Waste is what irresponsible men create; what people who refuse to clean up after themselves leave behind.

Dirt is what Mother Nature provides to sustain life on earth. If we waste it, man's ability to sustain himself is jeopardized.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
The White House
April 17, 2010

There were many causes of the turmoil that ripped through our economy over the past two years. But above all, this crisis was caused by failures in the financial industry. What is clear is that this crisis could have been avoided if Wall Street firms were more accountable, if financial dealings were more transparent, and if consumers and shareholders were given more information and authority to make decisions.

But that did not happen. And that’s because special interests have waged a relentless campaign to thwart even basic, common-sense rules – rules to prevent abuse and protect consumers. In fact, the financial industry and its powerful lobby have opposed modest safeguards against the kinds of reckless risks and bad practices that led to this very crisis.

The consequences of this failure of responsibility – from Wall Street to Washington – are all around us: 8 million jobs lost, trillions in savings erased, countless dreams diminished or denied. I believe we have to do everything we can to ensure that no crisis like this ever happens again. That’s why I’m fighting so hard to pass a set of Wall Street reforms and consumer protections. A plan for reform is currently moving through Congress.

We the people getting control of OUR MONEY (back from the banksters) is a good thing. It is our money and our agents (of government) should be in charge of how it is used, by whom and for what purpose. Letting a few people accumulate and use money to gain control over all our natural resources and public assets is not a good purpose.

That said, "taxpayer" is a loaded word. It is designed to exclude the interests of people who have been rendered too poor--i.e. deprived of money--to be able to pay taxes. Which means, in effect, that poor people have to work for free. Having the money to pay taxes is a sign of equality. Using that money to support one's share of public services, is a sign of equality. Sequestering money in overseas accounts or tax exempt trust funds or hedge funds to avoid paying one's fair share is a sign of inequality.

Regardless of whether inequality is chosen or imposed, inequality is a bad thing in a society dedicated to he proposition that all men are created equal and entitled to receive equal treatment. (Yes, I know, equal treatment is an obligation that applies to public corporations; individuals can be as abusive as they want, as long as they don't leave any marks).

HIR was the warm-up act. Financial Reform is the main event. Meet one of the chief protagonists.

SOURCE:Rolling Stone

The Watchdog: Elizabeth Warren

She may be the only person in Washington who stands between us and Wall Street's next meltdown

TIM DICKINSONPosted Apr 14, 2010 11:23 AM

With the stock market on a roll and employment beginning to pick up, it's easy to think that the economy has finally turned the corner. Leading bankers and politicians assure us that the financial crisis is behind us – and the reckless gambles that cratered the global economy will never be repeated. But Elizabeth Warren, Washington's top financial watchdog, has news for you. The economy may be growing at long last – but unless Congress gets serious about reforming our financial system, we're doomed to repeat a catastrophic cycle of boom, bust and bailouts. "We have one slim chance, right now," says Warren, "to put the too-big-to-fail genie back in the bottle."

We are all aware that tumors, even if they are benign, are an impediment to individual well being. Growths are anti-social. And yet, in recent decades we've been persuaded that growth is good.

Now the results are out and, in at least three areas, there's no question that growth is an sign of social failure. The first indicator, only because we've been aware of it the longest, is the growth of landfills. More and more of what we Americans produce and purchase ends up at the dump; some of it even before it's used. Indeed, much of our production is aimed to be disposed of--disposable. As if the mountains of waste weren't already high enough. And I won't even go into "storage facilities," replicating like mushrooms all over the countryside -- way stations to the dump for the stuff we think we might eventually actually want.

The nation is drowning in stuff. The question is why? Why have we been persuaded to accumulate more and more stuff we don't actually want, and certainly don't need? My ancient house guest tells me it's because stuff, unlike people, doesn't disappoint. Stuff doesn't run off with your best friend. Stuff isn't fickle. On the other hand, the old curmudgeon is even now discovering that when people have people, they don't need stuff. That's something the tea party people seem to be discovering, as well. While that does not bode well for the resurgence of our supposedly consumer-driven economy, consumption is not a healthy condition. So, the tea parties may actually be a sign of healing.

New Hampshire’s Role in Global Fight Against Poverty

Contact:

Carolyn Hammer
Communications Specialist
(603) 222-4115 or
(315) 243-2333
chammer@anselm.edu

January 25, 2010
Time: 6 p.m.

Hosted by ONE VOTE 08 New Hampshire Leadership, this event will feature Senior U.S. Government Relations Strategist for ONE, Tom Hart. Hart will discuss New Hampshire’s past and present role in the global fight against poverty.

ONE is a grassroots campaign and advocacy organization committed to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. Cofounded by singer Bono and other campaigners, ONE is a nonpartisan organization that works closely with African policy makers and activists.

For more information on the ONE campaign, please visit www.one.org. To view a video of WMUR’s coverage of ONE in New Hampshire, click here.

This event will be held in the NHIOP auditorium. It is free and open to the public. Community members who wish to attend should RSVP to Matthew Bartlett at Matthew.Bartlett@one.org.

If you need a little more convincing, consider that our separate and unequal public health care system is a remnant of the days of segregation.

Conservatives put much emphasis on the fact that people are different and can't be made equal. They do this because it's entirely beside the point. The Constitution demands equal service, not equalizing, from the agents of government. You know, like you get at MacDonald's. Every big Mac is the same size, regardless of how hungry you are.

Since I don't have health insurance and haven't been to a hairstylist in over fifty years, it took me a while to bother reading this KOS diary. It is not to be missed and needs to be passed on to everyone you know.

It's been apparent for some time that "planned obsolescence," the strategy developed by industry to maintain stable profits in response to market saturation and the need to increase demand, has morphed into "failure by design" and infected all sectors of the economy--commerce, service and finance. After all, if stability is the object, failure is the natural route; success, being terminal, demands that we do something new.