AZ BlueMeanie

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last week Willard "Mittens" Romney told underwater homeowners in Florida, "Well, the banks aren't bad people. They're just overwhelmed right now." "The banks are scared to death, of course," he said. "They're feeling the same thing that you're feeling…" Daily Kos: Mitt Romney wants you to know that banks are 'feeling the same thing that you're feeling'.

This comment is not only wrong – it’s wildly out of touch with the millions of hardworking Americans who are struggling to hold onto their homes.  If you’re a homeowner in this country trying to make ends meet, "Mittens" Romney has four simple words for you: "you’re on your own" (George W. Bush's "ownership society").

The "Survivor – GOP Presidential Primary" now turns to the GOP caucus in Nevada, the state with the nation's highest foreclosure rate. So I will repost what "Mittens" Romney told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last October in an interview regarding his solution to the Foreclosuregate scandal.

(Repost)

December 2007: Solving the Mortgage Crisis May Require a Guardian Angel – New York Times:

I knew it was the Christmas season. There on television was Henry F. Potter, the mean banker, quizzing Pa Bailey, the idealist from the building and loan society.

“Have you put any real pressure on these people of yours to pay those mortgages?”

“Times are bad, Mr. Potter. A lot of these people are out of work.”

“Then foreclose!”

“I can’t do that. These families have children.”

“They’re not my children.”

September 2011: Willard "Mittens" Romney channels the spirit of Mr. Potter. Romney told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the problem in housing is that banks haven't been allowed to foreclose on enough people, making it more difficult for investors, i.e., creditors - the rentier class in classic usage (see Robert Kuttner, Debtors' Prison) - to buy up underpriced properties and rent them back to the former owners. Daily Kos: Romney’s housing plan: 'Allow investors to buy up homes' by accelerating foreclosure process:

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Senate Minority Leader David Shapira was a guest on The Ed Show on Wednesday night, discussing Governor Jan Brewer and her Tea-Publican legislature's full-scale assault on public employee unions and workers rights in the Arizona legislature this week. These bills would make Arizona the most anti-union, anti-worker's rights state in the union. And it is all being coordinated by the Goldwater institute, the corporate funded ALEC partner.

Sen. Shapira has set up the web page solidarity.az.org at Stand up for the Middle Class – David Schapira for Congress for a petition (look for the logo below) that you can sign and to receive updates on these draconian bills to allow you to make public comments on these bills — not that our super-majority Tea-Publican legislature gives a damn what you or anyone else thinks. This is Tea-Publican tyranny, and they must all be removed from office.

I have never seen a people more apathetic and resigned to accepting abuse than Arizonans. What the hell is wrong with you people? Our brothers and sisters in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana have stood up and turned out hundreds of thousands of protestors into the streets to fight back against the Tea-Publican tyranny. They have defeated Gov. Kasich in Ohio and they are about to recall Gov. Walker and Tea-Publican senators in Wisconsin. What's it going to take for Arizonans to slip off your shackles and to stop bowing your heads in defeat and to stand up and Fight Back! Take back our state!

Video below the fold.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The lobbyists from the Golwater Institute will testify on Thursday about how public sector employees are paid more than their private sector counterparts. This is something that FAUX News Fraudcasting has been laying the groundwork for since early 2011. This claim has been refuted by several studies over the past year.

Just last week, the Arizona Republic reported Study compares pay, benefits of workers in Phoenix sectors:

A study Phoenix commissioned to settle disputes over public-employee compensation shows city workers earn slightly more in total pay and benefits than a combined average of competitive peers in both the public and private sectors.

But when benefits are stripped from the equation, Phoenix workers make far less in base pay compared with private sector entities and about the same as local public-sector peers.

The findings are contained in a study from the Segal Group that the Phoenix City Council will review today. Phoenix paid $430,000 for the 300-plus page report, and there is already disagreement about what the report says.

* * *

The study, released recently, based its findings on data averaging information from both the private and public sector. Cities used in the study for comparison included San Diego, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Houston.

Locally, most major cities in Maricopa County were included along with data on state employees. Private-sector information came from published databases and a survey of seven local companies or utilities.

The study shows Phoenix is roughly competitive with the public sector and 19 percentage points below market compared with the private sector when it comes to base salary. The report based its findings on the city's current labor contracts, which included a 1 percent wage cut that has been in place for two consecutive fiscal years.

[Compared with the private sector alone, total compensation for Phoenix employees is barely at market.]

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

"Mr .006 percent," vulture capitalist Willard "Mittens" Romney, told CNN today that "I'm not concerned about the very poor." Well, no shit, Sherlock. I doubt you even know a poor person "in the real streets of America." Mitt Romney: 'I'm Not Concerned About The Very Poor':

Gov. Mitt Romney said on Wednesday that he's "not concerned about the very poor," citing the social safety net in place for that segment of the populace and adding that he's focused on the middle class.

"I'm in this race because I care about Americans. I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it," the Republican front-runner said Wednesday on CNN, following his victory in the Florida primary. "I'm not concerned about the very rich, they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of the America, the 90 percent, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling."

Let's unpack this out-of-touch statement. The social safety net is being shredded by state governments run by Tea-Publicans who see the social safety net, as "Mittens" himself calls it, "an entitlement society."

Medicaid, for example faces cuts as states attempt to balance budgets at a time when more people are using the program. GOP lawmakers have also eyed cuts in food stamps as food prices rise, even though more Americans are using the the program as a consequence of the economic recession.

Romney's policies call for cutting federal spending and reconfiguring the social safety net. He calls for an immediate five-percent cut to non-discretionary spending, which would hit the safety net hard. He proposes turning Medicaid into a block grant program and undertaking a "fundamental restructuring of government programs and services." He also calls for capping spending at 20 percent of GDP — a significant cut — and adds that he "will pursue further cuts" as spending comes "under control."

 "Mittens" Romney has endorsed Rep. Paul Ryan's "Roadmap to America's Ruin" GOP budget plan that would end Medicare as we know it and turn it into a voucher system that will leave seniors vulnerable to rising medical costs. Romney Plan Endorses Radical Ryan Budget | The Nation.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Let's be honest. Disgraced former House Speaker and preeminent housing historian Newt Gingrich is a megalomaniac. Newt frames every issue in apocalyptic terms: this is the end of civilization as we know it unless we follow him, the great thinker of big ideas.

Newt is an historian only because it allows him to cast himself among the pantheon of great historical figures. Newt sounds like the ominous voice-over trailer to every action movie ever made: "Only one man can save the world…" Newt. That is seriously delusional.

Newt Gingrich lost badly in the GOP primary in Florida on Tuesday night. But you would never know it from his speech to supporters last night. There was no gracious concession to the winner, Willard "Mittens" Romney. Oh no, not after "Mr. .006 percent" used his substantial financial advantage to savage Newt Gingrich in a blizzard of negative advertisements, using "the politics of personal destruction" that Newt Gingrich himself perfected at GOPAC.

Newt Gingrich used his speech last night to declare "uncivil" war against Mittens. As the ominous voice-over trailer to the action movie always intones, "This time it's personal."