Thom's blog - Wednesday November 3rd, 2010

Whoever is saying that last night was the demise of the Democratic party - they're wrong! In reality, it's the end of the Republican party. As the money in this election points out, the party of (old republicans) is now the party of (CEOs). So how much does it cost to buy the House of Representatives? Try over $300 million dollars - $123 million of which came from anonymous donors. That’s how much money was funneled into this year’s elections by outside groups. In a full assault on our democracy, the Chamber of Commerce and its big business associates rained down millions in hit pieces to knock off Democrats around the country. Also in the game, Super PACs – or front groups for billionaires – like Karl Rove’s “American Crossroads” and Norm Coleman’s “American Action Network” tossed in over a hundred million dollars to ensure that Republican corporate puppets are elected to Congress. The puppets now control the House with a likely 50-seat majority. And now in power, they have to live up to their end of the deal - legislate on behalf of billionaires like the Koch brother who want massive tax breaks, freedom to ship jobs overseas, and freedom to irreparably pollute our environment - in other words, freedom to finish off the dismantling of the middle class. Corporations were successful in knocking out good guys like Russ Feingold in Wisconsin, Alan Grayson in Florida, and Tom Perriello in Virginia – replacing them in each case with millionaires who adamantly oppose middle class policies like raising the minimum wage and extending unemployment insurance – millionaires who have promised to sell their votes in Congress to the highest bidder. What does this Congress look like when it’s bought and paid for by big business? Look no further than Rand Paul in Kentucky who made these comments this morning, "there are no rich. There are no middle class. There are no poor...We all either work for rich people or we sell stuff to rich people. So just punishing rich people is as bad for the economy as punishing anyone..." He practically spelled it out for us. Not since 1906 has our country witnessed this type of special interest subversion of our democracy. Back then, it only took 2 years to neuter the fat cat CEO’s and keep them out of politics when Teddy Roosevelt worked to get the 1907 Tillman Act passed out of Congress – an act that stopped corporations from messing around in American politics. Now, over 100 years later and a Supreme Court decision in Citizens United – our country has regressed back to the age of the robber barons of the late 19th century.
Comments


I suspect I am not the only one who fears history may possibly be repeating itself.
During the waning years of the Weimar Republic in post-WWI Germany, the democratic forces were dealt a blow by corporate power through the rise of the Nazi Party, which did not even enjoy a majority in the Reichstag. They depended on the support of other small parties.
As in the 30s and 40s in Weimar Germany, fascist, corporatist power is growing more powerful thanks to nativist and bigoted passions in our country, and corporations today, as they did in the later Weimar years, are taking advantage of it.
Similar fascistic and corporatist movements were occuring all over Europe and even in America.
What truly saddens me is that there are forces on the other side of the political spectrum who could eventually take advantage of corporatist overreach, promoting social revolution not just in America, but all over the world where corporations are abusing the middle class and wage-slave workers.
Tragically, and ironically, the revolution that hurts those most vulnerable in our society would also impact the elite, or at least force them to flee to their palatial safe havens, as they have done over the past two centuries. Most every revolution (the American revolution being the notable exception) eats its own children, and the ruling corporatist hierarchy and their stooges and their naive backers in the political trenches will, alas, be a part of the casualties and destruction.
All lose in such revolutions.
Add to this the need for a united world response to our increasingly international challenges ... this is no time for corporatist greed and self-interest to reign. The exact opposite is needed.
I thank you, Thom, for your frequent use of Franklin Roosevelt quotes in your radio program. It is a reminder that what was once beaten back in the 30s and 40s can be beaten back in these darkening days.
This great man helped our nation steer clear of Fascist and Bolshevist extremes. We need our current centrist president to stand up and be another progressive Franklin Roosevelt. Of course, I'm not the only one suggesting this. It's been mentioned on your radio program and in a number of newspaper columns.
We need to communicate this wisdom to our President, the man who, for at least two years, will stand between our version of the Weimar Republic and the abyss of either Fascism or social and political revolution.
We need to let him know that we stand behind him, if he does stand up to corporate interests. And we need to let him know that we are standing up as well inour own spheres of influence.
I suggest all centrists and social democrats and progressives and environmentalists and human rights advocates give our president our two cents' worth ...
... no, make that our ten cents's worth.
That is, I propose millions of Americans who've been disenfranchised and disempowered by corporatist political shenangians and propaganda -- the evil arts of manipulation perfected by Hitler, Goebbels, Mussolini, Pravda, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Murdoch, Atwater, Tompkins, Rove, et al -- should send a dime to President Obama.
Just a dime.
A coin featuring our nation's political savior in the 1930s and 1940s.
Send no written message. But send a powerful visual message of support ... and commitment of oneself. As you so often say, Thom, we cannot simply defer to our leaders. We must be leaders ourselves.
We need our President to be another Franklin Roosevelt. (Heck, I'd be happy if we had the other Roosevelt in our White House just now to break the corporate monopoly of resources and power.)
We also need to be Roosevelts in our own spheres.
I am sending my dime today.
Thank you for all you do, Thom.
P. Leonard Jarvis
They are no longer a vehicle for democracy. If our democracy survives it will be because the people wake up, otherwise i hope my kids get a job in another country!

