Federal Reserve Rains Money On Corporate America — But Main Street Left High And Dry

Shahien Nasiripour

Huffington Post

Bill Gross will be one of the few to benefit from the Federal Reserve’s announcement this afternoon.

The legendary money manager, who oversees more than $1.2 trillion at Pacific Investment Management Co., stands to profit off the plan hatched by the nation’s central bank. The Fed announced that it will buy between $850 to $900 billion of U.S. government debt, also known as Treasuries, through June to spur the recovery. Over the coming months, the Fed will then communicate its specific plans well ahead of any such purchases, allowing wealthy investors and firms a chance to buy those assets first so they can sell it back to the Fed at a profit. Folks like Gross will be the biggest beneficiaries.

When it comes to helping Wall Street and corporate America, the Federal Reserve spares no expense.

It expanded its authority and bailed out securities and insurance firms. It tethered the main interest rate to zero. It more than doubled its balance sheet to $2.3 trillion by purchasing mortgage-linked securities and U.S. government debt. To arrest the free-falling economy and jolt it back to life, the nation’s central bank has engaged in an unprecedented campaign to ensure banks have cash and corporations access to credit.

Continue reading Banks Steal Another $1 Trillion after Buying the Election →

As reported by http://masscare.org/

Massachusetts voters have, for the second straight election, overwhelmingly affirmed their support for single payer health reform by turning in majority ‘Yes’ votes in all fourteen districts where local single payer ballot questions appeared yesterday.

The ballots spanned 80 different cities and towns in a state of 351 municipalities, winning in every city and town reporting results so far except two.

Five of the districts backing single payer reform yesterday voted for Scott Brown in last year’s special senate election, which was largely seen as a referendum on national health reform. This shows that the goal of improved and expanded Medicare for All is supported by a diverse range of communities across the state.

Continue reading Massachusetts Voters: YES to Medicare for All Referendum, YES to Democratic Candidates →

ABC DROPS Andrew Breitbart From Election Night Coverage

UPDATE: Andrew Breitbart spoke to Politico about ABC’s decision to remove him from its Election Night coverage. Breitbart said that ABC had shown “cowardice” and had bowed to “left-wing pressure…they know they can do it at any time and any place and ABC will bow to pressure.”

ORIGINAL POST: ABC News announced Tuesday that it is dropping controversial blogger Andrew Breitbart from its Election Night coverage.

The network announced late last week that Breitbart, who made headlines for his role in the Shirley Sherrod affair, would be a guest during its coverage of the midterm election results. After howls of protest from outside commentators and reports of dissension from within ABC’s own newsroom, the network sought to make it clear that Breitbart would only appear in an online forum and would never be seen on any television broadcast.

In response, Breitbart posted internal emails sent to him by ABC producers on his website. He claimed that the emails showed that he would, in fact, be appearing on the air during the network’s Election Night broadcast.

On Tuesday, ABC’s executive producer for digital news, Andrew Morse, released a letter he had sent to Breitbart, informing him that he was being dropped from its coverage:

Dear Mr. Breitbart,We have spent the past several days trying to make clear to you your limited role as a participant in our digital town hall to be streamed on ABCNews.com and Facebook. The post on your blog last Friday created a widespread impression that you would be analyzing the election on ABC News. We made it as clear as possible as quickly as possible that you had been invited along with numerous others to participate in our digital town hall. Instead of clarifying your role, you posted a blog on Sunday evening in which you continued to claim a bigger role in our coverage. As we are still unable to agree on your role, we feel it best for you not to participate.

Sincerely,
Andrew Morse

Liberal groups immediately cheered ABC’s move. James Rucker, director of the African American political website ColorOfChange.org — which, along with CREDO Action, sent a petition with 125,000 signatures to ABC and blanketed the network’s offices with calls in protest of its initial decision to host Breitbart — praised the reversal, saying in a statement that the network had “taken a giant step in helping to wash our collective hands of the fear mongering and race-baiting that have no place in our political discourse.”

In another statement, David Brock, head of Media Matters — which was the first to report that Breitbart would be ABC’s guest — said that he was “pleased that ABC finally came to its senses and realized that nothing good can come from associating in any way with Andrew Breitbart.” Brock added that he was still confused about why ABC had decided to include Breitbart in its coverage in the first place, labeling him “poison.”