I’ll use my own city of Garland Texas as a specific  example if you care to follow.  $85,304,816 of our total $512,713,285 budget for the city of Garland goes to “service debt”. [Source]  Almost 1/5 of our entire budget is paid to a financial institution.  By reducing the annual payments on debt and by reducing the interest and fees paid on this debt, we would free up money for job creation and repair of the infrastructure of our community.  For example, perhaps we wouldn’t have to be closing libraries as we are now if we had a deal which was mutually beneficial instead of so horribly one-sided.

We need to start asking the real questions–the answers to which will educate and inform us regarding what steps to take next.  We the people must work with those we have elected in supporting them in finding solutions that work better for the majority.

We the people should ask for a more detailed explanation of exactly what is meant by the term:  ”service debt”.  For example, these would be questions for the city council and mayor of Garland such as:

• How much of this $85,304,816 “debt service” is interest?
• How much of the $85,304,816 is payment on principal?
• How much of this $85,304,816 is for bank fees and other charges to the bank that are neither interest nor principal?
• Who is the financial institution that is making a profit twice off the citizens of our community (once for our personal debt and then again for our public debt)?

Once we have these answers, we negotiate with these financial institutions for better terms for the people of our city and if the financial institutions are not prepared to meet us half-way, then we research what it would mean in terms of benefits for the majority of Garland if our local government exercised eminent domain over these banks–particularly in terms of bank foreclosures against our citizens.  As I mentioned previously, the city of Garland has no less than 311 homes in our city that are currently in foreclosure.  The leverage of eminent domain is a powerful leverage that even local city governments have.

And the rights of eminent domain are not limited to homes or property of private citizens.  Local city governments could exercise eminent domain against the buildings of Wall Street banks in our communities if they so desired and seize those properties.

The most common uses of property taken by eminent domain are for public utilities, highways and railroads. however, property may also be taken for reasons of public safety–just ask the people of  Brownsville about their Wall.  What threatens the safety, indeed, the survival of many of our local communities now more than the unreasonable burden of debt imposed on them by Wall Street institutions with their fees, fines and usury collected as interest rates?  It’s time to fight back at the bargaining table by  representing the people first and Wall Street second.

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Look at your own city budgets now!  The city you save may be your own. Find out exactly how much of your city’s annual budget goes to “service debt” and then work with your city council to negotiate a MUCH better deal with the financial institution who is holding them hostage.  Don’t be afraid to use the leverage of eminent domain at the bargaining table and above all, don’t be afraid to use it if the financial institutions don’t meet you half-way.

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In the past, many of the municipal governments all over the USA have sold out their citizens for a nickel to Wall Street interests. Now is the time to stop that and to renegotiate these bad deals for the people.  And yes we can and we need to begin today.  Maybe instead of occupying the streets, OCCUPY needs to move into the chambers of city government.

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Against the bleak backdrop of our national economy, Wall Street continues to squeeze the majority of local government across the USA, but it is squeezing Detroit, one of America’s weakest cities for every penny it can and more.

A few years ago Detroit struck a derivatives deal with UBS and other banks that allowed it to save more than $2 million a year in interest on $800 million worth of bonds.  But the fine print carried a potentially devastating condition.  If the city’s credit rating dropped, the banks could ope out of the deal and demand a sizable breakup fee.  That is precisely what happened in January of 2009.  After years of fiscal trouble, Detroit saw its credit rating slashed to junk.  But that was only part of the cash grab from Wall Street.  Detroit was also on the hook for a $400 million tab in “breakup” fee to the USB– a breakup that USB themselves orchestrated, not the city of Detroit.

Now Detroit must use the revenues from its three casinos:  MGM Grand Detroit, Greektown Casino, and Motor Casino to cover a $4.2 million monthly payment to the banks before a single cent can go to schools, transportation and other critical services.

Read the complete article here.

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The economies of U.S. States are sinking as well as our local governments.  A January 2011 report from THE ECONOMIST compared economies of various U.S. states to those of other nations.  It found that the economy of Mississippi compares to that of Bangladesh and the economy of Alabama to Nigeria.  In other world, those in Alabama could move to Nigeria and expect the same standard of living.  Of course, what separates Alabama from Nigeria is that Alabama is part of a UNITED states whereas Nigeria must get by without ay help.  Ironic that Southern and Western states talk of secession when in fact they are the ones who are most dependent on the Federal government.

We need new and better business models!  AND perhaps even new and better business people.

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Or perhaps we need older business models.  Did you ever hear of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers?

