brainiac conspiracy

Capitalism Doesn't Have to be Evil II

But all too often, it simply is. Perhaps someone should do something about it.

---Baron V

Midday Music Blogging

Because immigration reform is perpetually a thing, even though nothing ever gets done about it.

---Baron V

No One Could Have Possibly Predicted

That the same people who stole trillions of dollars from us would continue, like, stealing from us.

Okay, it's not exactly stealing, but the entire purpose of inflating the Fed's balance sheet by three trillion dollars was to provide regular liquidity injections into the financial system to provide stimulus and to accelerate economic recovery---you know, so banks would keep lending money so businesses could expand, so people could purchase homes and new cars, and so forth. But that couldn't happen because the banks had already stolen trillions of dollars of our money, and people who'd lost their jobs or taken big salary cuts weren't shopping for new cars or anything else, and because of that, consumer demand tanked. And when that happened, businesses couldn't sell their products anymore, so they lost money and had to reduce their leverage before they could even think about expanding. So the banks used the money to buy Treasuries (with taxpayer-guaranteed returns), or to lend to each other, or to cover their legal expenses for stealing people's homes, or to hold in reserve to cover their next round of hedge bets.

So four years later, no stimulus, and no recovery. It's really a shame because this could have been foreseen, and because all of that money could have been put to much more productive use.

But bottom line, the moral is: when people have proven they can't be trusted with our money, don't give them more of our money. Do you really need a Ph.D. in Economics to figure this out?

---Baron V

Immigrants

They're thrifty and hard-working people, the great majority of them, and they deserve to be treated with a measure of dignity and respect. Unless they happen to be homos.

Yes, I know the old saw about eggs and omelettes, but it's also another example of Team Democrat making another needless concession to the crazy people---and alienating (once again) their supporters---in exchange for votes on a bill that will likely go nowhere once it reaches the crazy-majority House. What makes it even more maddening is the fact that Americans generally favor Team Democrat's policy position, and generally despise the crazy people. So why keep throwing away a winning hand?

B-b-b-but, we don't have the votes! Yes, you do. Try using them for a change.

---Baron V

Big Bro's Database

At first glance, this story certainly looks ominous, but if you stop to think about it, it's not that big a development. I mean, if you have a Social Security number, or a driver's license, or a passport, or if you're enrolled in some social-insurance plan like Medicaid or unemployment compensation, you're already part of some giant database that some government agency is monitoring from time to time, so it's hard to see this proposal as anything other than just another clever way to pry more money out of the government and into the hands of private contractors who will be tasked with implementing the program. No policy gets written in this country unless there's money to be made from it, after all.

---Baron V

It's All Your Fault

If you're unemployed, or underemployed, or involuntarily retired, because you lack the crucial skills our job creators desperately need in the rapidly expanding fields of math, science and technology. They'd be perfectly happy to hire you but for your own sorry inadequacies. Everybody knows this!

Also too, cheap labor:

The EPI study found that the United States has “more than a sufficient supply of workers available to work in STEM occupations.” Basic dynamics of supply and demand would dictate that if there were a domestic labor shortage, wages should have risen. Instead, researchers found, they’ve been flat, with many Americans holding STEM degrees unable to enter the field and a sharply higher share of foreign workers taking jobs in the information technology industry . . . H-1B workers are paid an estimated 20 percent less than their American counterparts.

Good thing we're agreed that their taxes need to be lowered. It won't solve the jobs problem, though!

---Baron V

Got an Easy Answer For That

No.

It really is symptomatic of the utter bankruptcy of our political discourse, and of the media-industrial complex that generates much of it, that an uncredentialed freshman Senator with no significant legislation to his name can be crowned as his party's latest Favorite Toy based on nothing more weighty than his familiarity with Tupac Shakur and the Kardashian sisters. It probably helps to explain how the transformation of one of our mainstream political parties into a doomsday religious cult could escape the notice of our media watchdog elite. But as long as the party base consists of people who believe that a clump of embryonic stem cells is the same thing as a baby, that dinosaurs rode on Noah's Ark, that shariah law is a creeping menace upon the land, that climate change is a liberal hoax, that the opposition party is building forced-labor camps in which to confine them, and that raising taxes on poor people generates boundless prosperity, there is no "answer" for Republicans because the party as it is currently constituted---like its Confederate/Dixiecrat predecessors---is a lost cause. They will still win some election cycles, and retain their greatest strength wherever rural old white guys gather, but as this voter demographic gradually dies off, so too will the party's prospects. For the sake of the Republic, it can't happen soon enough.

