One of the hallmarks of Let Them Eat Cake-ism is an absolute lack of self-awareness mixed with a complete disregard for hypocrisy or personal responsibility. The end result is an especially nauseating "for me, but not for thee" attitude.
In this recession, that has manifested itself as bankers walking away from their obligations to cover their own losses and happily vacuuming up public bailout dollars -- all while lecturing strapped homeowners about their moral responsibility to pay their bills.
Recall that in February 2009, Jamie Dimon -- the $17-million-a-year CEO of the bailed-out JP Morgan -- went on CNBC to deliver a sermon about the moral obligation of covering one's own losses and not running to someone else for help.
"I don't think just because someone's underwater [in their home], they say, I don't have to stay there," he said. "They're supposed to pay the mortgage, and we should teach the American people, you're supposed to meet your obligations, not run from them."
Following Dimon's lead in 2009 was the Mortgage Bankers Association, the umbrella group for the entire bailed-out industry. In a Wall Street Journal story about underwater homeowners, the group's chief executive, John Courson, was quoted declaring that borrowers had no right to any kind of bailout themselves, and that they should pay back their loans immediately. If they don't, he said, "What about the message they will send to their family and their kids and their friends?"
This, of course, was not a question Courson or his fellow bankers considered when they went to taxpayers begging for a handout. And, as importantly, it was not the question Courson's own trade group made when they short-sold their own headquarters in a complex scheme that may have had them walk away from the very obligations they said homeowners must fulfill. As the Boston Globe reported at the time:
The trade group has sold its 10-story Washington headquarters for $41 million after shelling out $79 million for it three years ago. All but $5 million of that was financed.
It gets better, for it's not clear the Mortgage Bankers Association will pay off all of the roughly $30 million it still owes its lenders on the trophy office building, just a few blocks from the White House... On top of that, giant commercial landlord Tishman Speyer is battling in court with the MBA, contending the trade group still owes $1 million after breaking an earlier lease to move into its now clearly massively overpriced headquarters.
FP: This is one of the obnoxious examples Sirota offers of the unjustifiable huge and increasing inequality in the US, the detachment from reality of the super-rich parasitic on the public trough, and their nauseating hypocrisy. Therein lies the rot of the American system that buries it. Every American should read all the 10 examples in The new "Let them eat cake!" and realize what their beloved system has become. Then consider the next: do you see the connection?In this recession, that has manifested itself as bankers walking away from their obligations to cover their own losses and happily vacuuming up public bailout dollars -- all while lecturing strapped homeowners about their moral responsibility to pay their bills.
Recall that in February 2009, Jamie Dimon -- the $17-million-a-year CEO of the bailed-out JP Morgan -- went on CNBC to deliver a sermon about the moral obligation of covering one's own losses and not running to someone else for help.
"I don't think just because someone's underwater [in their home], they say, I don't have to stay there," he said. "They're supposed to pay the mortgage, and we should teach the American people, you're supposed to meet your obligations, not run from them."
Following Dimon's lead in 2009 was the Mortgage Bankers Association, the umbrella group for the entire bailed-out industry. In a Wall Street Journal story about underwater homeowners, the group's chief executive, John Courson, was quoted declaring that borrowers had no right to any kind of bailout themselves, and that they should pay back their loans immediately. If they don't, he said, "What about the message they will send to their family and their kids and their friends?"
This, of course, was not a question Courson or his fellow bankers considered when they went to taxpayers begging for a handout. And, as importantly, it was not the question Courson's own trade group made when they short-sold their own headquarters in a complex scheme that may have had them walk away from the very obligations they said homeowners must fulfill. As the Boston Globe reported at the time:
The trade group has sold its 10-story Washington headquarters for $41 million after shelling out $79 million for it three years ago. All but $5 million of that was financed.
It gets better, for it's not clear the Mortgage Bankers Association will pay off all of the roughly $30 million it still owes its lenders on the trophy office building, just a few blocks from the White House... On top of that, giant commercial landlord Tishman Speyer is battling in court with the MBA, contending the trade group still owes $1 million after breaking an earlier lease to move into its now clearly massively overpriced headquarters.
Elder of Ziyon:Understanding UN bias against Israel (video)
A very effective word-graphic video:
It appears that this was created for the Jerusalem Institute of Justice.
'EU worried 'Boycott Bill' will effect Israeli free speech'
Spokesperson for Catherine Ashton says bill may harm Israeli citizens' freedom to express opinions; PM at Knesset: I approved bill into law.
FP: Sure, just like they worry about the total lack of free speech in Arab countries.Spencer Ackerman: Over a Fifth of Navy Ships Aren’t Ready to Fight
More than a fifth of the Navy isn’t ready to sail or fight, at a time when demand on the fleet is off the charts. And the number of unready ships is likely to rise as Navy officers try to fix their chronic readiness woes.
According to statistics released by Rep. Randy Forbes, the Virginia Republican who chairs the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, 22 percent of Navy ships didn’t pass their inspections in 2011. In 2007, just 8 percent of ships were rated as carrying junk equipment or insufficient spare parts. And more than half the Navy’s deployed aircraft — the F/A-18 Hornets, the jamming EA-18G Growlers, the P-3C Orion surveillance plane — aren’t ready for combat.
