Thursday, December 1, 2011

MACED BY WALL STREET BANKS: FOR 99% LIFE STINGS

Public universities: another casualty in the War Against the American Dream.

California has raised tuition precipitously since 2008.  And the college students, children of the middle aged 99% are trapped in student loans and the doubling cost of education without jobs waiting at the end of the tunnel.

So there has been unrest on all the California campuses for some time. UC Davis was the final straw in a cauldron of unrest that has been brewing.  However, this cauldron, even seething volcano of hurt has manifested itself as passive assemblies of students trying to bring their fundamental problem of getting educated to light in a world that has turned away. 

 Can the Chancellor merely apologize? And the two policemen whose pictures are forever indelibly ingrained in the minds of all who care, can they merely be suspended with pay? Is assault still illegal?

How has the betrayal of California students been addressed?  How have all the justifiable feelings of not being able to deal with the growing weight of student loans been responded to? With controls established by California “Chancellors of Education” to keep the unrest at bay; to keep the peaceful assemblies dispersed so no one will know. 
 
And Campus police in true SS style have now responded to orders by spraying mace/pepper spray - sprayed directly in the face of what could have been your child – pepper sprayed all over peaceful human living bodies quietly sitting, arms locked in a field. 
 
Orange is the color of the newest level of the war. And Clockwork Orange is no longer in the future just like 1984 foreshadowed GOP Doublespeak.

Don’t think it was only the two deranged campus policemen who were at fault. Just like it was not only the child molester at fault on Penn State’s storied football coaching team. The two deranged robotic sprayers were surrounded by their uniformed brethren who did nothing to protect students being maliciously attacked. Just like so many at Penn State sat quietly on the sidelines because the Penn State tradition of college football greatness was more important than lives of a few kids.

 Until the Occupy Movement,  started by our newest generation of college students, the conversation in this (our) country was about “deficit reduction” and we can’t tax the “job creators” along with the validity of our President’s birth certificate and country of birth – and of course the sacred pledge to Grover! 

If the barriers against greed had not been torn down; if the SEC and the Fed had enforced regulations against fraud and against “complex financial instruments” too complex too explain – would California have run out of funding for some of the best and least expensive public universities in the country? If Congress had not courted the lobbyists and done its job to protect the public would we now be concerned for how we are now on the road to a police state where the 1st Amendment is being violated everyday on television by mayors and armies of riot police – and now campus police. I thought police were to protect the public, just like Congress.

So now there is a new Rodney King moment in California, and in cities around the United States of America riot police are more concerned about containing valid American Protests – than arresting the perps watching from their glitzy towers of ultra wealth. We have seen bloodied students in NYC and young women clubbed, sprayed in the face and dragged who have been engaged in peaceful protests. Grandmothers shoved around, protesting the lack of jobs and 45,000,000 Americans below the poverty line.  Something that does not resonate in the Hamptons, and is not covered in Town and Country.

An awareness of the fact that most of us are the 99% is spreading which has caused the big banks to start a $1,000,000 fund to fight back against the movement, as reported, ironically, by Bloomberg.  Bloomberg also reported that it found out, by persistent digging, that the Fed has given banks an extra 1.2 trillion dollars over the last few years – and not just American banks. Being the mayor of NYC is not simple but Wall Street rules.

The dots are beginning to come together.

The Super Committee failed. And on Monday, Jon Kyl, a leading GOP humanitarian, told Carol Costello on CNN – “that Grover was not happy” the Repubs had agreed to increase (?) taxes to try to look like they were more interested in the country than in getting rid of Obama, by doing nothing about our depression.  But the taxes were not for incomes above $500,000 or even above $1,000,000, because  Kyl  so brilliantly reasoned, that would be against the “job creators.”  I applaud Carol Costello for being among the few to push a GOP spinner to the wall, but am still waiting for someone to skewer a member of the GOP Groverspeak group by simply asking – where is there one shard of evidence that lowering taxes has produced jobs, or that taxing incomes of $1,000,000 could kill job creation?  The job killing lie is no different than the trickle down one.

All the abuses of the 99% are related. And orange spray makes it crystal clear how little concern there is for how badly life stings for so many trapped in lives canceled by the return to Social Darwinism which has morphed into Financial Darwinism.

