Prez: “He’s very down-to-earth, someone who really cared and wants to make a difference"

[bigtree]

____ Evalyn Gleason had a fairly unremarkable Thursday lined up: a panel discussion on education around lunchtime, then some babysitting in the afternoon.

Wednesday morning, her plans changed. The panel discussion was a ruse — instead, the recent University of Rochester graduate learned she’d be dining with the president of the United States.

“I was shocked,” she said. “I thought someone was pulling a prank for a second.”

. . . Their discussion focused on the topic Obama chose for his speech at the University of Buffalo: how to make college affordable for middle-class families and avoid saddling recent graduates with mountains of debt.

“It was a real normal conversation,” said Gleason, a 22-year-old Rochester native. “He’s very down-to-earth, someone who really cared and wants to make a difference. ... He wanted to listen and he wanted our opinion.”


read: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20130822/NEWS01/308220032/barack-obama-magnolia-rochester-park-avenue?gcheck=1


President Barack Obama poses for a photo with Rubi Platt, 11, and Linda Tesler of Rochester, as Rubi's mother Wendy Platt-Ragsdale of Orange County, Calif., takes photos Thursday outside Magnolia's on Park Avenue. / Photos by SHAWN DOWD/ / staff photographer

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. Then why did he just raise college loan interest rates from 3.4% to 3.8%?

Last edited Sat Aug 24, 2013, 01:18 PM - Edit history (1)

It's sort of like how several of the Bush Tax Cut rates became permanent in the "Fiscal Cliff" scam. Smoke and mirrors, sleight of hand. The rich get more of what they want under the guise of "helping" the little guy.


"The interest rate would roughly work out to 3.86 percent this year for undergraduates and 5.42 percent for graduates."
http://news.yahoo.com/bill-lowering-student-loan-interest-rates-heads-obama-225044045.html

---

EDIT: Because I'm sick of replies to this post, read this first, 'kay? Because the $1 trillion a year student loan scandal is a financial SCAM just like for-profit prisons, the "war on drugs", the "war on terror", etc. etc. etc. etc.


Larry Summers and the 'End Game' memo
THE CONFIDENTIAL MEMO AT THE HEART OF THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023513088

Corporate Profits Have Grown By 171 Percent Under Obama -- Highest Rate Since 1900
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/corporate-profits-have-grown-171-percent-under-obama-highest-rate-1900

"Average annual corporate profit growth under Obama is the highest since 1900, whereas profit growth declined during both Bush presidencies. As a share of the economy, corporate profits have never been higher.
Unfortunately, this profit deluge has not been shared by workers, whose wages as a percentage of the economy have fallen to all-time lows. Workers also got dinged by the recent increase in the payroll tax, which was large enough to wipe out a minimum wage increase in some states."


8 Huge Corporate Handouts in the Fiscal Cliff Bill
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/8-huge-corporate-handouts-fiscal-cliff-bill

"Throughout the months of November and December, a steady stream of corporate CEOs flowed in and out of the White House to discuss the impending fiscal cliff. Many of them, such as Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, would then publicly come out and talk about how modest increases of tax rates on the wealthy were reasonable in order to deal with the deficit problem. What wasn’t mentioned is what these leaders wanted, which is what’s known as “tax extenders”, or roughly $205B of tax breaks for corporations. With such a banal name, and boring and difficult to read line items in the bill, few political operatives have bothered to pay attention to this part of the bill. But it is critical to understanding what is going on.

5) Subsidies for Goldman Sachs Headquarters – Sec. 328 extends 'tax exempt financing for York Liberty Zone,' which was a program to provide post-9/11 recovery funds. Rather than going to small businesses affected, however, this was, according to Bloomberg, 'little more than a subsidy for fancy Manhattan apartments and office towers for Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Corp.' Michael Bloomberg himself actually thought the program was excessive, so that’s saying something. According to David Cay Johnston’s The Fine Print, Goldman got $1.6 billion in tax free financing for its new massive headquarters through Liberty Bonds."


The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street from prosecutions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/23/untouchables-wall-street-prosecutions-obama

Yes, Virginia, the Rich Continue to Get Richer: the Top 1% Got 121% of Income Gains Since 2009
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/02/yes-virginia-the-rich-continue-to-get-richer-the-1-got-121-of-income-gains-since-2009.html

U.S. banks in 2012 post highest profits since '06
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/26/us-usa-fdic-earnings-idUSBRE91P0N820130226?utm_source=Daily+Digest&utm_campaign=de8376aab3-DD_2_27_132_27_2013&utm_medium=email#.US5jjkXSlU8.twitter

This Year’s Subsidy to Wall Street = the Amount of This Year’s Sequester Cuts
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/02/this-years-subsidy-to-wall-street-the-amount-of-this-years-sequester-cuts.html#.US_yiFwwnHY.facebook

Don’t Blink, or You’ll Miss Another Bailout
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100466032

America faces more than a dozen deadlines, all caused by billionaires and wealth transfer
http://americablog.com/2013/02/america-faces-more-than-a-dozen-deadlines-all-caused-by-billionaires-and-wealth-transfer.html

Bank Bailout 2: Obama Lets Mortgage Abusers Off the Hook
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/02/09-5

It’s Not a Housing Boom. It’s a Land Grab
http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/05/the_dangerous_new_housing_boom.html

Just in the last 12 months, Wall Street’s Blackstone Group has raised $8 billlion to buy up homes on Main Street. Following suit, according to The New Republic, JP Morgan Chase—the nation’s largest bank—has organized a fund to purchase 5,000 single-family homes in states with some of the most depressed real estate prices. As I wrote last year, a former Morgan Stanley housing strategist left that bank, organized a billion dollars, and is purchasing up to 10,000 homes with these new resources.

