This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Cornel West Blasts Obama Is A "Brown-Faced Clinton", A "Post-Traumatic Depression" Will Follow
Outspoken Union Theological Seminary professor Cornel West goes where very few 'thinkers-of-color' have had the courage to go in this interview with Salon's Thomas Frank: "The thing is, [Obama] posed as a progressive and turned out to be counterfeit. We ended up with a Wall Street presidency, a drone presidency, a national security presidency. The torturers go free. The Wall Street executives go free... we ended up with a brown-faced Clinton. Another opportunist. Another neoliberal opportunist... So you got low-quality black leadership. Al Sharpton is who? He’s a cheerleader for Obama... Eric Holder won’t touch the Wall Street executives; they’re his friends... I think a post-Obama America is an America in post-traumatic depression."
...how do you feel things have worked out since then, both with the economy and with this president? That was a huge turning point, that moment in 2008, and my own feeling is that we didn’t turn.
No, the thing is he posed as a progressive and turned out to be counterfeit. We ended up with a Wall Street presidency, a drone presidency, a national security presidency. The torturers go free. The Wall Street executives go free. The war crimes in the Middle East, especially now in Gaza, the war criminals go free. And yet, you know, he acted as if he was both a progressive and as if he was concerned about the issues of serious injustice and inequality and it turned out that he’s just another neoliberal centrist with a smile and with a nice rhetorical flair. And that’s a very sad moment in the history of the nation because we are—we’re an empire in decline. Our culture is in increasing decay. Our school systems are in deep trouble. Our political system is dysfunctional. Our leaders are more and more bought off with legalized bribery and normalized corruption in Congress and too much of our civil life. You would think that we needed somebody—a Lincoln-like figure who could revive some democratic spirit and democratic possibility.
...
And we ended up with a brown-faced Clinton. Another opportunist. Another neoliberal opportunist. It’s like, “Oh, no, don’t tell me that!” I tell you this, because I got hit hard years ago, but everywhere I go now, it’s “Brother West, I see what you were saying. Brother West, you were right. Your language was harsh and it was difficult to take, but you turned out to be absolutely right.” And, of course with Ferguson, you get it reconfirmed even among the people within his own circle now, you see. It’s a sad thing. It’s like you’re looking for John Coltrane and you get Kenny G in brown skin.
...
There’s a lot of disillusionment now. My liberal friends included. The phrase that I have heard from more than one person in the last year is they feel like they got played.
That’s true. That’s exactly right. What I hear is that, “He pimped us.” I heard that a zillion times. “He pimped us, brother West.” That’s another way of saying “we got played.”
...
I think Obama, his modus operandi going all the way back to when he was head of the [Harvard] Law Review, first editor of the Law Review and didn’t have a piece in the Law Review. He was chosen because he always occupied the middle ground. He doesn’t realize that a great leader, a statesperson, doesn’t just occupy middle ground. They occupy higher ground or the moral ground or even sometimes the holy ground. But the middle ground is not the place to go if you’re going to show courage and vision. And I think that’s his modus operandi. He always moves to the middle ground. It turned out that historically, this was not a moment for a middle-ground politician. We needed a high-ground statesperson and it’s clear now he’s not the one.
And so what did he do? Every time you’re headed toward middle ground what do you do? You go straight to the establishment and reassure them that you’re not too radical, and try to convince them that you are very much one of them so you end up with a John Brennan, architect of torture [as CIA Director]. Torturers go free but they’re real patriots so we can let them go free. The rule of law doesn’t mean anything.
The rule of law, oh my God. There’s one law for us and another law if you work on Wall Street.
That’s exactly right. Even with [Attorney General] Eric Holder. Eric Holder won’t touch the Wall Street executives; they’re his friends. He might charge them some money. They want to celebrate. This money is just a tax write-off for these people. There’s no accountability. No answerability. No responsibility that these people have to take at all. The same is true with the Robert Rubin crowd. Obama comes in, he’s got all this populist rhetoric which is wonderful, progressive populist rhetoric which we needed badly. What does he do, goes straight to the Robert Rubin crowd and here comes Larry Summers, here comes Tim Geithner, we can go on and on and on, and he allows them to run things. You see it in the Suskind book, The Confidence Men. These guys are running things, and these are neoliberal, deregulating free marketeers—and poverty is not even an afterthought for them.
They’re the same ones who screwed it up before.
Absolutely.
...
Let’s talk about Ferguson. All I know about it is what I’ve been reading in the newspapers; I haven’t been out there. But I feel like there’s a lot more going on there than this one tragic killing.
Oh, absolutely. I mean, one, we know that this is a systemic thing. This thing has been going on—we can hardly get a word out of the administration in terms of the arbitrary police power.
...
