Jobs, Economy, Occupy Wall Street, New York

Jobs

• President Obama goes on the attack, to Democrats' delight
• Cantor to Obama: Let the economy suffer
• Nuclear Option?! What Really Happened On The Senate Floor, And Why It Matters--So that's what Reid was up to when he was 'blocking the bill' beforehand.

Economy

• Lawrence Lessig on How Money Corrupts Congress - and How to Stop It
• Study: Income inequality kills economic growth.
• Our Hidden Government Benefits--"A 2008 poll of 1,400 Americans by the Cornell Survey Research Institute found that when people were asked whether they had 'ever used a government social program,' 57 percent said they had not. Respondents were then asked whether they had availed themselves of any of 21 different federal policies, including Social Security, unemployment insurance, the home-mortgage-interest deduction and student loans. It turned out that 94 percent of those who had denied using programs had benefited from at least one; the average respondent had used four."
• The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class--A lecture delivered by Elizabeth Warren in 2007.
• Six True Things Politicians Can’t Say

Occupy Wall Street

• 'Occupy Wall Street': Drawing the Battle Lines
• Rescuing America from Wall Street
• Think Occupy Wall St. is a phase? You don't get it
• Why I'm in Solidarity with #OccupyWallStreet
• Jon Stewart Lampoons Tea Party Criticism Of Occupy Wall Street

"Then they ridicule you..."

• Herman Cain On Occupy Wall Street: 'If You Don't Have A Job And You’re Not Rich, Blame Yourself!'
• Bill O'Reilly on Occupy Wall Street: They're Jobless Because They Don't Want to Work
• White House Chief Of Staff Disses 'Occupy Wall Street'

New York

• This Is Only Getting Bigger: 20,000 Rally in New York to Support Occupy Wall Street
• Wall Street Protesters Sue City as Demonstration Continues--" [O]fficers from the New York City Police Department lured them onto the bridge’s roadway to trap and arrest them."
• NYPD's 'White Shirts' Take On Enforcer Role NYT
• NYPD and FBI Are Trying to Infiltrate Wall Street Protest to Discredit It
• JPMorgan Chase donates millions to NYPD prior to mass arrests at Occupy Wall Street

Wall Street, Civics Lessons, Better Red than Dead, Rich vs. Poor, Mortgages

Wall Street

• Obama Goes All Out For Dirty Banker Deal--They "put their heads together, and cooked up a deal that would allow the banks to walk away with just a seriously discounted fine from a generation of fraud that led to millions of people losing their homes."
• The Destructive Power of the Financial Markets--Speculators are betting against the euro, banks are taking incalculable risks and the markets are in turmoil. Three years after the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, the financial industry has become a threat to the global economy again. Governments missed the chance to regulate the industry, and another crash is just a matter of time.
• NY Attorney General Booted from Mortgage Company Settlement Task Force--He was adamant in opposing any deal that favored the banks (NYT).
• Daily Kos: Why is The Obama Administration Pressuring NY Atty General to Cover Up Financial Crimes?
• S.E.C. Illegally Destroyed Documents, Whistle-Blower Alleges--Anyone shocked that they're defending this? NYT

Civics Lessons

• America Is In Decline Because Of The Institutionalization Of Stupidity
• 11 Bizarrely Wrong Beliefs Americans Have About Themselves
• Don’t know much about history--"Not even a quarter of American students is proficient in US history, and the percentage declines as students grow older."
• 5 Satirists Attacked by People Who Totally Missed the Point--Plus 4 More Satirists Attacked By People Who Missed The Point
• American Students Not Proficient In History The Onion

Better Red than Dead

• Too many Americans ignorant about their use of government programs
• 75 Ways Socialism has Improved, Saved, and Shaped America
• Bill Maher Outs America And Exposes Our Secret Love of Socialism
• Lactate Intolerance: Fox News' Megyn Kelly returns from maternity leave with a more liberal perspective on mandated benefits and entitlement programs.
• Americans Love Socialism: Bernie Sanders Is The 3rd Most Popular US Senator

Rich vs. Poor

• Don’t look down: The poor like taxing the rich less than you would think--"In keeping with the notion of 'last-place aversion', the people who were a spot away from the bottom were the most likely to give the money to the person above them: rewarding the 'rich' but ensuring that someone remained poorer than themselves."
• Land of the Free, Home of the Poor--"And if we were to compare us with African countries, dictators in different places, you know, taking a lot of the wealth from normal people, we would be among the top half of the African countries of inequality. So, the U.S. really has reached an extraordinary level of income inequality."
• Republicans To Oppose Tax Cut For Working People--Silly plebes, tax cuts are for rich people (Salon).
• The Daily Show: World of Class Warfare--Warren Buffett vs. Wealthy Conservatives and The Poor's Free Ride Is Over
• A hot air balloon fight in the Coachella Valley

Mortagages

• A Huge Housing Bargain -- but Not for You--"The largest transfer of wealth from the public to private sector is about to begin. The federal government will be bulk-selling the massive portfolio of foreclosed homes now owned by HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to private investors -- vulture funds."
• A 96-Year-Old's Mortgage Fraud Nightmare--Lillie Mae Washington may have been conned into an outrageous mortgage by a firm that had its license revoked. Ocwen Financial wants to evict her anyway.
• Homeowner says Bank of America foreclosure notice doesn't add up
• Credit Union Decides To Clear Out Foreclosed Home Five Days Early
• Chase Bank Sells Off Soldier's Home On The Very Same Day He Returns From Iraq