So this year Thanksgiving will not be the same and the red and green of Christmas has been replaced by orange. 

E. Henry Schoenberger is the author of How We Got Swindled by Wall Street Godfathers, Greed & Financial Darwinism ~ The 30-Year War Against the American Dream – with a foreword by David Satterfield, former business editor of the Miami Herald, 2 times Pulitzer Prize-winner. Schoenberger posts on Huffington Post -Henry Schoenberger .To learn more: www.howwegotswindled.com.  To buy the book: at Amazon's eStore: www.createspace.com/3710420

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Is Just The Beginning: The Battle Against Financial Darwinism

For new posts go to:  www.huffingtonpost.com/henry-schoenberger -  also search E Henry on Huffington for my bio, comments and list of posts.

MY NEW BOOK ----

HOW WE GOT SWINDLED BY WALL STREET GODFATHERS, GREED & FINANCIAL DARWINISM ~ THE 30-YEAR WAR AGAINST THE AMERICAN DREAM - including a foreword by Davie Satterfield, the former businsess editor, 2 time Pulitzer Prize-winner - Is now available:

In soft cover directly from - Amazon's eStore: www.createspace.com/3710420  and other outlets.

In eBook format from - Amazon; B&N; Apple; Sony

To know more about the book:  http://www.howwegotswindled.com/

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Double Dip or Is the Remission Over?

Double Dip is the new question. And Recession is the term applied to a depression different than the Great one; although, upon close analysis, our Great Recession has far more characterics of a Depression than the less threatening word.

Entitlement is another word that is a misnomer, because we pay for social security, medicare - and medicaid has the ability to take all of our assets after a 2 or 4 year stint in a nursing home on the way to an end that would be considered inhumane treatment for a pet.

So we do not use language correctly to elicit thought, because it is used as propoganda to shape thought.  And the blame for this is a broken political system stemming from Republicans being against making sense no matter what, a faltering public educational process and an individual lack of responsiblity to know more and listen for meaning rather than salavate from  ringing bells or electric shock. As well as Republicans and Democrats more concerned with "Special Interests" than our interests!!

David Brooks of the New York Times told us today that most economists believe we should combine near term stimulus with long term austerity. These are the same economists that did not speak out against the Free Market self corrects based on the Rational Market Theory, which is the notion that markets which are nothing but a bunch of people buying stuff are rational - because Man is rational? And almost all of these economists (certainly not Krugman) have still not spoken out against the Free Market Myth as it still exists politically and on Wall Street.

What if our Great Recession, a term used to separate our current state of malaise from all past recessions, is similar to a stage 2 or 3 melanoma, and the concern about double dipping is actually a lack of recognition that the remission is over.

Over because we still have not applied the tools available to actually treat it?

There is abundant empirical evidence from how the Great Depression was finally oblated - and the regulations necessary to curb greed have been destroyed and there is no talk of restoring the barriers.

In 2009 Obama proposed a 2nd stimulus, based on economics that worked in the aftermath of 1929. And everyone should know that today's Republicans, led by leading Tea Party brilliant laissez-faire thinkers, have been against anything that makes sense since Bush. So let's remember  - that God forbid Republicans to increase taxes on incomes above $500,000 or to stop billions of dollars for oil companies that have the largest profits in the world, which are now at record levels!

The plan proposed by Obama was certainly limited by what the Republicans would not do. Therefore to acheive some immediate relief for so many who suffer without jobs and hope, a limited (but bolder than anticipated) plan was vehemantly proposed.

And now the concern for a "Double Dip" is more than a concern - it is a probability because cancer does not just go away. Not that the creationists have reason to believe in medication. Let's join together to speak in tongue, maybe that will work.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

WHERE HAS THE PUBLIC GOOD GONE?

Republicans have declared war on the United States Government, and campaign against the government as the enemy. Today all the Republicans who have declared they are running for the presidency agree that the new financial regulations need to be removed; that the modicum of health "reform" must be overturned; social security should be privatized; and that corporate taxes should be lowered and taxes on the uber riche should not be raised.

The financial reform did not happen; the health reform stopped far short of what it ought to be; if social security  (which is not an entitlement because we pay for it out of our income) had been privatized it would have been ravaged by the Wall Street meltdown; corporate taxes as a percentage of GNP are at the lowest level since 1947 - and it is self evident that the Financial Darwinists must pay a fairer share of taxes!

