I've Been On DU Too Long To Watch People Allow Obama To Be Criticized For A Financial Coup d'etat

when he inherited and was swept into the Financial Coup d'etat by forces much more powerful than the mere President of the United States.

I've been on DU too long to watch people vote up to 400+ some uppity thread about not insulting the POTUS, when multiple threads regarding a timely program on crucial issues affecting all of us just slide down the screen. As if we have ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD to DEFEND our president without actually BACKING HIM UP; or CALLING HIM ON IT if he really is in with the BANKSTERS WHO HAVE HIJACKED THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT OF WE THE PEOPLE.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10092009/profile.html

BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the JOURNAL.

I sat in a theater packed with passionate moviegoers, every one of them seemingly aghast at the Wall Street skullduggery exposed by Michael Moore in his latest film. It's called 'Capitalism: A Love Story.' Here's an excerpt:

MICHAEL MOORE: We're here to get the money back for the American People. Do you think it's too harsh to call what has happened here a coup d'état? A financial coup d'état?

MARCY KAPTUR: That's, no. Because I think that's what's happened. Um, a financial coup d'état?

MICHAEL MOORE: Yeah.

MARCY KAPTUR: I could agree with that. I could agree with that. Because the people here really aren't in charge. Wall Street is in charge.



BILL MOYERS: You're both saying the financial world, the banks in particular, are putting their interests above anybody else's interest. And they've got the power in the executive branch, and the Congress to back up their demands, right?

SIMON JOHNSON: This is capitalism, Bill. That's what they're supposed to do. They represent their shareholders, they're appointed by the board of directors to make money for their shareholders. And the way they think that they can best make money is to shape the regulatory rules around housing around derivatives, around all everything we used to have that kept the financial sector under control. Has all been, you know, washed away, one way or another, by their efforts, right? They make money in the boom, that way. And when and when bad things happen, they shove all the downside onto the taxpayer. That's what they're doing their job.

:bounce: CAN'T MISS Bill Moyers' Journal tomorrow night - Wall St. Rescue Report w/Marcy Kaptur - posted by marmar
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=6731213

MARCY KAPTUR: It's socialism for the big banks. Because they've basically taken their mistakes and they've put it on the taxpayer. That's the government. That's socialism. That isn't capitalism.

SIMON JOHNSON: Well people some people call that lemon socialism. So, when it turns out to be a lemon, it's you it's yours, the taxpayer. When it turns out to be good, it's mine, I'm Wall Street.

BILL MOYERS: Why have we not had the reform that we all knew was being was needed and being demanded a year ago?

SIMON JOHNSON: I think the opportunity the short term opportunity was missed. There was an opportunity that the Obama Administration had. President Obama campaigned on a message of change. I voted for him. I supported him. And I believed in this message. And I thought that the time for change, for the financial sector, was absolutely upon us. This was abundantly apparent by the inauguration in January of this year.

:bounce: A Moment of Truth with Bill Moyers, Marcy Kaptur, and Simon Johnson - Arianna\HuffPo - posted by WillyT
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=6745225

BILL MOYERS: Let me show you an excerpt from the speech President Obama made on Wall Street last month, September. Here is the challenge he laid down to the bankers.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess at the heart of this crisis, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses. Those on Wall Street cannot resume taking risks without regard for consequences, and expect that next time, American taxpayers will be there to break their fall.

BILL MOYERS: A reality check. Not one CEO of a Wall Street bank was there to hear the President. What do you make of that?

SIMON JOHNSON: Arrogance. Because they have no fear for the government anymore. They have no respect for the President, which I find absolutely extraordinary and shocking. All right? And I think they have no not an ounce of gratitude to the American people, who saved them, their jobs, and the way they run the world.

:bounce: Bill Moyers Journal: Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Econmist Simon Johnson - (Frightening) posted by KoKo
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=6746687

SIMON JOHNSON: Another Great Depression. Right? If you don't fix the financial system, Bill. If you allow them to have the same attitude. If you- if you actually allow them to increase their economic power, their ability to take risk, and their belief that they can shove the losses onto the government. And that's why they didn't show up to President Obama's speech on Wall Street.

BILL MOYERS: Why don't they respect him?

SIMON JOHNSON: Because they think that the next time they won't even have to ask. They'll just be given the bailout that they want.

MARCY KAPTUR: Right. That's been their history. Their bed is feathered. When they messed up during the 1980s, they put their bill through the savings and loans crisis on the American people. $140 billion.

BILL MOYERS: And we're still paying that off, by the way. I think the last payment will be made in 2013.

