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MN GOP lawmaker compares food stamp recipients to wild animals

Evans Liberal Politics
Sunday, March 4, 2012


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MN GOP lawmaker compares
food stamp recipients to wild animals

MN GOP lawmaker compares food stamp recipients to wild animals, The Raw Story, March 3, 2012, by Andrew Jones, photo courtesy of The Raw Story, Commentary by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: Evans Liberal Politics is pleased to partner with The Raw Story to bring you cutting edge news:

One Republican lawmaker in Minnesota expressed a peculiar but existing belief in GOP circles Friday afternoon, claiming that food stamps recipients are virtually similar to feeding wild animals.

photo of Minnesota GOP Representative Mary Franson who in a cold and calculating appeal to her base described Food Stamps recipients as like wild animals

State Rep. Mary Franson released a Youtube video describing her hopes of reducing the amount of time residents in Minnesota could stay on food stamps from five years to three.

“And here, it’s kind of ironic, I’ll read you this little funny clip that we got from a friend,” she said. “It says, ‘Isn’t it ironic that the food stamp program, part of the Department of Agriculture, is pleased to be distributing the greatest amount of food stamps ever. Meanwhile, the Park Service, also part of the Department of Agriculture, asks us to please not feed the animals, because the animals may grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves.”

Franson is not the first Republican to make this comparison. In 2010, then South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer said exactly the same thing.

According to the USDA, Todd County in Franson’s district contains one of Minnesota’s highest poverty rates, with 16.9 precent of residents in 2010.

Republicans and Racist Class Warfare

Commentary by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: It would be a mistake to think of political figures such as Franson and South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer (and others), who echo the exact same metaphor, as ignorant. (This is not quite the same thing as uneducated, is it? So for example Ms. Franson’s use of the long “a” in “agriculture” in her pronunciation in the video – twice. Is that the way they say it in Minnesota? The body of the video is actually great Republican PR.). At the level of state political figures, these people are generally very cold and calculating about public positions they take. (Democrats have to be too – it is simply what politicians have to do.)

At the national level, Republicans have, through the long-time use of political “framing” and spin — repeated over and over again — managed to convince their base, who are at least in part ordinary Americans without much political knowledge, that somehow Republicans are more Christian than are Democrats. (In reality, for example, just as many Republican lawmakers as Democrats are caught in public scandals for corruption such as influence peddling or sexual promiscuity or the use of prostitution, etc., at the state and national level. See The Record of Republican Corruption, LiberalsLikeChrist.org, no date.) In a similar process of indoctrination, they have managed to train their base that the poor are on welfare because they are lazy and that they are undeserving of our help and care (and, that most of them are black). Here’s another lie: that tax cuts for the rich help the economy. (See Supply Side Economics, The Bush Tax Cuts & John Boehner Completely Discredited, Evans Liberal Politics, December 31, 2011, by Paul Evans.)

Really, these lawmakers, especially at the national level, are rich Republican players, or tools or puppets of the rich — “wannabe’s,” you might say — and their appeal to the base is in no way ignorant, but cold and calculating. (Even though this comment may be questionable, please note: if you watch the video, you will see where Rep. Franson ends her video with a pitch for a sexual abuse website — what does that have to do with the rest of the subjects of the video, and how calculating an appeal is that?) The overall idea, insofar as I can see, is that if you claim a thing over and over again, and you do so as supposedly lily-white Christian Republican leaders, the ordinary Republican voter can be trained to believe almost anything. In reality, as knowledgeable liberals and progressives have been trying their best to get across, the GOP, and far too many Democratic Party leaders as well, are of, by and for the rich.

They couldn’t care less about ordinary Americans, much less America’s poor.

How Christian is that?

See Why ‘Welfare Queen’ Stories Will Never Die, Yahoo! Contributor Network, January 24, 2012, by Owen Rust:

John Blake at CNN discusses the return of Ronald Reagan’s “Welfare Queen” through the current presidential campaign of the three leading Republicans. Reagan brought up the “Welfare Queen” story in 1976 during his first presidential candidacy, and today critics contend Newt Gingrich, winner of the recent South Carolina GOP primary, is trying to bring back the stereotype through his assertions that Barack Obama is a “food stamp” president and that black people should “want a job” and not a “handout.”

