The banksters of Wall Street are seeking another taxpayer ‘bailout’ and immunity
October 24, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: There’s a reason why a majority of Americans approve of the Occupy Wall Street protestors in spite of all the media villagers' derision and right-wing attacks, and a reason why demonstrators all over the country and the world are organizing protests. The banksters of Wall Street are not done ripping us off … Read more
(Update) The Fire Next Time: The Euro Financial Crisis
October 24, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I warned you about this a few weeks ago. The Fire Next Time: The Euro Financial Crisis. European leaders have been trying to come to a multi-government agreement on dealing with European sovereign debt, in particular Greece which stands on the precipice of default, and recapitalizing European banks. As you might imagine, it has not been going well. European leaders have set this week as a deadline of sorts to come up with a plan.
When, not if, the European financial system collapses it will effect the world's economy just as the American financial system collapse in 2008 effected the world's economy. It is a preventable crisis, but European leaders lack the foresight and the will to do what is necessary, the same as their American counterparts.
Paul Krugman writes in his column The Hole in Europe’s Bucket – NYTimes.com:
If it weren’t so tragic, the current European crisis would be funny, in a gallows-humor sort of way. For as one rescue plan after another falls flat, Europe’s Very Serious People — who are, if such a thing is possible, even more pompous and self-regarding than their American counterparts — just keep looking more and more ridiculous.
* * *
[A]t this point, Greece, where the crisis began, is no more than a grim sideshow. The clear and present danger comes instead from a sort of bank run on Italy, the euro area’s third-largest economy. Investors, fearing a possible default, are demanding high interest rates on Italian debt. And these high interest rates, by raising the burden of debt service, make default more likely.
It’s a vicious circle, with fears of default threatening to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. To save the euro, this threat must be contained. But how? The answer has to involve creating a fund that can, if necessary, lend Italy (and Spain, which is also under threat) enough money that it doesn’t need to borrow at those high rates. Such a fund probably wouldn’t have to be used, since its mere existence should put an end to the cycle of fear. But the potential for really large-scale lending, certainly more than a trillion euros’ worth, has to be there.
And here’s the problem: All the various proposals for creating such a fund ultimately require backing from major European governments, whose promises to investors must be credible for the plan to work. Yet Italy is one of those major governments; it can’t achieve a rescue by lending money to itself. And France, the euro area’s second-biggest economy, has been looking shaky lately, raising fears that creation of a large rescue fund, by in effect adding to French debt, could simply have the effect of adding France to the list of crisis countries. There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza.
You see what I mean about the situation being funny in a gallows-humor fashion? What makes the story really painful is the fact that none of this had to happen.
Think about countries like Britain, Japan and the United States, which have large debts and deficits yet remain able to borrow at low interest rates. What’s their secret? The answer, in large part, is that they retain their own currencies, and investors know that in a pinch they could finance their deficits by printing more of those currencies. If the European Central Bank were to similarly stand behind European debts, the crisis would ease dramatically.
Wouldn’t that cause inflation? Probably not: whatever the likes of Ron Paul may believe, money creation isn’t inflationary in a depressed economy. Furthermore, Europe actually needs modestly higher overall inflation: too low an overall inflation rate would condemn southern Europe to years of grinding deflation, virtually guaranteeing both continued high unemployment and a string of defaults.
But such action, we keep being told, is off the table. The statutes under which the central bank was established supposedly prohibit this kind of thing, although one suspects that clever lawyers could find a way to make it happen. The broader problem, however, is that the whole euro system was designed to fight the last economic war. It’s a Maginot Line built to prevent a replay of the 1970s, which is worse than useless when the real danger is a replay of the 1930s.
And this turn of events is, as I said, tragic.
* * *
[T]he European elite, in its arrogance, locked the Continent into a monetary system that recreated the rigidities of the gold standard, and — like the gold standard in the 1930s — has turned into a deadly trap.
Now maybe European leaders will come up with a truly credible rescue plan. I hope so, but I don’t expect it.
The bitter truth is that it’s looking more and more as if the euro system is doomed. And the even more bitter truth is that given the way that system has been performing, Europe might be better off if it collapses sooner rather than later.
Krugman fleshes out his column at his blog in several posts. There's A Hole In The Bucket – NYTimes.com:
The answer to the whole conundrum is to back the rescue, not with French guarantees, but with the power of the printing press — to put the ECB behind the effort. But the ECB won’t and maybe can’t (under current rules) do that.
And meanwhile, austerity programs are leading to severe slumps in Greece and elsewhere. Who could have imagined that?
What a tragedy. A rich, productive continent, which has produced arguably the most decent societies in human history, is tearing itself apart because its elite insisted on embarking on a dubious monetary project, and now can’t bring itself to take the steps necessary to give that project a chance of working.
