I hope you all will join me today in taking a few minutes out to remember our fallen heroes, and the sacrifices made by the families they left behind. This does not mean we must support the wars. I hate most of America’s wars and have opposed most in my lifetime, but those who serve didn’t start any of them. In my opinion, it is appropriate to to hate the wars, as long as we love, honor and respect the warriors.
We are still suffering the effects of economic collapse, brought on by the greed of criminal Banksters. In spite of that, they still threaten our economy, because they own the Republican Party, lock, stock and barrel, in addition to a significant minority of Congressional Democrats. A new report from community banks and a new segment from Bill Moyers Journal, demonstrate this well.
The Independent Community Bankers of America released a report on Wednesday that examines the impact of too-big-to-fail institutions on the American economy and why the problem needs to be addressed.
“ICBA is pleased to unveil this comprehensive report, which is an excellent roadmap for helping everyone from consumers to policymakers understand how too-big-to-fail affects our nation’s economy and what they can do to help bring an end to this dangerous practice,” ICBA President and CEO Camden R. Fine said. “As we outline in the report, too-big-to-fail distorts free markets, incentivizes risky behavior, holds taxpayers hostage to bailouts, and creates unfair competitive advantages for the largest banks. But there is perhaps no greater reminder of the too-big-to-fail impact than the constant, oppressive regulatory burdens that community banks face on a daily basis. I encourage everyone who feels passionately about the health of our financial system to read this timely report.”
The report found that the 12 largest U.S. banks hold nearly 70 percent of all industry assets and that they get credit at rates “that do not reflect their true risk—rates that are subsidized by an implicit taxpayer guarantee.”
Additionally, the report pointed to a recent statement by Attorney General Eric Holder, in which he said the Department of Justice is aware that megabanks are TBTF. The report said the banking industry will increasingly become more concentrated as long as the problem of TBTF remains…
Inserted from <Bank Credit News>
Photo credit: Demos.org
You can read the ICBA Report here.
Bill Moyers also provided some excellent coverage on this subject.
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Gretchen Morgenson tells Bill that, five years after the country’s economic near-collapse, banks are still too big to fail, too big to manage, and too big to trust. Stockholders’ reaffirmation of Jamie Dimon as JP Morgan Chase’s chairman and CEO this week — despite a year of accusations and investigations at the bank — is further evidence, she says, of an unchecked system that continues to covet profits and eschew accountability, putting our economy and democracy at risk. Morgenson also discusses how behemoth companies like Apple manipulate the system and avail themselves of the biggest tax loopholes money and influence can buy…
Inserted from <Bill Moyers Journal>
Gretchen summarized the problem well, when she said, "There was just no shame." This smugness is part of the reason that TBTF = Too Big to Exist. I do not believe that we can have economic sanity in this nation until we break them up in addition to reinstating Glass-Steagall. They are demonstrating now that they are also Too Big to Regulate. To do that we need to replace the Bankster Bought in Congress with progressive legislators.
I got enough rest yesterday, so I actually have two more articles for you today, although one is just a short Memorial Day greeting. If you are returning home today, please take extra care to keep yourselves safe on the road.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:39 (average 5:09). To do it, click here. How did you do?
From NY Times: The Affordable Care Act, a k a Obamacare, goes fully into effect at the beginning of next year, and predictions of disaster are being heard far and wide. There will be an administrative “train wreck,” we’re told; consumers will face a terrible shock. Republicans, one hears, are already counting on the law’s troubles to give them a big electoral advantage.
No doubt there will be problems, as there are with any large new government initiative, and in this case, we have the added complication that many Republican governors and legislators are doing all they can to sabotage reform. Yet important new evidence — especially from California, the law’s most important test case — suggests that the real Obamacare shock will be one of unexpected success…
Click through for the rest of this excellent Krugman editorial. I agree that ObamaCare will be a big success, except in those areas where RepubliCare, with its built-in death benefit, takes precedence.
From TruthDig: Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, the Harvard economists whose influential pro-austerity study was recently exposed as being seriously flawed, have penned a scathing open letter to New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, a major critic of their work and one of the leading voices in the anti-austerity movement. In the long-winded letter posted to Reinhart’s website Saturday, the pair accuse the Nobel Prize-winning economist of “uncivil behavior” and criticize him for being “selective and shallow” in his characterization of their research.
This is a common Republican tactic, an ad hominem argument. Unable to mount a credible attack against Krugman’s position, they attack the person.
From Think Progress: Okay, it’s not the White House, but rather Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), the smart one, the one that doesn’t push climate silence.
