Who's Got The Power?

Jim Messina's BBF Ari Berman writes that Obama is losing the budget fight because the whole "discussion was about how much to cut, not whether to cut or who would be impacted by such cuts or if such cuts would depress economic growth. The word 'jobs' was practically absent from the debate." And Paul Krugman couldn't agree more:

What happened to the inspirational figure his supporters thought they elected? Who is this bland, timid guy who doesn’t seem to stand for anything in particular?

...Obama is conspicuously failing to mount any kind of challenge to the philosophy now dominating Washington discussion-- a philosophy that says the poor must accept big cuts in Medicaid and food stamps; the middle class must accept big cuts in Medicare (actually a dismantling of the whole program); and corporations and the rich must accept big cuts in the taxes they have to pay. Shared sacrifice!

With even conservative economists, like David Stockman (Reagan's former OBM director), pointing out that Paul Ryan's bloodthirsty budget the GOP (and, apparently, Obama) are planning to destroy America's social fabric with is off the deep end, the ruling elite is making a power play to put an end to whatever pretense of democracy was even left after Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush (and now Obama) stomped all over the working class. [If you haven't already done so, I implore you to watch the short film we posted yesterday about how the rich-- and their politicians-- use psychological warfare on the rest of us.]

Thom Hartmann again posted about how 400 rich U.S. families control more wealth than 150 million Americans. These are the nations oligarchs and plutocrats. They're waging war-- very successfully-- against the rest of us.

These 400 rich oligarchs' effective tax rate has dropped by more than 2/3 since Dwight Eisenhower's administration-– while the rate for working people has nearly doubled.  Rich people get a 2/3 tax cut over the last 50 years-- working people get screwed with a 100% tax hike. 

To make matters worse-- average CEO pay increased dramatically last year--  despite an 20% real under- and un-employment rate plaguing the rest of us.  And yet-- now Congress says they're gonna pass a budget that cuts federal education, health care, and energy assistance programs for working class Americans while doing nothing to make America’s oligarchs pay their fair share or sacrifice even one damn thing.

That's because the Democrats-- Obama and much of the congressmembers we elect to protect us from the greed and avarice of these people and their Republican Party-- are either completely bought out (like Obama) or conflicted beyond usefulness.

At a time when millions of Americans are trying to hang on to homes and millions more are trying to hang on to jobs, the chief executives of major corporations like 3M, General Electric and Cisco Systems are making as much today as they were before the recession hit. Indeed, some are making even more.

The disparity is especially stark as companies are swimming in cash. In the fourth quarter, profits at American businesses were up an astounding 29.2 percent, the fastest growth in more than 60 years. Collectively, American corporations logged profits at an annual rate of $1.678 trillion.

So far, this recovery has not trickled down. After two relatively lean years, C.E.O.’s in finance, technology, energy and beyond are pulling down multimillion-dollar paychecks. What many of these executives aren’t doing, however, is hiring. Unemployment, although down from its peak, stood at 8.8 percent in March. And few economists predict the jobless rate will drop substantially anytime soon.

For the average C.E.O., however, the good times have returned. The median pay for top executives at 200 major companies was $9.6 million last year. That was a 12 percent increase over 2009, according to a study conducted for The New York Times by Equilar, a compensation consulting firm based in Redwood City, Calif.

Many if not most of the corporations run by these executives are doing better than they were in the downturn. Many businesses were hit so hard by the recession that even small improvements in sales and profits look good by comparison. But C.E.O. pay is also on the rise again at companies like Capital One and Goldman Sachs, which survived the economic storm with the help of all those taxpayer-financed bailouts.

Against such a backdrop, it’s noteworthy that recent moves to empower shareholders seem to have done little to tamp down corporate enthusiasm for paying top dollar to top executives. This is generally the season when companies hold annual meetings for their shareholders.

Philippe Daumann of Viacom made $84.5 million in 9 months. Ray R. Irani of Occidental Petroleum, took home $76.1 million last year, up 142% from the previous bonanza year. If you think these people work hard enough or in some way "deserve" this kind of compensation... watch the film again. And pay attention. You're being taken in. Most people, even if they're unwilling-- or unable-- to do anything about it, understand they're being screwed. This is from Gallup (last week):