OccupyGreensboro continues to plan for the Saturday, October 15, 2011, march. We trained the legal observers and worked out more of the logistics last evening at Elon Law School. Consult the website OccupyGreensboro.org for up-to-the-minute developments!

Hedge Fund Founder, Rajaratnam, Gets 11 Years in Insider Trade Probe

A former billionaire who was the primary target of what prosecutors called the biggest hedge fund insider trading case in U.S. history was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison.

 
Live stream from Occupy Wall Street:

Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com

Kucinich | The FACTS on The Trade Agreements

Dennis Kucinich, Video Report: “Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who was named an 'American Jobs Hero' for his leadership challenging free trade agreements and other destructive trade policies, today released the following video outlining the facts concerning the Korea, Colombia and Panama free trade agreements the House is voting on today and their impact on jobs in Ohio. Kucinich also voice opposition on the House floor here, here and here.”

Friends,

I just received this missive this morning. Give it a glance before you continue with the rest of this essay. We are getting organized!

Put Americans to work

Dear Suzan,

The 9.1% unemployment rate marks a pathetic recovery for Main Street. For minorities and the young, it is truly horrific. Unfettered, deregulated, corporate criminals have driven the young people of this country to the edge; they face bleak prospects for prosperity in the global twin economic and climate crises. Is it any wonder they are angry? Every American should applaud them and join them in the quest for economic justice.

Economic Justice begins with good-paying employment. There's no reason that people — who are willing and able to work — can't find a job. The banks are sitting on trillions of dollars rather than investing in Americans. We bailed them out; they're letting us sink. There is no other alternative than for the federal government to act. Americans of all stripes need investment in good-paying jobs—now. 

Among the jobs bills PDA supports, the Economic and Social Justice Issue Team has endorsed the American Jobs Act, S 1549, recognizing it as a first step towards full employment.

Because the bill failed as a whole in the Senate, it must be done in parts. Obama's proposals to create jobs, fund the infrastructure, and tax the wealthy must be implemented as soon as possible. We must continue to push the bill.

Tell your senators and representative to support the American Jobs Act.



It's going to be tough to get this spending bill through Congress, so it requires that we all get behind the bill just as we're behind the occupations of U.S. cities. Congress must act to put this economy on track for a Main Street recovery that gives this generation of young people a chance for future prosperity.

PDA supports the nationwide occupations, protest, and rallies in defiance of the corporate power structure. While others have been waiting for this moment, we've been working towards it. We encourage you to join in and take action for job creation.

In solidarity,

Tim Carpenter
National Director

P.S. Join in the AFL-CIO "America Wants to Work" actions for jobs now through October 16.

The GOP Ties Itself Up in Knots



E.J. Dionne Jr., Op-Ed: “So let’s see: The solution to large-scale abuses of the financial system, a breakdown of the private sector, extreme economic inequality and the failure of companies and individuals to invest and create jobs is — well, to give even more money and power to very wealthy people, to disable government and to trust those who got us into the mess to get us out of it. That’s a brief summary of the news from the Republican Party this week."

October2011.org Movement Calls for End to War Quagmires and Bringing War Dollars Home

 

Kevin Zeese, News Report: The Occupy Movement in Washington, DC today will disrupt a hearing reviewing ten years of war and looking toward future military conflicts. Members of the October2011.org Movement called for an end to failed war quagmires and for troops and dollars to immediately come home. The hearing begins at 10:00 AM in the Rayburn House Office Building in room 2118.

The Street They Should Occupy

 

Froma Harrop, Op-Ed: “As ‘Occupy Wall Street’ sweeps up attention, a smaller group is running something called Occupy K Street. If the goal is to loosen the financiers' grip over the American economy, the folks protesting on K Street are getting closer to bingo. K Street is Washington’s famous boulevard of lobbyist influence, the place where money buys politicians to do money’s bidding. Occupy Wall Street and allied movements have been likened to the tea party populists associated with the right. Both rage at the 2008 Wall Street bailout.”