All your money and privacy are belong to BushCo
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/12528536

Download three “secret” Citigroup “Plutonomy” reports
http://our99angrypercent.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/download-citigroup-plutonomy-memos/
“Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances”
“Revisiting Plutonomy: The Rich Getting Richer”
"The Plutonomy Symposium: Rising Tides Lifting Yachts"

Water privatization by the richest rich is happening now ("hydraulic empire&quot incl. the Bush family
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023406830

The Bush family "surveillance state" has an annual budget of $1 trillion, a pig's trough exactly like Iraq:

Meet the Contractors Turning America's Police Into a Paramilitary Force
http://www.alternet.org/meet-contractors-turning-americas-police-paramilitary-force?paging=off

[Thinkingabout]

2. did he do this or did Congress?

[zipplewrath]

3. His signature was at the bottom

I sign documents everyday. As is explained more than once, once I do, that makes 'em "mine".

[bluestate10]

27. You fail to mention that if the President didn't sign it, rates would have gone two times higher.

Your post meets the Mark Twain analogy. The President is a President, not a dictator. I am sure that he would want to educate college students free of charge to them, but he can't make that decision by fiat.

[zipplewrath]

35. Yep

In fact, it already had. That was his negotiating leverage. By signing it he lost that edge.

[Fire Walk With Me]

41. Do I have to explain it to everyone each and every time? IT WAS A SCAM.

They intended to raise the rates and to avoid outcry because the rates are already USURIOUS, pretended (JUST LIKE THE FISCAL CLIFF SCAM AND DEBT CEILING SCAM) OH NOES, TERRIBLE DANGER! When they created it in the first place. And just like the other scams, when the smoke cleared and OH THANK GOD THEY SAVED US AGAIN, the rich got that much richer! EVERY TIME!

THEY WERE INTENDING TO RAISE THE ALREADY USURIOUS RATES AND USED A TRICK TO MAKE US GRATEFUL THEY DID IT.

[dionysus]

48. OH NOES TEH ALL CAPS ODS!1!!!!11!!

shall I fetch you a fresh pamper from the hamper?

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. Obama signed it. Didn't send it back for an actual reduction in rates, so students are effectively

now paying even more than before. The usury increases. There is over one trillion dollars of student loan debt in this country and he just blew a chance to tell Congress to fix it. Complicit.

[Skidmore]

11. And do you really believe that this Congress would

actually change a bill that was squeezed out of them? I highly doubt that yoyu would get more than a snort and a smart assed remark from Boehner-McConnell with a demand for "entitlement" cuts to offset something. Work to get a responsive and responsible Congress in 2014.

[Fire Walk With Me]

13. Does not excuse Obama signing it, and the rest of the items to which I've linked, and more.

No one is forcing him to hand over our tax dollars to the very rich. He's doing it all on his own. He could have threatened veto or made a pretty speech or anything besides signing it, all of it. HE signed it. He didn't have to. Complicit. Enabling.

[Skidmore]

14. You do realize that Congress, specifically the

House, is where fiscal legislation is written? That is their constitutionally assigned responsibility.

[Dawgs]

15. You're right. Obama and the Democratic Senate are powerless.

[Fire Walk With Me]

31. =HE DOESN'T HAVE TO SIGN IT, DOES HE=.

[Drunken Irishman]

32. And if he didn't sign it, and rates went up even more, you'd blame him for that too.

So, he signs a deal that would raise the rates, but keep 'em down from where they would go if he didn't sign it...and you bitch about him raising the rates by signing legislation that, if not signed, which you want, would have raised rates more than what they were raised ... is that right?

[Fire Walk With Me]

34. You know nothing about Obama and the powers behind him and every president?

THE CONFIDENTIAL MEMO AT THE HEART OF THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS
http://upload.democraticunderground.com/10023513088

It's ALL about the money and power. Obama has worked with them and protected them and they've screwed us blind and the student loan SCAM is just another aspect.

SCAM. They're screwing us blind. Okay? Unilaterally. Sucking up our tax dollars and asking us to be grateful as they do it.

If you want to increase interest rates but people will scream because =they're already usurious and are actually ruining lives=, you can make people GRATEFUL if you INCREASE interest rates after making them think they were going to hugely increase.

In the end, students are still paying more than before. That is the endgame of capitalism. That is why there is over a trillion dollars of student loan debt. Someone is getting extremely rich. You have missed whom Obama appoints, and who he wishes to appoint, on money matters?

THE CONFIDENTIAL MEMO AT THE HEART OF THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS
By Greg Palast
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023513088

How to make people HAPPY they're now paying more than ever. Exactly like how Obama signed into permanence, several aspects of the Bush tax cuts for the rich, under the =other= utter bullshit scam/crisis of the "fiscal cliff". OH BOY, HE SAVED US FROM TEH CLIFF! No, he fucked us and handed more of OUR money to the corporations and the rich.

