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

October 9, 2009

“Hurry Up And Die!” – No, It’s About Wall Street, Not About Congressman Alan Grayson’s Speech

October 9, 2009

Well, well, well! You have just got to admire this — buy up paper, package it into bundles and sell them to investors. Now where have I heard this before? Hum! Oh, yeah! It was such a little thing that I had forgotten! It was the cause of the Wall Street crash last year that cost Americans $15 trillion in value and another $4 trillion to fix it. The only difference is last year was caused by buying up subprime mortgages, credit-default sways, etc., and this year it life insurance policies. Well, you have to give Wall Street credit – they never give up on finding ways to make large amounts of money by swindling other people out of their money rather than adding value to society.

The idea is to buy up life insurance policies of people who are dying and/or elderly people who are expected to die soon. They buy these policies at about 40 percent of face value. This article by the New York Times describes it this way: “[ pay] $400,000 for a $1 million policy, depending on the life expectancy of the insured person” and “the earlier the policyholder dies, the bigger the return”. So here’s the pitch — ‘sign right here on the dotted line, then drop dead getting out of the chair’. The Times calls this “a return to the good old days”.

As the Times article points out, insurance companies will have to raise premiums in the short term because they will have to pay out more money in claims. The reason is that many elderly people let there insurance policies lapse, therefore the insurance companies never have to pay out anything although they’ve collected premiums for years, sometimes decades. But once the policy is bought by investors, the premiums will always be paid until the insured dies. So expect your life insurance premiums to rise some where in the not too distant future. And if you are a supporter of this sort of business, be sure and send a “thank you” note along with your increased monthly premium payment each month.

Somewhere back in the origins of mankind, some upright-walking human-like creature figured out a way to become a fat cat by preying on others of his kind. He probably did that by conning the other creatures that it was in their best interest to supply him with all the food and water they collected. He grew fatter and stronger while the others grew thinner and weaker. It wasn’t until they were taking their last breaths of life from starvation that they realize how self-destructive it was. That gene is still alive and well today, congregated mostly on Wall Street and in the boardrooms of America.

Steven Pearlstein, on this same subject line, quotes a report called “Overcoming Short-termism” that says “[short-termism] has now become hard-wired into the culture of Wall Street and corporate America”. Nothing could be closer to the truth. I have posted before that this generation of Wall Streets and corporate leadership know of no other way to make money, and worse yet, they have taught nearly two generations to think the same way, which is live for today and worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes.

But what should Wall Street worry about? We’ve proven five times in the past 100 years that the taxpayers will bail them out after they’ve become fat cats by bankrupting the bank.

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