The New York Times has a set of graphs on the cost of the wall street bailout so far, both in dollars spent and in pledged. So far, $1363 billion dollars has been spent. $7.8 trillion, i.e. $7800 billion, has been pledged.
To give you an idea as to how much that is, the US debt is over $10.6 trillion and total US government spending in 2007 was about $2.7 trillion.
Thanks to The Big Picture for the link to the NYTimes.
I stand with Chuck Turner in his fight against the accusations the FBI has made against him. I urge folks to check out the Support for Chuck Turner website and come out for the press conference and rally on Wednesday, November 26 at Chuck Turner's District Office at 51 Roxbury Street, Roxbury, MA 02119.
I'll leave you all with the following letters, which were emailed to me, but could not find on the web:
Case of Chuck Turner is different than Dianne Wilkerson
Howie Rotman
SEIU1199er at Boston Medical Center (ground zero)
Danny is *RIGHT ON* when he says "this is not just an attack on a politician but an attack on all of us, an attempt to discredit a leader supporting the fight against a dangerous Biolab program.
As a civil rights and anti-war activist since the 60's ; and union activist for almost 4 decades at Boston City Hospital/ Boston Medical Center, I also have known Chuck Turner as a committed community organizer of the highest principles. When some people at Boston Medical Center tell me that they don't vote, "because all politicians are crooked", I always tell them that I understand their feeling, and hold similar views. And then I go on to say, there are a small number of politicians that I entirely trust. I always give as an example one politician that can be trusted… a COMMUNITY ACTIVIST… who just happens to be an elected official on the Boston City Council … Chuck Turner. Over the decades I have witnessed Chuck Turner turn up at
meetings for social justice causes that are totally out of the limelight, meetings where */only a handful/* of progressive activists have taken the time to show up.
From what I know about the character of Chuck Turner, I agree with Danny Schechter's statement below, that "we must *ASSUME* his innocence and see this for what it is: one last shot by a lacking in all credibility Bush Administration Justice Department in the aftermath of the Obama victory." From the FBI affidavit I have seen in print, this is a clear case of entrapment of a man that is not prone to be materialistically self serving. The FBI affidavit against Chuck admits that a "second attempt" to entrap Chuck with a monetary favor was futile.
Chuck Turner is not Dianne Wilkerson. Chuck does not have a lifestyle of house arrest for failure to pay taxes. He would not disrespect the people in his community the way Dianne did by refusing to pay condo fees , thereby putting the burden of upkeep of property shared with
neighbors on the neighbors who had to go to court to force Dianne Wilkerson to contribute her share.
Unlike Dianne Wilkerson, Chuck Turner would not put the people in his legislative district and surrounding communities at risk of DEATH by exposure to incurable biological pathogens used in weapons of mass destruction that are planned to be experimented on at a level 4 bioterror lab at the BU Medical Center Campus in South End/ Roxbury. Chuck is a leading opponent of the bioterror lab. Chuck is a principle author of the ORDINANCE before the Boston City Council on December 15 at 6pm, an ORDINANCE which seeks to ban research on biological agents used in weapons of mass destruction, that the United States used to justify its entrance into Iraq, a search that turned up nothing.
(Ironically, if BU/ BMC 's level 4 lab was "found" in Iraq, that would have "justified" the US invasion.)
Support Chuck Turner !!!
"Danny Schechter" <danny@mediachannel.org> wrote:
I have known Chuck Turner from when we worked together back in the l960's in the civil rights movement. He was always a committed community organizer of the highest integrity. He has also always been a principled and courageous stand-up public servant.
We must ASSUME his innocence and see this for what it is: one last shot by a lacking in all credibility Bush Administration Justice Department in the aftermath of the Obama victory. This is not just an attack on a politician but an attack on all of us, an attempt to discredit a leader supporting the fight against a dangerous Biolab program.
It comes just weeks after the FBI admitted it has NOT been pursuing white collar criminals connected to the housing and financial crisis because of funding cutbacks. Yet, somehow, it has the money and the time for a well calculated entrapment stunt like this.
I am confident that Chuck will discredit whatever case the government brings against him, and all of us who know him and love him have to stand with him against this smear on his distinguished career of public service.
Free Chuck Turner. Free Ourselves.
DANNY SCHECHTER
"News Dissector"
These last few days, I have been reminded twice that you need to work hard to keep your first-mover advantage. One way to deal with falling behind in such as case is to side step the competition and compete elsewhere. Banal, I know, but we all need a reminder at times.
I have no idea whether there will be wifi at the GRP convention today. However, I will be live blogging the convention, either here or on my twitter account. Hope to see you there.
NOTE: I forgot my camera's download cable, so pictures will have to wait until tonight. I'll put them up at the GRP flickr group.
10:10am Arrived and checked in
10:15am Didn't have wifi yet – twittered the 1st post, now have wifi, yeah!
