D1 Monoply

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DRAFT #1, Dated 10/20/2011

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Monopoly
The book that our political class and the mega-rich and dont want published
By J. Kane Latta
Financial Contributions
http://theresistancejkl.blogspot.com/2011/10/contributions-feedback-contact.html
Input, Feedback and Direction: JKaneTheResistance@hotmail.com
Monopoly is a registered trademark of Hasbro, Inc. This book is in no way affiliated with Hasbro, Inc. and any use of the world Monopoly or reference to the board game is in accordance with common public domain usage of the word and board game.
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Copyright 2011 This draft may be forwarded but ONLY in its entirety. All other rights reserved.
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A Special Thanks To: Jacquelyn Who grounded me and warned in vain about the perils and uphill battle of speaking the truth while offering her steadfast and unwavering support every step of the way.
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Foreword I always knew Id write a book some day, but never envisioned it would be this one. It started out with me, just an average citizen, suddenly having something none of us ever have . . . some spare time. That time, was bestowed by the Great Recession were all now living in. Even though were told its now over, we all know better. A news junkie, just like many Americans, I was and to this day am not a political junkie or someone with a natural curiosity about the economy. Only a few pages into this book and you will question both those assertions, but they are in fact true. If our common economic plight, within the context of the political arena, had no bearing upon our nation and my fellow citizens, I wouldnt be the least bit interested in either topic. If both the economic plight of our nation and the political arena had no bearing on peoples everyday lives and future of our nation all the data, numbers and information provided herein would simply be a waste of your time to read. Well America, if you dont realize it now, you will realize in time our common economic plight and the context of that plight within the political arena are just about the only things that really do matter. The reason for that is quite simple: at a minimum all Americans need to eat and we all need a roof over our heads. Meeting the two basic human needs of food and shelter are now in more jeopardy than at any time since the Great Depression and as you will learn herein the economic challenges ahead are absolutely immense and complicated well beyond what most Americans now understand. To confront and overcome those challenges America must now focus solely on three very succinct issues: massive wealth disparity, a strong U.S. economy and creation of good private sector jobs. As I researched, peeled back the layers and evaluated, I became ever more alarmed by what I uncovered. Previous to my research, I saw my fellow Americans as a happy go lucky group of souls living their own respective versions of the American Dream. Now I view my fellow Americans as a humble trusting group of people, being led to their economic slaughter by a corrupt political class owned by a greedy aristocracy playing a massive divide and conquer game via diversion and manipulation of the truth in order to amass even more wealth and power. The cherished and long held idea that America is a classless society where economic opportunity and upward mobility exists, as you will discover herein, has never been further from the truth. With the exception of having an extensive 20+ year career in corporate communications, business journalism and marketing, Im no different whatsoever than any other average American citizen nor does such a background qualify me to write this book. If Im qualified to understand and interpret the facts, statistics and implications of this book, then so are you. Im merely the messenger of the facts, statistics, data and historical facts. While I of course draw some conclusions from the information, interpretation is up to readers. Nonetheless, my background does uniquely qualify me to unlock and decipher spin and sophisticated political manipulation. At the end of the day, its all advertising and marketing and once you realize that reality youll see beyond it with a big picture perspective to understand that we have all been played and manipulated for decades. In Part I, the multifaceted games are exposed and in Part II, the beginnings of a resistance plan are put into place to end to the games. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet no singular political figure, existing political party or piece of legislation that will restore the American Dream overnight. It took decades of apathy and misguided trust in a failed political class to get us into the economic mess were now in and it will take years to turn the corner to get us out.
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If nothing else comes across herein, two realities are critical to get across: 1) the economic/political hierarchy is no longer working for the vast majority of the American people and 2) unlike at any time in our past, average citizens now have quick access to credible information resources to clear away all the babble and noise killing the American Dream. Armed with that information, the ONLY hope America now has is for average citizens to step-up and get involved in order to save the American Dream. The current political class is simply not equipped or capable of addressing the issues without the leadership of common citizens. The days of worshiping some cult of personality political figure or following and buying into the lofty rhetoric of so called political rock stars with the flag as their backdrop is a failed exercise in futility. More importantly, while voting is essential, merely voting every couple of years and doing nothing else in between, is about as effective in bringing about any positive economic changes as cursing at your TV. Only a massive push by engaged citizens acting in their own economic self interest and a constant monitoring of every movement the political class makes, will turn things around and restore the American Dream. Anything short of a mass uprising and peaceful revolution by the American people will produce nothing but more status quo empty promises, hollow rhetoric and the same old political games that have been killing the American Dream for more than 30+ years. By design and execution of an elaborate manipulation scheme, were a confused and divided nation focused on anything and everything except the three most critical issues we now face: wealth inequality, a strong economy and creation of good private sector jobs. The time has arrived to say goodbye to cable news, the Harvard economists, political pundits and the talking heads dividing America with gotcha politics, smokescreens and manipulation. Its time that Americans admit that we have a grossly dysfunctional twoparty political system that serves only the greedy desires of the mega-rich. With an inquisitive mind, the Internet and a few clicks of your mouse the big picture is clear. Contrary to popular belief, there is no battle going on between two political parties fighting it out for the economic wellbeing of the people. Red, blue, donkey and elephant are just the colors and characters of an elaborate play acted out for the American people. A conspiracy you ask? No! Conspiracies are for the feeble minded and far too many Americans love to buy into whatever conspiracy theory that comes along. While some things obviously happen behind closed doors and far more transparency is needed, the American people are so apathetic and bamboozled that we fail to see and investigate the facts that are right in our face. Thats the tragedy and the No. 1 focus of this book. The resources to uncover the truth are pervasive, yet Americans are lazily led like sheep by cable news, politicians and so called pundits who have as their only agenda which is more money in their pockets. Far too many Americans will buy into even the most insane conspiracy theory, but wont lift a finger to look at the truth when it is unmasked and available for anyone to see. Everyone in America needs to eat and desires a roof over their heads, but far too few will invest any significant research and advocacy time to ensure those two basic life needs are met. On the other hand, as a barometer of warped priorities, more than 122 million Americans voted to determine the last America Idol winner? While it seems a new TV talent show comes upon the scene almost weekly, unless YOU can sing or dance such talents are NOT going to be feeding YOUR family or paying YOUR bills. Therefore, giving some thought and actual effort to ensure a strong American economy focused on
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job creation as well as the reduction in the massive wealth disparity that now plagues our nation . . . should perhaps take a higher priority than American Idol. Lulled to sleep with the idea that the good guys are fighting the bad guys and its all being monitored and reported by a free press . . . the American people have been raped economically for more than 30+ years. Despite what the American people are being told is behind it all, such as: globalization, competition from China or the Great Recession . . . those are merely the tools that have been utilized to make it occur. None of it is natural and none of it is beyond the control of the American people. It is all being driven by greed at the top, along with apathy and confusion within the majority of the American population that have allowed it all to occur. A class of American aristocracy owns our government, the political class, the media and the pyramid scheme funneling an ever larger share of the money to the top. Smart, highly sophisticated, entrenched and well financed the greedy are in charge of the American monopoly board with their boot now firmly upon the neck of every average American. While many books exist on most, if not all, topics covered herein, this book attempts to not only expose the big picture but to tie it all together to detail the interlocking construction of what amounts to a mirage that supports a grand American pyramid scheme. Much of the information herein is better suited to be presented via the Internet (which is part of Phase II), but the big picture can only be presented via a book. Understanding the big picture is all about exploring and exposing the smokescreens, political party games and manipulation techniques to demystify the control vehicles that have the American people programmed like rats to act against their own economic self interest. America has been transformed from a free-nation and returned to an existence of serfdom that feeds the greedy mouths of an American aristocracy. Any idea of an American Dream and upward mobility for average citizens is now, no more than a contrived illusion. We the people are in lockdown, governed by an oligarchy, living in a banana republic and the time has come to fight the true adversary instead of each other. The vast research resources and advocacy avenues provided herein (and more to come as this draft is moved toward final publication) are the most valuable tools we now have available to confront and solve the vast economic issues we now face. Assuming you actually want the truth, the websites and information links herein, called breakout resources, along with your in depth analysis, will put an end to political spin and economic double-speak. In colloquial terms, we the American people have been ripped off, robbed and bamboozled for more than three decades by a political class of dancing puppets with a greedy aristocracy pulling the strings above the stage. While most writers want to convince their readers of something, I instead want you to come to your own conclusions, free from spin and manipulation. That is exactly why extensive footnotes are provided for all the statistics, data and information herein, along with the aforementioned breakout resources. This book is about sending you upon your own investigative journey with the goal of enabling you to form your own conclusions instead of having them formed for you and spoon fed into your brain. Going forward, you must believe ONLY what you can see and can document not what you are being told by any political party, politician, corporate mouthpiece or talking head. Trust only what you can verify, examine both sides of every economic issue and then, and only then, form your own conclusions. Much of what seems to be, just isnt true and much of what you have trusted for decades . . . just cant be trusted any longer.
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I didnt write for reviewers at the New York Times or the Washington Post, but instead wrote for my fellow Americans . . . in the mode of one-to-one conversational English not stilted, ivory tower academic discourse. Nonetheless, no journalism rules are bent or broken and every piece of information herein is 100 percent factual and documented with footnotes. Unlike the political class and the media, I have nothing monetarily to gain from lying and manipulating reality. In fact, by giving up an anonymous existence, my most precious possession, along with exposing the truth . . . Im doing myself no financial favors whatsoever! Some will claim that Im envious of the mega-rich, but instead, its familiarity that breeds my contempt. Having earned well within the top 20 percent of American incomes during my career, a disenfranchised envious tag simply doesnt fit. Being business friendly and pro free enterprise are not the same as a nation ruled by an aristocracy driven by unmitigated greed and avarice. A Washington, D.C. insider, Im not, any more than you, but a move to Washington, D.C. a decade ago opened my eyes to a city that is so corrupted by greed and money that I now see our nations capitol as an apple teaming with worms. While most Americans care about the economy, too many say they are not political. Unfortunately, the two are as intertwined as foreplay and birth and what happens or doesnt happen in Washington, D.C. as well as state legislatures, dictates most livelihoods and the future of the American Dream. Getting involved is not some vague civic duty, but it is now a matter of survival. Without engaged citizens, the mega-rich will march the American people into the sea. My perspectives from 20+ years as a corporate mouthpiece, deliver unique insights that no journalist inside a news room possesses. At some point in life, you look in the mirror and realize that you just have to try and do the right thing and for me exposing the truth is now what I must do . . . no matter the consequences to myself. Whether or not Americans can stomach the truth is yet to be seen, but this book is all about exposing it, whatever the personal consequences and cost to myself. In many instances I provide some actual solutions, but by no means am I able to provide them all. If nothing else, I ask most of the right questions and questioning is where real change begins. Questioning the road our common American Dream is now upon and whether our current political system and characters are capable of turning the wheel before we go off the cliff is the looming question that every American must now ask. Unlike 99.9 percent of all books, I didnt write this for fame and fortune, but instead I wrote it to answer a much higher idealistic calling . . . to try and awaken my fellow American citizens. The American aristocracy and our political class dont want this book and subsequent website to happen and it wont happen without you. Without you simply attaching this draft to an e-mail with your comments and sharing with every American you know, all the facts, statistics and work herein will be in vain. There will be elements herein with which you disagree . . . thus is the nature of anything that involves economic and political discourse. Freely take whatever you disagree with herein and toss it over your shoulder and out the window, but please take action now on the initiatives with which you do agree. America can no longer afford to act like children by taking their ball and going home whenever we disagree, but instead we must unite by the millions on the issues where there is agreement. Divide and conquer politics, manipulation and diversion are exactly why the American Dream is dying and Americans now have to open their eyes before its too late. Before reading further, please temporarily place all your political tags, such as liberal, conservative, progressive, right and left on the rack by
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the front door . . . such divisions are mere blinders whereby all average Americans are losing economically. Im irreverent by necessity and my blade is sharp on both edges in order to cut through gotcha politics, sound bites and our failed status quo political system. While Americans can presently agree on little or nothing, there is one thing we can almost all agree upon this so called political system in regard to addressing the critical economic issues of our time is just no longer working for the American people. Just documenting the truth that presently now exists, is worthless without an extensive attack plan to change the road ahead. Therefore, Part II details many of the roles and efforts that Americans must adopt, along with probing critical questions required to turnaround what is now a bleak future. Anarchists, socialist, communists and ardent twoparty devotees need not apply, but all Americans willing and interested in working within the system to restore the American Dream are encouraged to make contact to share their ideas and input. Ultimately, this book is about taking back America from the aristocracy and restoring financial security and opportunity to all Americans. This early draft manuscript is being distributed free of charge via e-mail for two purposes: 1) to gather a wide-range of input, ideas and feedback previous to publishing and 2) to procure grassroots financial donations to either self-publish or to pursue the avenue of finding a publisher. It may be forwarded in this draft form, as you have received it, but ONLY in its entirety with no edits changes or deletions as protected by U.S. copyright laws. Inside of those extremely strict perimeters, you are strongly encouraged to forward a copy to every American e-mail address that exists! This is about numbers and the more inboxes it hits, the greater chances for success in getting it to print. Finding a publisher, for a book that both the mega-rich and our political class never want to see the light of day will be difficult, if not impossible. Whether a publisher is found, or a route to self-publishing is pursued, is yet to be determined. Your involvement, financial contributions and input; along with sharing this draft with all your fellow Americans will determine success or failure. Success is all about exposure to the American people in massive numbers to create a network and then allowing that exposure to take its course. To say America is at a crossroads is clich and so often repeated that the words now ring hollow were way past the crossroad and missed a huge turn decades ago. In reality, America is either at a point of meltdown or revolution. Were traveling down a dead end status quo road of division and polarization that only aid the adversary. If we stay the present course, were doomed to a two class America of the fabulously wealthy and the dirt poor . . . with no class of Americans in between whatsoever. This book is all about coming together to change that impending reality. Americans now feel helpless and hopeless which has led to apathy and a resignation that nothing can be done to stop the current path we are now on. Nothing could be further from the truth, but that can only happen with a nation of common citizens who are informed, aware and fully engaged. This entire book is premised upon educating the American people on how we got here and more importantly how we can now turn back the tide that is killing the American Dream. There is much to be uncovered and investigated along with a massive fight ahead, so lets get started . . .
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Contents America Year 2030 The Writing Is On the Wall . . . ........................................................ Some Stakes Firmly in the Ground . Americas Economy and the Board Game Monopoly . Greed Kills the Game for Everyone A Profile of the Mega-Rich The Career Ladder Unclimbed . Wealth Redistribution . Historical Context to Massive Top-Only Wealth .. . Budget Basics and the 800 Pound Gorilla .. Death and Taxes are Avoidable Corporate Taxes . . . Not So Fast . The Art of Critical Thinking . . . Sipping from the Cup of Liberty Kool-Aid . Worshipping the Gods . The Great Game Changer with More to Come Facing Up to the On Shore Numbers Reality .. Democracy to the Rescue Shooting Ourselves in the Foot . Voting in Satan: Attorneys and Lawyers . Career Politicians . . . No More, Ever Again! .. The Political Families . Why Would Someone Run for Congress? . The Revolving Door Show Me the Money .. Limits, Loopholes and Transparency .. In Washington, its Always Party Time! .. The Two-Party Mirage Pulling Back the Curtain The Wall Street Reform Bill .. So Why Would Our President Sign Such a Bill . The Federal Reserve . Either Way it Goes, its a Win-Win for the Mega-Rich . If You Think Wall Street is Greedy, Welcome to Corporate America CEO/Executive Compensation: A Recipe for Even More Economic Disaster Humans are NOT Stock Its an Employers Market . Labor Unions: the Antithesis of Corporate America or Not? . . Bigger is Better but NOT for You . Big Box or Big Prison? .. Wally World the Evil Empire . The Ultimate American Dream Killer .. The Sleeping Dragon is Now Wide Awake! .. . A Balance of Power Largely in Consumers Hands .. Trade Agreements and the WTO . The North American Free Trade Agreement . The Media Game: How It Gets Played and Who Wins Keep Them Believing and Waving the Flag .. Keep Them Amused, Entertained and Distracted 10 13 16 18 20 21 23 27 33 36 44 52 56 57 58 63 74 96 100 102 104 105 105 109 110 113 118 121 128 131 132 134 138 141 145 147 152 156 160 162 163 166 170 179 180 187 196 202 205
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Now to the News Sex Sells and Always Will The Sky is Falling .. These People are News Journalists? . Keep Them Fighting . . . Each Other .. Blurring the Lines Media Conclusions if Any .. High Jacking the Christian Religion . Table Setting for the Mega-Rich .. Resist or Continue Sticking Your Head in the Sand? .. Part II: The Resistance .. 206 208 209 210 211 216 217 218 221 228 232
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America Year 2030: No one in America possesses a crystal ball. No one can see into the future and no one, no matter how informed they may be, can predict with certainty what America will be like in 2030, or for that matter 2020. Throughout the decades, many dark predictions have come and gone with no consequential merit being proven out by time. As a nation, humans in general for that matter, we dont plan ahead or look down the road and instead only react after calamity. Since tomorrow will most surly arrive and more than likely there will be a 2015, a 2020 and a 2030, ask yourself what America will look like economically when those milestones arrive? Since most Americans will still be alive when all these year milestones arrive, it would seem logical to look down the economic road, read the tea leaves, make some informed projections and react with a sense of urgency . . . rather than stick our heads in the sand. Even Americans who are set-for-life financially and on the downside of life expectancy have children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews they profess to love and care deeply about. Therefore, based on that professed love and the fact that we all need food, the question of where America is headed economically and what it will look like in the years ahead should be the foremost burning question on the minds of all Americans. Its not a question for liberals or conservatives, black, white or brown Americans, Christians or non-Christians, the middle-class or the poor, but a question for all Americans that need to eat and desire a roof over their heads. As things currently stand, all the tea leaves, all the data, all the trends and all the statistics clearly answer that question with one conclusion: the economic fortunes of the vast majority of Americans are in steep decline and that trend will continue if not stopped. Barring manna from heaven or some miraculous economic game changer without intervention by the American people the economic doom ahead for the vast majority of the American people is as certain as the sun rising tomorrow morning. In the best case scenario our economic fortunes will continue to decline year by year, decade by decade until the remnants of prosperity, that most Americans still possess, will have dissolved entirely. In the worst case scenario America will fall into a complete and utter caldron of massive social unrest, lawlessness, chaos and total collapse of the societal norms we now enjoy. With both scenarios, the America ahead will be unrecognizable to anyone living today. In the best case scenario, there will be no economic middle-class whatsoever and only two classes of people: the mega-rich and the poor. Massive tent cities with millions of Americans will be a permanent fixture in every major city in America. The former homes in middle-class neighborhoods will stand dilapidated and empty except for squanders waiting for an eviction that will never arrive. Business districts, shopping plazas, strip malls and downtowns throughout America will be boarded up and instead of Americans pulling out charge cards . . . beggars will line the streets. American infrastructure, from roads, highways and airports will be in decay or nonexistent. The ever shrinking number of the affluent and the mega-rich will either live in walled compounds guarded by security forces or will have already left America. To get an image of the worst case scenario, look no further than the hundreds of apocalyptic movies generated by Hollywood over the past few decades. Envision Washington, D.C. as a fortress city. Access to the White House gates, all memorials and monuments not already toppled and defaced blocked off by huge concrete barriers
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guarded by U.S. troops in full combat gear. The worm hole of K Street lobbyists, an empty shell of burned out buildings and overturned cars. What was once called Wall Street will be a ghost town with the tattered ropes of hangmans nooses dangling from its once iconic towers. Vaults filled with paper money standing open for anyone whos nostalgic for a souvenir. The iconic bull statue that once stood at the heart of Wall Street smashed into a thousand pieces. The former palatial estates of Wall Street CEOs that once stood as a testament to their unbridled greed and avarice now burned to the ground. The American monetary system throughout America, once the scepter of Wall Street, comprised of only precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum or basic barter for goods and services. In America at large, no electricity, no running water, no computers, no Internet, no local TV stations or newspapers and no schools still operating. Strongmen dictators and warlords holding control of vast regions within America. The mega-rich once thought to be the beautiful people hunted day and night and no longer viewed as beautiful or worshiped like gods amongst men. Once proud of their last names its now the last truth the mega-rich will acknowledge. Instead of money, human life is now the most prized commodity of commerce and survival. Just a decade or two earlier the words freedom and liberty rang loudly from every radio and TV in the land then one day freedom and liberty finally arrived . . . Imagine New Orleans after Katrina or Haiti after the earthquake multiplied across every city in America. Massive starvation, no hospitals, a constant cholera epidemic, no police force in most cities, every man for himself, a dog eat dog, kill or be killed society where killing will be required just to survive. All those guns out there finally getting used and suddenly being far more prized than the top model Mercedes or Jaguar that once sat on showroom floors. You get the idea . . . Be it the best or the worst case scenario described above one of the two scenarios is headed our way . . . none of it has to happen and it doesnt have to be. Historians reference the fall of Rome and other great civilizations as mere cycles of an inevitable rise and fall. What goes up must come down were often told . . . as if it is all some civilization science with forces beyond our control. While all the data, statistics and trends indicate that history will again repeat itself there are no scientific laws or basis for an inevitable decline. To prevent it, at present, there are far two few protagonists tuned in and active to stop whats coming, but that can change overnight. As is human nature, when threatened people retreat into little fortresses and take the mindset Ive still got mine, good luck getting yours. Even though 30+ years of our most recent history proves otherwise, most Americans still believe some politician or political party will ride to the rescue on a white horse. The bad news is that there is no savior on the way . . . What is on the way is something most Americans have never experienced a strange gurgling noise in their stomach called hunger and starvation. When it arrives it will be driven just as much by the fringe lefts focus on some utopian dream as the radical rights manipulation of religion and obsession with guns and the flag. If youre imagining some nuclear disaster, some attack from a nation such as China or perhaps even a dirty bomb terrorist attack you couldnt be more off base. This adversary is not sitting just off shore in a nuclear sub being monitored by satellite surveillance. They are not little
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green men hovering above in outer space. This adversarys attack began more than 30+ years ago and it has yet to be reported by our American media and in fact our media are the biggest fans of the adversary. The adversary is here on our shores already and they almost destroyed us, during their first attack, just previous to the Great Depression. Back then they operated under the moniker of robber barons, but today they are known as the beautiful people. While you never mingle with them, you buy their books, listen to their every word, watch their TV networks and rent their movies. Virtually none of them have ever served in our military to protect the nation for which they owe their existence, but they are always the very first to speak of our boys in harms way. Their boys however, are never in harms way because they live in a bubble. Their generals have never held political office, but they pay the rent for every political office in the land. Their attack began long ago and almost all Americans provided aid to the adversary every step of the way. If there are still prisons in 2030, treason will be the charge and aiding and abetting will be our crime. Not only did we aid the adversary, but we worshipped them, fawned upon them and reached out to just touch their robe. These modern day Christ-like figures wallow in opulence and ostentatious displays of way too much money and America just cant seem to get enough of worshipping them. Their stealth attack is highly sophisticated and extremely subtle, but the damage is beginning to show. All across America today, if youre even remotely awake, you see it even if you dont yet feel it in your wallet: the American Dream is already dead for many and is quickly dying for the rest of America right before our eyes. As you drive to work or take the kids to soccer practice you see it in the foreclosed home down the street, the blank billboards on the highway, the closed shop around the corner and the empty Main Street retail areas unless of course you live in Washington, D.C. where no decline whatsoever has been seen or experienced. For at least a couple of decades weve known that the American manufacturing sector was losing jobs and everyones pay and benefits have become stagnant, but now the economic devastation is creeping up the so called social class ladder. Children that never left home, now never will and many adults who had careers are now moving back in with family or friends . . . just to survive. While none of this may describe you, at least not yet, you too have been robbed as will be demonstrated herein and clearly understand . . . unless America awakens the worst is yet to come! Your day of reckoning will arrive if we the people continue to stumble along like sheep following breadcrumbs of political division that will lead only to increased poverty, starvation, homelessness and despair. The culprits and forces that are continuing to drive Americans ongoing economic devastation are not the ones youre being told. Instead, they are all rooted in pure unmitigated greed, legalized political corruption and influence peddling. In truth, its a confused and apathetic America that is aiding and abetting the adversary every step of the way. America will wake up to whats arrived and whats ahead the only question that still remains is when? Will it be before its too late or after? At this moment in time, most Americans can still take the attitude of Ive got mine, good luck getting yours and quite frankly we do . . . every single day! Its not that were a bad lot, but until our own posterior is threatened were slow to react. What you dont realize is that your neck is already in the hangmans noose and the rope is tightening. At the time of this writing, the number of officially unemployed is around 15+ million and the number of under-employed (a.k.a. rocket scientists working at McDonalds) is around 30 million.
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As bad as both of those numbers sound, trusting in and believing they are anywhere near the real numbers if pure folly for fools. First off, the political class has a vested interest in making the numbers sound as good as possible and secondly, they just dont know what the numbers are because they currently have no real way to measure them. All thats known is there are 311+ million Americans and percentage X is receiving social security or unemployment benefits and percentage Y have a job. Every calculation in between those four known numbers is almost pure conjecture (based on telephone surveys) a.k.a. lying to make the numbers appear less dire for political gains. An April 2011, USA Today article stated that in 2010 only 45.4 percent of Americans had a job. It was the lowest percentage in more than three decades and the lowest level since women began entering the workforce in large numbers. The percentage of men who had a job in 2010 was only 66.8 percent the lowest percentage ever recorded.1 Does anyone in America believe that well over 154 million Americans, 55.6 percent, are retired, under the age of 16 or just dont need to work? Of course not . . . its impossible for anyone in America to believe the 8, 9 or 10 percent unemployment numbers, supplied by the government, are accurate. Were being told by our corporate owned media machine that all the dire numbers are due to the economic devastation brought on by the Great Recession that started in 2007. The powers in charge of this game are desperate to convince all Americans that our current economic disaster is something that happened recently, that were on our way out and well on the road to recovery. Well America it is a blatant outright lie and a part of the massive propaganda and manipulation machine that keep Americans in the dark. While much of it is subtle and up to conjecture, as to who is responsible . . . the evidence from decades of decline are clear. As to whether the projected descriptions of America in 2030 are realistic or something from just another nut job is for you to decide. Maybe its all just pure conjecture and overkill, melodrama that is way over the top? Perhaps, but whats not in question whatsoever it that every single trend and all the numbers without exception have America pointing in that direction. While dictatorships are falling in the Arab world, most Americans today still believe we have representative government and live in a democracy. A few of the unhinged and feeble minded believe some grand conspiracy is behind our economic demise, while most believe its due to normal ebbs and flows of the economy. Both camps couldnt be more wrong! Nothing about the impending death of the American Dream is natural and the forces behind it are all right out in the open for all to see if they open their eyes. Its being driven by a force as old as mankind itself. The struggle between the best within mans heart and the worst within man and for the past 30+ years it is greed within man that has been winning at the expense of the America people. The Writing Is On the Wall Unlike the politicians, political pundits and media that speak out the back of their head with generalities, glowing speeches, promises that cant be kept, sound bites, party politics, inflammatory rhetoric and enough smokescreens to confuse any American this book is about the data and the facts. What you may currently think, or what someone may say are meaningless unless backed up and validated by the facts, the data and statistics.
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The phrase writing is on the wall is derived from the biblical story where an actual hand and fingers were seen writing on a wall by a king. As the story goes, the king didnt listen and paid the price. No matter how blatant the hand writing, it seems that throughout history, mankind will deny the obvious and cling to the familiar until its too late to reverse course. Unless America can read the handwriting now on the wall and turn the wheel now, the prospects for Americas economic future, most especially for the middle-class, are dismal. The numbers, evidence and statistics herein are so overwhelming and compelling to mandate a radical course reversal that the simply cannot be denied. Right now, the writing is on the wall for every single American [outside of the very top percentage of the mega-rich] that it couldnt be more clearly written. The following bullet point numbers, statistics and realities are intended to provoke thought, exploration and most importantly . . . compel your actions going forward. The following are documented facts. They are not created and put out by some political party or candidate, they are not fear mongering, they are not propaganda and just like every statistic herein they are footnoted in the hope that you will check out each one if you have any doubts whatsoever as to their veracity. In exchange for a lifetime of toil and hard work by our parents, as well as previous family generations, 91.9 percent of Americans receive nothing, zero, not a dime of inheritance when their parents estate is settled. A mere 1.6 percent receive more than $100 K and 1.1 percent receive more than $50 K. Since that adds up to 94.6 percent of the population it means the 5.4 percent at the top of the American food chain get all the outstanding billions in inheritance dollars.1 The bottom 90 percent of Americans own a grand total of 10 percent of all the stocks, bonds, trusts and business equity in America and only around 25 percent of the non-home real estate.2 With inflation calculated, an America making $25 K in yearly income during 1979 would have to now be making $75,313 to have held their financial ground.3 Thats an increase of 331+ percent, yet the average American income for entire households (not individuals) rose only 50 percent between 1979 and 2006.4 For seven straight years leading up to the beginning of the Great Recession (2000 to 2007) actual inflation adjusted income for 90 percent of Americans declined.5 Between the start of the Great Recession and June 2011, median household income in the U.S. fell 9.8 percent and after the official end of the Great Recession, between June 2009 and June 2011, the inflation-adjusted median household income fell another 6.7 percent.6 In 2009, 1 in every 160 Americans filed bankruptcy and the 2010 numbers rose 9 percent to 1.4 million.7 The fall in employment from 2007 levels will cost U.S. workers more than $1 T in lost wages/salaries during the five year period 2008-2012.8 America is experiencing the highest long-term unemployment since 1948.9
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American families lost a total of $19.4 trillion (in 2010 dollars) in household wealth from June 2007 to March 2009. As of Q1, 2011, only somewhere around $6 T of that lost wealth has been recovered.10 As of May 2011, more than 5 million homes have already been repossessed since 2006.11 More than 1 million American homes were repossessed in 2010 with 1 in every 45 homes receiving a foreclosure notice (2.9 M). As of June 2011, there were more than 2+ million homes in active foreclosure and another 2+ million waiting in the wings.12 As of July 2011, analysts are predicting another 5 to 7 million homes will be repossessed before the carnage ends.13 Between June 2007 and March 2009, American families lost $6.4 T in home value alone.14 Home values plummeted 32 percent between 2005 and 2011.15 As of May 2011, nearly 14 million people, 28.4 percent of all homeowners owe more on their mortgage then their home is worth (a.k.a. underwater) and half of those homeowners are more than 30 percent underwater.16 Analysts now project that the percentage of home ownership will fall to around 63 percent before we bottom out (circa the mid-1960s rate of homeownership).17 Approximately half of all American workers have less than $2000 saved for retirement.18 As of 2008 corporate pension plans in America were under-funded by an estimated $217 billion.19 State government pension plans are under-funded by $3.2 trillion. In 2010, for the first time ever, the Social Security system paid out more in benefits than it took in via payroll taxes.20 When Social Security is combined with Medicare, projections for the next 75 years indicate the programs are under-funded by $46 trillion.21 Nationally 14 percent, 43.6 million, 1 in every 7 Americans are now living below the poverty line which is $21,954 for a family of four. Suburban poor grew by 37.4 percent since 2000 to account for 13.7 million Americans. The number of poor people living in the suburbs now exceeds the number living in cities by 1.6 million.22 More than 41 million Americans are now on food stamps.23 A number that represents 1 in every 7 Americans the highest number and percentage in Americas history.24 Medicaid enrollment as of 2010 surpassed 68.2 million, also the largest number in Americas history.25 Between 2005 and 2009, inflation adjusted median net worth fell 66 percent among Hispanic households and 53 percent among black households compared to a mere 16 percent among white households 2011 median net worth by race was $113,149 for whites, $5,677 for African Americans and $6,325 for Hispanics.26
Alarmed? Shocked by these numbers and statistics? If not, then you already knew them or youre living large, untouched yet by the massive decline in American prosperity. If any group needs awakening its the as yet untouched who are living in denial with their heads in the sand. There are many more statistics and numbers to follow because everything herein all about exposing the reality as opposed to what is being said in political and corporate circles.
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Many reading these statistics and numbers will assume they know whats coming: another bleeding heart socialist liberal talking about all the perils of the free enterprise system. Big surprise, youre not even close, not even warm! Some Stakes Firmly in the Ground Now that some of the damage already done has been documented and Ive alluded to a possibly bleak future to come for most Americans its time to place some stakes firmly in the ground as to what I believe to be bedrock America values. First and foremost understand that Im NOT a socialist, communist, anarchist or member of either of the two political parties, herein referred to as Party A (Republican) or Party B (Democrat). In fact, Im not a member of any political party for several reasons, as follows: 1) While some have suggested that America would be better off if all political parties were outlawed, I dont by any means believe or adhere to that radical mindset, but I do clearly see the damage done to democracy, the political process and our economy by what are known as party politics and power grabs. Im not a member of a particular political party simply because I dont see one I can fit within. Therefore Im a registered Independent which now accounts for somewhere around a third of American voters. Surveys regularly indicate that more than 80 percent of Americans would vote for another party and most voters registered in Party A or B only do so in order to vote in party primaries. With that as reality, neither of the two main political parties or even the two parties combined can say they represent the majority of the American people. 2) As evidenced by the dismal economic statistics, I simply dont see how anyone in America can be either a proud member of either Party A or Party B? In the No. 2 spot, just behind the governments role of providing national security, is governments role in providing a level economic playing field upon which all Americans can compete and prosper. Clearly, if that is the measurement of our two-party system then the current system is an abysmal failure. If youre not yet convinced of that fact, then Im quite confident you will be when the statistics on wealth disparity in America are revealed herein. Now, for any of you political party loyalists out there who contend that America just hasnt had enough of one party or the other consider that in the last 35 years, America has had a Party B president for 15 years and a president from Party A for 20. That fact begs the question, which party has America not had enough of? Perhaps the more practical question is, why have both political parties been such abysmal failures at providing a level economic playing field upon which more Americans can compete for their slice of the American Dream? Make no mistake whatsoever: Im a capitalist 100 percent that believes in the free enterprise system. With that said however, life experiences teach that a free enterprise system cannot operate unrestrained without major problems for the majority of the American population. On the opposite side of that coin, are the fringe left a.k.a. closet socialists who dont really believe in the free enterprise system at all. Who knows, socialism may be the best answer, but historys answer to that question is an emphatic NO! What socialists dont realize is that if a perfect socialist state were imposed upon America tomorrow, it would be horribly corrupted with gross inequalities within a week without the same checks and balances were missing today in our American free enterprise system. The other element within the fringe left, who claim to believe in the free enterprise system, are those that believe money grows on trees and that you can fund more
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government without more money. That same crowd have now coined a new term called corporatism which at its core has the belief that everything that involves corporations and business is pure evil from the bowels of hell. They even take offense to the term business friendly as if an environment conducive to business and a strong economy is something evil. There are absolute multitudes of good corporate citizens in America, good employers, great places to work and business owners that value their employees with pay beyond absolute minimums to fill the job. As will be explored herein, many businesses most especially Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) operations are just as economically challenged as the American workforce. A global economy, coupled with corporations that have morphed into behemoth corporate monsters via mergers and acquisitions and way too much money concentrated at the top of the food chain have many SMEs gasping for air. Herein, when corporations are maligned, its not describing the vast majority of businesses in America, but instead refers to the top-heavy corporate beasts that dominate the economic landscape who use their position to unfair advantage and manipulation of the marketplace. Much of the stagnated wages/salaries environment in America that has occurred over several decades is systemic to marketplace pressures and not due to abuse or exploitation of the American workforce. It is primarily the economic table being tilted in favor of the behemoth corporate entities and their megarich stockholders that now have the vast majority of American businesses and the workforce alike in the same sinking boat. To paint all corporations with the brush of evil as is done by many on the fringe left is just wrong! To expect pay and benefits to exceed marketplace norms and profit constraints is simply unrealistic. While there is widespread abusive and out of whack corporate entities with CEO pay and profits that are obscene, most corporations in America operate in an environment of restraint via some semblance of conscience and marketplace confines. As noted already, the free enterprise system is far from perfect and to expect utopia detached from marketplace realities is simply not realistic. Those on the fringe left in America that believe profit is a bad word simply dont understand what makes the world go around. Where is it that these people think money comes from I dont know, but what they dont get is that food comes from the same place. Everyone cant have a job working for the government simply because there would be no paychecks to tax in order to pay the government workers. Why is that you may ask? Simple, the government doesnt have even one penny of their own. It all comes from taxes, tariffs, arms sales or the newest source: lending Wall Street our money at a ridiculous low rate. In order to collect 10 cents in taxes from a government employee, you first have to pay them that dollar and if everyone works for the government there is no one in America to create those government payroll dollars. While all this may seem like a basic duh for most people, for many Americans this reality is a real epiphany. Furthermore, if the government just prints more money to pay for more government employees, the dollars in every American pocket simply become more and more worthless as time moves forward. Stating the obvious, on occasion, unfortunately is required simply because many Americans believe we can have it all and not pay for it somehow. The last resort, now already exhausted, was to borrow trillions of dollars from Communist China until weve reached a point that we cant afford to even to pay off the interest money we owe them much less the actual debt. Only Wall Street gets ridiculously low interest rates from U.S. taxpayers, but China is not as stupid as U.S. taxpayers. Because we unfortunately dont have the Chinese government in our hip
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pocket (like Wall Street does our government) . . . we pay real interest rates to China on the money weve borrowed from them. Its too bad China hasnt yet experienced freedom and developed democracy like us; if they had we could make some big time campaign contributions and get some better interest rates like Wall Street did from Congress. Bottom line, what does all this really mean a.k.a. whats the skinny? The skinny is that a whole lot of Americans currently working in jobs for federal, state and local governments are going to be out on the street and getting a government job is going to be extremely difficult going forward. Therefore the 30+ million under and unemployed at present is going to grow by leaps and bounds via government workers tossed out into the streets via austerity measures if we do not create millions of new jobs in the private sector, hold the line on American jobs going off shore and bring jobs back to America. Now, with this painful lesson in economic reality in place it must also be noted that, within every economic system, there will be winners and losers as well as disparity in wealth. With that said, our American free enterprise system has proven itself to be the best economic system found to date for delivering the widest benefits to the most people within a society; however the free enterprise system is a creation of man. It is NOT some perfect organism with natural self-correcting mechanics that will deliver the most value to the most citizens without some degree of government, and just as importantly consumer intervention a.k.a. a shoppers conscience. Even with both government and consumer intervention utopian existence within America or anywhere in the world will never happen, but there should at a minimum be a more level playing field upon which most can compete for economic equality. Furthermore, participants within our American free enterprise system should be handsomely rewarded for their hard work and victories within the system. Those rewards should include great wealth, ownership of property and the ability to pass down a significant amount of that that wealth to their family. Americas Economy and the Board Game Monopoly Back in the early 1900s Elizabeth Magie developed what were the early beginnings of what would become a Parker Brothers game called Monopoly. According to Wikipedia, the purpose of the game was to teach people how monopolies end up bankrupting the many and give extraordinary wealth to the one person that wins the game. I dont know if Elizabeth or the Parker brothers had a clue about economics but its a safe bet that none of them had a PhD in economics from Harvard. Nonetheless, even without a PhD, any American that made it out grammar school can step back from the game of Monopoly and draw real life conclusions of how our American economy has worked to date and will work, or not work, in the future. Although the types of businesses have changed since the inception of the game Monopoly, the economy game we all play in real life is essentially the same as it has always been. Going forward in your reading of this book replace and supplant the following from the game of Monopoly within your mind: Game Concept = Our Founding Fathers, Writers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights Board Administrators = federal, state and local government Monopoly Board = The American Economy ONLY - Off the Board = Off Shore
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Properties/Spaces on the Outside of Board = Current Mega-Rich Holdings All Areas Inside the Properties/Spaces = Where We the Little People Live Chance Cards = Individual Upward Mobility or Downward Spiral Community Chest = Social Safety Net Free Parking Space = Strictly for Blue Bloods and Silver Spoon Crowd Luxury Tax Space = A Space the Mega-Rich Never Land Upon Income Tax Space = A Space the Mega-Rich Maneuver Around Get Our of Jail Free Card = High Powered Expensive Attorneys The Bank = Wall Street and the Big Five American Banks The Path Around the Board = Your Life The Dice = Socioeconomic Class Your Game Token = Chosen Profession
Now, in your mind replace all the old economy businesses with new economy businesses such as software providers, Internet commerce, computer manufacturers and all the other types of business that have sprung up since the game of Monopoly was invented. Unlike the game of Monopoly, we all dont start life out with an equal amount of money. Whether thats the way it should be, is neither here nor there, its just the way it is. Again, there is no utopia and there is no perfect economic system . . . reality is no a board game. Since we were fortunate enough to be born in America we at least get to play the game on the American board. So just be glad youre not playing on the African board. Clearly understand that for this book, this is about America and our nations founding fathers were not concerned about what happens economically on any boards outside of the American board/economy. We cannot lift up the world with approximately only 5 percent of the worlds population. Going forward, as far as the world economy that has been manipulated by the greedy to kill the American Dream, it can no longer be a concern except where it impacts the America economy, American jobs and wealth gain for average American citizens. Unfortunately, due to interconnected nation economies, we have a vested economic interest outside of our borders. The object of the game going forward, if we the little people have any chance at all for survival, is as follows: A) As much as possible keep goods and services, produced by labor outside of the American board, from coming into play on the American board. B) Keep as much money and commerce as possible within the inside of the board among the little people and out of the hands of the mega-rich.
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C) Maintaining the number of little people a.k.a. supply to where it does NOT greatly exceed the demand for good paying jobs. Believe it or not, as will clearly be demonstrated herein, if we accomplish A, B, and much of C the American Dream will be largely restored. Its NOT rocket science and it doesnt require a Harvard PhD in economics. Divided we the people along with the American Dream have fallen. While the solutions are simple, the enormity of moving the many mountains to implement the solutions can only be accomplished together. Greed Kills the Game for Everyone While Websters provides the official definition of greed you know what it is already. You first saw it early on when playing in the sandbox. It may have been a sibling or a playmate but all of a sudden they reached over and grabbed your toy truck. Since this was your first experience with greed you did nothing. Then feeling empowered they reached over and grabbed a toy car, your sand bucket and the shovel. Since you hadnt yet learned to curse, you said something like, hold on Buster those belong to me! Buster is now running a hedge fund on Wall Street, but hell be addressed later. The point is that greed starts almost a birth. Lets leave it to some philosopher, religious figure or scientist to determine why we humans are greedy. We need to simply accept it as a reality thats part of mans DNA. There are even some current theorists that believe we have inbred within certain families in the top social caste a super-gene with a higher inclination for greed. While that may or may not be, one thing is for sure: greed exists within every human to some degree no matter how perfect and pious they may appear to be on the outside. Its just reality and a fact of life that cannot be denied. While greed rears its ugly head and manifests itself in many ways within humans, the most tangible yardstick we have to measure it is in the form of money. No matter the venue: be it religion, politics, business or personal dealings, money seems to be the root to all evil or at least most of it. Since we all must have money, it creates a paradox in which were damned with too little of it and were damned just like in the game of Monopoly when one player or players get too much of it. Money unfortunately corrupts humans and bends their principles and judgment to where they will do or say anything to get more of it. We can all agree that we wish humans were not that way, but the reality is that they just are that way. Greed rules and at the end of the day, giving any politician, corporate CEO, union leader, civil rights leader, advocacy group, political pundit, bureaucrat or anyone in the news media the benefit of the doubt when it comes to greed is just nave and stupid . . . yet we do it anyway over and over and over. Why? Because we want to believe, we want to trust, we want what we wish was true to actually be true, but its just is not! Whoever said that every man has his price, as much as you may hate to believe that, was just speaking the truth . . . like it or not, its reality! We all like to think that we are not greedy, are exceptional and that we cant be bought. There are a very small percentage of humans that cannot be bought, who will always do the right thing in every situation no matter the consequences or how much money is on the table. Is that You? Personally, I would like to think that is me as well, but if a member of the mega-rich pulled up in my driveway in a black limo, opened the trunk and
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unloaded several suitcases of cash money in exchange for not writing this book . . . what would I do? What would you do? In my youth, as Ill thoroughly document herein, I failed the test when it came to helping to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which put at least 1.6 million textile workers out of work. (If reincarnation exists, Im not looking forward to the next time around. Please be kind to roaches and rats . . .) In 1887, Lord Acton made his famous quote, Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you super add the tendency or certainty of corruption by full authority. What was said way back then was true before he said it and is as true today as it is going to be tomorrow and the day after . . . You can wish it werent so, you can pray that it not be so and you can steer future generations away from it being so, but it will still prevail simply because it is part of mans DNA and what makes him tick. There are exceptions and thank God there are, but the exceptions are as likely as finding a needle in a hay stack. Im not here to preach, but instead to question: when is a level of money and power enough and when is too much bad for the greater good of America as a whole? Mankind in general is greedy as hell and nine times out of ten, if there is enough money on the table they will cheat, lie and manipulate to get more of it. Sorry if that truth gives you an empty feeling inside . . . the facts are the facts. Left unmonitored, unregulated and to their own devices man will cheat and steal like a dog. (BTW Dogs only steal when hungry) Youve all heard the phrase, trust but verify. Well, going forward, when it comes to your wallet in regard to politics, economics and your share of the American pie, its time to say good-bye to trust and depend solely upon verification alone. Not only because you cant afford to trust, but because we now have the tools and information at our fingertips, via the Internet, by which to verify. More is needed via transparency measures, but were not even using the numerous tools we now have. Youve been cheated, stolen from and manipulated long enough and if you continue to place blind faith in any corporate leader, politician, TV network, talking head, writer, political pundit, economist, political activist, civil rights leader, union, political party or presidential candidate then youre just asking for more of the same. Its all BS until proven otherwise to be true! A Profile of the Mega-Rich While we all must admit that we all are greedy to some extent for the most part, if we are, it has no impact upon the American economy at large. When a street vendor working a cart on Wall Street buys cheap hotdogs or waters down the mustard to pad his pockets, so what? There is another vendor on the next corner which creates little chance of a street vendor monopoly taking over and cheating everyone. On the other hand, if that one unscrupulous street vendor begins to buy up all the independent vendors and turn them into employees then the marketplace scenario has potential to change due to greed. The more money that flows upward to one individual, the more vendors that one individual can afford to buy out. The more that individual buys out, the more money that flows upward until that individual along with their family become a street vendor dynasty
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a.k.a. American royalty. It doesnt happen overnight and it certainly doesnt happen in one generation, but in time, they become kings and queens. All greed is bad and some would say evil, but it doesnt imperil every American unless the greed is wildly consolidated within a group at the top of the food chain. During my long career, Ive worked for and with several first generation rich who are now American royalty (albeit pseudo-royalty), as well as their generational offspring. While the first generation may have huge egos, I pass that off as drive and ambition and consider the first generation as the best to work for by far. The first generations generally still have some empathy for their fellow man and realize but for the grace of God, there go but I. Ive even seen such empathy in second and third generations, but after that you can forget about it! After a couple generations or so, they become entitled American royalty who believe they deserve every dime and privilege they have. They believe you and I are beneath them, much like the manure (a.k.a. dog poop) youve stepped upon when walking your shelter mutt. After a couple of generations, the feet of mega-rich American royalty never touch the ground again, much less step in poop. American royalty dont even know their dogs do that sort of thing (someone is always around to clean it up before they cast their privileged eyes upon it). From birth to death their golden feet never touch the ground. Their soft hands have never known the feel of grime or dirt unless it happens to cling to a golf tee. Their skin is either lily white or tanned to bronze perfection. Their sweat is called perspiration or glow and is never achieved except through polo, tennis, golf, yachting or an expensive trainer to the stars. You didnt go to school with them because they started out at day schools then attended what we call high school at such names as Roxbury Latin, Bearley, Collegiate, Groton, Dalton, Spence, Horace Mann, Winsor and Milton just to name a few. Some are studious, but many are not and none are ever burdened with the indignity of a job at McDonalds while in high school. Most go on to attend one of the Ivy League schools such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell or Penn. If they dont touch such sacred ivy, not to worry, education is primarily for the little people whose toil and brains make American royalty even more money. To ensure the little people keep our little noses to the grid stone, upon graduation 66+ percent of graduates from public universities owe an average of $24 K in college loans and collectively the debt will exceed more than $1 T in 2011.1 Since 1980 the price of college has increased 600 percent more than the rise of inflation during that period and for the first time in history there is more student loan debt in the U.S. than credit card debt.2 For all the hard work, sacrifice and massive debt, most of the little people are relegated to attending lowly state schools . . . the equivalent of a scarlet letter when it comes to career opportunities. Sure, there is some upward mobility for state school grads, but few if any will ever crack the glass ceiling of the Ivy League. It just doesnt happen . . . contrary to popular belief. Remember those grades, report cards and SAT scores you sweated about in high school? Its no sweat for the students of Ivy League lineage via what are called legacy admissions. Its the type of admission that got George W. Bush into Yale. If daddy got in, they get in via a system of privilege that no one else in America can access. If that doesnt work, a big donation is made to the school for an endowed professorship, new building, library wing or athletic facility. Consider it affirmative action in the form of money to affirm they are better than everyone else in America. Once affirmed as a member of American royalty, these students arrive on campus in a Jaguar, Mercedes or Land Rover and are exposed for the first time in their lives to strange beings from
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another world. These strange creatures wear rags, ride bikes, eat in the cafeteria and actually go to the library to study. Instead of ski trips to Switzerland during winter break, they stay on campus because they cant afford to go home. These strange creatures actually maxed out their SAT scores and qualified academically to attend an Ivy League school. These beings are the affirmed poor who attend Ivy Leagues schools via scholarships and are viewed by the students of American royalty much like the monkeys at the zoo . . . dirty little creatures well behind on the evolutionary path to wealth and riches. Two of the most notable students who qualified to be in the Ivy Leagues affirmed poor program are president, Obama who graduated from Columbia and former president, Bill Clinton who graduated from Yale Law School. On the surface, it would seem that such admissions are a generous outreach effort to lend those less fortunate a helping hand, but as will be demonstrated, it is something far more insidious than a helping hand. Its the first step in a buy-out plan to capture, control and ethically castrate the best and brightest in America early in life. The Career Ladder Unclimbed The affirmed as royalty students dont all attend Ivy League schools of course, some are placed into the Ivy League community college system in such lowly places such as Duke and Stanford, but they all have one thing in common. Its referred to as the phone call. Via family connections, fraternity brothers, sorority sisters and the like, they skip the grimy ladder rungs touched by state school graduates. In fact, many, if not most, of the royals parents will tell you quite honestly why they sent their prince or princess to one of these schools connections. The education rip-off from overpaid professors pales in comparison to the lifetime dollar value of the right connections. American royals dont send out hundreds or even thousands of resumes like those of you who attended lowly state universities. Theres no need . . . what a waste of time that would be! The phone call gets made and the resume is a mere formality. As long as the resume has the right school name, the GPA is virtually meaningless . . . if the club card is stamped with the correct name they get in. There may be a short waiting list on rare occasions, but that time can well be spent touring Europe or studying abroad until something comes open. As long as the hands stay soft and the sense of privilege and entitlement stays hard . . . its just a matter of time until the prince or princess take their rightful place within our American aristocracy. Once the phone call has been made, the coronation ceremony soon takes place and the privileged assume their ordained throne of massive wealth and American power. By no means is it being suggested that the royal scepter is handed only to members of the Ivy League, anyone can buy one, but they are expensive and the cost gets higher by the day. Today, via decades of manipulation, the top one percent of Americans control at least 40 percent of all the wealth in America so buying a royal scepter aint cheap and only the most elite of the elite can afford the price.1 The price keeps out the riffraff and those that have actually touched dirt and viewed dog poop. Please dont be confused as to who in America qualifies as a royal. You may live in your towns country club or some exclusive gated community, may have a pool, 5 luxury cars, a beach house, a mountain house and a really big boat you like to call a yacht, but youre just riffraff and a royal want to be. A real American royal wouldnt give you the
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time of day or help you to your feet if they hit you with their Bentley. American royalty is not for the nouveau riche mega-money takes generations to acquire in most cases. Even if youve forgotten the feel of dirt and what dog poop looks and smells like, youre just on the road to becoming American royalty and no where close to getting in this club. Even though there is no firm dollar cut off to become royalty, for the most part the top tier royals are on two lists (provided via breakout resources below) compiled each year by Forbes magazine called the 400 Richest Americans and another list called the Worlds Richest People. These lists are not comprehensive by any means and there is a class, a caste of families that are so rich and powerful that they can buy their way off these two lists. These people and families are not royals, but constitute world monarchies hiding in the shadows. The best known of these world rulers are the Rothschild family who at the turn of the 20th Century were rumored to have as much money as the rest of the entire western world combined. Do some google searches on them and youll find conspiracy theories that place them as part of the Illuminati a.k.a. the New Word Order group. Personally, I dont do conspiracies, dont believe in them and even I did . . . Im not about to do anything to piss off the Rothschild family. In brief, for any conspiracy to take place humans have to be involved and humans at some point will talk. As soon as they do talk, the conspiracy is exposed. While some conspiracies exist and have taken place over the years, its unrealistic to buy into the idea that even a small group of really rich people can all keep their mouths shut. The bar for conspiracy buy-in, for anyone not feeble-minded, is high and as it should be. In most cases, conspiracy theories are for the feeble-minded who gravitate to the intrigue provided by the idea of a conspiracy. Now, with all that being said, if you ask if the mega-rich all know each other and have each other on speed dial? The answer is a resounding Yes! Without a doubt they conspire behind the scenes to manipulate, monopolize commerce and crush any little people that get in their way. They buy governments, politicians, political parties, armies, regimes, topple leaders and almost anything else on Earth you can imagine. They all know each other, even though some hate each other, they hang out with each other, intermarry, go yachting together, fund political PACs together and generally twist and warp anything and everything in America and the world to satisfy their unbridled greed and desire for even more money and power as if they didnt have enough already. Are these mega-rich royals to be feared? Yes! Mess with Bill Gates because he is a nerd, or with Warren Buffet because hes an old man, but take on the Rothschild family and youre toast! Its rumored that, via their money, they defeated Napoleon so kicking your posterior or just making you disappear one day, never to be found or heard from again, would be no problem whatsoever. If they can hide in the shadows, virtually nothing is ever heard or reported about them and they dont even show up on the list of the worlds richest people . . . what else do you need to know? If you choose to spit in the eye of the mega-rich pick a punk like Bill Gates, not a Rothschild! Provided below, are lists of the worlds richest people and the first question that comes to mind is: whether everyone listed on Fortunes lists is bad, evil and greedy? No! Well, come to think of it, they are probably all greedy or they wouldnt have this much money now would they? Either now, or at some point, you need to put the reading of this book aside and study the following two lists in great detail . . . otherwise youre not going to get the rest of this book. As a study guide, use the following bullet points to direct your investigation:
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Review how much money and wealth these few individuals actually have and control. Look at the companies, hedge funds and corporate monopolies they run and manipulate to create a vast upward pyramid scheme. Study how interconnected their empires all are and how far reaching the tentacles of these empires really extend. Look at all the family connections within the lists. As an example, the Walton family who own most of Walmart and Sams Club is comprised of 5 people worth over $100 B and thats just the most obvious and prominent family on the American list. Do the math and add up what some of these families are actually worth. Once youve done that, begin to think, not dream, about what this type of money will buy based upon what we all know about the word greed. What wont it buy is probably the better question: governments, legislation, politicians, trade agreements, all competitors in the marketplace, judges . . . the list is absolutely endless with the only possible exceptions being love and eternal life. Finally, tie all this money back to our imaginary game of Monopoly and equate these people to players who own every space on the outside of the American game board. Think what this type of money does to the game, what it manipulates, what it monopolizes and ask yourself if there is any limit to how it skews the board and warps our American economy in favor of the few at the expense of the majority.
Breakout Resource(s): This, the first of many breakout resources to follow, requires a brief introduction of what breakout resource(s) are and their role. There exists a wealth of resources and information via the Internet that provide critical information for your evaluation. On a few occasions, far too few, information exists that is 100 unbiased, but unfortunately, because America is locked down with two-political party blinders, truly unbiased resources are few and far between. This, the first of many breakout resources just happens to be 100% unbiased, but these will be the exception rather than the rule. Nonetheless this book strives to deliver only the most unbiased resources, advocacy groups and organizations possible while freely acknowledging the reality that almost every resource provided has at least some bias and lack of objectivity. Again, that hole is primarily due to a two political party lock down of the American people . . . nonetheless, the focus of this book is first and foremost about providing unbiased information, entities and advocacy groups as a route to bring Americans to the table for massive change, both economic and political. With all this being said, youll get some Party A or Party B dogma in almost breakout resource provided. You will not find so called news sites nor strict political party mouthpiece sites and information linked and referenced herein. Why? Simply because
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they all have a bent and political party agenda and America has had way too much spin and manipulation already. The time has come for America to dig for the truth instead of listening to politicians and talking heads making or maintaining their flow of money from political party dogma. Going forward, the links and information resources will be provided without introduction and lengthy commentary as to potential bias, etc. All the sites and information provided stand alone, speak for themselves and not for this book, however, your failure to investigate and share all those you deem to be credible with almost every one with your fellow Americans is criminal. Going forward, its critical for each American to think for themselves, make up their own minds based upon data and unbiased information and then get involved. The Richest 400 People in America http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/ The Worlds Billionaires http://www.forbes.com/wealth/billionaires/list
Note: All links provided herein are of course subject to change and some may be dead by the time you read the book. With a little googling and clicking on your own, most of the resources can still be easily found. Links will of course be monitored for live status on a timely basis and brought up to date when found to be dead.
Now that you have a better grasp of who is mega-rich and who is just a mere want-to-be, you are far better equipped to read further and grasp the implications for this kind of wealth. These people may or may not live in America, but wherever they live they sure as heck dont care about old glory, America land of the free and home of the brave. They would no more allow the uniform of any U.S. military service to touch their body as the dog poop that gets on your shoe. That doesnt mean for an instant however, that they are not open to making billions as a U.S. military contractor or being protected by Americas military might. Youll find no American flag stickers on their Rolls Royce and they dont stand out in the heat on the Fourth of July to salute the troops that protect all their business interests. Waving the flag, getting a tear in their eye as they hear the national anthem or saluting the coffin of a U.S. service member returning from war . . . just doesnt trip these peoples trigger. The only tear that ever develops in the corner of these peoples eyes is a tear of joy as they compile more piles of money and amass more power. Patriotism, they believe, is for the little people . . . If you dont retain anything else about the mega-rich of America, plug this into your head and hard wire it: THEY HAVE ZERO SOCIAL ISSUES politically and they dont die in wars. Unlike most Americans they dont foam at the mouth when a talking head like Rush Limbaugh talks about school prayer, abortion, same sex marriage, dont ask dont tell, civil rights, gay rights, a mosque at ground zero and the 100s of other issues that America continues to fight about and be divided upon. If the mega-rich in America want an abortion they get one. If they want their child to pray all day, in between some studying with a private tutor, it happens. Social issues simply dont impact them . . . they are above all that and 100% immune. Social issues are for the little people ONLY! The mega-rich are focused on one thing money and until Americans learn to focus on our money and our economy instead of social issues were toast!
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Sure, the mega-rich engage in charity and philanthropic endeavors that impact social issues on occasion, but those events are just exclusive cocktail hours where they can brag to each other about their money and how much they gave. Does some of it do some good? Of course it does and most importantly it provides a great public relations opportunity to keep the little people soothed with the idea that the free enterprise system in America has some paybacks to society. When you reach into your pockets, as almost all Americans do, to give to some cause all you receive is a small itemized deduction on your tax return, but when the mega-rich let go of a dime . . . the whole world knows about it 24/7 via the media they own shouting it from every rooftop. If the mega-rich give, whatever it bought has to be named after the benefactor or forget about it . . . its not going to happen. Try getting something named after you the next time you send $5 to the Red Cross . . . the John Q. Public band-aid. When the majority of the mega-rich give, its for one or more of three reasons: ego, control and influence peddling. Politically speaking not one social issue is on their agenda and the same goes for philanthropy. Its all about money and getting more of it. That includes buying members of Congress and state legislatures to write legislation they want the way they want it written. It includes any efforts to limit any and all competition by allowing them to squash any competitor that may dream of challenging their monopolies. It includes pushing wages so far down that no one can live and then when thats not enough to satisfy their greed moving the jobs off shore for even cheaper payrolls. They have no conscience whatsoever and more than anything, you need to realize, is they have no nation. They may live in America for the time being, but any real allegiance whatsoever to America or our people is zero! The media they own and run interview the mega-rich or their minions almost daily for their opinion on business and the economy. These brilliant gladiators of the free enterprise system are held in the highest esteem by most Americans. The truth is: these people are vultures of the world and every continent is their playground. Humans, be they American, Indian or Chinese are nothing more than profit centers . . . tools to produce the greedy even more wealth. The world is their Monopoly board and America just happens to be just one of the many boards upon which they play. You, your family, your livelihood are so far down their list of priorities that you dont even register as a pawn on the board, much less a player. Only the pseudo-rich register as pawns on this board and you couldnt be more invisible to them if you tried. As clearly demonstrated herein, these royals run America and the world with and iron fist of control with extremely sophisticated manipulation techniques that will boggle your mind once exposed. These are the people destroying the American Dream for all of us and these are the people that must be reined before its too late. Greed has no bell that will go off one day to alert the mega-rich that they now have enough money. The irony is that we the people must save them from their own greed before they kill the goose thats been laying their golden eggs for more than 30+ years. Sadly, America has already been plundered to the tune of trillions and the greedy still dont seem to have enough money and power. When is enough, enough?
