Because that wealthy 2% lead the national conversation through control of the media

"When is a tax cut for 98 percent of taxpayers portrayed as a tax increase?

When some of the small handful of people whose taxes will go up happen to control the nation's news media."—Jamison Foser, in his latest column for Media Matters, which is a must-read.

By Melissa McEwen, Shakespeare's Sister

AlterNet: Obama Strikes Back, Plans Payback for House Republicans

By Steve Benen, Washington Monthly
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/123725/

The White House has invested quite a bit of time and energy reaching out to congressional Republicans. Late yesterday, the president's efforts were rewarded with exactly zero GOP votes on an economic stimulus plan. The Politico reported that when Republicans announced their opposition, the minority party "slapped" Obama's "outstretched hand" as part of a "coordinated effort to embarrass" the president.

We're starting to get a sense of how the White House plans to respond.

Pushing back against the unanimous House Republican vote against President Obama's stimulus plan, the White House plans to release state-by-state job figures "so we can put a number on what folks voted for and against," an administration aide said.

"It's clear the Republicans who voted against the stimulus represent constituents who will be stunned to learn their member of Congress voted against [saving or] creating 4 million jobs," the aide said.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the lawmakers will have to answer to their constituents. A Democratic official added: "We will run campaigns in their districts."

What's more, Greg Sargent reports that a coalition of groups and unions, including Americans United for Change, MoveOn.org Political Action, AFSCME and SEIU, are launching a new television ad targeting Republican senators and pressuring them to vote for President Obama's stimulus package.

The spot shows some arresting images of the recession -- chained up factories, empty warehouses -- and features Obama talking about our dire economic times and his economic package, an effort to harness Obama's popularity to push the plan at a time when Republicans are training their fire on House Dems, rather than the White House.

The ad is set to air in four states, targeting Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Judd Gregg (New Hampshire), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Olympia Snowe (Maine). Three of the five -- Grassley, Gregg, and Murkowski -- are up for re-election next year.

© 2009 Washington Monthly All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/123725/

Christmas Consumption Season Worst Ever, Says WSJ

Wall Street Journal - Price-slashing failed to rescue a bleak holiday season for beleaguered retailers, as sales plunged across most categories on shrinking consumer spending, according to new data. Despite a flurry of last-minute shoppers lured by the deep discounts, total retail sales, excluding automobiles, fell over the year-earlier period by 6% in November and 8% in December through Christmas Eve, according to MasterCard Inc.'s Spending Pulse unit.

When gasoline sales are excluded, the fall in overall retail sales is more modest: a 3% drop in November and a 4% decline in December. A 40% drop in gasoline prices over the year-earlier period contributed to the sharp decline in total sales. [Retail sales chart]

But considering individual sectors, "This will go down as the one of the worst holiday sales seasons on record," said Mary Delk, a director in the retail practice at consulting firm Deloitte LLP. "Retailers went from 'Ho-ho' to 'Uh-oh' to 'Oh-no.'"

The holiday retail-sales decline was much worse than the already-dire picture painted by industry forecasts, which had predicted sales ranging from a 1% drop to a more optimistic increase of 2%.

Luxury goods, once considered immune from economic turmoil, were hardest hit, with sales falling 21%, compared with a jump of 8% a year ago, when the economy had just begun to sputter. Including jewelry sales, the luxury sector plunged by a whopping 35%.

During the same period last year, overall retail sales rose a modest 2%, helped by late-season discounting that enticed procrastinating shoppers. But this year, after a moderate uptick in shopping activity boosted by steep promotions the Friday after Thanksgiving, shoppers closed their wallets and reopened them only cautiously, worried by job losses, a sinking stock market and a recession climbing into its second year.

Re: Irresponsibility and morality regarding the bail-out

We are so fucking conditioned to the dictates of corporate capitalism. Whenever I talk about this scam of a bail-out - this Robin Hood in reverse - I tend to get the same vague commentary: The first thing said is usually in regard to the moral hazard of bailing out homeowners who over-leveraged themselves.

Bad consumers! Shame, shame on you! Look at this mess!

Ask yourself: How does it differ from the moral hazard of bailing out the financial institutions that securitized questionable loans, insured them, and sold them as investment grade securities? This is not about irresponsible homeowners, campers. It's about an economic system that is inherently immoral from jump street; a system that encourages corruption (just "business as usual", right?); a system that seems to be in permanent crisis mode.

This is about restructuring a proven failure.

Again.