The Navy’s surface fleet goes into the water banged up. Its aircraft carriers, frigates, destroyers spend nearly 40 percent of their deployment time with “at least one major equipment or systems failure,” according to a chart Forbes released at a hearing on Tuesday. That can include “anti-air defenses, radar, satellite communications, or engines.” Let’s not forget that even the new ships are disintegrating.
And the demand on the Navy is huge. Consider the last year at sea. U.S. Navy ships and aircraft performed support missions for Iraq and Afghanistan. They helped with disaster relief after Pakistani floods and a Japanese tsunami/earthquake. They fought Somali pirates and spearheaded an ongoing war in Libya.
…
Philip Ewing of DoD Buzz contends that today’s Navy is paying the bill for short-sighted Pentagon decisions in the late ’90s and early 2000s. As someone who documented “systemic, service-wide problems with preventive maintenance” at emerged at the end of the last decade, Ewing writes that the Navy cut back on maintenance crews, used computer programs instead of skilled chiefs for maintenance instruction, and “simple budget cuts meant ships didn’t get the regular maintenance or spare parts they needed.”
Now consider that the Navy’s facing down three big trends. The Obama administration’s $400 billion, 12-year defense budget cut means it has to juggle priorities if it wants to get its ships and planes ready to fight. (Bye-bye, super lasers.) The Pentagon sees the U.S.’ most likely security showdowns occurring at sea and in the air, especially in the western Pacific — the Navy’s wheelhouse. Finally, unless the Navy goes on a shipbuilding surge in the next decade, the fleet might shrink by about 70 ships as the Reagan-era subs and combatants meet the end of their service life in the 2020s.
FP: Decline.According to statistics released by Rep. Randy Forbes, the Virginia Republican who chairs the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, 22 percent of Navy ships didn’t pass their inspections in 2011. In 2007, just 8 percent of ships were rated as carrying junk equipment or insufficient spare parts. And more than half the Navy’s deployed aircraft — the F/A-18 Hornets, the jamming EA-18G Growlers, the P-3C Orion surveillance plane — aren’t ready for combat.
The Navy’s surface fleet goes into the water banged up. Its aircraft carriers, frigates, destroyers spend nearly 40 percent of their deployment time with “at least one major equipment or systems failure,” according to a chart Forbes released at a hearing on Tuesday. That can include “anti-air defenses, radar, satellite communications, or engines.” Let’s not forget that even the new ships are disintegrating.
And the demand on the Navy is huge. Consider the last year at sea. U.S. Navy ships and aircraft performed support missions for Iraq and Afghanistan. They helped with disaster relief after Pakistani floods and a Japanese tsunami/earthquake. They fought Somali pirates and spearheaded an ongoing war in Libya.
…
Philip Ewing of DoD Buzz contends that today’s Navy is paying the bill for short-sighted Pentagon decisions in the late ’90s and early 2000s. As someone who documented “systemic, service-wide problems with preventive maintenance” at emerged at the end of the last decade, Ewing writes that the Navy cut back on maintenance crews, used computer programs instead of skilled chiefs for maintenance instruction, and “simple budget cuts meant ships didn’t get the regular maintenance or spare parts they needed.”
Now consider that the Navy’s facing down three big trends. The Obama administration’s $400 billion, 12-year defense budget cut means it has to juggle priorities if it wants to get its ships and planes ready to fight. (Bye-bye, super lasers.) The Pentagon sees the U.S.’ most likely security showdowns occurring at sea and in the air, especially in the western Pacific — the Navy’s wheelhouse. Finally, unless the Navy goes on a shipbuilding surge in the next decade, the fleet might shrink by about 70 ships as the Reagan-era subs and combatants meet the end of their service life in the 2020s.
Obama Reports Massive Fundraising Total
President Obama's reelection campaign released a video revealing that they have raised a combined $86 million for Obama for America and the DNC between April and June, shattering previous single-quarter fundraising records and far surpassing the campaign's stated goal of a $60 million haul. The funds were raised from 552,462 donors.
Technically, the re-election campaign raised $47 million while the DNC raised $38 million.
Morning Score: "The $86 million raised for Obama's reelection easily doubles -- and nearly triples -- all the major GOP candidates to announce so far, combined. While there are a few Republicans who haven't shared their numbers, including Michele Bachmann, the group that includes Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman and Newt Gingrich has taken in just $33.1 million."
FP: If they reelect Obama, Americans deserve everything they'll get. Problem is what Republican is any better? Here's an example by Claire Berlinski:Technically, the re-election campaign raised $47 million while the DNC raised $38 million.
Morning Score: "The $86 million raised for Obama's reelection easily doubles -- and nearly triples -- all the major GOP candidates to announce so far, combined. While there are a few Republicans who haven't shared their numbers, including Michele Bachmann, the group that includes Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman and Newt Gingrich has taken in just $33.1 million."
So Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod has been taunting Mitt Romney on Twitter:
Anyone heard from Mitt Romney lately? Where is he on McConnell plan? On the debt talks? On the impact of a default? Why so quiet?To which the Romney team replied:
I have a question for @davidaxelrod: Where are the jobs? We're not just on wrong track; it feels like we're tied to the tracksThat's not good enough. If you don't have a position on this that you can state clearly, you're not really prepared to lead the Republican party, are you? Or prepared to lead anything?
As for my position, I don't know. But I'm not running for President.
No comments:
Post a Comment