Many people apparently think the unnamed “Welfare Queen” is a racist stereotype of a black woman. Blake discusses the allegation and insists Republicans will have to avoid “racially loaded messages” in the future, especially when nonwhite voters become the majority by the year 2050.

But is the “Welfare Queen” anecdote a racist stereotype that will erode as America becomes more diverse? No. That’s because the staying power of the “Welfare Queen” is not her alleged racial background but rather human nature itself (though many would argue that racism is itself part of human nature) — we rank, judge and place things on a spectrum.

We will always rank certain recipients of government assistance as more worthy than others. There will always be those we deem less worthy of receiving aid in the form of tax dollars. There are many things we all will inevitably use to deem an aid recipient as more of less worthy: Education, job status, number of children, relationship status, health and physical appearance, etc.

See The Food Stamp Fallacy, The Root, January 12, 2012, by Edward Wyckoff Williams: “When will Republicans be honest about who really gets the most out of welfare programs?”

See GOP Race-Baiting Masks Class Warfare, Salon on Alternet, January 29, 2012, by Daniel Denvir:

By demonizing some, the Republicans seek to discredit the safety net for the 99 percent.

It’s commonplace to note that Newt Gingrich’s dog-whistle appellation that Barack Obama is the “food stamp president” is both racist and politically cynical. But the stereotyping of black government dependency also serves the strategic end of discrediting the entire social safety net, which most Americans of all races depend on. Black people are subtly demonized, but whites and blacks alike will suffer.

See Screwing Over Urban America: Why the GOP’s Top Contenders Hate Cities, Salon on AlterNet, January 3, 2012, by Daniel Denvir.

WATCH: Video from Youtube, which was published on March 2, 2012.

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Posted on March 4, 2012 by , Reply

Robert Reich: The GOP Ticket in 2012: Romney-Rubio

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January 4, 2011

 

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Robert Reich: The GOP Ticket
in 2012: Romney-Rubio

The GOP Ticket in 2012: Romney-Rubio, RobertReich.org, January 2, 2012, by Robert Reich, used with permission, quoted verbatim:

Since my New Year’s prediction that Obama would select Hillary Clinton for his running mate in 2012 (and Joe Biden would become Secretary of State), I’ve been swamped by requests for my GOP prediction. Here goes.

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You can forget the caucuses and early primaries. Mitt Romney will be the nominee. Republicans may be stupid but the GOP isn’t about to commit suicide. The other candidates are all weighed down by enough baggage to keep a 747 on the tarmac indefinitely.

For his running mate, Romney will choose Marco Rubio, the junior senator from Florida. Why do I say this?

First, Romney will need a right-winger to calm and woo the Republican right. Tea Partiers are attracted to Rubio – an evangelical Christian committed to reducing taxes and shrinking government. Rubio’s meteoric rise in the Florida House before coming to Congress was based on a string of conservative stances on state issues.

Rubio is also a proven campaigner, handily winning four Florida House elections starting in 2002, and then beating popular incumbent Republican governor Charlie Crist in 2010 — with the help of Tea Partiers.

Moreover, he’s only 40, thereby giving the GOP ticket some youthful vigor.

And he’s Hispanic – a Cuban-American – at a time when the GOP needs to court the Hispanic vote.

Rubio’s only baggage is the “son of exiles” controversy – his suggestion that his parents were refugees forced out of Cuba by Castro when in fact they moved to the United States before the Cuban revolution.

But this isn’t the sort of slip that would keep him off the ticket. In fact, Romney has defended Rubio, saying “I think the world of Marco Rubio, support him entirely and think that the effort to try to smear him was unfortunate and bogus.”

Finally, and most critically, Florida is a crucial swing state. Rubio would help deliver it.

So it will be Obama-Clinton versus Romney-Rubio.

And what’s my prediction for Election Day? Obama-Clinton hands down.

I warn you, though. Political predictions, economic forecasts, and astrology differ in only one respect. Astrology has a fairly good record of being correct.

