IT'S DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN

It's déjà vu all over again ... yet, all the U.S. media want to talk about are Herman Cain's girlfriends, while ignoring the GOPs "Just Say No" obstructionism in Congress. Today, with the debt crisis in Europe flaring up again (this time with Italy), we're reminded that there's another world out there that warrants some serious discussion. Yet, America's political burlesque show is mesmerized (again) by sex scandals, and appears more than content pondering why Mitt Romney hasn't caught fire with the GOP (like that's some kind of mystery). Sigh ...

All of this kind of reminds me of all the Gary Condit sightings, and the shark fear mongering off the Florida coast right before 9/11. Seriously, what's happening with Europe's debt-to-default dance is pretty big stuff, and deserves more attention than Herman Cain's predations. Consider the following ...

Here's a statistical table with more countries that could be affected once the financial dominoes begin to collapse in Europe ...

I know, I know. Simply putting figures like these up without context is unfair.

So consider this. When Germany finally defaulted on it's World War I debt obligations after 1929 it had a debt-to-GDP ratio that stood at around 90 percent (they owed about $33 billion, or about $402 billion today, which was a reduction from the original $63 billion, or about $768 billion today). Today Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio stands at 157.7 percent, while Italy is around 120 percent. Is history whispering in our ear, again? I think so.

Relatedly, when Germany finally defaulted the French Chasseurs Alins (elite mountain infantry) had already occupied Germany's Buer (in North Rhine-Westphalia) region in 1923.

Today, instead of sending in the troops to deal with troubled debtors the world's economic mandarins are banking on central bank (or IMF sanctioned) cash. Specifically, they're banking on the Federal Reserve shoving half a trillion dollars or more on to Europe's books (and hoping no one notices). When all is said they're doing little more than pushing the economic debt can down the road.

This is especially not good when you consider that MF Global's recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy was not supposed to happen. Think about it. In our post 2008 market collapse environment, a firm like MF Global wasn't supposed to be able to borrow so heavily (or use investor funds) to make multi-billion bets on European debt. How much did MF Global borrow? It appears that MS Global may have had a 40:1 debt to equity ratio. What does this mean? It means that if you made $40,000 per year at your job, the bank would give you a $1.6 million loan ... three years after doing the same thing and watching previous clients piss it away gambling.

Yet MF Global's private industry regulator raised no red flags about MF Global debt to equity ratios, nor said anything about it dipping into $600 million of investor money to make their bets.

Yeah, it's déjà vu all over again, on so many levels.

- Mark

THIS IS OCCUPY WALL STREET

Former reppresentative Alan Grayson explains Occupy Wall Street in less than a minute ...



Former representative Grayson also makes P.J. O'Rourke look puny and insignificant, as this longer clip from The Raw Story illustrates.

- Mark

"BUSH DESERVES CREDIT ... FOR RUINING OUR COUNTRY"

I've always liked former Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) ...

Apart from being one of the smartest members on the Hill (especially when it comes to the economy), he had a penchant for speaking his mind, without the filters ... as he does here.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

As a side note, I had the privilege of interviewing Congressman Grayson on my radio program (when I did radio). He was a wonderful and inspiring guest.

- Mark

"GABBY WAS RIGHT, PALIN WAS WRONG" ... ALAN GRAYSON

With the health care debate heating up, and people ready to move beyond last week's tragedy in Tucson, former Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) - who I interviewed on air when I had my radio program - reminds us what's wrong with the Sarah Palin picture.

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When I opened my web browser yesterday, at yahoo.com, there was Sarah Palin, smiling at me.

“Oh, God,” I said to myself, “what has she done now?”

The headline was “Palin Defends ‘Blood Libel’”. That’s interesting, I thought. What else might Palin be defending? Cannibalism, maybe?

Well, it turned out to be a report on Palin’s disjointed remarks on Sean Hannity’s show, regarding the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. I then watched the report. Let me summarize it for you:

Palin: I am so misunderstood.