If you live in the USA (and are not an FDL member)–most likely you have not heard of  this group as these people were the founders of the first successful cooperative in modern times.  The cooperative is a business model that doesn’t get much attention from the  corporate state of the USA managed media.

The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers was a group of 10 weavers and 20 others in Rochdale, England, that was formed in 1844. As the mechanization of the Industrial Revolution was forcing more and more skilled workers into poverty, these tradesmen decided to band together to open their own store selling food items they could not otherwise afford.

They designed the now famous Rochdale principles. These people opened shop just a few items before Christmas on December 21, 1844 (during the bleak and hopeless economic era of Charles Dickens).  It was a very meager selection of butter, sugar, flour, oatmeal and a few candles that they initially offered. However, within three months, they expanded their selection to include tea and tobacco, and they were soon known for providing high quality, unadulterated goods.

Rochdale Pioneers traded independently until 1991, with name changes inspired by mergers with neighbouring co-operatives, as Pioneers from 1976, and Norwest Pioneers from 1982, based in Wythenshawe, Manchester by 1991. In 1991, then Norwest Co-operative Society transferred its engagements to United Co-operatives, that was run from Rochdale when it in turn transferred to the Manchester-based national hybrid society, The Co-operative Group, in 2007.  [Thanks to WIKI.  Please contribute to them. I do.]

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ILWQ Comments on the Rochdale Principles

If you read them all, you will see how it could be argued that many,if not all, of the Rochdale principles could be said to apply to corporations listed on the NYSE–All but this one, most important of all principle :

Concern for community

The seventh of the Rochdale Principles states that co-operative societies must have concern for their communities. Co-operatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies approved by their members.

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Most Corporations Today Try to Pass off Faux Concern for the Community as the Real Thing.  Let’s pretend that corporations really are people–then we can put their outrageous behavior into its proper perspective.

Yes, corporations make great PR efforts to appear that they are concerned about the communities in which they operate.  They encourage employees to participate in Little League, Boy Scouts, Girl  Scouts, in Big Brother organizations, pink ribbon campaigns, heading up big charity drives in the community, etc.

However, when it comes to meaningful economic concern for the communities in which they operate, they are totally negligent.  More often than not, a large corporation extracts a huge pound of flesh in tax breaks and evern free land from the community before they will even locate there. Since corporations have declared themselves to be persons, let’s put their behavior into the perspective of what  it would look like if a real person did what they do.  Imagine that  I am a millionaire. I am thinking about moving to a community. I  talk to the mayor and the city council.

“Look, I’m thinking about moving to your community.  I have a million bucks.  I’ll spend a lot of money, but most of it will be spent in New York City because that’s where I like to shop and that’s where all my real friends live.  I’ll create a lot of jobs since I’ll need a grounds keeper, a maid, a cook and a chauffeur but I won’t pay any of them a living wage.  What I need from you to entice me to move here is your promise to make me exempt from the taxes that other citizens pay.   You’ll also have to turn your eyes the other way when I throw my trash in the creek that runs behind my house.  You will also look the other way when I drive my Hummer pulling my sailboat over your soft asphalt roads thus demolishing them and leaving the expensive repair to the taxpayers of your community.  Oh and did I mention, I just love the smell of burning rubber so I don’t want to hear any complaints when I keep my pile of old tires burning 24/7.”

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We need real solutions that offer sustainable economic development of  communities– with justice for the majority.

Not only do corporations come into communities making ridiculous demands that no individual  citizen would ever dare to, they do not give a damn for the sustainable economic development in the communities where they operate.  The second the mother office in New York [or the city where the corporate headquarters are located] declares that a subsidiary must be trashed, it is trashed.  It does not matter if that particular subsidiary is operating at a profit or not.  Here is how that could be improved to protect and stabilize the economies in which publicly held corporation operate.

1.  At least one-third of the profits earned by the operations of a corporate subsidiary would be poured back into the community in which it is located and at least half of this money would go toward establishing local cooperatives to stabilize the the local economy.

2.  No corporation would be given any special tax breaks for locating in a community.  In fact, it would be against the law for Mayors and City council members to attempt to bribe corporation thusly.

3. All corporations would be required to sign a minimum 10 year guarantee to stay in the community and/or offer the workers and the community  the opportunity to purchase the operations at cost of the plant and equipment.

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There are solutions but these solutions come with new business and economic models–not more of the same with promises of different results.  I’ve been writing about this topic for years.  Here is a post of mine from January 31, 2009.