MARCY KAPTUR: Very good. Most people don't even know that.

BILL MOYERS: Well, I covered that.

:bounce: 'What is that, a threat?' Rep.Marcy Kaptur re: J.P.Morgan Chase head Jamie Dimon - posted by tomm2thumbs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x386288

BILL MOYERS: Well, and this is what we were talking about earlier, the system. I mean, President Clinton's Secretary of Treasury, Robert Rubin helps eliminate Glass-Steagall. And then leaves the government and goes to work for? Citicorp?

SIMON JOHNSON: Well Rubin's a fascinating character. He ran Goldman Sachs, he went into the Clinton White House, then he became Secretary of the Treasury, and it was on his watch that, first of all, Glass-Steagall began to really seriously crumble, and then it was completely swept away- replaced, abolished, really. And then, of course, Rubin goes on after he leaves Treasury, to be the senior guru type figure at Citigroup. And Citigroup is absolutely epicenter of everything that's gone wrong with our financial system.

BILL MOYERS: And wasn't it Robert Rubin the mentor, the guru to both Tim Geithner and Larry Summers?

SIMON JOHNSON: Absolutely. Both Geithner and Summers advanced to senior positions in the Treasury under Rubin was instrumental in bringing Larry Summers to be President of Harvard, after the Clinton Administration. And according to published new report, he was absolutely key person in making sure that Tim Geithner first went to a senior job at the IMF, and then became President of the New York Fed. And there are unconfirmed reports that Robert Rubin was an essential advisor to then candidate Obama in fall of last year, with regard to who he should bring on board as the leadership team on the economic side.

MARCY KAPTUR: And you know, looking at it from the heartland, when I look at Wall Street and all their connections into Washington, and I've been at it a while now, it's very disheartening to me, because I know they don't care about us out there. We're flyover country for them. And they're just out to make money.

And I have seen people that I worked with in the Carter White House, who were associated what the bond industry of Wall Street, use their access and create for themselves a money path that today has led them to head organizations like Black Rock, and get private contracts with the Federal Reserve. The over $2 trillion, we don't know how much that the Federal Reserve has extended at this point.

BILL MOYERS: And Black Rock is?

MARCY KAPTUR: Black Rock is an institution that has gotten the major contract of the Federal Reserve to do the mortgage workouts. And my question is, the very people involved in Black Rock, who've gotten these confidential contracts with the Federal Reserve, they were involved on Wall Street in creating the instruments in the first place. So how do we know that they are not covering up their own crime?

:bounce: Rep. Marcy Kaptur: Big Banks Stripped the Wealth of the Middle Class
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mzJYze9Q-o&feature=PlayList&p=A3B1963F7C9351D8&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=7

BILL MOYERS: How do we get Congress back? How do we get Congress to do what it's supposed to do? Oversight. Real reform. Challenge the powers that be.

MARCY KAPTUR: We have to take the money out. We have to get rid of the constant fundraising that happens inside the Congress. Before political parties used to raise money; now individual members are raising money through the DCCC and the RCCC. It is absolutely corrupt. It's good people.

BILL MOYERS: Those are the fundraising groups both parties-

MARCY KAPTUR: Parties.

BILL MOYERS: In the Congress.

MARCY KAPTUR: And then people wonder, 'Well, why doesn't Congress get along?' Because they are made into arch enemies by the type of fundraising system that is embedded in the very guts of the institution. So, you've got to clean that out. But meanwhile, we need to get hired over at the justice department, 1,000 agents, in mortgage fraud and in securities fraud. Then, I pray, that the leadership of both chambers will do the kind of robust hearings that the nation deserves to rout out those who did wrong and to change the fundamental financial architecture of this country. And then the President needs to get his top housing advisors in the room with him. And they need to meet all weekend. And they need to get their arms around this housing market, in order to stem the rising foreclosures. We haven't stopped the bleeding out there.

BILL MOYERS: Does President Obama get it?

MARCY KAPTUR: I don't think President Obama has the right people around him. The poor man inherited a total mess, globally and domestically. I think some of the people that he trusted haven't delivered. I urge him to get new generals. It's time.

What a gift Moyers is, to a nation that no longer has a free press. :hi:

this nation has a freer press than it has ever had, partially because of the advent of the internet and cable

we have FAR more choice

AND...

it is MUCH easier for lay citizens (not journalists) to engage in being part of the press.

the founders envisioned a govt. of the people by the people. iow, not a professional political class.

similarly, the press is freer when it is broader, easier to start up, in more hands, and not solely in the professional journalist hands etc.

i can access diverse press outlets FAR easier now than 20 yrs ago. the BBC, indymedia, left wing opinion rags, right wing opinion mags, blogs, local newspapers from across the world, are all available at the touch of a button.

the press is freer now than it has EVER been.