Americans need to wake up and get involved with searching for and identifying the fact of Financial Darwinism - which means the survival of the richest.

Our media needs to stop providing a platform for people who want to argue the world is flat, and start asking pointedly tough questions following up all the ludicrous stuff that the self interested spout off on their news shows. Too much talk about the contest and not much on whether a runner can or should run the country. Politics might be fun for the media to analyze ad nauseum, but it has been a lethal passtime at the expense of our society.

 The media needs to stop being an enabler and remember it is supposed to objectively promote the creation of objective and informed public opinion. And this does not happen when an economist supports more deregulation, like this morning on Meet the Press! Both sides is the Fox Views equation of R. Murdock - not the obligation of The Fourth Estate!

Walter  Cronkite did not come back from Viet Nam to tell  his fellow Americans how wrong the war was, and then have a distorted defense of the war from a self interested general trying to salvage his job and reputation on the CBS evening news to provide balance. The networks are no longer independant enough to allow blunt political and economic truths on network evening news. NBC does allow it on cable, so deserves credit.

So, although Jefferson said the role of government is to protect the public - all the right wing nuts who are so concerned about the US Constitution  do not care what the guy thought who wrote it! And they  talk about Reagan like he did not increase the size of government as if he walked on water and is still as much alive as Elvis. Ask his son, who is an extremely objective and vehement about the truth commentator.

Regulations are to protect the public good, and our economy and society have gone down the tubes of all the deregulation.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

there is a stain

there is a stain
on the conscience
of my country,
and it is
breaking so many
lives into shards
of tragedy

there are millions
of us without...
jobs and savings
(and without...
enough food
to have hope,
while too many
don't care

there are politicians
who vote against
anything for neighbors
(and vote against
everyone and everything
that is not
just like them

prejudiced ignorance
has overtaken - shredded
the fabric of our
democracy...
while unbridled greed
has disingenously spawned
born again social darwinism

(and once again
our collective conscience
is silent...

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Financial Darwinism is Born Again Social Darwinism

How We Got Swindled by Wall Street Godfathers, Greed and Financial Darwinism now has a foreword written by David Satterfield, who has 2 Pulitzers and formerly was the Business Editor of the Miami Herald. In the foreword Satterfield points out that Financial Darwinism means - "survival of the richest," and you should remember the social variety was "survival of the fitest," according to Herbert Spencer the 19th century Brit philosopher who provided this core ethic which led to the Great Depression.

For the past 30 years survival of the richest the core ethic of Financial Darwinism has been the driving force behind the deregulation of greed and the devaluation of ethics. And at the same time the ultra rich have created a support group of lobbotomized pawns culminating in the Tea Party (and a host of other Republicans) - who signed a pledge of allegiance to Norquist and have placed their pledge to him above their pledge of allegiance to the United States. So all the "Pledgers are even against raising taxes for incomes above $500,000 and apparently regard removing subsidies for big oil as raising taxes. Let's try to remember taxes are also revenue, and when so many jobs have vanished, many of them due to the survival of the richest ethic, tax from income is down and committments continue.

There is, of course a way to decrease expenses - like unnecessary wars, and even unresponsive government programs, in addition to waste. But when middle class income has been flat for so many years and CEO income has geometrically gone through the roof there are glaring inequalities that have been manipulated into existence by the war being conducted by Financial Darwinists against the middle and upper middle class.

So the conversation is now all about the deficit, and not how to grow jobs and the economy. And Americans do not really understand how we arrived at this point in time, because many have allowed themselves into being fooled that deregulation was to get the government off their back - nuts, because it gave the Financial Darwinists the freedom to operate without any restrictions to greed.

Free market economics is back, which is one of the basic lies behind our financial devastion. Freddie and Fannie have been identified as the root cause of the 2008 meltdown, and "important" new books continue to focus on only a part of the whole. But none of the legitimate books contain the whole truth; and the not so legitimate books get published to appeal to Financial Darwinists and their pawns on the radical, finatical right. And the whole truth must be known and understood before we can move forward to properly correct the present to be on a more stable and fair path in the future.