France drops Strauss-Kahn sex assault inquiry 

From the friendly Coyote Prime we get a primer on the risks America faces today (and the answers to avoiding them are not entirely pleasant - although the prosecution of the criminals would be for most of us). Note the mention of the bank (Wachovia) that laundered drug funds and was never prosecuted, but sold off cheaply to Wells-Fargo, which is one of today's new winners in banking. Yep. Pretty risky behavior.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

“OWS: The Risks Facing America Today”

Karl Denninger

“I was skeptical that the protests were serious. I suspected they were yet another "demonstration" - the sort where people come, they wave signs, they complain, maybe even they riot a bit, and then they leave. In 2008, in fact, on August 26th of that year, I said the following: In short, once again, fraud.  Legal, but fraud nonetheless.  You, America, seem to think this is just great as your grocery and gas budgets get squeezed. You must think its great for your budget and lifestyle to get reamed, since I've yet to see a groundswell of people in Washington DC protesting or our city streets swarming with people who refuse to leave and shut down commerce."

And I amplified the point with: "Let me know when y'all get mad enough to do something about all this nonsense..... (funny how during the Democratic Convention last night the buzz was all about the second round of sore loserman with Hillary delegates rather than the outright theft and fraud from the people that the party supposedly claims to be most-closely aligned with!)"

I guess that time has arrived. Even CNBC has been effectively forced to recognize that this is not just a bunch of Soros-funded hippies.  Oh sure, they're there; so is the SEIU, so are the other "usual suspects."  And why not - they're always "there" when there's a good flag to be waved and a movement to try to co-opt, exactly as was the Tea Party, exactly as was "9/12", exactly as were the Tax Day protests (two of which I have spoken at locally.) But then they went home.  The streets were empty, the signs and people gone.

This time it's different. This time support is coming from surprising places.  Like former corporate activist (and buyer of companies!) Asher Edelman. Here's the problem for the "powers that be" who have been trying to ignore this movement: They erroneously believed, as did many others (myself included), that this would be like the Tea Party (which was de-fanged and turned into a fraudulent shell of what it began as) or the other "movements" such as the "protests" at G-20 meetings.  That is, people would show up, they'd wave signs, a few would commit random acts of violence and guarantee severe negative billing on the local TV and then they'd all go home and wash the tear gas out of their eyes. But something different happened this time. The people came.  They didn't throw molotov cocktails, sticks and bombs.  They did wave signs, but then they didn't go home.  They did what I said would have to be done - in 2008 - in order to make a difference: THEY STAYED.

There's been plenty of detractors spewing about the "Progressive Stack"; I have not witnessed it, and if it's true that actual discrimination is being practiced, then we have a problem, as the fact remains that representative government demands that justice be color and gender-blind.  If it's not, and the allegation is being made that it is not, then gentlemen, we have a problem - a serious problem. But I won't throw bombs on this issue until I know.  And toward that end, this weekend I will be attending one of the local protests.  With a bullhorn.  With others.  With people in the political sphere.  I am going both to talk to those who want to listen (if there are such people) and to listen and observe myself, and will take pictures while there. Yes, at the end of that day I will go home.  But some others may not.  In fact, many others may not.

Here's the thing: Even today, CNBC is still talking about "recapitalizing the banks."  What's "recapitalize" mean?  It means steal from you.  See, the reason you need to "recapitalize" these firms is that they *****ed away their own capital by doing dangerous, risky, even fraudulent things.

The corporate media and politicians are still claiming that "we made a profit from TARP" and that "everything was repaid." This is a bald lie.  AIG didn't repay their money.  Neither did GM.  Money was shuffled around in a complex shell game to appear that all was repaid but in fact what happened was that you, the taxpayer, were looted. You were looted through higher prices at the gas pump, higher prices at the grocery store, lower wages and at the same time zero interest rates so those of you who were prudent got ****ed THREE TIMES instead of twice!

Representative government?  Where?  By anywhere from 100:1 to 300:1 the people demanded that TARP NOT pass.  That the banks that did foolish and in some cases criminal things be forced to eat the consequences.  Again, as I've said for four years: We need a banking system because we do indeed need a way to clear payments so you can pay a bill or buy gasoline and food - so commerce can flow. 

