Now: Nationalize. The. Banks.

I'm only gonna say this one more time: Nationalize. The. Banks.

Point: We need bankers, not banks. What we've had since for the past thirty years or so - specifically helped along by the repeal of Glass-Steagall - is an array of gambling houses called "Investment Banks". Anyone with a computer can show you the new Bankers: They Are Us: We the People. P2PBanking. Uncrunch.org. And more: Craigslist. Barter. Even the New York Times has a page now called "Household Budgeting", and in the last installment (link to come, as I'm on the go) professionals shared stories of trading professional services for professional services.

As for the gambling houses? As I've said, "You won. Congratulations. We the People have no more Money to play with. None." Didn't these guys ever play Monopoly as kids? No Credit Derivatives in that game, one duly notes....

Time for the New Paradigm to be created. Now. Nationalize. The. Banks.

Three Words: NATIONALIZE THE BANKS

There's no other reasonable option now: the U.S. Government MUST nationalize the Banks, beginning with Citi and Bank of America.

Forget about the DOW and NASDAQ for the time being; they're both trailing indicators, and as The Oracle of Omaha has said about his own Berkshire-Hathaway, day to day share values per The Markets have not so much to do with the value of "the farm". In Fact: the Obama Administration has to take the lead on a "new Paradigm", the one my grandmother held sacred: Invest to Hold, look for steady, long-term, balanced growth, and conservative profits. If "Capitalism" is really the economic model the World wants to keep, then today, it must be deconstructed failing Bank, by failing Bank.

Cable chatter on the "business" channels is hyperbolic and panicked. Who would listen to these guys even on good days? But on the "bad days", well, these are the guys who are clearly losing their heads in a crisis. What they need to be told, in no uncertain terms is this: You needn't fear any longer about losing your shirts; you already have.

And millions and millions of your vaunted "consumer base" are Citizens who voted for a change - a paradigmatic change if necessary - to right the Ship of State. FT reported early this morning on China's recent discussions, internally and externally, that America needs to be a whole lot "nicer" to them; China's international Bank is making it clear that it will not buy America's "paper" forever.

That Citi and BofA are both lending to their best customers on this day is no surprise; they never stopped lending to their best customers: How do you suppose some of the Dividends paid in the Third Quarter were managed? But, to those customers to whom they extended credit before their Ponzi Scheme began to be revealed? Not a dime.

The U.S. Government must set up something along the lines of the Resolution Trust Corporation to "reset" The Game of Monopoly the likes of Larry Kudlow and Raging Santelli are so hot to chatter about.... Point: the Captains of Industry "won"; Americans have no more "money" to play with. Until that simple fact is realized, no amount of cash infusions from China or the U.S. Treasury will help. Indeed, President Obama and his Team have a choice: will they act to see that Americans are assisted in "servicing personal debt" so that they can participate in our society, including our economy, or simply assist giants who constructed the Ponzi Scheme in the first place.

Oh, yes, and just By the Way? We all need to be saying this: We are in a Global Depression.

Say it.

Just say it.

Once we hit Bottom, we can begin, truly to recover.

Obama in Mesa: On the Foreclosure Crisis - Not Enough

Nope. This is not enough. In fact, it's way too little.

Elizabeth Warren explains:

We have known that we are in a foreclosure crisis for more than a year now. And with each passing day, it's thousands of families who are moved out of their homes and thousands more who-- who hang on the edge trying to scramble and find a way not to fall over. And yet, we have offered them nothing but empty promises; hope for homeowners, other fancy named programs, big estimates on how many people are going to be helped. And what do the numbers eventually show? The number of people we've helped can be measured in the hundreds in an area in which we're talking about literally now, millions of foreclosures.

The sense of urgency, I-- I don't know how to make it more intense than it is. These are families. These are families with children. These are older people who can't sell their homes and move to other facilities that they need to. These are-- these are people who can't leave Ohio to take a job in South Carolina because they can't sell their homes.

