President Obama’s Economic Failure By Design

The U.S. has approached fighting the domestic economic collapse in the same way it has been fighting the two wars in the Middle East. The TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) was the failed Shock and Awe approach used in the unsuccessful attempt to jumpstart the economy through the recapitalization of zombie banks. The outcome bombed. As with the millions of taxpayer dollars sent over for the Iraqi reconstruction, which was to be used to rebuild a bombed up country, and bring new jobs leading to prosperity, the Federal Reserve and Treasury flooded zombie financial banks with taxpayer dollars, too. The process in Iraq was to design a free market economy, but most of the funding was squandered, lost or hoarded, while the country never stopped finding itself under siege. The same thing happened with the money used to recapitalize zombie banks. It was squandered, hoarded, and used to enrich the banker thieves that were responsible for the economic collapse in the first place, while the country found itself under siege by the affects of the economic tsunami: lost homeownership wealth, lost retirement and investment wealth, job losses, foreclosures, declining or stagnant wages, a drop in consumer demand, shortened work hours, constricted lending, rising credit card interest rates, underwater mortgages, and the list goes on and on.

One might see the 5 largest financial banks in a similar way to the various warring factions in the Middle East, such as unable to get their credit markets working properly due to the lack of trust amongst each other, while at the same time not knowing what they all are hiding on or off their balance sheets. Toxic mortgage debts and credit default swaps being major problems. This is not unlike the Iraqi Parliament, which is unable to bring about any functional level of stability, trust, openness, and transparency to the various sectarian parties, in this case the religious sects. None of the religious warring factions know what is hiding under their enemy’s clothing, stuffed inside their car trunks, or motorbikes.

Among the most powerful financial bankers, one of them has acquired much of the power and wielded considerable influence. It is Goldman Sachs, which could be compared to the Mahdi militia and Maktada al-Sadr, the most powerful Shiite cleric in Iraq. Another U.S. financial banking giant would be Citigroup, which could be likened to the Sunni rival in Iraq. Both sides have infiltrated their governments in order to embed their power. Some have been more successful than others.

But unfortunately, suicide bombings occur nearly daily taking out lives, and property, ruining families, destroying society, similar to the corporate lay-offs, home foreclosures, personal bankruptcies, and rising unemployment in the United States.

Families end up in chaos. They are afraid to spend. In Iraq, they are afraid to spend, too, as well as venture outdoors to schools or to the marketplaces. The people end up losing trust in the process their government leadership has constructed to improve the instability, danger and the uncertainty the people live with everyday.

They see the billions and trillions of dollars going into the pockets of those who created the disaster and crisis. In Iraq, the religious warring factions end up with payoffs, bribes, or “contracts”. Americans see trillions of dollars going to the banking crime syndicate bailing out their own zombie banks, while the people suffering watch the crisis get worse. They see President Obama’s economic generals fabricate rationalizations in order to keep zombie banks alive, as they design schemes to recapitalize them, while plotting other schemes to remove toxic mortgage debts off their balance sheets.

The same failed strategy goes on in Iraq as bailout schemes were designed to pay off Sunni Awakening Council gangbangers from killing American soldiers, and paying Shia militia fighters to become Iraq’s police force and army soldiers. In addition, this same failed strategy was used to prop up failed Iraqi and Afghani governments, while the common citizen suffers.

The U.S. government has created quagmires with their hegemonic visions, especially driven by the neo-cons within The Project For A New American Century. The quagmires in the Middle East will never be fixed by President Obama’s strategies and interventions because economic and political stability has failed, as well as efforts to suppress the insurgency; therefore, the U.S. superpower has been seen as a crippled giant—an impotent Goliath.

U.S. citizens are seeing President Obama’s economic team in the same way. They are being labeled as Trojan Horses for Goldman Sachs, Citi, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, AIG, and the rest. The economic generals are being tagged as impotent failures who have chosen to side with those who have spent the last 30 plus years eroding the country’s international goodwill and economic prosperity through their greedy speculative and destructive scheming by manipulating the economic and financial livelihoods of working middle class Americans.

