Fred Sanders

Fred Sanders's Journal

January 20, 2014

Capitalism guarantees free-market competition ... or kills democracy? Why is democracy dying?

Paul B. Farrell
Jan. 19, 2014, 9:48 a.m. EST

"Yes, the illusion lives on in our history books, the rhetoric of politicians, manipulating the minds of 95 million investors. The propaganda machine works. But the democracy we fought and died for since 1776 is fading. The Super Rich own America. Forget the 537 politicians we elected to Washington. Puppets for a Super Rich elite that control through their lobbyists. Can we solve it?

Are conspiracy theorists lunatics? No, we’re just solving problems!

Scientific American got the heart racing by focusing on this human need, asking the big question: “Why do people believe in conspiracy theories?” Why fall for them? What make us “believe” in something? Yes, our brains do love solving puzzles, murder mysteries, hoaxes, con games, frauds. The reason: Because all self-deceptions are a search for “simple explanations for complex societal events that restore a sense of control and predictability.”

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-big-money-mysteries-we-have-to-solve-to-survive-2014-01-18

January 20, 2014

It's The Economy, Stupid: U.S. economy will hit 3% growth in 2014 for the first time in nine years.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-seen-on-track-for-best-growth-since-2005-2014-01-19

Most economists think the dismal 74,000 increase in net hiring last month was a fluke caused by poor weather and seasonal-adjustment problems that will soon be revised away or prove to be an aberration.

The way those with a sunnier view see it, the road is clear for the U.S. to produce its fastest spurt of growth since the Great Recession. There’s no big crisis in Washington brewing, U.S. households are better off financially and businesses are raking in the profits. Nor are there any major global threats to the economy on the horizon.

Consider the new forecast by top economists at the nation’s leading bank firms. They (are) predicting the U.S. economy will hit 3% growth in 2014 for the first time in nine years.

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If Democrats do not sweep the Senate, the House, and the WH for the next decade then the true power of money, unregulated elections and the influence of a controlled mass media will be made plain, and made plainly dangerous to democracy.

January 19, 2014

CNN Builds Bridge And Then Carries Christie's Water Across For Public Consumption

CNN's Candy Crowley defends Christie's Sandy shakedown to Hoboken Mayor: Winner gets 'the spoils'

Chief CNN Sunday news propagandist Crowley admitted that she had gotten talking points from Christie's office, but pressed on without apology, correction or even awareness for stuff like this-

"They said, when you look across the state of New Jersey, all of these places were hurting and needed more money at that point," she explained. "That $70 million out of a $300 million pot at that point is pretty good, it's almost a third of the funds.", Crowley parroted.

Mayor Zimmer chuckled as she pointed out that Christie was "taking credit" for $70 million in flood insurance that local residents had paid for with monthly premiums for years. Touche, Madame Mayor, that one left Crowley fluttering her false lashes in earnest.

P.s.: Not to mention that Jeff Zucker must be doubling the salaries of the lawyers tasked with finding a loophole in Candy's contract so they can terminate her as cheaply as possible.

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/01/crowley-defends-christies-sandy-shakedown

January 19, 2014

Dr. V’s Magical Putter: The remarkable story of a mad scientist and the politics of sex and money

The remarkable story behind a mysterious inventor who built a "scientifically superior" golf club
by Caleb Hannan on January 15, 2014

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2014/01/essay_anne_vanderbilt_dr_v_s_magical_putter_grantland_s_expos_of_a_trans.html

Digging Too Deep

Grantland’s Exposé of a trans con artist privileged fact-finding over compassion.

Strange stories can find you at strange times. Like when you’re battling insomnia and looking for tips on your short game.

It was well past midnight sometime last spring and I was still awake despite my best efforts. I hadn’t asked for those few extra hours of bleary consciousness, but I did try to do something useful with them.