-Retains the 10 percent, 15 percent, 25 percent, and 28 percent income tax brackets from the Bush tax cuts permanently
-Retains the 33 percent and 35 percent income tax brackets from the Bush tax cuts for taxable income under $400,000 (single), $425,000 (head of household), and $450,000 (joint filers). Imposes 39.6 percent tax rate on income above this level.

Details of the Fiscal Cliff Tax Deal
http://taxfoundation.org/blog/details-fiscal-cliff-tax-deal

In case anyone hadn't noticed, giving our tax dollars to the extremely rich is pretty much a hobby of Obama's, as well as protecting those same abusers:

Corporate Profits Have Grown By 171 Percent Under Obama -- Highest Rate Since 1900
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/corporate-profits-have-grown-171-percent-under-obama-highest-rate-1900

"Average annual corporate profit growth under Obama is the highest since 1900, whereas profit growth declined during both Bush presidencies. As a share of the economy, corporate profits have never been higher.
Unfortunately, this profit deluge has not been shared by workers, whose wages as a percentage of the economy have fallen to all-time lows. Workers also got dinged by the recent increase in the payroll tax, which was large enough to wipe out a minimum wage increase in some states."


8 Huge Corporate Handouts in the Fiscal Cliff Bill
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/8-huge-corporate-handouts-fiscal-cliff-bill

"Throughout the months of November and December, a steady stream of corporate CEOs flowed in and out of the White House to discuss the impending fiscal cliff. Many of them, such as Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, would then publicly come out and talk about how modest increases of tax rates on the wealthy were reasonable in order to deal with the deficit problem. What wasn’t mentioned is what these leaders wanted, which is what’s known as “tax extenders”, or roughly $205B of tax breaks for corporations. With such a banal name, and boring and difficult to read line items in the bill, few political operatives have bothered to pay attention to this part of the bill. But it is critical to understanding what is going on.

5) Subsidies for Goldman Sachs Headquarters – Sec. 328 extends 'tax exempt financing for York Liberty Zone,' which was a program to provide post-9/11 recovery funds. Rather than going to small businesses affected, however, this was, according to Bloomberg, 'little more than a subsidy for fancy Manhattan apartments and office towers for Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Corp.' Michael Bloomberg himself actually thought the program was excessive, so that’s saying something. According to David Cay Johnston’s The Fine Print, Goldman got $1.6 billion in tax free financing for its new massive headquarters through Liberty Bonds."


The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street from prosecutions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/23/untouchables-wall-street-prosecutions-obama

Yes, Virginia, the Rich Continue to Get Richer: the Top 1% Got 121% of Income Gains Since 2009
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/02/yes-virginia-the-rich-continue-to-get-richer-the-1-got-121-of-income-gains-since-2009.html

U.S. banks in 2012 post highest profits since '06
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/26/us-usa-fdic-earnings-idUSBRE91P0N820130226?utm_source=Daily+Digest&utm_campaign=de8376aab3-DD_2_27_132_27_2013&utm_medium=email#.US5jjkXSlU8.twitter

This Year’s Subsidy to Wall Street = the Amount of This Year’s Sequester Cuts
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/02/this-years-subsidy-to-wall-street-the-amount-of-this-years-sequester-cuts.html#.US_yiFwwnHY.facebook

Don’t Blink, or You’ll Miss Another Bailout
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100466032

America faces more than a dozen deadlines, all caused by billionaires and wealth transfer
http://americablog.com/2013/02/america-faces-more-than-a-dozen-deadlines-all-caused-by-billionaires-and-wealth-transfer.html

Bank Bailout 2: Obama Lets Mortgage Abusers Off the Hook
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/02/09-5

[Drunken Irishman]

66. LOL

[Fire Walk With Me]

67. I have to educate one person at a time, every fucking time:

Larry Summers and the 'End Game' memo
THE CONFIDENTIAL MEMO AT THE HEART OF THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023513088

Corporate Profits Have Grown By 171 Percent Under Obama -- Highest Rate Since 1900
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/corporate-profits-have-grown-171-percent-under-obama-highest-rate-1900

"Average annual corporate profit growth under Obama is the highest since 1900, whereas profit growth declined during both Bush presidencies. As a share of the economy, corporate profits have never been higher.
Unfortunately, this profit deluge has not been shared by workers, whose wages as a percentage of the economy have fallen to all-time lows. Workers also got dinged by the recent increase in the payroll tax, which was large enough to wipe out a minimum wage increase in some states."


8 Huge Corporate Handouts in the Fiscal Cliff Bill
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/8-huge-corporate-handouts-fiscal-cliff-bill

"Throughout the months of November and December, a steady stream of corporate CEOs flowed in and out of the White House to discuss the impending fiscal cliff. Many of them, such as Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, would then publicly come out and talk about how modest increases of tax rates on the wealthy were reasonable in order to deal with the deficit problem. What wasn’t mentioned is what these leaders wanted, which is what’s known as “tax extenders”, or roughly $205B of tax breaks for corporations. With such a banal name, and boring and difficult to read line items in the bill, few political operatives have bothered to pay attention to this part of the bill. But it is critical to understanding what is going on.

