"These are agreements negotiated on behalf of corporations by governments to divide up the ways that money will be made."-- from GP's post yesterday, "Fast Track Will Also Apply toTISA, the 'Scariest Trade Deal Nobody's Talking About' "by KenDo your eyes glaze over when the subject of "trade agreements" -- NAFTA, TPP, PTA, etc. -- comes up?
An army of lobbyists knocking down the doors of Congress (source; click image for the full effect) by Gaius Publius Fast Track is not just a path to TPP ... it's evil all on its own. There's now another leaked "trade" deal, called TISA, and Fast Track will "fast-track" that one too. Want your municipal water service privatized?
Obama, Boehner and McConnell, political enemies, all feel they need to show the American people they can do something together that they can cooperate on. Remember Obama on Wednesday assuring the American people he heard us? "I'm eager to work with the new Congress to make the next two years as productive as possible.
When I woke up this morning, I saw a tweet by Joe Stiglitz that caught my attention-- part of a series regarding a new article he had just published, Europe's Austerity Zombies.
Tomorrow is election day in New York. Reform-minded Democrats are threatening to do the impossible: upend the career of a very powerful conservative Governor, Andrew Cuomo but defeating him and his handpicked right-wing candidate for Lieutenant Gov., banking lobbyist Kathy Hochul. Cuomo-Hochul represent all the worst of an Establishment that has treated the public with disdain and contempt.
Like Rick Perry, Gavin Newsom is certain new glasses make him look seriousGavin Newsom presents well. When he still thought he was running for governor, he called a meeting of L.A. political bloggers in some sleek West Hollywood hotel and did a free-flowing Q and A. He was as sleek as the hotel and everyone swooned. Except me. Having recently exited the corporate world, Newsom's glitz and studied expertise in everything didn't impress me. Good hair, yes...
The word on the street: rigged. It's certainly the central theme of what we're hearing from Elizabeth Warren-- and has a lot to do with why voters in Massachusetts replaced Wall Street's favorite senator with her. Yesterday we read, watched and listened to Nick Hanauer warn his fellow billionaires of the dangers inherent in too much and too blatant rigging.
"When People Cheat, You Cannot As A Regulator Continue Business As Usual"You probably know by now that a great deal of Elizabeth Warren's new book, A Fighting Chance, deals with creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "I had no doubt-- zero-- that the banks should be held accountable for breaking the law," she wrote.
The wave of super-charged economic inequality-- spurred by uncontrolled greed and avarice and abetted by sold out politicians-- isn't just drowning the American middle class. This week, the British are being told to get ready for a grim future, with no chance for the vast population to "claw their way out of a hand-to-mouth existence."
You may have noticed that the latest polls show have completely turned around from October when voters were furious at Republicans for shutting down the government and were reporting 50-42% that they planned to back Democrats in 2014. Republicans have now opened a 49-44% lead over Democrats in this generic polling.