Hannity: I am so misunderstood.

Palin: I am so misunderstood.

But there was one person who seemed to understand Sarah Palin quite well. Gabby Giffords, herself, during the health care debate. Discussing threats against Democratic Members of Congress. After the door to her office was shattered. This is what Gabby said:

And here is Palin’s blithe response, on Hannity’s show: “That map wasn’t an original graphic.”

“You know, for example, we’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list, but the thing is the way that she has depicted it is the crosshairs of a gun-sight over our district. When people do that, they’ve got to realize that there are consequences to that action.”

What is that remark supposed to be, Sarah? An exculpanation?

Even before I heard earlier Palin’s whining about “misguided finger-pointing” and “irresponsible statements from people who are apportioning blame,” I thought about this:

Palin came to my district, and told her people to “take me out.”

Palin told people again and again, “don’t retreat, reload.”

The day before the health care vote, one of my five-year-old twins received a telephone death threat intended for me.

A right-wing commentator offered anyone $100 to punch me in the nose.

We received so many threats of violence from teabaggers that we started a file.

And the day before Gabby was shot, I received a postcard saying “you better get some personal protection. You could very well be getting your ass kicked soon.”

Cause and effect. As Gabby put it, “there are consequences.”

Of course, I wasn’t the only target of these threats.

Gabby’s tea party opponent held fundraisers in which he invited contributors to fire an automatic weapon.

Democrat Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’s opponent conducted target practice on her initials.

Democrat Ron Klein’s opponent told his supporters to make sure that Klein was “afraid to leave his house.”

Democrat Frank Kratovil was hung in effigy.

Democrat Tom Perriello was burned in effigy. And the gas line to his brother’s house was cut.

Democrat Emanuel Cleaver – a minister – was spat on.

Democrat Russ Carnahan had a coffin left at his home.

I could go on, but you get the point. Cause and effect. “There are consequences.”

And the Republicans? The shot supposedly fired at Republican Eric Cantor’s office was quickly exposed as a hoax.

As I observed on MSNBC last week, there has been a stream of violence and threats of violence by the right wing against Democrats. Gabby warned against it, and then became a terrible victim of it. Palin has instigated it, and then tried to pretend that it doesn’t exist.

What do I think? I think that Gabby said it best: “We can’t stand for this.” We have to stand against it.

Courage,

Alan Grayson

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Grayson should run for senate in Florida.
 
- Mark

FORECLOSURE MILLS WIDESPREAD?

Check out nakedcapitalism.com's review of the "nastygram" sent by Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA), Alan Grayson (D-FL), and Corrine Brown (D-FL).

They're "disturbed by the increasing reports of predatory ‘foreclosure mills’ in Florida working for Fannie Mae servicers." These foreclosure mills specialize in speeding up the foreclosure process which, as you can imagine, puts even greater pressure on homeowners trying to stay in their homes.

- Mark

CONGRESSMAN GRAYSON'S MONEY BOMB

Those of you who listened to the program on Saturday were no doubt inspired by Congressman Alan Grayson's comments during the interview. As noted, Congressman Grayson is running a "Money Bomb" designed to raise money for his campaign next year.


As noted during the interview, he's become FNC-Republican-Target-#1. Even with FOX News and the Republican Party going after him, Congressman Grayson wants to show America that you don't need to be a slave to corporate money in order to run a congressional campaign in America. Today is the day for Congressman Grayson to raise $400,000.

You can go here and here if you want to donate and/or see the progress.

- Mark

A CONGRESSMAN WITH GUTS

We've been working on this for some time now (thanks Duane), so I'm happy to report that we've got Congressman Alan Grayson confirmed for tomorrow's (Oct. 31) program.


Unless something unexpected pops up, Congressman Grayson will be with us immediately after we open the program. We'll be discussing his site, congressmanwithguts.com, along with other topics that have helped propel Congressman Grayson into the national spotlight.

Here's a snippet of what has made Congressman Grayson a favorite among those looking for accountability in America.



