agitprop version 2.0

Dear Mr. Greenspan

I wanted to thank you for last week's holy edict in which you raised the prime interest rate. While writing checks this morning I noticed that you personally made my monthly mortgage payment increase by $65! Now Citibank can use that money to hire more workers at their customer support center in Bombay. I bet they could hire at least 10 Indian workers for the wage they'd pay one American worker. Now that's the capitalist spirit!

I must admit that I am concerned. You've consistently raised interest rates for the past two years. Back in the summer of 2003 when I was working as a mortgage loan processor and the prime was only 4%, we were giving away home equity loans like hotcakes. But now you've warned us of the coming apocalypse. Is it true? Will the bubble really burst? If rates keep rising and values drop then we're going to face a serious wave of foreclosures. Non-homeowners with credit card debt will be left to drown thanks to the new bankruptcy bill which protects the corporations, not the consumers.

                           

Adam Smith would scoff at how you toy with bank lending rates. Instead of acting in the auspices of promoting free enterprise and protecting the "free market", you have proved that your first priority is to protect the owners of capital--mainly large corporations. Therefore I take pride in calling you a market socialist. Go drink some Vodka with your Gosbank friends because you're no better than the Soviet economic ministers who deluded themselves with planned economy.

To that I salute you--the god of green, the maker of the market, the pope of pious purchasing.      

Prevailing Wages? That's Like So 20th Century Man

Estimated Property Damage:  $100 billion
Estimated Death Toll:  10,000 Americans
Using a national tragedy to cut wages for the poor:  Priceless

For everyone else, there's decency.

From LA Times (thanks to el s for the tip).

One action Bush did not trumpet publicly drew a quick protest from a leading Democrat. By executive order, Bush suspended the Davis-Bacon Act in areas of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi, a move that will allow federal contractors to pay less than the local "prevailing wage" on construction projects.

Rep. George Miller of Martinez, senior Democrat on the House committee that oversees labor law, said the move would allow employers to pay "poverty wages" as they rebuild from the hurricane.

"The administration is using the devastation of Hurricane Katrina to cut the wages of people desperately trying to rebuild their lives," Miller said in a statement, noting that the prevailing wage for construction in New Orleans was about $9 an hour. "At under $9 an hour, workers certainly won't be able to rebuild their livelihoods."

See, there's no time to play the blame game. There's pockets to fill and people to screw!

Charles Norman Todd has more. So does Blogenlust.

Why Make Millions When We Can Make...Billions!

American oil companies and the Saudi royals are currently raking in the dough because the price of oil has reached $67 per barrel. The BBC notes:

With US economic growth strong and the latest data showing car sales at their highest level since the consumer slump following 11 September 2001, the stage is set for further upward pressure on oil, analysts said.

Auto sales have increased this summer thanks to the "Employee Discount For Everyone" craze that has been catching on in dealerships across the nation. This is how it works:

1. Auto maker lays off thousands of employees
2. Auto maker decreases expenditures, increases profits
3. Auto maker offers employee discount to all customers
4. Auto maker sells more products, increases profits
5. Customer pays less for car, pays more for gas
6. Go back to #1 and repeat

Life must be spectacular as an oil company executive. Not only does the American public continue to buy your gas guzzling vehicles but the U.S. Congress literally gives you billions of dollars just because you are an oil company executive. MSNBC:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - President Bush on Monday signed sweeping legislation that provides billions of dollars in tax subsidies to energy companies, yet does little to quickly ease gas prices or lower America’s reliance on foreign oil.

“This bill is not going to solve our energy challenges overnight,” Bush said just before signing the bill into law. “It’s going to take years of focused efforts to alleviate those problems.”

Republicans in Congress (and some Dumbocrats) have given $12.3 billion in subsides to industry? Only a socialist would do such a thing. How about the $286 billion transportation bill with $24 billion worth of pork projects. Rep. Don Young (R-AK) gets a $250 million bridge named after him in Anchorage now known as Don Young's Way.

Government spending is alive and well in the 21st century.