The Case for a Really Bad Recession No Matter Who is President in 2021

You can see the effects of the Coronavirus in the nearly empty restaurants, coffee shops, health clubs, etc…. throughout the United States. The U.S. should have gone into recession sometime in 2016 to 2018 after corporate profits peaked during the third quarter of 2014 and annually during that year. The U.S. always follows a decline in total corporate profits with a recession unless corporate earnings pick up. However, something kept this business expansion going far beyond what it historically should have since corporate earnings have been down for almost six years.

The Fed’s $26 trillion bailout of billionaires and multi-millionaires during the last economic crisis, as well as record corporate debt, helped to prolong the record economic expansion and the stock market bubble far beyond what economic fundamentals would normally have allowed. Record corporate share buybacks have helped the bubble and expansion along, although share buybacks had long been considered market manipulation.

Apple, for example, purchased $320 billion of its own shares over the last seven years pushing its stock price after a seven-way split in 2014 from $92 a share to over $320 until January 2020. The shares have lost $50 so far and are likely to lose a lot more. $320 billion are heading down the drain.

President Donald Trump’s tax cuts which largely went to the rich and their corporations should be given plenty of credit for extending this expansion and stock market bubble. Most corporations used the tax savings for share buybacks. All that did was inflate perhaps the largest US stock market bubble in history. As the number of people filing for unemployment insurance rises, the bubble will have further to fall, and it is likely the business contraction will be worse because of it, and the president should be given plenty of credit for that too.

Income and wealth inequality has continued to grow over the last forty years to historic proportions. Consumer debt is at record levels, as is corporate debt. Gross domestic product growth has been much lower over the last decade than under President’s Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, and Clinton. The same is true with job growth. Wages have been stagnant for forty years. Home prices have fallen 8 percent since and including the fourth quarter of 2017. Rich investors are pouring out of the mortgage bond markets.

All of this suggests a recession of historic magnitude, among the worst ever. I am not the only one who thinks this way. The Fed over the last ten days has lowered interest rates, and will likely lower them even further this week. Normally that does not happen until after a recession has officially begun. In addition, the president has declared a national emergency and the Democrats and Republicans have a relief package all set for the Senate to vote on this coming week.

None of the share buybacks, federal stimulus packages, and interest rate decreases will likely defeat the impact of the Coronavirus unless they come with a vaccine. Many months from now expect the folks at the National Bureau of Economic Research to get together and determine the recession began in March 2020, maybe April.

President Trump will not be at fault, though his tax cuts for the rich and their corporations will have played a negative role in the coming debacle.

There is a reason why income and wealth inequality has gotten so bad in the United States that three men own more wealth than the bottom 50 percent of the population.

You can blame the Democrats and the Republicans and the billionaires who pull their strings. For tax cuts for the rich blame Republicans; for exporting millions of jobs and redistributing trillions of dollars of income from the 99 to the 1 percent blame the Democrats, especially the Clinton’s and Joe Biden. For deregulation of Wall Street blame Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton and Joe Biden. The list goes on but the leaders of the two parties work together behind closed doors to ensure all this stuff occurs.  This is precisely why the two parties have acted so quickly together to fight the Coronavirus and the ensuing economic debacle they have created.

**An hour after I wrote and posted this story the United States Federal Reserve Bank dropped interest rates a full percent down to virtually zero and announced it would purchase $700 billion of U.S. Treasury Notes and Mortgage-Backed Bonds. The recession has not even begun and everybody in power is acting as if the next Great Depression began a year ago. The folks in power know a disaster coming when they see it. Hell, they created it by redistributing trillions of dollars from the 99 to the 1 percent during the last forty+ years. Now the chickens may be coming home to roost.

 

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The Iranian Nuclear Deal: Was it a clever deal by Obama to weaken the Republican Party?

The Iranian nuclear deal has done something quite wonderful. It has lowered oil prices by ending the US led embargo of Iran’s products, including oil. Iranian oil is now flooding the international markets, driving the price of oil and gasoline down. Some people in the USA are not happy with this deal, notably Republicans. One has to wonder, however, if that’s because of that oil flooding the world’s markets, or if they’re really worried the Iranians will violate the agreement, launch a suicidal nuclear assault on the United States, which would be a calamity for the Iranians since there would be a dust heap afterwards where the nation of Iran once stood, especially considering the success these same people claim for the US missile defense shield.