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Wealth Redistribution As defined by Wikipedia: Wealth Redistribution is the transfer of income, wealth or property form some individuals to others caused by a social mechanism such as tax laws, monetary policies or tort law. Most often it refers to progressive redistribution form the rich to the poor, although it may also refer to regressive redistribution from the poor to the rich. In the brainwashed minds of 99 percent of Americans wealth redistribution means one thing and one thing only: socialism. The term socialism means a lot of different things to Americans but at its core, to most Americans, it means taking their money and giving it to sorry ass deadbeats to lazy to work. First off, most Americans, dont have two nickels to take and give to anyone. God help the deadbeats if they need your paltry pennies. So put your fears of socialism to rest. Secondly, as documented herein, when your parents pass away, if they havent already, youre still not going to have two nickels to rub together since only the mega-rich inherit any real money. Even if you got more than $100 K its still chicken feed a.k.a. two nickels to rub together when you equate it to real wealth in the grand scheme of things. In other words, youre not an America royal and never will be so get over worrying about someone coming to take your money . . . you dont have any and more than likely never will. Nonetheless, make no mistake whatsoever; this is not a push and introduction of a socialist state in America. As clearly and unequivocally stated early on, this book was written by a capitalist who has earned well within the top 20 percent of American salaries and who doesnt want the government coming to take my two nickels any more than you do. So let the hair on the back of your neck lay back down and settle in for the actual truth about wealth redistribution in America. Referring to the definition above for wealth redistribution . . . it mentions a type of wealth redistribution called regressive redistribution. Ever heard of the term on cable or network news? You wont! Go into the den, turn on that wide screen TV youre still paying on and start flipping channels to listen for the term regressive redistribution. What do you have via our technological revolution, 500 channels, maybe more? Sit and flip from channel to channel 24/7 for the next year or so and you are NOT going to hear the term anywhere, any time, on any channel especially on one channel in particular a.k.a. the freedom and liberty channel. You can and will find socialism talked about 24/7/365, but regressive redistribution youre not going to hear about. Lets investigate and explain what it is and then the reason youve never heard of it will become clear. An unsophisticated definition of regressive redistribution can be summed up in one word called stealing. While the word stealing is rather harsh and abrasive, it gets worse. Its not just stealing, its stealing from those in America that can least afford it, as in YOU! If you prefer, you can call it weaseling, hoodwinking, manipulating, bamboozling or whatever you wish, but at the end of the day its just good old common stealing. Regressive redistribution in America is essentially a wildly sophisticated, multi-faceted pyramid scheme where massive wealth is flowing in one single direction ONLY . . . upwards toward a very top small percentage of the mega-rich. Very curious, that progressive redistribution gets all the media attention when the true culprit in the death of the American Dream is regressive redistribution. Unless you are in the tiny small percentage of Americans at the very top, its your wealth, from your hard work, thats
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leaving your pockets every single day through regressive redistribution that is to be alarmed about . . . not socialism! Everyone has heard of trickle down economic theory that is currently experiencing a popular political resurgence. Via that theory over the past 30+ years what has actually occurred and is continuing to occur is massive GUSH UP economics. Unlike trickle down economics however, GUSH UP economics is no theory . . . this theory actually works. It has proven to work over the past 30+ years and is getting stronger by the day. Please dont confuse gush with the word trickle . . . gush means a money tsunami! A gully washer, tidal wave and the type of flood that Noah built his ark to survive. Why you have never heard of gush up economics and the massive wealth being stolen from you and accumulated by the mega-rich at the top is actually quite simple they [the mega-rich] dont want you to know about it. If you were one of them would you? Of course not! Instead youd rather have everyone you can buy off banging on the socialism drum 24/7 distracting the American people from whats really happening. Referring back to our imaginary American Monopoly board, first understand that this board belongs to YOU. You along with your parents and their parents paid for it with 200+ years of sweat, toil and sacrifice. All together, the millions of Americans that worked, fought and died for America own this board and at one time almost everything on it. It is still the biggest and strongest economy in the entire world and we still have one of the highest standards of living in the entire world . . . for the time being anyway. If any reader feels guilty about this fact then simply close this book and pass it on to someone else because this book is all about taking care of individual American citizens and nothing else! In short, its about being proud to be an American, proud of the standard of living weve earned and all about keeping it from being stolen! Underneath our collective American Monopoly board we all own, we typically have our money stashed under the edge. We like it, it feels good to have all those bills stashed under there and the more we have the better. Thats exactly the way it should be in a free enterprise system. This is America and were about earning money lots of it, if thats an individual Americans goal. Earning money however, is not the same as stealing it via political corruption and massive multi-national corporate monopolies. As weve worked and toiled and played the game, the way the rules say its to be played, something has changed over the last 10, 20, 30 years . . . our money under the edge of the American board is not getting larger. More than 30+ years ago Americans put the kids in daycare and almost all our spouses to work. Then we went out and got a second or even a third job. Based upon that fact alone, we should all be financially secure with a large majority well off, but that is not the case at all . . . Americans are losing their shirt. What gives, most Americans are now asking? We waved the flag and voted like were supposed to, our spouse got a job, we went to college or trade school, joined the union at work, got another job on the side and still our money under the edge of the American Monopoly board is still not growing. It must be the economy in general . . . The statistics say its not the economy at all. In the U.S., non-farm productivity between 1979 and 2009 rose 8.4 percent. 1 Productivity increased twice as fast in 2009 as it had in 2008 and twice as fast again in 2010.2 As a result, corporate profits grew 22 percent since 2007.3 With productivity and profits up it seems only fair that the wealth of average Americans would be up as well. Virtually everyone in America is and has been working
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harder and smarter for at least 20+ years or more. Even though most Americans are no Harvard economist, most of us understand that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the market value of final goods and services produced within the borders of a nation. America, as you probably know, is the largest economy in the entire world and in 1980 the GDP was just under $3 trillion but has risen steadily every single year without exception to 14+ trillion in 2010.
Breakout Resource(s): Productivity Statistics http://www.bls.gov/lpc/prodybar.htm GDP Growth http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/GDP.aspx?Symbol=USD
Most Americans dont know how much a trillion is and it wont fit on the screen of our calculator we got in high school. We do all know that just one trillion is a heck of a lot of money and a whopping $11+ trillion GDP increase in just the last 30+ years is phenomenal and huge beyond what our small brains can fathom. We realize of course that the population of America has increased significantly over that period of time and that only a small percentage of that $11+ trillion is actual profit, but any way you slice it thats billions and billions and billions of dollars in profits. As demonstrated herein statistically, virtually none, if any, of those billions of dollars have gone into your pocket since 90 percent of all Americans have experienced stagnant or dropping salaries and wages for three straight decades.4 Since we know that manufacturing jobs have been leaving the U.S. for more than 20+ years we know those billions were not reinvested into American manufacturing infrastructure. Since we know that 75 percent of non-home real estate is owned by the top 10 percent of Americans some of it went buy property (virtually none of it bought by us peasants). Those billions of dollars also didnt go to pay down the federal deficit and contrary to popular belief the money didnt go to those sorry people too lazy to work who are gaming the system via welfare. So the question is, where did all those billions in profits, over the last 30+ years, go? The answer: it went to buying up more wealth, stocks, bonds, trusts, property, diamonds, furs, mansions, Bentleys, caviar, second and third homes, pools, personal trainers, ski trips, world travel, passed down inheritance, influence buying, think tanks, lobbyists on K Street, political action committees, campaign contributions, retreats with members of Congress, so called philanthropy, art work, therapists, private schools, plastic surgery, fine dining, exquisite wines, wine cellars, chauffeurs, maids, nannies, pool boys, day spas, yachts, yacht clubs, country clubs, golf, polo, Ivy League educations, estates, security, shopping sprees in Rodeo Drive and the host of other extravagances that only American royalty can afford. Lets not be petty and envious however, none of this stuff is cheap and it requires a lot of money. We know from all the statistics provided herein that virtually zero money has trickled down in the last thirty years, so lets try to get an idea of how much money has been gushing upward:
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The top 1 percent of U.S. households control 40+ percent of the nations private wealth. Just 25 years ago the top 12 percent controlled 33 percent. 5 That 40+ percent figure is more than the combined wealth of the bottom 90 percent of all Americans.6 A mere 20 percent of Americans at the top of the food chain own 84 percent of all the privately held wealth in the U.S.7 The top 10 percent of Americans now own 90 percent of all stock, bonds, trusts and business equity and at least 75 percent of non-home real estate in this nation.8 For 15 straight years previous to the Great Recession that began in 2007, the top 1 percent absconded with 50 percent of all the income earned in America. Currently half of all American income is going to the top 10 percent.9 When capital gains are included, the 1/10th of the top 1 percent collectively rake in more than $1 trillion a year when capital gains are included.10 Since 1983, 43 percent of all the new financial wealth created by the U.S. economy went to the wealthiest 1%. A full 94% was absorbed by the top 20%, leaving just 6% of the financial wealth created during the 80s, 90s, and 2000s to the bottom 80% of Americans. Total real income growth during that same time period was similarly distributed, with 44% of increases amassed by the top 1% and 87% of total increases accruing to the top 20%.11 The total inflation-adjusted net worth of the Forbes 400 rose from $507 billion in 1995 to $1.62 trillion in 2007, before dropping back to $1.37 trillion in 2010.12 Overall income inequality is now at its worst since 1928, just previous to the start of the Great Depression.13 As of this writing, the U.S. has 496,000 households worth at least $30 M and more than 5.2 million worth more than $1 M. By 2020, households worth at least $30 M are projected to exceed 496,000 and more than 65 million U.S. households will be worth at least $1 M.14 The top 1 percent of households in the U.S. have seen a 281 percent rise in after-tax income since 1979.15
Breakout Resource(s): Income inequality: It wasnt always this way http://www.epi.org/economic_snapshots/entry/income_inequality_it_wasnt_always_this_ way/
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Anyone see a trend here? Is anyone with a calculator and a PhD in economics or math able to put a firm dollar figure on all the bullet points above? If calculated back to 1980, when the trend officially began, its trillions of dollars . . . how many trillions who knows? Is anyone out there in America scratching their heads asking themselves why these numbers and statistics arent being reported by CNN, FOX, MSNBC, CBS, NBC or ABC news? Doesnt it seem like there would be a multi-segment, week long expos by all the networks, newspapers and major news websites to get the word out to the American people? Instead, all we in America hear about is the threat of socialism . . . why are we not hearing anything mentioned about the term regressive redistribution instead? Clearly these trends raise a lot of questions and for most Americans who believe we live in a democracy that operates within a free enterprise system where most Americans have a chance to succeed . . . it should raise some serious concerns. These concerns are not that some people are getting filthy rich in America. In a capitalist system, the pursuit of wealth is the essential element that makes it work. After all, its what the free enterprise system is all about . . . making money. The real concern and questions are, what does this kind of money buy? Can it buy a government? and What does this type of money do to our imaginary American Monopoly board? While the complex mathematical calculations to arrive at the profit dollar figures represented by a $14 T GDP growth over 30+ years are impossible to figure out, its not too difficult to figure out where the money went. Putting you on an investigative journey to uncover how all the money went to the top of the American food chain is what Part I of this book is all about. First lets get some historical context by going all the way back to our founding fathers to see what they intended and move forward in time to see where these numbers and statistics were previous to 1980.
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Historical Context to Massive Top-Only American Wealth If someone had been asleep for a hundred years or so and suddenly awoke in America today, they would think that the Constitution, Bill of Rights and the history of our nations founding had suddenly been unearthed from a time capsule. The last time anyone checked, all the documents and vestiges of history are all still safely tucked away and available for inspection in museums. Even better, via the Internet, all can be accessed by any America with the click of their mouse and believe it or not . . . you wont even need Glen Becks password for access. Instead of listening to the so called experts, pundits and talking heads who would like America to believe that were all so ignorant that we need them to interpret the Constitution and Bill of Rights for us . . . simply pull up the documents and some history and read them for yourself. Despite what all the so called experts pretend to know that you can interpret for yourself, a few things are clear: America was created to be run for the people by the people for the greater good of the whole nation, not just a few select families and individuals. The government is tasked with regulating commerce for the greater good of all citizens and a winner take all mandate is not part of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The government has both the right and obligation to collect taxes for the greater good of the whole nation and there are no tax tables contained within the Constitution, Bill of Rights or in any museum for guidance.
In short, there were some general guiding principles laid out in the beginning and all the specifics were figured out as we went along. All the current hoopla about the Constitution saying X, Y and Z specifically is about as accurate as the millions of the interpretations of the Bible and the Koran. One thing from all the writings, documents and history is however crystal clear: America was founded to provide its citizens with freedom from rule by kings, queens and royalty. Massive bloodline wealth and governance of America by those bloodlines and wealth are not part of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights or any of the founding fathers writings. Search as long as you would like and you wont find any historical documentation that puts into place rule of America by a monarchy based upon bloodlines. Furthermore, you will not find any documentation that dictates America is to be ruled by Wall Street, corporations and special interests. All Americans know the history of kings, queens, serfs and peasants. We all know that America, our Constitution and The Bill of Rights were established and written expressly to ensure that we would never again suffer under the greed and tyranny of kings and queens. Today however, The Constitution that was designed to protect us is being manipulated and contorted to ensure were enslaved once again. Just like the Bible and the Koran, the Constitution and Bill of Rights can be manipulated. Its being done with evangelical fervor and earnestness befitting the snake oil salesmen that traveled the west early in our history. No one, not even the most skilled manipulator can show where The Constitution dictates rule by kings, queens or American royalty.
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Whoever said that we Americans have a short memory absolutely nailed the truth. That truth is repeatedly the root to 99.9% of all our current economic problems. Even though short memory is just a nice word for absolute stupidity, lets stick with the term short memory for now. Consider for a moment the American fascination with royalty, especially the British royals. For as long as anyone can remember weve fawned over the queen, Princess Dis life and death, Prince Charles and now were gushing over the newest installment of royalty via Kate, Prince Williams new bride. Its often said that the closest thing we have to royalty in America is the Kennedy clan, but surely the Bush family cant be far behind with two presidents and a governor. The media and people that make such statements about American royalty make them as if we in America have missed out on something, as if were being cheated somehow by not having our own true monarchy to support with millions of tax dollars. The American value system is based upon hard work, sacrifice and relative equality, but for some reason we admire, worship and worst of all enable the exact opposite of those ideals. The crowns on the heads of our American monarchy are money connections and great wealth. Unlike the fringe left that live in some dream world of utopian existence yet to be, most Americans live in the real world fully realizing that wealth has its privileges. Guess what? It is and always will be that way. If acquired through hard work and sacrifice on a fairly level playing field, most Americans dont begrudge one single dime of earned wealth by Americans. Its what the free enterprise system is all about: work hard, make a lot of money and live as large as you want, but dont ruin the game for everyone else in the process. Living on inherited stock portfolios and doubling their value every generation is not called work, anymore than managing a hedge fund or holding company that pummels humans into the ground in exchange for stock price gains that benefit the American aristocracy. As with our imaginary American Monopoly board; weve all played with the jerk that ruins the game for everyone. Good natured nice humans, people we thought were our friends become transformed during the game as they accumulate more money and property. They get that smirk and smile on their face when you land on their property with all the hotels. Suddenly they develop a maniacal laugh as you hand over your money into their grubby little hands in exchange for moving even more poverty stricken along the board. If even play money on a Monopoly board game turns good people into greedy little creeps just think what real money does to people who werent good people to begin with? Whats the goal in the game of Monopoly? Simple: to bankrupt every player on the board any way you can, using every method possible that include: psychological warfare, propaganda, monopolization, bank fraud, intimidation, collusion, partnerships and anything else you can dream up. Have you ever cheated at Monopoly? (Perhaps grabbing a few bucks out of the bank while the banker was in the kitchen.) In a game however, humans dont starve to death, families are not thrown out into the street and people dont put a gun in their mouths and pull the trigger . . . in a game all is soon forgiven and forgotten. You would think however that nothing would be forgotten or forgiven in the real game of Monopoly we play every day. For us, the little people, its not a game at all. Its our
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lives, our livelihoods and our economic dreams for the only life were going to have. For those Americans in the top percentage of incomes and wealth, it is nothing but a game. When you have billions of dollars it becomes nothing but play money just like in the game of Monopoly. At least on the board game the winner has to look their fellow players in the eye, but in the real world the mega-rich never look any of us in the eye . . . as they suck the lifeblood out of every single American en route to bankrupting everyone on the board. This book is not big on restating history and is focused primarily on the future not the past. Nonetheless, sometimes history just slaps you in the face and you have to pay attention to certain parallels. The parallels between the Great Recession were now in and the Great Depression are so obvious and undeniable that only the brain dead could deny them. In short, the Great Depression was caused in large part by way too much money in way too few hands. In 1927 on the eve of the stock market crash, that keyed the Great Depression, the top 1 percent of Americans owned 24 percent of all the wealth in our nation. Today, that figure is at 23.5 percent.1 Even though, back then, they didnt have speed trading on the stock market and complex derivatives they did have everything else that brought on our Great Recession. Massive speculation, almost zero banking regulation, bubbles, insider trading, government corruption and massive monopolies that have brought our free enterprise system with any real sense of competition to its knees. Early in the 20th Century with the advent of the Robber Barons, the amassing of way too much wealth in way too few hands and the creation of monopolies our democracy and economy began to fail. Over the course of the second 100 years or so, there have been ebbs and flows from time to time that disrupted the accumulation of massive wealth and creation of monopolies. Some were regulatory, some were economic up evils and some were changes due to new inventions. Nonetheless, most of the families that were mega-rich at the turn of the last century are still mega-rich today. They are in fact American royalty. Take for example the Vanderbilt family who built a hunting lodge in Asheville, N.C. That hunting lodge at one time sat upon more than 1000 acres and was, maybe still is, the largest home in America. Ironically family patriarch Cornelius Vanderbilt got his big break when he helped to beak up a shipping/ferry system monopoly outside of NYC. Once he learned the ropes of monopolies, he went on to take the concept to a whole new level with unscrupulous, greedy pursuits of money via corrupting politicians and undercutting any and all competition that got in his way. Not only is the Vanderbilt family still rich as dogs, but you can see a chip off the old Cornelius block, every evening in CNNs Anderson Cooper who is his direct offspring (a few generations removed). The mega-rich may change their names, they may try to hide their heritage, but the money tree of old money, never seems to die along with the doors it opens along the way. Guess we shouldnt expect little Anderson to do an expos any time soon on the massive wealth passed down in America. Slowly at first, but gaining speed as it went along, money from the mega-rich, such as the Vanderbilt family, has choked our democracy to death to where were at a point now . . . that it is on the verge of almost complete failure. Rule by democracy has been replaced by the rule by an oligarchy. Why did we bother to settle the land, steal it from the Indians and fight the Revolutionary War if crumbs from the greedy are all we have to show for our forefathers blood sweat and tears as well as our own? Not only have we been cheated, but our parents and their parents have been cheated as well. This nation
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belongs to us, not the mega-rich and our political class, but decades ago the majority of Americans abdicated their oversight responsibilities to our democracy. Some Americans will of course contend that to the victor go (all) the spoils no matter how it was accomplished. Most Americans believe that the smartest, brightest and most industrious in a free enterprise system should be rewarded, but with a caveat: as long as its accomplished on a fairly level, uncorrupted playing field. Even if we had a perfectly level playing field (which we of course we never will) do Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and the Walton family actually need a b-zillion dollars? No! Whats more, most Americans can clearly see the dangers posed to both our democracy and a well functioning free enterprise system that humongous individual wealth creates. At some point in the upward accumulation of wealth there have to be at least a few politically introduced constraints to make accumulating even more wealth increasingly less likely to happen. The greedy cant be allowed to buy up every space on our imaginary Monopoly board by bribing the board administrators a.k.a. the government. The reasons are simple: it led to the Great Depression, contributed to the Great Recession and it destroys any idea of a true democracy via massive political corruption. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for the majority of Americans just doesnt happen in a free enterprise system where only a few Americans at the very top are allowed to control the entire Monopoly board on which we all are forced to play. One thing about the mega-rich that you need to understand and just admit before we move forward: they didnt get rich by being stupid. They all either have MBAs and PhDs in greed and any level of IQ or expertise they may be missing is a phone call away to one of their Ivy League fraternity brothers or sorority sisters. They have every single tool and advantage at their disposal (owning most of them) and with the mega-rich the term unlimited budget is not a clich.
Breakout Resource(s): State of Working America: The rich get richer http://www.epi.org/economic_snapshots/entry/the_rich_get_richer/ Rising Debt and the Middle-Class Squeezean Update to 2007 http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_589.pdf
Budget Basics and the 800 Pound Gorilla It has long been said in America that the only two things in life that are unavoidable are death and taxes. By the strictest of definitions the mega-rich do die and they do pay some taxes. Lets however explore two questions: A) whether they have been paying their fair share and B) instead of dying should their last breath pass down billions in extravagant wealth to yet another generation of American royalty? First off, almost everyone agrees that incomes taxes are way too high on most everyone in America except of course for those Americans that pay none, typically the working
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poor. The irony is that corporate America squeezes every dime, off shore hiring and imports new immigrants to work for nothing in order to drive down wages . . . then are always first to point the finger at the 47 percent of freeloading Americans who arent paying any taxes. Heres a novel concept, try cutting some real paychecks to all those freeloading Americans who arent paying any taxes and guess what? Problem solved, theyll make enough to pay taxes. Then in turn we can cut the tax burden upon the mega-rich, but not until. The reason taxes are too high is simple: politicians at every level, to include federal, state and local governments have made promises they didnt have to keep because most of them would no longer be in office when the bills came due. Further complicating the issue were all the government bureaucrats, at every level, not doing the job of basic addition and subtraction. Both of these truths have to change going forward, but this book is focused on the future not history unless we can learn from it, so we now have to learn from the past and move forward. Unfortunately, moving forward is going to be painful and difficult. In order to focus on the future, the federal budget for 2010 from Wikipedia was pasted in below and anyone with Internet access can simply pull up the same pie chart for review. The following are what most reasonable Americans consider mandatory spending avenues and the billions going out the door of the treasury. $677.95 B Social Security $571 B Other mandatory programs $453 B Medicare $290 B Medicaid $164 B Interest on National Debt $663.7 B Department of Defense $42.7 B Department of Homeland Security
$2862+ T Total Mandatory Spending = 80% of the $3552 T budget Everything else, beyond what most reasonable Americans would consider mandatory, comes to only $690 B left over to run everything else.
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Breakout Resource(s): Wikipedia Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_federal_budget Taking Apart the Federal budget http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/budget-2010/ Obamas 2011 Budget Proposal: How Its Spent http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/02/01/us/budget.html
Playing the role of Mr. federal budget is not the purpose of this book, but every reader needs to at least have a basic grasp of where and how the money is allocated. Most Americans could go to Washington, D.C. tomorrow and by the end of the week cut 20 percent out of every single budget and save $710 B. We could cut off all those sorry people too lazy to work that get the most press coverage (namely welfare and unemployment) and save $557.3 B or we could close the Pentagon and plant daisies in its place and save $663.7 B. Neither cut would get us within budget just for 2010, not to mention the debt coming down the road. In 2009 we were $1.42 T in the red and by 2015 the debt is projected to be $20 T based upon current spending, projections. Go to any source you want to pull up and the reality will say the exact same thing: American has huge bills to pay!!!!! Whether we have Welfare mothers and their children along with the unemployed starving to death on every American street corner or we kill off our imperialist war machine (as some like to call it) were still broke! On top of that, state government pension plans are under-funded by $3.2 T. In 2010, for the first time ever, the Social Security system paid out more in benefits than it took in via payroll taxes. When Social Security is combined with Medicare, projections for the next 75 years reveal the programs are under-funded by $46 T. Anyway you want to cut
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spending, when you get back to the bottom line, the federal government is still broke and were in the red up to our ears! While Congress talks 24/7 about debt ceilings, cutting spending and the federal deficit due to so called entitlements, such as Social Security and Medicare, the biggest budget item of all, by far, is never even mentioned. Its like the invisible 800 pound gorilla in the room that is considered sacrosanct to dare mention cutting. That budget item is of course national defense and homeland security. To understand how the biggest budget item of all which absolutely beyond any doubt has the most waste, fraud and room for cuts is free from any discussion of budget cuts you must first understand Washington, D.C. While the rest of the U.S. is suffering from the second worst economic disaster in our nations history, clearly understand that Washington, D.C. has experienced no pain, feels no pain and has no idea whatsoever that the rest of the nation is living in the midst of the Great Recession. The 6+ million people who live in the greater D.C. Metro area as still living high on the hog and are doing just fine! The entire place, almost all residents and businesses live off the federal government by either working for the government or feeding off the existence of government or its payroll. By an overwhelming proportion, most of the money that pays all those wages and salaries come from one place: national defense and homeland security spending. Always a huge slice of the federal budget, but after 9/11 the spending has grown by colossal proportions beyond what anyone could ever imagine. If it were possible to put aside what happened to the Pentagon on 9/11 and the lives lost, which of course is not possible to do . . . in strict economic terms alone 9/11 created the biggest economic boost to ever happen to the D.C. Metro area economy as well as the military industrial complex throughout America. Most Americans, unless exposed via living in the beltway for a period of time, simply cannot fathom the money being spent on national defense and homeland security. With less than 5 percent of the worlds population, America has the largest defense budget of any nation on Earth by an extremely wide margin. While many Americans now question the intervention into Iraq, most have never questioned the general spending post 9/11 on combating terrorism. Whether weve just been lucky or all the money has paid dividends no one can say, but the fact that weve not had another 9/11 type event is hard to argue with. That could change before the ink on the book is dry. Nonetheless, the current spending levels on national defense and homeland security will bankrupt our nation if they are maintained. America, with less than 5 percent of the worlds population, can no longer afford to be the worlds police force . . . we simply dont have the money! Nonetheless, Libya was considered essential by the neocons such as senator, McCain who never saw a war he didnt want the U.S. to get involved in. While the fringe left peace freaks are quick to slam the neocons, how many of them are at the White House protesting the U.S. military intervention into Uganda? None! Oil for our cars is evil, but sending troops all over the planet to stop human rights abuses, rape and genocide is just fine and dandy. How many are willing to put their posterior on the line to dodge bullets to stop rape and genocide? None! Both Libya and Uganda are none of our business and both the fringe left and the radical right need to wake up and figure out we no longer can afford to intervene anywhere for any reason whatsoever unless our national security is threatened and that is clearly not the case in Libya or Uganda. Let the continent of Africa deal with their own problems while we deal with ours!
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Post 9/11 and to this day, anything that has the words national defense or homeland security printed on it gets approved, no questions asked, no intensive study, no rigorous hearings and nothing that even resembles restraint exists if it might possibly make American safer. Billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars flow like water to any and every defense/homeland security contractor who is willing to make significant campaign contributions and no one in Washington, D.C. or America at large even bats an eye. If you added up all the billions spent since 9/11 on national defense and homeland security, we could have created impenetrable bubbles for every man, woman and child in America to protect them from terrorist and still have a couple trillion dollars remaining. Everyone in America could have been assigned their own personal terrorism bodyguard. Where does it end? What is the threshold for enough spending when it comes to combating terrorism? Whether you are a dove or a hawk, some degree of spending is inevitable and it somehow has to be paid for which under the current tax structure is currently unfunded. Before examining who should pay and how much, lets look briefly at the bills. Just the prime defense contract money being funneled to defense contractors in 2010 alone totaled $84.6 B.1 Just as a snapshot, the tax dollars spent in 2010 that went to just the top 5 defense contractors were as follows:2 Lockheed Martin Northrop Grumman Boeing General Dynamics Raytheon $10+ B $8+ B $5+ B $4+ B $4+ B
The massive money and top companies are broken out here to simply drive home the point to America that war is an extremely profitable business for the corporations involved. Most Americans do not however see war as a business, but instead see it as national defense and homeland security. Just like every other profitable business in America, national defense and homeland security come with big fat CEO paychecks and huge stock market payoffs for the top 10 percent of Americans who own all the stock. Unlike most profitable U.S. businesses however, the fat and inefficiency in operations far exceeds any other business in America for two reasons: 1) they are spending tax payer money and 2) ever since 9/11 it has been a free-for-all spending frenzy for anything that might keep America safer. Supposedly it is all being spent to keep Americans safe from terrorism, but we can look no further than the trillion dollars spent in Iraq to see that money had nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism. Every American alive knows it had to do with oil, otherwise wed be fighting wars and doing nation building everywhere, but were not are we? What did we accomplish? We spent a trillion dollars on people that hate us and created a power vacuum for Iran to assume when we leave. If you recall when it all started, according to president, Bush II, oil money was going to pay for the war funding. That didnt happen and the promise of oil money to pay the bill has been completely forgotten somehow? That trillion dollar woops in political circles is called a miscalculation, but the assets
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from the spending are now owned by Iraq, the profits are in the hands of defense contractors and American tax payers have yet to pay off any of the bill a.k.a. a massive federal deficit. It can be assumed that in time big oil will benefit from the trillion dollars spent, but the real lions share of money went to defense contractors and their stockholders. After thousands of American lives lost on the battlefield, almost exclusively from only the middle-class and the poor, the American people have yet to benefit at the gas pump and it can be argued are no safer from terrorism than we were previous to spending a trillion dollars. What about Afghanistan? Another trillion plus dollar war expenditure that made the defense contractors and their stockholders rich as dogs. Most in America would agree that at least were somewhat safer from terrorism as a result. Nonetheless, the mission in Afghanistan was over long ago, bin Laden is now dead and were still spending money on a stone-age toilet run by tribes. How that mission turned into a nation building exercise instead of a war mission is as simple as tracing it back to the profit motives of our defense contractors and their stockholders. Bringing democracy and stability to a prehistoric people and a nation with no strategic value to America a.k.a. no oil or economic value . . . makes about as much since as annexing Mexicos problems. Al-Qaeda is in Pakistan and there is a mission to be pursued there, but nation building in Afghanistan largely benefits only stockholders and national defense contractors. The only strategic interest we may have in Afghanistan is tied to Pakistan, but for years weve continued to spend billions in Afghanistan? The reason is simple . . . because its good for the war business. It should be clearly stated here that I am not a dove, I served in the Army long ago and I dont believe it is realistic to believe that we can tear down the Pentagon and plant daisies as some of the anti-war activists believe. Furthermore, not only is the threat of terrorism real, but there are a least a billion people in Pakistan alone that would nuke the U.S. if they got the chance. With that said however, most of the billions being spent in Afghanistan and many of the dollars being spent on national defense and homeland security are a complete waste that is being irrationally driven by fear of a boogie man called terrorism. To date, if were honest with ourselves, weve just been lucky more than perfect in regard to preventing another major terrorist attack on U.S. soil (as of this writing). To date, roughly speaking weve lost around 3,000+ Americans on U.S. soil to terrorist attacks. Does anyone in American believe that that number will not rise at some point in the future no matter how much money we spend? Of course not! In 2005, 45,800 Americans died and 2.4 million were injured due to car accidents. Have we shut down all the roads, taken everyones car keys and spent trillions of taxpayer dollars to stop these deaths and injuries? Of course not, but spending trillions of taxpayer dollars to try and eradicate with 100 percent certainty the possibility of any U.S. citizens ever dying again from terrorism seems rational to Americans? Even teenagers are allowed to drive in America and no taxpayers are willing to spend trillions of dollars to stop that, so why a blank check for the pentagon and homeland security? Going strictly by the odds of who is more likely to kill U.S. citizens on U.S. soil which is to be more feared . . . terrorists or teenage drivers?
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With only a few exceptions, such as a dirty bomb, nuclear bomb, sabotage or bombing of nuclear reactor or poisoning of a water or food supply . . . the likelihood of 45,000 deaths and 2.4 million injuries in a single year due to terrorism are almost impossible to fathom. Stopping such a catastrophic number in loss of life due to terrorism is prudent and even though that cant be accomplished with 100 percent certainty it is rational to support enough spending upon homeland security and national defense to preclude such catastrophic events. However, nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan and trillions of dollars later and we still are vulnerable to both the catastrophic terrorist events and smaller scale incidents such as the one that occurred at Ft. Hood. So how do we calculate the cost versus benefit ratio? The point is that even with a blank check, money spent with defense and homeland security contractors, America will only be made somewhat safer from terrorism. If we had instead utilized profiling via race, nation of origin and religion criteria to preclude entry and immigration into the U.S. we would be far safer than we are after two wars and spending several trillion dollars. While not advocating for such iron clad racist and religious discrimination policies by any means, this truth demonstrates that America is willing to take certain calculated risks in order to maintain our identity as a free and just nation with religious freedoms. While America understands and supports that calculated risk, most have yet to understand there are calculated risks associated with national defense and homeland security spending as well. With less than 5 percent of the worlds population, we cant be alone in fighting terrorism for the world and we cant spend enough money to make us 100 percent safe. If we bankrupt all of America to support the Pentagon and defense contractors, then we have lost the war on terrorism. Even so, we have spent well over 3 trillion dollars already and we will continue to spend billions upon billions of dollars on national security and homeland defense. Neither of the two wars having been paid for to date and based upon current tax dollars the entire defense budget is unfunded. Since the defense and homeland security budgets are a sacred cow in Washington, D.C. because of lobbyists and somewhat irrational fear of terrorism, someone in America has huge unpaid bills to pay? Such huge expenses beg the questions: who should pay, whats acceptable and who should pay the lions share? Its clear that the lives of average Americans, from the middle-class and the poor almost exclusively, will be the only ones lost doing any fighting and dying for America in war. So with that as reality, as far as classes in America, which we supposedly dont have . . . the middle-class and the poor carry the heaviest burden of all for any American war. Although the media machine, owned by the mega-rich, love to talk about our boys in harms way . . . except for the rarest of exceptions, its not their boys in harms way. The Ivy League boys prefer golf, tennis and polo instead of dodging bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan . . . for some reason? Admittedly, all of America was attacked on 9/11 and for a few brief weeks we were one nation. The response as far as war and American lives has been carried not by the mega-rich however. Iraq it could easily be argued was never about terrorism or a threat to the U.S. other than the need for oil. What about S. Korea, Libya and U.S. troops on European soil, defense agreements with Japan, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, etc., not to
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mention billions spent by the state department and for foreign aid? Who benefits the most from all these risks, efforts and billions and billions of dollars in tax money? Lets be honest America, while terrorism, human rights, peace on Earth and world stability benefits the average American somewhat, based upon the rape of America via free trade and a world economy . . . the benefits to average Americans from all these efforts and billions being spent are minimal at best. Those who benefit the most, by far, are U.S. multi-national corporations, the mega-rich and the top 10 percent of Americans who own almost all the stock in America. While many in America still believe its all about delivering democracy, human rights and world peace everywhere on Earth . . . the truth is that its all about the money. Its about marketplaces, consumers, commerce and opportunities for more wealth for the mega-rich gained upon the world stage. Its not about old glory, but instead is about a vision of free trade (free labor) and one world economy that rings the register for Americas aristocracy and the worlds mega-rich. Whether you agree with all the efforts, spending and involvement is neither here nor there for purposes of this book. What cannot be disagreed with is that the costs of national defense and homeland security should be far more heavily weighted toward the top of the America food chain via a greatly increased tax burden. Furthermore, the day has arrived for America to demand that our multi-national corporations and the megarich who benefit the most from Americas national defense and homeland security spending . . . hire American workers exclusively whenever possible. Lives of the middleclass and poor lost in war, billions of dollars in defense and homeland security spending and who benefits? Troops returning from war cant even get hired anywhere in America due to PTSD concerns and no transferable job skills and 90 percent of America has been loosing financially for 30+ years so its not us that are benefiting. Where is the hiring of Americans by Americas multi-nation behemoth corporations? Where is the concern and initiatives to reduce the massive wealth inequality in America by those that benefit the most from America? The aristocracy only takes from America, but get a free ride as far as any obligations to America and that must change going forward. Why should the America people and taxpayers protect the cheap labor pools all over the world for the primary financial benefit or our nations aristocracy? No terrorist is going to fly a plane into our house and stock market losses from unrest on the other side of the world have little impact upon 90 percent of Americans. Why should we fight any war to secure oil or to maintain free markets throughout the world if we are not to benefit? Any idea of shared sacrifice on behalf of Americas mega-rich, who dont do any of the fighting, who havent returned to America in flag draped caskets or without limbs . . . is a sick joke upon the America people. As far as shared prosperity, the massive wealth inequality in America documented herein puts any idea of that to rest. It seems that when it comes to our aristocracy, they do nothing but take from America. They take the benefits of this nations national defense all over the world to secure free markets and then take American jobs and send them to those nations for more profits. Then when the greedy are asked to pay their fair share of the national defense and homeland security load via higher taxes they scream about being the job creators in America. Taxing the mega-rich is a jobs killer were told over and over, even though there is now more money concentrated at the top of the America food chain than ever in history and no jobs to be found. Hopefully the
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game of playing we cant tax the mega-rich, under the guise that it will kill job creation, has just about run its course in America. Along with that epiphany, should also come a realization that we do not all have the same risks, nor do we all share equally in the prosperity created by homeland security and national defense. Therefore, it is now clear that although we all benefit somewhat, it is only fair that those that benefit the most begin to pay their fair share of national defense costs that are now at least a couple of trillion dollars in the red.
Breakout Resource(s): Top 20 Defense Contractors http://www.defensesystems.com/articles/2010/05/27/top-20-defense-contractors.aspx
Death and Taxes are Avoidable Obviously, as noted above, defense and homeland security spending along with war funding, nation building and spreading democracy was a huge contributor to the federal red ink, but in truth . . . what we are now facing started decades ago. In the most simple of the terms, the Congress and all presidents going back to Reagan lied like dogs. All the liars, previous to the political class we now have, are now drawing federal pensions, working as lobbyists, sitting on corporate boards, writing books or working on their presidential libraries. Rather than be honest with the American people, they all promised way too much, spent way too much, gave way too many tax breaks to the mega-rich and kicked the can down the road for us to deal with now. Were we the American people complicit? Yes! We trusted way too much, when we were told that we could bake our cake and eat it too and we bought it while we paid no attention whatsoever while greed took over our nation. The lake was filled with money and for decades the mega-rich could rob us all without many average Americans paying attention or noticing, but now the bill for their greed has come due. The bill now due began compiling way back in 1982 when Reagan gave massive tax cuts to the mega-rich we could not afford and every president and Congress thereafter was bribed and pressured to keep the pyramid scheme going. Now that the bill has come due, the political class that sold us out for more than 30+ years expect us, the little people to pay the tab for the mega-rich via austerity measures. Never mind that we the little people have been raped by the greedy in the labor market for 30+ years and have nothing left to sacrifice . . . well ultimately pay higher taxes and suffer needlessly from the massive austerity cuts now on the way. Before exploring the historical tax shifts, along with a history of income taxes in America, two things should be clearly noted: 1) Taxing the mega-rich into the ground now [at this late date and time] is NOT going to solve our federal or state budget problems. Americans are going to be paying higher taxes in the years ahead no matter what is done to the tax codes for the mega-rich. Massive cuts in waste and federal spending must occur, but nonetheless its not going to be enough to solve our red ink problem without your taxes going up as well. Those taxes to come may arrive in other forms,
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such as sales taxes, but theyre coming . . . write it down, its the gospel of truth that no politician is going to tell you and 2) The mega-rich at this moment in time have us, the little people, exactly where they want us . . . confused and backed into a corner. While we the little people no longer have the luxury of not playing nice with our fellow Americans the mega-rich, to a certain extent, can thump their noses at us all and take their ball and go home any time they wish. So any idea that we the people are going to tax them at the rates they should have been paying since 1982 is fools play. As workers within America, they dont need us any longer because were now expensive dead weight compared to the slave labor available in the developing world. At any point, the mega-rich can just purchase their own island somewhere, incorporate there and laugh all the way to the bank. Nonetheless, tax rates for the mega-rich are going up because we the people are going to see to it! Before we raise their tax rates, lets look at some historical perspectives as far as the top tax brackets and the percentage at which mega-rich Americans were taxed in the past. As follows is a snapshot of rates for single Americans in the top brackets after the turn of the last century coming forward: TOP BRACKET $1,000,000 $ 200,000 $ 100,000 $1,000,000 $5,000,000 $ 200,000 $ 200,000 $ 102,000 $ 41,500 $ 54,000 $ 49,000 $ 263,750 $ 379,150
YEAR 1921 1922 1925 1932 1936 1944 1965 1970 1982 1987 1991 1996 2011
PERCENTAGE 73% 58% 25% 63% 79% 94% 70% 70% 50% 38.5% 31% 39.6% 35%
Again, these are just snapshots in time but generally in between the years documented above the rates stayed fairly constant for many years. Above the peak and the valley points show the massive shifts that have occurred. There are many things striking about the tax snap shots and dates above, but something beyond all else stands out and most Americans have been blinded to it by the mega-rich media machine. Since 1936 no one in America, it seems, has been focusing on the top tax bracket. Since then through today, no one above a certain top bracket is taxed even one percent higher than someone making just a few million dollars. Today you pay 35% at $379,150 or at $7 M (the average income for the top 1/10th of the top 1 percent). Look at 1991 where some peasant making $49,000 paid 31 percent the same rate as someone making $7 M or more. Even in 2011, the top bracket is only $379,150 with a ridiculous 35 percent rate for those raking in millions . . . at a time when we have more red ink than at any time in our history except perhaps around WWII. Why not some realistic tax brackets for the mega-rich to remove some red ink such as: $5 M 50%, $6 M 55%, $7 M 60% and 8+ M 70%? That would simply take the tax
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rate for those making $8+ M back to the rate of 1970. Where are the tax brackets for the corporate CEOs, sports figures and movie stars making $10, $15 or $80 M a year? America is being told that we all have to pull together and tighten out belts so where is the belt tightening at the top? Why do tax brackets for the mega-rich not even exist? The time has come to create them and keep them in place until government spending and red ink are under control, the trillions in war expenses are paid down and our debt to China is repaid. This is not rocket science, America has to bring in more revenue and drastically cut government spending. Were of course pushing the envelope with a 70 percent rate, but tiered brackets at the top are now mandatory far into the foreseeable future. As clearly demonstrated by all statistics trickle down economics is a complete lie thats part of an American pyramid scheme created by political corruption. Trickle down would be wealth accumulation, not merely being still employed [if youre that lucky] and 90 percent of the people have lost out on any significant wealth accumulation for the past 30+ years. The only wealth being accumulated is at the top and it goes off shore into a Swiss bank not into job creation within America or into your paycheck. When you get paid, it goes straight into stimulating the economy because unfortunately, most Americans are forced to live hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck. Its only fair that along with the liberty and freedom enema being prescribed that we remember the third leg of bedrock American beliefs called JUSTICE. There is no liberty and freedom without justice and its only fair and just for our fellow Americans who benefit the most from citizenship pay a higher percentage of income in taxes. Way too much money at the top chokes out any opportunity for average Americans to succeed. Were forced to work for the greedy who own the Monopoly board at stagnated wages simply because there are no other options. Instead of a free enterprise system, we now live within a prison lockdown where no American has any liberty and freedom whatsoever . . . unless they are a member of the mega-rich. You have the freedom to go to work everyday for stagnant wages and if you dont show up youll be replaced by a temp, contractor or someone off shore to boost profit margins. In addition to the fairness question and real liberty and freedom; tax history previous to the Great Depression in Roaring 20s clearly demonstrates that when American royalty is created by the mega-rich not paying their fair share economic bubbles are created that burst upon the little people . . . not the mega-rich. It is an historical fact that a higher tiered tax rate percentage existed for the mega-rich, previous to president, Reagan and it created the biggest middle-class in Americas history. Just as importantly, if not more, such a progressive rate for the mega-rich creates economic stability by quelling booms and busts that have plagued American ever since Reagan. For the evidence, simply look at the tax history provided above in 1922 and 1925 when taxes on the Robber Barons went way down for years. In 1929, because of excess at the top, the bubble created burst into the Great Depression that nearly destroyed our nation. When too much money is in the hands of too few it becomes play money just like in the game of Monopoly which leads to greed, speculation and no regard whatsoever for the human toll that such excess always seems to deliver for the little people. The Roaring 20s and the 1980s ushered in by president, Reagan have much in common. The 1920s, eat, drink and be merry mentality created by tax cuts for the mega-rich, also created stock and real estate bubbles. With the 1980s tax cuts for mega-rich
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Americans simply added cocaine and disco to the toxic cocktail of greed. The booms may be fun for awhile, but the inevitable busts created by massive wealth at the top devastate the little people. The devastation brought about the virtual failure of the entire savings and loan system during the Reagan years, contributed to booms and busts in the interim period and finally devastated the entire American economy with the mortgage meltdown that initiated the Great Recession. Previous to president, Reagan, America had almost 50 years of sustained economic stability along with a sustained higher tax rate on the mega-rich. With the short memory of Americans, we of course only remember the disco music and dancing. Waxing nostalgic is great, but anyone buying into trickle down and Reaganomics all over again must just be remembering the disco music and dancing only. How America can be stupid enough to once again buy into Reaganomics and trickle down theory in the wake of our 2008 mortgage-bubble bursting and zero trickle down in more than 30+ years has no real answer? Part of the answer is that Americans, predictably, want an easy way out and forgetting the real past and replacing that reality with nostalgic memories of 1980s disco dancing is far easier than actually facing reality tough choices we have ahead as a nation. As fun as disco was, we cant dance our way out of this financial and economic nightmare. Put your dancing shoes away, take down the disco ball . . . the time to face reality has arrived!
Breakout Resource(s): Federal Individual Income Tax Rates History http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/fed_individual_rate_history-20101220.pdf
Prepare for austerity America! It of course will be presented as tightening our belts and rolled out as some patriotic sacrifice needed by ALL Americans. It will be wrapped in the flag with the Star Spangled Banner playing in the background. To be emphatically clear, politicians and government at all levels have over promised and overspent beyond comprehension! Nonetheless, much of the deficits were going to be paying off via tightening our belts and austerity measures are now sitting in Swiss bank accounts of the mega-rich. Since 1982 the greedy got tax cuts America could not afford and they socked it away off shore or bought up more of the American Monopoly board that killed off chances of upward mobility for most Americans. They are left rich as dogs and the little people are left with our eyes bulging out like mice clamped in a mouse trap who fell like suckers for the trickle down cheese. Austerity is not gong to be pretty and it will be the first bitter taste of what was described as America, Year 2030 at the beginning of this book. Estate Taxes If our federal income tax structure contributes to creating American royalty, then our estate, gift and generation skipping transfer taxes are the crown, scepter and royal jewels of the American aristocracy. Several states have estate taxes as well, but for brevity the focus herein is only upon the federal estate tax structure. Since the mega-rich
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control all the think tanks and foundations, as well as all the corporate media they go to great lengths to manipulate income tax spin, but all of these efforts pale in comparison to their spin surrounding what they like to call death taxes a.k.a. estate taxes. Behind the smoke and mirrors are Americas mega-rich names such as Gallo (E&J Gallo Winery), Koch (Koch Industries), Mars (Mars, Inc.), Walton (Wal-Mart) and Wegman (Wegmans Food Markets) just to name a few who fund a group called the Policy and Taxation Group (PTG) who utilize at least two big gun lobbying firms in their efforts. One of the firms, Patton Boggs lobbies on estate taxes specifically for the Mars and Wegman families in addition to their work with the PTG.1 The full list of individuals, families and corporations behind the PTG is not available because current lobbying laws do not require disclosure. These names were divulged previous to 1999 when the group did disclose some of their backers. A 2006 report by Public Citizen and United for a Fair Economy, linked below, named some 18 families behind the PTG with an estimated their net worth [of these families alone] in excess of $185 B.2 Another group called the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition that includes the American Farm Bureau Federation and National Federation of Independent Business is also highly influential in the propaganda effort.
Breakout Resource(s): 2006 Report by Public Citizen and UFE - Spending Millions to Save Billions http://www.faireconomy.org/files/pdf/millions_billions.pdf
Their spin technique, used far too frequently is the old divert focus upon a miniscule group to gain leverage for the greater greed of those that really benefit. In this case its the poor family farm and small business owners the mega-rich want Americans to see as potential victims. Typically, the mega-richs media minions go out and interview a so called farm owner. They walk the hallowed land, handle the dirt and talk about how the farm has been passed down through generations and is now being threatened to be taken away by big government. The technique works great because it tugs at American values and heart strings, but its a lie! If a so called farm or small business is worth enough to be impacted by estate taxes then it is not a farm or a small business, but instead is fabulous wealth! As youll see, via the actual numbers below, if a family farm is worth enough to be impacted by the absolutely huge exclusions offered in the estate tax laws then its high time to sell off some dirt to pay estate taxes. A December 2010 CNN Money article quotes the Tax Policy Center, who has extensively researched the issue, as saying there is little hard evidence [to suggest] that the impact of estate taxes on family farms and businesses is a major concern.3 The Gallows family may still play in the dirt to grow some grapes, but the Walton family hasnt been near any dirt in their entire existence. The so called death tax is so tagged because the mega-rich, that control the dialog, wish to put fear into average Americans that they too will have to pay taxes to big government just for the right to die. [How unfair!] Furthermore, they want the average American to believe they are going to miss out on their inheritance when their parents pass on. Its funny how a few welfare dollars to the working poor raises the ire of many in America, but billions passed down from generation to generation to silver spoon
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American royalty concerns almost no one. Once again, the mega-rich masters of manipulation have brainwashed the American people into believing something that is just not true with implications going far beyond collecting some taxes. Instead this massive accumulation of passed down billions sits upon the American people and economic opportunity like a fire sucking up all the oxygen by which all average Americans are able to thrive. Quoting directly from the statistics already presented in Part I, In exchange for a lifetime of toil and hard work by our father and mother as well as previous family generations, 91.9 percent of Americans receive nothing, zero, not a dime of inheritance when their parents estate is settled. A mere 1.6 percent receive more than $100 K and 1.1 percent receive more than $50 K. That adds up to 94.6 percent of the population which means the 5.4 percent at the top of the American food chain get all the outstanding billions in inheritance dollars. With these statistics as the reality and facts, the mega-rich are not engaging in campaign spending and lobbying to protect the family farms in America. Just like the billions spent during each campaign season, it is pay-to-play graft and corruption of our so called democracy. Sorry to disappoint you, but the mega-rich have ulterior motives in regard to manipulating your ideas on death taxes. Its critical for them that you believe that even though 94.6 percent of the population will barely be able to afford the burial or cremation costs for their parents . . . youll be one of the 5.4 percent that hits the American jackpot. Once again, its the same concept as the lottery . . . if enough suckers keep buying into the game being played it just continues to work. On a personal level I still clearly recall my now departed father calling me repeatedly for several days saying he needed to talk. Two heart attacks and a stroke, but something he needed to say was apparently very important to him. Quite frankly, when we finally sat down and talked I was shocked at the topic. At 67 he could no longer work and with tears in his aging eyes he apologized to me for not leaving our family with millions of dollars. As a successful financial planner, he told me of all the millions he made for others and how many times he came close himself, but the American Dream carrot remained somehow just beyond his outstretched fingers just like it does for 94.6 of all citizens. Im sure at some level he felt like a failure, but in my mind he was the greatest dad that ever lived. Falling prey to the Americanism, still permeating our culture, that says if you dont get rich in America . . . its your fault he too bought it hook, line and sinker. Even though less than 5.4 percent of Americans pass on any inheritance, much less billions, we play the American lottery and participate in a pyramid scheme where increasingly only the mega-rich ever win. As clearly stated early on I firmly believe that families should have the right to pass down a significant amount of wealth to the next generation and beyond. If however this free enterprise system is filled with liberty and freedom, then why do only 5.4 percent experience prosperity? The answer to that question is simple: the greedy own every space on the outside of the American Monopoly board and have all the little people locked down in a pyramid scheme. The mega-rich already know that youre not going to get the carrot its only the majority of America that has yet to figure it out. The American Monopoly board belongs to the mega-rich at present, you are only allowed to exist upon it . . . thriving upon it and gaining wealth of your own is against their rules. Inheritance and wealth gifts come from upward mobility and there is less upward mobility today in America than at any time in our entire history. Just like the wildly overwhelming
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odds of you NOT getting mega-rich, the odds of you passing down any significant amount of wealth are ONLY 5.4 percent at present and decreasing by the day. Any fear you have of the so called death tax is about as rational as your fear of a terrorist flying an airliner into your home. In 2001, our moneyed Congress passed the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act. Within its provisions included a supposed temporary repeal of the estate tax by raising the exempted amount from $675,000 in 2001 all the way up to $3.5 M by 2009. Worse yet, in 2010 the tax was repealed for one full year which allowed such billionaires at George Steinbrenner to die with a virtual free pass that allowed his family to squirrel away an unknown amount of mega-dollars. In 2011 the entire law was set to sunset reverting back to a wealth exemption of $1 M. The reason for the sunset was that by 2012 the expense upon our federal deficit is expected to exceed $1 T for the decade. Not so fast, led in part by Party B, Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas [who has the Waltons as constituents] along with Party A who screamed liberty and freedom the White House caved in. Instead of a 55 percent rate that was scheduled to go into effect in 2011, it remained 35 percent and even worse instead of maintaining the $3.5 M exemption they raised it to a whopping $5 M. In theory these rates will expire at the end of 2012 and revert to a higher percentage and smaller exclusion amount . . . which wont happen without Americans by the millions pushing it down the throats of Congress! While the $5 M exemption is being written about in some circles, whats bizarre is that no one mentions the fact that anything above $500,000 gets taxed at no more than 35 percent . . . $500 M - 35%, $5 B - 35%, $10 B - 35%, $20 B - 35%. Multiply 65% of whats left over from a few billion dollars across six or seven generations. Then add in stocks, bonds, trusts, real estate purchases, etc. that all will more than likely appreciate in value. Then you will understand how one simple phone call gets these people into Harvard or a job on Wall Street? A progressive tax structure for the upper brackets far beyond a $500 K cap is long overdue! No way does someone passing on a mere $500 K beyond the $3.5 M exclusion get taxed at the same 35 percent rate as someone passing on $500 M or several billion! Only fools would allow billionaires to pay only 55 percent, much less a mere 35 percent on billions of dollars passed down. If youre wondering why austerity measures are on the way . . . youre looking at it in addition to the out of control federal spending of course.
Breakout Resource(s): United for a Fair Economy (UFE) http://faireconomy.org/issue/federal-tax Tax Proposals in President Obamas Fiscal Year 2012 Budget: http://www.ctj.org/pdf/obamabudgetfy2012.pdf Unnecessary Austerity Unnecessary Shutdown http://www.ipsdc.org/reports/unnecessary_austerity_unnecessary_government_shutdown
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Tax Loopholes The purpose of this book is to crack open doors and provide resources for deeper examination by readers. While the income tax and estate tax structures for the megarich can be addressed somewhat with a quick glance, not so for the multitude of tax loopholes that exist only for the mega-rich. There are entire books written on the topic geared primarily for the mega-rich of course. Off handed comments throughout this book such as this is not rocket science dont apply when it comes to tax loopholes for the mega-rich . . . the loopholes are so many, so complicated and so vast that even scratching the surface herein is problematic. The reason for that is simple, its because thats the way the mega-rich want it. Only a common citizen with an extensive tax and accounting background can figure out and enumerate all the tax loopholes afforded the mega-rich. Just lightly researching the topic makes your eyes glaze over and any real attempt to drill down too far into the topic herein will lose many, if not most readers. Bottom line the arena of tax loopholes are the most crooked, convoluted, deceitful scam that exists in America to screw average Americans and reward only the greedy. The most heinous loophole, with huge implications far beyond funneling more money to the mega-rich, are free stock and reduced price options awarded as part of executive compensation and for serving on corporate boards. This loophole allows millions in free money to be slipped into the pockets of the greedy and no tax is paid on it until and unless it is sold. Some capital gains taxes are paid on the dividends, but nothing whatsoever is paid in taxes on the actual stock unless its sold. It equates to millions and millions of under the table pay that never show up on a W-2 Form or 1099 Statement. Bad as this is, as will be explained further, this loophole and compensation method is the worst thing that ever happened to the America workforce. In short, senior executives, most notably CEOs and members of the board are given every incentive possible to take care of their stock price ONLY to the detriment of every employee in the company. When we Americans finally wake-up and slam the door on loopholes, we must start here and work downward. If a CEO or senior executive wants stock in their company then they can buy it outright at full price, just like you or any employee in their respective company. The companion to this loophole for tax evasion is by deferring compensation to gain advantages from changes in the tax code that occur from time to time. What if you could take about a third of your pay and just park it somewhere until the tax rates looked better? Not a bad deal if you can get it . . . but you cant since youre not a member of the mega-rich club. Warren Buffet, the worlds third richest billionaire as of this writing, may be best suited to sum it up. In short, he notes that people in his office, secretaries, etc. pay 32.9 percent of their income in taxes and Buffet, via loopholes, pays a paltry 17.7 percent. Admittedly we can easily guess that a snap shot from personnel in Buffets office is not a cross section of America, but just a mere snapshot of one office tells America just how tilted the table is in favor of the mega-rich. Buffet notes he uses no tax shelters or any of the myriad of maneuvers, available to his fellow billionaires, to evade paying his fair share. If Buffet is paying only 17.7 percent you can bet your bottom dollar, that all of Buffets fellow billionaires are paying far less than 17.7 percent and in fact its documented to be true. Each year, the IRS tracks and breaks out the tax returns of the 400 highest
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adjusted gross incomes. In 2007, [latest year such data is available] the total value for that income was $345 M [an average of $8+ M each]. Their average federal income tax rate, due to loopholes and deductions, was a mere 17 percent. So in essence, with the existing loopholes and deductions available only to the mega-rich, we would have to bump their tax rate from the present 35 percent to 53 percent just to get the 35 percent they should now be paying. Only by closing all their loopholes and bumping their income tax rate to 55 percent, will we even begin to compel the greedy to pay their fair share of what they owe.
