OBOF SS & MORE PART 22

WELCOME TO OPINIONS  BASED  ON FACTS (OBOF)

Name	Published
OVERVIEW	Dec. 28, 2010
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 1	Dec. 30, 2010
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 2	Jan. 10, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 3	Jan. 17, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 4	Jan. 24, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 5	Jan. 31, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 6	Feb. 07, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 7	Feb. 14, 2011
SPECIAL ISSUE	Feb. 18, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 8	Feb. 21, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 9	Mar. 01, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 10	Mar. 07, 2011
SS & MORE PART 1	Mar. 14, 2011
SS & MORE PART 1A	Mar. 21, 2011
SS & MORE PART 2	Mar. 25, 2011
SS & MORE PART 3	Mar. 29, 2011
SS & MORE PART 4	Apr. 04, 2011
SS & MORE PART 5	Apr. 11, 2011
SS & MORE PART 6	Apr. 18, 2011
SS & MORE PART 7	Apr. 25, 2011
SS & MORE PART 7A	Apr. 29, 2011
SS & MORE PART 8	May 02, 2011
SS & MORE PART 9	May 09, 2011
SS & MORE PART 10	May 16, 2011
SS & MORE PART 11	May 24, 2011
SS & MORE PART 12	Jun. 06, 2011
SS & MORE PART 13	Jun. 20, 2011
SS & MORE PART 14	JULY 05,2011
SS & MORE PART 14A	JULY 18, 2011
SS & MORE PART 15	JULY 19, 2011
SS & MORE PART 16	AUG. 03, 2011
SS & MORE PART 17	AUG. 15, 2011
SS & MORE PART 18	Aug.  29, 2011
SS & MORE PART 19	Sept. 12, 2011
SS & MORE PART 20	Sept. 26, 2011
SS & MORE PART 21	Oct.   10, 2011
SS & MORE PART 22	Oct.  24, 2011

IN  THIS  ISSUE

1.  My general observations, jobs, & Republican Mis-information.

2.  Voter suppression.

3.  Billionaire Boys Club, second part.

4.  My parting thought.

5.  PS - Last minute breaking news.  IMPORTANT.

MY  GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS,  JOBS,  REPUBLICAN  MIS-INFORMATION

I'm searching, and searching, and searching for a word or words that will explain, describe, or make clear what is happening in our Federal Government that is resulting in the most irresponsible actions that, I think, this country has ever seen.  I'm no historian by a long shot, but I don't think there has ever been such audacity in Congress as the present Republicans.

 

In my searching I have found some other words that even better provides an accurate picture of the arrogant actions of this group, that is the Republican group. They are shameless, impertinent, brazen, and rude.  They are plain out  disrespectful of the people of this country.

They have voted to not even let the President's Jobs Bill, come to the floor for debate.  The President has said he is not going to take a NO for an answer.  He said "Maybe this is just too much for them to understand all at one time.  So, we will break it up in small pieces, so that maybe they can understand them."

So, he did just that.  The original bill included a number of things to help the economy, as well as, create jobs.  It had a price tag of $447 billion, which by the way, was also, paid for in his plan with a 0.05%, that is one half of one percent, tax increase on the wealthy, after the first million of income.  The smaller bill he then sent to Congress had a price tag of $35 billion and still paid for.  The Senate Republicans blocked it also.

In defiance, the Republicans have felt that they had to put out something that they could say they had a jobs bill.  So, they now have put out, what they call, "The Real Jobs Bill."  That's being real original isn't it.  Well lets see what it is.  This you can't believe.  It is EXACTLY what they put out for reasons to cut taxes.  It was nothing new from what they had produced before.

It is felt by many in the Beltway, that the real agenda of the Republicans for the next year, is to make things as bad as they can, believing that the worse things are in the country, the better things are for them.  All of their actions indicate that is true.  We have some real great Patriots in the Republican Party and it is sickening.