Here’s an amazing Whitehouse speech from earlier this month, “Time to Wake Up: Magical Thinking on Climate Change“:
Now, we need the White House to catch up to Whitehouse. I particularly liked his use of the Bible, because it shows the extent to which Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians ignore it unless they can twist it to support their goose-stepping to our destruction. Many of you do not believe his religious perspective, but if it helps those that do to support responsible environmental legislation, then please coexist without criticism.
Cartoon:
Yesterday I slept poorly, and when I finally did sleep, I slept through most of my research time, so this article is all I have today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s tool me 4:27 (average 4:46). To do it. click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Alternet: It’s been another week of the insane, inane, and outright offensive. Here’s your top ten:
…
Click Through for the rest of the ten craziest things Republicans did last week.
From Common Dreams: Notorious Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio engaged in racial profiling and violated drivers’ constitutional rights, a federal district court ruled on Friday…
…"Singling people out for traffic stops and detentions because they are Latino is unconstitutional and just plain un-American. Let this be a warning to any agency trying to enforce the ‘show me your papers’ provision of SB 1070 and similar laws — there is no exception in the Constitution for immigration enforcement," said Wang.
"Today’s decision vindicates the rights of Latinos in Maricopa County who’ve been terrorized by discriminatory MCSO practices and have had their communities torn apart," added Dan Pochoda, legal director of the ACLU of Arizona. "The court recognized that racial profiling within the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is a pervasive and widespread problem that can only be addressed through substantive, meaningful changes to eradicate this egregious practice and begin rebuilding public trust."
It could not have happened to a more deserving goose-stepper.
From Daily Kos: Writing in Thursday’s Washington Post, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell provides evidence that he says substantiates his assertion that President Barack Obama is responsible for a "culture of intimidation" that "goes well beyond one agency or a few rogue employees."
For example, McConnell says:
The president’s lawyers circulated a draft executive order in 2011 that would have required anyone bidding for a government contract to disclose political donations. The message was clear: If you want a government contract, be careful which causes or candidates you support because the White House will know.
Yep, you read that right. According to Mitch McConnell, requiring firms that do business with the government to publicly disclose how much political cash they’ve given to the politicians from whom they seek contracts and special treatment is all about intimidating companies into silence. Of course, that was not the idea at all. The real idea was to let the public know whether companies that made anonymous political contributions were getting special treatment from the government.
Leave it to Bought Bitch Mitch to twist reality into InsaniTEA. McConnell is certainly intimidated, but he’s really afraid of being primaried by a Bagger.
Cartoon:
Across the nation, individual state governments are making a choice between ObamaCare and RepubliCare, based on whether or not they accept, expanded Medicaid, ObamaCare’s method of providing health care to the very poor, at federal expense. I’m sorry to say that far too many state governments under Republican regimes are putting their extreme views ahead of the needs of their citizens.
The refusal by about half the states to expand Medicaid will leave millions of poor people ineligible for government-subsidized health insurance under President Obama’s health care law even as many others with higher incomes receive federal subsidies to buy insurance.
Starting next month, the administration and its allies will conduct a nationwide campaign encouraging Americans to take advantage of new high-quality affordable insurance options. But those options will be unavailable to some of the neediest people in states like Texas, Florida, Kansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia, which are refusing to expand Medicaid.
More than half of all people without health insurance live in states that are not planning to expand Medicaid.
People in those states who have incomes from the poverty level up to four times that amount ($11,490 to $45,960 a year for an individual) can get federal tax credits to subsidize the purchase of private health insurance. But many people below the poverty line will be unable to get tax credits, Medicaid or other help with health insurance… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
Here is a map I found of where every state stands on Medicaid Expansion, but they did not reflect that Florida’s legislature is blocking Florida’s participation. Coloring those that refuse red is poetically accurate. If you follow the link, they also have an interactive version of the map.
Via: The Advisory Board Company
This is a perfect example of how the pro-death party offers the RepubliCare Death Benefit to those who cannot pay. Alan Grayson was right.
Yesterday was pretty busy with paperwork catch-up and a long chat on the phone with my quit coach. However, I managed to get a long nap in and slept well, so I have another article for you today. Please take extra care, when travelling this holiday weekend, and have a great one in the process.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:01 (average 4:45). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From MSNBC: Lets be kind to our friends from the land of ‘eh’. 😉
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
That pic of the mayor could have easily been altered.
From MoveOn: The Robert Reich Reality Check All Of Your Friends Need To See
While we have not been living beyond our means, the 1% have been living beyond our means to maintain their greed with welfare.
From NY Times: The partial collapse here on Thursday night of a heavily used river bridge on Interstate 5 caused no deaths, but as the long holiday weekend began it underscored the vulnerability of a transportation system that hinges not just on high-profile water crossings and tunnels, but on thousands of ordinary and unremarked components that travelers mostly take for granted.