I think the right wing will be so extreme that they will turn off the electorate, and not just those of us who listen to Thom, and this could very well be the beginning of the end for them, and their Tea Party acolytes.
Or we end up with Dictator Rand Paul.

If only we could bring back the Tillman Act or find another modern day alternaive to achieve the same ends.

I think you are too optimistic Thom. In Obama's speech this morning Obama looked beaten. He spoke about trying to work with business more and how America's economic power came from the (imaginary) "free market."
I believe what is going to happen is that the international corporate powers will increase it's purchasing of the Democratic party. The Republican party is completely owned so buying the Democrats is the next logical move and should not cost too much.

BLAME BUSH.....oh, yea...and Karl Rove, too.

They will adopt the Teaparty agenda. How else can they continue to attract some of the flood of corporate money.
Our only hope is a grass roots movement to undue Citizens United decision.

The Citizen's United decision was correct. The 1st amendment says that "Congress shall make NO law". None, nothing, zip, zilch, nada. Congress has no authority to say anything about speech. It doesn't matter if I want to speak as a member of group - a neighborhood association, a member of a union or a shareholder in a corporation.
It doesn't matter if I want to say something anonymously. After the way the left went after Target for contributing $100K to MN Forward, I would say that the case for anonymity is as strong as it was when Publius was pamphleteering (that wasn't free either).
Atlas Shrugged was supposed to be a warning, NOT a newspaper!

Thom,
I am writing to ask you to interview Scott A. Bonn (author, professor, consultant and media critic and expert) on the lies and crimes of the Bush Administration before next week when George Bush’s book of rewritten history comes out.
"Mass Deception: Moral Panic and the U.S. War on Iraq" by Scott A. Bonn, Ph.D. Rutgers University Press. Why did George W. Bush really invade Iraq? Is he a war criminal? "Mass Deception," the critically acclaimed new book from Scott Bonn, argues that the George W. Bu...sh administration manufactured public support for war on Iraq by falsely claiming that Saddam Hussein was involved in the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction which it intended to use against the U.S. In this book, Professor Bonn critiques the war and occupation of Iraq as violations of both U.S. and international laws. Bonn meticulously explains why, despite committing war crimes, the Bush administration enjoys both political and bureaucratic exemptions from prosecution under international law and, therefore, is unlikely to ever be held accountable for its actions. He also examines the real motivations of George W. Bush for invading Iraq—that is, emotional, ideological and pragmatic (business) factors—which had nothing to do with U.S. security. Bonn introduces a unique, integrated, and interdisciplinary theory called “critical communication” to explain how and why political elites and the news media periodically create public panics that benefit both parties. Through quantitative analysis of public opinion polls and news media coverage of presidential rhetoric pre- and post-9/11, Bonn explains that the events leading up to the Iraq war constituted a moral panic engineered by the Bush administration with the support of a compliant U.S. news media. Mass Deception connects propaganda and distortion efforts by the Bush administration to more general theories of elite deviance and state crime. Bonn is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Professor Bonn is not your average academic. He combines the knowledge and skills of an academic scholar with more than twenty years of senior-level corporate experience as an advertising and media executive. As such, he has unique insights into the public’s attitudes and beliefs, how they are shaped, and the agenda-setting powers of the government and the news media. Bonn has developed a unique, integrated, and interdisciplinary theory called “critical communication” to explain how and why political elites and the news media periodically create public panics that benefit both parties. He received his doctorate in sociology at the University of Miami, FL. Bonn teaches courses in criminology, sociology of deviance, media and crime, and criminal justice. His primary research interests include white-collar crime, state crime and media effects on society. His research examines how and why the public forms its beliefs on complex issues such as crime, drugs, punishment, war and terrorism. Prior to his academic career, Bonn held high-ranking corporate positions such as Vice President at NBC Television Network and Executive Vice President at SonicNet, an award-winning, Internet-based music service that was sold to MTV Networks in 2000. He resides in Manhattan, New York. “This book is a timely contribution to the emerging study of state crime. Bonn does a fine job of explicating moral panic and elite deviance arguments in the context of the Iraq war. A clear and compelling read.” — Gray Cavender, Arizona State University. “Bonn offers a careful analysis of the post-9/11 build-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. This book should be of great interest to scholars in the sociology of deviance, communication, political science, and to the general public.” — Amie L. Nielsen, University of Miami. http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/acatalog/Mass_Deception.html
Thank you,
Jean