I sincerely hope, that all of you that read my postings and agree with me will do all you possibly can to get the truth out during this next year.  To those of you who may not agree, and if there are some, you have never bothered to let me know that you disagree, for goodness sake  have the courage to let me know how you feel. 

We simply have to keep the Whit House, take over the House of Representatives, and strength the Senate next year.

This President, President Obama has done everything possible to improve the economy, create jobs, and try to contain the corruption in Wall Street .  The Republicans have stopped all of it.  He, the President, can not be held responsible for today's conditions. IT IS THE CONGRESS THAT IS RESPONSIBLE. 

  

There are those who point out that he couldn't get his agenda passed even when he had a majority in both the House and the Senate.  It must be remembered why, in those circumstances, he couldn't get his programs passed. 

At that time, the House of Representatives passed 247 bills that all went to the Senate.  True, the Democrats had a majority in the Senate, BUT not a filibuster breaking  majority.  That is the key word, filibuster. 

Not one of the 247 bills passed by the House were able to get passed in the Senate because it takes 60 votes to override a filibuster.  The Democrats didn't have that much of a majority.  SO, once again it was the Republicans that held up legislation that would have helped the economy.      

The

Occupy Wall Street

Movement, after one month in New York, has now spread to over 800 cities in America and 82 countries.  This was as of Oct 17 and just 10 days before that, the Leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, Rep. Eric Cantor said, "I am increasingly concerned about the growing mob occupying Wall Street and the other cities across the country."

Just 10 days later he did a complete 180 degree switch and said "We agree that the economy is woefully, woefully weak. We agree that there is too much income disparity in this country.  We believe that everyone ought to be lifted up."  That is, the first time we have ever heard a Republican say anything about income disparity.  Having said that however, what did he do? 

He wants to give the top 1% another tax cut, so that they can provide more jobs, which, according to Mr. Cantor, "will reduce that income disparity."  Trickle Down Economics again, which has been proven more than once, that it does not work, let alone do anything about the income disparity.  

Now comes a plan that will create more jobs.  I don't know that it will do much to reduce the income disparity, but it does appear to be one that will create jobs.  I'm talking about the President's Jobs for America bill.  The President has been out on the road explaining about his jobs bill and reports that independent Economists, not his Economists, but independent Economists, have said that this bill would create nearly two million jobs.

The President said "Apparently none of this matters to the Republicans in the Senate, because last week they got together to block this bill."  In addition, Representative Cantor on Fox News Sunday made it clear that he was not going to compromise on the President's economic approach.  He said "Since the President has taken office, there has been 1.6 million jobs lost in the private sector.  Also, we have seen 7.5 million foreclosures during his term.  Obviously, his economic plans are not working."

This is the kind of misleading talk we are going to hear for the next 12 months.  Let's see what the truth of the matter is relating to job loss and job gains.  The 1.6 million jobs lost, that Rep. Cantor referred to, happened during the first 12 months, when the President was trying to dig us out of a ditch that President Bush got us into. 

Obviously, those losses were already occurring before Mr. Obama became President and obviously, he couldn't stop it on day one.  The IMPORTANT FACT is that after that 12 month period, the President has brought about 19 straight months of job increases.  It isn't enough, we all know that, but, in the face of the Obstructionists, he has still made some improvement.

 

Also, it must be remembered, that the jobs bill, which the Republicans in the Senate blocked,  contained almost every item that the Republicans had supported in the past.  SO!, you have to again ask, WHY, WHY do they do this.  There is only one answer.

They are more intent on trying to defeat President Obama than concern for the 99%.  This is one example of the reason for

Occupying Wall Street

.  THE REPUBLICANS DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE 99%.  ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS DEFEATING OBAMA.  AND IF YOU THINK THEY WILL CHANGE IF THEY WERE TO WIN THE WHITE HOUSE, THEN I HAVE A BRIDGE IN BROOKLYN TO SELL YOU.  IT ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN.  

