Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Obama's War on American Border Security and the AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS - THE MAN WALL STREET BOUGHT and WAS ELECTED BY ILLEGALS


SOME ONE HAS TO PAY FOR THE CRIMES OF OBAMA’S CRIMINAL BANKSTER DONORS. OBAMA HAS PUBLICALLY ADMITTED THE WOULD NEVER PROSECUTE ANY BANKSTERS.

HE HAS NOT PUBLICALLY CONCEDED THE TRUTH TO THE FACT THAT OBAMA IS SABOTAGING THE AMERICAN BORDERS WITH MEXICO, SABOTAGING E-VERIFY AND PROMISING HIS LA RAZA PARTY BASE NON-ENFORCEMENT TO EASE MORE “CHEAP” LABOR ILLEGALS INTO OUR JOBS!

THEN THE AMERICA MIDDLE CLASS GETS THE TAX BILLS FOR MEXICO’S LOOTING of AMERICA AS WELL AS OBAMA’S BANKSTERS’ ECONOMIC RAPE OF THIS NATION.

MEANWHILE… OBAMA HAS WORKED HARD FOR ILLEGALS AND THE 1% BILLIONAIRE CLASS HE SO CLOSELY IDENTIFIES WITH.

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THE REALITY of OBAMAnomics on AMERICANS:

Since the onset of the recession, the level of individuals above age 50 and out of work has more than doubled, with the average unemployment period skyrocketing to over 17 months. The percentage of individuals able to return to work at equal or higher wages since being laid off is in the single-digits. The film calculates that roughly one-in-five individuals over the age of 50 currently remains out of work in the US.

A theme visited throughout the documentary is the issue of home mortgages. The film provides statistics showing that since 2007 nearly 5 million homes have been lost to foreclosure, with market analysts expecting between 3 million and 8 million more to come in the ensuing period. According to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York City, nearly $6 trillion in property value has simply been erased due to the mortgage crisis. The film is dotted with scenes of abandoned neighborhoods and homes, some with signs hanging outside looking to sell for as cheaply as $350.

In this, one sees the director pulling her punches at just the point where she should begin exploring. Sipprelle herself admits that due to budget cuts enacted under the administration of President Obama, many of the federal and state programs upon which these workers rely are now being phased out. The reality is that both political parties at federal, state and municipal levels of government are pursuing austerity policies and are responsible for the deepening social misery being inflicted on the working class as a whole.

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wsws.org

Published by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)

Set for Life: The effects of recession on an older generation

By Nick Barrickman
27 February 2013

Set for Life, a documentary by directors Susan Sipprelle and Samuel Newman, focuses on the effects that the economic crisis of 2007-2008 has had on the generation of Americans 50 years and older. The film is compiled from dozens of interviews obtained across the country, often gotten on the spot at unemployment offices. These videos are stored for viewing at the multimedia web site www.overfiftyandoutofwork.com. Set for Life has won multiple awards since first appearing in January at the New Jersey Film Festival and is currently being screened in limited viewings around the country.

The documentary focuses mainly on the lives of three workers, selected probably to represent various sectors of the economy, from private and public sector “blue-collar” workers to an information technology specialist, all trying to survive after having lost their jobs during the collapse of the US economy in 2007-2008.

The film is interspersed with images of family videos from an earlier period, picturing the happier times that existed in American society at this time, contrasted with up-to-date shots of idled factories in the American heartland. One individual describes the “feeling of calm” he experienced in his younger years, believing that working for AT&T was a guaranteed ticket to a secure life, “like having a government job,” he says. This is contrasted with a clip of a woman saying that even the “most loyal, paternalistic companies are not like that anymore,” recalling the cold and impersonal way in which she and many others have been laid off.

The film shows Joe Price, a third generation steel worker from Weirton, West Virginia. Particularly proud of his 30-plus-year career, Joe at one point revisits his long-idled former job site, holding up a steel rod while asking the camera, “What is wrong with a man making a living by working with his hands?” The scene captures the feeling of loss many have experienced. Now, Joe and many others like him face the prospect of searching for work from employers who view older age as a detriment to hiring.