The ‘Regressives’ Flat Tax Plans
October 23, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Herman Cain's "Plan 9-9-9 From Outer Space" would replace the current tax code with a 9 percent individual income tax, a 9 percent corporate tax, and a 9 percent sales tax. Cain calls it a "flat tax." (It's actually more akin to a "value added tax," or VAT Tax). This week, Governor Goodhair … Read more
The GOP ‘troika’ behind Rio Nuevo
October 23, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: I posted about this the other day State of Maricopa appointed Rio Nuevo District Board is costing taxpayers for litigation, and now one-half of The Brodesky/O'Dell tag team (AKA, the B&O Journalistic Railroad) at the Arizona Daily Star is finally getting the story right in todays opinion Josh Brodesky: Rio Nuevo is … Read more
Is the Arizona GOP illegally ‘earmarking’ funds for Tucson City Council elections?
October 22, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The latest on dirty politics by the Arizona GOP from the Pima County Democratic Party: Arizona GOP Drowning in Red Ink, Hiding Financial Dealingsas It Somehow Funds Campaigns in Tucson On October 1 a job posting appeared on the website, Career Builder with the following description: Get Out the Vote Canvassers needed … Read more
Federal judge dismisses Governor’s SB 1070 Counterclaim
October 22, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Anyone who is familiar with federal preemption doctrine saw this ruling coming. But our Governor and Attorney General who subscribe to long-discredited states' rights theories want to pursue politically motivated and ideologically driven frivolous lawsuits. It gives the Guv something for which to sell a book and from which to financially benefit. … Read more
Office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords presents a Financial Literacy Fair
October 22, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Announcement from the Office of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords: Financial Literacy Fair Tuesday, October 25, 2011 2:30-6:00pm Flowing Wells High School 3725 N. Flowing Wells Road Tucson, Arizona 85705 The Office of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, in partnership with the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, invites you to attend a … Read more
AIRC Update: Tea-Publican Legislative Committee on Interfering with the AIRC ejects reporter, demonstrates contempt for constituents and Constitution
October 22, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Tea-Publican authoritarianism and their contempt for constitutional provisions — both the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission enacted by voters in the Arizona Constitution, and the right of a free press under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — were on display Friday in a farce of a committee hearing to discredit and undermine the AIRC by Tea-Publican legislators.
As I posted the other day, AIRC Update: Tea-Publicans plan legislative interference with the 'independent' commission:
What part of "independent" do Tea-Publicans not understand? Arizona voters enacted the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) to take redistricting out of the hands of legislators.
After waging a campaign of threats and intimidation against the AIRC through lawsuits, a politically motivated AG investigation, and the GOP front group FAIR Trust lawyer-lobbyists and teabaggers insulting commissioners at commission hearings, now the Tea-Publican controlled Arizona Legislature wants to appoint a committee of legislators to "scrutinize" the draft maps.
The Committee on Interfering with the AIRC held its first meeting on Friday. The Democrats appointed to the committee without consultation of Democratic leadership boycotted this farce of a committee hearing.
"Rep. Lynne Pancrazi of Yuma and Sen. Robert Mesa of Phoenix announced they won’t serve on the committee and skipped today’s hearing in order not to lend credibility to a committee whose sole purpose 'appears only to be political in nature.'" Two Dems snub joint panel on IRC – Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required). Pancrazi stated at a press conference prior to the hearing, "These lawmakers have hijacked the very process that puts the power in independent hands.”
The Tea-Publican only Committee on Interfering with the AIRC then proceeded to engage in hostile exchanges with constituents who dared to disagree with their actions and even ejected a reporter for simply mouthing the word "bullshit" to what was going on at this farce of a proceeding. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Chippy meeting on IRC maps brings out critics on both sides -Arizona Capitol Times:
The first speaker of the public comment period, a Phoenix resident named Tonya Norwood-Pearson, echoed some of the Democrats’ sentiments. She accused the Republicans of acting with a “mob-like mentality” and trying to undermine the IRC’s independence for partisan political gain, and said they should testify at the IRC instead.
“You are pushing your partisan agenda to forward your own political interests for political gain. It kind feels a little bit like bullying,” she said.
Sen. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, said the committee was nothing more than a fact-finding mission formed to craft the Legislature’s official response to the IRC’s draft maps. He accused Norwood-Pearson of using the kind of inflammatory rhetoric that she alleged the committee was using.
“Demagogic language would be to say this is mob-like,” Biggs said, shortly before he had a liberal blogger ejected from the meeting for allegedly mouthing swear words at him.
The Arizona Capitol Times and its sister publication The Yellow Sheet political gossip rag, publications by lobbyists and for lobbyists, both like to use "liberal" as a pejorative. The "liberal blogger" is actually the only reporter who has consistently reported on the public hearings of the AIRC, Steve Muratore of The Arizona Eagletarian blog.
Muratore's reporting has been a must-read for anyone wanting to know what is going on at the AIRC because our corporate media villagers have done such a godawful job of reporting on the AIRC — unless it is to advance the GOP talking points that AIRC Chair Colleen Mathis is biased or that the GOP is getting screwed with the draft maps — both stories advanced by the Arizona Capitol Times and The Yellow Sheet.
I will let Steve Muratore explain what really happened from his blog post.
