Larry Summers And Another Luddite Analogy

Posted: February 7, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: just because | Tags: , , , | 10 Comments

A hattip to United Republic, their new site Republic Report and for this ‘most’ enlightening tidbit on Larry Summers.

This Larry Summers.

The Larry Summers that President Obama chose to head the White House National Economic Council, even after the blowback from Summers receiving beaucoup speaking fees in 2008 at banking meetings, as in JP Morgan dishing out $67, 500 for a February engagement.  This, after JP Morgan reaped $25 billion in Government bailouts.  Or Citigroup, another happy camper after receiving $50 billion in taxpayer monies, found enough spare change to pay Summers on two occasions, once for $45,000 and two months later for $54,000.  Or everyone’s favorite, Goldman Sachs. Sachs was really generous after receiving $10 million in bailout funds but managed a double decker of $135,000 for one appearance and another for $67,500 eight weeks later.

Oh, and Summers also had managed another $5.2 million, an easy-peasy salary from D.E. Shaw, which just happens to be a major hedge fund.

Who says government doesn’t work?

When Summers exited his WH duties, he hit the lecture circuit once again. His love of giving speeches seems to have slipped under the radar.  Until it didn’t.  Interest appears to have shredded the text of his presentation at a particular business forum.  Mysteriously, the stirring words disappeared and no one could retrieve then.  Poof!  But here’s what we know: this time Summer’s concluding keynote speech celebrated the wonders of outsourcing and off-shoring jobs.  Here’s a brief statement from the catalog introduction of the 2011 World BPO/ITO Forum:

Resisting the prospect of offshoring withholds a major totem of competitive parity from the most profitable producers of economic progress, Dr. Summers said. “It is to deny the US and American businesses an opportunity to participate in this revolution in emerging markets, which is the most important economic story of our time.” He added that increasing trade in tasks makes businesses more efficient and competitive, and allows them to exploit different skills, capacities and labor costs anywhere in the world. Critics who automatically label outsourcing or offshoring a threat to prosperity “resemble luddites who took axes to machinery early in England’s industrial revolution,” he said. Instead of killing jobs, as luddites feared, machines spawned millions of jobs and better standards of living.

Oh yes, I’m sure the majority of Americans now collecting unemployment or those working two, three jobs to pay the electric bill, buy the Kraft mac and cheese dinners in bulk, while hoping to God no one in the family gets sick could appreciate this finely-tuned statement.  But this statement [though applicable to many workers] was specifically directed to business process [as in payroll, tax and benefits] and IT workers—you know, all those geeky kids that were told ‘Go for the computer degree.  You can’t go wrong.’

Oops.

Because those innocent initials in the forum’s title?  That would stand for ‘business process outsourcing/information technology outsourcing.’

And people wonder why there are so many college grads with gargantuan school loans associated with the Occupy Wall St. Movement.  These grads are mad as hell and not getting over it.

But notice the analogy that Summers uses for describing critics of massive outsourcing of jobs, jobs, jobs.  Critics are Luddites, Summers says, no better than the extremists who smashed machinery during the early days of the Industrial Revolution.  I suspect there are ‘things’ citizens would enjoy smashing right now.  And it’s not the machines.

But here’s the word that flew out at me: exploit, as in exploitation:

an act or instance of exploiting<exploitation of natural resources> <exploitation of immigrant laborers> <clever exploitation of the system>

Ding, ding, ding!  We exploit our natural resources, our fellow citizens.  We exploit immigrant workers, every chance we get.  And we exploit the system by having people like Larry Summers, whirling through the revolving door of government/business, and then pretending the damage left behind is a good thing, the most important economic story of our time.

How about the biggest heist of all time!

But it gets better.  We get to exploit workers in other countries, too, making their lives so miserable they threaten to commit suicide en masse.

What’s not to love?

If this sort of thing wasn’t so sickening, it would be laughable.

I am not laughing.

Btw, the Republic Report site will be tapping none other than Jack Abramoff for an insider’s view of  DC corruption and influence peddling.  Super-lobbyist Abramoff, released from jail last year, will be a regular contributor to RR because if you want to catch a bunch of rats what better strategy than employ a King Rat?

Could get very interesting!