The Obama administration has been silent. Completely silent. All of a sudden now, you get this uprising and what is the response? Well, as we know, you send out a statement on the death of brother Robin Williams before you sent out a statement on brother Michael Brown. The family asked for an autopsy at the Federal level, they hold back, so they [the family] have to go and get their own autopsy, and then the federal government finally responds. [Obama] sends Eric, Eric’s on the way out. Eric Holder’s going to be gone by December.
...
Because what happens is you got Eric Holder going in trying to create the calm. But you also got Al Sharpton. And when you say the name Al Sharpton, the word integrity does not come to mind. So you got low-quality black leadership. Al Sharpton is who? He’s a cheerleader for Obama.
...
There’s no prophetic integrity in his leadership.
One last thing, where are we going from here? What comes next?
I think a post-Obama America is an America in post-traumatic depression. Because the levels of disillusionment are so deep. Thank God for the new wave of young and prophetic leadership, as with Rev. William Barber, Philip Agnew, and others. But look who’s around the presidential corner. Oh my God, here comes another neo-liberal opportunist par excellence. Hillary herself is coming around the corner. It’s much worse. And you say, “My God, we are an empire in decline.” A culture in decay with a political system that’s dysfunctional, youth who are yearning for something better but our system doesn’t provide them democratic venues, and so all we have are just voices in the wilderness and certain truth-tellers just trying to keep alive some memories of when we had some serious, serious movements and leaders.
One last thought, I was talking to a friend recently and we were saying, if things go the way they look like they’re going to go and Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee and then wins a second term, the next time there’ll be a chance for a liberal, progressive president is 2024.
It’d be about over then, brother. I think at that point - Hillary Clinton is an extension of Obama’s Wall Street presidency, drone presidency, national surveillance, national security presidency. She’d be more hawkish than he is, and yet she’s got that strange smile that somehow titillates liberals and neo-liberals and scares Republicans. But at that point it’s even too hard to contemplate.
I know, I always like to leave things on a pessimistic note. I’m sorry. It’s just my nature.
It’s not pessimistic, brother, because this is the blues. We are blues people. The blues aren’t pessimistic. We’re prisoners of hope but we tell the truth and the truth is dark. That’s different.
»
- 35034 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
What is most amazing is tha tmany folks still support Obomber, which is really amazing.
Same crowd that is entranced by "booty", and thinks that free stuff is American life.
Monday's MSM sound bite will be Obama slipping into his fake black ghetto accent like Oprah and calling Brother West a High Yellow race baiting sellout
Obama calling anyone a high yella would be the pot calling the kettle a moolee.
Too Kind.
More Like, Brown-faced Cheney.
But if it has that much of Cheney but it is kind of brown, it also could be his shit.
Cornel West is a leftist and always has been. He's always warned that Obama is not what the MSM and the elites have been selling him as being. The Left has never liked, trusted, or even accepted Obama, going back to his days in the Illinois Legislature when he called for cautious steps toward privatizing Social Security, when it looked like that might happen and it would be opportunistic for a Democrat to support that.
That's why every time anyone calls Obama a Leftist, I cringe. He's not and he has never been. To say he is is to contribute to the corruption of our political language, which is very intentional, to prevent us from being able to call things by their right names and have coherent discussions.
You don't have to like anything about Cornel West or agree with him about anything. But he's always had Obama pegged for what he is, which is a cautious, center-right politician, who is completely owned by the Elites and panders to the center-left majority population of the US.
It all gets convoluted...is "progressive" left? I don't know...but it's been corporatism from early on...and Obama is another corporatist. The problem here is West wants to ignore progressivism's corporatist roots and history because he likes the sound of the label I think...like so many others.
It all gets convoluted...is "progressive" left? I don't know...but it's been corporatism from early on...and Obama is another corporatist. The problem here is West wants to ignore progressivism's corporatist roots and history because he likes the sound of the label I think...like so many others.
Obama is an enigma. To every American he is whatever you want him to be. The Black community is just discovering that fact and most do not know what to do.
They will however do what the Democratic Party tells them to do in the next election.
"Cornel West Blasts Obama Is A "Brown-Faced Clinton", A "Post-Traumatic Depression" Will Follow"
If one considers that they were both tools of the CIA, then he's correct.
CIA-Clinton's mandate was to feed the big corps the masses via NAFTA, and reinvigorate the right-wing, Republican sheeple support base to prep the way for the rise of the evangelical Christian supported neo-cons.
CIA- Obama's mandate is to feed the big corps the masses via Obamacare and reinvigorate the right-wing, Republican, neo-con, evangelical Christian support base for the return of the evangelical Christian supported neo-cons.
An American, not US subject.
The right and left take turns fucking Lady Liberty.
I couldn't have summarized it any better than that first paragraph.