Inevitably, that common reference point of mainstream media will have a lot of power, esp. for those who grew up with that as their only source. Or who still have it as their only source.

The fact that the media companies are as controlled and censored as they are, even a lot of your choices are not any more free...

Your points well taken, though and many people are able to customize their media experience.

when i think of the press, i don't limit it to ABC, CBS, etc.

the press is ANYBODY with a (in the old days) gutenberg press, and nowadays, a computer and a modem, and the desire to comment on or disseminate news items. heck, you don't even need that. go to the library and use one.

even GIVEN what i can get on TV, i can get numerous cable channels, including BBC, multiple cable news (that didn't even exist years ago) channels, etc. i can access newspapers from around the world from my house. i used to have to go to the library to read OLD copies of paris match.

there are far less barriers to participation in the press. love him or hate him, guys like matt drudge ARE part of the press, and they started with a simple website and gained power ovre time.

this is the best time in the history of civilization for a free press.

even if i accept arguendo that CBS et al are "controlled and censored", i am not limited to them. the locus of control for the press CONSUMER is greater than ever, and the ease of entering the press world has never been lower.

i think that's fantastic.

why are you ignoring the aspects of this that aren't all about you.

I've already said in previous post.

how is any of what i am blabbering about in this thread, "about me".

i was simply responding to a statement in the OP about it being such a terrible time for freedom of the press, when in fact, it is the best time in history.

A small group that avails itself of lots of sources. While a much larger group of people are either watching corporate news or corporate infotainment.

:hi:

I don't know, I think the world will move on.

when some like Moyers, were warning about this in advance? Not sure if you're advocating moving on, or regretting the possibility.

I don't think people will move on from this. It's the one issue that actually united people across the country when it hit the news last Fall and people reacted like citizens, rather than partisans of either party, pressuring Congress to stop the bail-outs. For a short time it looked like the Democratic process was working, Congress listened and shot down, King Henry's (Paulson) edict, Goldman Sach's Representative on Wall St.'s demands for tax payer $$ to bail him and his thieving, cheating buddies out. Never saw Capitalists turn into Socialists so fast.

It didn't last long, though. They threatened Congress we were told later, if they did not 'hand it over'. It was the 'biggest heist in history' according to many, many observers.

And like it or not, people have not forgotten on either side of the political spectrun. One thing you cannot do to Americans is take away their money. You can kill people in foreign lands, torture and lie and a majority will just yawn but take away their money, and all of a sudden they wake up.

Moyers is way over the heads of most DUers these days.
Complete waste of time.

in it just to make a negative comment, probably didn't bother to read the post.

Excellent post, thank you for taking the time to put it together.

It's sad that if this post had been made during Bush's era, it would have had a very different response. Which means, the 'left' and the 'right' are not that different. When their guy is in power, he can do no wrong and no one dare criticize, even if it means letting the country fall apart.

You can like the president, but wonder why he chose for his cabinet the same guys who caused this problem. We can also demand some kind of accountability for those who took this country down so far.

Presidents and politicians are sent to do a job, if they fail to do what they were elected to do, they should be criticized.

I have yet to hear Obama address this question. Why did he keep Bernanke, Summers and Geithner on? One thing most were looking forward to when they voted for him, was to see the end of the Bush era. If he has good reasons which we are not aware of, then I'd like to hear them. Until then, it is one of the things that has caused so much distrust about his handling of the economy. And that is a fact, no matter how in denial some people may be.

Marcy Kaptur is one of the best of the Democrats. Along with Weiner, Grayson and Kucinich and a few others. She's smart, honest and not afraid to tell the truth.

the people and the national good.

"When their guy is in power, he can do no wrong and no dare criticize, even it means letting the country fall apart."

And this process has transitioned from one administration and party to another and back again.............

It describes a problem, perhaps, but does not offer any solutions.

Maybe more f-bombs would help - "fucking bankers are fucking ripping us off - fuck them"

Maybe the topic is the problem. You cannot expect DUers to respond well to a bunch of information. Maybe an anecdote would sell better. Those are always popular

Something like ...

"I saw some wingnut coming out of a church and gave him the finger and then we had an angry exchange



(until the Secret Service pounced on me and carted me off)


(is it fascism yet???)

