byte&chew

From Tom

November 29, 2011
Tomgram: Steve Fraser, "De-Fault Is Ours"

Change a single letter in what is and, lo and behold, you get what if.

Here’s just a taste of what is:

Foreclosures on houses with delinquent mortgages have doubled since 2010, with housing prices expected to drop another 10% before stabilizing.  Meanwhile, the executives of government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, institutions bailed out by taxpayers to the tune of $169 billion, are offering next to no significant relief to mortgage-holders in trouble.  For such “work,” the top six executives of the two outfits raked in “$35 million in compensation, including millions in bonuses.”

One in every three Americans is now considered either poor or “near poor,” according to recent census data; that is, 49.1 million Americans are below the poverty line and another 51 million perilously close to it.  This, of course, represents a significant increase in downward mobility.  According to the New York Times, “over half of the near poor in the new tally actually fell into that group from higher income levels as their resources were sapped by medical expenses, taxes, work-related costs and other unavoidable outlays.”

On the upward mobility front, the news has been anything but upbeat.  Recent evidence indicates that, if upward mobility happens to be your urge, you better move to Canada -- or to “aristocratic” Europe, where they still have it (though for how long, given the Euro crisis, is anyone’s guess).  One thing is clear: given what’s happening to American education, the next generation’s fate is likely to range from immobility to downward mobility.  The average graduate who takes out loans to pay for college now emerges from his or her subprime education with a debt burden of more than $25,000 dollars, a figure growing by the year.  Meanwhile, at state colleges, once the portals to an upward-mobile future, students are paying ever more for ever less educationally as tuitions rise and state support shrinks.

As for wealth in this country, from 2005 to 2009, median wealth among Hispanics fell 66% to $6,235, among African-Americans, 53% to $5,677, and among whites, 16%, to $113,149.  These figures represent the largest wealth disparities in the quarter century the Census Bureau has been collecting data on the subject.  As for income, between 1979 and 2007, according to a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office, the after-tax earnings of the top 1% of Americans grew by 275%, while those of the bottom 20% rose by only 18%.  Meanwhile, American corporations are sitting on “record amounts of cash,” even as job-creation has been next to nil, capital investment in new plants and infrastructure stagnates, and companies are happy to invest their multibillions instead in stock-buyback deals.

Here’s the financial overview: the top 1% of Americans now take in more than 25% of the nation’s income and control at least 40% of its wealth.  (A quarter of a century ago, the figures were 12% and 33%.)  To make it into that top 1%, according to economist Emmanuel Saez, your family needs to make a minimum of $368,238 a year (based on 2008 income figures); for the 15,000 families that make up the top .01%, average annual income is $27,342,212.

In other words, if you aren’t in the top 1% right now, it’s all what is, and never what if -- no dreams allowed.

When it comes to what is, the news is terrible.  When it comes to what if, who knows?  TomDispatch regular Steve Fraser, our preeminent historian of Wall Street and author of Wall Street: America’s Dream Palace and Every Man a Speculator: A History of Wall Street in American Life, offers his own ideas about how, here in the U.S. of A., what is might be challenged and turned back into what if? Tom