The middle east is on fire. Over 500,000 people are displaced and Obama and Hillary walk free of any involvement. Where is the House of Representatives, who have the power to bring impeachment proceedings so we citizens can see what drives people of his and her ilk?Where is the American public who sit by while our country is being destroyed by a Nero? Wake up, for your own life is at risk.
The public is easily controlled by TV and Hollywood which are also watched over and controlled by the See Eyey Ate. I would bet 70% of ZH'ers still watch TV and Hollywood. If you do - you have no right to compalin.
also F the Pentagon and military who do Obama's bidding F them. Cowards.
Clinton was way blacker than 0bama.
They're all just puppets.
the brother dresses coffin ready, ask him.
Thomas Paine 1776 & NOW ! - Flanders-West-Hedges-Wolff-Left Forum 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NaP7NIGoao
This guy is not the only one who has spoken out. Read what Karim Abdul Jabar wrote in Time last week. Louis Farraken has also been saying this from the beginning.
What we have witnessed is the graying black establishment selling their less fortunate brothers and sisters on the other side of town up the river. Do you know what Holder was doing Monday? Busy holding conference calls with the national black and civil rights leadership. I wonder if any of those people had the balls to call him out.
And the hypocrisy that goes along with the whole exercise is nauseating.
Al Sharpton to the rescue.
Who said "If you go around a tree fast enough, you can fuck yourself."
Hard to tell whether to be concerned more with their venality or their incompetence.
Venality> Are you sure you're using that in the proper context?
I feel very sad for you/ You can't stand on your OWN GROUND! I know who you are/ Change your name every week and I'll find you! You can't hide from yourself!
Black Americans as a group do not have the will to oppose another black American. Racial identity is stronger than ethnic identity in other parts of the world.
When one race gives someone a 90+ % political support, you know that race trumps all. Political ideology, religion, economic status, etc., - matter not.
Your observation is not racist. It is human nature.
Obviously there are a few like this guy, willing to say WTF is going on here people?!!!
It is not just racial solidarity, it is also by group. You will notice that the gay community which is normally loud and outspoken about many different social issues, is stone silent.
This is the essence of rainbow fascism. Enlist all of the tribal leaders with the requisite squid pro quo.
Totally agree. I started noticing the anti-putin propaganda before Ukraine was in the news. It was pussy riot and putin as an oppressor of gay rights. There was a concerted effort to target certain progessive elements - which failed with me but succeeded with others.
T
That's not true. If Herman Cain or any other black republican had ran, they too would have received only a small percentage of the black vote, even against a white challenger.
Have not followed this West guy. This was all obvious prior to the last election.
Question: Did Mr West make statements like this during the last election when it mattered?
More commentators or talking heads are making milder negative comments about Obama (not other key Dem party memebers) now that it does not matter. If Obama could run for a third term most would not be speaking up now. All the sins of the Dem party during Obama's two terms will be blamed on Obama while the rest pretend to be unstained.
Are these people kicking Hitlery, no.
He was vociferous in his criticism of Obama prior to the election season. But I believe he toned it down when it mattered, and he openly admitted (see below) that he would vote for Obama despite calling him a Republitard and banker's bitch in only slightly more polite terms (that D/R false paradigm affliction can be more difficult than ebola for some people to get over).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/02/cornel-west-mitt-romney_n_14710...
http://www.vice.com/read/cornel-west-plans-to-vote-for-obama-in-november...
"he toned it down when it mattered, and he openly admitted (see below) that he would vote for Obama despite calling him a Republitard and banker's bitch"
Cornell showed his shallowness, cowardice and racism clearly.
The package had a picture of a brown face on it and the fool bigot bought it depite knowing the contents differed from the cover art..
The 2nd article is actually worth reading...
...
Right. But doesn’t criticizing Obama make all that bad stuff you just said more likely to happen?
I’m strategic. We have to tell that truth about a system that’s corrupt—both parties are poisoned by big money and tied to big banks and corporations. Speaking on that is a matter of intellectual integrity. American politics are not a matter of voting your moral conscience—if I voted my moral conscience it would probably be for Jill Stein. But it's strategic in terms of the actual possibilities and real options available for poor and working people.
So voting for Obama is good strategy given the realities of the world?
A Romney administration would be a catastrophic response to an already catastrophic condition. I still get in a lot of trouble with my left-wing comrades on this—that I would still support Obama winning while continuing to tell the truth about drones dropping bombs on innocent people, which I consider war crimes, about the Wall Street government, about the refusal to close Guantanamo, about [section] 1021 of the National Authorization Act where you can detain citizens without trial or even assassinate citizens based on the decisions of the executive branch. All of those things to me are morally obscene. It’s a matter of telling that truth, strategically. I think we have to ensure that we don’t have a takeover by conservative right-wing or we’re in a world of trouble.
What do you think of Romney as a job creator?
