Glenn Greenwald highlights this episode of Bill Moyer’s Journal, where Rep. Marcy Kaptur and economist Simon Johnson tell us that the big banks on Wall Street “own” Congress. An excerpt:

BILL MOYERS: Let me show you an excerpt from the speech President Obama made on Wall Street last month, September. Here is the challenge he laid down to the bankers.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess at the heart of this crisis, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses. Those on Wall Street cannot resume taking risks without regard for consequences, and expect that next time, American taxpayers will be there to break their fall.

BILL MOYERS: A reality check. Not one CEO of a Wall Street bank was there to hear the President. What do you make of that?

SIMON JOHNSON: Arrogance. Because they have no fear for the government anymore. They have no respect for the President, which I find absolutely extraordinary and shocking. All right? And I think they have no not an ounce of gratitude to the American people, who saved them, their jobs, and the way they run the world.

Why don’t they fear Obama? Because Obama’s top advisors are their own people, and they own Congress:

While the industry has scaled back its political spending in the wake of last year’s economic collapse, data from the Center for Responsive Politics show that it’s still investing heavily in the Senate, where it’s likely to have its best shot at stopping — or at least shaping — the crackdown on Wall Street that President Barack Obama has proposed.

And it’s clearly looking to Democrats to do it.

Of the $10.6 million the industry has given to sitting senators this year, more than $7.7 million has gone to Democrats.

The clue as to why our government struggles to deal with any substantial problem facing our country today is right there. So long as politicians must run massively expensive campaigns to get themselves elected, they will be in thrall to those who give them the most money. Between that and a media that’s incapable of either understanding or addressing the problems that face our nation, it’s hardly any wonder that some (myself included) find ourselves thinking that our nation is doomed.

An unmitigated failure. The Bush administration was a disaster for our nation…unless you were the beneficiary of those massive tax cuts:

Thursday’s annual Census Bureau report on income, poverty and access to health care-the Bureau’s principal report card on the well-being of average Americans-closes the books on the economic record of George W. Bush.

It’s not a record many Republicans are likely to point to with pride.

On every major measurement, the Census Bureau report shows that the country lost ground during Bush’s two terms. While Bush was in office, the median household income declined, poverty increased, childhood poverty increased even more, and the number of Americans without health insurance spiked. By contrast, the country’s condition improved on each of those measures during Bill Clinton’s two terms, often substantially.

[...]

So the summary page on the economic experience of average Americans under the past two presidents would look like this:
Under Clinton, the median income increased 14 per cent. Under Bush it declined 4.2 per cent.

Under Clinton the total number of Americans in poverty declined 16.9 per cent; under Bush it increased 26.1 per cent.

Under Clinton the number of children in poverty declined 24.2 per cent; under Bush it increased by 21.4 per cent.

Under Clinton, the number of Americans without health insurance, remained essentially even (down six-tenths of one per cent); under Bush it increased by 20.6 per cent.
Adding Ronald Reagan’s record to the comparison fills in the picture from another angle.

Under Reagan, the median income grew, in contrast to both Bush the younger and Bush the elder. (The median income declined 3.2 per cent during the elder Bush’s single term.) When Reagan was done, the median income stood at $47, 614 (again in constant 2008 dollars), 8.1 per cent higher than when Jimmy Carter left office in 1980.

Such is the result of a deliberate effort to shift money away from social spending and give it back to the already wealthy, combined with a general inattention to and disinterest in the well-being of our nation (beyond torturing terrorists and launching wars of aggression.) There should be retribution for such awful stewardship, but the only punishment being meted out is to you and me.

Adam and I were talking about this yesterday, about how real unemployement isn’t being reported in most news outlets. The most-quoted figure I’ve seen is the 9.5% seasonally adjusted U-3, and when a number is that qualified you know it’s not quite natural. I just looked up the U-6 measure (the most inclusive measurement) in the current statistics. The percentage of all employable people not working full-time jobs is 16.8%. The U-6 includes part-timers who are looking for full-time work as part of the figure, which is reasonable because a lot of them are part-time because of the economy. The number being reported in the news is the 9.7% U-3, which as you can see is a much more limited measurement.