I've been a Republican since 1976, but I have long thought that George W. Bush's election would bring about the death knell of the Republican Party by 2012. I didn't know how this would happen, but it somehow made sense.
I feel like Luke Skywalker on the plank of Java the Hut's floating barge. The lunatics in my party may be up now, but I still have the feeling that they're not long for this world.
I also had a similar feeling in 1997 that Bush would become President (it's a pretty ruthless family), and that he would fecklessly destroy the economy. I even started paying extra on my morgage, and keeping most of my holdings in safer places than in stocks. My house is paid off, I have no debts, and my nest egg is intact.
I liken the Republicans and Tea Partiers to my ex husband. He was a control freak. There are many spouses out there (mostly men I'm afraid), who are belligerent, bully-ing, braggarts who say they "know what's best", whilst they're belittling and beguiling (yes, that's how they keep her there) their spouses and families. No matter what you do, it's never right or enough. If the focus is taken off him, he pouts, pushes, and postures until he gets his way. After bullying their way back into the alpha spot in her home, he says ... "you'll do it my way, compromise is up to you because you caused me to be this way ... when I strike out at you it's for your own good and what I stand for is the only stand you are allowed to make for yourself. Remember woman (country), I'm a very poor looser and I'll make you pay for making me lose, even if I deserved it. I'll turn it around, blame you and get away with it. I don't want your friends in this house, I don't want our family to thrive, I just want what's best for me, compromise is not an option unless you're doing exactly what I tell you to do."
That is what a man (or yes, in some cases women) does to his loved ones when he's blind to who he is and what he's representing. Sadly, there are many families who suffer under the hand of men like I've described and sadly the country is about to suffer under the hand of the likes of John Boehner who, in so many words, gave the above mentioned speech today. Yikes! Hide and find the nearest shelter! Oh wait, they'll all be gone because they're a public service and the tax dollars that keep those women safe are, according to the Republican's, better off in the bank accounts of the rich. They'll spend those dollars that kept her away from her abuser, on things ... which will eventually help her get a job making those things, so that she can move away, on her own, if she hasn't been beaten to death or shot. Oh wait, right, it's her fault.

Thom:
I really don't give a shit anymore about the Dems or the Progressive Movement. It's just not worth my time.
I took an active interest right around Gore v Bush and watched the US Supreme Court decide it would be our King Maker. Randi Rhodes, Thom Hartmann, Ed Shultz, Michaelangelo Signorile and an entire choir load of you guys screaming into my ears via my AM (KTNF am 950) and Sirius/XM - I've been there every day for over a decade and I've cheered you guys on. ...every day.
DOMA: Struck down by a Republican appointed judge in Mass.
DADT: Struck down by a judge appointed by Clinton.
Calif Prop 8: Struck down again, by a Republican Appointed judge.
Obama's Justice Dept is appealing all of them. His Justice Department even pleads with the Pentagon to keep the gays out of our military. PLEADS!
Obama meets, for the first time, progressive and liberal bloggers less than a week ago. Meanwhile, Obama meets with the GOP two...three...four <?> times since he was inaugurated?! How does *that* work? Obama loves the GOP more than he loves the people who undebated put him into office?!
I - am - NOT - allowed - to - be - married - to - my - life-partner, Thom!
How is your marriage with Louise?! Is it a good marriage?!?
It's illegal for me to be married.
Gays couples can get married in Iowa, but the vote yesterday kicked out three judges in Iowa's courts for allowing people like us to get married. Seriously?!? People thought about the Iowa Constitution for a minute and they got fired because of a vote.
Return to nipple-rubbing, Thom. What I think about the Republican Party and what will happen now is "really interesting for me" now!
It's illegal for me to serve my country in the military, Thom. Entire careers are being destroyed because people are being honest about who they are. And Obama encourages more destruction.
So, how is your marriage with Louise, Thom?!? Really! How is it?!
My sham of a fake-marriage/"partnership" is a joke. My "joke" has been going on for eleven years now! Thanks for that, Thom! I live day by day living a joke. So again: how is that marriage of yours?! Enjoying those tax right-offs much?!? Really?
...Run off and bicker with some wack-job about meaningless stupidity in Knuckledrag, USA.
Support Obama! Quiz me some more: "What will the republicans do?!? Hrmm... How will they react?!? Hrm..... Rub my nipples some more... Hrmm.."
Like you, Thom: I'm self-employed. I'm a certified United States Veteran-owned small business owner. I served my country and my country couldn't give a rat's ass. I don't have rights in this country. I'm not a free American, and I'm packing my marbles and I'm no longer playing Obama's, Randi Rhodes', Michaelangelo's, or Thom Hartmann's street game of "Dumb".
Obama doesn't give a shit about people like me. And neither to you. Neither does Ed Shultz, or Nancy Pilosi or Chuck Schumer. It's all about the lettuce. The green in your wallet.
You guys on the radio and television are nothing but noise in my ears anymore. Clinton signs these destructive bills into law. You people (don't) crab and bitch about it. Obama supports appealing these anti-Constitution rulings and you guys are all "tut tut tut". You Progressives and Liberals on the radio are as useless as tits on a boar-hog. Limbaugh-wanna-bees.
The party doesn't belong to the Left, the Progessives or the exteme Right. "The Party" belongs to the check-book. And that doesn't include you.
EnK

