I have three Resolutions for adoption into the US Constitution 1) Congressional Gifts, Campaign Contributions, and Lobbying 2) Too Big to Fail Banks, Separate savings and loans from investment banks, Regulate financial derivative instruments, Breakup too big to fail banks 3) Freedom of Information
JOINT RESOLUTION on Receipt of Congressional Gifts
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to gift giving and lobbying of congress, and campaign finance of members of congress.
To address the constant influence of money, eliminate conflicts of interest, to promote justice and equality, to place limits on corporate and wealthy entities, and to promote public tranquility the following articles and amendments are proposed. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein),
That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission by the Congress:
SECTION 1.
Congress shall not receive more than $100 dollars from any single entity in efforts raising campaign funds with respect to Federal elections, including political action committees, corporations, charitable organizations, churches or religious organizations, and all United States Citizens. There are no exceptions or waivers to this rule for any kind of entity. Congress shall maintain painstaking and specific records of all transactions related to campaign funds and any products such as books, or services such as speeches.
SECTION 2.
Congress shall not receive any lobby dollars, gifts over a $5 dollar value, free lunches, free dinners, free tickets to conventions, transportation tickets or free rides on airplanes, trains, space craft, free hotel rooms, free clothing, or any other produce or service worth more than an appraised value of $5 Dollars from any single entity in efforts or any kind or that would have the appearance of an ethics problem, including political action committees, corporations, charitable organizations, churches or religious organizations, and all United States Citizens. There are no exceptions or waivers to this rule for any kind of entity. Congress shall maintain painstaking and specific records of all transactions related to all kinds of gifts and especially gifts, be they products or services, that could be considered a conflict of interest.
SECTION 3.
The Congressional watchdog, the General Accounting Office, shall have power to make and publish reports and suggestions regarding transparency to all members of congress regarding this article. It is expected that every 10 years there would be an adjustment to gift and campaign dollar limits which will be applied as 20% increase each 10 years after the date of adoptions of this amendment (i.e. $1 added after 10 years equals a new maximum gift value for congress of $6 dollars).
JOINT RESOLUTION concerning Too Big Too Fail Banks
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating monopolistic power, financial risk of large US banks and financial entities, national systemic and and economic risk of large US banks, and damage to US citizens from the financial crisis of 2008.
To address the constant influence of high risk financial behavior, to promote justice by slowing down banking fraud, to place limits on financial growth, to safe guard retail banking accounts, and to promote public tranquility the following articles and amendments are proposed.
SECTION 1.
US banks can no longer be both retail and investment banks. Retail banking is the banking for consumers. US citizens accounts shall be protected from bank investments and those within the financial organization that make investments.
SECTION 2.
Financial derivatives and derivative financial instruments will be regulated as any other financial investment. All financial investments whether stocks, bonds, or derivatives will be treated in the same way by regulators and will be shown on balance sheet transactions in accordance with generally accepted accounting practices (GAAP). Therefore, private hedge funds and private banks will also have to follow GAAP rules, and carry financial transactions on balance sheets.
SECTION 3.
US Banks failing a test of doing annual business greater than $1 trillion dollars in either long term investments, or total capitalization, or $500 billion in total liabilities, or who holds over $300 billion in derivatives, or who creates financial derivative products of over $200 billion annually shall be broken in to separate parts at the end of one year after proposal is adopted.
JOINT RESOLUTION concerning Freedom for Government Information
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to US Citizens Freedom of Information Requests from all US state and federal government entities. US government agencies work for the US Citizen and are paid through tax dollars from the citizen, so it is reasonable and predicable that citizen will request information.
SECTION 1.
All Federal and State, and Local governments, there agencies and their offices shall provide citizens with free access to information, data, and assistance with respect to Freedom of Information Requests. Therefore government offices shall post instructions, times for office visits, and make an employee available to assist US Citizens visiting in person. Agencies shall make it known where citizens can go to accomplish these freedom of information requests. The citizen will accommodate office hours, office locations, and scheduling of office visits within a weeks time for convenience. Information is recognized as dynamic and changes over time and the intent is that near instant response to freedom of information requests is possible and usually will be reasonable.
SECTION 2.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Economic Stimulus, Jobs Crisis, Specific Problem Areas and Specific Solutions Ideas
Economic Stimulus, Jobs Crisis, Specific Problem Areas and Specific Solutions Ideas
First consider the following problem areas.
A. Problem Area Taxes are Lower for Rich People:
1) Capital Gains, 2) Dividends, 3) Carried Interest, 4) Deferred Wages,
B. Problem Area Taxes for Social Security, Medicare not paid by the Rich (These social programs are under funded).
C. Problem Area Most People Don't Work - although women did join the work force and increase the number of people competing for jobs. These 4 types of people require others to take care of them whether family or social programs:
1) Children, 2) Elderly, 3) Infirm, 4) Spouses at home
D. Problem Area The Alternative minimum Tax doesn't work for Rich who still have "Loop Holes", Pay "Non Wage Tax Rate", and No Definition of "effective tax rate" except for the tax in the IRS tax booklet. Taxable income and earning is reduced by some calculations, then deductions are put through further manipulations, tax credits are added in, and so on. The original concept of the AMT was for the rich to pay more, but seems they were excluded from the final law when it was passed.
E. Problem Area Congress Spends Funds that We Don't Have.
1) War over 500 Mile from this Country is Questionable, 2) There is No Trust Fund for War Spending, 3) Taxpayer's Borrow Money for War, 4) Much of Spending is a transfer of Taxpayer money to industry, 5) Too much Spending for Prisons for nonviolent crime, 6) Over 1600 Federal Subsidies, 7) Social Security Funds Stolen for War Funding.
F. Problem Area Banks Are Predatory, engage in dishonest and Criminogenic activity, One Idea: "Banks should become a Utility" managed like a the water company. It seems like a good idea, because they function to lend money and with Fractional Reserves - they are really making money "out of thin air" (transparency and regulation goes without saying if banks become a "Utility").
G. Problem Area Borrowed Money which brings up Mondern Monetary theory, central banking, borrowing money for government operations, getting loans from banks as the preferred method and not considering other alternatives than creating this massive federal deficit:
1) MMT (Modern Monetary Theory) has some different ideas. If we are the government, we own the treasury, why don't we create money and institute monetary policy, and why should we pay back money borrowed, or ... even borrow money to begin with???? Unless we borrow or lend to foreign entities we can create money without borrowing it.
2) Monetary Policy is all about making sure there is enough money in the system. If businesses can be born, and grow...if people can borrow and use credit,... then the system works. But today with dishonest deals driving out honest deals ... like the No Document Mortgages, packed and resold within hours or days. Money supply should be tied to changes in population to prevent money from getting tight as it is now. Small businesses can't get loans today (I am told). And people that want to refinance homes can't refinance.
3) Monetary Policy is supposed to work for both Main Street and Wall Street. And it has nothing to do with "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps". Today the money system is Broke. And the Economists in charge are "Neoliberalist".
"Neoliberalism is a contemporary form of economic liberalism that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets to promote globalization. Neoliberals therefore seek to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the political and economic priorities of the world."
H. Problem Area Job Creation is Really Creating an Environment For Starting Small Businesses (Small Businesses are the heart of the USA, employ the most people, and manufacture the most products - it is a myth that big giant corporations are the heart of the USA).