In this, the film delivers some of its most striking moments, as one gets a sense that the vast shift in society has left a substantial portion of the population simply unable to cope in today’s economic situation. Many interviewees recall the dreadful experience of putting out hundreds of resumes to receive no reply from job providers. Holding onto the hope of achieving the “American dream,” many of the workers evince a sense of determination to get back on their feet, though many have given up on the prospect of ever retiring.

The tragedy of George Ross, Jr., an IT worker fallen victim to California’s misfortune, is compounded when he is informed that his son, a Marine, has been left crippled by an improvised explosive device while serving in Afghanistan. Owing nearly $200,000 on a mortgage he had refinanced before losing his job in 2008, George is forced to put his job search on hold in order to care for his son.

In one scene, George and his wife Linda attend a debt-consolidation workshop while driving a Wounded Warrior charity van in hopes of persuading the hosting firm to take up their case. The attempt fails. Linda, in tears while speaking to the camera, says that to her, the “American dream” has been simply “erased.” In these scenes, one can’t help but note a parallel between the condition of the Ross’s war-damaged son and the images of the once-great industrial heartland, now an idled and rusting shell of its former self.

Somewhat scant, statistically speaking, the film relies heavily on the anecdotal experiences of its subjects. Those figures it does provide, however, are staggering.

Since the onset of the recession, the level of individuals above age 50 and out of work has more than doubled, with the average unemployment period skyrocketing to over 17 months. The percentage of individuals able to return to work at equal or higher wages since being laid off is in the single-digits. The film calculates that roughly one-in-five individuals over the age of 50 currently remains out of work in the US.

A theme visited throughout the documentary is the issue of home mortgages. The film provides statistics showing that since 2007 nearly 5 million homes have been lost to foreclosure, with market analysts expecting between 3 million and 8 million more to come in the ensuing period. According to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York City, nearly $6 trillion in property value has simply been erased due to the mortgage crisis. The film is dotted with scenes of abandoned neighborhoods and homes, some with signs hanging outside looking to sell for as cheaply as $350.

One former GM employee, Stan Bednarczyk, informs the interviewer of his incurring a $40,000 loss on a home due to having to relocate from Ohio to Michigan, only to later wind up with a mortgage that was nearly $150,000 underwater in Detroit. Including the total taxes owed between the two homes, Bednarczyk informs the audience that it cost him nearly $400,000 simply to break even, “and there’s no write-off in our income system for that,” he adds.

The film concentrates on age, dedicating a certain amount of its time to the idea of “agism,” in which workers feel they are being discriminated against strictly on that basis. This is perhaps due to the director’s own perceptions, as Sipprelle, a baby-boomer herself who sought to switch careers in mid-life, felt this issue in particular needed covering. The result is somewhat narrow, tending to fuel the filmmakers’ perception that the “Great Recession” is simply a generational issue.

Other limitations emerge. In a Q&A session at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington DC, Sipprelle, when questioned about the film’s general lack of a political focus, expressed her preference to see political divisions “left out” of the documentary, wanting to obtain the “widest appeal possible” because the issue was so pressing.

In this, one sees the director pulling her punches at just the point where she should begin exploring. Sipprelle herself admits that due to budget cuts enacted under the administration of President Obama, many of the federal and state programs upon which these workers rely are now being phased out. The reality is that both political parties at federal, state and municipal levels of government are pursuing austerity policies and are responsible for the deepening social misery being inflicted on the working class as a whole.

The power of Set for Life lies in its drawing on the real lives of workers. Despite its weaknesses, the film deserves a wide audience.

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Obama combines sequester cuts with demagogy

By Andre Damon
27 August 2014

As the deadline approaches for triggering $85 billion in across-the-board budget cuts, the indications are that the White House and congressional Republicans intend to allow the so-called “sequester” to take effect. The crisis over the program of cuts, set to begin on March 1 unless an alternative plan to slash the deficit is reached, is entirely manufactured, the result of previous deals reached by the Obama administration and the Republican leadership.

