Newt’s War on the Poor in the 1990s
“We simply must abandon the welfare state and move to an opportunity society.”—Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House of Representatives
“We have the best health care in the world-despite all the alarm that has been raised about it in the past few years.” -–Newt Gingrich
“You could abolish Housing and Urban Development (HUD) tomorrow morning, and improve life in most of America.”—Newt Gingrich
“If unwed teenage mothers, cut off from public assistance, are unable to support their children, America should tell them ‘We’ll help you with foster care, we’ll help you with orphanages, we’ll help you with adoption’—but not with the cash that might keep mother and child together.”—David van Blema, paraphrasing Newt Gingrich
“The ability of the liberals to increase spending has outpaced anything Republicans could do in raising taxes.”—Newt Gingrich
“Every night on the local news, you and I watch the welfare state undermines our society. The vast majority of Americans (96 percent by one recent poll) is ready to admit that the welfare state has failed.”—Newt Gingrich
“By blaming everything on ‘society,’ contemporary liberals are really trying to escape the personal responsibility that comes with being an American. If ‘society’ is responsible for everything, then no one is personally responsible for anything.”—Newt Gingrich
All quotes taken from The War on the Poor: A Defense Manual, copy-write 1996 by Randy Albelda, Nancy Fobre, and the Center for Popular Economics.
Freddie Mac's Conflict Is 'Unsavory,' 'Shocking,' 'Stunning,' Key Senators Say
Two senators who have taken the lead on legislation aimed to help homeowners refinance at historically low interest rates were blunt this morning about how concerned they are by the news NPR reported earlier this week that Freddie Mac "has placed multibillion-dollar bets against American homeowners being able to refinance to cheaper mortgages."
The senators were interviewed today by Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep. More from the conversation is due on Thursday's broadcast. Click here to find an NPR station that broadcasts or streams the show. We'll add the as-aired version of the discussion to the top of this post when it's ready.
Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one of the "Big Five" accounting firms among PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG, providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations. In 2002, the firm voluntarily surrendered its licenses to practice as Certified Public Accountants in the United States after being found guilty of criminal charges relating to the firm's handling of the auditing of Enron, an energy corporation based in Texas which had filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and later failed. The other national accounting and consulting firms bought most of the practices of Arthur Andersen. The verdict was subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States. However, the damage to its reputation has prevented it from returning as a viable business, though it still nominally exists.One of the few revenue-generating assets that the Andersen firm still has is Q Center, a conference and training facility outside of Chicago.[1]
The former consultancy arm of the firm, now known as Accenture, which had split from the accountancy side in 1987 and renamed themselves after splitting from Andersen Worldwide in 2000, continues to operate and it has become one of the largest multinational corporations in the world.
Andersen Consulting and Accenture
The consulting wing of the firm became increasingly important during the 1970s and 1980s, growing at a much faster rate than the more established accounting, auditing, and tax practice. This disproportionate growth, and the consulting division partners' belief that they were not garnering their fair share of firm profits, created increasing friction between the two divisions.
In 1989, Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting became separate units of Andersen Worldwide Société Coopérative. Arthur Andersen increased its use of accounting services as a springboard to sign up clients for Andersen Consulting's more lucrative business.
The two businesses spent most of the 1990s in a bitter dispute. Andersen Consulting saw a huge surge in profits during the decade. However, the consultants continued to resent transfer payments they were required to make to Arthur Andersen. In August 2000, at the conclusion of International Chamber of Commerce arbitration of the dispute, the arbitrators granted Andersen Consulting its independence from Arthur Andersen, but awarded the US$ 1.2 billion in past payments (held in escrow pending the ruling) to Arthur Andersen, and declared that Andersen Consulting could no longer use the Andersen name. As a result Andersen Consulting changed its name to Accenture on New Year's Day 2001 and Arthur Andersen meanwhile now having the right to the Andersen Consulting name rebranded itself as "Andersen".
Perhaps most telling about who won the decision was that four hours after the arbitrator made his ruling, Arthur Andersen CEO Jim Wadia suddenly resigned. Industry analysts and business school professors alike viewed the event as a complete victory for Andersen Consulting.[4] Jim Wadia would provide insight on his resignation years later at a Harvard Business school case activity about the split. It turned out that the Arthur Andersen board passed a resolution saying he had to resign if he didn't get at least an incremental US $4 billion (either through negotiation or via the arbitrator decision) for the consulting practice to split off, hence his quick resignation once the decision was announced.
Accounts vary on why the split occurred — executives on both sides of the split cite greed and arrogance on the part of the other side, and executives on the Andersen Consulting side maintained breach of contract when Arthur Andersen created a second consulting group, AABC (Arthur Andersen Business Consulting) which began to compete directly with Andersen Consulting in the marketplace. Many of the AABC firms were bought out by other consulting companies in 2002, most notably, Deloitte (especially in Europe), Hitachi Consulting, PwC Consulting, which was later acquired by IBM, and KPMG Consulting, which later changed its name to BearingPoint.