Now, one thing to note is that the difference between June ‘08 and June ‘09 using these two indices tell two different stories. From June ‘08 to June ‘09, the U-3 went from 5.7% to 9.7%, a 4% change. The U-6 changed from 10.3% to 16.8%, a change of 6.5%. So the net change in employment is also worse than is being reported. Some of this is people being shunted into part-time jobs, but the U-1 is a measure of how many people have been unemployed more than 15 weeks or longer, and that has risen from 1.8% to 4.8%. Jobs have really just vanished.

The question is, even when the economy starts growing again, how many full-time jobs are going to come back for people? Even when the economy was supposedly so great back in the Bush years (coming off the Clinton high, that is), people were struggling. Just read Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. Actually I think I’ve blogged on that subject plenty of times. We keep hearing about how the recession is supposed to end this year or that we may already be at the tail and the economy is starting to recover; we hear that jobs lag behind the economy in general. Either of these things may be true; neither of them means that Americans will be getting well-paid full-time jobs with benefits. Is there any way to change that?

I don’t know the answer to that, but it lies in what industries are going to make the biggest turnaround. I honestly don’t think that even if the automakers come around and turn profitable, they’ll end up re-hiring a lot of people. They’re cutting back as much as possible and if their salvation lies in competing with the foreign auto makers, they’re going to be making more of fewer kinds of vehicles, which means less workers. America needs growth industries that we can take the lead in. We need to invest in an infrastructure to produce new kinds of goods and services that other countries can’t compete with. Things like clean energy, health care and medicine, or eco-science, that the world needs but which can also be profitable industries. It’s time to do something new.

Update: Xanthippas just let me know about this article, pointing out estimates of the real number of unemployed, which is well above even the U-6. Read the article for an explanation of how these numbers are arrived at:

By adding these folks back in, William’s SGS-Alternate Unemployment Measure rose to a jaw-dropping 20.6%. Separately, the Center for Labor Market Studies in Boston puts U.S. unemployment at 18.2%. Any way you cut the numbers, the situation is very bad. According to David Rosenberg, one-in-three among the unemployed have been looking for a job for more than six months and still can’t find one.

That’s about 1 in 5 employable people either unemployed or underemployed. This recession is far from over.

1. A story in yesterday’s Washington Post reveals that the Obama administration is considering drafting an executive order asserting the President’s authority to detain terrorist suspects indefinitely without any judicial process. The White House denies that a draft order exists (via John Cole) thought there is no denial that they are considering such a move. I found this quote from the Post article to be particularly odd:

“…one administration official suggested that the White House is already trying to build support for an order. “Civil liberties groups have encouraged the administration, that if a prolonged detention system were to be sought, to do it through executive order,” the official said.

First of all, I would like this official to find me one civil liberties group that has argued for such a thing. Perhaps what he/she meant is that they’d rather have an executive order than a Bush-like assertion of authority that merely cites the Constitution, but there’s essentially no difference between the two approaches legally. Also, they are arguing that such an order would permit them to get Congress’ acquiescence in the closing of Guantanamo, an effort stymied by the various Democratic and Republican bed-wetters on the Hill. Which basically would amount to Obama saying to Congress “I double-pledge to hold terrorists forever if you will please let me shut down Guantanamo.” But it seems to me like sending them Bermuda an the South Pacific was working out alright.

2. Gays and Lesbiasn are-rightly-angered as well at the Obama administration’s shuffling approach towards gay rights. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, remains in place, the Obama DOJ is arguing before the courts to retain DOMA, and Obama’s decision to extend federal benefits to domestic partners was praised until advocates realized that those benefits didn’t include health care (doubly ironic, considering the President’s present political battle over a national health care plan.) Arnold King, while not citing specifically to the administration’s approach to gay rights, makes the point that the Obama administration has many agendas, but appears satisfied to half-ass meeting their goals on any of them.

3. For some conservative Christians, Sanford’s weeping and rending of garments is enough for them to get over his infidelity and bizarre behavior. I’m sure the fact that he’s a Republican politician has absolutely no bearing on their attitudes. But stories like this make it clear that for all of Sanford’s talk, he was determined to continuing playing his own staff, his own state, and especially his own wife, until he got caught. Politically connected religious leaders and politicians may be quick to forgive, but other conservatives? Not so much.

