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Gallop Poll: Majority Of Americans View Members Of Congress As Unethical & Dishonest
The percentage of Americans who view members of Congress as “unethical and dishonest” has doubled from 21% in November 2000 to 55% today. Congressional representatives take the honors as the least ethical, most dishonest of ALL professions, surpassing car salesmen, stockbrokers, and HMO managers. It’s the first time in Gallop Poll history that a majority of Americans were polled harboring such negative feelings about their elected officials. Here’s some of Gallop’s findings:
It might be wise for members of Congress to take this as a wake-up call, and proactively propose meaningful campaign finance reform legislation (as in mandating publicly-funded elections). Time to get moneyed influence out of Washington, before Americans lose every bit of faith that it’s still a government for and by the people.
Breaking News: Sen. Reid On Public Option Negotiations: “We have a broad agreement”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gave a news conference tonight indicating that a compromise of sorts has been reached on the public option between the ten Liberal and Conservative Democrats who’ve been meeting for days to hash something out. He and the ten Senators are for now keeping the details of their agreement under wraps. They first will be submitting the proposals to the Congressional Budget Office to be scored (tomorrow morning).
Here’s are Reid’s remarks, as transcribed by the New York Times:
Thanks everyone, for being patient and waiting for us. It goes without saying that this has been kind of a long journey. We have confronted many hurdles and had to take some big steps and a lot of little steps. But tonight we have overcome a real problem that we have had. I think it’s fair to say that the debate at this stage has been portrayed as a very divisive one and many have assumed that people of different perspectives can’t come together. But I think what we were able to work out the last few days, which culminated tonight belays that fact. We have a broad agreement. Now I know that people are going to ask to be given every detail of this.
I have talked 20 minutes ago to Doug Elmendorf. I told the head of the CBO that we were going to send him something tomorrow that he would have to score and the reason I mention that to you, I also went over in some detail about what we were authorized to say about we are going to send him. We know what we are going to send him, we have to write it up in legislative language. And he said the same as when you sent over your merged bill. We have had a rule here for 40 years or however long we have been in existence, if you start talking about the plan and start shipping it around, it will be made public. And we want that not to be the case because we want to know the score before we start giving all the details even to our own members.
So you are not going to get answers to those questions. I asked Senators Schumer and Pryor to work together with a group of moderates and progressives. Everyone thought it’s an impossible job. But these two fine senators have done an outstanding job of leading these two groups of people. Everyone knows who the 10 are, they have worked very hard for days now. This is a consensus that will help ensure the American people win in a couple of different ways. One, insurance companies will certainly have more competition and two, the American people will certainly have more choices. I already know all 60 senators in my caucus don’t agree on every piece of the merger. I know that we have sent over there to CBO, or will send to them tomorrow, not everyone is going to agree to every piece that we have sent over there. But that doesn’t mean that we disagree on what we sent there.
I applaud and congratulate the 10 senators led by Schumer and Pryor. I think it’s important to mention their names, Brown, Carper, Feingold, Carper, Harkin, Landrieu, Lincoln, Nelson, Rockefeller. As I have indicated, we can’t disclose the details of what we have done, but believe me we have got something that is good and I think is very, for us, it moves this bill way down the road.
Let me just say, we have seen all kinds of articles in newspapers that Senator Schumer, Senator Pryor, I have said things, other parts of the tent, as Elmendorf and I talked tonight, all the things you have read in the newspapers, all the things you have read in the newspapers. The public option is gone. It’s not true. Ok. Everyone understand that. So we are not going into detail. But you have heard to this point, you could be surprised what we’ve sent to CBO.
UPDATE
Here’s an official written statement that Reid’s office released later on the compromise:
I asked Senators Schumer and Pryor to work with some of the most moderate and most progressive members of our diverse caucus, and tonight they have come to a consensus.
It is a consensus that includes a public option and will help ensure the American people win in two ways: one, insurance companies will face more competition, and two, the American people will have more choices.
I know not all 10 Senators in the room agree on every single detail of this, nor will all 60 members of my caucus. But I know we all appreciate the hard work that these progressives and moderates have done to move this historic debate forward.
I want to thank Senators Schumer, Pryor, Brown, Carper, Feingold, Harkin, Landrieu, Lincoln, Nelson and Rockefeller for working together for the greater good and never losing sight of our shared goal: making it possible for every American to afford to live a healthy life.
As is long-standing practice, we do not disclose details of any proposal before the Congressional Budget Office has a chance to evaluate it. We will wait for that to happen, but in the meantime, tonight we are confident.”
