Discussion for article #245370
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I like Bill Moyers a lot but I disagree with most of his comments
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I think such an executive order is a great idea. The next step would be to pass a Congressional dress code requiring the wearing of NASCAR-style jackets so constituents could easily see who their representativeâs sponsors/owners are.
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that jacket thing is a great ideaâŚwould they all come with a monogrammed âKOCHâ in scarlet letters?
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Moyers, as always, is really digging down to the nuts and bolts here, whether you agree with him or not.
But I think we all have to admit, whether you agree or not, Wall Street is considered a pack of economic terrorists by a very large faction of our population. That is simply profound,
And Citizens United has accelerated that class resentment.
If there is one lesson Democrats need to learn from The Bern they suffered in Iowa⌠Wall Street is clearly perceived by a large segment of our population as a much bigger fundamental problem than immigration, unemployment, or even terrorism.
Pernicious opportunists like Trump or Cruz or Rubio might be able to use those blind fears for easy ammo on their own brainwashed lemmings, but the smart kids who are joining the process know better, they KNOW where the real crooks live.
I challenge Wall Street itself, not its political partners or puppets, to do some serious soul searching and find a way to assuage this hostility from the future generation that is now hopping aboard the political trainride.
But unless they do something to show The People somehow that they matter more than their wallets, all those fat-cat tycoons of any stripe can expect the future to provide even more threats of virtual pitchforks and torches marching up Wall Street.
After admitting that there is an entire class of young (and old) Americans who deem them worse than terrorists, they might want to consider some serious and meaningful philanthropy.
Or maybe just openly support a $15/hr minimum wage?
If you Wall Street folks think that is funny, all I can say is, laugh while you can. The economy you obstruct may be your own.
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I think Moyers dumps on Obama a little hard all things considered. I like the speech but the last couple of paragraphs wouldnât pass the first edit.
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Me too and I have always been a big fan of Moyers but his criticism of Obama is tunnel vision at best.
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Regardless of the details of the hypothetical speech, the basic idea is really important. How many Americans know any of this stuff (I donât meant TPMers, I mean REAL 'Murikans)? Just the statistic about the amount of federal support received by politically active corporations is eye-opening.
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Yea, I think itâs a âwhy the hell isnât it this way alreadyâ good idea.
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âreal Murikansâ fear immigrants, refugees and cantaloupe-leg-ed wetbacks. âWall Streetâ is just two words to them.
And in fact they like the first one of those words a lot!
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Iâm not so sure. Rural America has a long tradition of hating âEastern bankers.â You donât have to scratch very far, even among social conservatives, to find it.
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The root of the problem IMHO is lack of democratic participation. Politicians can be âboughtâ because they need to afford a bigger bullhorn to get their message out or they know the base of the electorate who pays attention is too small to notice or care about their shenanigans. Its even more pernicious during non-Presidential elections when the actual voters become a small fraction of the eligible electorate. Iâd be far more sympathetic to the need to limit campaign spending and where it comes from if the people who said they donât like the current system got off their asses and to the polls (present company excluded, of course).
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I like this idea but suggesting Obamaâs fundraising has been sinful by taking dark money financing is just not accurate. Open Secrets reported that only $1,830 came from PACs in 2008. Eighty-eight per cent was from individual donations. In 2012 he took no PAC money at all. Ninety-nine and nine tenths of his financing came from large and small individual donations so there was total transparency. That is not to say âoutside spendingâ didnât play a part in his campaigns but his campaign was not a direct recipient.
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I was under the impression that President Obama was planning on doing this â signing an executive order requiring federal contractors to post their campaign contributions.
Am I missing something?
Yes. 2010. Where were you, protectors of democracy? Who bought (and still buys) the Murdoch rags (hey, vaunted Wall St Journal!), the TV ânewsâ? Hate radio and religious fanaticism spoke and allowed ~14% of the voting pool to determine the fate of all.
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Hope the paywall doesnât jump up and bite you, but there is this reporting from January 19.
President Obama is seriously considering an executive order that would require companies doing business with the federal government to disclose their political contributions, White House officials said on Tuesday, a step long awaited by activists to reduce the influence of secretive corporate donations in elections.
The directive, known as the âdark moneyâ executive order, would mandate that government contractors publicly report their contributions to groups that spend money to influence campaigns. Advocates inside and outside the White House believe the executive order would prompt some companies to spend less, by exposing their donations to public scrutiny.
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This is what I thought immediately too Randy. Moyers seems to be setting himself up as the inspiration so that he can get credit after the fact.
President Obama knows right where he is at politically. He knew this in his first term and held out to make many moves until his second, because he understands the timing.
He is working on getting unfinished business taken care of and CU is major, I donât see him letting this pass. It could be called legacy building but that cheapens Obamaâs genuine concern I think because he will do it just because it needs to be and should be done, not just for the notoriety.
It is almost insulting of Moyers to suggest that President Obama isnât aware/concerned/actively working on(???) this issue and to presume that he needs to write a speech for the oratorical King of our generation.
Feeling that he needs to prompt the Prez is one thing, but hinting that Obama is asleep at the wheel or is shirking his duty is a whole nother.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/us/president-obama-may-require-federal-contractors-to-list-campaign-gifts.html?_r=1
Just sayinâ
oops, never mind, yâall are on it