The New Bankruptcy, Astroturfing Climate Change
Today a poll was released saying that 57% of Americans are in favor of the public option, up from 52% a month ago. It looks like the AstroTurf effect from the summer is wearing off.
The Yes Men did it again pulling off a Press Conference where they claimed that the Chamber of Commerce had a change of heart and decided that there is no such thing as clean coal. Too bad it isn’t true.
Recently the President of Maldives held a cabinet meeting under water to raise the alarm that small island nations and low lying nations like Bangladesh are threatened with inundation from rising sea levels due to global warming.
The Chickens and Pigeons are really coming home to roost. Remember the Bankruptcy Law reform under Bush, that mean spirited legislation that was supported by then Senator Biden? Remember how it made it harder for people to declare bankruptcy?
Remember how all that easy credit was available under the Bush administration and the credit card companies insisted upon this tougher bankruptcy legislation? Do you get the picture? Lure the suckers in and then take them for all they are worth. It is an old circus side show trick. Hookers working with thieves do it all the time. Lure a happily intoxicated gentleman up to a seedy hotel room and then rob him blind while he is in the act. What is he going to do call the cops? Sure.
There is something methodical and cruel about this and today when there were Congressional hearings about the effect of the Bankruptcy laws on people undergoing hard times and medical emergencies, we see the Republicans saying, make them pay at least according to MSNBC today.
This is from CSPAN
“Sen. Feingold: Medical Debt Behind 60% of Bankruptcies
Today 10/20/09
The Senate Judiciary Cmte. held a hearing looking at the relationship of medical debt to personal bankruptcy. The Small Business Cmte. is looking at ways to minimize the impact of health reform on small businesses. And, closed door meetings continue in the Senate on health legislation.”
This is an excerpt from a very long and hard to understand Wikipedia article on the law. Essentially consumers are screwed by this bill and now we are seeing the results.
“Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act
From Wikipedia
The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) (Pub.L. 109-8, 119 Stat. 23, enacted April 20, 2005), was a law enacting several significant changes to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. It was passed by the 109th United States Congress on April 14, 2005 and signed into law by President George W. Bush on April 20, 2005. Most provisions of the act apply to cases filed on or after October 17, 2005. Referred to colloquially as the “New Bankruptcy Law”, the Act of Congress attempts to, among other things, make it more difficult for some consumers to file bankruptcy under Chapter 7; some of these consumers may instead utilize Chapter 13.
The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) made sweeping changes to American bankruptcy laws, affecting both consumer and business bankruptcies. Many of the bill’s provisions were explicitly designed by the bill’s Congressional sponsors to make it “more difficult for people to file for bankruptcy”.[1] Although the BAPCPA was intended to make it more difficult for debtors to file a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy—under which most debts are forgiven (or discharged)–and instead force debtors to file a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy—under which debts are discharged only after the debtor has repaid some portion of these debts. Approximately 85% of debtors are not subject to its “means test” and a large percentage of the rest are able to “pass” the means test.
Some of the bill’s more significant provisions include the following:
Presumption of abuse
Prior to the BAPCPA Amendments, debtors of all incomes could file for bankruptcy under Chapter 7. BAPCPA restricted the number of debtors that could declare Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The act sets out a method to calculate a debtor’s income, and compares this amount to the median income of the debtor’s state. If the debtor’s income is above the median income amount of the debtor’s state, the debtor is subject to a “means test.”
Post-BAPCPA, § 707(b) provides two definitions of “abuse.” “Abuse” may be found when there is an unrebutted “presumption of abuse” arising under a BAPCPA-created “means test,” [see 11 U.S.C. § 707(b)(2)], or through a finding of bad faith, determined by a totality of the circumstances [see 11 U.S.C. § 707(b)(3)].
Means test
Only debtors whose monthly income is higher than the median income of their state, as calculated by the Code, are subject to being found abusive under § 707(b)(2). Debtors whose income falls below the median income figure may be in violation of the means test, however no party is permitted to file a motion in order to find abuse under § 707(b)(2), [see 11 U.S.C. § 707(b)(7)]. This creates a means test “safe harbor” for debtors below the state’s median income figure.
A “presumption of abuse” will arise if: (1) the debtor has at least $166.67 in current monthly income available after the allowed deductions (this equals $10,000 over five years) regardless of the amount of debt, or (2) the debtor has at least $100 of such income ($6,000 over five years) and this sum would be enough to pay general unsecured creditors more than 25% over five years. For example, if a debtor had exactly $100 of “current monthly income” left after deductions and owed less than $24,000 in general unsecured debt, then the presumption of abuse would arise, [see 11 U.S.C. § 707(b)(2)(A)(i)].
