Disgraceful. The financial sector has pilfered middleclass America three times in the last several years. They created constructs to inflate the economy robbing us blind on the way up. When their legally corrupt financial instruments failed, they forced us to bail them out. After bailing them out they refuse to put these monies to work in America based on false narratives.

When will we as American get that we are continuously being snowed by these titan of finance? When will America drop its gullibility  index and support not only PINO (progressives in name only) but real progressives that work for the well being of all.

I just wrote the book “As I See It: Class Warfare Is The Only Resort To Right Wing Doom” that details these issues and provide a framework that could be a solution. The books home page is at http://bit.ly/cZbZad. Take a look at it.

A hedge fund manager’s latest letter to investors has caused something of a stir among financial pundits, drawing comments from Paul Krugman, Andrew Ross Sorkin and others.

The letter, which was penned by Third Point chief Daniel Loeb and first unearthed by Bess Levin at Dealbreaker, contains a host of grandiose, introductory quotes from the likes of Ronald Reagan, Thomas Jefferson and President Obama.

Loeb’s main point of contention, however, seems to be with the president. Loeb, who Sorkin notes is a Democrat and was one of Obama’s biggest supporters during the 2008 election, contends that the Obama administration "is operating from a playbook quite different from the one we are used to as American business people; a thought that chills all participants in these free markets."

Here’s more from Loeb:

As every student of American history knows, this country’s core founding principles included non-punitive taxation, Constitutionally-guaranteed protections against persecution of the minority, and an inexorable right of self-determination. Washington has taken actions over the past months like the Goldman suit that seem designed to fracture the populace by pulling capital and power from the hands of some and putting it in the hands of others. For example, a well-intentioned government program gone awry is the new CARD Act that restricts banks from repricing interest rates on borrowers who fail to meet their revolving credit obligations. The effect of this legal prohibition has been to force the banks to raise the interest rate paid by all borrowers, to compensate for losses they are now being forced to take on delinquent borrowers. The effect is a redistribution of wealth from people who pay their debts on time to those who do not.

Sorkin seized on Loeb’s comments in his latest column this morning, offering the letter as evidence of Obama’s increasingly strained relationship with Wall Street and its big-pocketed donors. (Which prompted Krugman to note that the financiers were acting like "spoiled kids" and that the the most stringent parts of the financial reform bill were killed.)

Loeb, however, didn’t entirely let Wall Street off the hook for the financial collapse:

Many people see the collapse of the sub-prime markets, along with the failure and subsequent rescue of many banks, as failures of capitalism rather than a result of a vile stew of inept management, unaccountable boards of directors, and overmatched regulators not just asleep, but comatose, at the proverbial switch. When we hear the chorus of former executives and regulators exclaim that the crisis was "impossible to see coming", while at the same time walking away with millions or going on to greater levels of responsibility in government, it is both puzzling and demoralizing. It is easy to see why so many people have concluded that the entire system is rigged.

At The Baseline Scenario, James Kwak was quick to point out holes in Loeb’s implication that capitalism merely needs better participants, not tougher regulation. Here’s Kwak:

"…putting the blame on certain categories of people does not somehow absolve ‘capitalism.’ Our capitalist system-which until recently we considered the best, most pure version in the world-allowed incompetent people to become executives (and to run hedge funds), allowed incompetent people to become directors and to avoid any responsibility for their actions, and allowed companies to swamp regulators with battalions of high-priced lawyers and lobbyists.

Story continues below

Daniel Loeb, Hedge Fund Manager, Blasts Obama Administration’s ‘Redistribution Of Wealth’

While I give the president kudos for calling out the Republicans on passing the tax cuts for small businesses I think he is way behind the curve in being interventionist in the economy. The titans of capitalism have failed America and it is now time that we use Keynesian economic principles to stabilize this economy. While most have been indoctrinated into believing that big government is bad the reality is big corporations is what is bad as their is no accountability to the masses.

Our indoctrination is simply exacerbated by those who want to promote small government being so bad at it. I’ve written a  book that I sure hope many read to put some perspective on the level of indoctrination and the results thereof. Please check it out here.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama exhorted Congress on Monday to make passing a long-languishing small business aid package its first order of business when it returns next month from its summer break.

"I ask Senate Republicans to drop the blockade," Obama said in the Rose Garden after meeting with his economic advisers.

Acknowledging that the economy still remains extremely fragile, the president said he’d also have other specific ideas in the days ahead.

He mentioned extending Bush tax cuts due to expire this year for households making under $250,000 a year, upping the nation’s investment in clean energy, rebuilding more roads and highways and tax cuts designed to keep jobs in the U.S.

