Tuesday, October 22, 2013

the most corrupt political system in the world...,


NYTimes | WE have long assumed that the infestation of special interest money in Washington is at the root of so much that ails our politics. But what if we’ve had it wrong? What if instead of being bribed by wealthy interests, politicians are engaged in a form of legal extortion designed to extract campaign contributions? 

Consider this: of the thousands of bills introduced in Congress each year, only roughly 5 percent become law. Why do legislators bother proposing so many bills? What if many of those bills are written not to be passed but to pressure people into forking over cash? 

This is exactly what is happening. Politicians have developed a dizzying array of legislative tactics to bring in money. 

Take the maneuver known inside the Beltway as the “tollbooth.” Here the speaker of the House or a powerful committee chairperson will create a procedural obstruction or postponement on the eve of an important vote. Campaign contributions are then implicitly solicited. If the tribute offered by those in favor of the bill’s passage is too small (or if the money from opponents is sufficiently high), the bill is delayed and does not proceed down the legislative highway. 

House Speaker John A. Boehner appears to be a master of the tollbooth. In 2011, he collected a total of over $200,000 in donations from executives and companies in the days before holding votes on just three bills. He delayed scheduling a vote for months on the widely supported Wireless Tax Fairness Act, and after he finally announced a vote, 37 checks from wireless-industry executives totaling nearly $40,000 rolled in. He also delayed votes on the Access to Capital for Job Creators Act and the Small Company Capital Formation Act, scoring $91,000 from investment banks and private equity firms, $32,450 from bank holding companies and $46,500 from self-described investors — all in the 48 hours between scheduling the vote and the vote’s actually being held on the House floor. 

Another tactic that politicians use is something beltway insiders call “milker bills.” These are bills designed to “milk” donations from threatened individuals or businesses. The real trick is to pit two industries against each other and pump both for donations, thereby creating a “double milker” bill. 

President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. seemed to score big in 2011 using the milker tactic in connection with two bills: the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act. By pitting their supporters in Silicon Valley who opposed the bills against their allies in Hollywood who supported the measures, Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden were able to create a sort of fund-raising arms race. 

In the first half of 2011, Silicon Valley had chipped in only $1.7 million to Mr. Obama’s political campaign. The president announced that he would “probably” sign antipiracy legislation — a stance that pleased Hollywood and incensed Silicon Valley. The tech industry then poured millions into Mr. Obama’s coffers in the second half of 2011. By January of 2012, Hollywood had donated $4.1 million to Mr. Obama. 

Then, suddenly, on Jan. 14, 2012, the White House announced that it had problems with the antipiracy bills and neither passed. “He didn’t just throw us under the bus,” one film executive and longtime supporter of Mr. Obama anonymously told The Financial Times, “he ran us down, reversed the bus and ran over us again.”

33 comments:

Vic78 said...

He's a bit on the pessimistic side. I'm optimistic that people will make the needed adjustments. If not, well good luck and God bless.

CNu said...

What did you think about his data and how it correlates with the presidencies and the interpretations of the presidencies that have been grist in the partisan mills grinding hereabouts over the past several days?

makheru bradley said...

American politics is the science of deception, and Barack Obama is one of the very, very best masters of deception. He played those capitalists like a drum and they lost a few crumbs. But generally they are the winners as noted in the article: “In Big Win for Defense Industry, Obama Rolls Back Limits on Arms Exports.” $170 million spent lobbying lined a lot of pockets of the political bourgeois class in DC.

In this game the real winners are the oligarchs and their cronies, along with the political bourgeois class. The name of the game is influence. So the question for people who continue to participate in this corrupt process by voting for these bastards is, how do they influence outcomes?

Nakajima Kikka said...

Obama's legacy will not be Obamacare or rubbing out bin Laden et al.



Obama will be remembered as the one who transformed the U.S. into a true Panopticon society.



That will be his legacy.

Vic78 said...

Interpretations depend on whose telling the story. The data really doesn't matter. After 1980 the debt just started shooting upwards. Clinton did slow the growth as a result of the Fed Chair warning him about the debt. He even had projected surpluses over the years. Bush said that was the people's money and promised to give it back. His Vice President said "deficits don't matter." So the debt wasn't an issue again until 2009.