One has to wonder if the deal to keep Iran embargoed was intentionally to keep its oil off the world market, which drove oil and gasoline prices higher than they would otherwise have been. In other words, the effect of the Iranian embargo was to redistribute money from the 99 percent to investors and executives of Big Oil. The lack of a nuclear deal kept that embargo in place. Was this a strange coincidence? Or a master plan?

Big Oil is a big supporter of the Republican Party. Did the president strike a deal with the Iranians with an eye toward driving the price of oil and gasoline down, as well as Big Oil’s profit margins. The president’s deal may lower campaign contributions to the Republicans from the masters of this sector of the economy.

The Iranians have never been a threat to the United States, and they won’t be even if they violate any agreement to not produce nuclear weapons. The truth is that the Iranians entered the fray against ISIS at the behest of the Americans many months ago. They also offered to join with the US to eliminate Al Queda in Afghanistan after 9-11. However, President George W. Bush found it convenient to paint the Iranians as a dangerous threat to the US in order to jack up profitable military spending. That administration also most likely did not want Iranian oil flooding the world markets.

Perhaps President Obama had this in mind when he sealed the deal, and perhaps lower gasoline and oil prices is just a happy coincidence.

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Elizabeth Warren: Middle Class Prosperity Project Forum Opening Statement: She calls out Republicans to put up or shut up

Elizabeth Warren says to Republicans, “It’s time to put up or shut up. I have a message for my Republican colleagues, stop talking about helping the middle class, and start doing it.” Then she lists a number of things the Republicans that control congress can do to help the middle class, none of which the Republicans intend to do. Basically, she’s accurately saying the Republicans are lying about their desire to help the middle class, which is totally true.

Of course, plenty of Democrats secretly and not so secretly side with the Republicans on these issues, most notable among them is Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden, who is pushing the largest income redistribution scam in history from the 99 to the 1 percent. It’s called the Trans Pacific Partnership, and Wyden is one of the strongest supporters of the 1 percent in their war against the middle class.

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Immigration Reform: The Republicans Really Aren’t Serious about it, neither are the Democrats, but it is useful to divide their semi-respective bases and keep our eye off income and wealth inequality

The Republican’s in congress have been blustering and proposing measures about border security and immigration reform since they have come into power. It’s all hogwash. Okay, it’s pure unadulterated bull shit.

The Republicans want to lower wages in the United States for the 99 percent, and redistribute the difference between the old wages and the new lower wages into the pockets of their billionaire buddies. So do plenty of Democrats, like Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden. Republicans also want to undermine health and safety laws, and an undocumented working population can hardly find a voice against undermining these laws. That’s why the Republicans really are against immigration reform, or fixing border security. They want to continue the current system of keeping millions of people undocumented, and welcoming new arrivals, so as to continue pushing wages down.

Otherwise, the Republicans would:

* Make it a felony to enter the United States undocumented, which many nations already do. In Mexico, it’s a one to two year prison sentence for entering the nation undocumented the first time. This law would likely reduce undocumented immigration by 90 percent, if enforced.

* Would broadcast loudly that any sort of amnesty would reduce the wages of American citizen’s for eleven years, and reduce the gross domestic product of the United States for eleven consecutive years, according to a study by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). See The Economic Impact of S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act–Congressional Budget Office, giving a strong rationale for the Republicans to rally the troops against undocumented immigrants, but that’s not going to happen.

* would broadcast loudly that the last amnesty for undocumented workers reduced average American wages for eleven years.

* would pass a law requiring all businesses to use the highly accurate and successful E-Verify system, but that would push a lot of undocumented immigrants out of the job markets, thereby reducing the supply of labor, and raising wage rates.

The Republicans, however, don’t want to mention of these things because:

* They want to lower the wages of US workers, as well as undermine US health and safety laws, because those laws undermine profits.

* Building fences and holding tanks for an increasing undocumented population is big business because most of those things are privatized.

* In other words, keeping people undocumented is big business.

The same can be said for the Democratic Party. They also want to lower American wages, which is what President Obama has done according to the CBO report by allowing up to five million undocumented immigrants to stay and work in the United States. The president’s actions have also likely encouraged more people to arrive undocumented in the United States. According to Pew Hispanic Research poll a few years ago, 80 percent of Mexican adults said they would rather live in the United States than Mexico.