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF MISLEADING STATEMENTS BY REPUBLICANS.  Last Tuesday on the Fox News. Senate Minority Leader Senator McConnell was asked, "What is the Republicans Jobs plan?  Senator McConnell said "Try this for an answer.  We tried his (the President's) approach the first two years of his administration.  He owned the Congress, he got everything he wanted. He borrowed, he spent and we lost 1.5 million jobs.  The American people said that wasn't working and they changed the Congress and now he is trying to do another stimulus."

Well now let's think about that.  Remember what I said above about the make up of the Congress those first two years.  The House passed 247 bills that went to the Senate where they were stopped by the Republicans, because, while the Democrats had a majority they didn't have a filibuster proof majority and the Republicans, in those first two years, set a record for the number of successful filibusters.

Now, McConnell said that ". . . with all the spending we lost 1.5 million jobs."  Senator McConnell should take a look at the report from the Congressional Budget Office.  This is a Budget Office entirely independent produces reports for the Congress.  With regard to the stimulus spending, they showed that from October 2010 through December 2010 ". . . increased the number of people employed by between 1.3 million and 3.5 million.

It would seem that Senator McConnell is mixing apples and oranges.  The 1.5 million jobs loss he referred to seems to parallel the 1.6 million jobs loss Rep. Cantor referred to, which was the loss in the first 12 months of the Obama Administration that I referred to above. 

This is just picking and choosing information from different places and times that really don't relate to the subject at hand.  Now I have listed McConnell's complete answer to the question, but what was the question?  It was "What is the Republicans job plan?  Did you see any answer to that question in the remarks McConnell made?  I don't think so.

OUR PROBLEM IS THAT PEOPLE EAT THIS STUFF UP.  WE HAVE TO GET PEOPLE STRAIGHT, WHENEVER, WE HAVE A CHANCE.

~~~

  

VOTER  SUPPRESSION

Voter suppression has been developing in various parts of the country.  Ohio passed a law reducing the number of days for early voting.  Twenty two other states have either introduced or passed laws making it harder for people to vote, such as having a photo identification.  Registration card won't be enough.  These laws disproportionately target traditional Democratic voters.  The twenty two states are listed below.

Montana ~ Colorado ~ Kansas ~  Oklahoma ~ Texas ~ Arkansas  Missouri ~ Iowa ~ Minnesota ~ Wisconsin ~ Tennessee ~ Mississippi ~ Georgia ~ Florida ~ North Carolina ~ South Carolina ~ Ohio ~ Pennsylvania ~ Virginia ~ West Virginia ~ New Hampshire ~ Maine 

It looks like republicans just are not confident enough about winning on the issues, so they are trying to suppress the vote. 

~~~

BILLIONAIRE  BOYS  CLUB

In issue number 21, I had a section entitled "The Billionaire Boys Club."  The members of the club were Mr. Ken Langone, Mr. David Koch, Mr. Charles Koch and Mr. Paul Singer.  This is the second part of the article and, by far, is the most telling and bizarre.  In the first part there was a run down about each of these men, except Paul Singer.  The run down on him is in this part.  I kept it till now because it is long and just plain sickening, to be truthful about it.  It is real important for you to see the kind of men that are pulling the strings.  There is much more about the others also and what their Gimmes are.

This is lengthy, but it is very telling and truly outlines why we should all be very concerned and fight it all ways possible.  It is not just a threat to who occupies the White House, but is also, a threat to our Democracy. 

Thursday 6 October 2011

by: Greg Palast, Truthout | Investigative Report

The untold story of the sources of the loot controlled by Paul "The Vulture" Singer, Ken Langone and the Kochs - and why they need to buy the White House.

Billionaire 4: Paul Singer

Now we get to the carrion king, Paul Singer, known as Singer The Vulture. I didn't give him the moniker. The name Vulture was tagged on him and his speculator colleagues by the prime minister of Britain and the World Bank. Recently, former United Nations envoy Winston Tubman suggested I ask Singer or his business associates, "Do you know you're causing babies to die?"

