Corporate Coakley and the Corporate Democrats

Another reason the dems are losing in Massachusetts is that well, Democrats are a bunch of corporate hacks. Proof positive below:



Coakley in the political fight of her life took time out to attend a Washington, DC fundraiser at $10,000 a plate. See the list for yourself. It is quite disgusting that Democrats are in bed with the likes of Pfizer, Merck, Brystol Myers, etc. Is there any wonder that Democrats cut a deal with Big Pharma about the reimportation of drugs to the United States that keeps their deal in tact and Americans out of the loop.

Is there any wonder really that Massachusetts might elect a Republican to Ted Kennedy's seat? Really, what is the difference between Martha Coakley and Scott Brown? One tells you he hates healthcare reform and that we should protect the lobbyists. The other one tells you we should pass healthcare reform and then gets in bed with all the lobbyists who want to kill it. It is truly disgusting and I could care less anymore whether Martha Coakley wins or not. There is no party that protects and represents the people anymore. Who can tell the difference between corporate parties?

Quote of the Week

"There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they're going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses," Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.

"It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious."

Some Frightening Facts

One of my favorite places to encounter reality is Harper's magazine. Their Harper's Index is a monthly compendium of statistics that shed some light on the insanity that is modernity. In light of the U.S. government's continued bailouts of corporate giants, this time AIG, I would like to share a few prescient examples from September's issue of Harper's.

One word that must be on the lips of every CEO from Wall Street to Fleet Street, from the Staten Island ferry to mid-town Manhattan: regulation. The party is over, and the scum-sucking executives will fly away from this all with their hedge funds intact, their Leer jets stocked, and full of fuel, and their secretaries on board. We, the common taxpayer, will watch more of our money go to saving another predatory lender, or insurer of those lenders, in this case, get saved by the same "government intervention" that was never supposed to interfere in the miraculous work of the modern free-market economy.

And McCain has the balls to say that tax increases on the rich are not only unnecessary, but will only hurt the economy.

Here are the stats from Harper's Index:

Rank of this year’s economic crisis among the “largest financial shocks since the Great Depression,” according to the IMF: 1

Estimated number of FDIC-insured banks currently in danger of failing: 90

Number that failed during the past three years: 3

Percentage change since 2003 in the number of U.S. workers making “hardship withdrawals” from retirement accounts: +61

Death benefits that Lockheed Martin paid its current CEO in March, despite his being alive: $1,000,000

Chance that an American says his or her workplace is a “dictatorship”: 1 in 4

we are what we eat.. uh oh!

after reading naomi klein's the shock doctrine and no logo, i picked up stuffed & starved at bluestockings bookstore in the lower east side. a friend had raved about it, and naomi klein called it "the product of a brilliant mind and a gift to a world hungering for justice."

what else can we do besides make smart choices at the local health food store or shop at the local farmers market? choosing smart food products feels just as impossible as choosing stuff not made in china, vietnam, the phillippines.

reading UC berkeley professor raj patel's investigation into the global food network inspires, upsets and informs. tracing the history of the world food system's ills and abuses, he also reports on the success of powerful collective groups of farmers who are taking back their land and humanizing the food production process.

his conclusion contains the heart of his argument and his plan for us to rebalance what we eat and how it's produced. he asserts several theoretical changes to get us active, thinking and sharing what we know:

1. transform our tastes -- wean ourselves from the sugar, salt, fat and processed products that food corporations push on us & learn to savour food differently. patel suggests the companies who "benefit most from the food system's inequities" must be held accountable. taxing processed food is a start to put pressure on agribusiness, just as removing soda and candy vending machines from schools (nj) or banning transfats (nyc) sends a strong message from public health advocates.

2. eat locally & seasonally -- buy local products, avoid those superstores/walmarts, and support locally owned businesses as much as possible. local food will taste more fresh than food that is treated to travel long distances. it will cost less and have a lower impact on the environment.

3. on a much broader level -- directly understand the human element of where and how our food is produced, and support farm workers rights and living wages for all. shouldn't we all have access and wages to afford higher priced fair trade and organic food?

Most Corporations Pay NO Income Tax

I mean do you have to have fucking economics degree to understand why we are in debt, why the dollar is weak and why the system is so far out of whack we are on the verge of disaster. In a time of war corporations are paying no income tax. And this is good how?

A new study by the GAO says most corporations, including the vast majority of foreign companies doing business in the United States, pay no income taxes. During the eight-year period covered by the report, 72 percent of foreign-owned corporations went at least one year without owing taxes, and the same was true for 55 percent of domestic corporations.

Small companies were much more likely to pay no taxes than larger companies. Still, more than 3,500 large domestic corporations - with more than $250 million in assets or $50 million in gross receipts - did not pay taxes in 2005.