I’m not convinced of that at all. His career is one that’s tied to profits. It’s not a matter of creating jobs at all. It’s a matter of making big cash. Big cash. On the other hand, he might say, “Well, one of the ways I’m tied to profit is through job creation.” I think the profit maximization is primary and if you create jobs as a by-product, he would accept that. But the problem with Brother Mitt Romney is that I just don’t think he has the kind of integrity to make decisions and stick to them. The talk of him being a flip-flopper, there’s deep truth in that. I get the sense that he will almost say anything to win.
Give me an example.
I was in Massachusetts when he was governor. He governed and gave speeches that are qualitatively different than what he says now. And he thinks we’ll forget—that’s just not the case. I have Mormon friends who are very critical of Romney and others who are very supportive of him. I asked them, “Does this brother have a core?” And I received a very mixed response.
Mitt sucks. Obama sucks. When are you and Tavis Smiley going to announce a run for the presidency?
That’s all we need! [Laughs] No, I’m a revolutionary Christian whose calling is to try to tell the truth the best he can and bear witness to love before I die. All of that does not include being a politician. I do think it’s possible to be a progressive politician like Bernie Sanders, probably the American politician I have the most respect for. But that’s not my calling, not my lane—we all have various gifts and so forth…
...
Let’s say you got 100 days in the White House. What would you do?
If I had 100 days in the White House, my first legislation would be to decentralize the banks and empower community banks—in a democratic process though, I’m not talking about seizing property, I’m a libertarian on these issues. I'd try to convince people that the very notion of having banks that are too big too fail is a dangerous thing for any economy. That action would be connected to declaring a war on poverty, which would include a cutback on military spending and massive investments in jobs with a living wage, housing, quality education across the board, and re-doing the bridges and infrastructure and sewage systems.
Sounds like you’ve really thought this through.
If we could talk as much about justice as we do growth,we would have a different cultural atmosphere and political discourse. Everyone agrees on the very narrow political discourse of our day: We got to grow, we got to grow we grow, grow, grow, grow, grow! Well, you have impending ecological catastrophe, you have catastrophe of poverty, you have catastrophe of young people’s spiritual plight—and that’s a deep catastrophe—tied to addiction, tied to using revenge as a species of sweetness. This is the market driven soul-craft that permeates the culture.
...
Urban: Quite impressed with your above. It was extremely well written, well thought out, thank you.
I might quarrel a little about the 'Christian' part, though I think Christians and other like minded folk whether Chrisitian or otherwise desire the same thing; justice.
plus 1000-I think that's the appopriate symbol here on ZH for All Star content?
Thanks. I left religiosity in the quote to demonstrate that Cornell's approach is not founded in the stereotypical atheist leftism, not to insinuate that I would agree with his philosophical interpretation of Christian theology.
During the US election there were a number of "independent" people who succumbed to the temptation of either moral expediency or moral relativism, and advocated voting for Mitt Romney on ZH. I don't believe that a lot of those people realized that the exact same reasoning could be used to justify a vote for Obama.
I also think a lot of people on ZH would also be shocked by a hybrid Marxist-capitalist-Christian ideology that actually largely succeeded 30 years ago, and called for self reliance, fiscal responsibility and extricating a nation from the debt slavery of the IMF, World Bank and private bankers as well as the endless further indebtedness of purchasing the military industrial complex's wares while instead building domestic manufacturing capacity and trade surpluses. Unfortunately, the progenitor succumbed to the temptation of moral expediency and opted for a benevolent dictatorship, which is inherently incapable of endurance and proved that in addition to killing the revolutionary, that ideas can be killed, or at least buried beyond the reach of illiterate masses (I also don't think John Perkins ever gave Captain Thomas Sankara credit for the idea and term Perkins plagiarized). Then again, history is written by the victors, and the CIA and DGSE couldn't let the OAU run with the notion of odious debt and the Addis Ababa Club.
'
'
'
Somebody isn't being a team player, now are they?
•J•
V-V
Valarie will be calling.
" It’s like you’re looking for John Coltrane and you get Kenny G in brown skin".
That's quite a quote.
Pat Metheny would concur.
It's no wonder West got pimped out, since he still hasn't figured out that our current mess has nothing to do with free markets. That's true for all the Folks who voted for Obama. What is it going to take for them to wise up?
The left is completely unable to understand economics...I've noticed that truism all too often over the years. You ask them directly to give one example of a free market today and the turn stone faced...obfuscate a little and want to change the subject. We are dying from free markets they parrot...never once thinking about and testing the claim at all.
Brown faced Clinton...or Brown faces Bush?
No difference I guess.
Cornel for president!
Come on now, Cornel, Obama is not a fake progressive, he is the real thing. Just ask him and his die-hard support base. Global warfare, the police state, and corporate welfare are all high on the progressive agenda.
