Progressive Power Learns & Grows

Progressive Power Learns & Grows 

 

This isn’t some radical agenda — progressives are fighting for the President’s agenda, the Democratic agenda, the agenda people voted for. And we will deliver on it.

 

-       Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Twitter, October 2, 2021

 

By Gregg Wall (10-2-2020)

 

This might not have been as dramatic as the Women’s March on Versailles, but when the history books are written, the House Progressive Caucus’ rebellion against highly corrupt centrist Dems – this week – may prove to be a key turning point. 

 

On October 5, 1789, Parisian women -- faced with food scarcity, starving children, and escalating inflation over bread -- decided they had enough and marched upon Versailles.  This key event helped kickoff the French Revolution, and King Louis XVI and the Queen Consort of France, Marie Antionette, were marched back to Paris, never to return to their Pleasuredome. 

 

This week in America, the House Progressive Caucus, led by Representative Jayapal, decided that they had enough, and, w/ the nation facing food and fuel inflation, held their own rebellion.  The Progressive Caucus told House Speaker Pelosi they would not pass the corporate welfare package (aka the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure bill), without first passing POTUS Biden’s New Deal legislation (the $3.5 trillion Human Infrastructure bill).  The Progressive Caucus has not always been politically adroit, but having been burned many times before, finally took a hard line.

 

To be sure, the bipartisan infrastructure bill is not entirely bad; but the problem – as with all things bipartisan – is that it is corrupt, leans far more upon propping up a failed status quo, particularly in regards oil & gas energy, and is entirely inadequate for the times.  That is to say, the bipartisan bill doesn’t hold a candle to the real deal, the New Deal package President Biden ran and won upon (specifically, the aforementioned $3.5 trillion Human Infrastructure, reconciliation bill). 

 

With defeat at hand, POTUS Biden showed up on Capitol Hill and attempted to calm roiled legislative waters.  Biden reversed the House Speaker -- who attempted to shaft the American people, progressives, and the Biden agenda, by pushing through the bipartisan bill -- and the President made clear, the Human Infrastructure bill must be a part of the overall package. 

 

 

 

And speaking of history, this is the first President, since LBJ, that has attempted something on this order of magnitude.  Finally, stepping up for the American people, who have long faced: the tyranny of a very ugly oligarchy, billionaire rule, a highly corrupt congress, and neoliberalism & globalism that has completely annihilated the American middle class & worker.  Biden, indeed, knows his presidency is on the line; but more importantly, the pretense of American democracy, itself, is on the line (destitute as the institution is under a failed/purchased two-party system). 

 

In short, the defects and decay of a highly corrupt – corporate – political centrism lie smoldering upon the ash heap of history throughout the West.  See Germany’s defeat of the conservative, centrist CDU in Germany… and now, Greens are the kingmaker.  In Canada, progressive Liberals - and Mr. Trudeau - just won re-election, but only with the help of the leftist, progressive NDP.  And now, Progressives are flexing their muscle in the U.S. ... a direct reflection of neoliberalism's failure. 

 

But I digress.  Within America, the parallels to pre-revolutionary France don’t end with the Women’s March…  rising inflation and ever-increasing food costs were just part of the picture.  King Louis XVI had also deregulated bread and the profiteers & speculators made a killing, on the heels of poor harvests, at the expense of French citizens and economic stability.  Gee, sound familiar?  The monarch and his court were corrupt, completely full of themselves, and bumbling.  Not unlike the Congress, the Federal Reserve, and the U.S. Supreme Court?  Mr. Louis had also driven his country deeply into debt, ironically enough, financing the American Revolution - just to stick it to the British. Today, America is deeply in debt, funding & financing empire, failed nation building, and endless war. 

 

History doesn’t always match up, entirely, with the present, but it is said to often rhyme. 

 

Vive la revolution !!!

 

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2021

Chairman Powell needs to go…

Chairman Powell needs to go… 

 

If the Fed doesn't slow the pace of its monthly bond purchases in the next few months, its balance sheet will be close to $9 trillion by yearend. In the past three months alone, its holdings have expanded by $384 billion, to $8.45 trillion.

 

-       Lisa Abramowicz, Twitter, September 16, 2021

 

By Gregg Wall (9-18-2021)

 

One of the more fascinating late summer stories was congressional house members called upon the Federal Reserve (FED) Chair, J. Powell, to be replaced by the Biden Administration.  The members all hail from the progressive wing of the Democratic party - Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley (often referred to as the Squad).  In particular, these members of congress are deeply concerned the FED chair hasn’t used his tremendous power to rein in Wall Street banks and their funding & investment in the fossil fuels industry.  Moreover, the Federal Reserve -- unlike key central banks, globally -- hasn’t utilized monetary policy and regulatory authority to advance Green initiatives. 

 

The fallout was immediate: with many neoliberal economists, disingenuously, claiming that it’s the role of the US congress to pass legislation to rein in banks and financial institutions, in regards climate change… knowing full well that the bickering & incompetent day traders in the congress will be lucky enough to pass Biden’s infrastructure bills before the 2022 campaign season heats up in earnest.  There’s little doubt congress should play a role in this; but there’s also little doubt the U.S. central bank has a crucial role to play as well, since Wall St. banks & investments play a key role in the perpetuation of an industry that is killing the Earth. 