iT SEEMS TO ME that we are smelling the Tri-Lateral Commission game here. We are dealing with Trilionaires who actually do all the driving of this earthbound ship. They have their spaceship designed, and when the poor and middle-class (what is left of it) finally combine to form a strategy toward their newly elected puppets (Called Republicans), they'll fly outta here anyway! We regular folks are merely maggots to these Super-CEO's. The military does protect them! This may seem far-fetched, but I think we better start thinking on this level, cause what we have been doing just will not work anymore. We need a bright moment folks. Lets get busy! Nuff said!!
First of all, jmac are you sure it isn't jpac? I just had to point that out. I live in Texas, a state notoriously filled with rednecks and morons. And they turn out to vote-every election. But perhaps we can look at this as not a defeat but an opportunity. With every bill, every quote or plan detrimental to us lower 97% my plan is to spread the word. Of course we don't have endless funds or nonstop media attention a la faux news...but I pray they do just enough damage to show American exactly which corporation they backed this election. Also, I think Democrats were wrong to distance themselves from Obama. They should be proud of the strides we made and that we took off running. Someone should have run an odd with their opponent sitting on their thumbs...and a Koch brother's lap dressed as Santa. "What do you want this Christmas Rand Paul?" "An election victory Mr. Koch Clause" "you got it Rand ol' boy!"
Erik you can't give up. Your a veteran, what's that old adage? Don't leave a man behind? Think of all the young men and women curious about their sexuality who can't possibly comprehend the struggles ahead. The fight to live a their own lives and be who they truly are. I know it's hard and discouraging but if you give up you will never know victory. I don't delude myself into believing this will be resolved any time soon. But I do know that without the likes of us this country will continue it's free fall unabated. We must never give up- for future generations and the freedom this country was built on.

Pass the hat and a dooby Thom and by it back, you bought it last time.. what happen this time?
Put your dooby down Thom and let the air clear and you might be able to see the debt clock. How much is the public debt today Thom???
Interesting view Thom but I see this as a lack of leadership. If Obama, Pelosi and Reid would have ran with the agenda of the progressives, the one he campaigned on, the midterms would have turned out differently. There wasn't going to be any help from the republicans, but that should have been foreseen and avoided. Most people would define majority as 51%, only a moron would allow it to be 60%. Even at 60%, if the CHANGE agenda would have been pushed, even if it failed, progressives would have seen the reason for failure, republicans. Instead we got the weak compromises that neutered most bills that managed to get through which pissed off progressives. I can take failing as long as the effort is strong and sincere.
A worthless lying pig, really? Can you enhance or elaborate on that just a bit? After listening to the tea party candidates and republicans lying as a religion, I’d love to hear the lies Thom is spewing. Come on Jmac, lay it out, let’s poke this “pig”, and backup your comment with some fact. Sorry, I probably threw you for a loop with that word, fact, but see what you can do.
Thom, you are 100% correct----> Obama needs to kick some ass. He is seen by many of his supporters as weak. The right knows how to fight, as they view this as a war. Obama seems to view this as a hobby.
I just want to know what they(the repugnicans) think they are going to do with 300,000,000 destitute people they don't consider to be "Americans". They have a plan to create them...........

The very idea of the "boner" speaking is enough to make ones head spin! But as an extreme idealist it may be just one more thing that might put more light on the sheer level of idiocy that is ruining this once very great country. On the other hand, as the politcal stratigist stratigise, the pubes may just use it to thier advantage as with previous 2 years of obstruction they may well push all sorts of stuff through and use the right wing talking machine to gloat about what "they" have accomplished in an effort to regain the white house in 2012. That is scary! Get it? My daughter of 16 does!
More over I don't think Obama should concede anything!He needs to tighten up the laces and get all the way into the ring, front and center. Quit hanging around the ropes. What he should do is start his own gloat fest and should continue to speak his speak but start caring a big, big stick. Be seen and heard not just for some midterm election but weekly! Got fire side chats? Its know secret the demoquacks lack spine but the president? JOhn "boner"? I just can't phathom it. my head is pounding even now. I mean can you see the "boner" boo hooing to the president lieke some whiny little kid and then get what he was boo hooing about? Obama concedes to compromise? No! What the president should do is tell them all to get thier butts to work and dig us out of the hole that some one else got us in and tell them all to quit blaming him!
ME? I try to change it one conversation at a time even as people I once considered erudite have actually fallen for the notion that the tea baggers could actually run things any better!
By the way thom, Love your show!

huh...what? rocks keep to many people in the dark get out and get some light once in a while. Get informed. read the news. sift through all the bullshit i call clues. And then you might just be waliking a bit more to center with the rest of us.

current public debt looms right around...$13,731,561,611,850.77. $10,000,000,000,000 of which was a going away present from the previous president. Or some amount there abouts. With 309,418,906 people that equals a shared debt load of $44,378.55 per person.
Its to bad we can shit golden eggs! I'd donate a few if it would help!lol Instead I'm just a working class stiff shitting golden eggs for my boss.
And as long as your curious the IRS estimates that close to $400,000,000,000 goes missing each year do to the cheaters and skanks getting away with cheating and skanking. Thats only on the schedule C and E filers. imagine how much more is missing with cash under the table deals.
Put that in the bong and smoke it.