We do not need these banks that committed these acts. But rather than do the right thing, our politicians were bought and paid for on both sides of the aisle.  It's particularly telling - and galling - that when allegedly being "grilled" by Hank Paulson in 2008 the banksters left the meeting smiling and yucking it up.

First they ****ed you, then the government paid them to **** you again.

Now, finally, it appears that the people have awoken.  A day of ineffectual sign-waving isn't enough any more.  Oh sure, that's part of it, but the part the media is ignoring - for now - is what's happening after the "able to be ignored political rally" is over. The people are organizing a Congress - a real one - in the public square. They're passing around ideas. They're debating. They're arguing. And then they're VOTING. It's self-organized.  It's real.  And while the crooners in the mainstream media are trying to ignore what's actually happening, they're not stopping it - and in fact, they probably can't stop it at this point.

Washington  - and Wall Street - now has an issue.  One that may not be able to dispelled or dispersed any longer.  One that may have now taken root and grown beyond the ability of the various factions in our government to either ignore it or stomp it out.  The people have, for four years, demanded that the foundational principle of representative government be followed: One citizen, one vote. They didn't get that.

There are many confused people at "Occupy Wall Street."  They know they were robbed, financially raped and serially abused by banksters and politicians, but they're not exactly sure how it happened.  I've written over 4,000 columns and a book - due out in a couple of weeks in hardback form - that details all of it, and Leverage details a path forward that I believe will address the problems on a permanent basis. But that few of the OWS folks understand how it all happened doesn't mean they don't understand what happened. 

After all, it's not difficult to figure out that your job got offshored to China and you're standing in the street after you are foreclosed upon.  You might not understand exactly why it is that your home went down in value by half or more, but you sure understand that you're broke. 

And let's not kid ourselves - there were plenty of felonies committed here and both political parties are responsible for them, either as principals or accessories.  100,000 perjured affidavits in foreclosure cases?  That's all ok?  Appraisal fraud that was rampant for nearly a decade - blacklisting appraisers that were honest and refused to play along so the bubble could be further inflated?  That's ok too? 

"Little by little, one step at a time, the mainstream press is beginning to understand. There was no ordinary recession. There will be no ordinary recovery. And something is very wrong.

A Great Depression? We should be so lucky, writes David Leonhardt in The New York Times: "UNDERNEATH the misery of the Great Depression, the United States economy was quietly making enormous strides during the 1930s. Television and nylon stockings were invented. Refrigerators and washing machines turned into mass-market products. Railroads became faster and roads smoother and wider. As the economic historian Alexander J. Field has said, the 1930s constituted “the most technologically progressive decade of the century.”

The 1930s was a tough time to earn a living. But great things were happening. Much of the technology that would later become ubiquitous…and which would power the post-WWII consumer boom…was developed in the ’30s. But what new technology is coming along now? Do you see anything that will later cause a boom? We don’t.

Leonhardt continues: "It would clearly be nice if we could take some comfort from this bit of history. If anything, though, the lesson of the 1930s may be the opposite one. The most worrisome aspect about our current slump is that it combines obvious short-term problems — from the financial crisis — with less obvious long-term problems.

Those long-term problems include a decade-long slowdown in new-business formation, the stagnation of educational gains and the rapid growth of industries with mixed blessings, including finance and health care. Together, these problems raise the possibility that the United States is not merely suffering through a normal, if severe, downturn. Instead, it may have entered a phase in which high unemployment is the norm."

Yes, dear reader, welcome to the Great Correction. It will probably be long. It will probably be slow. It will probably be like Japan over the last 20 years.

Even the Fed is managing expectations downward. It says we’ll have unemployment over 7% until after 2015. Leonhardt thinks we’re following Europe’s pattern — with high unemployment as a more or less permanent feature of the US economy. He’s probably right about that. Price inflation is giving way to price deflation. That means, labor rates — which are generally less flexible — tend to be too high.

‘Wait a minute, Bill. Are you saying that the American working stiff, who you say hasn’t had a raise since 1974, is still earning too much money?’ Well, yes. . . that’s what it looks like. But just look at the average American worker. Is he smarter than a Chinese worker? Does he work harder than an Indian?

