Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Chomsky: Why the Rest of the World No Longer Wants to be Like U.S.
AlterNet | Noam Chomsky | 11/05/13

During the latest episode of the Washington farce that has astonished a bemused world, a Chinese commentator wrote that if the United States cannot be a responsible member of the world system, perhaps the world should become "de-Americanized" -- and separate itself from the rogue state that is the reigning military power but is losing credibility in other domains.

The Washington debacle's immediate source was the sharp shift to the right among the political class. In the past, the U.S. has sometimes been described sardonically -- but not inaccurately -- as a one-party state: the business party, with two factions called Democrats and Republicans.

That is no longer true. The U.S. is still a one-party state, the business party. But it only has one faction: moderate Republicans, now called New Democrats (as the U.S. Congressional coalition styles itself). ... Read more

Bill Moyers: The Corporate Plot That Obama and Corporate Lobbyists Don't Want You to Know
TPP - zoom
AlterNet | Bill Moyers |11/01/13

... The pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is deliberately shrouded in secrecy, a trade deal powerful people, including President Obama, don't want you to know about. More than 130 members of Congress have asked the White House for greater transparency about the negotiations and were essentially told to go fly a kite. While most of us are in the dark about the contents of the deal, which Obama aims to seal by year end, corporate lobbyists are in the know about what it contains.

And some vigilant independent watchdogs are tracking the negotiations with sources they trust, including Dean Baker and Yves Smith, who join Moyers & Company this week. Both have written extensively about the TPP and tell Bill the pact actually has very little to do with free trade. ... Read more

Inside the 'ALEC Universe'
ALEC - zoom
Bill Moyers | Theresa Riley | 08/15/13

Representative Chris Taylor is a Democrat elected to the Wisconsin legislature in 2011. Last week, she attended the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) annual conference in Chicago. Writing about her experience at The Progressive magazine's website, she describes her experience inside the "ALEC universe" and writes: "ALEC members have been quietly working out of the public eye to develop their agenda so that when given the opportunity, they are ready to start creating an ALEC nation. That time has come. And they are ready." ... Read more

Inside the Dark Money-Fueled, 50-State Campaign Against American Workers
Bill Moyers | Joshua Holland | 11/05/13

"The Legislative Attack on American Wages and Labor Standards, 2011--2012" reveals the existence of a multifaceted, nationwide campaign to not only deprive working people of the right to join a union, but also keep wages low and make it harder for people to take their employers to court when they've been wronged.

The Interview:
Joshua Holland: Your report looks at a wide array of state laws -- passed or proposed -- that undermined workers' rights in 2011 and 2012. You say that this is an unprecedented assault on working people. ...

... Joshua Holland: You made another important point, which is that a lot of people in these states think that these laws are being pushed by their local lawmakers. And in fact, when you dug into this issue, you saw the same legislation popping up in state after state after state. Who is behind this?

Lafer: Right. The American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC, writes model laws. They'll have five or six different model laws about the same thing that are kind of calibrated to see what can pass in a given state at a given time. So on minimum wage, their end goal is to have there be no minimum wage at all, and they have a bill that says abolish the minimum wage, but, well, if you can't pass that, at least don't increase it in a way that's linked to the rate of inflation and goes up every year. So we see, in every state, people experience these as if they come from their local legislator or as if they're a response to the particular problems in their state, and in fact, the laws are being written largely by ALEC.

And if you look behind ALEC -- and all of this stuff is available to the public because there is a member of ALEC who was a whistle-blower and dumped a lot of the information that was supposed to be kept secret from the public out in the public domain -- there's a website called ALECexposed.org where you can see all the model bills. But if you look at the member companies behind them, it's a bunch of the biggest and most powerful corporations in the country. They work through ALEC, but they also work through the Chamber of Commerce and the Restaurant Association and a bunch of other business lobbies. And what we see is the same corporations are helping write the law, are funding the campaigns of the candidates, are funding state-level corporate-backed think tanks that put out white papers and talking points and offer talking heads to go on TV, and then they spend the unlimited money on ads on radio and TV. It's a very well-coordinated campaign. ... Read more