The best government that money can buy. Destroy education for the masses. Exploit ignorance for the sake of the elite on a global scale. Today Germany exploits shovel ready industrial parks and cheap labor to their economic advantage, tomorrow Dubai, China, , Japan, Israel ? The list goes on.
The best and brightest and most motivated among us should be professionals in primary and secondary education but that profession has been relegated to little more than ditch diggers and sewer workers. You get what you pay for. An uneducated public is a public ripe for exploitation and that is an extremely lucrative enterprise if you are a member in good standing with the global elite. Yesterdays Shaw becomes tomorrows President of the United States. Will the elitist destroy themselves ? Eventually , yes, but in the interim they continue to utterly destroy checks and balances. Rather than debate and lay strategy for a common goal ,moving the ball in one direction, globally the money has joined forces against the better interest of the populace for the sake of short term gain. Money talks, especially when it comes down to privatizing education and who gets educated and who gets their hand put to the shovel in the ditches. That is a huge obstacle to overcome and may the powers that be help us in getting back on our own two feet on that score.

"Current Public Debt Looms" Disney Land. The Nation as yet fails to comprehend the math. Ultimately you cannot leverage yourself out of debt by accumulating more debt. It's a trick of smoke and mirrors. Bush, with the dot com bubble and WTC biting his heels almost managed to pull it off with the housing Disney Land. Obama keeps Disney Land up and running with bailouts and "stimulus".
Debt added to debt. Ultimately you can't leverage yourself out of debt by accumulating more debt. You can make yourself look good in the short term but in the end the only alternitive left is inflation on a devistating level in order to balance the books and start aknew.

Thom Hartmann is obsessed and outraged with the thought of a CEO of a major health insurance company legally earning millions of dollars in salary and stock options that were duly voted on by the board of directors and stock holders and I would like to emphasize legally. Yet, the waste fraud and abuse of the Medicare and Medicaid systems is twice as much as the top15 health insurance companies earnings combined and to boot, they are solvent! Looks to me like it would be prudent for the system that Thom Hartmann is so fond of… is to hire a couple of these CEO’s so they could clean up the corruption and mismanagement and save the taxpayer literally billions of dollars for the cost of a few million needed to hire them!
What I just pointed out to you is the hypocrisy, ignorance and downright foolishness of a socialist! (Thom Hartmann) The socialist does not like being called a socialist because the definition of a socialist is that the state also has ownership of industry and control. Where as they only seek control. That’s like me owning my car but they get to drive it. The democratic socialist or "progressive"… is defined as leaving the owner ship of property and business in private hands and controlling everything else from the democratic process. That is not going to work because the entrepreneur will loose the cost benefit reward plus resentment.
Thom Hartmann takes himself to be intelligent and humane, but… when you believe that a human, "be they a socialist or a capitalist" is going to perform flawlessly you are a fool! The best way to deal with life is to have the liberty to seek the knowledge and make the intelligent choices for your self.
You can choose to do business with a corporation or not! You don’t have that choice with a government agency and that is why government has waste, fraud and abuse!
Now all we have to do is de-socialize the educational system or… should we let it collapse under its own foolishness? For starters…close the DE now!
Of coarse the question still remains for the socialist…What do you do with the poor?
Answer… You can be charitable or not! Errantly, charity is a word the socialist will never except or be responsible for. Charity is a moral obligation not enforceable by law. Charity is a direct threat to their ideology and occupation… which is basically pissing and moaning!!!
Robert Jacobs
PS Iwould like a responce from Mr. Hartmann him self!!!

The only up side to this is that the economy is unfixable at this point due to idealogues having destroyed not only dmocracy as we knew it but most of our precious resources as well. The powers that be on both sides are unwilling to do anything to REALISTICALLY address the situation, it might as well be the republicans who get to take the blame. They will do awful, despicable things to try and continue the business as usual paradigm and they will fail.
It may finally become clear to people who have a hard time thinking clearly and critically about issues and who need to rely on simplistic ideas fed to them by authority figures and just don't understand the complexities, by actually having to wind up living in a collaped society due to their idiotic support of predators who care nothing about anyone or anything but their own obscene need to constantly seek more and more power.
Get ready my friends by learning how to be resilient and live in community with your neighbors. Those who don't are going to suffer a great shock one day when they go to the market to buy food and it is gone or so expensive they cannot purchase it. Start growing food in community gardens and learn how to do things without petroleum now while there is still time.

they will dissolve from the peoples voices in government, into representatives of the largest corporations able to buy them. they themselves will become rich in the process, in exchange for selling a very tiny part of their soul/conscience, by passing just a couple of corrupt or totalitarian type laws each, all of which will total up to a cohesive, nation-wide fascist agenda, which MOST of them, in lower standing, being as short sighted, power hungry and stupid as they are, will not even realize what is being perpetrated upon their once "great" nation and selves by the "most high" bankers and corporate monarchs- who will have their most trusted lackeys serve them in the highest offices such as the presidency - et al., these types that have always sullied their hands and hearts with blood and suffering throughout the history of world power on behalf of their kings, emperors, popes, and lords will be privy to truths they might be entrusted to each according to his/her loyalty and/or belief in the cause. yes. ALL OF THIS. As will the democrats succumb to the same fate, just as their counter-parts in the republican in the republican party, will all be eclipsed by the billions and trillions of dollars given in support of their sponsored "opponents". Goodbye America, good U.S. of A. I will fight for you if I can in any way effective. But till that day, i may be else where if I become able.

