A new era

Occupy Oakland has paid its dues, and is now truly and officially an Oaklander. The movement is diverse and foward-thinking, is committed to working together to move forward into the future, cares about everyone in its community, has been scapegoated and misrepresented in the media, has been evicted twice, has been repeatedly shot and grenaded and teargassed, is ALWAYS being watched by the police (and most likely the feds as well), and now has a major case of PTSD that no one else seems to care about, and actually seems to blame them for. Most importantly though, despite all of the state repression/oppression and harassment and intimidation, the movement is still alive and well (even though homeless and misunderstood). That's about as Oakland as it gets.

The powers that be are LYING about the movement. The J28 "Move-in Day" action, and the criminally violent suppression of that attempted action, have forced a major rift in the broader society between those who instinctually trust the police, and those who know better.
J28 was the epitome of the class war that has been raging in the country for generations: a homeless movement was attempting to peacefully occupy a blighted, unused public space, and the police showed up armed for war. The video evidence alone proves whose agenda was actually carried out that day.

The Occupy Oakland movement is about democracy. Period. It is about an inclusive process where anyone who wants in can be in, and no one is left out. Anyone who says otherwise is a LIAR.
Resident livestreaming videojournalist Spencer Mills extended a polite invitation to Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan to participate in tonite's community forum on police actions. Hojo, of course, declined. OPD has never and will never be interested in dialog. Just ask Bobby Hutton and Judi Bari.
Even back when Mayor Quan was trying to "dialog" with the labor council (her best attempt at trying to understand the movement was to call in the usual suspects, most of whom had NOTHING to do with the actual movement on her front lawn) OPD was calling for violent action rather than talk. When she realized that she couldn't bully big labor into controlling the movement (i.e. when she realized that they weren't in charge), she ignored the progressive voters who got her elected, and let OPD have their way. Rather than waiting her turn to speak to a general assembly and having genuine dialog, she conspired via teleconference with Homeland Security to help orchestrate a nationwide series of violent assaults on Occupy camps. That's her interpretation of democracy apparently.

The funny thing is, her blatant subservience to the radical right has earned her no respect in their eyes either. A recall campaign to oust her from office is currently underway, and its backers all represent "business" interests. Clearly, it was an incredibly stupid move on her part to try to make them happy...they didn't want her elected in the first place.

Oakland City Hall could learn a lot from the Oakland Raiders, who are risking short-term criticism from their fan base in exchange for long-term success. The Raiders are cleaning house in a quest for better communication, more discipline, improved teamwork and increased productivity (the same values that Occupy Oakland has prioritized since its inception).
It is painfully clear that OPD needs a similar cleansing.

Only one person had to die in order for the Raiders to move forward.
How many will it take before OPD and Oakland City Hall clean up their act?

Debt Bomb

World Revolution Update

NMA cartoon on crash of the Dow

World Revolution Update

US credit downgraded to AA+

S&P downgraded the US credit rating today. For the first time in history.
The three main credit agencies, which also include Moody's Investor Service and Fitch, had warned that the country faced a downgrade if the government didn't sufficiently cut spending.
They didn't.

S&P said that in addition to the downgrade, it is issuing a negative outlook, meaning that there was a chance it will lower the rating further within the next two years. It said such a downgrade to AA would occur if the agency sees smaller reductions in spending than Congress and the administration have agreed to make, higher interest rates or new fiscal pressures during this period.
-Associated Press

And it was just sick the way they trotted out the woman who got shot in the head to cast the last vote on the debt bomb delay deal.

NMA budget deal impasse cartoon

Why I call the debt talks a puppet show/telenovela

A young hot shot rookie Senator once said these words on the Senate floor:

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies...Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that “the buck stops here.” Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.
-Senator Barack Obama
March 20, 2006

BTW - Under President Barack Obama's watch, several trillion has been added to the national debt, several new fronts have been opened up in Cheney/Bush's infinite war by terror, the Federal government has been raiding Social Security funds, and read my lips....the rich are not paying any more taxes.

World Revolution Update

While Obama and congressional leaders were playing out their puppet show at the White House, the Bernank told Congress that gold wasn't money this week, and gold reacted by shooting through the roof.
Meanwhile, the puppet show continues...

The last of the Christian Western empires

"It's inevitable the US is going to default."

This is seriously one of the best videos I've seen in a long time.
Emergent's David Murrin breaks down the global economic situation for three ditzy talking heads. It's more hilarious than the telenovela goin down inside the beltway.

"It's very simple, its (America's) empire system, its financial system is in decline, we've seen very little growth for over a decade apart from financial engineering and leveraging, which ultimately caused the debt crisis of 2008," Murrin said.
-CNBC

Defintely must see tv.

Weekly World Revolution Update

Ron Paul is pro-bankruptcy

Last week, Ron Paul introduced legislation to allow states to regulate their own marijuana industries. He is pro-decriminalization.
Not surprisingly, he's pro-bankruptcy too.
This week, the Texas Congressman and Presidential Candidate said that the US should stop paying it's debts and default.
Yes he did.
He'd settle for not paying the Fed, whom he wants to audit.

