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Bought and Paid For
Lobbyists from the financial industry have paid hundreds of millions to
Congress and the Obama administration. They have bought virtually all
of the key congress members and senators on committees overseeing
finances and banking.
This is easy to confirm in black-and-white. See for yourself: here, here, here, here, here and here.
Manhattan Institute senior fellow Nicole Gelinas says:
The
too-big-to-fail financial industry has been good to elected officials
and former elected officials of both parties over its 25-year life span
And economic historian Niall Ferguson says:
Guess
which institutions are among the biggest lobbyists and campaign-finance
contributors? Surprise! None other than the TBTFs [too big to fails].
No wonder two powerful congressmen said that banks run Congress.
No wonder two leading IMF officials, the former Vice President of the Dallas Federal Reserve, and the the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City have all said that the United States is controlled by an oligarchy.
With
the exception of a handful couple of Congress members who have the
American people's interest in mind, Congress is bought and paid for.
Note: A friend on the Hill made an important point to me by email.
Maxine
Waters and Ron Paul get almost nothing [from the financial lobby.
Sherman, Kucinich, Grayson and Kaptur are some other congress members
who have not been bought and paid for].
Waters and Ron Paul get almost nothing [from the financial lobby.
Sherman, Kucinich, Grayson and Kaptur are some other congress members
who have not been bought and paid for].
The story isn’t just that a lot of members are bought and paid for, it’s that some aren’t.
It’s not about people; it’s about the system. The “two-party system” is now a contest between “Big Government” and “Bigger Government” -- neither is desirable.
So long as we live in an unlawful ‘democracy’ rather than the Constitutional Republic our Founding Fathers intended (“Enumerated Powers“), we will continue down the same road…
Pehaps people should start wearing t-shirts....Goldman Sachs for President 2012.
Maybe that would get the message out.
Jane in Atlanta.
The simple truth is that we've already lost at least two branches of government to the financial oligarchs. Nice interview by Bill Moyers:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10092009/watch.html
Maxine Waters wants to nationalize the oil companies and is on video saying it.
Yellow Dog and Winston Smith. There may be hope after all. There is only one reason, on the historical scale, that the people have been swallowing the Savior idea each time it was presented to them – absence of critical thinking. Rome, England, France, Russia, etc…
Collapse of the ex cathedra mass media, rise of the internet, complete distrust toward the self-anointed changed all that. The question thus is this: What type of an idol will the witty present to the people next? Christ, Brotherhood, and Money have all been tried. Global warming collapsed before it even got off the ground. Any ideas?
To winston smith
hope you do not include Oliver Cromwell in english puritans?
Oh to hear him say - you are no congress.
After he died they allowed them to dig him up and hang him. So much for honesty and decency.
BOLSHY
So, we've got quite a collection of incompetents, nuts & crooks in Congress.
Some are Most are crooks: like Dodd, Frank, Pelosi, Reid, Rangel, Durbin, Murtha and so on.
Some are plain nuts: Kucinich, Waters, Ron Paul, Grayson
Others are clueless & incompetent: Kerry, McCain
Mostly honest and competent: maybe Joe Lieberman
many fit into more than one of the above categories.
Call 'em like I see 'em.
This professional, power-mad political class needs to go.
For those comparing us to Rome, consider how Rome lost self-determination when its armies became dominated by non-Romans who didn't assimilate, then compare that to the massive recruiting of non-US-citizens into our own army.
And, of course, remember the massive and continual debasement of Roman coinage, in comparison to our monetary system. History may not repeat but its rhymes could make a a nice rap.
If it makes you feel any better I couldnt figure out your location based that germane story of politics.
Oh yeah, and another parallel...could it be that Rome's Christianity is the USA's scientology? j/k barbarians vs terrorists...distrust of the government of the citizenry...abandoment of the seration of powers...overstretched military...and the corruption of course...all these rhymes can end up with an epic poem. Maybe it ends differently, who knows. I sure as hell cant tell.
Would this epic poem feature someone named Odysseus, perhaps? Except without the happy ending?
My crystal ball was foreclosed, but the best future I can see for the US is what the UK has today, and to me that isn't very bright. I know many UK subjects and many of them are expats, many of them want to be expats, and most of the rest travel frequently outside of the UK and that helps keep them sane. (Of course, all these people are in the educated and employed class, not their large prole/yob class.)
I also have to plug the Mike Judge film Idiocracy. It was intended to be a dark comedy but really is more like a documentary. The only thing Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho lacked was a Harvard law degree.
