protect Delta Smelt and migrating salmon. In 2008 and 2009, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service said that if water agencies such as CVP + SWP pumped high amounts of water out of the Delta at certain times, it was going to drive Federally listed endangered fish in the Delta to extinction. (state rules need to comply with Federal listings) In the summer of 2009 the Dept of Water Resources requested rules clarification, then turned around and started attacking the new rules in court.
Huffman to DWR:
{{{ On August 3, 2009, (the CA) Dept Water Resources (DWR) filed legal papers in support of a motion
by its water contractors seeking to invalidate the biological opinion - even though the effect would
be to invalidate DWR's own CA Endangered Species Act coverage for the SWP pumps.
Then DWR took aim at the salmon biological opinion. Last week, detection of salmon triggered an
obligation under the salmon biological opinion for the SWP/CVP pumps to reduce reverse flows in Middle
and Old Rivers. State and federal water contractors went to court seeking to overturn the heavily peer
reviewed salmon biological opinion and replace it with a previously invalidated Bush-era opinion.
Now, detection of smelt has triggered protections under the delta smelt biological opinion. As you know, a limitation on reverse flow to protect delta smelt would also meet your requirements to protect salmon and longfin smelt. Monday, Central Valley Project contractors filed for a Temporary Restraining Order on the delta smelt protections. And Dept of Water Resources, fully informed as to the deference the court gave its last letter, filed another "non-opposition" letter yesterday.
Having actively worked to create these problems, please explain how DWR intends to fix them. }}}
______________
a pdf download of Huffman's letter to the DWR is here:
http://www.lloydgcarter.com/fi... I expanded some of the acronyms above, so it would read more easily
I'm quoting this to to help illustrate the breadth of the problem Senator Feinstein created with so many levels of both state and Federal water and fisheries law, when she decided to play Top Water Distributress of the SacJoaquin Delta. The state of CA was trying to work this out with the Federal government, and she meddled to make a favor to Kerns County water brokers, and Westlake Mutual Water Company and billionaire donor Stewart Resnik, so they could sell a bigger water allotment to the highest bidder in Southern CA. And this is going to be tacked on to a JOBS Bill.
Congress has had this week off because of President's day. They had the previous week off because of 2 massive snowstorms. So they've had plenty of time to interact people who are either mad at them or wish to purchase their influence.
Today, The Hill is reporting that Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid doesn't have the cloture votes to even begin debate on the jobs bill.
Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