Additional filing requirements and fees. The new law increases the amount of paperwork involved in filing and raises the filing fees.
Criticisms
The 2005 bankruptcy bill was opposed by a wide variety of groups, including consumer advocates, legal scholars, retired bankruptcy judges, and the editorial pages of many national and regional newspapers. While criticisms of the bill were wide ranging, the central objections of its opponents focused on the bill’s sponsors’ contention that bankruptcy fraud was widespread, the strict means test that would force more debtors to file under Chapter 13 (under which a percentage of debts must be paid over a period of 3–5 years) as opposed to Chapter 7 (under which debts are paid only out of existing assets), the additional penalties and responsibilities the bill placed on debtors, and the bill’s many provisions favorable to credit card companies. Opponents of the bill regularly pointed out that the credit card industry spent more than $100 million lobbying for the bill over the course of eight years.
One of the primary stated purposes of the bankruptcy bill was to cut down on abusive or fraudulent uses of the bankruptcy system. As Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis), one of the bill’s key supporters in the House, argued, “This bill will help restore responsibility and integrity to the bankruptcy system by cracking down on fraudulent, abusive, and opportunistic bankruptcy claims.” Opponents of the bill argued that claims of bankruptcy abuse and fraud were wildly overblown, and that the vast majority of bankruptcies were related to medical expenses and job losses. Their arguments were bolstered by an in-depth study by Harvard University medical and legal scholars, which found that more than half of bankruptcies cited medical issues as a contributor to bankruptcy.
Global Financial Crisis of 2008
As the Financial Times noted during the fall of 2008, “the 2005 changes made clear that certain derivatives and financial transactions were exempt from provisions in the bankruptcy code that freeze a failed company’s assets until a court decides how to apportion them among creditors.” This radically altered the historic process of paying off creditors and did so just a few years prior to trillions of dollars in assets going into liquidation as a consequence of bankruptcies following from the global financial crisis of 2008.
Some observers have argued that this contributed to the financial crisis of 2008 by removing the incentive that creditors would normally have to keep a borrower out of bankruptcy. Institutions who provided short-term funding to financial firms such as Bear Stearns and Lehman through repo lending could abruptly withdraw that funding even if it risked pushing the firms into bankruptcy, because they didn’t have to worry about tying up their claims in bankruptcy court, due to the new safe harbor provisions of BAPCPA.”
This from Democracy Now today.
“PR Executive James Hoggan on “Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming”
The Yes Men aren’t the only group accused of pulling off a hoax in the debate over climate change legislation. In August, the American Petroleum Institute—the oil industry’s top lobbying group—was found to have asked member oil companies to help recruit employees, retirees and contractors for anti-climate bill rallies around the country. Critics said the API was trying to fake a grassroots movement to give a false impression of widespread public opposition to tackling global warming. James Hoggan, has just published a new book on corporate efforts to mislead the public on human-driven climate change. It’s called Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming.”
This whole thing of corporations astroturfing the political debate as we have seen most graphically last August when astroturf groups bused in fake activists to protest Health Care reform has become endemic in American culture. It is only recently that the media especially MSNBC and Democracy Now have begun to expose these tactics. The right wingers were able to railroad through the defunding of ACORN, a group that helps poor people register to vote and fight for housing rights.
There is a massive campaign of creating fake protests against climate change legislation by the Oil industry and the Chamber of Commerce today reported that they spent over $35 million dollars fighting climate change legislation just in the last three months. Progressive companies like Apple have quit the Chamber of Commerce because of its retrograde positions on this issue. Vote with your wallets people support companies that are support climate change legislation and health care reform. Stop spending your money on companies that oppose the interests of average people. Companies like Whole Foods whose founder is opposed to health care reform and oil companies like Exxon who oppose global warming control legislation.
This is a pretty decent tale of the scientific facts about global warming.
“Who’s Lying? A Simple Tale Of
Unbiased Global Warming Facts
Goldilocks Meets Lost In Space -
“The Three Mysterious CO2 Planets”
By Ed Ward, MD
2-24-7
The climate involves many facets of complex science and those wishing to mislead for blood moneys are more than happy to make it even more technical if it supports their uncaring, greedy and biased objectives. The objective of this article is to find the unbiased truth in a format that most can understand.
No one knows every minuscule aspect of what produces our climate, but the major reactants are known. Almost all of the references are from studies that are unrelated to Earth’s industrial global warming and are almost universally accepted.