Mr. Onomatopoeia :spray: :pals: I did my best for one of those kinda intros!!!11#!!

speechless over the outright treasonous selling out of the American people by greedy, corporate criminals and it takes a while to let it sink in, once again. Thanks to Moyers and Kaptur et al for not letting it all disappear down the memory hole so we can all just be 'happy' again. It needs constant reminders until some of these criminals are made to pay a price for what they did.

ideas...

What is stunning to me is that there has been no prosecutions of those who clearly were operating illegally. At least none that I'm aware of. For a while, there was talk of going after them. It's not that I'm in favor of throwing in jail, I'm not. But this was a huge crime of mammoth proportions.

By keeping on Bernanke, eg, it made it difficult for the Obama administration to thoroughly investigate what was going on at the Federal Reserve during all of this. Same thing with Geithner who, as Michael Moore said, never got anything right in his life.

And Rubin, who was a huge fan of de-regulation during the Clinton administration, and Summer who is also. How can you fix the problem with these guys, (three of them anyhow) in the administration>

And I have read, that Wall St. is back to the same tricks that caused all this to begin with. Only now they are talking about bundling 'life insurance policies'.

I'd love to hear Marcy Kaptur's ideas. I haven't heard them so far. Does she want Congressional investigations? I'm not sure that would work as so many are involved in Congress. As she said 'they are not in control'.

A special prosecutor, or several of them might help. I don't know, I just know if they get away with it, nothing will change.

And what happened to the money? MM keeps asking that simple question. I would be a spoiler for those who haven't seen the movie, but you can see in the promos how he keeps asking that question. First question I remember asking. But Congress doesn't seem interested at all.

the revolving door b/w Wall Street and the White House, the grooming for power of the next generation, has gone on for decades, who knows how many.

As for the bundling, would those be "dead peasant" life insurance policies? :evilfrown:

Where's the money? We want our money back! That was a great scene in the movie and in our small audience, I was the only one laughing out loud at MM's pranking of the boneheads.

AFAIK, Rep. Kaptur has called for an audit of the Federal Reserve, which would be a real "follow the money." Let's check on what else she has in mind, shall we?

a few days ago which revealed that they are 'very excited' about this idea. Just as they were about the bundling of mortgages. They are working hard to figure out the details according to this article. They've learned nothing. Greed appears to be an addiction.

I agree with Marcy Kaptur, there definitely needs to be an audit of the Fed. Reserve. I read a lot about them about a year ago when there was confusion about whether they were 'public or private'.

Rep.Grayson has teamed up with Ron Paul to ask for the same thing.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/orl-grayson-targets-fed-092509,0,5177529.story

They want a bill forcing an audit and it looks like they are getting somewhere with it. Airc, the Fed was supposed to be audited at least a few times a year, or report to Congress on what they are up to. But apparently they haven't been doing that.

In Paulson's three-page edict, you could see how arrogant they have become, when he demanded that no legal authority would have the right to monitor what they would do with the money they were demanding. Is that no an outrage? I couldn't believe it when I read it. But apparently he knew he would get what he wanted. I think Marcy Kaptur's statement that Congress no longer runs things is absolutely correct. It has been bought almost completely.

A 'Financial Coup' of the US government. No wonder we could not get anywhere with them.

"In Paulson's three-page edict, you could see how arrogant they have become, when he demanded that no legal authority would have the right to monitor what they would do with the money they were demanding. Is that no an outrage? I couldn't believe it when I read it. But apparently he knew he would get what he wanted. I think Marcy Kaptur's statement that Congress no longer runs things is absolutely correct. It has been bought almost completely."

:kick:

but he needs to separate himself from those who were part of the mess.

I had to make it possible to read both ways in hope that some of the die hard fans would read it and get the point you made. IMHO, this is the most crucial issue (connected to all others) and the biggest red flag/"disappointment" with Obama and his administration. I also wonder how compromised or controlled he is..........

Thanks for keeping Moyers prominent in GD, malaise :yourock:

:hi:

:blush: I'm grateful to the magnificant Mr. Moyers and that we now have more than a handful of Real American Heroes speaking out.

:pals:

Below is an email from Mike. http://www.michaelmoore.com/


This week, the new 'Mike & Friends Blog' section will be added to MichaelMoore.com. In additional to my blog, I have asked a few people, like Rep. Marcy Kaptur (the Democrat from Toledo who has deservedly become the star of my movie!) and Leah Fried (who helped organize the sit-down strike at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago), to blog here on my site. Here's a sneak peek of my first blog post. Enjoy! -- MM

Sunday, October 11th, 2009

Pilots on Food Stamps
By Michael Moore

We're on the descent from 20,000 feet in the air when the flight attendant leans over the elderly woman next to me and taps me on the shoulder.

