Bloomberg reports:

The U.S. government and the Federal Reserve have spent, lent or guaranteed $12.8 trillion, an amount that approaches the value of everything produced in the country last year, to stem the longest recession since the 1930s... 

The money works out to $42,105 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. and 14 times the $899.8 billion of currency in circulation. The nation’s gross domestic product was $14.2 trillion in 2008. 

Look at the table:

MENDOTA, Calif. — The customer seemed interested in a black blouse offered for $1 at the thrift store. But instead of buying it, she set it on the front counter.

Maybe tomorrow, she told the cashier, she would have the money. Or the next day. But not now.

"That is the way people are now," said the cashier, Alicia Reyes, as she watched the middle-aged woman walk out of the store. "They just come in here and look. They just come in here to kill the time. And then they take off."

Welcome to life in Mendota — the unemployment capital of California. With a 41 percent jobless rate, the town's social fabric is tearing at the seams. Alcoholism and crime are on the rise. To save money, some mothers wash and re-use disposable diapers. Unemployed men with nothing to do wander the streets and sit on benches....

The national Katrina is here and now.

This really, really cheeses me off when I read this McClatchy report:

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Monday will reject requests for almost $22 billion in new taxpayer bailout money for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler, saying the car makers have failed to take steps to ensure their viability.

But..butt-boy Geithner wants this:

March 30 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said some financial institutions will need substantial government aid, while warning against any attempt to tax investors who join a federal program to buy tainted assets from banks. 

Right!  Just because AIG has lost almost 100 billion USD in the last six months and the American taxpayer has bailed out AIG to the tune of almost 250 billion USD in the last four months.

Meanwhile...

GM and Chrysler have already received $17.4 billion in government rescue money. The two companies faced a Tuesday deadline for the government to approve plans they'd submitted weeks ago in hopes of persuading the Obama administration that they could remain in business anad deserved additional money.

I suggest reading "Why GM Matters" and "American Theocracy" to understand that what is happening is the collapse of American industry.  The collapse in no way should be happening except for the fact that the political and mass media systems has been utterly corrupted by the Wall Street Banksters.

Why we can give the crooks and grifters on Wall Street trillions of dollars?  But when it comes to real jobs that create real products there is the "kick in the teeth" for GM and Chrysler?

I caught this off Huffingtonpost.com about Jim Cramer and his boasting of what he did as a hedge fund manager:

-On manipulating the market: "A lot of times when I was short at my hedge fund, and I was positioned short, meaning I needed it down, I would create a level of activity before hand that could drive the futures,"

-On falsely creating the impression a stock is down (what he calls "fomenting"): "You can't foment. That's a violation... But you do it anyway because the SEC doesn't understand it." He adds, "When you have six days and your company may be in doubt because you are down, I think it is really important to foment."

Check it out

Josh Marshall, Talkingpointsmemo.com, found this little backgrounder about Tim Geithner:

...Sandy Weill, the guy who in the 1990s built Citi into the mammoth systemic risk Death Star it is today wanted the job [CEO] to go to Tim Geithner.

So if Geithner is ousted from Sec. of Treasury then he could simply jump on the Citigroup ship?   This is what Felix Salmon, Portfolio.com, thinks. 

What a marvelous stinking revolving door.  While we the taxpayers are stuck with people like Geithner who still talk of "free market" and "private companies" as being the be all and end all for the American economy.

BTW- Meanwhile, President Obama thinks of the netroots and bloggers in this light:

And part of the reason we don’t spend a lot of time looking at blogs is because if you haven’t looked at it very carefully then you may be under the impression that somehow there’s a clean answer one way or another – well, you just nationalize all the banks, or you just leave them alone and they’ll be fine, or this or that or the other. 

Duncan Black, Eschaton blog, writes:

I find it more amusing than annoying that Obama has joined with many others in employing the rhetorical trick of attributing any views you wish to marginalize as coming from bloggers.

I guess we, the netroots and bloggers, are just too darn new, still!   Perhaps Obama is still an intermediary step in the new political landscape and political process; i.e., Dean for America as version 1.0 then MyBarackObama as version 2.0 but what will version 3.0 look like?

Isn't it about time to have our government start a new financial system?  Bloomberg News has estimated that we are now in debt to the tune of over 11 trillion dollars for bailing out grifters.  The biggest rip off in history.

