Norman Solomon: Obama in Plunderland: Down the Corporate Rabbit Hole

[unhappycamper]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/05/09-0



Penny Pritzker, billionaire heiress to Hyatt Hotels, was nominated by President Obama for Commerce secretary in a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden Thursday morning.

Obama in Plunderland: Down the Corporate Rabbit Hole
by Norman Solomon
Published on Thursday, May 9, 2013 by Common Dreams

The president’s new choices for Commerce secretary and FCC chair underscore how far down the rabbit hole his populist conceits have tumbled. Yet the Obama rhetoric about standing up for working people against “special interests” is as profuse as ever. Would you care for a spot of Kool-Aid at the Mad Hatter’s tea party?

Of course the Republican economic program is worse, and President Romney’s policies would have been even more corporate-driven. That doesn't in the slightest make acceptable what Obama is doing. His latest high-level appointments -- boosting corporate power and shafting the public -- are despicable.

To nominate Penny Pritzker for secretary of Commerce is to throw in the towel for any pretense of integrity that could pass a laugh test. Pritzker is “a longtime political supporter and heavyweight fundraiser,” the Chicago Tribune reported with notable understatement last week, adding: “She is on the board of Hyatt Hotels Corp., which was founded by her family and has had rocky relations with labor unions, and she could face questions about the failure of a bank partly owned by her family. With a personal fortune estimated at $1.85 billion, Pritzker is listed by Forbes magazine among the 300 wealthiest Americans.”

A more blunt assessment came from journalist Dennis Bernstein: “Her pioneering sub-prime operations, out of Superior Bank in Chicago, specifically targeted poor and working class people of color across the country. She ended up crashing Superior for a billion-dollar cost to taxpayers, and creating a personal tragedy for the 1,400 people who lost their savings when the bank failed.” Pritzker, whose family controls Hyatt Regency Hotels, has a vile anti-union record.

[JayhawkSD]

1. Worth noting: the lesser evil is still evil. (n/t)

[blkmusclmachine]

24. LIAR IN CHIEF.

Same as it's always been.

[djean111]

2. I am starting to think that Obama himself is just a pawn in a game of intergalactic chess.

We all got played.
Pritzker is a perfect example of why I do not ever ever vote based on genitals.
What I am afraid of is that Hillary wants to extend Obama's agenda.
What will be left? (No pun intended, but that does make me laugh!)

[Dustlawyer]

4. Hilary is a died in the wool Corpratist like Her husband and Obama! We need to all demand

COMPLETE CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM (CCFR)!!!

[Demeter]

9. That would be DYED in the wool

unless you have a corpse wrapped in a nice warm blanket....

[yurbud]

32. Her idealism died in the wool of a corporate blanket

[dotymed]

21. Yes Dustlawyer, that would be a tremendous

start in our quest for an end to America's caste system.
Either way, WE must start fielding "people first" politicians. Of course neither current party will endorse actual pro-people politicians. They won't even pass pro-people legislation. Both parties are all about greed. Democrats may be the lesser of two evils, as another poster pointed out, that is still evil.
I have always been an FDR Democrat. I have watched as my once democratic party has helped destroy the protections for average people that FDR was instrumental in passing. All for greed.
I wish the current democratic party would change its name to repub lite. That would be the honest thing to do.

[yurbud]

33. if such a person made it to office, they would quickly be introduced to the gold or lead choice

You can do what the wealthy want and get a pile of gold, or ignore them and get a small quantity of lead where it will do the most harm, or a plane crash, or...

Before that person made it to the highest office, they would be shut out by the media or mocked mercilessly.

Even in the highest office, they wouldn't be safe since the Secret Service answers to the Treasury Secretary, who is chosen by Wall Street.

Obama has gotten a couple of odd reminders that these guys can suddenly become careless, which has to have sent a message.

[dotymed]

34. That is ONE possibility.

If that were the case, a real leader (IMO) would have his family attend an "Official state trip" to somewhere like Switzerland (even Peru) and announce the situation. As "Commander in Chief" he could order the arrest of those causing the immediate threat and call on Americans to stand with him while the corruption is neutralized. It could be done. It would also serve to neutralize many threats just by letting the sunshine in.
IMO, POTUS, et al, are bought ( see commerce secretary) before they reach office. They willingly cooperate in the fascism and get wealthier. They choose...

