Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Republican Congress Seeks to Roll Back Dodd-Frank

Congress just approved a bill to dismantle parts of the Dodd-Frank banking rule. NBC: “The House voted late on Tuesday to pass a bill that will change significant aspects of Dodd-Frank, the banking reform bill introduced after loose lending and risky maneuvers by financial institutions led to the country’s worst recession since the Great Depression. Since it passed in 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has been the target of animosity by many conservatives and the banking industry. Given President Donald Trump’s animosity toward Dodd-Frank, it seems likely the bill will become law, having already passed in the Senate in March. Those in favor say changes will enable smaller banks to lend and compete more easily. Others call the move a giveaway. ‘These banks are back to making record profits, but Washington insists on doing them more favors, even if it means raising the risk of another bailout,’ Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told NBC News.”

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Sanders Decides to Run for Re election

Bernie Sanders



I have some important news to share, and I wanted you to hear it first and directly from me:
Today, as Vermont's senator, I am announcing my intention to run for re-election to the United States Senate in 2018.
The truth is these are painful, frightening and unprecedented times.
We have seen a right-wing extremist, Republican Congress attempt to throw up to 32 million Americans off of the health care they have, give a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the richest people in our country and the largest corporations, destroy environmental legislation, work aggressively to deny women the right to control their own bodies and end net neutrality.
We have a president who is not only a pathological liar but someone who is trying to win votes by dividing our nation up based on the color of our skin, our country of origin, our religion, our gender or our sexual orientation. Further, and dangerously, he is undermining our democratic institutions as he attempts to move us toward an authoritarian type society.
If re-elected, you can be sure that I will continue to be the fiercest opponent in the Senate to the right-wing extremism of Trump and the Republican leadership.
But being anti-Trump and anti-Republican is not enough. We need to continue our fight for a progressive agenda which will take on oligarchy and improve the lives of working people throughout our country. We need to keep pushing for Medicare for all, a $15/hour living wage, free college tuition at public colleges and universities and the reduction of student debt, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, fighting climate change and promoting racial, social and environmental justice.

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Russ Feingold and Ro Khanna: A new approach to big money in politics

Russ Feingold and Ro Khanna: A new approach to big money in politics

Trump and China Trade

Trump’s Selling Out His Country for Personal Gain Continues. When the news broke that President Donald Trump was chiding the Commerce Department for sanctioning a Chinese tech company, ZTE, everything about the move was puzzling. ZTE epitomized why the Trump administration was taking a harder line against Beijing.

ZTE sold products containing U.S. products to Korea and Iran, and then tried to cover it up. The FCC has refused to prohibit U.S. carriers from buying equipment made by ZTE for fear of hidden “back doors” that could spy or introduce malware.
Yet Trump suddenly undercut his cabinet department last week with a mysterious tweet:
President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!
Why on earth would Trump undermine his government’s own policy? One likely explanation soon became clear. On TuesdayThe National Review reported:
The Chinese government is extending a $500 million loan to a state-owned construction company to build an Indonesian theme park that will feature a Trump-branded golf course and hotels.
A subsidiary of Chinese state-owned construction firm Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) signed a deal last week with the Indonesian firm MNC Land to build an “integrated lifestyle resort,” as part of Beijing’s global influence-expanding “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative.
The project will include a number of Trump-branded hotels, a golf course, and a residence. While the $500 million loan will not be directly allocated to any of the Trump-branded features, Beijing’s contribution of half the project’s total operating budget ensures the success of the broader theme-park venture.
This is not an explicit quid pro quo, of course, but Trump’s habits of subordinating the national interest to the profits of his family businesses continue. First Russia, now China. There’s a simple word for these habits: treason. ~ ROBERT KUTTNER 

Monday, May 7, 2018

Donald Trump and the Next Crash Making the Fed an Instrument for Disaster | Portside

Interesting seminar for Fall

I regret I was unable to attend the last seminar,  I had an urgent family health task to attend to. All is well.
If you wish to go further on some of the topics we discussed, here is an interesting Fall seminar by Ken Cross,

“Top 10” U.S. Domestic Issues & Potential SolutionsThis Fall 2018 I will be repeating this seminar. If you haven’t yet attended, you’re invited. If you have attended, please pass the attached flyer/write-up to a friend.

Seminar description: This seminar focuses on current U.S. domestic, social justice issues and potential solutions to poverty (hunger & food insecurity, homelessness, affordable housing, jobs & income inequality), diversity, equity, and mass incarceration – crime, punishment & prison reform, immigration, healthcare, education, climate change & a sustainable world, and money, dysfunctional politics & campaign finance reform (capitalism and the erosion of democracy). The series utilizes documentary film, expert speakers and discussion to define the issues and organizing action steps that we can take as citizens to promote positive change. Resources include film, books, articles and organization websites to expand personal knowledge and awareness.

Location: To Be Determined

TimeA.M. class – 9:00-11:30 a.m.

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Opinion | Hows That Tax Cut Working Out? - The New York Times

Opinion | Hows That Tax Cut Working Out? - The New York Times



Paul Krugman

Trump and Trade War

So Trump has postponed unveiling his list of nations against whose steel he’ll impose tariffs. The grand Trumpian gesture would be to include everybody, but by firing that blunderbuss, he’d penalize both the trade-law miscreants and the trade-law compliers (not that distinctions such as these have deterred Trump up to now). The United Steelworkers have made clear that the point of the tariffs shouldn’t be to penalize producers like Canada, which don’t undercut U.S. steelmakers, but those nations that provide state subsidies to their producers so they can underprice us.
If Trump (for that matter, if the American economic establishment) wished to ferret out the real culprits behind our massive trade deficit, they’d look first and foremost to Wall Street. It was the rising power of American finance and its shareholder-über-alles ideology that propelled our manufacturing sector to move offshore in search of cheaper labor and higher profits. There are many reasons why Germany has retained its manufacturing sector while we have not, but chief among them is the fact that Germany has no equivalent of Wall Street or London’s “the City.” But for Deutsche Bank, Germany lacks a global investment titan, and its far stronger community-banking sector is committed, by virtue of its control by local stakeholders rather than distant shareholders, to bolstering domestic manufacturing. Germany has problems of its own, but a financial sector committed to undermining the nation’s economy isn’t one of them. It’s only one of ours. ~ HAROLD MEYERSON