While researching our solar systems three CO2 planets’ atmospheres and temperatures, Johnson’s “Goldilocks and the Three Planets” popped up. This short, entertaining, and informative article is highly recommended for a brief overall view of the climates of Venus, Earth, and Mars, the Greenhouse effect, and the CO2 cycle (including volcanic action for the “no SUVs” history majors). It’s amusing title seemed unique until it was Googled and 73 other references popped up. One of which was an informative 10 minute video with a slightly different perspective.
It is extremely important to note that the Greenhouse Effect of CO2 on Venus and Mars are virtually undisputed. The CO2 molecule is a greenhouse gas because of its dipolar characteristics which absorb and radiate the infrared energy (1/3 the wavelength of a microwave). The effects of infrared energy on dipolar molecules are also virtually undisputed. Apparently, no ’scientist’ was able to gain personal blood or grant money for disputing these facts.
The current atmosphere of Venus is about 96% CO2 at 90 times the density of Earth’s (93 million miles from the sun) atmosphere which is about 100 times the density of Mars’ atmosphere. Venus (67 million miles from the sun) has an average temperature of 855 F, while Mercury’s (36 million miles from the sun with virtually no atmosphere) temperature ranges from -300 F to 870 F. Venus is hotter than Mercury in spite of being almost twice the distance from the sun which should make Venus (if it had no atmosphere) about 200 F cooler than Mercury.
The current thin atmosphere of Mars (142 million miles from the sun) contains 95% CO2 with less than 1% of the atmospheric pressure of Earth. The temperature range is from a high of 98 F to a low of -190 F. This sparse compaction of the greenhouse gas CO2 by Mars’ weak gravitational force is only enough to raise the surface temperature by 9 F.
“The Discovery of the Greenhouse Effect” (1820) on Earth (93 million miles from the sun) is also virtually undisputed. Without the greenhouse effect of the gases of our current atmosphere, Earth would be a very inhospitable planet and about 90 F cooler (also a good article for basic climate information). CO2 is a proven planet warmer. CO2 has increased from less than .03% (280 ppm) to .04% (390 ppm) in the last two decades without any signs of decreasing. Earth is rapidly approaching the CO2 effects of Mars which is responsible for at least 9 F without the effects of other greenhouse gases - water vapor, methane, N2O, various hydrocarbons - all of which add their warming effects. Once, like Venus, these compounds reach a concentration where more heat is retained than removed, as is the current situation, a runaway greenhouse effect is started. There is one proven way this effect has stopped of its own accord - the melting of all of the ice on the planet. Will it be enough to prevent the formation of another Venus? The facts say that Earth will start finding out by the year 2040.
While it is believed that Venus and Earth started as very similar planets, Venus suffered a “runaway” greenhouse effect. This event occurred sometime between four billion years ago when the sun was 30 to 40% cooler (this process continues daily at an imperceptible level - to such a small degree that it might take a century to notice a measurable change in the massive amounts of energy released) and now. The slightly smaller gravitational force and closer proximity to the sun explains why Venus would runaway prior to Earth. An average surface temperature of 80 F is believed to be the temperature range at which the runaway effect would start on Earth.
The basic properties of the gaseous components of the atmosphere are fairly standard science and are further illustrated by the current temperatures/climates/atmospheres of Venus and Mars. The blanket analogy for greenhouse effect is an excellent one. If one compares the amounts/density of greenhouse gases to the thread count of a blanket/sheet, the effects are very similar and more easily understood. Mars’ blanket has a thread count of one with minimal greenhouse effect, while the Venus’ blanket has a thread count 9,ooo and retains 99.9% of the heat that reaches its surface. Currently, Earth is in between those two climates. One day, hopefully millions of years from now as the sun continues its normal star progression, Earth will become Venus long before the sun reaches a red giant phase. However, basic chemistry and physics clearly show that mankind’s actions may drastically shorten the length of time for that to happen.
In the billions of years it took for life to develop on Earth, complete/incomplete meltdowns of Earth’s ice sheets has happened several times, without a runaway greenhouse occurring. So far, the article has only dealt with the ‘positive feedback’ loops of global warming. There are many ‘negative feedback’ loops that exist in nature to cool the earth, but history has shown that the negative feedback loops will not be significant enough to stop the complete meltdown of all natural ice sheets on Earth under the circumstances that existed in the past or in the present.
Second verse, same as the first… but a little different. So far the article has not included is the destruction of rain forests by the shifting of weather patterns, the acidity of the oceans decreasing the removal of CO2 in our normal carbon cycle, and the 900 billion tons of CO2 (90 times the amount of yearly CO2 production - as well as tons of methane) awaiting dispersal from it’s resting place in the ice that is melting.
There is nothing we can do to control the solar cycle (although there is ample evidence our government is trying with chemtrails), animal production of methane, and the physics of water vapor. But, there are existing easy methods of dealing with CO2 production and more difficult methods for dealing with methane production from refuse.