Breakout Resource(s): NBC Interview with Warren Buffet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu5B-2LoC4s
Corporate Taxes . . . Not So Fast! It is clear to all Americans that the big global corporations, the multi-national behemoths are shipping jobs off shore and bleeding out the American Dream on shore via stagnant and shrinking pay on top of an ever increasing workload. Even so, there exists an ever increasing number of Americans on the fringe left simply out of touch with reality when it comes to taxing our nations corporations. Just the word corporation sends these types into fit of rage . . . as if any incorporated company is evil and satanic. Their vision for America is to tax every corporation into nonexistence and convert America into a commune where we all live off community gardens. Even though working for a corporation, especially the big ones, is not what it once was most people that work for one are certainly glad to still have a job and want no part of community gardening to replace their current job. Many in this fringe left group simply label any business professionals as corporatists who are ruining the planet, the world and America. Many within this group also have never had a real job, a career and have no aspirations in life beyond a community garden. As noted early on herein, democracy as a form of government and the free enterprise system has worked well for Americans and will work once again once a peaceful political revolution takes place. It will never be perfect, even after a revolution, but most people that want to replace it by killing off all corporations and complete anarchy are playing video games in their parents basement. Most Americans like to work, want a career or at least a good job and corporations provide that. Corporations also do a lot of good in their communities and for America at large. Painting all corporations with the corporatists brush of evil is for the immature and unrealistic. A corporation is simply going to do what it was designed to do: grow as large as it is allowed to grow and make as much money as possible. Its just programmed into any corporations DNA to pursue both these goals with a vengeance. Its not their fault that too many have been allowed to grow into behemoth monsters that are killing off economic opportunity and the American Dream, nor is it their fault that many are not paying their fair share of taxes, overpaying their CEOs and corporate boards. It is simply
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what they are going to do as long as they are allowed to do it. A corporation is no different than a tiger . . . it hunts, it kills, it eats anything in its path and grows larger until it is either killed or penned. Penning the monster corporations via antitrust laws and the breakup of monopolies is smart and good for America in many if not most cases, but killing off American corporations with taxes is the pursuit of fools. First off, a corporation is no different than the mega-rich who own them. They dont have to be here in America, but we do and we need to work somewhere. They can all incorporate tomorrow off shore and many have already done so and more will do so if their tax burden becomes too high. A company such as American Express, can simply incorporate off shore, change their name to World Express and never pay another dime in corporate taxes. Despite the fact that many of the mega-corporations owe their very existence to America and the American people . . . they dont see it that way. They exist to take from America and now many have taken all they need to from America and are in the big leagues playing the multi-national, global marketplace game. America and Americans are no longer their focus and they could care less if every American man, woman and child is starved to death. Since they owe their very existence to America, this reality is very sad and it should not be that way, but thats the way it is and this book from start to finish is all about facing reality instead of dreaming of utopia. Now, here are three more realities for the fringe left out there to get their heads around and swallow: 1) Corporations dont pay taxes. No matter how stubbornly some on the fringe left want to cling to the idea of making corporations pay even higher taxes it simply cant be done without killing jobs and the American economy at large. You can of course bankrupt corporate America with taxes [the true goal of the anarchists in America], but you cant make them pay taxes. No different than the electric bill of a corporation, taxes are an expense that gets lumped into a big pile of (red) expenses that set the bar to leap in order to make a profit. The more taxes heaped upon a corporation the higher the bar gets and the more corporations are forced to hire cheap off shore labor. Of course taxes are not the only reason they hire off shore by any means. 2) You and everyone that do business with the corporation being taxed pay the corporations tax bill via higher prices for goods and services. 3) Nations throughout the world, European nations included, are subsidizing their corporations with state money and none is doing it more than China. Stop and actually think just for one moment! The reality is that the government of the second largest economy in the entire world is subsidizing their businesses with billions and billions of dollars while American companies try to compete with these Chinese companies. Chinese government subsidies take the form of subsidized energy bills, cheap or even free land, low interest loans, government funded R&D facilities and little or no taxes whatsoever just to name a few of the imbalances. Add to that, a grossly undervalued currency this is killing off the economy of the entire world outside of China and it is only a matter of time until American corporations can no longer compete. Far too many Americans see millions and even billions in profits for American corporations as something bad and evil. First off, they are supposed to make millions and billions as reward for performance, but more importantly, those dollars help to offset the billions in subsidies being funneled by Chinese as well as European companies to
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their corporations. Billions of dollars in subsidies are just another reason to not buy Made in China or even Europe. Clearly American corporations are not paying what they owe in taxes via tax breaks and legal loopholes. In 2011 alone, these tax dodging techniques will cost the federal budget alone more than $102 billion in lost revenue.1 General Electric (GE) whos CEO is head of president, Obamas job council is No. 1 on the list of corporate tax dodgers, but nonetheless the closing of loopholes should not override sanity and balance. Top of the list of sane business friendly corporate tax deductions are Research and Development (R&D) costs that are the No. 1 predictor of future economic development and competitive advantage. Furthermore, government money spent [via tax breaks] to subsidize these R&D efforts is mandatory, not optional in view of government subsidies being funneled by China and other nations. While true loopholes are a problem that must be solved, corporate taxes are not the issue killing the American Dream. The number one issue is that the behemoth multinational American corporations are not hiring Americans! Despite the constant spewing that a free market, global economy is good for America its not creating jobs and higher pay for Americans. For as far out as anyone can foresee, that trend will only continue until and unless corporations are either enticed or forced to hire Americans. Thats the reality today and its going to be the reality for at least the next few decades and that is the No. 1 issue in regard to corporate taxation that is far, far, far more important than reducing federal red ink via corporate taxation! Congress and state legislatures can force American companies to hire Americans almost overnight and the means to compel them to do so will be explored in Part II, but for now understand that any red ink being removed via corporate taxes is way down on the list of priorities. If Americans were working and making a living wage, or prospering instead of being squeezed by their corporate masters, then a significant portion of the deficit red ink would disappear via individual tax returns. When an American company is showing profits of millions and billions, hiring off shore is 100 percent about greed [except for a few geographic needs] and has nothing whatsoever to do with competition in a global economy. Keeping in mind that every corporation exists to make a profit, taxes eat up profits and to get that profit back American corporations will make up the difference with cheap labor unless prohibited. Calls to place an even heavier burden upon American corporations, via more corporate taxes, shoots all Americans in the foot via higher prices and unemployment numbers as well as stagnated wages/salaries. While American corporations are currently not being compelled to hire Americans and pay them a living wage, raising their taxes is surely not going to compel them to hire Americans! American corporations are not in business to take care of Americans, although whenever possible they should be hiring Americans exclusively, its not going to happen without a government based carrot or stick monetary incentive. Those Americans screaming freedom and liberty while worshipping the unrestrained freetrade world economy must have been asleep for the past 30+ years. Profit motives dictate that every job possible either goes off shore or is given to new immigrants willing to work for nothing. Its just that simple and all the statistics prove it beyond any shadow of any doubt whatsoever!
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To unfairly penalize U.S. corporations with a stick, while foreign companies who hire few if any American citizens do business on U.S. soil, is absolutely stupid! Just as stupid, if not more, is the insanely stupid American buying habit of purchasing imported goods and services. The two political parties have failed miserably at doing their job in compelling the hiring of Americans and strongly encouraging the buying of American made goods and services. Its not because of partisan politics and a dysfunctional political system, but instead its because Congress is bribed to sell out the American people. Just like you take care of your boss, Congress takes care of theirs . . . corporations and the mega-rich. When you boil it all down and follow the money, none of our economic issues including under and unemployment are difficult to see through or untangle. The root of it all is government corruption via cronyism and bribery via campaign contributions. Nonetheless, full and gainful employment for all Americans who are willing to work and willing to develop job skills is priority I for the corporate tax structure not the federal deficit. If any American citizen is intellectually and physically able to work, further their jobs skills and education, but are unwilling to do so then they can starve. Mailing out government checks to people unwilling to work is not what America was built upon, but to allow a company like GE to hire anyone off shore, for any job that can be done in America, or to invest in operations off shore to hire cheap labor, then walk on all their corporate taxes is a crime against the American people! Currently, around 50 percent of GEs 300,000 employees word-wide are not based in America.2 Their recent track record of paying virtually no corporate taxes dictates that a carrot approach a.k.a. taxes breaks to compel them to hire Americans would have no value, then its time to employ the stick as in massive tax penalties for NOT hiring Americans. Corporations are motivated by one thing and one thing only: making money or saving more money and until the incentives and or penalties are put into place to hire American citizens, we the people will lose financially as we have for 30+ years. As noted early on, pro-business is good because Americans need to work in order to acquire food and shelter. Even so, that does not mean that corporate America should own Washington, D.C. like a puppy on a leash. Thats an entirely different story. Should the various off shore tax loopholes such as the Double Dutch and the Double Irish Sandwich, used by such corporations as Google, get slammed shut? Absolutely! However, there are far more critical issues to address in regard to corporate America, such as . . . how do we command their attention when it comes to retaining and hiring American employees. This is the No. 1 issue in America and it will continue to be the most pressing issue going forward and it is not being addressed by anyone! Whether you want to call them taxes, incentives, or penalties [stick, carrot or kicking them in the teeth], hiring and retaining Americans going forward is far more important than any pittance received, via corporate taxes, for deficit reduction. For now, as long as corporations cover their infrastructure costs in order to operate in American, thats enough. Not hiring and retaining American workers and paying dirt wages and salaries are a whole other matter entirely! Going forward if corporations play on our American Monopoly board, theyre going to hire Americas . . . one way of another! While American CEOs making millions whine about a corporate tax rate of 35 percent being the highest in the world they hire every off shore employee they can find, low ball every salary offer for every American they do hire, bleed American workers with ever higher benefit contributions, expect Americans to perform the job of two people and do everything in their vast power to kill the American Dream for everyone. After being bent
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over and financially raped for 30+ years, the American CEOs making millions want the American people to give their corporations an overall reduction in taxes? Admittedly, virtually no corporation in America actually pays the 35 percent, via loopholes, off shore gimmicks, etc., but the CEOs asking for the rate to be reduced to 25 percent or even zero are forgetting that we the American people are in no mood to pay millions of dollars in CEO salaries, be played as pawns for stock market gains for the mega-rich, have our jobs outsourced to China and then turn around and give big corporations tax breaks. Along with all corporate tax loopholes being slammed shut, the corporate tax rate should be far lower than 35 percent, but an entire nation that has been financially raped for 30+ years by corporations just dont any longer believe in corporate good will towards America and her people. We believe the mega-corporations, are out to screw us any way they can. Until and unless that belief changes, as evidenced by hiring millions of Americans and paying them full American market value . . . this is war! If corporations want something from America, its time for them to give something back to America instead of just taking and taking everything possible in a greedy feeding frenzy that is sucking the financial life out of America. Even a gambler with the upper hand and all the cards can overplay their hand and corporate America overplayed their hand long ago! The Art of Critical Thinking Most people, at least in the marketing world, have heard the acronym KISS which stands for Keep It Simple Stupid. The problem with that approach when it comes to politics and economics is while some issues are simple none are simply all black or all white. Due to decades of brainwashing, the art of critical thinking [which is the ability to see the gray instead of just the black or the white] is DEAD! Part of that, of course, is due to political party channels such as FOX and MSNBC who spew nothing but all black or all white opinion journalism and call it news. From birth were indoctrinated into one political partys way of thinking or another and as time moves forward most all actual thinking goes out the window. Thinking is difficult, extremely time consuming, burns up mental energy and when it comes to politics and economics it oftentimes hurts. Playing it safe is easier. If you think youre actually objective, then ask yourself when was the last time you read or viewed anything from the other side on any political or economic issue? If youre a white American do you ever read black media? If you happen to be a rabid Party B loyalist when was the last time, if ever, that you opened up your mind to any other perspective or viewpoint? [How do you know your opinions are on target if youve never bothered to validate them except through one prism?] The vast majority of people never, ever stray one inch from their comfort zone. If FOX News is where you get your news then it is set in stone. Thats what you watch, thats what you believe and those are the people you trust. Everyone on the planet has a hidden agenda, including your mother and your spouse, but youll open a newspaper, website or turn on MSNBC and eat every morsel of dog food they are willing to feed you without ever once considering alternative views. Why? Its easy, its part of our comfort zone, like eating our favorite cookies with a glass of milk. Anything that threatens our current way of thinking or the status quo, by nature were going to resist with all my might. As a result our brains become fat and lazy from too many easy to swallow cookies. It sits on its couch like a zombie and feeds upon its own limited resources of one brand of dog food and only one brand. Instead of being able to actually evaluate basic right from wrong our brain can only process were right and theyre
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wrong. Truth is rarely all black or white and the best course of action oftentimes lies somewhere in the middle between two extremes. The tragedy is that we think were informed, but in reality were just indoctrinated and are no more informed than someone trapped in the same box their entire life. We know those four walls, thats all we know and thats all were ever going to know until we begin to explore and do some critical thinking outside of our brains comfort zone. No one within the media or political arena, and we do mean No One as in ZERO, is telling you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help them God. Lets be brutally honest, were all a bunch of liars, its just the nature of life that we lie to get what we want. If we all told the truth wed have no job and no friends. Within the media and the political class however, their lies, manipulation and half truths are bankrupting our nation and destroying the middle-class. The media make their money from advertising based on the number of viewers and readers they suck in and the politicians make their money from legalized bribery via our current horribly flawed system of American democracy. Consider what would happen if all politicians and members of the media were forced to take a truth serum before they stepped up to the podium or came on the air. The serum would compel them, from that day forward, to always tell the whole truth from all angles not just black or white extremes. The result would be mayhem! No one could get elected and all media would go out of business. Why? Most people dont want the truth because they simply cant handle the truth. The truth hurts, is difficult to confront and destabilizes many closely held beliefs. Case in point: what if any politician told the truth about the 8+ million lost jobs that occurred at the start of the Great Recession? You know the truth is that those jobs arent going to return any time soon no matter who is voted into office or what any politician does while they are in office. If any politician were to actually say that however, they would get one vote . . . from their mother. We like lies, we like eating our brand of dog food no matter how irrational it may be. Isnt it time however that we all grew up, acted like adults and employed some critical thinking for a change? The lies and manipulation that defy rational thinking from the fringe left and the radical right are so ideologically extreme that all bounds of sanity are being held hostage to only the extremes. Going forward, America must learn to think again instead of eating dog food from the extreme fringe left and the radical right. Sipping from the Cup of Liberty Kool-Aid Liberty and freedom sounds good doesnt it? When its spun by some character wearing Revolutionary War regalia with Betsy Ross in the background sewing the first America flag if sounds even better. For a nation ever more desperate for anything to cling to, almost anything sounds good that takes us back to a more simple day and time be it George Washington crossing the Delaware or Paul Revere riding through America to wake-up the troops. Nonetheless, the freedom and liberty brand of dog food currently being sold by charlatans and snake oil salesmen to the American people is the biggest ruse since the Wall Street bailout scam. There is no doubt that the word liberty is all over the Constitution and Bill of Rights. It even says were supposed to have liberty right there in our pledge of allegiance:
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I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United State of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for all. Liberty and its close cousin freedom must be good things or they wouldnt be in our Pledge of Allegiance, Constitution and Bill of Rights. On that most all Americans agree 100 percent with the millions of Americans guzzling like drunken sailors from pitchers of Liberty Kool-Aid. Just hearing the words liberty and freedom make you want to leave all modern conveniences behind go buy a mule, a plow and settle 40 acres. Be forewarned, however that the beauty queen youre married to may chip a nail, there is no such thing as computer automation when it comes to plowing and your children will not take well to sunlight when removed from the darkened video game dungeon. Your measly 40 acres wont produce enough corn to compete with the mega-sized corporate farming operation up the road and your former beauty queen will have to take in laundry to make ends meet, but youll have liberty for the first time ever. With that reality in mind, some ingredient must be missing from this liberty Kool-Aid? Its right there in the Pledge of Allegiance two words just past the word liberty . . . its the word justice. That word never gets mentioned by the modern day Paul Revere types, only the words liberty and freedom 24/7. Plug either word or in combination into a Google search and youll be 107 before you get to the end of all the websites, bloggers, militias, conspiracy theories, radio talk shows, books and so called political leaders spewing liberty and freedom like a meteor shower. Google the word justice and youll get to the end of that list in about a day. You just landed upon the biggest potential economic bomb to ever come our way. Radical Muslim terrorists look like Mickey Mouse when compared to the liberty and freedom bombers now dropping their propaganda upon the American people. Just who is behind this propaganda bomb and more importantly why are they are behind it? Its the same people stealing the American Dream from all Americans. Clearly understand that liberty and freedom without justice is called slavery. When all the spaces on the outside of our imaginary American Monopoly board are locked up and owned by the mega-rich, when they hold all the cards in the pyramid scheme with an ever larger percent of every dollar flowing upward . . . liberty and freedom are the exclusive domain of the greedy alone! Worshiping the Gods From the beginning of time, somewhere in a cave, man has admired and coveted wealth, riches and all the trappings that go with it. This book was not written to pass judgment on whether that is good or bad . . . its just always going to be that way to some extent as long as man inhabits the Earth. Its easy to imagine a caveman acquiring the best club, which in turn made him the best hunter, which in turn got him the hottest cave babe. While modern man likes to think that he has come so far with Manhattan condos and mansions perched on a cliff in Maui we just havent. Thorough out our three million year inhabitation of Earth some men have accumulated wealth and prosperity and some have starved. Via a combination of variables such as drive, ambition, greed, luck, corruption, exploitation, position, cruelty, politics, family, intimidation and intelligence man has separated himself into whats commonly referred to as a class system [from kings to peasants and every class in between]. To varying
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degrees, no matter how wealth and power was achieved, it has been worshipped down through the centuries by the peasants a.k.a. the 99 percent. For the majority of the three million years weve been here, there was no equitable means to gain wealth and power unless you killed for it, or at least were willing to kill for it. For centuries kings and rulers amassed wealth and power by either exploiting the masses or conquering other kings and rulers and stealing what they had. Along the way, man discovered that slaves were a really good way to make money and acquire wealth because the only overhead required was a little food, a roof and protection from the elements. Beyond that small expense, it was all profit. Only within the past couple of hundred years did man determine that slaves werent cool any longer so chains were replaced with the minimum wage and whips were replaced by human resource departments, bankers and landlords. Most of these changes came after the discovery of the New World and the American Revolution that promised the greatest opportunity for equality amongst man in the history of civilization it was called democracy. America would be for the people simply because it would be ruled by the people. There would be no more kings and rule by monarchy, no more dictators and fewer serfs and peasants. Through elections, where everyone would have a vote, the people would finally be in charge of their own nation and destiny. In the event that the people didnt like their government, they would, in theory, have the opportunity every couple of years or so to go into the voting booth and vote them out. In theory, there is no reason whatsoever that such a one vote per citizen system shouldnt be fair and equitable for everyone as long as everyone plays the game by the rules. As we all know by now, the economic and political game is shaped by far more than just a few feeble rules. The cultural and psychological factors involved in the game are just as, if not more important, than any rules of the game. As long as the majority of Americans believe the game isnt rigged and they have a say in how the American Monopoly board is administered, they will continue to chase the carrot. In greyhound racing its the fake rabbit, but whatever the race, the concept is the same. All the hounds in the race start from the same gate and all believe they have a chance of catching the rabbit. I once had an old black lab and she would dash off into the night and be gone for a day chasing a rabbit. Never caught one, not once, never even got close but she chased rabbits her entire life until she was too old to chase any longer and gave up the fight. [Maybe she caught one by now in dog heaven, but who knows, the chase may have been her heaven?] I even told her she was never going to catch one, but she never listened. She would see a rabbit, her eyes would get big as saucers and off she would go just like Americans head to work everyday if were fortunate enough to still have a job. Even though dogs sleep all day while we work, we humans are smarter than dogs . . . arent we? Dogs like to chase rabbits and we like to work. If youre fortunate enough to have a profession you love, then its really not work, but more like getting paid to have fun. Even if you hate your job it at least gives you a sense of belonging, some purpose for being here or at the very least . . . it pays the bills. Unlike a hound or horse, were smart enough to know that we dont all start the economic race form the same gate. Mental and physical handicaps tragically preclude some humans from even entering the race, but most of us at least get to run in the race. In NASCAR terms, American royalty have the best mechanics and pit crew and are given the poll position at birth and the rest of us start the race somewhere in the middle or toward the back of the pack. Life expectancy dictates the miles we can put on our engine and how long well be in the race.
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At 16 most Americans still have dreams of winning the race, but at some point in life those dreams begin to fade and playing the lottery seems the best chance of winning. More than 51 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 still believe they will be rich some day. Why wouldnt they? Facebooks Mark Zukerberg, a 26 year old from Harvard is now worth an estimated $14+ B . . . why couldnt little Johnny from the local community college be next? It could happen because we all know that in America anything is possible. Most Americans, if they are honest with themselves, never had ambitions of winning the race and just running with the pack, way back in the race, was always good enough. Run a good race, have a few laughs along the way and call it a day. The absolutely amazing part of this race story is how many Americans still believe, even today, that they are gong to make it into the winners circle. Bad car, no sponsors, slow pit crew, worn out tires and a horrible starting position doesnt deter a large percentage of Americans from running the race with everything they can muster from under the hood. In 2003 at least 31 percent of Americans said that it was very or fairly likely they would become rich in their lifetime. Even more astounding is the fact that the percentage was almost identical to the same Gallop poll done 13 years earlier in 1990. Truth be told, 99 percent of us at some point in life believed we were going to be the next Bill Gates, Warren Buffett or Sam Walton. Bottom line, that belief, no matter how totally unrealistic it may be, is what makes the entire system work. Its what sends Americans off to work everyday, its what keeps our so called democracy together and its what makes the pyramid scheme work so well for our American royalty. The idea that were going to next if we just get a good education, work hard and make sacrifices well turn the corner one day and be a fat cat is what turns all the wheels in the system. Its what makes Americans idolize our American royalty and believe they deserve every dime they have with no limit ever being put upon their wealth and power. [After all, they earned it fair and square no matter their starting poll position in the race] Ironically it is this very same belief system that is rapidly converting America into a two-class only caste system of the fabulously wealthy and the dirt poor. The one thing you wont hear anywhere in America is any talk about classes of people. Its bedrock gospel that the subject is never mentioned or discussed anywhere within the media, on any cable channel, network newscast, mainstream websites or newspapers. The idea that we dont have classes of people in America is so completely ingrained as an Americanism that to even mention the subject within the media would be tantamount to heresy. Were the land of the free, home of the brave where every man and woman has the chance to compete and become rich as dogs. How any American can still believe this idea today, much less more than a third of our entire nation is testament in large part to our corporate owned media. That smoke and mirrors game will be explained herein, but for now clearly understand that your chances of getting rich in America today are far less than your chance of marrying a movie star, giving birth to quadruplets, striking oil in your backyard, getting hit by a meteor or winning the lottery. Yes, such comparisons are exaggerated somewhat, but not my much. If you define rich as annual earnings of $340 K per year then you have between a 4 to 6 percent chance of reaching that plateau for one year during any 30 year period in your life, but compared to American royalty $340 K is chicken feed. Even a mere million per year in income doesnt make the true American royalty-club cut of more than $7.1 M per year [the average of top 1/10th of the top 1 percent in incomes].1
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Even for someone born into a multi-million dollar family, the odds are very remote indeed of every reaching the $7.1 M pinnacle, but for everyone else . . . it just doesnt happen unless you can act or play a sport really well. If real life was like the game of Monopoly where everyone starts out with the same amount of money a.k.a. all dogs in the same starting gate the odds would increase dramatically, but with the joke that is our inheritance tax structure thats not going to happen. Metaphorically speaking, most of us America dogs start the race with a flat tire in a traffic jam far from the actual track. Given that all members of American royalty start the race from the poll position, their odds are wildly tilted toward remaining royalty and the average Americans odds of becoming royalty are almost zero! As a barometer, in 2010 there were only 16 new members to the list of the Forbes 400 richest Americans and in 2009 there were only 19. By comparison, back in the 2000s there were 40 or 50 new members every single year that joined the list.2 Being rich is a subjective determination, but a 2004 survey determined that 19 percent of Americans believe they earn in the top 1 percent of income which explains a lot. This finding seems to go hand in hand with our collective American ego of thinking were the biggest, the brightest and the best nation on Earth when in fact, we may be the biggest suckers on Earth. Consider our ideas and perceptions on upward mobility as an example. In reality, the chances for upward mobility in America are well behind most modern industrialized nations to include: Denmark, Norway, Finland, Canada, Sweden, Germany and France who all have shorter work weeks, more holidays, socialized medicine and much higher taxes. When people in these nations are surveyed versus citizens in the U.S., on a range of survey questions surrounding income inequality and upward mobility, the results compared to Americans responses are nothing short of absolutely bizarre!
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Breakout Resource(s): Does Europe Really Have Less Upward Mobility Than America? http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=05&year=2009&base_na me=is_europe_really_have_less_upw Upward Mobility Statistics http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/soc/faculty/docs/diprete/riches112805.pdf
As you can see from both the true realities of upward mobility to the perceived ideas on reward versus effort, family status in the wealth equation and the role that government should or should not play, Americans are either totally and completely out of touch with reality or everyone else in the industrialized world is crazy . . . take your pick? One thing is sure, if youre a greedy pig sitting on the top of the pecking order, America is where you want to be. Apparently were a nation that believes to the victor go all the spoils and every man for himself if youre not getting rich in America its 100 percent your fault and your fault alone . . . no matter how high the odds are stacked against you or how bad the odds are getting by the day. If there were ever any more clear evidence of a totally brainwashed nation . . . this is it! Massive political corruption within America has created the most imbalanced playing field at any time in our history. Most Americans agree 100 percent that becoming rich as a dog should be an option to pursue if thats your thing in life, but do we believe that anyone should have the obscene wealth of a Bill Gates, Warren Buffet or the Walton Family? Its time for that question to be asked, not because they dont deserve it or didnt earn it, which may or may not be the case . . . but simply because it gives them way too much power politically and economically to tilt the table even further in their favor. Just to reiterate, such thinking is not socialism, but instead calls for a massive restructuring and leveling of the economic playing field to regulate greed and monopoly powers before they kill both the rich and the poor. As far as the American mega-rich go, Gates and Buffet are probably two of the better ones and this books purpose is not to demonize them. Everyone knows who Gates is so he makes for a good foil. Many in America worship Gates as a God-like figure for being the most brilliant, intelligent, industrious, innovative human to ever set foot on Earth. The truth is that he was born into some money had access to the Internet and technology at an early age and essentially stole some software from IBM. Yes, by most standards the guy is to be commended for being an industrious smart guy, but the truth is that he just happened to be at the right place at the right time. At least 1000 other individuals, if not more, could have ended up where he did if they had the same luck, timing and intelligence along with drive and ambition. Hes a smart guy, but no one worthy of worship like some type of God. Hes rich, so what? He won at the game of Monopoly, but being allowed to continue playing and amassing even more wealth, more properties and more control to monopolize the entire board kills the game for everyone. Without some real tax brackets
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for mega-millionaires and mega-billionaires and limits upon inherited wealth the game for every generation thereafter is destroyed for three reasons: 1) it creates a playing field for everyone else that is just way too unequal 2) that kind of money compounds and grows at rates that creates American monarchies where every offspring thereafter is afforded a lifetime of repulsive overabundance and privilege that they did nothing whatsoever to deserve and 3) most important of all, 40 percent of the nations private wealth in the hands of one percent of the population is way too much power in the hands of way too few. That type of money buys elections, buys governments, drives wars and becomes more powerful than the nation within which it exists. That type of money and power returns us to an existence of kings and serfs and we the people deserve better than serf existence if we live in a democracy. If you think the dangers mega-wealth are being exaggerated, google the Rothschild family who with their money defeated Napoleon and are still pulling financial and political strings even today [to include within the U.S. Federal Reserve]. The Great Game Changer with More to Come Lets just be honest, friction between the mega-rich and poor [known now in America as the middle-class] has always existed. Back in the Old World, serfs and peasants may have bowed to the king and queen as they passed by, but as soon as they passed, when no one was looking, they spit, cursed and shot them the bird. The truth is however, they needed each other. The peasants and serfs needed a job and protection by the kings army to keep them from being killed and raped when the kingdom was attacked and the king needed the serfs to do his crap work in the fields. American royalty dont own the army, at least not technically anyway, but they do provide a lot of American jobs . . . or at least they once did. For two centuries, all things considered, the rich in America and the middle-class along with the poor got along pretty well simply because we needed each other. Being lower down on the totem pole wasnt great by any means, but compared to being a serf in the Old World, being middle-class or poor in American was generally not a bad gig if you could get in and we welcomed all the new immigrants that would come. Back then we had plenty of space and new immigrants were desperate enough to work for nothing . . . some things never change. Back then, there was opportunity and bounty enough for all and many prospered. The rich got richer and the poor and middle-class got opportunities like never before to become rich. America was truly the land of milk and honey where almost no one ever starved and the vast majority of Americans prospered. Wages went up as demand for labor went up and the standard of living rose for everyone in America. In most cases the owners of the factories and businesses actually felt something in their hearts for their workforce. They developed a patriarch mentality or at least wanted their workers to have a turkey on Thanksgiving and many even did their utmost to support and develop their towns and local geography. It was called giving back and it was part of a realization that we were all Americans and all in this together for better or worse. It wasnt a perfect relationship by any means but it was by the late 1960s and 1970s about as perfect as it was ever going to get. Then something changed that would change the world forever more. If youre thinking it was greed, youre wrong. As alluded to earlier, greed has always been around and always will be around as long a man inhabits the Earth. What happened around 1980, which seems to also be the time that massive wealth began to be accumulated at the top, was that the Earth shrunk and its been shrinking smaller
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every day since. The first shrinkage devastated the middle and lower middle-class in America but the next shrinkage that is just around the next corner is going to be the most catastrophic hit that the American economy has ever experienced . . . unless YOU awaken now to stop it! As noted and warned earlier, the mega-rich are smart, very smart and when they are not they can hire smart for less money by the day. On top of being smart they are greedy to the core of their beings. Combine smart and greedy and you have a recipe for big trouble for anyone thats not mega-rich. The mega-rich, their media minions and Ivy League economists call the big trouble . . . free trade or the global economy. It would be horribly remiss to attribute the idea of free trade and the global economy to just the mega-rich in America. Somewhere on the fringe left is an absolutely huge group of American elite and members of the political class that support the idea of free trade and a global economy with an evangelic fervor even stronger than the mega-rich. Led by those in academia, this group of elitist Americans, from all segments of the economic spectrum, see themselves as citizens of the world. Their guiding star is a collective guilt for being born an American. These Americans, many who like to call themselves intellectuals, believe in their hearts and have been taught that we Americans dont deserve anything we have. The truth is, if we are honest with ourselves, we dont deserve much of what we have relative to the billions of other humans on the Earth. Where we were born, in what nation we were born and to whom we were born was just a matter of happen chance. It was a roll of the universes dice, a twist of fate. Any of us could be living in India, Africa, Mexico or China right now instead of America. Along with that understanding, for some, comes a huge sense of guilt, especially from the fringe left of the political spectrum. With that hook, when the greedy and their media minions started selling the idea that free trade was going to be good for everyone on the planet this group of Americans gobbled it up like kittens sipping their first bowl of milk. It relieved their conscience and that collective sense of guilt to think that free trade would raise the wages and the standards of living for all members of the world community. What the mega-rich and the so called intellectuals didnt tell anyone was that it may take a thousand years, maybe longer, for that to happen. The professors didnt tell their students that while the world was being transformed that the professors would still work and have food while the students would have no job and no food. In fact, none of the elite and mega-rich selling the idea of a global economy told Americans they would have to be reduced to surviving within Third World living standards before the global economy equalized wages across the planet. They also didnt tell Americans that it would come so fast and that their children, grandchildren and several generations thereafter could forget about a living wage and the quality of life that most Americans have grown to enjoy. This massive shift, like it or not, has been and will largely be accomplished upon the backs of average Americans who have been losing financially for more than 30+ years and who will continue to lose going forward if we continue down the present economic and political path. What none of the academics, Harvard economists and the elitists within our political class ever divulged to the American people is that as the standard of living rises in the developing world the standard in America will fall and continue to fall.
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Not true, you say? If thats what you believe, then answer these simple questions: who or what will maintain our American standard of living while the Third World and developing nations catch up? Will the greedy suddenly develop a national conscience whereby they will feel compelled to pay Americans more money for the same job they can get done for 80 percent less in India? Will the middle-class in Brazil, India and China be able to afford the majority of goods produced in the U.S. by 2030, or will those goods still be overpriced via wage and salary disparities? For those who are still feeling a collective sense of guilt for being born in America, before you raise your hand to be reduced to a Third World existence, could you please first try the Peace Corps for a year . . . just to see how you like it rice every meal, assuming you get that, gets pretty old according to reports on the ground. Sending money to Haiti or Africa is a whole lot different than actually living there. [BTW your Mercedes stays behind if you move to the Third World.] Hollywood celebrities like Sean Penn and Oprah visit places like Africa and Haiti but as you may have noticed, none to date have relocated to Haiti or Africa. Both may be a worthwhile place to visit, but no American, it seems, wants to actually live there. If however you wish to bring the Third World to America, then rejoice at the moment were zeroed in and right on course. Your feelings of guilt will soon be relieved. For those Americans who believe in eating and who see whats already happened via free trade and this global economy dog food weve been fed for more than 20+ years now there is some really bad news . . . the worst is yet to come! You have not even begun to fathom the next phase of this free trade whammy were all supposed to be so pumped up about. In reality, its going to be the ultimate death nail in the coffin of the American Dream if its not stopped by you and millions of other citizens just like you. The initial attack by the mega-rich in this free trade onslaught were huge fast ships, transport planes and massive cross border highways [paid for with our tax money] heading into Mexico. If you were around back when the free trade shaft started, youll recall that the economy was strong, unlike today, and you wonder now [but not back then] why did they mess with a good thing? They claimed at the time, that it was necessary in order to remain competitive in the global economy. That was an outright lie then and it is now blasphemy to say it 20+ years later . . . in truth it was pure unmitigated greed! When the concept of free trade was introduced it was hailed by most politicians and all our corporate owned media as just an inevitable natural evolution in commerce. It was rolled out as the next big thing to come as if Santa was on the way. After all, we had been trading with other nations for well over a century and this new push was just an extension of an already great thing. In reality, America had been running trade deficits for years and for the mega-rich this free trade came with the added bonus of acquiring cheap labor off shore labor for them to suck even more money out of America the strongest economy in the world. We were told over and over that this new free trade thing couldnt be stopped, couldnt be avoided and that we the people would benefit beyond our wildest dreams. New markets would be opened for American goods and services and while there may be some shift in jobs going off shore a massive number of new jobs would be created that would be far better than the jobs we lost. The way the story was told and spun by the corporate owned media and Ivy League economists was that Americans would still
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be the top dog but with new jobs that paid much better. Trusting, hard working and humble Americans believe everything were told by our government and especially Harvard economists so we bought it all . . . hook, line and sinker like a large mouth bass striking a shiny new lure. If its wrapped in old glory and spurred by our collective American ego, well buy any manure they throw at us no matter how illogical it may be. Our public servants a.k.a. politicians and bureaucrats, who we thought back then had our best economic interests in mind, would watch out for the people by negotiating trade agreements and regulating it all so that we the people would be protected and flourish like never before. In the world of spin and marketing, the easiest way to sell something is to appeal to the ego of the buyer. If you can accomplish that, the buyer will get sucked in every time; so we the people were told over and over by the politicians and corporate owned media that Americans were the best and brightest workers on Earth and we could compete with anyone. Our collective American ego puffed out its chest, cocked its head upward in arrogance, waved the flag and prepared to compete in this new global market. The funny thing is, they didnt actually lie to us about being able to compete . . . they just left out the part about having to give up our car, our house and regular food on the table in order to compete. Hind sight as they say is 20/20, especially knowing what we know now about free trade. Were now being told that if we dont improve our math skills well never survive in this new economy. That may just be the only truth our government and the corporations ever told us . . . because if anyone 30+ years ago could add, subtract, multiply and divide we wouldnt be in this horrible economic decline. Even though the worlds population continues to explode, the numbers disparity wont change that much, so lets just use todays numbers. Please get out your calculator . . . there are 7 billion people on the planet a.k.a. the global marketplace and with the exception of the U.S. and most of Europe, almost all those billions live in developing nations with developing paychecks a.k.a. cheap labor. So lets take the current population of the U.S. of approximately 311 million who have one of the highest standards of living in the world a.k.a. real paychecks and add in another 700 million or so to account for Europe [just a wild guess] to arrive at a round figure of 1 billion or so. Then subtract the 1 billion from 7 billion and we end up with a number of 6 billion people living in developing nations who on average make far less than our 311 million U.S. citizens. To get a gauge of how much less, lets take the Chinese worker who is working a 16 hour day in a slave labor camp known as Qualcomm to make your Apple iPhone. They make a whopping $1.69 per hour. Since we all know that no one can actually live on minimum wage in America, for our analysis lets arrive at a low even number of $10.00 per hour for American workers. The difference in hourly pay between our world and theirs is $8.31. Now multiply that $8.31 by the 6 billion people living in those developing nations and you arrive at a cavernous number of close to $50 B per hour. Multiply that number by 40 hours per week and the cavern grows to $2 T per week. Now, multiply that number by 52 weeks in a year and it comes to $104 T per year in labor cost disparity between the U.S./Europe and the developing world. Now, answer this question: how many years of free trade will have to pass before the wages in those developing nations reach a mere $10.00 per hour? Could it happen in 25 years or will it take 50, a 100 or 500 years? The truth is that no one on the entire planet knows how long it will take or if it will even happen. What about those Ivy League economists in the bow ties . . . they have all this figured out, right? They have it all figured out all right just not for your benefit. Now would be a good time to remember
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the advice that YOU need to start thinking for yourself by asking the right questions, such as motives behind the so called answers? When listening to the so called geniuses [such as Harvard economists] would be a great time to start deploying that mental strategy. Number one, even though you may have dropped out of high school, you and I are not that dumb and number two: the economists, CEOs, talking heads on the tube, government officials and politicians are just not that much smarter than us . . . sorry to disappoint you! Americans have been guilty of believing in the so called leaders and experts by giving them the benefit of the doubt for far too long. When you do even the most basic math, none of what Americans have been told about free trade or this wonderful global economy adds up in our favor if youre an American. Now, before anyone goes there, the numbers used in the analysis above are the most simplistic, elementary, calculations and economic analysis possible. They will of course be called something from a dunce and ignoramus while being laughed off the planet by all economists, talking heads, CEOs, bureaucrats and politicians alive. Even a dunce deserves a little credit . . . its absolutely true that there are so many economic variables left out of this elementary numerical analysis that to even begin to list them all would take a year or more. The average American brain, when compared to a Harvard economist, pales in comparison. So what? Heres what you need to get, even though the $104 T cited above are elementary calculations that dont begin to encompass the variables such as salaries and hourly pay wages, shipping costs, raw materials costs and the thousands of other variables . . . if the number is just $30 T or even $10 T per year, Americans by and large simply cant compete! Whatever the number really is, no matter how many spread sheets are produced, economic computer models, charts and number crunching exercises are conducted the cavernous black hole of wage/salary divide between America and the developing world simply cannot be bridged and cannot be explained away! Anyone, from the smartest PhD to a high school drop out who believes otherwise, is dumber than a rock! What is known, beyond any shadow of any doubt whatsoever, is that we the people in America cant compete with $1.69 per hour and cant possibly win at this free trade game within the next 25, 50 or 100 years, probably far, far longer . . . unless the playing field in wages are leveled and balanced along with some constraints placed upon companies doing business within America. Without intervention, within a free flowing world economy, the American worker, be they wearing a tie or working on assembly line, is doomed! Were on borrowed time and the clock is ticking . . . Its just basic math that a child can calculate. For America to be able to compete in this so called free trade world economy, either the wages and salaries of the developing world have to come up to our level or our wages and salaries have to do down to their level. Thats the part of the wonderful free trade story the mega-rich conveniently left out when the politicians and CEOs started selling Americans this worthless bill of goods. This is not something thats coming down the road. If you recall, if you figure in inflation, all wages and salaries have been completely stagnant for everyone outside of the top 10 percent for more than 30+ years. No financial gains whatsoever, only a 30+ year loosing streak. What else do you need to know about free trade that this cruel reality doesnt tell you? It was never about free trade it was always about free labor for the greedy. If youre wondering why this isnt being reported 24/7 on the news by our so called free press remember that those pretty faces donning the latest designer fashions dont come free. They are paid millions to smile, look pretty or handsome and always have
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perky personalities while delivering what corporate America wants delivered . . . which is never the truth when it comes to free trade and the world economy. For now, understand that these people are not your friends. Friends dont sell you out for pieces of gold . . . Until most recently [with the economic devastation brought on by Wall Streets greed with the complicity and help of our federal government] most Americans had yet to feel any real economic pain. We lived in our bubble, watched the news of factory closings and jobs being shipped off shore with concern, but to be honest, most Americans didnt really care enough to react and stop it. Within our nations collective psyche some bedrock beliefs called Americanisms exist that are hard to kill even though all indicators say they are a lie. The one belief, in particular, that should be long dead is that within America [the land of opportunity] if anyone fails they have only themselves to blame. While you of course gave some money to your church, the local food bank, the Salvation Army or the United Way you werent really that concerned when other peoples jobs were going off shore. In too many hearts, Americans have been saying, Ive got mine, good luck getting yours. Until free trade and the world economy deliver the wolf to our doorstep Americans want to stick their head in the sand. After all, many of us believe we deserve what we have, we think we earned it, we went to college and worked our posterior off to get where we are. The people losing their manufacturing jobs to off shore cheap labor should have gone to college. Its easy to rationalize that they should have made sacrifices and they should have seen their demise coming years ago and prepared themselves. At the end of the day, all the manufacturing jobs leaving our shores bothered many of us, but in all honesty not that much because we still had ours. All that is about to change however . . . unless we work together to stop it! Huge ships and massive air cargo operations bringing in tons of cheap crap none of us really need we understood all too well. While it was bad for Americans who used to have jobs in the manufacturing sector, it was good for those Americans that still had jobs and money. Huge cargo ships and massive air freight operations were no threat to Americans that wore ties . . . those that went to college and majored in business, accounting, engineering, IT and other highly skilled occupations. Just a few years ago it was thought that an intelligent, college educated American with highly sophisticated job skills had nothing to fear off shore. The people taking American jobs in developing nations were dumb clucks and besides they are there and the jobs are here in America safe and sound. They cant do your job then ship it in, but what if they could do the job at one third of your salary as if they were here in America? Around the same time the free trade craze was taking hold, something else came on the horizon along with the so called technology revolution. At the time, it was merely considered a new toy, a new form of media not so different than a new television with lots of channels that didnt work so great, especially at first. That toy was called the Internet, the World Wide Web and it was gong to be really something some day. Way back then it made strange noises via dial up, it crashed, it went down from time to time and it would obviously take years and years before it delivered on its promise of shrinking the planet. As time went forward, information and data began to be transported from one place to another, via e-mail at first, then via more and more sophisticated ways as time marched forward.
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On a personal level I was heavily involved, on the marketing end, with one of the first companies to deliver bills and invoices via the Internet and have worked in the Internet software market every since. Today, the Internet is something just short of a Star Trek transporter that moves everything but human bodies and physical goods along the information super highway. In reality, today, the only real limitation the Internet has is that it cannot yet transport human bodies or physical goods virtually everything else it can do, is doing and will do even better as time marches forward. Every year, almost moment by moment it gets stronger, more robust and someone figures out yet another way to shrink the planet with this technological marvel called the Internet. It may however, be the absolute the worst thing that ever happened to the upper middle-class American workforce and our nations economy . . . While the Internet cant yet back up time, it is already enabling a 24/7/365 world economy that never rests not even for a nanosecond. As a prime example: a few years ago I did some consulting work with a French company called Dassault Systemes that programs and sells engineering software. The software is absolutely amazing beyond belief in that it enables anything, from a battle ship to a rocket ship, to be designed and specified down to the very last rivet. Were talking 3D animation, massive redesigns and months of mathematical calculations now taking place in seconds once the variables are plugged in . . . but thats not the amazing thing. Whats amazing, yet horrifying, is that its all done via the Internet with engineers from all over the world working on the same project, at the same time, with the same views that deliver integrated data and information to all of them simultaneously. No lag time, no sending files back and forth but actual engineering production. Its like having a virtual NASA engineering team all the in same room, all working on the same project , but in reality they are spread all over the world. Now with something that complex in mind as here now, ask yourself the following three questions: 1) Can you name any job currently being done in America [that doesnt require a human to be physically standing or sitting within the geographic confines of the U.S.] that cannot be done in India, China or some other developing nation? 2) Do you believe members of the mega-rich and multi-national corporations have any allegiance to America whatsoever when it comes to making money off cheaper labor in order to accumulate more wealth? and 3) How many members of Congress will sell you out versus protecting American jobs when the mega-rich pile millions of dollars on the table in front of them? If your answers to those three questions scare you, then you have a brain and you need to start using it. If your answers dont scare you, then go smoke some weed, play video games and wait for the next installment of American Idol . . . while you still have electricity. In India today, more people speak English than in the U.S. and many of them are answering the phone when you call almost any so called American company for tech support, customer service, etc. Call centers were just the beginning and virtually no one in America cared when those people lost their jobs, just like they didnt care when 1.6 million textile jobs disappeared along with the U.S. furniture industry. How about the 350,000 IT jobs outsourced to India, in just the last decade, from Silicon Valley alone?1 Did that get anyones attention? No! The corporate owned media keep telling us its just a natural evolution and progress and we continue to eat the dog food were being fed. India is just one example along with call centers and IT jobs the real list of developing
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nations sucking jobs out of the U.S. and depressing wages in America is far too long to list. Asia accounts for 60 percent of the worlds population and China and India alone account for 40 percent of it. As already noted, there are well over 6 billion people on the planet willing to work for less money than Americans. Not only that, but they are willing to make less while living in a grass hut or sleeping in shifts on bunks piled to the ceiling in corporate dormitories. Forget the offshore threat for a moment, there are thousands upon thousands of houses in America right now where new immigrants to America share their bunks with two other people on rotational shifts as they compete for our jobs. The offshore threat is now the on-shore threat. Do you think the greedy have a problem with 5 or 6 workers lined up for every job opening in America? The offshore threat to American workers and standard of living used to be just ships and airplanes, but with the advent of the Internet all that changed forevermore. In addition to shipping and the Internet that give easy access to American jobs, emerging economies have something we dont yet have, but will very soon if we dont wake up. That strategic advantage is billions of hungry bellies. It has been said that a good army marches on a full belly, but a hungry belly will march even harder and will work for anything thats offered. The oceans are not going to dry up and the Internet genie is not going back into her bottle. That simply means one undeniable thing: every single job currently in America that doesnt require a human to be physically in a spot on U.S. soil to perform it will someday be gone if we dont stop it. Think this is an exaggeration? Then answer the following question: why would any company hire an engineer in America for $120 K when they can hire the exact same skill set in China for $20 K? Nave white collar professionals still think that because they wear a tie and speak English without an accent its going to save their job? In China, right now, there are slums where thousands of highly educated college graduates with degrees in IT, engineering, accounting, business administration and every other degree you can imagine are sitting unemployed. India and China can split the atom to build the bomb, but Americans actually believe they are not exceptional enough to do accounting, purchasing or engineering? These people are NOT stupid! With that as a fact, what do you think is going to stop the coming demise of white collar jobs going to China and India if you are a white collar professional? Maybe the flag and patriotism will save you? Perhaps some allegiance to America and her wonderful workers will save you? After all, you did give your company the best years of your life and your boss likes you . . . that might save you on the first cut? Heres a question, do you think that when your day comes that those manufacturing workers, now unemployed, will care? Do you think they should? The truth is that many, perhaps even most, probably will have some empathy simply because they know all too well what its like to starve. If you however, dont wake-up, youre about to find out! Two mega-fallacies exist in regard to the reality of the current and future American workforce. The idea that existing Americans will take the good jobs and the rest of the world or even new immigrants will take the crappy jobs was flawed when the first can of free trade dog food arrived on our shore. Even though it was the most illogical idea ever spewed upon Americans, it appealed to our collective ego and sense of entitlement. The spin was that low skilled jobs would go off shore or to new immigrants and native born Americans would either work in high skilled better paying jobs or work in the service
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sector. The logic neither works for off shore labor or new immigrant labor. Its propaganda pushed by the mega-rich to keep America asleep at the wheel. The second fallacy is that a good education is a sound investment that is going to save Americans from sinking in the world economy. The majority of Americans (57%) now say that the higher education system in the U.S. fails to provide students with good value for the money and 75 percent say college is now too expensive for most Americans to afford. Echoing that sentiment, only 51 percent of college presidents describe the U.S. higher education system as one of the best in the world.2 Even so, in most major metropolitan areas in America almost half of the kids never even make it out of high school, much less go to college. The pool of uneducated, unskilled workers in America is already far too large for the few jobs available, but despite all the billions of dollars spent on public education in America that pool is quickly growing into a massive ocean of impoverished who will either be unemployed or among the working poor. Accelerating the depth of this homegrown ocean are millions more uneducated and unskilled workers being added via immigration each year. Is anyone in America or within the political class contemplating or working to solve where these millions of unskilled, uneducated people are going to work in the decades ahead? While many Americans can foresee whats coming for these unskilled and uneducated masses, most still believe they and their children can escape via higher education. What these Americans dont yet realize is that the value of higher education, in almost all cases, is falling like a rock. As the cost is rising rapidly the value is falling just as rapidly due to the technological revolution, shrinking of the planet and billions of highly educated workers emerging in the developing world. Much of the higher education expense in the developing world, for their best and brightest, is subsidized or picked-up by the state while in American such funding is being cut drastically. American students instead are graduating from less than world-class, overpriced institutions with a massive student loan on their back while being told they are the best and brightest workers in the world who can compete with anyone. What is amazing is that the gospel of American exceptionalism is still being preached even in the face of 30+ years of massive economic evidence to the contrary. Our collective ego is literally killing us . . . as weve yet to face up to and address that we are losing out economically to the rest of the world. We Americans are now expendable like fat, expensive dinosaurs who have outlived our usefulness to the greedy who play on the global stage. The old idea that if you studied hard, went to college and got a good education you could stay above the fray is now dying quickly. College graduates are already standing in the soup lines of America and with the advent of the Internet there will be a whole lot more smart, educated people standing in those lines. Skilled or unskilled, the mega-rich that once depended upon us just dont need us any longer and even the political class only need us to show up in the voting booth every couple of years. Other than that, were simply a profit center who is now eating up too much profit in salary and benefits versus what we bring in for the bottom line of corporate America. Americans [compared to starving people living in grass huts] are fat, lazy and very expensive. We are used to big houses, expensive cars, a roof over our heads and the expectation for more to come. There is more to come alright, but none of it is good unless we retake the reins from a political class owned by
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the mega-rich and stand up to American corporations and companies doing business in the U.S. who have us on the fast track to Third World existence.
Breakout Resource(s): Job Tracker http://www.workingamerica.org/jobtracker/
Consider where the future lies for Americas multi-national corporations . . . with a measly 311 million people who are all broke, maxed-out on their credit cards and tapped-out on their second mortgage America is not the big consumer pool of the future. If you are going to invest and fish for more money you go where the most fish are . . . the 6 billion people not living in America and in Europe. In 2010, in the midst of the Great Recession, all but 4 percent of the top 500 U.S. companies reported profits and the stock market closed at its highest point since the 2008 meltdown.3 So why did U.S. companies appear to not be hiring . . . leaving the unemployment rate in America at almost 10 percent? The fact is that, during the Great Recession, they were hiring, to the tune of 1.2 million people outside the United States. Inside the U.S., during the same period they hired far less than a million Americans.4 For Caterpillar, Inc. who invested in 3 new plants in China [in just the last quarter of 2010] more than half of their 15,000 new hires were overseas.5 In fact, 15 percent of their entire workforce is now Chinese.6 Their Asia-Pacific sales were up 38 percent for the first 3 quarters of 2010 compared to only 16 percent in the U.S. Meanwhile, Caterpillars stock price rose 65 percent during 2010 to further boost wealth accumulation for the mega-rich in America. For other companies such as Coca-cola and UPS the story is generally the same as you might expect. For DuPont, whose workforce in the U.S. shrank 9 percent between January 2005 and October 2009, their Asia-Pacific workforce grew a whopping 54 percent during the same period and their 2010 stock price was up 47 percent.7 In 2000, only 26 percent of Cisco Systems workforce was off shore labor, but in 2010 it had grown to 46 percent.8 In April 2011, the Wall Street Journal reported that between 2000 and 2010, some of our nations largest corporations, such as General Electric, Caterpillar, Microsoft, Walmart, Chevron, Cisco, Intel, Stanley Works, Merck, United Technologies and Oracle cut their U.S. workforces by 2.9 million people and hired 2.4 million people off shore.9 In 2009, a huge outsourcing clinic was convened in Dallas by the Conference Board to assist and facilitate even more offshore outsourcing of American jobs. Almost all the multi-national corporations had representatives in attendance eager to get on board with moving America jobs off shore. Of the conference participants who had already moved American jobs off shore, the jobs were split as follows:10 6% 22% 14% 25% 33% Finance Customer Service Procurement Human Resources IT
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Hands down, the overwhelming response given as to why the jobs were moved off shore, by 45 percent of conference participants, was to reduce operating costs and capital expenditures a.k.a. corporate speak for cheap labor.11 If there was ever a wake-up call for Americas college educated, white collar professionals, youre looking at only the beginning of whats to come if not stopped. Clearly it is not lowly factory workers now losing their jobs to off shore cheap labor, but instead, the greedy are now coming for white collar professionals as alluded to herein. If the job can be done via the Internet it simply wont be sourced in the U.S. going forward. In 2011, Goldman Sachs, amid record profits and after receiving $10 B in bailout money from U.S. taxpayers and billions more out the backdoor of the Federal Reserve, floated the news that 1000 of their white collar financial professionals would be fired.12 Americas loss will be Singapores gain where new off shore operations will hire replacement workers. Beyond cheap labor, the move is also a maneuver to skirt new Wall Street reform regulations a.k.a. ethical and honest business practices. Up and down the F500, F2000 and far beyond the trend is the same. Massive hiring overseas to acquire cheap labor to increase profits and reward Americas top 10 percent who own all the stock. Nothing whatsoever for average U.S. citizens but depressed wages or continued unemployment. Admittedly, a company such as UPS cant hire a delivery driver on U.S. soil to deliver packages in China, but anyone that believes the trend to hire overseas is not based first and foremost on cheaper labor is nave indeed. Anyone that still believes all the offshore new hires are in lowly positions needs to wakeup now! As Americans, we of course want U.S. companies to succeed in the world economy, but if they are based in the U.S. or are foreign companies doing business in the U.S. they have an obligation to hire American workers whenever and wherever possible. Anyone in America that thinks that will happen without massive pressure on U.S. companies and foreign companies doing business in the U.S. is not just nave but absolutely stupid. While the prospects for America workers may be falling like a rock, we do have one huge advantage still in our hands the biggest, strongest economy of any nation in the entire world . . . numero uno! Obviously were being sold out by politicians and U.S. corporations alike, but both need us to continue doing exactly what weve been doing for decades in order to complete the sell out. They must have us continue walking like sheep to place our heads into the guillotine while the standard of living rises overseas and ours continues to fall. By 2022, for the first time in history, the world will have shifted from mostly poor to mostly middle-class and by 2030 that number will double to more than 5 billion people.13 Meanwhile in America, the middle-class is vaporizing into thin air. In Brazil they are moving out of the slums and in India they are moving out of their huts, In America however the poverty rate is increasing dramatically by the day and more and more houses, formerly occupied by middle-class Americans, stand empty via foreclosure. Massive trade deficits with nearly every other nation on Earth, most especially low wage emerging nations, combined with American mega-corporations off shoring and a political class that continues to sell out the American people to the mega-rich is propelling a race to the bottom for all average Americans. If the American people do not awaken now and fight with the power of their wallets and retake the reigns of political power from the mega-rich . . . within a decade, the economic fate of all average Americans will be
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sealed for generations to come. At the moment, we are no more than a stepping stone, a temporary money bridge for the mega-rich to finance their vision of world economic domination at our expense. Its our collective economic might working together that simply cannot fail us, if and ONLY if, we begin to use it. Were down but were not out yet, not by a long shot . . . but we have to wise up before its too late!
