Markets Fail When Humans Are Unregulated

By Paul Craig Roberts
OpEd News
February 4, 2010

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan answered that he had placed his trust in a flawed theory when he was called before Congress to explain why he, Goldman Sachs Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Deputy Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, prevented Brooksley Born, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Corporation, a government regulatory agency, from doing her job of regulating over-the-counter derivatives.

The efficient markets theory is that unregulated markets are efficient and rational. According to this theory in which Greenspan placed his trust, unregulated markets produce the best possible
result. Any regulatory interference worsens the outcome.

Greenspan blamed his own bad judgment on a theory. The theory, or Greenspan's understanding of it, nevertheless still holds sway as Congress has proved impotent to re-regulate the gambling casino that is Wall Street. Clearly, the theory serves powerful interests.

But what is the truth?

The truth is that markets are a social institution. Their efficiency depends on the rules that govern the behavior of people in markets. When free market economists talk about markets deciding this or that, they are reifying a social institution and ascribing to it decision-making power. Socialists make the same mistake when they blame markets for the results of human action. But, of course, markets do not act or
make decisions. People act and make decisions, and markets reflect the decisions and actions of people.

The entire debate over regulation is misconstrued. It is not the market, an efficient social institution, that is regulated. What is regulated is the behavior of people in markets. If you want good results from markets, good regulation of human behavior is a requirement.

The market is like a computer. Garbage in, garbage out.

Continue reading here.

Rep. Donna Edwards: "Amend the Constitution," Quotes Justice Brandeis

Shadow Elite: The Spy Who Came in From... Wall Street?

By Janine R. Wedel Author, "Shadow Elite"
Huffington Post
Posted: February 4, 2010 09:05 AM

During the Cold War, we took it for granted that officers of the Central Intelligence Agency worked solely for the good of the USA -- or at least their version of the good. They were loyal first, last, and always only to one institution, the CIA.

Americans assumed that they had one boss, and one boss alone: the CIA director. But this week came a revelation that shakes that longstanding belief to the core.

Today, CIA officers are allowed to moonlight, and ply their espionage skills elsewhere in their free time.

I wish I could say this was a stunning revelation, but it is not. It is just the sort of dilution of loyalty, authority, and the government's "brain" that enables the top players of power and influence -- the shadow elite -- to serve their own agendas, rather than the public's, as they move seamlessly across government, business, think tank, and media organizations. In my new book Shadow Elite, I argue that this trend threatens our democracy, and often, even our security.

Here is what is detailed by reporter Eamon Javers, in his new book Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy: The Secret World of Corporate Espionage.

And it reads like a bit of farce from a John Le Carre novel, recast to 21st century Wall Street. Some active duty CIA officers, Javers reports, have been on the payroll of a company called BIA (deliberately named to resemble the CIA). For BIA, they reportedly practice "deception detection" to aid Wall Street companies and hedge funds in their business transactions. Like the TV series, "Lie To Me", in which a psychologist analyzes facial, body, and vocal expressions to ferret out who's lying and who's not in criminal investigations, these officers use their CIA training to read the cues that CEO's and market analysts unwittingly send off. They help clients, including Goldman Sachs, figure out if other executives are on the up-and-up when they tout the health of their company. It conjures up an absurd image of an elite, precision-trained spy, sitting and watching and scrutinizing.... business news on CNBC.

Continue reading here.

Feb. 13 Campaign Kick-Off Party For LD 26 Candidates Nancy Young Wright, & Cheryl Cage

Please RSVP to Aspen Green at aspengreen900@comcast.net if you plan to attend.

Al Franken Humbles John McCain, the Senator who placed hold on Obama NLRB nominee Craig Becker

Stewart: Fox News saw Obama’s Q&A as ‘against the narrative’ | Obama 'Having Fun'

By David Edwards and Stephen Webster
Rawstory.com
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 -- 6:57 pm

The problem with preconceived shades of reality is that occasionally, someone comes along and knocks everything askew.

According to Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, that's exactly what happened when President Barack Obama spent an hour and a half swatting down House Republicans' questions, causing Fox News to "cut the feed."

It was almost as if the president could see the GOP talking points in "bullet time," Stewart joked.

For the rest of the story click here.

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The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Q & O
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'Money for Nothing' Author Exposes Corporate Board Cronyism That Threatens the Economy

John Gillespie and David Zweig take readers deep inside the elite world of these corporate leaders to reveal its inner workings and show how the glaring failures of the system have imperiled our economy. For excerpts and more on the book click on the picture.

DFA: Tell Gabrielle Giffords to Sign the Letter Urging Senate To Pass Public Option by Reconciliation

92 House Democrats Have Signed the Polis/Pingree Letter

An incredible 92 House Democrats have signed the Polis-Pingree letter calling on the Senate to pass the public health insurance option through "reconciliation," which only needs a simple majority to pass the Senate.

The Boldprogressive whip team is aiming for 100, and today is the last day for others to sign. Raul Grijalva is the only Arizona Democrat so far to sign on.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords isn't on board yet. Can you call her today and ask her to sign?