This is not unlike the warring religious groups scheming for power and control over their economic, social, geopolitical, and religious conditions of the struggling Iraqi and Afghani societies, which ultimately, brought about desperate and dire conditions all leading toward failure.

Until President Obama wakes up and understands he is using the same strategy to “rescue” the economy as is being used to “rescue” the inherited political policy for Iraq and Afghanistan, he is destined to fail and further erode current conditions.

Fixing Iraq and Afghanistan cannot be done by the United States in the orderly and controlled fashion we fantasize about, since those two countries operate within a very different order and framework driven not by secular structures and law, but by religious order and law, therefore, they have to be left to solve it on their own.

In the U.S., we have order that has been (theoretically) established democratically for hundreds of years, therefore, the “sensible approach” would be to stop funding the failed banks, and let the FDIC take them over, dismantle them, and then, rebuild the country from the bottom up. Or, just let the failed financial banks battle it out amongst themselves, while they work to entice investors that would recapitalize them. This scenario would likely be disastrous and result in huge bankruptcies. The fantasy of the Bush administration was to use a variant of the above “sensible approach” with the three sectarian religious factions in Iraq, dismantling them, taking them over, unifying them into one parliamentary government sharing their chocolates and rose petals, and rebuilding the country from the bottom up as envisioned by the laissez-faire free-marketeers, but it was an insane delusion thought up by the Republican neo-cons embedded inside that administration.

President Obama is not willing to make the commitment to fix our economy in a way that would efficiently work, since he has built his team’s framework using the banking cartel’s own foot soldiers. This is a failure by design.

thanks for reading, jerry

Is Obama the Only Choice for President?

All across the Blogosphere progressive writers, as well as bloggers with undefined political leanings, use their firebrand styles to perforate both McCain and Obama. They fling their pointed daggers at them expressing dislike, disgust, and disappointment with their political policies and positions.

It is important that we criticize Obama's centrist views as he tries to appeal to separatist Republicans instead of solidifying a rallying cry toward progressives, Clinton-disappointees, and Americans wanting real change instead of "Change-lite". And again, we all know, except for those attending and glued to the t.v. special of Monty McCain and his Flying Circus, starring Sarah Palin, that real change is needed if this nation is to rise from the burning flames of our economic meltdown and into a country of windmill and solar panel technologies that would feed our energy needs without the massive tap-in to the oil fields of hostile producers.

During Palin's June 8, 2008 address to graduating students at the Wasilla Assembly of God Church, she told those malleable minds that the U.S. soldiers were carrying out "God's Plan". She framed her belief in a way where those students might think, just as her, that the U.S. has a mission in Iraq directed by God, her Christian God, which apparently has a different mission for those Muslims believing that God has a plan for them in their own country.

She spoke from her bully-pulpit and said, "Pray for our men and women who are striving to do the right thing. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders are sending [our soldiers] out on a task that is from God. That's why we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."

I guess, our GO-Plundering circus grand-mistress is directly connected to God's CENTCOM headquarters. How cool! It sounds like oil hegemony, killing, mass destruction, and nation-state occupation are the war plans of the Heavens! 

During that same address, Sarah Palin was pitching for her love of gas, and I don't mean the kind you get from eating too much moose meat, but the $30 billion natural gas pipeline project. She said, "God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built [in our state of Alaska]." Hey Sarah, maybe you should try selling God on toning down those hurricanes hitting the gulf coast; or, how about healing our global warming and drought problems. What's with the pipeline swan song? Did God fix the voting machines to usher in your governorship, too? Did he not realize that you appear to be a dangerous wackjob?

While on the Larry Kudlow CNBC show called "Kudlow and Co." she said in regards to the question about being chosen to be McCain's personal care companion, "As for that V.P. talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what it is exactly that the V.P. does everyday...?" (other than hold McCain's hand when signing his name.)