A 160-foot section of the 58-year-old four-lane steel truss bridge, which crosses the Skagit River about an hour north of Seattle, crumpled around 7 p.m., apparently after being struck by a truck carrying an oversize load, state officials said. Three people were injured, none of them seriously, when vehicles went into the river.
But the ripple effects of the collapse could be huge — for commuters, freight haulers, residents and businesses around the bridge on detour routes and for politicians in Olympia, Washington’s capital…
How many more bridges need to collapse before Republicans stop sabotaging their repair by blocking infrastructure legislation?
Cartoon:
Republicans still support the verdict.
Photo credit: Rolling Stone
My expectations for Barack Obama’s speech yesterday were guarded at best, given the deficits in his transparency to date. I was pleasantly surprised. To begin, here is the complete video of the speech, or, if you prefer, the complete text of the speech is here.
On the use of drones, I mostly agree with him. While innocent people have been killed in drone strikes, the odds are very high that more innocent people would be killed in a strike with conventional bombs or a ground attack by infantry. I support requiring a court to authorize drone strikes. I also support transferring control of drone operations from the CIA to the military. Frankly, the CIA spends far too much effort in field operations. The more of their resources they spend on operations, the less effective they have become at their main purpose, intelligence gathering. That puts us all at greater risk.
On Guantanamo Bay, I think these steps are all he can do without Congress. The prison there would have been closed years ago, had Congress not intervened to prevent it.
Chris Hayes discussed the speech with Keith Ellison (D-MN).
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
I particularly liked Obama’s willingness to give back power. I do not remember seeing any other President do so.
I found Medea Benjamin from Code Pink both rude and offensive. Her tactics were worthy of the Republican Party. She used a technique called piling on or dump trucking. It involves evading honest communication with a barrage of so many different complaints and accusations that the other person cab not reasonably answer all at once. I am very familiar with it, because it is one of the ‘criminal thinking errors’ that I teach prisoners to recognize and avoid using. I have never seen a President stop to give a protester an opportunity to have an honest dialogue in the middle of a major speech. She blew it! She was not interested in that, and that is a shame.
All things considered, I thought it was one of Obama’s most effective speeches ever. How those ideas are transformed to action remains to be seen. Of one thing we can be sure. The Republican Party will do everything possible to sabotage his efforts.
I’m still on the weak and tired side, but I’ve started to exercise by walking laps in the hallways inside to avoid the stairs to begin to rebuild my strength. I have another article today as well. That’s two days in a row. Woooo Hoooo!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:58 (average 4:20) :-( To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: This Is The One Video That Conservatives Hope You Don’t Click On Today
We need to pass this and expand it to include LGBT families.
From Huffington Post: The likelihood of a knockdown fight over the filibuster this summer increased on Tuesday as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pulled back a vote on the confirmation of Richard Cordray to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Cordray is a contentious nominee because 43 Republicans have demanded changes to the structure of the CFPB before they will approve any nominee to run it. That means Republicans can deny Democrats the 60 votes needed to begin debate on a CFPB nominee. President Barack Obama gave Cordray a recess appointment in January 2012, which Republicans have challenged as illegal, citing a recent court case that invalidated other recess appointments.
Reid indicated Tuesday that he would bring Cordray’s nomination to a vote in July, and a Senate Democratic aide said that vote will come at a time when Reid is ready to launch into a broader fight over all of Obama’s stalled nominees. The "plan is to wait until immigration is complete before engaging in total all-out nom[ination] fight," said the aide.
Based on historical precedent, I fear it’s far more likely that Reid, the Nevada Leg Hound, will hump a few GOP legs begging for votes, whine, roll over, and play dead.
From NY Times: \…A study by the Congressional Research Service found that subsidiaries of United States corporations operating in the top five tax havens (the Netherlands, Ireland, Bermuda, Switzerland and Luxembourg) generated 43 percent of their foreign profits in those countries in 2008, but had only 4 percent of their foreign employees and 7 percent of their foreign investment located there.
All in all, it is a race to the bottom on the part of revenue-starved governments eager to attract even a relatively small number of new jobs.
As a consequence, the effective corporate tax rate in the United States fell to 17.8 percent in 2012 from 42.5 percent in 1960, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis…
In return for the privilege of doing business in the US, all corporations, foreign and domestic, should pay US tax at the prevailing rate on all income, regardless of where that income is accounted. To properly avoid double taxation they should also receive a 100% tax credit for all taxes paid to foreign governments on the same income. I see no other feasible way to take away their incentive to offshore US profit to evade US taxes.
Cartoon:
Now, if we can just get Congressional Republicans to believe it.