I) Problem Area We are transferring large amounts of funds from the taxpayer to industry through spending, through tax abatements, through public private partnerships, and through federal subsidies that number over 1600 to agriculture, oil industry, and many others like Walmart.
J) Problem Area Taxpayer funds transferred to the defense industry doesn't provide the economic stimulus that another manufacturing industry would. The economic multiplier effect of producing goods and sending them to the market for other producers to utilize and sell as a component of their product is much less. War material is often controlled and kept out of the common market, it is often damaged or destroyed, and resale after obsolescence is often to foreign countries outside of our markets.
Now here are some potential solutions or ideas:
1) Get rid of the Central Bank (since we know they are in bed with the people that they are supposed to Regulate, the Revolving Door from the Treasury to Big Banks to the Federal Reserve proves this is one big "Club"). No one knows why the FED was created in secrecy without congress anyway.
2) Break Up All Banks that are too big to fail with Antitrust Laws (separate commercial banks, investment banks, and savings banks).
3) Stop Foreign War over 500 Miles from any one US State.
4) Stop asking the Government to Create Jobs.
5) Stop asking Businesses to Create Jobs.
6) Fully Fund Social Security and put money behind a Firewall (that is why we called it a "Trust").
7) Extend Unemployment benefits another year
8) Bring Army Troops back to permanent stations in the USA from Japan, Korea, and Germany. This means building (Stimulating) more housing, barracks, training facilities, and maintenance facilities. It also WILL Stimulate the US Economy as their money is spent in the US.
9) Create Incentive programs in K-12 through small Grants of $2000 - $4000, and in Colleges and Tech Training Schools of $5000 - $6000 to test new inventions, create contests in science, agricultural labs, greenhouses, etc.
10) Close the Department of Education since it has failed.
12) Scrape the current federal income tax scheme in favor of a progressive tax that only allows 5 deductions, recognizes wages and earnings the same way, investment dividends and short and long term profits and loses are treated with an exclusion for the first $15K earned, then taxed at 24%, interest rates for two mortgages can only be deductible up to $100K per house, there would be no such thing as a lower tax rate for "carrying fees" earned through business. This tax plan will get Lawyers, Tax Lawyers, Accountants, Tax Accountants into other economic activities that could be helpful to the GDP and may have a multiplier effect on the economy (hopefully we can get more financial managers into manufacturing also). This may also reduce the number of IRS employees needed to review tax forms. Outlaw Deferred Wages since they erode tax base and obstruct visibility of Executive Wages Earned (nontransparent).
A) Progressive tax with few deductions from 14% ($1-$22K per year) 16% ($23K-30K per year) 18% ($31K-38K per year) 20% ($39K-$49K per year) 22% ($50K-$60K per year) 24% ($61K-70K per year) 26% ($71K-82K per year) 28% ($83-$95K per year) 30% ($96K-120K per year) 31% ($121K-$1.5M per year) 32% ($1.6M- infinity)
B) All wages, tips, carry fees, income treated the same
C) Rich people pay full Social Security and Medicare taxes
D) Allowed to own two houses and deduct up to $100K per year per house, additional houses are called investments and you can't deduct the interest paid from income taxes
E) Head of Household and those with dependents can deduct health insurance premiums, copays, drug costs, and medical bills
F) Investments are encouraged, loses and gains are only calculated when actually sold stocks, bonds or other financial instruments.
G) Pensions are not taxed by the federal government unless they exceed $100K per year in which case they would be taxed at the lowest rate or 14%
H) Personal deduction allowed, plus deduction for dependents and spouse
13) Overturn NAFTA and CAFTA
14) Stimulate manufacturing with "Economics Free Zones" in states and cities across the USA which would remove barriers to businesses, reduced taxes, reduced licenses, reduced certification requirements, no unions, reduced sales tax, reduced production tax, reduced capitol investment tax, maybe customers would not have to pay sales taxes either.
15) Stimulate manufacturing by providing small grants to trade schools and to students toward teaching them about business and how to start a manufacturing enterprise (laboratories, agricultural plots, energy and alternative energy testing projects, chemistry projects, hazardous waste control technology).
16) Stimulate manufacturing by identifying banks that would lend to new businesses, establish new small business federal loan programs at federal loan rate of 6% or 8%, identify technologies that will be trends in the future and will be focus of federal loan program (waste disposal, recycling, energy, autos, mass transportation).
17) Stimulate business creation with additional public works programs, and energy technology programs grants, loans, reduced production tax, sales tax, capitol investment tax, for businesses with capitalization below $10 Million Dollars that will produce energy or manufacture capitol equipment utilized in the energy industry.
18) Make Health Care Portable across State Lines ending monopolistic Insurance Programs.
19) Make all Student Loan Interest Rates go down to either 6% or 8% to end the predatory rates from financial organizations who get their money for free or nearly free (Fractional Reserve Lending) and who now use profits to Lobby Congress.
20) Break up the TV/Cable Monopoly with Antitrust Law. No media owner/corporation/cabal should have the power to advertise talking points and call it news.
21) Outlaw Lobbying Congress and Gift Giving to Congress (i.e. free hotels, free dinners, free vacations, free conventions, free plane rides). And accepting gifts/contributions from foreign entities by congress is treason. Campaign contributions shall be set at the same limit for all US Citizens, but corporations and PACs shall not contribute to congressmen/women. Congress shall raise money through books and speaking, but can't sell books to PACs or corporations or some rich entity.
22) SEC must be bolstered with full backing of US Treasury if it is to face big banks in court to discourage criminogenic behavior.
23) SEC probably needs manpower of 200 additional agents to investigate Fraud and Criminogenic environment.
24) Corporations need to be rated not only on their risky behavior, and for hiring unqualified personnel to create mortgage loans or other financial instruments, but also for the amount of leverage they use and lack of reserves they keep on hand (transparency is key).
25) Corporations need to be Rated for all consumers, investors, or potential business partners with regard to transparency and independent audits of Off Balance Sheet Transactions. GAAP rules are the goal for US Businesses and should be mandatory for transparency.
26) Politicians should be Rated and Evaluated when they intervene/pressure Federal regulatory offices and agencies. For Instance it is said that congress interfered with the IRS audits of Rich people in the past. The real danger is that political pressure can allow regulations to be bent without the politician knowing the full context of the US regulations or the Lobbying Entity's Activities (Context is crucial to all US systems).
27) Make Banks become "Utilities" like water or electric with profit controls, leverage controls (less than 10 to 1), fractional reserve controls (minimum on hand assets), Interest Rate controls (Student Loans at either 6% or 8%, Small Business Loans either 6% or 8%), Off Balance Sheet transaction controls (to make explicit what is allowed and what is prohibited), and transparency of credentials for bank loan officers and mortgage specialist.
28) End the Revolving Door Between Federal Regulators and the Industries they Regulate. There are rules that exist that prevent government employees from working in industry jobs for a period of 5 years under certain conditions and circumstances. Disclosure Forms can be used to keep up on job changes of government employees that want to move from the Treasury or another agency to work for the entity or industry they were sworn to regulate (this forces people to chose their careers and stick to their decisions).