10:20am Caught the last of the opening plenary:
10:31am Plenary over, Nat Fortune, co-chair, is thanking plenary participants, convention comm. and Steve Baer for food, Telling us what is next and where the workshops are. I will not post for the next hour because I have to go run a workshop.
10:40-11:35am lead the Growing Our Membership workshop – great discussion from members throughout the state about local organizing and growing our membership. Focus on developing goals/strategy for you, your local area and the state party.
12:10pm Office holder plenary started. Arthur Conquest, Brookline town meeting member, is speaking and, rightfully, chiding us for the lack of latino and african-americans at the convention, that we need to broaden our membership and that we must support Chuck Turner. Amen!
12:20pm Other candidate statements and open questions
12:55am Question: how do you keep elected offices accountable: Luc suggested using Chuck Turner's district roundtables
01:02pm Lunch is starting, GRP nominations for Administrative Committee to follow after that.
01:46pm Been having a fun time with the local McKinney campaign organizers talking about the lessons of the campaign. Folks are eating and mingling.
02:12pm Merelice is talking about the rest of the convention with nominations and elections to the Administrative Committee and our representatives of to the national party up next.
02:26pm Nominations are being proposed and candidates are speaking:
Female Co-Chair: Martina Robinson, Jill Stein
Male Co-Chair: Eli Beckerman
Secretary: John Andrews
Treasurer: Merelice
Membership Director: Lee Scott Laugenour
Fundraising Director: David Dionne
Communications Director: Grace Ross, Lloyd Smith, John Andrews (withdrew)
Female National Rep: none
Male National Rep: Lee Scott Laugenour
Female Alternate National Rep: Jamie McLaughlin
Male Alternate National Rep: none
03:14pm Break up for workshops. Since I am not running one, I will be taking pictures and posting them later.
03:58pm Heading home. See you all later!
Update: I heard that the winners for the elections were:
Female Co-Chair: Jill Stein
Male Co-Chair: Eli Beckerman
Secretary: John Andrews
Treasurer: Merelice
Membership Director: Lee Scott Laugenour
Fundraising Director: David Dionne
Communications Director: Lloyd Smith
Male National Rep: Lee Scott Laugenour
Female Alternate National Rep: Jamie McLaughlin
At least one person's take on the convention is posted at the GRP Facebook group.
I wish President-elect Obama, and all of us for that matter, good luck. One study states
that Massachusetts' unemployment rate will rise from 5.5% now to well
over 8% in Q3 2010. With the US unemployment rate currently at 6.5%
and the broadest measure of Un/Underemployment, aka U6, at over 11%, Q3 2010 will be an unpleasant place for US workers.
Looks like the best policy is a massive increase in federal government spending on public infrastructure, energy conservation (someone has to install energy efficient windows and insulate homes), aid to states and localities, a health care system that covers everyone (oh say single payer), etc.
Krugman thinks that $600 billion of deficit spending is enough. If the auto industry goes into bankruptcy, I can see needing much more than that, likely even if they don't, what with the rate at which the economy is falling.
That said, I am not convinced that bailing out the big three automakers is a good idea, at least not without getting rid of upper management. After all, these are the same folks who got themselves into this mess. When the bailout is four time the market cap of the big three, perhaps the US government should just buy them. Heck, the UAW and AFL-CIO might have enough in their strike funds to buy a good chunk of them. 51% and the unions get to call the shots and really make upper management's heads roll.
A delayed congratulations to Barack Obama, for winning a resounding victory as President of the United States. I did not vote for him, as I followed Eugene Debs' saying that "I’d rather vote for something I want and not get it, than vote for something I don’t want, and get it," and voted for Cynthia McKinney instead.
Most of my motivation in voting for Cynthia was that I felt she was the best candidate for the job. However, another of my motivations was simply that she is the candidate of MY PARTY, and, DAMMIT, I support the nominee of my party, especially one who is devoting her time, money and effort to run. I have been a candidate for a commonwealth-wide office twice. Running for political office is difficult. It puts a strain on your life and can put a wedge between you and your family. As such, I cannot, in good conscience, turn my back on my own party's nominee.
For a Green-Rainbow to say that they won't support our nominee because we need to make sure Obama wins Massachusetts, as if there was any doubt about that, well … it makes angry. I'll still love them and work with them, but it makes me wonder whether they will have my back. As Utah Phillips has told us many times:
That said, I am proud that the US finally elected its first African American President. Took a far too long.
I saw this back in October, but have been too busy to post, what with Cynthia McKinney's campaign, work and family.
Doug Henwood reported this set of statistics about the distribution of wealth in the US in 2004. By 2007, it was likely even more skewed to the wealthy than these numbers are. For 2008, perhaps, it is less so. However, while I have a feeling the wealth of those 10% with the most wealth have fallen noticeably, what with stock market falling 50% from its high, I have a feeling that the half of the population with the least wealth, have seen their wealth actually go negative since the housing boom went very bust.
