Kentucky Republicans live in a fantasy world that puts anything dreamed up by J.R. Tolkien to shame. Where else in this country do you find people who believe that the suppression of Free Speech by theft and vandalism is a "Christian Value? Where else do you find people who are invested in, and profiting from our pain at the pump seeking to lecture all of us on the high price of gas, while voting against a windfall tax on Big Oil? Indeed, where else will you find a Congressman who refuses to return the blood money of a convicted terrorist seek to lecture the rest of us on the "War on Terror"?

  To the long list of examples of how business rips off the average person--from paying CEOs huge salaries while workers get pay and benefits cuts, to making people work harder and more productive than ever before yet refusing to pass on the fruits of that labor to workers, to lobbying against raising the scandalously low minimum wage, to pimping for so-called "free trade" that drives wages down--you can now add this: corporate America owes us $58 billion, money that it has taken from YOU and put into corporate coffers.

(Cross Posted At Hillbilly Report)
Have you ever been in a rural Kentucky church or restaurant and hear folks wailing about all those "Baby Mommas" on welfare? Well I have and I hear it all the time and it's coming out of the mouths of those receiving more money than you can imagine, what a bunch of hypocrites!!!!!!
Recipients of  USDA Subsidies  in Kentucky's 1st Congressional District (Rep. Ed Whitfield) totaled  $1.253 billion, with a "B",  from 1995-2006, that's a lot of dough and, in my opinion, it's nothing more than welfare!!!! It sure as hell ain't the free market.

Clay Bennett, one of the owners of the Seattle SuperSonics, is the ultimate example of the Culture of Corporate Welfare that dominates our nation at this time. His mindset is made clear by his testimony yesterday and today in court: The people of Seattle don't deserve an NBA team despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars on Key Arena because they won't vote to throw even more Corporate Welfare at a man who admits under oath that he can easily absorb $60 million in losses over the next two years. Which begs the question: if he can absorb it, why couldn't he have just used the money to make the renovations to Key Arena himself?

Fortunately, he seems to have perjured himself today. More below the fold.

On June 6th, 2008 the average price of gasoline across the nation rose to $4 per gallon.

"There’s nothing worse for our economy than surging energy prices at record highs," said Mark Zandi, Chief Economist for Moodys.com.

What do Jesse James and Big Oil have in common? Nothing if you believe the legends of Jesse James, who supposedly robbed from the rich and distributed his ill gotten gains to the poor. Big Oil robs from all of us and keeps the ill gotten gains for themselves.

They didn't mind building out of control when people were sucking up ARM mortgages like grapes. Now that the bubble has burst, they want to slide on their tax burden. According to LIUNA "The U.S. Senate has passed a version of the Foreclosure Prevention Act, the majority of which goes to pay for taxpayer handouts to corporate home builders, not to help struggling homeowners." Unf@ckingreal, I'm pissed!

I wonder what would happen if you and I tried to claim this years losses against the gains we had in the last 4 years.

Let’s just call this colossally shortsighted and ill-advised "rebate program" what it is - a giveaway of money that this government doesn’t have to the oil companies, the credit card companies and the retail industry.

We the People - at least those whose income levels are in the range where they are low enough to receive the rebates but most likely too low to be able to do anything meaningful with the rebates - are merely the intermediary between this corporate welfare program and the true intended recipients.

Here at Ryan for Kentucky we have a great candidate who understands we need fundamental change in this district, state and indeed our country. Unlike her opponent, Exxon Ed Whitfield, she is not beholden to the corporate interests that impede progress in this country. She is beholden to her neighbors, who are falling further and further behind due to stagnant wages and the inflation of necessary goods and services due to the record profits of Big Oil. Profits Exxon Eddie is invested in.

I have been blogging for Heather Ryan, and been a proud member of Ryan for Kentucky for a little over a month now. I have started my own ActBlue page in support of Heather, and asked my fellow Democrats around the country to contribute to Americans for Ryan. Well, many of you have responded, and I am very grateful. I have said that your contribution will be put to work immediately to defeat a sitting incumbent Republican and expand our Congressional majorities.

Talk about your calculating politician... Let me introduce you to Senator Lamar Alexander, the Senior Senator from Tennessee.  

Lamar's a classic "Roadblock Republican," towing the party line and polishing his brown-nose so nicely he was named Party Whip this year.  

He goes along quietly, towing the party line and earlier this year, all the while trying to rebrand himself a moderate, an outsider, and an independent-minded legislator.  

