The Swing of the Pendulum

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varjavand
by varjavand
08-Nov-2010
 

The resurgence of conservative ideology over the past two years and especially following the recent election clearly signifies the voters’ dissatisfaction with the way things are going now; high unemployment, run-away debt and deficit, and the diminishing economic power of the middle class. Republican and the TEA party candidates benefited handsomely from the dire circumstances created by voters’ dissatisfaction.

The truth is that in bad time we always search for villains and someone on whom we can put the blame. In this case there is no shortage of them. However, to many, the main culprit is the government.  The conservative and TEA party candidates have successfully made a mockery out of government programs implemented during Obama’s term in the office and promise to repeal them.  Fear has been fomented and issues have been blown out of proportion by a bunch of demagogues sought to take advantage of the gullibility of the American voters. They tried, successfully to transform public dissatisfaction into outrage and into the class warfare. And, who knows what comes next.

Obama’s inability to lower the unemployment rate is at the center of the controversy. The fact of the matter is not that he didn’t try hard enough to lower the unemployment rate; it is simply because the US economy is still at the downturn phase of the cycle and has not been propelled by the thrust of the recovery yet.  Unless that happens, we don’t see any decrease in unemployment rate. Had the economy was operating under normal condition, president Obama’s economic policies would have been more potent.  Besides, the benefits of such polices often materialize in the distance future and people seem to have run out of patience and reluctant to wait.

It was, to me, the credulity of American voters that supplied ammunition to conservatives and the TEA party candidates not the superiority of their agenda.  They could successfully lured people into buying the half-true ideas.  The public was fooled by the fallacious ideas that look right on the surface but inaccurate deep down; that the prosperity of Wall Street is the necessary condition to the prosperity of the economy, that somehow government can magically cut taxes and continues to spend on exorbitantly expensive social programs that the same voters persistently support.  It is a mathematical impossibility to cut taxes and keep, or increase, the level of spending.  

American people seem to suffer from social amnesia. They have forgotten the many years of misguided policies implemented by Bush administration that forced our economy into the worst recoded recession in our modern history and the most expensive bail-out plan.  The coming to power of the conservative means more tax cut for the wealthy and even wider income gap between rich and poor, cozier  symbiotic relationship between politicians and those who are protected by their lobbying power, continuous shrinkage of the middle class, and more divisiveness for our already polarized nation.

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varjavand

Ari

by varjavand on Tue Nov 09, 2010 03:08 PM PST

Ari,

Review the following commentary in WSJ tody, It emphasizes the need for transparency concerning bailout paln and why such transparency is useful

 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303341904575576653405070336.html?KEYWORDS=time+for+bailout+transparency

Reza


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Veiled Prophet of Khorasan

Ari Jan

by Veiled Prophet of Khorasan on Tue Nov 09, 2010 02:13 PM PST

 

We may protect ourselves against prejudice in many ways. Here are a few suggestions:

  • Vote! As individuals we may as well vote against them. We also become known as a votes and politicians pander to voters specially where we have numbers. Such as in California.
  • Donate to political campaigns. That always works on politicians. Many Iranians are well to do. We must flex our financial muscle.
  • Form PACs. That will allow us to organize and protect our interests. NIAC and PAAIA  are a beginning. This means we should stop trashing these organizations so much and actually value them even if we disagree with some of their actions.
  • Get politically active. Become advisers; campaign workers. That gets us close to politicians. It also sets the stage for running for elected office. And helps get appointed positions.
  • Run for office; get elected and weild power. In both parties :-)
  • Most important do well. That we already have covered. Doing well means we have the money and organization to achieve the rest.

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Ari Siletz

VPK

by Ari Siletz on Tue Nov 09, 2010 12:06 PM PST

"We must protect ourselves against them. "
 Any ways as to how? There's truth in the quote, "Prejudice, not being founded on reason, cannot be removed by argument."

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Veiled Prophet of Khorasan

Re: Iranians in America Need to Wake Up

by Veiled Prophet of Khorasan on Tue Nov 09, 2010 06:18 AM PST

 

I have been saying "Tea Party" are a bunch of nuts for a while. I posted on NP's blog about it. Then "Borat" argued that "Tea Party" is just fine and I don't know what I say. So please people take note of their danger to all of America.

However IMHO their threat is not limited to Iranians. This movement is fascistic and rotten to its core. It worships stupidity and ignorance. Its "standard bearers" are themselves symbols of stupidity; ignorance; racism; and low class. By "low class" I mean low in achievement and the bottom rank of the society. That same kind of people who took over Iran.  If they gain real power it will be bad for us all.The Republican party is too greedy to let them go. We must protect ourselves against them.


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ayatoilet1

Iranians in America Need to Wake Up

by ayatoilet1 on Tue Nov 09, 2010 05:56 AM PST

I have been harping on this on my TV program (rangarang on Sundays 9:30 pm); but the Tea Party Movement and with them Right Wing Conservatives have proven themselves to be much more than just "fiscal conservatives" and are pushing an anti-immigrant agenda which is targeted at Hispanics, and Muslims as well as african-Americans. They did NOT however, have a complete sweep in the recent US elections, and lost many important seats.

Here's a link to the wikipedia page on the tea party movement. Note for example the point about Dale Roberston:

While at a Tea Party event on February 27, 2009, a photo was taken of TeaParty.org founder and president Dale Robertson with a sign that said "Congress = Slaveowner, Taxpayer = Niggar."Tea Party leaders state that he was ejected from the event because of the offensive nature of the sign and is no longer affiliated with TeaParty.org, but as of November 2010 Dale Robertson is still shown as the President & Founder on the TeaParty.org/about.php webpage.

The danger is that this movement will continue to grow, and their influence with become much larger. Should a war break out with Iran (which is not YET on the horizon) this could be very damaging to Iranians in the US. For now there are some signs that the republican party is moving away from them ...and private discussions on sidelining some of the tea party leadership and Republican leaders pandering to them such as Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich. We'll see what happens.

But BEWARE, if as this author rightly points out the economy worsens AND there is a war with IRAN (which by the way might get them out of the economic mess), then this is a very real threat our community faces. BEWARE.

See you on Sunday.


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Ari Siletz

Many thanks Varjavand

by Ari Siletz on Mon Nov 08, 2010 11:49 PM PST

I'll follow up on the info you kindly provided.

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varjavand

Hi Ari

by varjavand on Mon Nov 08, 2010 06:20 PM PST

Hi Ari, The list of business firms that received bailout money is almost endless. You can see them by clicking on the link below://bailout.propublica.org/list/index We must notice that bailout money has been given to financial institutions especially with several regulatory restrictions attached concerning their permissible activates, and capital base, etc. The data shows that many of them did expands their lending practices moderately. They have made substantial profit in both 2009 and 2010, that is why they have been able to afford exuberant bonuses to their top executives, more than $144 billion by the big banks, investment as well as commercial, and hedge funds, so far in 2010. These days, banks get most of their revenue from non-loan sources such as fees for services, trading, and so called off-balance-sheet activities. Bank regulators have not been successful yet to curb such activities that are highly risky, however, sizably profitable.

 


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Ari Siletz

Varjavand

by Ari Siletz on Mon Nov 08, 2010 04:08 PM PST

There are reports that the bailed out banks have started to pay back the government loan with interest? How can this be consistent with other reports that these banks are not lending (therefore don't have any interest income to repay their bailout loans?). If they are lending, who are they lending to? Basically I have no idea how the bailout money is circulating these days. Any ideas?

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