5) Subsidies for Goldman Sachs Headquarters – Sec. 328 extends 'tax exempt financing for York Liberty Zone,' which was a program to provide post-9/11 recovery funds. Rather than going to small businesses affected, however, this was, according to Bloomberg, 'little more than a subsidy for fancy Manhattan apartments and office towers for Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Corp.' Michael Bloomberg himself actually thought the program was excessive, so that’s saying something. According to David Cay Johnston’s The Fine Print, Goldman got $1.6 billion in tax free financing for its new massive headquarters through Liberty Bonds."


The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street from prosecutions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/23/untouchables-wall-street-prosecutions-obama

Yes, Virginia, the Rich Continue to Get Richer: the Top 1% Got 121% of Income Gains Since 2009
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/02/yes-virginia-the-rich-continue-to-get-richer-the-1-got-121-of-income-gains-since-2009.html

U.S. banks in 2012 post highest profits since '06
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/26/us-usa-fdic-earnings-idUSBRE91P0N820130226?utm_source=Daily+Digest&utm_campaign=de8376aab3-DD_2_27_132_27_2013&utm_medium=email#.US5jjkXSlU8.twitter

This Year’s Subsidy to Wall Street = the Amount of This Year’s Sequester Cuts
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/02/this-years-subsidy-to-wall-street-the-amount-of-this-years-sequester-cuts.html#.US_yiFwwnHY.facebook

Don’t Blink, or You’ll Miss Another Bailout
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100466032

America faces more than a dozen deadlines, all caused by billionaires and wealth transfer
http://americablog.com/2013/02/america-faces-more-than-a-dozen-deadlines-all-caused-by-billionaires-and-wealth-transfer.html

Bank Bailout 2: Obama Lets Mortgage Abusers Off the Hook
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/02/09-5

It’s Not a Housing Boom. It’s a Land Grab
http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/05/the_dangerous_new_housing_boom.html

Just in the last 12 months, Wall Street’s Blackstone Group has raised $8 billlion to buy up homes on Main Street. Following suit, according to The New Republic, JP Morgan Chase—the nation’s largest bank—has organized a fund to purchase 5,000 single-family homes in states with some of the most depressed real estate prices. As I wrote last year, a former Morgan Stanley housing strategist left that bank, organized a billion dollars, and is purchasing up to 10,000 homes with these new resources.

All your money and privacy are belong to BushCo
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/12528536

Download three “secret” Citigroup “Plutonomy” reports
http://our99angrypercent.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/download-citigroup-plutonomy-memos/
“Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances”
“Revisiting Plutonomy: The Rich Getting Richer”
"The Plutonomy Symposium: Rising Tides Lifting Yachts"

Water privatization by the richest rich is happening now ("hydraulic empire&quot incl. the Bush family
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023406830

The Bush family "surveillance state" has an annual budget of $1 trillion, a pig's trough exactly like Iraq:

Meet the Contractors Turning America's Police Into a Paramilitary Force
http://www.alternet.org/meet-contractors-turning-americas-police-paramilitary-force?paging=off

[Drunken Irishman]

68. LOL

You sound like one of those ranting homeless people I come into contact with while downtown.

[Fire Walk With Me]

69. AND you have no compassion for the helpless and weak? Piss off. To Ignore you go.

Last edited Sat Aug 24, 2013, 03:08 PM - Edit history (1)

Making fun of bums? Bad karma thing to do." ~Too Much Joy

[Drunken Irishman]

70. Not for the mentally weak like yourself ... no.

[DevonRex]

73. BLUE LINK WARNING!!!!

[dionysus]

50. you can't stop the ODS at this point... he's far too gone.

[DevonRex]

51. He outlined a case for impeachment today. And was serious.

Some folks just stampeded off the cliff. I hate when that happens.


http://www.albertawow.com/hikes/head_smashed_in_buffalo_jump/buffalo_jump.htm

One of my favorite places.

[CakeGrrl]

71. One fringe benefit...

their posts nullify the silly "blue links" blather. I guess when one makes arguments to impeach President Obama, they're suddenly not so bad on the eyes.

[DevonRex]

72. Yes. And I got to use Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump on DU!!!!

I've been wanting to do that for years. I'm gonna do that again in DainBramage'd thread.

[Thinkingabout]

17. Did you check to see what the rates was going to if some action had not been taken? It was going to

be higher and if this is an issue with you I doubt you have been happier with a higher rate. Too much ODS here.

[Fire Walk With Me]

21. Have you understood what I meant by "sadist" and "capitalist" and "smoke and mirrors"?

People's lives have been ruined by these usurious interest rates with over a trillion dollars existing of student loan debt. THEY JUST INCREASED IT AGAIN to the tune of 0.4%. That is what matters, not the phony, planned crisis of oh no, it'll double! So be grateful you ONLY get a small increase, not a huge increase! I didn't punch you ten times, just once, but it could have been ten times! So thank me and smile while you do it.

They've fucked over the students AGAIN and they're supposed to be grateful? It's all a scam. Fiscal cliff, scam. Debt ceiling, scam. Student loan debt, scam. At the end of the day, after each crisis (read: SCAM) is trotted out in front of us to create fear, the rich get richer =every time=.