What does this guy do - put poison in kiddies' milk? Worse: he takes away the milk.

Singer's modus operandi is to find some forgotten tiny debt owed by a very poor nation (Peru and Congo were on his menu). He waits for the United States and European taxpayers to forgive the poor nations' debts, then waits at bit longer for offers of food aid, medicine and investment loans. Then Singer pounces, legally grabbing at every resource and all the money going to the desperate country. Trade stops, funds freeze and an entire economy is effectively held hostage.

Singer then demands aid-giving nations pay monstrous ransoms to let trade resume.  At BBC TV's Newsnight, we learned that Singer demanded $400 million dollars from the Congo for a debt he picked up for less than $10 million. If he doesn't get his 4,000 percent profit, he can effectively starve the nation. I don't mean that figuratively - I mean starve as in no food. In Congo-Brazzaville last year, one-fourth of all deaths of children under five were caused by malnutrition.

For BBC, I tried to ask Vulture Singer the diplomat's question about the baby killing, but I couldn't get past George Gershwin.  (In the New York office tower housing the billionaires' roost, a Gershwin lookalike in top hat and tails plays show tunes on a grand piano for Singer's grand entrance.)

And it's not just poor African carcasses that tempt Singer. Indeed, during my investigation for my new book, "Vultures' Picnic," I discovered that Singer's first big vulture attack was on American asbestos victims.

Background:  The executives of three companies - vermiculate mine operator WR Grace, wallboard manufacturer USG and building materials company Owens Corning - knew that asbestos exposure in their respective operations was killing their workers. When caught and sued, the companies filed for bankruptcy, agreeing to pay almost all of their earnings to the people who were dying and injured by their asbestos.

But Singer had a better idea. These companies, as you can imagine, were worth next to nothing, and Singer bought Owens Corning for a song.

If he could cut the amount paid to the victims, Singer could boost Corning's value big time. So, a public relations campaign began, attacking the dying workers, saying they were all faking it.

One attacker was a guy named George W. Bush.

In January 2005, President Dubya held a televised meeting to promote an "expert" who pronounced that over half a million workers suing Singer's industry were liars. If workers couldn't breathe, he said to the grinning president, it wasn't the fault of asbestos.

The "expert" was not a doctor, but, notably, his "research" was partly funded by ... Paul Singer. And so was Bush. Since the death of Enron's Ken Lay, Singer and his vulture flock at Singer's hedge fund, Elliott International, had become the top contributors to the Republican National Committee. It's hard to measure his largesse exactly because some of that help comes in through the side door. For example, Singer put money behind the Swift Boat smear on Bush's opponent, John Kerry.

The legal, political and public relations attacks on the dying workers chiseled away the compensation expected to be paid by the asbestos companies, boosting their net worth. Singer then flipped Corning, selling it for a neat billion-dollar profit.

It's legal. It's brilliant. It's sick. It's Singer.

One of my favorite Singer scores was his successful scheme to legally loot the Treasury of Peru. The nation's US lawyer told me, aghast, how Singer let Peru's rogue President, Alberto Fujimori, flee his nation to avoid murder charges. Singer had seized Fujimori's getaway plane. The Vulture named his price: one of Fujimori's last acts as president before he fled was to order his dirt-poor nation to pay Singer $58 million.

Why the Billionaires Need to Buy the White House

.The Gimme for Langone

Langone's firm DBT's "felon" scrub list included only innocent people, so you certainly wouldn't find the name "Langone" on it. In 2004, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer charged Langone with conspiracy, accusing the billionaire with subverting a stock exchange regulator's investigation into monkey business by Langone's investment ban. A technicality ended the civil action on the conspiracy charge. 

But now, Obama's new banking and securities reforms, albeit weak, give regulators new enforcement powers and provide an extra independent eye on stock market shenanigans. For Langone, picking the president means closing the regulatory eye.