---Baron V

The Americas' Newest Developing Nation

Have written this same post before, basically, but it's worth writing again because Mexico:

Like most children, the students at Stone Corral Elementary School here rejoice when the bell rings for recess and delight in christening a classroom pet.

But while growing up in this impoverished agricultural community of numbered roads and lush citrus orchards, young people have learned a harsh life lesson: “No tomes el agua!”--
“Don’t drink the water!”

Seville, with a population of about 300, is one of dozens of predominantly Latino unincorporated communities in the Central Valley plagued for decades by contaminated drinking water. It is the grim result of more than half a century in which chemical fertilizers, animal wastes, pesticides and other substances have infiltrated aquifers, seeping into the groundwater and eventually into the tap. An estimated 20 percent of small public water systems in Tulare County are unable to meet safe nitrate levels, according to a United Nations representative.

You really have to wonder how much longer this crap continues, and how much worse it needs to get, before farm towns like Seville start petitioning international relief agencies like UNESCO for potable water since it's obvious that they can't rely on Sacramento or Washington for assistance. This problem has existed in the Central Valley forever, and it doesn't seem as though anyone in positions of authority in this state will do anything to fix it. Oh well, lemons to Lemon Pledge®, and all that.

---Baron V

Saturday Night Music Blogging

Because, you know, we owe it all to La Raza. Play very loud.

---Baron V

Words Poorly Chosen

Have to disagree a bit with brother Benen here:

Obama believes he can't change Washington, or major national policy, or the nation's direction by himself, and he's right. It's a cooperative process, dependent on engaged citizens and more than one branch of government.

True, yes, but it can also be perceived as a passive approach to governance that projects an image of weakness, and it needlessly provides the Teabillies with more fodder that they can channel through the swirling media chum of Politico and The Hill. Given the forum he was presented today, he'd have been much better off hammering the throttle, blaming Republicans for everything, and imploring Hispanic voters to turn out at the polls and give him a Democratic Congress next year. Yes, it would have been shrill and not too terribly "presidential", and I know that's not how this President rolls, but Jesus, people, we're only six weeks out from the election, and the other side don't play by Queensbury rules. Enough with the "I can't do it alone" bullshit. We know that already, so try lighting a fire under the electorate instead, channeling your inner Harry Truman if necessary. Put it another way: Even-handedness and $1.50 gets you a cup of coffee, and not much more, in Washington as elsewhere.

---Vitelius

Monday Night Labor Blogging

Because looting and mooching is hard and dangerous work.

---Vitelius

Why Our Beltway Punditocracy is Obsolete

Because who needs Cokie and Fluffy and Bobo and Chuck when you can cut straight through the crap and get more trenchant analysis from an Internet comment board?

Another bonehead comment like this one and she'll find herself on the roof of the family station wagon.

---Vitelius

Two Can Play That Game

We need to build a fence along the border and start shooting. The people over there are fucking nuts!

---Canadian Tory MP candidate

Used to Call it Bullshit

But now we call it smart and sensible energy policy:

Now, you always hear these arguments that somehow there’s this huge contradiction between the environment and economic development, or the environment and energy production. And the fact of the matter is that there are a lot of folks right now that are engaging in hydraulic fracking who are doing it safely. The problem is, is that we haven’t established clear guidelines for how to do it safely, and informed the public so that neighbors know what’s going on, and your family, you can make sure that any industry that’s operating in your area, that they’re being responsible.

Also too, the fact of the matter is that there a lot of folks right now that are engaging in widespread groundwater contamination and triggering earthquakes who are doing it safely. The problem is, we haven't established clear guidelines for how to contaminate groundwater and trigger earthquakes safely, and informed the public so that neighbors know what's going on with their contaminated groundwater and the foundations of their homes that are cracking from earthquakes, and your family, you can make sure that any industry that's contaminating groundwater and triggering earthquakes in your area, that they're being responsible. Glad we cleared that up!

