Who is Serving who?
In principle, I care about the Democratic Party. I call myself a Democrat. I separate the politics from the principles though. In principle, we care about the same things. In politics, not so much. Sadly, the politics has become some sort of 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' horror show.
The insidious part is they will still play the game, say the right buzz words, make sweeping statements and propose legislation that appears to be on the right track until you read the fine print or all the compromise amendments. Or the legislation that was so great was actually repealed or watered down to be all but meaningless a year later.
Interesting how, over the last 20 years, the poor and middle-class have got poorer and the rich are not just wealthy but mega-wealthy.
By HRC's own account, they went from "dead broke" in 2001 (not really )
to having hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank in little more than 10 years.
That, until very recently, it was not considered insider trading for members of congress to invest in companies in a manner that will benefit them most, depending how they vote on a particular bill. FYI, they have, both Democrats and teapublicans. The STOCK Act was meant to curb it and was signed with great fanfare and a full room in 2013 but was mostly defanged in a new bill that was signed into law by PBO little more than a year later to an empty room and little acknowledgement.
Goal post moving and inconsistent funding when it comes to alternative energy R&D, climate change denial and manufacturers falsified fuel efficiency standards. The rich keep getting richer but the poor and middle-class keep footing the bill. With our money our health and our standard of living.
I could go on for pages but most of you could care less about what I have to say if you are even still reading at this point.
At the end of the day, it boils down to one point for me:
It's easy to talk about the virtues of compromise when you are not the one being compromised.
= new reply since forum marked as read
These two make millions off UBS, thanks to Phil Gramm and their work repealing Glass-Steagall and stuff.
UBS! UBS! UBS!
per Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism, April 28, 2016:
But even allowing for the fact that some and probably most of the gains were real, you’ll see Clinton try to sell a Big Lie: that productivity gains were tied to increased worker prosperity. As numerous commentators pointed out, that story had stopped being true as of roughly 1976. Businesses once did share the benefits of productivity gains with workers, but as labor bargaining power weakened, kept it for themselves. Clinton continues with his canards, praising “open borders” as keeping inflation low. The mechanism by which inflation is contained is by restricting wage growth. A prosperous, full employment economy will feature strong growth in pay levels, and will at some point lead to pricing pressure (mind you, profit levels in the US are now so far outside historical norms that businesses could go a long way in increasing wages if they weren’t so greedy). So his low inflation story is again at odds with his effort to depict everything as rosy for average workers.
SNIP...
The large point is the Clintons have been loyal followers of the Robert Rubin school of thinking, that bankers should run the economy, not just ours but everywhere. And he and his acolytes have been extremely successful in promoting finance-friendly policies around the world. And despite the wreckage of the global financial crisis, there has been little change in either the fealty to neoliberal ideology or the power of financiers. But both are seen as less and less legitimate by broader society, which is a key first step in reducing their influence.
Funny how many "fathers and mothers" the repeal of Glass Steagall had before the crash it caused. Guess who paid the $24 trillion it cost?
Wars Without End. Millions tossed from homes. Gig Economy and McJobs Only.
It's not just American Democracy, it's a Planet Run By Banksters and Warmongers.
Thank you!