I thought the same thing...West is a good critic but he's always confused what he wants "progressive" to be and what it is...as defined by its racist, sexist, elitist history from the beginning.
youre an idiot....he sounds to me a Corporate/globalist/Republican ie Bush v.2
Yeah that's what I said. A modern progressive. Nearly indistiguishable from a neo-con. Get over it.
At least SOMEONE gets it! Obama is the most DECEITFUL Prez in history !
I love Dr. West.
Tells it like it is - no B.S. agenda.
As does Tavis Smiley! Obama can't stand them both; their truth shames him.....They campaigned for him....he invited Bill O'reilly and the Foxes to the WH...kept Cornell & Tavis at a distance. Obama is a pure opportunist, with a big ego and absolutely NO morals. I told my family so in the beginning when they were cheering him on....they mocked me. Since then, it is a forbidden topic of conversation.
10+ years ago when I read this guy I thought he was a whining idiot. He's been mugged and now he sees the light. My opinion of him has changed drastically. I like where he's going.
I always liked Cornel West as he always had a counterpoint to 'reality', however shaky ; maybe he was right, who knows.
Anyways, Cornel's vocabulary is so much ahead of mine, it hurts. Actually, his vocabulary and Conrad Black's are both scary. I think sometimes -as much as I admire both their writings -they take vocabulary to a stupid level;that, or I am too dumb?
Excellent!
One would think that there is no way that Hillary could possibly get elected. No one that I know; black, white, asian, hispanic, christian, muslim like her or want her anywhere in a position of power. Maybe the jews like her. She is one of them and so they can relate to her even though she has no values.
What I worry about is that we will have another non-election. The polls will not be closed. They vote will not even be started to be counted and the media will declare a winner. No one will have an oportunity to count the actual vote. It will be over, a done deal. And no one from either brand of politics will challenge the results ... because they all have skeletons and want to maintain their life. No one else will have the power to challenge the results.
We will continue to have non elections until the French revolution of 1789 comes to America. We need La Bastille and the guillotine!
Hmm, you do realize that 1789 happened because of 1776 don't you ?
We're looking to you, America, to start the next wave as well.
Somehow, I don't think she is even going to be nominated. I expect the great Obama subprime and equity bubble to crash and burn before the nomination is decided. 2016 will be a contest between leftwing and rightwing radicals.
Hillary is on board - I've seen it telegraphed on various media sites. She will "win" the next election unless there is some big upset to the electoral process in the US.
Honestly, not sure how to change things except to keep pushing for fair and transparent goverance and reminding everyone that goverance is a social contract.
Hey Cornel... SUCKAAAAH!!!
Come on now Cornel...Obama has unified Americans in one very important way.
Blacks can now be just as dissapointed in a President of their own race as many whites have been their whole lives.
All jokes aside...it's actually a very important point and IS progress.
Keep up all this divisive rhetoric, kids! "Cuz that's just what they - TPTB - want you to do. It's called divide and conquer. Read "The Prince" by Niccolo Machievelli. Jesus, read ANYTHING! I do get the idea that some commentators on this site DO NOT READ BOOKS. CLASSIC BOOKS. Like "Hearts of Darkness," by Joseph Conrad. Or Nietsche's "All too Human." Read some Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pablo Neruda, T.S. Eliot, especially, "Wasteland", Gore Vidal's "Justinian," etc. Not tryin' to criticize - I ain't no better than anybody else - but I believe in the human characteristic intellectual curiousity. I knew Ray Bradbury personally and his best advice to me was: "Read. Just read. Read everything." Cornel West is a good man and he "gets it." Read about his adventures with Larry Summers at Harvard. It's a travesty.
Robnume - I wish I could give you 100+ green arrows. a voice of sanity in the midst of a howling mob - which is what ZH has largely ( of course not you dear reader) has turned into.
well said! thank you
Yes, yes! My favorite by Marquez is The General In His Labyrinth, but all Marquez is great. Some other favorites: World On Fire, Last Days of the Incas, Silent Coup, and Plausible Denial. Tragedy and Hope, but that's 1300 pages. H.L. Mencken. Michael Lewis. And of course, Epictetus.
When I saw the pic of Dr. West below the headline, my first thought was.... Isn't that Linc from The Mod Squad?
But seriously... This guy nails it!
The quote:
"Eric Holder won’t touch the Wall Street executives; they’re his friends. He might charge them some money. They want to celebrate. This money is just a tax write-off for these people. There’s no accountability. No answerability. No responsibility that these people have to take at all."
So the Banksters commit the greatest, grandest financial crime in the history of the world (and get away with it!), and everyone else on the planet suffers as a result. Higher taxes and costs (inflation). No wonder that the US government has lost any credibility with those that have figured it out.