The Congressional Cash Machine

Posted: December 26, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: U.S. Politics, Voter Ignorance, We are so F'd | Tags: , | 8 Comments

I’m just waiting for life to get back to the normal rat race and off the holiday frenetic rat race.  I need to get some plumbing parts, a few store-related things, and a person from my bank to pick up the phone who isn’t distracted or gone.  Commerce is dysfunctional this time of year and I just hate it.   I found out the hard way that Friday was holiday of some sort and of course, Saturday and Sunday were complete wastes of time.  I feel held hostage this time of year. Same thing seems to apply to useful items in newspapers and magazines around the country.

I did manage to find one thing at WAPO today that was snuck in between those perpetual what to do with left overs and presents you do want articles:  ‘Lawmakers seek cash during key votes’. Well, isn’t that special?    It seems while we were frantically hoping they’d repeal DADT, pass the Dream Act, and ratify START, the Reigndeers were playing Reigndeer games.  I’m hoping the information in that article doesn’t get buried in the holiday waste paper.

Numerous times this year, members of Congress have held fundraisers and collected big checks while they are taking critical steps to write new laws, despite warnings that such actions could create ethics problems. The campaign donations often came from contributors with major stakes riding on the lawmakers’ actions.

For three weeks in June, for instance, the members of a joint House and Senate committee worked to draft final rules for regulating the financial industry in the wake of its 2008 meltdown. During that time, the 35 members of the drafting committee collected $440,000 in donations from that same industry, which was then lobbying heavily for looser rules.

What on earth can we do to stop this cash extraction/infusion process from the big special interest groups?  Why aren’t people holding their congress critterz accountable for this kind of obvious black mail?  This example was just appalling AND unsuprising.

Earlier this month, the chairman of the Senate committee overseeing tax policy, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), gave himself a birthday-party fundraiser – on the same day that the chamber took its first vote on an $858 billion tax package that would provide breaks to wealthy citizens and business interests.

They must know we’re stupid.

Here’s a real christmas gift from the Center for Responsive Politics: Lobbying Your True Love: Twelve Days of Gifts and Special Interests Access This Christmas.  This will let you know who was on the nice list recently. (Hint: it wasn’t you or me.)

Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, there were 273 days. That means you should be able to retain the California Pear Growers Association, which reported $20,000 in lobbying expenditures during the first three quarters of 2010, for $73 a day.

To be true to the song, though, you’ll need the Pear Growers trade group every day for 12 days. And 12 days at $73 a day equals $879.

By that same logic, retaining DLA Piper’s services, which is playing a happy tune with $7.6 million in lobbying income this year, would cost $27,875 per day. Good thing they’ll only be need twice — on the eleventh and twelfth days, for a total cost of $55,751.

Your wallet might also take a hit trying to woo Goldman Sachs, which likes the ring of their $3.5 million investments in lobbying between January and September.

While the investment bank’s daily rate is less than half of DLA Piper’s, you’ll pay even more for their services since you’ll need them for eight days: $12,857 per day multiplied by 8 days equals $102,857.

Defense contractor Blackbird Technologies, named after the colly bird, and lobbying firm Drummer and Associates, meanwhile, will each run just $110 a day.

But Leap Wireless International, the parent company of Cricket, will cost ten times as much: $1,099 per day.

And the Dairy Farmers of American, the trade group for maids-a-milking, will cost twice that: $2,220 per day.

On the other hand, the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance — a big fan of ladies dancing — is a steal at just $27 a day. Even for four days of services, you’re only out $110.

Other poultry-related interests — the National Chicken Council, an ardent supporter of French hens, and the United Egg Producers, who have a special place in their heart for geese-a-laying — will cost $586 per day and $165 per day, respectively.

This has got to stop some place. Look at this from the same WAPO link.

Over the course of three weeks in June, the 35 conference committee members collected $440,000 in donations from the financial industry. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate banking committee and a powerful conferee, collected the most that month – about $90,000 from financial interests.

Executives of accounting giant Ernst & Young contributed the lion’s share of that amount for Schumer: $49,000 in all of June, including $2,000 from chief executive James Turley. Ernst & Young works for some of the biggest firms on Wall Street. This week, New York state sued the company, accusing it of using a paperwork shuffle to help Lehman Brothers hide billions of dollars in debt before that firm’s 2008 collapse.

…

Senators collected $469,000 from the financial industry the day before, the day of and the day after that key Sept. 16 vote, a Post review of donations shows. The biggest recipient was Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who shepherded the legislation and faced a tight reelection race.

We’ve turned into a plutocracy.  No doubt about it. Money doesn’t talk any more.  It screams.