29) There should be a US congressional program to monitor, control, discover, and eliminate slave labor and child labor used in foreign countries for cheap labor. If US textile and manufacturing jobs have gone over to foreign countries, then we should have certainty that the labor rate is not a slave labor wage. We should not lose manufacturing to slave labor.
http://www.truth-out.org/have-super-rich-seceded-united-states/1326127151
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36kizAjPmuo&list=PL0F4ACDBAAD6AA9CA&index=2&feature=plpp_video
Brief 17 minutes run down on current environment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Qe0HlKKfw
Teaching session 56 minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch? feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=6YT84CokUsA Controversy about firing US AG: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I12oDVr2RZQ&feature=related
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-admitted-in-wells-fargo-s-u-s-deal.html
http://www.mediafreedominternational.org/2012/01/26/wachovia-bank-laundered-money-for-latin-american-drug-cartels/
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/04/wachovia-paid-trivial-fine-for-nearly-400-billion-of-drug-related-money-laundering.html
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=7495773 Robert Reich
and here is the Blog from Robert Reich on Truthout.com
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/8214-break-up-the-banks-says-the-dallas-fed
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/money-power-wall-street/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_and_loan_crisis (1980s and 1990s) ( total cost for resolving the 747 failed institutions was $87.9 billion)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007%E2%80%932010
http://www.dallasfed.org/assets/documents/fed/annual/2011/ar11.pdf
http://www.neweconomicperspectives.org/2011/09/william-black-why-nobody-went-to-jail.html
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7926
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Akerlof
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_K._Black
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Smith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_crisis
http://ideas.repec.org/a/bin/bpeajo/v24y1993i1993-2p1-74.html
http://www.walmartsubsidywatch.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals#Notable_accounting_scandals
http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2011/06/warcosts
http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-how-big-banks-are-rewriting-the-rules-of-our-economy/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/02-5 link on neoliberalism
Banking Reform, Economy, Globalization, Unemployment, US Budget, US Banks, US Congress, US Debt, US Politics, Federal Reserve, Lobbying, Revolving Door,
First consider the following problem areas.
A. Problem Area Taxes are Lower for Rich People:
1) Capital Gains, 2) Dividends, 3) Carried Interest, 4) Deferred Wages,
B. Problem Area Taxes for Social Security, Medicare not paid by the Rich (These social programs are under funded).
C. Problem Area Most People Don't Work - although women did join the work force and increase the number of people competing for jobs. These 4 types of people require others to take care of them whether family or social programs:
1) Children, 2) Elderly, 3) Infirm, 4) Spouses at home
D. Problem Area The Alternative minimum Tax doesn't work for Rich who still have "Loop Holes", Pay "Non Wage Tax Rate", and No Definition of "effective tax rate" except for the tax in the IRS tax booklet. Taxable income and earning is reduced by some calculations, then deductions are put through further manipulations, tax credits are added in, and so on. The original concept of the AMT was for the rich to pay more, but seems they were excluded from the final law when it was passed.
E. Problem Area Congress Spends Funds that We Don't Have.
1) War over 500 Mile from this Country is Questionable, 2) There is No Trust Fund for War Spending, 3) Taxpayer's Borrow Money for War, 4) Much of Spending is a transfer of Taxpayer money to industry, 5) Too much Spending for Prisons for nonviolent crime, 6) Over 1600 Federal Subsidies, 7) Social Security Funds Stolen for War Funding.
F. Problem Area Banks Are Predatory, engage in dishonest and Criminogenic activity, One Idea: "Banks should become a Utility" managed like a the water company. It seems like a good idea, because they function to lend money and with Fractional Reserves - they are really making money "out of thin air" (transparency and regulation goes without saying if banks become a "Utility").
G. Problem Area Borrowed Money which brings up Mondern Monetary theory, central banking, borrowing money for government operations, getting loans from banks as the preferred method and not considering other alternatives than creating this massive federal deficit:
1) MMT (Modern Monetary Theory) has some different ideas. If we are the government, we own the treasury, why don't we create money and institute monetary policy, and why should we pay back money borrowed, or ... even borrow money to begin with???? Unless we borrow or lend to foreign entities we can create money without borrowing it.
2) Monetary Policy is all about making sure there is enough money in the system. If businesses can be born, and grow...if people can borrow and use credit,... then the system works. But today with dishonest deals driving out honest deals ... like the No Document Mortgages, packed and resold within hours or days. Money supply should be tied to changes in population to prevent money from getting tight as it is now. Small businesses can't get loans today (I am told). And people that want to refinance homes can't refinance.
3) Monetary Policy is supposed to work for both Main Street and Wall Street. And it has nothing to do with "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps". Today the money system is Broke. And the Economists in charge are "Neoliberalist".
"Neoliberalism is a contemporary form of economic liberalism that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets to promote globalization. Neoliberals therefore seek to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the political and economic priorities of the world."
H. Problem Area Job Creation is Really Creating an Environment For Starting Small Businesses (Small Businesses are the heart of the USA, employ the most people, and manufacture the most products - it is a myth that big giant corporations are the heart of the USA).
I) Problem Area We are transferring large amounts of funds from the taxpayer to industry through spending, through tax abatements, through public private partnerships, and through federal subsidies that number over 1600 to agriculture, oil industry, and many others like Walmart.
J) Problem Area Taxpayer funds transferred to the defense industry doesn't provide the economic stimulus that another manufacturing industry would. The economic multiplier effect of producing goods and sending them to the market for other producers to utilize and sell as a component of their product is much less. War material is often controlled and kept out of the common market, it is often damaged or destroyed, and resale after obsolescence is often to foreign countries outside of our markets.
Now here are some potential solutions or ideas:
1) Get rid of the Central Bank (since we know they are in bed with the people that they are supposed to Regulate, the Revolving Door from the Treasury to Big Banks to the Federal Reserve proves this is one big "Club"). No one knows why the FED was created in secrecy without congress anyway.
2) Break Up All Banks that are too big to fail with Antitrust Laws (separate commercial banks, investment banks, and savings banks).
3) Stop Foreign War over 500 Miles from any one US State.
4) Stop asking the Government to Create Jobs.
5) Stop asking Businesses to Create Jobs.
6) Fully Fund Social Security and put money behind a Firewall (that is why we called it a "Trust").
7) Extend Unemployment benefits another year
8) Bring Army Troops back to permanent stations in the USA from Japan, Korea, and Germany. This means building (Stimulating) more housing, barracks, training facilities, and maintenance facilities. It also WILL Stimulate the US Economy as their money is spent in the US.
9) Create Incentive programs in K-12 through small Grants of $2000 - $4000, and in Colleges and Tech Training Schools of $5000 - $6000 to test new inventions, create contests in science, agricultural labs, greenhouses, etc.
10) Close the Department of Education since it has failed.
12) Scrape the current federal income tax scheme in favor of a progressive tax that only allows 5 deductions, recognizes wages and earnings the same way, investment dividends and short and long term profits and loses are treated with an exclusion for the first $15K earned, then taxed at 24%, interest rates for two mortgages can only be deductible up to $100K per house, there would be no such thing as a lower tax rate for "carrying fees" earned through business. This tax plan will get Lawyers, Tax Lawyers, Accountants, Tax Accountants into other economic activities that could be helpful to the GDP and may have a multiplier effect on the economy (hopefully we can get more financial managers into manufacturing also). This may also reduce the number of IRS employees needed to review tax forms. Outlaw Deferred Wages since they erode tax base and obstruct visibility of Executive Wages Earned (nontransparent).