4. Bob Herbert takes a look at the economy and calls a spade (a jobless recovery) a spade (no recovery at all.)

5. The Iranian government appears to be gaining the upper-hand against the protesters, though it also seems clear that the massive protests have revealed divisions in the leadership that may indicate long-term change.

6. Upon the news of Michael Jackson’s death, I found myself wondering what condition his estate was in and upon whom would fall the unfortunate task of trying to sort it out. It appears he had at least one will, though no one knows it’s contents yet. I predict there will be a gargantuan battle over his estate given the value still attached to his name and his music and the massive debt attached to much of his property, but I doubt it will interest the public as much as Anna Nicole Smith’s highly publicized probate did, what with the absence of a childhood custody dispute. There can be no doubt though of Jackson’s status as a mega-star, as the reaction to his death was almost more than the internet could bear.

7. You might’ve missed this news, but Wednesday the United States pulled off a shocking upset and defeated the number one team in the world 2-0 to advance to the final game of the Confederations Cup. Spain is praised for their ability to possess the ball, and it was expected that the U.S. would entrench upon defense and wait for their opportunities to counter. Instead, Spain committed uncharacteristic errors as the U.S. went with a strategy of heavily pressuring the ball and looking for quick counters, and remaining incredibly well-organized (and frankly, a little lucky) on defense. The strategy paid off with huge dividends; quick movement up the field led to a goal by Jozy Altidore, and a Spanish turnover led to a goal by Clint Dempsey. Altidore (after keeper Brad Guzan) was clearly man of the match. No telling if his outstanding play makes him the future of American soccer or another Eddie Johnson, but American soccer fans will take what they can get. The United States plays Brazil tomorrow, a team they already lost to in the first round, but against whom they might have a better chance if they play as decisively as they did against Spain.

8. I thought this article about Grandparents University at UNT was interesting. Grandparents and their grand-children apparently spend a weekend at the school’s dorm and taking classes together, in a program designed to give young teenagers and tweeners a taste of college life, and some bonding time with their grand-parents.

UPDATE: Spencer Ackerman finds at least one civil libertarian to whom the Obama administration official might be referring with the above quote from the Post story; Kate Martin of the Center for National Security Studies:

Martin thinks that established law holds that the administration doesn’t require any additional legal authorization to hold anyone captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan without charge until the end of hostilities — that comes from the September 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force, as does dispensation for the 9/11 plotters — but would need to charge or release any detainee picked up outside either Afghanistan or Iraq. Martin thinks the reported executive order might be the only thing standing in the way of an even broader congressional effort of the sort seen in the war supplemental that Daphne critiqued yesterday. Martin has expressed her organization’s longstanding perspective on detainee matters to the administration’s detentions task force.

So Martin supports it, but only to the extent that something from Congress might be worse. Given the way Congress has handled the possible closing of Gitmo this may be true, though I happen to think that Congress should be forced to craft an indefinite detention policy if that’s what they want in exchange for closing Gitmo.

Glenn Greenwald has more though, as I’ve pointed out once before, he has a tendency to criticize the “many defenders” of Obama on various issues where Obama replicates Bush doctrines, without actually linking to or naming any of these defenders. Greenwald is a very thorough blogger, which is why I don’t understand why he so eagerly reaches for the “some say” approach to blogging.

Some reading for your Friday afternoon:

1. Ayatollah Khamenei escalates the rhetoric and says opposition leaders will be responsible for “bloodshed and chaos” if the protests continue (a possibility that members of hard-line militias may seek to ensure becomes a reality.) He denies that Iran’s election was rigged, though he’s contradicted by what evidence is available. Roger Cohen lauds the protesters, and says Obama should be more firmly on their side. I disagree. I think Obama has struck the proper tone of concern and and caution. Were it not for our history of meddling in Iran’s internal affairs, I might think otherwise.

2. More details on Obama’s new financial regulations plan. Changes no doubt, but maybe not the sweeping kind that we need, according to Paul Krugman. The bad news on the economy in general has slowed, but Martin Wolf says we shouldn’t be too hasty about thinking we’re out of the woods yet. Certainly some (like small businesses) are having a very rough time of it.