"My economic team is hard at work identifying additional measures that could make a difference in both promoting growth and hiring in the short term and increasing our economy’s competitiveness in the long term," he said.

In a week likely to be dominated by foreign policy, Obama is trying to show he’s still minding the economy after his 10-day vacation in Martha’s Vineyard.

A string of weak economic reports in recent weeks has fed fears that the economy would fall back into recession, only slightly offset by Monday’s government report that consumer spending had increased in July after four down months.

"Every single day, I’m pushing this economy forward, repairing the damage that’s been done to the middle class over the past decade and promoting the growth we need to get out people back to work," Obama said in his statement.

Obama said action on the package of small business tax cuts and credit incentives is "one thing we know that we should do" as soon as possible. Republicans have been blocking the bill, calling it misguided.

However, Obama said it was being "held up by a partisan minority that won’t even let it get to a vote."

Obama Calls Out Senate Republicans: Pass Small Business Bill

This is how an interview of a president is conducted. No softballs are running from issues; just matter of fact. Whether you agree with the president or not you ask the questions and let him answer. You follow up if you feel he skated the question.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Nothing is more important to Republican politicians these days than jobs and the deficit—at least according to Republican politicians. As House Minority Leader John Boehner put it in a "major economic address" on Tuesday, President Obama is "doing everything possible to prevent jobs from being created" while refusing to do anything at all "about bringing down the deficits that threaten our economy." Elect Republicans in November, Boehner assured his audience, and we will put an end to this insanity.

There’s only one problem with Boehner’s message: so far, the things that Republicans have said they want to do won’t actually boost employment or reduce deficits. In fact, much the opposite. By combing through a variety of studies and projections from nonpartisan economic sources, we here at Gaggle headquarters have found that if Republicans were in charge from January 2009 onward—and if they were now given carte blanche to enact the proposals they want to—the projected 2010–2020 deficits would be larger than they are under Obama, and fewer people would probably be employed. 

The math is pretty straightforward. Let’s start with the deficit. According to the Congressional Budget Office, Obama’s stimulus plan is projected to increase budget deficits over the next decade by $814 billion. That’s a big number. But Republicans opposed the legislation refused to provide an alternative, and now insist that it’s been a total failure. So let’s be generous and subtract it from their side of the equation. The Obama deficit: $814 billion. The GOP deficit: $0.

Next up is health-care reform. Obama passed it; Republicans want to repeal it "lock, stock, and barrel." The reason, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell explained in July, is that "we all know that it’s going to increase the deficit." Unfortunately for the GOP, though, nonpartisan experts tend to disagree. Just this Tuesday, for example, the CBO released a letter saying that Obama’s health-care-reform legislation would "reduce the projected budget deficit by $30 billion over the next 10 years,” while repealing the law would generate "an increase in deficits … of $455 billion … over that [same] period." Factor those figures into the equation and the Obama deficit falls to $784 billion. The GOP deficit, meanwhile, rises to $455 billion. Getting warmer.

The final piece of the puzzle is the Bush tax cuts. Obama wants to extend them for the 95 percent of taxpayers making less than $250,000 a year; Republicans want to extend them for everybody. How will these extensions affect the deficit? Glad you asked. According to data compiled by The Washington Post, "the Democratic proposal would add about $3 trillion to the deficit during the next decade, while the GOP plan would cost $3.7 trillion." That brings the total Obama deficit to $3.784 trillion over 10 years, and its GOP counterpart to—drumroll, please—$4.155 trillion.

CONTINUED

Estimates Say Fewer Jobs, Larger Deficits if Republicans Were in Charge – Newsweek

To the enlightened Glenn Beck is a caricature, someone so dumb and intellectually lacking that we do not take him seriously. Looking at the video a second time got me a bit worried. After-all, Americans tend to be gullible and if this guy gets traction outside his echo chamber he could become a force. We take him lightly at our peril.

Lets have right size government with competence. The way to do that is to get intelligent policy wonks instead of demagogues with good sounding sound bites that accomplish nothing.

New video released by the Obama administration contradicts Governor Christie’s account of why New Jersey failed to receive a $400 million dollar educational grant in the Race To The Top program.  Earlier today after days of finger pointing, Christie fired New Jersey’s State Education Commissioner Bret Schundler after Schundler refused to resign.
It is looking like Christie’s comments the other day slamming big government and the Obama administration lack credibility after a new video shows New Jersey officials being asked by the selection committee for budget numbers not once but twice.  Both times they couldn’t come up with an answer.
Via Blue Jersey:

It turns out the United States Department of Education keeps video of the presentations of Race to the Top applicants. And that video, obtained by Star Ledger (that’s it, below) directly contradicts Gov. Christie’s claim that Washington bureaucrats were at fault for not letting NJ just fix a basic error in the application.

