Poll: Teabaggers are a definite minority

So what do we know? We know that maximum 40 percent of Americans are Tea Partiers. Meanwhile, 67 percent of Republicans support the Tea Parties.

We also know that 70 percent of self-identified "independents" do not support the Tea Parties.

What does it all add up to? A huge majority of the electorate whose interests are not being served. Obama, the Democrats, Mayor Bloomberg, or somebody ought to take notice.

Tea Party Activists Not Your Average Americans, Could Complicate 2012 For GOP: Poll

By Alan Fram

November 23, 2010 | Huffington Post

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/23/tea-party-poll-elections-2012_n_787887.html

Bloomberg: Conundrum for U.S.: efficiency = fewer jobs

U.S. corporations now "live in a perpetual state of recession," thanks to globalization. There is always an outlet in lower-cost markets for production.

In the U.S., American mangers are cooperating with the shop floor to minimize labor and maximize machines. Those few workers remaining on the payroll, scared s***less by the Great Recession, are only too happy to oblige their bosses. It's real cooperation to benefit the corporate bottom line.

"When the productivity growth comes, then watch out because that is when companies start not needing so much labor," Edmund Phelps, a Columbia University economist and Nobel laureate, said.

So which political party is going to be honest about this when they lament U.S. unemployment? Or will they keep saying that taxes and burdensome regulations are the problem?

What nobody will admit is that downsizing/efficiency projects are always an easy sell for middle-management, which is operating under assumptions of zero- or low-growth in consumer demand in the short term. Companies are basically making plans under the assumption that sales will be flat for the next few years. So of course efficiency projects are getting all their attention and capital investment.

Bernanke Goal of Optimal Employment Elusive With Profits Bringing No Jobs

By Craig Torres and Anthony Feld

November 24, 2010 | Bloomberg

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-24/bernanke-goal-of-optimal-employment-elusive-with-profits-bringing-no-jobs.html

Without color-coding, how can we regulate fear?

I disagree with this change by Obama. First of all, color-coding is easy to understand. Duh. Secondly, how am I to know how scared I should be from day to day?

I need Big Guvmint to tell me! I miss Dubya-Cheney!! I can't hack it in this new uncertain terror-stricken world!

Color-Coded Terror Alerts To Be Dropped By Department Of Homeland Security

By Eileen Sullivan

November 24, 2010 | AP

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/25/color-coded-terror-alerts-dhs_n_788450.html

Johnston: Deliberate destruction of the middle class

One of my favorite financial journalists, David Cay Johnston, in this short interview describes how in the U.S. local tax breaks and subsidies are net "wealth destroyers" which do not abide by the rules of capitalism, i.e. raising funds on the capital markets, taking risks, and reaping rewards. Rather, these are special breaks given to politically connected companies and individuals at our expense.

All you fiscal conservatives and Tea Partiers, listen up! This is the real system of corporatism you should be fighting against, not "welfare" for erstwhile working people rocked by the Great Recession. He estimates that states spend $70 billion a year in subsidies, and the federal government spends about $1 trillion a year in subsidies to corporations and wealthy individuals with billion-dollar incomes.

Johnston asks simply, "Is that capitalism?"

Watch the interview!

The Rich Get Richer and They Have You to Thank, Says David Cay Johnston

By Peter Gorenstein

November 19, 2010 | Tech Ticker, Yahoo! Finance

Russia Today: U.S. taxes used to depose foreign gov't's?

Russia Today says that the U.S. has spent $9 billion on democracy promotion efforts over the past 20 years. According to RT, USAID and its grantees are all bad guys and a soft cover for the CIA's regime change efforts; moreover, Obama's "smart power" concept is just a continuation of a long-standing U.S. policy of regime change.

RT cites Americans like Ron Paul and Lawrence Wilkerson in criticizing U.S. democracy-spreading efforts. Said Paul to RT:

"It is particularly Orwellian to call US manipulation of foreign elections 'promoting democracy.' How would we Americans feel if for example the Chinese arrived with millions of dollars to support certain candidates deemed friendly to China?"

"I think it's terrible, we use taxpayer's money to go over and use our military and the CIA these programs that say 'this is what you outta do' and influence them. There is no authority for that, it doesn't work, it teaches a lot of people to despise us."

If it didn't work though, would it bother Russia so much?

Just interesting to read the official Russian state propaganda....

Democracy promotion: America's new regime change formula

November 18, 2010 Russia Today

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/democracy-promotion-usa-regime/