The Meaning of Obama's Win

[georgephillip]

From Michael Hudson writing on CounterPunch:

"The Democrats could not have won so handily without the Citizens United ruling.

"That is what enabled the Koch Brothers to spend their billions to support right-wing candidates that barked and growled like sheep dogs to give voters little civilized option but to vote for 'the lesser evil...'"

"Obama’s two presidential victories represent an object lesson about how the 1% managed to avoid rescuing the economy – and especially his own constituency – from today’s rush of wealth to the top.

"Future political annalists will see this delivery of his voters to his Wall Street campaign contributors control as his historical role. In the face of overwhelming voter opposition to the Bush-Cheney policies, the President has averted popular demands to save the economy from the 1%.

"Instead of sponsoring the hope and change he promised by confronting Wall Street, the pharmaceutical and health care monopolies, the military-industrial complex and big oil and gas, he has appeased them as if There is No Alternative."

There is an Alternative that doesn't require killing anyone.
When millions of US voters realize the difference between Democrat OR Republican isn't worth their time to cast a vote, Wall Street and the 1% will discover their future includes a historical Fall. (Starting in 2014?)

Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

 

[georgephillip]

"If the Republican accusations are correct in accusing President Obama of steering America along the “European” course, it is not really socialism. It is neoliberal financial austerity, Greek style.

"His task over the next two months is to avoid using deficit spending to revive the economy.

"The neoliberals whom he appointed as a majority on the Simpson-Bowles Commission already have inflated their trial balloon claiming that the government must balance the budget by slashing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, not by restoring progressive taxation.

"My UMKC colleague Bill Black calls this the Great Betrayal. 'Only a Democrat can make it politically safe for Republicans who hate the safety net to unravel it' he notes.[1]

"Having appointed the Bowles-Simpson commission members who seek to shift the tax burden off business onto consumers, the President will pave the way for Bush-type privatization.

"In his first debate with Mitt Romney, Mr. Obama assured his audience that they were in agreement on the need to balance the budget (his euphemism for scaling back Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid). By christening this 'the Great Bargain,' President Obama has refined Orwellian doublethink.

"It is as if George Orwell went to work on Madison Avenue."

By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

 

[Zarius]

From Michael Hudson writing on CounterPunch:

"The Democrats could not have won so handily without the Citizens United ruling.

"That is what enabled the Koch Brothers to spend their billions to support right-wing candidates that barked and growled like sheep dogs to give voters little civilized option but to vote for 'the lesser evil...'"

"Obama’s two presidential victories represent an object lesson about how the 1% managed to avoid rescuing the economy – and especially his own constituency – from today’s rush of wealth to the top.

"Future political annalists will see this delivery of his voters to his Wall Street campaign contributors control as his historical role. In the face of overwhelming voter opposition to the Bush-Cheney policies, the President has averted popular demands to save the economy from the 1%.

"Instead of sponsoring the hope and change he promised by confronting Wall Street, the pharmaceutical and health care monopolies, the military-industrial complex and big oil and gas, he has appeased them as if There is No Alternative."

There is an Alternative that doesn't require killing anyone.
When millions of US voters realize the difference between Democrat OR Republican isn't worth their time to cast a vote, Wall Street and the 1% will discover their future includes a historical Fall. (Starting in 2014?)

Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

I agree the slimy tea party sponsored by the koch brothers actually turned out to be good for President Obama.

 

[georgephillip]

FWIW. I think you're right, so far.
The Tea Party probably isn't finished since there is so much 1% money funding it.

 

[BallsBrunswick]

FWIW. I think you're right, so far.
The Tea Party probably isn't finished since there is so much 1% money funding it.

Who's going to continue to be a part of it though? At this point and with the way they're going I can't imagine anyone but useful idiots and people with nefarious intents would join the Tea Party. Most people I imagine would stray away from it or become disillusioned with it.

 

[georgephillip]

Kevin Drum writing at MotherJones offers one possibility:

"In reality, we've seen the tea party before. When FDR was president, it was called the American Liberty League. When JFK was president, it was the John Birch Society. When Bill Clinton was president, it was the Vince Foster conspiracy theorists. America's far right fluoresces like this whenever a Democrat is in the White House, and Obama's first term was no exception."