I play golf. Sometimes poorly, sometimes less so. Like all golfers, I spend far too much time thinking of ways to play less poorly more often. That was the silver lining to my sleeplessness — it gave me more time to scour YouTube for tips on how to play better. And it was then, during one of those restless nights, that I first encountered Dr. Essay Anne Vanderbilt, known to friends as Dr. V.

..............

Barney Adams, the founder of Adams Golf, the last truly successful independent club manufacturer, is unapologetically pessimistic about other small companies’ odds of survival. “We got lucky,” he says. “Our success was tied to one club.” Adams had been a custom club fitter constantly on the brink of bankruptcy until he built a club called Tight Lies. Adams’s creation was billed as a fairway wood, but many consider it to be the first hybrid, a half-iron half-wood that combined the best features of both. Adams exploited his finder’s advantage for as long as he could, but today every clubmaker has its own line of hybrids. In 2012, Adams Golf was sold to Adidas, which already owns TaylorMade.

Adams’s assessment of golf’s demographics and his conclusions about what they mean for the business are brutal. “Look at the average age of today’s golfer,” he says. “Half are over 40. How does that forecast into the future? If you look out 50 years, golf becomes squash.” The outlook is more grim, says Adams, for designers who make only putters. “In the history of the golf industry there’s never been an independent putter company that hasn’t gone broke,” he says. The only path to success involves being bought by a larger company. And to do that, Adams says, you need a story to sell. A story that can usually be reduced to five simple words: “Mad scientist invents great product.”

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January 19, 2014

Obama: Marijuana Is No More Dangerous Than Alcohol

Source: Huffington Post

When asked if he believes marijuana is less harmful than alcohol, Obama said it is less damaging "in terms of its impact on the individual consumer."

And that marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington state is an “important” move towards a more just legal system.

Recently, U.S. Attorney General Holder took steps to relax federal prosecution of marijuana offenses, by averting mandatory minimums and by avoiding prosecution of marijuana users who are complying with state law. “Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long, and for no truly good law enforcement reason,” Holder said.

The significance of the recreational marijuana laws in Colorado and Washington state is that they not only remove criminal penalties for possession — at this point, 17 states and many cities have passed decriminalization measures — they also legalize or regulate distribution and growth. Legalization supporters view that latter step as critical to driving out the black market and controlling the health consequences of marijuana consumption.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/19/obama-marijuana-alcohol_n_4627740.html

To which can only be said that alcohol has caused more death and destruction since LAST NIGHT than marijuana has done in its entire history.

January 16, 2014

The Silent Filibuster and the Silent Media are destroying American progress....

Republicans blockading a UI extension has been reported as anything other than the massive obstructionism it is in ALL the mass media, so the question is asked: How can the public make informed decisions as to anything when the media frames the 60 vote filibuster as "normal"?

The New York Times: "Unemployment Extension Is Stalled, With 2 Proposals Defeated in the Senate": "Unemployment benefits for 1.3 million of the long-term unemployed — and millions more in the future — were imperiled on Tuesday after Senate efforts to reach accord on legislation to revive them collapsed in partisan finger-pointing."

The Washington Post: "Unemployment benefits won’t be extended until at least late January as Senate deadlocks": "Negotiations to extend emergency benefits for the long-term jobless deadlocked in the Senate on Tuesday. That leaves more than 1.3 million people without federal unemployment aid ..."

Politico: "Senate blocks jobless aid": "Both measures needed 60 votes to advance."

Wall Street Journal: "Senate Fails to Advance Bill Extending Benefits for Long-Term Unemployed."

Associated Press: "Agreement Appears Elusive on Jobless Benefits Bill": "... the Senate blocked a pair of Democratic-drafted proposals from advancing..."

CNN: "Extending unemployment benefits stumbles in Senate": "... the failure of two procedural votes, leaving the fate of emergency government assistance to more than 1 million people in limbo."

CBS News:" Extension of unemployment benefits dead in Senate for now": "Two procedural votes on different variations on an extension failed..."

Etc.....etc....

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/01/senate-democrats-change-filibuster-rules