A) Progressive tax with few deductions from 14% ($1-$22K per year) 16% ($23K-30K per year) 18% ($31K-38K per year) 20% ($39K-$49K per year) 22% ($50K-$60K per year) 24% ($61K-70K per year) 26% ($71K-82K per year) 28% ($83-$95K per year) 30% ($96K-120K per year) 31% ($121K-$1.5M per year) 32% ($1.6M- infinity)
B) All wages, tips, carry fees, income treated the same
C) Rich people pay full Social Security and Medicare taxes
D) Allowed to own two houses and deduct up to $100K per year per house, additional houses are called investments and you can't deduct the interest paid from income taxes
E) Head of Household and those with dependents can deduct health insurance premiums, copays, drug costs, and medical bills
F) Investments are encouraged, loses and gains are only calculated when actually sold stocks, bonds or other financial instruments.
G) Pensions are not taxed by the federal government unless they exceed $100K per year in which case they would be taxed at the lowest rate or 14%
H) Personal deduction allowed, plus deduction for dependents and spouse
13) Overturn NAFTA and CAFTA
14) Stimulate manufacturing with "Economics Free Zones" in states and cities across the USA which would remove barriers to businesses, reduced taxes, reduced licenses, reduced certification requirements, no unions, reduced sales tax, reduced production tax, reduced capitol investment tax, maybe customers would not have to pay sales taxes either.
15) Stimulate manufacturing by providing small grants to trade schools and to students toward teaching them about business and how to start a manufacturing enterprise (laboratories, agricultural plots, energy and alternative energy testing projects, chemistry projects, hazardous waste control technology).
16) Stimulate manufacturing by identifying banks that would lend to new businesses, establish new small business federal loan programs at federal loan rate of 6% or 8%, identify technologies that will be trends in the future and will be focus of federal loan program (waste disposal, recycling, energy, autos, mass transportation).
17) Stimulate business creation with additional public works programs, and energy technology programs grants, loans, reduced production tax, sales tax, capitol investment tax, for businesses with capitalization below $10 Million Dollars that will produce energy or manufacture capitol equipment utilized in the energy industry.
18) Make Health Care Portable across State Lines ending monopolistic Insurance Programs.
19) Make all Student Loan Interest Rates go down to either 6% or 8% to end the predatory rates from financial organizations who get their money for free or nearly free (Fractional Reserve Lending) and who now use profits to Lobby Congress.
20) Break up the TV/Cable Monopoly with Antitrust Law. No media owner/corporation/cabal should have the power to advertise talking points and call it news.
21) Outlaw Lobbying Congress and Gift Giving to Congress (i.e. free hotels, free dinners, free vacations, free conventions, free plane rides). And accepting gifts/contributions from foreign entities by congress is treason. Campaign contributions shall be set at the same limit for all US Citizens, but corporations and PACs shall not contribute to congressmen/women. Congress shall raise money through books and speaking, but can't sell books to PACs or corporations or some rich entity.
22) SEC must be bolstered with full backing of US Treasury if it is to face big banks in court to discourage criminogenic behavior.
23) SEC probably needs manpower of 200 additional agents to investigate Fraud and Criminogenic environment.
24) Corporations need to be rated not only on their risky behavior, and for hiring unqualified personnel to create mortgage loans or other financial instruments, but also for the amount of leverage they use and lack of reserves they keep on hand (transparency is key).
25) Corporations need to be Rated for all consumers, investors, or potential business partners with regard to transparency and independent audits of Off Balance Sheet Transactions. GAAP rules are the goal for US Businesses and should be mandatory for transparency.
26) Politicians should be Rated and Evaluated when they intervene/pressure Federal regulatory offices and agencies. For Instance it is said that congress interfered with the IRS audits of Rich people in the past. The real danger is that political pressure can allow regulations to be bent without the politician knowing the full context of the US regulations or the Lobbying Entity's Activities (Context is crucial to all US systems).
27) Make Banks become "Utilities" like water or electric with profit controls, leverage controls (less than 10 to 1), fractional reserve controls (minimum on hand assets), Interest Rate controls (Student Loans at either 6% or 8%, Small Business Loans either 6% or 8%), Off Balance Sheet transaction controls (to make explicit what is allowed and what is prohibited), and transparency of credentials for bank loan officers and mortgage specialist.
28) End the Revolving Door Between Federal Regulators and the Industries they Regulate. There are rules that exist that prevent government employees from working in industry jobs for a period of 5 years under certain conditions and circumstances. Disclosure Forms can be used to keep up on job changes of government employees that want to move from the Treasury or another agency to work for the entity or industry they were sworn to regulate (this forces people to chose their careers and stick to their decisions).
29) There should be a US congressional program to monitor, control, discover, and eliminate slave labor and child labor used in foreign countries for cheap labor. If US textile and manufacturing jobs have gone over to foreign countries, then we should have certainty that the labor rate is not a slave labor wage. We should not lose manufacturing to slave labor.
http://www.truth-out.org/have-super-rich-seceded-united-states/1326127151
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36kizAjPmuo&list=PL0F4ACDBAAD6AA9CA&index=2&feature=plpp_video
Brief 17 minutes run down on current environment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Qe0HlKKfw
Teaching session 56 minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch? feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=6YT84CokUsA Controversy about firing US AG: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I12oDVr2RZQ&feature=related
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-admitted-in-wells-fargo-s-u-s-deal.html
http://www.mediafreedominternational.org/2012/01/26/wachovia-bank-laundered-money-for-latin-american-drug-cartels/
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/04/wachovia-paid-trivial-fine-for-nearly-400-billion-of-drug-related-money-laundering.html
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=7495773 Robert Reich
and here is the Blog from Robert Reich on Truthout.com
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/8214-break-up-the-banks-says-the-dallas-fed
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/money-power-wall-street/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_and_loan_crisis (1980s and 1990s) ( total cost for resolving the 747 failed institutions was $87.9 billion)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007%E2%80%932010
http://www.dallasfed.org/assets/documents/fed/annual/2011/ar11.pdf
http://www.neweconomicperspectives.org/2011/09/william-black-why-nobody-went-to-jail.html
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7926
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Akerlof
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_K._Black
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Smith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_crisis
http://ideas.repec.org/a/bin/bpeajo/v24y1993i1993-2p1-74.html
http://www.walmartsubsidywatch.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals#Notable_accounting_scandals
http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2011/06/warcosts
http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-how-big-banks-are-rewriting-the-rules-of-our-economy/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/02-5 link on neoliberalism
Banking Reform, Economy, Globalization, Unemployment, US Budget, US Banks, US Congress, US Debt, US Politics, Federal Reserve, Lobbying, Revolving Door,
Political Distortions Erode US Public Confidence
Political Distortions Erode US Public Confidence
The many half-truths and distorted truths have not only maintained a political status quo, but have dumbed down the US Public.
1) That we live in a democracy. In fact we live in a Limited Republic where our Representatives pass laws
2) That we live under a capitalist system. We live in a mixed economy which includes social programs, capitalism, and significant central control of the economy through government subsidies, tax abatements, and legislation that has supported creation of a financial industry with bubbles in mortgages and derivatives.
