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"The Plan is to Take You Over by Force"
As the economy implodes, the social fabric frays and nutball groups organize for Armageddon. Pam Martens describes the national game-plan of the “Free State Project”. He was the richest man on the planet and in 1973 he pledged to shut down the illegal drug industry in New York. Thousands, mostly blacks and Hispanics were pitch-forked into prison for decades. This year New York State will repeal its drug laws. Read Bruce Jackson on Nelson Rockefeller’s curse. Half a million new jobless every month and the salesmen of “free trade” still hawk their credo. Paul Craig Roberts describes what offshoring has done to America. Get your new edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
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Today's Stories April 24-26, 2009 Marjorie Cohn April 23, 2009 Eamonn Fingleton Ray McGovern Michael Ratner Alan Farago Rob Larson Nadia Hijab Fawzia Afzal-Khan Dave Lindorff Helen Redmond Niranjan Ramakrishnan The Financial Experts: Malgudi on the Mississippi? Adam Federman Website of the Day April 22, 2009 Chris Floyd Joanne Mariner Vijay Prashad Gareth Porter Dean Baker Peter Morici Winslow T. Wheeler Barucha Calamity Peller Harvey Wasserman Aisha Brown / Teo Ballvé Website of the Day April 21, 2009 Randy Rowland Dave Lindorff Fidel Castro George McGovern Greg Moses Benjamin Dangl Sonia Nettnin Frank Barat Binoy Kampmark John V. Walsh David Macaray Website of the Day April 20, 2009 Mike Whitney Andrea Peacock Henry A. Giroux Liaquat Ali Khan Fred Gardner Stephen Soldz Nadia Hijab Dave Lindorff P. Sainath Nelson P Valdés Mark Engler Belén Fernández Website of the Day April 17-19, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Saul Landau Franklin Lamb Ralph Nader Fred Gardner Dean Baker Rannie Amiri George Wuerthner Dave Lindorff David Swanson Jim Goodman Kathy Sanborn Don Monkerud Manuel Garcia, Jr. David Michael Green Nelson P Valdés Manuel Gomez Dr. Susan Block Ramzy Baroud Christopher Brauchli Stephen Martin Ron Jacobs David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend April 16, 2009 Mike Whitney Russell Mokhiber Ronald Teska Gareth Porter Paul Fitzgerald / Benjamin Dangl Kevin Pina Robert Bryce George Wuerthner Paul Garon, David Roediger and Kate Khatib The Surreal Life of Franklin Rosemont Website of the Day April 15, 2009 Kathleen and Bill Christison Ray McGovern Robert Sandels Heather Williams / Jack Willoughby David Swanson Paul Craig Roberts Sara Mann Kenneth Couesbouc Binoy Kampmark Kekuni Blaisdell, Lynette Hi'llani Cruz, George Kahumoku Flores, et al.: An Urgent Letter to Obama on the Rights of Native Hawaiians Website of the Day April 14, 2009 Conn Hallinan Mike Whitney Peter Morici Greg Moses Fidel Castro Robert Weissman Rebecca Macaux / Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero Dave Lindorff Walter Brasch Benjamin Day Website of the Day April 13, 2009 Patrick Cockburn Uri Avnery Jeremy Scahill Martha Rosenberg Karl Grossman Nadia Hijab Sam Smith James McEnteer Sean McMahon Namihei Odaira John V. Walsh Website of the Day April 10 / 12, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Chris Floyd Mike Whitney Saul Landau M. Reza Pirbhai Franklin Spinney Rannie Amiri William Blum Matt Vidal Jeff Howison Jeff Leys Dave Lindorff Ramzy Baroud Missy Beattie Fred Gardner Harvey Wasserman Another $50 Billion for Rust Bucket Nukes? Suzan Mazur Bernard Umbrecht David Macaray Janet Kauffman Ron Jacobs Norman Solomon Michael Winship Richard Rhames Wanda Fucha David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Ben Sonnenberg Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend April 9, 2009 Mike Whitney Patrick Cockburn Stephen Soldz P. Sainath Ellen Cantarow Gareth Porter / Jeremy Scahill Jerry Kroth Binoy Kampmark Fidel Castro Website of the Day April 8, 2009 John Prados Bill Moyers / Winslow T. Wheeler Russell Mokhiber Kathy Sanborn Rev. William E. Alberts James McEnteer Rashomon and the Binghamton Shooter: the Rush to Interpret Jiverly Wong's "Statement" Nadia Hijab Adam Turl Kevin Zeese Website of the Day April 7, 2009 David Price Uri Avnery Chris Floyd Winslow T. Wheeler Defense Cuts: Gates and the System Marjorie Cohn Dean Baker Diana Johnstone Dave Lindorff Martha Rosenberg Evelyn Pringle Website of the Day April 6, 2009 Michael Hudson Andy Worthington Bagram: Guantánamo's Dark Mirror Ray McGovern Deepak Tripathi Mike Whitney Norman Solomon Jonathan Cook Judith Bello Deena Metzger Blackwater in Liberia Dr. M. Kamiar Website of the Day April 3-5, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Kathy Kelly / Peter Morici Kathy Sanborn Andy Worthington Rob Larson Saul Landau Steve Early John Goekler Rannie Amiri Dave Lindorff Lee Ballinger Ron Jacobs David Macaray John Wight Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor Mychal Bell Missy Beattie Reza Fiyouzat Michael Boldin Christopher Brauchli Charles R. Larson Susie Day Stephen Martin Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Phyllis Pollack Poets' Basement Website of the Day
