Neoliberal Free Market Reform News of the Day 3-11-2010

Greece hit by strikes over austerity plan – MSNBC – “Riot police fired tear gas to disperse rock-throwing protesters at one point of the demonstration as strikers and protesters marched through the capital, banging drums and chanting slogans such as “no sacrifice for plutocracy,” and “real jobs, higher pay.” People draped banners from apartment buildings reading: “No more sacrifices, war against war.”

No letup in attack on jobs – WSWS – “On Tuesday, the Labor Department reported that the official unemployment rate in January rose in 30 states. Sixteen states had jobless rates higher than the national average of 9.7 percent, including Michigan (14.3 percent), Nevada (13 percent), Rhode Island (12.7 percent), South Carolina (12.6 percent) and California (12.5 percent). Unemployment in California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Washington DC rose to the highest levels since records began in 1976.” (and yet somehow we are in a “recovery”?)

US banks and corporations announce huge pay packages for 2009 – WSWS – “These latest reports come in the wake of Barack Obama’s statement last month that he does not “begrudge” the bonuses of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Blankfein got a $9 million bonus lat year, while Dimon received $16 million. (Their total packages have not yet been released). Obama defended the bonuses on the grounds that Blankfein and Dimon are “savvy businessmen.” This statement gave what amounted to official carte blanche for the multi-million-dollar bonuses paid to hundreds of other “savvy businessmen,” even as the government oversees a massive attack on the living conditions of the vast majority of the population.” (can you say “laissez-faire capitalism“?)

Kucinich: ‘Heads They Win, Tails We Lose’ (Update: Transcript) – Truthdig – (you can listen to the audio podcast at the site) ”Rep. Dennis Kucinich tells us why he isn’t buckling under pressure to vote for the president’s health care reform bill: “Every plan that’s put forth by our government ends up benefiting the health insurance industry.” (can you say “the man we SHOULD HAVE elected president”?)

House defeats Kucinich resolution to withdraw from Afghanistan – Cleveland dot com – “”What we are doing in Afghanistan right now is going to make it so my children won’t have to go and fight the same Islamofascists we are fighting,” Hunter said.” “”I am keenly aware that even if we remain in Afghanistan, there is no guarantee we will prevail in this fight, but if we don’t fight, we are guaranteed to fail,” said California Democratic Rep. Howard Berman,…” (notice that the dems and the republicans use strikingly similar language to justify the unjustifiable illegal war…)

Civilians Among 17 Killed in Latest US Drone Strikes:Drone Attacked Crowd of Civilians Rescuing Victims of Previous Drone – AntiWar – “The first drone strike targeted a vehicle which Pakistani officials say was “carrying some miscreants.” The attack killed at least eight people and collapsed a nearby home, which is what precipitated the second attack.” (they don’t even bother calling them “terrorists” or “insurgents” anymore… now we blow up civilians to get the “miscreants“) “A crowd of civilians gathered around the collapsed building, trying to pull people from the rubble, when a second drone fired missiles into the crowd, killing at least nine people and wounding several others.”

The Rogue Nation – AntiWar – “In spite of the fact that the United States faces no enemy anywhere in the world capable of opposing it on a battlefield, the Defense budget for 2011 will go up 7.1 percent from current levels. A lot of the new spending will be on drones, America’s latest contribution to western civilization, capable of surveilling large areas on the ground and delivering death from the skies.” “Washington’s embrace of drones as the weapon of choice for international assassination is one major reason why the United States has become the evil empire. Drones are the extended fist of what used to be referred to as the Bush Doctrine.”….. “Drones are currently killing people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. It should be noted that the United States is not at war with any of those countries, which should mean in a sane world that the killing is illegal under both international law and the US Constitution.”

The Speech for Which We Have Been Waiting – Huffington Post – (a little good news, though it is just a little) ”On Thursday, Senator Ted Kaufman (D., DE) is due to deliver a strong blow to the overly powerful and unproductively mighty within our financial sector. He will say, according to what is now on his website,

Excessive deregulation allowed big finance to get out of control from the 1980s — but particularly during and after the 1990s. This led directly to the economic catastrophe in 2007-08.
We need to modernize and apply the same general principles that were behind the Glass-Steagall, i.e., separating “boring” but essential commercial banking (running payments, offering deposits-with-insurance, etc) from “risky” other forms of financial activity
We need size caps on the biggest banks in our financial system, preferably as a percent of GDP.
We should tighten capital requirements substantially.
And we must regulate derivatives more tightly – on this issue, he likes at least some of the steps being pushed by Gary Gensler at the CFTC.”