3) That money does not influence our government and create obligations and considerations after elections. In fact we know with capitalism, advertising, media exposure, the powerful impact of television that big money is required to win elections. And where is that big money going to come from? Big pockets. Big money establishes relationships, access, obligations, political appointments, and political considerations. Lobbyist' contribute money to politicians, then are permitted to write legislation as if they had the best interest of the common people and working class.
4) That corporations are people. Marine General Smedley Butler wrote a book in 1935, War is a Racket, in which he outlines his career in Central America and the Caribbean. In fact when blacks were recognized a people by the Civil Rights Act of 1871 corporations filed law suits to push their own interests under this law. Corporate influence in the US and around the globe can not be denied. But business is business. People can make moral and ethical decisions and even fight for their own country. But if corporations hurt people or put their employees in dangerous situations their liability is just a few bucks. The IRS and the SEC can't even begin legal proceedings against large corporations without huge funds.
5) That US Media is free from conflicts of interest. In fact Western media is a largely owned by 5 corporations or people. And media can't exist without obligations to large corporate advertisers. And media can't perform it's business without powerful people providing them access to government press conferences, government spokesmen, elected officials, government buildings and election events.
6) That the government has our best interest in mind and is largely free from conflicts of interest. In fact it is hard to separate fact from fiction. However there are many examples of corruption in US Governments.
A) Savings and Loan Scandal 1988
B) Keating Five Scandal 1989
B) Mortgage Crisis 2007
C) Financial Crisis 2008
D) Reversal of Depression Era laws to prevent Banking Scandals
E) Use of "Riders" in US Congressional Legislation
F) Every Presidential Administration has Scandals
G) Use of Social Security Trust funds to pay for the Vietnam War
H) Operation Northwoods Plot to start war with Cuba thru "false flag" operation on US soil
I) Gulf of Tonkin incident to start war with Vietnam
J) Business Plot 1933 by US Industrialist to overthrow the US Government
K) Operation Ajax by CIA in Iran in 1953
L) Subsidies by federal government for Walmart parking lots, regional warehouses, and stores
M) The Federal website www.cfda.gov shows 2,200 different Domestic Assistance programs for 2012. I'm pretty sure this is the current number of Subsidies. In 2006, according to the Cato Institute website there were 1,696 federal subsidies.
N) Vulture Fund Company Seeks $40 Million Payment from Zambia on $4 Million Debt from "aid money" granted to fight poverty
O) No one has gone to JAIL in the 2008 Financial Crisis that went global and for which the FED provide over $20 trillion dollars in emergency loans
P) Too Big Too Fail banks haven't been broken up
q) There is no investigation of 2008 financial crisis since it would require 20K investigators and mortgage banks must put together the paper work "referral"
R) Patriot Act - because it erodes the Bill of Rights
S) National Defense Authorization Act - because it erodes the Bill of Rights
T) Congress hasn't signed a US Budget for 1000 days
U) The Iraqi War, Afghanistan War, Vietnam War, and Korean Wars were not declared by Congress.
V) We allow rich people, corporations, and foreigners to contribute millions of dollars to US Congressmen. Foreign lobbyist can go to the State department. Congressional receipt of foreign lobby dollars sounds like treason.
W) Antitrust law used to protect against monopolies and oligopolies, but today corporations get larger year after year, have personhood, and seem not to have any limitations since the lessons they learned from the Bell Telephone breakup
X) There is no concerted effort by the US government to discover, monitor, control, or legislate prohibitions against slave labor and child labor in foreign countries where US textile and other jobs have gone
Y) There is less funding for US job retraining today than there was prior to 2008 Financial Crisis as per NPR last week
Z) Creation of the Federal Reserve
AA) Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham plead guilty to taking over $2M in Bribes from 3 defense contractors
BB) Congressman William Jefferson of Louisiana was caught with $90K in his house freezer
CC) Cost of congressional campaign is $1 million per candidate, and Senate campaigns is $4.3 million, but could be $10-15 million and the winner usually is the one that has the most campaign money
DD) One third of campaign money could be coming from Political Action Committees based on 1986 study (PAC are special interest groups)
EE) Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested in 2008 for trying to sell a US Senate seat
FF) Opensecrets "all time top donors" list of campaign contributors shows AT&T, National Association of Realtors, and Goldman Sachs in the top 10 - Citigroup is #15, JP Morgan is #26, Microsoft #28, Lockheed martin #33, General Electric #35, surprisingly American Bankers Association #23 and American Medical Association #16
GG) US Government subsidies for oil exploration when profits are high and there is not chance the industry will fail anytime in the next 20 years
7) That industry does not have much influence on regulators in our government. In fact we have a revolving door from industry to all our regulatory agencies including the big banking, big pharmacy, big agriculture, and probably the EPA. This means people that work in regulated industries rotate through jobs at the Federal Reserve, US Treasury, SEC, FDA, Energy Agencies, Gas and Oil Agencies, and probably the EPA. They also probably have a strong influence in universities and the medical profession also. Regulatory capture is also a problem here where Industry has so much influence that it makes the rules or determines the enforcement.
8) That main street has the same chance to make money in financial markets as big banks. In fact we have a) slower ability to trade shares in financial markets b) a big hurdle and lost opportunities when prices change dramatically while US markets are closed c) wealthy financial consultants like Mitt Romney pay 15% for their fees that make a large portion of their income.
9) We don't need manufacturing, protection for manufacturing industries, and the business environment allows entry for new manufacturing. In fact the banking industry is focused on high risk/high yield investments and wants goods to be manufactured in cheap labor countries since it looks like a good business model that is efficient use of capital. There is little going in in the USA to a) Ensure people have the skills they need b) have retraining opportunities c) stimulate manufacturing in the US d) provide reasonable financing through banks to start new manufacturing e) install protectionist policies to keep US manufacturing base g) recognize the economic force called the economic multiplier effect that derives from valuable manufacturing activity h) recognize that US workers need an advocate i) provide grants for research into technologies that the US will need in the next 10-20 years.
Americans are not against war and not even against covert military actions. We like our heros and we like the image of the US men as a strong warriors. It just seems like the CIA has been involved in a lot of dumb decision. We like the idea of our involvement in WWI and WWI as justified and patriotic. But it is hard to see how China or Korea posed a threat in the 1950s. I can't see Vietnam being a threat in 1950s or 1960 either. Hello, war is bad, expensive, reduces security that military force could provide in other parts of the world and the US, and the human costs to culture, economies, families, injuries, and deaths is prohibitive. Unless your goal is to cripple a foreign nation under the guise of something else.
Americans don't mind some covert exercise of our special forces in foreign countries and we want highly trained warriors for heros. But political distortions make us all dumb don't they. Why can't our history be known. Admit that our CIA actions and intelligence got out of hand and look at moving those employees to military intelligence activities for more rigid monitoring and control.
10) Distortions of war include: A) that countries over 500 miles away from the US border can be a significant threat B) the idea that the US reserves the right to change governments in South America, Cuba, Iraq, Afghanistan or "failed States" under our foreign policy and the Monroe Doctrine C) that we should invade, isolate, and coerce any nation that is communist D) that we have the right to attack a nation under first strike doctrine when the decision process to go to war has failed.
11) Examples of US wars or military action without logical threat to US Security A) Korea B) Vietnam C) Gulf war with Iraq 1991 D) Iraqi Freedom 2003 E) Afghanistan 2001.