So the president’s actions will also keep the profitable business of catching and holding undocumented immigrants going strong far into the future, even after the US supreme court invalidates his orders.

This issue keeps Americans divided between the law and order Republican grass roots and the bleeding heart liberals. The issue is really about profits, divide and conquer the grassroots, and to keep us from seeing the real picture of income and wealth inequality.

The two parties used to divide us over abortion, but in recent polls, only 1 percent of Americans considered abortion to be a major issue. Undocumented immigration, and immigration in general, were higher up in the polls than abortion. That’s why illegal immigration is the new abortion in the sense that it is a divisive issue that keeps our eyes off the economic prize, and other issues, such as income and wealth inequality, which have been brought about by legislation in the federal government.

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Video: How Free Trade is Wiping Out the Middle Class by Massively Redistributing Income From the 99 to the 1 Percent

All of your liberal Democratic and conservative Republican congresspeople know free trade treaties have been the primary catalyst that has created the inequality in the United States today, and they also know those treaties have redistributed income from the 99 to the 1 percent. Everyone one of them knows this, and President Obama knows this as well.

And they still want to pass the most destructive, secretly negotiated treaty in US history that will redistribute massive amounts of income from the the 99 to the 1 percent.

They don’t give a hog fart about you and your loved ones and fellow Americans in the least. It’s all about money. Follow the money.

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Why President Obama Should Have Grown a Spine, Become a Real Democrat Rather Than A Wall Street Plutocrat, Veto The Republican House Budget, and Shut Down the Government

A flutter of fear ran through Congress yesterday, desperately searching for a Democratic spine to run up. The flutter of fear found its target as President Obama sided with Wall Street and the Republican Party against his own Democratic Party, the Democratic base, and the American public.

When this Congress works together to get something done, it’s almost always on behalf of the 0.01 percent, and it’s almost always a profoundly bad one for the 99 percent. The omnibus spending bill that the House passed last night is just about the most corrupt and dangerous piece of legislation to come out of Washington in a long time. A few spineless Wall Street Democrats caved in to Republican hostage demands to avoid a government shutdown. So did Obama, the ultimate Wall Street Democrat. He could have sent a strong message with his veto pen to the 114th Congress since any deal this bad shouldn’t have gotten his signature, regardless of a shutdown threat from Republicans.

So what’s so bad about this deal that a government shutdown is preferable besides the fact that it was written in large measure by Citicorp lobbyists? A lot of things, but one stands out more than the rest.

The Republicans have stuck a little piece of legislation in the funding bill that will force taxpayers to bail out much of Wall Street derivative losses.

Financial derivatives are bonds backed by a real assets, such as home mortgages and student loans. Currently, there are $700 trillion in outstanding derivatives in the world, while the yearly world economy produces only about $70 trillion a year. The US derivative markets has about $230 trillion outstanding, compared to an economy that produces about $16 trillion in goods and services a year.

JP Morgan and Chase Bank hold about $150 trillion of this toxic financial wasteland called the derivatives market.

Should the derivative markets take a nose dive, under the Republican proposal, US taxpayers could owe the big banks a large portion of that $230 trillion. It’s going to be bailout time when the next recession hits. Massively rich, but remarkably stupid, investors know they don’t have make smart investment decisions since the taxpayers are going to be forced to bail them out. In other words, Republicans have decided to redistribute massive amounts of cash from the American middle class for years to come to the 1 percent should their gamble on these derivatives fail. President Obama also said yes to bailing out Wall Street in the future.

President Obama has always been a servant of Wall Street. Quite naturally, he was never likely to veto this budget bill, but one can always hope the president developed a spine and became an FDR or Elizabeth Warren type of Democrat for the American people.

This is bad policy for the nation, for the world, for the middle class, and basically for just about everybody except a few rich Wall Street fat cats. No doubt, some Democrats such as Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden will fight for this bill. Others, however, such as Sherrod Brown, Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley will not do as Wall Street commands.

What else did Obama and his Republican Party agree to do in this budget?

The Republican Party and President Obama and a massive portion of the Democratic Party are all about redistributing income and wealth from the 99 to the 1 percent. Now the battle will go to the senate. There is some hope there to stop this madness.

Click below for the rest of the story.