Robert Reich was the nation’s 22nd Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton and is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations. In 2008, Time Magazine named him one of the Ten Most Successful Cabinet Members of the century. He has written eleven books, including “The Work of Nations,” which has been translated into 22 languages. His recent book is “Supercapitalism.” For Professor Reich’s book page for Supercaptialism at Amazon, go here. Reich’s newest book, Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future has been released September 21, and is available for ordering at this link (Amazon.com). The above article is from Reich’s new blog, and can be viewed here.

Robert Reich’s commentaries are available for listening to at Publicradio.com. Watch the video Aftershock: The next economy and America’s future (about his new book). Thanks to Professor Reich for permission to publish his articles on an ongoing basis.

Posted on January 4, 2012 by , 1 comment

Why People Stay On Welfare or Disability: My Story of Disillusionment

Evans Community of Caring
December 16, 2011

 

Why People Stay on Welfare or Disability:
My Story of Disillusionment

Evans Liberal Politics, December 16, 2011, origninally publbished on June 13, 2011, by Paul Evans:

I don’t really know how to introduce this true story of mine. I have real difficulty accepting it, or believing that the Federal and State of Ohio governments are this incredibly stupid — or evil. Frankly, my conclusion is that this is the way the deck is stacked for people like me. Once you are down on disability, and reach some age in the 50-year-old range, you simply are not supposed to recover from that. The financial rules and regulations which Social Security and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services are supposed to enforce, do not allow anybody like me to make a comeback and lead a normal life.

photo of Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans from June, 2011

I have been on full disability since 1987, for mental illness. In the last year that was paying me $307 in SSI and $387 in (earned) SSA from Social Security, for a total of $694 a month. Everything was OK for many years because I lived with my nuclear family and we were all doing O.K. Then my sister, who as a veterinarian was making good money, passed away unexpectedly, and soon after, my mother died. I had cared for Mom and Dad for two years before Mom passed on, and then cared for Dad for 3 years, until the beginning of 2010. Then, at the very end of 2009, with me having a short spell in a mental hospital, there was no one to care for Dad. The first call I made from the hospital was to the local Hospice, begging them to please look after Dad, but they did not, and Dad soon ended up in the emergency room, for eight days, and almost died there.

Since then Dad has lived in a local nursing home. As a mental patient, and I might add as one who has never been arrested and one who very strongly loves his Dad, at this point someone in power decided I was not fit to look after Dad, whose senile dementia was growing worse. So they appointed a guardian for dad, I might add, a guardian who has never helped me with one cent of the bills he promised to pay for me at a meeting in May, 2010 (but not in writing, alas).

And here’s a warning for all those whose parents are getting older: Medicare will pay for only two months of physical therapy. But all the health insurance contracts providing nursing home insurance are rigged. After two months, when the physical therapy stops, there is a clause in all the health insurance contracts that physical therapy stopping means that the health insurance provider stops paying for the nursing home stay. In our case, Dad had nursing home insurance for one full year, but they stopped paying when the physical therapy stopped, two months into his stay at the nursing home.

Insofar as I can tell, this sort of clause is in all the health insurance policies that I am aware of. So beware!

So anyway, at that point we eventually get Medicaid to pay for Dad to stay in the nursing home, but at least in Ohio, when Medicaid is used to pay for an elderly person’s nursing home stay, this cuts off all access to the patient’s funds, even by his or her family. In other words, Dad has three small retirements coming in, but as soon as Dad went on Medicaid, I could not hope to have the use of any of Dad’s money at all. Using Medicaid to pay for a nursing home stay, in the state of Ohio at least, cuts off all access to the patients’ funds for all family members.

I badly needed these funds to take care of Dad’s home, where I live. A water heater and a cold water well tank had to be replaced. A couple of electrical outlets blew up. I could not use Dad’s money to pay for needed repairs to his own house. I have not been able to pay these bills and some repair people have already sued me. Some states (14 so far) now allow for jail for failure to pay your debts.

By this time, I had taken in two people who needed help, from a homeless shelter in Akron, but we were flat broke most of the time, and the three of us were living just on my disability checks. These two new people who were living with me had past records which made it especially hard for them to find jobs.

Then, about five months ago, my old car died and we were stranded except for the kind decency of a few friends who gave us rides. We are still looking for a car as charity as of the publication date of this article. We live six miles out in the country. We cannot even afford to heat the whole house. A few rooms are warmed with electric heaters, although of course that makes the electric bill something we often cannot afford to pay.