- Mark

WHERE'S THE "SANCTITY OF LIFE" CROWD?

Between the "What-Would-Jesus-Do?" crowd and the Republican Party's "Sanctity of Life" arrogance you would think that they would be the party that would be pushing for national health care and/or the public option. Especially after learning that more than 44,000 people die each year for lack of health coverage. Think again.

This is what makes the efforts of Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) so meaningful. Rather than focus on actuary accounting numbers or on death tolls alone he has put up a site - namesofthedead.com - dedicated to sharing the stories of those who have been affected by not having health insurance. This one is from "Jenny Fritts and baby girl Hailie" ...

Jenny our 24 year old daughter in-law and unborn baby died because she could not afford health insurance. In the richest country in the world our Jenny died. When she became ill she went to a for-profit hospital who was required to see her but they sent her away saying she had a cold, maybe a touch of bronchitis. 24 hours later she was much worse and my son was desperate. Sean took Jenny to the other hospital in town and lied saying they had insurance. She was examined and found to be very sick. She had respiratory failure, double pneumonia and sepsis. By that night she was on life support where she remained for 55 days, fighting for her life and the life of her baby. Jenny died 7 weeks ago. She leaves behind a 2 year old daughter who will never know her mother and her husband who is devastated. Jenny did not have to die. If there had been a public option Jenny would have been able to afford the care she so deserved. It's too late for Jenny but not for the countless others still out there fighting. Please read Jennys story. http://bit.ly/doUQR I am currently an activist fighting for health care reform. I can be contacted at 312 753-5510

There's plenty of other stories on the site. I guess my only question is, "Where's the sanctity of life" crowd in this debate?

- Mark

BILL OF ATTAINDER POLITICS, 101

About seven months ago I wrote a piece describing how we could get some of our taxpayer-funded bonus money back from the financial parasites on Wall Street. At the time I noted that this might be difficult because of the Bill of Attainder provision in the Constitution (Art. I, Sec. 9 and Art. I, Sec. 10). In very simple terms it says Congress can't create a law that singles out and punishes an individual or a group because they don't like what they've done (like wrecking our economy) without a trial.

Put another way, Congress can't craft legislation that penalizes or criminalizes acts ex post facto simply because Congress doesn't like what the individual or group has done.

As I noted then, the Bill of Attainder provision in the Constitution was put there to prevent "trial by legislature" or, put more simply, to prevent our country from being taken over by a legislative lynch mob. A politicized, vengeful, and punishing Kangaroo Court mentality was not what the Framers wanted for our nation. This lies at the heart of our separation of powers principle.

Well, guess what? The same Republican Party that said Congress couldn't single out an individual or firm, like AIG, and punish them with new "taxes" on bonuses - because they helped wreck the economy - has had a change of heart. They are now saying that Congress should be able to single out and punish ACORN after the fact because the Republican Party doesn't like that a few employees (since fired) advised a fake prostitute on how to make money. They also don't like ACORN's spending and accounting habits. It makes no difference to the Republican Party that the "crimes" that lit their fire for ACORN pale in comparison to the very real crimes and over billing charges made by firms like Halliburton.

Super Dem, Alan Grayson, calls them on it here. It's another classic.



Again, we should clone this guy.

- Mark

GRAYSON TO REPUBLICANS: "America doesn't care about your feelings"

Another inspiring moment in the evolving new series, "A Dem Finally Shows Some Spine" ...



Grayson comments on what America understands:

"They understand that if Barack Obama were somehow able to cure hunger in the world the Republicans would blame him for overpopulation"

"They understand that if Barack Obama could somehow bring about world peace they would blame him for destroying the defense industry."

"In fact, they understand that if Barack Obama has a BLT sandwhich tommorrow for lunch, they will try to ban bacon."

I have a feeling that the Republicans will soon come out asking for an increase in their meal money. You know, because Grayson is eating their lunch ...

- Mark

LET'S CLONE THIS GUY

This Ed Schultz segment illustrates why Representative Alan Grayson's actions should be encouraged and emulated.