Excerpt of N.J.’s Race to the Top interview shows officials with no budget answer

Does anybody in Washington, D.C. have a lick of common sense? Pick up the phone and ask us for the number. – - Gov. Christie

Actually, Christie’s characteristic bluster aside, the video reveals that the NJ team was asked directly for that information, and they struggled to answer, and couldn’t provide it. In fact, they apparently never provided it.

CONTINUED

Excerpt of N.J.’s Race to the Top interview shows officials with no budget answer

The Urban Politico: Governor Chris Christie Apparently Caught In Lie Over "Race To The Top" Funding

Ken Mehlman, who headed the Republican National Committee between 2005 and 2007, has come out in an interview with the Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder:

Mehlman arrived at this conclusion about his identity fairly recently, he said in an interview. He agreed to answer a reporter’s questions, he said, because, now in private life, he wants to become an advocate for gay marriage and anticipated that questions would be asked about his participation in a late-September fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the group that supported the legal challenge to California’s ballot initiative against gay marriage, Proposition 8.

"It’s taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life," Mehlman said. "Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I’ve told my family, friends, former colleagues, and current colleagues, and they’ve been wonderful and supportive. The process has been something that’s made me a happier and better person. It’s something I wish I had done years ago."

Former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman Comes Out: I’m Gay

I expect this will be an excellent book. It seems as it will draw Taliban & the American Right Wing parallels that many think of but refuse to articulate. If Markos HuffPo piece is indicative of what the book covers, it should be a bestseller. Does not hurt that it has the word “sex” in it.

For the past nine years, I’ve been told that I want the terrorists to win.

That’s funny. Why would I want the radical jihadists to win? Indeed, on issue after issue, there is no daylight between the views of radical jihadists and the American radical right. Fact is, I loathe jihadists for the exact same reasons I hate the modern conservative movement — because whether it’s their violent outlook, or their views on women and gays, or their hostility to knowledge and science, or their fear of pop culture, they are essentially cut from the same
controlling, ideological cloth.

As obvious as this comparison might be, the accusation that liberals and jihadists share common cause has persisted, which is why I wrote my new book, American Taliban: How Sex, Sin and Power Bind Jihadists to the Radical Right.

Conservatives haven’t reacted well to the book. Actually, they haven’t reacted well to the title of the book, because none of them have read it. (Not that they’ve ever let ignorance get in the way of declaring something evil before.) But to the rational among us, the comparison is incontrovertible:

1. Theocracy

Mixing missionary zeal with government is always combustible, threatening freedom of thought, of religion, and of association. Such repression is obvious and deplorable in much of the Islamic world, where centuries-old Buddha statutes get razed by the Taliban because it offends their sensibilities. Yet such intolerance is also a hallmark of the American Taliban, whether it’s their opposition to a Islamic community center two blocks from Ground Zero in Manhattan, or Glenn Beck asking Rep. Keith Ellison, one of just two Muslims in Congress, "I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, ‘Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.

CONTINUED

Markos Moulitsas: How Sex, Sin and Power Bind Jihadists to the Radical Right

Mediate’s Colby Hall has a new report today claiming that progressive media watchdog group Media Matters was never "serious" about putting up the funds to run an ad on Fox News about News Corp’s $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association (RGA), pointing to the fact that Media Matters refused to edit its ad to meet Fox News’ requests. But in an interview with the Huffington Post, Vice President of Research and Communications for Media Matters for America Ari Rabin-Havt said that those accounts are completely false.

The idea behind the Media Matters ad was to bring viewers’ attention to the political activities of News Corp, which is the Rupert-Murdoch run parent company of Fox News. According to Media Matters, Fox News has devoted just 17 seconds of airtime to the organization’s RGA donation, despite extensive coverage by other outlets. The group attempted to make the ad as straightforward as possible, to make it harder for Fox to reject it. View the original ad here. Fox News, however, took issue with some of the copy of the ad. Here are the changes the network requested, as outlined in an e-mail from the media buyer to Media Matters:

CONTINUED

Fox News Rejects Media Matters Ad Highlighting Its $1 Million GOP Donation, Admits News Corp Opposes ‘Democratic Candidates’

If Jon Stewarts keeps this up he is going to be taken more seriously than mainstream media news and cable news. He has more truth and analysis in his satire than a large percentage of news we are seeing all day.

To my great liberal friends, it is imperative that we continue to push these snippets virally to combat the volume of misinformation FoxNews and Right Wing talk radio is able to generate. We do not need to become an echo chamber of truth within ourselves but we must engage and enlighten. A group of folks who know the truth basking in their “truthness” does nothing to be a part of the solution to rebuilding this country from the disaster casted upon us over the last 30 years.