Obama Outlines Fresh Mortgage Refinancing Plan
February 2, 2012
President Obama is trying again to revive the nation's housing market. Past efforts have come up short, and this one faces long odds in Congress. On Wednesday, he outlined a program designed to make it easier for homeowners to refinance into cheaper mortgages. http://www.npr.org/2012/02/02/146265437/obama-outlines-mortgage-refinancing-plan
How The Middle Class Became The Poor
Romney Tries To Dig Out From 'Poor' Comment
by Ari Shapiro
February 2, 2012
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney likely planned to spend Wednesday basking in the glow of his victory in Tuesday's Florida primary. Instead, he struggled to explain his comment that he's "not concerned about the very poor." The comment was made in an interview on CNN. Critics on the left and the right pounced. http://www.npr.org/2012/02/02/146265419/romney-tries-to-dig-out-from-poor-comment
Terry Eagleton in Why Marx Was Right (2011) writes that from the mid-1970s onwards, the Western system underwent some vital changes. There was a shift from traditional industrial manufacture to a “postindustrial” culture of consumerism, communications, information technology and the service industry. Small-scale, decentralized, versatile, non-hierarchical enterprises were the order of the day. Markets were deregulated, and the working-class movement subjected to savage legal and political assault. Traditional class allegiances were weakened, while local, gender and ethnic identities grew more insistent. Politics became increasingly managed and manipulated.
The new information technologies played a key role in the increasing globalisation of the system, as a handful of transnational corporations distributed production and investment across the planet in pursuit of the readiest profits. A good deal of manufacturing was outsourced to cheap wage locations in the “underdeveloped” world, leading some parochially minded Westerners to conclude that heavy industry had disappeared from the planet altogether.
Massive international migrations of labor followed in the wake of this global mobility, and with them a resurgence of racism and fascism as impoverished immigrants poured into the more advanced economies. While “peripheral” countries were subject to sweated labor, privatized facilities, slashed welfare and surreally inequitable terms of trade, the bestubbled executives of the metropolitan nations tore off their ties, threw open their shirt necks and fretted about their employees’ spiritual well-being.
None of this happened because the capitalist system was in blithe, buoyant mood. On the contrary, its newly pugnacious posture, like most forms of aggression, sprang from deep anxiety. If the system became manic, it was because it was latently depressed. What drove this reorganization above all was the sudden fade-out of the postwar boom. Intensified international competition was forcing down rates of profits, drying up sources of investment and slowing the rate of growth.
Even social democracy was now too radical and expensive a politcal option. The state was thus set for Reagan and Thatcher, who would help to dismantle traditional manufacture, shackle the labor movement, let the market rip, strengthen the repressive arm of the state and champion a new social philosophy known as barefaced greed.
The displacement of investment from manufacture to the service, financial and communications industries was a reaction to a protracted economic crisis, not a leap out of a bad old world into a brave new one. (3-5)
Regulator: Freddie Investments 'Nothing Unusual'
Senators on Capitol Hill have criticized Edward DeMarco for the investment practices of Freddie Mac. DeMarco heads the federal agency that controls Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. NPR and ProPublica reported that certain trades at Freddie Mac amounted to bets against homeowners being able to refinance their mortgages. DeMarco tells Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep that the trades were not particularly risky, and would not have prevented homeowners from refinancing their loans.
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/03/146327012/regulator-freddie-investments-nothing-unusual
REGULATING THE POOR WHILE PLAYING THE RACE CARD
In the early 1970s Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward wrote Regulating the Poor, which I will go into in another posting. The book exposed how the System uses and abuses the poor. As I listen to and watch Mitt Romney I could understand their philosophical point.
Always playing the psudo-moderate, Romney found it hard to retract his statement. Poor and poverty in the White mind is/has always meant African Americans, which has always caused resentment to poor Whites because they think “blacks get everything.” Rick Santorum used this concept in Iowa, and Newt Gingrich used in in South Carolina, so what is so surprising about Mitt Romney’s “moment of truth?” After all Jesus predicted that “You will always have the poor with you”; James predicted that “What comes out of the mouth comes from the heart.”