---Vitelius

Compassionate Conservatism

In theory and practice:

Trying to equalize health care consumption hurts the poor, since most feasible policies to do this take away cash from the poor, either directly or through the operation of tax incidence. We need to accept the principle that sometimes poor people will die just because they are poor. Some of you don’t like the sound of that, but we already let the wealthy enjoy all sorts of other goods---most importantly status---which lengthen their lives and which the poor enjoy to a much lesser degree. We shouldn’t screw up our health care institutions by being determined to fight inegalitarian principles for one very select set of factors which determine health care outcomes.

Meanwhile, actual poor people:

Laboring in the blackberry fields of central Arkansas, the 18-year-old Mexican immigrant suddenly turned ill. Her nose began to bleed, her skin developed a rash, and she vomited.

The doctor told her it was most likely flu or bacterial infection, but farmworker Tania Banda-Rodriguez suspected pesticides. Under federal law, growers must promptly report the chemicals they spray.

It took the worker, and a Tennessee legal services lawyer helping her, six months to learn precisely what chemical doused those blackberry fields. The company ignored her requests for the information. The Arkansas State Plant Board initially refused to provide records to her lawyer, saying it didn't respond to out-of-state requests. An Arkansas inspector, dispatched after the complaint, didn't initially discern what pesticides were used the day the worker became ill, records show.

When answers finally arrived---the fungicide was Switch 62.5WG, a chemical that can irritate the eyes and skin---Banda-Rodriguez had already left Arkansas to follow the season to Virginia and ultimately returned to Mexico. She never learned whether the pesticide sickened her.

We need to accept the principle that sometimes poor people will get sick and die at work just because they are poor. Some of you don’t like the sound of that, but we already let the wealthy enjoy all sorts of other privileges---most importantly, the status of an air-conditioned corner office---which lengthen their lives and which the poor enjoy to a much lesser degree. We shouldn’t screw up our workplaces by being determined to fight inegalitarian principles for one very select set of factors which determine worker-safety outcomes. Besides, that poor woman made some very unfortunate career decisions. She didn't have to become an itinerant farm workers. She could have been a dressage trainer, or a conservative blogger. And there is something seriously wrong with people who believe that denying health care to others who are more likely to get sick than them is a wise and judicious thing to do.

---Vitelius

First Impressions Are Generally Correct

And yes, "coup" was the correct word to describe this:

• First, a presidential election is decided by five people, who don't even try to explain their choice in normal legal terms.

• Then the beneficiary of that decision appoints the next two members of the court, who present themselves for consideration as restrained, humble figures who care only about law rather than ideology.

• Once on the bench, for life, those two actively second-guess and re-do existing law, to advance the interests of the party that appointed them.

• Meanwhile their party's representatives in the Senate abuse procedural rules to an extent never previously seen to block legislation---and appointments, especially to the courts.

• And, when a major piece of legislation gets through, the party's majority on the Supreme Court prepares to negate it---even though the details of the plan were originally Republican proposals and even though the party's presidential nominee endorsed these concepts only a few years ago.

How would you describe a democracy where power was being shifted that way?

I dunno. How does "Bush-League Democracy" sound?

Corporate money, media consolidation, a rigged Cosa Nostra financial system, cynically even-handed journalism, a cowardly opposition party, a populace traumatized by the events of 9/11, a Presidency which claims nearly unlimited powers unto itself, and the relentless bleating of a money-drenched rightwing noise machine---all have played a part in America's evolutionary crawl towards an increasingly militarized, authoritarian surveillance state wrapped in the bright-colored bunting of free markets and healthy liberal democracy. Even today's immigration ruling, while observing some limits on state conduct, expands the police power of government, and one which cannot really be held accountable for its actions so long as it has "reasonable belief" that immigration law has been violated. Think about it: There was a time when granting local police the power to require citizens to produce identification on demand, absent evidence of any violations of state and local law, would been thought a dangerous and reckless abuse of authority, the kind of harassment-and-shakedown routine you'd expect to see on display in a Mexican border town. Yet today, this power was granted to every law-enforcement agency in America by an unelected body---yet even some liberals are hailing this development as of a triumph of common sense and decency. The fact that this power might possibly be used by less scrupulous agents to engage in a practice of ethnic-cleansing-in-everything-but-name does not seem to have dawned on our Serious Persons quite yet:

