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Republicans and Democrats Both Want to Kill You!
Republicans and Democrats Both Want to Kill You!
What is happening to this country?
Robert Reich points out that, in announcing the Republicans’ new budget and tax plan Tuesday, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said “We are sharpening the contrast between the path that we’re proposing and the path of debt and decline the president has placed us upon.” But the plan doesn’t do much to reduce the debt. Even by its own estimate the deficit would drop to $166 billion in 2018 and then begin growing again.
The real contrast is over what the plan does for the rich and what it does to everyone else. It reduces the top individual and corporate tax rates to 25 percent. This would give the wealthiest Americans an average tax cut of at least $150,000 a year. The money would come out of programs for the elderly, lower-middle families, and the poor.
"So what’s the guiding principle here?" asks Reich. "Pure social Darwinism. Reward the rich and cut off the help to anyone who needs it."
Most Americans who do have jobs continue to lose ground. New research by professors Emmanual Saez and Thomas Pikkety show that the average adjusted gross income of the bottom 90 percent was $29,840 in 2010 — down $127 from 2009, down $4,842 from 2000, and just slightly more than $29,448 in 1966 (all figures adjusted for inflation). Ryan says too many Americans rely on government benefits. “We don’t want to turn the safety net into a hammock that lulls able-bodied people into lives of dependency.”
Well, I have new for Paul Ryan, says Robert Reich: Almost 23 million able-bodied people still can’t find work. They’re not being lulled into dependency. They and their families need help. Even if the economy continues to generate new jobs at the rate it’s been going the last three months, we wouldn’t see normal rates of unemployment until 2017.
I wish I could tell you that Ryan's Republicans made the most disturbing statement I've heard from Government officials recently - but they didn't. That honor goes to Obama's Attorney General, Eric Holder, who gave a lecture at Northwestern University outlining his three-part test for determining when it's "OK" to execute a US citizen without a trial. Steve Colbert explains it nicely:
Do you see a theme here? We are being de-humanized by both parties in our Government. They already took away your right to Liberty under the Patriot Act, and Paul Ryan and his cronies are making the Pursuit of Happiness a game for the top 1% only, and now we have Eric Holder saying that the right to Life is not so much a guarantee under the constitution as it is a sort of conditional privilege - as long as you don't piss off anyone in power.
At the moment, the people in power seem to be on our side so Yay!, I guess.
The NSDAP rose to power in Germany with a popular "war" against Communism in which they too lobbied to change the rules of due process to "expedite" the necessary pursuit of their enemies, who could be anyone - anywhere.
As they morphed into the Nazi Party, they took advantage of those "minor changes" to consolidate their power.
Soon the definition of who constituted a threat expanded to Gypsies, Jews, Black People, Homosexuals and anyone else who happened to disagree with them - BUT IT WAS ALL LEGAL! When did "never again" turn back into "maybe later"?
Again, we're not "one of those people" so we have nothing to worry about, right? Actually, we are right back to where we were in 2007, when I first began warning people that the ever-expanding wealth gap in this nation only served to make the top 10% (those of us who can afford to invest in the markets) THINK that things were going well - even as they were falling apart.
Even now, the infrastructure of this country is coming apart at the seams and Paul Ryan wants to cut 80% of the Government's discretionary budget over 8 years. It's not even a fantasy - it's a nightmare!
Obama has already cut Government spending more than any President since Bill Clinton and 600,000 Government employees have lost their jobs (making Obama's net job creation numbers seem much worse than they are) but no amount of cutting and gutting will ever satisfy the Republicans until our entire Government is outsourced to Corporate Interests.
You are probably thinking "Great - which ones so I can buy stock in them" but this is not a recipe for growth - this nothing more than a wealth extraction - draining America dry the same way business people drain the cash out of a near-bankrupt company by refusing to spend money and draining all of the cash flow until it dwindles away to nothing - at which point they default on the debts, lay off all the remaining employees (reneging on their pensions) while the top dogs parachute out and head off for the next fatted calf to slaughter (see SHLD).
15 Greek Billionaires rank among the World's richest men (an outsized number as their economy is 1/50th the size of ours) and they and the poorer 99% of the top 1% drained that country dry over the past few decades but they all get to walk away and leave the other 20M Greek citizens and their children and their grandchildren to clean up the mess they made.