This is a freezing up of the economy, not on Wall Street, but down at the family level. If we don't fix that problem, we cannot fix our economy. We just can't.

This is, therefore, a disappointment, to say the least.

More in my next.

Obama On Stimulus One, Signed in Denver

A game-winning Three Pointer.

Namaste.

Corporate Media Spreading Lies Again on MTP [UPDATED]

Importantly, crucially, REMEMBER: Corporate Media is making sure - making Damn Sure - that their propaganda is screamed from the burning rooftop (to use Claire McCaskill's analogy) that is our Economy. We are in a War: Corporations versus Individuals.

Don't get angry. Don't get sucked in. Just Call Your Senators, and All Moderates that are "on the fence" or willing to talk. (Go to Links below for Calling Senators)

[UPDATE] Okay. It's hard not to get angry at this: Ensign and Pence have no idea what is happening in the States. Do they not realize that California is ready to declare Bankruptcy? States will absolutely let police and firefighters go...there is no money left!

Ah: Pence concedes the point: Government spending does stimulate economy. (All spending I might add....)

Point to Make in Your Calls: How much do you make? Most of us, MOST American Households, earn between $60,000 and $80,000 with TWO incomes. We the People are The Working Poor. We don't need tax cuts, we need money. Jobs. Assistance. A "tiding over". We have no savings. We have not credit. People are hungry. And my bet is that the Unemployment Rate as we speak, when under-employed Citizens and Citizens who've fallen off the the Unemployment Rolls are counted, not to mention heard, is at least 20%. Twenty Percent.

Call.
Find an Economic Recovery Meeting. Go.
Propose: A March on Washington for Economic Justice

Robert Reich Calls Out Gingrich, GOP

Brilliantly, as usual, Robert Reich called out The Gnewt on THIS WEEK saying that the recalcitrance and intransigence of the Congressional Republicans on The Stimulus Package is founded upon their Strategy for Mid-terms 2010: that is, "We wanted Tax Cuts, not Spending. See? Things are not better. Not like they promised. So elect us. We'll make it better. And Cut Taxes."

We ALL need to talk about this Fact: regardless of what is passed in this (first) Stimulus Package, we very likely will NOT see huge changes to the Economy for at least two years. Yes, there will be Jobs created, but Times are Going to Be Tough. We're in a deep, deep hole that took at least eight years and as long as thirty years to create. What we're working for here, what we're looking for are measures - And No Half Measures - to prevent a Depression. Knowing this, Reich asserted, that Republicans have already determined that they will campaign (beginning now, my thought) for the Midterms by saying, "We didn't vote for this, we wanted Tax Cuts, and if they'd cut taxes, and not spent like drunken Democrats, we wouldn't be in this fix."

Reich hit the nail on the head. Gingrich and George Will were stuffed, and now, we all can go out and work to stuff these this strategy and all of its Talking Points associated with it.

Michael Steele on THIS WEEK Redefines "JOBS"

LOL...oh my god...Michael Steele has just redefined "jobs": if it's "just work" it's not a "job"...a "job" he says "doesn't end...."

Is anyone really paying attention to these people?

Steele on PELL Grants, "...I'm not against Pell Grants but how does a Pell Grant get me a job?" Uh...Pell Grants are for students and school....

Claire? Claire McCaskill! Here's another IDIOT! You're on, Senator...to the floor of the Senate! It's time to call out the idiots in the Senate.

Uneffingbelievable....

Oh yes...will someone please yank Miss McConnell into the library and show him the Economic History of the Great Depression. FDR's New Deal worked until he tried to compromise with the GOP and backed off the Program....Krugman recounts this in his interview with Joe Scarborough, another Idiot.