The report said about 80 percent of the companies studied paid no taxes because they didn't generate any profit after expenses. Money-losing companies can legitimately owe no tax, and others can use provisions of the tax code to lower or eliminate their liability.

Simply irresponsible to allow this to happen, whether it is the tax code that allows this or funny corporate financing, allowing this to happen is taking money out of the system and in the pockets of big business. If you aren't angry you aren't paying attention.

Green Car of the Year?

From R. Thelonious, the infrequent, but dead on balls accurate poster.

My wife and I were driving down the highway the other day. Actually we were stuck in traffic. Parked on the highway. To our right was a ginormous billboard announcing the 2008 Green Car of the Year:

2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid!!!

"What the fuck?!" we said to ourselves. Turns out this earth-friendly gas guzzler gets 21/22 mpg est. compared to its non-hybrid brother which gets 14/19 mpg est. Apparently, everyone is gaga that they managed to get a 50% increase in city driving fuel efficiency. Notable, but not laudable. Other hybrids on the market get 30/34 mpg est. So why did Carl Pope, President of the Sierra Club, vote for the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid? Because it "ends the argument that efficiency and vehicle choice are incompatible." In the ongoing debate about the wisdom of partnerships between corporate interests (polluters) and environmentalists, score a point for the cynics who see this as the polluters opportunity to put green lipstick on their pigs.

And then I see this op-ed from Krugman. Though he and I are not very friendly due to his unexplained disdain for Obama, I still read him especially when he informs me that "the average German car uses about a quarter less gas per mile than the average American car. By and large, the Germans don't drive itsy-bitsy toy cars, but they do drive modest-sized passenger vehicles rather than S.U.V.s and pickup trucks." Not only that, but "over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, the average mileage of U.S. passenger vehicles rose about 50 percent, as Americans switched to smaller, lighter cars."

Ok, I am done venting. Thanks for listening.

When Blood is Running in the Streets

I guess I can't say it surprises me. In a Friday article in the New York Times, entitled, "Investors Stalk the Wounded of Wall Street," the Rothschilds are quoted as saying: "The time to buy is when blood is running in the streets."

Hedge funds managers specializing in 'distressed' businesses, ironically, are usually formerly distressed businesses themselves. For example: Countrywide Financial Corporation, one of the pushers of subprime lending. From the article:

A former executive of the Countrywide Financial Corporation, one of the mortgage giants that fostered subprime lending, recently helped start a company — to buy mortgages. And executives of the Blackstone Group, those lords of the now faded buyout boom, just raised $10.9 billion from investors to scoop up real estate.
The vultures are betting, and betting big, that some people have thrown the good out with the bad, and that the prices of some investments have simply fallen too far.

Amazing? Not exactly. 'Opprtunity investing,' as it is called in the business, is quite commonplace in times of panic. As I remember from the documentary, The Corporation, a Wall Street Commodities trader was quoted as thinking that when the World Trade center was destroyed: "With disaster comes opportunity."

This is exactly why these scumbags need to be seriously regulated. We, the mere mortals, are just pawns in their shell game.

From the article again:

“There are a lot of dead carcasses on the road, and the vultures are out sniffing,” said Andy Kessler, a former hedge fund manager. “This is the cycle of Wall Street. When bubbles crash, you get the value guys who come in and say, ‘This thing is cheap.’ ”

A Slap on the Wrist? Not Even.

Who is responsible for the recession that the people of America find themselves in? One could say we all are, but I would venture to say some way more than others? Bear Sterns is only the latest symptom of a sickness: getting one over on someone else, and then, when it backfires, crying out for governmental help. The multinational titans who turn red at the word "intervention," were the first to call out for help from Dubai, the Fed, and anywhere else. And the Bush administration, always a lover of the business elite, obligingly baild them out in the name of saving 'our collective shirts.' But what is to prevent the cycle from repeating itself? What will stop Multimillionaire executives from playing Russiona Roulette again with the people of America?Here is a little of what Friday's New York Times had to say:

How can one feel sorry for James Cayne? The potential losses of the chairman and former chief executive of Bear Stearns must rank up there with the biggest in modern history. The value of his stake in Bear Stearns collapsed from about $1 billion a year ago to as little as $14 million at the price JPMorgan Chase offered for the teetering bank on Sunday.

Still, Mr. Cayne was paid some $40 million in cash between 2004 and 2006, the last year on record, as well as stocks and options. In the past few years, he has sold shares worth millions more. There should be financial accountability for the man who led Bear Stearns as it gorged on dubious subprime securities to boost its profits and share price, helping to set up one of the biggest financial collapses since the savings-and-loan crisis in the 1980s. Some might argue that he should have lost it all.