Sources for Building a Self-Reliant Community

Yes, there is no doubt that Mitt Romney is the leader of the pack of the current candidates for President of our Nation when it comes to firing workers and trashing American companies, but that doesn’t make at least 200 members of the US Congress any less guilty.

Without their participation as lawmakers and as Wall Street investors, companies like Bain Capital, American Capital Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. would never get away with the crimes they “legally” commit against the American people.  We need to remember that the two are a hand-in-glove relationship:  Congress and Wall Street crooks like Romney. They BOTH benefit from destroying Main Street.  If you don’t believe me go to Open Secrets and look at the increases in the net worth of Congressional members over the past three years as millions of Americans have slid off into economic oblivion.

Henry Kravis is another pig like Romney who has made billions with his private  private equity firm of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. who have over $62 billion in assets as of 2011. Kravis himself has an estimated net worth of $3.7 billion as of September 2011, ranked by Forbes as the 88th richest man in America. And he made his money just like Mitt:  with leveraged buyouts, then firing workers and selling off the companies assets.  Another Main Street demolition expert.

If Wall Street private equity firms are “the American Way” as Ron Paul and Mitt say, it seems to me that maybe Henry Kravis ought to run for president since he obviously knows the game better than Mitt. Kravis has a personal fortune of $3.7 billion to Mitt’s puny $250 billion.

And more just like Kravis and Romney are waiting in the wings from the children of the political class currently in power.

Chelsea Clinton, for example, straight out of college worked for a predatory financial corporation on wall street.  No doubt mom or pop helped to land her job with American Capital Group, an investment firm focusing on distressed securities and private equity with regional teams focusing on “opportunities” in the United States, Europe and Asia. The firm operates as both a private equity and a hedge fund.  Do you think that anyone of the three Clintons don’t know how a private equity firm makes its money?  It’s the “American Way” all right–the “American Way” for the rich.

Then there is Rick Perry’s son.  In February of 2007, Perry’s son, Griffith, went to work for UBS, one of the two largest financial firms consulting with Rick Perry over the possible sale of the Texas Lottery.

What makes people think that Obama’s latest appointment to “provide financial protection for the people”  will be any different from the rest of his appointments to provide financial protection for the people?

Where is the history to support this in Obama’s prior appointments?  It is not there.  Those who think that it is are either delusional or asleep.

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Obama appointed Mary Schapiro–the chairman of the SEC--a woman who had been an SEC commissioner (regulator since 1988 having served Reagan, Bush I, Clinton and Bush II).  A lot of experience.  Kinda makes you wonder why SHE didn’t catch Madoff if she is such an experienced regulator.

But never mind that.  Look at her history as Director of Duke Energy since 1999.  When she took over, Duke Energy ranked 46th as the worst polluter in the USA.  After 9 years of Mary’s leadership, Duke Energy ranked as the #13 worst polluter in the USA.  Duke Energy also has a nasty reputation for cutting off the tops of mountains–another great recommendation for Mary and her respect for the environment and people.

Schapiro is another Wall Street toady who believes in “self regulating” markets. Right. As the head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) she twiddled her thumbs while the financial giants increased their leverage to gigantic levels and spread their derivatives contagion to every part of the system.

Schapiro also missed the Madoff scandal, the auction-rate bond fraud, the blow up at Lehman Brothers, and the    .  .  . ”   Schaprio is perfect for the position as chairman of the SEC–just not perfect for the majority of the people.  She is the perfect one to ensure that the Wall Street shysters will continue to fleece the American public.

Obama appointed  Adam Storch to be the Chief Operating Officer of the SEC enforcement division. Mr. Storch is a former Goldman Sachs employee. For the five years prior to his appointment by  Obama in Oct of 2009, Storch worked at Goldman Sachs, most recently as vice president in Goldman’s Business Intelligence Group. The position, along with the division, was created as a reaction to the subprime mortgage crisis. If Storch is not a fox in the henhouse, there has never been one. If you think that the system can or will be improved from the inside out by Barack Obama’s appointments, you are dreaming.

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Now Obama is appointing a regulator for the regulators.

Now we have yet another Obama appointment to protect us: Richard Cordray’s appointment as director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a bureau created under the Dodd-Frank Act in response to complaints that existing regulators didn’t do enough to protect consumers before the 2008 credit crisis. The rules overhaul shifted consumer protection from regulators responsible for banks’ financial stability, removing a potential source of conflict.