Sign this to tell Congress no more bailout money for con men.  It is time to start a new financial system.

Firedoglake.com has a petition to sign. 

• The Fed's Vice Chair Donald Kohn has refused to comply with requests from both the House and the Senate for the names of banks receiving federal funds, angering Republicans and Democrats alike.
• Bloomberg estimates that the government has spent more than $11.7 trillion to save the financial system since the crisis began, but Fed has refused to comply with Bloomberg's requests for details under the Freedom of Information Act.
• We know now that $80 billion of the $162 billion used to bailout AIG went to pay off its derivative trading partners at the full value of their contracts, despite the fact that values had tumbled. Economist Nouriel Roubini calls it "a nontransparent, opaque and shady bailout of the AIG counterparties: Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and other domestic and foreign financial institutions.
• The House passed the TARP Reform and Accountability Act on January 16, which would provide increased conditions, transparency and accountability for Wall Street bailout funds. The Senate is refusing to take up the legislation."

I caught this off Talkingpointsmemo.com on the secret meetings going on in the Senate:

Many of the parties, from big insurance companies to lobbyists for consumers, doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, are embracing the idea that comprehensive health care legislation should include a requirement that every American carry insurance.

I think that this is shows that all stakeholders are involved in the process but the plain truth is that even though patients do have a voice it could very well be drowned out by the "Big Bucks Boyz" of BigPharma and Big Insurance.

Read the list of who is at the table:

....The 20 people who regularly attend the meetings on Capitol Hill include lobbyists for AARP, Aetna, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association, America's Health Insurance Plans, the Business Roundtable, Easter Seals, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and the United States Chamber of Commerce....

Tell me if what comes out is what will be good for people or for the bottom line?

If this is true then we, progressives and liberals, have our work cut out for us.

Progressive Breakfast: Light Up The Phones

"Here in Washington, D.C., the word on the street is that the Right is killing us with phone calls to Congress. One congressperson said the calls are running 100 to 1 against the Obama economic recovery plan.

Now is the time to call Senator Udall and Bennet or visit your local Senate office to let them know that we stand for economic recovery by investing in America's future and not the failed economic policy of the past- tax cuts for the corporations and rich.

One great hidden story that should see the light of day is the increasing use of tasers.  The humor of "Don't tase me, bro" had shed a tiny bit of light on this weapon, which should be categorized as deadly force.  Digby has been relentless in highlighting tasers and the use of those weapons on children and adults.  To wit, Digby writes this:

...Police said at the time that Margaret Hiebing was "kicking and screaming" when officers tried to handcuff her. "That's when one of the officers discharged a Taser weapon on her," said UW Police Sgt. Jason Whitney.

This 54 year old woman was a threat to the seven officers who were trying to subdue her and so she had to be repeatedly tortured with electricity. Sure, I'll buy that.

This is actually quite interesting. It's one thing when police tase mental patients, protesters and alleged criminals. Most Americans figure they probably deserve it. But when they start torturing white, middle aged, female pillars of the community at football games, things could get sticky.

Or this medical report by Digby on in-custody sudden deaths in California.

Or the use of tasers on youth by Digby:

Here are two stories about the torture of teenagers by police, one of whom died.

In the first case, you can see perfectly how the government now views the use of electrical shock as a benign tool to force compliance:

Salt Lake City police used a stun gun on a 14-year-old boy after they say he refused to leave the Gateway Mall and resisted arrest on Saturday night. 

It's time for these leathal weapons to classified as such.

Joe Sudbay, AmericaBlog.com, states it:

The Republicans, under the leadership of George Bush, destroyed the American economy. We're on the precipice -- facing a depression. But, the House Republicans are being petulant - they got 33% of the House stimulus bill devoted to questionable tax cuts, but that's not enough. Obama tried...

Bi-partisanship only works when both sides come to the table. The GOP leaders are like little children. If they don't get their way 100%, they won't play. They don't seem to understand the precarious situation we're in. Or, maybe they don't care. The message from today should be pretty simple: A "NO" vote is a vote for a depression.

Simple, huh?

What me panic or fearful?  Well, where I work, which is a nonprofit, there has been jobs eliminated, jobs consolidated and some positions going from full time to part time, with 401k contributions cut (not eliminated yet) on the employer side.