A routine traffic stop to cite a broken taillight can now prompt deportation. If a legally residing driver or passenger looks or sounds foreign and isn’t strapped with passport and birth certificate, an outmoded license photo might be a one-way ticket to Border Patrol.

And unlike airport security, these measures do not racially profile with the aim of protecting law-abiding citizens. At best, SB 1070 is an iron-fisted extension of the Census Bureau; at worst, it’s a declaration of ethnic cleansing.

The Federalist Five has ruled wisely and well. They tossed out the more frivolous provisions in AB 1070 while giving a big thumbs-up to it's most toxic element. As noted elsewhere today, the political autocracy that our financial autocracy has installed just handed itself another big chunk of power to wield at will over its subjects. Only in an culture where the reigning political discourse valued the authoritarian imperative above all other governing options would this ruling be praised as a safe and prudent compromise.

---Vitelius

Split Decision

I guess that's what you'd call it today, though in the grand sweep of history I think it's indicative of the crackpots' determination to drive our political and legal discourse further and further to the extreme crackpot fringe. They're just not getting too greedy too quickly---which shouldn't surprise us since they've been nothing if not patient when it comes to getting their agenda enacted. Shit, they've had Social Security in their crosshairs for 70 years, and they've managed to push the debate on "entitlements" so far in their direction that it is now the conventional wisdom of all Serious Persons in Washington that the program is unsustainable and needs overhauling, even though neither of those things is remotely true.

To be frank, I think this decision bodes far worse for the Republic in the near term than the Arizona immigration ruling because, well, it's a variation of the Dred Scott principle applied to campaign finance:

The Supreme Court has struck down a Montana ban on corporate political money, ruling 5 to 4 that the controversial 2010 Citizens United ruling applies to state and local elections.

The court broke in American Tradition Partnership v. Bullock along the same lines as in the original Citizens United case, when the court ruled that corporate money is speech and thus corporations can spend unlimited amounts on elections.

“The question presented in this case is whether the holding of Citizens United applies to the Montana state law,” the majority wrote. “There can be no serious doubt that it does.”

No arguments were heard; it was a summary reversal.

“To the extent that there was any doubt from the original Citizens United decision broadly applies to state and local laws, that doubt is now gone,” said Marc Elias, a Democratic campaign lawyer. “To whatever extent that door was open a crack, that door is now closed.”

Get ready for 25 years of carpet-bomb campaigning, or however long it takes for the members of The Federalist Five die off. As mentioned yesterday, we'd better start stringing together some presidential wins if we want to avoid being buried for good.

---Vitelius

Credit Where Due

Finally:

Under the administration plan, illegal immigrants will be immune from deportation if they were brought to the United States before they turned 16 and are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a U.S. high school or earned a GED, or served in the military. They also can apply for a work permit that will be good for two years with no limits on how many times it can be renewed. The officials who described the plan spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it in advance of the official announcement.

One assumes the Attorney General won't be ordered to investigate the source of this leak.

Snark aside, I'd say this development is Exhibit A for the argument that there's a lot a President can do in the realm of domestic policy without having wait for Congress to act. And even though this is a temporary fix, there's no reason why the policy couldn't be renewed each year for as long as the President remains in office. Finally, it's obviously smart politics, and it's even better policy because it's the right and humane thing to do. My only remaining questions are, (1) Why didn't they do this earlier? and (2) Now that we've dispensed with the notion that the President is powerless absent a Congressional mandate, how about an executive order authorizing the Treasury Department to mail out checks of unspent stimulus funds to people in need of money? Just a thought.

---Vitelius

NAFTA On Steroids, Basically

Great idea here for adjudicating disputes between multinationals and sovereign governments: Eliminate the regulatory function of government!

