[Peace-discuss] Fw: [sf-core] Fwd: Senator Sanders's Socialism

Wed Dec 22 18:48:55 CST 2010

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Belden Fields 
To: SFcore 
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 10:13 PM
Subject: [sf-core] Fwd: Senator Sanders's Socialism

Begin forwarded message:

  From: Portside Moderator <moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG>
  Date: December 20, 2010 7:09:46 PM CST
  To: PORTSIDE at LISTS.PORTSIDE.ORG
  Subject: Senator Sanders's Socialism
  Reply-To: moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG

  Senator Sanders's Socialism

  By Nancy Folbre 

  New York Times Economix 

  December 20, 2010
  http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/senator-sanderss-socialism/

  Nancy Folbre is an economics professor at the
  University of Massachusetts Amherst.

  When the rumpled, plain-spoken Senator Bernie Sanders
  of Vermont spoke virtually nonstop for more than eight
  hours on Dec. 10 to explain his opposition to tax cuts
  for the rich, he quickly became a YouTube and Twitter
  celebrity. Harry Hamburg/Associated Press Senator
  Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a sharp critic of the
  Federal Reserve, forced its disclosure of details of
  its lending and bailout practices.

  A majority of Americans polled earlier this year by New
  York Times/CBS News, Bloomberg News and USA
  Today/Gallup also opposed these cuts, and many cheered
  him on as he spoke.

  President Obama's firm support for a compromise on the
  tax cut - which Congress approved late Thursday night -
  helped swing many voters back into approval, but the
  debate publicized the issue of economic inequality.

  Senator Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic
  socialist, describes the United States economy as
  "socialism for the rich."

  Earlier in the year, he allied with Representative Ron
  Paul, Republican of Texas, to win support for new
  legislation requiring an unprecedented level of
  disclosure of the Federal Reserve's specific emergency
  lending activities.

  With that process of disclosure now under way, Senator
  Sanders can offer details from the Fed's "bailout
  files" to substantiate his claim that the $700 billion
  Troubled Asset Relief Program was pocket change
  compared with the trillions of dollars in low-interest
  loans the central bank provided both to American
  corporations and foreign agencies.

  No such assistance was offered to small businesses in
  need of capital or homeowners going through
  foreclosures.

  Senator Sanders's criticisms of the Fed go well beyond
  the observation that it bailed out only institutions it
  considered too big to fail. In a recent public letter
  to the Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, he points to major
  conflicts of interest: Senior executives of General
  Electric, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Banco Popular,
  Sun Trust and Fifth Third Bank served as directors of
  regional Federal Reserve Banks even as they doled out
  funds to their firms.

  The new information lends support to the concept of a
  financial oligarchy detailed by my fellow Economix
  blogger Simon Johnson and his co-author, James Kwak, in
  "13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next
  Financial Meltdown."

  The specifics also provide a case study of regulatory
  capture, in which a state agency created to act in the
  public interest instead advances the commercial or
  special interests it was charged with regulating.

  Mainstream Republicans and Democrats have recently
  squared off over the issue of who caused the financial
  crisis - the government or the financial industry.
  Republicans blame public efforts to increase
  homeownership through the Community Reinvestment Act of
  1977 and the subsidization of low-interest mortgages
  through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Democrats blame
  deregulation.

  If Senator Sanders is correct, the debate is misplaced,
  because a government dominated by the financial
  industry helped orchestrate both federal subsidies and
  deregulation.

  Many of our most influential policy makers spin through
  revolving doors between government and private finance.
  Hardly an eyebrow was raised this fall when the White
  House budget director, Peter Orszag, left public
  service to join Citibank's global banking division.

  The Fed does not seem a bit embarrassed by the
  bailout's double standard or uneven impact. Corporate
  profits are up 28 percent from a year ago, but
  unemployment edged up to 9.8 percent last month.

  A widespread apprehension that government no longer
  effectively represents the interests of ordinary people
  has tipped populist rage to the right.

  Senator Sanders has proved more adept than any of the
  Democrats in tipping it the other way.

  Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company 

  ___________________________________________

  Portside aims to provide material of interest to people
  on the left that will help them to interpret the world
  and to change it.

  Submit via email: portside at portside.org

  Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3

  Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq

  Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe

  Search Portside archives: http://portside.org/archive

  Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate

__._,_.___
Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic 
Messages in this topic (1) 
Recent Activity: 
Visit Your Group 
MARKETPLACE
Find useful articles and helpful tips on living with Fibromyalgia. Visit the Fibromyalgia Zone today!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get the Yahoo! Toolbar now.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hobbies & Activities Zone: Find others who share your passions! Explore new interests.

  Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest . Unsubscribe . Terms of Use.

__,_._,___
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20101222/d808b2bc/attachment-0001.html>