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Bush Was a Total Disaster ... Obama Is WORSE

George Washington's picture




 

More Redistribution of Wealth to the Richest

Sure, Bush made the rich richer.

But Obama has actually redistributed wealth from the middle class to the very richest more than Bush.

Specifically, income inequality has increased more under Obama than under Bush.

Indeed, inequality in America today is worse than it was in Gilded Age America, modern Egypt, Tunisia or Yemen, many banana republics in Latin America, twice as bad as in ancient Rome  – which was built on slave labor – and worse than experienced by slaves in 1774 colonial America.

A new study shows that the richest Americans captured more than 100% of all recent income gains.  As Huffington Post notes:

The top 1 percent of households by income captured 121 percent of all income gains between 2009 and 2011, during the first two years of the economic recovery, according to new research by Emmanuel Saez, an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley. (Saez is a renowned income inequality expertand winner of the prestigious John Bates Clark Medal, an award that the American Economic Association gives every year to the top economist under age 40.)

 

How was the top 1 percent able to capture more than all of the recovery’s income gains? They became 11.2 percent richer while the bottom 99 percent got 0.4 percent poorer, when accounting for inflation, according to Saez.

 

Saez released the updated figures in late January after finding last year that the top 1 percent had captured 93 percent of all income gains in 2010, the first full year of the economic recovery.

 

Overall, between 1993 and 2011, the top 1 percent’s incomes surged 57.5 percent, while the incomes of the bottom 99 percent grew just 5.8 percent, according to Saez.

One of the reasons why the super-rich are becoming much richer and everyone else poorer is that Obama is prosecuting fewer financial crimes than Bush, or his father or Ronald Reagan.

And by pointing out that inequality is skyrocketing, we’re not calling for a redistribution of wealth downward.  We’re calling for an end to policies which allow wealth to be concentrated in a few hands.

Without the government’s creation of the too big to fail banks (they’ve gotten much bigger under Obama), the Fed’s intervention in interest rates and the markets (most of the quantitative easing has occurred under Obama), and government-created moral hazard emboldening casino-style speculation (there’s now more moral hazard than ever before) … things wouldn’t have gotten nearly as bad.

Indeed, crony capitalism has gotten even worse under Obama.

We noted in 2011:

All of the monetary and economic policy of the last 3 years has helped the wealthiest and penalized everyone else. See this, this and this.

 

***

 

Economist Steve Keen says:

“This is the biggest transfer of wealth in history”, as the giant banks have handed their toxic debts from fraudulent activities to the countries and their people.

Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz said in 2009 that Geithner’s toxic asset plan “amounts to robbery of the American people”.

 

And economist Dean Baker said in 2009 that the true purpose of the bank rescue plans is “a massive redistribution of wealth to the bank shareholders and their top executives”.

More Trampling of Civil Liberties

The Hill reports:

A majority of voters believe President Obama has been no better than his immediate predecessor, President George W. Bush, when it comes to balancing national security with the protection of civil liberties, according to a new poll for The Hill.

 

Thirty-seven percent of voters argue that Obama has been worse than Bush while 15 percent say he has been “about the same.”

 

***

 

The results cannot be fully explained as party line responses. More than one in five self-identified Democrats, 21 percent, assert that the Obama administration has not improved upon Bush’s record. So do 23 percent of liberals.

We’ve reported for years that Obama is even more brutal than Bush, and that he’s claimed some tyrannical powers that not only Bush – but even Hitler, Stalin and King George – never claimed.

The former head of the National Security Agency’s global digital data gathering program – William Binney – says that he pervasiveness of spying under Obama has only “gotten worse”.

Obama has prosecuted more whistleblowers than Bush and all other presidents combined.

Obama has dramatically escalated the use of drone assassinations, which are creating many more terrorists than they are killing.  Nice job creating more terroristsyou morons. The former chief military prosecutor at Guantanamo says that Obama’s drone surge is as damaging to our country as Bush’s torture program.  I think he’s actually underestimating damage from the program, as drones have become the number 1 recruiting tool for Al Qaeda (especially since children are now being targeted for drone assassination …  Oh, and torture is still happening on Obama’s watch; background).

Bush destroyed much of the separation of powers which made our country great.  Under Obama, it's gotten worse.  For example, the agency which decides who should be killed by drone is the same agency which spies on all Americans.