So, getting back to my attempts to get off disability, I thought, perhaps and hopefully the time had come that I would be able to hold down a job myself. I worked six to seven weeks about 20 hours a week at my new job of website design and telemarketing to get website design customers, for a good man who took a chance and hired me, despite my lack of much of an employment history.

Then came the bad news. Despite the fact that I had worked through the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation, Social Security did NOT give me any time to get back on my feet before they informed me that each month, after $65 dollars free and clear, they were deducting HALF of what I made from my SSI check. Then the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services kicked in. Those kind folks reduced my food stamps benefit from $480 a month to $277 a month. They also initiated a monthly medical spenddown, starting at $36 a month, before I would receive my Medicare or Medicaid benefits at all.

The long and the short of it is that I found myself making about the SAME in wages and benefits while working about 20 hours a week than I was if I just sat there and stayed on full disability, doing nothing.

Absolutely incredible, crazy and stupid as hell, I know, but that is the truth.

To complete the picture, making no more money than I did while I was disabled, I could not at that point pay my phone and internet bill. I needed this very much for my job, not to mention for Evans Liberal Politics.

Ah, but there is still more. At the beginning of October, which is about three months after I had to quit my job, Social Security informed me that they had made an overpayment to me, so that for October, November and December of this year, my SSI payment would not be the usual $307 but only $239 a month. I thought that was a nice touch, don’t you?

So there you have it. I have apologized profusely to my boss, Tom, who is a wonderful Christian gentleman and understood completely. But without phone and internet, I could not do my job, and so I told Tom that I would be unable to work for him.

I just find it so incredible that this is the way the government encourages people to get off of disability/welfare, taking so much away in reduced benefits that the disabled person is actually making less than if he/she simply stayed on welfare. This is no rant, I simply wanted to get the truth of my own situation out there. I don’t expect that any change or help will come to me by writing this post, but I very much DO want all the “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” and “take personal responsibiilty” people out there to realize: our own government is making it impossible for disabled people to get back to work. I want to work, I am well enough to work, but there is NO PROGRAM for a disabled person to gradually get back on their feet.

Guess I’m headed back to the welfare dime. Seems like that’s where the government wants me. I really have no choice in the matter. No one will hire me for a good paying, full time job, and if they did, I would lose my Medicare and Medicaid benefits for good. Do you think some prospective employer is going to replace THAT??? Do you really think that at age 54, having been on disability since 1987, I am going to take a chance like that (assuming I could get hired at a good paying job)??

No, like the song says, “when you’re down, that’s where you’ll stay”. That seems to be the way the government wants it.

How about you, my readers? Have any of you experienced similar horror stories in trying to get off of the welfare dime and getting back to work? If so, please feel encouraged to leave a comment below. ~ Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans

Posted on December 16, 2011 by , 3 comments

Should the Left & All Americans Trust Barack Obama?

Evans Caring Community
November 27, 2011

 

Should the Left & All Americans
Trust Barack Obama?

© 2009 Evans Caring Community, edit and rewrite of November 27, 2011, also published February 1, 2011, and May 8, 2009, by Dr. Jack E. Evans and Paul Evans. Originally published with the title “Why the Left and All Americans Should Trust Barack Obama” — please notice the new title. Photo of Dr. Jack E. Evans is from 1977 and is hereby placed into the public domain:

This article was originally published on May 8, 2009 on Evans Liberal Politics and has been rewritten and updated. I am introducing here my father, Dr. Jack E. Evans, who is a retired 86 year old professor of Russian language and literature with a doctorate from Yale University, and an old New Deal Democrat. A year after this article was first published, at the beginning of 2010, Dad had to go and live at a local nursing home, where he struggles with senile dementia. I have lived with Jack all of my life, almost. My father tried so very hard to impart to me the strongest of spiritual and mental gifts with which he tried to help me overcome my mental illness, and to try to develop my ability to think logically, and as an editor. I could not possibly show him enough gratefulness, and I know that he has been a far better father than I could possibly deserve.

