Obama and the Financial Aristocracy - No prosperity for Main Street

[WhiskeyGirl]

I don't agree 100% with this site, but it does make some good arguments -

What are the priorities of this government?

When it comes to the financial aristocracy, there is no limit to the resources the administration will provide. Trillions from the public treasury have been handed to the bankers and traders whose swindling and profiteering precipitated the economic crisis. Assured that they are “too big to fail,” the major banks and investment houses have resumed their gambling, this time with taxpayer money, and are preparing to hand out record year-end bonuses.

Who decides at the Federal Reserve where the money goes?

To pay for the resulting explosion in the federal deficit, the administration has embarked on a program of austerity and attacks on basic entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. With its attack on GM and Chrysler workers, the White House spearheaded a drive to permanently reduce the wages and benefits of workers and boost the profitability of US corporations.

What has the White House done to keep GM and Chrysler jobs in America, for Americans?  I think the outsourcing of GM and Chrysler has been done for years.  Who in America will have a job to buy a GM or Chrysler car?

Why are the UAW pension and welfare funds underfunded?  I don't think the disaster at these automakers happened overnight.  Any 'new' blood?  Or, just folks from the job rotation?

...Under the capitalist system, the wealthy enrich themselves by impoverishing the vast majority of the people on the planet.

The current global economic crisis is a demonstration of the failure of the capitalist system. It must be replaced by a system whose priorities are determined by social needs, not the personal enrichment of a parasitic elite—a system based on social equality and the democratic control of economic life by working people, who comprise the vast majority. It must be replaced, in other words, by socialism.

I think any system is vulnerable by undeserved transfer of wealth and greed by the ruling class.  It happens in socialism and communism too.  None of these systems is sustainable when government is run by greed, corruption, and job rotations.  (Marcos, Africa, East Block, SA)

I think the best system offers opportunity and prosperity to those that are willing to work hard and enjoy the fruits of their labor.  Such a system would provide for the less fortunate due to prosperity and generosity.  It's hard to provide for anyone when your currency is being devalued by politicians and economic terrorists.

I think much of the world is not a popular democracy.  There are many that label themselves democracies, but rule with an iron fist for decades - nothing for Main Street.

As the first anniversary of Obama’s election approaches, disappointment with the Democratic president is increasingly turning into anger and bitterness towards the entire political system. There is a growing realization that workers were sold a bill of goods by the candidate of “change you can believe in,” and that this administration defends the interests of the rich and the super-rich just as ruthlessly as its Republican predecessor.

The rulers did not change, they only changed the color of their skin.

It is the interests of the super-rich global business and wealthy individuals that matter in this government.  Nothing for Main Street...

...The Socialist Equality Party calls for the organization of factory, workplace and neighborhood committees to fight plant closings, layoffs and cuts in social services and oppose all evictions and foreclosures. Such struggles must be organized independently of the trade union apparatuses, such as the United Auto Workers. These junior partners of the corporations concentrate their efforts on suppressing working class struggle.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/oct2009/pers-o09.shtml

Nothing but empty trust funds and promises for the majority - doesn't matter where you live the looting continues.

jmho

[WhiskeyGirl]

Government does a terrible job of managing the economy and business.

from the article cited in the OP -

The major levers of the economy—basic industry, finance, telecommunications—must be taken out of private hands and placed under the public control of working people so that economic decision-making is carried out democratically in the interests of ordinary people, rather than the wealthy elite.

In my mind, basic industry is the working man.  Those small, medium, and self employed individuals.  They need to feed families.

The politicians, rich global corporations, and global wealthy are only interested in making more money.  They don't care who starves or cannot support a family. 

They talk about speading the success, prosperity, and wealth...the rich and politicals get richer, and the poor get poorer...and have little opportunity to make a better life.

Cut out the middleman/politicians.

jmho

[WhiskeyGirl]

Obamacare - another view -

Of the five bills in Congress, the Baucus bill is the version most closely tailored to the demands of the insurance industry. Obama has welcomed it, saying it contains “80 percent” of what he is looking for.

During his presidential campaign, Obama claimed that he would fight for universal health care for all Americans...

If every American who wanted a job had one, would they be in a better position to get health care?  Does universal health care have to mean single government controlled payor?  Is there something wrong with everyone having access to the same fair prices for good and services like healthcare?

It seems like the more big government tries to make things fair and equal for everyone, the greater the divide between rich and poor...

The $829 billion cost of the legislation is to be financed in large part by deep cuts to Medicare and other federal programs for the elderly, poor and disabled, which will be slashed by about $400 billion over the next decade.

About $200 billion will be cut by lowering Medicare payments to hospitals, nursing homes and other providers. Medicare Advantage (MA), the program through which more than 10 million seniors receive Medicare benefits via private health insurance plans, will see a $113 billion reduction.

...Contrary to claims that such cuts can be made without affecting care, they will result in real reductions in quality and availability of care for seniors.

...Talk of moving away from “fee-for-service” reimbursement is a euphemism for setting caps on the cost of health care that doctors can provide for their patients. It is a formula for denying more expensive tests, drugs and procedures currently available under Medicare and many employer-sponsored plans, or requiring patients to pay for such services out-of-pocket.

About a quarter of the costs of the Baucus bill are to be covered through taxes on so-called Cadillac insurance plans—those costing more than $8,000 for individuals or $21,000 for a family. These plans will be taxed at a 40 percent rate for the coverage exceeding the cutoff levels. The CBO estimates that the tax will raise about $201 billion over 10 years.

Portrayed as high-end policies purchased by the wealthy, in reality such plans are most common among unionized workers. Workers have gained these insurance plans—which provide lower co-pays and deductibles and coverage such as optical and dental—in bitter contract struggles, often at the expense of wages and other benefits.

I think Wall Street plans were listed as about $40,000...

In recent weeks, Obama has enlisted the support of a number of right-wing Republicans to back his health care initiative. Included among them is Bill Frist, former Republican Senate majority leader and a physician, whose family founded the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), the largest private operator of health care facilities in the world.

Frist, a multimillionaire who owes his fortune to his holdings in HCA, stated that if he were still in the Senate he “would end up voting for” the Baucus bill, in particular because it mandates individuals to buy insurance.

read more ideas here - http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/oct2009/heal-o09.shtml

jmho