Welcome to the Twilight Zone. America is in a political dead-zone that is populated by every major player in the economy and the government except the public. We, are in attendance but apparently we have voluntarily bound and gagged ourselves for the next fifty-eight days: while others, decide exactly what shall become of us.   This has been made possible by a throwback to the beginning of the nation, when transitions in government were of necessity much slower than they could be today. Consequently the Congress that is supposed to represent the voice of the public is "on vacation, just at the time when the future of the American people, is being decided by those that have come to kill us.   Congress is the one body that is supposed to enact all major legislation, according to the constitution: Yet now this government-by-decree is being run by executive decrees from both the Dead-Duck resident of the White House and the as yet unannoited dictator, along with his cabinet officers, that have no constitutional authority at all. This liar's game of Command & Control by dictate by-passes all the checks and balances that were supposedly put in place to protect us from dictators, from criminals, and from the as yet un-sworn selected ones that have no authority whatsoever to make any policy decisions, about anything at all, until AFTER they are sworn in! Yet no-one has mentioned this Mastodon in the living room, even after the massive transfer of the public's wealth ($7.7 TRILLION) that was all done without so much as a public hearing.   "Sen. Barack Obama: "We can't underestimate the challenges we face. We also can't underestimate our capacity to overcome them, to summon that spirit of determination and optimism that has always defined us and to move forward in a new direction to create new jobs. Reform our financial system and fuel long term economic growth. We know this won't be easy and it won't happen overnight. We will need to bring the best minds in America to guide us and that is what I sought to do in assembling my economic team. I have sought leaders who could offer both sound judgment and fresh thinkingboth adept experience and a wealth of new ideas. Most of all, who share my fundamental belief that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street without a thriving Main Street.   That is what Obama said: what he has done however is to re-introduce the same people that designed the destruction of the actual regulations that would have prevented this crisis entirely: And they have engineered the creation of these banks and institutions that have suddenly become "too big to fail, thus requiring the wholesale transfer of the public's wealth, without review: To those that directed these criminally-liable banks, hedge-funds, and corporations that have undermined the entire infrastructure of America's financial-institutions. Their reasons for doing all of this was simply to enable a tidal wave of new-privatization aimed at stealing whatever remains of the public's real-wealth, to create the next new bubble that will transfer all ownership from the public sector to private enterprise: and this will happen without any participation by the people whose money is being used to accomplish this theft"inside this political black-hole"that has conveniently allowed them to by-pass oversight or public participation. This is all being done from outside the constitution and from beyond any check or balance for the massive transfers of wealth that have already happened!   "Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government is prepared to provide more than $7.76 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers after guaranteeing $306 billion of Citigroup Inc. debt yesterday. The pledges, amounting to half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, are intended to rescue the financial system after the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.   The unprecedented pledge of funds includes $3.18 trillion already tapped by financial institutions in the biggest response to an economic emergency since the New Deal of the 1930s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The commitment dwarfs the plan approved by lawmakers, the Treasury Department's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Federal Reserve lending last week was 1,900 times the weekly average for the three years before the crisis.  (1) http://bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=FARBPMDW%3AIND   "GEORGE W. BUSH: This is a tough situation for America. But we will recover from it. And the first of to recovery is to safeguard our financial system. Last night on Air Force One coming back from Peru, I talked at lengths to the secretary about his recommendation on the decisions made to safeguard Citicorps. We have made these kinda decisions in the past and we made one last night. If need be, we will make these decisions to safeguard our financial system in the future.   The colonists held the Boston Tea-Party over an excessive English Tax. Their battle cry was "Taxation without Representation is Tyranny! Much has changed within the current "American public which apparently cannot tell a thief in broad daylight from a political appointee, or a functioning dictator from a selected leader. What is being done here is TREASON against the public, not to mention the crime of "silence which the public has embraced and that has made this transfer of every blood-stained cent possible, in its journey from the US Treasury directly into the coffers of these recycled-privateers that Obama has disinterred to serve his owner's yet-again today. So much for "the promise of hope & change!   "AMY GOODMAN: We begin with Naomi Klein. Your response to these appointments, and what they signify. If you could begin with Larry Summers, the former Clinton Treasury Secretary.   NAOMI KLEIN: It is good to be with you. I have to say it is a profound disappointment. It really does represent a very safe choice, but let's remember Barack Obama won this election saying that taking the status quo, staying with the same policies that have been governing the country for the recent past, was actually a very dangerous course. I think in many ways we are paying the price of the intellectual dishonesty of the progressive liberals left during the bush years. Because Obama said again and again during the campaign that the crisis on Wall Street represented the culmination of an ideology of deregulation and lassie-faire trickle-down economics that had guided the country for the past eight years. The truth is, it was not just eight years, they guided them under Reagan and also under Clinton.   That is where Larry Summers comes in because he was the last treasury secretary under Clinton. He along with Alan Greenspan and Robert Rubin were the key architects of the policies of deregulation that created the crisis that we,re living now. And those key policies are the killing of Glass-Spiegel that allowed a series of very large but mergers that created these institutions that are too big and too intermingled to fail we,re told again and again. The deliberate decision to keep the derivatives out of the reach of financial regulators- that was also a Summer's decision. And also allowing the banks to carry these extraordinary levels of debt. 33 to 1 in the case of Bear Sterns.    AMY GOODMAN: Naomi Klein's assessment. William Greider had an interesting piece in The Nation.   "On Monday, Geithner was busy executing the government's massive rescue of Citicorp--the very banking behemoth that Geithner and Summers helped to create back in the Clinton years, along with Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and Robert Rubin, Clinton's economics guru. Now Rubin is himself a Citicorp executive and his bank is now being saved by his old protégé (Geithner) with the taxpayers, money. Geithner has been a central player in the deal-making, from Bear Stearns to AIG to Citi. The strategy has not only failed, it has arguably made things worse as savvy market players saw through the contradictions and rushed out to dump more bank stocks.   "Ultimately, Mark Ames also in The Nation writes "Summers was one of the key architects of our financial crisis. Hiring him to fix the economy makes as much sense as appointing Paul Wolfowitz to oversee the Iraq withdrawal. your response, Bob Kuttner? (2)   "A People's History of Poverty in America   "While President-Elect Obama has talked a lot about the middle class, there has been little said about the issue of poverty in this country. The economic crisis is likely to have a particularly devastating impact on poor Americans. The rising unemployment could push between 7 and 10 million Americans into poverty according to a report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released Monday. Census Bureau figures from 2007 show that 12.5% of the population, or over 37 million people, live below the poverty line. The Center warns hat number could increase to up to 47 million.   While President-Elect Obama has talked a lot about the middle class, there has been little said about the issue of poverty in this country. The economic crisis is likely to have a particularly devastating impact on poor Americans. The rising unemployment could push between 7 and 10 million Americans into poverty according to a report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released Monday. Census Bureau figures from 2007 show that 12.5% of the population, or over 37 million people, live below the poverty line. The Center warns that number could increase to up to 47 million. (3)           And here's the image being used to cover-up this grand-theft of what was once a nation governed largely by its people and not by tyrants:   kirwanstudios@sbcglobal.net     1) U.S. Pledges $7.7 Trillion to Ease Frozen Credit (Update 2) http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=arEE1iClqDrk&refer=home     2) Naomi Klein, Robert Kuttner and Michael Hudson Dissect Obama's New Economic Team & Stimulus Plan www.democracynow.org/2008/11/25/naomi_klein_robert_kuttner_and_michael     3) Stephen Pimpare on "A People's History of Poverty in America www.democracynow.org/2008/11/25/stephen_pimpare_on_a_peoples_history       Part II