The impact of these cutbacks will be borne overwhelmingly by working and poor people, with billions slashed from education, anti-poverty programs, health care and other vital services. Once enacted, these cuts will never be fully restored. In effect, a new baseline will have been established for the ongoing onslaught on social programs upon which millions of working people depend.

Behind the stage-managed partisan bickering, there is a tacit consensus between the two parties that the cuts in domestic discretionary spending, estimated to reach $1.2 trillion over the next decade, can be used to create more favorable conditions for bullying the public into accepting immensely unpopular cuts in the basic social programs remaining from the reforms of the 1930s and 1960s—Medicare and Social Security.

The unstated agenda behind the demagogy of Obama and the Republicans is to deliberately create a crisis atmosphere and inflict painful cuts in order to claim, weeks or months down the road, that the only way out is a longer-term assault on the basic social “entitlement” programs.

The sequester cuts will have harsh consequences for working people, including:

* A 9.4 percent reduction in benefits for recipients of federally-funded long-term unemployment insurance.

* A loss of federal education funding affecting 1.2 million students and resulting in the possible layoff of 30,000 teachers and education staff, plus a $598 million cut in funding for special education programs.

* The removal of between 600,000 and 775,000 low-income women and children from the WIC food assistance program.

* A cut in federal housing assistance that will deprive up to 125,000 families of aid.

* Unpaid furloughs of up to 15 days of meat and poultry inspectors at the Agriculture Department, resulting in $10 billion in production losses.

* The closure of as many as 100 air traffic control towers and furlough of controllers, resulting in widening flight delays.

On Sunday, the White House released reports on the potential impact of the sequester on all 50 states and Washington DC. California, for instance, “will lose approximately $87.6 million in funding for primary and secondary education, putting around 1,210 teacher and aide jobs at risk.”

The pre-school Head Start program will be cut for 8,200 California children, $2.6 million will be cut from public health, and the state will lose $5.4 million in funding for food assistance for low-income families.

Depending on the federal agency, the cuts will amount to between 5 and 9 percent of the budget for the year.

These cutbacks will have a severe impact on the US economy as a whole. Stephen S. Fuller, a professor at George Mason University, found in a study last year that the sequester will cost 2.14 million jobs and increase the unemployment rate by 1.5 percentage points.

The sequester also includes $42.7 billion in cuts to military spending. The Pentagon has threatened to furlough 800,000 civilian Defense Department employees, beginning as early as April.

The slated military cuts have prompted howls of protest from the military brass and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who claim that they will “hollow out” the US military machine and threaten “national security.” One way or another, the Pentagon, whose base budget has soared since 9/11 from $397 billion to $557 billion, will be shielded from any significant cuts.

At the same time, the proposed cuts in defense and security spending will be used for fear-mongering propaganda about the terrorist threat. Already on Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano called a press conference to declare that the cuts will make the US more vulnerable to a terrorist attack.

President Obama is continuing his demagogic campaign to place the entire blame for the sequester on the Republicans and posture as the advocate of a “fair” and “balanced” program of deficit-reduction that will “protect the middle class” and make the rich pay their “fair share.”

On Tuesday, he made an appearance at the Newport News shipyard in Virginia, a facility that is directly tied into the military and dependent on contracts from major defense contractors. In selecting this site for his latest speech on the sequester, Obama, speaking in front of a giant submarine propeller, signaled his opposition to any significant cuts in military spending.

He blamed congressional Republicans for blocking his proposal for a combination of spending cuts and token increases in taxes for corporations and the wealthy. The Republicans are insisting that there be no tax increases in any new budget deal.

“All we’re asking,” Obama declared, “is that they close loopholes for… hedge fund managers and oil companies... so we can avoid laying off workers, or kicking kids off Head Start, or reducing financial aid for college students.” The cynicism of this claim to be fighting for higher taxes for the rich is exposed by Obama’s support for a “comprehensive tax reform” that includes a cut in corporate taxes from 35 to 28 percent.