Experts on The Senate's "Compromise": Not Big Enough, Cutting What Works and Plain Dumb in Places [UPDATED] [2d UPDATE]

Adam S. Posen Deputy Director of the Peterson Institute for Interational Economics (not exactly a bastion of "Liberal" thought, read his Bio, folks) commments with fluency on the Senate's "compromise", and specifically notes that the Senate's cuts in monies for Teachers, Firefighters and other public servants and the addition of a $15,000 tax credit for people to "buy homes" are - I'm paraphrasing here - just plain dumb. Read more at the link. AND (please note well): The Package Needs to Be Bigger. Paul Krugman has been hitting this note for awhile: BIGGER. Here he is on MorningJOE Friday, February 6, 2009:




[SECOND UPDATE] At the link Paul Krugman's Blogged on the Senate Bill with specificity. Note well in your comments to Senators and Reps during your Calls.

Hitchhiking once again on Hillary's coinage of the Obama Administration's theme of "Smart Power", I'd suggest it needs to be a whole lot "Smarter", too. Memo to The United States Senators: You really need to drop your contempt for The People's House, and listen to Madame Speaker, and less to the Corporatocracy that is whispering in your ears even now about Campaign 2010. Media Coverage - that is Corporate Coverage of the Stimulus Package - has been replete (no surprise) with inaccuracies and outright lies. Read: Republican Talking Points!

Let's All Shout it Out Now Together: All Government Spending is Stimulative! Mention this when you call your Senator. While you're on the phone, please take a moment to Call moderates who need our attention as well.

For more, on the Media's Corporate Bias, go here.

And, finally, if I hear one more man (Republicans all, led by John BoNER and egged on by the spitting Chris Matthews) speak disparagingly, if not contemptuously and with the High Dudgeon, about the "inappropriateness of the Contraceptives portion" of the House Bill, I will personally escort him to the nearest office of any Ob/Gyn to let him discover the medical costs any woman under the age of 55 incurs to 1) pay for the doc's professional services just to have an Annual Examination, and 2) to obtain and then pay for Birth Control. What just exactly do you NOT UNDERSTAND about the links between the physical, emotional and mental well-being of any woman - not to mention the couple involved - who does not and is not stressing about becoming pregnant? About having to address this financial crisis with a pregnancy? Have you been paying absolutely No Attention to the number of women who have told their heart-rending stories concerning the question of abortion and financial resources? If you're ready to offer A Modest Proposal of your own, say it. You are ALL wealthy white men, many of whom pay for The Little Blue Pill...and many of you have insurance coverage for that little prescription. I would curse you to eternal damnation myself if, by your own profound ignorance and sexual irresponsibility you had not already so condemned yourselves.

A Note to Madame Speaker and Rep. David Obey: In Conference Committee, return the Contraceptives Section to the Joint Bill, call it a Tax Cut: "Dependent Deduction Prevention". JesusMaryandJoseph.... And to Cecile Richards: Send out another Petition, and I will sign it. Meantime, I'm sending you what little I can spare for more action.

I have to stop. My rage and roar are rising...soon I'll be spinning in my chair like Keith used to (nice touch with the reasonable, moderate voice, man...and you've got a great voice....)....

more later.

Sixteen Days...Plus One

How many years, do you suppose, or even hold certainly to be true, does a parent have to bond with his son? How many days or decades does she have to teach a Moral Code? Why in the name of God am I even asking these questions?

Because in the midst of psychic pain - and surely these are days of psychic pain, not only in the nation's capitol, but across the land - any one of us, from presidents to paupers, will cry out for some kind of comfort. From one tradition of Masters we may take this Teaching as "comfort": "Nothing Matters. And so...we act as if Everything Matters."

To the point: Certain schools of psychology hold that only the first year of human life matters when it comes to bonding, attachment, even learning a moral code; other schools set the mark at five years, while others mark at nine. Those who encounter inescapable trauma or abuse of any kind may bond irrevocably with those who abused or injured them in a matter of days. Those who encounter goodness and goodwill, care and companionship may bond instantaneously or only after sixteen days. Members of Congress, Freshmen, that is, of the "One Hundred and Elevenityth" Congress circled this number before the end of January, well before the current phase of the ongoing struggle for Economic Justice. The Obama Administration has now been resident among The Washington Beltway Elite, including the MayberryHouseholders of McLean, for a time sufficient to induce unexpected "bonds" and "good will", "attachment", even "loyalty".