It is a scam. It is created and purposeful. We are being fucked and we're supposed to say "thank you"?

Here's another enormous scam to make the rich ever richer at OUR expense:

Larry Summers and the 'End Game' memo
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023513088

It's not about republican and democrat; it's about the 1% versus the rest of us, and they're winning. Hugely so.

[Thinkingabout]

33. I can see you would have rather the rates double. If you are a student I am happy for you.

Be thankful you have an opportunity to even strand a college and nit be bitching because the rates increased. Be thankful there is a college for you to attend, be thankful there is a street for you to ride on, be thankful there is a police force for when you need them, be thankful there is a military working hard to defend this country, be thankful you have lived to an age in which you could attend college, be thankful there are professors to instruct you, be thankful there are libraries you can get materials to assist you in your studies, and there are many things you should be thankful for if you just look around. Hopefully if our future generations are smart enough and work hard enough you just may live to an old age, those before you have worked hard and long to provide the world convinces you have.

[Fire Walk With Me]

36. "I can see you would have rather the rates double." WTF? Exactly where did I say that?

I said Obama COULD VETO OR THREATEN TO VETO OR COULD SEND IT BACK UNTIL THEY ACTUALLY LOWERED THE RATES.

Yet he signed ANOTHER increase. THIS is my problem. And that people are grateful to have been SCAMMED into being thankful for having been scammed.

Fiscal cliff = scam. Rich got richer.
Debt ceiling = scam. Rich got richer.
Student loan debt = scam. Rich got richer.
2008 bank/wallstreet bailout = scam. Rich got richer.

NOTICE A TREND?

That's rhetorical. Most obviously not.

[Thinkingabout]

37. Maybe you was nit aware the rates was going to double before this bill passed. If Obama

Had not signed this bill the rates was going to default to twice the level they were before. Would this have made you happier, no President Obama do not sign this bill, oh no now the rates are double. This would have been your reaction. Again be happy he signed a bill with a slight increase rather than double.

[Fire Walk With Me]

39. I was fully aware the rates were going to double. And like the other scams I mentioned,

it was a scam to scare people into being grateful for only being punched in the face once instead of ten times. Oh yes, I'm soooo grateful.

IT IS A SCAM. And the rich got richer, again.

You did not read the articles to which I've linked :/

You do know that the post-9/11 surveillance state has a $1 trillion a year budget? And that the Bush family just got $2 billion from their share of Booz Allen, the same security contractor from which Snowden found the NSA programs being used to invade all of our privacies? The surveillance state is yet another cash-cow SCAM. Halliburton did it in Iraq:

Halliburton bills taxpayers $45 per case of soda, $100 per bag of laundry
http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/news/whistleblower_hearings_denied.html

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2004 (HalliburtonWatch.org) -- Five former Halliburton employees and one former executive of a Halliburton subcontractor describe egregious examples of abuse involving Halliburton�s Iraq contracts. In a letter written by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), these whistleblowers describe instances where Halliburton employees would abandon or torch new trucks -- worth $80,000 -- if they acquired a flat tire or other minor mechanical problems. Halliburton would subsequently purchase new trucks with U.S. taxpayer dollars.

The former employees also described repeated instances of theft involving both Halliburton and Army personnel. One employee complained to Halliburton's KBR chief, Randy Harl, about the contracting abuse, but two weeks later he was fired.

Another former employee said Halliburton purchased soda for $45 per case and laundry bags for $100 each.

Employees billed the government for work even when they sat around and did nothing all day. These employees spent weeks in Iraq with virtually nothing to do, but were instructed by Halliburton to bill the government for 12 hours per day for seven days of work.

Did you know that the representatives who voted to continue the NSA "as-is" receive big money from the surveillance state?

Lawmakers Who Upheld NSA Phone Spying Received Double the Defense Industry Cash
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/07/money-nsa-vote/

SAME DAMN THING WITH THE FOR-PROFIT STUDENT LOAN BUSINESS.

Follow the money. Someone is making incredible amounts of it while destroying the lives of our young.

[Thinkingabout]

43. You seem to be suffering from Dislike Syndrome, I dont your problem will be fixed.

I learned over the years those older grumpy people was also the young grumpy, you need to find a way to be happy for a while. You can not change your childhood, you can not change last year or even yesterday but tomorrow when you wake up it could be the happiest day in your life but you have to make it for yourself.

[Fire Walk With Me]

44. Thanks for the Charlie Brown-level "The doctor is in" pop psychology.

In the meantime, why don't you read about the reality of the world situation and the people behind the corrupt money engine seeking to screw us all through manipulation of the largest levels of cash?

Larry Summers and the Secret "End-Game" Memo - By Greg Palast
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023515415

Obama is ONE OF THEM. So is much of congress, etc. You might become concerned if you read it.