Is he better trained or more skilled than a Brazilian? We’re not talking about people who are really educated. If you’re a good engineer or a clever marketer, you probably are earning more than ever. But most people aren’t. Most people don’t have any real skills — including those who went to college. You get a degree in communications. Or in psychology. Or sociology. Or politics. What do you really know? Not much. If you’ve got some luck and some pluck, you can use your skill at reading and writing to leverage yourself into a real job. But not everybody can do that.

The typical person doesn’t have any real skill. When the economy was booming, it didn’t matter. He didn’t need any skills. Anybody could get a job. And a credit card. And a house. But now, he’s struggling. The house is underwater. The job has disappeared. And he still has no skills. How much can a person like that expect to make? About as much as the average unskilled person in other countries…which is a lot less than he intended to make.

The emerging markets are gaining on us. We read last week that wages in Russia have gone up 12 fold since the early ’90s. In India, they double every 10 years. In Shanghai, college educated people earn nearly as much as they do in the US. But while some economies emerge…others submerge. Some go up. Some go down. And the working classes are bound to run into each other somewhere in the middle.

How long will it be before an unskilled laborer in Tennessee earns about as much as an unskilled laborer in Turkey, Russia or Indonesia? We don’t know. In the meantime, getting paid as much as an illegal immigrant is not a very attractive prospect. Millions would rather not work at all. Get food stamps. Take it easy. Watch TV. That’s why unemployment is high, at least in a theoretical way. People are unwilling to work for what they are really worth.

You want to put people back to work? Just cut wages in half. Presto, mission accomplished. Seriously, it would be easy to fix the unemployment problem. Just eliminate all the safety nets, welfare, unemployment, disability, minimum wages and other employment legislation. Let price and demand get together on their own. Anyone who really wanted to work would lower his wage to the point where an employer was willing to pay him. The economy would boom. But that’s another story. And no one — other than Ron Paul — is going to mention it in Congress.

A French economist — Jacques Rueff — was way ahead on this. He realized that you would never be able to fix unemployment by rolling back labor laws. So he figured another way of lowering wages — create inflation! That, he said, was the real genius of ‘Keynesian counter-cyclical stimulus spending.’ It created inflation, which lowered real wages…thus putting people back to work. It defrauded the working class; but it was for their own damned good!

The mainstream press is also coming around to seeing things our way on other matters. Leonhardt again: "In particular, three giant industries — finance, health care and housing — now include large amounts of unproductive capacity. Housing may have shrunk, but it is still a bigger, more subsidized sector in this country than in many others.

Health care is far larger, with the United States spending at least 50 percent more per person on medical care than any other country, without getting vastly better results. (Some aspects of our care, like certain cancer treatments, are better, while others, like medical error rates, are worse.)

The contrast suggests that a significant portion of medical spending is wasted, be it on approaches that do not make people healthier or on insurance-company bureaucracy. In finance, trading volumes have boomed in recent decades, yet it is unclear how much all the activity has lifted living standards.

Paul A. Volcker, the former Fed chairman, has mischievously said that the only useful recent financial innovation was the automated teller machine."

The common question with these industries is whether they are using resources that could do more economic good elsewhere. “The health care problem is very similar to the finance problem,” says Lawrence F. Katz, a Harvard economist, “in that incredibly talented people are wasting their talent on something that is essentially a zero-sum game.” In the short term, finance, health care and housing provide jobs, as their lobbyists are quick to point out.

But it is hard to see how the jobs of the future will spring from unnecessary back surgery and garden-variety arbitrage. They differ from the growth engines of the past, which delivered fundamental value — faster transportation or new knowledge — and let other industries then build off those advances.

Of course, these were themes we were talking about 5 years ago. The finance industry was largely a scam…but so is education and health too. Trillions are invested, with no real payback. The same could be said for the US military. It’s the largest single capital consumer in the world. In the 1930s America was developing new technologies and building new industries.

Today, she is subsidizing her zombie industries of the past — and getting nothing from it. But at least the Pentagon is entertaining. It is like a huge football franchise with 300 million fans, every one of whom is forced to buy season tickets!”

The Daily Reckoning