Will some of Obama's picks turn out to be moles for the previous discredited and criminal Bush administration?

Glenn Greenwald writes about the suspension of the kangaroo court called military commissions at GitMo:

This is only a first step and a temporary one at that.  Subsequent actions that the Obama administration is clearly considering could severely undermine both the symbolic and substantive value of this act, particularly if they go and create new "national security courts" of the kind aggressively advocated by newly-appointed Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal, which would likely enable coerced evidence to be used in order to obtain convictions of accused Terrorists.  Even with Obama's order yesterday, many of the most vital questions surrounding the closing of Guantanamo remain unanswered.

Why do I say criminal because the laws against torture were broken.  Furthermore it is not a matter of choice for President Obama to not investigate.  He has a legal obligation to investigate.

Glenn writes:

Harper's Scott Horton notes that the leading U.N. official in charge of torture conventions, such as the Convention Against Torture (signed by Ronald Reagan and ratified by the U.S. Senate), just stated that the Obama administration is obligated by that treaty and by international law to criminally investigate Bush officials for torture....

Rachel Maddow interviews law professor Johnathon Turley:

Rachel Maddow:  If the administration has confirmed that they tortured people -- and they have, they have used the "t" word; they have described what they have done, which is recognized as torture, it is something for which we have prosecuted people -- are we literally looking at the possibility where administration officials from this administration cannot travel abroad to the other 145 countries that have signed the torture treaties because they might get arrested?

Jonathan Turley:  Most certainly. The status of George Bush is not that different from Augusto Pinochet. They've both been accused of running a torture program.  Outside of this country, there is not this ambiguity about what to do about a war crime.  There are four treaties that make this an international violation.  So if you go abroad, and try to travel, most people abroad are going to view you not as "former President George Bush" -- they're going to view you as a current war criminal.

Rachel Maddow:  And they're going to view us as an outlaw regime for not arresting him on our own soil.

I have argued that Bush like Pinochet will become a wanted man throughout the world.

Now is the time to strike for a progressive "shock and awe" to remake the economic landscape that is balanced and fair for all parties.  This means a wholesale rejection of the policies of the Republicans that created this economic nightmare of "free market" pirates.

Josh Marshall gets it:

...a couple centuries of our history and you'll see that there are just no examples of administrations that started small and did big things in year 2 or 4 or 6. That doesn't happen. Look at Roosevelt, Johnson, Reagan, presidents pack their biggest punch on day one. And even though many big things can happen in subsequent years, the presidencies are almost always defined at the beginning. Later triumphs and reforms grow from the changed political terrain created at the outset.

The time is now to remake this nation into a nation for all.  The Republicans is the party of old ideas and old men who cling to the racist past for their success.

BTW- I will point out this incisive critique of "IOUSA" documentary that aired on CNN over the weekend. The Center for Economic and Policy Research shows clearly that one of the root enconomic problems is health care costs.

What can be said about Republicans from Bush on down who disobey the laws of the land?

This is just the latest example of Republicans who cannot abide by the laws that were created.  From Bloomberg.com reporting:

The November Fund marked the chamber’s first foray into presidential politics. Some of the best-known independent groups in the 2004 presidential election, including Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and America Coming Together, paid more than $3 million in fines.

The commission initially agreed in March 2005 that the November Fund illegally accepted contributions in excess of the $5,000 limit for political action committees and that the chamber made illegal corporate contributions. In November 2007, the commission authorized its counsel to negotiate a settlement, including an agreed-upon fine...

Four new members joined the commission the following year, and in October 2008 the three Republicans balked at approving the final agreement.

“The law has not changed,” Ryan said. “All that has changed is the commissioners themselves.”

What can be said that Republicans will protect scofflaws to the detriment of the body politic?  Republicans thy name is lawlessness and coddling criminals.

Isn't this what the effect on America will be- to lower our standard of living?

From AP today:

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky joined other GOP lawmakers in announcing his opposition to a White House-backed bill that was approved by the House on Wednesday. He called for an alternative that would reduce the wages and benefits of the Big Three automakers to bring them in line with those paid by Japanese carmakers Nissan, Toyota and Honda.