There are stories behind the data and we have the games people play. The left has been weak since the 70s so democrats placate the right when democrats win. Up until recently the right has had a well funded and disciplined machine. That has the democrats playing catch up and having to clean up republican messes. The deficit is going down and interest rates are low right now but none of that matters. With the low interest rates and declining deficit somebody's doing well right now and they will continue to do well if shit hits the fan. People on the bottom are going to get screwed pretty hard. What gets me is their accepting this shit.

For me the debt isn't an issue because the solutions are obvious to me. The political will isn't there. They can't even fix a bridge right now so don't expect much. That was why I made my post about people having to make adjustments.

CNu said...

Well, if the people getting screwed the hardest accept the screwing, then who will be making adjustments and what will those adjustments look like? The American political system is indeed the most corrupt system in the world, merely because of the considerable lengths it goes to to conceal and deceive the electorate concerning its underlying nature and activities.



There is no legitimate right and left anymore, rather, there are two parties and one ideology - and at this moment - only the authoritarian/stupid part of the peasant bell-curve has taken up its torches and pitchforks at the behest of a longtime fringe and nutty third party which has never been able to acquire traction in the mainstream. (which is why they've had to resort to opportunistically strip-mining the low-hanging fruit of authoritarian and stupid...,


The true left lacks the testicular fortitude to actually do jack shit, having been utterly subverted generations ago by leftist, feminist, lesbians in higher-ed, the same element that has so effectively and comprehensively emasculated afrodemia. "You want tenure, you want a shot at becoming a high-paid pundit on teevee, check your testicles at the door - boy!!!"

CNu said...

Bro Makheru, why do partisan fanboys invest the person of Obama with responsibility for anything? Doesn't healthcare.gov show you the precise nature and profound real-world limitations of Obama's operational savvy? Look, Obama's legacy will be whatever Brookings decides it will be, and, Obama's successes and failures will be whatever Brookings assigns some of its genuinely competent minions to directly oversee and accomplish.



Let the record show, Brookings doesn't give 1/100th of a phuk about affordable care, hasn't bothered to tell the story in 5 years, didn't even trouble itself to test out the website. Really?!?!?!?! Not even a 5th grader attempts to launch a thing without first testing it out. In those areas where somebody is minding the shop, things get accomplished, in those areas which are the result of malign neglect....,

Vic78 said...

The adjustments I'm talking about would be the middle class being less selfish and less stupid. That's a long shot. There are a few coming around, but not enough to change shit. It looks like a lot of them are going to have to adjust to more beans and peanut butter to make up for the meat.

The true left might as well be a gang of naked refugees with the way they carry on. What's sad is they'll make room for a badass. There aren't too many on the left that aspire to be a badass. Who the fuck grows up saying "I want to be a pundit bitchboy when I grow up?" Kids watch Mayweather and want to box. They see Lebron and want to hit the court. I believe your spirit's broken if you see Meet the Press and say "yeah, that's what I want." There had to be a decent person inside at some point in the past.

makheru bradley said...

Bro. Nulan I can't speak for partisan fanboys. Obama wasn't selected for operational savvy. Neo-liberals saw him as their version of Ronald Reagan. Wind him up and send him out to speak, allowing his magnetic appeal to captivate people, and grease the skids for their agenda. He is supposed to pave the way for neo-liberal control of the executive branch or the imperial presidency for years to come. Whatever he isn't, he is the most brilliant stroke of disguised hypocrisy in American political history.

Tom said...

That's a nice way of putting it.

CNu said...

lol, you mean back in the day when bruvvas still had bass in their voice and some-of-em routinely and very publicly said shit that made the hair stand up on black folks necks and chills run down other folks spines? Yeah man, I loves me some youtube just because of that fact!

CNu said...

lol, so that's all it took? Put a modestly articulate black face fond of dropping its "g"s on the 21st century version of white supremacy (oops, American exceptionalism) and the skids are supposed to be greased, international, worldwide?

Evidently this most "brilliant stroke of disguised hypocrisy in American political history" was a generation out of date, plumb forgot about the probative power of these Internets, and nobody surveyed the confederate states of america coalition (nutty baggers) to see if they'd buy into the ruse.