What's clear is that Rep. Grayson won't let himself get bogged down in Republican semantics. Grayson understands that indulging Republican demands and requests will only lead him down an empty cul de sac.

As well, it worth pointing out that Rep. Grayson is one of the few members of Congress (like Ron Paul) who actually understands the financial meltdown. Check out his letters to responsible parties involved in the debacle and its clean-up here, and the string of media/YouTube pieces at the bottom of the page. I particularly liked how he questioned Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke about the Fed's activities and it's authority in this meltdown (which I discussed back in July).



Grayson laughs at Bernanke's response to a question at the 3:23 mark in the clip. For those of you who know how money and the Fed works, you'll understand why he laughed when you watch the clip.

- Mark

ALAN GRAYSON: THE NEW SUPER DEM?

Alan Grayson is a Democrat who's demonstrating that he knows parody, and that he's ready to take on the Republicans on their own terms.



And he's not backing down from his comments ...



I don't know about anyone else but, when you think about all the "vote our plan or die" Republican talking points (4:25 to 5:37, and 6:10 in the Rachel Maddow clip), and the nonsense peddled by the Blue Dog Democrats, I think Alan Grayson's a breath of fresh air.

- Mark

RESOLUTION MADNESS

Now they have time for resolutions? From Daily Kos' BarbinMD ...

Here's what the Republicans are upset about ...



Incredibly enough, the Republicans aren't upset about, nor in the mood to demand resolutions on this, this, this, or this. Go figure.

- Mark

CREATING HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS (but not for you and me)

For my part, it seems that Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) is one of a handful of members in Congress who actually understand what's going on, and are trying to get some answers on this bailout mess (Ron Paul is another). The following is from nakedcapitalism.com ...

In this YouTube clip, we see Rep. Grayson question Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the creation and distribution of half a trillion dollars ($500,000,000,000) in the form of swaps/loans to other nations.



After being questioned about the Fed's authority to create half a trillion dollars, Bernanke cites Section 14 of the Federal Reserve Act. You can read Section 14 for yourself, but nowhere does it say that the Federal Reserve can create money out of thin air for redistribution to foreign central banks (which, in this case, they turned around and lent to domestic client banks).

The closest Section 14 comes to granting the Fed the authority to create money is Section 14(e), which allows the Fed to trade ("swap") and purchase currency "arising out of actual commercial transactions" that "bear the signature of two or more responsible parties." As far as I can see, bad bets in a casino economy are not covered in Section 14 (Section 14(f) might provide a loophole, but I'll let you be the judge on that one).

One of the highlights in this clip is when Rep. Grayson pretty much laughs in Bernanke's face. The moment (start @ minute 3:19) occurs when Bernanke said that the 30% rise in the dollar, which took place at the same time that the Federal Reserve lent out $500 billion to foreign central banks, was just a "coincidence."

I'm not sure, but it seems to me that the swaps (U.S. dollars sent abroad for other currencies) are being used to cover hundreds of billions in counterparty claims that arose out of the murky underworld of collapsed derivatives, CDOs, CDSs, and the like. European and other banks got caught in a credit crunch and/or simply don't want to use (and inflate) their currency to pay out counterparty claims created by the incredibly bad and stupid bets made by U.S. financial institutions (I have no idea what we're doing with the currencies we're getting from other central banks).

Again, and I'm only speculating here, but it seems to me that the Fed is using it's authority to cover the calamity our financial institutions caused when they created and sold their incredibly shallow bets to the rest of the world. This also may explain, in part, why we've encumbered between $7-9 trillion in obligations through the Federal Reserve (to date).

And Republicans are fixated on President Obama's birth certificate and/or creating his "Waterloo" moment? Wonderful.

- Mark

THE $2 TRILLION MYSTERY

The Federal Reserve can't seem to account for how it has spent, or lent out, $2 trillion ...



I think it's an understatement to say this is not encouraging.

- Mark