[yurbud]

35. FDR had unimpeachable evidence the wealthiest people were plotting a coup against him

and did exactly nothing.

It is possible that at that time the wealthy were afraid to pull the trigger.

In the 60's, they not only pulled the trigger, they emptied the clip in anyone that looked remotely like a threat.

When Bill Clinton became president, he got a visit from the leaders of his own party in Congress and the Fed chairman telling him what he would NOT be able to do as president--essentially dump every progressive domestic policy he talked about in the campaign.

[dotymed]

39. I hadn't heard about clinton.

I think it was a good thing. Those were fellow politicians, telling him that they would not support his legislation (I assume).
When FDR did not prosecute the elite's, I feel that was the wrong decision. He said he did not want to put our country through that.... I wish that he had. IMO, it would have really opened Americans eyes. I imagine that he used this "refusal to prosecute" as political capital to get his much needed reforms through.
I think that if he had prosecuted and shown the elite for what they were, he would have gotten his agenda passed anyway but "they" would have dug up a lot of dirt on him and that may have killed his ambitions....IDK.

[Octafish]

3. She will do a good job of protecting the people.

The people on the Forbes 400.

[Hubert Flottz]

5. No shit...

Obama is always talking the talk, but he don't do much walking the walk. His "Marching Shoes" are dry rotting in his closet as I type.

[Octafish]

6. Ms. Pritzker Benefited Big Time from the Bankster Bailout.

An Interview with Tim Anderson on Obama's Commerce Nominee, Penny Pritzker, the Sub-Prime Queen

The Privilege of the Pritzkers

by DENNIS BERNSTEIN
CounterPunch, May 3-5, 2013

EXCERPT...

TA: $38 billion. One publication listed eight casinos, another listed 13, with each license worth a half a million dollars. There is another $5-7 billion in casinos. When you own 13 casinos for 5-7 billion, you are a player in the casino business. That’s just the hotels and casinos. There are many other companies they own such as the second largest chewing tobacco company, which they sold for 3.5 billion dollars. They actually owned the second and third largest chewing tobacco company, but have since off-loaded those for billions of dollars. Many of their assets are not what society considers clean assets, but hey don’t care. As far as money goes, they want it. When it comes to casinos or chewing tobacco companies, they don’t care. Their wealth is almost incalculable, because according to Forbes magazine, they are the only family in America to have off shore tax-free trusts because they were grandfathered in. Their off shore trust can ship money back to their family tax-free. It was grandfathered in because their grandfather got it through Congress – he was smart to see the future and got it done. Congress closed the loophole and grandfathered him in. Forbesmagazine wrote about the Pritzker’s off shore trust, they emphasized that there are over 1000 separate trusts. Many families have two or three different savings accounts to keep track of what money belongs to who, but when you have over 1000 different trusts to handle the family estate it’s very hard to comprehend how much wealth there is and how many businesses they control. A few years ago, Penny sold TransUnion, the largest credit reporting agency in America, but there’s a question about whether she sold it to herself by selling it to various hedge funds which her family has a large interest in. Until she sold it, you could say that Penny Pritzker had more files on every citizen in America than the CIA and FBI combined, because everybody has a credit score and credit report. Penny Pritzker had the credit scores and report on every single citizen in America.

SNIP...

TA: She had TransUnion while she had Superior Bank, so she controlled the credit scores of everybody who was getting a subprime loan. You pay a higher interest on your subprime loan based on your credit score. Whether or not it was ever brokered between the credit bureau and the bank, we don’t know, but we know the same people control both entities.

SNIP...

TA: Superior Bank was acquired back in 1989 as part of the original savings and loan giveaway by M, D and E Wall. As I wrote a in a paper for an economic conference in Denver, Superior Bank was sold to the Pritzkers for 42.5 million dollars. They changed the name from Lion Savings and Loan to Superior Bank after they acquired it. Lion Savings and Loan was sold to the Pritzkers just to put up money for the capital. But as government reports show, they only put up a million dollars cash and pledged their assets as the difference, the capital. That’s not supposed to be done, but they are privileged people so they get privileged deals. After they acquired this for $1 million they also got $640 million in tax credits.