All-in-all on this fine wikileaks wednesday, doesn't seem like much of masterstroke to me...,

Constructive_Feedback said...

Brother CNu:

Why do you present a false supposition to Senator Ted Cruz?

"Present An Alternative" - WHAT?

* A Promise for universal health care within a budget for the Federal government?

This fiat economy and government has been running a deficit for many many years AND the Federal Reserve is creating $85 billion of FAKE MONEY EVERY MONTH to feed the greedy monster.

Why aren't you asking the ADVOCATES of "Social Justice Health Care" a more IMPORTANT question that many people are missing?:

SINCE YOU CLAIM to care about "The Least Of These" AND you have compelled them to INVEST THEIR VALUABLES into their take over of their HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT INSTITUTIONS (schools, local governments, police forces).................................................

WHY DON'T YOU PROVE TO THOSE OF US WHO HAVE BEEN WATCHING YOU THAT YOUR INTENT IS TO DEVELOP 'THE LEAST OF THESE' - BY BUILDING THEM UP THROUGH THE INSTITUTIONS THAT YOU NOW CONTROL?

INSTEAD it seems that you are making them more TIED TO THE US SOVEREIGN DEBT!!!
If they matriculate through this period of time - and the predicted impact of the INSOLVENCY (it is already insolvent) are shown - CAN YOU HIGHLIGHT how any of the people who took your bait will be able to live at a DESIRABLE STANDARD OF LIVING - this after the FIAT SCHEME COMES CRASHING DOWN?

It is CLEAR - all of this B.S. between the two "Dung Producing Party Animals" are staged to TRICK THE AMERICANIZED PEOPLE from making note of what is really going on.

Who in their right mind would tie more of their fate into a SYSTEM OF "FRAUDS AND BALANCES"?

The Federal Reserve purchasing $45 billion of Treasury Bonds and $40 billion of mortgage backed securities each month are effectively:

* Creating a FAKE WALMART CORPORATION every 2 months
* A FAKE Apple Inc ever 4 or 5 months.

Think about the VALUE that these companies produce.
Now think about how this$85 billion per month IS NOT building a new Brooklyn Bridge, Hoover Dam or a new container shipping terminal for exports on a coastal city.

THIS IS MERELY MONEY TO FEED THE FURNACE.

The ONLY BOTTOM LINE QUESTION that should be asked to these FRAUDULENT POLITICIANS and EMBEDDED CONFIDENCE MEN is :WHERE IS THERE EVIDENCE THAT YOU ARE DEVELOPING PEOPLE RATHER THAN DEVELOPING LOYAL CONSUMERS AS YOU HASTEN THE COLLAPSE?

Constructive_Feedback said...

Wooden Splinter:


Beyond your OPINION can you clearly articulate the attributes of Segregationist George Wallace that you see in Senator Cruz? You should note that Wallace became a Popularist favorite for the Progressives later in life after being wheelchair bound.



I will volunteer a counter-narrative for you:


THE FORCES WITH DIRECT ACCESS TO "THE LEAST OF THESE" - a portion of which are the "IGNORANT VOTE" that editorial cartoonist Thomas Nast captured 100 years ago - with equal representation in BOTH PARTIES - HAVE THE INFLUENCE over them to cause them to channel their HATRED AND IGNORANCE into American politics granting them temporary pleasure in the fight - while they agree to STEAL FROM THEIR OWN FUTURE PROSPERITY to fund the fight.


* George Wallace kept Black kids out of public schools. The forces that compelled people to vote for the local machines in Detroit, Newark, Cleveland, and Philly got their constituents to VOTE FOR THEM TO CONTROL THE SCHOOLS, produced failing schools and despite their broken promises and inability to get the local parents to do their part in managing their own children - convinced the parents to march at the state capital - as they were convinced that this is the problem.


George Wallace lacked this power to compel masses of people to VOTE when it was in their interests to MANAGE the affairs in their own community.


I have little doubt that Ted Cruz doesn't even live in your state but still bothers you so - as you have abandoned the notion that you and your community will be the most predominate portion of the standard of living that you are able to carve out.