Not having that much faith in the altruistic nature of human beings, I am a person who leans strongly in the direction of more, not less regulation, but it seems to me that if Mary Schapiro and Adam Storch were doing their jobs (which these two Foxes in the Henhouse obviously are not) the consumers would be protected.  Regulators such as Schapiro and Storch disregard the holistic picture of a banks financial stability that includes their fair treatment of customers.  Banks and financial institutions who treat their customers unfairly always put their investors at risk and when they do, we end up with catastrophic events such as our current global financial crisis.  It seems to me that the solution is to replace people like Mary Schapiro and Adam Storch–not to create yet another government bureau.

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But what is the purpose of this useless Obama Boy Scout Appointment?

It wins him the Boy Scout badge of  ”I stand for the little guy” in an election year.

Mary Warren, whom I respect and support was quoted as saying that this appointment ” . . .puts a cop on the beat” to protect protect Americans against unscrupulous lenders by — among other things — eliminating jargon-filled loan documents in favor of plain-English paperwork.”

With all due respect, at the best, this appointment is too little too late.  We need a helluva lot more than a “cop on the beat” to undo the damage that Wall Street investors and crooks in Congress have done to our nation ( and by “Wall Street “, I include all members and traders and investors on the NYSE which is literally located on Wall Street and the NASDAQ which is located on Times Square but especially investment in financial institutions and yes, those of you who have money invested in pensions need to look into what you can do towards taking responsibility for that stock ownership as well).  We need an army of Independent legislators in BOTH houses of Congress who are not millionaires and who are not invested in Wall Street and who are not beholden to either of the “two” parties with the courage to create legislation to undo the damage that the 1% have done to our nation.  We need to all remember that they can only continue to do so with our permission.

One “cop on the beat” is not enough–even if Richard Cordray turns out to be an exception to Obama’s previous appointments and is an honest cop.  We need millions of Americans to stand up and replace Congress.

To listen to the hype flowing like foul lava from the mouths of Wall Street owned media about the Iowa primary on Tuesday, one would think all of Iowa was at their local caucus.

The truth is that only 147,255  of the 2,250,423 voters in Iowa came out Tuesday night. And of those, only 122,255 voted in the Republican contest, for a whopping turnout percentage of 5.4 percent. [Source Huffington Post]

So when will the majority turn off their TV and start living in the real world?  The TV, the modern version of “reality” is no more real than the shadows on the walls of the cave in Plato’s allegory.  But as long as we continue to mistake its shadows for the real thing, we will remain captives of the shadow puppeteers.

Freedom?  You can have it, but not before you turn them off and stop listening to what they feed you over their propaganda box.

[Photo is a still from a film titled "The Twonky "(1953) - a cautionary parable concerning the dangers of the then "new-fangled" TV set.]   Yes, it is true.  Life imitates art and Henry Kuttner who first published the story of Twonky in 1942 was right about TV.

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Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their pictures and destroy all their molten images . . . .  Numbers 33:52

Perhaps those who are unable to turn off the propaganda machines, will at least be able, like Winston, to dull its impact by turning their backs  to it.

“Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely . . . Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen.” – from 1984 by George Orwell.

To listen to some Ron Paul fans, one would think that he is in line right after Jesus and  the Virgin Mary.

“Taint so” folks.  Ron Paul is no different from the 44% of our Congress who are Wall Street multimillionaires.  Like them, he too has gotten rich off the lives of workers from the 99%–not only in the USA, but the world.

But don’t take my word for it.  Look up Ron Paul and his Wall Street investments in Open Secrets. Figure it out for yourself.  It will have more meaning if you do.

Ron Paul increased his wealth from $3,930,000 in 2008 to $5,064,000 in 2009 – over a million dollars richer.  Yep, Saint Ron Paul made over a million bucks in the Wall Street Casino at a time when millions of Americans were losing their jobs and homes.  Ron Paul is no different from any other greedy millionaire Wall Street shyster that we have “representing” us in Congress.

You think Ron Paul cares about people?  Think again.  If he did, he would not invest in corporations known for murdering their workers.

Mr. Paul, a millionaire five times over, has several million of his assets invested in numerous mining corporations including three of the worst mining corporations in the world: Anglogold Ashanti Ltd $250,001 to $500,000 According to Forbes AngloGold Ashanti was accused in 2007 in Colombia for “murders of trade union and community leaders who opposed the company’s activities in the region”. Barrick Gold $100,001 to $250,000 Barrick Gold is known for its tactics in “suppressing dissident voices, dividing communities, and manipulating local and national politics”. And speaking of “Freedom”, Barrick Gold is famous for their lack of free, prior and informed consent for local people”. Newmont Mining $250,001 to $500,000 -In August 2004, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment filed a US $133.6 million civil lawsuit against Newmont, claiming the company’s Minahasa Raya mine contaminated local fish stocks, causing serious illness and death for nearby villagers.