 

The FED’s mandate, of course, includes price stability and full employment … and if there’s anything that has proven highly unstable - indeed, inflationary – it is the price of oil and energy.  The other commodity that has shot through the roof for all Americans is the price of food, and here again, climate change plays no small role in diminishing crop yields and distressed livestock.  In short, the Squad would appear to be one hundred percent correct in calling for a new FED chair, and perfectly within their right to pitch new legislation, Fossil Free Finance Act, mandating that U.S. banks get in line with the Paris Agreement. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green initiatives are near and dear to my heart, but the other reason why I like this story so much is because the Federal Reserve basically operates in the shadows.  It gets very little scrutiny from the MSM and the vast majority Americans have very little idea of what the FED does… or the outsized, undemocratic, and thoroughly unaccountable role it plays in their lives. 

 

In short, the Squad has done all Americans a tremendous favor by calling attention, and perhaps, beginning a long overdue education of this most powerful branch of government. 

 

Let’s take a quick look at the damage the hyperactive Federal Reserve has done the United States and the American people over the last couple of decades: 

 

It has continuously bailed out Wall Street… and because of this, badly needed reforms in our financially engineered economy, and the catastrophic structural defects emanating from Wall St., are never addressed. 

 

The Federal Reserve’s easy money policies have fueled M&A, industry consolidation, monopoly, monopsony, cartel, and financial engineering.  As JMH has written on more than one occasion, all known killers of jobs, opportunity, innovations, and the economy itself. 

 

The FED has created huge distortions in the economy, incenting speculation via a grossly overinflated stock market… instead of business creation, entrepreneurship, and jobs.  Moreover, the FED’s easy money policies are responsible for disastrous wage and wealth inequality.

 

The FED, and three prior chairs (Greenspan, Bernanke, & Yellen), all funded endless – credit card – wars; and played no small part in the moral hazard surrounding those wars. The FED plays a key role in keeping asset prices and stock prices, in particular, elevated.  Our stock trading Congress eats it up… hence, the perverse incentive to keep America’s finest – her soldiers – tied down in forever wars and engaged in failed nation building.

 

To say the Federal Reserve is the locus of all evil maybe an understatement.  As mentioned, the American central bank is thoroughly unaccountable, elitist, undemocratic, and has entirely become a crutch for the failed U.S. congress and a morally bankrupt two-party system.  The FED’s unwritten mandate appears to be to keep the whole house of cards afloat by printing more money and to apply jet fuel, easy money, to the stock market.  Here, please notice, in particular, Ms. Abramowicz’s quote above and the FED’s ever expanding balance sheet. 

 

I have no objection to the FED printing money to help everyday Americans…  what I object to is the manner, in which, the Federal Reserve’s policies mint billionaires and catastrophic wealth out of thin air, which is a direct threat to democracy and sound government.  Indeed, the future of the nation. 

 

Moreover, the FED, and its chairs, should know better… They’ve been repeating the same Japanification/ultra-accommodative monetary policies for over two decades and with the same highly damaging consequences & effects.  It’s not getting better; it’s getting worse. 

 

But perhaps what is most dangerous about the FED is that it allows Congress to continuously escape accountability for domestic policy, budgeting, foreign policy, long overdue economic & political structural reforms (and this in turn is tearing the country asunder) … especially, perpetual Wall Street bailouts and the financing of endless wars.  The FED enables the House & the Senate, forecloses upon very important conversations the Congress needs to be holding with the American people, like who we are as nation and what do we, and do we not, need & want to fund.  Instead, Congress waves its wand, passes omnibus spending measures - perpetuating a failed status quo, tax cuts for the rich, and never has to account for where the money comes from (not with the ultimate sugar daddy, the FED, standing by).  And as long as it’s welfare the rich, it’s all good.  

 

Right now, presently, when POTUS Biden’s New Deal legislation is needed most, is not the time to rein in the FED… finally, when congress is on the verge of helping the American people, now is when we need the FED’s money printing capabilities as never before. 

 

But the day is coming… a great reckoning is coming.  The national debt is unsustainable, and despite elitist lies, it will never be repaid, not by this or future generations.  Nor should current & future generations pay for a national debt accumulated, funding: bailouts for billionaires & Wall St; tax cuts for the rich; transferring wealth from the many to the few, via the debt & stock markets; nor financing credit card wars or endless corporate welfare (in brief, the FED has funded a massive billionaire welfare state, while elites & lackeys have crammed austerity down the American people’s collective throat).  

 

Not a dime. 

 

Bottom line: Kudos & accolades to the Squad for kicking off a long overdue - preliminary - education on the Federal Reserve and its chairs.  Let’s hope these members of congress continue to use their voices, & power, to educate the American people. 

 

This is an education that is long, long overdue. 

 

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2021

Beware Conservatives & Experts…

Beware Conservatives & Experts… 

 

All my life I’ve known better than to depend on the experts. How could I have been so stupid, to let them go ahead?