Breakout Resource(s): Economy In Crisis http://economyincrisis.org/
Facing Up to the On Shore Numbers Reality Now that the 6 billion hungry mouths in the developing world, yearning for American jobs, has been explored, its time America faced up to the other numbers reality unsustainable population growth within the U.S. In the last century (1900 2000) the U.S. population more than tripled growing by more than 205 million people.1 Currently the U.S. population is around 311 million people and conservative projections, based upon current policies, are that by 2050 the U.S. population will explode to more than 439 million people.2 It is the equivalent of 48 more cities in the U.S. the size of Chicago.3 The carbon foot print and global warming consequences alone of that many people portend an environmental nightmare, but such unsustainable growth will also deliver lower wages, higher taxes, degraded public education and infrastructure along with water and food shortages. Most if not all of those implications are already coming to pass, are apparent today and could not be more blatantly obvious for the decades ahead. Take all the population issues we face at present and multiply that by 130 million more people by 2050 then ask the question, is that an alluring vision of America that provides quality of life and economic opportunity or instead does it portend the coming of an horrific nightmare? Clearly, no data, statistics and trends herein point more toward a bleak economic future for America and Third World existence than our looming overpopulation explosion. How a nation with a university system that is the envy of the entire world [with the science of population studies extremely well established] can be on the path toward Third World quality of life via overpopulation defies all logic and sanity! Even a novice in the arena of population studies, completely lacking in intellect, can look at the continent of Africa, nations such as India and Pakistan and clearly see the implications for America. Nonetheless, all rational, intellectual and sane voices warning of the horrific consequences of overpopulation have been muzzled via antiquated historical context, religion, party politics and playing of the xenophobia and race card. Since manipulation of xenophobia and the race card are the most contentious and emotionally charged, the day has arrived for America to confront these two issues head on and address them squarely. America is a nation of immigrants and our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths. That fact and history have no bearing whatsoever upon the implications and science of population studies that clearly dictate
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horrific consequences ahead, such as, an imploding economy, an environmental wasteland and eroding quality of life associated with an exploding U.S. population. Neither does the undeniable fact that a significant number of Americans are xenophobic and racist have any bearing whatsoever upon the issue of an exploding population in America. The fact that America is facing a horrific Third World future due to overpopulation [if not corrected] and the fact that some people in America are xenophobic and racist have zero relationship whatsoever to one another. The two facts are completely unrelated! Neither fact has any bearing whatsoever upon the other and tying the two together is absolutely 100 percent illogical. Overpopulation leads to starvation, lack of both economic opportunity and quality of life no matter the color of ones skin or nation of origin. Furthermore, given the existing economic disadvantages for both brown and black Americans, overpopulation simply creates an even higher wall that has already entrapped far too many in a never ending cycle of intergenerational poverty. No matter the forces driving overpopulation within the U.S. be they legal and illegal immigration or poor and pregnant the economic disadvantages and quality of life issues disproportionately impact brown and black Americans more than any races by an extremely wide margin. The median household net worth by race in America is $113,149 for whites, $5,677 for African Americans and $6,325 for Hispanics. Advocating for population growth via legal or illegal immigration simply increases competition for jobs most especially in minority communities who already have the highest unemployment percentage and rates of poverty. As of June 2011 the unemployment rates for African Americans was 16.2 percent and for Hispanic Americans it was 11.6 percent while the unemployment rate for white Americans was 8.1 percent.4 While roughly 31% of all U.S. workers experienced unemployment or underemployment at some point in 2009 the rates were higher for African-American and Hispanic workers, at 36% and 41%, respectively.5 Whereas only 14.3% of white children had an unemployed or underemployed parent in 2010, one in four African-American and Hispanic children had an underemployed parent.6 As a result, 2010 marked the first year in our long history when the majority of children living in poverty, 37.3 percent, were Latino while 30.5 percent were white and 26.6 percent were black.7 Hispanic children living in poverty had the steepest increase of any ethnic group, growing from 4 million in 2005 to 6.1 million in 2010.8 Reasons given by the Pew Hispanic Center was a product of their growing numbers, high birth rates and declining economic fortunes.9 Of the 6.1 million Latino children living in poverty, more than 66 percent (4.1 million) are children of new immigrant parents, a direct result of high birth rates among Hispanic immigrants.10 As you trace the minority unemployment trend downward by age and education levels the percentage of unemployment rises markedly. Now consider that only 55 percent of U.S. born blacks and 54 percent Hispanics (ages 18-29) have a high school diploma and ask yourself if this segment of society needs even more job competition?11 Clearly nothing could be more blatantly racist, cruel and inhumane, not to mention ignorant and shortsighted, than to pile more uneducated poor on the top of Americas minority citizens. Of eligible workers of all races, up to age 24, a record 51 percent were unemployed as of the summer of 2011.12 As with all unemployment numbers, the percentage of black and brown youth in this percentage is far higher that for white youth, but as a whole far too many of those under the age of 24 are unemployed, disengaged,
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disenfranchised and seething with frustration and anger. If you think it is a minority issue or an education issue alone, think again America. As of the summer of 2011, more than 250,000 recent college graduates were unemployed and an untold number are flipping burgers or some other menial task.13 Together with the uneducated and unskilled who are unemployed or flipping burgers, these young Americans make up a cauldron of unrest that is just waiting to boil over upon America. Its the same frustration and anger that the world watched play out in the U.K. riots in the summer of 2011, the flash mob phenomenon were now beginning to see at increasing numbers in the U.S. and the protests upon Wall Street in the autumn of 2011. Those in America playing the race card in regard to immigration, most especially illegal immigration, couldnt be any more racist and disingenuous toward brown and black American citizens . . . most especially the youth. Instead of pivoting to confront the issues driving poverty and unemployment, Party B and civil rights groups in their blood thirst quest for political power . . . do everything possible to pour gasoline upon the fire by adding even more numbers of ill equipped, uneducated new immigrants on top of starving American citizens at the low end of the socio-economic ladder . . . most especially brown and black American citizens. These people are already drowning economically, their children are living in poverty and instead of tossing them a life preserver, Party Bs solution is to toss them a huge boulder to sink them even further. The primary modus operandi being utilized to both acquire political power and to starve those at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder is of course: the race card. Nothing else could have the power to silence all intellectual and rational voices in regard to the immigration issue more than the emotionally charged issue of race? At every turn, in every discussion the immigration issue is allowed to be reduced to playing of the race card. Its simply a fact that illegal immigration comes mainly from the south instead of from Canada. Since the majority of Americans would also oppose Canadians immigrating illegally into the U.S., does that make those Americans racists since most Canadians are white? Since a large proportion of Canadians speak French, would anyone opposing tax dollars to produce government documents in French be labeled as racist? Of course not and no one ever makes that charge, but if illegal immigration comes from the south or tax funded accommodations are made for Spanish and you oppose it . . . youre labeled a racist? This is the U.S., a nation of laws and one of those laws is against illegal immigration into the U.S. Forget about English as the official language of America, English is the language of commerce for everyone on the entire planet. For that reason, more people in India speak English than in the U.S., yet taxpayer dollars are utilized to accommodate Spanish in America? Absolutely Spanish should be the No. 1 second language of all Americans, right ahead of Mandarin which well need when we are annexed by China, but to make it in the U.S. economically you must learn English instead of expecting the U.S. to take on the expense of making everything bilingual to accommodate Spanish. Nothing states that reality more emphatically than the 6.1 million Latino children living in poverty. The solution by the radical right is to simply tell all non English speaking Hispanics to learn English as if most have the money and the freedom to go to night school. The time has arrived for all Americans to realize that we have a major economic problem without a workforce that speaks English. The solution is to take all the taxpayer dollars currently being utilized to produce government documents in Spanish, quadruple the money, add
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in a billion and then offer English as a second language courses ABSOLUTELY FREE OF CHARGE to anyone and everyone that is willing to attend . . . no U.S. citizenship required! Make them available 24/7 to accommodate any schedule, provide childcare for attendees, tutoring, provide the classes via the Internet and every means possible to remove the language barrier as an economic impediment for success. Look no further than Canada where it is a law that every single communication [to include private and public sector] websites, printed documents, tax documents, advertising, manuals, etc. must be produced in both French and in English. Billions and billions of corporate profits [a.k.a. competitive economic disadvantage] and tax dollars are flushed down the toilet each year in Canada just to accommodate an insane law to humor one small population segment within Canada. That is exactly the direction that America is heading . . . write it down and watch it come to pass unless you stop it. Multiculturalism and our rich diversity of second languages learned, taught and spoken throughout America is part of our national heritage. When Italians migrated into the U.S. we didnt accommodate their language, nor have we begun to accommodate Mandarin which may actually be a really good idea the way things are heading. It is in fact discriminatory to accommodate Spanish because it economically handicaps those that do not speak English. What economic chance would any American have in China if they did not know how to speak and write Mandarin? None! Zero! Yet we expect a population that is already economically disadvantaged to be able to survive and excel in America without being able to at least speak English? By accommodating and handicapping those that only speak Spanish we believe were being compassionate? Where is the compassion in relegating someone to a lifetime inability to make it economically in the U.S. by not doing everything possible to teach English as a second language to anyone and everyone that is willing to learn? Without such efforts, were a nation that is simply stamping the word POOR on these peoples foreheads and thrusting them into the bottom of an American caste system for life. No where are such efforts more critically important than at the preschool level. We must enable children from homes, where Spanish or some other language is the predominate language, to get a leg up in acquiring English language skills that will be critical to their academic success. To continue to nothing, cut spending on such education programs, places these children behind the academic learning curve and in all likelihood relegates them to a lifetime of poverty. What chance does a child in America have that shows up for the first grade without being able to understand English? If they are held back a year to learn English, then so be it. Sending any child to the next grade that is not grade level competent in English is a crime! How can non English speaking parents help with homework or communicate with teachers about their childs academic progress? The charge of racism in regard to language skills, legal and illegal immigration is nothing more than a straightforward and extremely obvious manipulation ploy. The intent is to transform what should be an intellectual, objective discussion of overpopulation and economic opportunity into an emotional race-charged shouting match. Why the race card ploy gets played in regard to illegal immigration is simple: it works by playing upon Americans sense of justice and equality for all. Where is the potential for equality and justice if English competency is not required? Lets be extremely clear and emphatic about one thing . . . there is no justice and equality to the racial profiling that is taking place in Arizona and other places in
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America. Even if we had little green men from Mars walking around America who obviously are here illegally it would be a violation of their civil liberties within a free society to arrest them because they are green and short. Anyone in America that condones racial profiling to remove illegal immigrants couldnt be anymore un-American. By that same yardstick, anyone that believes in justice and equality for American citizens cannot condone illegal immigrants living in a society as second class humans existing in the shadows. Allowing them to enter and work within the U.S. victimizes them more than anyone via horrible wages, exploitation, poor living conditions and a lack of rights afforded legal new immigrants. It drives down all wages for everyone in the lower socioeconomic pool of workers and becomes a massive tax drain upon public resources such as schools, healthcare and social services. It is literally bankrupting America economically with a ball and chain around our nations ankle as we struggle to compete in a world-wide economy . . . a battle were currently losing. To see where it is leading, look no further than the Greek debt crisis, driven in large part by illegal immigration and the road ahead for America is clear. They too were led by the shrill voices screaming racism, xenophobia and human rights in an atmosphere that disregarded the fiscal costs and red ink brought about by illegal immigration. Between 2008 and 2010 alone, 1.1 million new immigrants entered America and landed jobs, as reported in January 2011, via a study conducted exclusively for Reuters by the Center for Labor Market Studies by Northeastern University.14 During that same period, U.S. household employment declined by 6.26 million.15 More than 35 percent of those 1.1 million new immigrants were undocumented workers and the reason they got hired, instead of legal citizens being hired, is simple: low ball pay along with no healthcare benefits and basic payroll taxes being paid for these workers.16 It makes legal American workers more expensive and less desirable.17 So instead of reducing the 6.26 million number who lost jobs during that period by more than 17 percent to 5.16 million, America added 1.1 million new mouths to feed. The overwhelming vast majority of these 350,000 illegal immigrants went directly into competition pool for jobs among the working poor in America who as of 2009 already number well over 30+ million. The report states that the ongoing immigration explosion is creating a deeper domestic labor glut at the bottom of the workforce ladder, depressing wages and sharpening already widening income disparities.18 The Reuters article adds, . . . such a finding could add to calls to tighten up on illegal immigration. But much of it is Hispanic and the growing Latino vote is a key base for Obamas Democratic Party.19 Obviously, Reuters concludes the same thing that all Americans with a brain already know Party B is willing to put their party strength and election prospects ahead of the economic well being of American citizens at the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum a.k.a. sacrificing the poor upon the alter of poverty to get votes. No matter how many American citizens are unemployed and how many are starving . . . Party B [it seems] cares only about the political power gained from starvation, unemployment and poverty being created by illegal immigration. The primary blame is not on the shoulders of the 350,000 undocumented workers who came during this period, but with the employers who hired them. As long as employers can hire and exploit cheap undocumented labor they will. It reduces wages for U.S. citizens and those authorized to work in the U.S. and forces undocumented workers into the shadows where they are forced to work for slave wages. According to a study by the Pew Research Center, the number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. in 2010 was 11.2 million. More than 8 million of those illegal immigrants are in the U.S. workforce, a
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number that comprises 5 percent of the entire American workforce.20 In other words, the unemployment rate could be drastically cut without illegal workers taking jobs from American citizens among the working poor. Nonetheless, the fringe left and the media write articles, manipulate studies and continue to contend that new immigrants do not take jobs from American citizens. They cite the extremely rare instances where get tough state immigration laws result in labor shortages as if that proves something. Here is what such articles and studies prove: 1) employers in America at the low end of the labor pool arent paying enough to get their missions accomplished 2) employers in America have been exploiting the illegal labor pool to drive down wages far below the level of a living wage and 3) employers can either pay enough to get the job done, without using illegal labor, or they can suffer the business consequences. The fringe left and media contrived propaganda is simply not true and anyone with the guts to examine the numbers knows that it is baseless ploy being manipulated for political power. When employers are quoted in articles stating I can find anyone to work what they are really saying is they cant find anyone to work for slave wages and paying a living wage will hurt their profits. Clearly, the issue of both legal and illegal immigration is first and foremost an economic issue. A massive inflow of new immigrants, to the tune of well over a million every single year, [be they legal or illegal] is simply an economic burden America can no longer afford going forward. Nonetheless the fire hose of race baiting in regard to illegal immigration continues primarily under the cover of Hispanic advocacy simply because the inflow is from the south. The insidious race based propaganda serves only three purposes: 1) it locks even more Hispanic American citizens at the low end of the socioeconomic ladder into a never ending cycle of poverty 2) it creates a larger bloc vote for Party B and voice for Hispanic civil rights groups who are both disingenuous in their concerns about the poor as evidenced by their continued efforts to dump even more job competition upon both brown and black America and 3) it guarantees a continued flow of cheap labor to Americas employers and exacerbates downward pressures on earning power for our American citizens most in need. While no one in Party B has ever bothered to ask the poor and working poor about the negative economic impact immigration, most especially illegal immigration, has upon their financial lives . . . how about the opinions of Hispanic citizens? If you listen to the shrill voices of the fringe left, Hispanic civil rights groups and all the national media Hispanic Americans are portrayed as too unsophisticated to understand the basic concept of supply and demand economic theory. The reality is far different however, with 31 percent of Hispanic Americans seeing the negative impact of illegal immigration upon their lives.21 While 30 percent are ambivalent, only 29 percent see illegal immigration as a positive.22 Fewer than seven in ten native born Hispanics say immigrants strengthen America.23 More than 61 percent say that illegal immigration is caused by a lack of adequate immigration enforcement.24 Why Hispanic America is presented by both the media and civil rights groups as one monolithic voice in favor of illegal immigration speaks volumes about the power of the media and advocacy thats only focused on gaining more political power instead of the economic needs of brown Americans. If America learns nothing else from this book, one thing is clear . . . the political class will do anything and sacrifice the economic wellbeing of any American [with the exception of the mega-rich] in order to hold power, gain power and control the flow of money in Washington, D.C. While Party A could obviously care less if every man, woman and child in America starves, Party B is willing to manipulate starvation for political power
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and money by playing the role of poverty pimps. Ask yourself the question, where Party B would be if the economic playing field in America was more leveled and upward mobility existed for all Americans? What if there was no need for welfare or unemployment checks, what political party would suffer the most? Where are the unrelenting, concerted efforts from Party B to level the economic playing field in America to correct the massive wealth disparity that now exists, most especially in our nations minority population? All good questions, dont you think . . . particularly appropriate when filtered through the highly fractured race card prism being manipulated for political power only. Any American that claims to be an advocate for the poor, who favors continued immigration at the present level [be it legal or undocumented] can only be either uninformed about population issues or disingenuous as to their true motivations. With millions unemployed, many starving already and wages stagnant for decades who is it that suffers the most with continued out of control immigration numbers at the present levels? Demand for workers has fallen off a cliff and it will remain that way beyond a decade and far into the future. Therefore increasing the supply of people available for an every fewer number of jobs is about as logical as pouring gasoline on a fire. To be extremely clear, at the low end of the economic ladder, the issue is a numbers and economic issue 100 percent entirely and the day and time has finally arrived for all Americans still wearing rose colored glasses to be forced to look at the real numbers along with the economic implications instead of being divided along racial or political party lines. So here are the numbers as of the 2009 reality in America: Almost 26 percent of the entire workforce, 30+ million people in America are among the working poor, which in 2009 was an income of $21,654 for a family of four. Their average wage was $8.31 per hour.25 Some 56.8 percent are white, 14.2 percent are black and 23 percent are Hispanic.26 Only slightly more than 36 percent of the working poor even graduated from high school.27 Almost half of the working poor are under 44 years of age which means that for at least the next 20 years or more [at a minimum] there will always be at least 15+ million available low wage workers.28 More than 21 percent of the working poor are foreign born.29 More than 96 percent of the working poor are employed in only three industry segments: Services, Trade and Retail.30
Now, in view of these absolutely horrific numbers that represent hunger, malnutrition and a cycle of devout poverty that most, including their children, will never escape how can any rational and compassionate American advocate adding to the 30+ million working poor in this nation via unrestrained legal or illegal immigration? A number already needlessly ballooned by more than 21 percent of the working poor who were born outside the U.S. [2+ in every 10]. To call such advocacy compassionate is so sick,
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so warped and so depraved that it is unconscionable to do so via race baiting or political party power objectives. The actual numbers simply do NOT lie, but the race baiters and the politicians only interested in votes instead of what is best for Americas poor and working poor citizens do lie every single day! If the competitive pressures from overpopulation are removed from the working poor, their income levels rise by simply reducing the supply of people to the ratio of jobs that exist. It will cost more for employers to achieve their business objectives and that will put more money into the system to stimulate the economy. The vast majority of Americas economic problems stem from consumers not getting a real paycheck that enables them to spend a dime beyond what is needed for food, shelter and transportation. It doesnt take a crystal ball to foresee at least a couple of decades in massive federal and state cutbacks in social services, aid to the poor, numbers of teachers and strains upon our healthcare system and infrastructure. Therefore, how in good conscience can any compassionate advocate for the poor be behind increasing the percentage of the working poor in America by 21 percent year after year via foreign birth? Who is going to pay the way for these people? Where are they going to work? How are they going to support their families? How are they going to be educated? Where are the billions and billions of dollars in federal programs, education, social services and medical care supposed to come from to support well over 6 million foreign born members of the working poor in America already? How much higher would the wages of the working poor be if there were 6 million less people competing for their jobs? These are all questions for the fringe left to answer as well as owning up to the fact that a permanent class of poor Americans meets the power objectives for Party B. All difficult questions to confront and an ugly political reality indeed, but the time has come for Americans to face the truth and address the realities. As documented repeatedly herein, we are a nation ruled and guided by extremist ideologues where the majority voices of sanity in the middle are never heard. Perhaps nothing demonstrates the two ideological extremes more than the fringe left and radical right approaches to poverty in America. From bashing the unemployed as druggies wanting a free ride, while telling them to get off their posteriors and find a job, to accusing anyone poor in America of being lazy and of poor character . . . the radical right clears their conscience of any duty whatsoever to the drown trodden in America. As if that were not callous and misguided enough by itself, they play the religion card via the abortion issue to ensure that poor and pregnant is the norm, rather than the exception. Cutbacks in planned parenthood funding and restraints in sex education efforts do nothing but add to the rolls of poverty and the U.S. population. While fueling the rolls of poverty, the radical right berates welfare mothers and is utilizing the budget deficit to kill what little is left of any social safety net in America. Nothing could be more cruel and schizophrenic than to exacerbate the issue of poor and pregnant with some unrealistic abstinence mindset while killing off any means and assistance for survival or a route out of poverty such as education and job training. No matter how malnourished, listless and uneducated the poor in America may be . . . finding the energy and unlocking the mysteries of performing the sex act are apparently no obstacles to success. If you dont have cable TV or the Internet, what better way to pass the time than sex? Expecting or preaching abstinence is about as realistic as keeping kids out of the cookie jar.
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For the poor and uneducated, the very basic concept that no money should = no children or far fewer children is not understood along with birth control 101. High birthrates correspond directly to lack of educational attainment, but you have to question the educational attainment, intelligence and basic common sense of anyone that believes the teaching of abstinence is a replacement for birth control and sex education? If we are to have any hope of population control and economic prosperity in America, planned-parenthood and birth control assistance via adequate funding must be available to everyone, most especially the poor! The emerging mindset of the radical right to cut planned-parenthood and birth control assistance funding while lamenting the rise in welfare mothers and drain the poor place upon our society . . . couldnt be anymore callous and illogical! Surely all adults, even the radical right, know where babies come from and how they are created. Surely they understand that children of poverty are ill equipped and poorly prepared to enter schools that are already crumbling. While teachers and education spending are easy scapegoats for poor academic performance, the truth is that lack of family stability and structure is the No. 1 issue leading to failure of our education system. When educators and political leaders talk math and science and a prepared American workforce, they seem clueless in addressing the poor and pregnant issue that is leading to a systemic failure of our education system. Of the top 34 developed nations, as of 2011 American students rank 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in math and 25 percent of Americas eighth graders cannot read at grade level.31 Yet, parents that chose to deliver children into poverty and Americans as a whole want to abdicate their responsibilities and lay all the blame on teachers. At the same time, the media yearns to portray American children as computer geniuses because they can play video games. In truth, parents are raising illiterate children who cant even add and subtract, while they are being horribly mischaracterized in the media as little computer whizzes . . . when in reality, unfortunately, a dunce cap is a far more fitting depiction for too many. While disintegration of the American family, single parenting, etc. are a driving force in our failing schools, it is poor and pregnant more than any other factor that is destroying our public education system. With both the fringe left and radical right totally out of touch with U.S. population issues and Main Street reality, such as: a failing education system, massive unemployment and ballooning poverty in America lets review some U.S. history just for nostalgia. Everyone in America is familiar with the famous quote on the Statue of Liberty that reads, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. These inspiring words are from a sonnet written by Emma Lazarus in 1883 that was bronzed and mounted in the Statue of Liberty in 1903. While such prose and wonderful sounding words evoke images of the American flag waving in the wind, the sound of the Star Spangled Banner playing in the background and immigrant families arriving upon our shores at historic Ellis Island . . . a lot has changed since 1903. The most notable change is that American citizens are now the tired, poor huddled masses. In 1903 we were still a relatively new nation, the industrial revolution required people power by the millions to engage in the manufacturing process that grew our nation into an economic power house and the envy of the world. In the late 1970s America and the world in general began a massive transformation known then as the computer age, known now as the information age. To enumerate
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the economic impact of this transformation not to mention the grossly misguided idea along the same time period that America could be transformed into a service sector only economy is impossible within the breath of this book. In short, the world turned, mistakes were made and as a nation we have yet to grasp and understand the new economic reality we now live within. Namely, the larger a nations population becomes the more challenging it will be going forward to provide good jobs, economic opportunity and food a.k.a. quality of life. Most, if not all, modern industrialized nations who are able to support both a large middle-class and quality of life for that middle-class have a smaller population than the U.S. Most, if not all, nations with greater upward mobility than the U.S. have a smaller population. All the nations on Earth that have overwhelming poverty and massive starvation, such as India, Pakistan and the continent of Africa have one issue in common overpopulation. It is true that in Asia, for instance, the numbers of middle-class people are growing at a rapid pace, however dont confuse middle-class in Asia with middle-class in the U.S. Even a lower middle-class existence in America is opulent and extravagant when compared to middle-class existence in most of Asia. They are moving from a hut to an apartment while Americans are now moving from a house to an apartment . . . en route to a hut. The reasons are many, but one of the foremost primary drivers is overpopulation within America that increases job competition and lowers wages. Nonetheless, in America were still clinging to some wildly antiquated idea that we can take in all the tired, poor huddled masses of the world and survive. Just as misguided and related is the idea that a nation with less than 5 percent of the worlds population can float every economic boat on Earth or intercede in every human rights or Third World poverty issue. We cant even deal with the poverty issue in America, much less the rest of the world. The world has changed, yet our thinking in regard to immigration has not. Weve taken a wonderful idea and completely ruined it by indulging insane excess that is killing the America Dream for everyone. In 1903 not only did we need millions of new immigrants to build out a manufacturing economy, but we could also afford the population influx via an explosive growth in GDP. Today, there is zero economic advantage to a larger population if that population is not gainfully employed and paying taxes instead of drawing welfare checks. The Ellis Island images of poor families disembarking ships and setting foot on America soil are so ingrained into the America psyche, that far too many believe that the realities that existed in 1903 still exist today. Namely that a family could step onto American soil, find jobs and become contributing members of the U.S. economy. That was true in 1903, but today it is nothing more than nostalgia a.k.a. a lie perpetuated by the media to grow eyeballs, lower labor costs for all U.S. employers and to grow a larger voting bloc for Party B. Guess who subsidizes the growth of that voting bloc and lowered labor cost for all U.S. employers? It is you, the U.S. taxpayer: 2009 data (collected in 2010) documents that 57 percent of households headed by an immigrant (legal and illegal) with children (under 18) used at least one welfare program.32 Even the households with no U.S. born children had a welfare use rate of 56 percent.33 It is estimated that 52 percent of households headed by legal immigrants used at least one welfare program in 2009 while the rate for illegal immigrants was an outrageous 71 percent.34 The eight major welfare programs examined in the data above are SSI (Supplemental Security Income for low income elderly and disabled), TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), WIC (Women, Infants, and Children food program), free/reduced school lunch, food
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stamps (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Medicaid (health insurance for those with low incomes), public housing, and rent subsidies. Now America, does it look as if new arrivals on our shores, be they legal or illegal, are able to find gainful employment whereby they can afford to feed the children they chose to bring into the world and pay taxes? While the media bends over backwards to find and highly publicize the 1 in a million new immigrant success story each year, in order to grow eyeballs and consumers, it doesnt match the reality. Just like those oversized checks given to lottery winners and the Facebook, Zukerberg story . . . the idea that new immigrants into America are making it is a complete myth. The only thing they are making is an ever more difficult environment in which established citizens struggle to find work while making the welfare rolls in America balloon to the point of bursting. It would be completely wrong and callous to blame and penalize the poor children of immigrants for their plight, but the nostalgic idea of Ellis Island immigrant arrivals who are able to make it in the U.S. a.k.a. feed their own children and pay taxes is now ancient history form a time long past. Even if a U.S. citizen is a millionaire who can afford 20 children and send them all to private schools, such a practice is callous and shortsighted in view of our U.S. population issues. On the other hand, to come to America as a new arrival, have multitudes children that you cant afford and then expect U.S. taxpayers to pick-up the tab is far worse! The result is that all members of Americas lower socio-economic strata [be they black, brown or white] suffer from increased job competition and lower wages while U.S. employers profit wildly from cheap labor and Party B gets a larger voting bloc . . . all subsidized by U.S. taxpayers. It is U.S. taxpayers that subsidize the lack of pay by employers, even though all the blame is laid at the feet of the poor. The 30+ year financial losing streak for almost 90 percent of Americans via stagnated wages and salaries should demonstrate to all sane Americans that the majority of the population we already have are not gainfully employed and almost half cant afford to pay taxes. Adding to our population arbitrarily via immigration with zero economic criteria as to potential economic contributions to our nation works collectively to sink every existing citizens financial boat. It simply increases the supply of people when demand is at one of its lowest points in history. The only people in America that benefit from such a completely out of whack supply of people to the ratio of open jobs are the mega-rich and the top 10 percent of Americans who own all the stock in America and Party B. As the fringe left blasts charges of xenophobia and racism from their megaphone while evoking images of the American Flag and Ellis Island, perhaps it is time for America to take a look a the employment numbers reality were now facing. Spewing the platitudes of cultural diversity woven into the rich fabric of Americas identity as a melting pot of the entire world continues to have a wonderful melodic ring upon the American psyche until you place that fantasy up against the economic nightmare we now face in America. When the fringe left lauds cultural diversity as the end all criteria to immigration policy, why do they not speak of economic diversity as a laudable goal as well? Millions upon millions of dirt poor, starving new immigrants in need of government assistance to feed their children is NOT diversity . . . poor and starving is just poor and starving no matter the color of ones skin or their nation of origin.
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As of this writing there are 5 or 6 people available for virtually every open job that exists in America and the official unemployment rate is well above 9 percent. Even the government numbers, which only fools believe, peg the number of unemployed and underemployed at somewhere between 20 and 30 million Americans. As bad as that sounds, as bleak as these numbers are no one in America is looking ahead, most especially any political leader or party. Furthermore, no one is telling Americans the truth about the most probable economic and employment scenarios yet to arrive. To understand the truth, Americans have to first get our heads around a reality that many have yet to understand and digest. Despite the media hype behind any ray of economic sunshine gleaned from employment numbers, the stock market, new orders for durable goods, etc. our economy is NOT going to miraculously bounce back one morning. No matter who is president, no matter which of the two failed political parties you vote in or out . . . were NOT coming out of the Great Recession and recovering from the damage done by Wall Streets greed for a long, long time! It is simply not going to happen and America is in for a long hard slough like nothing any of us have ever witnessed in our lifetimes. This reality does not mean that we cant recover or that we wont recover, but simply states the truth which is that it is going to be a slow and painful recovery. Heres why in a nutshell: 70 percent of the economy is driven by consumer spending and everyone outside of the top 10 percent is broke. With wages stagnated for decades, Americans made up the gap for lack of pay increases with credit card debt. Once the credit cards were maxed out, Americans began making up the gap for lack of pay via second mortgages in order to keep spending. With the mortgage meltdown that began the Great Recession the game came to a screeching halt simply because there was nothing left in home value to spend. No money via work, no money via credit cards and no money via second mortgages = no consumer spending for at least a decade or more. Housing, furnishings, real estate, etc. are a dead fish which accounts for 20+ percent of the entire U.S. economy which leaves only 50 percent of the consumer economy to create jobs. Outside of the 30 percent of the economy that comprises Business to Business (B2B) spending, which is beginning to show signs of life, 20 percent of the economy is completely dead and the remainder is on life support due to no money in any consumers hands . . . except for the mega-rich and top 10 percent. A horribly wounded economy will simply not support massive population growth as far out as anyone can reasonably project and nostalgic memories of Ellis Island will not change that extremely cruel reality. We U.S. citizens are now the tired, poor and hungry and were going to be economically challenged for many years to come. As to whether we can recover with either of the two failed political parties leading the way is entirely another question all together, but that question will be examined herein as we move forward. For now, lets look at the employment reality in America via a snapshot in time and then extrapolate those numbers going forward with some very realistic projections. As of July 2011, the public sector was shedding an average of 25,000 jobs a month, mostly at the state and local level.35 Since the official end of the Great Recession in June 2009, 430,000 public sector jobs had already been lost by July 2011 with almost all projections being that the number will far exceed 1.5+ million more public sector jobs lost before the bleeding ends.36 During the same period, the private sector added only 980,000 jobs.37 Subtract out the job losses in the public sector and that cancels out 40 percent of the 980,000 private sector jobs created during this period of time.38 Now consider that
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estimates dictate that 125,000 jobs per month (1,500.000 per year) must be created just to accommodate new people coming into the jobs market.39 Be they immigrants, college and high school graduates, dropouts and people re-entering the workforce . . . only one of these groups can be quickly and easily eliminated to reduce the supply of people to the number of jobs that exist: that group of people are new immigrants. A number of 125,000 per month, dictates that 3 million new jobs are needed in a 2 year period just to accommodate new entries into the jobs market. It also means that for the period between June 2009 and July 2011 alone, we were 2 million jobs in the hole in just accommodating new entries into the jobs market. The reality is that any numbers showing a lower unemployment rate during that time were a complete lie . . . a.k.a. false government propaganda! Now pick a number, to be conservative lets go with the pseudo official number of 8.5+ million jobs lost to the Great Recession [instead of the more realistic number of 20 to 30 million private sector jobs needed now!] With the 2 million jobs in the hole (noted above), were currently trying dig out of as of July 2011, added to the 8.5+ million jobs lost to the Great Recession, plus 125,000 new entries coming into the jobs market every month going forward . . . where will we be by July 2015? If everything holds steady, private sector jobs growth continues at the anemic pace it did between June 2009 and July 2011 the very conservative jobs-hole number will be 16.5 million by July 2015. If you carry the conservative numbers forward to July 2020 it becomes a jobs hole of 24 million unemployed. If however we use the more realistic jobs hole beginning number of 20 million (unemployed and underemployed), instead of the 8.5+ million official number of jobs lost during the Great Recession, the jobs-hole number becomes 35.5 million by 2030. Do the math America, use the conservative projections, make all the best case scenarios leaps of faith you wish and the numbers still add up to a horrific employment picture and economic future for America. No one believes the current unemployment numbers supplied by the government and our failed political class who pompously stand upon their podiums with the flag as a backdrop. They are all hoping that our failed education system didnt get Americans to a point where they can add, subtract and multiply. Apparently they are thus far correct, since almost no one in America seems to be sounding any alarm bells about the future. Even with zero job losses in the government sector, instead of the 2+ million projected, the private sector would have to produce more than 236,000 new jobs per month for three consecutive years just to recoup the 8.5 million official number of jobs lost due to the Great Recession. If you use the more realistic number of 20 million new jobs needed now, it would take more than 7 consecutive years at 236,000 new private sector jobs per month and no job losses whatsoever in the public sector. Again this very ambitious private sector jobs growth figure of 236,000 per month is with zero losses whatsoever in government jobs, zero new entries coming into the jobs market instead of the 125,000 per month and zero immigration into America. Instead, an unrelenting fire hose of more than 1+ million legal new immigrants and untold number of illegal immigrants coming in each and every year and giving birth at rates that far exceed the native U.S. population.
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With it being abundantly clear that any and all jobs growth for at least the next decade will have to come strictly from within the private sector alone, lets take a snapshot look at how were doing: Private Sector Job Creation May 2010 to May 201140 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July June 2010 May 2010 83,000 251,000 219,000 261,000 94,000 167,000 128,000 143,000 109,000 110,000 93,000 65,000 48,000
Now America, no more basic math, but instead realize that if we are not adding upwards of a million private sector jobs per month were making little if any progress on the unemployment front whatsoever. Thats the reality no matter how many race or xenophobia cards get played, no matter how many politicians from both of the two failed political parties squirm in front of the cameras and no matter how much smoke the propagandist within our corporate media machine blows into the air. Its bleak and it will take well over a decade if not far longer for our U.S. economy to recover enough to become a jobs engine for prosperity. In short, birthrates combined with legal and illegal immigration into the U.S. dictate both economic opportunity and quality of life within our society. While an aging workforce out of proportion to a youthful workforce is a detriment to economic vitality, far fewer people are needed to sustain America going forward. There are ZERO national benefits, rewards or advantages whatsoever to in the modern world to population growth if that population is not gainfully employed. None! In fact, by every measurement and on every scale, America would be far better off economically and in quality of life for all U.S. citizens if population growth could be held at zero . . . which of course is almost impossible. Nonetheless, the science of population studies largely dictates that zero population growth should be our driving focus . . . not wildly uncontrolled population growth. With the present unemployment and underemployment rates along with the anemic projected growth of our nations GDP, were currently overpopulated to the tune of between 20 to 30 million people. We simply dont have the jobs or even a plan to create jobs that will enable Americas economy to support the overabundance of human capital we have already yet we continue to unnecessarily add well over a million more people every year via legal and illegal immigration? New census bureau figures released in 2011 place the foreign-born population in America at 40 million, 12.9 percent of or our entire population, the highest share since 1920 back when we actually needed more human capital.41 The 1,4 million increase from 2009 was the biggest since the middecade housing boom.42
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Breakout Resource(s): Sustainable Immigration: American Workers https://www.numbersusa.com/content/nusablog/beckj/august-17-2011/sustainableimmigration-part-1-4-american-workers.html
We have a failing education system, a crumbling infrastructure, an unraveling social safety net due to massive government red ink and millions of people being added on top of these realities at a pace that will crush America if not alleviated. In spite of that glaring reality, the political class is doing virtually nothing and actually exacerbating the issue associated with overpopulation via absolutely insane immigration policies. Whether it is the radical right refusing to believe that poor people have sex, or the fringe left advocating for an open and free flowing southern border, while telling heart warming Ellis Island stories . . . they are both completely clueless and out of touch with reality! That simply means one thing: the America people are going to have to sound the alarm and take the reins of reality when it comes to a policy of sane population management and control. Just to survive economically, sex education and birth control have to be readily available to any and all Americans without any restraints. Just as important, if not far more, the fire hose pipe that has been flooding America with new immigrants [both legal and illegal] for decades must immediately be brought down to a small hardly discernable trickle. Each year for decades the U.S. has accepted more legal new immigrants as permanent residents than all of the other nations in the world combined. In 1965, before laws were liberalized, there were 9.6 million first generation Americans living in America.43 By 2007 that number was 38 million.44 Between 2000 and 2005 America experienced the largest 5 year influx of new immigrants in our nations history with more than 8 million new arrivals more than half entering illegally.45 Since the start of the Great Recession through 2010, with 30 million American citizens unemployed or underemployed, more than 3 million more new immigrants arrived to swell the ranks of poverty and cheap labor even further.46 The immigration numbers dont even begin to tell the population explosion story, but instead it is the fertility rates of new arrivals that clearly portend massive poverty in the years to come. Americas 2.05 fertility rate is far higher than other industrialized democracies (Europe 1.4 and Japan 1.3).47 The U.S. population explosion is not coming from existing U.S. citizens giving birth, but instead from new immigrants giving birth to the tune of more than 2.3 million every single year.48 In fact, with current immigration trends, 79.5 percent of all U.S. population growth between 2010 and 2050 will come from immigration and births to new immigrants.49 As if blind to the poverty caused by overpopulation in a nation such as India, many new immigrants bring with them a cultural blind spot and yearning for large families. Its as if they arrive, see open space and quality of life and dont make the connection as to why America was an alluring destination . . . we dont yet have massive overpopulation and poverty brought about by high fertility rates. Across the world, the higher educational attainment the lower the
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fertility rate and new immigrants into the U.S. with less than a high school degree have an absolutely alarming fertility rate of 3.30 compared with those with a college degree or more having a fertility rate of only 1.91 children.50 For illegal immigrants more than 60 percent have a high school degree or less.51 The data and statistics simply dont lie and nothing is more critical in regard to immigration policy than education levels of new arrivals. Using 2009 numbers, of households headed by an immigrant who has not graduated high school, 80 percent accessed the welfare system, compared to only 25 percent for those headed by an immigrant who has at least a bachelors degree.52 It doesnt take a genius in population studies or a sociology expert on the cycle of poverty to plug fertility rates and education levels into an equation and arrive at a reality that dictates an absolutely horrific future for Americas economy, the poor, government red ink, social unrest and massive starvation in America the likes of which our nation has never before witnessed. Now America, you do the math and examine the realities of massive government red ink, a crumbling education system already, more than 300,000 teacher layoffs between 2008 and 2010, a disappearing social safety net and more competition for jobs that at any time since the Great Depression. With educational attainment of parents and poverty being the foremost indicators of childrens educational attainment and workforce preparation what do the numbers predict for the economic future of America? Do the numbers appear to paint a picture of a vibrant economic engine that will enable the U.S. to compete in a world economy? Do they paint a picture for quality of life, gainful employment opportunities, upward mobility and an America that any sane person would want to live in? No! The population numbers, education levels, birth rates, crumbling education system and infrastructure, government red ink and massive unemployment and underemployment already paint a clear picture of America 2030 as described in the beginning of this book. Massive tent cities in every metropolitan city in America, stepping over beggars on trips to the mall, starvation, malnutrition and more than likely social unrest. Yet we as a nation just continue forward with some blind nostalgic idea of Ellis Island stories as if this is still 1903. With zero population growth, if that were attainable, just the education and workforce preparedness issue alone is a huge mountain for America to climb, but with immigration both legal and illegal adding to the weight of that climb . . . we simply cant prevail economically. An immigrants ethnicity, race or country of origin doesnt matter [as long as they are not a terrorist] it only takes the basic laws of supply and demand [people and jobs] to dictate that illegal immigration into the U.S. must be brought down to zero and legal immigration must be severely curtailed now! It doesnt take a population studies expert conducting a five year multi-million dollar government funded study to figure this out. At some point, instead of being the melting pot the pot melts instead and everyone inside it suffers. By no means whatsoever should we be taking in more permanent residents every year than all of the other nations on the Earth combined . . . in addition to the massive problem we already have with illegal immigration. A simple look at the numbers of legal new immigrants, allowed into the U.S. between 1820 and 2010 clearly indicates that beginning in the 1980s we as a nation completely lost our minds, intellect and sense of deductive reasoning in regard to our nations immigration policies and numbers.
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Snapshots: Persons Obtaining Legal Permanent Resident Status 1820 to 2010 53 Year 1820 1821 1822 1825 1835 1845 1855 1865 1875 1885 1895 1905 Year 1915 1925 1935 1945 1955 1965 1975 1985 1995 1996 1997 1998 Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
8,385 9,127 6,911 10,199 45,374 114,371 200,877 248,120 227,498 395,346 258,536 1,026,499
326,700 294,314 34,956 38,119 237,790 296,697 385,378 568,149 720,177 915,560 797,847 653,206
644,787 841,002 1,058,902 1,059,536 703,542 957,883 1,122,373 1,266,129 1,052,415 1,107,126 1,130,818 1,042,625
Do the math America, almost 10 million new arrivals on our shores to begin the new century and well over 3 million arriving in the midst of the Great Recession. This is not 1903, we do not have wagon trains crossing America looking for unclaimed land to settle nor do we do not have employers screaming for more people to fill millions of open jobs. What we have instead are the shrill voices of race baiters and those manipulating the xenophobia and race card to grow both the unemployment numbers and the poverty levels in America toward that of the Great Depression if not far worse. Add it up America, somewhere around 10 million legal new immigrants in just one decade, 40 million now living in the U.S. and somewhere around 12 million of them being illegal immigrants equals an imported population problem that far exceeds the available jobs that exist. With the unemployment and underemployment numbers at somewhere between 20 to 30 million, it doesnt take some sophisticated equation to figure out that U.S. citizens would be far better off economically without half if not far more of the additional 40 million people that arrived via immigration. What is the immigration strategy from the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., what are their economic goals and what are they thinking? Where are the hearings and the outcry from the American people? There is no place in America for xenophobia or racism in regard to addressing the overpopulation issue. There is no place in America for holding animosity towards new immigrants that were allowed in due to horribly ill conceived legal immigration policies by the U.S. government and the failure of our government to enforce the law in regard to illegal immigration. The fault lies with the American people who sat by idle and apathetic and allowed it to take place year after year, decade after decade until it grew into what is now an existing mountain of overpopulation we have on our hands to solve as a nation. Likewise, allowing only the shrill, hysterical voices yelling racism and xenophobia to sever Americas collective brain from its stem to the economic detriment of all U.S. citizens and our collective quality of life is a manipulation ploy that must end now! Instead, we need millions of shrill, hysterical voices yelling stop having babies you can not afford! Population issues are about numbers, the mix of the poor and economic contributors, education levels, infrastructure limits, the social safety net, urban sprawl, Copyright 2011
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the environment and most of all economic opportunity and quality of life for all U.S. citizens. Its about an intellectual, objective and rational discussion on population that results in a subsequent policy implementation that serves the greater good of the whole . . . not the selfish desires of race, political party or U.S. employers that want a never ending supply of dirt cheap labor for ever higher profits. For those that believe we should completely slam the door on legal immigration . . . forget about it! With the illegal immigration problem yet to be addressed adding to the problems of the working poor, massive poverty and a failing education system completely shutting the door to legal immigration would be nothing short of economic suicide. With somewhere around half of the students in most inner city school systems never even making it out of high school America needs all the college graduates we can economically absorb from other nations. At the moment at least, the university system in the U.S. is still the envy of the entire world. It is our No. 1 economic asset in a competitive world economy. Sadly, our students are less and less able and capable of taking advantage of our university system via financial constraints and academic preparedness. Allowing foreign born students to take advantage of our fabulous university system [often funded by taxpayers via state schools] in the areas of medicine and the arts is a viable contribution for the world at large if and only if they return to their native country after completing their education. On the other hand, in the areas of business, engineering, technology and science, for example, our current approach is grossly shortsighted. If we educate the world in these arenas and then return these students back to their native country to compete with the U.S. economically, within a nation such as China, our policies are nothing short of absolutely stupid! Americans, most especially the utopians, have yet to figure out that the survival game ahead is strictly about economic competition with every nation on Earth. Unless youve missed it, Communist China seems to be getting this free enterprise global marketplace concept pretty well at this point in time, just like India and Brazil. We need to be providing them with MBAs, engineers, scientists and math geniuses via our world-class university system like we need a hole in our head. We play nice and the rest of the world is taking economic advantage of our naivety. Would an NFL or NBA team allow someone from an opposing team to participate in all practices and preseason activities and then send them back to the opposition at the start of the season? Of course not! Is a competitive world economy any different whatsoever than professional sports? No! Therefore, why would we educate the world in the arenas of business, engineering, technology, science, etc. and send them home to compete and steal jobs from America? It seems that everyone outside of America still want to live in America. Most especially people from poverty stricken, wildly overpopulated nations such as India and Pakistan. Its quite easy to understand that someone living in a nation where starving beggars line the streets and the stench of trash, excrement and urine is pervasive would want to relocate to America where we dont yet have those problems. Surely, no sane Americans future vision of America is to emulate the problems of India and Pakistan caused by high fertility rates and massive overpopulation? Surely, no one can label such a statement as xenophobic since via the Internet and a couple clicks of a mouse, anyone can see what life is like in India and Pakistan. By comparison, we in America still have some quality of life left, but weve reached far beyond our economic capacity limits at present to absorb even more people. While we cant entirely close the legal immigration door to America, we now must instead be extremely selective as to who is allowed into our university system and our nation at large. To educate our economic competition and
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then send them home to compete with us simply makes no economic sense whatsoever! Were well beyond the point to where we can economically absorb new immigrants, most especially more poor huddled [uneducated] masses and have no other choice but to turn away all but the best and brightest economic contributors. That in turn creates economic opportunity and room for more huddled masses somewhere well down the road when they can be absorbed into a revived growing economy. By allowing only the very best and brightest students and legal new immigrants with Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills into America, we can help counter our failing education system via entrepreneurs and contributors to a strong U.S. economy. Clearly, with a failing U.S. education system, we are at an increased economic disadvantage without such an influx of talent. While the time has arrived to radically reduce the number of legal immigrants coming into the U.S., priority-one for entry going forward must be STEM skills almost exclusively . . . not whether they are tied, hungry or huddled. If youre asking if that is an elitist policy and perspective the answer is No! Not unless you have answers to the massive poverty issues in America, a failing education system, pulling the working poor out of a cycle of poverty and can provide jobs for the legal and illegal influx of poor immigrants who are already swelling the ranks of Americas working poor by more than 20 percent. In the event that you have an answer to all these issues, then please head directly to Washington, D.C. where no one is even paying the slightest attention to the issues of overpopulation and the economy. All anyone in Washington, D.C. cares about are votes as well as supplying cheap labor and more consumers to corporate America and the top 10 percent who own all the stock in America. Going forward, for as far into the future as anyone can now see, illegal immigration must cease entirely and legal immigration must be reserved for only an extremely finite number of economic skills sets that American citizens cannot provide. Attracting foreign nationals and entrepreneurs to relocate or start-up viable, well funded businesses in the U.S. [that hire American citizens] must become priority-one, in addition to fulfilling critical economic skill sets in which we are lacking. A mom and pop operation, selling cokes and candies out of a convenience store is NOT a viable entrepreneurial endeavor that will provide good jobs for American citizens. If entrepreneurs, businesses relocating and skill sets go unfulfilled we collectively suffer economically as a nation. Are such criteria the main focal point of Americas immigration policy? Of course not, that would be sane, rational and objective instead of shrieking, shrill and hysterical. Most all of America believes that cultural diversity is good and that being a melting pot society from all over the world is one of our greatest assets. Since that is true, where is the melting of race and xenophobia ploys that have continued to plague any objective, intellectual reasoning in regard to Americas immigration policies? America cannot both laud the benefits of being a melting pot and at the same time allow the race and xenophobia card to dominate the formulation of immigration policy. Either we are a melting pot or we are not? If we are, then it requires rational, objective discussions in regard to our nations immigration policies and criteria for entry into America . . . devoid of the race card and xenophobia manipulation ploys. Economic impact of immigration is one of the last criteria being considered and instead, more often than not, its whether an immigrant currently has family in the U.S. More often than not, entry into America has nothing whatsoever to do with Americas collective economic prosperity. Can a new immigrant support their own children, or will they expect U.S. taxpayers to pick-up the tab should be question No. 1.
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When family is not the main criteria for entry, a system of corporate slavery is often deployed via H-1B visas that allow temporary entry into America. The non U.S. citizen agrees to work for slave wages in return for corporate sponsorship of an H-1B visa. Supposedly, such salary and wage manipulation are against U.S. law, but no one on an H-1B via is going to complain so no scrutiny whatsoever upon employers ever occurs. Once in the U.S., the non U.S citizen becomes an indentured servant held hostage to slave wages by the corporation that sponsored them. That in turn drives down the salaries for everyone working in each economic sector impacted by H-1B visas. To get an idea of the volume: in 2009 alone during the Great Recession more than 214,271 H-1B visas were issued as some 15+ million American citizens stood in the unemployment line.54 Each visa comes with a 3 year window that is extendable to 6 years with multiple loopholes for even longer stays, so its not like they are passing through, but instead become permanent temporary workers. Without a doubt, for some very limited roles, America needs a strong and vibrant H-1B program to counter our failing education system. All entrants under the H-1B visa program must have a college degree to qualify, unlike the 60 percent of illegal immigrants that have a high school education or less. While more than 200,000 H-1B visas being issued in a single year is wildly excessive, the program if managed correctly could be an oasis in a desert of economic despair, but instead its being used as a corporate loophole for cheap slave labor. Although it can be argued accurately that a number of U.S. citizens will compete and lose out on jobs to these foreign born nationals, the upsides far outweigh the downsides in regard to jobs for U.S. citizens . . . up to a numerical point and only if micro-managed by U.S. citizens instead of Washington, D.C. bureaucrats. Currently the H-1B visa program and legal immigration go far beyond filling critical economic talent needs that cannot be sourced in the U.S. No different than the offshore sourcing to acquire cheap labor, both avenues are being exploited by corporate America. Only after a position has been adequately advertised and every avenue to find a qualified U.S. citizen to fill the role, should an H-1B visa be allowed. Currently that is not the case, but instead it is a means to acquire cheap labor into the U.S. to boost corporate profits and drive down salaries for everyone. There will of course be those that say to turn away the tired, poor huddled masses is un-American and contrary to what we were founded upon as a nation. Well America, that ideal was great in 1903 and it makes for wonderful heartwarming Ellis Island stories, but today we cant even feed and employ the people we have in the U.S. already. To allow immigration numbers, both legal and illegal, to continue at the present rate with the wildly excessive fertility rates that new immigrants bring with them is a recipe for absolute economic disaster! Look no further than a nation such as Pakistan where more than a third of the population cant even read and write, where millions upon millions of impoverished people live on the streets begging for food and it is easy to see where we are heading if the growth of the U.S. population is not managed and controlled. How any American can look at a nation such as Pakistan and not see that America already has at least 20+ million more people than we can provide jobs for . . . just boggles the mind of any sane human that can add and subtract. With some 15+ million Americans currently unemployed, 20+ million underemployed and no job growth on the horizon for at least a decade that will enable America to economically re-absorb the citizens we have . . . we have to curtail the fire hose of new arrivals upon our shores.
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The American boat is sinking like the Titanic under the weight of overpopulation that is leading to stagnated wages, massive poverty, crumbling public education system and a once dynamic economy that now has the job creating horsepower of a lawnmower. If youre riding upon an economic Titanic, do you allow more people on the boat to help it sink or do you stop the flow almost entirely while you bail water for a couple of decades? This is the extremely simple question that America must now address and answer, instead of wallowing in Ellis Island nostalgia and listening to the shriek, shrill, hysterical voices yelling racism and xenophobia. From a scientific, population studies standpoint every boat has a safe capacity limit for a reason. Is it cruel and self-centered for economically unqualified new immigrants to be allowed onto the U.S. boat, while America is undergoing the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression? Yes! It is cruel to both the new immigrant and the working poor of America who are already struggling and in many cases starving. If dumping more uneducated bodies with no job skills upon the heads of Americas working poor is your idea of compassion . . . then visit you local homeless shelter, get out of your Lexus and ask the hungry of America if they are feeling your compassion? That perspective is oftentimes missed by many Americans, most especially many on the fringe left who advocate for the poor and open borders. There was a time when America could take in and provide for many of the worlds tired and hungry, especially those just outside our borders, but those days are gone! Were broke, we have no jobs or food to offer and as heartbreaking as it is, we are now forced to turn most people away in order to keep our entire economic boat from sinking. We clearly have no other choice! It is not complex algebra to calculate how many people are currently in America of working age already, multiply by one of the highest fertility rates in the modern world, divide by a crumbling education system and foresee massive poverty and starvation on the road ahead. Look no further than Pakistan for a vision of America in the decades to come. Because of Americas still high standard of living, any way you wish to slice it, were expensive to employ compared to the rest of the world. Therefore, no matter how many trade agreements are rewritten or how much the economy improves some day, we will have an ever more finite number of jobs to offer. That will be true for at least for the next 20+ years unless some, as yet undiscovered, jobs creator strictly for Americans comes along. Therefore, our first and foremost duty and obligation to humanity is to employ our citizens who were born here. Its an American birthright and its just as critical to restoring the American Dream as everything else in this book. If you were born in the U.S. then you should have the first shot at the jobs that exist. Its called a return on the investment made by your forefathers and your efforts to date. Its not racism or xenophobia in any shape, form or manner whatsoever! The immigration issue is not about having or not having a heart . . . it is just about basic math and the economic survival of U.S. Citizens. It is solely a numbers and capacity issue based concretely in supply and demand economic dynamics. The more people we have in America equals more competition for an ever fewer number of jobs available and just as important . . . less pay for the jobs that do exist. Review and study all the nations that have a higher standard of living than the U.S.A., such as France, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Germany. What do they all have in common? The answer: a much smaller population than we do. The fewer the number of people, the higher demand there is for
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each person when it comes to hiring or firing. A lowered supply of people raises demand and wages. At this moment in America, humans are like grains of sand with more than 5 applicants for every job that exists. For the mega-rich, corporate America and the top 10 percent of the food chain that own all the stock . . . this is a dream come true and they hope this present scenario lasts forever. They live in castles, have bodyguards and can leave America any time they wish. The rest of us have to live here . . . In only one single economic segment of the U.S. economy is there currently a shortage of workers: agriculture and agriculture alone. Most second generation Americans, and beyond, still refuse to pick grapes in the hot sun. Therefore America must finally create a robust, vibrant guest worker program to fulfill this one singular jobs cavity . . . instead of getting the job done via illegal immigration. With a failing education system and no jobs growth on the horizon in America . . . how long American citizens will be able to refuse such work is an open question? There are only so many really good burger flipper jobs to go around. America is a sovereign nation. It was a sovereign nation when the Statue of Liberty was erected and it must remain a sovereign nation. If we can afford to be the good guys and either export our jobs to China and Mexico or give jobs to people legally coming into America then great, thats awesome! However, if we cant we cant and wishing it was so doesnt change the reality. If and when we have full employment in America via the reduction of low wage scabs a.k.a. legal and illegal immigrants coming in to increase profits and wealth for the mega-rich then we can think about allowing thousands of new people in, but not until. Thats just the cruel reality of how it has to be in order for our citizens to have a job that pays anything resembling a living wage, instead of being slave labor for the greedy. Otherwise, we will turn into the Third World nation were currently en route to become with even higher unemployment, lower incomes and standards of living along with massive starvation. The greedy want cheap labor and consumers and the political class caters to those desires as well as seeking votes to gain or hold political power. As far as creating upward pressures on wages or any concern whatsoever for the overall quality of life for the majority of Americans . . . the political class in America could care less!
Breakout Resource(s): Welfare Use by Immigrant Households with Children http://www.cis.org/immigrant-welfare-use-2011

Sustained, High Joblessness Causes Lasting Damage to Wages, Benefits, Income and Wealth
http://w3.epi-data.org/temp2011/BriefingPaper324_FINAL%20%283%29.pdf Wealth Gaps Rise to Record High Between Whites, Blacks and Hispanics http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2069/housing-bubble-subprime-mortgages-hispanicsblacks-household-wealth-disparity Immigration Drives U.S. Population Growth http://www.thesocialcontract.com/artman2/publish/tsc_21_2/tsc_21_2_rubenstein_8_pop ulation_growth.shtml
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Negative Population Growth http://www.npg.org/ Immigration During Periods of High Unemployment http://epi.3cdn.net/c096470249dad7ba7a_epm6iit2i.pdf FAIR http://www.fairus.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=16895&security=1601&news_iv _ctrl=1821 Illegal Immigration Backlash Worries, Divides Latinos http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=128
Center for Immigration Studies http://www.cis.org/node/54
Hearing on New Jobs in Recession and Recovery: Who Are Getting Them and Who Are Not http://epi.3cdn.net/c096470249dad7ba7a_epm6iit2i.pdf
Democracy to the Rescue . . . Be it: tax breaks and unfettered access to cheap labor for the mega-rich or Wall Street greed . . . the American people always lose. Trillion dollar deficits, that will add up to even more lost jobs and declining paychecks, along with billions of homeowner dollars erased via underwater mortgages. No matter the political party in charge, the people always lose and the mega-rich always come away unscathed and better off. Healthcare and some social issues are addressed from time to time, but economically, the people have lost virtually every battle to the mega-rich for 30+ years. With two political parties, full of people who call themselves public servants, supposedly fighting for the people, how is it possible that when it comes to money . . . we always lose? Answering that question is wildly entailed and complex and Part I of this book is all about answering that question, but the succinct answer is that America expects far too much from democracy a.k.a. government and instead of getting it all we receive almost nothing in return. Think of the U.S. government much like the old Swiss Army knife that everyone has seen. Think of the big knife blade as homeland security and national defense. The second largest and second most important blade on the Swiss Army knife is the economy, jobs and a reduction in wealth disparity. All the other tools, such as the spoon, corkscrew, toothpick and other knife tools are just nice to have, but are not nearly as essential for life. Metaphorically speaking, the big blade [homeland security and national defense] works and every other government function is somewhat a failure, most especially the governments function to ensure a strong U.S. economy, jobs and a reduction in wealth disparity that just continues to climb. The American Dream is disappearing before our very eyes and we the people are ever more rapidly being starved, yet government serves the needs of only the mega-rich? How can that be, especially in a democracy? There can only be one answer to that question . . . we now live in an oligarchy not a democracy. Copyright 2011
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An oligarchy as defined by Wikipedia is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with a small segment of society distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, corporate or military control. How the U.S. could be ruled via an oligarchy, when we have the right to vote for either one of two political parties, is not quickly or easily explained. The threads that weave the oligarchy together are highly sophisticated, multifaceted and permeate our political process, culture, and especially the media. Essentially, call it an oligarchy or whatever you wish, America is ruled by unbridled greed. My introduction to politics, greed and the two-party political system came early in my career. I was a wayward upper middle-class kid who joined the Army, got some money for college and found my way into a F500 textile/apparel company. Somehow through hard work, or just luck, I ended up as top lieutenant for public relations, media relations as well as some political lobbying. Other than voting and reading the newspaper I had never had any exposure to politics and politicians. Probably much like you, I thought at the time that politicians were good Americans in general and were looking out for me and people like me. I of course knew that they differed greatly between each other on many topics, but I figured that was by conviction, conscience and political persuasion. My CEO, a self described self-made rags to riches story, was a staunch member of Party B. I found a corporate CEO being a Party B member more than a little curious. Since I worked with this guy and his senior management team on a daily basis, I knew they were about one thing and one thing only making money and lots of it. A growing $600+ million company, their only priority was making a buck and stomping on any company or little people that got in their way. That included paying the employees on the manufacturing floor as little as they could get away with of course. I however, was fairly well compensated for a marketing/PR guy in the early 1990s. Since everything I had always read and heard, told me that Party A were pro-business and Party B were for the people I was more than a bit puzzled at managements Party B leanings. Nonetheless, my career was on the upswing and I was being paid well, compared to any salary Id ever had before, so I got with the Party B plan that was apparently going to be paying my bills. It was announced one day that, as a company, we were pro NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. From that day forward until passage, I ate, breathed and rallied the troops for NAFTA. The bill of goods being sold was that NAFTA was going to be good for everyone in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. I understood the part that NAFTA was going to be good for Mexico since they were dirt poor, but I had trouble understanding how it was going to be good for the U.S. and the 4000+ textile workers at our company. It didnt add up in my mind, but what did I know . . . I majored in English at a state university and assumed I was just a kid who didnt know enough about the economy and how it worked. It was a given that all of Party A was for it and since almost all of Party B were for it, as well it just had to be a good thing. All the economists from the Ivy League schools, as well as the political pundits in Washington, were for it. Even more surprising, academia and the socially conscious elite were for it because it would raise the standard of living for those poor souls in Mexico. The theory was that illegal immigration from Mexico would cease entirely because they would have good jobs in Mexico and for some reason, we Americans owed them good jobs. Since all these really smart experts, politicians, corporate CEOs as well as academia and the American elite
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were for NAFTA who was I to question? I did what Americans always seem to do I trusted our so called leaders and listened to the corporate owned media machine. The foremost proponents of NAFTA, by far were President Clinton along with Al Gore. Even though many in Party B today love to write a revisionist history of NAFTA, I know better because I was there! Al Gore told our people that they could expect higher paying jobs in such industries as biotech. I didnt know what biotech was and none of the people on our manufacturing floor knew what is was, but it sounded good when it came from Al Gore . . . even though anything that involved a microscope may as well have been something from the planet Mars. The idea that these people were going to be retrained and suddenly have a leap in IQ that would enable them to work in biotech was about as likely as them flying to the moon one day. Al Gore has since moved on to save the planet in exchange for millions and millions of dollars. The millions of fairly uneducated textile workers that believed his NAFTA spin are now mowing lawns in the summer and praying for global warming so the grass will grow year round. During all the NAFTA hoopla, I got to do really cool stuff like work with the secret service when Al visited. I chaperoned Bill Bradley when he came through to push for NAFTA and I met dignitaries from the Mexican government, who by the way also attended Ivy League schools just like presidents Bush, Clinton and Obama. I orchestrated political rallies, worked the media and all the other exciting stuff youd expect to rally political winds to blow for passage of NAFTA. Then one day, what I feared might happen, actually did happen. Its typically known as a crisis of conscience or a moral dilemma. I flunked my test big time and to this day I still live with the shame. On multiple occasions the company brought in all 4000+ employees, showed them videos from the CEO and political heavy weights like Al Gore and Bill Bradley spoke. [Just like on TV with flags, banners, music and all the trappings of a political rally] After each event each employee received paper, pens and envelopes to write Congress to say that NAFTA was a good thing for them. Since the CEO was known as one-of-them who started out on the plant floor, the employees believed anything he told them and would write anything he told them to write. Since president Clinton and Al Gore were also behind it, no one even questioned NAFTA as not being a good thing. Knowing that handwritten letters would be the most compelling, but also knowing that many of our workers never finished high school, much less knew how to write or form a complete sentence . . . we had a dilemma. Guess who did know how? Me. I didnt just know how, I was a professional spin master who could twist the illogical NAFTA lies into sounding logical and good for our employees. I can take even the worst corporate news and turn it into a positive and spinning NAFTA was a piece of cake. I tossed in good heartfelt stuff like how NAFTA would feed their families and then I wrapped it around the American flag and waved it like hell. [I think I recall hearing the star spangled banner playing in the background as I wrote.] With just a little bit of spin, almost any evil can be wrapped around the flag much like liberty and freedom are now being spun today to serve only the mega-rich. Human Resources gave each of our 4000+ employees a copy of the letter I wrote and they copied it into their own handwriting, signed their name, put in an envelope and tossed it in a box. No one dared to refuse they all knew better. The company of course took care of the postage and the mailing. After all, NAFTA was all about boosting the future of our employees, so picking up the postage was just another way to help.