While some try to say that at least Obama didn’t start any disastrous wars, Obama has in fact launched wars in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan and up to 35 African nations. And the Obama administration has probably supported even more terrorists – in Libya, Syria and elsewhere – than Bush. See this, this, this, this and this.

Even mainstream Democrats who support Obama’s national security policies more or less admit that they are simply falling into a cult of personality.

So Bush was a disaster … but Obama is worse.

Postscript:  Obama apologists say "at least Obama has created jobs".  But some economists argue that unemployment has actually skyrocketed under Obama (and see this).

Given that government policy is ensuring high unemployment levels, that Obama - despite his words - actually doesn't mind high unemployment, that virtually all of the government largesse has  gone to Wall Street instead of Main Street or the average American, and that a “jobless recovery” is a redistribution of wealth from the little guy to the big boys, Obama's actions in the area of employment don't change our conclusion.

 

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Thu, 02/14/2013 - 21:29 | 3245046 scrappy
scrappy's picture

+ 16, 000, 000, 000, 000

 

You got it, our two party system is both ends of extremism.

 

They are a clear and present danger to the security of the USA.

 

Why?

 

They enable fraud, and the transfer of tech to enemies though their corporate shells they support and internally with decrees that weaken our National Security,  Simple. The Penalty?

 

I feel sorry for the rank and file below them, career gov.

 

THE MAJORITY OF THEM HAVE TO BE SICK OF IT AS WELL.

 

They are dying for good gov. to come back. Me too.

 

 

 

 

 

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 20:55 | 3245008 tenpanhandle
tenpanhandle's picture

On the count of three, everyone grab your "counter-assault" weapon.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 23:49 | 3245405 hidingfromhelis
hidingfromhelis's picture

Got my scissors in hand; now what?

Fri, 02/15/2013 - 00:17 | 3245445 Kickaha
Kickaha's picture

Run

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 18:58 | 3244727 falak pema
falak pema's picture

these comparisons are totally w/o perspective. One created the crisis, the other makes it worse.

We are seeing this in ALL of first world. 

The sickness is bigger than the players; its the system now. 

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 19:09 | 3244771 George Washington
George Washington's picture

Yes, I don't disagree.  But until "hopium" is dispelled, people can't see that the system is rotten to the core ...

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 19:12 | 3244781 Zap Powerz
Zap Powerz's picture

Mr. Washington,

I do not believe most people want to see the truth.  So, you can show them, but they will ignore it.  They will not accept reality even when it is punching them in the face, knocking them to the ground, curb stomping their teeth out and leaving them unconscious in a pool of their own gore.  They will die ignoant because being ignorant is soooooo much easier.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 19:40 | 3244844 logicalman
logicalman's picture

People find it hard to abandon the world model they have had for 20 or 30 years, so they close their minds.

I guess I was lucky, I smelled a rat when I was 12 years old during the 6 days war, and have always been open to new information.

I was lucky with my parents too, both independent thinkers who encouraged me to be the same.

 

 

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 19:58 | 3244893 Rogue Trooper
Rogue Trooper's picture

Not enough will ever 'get it' or even see the 'truth' (whatever that actually means).  Even in the comments section across ZH so many still fall for the red or blue team meme.

Even if we take articles posted on ZH. On a good day what 50,000 reads? That is statistical non-event in terms of people even looking for answers and starting to question the system and all the bullshit promises that have been made to them.

When this gets real all I can see is a Yugoslavian re-dux.

I did enjoy Cog Diss's recent essays....

 

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 18:55 | 3244721 besnook
besnook's picture

and no matter who is elected in 2016 it will get worse.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 22:24 | 3245203 lakecity55
lakecity55's picture

"Elected?"

Surely you jest, my good man.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 19:41 | 3244848 logicalman
logicalman's picture

It will get worse.

Fixed it for you.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 19:09 | 3244772 Zap Powerz
Zap Powerz's picture

Besnook, few things in life are certain.  Death, taxes and your statement are probably the only three certain things in life.  Nice.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 18:48 | 3244699 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

I tried to tell em so.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 20:26 | 3244958 nmewn
nmewn's picture

We all tried.

It really is the state of our education. Many looked at Shepard Fairey's art and said "How avant garde, how modern."

It isn't, its the same propaganda shit...closer to reality...

http://s4.beta.photobucket.com/user/JimJohn/media/posing.jpg.html

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 18:46 | 3244692 Everybodys All ...
Everybodys All American's picture

So Bush was a disaster … but Obama is worse.

