Saturday, July 18, 2015

Thank you, Mr. Trump


Thank you, Mr. Trump

“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”

“It never got weird enough for me.” 

- Hunter S. Thompson

J.M. Hamilton (7-18-2015)

Mr. Thompson was correct. 

And his thoughts on the “weird,” and the strange, were only topped by Mr. Twain’s observation: “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is expected to stick to the possibilities; Truth isn’t.”

How else to explain the freak show that has become today’s GOP, with Mr. Donald Trump as its ringmaster.

In a million years, who would have thought that in the year of our Lord, 2015, the Republican Party would burst into flames and self-immolate; not by the hand of an Anarchist, Socialist, or a bleeding heart Democrat…. No, but by the hand of one of their very own, a Republican, and a rather wealthy one at that.

And for a minute there I honestly believed I was suffering from writer's block.  Thank you, Mr. Trump.

It’s one thing to accuse Republicans of being racist, fatuous, morally bankrupt, and the party of the one percent; but quite another to see the leading candidate in the Republican Party, Mr. Donald Trump, not only confirm these observations, but embrace and shout out these truths with great pride.  Here’s a man who states, before Iowa social conservatives, that he’s never asked for God’s forgiveness (and yet, he attends church).  Not only is Mr. Trump arrogant, going off half-cocked, but arguably, he’s dangerous.  Not for telling his version of the truth, mind you, but for the pride and hubris from which these remarks emanate.

In short, it would appear that Mr. Trump’s filter is damaged or non-existent; either that, or like a spoiled child, the sycophants surrounding Mr. Trump have never told him “no,” or that he’s wrong.  Donald Trump is exactly what you get when you live in a bubble, and everybody tells you how wonderful you are.

Then again, the truth is stranger than fiction, and the truth does indeed set us free, so perhaps, the U.S. owes the billionaire a debt of gratitude for telling his version of the truth.

To think, Mr. Trump is leading in current GOP polling.  What does it say about today’s Republican Party, that Donald Trump has alienated nearly every American, and more than a few corporations and multinationals, excepting of course, the bible toting/gun loving, angry, White American male?

In a matter of weeks, Mr. Trump has confirmed all that is dark and venal about today’s GOP, and the American political process.  Allow me to paraphrase, please, Mr. Trump’s observations.


·      I’ve never asked God for forgiveness (Presumably because Trump either doesn’t believe in God, or perhaps, Trump thinks he’s god, or maybe Mr. Trump is infallible.)

·      John McCain isn’t a hero because he was captured.  (Mr. Trump, of course, dodged and ducked the Vietnam war…. I wonder what Mr. Trump thinks of soldiers who were killed in action?)

·      The Vietnam War wasn’t worth fighting (Can we get Mr. Trump’s thoughts down on Iraq and Afghanistan?).

·      And it gets better… per the Guardian, Mr. Trump confirms that we no longer live in a democracy but a plutocracy.  Let’s let the Guardian take it from here:
“He used this to note his independence from special interests and attacked the massive fundraising tallies achieved by Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton.  ‘Those people are controlled by whoever gave them their money, and I will tell you they are totally controlled,’ he said.”  "Mr Trump went on to say, 'I give to everybody, and they do whatever I say.'"

It’s not that the Democrats, or GOP- Lite, are a lot better than Republicans, both political parties service the plutocracy, but at least Dems are not hypocrites, and clearly are the lesser of two evils.  Both parties are socialist and love Big Government; but the GOP believes that welfare should go, not, to those most in need, but to the one percent, like Mr. Trump. 

Of course, there are more than a few Democrats, who are fully aware of what is going on (e.g. Mr. Trump’s support for the Clinton Foundation), and who are seeking out genuine change and reform:  Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, immediately come to mind.

While one can’t help but feel revulsion for today’s GOP; we all should be thankful, Democrat and Republican alike, that Mr. Trump is the clearest example of why the GOP needs serious reform or should be abandoned altogether.  If nothing else, Mr. Trump’s comments show a political party in decline, and that is unelectable to the nation’s highest office.

The more serious questions, however, are what does it say about GOP supporters who would continue to rally behind the Trumpster, or even the Republican Party, after these latest ravings?  Will the GOP continue to follow him, lemming like, over the cliff, or will the Party finally seek real reform and rehab? 

As this Party is reactionary to its core, and has a very homogenous base, my guess is – even after this debacle – the Party will still eschew real change. 

Mr. Trump has not only filed four bankruptcies, but, like the Republican Party,  would appear to be morally bankrupt as well (especially, as he continues to play the race and fear cards, and insult war veterans).  

The GOP’s economic, political, social, and tax policies for the last thirty-five years created a ruling oligarchy, the binary economy, and monsters, like Mr. Trump.   