If Republicans believe in America is Number One then why are they following the lead by foreign automakers?  If we have the "highest" standard of living then why do Republican Senators like McConnell, Corker, and Shelby want to lower wages which lowers our standard of living?

Republican Senator DeMint said:

Well, I’m not trying to get rid of the unions, but I am saying that they appear to be an antiquated concept in today’s economy...

But the political aspect of this is most of this is being done to protect unions, uh, it’s not to protect the workers. And what I want to do is make sure we have jobs for these workers and we have first-class American automobile companies. And we’re not going to do it with the barnacles of unionism wrapped around their necks.

The only reason is to break unions for the benefit of companies.  If anyone had seen the nitwit commercial that showed a working dad complaining about his union because it doesn't represent his "values" it is nonsensical.  This is what Republican DeMint is making a case for- to seperate the very meaning of the word union and working individual.  What is a union but the working man and woman united in common cause?

If Republican Senators want to kill Industrial America then let them filibuster the old fashioned way.  No more "gentleman's agreement" but have each and every one Republican Senator get up and talk about how much they hate Industrial America.  The America of industrial might that beat the Axis powers.  The America of industrial might that made for our middle class to be what it was from the 1950's to the 1970's.  Let the Republicans tell Americans how much they want to have another Great Depression when 3,000,000 jobs will be lost when the Big Three go from bankruptcy directly into liquidation.

Remember, the destruction of 3 million jobs means that there will be vast repercussions in all sectors of the American economy.  For example, U.S. advertising will take a huge hit because the Big Three comprise over 5 percent of all advertising spending.  For example, NASCAR and NHRA will be devastated by the loss of financial support.  For example, steel and plastics industries stand to loss hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts.

Republicans want to play with fire but all Americans stand to lose it all because of their petty partisan ideological driven politics of the moment.

This is beyond the pale- Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson, testifying on the House side, defended the administration's handling of the massive $700 billion bailout for the financial industry and said it should remain off-limits for Detroit, no matter how badly the automakers need help.

This is what U.S. auto executives testimony on the Hill said, from AP:

WASHINGTON – Detroit's Big Three automakers pleaded with Congress on Tuesday for a $25 billion lifeline to save the once-proud titans of U.S. industry, warning of a national economic catastrophe should they collapse.

From the NYT:

Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on the banking committee, said he would not support legislation to aid the auto companies and seemed prepared to let one or all of them collapse...

“Spending billions of additional federal tax dollars with no promises to reform the root causes crippling automakers’ competitiveness around the world is neither fair to taxpayers nor sound fiscal policy,” Mr. Boehner said in a statement.

But for the Bush and the Republicans it is all about politics.

Who knows how  big Hank Paulson's experiment in letting Lehman Brothers fail will cost?

Efluxmedia wrote:

A legendary US institution, Lehman employs about 25,000 people and reported debts of more than 600 billion dollars as it filed for bankruptcy Monday in a Manhattan court.

Apart from its debts, Lehman was valued at about 637 billion dollars in its bankruptcy filing. Its share price plunged 95 per cent. 

Lehman Brothers was an international player.  Look what just showed up on last Friday via The GuardianUK's report of Lehman's European operation:

Speaking after the first creditors meeting, a team from PriceWaterhouseCoopers said they had identified more than $1tn in assets and liabilities which need to be accounted for.

At the meeting, held behind closed doors in a conference hall at the O2 dome, lead administrator Tony Lomas told hundreds of representatives and lawyers who attended that he had recovered about $5bn out of a potential $550bn of obligations owing to creditors. A further $22.3bn of client assets had been identified, all of which will be returned to their owners.

That's right a 1,000,000,000,000 dollars.  Perhaps Mr. Buffet was presicent in stating that "derivatives were “financial weapons of mass destruction”

Meanwhile the Dow jumps up with the news that CitiGroup will cut 20 percent of it's workforce.  So 53,000 people will lose their jobs from 250,000 CitiGroup employs worldwide.

Bailout Chrysler, GM or Ford?  Read this article that was on the front page of Yahoo.com and see if this is joke.

"It's like nature's law: Only the fit survive," said John Berrotto, 50, a security director in New York who drives a Lexus and said he does not support the idea of a bailout. "Sometimes companies just don't make it," he said.