In mid-2009, Dr. Evans felt that this topic was important enough that he wished to contribute to a discussion of it when it was originally published. I truly and strongly hope that I am successful in conveying his feelings about the current political situation. Dr. Evans was a marine officer in the Pacific in World War II. Later, he spent 13 years in charge of and as chief editor for translating sections for ASA, NSA and CIA, before getting his doctorate from Yale and teaching at several colleges. He also has a masters degree in Russian history from Georgetown. I (Paul Evans) mentioned above that I lived and interacted with Dr. Evans almost my whole life; We worked on the translation of 11 books together. Later, I was his caregiver before he had to go to live in a Wooster nursing home, where I visit him almost every day.

photo from 1977 of Yale Professor of Russian language and literature Dr. Jack E. Evans

We both wanted to simply say that, while as progressive Democrats we are sometimes critical of the actions of the (late) Democratic (now Republican) Congress and even the actions of President Obama, we trust Barack Obama’s heart and mind and remain committed to his Presidency and his success. However, our views are not some sort of blind loyalty either to President Obama or to the Democratic Party, but arise mainly through an understanding of the difficulties Obama has in this economy and with the current composition of Congress as well as the general political direction, or “mood” if you will, which our country has taken. Even so, that does NOT mean that we are at all content with the leadership that President Obama has shown in taking the country in a progressive direction.

Both Dr. Evans and I have been upset at the appointment to high office in the Obama administration of economic advisers with corrupt histories and very strong ties to Wall Street. Even the mainstream media has discussed what we feel to be unnecessary pain, hardship and suffering for ordinary Americans, brought on by what seems sometimes to be a corrupt American system of government.

Nonetheless, we remember well Barack Obama’s roots as a community organizer in South Chicago, and we do not feel he has changed much in his heart from who he was in those simpler days. We think he may well remain about as progressive in his personal identity as ever, but is compelled by a pragmatic outlook to follow “the art of the possible.” At least, we hope so.

We also feel that President Obama wants to represent all Americans, and not just those who feel they are progressive or liberal in their outlook. We think and pray that Obama is still a progressive in his heart and mind and still trying to move the nation in that direction. But nonetheless, we are both proud of Barack Obama specifically FOR trying to represent all Americans, and not just liberals and progressives. Really, that was a lot to attempt. Lately, however, we both have been wondering about that. One real disappointment for us is that Obama has had a Presidency so intertwined with corporate America, which was evident from the start when he chose as his economic advisers Summers, Geithner, Bernanke and crew. Now he is moving even more in this conservative direction with the emphasis on American competitiveness and the whole movement towards an austerity budget. (Did you know that the new budget contains a 12 percent increase for the Pentagon?)

Important liberal and progressive economists, such as Paul Krugman, Robert Reich and Daily Kos’s Bob Swern have exhorted the President about a growing crisis in the resources and job situation for our workers, yet Obama seems determined to capitulate to the Republican House without even attempting to defend the working class. At the same time he is all too willing to give rich Americans tax breaks and even seems willing to consider major cuts to entitlements. Dr Evans and I want to exhort the President to remain strong in the understanding that America’s business engine is built on the labor of the average American worker and their ability to make purchases, and it is primarily their welfare he needs to look out for, not that of Wall Street.

Thinking about the upcoming election of 2012, Obama needs to consider how disillusioned his supporters from 2008 are because of Obama’s apparent economic and fiscal conservatism that has only grown stronger with time. There comes a point when Obama may realize that his base is so disillusioned and heartsick about the “change we can believe in” having morphed into support for the rich and the status quo in general, that we may be unwilling to work very hard to reelect the President. I know I myself worked pretty hard in 2008, yet am weighing my options about 2012. Many progressives who I have talked to have confided to me that it is only upon considering the likely Republican nominees that they would even consider working for Obama at this point.

But it’s not just liberals who are upset and struggling over how much to support the President. Many independents and just ordinary Americans I have spoken with are VERY dissatisfied. Some people who have been ruined in their financial status say that the whole situation may even turn violent if the oppression of the American worker by the rich continues much further. I do not know, but I ask myself: why are ordinary Americans talking this way, and why would they unless something pretty profound is wrong with the way America is these days.