As such, the GOP appears to be reaping the bitter fruit that it has sown.  Eisenhower, Lincoln, and Reagan would be ashamed.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2015

Thursday, July 9, 2015

No Social Justice, without Economic Justice


No Social Justice, without Economic Justice

“It’s when the tide goes out that you see who’s swimming naked.”

 - Matthias Matthijs, a professor at Johns Hopkins University SAIS.


J.M. Hamilton (7-9-2015)

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Republicans, and in particular, social conservatives.  The looks of dismay, pain, and the classic signs of insomnia were all there, painted across sad right-wing faces.  That so much misery was heaped upon the GOP- faithful, by a Republican packed SCOTUS, struck some as poignant.

Given the doom and gloom surrounding the GOP, had there been a futures market, or ETF, in duct tape, I suspect speculators would have bet in advance of SCOTUS’ recent rulings, that this product would have flown off local hardware store shelves, and subsequently, would be wrapped around Evangelical and Baptist wrists (to prevent them from harming themselves).

This isn’t funny, and it’s serious business.  Runs on duct tape were widely reported in the news media, post SCOTUS rulings; and there were long lines filmed at various well-known box retailers, and home improvement centers, and posted on You Tube (not unlike Greeks lining up at an ATM).  It was a classic duct tape run, not unlike the infamous duct tape, and plastic sheeting, run of 2001 - 2002, post 9-11.

For religious conservatives, in addition to the Obama Presidency, the SCOTUS rulings were just another mile marker on the road to Hell, Armageddon, and the End Times, albeit not necessarily in that order.  Predictably, gays went on a post-ruling rampage and made straight couples renounce their hetero-vows and beliefs, and engage in homosexual love making. 

And several notable social conservatives were found on the floors of either 1950’s style bomb shelters, or the more modern equivalent, safe rooms: naked, curled up in the fetal position, and within the fog of a complete psychological break from reality.

What did it all mean?  Blank stares from the GOP faithful, and faux righteous indignation.  And finally, a collective blast of anger and denial from the two dozen, or more, GOP Presidential contenders, pandering to their base, the American Taliban.  Shucks, can’t the GOP buy off a perfectly good SCOTUS anymore, to execute and enforce the social laws of the land, as dictated for nearly two and a half centuries by old white men?  White males, of course, possess special magical powers, that no other humans, sex, or race possess… the ability to read the Creatress’ mind.

Arguably, the GOP faithful should have seen this coming a mile away.  If only they had read J.M.H.

The GOP, and Evangelicals, have made a deal with the devil for a long time, and the chickens not only came home to roost; but for social conservatives, their fine feathered friends were carrying Avian Flu.  

The trade off or deal, made down at the cross-roads, was this:  White Social Conservatives (WSC), you vote the GOP into office.  The GOP will support your version of Sharia-law, vigilante justice, and white supremacy in the social hierarchy.  And in return WSC, you turn a blind eye as the GOP advocates and engages in: laissez faire economics, trickle down tax policies, ship WSC jobs offshore via free trade agreements, contaminate and pollute the Goddess' creation, and allow corporations to metastasize into cartels and monopolies (so powerful that they will take over U.S. and Western democracies, and establish their own global, extrajudicial world court (ICSID)--- not to mention their own religion, a/k/a crony capitalism).  Just turn the other cheek WSC, when said corporations own and operate a highly volatile global economy, based upon: financial speculation, Wall Street gambling (backstopped by the taxpayer), debt, regulatory and government capture, private equity chop shops, and exploiting third world resources, labor, and children.

Oops.  The second part of the GOP alliance doesn’t sound very “Judeo or Christian.”  Never, that I can recall, has there been a political party that is more bipolar than today's GOP: on one hand, you have an, alleged, highly "moral" evangelical base; while on the other hand, this same political party is financed, owned, and operated by highly amoral, secular, and money loving cartels and monopolies, like Wall Street.

I guess the WSC didn’t read the fine print on the GOP’s Faustian contract, written in blood; which states that in the event that WSC social values and beliefs conflict with the Corpocracy’s bottom line, we, the Multinationals of the World, shall prevail.

You see, SCOTUS didn’t go rogue after all, and neither did Justice Roberts.  A GOP packed SCOTUS just did its master’s bidding.  The Star Chamber (i.e. the Business Roundtable and the Chamber of Commerce) could no longer afford boycotts, or to be labeled racist or homophobic, in what was essentially the latest and greatest drive for civil rights and equality seen in America since the sixties.  Not only was the Bankocracy and Corpocracy worried about their bottom line, but SCOTUS, by making their recent decisions, essentially opened the door to removing the “homophobic monkey” off the GOP leadership’s back.  Hence, possibly making Republican candidates eligible for the Presidency, oh, in say, about another generation or two – that’s if the GOP still exists (Predictably, the GOP, who has no base other than the Business Roundtable, the plutocracy, and the WSC, has opted not to walk through the door that SCOTUS held open for them, at least not yet). 