Why President Obama Should Veto This Budget and Shut Down the Government–Readersupportednews.com

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This is how the corrupt US government works

This is how the corrupt US government works.

Is there a relationship between a company giving campaign contributions and receiving government handouts for their rich shareholders? You bet there is, and it’s called corruption to the core!

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Republicans Are Stunned As President Calls Their Bluff on Climate Change

While in China this week, President Obama announced an ambitious and wide-ranging climate deal between the United States and China. This “agreement is leaving one vociferous group of politicians red-faced: those that have always used China as an excuse for delaying climate action.

“The announcement between the two biggest emitters deals a blow to the oft-stated rhetoric that the US must wait for China before bringing domestic climate legislation. And vice versa: China has long used US inaction as an excuse too.” Mother Jones magazine

Now Republicans are steaming mad the president has done something to undermine their rationale to sit tight and do nothing about global warming.

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How Trickle Down Economics Is Used Against Children

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Fast Breaking Thursday News: Wall Street Congressman David Camp and Wall Street Senator Max Baucus Introduce Fast Track To Congress and Bring the War Against the Middle Class to a Climax on Behalf of Wall Street and the 1 Percent

From Citizen’s Trade Campaign, January 9, 2014

Words in parenthesis are mine.

Earlier today, Representative Dave Camp (R-MI) and Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) introduced “Fast Track” legislation that would enable the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other free trade agreements (Income Redistribution Treaties) to be signed by the White House before the public gets to see them, and then rushed through Congress circumventing ordinary review, amendment and debate procedures.

Please ensure that the Camp-Baucus “Fast Track” bill is dead on arrival by writing your Members of Congress now.

Literally millions of people throughout the world have complained about the extreme secrecy of the TPP negotiations. They’ve argued that the public desrves the right to know what is being proposed in our names for a twelve-nation pact that will set rules governing an estimated 40% of the global economy — rules that not only dictate tariff levels, but also energy and environmental policy, medicine patents, financial regulations, “Buy Local” preferences, food safety, consumer labelling and more.

While the public has been shut out of the TPP negotiating process, hundreds of corporate lobbyists — representing companies like Walmart, Cargill and Chevron — have had access to the texts. This double-standard has assured that the TPP has been written in corporations’ interests, with little regard for working families, the environment or public health.

Now Representative Camp and Senator Baucus want even Congress to give up its constitutional authority to assure that trade agreement provisions are written in the best interests of the constituents they serve. Tell Congress to oppose this outrageously undemocratic manuevering and demand real oversight over the TPP.

Together, we can defeat this outdated, Nixon-era policymaking process. Thanks to your efforts, last year, over three-quarters of House Democrats and a good number of Republicans signed letters voicing their opposition to Fast Track. We need to encourage those Congresspeople to stay strong in what is certain to be an onslaught of corporate lobbying, and we need to demand that the others side with constituents over Wall Street and the Business Roundtable.

Unfortunately, corporate lobbyists are already on the attack in support of this awful bill. They’re pressing for Fast Track hard, hoping to get their ducks in a row for a quick vote. We need your help ensuring that Congress understands that the Fast Track vote is a priority.

TAKE ACTION: Urge Congress to vote against the Camp-Baucus “Fast Track” legislation.

From me.

One final word needs to be said about President Obama’s war against the middle class. The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is his treaty, and besides everything outlined above, this treaty will also redistribute massive amounts of income from the 99 to the 1 percent, in the United States and outside. It will drive millions of Latin Americans out of the textile industry and into the US illegally, also increase the exportation of jobs from the USA, and the difference between the old higher US wages and the new lower wages overseas will go into the pockets of the super rich, thereby destroying much of our tax bases for schools, medicare and other social safety net programs.

Why are our schools destitute for money? The answer is simple. Free corporate income redistribution treaties from NAFTA to CAFTA and the TPP, have redistributed our middle class incomes to the rich, and that means our tax bases have been redistributed to the 1 percent as well. The TPP will only make things worst for schools.

The treaty will also undo what little Wall Street regulation there is, and tie the hands of any future president who might want to regulate the pirates of Wall Street in the future.

The US and probably the world is heading for the worst Great Depression in 80 years, and probably worse than the one in the 1930s. The TPP will only make it worst. Oh, and by the way, did I mention that Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden supports the TPP and Fast Track? Oh, that’s right! He’s Wall Street’s senator!

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