Informed progressives feel that America is in danger of becoming a two class oligarchy, and that it is up to all of us to stop this trend. To work to make America financially sound again, the vast majority of the American middle class and American workers must again be brought into a condition of prosperity. This is our main concern going forward, as it is that of some of our featured economics writers here such as Paul Krugman, Robert Reich and Bob Swern.

The nation has fully embraced the full-bore pro-Capitalist spirit. This is all very well, but ordinary Americans are increasingly suffering. So long as that reality is true, the nation will never regain its full elan and vigor and move forward to meet the challenges of the 21st century as it should.

Still, overall, while our own expression is sometimes adamantly progressive in terms of what has been published on Evans Liberal Politics, we want to be sure to say that “we support you, President Obama, and we are still trying to trust you too.” We just wish you would be a lot more concerned with the economic pain of ordinary Americans and a little less preoccupied with the people who bankroll your campaigns and Congress. Ordinary Americans swept you into office and without us, you will not again be successful in 2012.

We do however understand the political reality you labor under, President Obama, and also that you are really trying to move the nation beyond hyperpartisanship and into a more caring and decent relation between those of differing views. While I do in fact feel that this is one of the President’s main goals, we have to ask ourselves: just who made the President bring Bush’s “wrecking crew” into his administration as it’s principal economic advisers at it’s start? Why would a truly liberal or progressive President bring in those people?

I used to be really skeptical of the effort to bring about bipartisanship, President Obama. Then I had a period in which I tried to be accepting of bipartisanship, believing that the President had the interests of all Americans in his heart — not just liberals and progressives.

A lot of people on the left have come to the conclusion that you have “sold out.” Dr. Evans and I still hope and pray for you, President Obama, and yet, all the legislation coming out of Washington is pretty darned Republican in what it appears to be, at least to the left. At what point do you stop working for bipartisanship when the other side refuses to compromise at all?

So, overall, there is a disconnect between what President Obama promised us during the campaign of 2008, and what has happened since then. Perhaps this all is not Barack Obama’s fault, but is more a product of our nation’s and Congress’ economic corruption. One wonders just how much better it would be if Republicans in Congress actually considered working with the President and Democrats in a bipartisan way. Could we not as a nation unify behind this man Barack Obama, who has shown himself to be a true patriot and true American citizen for all of us? My father and I truly hope that we will. Dr. Evans and I believe that true bipartisanship would solve a lot of problems in this country. And it is so sad to see the ideals of 2008 bow down before political reality.

That being said, Barack Obama used to be fully a “man of the people.” Now he has a lot of informed people questioning that. President Obama, you need to show the nation you still care about the average citizen more than Wall Street and big business. Carry the nation forward with that in mind, and we will all support you like we did in 2008. We trust that you are still our Barack Obama, and we implore you to stand up for ordinary Americans.

This article was originally published on Daily Kos. I can think of no better summary and end for it than to quote a commenter on the article there: “It’s not a question of a lack of trust, it’s about each of us playing our role. I do trust Obama, which is why I’m willing to follow the path he set us on. But that path includes applying pressure for what I know is right.” ~ Jack and Paul Evans

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Posted on November 27, 2011 by , 3 comments

US Fed Reserve Audit Reveals 16 TRILLION in Secret 0% Interest Bailouts

Evans Liberal Christian Politics
November 11, 2011


Why Is the Mainstream Media Ignoring This???
Our Featured Article

Wake Up World: US Fed Reserve
Audit Reveals 16 TRILLION
in Secret 0% Interest Bailouts

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"What was revealed in the audit was startling: $16,000,000,000,000.00 had been secretly given out to US banks and corporations and foreign banks everywhere from France to Scotland. From the period between December 2007 and June 2010, the Federal Reserve had secretly bailed out many of the world’s banks, corporations, and governments. The Federal Reserve likes to refer to these secret bailouts as an all-inclusive loan program, but virtually none of the money has been returned and it was loaned out at 0% interest. Why the Federal Reserve had never been public about this or even informed the United States Congress about the $16 trillion dollar bailout is obvious — the American public would have been outraged to find out that the Federal Reserve bailed out foreign banks while Americans were struggling to find jobs.