Which brings up a nice tangent - how long before Obama's Dukakis-in-a-tank moment? I'll bet under 6 months, especially given his incredible waffle on Afghanistan while Pakistan seems to be accelerating in its collapse.
Nice car.
Pay me now, or pay me later.
The simple truth is: The Us, as a whole, must bite the bullet to clear the overhang of excessive debts accumulated over the decades. That means pay me now equals bankruptcy of almost all TBTF which guarantees that pay me now option is categorically rejected by the powers that be.
Like Rome or ex-USSR, they all chose the pay me later option which means eventually the total collapse. But under the rule of everyman fights for the survival, who can blame the powers that be. Under the pay me now option, they are wiped out first. Under the pay me later option, they think they might survive and kick the can down the road for one more day, week or month. And if they fail, they drag everybody else down the drain at no incremental cost to them. What a free ride! except in the unlikely situation the justice of pitchfork caught up on them.
As a Delawarean I would like to point out that MBNA was Bush's second-largest campaign contributor in 2000 and--surprise--#1 contributor by 2004. And--surprise--Joe Biden's #1 contributor for several election cycles before being swallowed by, ahem, BoA. Thank you, Pete duPont. Thank you very much.
They can be recalled in. They can be fired. Elections aren't the only determining factor in whether these chumps and chuckleheads keep their jobs. When enough of us decide that we don't want to pay these jacks to do a job we don't want done anyway, our elected representatives will need to find new jobs. I think it's just a matter of time. The upcoming crash, when it comes, will be violent, devastating, and transformative, in the US at least, if not also in most other markets/nations. People who want to work and can't will not stand idly by and watch as senators and reps continue to get paid handsomely to accomplish nothing, other than fucking us with their greed, kicking us in the face to further their own fortunes, all the while insulting us with their empty assurances and blatant lies. And once these chumps are out, the oligarchical class will have lost the traditional levers for exercising their power over the populace, or at least those that existed within the (il)legal framework that has reinforced their powers of persuasion for many decades. What sort of conglomeration of interests would it take, and how would such a large group, provide for the individuals and organizations to fill this void? Like I said, it's a matter of time: until a truly overwhelming proportion of the populace is willing to accept the uncertainties of such action will any "change" be possible, let alone successful. We must always keep in mind that the alternative will always be worse. The stranglehold is strong. The upcoming crisis will instigate a loosening of that grip and provide an opportunity to free ourselves. Maybe this will never happen. I mean, all of these same peoples that need to go home are pretty dedicated to making sure that this doesn't happen. I think they'll fail. FUCK YOU POLITICIANS. IF YOU AREN"T WATCHING YOUR BACK BY NOW, YOU"RE EVEN STUPIDER THAN YOU LOOK!!!
*note, some politicians are okay, but we/they know who they are.
A view from ground zero in CT. Chris Dodd up for re-election next year. If we can't dump him, then it may be time for tin foil hats in the bunker. Schiff had an excellent poll result this week in the local paper. A small start but promising.
The answer is simple....... Don't vote for those who are bought and paid, vote for their opponents.
Oppose their re-nomination.....
Anything.
too bad nobody gives a shit.
hard to make peope care when american idol is on in fifteen minutes.
Not surprising - at f--kin' all.
I'm pessimistic. Most of the people I have encountered in my life are under-educated and incapable of independant thought. They sit in their living rooms absorbing what the MSM pumps into what passes for their minds. Anyone who is waiting for the sheep to revolt will be waiting for a long time. Furthermore, even if the sheep do revolt, they will only be dominated by another set of oligarchs. (Look at Russia: first the Tzars, then the Communists, & now the KGB). Sheep are sheep. Make your own way.
Spot on! Exactly the same view I have. Sheep meeting their new boss, same as the old boss. "A truly democratic society has never existed and so far as we can see, never will exist. Society is of its nature oligarchical, and the power of the oligarchy always rests upon force and fraud. James Burnham does not deny that ‘good’ motives may operate in private life, but he maintains that politics consists of the struggle for power, and nothing else. All historical changes finally boil down to the replacement of one ruling class by another. All talk about democracy, liberty, equality, fraternity, all revolutionary movements, all visions of Utopia, or ‘the classless society’, or ‘the Kingdom of Heaven on earth’, are humbug (not necessarily conscious humbug) covering the ambitions of some new class which is elbowing its way into power. The English Puritans, the Jacobins, the Bolsheviks, were in each case simply power seekers using the hopes of the masses in order to win a privileged position for themselves. Power can sometimes be won or maintained without violence, but never without fraud, because it is necessary to make use of the masses, and the masses would not co-operate if they knew that they were simply serving the purposes of a minority. In each great revolutionary struggle the masses are led on by vague dreams of human brotherhood, and then, when the new ruling class is well established in power, they are thrust back into servitude. This is practically the whole of political history, as Burnham sees it."
just because it has been so, does not mean it will continue to be so. More than likely, yes, but not necessarily.