This letter has been reported on by MSNBC, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and others. The momentum is growing. And numerous congressional offices have said calls so far made a huge difference -- your call today will too.

Click here to participate in the Democracy for America Boldprogressives campaign.

View full letter at WhipCongress.com/letter

The Honorable Harry Reid
Office of the Majority Leader
United States Senate
S-221, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Majority Leader Reid:

As the Senate continues to work on health reform legislation, we strongly urge you to consider including a public option.

Here are the reasons for this request:

1) The public option is overwhelmingly popular.

A December New York Times poll shows that, despite the attacks of recent months, the American public supports the public option 59% to 29%. And a recent Research 2000 poll found 82% of people who supported President Obama in 2008 and Scott Brown for Senate last week also support the public option. Only 32% of this key constituency is in favor of the current Senate bill – with more saying it “doesn’t go far enough” rather than it “goes too far.”

Support for health care legislation started to fall as popular provisions like the public option were stripped out and affordability standards were watered down. The American people want us to fight for them and against special interests like the insurance industry, and it is our responsibility to show them that their voices are being heard.

2) The public option will save billions for taxpayers, speaking to the fiscally-responsible sensibilities of our constituents.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the public option will save taxpayers anywhere from $25 billion to $110 billion and will save billions more when private insurers compete to bring down premium costs. The stronger the public option, the more money it saves.

By including the public option, we can simultaneously reduce tax increases and the deficit. This is a common-sense way to temper the frustration of Americans who question whether Congress is spending their money wisely and fighting for the middle class.

3) There is strong support in the Senate for a popular public option.

It is very likely that the public option could have passed the Senate, if brought up under majority-vote “budget reconciliation” rules. While there were valid reasons stated for not using reconciliation before, especially given that some important provisions of health care reform wouldn’t qualify under the reconciliation rules, those reasons no longer exist. The public option would clearly qualify as budget-related under reconciliation, and with the majority support it has garnered in the Senate, it should be included in any healthcare reform legislation that moves under reconciliation.

As Democrats forge “the path forward” on health care, we believe that passing the public option through reconciliation should be part of that path. We urge you to favorably consider our request to include a public option in the reconciliation process.

Sincerely,

Jared Polis, Member of Congress
Chellie Pingree, Member of Congress
Keith Ellison, Member of Congress
Carolyn Maloney, Member of Congress
Sam Farr, Member of Congress
Earl Blumenauer, Member of Congress
Paul Tonko, Member of Congress
Jan Schakowsky, Member of Congress
Donna Christensen, Member of Congress
Yvette Clarke, Member of Congress
John Hall, Member of Congress
Michael Doyle, Member of Congress
David Wu, Member of Congress
Anthony Weiner, Member of Congress
Alcee Hastings, Member of Congress
Bob Filner, Member of Congress
Peter DeFazio, Member of Congress
Peter Welch, Member of Congress
And dozens of other representatives...And here is the rest of it.

Dem ad slams GOP candidate as ‘architect of voter suppression’

By Daniel Tencer
Rawstory
Monday, Feb. 1st, 2010

The Democratic Party has released a one-minute ad accusing a Republican candidate for Congress and former Karl Rove aide of being "the architect of a voter suppression scheme."

Tim Griffin, who worked as an aide for Karl Rove during the Bush administration before becoming a US Attorney, is running for Congress in Arkansas' 2nd district. An ad released by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says Griffin was behind a "voter caging" effort, despite Griffin's claims to the contrary.

The video shows an email, obtained by investigative journalist Greg Palast in 2007, showing Griffin receiving and replying to issues involving voter caging. According to the DCCC, Griffin responded "Thank you, perfect" to one of the emails.

The video begins with audio of Griffin denying knowledge of voter caging schemes. "Obviously I've seen the Internet stuff about caging. ... The allegations that are on the Internet ... are completely and absolutely false."

"Tim 'Dirty Tricks' Griffin says the allegations are 'absolutely false'? Too bad he put it in writing," the Democratic ad states.

WATCH DCCC VIDEO



Continue reading here.

GOP PR GURU Frank Luntz Pens Memo To Kill Financial Regulatory Reform

By Sam Stein
Huffington Post
2-10-2010

Nine months after he penned a memo laying out the arguments for health care legislation's destruction, Republican message guru Frank Luntz has put together a playbook to help derail financial regulatory reform.

In a 17-page memo titled, "The Language of Financial Reform," Luntz urged opponents of reform to frame the final product as filled with bank bailouts, lobbyist loopholes, and additional layers of complicated government bureaucracy.

"If there is one thing we can all agree on, it's that the bad decisions and harmful policies by Washington bureaucrats that in many ways led to the economic crash must never be repeated," Luntz wrote. "This is your critical advantage. Washington's incompetence is the common ground on which you can build support."

Luntz continued: "Ordinarily, calling for a new government program 'to protect consumers' would be extraordinary popular. But these are not ordinary times. The American people are not just saying 'no.' They are saying 'hell no' to more government agencies, more bureaucrats, and more legislation crafted by special interests."