Obama is a Marxist. There fixed it for ya. Carry on.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 20:58 | 3245015 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

Wrong, they are BOTH Inverted Marxists, socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor.

There, fixed it for you.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 22:17 | 3245186 rustymason
rustymason's picture

Marxism and unbridled, globalist capitalism are two sides of the same coin in that they both give us what we got now, a super-concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a decadent few. All culture, society, law, racial diversity, and politics are destroyed, everything is subservient to raw materialism and the wacky theory that man is a rational animal, and the planet is eventually destroyed by lack of any other consideration than money and raw, naked power.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 21:30 | 3245082 Radical Marijuana
Radical Marijuana's picture

What EXISTS is plutocracy, where the supreme form of "wealth" is the privatized ability to make "money" out of nothing.

All of the other isms are false fronts, which serve that REALITY.

Obama is NOT a simply a socialist, nor a Marxist, nor any other similarly superficial and stupid labels.

Obama is a puppet working for the plutocracy.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 21:01 | 3245018 Water Is Wet
Water Is Wet's picture

I loved your "Be Mein" poster. Where did it go? :)

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 19:01 | 3244747 Shell Game
Shell Game's picture

So Bush was a Marxist disaster ..... but Obama is a worse Marxist disaster.  

 

Fixed.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 19:39 | 3244838 nmewn
nmewn's picture

The best line I ever heard on Bush was..."He came into office as a social conservative and left as a conservative socialist."...it came from the NE part of the country where they know their socialists very very well...Ritholz I think.

Obama came in as card carrying Marxist of the New Party. He will leave as the National Socialist everyone now recognizes.

As far as I'm concerned, there ain't a dimes worth of difference between a socialist, a Marxist or a national socialist...they are all fucking totalitarians.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 23:35 | 3245372 the grateful un...
the grateful unemployed's picture

the best line i ever heard on Bush 1 was Geo Will's statement, "that he wants to be Commander in Chief of a few New England states, and Clinton wants to be governor of all of them.." on Bush 2 the best quate i heard was from Bob Novak (journalist who outed Valerie Plame) when he told Bush, "to stop running this economy for a few liberal stock pickers, and make the econony work for business.." at the end of his tenure Bush 2 walked down the aisle with Congressional Democrats to pass an immgration bill which is pretty much the one they want to pass now, but his own party in the house, rejected the bill. Bush had an FDR presidency, including the "ownership society" which hasn't fared much better than the New Deal. he wanted to privatize Social Security, which is something FDR might have approved, once it was assumed the markets could be trusted. to return to your point, there's not much difference between any of them.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 22:31 | 3245204 rustymason
rustymason's picture

Marxists are global socialists. A national socialist cares more for his own country. Both are socialists, of course, but there is an important distinction to observe here. Obama is not in any way a nationalist, for he hates the American nation very much and he is very global in scope. That's why Obama as Hitler doesn't really work. He's much closer to Stalin, Lenin, or Mao. But Hollyweird and the MSM have a Hitler fixation and also refuse to even mention that Lenin, Stalin, and Mao were much, much worse, for some strange reason; so people are more familiar with the mein Obama meme.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 22:50 | 3245277 Rogue Trooper
Rogue Trooper's picture

Excellent Rusty... The only time they touched another 'marxist-psycho' other than the recycled Hitler meme was to the Killing Fields. Interestingly Bush (II), himself being a 'marxist-psycho', took one for the team to pave the way for Obozo. The Bush-Hitler meme?

Trouble is the useful idiots (read: MSM and intellectual PHDees) only abandoned, or rather went silent on, their utopian fantasies under the visionary planning of both Lenin and Moa when the Berlin wall collapsed.  What we ended up with was the Clintonista-Blarite "Third Way".  Same result and outcome just a rebranding exercise. I think it did allow the can to be kicked a considerable distance further down the road.

Stalin, was to some degree frowned upon by the true belivers, in other words he was not a real socialist and for the workers etc.  Thankfully, Khruschev denounced him after his death then renamed Staingrad Volgagrad - thus fixing it for all western useful idiots.  Good call Nikita! 

The agenda has always remained the same.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 21:37 | 3245099 scrappy
scrappy's picture

Agreed.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 19:50 | 3244875 Rogue Trooper
Rogue Trooper's picture

nmewn.... your posts are one of the best reasons to read the comments section on ZH.