12) Examples of US Covert Actions that stole the right of self-determination from sovereign governments A) Syria 1949 B) Iran 1953 C) Guatemala 1954 D) Cuba 1959 E) Brazil 1964 F) Ghana 1966 G) Iraq 1968 H) Chile 1973 I) Afghanistan 1973-4 J) Iraq 1973-5 K) Argentina 1976 L) Afghanistan 1978-1980s M)Iran 1980
These additional are simply lesser known military actions as part of empire building and looking out for our industrial/trade or strategic interests N) Nicaragua 1980-90 O) El Salvador 1980-92 P) Cambodia 1980-95 Q) Guatemala 1993 R) Mexico 1914 S) Haiti 1915–1934 T) Cuba 1898-1902, 1906–1909, 1912 and 1917–1922 U) Nicaragua 1902-12, 1912 through 1933 V) Dominican Republic 1903, 1904, 1914, 1916-1924 W) Honduras 1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924 and 1925 X) China 1927 Y) Porto Rico 1898 Z) Panama 1846, 1856, 1903,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/opinion/l21brooks.html
http://cfinst.org/congress/pdf/Table4_PostElec.pdf
http://www.cleanupwashington.org/sii/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honest_services_fraud
http://articles.cnn.com/2005-11-28/politics/cunningham_1_mzm-mitchell-wade-tax-evasion?_s=PM:POLITICS
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v3n2/money.html (Cost of Campaign)
http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=4764307
http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=4923163 (Pay to play Blaggo)
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?order=A (Heavy Hitters Campaign Contributions)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_and_loan_crisis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals#Notable_accounting_scandals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_scandals_in_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ponzi_schemes
http://www.walmartsubsidywatch.org/
http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/24/news/fortune500/walmart_subsidies/
http://www.neweconomicperspectives.org/2011/09/william-black-why-nobody-went-to-jail.html
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7926
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Akerlof
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_K._Black
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Smith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_crisis
http://ideas.repec.org/a/bin/bpeajo/v24y1993i1993-2p1-74.html
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-real-housewives-of-wall-street-look-whos-cashing-in-on-the-bailout-20110411
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag
http://www.wanttoknow.info/010501operationnorthwoods
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Industrial_Complex
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Racket
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_United_States_foreign_regime_change_actions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_United_States_foreign_regime_change_actions#Chile_1973
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_United_States_foreign_regime_change_actions#Destabilization_through_CIA_assets
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Wars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil (Broken up in 1911)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_System (Broken up in 1984)
The many half-truths and distorted truths have not only maintained a political status quo, but have dumbed down the US Public.
1) That we live in a democracy. In fact we live in a Limited Republic where our Representatives pass laws
2) That we live under a capitalist system. We live in a mixed economy which includes social programs, capitalism, and significant central control of the economy through government subsidies, tax abatements, and legislation that has supported creation of a financial industry with bubbles in mortgages and derivatives.
3) That money does not influence our government and create obligations and considerations after elections. In fact we know with capitalism, advertising, media exposure, the powerful impact of television that big money is required to win elections. And where is that big money going to come from? Big pockets. Big money establishes relationships, access, obligations, political appointments, and political considerations. Lobbyist' contribute money to politicians, then are permitted to write legislation as if they had the best interest of the common people and working class.
4) That corporations are people. Marine General Smedley Butler wrote a book in 1935, War is a Racket, in which he outlines his career in Central America and the Caribbean. In fact when blacks were recognized a people by the Civil Rights Act of 1871 corporations filed law suits to push their own interests under this law. Corporate influence in the US and around the globe can not be denied. But business is business. People can make moral and ethical decisions and even fight for their own country. But if corporations hurt people or put their employees in dangerous situations their liability is just a few bucks. The IRS and the SEC can't even begin legal proceedings against large corporations without huge funds.
5) That US Media is free from conflicts of interest. In fact Western media is a largely owned by 5 corporations or people. And media can't exist without obligations to large corporate advertisers. And media can't perform it's business without powerful people providing them access to government press conferences, government spokesmen, elected officials, government buildings and election events.
6) That the government has our best interest in mind and is largely free from conflicts of interest. In fact it is hard to separate fact from fiction. However there are many examples of corruption in US Governments.
A) Savings and Loan Scandal 1988
B) Keating Five Scandal 1989
B) Mortgage Crisis 2007
C) Financial Crisis 2008
D) Reversal of Depression Era laws to prevent Banking Scandals
E) Use of "Riders" in US Congressional Legislation
F) Every Presidential Administration has Scandals
G) Use of Social Security Trust funds to pay for the Vietnam War
H) Operation Northwoods Plot to start war with Cuba thru "false flag" operation on US soil
I) Gulf of Tonkin incident to start war with Vietnam
J) Business Plot 1933 by US Industrialist to overthrow the US Government
K) Operation Ajax by CIA in Iran in 1953
L) Subsidies by federal government for Walmart parking lots, regional warehouses, and stores
M) The Federal website www.cfda.gov shows 2,200 different Domestic Assistance programs for 2012. I'm pretty sure this is the current number of Subsidies. In 2006, according to the Cato Institute website there were 1,696 federal subsidies.
N) Vulture Fund Company Seeks $40 Million Payment from Zambia on $4 Million Debt from "aid money" granted to fight poverty
O) No one has gone to JAIL in the 2008 Financial Crisis that went global and for which the FED provide over $20 trillion dollars in emergency loans
P) Too Big Too Fail banks haven't been broken up
q) There is no investigation of 2008 financial crisis since it would require 20K investigators and mortgage banks must put together the paper work "referral"
R) Patriot Act - because it erodes the Bill of Rights
S) National Defense Authorization Act - because it erodes the Bill of Rights
T) Congress hasn't signed a US Budget for 1000 days
U) The Iraqi War, Afghanistan War, Vietnam War, and Korean Wars were not declared by Congress.
V) We allow rich people, corporations, and foreigners to contribute millions of dollars to US Congressmen. Foreign lobbyist can go to the State department. Congressional receipt of foreign lobby dollars sounds like treason.
W) Antitrust law used to protect against monopolies and oligopolies, but today corporations get larger year after year, have personhood, and seem not to have any limitations since the lessons they learned from the Bell Telephone breakup
X) There is no concerted effort by the US government to discover, monitor, control, or legislate prohibitions against slave labor and child labor in foreign countries where US textile and other jobs have gone
Y) There is less funding for US job retraining today than there was prior to 2008 Financial Crisis as per NPR last week
Z) Creation of the Federal Reserve
AA) Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham plead guilty to taking over $2M in Bribes from 3 defense contractors
BB) Congressman William Jefferson of Louisiana was caught with $90K in his house freezer
CC) Cost of congressional campaign is $1 million per candidate, and Senate campaigns is $4.3 million, but could be $10-15 million and the winner usually is the one that has the most campaign money
DD) One third of campaign money could be coming from Political Action Committees based on 1986 study (PAC are special interest groups)
EE) Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested in 2008 for trying to sell a US Senate seat
FF) Opensecrets "all time top donors" list of campaign contributors shows AT&T, National Association of Realtors, and Goldman Sachs in the top 10 - Citigroup is #15, JP Morgan is #26, Microsoft #28, Lockheed martin #33, General Electric #35, surprisingly American Bankers Association #23 and American Medical Association #16
GG) US Government subsidies for oil exploration when profits are high and there is not chance the industry will fail anytime in the next 20 years
7) That industry does not have much influence on regulators in our government. In fact we have a revolving door from industry to all our regulatory agencies including the big banking, big pharmacy, big agriculture, and probably the EPA. This means people that work in regulated industries rotate through jobs at the Federal Reserve, US Treasury, SEC, FDA, Energy Agencies, Gas and Oil Agencies, and probably the EPA. They also probably have a strong influence in universities and the medical profession also. Regulatory capture is also a problem here where Industry has so much influence that it makes the rules or determines the enforcement.