The Tea Party Is Dead. Long Live the Tea Party. | Mother Jones

 

[candycorn]

TEA party is alive and well. Its not going to be much of a positive influence in most State-wide or Presidential contests though. In district races where the opposition is poorly funded...you bet. 2014 will be another big year for the GOP.

 

[Old Rocks]

TEA party is alive and well. Its not going to be much of a positive influence in most State-wide or Presidential contests though. In district races where the opposition is poorly funded...you bet. 2014 will be another big year for the GOP.

Possibly. On the other hand, look at what is happening with Occupy Sandy. Should these young people decide they need more representation of their interests in Congress, and use the skills they have demonstrated thus far to gain that representation, we might well see something new on the political landscape. 2014 is going to be an interesting year.

 

[Katzndogz]

The Tea Party's function is to keep the solutions alive. To make sure that someone knows how to run an economy even if successful principles have been set aside. Greece has been socialist for so long, no one knows what to do or how to fix it.

 

[georgephillip]

TEA party is alive and well. Its not going to be much of a positive influence in most State-wide or Presidential contests though. In district races where the opposition is poorly funded...you bet. 2014 will be another big year for the GOP.

Gingrich seems to have laid the groundwork for his revolution fairly thoroughly by encouraging Republicans to get elected to local and state-level offices. That's worked out pretty well in some recent alleged gerrymandering of congressional districts by loyal GOP state reps and senators.

If Democrats stay home like they did in 2010, I suspect you're right about Republican gains in 2014.

One of the biggest critics of Republicans AND Democrats, Chris Hedges, has written the following since last Tuesday's results. What's your take on it?

" Liberals, by voting for Barack Obama, betrayed the core values they use to define themselves—the rule of law, the safeguarding of civil liberties, the protection of unions, the preservation of social welfare programs, environmental accords, financial regulation, a defiance of unjust war and torture, and the abolition of drone wars.

"The liberal class clung desperately during the long nightmare of this political campaign to one or two issues, such as protecting a woman’s right to choose and gender equality, to justify its complicity in a monstrous evil."

Chris Hedges: Once Again—Death of the Liberal Class - Chris Hedges' Columns - Truthdig

 

[georgephillip]

The Tea Party's function is to keep the solutions alive. To make sure that someone knows how to run an economy even if successful principles have been set aside. Greece has been socialist for so long, no one knows what to do or how to fix it.

Unless you can show where the Greek government has taken control of the means of production from private parasites, I would argue Greece is more a victim of neo-liberal economics than socialism.

"The tea party certainly sees Obama's economic solutions clearly; "Having been elected with an enormous voter mandate,(2008) Mr. Obama could have reversed the sharp polarization between creditors who were pushing the 99%, industry and real estate, cities and states deeper into financial distress.

"Instead, his policies have enabled the 1% to monopolize 93% of America’s income gains since the 2008 financial crisis."

In 2012, the Tea Party's solution to this problem was to vote for Money Mitt?

By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

 

[Katzndogz]

The Tea Party's function is to keep the solutions alive. To make sure that someone knows how to run an economy even if successful principles have been set aside. Greece has been socialist for so long, no one knows what to do or how to fix it.

Unless you can show where the Greek government has taken control of the means of production from private parasites, I would argue Greece is more a victim of neo-liberal economics than socialism.

"The tea party certainly sees Obama's economic solutions clearly; "Having been elected with an enormous voter mandate,(2008) Mr. Obama could have reversed the sharp polarization between creditors who were pushing the 99%, industry and real estate, cities and states deeper into financial distress.

"Instead, his policies have enabled the 1% to monopolize 93% of America’s income gains since the 2008 financial crisis."

In 2012, the Tea Party's solution to this problem was to vote for Money Mitt?