Thus, an observer, determined to be at least pragmatic if not wholly objective, marking today as it is the Sixteenth Day Plus One for all members of The Obama Administration and more for Congress, asks: How many of the Freshman Congressional Class have already sold out? How many have "bonded" with unexpected "friends" and "allies". How many have already betrayed Principles once believed with certainty to be "stronger than oak....? This, it seems to me, is the Mystery and Curse of the human Ego: how brittle Principle in the face of Ego's needs?

The Obama Administration then is offered a caveat: in the language of pragmatists, Uphold Truth, Trust No One, and Act as if Everything Matters. And proffered this hypothesis: The apparent struggle now occurring between President Obama and Congress and between Republicans and Democrats is nothing more or less than American Corporatocracy waging war against any and all who would wrest Power and Control away from it.

Allow me to amplify: we know the Republican Party is populated and influenced (if not controlled) by individuals and groups holding the worldview of Neo-Conservatives (also known as Neo-Liberalists in economic circles). We know that those elected to public office receive monetary support from an array of multi-national corporations. We also know that those controlling corporations are represented by Lobbyists, and that for years now, the whole of the Washington "Beltway" has been at least influenced, if not controlled by, these corporate players. This is not news; this is reality. It was part and parcel of the 2008 Presidential Campaign. But, the Mythology of American runs strong in our collective consciousness, and the Myth of Democracy can cloud any assessment of reality. It can even allow us to "forget ourselves...."

Add to the Myth the experience of Human Ego, and you have a recipe for Catastrophic Failure of Principle. Any Principle. Any Moral Code. Any stated goal. The Rule of Law. Even a Constitution. Our Constitution.

Even Ourselves.
Who we are.

"Democrats" came together in November, 2008 and in the eighteen months and more before as "We the People": a diverse Coalition of Americans hungry (even starving) for renewal of the American Myth: "Change We Can Believe In", sure, but at bedrock, Belief in Themselves: In Our Own Voice, In Our Own Power.

And, the Rule of Law. Our Constitution. The Security that is born of the Trust that all persons - All Persons - will be held accountable equally under the Law, that all persons - All Persons - will be afforded Due Process under the Law.

How rich this Legacy truly is...our Mythology is, truly, Inspired.

And yet, this inspiration has been devastated unequivocally by that line of decisions in the Common Law and those statutes and Rules and Regulations of any number of Agencies that characterize Corporations as "Persons". Corporations in American Law enjoy protections and privileges and exercise power, monetary and otherwise, that no individual person can ever equal.

Thus, within the context of President Obama's proposed Economic Reinvestment and Recovery Act we discover ourselves today - pragmatically speaking - engaged in a War: that of individual human beings, Citizens and Non-Citizens alike, otherwise known as "We the People" - against Corporations. The Economic Recovery Act is part and parcel of the struggle for Economic Justice that has existed, according to Economic Historians, for as long as The Art of Exchange has included "money"; but in "our time", it is a struggle for our Nation and our government.

Consider further: The Corporatocracy is waging this War for Economic Pre-eminence and Control, not to "destroy Government" as Grover Norquist asserted was the goal of Neo-Conservatives, but, rather, to be "The Government": as George Bush said, to "...be the Dictator", as Dick Cheney/David Addington asserted, to be "The Fourth Branch of Government"...as we discovered in December, 2000, they are capabale of a coup, even a judicial coup d'etat.

This fight, this War, will never end, so long as corporations are considered "persons" under the law; yet, even if that legal fiction were obviated tomorrow, The Corporatocracy would work to find (or create) ways to battle against and "govern" (i.e. control) us. When the President speaks of "remaking America" and "remaking our economy" and commands the energy and will of millions of Americans to stand up and participate in our governance as Citizens, this is the battle to which we are being called. If in the Mythology of "democracy" there are no "days off" for Citizens, in the reality of the war of Corporations versus Individuals, every day we do not fight for Ourselves - and the Economic Justice that fight necessarily involves - is a day we submit to indebtedness to Corporations, and enslavement by them; a day when we identify ourselves as Consumers, not Citizens, and bow to, not vote for, Corporations as "our leaders".