8) That main street has the same chance to make money in financial markets as big banks. In fact we have a) slower ability to trade shares in financial markets b) a big hurdle and lost opportunities when prices change dramatically while US markets are closed c) wealthy financial consultants like Mitt Romney pay 15% for their fees that make a large portion of their income.
9) We don't need manufacturing, protection for manufacturing industries, and the business environment allows entry for new manufacturing. In fact the banking industry is focused on high risk/high yield investments and wants goods to be manufactured in cheap labor countries since it looks like a good business model that is efficient use of capital. There is little going in in the USA to a) Ensure people have the skills they need b) have retraining opportunities c) stimulate manufacturing in the US d) provide reasonable financing through banks to start new manufacturing e) install protectionist policies to keep US manufacturing base g) recognize the economic force called the economic multiplier effect that derives from valuable manufacturing activity h) recognize that US workers need an advocate i) provide grants for research into technologies that the US will need in the next 10-20 years.
Americans are not against war and not even against covert military actions. We like our heros and we like the image of the US men as a strong warriors. It just seems like the CIA has been involved in a lot of dumb decision. We like the idea of our involvement in WWI and WWI as justified and patriotic. But it is hard to see how China or Korea posed a threat in the 1950s. I can't see Vietnam being a threat in 1950s or 1960 either. Hello, war is bad, expensive, reduces security that military force could provide in other parts of the world and the US, and the human costs to culture, economies, families, injuries, and deaths is prohibitive. Unless your goal is to cripple a foreign nation under the guise of something else.
Americans don't mind some covert exercise of our special forces in foreign countries and we want highly trained warriors for heros. But political distortions make us all dumb don't they. Why can't our history be known. Admit that our CIA actions and intelligence got out of hand and look at moving those employees to military intelligence activities for more rigid monitoring and control.
10) Distortions of war include: A) that countries over 500 miles away from the US border can be a significant threat B) the idea that the US reserves the right to change governments in South America, Cuba, Iraq, Afghanistan or "failed States" under our foreign policy and the Monroe Doctrine C) that we should invade, isolate, and coerce any nation that is communist D) that we have the right to attack a nation under first strike doctrine when the decision process to go to war has failed.
11) Examples of US wars or military action without logical threat to US Security A) Korea B) Vietnam C) Gulf war with Iraq 1991 D) Iraqi Freedom 2003 E) Afghanistan 2001.
12) Examples of US Covert Actions that stole the right of self-determination from sovereign governments A) Syria 1949 B) Iran 1953 C) Guatemala 1954 D) Cuba 1959 E) Brazil 1964 F) Ghana 1966 G) Iraq 1968 H) Chile 1973 I) Afghanistan 1973-4 J) Iraq 1973-5 K) Argentina 1976 L) Afghanistan 1978-1980s M)Iran 1980
These additional are simply lesser known military actions as part of empire building and looking out for our industrial/trade or strategic interests N) Nicaragua 1980-90 O) El Salvador 1980-92 P) Cambodia 1980-95 Q) Guatemala 1993 R) Mexico 1914 S) Haiti 1915–1934 T) Cuba 1898-1902, 1906–1909, 1912 and 1917–1922 U) Nicaragua 1902-12, 1912 through 1933 V) Dominican Republic 1903, 1904, 1914, 1916-1924 W) Honduras 1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924 and 1925 X) China 1927 Y) Porto Rico 1898 Z) Panama 1846, 1856, 1903,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/opinion/l21brooks.html
http://cfinst.org/congress/pdf/Table4_PostElec.pdf
http://www.cleanupwashington.org/sii/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honest_services_fraud
http://articles.cnn.com/2005-11-28/politics/cunningham_1_mzm-mitchell-wade-tax-evasion?_s=PM:POLITICS
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v3n2/money.html (Cost of Campaign)
http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=4764307
http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=4923163 (Pay to play Blaggo)
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?order=A (Heavy Hitters Campaign Contributions)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_and_loan_crisis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals#Notable_accounting_scandals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_scandals_in_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ponzi_schemes
http://www.walmartsubsidywatch.org/
http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/24/news/fortune500/walmart_subsidies/
http://www.neweconomicperspectives.org/2011/09/william-black-why-nobody-went-to-jail.html
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7926
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Akerlof
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_K._Black
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Smith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_crisis
http://ideas.repec.org/a/bin/bpeajo/v24y1993i1993-2p1-74.html
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-real-housewives-of-wall-street-look-whos-cashing-in-on-the-bailout-20110411
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag
http://www.wanttoknow.info/010501operationnorthwoods
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Industrial_Complex
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Racket
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_United_States_foreign_regime_change_actions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_United_States_foreign_regime_change_actions#Chile_1973
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_United_States_foreign_regime_change_actions#Destabilization_through_CIA_assets
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Wars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil (Broken up in 1911)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_System (Broken up in 1984)
Monday, April 16, 2012
Military Politics, Work Place Politics
Some people have a war going on in their heads (memory stress or work stress of one type). We call this competition in the US. Competition can be explored by looking at the winners and the losers. However most will learn more if we look at who military employees compete with and if there is too much or too little competition. The work place contains a broad set of behaviors, some unwanted behaviors, and some unwanted reactions. We could call some of these behaviors competition, harassment, abuse, supervision, and the human resources system or the employment system.
The military is not that different from the business world. In fact early modern management came out of the military and we know it as Theory X management style or the factory management system. Anyway the military system is highly developed as all military systems have become.
Some people have a war going on in their minds because they are harassed by other people or leaders in the system of competition for advancement. Politics are heavily involved, but the focus is on what skills or experience a soldier or employee has. By the way there are both soldiers and civilians in the military system.
Everybody has formal Military Occupational Skills (MOS), although there are different names in different services and for civilians. And your competition in the work place all know where you have been, how you were educated, and what military skills and background you have. You can't escape this process and these judgments.
And the system, wise as it is, has built in an expectation of complaints and grievances. This is to be expected with all the hierarchies being defined. In fact of course you can compete in the world of ideas from people outside of your agency, at different headquarters organizations, people with technical degrees in engineering, quality, or even law. And then there are career political appointees. So it is not just noncommissioned officers, officers, civilians, contractor experts, and organizations with peerless reputations that all compete for dominance. You also compete in your job with your own formal job series/job description, previous experience, training classes, whether you retired already from military service and at what rank/grade, and this defines or limits your career and your ability to compete.
One point is you can be a soldier or civilian in a military career and be trapped/defined at a certain promotion level and no resolution but to leave this employment. This is called having a dead end job or a dead end position.