Constructive_Feedback said...

Big Don One:


The GOP had no "hand".


The US government's finances are merely a GLOBAL CONFIDENCE SCHEME - and Obamacare, while problematic - is but the tip of the iceberg.

woodensplinter said...

I live in Amsterdam. Cruz is a quintessential whipcracker whose innate meanness is written all over his face. Your counternarrative is unintelligible.

CNu said...

lol, bro. confeed must've been about 4 fingers deep into his favorite brown liquor on a weeknight...,


how you even fix your mouth to question me? you know somebody else who pointed out the underlying nature of the trans-sovereign bankster beast before I did, provide a link ______________________?



Subrealism is school for you! Accept no substitutes...,

Constructive_Feedback said...

Wooden Splinter:
I am glad that you said that from YOUR PERSPECTIVE it was "unintelligible" rather than WRONG.

"Unintelligible" is a function of YOUR ability to comprehend, and not inherently a function of the content.

Judged "WRONG" would require that YOU take in my comments, appraise them against a body of facts and then SHOW WHERE I am in error.

Your national residency is IRRELEVANT to the conversation.

In the history of the relationship between constituencies and a LEADER - there are far more CONFIDENCE MEN with WARM RELATIONSHIPS with the masses - who profited greatly off of their valuables - than there are "MEANIES" who rose to power based upon their (non-existent) POPULARITY.

Something inside of me tells me that YOU believe that President Obama - the hero of "The Least Of These" and a pleasant fellow should not be allowed to be bothered by the pesky United Nations report that showed over 450 collateral damage deaths in Pakistan and Yemen as he ordered drone strikes in these "Nations Of Color".

Whereas Obama's smile is DISARMING to you - to these "Least Of These People" who unfortunately live in nations without substantive air defenses - they were not able disarm the forces that were sent to "Make Justice" and thus the bombing victims got "disemboweled".

I guess there is some relevance to your living in Amsterdam as it is a nation that has not suffered from Imperialist Bombings recently.

Constructive_Feedback said...

Brother CNu:


You actually didn't address my challenge and instead took a rather defense approach.


I never said that you were not tuned into the "Fiat Economy" that all of this "B.S." is now riding upon.


I did infer, however, that as I watch the news and see the "Dung Producing Party Animals" fighting and then as I watch the financial media where many people are profiting and some honest people are calling out the ponzi scheme (even Warren Buffet said that America's $100 Trillion long term debt is like one big hedge fund that is being milked).......................I implicitly questioned why YOU asked Senator Cruz for HIS ALTERNATIVE (to providing universal health care) instead of volunteering your knowledge about the fraud and hokum that any alternative plan would need to be built upon - just like the current plan is built upon fraud.


The BOTTOM LINE, Brother CNu (and I believe that this will become more obvious over time) at the COMMUNITY and regional LEVEL any group of people that fails to develop ORGANIC COMPETENCIES (and financial wherewithall) to fund, educate, manage and execute their institutions through which they seek to produce their desired STANDARD OF LIVING are going to be severely harmed when this nationalized system of endless promised for POPULARIST LOYALTIES affirmed by voting COMES TO A COLLAPSE as too many straws sucked the water out of what was later discovered to be a river laced with arsenic.


TED CRUZ IS THUS IRRELEVANT TO THE FINAL DISPENSATION - JUST AS IS PRESIDENT OBAMA.


The MASSES OF CONSUMERIZED AMERICANS and their unfettered wants and needs in exchange for their conscious loyalties are WHO YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED THE QUESTION: "What Is Your Alternative That IS NOT BASED UPON FRAUD, that proves that YOU CARE ABOUT PEOPLE ENOUGH TO DEVELOP THEM INTO becoming MEDICAL SERVICE PROVIDERS?"

CNu said...

uh, Bro.ConFeed...,


1. John didn't qualify his characterization of Cruz.

2. You raised the issue of the man's residency.
3. John didn't say anything pro or con about Obama.
4. Whatever that is "inside of you telling you things", I recommend you go see somebody about that.


