Democrats vs republicans

[Cleo's Mom 257]

Finally a rally for the rest of us:

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IMPORTANT: October 2nd: A DC March for US! (With some more info)

Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 03:56:53 PM PDT

How many of us have been saying, "Where is our giant DC rally?"

My fellow Kossacks, I have the answer.

I was surfing around my union's web page (uft.org) and I see this little "Action Alert": March in Washington on Oct. 2!

Huh? Really?

Well, I click the link and sure enough, finally, it seems there is a real, meaningful DC march and rally for us- the normal people. No promises of miracles, no overpriced gold coins, no stealing and distortion of our nation's heritage. A rally for what this country is really about.

More over the jump.

• This is the first I've heard of this, so if it has been diaries before, my apologies. There is to be a press conference on Broadway on Wednesday, at Bowling Green. (The Bull Statue.)
  

Under the title of One Nation Working Together , this event has a   big list of sponsors :

Some of the big ones: The AFL-CIO, the NAACP, SEIU, PowerPAC.org, Green for All, The Leadership Conference, and several dozen more.

[sagreenia 0]

arcisus don't you read the paper listen to news and radio talk. the reps say it all the time they have wanted him to fail and have stated many many times publicly. she is right on the money here.

[sagreenia 0]

Man would I love to go to that march! I just cannot take any more time off right now no matter what. I would dearly love to though.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

It looks like this November the voters will reward those who got us in this economic mess - the republicans - and punish those who are digging us out of it - the democrats.

Fine. Then the republicans will own the problems and the day after they are sworn in I will develop these voters' mindset. But I will be more patient. Instead of expecting 8 million jobs to be created by January 21, 2009 like they did with Pres. Obama, I will give the republicans until February 1, 2011.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

I just saw a poll that said 59% of Americans think Sarah Palin would be ineffective as president. Really? Then why would they vote for republicans this November? Because there isn't a molecule of difference between her views/agenda and the republican's.

[BJean 16]

It looks like this November the voters will reward those who got us in this economic mess - the republicans - and punish those who are digging us out of it - the democrats.

Fine. Then the republicans will own the problems and the day after they are sworn in I will develop these voters' mindset. But I will be more patient. Instead of expecting 8 million jobs to be created by January 21, 2009 like they did with Pres. Obama, I will give the republicans until February 1, 2011.

If you're getting this information from the polls, don't give up yet. So many of the polls are biased and the questions they ask are posed in such a way as to illicit the answers that support their bias. Of course you know this, so I'm probably off base here since you know a lot more about the political climate than I do.

However the decision of Democrats to concede that there will be big losses in November could also be a ploy on the part of the progressives to jolt Americans who are in support of the current administration to get out and vote. It is easy for us to not show up at the polls if we are happy with the way things are going. We don't feel the threat. But you can be sure that the people who are unhappy will definitely go to the polls, in large numbers.

I'm impressed that someone is finally organizing a rally in support of the actions that have been taken by the Democrats to do the things that they promised.

I wish I could brag on the Congress as a whole, but we all know that the business that has been taken care of is in spite of the Republicans inactivity, not WITH Republicans working to fix America.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

If you're getting this information from the polls, don't give up yet. So many of the polls are biased and the questions they ask are posed in such a way as to illicit the answers that support their bias. Of course you know this, so I'm probably off base here since you know a lot more about the political climate than I do.

However the decision of Democrats to concede that there will be big losses in November could also be a ploy on the part of the progressives to jolt Americans who are in support of the current administration to get out and vote. It is easy for us to not show up at the polls if we are happy with the way things are going. We don't feel the threat. But you can be sure that the people who are unhappy will definitely go to the polls, in large numbers.

I'm impressed that someone is finally organizing a rally in support of the actions that have been taken by the Democrats to do the things that they promised.

I wish I could brag on the Congress as a whole, but we all know that the business that has been taken care of is in spite of the Republicans inactivity, not WITH Republicans working to fix America.

Yes, as we speak I am involved in getting people to volunteer to phone bank and canvass for state and local democratic candidates. We want to tap into that enthusiasm and energy people had when they wanted to get bush out. We should never forget the past lest we are condemned to repeat it.

I don't know why people think the answer is to go back to the failed policies of bush. What do they think the republicans will do for the economy - specifically job creation?