And it makes sense within the military. We have career tracks. Certain fields understand logistics better than others and better fit the career track. Combat soldiers and combat veterans can only go so far without crossing over into other fields. Money and finance is an important field for instance, but many people will not be able to cross into the field and there are few slots/jobs that pay over $60K a year. Career development and advanced training are vital to reward people and promote the right people. Cronyism and nepotism are discouraged.
Another point is that complaining, networking, politicking and talking with those in management with the power to hire you, send you to training, or change your circumstance. You could say the squeeky wheel gets the oil.
Complainers and whiners are strongly competitive unless they become whistle blowers in which case all bets are off. People that file grievances are looked at a little differently in my opinion. The old patriarchy did not like grievances. But the system has always had strong competition and that means there were public or private complaints.
Still in my opinion many leave the military with a war going on in their heads. Not from combat, not from a deep seated animosity or grievance, not anything dangerous or abnormal, just a lot of memories of eating crap. The world of competition is very much alive in the US Military and the US.
There is a subset of the work force that doesn't complain and may not engage in communication or discussion about relationships in the work place. We might say there were people that submerge issues or thoughts about relationships with supervisors and others. These might be negative or unwanted reactions.
Of course another point is that supervisors and managers are people that are doing well with competition and politics. This is kind of the definition of having an edge when you already are part of management and have a management career.
Now Capitalism is built seemingly from competition, so this is all well and good. Free enterprise, individual property rights for all regardless of race, creed, and color seems the way to go. And we have constitutions and laws to regulate, monitor, and control corruption of the government money trough.
The biggest surprise in Military politics and competition in the work place is the US Contractors that serve as experts. To me government and military experts lose out on the knowledge, skills, and expertise when we pay corporations or consultants to do the government core functions and other non core function. If you want the best government, if you want to avoid regulatory capture, if you want to avoid corruption, then we all need to increase the visibility of contractors and consultants within the Department of Defense. Recently there was a law suit filed by an employee of many years within the Office Management and Budget due to conflict with contractor expertise. So it seems that Lobbyist write the laws for congress and run government budget and financial offices.
How will regulators in the military and government do their jobs, if they compete with outsiders under the guise of consultants hired by their chain of command. How will government employees learn to negotiate, manage, and control military and government programs without the opportunity.
We conclude that contractors and consultants in the government and military should have a lot of visibility. We might be served better by limits of corporate contractors and consultant in the military and government. Remember when too big to fail banks became consultant managers for the financial bailout that they caused? Remember that lobbyist wrote the laws that made the last financial crisis possible? Remember the failures of war, the embezzlement of funds scandals of war, the over charges by defense contractors to the government, the failures of intelligence for going to war, remember the contractor in the Balkans earning $100K to sweep the warehouse, and remember the words of Smedley Butler and President Eisenhower? We need to limit the involvement of corporations in government, act to reduce the revolving door between corporations and government jobs that regulate industry, and we need to be aware of regulatory capture by corporations.
US Military, Military Politics, US Government, US Lobbying, US Ethics, US Politics, Capitalism, Competition, Regulatory Capture, Revolving Door,
The military is not that different from the business world. In fact early modern management came out of the military and we know it as Theory X management style or the factory management system. Anyway the military system is highly developed as all military systems have become.
Some people have a war going on in their minds because they are harassed by other people or leaders in the system of competition for advancement. Politics are heavily involved, but the focus is on what skills or experience a soldier or employee has. By the way there are both soldiers and civilians in the military system.
Everybody has formal Military Occupational Skills (MOS), although there are different names in different services and for civilians. And your competition in the work place all know where you have been, how you were educated, and what military skills and background you have. You can't escape this process and these judgments.
And the system, wise as it is, has built in an expectation of complaints and grievances. This is to be expected with all the hierarchies being defined. In fact of course you can compete in the world of ideas from people outside of your agency, at different headquarters organizations, people with technical degrees in engineering, quality, or even law. And then there are career political appointees. So it is not just noncommissioned officers, officers, civilians, contractor experts, and organizations with peerless reputations that all compete for dominance. You also compete in your job with your own formal job series/job description, previous experience, training classes, whether you retired already from military service and at what rank/grade, and this defines or limits your career and your ability to compete.
One point is you can be a soldier or civilian in a military career and be trapped/defined at a certain promotion level and no resolution but to leave this employment. This is called having a dead end job or a dead end position.
And it makes sense within the military. We have career tracks. Certain fields understand logistics better than others and better fit the career track. Combat soldiers and combat veterans can only go so far without crossing over into other fields. Money and finance is an important field for instance, but many people will not be able to cross into the field and there are few slots/jobs that pay over $60K a year. Career development and advanced training are vital to reward people and promote the right people. Cronyism and nepotism are discouraged.
Another point is that complaining, networking, politicking and talking with those in management with the power to hire you, send you to training, or change your circumstance. You could say the squeeky wheel gets the oil.
Complainers and whiners are strongly competitive unless they become whistle blowers in which case all bets are off. People that file grievances are looked at a little differently in my opinion. The old patriarchy did not like grievances. But the system has always had strong competition and that means there were public or private complaints.
Still in my opinion many leave the military with a war going on in their heads. Not from combat, not from a deep seated animosity or grievance, not anything dangerous or abnormal, just a lot of memories of eating crap. The world of competition is very much alive in the US Military and the US.
There is a subset of the work force that doesn't complain and may not engage in communication or discussion about relationships in the work place. We might say there were people that submerge issues or thoughts about relationships with supervisors and others. These might be negative or unwanted reactions.
Of course another point is that supervisors and managers are people that are doing well with competition and politics. This is kind of the definition of having an edge when you already are part of management and have a management career.
Now Capitalism is built seemingly from competition, so this is all well and good. Free enterprise, individual property rights for all regardless of race, creed, and color seems the way to go. And we have constitutions and laws to regulate, monitor, and control corruption of the government money trough.
The biggest surprise in Military politics and competition in the work place is the US Contractors that serve as experts. To me government and military experts lose out on the knowledge, skills, and expertise when we pay corporations or consultants to do the government core functions and other non core function. If you want the best government, if you want to avoid regulatory capture, if you want to avoid corruption, then we all need to increase the visibility of contractors and consultants within the Department of Defense. Recently there was a law suit filed by an employee of many years within the Office Management and Budget due to conflict with contractor expertise. So it seems that Lobbyist write the laws for congress and run government budget and financial offices.
How will regulators in the military and government do their jobs, if they compete with outsiders under the guise of consultants hired by their chain of command. How will government employees learn to negotiate, manage, and control military and government programs without the opportunity.
We conclude that contractors and consultants in the government and military should have a lot of visibility. We might be served better by limits of corporate contractors and consultant in the military and government. Remember when too big to fail banks became consultant managers for the financial bailout that they caused? Remember that lobbyist wrote the laws that made the last financial crisis possible? Remember the failures of war, the embezzlement of funds scandals of war, the over charges by defense contractors to the government, the failures of intelligence for going to war, remember the contractor in the Balkans earning $100K to sweep the warehouse, and remember the words of Smedley Butler and President Eisenhower? We need to limit the involvement of corporations in government, act to reduce the revolving door between corporations and government jobs that regulate industry, and we need to be aware of regulatory capture by corporations.
US Military, Military Politics, US Government, US Lobbying, US Ethics, US Politics, Capitalism, Competition, Regulatory Capture, Revolving Door,
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