Those from the 99% who think that Ron Paul represents them are at least as big of a fool as those who still buy into the myth of a two-party system.

We have a one-party Wall Street System in Washington DC today and Ron Paul is a player in that system–just like the majority in Washington DC.

Montana has the right idea. They are recalling their fakes.  They are not waiting until November of 2012 to toss them out.

Photo credit:  Chris Hondros

Chris Hondros of Getty Images was with an army unit in Tal Afar on January 18, 2005, when its soldiers killed the parents of this blood-spattered girl at a checkpoint, and his photo was published around the world. Mr. Hondros was kicked out of the unit, though he soon became embedded with a unit in another city.

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Was it worth it?  Not by my ethics!  If you are offended by this photo, you should be.  All Americans should be offended and we should show it with our votes in 2012.  It should be more than apparent that elected officials from NEITHER party care about the people they represent or  the people of the world.

The last of 4,000 US combat troops in Iraq head for home over the next week to 10 days, but Washington still has more than 90,000 troops based in Afghanistan.

In 2005, the  late Lieutenant General William Odom called the Iraq invasion ”the greatest strategic disaster in United States history”

He was right in part, but it was a lot more than merely a strategy that we lost.  America has lost a lot with the 8 year Iraq war.  The USA suffered an immeasurable loss in international credibility. The stated justifications for going to war – Saddam Hussein’s ties to al-Qaeda, weapons of mass destruction, a rapidly developing nuclear weapons program – proved utterly unfounded, while the mightiest, highest-tech war machine in history failed to suppress a variety of rag-tag insurgencies

The estimated total costs of the Iraq war on the US economy, including the costs of health care for veterans, are at more than three trillion dollars.

But material US losses pale when compared to those of the Iraqis – estimated at well over 100,000 dead (many put those estimates at over one million), and countless others, including hundreds of thousands of children, injured or traumatized by their experiences.

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ILWQ COMMENTS

Do you want a different world?  If you do, you are going to have to stop voting for Democrats and Republicans because if the leaders of  BOTH parties have not proven themselves to be war mongers, they never will.  Most of the war mongers who voted for the useless war in Iraq are still in Congress.  One of them, Hillary Clinton, is even our Secretary of State and continues to shape our war mongering foreign policy.  I find it particularly ironic when I read in various places where Hillary states that she cares about women and wants to retire and help them.  I  can’t help but wonder what the 900,000 widows in Iraq think about her professed largess.

You want a different world?  Do you really?  Well you can start by not pretending that we won’t have a third choice for President of the USA in 2012 because we do.  Jill Stein.  What are you doing to support her?  Or are you too busy complaining about Obama and the Republicans to build a future of peace and not war?  Are you too busy intellectualizing and performing mental gymnastics about how a third party candidate doesn’t have a chance for President.  Do you want more of the same?  Then keep voting for more of the same and you’ll get just that.  You want more of the same?  Then don’t support candidates of your choice with your time and money and you’ll get just that–more of the same.

When I remember Iraq, I think of Howard Zinn’s words about how these people in Washington, these people who make millions from their war mongering votes for Wall Street justify war and killing people and how they justify their evil, vile, self-serving behavior:

“To Thomas Friedman, columnist for The New York Times, all Serbs must be punished, without mercy, because they have “tacitly sanctioned” the deeds of their leaders. That is a novel definition of war guilt. Can we now expect an Iraqi journalist to call for bombs placed in every American supermarket on the grounds that all of us have “tacitly sanctioned” the hundreds of thousands of deaths in Iraq caused by our eight-year embargo?

Official terrorism, whether used abroad or at home, by jet bombers or by the police, always receives an opportunity to explain itself in the press, as ordinary terrorism does not. The thirty-one prisoners and nine guards massacred on orders of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller in the Attica uprising, the eleven MOVE members, five of whom were children, killed in a fire after their homes were bombed by Philadelphia police; the eighty-six Branch Davidians, including twenty-four children, who died at the Waco compound in an attack ordered by the Clinton Administration; the African immigrant murdered by a gang of policemen in New York-all of these events had explanations that, however absurd, are dutifully given time and space in the media.”