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Mission accomplished! NAFTA passed . . . the truth of the story is that the company may as well have given each employee a razor blade [instead of pen and paper] . . . held their wrists in place and told them which vein to slice. Today, 1.6 million textile workers that had jobs in America have lost them. Former president Bill Clinton is an American hero that can afford to pay millions of dollars for his daughters wedding and Al Gore is worth more than $100 million thanks to saving our planet. Two shining members of the Party B a.k.a. party of the people. At the time I did my part to push NAFTA, I knew in my heart beyond any doubt whatsoever that it was wrong and I knew that virtually every textile job would go to Mexico or off shore. An English major fresh out of college by only a few years apparently knew more than the president, vice president, almost every Ivy League economist, members of academia, the American elite and every political pundit on TV. I was smarter than all the experts . . . how could that be? What I didnt know at that time, but do now, is that I had just been introduced to the American two-party political oligarchy. While I didnt speak up of course, Ross Perot, a presidential candidate at that time did, but no one listened. I of course told myself that, if I hadnt taken part in the NAFTA rape of the America people, then someone else would have. [The same lie most people on Capitol Hill tell themselves every morning on the way to work.] While I was right about NAFTA, I did nothing to stop it. At the time, coming home to my new bride without a job because I had a crisis of conscience just didnt seem like a good idea. No love, no car and no where to live was just too big of a price to pay. I therefore did what most people do during a crisis of conscience I took the money a.k.a. sold my soul. I learned then, at an early age, that money via politics will make mankind sell their souls for pieces of gold and no political party is immune. Aside from my personal scarlet letter that I still wear because of NAFTA, what I took away from the experience was that Party B and Party A, who supposedly hate each other, work together united as one when the cause is MONEY for the mega-rich. At the time, I wanted to believe just as many Americans still want to believe . . . politicians work for the people as public servants for the good of America and her people. The reality at the time, and even more so today, is a politicians only real conviction is their wallet. My payoff arrived via a paycheck and theirs arrived via campaign donations and positions of power for family and friends. NAFTA was all about, and only about, delivering cheap labor to U.S. corporations. Cheap labor meant more profits and more profits meant bigger campaign contributions. All of the 1.6 million textile workers who lost their jobs via NAFTA were sold out by Clinton, most all of Party B and nearly every member of Party A just like when Judas kissed Jesus on the cheek. Now, they all like to claim they didnt know how NAFTA would turn out, claim it was some grand economic experiment that went bad . . . but almost no one has lifted a finger to repeal the legislation. In truth, in exchange for selling out the American people they all took the money and ran. This experience was essentially my undergraduate work in political science. My masters and eventual doctorate came via reading, observing intently, a move to Washington, D.C., political activist endeavors, tons of researching and simply peeling back the curtain and connecting the dots. Before the Great Recession, I was just like most Americans . . . who never really have the time to dig further, but once I started peeling the apple that is Washington, D.C. I uncovered an apple full of worms. Without a
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clear understanding of the play between money and politicians, the so called political system and how it really works restoring the American Dream is impossible. While good paying jobs and a strong U.S. economy that works for the people instead of only the mega-rich is the main focus of this book no discussion of that goal can take place without the restoration of our American democracy. We the people were sold out on NAFTA just like were being sold out via the free trade and world economy ruse being played out every day in America. In order to stop the downward slide, we must first learn how we got here and how the mega-rich are run their oligarchy form of government with the face of a democracy. Shooting Ourselves in the Foot There are a lot of curious things about America and our culture that are difficult to understand, but one may be above all else voting in only the mega-rich or their proxy stooges. Its no more illogical than if the Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz had voted for Hitler to hand out the towels as they headed to the shower. Not only have virtually all Americans gotten gassed economically for the last 30+ years, but weve continued to vote in Hitlers during every single election cycle? To be fair, much of that is due in large part to a two-party only political monopoly whereby its cost prohibitive for anyone not at least a millionaire to run for office, but even so . . . weve done nothing whatsoever in 30+ years to change that reality. So getting gassed economically is 100 percent our fault and our fault alone. In America we are brainwashed 24/7 to worship the mega-rich and you, your parents and their parents have voted for the rich for well over a hundred years, if not longer. It actually started when a big land owner like George Washington became our first president, but it began in earnest with the Robber Barons of the Great Depression. As students of history know, these early 20th Century U.S. businessmen and bankers amassed huge personal fortunes, typically by anti-competitive or unfair business practices. Some of the best known names, we still recognize today, such as Rockefeller, Morgan, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Hershey and Gates just to name a few. A political pundit of that day wrote, If a [politician] has the power to do great evil and wont do it right unless he is bribed to do it, I think . . . it is a mans duty to go up and bribe. How any American doesnt see billions in campaign donations from the mega-rich, corporations, labor unions and special interest groups as straight-up, blatant bribery is the biggest question of our day. Back at the turn of the Century, many Americans were uneducated, but they knew then, just like we know today, that a large percentage of great wealth is gained via monopolies, collusion, corruption, influence peddling and bribery. Knowing that to be a fact, why would Americans vote in the rich? How could a Rockefeller, any Rockefeller, be voted into office back then and especially today? How did being rich become the number one qualification for holding political office? After fighting the Revolutionary war to get away form the king and then to turn around and create new kings, via the voting booth, is without a doubt the most bizarre, mind boggling reality in all of American politics. One school of potential flawed thought is that the wealthy, especially those from the business world, know economics and business so well that they know how to vote on issues that will create a strong economy. Even if that were true and there is no evidence that it is, can you trust the wealthy to do the right thing for the people? Isnt it more likely
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that they will take care of their own? Greed and their love of money made these people rich, or they inherited it and learned to love it. Whats their motivation to ensure you get your fair share of the American pie? Already millionaires when they arrive in Congress, once elected they receive $174+ K per year, a cushy pension after only a few years in office and a federal backed retirement account . . . where is their incentive to make sure you dont starve? It shouldnt be this way, but the old adage of birds of a feather stick together is true. Any minority sticks together and take care of their own, be they black, Hispanic, Irish or filthy rich. A tiger does not change its stripes and the greed that got them into Congress isnt going to change. That makes it far more likely the rich, when voted in, will use their position to enrich themselves, their families and their elite friends before they will do anything to level the playing field for you. Most were born with a silver spoon with a DNA that programmed them to think that a level playing field is the absolute worst thing that could ever happen to them and their family. Yet, voters send the rich to Washington, D.C. and state legislatures in the hope that they will work to create a level playing field for everyday Americans? You can of course get filthy rich by being honest but its quite rare indeed. Isnt it far smarter to play the odds in your favor just to be safe? Shouldnt you at least do enough research to see how the politician got rich before you send them to Washington to look out for you? In most cases, its not a pretty story once you get beyond the scripted campaign spin. The opposite end of voting in the rich logic is that they no longer have anything to gain by being greedy. Some new found conscience will enlighten them into wanting to give back to the people as public servants. Ask yourself the question, how many servants own mega-yachts like Senator Kerry? Ask yourself why he tried to dodge taxes on his yacht in 2010, if he has your best interest at heart? The Kennedy clan and Bush family are American royalty who believe their blood lines are superior to the American people. What does someone born with a silver spoon know about anything in the real world? What qualifies them to make good decisions on anything that affects your wallet? Have they ever worked 40 hours in a week at minimum wage as most all of us did at some point in our life? The concept of a budget and living within average citizen means is completely alien. Does wealth handed down on a silver platter qualify the American aristocracy to look out for your financial wellbeing? The greedy via the political-class run an America oligarchy that controls the overwhelming vast majority of all the wealth. They know that people yearn to be led like sheep because thinking for themselves hurts their brain. For some reason people buy into the idea that a politician running for office is somehow superior to themselves and money seems to be the number one criteria used make that determination. They deduce that if you have money, no matter how you got it, you must be smart and voting in so called smart people on the surface seems to make good sense. Instead, doesnt it make more sense to vote in people with integrity, principles, solid working backgrounds and people from the American middle-class? There are literally a multitude of qualities that make a good political candidate, but being rich is NOT one of them. Voting in the rich or puppets of the mega-rich is like voting for Tiger Woods to date your daughter then expecting him to respect her.
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The only time rich politicians a.k.a. most members of Congress pay any attention whatsoever to you-the-voter is every couple of years or so near election time. They know that most of you cant even name the last 5 presidents, much less how your members of Congress voted on legislation X, Y and Z a couple of years ago. Quite frankly, they think were all dumb bunnies and to date, based upon our current economic scenario and horribly corrupted democracy . . . theyre 100% correct in their assessment. Only on very rare occasions do members of Congress focus on anything whatsoever beyond making themselves, their cronies and campaign contributors rich. Every once in a blue moon a war, health care or massive unemployment will come along and they are forced to pay attention to the needs and desires of the people, but 99 percent of the time its all about them and their bank account. Even though your bank account is getting worse by the day, the bank accounts of members of Congress are doing fantastic. In short, they are almost all millionaires and the vast overwhelming majority of them are multi-millionaires many times over.
Breakout Resource(s): Congressional Wealth http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/index.php The opensecrets.org site may be the single most important window the American people have for transparency and accountability in government. Its an absolutely fantastic tool with almost any information you can dream of when it comes to money and Congress, the federal government, etc. Its strongly suggested that everyone explore the site and support the resource financially. If it is not funded, America will lose one of, if not the best, resources available to protect our wallets and guard against the massive political corruption thats currently taking place.
While this book could explore in detail all the Congressional wealth, how they got it, if they earned it, etc., there are two reasons for not doing so. First, exploring in detail is your job in order for you to free yourself from news media and political party dogma a.k.a. forming your own conclusions instead of being spoon fed. Secondly, any analysis herein would be subject to accusations of bias . . . so do your own in depth analysis. The core guiding principal of this book is to free you from news media and political party dogma by providing the most unbiased resources available. Nonetheless, the Congressional wealth information provided via opensecrets.org does warrant a little high level analysis. Admittedly, it will seem at times that Party A is given a pass, but its assumed that youre bright enough to understand theyre all rich as dogs and their basic pitch is all based on trickle down a.k.a. crumbs falling from the table of the greedy. So members of Party A appearing in the top 25 richest members of Congress list shouldnt make you drop your jaw . . . thats a given. Whats surprising is a multitude from Party B appearing on the top 25 list, such as: Nancy Pelosi, Jay Rockefeller and John Kerry just to name a few of the better known names. Please examine the lists in great detail and make up your own mind. Look at their companies, where and how they got their money and ask yourself how could it be possible for them to vote for anything that doesnt benefit the American aristocracy and the mega-rich? In
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short, if youre a member of Congress at this point in time, no matter your political party, youre rich as a dog and not an average American citizen. Whats strange about this reality, since we supposedly live in a democracy and are free to vote for whomever we choose how is it that all members of Congress seem to be filthy rich? We dont have a king and everyone in office both locally and nationally are voted into office by the people. Just as strange, if not more, is the fact that even during recessions, such as the one that began in 2008 the rich just continue to get rich while almost 90 percent of the people just continue to lose ground. How can this be? How did we end up here? We live in a democracy and we vote every couple of years so if there is something wrong with the system it must also be true that we the people must be to blame. As it turns out, nothing could be more accurate and true as demonstrated throughout this book. The good news is that it doesnt have to be this way. Thats why this is NOT a history book about wealth inequality and our American oligarchy, but provides instead a viable blueprint for beginning to fight back via Part II: The Resistance. Otherwise, everything herein would be a complete waste of ink and time. Voting in Satan: Attorneys and Lawyers If you murder someone, or didnt and have been accused of murdering someone, you need an attorney. An attorney is an unavoidable and necessary evil for a few instances in life, but they are NOT a necessary evil in politics. At present, the percentage of lawyers in Congress is generally down from a peak of around 75 percent years ago to now around half. Even so, half is way too many! Seeing this trend as good is like saying Congress is only half bad. Since many attorneys are also rich, they carry a double stigma and we know none of them got rich without bending the rules and catering to the mega-rich and political class in one way or another. The average salary for an attorney is only $70 K so if they are rich, the odds dictate that it didnt happen completely above board. Somehow, along the way, the American people got confused between writing legislation and passing legislation. There are lawyers aplenty in Washington and state legislatures to write legislation and the ink in those pens will never run dry, but to have a lawyer actually vote for or against any legislation is like trusting Tiger Woods with your daughter. Besides the fact that most are crooked to some degree at least all the rich ones; the real problem with a lawyer is that EVERYTHING is negotiable. Every single law school in America teaches the following creed to every single student: there is no such thing as black and white only differing shades of grey. In other words there is no right or wrong. Take the scenario of a criminal defense attorney who defends a murder suspect. Even when a suspect freely admits to his attorney that he committed the murder in premeditated cold blooded fashion for no good reason other than fun . . . an attorney will still take the money and defend the murderer. That is a good thing and a necessary part of our judicial system, but having someone holding public office voting on the future of America that can negotiate that and look the other way . . . is a really bad thing! Whether a criminal attorney, corporate attorney or ambulance chaser theyll almost all go with whatever flow that makes them rich. Its just bad odds to vote in an attorney . . . why take the risk?
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When it comes to government corruption, bribes, pay-to-play and even the existing status quo, there is black and white a.k.a. wrong and right. Most things are negotiable, but some things such as ethics and right and wrong are not! Career Politicians . . . No More, Ever Again! The first thing you will always hear if you suggest term limits for members of Congress or state legislatures is that we the people will lose legislative expertise and experience. Guess what, when we vote out all incumbents every couple of election cycles or better yet install strict term limits we will in fact lose both expertise and experience . . . thank God! When it comes to politicians, the more expertise and experience we can lose the better. Bernie Madoff had expertise and experience at working the financial system, but we dont want to get him out of prison to run Wall Street. Do we want experience at lying, caving in to lobbyists and special interest? With that as experience were far better off with all rookies on our team. So some of the rookies will not be slick, polished, silver tongued vipers, so be it. Lying into the camera takes time to perfect and by the time they perfect it, they will be on the way out via the vote or term limits. Lets be honest, at least with ourselves, what issue in the past 50 years requires the experience of a professional politician to resolve? Yes, there are private citizens that bring backgrounds into Congress that pay knowledge dividends, but professional politicians and bureaucrats know one thing and none of it is good for the American people. Lets take the issue of financial derivatives that was recently debated during the Wall Street reform debate. Does any average American understand them? Does anyone in Congress? The answer is, hell no! Therefore, the answer to derivatives is you do away with them completely or at least write laws that make them completely transparent and fairly understandable to average Americans. Where did the idea come from that someone on Wall Street should be allowed to concoct investment schemes so sophisticated that no one but Wall Street types can understand them . . . then when the scheme blows up, we dumb bunny taxpayers are forced to pick up the tab? If its not transparent and simple enough for a fairly intelligent citizen to understand then the answer is hell no not here in America! If we havent learned anything, we should at least know by now that Wall Street and the banks are only greedy, not brilliant. Ultimately, the point is that nothing Congress or legislatures vote on, is or should be, rocket science that requires political experience. If you can understand issues and can read bills, then youre qualified to run for office and be voted in. Youll have plenty of staff and if you want a biased perspective on any issue, lobbyists are standing right outside the door 24/7. Have you ever actually watched C-Span? Do these people look experienced and sound extremely intelligent to you? Turn on C-Span every once in a while and point out the geniuses . . . pompous, pretentious, boobs aplenty, but geniuses you wont find any . . . not even one! Having gray hair and being old is fine, but getting old and aging as a member of Congress is not! Senator Byrd from West Virginia served as a Senator form 1959 to 2010 and delivered more pork a.k.a. wasted taxpayer money for his state than any member of Congress in history. The voters of West Virginia already had him embalmed, why they didnt just put a stick up his back and stand him on the floor of the Senate to continue delivering pork is hard to fathom? Not meant to be irreverent to the deceased or his family, but the point here is that someone elected 50+ years ago has zero
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business in Washington, D.C. . . . other than to participate in the system of pork and political corruption. The Political Families Many in America seem to forget that we fought and won the Revolutionary war to get away from kings, queens and rule by monarchy. Even today, for some reason, we fawn over the royals in England as if there is something to be admired about inbreeding and the idea that blood lines bestow a lifetime of privilege and power. The whole idea is putrid and repugnant to everything America was founded upon, yet we try to duplicate the idea by supporting political families as if they were royals. The Kennedy, Rockefeller and Bush families are just three in a long history of political families that continue to somehow inherit the mantle of trust by American voters. Supposedly, politics and being a public servant is a calling [not to far from being a minister]. While a ministers kid may or may not be called by God to follow in their parents footsteps rest 100 percent assured that its NOT God calling the kids of politicians into politics. Not unless God looks like George Washingtons portrait thats printed on a dollar bill. Most of the family members called into politics had the calling delivered on a silver spoon of lifetime privilege within caste system of American aristocracy. If they ever worked, they worked for daddy or one of daddys friends and now they believe they should be allowed to take over the family political business. Government is NOT a family business and it surly isnt a birthright to be delivered on a silver spoon. Whether it is Liz Cheney or Ron Regan milking their daddys political legacy for a job in the media or yet another political offspring such as Dan Quayles son who ran for office in the last election . . . the answer going forward is NO! Go get a real job . . . Why Would Someone Run for Congress? While this book focuses primarily on Congress and the federal government, never assume that the same principals and measurements do not apply to state and local politics as well. The focus herein just upon Congress and Washington is for the sake of brevity alone. The only difference between Washington, state and local politics is that the pay-off is much bigger for members of Congress. Thats why politicians work their way up the political ladder from city council and county commissioner to Senator once they really know how to work the system for money. Considering the media scrutiny and pressures, the first question everyone in America should ask themselves is why someone would want to run for Congress or major political office? The first answer to the question 99 percent of the time is they have a huge ego and sense of superiority that make them narcissistic enough to run. At a minimum the salary for a member of Congress is in excess of $174+ K per year in addition to free healthcare benefits and 16 percent of their salary per year going into a federal retirement account. Not bad money, but living in Washington is wildly expensive and maintaining another residence back home takes some real money. So the salary alone is not that great and some could make that much money or more working at a real job. Its not until you scratch the surface that you begin to see what they are really raking in to be our so called public servants that you see the gold at the end of the political rainbow. They have plenty of perks such as legitimate (legal) reimbursed travel, security if needed, etc. which has monetary value, but the first really big jaw dropping revelation comes when you discover they have a pension plan like virtually no other American
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citizens. As of 2001, only 4 in 10 Americans are part of any pension plan at all and none are guaranteed by U.S. taxpayers. Many private pension plans in corporate America are grossly under-funded and are sure to fail going forward not likely for the Congressional pension plan. Unlike private pension plans, instead of having to work a lifetime a member of Congress is vested after only 5 years of service. Upon just 5 years of so called service a member of congress receives 12.5 percent of their salary starting at age 62. [Unlike many private pension calculations that span an entire employment lifetime, the salary amount calculation for a member of Congress is an average of only the last three years of service.] On the other end of the scale, to receive 80 percent of that salary, upon retirement, a member of Congress must complete 32 years. At present pay, the pension benefit for 32 years of service is $139,200 for the remainder of their lifetime. At age 50 however, with only 20 years of service a member of Congress can walk away with $87,000 per year for the rest of their life. At only 10 years of service they are guaranteed a lifetime pension of $43,500. To see just what the pension gravy train costs U.S. taxpayers at a time of record federal deficits, lets take for example: 20 years of service where a member of Congress decides to walk away at 50 years old and multiply that by an average life expectancy of 78+ years [even though members of Congress live much longer because they have real health care]. Just one pension for a 20 year member of Congress who lives an average lifespan and retires at 50 cost U.S. taxpayers $2,436,000. If only half make it to 20 years and retire at 50 its $650+ M. With some retiring after 32 years of service and some after only 10, age variables, etc., it easily cost U.S. taxpayers more than a billion dollars for a guaranteed pension system, like almost no other. True, they dont all make it 20 years and they dont all walk away at 50, but almost all live far beyond the average life expectancy of a mere 78 years. Divide the number in half and its still way too much money completely wasted at a time of record federal deficits, not to mention immoral at a time when Americans are literally starving. Coma, life support system, second job, new career . . . whatever former members of Congress get their pension, along with any cost of living increases, forever, as long as they live [no brain waves required just a heartbeat and the check arrives]. Senator Byrds family even finagled to get his check for several months after his heart stopped beating. Rest assured that someone in Congress is working on a cryogenics version of the Congressional pension whereby as long as their body still exists frozen, their family will get a check . . . after all, its just taxpayer money. Suddenly, the term servant as in public servant is sounding a whole lot better than before, isnt it? Now, all those great sacrifices were led to believe that are made on our behalf, dont seem nearly as bad as our public servants make them out to be . . . do they? Keeping in mind that members of Congress also get social security benefits on top of their pension you would think that would be enough . . . not so for our esteemed American political class. In addition to the lucrative pension gravy train, they are also part of the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) in which they are guaranteed that 16 percent of their annual salary is put away for their retirement. The member of Congress contributes 8 percent and the U.S. taxpayer matches that 8 percent for a total of 16 percent. In current salary numbers thats at least $27,840 per year.
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10 years = $278,400 20 years = $556,800 A pension, social security benefits, $27,800+ per year into CSRS all in addition to an annual salary of $174+ thousand dollars and the American people wonder why Congress has performed so poorly and sold out the people for more than 30+ years? What is it we dont get?
Breakout Resource(s) Retirement Benefits for Members of Congress http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30631.pdf
Presently, virtually all members of Congress are rich when they arrive because the election system and two-party political scam is designed to make it that way. Therefore, the weak to nonexistent job performance and accountabilities that existed when they arrived in Congress spiral downward after only 5 years in office. From day one, via insider trading, stock tips, board positions and jobs for family any degree of accountability to voters that once existed moves so far down their list of priorities that the American people become invisible. As long as there is enough money to keep the twoparty status quo in place they have a 50/50 chance of winning no matter what they do while in office. Once there, a member of Congress is set for life, even if the 50/50 odds dont work out in their favor . . . they all have a plan B as a lobbyists, member of a corporate board, working for a think tank, political party positions or a host of lucrative opportunities for influence peddling. For a member of Congress, is there any wonder that calls, letters and e-mails from constituents would just become an annoyance? No performance reviews ever and only a vague 50/50 threat of dismissal every few years via the ballot box . . . we the people are getting exactly what we should expect screwed! Now that you are beginning to see the spare change from being a public servant, were ready to talk real money . . . thus far weve only discussed the spare change youre allowed to see. The real big time pay-offs come later behind the scenes and after they leave office. Even while in office, most if not all members of Congress experience whats referred to as unnatural wealth growth which in terms that lowly citizens can understand means: no way, according to what they are being paid in salary, should they have that much money. The wealth of Congress members grows far beyond what $170 K per year adds up to even if they partake in no other work or money making endeavor throughout their lifetime. Basically they get a free ride for the rest of their life via mega-rich friends and connections just for having been a member of Congress. Where you pay for everything you do, all they ever hear again is let me get that for you from some mega-rich friend that picks up the tab. Were not talking $100 dollar bars tabs here, but big ticket items such as Alaskas Ted Stevens who had major renovations done to his house all picked up by some fat cat in exchange for favorable votes. Were led to believe of course that
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his case was just some isolated incident and our esteemed public servants by and large never engage in such activity. The real truth is that they rarely dont engage in it, but are almost never caught because there is no full-time impartial government entity that investigates such unnatural wealth growth 24/7. Basically when you get a salary and dont have to spend it to get renovations to your house built, for vacations, for memberships to exclusive clubs, etc. your savings grow a lot faster than if youre a mere citizen. While in office, a member of Congress has to at least be just a little careful, but for their children and spouses it is open season and anything goes. Jobs in the private sector, government jobs, positions on boards, memberships to exclusive clubs, scholarships, endowments to universities, research funding, positions working in think tanks, party positions and any other means to funnel money in pay-to-play schemes are all just fine and dandy within our political system. All these millions and millions of dollars are never looked at, never tracked and rarely scrutinized by the media or so called watchdog groups except on rare occasions by political party loyalists playing gotcha politics. Otherwise its just the behind the scenes status quo of how the game is played by the mega-rich, the privileged and our political class. Whats really sickening is that we the people have just allowed such activity to take place for decades and now what was once considered criminal is just the status quo of how things work in Washington. Someone, some government agency such as the FBI, the Attorney General, etc. is watching all this activity, tracking it, documenting it and issuing subpoenas and reports . . . right? Nope! In the House there is fairly new inadequately funded Office of Congressional Ethics with zero subpoena power and members of the House are trying to gut what little funding the office has. If everything they are doing is above board, why would they mind being investigated? If something is really blatant such as money flying out of the trunk of a limo as a member of Congress rides around D.C. the FBI or Attorney General might get involved . . . if enough people point and scream, but other than that its open season on graft, corruption and pay-to-play. There are the so called watchdog groups, but they have no subpoena power and very little money and staffing. What little money they do have is funneled via party loyalties and they only watch the other party and wouldnt rat one of their own party if they killed someone. What about the media, they are watching and doing investigations, right? Nope! As well detail later herein, theyre lackeys who are making big bucks, oftentimes millions from the system via corporate ownership of only a few media conglomerates and if youre making millions as a talking head the last thing youre going to do is bite the hand that feeds you. Admittedly, all these entities add up to some form of restraint, but all together they are feeble at best, grossly inadequate and a far cry from whats really needed to protect the interest of the American people. Just the actual cash money that changes hands in Washington, D.C. behind closed doors is undoubtedly in the millions, but they dont even need to pass cash back and forth because the billions in campaign contributions, PAC contributions and cronyism in pay-to-play schemes is all above board . . . as a well established part of our so called democratic system. The only way it could be more crooked and more blatantly corrupt is if corporations, lobbyists, special interests and labor unions pulled up in armored trucks with bags of money handing out cash on the steps of Congress with notes attached that read vote for or against X, Y and Z bill. The entire system is fixed and corrupt to the gills with money changing hands 24/7 under the guise of a democratic system of government.
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In just the 2010 midterm elections alone more than $4 billion dollars were spent by candidates, political parties and so called issue groups. That was just the above board, somewhat out in the open money changing hands in exchange for votes on bills and legislation. Surely no one in America believes that sane humans spend $4 billion dollars without expecting something in return for their money. These contributors arent spending $4 billion dollars to ensure we have a democracy or to support the waving of old glory they spend it because they want to play and in order to play you have to pay. Add to that $4 billion the absolutely impossible to calculate b-zillions funned via board positions, jobs at lobbing firms, grants to academia, great jobs for the kids and family of Congressional offspring within corporate America, government jobs, appointments, etc. and a member of Congress is set for life. Why else would they expend so much of their own personal money and time to get elected? Do you really think they would do all that to become your public servant . . . would you? Not only are they set for life, but their children and their childrens children are set for life by just dropping the name of their daddy or grandfather to open any door they need. Bottom line, even being elected to one single term in Congress, much less multiple terms, is worth millions of dollars if they never work another day in their life. When holding political office a.k.a. being a public servant is an easy way to get rich . . . something has gone terribly wrong with our so called democracy.
Breakout Resource(s): CREW: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington http://www.citizensforethics.org/
The Revolving Door Once a member of Congress is finally voted out of office, or just quit because the money from being a public servant is just too good to pass up, the real big money derived from being a public servant kicks in. Lets look at Tom Daschle and Trent Lott, two former Senate majority leaders, as examples. After kicking his first wife to the curb, a year later, Daschle married a lobbyist and former Miss Kansas in 1976. Two years later, Daschle was elected to Congress and served until being voted out 2004. After being nominated by president, Obama to be Secretary of Health and Human Services he dropped out of the running because he failed to accurately report his taxes a.k.a. tax evasion and had also been getting free limo rides from a health care fat cat. It just didnt look good to be spending taxpayer money when evading what he owed in taxes and getting free chauffeur rides made it look even worse. After being booted from office, he took a job as a lobbyist, but by law supposedly couldnt lobby for one year. No problem, the lobbying firm dreamed up a new title called special policy advisor so he could lobby anyway. Under the current completely corrupted system, as long as youre not called a lobbyist you can lobby. In just one short snapshot of time between January and September 2008 he was paid $5.8 M to lobby for health care industry fat cats. While working as a lobbyist making millions, hes
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drawing 80 percent of his Congressional pay via a pension paid for by U.S. taxpayers and will collect those dollars for as long as his heart beats. Albeit, operating more in the shadows, Trent Lott who entered Congress in 1988 serving until 2007 is a double dipper just like Daschle milking taxpayers via a Congressional pension and being paid big time as a lobbyist. His profile is far lower however, because he resigned after being nailed as a racist and a bigot who yearned again for the days of Jim Crow. Now hes a partner in the most storied of K Street lobbying firms working for such clients as: Citigroup, General Electric, Raytheon and Entergy just to name a few. Does that mean these companies are racists and bigots or do they just hire a racist and bigot to do their dirty work behind the scenes? Perhaps you should call them and ask . . . These two former members of Congress are just two of the more prominent heavy hitters in the lobbing business assuming you consider such activity a business instead of legalized government corruption. In 2009 alone, lobbying firms spent $3.49 B in Washington, D.C. and countless state legislatures throughout America. Currently there are around 12,000 registered lobbyists in Washington and many of them are former members of Congress as well as former white house staff, former members of government agencies and former military personnel, but the big guns that make the big bucks are former members of Congress such as Lott and Daschle . . . just to name two. You have to admit, its a pretty cool system to get a big fat Congressional pension from taxpayers, then get an even fatter paycheck of millions from a lobbying firm for whom you serve as a democracy bottom feeder. All in all, being a public servant seems to pay a lot more once you leave Congress.
Breakout Resource(s) Open Secrets: Revolving Door http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/index.php Open Secrets: Lobbying Database http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/index.php Sunlight Foundation: Lobbying Reform http://sunlightfoundation.com/policy/lobbying/
Show Me the Money At every turn, in every way, the American political process, holding office and getting into office is about one thing and one thing only: MONEY. Its obviously impossible to document the millions of dollars in illegal money. For that you have to open freezers to find the $90 K found in the home of former Congressman William Jefferson. Just to document all the known bribes and illegal money members of Congress have been caught with red handed would take a book of its own. The graft, corruption, payoffs, kickbacks and backroom deal making that go on in Washington, D.C. and every state capitol is totally out of control and rampant. Its gone on for decades of course, but may never be more perverse and common than it is today. All the millions changing greedy political
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hands that you cant see are alarming and outrageous, but American voters dont even do anything about the money sitting out on the table for all to see. The upfront, in your face legal bribery of every politician that takes place every election cycle in America requires no hidden cameras, entrapment schemes or secret wire taps to uncover. The argument can easily be made that its the system that is corrupt and not the two dominate political parties. Nonetheless, if thats the case, which is debatable, why has there been no large-scale outcry and revolution from the people to change the system? The money trail and handoffs are available for every single American to see with a couple of clicks on the Internet. Americans may have had a reason in the past for being stupid, but now with a website like opensecrets.org and many others - uncovering the money trails are simple, easy and fast. It basically works like this . . . going forward instead of listening to anything that comes out of any politicians mouth, or media outlet, you must start plugging in the name of your candidate or member of Congress to research their campaign contributions and see for yourself just how much they took and from what source. Then you must track their votes on specific legislation and youll clearly see that nine times out of ten how they vote corresponds directly and unequivocally with how they were paid to vote. That is called bribery! Its absolutely amazing how well the two-party system works for the mega-rich campaign contributors. This is called democracy, but its not the democracy you learned about in school . . . this is called an oligarchy. So whats a little money you ask? Our public servants must have millions to run TV ads and campaign, right? Actually, the answer to that question is NO! Its exactly why on every issue that concerns money, the people always lose. Mega-money in politics kills any chance of democracy. For a specific reference point, lets review the last presidential election between Obama and McCain. There were other candidates of course, but you never heard of them because the money they raised was so miniscule that it bought them no attention and the corporate owned media machine isnt about to cover them. In one single presidential election, Obama and McCain spent more than $1 B, ($730 M Obama and $333 M McCain). Some $23.7 M came from Wall Street with 63 percent of that going to Obama. Much of those millions actually belonged to us the taxpayers who had just bailed out Wall Street. Our money was used to buy favor in Washington, D.C. and as you will see herein, it paid off handsomely for them, especially for Goldman Sachs. The second largest contributors were lawyers and lobbyists who contributed $43,755,917 to Obama and $11,153,996 to McCain.
Breakout Resource(s): 2008 Presidential Campaign Spending http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/index.php?cycle=2008 2008 Wall Street Contributions to Presidential Campaign http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=F07 2008 Lawyers and Lobbyists Contribution to Presidential Campaign http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/sectors.php?sector=K
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Its critical for Americans to get their head around navigating the opensecrets.org website. A book such as this can only crack the surface. Everything is there as far as the money trail with just a few clicks of your mouse. Secondly, once you click around and drill down, youll quickly realize that little to none of this money came form common citizens. Then you need to ask yourself why billions of dollars would be contributed to political campaigns? Are these contributors big flag wavers and just good citizens? Of course not, most of them dont even own a flag and wouldnt be caught dead with a flag decal on their Mercedes at the yacht club. Patriotism and flag waving is for the little people that send their children off to die in war. The terms social liberal or social conservative that the little people are so mesmerized by 24/7 dont even compute in the brains of these people . . . its all about the money! These people didnt become mega-rich by being spend thrifts and free with their investment money. When they invest in anything they expect a Return on Investment (ROI) and ROI on campaign donations have been paying off handsomely for more than 30+ years. When a big campaign contributor e-mails a member of Congress they dont use that cute little fill in the blanks form that the little people are forced to use via the House or Senate websites. The House and Senate website e-mails are opened by some staffer who pulls up an already written form letter on the specific topic, populates it with your name and address, signs it with a copied signature and then drops it in the mail . . . thats the end of your inquiry [other than perhaps a tally kept on the number of letters received on that topic]. Its basically the same response when you call your member of Congress as well . . . a staffer pats you on the head like a child and sends you on your way. On the other hand, when a rich campaign contributor calls or writes, they use a private e-mail account and mobile number. All ears in the office perk up and if available the member of Congress takes the call. Rest assured that if not available, the call is promptly returned! Its completely logical when you think about it, all a member of Congress gets from you is voting in the incumbent once again, but the fat cat contributor that calls has money to offer. This is called democracy? This is why we place our hand over our hearts, salute and even sometimes get a tear in our eye when we see old glory pass by? This is that beacon on the hill that politicians like to talk about when they give their speeches with the flag as a backdrop? Bribery is the example we expect emerging democracies to aspire to? When cash money changes hands in Afghanistan or Iraq, Congress and the media are aghast, but because bribery is legalized in America and tracked its ok? If this system of government is acceptable to the American people, no matter your political party, then we have no right whatsoever to admonish any nation on earth even a totalitarian dictatorship such as China. Common citizens dont vote in China, but when a member of the ruling Communist Party votes, it at least carries and delivers consequences. Sure, in America, we can still vote people in or out, but they have already succumbed to bribery via campaign contributions in order to make it onto the ballot. The only resulting option we currently have is either bad choice A or B.
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Its the No. 1 reason the people always lose when it comes to any legislation that involves our money, be it Wall Street reform, the mega-rich paying their share of the tax load, jobs going off shore, trade agreements and hoards of cheap labor arriving on American soil.
Breakout Resource(s): Donor Lookup http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/index.php Political Action Committees http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/index.php Top Party A Industries http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/mems.php?party=R&cycle=2010 Top Party B Industries http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/mems.php?party=D&cycle=2010 Americans for Campaign Reform http://www.acrreform.org/ Democracy 21 http://www.democracy21.org/ Campaign Legal Center http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/ Campaign Public http://www.publicampaign.org/ U.S. PIRG http://www.uspirg.org/issues/elections-and-government/campaign-finance-reform
Limits, Loopholes and Transparency Even the most high-level review of Americas campaign finance system and the megamoney in politics will leave any reviewer confused and nauseous. On the one hand, we the people should just be smart and informed enough to where no matter how much money is spent that we are able to see through the smokescreens and propaganda. Unfortunately, nine times out of ten, those with the most money win simply because they dominate the airwaves. While Party A may complain about some unfair advantage being gained by Party B, or visa versa, clearly understand that the entire political class likes things just the way they are. Any idea of revolutionary campaign finance reforms, coming from either of the two dominate political parties, without a revolutionary-like massive push from the American people is pure folly. Without such a revolution, any idea of a democracy within America is simply a joke!
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The major issues within the reform conversation are complex, but at their core, they revolve around free speech versus the voice of average citizens. Within the current environment, the billionaires and the American aristocracy speak with a megaphone and the people speak in whispers because of money. The scenario was already a bad joke upon the American people, but the recent Supreme Court case Citizens United versus Federal Elections Commission in 2010 killed any chance of any citizen voice ever being heard again above the megaphone of the aristocracy. In short, the Supremes ruled that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited under the First Amendment that guarantees free speech. Previous to the ruling, a corporation could not utilize their general treasury funds to promote a specific candidate or to defeat a specific candidate and were limited to whats called electioneering activities that focus on issues alone, not specific candidates. Now its open season as long as the money being spent is not done so in coordination with a candidate a.k.a. they are not stupid enough to get caught coordinating with a candidate. Previous to the ruling, just like a labor union, a corporation could utilize their general treasure funds to promote or reject specific candidates within their membership or employee base but NOT outside of that base. Anyone can look at labor union activities, over the course of decades, to see that they clearly promote or reject specific candidates outside of their membership base. It was and should be illegal for labor unions to engage in the practice just like it should be illegal for corporations to engage in the practice. The idea being promoted by the so called left that corporations are not people is no less absurd than a contention that labor unions are not people. The idea that people working at a corporation do not have a vested interest in the health and well being of the corporation, just like members of a labor union having the same vested interest in their union, is quite frankly . . . nothing more than an argument to gain political advantage. Bottom line, neither a corporation nor a labor union should be allowed to promote or reject specific candidates outside of their employee or membership base. Period! The issue in essence comes down to the use of general funds being utilized, by either a labor union or a corporation, for such purposes without implicit consent of union members or employees and stockholders within a corporation. All union members no more agree with the political activities of their union heads, any more than all employees and stockholders agree with the political activities of their CEO, but neither group is given any say whatsoever as to the use of general funds for political activity. Therefore, in reality, both labor unions and corporations are allowed to use general funds for unauthorized political activity. In reality, the line between issue-advocacy versus specific candidate-advocacy directed toward the general public is so thin, gray, mangled and marginalized that the issue is much like splitting a hair. Nonetheless, the political campaign playing field is so tilted already in the favor of corporations that to allow the Citizens United versus Federal Elections Commission Supreme Court ruling to stand, without being overturned, spits in the face of any balance and a true democracy. As revealed herein, corporations already own all the significant media outlets in America which they use to promote or reject political candidates under the appearance of journalism, but to allow them to do it outright with unlimited spending is off the charts! To rule and do so under the guise of protecting free speech, when they already own virtually all the speech in America via media holdings . . . is nothing short of absolutely laughable!
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The contention that either free speech or a free press exists in America is in reality absolutely absurd! The free press illusion will be examined herein, but for average citizens to actually have free speech it would have to be equal speech that corresponds to the megaphones of Americas aristocracy. Although an admirable goal, such utopian initiatives such as the fairness doctrine that would legislate equal time for opposing views . . . is NOT going to happen! Such an idea as the fairness doctrine is absolutely untenable, impractical, unmanageable and absolutely impossible to legislate, implement and administer. The best that can be hoped for is complete, absolute transparency and disclosure along with greatly reduced political contribution limits. Stating this as a succinct goal is one thing, but achieving it within a political system of campaign finance laws so garbled, so complex, so intent on baffling the American people with so many exceptions, loopholes and exclusions piled on top of a mountain of legalese is formidable indeed! Clearly understand that the American aristocracy and the political class want the arena of campaign finance and political advocacy to be a mind-numbing enigma to the American people. Campaign finance, political party advocacy, participation in the democratic process outside of merely voting is explicitly designed to exclude the vast majority of the American people. Quite frankly, to even try to decipher and explain the regulations, exclusions and supposed monetary limitations herein would lose every reader. The only real thing that needs to be understood is that a single family can finagle and easily manipulate the system to directly contribute several hundred thousand dollars each year to a candidate and political party in whats called hard money contributions. On the surface it appears like there is a $2,500 K limit and there is a limit of $2,500 K from one individual to a specific candidates campaign, but read campaign law and youll discover there are innumerable loopholes and additional contribution avenues such as committees, party vehicles and Political Action Committees (PACs). When these avenues are combined and convoluted with spouse and family donations in the name of children [to include dogs, cats and goldfish] a single family can contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to buy votes. Much of that money is then bundled with donations of other wealthy families into PAC donations. Why? So members of Congress will know how exactly how they are being paid to vote once they get into office. Its called democracy, but should be relabeled a farce. All you really need to know and understand is that average citizens do NOT have six figures in Monopoly play money to participate in the democratic process therefore we are all second-class citizens a.k.a. pawns in the political game. Furthermore, you need to understand and finally admit that we in America live in one of the most crooked so called democratic nations on Earth! The good news, as if there is any, is that at least even this system has some limits as to how much hard money can be donated. Now the bad news . . . via entities and groups that operate under such numerical monikers as 527s and 501(c)(4)s just to name a couple, the American aristocracy circumvents, manipulates and monopolizes any shreds of democracy left untouched by mega-rich via hard money limits. At least with the money going directly into political campaigns and parties, it has a ceiling and with a little effort and some digging, Americans can see it and track it via disclosure mechanisms. With 527s and to an even greater extent with 501(c)(4)s its a political manipulation and propaganda free-for-all.
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In brief, 527s come in two money machine variables: 1) politician 527s and 2) nonpolitician 527s. Both entities are vile, loophole creations of the political class and aristocracy to slip even more money into to an already wildly corrupt pay-to-play political system that works only for Americas greedy. Many of the politician 527s are created by actual members of Congress and the ones that are not are created on their behalf. Typically they are off shoots of so called leadership PACs with the word leadership denoting senior members of Congress in power positions such as Senate Majority leader and or Speaker of the House. While they disclose funding and are limited by the same hard money constraints that regulate individual donations, the disclosure requirements are so weak and toothless that it is difficult to track whos behind them and what they spend their money upon. Primarily, however, the majority of the money spent by politician 527s is spent on other candidates campaigns in order to enslave lesser established members of Congress as indentured servants. Over the course of time, the more established members of Congress eventually enslave enough of their fellow members of Congress via bribery to get voted into or to maintain power positions. While politician 527s must be considered insidious and sickening to anyone that believes in democracy, its the non-politician 527s clinging to the bottom of the political toilet bowl that are far worse! Their moneyed attorneys have successfully argued to date that they should be exempt from any monetary constraints and disclosure requirements for two reasons: 1) they dont expressly advocate for someones election or defeat and 2) they dont directly subsidize federal campaigns. Therefore, corporations, unions and wealthy individuals can dump as much soft money as they wish into non-politician 527s with no constraints whatsoever. What is that money used for? Massive propaganda efforts, front groups, misinformation, attack campaigns, culture war manipulation and brain washing. Its a free-for-all with no money constraints or limitations whatsoever. These non-politician 527s are almost strictly under the control of the mega-rich alone no common citizen can even dream of affording the entry fee to swim in the highest echelon our so called American democracy. With outrageously high hard money ceilings on individual campaign contributions egregious enough and the Supreme Court opening the flood gates to any and all corporate and labor union money to be spent, corrupt politician 527s and insanely out of control non-politician 527s you would think that would be enough to ensure that the American aristocracy remains in full and complete control of our political system. Not so, capping off the political corruption and manipulation tsunami, the icing on the democracy corrupting cake so to speak, are the 501(c)(4) entities and groups. Many, perhaps even most, are good worthwhile organizations working on behalf of democracy and the American people, but within their numbers is a bastion of the most manipulative destructive forces within the American political system. A small group, some of the most popular of course, are headed and funded by greedy billionaires who have perfected the art of divide and conquer political warfare to ensure that Americans continue to work against their own economic self interest. You name it, they utilize it: culture, religion, social issues, sexuality, war, peace, guns, race and everything else that divides and precludes the American people from uniting and fighting the true adversary . . . the American aristocracy. They twist, bend, manipulate and spin a poisonous concoction that has led to a 30+ year assault upon the American middle-class and as of yet the majority of the American people are none the wiser. It is all paid for and designed for one purpose and one purpose only . . . to further enrich the American aristocracy by shifting attention away from our nations ever ballooning wealth disparity.
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The primary manipulation tools from the radical right billionaires are religion, guns and the flag along with an antiquated idea of American exceptionalism. From the fringe left were fed some utopian one planet, one people vision where America alone floats the economic boat of everyone on the planet, no one starves, everyone is equal and no discrimination exists for anyone as if that is ever going to happen. We cant even feed our own citizens, but were supposed to buy into some Kumbaya vision where we live in peace and absolute harmony with everyone on Earth, no one starves, there are never any more wars and everyone plays nice. In short, religion, guns and the flag dont put food on their table or correct the wealth disparity in America and a world-wide utopian existence for all the peoples of the Earth is never going to exist within any of our lifetimes. The two mindsets are extremes to the right and extremes to the left that are completely out of touch with reality. Reality is all about bread and butter issues such as jobs, the economy, wealth inequality and rule of America by our aristocracy . . . outside of national security there are no other issues by comparison that even matter! While the real problem with the propaganda being spewed by these billionaire funded 501(c)(4) organizations is a lack of critical thinking a.k.a. judgment from the American people. The fact that there is zero disclosure and financial information required for them to exist doesnt help. At least, at an absolute minimum, if all 501(c)(4) entities and organizations were forced by law to reveal every single name along with their financial involvement . . . the American people would have something tangible with which to make informed judgments as to the credibility and true agenda of the organization. That agenda is simple: to divide, confuse, misdirect and manipulate Americans into working against their own economic self interests in order to further enrich the aristocracy. Ownership of every media vehicle is at least fairly transparent with a little digging, but not 501(c)(4) political organizations involved in the rule of our nation? At present, 501(c)(4) political organizations are allowed to operate in a shadowy black hole where millions of dollars go in and no transparency exists for the American people to evaluate the backers behind the propaganda. The Obama 2012 campaign is projected to be the first billion dollar presidential campaign in history. With that being just the tip of the campaign money iceberg, no one in America can any longer pretend we live in a democracy where the people have any voice. Whether your politics are to the left or to the right is irrelevant. Neither have any bearing whatsoever upon political outcomes when billions are invested by the American aristocracy in a pay-to-play political system. No citizen can possibly be foolish enough to believe that the money is being invested in democracy for the good of Americas common citizens. The concept behind the money is no different whatsoever than a prepaid phone or credit card. The billions in political campaign contributions are an undeniable prepaid vote buying card that is held in the wallets of our American aristocracy to make vote purchases. Its a tit for tat system whereby on all issues and legislation that come down to money, the aristocracy wins and the people lose. Like much within the covers of this book, campaign money is about balance and transparency. There will always be too much money involved in our political system, but at present there is no balance whatsoever! Even if you removed every penny of campaign money, the mega-rich would still have an unfair advantage over common citizens, but at present the system is so corrupt that any idea of a democracy is nothing but a big joke!
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Breakout Resource(s): Federal Election Campaign Laws http://www.fec.gov/law/feca/feca.pdf 527s: Top Federally Focused Organizations http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtes.php?level=C 527s: Advocacy Group Spending in the 2010 Elections http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/index.php Political Action Committees http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/index.php
In Washington, Its Always Party Time! If youve never been a citizen activist and tried to get media coverage, watch dog investigations, support from think tanks, foundations, labor unions, non-profits and activists groups you have no idea how ingrained and how biased the current political system is towards, either one or the other, political parties. No matter what any group or organization says on their website, without exception almost, they are an arm of either one of the two dominate political parties a.k.a. a party mouthpiece. Some hide it better than others, even though many have the words non-partisan sprinkled throughout their verbiage, almost none are non-partisan. Most all are a propaganda funnel designed to push money and voters into either Party A or B. As abhorrent as that is, our so called free press is now part of the political party propaganda machine as well. The media hide it a little better in some instances, but for every other entity, if the issue or piece of legislation does not either get a lot of votes for a party or put money in the pockets of one of the two parties the issue and legislation may as well not exist. Everything in Washington focuses on one thing and one thing only the party. If you are hit by a car on Pennsylvania Avenue the first question you are going to be asked is are you a member of Party A or B? If your answer is the wrong one, youll probably die right there in the street unless someone from the other party happens to come along. The worst answer you could give is, Im an American citizen. With that answer they wont even drag your road kill body to the curb. The political class, the reporters and nearly all of the groups and activist organizations are programmed to think only within the confines of their party of choice and the twoparty system. In Washington nothing else exists. If you were to ever utter the phrase, the people in Washington, everyone there would know immediately that you must have just arrived in the capitol. In Washington, D.C. the people simply do not exist except once every couple of years or so when the politicians need to get reelected. The rest of the time its about the party 24/7/365. Whats good for the party, how will this make the party look, how many votes will this get the party and how much money will this bring into the party coffers. Thats it, thats all they focus on from the White House, down through Congress and in every state legislature.
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Take the case of unemployment benefit extensions that were debated in 2010 and into 2011. The people badly needed assistance during the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression, but the only priority in Washington was to utilize the issue to score political points for the party. Instead of compromising and finding the money via cuts in other spending or from the stimulus package, Party B let benefits expire in order to score political points so they could use the issue to make the Party A look as if they could care less about the unemployed. In truth Party A could care less about the unemployed, but were able to manipulate the issue to draw attention to the massive federal deficit. Citizens, unemployed and uncertain how they would eat and make ends meet, were used a pawns in the ongoing, never ending political games of Washington, D.C. Its all about perception as well as expanding and galvanizing the base 24/7 and citizens are just pawns in the party game. There were some 8.5+ million people tossed out into the street due to Wall Streets greed and the bribing of Congress to shirk their oversight responsibility of Wall Street. All total at the time there were more than 16 million unemployed and priority one for Congress was not these 16 million people going without food, but instead it was all about jockeying and posturing for political advantage . . . the people be damned! The examples of political jockeying between the two parties, at the expense of the people are endless, but in case anyone in America was unconvinced the debt ceiling debate in the summer of 2011 should have convinced all Americans of one clear thing: our system of government is completely broken, its horrible infected with fringe left and radical right ideologues and neither give a damn about the American people whatsoever! The impetus to the excruciating 24/7 debate that went on for months, actually began when president, Obama appointed a commission to study our fiscal issues and make recommendations. Established in early 2010, well over a year before the debt crisis, the commission was named the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The group filled with a balance of both Party A and Party B legislators and advisors became to be known as the Bowles/Simpson commission. As is the norm in Washington, D.C., a commission is created to coddle the American people into thinking that government is functioning, when in reality a commission is nothing more than an exercise where pompous beltway ideologues engage in an endless exercise of the dog chasing its tail with no success. Surprisingly, the Bowles/Simpson Commission actually came out with a report and even more surprising, it had the framework upon which to begin reducing our national debt. Party A and Party B alike nitpicked the findings and stomped their feet like children in kindergarten to create paralysis on any movement forward. President, Obama instead of demonstrating any leadership whatsoever by getting behind the findings of his own commission, did exactly what he did in the healthcare debate . . . absolutely nothing! He simply allowed the debt issue to sit and flounder as a political calculation designed to place Party A in the corner and drive the bus to the edge of the cliff. You know the rest of the story of course. Instead of being put in a corner, the crazed ideologues in Party A grabbed the wheel of the bus, by refusing to raise the debt ceiling, and pressed the gas pedal of economic catastrophe to the floor by ruining Americas credit rating. They succeeded in nothing more than actually increasing the national deficit via higher interest rates, due to a damaged credit rating, and wrecked our economy even further. They destroyed any confidence from the American people and the entire world in the U.S. government to actually function and clearly demonstrated
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they are willing to drive the bus off a cliff to score ideological points with the crazed element of the radical right. While no one believes that Party B or president, Obama is either committed to or capable of reducing federal spending, mostly due to a highly fractured party base that feeds off federal spending . . . Party A clearly demonstrated that they are willing to turn over the entire table upon which our American Monopoly board sits just to score ideological political points. While a compromise was on the table that would have cut as well as raised revenues by closing some fat cat loopholes . . . Party A ideologues chose instead to add to the deficit by ruining our credit rating and tanking our economy even further rather than bite the mega-rich hand that feeds them. To call Washington, D.C. dysfunctional at this late point in time is like calling creation of the nuclear bomb a small error in judgment. These two parties are willing to destroy us all if is scores political points. Its like an NFL football game between 300 lb giants, with the little people being tossed in the trenches to be pummeled to death. The political system doesnt work, its not working and hasnt worked for a really long time, but the debt ceiling debate put the icing on the cake of dysfunction like nothing every before in history. For president, Obama to demonstrate zero political leadership whatsoever leading up to the debt ceiling debate by failing to heed or act upon the recommendations of his own appointed commission was dereliction of duty. It clearly demonstrated that the emperor wears no clothes when it comes to deficit reduction, but to drive our entire economy further into the ditch as Party A did to score political points with their crazed ideologues . . . was far wore! Pick your poison America: fringe left ideologues or radical right ideologues that care nothing whatsoever about the American people, other than what the people can do for their party power and control. At present and through the 2012 election cycle and far beyond unless America finally awakens and finds sane alternative leadership, we the people are bound hands and legs to a massive torture machine that is pulling both fringe-left and radical-right at the exact same time. As our financial eyeballs pop out from the Great Recession . . . Party A and Party B fight for the wheel to see who will have the honor of driving Americas economic bus off the cliff of no return. America is presently damned to complete failure by two political extremes hell bent on destroying us all in order to deliver an ideological victory for their respective political party. Nonetheless, we now debate Campaign 2012 in which amidst all the media contrived fanfare, were held hostage to choose between ideologically crazed extremes. Each is fighting for the wheel to vie for the honor of driving American off an economic cliff. Only somewhere around 20 percent of Americans fall within the radical mindsets of the two extremist ideologies of Party A or Party B. That simply means that 80 percent of the American public is NOT represented in Washington, D.C. Two divergent parties of dancing puppets with their stings tied to the mega-rich that own them both. One party playing a sophisticated game of poverty pimps, the other sucking in the American people with trickle down economic myths. Neither having any intention whatsoever of cutting their puppet strings to the mega-rich. As is the norm in August, during an annual monthlong break called a recess to reflect the playschool atmosphere that is Washington, D.C., members of Congress return home to listen to constituents. Typically the listening is conducted via town hall meetings, but not in August 2011 after the debt ceiling crisis. Most of the lizards in Congress slithered out of Washington, D.C. and either when yachting with their mega-rich friends or slipped back into town under cover of darkness. Instead of holding town hall meetings, those that werent yachting, held intimate coffee groups their fellow ideologues instead. Zero accountability from our so called elected
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representatives in government will be discussed in detail herein, but for now consider that after plunging America off an economic cliff via debt ceiling games . . . our members of Congress that werent yachting with the mega-rich campaign contributors refused to face the voters that put them into office. You only need the examples above to begin asking yourself the questions: what if there were more than two parties in Congress and or what if there were no parties at all . . . how would the political arena change? In Washington, D.C. as Rome burns across all of America economically, its political games for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A Congress of pigs with their snouts in the trough of money 24/7 . . . spinning, calculating, posturing and standing upon podiums with the flag of America as a backdrop. All happening in a media contrived atmosphere in which we now have what are called political rock stars. What on Earth is a political rock star? So enamored with Hollywood 24/7, the American voter has been reduced to the level of bimbos and groupies. With representative, Anthony Weiner posting his privates on the Internet, whats next . . . Sarah Palin throwing her panties into the crowd? We have become a nation of political idiots, this is not a movie or a rock concert . . . this is our lives, the only one were going to have unless you believe in reincarnation. Weiners privates or Sarahs panties do not put food on peoples table, they do not address our complex economic issues and they do not fix the massive den of political corruption that is Washington, D.C. Privates, panties or party . . . all three have proven themselves to be equally ineffective in addressing Americas economic woes, such as jobs, a strong U.S. economy and reduction in the massive wealth disparity among the American people. The Two-Party Mirage For 30+ years or more, the people have looked to and fluctuated back and forth between Party A or Party B and just like every mirage in a desert there is never any water or shade at the promised oasis. Its no different than watching an endless ping-pong match . . . back and forth, back and forth and the only people winning are the political class along with the mega-rich that own both of the two major political parties. Economically, lets look at the two basic pitches for party A. then party B. Party A basically says that, if we and our backers are allowed to get even richer youll get by somehow. Its a firm belief in most circles, a true Americanism, that if they dont get theirs, we wont get ours. Its all based almost 100 percent on flawed trickle down economic thought. Over the past 30+ years the economy has grown and jobs have been created, but where is there any direct evidence that any of the jobs were created by via trickle down economics and more importantly . . . where has one dime of wealth been created outside of the top 10 percent of citizens? Economic changes occur and developments such as the tech boom and the Internet come along, but surely no one can claim either was created by trickle down economics and massive wealth accumulation at the top. The stark undeniable statistics clearly demonstrate one single direction on wealth accumulation during the last 30+ years . . . ALL UPWARD! So obviously, no one can claim that trickle down economics creates wealth accumulation for the vast majority of the American people . . . its just not possible to make such a claim! It can of course be claimed that trickle down economics creates jobs, but there is no way to prove or document such a claim. Yea, president, Reagan cut taxes and that happened to coincide with the tech boom and creation of the Internet. Would anyone, except the radical right,
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claim that tax cuts created the tech boom or the Internet? Of course not! Nonetheless taxes on the mega-rich have been ridiculously low ever since Reagan. Since the mega-rich have never had more money than right now, why isnt the economy booming? Why arent jobs being created? How in the world can Party A be advocating for even more money to be given to the top as a way to turn around the economy? Nothing could be more far fetched or illogical than to contend the mega-rich dont presently have enough money to create jobs. Only an idiot, completely unaware of the massive wealth disparity and money sitting at the top of the food chain, as documented herein, could still buy into the same old Party A mantra of we cant tax the job creators. Where is the cause and effect relationship between massive wealth accumulation at the top and, for instance, the tech boom and creation of the Internet? The tech boom and development of the Internet, largely responsible for much of the economic growth in America during our lifetimes, was driven by the government who created the Internet, average entrepreneurs and not in any way from massive wealth accumulation at the top. If trickle down economics = wealth accumulation for the vast majority of the American people then its a complete abysmal failure proven by the statistics herein! If trickle down economics = creation of millionaires and massive wealth accumulation at the top then it was a success. Does that equate to job creation, as is so often claimed, or do innovations and economic factors such as the tech boom and development of the Internet create jobs? Businesses and individuals invest in opportunities and opportunities are not driven by massive wealth accumulation at the top. In fact, such massive wealth at the top chokes off economic growth via monopolies, collusion and way too much power in the hands of too few. Money in the hands of average people gets spent to stimulate 70 percent of the economy, but mega-money gets hoarded and redoubled via the stock market. The American people havent had any money to spend in well over a decade and what was being spent was credit card and home equity money. Both those sources of spending were wiped out and cancelled via Wall Streets greed and the housing bubble they exploded upon America. Anyone waiting for consumer spending to turn the economy around had better not hold their breath because there simply is no money available! Of course, anyone that still has a job in America is glad to have it, but no cause and effect relationship can be made that jobs are created by trickle down economics and massive wealth accumulation at the top. In an August 2011 op-ed piece, billionaire, Warren Buffett, says, I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know whats happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.1 In spite of all the evidence to the contrary, even with a billionaire like Warren Buffett weighing in, Party A just continues forward with their same old mantra that we cant tax the job creators. Amazingly, far too many Americans continue to buy into such stupefied rhetoric as all the wealth in the U.S. has been transferred to the top over the course of 30+ years.
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A job is a job and its NOT wealth accumulation unless it pays above the level of basic survival with something significant left over . . . nothing significant has been left over for the vast majority of the American people for more than 30+ years and its getting worse by the day. For the last 35 years, weve had party A in the oval office for 20 of those years. In 20 years, assuming trickle down works, there should be some evidence of it working, but if wealth accumulation for the middle-class is the yardstick . . . there is no evidence of it working whatsoever zero! The statistics just dont lie . . . Since party A is an abysmal failure, then party B must be the way to go, right? Their basic economic pitch is some kind of quasi trust us and well take care or you message, but no one really knows what that exactly means. Whatever it means it must NOT mean being enabled to compete for a piece of the American pie on a more level playing field since party B has held the oval office for 15 of the last 35 years. Surely if we the people were going to see any results from party B it would have happened by now, but once again, just as with party A, the evidence and statistics say complete abysmal failure! The Party B loyalists will of course say they tried really hard, but that bad Party A kept them from moving the ball forward. Almost all Americans [that still have a job] go in for a performance review each year. What happens if you deliver zero results, but say you tried really hard? Youre either fired or given 90 days to show results. In the case of Party B and Party A . . . they have had 30+ years to turn things around economically for the American people and have failed miserably, but they still have a job and hold power? The truth is, as far as wealth accumulation for the vast majority of the American people, creation of good jobs and protecting the jobs we still have there is no party in Washington, D.C. accomplishing anything in that regard and its been that way for 30+ years. If youre poor, homeless and struggling, you dont even exist unless of course Party B throws you a bone from time to time in exchange for your vote. While the poor have the lowest percentage of voters and participation in the political process, by a wide margin virtually everyone making six figures or more votes. Politicians therefore, know that the top 10 percent of voters are largely responsible for getting and keeping them in office via the ballot box because A) they vote and B) they contribute to campaigns. Since Americas Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown from $3 T in 1980 to around $14 T in 2010 it means that billions of dollars in profits are going somewhere? With that much wealth floating around, you would think that Party A or Party B would have gotten a couple of those dollars into your pocket. Since not a dime of those additional revenues have shown up in your pocket there are three and only three logical conclusions possible: 1) we just havent had enough of Party A or 2) we just havent had enough of party B or 3) weve had all we can stand from both Party A and Party B a.k.a. the status quo. There could however, be a fourth conclusion thats logical . . . what if essentially there really is no party A or B? What if it just looks like two parties, but its really one party with the same ultimate goal . . . take from the vast middle-class and working poor and give to the mega-rich? Like a greedy version of Robin Hood, who sometimes impersonates the elephant and sometimes impersonates the donkey. The rhetoric and lofty speeches are different at times and both parties claim to be looking out for the people in their own way, but a 30+ year financial loosing streak for the American people clearly demonstrates that based on results . . . its all total BS! Massive wealth accumulation at
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the top and nothing whatsoever for the people over the course of 30+ years would lead any logical person to conclude that either this two-party thing isnt working or we the people are getting the shaft from both parties. Which party loyalists are the biggest suckers is the only question that remains to be answered. While Party A devotees continue to await their slice of the American pie via trickle down crumbs, Party B loyalists are still buying into the party of the people mantra as the mega-rich laugh all the way to the bank. If you believe that Party B is the party of the people then how do you explain the undeniable fact that toward the end of 2010 that the mega-rich got a huge tax cut? President Obama, during his entire election campaign, said over and over and over, no tax cuts for the rich when Im in the White House. He got elected and Party B controlled both the House and the Senate by large majorities. If you control all 3 legislative entities . . . done deal, no tax cuts for the rich, right? Wrong! Somehow the mega-rich got their taxes cut? The spinners, experts and so called political pundits as usual told the American people what to think and how to think and most Americans were none the wiser. Pick your excuse: A) the mandate after the November election dictated that president Obama and the Democrats in Congress had to pass tax cuts for the rich or B) president Obama and the Democrats just happened to run out of time and wanted to go home for Christmas. Is excuse A true? Nope, they had the votes and the veto power of the president to stop any tax cuts for the mega-rich. Then B must be true? Nope once again, they had two years, knew the issue was coming for two years and did nothing whatsoever to stop tax cuts for the mega-rich. Either Party B is guilty of being poor time managers or they were 100 percent complicit? How could this have happened? How could the mega-rich a get tax cut, that will add approximately $700+ B to the deficit over a decade, when president Obama essentially said hell no during his campaign? The answer to that question is the same as it has always been for more than 30+ years: the mega-rich always get what they want because they own Congress and the corporate media machine. It simply could not have been done if Party B was not complicit . . . now way, no how, not possible! Party A wasnt going to bring up the issue, so it was up to Party B and they just decided to just sit on the issue and allow the clock to run out. As long as Party B could somehow create political cover a tax cut for the mega-rich was going through. The political cover came in the form of the good cop bad cop game. Party B played the role of good cop and Party A gave them cover by playing the role of greedy bad cop along with their typical smokescreen that the billions in tax cuts would create jobs and trickle down to the people [just like it hasnt since 1980]. As if the game wasnt insulting enough to all Americans with any brain, president Obama came out in the fall of 2011 with another hollow call to tax the rich as an reelection ploy . . . knowing by then that it was safe to make such a call since Party A owned the House and such legislation didnt have a chance in hell of passing. How convenient . . . Party B could then use their old tried and true smokescreen of we tried, but those bad people in Party A wouldnt allow it. Only a fool wearing rose colored glasses can twist the reality around in their mind to not see that Party B was 100 percent complicit in getting the mega-rich a tax cut and that all calls for a tax hike thereafter are just part of the game. Its all a sophisticated ruse upon America and its the same game played out repeatedly over 30+ years to rob the people and give to the greedy. Whats amazing is that so many in America are still to this day taken in by the game. You would think that
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after 30+ years, Americans would wise up? Anyone that cant see through the game may as well stop reading now because youre just not going to get it. Before you sign out, please dont forget to tell all the rest of us how ignorant we are about politics, how we just dont understand the legislative process and how Washington, D.C. really works. [Please pardon us if we happen to snicker, just a little, at your condescension] The majority of Americans are now finally realizing that its all a big game where in Washington, D.C. the people lose and the mega-rich always win somehow. When it comes to promises and politics we Americans have zero long-term memory and only focus on the latest media contrived political frenzy, while anxiously awaiting the next one, like a junkie needing their fix. You would think that someone would be tracking it all and keeping score, but we as a people just continue to follow either one party or the other in order to maintain the status quo. The adage, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me seems appropriate, but in this case it is fool me for more than 30+ years and we still dont get it . . . thats not a shame but absolute stupidity! As will be repeated numerous times throughout this book, the definition of stupidity, as you know already, is to repeat the same behavior over and over and expect a different result. More than 30+ years is a lot of repeating to still not be getting it . . . dont you think? Almost everyone in America would agree that the two-party political system is completely broken and simply doesnt work, but in reality they could not be more wrong! The two-party political system is working to absolute perfection. In fact, it couldnt be working any better more according to plan. The problem is that it is not working for the American people and works only for the greedy who run it via corrupt politicians and media manipulation. Anyone that has been to Las Vegas to gamble knows that the house always wins. You lose at one casino, become frustrated and then go down the street to the other casino and you lose at that one. Of course a few people win and as long as the people see some win they continue to play. Its the same reason the state lotteries publicize their winners and give them those really big oversized checks on TV it keeps the suckers coming back to the game. In reality, speaking economically, voting for one party over another is gambling with your money. Like it or not, government and the legislation they pass or dont pass along with their management of the economy largely determines your financial well being or lack thereof. Be it taxes, trade agreements, banking regulations, consumer protection laws, or regulations that impact the industry you work within they all impact your wallet either directly or indirectly. As long as the mega-rich own and control all of our government, via two horribly corrupt political parties the mega-rich know the house will always win at the game. The American people have done nothing but switch from the Party A or Party B house, then back again, for 75+ years or more. Just like in Vegas youre never going to beat the house no matter which of these two corrupt parties are in control. Anyone that thinks they are beating the house in this two-party casino games need only to view their complete lack of winnings over the past 30+ years. You have no chips to cash in at the window . . . while the mega-rich have it all. What else do you need to know about the two-party political game? During the past 35 years America has played in the Party B casino for 15 or the Party A casino for 20 and weve lost our posterior no matter in which casino weve played. In all those years, both parties have promised the world and delivered nothing into the wallets of average American citizens, but like fools we continue to play the same game.