Very succinctly said. Oh, to bring back the Tillman Act!
And please don't let there be a repeat of history with the Weimar Republic.
From my state, one senator is already bought and paid for by banks and insurance companies. That makes me angry.
But I'm afraid we are seeing the final nails being hammered into the coffin of the middle class. Now the working poor will have a tougher time.

It's accept.
True. Medicare fraud needs to be cleaned up and the Justice Department is working on that.
Just because corporate boards give out huge compensations doesn't make it right. While we are at it, let's look at the inflated incomes of athletes, coaches and managers. Why didn't you mention those? It isn't the rich that drives the economy. It is the now defunct middle class. The 90% of the wealth held by the rich in this country buys only yachts and caviar and champagne. How many are employed in those industries? The working poor buy the milk and bread and cars. Henry Ford gave his workers raises so they could afford to buy his cars. Well?
And while we are at it, I say look at the Department of Defense budget and cut out the waste. You didn't mention that one. Why?
Education is important. If there were more readers in this country, elections like this one wouldn't happen. It would be nice to be #1 in the world in math and science education which we are not. We aren't even #2 or even #10.
And the health care system? We have now fallen to #49 in the world in life expectancy. This is an indicator of how bad the system is.
Looks like the Golden Rule is dead. And I'll take socialism over fascism any day.

The rich already pay 70% of the cost of our civilization, I see no reason why they shouldn't pay 100%. Civilization should be free to the majority in a democracy.

This despite the Government Accountability Office’s accounting of $70 billion in new Pentagon waste in the last two years alone. Despite the fact that the U.S. and its NATO allies outspend the rest of the world’s militaries by a factor of two; that the U.S. military alone outspends its nearest competitor, China, by at least six times. That the combined militaries of Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, Somalia, and Syria spend less than one percent of what our military spends.$14,120,000,000,00025.2%25$741,200,000,000• The United States spends nearly as much on military power as every other country in the world combined, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. It says that we spend more than six times as much as the country with the next highest budget, China.
• The United States maintains troops at more than 560 bases and other sites abroad, many of them a legacy of a world war that ended 65 years ago. Do we fear that if we pull our bases from Germany, Russia might invade?
• The intelligence community is so vast that more people have “top secret” clearance than live in Washington, D.C.
• The U.S. will spend more on the war in Afghanistan this year, adjusting for inflation, than we spent on the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War and the Spanish-American War combined.
Canada's PM Theivin' Harper has led the largest military buildup since WW2 with 50 ships for the navy, 65 new F-35 jets surely drones could do the job for exponentially less.
Aside from the fact that these expensive toys will cost anywhere from $16 to $30 billion, which works out to $500 to $1,000 for every man, woman and child in Canada; or to put it another way, $16 to $30 per year for every single person in the country for a period of 30 years… although the cost could actually be higher, so let’s say $40 a year per person for 30 years or so…
The 5-bladed EH101 had been the Maritime Helicopter Program’s initial winner, and a civilian version currently serves in a search-and-rescue role as the CH-149 Cormorant. Canadian experiences with this type have been strained, however, due to reliability and readiness issues.
In the end, Canada chose a different platform, but the ride has been rough. In 2000, program costs for 28 maritime helicopters were estimated at C$ 2.8 billion. That escalated to C$ 3.1 billion in 2003, and by 2010, the cost of purchasing, providing 20 years of in-service support for, training personnel for, and extra spending to keep the CH-124 Sea King fleet operational during project delays, had hit C$ 6.2 billion.
The war in Afghanistan is estimated to cost every man , woman and child in Canada $4,500 a year.The mission was extended by Harper without a vote.So why are we so heavily invested in one of the world's most corrupt, intolerant and illiterate countries?A country where you would be killed for burning religious text-killed for a myth-it's a theocracy.Is it the belief that if we occupy them for generations that when we leave they will continue to educate girls and women?It's still a horrible country for men-failure to pray 5X a day will result in a severe god squad caning.
Are we heading for a world war since that the only way however briefly, that Kaputalism can create full employment.Well hey if I die, it's the best fate that can befall a pauper.These days it seems the only possibilty that may grant me work.
As long as GOP / Robber barons are in control...Thanks to Reagans deregulation - Bush Cheney & Goldman FED 's toxic policies rule Middle class wages will keep going down . Fat cat policies & huge cuts - perks will prevail. GOP will chose billionairs & huge Corps over we the people They have the power - they reign supreme. Much of the blame goes to gullible ignorant voters. I am a formerly gullible GOP voter. NO more I have learned the hard way what -who the GOP stands for Its not us . They lie, smear-revise history and no one cares .Surely not corp owned media .GOP policies- tax cuts are very good for huge coporations. Not good at all for average workers / families /seniors / kids education / or the weakest or poorest among us That includes millions of kids - mentally ill & disabled -the old as well.
I am truly afraid of the future - the direction we will go iF GOP wins in 2012 !! Thats not hyperbole

There is an easy fix for the budget problem:
Charge a 1% Transaction fee all derivative trades. (It was the derivatives that sunk the economy in the first place.) There are 400 Trillion dollars of derivates traded annually. This would create 4 Trillion dollars of revenue. Allocate 2 Trillion to the states and 2 Trillion to Federal budget--problem solved.
The Congress is trying to fix hangnails while our legs have been cut off and we are bleeding out on the floor of Middle Class distruction. This rangling in the Congress is a prime example of political theater--no one is really addressing the problem on the scale that we are expereincing.
I have written my Senator--no answer--we have the best government that money can buy!