Hyperpartisan fanboys, vision hella blurry.
Time grows short, get clear-eyed in a hurry.


liminal perspectives = side-eye
consensus reality = mass understanding



Subrealism is school.


In school, we scrutinize the limits of capitalism as power.
We side eye political distractions and carnival sideshows.


Accept no substitutes....,

CNu said...

TED CRUZ IS THUS IRRELEVANT TO THE FINAL DISPENSATION - JUST AS IS PRESIDENT OBAMA.


So let me get this right. In your opinion, the face and the tone of the carnival barker has no bearing on how the capitalist script plays out?

Dale Asberry said...

I think what he means by your "counternarrative is unintelligible" is that the comment is little more than verbal diarrhea. It stinks, it's messy, and it seems to spew forth from your mouth uncontrollably (notice the extra hard spurts when you capitalize). As for my opinion of what you say, you are pretentious, tedious, pedantic and irrelevant -- in short, ignored.

Constructive_Feedback said...

Indeed you are correct Dale Asberry. Indeed.


But again - you assume that my task is to pen a diatribe that is acceptable to YOUR expectations.


Woodsplinter has already proven that one need not frame the question into the correct and larger point to achieve YOUR approval Mr Asberry.


The facts remain:


1) Ted Cruz, President Obama - the rest of the Congress AND the American people are all trapped upon a FIAT ECONOMY which can induce a sense of "political victory" over one's adversary by WINNING an "entitlement" or a 'tax cut'.


Neither of these ignorant combatants have any plans to pull the curtain to expose the FRAUDULENT WIZARD - this magical cherub who creates $85 billion in FAKE MONEY EACH MONTH.


Ironically both Secular Atheist and Evangelical Christian alike come together to extend their FAITH into this fiat economy which operates on CONFIDENCE.


The media argues that the shut down COST America "$24 billion AND damaged CONSUMER CONFIDENCE".


If you were a man of reason you'd ask the next logical question:
IF A SHUTDOWN can cause such injury of CONFIDENCE then how do you measure the CONFIDENCE that was purchased by the FAKE $85 BILLION PER MONTH that is means to STABILIZE CONSUMER AND INVESTOR CONFIDENCE?


Seems rather circular to me, NO?


At some point, sir, absent the growth of some HARD VALUE behind this expanding sovereign debt bubble (at least you can still drive across the "Golden Gate Bridge" rather than wait for a ferry and you get water and electricity from the Hoover Dam" ----- WHAT ARE YOU GETTING IN VALUE from this $85 billion per month?


* Substantively more net new physicians to PROVIDE care or MORE CONSUMERS?


* More people WORKING to produce the widgets that are later assembled into HIGH END FINISHED GOODS MADE IN AMERICA .............or more low cost trinkets made in China that maintain America's creature comforts at an affordable price.....ON THEIR CREDIT CARDS?




You see sirs - it is NOT my task to convince you -lending the literary talents of a ghost writer who can embellish my words and sentence structure to make them more agreeable to your pallet.



At MINIMUM I hope to convince that that absent evidence of NET AND SUFFICIENT DEVELOPMENT OF THE PEOPLE -all of this ECONOMIC FRAUD AND HOKUM is going to hoist them up on a bungee rise over a massive canyon and then cut them loose just as they step off of the platform after having reached out for yet another trinket that was put before them for inducement.


THEY WERE MADE TO BELIEVE that the BUNGEE CORD called "America" was going to save them as it broke the velocity of their fall.



Now they are splattered on the ground - the carbon from their body will be someone's "Petroleum" in another 10,000 years.

Dale Asberry said...

It's not about my approval, it's about my feedback. I'm sure that the rest of your comment has valuable nuggets of Constructive_Feedback for me in it, but I'm not digging through that nazzzzzty mess.

Constructive_Feedback said...

Actually its the reverse.


THE STAGE PLAYERS sent out for their respective bigots in the congregation to focus their attention upon are CRITICAL to the DIVERSION!!!


The DIVERSION is not the same as operations of THE FRAUDULENT CORE of the machine.