SNIP...

TA: The tax credits were designed so they could use it in any entity they wanted. They didn’t have to use it on what they bought. It could be sold on the open market for value, the credits could be used to file back taxes or warehouse them for future taxes. So for a million dollars, they got 640 million dollars for agreeing to take over Superior Bank, which they then looted for years then gave it back to the government with an enormous loss to the uninsured depositors and the whole subprime industry.

CONTINUED...

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/03/the-privilege-of-the-pritzkers/

I'm so old, Hubert Flottz-san, that I remember a time when Democrats were the party that believed in using the powers of government to help ALL Americans. Imagine that!

[byeya]

7. Jeezlouise, everyday brings out more facts about Pritzker's depraved capitalist goon show

Thanks for this - missed it

Also, Norman Soloman is a real journalist in the Izzy Stone tradition.

[Hubert Flottz]

8. I remember too...

I think those kinds of democrats left Washington with Mr. Carter.

Sad to see the American dream being destroyed at every level, but the top 1%.

The lesser of too weasels, is still a weasel.

Color me unhappy, for my fellow working class American's continued betrayal in Washington and half the statehouses across the nation.

America was the strongest it's ever been when the unions were the strongest they ever were. Republicans hate to see working people live better than slaves, so they want to bust up any form of brotherhood or sisterhood among the working class/middle class. The 1%ers have always considered collective bargaining a mortal threat to their imagined super human supremacy.

[Hubert Flottz]

10. When do working class Americans really count for the top 1% on the ladder of wealth?

When it's time for the working class American to send his tax dollars and children, to pay for, or go fight for, something that is mostly beneficial to the top 1%.

[byeya]

15. The tax code is intentionally simple for wage earners: A certain sum is deducted from each paycheck

and since it's usually more than you owe. you tend to want to file a tax return to recoup the overpayment.

The tax code is intentionally complex for the ultras because it provides loopholes for CPAs and tax lawyers to shelter your pelf AND you get to complain - and suck in the gullible - that we have a "crazy" tax system.

Also, in the past 20 years, IRS auditors have been assigned to audit people with moderate incomes instead of concentrating on the tax avoiding rich.

[DhhD]

14. He saved her ass, now she is going to save his, over on the Right.

[RevStPatrick]

11. I had an email conversation with a friend in 2008.

He was a guy I went to grammar and high school with back in the 70's.
We reconnected through Facebook.

It was during the 2008 election and I really hadn't gotten a sense of my friend's politics yet.
He said something about Obama being a "slick salesman."
I took it to mean that Obama is a "slick salesman" selling us a bunch of feel-good lefty rhetoric when he is really a dedicated Corporatist.

No, turns out my old friend is a Hannity-Head, and he was referring to Obama as being a "slick salesman" of Communist Naziizm, a Redistributionist who was going to tax his 1% relatives into the poorhouse and give that money to abortion-loving Welfare Queens in his plot to get everyone to be dependent on the government in order to build a permanent Democratic majority. I let him know that I was willing to take that chance.

Let's just say our relationship isn't the same as it was when we were pot smoking teens.

However, I have come to conclude in the intervening 5 years that Obama was a "slick salesman" and is a dedicated Corporatist. While I didn't really see the same level of "feel-good lefty rhetoric" as some people did (and I think much of that was imagined), I really didn't think that Mr. President would sell us out quite as much as he has.

Now mind you... I do believe he has a gun to his head. And/or, as someone upthread suggested, he's "just a pawn in a game of intergalactic chess..."

[heaven05]

12. you know

I'm beginning to feel that no matter who occupies that presidential chair, they find out how truly fucked this country and its people are, by special interest, lobbyists, corporations and bankers and they just say, 'show me the money'. Although with rethugs they're asking for it way before they occupy that chair. All who get into that position just stop caring about their promises or our welfare as citizens. Just an opinion, don't care about disagreement to it.

