- Peter B. Collins guest hosted for Thom, who has gone home for his mother's funeral. Mothers Day is coming up, but don't wait until the obligatory day, contact her now.
- Article: Backward thinking can be good . . ..
- Bumper Music: Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding.
- Bumper Music: Working for the Weekend, Loverboy (video).
- As Senator Bernie Sanders could not be on the show today, Peter turned the table and asked questions of each of the callers a question as though they were a senator. The callers entered into the spirit. Questions included ... Why are single payer advocates being excluded from discussions, and one woman was arrested for protesting her exclusion? Do you support open debate about Afghanistan policy? Are you prepared to take the oath of office? Do you support the use of unmanned drones in Pakistan? Have the media and government overreacted to swine flu? Do you think more clearly when you walk backwards? (article about a Dutch study in "Psychological Science"). Do you trust electronic voting machines, and have confidence in recent elections? Sheldon Whitehouse, torture disclosure and accountability.
How could we counter Arnold Schwarzenegger's demagoguing? Fires are raging and he is threatening to lay off firefighters if his measures are not passed. Mike called Kerry's offices and found he had no stance on health care. Obama is avoiding investigations into torture. Do you support changing the policy towards Cuba? Were Democrats like Pelosi compromised by briefings on torture? Should Ted Stevens be retried? Should the Don Siegelman case be? How about Rove? He's going to be deposed? Do you oppose Israel's blockade of Gaza? Do you support tax payer financed campaigns, or bribery? Which senator would you replace? Richard Shelby and Peter King are pandering over fears about Guantanamo, do you support the keep the terrorists out of America bill?
- Book: "Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy", Dean Baker.
"For the second time this decade, the U.S. economy is sinking into a recession due to the collapse of a financial bubble. The most recent calamity will lead to a downturn deeper and longer than the stock market crash of 2001Dean Baker’s Plunder and Blunder chronicles the growth and collapse of the stock and housing bubbles and explains how policy blunders and greed led to the catastrophic—but completely predictable—market meltdowns. An expert guide to recent economic history, Baker offers policy prescriptions to help prevent similar financial disasters.
" - Article: 'Stress Tests' Put Credibility of Banks, Regulators Back in Spotlight. Dean Baker on PBS.
- Guest: macro economist Dean Baker, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "Dean Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC. He previously worked as a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and an assistant professor at Bucknell University. His blog, Beat the Press, features commentary on economic reporting. He received his Ph.D in economics from the University of Michigan." Author, "Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy" and "Thinking Big: Progressive Ideas for a New Era".
H|e was on PBS Newshour last night. So too was "Steve Bartlett, president of the Financial Services Roundtable, a trade group representing investment, securities, insurance and banking companies, including most of the 19 banks that participated in the stress test". Bartlett painted a rosy scenario. Baker said the stress test was similar to that for star wars. To what extent are the fundamentals of the stress test adequate? They will prove overly optimistic. The "bad" scenario assumes that the average unemployment rate for the whole year would average 8.9%. It was that high by April and rising rapidly. Stress test assumptions are supposed to be pessimistic, thee worst possible scenario (though not impossible).
Bank of America and Wells Fargo were healthy until forced into shot gun weddings, is it unfair to expect them to sell assets to enhance their capital status when the liabilities were foisted on them? We need to know more about how much they were forced. What did Paulson threaten them with, if anything? What was Paulson doing telling them to do? What does he make of the mini revolt of Bank of America shareholders which caused the chairman to resign? It was impressive. CEOs have been running around acting like masters of the universe.
Is the current economic team intent on rebuilding the sand castle? Will we not see any real significant structural change or re-regulation of the industries, even just going back to the Glass Steagall Act which was repealed just 10 years ago? Where will we be in a few years when it comes to restructuring the economy, as we have the opportunity to do now, to make it more fair to workers? A lot is up in the air. Obama's picks are very close to Wall Street. They have to deal with reality. He worries that we have the wrong people in the top positions.
Chrysler bankruptcy, merger with Fiat. Chrysler is owned by Cerberus Capital Management, yet we are giving them more taxpayer money and approving a plant that shuts down American plants and lays off American workers. Cerberus took a loss and are getting out of the picture. The striking difference between how the financial sector was treated with open pockets, and the auto industry. Larry Summers was lecturing on the sanctity of contract with reference to the AIG bonuses the same weekend that auto workers were told to give up their retiree health benefits. Double standard. Some layoffs were probably unavoidable. Most of the auto industries problems follow on from the financial industry troubles. Focus on the workers.