NEWT ON DECENTERING THE TEXT OF DEMOCRACY USING ORGANIZED RELIGION AS A CRUTCH
The first ten Amendments collectively are commonly known as the Bill of Rights. History
Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Komen Cut To Planned Parenthood 'Mischaracterized'
by Rob Stein
February 2, 2012
The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation has cut off funding to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Many women's health advocates are upset by the decision. The group said the decision was made as part of a broad effort to use donations more efficiently. http://www.npr.org/2012/02/02/146265423/komen-foundation-pulls-funding-for-planned-parenthood
Catholic Bishops Revolt Against Birth Control Rules
February 2, 2012
There's a battle going on between U.S. Catholic bishops and the Obama administration over its recent directive requiring religious institutions to offer coverage for contraception in their health care plans. Some have announced they will not comply with the mandate. Others are calling on parishioners to "defend the faith" and speak out against what they call an intrusion against religious liberty. http://www.npr.org/2012/02/02/146265425/u-s-catholic-bishops-take-stand-against-birth-control-rules
Organized religion has always been PUSSY PERVRTS, constantly preoccupied with the female body and reproductive organs as to ownership. No organized religion can survive or function without its women, yet the female and the female body is always discriminated against. The US Constitution contains a dual promise: a freedom of and well as from religion in any form or sect.
Newt Gingrich as a historian, Defender of the Christian Faith, and nubile Catholic who worships the memory of Pope John Paul II, and the real life exploits of Benedict XVI as demigods, while at the same time naming himself as Presdent, the Protector of Isreal as having a unique history of suffering. It seems that Mr. Speaker has forgotten a few historical facts, one being is that the road to the Holocaust began in Africa and that both Popes have encoraged the continuance of African Holocaust in the name of Christian Piety.
John Cornwell in The Pontiff In Winter: Triumph and Conflict in the Reign of John Paul II (2004) writes that it had been confidently expected that John Paul would win the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 2000—and if not then, perhaps by the end of the second year of the new millennium. On August 21, 2001, the Lutheran biship Gunnar Stallseth, a member of the Nobel Peace Prize committee, had made it clar why John paul hd been turned down yet again. “I challenge the Vatican to redefine its attitude to condoms,” he told reporters who had gathered to interview UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who was on a visit to Oslo. “The current Roman Catholic theology is one that favors death rather than life.”
By the beginning of the third millenuim, and two decades after AIDS emerged as a major killer disease, some 43 million peple, according to the United Natins, had been infected with HIV, and more than 23 million had died. Among the infected, there were 19 million women and 3.2 million children under the age of fifteen. In 2002, 5 million had died. By the end of the twentieth century, AIDS had become the second-worst epidemic in history, surpassed only by the Black Death. In sub-Saharan Africa, AIDS is the biggest killer by far: some 3 million died of AIDS on the continent in 2003.
The disease has brought in its wake famine, mass poverty, and tens of millions of orphans. The question asked by experts around the world is whether the Pope has alleviated the AIDS epidemic or exacerbated the problem.
John Paul was explicit when he addressed more than a thousand scientists, ethicists, and health cae workers at a three-day conference on AIDS at the Vatican in 1989. He said then that the answer to the “scourge” was for people to change their high-risk lifestyles and not resort to “morally illicit” means of prevention. He meant, of course, the use of condoms. “It is morally illicit to champion a prevention of the AIDS sickness based on recourse to means and remedies that violate the authentically human sense of sexuality,” he said.
His position then was clear enough: All other arguments apart, condoms should t be used because they were intrinsically and therefore in every instance wrong. He did not appeal to scripture, nor even to tradition, to support his case, but to natural law and, by inference, papal authority. Condoms were part of the “culture of death,” and there could be no possible circumstance in which they could be used without volating deep principles of sexual ethics.
He repeated the message, and the moral rationale behind it, on his 1994 visit to Kampala, captal of Uganda, wher the rate of HIV infection was 12 percent, and as high as 30 percent in some segments of the population. He said: “Actions are like words that reveal our heart. To give one’s body to someone is to give oneself entirely to that person.” In other words, even if one were liable to transmit a fatal disease, it was better not to use a condom than offend the idealistic principle of giving oneself entirely in sexual intercourse.
John Paul had been able to take a degree of comfort from countries like Kenya and Uganda, where the rates of infection have been reduced, in part at least because of campaigns recommending abstinence. On closer examination, however, these successes have been owed, as many experts point out, to a multidimensional approach: abstinence, faithfulness within marriage, early testing, and visits to AIDS wards to see the consequences of catching the disease—but also, human nature being what it is, an absolte insistence on using condoms where people are not capable of abstaining. The imprtance of condom use, according to experts working in Africa applies particaularly in the case of married migrant workers, who, being months away from home, are tempted to seek out prostitutes and return to their wives infected.
That John Paul had actually exploited the AIDS tragedy to promote an intransigent ethic against contraception in any circumstances was been evident in Uganda. In July 2000, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, an apostolic nuncio, and hence official representative of the Pope, initiate a media campaign in the country, urging youth to ignore government-sponsored calls to use condoms to prevent the spread of the disease.