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There will of course be party loyalists out there who will believe, no matter how much overwhelming evidence there is to the contrary, that if only their party had been in control all those 35 years that things would be better for all American wallets. It cant of course be proven that these types of people are wrong, so all that can be said is keep inserting those coins and keep pulling that party lever and maybe you will win some day? The house a.k.a. the mega-rich just love players like you . . . Instead of hugging your party out of desperation, however, at least ask yourself the question: if diversity is good for America in regard to people, then why wouldnt it be just as good for our political system? In Part II: The Resistance, for those of you willing to think outside the two-party box, a beginning step-by-step methodology for diluting the two-party political monopoly will be presented to begin making the American economy work for the people once again . . . instead of only the mega-rich. Lets first get beyond the bright lights of the Party A and Party B casinos and see just how they got us to come in the door to gamble all our money away. The first most essential thing they had to do was get us to believe that there are two different casinos owned by different owners with two different ideologies. Each party picks a different set of bright lights to draw as many people as possible into their casino. The bright lights are called hot button issues such as: patriotism, the flag, same sex marriage, abortion, poverty, immigration, national security, freedom, the deficit, racial inequality, family values, gun control, religion, womens rights and hundreds of other issues that will elicit fire in the belly and focus within each gambler. Now, ask yourself, just how many of these issues would really matter to you if there was an empty dinner plate sitting in front of you? While the people are mesmerized by every issue but money, the mega-rich and their two political parties are focused on nothing but money and power. Its not some grand conspiracy on the part of the two political parties, but instead just two different routes to the same goals . . . power, control and money. Both casinos really do want to gain the most players at their table, in order to win elections, because it means they can funnel more money to themselves and their mega-rich campaign contributors who bankrolled their respective campaigns. The mega-rich are very smart people that simply hedge their bets in every election by backing both casinos. If the odds are that the little people are going to vote in Party A, they place more money on red and if its Party B they put most of their money on blue. When you have billions of dollars, a few million here or a few more million there are like nickels and dimes to us average Americans. By betting both red and blue, the greedy win no matter which political party comes out on top. Voila! Creation of an oligarchy were the mega-rich control it all no matter which party Americans gamble on, we lose over the long-term when playing on the American monopoly board. When it comes to money, the rules of gravity that dictate what goes up must come down simply dont apply. The money that goes up stays up forever and is multiplied exponentially. In more than 30+ years, as evidenced by the statistics not one single penny has trickled down. Yes America there were boom times, some people got rich and built big houses, but during all those periods the mega-rich were becoming even richer while carefully consolidating the control tools in order to overtake the entire American Monopoly board. By playing primarily to hot button issues via the social liberal or social conservative game, both of the political party casinos ensure that by the time we come through their
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front door were filled with hot blooded passion, fired up and completely bought in emotionally to one of the respective casinos ideologies. They even have the equivalent of adult pep rallies called political conventions to get us in gear and headed to their casino to gamble our future away. The more passionate we are about our casino, the less likely we are to stray down the street to the other casino more importantly were far less likely to keep our hand and eyes on our wallets. We forget about our money and plug in like zombies to either one ideology or another. Who cares about money . . . just give Americans their hot button cultural and social issues while bleeding them dry of money. We sit down, get very comfortable at the table and away we play. We read about our casino, we comment online back and forth about how great our casino is and about how evil the other is. Those in casino A scream that the casino B is full of anti-American socialists, towel heads, faggots, egg heads, atheists, baby killers, big spenders, free loaders, tree huggers and the N word. The other casino members scream back that that casino A is full of hate mongers, capitalist pigs, holy rollers, war mongers, imperialists, flag wavers, rednecks, mother earth haters, labor haters, free speech haters, want to control womens bodies, homophobes, haters of the poor and are racists. The idea that either of these two casinos calls the other hate mongers is absolutely hilarious! Where is the lack of hate from either side? Polarized, hypnotized by the bright lights and drunk with the cocktails of hate being poured like gasoline upon a fire by our corporate owned media we fight the liberals or fight the conservatives while the mega-rich that own the house laugh all the way to the bank. Its only slightly less contrived and absurd than betting on a WWF pro wrestling match. In futility we sit at the same table and gamble day after day, year after year, decade after decade. Have you stopped to count up your winnings lately? Where is all the polarization and hate from both sides getting the average American financially? All the statistics and facts say nowhere. Its like two sides of a boat with each side rowing frantically in opposite directions . . . the result is an endless spin of total futility that has America sinking and stuck in neutral. We and our forefathers built America and we work everyday for ourselves and the benefit of the American economy at large. In other words, this is our casino that we built and own and we should be setting the rules more importantly we should be setting the odds of winning for average Americans. Because weve been brainwashed by the idea that we have only two options, casino A or casino B, we sit at the table and support our party of choice or the lesser of the two evils. Yet somehow, we continue to lose money no matter which casino we play within. Through our sweat and taxes we continue to put our money on the table, but our number never seems to come up. That big check never arrives and the dice never roll our way. Were somewhat aware of the money on the table were losing, but we never even see the money thats leaving our wallets year after year from under our American monopoly board through inflation and wildly stagnated wages over the course of 30+ years. Its like a big lake being drained from the bottom by the mega-rich and because the lake was so large at one point in time, we just recently noticed that the entire shoreline is receding. Such a practice is called skimming and we covered it in some detail when we looked at all the productivity gains and wealth gains within the U.S. over the past 30+ years you have missed out upon. You now know where all that money has gone and who took it, but how they got you to go along with the theft was very sophisticated indeed.
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At the very top of the pecking order leading both of the two major political parties, think tanks, the media and corporations are the mega-rich behind ever single door. Once youve tasted mega-money you forget average Americans no matter if they are a member of your political party, a member of your union, civil rights group or the poor. Without an ethics chastity belt welded in the locked position, ethics, principals and integrity get kicked to the curb. It is all about greed, personal gain and paying back campaign contributors as long as the people are anything less than 100 percent vigilant. We all wish it were not true and like to believe otherwise, but greed rules the day. If mankind is not regulated, investigated and monitored very closely, he will take the money and run if enough money is put on the table. The sad thing is that, many politicians as well as corporate leaders, had high ideals and started out with honorable intentions, but in time man will always fall short simply because no one is looking, no one will ever know and virtually no one in America has been the wiser . . . until now! Even for those Americans that do realize the corruption and the game being played, they tell themselves that at least we dont live in China where they dont even have elections. The question you need to begin to ask yourself is, do we actually have elections? Are we really given choices as for whom we vote? Pulling Back the Curtain Before pulling back the curtain you have to get your mind into the money zone and keep it there. Take all the bright lights and hot button propaganda issues that both political parties have been throwing at you for decades and toss them out the window [or at least park them in a separate cavity of your mind]. It is extremely difficult to do and it requires an unwavering laser focus to keep your eye on the ball. Its much like the carnival game where the guy puts a small ball under one of three cups and switches them around, then makes you guess which cup the ball is under. In the case of our political system, in order to understand it, you must keep your eye on the money at all times! Do not look at the cultural or social issues to your left or right, just watch the money like a hawk and soon it all becomes crystal clear. Lets begin with the most recent casino game that ended with the collapse of Wall Street and our economy in 2008. When we talk money, outright theft and massive political corruption it all starts with Wall Street. While countless books have now been written about the Wall Street collapse, most Americans dont have the bandwidth or interest level to read 20 books on a topic as insidious and repugnant as Wall Street. Therefore, either of two documentaries, if not both, will get you up to speed on Wall Streets greed, one is Inside Job and the other is Plunder, The Crime of Our Time. Rent or purchase either of the documentaries and youll know enough to understand just how corrupt, crooked and greedy the entire Wall Street game really is. While tempting to try and explore herein, the house of cards, the smoke and mirrors, the trillions in paper only assets with zero monetary value that make up the massive Ponzi/pyramid scheme called Wall Street is just too intricate to even try and explore herein. The fact that only one high profile sacrificial lamb, Bernie Madoff, is behind bars doing prison time tells you everything you need to know about our political and justice system in America. While collar crime on Wall Street pays handsomely and it is ground zero for the class of people in America referred to herein as the mega-rich. There is no justice system in America for these people! On the very rare occasion they are caught in their constant crime wave raping average Americans on a daily basis . . . they pay only a few million dollars in fines, never receive any jail time and just keep on stealing.
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Any political novice with even a little degree of objectivity can scratch the surface to see that both Party A and Party B are fully 100 percent responsible for what happened with the collapse of Wall Street. Bush and Party A pushed for and allowed Wall Street to make up their own rules of Russian roulette for more than a decade. Countless Congressional members of Party B, especially in the House Committee on Financial Services led by Congressman Barney Frank pushed for everyone to be part of the American Dream by owning a home and even president Bush got in on the act. We were told over and over they were doing it for the people, but were they really? Ask yourself if in fact they were both doing it at the bequest of the banks and Wall Street? To assist in your analysis, consider that from 1999 to 2008 the financial sector spent $1.738 B on campaign donations within federal elections and $3.3 B on lobbyists.1 Party B throughout the end of the boom cycle had plenty of regulatory authority to curb the casino games being played on Wall Street as did Party A. Neither ever lifted a finger to put a stop to it because of who was reaping the benefits: the political class via campaign money and positions of power within the system for family and cronies, the hedge fund mega-rich that dont actually do any work, the silver spoon crowd and the bankers. Party B was the party that really had to sell it to the people via a pitch of were for the people and just want them to have a home of their own. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac became the conduit for the con game and Franklin Raines, a Party B loyalist who ran Fannie Mae, laughed all the way to the bank with a bonus of $90 M. Much like children, now that its all blown up in their face, both the parties are doing what they always do . . . pointing fingers as quickly as possible toward the other party and saying they did it, they did it, it wasnt us. Who did what when, or who didnt in this charade is not nearly as telling as what happened next. The whole charade blew up in the face of both the political parties to the tune of trillions of dollars. The trillions lost in home values and underwater mortgages, income from job loses, stock portfolios, 401k retirement accounts and economic vitality across the board are almost impossible to calculate. The total damage to American citizens is at lest $13 T, but when you project out the longer term impact on the American economy the real number is unfathomable.2 The greedy Wall Street crowd and the banks had finally gotten caught with their financial pants down. In the process the people, you and I, lost at least 20 percent of the value of our biggest asset, our homes. What came next was the biggest con game to ever to be pulled in the history of America if not the entire world. The media owned by the mega-rich, left right and middle, were sent their scripts and marching orders and nearly every politician in Washington, D.C. lined up behind them as they rolled out the scam 24/7 from every roof top as loudly as their lungs could scream. Just like Chicken Little, they screamed the sky is falling, the sky is falling, our entire economy is on the verge of collapse, their will be starving in the streets and social unrest. America as we have known it for our entire lifetimes will cease to exist. Over and over the gloom and doom was preached and pumped into every American brain. People were jumping from rooftops and just to prove the threat was real . . . Lehman Brothers was even allowed to fail as a sacrificial lamb [even though their CEO walked away with millions]. Something had to be done and it had to be done now, within days, or we would never recover as a nation. Voila! Like magic, within matter of a couple of weeks or so Party A and Party B [who were told hate each other] came together, like never before in our lifetime, to pony up a trillion dollars in almost interest free loans. The age of bipartisanship had finally arrived, a true kumbaya moment where members of Congress held hands and participated in a
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fundraiser for Wall Street. There were a few in Congress who grumbled, but at the end of the day, the personal phone calls from the mega-rich telling horror stories of loosing their yacht and of little Biff having to go to a state university were just too much for members of Congress to bear. Congress had to examine their conscience and do the right thing: lend the mega-rich our tax money to bail them out from their over the top unhinged greed. Letting them crash and burn so they would finally learn their lesson was just too much tough love to dish out. Tough love is only for the little people, the unemployed and the homeless in America not the mega-rich. If Wall Street and the banks were allowed to crash and burn, who would fund Congressional political campaigns the next time around? Since virtually all members of Congress are placed into office by the mega-rich to begin with, there really wasnt much choice when they called their markers back in. Almost overnight, it was happy days on Wall Street and the polo grounds once again. Dads would get their millions in bonuses, little Biff would be able to go to an Ivy League school and members of Congress would be able to yacht with Wall Street cronies in the summer. Within months, all was well again on Wall Street and in Washington D.C. which they own. So Party A and Party B came together in unison to save the day for the greedy and the little people were none the wiser. The little people thought that Congress saved our entire economy and everyone in the media read from their scripts and confirmed it 24/7 . . . while playing all of America for fools. Nonetheless, something seems to be missing from that saved our entire economy story. Biff is now at Harvard hanging out with the silver spoon crowd, instead of a state school. The children of the little people are fighting wars or going to community college because they are forced to by the ruined economy. While things are great for Biff and his daddy on Wall Street, what about the 8.5+ million lost jobs and 1 in 4 homes that are now worth far less than their purchase price? What about the downward pressures on salaries and wages forcing people all across America to either work for nothing or to take a pay cut? What about the 30 million under employed and the 15 million unemployed? What about the suicides, the drug and alcohol abuse, the domestic abuse, the rise in crime and the social unrest soon to come? What about the plunge in tax revenues that will soon be tossing at least 2 million [if not far more] public sector employees out into the streets? Does any of this sound as if the economy was saved? Wall Street was saved and members of Congress were ensured that campaign contributions would continue to arrive, but everyone else in America got screwed to the tune of untold trillions. Far lower starting wages and salaries Wage and salary concessions Lower pay raises or none at all At least 30 million unemployed or underemployed Falling home values and underwater mortgages At least 5 million homes lost to foreclosure and 5 million more on the way Millions of personal and business bankruptcies Nearly $13 T in lost household wealth3 Virtually zero consumer spending for at leas a decade or more Constrained economic growth due to lending restraints
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Where are the Harvard economists when we actually need them? Where is the study that adds up and calculates all the numbers above over the course of a couple decades or more? Some educated guesses would of course have to be made, but in general, the numbers and projections exist to come up with a total dollar figure that would encompass the damage from Wall Streets greed. It is the last number either of the two political parties and the mega-rich want calculated and reported to the American people. Were now told that well have to pull together for America by tightening our belts and the recovery will just take time. When the Wall Street billionaires, responsible for destroying the economy via their greed, needed money Congress came through in a moments notice. Like devotees, Party A and Party B held hands and wrote the check with our tax money in a N.Y. minute. Now, the people have no jobs and 55 percent of those that do are worried about losing them. Lost wages, downward pressures on salaries, lost economic activity and a destroyed economy . . . all for the cause of greed!
Breakout Resource(s): Sold Out How Washington and Wall Street Betrayed America http://www.wallstreetwatch.org/reports/sold_out.pdf Conclusions of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission http://c0182732.cdn1.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/fcic_final_report_conclusions.pdf Website Financial Crisis Commission http://www.fcic.gov/report Congressional Darlings of Wall Street http://ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010093928/crony-capitalism-wall-streets-favoritepoliticians
The Wall Street Reform Bill With virtually every American damaged in some way by the unmitigated greed by Wall Street, Congress had to pass something to make it appear they were looking out for the people. Fought by nearly all members of Party A as an infringement upon freedom, Party B was at least intelligent enough to pass something upon which they could write the words Wall Street Reform Bill at the top of the first page. Behind that first page are 2,300 pages, 16 titles, 383,000 words and 533 new regulations. As for the 533 new regulations, the devil is in the details. Who does the details? Wall Street lobbyists behind closed doors in negotiations with federal bureaucrats [who if they knew anything about Wall Street they wouldnt be working in a government job]. What bureaucrats know about Wall Street scams like derivatives is just a little more than the average American . . . not much! What are the chances that the regulations will not be favorable to Wall Street with lots of loopholes and workarounds? Zero!
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Previous to writing the bill, Congress drug fat cats from Wall Street to Washington to beat them about the head with wet noodles so you at home could watch on C-Span. Afterwards, K Street lobbyists, Congress and the bankers imbibed together, smoked big cigars and laughed at how stupid the little people really are. First off, the bill gives an expanded role and more power to the Federal Reserve whose top priority is profit for its shareholder banks, not the people. The shareholders of the Federal Reserve are many of the same too big to fail banks that crashed our economy. Even worse, the bill does nothing to shrink the too big to fail banks, but instead strengthened them and made them even bigger. Now with government help these behemoth banking monopolies are impossible for any small bank to compete with. The resulting too big to fail monopoly banks now have a thumb on the end of the lending hose. Instead of competition in the marketplace and multiple lending options, multitudes of small banks were sucked up by the behemoth banks saved by Congress with out tax money. Going forward there will be absolutely no lending whatsoever unless you can absolutely prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that you dont need to borrow the money which will make an already slow recovery crawl like a wounded snail. Thats the good news, now the bad news . . . when one of these Godzilla banks crashes now, were all toast! In short, the very people that caused the economic collapse were rewarded handsomely and they called it a Wall Street Reform Bill. Thats like buying your child ice cream as reward for stealing from your pocketbook. Like almost everything else that comes out of Washington, D.C. it was another ruse upon the American people to make them believe Wall Street will not crash again. It will crash again simply because it is designed to crash. Booms and busts are the sophisticated science of bankers greed. Either way it goes, the mega-rich always win and the people always lose. So Why Would Our President Sign Such a Bill? You guessed it: MONEY! When average citizens like you and I, actually take just a short moment to scratch the surface, its amazing how quickly we can uncover the truth. As already noted, the Party A fought Wall Street reform in the name of freedom and liberty and we can easily assume and document the money trail behind their fight, but what about our president and Party B? Lightly scratch OpenSecrets.org and you will find the following Wall Street firms as the top contributors to Obamas 2008 presidential run: $994,795 $701,290 $695,000 $543,219 $514,881 Goldman Sachs Citigroup JPMorgan Chase & Co. UBS AG Morgan Stanley
If you have any doubt the above is not direct and undeniable pay-to-play politics consider that Goldman Sachs is hands down considered by everyone to have benefited most from the mortgage meltdown crisis. Top political contributors in Washington, D.C. become the top financial dogs on the street. Does anyone in America believe this is mere coincidence?
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Breakout Resource(s): President Obamas Top Campaign Contributors http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=n00009638
Maybe Wall Street payoffs to the president is just an anomaly, what about senator, Chris Dodd and representative, Barney Frank for whom the bill is named? Two quick snapshots: since 1989, 36 of Dodds top 50 contributors were Wall Street firms [to the tune of almost $5+ million] and in just 2009 alone, Barney Frank snatched almost a half million from Wall Street which accounted for almost half of his contributors.1 Why the intensive focus on Party B? Simple, they heavily controlled all three branches of the federal Government when the Wall Street reform bill was negotiated and passed. Its public record that Party A opposed any reforms whatsoever and they did so without shame because they were bribed via campaign donations. With both Congress and the executive branch in their control, Party B could have passed real Wall Street reforms, but instead American received a placebo Wall Street reform bill to make citizens feel better with virtually no tough medicine for Wall Street. Congress is full of crooks and it is flat wrong and disingenuous to give either political party a pass or a pat on the back for thievery. Does Party A get more money from Wall Street than Party B? Absolutely! Should Party B be commended for doing something, if only for writing Wall Street Reform at the top of a bill? Absolutely! However, when you look at the bill, stop listening to the party controlled media outlets . . . and instead start clicking on opensecrets.org looking for the all the bribery that took place previous to the meltdown and during the writing of the bill all becomes crystal clear. There are a number of respected experts that express distain for the Wall Street Reform bill, but perhaps a disrespected expert, Bernard Madoff should carry even more weight. In a New Yorker Magazine article he said, The whole new regulatory reform is a joke. The whole government is a Ponzi scheme. It takes a crook to unmask a crook and government ties to Wall Street constitute one huge pyramid scheme of massive corruption far beyond what most Americans can fathom or fully understand. Essentially, Wall Street is the government, Wall Street calls all the shots, they pull all the strings, they control all legislation that involves money, they are the Federal Reserve and virtually no one in Congress ever gets elected into office without their backing and approval. Between 1998 and 2008, the decade leading up to Wall Streets collapse [a decade of deregulation of financial markets, a poorly funded FBI and a SEC in bed with Wall Street] 55 percent of the $1,738 B that went from Wall Street into federal elections campaigns donations went to Party A and 45 percent went to Party B.2 So America, which party is in the pocket of Wall Street? Which political party is it that is owned by Wall Street? The numbers just dont lie America . . . anyone that can get excited or believe in either or the two dominate political parties, when it comes to reining in Wall Street corruption, needs to spend a lot more time on opensecrets.org. Campaign contributions are just the tip of the corruption iceberg, as a whole, Wall Street spent $3.3 B during the same period on lobbyists.3 Goldman Sachs, by far the biggest
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recipient of pay-to-play corruption via Washington, D.C., spent more than $46 million on political influence buying. Leading the banking herd was Citigroup who spent $108 M.4 Were living in the worst economy since the Great Depression, all brought about by political corruption by Wall Street buying off Washington, D.C. and still Americans cling to either one of the two political parties . . . even though the money trail says there is virtually no difference whatsoever? Take off the blinders, stop buying the propaganda and look at the undeniable money trail and any idea that you may currently have of a two-party political system working for the American people will be completely shattered! The numbers just dont lie and its time that America stopped pretending that campaign donations have something to do with democracy and instead realize the money is all about blatant pay-to-play bribery. Breakout Resource(s): Wall Streets Campaign Contributions and Lobbyist Expenditures http://www.wallstreetwatch.org/reports/part2.pdf
When it comes to the money and serving their greedy masters Party A and Party B are always on the same page, reading from the same script, along with our so called free press, the Ivy League economists, political scientists and political pundits. Is it some grand conspiracy? No! Its as simple as them all knowing where their bread gets buttered. The various players that prop it all up are not mega-rich any more than most members of Congress, but they all get the big, big, big crumbs that fall from the table of the mega-rich. If you want the crumbs to continue to fall your way, you line up and read from the script . . . or you get squashed like a roach! Integrity, ethics, exposing the truth and serving constituents doesnt pay the bills and further political careers.
Breakout Resource(s): H.R.4173 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h4173/text H.R.4173 Summary http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR04173:@@@D&summ2=m& Sold Out http://www.wallstreetwatch.org/reports/sold_out.pdf
The Federal Reserve Banks and governments have a long entwined history that dates back centuries, if not longer. As noted earlier, this book only includes brief accounts of history and only where it is pertinent to the future. Understanding the Federal Reserve, what it really is, how and for whom it works takes far more than can be presented in this book. Because of the wide-swath this book takes, it can only crack doors for the American public to enter and investigate and with the Federal Reserve it can only scratch the surface.
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If you dont get anything else, understand that the Federal Reserve is NOT a U.S. Government agency. It is Federal in name only with merely some symbolic Congressional appointments to their ruling boards of governance. The American people have been suckered into believing that it works on behalf of the citizenry at large to regulate the economy and protect the monetary system. Instead, the Federal Reserve is a private banking cartel consisting of several large banks. One of the banks is owned by the Rothschild family, the same Rothschild family that lent England the money to defeat Napoleon. The Fed was created by a group of greedy super elite bankers whose names you will recognize, such as J. P. Morgan. These bankers who were part of Wall Street after turn of the last Century colluded to spring the idea of a central bank [owned and run by private banks] upon the American people. In short, they did it by promising that if they controlled the nations money supply there would be no more boom and bust periods known today as bubbles and recessions. If youve been alive since the 1970s you know that the booms have been few and were currently in the biggest bust since the Great Depression. It was fear mongering of another Depression that was utilized by these bankers to convince poor ignorant farmers and factory workers [most who didnt make it out of the eight-grade] that anything was better than another Great Depression. This private banking cartel provides the entire U.S. money supply. In other words, all the trillions of dollars that have been put into the system since creation of the Federal Reserve emanated from this private banking cartel. The word emanated is used because they dont print money like the U.S. mint . . . the Federal Reserve basically provides the authority for money to be to enter the system via lending it to banks, financial institutions and crony capitalists in corporate America. Now here are the three kickers . . . prepare to drop jaw! The Federal Reserve does not put one dime of actual money into the system. 1) they basically write what is essentially a worthless check when the government, banks or crony corporations need to borrow money to operate 2) even more unbelievable, our government, banks and corporations that get the worthless checks pay this private banking cartel a.k.a. the Federal Reserve interest on the amount of those worthless checks and 3) the Federal Reserve has never once been audited. we the people dont have the slightest clue as to what they are up to . . . other than some nebulous idea that they are working to contribute to the economic wellbeing of America. Its hard to believe isnt it? The fact that the Federal Reserve ever got created in the first place, much less that is has operated since its creation with zero scrutiny from the American public is absolutely mind boggling! Just a few years after signing the legislation to create the Federal Reserve, president, Woodrow Wilson, said, I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have become to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men. Clearly, words spoken more than a hundred years ago are such a dead on description of what we are living under today that it should send chills down the spine of every living American. How the American people could have been so blind and trusting to allow the Federal Reserve to exist until today is even more confusing when a century before Wilsons words, Thomas Jefferson, a founding father said, If the American people ever allow private banks to
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control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks . . . will deprive the people of all property until their children wakeup homeless on the continent their fathers conquered . . . The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom if properly belongs. Despite warnings, despite booms and busts, despite the Great Recession we are now living within, despite massive unemployment, underemployment, stagnated wages for 30+ years, homelessness and millions of homes foreclosed upon already . . . the Federal Reserve not only still exists, but has never even been audited. Three things are clear 1) trillions of dollars in interest have gone back to this private banking cartel since the Federal Reserve was formed which means every dollar we have is worth less than it should be simply because we paid interest to this cartel for absolutely nothing and 2) for those trillions of dollars the American people have received zero benefit whatsoever since weve continued to experience booms and busts ever since the Federal Reserve was created. None worse than the bust now known as the Great Recession were now living within. Now heres the final slap in the face of the American people, the biggest part of the sham that makes paying interest on air seem mild. The mega-rich that control America, including those that control the Federal Reserve, make money during both the boom periods and the bust periods. They knew when they created the Federal Reserve System that there will always be boom and bust periods. Some of it is cyclical, some of it is monetary policy and some of it is driven by emerging economic trends, technology and world events. Monetary policy should be set by a central bank operating above board with a bright light upon everything they do not a private banking cartel that profits from their supposed monetary management. The Federal Reserve is the private playground of the American aristocracy that operates in secrecy behind closed doors. If economic booms and busts are its yardstick for success or failure, then to date the Federal Reserve has been a failure. Former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan is cited by the Financial Crisis Commission as being directly responsible for the financial collapse that brought about the Great Recession. As it was all toppling, the new Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, the lizard-like understudy of Greenspan funneled trillions in unauthorized loans to prop up the failing banks, financial institutions and corporations. In February 2009, Bloomberg reported that, in addition to the almost $1 T in TARP bailout money authorized by Congress to bail out Wall Street and the Banks another $3 T went out the back door of the Federal Reserve during the two years previous with no approval from anyone outside of the Federal Reserve.1 Pledging up to $5.7 T more, the Federal Reserve put the American people, the monetary system and the entire U.S. economy on the hook for some $9 T in addition to what Congress committed the U.S. taxpayers to in the bailout.2 Weve seen money go out the back door of this government unlike any time in the history of our country, said senator Byron Dorgan. Nobody knows what went out of the Federal Reserve Board, to whom and for what purpose. How much from the FDIC? How much from TARP? When? Why?3 It was all done behind closed doors and the American people or our representatives in Congress didnt authorize one single dime of the money to be released by the Federal Reserve. In fighting a law suit by Bloomberg and efforts by members of Congress such as Bernie Sanders for full disclosure of the loans, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, said in a reply to Sanders, The Federal Reserve does not release specific information
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regarding the borrowings of individual institutions from our lending facilities. The approach is completely consistent with the long-standing practice of central banks.4 Nonetheless, almost 2 years later, Congress finally compelled the Federal Reserve to at least come clean on $3.3 T of the backdoor money to banks and corporate cronies. Bank of America and Wells Fargo were among the biggest borrowers from one program, called the Term Auction Facility, with as much as $45 billion apiece. What was even more alarming some aid went to U.S. units of foreign institutions, including Switzerlands UBS AG, Frances Societe Generale and Germanys Dresdner Bank AG.5 Goldman Sachs was of course on the list, as was General Electric and Bear Stearns who took $1 T . . . just to name a few on the list of corporate and banking cronies of the Federal Reserve.6 Again, herein, the bandwidth for excruciating details is not available, but in short what else does America need to know: 1) trillions in off the books financial transactions with no authorization from Congress or the America people 2) zero accountability to the American people or any transparency whatsoever as to what goes on behind the closed doors of the Federal Reserve and 3) almost a full two years before even Congress is able to compel the Federal Reserve to come clean on $3.3 T of the backdoor money that was only part of the money funneled to Wall Street, banks and the mega-corporations that run and own America. While the financial crisis was all unraveling, banking and corporate CEOs were awarded massive stock options with artificially deflated dirt cheap stock. With the Federal Reserves backdoor bailouts, the value of those options soared to unheard of heights as soon as the economy began to turn around. The Federal Reserve banks made out like fat rats on interest from the loans, the CEOs walked away with millions of dollars in stock and the American people lost well more than 8.5 million jobs, $13 T in lost net worth, millions of foreclosed upon homes and a ruined economy for decades to come. This reality is just one piece of the ever mounting evidence that 1) even during bust times the mega-rich manipulate the system to come out on top and 2) the Federal Reserve is crooked to the gills with cronyism and corruption that operates to the benefit of Wall Street and corporate America that own our government. At an absolute minimum, the time came long ago for the American people to kick the doors down and shine light into every single crevice and corner of the Federal Reserve. Only a full and complete audit by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) and a yearly audit going forward made public for all Americans to review will begin to bring light upon the massive corruption, cronyism and back room deal making that create a Federal Reserve slush fund for the mega-rich that rule America. Every single member of Congress knows somewhat just how corrupt the Federal Reserve really is, but they also know that if the American people are exposed to the truth, via an audit, that all hell will break loose. Thats why, to date, many members of Congress have gone on record supporting an audit, but when it comes time to vote to actually conduct the audit they all flee like rats never authorizing the actual audit. Almost the only two exceptions to date are congressmen Ron Paul and Bernie Sanders [on opposite ends of the political spectrum] who have stood firm to push for an audit.
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The Federal Reserve, its chairman, Ben Bernanke and all the member banks of the Fed, as well as the political establishment in America fear an audit more than almost anything. Its why Bernanke and the Fed have undertaken recent PR moves, such as publishing some heavily edited meeting transcripts and making the chairman more available to reporters after scheduled Fed meetings. Since 1913, the days when ignorant farmers and factory workers allowed the Federal Reserve to come into existence, we the American people have been played for fools by the banking aristocracy that rules America via the Federal Reserve and Wall Street. Were paying the price for our stupidity via the Great Recession and the time has arrived to kick the doors of the Federal Reserve down for an audit as the first step toward completely abolishing any involvement whatsoever of private banks in our nations central bank and monetary system.
Breakout Resource(s): Audit the Federal Reserve http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=2731 Audit the Federal Reserve 2011 Bill http://www.ronpaul.com/congress/legislation/audit-the-federal-reserve-fed-hr-459-s202/
Sue the Fed http://www.suethefed.com/
The Creature from Jekyll Island http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6507136891691870450# Our Chronic Cronyism and Corruption http://inequality.org/chronic-cronyism-corruption/ The American Dream Film http://youtu.be/tGk5ioEXlIM
Either Way it Goes Banking is a Win-Win for the Mega-Rich Before delving into some real eye openers on banking, its important to first understand what a bank really is and how they work their magic. While tempting to go all the way back to when Jesus tossed the money changers from the temple, which should have been a hint for every generation thereafter, lets instead jump forward a few a thousand years or so to our modern financial system. When the precursor to modern banks began, the idea was that the people needed somewhere safe to keep their gold. The bank would store it, guard it and lend it to those less fortunate, in exchange for a usury fee known today as interest. Kings have always been able to sit on their posteriors and make money, but until the usury fee no commoner could get away with it. What a cool idea, making money for dong nothing sure beats working. Because, as noted herein, greed is just as much a part of mans DNA as is laziness, the bankers soon decided that they werent making enough money for being greedy and lazy. They were frustrated by only being allowed to lend out the gold they actually had in the vault and Copyright 2011
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always had to keep enough on hand in case all the people wanted to get their gold back at once a.k.a. a run on the bank. Back then they had to be less greedy and a little more honest, but now we have a modern financial system. Since gold is one of the heaviest metals and literally a pain in the posterior to lug around, the bankers needed to create something lighter, thats easier to carry around that would be a representation of gold? The solution: paper money! In time, people bought into the idea that the banks and government had the actual gold in the vault equivalent to the amount of paper money they lent. People back then were stupid right? It didnt take long for the bankers to figure out that this paper money thing was even cooler than making money off interest from lending gold. No one really knew how much gold the banks had in the vault, so they thought what the people dont know wont hurt them and they began to lend out far more than they had in the vault the result was little or nothing on the line and virtually no limits as to how much they could lend and profit from via interest on the money they lent. By 2008, before the Wall Street crash, a ratio of pennies in the vault for every dollar they lent out was pervasive across the banking and investment industry. Today, we have what can only be called a banking house of cards. With the exception of some miniscule collateral tied to the trillions of dollars in loans, those dollars you have in your wallet, 401 k and bank account are virtually worthless. You can spend them in exchange for goods and services for one reason only: everyone else is also clueless as to how fragile their value really is. Those dollars you just handed the guy at the store have almost no value other than perceived value. They are not worth much more than the high-tech paper they are printed upon. While there are more dynamic lessons to be learned from this short primer, two are obvious and one is questionable: 1) dont borrow money, especially from a bank because they are lending you air not money 2) if you have it to lend and are sure youll be repaid with interest, then lend like crazy because it sure beats working and 3) this being the questionable lesson, perhaps you should rethink in what form your life savings is in and convert to precious metals. If everyone were to wise up at the same time . . . you would be left holding a bag full of paper. Paper bank statements and computer screens may not buy too much some day . . . There once was a time when Americas best and brightest minds, to include children from an emerging aristocracy, went into making products and providing innovative services. Today, its all about finance, banking and Wall Street a.k.a. making money off other peoples sweat, labor and sacrifice. When the big money is in exploiting the innovation, sweat and toil of others via number crunching, market manipulation and Wall Street bets instead of contributing to economic growth via industry, meaningful services and product innovations something has gone horribly wrong with the soul of America. The practices of Wall Street, well documented by now, that led to the Great Recession were so far over the top for any ethical standards of business and integrity, that American prisons should now be filled to the brim with bankers and Wall Street executives. To date, however, they all have used their get out of jail free cards bought in Washington, D.C. to continue to walk the streets. Clearly understand America, nothing has changed, there has been no significant reform and there will be no reform of Wall Street until we the people boot all the Wall Street money out of Washington, D.C.
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Think about it . . . for virtually all consumer lending and much of small business lending, the banking industry has almost nothing whatsoever on the line. First off, debt is collateralized to ensure against loses and secondly, for every dollar they have on deposit they have been allowed to lend 30 fold if not far more. Even more insidious, Wall Street has turned to repackaging and creation of what they call financial instruments to mask even further the ever more worthless value of investments. When the economy tanks as it always does, most often because banking greed always in time overrules reason and sound business practices. It is absolutely inevitable unless Wall Street is highly regulated and when it happens the little people default and turn over collateral such as houses, cars and land. Either way it goes, the banks receive either real money or tangible assets in exchange for giving you air. Its a win-win for the bankers and the mega-rich either way the economy goes. As if that deal we make with the devil is not profitable enough for the banks and the mega-rich, what led to the Great Recession in large part was that Wall Street took all the shaky home loans, repackaged them and then resold them for up to 30+ times their actual value in the marketplace. Then they made bets against the house of cards they created so that when it crashed, they would still profit. Based solely upon convictions to date, none of this appears to have been criminal or illegal simply because those engaged in the scheme wear suits, attended Ivy League schools and own Washington, D.C. via cronyism and campaign contributions. The only way Wall Street and the mega-rich could possible lose at the banking game is if they became so greedy, so filled with a blood thirst for even more money, that they push the envelope way too far. When you consider they have almost none of their money on the line and collateral to back up most defaults in the consumer market there is almost no way they can lose and yet it happened previous to the recent financial meltdown. For it to have happened, the banks had to be so greedy and so over leveraged, that gambling drunks in Vegas would have been considered more financially prudent. Nonetheless, when it happened, as already detailed herein, Wall Street cried like babies to their yachting buddies in Congress to save their posterior with your tax dollars. Wall Street and the banks have such an entwined cozy relationship with government and Congress that they have a scenario like no other. Its called the win-win-win scenario. When they lend they win. When you lose your home to them they win and finally when they really screw up big time by being way too greedy they still win because their friends in Congress will bail them out with interest rates that you wouldnt give your mother. Even after you and our fellow Americans got taken for a ride by the banks and Congress and were left holding a $13 T bag of losses and underwater mortgages, the political class pulled the wool over the eyes of the people once again. They believe you are so stupid that nothing is too bold to try. It was called the mortgage relief program and it was presented as a way to help the little people keep their evermore worthless homes. If at the peak of the economic crash, Americans had just dropped off the keys to their homes at the front door of the banks . . . it would have swamped the banks and cooked their greedy fannies once and for all before they were recovered enough to handle the hit. They needed a way to forestall the hit until they were ready to absorb all the foreclosures. Collecting too much collateral at once is bad for the banks. The Obama
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administration arrived just in the nick of time to buy the banks some time, under the guise of keeping the little people in their cherished homes a.k.a. keeping the suckers on the hook of a losing proposition for a little longer before the bait was pulled from their hungry mouths and they were left homeless. It was called the Mortgage Relief Program and the Obama administration promised it would keep 5 million homeowners in their homes. Instead, to date as off 2011 more than 5 million homes have already been foreclosed upon and the program as evaluated by most analysts is considered to be an abysmal failure! Yes it kept a few hundred thousand homes in the hands of the borrowers, but few if any had and reduction in their mortgage balance even though home values have plunged all over American and all indications are that they will continue to plunge. So the Americans that did benefit from the program, only benefited by getting a reduced monthly payment, but are still stuck with the original balance even though in many cases the home is worth only half of its original purchase value. Many Americans entered the program, continued to make payments but couldnt come to terms with the bank on payment arrangements and ended up flushing thousands of dollars down the drain by trying to keep their homes. In 2010 alone, the banks foreclosed upon 1.05 million homeowners setting a one year U.S. record [up from 918,000 homes seized in 2009]. The number of foreclosure filings, which includes default notices, auctions and repossessions in 2010 was a record 2.9 million, but most analysts believe the number would have exceeded 3 million had the banks not been slowed by controversies surrounding documentation and procedures. Before all the damage from Wall Streets greed is absorbed and paid off by the people many analysts believe that 20 percent of all homes in American will be in the hands of the banks via repossession. So much for the mortgage relief program . . . the numbers speak for themselves. Once again, the banks and Wall Street won at the expense of the little people, all with the help of the political class who sold it under the guise of looking out for the people. In truth, the political class was doing what they will always do under the current political system . . . take care of Wall Street along with their other mega-rich political contributors and the little people be damned. Despite all the alarm, gloom and doom being spewed on behalf of the banks, they more than likely will never lose a real dime on the entire housing debacle simply because they had only pennies of their money tied up in the trillions of dollars they lent out. Instead the banks will take possession of millions more homes across America as the result of lending home buyers air. Only if the value of a home plunges to unheard of values, far beyond what were now seeing, will the banks lose one dime of real money. Their profits will of course be impacted, but they will in time resell the reposed homes they acquired via the lending of air and laugh all the way to the bank. If You Think Wall Street is Greedy . . . Welcome to Corporate America While a large portion of the American aristocracy end up on Wall Street with their Ivy League fraternity brothers and sisters, approximately one-third of those who oversee the nations largest corporations attended just three of the Ivy League schools Harvard, Yale and Princeton.1 The buttons of power and control within Wall Street, Americas mega-corporations and the federal government are so intertwined with Ivy League blue bloods that they form and interlocking American monarchy that rivals and surpasses any
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kingdom on Earth. Members of Congress not already bought off by Wall Street, are owned by American corporations lock, stock and barrel. Together, the three entities form a ruling class only somewhat less in charge than what exists under totalitarian rule. In a nation such as China at least, they just admit to totalitarian rule, but in America we continue to pretend, via the vote, that we live in a democracy. Even with such a scathing description, all corporations and businesses are not evil, not even close, not by a long shot! One disturbing perception emerging from the fringe left is that all businesses and corporations are inherently evil only out to make profit as if the word profit is some type of bad word. Nonetheless, only slightly more than 10 percent of Americans believe their companys leaders are ethical and honest.2 Only 12 percent of employees believe their employer genuinely listens to and cares about its employees, and only seven percent believe that senior managements actions are completely consistent with their words.3 With somewhere around 90 percent of the American workforce extremely distrustful of their employer, how can corporate American believe we can move forward as one unified economic engine for national prosperity? With levels of trust this low, it simply cannot continue to work going forward with an already beleaguered workforce with its financial back to the wall. Most Americans get business 101 that dictates no profit = no jobs and no food. As stated early, upfront with no apologies, this book does not advocate any other political system other than a true democracy and is 100% behind the free enterprise system. Both systems are flawed and they will always be flawed, there will be no utopia, but greed, a lack of shared values and shared financial successes have led to an American workforce and people who are completely disenfranchised. A 30+ year financial losing streak for 90 percent of the American people while corporate America and the top 10 percent wallow in unparalleled riches cannot continue without reaching a boiling point. America is a nation of good natured, humble people and for decades they have remained apathetic or been purposely misguided and manipulated, but as the American Dream continues to be stripped away they will finally wise up. The American people have to date been passive as sheep as special interests and the mega-rich corrupted government to work only for them as the people have been crushed into dust. Our government is corrupt to the core with corporate money and it is the fault of every single American that allowed it to happen. Corporations are in business to make a profit and profit is a very good thing. In doing so, they, by their nature, will try with all their might to create monopolies such as the one Walmart now has. Many will do everything in their power both legally and oftentimes illegally to make a buck. Making a profit is what its all about, its just what theyre created to accomplish and part of their DNA. Many businesses will work to crush their competitors and their employees if they are allowed to do so. The evidence clearly demonstrates that it pays off handsomely in most cases. When your favorite NFL football team beats the opposition by 30 points you cheer and when they cut their former star running back for poor performance you understand. Many in corporate America however, are cutting players who perform with lower wage/salary substitutes via on shore and off shore cannibalization of human capital for the sake of excessive profits. Its now happening in record numbers as the pace picked up with the Great Recession and will continue to worsen until we the people say hell no, not in our nation and not on our playing field! The irony is that Americans always look to the government to save
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them, even though much control is in their hands via public pressure and conscience buying habits. Take Walmart, for instance, who has to have most Americans willing participation to pull off the monopoly they now possess. Much like a well led life . . . a good business steward that serves the needs of the majority, instead of only top management, is about balance and moderation. When the business playing field gets out of balance as with monopolies, the governments role is to step in and rebalance the playing field a.k.a. regulate greed. Otherwise, just like in the game of Monopoly, one company wins all the money and the game for everyone else is over as they travel around the board of life and await bankruptcy. As the radical right screams FREEDOM at the top of their lungs, along with no regulation of any business activity whatsoever stop and consider the true implications of that mentality. Are they screaming the word FREEDOM for individual American citizens or is that just what they want the individual citizens to think? If every regulation along with every federal and state agency that enforces regulations were erased tomorrow, what would happen . . . who would win this free enterprise game? If there were no EPA, all the rivers and lakes in America would be orange and purple like many in China are today. If there was no EEOC, anyone over 40 would be put out to pasture and minorities would have even less chance of getting a job than they already do. If there was no OSHA, people would be getting sucked up in machinery and mangled to death every single day. If there were no FTA, 18 wheelers would be blowing out tires and killing travelers daily and without the FAA, airplanes would be crashing and burning every few hours. As pathetic and inept as the FCC is, without one there would be some Oz like figure pulling every propaganda string in America via an even larger corporate monopoly of our media than already exists. With speed trading and derivatives legal already on Wall Street, what would they come up with if the SEC were abolished? Finally, although worthless and flaccid for more than 20+ years, how much worse would the existing monopolies be without the FTC? Beware the word FREEDOM America! When anyone with a brain actually stops and thinks about a world of zero regulation of any kind, an economic free-for-all and a dog eat dog existence . . . only one dog wins in that scenario: The Really Big Dog! If you think wealth inequality in America is bad now . . . take a big bite of the freedom apple and youll see what little that is left of the middle-class disappear so fast that every history book will have to be rewritten within a decade just to document what once was. The same people that think socialism is radical are buying into the complete freedom craze as if that is a sane alternative. If you want radical, go with even more complete freedom for the greedy, as if that is even possible, and they will finish grinding us all into dust! The 2030 doomsday scenario described at the beginning of this book will arrive in less than one decade . . . instead of almost two. Just a few short years ago we experienced no regulation and oversight of Wall Street and it will be at least a decade before we recover, probably far longer. Admittedly, Americans have a short memory and will vote for any quick fix economic solution that requires no pain or sacrifice on their part, but doing away with what little Wall Street regulation we now have is nothing short of absolutely insane beyond comprehension. What about the BP oil spill, have Americans forgotten that environmental Armageddon already? Anyone that believes the greedy dont require restraints and corporations dont need regulations had better hope to God they dont get their wish. We live in one of the most
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horribly corrupt business environments in the history of our nation, with the possible exception of just before the Great Depression. The SEC, the FTC and the EEOC need and deserve all the funding and personnel we can deliver to them. There are more crooks walking free on Wall Street than inmate numbers in all our federal prisons. Money at the top of the food chain is funding so many monopolies and predatory business practices today that the economic playing field is standing on its end. The table is so tilted so far in the direction of only the mega-rich that virtually no opportunity exists any longer for average Americans. Humans are no more than mere profit centers whose workplace rights and dignity have been stripped to the bone. American corporations should have some conscience in regard to American workers and our nations people, but greed and greed alone rules the day in far too many cases. If you are waiting for corporations or man in general, to get a conscience please dont hold your breath while you wait. Its not going to happen! In almost all cases corporations are only going to pay market value for their human talent and we all generally get and accept that reality. On the other hand, to manipulate the market unfairly to the detriment of American citizens via off shore labor sourcing and immigration exceeds all ethical and patriotic bounds of American business. Profit is a good thing and what business is all about, but when ethics and patriotism to your country of origin are compromised to the detriment of America and her citizens . . . its not about profit, but about becoming a blood sucking vulture preying upon your fellow American citizens. We the people through involvement in our government and intelligent deployment of massive collective monetary power have the power to reign in the vultures and bring them to their knees. Most are going to follow the path of greed alone unless the road blocks are put into place to stop them. Otherwise, as time marches forward every American, to include an ever larger number of white collar professionals, will be ground into dust by the mega-rich. Luckily, the mega-rich still need Americans and their spending to buy more time to grow the middle-class numbers in nations such as China, India and Brazil. Once the consumer pool in those nations reaches critical mass, the bargaining power of American citizens over the mega-corporations will be zero! That balance is changing fast however and if we fail to act quickly and in unison that window will close quickly for good. Make no mistake, our corrupted government and out of control free enterprise system is the fault of all Americans that have stood by decade after decade and done nothing while the noose of the mega-rich tightened around the neck of every average American. We are to blame and we are the only ones that can change the impending reality . . .
Breakout Resource(s): Maritz Research: Employee Engagement Poll http://maritzresearch.com/~/media/Files/MaritzDotCom/White%20Papers/ExcecutiveSu mmary_Research.ashx Regulation, employment and the economy http://epi.3cdn.net/961032cb78e895dfd5_k6m6bh42p.pdf
CEO/Executive Compensation: A Recipe for Even More Economic Disaster
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The fact that only slightly more than 10 percent of Americans believe their companys leaders are ethical and honest is all too telling about the current state of work-life and the relationship of corporate America to her workforce. Even within that reality, to paint all CEOs and senior management with the same tainted brush is just out of balance and wrong. Just like there are good corporations to work within, there are good CEOs and senior management to work for. The problem is that there are so few today, compared to decades past, that all are now painted with the brush of greed and distrust. Having both owned a business and worked closely for and with Fortune 500 CEOs and senior management down through a host of SMEs, I can assure America that all business owners are not wallowing in money and all CEOs and senior management are not evil. Far too many on the fringe left contend that they are all greedy pigs, completely undeserving of any wealth and what they have achieved during their careers. The fringe left is wrong! Many in senior management throughout corporate America work their butts off, sacrifice their lives, time, family and complete existence to pursue career goals. By comparison, at least they work, which is far more than you can say for hedge fund managers on Wall Street. Sadly, many on the fringe left who believe people should be paid for doing nothing by the state are the same people who begrudge a CEO of all their money and power. Many, especially within the SME ranks, started their own company from scratch, took humongous risks and made tremendous sacrifices that the average American is incapable of and to begrudge success is not what America was built upon. Without a healthy risk to reward ratio the free enterprise system simply doesnt function. Even within the F500, with the exception of the few that took over the family business, almost all paid the price to get to where they are. Even those from the silver spoon crowd had to at least graduate from an Ivy League school and were not just handed the keys to the CEO suite. Almost all CEOs worked 14 hours days for what they have and most Americans are unwilling to make such sacrifices. Far too many Americans think I could do that job if just given the chance, but most Americans if given the keys to the CEO suite tomorrow would fall on their face within 48 hours as complete failures. In America we believe that those who make the most sacrifices should receive the greatest monetary rewards. We also believe that outstanding performance should be rewarded with outstanding pay. We get it that the CEOs secretary, although really good at what she does, isnt contributing in as large a role to the wellbeing of the company and therefore she will always receive far less pay than the CEO. Thats business and just how it works. Is it always fair and equitable? Of course not, as stated early on, this book is not about utopia, but about reality. Life is not fair and its never going to be. Unlike in the game of Monopoly, we dont all start out with the same amount of money and opportunities . . . thats just the way it is! In America however, over the course of just a few decades, CEO pay has gone from what most Americans would find somewhat acceptable to absolutely outrageous levels of greed. Before examining the trend, lets first dispel two big myths: 1) CEO compensation is bigger because they now run larger companies and 2) they are paid in direct proportion to their performance.
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Just since the 1990s, on average the ratio of S&P 500 CEO pay to their companys least compensated employee more than doubled and since the 1950s grew more than 8 fold.1 How many large companies can you name that grew 8 fold since the 1950s, or doubled in size since the 1990s? That list of companies exists, but it is so miniscule when laid against the backdrop of companies paying outrageous CEO salaries . . . that is it not even part of the conversation. The third myth behind CEO pay is the idea that CEO pay is driven by the need to acquire the best talent. If thats the case then companies in such modern industrialized nations such as Japan or even the U.K. must have untalented hacks running their mega-corporations. Figures indicate that American CEOs are paid roughly twenty-two times more than Japanese CEOs and six times more than CEOs in the U.K. Such massive CEO compensation disparity between other modern industrialized nations and America begs the question, why? The answer to that question lies in a comparison to nations with whom we do compare. Using the ratio of lowest paid worker to CEO pay to what nations does America most closely compare? As of 2006 figures, we compare closest to Mexico 47:1 and Venezuela 50:1 not exactly the crme de la crme of modern industrialized societies.2 If our ratio was even close to our highly esteemed neighbors to the south that would be horrible . . . were not even close enough to be horrible! Within the S&P 500 the American ratio is a whopping 263:1 if not far higher as some other estimates have concluded. Were the richest nation on Earth and when compared to our closest two like minded nations in terms of CEO pay to worker pay ratios are two emerging nations. Mexico is by most estimates one of, if not the most, corrupt nations on the entire Earth with poverty rates as high as any nation in our hemisphere. When compared to ratios for other developed nations, such as: Germany 12:1 or even Canada, our closest neighbor to the north, who has a ratio of 20:1 American CEOs stand out as the most greedy indulgent corporate leaders on the planet by far!3 The question is whether massive corruption, wealth disparity and CEO pay go hand in hand with a flawed democracy a.k.a. a two-party system? Mexico was, as most people know, ruled for generations by the same party and a few mega-rich families. Are there lessons to be learned by America by these comparisons? Is CEO compensation an accurate and fair yardstick for measuring the greed within our aristocracy ranks? If so, America is four times more unhinged with greed than any nation on Earth. Many if not most among us would not begrudge a hard working CEO a few million dollars a year, but America by and large doesnt know just how wildly excessive CEO compensation has become. Please visit the breakout resource below to get a idea on just how many CEOs are involved in the repulsive excess that has taken over corporate America, but just for starters, consider the following one year CEO dollars, for just the top 5, from either 2009 or 2010: 4 Liberty Media Corp. Viacom Occidental Petroleum Oracle CBS Corporation Gregory Maffei Philipee Dauman Ray Irani Lawrence Ellison Leslie Moonves $87,493+ M $84,515+ M $76,107+ M $70,143+ M $57,729+ M
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The question for America to ask is whether anyone, no matter how talented they may be, no matter how well they may perform, no matter if they could heal all diseases and bring people back from the dead . . . does anyone deserve this kind of money for one single year of doing a job? This kind of money being paid out in a nation where children are starving, 30 million people are unemployed or underemployed and red ink is bubbling out of federal, state and local government budgets to the tune of trillions? Its true, we are a capitalist nation, weve become a winner take all society by and large, but this level of CEO compensation is not pay. This is offensive and repugnant to a point of being a moral injustice to every American citizen who, just like these CEOs, works for a living. The average American worker would have to work 385+ years to make what a big time CEO makes in one single year! Not only is such greed morally reprehensible and an affront to everyone else in America that works for a living, but it is demoralizing to all employees who work for these companies as well as America at large. Low overall performance from rank and file employees and overall esprit de corps had been destroyed over the course of the last few decades as CEO pay has skyrocketed to unheard of levels of greed and avarice. It is completely unacceptable and most especially so during a time of massive economic suffering within America. Can it be stopped? Absolutely! How many readers watch CBS to place the stamp of approval of Leslie Moonves $57,729+ M one year compensation level? How about Philipee Daumans $84,515+ M you approved by watching MTV, BET, Comedy Central and going to movies produced by Paramount Pictures? Massive excess and greed exists in America simply because we the people approve of it . . . its just that simple!
Breakout Resource(s): Top 100 highest paid CEOs http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/ceou/top100_2011.cfm Executive Pay Watch http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/ Executive Pay Ratio http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/paydisparityratio.cfm The State of Executive Compensation http://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1950&context=utk_chanhonoproj&seiredir=1#search="Stock+Options:+Do+They+Make+Bosses+Cheat?"