"We owe, like, $1.6 trillion because the Federal Reserve bought that debt, so we have to work hard to pay the interest to the Federal Reserve," Paul said. "We don't, I mean, they're nobody; why do we have to pay them off?"
-CNN

Banksta math versus correct math

"This is what a true sustainable economy should be."

US Debt animation from NMA

Lol.

China dumps US Debt for 5th straight month

In addition to officially beginning to loot US pensions today, The US Tresaury released its Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for March 2011, and it's not the best of news.
Foreign holdings of dollar-denominated short-term U.S. securities, including U.S. Treasury bills and other custody liabilities, decreased $18.3 billion, and Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury bills decreased $21.9 billion.

The key trend in US paper holdings continues to be China, whose total US debt holdings dropped for the 5th consecutive month in a row at $1144.9 billion, and the largest one month decline since November 2010.
-Zero Hedge

Getting blown while the world burns

As US Debt races towards the national debt ceiling (ETA = tomorrow) that was raised just last year, word out of New York is that IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested on board a Paris-bound flight for forcing a Times Square hotel employee to give him - yup, you guessed it, head.
Talk about theatre of the absurd.
The alleged incident took place at the upscale Sofitel hotel on West 44th Street near Times Square.

The trouble began at around 1 p.m. yesterday when a 32-year-old housekeeper entered Strauss-Kahn's $3,000-a-night suite at the luxury Sofitel on West 44th Street -- apparently unaware he was still inside.
The married Strauss-Kahn was in the bathroom, and emerged naked, chased her down a hallway and pulled her into a bedroom, where "he jumps her," a source said.
"She pulled away from him and he dragged her down a hallway into the bathroom where he engaged in a criminal sexual act, according to her account to detectives," Browne said. "He tried to lock her into the hotel room."
Soon afterward, Strauss-Kahn got dressed and headed off to JFK for a flight to Paris.
When he was approached on the plane by Port Authority cops, he said, "What is this about?" sources said. He was taken off the aircraft without handcuffs.
Two law-enforcement sources said Strauss-Kahn was trying to flee authorities. Police said he left his cellphone and other personal items in the room.
"It looked like he got out of there in a hurry," Browne said.
Strauss-Kahn, who had a meeting planned for today with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, has an arrangement with Air France that allows him to get on any flight and sit in first class, the sources said. He was traveling alone.
-NY Post

I guess it shouldn't be any surprise. Not only does Strauss-Kahn have a history of sexual deviance AND corruption, but the IMF has been raping developing nations for decades. The only thing that's truly newsworthy about the story is where it happened. This really speaks to the world banking cabal's opinion of the United States. Or is it the other way around? Is this like that scene in Godfather II where the corrupt Senator wakes up next to a dead hooker? Hmmm.
When you're the hooker, or in this case, the housekeeper, does it matter which rich rapist is ultimately guilty?

We are in an ongoing global economic depression. The signs are everywhere, even as they are lost on economic leaders that put private banks and short-term speculative capital before citizens and long-term working capital. Central banks use other people’s future money in the form of debt to do this. No central bank holds, and thus enables, more national debt than the Federal Reserve.
I hate to keep repeating this, but until someone of some ability to do anything gets it, I’m going to keep going. Last week, Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, co-enabler with Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner (among others) of our ballooning debt and mis-prioritized economic policy, urged Congress for another debt cap increase, or else. The guy holds about $2.5 trillion of debt on his books, being used for – nothing helpful to the general economy. A simple transfer would solve the debt cap problem in a nanosecond. Going a step further, a simple exchange of any of the $1.5 trillion of excess bank reserves receiving interest from the Fed, would do the same. Instead of defaulting on, how about retiring, some debt? Thinking outside the box.
All around the world, the bodies and countries with the most power keep screwing people (some like IMF head, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, literally) and entire nations, while supporting their banking systems.
-Nomi Prins

The End Game for Credit Card Nation

Now if American households are being put into debt rehab, why is the national debt increasing? Much of the spending is happening for the top 1 percent of our country that are largely vested in the too big to fail institutions. The working and middle class is being slowly dismantled while money flows to the top to protect the profits of the very few banks that control most of the assets in the United States. Now that trillions of dollars have flowed to the top thanks to working and middle class taxpayers, these banks and the government are turning a blind eye to the public and shutting them out completely by taking away their plastic, kicking people out of homes, and offering a nice consolation of burger flipping jobs.

We are quickly reaching a point where if we do not get our financial house in order as a nation, the national economy might be facing something that is already being experienced by working and middle class Americans. At some point globally the scissors will come out and cut our plastic.
-My Budget 360

Mr. Rogers doesn't want US bonds in his neighborhood

So on Tuesday, veteran investment guru Jim Rogers said he planned to short US bonds...as early as that afternoon.
Well, yesterday, Rogers told an audience at a conference in Edinburgh the same thing.

"In my view that's coming to an end...the bond bulll market is coming to an end. If any of you have bonds I would urge you to go home and sell them. If any of you are bond portfolio managers I would get another job," he said.

Addressing one bond portfolio manager among conference delegates, Rogers said: "If I were you I would think about becoming a farmer. You buy land and learn how to farm."

"In my view it’s going to be a spectacular way to make money," he said, adding: "This is where the great fortunes are going to be made in the future."
-CNBC

He went on to say that he is still into the US dollar, but was strongly considering selling:

"I would expect to see some serious problems in the foreseeable future….By 2011, 2012, 2013, 2013, I don’t know when, we’re going to have an economic slowdown again," he said. "This time it’s going to be a real disaster because the US cannot quadruple its debt again. Dr Bernanke cannot print staggering amounts of money again."

"How much more can they print without a serious collapse of the US dollar?" he said.
-CNBC

Boehner looking for trillions more in cuts

We’re fucked.

Remember GM? Remember how they were deeply in debt and losing money but people kept lending them more money and the government kept giving them money and everything was going to be OK until, finally, it wasn’t? Our whole country is kind of like GM now except there is no cosmic entity that is going to come down from above and bail us out since our ADMITTED debt burden is already 25% of the entire planet’s GDP.
-Phil’s Stock World

Why are we fucked?
Because what’s good for Wall Street isn’t necessarily what’s good for the American people.

40 months into the downturn that has given us the worst number of job losses since the Great Depression, we are nowhere near a recovery. This is terrible, this is unprecedented, this is – great for business!
Bill McBride of Calcuclated Risk, reminds us that Wall Street’s "dirty little secret" is that Wall Street and corporate America like the unemployment rate to be a little high. Higher unemployment keeps wage growth down, and helps with margins and earnings – and higher unemployment also keeps the Fed funds flowing freely. Corporations like to see SOME job growth, so people have enough confidence to spend (and they can have a few more customers) but they don’t care if that job growth is in the US or China
-Phil’s Stock World

And things are getting interesting in Washington.

While DC may continue playing its debt ceiling soap opera, crunch time for the Treasury is approaching as the first of three auctions is on deck: the first one for $32 billion in 3 Year Notes. The total raised will be $72 billion without any offsets from maturities. Elsewhere, the Treasury will catch a $16 billion break after it settles $100 billion in Bill maturities offset by $84 billion in new issuance, yet still the net total of $56 billion in new debt seems to be a slight problem since as of Friday, there was just $23 billion in total capacity under the debt ceiling. Granted, the Treasury has already announced it is commencing the tapering off of other debt programs such as the State and Local Government (SLGs) which however will have at most $5-10 billion in favorable impact per month. It is also cutting its debt issuance forecast in half, likely due to an expectation of maturing old Bills without rolling these, a feat which will consume all if not more of the $108.9 billion in total cash available at the Treasury.
-Zero Hedge

Enter John Boehner.

“Without significant spending cuts and reforms to reduce our debt, there will be no debt limit increase. And the cuts should be greater than the accompanying increase in debt authority the president is given. We should be talking about cuts of trillions, not just billions.”
-Speaker of the House, John Boehner

This calls for a George Washington quote.

Are we going go back from koolaid drinkers of false hope to mindless terrorized sheep? Or are we going to stand up as brave, independent, thinking people and demand real change?
-George Washington

The Debt Bomb

On Monday, as Legislators returned from recess and the mainstream media pummeled us with images of flag-waving Americans celebrating the latest extrajudicial assassinations, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sent a letter to Congress regarding the debt limit, which will be reached on or near May 16. He detailed the extraordinary measures that the Treasury Dept. will begin implementing this week in advance of that deadline, and also threatened an even bigger financial crisis if he (and his banker bosses) doesn’t get his way.

As I have written previously, default by the United States on its obligations would have a catastrophic economic impact that would be felt by every American. A broad range of government payments would have to be stopped, limited or delayed, including military salaries, Social Security and Medicare payments, interest on debt, unemployment benefits and tax refunds. A default on the Nation’s legal obligations would lead to sharply higher interest rates and borrowing costs, declining home values and reduced retirement savings for Americans. Default would cause a financial crisis potentially more severe than the crisis from which we are only now starting to recover.
-Timothy F. Geithner

It is true that we have a major debt problem in this country, but it isn’t because the government is providing necessary services to the American taxpayer, or even because of public employee unions either. The real problem is the bankstas, who have never ever met a debt they didn’t like.

Hitting the debt ceiling isn’t about spending gone haywire because the Social Security and Medicaid buckets are too small for the people that rely on these programs; it’s about the big-ticket items– like recently, bailouts.
-Nomi Prins

Oh yeah, and government departments that randomly lose several trillion dollars don't help either.
I'm not sure that increasing the debt limit is the main reason why the Osama drama trump card was played, but it is certainly the bigger issue confronting us, especially now that the boogeyman is dead.
So to make sure we're absolutely clear here, we're being asked to take on even more debt by the people who needed to be saved from their own stupid debt in the first place, and obviously, we're going to need to ask them to finance that increased debt for us. That's exactly why they are trying to scare us into raising the debt ceiling. Again.
Make sense?