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This is ridiculous...
It's really easy to criminalize billionaires when there are so few.
It makes more common sense to find ways to INCREASE the wealth of us all, than to try and DECREASE the wealth of others!
The "rich" live in as oppressive a system as the "poor" just in different perspective. Some of most depressed, fearful, isolated people I know are the so-called "rich" friends I have.
If we overhaul the ENTIRE monetary system (as well as the government, legal system, education system, and religion) this planet will begin to function in a sustainable way.
Establish a Wealth Ceiling and let IRS mail out checks to the less fortunate. A country which slips into poverty is plundered by its officials.
Why should our kids have all the fun? I say "screw gun control, let's start shooting billionaires now; our kids can go after the millionaires". 8-))
Seriously, though, they can't take it with them, so why have all that money?
Blaming Reagan for today's Obama economy is ludicrous. We have a cultural degradation of our society, work ethic and family values At the root of our problems. Until we learn how to deal with this, stealing money from the rich and redistributing wealth is just moving deck chairs on the Titanic.
In 1960, 72 percent of American adults were married. By 2010, this was down to 51 percent.
The change is most pronounced among two of today's largest Democratic Party constituencies: youths and blacks. In 1960, 45 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 were married compared to 9 percent today. In 1960, 61 percent of black adults were married, compared to 31 percent today.
Means testing, targeted tax increases on the wealthy, raising the retirement age -- all proposed ways to keep Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid going as they are -- all simply grow the American welfare state, increase dependence of working Americans on government and other taxpayers, and displace family and traditional values with socialism.
This is why Democratic leaders are not stressed out by the entitlements crisis facing us. More socialism in America is what they want.
They are not bothered that slow growth and high unemployment go hand in hand with this socialism.
DAnneMarc: I still remember the great film "El Norte" when Enrique and Rosa, brother and sister, struggle to get to the US for a better life than what they had in Guatamala. Once they get here, they realize that they probably made a mistake and just want to go back home...such a sad ending!
In fact, if things keep going the way they have been here in the US, there may be a massive wave of Americans sneaking across the border to the south (like the Berlin Wall that was mostly trying to keep East Germans from escaping into West Germany... the border between the US and Mexico may reverse it's position in future years and keep Americans from defecting to Mexico or Central America). The US is becoming more and more like the old Communist system in Russia. Spying on it's citizens, media owned and controlled by a small power elite constantly spewing propaganda, special renditions, torture, the NDAA, the Pres can murder anyone he wants...at any moment they can confiscate our assets. I suppose they can do that in Mexico too. Maybe American escaping to Mexico would be like Enrique and Rosa escaping to the US.
I remember driving down one street in Guadalajara, past a police station where there was a group of policia on the sidewalk in front of the station. As I was driving past...I noticed one policeman drew his weapon and was pointing down the street in the direction I was going. He wasn't pointing it at me but just down the sidewalk. I realized that what he was doing was just clowning around. Good thing his gun didn't go off!
I'm not so sure that we don't have one in the White House. I don't know if you ever saw the move Django Unchained but the character Stephen, played excellently by Samuel L. Jackson, was remarkably similar to the sycophantic actions of the one in the White House sans the cane and fake stooped over posture.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/israels-treatment-of-et...
They can also herd many of the younger generation into yet more cannon fodder...if they get hungry enough they'll join the military and fight to the death for a scrap of food. That, combined with the constant glamorization of the military...heroic battles...in the movies, TV, computer games...what red-blooded American kid isn't brought up with the idea embedded in his/her minds that killing is fun. No wonder we have so many school shootings. You can, maybe, take away some of the guns, but the root cause will only dissipate when our children are not subjected to the glamorization of violence. Maybe we'll get lucky and these kids will grow up to use the billionaires for target practice.
The glorification of killing in our media is the worst kind of pornography...
The President has two main governmental financial responsibilities:
1. Collect taxes
2. Spend taxes to run the government
This might make some people think the President is all powerful when the President submits the new budget. But, the reality is just the opposite. It is the Congress that has these responsibilities.
It is the Congress that:
1. Sets taxes.
2. Determines spending by writing a budget
The President does submit a budget to Congress and asks for changes, but these are just requests that the Congress doesn't have to pay attention to. They can add or subtract anything...or throw it out entirely...and write a new one. Congress decides on everything they want, including all of the pork they sneak in, and approves their version of the budget.