Humans are NOT Stock The board rooms of corporate America are of course filled with the mega-rich and their proxies who own the most stock. As noted earlier, the top 10 percent of Americans now own 90 percent of all stock, bonds, trusts and business equity. With ownership of corporate America that out of balance, every business decision is all about the
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company stock price and nothing else! Giving a CEO and members of the board free stock or reduced price stock options is equivalent to putting a fox in the henhouse . . . with American employees as the chickens. There was a time in America when a CEO placed the long-term welfare of the company as their top priority and somewhat lesser extent the companys employees. For the majority of todays CEOs, its about short-term profits, stock price and dividends to share holders only. By getting the stock price up any way possible, the CEO as well as the board has every incentive possible to cash in the stock they received for little or nothing as fast as possible to ensure they walk away with a big payday. Any concerns for the long-term welfare of the company and employees are nearly nonexistent. The root of corporate failure, both in performance and to create jobs for Americans, begins in the corporate boardroom. Its a classic case of the emperor has no clothes repeated in far too many boardrooms throughout America. At one time the board of directors within corporations served a vital role. They came from a wider business demographic with a degree of experience and actual expertise. Quite often it was gained from working themselves up from inside the company. Some at least had a conscience and a little integrity as well as concern for the overall welfare of the company and employees. The adage that there is nothing money wont buy holds true and integrity and conscience within corporate board rooms is no exception. Sure, there is and always will be wrangling in boardrooms as players jockey for position in order to line their pockets with gold, but over time there is less friction and infighting which works to the detriment of both the company and employees. Heres why, as time goes forward the longer a CEO is in that position he or she is able to manipulate, payoff and bribe board member after board member until there are no longer any constraints upon the CEO. After a few years, the CEO sits at the head of a conference room table with only yes men or yes women in the chairs. In the 50s, 60s and into the 70s many board members came up through the ranks of the company to a position on the board, but no longer. Now, most board members are hand picked by the CEO via jockeying, manipulation and payoffs and very rarely do they come from inside the company ranks. Most boards typically have a major stockholder or two, a former politician or their child for political connections, a couple of attorneys of course and a sprinkling of so called industry and economic experts . . . almost chairs are filled with vultures from outside the company. Handpicked by the CEO, most are there for the stock only and a quick payday. Virtually none of the board members have any allegiance whatsoever to the company, since none of them had a hand in building it. Therefore stripping it for as much personal wealth as fast as possible carries no remorse. All board members are well compensated [many well over six figures] to show up or participate via teleconference in quarterly board meetings. Sure, from time to time, they might have to take a phone call in between quarterly meetings to offer their expertise on how to rape the company for short term profits, but in general they make well over six figures for doing nothing. Many serve on multiple boards for multiple corporations simply because they have a recognizable name that carries weight with stockholders. As time goes forward any member that does not lick the boots of the CEO gets weeded out of the party via behind the scenes jockeying and political manipulation. If they dont laugh at the CEOs bad jokes and go along with his big salary and stock options
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requirements a board member is soon gone. If you are a board member making well over six figures for essentially doing nothing, you have no real vested interest in a company that you did nothing to help build . . . the last thing youre going to do is rock the boat. The compensation committee, who is scared to death of the CEO, gives the CEO as much money and stock as possible as long as its not too much to draw the ire of stockholders. In turn, the CEO gets the members of the board as much money as possible for doing nothing but signing-off on his compensation package. Corporate structure in America has thus become completely dysfunctional and ethical governance by the board is almost nonexistent. The fastest way to get the stock price up in order to cash in is simply to cut as many employees as fast a possible with no regard whatsoever for the long-term business impact for company performance or the future. To prove it beyond question, consider that in 2009 within the S&P 500, the 50 CEOs who axed the most workers during our Great Recession, took home 42 times the amount of compensation as their peers [who didnt ax employees].1 Putting people out of jobs pays well. On average, $12 M for the 50 CEOs who axed employees compared to a mere $8.5 M for the CEOs who didnt.2 This difference in pay is directly tied to satisfying stock holders and Wall Streets demand for short term profits by boosting the stock price at the expense of the employees, their families and their financial security. The remaining company ends up with a stripped R&D unit and ragged out employees doing two or three peoples jobs and none of them well leaving long term prospects for the company and the remaining employees highly suspect. In the end, the CEO and board members get millions, the top 10 percent of Americans who own 90 percent of all the stock get their cut and the individual employee gets put out on the street to pay for it all. Once the formerly strong company is tossed into a downward spiral, just when the stock price is peaking, the CEO and board members cash in their massive stock options as fast as they can before the damage from their greed begins to show. When the company finally bottoms out . . . the CEO walks off into the sunset with millions from selling off stock and a golden parachute that usually includes some level of continued money flow. Even if you are a member of Americas top 10 percent who own all the stock who oftentimes could care less about Americas workforce unless you know when to jump ship, you lose your shirt as well via the practice of massive stock option grants for the CEO and board. With stock now being the largest portion of CEO pay [exceeding both salary and bonuses] the evidence suggests that such compensation methods are far more likely to encourage cooking of the books to leave stockholders holding worthless paper. A 2005 study, reported by the NY Times, compared 435 companies that were forced to restate their financial statements with similar companies who did not run into such problems. The report found that the higher proportion of the bosss pay in stock options, the more likely the company was to be forced to restate profits. For companies where bosses got 92 percent of more of their pay in options, about a fifth ended up faking their books within five years. Further, the article stated, That conclusion would be more pervasive if the authors . . . had looked at all companies that are so generous with options. In different study by Moodys, referenced in the same article, the study found that companies with the highest-paid bosses, adjusted for things like company size and performance, were far more likely to default on debt or to suffer major cuts in bond ratings.3
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The bottom line conclusion is blatantly obvious, the more a CEO has to gain [or lose] the more likely they are to cheat, defraud and bankrupt not only their company but the American economy at large. Most especially with free stock, they will gamble like a drunk in Vegas since the only skin they have in the game came free to begin with. Its a roll the dice environment in corporate America and the CEO is playing with stockholder money not their own. When the cards dont happen to fall their way, they still win while both stockholders and company employees alike pay for the CEOs high life and gambling junkets. Clearly, both stockholders and employees have a vested interest going forward to eliminate or greatly reduce free or reduced price stock options for cooperate CEOs and members of the board. Now, for any American not yet convinced that stock options for corporate management are bad for America at large, heres the kicker its U.S. taxpayers that pick-up much of the tab for such for CEO greed. Estimates for taxpayer subsidized executive compensation are well over $20 B per year at a time of austerity when federal red ink is getting all the attention and average Americans are being told that we all just have to learn to tighten out belts.4 Heres how it works [pay close attention to this shell game]: employees and CEOs alike have a compensation cap [be it money or stock] of $1 M that is tax deductible for the corporation as an expense. However, for the American aristocracy a.k.a. the megarich, special tax rules were put into place for the CEO and next 4 levels of executive pay within a corporation. By simply tagging stock awards to these 5 levels as performance/incentive-based compensation most of the limits (caps) as to what is tax deductible to the corporation are removed. Bottom line, the corporation is allowed to pay the CEO and senior management big money via stock awards without having to pay the taxes required for exceeding the $1 M cap. In turn, the CEO and senior corporate management walk away with mega-dollars in stock far in excess to their value to the company since on many, if not most, occasions the value of the stock awarded grows by leaps and bounds due to their mismanagement and manipulation designed only to get the stock price up. As if that were not egregious enough, CEOs and the other four top compensation levels dont pay income taxes on all that money because its tax free until and unless they sell the stock. When they do sell the stock its at a day, time and year of their own choosing to take full advantage of timing, tax rates, etc. and then they only pay capital gains tax on the millions . . . roughly half of what they would have paid in income tax had they received all those millions in a paycheck. Who picks up the tab for these millions in greed gained by manipulation and unscrupulous tax scams the U.S. taxpayer via billions in lost tax revenue [not to mention employees and stockholders alike]. It all continues to take place every day as the federal budget bleeds more and more red ink, American jobs are shipped off shore, more than a million new arrivals are arriving on shore to take American jobs and the U.S. economy as a whole continues to suffer from wildly excessive CEO pay schemes. This one tax loophole alone, for CEOs and senior corporate management, along with a tax code in general that favors only the mega-rich make any American reading this wonder how the IRS is able to get any average American to pay their taxes? Clearly understand that this but one single example of within a flawed tax code that benefits only
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the aristocracy with 100s of loopholes, such as back dating stock options and tricks of the greed trade too numerous to examine herein. The evidence is not just compelling but overwhelming to conclude that the stock game in corporate board rooms must come to and end. When you hear liberty and freedom being yelled across America, this is what they are talking about. Calls to reign in such unscrupulous tax dodging practices are now being called onerous, heavy-handed regulation by big government and unfortunately far too many American are drinking this toxic liberty and freedom tea brewed for consumption by economic neophytes who are intellectually incapable of exploring the massive negative impact such loopholes have upon our American economy.
Breakout Resource(s): Executive Excess 2010: CEO Pay and the Great Recession http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/executive_excess_2010 Executive Compensation http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=2510
Nothing, it seems, makes it into the long-term memory banks of Americans. Going all the way back to the Titanic, J. Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line that owned the RMS Titanic, started the modern day trend whereby CEOs never go down with the ship. With bloated ego while riding upon the ships maiden voyage, Ismay pressed the ships chief engineer to test the unsinkable vessels top speed. When it hit the iceberg, as the story goes, Ismay pushed women and children aside and somehow managed to make it onto a lifeboat to be one of 706 that survived [while 1517 drowned in the cold icy waters of the Atlantic]. The CEO survived while the crew along with women and children went down with the ship and even though he was known from that day forward as the Coward of the Titanic he continued to live out the remainder of his wretched life in relative splendor. After the Titanic, all CEOs, boards and senior management secured lifeboats via golden parachutes, stock options and bloated pay before boarding any ship or very soon thereafter. Drowning is cold icy waters is strictly for the little people. The CEO and board sink the boat with a greed torpedo, sail off into the sunset and the American people just forgive and forget as the bodies and careers of the American workforce pile higher and higher by the day. The history of greedy American CEOs is a book that needs to be written, but one book at a time for now. To give you a head start on that book, start googling just a few wonderful CEO examples a.k.a. titans of American industry, to review just a few corporate leaders that will be included in the pages: Bernard Ebbers, CEO, WorldCom Walter Forbes, Chairman, Cendant Corporation Richard Fuld, Chairman, Lehman Brothers Mark Hurd, CEO, HP Dennis Kozlowski, CEO Tyco International Kenneth Lay, CEO Enron
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Ken Lewis, CEO, Bank of America John Mack, CEO, Morgan Stanley Bernard Madoff, CEO, Madoff Investment Securities Angelo Mozilo, CEO, Countrywide Joseph Nacchio, CEO, Quest Communications International Franklin Raines, Chairman, Fannie Mae John Thain, CEO, Merrill Lynch
Just imagine these subhuman life forms in a CEO Hall of Shame, located in a Florida swamp, with other snakes, lizards and alligators? As a nation facing the most uphill economic recovery since the Great Depression, just imagine what the titans of industry above would have destroyed with even more liberty and freedom and less of the onerous regulations were now being told will take America back to our economic glory days. America is currently acting out of desperation while drinking a tea laced with opium to dull the senses while a shaft is being continually inserted up the posterior or our entire U.S. economy. Its an Employers Market Change is inevitable of course, but not all change is progress and in regard to the current employment scenario almost none of the changes were natural or inevitable. The American public is constantly being fed a diet of propaganda that says it has all been driven by the competitive landscape within a world economy. As stated repeatedly herein, the free enterprise system only works for the people with constraints that dictate profits are achieved by navigating those constraints. In an unrestrained free market world economy, greed wins and the American people as a whole lose. Its just that straightforward and simple and not part of any further debate. The financial evidence from the last 30+ years is in! To state that American employers today are in the drivers seat and that its an employers market may be the biggest understatement in history. To put the present scenario in relative terms, not since actual slavery or during the Great Depression have things ever been this horrible. To call it inevitable change or blame it on the competitive landscape is simply a lie. The march of the American workforce to where our backs are now against the sea was as deliberate, systematic and calculated as a game of chess. The mega-rich through ownership of Washington, D.C. made move after move for more than three decades as the people stood motionless like a deer in headlights. It started innocently enough when the American public backed president Regans labor union busting efforts, with the most high profile being the air traffic controllers. Whether organized labor had become too strong and repeatedly overplayed their hand is worthy of debate, however since the Reagan period the American workforce has been cascading down a waterfall hitting their heads on rocks. Noting that period of change is neither pro nor con in regard to labor unions . . . it simply notches the initial point of a steady decline for Americas workforce. As the mechanisms for off shore labor, such as the passage of NAFTA, were being put into place and the Internet was just being born, two new vehicles began to emerge: temps and contractors. What began as a cottage industry of entrepreneurs snatching deadbeats off the streets for manual labor has now grown into a legitimate industry
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with at least 14,000 offices nationwide. As many as 85% of these staffing agencies now belong to the American Staffing Association (ASA) which proudly boasts that it is now part of a $61 B industry.1 While the actual billions and number of temps and contractors are difficult to document and quantify, the fact that this so called industry has exploded over the past 30+ years is not. Using the ASA numbers places the number of Americans working as temps and contractors at around 2.6 M, but their numbers are not all inclusive so the real number is far larger.2 This so called industry is actually proud of its growth and accomplishments over the past 30+ years. Proud to have denied medical coverage, pensions, retirement and a living wage for millions of Americans. As any of these proud business owners will tell you, they are just filling a need. Go to any seedy area in any large city in America and youll find another group of industrious entrepreneurs just filling a need. That need is typically filled in the back seat of a car or filthy hotel room, but its not called an industry for some reason? Its the oldest industry of all time called prostitution. They too have their own staffing professionals called pimps. While pimps are maligned in society they are just fulfilling the need of the John, just like temp agencies are fulfilling the need of employers. Both on most occasions are exploiting desperation for short-term work with no medical care or retirement benefits. One is considered a respectable industry and the other is not . . . you have to wonder why? Since the temporary employment industry drives down wages and benefits for everyone in America, which has the greatest negative impact upon society? During every so called economic downturn, during the last 30+ years, employers continue to purge their legitimate workforce via a nice sounding term called downsizing and the staffing/pimp industry fills their ravenous desire for low-priced desperate workers. Somehow all the sophisticated Harvard economic theories always come back to basic supply and demand theory . . . no PhD required. In 2010, staffing pimps recorded an 18 percent increase in tricks, second only to the record set in 1994 and ASA proudly predicts the trend will continue going forward as businesses turn to flexible work force solutions to help them improve efficiency and productivity while adjusting to changing economic conditions as stated in a November 2010 ASA press release.3 Just helping out their fellow Americans the ASA will say, assisted by some marketing/PR guru that could spin a stint in hell as a tropical vacation. In truth the ASA, and every American working within a management role for the so called temporary/contractor industry, are noting more than pimps no matter how they spin it. A pimp is a pimp whether they are working some street corner or within some nice office in high-rise building. They serve to assist corporate America in their drive to push the American workforce into a sea of poverty. The ASA as a whole is comprised of low life bottom feeders no matter how big a house they may live in, or the latest model Lexus they drive . . . they deliver desperate work whores to their corporate masters and stockholders no less than any American pimp. When coupled with the giant sucking sound of American jobs going off shore an on shore immigration, the temp/contractor trend has placed the American workforce into what can only be described as a less than optimal negotiating position. When added to the ominous forces of a ballooning population [via births and immigration] along with the massive number of jobs lost as a result of the Great Recession the American workforce is in a bound and gagged up against the wall scenario. Most any job that pre
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Great Recession paid $80 K now pays $60 K and the same fall off the cliff trend permeates nearly every industry in America. What do you do, assuming that you need to eat you take the $60 K and smile . . . because its an employers market. The American workforce was already on the ropes previous to the Great Recession and Wall Streets toppling of the economy delivered corporate America with an even bigger knock out punch. While wages and salaries have fallen off the cliff since 2009, as of June 2011, corporate profits are up almost 50 percent.4 In the two recessions previous, in 1991 and 2001, profits rose only 11 and 28 percent respectively in the two years beyond the recessions.5 The concept is simply, when Americans are already down financially and desperate corporate America kicks their fellow citizens when they are down by taking full advantage of the situation to squeeze even more money out of their lifeless bodies. It has nothing whatsoever to do with competitive business pressures, but instead is all about pure unmitigated greed! Statistically, 55 percent of working Americans were worried about losing their job in 2009 and its doubtful the percentage has changed much since then. The 45 percent not worried must be either wealthy business owners or living under a rock, so no one that has a job is going to rock the boat by pushing for a raise. Working more hours, overtime or off the clock is no problem whatsoever in this economy, because anyone that has a job is just glad to still be employed. Anyone looking for a job, gets one low ball offer and if you dont take that offer there are 5 or 6 hungry Americans behind you that will. So again, anyone that is for the current level of legal immigration or open borders for illegal immigration fall into one of three categories: A) cant do math B) dont need to eat or C) are set for life financially. Heres why, more than 40 percent of the millions of jobs lost during the first two years of the Great Recession paid between $19 and $31 per hour, but only 27 percent of all the new jobs created since that time reach that plateau.6 With fewer jobs that pay a living wage being created, adding more people to compete for those jobs at this juncture in time [with humans already as plentiful as sand] only drives down wages and salaries even more. To somewhat quantify the back to the wall employment scenario that now exists, you need only look no further than the Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions (EEOC) record breaking number of job discrimination claims in 2010. Rising to almost 100,000 claims in a single year, a 7.2 percent increase over the previous year, the numbers speak for themselves.7 Americans are being ground into dust by employers. As proof of that reality is the fact that for the first time in EEOC history, during 2010, retaliation became the No. 1 grievance against employers.8 There is no doubt that the vast majority of violated employees simply walk away and go down the economic tube rather than file a grievance with the EEOC, but nonetheless almost 100,000 suits in one single year speaks volumes. Take your pick: racial discrimination, age discrimination and the newest form of employment discrimination . . . employment credit checks and the American employer has become a modern form of plantation master. Previous to arriving on the modern day plantation, while youre on the slave block, your GPA, credit report, criminal background, references, past work history and urine are almost always checked and now even your Facebook page is reviewed for everything from political activities, beer drinking and sexual kinks. More and more employers today are even turning to private investigators to dig into your sorted past for anything and everything they can find. Who among us, with the exception of Mother Theresa, can stand up to the scrutiny of a private investigator?
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If youre fortunate enough to get off the slave block and make it onto the plantation, dont expect any more degree of privacy than when you were being auctioned off. Dont use the employers Internet connection or telephone for anything but official business because they are watching and listening. Many companies have even installed cameras to watch and monitor your every movement while on the premises. At least in the cotton fields of the Old South, the slave master couldnt be in all places at once, but with modern technology the whip and lashes are just a camera view away. Once on board, social networks along with any political activities are continually monitored by the Human Reaper (HR) just to keep you in line and on your toes. Dont even think about getting old or sick . . . like you can stop either. Some companies now have regulations against hiring smokers and if youre overweight, dont think the hiring manager isnt thinking clogged arteries, healthcare costs and early heart attack as they ask you those probing interview questions. Getting any gray hair while employed is risky, but if you have any and are looking for work forget about it! If you didnt earn your first million by now, its not going to happen! If you are working with gray hair understand, youre in the employers cross hairs because of your higher wages and salary. The American employer has to be competitive, as we all know, and nothing says competitive more than getting rid of all those fat salaries that have grown over the course of 15 or 20 years. Just a couple of trumped-up bad performance reviews later and youre on the streets with the term overqualified stamped across your forehead. All in all, when compared to our current American workplace, the southern plantation may have had some pluses by comparison. At least you had some food from the garden on most occasions and werent put out to pasture like an old mule when you could no longer pull the plow. While the comparison to slavery is, of course, tongue-in-cheek, one thing is not: the heavy handed overbearing tactics used to intimidate slaves on the southern plantation were calculated no less than the modern day tactics deployed by employers and the mega-corporations of today. The modern day F500 CEO making 263 times what his average employee makes is sitting upon his plantation porch telling you in no uncertain terms to keep your head down, dont get uppity and dont ask for more money or well ship your job to China. The more things change, the more they remain the same. From kings, queens and serfs to the plantation owner and his slaves, the modern workplace is but a step away from the cotton fields of the Old South. Unlike slaves were allowed to have a house and a car perhaps, but dont be earning enough to pass any wealth down via inheritance or even enough to send your child to college without a massive college loan . . . such privileges are for the mega-rich alone. You may hate them, but you have to give them credit . . . the mega-rich and their Ivy League manipulators are smart cookies. By buying off nearly every government office holder, creating new forms of slavery such as temps and contractors and then tightening the noose around our necks with off shore outsourcing and new immigrants they have us right where they want us. Now that they control all the wealth, have the monopolies and permeate nearly every potential industry sector, the employment scenario is one way and one way only: you work for them or you dont work . . . period! You openly buck the system or even question the system and you can kiss your posterior good-bye! The real question that all readers need to ask themselves now, before its too late, is what will it be like in another 10 years or so? The noose of the mega-rich is already placed
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neatly around our necks and all they have to do now is kick the chair out from under us and were swinging in the wind. The employer table, upon which the American workforce now desperately clings, hasnt just tiled a few degrees over the past 30+ years its literally been stood on its end. All levels of the American middle-class are slipping down that table like dead flies. Forget about the Great Recession, the American Workforce was getting kicked in the teeth long before the Great Recession ever came along. Now, under the guise of freedom and liberty, the talking heads and political class [puppets of the mega-rich] are talking a repeal of minimum wage laws? They say it will provide good job opportunities for Americans. Why not just go back to actual slavery to create jobs? Think about it, in the current scenario killing of employees one by one with nothing more than a severance package is cheap, but the killing of an actual slave would deplete corporate assets and impact profitability and the bottom line. American stockholders, in the top 10 percent of the food chain would go into revolt and take to the streets in protest. Starving a slave to death, unless it is too old to work, is bad for stock portfolios. Liberty and freedom are all in the eye of the beholder. The plantation owner of the Old South was all for liberty and freedom. In his mind, by the grace of God he was providing good jobs for his slaves and putting a roof over their heads. In his mind, he watched over them as a caretaker of his flock, just like were being monitored in the workplace today. He checked out his future slaves while on the trading block, made sure they had good teeth and once he brought them to the plantation, he made sure they had food because a hungry slave doesnt do much work. His view of freedom and liberty was no less warped and sick than what is being preached today from the pulpit of Glen Beck . . . no chains and whips are mentioned, just freedom and liberty to further enslave every American that is not a part of the aristocracy. We are far closer to that plantation reality that at any time since slaves were freed [except perhaps during The Great Depression] and far too few Americans are willing to put up any fight whatsoever for economic freedom. Were enslaved with debt, some from recklessness, but most of it due to being squeezed by the mega-rich for 30+ years. Were enslaved in homes that are underwater because of Wall Streets greed and were lined up 5 or 6 deep behind other slaves looking to find a job . . . all the while: wages, salaries, standards of living and prospects for upward mobility are falling like a rock. Labor Unions: the Antithesis of Corporate America or Not? Decades ago, labor unions shot themselves in the foot which began a trend of declining support from the American public. The perception of corruption and ties to organized crime, from long ago, still linger and now public sector pay, benefits and pensions of unionized workers are getting the attention of taxpayers. A 2008 Gallup poll found that, for the first time in history, fewer than half (48%) of Americans now approve of labor unions.1 Whether that is an accurate assessment by the American public based upon history, or flawed thinking manipulated by the mega-rich media machine is an open question. Whatever the answer to the question may be, only 39 percent of American believe that labor unions mostly help the American economy.2 Whats not in question is that labor unions are hated by the mega-rich and corporate America. Having been in the board room of a non-unionized F500 manufacturing
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company, I witnessed first hand and participated in communication initiatives to keep unions out. In most instances, companies will pay workers just enough to keep unions out, which, like them or not, is a fact that comes down in favor of labor unions. The strategy to pay just enough to keep unions out was of course, before the idea of off shore labor being dreamed up by corporate America, the mega-rich and our political class. Once the flood gates were opened by our political class, beginning with the signing of the NAFTA agreement by president, Clinton, labor unions were castrated in the private sector and cut off at the knees. For every union member that loves their union, there seems to be a fairly large number that resent their union. Just like political parties, utopian unrealistic visions of labor unions dont match reality. All labor unions are not the same and to paint them all with the same brush would be wrong. There are of course downsides to labor unions without any doubt, but with that said, where would we be without them? Everyone in America can tell at least one story, of a unionized worker doing something such as sweeping floors for $25 per hour. No matter how long someone has been with a company, no one should be able to earn $25 per hour in America if their only skill set is being able to push a broom. By that same token, no S&P 500 CEO should be allowed to make 263 times per year more than their least compensated employee. Both ends of that wide spectrum are wrong of course, but in the grand scheme of things, $25 per hour is only $52+ K and the S&P 500 CEOs that axed the most workers in 2009 took in an average of $12 M [the pay of 230 sweepers at $52 K per year]. If the question is which of these two pay extremes is the most egregious? Thats a very easy call to make! [Just for the record, the 2009 salary of Richard Trumka, who heads the AFL-CIO, the nations largest union, was $238,975.]3 Since its assumed the guy pushing the broom would rather push it for $10 per hour than be unemployed, it poses a looming question. How many American jobs has the organized labor movement saved versus how many has it cost Americans via unrealistic wage demands? Would America still have had all the free trade dog food pushed down its throat if organized labor had not existed? An educated guess says that because of greed the greedy never having enough money no matter how much they accumulate we would still be gagging to death on free trade even if organized labor had not been in existence. One thing known for sure is that since 1980 organized labor has been squashed like a bug within the private sector. For the first time in history more unionized employees are in the public sector. According to 2010 numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 36.2 percent of public-sector workers were union members compared to only 6.9 percent of private-sector workers. Union membership in 2010 was 14.7 million Americans with 7.6 million in the public sector and 7.1 million in the private sector.4 Within the public sector numbers, 42 percent are employed in local government, 31 percent are state workers and 26.8 percent work for the federal government.5 With the massive budget overruns in federal, state and city budgets all across America to the tune of b-zillions . . . austerity measures have arrived and will be with us for decades. Politicians and bureaucrats negotiated deals with public sector workers for which they now have no way to pay. They made hollow promises, lied and all the while gave tax breaks to the mega-rich in exchange for campaign contributions, positions on boards of directors and cushy jobs for their children and cronies. Now, when the bills are
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coming due, the politicians of old are set for life and the former bureaucrats are living large in retirement. While it exposes a fatal flaw in our political system, it is certainly not the fault of labor unions. Blaming teachers, for instance, makes no more sense than blaming teachers 100 percent for the poor academic performance of children. Teachers, firemen, police officers and sanitation workers are being used as scapegoats for the inept and pathetic leadership of the political class. The politicians and bureaucrats went to college and can at least add and subtract they negotiated the deals, raided the pension funds for other spending and failed to allocate the dollars required to pay for what they promised. A failed two-party system and a political class comprised of millionaire worms cannot be laid at the doorstep of labor unions. Amidst all the vehement discussion and media coverage of the public sector jobs cuts, how many reports and investigations have you seen on the previous administrations and politicians that made all the false promises they couldnt afford to keep? They are all sitting pretty, retired or serving on some corporate board making big money while their legacy of overindulgence and over spending has been left for others to clean up and suffer from. Party B gets a pass via their political party card. Does anyone in any labor union hold them responsible? No! The truth is that the political class of the past is 100 percent responsible for the upcoming layoffs, wage concessions and stagnated wages that will be the norm in the public sector far into the future. In the aftermath of their pathetic political leadership, its the teachers, state, municipal and federal workers that are paying the price for the sins of a failed political class. Now, middle-class taxpayers, who have been raped and exploited by the mega-rich already, are being pitted against government workers. Its the classic divide and conquer game thats played over and over upon the American people via the media machine controlled by the aristocracy. Taxpayers are being conned into believing that all government workers are a massively overpaid, lazy group of people a.k.a. scourge of the Earth. While, to be sure, the number of government employees is too high and waste within government at all levels is distressing if not rampant, the true scourge of the Earth are the political class and the mega-rich . . . not the government workers! Anger is warranted, but it should not be unleashed upon our fellow citizens who just happen to work at a government job who are a member of a labor union. Most of the entire budget shortfall across every state and at the federal level falls at the feet of the mega-rich who skirted their fair share of the tax load via blatant outright bribery through campaign contributions and cronyism. As a result, the divide between the red ink in government budgets and worker pay and retirement benefits will fall unfairly upon the backs of middle-class taxpayers who have already been bled dry over the course of 30+ years. Nonetheless, to allow the mega-rich to compound their robbery by successfully pitting average citizens against each other to bust unions smacks in the face of justice and fair play. While union workers in the public sector have laid down with givebacks and wage concessions with more to come . . . the issue of collective bargaining should never be allowed to be part of the conversation. The collective bargaining element being introduced into the dialog has nothing whatsoever to do with red ink and budget overruns. In truth, it ties back to union dues and campaign finance issues that are at the heart of Americas downfall. Party A is
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simply taking advantage of the red ink in an effort to remove collective bargaining as a union tool, which in turn will further castrate unions politically. The collective bargaining discussion doesnt have a thing to do with reducing government red ink and everything to do with party political games and campaign money. Its just another example of why campaign finance reform is the most pressing issue in America today. In a March 2011 NBC/WSJ poll, while 68 percent of Americans find it acceptable to require public employees to contribute more to their retirement funds, 63 percent are fine with forcing them to pay more for their healthcare and 58 percent are ok with freezing pay Americans by more than 62 percent defend the right of collective bargaining and believe any efforts to remove that right are wrong.5 Why would multimillion dollar professional athletes in the NFL and NBA have collective bargaining rights, while the peasants who support their teams not have such rights? At the end of the day, there is massive government red ink and middle-class taxpayers simply cant afford to pick-up the tab, so going forward, a delicate and very painful balancing act will play out in every state and at the federal level. Americans of every political persuasion, left, right and middle, are going to have to grow up and realize we can no longer bake our cake and eat it too . . . some functions and government services will go away. Americans will not be able to save it all . . . its just not going to happen, so well have to be precise, organized and focused to save the government functions and services that are the most essential. We simply cant fight every spending battle or we will lose them all! Nonetheless, none of that has anything whatsoever to do with collective bargaining and allowing labor unions to be crushed into the dirt. It simply means that we are living in a tough economy that now requires very tough choices and the complete obliteration of labor unions will simply make the road ahead an even tougher slog. If for no other reason than the ability to organize and mobilize millions of people, labor unions have played a positive role in protecting at least some American workers. In addition, even though they, just like any organization, are focused primarily on their issues . . . the spillover clout in pushing and forcing change, or at least holding the line, has been positive overall as well. While their overall stance on immigration, both illegal and legal, is self-centered and only designed to increase their union membership and power at the expense of both their members and American workers, they are no different than political parties and advocacy groups playing the same power game. Even with all their shortcomings and they are many, at least labor unions have some clout on a table that is tilted all one way at the moment. At the bottom of that table is an open mouth with the teeth of greedy vipers. Virtually every political scientist [left of center] views a reemergence of labor unions as the ONLY possible salvation for the American workforce. Since unions have never been the salvation for Americas white collar workers and middle-managers most assuredly next on the hierarchy of middle-class dominos to fall prey to the mega-rich . . . traditional labor unions are not the solution for the road ahead, although they may have a play. If political scientists are correct and labor unions are our ONLY hope were doomed! Its just that simple! Organized labor must play a role, but much like seeing well beyond the oligarchy we now live within, created by a dysfunctional two-party political system, only a revolution of new ideas, new thinking, new legislative initiatives, new political parties and independent candidates will deliver salvation for the American people and her workforce. If we stay the present course of old antiquated ideas, political parties, status quo
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solutions that have already failed and wallow in apathy and the politics of division . . . were doomed! Bigger is Better, but NOT for YOU Size matters and bigger is better have been the hallmarks of American thinking since the 1950s. From sex organs, massive breasts the size of watermelons, billion dollar football stadiums, malls the size of cities, mega-churches and everything in between . . . it seems that America is fixated on size and lured in by bigger is better in everything we do. Super-size food portions and Big Gulp sodas you can swim in are making Americans gargantuan mountains of flesh, but we want even more! Conspicuous consumption, fleets of cars and homes the size of castles all over the world are what we worship. This is America and we want more and we want big no matter the consequences. No where are the consequences of bigger is better more apparent than with business mergers and acquisitions. Just like a law of nature, the big fish will eat the little fish until there are no little fish left in the ocean. At some point, as happened previous to the Great Depression the big fish monopolize the entire economic ocean and none of the little fish have a chance for survival. The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was passed by Congress to limit cartels and monopolies a.k.a. keeping the big fish from owning everything. As explained by the U.S. Supreme Court in Spectrum Sports, Inc. v. McQuillan: The purpose of the [Sherman] Act is not to protect businesses form the working of the market, it is to protect the public from failure of the market. The law directs itself or against conduct which is competitive, even severely so, but against conduct which unfairly tends to destroy competition itself. This focus of U.S. competition law, on protection of competition rather than competitors, is not necessarily the only possible focus or purpose of competition law. For example, it has also been said that competition law in the European Union (EU) tends to protect the competitors in the marketplace even at the expense of marketing efficiencies and consumers. Opinions upon how the act should be applied and interpreted, along with amendments over the years since enacted, are voluminous. Simply google Sherman Act for all you could ever want to know. It was used early in the last century to bust up the robber barons monopolies that were a cause of the Great Depression and more recently the act was used to break up AT&T several decades ago. Much like The Terminator, AT&T has since reconstituted itself to terminate any little fish that get in its way, but at this moment they have far less of a monopoly than they once possessed. Since AT&Ts breakup, the Sherman Acts use to break up monopolies has almost never been used, much to the detriment of the small business environment as well as the little people trying to navigate the economic ocean. Whether you call them leveraged buy-outs, hostile takeovers or mergers and acquisitions, the impetus from the mega-rich to continue pushing them will not disappear its about greed and more money! They dont always work out, such as with the merger of Time Warner and AOL which by most analysts estimates was the most mismatched, mismanaged merger in the history of civilization . . . nonetheless, the fat cats at the top still walked away with millions as they always seem to do. In addition to
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mergers and acquisitions, there are the so called holding companies both banking entities and private firms that simply buy up properties on Monopoly boards around the world and suck-em-dry like Dracula. The close cousins of holding companies are private equity investment firms and hedge funds who propel mergers, acquisitions and hostile takeovers. These bottom feeders epitomize pure unmitigated greed like no other subspecies in the financial world. When youre talking the greedy: hedge funds and to a somewhat lesser extent private equity firms are ground zero. These worms of the Earth have never done an honest days work in their entire lives. They operate with a singular purpose which is to buy, sell, manipulate, leverage and twist themselves into even more money no matter who or how many people get hurt, starved or destroyed in the process. Hedge fund naked short selling of Bear Stearns stock was a critical domino that cascaded into the fall of Wall Street in 2008. While Wall Street in general is greedy and manipulative beyond comprehension, hedge funds are completely off the charts! Their leadership is easily recognizable, much like a slug they leave that slimy substance behind them as they squirm on their bellies along Wall Street.
Breakout Resource(s): Bank Holding Companies http://www.ffiec.gov/nicpubweb/nicweb/top50form.aspx Top 100 Hedge Funds http://www.marketfolly.com/2009/05/barrons-hedge-fund-rankings-2009-top.html Top All-Time Pay-to-Play Contributions to Congress http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?order=A
At least with mergers and acquisitions the greedy can pretend its all about economies of scale, efficiencies, productivity and of course profits . . . when in truth its about stock price only. With holding companies, PEIs and hedge funds however, its only about how much blood a.k.a. money they can suck out of the beast without actually killing the beast. Whether its a merger, acquisition or just a variety of blood sucking financial leeches . . . none of their activities are ever about the little people a.k.a. employees. If you dont like it, youre told to start your own business and hire your own serfs. Its called the free enterprise system, but your options for dreaming up something new and competing with the big fish have never been fewer because the big fish own the entire ocean of opportunity. Mergers, acquisitions and consolidation of companies into the hands of the mega-rich are crushing the American workforce like never before in history. When a big fish eats the small fish, thousands of employees who once worked at the small fish are tossed out into the street due to their duplicated work functions. The small fish CEO and other executives get millions of dollars and the stockholders of the small fish are handsomely rewarded as well. Another win for the mega-rich and more American families left destitute and homeless. All too often as well; employees that get to keep their wonderful jobs are now forced to do two jobs for the same pay with little prospect of a raise. With an ever fewer number of greedy hands owning and ever larger number of companies the less pressure there is for salaries to rise. Since even the most talented individuals
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now have only few employer options none are going to pay what once was possible in an open job market with a multitude of companies for which to work. Via no competition for talent, the American job market becomes a take it or leave it Monopoly board whereby the mega-rich do all the taking and leave more American workers struggling to just keep a roof over their heads. Any survivor guilt by those that make the cut, after the merger is short lived indeed because life after merger usually sucks big time and tends to quickly make those left employed questioning the long held belief that bigger is better. Big Box or Big Prison? There have long been large department stores throughout America and hopefully there always will be. There have been chain stores owned by corporations for 50 years or more, but the BIG BOX store that came on the scene the past few decades or so is a whole different animal entirely. Lets set aside Walmart for a moment because they are in a category all their own. BIG BOX stores such as Target, massive chains such as Starbucks and to a somewhat lesser extent franchise entities such as McDonalds control the vast majority of the American retail economy. Since 70 percent of the U.S. economy is based upon consumer spending, the vast majority of money being funneled to the mega-rich is being done so directly through our retail buying habits. Virtually no small business owner can compete on price against the economies of scale offered by Big Box stores, massive chains and franchise outfits its just not possible! When Americans fall prey to one-stop-shopping via the Big Box or just shop price alone with no regard to the impact upon inequitable wealth distribution as well as the health of your local economy . . . virtually all the money within 70 percent of the U.S. economy goes in one direction. Up the pyramid to the greedy who need more money and power in America like New Orleans needed more water during Hurricane Katrina. Since U.S. GDP is around $14 trillion, thats about $9 trillion moving upward every year in this sophisticated pyramid scheme perpetuated by the mega-rich. That has to end people! No matter the price, within reason, and no matter the inconvenience within reason. Weve created a monster and the more we continue to feed the monster, the richer it gets, the more power it gains, the more it monopolizes and controls every wider swaths of the economy, the more wages and salaries go down and the more ability it has to buy government via campaign contributions, lobbying and influence peddling. If you know someone is out to kill you, are you going to give them bullets? Of course not and feeding the greedy with even more money is not any different. In short, we Americans are shopping ourselves into oblivion! The mega-rich already have a noose around our necks and were doing everything we can possibly do, to tighten the noose for them. There are no illusions that we can return America to the days of Mayberry or that such an existence is even desirable, but every dollar we spend and every small local business we support stems the tide of money going up the pyramid to the mega-rich. Remembering our imaginary American Monopoly board and the objective: keep all the American money possible on the American board and spend every dollar possible with each other on the inside of the board . . . spend with the megarich on the outside of our Monopoly the board and we perish!
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Wally World the Evil Empire No name says greedy and monopoly more loudly than Walmart. No name has done more to lower the wages for every single American and destroy the retail economy of virtually every town in America more than Walmart. In the metaphorical gun we referenced above, no bullet, as in a dollar, could be handed to any name more deadly to America than Walmart. If left untouched as the monopoly they are: Walmart will march the American retail economy into the sea along with every formerly middle-class American. They are ground zero of a massive economic vortex sucking the life out of all average Americans and the number one economic hurricane eating up an ever greater percentage with 70 percent of the U.S. economy. As the largest U.S. private employer with more than 1.6 million workers, Walmart creates a race to the bottom in wages, standards of living, upward mobility and opportunity for all Americans.1 Stronger than any other single force that exists within our U.S. economy their negative impact upon the economic landscape of America simply cannot be overstated! What started out as an American success story to be admired, has now morphed into a monster and bully to be hated and despised. Starting out as a department store similar to Kmart, they grew into a Big Box behemoth that has taken over America and much of the entire world. They expanded into the grocery store industry and are literally killing out entire chains and the same is true for drug store chains. Now they are into tires and automotive, auto and home insurance, car sales, banking and even optometry, not to mention the supplier of restaurant supplies, meats, and merchandise to mom and pop convenience stores. What they will takeover next and suck down the Walmart toilet one can only imagine but what is not in doubt is that they have the money and the political clout to kill off anything in their path. If they take over China, thats good for America, but if theyre left unchecked they will finally take over the entire American retail landscape and nothing could be worse for everyone living in this nation! Their concept is to pave the planet into a parking lot, build a cheap cinder block box with no frills or architectural cultural appeal whatsoever. Lay concrete or tile floor on concrete, drop some lights from the ceiling and call it a store. Once a proponent of buy American, they now source from all over the world most especially China buying in massive volumes to get the cheapest, most absolute bottom dollar price for everything they resell. When Walmart buys, unlike participating in the give and take free enterprise system, they dictate the price. Via their worldwide network of buyers and number crunchers . . . they know before they make a purchase offer what the bottom of the barrel price is for any product imaginable. If you dont sell to them at that price, they walk away and do everything in their power to destroy your company by locking you out of any future business in addition to fueling all your competitors with business to put your business under for good. With their monopoly and monetary power in the marketplace, they have the power to destroy almost any business or supplier industry that refuses to dance to their tune and they dont hesitate for a moment to use that power every single day. If evil exists in corporate America . . . its name is Walmart! From a purely logistical perspective, they are a model of efficiency beyond what the average American can fathom. Warehouses and distribution centers throughout America all tied together via computerized purchasing, inventory systems, cash registers all the way down to hand held devices used by retail clerks. As soon as the doors close at the end of the day, the Walmart and Sams Club army go into restocking action like mighty ants. Forget about hand carts and little boxes, they roll out the next days
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products via forklift on massive pallets as they dazzle and crisscross the store in an absolute frenzy. Its all monitored and watched via cameras in the sky that are probably tied into some secret viewing room in all of the Waltons family mansions. When your net worth is in excess of $100 B, you cant take any chances on slackers not giving it their all. In return for all their hard work, Walmart employees receive lousy pay, lousy benefits, lousy retirement and a plantation-owner work environment. Walmart is all about exploitation of every worker, most especially against women as evidenced by the failed class action suit that went to the Supreme Court and failed of course . . . yet American women wall through the doors of Walmart every single day? By the time a Walmart worker reaches retirement if they are allowed to hand on that long many are virtual cripples from years spent on uncarpeted concrete floors and who picks up that tab? Not Walmart, the American taxpayer via Medicaid. I defy America to find one single Walmart employee that actually likes their job. Some in senior management like the money, but beyond that, they all hate every minute within the confines of their workplace. If that is not the truth . . . then ask yourself why Walmart constantly runs commercials with happy faced employees touting how much they love their company? Do you see anyone else in corporate America running such commercials? As of 2011, the average Walmart slave earned 14.5 percent less than other workers in large retail companies.2 If Walmart implemented an across the board $12 minimum wage for all employees, it would cost the company a mere $3.2 B per year.3 That sounds like a lot of money, but for Walmart it is spare change, just a measly 1 percent of their overall annual $305 B in sales. The Walton family would have to cut back on their caviar perhaps, but the positive impact upon the American economy would be huge and as for Walmarts bottom line, it wouldnt even register on the radar screen. Here is what America doesnt yet get: the more than 30+ million Americans who comprise the working poor, whether they work at Walmart or McDonalds dont come free. The billions spent on welfare, social services, aid to dependent children, emergency room healthcare, crime prevention, Medicare, Medicaid, the county old folks home, etc. come out of tax dollars that America pays to subsidize the bottom line of Walmart and companies like Walmart. Low prices on the front end, but humongous costs of the backend all paid for by U.S. taxpayers. While austerity measures are being utilized to strip the entire safety net from the working poor a.k.a. Walmart employees, the Walton family is laughing all the way to the bank. Instead of the Walton family getting the blame, however, its those sorry ass poor people that are forced to wear the scarlet letter of government red ink. America always blames the victims and but never a greedy aristocracy family like the Waltons of Arkansas who have exploited the working poor to the tune of well over $100 B. If Walmart were forced to pay a $12 minimum wage the people in our nation that call themselves good Americans who shop at Walmart would have to come up with a lousy 45 cents extra per shopping trip to cover the difference.4 For a consumer who spends approximately $1,187 per year at Walmart, it works out on average of $12.49. How many Walmart shoppers cant afford $12.49 per year to reverse the downward vortex wage flow that is Walmart?5 Pay now, or pay later, its coming out of our wallet either way via taxes or the cash register. Why should the American people subsidize the riches of the Walton family? A growing percentage of Americans detest the mega-rich, such as the Walton family, want to tax them, etc., but the majority will still pull their car into a Walmart or Sams
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Club parking lot to save a few nickels and dimes while supporting slave labor, the demise of their local community and control of America by the mega-rich. To those Americans, you should hang your head in absolute shame, for you are no better whatsoever than the mega-rich you purport to detest. You are the problem with America! The following bullet points are just a sampling of what you support when you shop at Walmart: The company has recently cut two of its longstanding benefits by eliminating their profit sharing program and, as of 2011, no new employees will receive an extra dollar an hour for time worked on Sundays.6 As of 2007, fewer than half of the companys employees actually were insured under the company healthcare plan between just 41 and 46 percent.7 In 2008 an internal Walmart memo was uncovered that outlined an aggressive plan to attack employee benefit expenses by making long-term employment unattractive in order to create a workforce that would be younger and cheaper.8 Equipped with the lowest cost possible via buying power and logistical efficiency on a global scale, Walmart operates as a predator within every community and retail industry in which it operates. You name it, mom and pop grocery stores, sporting goods, low end jewelry, clothing, tools, electronics, toys, computers, office supplies and almost every other retail entity that once thrived in America . . . squashed, intimidated, on the ropes or already out of business. Walmart landing in any community is like a retail bomb with nearly every other competitor business blown out of the water. Nothing missed, nothing wasted and all done on such a scale that no retailer, much less some small business owner, can come close to matching them on price. Its just not possible! Now that they have destroyed small town America, theyre looking to expand and focus more on urban areas within the U.S. and their top targets are New York, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco.9 When they arrive and takeover, if not stopped, the average wage of every employee in almost all areas will stall for good and the starting wage for retail employees will drop like a rock. Thousands of new working poor will wear the Walmart ankle shackles enslaved for life into poverty and hopeless existence. To get a better idea of what Walmart is about, consider just a few of the bulleted highlights gleaned from their 2010 annual report: Walmart spent an average of $65.75 million every day over the past year on advertising.10 No wonder Americans are so indoctrinated with the Wal-Mart culture. Walmarts advertising budget was up 14% in 2010. In 2010 Walmarts CEO, Mike Duke, was paid $19.2 million in direct salary, stocks, and other benefits and in 2009 made $28.4 million.11 By May 2011, Walmart will have 952.2 square feet of retail space and more stores outside the U.S. than inside. Counting all Walmarts and Sams Clubs, the U.S. total is 4,304 stores, while the International store count is now 4,112.12 Net sales at Walmart in 2010 grew by only 1% the worst gain in the companys history. Their own greed and success is now killing the goose that has been laying their golden eggs. The company is relying on sales outside America to keep the company
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growing. International sales, which hit $100 billion this year, now make up roughly 25% of the companys net sales.13 More than anything, more than all the bullet points above, the No. 1 reason Walmart must be stopped is the money funnel it provides to the Walton family. With $100 B in net worth, they own Congress, run roughshod over every community in which they operate, bend every rule of business ethics and dominate the American economic landscape like Nazi storm troopers. If you cant do anything else for your nation and your local community, at a minimum, never cross the threshold of a Walmart or Sams Club. With the current trends and your money [if you continue to put it into to pockets of the Walton family] Walmart will own the Earth and your children and their children will have no choice but to work in the Waltons slave labor camp. The choice is up to you . . .
Breakout Resource(s): Walmart Watch http://walmartwatch.com How a Higher Wage Standard Would Impact Walmart . . . http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/retail/bigbox_livingwage_policies11.pdf
The Ultimate American Dream Killer! To complain about our horrible U.S. economy and no jobs for American workers is one thing. To blame it all on the greedy blood suckers is just wrong! Since they have moved jobs off shore, built factories and facilities and invested heavily in our ultimate demise . . . the mega-rich are making billions from their cheap labor strategy. Buying from the mega-rich and the multi-national corporations who provide services and manufacture in the U.S. does funnel more money to the top, but far worse than that could ever be is buying goods and services from their off shore operations! Its like rewarding them and the foreign nation for greed and taking American jobs. Far worse than purchasing foreign made goods and services from U.S. companies sourcing off shore is buying imported goods from foreign companies. Going forward in order to revive the American Dream Americans on many occasions will have very difficult buying decisions to make. Much like within the political arena, our purchases will oftentimes have to be the lesser of two evils. Nothing whatsoever could be more destructive to the American Dream than taking American money off our imaginary American Monopoly board. Every time we spend one single dollar off shore were sending even more jobs off shore and hurting our economy because collectively all those dollars add up to billions. No one in America has any right whatsoever to allow their blood pressure to rise or complain about the mega-rich and the jobs they are sending off shore when they themselves just returned from the store with bags full of foreign sourced goods. Every time this critical issue is mentioned within America, you get the exact same replies such as: its too expensive to buy American made products and services or I cant find any American made products and services. For 99 percent of Americans both statements
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are, quite frankly, just a damn lie! and every America knows it. The vast majority of Americans have never paid the slightest bit attention to even attempting to buy products and services from within the U.S.A. We act as if turning a product over or around to see where it was made it just too much trouble or clicking on a different website to find a U.S. source may wear out our mouse finger. We Americans are consumers! We live to consume, we love to consume and were going to keep consuming which is why, on average, we have less than $2000 put away for retirement. The point is . . . were going to buy stuff or bust! We just have to get that money out of our wallet. From personal experience, I have a friend who has no children and financial freedom and every Saturday rain or shine she leaves in the morning, buys stuff all day long and returns at dark with a car load of stuff. There is stuff under every bed, stuff in corners, stuff in the attic, stuff in storage, stuff at relatives houses and more stuff on the way. Most of the boxes and bags never even get opened again, but from an economic perspective shes awesome! The question is for what economy . . . because its not the American economy. In 2009 Americans bought $374.9 B more goods and services off shore than we exported and sold to other nations. As far as trade deficits go for America, 2009 was a very good year, largely due to the Great Recession. It wasnt because we actually got a brain, looked at the label and source of the goods and services we buy, it was because we actually curtailed our overall spending for a year. Now the bad news! In 2010, Americans exploded our trade deficit to a record $500+ B. We all have to dumb as rocks to spend this kind of money off shore during the Great Recession! Even if our economy was performing well, wed be stupid to do it, but off shore spending during the Great Recession is the dumbest, most mind boggling activity in the history of America. Much of it is driven of course by the mega-rich and their media machine that go to great lengths to make everything off shore look more exotic or appear cheaper than American made products. Euro styling on the high-end grabs the affluent and cheap on the low end lures all socio-economic strata. Lets take cars, for instance, anyone that has actually been to Europe knows a BMW and a Mercedes are nothing more than a European Chevrolet. They line every street in Germany, up one side and down the other, even Mercedes taxis are everywhere. There is nothing whatsoever exotic about a Mercedes or any other European car. In American however, both brands along with anything European is a must-have status symbol. They dont make better cars [at least not any longer] and all Americans are getting for the extra $20 K are shipping charges and a status symbol. That Mercedes emblem may as well be a crosshairs in a rifle scope aimed at our American economy. Admittedly some European brands as well as Japanese manufacture in America, but the profits go off shore. On the low end, its all about cheap. Cheap stuff that fills landfills and lots of stuff we dont even need. Asia drives the biggest portion of our foreign trade deficit and its killing the American Dream! Weve gone so far down this dead-end road that in many cases no American alternative exists on the shelf, so the next question is: do we really need whatever it is? Quite often, the answer to that question is the same one you give your child, which is no, you dont need it and no you cant have it! It is of course nave to
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think that some products, such as cheap clothing, will ever be made in America again. Labor intensive cut-and-sew functions would make shirts or pants a cost prohibitive purchase if they were performed in the U.S. Some American made clothing does still exist and buying whatever is left is critical to our economy just like purchasing anything else that says made in America. You dont need a PhD in economics from Harvard to figure this one out. A small snap shot tells the larger story: in 2010 just an 18 percent rise ($48 B) in our trade deficit with China cost Americans between 512,000 and 566,000 jobs according to an EPI estimate. By that measure a $500 B overall trade deficit = 5+ million American jobs. Admittedly this example is loose math, since all our foreign trade deficit is not with China, but you get the idea. The bottom line is that we are sending millions of good American jobs off shore no matter how many excuses we may want to make to the contrary. The buck begins and ends with each American consumer who collectively drive at least 70 percent of our U.S. economy. We are killing the American economy and we are the ones sending the majority of American jobs off shore. Its inconvenient and a little more expensive at times to buy made in the U.S.A., but we cant blame this American Dream killer solely on the mega-rich. This killer sits squarely in the lap of every single American consumer. Sorry, you cant buy a new Land Rover because they were just bought out by a company in India and you cant have a new Volvo because they were just bought out by a company in China. Its called conscience buying and a little voice has to get programmed into your head every time you touch a product or prepare to order a service that little voice has to say: is this the best I can do for my local economy and America? The ultimate point here is that money makes the world go round and money talks. Its sad that an American will walk into a voting booth, vote for millionaire A or millionaire B and believe that has some economic benefit. Then leave the voting booth, drive to Walmart and purchase their child the latest iPod made in China. Every vote counts, even if its for the lesser of two evils, but the dollars sent to Apple for an iPhone benefit Apple stockholders, Chinas economy via manufacturing jobs, low wage jobs at Apple retail stores and a sliver of white collar workers. As is always the case, the media is quick to deify someone like Steve Jobs once they have passed away and the throngs of Apple groupies are all too quick to go along, but where is the reckoning for the outsourced slave labor camp Apple runs in China know as Foxconn? The name on the door may say Foxconn, but the biggest bite of money hammering out the production inside is from that red apple logo on your latest toy. A place so horrible, with wages so low that people are jumping to their deaths as Apple groupies bop to the beat of their iPod and download the latest cool iPhone app. As we now worship the dearly departed Steve Jobs, lest we not forget that he was about money first and American jobs second, even though he accomplished much to be admired for during his lifetime. Although extremely inconvenient for all the Apple groupies in America, the next time you turn on your iPhone, just for a moment, remember that is was made in a Chinese slave labor camp known as Foxconn. When youre searching for the latest greatest cool app, see if there is one called American Jobs.
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Breakout Resource(s): Life at Chinas infamous iPhone factory http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/11/05/5414029-life-at-chinas-infamousiphone-factory
Every dollar spent in the right place makes a positive difference for America because collectively it adds up to billions of dollars each year. When we buy a chocolate bar, we check the number of calories for some reason, but with products and services we just grab? Buying American whenever and wherever possible has to become a religion in America and we have to become devout going forward. We as a people look at a label to check for calories when we already know something is fattening, but to turn a product over to seek out its point of origin is too much trouble? Instead we just grab! That has to change going forward and many resources for addressing the trade deficit will be provided in Part II: The Resistance. While you may not believe it, if we refuse to buy foreign made goods and services, as well as accept functions such as call centers off shore, American companies will have no choice but to produce those goods and source those services with labor from within the U.S.A. Americans as a whole do absolutely nothing whatsoever at present to force the issue with our wallets. Money rules and we call all the shots with our wallets, but only if we use the power in our hand. In turn, foreign companies doing business in the U.S. will also have no choice but to produce goods and source services via American workers. Toyota and BMW, just to name two foreign companies, already produce cars in the U.S. Apple iPhones and iPods sold in the U.S. need to be made in the U.S. and it can happen in less than a year. Just stop buying them and see how fast Apple starts creating jobs in American instead of China. At a minimum Apple can at least manufacture the ones sold in the U.S. within the U.S., but it wont happen as long as you support Chinese slave labor with your money. Believe it or not, because we still have the largest economy in the world, were still in charge . . . not the corporations and the mega-rich sourcing off shore. In order to rape us, we have to be willing to help them. In a few short months, we can bring any company to its knees with the votes in our wallets called dollars no politician required. Not only can we force them to hire Americans, but we can force them to pay a living wage as well. Presently, via our buying habits, were our own worst enemy . . .
Breakout Resource(s): AmericanMadeMatters.com http://www.americanmadematters.com/ AmericansWorking.com http://www.americansworking.com/ Still Made in USA http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/
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Made in USA http://www.madeinusa.org USAonly.US http://www.usaonly.us/ MadeInAmericaStuff.com http://www.madeinamericastuff.com/ MadeInUSAForever.com http://madeinusaforever.com/ MadeByYankees.net http://www.madebyyankees.net/ Made in the USA Foundation http://www.madeusafdn.org/ BuyAmerican.com http://www.buyamerican.com/
That Sleeping Dragon is Now Wide Awake! Beware the sleeping dragon, said Winston Churchill. For when she awakes the Earth will shake. The sleeping dragon of which Churchill spoke was of course Communist China. Most people today, especially our corporate owned media, just drop the word Communist from their name and refer to them simply as China. Why wouldnt you . . . they are no longer Communist. Now they are just brutal, totalitarian, dictators who have embraced our free enterprise system. They support it with state money and every government backed advantage possible, including: currency manipulation, industrial espionage, Internet piracy, counterfeiting, collusion, copyright and patent infringement and bribery. Even though this book is focused on money, namely your money, any American that can overlook the well documented human rights abuses and rampant pollution of Mother Earth by China is just choosing to look the other way. Dong business with China directly supports one of the most dictatorial, oppressive regimes on Earth as well as the largest polluter on the planet. Give credit were credit is due, although new to the free enterprise system, China seems to be pretty good at it. In 2010, far ahead of projections by every genius PhD economist, China became the second biggest economy in the world. The dragon, it appears, is now officially awake. By 2012, China will overtake the U.S. as the worlds biggest economy.1 Due in large part to U.S. companies investing and manufacturing in China, by 2020 its projected that China will possess 24.1 percent of world output leaving the U.S. in the dust with only 14.8 percent.2 While America was sleeping, the dragon awoke and in less than 20 years went from being our doormat to kicking us economically out the door. How could this have happened? Where were our so called political leaders? Nowhere! Its long past time for
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Americans to stop fawning over the political class, both past and present, and see them for what they really are failures who sold out the American people. The reason weve been sold out is money in the form of campaign money and profits for corporate America and stockholders via cheap labor as well as access to a consumer market with a billion people. When historical facts smack you in the face, in regard to Chinas meteoric rise, you simply have to focus and begin to ask yourself some difficult questions about our political class. Can any American remember Chinagate . . . of course not we cant remember where we put our car keys when we came in the house. Chinagate was part of our 1996 presidential election in which Charlie Trie, an agent of China, sought to slip $460,000 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Just the tip of a China money iceberg, more than 100 of Tries fellow Chinese agents fled jurisdiction before 22 were convicted of either fraud or trying to funnel money to the Clinton/Gore campaign via the DNC. The DNC said woops and quickly gave the money back . . . and as things always seems to go in Washington, D.C. all was soon forgotten. In a repeat performance, during Hillary Clintons 2008 presidential run, Norman Hsu another Chinese agent, illegally raised $850,000 for her campaign from questionable unknown sources. William Paw, a mail carrier and his family gave $213,000, including $55,000 directly to Hillary. Again, just like with Chinagate, the woops excuse was used, the money was quickly given back and once again . . . as things always seems to go in Washington, D.C. all was soon forgotten. Are these two instances cherry picking or just reporting of the facts? Was there pay-toplay going on here, or were the Chinese just contributing to further our American democracy? Has money over the years changed hands and is it continuing to change hands in Washington, D.C. to work to the detriment of a strong U.S. economy for our average citizens instead of only the mega-rich? How much has it contributed to Chinas meteoric rise in just 20 years? All good questions, dont you think? During the Clinton administration, from a national security standpoint, millions of pages of data on nuclear weapons were declassified. It was part of a Lockheed Martin, Hughes Electronics and Loral Space and Communications deal to assist China with their nuclear strike force. President, Clinton approved the sale of such technology, even as two of the companies were being investigated by a grand jury. In December 2004, under the presidential leadership of Bush II, IBM was allowed to sell their PC business to a Chinese company named Lenovo. The sale went through against the wishes of at least a couple intelligent politicians in Washington, D.C. who questioned, among other things, the risk to our national security. Just lightly scratching the surface pulls up $6+ M in lobbying dollars spent that year by IBM who profited wildly from the sale.3 Along with the sale went the IBM brain power of 10,000 former IBM employees. Today, China owns the worlds fastest super-computer: a machine called the Tianhe-1A that will do 2,507 trillion calculations per second an estimated 1.4 times more horsepower than Americas fastest computer. Obviously this type of technological advancement delivers business and economic advantages, but militarily, when combined with the billions China is spending on upgrading their armaments and war preparedness . . . it threatens the national security of America.
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Currently, U.S. corporations and those of other developed nations are signing deals with China almost every day that dictate technology-transfer terms detrimental to both the corporation and America. Because China controls all the levers, such as import and export licenses, China demands the technology transfers as the price to be paid for access to the Chinese marketplace. American companies either turn over our know-how and technological advancements or they dont get into the China market. As hard as it is to believe, driven by greed and lust for access to the Chinese marketplace . . . corporate America signs it over to get into the China game. Although no political leader, much less corporate head, in America is asking the question, perhaps average citizens should ask, once China has our technology, expertise and know-how given to them by America caving in to strong arm tactics . . . what will China need us for? The answer is they wont and anyone who believes that China wont nationalize entire industries [or just boot out companies], once they have what they want, is nave indeed. In fact, China tipped their hand via their stated plan for science and technology from 2006 to 2020 that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce states is considered by many international technology companies to be a blueprint for technology theft on a scale the world has never seen before.4 The blueprint is called indigenous innovation via a Chinese government policy designed to favor Chinese firms for state contracts that requires technology transfer if Western companies want to participate. Even with a warning from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American companies are plunging head first with their eye only upon short-term money with no long-term foresight whatsoever upon what technology transfer really means for both their corporations and the American economy at large. Just as dangerous and illogical, U.S. corporations are funding and opening massive research centers in China. Even though Americas R&D spending ($402 B in 2010) is still quadruple Chinas $103 B, its projected they will surpass U.S. R&D spending by 2020 and they are doing it with our help.5 Now consider the yuan is currently 40 percent undervalued [because our political leadership has no backbone] and understand that all Chinas R&D efforts come at a 40 percent discount when compared to the same efforts in America. Patents, largely tied to R&D, have long been considered the bell weather for future economic prosperity within an industrialized nation. In 2009, China filed 279,298 patent applications which made it third in the world behind the U.S. and Japan.6 While the rest of the world was experiencing a recession, Chinas patent applications in digital computing and data transmission alone increased by 4000 percent and their patent number filings as a whole will surpass both the U.S. and Japan in 2011 to make them No. 1 in the world.7 Is anyone within Americas political class thinking through the military and economic implications of technology transfers along with cutting edge R&D? No! Are stockholders raking in the gravy from China business telling their CEOs to be careful and prudent when making deals with the devil? No! Its all about the money today in campaign contributions for the political class and short term stock market gains for Americas mega-rich. Sounds very similar to the recipe that crashed our entire economy with the housing bubble now doesnt it?
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So America is falling behind in technology as well as R&D, but we still have all those green jobs coming out way, right? Dont count on it. In 2010, top Party B fundraisers and lobbyists with links to president Obama and Senate majority leader Harry Reid were working behind the scenes to snatch almost a half billion dollars in stimulus money for a Chinese company to build and run a wind farm in Texas. The turbines would be built by Chinese workers in China of course to ensure no American jobs are created and the operations in the U.S. would be run by the Chinese to ensure the profits go back to China. Its all a partnership between U.S. Renewable Energy Group, a Dallas investment firm and A-Power Energy Generation Systems, a Chinese firm.
