Obama's Economic Plan: A Version of the Monopoly Game, But No One Loses

It's very much like the regular Monopoly game -- only better -- because this one uses real money, provided courtesy of the taxpayers.

By William Greider, The Nation.

AlterNet

President Obama has invented a new board game for Wall Street money guys to play that promises to be a lot of fun. It's very much like the regular Monopoly game that kids play -- only better -- because this one uses real money, provided courtesy of the taxpayers. The best thing about Obama's game is nobody loses. Usually, the winner in Monopoly is the one who winds up with the most money. In the Obama version, the losers get any losses back from the government at the end of the game. The president has promised.
The guy is a genius. He located these two whiz kids -- Tim and Larry -- who are smarter than God about financial matters. President Obama commanded the advisors to solve the financial mess, raise the zombie banks from the dead and start the good times rolling again. This game is what they came up with. It's a very complicated game and not everyone can understand it. But the Wall Street titans smell hope. For this Monopoly set has no "Go to Jail" card in the deck.
It starts just like the real Monopoly game. The president hands out tall stacks of cash to all the players -- hedge funds, insurance companies, big-time investors, any well-heeled capitalist with a serious taste for acquiring greater wealth. The players then roll the dice and move their little titan icons around the Monopoly board. They can buy up properties wherever they land, sort of like landing on Boardwalk and Park Place. Only in this case the properties are the nearly worthless financial assets held by the country's leading banks, like the mortgage-backed securities now known as "toxic assets."
The banks are glad to be rid of their rotten stuff and will begin to feel better about lending again to commoners. The titans accumulate a stack of property cards and sell them off to other players at extraordinary profits. At least this is what Tim Geithner and Larry Summers told the president to expect and he believed them. Before you know it, everyone will start feeling better about themselves. The once worthless financial paper that no one would buy will begin glowing with rising value. Now wealthier titans and much relieved bankers will buy more cars and houses, hire more gardeners. More jobs, more hope, everything starts rolling toward national recovery. Everyone is a winner, even the losers.
Only adults are allowed to play this game. It is much too complicated for ordinary citizens so sophisticated financiers are needed to do such tricky deals. But Americans at large can have fun watching the action and rooting for various participants. The contest will be a welcome distraction from other anxieties. Who is going to accumulate the tallest stack? It's like Monopoly Olympics for the grand masters of the universe. Will Warren Buffett take a seat at the table? Bill Gross, the PIMCO bond king, is salivating at the prospect of double-digit returns and says Obama's game is "win-win-win." Can billionaire George Soros resist such an opportunity? Will legendary traders at Goldman Sachs square off against James A. Baker III's Carlyle Group with its oil-rich Arab backers? What a kick that these famous people will be playing with our money.
But, remember, this is not about a few shrewd players accumulating more wealth. It's about saving the country. Everybody will want to do their part. Obama has shown them the way.
Probably there are some naysayers in the public who won't get it. They will whine about the odd ways in which winners always seem to get another chance in US capitalism to win again. Some people will look around them and complain that things do not seem to be improving in their neighborhood. They will attack our president personally, try to undermine his authority.
President Obama can charm them out of their anger. He might say, "Hey, guys, lighten up. It's only a game."

Zeitgeist The Movie, Final Edition | Spanish Subtitles

This Final edition talks as well about The AMERO, Media TERROR publicity and the EUA target intervencionism in Irak, Afganistan, Venezuela......and Mexico.

But most important, do not miss the part III, especialy the priod betwen 1:26:00-1:28:00 minutes, regarding the FEDERAL INCOME TAX:
1- UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
2-The Amendment was never ratified.
3-Nearly all of the TAX goes to the Bankers.
4-No law exists.

El cobro del Impuesto federal en los EUA (Federal Income Tax) es inconstitucional, no hay literalmente ningun estatuto, ni ley en existencia, que le requiera pagar este impue sto.

Jordan is boycotting Israeli fruit

.......all it matters for the genocide NEOLIBEARALS!

Farmers claim UK, Jordan boycotting Israeli fruit
Fruit growers disappointed by canceled orders from abroad, leaving produce to rot in warehouses
Yair Hason
Israel Money

Fruit growers in Israel have reported delays and reductions in orders from abroad since the military operation in Gaza was launched, due to various boycotts against Israeli produce.
Farmers say much of their produce is being held in warehouses due to canceled orders, and fear a sharp decrease in fruit exports to countries such as Jordan, Britain, and the Scandinavian countries.
"We export persimmons, and because of the fighting a number of countries and distributors are canceling orders," Giora Almagor, of the southern town of Bitzaron, told Ynet. He said some of the produce had already been shipped while some was awaiting shipment in warehouses.
Almagor said a large number of cancellations came from Jordan. "The produce stays packed in warehouses, and this is causing us massive losses," he said.
"The longer the fruit waits in storage after sorting, the more its quality decreases. We also have to pay for cooling the merchandise that should have already left, and the cost in considerable," he added.
Ilan Eshel, director of the Organization of Fruit Growers in Israel, said Scandinavian countries have also been canceling orders. "It's mostly Sweden, Norway, and Denmark," he said. "In Scandinavia the tendency is general, and it may come to include all of the chains."

