Kucinich: Debt Political Theater Diverts Attention While Americans' Wealth is Stolen

[Karmadillo]

No chess, just truth.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Debt-Political-Theater-Div-by-Dennis-Kucinich-110714-770.html

Debt Political Theater Diverts Attention While Americans' Wealth is Stolen
By Dennis Kucinich

The rancorous debate over the debt belies a fundamental truth of our economy -- that it is run for the few at the expense of the many, that our entire government has been turned into a machine which takes the wealth of a mass of Americans and accelerates it into the hands of the few. Let me give you some examples.

Take war. War takes the money from the American people and puts it into the hands of arms manufacturers, war profiteers, and private armies. The war in Iraq, based on lies: $3 trillion will be the cost of that war. The war in Afghanistan; based on a misreading of history; half a trillion of dollars in expenses already. The war against Libya will be $1 billion by September.

Fifty percent of our discretionary spending goes for the Pentagon. A massive transfer of wealth into the hands of a few while the American people lack sufficient jobs, health care, housing, retirement security.

Our energy policies take the wealth from the American people and put it into the hands of the oil companies. We could be looking at $150 a barrel for oil in the near future.

more...

[ixion]

1. Kucinich speaks the Truth.

:patriot:

[emilyg]

2. k

[Zorra]

3. _^_ + r

[chill_wind]

4. Recommend. n/t

[pennylane100]

5. Well in a way these talks are about that issue.

The lengths that people like Cantor will go to to protect the wealthy is part of the overall problem. The fact that he and his accomplices are willing to jeopardize the nation's economy to let the wealthy keep their ill-gotten gains is mind boggling. The only thing that is even harder to understand is how they are able to convince their victims (working and middle class voters) to keep them in power.

As despicable as these people are, they are in office because the people they screw, put them their. I do not know what it will take to convince the brain washed masses, the ditto heads and Fox News viewers etc, that the republican party is out to destroy their way of life. I worry that by the time they find out, it will be too late. We will be living in an impoverished theocracy.


"When fascism comes to America,it will be draped in a flag and carrying a cross" Sinclair Lewis

[Hydra]

14. You're assuming the votes put those people there

We haven't elected a legitimate Republican President since before Reagan(I can say that now that we have proof about the hostage deal).

Assuming a lot to think that in 31 years all of the other Republican "wins" were legit.

[Pooka Fey]

6. "...and they are a challenge to the legitimacy of the two-party system"

"These are symptoms of a government which has lost its way, and they are a challenge to the legitimacy of the two-party system." - Dennis Kucinich


HAH! Even Dennis Kucinich is saying it. Right on!

[krabigirl]

7. He is right.

[provis99]

8. Didn't DU throw Kucinich overboard a long time ago?

When I hear about Kucinich these days on DU, it's mostly about how he saw a UFO and used to be anti-abortion.

[ixion]

9. No. The 'Stay On Message' team did

but that's no real surprise. And if that's all you hear about Kucinich, you ought to get out of GD-P more often. ;)

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[fascisthunter]

24. no... but the conservative minority on DU does

[sad sally]

10. Actions by the Federal Reserve add to the theft.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is hinting at a third round of quantitative easing. But Dallas Federal Reserve Bank president Richard Fisher said today:

I firmly believe that the Federal Reserve has already pressed the limits of monetary policy. So-called QE2, to my way of thinking, was of doubtful efficacy, which is why I did not support it to begin with. But even if you believe the costs of QE2 were worth its purported benefits, you would be hard pressed to now say that still more liquidity, or more fuel, is called for given the more than $1.5 trillion in excess bank reserves and the substantial liquid holdings above the normal working capital needs of corporate businesses.

The stated purpose of quantitative easing was to drive down interest rates on U.S. treasury bonds. But as U.S. News and World Reported noted last month:
By now, you've probably heard that the Fed is purchasing $600 billion in treasuries in hopes that it will push interest rates even lower, spur lending, and help jump-start the economy. Two years ago, the Fed set the federal funds rate (the interest rate at which banks lend to each other) to virtually zero, and this second round of quantitative easing--commonly referred to as QE2--is one of the few tools it has left to help boost economic growth. In spite of all this, a funny thing has happened. Treasury yields have actually risen since the Fed's announcement.

in November, Karl Denninger wrote:
We have a Federal Reserve that, in the last two years, has printed and debased the currency of this nation by more than 100%, taking their balance sheet from $800 billion to more than $2 trillion. They now threaten, today, to do even more of that. This has resulted in insane price ramps in soft commodities ....