In short, the WSC Party, the GOP, just in case anybody missed it, was affirmed to be, once again, the Plutocracy’s Party (and the Star Chamber can ill afford to have the American Taliban harming the Fortune 500’s bottom line, or the next quarterly statement, with rants against gays and gay marriage).

Romneycare… same thing.  Corporations love Romneycare.  President Obama, like Mr. George W. Bush before him, when both the Healthcare Reform Act and Medicare - Part D were negotiated, respectively, protected Big Healthcare’s/Big Pharma’s profits, first and foremost.  Both Presidents pledged to the major healthcare providers, doctors, and Big Pharma – in particular, behind closed doors, that the awesome power of the Federal government would not be used to negotiate lower drug/medical rates, on behalf of healthcare consumers and the taxpayer (unlike every other Western Democracy on the planet).   Not that they weren’t before - but thanks to Romneycare and Medicare, Part D - Healthcare and Big Pharma are now rolling in green grass with fat cows, and ultra-plush bottom lines (just ripe for further industry consolidation, leading to hegemonic cartel and monopsony powers over the nation's healthcare). 


So in upholding Romneycare, once again, SCOTUS did what their masters told them.  Moreover, if you review most, if not all, of SCOTUS’ decisions in the last thirty days, here too, you can see corporate oversight and control, or the not so invisible hand.  We like to think of SCOTUS and The Fed as highly independent branches of government (just like they taught us is school), but that’s simply not true.

The moral of the story:  Be careful of a political party, and politicians, that services an ultra-powerful plutocracy.  That goes for Clinton loving Dems, too.  Republicans and Democrats are not exactly the same, but they are closer than you think, in terms of economic policy - especially, when it comes to servicing the plutocracy’s economic agenda.  Witness the recent love-fest between President Obama (the latest incarnation of Clintonian politics) and Congressional Republicans over TPP fast track authority.


It seems unfair to play down, or celebrate, the corporate juggernaut’s role, entirely, for the passage of marriage equality and Obamacare; and yet, that’s what some opinion pieces did, here and here.  In the case of marriage equality, in particular, we can see what a politically motivated minority can achieve with a grass roots campaign, decades/centuries of patience and resistance against well established prejudice and oppression, and the rapid evolution of public thinking, not to mention a whole generation of WSC/Republicans dying off in large numbers.  Honestly, if some homophobic corporate management teams could have held out a little longer, w/out it impacting their bottom line, they would have; and many corporates will still tacitly sanction homophobia, directly and indirectly, in the workplace, despite all public disavowal and written H.R. guidelines to the contrary.  Like racism, homophobia will just be more subtle going forward.

Nevertheless, all circuitous machinations and motives aside, these SCOTUS rulings were a major win for the American people, tolerance, civil rights, and the long march towards social justice. 

As for the Goddess above, she does indeed work in mysterious ways. 

I must confess, mea culpa, to the best of my knowledge, there was no duct tape run, and no, gay citizens did not force born again Christians to engage in homosexual lust or love.  Nor did the heavens come crashing down, or the gates of hell open wide. The fact that none of these events took place is instructive.  No?

But I digress, because we need to eventually make it to the primary point of this piece; that is to say, ultimately, there can be no social evolution and justice, w/out economic evolution and justice.

The Greeks showed us that, today (Sunday 7-5-2015), as I write this post.  The Greeks, via Democracy and plebiscite, told their masters, the Troika/Banksters, to shove it Sunday, and that they had enough of the financial oppression dealt out by the international banking cartel.  Oppression led by the EU (headed up by Germany), the IMF (headed up by the U.S.), and the ECB (headed up by Goldman Sach's own, Mario Draghi).

Yes, Greeks made mistakes over the decades in electing leadership, who were owned by banks, and over committed on patronage and social spending.  But that was no reason, in the name of bank solvency and politics, to hold future generations of Greeks, and their economy, captive to the international banking cartel.

Here’s a big hint, and you don’t have to be an expert on bankruptcy, or hold a law degree to figure it out…. When you are borrowing money, as an individual, nation or corporation, to pay interest on your debt, it’s game over.  You are effectively insolvent.  But the Germans and the Troika couldn’t buy off Syriza, and neither Messrs. Tsipras or Varoufakis had plans to enter banking or corporate life after their political career, as a reward for playing Troika ball.  No this crew would not sacrifice Greek citizens to “extend and pretend” financial games (w/ a nod to Mr. Varoufakis), and leave the Greeks hostage to Troika blackmail.