BEDCO & HOCKEY

A couple of items contained in the Wednesday (11/23/11) newspaper are worth talking about. First, the article announcing that BEDCO will close its doors and second, the comments by our mayor about the High School hockey program. It’s truly a tragedy that BEDCO will vanish from Berlin and the North Country. At a time when the region is desperately trying to re-invent itself economically, this loss is a step in the wrong direction. Ask anybody who has either tried to start a business or had a business which failed and you’ll hear the same complaint about the lack of available capital and professional assistance/guidance. You would think that someone like Paul Grenier (And his “TEAM”) who claim to be the champions of job creation and increased economic activity in Berlin and Coos County would have made an all out effort to save BEDCO. (It’s at least as important as the stack on the City Seal) It’s even more telling when you consider the fact that Mr. Grenier also spearheaded the effort to dismantle another economic development organization in Coos County, by removing County funding to the Coos Economic Development Corporation and the subsequent termination of its executive director. Interesting don’t you think that, under one hand our mayor/commissioner talks about “jobs”, but in reality has supported policies that cripple job creation and assistance. Believe me, there’s some good reasons for this inconsistent behavior. In my opinion, it’s because Mr. Grenier doesn’t understand economic development and he doesn’t have a vision of a new economy for the North Country. Another factor was the fact that he had no say over these two organizations, therefore, “no control”. (A must in his world) He hitches his jobs rhetoric to other people’s visions, be they good or bad. (Remember Bartoszek & Laidlaw or the granite mining king)  Mr. Grenier is also afflicted by the same handicap that many Berlin natives have, “living in the glory of the past”. That brings me to the second topic, that of the hockey program at Berlin High School. Mr. Grenier calls hockey “the third leg of politics in the community”. (I wonder what the two others are?) What Mr. Grenier forgets is that, were not talking about politics, were talking about education and what’s best for our kids!  (The real issue is really that “his honor” was not consulted)  In Paul Grenier’s mind everything is political and, everything is admissible and permissible when it’s political. Believe me that’s his credo. I too remember when Berlin was a hotbed of hockey talent just like I remember when we had a pulp and paper mill that employed over 2,000 people. Those days are gone! Berlin High School is no longer the hockey powerhouse of 20 to 30 years ago and Berlin is no longer the economic center of Northern New Hampshire. The sooner we rid ourselves of those myths the sooner we may take the appropriate steps to develop a new economic base. (Not recycle past and outdated efforts and call them new)  Using our kids to prop-up our fractured egos is not only disgusting, it demonstrates a lack of imagination or responsible political leadership. Is it any wonder that only 28% of eligible voters went to vote at the last election? It’s well known that people vote with their feet and 72% voted to ignore the political process in Berlin. I call that an embarrassment for the new administration and a sign that the community is adrift without credible leadership.

A wish.....

        To all of you who read and comment on byte&chew                  Happy Thanksgiving

On being honest?

I’ve read comments on byte&chew that suggested that I was slacking off writing posts on this blog. It’s true that I’ve taken a break from posting on a regular basis, mostly because each post requires several hours of writing and, time is precious. No, the election of Paul Grenier as mayor of Berlin didn’t scare me away, (He was unopposed since nobody wanted to go down that cesspool) but the election of several of his pawns does make me question the collective wisdom of Berlin voters. Keep in mind that only 28% of eligible voters went to the polls and out of those how many voted for the winners? I haven’t bothered doing the math, but it’s very obvious that the residents of Berlin are being represented by people who won by a slim margin of 10% to 15%, not an overwhelming mandate. I personally enjoy reading the comments on byte&chew, it’s such an education of the human condition and how people rationalize their lot. What never ceases to amaze me is how people carry beliefs and hold positions on issues which are not in their best interest. If you happen to be one of the 99% who is not doing too well economically, why would you support politicians or policies that will keep you down in the economic gutter? To me it makes no sense, but many who comment on this blog do just that. If you lost your job with benefits and are now working for near minimum wage, I would think that you would be prepared to join the folks who are taking their concerns to the streets and, support public officials who are at least saying the right things. From the comments written here by some, that’s not the way it works. Many of the 99% who are at the butt end of the 1% feel a need to not only remain silent, but support policies and politicians that guarantee that they will remain at the bottom. To some it’s their allegiance to a political party or tradition, to others it’s just plain ignorance and to others I believe it’s nothing more than a yearning, wanting some kind of “connection” to the power brokers. Sorry folks, wishing to be rich doesn’t make you rich and sucking up to the 1% crowd doesn’t make you a member of that elite group, that “ lofty class “ doesn’t rub off. (Buying a lottery ticket doesn’t make you rich, in fact, it makes you poorer!)  What some people seem to do is the same thing short or overweight folks do, wear clothes with vertical stripes/colors, it gives the appearance that you’re taller and smaller than you really are, but it’s an illusion. When we praise and support millionaire politicians who can’t relate to the plight of us ordinary folks we are wearing stripes, we’re still in the 99% category plus we’re not even being honest with ourselves.