"To place $16 trillion into perspective, remember that GDP of the United States is only $14.12 trillion. The entire national debt of the United States government spanning its 200+ year history is “only” $14.5 trillion. The budget that is being debated so heavily in Congress and the Senate is “only” $3.5 trillion. Take all of the outrage and debate over the $1.5 trillion deficit into consideration, and swallow this Red pill: There was no debate about whether $16,000,000,000,000 would be given to failing banks and failing corporations around the world."

Note by Evans Liberal Christian Politics owner Paul Evans: What could this huge monetary transfer also be about, besides bailing out banks and corporations? What must be in the mind of conspiracy theorists, is certain to be something very sinister. However, what this also may be about is preparation for times ahead (on the time scale of decades), which may very well make this last "Great Recession" look almost like a walk in the park.

The stronger democracies in western Europe and of course the U.S. may very well need this kind of money as the world’s economies teeter and labor under huge burdens. There are simply too few resources and too many people clamoring after them. This sort of monetary transfer may make some effective response by the strong western Nations possible, in the event of a crisis. The implementation is something along the lines of the New World Order which George H.W. Bush first brought up as a real necessity, and if that is true, what we are seeing here is that Order coming to pass into reality.

We have stated here on this website before that, while this New World Order has the potential for some very substantial misuse and abuse, it may be very necessary to keep the world from still worse economic pain.

This is my own view, and I am not stupid so I do realize that there is already abuse of the kind of cash and power that these sorts of funds represent. I am simply trying to look under the hood of a world financial movement which may have something at least a little more hopeful to it than what it seems like at face value. Let us hope and also pray. The next 50 years or more, say the scientists and even the CIA, are going to be rough.

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Posted on November 11, 2011 by , 1 comment

Washington Post – Eugene Robinson: Don’t Make the Economy Worse

Evans Liberal Politics
June 29, 2011

 

Washington Post – Eugene Robinson:
Don’t Make the Economy Worse

Don’t Make the Economy Worse, The Washington Post, June 27, 2011, by Eugene Robinson, excerpt quoted verbatim:

There is no good reason for negotiations on the budget and the debt ceiling to be deadlocked, because the solution is obvious: First, do no harm.

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The Hippocratic injunction should be something befuddled economists and warring politicians can agree on. With the nation struggling to recover from a devastating recession, unemployment stuck at crisis levels, financial markets spooked by the possibility of European defaults and consumers disinclined to consume, it makes no earthly sense to suck money out of the economy.

Democrats are right that this is a terrible moment for spending cuts. Republicans are right that this is an awful moment for tax increases. The only reasonable thing to do is kick the can down the road — but in a purposeful, intelligent way.

As a practical matter, this means Republicans must swallow an increase in the debt ceiling, and Democrats must accept painful spending curbs that kick in when the economy is off its sickbed. It means conservatives have to be patient in bringing expenditures down and progressives have to be patient in returning tax rates — even for the wealthy — to what many of us consider appropriate levels. ….

Read the full article here.

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Posted on June 29, 2011 by , 1 comment

NY Times Editorial: A.E.P. Protests Too Much

Evans Liberal Politics
June 20, 2011

 

NY Times Editorial:
A.E.P. Protests Too Much

A.E.P. Protests Too Much, NY Times, Editorial, June 19, 2011

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American Electric Power, one of the nation’s largest utilities, warned last week that new air quality rules could force it to “prematurely” shut down about two dozen big coal-fired units and fire hundreds of workers. This is a deceptive and particularly cynical claim. The utility is making a business decision that has little to do with the rules.

Here is what A.E.P. is not saying: These units are, on average, 55 years old. Some are running at only 5 percent of capacity. Many had long been slated for retirement, in part to comply with a 2007 settlement with the George W. Bush administration in which the company agreed to settle violations of the Clean Air Act by spending $4.7 billion to retire or retrofit aging units.

Blaming the rules is a transparent scare tactic designed to weaken the administration’s resolve while playing to industry supporters on Capitol Hill. Fortunately, Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, which proposed the rules, refuses to be bullied.

Ms. Jackson called the A.E.P. charges “misleading at best” and made clear she would not retreat from her statutory duty to protect public health. She said she would stick to her timetable and make the rules final this year. We hope that the White House is equally determined. ….

Read the full story, here.

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Posted on June 20, 2011 by , Reply
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