"I'm listening to Lady Gaga," I say as I remove just one of the ear buds. I know not this Lady Gaga, but her performance last week on SNL was fascinating.

"The pilots would like to see you in the cockpit when we land," she says with a southern drawl.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No. They have something to show you." (The last time an employee of an airline wanted to show me something it was her written reprimand for eating an in-flight meal without paying for it. "Yes," she said, "we have to pay for our own meals on board now.")

The plane landed and I stepped into the cockpit. "Read this," the first officer said. He handed me a letter from the airline to him. It was headlined "LETTER OF CONCERN." It seems this poor fellow had taken three sick days in the past year. The letter was a warning not to take another one -- or else.

"Great," I said. "Just what I want -- you coming to work sick, flying me up in the air and asking to borrow the barf bag from my seatback pocket."

He then showed me his pay stub. He took home $405 this week. My life was completely and totally in his hands for the past hour and he's paid less than the kid who delivers my pizza.

I told the guys that I have a whole section in my new movie about how pilots are treated (using pilots as only one example of how people's wages have been slashed and the middle class decimated). In the movie I interview a pilot for a major airline who made $17,000 last year. For four months he was eligible -- and received -- food stamps. Another pilot in the film has a second job as a dog walker.

"I have a second job!," the two pilots said in unison. One is a substitute teacher. The other works in a coffee shop. You know, maybe it's just me, but the two occupations whose workers shouldn't be humpin' a second job are brain surgeons and airline pilots. Call me crazy.

I told them about how Capt. "Sully" Sullenberger (the pilot who safely landed the jet in the Hudson River) had testified in Congress that no pilot he knows wants any of their children to become a pilot. Pilots, he said, are completely demoralized. He spoke of how his pay has been cut 40% and his own pension eliminated. Most of the TV news didn't cover his remarks and the congressmen quickly forgot them. They just wanted him to play the role of "HERO," but he was on a more important mission. He's in my movie.

"I hadn't heard anywhere that this stuff about the airlines is in this new movie," the pilot said.

"No, you wouldn't," I replied. "The press likes to talk about me, not the movie."

And it's true. I've been surprised (and slightly annoyed) that, with all that's been written and talked about "Capitalism: A Love Story," very little attention has been paid the mind-blowing stuff in the film: pilots on food stamps, companies secretly taking out life insurance policies on employees and hoping they die young so the company can collect, judges getting kickbacks from the private prison industry for sending innocent people (kids) to be locked up. The profit motive -- it's a killer.

Especially when your pilot started his day at 6am working at the local Starbucks.

it seems like the planes are falling apart and the entire staff is on their third shift. i don't feel safe, and it's not b/c of the ability or talent of the pilots -- it's b/c i feel like they, as well as the mechanics and everyone else who's guarding our safety, don't have the pay or the tools or the time to do their job well. i see it thru the lens of my own work experience, which sucks outright, and i think of how terrifying it would be if lives were in the hands of my bosses. and i realize that it's prolly worse for these people. flying absolutely terrifies me now.

Because flying really is a miracle and it used to be one of this nation's prides. So sad.

I had no idea the situation for pilots and personnel had become so drastic until this film.

K+R

I'm not totally sure they have a plan, though.

Methinks she is making enemies...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6754089

:hi:

I am very much a supporter of President Obama, but unfortunately, he has no real background in economics and some of the people he has trusted to advise him on that issue may not have the best interests of the country at heart.

:kick: & Rec.

Thank you :toast:

This weeks show was a do not miss.
So was last week's show.
And the week before that...

:wow:

what gives?? :shrug:

:hi: :shrug:

How did you get those numbers?

where it says "Recommendations only -- unrecommendations are not counted (24 hours)".

This thread was listed there last night, and it had 49 recs (unrecs not counted), but when I clicked on it, the tally was only 21.

In other words, it got 49 recs and 28 unrecs. Hence my surprise. :hi:

Thanks for the clue. :hi:

However it's also true that the people he appointed to deal with the clusterfuck were from the same criminal bunch that caused it.

It is impossible to be part of the solution if you are part of the problem. Goddamn Sucks and the "Federal" Reserve ARE the problem. Rubin, Summers, and Timmy the Keebler Elf cannot be the solution.

We need an entirely new economic team. One with absolutely no ties to Wall Street criminals.

:toast: How do we get there? A clusterfuck can be unclustered. What about a coup d'etat?

The apathy over this news is reminiscent of the apathy that LIHOP over the past few decades........

why the people who were part of the problem could in any way, be part of the solution. It never made sense.