 

- POTUS John F. Kennedy

 

By Gregg Wall (9- 4- 2021)

 

The news flow is insane.  My respect for the folks on the Canadian campaign trail has increased tremendously.  What should have been layup shot for the Liberals has turned into a real horse race, with Conservatives presenting a challenge (if we believe the polls).  Rising rock star, Mr. Jagmeet Singh, is also peeling off votes from the Liberal Party. 

 

This race deserves so much more attention than I’m prepared to give it today.  And yet, I would caution Canadians, think very carefully before throwing in with Conservatives.  Mr. O’Toole is very smart, and a far better politician than I ever imagined.  But when it comes to gun control, social programs during a pandemic (vis a vis austerity Conservatives traditionally love), the environment and a Canada we can all breathe and live in, and corporate welfare… this Conservative tiger will have a very hard time changing his stripes.  Mr. O’Toole sounds, almost, like a reformed liberal and social democrat today.  However, when the chips are down -- and given all the problems in the world today, Mr. O’Toole will face, if elected, great adversity -- he will be forced to pivot to his base and social conservatives to retain power. And that’s when the liberal Mr. O’Toole will become highly illiberal, and much more like his Republican cousins in the U.S. 

 

Bottom line:  Mr. Trudeau has some issues, but he’s done a lot of great things for Canada and Canadians, with some prodding from his friends in the NDP.  And Trudeau's stewardship, during the pandemic, has been magnifique.  If I was a betting man, based upon what I’m seeing today, it appears that this will be a horse race all the way to the end.  If Liberals do win, it will, likely, be another minority government.  For progressives, like myself, this is the best of both worlds, the steady hand of the Liberal Party sharing power with the NDP (who I have deep regard for).  

 

When it comes to Canadian Conservatives bearing progressive policies and a sudden appreciation for liberal social conventions (like abortion, gun control, and gay rights), think long and hard.  

 

Think about Premier Jason Kenney in Alberta, and the disaster Conservatives & UCP have brought upon this very fine Canadian province. 

 

And above all, when it comes to Canadian Conservatives, buyer beware.  We, almost certainly, will see an assault upon Public Health Care (or Medicare For All) if O'Toole is elected. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now a pivot the United States, where Mr. Biden has shown steely determination and tremendous respect for our fighting women and men.  Three prior presidents completely lacked the courage and strength to pull America out of fraud defined: Afghanistan nation building.  In the case of the Bush Administration, it appears that Afghanistan was an afterthought and an opportunity for endless nation building and MIC profits.

 

The debt the U.S. owes POTUS Biden for pulling the nation out will, likely, never be fully appreciated; but it’s clear, the majority of Americans support the result and are grateful. 

 

We wouldn’t know this from the American televised MSM and the community of so-called Pentagon & State department experts, talking heads, and pretty faces.  The major U.S. networks have become a joke when it comes to hard news reporting… instead, offering up a mix infotainment, entertainment, soft news stories, and weather.  Exactly, the news reporting MSM network’s ownership and sponsors like and expect. For the most part, content free and with little or no focus upon Wall Street and the billionaires who actually pull the nation’s strings. 

 

But what was amazing – once owner and sponsor financial interests were threatened (i.e., the gravy train that is endless war) – was how the major networks all railed against the President, using the specious argument of concern for Afghanistan women.  Something the MSM has exploited for decades, Afghanistan women, to continue & justify endless nation building.  And yet, these same networks gave all of five minutes of coverage to Afghanistan just last year; and yet, women are abused around the globe, but we fail to hear much from the major American networks on that front.

 

We can truly see how much, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox… truly care about Afghanistan women, not to mention U.S. troops, before Biden pulled the plug on insanity and dumb. 

 

What the Pentagon experts and the network talking heads failed to cover, conveniently enough, was the following: 

 

After hundreds of billions in taxpayer money was wasted on the Afghanistan puppet government (while Americans suffered austerity), how it collapsed in a matter of minutes. 

 

After hundreds of billions in taxpayer money was wasted on nation building (while Americans suffered a collapsing infrastructure), over the span of decades, how the Afghanistan army collapsed in days and hours. 

 

Not once did I hear an expert explain how the U.S. is dependent upon occupying Afghanistan for peace & security, when we spend more than the G10 combined on defense and a police & surveillance state.  

 

I’m still waiting to be educated.

 

Never once did I hear a network anchor explain why so much of the money that, allegedly, went into building up Afghanistan, conveniently, ended up back in the United States as profits & revenue for war contractors. 

 

Nope, none the elites or experts – at the networks – explained how the U.S. gave the Taliban, our alleged enemy, billions not to attack NATO supply lines in the region… or how Western banks provided financial services to Taliban allies. 

 

In this regard, in questioning the failure and the lies surrounding the endless Afghanistan war, the MSM was all too conveniently, and true to form, missing in action. 

 

The final words on all this, beware the American MSM, and their so-called experts, as a news source.   From what I can see, after their Afghanistan coverage, the major U.S. news networks should stick to their bread & butter: entertainment and weather reporting. 

 

 Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2021