Or this:

"I'm not sure they (the automakers) can be salvaged. Part of me says that if Honda and Toyota can make better cars in the U.S. with American workers, so be it," said Tom Reiter, who was interviewed in Los Angeles and drives a 2001 Jaguar XJ he said was a "big gas guzzler."

The fact is that millions of jobs are at stake and millions of retirees pensions are at stake.

Republican leaders like House Minority leader John Boehner said:

"Spending billions of additional federal tax dollars with no promises to reform the root causes crippling automakers’ competitiveness around the world is neither fair to taxpayers nor sound fiscal policy..."

Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of workers and million plus retirees Mr. Face of the Republican Party.

The hard numbers of GM and Chrysler, from Boston.com:

Chrysler employs about 49,000 in the United States and has about 125,000 pensioners. GM has 177,000 US workers and around 500,000 people receiving pensions.

The Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., estimates that for each auto manufacturing position, there are 7.5 jobs with parts makers and other companies, meaning the industry accounts for millions of jobs.

What bankruptcy would mean for the Big Three U.S. automakers can be understood with the Delphi Company bankruptcy to study.  From 2005 MSNBC.com reports:

Delphi, a $29 billion industrial giant, has been struggling to make a profit since General Motors spun off its parts subsidiary in 1999. Last year, Delphi lost $4.8 billion; it lost nearly $750 million in the first half of this year...

The most immediate impact will be on Delphi’s 185,000 workers. The company wants to cut wages to less than half of current levels and eliminate a "jobs bank" that gives full pay to 4,000 laid-off workers.

Delphi's retirees face similar cuts if the company follows the lead of steel companies and airlines that have successfully used the bankruptcy courts to offload their pension obligations to the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, an agency set up in 1974 that is funded by contributions from premiums paid by companies. Once the agency takes over a pension plan, workers receive only part of their benefits....

 

From JohnE:

What do we do now?

Actually a few of us are working on mini Netroots Nations.  Tomorrow we have a conference call to start talking about creating an event for Colorado in early February.

I'd also like to have an earlier, less involved discussion of where do we go from here.  If you remember the Obama platform meetings, that was something that got my thought processes going.  However, just before the election wasn't the time for those conversations.  So, I'd like to have a number of policy discussions about the direction for Colorado, and now is the best time to do that.  I suggest a place with lots of beer.  However to enable participation across the state, why not use some bloggy platform for those who can't make it in person.  Hey, I know, why don't we use Squarestate diaries for that.  One for each subject.

See this thread and comment.

MoveOn.org is working too.  From an email:

Dear MoveOn member,

Since last week's historic win, we've been hearing the same clear message from millions of MoveOn members: Don't stop now.

So next Thursday (11/20), we're organizing "Fired Up and Ready to Go" gatherings throughout the country.

The work has begun to make the dream a reality.

Millions of supporters and hundreds of millions of our dollars to support a candidate who actually won the presidential race- Barack Obama!  There is something in the punch bowl however. 

What is happens when someone goes over to the other side and actively supports the other side?  Do you show that individual unconditional love or should it be tough love?  I believe that Lieberman should be shown some tough love (and the wood shed).

As many know it was under his chairmanship that the Senate Homeland Security Committee held no hearings on the government response to Hurricane Katrina.  Thus abdicating congressional responsibility for oversight.  He is derelict in his duty as a representative to the people to hold hearings on how well administrative departments are working.

If Howard Fineman is correct in stating "Obama has now expressed his clear support not only for Joe Lieberman staying in the caucus, but for retaining his Chairmanship of the Department of Homeland Security Committee."  This will be a bitter pill to the people who elected Obama.

This is a clear signal that it will be "business as usual" in Washington, D.C.  

This is not what we, the people, voted for.

Now is the time for the huge social networking that Obama and his team has created to come together.  This is not just a one way street.  Creating a social political movement from the grassroots means that it just cannot be turned into a top down command, control, and communication structure.

If change is to come from the people then it is time to tell the incoming administration from Obama on down the chain of command that we do not like the reporting that is coming out.

Specifically- 1). Lieberman should be shown tough love and stripped of his most important committee chairmanship. 2). Intelligence agencies must comply and conform intelligence activities with U.S. law prohibiting torture and U.S. military field manuals covering interrogation procedures, and 3). No "lame duck" holdovers from a failed administration.

Change should not come "later" but now.