Under the agreement currently being advocated by the Obama administration, American corporations would continue to be subject to domestic laws and regulations on the environment, banking and other issues. But foreign corporations operating within the U.S. would be permitted to appeal key American legal or regulatory rulings to an international tribunal. That international tribunal would be granted the power to overrule American law and impose trade sanctions on the United States for failing to abide by its rulings.

To be fair, this standard would apply to other nations as well:

While the current trade deal could pose a challenge to American sovereignty, large corporations headquartered in the U.S. could potentially benefit from it by using the same terms to oppose the laws of foreign governments. If one of the eight Pacific nations involved in the talks passes a new rule to which an American firm objects, that U.S. company could take the country to court directly in international tribunals.

Remember what a mess all those pesky legislators, courts and voters used to be? Not any more!

Public Citizen challenged the independence of these international tribunals, noting that "The tribunals would be staffed by private sector lawyers that rotate between acting as 'judges' and as advocates for the investors suing the governments," according to the text of the agreement.

Even so, this kind of deal is bound to galvanize our President's base as heads into his re-election stretch drive:

The terms run contrary to campaign promises issued by Obama and the Democratic Party during the 2008 campaign . . . The one that is not contravened in the present document---regarding access to life-saving medication---is in conflict with a previously leaked document on intellectual property (IP) standards.

"Bush was better than Obama on this," said Judit Rius, U.S. manager of Doctors Without Borders Access to Medicines Campaign, referring to the medication rules. "It's pathetic, but it is what it is. The world's upside-down." (Emphasis added.)

And they wonder why voters are repulsed by both Presidential candidates:

Trans-Pacific negotiations have been taking place throughout the Obama presidency. The deal is strongly supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the top lobbying group for American corporations. Obama's Republican opponent in the 2012 presidential elections, Mitt Romney, has urged the U.S. to finalize the deal as soon as possible.

These Obama people really amaze me. They keep giving me reason after reason not to vote for them---and frankly, not to give a shit over whether they win or not next November. But I guess I just have to live with the unpleasant reality that we no longer have any viable choices at the ballot box than the Corporatist Party that's run by grown-ups and the Corporatist Party that's run by crazy people, and make my choices accordingly. But jeez, I thought we couldn't lower the bar of expectations any further after eight years of Bush and Cheney, but I guess we have not arrived at Peak Cynicism yet.

---Vitelius

11-Dimensional Latino Voter Outreach

I'm sure there's some grand strategy behind this policy, but I'm having trouble seeing it:

Late this spring, while her friends stayed late after AP classes to fill out college applications, Mejia and her mother hired an immigration lawyer in Manassas to file a motion to reopen their case. The lawyer explained that nothing in the law offered Mejia reason to hope. Democrats had yet to pass their Dream Act, which would create a path to citizenship for students who came to the country as minors and completed two years of college or military service. A Republican congressman had only recently introduced the Stars Act, which would give illegal immigrants a chance to finish college and earn permanent residency.

“Our only hope is to show the immigration officials proof of every positive thing you’ve done and hope for leniency,” the lawyer said, and so Mejia started working on an application of her own. She mailed off her SAT scores, her family photos, her school transcripts dating back to first grade and her certificate of participation in the sixth-grade science fair. She made appointments with teachers, confessed to them for the first time that she had come to the country illegally and then asked them to write letters of recommendation.

“Heydi is very polite, positive and full of energy,” the principal wrote in an official statement.

“She is an A student maintaining a 99 average in my class,” the English teacher wrote.

“Just a great person all around,” the cosmetology instructor wrote.

Mejia typed up a lengthy cover letter, reusing phrases from her college essay about extracurricular activities and concluding her application with a final appeal.

“These are the people I know and have shared my whole life with,” she wrote. “They are the ones I want with me when I’m graduating from college or getting married. I plead that you take this statement into consideration.”

The Department of Homeland Security wrote its response one day after receiving Mejia’s application.

“Motion to reopen should be denied as a matter of law,” it read.

Her deportation date was scheduled for mid-June so she could attend her high school graduation.

Someone could put a stop to this inhumane shit by issuing an executive order. So why isn't it being done?

---Vitelius