In short, it’s time for debt restructuring, or better yet, debt forgiveness, or barring that, anarchy and default.  Ironically, the often technical, logical, and business savvy Germans, should have seen this coming a mile away, but instead, continued to dump money into a bankrupt country, in an effort to kick "the can" further down the road.  How smart was that?  It’s easy to blame the Greeks, but how about the private bank underwriters, who loaned the money to the Greeks in the first place?  Bankers also sold Greece the derivative and repo products used to obscure their national debt, in order to gain E.U. admittance.  Bankster moral hazard affirmed once again: a great deal of Greek debt has already been transferred to governments or government banks (a/k/a the Troika), and taken off private bank balance sheets. 

The Germans, of course, want their cake and to eat it too:  They want the benefits of an integrated E.U., complete with a depressed currency – to aid Germany’s export driven economy; and they want bankrupt nations, like Greece (who hold back the Euro from appreciating), to continue to “extend and pretend,” and pay back German banks, in perpetuity.  If you get the feeling that the Troika is just another payday lender, living off usury and the misery of others, you nailed it.  Conveniently, the present German government forgets the massive debt forgiveness that their country received, post WWII.

But heh, German politicians, like U.S. politicians, are owned by corporations and the plutocracy, and in particular bankers.  The private German banks, long since bailed out, still had some skin in the game, and did not want to take the financial hit for the inevitable.  And now, Sunday's plebiscite breathed new life into Syriza, the so-called "radical left government," and strengthened their hand, in what appears to be a land slide victory.  

You want to see "radical left?"  Take a look at the Bush Administration and its bailout of Wall Street banks, post 2008 Crash.




Last Sunday, all citizens of the world were Greeks.



Greeks are willing to accept a new currency; or debt restructuring; or even debt forgiveness and staying in the Euro; but they will no longer pretend that they are something that they are not: solvent.

And there is no shame in that.  Just ask, sometimes, Republican frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump (w/ four business failures to his credit).  Mr. Trump has been richly rewarded for his bankruptcies (both financial and moral).  For the plutocracy, bankruptcy is an effective business strategy; for everyone else, the plutocracy would have us believe bankruptcy is shameful.  It’s just another double-standard the elite foist upon the 99%, daily.

In sum, Greek citizens took hold of their economic future and destiny Sunday evening.  Who knows, perhaps other oppressed nations, along the Southern periphery of Europe, will do the same?  Maybe Puerto Rico is next?  Which is the very reason that the Troika will do everything w/in its power to make Grexit a living nightmare for Greek citizens.  How shameful is that?

As an unreconstructed and unrepentant Liberal, I believe corporations are capable of doing great things, and committing great wrongs; but our Corporate Masters sometimes have to be led by market forces, the fourth estate, social media, consumers/employees, and the citizen’s of the world into doing the right thing. 

Like business advocacy and support for gay marriage, and Romneycare, who knows what economic, public policy, and governmental changes corporations might achieve?  With a little pressure from their clients and stockholders (if publicly traded), will Corporates soon demand: a fair an equitable tax code that eliminates corporate tax dodges, so that the middle class tax burden is reduced; a separation between money and state, so that our plutocracy becomes a democracy again; the break up of predatory monopolies and cartels, for a more healthier and saner mixed economy (in lieu of our crony economy); and terms limits for corrupt politicians, who make up the judiciary and the legislative bodies, in Washington and the states?

After all, the customer is always right.


Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2015

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Malcontents & Angels


Malcontents & Angels

Clintonian politics is dead…. Long live President Clinton.

By J.M. Hamilton 6-25-2015

“It was the worst of times, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Darkness, it was the winter of despair, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct(ly to hell).”

Oh, yes, history repeats itself again and again.  Rococo Ages come and they go, and it usually takes a good revolution or two to remind the elites of their place in society:  at their best, semi-benevolent stewards; and at their worst, predatory vampires sucking the economic and political life blood from a nation and its people.  An altogether cynical and cyclical enterprise.

Such irony that the icon of democracy in the late 18th Century has become the icon of failed economic imperialism in the early 21st Century.  A national debt that is out of control, a foreign policy that is vacuous, black/off line military budgets, seemingly every document from our government is “classified,” and the bill of rights trashed, by our police/surveillance state, torture, privatized prisons, and the CIA hacking into Senate computers.  (What would cause the elite to install a surveillance state apparatus that would rival a Nazi’s and Stasi’s wildest dream?  Answer:  Fear.  And a deep understanding of the elite’s own subconscious.  The 1% fear having done to them, what they’ve been doing to the 99% for a very long time.)


A President, who campaigned on transparency, and as a bespoke Tribune for the people, turns out to be the plutocracy’s best friend.  By his actions President Obama supports: free trade agreements negotiated behind closed doors (that gut the nation’s middle class, the American dream, and insures corporate autocracy); persecution of whistleblowers and marginalizing the fourth estate; endless support for the Military Industrial and Intelligence Complex (MIIC); wars without end; the suspension of due process with signature drone strikes; and the shredding of the fourth amendment, as mass surveillance assumes everyone is guilty until proven innocent. 