Treasury Department encouraged banks to use the bailout money to buy their competitors, and pushed through an amendment to the tax laws which rewards mergers in the banking industry.

and from Robert Reich:

A debate is being played out in the Fed about whether it should return to so-called "quantitative easing" -- buying more mortgage-backed securities, Treasury bills, and other bonds -- in order to lower the cost of capital still further.

The sad reality is that cheaper money won't work. Individuals aren't borrowing because they're still under a huge debt load. And as their homes drop in value and their jobs and wages continue to disappear, they're not in a position to borrow. Small businesses aren't borrowing because they have no reason to expand. Retail business is down, construction is down, even manufacturing suppliers are losing ground.

That leaves large corporations. They'll be happy to borrow more at even lower rates than now -- even though they're already sitting on mountains of money.

But this big-business borrowing won't create new jobs. To the contrary, large corporations have been investing their cash to pare back their payrolls. They've been buying new factories and facilities abroad (China, Brazil, India), and new labor-replacing software at home.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/quantitative-easing-rounds-1-and-2-hurt-economy-bernanke-proposes-round-3?du

[truedelphi]

16. Quantitave Easing is a fancy expression for printing up some money

And in this day and age, and with Bernanke and Geithner in the thick of things, it probably means handing that money out to the Biggest of the Banks. Like the Nine Trillion that was handed over to Big Banks, by the Fed, and that we would never ever know about except that Sen. Sanders of Vt got the audit of a tiny window of time and then we saw the real way that the Fed Reserve operates.

Of course, those defending the Big Banks (And some of those types do lurk on DU) will say, "But those were LOANS, and the loans were paid back."

Problem is, those LOANS were paid back with CDO's and derivatives of questionable value. Sort of like if you or I had special permission from a relative or friend at The Student Loan board, who told us, "Nah, don't bother sending us money. We would gladly take some old phone books off your hands."

So anyone in Congress or over at the WH who really wanted to help this nation reduce its debt should be making a stink about this nine trillion dollars worth of missing money. And the manner of the hinky "repayments." Instead of worrying us about shutting down the government.

[slipslidingaway]

11. knr nt

[girl gone mad]

12. k & r

:kick:

[sabrina 1]

15. We need hundreds of Dennis' in Congress who speak the truth.

It's so easy to do, if you want to do it. But only he and a handful of other members of Congress seem interested in doing so.

:kick:

[Kaleko]

17. Truth.

[blkmusclmachine]

18. Debt "Theatre," +1

But they've been looting the Treasury for long before that. Everything's planned; we just don't have the playbook.

[me b zola]

19. The entire theater of it

is meant to help them redistribute the publics money to the wealthiest. It seems that what they are negotiating is the appearance of who did what and who will take the blame with the public, but the outcome seems to be already written.

[TheUnspeakable]

20. HUGE k&r

[Bodhi BloodWave]

21. i might have to listen to Kucinich on this, if there is one thing he knows well its theater

[snot]

22. K&R'd.

[bvar22]

23. K&R for Kucinich!

But aside from that, are you enjoying the Kabuki Theater?
The Choreography has been awesome,
and the Timing very precise.

That bit Obama pitched about the Seniors might not get ANY Social security check at all was absolutely BRILLIANT.
Now, there are some Seniors who will be glad to get a check with ONLY a 15% reduction.
Pure Machiavelli.
A Masterpiece!


***Spoiler Alert***



I've seen this one before,
and it doesn't end well for the Working Class, the Retired, and the Poor.

Cherish your memories, SUCKERS!
Cause we're TAKING everything else!
Hahahahahahaha!

[Ignis]

25. K&R

It's grimly amusing how those who are fond of shouting "Kooky Dennis saw a UFO!" at the drop of a hat avoid this sort of thread.

[DemReadingDU]

26. +++

[Karmadillo]

27. So if DK is correct, what do we do about it?

nt