What this table shows is the value of assets (Residential – i.e. home(s) & Nonresidential – i.e. stocks/bonds/etc.) owned by different segments of the US population in 2004. The first row is the average over the whole population. 0-50 is the 50% of the US population with the least assets, etc.
| % | Residential | Nonresidential |
|---|---|---|
| avg | $111,055 | $337,211 |
| 0-50 | $12,859 | $9,975 |
| 50-90 | $134,217 | $179,308 |
| 90-95 | $299,964 | $775,946 |
| 95-99 | $549,156 | $2,145,622 |
| 99-100 | $1,423,091 | $13,826,364 |
I gave into temptation and got some the Agents of Gaming B5 ancients and Fleet Action scale Whitestars. After cleaning and removing the flashing, I primed them as well as the Vorlon destroyers and three of the Shadow Scouts. Man, those Shadow Scouts are great looking miniatures. Out of scale, but great looking.
Oh well, more stuff to paint.
On the ballot will be what seems like the scripted tale of American
governance: The "maverick" war hero Republican and the smooth talking
young Democrat.
Who really wins in this ballet of moderation?
I know who will lose:
People seeking effective universal healthcare.
McCain plans on tearing down any real way to assist people in getting
healthcare with what is the most conservative healthcare plan I have
ever heard be promoted nationally.
Obama has a plan with a lot of specifics that don't add up and when
they do add up, it doesn't equal universal healthcare and sounds far
more expensive than it is helpful.
People seeking marriage equality.
McCain and Obama agree – gay people should not get married.
People seeking an end to war.
McCain and Obama have both voted, whenever possible, to continue the
War in Iraq. Obama was not in the Senate when it started, but he has
voted to fund it every time.
McCain and Obama agree, we need more troops in Afghanistan. Not a
different strategy on combating global terrorism, but more troops in
Afghanistan.
People seeking education reform.
McCain and Obama agree with Bush – charter schools are a good solution.
People seeking privacy.
McCain and Obama voted to reauthorize the PATRIOT Act and for FISA.
People seeking clean energy.
Both McCain and Obama have expressed support for the oxymoron of an idea of "clean coal".
Both McCain and Obama have expressed support for nuclear power.
Both McCain and Obama have expressed support for offshore drilling,
even though Obama had clearly been against it until he made his recent
switch.
Senator Obama voted FOR the Energy Policy Act of 2005 – which amounts
to a $12,300,000,000 subsidy for big oil and nuclear power.
People seeking budget reform.
Both McCain and Obama have voted consistently for Bush's budgets.
People seeking electoral reform.
Both McCain and Obama have supported excluding people from the debates that do not agree with their corporate agenda.
People seeking corporate accountability
Both McCain and Obama supported the bail out. The same one that
continues to allow people to do the same things that led to the current
economic mess.
You get the idea: John McCain and Barack Obama win – the majority
continues to lose. I will not vote for this. I cannot consciously
support either major party candidate.
So what will I do? I will vote for the candidate that represents me best.
This radical idea was not mine first, admittedly, as George Washington
himself opposed the party system. I do not oppose the party system, I
oppose the TWO party system.
So, I registered Green.
The Green Party, like many other third parties, is funded by the people (not corporations) and provides answers:
YES to Single-Payer Healthcare – accessible to all citizens.
YES to a living wage.
YES to marriage equality – no more discrimination.
YES to ending wars.
YES to education reform.
YES to privacy.
YES to clean energy – no oil or nuclear money.
YES to budget reform.
YES to electoral reform – more than two candidates!
YES to corporate accountability.
I, no longer, have to wonder what will happen to the poor family that
can't afford healthcare, the working mom that just can't make enough
money, the gay couple ready to tie the knot, the brother in Iraq, the
children who need to learn, the conversations I have in private, the
planet I love to live on, the money I spend, the people I vote for, and
the unchecked corporate fat cats that have squandered our future for
their own gain.
The Green Party has the answers to the questions I asked.
Maybe the Green Party doesn't answer questions in the way you support,
but a different third party probably does. I URGE you to look up a
party that supports what you want NOW, not tomorrow.
Yours,
Jeremy Cannon
The Big Picture has a good post about what the true potential cost of the government's bailout of Wall Street could cost us: over $ 2.25 trillion. The break down is:
Guarantee $1.5 trillion in new senior debt issued by banks;
Insure $500 billion
in deposits in noninterest-bearing accounts (primarily businesses accounts).
Now, with any luck, the government won't have to make good on these promises. Well except for the $250 billion invested into banks in exchange for shares with NO VOTING RIGHTS. So we take the risk and get no say in how the bank is run. Just freaking marvelous!
With the $2 trillion promised by the European Union countries, we are talking over $4 trillion in government guarantees. Yes, Wall Street has left us one very large hangover.