Discussion for article #231043
If Dems could make the case, they have an opportunity to pull Main St. business folks away from the Republican Party. But they can’t, because they are just as beholden to the financial industry as Reps.
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Manchin’s opposition shows why it is foolish to rejoice in the defeat of Blue Dog Democrats. They usually vote for sound Democratic principles, and the party needs to expand its membership beyond just reliably blue states to be effective.
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Isn’t there a possibility that he’ll switch party affiliation, or was that just another silly clickbait story?
I guess it doesn’t matter if he votes with the new majority anyway.
What kind of support does Warren need to defeat the corporatist Dems + Repubs on this one? Any chance of winning this fight?
First let see if Manchin vote with the repubs. on this $1.1 Trillion giveaway to Wall Street, Banks, & Corps.
Add Al Franken to the list
“This position requires someone who understands how to make our economy work for the middle class and those aspiring to be in the middle class. As such, I will not be supporting Mr. Weiss’ nomination. I am troubled by his history working on international corporate mergers for a Bermuda-based investment firm, and his work on so-called inversion deals that allow corporations to change their address and avoid their US tax responsibilities. Wall Street’s perspective is already well-represented in the Administration.”
(I believe that Sherrod Brown will oppose too)
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Has any read or heard Obama’s reasoning on this selection? I’d like to hear it, since it certainly seems to have Democrats’ teeth on edge. I asked the same question on an earlier thread today about Shaheen’s opposition, with no response.
I wonder if this might be more of the same thinking that led to the appointment of Tim Geithner – get someone from the belly of the beast who knows where the bodies are buried and still has the roadmap, keeping your enemies close – all of that.
And please don’t misconstrue this as an Obot’s apologist argument. I know nothing of Weiss, except for recent reporting that says he has engineered some mergers and tax inversion deals.
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Its payback, pure and simple. Weiss was a big contributions bundler.
Unfortunately, the Burger King/Tim Horton “inversion” that has Senator Warren up in arms wasn’t for tax purposes.
Canada is not a tax haven for corporations. Burger King management sucks, Tim Horton is slicker than snot, and Burger King merged in order to get a corporate brain transplant.
Canadian law would not allow a merger unless the merged corporation’s headquarters are in Canada. So they made a headquarters there, although both companies will keep their current headquarters in their respective countries as well.
This has been a red herring to distract from real cases of corporate inversion (which is why you hear about it in the Mediacracy). I am disappointed that Senator Warren is jumping on this bandwagon, convenient though it is.
Also, if they don’t approve Obama’s choice in this lame-duck Congress, we’ll have to take something worse once the Repugnicants are fully in charge in the legislature.
Circular firing squad, anyone?
There is a lot more to Elizabeth’s complaint. That’s why she’s getting so much support.
So who is Antonio Weiss? He’s the head of global investment banking for the financial giant Lazard. He has spent the last 20 years of his career at Lazard – most of it advising on international mergers and acquisitions.
That raises the first issue. Weiss has spent most of his career working on international transactions – from 2001 to 2009 he lived and worked in Paris – and now he’s being asked to run domestic finance at Treasury. Neither his background nor his professional experience makes him qualified to oversee consumer protection and domestic regulatory functions at the Treasury. As someone who has spent my career focused on domestic economic issues, including a stint of my own at the Treasury Department, I know how important these issues are and how much the people in Treasury can shape policies. I also know that there are a lot of people who have spent their careers focused on these issues, and Weiss isn’t one of them.
I thought he wasn’t going to put up with this “bullshit” or whatever? Good for him.
No, he’s since said that he’s sticking with the Dems.
I have to disagree. Let’s not forget that this nominee was made by a Democrat. In my view, the Democrats no longer have principles. There are of course exceptions, but they’re becoming more rare by the day.
I wholly agree that the party needs to expand its membership into so-called “red” states. However, considering that two thirds of the people in them don’t even bother voting, it seems that rather than compromising values to compete for those whose minds are already made up, perhaps it would be more effective to reach out to those not voting and give them a reason to do so.
Doing that requires explaining those reasons to them, and that takes a lot of work and money for media time. I don’t think the party is up to it; there’s a lot of chatter about abandoning the South all together.
I think we agree that would be a terrible mistake. But that doesn’t mean we need to run Blue Dogs, since we’ve seen over and over that a majority of people support what the media blackballs as “liberal” policies, and we’ve seen that Democrats trying to out-Republican Republicans isn’t a winning strategy.
Then why would Warren Buffet in an interview explain that his motivation was that Canadians might take offense? “I just don’t know how the Canadians would feel about Tim Hortons moving to [Burger King headquarters in] Florida,” he said. Had there been some legal requirement, he’d have said that, because that gives him an ironclad excuse and cover for the tax dodge.
Moreover, if Canada indeed has such a ridiculous law, why are we even considering transporting their tar sands, by pipe, rail, or otherwise? What the hell are we, chopped liver? Fuck them! This ain’t about them, this is about us, and those taxes belong in our Treasury, and if they don’t go there, we need to stop patronizing their establishments.
In my complaint to the company, they assured me in the classical corporate doublespeak that they won’t be moving “Burger King’s headquarters.” What a farce – as if that blather mitigates the legal construct that is the corporation moving to a foreign entity.
Just more proof to me that it’s all about the taxes, I don’t give a shit what the company’s constructed comparisons state for public consumption. They’ve already proven themselves to be liars on the topic with their twisted statement about BK’s HQ.
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There are people that are very money wise that aren’t Wall Street schlocks.
We don’t always have to pull from that nest.
In fact, let’s install a pro-people person that schemes to undermine the Wall Streeters and sends bazillions of dollars our way and let’s them cry in tents in parks while being bashed by the police. Then we take their houses and rent back to them whilst providing them new jobs with no benefits or no jobs with no benefits. Once we get warmed up to the beauty of this idea we can continue on to raid their entire financial security and every hope and dream that they’ve ever had or even dared to think about.
Then we could go on TV and be the biggest arrogant a-holes known to mankind and laugh as they start to realize that the game has been re-rigged against them.
But, I digress : )
[quote=“Leftflank, post:17, topic:14226”]"…and sends bazillions of dollars our way and let’s them cry in tents in parks while being bashed by the police. Then we take their houses and rent back to them whilst providing them new jobs with no benefits or no jobs with no benefits. Once we get warmed up to the beauty of this idea we can continue on to raid their entire financial security and every hope and dream that they’ve ever had or even dared to think about.
[/quote]
Stop it, right there Leftflank! You’re sounding an awful lot like a Republican with that suggestion! You’ve just described everything the Republican Party strives for.
I just want to get back to even and this may sound extreme to you but is exactly what they have done and are doing to us. It is not unfair of me to want fair and just for everyone.
Besides, I wasn’t really serious, just being a little facetious.
…but you were sounding an awful lot like a Republican. You haven’t been bitten or anything, have you? (
That was my point, to expose just how rotten they are. I guess I’m too good at it.
And, yeah, I do feel like I’ve been bitten some days by the right-wing snakes.
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