On the News With Thom Hartmann: Twenty-Five Percent of Money Raised by Romney Came Straight From the Banksters, and More

TRANSCRIPT

Thom Hartmann here – on the news…

You need to know this. Zero! That’s the number of net new jobs created in America last month. The latest jobs numbers released today show that 17,000 jobs were created in the private sector – making August the 18th straight month of private sector job growth under President Obama’s watch – however that number was offset by 17,000 government jobs that were lost – mostly thanks to Republican governors who are hard at work laying off people like teachers. These are the same governors responsible for most of the half-million government job losses since President Obama took office. Also sagging the job numbers are 45,000 Verizon workers who were on strike as the multi-billion dollar corporation wants its workers to pay more for health insurance. The unemployment rate remains at 9.1% – a pretty little number for Republicans who will likely continue their opposition to any sort of jobs plan put forward by the President to put American back to work. As long as unemployment remains above 9% – the Republicans’ chances of winning in 2012 are good – and they know it.

Speaking of job losses – in two weeks – funding for the Federal Aviation Administration will run out again – and it seems like Republicans don’t really care if that happens. So far – not a single Republican has been appointed to the conference committee in charge of crafting an FAA funding bill – meaning that 4,000 FAA workers and more than 80,000 construction workers are at risk of losing their jobs…again. Last month – the FAA was shut down because Republicans insisted on slipping anti-union language into the funding bill – and it looks like they plan to adopt the same strategy. Meanwhile – from one hostage-taking to another – over 1.8 million road-repair jobs hang in the balance at the end of the month if Republicans refuse to renew the 19-cent gas tax that funds highway construction projects nationwide. Considering that Republicans have to answer to their boss Grover Norquist on all new tax legislation – Americans fear Republicans will shoot down the transportation bill – and lay off millions more American worker. With Congress set to come back into session next week – the hostage-taking, economy-destroying season is just getting underway.

In the best of the rest of the news…

Time for Wall Street to lawyer up. The Federal Housing Finance Agency is filing suit against more than a dozen of the biggest banks in the nation from Goldman Sachs – to Bank of America – to JP Morgan Chase – accusing the banksters of misrepresenting the junk mortgages they were selling to investors as securities. The suit claims that banksters knew – or at least should have known – that the mortgages they were selling to investors were toxic and essentially worthless – yet sold them anyway to make a quick buck. Mortgage lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost more than $30 billion after being hustled into buying mortgage junk from these banksters, which was the root cause of the 2008 financial crisis. Let’s hope this lawsuit is just the beginning – and that three years after the economic meltdown of America – the banksters pay for the damage they caused. Don't plan on anybody going to jail, though. We are, after all, talking about mostly white multi-millionaires.

There are new reports that the BP oil spill in the Gulf Mexico is still leaking large amounts of crude. The California non-profit organization – “On Wings of Care” – shot video this week of what appears to be a ten-mile wide oil slick floating on the surface of the water above the ruptured oil well. The video corroborates reports from last week by two men from Louisiana State University who said they saw huge plumes of oil bubbling up to the surface of the water in the exact same location where the oil rig once floated. Despite the evidence – BP is firmly denying that ANY oil is still leaking in the Gulf – but I’m not taking their word for it.

Mitt Romney is Wall Street’s man. According to political fundraising reports from the second quarter of this year – about 25% of all the money Mitt Romney raised came straight from the banksters. Compare that with President Obama – who can thank the banksters for only about 4% of all his campaign contributions in the last quarter. These latest figures confirm that Wall Street – which was one of President Obama’s biggest donors in 2008 – plans to go Republican this time around. So at next week’s Republican debate – you should expect a lot of talk from Mitt Romney about repealing Wall Street reform – because bankster money always comes with strings attached. Mitt Romney should wear NASCAR patches with bank logos – so the American people can see who really owns him.

According to a new report from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence – more than 16,000 guns are on the streets that cannot be traced back to manufacturers. Most of the guns were built without any serial number – meaning if they are used in a crime – it will be virtually impossible to track down the owner. And the Brady Center notes that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives only examines about 20% of gun manufacturers and dealers – meaning that 16,000 number could be a wild under-estimate. There’s more gun violence in American than anywhere else in the world – and the gun lobby – and it’s paid-off politicians – are working hard to keep it that way.

Crazy Alert! You’re getting very, very sleepy. A man in Colombia described as a “mischievous magician” is in police custody along with his two assistants after he performed a mass hypnosis on 75 school children sending them all to the hospital. The children were attending a street circus when they were placed in a collective-trance by the magician – and according to witness reports – began rolling around the ground – crying – and in some cases fainting. Some children even claimed they saw the devil. All were placed in urgent care in a nearby hospital and most have since come back to reality – though the parents of about 30 of the children are begging the magician to come back to the hospital to lift his spell. The magician’s identity is unknown – but I hear he has a side-gig…as Michele Bachmann’s campaign manager. That explains A LOT!

And that’s the way it is today – Friday, September 2nd, 2011. I’m – Show quoted text –