It’s almost like Chancellor Cheney has returned to the White House.  No doubt, the current White House occupant is far more polished, but in substance, a Crypto-Republican (No.  Obamacare does not make President Obama a liberal.  Even George W. Bush expanded drug benefits for seniors under Medicare, Part D ---  a/k/a The Big Pharma Entitlement Act.  The expansion of the welfare state, front loaded for  corporate profits, is a vote purchasing gimmick both political parties utilize, at the expense of fiscal sanity, while providing corporate payback).

Nine decrepit monarchs – all dressed in black - sit in judgment over the nation’s laws, ruling on behalf of corporations and the plutocracy, again and again:  Money equals freedom of speech; corporations are people – except when it’s time to hold them accountable for their crimes; McCutcheon; and Citizens United.  As a result, what was once “we the people’s government,” now purchased and for sale to the highest bidder.  The trials or courtroom proceedings before SCOTUS, and many of the nation’s federal and state courts, are often for show; all too often these nine politicians, and their judicial cadres across the land, have made up their mind before the show trial even gets started (we can see this with the predictability of SCOTUS outcomes/rulings).

Our legislative branch campaigns 24/7/365, and has no interest in governing: a complete abdication of authority and responsibility.  Just show Congress the money, and allow them to demonize The Imperial Presidency… the sound bites play wonderfully back in the district, on FOX news, and on the never-ending campaign trail.  Pathetic.  And worst of all, they sellout themselves, the nation, and the people, on the cheap, day in and day out  - in a form of legalized graft.  Don’t take my opinion for it, let the approval ratings and cash flow speak for themselves.

As for our true rulers, the plutocracy, the gals and guys who have co-opted and purchased our government, not unlike a leveraged buyout, they only care about the bottom line on the second set of books.  If the government goes down, awash in debt, and if the currency gets trashed, as the Fed’s printing presses churn…. That’s okay.  After all, the elites are only living for the next quarterly statement, and the next merger, in the hopes of cashing out.  Could it be that many within the financial aristocracy believe they can hedge their way out of the next financial crisis?  Their instructions to U.S. politicians: Just keep the debt/financial engineered/bubble based economy going; the tax code in our favor; the regulators at bay and underfunded; allow us to merge into monopolies and cartels; and the devil take the hindmost. 

The environment, the rule of law, workers, the poor, aggregate demand and top line growth, captured regulatory bodies, and the U.S. government…. Forget about it!  Best to keep the 99% in a perpetual state of economic malaise and near panic, and like the fear card, it’s just another means of control.

Taken all together (the secrecy; the offline budgets; the mass surveillance; the desire to control not only U.S. citizens, but the world, via the MIC and surveillance; fear mongering by our 24 hour corporate news cycle; abdication of responsibility by the plutocracy to the social contract; back room deals and double-dealing; and two of four branches of government – the Fed and SCOTUS – not democratically elected)… and it all adds up to government by Star Chamber.

Grim stuff. 

Then, when it’s Darkest, we get the occasional heretic, the outlaw, the iconoclast, the bad robot… malcontents…  the individual who gives the elite fever dreams.  One can spot these folks a mile off:  They are not afraid to tell the truth; they often genuinely care about making things better for all of us; derision and scorn are heaped upon these outsiders by the gangsters at the top; like all of us, these whistleblowers, too, are human, but they do not let their humanity hold them back from speaking truth to power (indeed, it often spurs them); and as a result, an example must be made.  The heretic is talked down to, often shunned, sometimes persecuted and vilified, and in some instances, threatened with jail or worse. 

Malcontents? 

I guess it’s a matter of perspective.  To many, these individuals are angels.  They certainly are my heros.  For starters, I may not agree with everything these individuals say, do, or stand for, but the following list provides serious cause for inspiration and praise.

Pope Francis

When was the last time a religious leader took on the world’s power structure?  Pope Francis has been on a tear:  advocacy for the poor; trashing an economic system that preys upon the poor, crony-capitalism; kicking elite and Wall Street bootie; and now the latest, coming out with a climate change encyclical.  The usual suspects, the GOP and the robber barons, who love to thump the Bible when it suits their ends, came down hard against the Pope.  If we are known by the enemies we keep, as well as our friends, than the Pope truly is a righteous dude.  Pope Francis is burning the barrier/firewall that nearly all religious leaders cower behind, between earthly and metaphysical power.  He’s kicking in the door, and you can smell the fear, rolling off Big Oil’s/Big Coal’s/Big Carbon’s collective back.  If the Pope was twenty years, no make that ten years younger, I do believe he’d destroy the current global economic system, and rebuild it in a more effective and egalitarian manner (i.e. a kinder and gentler form of capitalism, mixed in with socialism for the 99%, in lieu of socialism for the plutocrats).  Having said that, Pope Francis is doing an incredible job with the time that we are fortunate enough to have with him. 

