Dear Friends,
The following letter from Senator Sanders to Michael Froman, the US Trade Representative speaks for itself.  There can only be one reason to keep the proposal secret from the public is that the TPP benefits the giant multi-national corporations but not the average American.



Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

Pain au chocolat

Dear Friends,

It is Sunday morning here.  The sun is shining brightly through the French doors to our balcony facing the bay.  The flashing white light from the lighthouse on Cap Ferrat has given way to the bright sun rising.  While the temperature is 52 degrees, it feels much warmer because of the beautiful sun and lack of wind.  I walked up the hill in my shirt sleeves to the pâtisserie to get two pain au chocolat for breakfast.  Here they are on the coffee table in our living room.  Note the tulips.

The entire transaction was conducted en français as were all the other transactions while I was in the shop because all the other people were French.  Of course I did this after I hung the wash on the clothes line outside the bedroom window.  We are really French now.

As I walked home past the church, I heard the choir singing as I gazed at the beautiful bay in front of me.  Life is really great.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

Hillary Clinton and Wall Street - Antonio Weiss

Dear Friends,

Secretary Clinton's close ties to Wall Street pose a very difficult issue for me.  Since her ties to Wall Street are many and varied, I will discuss them in several blogs.  This one will focus on President Obama's nomination of Antonio Weiss as Under Secretary for Domestic Finance.  As a result of the efforts of Senators Warren, Durbin and Sanders; Move-on.org and other liberal groups and Independent Community Bankers of America, Mr. Weiss's nomination has become a controversial one with many people and groups making their views known.  Secretary Clinton has not commented publicly on President Obama's nomination of Mr. Weiss.  Unfortunately, her lack of public comment is consistent with how she is handling all important issues that are in the public's eye today.  Since I see the case against Mr. Weiss's nomination as being very strong, I think that Secretary Clinton's failure to speak out is clear evidence of her unwavering support of Wall Street.

Senator Warren's criticism of Mr. Weiss's nomination focuses on three main issues.  She sets forth her case against the nomination in a piece in The Huffington Post (here).  The first is that Mr. Weiss is not qualified for the job.  Mr. Weiss has spent years doing international mergers and acquisitions.  The job is for domestic finance.  Just because Mr. Weiss is good at international mergers does not mean that he would be good at dealing with domestic finance policy matters.  The second issue is Mr. Weiss's involvement in the Burger King tax inversion merger with Tim Horton's.  A merger that moved Burger King from an American corporation to a Canadian corporation greatly reducing Burger King's US tax bill.  The third is the constant revolving door between Wall Street and the government.  The influence of Wall Street on Congress might be better described as the control of Congress by Wall Street.  The push is to put a Wall Street person into every power position in the government regardless of qualifications.  In addition, Mr. Weiss is receiving a golden parachute from Lazard for going into government service of over $20 million.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal