Car Culture was a Mistake 8: You shouldn't outsource the EV industry to one South African bigoted maniac (who is probably a Cylon)

I Cylon Musk hereby Shadowban Taibbi!

Elon Musk is no Henry Ford.  Well, except for the depressive narcissism and loving embrace of Nazi Culture.  But, placing the entire EV car industry in his hands was a mistake which is paying massive negative dividends to America and the world at large.

Musk recently lost a decision in the Delaware Chancery Court, in which the Tesla Board attempted to award Musk a $55,000,000,000 (that's 55 BILLION) dollar CEO compensation package.

There is no amount of work, Elon Musk or anyone else could have done, to be worth $55 Billion in compensation.  The Gold Standard for contributions to the human race has to be Jonas Salk and his creation of the Polio Vaccine (which if done today, would get Salk death threats from conservatives and attacks from Reactionary Joe Rogan who would cut a promo promising to guillotine choke Jonas Salk).  And famously Salk declined to patent his literal life-saving Vaccine.  Elon Musk is no Jonas Salk he's not even a real boy.  Elon Musk is a Cylon.

Remember that Boards have a fiduciary duty to raise the value of the stock and company to the shareholders.  It's not a private business like the Chicago Bears who can pursue any bad coaching or terrible player development decisions they deem fit.

Musk is furious because he's got no Real Assets, only the false valuation of Tesla which Wall Street has for inexplicable reasons counted as more valuable than all other car companies combined.  On paper and computer servers that is, in the real world Teslas are rapidly aging and becoming an Albatros of a vehicle.

For instance, it turns out you can not drive a Cybertruck anywhere.  Now, I don't mean all those hilarious videos of Cybertrucks failing to navigate a mound of dirt or being unable to carry anything in their truck bed bigger than a bread basket.  No, I mean if the Cybertruck's exterior touches anything found outside it will corrode and destroy its "stainless steel".

“To prevent damage to the exterior, immediately remove corrosive substances (such as grease, oil, bird droppings, tree resin, dead insects, tar spots, road salt, industrial fallout, etc.). Do not wait until Cybertruck is due for a complete wash. If necessary use denatured alcohol to remove tar spots and stubborn grease stains, then immediately wash the area with water and a mild, non-detergent soap to remove the alcohol. Do not wash in direct sunlight,” “Some cleaners and car shampoos contain chemicals that can cause damage or discoloration,” and even “Do not use hot water.”

Anyway since we as a culture have decided to treat paper billionaires as though they really have assets and Musk then translated this into a purchase of Twitter despite not actually having the $44 Billion cash on hand to make the purchase, he needs the Tesla Board to give him real money swindled from the fantasy valuation of Tesla.

When you combine this with the on-going Scam of Crypto Currency, it seems exceedingly likely we are headed for a major crash, as Wall Street and other financial institutions continue to inflict the Ponzi scheme of Capital on humanity.

Of course, coupled with this were several high profile stories the Corporate Media dutifully reported as major issues for the EV Industry at the behest of the panicked pushback for the Petroleum Industry.

During, Chicago's bitter negative degree period in mid-January Teslas were abandoned at charging stations across the City.

Some Tesla drivers learned the hard way about how cold weather affects battery life.  Teslas lined up early Monday morning at a charging station at The Evergreen Marketplace, at 9200 S. Western Ave. in Evergreen Park. Some Tesla batteries died in Chicago's sub-zero temperatures, leaving the cars askew and immobile in the parking lot.  Drivers said some charging stations weren't working, and those working took much longer than usual to charge.

This just in:  Cold weather affects battery life!  

Meanwhile, on-line doofuses were giddy at the announcement Hertz to abandon their entire EV fleet and replace them with gas-powered vehicles.  The slightest investigation revealed, however, Hertz decision was not because of EV unreliability but, because Tesla's are losing their value steeply and the cost to repair Tesla's damaged by car renters was rising exponentially.

If you've read this far and are coming to the conclusion that Hertz's "EV problem" is, in reality, a "Tesla value and repair costs problem," you're not alone. It's difficult to draw conclusions about EV suitability for the rental car market when so many cost factors conspired against Hertz's mostly Tesla fleet.

In October, Hertz indicated that future EV acquisitions would benefit from lower purchase price and lessons learned from its Tesla fleet. Given Scherr's comments, we'd assume that it would strongly consider parts and labor costs in its calculus—and unless it comes to some deal with Tesla holding those costs down, that points to the company acquiring EVs from different automakers.

EVs are only 11% of Hertz's total fleet, so the 20,000 EVs the company is going to sell off by the end of 2025 represent 4.4% of the entire fleet. This does not seem like a permanent retreat from the EV business for Hertz, but rather a reallocation of a small portion of its overall assets in an attempt to hold costs down. 

Tesla and Elon Musk made Electric Vehicles cool again as the Big Automakers abandoned the technology.  That's the story, Wall Street, the Corporate Media, Musk Fanbois, and Cylon Musk himself sold.  It's been worth a lot of money.  Has it any value?  Maybe some, not $55 Billion, but then Cylon Musk has always been a weird, self-promoting, bigoted narcissist who loves Racism and the power he wields.

Government by the Plutocracy for the Plutocracy and of the Plutocracy

Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires – John Steinbeck. 

 "The federal government was never intended to be everything for everyone." - Chicken Hammer commented on my blog and oft repeated by conservatives everywhere.

This is correct, the Federal Government was created to Protect and Serve the Rich and Powerful.

Government was envisioned as a Tool of the Plutocracy in quelling Domestic problems and expanding Foreign Markets for exploitation.

All of Sudden Republicans in Congress are concerned about NSA cyber-snooping? Where was Jim Sensenbrenner's concern when he crafted the Patriot Act in 2001? Where was John Boehner's concern about wiretaps when he voted time after time to reapprove them? This level of out-right surveillance of the American People goes back further than the NSA whistleblower stating in 2006 the NSA has a Massive database of Americans' phone calls or in 2004 when President Bush declared, "a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way."

But, let's leave aside the Surveillance State for today. The Government is not the Problem; they are but the Hitmen and Trigger Pullers for the True Evil in our Society the Class of Moochers known as the Rich.

The last 30 years has been the Reactionary Attempt by the Mooching Rich to reclaim the Power of Government for their sole use. Everyday brings further evidence that Austerity is but another name for Trickle Down Economics and is little more than the abject destruction of the Middle Class in order to create a Wage Slavery State in America.

Outright lying by Harvard economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff was for at the behest of the Rich to further destroying a Government which aids the Poor and Middle Class.

But, even amongst the Founding Fathers they knew that the Massive Income Inequality and the Ownership of the Federal Government by Corporations and the Rich would lead to Civil Strife.

The Richest 1% of this Nation doesn't make Anything or Do Anything, all they do is occupy the Rentiers position extracting a little financial gain from the toil of the 99% and the Billions of Economic Transactions that occur daily.

Yet, despite their complete and total destruction of the US Economy in 2007 Wall Street Banksters have regained their footing and are exerting their domination of the Economy again.

Between 2005 to 2007, Banksters issued $1.5 Trillion in Collateralized Debt Obligations. Synthetic CDOs, instead of the bonds themselves, are insurance-like derivative contracts on the bonds. "CDOs give investors a chance to bet on the creditworthiness of a basket of companies." (from Katy Burne of the Wall Street Journal) Those monies aren't anything other than gambling. Synthetic CDOs are back as Wall Street fights to defeat all controls on their recklessness.

Banksters, Hedge Fund Managers and Vulture Capitalists aren't creating anything. They aren't investing in anything. They are placing Bets on-top-of Wagers on-top-of Gambles... They are the computer virus and bad code from the movies Office Space and Superman III, siphoning off money they have no right to.

The Rich Never Had It So Good

Yet they still complain. And about whom do they complain? The Poor who have nothing.

"[W]e're not going to give up on destroying the health care system for the American people." Paul Ryan.  

"It just keeps getting worse. I am scheduling a vote for next week on the full repeal of #Obamacare." Eric Cantor 

The Republican Party, lapdogs of the Rich are eager to oppress the Poor at every opportunity. The Republicans and their Rich Masters absolutely loathe healthcare for the poor, sick and old. Republican Healthcare is predicated on the Rich sucking every single dollar from you and letting you die quickly after they've drained you of all your money.

But, the Plutocracy won't stop at merely stealing your life savings at the end of your life; they want you to be a pauper before that.

David Simon was on Real Time with Bill Maher last year and stated,

"What we need is a political culture where somebody plants a fuckin’ olive tree, which doesn’t even give you an olive for seven years. That’s how you fix an economy…When that olive tree becomes an orchard."

What Simon doesn't understand is the Republicans in 1980 did plant Olive Trees, except it was a privatized, deregulated, deferred income, out-scoured grove designed to provide Billions of Olives to the very, very rich while they told Us a few olives would trickle down. But, in fact, all we got were the pits.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 15,000 this month an all time high, while at the same time half the jobs in the country pay less than $35,000.

Everything the Republicans do is predicated on expanding Income Inequality. Since, the Republican Recession, the economy's recovery has meant a recovery for the Very Rich.

From 1966 to 2011, the bottom 90 percent of Americans’ average income, as reported on tax returns, went up by $59 showing complete stagnation. If that $59 increase for the majority of Americans equals one inch, then on the same scale, the incomes of those in the top 10 percent went up by 168 feet. The top one percent, 888 feet. The Plutocrats income, the top one percent of the top one percent, rose by almost five miles relative to that one inch.

The Bush Presidency and Tax Cuts were nothing more than the destruction of the Middle Class and an acceleration of the Wealth Transfer Upwards.

According to research published by Emmanuel Saez, Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley:

From 2009 to 2011, average real income per family grew modestly by 1.7% but the gains were very uneven. Top 1% incomes grew by 11.2% while bottom 99% incomes shrunk by 0.4%. Hence, the top 1% captured 121% of the income gains in the first two years of the recovery. From 2009 to 2010, top 1% grew fast and then stagnated from 2010 to 2011. Bottom 99% stagnated both from 2009 to 2010 and from 2010 to 2011. In 2012, top 1% income will likely surge, due to booming stock-prices, as well as re-timing of income to avoid the higher 2013 top tax rates. Bottom 99% will likely grow much more modestly than top 1% incomes from 2011 to 2012.

This is precisely the desired effect of the Republican Crafted and Conservative Inspired Recession. The Rich are prepared to lose money in the short-term knowing that their wholly owned and operated Republican Party will attempt to jam through Austerity Legislation to dismantle the Social Safety Net and designed to permanently solidify the Rigidly enforced Class System we have in this Country.

Every fiscal crisis is an opportunity for the Republican Party and their Right-Wing Stooges to advance the Plutocracy's schemes of deregulation of financial markets, selling off public lands for private exploitation, diminishing the power of Unions and Collective Bargaining and providing Hundreds of Billions in tax payer dollars extorted from the middle and working class as welfare to the Very Rich.

No Austerity. No Compromise with the Vultures. No bargaining with the Plutocracy. Barack Obama has the Mandate. It's time The Rich pay their Fair Share.

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.  - James Madison

Now, that Real America has rejected the preposterous slanders and smears of the rabid conservatives comes the serious task of reorganizing the Nation.

Overusing the bromide of being doomed to repeat history it seems We do have a difficult time learning from that which has passed before.

The Empire of Byzantium struggled with many of the same issues We, the People face today. Religion. Nobility. Taxes. Military interventions. Dynastic struggles. Culture Changes. Legal Codes.

As the centuries passed, new generations inherited problems and structures created by previous ones. They did their best to build upon the past work, reconcile new ideas with the old or create entirely new ones, but often their efforts became a jumble, a convoluted and a confusing mixture. Hence the term byzantine.

This was well understood by the Founding Fathers who sought to blend their new ideas with the ideas of the Ancient Greeks, Renaissance Italians, and the Thinkers of the Enlightenment in the creation of the New Nation.

One of the great myths of America is that we don't have Class Struggle and Class Warfare. Class division was written about and feared by James Madison, Father of the Constitution,

"The most common and durable source of faction has been the various and unequal distribution of property..."

During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Class Warfare was a major preoccupation of Madison and the other Founders. Some of the Founders, notably Alexander Hamilton, greatly feared that Class War was already upon them (he was thinking of Shay's Rebellion) and the common man would establish a Democratic Tyranny voting themselves the property of the Rich, but it didn't happen then and it isn't happening now.

James Madison believed his "extended republic" model aided by supplemental checks built into the Constitution would stave off Class Warfare, but that within 2 or 3 generations the struggles of rich and poor would result in conflict.

In 1829-1830 Madison became convinced the country was headed for Class warfare by 1930. He reasoned the massive populace crowded together would,

"necessarily be reduced by competition for employment to wages which afford them the bare necessaries of life. The proportion being without property can not be expected to sympathize sufficiently with its [property] right to be safe depositories of power over them." 

So, either the demos would rise up in revolt "by a law of nature". Or the Rich would degenerate into Oligarchy and destroy the Republic because,

"A republic cannot stand upon bayonets. We are free today substantially but the day will come when our Republic will be an impossibility. It will be impossibility because wealth will be concentrated in the hands of a few."

But, this is not the Great Man of History longing. A Great President lets other people rise and the greatest Americans often come from the Middle Class.

James Madison knew this. He and the other Founders also warned of Foreign Entanglements, Standing Armies, and Unchecked Corporate Power.

Do Conservatives not re-read their own mythology? The Myth of Ronald Reagan wasn't that he got the Soviets to pass a universal healthcare coverage for their citizens. It was that Reagan goaded the Red Menace into an Arms Race which bankrupted them. What did Bin Laden accomplish with the 9/11 attacks? He got us to waste $10 Trillion in overseas folly of Empire-building in the Middle East. And not to mention the thousands of american families shattered by the physical and mental scars of war.

What happened, since the End of World War II, was the establishment of the Permanent War Status by the United States have drained the lifeblood and treasury of the Country.

Who has benefited from the Overseas American Empire and the Massive DoD Budget? Undying Corporations and an increasingly isolated Cadre of Elites who see no Country and no reason to spend to aid the poor, or support the infrastructure of this Nation.

President Harry Truman famously stated,

"Poor Ike! He'll sit there and say 'Do this! Do that!' And nothing will happen. It's not like the army. He'll find it very frustrating."

President Eisenhower presided over 8 years of American Prosperity. Ike had an America that was untouched by World War 2 and thus had it's infrastructure intact with which to dominate the world market. But, President Eisenhower had a tax rate of 52% on Corporations and a Top Tax rate of 91%!

"[W]e cannot afford to reduce taxes, reduce income, until we have in sight a program of expenditures that shows that the factors of income and of outgo will be balanced. Now that is just to my mind sheer necessity.” 02/17/1953

However, Ike had the benefit of a populace which was not going through a radical upheaval. Ike had a populace which was for all intents homogeneous religiously. He also had a Class of Wealthy Americans which still believed in the idea of Noblese Oblige. 

And what did Eisenhower warn of at the end of his Presidency? The Military-Industrial-Complex. 

Unlike in Ike's day it's not the same, today. The Rich see no reason to aid the poor or even to invest in the United States.

Mitt Romney's former energy policy advisor Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources. gave a speech on 09/13/12 to Congress demanding National Parks be opened to Oil Exploitation and that his Federal Corporate Welfare which he's received since 1967 continue. Hamm also pouted that, "Continental’s effective tax rate is 38%!" Except it isn't. Over the past 5 years Hamm's Corporation Contenintal Inc paid 2.2% in Income Taxes when adjusted for all the tax breaks, corporate kickbacks and federal assistance he's received.

On the books his Oil Company probably has a stated tax rate of 38%. But, Hamm paid next to nothing when all the byzantine tax laws are applied. The Tax Code has been made circuitous specifically because it aids the Plutocracy.

A business owner in Las Vegas on Wednesday November 7th, told a CBS radio station that he had fired 22 of his 114 "mostly Hispanic" employees because President Barack Obama had won re-election. David noted that he had "mostly Hispanic" employees and some had come to work wearing Obama shirts on election day.

The Republican Party's favorite Michele Bachmann believes in a platform of No Taxes on Corporations. That would be Zero. 

Corporate Profits have gone up quarter after quarter since the beginning of 2009. Verizon, for instance, reported a pre-tax income of $24.2 Billion in 2009-2010 and received, through U.S. federal income tax loopholes, a $1.3 Billion dollar refund.

The Richest 1% of this Nation control 50% of all financial investments. The top 10% have almost 90% of stocks, bonds, trust funds, and business equity, and over 75% of non-home real estate. Less than 10% of the country own the United States of America. 

But it's important to note that for the Rich, most of that income does not come from "working": in 2008, only 19% of the income reported by the 13,480 individuals or families making over $10 million came from wages and salaries.

What the Plutocracy wants is a closure of the Middle Class because the Middle Class is too unpredictable. It's much better to have a pliant working class who are satisfied with crumbs from the government and whatever wages/benefits the Moneyed Overlords are willing to bequeath upon them.

The Middle Class too often flexes it's political power and votes themselves things like Supplemental Social Security Income and Medicaid for the poor. The Middle Class votes against Child labor and for safer working conditions and regulations on the dumping of coal slag or mercury waste from Oil refineries into rivers and lakes. The Middle Class fights and strikes for pensions and dental care for their family.

Much easier for the Rich to move to a Third World Hellhole and have a Totalitarian Government enforce Wage Slavery and Corporate Bondage.

Today, the reason "47%" do not pay Federal Income Taxes are because of the slap-dash additions and shaky edifices built into the Tax Code. The EITC, marriage deduction, child deductions, home ownership deductions were Republican backed ideas to encourage people to adopt mores, behaviors and family structures which Republicans favored. The biggest Moochers are the Ultra-Rich.

The last time we had a restructuring of the Tax Codes, with the Bush Tax Cuts, Conservative shills for the 1% shamelessly lied about it's goals. The Heritage Foundation's 2001 report proclaimed if the Bush tax cut legislation were to pass, it would:

1) Effectively pay off the federal debt; 

2) Reduce the federal surplus by $1.4 trillion; 

3) Substantially increase family income; 

4) Save the entire Social Security surplus; 

5) Increase personal savings; 

6) Create more job opportunities.

None of this happened and we've been stuck in the Republican Recession ever since. But, what this did accomplish was a massive transfer of the Nation's Wealth into the hands of the Ultra-Rich.

What the Rich desire is the semblance of Democracy with the reality of Plutocracy. They privatize the profits and socialize the losses.

Most of the problems, President Obama is dealing with, he inherited. Some he's allowed to happen; for instance, the ratio of public-sector employees to the overall population is the lowest it’s been since 1968.

What Barack should do is tear down the rotten Tax Structure and Economy of Income Inequality built by right-wing lies:

1) Let the Bush Tax Cuts expire, completely.

2) Void the Sequestration.

3) Eliminate the Cap on Social Security taxes.

4) Raise the Tax Rate on Capital Gains and tax it as normal income.

5) Eliminate the deferred compensation rule.

6) Eliminate any and all Tax breaks and federal subsidies with Corporations which out-source jobs and off-shore manufacturing factories.

7) Bring back a Financial Transaction Tax to curb Wall Street volatility and curb rampant Hedge Fund speculation gambling.

8) Propose a Tax cut package for the first $250,000 of income (98% of America).

9) Create and augment spending and hiring for public-sector employees.

10) The follow-on Budget should include a 50% reduction in DoD spending. 

Then watch Republicans tear themselves apart as they reveal their entire Party is devoted to guarding the obscene theft and reverse-robin-hood robbery of Middle Class wealth by the Rich. House Speaker Bohener immediately genuflected to the Rich after President Obama's resounding win. Congressman Peter King of New York has declared he and the Republican House members have a "Mandate" to protect the Tax Breaks for the Rich.

There is a window here for Barack Obama to cement himself as True Class Warrior fighting for the 300 Million Americans who desire the American Dream but are being shackled with the chains of Wage Slavery and Corporate Bondage to the Moocher Class of the Plutocracy. It is our Job as a Center Left People to pick him up and stand beside him and guide him to that Destiny.

*- I think Jerome Corsi did this same post, except his use of "man-date" meant Barack Obama was Gay Muslim *Married* to a Pakistani Man whom he later murdered.

Social Security a giant bundle of money the Republicans want to steal

As George W. Bush related, his greatest failure while in office was not stealing the Social Security Trust Fund for his Plutocratic Masters. If Bush had managed that Coup, Sean Hannity wouldn't have needed to get into a mulling, hissy fit of anger, on his radio show, at those "Lucky Duckies" proclaiming, 'Let Them Eat Rice and Beans!'

If Bush and the Republicans had managed to steal Social Security, the Poor people Sean Hannity so hates and despises would be dead and he could go back to claiming 9/11 happened while President Clinton was in office, TARP was signed by President Obama and Barack the Great didn't want to kill Osama Bin Laden.

The Republican Party has always hated SSI, because of what it represents; a chance for the oppressed to retire and live after they have finished decades of labor. Republicans would much rather you work yourself to death, thank you very much.

The release on April 23rd of the 2012 Annual Report by the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds (OASDI) made it clear Social Security isn't going to run out of money anytime soon. The assets in the Social Security Trust Fund total $2,700,000,000,000. ($2.7 Trillion dollars). In fact, Social Security is fully funded (i.e. 100% solvent) all the way through 2033.

And once we hit that year the Baby Boomer Bulge draining Social Security will have passed and the Nation will be dealing with the demographically much smaller Generation X.

But, damn Trillions of dollars just sitting there! That's a wet-dream for the thieving, perfidious and despicable Right-Wingers. The Rich! Want! That Fucking! Money! And Republicans would love to to swindle it from the Trust Fund and roll it into Wall Street from whence their Banking Buddies could apply some Synthetic Collateralized Debt Obligations and Naked Credit Default Swap and...



But, never forget that no matter what the Republican liars, Faux Drones, or conservative sycophants proclaim Social Security has been funded overwhelmingly by the Working and Middle Class. The Rich are not paying vast sums into Social Security because the OASDI payroll tax collection has been capped for decades and collects Zero dollars over the current top amount of $110,000.

As Kevin Drum noted in 2010,

In 1983, when we last reformed Social Security, we made an implicit deal between two groups of American taxpayers. Call them Groups A and B. For about 30 years, Group A would pay higher taxes than necessary, thus allowing Group B to reduce their tax rates. Then, for about 30 years after that, Group A would pay lower taxes than necessary and Group B would make up for this with higher tax rates.

This might have been a squirrelly deal to make. But it doesn't matter. It's the deal we made. And it's obviously unfair to change it halfway through.

So who is Group A? It's people who pay Social Security payroll taxes, which mostly means working and middle class taxpayers. And who is Group B? It's people who pay federal income taxes, which mostly means the well-off and the rich. For nearly 30 years, Group A has been overpaying payroll taxes, and that's allowed the government to lower income tax rates. The implicit promise of the 1983 deal is that sometime in the next few years, this is going to flip. Group A will begin underpaying payroll taxes, and the rich, who have reaped the benefits of their overpayment for 30 years, will make good on their half of the deal by paying higher income tax rates to make up the difference.

The physical embodiment of this deal is the Social Security trust fund. Group A overpaid and built up a pile of bonds in the trust fund. Those bonds are a promise by Group B to repay the money. That promise is going to start coming due in a few years, and it's hardly surprising that Group B isn't as excited about the deal now as it was in 1983. It's never as much fun paying off a loan as it is to spend the money in the first place.

But pay it off they must.

Recess

Barack Obama has achieved several important accomplishments during his Presidency despite the Party of the Rich and the Racists recalcitrance. He has not been the Marxist Champion we were hoping for and many of his stances appear moderate to conservative. But, his recent Recess Appointments of Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Sharon Block, Richard Griffin, and Terence Flynn to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are perhaps signs of a more liberal agenda for the 2012 election year.

Of course, everything from Getting Osama Bin Laden to these Appointments are an affront to the Republican Bigots and Elitists. So, it is no surprise Republicans are beating their breasts, rending their hair and crying in anguish over President Obama's Recess Appointments.

“It’s astounding to me that the president is claiming these are recess appointments and within his authority, when Congress was not in fact in recess,” said Representative Diane Black (R-TN) who authored the resolution. “These appointments are an affront to the Constitution. No matter how you look at this, it doesn’t pass the smell test. I hope the House considers my resolution as soon as we return to Washington so we can send a message to President Obama.”

It would stand that a Congress actually in Session would not need to return to Washington. But, that's the modern Republican Party. But, while Congresswoman Black's concerns stem from nothing more than her Ignorant Tea Party Bigotry and her anguish should be looked through the prism of her Totally Not Racist history,

In 2009, Sherri Goforth an aide of Diane Black sent out an email with an image titled "Historical Keepsake Photo", depicting the Presidents of the United States. President Obama's picture was a black background with two white eyes.

But, being as the Republicon Party is wholly owned by the 1% they are not angry about the procedures surrounding these appointments but the fact these positions even exist.

“I don’t think this was a recess appointment,” said Candida Wolff, who was chief lobbyist for President George W. Bush and now represents the third-biggest U.S. bank by assets. “I struggle with the fact that a session is still a session, and you can have business within that session.” Cordray’s authority to oversee non-banks and non-financial companies “will probably be one area where I can see action,” she said.

Wolff is a fully invested member of the Plutocracy. She sees these appointments as possible impediments to Wall Street and the Banksters rigged gambling system.