Anybody who can make the elite this uncomfortable is, truly, doing God’s work.

Senator Rand Paul

Mr. Paul, like his father before him, has an issue with our government.  Where Mr. Paul and J.M.H. part-company concerns the government’s much needed role in regulating the economy and the “free market.”  Even Adam Smith acknowledged that mercantilist tend to seek out government favor, and consistently, when given the opportunity, venture towards monopoly and cartel.  That’s where the government, ideally, is very much needed:  To protect capitalism from its worst excesses (i.e. monopoly and cartel).  Alas, our crony government has failed in this regard, repeatedly (M&A, consolidation, and combination continue at a record pace under the Obama Administration, and thanks, in large part, to the easy money policies of the Obama Reserve). But where Mr. Paul’s Libertarian stand strikes a harmonious chord, for me anyway, is when he attacks foreign adventures, nation building, the military industrial complex, and the police/surveillance state.  And when he’s on point - look out… Mr. Paul doesn’t mind taking on the U.S. Senate, the President, or the private contractors, who own and operate the MIC.  In fact, his energy level seems to climb, in direct correlation to the animosity directed his way by the warmongers and the aristocracy.  Whether its extrajudicial drone strikes or mass surveillance of Americans, Senator Paul can be counted on to stand up for U.S. citizens, fiscal sanity, and the Constitution.  As for the Senator’s support for a flat tax, and his support for the demise of corporate welfare – via the tax code…. Yes, and yes again! 

Senator Paul is off to a great start and an auspicious career.

Senator Elizabeth Warren

Who makes Jamie Dimon lay awake at night?  My guess is Senator Warren.  Never has there been an advocate for the people, who sees modern day Wall Street for what it truly is:  A cesspool of recidivist malefactors, who rip off their clients, destroy markets, engage in pernicious rent seeking behavior, feed off government largesse and state sponsored welfare (e.g. including but not limited to, the Fed’s printing presses, taxpayer funded bailouts, and the tax code), are a detriment to the nation, a drag on our economy, and a threat to our national security.  We think climate change is bad… take a close look at the denizens in the London financial district, and on the corner of Wall and Broad.  Mr. Dimon says Senator Warren doesn’t understand international finance. 

No Mr. Dimon, Senator Warren understands you and the Street all too well.  After all, her livelihood doesn’t depend upon putting on rose colored glasses every morning, and pretending all is right with the world, after Wall Street almost took out the global economy in 2008, and a London trader cost J.P. Morgan six billion dollars.  The next financial crisis will likely be in sovereign debt.  Trillions in sovereign debt has been created by Central Banksters out of thin air, racked up to bailout the international banking cartel (elitist socialism incarnate).

Today, Senator Warren, and Senator Sanders, set the direction and tone for the Democratic Party, and not a moment too soon.  Clintonian politics is dead… Long live President Clinton.

Edward Snowden

If Mr. Snowden hadn’t laid his life on the line, we’d all still be clueless as to the degree to which the U.S. government hacks our computers and cellphones 24/7/365.  Thanks to Mr. Snowden, and Senator Paul, parts of the Patriot Act were recently repealed, but we have a long way to go.  We are all still under surveillance, now by both the NSA and the phone companies.  As with the privatization of our prison system, the privatization of the surveillance state (the NSA, the FBI, and the CIA), has led to gross abuses, and a violation of our civil liberties.  There’s billions to be made in spying for the U.S. government, and the private sector isn’t going to let those billions slip through their fingers, willingly.  Meanwhile, while Mr. Snowden is threatened with prison and worse, leaders of the surveillance state lie to the Congress with impunity, hack into Senate computers, cry out for greater powers, and indicate serious harm will come, as a result of Mr. Snowden’s revelations.  But as usual, the fearmongers are proven wrong again and again (The fearmongers never point out who the U.S. should truly be worried about:  The angry, racist, white American with the Y chromosome, armed to the teeth by the NRA’s worst excesses). 

Mr. Snowden has already been nominated for a Nobel prize; personally, I would like to see him exonerated of all charges, return to our fair shores, and run for the nation’s highest office.

Nancy Pelosi

As a former life long Republican, and a recovering one at that, I thought hell would freeze over before I would ever write a word of praise for Representative Pelosi.  Satan can relax… it will be warm and toasty in hell for a good long while yet, because Ms. Pelosi, along with the House and Senate GOP, decided to support Obamatrade, after all.  This week, Ms. Pelosi, true to form, backpedaled and retreated, sided against the American worker and the U.S. economy, and pandered instead to global oligarchs and multinational interests with TPP fast track passage.  It’s not surprising; it’s this same crew who buys Representative Pelosi’s ticket to office.

