This
absolutely needs to be shared again. We need to follow the money! And
as I’ve learned over many years now of learning how to actively
follow the money and how to choose my resources of information
wisely, I’ve joined millions of us who have come to an inescapable
recognition — Wall Street knows no party. Or as Noam Chomsky
accurately states, there is actually no two party system in America;
instead what we have is the “business party.”
So
many have written and spoken the truth about our poisonous predatory
neoliberal capitalist system and about how the American government
has long — actually from the very beginning — been acting in the
interests of the most wealthy and not we the people or the planet.
There have always been vast numbers of people marginalized and
intentionally left out of the “American Dream.”
It’s
a fact that the horrors of today — Trump, endless wars, drill baby
drill, a healthcare system rooted in greed and profit rather than
care, more people imprisoned than anywhere in the world, crushing
poverty of millions in the United States and billions worldwide, the
obscene redistribution of wealth upwards, epidemics of addictions and
despair and violence, all the people I wept for last night as I saw
them sleeping on the sidewalks of Portland amidst freezing
temperatures, millions of people displaced worldwide, the
catastrophic national and global impacts of climate disruption, the
sixth major extinction, and on and on — none of this would be
possible if not for the relentless greed, ignorance, and collusion
with heartlessness and evil of those in positions of power and of all
of us who’ve knowingly (certainly true of the corporate mainstream
media) and unknowingly (those of us who’ve been propagandized)
enabled.
This
tragically includes Obama, who I had worked to get elected. His
betrayal broke my heart and, gratefully, woke me up to yet a deeper
level of consciousness and understanding of the roots of injustice,
suffering, and violence in our world and what we must do to stop it.
This begins with speaking the truth and exposing the lies again and
again and again.
Today
millions of people are rising up all over our country and the world
demanding an end to the power of the powerful who’ve long been
destroying our nation, other nations, and the Earth.
Today
there is an insurgency occurring within the Democratic Party that is
fiercely working to dismantle the stranglehold that the powerful have
had over the party, and especially over the past 40 years. Bernie
Sanders is the only presidential candidate who is committed to this
political revolution and to the comprehensive radical changes that
are so urgently needed.
Today
there are movements absolutely committed to taking down the
domination culture that is embedded in the patriarchal, neoliberal,
predatory capitalist system of greed, destruction, and death. We are
committed to the struggle of birthing a New World and a New Story to
live by.
May
we all be part of this Caring Revolution! We are all needed in this
greatest fight of our lives. Everything we love and cherish is at
stake. — Molly
The
former president is reportedly raking in $400,000 per speech to
massive financial firms
Less
than a year has passed since he departed from the White House, and
former President Barack Obama has already joined the "well
trod and well paid"
Wall Street speaking circuit, a decision many argued will negatively
impact the Democratic Party's credibility as it attempts to fashion a
message around taking on corporate
monopolies,
tackling income
inequality,
and loosening the insurance industry's control
over the American healthcare system.
According
to a Bloomberg report published
Monday, Obama has in the last month delivered two speeches to massive
financial firms—Northern Trust Corp and the Carlyle Group—for
around $400,000 a pop, and he is slated to attend a three-day
conference hosted by Cantor Fitzgerald next week, for which he will
make another $400,000.
Former
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faced a wave of intense criticism
following her paid speeches to Wall Street during the 2016
presidential campaign, and later conceded that they weren't
politically wise.
Obama,
however, doesn't appear to harbor any concerns about the political
impact his speeches may have—a fact that could be problematic for
the Democratic Party, Bloomberg's
Max Abelson notes.
"While
he can't run for president, he continues to be an influential voice
in a party torn between celebrating and vilifying corporate power,"
Abelson writes. "His new work with banks might suggest which
side of the debate he'll be on."
News
of Obama's decision to "cash
in"
following his eight-year presidency drew significant ire,
particularly given his administration's failure to enact sufficient
structural changes to the financial system following the worst
economic collapse since the Great Depression.
As
Abelson observes, Obama's "Justice Department prosecuted no
major bankers for their roles in the financial crisis, and he
resisted calls to break up the biggest banks, signing a regulatory
overhaul that annoyed them with new rules but didn't stop them from
pulling in record profits."
Please
continue this article here:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/09/18/after-failing-prosecute-bankers-obama-cashes-wall-street-speeches?fbclid=IwAR1_EvDGi5YqmHGe2WPnqHqVLrXAs2s7B1sXzJ_NmpSCkX9NxnlMxa6NJ_0
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