How safe can you feel when you know a morally bankrupt mafia is in charge of your country?
It’s a sad thing. It’s like you’re looking for John Coltrane and you get Kenny G in brown skin.
OMG! I like this guy!!! Mr. West for the first" real" black prez.
yeah i'd take coltraine over kenny g any day of the week.
Kenny G aint even close at holding Coltrane's jock strap. He is purely in the grade school league of watered down please the mediocre mainstream type jazz musician.
robnume:Read about his adventures with Larry Summers at Harvard
How much $$$ did Summers lose for harvards endowment? I forget, but it was quite a bit.
The thing about the wall street "fines" is that it all ends up being tax writeoff. That's the problem with going after the criminals via company. A tax writeoff is the same as a non-profit in the end... the cost is born by society. In the case of a non-profit, the notion is that the public should subsidize it due to some tangible net benefit to society. When the criminals get a fine they can write off, the courts are essentially saying "what they did is a benefit to the public". So it's all "settlement" and they never admit wrong doing, so it's not even a cost of doing business issue. It's not even a cost. Criminals get to hide behind a piece of paper. FUNNY IDEA HERE... what about going after the fuckers personally? The fuckers who pulled this shit should be begging on the streets with nothing to their name and banned for life from the industry in every single capacity, stuck on probation for 99 years with zero way to leave the country. Let them experience first hand the misery they created and let them stew in it with any tiny bit of money that comes their way seized. Just set that example and the fuckers will think twice in the future.
But no, such a fate is not in the cards for wall street criminals, that fate is reserved if you bounce a check, steal a candy bar, or happen to be the wrong color in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Non-profits have zero taxation of non-profit revenue, all of it.
A deduction, as in a big fine, merely reduces the revenue, it does not become a write off beyond the marginal revenue tax rate for a given entity.
If you are a non-profit and sell 100 billion in cookies, you pay zero taxes on that 100 billion whether you cost account it down to zero or not. This costs the tax payers 20 billion @20%.
If you are a for-profit and sell 100 billion in cookies and you are fined 50 billion, it just reduces your taxable revenue to 50 billion. If your rate is 20% (sake of argument), then you did not cost the taxpayers 50 billion, you cost them 10 billion.
In 2016, once again we will have a non-election. Both candidates will have apparent, but not real, differences. Both will be puppets of BIS and the globalists, turning the USA into another third world extraction zone. It should have been immediately obvious when Geithner and Summers were appointed that we had been taken, big time.
True. After seeing what they did to Ron Paul, no outsider will ever be allowed.
Im not voting again, that way I get less angry at the results.
Last election in SF our state rep Leeland Yee had been indicted for money laundering, gun running, etc.
It was too late to take him off the ballot for Sect. of State, (which runs the elections) and he still got 12% of the vote!
Someone said "well, if we are going to have a crook, at least he likes guns" lol
Yeah they didn't give RP any respect at all but Ron put up nary a fight. I'm still trying to figure that one out. Think I know and don't like it. However if there is anybody on the ticket worth my vote, they get my vote whether they have a chance in hell of winning or not.
Hillary and Jeb Bush -if somehow people get smart, electronic voting fraud will kick in. We have no Democracy. The republic is almost dead -it will take a miracle to resurrect it. But there is still feint hope. The great reset and civil war will likley have to occur first.
This software system likes my posts so much it has taken to always presenting them in duplicate :(
Americans are super-fucked. Good luck.
So what. Too late, Messiah is long since re-elected. Cornel is just jumping ahead of the parade. It's safe to criticize now. But he kept his trap shut and marched during the election year, didn't he.
Cornel is as gutless as the rest. Just covering his ass like any scholastic holding a tenure and commanding speaking engagement fees.
Cornel West on Tavis Smiley's State of the Black Nation in 2008 was leary of Obama. He said "i want to know what kinds of strings he has attached. Is it Jewish money, what money is it"
Smiley had doubts too and the Obama machine pounced on both of them and beat them into submission, calling into Smileys radio program bashing him.
Obama 08 was a color revolution
In this one instance, Cornel West pretty much nailed it but I can never forget how Thomas Sowell summed up Cornel West, " . . . so transparently a huckster."
Ohh GAWD, another beard to DE-FACE >
So I'm looking at this chart, aud/usd. I'm also looking at 2 year sovereign European notes/(generally) I'm seeing the rates rising.
I'm liking aud/usd because it's forming a nice right shoulder. The neck line/ .93 and some change.
It's a Jerky thing. The swissy hedge/
Great interview.
There’s a lot of disillusionment now. My liberal friends included.
Well if it needs 6 years for self-declared "liberals" to come to that conclusion -and all competing groups are not better-, we're definitely otally ucked.
