Is The Unholy Alliance Coming Apart

The modern Republi-con Party is nothing more than an unholy alliance between corporate interest and social conservatives, the former using the latter to gain power to promote corporate interest. You need look no further than the economic bailout.

So is the unholy alliance falling apart. Read Washington Post, Civil War on the Right, which says:

"For years, many of the elite conservatives were happy to harvest the votes of devout Christians and gun owners by waging a phony class war against "liberal elitists" and "leftist intellectuals." Suddenly, the conservative writers are discovering that the very anti-intellectualism their side courted and encouraged has begun to consume their movement.

The cause of Edmund Burke, Leo Strauss, Robert Nisbet and William F. Buckley Jr. is now in the hands of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity -- and Sarah Palin. Reason has been overwhelmed by propaganda, ideas by slogans, learned manifestoes by direct-mail hit pieces."

Proof of the Unholy Alliance

Need proof that "the modern Republi-con Party is nothing more than an unholy alliance between corporate interest and social conservatives, the former using the latter to gain power to promote corporate interest."

How about "a secret agreement with a former Republican chairwoman of the agency to stand in the way of investors filing complaints with the agency. . . [The judge] was the subject of a story 10 years ago in the Wall Street Journal, which said that except in a handful of cases in which defunct firms failed to defend themselves, [the Judge] had never ruled in favor of an investor." Read the Washington Post, Commodity Futures Trading Commission judge says colleague biased against complainants.

BTW, that former Republican chairwoman of the agency is/was Wendy Gramm, wife of former senator Phil Gramm (R-Tex.).

As noted before, in the Republi-con-controlled Senate and House, Republi-con Senator Phil Gramm was only too happy to help to pass the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which deregulated credit default swaps, the real cause of this economic collapse.

And a historical not-so footnote, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act included the so-called "Enron loophole," which exempts most over-the-counter energy trades and trading on electronic energy commodity markets. The "loophole" was drafted by lobbyists for Enron working with Gramm to create a deregulated atmosphere for their new experiment, "Enron On-line."

Gramm was always Wall Street's man in the Senate. As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee during the Clinton administration, he consistently underfunded the Securities and Exchange Commission and kept it from stopping accounting firms from auditing corporations with which they had conflicts of interest. Gramm's piece de resistance came on Dec. 15, 2000, when he slipped into an omnibus spending bill a provision called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA), which prohibited any governmental regulation of credit default swaps, those insurance policies covering losses on securities in the event they went belly up. As the housing bubble ballooned, the face value of those swaps rose to a tidy $62 trillion. And as the housing bubble burst, those swaps became a massive pile of worthless paper, because no government agency had required the banks to set aside money to back them up.

The CFMA also prohibited government regulation of the energy-trading market, which enabled Enron to nearly bankrupt the state of California before bankrupting itself.

And guess what else, Wendy Gramm, was on the board of directors of Enron when it collapsed.

The Republi-CON's 'Aristocracy of Monied Corporations' Exposed

UPDATE: Republi-con corporatism , AKA the unholy alliance, is destroying the country. Read the Washington Post, Corporate America, paving a downward economic slide.

Tom Delay's conviction "showed what is 'common practice here in D.C. looks an awful lot like plain old corruption everywhere else in the country.'" Read the Washington Post, DeLay trial offers a window into Washington fundraising and influence-peddling, and see how the trial showed "in part that when some of the routines in Washington - including 'giving campaign contributions to a political candidate with the expectation that that candidate would vote a certain way' - are put before a jury by a prosecutor with either good or bad motives, they can convincingly look like bribery, or worse.'"

It's the RepubliCONs and Wall Street vs. Main Street

UPDATE II:  "Huzzah! Hang the celebratory banners! Unleash the confetti! Happy days are here again. The Dow Jones industrial average closed yesterday [March 5, 2013] at 14,253.77! . .

But since the initial Obama stimulus has tapered off, and the banks strengthened, the throw-it-all-at-the-wall strategy has given way to a world where Congress sits on its hands and avoids anything that gives off a whiff of being 'stimulus' (even Democrats avoid the term). And the Fed has been the only game in town, trying to spur growth through a series of unconventional steps."

Read the Washington Post, The stock market is back, but the economy isn’t. Blame Congress. 

UPDATE:  It's been "a golden age for corporate profits, especially among multinational giants that are also benefiting from faster growth in emerging economies like China and India. . .

Corporate earnings have risen at an annualized rate of 20.1 percent since the end of 2008, he said, but disposable income inched ahead by 1.4 percent annually over the same period, after adjusting for inflation."

Read The New York Times, Recovery in U.S. Is Lifting Profits, but Not Adding Jobs.

"Here are two things that are true about the economy today.

(1) The Dow Jones industrial average is poised to set a new record as corporate profits stretch to all-time highs.

(2) There are still fewer working Americans today than there were before the start of the Great Recession.