So do other Plutocrats and beneficiaries of the Wall Street System whose profligate theft and criminal malfeasance caused the economic crisis. Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, who led bailed-out insurer American International Group Inc. for almost four decades until he was ousted in 2005, called Cordray’s appointment unconstitutional. Greenberg, 86, is chairman and chief executive officer of insurer C.V. Starr & Co. “The president’s stuck his finger in the eye of Congress,” Greenberg told Betty Liu today on Bloomberg TV’s “In the Loop.” “You need the approval of the Senate for that appointment. It was bypassed."

Well, thanks for your opinion Mr. One Percent. And the next time We need to know the about the Constitutionality of something from someone who profits off of legerdemain and starving children you'll be the top of the list.

However, the height of hypocrisy belongs to no less than John "Even with my broad view of executive power" Yoo, who wrote about the Appointments as Use and Abuse of Executive Power. And as you might expect from Yoo torturing a "Suspected" Terrorist's children to death in front of them is fine for the President but "recess appointments" are a massive insult to the Rule of Law.

The Republican position is when we say we are "in session" it counts as being in session. Where 171 Recess Appointments by George W. Bush and 243 by Ronnie Raygun are fine. But, beyond the pure partisan hypocrisy, Republicans care nothing for the 99% and have been demanding the legislation which created the CFPB be altered before they'd consider approving anyone to head the organization. It was tantamount to nullifying a law which was legally passed because the CFPB represents a threat to the Republican Party owners, the 1%.

Capitalism Wills It! OWS or the Tea Party? Tear Down the Faux Capitalist System.

#Occupy is calling for those accountable to be brought to justice.

Justice would be the end to the current American Capitalist System, which can be better described as Neo-Feudalism, with all profits privatized and all loses subsidized. It's really that simple, the 1% have been cultivating a political elite (The Republican Party and Business-Friendly Democrats) who cater to their whims, use the power of the Federal Government to control the economy and transfer Trillions of dollars into the hands of a small cadre of politicos, military leaders, lobbyists, and multi-national Corporations.

A University of Zurich study shows 147 interconnected Corporations - mainly Banks - control 40% of the World's Wealth.

We have an increasingly stratified class system in America, the problem is so many of the 99% refuse to believe the evidence before their eyes and fall back on the comfortable narrative peddled by the Guardians of the Rich.

The Republican Party and the Right Wing has to put the focus on President Obama, or SEIU, or ACORN, or Teachers, or lazy minorities because the fact is the system they set-up and tended to, is a rotten evil one in which the 1% have now garnered a vast majority of the wealth of the Nation. The 400 richest own more wealth than 150 Million Americans. The 1% own 70% of all Corporate Stocks. Since the 1960's the mobility of Middle Class families has been downward.

Tax laws and Governmental policy has focused on shifting the burden of the Nation onto the Middle Class to sow dissent, drive wages, and living standards down in the Race to the Bottom.

However, such blatant theft and oppression wouldn't last long if the 1% didn't turn around and blame others for the theft. Hence the "welfare queens" rhetoric and the entire mythos the Right wing has been incessantly repeating for 30 years.

It's never been more clear the distinction than when a grass-roots up-rising of the 99% called for an end to the Wall Street Corruption and were immediately smeared, called Nazis and infiltrated by Right Wing Agent Provocatuers. It's difficult for many to drop what they've been spoon-fed by Toxic Right Wing radio, Faux News, and Conservative Think Tanks.

For decades these organizations have been focused on convincing a sizable segment of the population the problems, the regressive tax structure, the deference to the Rich, the stagnant wages, the loss of the industrial base, the inflation, the growing disparity and tremendous inequality between the Well-Off and everyone else, lies with individuals (mainly liberals and minorities) and not the corrupt system itself.

And that's where we find the Tea Party Dupes and Charlatans and the Republican Blame Barack Obama for Everything Campaign. Here is an excerpt from the most recent Tea Party Nation broadside against Socialism:

Resolved that: Our President, the Democrats-Socialists, most of the media, and most of those from Hollywood, have now encouraged and supported "Occupy" demonstrations in our streets, which are now being perpetrated across the globe, and which are being populated by various marxists, socialists and even communists, and are protesting against business, private property ownership and capitalism, something I thought I'd never see in my country, in my lifetime.

I, an American small business owner, part of the class that produces the vast majority of real, wealth producing jobs in this country, hereby resolve that I will not hire a single person until this war against business and my country is stopped.

I hereby declare that my job creation potential is now ceased.

"I'm on Strike!"

Reading the comments I came upon what, I think are plants but, could be the realization of decades of active disinformation,

The EPA needs to be closed. Think of the money that the government would save if it was closed. Think of the money that businesses would save if it were closed and their regulations were rolled back keep.ing only those needed to keep our enviorment clean. You add closing the department of education and let the states educate their chrildren, close the department of energy that is not needed because the free markets. - Wayne Thomas Inman

You're singing my tune. We will reduce hiring anyway. With all the regulations, it's better to outsource, partner, or utilize the services of independent contractors. That's what four of my five startups are doing right now, and we will continue to use the services of only experienced, independent business people until one of three things happens. 1) We get a government that boldly gives us back our freedom. 2) The majority of small businesses agrees to conduct a tax strike and bring down the government unless the Congress commences immediately to impeach and expel every representative, every senator, every executive branch officer, and every federal judge who has failed to uphold the Constitution in accordance with the interpretation of those who ratified it. 3) Every business person agrees to ignore all unconstitutional regulations and to act as a group to put under citizens arrest any government official or agent who attempts to enforce the unconstitutional regulations. If we wait until the second or third option is necessary, we will also have to band together with armaments to defend our businesses against rioters and looters. Make my day! And let's keep the military on our side. - Ed Stoneham(note the double spacing after periods)

agree, 100% with Melissa; Obama is the root cause of killing jobs in America by his policies;
further, he is killing the coal industry, as well the oil and gas industry and this winter millions of Americans will pay for higher costs to heat their homes - Claire C. Benson

Close the EPA. Obama is killing the Coal Industry. The Free Markets shall save us! Don't hire or if you do "outsource". These are, Classic Capitalists. If the policies they hold to be true, cause suffering to their fellow man or takes their lives; So Be It! Capitalism Wills It!