April 2, 2009 Robert Weissman Eric Toussaint / George Bisharat Russell Mokhiber Franklin Lamb Gareth Porter David Macaray Chris Genovali Sam Smith Suzan Mazur Website of the Day
April 1, 2009 Chris Floyd Stanley Heller Mark Brenner, Mischa Gaus and Jane Slaughter Obama's Perilous Plan for Detroit: Restructure the Big 3, But Not With Bankruptcy Jonathan Cook Eric Walberg Richard Morse Don Fitz Laray Polk Belén Fernández Harvey Wasserman Website of the Day March 31, 2009 Uri Avnery Peter Lee Nicholas Dearden Dave Lindorff Joanne Mariner Ron Jacobs Wiliam S. Lind David Michael Green Benjamin Dangl Johnny Barber Dedrick Muhammad Website of the Day March 30, 2009 Michael Hudson Patrick Cockburn Henry A. Giroux Mike Whitney Ralph Nader Paul Craig Roberts Jeremy Scahill Robert Bryce Jonathan Cook Ray McGovern Website of the Day
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April 24-26, 2009 Forecasting the 2010 Midterm ElectionsObama and the Housing CrisisBy ANTHONY DiMAGGIO It appears that the housing crisis will play a major role in defining the Obama administration; unfortunately, it is not entirely clear that the President is up to the challenge. There appears to be no end in sight for increasing home foreclosures. Construction of new homes declined by more than 10 percent in March, as foreclosures increased by nearly 25 percent for the first three months of 2009. In total, over 800,000 homes were foreclosed from January through March, while over 175,000 homes were lost in March alone. The economy continued to contract by an estimated annual rate of over six percent in the last three months of 2008, and by an estimated 1.5 percent in 2009. U.S. companies fired over five million workers since late 2007, and the unemployment rate (itself a drastic underestimate of unemployment and underemployment) stands at 8.5 percent for April. In light of this economic deterioration, the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats unveiled their grand scheme for stabilizing the housing market. The “Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2009,” if passed, would legally authorize bankruptcy judges to alter the terms of home loans and debts to prevent the continued growth of foreclosures. The bill would require banks to negotiate with those in danger of foreclosure in favor of establishing more affordable mortgage payments. While the bill is surely preferable to the Democrats doing nothing, it represents a half-measure at best, in terms of stabilizing the housing crisis. The Democratic majority in Congress could merely legislate a moratorium on homes foreclosures, and require the renegotiation of loans for all those in danger of foreclosure. This would place responsibility for the housing stabilization directly into the hands of Congress and the Executive, rather than abdicating the job to judges, who may or may not systematically or effectively intervene to prevent mass foreclosures in the future. Whatever the Democrats’ justification for refusing to take direct action on the housing crisis, the public is likely to punish the party come the 2010 mid-term election for their failure to act decisively. There is substantial historical evidence to suggest that this will be the case. Empirical studies of voting have long established that the two best predictors of the public’s voting in midterm elections include: 1. The job approval rating of the President, and 2. The state of the economy, as reflected in fluctuations in personal income, the unemployment rate, personal assessments of the economy’s health, and evaluations of government’s performance in solving economic problems. In other words, when the economy is in dire straits and the President is faulted for failing to act (as reflected in a low approval rating), his party receives the brunt of the punishment in midterm elections. Short of a drastic and ultimately successful Democratic turnaround of the economy, the Democrats will likely lose seats in Congress in 2010. While Obama has been in office only three months, his approval has already slowly began to dip (from a high of 68% in late January, to 63% by late April). Personal income and economic security are also likely to continue their decline, if the recent economic downturn is not soon reversed. A significant Democratic intervention on behalf of the American public, however, may be successful in preserving a Democratic majority in Congress following the 2010 election. Such an intervention, however, would need to make stabilizing the living conditions of those suffering from the housing crisis and from growing unemployment and poverty a top priority. Presently, it looks like these issues are not a major concern for the Democrats. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party increasingly represents business interests over those of the mass public. The party does grant minor concessions to the masses, in the form of ever fewer minimum wage increases, modest extensions of the statue of limitations for those bringing lawsuits for sexual discrimination, and minor tax cuts for most Americans, among other actions. However, like the Republicans, the Democratic Party has indicated that stabilizing investor privilege stands above concern for working Americans. Ninety-six percent of House Democrats and 80 percent of Senate Democrats supported the bi-partisan “stimulus” bill passed in late 2008, which allocated $700 billion to the financial industry to “restore liquidity” in the lending market. Sadly, the banks took much of this money and used it to pay for their own bonuses and to buy up their competition, rather than increase lending and pull the country out of recession. Similarly, President Obama supports federal funding for the creation of a new “bad bank” to subsidize the purchase of upwards of $1 trillion dollars in “toxic assets,” and allow banks to write off their bad investments in mortgage securities. These actions – amidst Congressional inaction on the housing problem – clearly demonstrate the primacy of business interests over those of America’s working class and poor. In promoting a big business agenda, a number of “moderate” Congressional Democrats refuse to even support the modest Obama-foreclosure act. Many Democrats are no doubt heavily influenced by financial industry lobbyists who vehemently oppose the Obama foreclosure plan. These lobbyists claim that “judicial modifications” of mortgages will increase interest rates for new housing loans and further hurt the unstable credit market. Why Democrats should seriously bow to bankers threatening to further curtail loans at a time when the Wall Street has lost nearly all its credibility with the American people is unclear. One thing is clear, however. The Democrats refuse to sever their close ties with the Wall Street elites who got us into this crisis in the first place. The ties between Obama and the financial community are deep indeed. Obama’s National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, serving as President of Harvard until 2006, presided over the firing of university endowment manager Iris Mack after she blew the whistle on the school, warning about dangerous derivative investments with which Harvard was involved (unregulated derivatives are now understood to have played a major role in the 2008-2009 economic collapse). Obama Economic Advisor Robert Rubin served as the Chairman of the troubled Citigroup Corporation (which was intimately involved in the derivatives fiasco and the sub-prime mortgage crisis). As a Rubin’s and Summers’ protégé, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner helped spearhead the International Monetary Fund’s disastrous efforts to promote global economic deregulation, and Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, served on the Board of Directors for the failed Freddie Mac mortgage corporation (which also played an instrumental in the mortgage crisis). It is probably unfair to attack Obama for “selling out” the progressive community. He never gave any indication that he was planning on promoting a progressive agenda. Obama’s flaws aside, those on the left have a responsibility to pressure recalcitrant Democrats or push for a viable third party to promote the rights of common men and women. A continuation of the status quo will only lead to the death of any short-term possibility for progressive reform. Anthony DiMaggio is the author of the newly released: Mass Media, Mass Propaganda: Understanding American News in the “War on Terror” (2008). He teaches American Government at North Central College in Illinois, and can be reached at: adimag2@uic.edu References |
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Lightning
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