The fact that these two things can be true at the same time might outrage you. But it shouldn't surprise you. In the last 30 years, there has been a great divergence between growth and workers' incomes, as the New York Times reminds us today. Corporate profits have soared, in the last decade especially, particularly because of three things: Globalization has pushed down the cost of labor available to multinational corporations; technology has allowed companies to make more with fewer workers, in general; and Big Finance has gobbled up the economy, as the banks' share of total corporate profits has tripled to about one-third since the middle of the last century."

Read The Atlantic, Corporate Profits Are Eating the Economy, which includes these graphs:

(Remember that bailout, Wall Street say thanks suckers!)

Now do you understand the unholy alliance of the Republi-cons and their corporate overlords
in their war on the middle class?

The Billionaires’ Coup Camouflaged a Populist Surge

UPDATE V: The history of the tea party, from Hannity and Beck to Palin and O'Donnell, by Stephen Colbert:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
On Topic: Colbert Case Files - Tea Party
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

UPDATE IV: From the Washington Post:




UPDATE III: "The Tea Party Express, paid Holland America Line a total of $103,000 to send six of its staffers on four consecutive cruises on the Amsterdam. The payments to the cruise line, which appeared on a campaign finance report filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission, have started drawing attention from critics of the Tea Party Express, who have alleged that the committee is a front for Republican consultants seeking to use the populist movement to make a buck and live the high life." Read Politico, Tea Party Express's pricey cruises.


UPDATE II: "There is genuine populist anger out there. But the angry have been deceived and exploited by posers who belong to the same class of "elites" and "insiders" that the Tea Party movement supposedly deplores. Americans who want to stick it to the man are instead sending money to the man." Read the Washington Post, A Tea Party of populist posers.


UPDATE: "John Boehner is the quintessential example of shameless government figures guiding the fortunes of the rich and powerful." Read The New York Times, That’s Where the Money Is.

Par for the Republi-con course, wouldn't you say.

"O’Donnell’s timely ascent in the election season’s final lap may well prove a godsend for the G.O.P. . . . She gives populist cover to the billionaires and corporate interests that have been steadily annexing the Tea Party movement and busily plotting to cash in their chips if the G.O.P. prevails." Read The New York Times, The Very Useful Idiocy of Christine O’Donnell.

And the unholy alliance lives on.

Taxpayers are Chumps Cont.

Told ya so, in October, I said taxpayers were chumps for bailing out corporate America, especially AIG. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland agrees, watch him on YouTube question Neel Kashkari, the interim assistant Treasury secretary for financial stability and read Washington Post, Treasury's Bailouts Are Getting Us Chumped.

We bailout corporate America and they use the money to pay for private jets, swanky retreats, dividends, and bonuses. The latest, AIG will pay employees $503 million in deferred compensation. We are a nation of chumps thanks to the Republi-cons.

If you ask me, it is just icing on the cake of the Republi-con legacy as another chapter of the unholy alliance ends.

A Republi-CON Civil War Told Ya So

UPDATE II: What effect will this civil war have in November? Will independent voters abandon the Republi-con party? Not so says one pundit.

"Contrary to popular belief, this week’s Tea Party victories haven’t hurt the electoral prospects of Republicans in November." Read The New York Times, The Backlash Myth.


UPDATE: For more analysis of the meaning of the last group of primary election read the Washington Post, Republicans ride the tea party tiger, Righty pundits on 'suicide' watch, and Bill Clinton: New-look GOP makes Bush look liberal.

Today's top election story is Christine O'Donnell beats Rep. Mike Castle in Delaware Republican Senate primary, which finds this primary outcome "the latest in a string of embarrassments for the Republican establishment this year, underscoring the civil war that continues to rage in the party." As a result, in Delaware Senate race "the Republicans went from being extremely likely to win the race to extremely likely to lose it."

But I (and others) foresaw the civil war.

From an October 2008 post: "Suddenly, the conservative writers are discovering that the very anti-intellectualism their side courted and encouraged has begun to consume their movement." -- Is The Unholy Alliance Coming Apart (which quoted Washington Post, Civil War on the Right)

Other posts and updates over the past year regarding the Republi-con civil war:

A Preview of the 2010 Republi-CON Cat Fight

Are You Ready for Some Republi-CON Smack Down

But the Republi-con know they risk losing in the general election if they don't reach out to independents and moderate Republicans. Look how Rubio has 'veered from the Tea Party script.'

Is it possible the Naive-crats retain control of the House and Senate?

Malpractice Reform

There has been talk of limits on medical malpractice lawsuits, but shouldn't the objective of health care reform be to reduce medical malpractice. Read this good, but somewhat misleadingly titled, artice in The New York Times, Medical Malpractice System Breeds More Waste, which notes from a recent study that:

"The direct costs of malpractice lawsuits — jury awards, settlements and the like — are such a minuscule part of health spending that they barely merit discussion, economists say. But that doesn’t mean the malpractice system is working.

The fear of lawsuits among doctors does seem to lead to a noticeable amount of wasteful treatment. Amitabh Chandra — a Harvard economist whose research is cited by both the American Medical Association and the trial lawyers’ association — says $60 billion a year, or about 3 percent of overall medical spending, is a reasonable upper-end estimate. If a new policy could eliminate close to that much waste without causing other problems, it would be a no-brainer.