A genuine thankyou... for what it's worth. 

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 20:10 | 3244929 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Thanks man.

I don't know if we can turn this thing around or not. "They" get more and more people in the cart everyday instead of pulling the damned cart.

On the one hand I want it to burn to the ground (including the worthless bastards in it) while on the other I hate myself for what that actually winds up meaning.

If we can't reach em and turn em, piss on em...let it burn. We'll be fine and better off in the long run.

They have always needed us, we do not need them.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 23:35 | 3245373 Freddie
Freddie's picture

+1

Yep - like your stuff too.  You almost rate as highly with me as the guy that uses the F words as noun, verb, adverb, modifier, predicate, gerund, pronoun, etc.  LOL!  Long Soup Line or something.  ;-)   The rest of us are as pissed off as he is.

Fri, 02/15/2013 - 00:41 | 3245481 Rogue Trooper
Rogue Trooper's picture

Hey Freddie, thanks for suggesting the lame cherry blog a day or so ago.... I'm now addicted.

See ya in FEMA camp x-ray 666.... I'll be the foreigner on some kinda 'rendition' arrangement between our .govs

Heavy stuff indeed ;)

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 21:13 | 3245036 Rogue Trooper
Rogue Trooper's picture

If you think about it.  You see small victories with people you engage with.  My parents now get it.  A work colleague who was you classic progressive, Obama is good, help the poor, .gov works.  Smart chick but did not read much and had no idea of history.  The opening was the banker fraud and the math around the programs in place and the fact it is completely unsustainable even if you think its a worthwhile idea to "help the needy".  This took two fuckin' years! She is now convinced what a fraud O is with his drone killin and all his actions.  She now gets the Bush III meme. Hopefully, she will join the not voting corner, it makes no difference if you vote red or blue.

That what I focus on is on making small steps, things we can agree on like no foreigh wars, then follow up with bits of information that reinforces what was said perhaps months ago.  Folks, out there do not just send them a link to ZH has you you will overwhelm them and they are not ready for it.  It will turn people away has the truth hurts... so it must be a conspiracy and they are all nuts on ZH so I will delete the link and never return (back to facebook etc). CD's articles are better but they are over the 140 character attention span limit..../sarc

Shit I get what you are saying, but we have also got to realise that some folks on this site, even if we disagree, are often on the same side.

BTW I am not even in the USSA so I have no idea what it is really like to live there. What I can see scares the shit out of me...

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 22:00 | 3245150 nmewn
nmewn's picture

As bad as they're trying to make it, its still better than many countries in many respects.

The issue, as I see it, people, no matter where they live, have compassion for their fellow man. Its a human trait unless one is a complete psycho.

The problem, as I see it, is many want to give over "the duty of compassion" (among other things) to the state...which is always most happy to oblige, as it allows for its growth (government growth) along with its enrichment and accolades to its assorted hangers on & cronies. 

And with that growth, a smaller and smaller pie for the individuals themselves (the people) to give the support and compassion every society needs to be healthy.

Caring will never spring from a bureacrats pen, spent doodling and frowning at people for years waiting on the five o'çlock hour and their own vacation time...then retirement.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 22:23 | 3245202 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

think you're onto something brother. human nature is a crazy thing. we do a lot of things despite knowing better. we deny a lot of things in front of our face. we're incredibly bright and absolutely stupid. we're lazy and hard working. we like to believe even when it's deadly to do so. we deny our wife is having an affair when we find the credit card receipts and the lipstick. We do the same with everyone else who we give our trust and our secrets, despite our childhood memories and our history books. I think we fantasize a lot. This is the way it should be. This is how the king should rule. Dad should be home for the kids. A lot of human nature can be trusted but it's that small eprcentage and our stubborn ideas that s   

Fri, 02/15/2013 - 07:33 | 3245768 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Nailed it Davey.

People "want to believe" even to the point of discounting the absolute worst.

Fri, 02/15/2013 - 12:31 | 3246655 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

trust but verify

Fri, 02/15/2013 - 18:28 | 3247979 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Always ;-)

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 23:02 | 3245308 tip e. canoe
tip e. canoe's picture

trust being the keyword, on many levels

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 21:47 | 3245123 scrappy
scrappy's picture

...even if we disagree, are often on the same side.

 

Love it brother, wherever you are, me thinks the majority of people in the whole world is going to be figuring that out in the days to come...

