"Financial Martial Law" should be the most-discussed topic here.

[Fire Walk With Me]

http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/04/20/what-is-wisconsin-governor-scott-walker-not-telling-us-about-financial-stress-test-legislation/

It's going on in Michigan and allows THOSE WHO CREATED THE FINANCIAL PROBLEMS IN THE FIRST PLACE to take control of what they've broken.

This is called "creating causes and conditions". It is disaster capitalism brought to bear upon America itself. It is attacking then buying US infrastructure for bargain prices. It is a power grab and the only thing to be thankful about is that they're not using guns.

This is really what the Republicans are, is really what they are after, they're really doing it right there and planning elsewhere, and it is not the end of it unless we fight them tooth and nail wherever they bring it to bear. It's obviously something long-planned and long-desired.

Fuck them.

[truedelphi]

1. K & R. Rachel Maddow has been covering this.

Right now, the governor of Michigan has usurped the power of mayors and city councils and board of supervisors. With this power, the state of Michigan is going to be able to maneuver into stealing away the public lands that were deed to the city back in the nineteen teens. Then a huge golf course for the rich will be built, and the public willno longer have access, unless they pony up some five thousand dollars to join the country club.

It really is very scary stuff.

Thank you for bringing up the matter.

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. Rachel rules. How wonderful to have such an eloquent and passionate spokesperson...

...and yes, the Benton Harbor fiasco smells exactly like the other various grabs going on across the nation, from parks to services.

This is a hostile takeover.

[vssmith]

2. Another thing about Snyder

He hired a budget director from Utah, named Nixon, at twice the salary he had been making. Snyder said he had to pay more money to get some one good. We only wish he used the same logic in regards to firemen, policemen, teacher, state workers and municipal workers.

[socialist_n_TN]

3. Well yes, this should be a nationwide concern, BUT.........

people in Michigan have to be on the front lines of this attack. All we can do is support and raise a stink.

Here's something to ponder. During the leadup to the Bolshevik October Revolution in 1917 you had a dual government going on. You had the "official" Kerensky government and you had the Soviets, the worker councils. The PEOPLE paid attention to the Soviets, NOT the Kerensky officials.

As a model, this COULD be something to look at. What if the local officials just CONTINUED to do their jobs and ignored the "official" dictators? Along with demonstrations and strikes of course. It might be worth a shot just to see how things shake out.

[Kurovski]

4. K&R. (nt)

[highplainsdem]

5. I agree. I posted about that Forbes blog this morning. I've been posting about the plans for

Wisconsin, and what's going on in Michigan -- and about how a lot of this ties in with what ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, is doing.

If you search for the topics I've started in GD, you'll find the ones on ALEC and financial martial law. The long compilation topic on the American Legislative Exchange Council also has quite a few replies from Hector Solon, who's been posting about this here and at Daily Kos. He's posted a lot about ALEC and financial martial law there.

And I've posted at dKos, too, though just one diary so far, on Walker's plans for Wisconsin and what he did while Milwaukee county exec:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/19/968371/-Scott-Walker:Wanna-buy-some-public-landHave-I-got-a-Milwaukee-park-for-you!

ALEC's "State Budget Reform Toolkit" (the compilation topic links to that), which these right-wing governors seem to be following, recommends selling off and privatizing state government assets. These financial martial law initiatives will extend that to the local level -- and ALEC filed an amicus brief during (and then applauded) a 2009 Supreme Court case that reasserted state governments' complete authority over local governments (I posted a separate topic about that). ALEC is also behind legislation in a number of states to assert the state's right to claim federal lands by eminent domain.

They want to sell off the national parks, too. What they're calling the national "yard sale." I posted a topic about that several weeks ago, before I realized what role ALEC was playing in this.

You're right that this is something they've been planning for a long time. They apparently think they have enough different pieces in place now, and we're seeing a legislative onslaught across the country.

[Fire Walk With Me]

6. Thank you!

[Fire Walk With Me]

7. Wall Street oil speculators are driving up the price of gas to create a new recession

because Obama stopped the last one they helped create.

Time to say NO to Wall Street.