They’re getting bolder. Aren’t they?

President Obama appointed his deficit commission, the “National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform,” to take a fresh look at long range plans to resolve the Federal budget deficit. The commission was supposed to be a bipartisan and objective group, empowered to think outside the box.

As it turns out, the commission was infested from the beginning by right-wing ideologues financed by corporations and the ultra wealthy who served a “volunteer staff.” What a terrific idea, saving the government all that money by volunteering you time and expertise.

It’s difficult to say which is more troubling:

• the fact that a number of commission staffers are paid by Peter Peterson the billionaire hedge fund manager who brought us the Blackstone Investment Group debacle a couple of years ago and is now financing “Fiscal Times” (Peterson’s lackeys are saying that his organization is misunderstood and that, besides, they’ve recused themselves of any connections for the time being.); or that
• last summer commission co-chair Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.), complained that that the government is "like a milk cow with 310 million tits!" (He later apologized for the remark but refused demands for his resignation.).

Nevertheless, the week the commission released the draft of the outline of their report which is due out in December. The outline relies heavily on cuts to government programs like Social Security and reductions or eliminations of many middle class tax breaks like the mortgage interest deduction. And -- Surprise! -- there’s only passing mention of the possibility of increasing revenue through tax hikes on the wealthy!

Washington Post, 11/11/10: Many deficit commission staffers paid by outside groups

 

Meet the new boss

MUMBAI, India — President Obama, fresh off a stinging electoral defeat for Democrats, opened a 10-day tour of Asia on Saturday with a courtship of corporate America, including private meetings with American business executives who are here for his visit and an announcement that he will lift longstanding restrictions on exports of closely held technologies to India.

(New York Times, November 7, 2010)


Fascism: the organization of a nation according to corporatist perspectives, values, and systems.


Fascists believe:

• The nation requires strong leadership and the will and ability to commit violence and wage war in order to keep the nation strong
• Individual identity and pluralism are dysfunctional aspects of society and justify a totalitarian state as a means to maintain order
• Attempts to create autonomy are an affront to the nation and a threat to order

Fascists reject:

• The autonomy of cultural or ethnic groups who are not considered part of the nation and who refuse to assimilate or are unable to be assimilated
• Opposition to the fascist state and the fascist movement
• The concepts of egalitarianism, materialism, and rationalism in favor of action, discipline, hierarchy, spirit, and will

 

Massive dislocations

Good morning campers!

It's gonna be a lot of fun keeping our eyes out for the seemingly unrelated indicators of our slip into corporate fascism ... like this from today's newspapeer:

TCF suit warns of 'massive dislocation'

TCF (a corporation, by the way), is suing the Federal Reserve (its own government regulator) arguing that the corporation is being denied its constitutional rights because the new financial reform law (ObamaFinance?) limits the fees large banks can charge on debit card transactions. According to TCF, it's a violation of the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution because it gives unfair advantage to the little banks. And, just for good measure, they want the Court to agree that the new fee limits are an unconstitutional "taking" of the corporation's private property.

Then, just to hammer home their point, TCF threatens that unless the new law is overturned, their "return on equity" (that's profit for the owners) will be harmed so much that they'll need a government bailout to stay in business.

Massive dislocations indeed.