Sixteen Days...plus one. There is so much to do. And, we don't have much time: sooner rather than later, human beings with Egos intact will make friends and deals, promises for ambitions, and sell-out. We have maybe until March. Not to win, just not to Lose.

And every day after that?
Nothing matters...so we act as if Everything Matters.

The Senate Screws We the People...Again....

Toooooo Rich. Reid on floor of the Senate makes clear that getting something "that would Pass" was more important than, Pardon Me All to Effing Hell, doing something responsive to We the People! The Dems have a Majority in the House, and working Majority in the Senate, and Reid and the rest of these..."D for Dingbats" are on the defensive.

My rage and disgust is inexplicable.

Senators: The Middle Class HAS NO DISPOSABLE INCOME if they have Ordinary Income at all!! Just because you "believe" the money doesn't belong in the Bill, doesn't mean its not "stimulative"! How can you possibly say that refusing to fund public schools - and pay teachers - does not generate or keep jobs? Do you not understand that the people whom you say might now, with a "tax cut", buy a refrigerator, DO NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO BUY FOOD??!!

Senator Collins: just because you worked hard on it doesn't mean its worth spit! What is it with you people? You think you're the only people in the nation who "worked hard" this week? You know: We the People pretty much SPOKE ABOUT "BI-PARTISANSHIP" on November 4. And after this week of Rush and Cheney and Sessions and Grifney...well, all that "Bipartisanship" crap begins to look like something we're all going to have to earn, and not just hand out like a well-mannered social hostess....

Dollars in the tax payers pockets...yeah: how about MORE in Food Stamps? How about NOT cutting Unemployment Relief? Senator Collins: the "saving of our economy" is about MORE than just traditional Jobs. We need to quite literally remake the 21st Economy in and with a 21st Economy worldview with all its technology, tools, and modalities. Pandemic Flu? You don't think FEMA might employ a few people? You don't think CDC will employ and train a few people? You don't think R & D now might now lead to jobs in a year?

Fine: You wanna Revolution? You're gonna get one.... The only person speaking with any sense today is the Speaker of the House.

AP & HuffPost: "Tenative Agreement Reached, $780B Stimulous"

JesusMaryandJoseph. These Senators have absolutely no idea how angry We the People are. None. Tentative or not, this is no way big enough to address what we know is happening, per "The Numbers" today. But lemme just say this, sans numbers: A nineteen year old young man suicided this morning...because his parents no longer have the funds - and we know there are no loans - to pay for college. He's just one of the latest "numbers"....

When's the March of "The Numbers" on Washington?

We the People: Call Your Senators Now

Let's Review (again): Republicans, as a Party, are interested ONLY in Power; They will, as a Party, do anything - ANYTHING - to hold onto it, protect it, augment it, acquire it, including the infamous "...create our own Reality...", which as we know now, translates into the creation of We The People's suffering and loss.

Compare Here the House Bill to the Senate Bill, and note how the Senate has decreased spending that would directly, and immediately, benefit We the People: Health Education and Labor, Housing and Transportation, Agriculture, the Interior and the Environment, Assistance to the Unemployed and (notably, by a difference of $12B) Health Insurance.

Call your Senators NOW (they are scheduled to vote on this in about two hours, at 1 pm EST) and tell them you are unhappy and disapprove of these revisions; let them know you want The People - and not Big Business - to benefit first and foremost from this package. The Bill, if passed, will go to Conference Committee where it will be "marked up"; let your Senators know that you want the Final Bill to reflect changes that benefit We the People: more spending on Health Insurance, Unemployment Insurance, Food Stamps and Immediate Aid, along with more spending on Infrastructure and billions of dollars less in tax cuts.

We understood on November 4 that we won only the opportunity to work for Change that will benefit and protect our Children and Their Children.

Let's Get to Work.