It's what American Capitalism has always been, whether it be against the women workers at the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory, in New York City or the Miners in the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia. Capitalism has failed the 99%.

Triple A, Standard Rookies and Poor Umpires

Born on Third, thinks he hit a Triple... ~ Molly Ivins of George W. Bush

Who could have foreseen that Standard & Poor's would downgrade the Credit Rating of America's debt? And why does S&P have any credibility?

The same group of Wall Street insiders who duped people into dumping their money into Wall Street by crafting bizarre mathematical derivatives, credit default swaps and giving bankrupt Ponzi schemers at Lehman Brothers, Bear Strearns and AIG, AAA ratings all the way up to when the bottom fell out, still have the power to forecast economic futures? Why didn't the Free Market eliminate a ratings agency like S&P which has either had some of the worst blunders in Financial History or colluded in the largest theft since biblical times?

I want to know why the all-powerful and all-knowing invisible hand of the Free Market hasn't strangled the likes of Jim Cramer? Jim Cramer recommended buying each and every one of the Investment banks on every show, which if you followed his advice would have netted you a loss of around 95% of your investment. For instance,

Jim Cramer recommended buying Lehman Brothers on 10/17/05 at $55.18 per share. On 9/5/08 with the stock trading at $16 per share, on CNBC, Cramer selected Lehman as a "screaming buy" and said things couldn't get any worse for the company. The firm went bankrupt and the stock trades for pennies per share for more than a 99 percent loss for Cramer.

I want to know how many Republicons other than Eric Cantor bet against the US economy by having their investment portfolios shored up with shorting long-term US Bonds? And I want to know which Hedge Fund Manager made Ten Billion dollars on his Billion Dollar bet that the US would lose it's credit rating?

Of course, if you wanted to be cynical you would say S&P did exactly what the Bankster criminals and Plutocrats wanted them to do. And after the Wall Street gambling bubble imploded and the Free Market was saved by Socialism what did the people get? Nothing. The Republicons in Congress have spent the last 3 years filibustering and impeding Wall Street regulation.

"I find it interesting to see S&P so vigilant now in downgrading the U.S. credit rating. Where were they four years ago when they, and other credit rating agencies, helped cause this horrendous recession by providing AAA ratings to worthless sub-prime mortgage securities on behalf of Wall Street investment firms? Where were they last December when Congress and the White House drove up the national debt by $700 billion by extending Bush's tax breaks for the rich?" - Senator Bernie Sanders

Precisely, Bernie. Where was S&P when the Free Market was falsifying data for the Plutocracy, the Bush Presidency and the Republican recession?

Update:
The Billion Dollar Hedge Fund wager is contested, but, Faux News and Right Wing blogs know a priori that evil George Soros did it...

The Republican Party's notions of Shared Sacrifice

In order to be part of the totalitarian mind-set, it is not necessary to wear a uniform or carry a club or whip. It is only necessary to wish for your own subjection, and to delight in the subjection of others. ~ Christopher Hitchens, from god is not Great pg. 232, sums up the Republican Party and their conservative fanatics use of Government in order to subjugate the Poor and Middle Class.

Whenever you watch a Sunday Political Show and a Republican bureaucrat talks about Shared Sacrifice watch out it means the Middle Class is in for a beating. The Republican Party has spent the last 30 years dismantling the Federal Government in an effort to destroy the Poor and subjugate the Middle Class.

When Wall Street engaged in furious gambling aided by the blind eye of Republican de-regulation it meant the Middle Class would sacrifice by being on the hook for the debts incurred. Of course, the Wall Street hoodlums know this because they've been pulling the same scam for 30 years ever since Ronald Reagan and John McCain gave them the nod, with the Savings & Loan Scandal, that Corporate theft would be protected with stolen Tax payer dollars.

Shared Sacrifice means a Federal Worker pay freeze on Middle Class government employees while helping Goldman Sachs funnel Billions of Tax Payer dollars into bonuses for the Bankers whose profligate "investment" gambling was aided and endorsed by President Bush and the Republican Party and the cause of the 2007-2009 Republican Party recession.

When Republicans start wars, as a means of a gigantic transfer of wealth from the Nation to the blood sucking War Profiteers, for instance Halliburton and Blackwater (Xe), it meant the poor and middle class would bear the brunt of the suffering and sacrifice, while Republicans profit off the blood of dead Americans in wars they will never serve in for Republicans eschew military service due to their inherent cowardice.