You can keep trying or you can give up and sit with a thumb up your ass crying about how unfair life is. Pessimism didnt develop electronics, it didnt get us to the moon, it didnt inspire people to power the desert (of all places) to lay the foundation for the best playground ever, it doesnt create art, and it didnt invent twinkies. Youve got more power than you think. If some douche can "change" the world with vile intentions and false promises you sure as hell can do the same with honesty and reason.
To convince you that all is lost and that youare powerless is their greast weapon and first line of defense, its a smoke and mirrors game and if you actually play it is possible to win and mould the world into something better.
That would be true if at least a slim majority of the people were honest, but they're not. They'r liars, Everyone lies. So the choice of who should run automatically has a built in bias to dishonesty, cheating, and manipulating.
Some egghead calculated that most people, if not everyone, lies in one way onh another at least 50 times a day.
Agree that we can't give up, there should be a way to at least get some semblance of trust in government.
But if I can't get my buddy in Johnstown to throw out Murtha, because he has a worthless job at a decent wage at the airport Murtha had the rest of us build for about 10 flighjs a week, how can I get someone in Massachusetts, a republican, no less to vote against Kennedy, who brought in 1.25 for every 1.00 they spent in taxes? Ditto Frank, Dodd,
McConnell, ad nauseum.
Until the system changes, meaning I am able to vote out Dodd from Connecticut, for screwing the rest of us all over, all the rest of us can do is tilt at windmills, which is ok by me, but I'm not expecting a revolution.
Abandon all hope. This is the death of the Republic. The people are in debt and destitute, the rich don't give a damn and the leadership is only interested in fighting over the hollow remains of the prestige and power.
It's kinda like the final days of Rome. In the hour of need it got the entitlement boys.
How do you get rid of even one of these harlots?
Murtha in Johnstown PA ? A podunk town that should have died a half century ago, kept on life support simply because the voters in Johnstown have this corrupt guy who rose on seniority to a chairmanship and as such managed to take money in his turn from every other citizen in the United States?
Or how about Byrd in W. Va with the same clout running a state that is haven red neck coal interests.
Or Kennedy in Massa.....oh, one down, a dozen more to hope for.
Time for a town hall meeting at the steps of Congress to lambaste the lobbying fraternity. This is the number one issue that must be changed. It is not a conservative or liberal issue. It has eroded the basic tenants of our governing bodies purpose and completely neutered the democratic process.
How would the media be able to spin it into "astroturfing"? hmm... I'm sure they would find a way.
My hope is that this will become commonly understood by the people so that all the bankwhoreshills will be voted out of their seats in congress and the senate, and the presidency, and replaced with people who have integrity....maybe i am polyanna, but i won't give up my hope.
i have told my piece of crap congressshit in numerous
letters that he was a bought and paid for whore of
goldman sachs - he sits on the house financial oversight
committee from the defrauded state of georgia...
you've never heard so much doubletalk and claptrap as
listening to one of his town hall charades....
it is past time for american revolution 2.0
They are not bought and paid for...but some of them can be rented for the night.
Kinda like whores - yessir that's right - your CONgress is a bunch of WHORES.
Gordon, Christopher Dodd makes a whore look respectable.
That's my own personal Congresswhore.
I don't know why the people of Connecticut are so freaking brainwashed that they send scum back to Washington to represent them year after year.
I could say the same thing about Barney Frank in Massachusetts.
It must be a Northeast thing.
whores is exactly right, except that WE are the ones getting fucked by the whores instead of the other way around.
You can get that with a whore as well...
we - the tax payer -- are getting it up the ass by a whore with a strapon
Is this zerohedge, or Dealbreaker?
You speak the Truth, GW. Now, what the hell is going to be done about it?
September 2008 shows that nothing will be done about it until it's far too late. It's going to take a near-total systemic crash before people will get their butts off the couch. And, of course, what they do then is anyone's guess.