You know, I always trust my 5 minute impressions when I ask someone to answer the 3 A.M. nuclear button call, even though that trusted stranger has no experience knowing anything about other nations, except when leafing through a desk atlas. I guess, Bush thinking that they speak Latin in Latin America is OK, and he is our president. It may not really matter in the long run. Look, the Boy President glanced into Putin's eyes, and Georgie saw his soul. WOW! I am so glad our foreign policy is based upon what the crystal ball reveals during cabinet meetings. And now, Putin did not like those first impressions of himself. He got all mad and decided to get tough on Georgia, as well as with that safe NATO supply line going through Russia and on into Afghanistan. Don't mess with Putin or else. What's a little rough housing among soul brothers anyway? That is the GO-Plunderers for ya.

Ain't we done with the GOP, yet? Hearing former (at least, we can thank God for his defeat as PA Congressman) Rick Santorum's voice at the GO-Plundering convention made me cringe knowing he has a delegate's vote.

McCain does not speak about a timetable for exiting out of Iraq. He is bent on leaving it up to the commander, General Petraeus. They both support a conditions-based withdrawal. Although, on other days, McForget says, "Withdrawal? No way, man. I wanna stay for 100 years! And, Ya gonna like it!"

Obama has a timetable, although, he becomes the marshmallow center when it comes down to specifying the timeframe. McCain believes in "winning in Iraq". Obama asked Petraeus what his minimum requirement would be for withdrawal. Good question, but not good enough for me and most progressives. We want out ON DAY ONE!

On health care, McCain wants to tax the employee's employer-based contributions. He believes in giving Americans his special brand of choice vouchers so they can go out in the hell-fire called Insurance Land, and attempt to purchase a rat's ass policy, while he, McCain, gets the best health care money can buy, especially for a guy who is considered disabled and would likely be "red-tagged" by any ordinary-middle class-here's-my-vouch insurance company. McCain's definition of choice means to screw you and make those insurance companies even wealthier, while leaving the lone citizen no real chance to negotiate for a lower premium price that would offer a quality benefit. He is all scam. Monty McCain and his Flying Circus. And under the big tent is Sarah Palin, Laura Bush and Cindy. They represent a new line of toy play girl dolls for Republican children.

Obama is still holding on to the greedy private insurance model paid for through employer-employee plans. For those who cannot opt into such a plan, the government would offer Medicare-style coverage.

Obama wants to tax the upper 5-10% of our wealthiest Americans who have gotten very rich off the system and help out the rest of us who have been hurt by such tax shifting policies of the GOP. McCain wants to continue the Bush slash and burn legacy of "Trickle Down".

Bush Tours America 

This  Onion video is a tongue-in-cheek look at how Bush has damaged the country.

McCain's energy plan is to drill, send more troops to countries with oil and pipelines we so want for ourselves, and either kill, or threaten our economy and national security in order to get it. The Republic of Georgia has a pipeline the neo-cons want to protect from Russian control, so let's recreate a cold or hot war with Putin. This is the GO-Plundering energy plan. Obama wants to energize the economy by using alternative and renewable forms of energy, as well as drill realistically and RESPONSIBLY for domestic oil, and not recklessly like Mav-wreck would likely do. 200,000 barrels of oil per day gotten from off-shore drilling, by around 2030, when priced on a global scale, as well, when improving vehicle gas mileage for government fleet and personal vehicles would show better national fuel savings when compared with the 200,000 barrels per day drilling strategy without the risk of environmental damage.

They both like the idea of further plundering in Afghanistan. McCain would not be persuaded against "more wars, my friends." There is not a war McCain would not love. It appears he wants to kill and plunder his way to recovery from his days as a P.O.W. Obama might be persuaded against such a fatal attraction.

A comment made by an anonymous reader of the blog called Obama a communist-the entire word was capitalized. Does Obama sound like a communist? Now, does McCain sound like a neo-con fascist who wants to further the riches of the corporate war and oil elite machine at the expense of our nation's well-being and security? Does his vice presidential choice sound like the female version of George Bush? You each have to decide this for yourselves. I have a bias. Your views may be the total opposite. One thing is for sure, this nation needs help, and one of them better do it for us or we are all in big trouble!

Maybe McCain suffers from an Oedipal Complex and has chosen Sarah because she reminds him of how he sees President Bush, which could be as a mommy figure. Oh boy. It is going to be a long several weeks ahead.

John Stewart of the Daily Show says it all

Peggy Noonan says Palin choice is bullshit