SO WHEN DO THE CHICKEN SHIT WHITEY GOYIM START THEIR FERGUSON RIOT? WHAT IT TAKE? DOES YELLEN HAVE TO PERSONALLY GO DOOR TO DOOR KIDNAP AND RAPE EACH OF YOUR CHILDREN THATS WHAT GETS YOU OUT IN THE STREETS? RIDICULOUS...YOU WOULD RATHER SIT ON ZEROHEDGE WITH YOUR FAT LAZY WHITEY GOYIM ASS AND CRITIQUE AND PICK APART PIECE BY PIECE SOME STATEMENTS BY A OLD STRANGE BLACK MAN! AND ACT AS IF YOU ARE A JUDGE OF HIS CHARACTER WHEN BOTTOM LINE IS HE HAS BEEN ON T.V TO HAVE HIS WORDS HEARD YOURS JUST ARE READ BY SUM ON A WEBSITE FILLED WITH FRUSTRATED, IMPOTENT SHIT TALKERS WHICH CASE IN POINT ALL THEY DO IS TALK OR TYPE RATHER. "idiots"
@ Hellone I think it's safe to assume you're " Bat Shit" Crazy?
You'll fit in perfectly at Zero Hedge... :-:
GO AWAY!
So why don't you just go away ?
Pimp: "I take care a' you baby."
Hooker: "Dass what you said back in '68! Jus' LOOK at me now muthafucka!"
- Actual dialogue from Melba (The Pelvis") Mickelson, 59 from Summerset, Ok. to Strom ('THe Hammer") Armstrong, 106, in Palm Springs last Saturday night.
Relax Corney....don't get your boxers in a wad...Barry is going to throw Angelo Mozilo under the bus and have Eric Holder drive the bus back and forth a few times and the adoring press will make everyone feel better. Lloyd and Jamie will go back into the woodwork again for a couple of quarters and then they will be back being fondled on CNBC and it will be game on!
Mr. Cornell is meerly confirming what us Republicans have known since '08. Did the rest of ya'll really believe that hope and change bullshit? Really?
And the republican candidate would have done better? No.
yeah it was rigged man
Did ya'll really think McCain would have brought that "change you can believe in?" He was promising the same empty, meaningless bullshit as Obama. Get rid of that little "left-right" misconception you have. These are all neoliberal globalist bankers, lawyers and military brass who are attempting to control all of humanity and nothing less.
semper, military brass are the lowest rung - so stupid and chosen for being corrupt and stupid. every pretorian guard has within it's grasp the power of the gun, but they sell out for crumbs and pats on the head..and a fine retirement package. kissinger showed the contempt the elite have for military fools: look up the quote.
long ago our military should have stepped in and stopped the CFR and NWO BS, but they dishonored those who fought for what they were conditioned to think of as America and freedom..what sad disillusioned fools I should know, I was one.
Mccain would have nuked Russia/China years ago. The man is truly criminally insane.
Too bad the repubs didn't know sh*t from 00 - 08. Cheering on Bush/Rumsfeld/Gonazles/Rice - they could do no wrong as they shredded the constitution to pieces.
As long the red/blue team fiasco goes on, we will continue the downward spiral into the abyss.
I hope your comments do not reflect a belief that Bush, McCain or Romney were any better. Or that Jeb Bush is the answer to our problems.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, I love it! This is the end of the Baby boomers and their phricking ideals! Just remember how he loved the O in 2008 and now he is jumping ship! He obviously saw the coming train wreck and wants to save his tookas! Smart idea since there will most likkely be nothing after 2016 left of the country after this guy gets through with it.
He speaks the truth. Too bad people like Brother West will never be allowed to run for office by TPTB.
We have been betrayed by more than a few so-called "leaders" at this point. Since Nixon, there is almost a universal expectation that our leaders will brazenly violate the law to achieve their own ends. Unfortunately, legalized corruption, tax evasion and corporate influence are now pervasive features throughout ALL of global society.
America is in decline, and West is right.
The history has kept showing that when reforms from top down is impossible revolutions are inevitable.
If he leaves the middle ground he is finished...like JFK.
Cue: Cornel West being hauled into the caboose of the 500-car Truth Train
"Welcome aboard, Prof. West. Better late than never..."
While a step in the right direction, he is way too naive.
Some people still think that the president has some power. He does not. The president is a puppet chosen for us who has zero say in what happens. These guys still think that things can be fixed by electing a president! Hilarious. :D :D :D :D
The democratic process will not be restored with an election.
West in a brief moment of clarity.....
and/OR.....
ez to look back fool, CAUSE YOU AND YOUR FELLOW IDIOTS PROMOTED, EXCUSED, COVERED UP FOR, CRIED RACIST AT....ANYTHING REMOTELY NEGATIVE ABOUT BARRY SOETERO FUCKBAMA, THE ANTI-AMERICAN INDO-HAWIIAN, CONNECTICUT PROOF OF SPORTIN, SHADOWY PAST COMMUNITY DOUCHEBAG.