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Après Moi Le Deluge, Louis XV King of France before the revolution
Le Deluge has begun. So seniors….. let’s see how long you can survive without social security (which is not bankrupt by the way, its funding does not come from the common fund, it has trillions in assets which the parasitic banks and Wall Street want to get their hands on), medicare, medicade and health insurance, with tax breaks to the parasitic rich, you are about to be raped and it is all going to be taken away from you by the whores, parasites, psychopaths, corrupt media, corporations, and repignicans. But some of you in your infinite stupidity and laziness decided to elect them. You drank the Kool aid. Of all the industrialized nations American is no shining beacon. It is a backward, ignorant, parasitic, destructive, corrupt, bankrupt, inept, and incompetent country; you can’t run a country with those kinds of people in charge. So, wake up and let the scales fall from your eyes, stop the self-delusion. What are you going to do about it? America is dying but all countries or governments die eventually, look at England at the end of the 19th century, look at the middle east, and Europe and Japan after WWI and WWII. We need something to replace this non-government we have, which doesn’t represent the people, we no longer have a real democracy, it is fascist, replace it with a social democracy like they have in Europe. But Americans are so ignorant they don’t know what a social democracy is, it’s not communism or Nazism. You have done it to yourself again. America needs to enter the 21st century.

What the wealthy republicans are too sociopathic to see, is that if they succeed in their goal of entirely eliminating America's middle class and driving the poor class to the point of Africa-style malnutrition starvation and dying in the streets, and gain absolute power over the entire world, they (the hyper-wealthy) will suffer because of it. I know, they will laugh if they read this. But consider the self-evident fact that republican corporations are directly responsible for virtually all of the pollution on this planet, and if they got total power that would mean they would have total freedom to dump far more toxic industrial wastes into the water, air, soil, and food that we all share; republican corporations are directly responsible for making, selling, advertising, and ignoring and lying about the dangers of chemical fertilizers, insect poisons, and weed poisons, promoting nuclear power while ignoring safe ways to generate nuclear power, and promoting hatred, fear, and war all over the world. Obviously, if the republicans get the total power that they obsess about, they will turn every square inch of this planet into a poisonous, radioactive, smoking ruin that can't support any life of any kind. And I would find small comfort in the fact that some of them, as they took their last gasping breath of poisonous, radioactive air, and died, would realize what they had done, and feel regret. But I think that many republicans are so insane that they would rejoice even in realizing that they had killed their own families and themselves- they are that fixated on causing suffering. Therefore, republicans can't be trusted to control their own behavior, and they can't be allowed to get what they want, even when they throw sociopathic snits and threaten to run this country further into the ditch that they have already run it into.
And how fascinatingly ironic- and Biblically correct- it is that in protecting ourselves from the republicans, we will save the republicans from themselves. Truly, we are all in this together.

Leigh3605...and just like there are bullying men, there are bullying women, and bullying institutions....watch "Agora".. the movie. What? You don't believe all of the non-sense that I do? Let's stone them or burn them to a stake. I know the kind of wind-bags and controllers of whom you speak and shun them with a passion.

SassyLass924...Scott A. Bonn sounds like someone interesting to read, and hopefully listen to, if Thom manages to interview him. I'd also like it if Thom was able to get Michael Hudson, the economist, on for an interview. I know Thom has had the other Michael Hudson on who also has similar views and has written similar books on the subject of our economy but the professor from the University of Missouri in Kansas City, who was also Kucinich's economic advisor would be fantastic to have on.
If, after listening to, or reading, Scott A. Bonn, and you can buy what he says...then how can it so far fetched to believe that these same devious and manipulative people are not behind the 911 false flag operation...planting explosives in the WTC buildings, installing specially programmed computer controllers on the airplanes and controlling them to crash into the WTC buildings, and using 19 Arab patsies who may have had absolutely no idea that this was going to happen?

enkrypt@yahoo.....I tend to agree with you very strongly in most everything you say. I believe that the Democratic party (as it is today) is used as a sort of "cushion" or "blow valve" that the wealthy use to give false hope to those they have pushed to the limits of exploitation. The media talk show hosts that pretend to be on the side of the little guy usually has a lot of money socked away themselves and would probably, economically, be in the same boat as the rich corporations they rail against. So are they really "our" friends that we should look up to and believe? It is really fun to listen to someone that rants against those who are exploiting us but what good does it really do unless they actually inspire us to lash out against our oppressors, physically...because "sticks and stones...." won't get us anywhere. I tend to wonder about anyone's motives when they continue to support a turncoat, wimp, who doesn't follow through with their campaign rhetoric when they finally convince people to vote for them. Obama, and many other Democrats are NOT OUR FRiENDS! They have proven what they are through their actions or inactions. It would be just as tragic for the well being of the majority of hard working, tax-paying Americans if we reelected a "turncoat" as it would be to elect a Republican. The Republicans, we know are our enemies; but, the Democrats are a menagerie of cloaked weasels pretending to work for the people but sell us out to the rich. We need to get rid of the faux Democrats and blatantly criminal Republicans and put another party in charge for a while....and not the Tea Party..they are a bunch of controlled-by-the-rich (Kochs, et al) useful idiots. Hell, I'd vote for Jessie Ventura before I'd vote for Obama again.