The Gimme for The Kochs

FBI man Elroy told our investigators that the Justice Department was going to let the FBI cuff Charles Koch on criminal charges for the theft of the Osage Indian oil.  But then, fumes Elroy, Koch's well-funded buddies, then-senators Bob Dole and Don Nickles, stepped in - and Koch walked. No charges. 

Dennis DeConcini, then an Arizona senator, wanted to know why criminal or civil charges were never brought against the Kochs.  That was not a wise question to ask. The senator told me that the Kochs threatened his political destruction if the Congressional committee he chaired continued with its investigations of the theft of Native oil. He continued, but his political career did not.

During the Clinton administration, Koch Industries was charged with criminal violations of the Clean Water Act. Under President Bush, the charges, but not the water, were cleaned up. 

In other words, crime pays - if you get to pick the sheriff.

The Gimme for Paul Singer

Paul Singer had placed a big bet on the asbestos industry, then, set out to fix the casino, helping install Bush in the White House. That is, he had a president willing to beat up on asbestos workers and push for so-called "tort reform" that undermined these victims' claims. What the victims lost, Singer gained.

But there's trouble on the horizon for Singer. In 2007, Britain outlawed Singer and all other Vulture speculators in Third World debt from collecting their pound of flesh in the United Kingdom. Other European nations are following suit.

Several US Congressmen are pushing a UK-style prohibition on Singer's activities. (Even Chevron Corporation is complaining about the Vulture attacks. When Chevron calls bankers unscrupulous, they've got to be really unscrupulous.) Without a veto pen over Congress, Singer stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars.

Singer plays defense, but is best at offense: to collect on some of his claims against Argentina, his lobbyists have pushed a bill in Congress to put an economic chokehold on trade with the South American nation. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blocked this crazy attack on our ally.  As a result, Singer is not a happy gaucho. There will be blood. Obama will have to pay. 

The Gimme for Them All

There's one thing that every billionaire wants: another billion. And that's threatened by Obama's plan to tax the "carried interest" tax deferment.

Guys like Singer and Langone don't pay taxes like you and I do. While we pay taxes on income, the profits from vulture speculation and arbitrage are often recorded as "carried interest," effectively not taxed.  It's a billion-dollar benefit for the billionaires, and every Republican candidate has sworn to keep this loophole open and make sure you and I pay Singers' taxes for him.

Unfortunately for Singer, the Kochs and Langone, the GOP candidates currently kissing the billionaires' behinds don't seem electable.

So the Billionaire Boys Club prodded Gov. Christie, a bully-boy from Jersey, to muscle his way into the Oval Office. Christie didn't fly, no surprise. But whether they pick the GOP candidate or retreat to their old tactics of smear-from-the-rear, the fragile thing called democracy stands little chance against the tsunamic powers of the quartet's combined checkbooks.

This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

PARTING  THOUGHT

I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on.  Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive.  One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.           Eleanor Roosevelt

If the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise, I'll talk with you again on November 7.

Floyd

PS    BREAKING NEWS AT THE LAST MINUTE.

Just a few minutes before I was ready to post this writing, I heard two interesting points that the President has announced.

He is on a fundraising tour to Las Vegas and California.  In Las Vegas, he said "We can't wait for an increasingly dysfunctional Congress to do their job."  He went on to lay out things that he is going to do by Executive Order.  I only know about one.  In connection with mortgages, he is going to change the ratio of what is owed and what the house is worth, so that it will be easier to refinance.  He is also, changing some of the charges relating to closing to make it cheaper to refinance.

I am sure there is more, but that is all I heard at this point.

I have learned that he is sending to Congress, next Monday, another piece of the original Jobs Bill.  It will be the part to rebuild our infrastructure.  It will probably get blocked, just like the ones I referred to above, but at least he is trying and it will put the Republicans on record, once more, of saying NO.  That is not the main purpose, of course, but, once again, it will show how they don't care anything about our country or the 99%.