Campaign 2010

Countdown to Congressional Elections


The most effective way to restrict democracy is to transfer decision-making from the public arena to unaccountable institutions: kings and princes, priestly castes, military juntas, party dictatorships, or modern corporations.
Noam Chomsky, M.I.T. emeritus Professor of Linguistics

The Rise of Corporate Freedom of Speech

(Surpassed 2008 total on August 18)

See Weekly Spending Totals

$2.9 Billion Spent in 08
on Congressional Race
See Major Contributors

Corporate money in politics is bad enough. Secret corporate money is intolerable.


Primary Election Results
(UPDATED: August 25, 2010)






"The Great 2010 Incumbent (Non-)Revolt"

Senate Primary’s
Incumbent Democrats
1 Loss; 6 Wins of 13
Incumbent Republicans
1 Loss; 9 Wins of 12

House Primary’s
Incumbent Democrats
2 Loss; 182 Wins of 245
Incumbent Republicans
2 Loss; 140 Wins of 158

General Election Candidates

Senate

House of Representatives

Visual Facts

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Click Image for Larger Size.

National Debt Clock

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WHEN Did You Become Fiscally Responsible?
BEFORE Obama or AFTER Obama??
January 20, 2009
$10,838,758,414,164.46 - ↑90%
Discretionary Spending at 48.6%

January 20, 2001
$5,719,124,940,098.04 - 36%
January 20, 1993
$4,192,107,025,882.17 - 62%
January 20, 1989
$2,601,104,000,000.00 - 189%
January 20, 1981
$909,041,000.000.00

Click Image for Full Size


Debt by President

Are You A Tea Party Hyprocrite??

(Click for Debt Details)

United States of Corporations

Thanks to the GOP's Supreme Court
(Click Flag for Full Size)
Corporate Bill of Rights

Quotes and Links

Hover to Pause
(Look for the Listings)

The Decade When the U.S. Lost Its Way

Where Have All the Neocons Gone?

From Neocons to Crazy-Cons

America Builds an Aristocracy

Supreme immodesty: Why the justices play politics

The Biggest Medicare Fraud Ever

Enough Right-Wing Propaganda

Tax Rate for Richest 400 Taxpayers Plummeted in Recent Decades, Even as Their Pre-Tax Incomes Skyrocketed

"The financial reform bill will determine whether Wall Street’s banks will serve the American economy or whether the American economy will continue to serve Wall Street's banks."

"While the economy doesn't function for most of us ordinary workers, it yields considerable reward for those at the top."

Republicans Are Locked in a Passionate Embrace with a Corpse and Won't Let Go

"The most important thing Republicans think is that if there are Americans who can't afford the insurance policies that private insurers are willing to offer, then that's their problem."

"It should tell you everything you need to know that, in lobbying to retain its bank supervisory powers, the Fed's allies include the big Wall Street banks."

"[Texas Republican Jeb] Hensarling told a Texas-size whopper — and then tried to claim Republican credit for Bill Clinton’s budget surpluses."

"The Supreme Court's 5-to-4 decision last week giving American corporations the right to unlimited political spending was an astonishing display of judicial arrogance, overreach and unjustified activism."

"It was wrong because nothing in the First Amendment dictates that corporations must be treated identically to people."

"They backed the truck up to Fort Knox in broad daylight. They emptied it out, we rescued them and they get $150 billion in bonuses."

"A huge, unregulated boom in which almost all the upside went directly into private hands, followed by a gigantic bust in which the losses were socialized."

So You Just Squandered Billions . . . Take Another Whack at It

Banks 'Too Big to Fail' Have Grown Even Bigger

Bankers' bonuses Beat Earnings as Industry Imploded

U.S. Rescue May Reach $23.7 Trillion

The Bank Bailouts — Corporate Welfarism

New Evidence Cheney Swayed Reaction to Leak - Valerie Plame

Once Again, The More You Watch Fox The Dumber You Are

"Over the past year, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury have injected trillions of dollars into frozen financial markets, snapping up unwanted bonds, extending guarantees to banks and slashing interest rates."

Building a Better Capitalism

The End of Supply Side Economics

The Great Wealth Transfer

The Richer

Who Rules America? Power, Politics, and Social Change

Proponents of Estate Tax Repeal Are Resurrecting Old Misconceptions

Income Gaps Between Very Rich and Everyone Else More Than Tripled In Last Three Decades

Ending Plutocracy: A 12-Step Program

Our Gilded Age

The Rich and the Rest of Us

GOP's "Small Government" Talk is Hollow


Distortions, Hypocrisy & More

"I'm not upset that you lied to me; I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you"
Friedrich Nietzsche
[Hover to Pause]

Today is

February 24, 2009

Another Look At TARP Recipients Not Lending

February 24, 2009

The Facts

Six days ago The Washington Post published this article which talks about how recipients of bailed out banks are not lending the money they have received from the TARP fund. The article starts out with “the largest U.S. banks reduced the availability of money for consumers and businesses during the final months of 2008 even as the government invested tens of billions of dollars to help them make new loans”. The Post quoted the Treasury Department for this information. Today Ben Bernanke was in a Q & A session with the Senate Banking Committee. There were several questions directed at Bernanke on this very point. Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said she had heard of many small & medium size businesses that said it was impossible to get a loan. A couple of other Senators also asked Bernanke about banks issuing loans. One said he had reports that the banks were using TARP money to buy US treasury notes. Bernanke responded to all these questions, but really gave no satisfactory answers, and he certainly didn’t address banks buying treasury notes.

According to the article by The Washington Post, Bank of America and Citigroup were the worst in lending, but they received the lion’s share of the TARP money that has been issued so far. Their loans dropped 15% in December and another 11% since then. They’ve also reduced spending limits of card holders by 2%, or $45 billion.

My View

Ok, we already know what many of the recipients did with 60% of the TARP money; they used it to reward themselves with huge bonuses, and they offer no apologies in doing so. In fact, not only do they not apologize, they have their generals in the news media defiantly defending them. So be it! They’ve proven to us there’s nothing anyone will do about that. So having gotten away with that, they are still refusing to use the TARP money for its intended purpose, with a few exceptions where they’ve made loans to a handful of their closest friends (companies). So what are they doing with the rest of the money? They are using it to shore up their own company by way of purchasing treasury notes in hopes they will still be in business when the next round of bonuses comes due.

By the way. This hearing by the Senate Banking Committee has got to be the least partisan hearing that’s ever been held on Capital Hill. There was one, maybe two, “jabs” of partisanship, but for the most part they all focused on the real issues, not a blame game. A big thanks to both Republicans and Democrats.

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