Eshel says the boycott did not exist before the Gaza offensive was launched. "It's getting worse, and more voices can be heard calling to boycott Israeli merchandise," he said. "Until the operation began we had excellent business, though the economic recession in Europe was causing a slight fall in the market."
He added that winter was an especially difficult season to be unable to export fruit, because the avocado, persimmon, and citrus markets are at their height.

BOICOT GOLPEA A LOS AGRICULTORES ISRAELIES

Los agricultores reclaman, Jordania boicotea fruta israelíCultivadores de fruta desilusionados por las órdenes canceladas del exterior, dejando que productos se pudra en depósitos.Los cultivadores de fruta en Israel han informado sobre las demora y las reducciones en órdenes del exterior desde que la operación militar en Gaza fue iniciada, debido a los boicots varios contra productos israelíes. Los agricultores dicen que gran parte de sus productos están guardados en depósitos debido a órdenes canceladas, y tienen miedo a un decrecimiento brusco en las exportaciones de fruta a países como Jordania, Gran Bretaña, y a los países escandinavos. "Exportamos Persimonios, y debido a la guerra un número de países distribuidores son estan cancelando pedidos", Giora Almagor, de la ciudad sureña de Bitzaron, dijo a Ynet. Dijo que algunos de los productos ya han sido enviados, mientras que algunos esperan entrega en los almacenes.Almagor dice que un gran número de cancelaciones vinieron de Jordania. "Los productos envasados se mantiene en depósitos, y esto nos está causando enormes pérdidas", dijo."Cuanto más larga sea la espera de fruta en el almacenamiento tras de su clasificación, más disminuye su calidad. También tenemos que pagar por el enfriamiento de la mercancía que debe tener ya perdida, y los gastos considerables por enfriamiento", añadió.Ilan Eshel, director de la Organización de productores de frutas en Israel, dijo que los países escandinavos también han cancelado órdenes. "Es principalmente Suecia, Noruega y Dinamarca", dijo. "En Escandinavia la tendencia es general, y puede llegar a incluir la totalidad de las cadenas".Eshel dice el boicot no existía antes de la ofensiva lanzada en Gaza. "Es cada vez peor, y más voces pueden ser escuchadas llamando a boicotear las mercancías israelíes", dijo. "Hasta que comenzó la operación tuvimos excelente negocio, aunque la recesión económica en Europa está causando una leve caída en el mercado."Añadió que el invierno fue una temporada especialmente difícil para exportar fruta, debido a que el aguacate, caqui, los cítricos y los mercados están inmaduros.

Bank of America: Bad for America

Posted by ZP Heller, Brave New Films

AlterNet

Squandering $25 billion in bailout bucks.

Bank of America is spending like a drunken sailor, but not on anything that will serve as a life raft for our drowning economy. The largest bank in the US received a whopping $25 billion in bailout funds from our government, but has invested $7 billion in an overseas bank and dropped another $10 million on DC lobbyists.
It gets much much worse. The company employs 247,000 workers, but won't foot the bill for their healthcare, worth an estimated $50 million that's coming out of public funds (on top of the bailout). And since the government wrote Bank of America a $25 billion check, the company announced plans to layoff 35,000 workers over the next three years -- a record for the financial industry. These are workers whose median salary was only about $23,000 to begin with. Meanwhile, the company is still flying their executives around on a fleet of nine corporate jets worth over $200 million alone.
To say nothing of Bank of America's predatory lending practices, the fact that they own Countrywide, the company responsible for the subprime crisis, or that they are dead set against federal legislation that would help mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure. And oh yeah, the Wall Street Journal just reported the Treasury is planning to give Bank of America billions more!
With such flagrant corporate greed, it's no wonder the SEIU is up in arms. My only question is, why aren't the rest of us?

In a national day of action today, the SEIU took on Bank of America at their headquarters in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Charlotte. Mac D'Alessandro, the SEIU's political director for the New England area, told me that about 100 people braved the bitter cold on Boston's Federal Street to pass out flyers to employees and passersby, who, for the first time D'Alessandro could recall, eagerly accepted them. When the group attempted to present Bank of America with a giant STOP PAYMENT check, however, they were cordoned off by police. "The biggest shock though," said D'Alessandro, "was that no one from corporate bothered to come down and accept the check."
Bank of America might have bounced the SEIU's novelty check today, but the SEIU certainly won't be thwarted. Today's action was part of a much broader campaign to mobilize activists around the country and pressure Bank of America to use its bailout billions properly. And you can join by telling Bank of America to help its workers and fix the economy or kindly give its bailout back.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCfS6Pj_qh4