Also note that not very long ago, education was very, very different:

8 Reasons Young Americans Don't Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance
http://www.filmsforaction.org/news/8_reasons_young_americans_dont_fight_back_how_the_us_crushed_youth_resistance/#.UhZ1YsMTgSA.twitter …

1. Student-Loan Debt. Large debt—and the fear it creates—is a pacifying force. There was no tuition at the City University of New York when I attended one of its colleges in the 1970s, a time when tuition at many U.S. public universities was so affordable that it was easy to get a B.A. and even a graduate degree without accruing any student-loan debt. While those days are gone in the United States, public universities continue to be free in the Arab world and are either free or with very low fees in many countries throughout the world. The millions of young Iranians who risked getting shot to protest their disputed 2009 presidential election, the millions of young Egyptians who risked their lives earlier this year to eliminate Mubarak, and the millions of young Americans who demonstrated against the Vietnam War all had in common the absence of pacifying huge student-loan debt.

I don't much care for the direction in which this country is headed. I am still capable of being stunned by those who do not share this concern, however.

[Thinkingabout]

45. So if student loans had never been available today's students would not have a problem.

Obama had student loans also so don't think he has his education paid by some one other than himself. You are not the first and won't be the last hopefully. Student loans are a privilege, they also have had abuse. There are a lot of stories which could be told by many on student loans. I doubt I will be changing my mind much, I feel your pain but your pain level can be managed.

[Fire Walk With Me]

46. Drop the ad hominem pop psychology or off to Ignore you deservedly go. Meanwhile, facts on today's

students:

53% of Recent College Grads Are Jobless or Underemployed—How?
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/04/53-of-recent-college-grads-are-jobless-or-underemployed-how/256237/

About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor's degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years. In 2000, the share was at a low of 41 percent, before the dot-com bust erased job gains for college graduates in the telecommunications and IT fields.

Out of the 1.5 million who languished in the job market, about half were underemployed, an increase from the previous year.

McDonalds Tells Workers To Budget By Getting A Second Job And Turning Off Their Heat
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/07/15/2300321/mcdonalds-buget-low-wage/

The site includes a sample “budget journal” for McDonalds’ employees that offers a laughably inaccurate view of what it’s like to budget on a minimum wage job. Not only does the budget leave a spot open for “second job,” it also gives wholly unreasonable estimates for employees’ costs: $20 a month for health care, $0 for heating, and $600 a month for rent. It does not include any budgeted money for food or clothing.

Class of 2013 faces grim job prospects
http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/10/news/economy/college-grads-jobs/index.html

The unemployment rate for recent college grads between the ages of 21 to 24 has averaged 8.8% over the last year, according to Labor Department data.

Once you also include young grads who are working part-time for economic reasons, and those who have stopped looking for a job in the last year, the so-called "underemployment rate" is a whopping 18.3%.

Sure, the job market has improved during the past few years. But both these rates remain higher than pre-recession levels.

1 in 5 college grads can’t repay their student loans
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/08/1_in_5_college_grads_isnt_repaying_student_loans_newscred/



So yes, there is reason to fight for our young and to decry the politicians who continue to FUCK THEM OVER FOR PROFIT.

Nevermind, no time to play around with the belligerently obtuse. Off to Ignore. Wonder if you'll actually make it this far into the post to realize that.

[Thinkingabout]

47. It's your choice, you do wharever you like. I do not get my feelungs hurt when I am placed on

Ignore, my life continues quiet nicely.

[bluestate10]

28. Rates were set to double if he didn't sign it. nt

[Fire Walk With Me]

30. Please read my other posts. It was a purposeful scam to allow ANY amount of rate increase. n/t

[dionysus]

4. because otherwise the rates would have doubled, but you knew that.

[Bobbie Jo]

6. Pfffft....details, details

[Amonester]

60. No. No. No. He should have told congress to eff off or die...

Then he shoulda threaten them with possible drone strikes if they'd refuse to comply to his almighty will!!



(Just Another DU Day These Days)

[BeyondGeography]

7. The rates for new loans went up to 6.8 percent on July 1

And now they're 3.8%? THANKS, OBAMA.

Here, go add your entry:

http://thanks-obama.tumblr.com/

[Fire Walk With Me]

10. Smoke and mirrors. Do you not understand disaster capitalism and the sadist?

If you want to increase interest rates but people will scream because =they're already usurious and are actually ruining lives=, you can make people GRATEFUL if you INCREASE interest rates after making them think they were going to hugely increase.

In the end, students are still paying more than before. That is the endgame of capitalism. That is why there is over a trillion dollars of student loan debt. Someone is getting extremely rich. You have missed whom Obama appoints, and who he wishes to appoint, on money matters?

THE CONFIDENTIAL MEMO AT THE HEART OF THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS
By Greg Palast
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023513088

How to make people HAPPY they're now paying more than ever. Exactly like how Obama signed into permanence, several aspects of the Bush tax cuts for the rich, under the =other= utter bullshit scam/crisis of the "fiscal cliff". OH BOY, HE SAVED US FROM TEH CLIFF! No, he fucked us and handed more of OUR money to the corporations and the rich.

-Retains the 10 percent, 15 percent, 25 percent, and 28 percent income tax brackets from the Bush tax cuts permanently
-Retains the 33 percent and 35 percent income tax brackets from the Bush tax cuts for taxable income under $400,000 (single), $425,000 (head of household), and $450,000 (joint filers). Imposes 39.6 percent tax rate on income above this level.