You can see it in Greece because there was no interruption of the program between the Reagan/Thatcher/Kohl revolution of the 80s and today, while the US had 8 years of Clinton pushing some of the wealth back to the middle class - which bought us a little more time but, with a debt to GDP ratio now over 100% and rising fast - we're not very far behind.
As you can see from the chart above, since the 70's and especially since the early 80's, this country has done nothing but go massively into debt - JUST LIKE GREECE - and our wealth is being extracted by the top 1% - JUST LIKE GREECE - and they will throw the bottom 99% to the wolves when the bill comes due while the top 1% skate out of this country and leave it an ungovernable wasteland with no future - JUST LIKE GREECE. But, unlike Greece - there will be no EU to bail us out.
The EU bailout is merely and "extend and pretend" move by the wealth extractors to make the bottom 99% of the nations that haven't been destroyed yet think that business as usual is still OK and, meanwhile, let's borrow more money and lower those pesky taxes and eliminate those annoying regulations because "that will fix everything." It's like the plot to a dystopian fantasy only we're not merely living in it, we're playing the part of the unwitting masses whose lives are being sacrificed on the alter of profits for the puppet-masters.
THIS is why I am concerned about the "rally." I was right in 2007 but it took an entire year for the market to collapse. I don't think we have as long this time because our second assault on the Middle Class and the poor is akin to kicking them when they are already down. On the left we have a chart of gas sales in California - the bottom 99% simply don't have anything left to give us and if people like Paul Ryan are going to insist on bleeding them until they die (or revolt) - he's likely to get that wish a lot sooner than we all think.
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Great catch.
Research before you bloviate indeed. I guess DKos didnt run an article on actual numbers, what a shock.
Should be another column in there as well- military contract workers. Would make the drop in uniformed military numbers more realistic.
All your savings and pensions are belong to us
Unless my savings are silver in the safe - AND, depending on who gets to the safe 1st that holds my 4 rifles and 2 handguns - AND depending on if you find the other 4 handguns and 2 shotguns stashed along the trail that lead to the safe.
As for the paper shit, probably worthless in 5 year anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKQ3LXHKB34
"Sir, if you have a milkshake and I have a milkshake and my straw reaches across the room, I'll end up drinking your milkshake."
Democide is the murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder.
Democide is popular among TPTB with a long history. In the 20th century, democide surpassed war as the leading cause of non-natural death. It's alive and well today, vaccines, GMO, eugenics, it's the NWO.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democide
Don't forget CHEMTRAILS.
digalert
too much time for you watching Youtube conspriacies and not enough time in medical school..
you are giving conspriacy a bad name
You are correct, Chartist. That's what fascism is all about, after all.
Robert Reich is one of the only Washington mainstays I actually can stomach. I respect him.
As to the point made about infrastructure being so awful in Amerikkka, our local paper is doing a series on our area's failing roads and bridges. Too bad we don't have the money to fix them - because instead we've spent a billion dollars building new sports complexes over the past decade-plus.
Priorities, bitchez!
" we've spent a billion dollars building new sports complexes over the past decade-plus."
If only it was just a lousy billion. But you know, the MN Vikings need a new stadium at taxpayer expense. I mean, come on--the old one is like, 14 years old.
Think how many potholes we could fill in the nation's highways by re-directing Congressional pensions.
Yeah,,,,lost me at Robert Reich too. The only thing that would have made me quit sooner was seeing Paul Krugman's name,
Keep one thing in mind: People are not a going concern, companies are......
Regarding the title of this article............it's ok. The feeling is mutual.
Feeling it too. Must be catching.
"Must be catching"
That's my biggest worry.
Stopped reading at Robert Reich.
“We begin to learn wisely when we're willing to see world from other people's perspective.”
If I had newman's money I'd feel the same...Not..... He's in mom's basement
lol...who's newman and what's that smell coming from the basement?
His own.
Stopped reading at "stopped reading at"
You're welcome ;-)
Ain't it terrible when facts conflict with one's world view?
Yes.
I'll probably be waiting a little longer but...
I'm waiting on someone to give me a reason why a flat tax won't work instead of the incomprehensible taxation system we have now where politicians dole out favors like candy.
I'm waiting on someone to tell me why the budget is done on a baseline basis instead of budgeting what one has coming in...like you and I.