By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

There's no means of production left in Greece. The means of production and the people who ran them left. The public sector is bloated. The salaries and benefits have outstripped the nation's ability to pay for the socialist programs. If the government became fully communist, the way Lenin took Russia, the government would build or takeover factories and institute forced labor camps to get the Greeks to work and off the streets. They would stop pussyfooting around with austerity, and institute rationing for everyone, everyone works and gets their bread from the state distribution center.

In a vicious cycle, worsening business prospects in an already uncompetitive economy are inducing additional capital flight from Greece. By the end of 2012, analysts expect Greek bank deposits to shrink by 40 percent compared with their amount in mid-June 2010. And ECB members are demanding additional austerity policies to bail out the state: cutting payrolls, laying off government workers, reducing public services and scaling back the overly generous (even by EU standards) retirement and health benefits of public workers and retirees.

 

[TakeAStepBack]

So, the citizens United ruling that paved the way for Koch to sponsor RW candidates that lost, showing that an election can not be bought in such ways, means that the 1% are in control of the countries legislature.

 

[georgephillip]

The 1% seem to be doing very well with Obama in the White House.
93% of all economic gains since he took office have gone to them.
The 1% fund his campaign at about the same level as Republicans.
Maybe some of the greed-heads got a little to greedy this time?

 

[georgephillip]

The Tea Party's function is to keep the solutions alive. To make sure that someone knows how to run an economy even if successful principles have been set aside. Greece has been socialist for so long, no one knows what to do or how to fix it.

Unless you can show where the Greek government has taken control of the means of production from private parasites, I would argue Greece is more a victim of neo-liberal economics than socialism.

"The tea party certainly sees Obama's economic solutions clearly; "Having been elected with an enormous voter mandate,(2008) Mr. Obama could have reversed the sharp polarization between creditors who were pushing the 99%, industry and real estate, cities and states deeper into financial distress.

"Instead, his policies have enabled the 1% to monopolize 93% of America’s income gains since the 2008 financial crisis."

In 2012, the Tea Party's solution to this problem was to vote for Money Mitt?

By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

There's no means of production left in Greece. The means of production and the people who ran them left. The public sector is bloated. The salaries and benefits have outstripped the nation's ability to pay for the socialist programs. If the government became fully communist, the way Lenin took Russia, the government would build or takeover factories and institute forced labor camps to get the Greeks to work and off the streets. They would stop pussyfooting around with austerity, and institute rationing for everyone, everyone works and gets their bread from the state distribution center.

In a vicious cycle, worsening business prospects in an already uncompetitive economy are inducing additional capital flight from Greece. By the end of 2012, analysts expect Greek bank deposits to shrink by 40 percent compared with their amount in mid-June 2010. And ECB members are demanding additional austerity policies to bail out the state: cutting payrolls, laying off government workers, reducing public services and scaling back the overly generous (even by EU standards) retirement and health benefits of public workers and retirees.

A Marxist response:

"This chorus is deceptive, the claims made are false. 'Greek wages, pensions, and other working conditions are excessively generous.' This nicely ignores the fact that Greece's wages and workers' living standards are below those in major European countries. 'Greek labor productivity is low because "they don't work".'

"This nicely ignores the fact that the decisions about which technology to invest in and what goods and services to produce are made by employers, not employees. 'Greece's industries are stagnant because the prices of Greek products are "uncompetitive".'

"This claim ignores the fact that prices for Greek products are set by employers and aim not only to cover their workers' wages but also their own salaries, bonuses, corporate profits, etc.

"These claims are not analysis; they are blame. They are heavily promoted by the same collection of business leaders, politicians, mass media, and supportive academics who celebrated the 'economic development' that produced the current crisis.

"Blaming the workers and calling the crisis 'national' aims to distract attention from the role of capitalism as a system and from capitalists as key decision-makers in that system. That strategy also prepares the population for austerity as the necessary punishment and corrective for Greece's difficulties."

Economic Crisis, Greek Theater, Our Drama | Professor Richard D. Wolff

Finance capitalism is destroying Greece just as it's poised to destroy the US economy.
Blaming cops, soldiers, and teachers for the sins of bankers guarantees continued decline.