A Justification for Taxing the Super Rich:
A brief encounter with right-wing radio, while driving home from work, got me so mad I almost broke the steering wheel. In essence, one of Murdoch’s well paid and under taxed propagandists was repeating the same old hare-brained republican talking point. The one that says taxing the rich is a job killer. I wondered, in anger, what trickle down planet this guy lives on, apparently not earth.
Let’s take a look at job killing reality for a moment. It wasn’t long ago, Republican Mitch McConnell, showed his big-money-interest true colors by thwarting a democratic attempt to repeal tax laws that encourage corporations to keep exporting jobs overseas. Now connect the dots: tax breaks for the rich, slave labor, US job losses, obeying corporate masters, republican politicians, all in one sentence. What a surprise! This total disrespect for the working class barely caused a stir in corporate media. Had the average citizen been aware of this, with unemployment nearing 20%, I suspect there would have been riots in the streets.
The Republican/Tea Party agenda is pretty obvious. Besides doing everything they can to make President Obama look bad, a central thrust is the maintenance of tax codes and labor practices favorable to the creation of ill-gotten wealth. This form of parasitical enrichment comes in many forms. I’ll mention a few good ones: repeal of Glass-Steagall- making it possible for banksters to loot the working class 401Ks, no bid military contracts, continuation of the Bush II temporary tax cuts for the super rich; US CEOs making in 8 hours the amount it takes their average worker a year to make. On top of this, the Tea Party is convinced this CEO needs tax relief. Another good example is where Thurston III makes huge profits from his oil commodities trading thanks to working class people driving to work. This is fine until the people enriching him find out his unearned income is taxed less than their earned income. He might do well to thank the people who had to drive to work to earn a living for making it possible for him to not.
In a functional democracy, it’s just common sense that a fair and moral tax code should prevail. With this currently lacking, the massive redistribution of wealth from the working class hands that created it, into the hands that did not, will continue. It seems the best tool to legislate against such greed is taxation of the super rich. By this method it’s possible to redirect ill-gotten wealth back into the working class society that created it. This is our best chance of prosperity for all, instead of just for an elite few.

ALL OUT REVOLT !!!

Mr Jabobs:
I don't know about you, but after I total all the premiums, deductables, and copays and compare them against what insurance WILL pay, I find that insurance runs off with most if not ALL of my hard-earned money. It's hard for me to understand why I should be paying for or feel an obligation for some insurance CEO jerk's fifth house in Switzerland instead of receiving SERVICE from the product I am purchasing.
There are massive amounts of money/profits in the insurance industry with too much of it going to CEO salaries. I think ALL that money could be better spent helping REAL people--you know--the people who PAY for the product and maybe those who are unable to pay, because some of us believe that all humans have value and that healthcare is a human right, not a commodity.
These wealthy people LOVE the suck-ups like you. You help them stay in power--support their greed--their selfishness, because you are their mirror. I think all of you "survival of the fittest" jerks should find your own island where you can out-survive each other and live out your childish/competitive/selfish "Lord of the Flies" mentality and leave the rest us adults to survive and prosper on our humanity and shared community--you know ADULT values.
By the way. the CEO of the largest bank in China only makes about $150,000 per year. It's only a job afterall--not a kingship.

To add Mr. Jabobs:
It's hard for me to understand why I should be paying for or feel an obligation for some insurance CEO jerk's fifth house in Switzerland... his country club fees, his children's private school education or their $1 mil birthday parties, his wife's spa or shopping trips to Paris, etc., and for his golden parachute when he FAILS, instead of receiving SERVICE from the product I am purchasing.
I think you should refer to the comment by some wealthy poster (Alenite #19) on Thom's blog last week about the violence in Boston against the Wall Street protesters to see just how much the wealthy "appreciate" your support.

When the people are united and the people lead, leaders necessarily have to follow. At no time in history have so many people been able to come together from so many diverse area of the globe. History shows that the best and most successful changes have been made when social movements forced a new reality. Do not underestimate the changes people have made so far: busting monarchies, ending slavery, child labour laws, civil rights.....Social andPolitical unification of the masses is the biggest threat to psychopathic capitalism. I strongly believe that as people from everywhere talk, share ideas, educate each other and practice resistance, change must occur. Creating new realities at home is within our reach ( however fragile it may be right now) and I agree that this movement should not be co-opted by any party. Full of intelligent and and dedicated young people, they will figure out what needs to happen and how it must be begun.
Thom, you are 100% correct----> Obama needs to kick some ass. He is seen by many of his supporters as weak. The right knows how to fight, as they view this as a war. Obama seems to view this as a hobby.