They want to extend the bush tax cuts to the top 2% claiming it will create jobs. Well, these tax cuts have been in place for 10 years. Where are the jobs?

They want to complain about the deficit but won't talk about how much this tax cut to the rich is adding to the deficit ($3 trillion over 10 years)

They want to repeal healthcare. By all means take us back to the bush healthcare plan: go to the ER.

They want to deregulate Wall Street: That worked really well for us investors, didn't it?

They want to deregulate mining: That worked really well for those who died in the Massey mine, didn't it?

They want to deregulate big oil: That worked really well for the Gulf Coast oil spill, didn't it?

From 2000 - 2010 the stock market went from 11,000 point to 10,000 points. A complete wash. No gains and mostly losses.

From 2000-2009 - 8 million jobs were lost (most of them from 2007 on).

From 2000-2008 - our wages lost earning power, our homes lost value and our investments lost value.

the bush decade was the decade of loss. But people expect Pres. Obama and the democrats to wave a magic wand and have it all better in an instant. And 18 months is an instant in terms of economic recovery.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

arcisus don't you read the paper listen to news and radio talk. the reps say it all the time they have wanted him to fail and have stated many many times publicly. she is right on the money here.

Those on the right have selective amnesia. This is what was said by republican Jim DeMint about healthcare last year:

"I can almost guarantee you this thing won't pass before August, and if we can hold it back until we go home for a month's break in August," members of Congress will hear from "outraged" constituents, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint said on the call, which was organized by the group Conservatives for Patients Rights.

"Senators and Congressmen will come back in September afraid to vote against the American people," DeMint predicted, adding that "this health care issue Is D-Day for freedom in America."

"If we’re able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo. It will break him," he said

[Cleo's Mom 257]

They say that if you want to know about an organization follow the money. Those who have been following my posts know that I think the tea party is a bunch of phonies. Some may have been duped into joining but it is not a grass roots movement.

And remember that those who control the money control the message. So, let's follow the money of this movement. There are three. First of all, Rupert Murdoch. The two others are the Koch brothers (pronounced Coke). You may not have heard of them. They got their start in oil and now in an array of industrial products from Dixie Cups to Lycra.

Like other conservatives before them they are opposed to the usual laundry list: taxes, corporate regulations, organized labor, and government "handouts" to the poor, unemployed, ill and elderly.

David Koch founded the conservative Americans for Prosperity whose political arm in its Texas branch awarded its Blogger of the Year award to an activist who has called Pres. Obama "cokehead in chief". But remember I was criticized when I said that ground zero for the teabaggers was their hatred of Pres. Obama.

David Koch ran for vice president in 1980 on the Libertarian ticket calling for the abolition of social security, federal regualtory agencies, welfare, the FBI, the CIA, and public schools. In other words - any government enterprise that would either inhibit his business profits or increase his taxes.

Why does this all sound so familiar? Because the extremists of the republican party are embracing this agenda, starting with Mr. Coppertone himself, John Boehner. As well as Rand Paul, Sharon Angle and Joe Miller. They do this while supporting an agenda for big business, whether on Wall Street or in the Gulf of Mexico, while dismantling fundamental government safety nets designed to protect the unemployed, public health, workplace safety and subsistence to the elderly.

These candidates have no trouble with the deficit increasing tax cuts to the rich while calling the $20 billion fund for those affected by the BP oil spill a "shakedown" and "slush fund", oppose extending unemployment benefits, and calls for a freeze on federal regulations in an era when abuses in the oil, financial, mining, big pharma, and even the egg industry are outrageous.

If you vote for these people, you are voting against your own economic self-interest. So, if the republicans again gain power, be prepared to be 70 years old and saying "Welcome to WalMart".

Some of the above came from a New York Times article by Frank Rich.

Edited September 1, 2010 by Cleo's Mom

[sagreenia 0]

Hey I sure hope the repubs do not win any control of anything because they are lying cheating scoundrels and they can take Palin and keep her! She is an idiot and not fit for much if you ask me a quitter and golddigger, I saw those polls too and thought who in this country would want to vote for those guys it would be like a dog eating it's own vomit, GROSS!