At the same time, though, the current system appears to treat actual malpractice too lightly. Trials may get a lot of attention, but they are the exception. Far more common are errors that never lead to any action.

After reviewing thousands of patient records, medical researchers have estimated that only 2 to 3 percent of cases of medical negligence lead to a malpractice claim. For every notorious error — the teenager who died in North Carolina after being given the wrong blood type, the 39-year-old Massachusetts mother killed by a chemotherapy overdose, the newborn twins (children of the actor Dennis Quaid) given too much blood thinner — there are dozens more. You never hear about these other cases.

So we have a malpractice system that, while not as bad as some critics suggest, is expensive in all the wrong ways.

Of course, the debate over medical malpractice isn't about reducing medical malpractice, but don't try to explain that to the Republi-con's unholy alliance.

Should the Republi-cons Give Up on God?

Remember Kathleen Parker, the heretic who wrote the article in the National Review asking The Great Palin to bow out of the election. Now she suggests that the Republi-cons give up on God! Read Washington Post, Giving Up on God.

But she does not understand that without God there would be no unholy alliance.

Class Today (Vice Thursday) at NoBullU on WEBY

UPDATE: As discussed, "[t]he oil deposit now leaking slowly into the sea would have provided about five days' worth of oil to Americans." Read The New York Times, For Five Days of Oil.

There will be another test next week.

P.S.: These links confirm the conclusion of the article: about the Macondo Prospect and oil consumption in America.

It's a host swap!

Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!

NoBullU will broadcast today from 4:05 to 6:00 p.m. at 1330 AM WEBY and on line, courtesy of Cyber Smart Computers.

Topics:

Local and regional: VP Bite Me visits the Gulf coast; Escambia County wants BP to give them the money (around $3.1 million for May 'expenditures'); save those tar balls, close the beaches; update -- FL 2010; damned if you do, damned if you don't -- Santa Rosa School District update and


Nation and international: did the spies flunk charm school?; more Supreme Court judicial activism; not McCrystal clear; faking it!; stupid people shouldn't be president; health care lawsuit update; and oil spill fallout to date: lost compensation, should you after lying to the IRS?, that unholy ecological alliance, is it a shakedown?, Jones Act BS, understanding the true cost of gas, tell me -- the oil deposit now leaking would have provided how many days' worth of oil to Americans?, Obama's energy pipe dreams, is it time for N2N, RICO's to blame for "an ecological Armageddon that could literally destroy the marine and coastal environment and way of life for generation of Americans", show me the money, local delirious with opportunistic greed, is it fair?, and Escambia County want lunch and dinner with their tar balls, as well as $9.1 million, does the oil keep flowing cause we are just not angry enough or is it God's wrath for destroying his planet?, how to plug that oil well, shocking realization that bottom-line influences corporate policy, political grandstanding, and Republi-CON 'less government' hypocrisy.

(Any chance of a serious discussion regarding risk and "the difficulty of predicting disaster in complex technological systems" (read The York Times, Drilling for Certainty)? Tune-in and find out.)

And a cure for gonorrhea lectim

But I'll discuss anything. Disclaimer: the host reserves the right to end any discussion and hang up on you.)

So tune-in, call-in, but only if you can handle some ass kickin' discussion of politics and current events!

Class Today (Vice Thursday) at NoBullU on WEBY

It's a host swap!

Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!

NoBullU will broadcast today from 4:05 to 6:00 p.m. at 1330 AM WEBY and on line, courtesy of Cyber Smart Computers.

Topics:

Local and regional: PHS graduation fiasco, was it God's retribution; Rick's Rants (let high school students fix the leak (he is delirious); Escambia County wants BP to give them the money (around $3.1 million for May 'expenditures'); save those tar balls, close the beaches; update -- FL 2010; update -- damned if you do, damned if you don't; and


Nation and international: faking it!; health care lawsuit update; and oil spill fallout to date: that unholy ecological alliance, is it a shakedown?, understanding the true cost of gas, tell me -- the oil deposit now leaking would have provided how many days' worth of oil to Americans?, Obama's energy pipe dreams, is it time for N2N, RICO's to blame for "an ecological Armageddon that could literally destroy the marine and coastal environment and way of life for generation of Americans", show me the money, local delirious with opportunistic greed, is it fair?, and Escambia County want lunch and dinner with their tar balls, as well as $9.1 million, does the oil keep flowing cause we are just not angry enough or is it God's wrath for destroying his planet?, how to plug that oil well, shocking realization that bottom-line influences corporate policy, political grandstanding, and Republi-CON 'less government' hypocrisy.

(Any chance of a serious discussion regarding risk and "the difficulty of predicting disaster in complex technological systems" (read The York Times, Drilling for Certainty)? Tune-in and find out.)

But I'll discuss anything. Disclaimer: the host reserves the right to end any discussion and hang up on you.)

So tune-in, call-in, but only if you can handle some ass kickin' discussion of politics and current events!