 

Thanks Brother.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 22:30 | 3245195 Rogue Trooper
Rogue Trooper's picture

True, I keeping tellin' folks no one gets through this without some pain - it is about limiting the damage and there is no guarantee any plans you make will work.

Even for the so called 'Elite' there are consequences it may mean an exit to another location, with protection for the rest of their days.  Kind of like a Columbian drug lord.  Sure its a luxury gig, all the cash, gold, toys, good food, chicks and choom you need.  However, always having to look over your shoulder or into the eye of your new bodyguard.  Wifee and kids can never leave the protective sheild without preparation and a well planned security detail.  Who can I trust  - if someone really wants to get at me?

Didn't end well in recent times for Saddam, Gaddafi or Mubarack for that matter, Assad looks next. Sure I'm flying a kite with plenty of 'unknown unknowns' (to use that infamous Rumsfieldism), but how will it end for our 'first' world western political elite?

I have a question can Bush still travel outside the USA?

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 19:45 | 3244856 Shell Game
Shell Game's picture

Exactly.  I have had it with all this bullshit retro-editing of all the lesser evils and lesser socialists.  It all leads to the grand illusion at the polls that there is actually a fucking difference.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 20:02 | 3244902 nmewn
nmewn's picture

I'm declaring open season on socialists of all stripes.

Where are all those commenters promoting the national socialist ideal of the bonding of the state to the "green energy" corporations?

I screamed until I was blue in the face, that ain't cool.

Likewise, where are all the motherfuckers who said ObamaCare (the taking by force from one, either a doctors labor or the fine/penalty/tax on the citizen) would be some sort of nirvana?

When exactly did we become a country so easilly blinded that some people now wear T-shirts with a picture of a president?

I'm tellin ya, we got some seriously fucked up people running around among us.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 22:35 | 3245238 lakecity55
lakecity55's picture

In Wealth of Nations, "capitalism" was more defined as "Economic Individualism."

That is the message that needs to get out.

All the others are collectivist schemes with some animals more equal than others, hence TPTB preferring "socialism."

Those of us who believe in economic individualism must find a Galt's Gulch and reboot the system.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 22:16 | 3245172 scrappy
scrappy's picture

I could say the same thing about FASCISM bud.

Before you label me, please learn about this.

Beyond left and right.

http://www.henrygeorge.org/isms.htm

How Henry George's Principles Were Corrupted 
Into the Game Called Monopoly

http://www.henrygeorge.org/dodson_on_monopoly.htm

This model will address our imbalances in a way that will not require the massive regulation we have now.

 

Here's the rest, the "Last ditch of Capitalism"

 

Both Marx and the Oligarchs hated it, that means it might be good.

 

http://www.wealthandwant.com/docs/Andelson_HGRC.html

 

This one is well worth reading, it is a social, practical, moral ethical piece.

 

 https://libertyrevival.wordpress.com/2011/01/09/ending-poverty-and-polit...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 22:33 | 3245232 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Fascism is socialism.

Both rely on the state for enforcement of national goals instead of individuals setting their own goals. Goals and natural law (no stealing, murder, rape etc) set down for all, are two very different things.

I don't believe in a country whose leaders set "national goals" for the people to follow or there is punishment. That ain't me.

As well, there shouldn't be any law that makes theft legal for the benefit of any other individual or corporation...but there most certainly are.

Fascism is in fact, socialism, on a corporate/nationalist/militaristic scale, just wrapped in a flag. The class warfare is there for anyone to see with their eyes open.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 23:54 | 3245412 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

as the crime and desperation increases, It's a bitch keeping the current version of any ism apart 

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 22:14 | 3245157 scrappy
Thu, 02/14/2013 - 22:46 | 3245279 illyia
illyia's picture

Thanks for the links.

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 22:44 | 3245252 scrappy
scrappy's picture

This one is dedicated to WB7

 

The Empty Feed Bag Blues by Mr. Ed. (A horse of course)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGZwmelwnBU

 

How about some horsemeat photoshops fun WB7?

 

How about a emaciated Mr.Ed as  Spain, perhaps as a donkey?

 

So many analogies...

Thu, 02/14/2013 - 20:48 | 3245001 tenpanhandle
tenpanhandle's picture

down voter quickly removes T-shirt.

Fri, 02/15/2013 - 02:08 | 3245588 willwork4food
willwork4food's picture

Then grabs a water-mellon.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!