Well, that's just bunko.  Earlier this year, he twice voted against tax incentives for alternative energy production – policies that are critical to energy independence, job creation, and our environment.  Both of these bills failed, unfortunately.

In a classic Bush-lite move, Lamar's introduced the exact same alternative energy legislation – but instead of eliminating corporate giveaways and welfare dollars for Big Oil, he proposes to pass the tab on to our kids. A look at his biggest donors will tell you just whose interests he's protecting.  

Original articleby Sherwood Ross via Dissidentvoice.org .

Bear-Stearns and JP Morgan are reconsidering what had seemed to be a done deal. Major Bear-Stearns shareholders are very upset that their worthless company has only attracted a $2/share offer.  Disregarding the billions of dollars in outstanding debt to their depositors, Bear-Stearns argues that their headquarters building alone makes the company worth about $6/share.

Why do they feel entitled to disregard their billions of dollars in liabilities? Follow me onto the flip....

 I was out and about today and I got some very disturbing information on the condition of our veterans community. This came in the context of conversations about overall problems with electric bills, heating bills, and fuel & food costs for our fixed income and lower income residents in the area.

 If I had to summarize it in one paragraph it would be this: Sixty to eighty veteran households in just one county will have their power cut on April 1 when the over winter ban on shutting off utilities ends. Thirty to sixty of those households are skipping meals, cutting back, or completely cutting out medications in order to pay heating bills. And this is after the county assistance available to them has been applied to its fullest.

Buried in the financial news today was this startling tidbit:

Reuters
Investment banks are borrowing from Fed
Wednesday March 19, 12:12 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investment banks Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS - News), Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (NYSE:LEH - News) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - News) are testing a new program that allows investment banks to borrow directly from the Federal Reserve, according to people at the banks.

My first thought: how do I get my own private access to this Federal ATM?

E.J. Dionne:

The Wall Street titans have turned into a bunch of welfare clients. They are desperate to be bailed out by government from their own incompetence, and from the deregulatory regime for which they lobbied so hard. They have lost "confidence" in each other, you see, because none of these oh-so-wise captains of the universe have any idea what kinds of devalued securities sit in one another's portfolios.

John Cole:

You have to wonder why there have been no counter-top investigations. When Graeme Frost made the profound mistake of telling America that he had benefitted from a government program in the debate over the SCHIP expansion which would cost the taxpayers a similar amount, he got the full-on Beauchamp. Personally, I need to know what the countertops look like at some Bear Stearns households.

The countertops were apparently pretty darn nice.

Across the firm, executives and employees declined to speak publicly, a reflection of the fluid events as well as a reluctance to anger their prospective bosses from JPMorgan who were already on the premises Monday, appraising their new investment.

But privately they expressed raw dismay, their voices heavy with sadness and shock.

"My life has been flushed down the drain," said one person. There was talk Monday that with their life savings nearly depleted, some executives had moved quickly, putting their weekend homes on the market.

(And for those of you who may not know what the "countertops" stuff is all about, you can catch up on it here.)

Let's face it, this country -- our government -- is all about Corporate Welfare.

The invasion of Iraq?  Corporate Welfare.  Literally millions of dollars handed out, in shrink-wrapped bricks, from the backs of trucks.  Billions given to "contractors" who can't even keep sewage from backing up into light fixtures in the new Police Academy in Iraq.  Halliburton and KBR, who, without government contracts, would cease to exist.  Most of our 500 billion/year "defense industry", which is busy using our money to make things like cyborg-moths and robotic SUV's, you know, stuff we REALLY need.  

And today's example:  The 30 billion dollar pork-chop hung around the neck of Bears Stearns so that JP Morgan would play with it.  

Wait, go back to bed, its just for the rich.

I was very excited when I woke up and heard on NPR this morning, Jim Rogers an investment banker, really speak some truth to power.  

"Listen, investment banks have been going bankrupt since the beginning of time. If people make mistakes -- if you bail out every investment bank that gets in trouble, that's not capitalism, that's socialism for the rich," he said."

Socialism?  In America?
Wait, its just for the rich?  Nevermind.

For the last several days, I've been thinking about the choice of John Edwards to quit.  From the moment, and well before, I knew that the reason for his failure to garner a nomination would be because of corporate media blackout.  I often read about the dinosaur that is print media, that it is cheapened and does not print quality news, and that it needs to move aside.  But Corporate America just proved that it has a bite, one worth thousands, perhaps millions of votes.