The President is required, by law, to spend that money as set forth by the Congress. As long as more taxes come in than goes out, then everything is just dandy. But, almost always Congress puts more stuff in the budget than what comes in as taxes...which means that the President must borrow the money to cover the difference. But Congress also limits the total amount of debt that the US can have. The Congress-mandated budget must be spent...and the President is legally mandated to spend it. But since Congress created the 'debt limit' they also prevent the President from borrowing more than the limits Congress decides. The 'debt limit' may initially sound like a good idea until we examine the consequences of the interaction of these two branches of government. As the total amount borrowed approaches the debt limit...Congress acts "shocked!" that we are approaching the debt limit..and something drastic has to be done. They call it the 'debt bomb" or the "fiscal cliff". All theatrics to scare and confuse the people...the potential voters. They try to blame it on the President for being careless.
While it is technically correct that it was the President who borrowed all that money...it was the Congress that forced him to do it. The President is legally obligated to spend what Congress set forth in their budget. The debt limit is not about future spending or a credit card..it is to pay off all of those businesses and people who the government owed money to. It is about paying the bills already incurred.
The Congress, after going through all of this Chicken Little- the sky is falling histrionics...all done for political manipulation..always raises the debt limit and has done so many, many times...especially during the Bush administration. Why does this debt limit debate last months? Because of politics! Congress loves the Debt Limit because:
1. It Creates a problem that...
2. Congress can blame on the President who...
3. Needs the solution that only the Congress can provide.
Congress can use the threat of 'mutual financial self destruction' as leverage in the negotiations that they benefit from extending until the last second.
The debt limit explained...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIbkoop4AYE
I think the first issue of reform has to be getting money out of American politics. This will not be easy. The monied will fight tooth and nail but until we get this done our every effort to make progress on any issue will be subverted by their interest. While they control politics we cannot implement any solutions for climate change, gun control or anything else unless they will profit and we need solutions that address the problems, not profits.
No one should be surprised. We are going the way of Spain, and we've seen this before in Greece, Japan, Great Britain, etc. Austerity breeds economic stagnation and misery. Paul Krugman and Robert Reich should be heading Obama's economic team, but the President is foolishly sticking with people who are part of the old-guard establishment, the monied interests. I have always contributed to progressive causes--environmental groups, political groups, anti-war groups--but now there's talk of cutting Social Security and Medicare. Being a retiree (who, by the way, is now paying for some expensive medicines), I'm cutting way back on these donations until I learn if another "grand bargain" is in the works. Retirees like me will stop spending on anything except necessities. I have sent many emails to Obama about this matter, but if the White House responds at all, it's with a rehashing of the same old, vague campaign position statements. Frustrated in Wisconsin!
MMmNachos, it never occured to me that my dog might not have liked sauer kraut. I owe that dog an apology.
I liked Carlin, too. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to meet him, but glad that you did- sounds like he was as cool in person as he was on stage. I liked his skit about baseball.
I would like to post a copy of my apology letter on every future T.H. blog, but I am afraid that it would start to smell like lutefisk after three days, and I am not quite Lutheran enough to pull that one off. I am so sorry.
In closing, I would just like to apologize to God and everyone.
David Abbot
I actually agree with both questions, but I had to choose. I really think that both scenarios are true since they both follow the logic, such as it is, of the far right coalition in the Republican Party these days. If spending by the government decreases and the GDP drops, then their answer is to further decrease spending. Same logic seems to apply to guns where more guns are better then fewer guns. Their logic is not logical.
They got us where they want us. Economic insecurity for us means stronger dominance and control for them. We're so scared shitless of losing our jobs that we don't dare organize a union or even contradict our bosses.
They, on the other hand, are doing better than ever. No crisis for them.
Before Citizens United struck them down Arizona and Maine had laws that made publicly financed campaigns and the legislators from those states said that it took them less than 5 minutes to get from their cars to their offices or the chamber because the lobbyists knew which legislators were from states with publicly financed campaigns and would and would avoid those. Legislators from other states, however, would take at least a half an hour to get anywhere from their cars as the lobbyists would always mob them.
Any slow down related to cuts in defense are fine - its a discreet event and move toward a better world.
The Karma police always get their man, or in this case "race".