When Republicans talk about shared sacrifice in terms of cutting Federal spending it means an elimination of regulatory bodies, like the FDA, the EPA, OSHA and MSHA which keep Corporate monstrosities from poisoning our food water and air or from working Americans in dangerous slave conditions. It also means Republicans will continue to strive to steal from pensions and social security as detailed in Paul Ryan's plan to eliminate Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

It means Billions of dollars physically lost in Iraq as the price of Warmongering and Trillions of dollars stolen from Social Security and transferred to the Republican War Profiteers off-shore banks in the Cayman Islands and UBS Switzerland. It means the end of Regulation on Banks, it means apologies to Oil Companies who destroy our lands and defense of Rich Mine Owners who kill their workers, it means an increase of Taxes on the Poor, while Taxes on the Rich decrease.

Shared Sacrifice to Republicans means the rapidly expanding gulf between the Rich and the rest of America. It means the Grover Norquist and Voodoo Economists dream of destroying Unions.

"They can tell their unions that they have to accept cuts now or face a much more dire fate in bankruptcy court.”

And the Sham Tea Party Hateriots have allowed themselves to be conditioned that Unions are always to blame. The $30K-a-year garbage man in New York City is to blame for the economy and not the recklessness of real estate "moguls" who leveraged and repackaged billions in junk investments in order to make big scores on the Republican housing bubble scam. Conservatives blame dead Chicago Firefighters and not Harry Macklowe whose, as pointed out in the New York Times Real Estate section, "$7 billion gamble on seven Midtown skyscrapers at the top of the market almost cost him his entire empire, is out looking for new deals."

And while thousands of Americans have been fast-tracked into bankruptcy and home foreclosure,

the truth is that there have been surprisingly few career fatalities among New York developers, even though they have lost billions of investor dollars on overpriced real estate and have littered the city with unfinished apartment buildings. While a homeowner who lost a house to foreclosure would find it difficult to borrow for years, developers who defaulted on enormous loans have still been able to attract money.

Nope Republicans are busy browbeating their conservative slaves into believing the Middle Class is to blame.

Shared Sacrifice means the realization of the Republican Goal of Neo-Feudalism, wage slavery and cutthroat Capitalism for the Poor and Socialism for the Rich and their undying Corporate monsters.

Related:
EPA Reminds Republicans Cap-and-Trade Used to be GOP Idea - and it Worked for Acid Rain [The Center for Public Integrity]

Deceptive Practices

No One represents the American People. We've been sold into Wage Slavery and Serfdom to the Banking interests, by their wholly owned bureaucrats and thugs in the Republican Party and the deluded and corrupted portions of the Democratic Party.

"In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks,” Congressman Spencer Bachus, Republican Alabama.

What are you doing Alabama?
You got the rest of the union
to help you along
What's going wrong?~ Neil Young, Alabama

At a time of 10% unemployment, pay freezes for middle class federal workers, the planned for destruction of social security and unemployment coverage, every breaking news story is of unprecedented record profits for Wall Street; Wall Street Sees Record Revenue in Recovery From Bailout.

What benefit does Wall Street provide to the American people? They no longer loan money to emerging small businesses, they do not seek to find rivals to established corporate behemoths, they no longer regulate themselves, they increasing create more and more byzantine "products" which are divorced from an actual commodity or crafted item. Or as the NewYorker asked; What Good is Wall Street?

Since 1980, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of people employed in finance, broadly defined, has shot up from roughly five million to more than seven and a half million. During the same period, the profitability of the financial sector has increased greatly relative to other industries. Think of all the profits produced by businesses operating in the U.S. as a cake. Twenty-five years ago, the slice taken by financial firms was about a seventh of the whole. Last year, it was more than a quarter. (In 2006, at the peak of the boom, it was about a third.) In other words, during a period in which American companies have created iPhones, Home Depot, and Lipitor, the best place to work has been in an industry that doesn’t design, build, or sell a single tangible thing.

And when trouble came and the economy was faced with a meltdown caused by the rampant malfeasance of Wall Street? Those selfsame people who create nothing, those who do nothing but play fancy computer games of transferring little 1s and 0s from one ledger to another, were saved on the backs of the workers. And since then? Why they've created no new jobs, they've tightened loans, they've foreclosed homes, they've sought to destroy healthcare, GM and the UAW and anything which represents a protection to the Middle Class and Poor in America.

And why do they get away with it? Apparently because of the Grand Scale of their Theft. I've tracked down and caught any number of thieves in my capacity as a police officer. The latest was a man who attempted to pass off false coupons he created himself for a pack of Marlboro's. It's a Deceptive Practice. He's poor and will undoubtedly get a conviction for a Class A Misdemeanor for trying to pass off the worthless paper.

But, what does Wall Street get for passing off Trillions in worthless paper again and again and again? They get the full faith and force of the Federal Government every time. Welcome to Serfdom.

Related:
A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives [The New York Times]

How Wall Street Creates Socialists - E.J. Dionne And from the article, The *Money* Shot:

“Well,” Fabrice “Fabulous Fab” Tourre sent to his girlfriend, “what if we created a ‘thing’, which has no purpose, which is absolutely conceptual and highly theoretical and which nobody knows how to price?”

Perhaps Fab once read the Karl Marx who wrote: “The more abstract money is, the less natural its relationship to other commodities.”