Complete melting of all natural ice on the planet will result in 200 to 300 feet of sea level rise based on previous occurrences. When this happens (some have evidence of its occurrence prior to 2040 and being beyond the point of no return - the most accurate assessment of our current situation, although it is slightly optimistic in this reporter’s opinion), there will certainly be some ‘negative feedback’ loops placed on global warming. The surface area of more reflective water will be dramatically increased - although this will be counteracted by the loss of more reflective ice sheets. Millions of coastal area inhabitants will be displaced or killed like the residents of New Orleans that were murdered by covering up the rising sea levels of global warming. Fertile farmlands will be drastically reduced by rising tides. Starvation will assure that there are far fewer sapiens to worry about or to pollute the environment. Salt water will contaminate many of our water sources that are not already drained, polluted by radiation or toxic chemicals (the reason ‘the shrub’ bought Paraguay - third largest aquifer and possibly the only large clean water source left - one can live without oil or gold, but you cannot live without water - How much will it be worth?) . We will not have to drive nearly as far to get to the beach. Hydro power sources will be much more available and there will be far fewer people requiring energy by the time they can be built.
There is no doubt that some on the global warming issue have finances influencing their actions. There is no doubt that most (all this reporter has seen) of the global warming ‘debunkers’ have financial reasons for their actions. However, there is a vast difference between supporting science facts for the continuance of all of mankind, and ignoring/hiding/distraction of science facts for the destruction of mankind for the sake of blood money. Just as there is a vast difference between creating a study to evaluate the facts and come to a conclusion (IPCC - click play - 2,500 expert reviewers, 800 authors, 450 lead authors, 130 nations), creating a conclusion for the cherry picking of any evidence to support that conclusion (ExxonMobil), or deliberately censoring all information in scientific articles contrary to massive profits (the shrub).
Anyone in the past that has denied greenhouse effects, or the fact this planet is warming - the solar cycle still accounts for about the temperature rise since 1900, it fails to explain a rise of 0.4 C since 1980 (It’s the heat being retained that is causing the temperature rise), or has taken money to prove a conclusion with some facts rather than taking all the facts to form a conclusion, should at the very least be read with skepticism of their motives.
The Kyoto pact - A Slight Division of NWO Agendas for Cash and Power. While ‘the shrub’ denies and classifies (at least until very recently denying, but probably still classifying the real facts) global warming for expansion of corporate and personal greed in his NWO agenda of the ineffectual buying and selling of pollution credits. The UN uses global warming for its NWO agenda of ’savior’ for gaining control of countries with its trivial reductions of CO2 decades from now. Both of these scenarios promote the continuance of the problem rather than a complete shift from the problem - an oil driven economy with corporate and government control.
Current hydrocarbon conversion to electricity wastes between 30 and 60% of the potential energy with the majority wasting as much as the process converts. Transfer of electricity over a great distance further degrades the conversion effectiveness. Even without further development of alternate energy sources there are currently more than adequate ways to completely change our delivery of needed energy without ‘living in a cave’ as the debunkers like promote. These current technologies are not cost effective because this government has supported the creation of massive profit corporations, instead of supplementing self sustaining individual energy creation and usage and alternate existing transportation.
Personnel solar, wind and water energy converters and vehicles get no subsidies, credits, or adoption by this government. Instead, the government prefers to subsidize the corporations and let alternate energy die on the vine. Tesla Motors already has an impressive electric performance roadster with plans to produce a vehicle more along the lines of a transportation car. GM and Toyota had electric cars and NiMh- Lithium batteries that were allowed to die on the vine. If any of these already existing technologies had been given a chance to compete with the destructive forms of hydrocarbon energy usage by subsidy, incentives, or taxing, they would have the volumes of production required to lower the manufacturing costs to where they would be directly competitive with our existing vehicles - similar to the reduced costs of computers and calculators. The technologies are already here. They just need to be granted the opportunity to compete instead of insuring the current corporation-government symbiosis - all without losing any of our energy requirements.
Billions of dollars have been spent on nuclear reactors which currently already have millions of tons of radioactive waste contaminating water, air and earth without any way of getting rid of them. Our current cancer rate may be as high as 10 times the pre-1950 rates. Billions of dollars have been spent on harvesting a hot fusion reaction - because it’s a way to get funding for nuclear weapons’ advancements without the pesky truth. Virtually nothing has been spent on zero point energy, Aquygen, or cold fusion, except to denounce it by this government, despite continued advancements and partial technology working models.”
Tags: Medical Bankruptcy, New Bankruptcy, PR and Astroturfing Climate Change