The real substance of Obama’s agenda, behind the pseudo-populist rhetoric, was indicated by his reiteration of support for cuts in entitlement programs. In a line meant to reassure his real constituency—Wall Street and corporate America—he said, “Democrats like me… have said we’re prepared to make some tough cuts and reforms, including to programs like Medicare.”

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OBAMAnomics: FROM THE MAN THAT HATED AMERICAN BUT LOVED AMERICAN BANKSTERS:


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OBAMA BUILDS THE LA RAZA WELFARE STATE IN OUR BORDERS AS HE CUTS PROGRAMS FOR AMERICANS (LEGALS) TO FINANCE THE CRIMES OF HIS WALL STREET BANKSTERS.


Most Illegal Immigrant Families Collect Welfare

April 05, 2011

Surprise, surprise; Census Bureau data reveals that most U.S. families headed by illegal immigrants use taxpayer-funded welfare programs on behalf of their American-born anchor babies. Even before the recession, immigrant households with children used welfare programs at consistently higher rates than natives, according to the extensive census data collected and analyzed by a nonpartisan Washington D.C. group dedicated to researching legal and illegal immigration in the U.S. The results, published this month in a lengthy report, are hardly surprising. Basically, the majority of households across the country benefitting from publicly-funded welfare programs are headed by immigrants, both legal and illegal.

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WSWS.ORG

The US is the most unequal of all industrialized countries. Yet for three decades, as the wealth of the financial aristocracy has soared and the living conditions of masses of working people have deteriorated, every struggle of the working class has been isolated and defeated. In this, the official trade unions have played the central role.

No open door: White House denies selling access to President Obama to wealthy supporters - Washington Times

Obama campaign raises record sums from the wealthy

By Patrick Martin
15 July 2011


Proving that President Obama is the first choice of Wall Street and the American super-rich, his reelection campaign announced Wednesday that it had broken all previous records for fundraising, raking in $86 million during the second quarter of this year.

WHO IN THE OBAMA ADMIN IS NOT CONNECTED TO HIS CRIMINAL BANKSTER DONORS, OR A LA RAZA SUPREMACIST PARTY MEMBER?



OBAMA HAS TWO AGENDAS. SERVICING BANKSTER DONORS, AND PUSHING OUR BORDERS OPEN FOR MORE ILLEGALS. HE KNOW WE WON’T BE PUNKED BY HIS PERFORMANCES THE SECOND TIME AROUND!

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“Records show that four out of Obama's top five contributors are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG ($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054).”
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BOOK

Obamanomics: How Barack Obama Is Bankrupting You and Enriching His Wall Street Friends, Corporate Lobbyists, and Union Bosses

 

BY TIMOTHY P CARNEY 

Editorial Reviews

Obama Is Making You Poorer—But Who’s Getting Rich?

Goldman Sachs, GE, Pfizer, the United Auto Workers—the same “special interests” Barack Obama was supposed to chase from the temple—are profiting handsomely from Obama’s Big Government policies that crush taxpayers, small businesses, and consumers. In Obamanomics, investigative reporter Timothy P. Carney digs up the dirt the mainstream media ignores and the White House wishes you wouldn’t see. Rather than Hope and Change, Obama is delivering corporate socialism to America, all while claiming he’s battling corporate America. It’s corporate welfare and regulatory robbery—it’s Obamanomics.

Congressman Ron Paul says, “Every libertarian and free-market conservative needs to read Obamanomics.” And Johan Goldberg, columnist and bestselling author says, “Obamanomics is conservative muckraking at its best and an indispensable field guide to the Obama years.”

If you’ve wondered what’s happening to America, as the federal government swallows up the financial sector, the auto industry, and healthcare, and enacts deficit exploding “stimulus packages,” this book makes it all clear—it’s a big scam. Ultimately, Obamanomics boils down to this: every time government gets bigger, somebody’s getting rich, and those somebodies are friends of Barack. This book names the names—and it will make your blood boil.

 

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