Thanks Tom

November 15, 2011
Tomgram: Bill McKibben, Puncturing the Pipeline

What's the biggest story of the last several weeks?  Rick Perry’s moment of silence, all 53 seconds' worth?  The Penn State riots after revered coach JoePa went down in a child sex abuse scandal? The Kardashian wedding/divorce?  The European debt crisis that could throw the world economy into a tailspin?  The Cain sexual harassment charges?  The trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor?

The answer should be none of the above, even though as a group they’ve dominated the October/November headlines.  In fact, the piece of the week, month, and arguably year should have been one that slipped by so quietly, so off front-pages nationwide and out of news leads everywhere that you undoubtedly didn’t even notice.  And yet it’s the story that could turn your life and that of your children and grandchildren inside out and upside down.

On the face of it, it wasn’t anything to shout about -- just more stats in a world drowning in numbers.  These happen to have been put out by the U.S. Department of Energy and they reflected, as an Associated Press headline put it, the “ biggest jump ever seen in global warming gases.”  In other words, in 2010, humanity (with a special bow to China, the United States, and onrushing India) managed to pump more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than at any time since the industrial revolution began -- 564 million more tons than in 2009, which represents an increase of 6%.

According to AP’s Seth Borenstein, that’s “higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago.” He’s talking about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, which is, if anything, considered "conservative" in its projections of future catastrophe by many climate scientists.  Put another way, we’re talking more greenhouse gases than have entered the Earth’s atmosphere in tens of millions of years.

Consider as well the prediction offered by Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency: without an effective international agreement to staunch greenhouse gases within five years, the door will close on preventing a potentially disastrous rise in the planet’s temperature.  You’re talking, that is, about the kind of freaky weather that will make October’s bizarre snowstorm in the Northeast look like a walk in the park.  (That storm had all the signs of a climate-change-induced bit of extreme weather: New York City hadn’t recorded an October snowfall like it since the Civil War and it managed to hit the region in a period of ongoing warmth when the trees hadn’t yet had the decency to lose their leaves, producing a chaos of downed electrical wires.)  And don’t get me started on what this would mean in terms of future planetary hot spells or sea-level rise.

Honestly, if we were sane, if the media had its head in the right place, this would have been screaming headlines.  It would have put Rick Perry and Herman Cain and the Kardashians and Italy and Greece and Michael Jackson’s doctor in the shade.

The only good news -- and because it unsettled the politics of the 2012 election, it did garner a few headlines -- was that the movement Bill McKibben and 350.org spearheaded to turn back the tar-sands pipeline from Hades (or its earthly global-warming equivalent, which is Alberta, Canada) gained traction in our Occupy Wall Street moment.  Think of it as a harbinger.  Mark my words on this one: sooner or later, Americans are going to wake up to climate change, just as they have this year on the issue of inequality, and when they do, watch out.  There will be political hell to pay. Tom