At least she’s consistent.

The Fourth Estate

My apologies in advance if I haven’t named them all, but these are the institutions who help take a bite out of the plutocracy’s crime wave on a daily basis:  The New York Times; The New Yorker; The Washington Post; Slate; Salon; The Nation; The Huffington Post; The Guardian; Spiegel; Bloomberg; Barron’s; Marketwatch; Project Syndicate; VOXEU.org; Reuters; Politico; John Stewart; Katrina vandenHeuvel; John Oliver; Tom Keene; Doctors Nouriel Roubini & Joesph Stiglitz; Twitter; Blogger; and Bill Maher.  Without you and many other brave journalist, free thinkers, techies, economist, scribes, and bloggers, this nation would be lost.

Due to these malcontents and angels: “It was the best of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the epoch of belief, it was the season of Light, it was the spring of hope, and we had everything before us.”

Mr. Dickens once wrote those lines, combined with the lead paragraph of this piece, to start off a book on the French Revolution.  There’s a quiet revolution going on in America today.  After a thirty-five year run of right wing fairy tales, the war of ideas is being won on the left and by libertarians; the plutocracy and Wall Street have proved that socialism works quite well, for themselves, and that crony capitalism is an abject failure, except for the 1%.

America’s greatness lies not in its past, but with our vast potential…. A potential that 1% of the population has attempted and succeeded in capturing for themselves. 

It’s time to turn that around.

Viva le American Revolution.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2015

Thursday, June 11, 2015

The Emperor is Buck Naked…


The Emperor is Buck Naked 

 

The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals:

  • Strengthen American democracy; 
  • Foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans; and 
  • Secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system. 

- Mission of the Brookings Institution

 

By J.M. Hamilton  6-12-2015

 

Wage and wealth inequality have become hot button issues for both political parties, leading up to the 2016 race.  Aside from free trade agreements, and trickle down tax policies, trickle down monetary policy (i.e. flooding the markets with highly inexpensive debt/liquidity) – from Reagan/Greenspan forward – has become one of the largest single contributors to rising U.S. wage and wealth inequality.  To such extent that the former Fed Chairman, Mr. Bernanke, felt compelled to write about it, w/in his Brookings Institute blog.  The former Chairman notes: 

 

The claim that Fed policy has worsened inequality usually begins with the (correct) observation that monetary easing works in part by raising asset prices, like stock prices. As the rich own more assets than the poor and middle class, the reasoning goes, the Fed's policies are increasing the already large disparities of wealth in the United States.

 

From there, however, Mr. Bernanke goes onto disassemble, rationalize, and provide excuses for the continuation the very monetary policies that have helped crush the middle class, led to divergent economies (Wall Street uber alles, at the expense of Main Street and manufacturing), and has stolen from middle class and retirees savings accounts – and transferred interest income to those least in need, the Wall Street banks, shadow banking, and private equity robber barons.  But don’t take my word for it… Fed officials have gone so far as to engage in charity work, out of recognition that Federal Reserve policy has magnified and amplified inequality.   

 

In the end, Mr. Bernanke says further study on monetary policy’s impact on inequality is needed, and, either way, Fed monetary policy should not be influenced by inequality.

 

Monetary policy is a blunt tool which certainly affects the distribution of income and wealth, although whether the net effect is to increase or reduce inequality is not clear. More research will be needed to untangle and measure the many channels through which these effects are transmitted. But the (uncertain) distributional impact of monetary policy should not prevent the Fed from pursuing its mandate to achieve maximum employment and price stability, thereby providing broad benefits to the economy.

 

Written like a man in the pay of two hedge funds, and on the Wall Street speaking circuit.  

 

There is perhaps limited, or little, doubt that monetary policy that magnifies wealth inequality, and wage inequality, is a direct threat to one half of the Fed’s, alleged, mandate: Maximum Employment.  The reality is the Fed’s true mandate is to be a highly useful tool for Wall Street profits, and the speculative/moneyed class.

 

The Feds easy money policies have fueled financial engineering, M&A, Wall Street speculation, private equity chop shops, and formation of monopolies and cartels:  All well known for their employment killing capabilities.  Nothing quite makes a stock analyst drool like M&A activity, and the words “synergy,” and “cost savings.”   Synergy and cost savings at the expense of labor and a living wage, crushes the American Dream for the 99%.  Synergy and cost savings (i.e. job cuts) are financed by a fire hose of Fed liquidity.

 

That Mr. Bernanke’s monetary policies, by his own admission, work at cross-purposes with the Brooking Institute’s mission…  well, surely, the irony is lost on no one.  In addition, growing wealth inequality, thanks to Fed largesse, is often used to subvert our democracy.