You can't have a "sustainable" enviroment - be it social, political,economic, etc - through an obtuse minded agenda that is motivated by whicked superiority ...NO MATTER HOW GOOD THE END RESULTS ARE. The basic laws of physics will not allow it..."For every action their is an equal and opposite reaction".
It would be amusing to see how many "Chicanos", and "House niggers" voted for Romney and Ryan. They are out there...Damn Fools!
Dear David Abbott,
This is the dog that always had your back...I hated Sour Kraut, but I loved you.
Sincerly
the Dog
P.S. Please copy and paste your "Appology Letter" on every future T.H. blog. Though your motivation is humorous your meaning could not be anymore profound and sincere...Reminds me of George Carlin...I miss that guys social commentary...I actually met and had a conversation with him 3 times; A real person and a true humanitarian.
We all need to write a letter of appology. I wonder what Ken Ware would appologize for???What Palindromedary would appologize for???What Aliceinwonderland would appologize for???What Global, Kend, Mark Saules, Myself, etc.
Thanks,
Nacho
You should read John Nichols' The Man Who Would be President. He says that.
Global,
labor, by far, isn't always justly compensated. As Woody Guthrie said, "The gambling man is rich, the working man is poor". What may be legal isn't always ethical, by any means. Everything shouldn't be organized to serve the investor class.
The masterminds who decide how much of your income you should keep or how much it should be subsidized are you and I - and everyone else - deciding collectively and democratically.
There is nothing handed down by God saying which or how much that has to be. We just gotta decide.
Content deleted.
Akunard, get your $20 but you're not contributing to the discussion. When have we last taxed the rich? In the Clinton era. Spending cuts have continued to advance. Your statement that the GOP has asked for spending cuts but didn't get them is false, willfully so, not unlikely.
Obama is the president, not the king. The actions and inactions of Congress are as - if not more - significant to the well being of the economy.
Get your $20 but you don't fool anybody here.
Ken, I apologize if the truth bothers you.
I also would like to apologize to my fifth grade teacher Mr. Blonk, for misbehaving in his class on January 3rd of 1959. I apologize to my mom for giving the dog my sauer kraut. And a great big "I'm sorry!" to America which is blessed with amber waves of grain, because I jaywalked one time about thirty years ago and I know that wasn't a very patriotic thing to do, what with the war going on and all.
I am so sorry that I didn't get to bed on time the other night. I feel such deep regret that I left a roofing stapler on the roof overnight in Grand Prarie, Texas in 1976. To say that I want to express my regret for not being taller, would sure be a misunderstatement if there ever was one. I am consumed with regret that I allowed dust to accumulate on my piano. I lost a few minutes of sleep the other night because I suddenly remembered that I forgot to turn off the compressor in my shop five years ago, and I am sorry if the noise of the compressor cycling on and off disturbed the neighbors; I should probably go over there right now and wake them up and apologize to them. I deeply regret that I never got to meet my two American Idols: Groucho Marx and Yogi Berra.
I am sorry I am just a white man trying to get by in a black man's world. No, wait, that apology doesn't really work very well, does it? I'm sorry that that was not an appropriate apology; I'll try to do better, but I apologize in advance if I do not do better.
I am sorry if all this apologizing bothers you, Ken. Oh man, I am so sorry.
I am sorry to the Vietnamese man I met in the 1970's, who told me that when he was a little boy the American soldiers broke into his house and murdered his entire family in front of him. The grief and rage in his eyes were greater than in anyone I have ever seen in my life. I really am sorry about that, no joke. I think about that man from time to time, and I hope he's ok.
I am sorry that our military has murdered so many hundreds of thousands of innocent people and displaced millions in Iraq. I am truly sorry for that, too, and frankly embarrased to be an American, and I am not sorry that I am determined that it will never happen again.
I am sorry that there are so many people in our military who like killing people and who feel comfortable making up reasons for their murderous disease. I am sorry for the harm they have caused to other countries, to America, and to humanity in general.
I am sorry that war-mongering republicans steal so many elections in America.
But Ken, I am not sorry that you are hanging around on this blog, because if you hang around long enough, some common sense and good-heartedness might just soak into you. Oh, I'm not saying it's going to happen the instant that you read this fine, upstanding, outstanding, highly patriotic email, but I think that in time, it will happen. But that's just me, and as we all know, I could be right.