3. Check for flying pigs outside your window, because today Ken Starr has come out in support of of Sonia Sotomayor.

4. John Shalikashvilli, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs under Clinton, says that arguments against gays in the military are poorly reasoned and insupportable.

5. Egypt shocked Italy 1-0 in Confederations Cup play yesterday, a result that perhaps shouldn’t be so surprising given their play against Brazil. Fortunately for the U.S. this means that a win against Egypt tomorrow means the US will make it out of the first round. Unfortunately, the fact that Egypt is playing so well against the giants makes such a victory highly unlikely.

6. Today is Juneteenth round these parts, a celebration of the day that slaves were liberated in Texas.

Some things for you to ponder this morning:

1. A senior cleric in Iran comes out against the election results. But were they rigged? Critics say yes.

2. Some analysis of Netanyahu’s announcement that Israel would consider recognition of a Palestinian state. A step forward, but still balking on other important considerations like settlement expansion.

3. A Presidential election and some new laws, but the end result is the same; you can’t trust the NSA not to spy on the American people.

4. Speaking of intelligence agencies, the CIA is fighting the release of it’s own internal reports regarding interrogations of “high-value” detainees. Obviously, there’s something in embarrassing in them.

5. Speaking of detainees, here are some people who don’t wet their pants at the thought of being responsible for them.

6. Obama will announce that the federal government will extend benefits to the domestic partners, including same-sex partners and spouses, of federal employees.

7. The Obama administration is proposing regulatory changes that will broaden government oversight of banks and the financial markets.

8. And lastly, another great column of David Leonhardt at the New York Times. This time he takes on the scare word “rationing” and explains how health care is already rationed ineffeciently and unfairly everyday in America.

Progress on the credit card reform front: The House Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights (which I first wrote about back in September of last year) has cleared the House Financial Services Committee. The Senate is presently working on a similar bill sponsored by Chris Dodd and Charles Schumer. And President Obama has signaled that he supports such reform efforts:

President Obama is making clear to credit card executives today that he intends to back efforts to crack down on what lawmakers consider to be deceptive practices, even as the industry criticizes legislation in the House of Representatives as dangerous to the nation’s hopes for an economic recovery.

[...]

This afternoon, senior executives from 13 companies — including Gordon Smith, chief executive of Chase Card Services for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.; Paul Galant, chief executive of N.A. Cards for Citi; and Richard Struthers, president of Global Card Services for Bank of America — are meeting with Obama and his top economic aides at the White House. Edward L. Yingling, president and chief executive of the American Bankers Association, was also scheduled to participate. The president was to be accompanied by Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, top economic adviser Lawrence Summers, chief economist Christina Romer and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. Aides said Obama will make clear that the power of the White House will be behind the legislation.

“The President believes new rules of the road for the credit card industry are needed and he looks forward to having an open and productive conversation tomorrow with the representatives of the credit card industry about the impact of the current crisis on consumers,” Obama aide Valerie Jarrett said in an e-mail sent late yesterday.

[...]

Obama is expected to tell the executives today that he wants to go further than the House bill without specifically endorsing all of the provisions of Dodd’s bill. Administration officials confirmed that the president will push for stronger rules in some areas than those proposed in the legislation but is “broadly supportive” of the bills working their way through Congress.

Also today, U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Banking Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) called on federal regulators to implement an emergency freeze on interest rates tied to existing balances on credit cards. The Federal Reserve’s new rules would limit such rate increases, but not until July 2010.

No word on how that last proposal will go over. But it’s always a pleasure to see businesses prevented from ripping customers off.

1. Gay marriage activists hope the Vermont legislature’s decision to legalize gay marriage will provide impetus to other states to do the same. This is true at least in D.C., which voted to recognize gay marriages in other states. On the other side of the world though in Iraq, gays and lesbians find that their lives are endangered because of their sexuality.

2. Small towns, suckered by investment bankers who sold them risky municipal bond derivatives.

3. Peru’s Ex-President Alberto Fujimora is convicted and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison for human rights abuses that occurred during the war against Maoist rebels Shining Path.

4. More details on the prosecutorial misconduct that undid the Ted Stevens prosecution. And McClatchy has another article on Judge Emmett Sullivan, who has “declared war” on what he sees to be a rising tide of government prosecutorial secrecy, incompetence and malfeasance.