 

J.M. Hamilton has absolutely nothing against wealth or striving to do better.  It’s the American way.  The manner in which wealth is accumulated is another story.  If wealth is obtained by inventing, say a lifesaving drug, than more power to you and the millions, perhaps billions, that follow.   But if billions are accumulated through: monopoly power afforded by the government; a rigged taxed code; monetary policy run amok – leading to massive financial engineering and layoffs; withholding supply on a drug/product with inelastic demand (so as to jack up the price); obtaining free trade agreement advantages behind closed doors; and regulatory capture – in short, the crony economy (aka rent seeking behavior/aka strategies employed by the elite and Big Pharma on a daily basis) – well, there are very few citizens in favor of this path to financial success.

 

Unfortunately, financial engineering, M&A, and consolidation/combination within entire industries – fueled by the Fed’s/Central bankster’s easy money policies – have become the easiest means by which to obtain wealth (for an elite few).  All at the expense of Main Street, the middle and poorer classes, and United States’ fiscal health.

 

But let’s give the devil his due:  Congratulations, Mr. Bernanke, you just completed Step One of the Twelve-Step program, admitting the Federal Reserve has a problem.  Only eleven more steps to go.  

 

 

 

Our Corporate run news media is replete with stories where the wealthy have “done well,” and donated large sums to charities and educational institutions that are often, already wealthy beyond measure.  

 

One gets the feeling from these news stories/puff pieces that we are to acknowledge and show our gratitude to the robber barons for their generosity.   

 

But at what price to society, our nation, and our children, comes such generosity?  

 

One recent notable gift was from Hedge Fund operator, Mr. John Paulson.  The same Mr. Paulson, who donated $400 million to Harvard, and the same Mr. Paulson who was caught up in a scam with Goldman $achs, during the heart of the financial crisis.  In a deal known as ABACUS , Mr. Paulson rigged the deck, or a cache of CDOs/MBS at the residential market peak, and shorted same through a synthetic derivative product created by Goldman.  The deal is said to have netted Mr. Paulson a cool billion, and cost the unwitting counterparties same.  Goldman $achs later paid a half billion dollar fine for its role in the matter… just another cost of doing business (backstopped by the American taxpayer).

 

Mr. Warren Buffet was recently in the news for donating billions to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Mr. Buffet, of course, is known for running Berkshire Hathaway, and is one of the wealthiest men in America.  He also has come out against a minimum wage increase, at a time when we have a considerable number of working poor in America (who are so underpaid that they are dependent upon the state in order to exist).  

 

Now, Mr. Buffet’s refusal, along with other major business owners and management teams, to pay a living wage means that Berkshire’s bottom line, or profits, receives a direct subsidy from our government, every time state and federal authorities step in and provide assistance to the working poor (i.e. underpaid workers).  But the subsidy to Mr. Buffett’s profits doesn’t stop there, because many of Berkshire’s businesses, perhaps all, pay at a tax rate (if any taxes are paid at all) considerably well below what Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Middleamerica pay.  That is to say, the remnants of the middle class - Mr. Buffet is busy shorting - often pay at a considerably higher tax rate in order to make up for the revenue shortfall that Berkshire Hathaway, and other elites, dodge paying.  

 

Mr. Buffett has acknowledged as much.

 

The government in turn, is overburdened with the working poor, and Berkshire’s, et al., refusal to pay taxes at an equitable rate.  Meanwhile, Berkshire becomes exceptionally wealthy, via: M&A; the formation of monopolies, oligopolies, and cartels, within its portfolio; and through gambling in derivatives and swaps products (much of this financed by the Fed’s easy money policies, and a derivatives and swaps market backstopped by the government).  As a result, Berkshire’s economic, and therefore political, power grows exponentially.  The 99% often live from paycheck to paycheck, and the 1% take home nearly all the nation’s income and accumulate the nation’s wealth, disproportionately.

 

When Mr. Buffett, or other plutocrats, donate to charities (or purchase the Magna Carta), from profits raised on the backs of the working poor, or by exploiting the tax system, or via monopolistic pricing power (all at the expense of the nation)…. We are supposed to applaud, and yell out enthusiastically, “Three Cheers!”

 

Meanwhile, nearly one in four American children are born into poverty.   

 

The former Fed Chair says monetary policy is a blunt tool.   Au contraire… J.M.H., while acknowledging the bluntness of the instrument for the 99%, has also come to believe monetary policy is a very surgical tool, that enriches less than one percent of the population with finite precision.

 

The Brookings Institute should be appalled.

 

P.S. 

 

Two out of four branches of government, possibly the branches with the greatest amount of power, The Federal Reserve and SCOTUS, are run by politicians, who are not democratically elected.  For the sake of America and her economy, it’s time to bring democracy/pluralism to the Fed and SCOTUS.



Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2015