[BJean 16]

Great post Cleo's.

sagreenia, that's a pretty graphic post. Probably not going to win too many voters with that. But I dunno, if someone is right wing enough to vote Republican in the upcoming elections, they're okay with strong, rather revolting language because that's what they're voting for.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

Layoffs increase CEO pay

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

By Len Boselovic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Chief executive officers at the 50 companies that announced the biggest layoffs since the recession intensified in late 2008 made 42 percent more last year than the average large company CEO, according to a study released today by a Washington research group.

Three Pittsburgh companies made the The Institute for Policy Studies' list, which ranked CEOs based on the number of announced layoffs. Alcoa finished ninth, with 13,985 layoffs; CEO Klaus Kleinfeld's pay was $11.2 million. U.S. Steel placed 23rd, with 6,705 layoffs and CEO John P. Surma's $1.5 million pay. PNC Financial Services Group ranked 28th, with 5,800 layoffs and CEO James E. Rohr's pay of $14.8 million.

"Our findings illustrate the great unfairness of the Great Recession," said Sarah Anderson, who co-authored the study. "CEOs are squeezing workers to boost short-term profits and fatten their own paychecks."

The Institute for Policy Studies said the average CEO on its list of the 50 layoff leaders made $12 million in 2009 compared to the average $8.5 million that CEOs at S&P 500 companies received. The average CEO on the list announced 10,627 layoffs at his or her company between Nov. 1, 2008, and April 1, 2010, the institute said.

The institute identified Schering-Plough CEO Fred Hassan as the highest-paid CEO on the list. His 2009 pay of $49.7 million included a $33 million golden parachute Mr. Hassan received when Merck bought the pharmaceutical company in late 2009, the study said. It cited layoffs of 16,000, including jobs eliminated at both companies as a result of the merger.

The 50 CEOs on the list received total compensation of $598 million. That's enough to provide unemployment benefits to 37,759 workers for a year, the institute said.

PNC spokesman Fred Solomon said the bank's employment doubled to 56,098 during the period the institute examined as a result of its acquisition of Cleveland's National City Corp. PNC eliminated 5,800 jobs when it combined the staffs of the two operations, much of which was accomplished through attrition, he said. PNC also shed 500 jobs as part of the government-ordered sale of 61 branches in Western Pennsylvania, Mr. Solomon said.

Alcoa spokesman Kevin Lowery said the company reduced its head count 38 percent between the second quarter of 2008 and the end of last year because of an unprecedented 60 percent drop in aluminum prices over a three-month period. "Action had to be taken immediately,"(Yeah, how about reducing the CEO pay by 60%? He would have still made 4.5 million - who can't live off that?) Mr. Lowery said. "It's never pleasant to have to lay off people."

U.S. Steel declined comment. Mr. Surma took a 20 percent pay cut in mid-2009 and declined grants of restricted stock and options last year that typically account for a hefty portion of a CEO's overall compensation.

Only four other CEOs on the list of layoff leaders made less than the $1.5 million Mr. Surma was paid last year. Three of those CEOs came from financial institutions that received assistance as a result of the federal government bank rescue package: Citigroup's Vikram Pandit, former Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis and JPMorgan Chase's James Dimon.

These are the CEO's the republicans support and those who were laid off by them - now the unemployed - are the ones some republicans call hobos.

But by all means lets vote more of these republicans in.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

Man would I love to go to that march! I just cannot take any more time off right now no matter what. I would dearly love to though.

Spread the word. Write a letter to your local paper to promote it. Plus, you can sponsor someone who can go but can't afford it.

[loserbob 11]

Hey I sure hope the repubs do not win any control of anything because they are lying cheating scoundrels and they can take Palin and keep her! She is an idiot and not fit for much if you ask me a quitter and golddigger, I saw those polls too and thought who in this country would want to vote for those guys it would be like a dog eating it's own vomit, GROSS!

Alot of short memories out there!!!

[Cleo's Mom 257]

Great post Cleo's.

sagreenia, that's a pretty graphic post. Probably not going to win too many voters with that. But I dunno, if someone is right wing enough to vote Republican in the upcoming elections, they're okay with strong, rather revolting language because that's what they're voting for.

Thanks. And the sad part of it is that Koch and Murdoch are laughing all the way to the bank while they have these tea partiers do all their bidding for them by aiding and abetting their selfish interests. Like I said, those who control the money control the message.