I'm waiting for someone to explain to me how "pink slime" can be approved by the FDA for human consumption yet they want FDA to tell us what's fit to eat.
I'm waiting for someone to explain to me why our "best and brightest" thought GSE's were a good idea and where are they now and what do they have to say about their creation.
I've been waiting for a sane energy policy since the Energy Dept was formed. Something a little more advanced than unicorn farts, eighteenth century windmills and duracell powered match box cars.
I'm waiting on someone to tell me why it is important, and not one of the most dangerous things in the world in my view, to allow the government to mandate you by a product or service from a private company or pay a fine.
There are many things that collide with my world view Rocky.
The odd part about it is that the old axiom, "Follow the money," will answer most of your questions.
Pretty simple really. Too many of the wrong nests are getting feathered.
I absolutely agree Rocky.
But the law should not be a source of wealth creation or redistribution...it winds up being corrosive to all society when it's used that way. It should be there to make sure no one is thieving from another.
Now it seems all about picking winners and losers...with those who make the law (the house, in casino terms) always a winner no matter what.
+1, but I couldn't resist, Obama can be accused of alot of things but cutting government spending?!?!?! WTF?!?!?! It went up $857B first year from Porkulus and it's now cooked in + yearly automatic 6% rise
It's a brand new brave bizzare world with anyone with the attention span of a gnat...lol.
Reich was for "shovel ready jobs" because he knew one third would trickle down into his pocket as a tenured professor. Just as he was for NAFTA, Fannie Mae and a host of other "programs" when he was in government.
The whole ideology is a farce and has nothing to do with economics at all. It's all fun & games screwin around with peoples livelihoods until the bill comes due.
Then it's, waitress, I didn't order that meal!!!...this place is a scam!!! (as they attempt to slide out the back door)...they're no where to be found with a serious proposal to fix it.
Even Buffet is revising his ridiculous "my secretary" line down to the cleaning lady level now...lol...I wonder why that is? ;-)
"The tax system should do something, in my view, when you have an enormously prosperous economy -- and bear in mind we have over $US45,000 of GDP per capita in the United States -- so that the people who go to Iraq and Afghanistan and get the short straw in life benefit in this cornucopia of prosperity that we have," he said yesterday."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/buffett-decries-his-tax-rate-as-less-than-cleaning-ladys/story-e6frg8zx-1225935122225
So lemme get this straight, taxation is not to run the various vital departments of government at all (in Warren's mind)...it's actually to redistribute the wealth of societies producers.
Thanks for the tip Warren...so why doesn't he turn his assets over to government to redistribute?
I think we already know.
They're not producers, they're looters, guy.
Clinton & Reich were fools to go along when repubs pushed NAFTA, also the "give a Chinaman a job" bill wasn't a wise move ether.
The flat tax would expand to let the rich have exemptions as always.
Both parties are corrupt to the core, the Repubs are more blatant if you have any clear vision. Your man Santorum is the largest phony out there.
You're projecting...I never said Santorum was "my man"...did I?
I'm ABO...and never forget it.
And you forgot Rubin (that would be the guy running out the back door on the check I spoke of above) in your general myopic rant on the Clinton years...it was called Rubinomics.
Which president signed off on the repeal Glass-Steagal again?...I forget...and who exactly had his ear?
It was Rubin.
Now you're boring me...later.
I'm myopic?
Yes Clinton and his boys rolled over FOR THE REPUBLICANS.
Agreed, myopic isnt correct- flaming idiot is more appropriate.
I don't want to appear to be siding with fuck-head here, but NAFTA was a non-partisan action.
No president HAS to sign ANY legislation.
Claiming that Clinton was shoved excuses him of following orders, which is exactly what all puppets have to do (as commanded by TBTB).
Just more fallout from the one percent's "FREE TRADE" deal they got. We have to pay for falling for that.
There were a lot of people at the time who said..."where are all these Mexicans that are going to buy all these Fords" when they moved operations out. Not a slam on Mexicans of course, but it was a logical question.
Now everyone with eyes and clear vision can see it was true.
I'm for a flat tax by the way...the progressive system...with it's myriad of loopholes and special interests/tax credit stool softners has to go. It's a playground for the rich and their accountants...and even the IRS doesn't understand it fully.