Details of the Fiscal Cliff Tax Deal
http://taxfoundation.org/blog/details-fiscal-cliff-tax-deal

In case anyone hadn't noticed, giving our tax dollars to the extremely rich is pretty much a hobby of Obama's, as well as protecting those same abusers:

Corporate Profits Have Grown By 171 Percent Under Obama -- Highest Rate Since 1900
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/corporate-profits-have-grown-171-percent-under-obama-highest-rate-1900

"Average annual corporate profit growth under Obama is the highest since 1900, whereas profit growth declined during both Bush presidencies. As a share of the economy, corporate profits have never been higher.
Unfortunately, this profit deluge has not been shared by workers, whose wages as a percentage of the economy have fallen to all-time lows. Workers also got dinged by the recent increase in the payroll tax, which was large enough to wipe out a minimum wage increase in some states."


8 Huge Corporate Handouts in the Fiscal Cliff Bill
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/8-huge-corporate-handouts-fiscal-cliff-bill

"Throughout the months of November and December, a steady stream of corporate CEOs flowed in and out of the White House to discuss the impending fiscal cliff. Many of them, such as Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, would then publicly come out and talk about how modest increases of tax rates on the wealthy were reasonable in order to deal with the deficit problem. What wasn’t mentioned is what these leaders wanted, which is what’s known as “tax extenders”, or roughly $205B of tax breaks for corporations. With such a banal name, and boring and difficult to read line items in the bill, few political operatives have bothered to pay attention to this part of the bill. But it is critical to understanding what is going on.

5) Subsidies for Goldman Sachs Headquarters – Sec. 328 extends 'tax exempt financing for York Liberty Zone,' which was a program to provide post-9/11 recovery funds. Rather than going to small businesses affected, however, this was, according to Bloomberg, 'little more than a subsidy for fancy Manhattan apartments and office towers for Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Corp.' Michael Bloomberg himself actually thought the program was excessive, so that’s saying something. According to David Cay Johnston’s The Fine Print, Goldman got $1.6 billion in tax free financing for its new massive headquarters through Liberty Bonds."


The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street from prosecutions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/23/untouchables-wall-street-prosecutions-obama

Yes, Virginia, the Rich Continue to Get Richer: the Top 1% Got 121% of Income Gains Since 2009
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/02/yes-virginia-the-rich-continue-to-get-richer-the-1-got-121-of-income-gains-since-2009.html

U.S. banks in 2012 post highest profits since '06
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/26/us-usa-fdic-earnings-idUSBRE91P0N820130226?utm_source=Daily+Digest&utm_campaign=de8376aab3-DD_2_27_132_27_2013&utm_medium=email#.US5jjkXSlU8.twitter

This Year’s Subsidy to Wall Street = the Amount of This Year’s Sequester Cuts
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/02/this-years-subsidy-to-wall-street-the-amount-of-this-years-sequester-cuts.html#.US_yiFwwnHY.facebook

Don’t Blink, or You’ll Miss Another Bailout
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100466032

America faces more than a dozen deadlines, all caused by billionaires and wealth transfer
http://americablog.com/2013/02/america-faces-more-than-a-dozen-deadlines-all-caused-by-billionaires-and-wealth-transfer.html

Bank Bailout 2: Obama Lets Mortgage Abusers Off the Hook
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/02/09-5

[BeyondGeography]

12. Yes, he is a lackey of the .000001% which is why they love him so

Look, here's noted capitalist end-gamer Tom Harkin after the signing of the bill; greedy bastard is smirking:



http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2013/08/obama_expected_to_sign_student.html

[Fire Walk With Me]

26. Ugh.

And sorry, didn't recognize your first reply was mockery of the situation.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

8. Because it makes a difference

of .4%.

He cares about each and every one of those percentage points, and so does Wall Street.

[SidDithers]

9. ODS Fail...

He reduced loan rates from 6.8% to 3.8%.

ODS

[Wilms]

16. Is that Obama Denial Syndrome?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3520509

[SidDithers]

18. Derangement...

but you knew that.

Sid

[Wilms]

19. I actually learned recently.

When anyone is critical of continued bush* policies loathed a mere five years ago there are some who become deranged in effort to assert that it's OK because Obama is a (D).

Freepers behaved in similar fashion when * held the office hostage.

Just an observation.

[SidDithers]

20. Sure, and I learned recently...

well, not that recently actually, that there are those who are nothing but critical of Obama, even going so far as to misrepresent Congressional action as Obama's, in order to smear him.

Freepers behave in a similar fashion right now.

Also an observation.

Sid

[Wilms]

23. The link I provided contained information suggesting otherwise.

If it needs debunking, please do so.

No one poster has all the answers, I'm sure you'll agree.

[uponit7771]

24. Because the winger meme of "Obama is a dictator so therefore congress does't matter" isn't

...recgonized in the real world?

[Fire Walk With Me]

25. Obama is neither a dictator nor a powerless slave. He's signing legislation hurting the poor

and further enriching the rich. Haven't heard him plead insanity so I'll take it that he's singing these horrors with a completely competent mind and intention.

Complicit. Enabling. He has tools at his disposal which he has not trotted out or even mentioned. Complicit.

[uponit7771]

29. That's not what this post portrays nor do wingers, they're whole meme is Obama is in complete

...control of everything so the onus gets laid at his feet for things he can't help.