In Republican circles Luntz's words, which have helped the party score win the message wars over health care and other legislative battles, are often treated as gospel. Already, some of the advice he's offered on regulatory reform has found its way into the political discourse -- with a proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency seemingly on life support under Republican objections.

In addition to tying regulatory reform to a massive government takeover, Luntz's memo includes several other data points and messaging suggestions as a blue print for the legislation's defeat. Opponents, he writes, would be well served to link the package to the financial industry bailout (which, it should be noted, is fundamentally not part of the legislation). According to accompanying polling data, 52 percent of voters said they would be "much less likely" to vote for their member of Congress if they voted for a financial reform bill that contained a fund to bail out banks and Wall Street.

"Public outrage about the bailout of banks and Wall Street is a simmering time bomb set to go off on Election Day,"

Luntz wrote. "Frankly, the single best way to kill any legislation is to link it to the Big Bank Bailout."

Another effective strategy to kill the bill, according to Luntz, is to make the case that it was written in secret by lobbyists.

A downloadable copy of the full Luntz memo is posted on Huffington Post Web site. Click here to continue reading.

Farewell My GED

Posted by Tucson Citizen Data Port
January 30, 2010

The Data Port recently received a note from Melisa DeNinno who is the Communications Coordinator for Literacy Volunteers of Tucson. It was ominously headed: Arizona Plans to Plummet to Fame.

“The budget cuts Governor Jan Brewer is proposing are painful, but one will earn us national recognition. Not only will Arizona have one of the highest high school drop-out rates in the nation, if the proposed cuts are approved, GED classes and testing will no longer be offered in this state. Arizona would become the only state in the country without this service.”

Paula Stuht, Vice President of Business Development of the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, adds:

“The economic impact of NOT educating the nearly 800,000 Arizonans who do not have a high school diploma is enormous. The elimination of Adult Education will prevent the development and re-training of a prepared workforce that we urgently need to attract and keep existing businesses in Arizona.”

“Without a GED it is nearly impossible to go on to further training or to get a job. 70% of welfare recipients and 65% of the state prison population don’t have high school diplomas. 18% of all high school diplomas issued in Arizona in 2008 were GED diplomas, nearly 1/5 of Arizona’s high school graduates.

GED grads earn $5,000 more per year on average, resulting in approximately $70 million additional taxable income in Arizona. Arizona benefits from over $8 million in additional tax revenue from GED graduates which is almost double the return on investment.

If the Governor’s recommendation to totally eliminate its $4.6 million adult education program is ultimately approved, Arizona will sacrifice $11 million of federal funds for adult education that are directly based on the state’s commitment to maintain its funding level.”

Arizona plans to set a new record.

“Not only will have one of the most abysmal drop-out rates, we will effectively dismantle the only entry point into immediate employment and job training for the approximately 22,000 adults that are served by Adult Education annually. At a time when more than 1 in 5 people in Pima County is living in poverty can we really afford this?” says Ramón Valadez, Chairman of the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

Cutting Adult Education and the GED will not help the state’s deficit, it will deepen it.

Save Adult Education in Arizona. The governor has recommended the complete elimination of adult ed (that is, GED and other adult programs) -- retroactive to January 1, 2010 -- in order to try to balance the budget.

Contact your legislator now.

CLICK ON FACT SHEET BELOW TO ENLARGE

AZ Leg Budget Cuts mean no hospice for some near death

By Kimberly Matas
Arizona Daily Star
Posted: Monday, February 1, 2010 12:00 am

State legislators, in an attempt to balance the budget, have cut care options for some terminally ill Arizonans, and hospices may have to repay the state for services already provided.

A footnote in the Legislature's 2007 General Appropriation Act allowed the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System to match federal funds for hospice services needed by acute-care patients. It was a one-year appropriation that was renewed in 2008, but not for the fiscal year that began on July 1, 2009. Even though legislators approved the budget in July, AHCCCS continued authorizing hospice payments for another six months.

Last month, AHCCCS sent a letter to providers telling them that the funding had been eliminated, and it suggested they would have to repay the state.

Because of the state's budget crisis, the end of the legislative session was "a confusing time," said Monica Coury, a spokeswoman for AHCCCS. "Normally we might have been able to provide notification sooner. We didn't provide it as soon as we would have liked to."

AHCCCS members enrolled in the agency's long-term-care program retain their hospice benefits, but other patients likely will end up in hospital emergency rooms without the hospice benefit. The average hospice stay is 20 days, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

"Typically in the hospice world, individuals are not seeking aggressive treatment anymore; they are seeking comfort care," said Agnes Poore, chief clinical officer and co-founder of Casa de la Luz Hospice. "But typically in the hospital, they might do diagnostic tests. If you need pain management, they might admit you to the hospital. Emergency room and hospital costs are enormous compared to what you would pay for hospice care."

Last year, 541 acute-care hospice patients were enrolled in AHCCCS. Those same patients would not be eligible for AHCCCS-funded hospice benefits today.

Read more here.