Wall Street owners angry with their purchase

Bankers threaten to once again fund the GOP if Obama continues saying mean things about them

Glenn Greenwald

Political science professors could require students to read this article from today’s New York Times and little else would be needed to convey the essence of the American political system.  The article describes how Wall Street — which poured massive amounts of money into the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party over the last several years, ensuring unparalleled access and influence — is now threatening to support the Republicans if Obama keeps saying mean things about them.  Wall Street executives are angry that, after duly purchasing the Democrats (they have receipts and everything), the Obama White House is now rousing the dirty rabble with their anti-banker rhetoric:

Republicans are rushing to capitalize on what they call Wall Street’s “buyer’s remorse” with the Democrats. And industry executives and lobbyists are warning Democrats that if Mr. Obama keeps attacking Wall Street “fat cats,” they may fight back by withholding their cash.

“If the president doesn’t become a little more balanced and centrist in his approach, then he will likely lose that support,” said Kelly S. King, the chairman and chief executive of BB&T. Mr. King is a board member of the Financial Services Roundtable, which lobbies for the biggest banks, and last month he helped represent the industry at a private dinner at the Treasury Department.

“I understand the public outcry,” he continued. “We have a 17 percent real unemployment rate, people are hurting, and they want to see punishment. But the political rhetoric just incites more animosity and gets people riled up” . . . “If the president wanted to turn every Democrat on Wall Street into a Republican,” one industry lobbyist said, “he is doing everything right.”

Continue reading Wall Street Wants more Austerity for Americans →

Pennsylvania Democrats Unanimously Endorse Single Payer Senate Bill 400 and House Bill 1660

Lancaster – The Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee today unanimously endorsed a resolution calling for passage of single payer healthcare, Senate Bill 400 and House Bill 1660, also known as the “Family and Business Healthcare Security Act.”

Given the healthcare reform deadlock in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania’s nation-leading status in the battle for state-based “Medicare for All,” is all the more significant.

“Not only does Pennsylvania now have the Democratic Party on board with the Single Payer healthcare for all,” said Healthcare for All PA executive director Chuck Pennacchio, “we also have the promised signature of our governor and the active support of Republican and Democratic leaders in both the State Senate and State House.”

Added Pennacchio, “Pennsylvania is clearly ‘ground zero’ for cost-saving, life-enhancing, job-creating, quality, comprehensive, publicly-funded, privately-delivered, healthcare for all.  Once PA adopts the proven single payer solution, our neighboring states will move rapidly to adopt the same answer, and congress will quickly follow suit.”

Presenting the resolution before the voting body of 301 Democratic State Committee members was Tom Herman, Chair of Berks County.  Seconding the motion were Jon Fox of Lancaster County and James Burn of Allegheny County.  The vote in support of House Bill 1660 and Senate Bill 400 was by unanimous consent.

By Mark Feeney and Bryan Marquard, Boston Globe Staff

They Still Don’t Get It

The Supremes Have Opened the Floodgates

By Sen. Russell Feingold
January 24, 2010

Sen. Russ Feingold

Published by CounterPunch.

Key Points About the Citizen’s United v. FEC Decision

The Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC has opened the floodgates to corporate money in federal campaigns in ways we haven’t seen for nearly a century. While for decades corporations have been able to set up special accounts, called PACs, to accept contributions and spend them on political activities, they have not been allowed to spend money from their vast corporate treasuries in connection with federal elections. Citizens United v. FEC has changed all that.

In this case, the Court took a narrow campaign finance issue and decided a much broader one—whether a century of laws protecting against corruption in government, laws which have been repeatedly upheld as constitutional, should suddenly be overturned. While the core of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), often known as McCain-Feingold, isn’t affected by this decision, the decision does eviscerate longstanding campaign finance law.

Below are some key points about the decision, and how the Court’s move to overrule Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce (1991) and portions of McConnell v. FEC (2003) will undermine our democratic process.

Continue reading Corporate Coup by Supreme Court Right Wing →

Two Dozen States’ Unemployment Funds in the Red, Nine More Within Six Months

by Olga Pierce, ProPublica – January 20, 2010 12:42 am EST

The record 20 million Americans who collected unemployment insurance benefits last year landed on a safety net that was already deeply frayed.

New Interactive: ProPublica Predicts if Your State’s Unemployment Insurance Fund Is About to Hit the Skids

A historical compromise has left responsibility for unemployment benefits largely in the hands of states, and they have fulfilled this charge with varying degrees of effectiveness.

In a series last summer with public radio’s Marketplace, we reported that only a handful of states had built up reserves sufficient to weather the Great Recession [1] – and forecast a spate of borrowing by states where reserves ran out.

Continue reading States Are Running Out of Unemployment Funds →

Exclusive: Kucinich shreds Democrats for betraying the promise of change

By Sahil Kapur
Thursday, January 21st, 2010 — 9:45 am

Slams health bill ‘madness’

WASHINGTON — Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) on Wednesday said the Massachusetts election was a “wake up call” for Democrats and that his party had better change course or it could suffer devastating losses come November.

“People elected Democrats in 2008 to change the direction,” he told Raw Story in a nearly hour-long interview. 

“And the same entrenched interests that George Bush could not shake, this current White House is having great difficulty in shaking. One could suggest they might be more entrenched than ever.

“Kucinich staunchly defended liberalism but alleged that Democrats are not behaving like liberals.

Continue reading Cong. Dennis Kucinich: Obama Must Change Course →

Machinists Remain Opposed to Health Care Excise Tax

Washington, D.C., January 14, 2010

Despite the so-called agreement announced today by various labor organizations, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) reiterated its
opposition to any health care reform legislation that is funded by taxing the value of workers’ existing health care benefits.

“The IAM opposes the excise tax, period. We believe it is unfair to our current members and particularly unfair to those members we hope to organize in the future,” said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger.

Continue reading International Association of Machinists (IAM) Stands Firm Against Tax on Health Benefits →

January 18, 2010

I’m writing from Worcester.  It is the second largest city in New England, the city where the American Revolution began in Sept. 1774, and perhaps the largest city in North America that no one has ever heard of! I have been going door to door in my immediate neighborhood canvassing for Democrat Martha Coakley.