This reply seems to establish that...

either the students get no loans, in which he would be bashed for or bad loans in which he would be bashed for.

Instead of placing the onus on Obama it should be placed at the KKKon congress...

[Fire Walk With Me]

42. THEY ARE ALL COMPLICIT WITH THE ULTRA-RICH WHO OWN EVERYTHING BEHIND THE CURTAIN.

For example:

Lawmakers Who Upheld NSA Phone Spying Received Double the Defense Industry Cash
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/07/money-nsa-vote/

[mimi85]

59. Could you post a picture

of yourself so we could walk ever so slowly backwards if sighted?

[Fire Walk With Me]

61. How about I post a Trend regarding Obama so you can walk away from HIM?

Corporate Profits Have Grown By 171 Percent Under Obama -- Highest Rate Since 1900
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/corporate-profits-have-grown-171-percent-under-obama-highest-rate-1900

"Average annual corporate profit growth under Obama is the highest since 1900, whereas profit growth declined during both Bush presidencies. As a share of the economy, corporate profits have never been higher.
Unfortunately, this profit deluge has not been shared by workers, whose wages as a percentage of the economy have fallen to all-time lows. Workers also got dinged by the recent increase in the payroll tax, which was large enough to wipe out a minimum wage increase in some states."


8 Huge Corporate Handouts in the Fiscal Cliff Bill
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/8-huge-corporate-handouts-fiscal-cliff-bill

"Throughout the months of November and December, a steady stream of corporate CEOs flowed in and out of the White House to discuss the impending fiscal cliff. Many of them, such as Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, would then publicly come out and talk about how modest increases of tax rates on the wealthy were reasonable in order to deal with the deficit problem. What wasn’t mentioned is what these leaders wanted, which is what’s known as “tax extenders”, or roughly $205B of tax breaks for corporations. With such a banal name, and boring and difficult to read line items in the bill, few political operatives have bothered to pay attention to this part of the bill. But it is critical to understanding what is going on.

5) Subsidies for Goldman Sachs Headquarters – Sec. 328 extends 'tax exempt financing for York Liberty Zone,' which was a program to provide post-9/11 recovery funds. Rather than going to small businesses affected, however, this was, according to Bloomberg, 'little more than a subsidy for fancy Manhattan apartments and office towers for Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Corp.' Michael Bloomberg himself actually thought the program was excessive, so that’s saying something. According to David Cay Johnston’s The Fine Print, Goldman got $1.6 billion in tax free financing for its new massive headquarters through Liberty Bonds."


The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street from prosecutions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/23/untouchables-wall-street-prosecutions-obama

Yes, Virginia, the Rich Continue to Get Richer: the Top 1% Got 121% of Income Gains Since 2009
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/02/yes-virginia-the-rich-continue-to-get-richer-the-1-got-121-of-income-gains-since-2009.html

U.S. banks in 2012 post highest profits since '06
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/26/us-usa-fdic-earnings-idUSBRE91P0N820130226?utm_source=Daily+Digest&utm_campaign=de8376aab3-DD_2_27_132_27_2013&utm_medium=email#.US5jjkXSlU8.twitter

This Year’s Subsidy to Wall Street = the Amount of This Year’s Sequester Cuts
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/02/this-years-subsidy-to-wall-street-the-amount-of-this-years-sequester-cuts.html#.US_yiFwwnHY.facebook

Don’t Blink, or You’ll Miss Another Bailout
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100466032

America faces more than a dozen deadlines, all caused by billionaires and wealth transfer
http://americablog.com/2013/02/america-faces-more-than-a-dozen-deadlines-all-caused-by-billionaires-and-wealth-transfer.html

Bank Bailout 2: Obama Lets Mortgage Abusers Off the Hook
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/02/09-5

[treestar]

49. FCOL

[Number23]

56. That person's posts in this thread are nothing short of terrifying.

Five, six people have tried to get him to see a very simple truth but he is so determined to label Obama as "one of THEM" (oh noeees!! THEM) and infer that he is evil incarnate that he simply refuses to read/listen.

And I'm sure he's one of the first ones to say "Gosh! NO ONE here hates the president!!1"

[Cha]

22. Yes, he is, bigtree. Very "down to earth"!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3517244

Thanks for posting the interview with Evalyn Gleason. Good to hear from people out there in RL.

[bigtree]

38. I was wonderin if this thing was on!

Prez Posing as President
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023519147

[Cha]

40. I'm here!

Thanks for the link, bigtree~

[freshwest]

52. Hey, beautiful pictures of Democrats, and like minded people! My kinda folks.

[bigtree]

53. real folks

real president

Our kinda folks!

[freshwest]

54. Yup! No ODS there! They are awake, aware and not hypnotized by fear.

[Cha]

65. No FEAR, Fresh.. how Refreshing!

NO Brainwashing.

[freshwest]

55. And a picture of Obama talking to the students at the University of Buffalo:

[sheshe2]

57. We are here bigtree!

[bigtree]

58. lol!

[sheshe2]

63. I did not want you to feel alone~

[Cha]

64. That's one precious Great Graphic, she!

[SwampG8r]

62. going grey at the sides

hardest job on earth I think it ages the holder 2 years for every 1
this is a very nice post