Shameful politics

The political letter from our infamous mayor Grenier published in his mouthpiece newspaper The Berlin Daily Sun on Friday 11/4/11 is a perfect example of the type and style of malicious political garbage that Mr. Grenier is famous for, it’s his trademark. It’s a brew of toxic, unsubstantiated generalities, accusations and falsehoods. From reading that letter, you would think that the previous council was on a mission to destroy Berlin and, that it was anti business. Nothing could be further from the truth and I wish some of the previous councilors would speak up and set the record straight. This types of political rhetoric is toxic because it’s not only false, it gives the false impression of evil intention, evil doing and derelict of duty by former public servants. (Great way to thank them for serving) If I needed proof to substantiate the claims that I’ve made against Mr. Grenier in previous posts, he confirms the points I made with his letter. It seems that Mr. Grenier is most comfortable when he’s in Berlin’s political cesspool and babbling platitudes. If we we’re to have an honest discussion about Berlin and who does the most damage to the City’s reputation, we would have to consider the venom in the mayor’s letter and how that’s perceived outside of Berlin. Over the past 4 years I’ve closely watched what has transpired at City Hall including how members of the City Council behave. Mr. Grenier’s depiction of Councilors willing to; “stop at nothing to keep progress out of Berlin” is an outrageous accusation and a lie. Although he didn’t call Mr. Cayer by name, the insinuations against him are shameful. I know of nobody who studied and understood issues more thoroughly or worked harder than Mr. Cayer when he was a councilor. To put things in perspective Mr. Cayer’s business failure is no different than the unfortunate circumstances faced by the management of Isaacson Steel. Mr. Cayer’s sin was to have a vision for Berlin that is incomprehensible to the likes of Paul Grenier.  Our mayor would like us to believe that he saved Berlin from the evils of former councilors, when in fact it’s his style of bully politics that makes Berlin the joke of the State and, does more damage to how we’re perceived than any misdeed by any past councilor. Today I heard a comment from a friend originally from Berlin but who is now living out of town. This person expressed her joy for having moved away from Berlin and people who have this type of sick mentality. Mr. Grenier only needs to look in the nearest mirror if he wants to see why Berlin continues to be perceived as a second rate community that often has ignorant and obnoxious politicians. Being unopposed doesn’t necessarily mean wisdom or competency, it may just mean that nobody wishes to lower themselves into that political cesspool. You more than likely will win Mr. Grenier, but by default. Just keep in mind that most people either avoid bullies or patronize them.

Doing right ain't easy

I’ve been reading the latest news concerning Berlin’s federal prison and the funding for its operation. What’s most interesting is the personal outrage by some local politicians who are upset at Senator Kelly Ayotte for voting against the appropriations bill that will fund the operations of the Berlin facility. I believe the negative comments by people such as our mayor says more about them than about Senator Ayotte. If I’m not mistaken Kelly Ayotte ran as a supporter of the Tea Bagger’s position on spending. Now why would anybody be upset that she voted consistent with the position she ran on? In her words, the appropriations bill is loaded with wasteful spending,  the very kind of stuff that the Tea Bagger’s rant and rave against. I applaud Senator Ayotte for being honest with her vote. I believe that there are a couple of lessons to be learned here. First, the simplistic answers proposed by Tea Baggers (for the sake of this post I’ll call Ayotte a Tea Bagger) have serious consequences. The Tea Party rhetoric that we need to cut all spending, cut government etc. sounds great until a real life issue comes up, as it does with “our” prison funding. All of a sudden the simplistic rhetoric isn’t so appropriate anymore. (Just think of the consequences if those dimwits would have allowed the government to go into default!) What people like Kelly Ayotte and other Tea Baggers are running into are the realities of every day life in politics.  Simple solutions to complex issues are just that, “simple”. People such as our mayor and his economic development pawn Max don’t seem to understand that Kelly Ayotte is trying to be honest with herself and with the people who voted for her. No mayor Grenier, it’s not ok to speak from both sides of your face, some people don’t have flexible morals! It would have been much easier for her to just go along with what she knew would be popular in Berlin. (Something I’m sure Mr. Grenier would have done just for political mileage). I call such people, political whores, which most of them are. They prostitute themselves either to be popular/feed their egos, or to please some special interest who may be contributing financially to their personal or political careers. I did not support and I did not vote for Kelly Ayotte, because in part I don’t buy into the simplistic solutions Tea Baggers stand for. I do however applaud her for doing what was right in light of her stated position during her campaign and for being honest with the voters. This is going to come back and haunt her, people like mayor Grenier are not about to let her forget this vote, no matter if it showed character and was an act of courage and was the right thing to do. If you voted for her you need to let her know that you appreciate her honesty.

All Class