Senator Levin got testy with Goldman execs for peddling, in their own words, what they knew to be “shitty deals.” Of course, when you collapse the global financial system, it stands to reason that more than a few “shitty deals” by more than one shitty organization were involved.
There is, I suppose, a remote possibility that Obama and the democrats might finally wake up and realize they need the independent and liberal votes they’ve thrown away since inauguration day last year, and that all the corporate donations in the world aren’t going to save them without those votes, and start producing some useful progressive legislation and pass it in time for the midterms.
They could have independents and liberals all across the country rewarding them for results instead of turning their backs on empty promises and the largest landslides in history this November with just a few simple moves.
Creating and passing a universal single payer health care bill for example might do it all by itself, for example.
Although they could probably sew it right up it for themselves by also starting torture and war crimes trials for Bush and Cheney, while withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan and breaking up the big Wall Street investment banks and doing Ken Lay numbers on Goldman Sachs‘s Lloyd Blankfein and Magnetar‘s Alec Litowitz, while firing Tim Geithner, Ben Bernanke, and Rahm Emanuel.
They’ve got 4 whole months, after all.
They’re smart people, right? They should be at least half as smart as all those independent and progressives who won’t vote for them unless they do those things, right?
I mean, Obama and the democrats can’t possibly be stupid enough to actually believe that independents and liberals are stupid enough to vote to continue being screwed by them, can they?
You have to love George Takei. Not only is he an excellent actor, he has what one might call “personality”. He also has an Arkansas link to me, and this sort of exposes the foul underbelly of racial prejudice.
He was born in 1937 of American and Japanese ancestry, putting him well into the Social Security crowd now. I really like the new adverts that he does for the TeeVee manufacturer. He is looking more youthful now than he has for several years.
You have to love George Takei. Not only is he an excellent actor, he has what one might call “personality”. He also has an Arkansas link to me, and this sort of exposes the foul underbelly of racial prejudice.
He was born in 1937 of American and Japanese ancestry, putting him well into the Social Security crowd now. I really like the new adverts that he does for the TeeVee manufacturer. He is looking more youthful now than he has for several years.
A “Controlled” Burn of giant oil slick in Gulf of Mexico begins by our Coast Guard, to attempt to prevent landfall of the unprocessed crude oil gushing out of the destroyed BP Deepwater Horizon rig’s wellhead for a week. In spite of having four remotely operated submarines working nearly a mile underwater, trying to jigger the automatic shut off valves, the well continues to blow out at least 42,000 gallons of crude a day.
“They lit it with a little float that has a fuel source on it that floats into the oil and ignites,” Petty Officer Cory Mendenhall told AFP. “It did successfully ignite.”
The first burn was lit at around 4.45pm local time (7.45am AEST) and officials said any fires would have to be extinguished by nightfall. Sunset is at 7.27pm local time.
Healthy Economies are based on Minimizing Costs, while Maximizing the Social Benefits. Or at least they should be.
Yet our Corporate-driven Economic system, far too often focuses on Discounting the Costs, while Maximizing their Profits. Profits for the enlightened owners, NOT for Society at large. Both the long-term and local Costs, generally get swept under the rug, in such a competitive landscape.
And that is a recipe for long-term Planetary Disaster.
Every economic transaction is some sort of trade-off between Cost vs Benefits. Problems arise however, when most of those Costs (to the Planet and to Society) remain Hidden, just below the surface — completely “External” to any quick-hit P&L calculations and Statements.
The accurate Pricing of such “External” factors — both short-term and long-term — is KEY to whether or not, WE leave the world a better place than we found it.
“Externalities” have a way of creeping up on you, and “extracting payment”, sometimes when you least expect it.
BERLIN (AFP) – Pressure piled on Germany to stop stalling a package to rescue Greece from crippling debts Wednesday as the International Monetary Fund warned confidence in the whole eurozone was on the line.
The euro hit a one-year dollar low with a downgrade of Spain’s credit rating accelerating its fall, escalating fears that the Greek debt crisis is spreading across Europe a day after Greek debt was slashed to junk status.
Greece meanwhile acted to stop speculators operating on the Athens stock exchange as the interest rate it has to pay to borrow money hit 11.1 percent, only trailing Pakistan and Venezuela in the world’s highest interest payers.
Worth reading.
But with the General Workers Confederation announcing a general strike for May 5 against “neo-liberal blackmail”, his government is still holding out against proposals by the EU and IMF to cut salaries.
“We have been asked for a cut which we do not accept,” Labour Minister Andreas Loverdos said.
“… any illegal immigrant they catch in Arizona, they should let him keep doing his job because he’s adding to the economy. For every one they catch, they should send one Goldman Sachs guy to Mexico.” – Michael Moore on Larry King Live, Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
(DDT) The moderator of the world’s best known blog for policing impure political thoughts, [redacted], today finally banned the wife of the world’s most famous retired politician for promoting and distributing an unproven Conspiracy Theory.
In a move sure to create controversy in [redacted] and other sites around the blogosphere, an anonymous, off the record spokesperson for [redacted] confirmed that
The FAQ says no conspiracy theories, no exceptions. Certainly this poster was aware of the rule, he or she chose to ignore it, and we decided to ban this person immediately. Any other remaining posters using this website, caught uprating other users who uprated the banned user, will be warned once and their posting ability suspended for the next 2,666 years until a bipartisan tribunal can be assembled to judge the purity of their thoughts and the intent of their actions.
We here at [redacted] take election integrity very seriously. We’ve banned thousands of people for far more, and we’ll ban as many people as possible for far less, for even having these impure thoughts.
We have an election to win. Look forwards, not back.
Example of Irish people being subversive and undermining the American pragmatic progressive agenda. Note upraised arms and dancing in audience, outside the white castle walls, clear indications of wanting a unicorn.
This is Amerika, Damnit ! We don’t DO unicorns! We do Hope Nobody Notices!
There is, I suppose, a remote possibility that Obama and the democrats might finally wake up and realize they need the independent and liberal votes they’ve thrown away since inauguration day last year, and that all the corporate donations in the world aren’t going to save them without those votes, and start producing some useful progressive legislation and pass it in time for the midterms.
Creating and passing a universal single payer health care bill for example might do it all by itself, for example.