But that’s not how it works. The ongoing bailout of the financial system by the Federal Reserve underscores the extent to which financial barons socialize the costs of private bets gone bad.

Compared to the cold shoulder given to struggling homeowners, the cash and attention lavished by the government on the nation’s financial titans provides telling insight into the priorities of the Bush administration.

Indeed, the pain that is being inflicted on financial-industry executives as a result of their own actions and decisions is not proving much of an encouragement. Rather, the knuckle-rapping seems only to encourage bankers to make up for any losses they may suffer by finding another way to navigate their companies, the financial system and the economy into the next maelstrom — from Internet stocks to what the industry calls zero-down, negative amortization, no-doc, adjustable-rate mortgages.

The costs of such a lopsided system of incentives are by now clear. Better regulation of mortgage markets would help avoid repeating current excesses. But more fundamental correctives are needed to curb financiers’ appetite for walking a tightrope. Some economists have suggested making their remuneration contingent on the performance of their investments over several years — releasing their compensation gradually.

That’s an idea worth studying. Certainly, trying to put specific limits on bankers’ salaries is a nonstarter. But until bankers face a real risk of losing their shirts, they will continue blithely ratcheting up the risks to collect the rewards while letting the rest of us carry the bag when their punts go bad.

The Greatest Threat to Our Democracy

Certainly, this sums up the actual greatest threat to our democracy. Corporate power. From the drugs we use, to the food we eat, the the bombs we drop, to the votes we cast everything is now controlled by corporations.

Child Labor at CBS...Kid Nation takes reality TV to a new low.

Kid Nation: CBS reality TV show involving 40 children ranging from 8 to 15 years old, put in a former Wild West town, by their parents, to create a working community. Working hours (according to the New York Times) were 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Those children who didn't follow these and other rules were subject to immediate expulsion from the show.

Folha de São Paulo, Brazil's leading daily newspaper, ran an article today, which started with this: "Something was still missing in the bizarre world of reality shows, but not any longer." 40 kids confined to a ghost city for 40 days in New Mexico. CBS, now under attack for violating labor laws, and making the kids work 14 hour days, responded that "all of the activities were age-appropriate."

In the article, it brings up Janes Miles, mother of an 11-year-old participant, who has accused CBS of negligence. According to Miles, her daughter burned her face while cooking, while four other children accidentally drank chlorine bleach, which was in a soda bottle. Romaine Serna, of New Mexico's Department of Children, Adolescents and Families, confirmed that CBS did not solicit local authorities to inspect the facilities. CBS responded that the US Department of Labor did inspect the locale, but that the chlorine incident did occur.

All parents of participants were obligated to sign a 22-page contract which released CBS from liability for any injuries, pregnancy, and even death of a child on the program. It also forbid any unauthorized interviews for the next three years. Each contestant received $5,000 for participating, and during each episode, one child is selected to be awarded with a god star, valued at $20,000.

Sometimes, I have an urge to cry, and never return to the US. reading about "Kid Nation," I suddenly had that urge again.

It's a Small World After All

I just got done watching a fascinating film called The Good Shepherd starring Matt Damon as one of the founding agents in the CIA. The movie, directed by Robert DeNiro, depicts the dark and soulless world that was the agency. It shows how powerful this department became in shaping history. In a great scene, toward the end of the film, one of the heads of the CIA says, "Someone asked me why we don't say the CIA. I asked him if we say the God." Great stuff. The story is based on true events that went down at a time of flux, what with the end of WW2 and the beginning of the Cold War. The US government felt it needed men in the shadows, shaping events for the "security of democracy" throughout the world.

Today, it seems that Big Business has taken over for the spies of yesteryear. I just read a disturbing piece at Truthout.org about Drummond Company, Inc., an Alabama-based coal company that operates in Colombia. Latin America, where I currently reside, has a long and storied history of CIA infiltration. Today, corporations run things, and they apparently work in very similar ways.

According to the article, the Drummond Co. stands accused of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to the infamous AUEC Paramilitary that have been responsible for over 3,000 deaths and disappearances in this troubled country. What did they pay this sum for? The execution of two union leaders who had been making headway for Sintramienergetica union, which represents a third of the local workers employed by Drummond. According to a filing in an Atlanta circuit court, a union official allegedly saw a Drummond executive pay off a Para.

Some of the interviewed include former government official in Colombia, former AUEC, as well as employees of the company. This, as the report states, is becoming reminiscent of the $25 million suit successfully brought against the Chiquita Banana Corporation for using the same fighters to protect and control operations in the country.

I have lived in Brazil for almost four years now, and Colombia is always in the news down here. That is not the case in the US, but the world is getting very small these days, and the ripple effect just keeps going and going. Think about that at your next charcoal barbecue.