Must See TV: America on the Edge! | Peter Mehit

During the 2008 campaign, Fast Company magazine called Obama a brand. Sadly, it turns out that they were right. Like most brand advertising, Obama identified with people and projected the things people wanted for their country, without having the will or ability to deliver. He lifted up a new ideal of government, creating at the same time a great height to fall from. He had a huge job that required Lyndon Johnson or FDR or Truman levels of courage and skill to pull off. But he hasn’t displayed that talent, the ability to push for common ground while being simultaneously willing to smack the opposition.

When Republicans campaign, they’re nasty bastards. They will do ANYTHING to win. If you want to sell a war, talk about mushroom clouds over American cities. If you want to boost the debt to sky high levels, suggest that gays getting married will cause the collapse of the civilization. If you’re opposed by a war hero, make him look like a total pussy. Mitt Romney’s multiple positions on everything tells you everything you need to know. They just put their heads down and charge.

Democrats on the other hand need to look like they’re fair. They want to be seen as standing on the moral high ground and knowing what’s best for all of us. They say they want everyone to get along when in reality they just want everyone to think like them or shut up. They want to be superior, but are inept at using power. They act like a brand new manager who believes the title should give them respect and action from subordinates. As most of us know, those managers get smoked, usually by one of their underlings. The next job you see them at they’re the boss from hell.

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Public Pensions Are Not The Whole Problem | ZeroHedge

While it’s the latest new thing to vilify public employees and their pensions, this little known and understood threat is doing just as much damage:

In 2002 a little-known but powerful state agency in California and Wall Street titans Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Ambac consummated one of the biggest deals to date involving … an “interest rate swap.” A year later the executive director of the Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Steve Heminger, proudly described these historic deals to a visiting contingent of Atlanta policymakers as a model to be emulated.

Because of the economic collapse, and the decline of interest rates in 2008 to virtually zero, the MTA has been forced to pay the amazing sum of $658 million in net swap payments so far.

Read Article.

Lowering interest rates to zero isn’t Fed policy, it’s Wall Street policy – Ed.