This was in direct opposition to the stance taken by Speciosa Wandir Kazibwe, Uganda’s vice president and a medical doctor, who had criticized relgious leaders who opposed the use of condoms. Kazibwealso advocated abstinence as an essential part of any successful campaign to reduce AIDS, not because contraception is sinful but because it is a partial practical solution to the problem. The Vatican has shown no embarrassment at its degree of intererence in a foreign country’s legitimate public health projects.
The notion that avoidance of sin overrides every consideration in attempts to control a pandemic disease above and beyond social, behavioral, and prophylactic measures is a calamitous proposition. The Pope and conservative Catholics are entitled to the view that using condoms is immoral, but to suggest that condoms will not prevent the spread of AIDS because their use is sinful is insidious category confusion. Insofar as the confusion is deliberate, the insistence of the Pope and the Vatican is culpable, involving them in responsibility for the spread of AIDS and the illness, death, and social consequences that have ensued. One notes the church’s treatment of AIDS workers who have attempted, in good conscience, to stem the spread of the disease by prophylactics: Official silencing by the Vatican. (239-41) Thus the spread of AIDS with the blessing of the Vatican is a renewal of the original African Holocaust.
Extermination: Africa by Christians
Marc Aronson in Race: A History Beyond Black and White (2007) writes that the road to the Holocaust began in Africa. He quotes German general Lothar von Trotha who announced in 1904, “I believe that the Herero nation should be exterminated.” The Herero, a Bantu people, lived in what is now southwest African country of Namibia, and had been fighting against German settlers in the area.
Trotha arrived with ten thousand men to crush the opposition. He hemmed the men, women, and children of the Herero in on three sides, leaving them only one escape route: the deadly sands of the Kalahari Desert. Then he poisoned the water holes the desperate Herero would pass. When word of Troth’s brutality reached [Christian] Europe, he was ordered to stop, and about one out of every eight Herero managed to survive. But an anthropologist who arrived from Germany at the height of Trotha’s death march like what he saw.
Dr. Eugene Fischer was certain the natives were subhuman animals and thought it made sense that the survivors of Trotha’s campaign should be housed in internment camps. Destroying Africans was not enough, for Fischer was convinced that children who had an African parent were a danger to the white race.
He set out to prove this by studying the children of legal marriages between men of European background and native women. Hi conclusions were devastating: The Africans were “inferior,” and they passed on their deficiencies to even their mixed Children. Fischer insisted race mixing must be prevented. How? Inferior races should be kept alive only as beasts of burden. Otherwise they must be destroyed.
[American Christian] Madison Grant said that the “unfit” should be “obliterated.” Fischer went a step further, arguing for the elimination of entire races. Among the races he thought were weakening whites through intermarriage he listed Africans, Jews, and Gypsies. His reputation greatly enhanced by his studies in Africa, Fischer was soon hailed in Germany as the best expert [until Hitler] on the dangers of race mixing. That made his work ideal reading martial for a strange, unappealing man who, when he had a stage and a microphone, transformed into a most compelling speaker. The man was a prisoner named Adolf Hitler. (201-2)
MEIN KAMPF
“Two worlds face one another—the men of God and men of Satan! The Jew is the anti-man, the creature of another god. He must have come from another root of the human race. I set the Aryan and the Jew over and against each other.”
--Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
Power, purposeful, filled with rage, Hitler [a devote Catholic like Newt Gingrich] saw himself as a prophet, a hero with a flashing sword. None of this world have mattered very much—surly there are such people [politicians] today mumbling on chat rooms [or participating in political debates] about their insane causes—but the last swing of the German [American] seesaw was/is so extreme that Hitler’s mad intensity drew people to him. (202, 203)
Florida GOP Primary Results
Guest Host:
Voters walk outside of a polling place at the First Baptist Church of Windermere, in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012.
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Analysis of Florida primary results and the race going forward for the GOP presidential nomination
GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney now heads west. Following his resounding victory in Florida’s GOP presidential primary yesterday, his campaign is focused on the caucuses in Nevada Saturday. His Florida win is largely credited to a barrage of attack ads unleashed in the days before the vote. The target of those ads, rival Newt Gingrich, had hoped to build on his stunning win in South Carolina last month, and despite his poor showing in Florida the former speaker vows to press on. Join us for analysis of yesterday’s vote, what it means, and what’s ahead
Guests
republican strategist, Reagan historian; president and CEO, Shirley & Banister Public Affairs; and author of the new book, “December 1941: 31 Days That Changed America And Saved The World.”
reporter, National Journal.
columnist, Daily Beast/Newsweek,former speechwriter and special assistant to President George W. Bush and author of "Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again"; and co-author of "An End to Evil: What's Next in the War on Terror."
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