It is so much easier to single out specific culprits as the root cause, but without an understanding of all the parts which add up to the whole of how we got swindled and are still getting our economy and society will not recover from decades of the undeclared war against most of us. And this war has been ratified by Congress because Congress voted a number of times to deregulate greed - and to decrease taxes unfairly; and to allow enormously profitable corporations to avoid being taxed; and to allow religion to seep into the state; and to support the withdrawal of support for public education, etc.

Republicans today are not Rockefeller, Eisenhower, or even Nixon. They are hell bent on getting their own way at the expence of the public good. When Swindled becomes available it will provide the missing link between public awareness and the understanding of why and how we reached this chasm of lies and self interest. If we really want to fix what has been so wrong we must begin by recognizing how we are at war.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

How We Got Swindled: Trade Groups Lobby Against "Too Big to Fail"

How We Got Swindled: Trade Groups Lobby Against "Too Big to Fail"; http:twitter./com/ehschoenberger: face book: Henry Schoenberger

Trade Groups Lobby Against "Too Big to Fail"

Sunday morning, 6/12, the NY Times article "Too Big to Fail" once again addressed the fact that trade groups still lobby against any regulatory requirements for how much cash on hand, or equity behind all the leverage utilized to enhance profits, should be required. And true to form the regulators are going to study this.

Not long ago, but well in the past leading up to our continuing Great Recession, banks were required to have legal reserves on hand to back up all their loans of our savings. And insurance companies were mostly mutuals, more concerned with protecting policy holders than with magnifying profits through the use of leverage based on assumptions that always projected a growth in values. Prudence was their good Sheppard. And this also predated the ability of banks, and insurance company banks to issue "complex securities. Further this was before insurance companies were allowed to invest outside of their core business, and banks were also not allowed to invest outside their core business - for example banks were not allowed to be in the insurance business.

So there are 2 dozen, or more companies, that invest in banks and lending and issue insurance as well as hedge funds that do not want to be part of the too big to fail crowd. Mass Mutual is particularly adamant, however it is instructive to remember how many huge insurance companies failed in the past 10 years and in the past 20 years, as well as consider that Mass Mutual has grown so large by absorbing some of the best "old line" mutual companies that were on the edge of insolvency, like Connecticut Mutual "the Blue Chip Company." Hedge funds failed in the Great Recession, as well as mutual funds, even one that invested in CDs.

We should just accept whatever these truly giant financial institutions say because they are so honest and interested in our well being - as long as they can continue to make too much money from too much leverage at our expense. We should believe the trade groups - nuts!

Do not interpret this blog as being against Capitalism - just against Greed and bull shit, and all the regulators that do not and have not protected us from all the Greed.

There are far better ways to approach protecting our economy from the greed of financial entities invloved in leveraged activities.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

We are still Getting swindled

I have changed the title of my book to - How We Got Swindled by Wall Street Godfathers, Greed and Financial Darwinism (and are still Getting) because the underlying causes have not really changed. And I have revised the book to make it historical and current - while Dave Satterfield, former business editor of the Miami Herald with 2 Pulitzers, is writing the forward, because he believes Swindled is "spot on." One way or another the book will be available in the near future.

It seems that publishers to date have been either afraid of the whole truth and nothing but the truth, or not intellectually open enough to understand why the other books they have put on their lists are not what Americans really need to know to understand the pervasive depths of the swindle and why it is still taking place. I guess I need a PhD in economics before publishers will believe, or pay attention to the empirical evidence provided in Swindled which proves how wrong most of the economists have been for the last 30 years.

Consider the current price of gas - is now over $4.00 per gallon, which one idiot on CNN pointed out - "is still much less than Europe." Of course she failed to note that taxes on gas in Europe make up the difference! So where is the reform and how are we protected by "transparancy" when the problem is, once again, profiteering by speculators. And the real question remains - should rapacious greedy speculation in an essential commodity be allowed; should it not at least be controlled? The last time this occurred the price per barrel was 40% higher, so i thought this problem was not supposed to happen again.

However again Financial Darwinism has prevailed and the lie of "free market capitalism" still flourishes in a world of Laissez-faire survival of the fitest. The oil companies have said they are not making that much while their profits soar and supply is not materially down. And Thomas Jefferson's belief that "the role of government is to protect the public" has been relegated to our self-correcting markets based on the ludicrous notion that markets are rational.