THIS.....TWISTS IT AND COVERS HIS OWN ASS WHEN HE SPOUTS;
"The thing is, [Obama] posed as a progressive.."
NO FOOL....YOU THOUGHT HE WAS....AND THOUGHT HE WAS MUCH MORE THAN A 'PROGRESSIVE"....(BRILLIANT, SMART, A HEALER...ALL THAT SHIT)
SO FUCK OFF FOOL....
Send this buck-toothed wonderboy to North Korea and let him enjoy the fruits of his ideology.
Cornel West = Race Hustler = Purveyor of Anger = Wasted Life
i prefer to think of clinton as the white obama
As long as Americans gladly lap up the propaganda feces that comes out of his mouth it will continue. All policies now are made and enforced with the underprivileged black man in mind. The irony is they are too stupid to realize using the lowest common denominator as a social marker for change just makes the system more corrupt and puts more blacks out of work.
Amen, my brother (in thought, not arms).
more black chip on shoulder induced warp view ......... it took 6 years for libtards to start to smell the shit in the ugly baby's diaper.... obumbler is the baby who shit his diaper 6 years ago and it keeps leaking out all over the globe and the main stream media covers up, obfuscates and double talks and libtards eat it up witha spoon.... bobbleheads yes we can forward..... wait til obumblercare really kicks in , that will be wonderful for libtards ... like that deductible??? and wait til it knocks the ussa back into recession/de[pression and halts all economic endeavours.... eat shit and die
" It's like you're looking for John Coltrane and got Kenny G in brown skin ".
That is an amazingly ironic statement and is spot-on while being funny.
I greatly respect Dr. West. Being able to utter this quote shows how well-rounded and thoughtful he really is.
He called it right. There is no true black leadership. They are all just in it for the money. A leaderless minority lost in post civil rights America. That is why there is so much turmoil.
Why should the blacks have effective leadership that actually represents their interests?
I can't think of anyone who does, except possibly Israel-firsters.
The ones that talk sense and provide leadership are people like Louis Farrakhan.
Welcome to the party, Cornell.
Maybe this will allow non-blacks to able to criticise this loser without people of colour (gag-what bullshit) yelling ''racist!''.
Here is a good one.
Way back in 2007 this guy pops up and my now deceased buddy looked up this guys voting record. Beyond pathetic, present. Ok, fair enough. We think he is bad news but give him the benefit of the doubt...until his first presser after the election.
Oh.my.fucking.god.
I was on the phone to him within the hour. We both saw the same thing.
Namely, that Obama was full of shit, had absolutely no idea what he was doing (like Perot's VP), was making it up, and most importantly the Press Corps knew it but could not call him on it because he is black.'I used to work in the beltway, and knew people - but everyone in that town does it is nothing special. The press corps new it instantly, the vibe and sound in the room telegraphed to everyone with IQ and experience exactly what was going on, and the past 7 years have been precisely as one would expect, if one had observational perspicacity and watched that first TV press conference.
I could hear it in the room, the press knew this guy was incompetent and an imposter on day one, but because he is black...we could not speak the truth.
He has been critical of O for at least a couple years. What, it isnt news until you see it on ZH?
I think he is probably under a lot of pressure from inside the academic community and maybe from elsewhere to not be critical, good on you Dr. West.
Great comment on "Trying to find John Coltrane but only ending up with Kenny G in Brown Skin". I got a kick out of that line. Kenny G music is definitely middle of the road dont rock the establishment type. Nothing earth shattering or breakthrough coming off that sax. Not even close.
This definitely sums up Obozo. Then again it could be worst, if McCain would have gotten into the throne, we would all have been vaporized like 3-5 years ago. As that Kickstarter WW3 project video sells the war will not only hit major countries it would definitely include Cincinatti. Heck as long as there is free wifi the sheeple continues to float on.
If Hitlary follows up Obozo, the US is finished. If WW3 doesnt eradicate human kind, I can see that post 2020 US will be in hyperinflationary state that would lead to the break up of the empire. The USSA will finally revert back to the US with only the original 13 states as members. The others are off on their own. Only at this point when the pitchforks and guillotine finally cleans up the system that real economic growth should return.
When in the last Matrix movie I saw Cornell West as a member of the ruling council of Zion and a bunch of hip-hop minorities gyrating the night away at an underworld Sodom and Gomorrah/ Ferguson, I cheered for the machines.
The only good thing about tenure: Being able to say anything you damn well please without fear of losing yer meal-ticket!
The only good thing about tenure: Being able to say anything you damn well please without fear of losing yer meal-ticket!
[EDIT:] Arrgghh! Just what's going with firefox vs ZeroHedge.com??