- Instead of condolences, please donate to Salem Childrens' Village, Hunter School in New Hampshire in the name of Jean Hartmann.
- 'Anything goes' Friday.
- Book: "The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America", James Bamford.
- Was it a Democratic congress during torture? Pelosi took over as speaker Jan 2007. Jane Harman protecting AIPAC. Illegal wiretapping of her. Did they blackmail her? James Bamford's book.
- One way of dealing with a reduced workforce after the baby boomers retired was to make pensions more insecure. Redefined benefits.
- You can email Peter at peter@peterb.com or, if you disagree, fullofit@peterb.com. He got an email saying ho Don Siegelman was guilty.
- Republicans say they want small government but push money at the military. Yoyo - you're on your own. Medicare needs dental cover. We need unions, withdraw from globalism.
- In 1999 the GAO was forecasting zero national debt by 2020, it was $13tr by end of Bush. Previous administration crime. Rove has lackluster recently, same old talking points. Will he keep it up? He's a paid commentator at Fox, so not likely to go silent.
- We need list of what needs to be to exposed, for example: PNAC, the letter to Clinton about PNAC, cooked intelligence, Downing Street memos, energy meeting, Pelosi meeting with Bush, Australian troops report interview with Perle.
- Article: Interview with Dr. Margaret Flowers, Arrested Tuesday at Senate Roundtable on Health Care.
- Dr. Margaret Flowers and several other health care advocates were arrested on 5 may after they were excluded from senate discussion of health care reform. They support single payer.
- GM planning to close more plants in the US, build more elsewhere. Credit card interest, tax write off?
- Manny Raminez. Why do fans continue to patronize an unfair exhibition?
- Why don't we buy American? The right wing are not buying cars because the company is partly owned by a union, yet will buy Chinese. "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism", Naomi Klein, who was on Rachel Maddow's TV show the other night.
- What if employers cancel employees' health care?
- What happened to star wars, Bush's Mars project? More than $130b spent on star wars. Can we cancel it? John Kyle defending it. Representative Ellen Tauscher has been appointed under Hillary dealing with proliferation of nuclear weapons, Kyle threatened to put her on hold because she has questioned star wars.
- Bumper Music: It's A Beautiful Day For A Ball Game, The Harry Simeone Songsters.
- Israeli Palestinian policy. Biden speech at AIPAC. It is the single biggest obstacle to reasonable solutions. On the same day, Biden and Obama had cheeseburgers in Virginia and that was what hit the news. Some indications of promise.
- Bumper Music: Closing Time, Semisonic (video).
- They are closing library branches. Look for Richard March, libraries, on iTunes.
- Article: Richard Clarke Calls Republicans Attacks on Guantanamo Disgraceful.
""This video and the recent Republican attacks on Guantanamo are more desperate attempts from a demoralized party to politicize national security and the safety of the American people. But what is more disturbing is their brazen use of imagery and the memory of 9/11 to score political points. Thousands of Americans tragically died that day, and for the GOP to think it can win elections by denigrating their memory is disgraceful.The difference between these Republican videos and the very terrorist propaganda that seeks to damage our society is negligible. Each attempt to stoke the embers of fear in order to disrupt American life. Just as al Qaeda videos should be viewed as misguided rants from a small group of marginalized radicals, so too should these Republican videos be equally dismissed. As opposed to what the GOP thinks, the American people are not that naïve.
" - Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News. Wholesale inventories and sales down, 7th month, bigger decline. The president talked of sobering numbers, they are going to retrain people, and let them collect unemployment at the same time. Special retraining. Dr Jill Biden who still teaches is to be liaison. Fannie Mae is looking for $19b more, long term viability? It lost $20m in quarter. Unemployment filings dropped, previous 2 months revised upwards, highest since 1983. US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood praising the new GM boss. There's a meeting May 18 between the president and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, this week Pakistan and Afghanistan met at the White House. Republican Richard Clarke, counter terrorism, criticized Republican ads.
- Peter B will have his podcast running in a couple of months, send him an email for updates.
- Happy mother's day.