While I reject when people (Black Nationalists) say "President Obama is merely a pawn in the larger game)" - BECAUSE I tell them to NOT LOOK AT OBAMA but look at how the CONGREGATION has been compelled to support the imperialist antics of the machine while Obama is in power............I do believe that I am correct in separating :


* The Public Face
* The Core Operations
* The Corrupt Media Propagandists

* and most importantly the CONGREGATION which donates its valuables without expectation that the return on investment will be THEIR DEVELOPMENT instead of their CONSUMER SATISFACTION THROUGH ENTERTAINMENT.

makheru bradley said...

Lol. No surprise that you don’t see it. After all you did fall for the hype, hook, line, and sinker in 2008. But, you will eventually see it.

http://bit.ly/17LWESF

CNu said...

10,000 years is kind of quick, and nobody sensible believes that dinosaur carcasses make petroleum. Now that you've been shaken into intelligibility Bro. Feed, have actually said something interesting about the presstitutes on teevee, paper, and Interwebs, where do we go from here to achieve Dr. Henry Belsidus' compelling vision of a Church of Love strong enough to shake partisan peasant faith in the fiat religion with which they transact for their daily bread?

CNu said...

So, help me out here Feed. I should lend my support to Ted Cruz's ambitions to become the face and tone of the sovereign capitalist diversion because he's made it so abundantly clear that the script which he exemplifies and from which he will operate conduce to the interests and well-being of me and mine?


Makes me wonder how many Jews thought the vigorous new Chancellor of Germany in 1933 was about to usher in a bright new day....,

CNu said...

lol, yeah, yeah..., Bro. Makheru - the Bro. X-Squared think tank is always light years ahead of folks actually busy doing shit in the real world. It's unfortunate that we don't all have time to imbibe the endless and prescient cultural production of the elite afro-trekkie vanguard tirelessly working to enlighten our poor benighted and pork infested minds.

Constructive_Feedback said...

[quote]where do we go from here to achieve Dr. Henry Belsidus' compelling
vision of a Church of Love strong enough to shake partisan peasant faith
in the fiat religion with which they transact for their daily bread?
[/quote]


ANSWER:


Let the Fiat Super Structure to which both sides of the bigoted camp have assigned their "RELIGIOUS HOPE" to COLLAPSE.


They will both stand naked.
Those who can't mentally cope with their new reality will kill themselves.


For the rest of them - a good portion will see that THEY WERE USED - upon which they will reconverge - never again allowing their HOPES FOR A GOOD STANDARD OF LIVING to exist far, far beyond the machinations of their community.


This is the best way to ADJUST SOMEONE'S RELIGION - CNu.


False hope applied to corrupt principalities has compromised the majority of them today.

Constructive_Feedback said...

Brother CNu:


Why do you focus on Ted Cruz but NOT the forces that slit the throats of "The Least Of These" by ATTRACTING THEM yet stealing their COMPETENCY to generate UPLIFT?


More successful than the "Repugnant Hitler-like character" are those who operate with sugar and compel a larger mass to hand over their valuables more willingly.



I am less troubled that the ranks of "The Least Of These" would agree to take up arms to stop Ted Cruz's "Tea Party Coalition" than I am that the masses of people who have no clue that this week the "United Nations' said that the US Drones have killed more than 450 in collateral damage - YET the activists in America that normally oppose these imperialist acts - are fearful that their "Social Justice Health Care" in America might be cut off IF they protest against the same entity who is their "Single Payer".

CNu said...

Um, I think the capitalist power is more afraid of the quick and brutal race war/civil war that will break out and destroy an immense amount of wealth than they are with postponement of the collapse. Postponement of collapse buys time for pandemics, radiation poisoning, and a host of other lethal but far less destructive events to cull the population of a significant portion of its useless eater load.

CNu said...

That drone business doesn't make the American consensus reality radar, particularly given that it was headline news outside the U.S. two days ago in context of war crimes and potential war crimes prosecutions. (not exactly the story that's been allowed to gradually filter into U.S. organs of presstitution.)

It's also conspicuously obvious to the casual observer that lines such as theseYET the activists in America that normally oppose these imperialist acts - are fearful that their "Social Justice Health Care" in America might be cut off IF they protest against the same entity who is their "Single Payer".fly in the face of any claims you might make to impartiality in all of these goings-on...,

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