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| No Country For Sane Men One Man's Journey Into The Mind Of America | ||
"We have too many people out of work. We have a very uneven distribution of income. We have a very frustrated people, and I can understand their frustration." - Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard W. Fisher "People are quite unhappy with the state of the economy and what’s happening.... Certainly, 9 percent unemployment and very slow growth is not a good situation." - Ben Bernanke “I think it’s dangerous, this class warfare,” - Mitt Romney "If you read the newspapers today, I for one am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and the other cities across the country." - Eric Cantor October 12, 2011 The Real Columbus Day Man oh man! have the Tories come up with a bunch of hooey to describe what the Occupy Wall Street movement is about. They have really outdone themselves this time with their lies and mis- and disinformation campaigns, sputtering as they are, but gaining strength as I write this. And why would they be doing this? It's simple: they're finally afraid that the people are so freaking fed up that we've finally been pushed over the edge. That we finally have the truth written out for us in letters large enough even for the likes of Rush Limgaugh to read. Assuming Limbaugh could read. If Republicans and Democrats don't kill this movement in a sea of lies the movement will kill them in a sea of outrage that is long overdue. And they're trying. Presidential candidate Herman Caine said, "Don't blame Wall Street, don't blame the big banks, if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself!" Well, with all due respect, screw him. So here's the deal: The folks down at Occupy Wall Street are not a rabble of hippies and trust-fund kids no matter what FOXNews and other Tories tell you. They are anyone who is un- or underemployed and is fed up with the current economic malaise being borne on the backs of the middle classes while the super-rich keep trying to take more of what we no longer have. They are people, gainfully employed, who are angry that the very men and women who intentionally destroyed the American empire walked away from that crime without punishment. How many of those guys have gone to jail? How many lost their jobs? And how many didn't get a multi-million dollar bonus - with your tax dollars? Right. You go to jail for stealing a loaf of bread but you don't for stealing billions of dollars? If you don't see something wrong with that you need electro-shock therapy and a visit to a Syrian prison. They do not want to bring down capitalism. They want a serious repair of the current system which encourages the gathering of immense wealth at the expense of basic morality and community responsibility. They do not want to take your wealth away from you. What they want is that if you're earning Big Bucks (say +$250,000 a year) that you feel the same pain as someone earning $50,000 a year feels when his tax bills come around. (I will get in to the 53% right-wing propaganda in another column). You have to admit that 25% of $50,000 is a lot more painful than 25% of $250,000 and if you can't make in on $250,000 a year you're living well over your means... and we should continue to subsidize that as we're doing now? They do not want socialism. They want a capitalist system that is fair and responsible to the community as a whole. They want the wealthy to pay into social security. They want every American to have access to adequate and affordable health care. They want an end to the $150 billion we spend each year - off budget - killing people for the sake of US Corporations. They want every American to have access to affordable secondary education. They want every American to be paid a wage that allows them to live with a modicum of security. They want corporations to pay their damned taxes. Look, I'm behind but paying up. Why can't Bank of America or Exxon do the same? They want the Republican Party to stop fucking around in Washington and start creating jobs. They want the Democratic Party to stop fucking around in Washington and start creating jobs. They want the President to grow a pair of balls. They want social security and other safety nets to be in place for the future. They want banks to stop raping and fee'ing us to death for their bad investment decisions. They want "Too Big To Fail" to be erased from the language for the lie that it is. They want corporations to be treated as corporations and not as people. If a corporation loses money or makes a risky investment they want those corporations to get the same Federal benefits you or I would get which is nothing. Zilch. In other words, they want a decent, intelligent and well educated society where the gathering of wealth comes with personal and community responsibility. Why anyone would be against any of those things is beyond me and in a recent poll 70% of America's wealthy said they'd be more than willing to pay more in taxes if those dollars were spent improving the economy. Why would the Tories misconstrue or hide that? But they are and we cannot let them get away with it anymore. There's a line drawn in the sand these days and that line is here -> | <- If you get some time head down to Wall Street or the local version in your community and lend these folks a hand. Donate to their cause. Organize a solidarity demonstration in your town or county. Write a letter to your local newspaper. Call your Congressman and tell him you're sick and tired of his bullshit and finger-pointing. But whatever you do, DO SOMETHING. These folks are out there for you. Support them. Join them. JmG "I think they're really touching a nerve," Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday of protests on Wall Street that have inspired demonstrations from Burlington, Vt., to Los Angeles. "The nerve is that the average American understands that as a result of the greed and the recklessness and the illegal behavior on Wall Street, these guys plunged us into the horrendous recession that we're in right now." Even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke allowed that there was "excessive risk taking" by Wall Street when Sanders questioned him on Tuesday about the root causes of the recession and the concerns voiced by protesters. "They blame, with some justification, the financial sector with getting us into this mess," Bernanke told another member of the Joint Economic Committee. "I can't blame them," he added. | ||
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Wednesday, October 12, 2011
No Country For Sane Men - October 12, 2011 - Setting the Record Straight