McClatchy Investigation Exposes Goldman Sachs Corruption And Influence Over Treasury Dept
Greg Gordon of McClatchy Newspapers conducted a five-month investigation into the shady corrupt dealings of Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs, and here is some of what he found:
McClatchy’s inquiry found that Goldman Sachs:
- Bought and converted into high-yield bonds tens of thousands of mortgages from subprime lenders that became the subjects of FBI investigations into whether they’d misled borrowers or exaggerated applicants’ incomes to justify making hefty loans.
- Used offshore tax havens to shuffle its mortgage-backed securities to institutions worldwide, including European and Asian banks, often in secret deals run through the Cayman Islands, a British territory in the Caribbean that companies use to bypass U.S. disclosure requirements.
- Has dispatched lawyers across the country to repossess homes from bankrupt or financially struggling individuals, many of whom lacked sufficient credit or income but got subprime mortgages anyway because Wall Street made it easy for them to qualify.
- Was buoyed last fall by key federal bailout decisions, at least two of which involved then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a former Goldman chief executive whose staff at Treasury included several other Goldman alumni.
The firm benefited when Paulson elected not to save rival Lehman Brothers from collapse, and when he organized a massive rescue of tottering global insurer American International Group while in constant telephone contact with Goldman chief Blankfein. With the Federal Reserve Board’s blessing, AIG later used $12.9 billion in taxpayers’ dollars to pay off every penny it owed Goldman.
These decisions preserved billions of dollars in value for Goldman’s executives and shareholders. For example, Blankfein held 1.6 million shares in the company in September 2008, and he could have lost more than $150 million if his firm had gone bankrupt.
With the help of more than $23 billion in direct and indirect federal aid, Goldman appears to have emerged intact from the economic implosion, limiting its subprime losses to $1.5 billion. By repaying $10 billion in direct federal bailout money — a 23 percent taxpayer return that exceeded federal officials’ demand — the firm has escaped tough federal limits on 2009 bonuses to executives of firms that received bailout money.
Goldman announced record earnings in July, and the firm is on course to surpass $50 billion in revenue in 2009 and to pay its employees more than $20 billion in year-end bonuses.
The fact that Henry Paulson, Lloyd Blankfein, and other Goldman officials are still walking around as free citizens — and will undoubtedly continue to do so — just demonstrates how we have one rule of law for the elites in this country, and then an entirely other one for everyone else. President Obama and his Attorney General Eric Holder will NEVER allow an independent investigation into the Treasury Department’s dealings in the matter.
America may be a lot of things, but it is NO LONGER a nation of laws.
Obama’s Silence On Public Option Emboldens Obstructionists
Obama met with Democratic Senators yesterday at a rare Sunday Democratic caucus to give something of a ‘pep talk’ — which is how he described it to reporters — to encourage them to complete their job of passing health care reform. He didn’t take questions from the Senators, most of whom were reported as complimentary […]
Watch: White House Economic Adviser Evades Questions On Banks’ Fleecing Of American Taxpayers
This is a must watch interview. Dylan Ratigan who hosts MSNBC’s “Morning Meeting” is one of the best journalists in the field, because he’s one of the few who really knows the issues intimately, and who relentlessly takes Politicians to task for coming on and spinning with disingenuous talking points. If we had a dozen […]
What Makes America Safer: Fiscal Stability, Or Chasing 100 Terrorists Around Afghanistan?
In Obama’s Afghanistan speech at West Point, he announced he would be escalating our troop levels in Afghanistan by 30,000-35,000 to ensure those who attacked us on 9-11 are resoundingly defeated. ABC News notes that Obama conveniently left out a very significant fact, when making his case: A senior U.S. intelligence official told ABCNews.com the […]
Public Option Dying In Senate, Just As New Poll Reveals 60% Of Americans Want It
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has yet to come up with the 60-required votes to pass ANY variation of a public option. The key obstructionists remain as dug in as ever, and any who’ve hinted at compromise are adamant that any public option be so watered down, as to lose any effectiveness: Sen. Joe Lieberman […]
War Mongers Are Furious About Proposed War Surtax On Wealthiest 2%
Those on the right — the same ones who claimed to be ‘fiscal conservatives’ while they doubled our national debt with trillions in tax cuts for the wealthy, while simultaneously fighting two wars — are now up in arms that the richest two percent may be asked to pay a war surtax to help fund […]
MUST WATCH: Sarah Palin Supporters Reveal Their Ignorance On Every Issue
For those of you who — like me — have been mystified by the huge crowds flocking to tea parties, anti-health care reform rallies, nut-job Sarah Palin events, etc. this video will shed some light on things. On November 20th, Chase Whiteside and Erick Stoll attended a Sarah Palin book signing event at Borders bookstore […]
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