[tblue]

13. I got Outrage Fatigue.

outrage fatigue. noun. The exhaustion and entropy that occurs from too much outrage. Occurs in waves, often during peak election cycles. Outrage fatigue tends to afflict politically active people, and can be worse when your party is not in power, or has a power deficit. It escalates during environmental catastrophes, especially ones that are caused by human negligence. It also develops during troublesome economic times like corporate bailouts and high unemployment. Outrage fatigue may threaten close friendships.

After the week of union protests in Madison, I'm finished. I have serious "outrage fatigue."

When I heard about the latest military intervention in Libya, I was stunned by my apathy,lack of concern and disinterest. This is my worst ever episode of "outrage fatigue."

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=outrage%20fatigue

[progressoid]

28. +1

I have that too.

[geardaddy]

16. I refuse to stay at the union-busting Hyatt hotels.

http://www.hyatthurts.org

[yurbud]

37. Where did you get that "United we bargain, divided we beg"?

I've only heard one person say it before.

[geardaddy]

38. I got it from a great sticker/t-shirt place

Here in Minneapolis called Northern Sun http://www.northernsun.com

Here's the page it's on:

http://www.northernsun.com/scan/MM=7850be3ef7a7b4aafb098fcc234be9e1:15:29:15.html?mv_more_ip=1&mv_nextpage=results&mv_arg=

[Doctor_J]

17. He doesn't even give the real Dems lip service any more

He has completely dropped all progressive (meaning left of Reagan) initiatives. I am starting to hope he'll switch parties so we can regroup. As it is he is destroying the party.

[L0oniX]

18. Welll if your not a real Dem then why bother.

[Doctor_J]

19. I've been one a lot longer than the president has

and if he wants to completely snub Sanders, Grayson, Sherrod Brown, Warren, the progressive caucus, the Black Caucus (do you wonder why the DoJ hasn't done anything about voter suppression?), then it's Obama, not me, who is not the real Dem. OTOH if you support Gitmo, torture, SS cuts, suppression of reproductive rights, tax cuts for billionaires, union-busting, destruction of public schools, and KeystoneXL, please don't lecture me about being a "real Dem"

[L0oniX]

20. The more I find out about FDR the more I find myself in alignment with him and

I now use him and his wife as the core model examples of what Democrats should be.

[dotymed]

22. It seems that Union-busting

Last edited Thu May 9, 2013, 03:33 PM - Edit history (1)

has become the number one priority this year. I have witnessed Unions disappearing at an astonishing rate. The
Carpenters Union has been devastated. The few managing to exist are getting all-time lows when they renegotiate the yearly contracts. Carpenters received 1/4 of their usual $1 yearly "raise" (cola allowance).
With this new Union busting secretary of commerce who openly opposes Unions, I fear that, unless people wake-up, our much needed Unions will completely disappear.
I really expected a total different scenario for Obama's last term. Despair is all that I see for our future...Also, I believe Obama has lost all chances that we will elect a democratic (3rd way anyway) POTUS for awhile.
If average Americans really want to be represented then it is going to take a Progressive party. If that transpires then maybe our suffering has not been in vain.

[blkmusclmachine]

23. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 1% $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[kenny blankenship]

25. The President shows he is sensitive to the plight of minorities

by embracing the top 1% of the top 1%. Who, after all, has been more maligned in this country than the 1%? Even gays are more numerous, and our cause has been lately taken up by the majority. And if the 1% are cruelly maligned, then the top 1% of the top 1% are surely more so. In lifting up Penny Pritzker, a woman who has had to struggle her whole life with the stigma of vast inherited wealth, and the overpowering urge to exploit unsophisticated borrowers at taxpayer's risk, which is a temptation most of us can't even begin to imagine, the President today signals that, in the New America, the last shall be first.

[Addison]

26. Can't blame the GOP or Congress for this one

Sickening

[forestpath]

27. This sleazy, unethical, corrupt choice throws Obama's true core values into sharp relief.

[progressoid]

29. When Bush did this we were pissed.

Now, we're chastised for being pissed.

[BrotherIvan]

30. That says it all.

I wonder why there are no apologists on this thread?

[yurbud]

36. sometimes, it makes me feel worse when they DON'T show up...

because as hollow and vapid as their defenses are, there's always a tiny chance they're right.

When they don't show up at all, that means there is no defense possible.

[Wilms]

31. ^