5. Texas Republican lawmakers find themselves at odds with Gov. Rick Perry over a number of issues beyond stimulus funding. Texas Republicans are apparently not as receptive to marching orders as Congressional Republicans were during the Bush administration.

6. Former Australian government officials and academics applaud Obama’s commitment to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
Anne Applebaum says there are other more important priorities that Obama should focus on, but it seems to me that getting rid of nuclear weapons never seems to be worthwhile until somebody’s threatening to use one. Why wait until we reach that point?

7. Michael Gerson, being a moron again, characterizes Obama as “the most polarizing President” in history. In fact, Obama is a broadly popular President among Americans, and is most vociferously opposed by a loud minority contingent of right-wing lunatics and Republicans who think the key to electoral victory is saying no to everything Obama proposes.

8. Al Franken emerges victorious in the re-count, but Coleman signals further appeals are on the way.

9. Student loan defaults are surging, which may increase calls for a student loan “bailout.”

10. American intelligence officials warn that the United States’ electrical grid has been infiltrated by hackers from China and Russia who may be looking to launch cyber attacks against the United States infrastructure in the event of military conflict. I remember a 2003 Frontline special warning of this very thing, a warning that appears to be coming true.

Stuff you should be reading this morning:

1. Iraq: another article on the gradual upswing in attacks, and the largely unabated violence in one of the last bastion’s of the insurgency, Diyala Province.

2. Congressional watchdogs lament the lack of transparency and oversight regarding the handout of TARP funds. Economist Joseph Stiglitz condemn’s the Obama administration’s approach to the crisis on Wall Street, characterizing it as “ersatz capitalism, the privatizing of gains and the socializing of losses.” Paul Krugman’s saying the same, of course.

3. In a surprise move, AG Holder dismiss the Stevens indictment and says there will be no new trial. The Stevens conviction has fallen apart in the face of allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.

4. The World Health Organization warns of an impending “explosion” in cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis.

5. Michael Gerson at the Washington Post says Obama is losing Catholics over the issue of abortion, but unsurprisingly fails to note that American Catholics are as divided on the issue of abortion as non-catholics. As is typical among media pundits (especially those of the conservative ilk) an entire group is said to be represented by it’s conservative members.

6. ADP, a payroll processor, reports that 724,000 jobs were lost in March.

7. The Economist opens it’s new theme park, Econoland (h/t Josh Berthume.) All the horror of the modern world, only funnier.

8. In honor of the day, the top 10 greatest April Fools pranks in modern history.

9. The tabletop wargame Battletech celebrates it’s 25th anniversary. Not that that’s anything special to us, ahem.

More evidence to bolster Matt Taibbi’s conspiracy theory; the foxes are in charge of the henhouse, and our “reform” efforts largely mirror that of the oligarchical nations of Russia and Argentina:

Does anyone really doubt any more that the predominant characteristic of our political culture is “the incestuous relationship between governments and large [] corporate conglomerates”? Yet another former Goldman Sachs official and long-time derivatives advocate who played a major role in the repeal of key banking regulations, Gary Gesner, is now poised to become Obama’s chief of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, the body charged with regulating commodities and financial futures. The sleazy, central role Goldman Sachs has played in the events of the last six months — from their current CEO’s still-unexplained presence with Paulson (its former Chairman) and Geithner (protegé of its other former Chairman, Robert Rubin) as the AIG bailout was designed to the massive government windfalls that firm has received (including from that very AIG bailout) — is merely illustrative of how our Government has long functioned and continues to.

Yves Smith last night noted the rather extraordinary (though unsurprising) development that the very institutions that played such a critical role in the crisis — Citibank and Bank of America — are now using TARP funds they received not to extend more loans (the ostensible purpose of the bailout), but rather, to buy up more and more of the very distressed assets that Geithner insists they need to be relieved of, because they now know that, under Geithner’s plan, they will be able to sell them at a substantial profit courtesy of public funds (i.e, the Government will buy those crippled assets at well above their current market price). As Smith puts it: “So not only are they seeking to extract far more than was intended even with the already generous subsidies embodied in this program, but this activity is also speculating with taxpayer money. . . .Welcome to yet more looting.”

We don’t need reform. We need a scourging.