Breakout Resource(s): Wind at their backs: Powerful Democrats help Chinese energy firm chase stimulus money http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40565987/ns/business-going_green/from/toolbar
The campaign dollars, the bad decisions, the connections and the loosely strewn together instances and facts above may not prove anything definitive whatsoever. They are certainly not aimed at any political party, but instead point to our American political class in general. Nonetheless, when it comes to green, Party B is up to their necks in cronyism and pay-to-play campaign donations to save the planet as evidenced further by the emerging Solyndra scandal. Taking a page from the Chicago politics playbook, the Obama administration pushed for the solar company to receive $535 M in backing from the federal government in exchange for campaign donations. Tulsa billionaire George Kaiser, a major stockholder and backer of Solyndra, is credited with raising somewhere between $50 and $100 K for the presidents election campaign. In addition, Kaiser donated $53,500 of his personal money and along with Solyndra senior executives and board members their total donations were $87,050 to the presidents campaign.8 Do the math America, somewhere around $187 K for a billionaire borrower to get his hooks on $535 M of our tax money is a dandy interest rate. Most especially in light of the Obama administration fast tracking the loan through the Department of Energy and harsh criticism by the GAO whos role it is to smell a rat when it comes to government spending. After multiple visits to the White House by Kaiser, president, Obama posing for photo-ops at the Solyndra facilities, etc. Solyndra is of course shredding documents and deleting e-mails as fast as possible and the Obama administration is throwing Kaiser and Solyndra executives under the bus as if they have the cooties. When the American public thinks green, we think saving the planet and jobs for American workers, but for our esteemed political class green means campaign donations and political power. As for the billionaires like Kaiser, political contribution green means low interest loans, products made in China for higher profits and more money in their pockets. It has just been assumed by the American people, for far too long, that our political class was on our side and had our best economic interest at heart. Continue to believe that at your own peril and see clearly that when it comes to campaign money, cronyism and corporate profits . . . the workers of America come in dead last! Millions of U.S.
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manufacturing jobs gone to China and elsewhere, sweet heart deals to transfer both sensitive defense and business technological advantages to the China and it all begins to add up to either stupidity or a massive 20+ year track record of political corruption in Washington, D.C. to sell out the American people for stockholder gains and corporate greed. Without any doubt, as far as dealing with China over the past 20+ years, major mistakes were made. The first mistake was to trust our political class to look out for our best economic interests in regard to full and gainful employment as well a strong U.S. economy. Going forward, we the people must kick the door down and have a seat at the table during any and all trade agreement discussions and deal making that take place with any foreign nation most especially any agreements that involve China! Live and learn as the saying goes, but if we havent learned enough to put the brakes on NOW in regard to protecting our green jobs economic sector in America . . . then we have only ourselves to blame for absolute stupidity and naivety! Overall, imports of clean energy products increased 74% per year, on average, between 2000 and 2010 . . . more than doubling our trade deficit with China in clean energy products.9 Clean energy imports from China are currently exceeding our exports by a 10 to 1 ratio.10 In one single year, from 2009 to 2010, Chinese competition pushed the price of solar panels down 50 percent, making it difficult if not impossible for western manufactures to compete.11 China now exports most of the solar panel they make, control half of the German market and a third of the U.S. market.12 The reason, as noted in the EPI report linked below, China is using a wide array of illegal trade policies to stimulate growth and exports of its green technology industries, including massive subsidies of more than $216 billion; restrictions on access to rare earth elements and other minerals; discrimination against foreign firms or goods; technology transfer requirements for foreign investors; and making subsidies contingent on exports or domestic content. In laymans terms its called cheating, manipulating the market, playing games and kicking Americas posterior in clean energy products.
Breakout Resource(s): Chinas Subsidies to Green Industries Lead to Growing Trade Deficits in Clean Energy Products http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/ib287/
Next time you see another politician with the flag as a backdrop, lauding the green economy thats going to save America, think again unless current trends are reversed. We obviously cant trust China, but the real question is can we any longer trust our current political class? No average Americans are watching or paying attention to connect the dots, follow the money or track the deals. Perhaps its time that changed . . . The clean energy sector is just the most recent economic sector to begin falling under the control of China. Across the board, China is kicking our posterior, cheating us, taking our jobs and robbing us blind. In 2009, 79 percent of all counterfeit goods seized at U.S. borders originated in China.13 In the preceding 5 years, its estimated that China ripped us off by counterfeiting $10.6 B in U.S. goods such as: apparel, athletic footwear, textile
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fabrics, floor coverings, consumer goods, chemicals, electronics, electrical equipment as well as copied media and IT software, such as: movies, music, publishing and entertainment software.14 What did our government bureaucrats have to say about it? They applauded the Chinese for their progress by getting the percentage down form 81 percent in 2008. Just think, at a 2 percent reduction per year, well have the issue fixed by 2046. Keep in mind that these are just the garbage Chinese goods coming into America and just the goods caught at our borders . . . now consider the American products counterfeited by China going into every other nation on Earth. Since were the most hated nation on Earth, just how many of these nations do you think care if America is being swindled by China? The answer is almost NONE! You name it and China is knocking it off or stealing it via pirated optical drives, Internet piracy, copyright and patent infringement, industrial espionage or just good old fashioned hands-on stealing of books, movies and software. How many billions of dollars and good American jobs have they stolen already? They have zero ethics and respect for copyrights, patents, Internet security measures or locked doors. Just how much of Chinas meteoric rise can be attributed to plain old stealing and American stupidity? Assuming you can get past Donald Trumps ridiculous hair, he does on occasion cut through the BS and tell it like it is. In a recent interview with CNBC, by saying, I know lots of people in China and they think we are the dumbest son-of-a-bitches in the world. He added, They think our representatives dont know what they are doing. They are laughing at us. He went on to add that by taxing their products coming into the U.S. we can help to pay off the federal deficit and bring jobs back to America. With our inept level of political leadership and spineless bureaucrats protecting our interests . . . dont hold your breath. You cant really blame the Chinese for taking advantage of our stupidity, now can you? If you are a criminal society like China and you find a sucker, what do you do? You play them for all its worth until they wise up. Whether our political class has been selling out the American people to China for decades is somewhat debatable, but whats not debatable is that our political bureaucrat class are the most pathetic inept monitors and negotiators in the history of business trade and regulation! Whether its deals with China or regulation of Wall Street . . . they are outclassed, out maneuvered, overpaid and played for fools and the American people are the ones paying the price. Now that China has stolen us blind and as a nation we were dirt broke, whats left? Lend America lots of money to see just how indebted we will become. In a March 2009 Washington Times article, Cornel professor, Eswar Prasad calculated that China currently owns $1.7 trillion in U.S. Government debt.15 Estimates vary of course, depending upon who you ask, but the debt has certainly risen since 2009 and owing China even one trillion dollars is a recipe for disaster. Just the interest payments alone threaten to destabilize our economy and prospects for paying off the actual balance appear bleak at this point in time.
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Breakout Resource(s): Trump CNBC Interview http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2010/04/06/n_trump_china_sob.cnnmoney/
So what does all this China history have to do with our present day reality and the future? Why should average Americans care or be the least bit interested? In a word, its about survival. America has been fed a steady diet of a wonderful global economy for 20+ years. The ruse is perpetuated every single day, via our corporate owned media machine, and we just continue sucking up like kittens drinking milk. Go to your local McDonalds and ask the college graduates flipping burgers about the wonderful global economy then divide a minimum wage into the average college loan amount of $24 K and youll get a better picture of the true global economy reality. Its a far cry from the manufactured image portrayed via the corporate media machine. Take just one example from the Cisco ad linked below. Eager, bright-eyed little American students networked by Cisco to their Chinese counterparts as they prepare to participate in this wonderful global economy. They even have a movie star selling the idea . . . its got to be valid. Makes you feel warm all over doesnt it?
Breakout Resource(s): Ellen Page Cisco Advertising Field Trip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHFUwFgu5w4
Its a Kumbaya mirage, a world vision generated by corporate America and the megarich to steal us all blind. Young Americans are told to take out student loans, work on those math skills, major in science and they too will be able to compete in this wonderful world economy. Supplementing the media spin is a heavy dose of American exceptionalism from radical right politicians telling Americans were the best and brightest in the world. In 1998, China graduated 830,000 from college, but just 12 years later in 2010 they graduated more than 6 million and the number will only grow larger in the years ahead. 16 While many American graduates are now forced to move back home with mom and dad and work at McDonalds, its far worse than that for Chinas graduates. More than 100,000 Chinese graduates now live in a slum called the Ant Tribe that sits just outside the Olympic Village in Beijing.17 Stench, trash and filth just outside the door multiple college grads bunking in the same room with 6 million more Chinese grads lining up in 2010 alone for the privilege to get an open bunk. They possess degrees in accounting, finance, IT, business and engineering and all the other white collar occupations imaginable . . . they are hungry and if they cant immigrate to America, all are ready to take America jobs via the Internet and that wonderful Cisco network. As detailed herein American white collar professionals, now living the upwardly mobile American Dream are headed for a rude awakening just around the corner and
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most dont have the slightest inking of whats to come. Thanks to the Internet, from the squalor of Beijing, hundreds of thousands of white collar American professionals will drop like flies with ever increasing frequency. It will only get worse as the mega-rich, stockholders and their multi-national corporations fuel their bottom lines with cheap Chinese talent that sucks the life out of America. Great for the mega-rich, awesome for the corporate bottom line, but really bad for America and her workforce! Just how smart are these Chinese students? In a word, theyre BRILLIANT! Go ahead and buy into the idea of American exceptionalism at your own peril. A few years ago, I had an intern from China who was getting her MBA from Wake Forrest University. She was just a kid, the child of Chinese peasants, but in no time flat she navigated America and the corporate playing field like an old pro. Charming, articulate, smart beyond belief and hell bent on success! Multiply that singular reality by 6 million Chinese graduates within China, hundreds educated internationally and Americans had better bring their A game for a lot less money. Chinese grads will work for peanuts and they dont need a big house in the country club. As far a work ethic . . . former peasants carry no burdens of entitlement and are happy just for the privilege to climb upward as Americans slide downward. If you are a CEO looking out only for the share price and your stock options who gets hired . . . an expensive American graduate or a hungry grad in Shanghai via the Internet? Again, the question must be asked, whos going to look out for Americas college educated? Corporate H.R., your boss, assuming they make the next cut, or perhaps our currently corrupt Congress? What about liberty and freedom or the mechanics of the free enterprise system? Just how many American jobs have been lost already to China via freedom, liberty and the mechanics of the free enterprise system? Between 1997 and 2006 America lost 2,166,000 jobs to China. More than 1.8 million of those jobs occurred after 2001.18 What occurred in 2001? Answer: China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO). Total to date from 2001 to 2010 alone, just in the manufacturing sector, there have been 5.5 million jobs lost, along with 26,000 U.S. manufacturing plants closed.19 Between 2001 and 2010, 40 percent of all U.S. factories that had 250 or more employees closed it doors.20 These horrifying statistics beg two questions: 1) was getting China into the WTO a good idea? and 2) who was behind it? Question #1 could be debatable, but the answer to question #2 is not. Elder statesman, former president, Clinton is the answer to that question. He theorized, or at least told the American people, that Well be able to export products without exporting jobs . . . The more China liberalizes its economy, the more fully it will liberate the potential of its people their initiative, their imagination, their remarkable spirit of enterprise. Do fraud, corruption and good old stealing fall under the category of Chinas remarkable spirit of enterprise or was our elder statesman just wrong on the whole idea of allowing China into the WTO?
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Breakout Resource(s): Americas Stake in China, by Bill Clinton http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=108&subid=128&contentid=963
In 2010, according to EPI, we only lost approximately half a million jobs to China, but that was only because our economy was horrible already thanks to Wall Streets greed.21 To be fair, China was a formidable player on the global stage previous to 2001, but pushing for them to get into the WTO helped China, corporate America and the megarich not the American people! Lets look at what happened to job loses to China after 2001 in a few selected blue states [as our corporate media like to label them]. After China entered the WTO in 2001 spanning to year 2006, CA lost 269,300 jobs, NY lost 105,000 jobs, IL lost 79,000 jobs and MA lost 59,000 jobs to China.22 Millions of lost American jobs, human rights abuses, pollution of Mother Earth and ever less food on Americans tables. China is quite literally eating our lunch! When you look at the reality, the stats and the numbers . . . Chinas entry into the WTO accelerated the war being waged by the greedy upon Americas middle-class. To blame any specific president or political party alone for Chinas rise would be completely irresponsible and just plain wrong without almost the entire political class pushing for Chinas entry into the WTO it wouldnt have happened. It does however, according to most analysts, mark a dramatic turning point in the rise of China as an economic power. Chinagate is now a long forgotten smoking gun along with Chinese influence upon our democratic political system, but any sane individual that doesnt question what took place behind the scenes then and whats taking behind the scenes even now is completely naive. At a minimum, it should send the alarm to the American people that we must now have massive change in the political system, the way business is done in Washington, D.C., the cronyism and a campaign finance system that amounts to outright bribery. Massive amounts of mega-rich money rules and the peoples jobs and financial security take a back seat to stockholders and corporate greed. The toxic recipe is quite simple, production worker costs per hour, even today, are $22 in the U.S. versus $2 per hour in China (9% of U.S. costs).23 The mega-rich and stockholders at the top of the U.S. food chain want even more money via higher margins and the easiest way to get it is to make a deal with the devil for cheap labor and access to the China marketplace. That deal for short term wealth and long-term market access includes both R&D as well as technology transfers, not to mention billions of dollars in critical manufacturing infrastructure being placed into the hands of the Chinese. Because the American people have been increasingly starved for 30+ years via stagnated wages, they demand and in some cases have no other choice but to buy from China. The short-term nickel and dime savings put a few dollars back into the family budget, but the long-term consequences to the American economy at large when viewed collectively are absolutely horrific over time. Only the mega-rich and stockholders win, while the America people continue to be sucked down into a financial vortex of Third World existence.
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Breakout Resource(s): Costly Trade with China: Millions of U.S. jobs displaced . . . http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp188/
The China Trade Toll http://www.aflcio.org/issues/jobseconomy/globaleconomy/upload/epi_china.pdf Rising China Trade Deficit Will Cost One-Half Million U.S. Jobs In 2010 http://www.epi.org/page/-/pdf/ib283.pdf
USCC.gov http://www.uscc.gov/ USCC 2010, Annual Report to Congress http://www.uscc.gov/annual_report/2010/annual_report_full_10.pdf Ready for Takeoff: Chinas Advancing Aerospace Industry http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2011/RAND_MG1100.pdf
A Balance of Power Largely in Consumers Hands Lets assume, just for a moment, that our political class hasnt been selling us out to China to benefit the American aristocracy for 30+ years. Chinas meteoric rise just happened without them being helped all along the way by our own political leaders. The American people, as voters, but mostly as consumers are more to blame than anyone for Chinas meteoric rise. In 2010, during the Great Recession when our economy needed life support, we Americans bought $273 B more goods from China than China bought from us.1 Its called a massive trade deficit and it means that we Americans shipped $267 B worth of American jobs to China because our wonderful education system didnt get us up to second grade literacy, by which, we can read the words, MADE IN CHINA. As Americans plead to Washington, please do something for our horrible economy! were apparently not willing to do anything to help ourselves? Perhaps instead of passing the trillion dollar stimulus package, president, Obama should have mailed out second grade geography books. Surly by the third grade we Americans know that China is NOT a U.S. state. The basic economic principle involved with NOT making purchases that have MADE IN CHINA printed on them does NOT require a 1600 on the SAT or a PhD in economics. The sad truth is, the majority of Americas get it. Were lazy and we dont actually care enough about our fellow citizens or the U.S. economy to make the small sacrifice of not buying MADE IN CHINA. We dont actually care about future generations and we make excuses and want what we want . . . dirt cheap crap made in China. We never stop and think through the real implications of what buying MADE IN CHINA really means to each and every one of us. The 512,000+ jobs we sent to China in 2010 alone, via our purchasing, drove down nearly everyones wages in America except the mega-rich of course.2 Much of what we saved via cheap Chinese products and services comes right
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back out of what we could be earning if there were more upward pressures on American wages via higher demand for American employees. Once again, it goes back to basic supply and demand theory, but admittedly there has to be just a little brain gray matter to get the connection. All someone making $10 per hour gets is they are broke and by spending an extra $5 on a purchase is $5 less they are going to have in their pocket. For a few people, very few people [who are actually starving], saving that $5 buying MADE IN CHINA and shopping at Walmart matters because they can eat a meal with the $5 saved. For everyone else, 90+ percent of Americans, were being unpatriotic, selfish and extremely short sighted when we buy MADE IN CHINA. If you dont like hearing that, then thats just too bad because its the truth! If we truly love our nation, care about your own future paychecks and our fellow citizens and most of all our children we will not buy MADE IN CHINA ever again . . . unless absolutely necessary in an emergency. While at least 1000 economic reasons are left out of this overview of why not to buy from China, consider the most glaring and dangerous of all . . . national security. If anyone in America is stupid enough to believe numbers supplied by China, they increased military spending by 7.5 percent in 2010, dropping somewhat from a spike of 17.8 percent in 2007, but they increased it again in 2011 by 12.3 percent.3 Where are they getting their money? From us buying MADE IN CHINA. Pick your motivation . . . American jobs, national security, funding our mega-rich aristocracy getting rich off offshore labor, pollution, our American standard of living, etc. . . . buying MADE IN CHINA is nothing short of absolutely insane! Trade Agreements and the WTO Well never know whether the so called smart people that dreamed up this world economy idea were devious smart or too smart for our own good, but now we know the results either way and the financial direction it is taking average American citizens. That question actually speaks to a much larger question, which is, how is it that people in general can be led like sheep into really bad ideas by supposedly smart people? In 1905, Einstein, came up with the equation E=mc2. That equation led to the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki being obliterated in 1945 by the first two nuclear bombs. Seemingly the World Trade Organization (WTO), a global economy and the creation of the first nuclear bombs are unrelated, however, when history is written [unless we change it], the two seemingly unrelated creations will be virtually the same. Were in the midst of an economic Hiroshima and hundreds of Americans are dying every day from the fallout. Many will say thats an alarmist statement and simply not true. Well add it up: 16 million children living in poverty (25%), 30+ million Americans unemployed or underemployed, millions in homeless shelters or living on the streets, drug abuse, spouse abuse, murder, lack of proper health care, suicide rates, etc. . . . much of it driven by a horrible economy. If we piled the bodies in one huge pile each day, then maybe America would notice and pay attention? When the final chapter on free trade and a world economy is written, this genius brainstorm by man will deliver more destruction of life than creation of the nuclear bomb will every likely deliver especially to America. We know of course that stupid people do stupid things, but what we Americans cant quite grasp is that smart people do really BIG stupid things we simply defer to them
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by saying to ourselves seems stupid to me, but they are smart so they must know what theyre doing. Some economist in a bow tie from an Ivy League school can sell Americans just about anything. Just like destroying two Japanese cities with the first two nuclear bombs, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but well forever live with the consequences of those bad decisions. In regard to a global economy, well never know if the geniuses that thought it up knew it would lead to stagnated American incomes and massive numbers of lost jobs. Technological advancements such as the Internet and accelerated industrial development off shore could not have been foreseen. Thus far, so called political leaders arent reacting to stop the carnage, but instead have only pushed full steam ahead with the unhinged free trade mantra. Once the genie is out of the bottle, just like the nuclear bomb, its hard to deal with the ramifications going forward. What seemed like a good idea at the time, even when it is dreamed up by someone really smart oftentimes turns out horribly. Man, by his very nature cannot leave well enough alone. If something is screwed up, it takes someone really smart to really screw it up! Adam Smith in 1776 via his book The Wealth of Nations was one of the first to observe and document free trade. Soon thereafter, David Ricardo, a financier, speculator and Parliament member, came up with the theory of comparative advantage a.k.a. the idea that big nations could screw little nations out of money via exploiting their cheap labor [as well as people in their own nation]. What began with geniuses such as Smith and Ricardo has been expanded upon and enabled by technology and engineering miracles to really screw things up for the American little-people. Now, because of the interconnectedness of the world economy, when the swine on Wall Street get too greedy or someone sneezes in China economic mucus spews upon all the little people on Earth. Its called progress and it was brought to us by greedy bastards who couldnt leave well enough alone in pursuit of even more money and power. Even though hind sight is always 20/20, many average Americans saw what was to come when the free trade craze was introduced, but they were labeled as backward and encouraged to get with the times. America has always had free trade of course, starting with tea and tobacco shipped to England. Largely, however, for well over 100 years or more, we traded with each other and by comparison to now, everything was just fine. We had a self-sufficient, selfsustaining economy that was far less volatile and subject to events happening on the other side of the world. We had one Great Depression, lots of recessions and a few economic booms. Its very difficult to manage just one single economy with a GDP of $14 trillion, but managing a world economy is impossible! A lot of things have changed since Americas founding and we adapted our economy to fit. There were technological and engineering advancements to include the cotton gin, railroads that spanned the nation, electricity, the telephone, the television, the car and hundreds of other technological and engineering revolutions over 200+ years. Dealing with all these changes in a relative microcosm within the U.S. economy alone was almost impossible at times, but all in all we did pretty well. It wasnt perfect by any means, but at least we were all in this together in charge of our own destiny . . . we could push the levers and buttons to fix our relatively small economic machine when it started to sputter.
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Then greed reared its ugly head as it always seems to do. Once again the mega-rich and the mega-corporations who just didnt have enough money pushed America into a global economy. An economy that is absolutely impossible to keep running smoothly because of the sheer size, labor price variables, wars, tsunamis and earthquakes, governments collapsing, greed, cheating, government subsidies and about a million other things that constantly go wrong. Worse yet, in this global economy America wouldnt have access to the buttons and levers, instead that function would be turned over almost entirely to the WTO. America a sovereign nation, would, from that day forward, be told what it could or couldnt do within its own national economy. If free trade is the bullet killing the America middle-class, then the WTO is the gunpowder that blasts the bullet out of the barrel. The WTO officially commenced in 1995 and now represents 97 percent of all world trade. It administers and regulates trade between participating countries by providing a framework for formalizing trade agreements, dispute resolution and enforcement of agreements signed by representatives of member governments. Before an agreement takes effect in America, it must in theory be ratified by Congress. In 1974, Congress, in a complete dereliction of their duty, passed a legislative measure called Fast Track that basically stripped any real role Congress had in trade legislation. It gave the president and the executive branch full authority on trade legislation. Not only does the president have full authority to negotiate trade agreements, but to sign them as well even before the agreement is passed by Congress. After that, Congress cant renegotiate the agreement or change it in any way whatsoever . . . just a yes or no vote only. In the 1990s Fast Track was used by president, Clinton to slip the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) upon the American people and thereafter its been used repeatedly to bypass Congress on smaller trade agreements. Fast Track authority has expired from time to time, but president, Bush II had it reinstated during his term to pass trade agreements with Chile, Singapore and the Dominican Republic just to name a few. Fast Track authority expired on July 1, 2007, but any negotiations or agreements begun before that date fall under the Fast Track provisions such as zero congressional input and only a yes or no vote. Four agreements with Peru, Panama, Columbia and S. Korea were begun before expiration and president, Obama signed a trade agreement with S. Korea in December 2010. The first question every America needs to ask is why is Fast Track needed? Whats wrong with allowing Congress to do the job it was elected to do? Whats the rush to get free trade deals passed? Whats an extra few months or even a year or more to ensure that these trade agreements are good for middle-class Americans? The question that needs to be asked is whether any of the free trade deals negotiated and slipped through via Fast Track have been good for middle-class Americans? NAFTA signed by president, Clinton [with the possible exception of the rise of China], was the worst thing that ever happened to middle-class America in regard to foreign trade especially the manufacturing segment of our economy. Who in America reviews at all these free trade deals to ensure they are good for middleclass Americans . . . instead of only the mega-rich? The answer to that question is virtually no one! There is no oversight even by Congress, much less the American people. Apathy is one reason, but to be quite frank . . . mind boggling complexity is the
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other. Just the numbers and projections in a single trade agreement are difficult to decipher and evaluate as to any potential merits and then via Fast Track its all done in a rush . . . why? Just like everything that comes out of Washington, D.C. that impacts business and our economy, with trade agreements winners are chosen and losers are selected. With the NAFTA agreement, American textile workers were one of several economic segments selected as the sacrificial lambs. Who wins and who loses in trade agreements depends almost entirely upon lobbyists, political connections, party affiliations and government bureaucrats. As with everything political its driven by money and political contributions and if you havent paid-to-play your industry or business is placed upon the sacrificial alter as a negotiating tool. Just as detrimental as the impetus of greed propelling the sellout of the America people via bad trade agreements are national interests tradeoffs. Our political class and so called leaders determine that jobs or a specific American industry sector can be sacrificed in exchange for political cooperation from nations. Just one example of far too many agreements to enumerate herein is a recently expired trade agreement, [renewed for a year in 2009 by president, Obama] with Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Boliva that operated under the Andean Trade Preference Act. This deal with the devil was simple, these nations supposedly cutback the supply of cocaine and weed coming into the U.S. and in exchange for curtailing their illegal products we allowed their legal products to be imported and sold in the U.S. as if they were sourced in Missouri. Whether it is to stop the illegal drug supply or strategic national defense interests, our leaders have been selling out jobs and the America people for decades with politically focused trade agreements that number in the hundreds. Cloaked in secrecy as much as possible, negotiated behind closed doors and rushed through Congress via Fast Track, the American people are at the mercy of the corporate media machine or bureaucrat speak in trying to understand and decipher the numbers, calculations and ramifications. Behind the numbers are Americans livelihoods and generations of prosperity put at risk in a trade and barter system whereby the mega-rich always prevail at the expense of the little people far more often than not. All trade agreements are not bad of course, but in the event they turn out well for the average American . . . its only happen chance after the mega-rich are served. Take a look at any trade agreement in depth and the average Americans eyes quickly glaze over. Although herein, almost all attorneys have been maligned and Harvard economists scoffed at . . . the truth is, if youre not one or both . . . forget about understanding any trade agreement. Once negotiated and signed, the trade agreement is tossed to WTO. It then becomes part of a ball of string called international trade law that only attorneys and economists can begin to fathom and understand none of which seem to work for the financial wellbeing of average Americans. The WTO, located in Geneva, Switzerland, is governed by a ministerial conference, meeting every two years, a general council, which implements the conferences policies and decisions for the day-to-day operations and a director-general who is appointed at the ministerial conference. Although not officially part of the WTO, the organization works in conjunction with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to further the goals of the WTO. Like a big worldwide Monopoly board, the worlds mega-rich negotiate, manipulate, arm twist and finagle to capture the board in a big game for even
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more wealth. Rounds of negotiations typically named after the nation in which they meet, such as: Uruguay Round or the current round being negotiated called the Doha Development Agenda. The stated primary goals of the current negotiations are to enhance the equitable participation of poorer countries. From this day forward, whenever you hear terms, such as equitable participation of poorer countries or raising the standard of living in poorer nations, etc. grab your wallet America! What such terms actually mean is sucking more of Americas middle-class wealth from beneath our Monopoly board and transferring it to developing nations to create a consumer class that can afford to buy the products and services provided by the megarich global players. Just as sick and evil as the objectives of the mega-rich, is the quasiliberal ivory tower ideal that we the American people should be sacrificed to raise the standards of living of the developing world. Virtually nothing that transpires via the WTO has the wellbeing of the average American in mind. Its either pure greed or some quasiliberal ivory tower ideal of utopia . . . whereby we all live poor, but equal, on the same planet and eat rice for every meal. Poor but equal to appease the guilt complex of the utopians in America and sacrificial lambs for the mega-rich game of greed . . . fringe left or radical right and America gets sold out either way. Its not so much that the basic concepts of trade agreements are complex, such if X is imported and Y is exported then Z happens such as tariffs, quotas, penalties, etc., but the agreements also cover such commerce areas as goods, investment, intellectual property, dispute settlement, most favored nation status and property rights at such a level of legalese that only an attorney or economist gets it. So what do Americans do . . . we leave it all up to Ivy League experts in bow ties to crunch the numbers, make the projections then rely on corporate media to report the impact while trusting them and our political class to look after the interest of the people. Politicians, corporate media and the Ivy League . . . whats not to trust? While this book obviously eyes the mega-rich with the greatest distain possible and makes no pretense otherwise you have to admire their intelligence. These people are smart . . . really, really smart! They have enough Ivy League brain power at their fingertips to fudge and manipulate any numbers a.k.a. put lipstick on pig trade agreement . . . just as they did with NAFTA. The American people only get the spin that comes from these absolutely mind numbing trade agreements. Even our corrupted members of Congress only get the short version from the mega-rich . . . which is, well get rich together off this scam so vote for it because I put you into office. By the time it hits the economy and the American people the member of Congress is an elder statesman with a statue. Americans cant remember who voted for a corrupted trade agreement a decade ago, but we can name the last three American Idol winners . . . go figure? The mega-rich depend upon their lap dog Congress and whatever president that put into office to oversee all trade agreement negotiations with one goal and one goal only . . . make the greedy even richer. Be it free trade or the WTO, neither are inherently evil just by their existence and both could benefit the American people, but thats not happening because we the people have no representation at the negotiating table. All the negotiators work for the mega-rich and any thoughts or concerns for the economic impact upon the American people is an afterthought. As you can clearly see from the China discussion and will see from an upcoming exploration of NAFTA, the American people are being raped economically by the mega-rich via trade agreements. At least labor unions pay some attention to trade agreements, but it is a far cry from the attention
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that is needed. Americans in general do nothing and have paid no attention to trade agreements for more than 30+ years. All most Americans do in regard to trade agreements is defer to Party A and Party B who have both screwed middle-class America for more than 30+ years by providing an ever larger pool of cheap off shore labor to the mega-rich via off shore outsourcing and on shore immigration. As with NAFTA and allowing China into the WTO these wildly complex agreements dont rear their ugly head for years or even a couple decades. The most recent cooked up trade agreements were with S. Korea, Columbia and Panama. In October 2011, president, Obama got them sailed through Congress with virtually no debate whatsoever via Fast Track. No average Americans paid attention [since Dancing With the Stars was at a fevered pitch] and even though the impact from these bad agreements will be slow to screw us [just like with NAFTA and China being allowed into the WTO] . . . the agreements should have been at the top of the publics mind, debated for years if necessary and stopped unless they paid off for average Americans instead of only the mega-rich aristocracy. An EPI report (linked below) projects that the agreements with S. Korea and Columbia alone will cost 214,000+ Americans their jobs and increase our trade deficit another $16.8 B .1 At the same time these agreements were being fast tracked through Congress by president, Obama to sell out almost a quarter million American citizens to S. Korea and Columbia, Party B and labor unions were doing everything possible to claim the Occupy Wall Street movement as their own. The party of the people was all too happy once again, just like with NAFTA, to slip more bad trade agreements upon the American people to satisfy the mega-rich, even in the midst of the Great Recession and massive unemployment. As the left hand of Party B singed the horrible trade agreements, the right hand was busy leading the Wall Street protestors like Hansel and Gretel to their house of candy. Every informed American knows that ground zero for the Wall Street meltdown was not in NYC, but in that shinning city on a hill called Washington, D.C. with Wall Street egg all over the face of both Party B and Party A. Tragically, the protest masses were in NYC, instead of Washington, D.C. where they could have stopped these trade agreements from going forward. [You can only protest so many wrongs in so many places at one time.] At the same time, the corporate media were reading their scripts and writing about how wonderful these trade agreements were going to be for American workers. The Ivy Leaguers, the bureaucrats and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had once again fudged the numbers, made up wildly inaccurate U.S. export projections [just like they did with NAFTA and getting China into the WTO] and the media performed like puppets to fed the American people the same poisoned dog food. Then as if that was not enough to slip the deals through, just previous to the press conference with the S. Korean president, it was announced that Iran had been plotting to kill the Saudi ambassador in my favorite D.C. restaurant. In turn, virtually all questions at the press conference were about the assassination plot instead of the trade agreement. Coincidence? In politics and the game of Monopoly nothing is coincidence. Think for once America! The administration had known about the supposed plot to kill the Saudi ambassador since June, but they waited until October to announce it and when they did, it was directly on top the press conference with the S. Korean president to celebrate the trade agreements. Massive unemployment, a horrible economy and these supposed trade agreements were, according to the administration, going to be manna from heaven
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as far as creating jobs for Americans. Why then would they not pick a day when nothing else was going on to overshadow the trade agreements? You know the answer dont you? Another economic and job loss shaft was being slipped upon the American people and the administration didnt want Americans paying attention, nor did they want the AFL-CIO who was weakly fighting against the agreements to get any attention from the media. Everything had to be just right to slip these agreements through in the midst of a horrible economy. [Lets see, what gets the attention of the American people? A mere 214,000+ more American jobs lost via more sell out trade agreements or Iran blowing up my favorite D.C. restaurant?] And where were labor unions, defenders of working America, focused while these agreements were going through? Not in Washington, D.C. stopping these trade agreements from passing, but instead they were in NYC courting Wall Street protestors for Party B votes. [Another feeble minded conspiracy theory? Perhaps. Mere coincidence? Perhaps. A complete and total dereliction of duty by organized labor in America? Absolutely! Yet another example of a corrupt Congress not doing its job? Absolutely! Yet another example of the American peoples attention being averted by foreign affairs and a protest in NYC instead of focusing 100 percent on jobs and the economy? Absolutely! Does anyone see a pattern here?] Time after time, bad trade agreement after bad trade agreement, the eyes of average Americans have glazed over via mind numbing spin by Harvard economists, bureaucrats and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to sell out American jobs and small businesses in America. All pushed and propelled by the massive corporate media machine owned by the mega-rich. The 30+ year sell out history of the American people, within the money greased wheels of the WTO, by our political class just continues and we just sit idle like fools in the back seat of a bus being driven off an economic cliff of no return.
Breakout Resource(s): WTO Continues to Damage U.S. http://economyincrisis.org/content/wto-continues-damage-us Turnaround the WTO http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=3202 U.S. Trade Deals with Columbia and S. Korea Will Be Costly http://www.epi.org/temp727/WorkingPaper289-2.pdf Economic Impacts of he KORUS-FTA http://www.epi.org/page/-/KORUS-FTA-RS-Jan%2011-rev%202-23-11.pptx Public Citizen http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=3268 Fast Track http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=500
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Lets take just one instance, among many, to demonstrate how Americas entanglement with the WTO and international trade law compromises our national sovereignty. When Congress passed the almost $1 T stimulus plan in early 2009, they stipulated several buy American provisions to ensure that, our tax money being used, would be spent in America to support American jobs. No sooner did the legislation pass Congress when the WTO, Brazil especially, challenged whether we could spend our own tax dollars in America. Even bureaucrats within our own defense department challenged the buy American provisions. The tensions blew over fairly quickly when the WTO and nations challenging the provisions conceded, but just the idea that within our own sovereign nation we cant spend U.S. taxpayer money in American without the approval of the WTO tells you everything you need to know. Understand, just in case you dont already, America is hated by almost every nation on the face of the Earth. Within the WTO it is America versus the world and the only way we get any concession from any other nations is via financial clout from possessing the worlds largest economy. With China on our economic bumper, thats all about to change. What imports and exports in and out of our ports, intellectual property disputes, trademark and patent infringements, etc. are all governed by the WTO, not America. For longer than a decade, America has petitioned the WTO to crack down on China for violating trade quotas, patents, intellectual property infringements, government funding of private industry, etc. and nothing whatsoever has come from it as far as stopping any of the cheating by China or any other nation. America plays by the WTO rules, but virtually no other nation on Earth does, especially China. The results are lost jobs along with stagnated wages and salaries for all Americans. The North American Free Trade Agreement Better known by its acronym NAFTA, this so called trade agreement that took effect in January 1994 was nothing more than a sucker punch to middle-class America by the mega-rich. It should be renamed the North American Free Labor Agreement (NAFLA) instead of anything to do with trade unless were talking slave trade. Propelled forward during the Bush I administration, it took president, Clinton and Party B to grease the shaft via party of the people naivety to slip it through. While many have tried and will continue their attempts at revisionist history: president, Clinton, via his signature on NAFTA, did more to destroy the middle-class of American than any president in our lifetime. NAFTA was the first free-trade snowball rolled down the hill that has resulted in a horrific avalanche upon the middle-class as well as organized labor in America. All total, via the momentum he set into motion, his signature did more cumulative financial damage to average Americans than even the Wall Street meltdown in 2008. Assuredly, such a statement makes Party B loyalists wince, but the numbers and the facts back it up. Before being accused of Clinton witch hunt, full disclosure reveals that Bills family and mine are part of a family tree with the same trunk. So if I cant twist the numbers and NAFTA reality to make it look good, then neither can any party loyalist. Perhaps NAFTA was just part of the family DNA, because as Ive already admitted I had a small role in the passage of NAFTA. Even though I wear that scarlet letter to this day, Ill try to be temperate in my portrayal of NAFTA [like a reformed alcoholic in a bar during happy hour]. Some would like to pretend that NAFTA was just an experiment gone horribly wrong . . . much like Frankenstein. They desperately want to believe that Clinton, Bush I, Al Gore,
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Bill Bradley and most members of Congress that voted for its passage had good intentions. No one of course can look into the hearts of any politician that pushed NAFTA, but I was there on the wrong side of the fight and those now writing revisionist histories were not! Feeble attempts at revisionist history to exonerate president, Clinton and vice-president, Gore fall flat as mere propaganda. For anyone who can stomach the truth, NAFTA should be one of the best barometers in history to document to the American people just who runs the show . . . the mega-rich via campaign contributions and influence peddling. NAFTA was the economic kiss of Judas that nailed the American middle-class to the free trade cross of globalization. I saw 4,000 employees first hand, many who I knew personally, show up for work every day and work their butts off for almost nothing. That wasnt enough for the CEO and his board of directors . . . Mexican workers just across the border would work for far less, which in turn would increase profits. Good Americans, many poorly educated, were told outright lies by the vice-president of the United States, such as if any employment disruption should occur good higher paying biotech jobs would come their way. I saw first hand, these good Americans looking up to Al Gore on the podium with the American flag behind him. They were honored to have the vice-president of the United States of America come to their plant in person to bring them good jobs via NAFTA. Even Bill Bradley, former NBA basketball star and member of Congress, dropped in to push for NAFTA. Party B knew that without the support of the rank and file manufacturing employees in America, NAFTA didnt have a chance in Congress. They simply had to convince the people to slit their own wrists and it worked. If the party of the people was for it and Party A was for it . . . it just had to be good thing. Surly, I wanted to believe that both parties pushing it had thought out the implications, done all the sophisticated calculations and planned for the future of American workers via top Ivy League economists. In truth, NAFTA was a diabolical economic experiment undertaken on behalf of corporate America and the mega-rich in exchange for campaign contributions. It was the pivotal turning point when the mega-rich pulled the plug on the American middleclass and began to drain economic prosperity from every average citizen. America then was a big lake of money and prosperity, so it took many years before the overall drop in water levels began to be noticed . . . via a few thousand jobs here, a factory closing there and a little less money in everyones pocket. Their goal was two fold, acquire cheap Mexican labor and cut off the legs of labor unions at the knees. Until NAFTA, trade agreements only dealt with implementing tariffs and lifting quotas to set terms of trade between nations. Never before had the merger of three nations, with such radically different levels of development, been attempted. NAFTA went far beyond cutting tariffs and lifting quotas to create a North American free trade zone, it practically merged Mexico and the U.S. along with Canada as far as any economic borders whatsoever. It stomped on U.S. sovereignty, state laws, municipal laws and environmental laws with overriding provisions where the U.S. became to be ruled by NAFTA trade laws. It too, just like other WTO trade laws, strictly prohibits any government initiatives to promote or mandate buy American initiatives to combat NAFTA. Post NAFTA, a Mexican business in a shack with no overhead and slave labor could do business as if they were in Indiana paying a living wage . . . while the infrastructure of roads and highways to ship American jobs south would be paid for by U.S. taxpayers to support our American aristocracy and the Mexican economy.
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During the presidential debate previous to NAFTA there was one sane voice of dissent and it wasnt Clinton or Bush I instead it was Ross Perot. Most Americans viewed Perot as a curious little man to be feared, unproven and not part of the political establishment. Going back now and reading his book, Save Your Job, Save Our Country is like stepping back in time and looking into a crystal ball that is so dead on accurate that it will make your jaw drop. This curious little man was talking deficits, trade imbalances, NAFTA and China kicking our butts way back then and now it has all come true. Specifically because of NAFTA, he predicted that the U.S. will become a nation of burger flippers, the only beneficiaries will be the U.S. companies that move manufacturing operations to Mexico and jobs lost to NAFTA will not be replaced at the same pay. Presidents Clinton and Bush I didnt agree on much, but they agreed 110 percent on NAFTA simply because corporate America and the mega-rich were stuffing their pockets with campaign money. President Clinton unleashed NAFTA upon the American people via Fast Track with Seasons Greetings in December 1992. Americas wonderful twoparty political system prevailed and the last real third party candidate with any real chance of being elected went down in flames just like every candidate before and after that dared to challenge the status quo a.k.a. the mega-rich. Perots words however reverberate and echo on the walls of every closed American factory that now gone via cheap Mexican labor south of the border. Like a haunting ghost, Perots chilling words, NAFTA will cause a giant sucking sound as jobs go south now sound ominous indeed.
Breakout Resource(s): Perot, Clinton and Bush Debate segment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkgx1C_S6ls&feature=related Al Gore, Ross Perot NAFTA Debate on CNN http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhwhMXOxHTg&feature=related
Opposing Perots prophetic words that have now come true was a two-party double team and a corporate media machine so formidable that all the voices of sanity were drowned in a flood of propaganda. The strategy was to play to the collective ego of the American people via the exceptionalism doctrine, much like is being done now with the liberty and freedom doctrine. Lie to Americans and tell them they can compete with anyone simply because they are Americans even though their overhead a.k.a. standard of living precludes any realistic chances of any real competition. Tell the American people that hundreds of thousands of new high-wage jobs will be created that will raise the standard of living for all Americans. Make Americans believe they will remain the big dogs simply because an American flag hangs on the porch. Then toss in some mother Earth spin and collective guilt by telling Americans that Mexico environmental conditions would improve and they would be magically transformed from a dirt poor economy into a booming new market for American exports. NAFTA was even going to solve all our border security issues since everyone in Mexico would stay home and live in palatial estates, almost as large as those to be built in America via all the export wealth created from U.S. exports to Mexico. NAFTA was to be the start of something big, a global economy whereby we would export expensive American
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products to dirt poor people all over the world with no money. The spin defied all logic, but when public servants are standing on a podium with the flag behind them and smart people from the Ivy League speak them . . . almost anything sounds logical. The moral to the story is that if it sounds illogical and stupid it probably is. Not one single element of these grandiose lies sold to the American people is now reality yet you will still find volumes of government and corporate backed propaganda that purport NAFTAs successes. They are outright lies, not misinformation, not a difference of opinion, but outright lies that twist numbers to present a warped picture of reality. Politicians, even when pressed on the issue of NAFTA in the face of todays reality, still stubbornly refuse to admit that it has been a complete failure for most Americans. During a 2008 Party B primary debate, Hillary Clinton in response to a question by Wolfe Blitzker that asked was NAFTA a mistake, only replied NAFTA did not do what many had hoped. When pressed to actually answer the question she was asked, she only sheepishly mumbled, NAFTA was a mistake to the extent that it did not deliver upon what we hoped it would. Its absolutely incredible that she would stand before the American people on a national stage and give this reply when millions of Americans have lost their jobs and the wages and salaries of almost every American have been negatively impacted by NAFTA and subsequent trade agreements. Standing by your man over the Monica indiscretion was one thing, but when your husband screws all of America . . . standing by your man is immoral. On the other side of the aisle, as if there is one, John McCain in 2007 said, I know NAFTA was a good idea. It created millions of jobs . . . and goes on to say . . . the overall gain in jobs has been pretty impressive. His NAFTA Yea vote helped pass the worst trade agreement in history and to say in 2007 that it was a good idea is so far beyond the bounds of political spin that he should be forced to have NAFTA tattooed on his forehead. Listen closely in the clip provided below as he talks about the jobs created, which is the key smokescreen behind all efforts to continue to defend NAFTA.
Breakout Resource(s): Hillary Clinton on NAFTA in 2008 Party B Debate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRvJ-o30Sk8&feature=related John McCain on NAFTA in 2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86QwI-6TWic
With NAFTA and every trade agreement thereafter, the mega-rich and their propagandists focus all the attention ONLY on job losses. With every agreement with a nation with lower wages, the job loses even though they are horrible pale in comparison to whats really going on. Its the decline in wages for all Americans that are the real horror story. With NAFTA well over a million manufacturing workers were displaced from dignified employment and reduced to burger flippers and Walmart clerks with pay that on average fell more than 13 percent.1 In turn, the former communities, stores and businesses supported by the manufacturing workers were devastated as well. Post NAFTA, the process has been repeated throughout America as bad trade
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agreement after bad trade agreement has been negotiated to benefit stockholders and the multi-national corporations in which they hold stock. The same interests who got us into NAFTA are pushing to expand it to include 31 more countries in Central and South America through the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). In 2005, Congress voted to extend NAFTA to five Central American countries through the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA); Peru was added in 2007; and there are signed NAFTA expansions with Panama and Colombia as well, although these have not yet been taken up by Congress. What Americans have failed to see, for far too long, has been the economic impact upon communities and our entire nation via the downward decline in all wages/salaries that only benefits the greedy at the top of the food chain . . . while draining every community in America of badly needed economic activity and dollars. For awhile America can continue to go to Walmart and buy a slightly cheaper product than something made in America, but at some point via a downward spiraling economic vortex it bottoms out. Instead of a vibrant middle-class buying cars at local car dealers, going to the dentist, movies, clothiers, buying houses and making home improvements . . . the middle-class created via manufacturing jobs disappears. Burger flippers and Walmart clerks are financially incapable of supporting vibrant economic communities across America. Just during the Great Recession that officially ended in June 2009, American manufacturers have shed 2 million more jobs (14.6 of the entire manufacturing workforce).2 Since June 2009 another 34,000 manufacturing jobs have disappeared to bring total U.S. manufacturing employment down to a meager 11.7 million people.3 When you look at the massively stagnated wages and salaries across America over the past 30+ years understand that NAFTA and all subsequent trade agreements, with lower wage nations, were the biggest catalysts to the economic rape of the American people. The political class in cahoots with their mega-rich campaign contributors sold white collar America on the idea that cheaper goods produced off shore were good for them and the largely uneducated, poorly funded working class didnt have the political clout [lobbyists] to stop the onslaught. By splitting the white collar middle-class from the blue collar middle-class white collar Americans failed to come to the aid of their fellow Americans. White collar Americans said to themselves, its not my job being shipped off shore and went about their lives as their fellow Americans were collectively starved out and reduced to burger flippers. They failed to see the big picture American Monopoly board, whereby their local communities die, poverty increases, welfare costs increase, social services are strained, tax burdens are increased and the local retail economy dies ultimately their salaries and jobs become threatened. The rape of Americas lower middle-class, by the mega-rich, is now quickly creeping up the socio-economic ladder at an ever increasing speed. Economically speaking, within America, there is no such thing as liberal, conservative or middle management there are only two classes of people . . . the mega-rich and the rest of us. Like it or not, we are all in this together: black, white, Hispanic, upper middle-class, poor, lower middle-class, gay, straight, Protestant, Catholic, Muslim and agnostic alike. We rise and fall economically together, as one people that are joined at the hip via one economy.
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The primary premise behind NAFTA, sold like snake oil to the American people, was that service sector jobs would replace any lost manufacturing jobs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were almost 6 million fewer Americans employed in manufacturing jobs in 2010 than there were in 1994.4 On the low end of the service sector job hierarchy, such as call center jobs, almost all, it seems, are now located in India or the Philippines. When was the last time you called customer service for anything from a credit card, software support, ordering retail items or virtually anything else and talked to an American? I made ski reservations in West Virginia a couple of years ago and talked to reservationists in the Philippines. Does it snow in the Philippines, do they ski? If youve ever been to West Virginia, you know its a very poor state, second only to possibly Mississippi. Do they need call center jobs in West Virginia? YES, but even the poor in West Virginia wont work cheap enough for corporate America. Unless of course, we Americans start canceling business with U.S. corporations that force us to use off shore labor to receive product and service support. Which brings us to the question, what are those 6 million Americans who formerly worked in manufacturing jobs, doing now? Theyre doing exactly what Ross Perot said they would be doing . . . flipping burgers [while Bill Clinton spent $3 to $5 M on his daughters wedding]. Manufacturing jobs paid a decent living to where an average American could eat regularly, have a roof over their head, a car and retire some day with a pension. Flipping burgers or working for the Walton family at Walmart, about the only jobs left in America, provide pathetic healthcare benefits, a lifetime of renting a home, a clunker car and when it comes time to retire . . . forget about it! You work as long as youre breathing and have a heartbeat. Comprehensive objective data from the beginning of NAFTA until today is somewhat elusive and may not exist, but a quick snapshot tells the story in full once you simply carry the numbers forward. We know that 6 million manufacturing jobs left the U.S. and went somewhere on the planet. For the specific period 1994 to 2000 (post NAFTA), 766,030 American jobs were lost.5 As a presidential candidate in 2008, Obama cited a number of 1 million jobs lost to NAFTA.6 Debate exists of course as to how many American jobs have been lost specifically due to NAFTA, but we know 6 million manufacturing jobs went somewhere. In truth, NAFTA is just the tip if the free-trade iceberg whereby the mega-rich and corporations deployed and expanded NAFTA-like trade agreements to other nations to kill the American Dream. Just as important, if not more, NAFTA gave all corporate manufacturing operations in America the threat of moving to Mexico leverage for wage concessions, just like the same leverage currently being used via China and other developing Asian nations. While Americans can see the lost jobs, what they cant see are the more subtle impacts of NAFTA-like agreements. Its the wage concessions from the threat of moving off shore that have killed the American Dream and sucked millions of dollars out of every single community in America just as much as actually moving jobs off shore. From lost jobs to depressed wages, the domino affect is killing the American Dream for everyone via its impact upon all arteries of the American economy that is now creeping well into the upper middle-class. The corporate and political class spin machine that has kept NAFTA in place play two spin games with the American public. First they point to the overall job growth during NAFTA, but fail to point out that these jobs are a notch above picking cotton on a plantation in the Old South. Lest we forget full employment doesnt count if there is a
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chain around your leg because the greedy have merged and consolidated the economy into one large plantation. Secondly, the spinners always point to all the jobs created by exports to Mexico, but they never, it seems, point to the reality of massive trade deficits with Mexico that ballooned post NAFTA and continue to this day. All total, between 1995 and 2010 the total trade deficit with Mexico is a whopping -$363,314+ B.7 In 1993 the year NAFTA was passed, the U.S. had a positive trade balance with Mexico of +$1,663.3 B and by 2007, due to NAFTA, we had a trade imbalance of -$74,795.8 in one single year.8 Any way the corporate and political-class want to try and spin NAFTA they cannot make that -$363,314 B deficit figure in just 15 years go away. Going forward, any time you see trade deficits with a nation with lower wages than the U.S. think Perot and giant sucking sound of jobs going off shore . . . in this case south to Mexico. In sum total, how bad was NAFTA for America and American jobs? More than $363 B worth of bad . . .
Breakout Resource(s): U.S. Census Bureau: Trade with Mexico Deficit Numbers http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c2010.html
The jury is now in and NAFTA didnt work, it was a horrible idea, poorly conceived, poorly thought out, but executed to perfection upon the American people by the megarich and our political-class. While we cant change the past, we can remember that on November 17, 1993 by a vote of 234 to 200, 132 Republicans and 120 Democrats passed NAFTA in the House of Representatives and then in December it passed in the Senate by a vote of 61 to 38. It was signed into law by president, Clinton, steward of the peoples party and went into effect on January 1, 1994. Our president at the time along with 295 members of Congress from both parties took the corporate campaign contributions, positions on corporate boards along with crony kickbacks and sold the American people, out for pieces of gold. Even more unbelievable is the fact that Clinton is hailed and remembered as a great president and many of the members of Congress that voted for NAFTA are still in office today. While Chelseas multi-million dollar wedding cake is already eaten and Bush I is yachting in Maine, as unbelievable as it is, many members of Congress that voted in favor of NAFTA are still holding public office today still referring to themselves as public servants. Even our current vice president is on the list, but we can do nothing with him, however McCain, McConnell, Leahy and Lieberman, just name a few of the better known names, are still daring to show their face and pretend they represent the American people. Any member of any party that voted Yea for NAFTA must go in the first possible election cycle! We Americans have a short memory politically and economically, but with NAFTA we can never forget until every member of Congress that voted Yea for NAFTA is gone. Mark your ballots now via the list of Yea votes provided via our break out resource below:
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Breakout Resource(s): The NAFTA Vote by Name http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=103 &session=1&vote=00395#name
Now, located just across the border with Mexico, youll find modern factories with literally, almost every known American manufacturing brand without exception. Each one is teaming with cheap labor that took good American jobs and left Americans to flip burgers or stock shelves at Walmart. The profits from this cheap labor can be seen in the massive wealth accumulation in the top percentage of American aristocracy. On this side of the border, in Texas, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan and Minnesota just to name a few of the states involved . . . a massive buzz saw is being cut right through America. Some say it is all part of something called the NAFTA Super-Highway, while others just call it normal road construction and progress. Whatever its called, it will continue to suck more good America jobs down into Mexico as the construction continues to progress. A large part of the expansion consists of the North American SuperCorridor Coalition (NASCO), a 4,000 mile system of toll roads paid for with a public/private partnership that will be run not by an American company but by a Spanish company, Cintra. The highway gives free reign to foreign nationals traveling in an out of America via trucking and railway systems all spurred by NAFTA . . . not to mention drug smugglers, terrorists and anyone else that wants to cruise in and out of America a once sovereign nation. With some limited successes, a few citizens actually awake, have stalled and delayed construction in some areas via budget restraints, but make no mistake the asphalt and rail lines continue to be laid foot by foot every day to complete a grand vision by the mega-rich and corporate America to annex cheap Mexican labor into the U.S. in order to create one nation unto NAFTA . . . with cheap labor and injustice for all. When tax dollars are in limited supply, they use toll roads and when citizens revolt, they delay and lower their profile, but make no mistake the mega-rich and American corporations are committed and hell bent to slip this noose around the neck of America any way they can. Only a committed, diligent, awake and aware force comprised of millions of Americans can stop the gutting of America by a NAFTA Super Highway.
Breakout Resource(s): Lou Dobbs Segment on the NAFTA Super Highway http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBmFrYWPoG8
The entire scheme began as partnership of the fringe left utopians [to raise the standard of living in Mexico and other nations south of the border] and the far right [to funnel profits from cheap labor into the pockets of the mega-rich] . . . strange bed partners dont you think? While NAFTA is well in play, there are still 31 more nations to be fully implemented into the grand scheme on the way. The Central America Free Trade
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Agreement (CAFTA) that will loop in Central American nations passed the House of Representatives by a 217-215 vote in July 2005. To date, it has failed to be fully implemented due to some of the Central American nations not being fully compliant, but several are already sucking American jobs out of the U.S. In addition, to the free trade agreements with Panama, Columbia and S. Korea, pushed through by president, Obama in 2011, the free trade a.k.a. free labor movement propelled by the mega-rich continues to march middle-class America into the sea. The sell out of the American people by Congress simply marches forward and North American free trade [free labor] agreements are but one vehicle of many. President, Obama offered some static and noise on NAFTA during his campaign, but nothing whatsoever once he was actually in office. Why use NAFTA to get elected, then not one word since? You know the answer dont you? The passage of NAFTA alone, more than any other political/economic event, should tell the American people what almost none want in their hearts to believe America is ruled by money at the top. When you set aside all the constant noise on social issues and focus solely on the money trail to the mega-rich and corporate America it always comes down to rule of America by an oligarchy. Its exactly why the mega-rich, via their media machine, keep Americans focused 24/7 on social issues instead of their wallets. All the Party B loyalists need to look no further than president, Clintons massive push and signature on NAFTA to tell them all they need to know about their party. Revisionist history now being spun and written that try to mislead and muddle the facts simply dont hold water. They are all outright blatant lies that are part of an elaborate toxic mix of smokescreens. Its designed to make Americans believe we have a system of two-party rule. American has been sold to the highest bidder for more than 30+ years and NAFTA served up the first modern Americans upon the slave block.
Breakout Resource(s): NAFTA at Seven . . . http://epi.3cdn.net/3ec414c1e7d04464e3_z8m6bna2s.pdf NAFTAs Impact on the States http://www.epi.org/pages/briefingpapers_nafta01_impactstates/ NAFTA: Public Citizens Perspective http://www.citizen.org/trade/nafta/ Census.gov: Trade in Goods with NAFTA with Mexico http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c0005.html#2010 The Wonderful World of NAFTA: Part I a.k.a. NAFTA humor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnVL0d9fwkY&feature=relmfu The Wonderful World of NAFTA: Part II http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxQQael1ueE&NR=1&feature=fvwp
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The Media Game: How it is Played and Who Wins It is threatening, destabilizing and disheartening to let go of closely held beliefs. The worse the storm, the more tightly humans will cling to anything familiar. For years now, weve been led to believe and bought into the idea that we arrived at left/right political polarization all own our own. Anyone that has spent any time whatsoever on Facebook can clearly see just how emotionally invested many Americans are in their political party of choice and beliefs about the current political system. The fringe left and radical right are more like religious cults than political beliefs and both are obsessed with cultural and social hot button issues rather than wallet issues. The time is long past due for someone to ask the question, are social and cultural issues even within the role of government? Assuming the answer is yes, then the question should be asked, how far down the list of priorities should they be behind the critical issues of jobs, a strong U.S. economy and wealth inequality? Shouldnt food and shelter come well before 24/7 chatter about social and cultural issues? For far too long, Americans have been focused almost exclusively on social liberal or social conservative obsessions while the middle-class in America disappears. Clearly the No. 1 role of government is national security and No. 2 is the economy which includes good jobs for American citizens, yet focus on No. 2 until just recently has been virtually zero. Is that just coincidental or is it intentional, driven by the media machine owned by the mega-rich oligarchy? Take for instance the 2009 Health Care (HC) debate. Although HC is not a social issue per say, it certainly wasnt priority one when president Obama and Party B took the reins of power in Washington, D.C. Rome was burning, they had the wind at their back and the hope that real change was possible was at an all time high in America. What did they do? As Rome continued to burn, it was HC for breakfast, lunch and dinner 24/7 for well over a year. When they finally finished, there was nothing bi-partisan in the bill and they rammed down the throats of the American people. Maybe, just maybe, that was the only way it was going to happen and it will end up being good medicine in the long run, but only time will tell? Two things about the HC package are debatable however: 1) Could America afford it during a period of record federal deficits and are the added expenses to employers a good idea in a recession and 2) Was this strictly an ideological pursuit that took place in a damn the torpedoes environment when jobs and the economy should have been priority one instead? While the answers to both questions may be debatable . . . one thing is clearly NOT debatable no way should the entire American political system have been locked down in one single debate for well over a year when Rome was burning economically. No way, no how, no possible justification for it whatsoever! If you disagree with that assessment, then you wont for long because the medicine to come from such inept leadership is a big dose of liberty and freedom [on top of non stop HC repeal efforts]. Did we, do we need massive HC reform? Yes! Should it have been allowed to suck the air out of the room for an entire year? No! America had and still has far more pressing economic issues. People are starving in America, jobs are going off shore, new arrivals are taking jobs on shore, all wages/salaries are stagnant and wealth inequality is at a level that is beyond words yet we talked about HC for a year. Thats not leadership and just like the 24/7 discussions on gay marriage, abortion, the ground zero mosque, terrorism, airport security screenings and whatever gets manufactured as priority one this week . . . its no accident whatsoever.
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These issues and hundreds of others are the diversionary tools used by the mega-rich media machine to steer us away from the really meaningful crucial issues facing America namely wealth inequality that impacts basic food and shelter needs and pursuit of the American Dream. Admittedly, if we can believe the 30+ million number of unemployed and underemployed supplied by our government which is highly dubious most Americans are not yet worried about food and shelter. Those Americans, who dont yet see whats coming, believe that they cant be replaced via an Internet worker. They dont believe that their wages/salaries will be sucked down the spiraling toilet of downward mobility created by a mega-rich monopoly. Those Americans not directly impacted, arent yet asking themselves, who is going to buy their goods and services and with what? Its sure not going to be the millions of unemployed or underemployed yet to come in the years ahead. Hair stylists and Botox providers will serve the megarich alone. Clothiers, dry cleaners and fashion houses can forget about it as well . . . food comes before looking good. Home builders who are still in business will only be building mega-mansions . . . nothing modest for a middle-class that will no longer exist. Again, 70+ percent of our economy comes from exchanging goods and services within our borders and if an even larger percentage of workers are replaced by off shore Internet talent and low wage new arrivals, even more money is removed from the game. Ships bringing in offshore manufactured goods and new immigrants displacing the lower middle-class American workforce were just the beginning. Its the white collar, middle management professionals that currently have more and spend more in the economy that are next on the list to be displaced. So why repeatedly beat this drum once again during a discussion on the American media? Simple: FOCUS! The next social issue or supposed crisis of the day that arises, ask your self this basic question: is this issue really important in the grand scheme of things? Before you go off to Facebook or some other social media arena or start emailing everyone you know, ask yourself how much food the issue will put on peoples table? Does stopping or promoting a mosque at ground zero make your job more secure? Does yammering about airport security screenings create jobs? What does promoting or stopping gay marriage, abortion, prayer in schools or gun control do to combat wealth inequality or creation of jobs? Most Americans have an opinion on almost everything, but nine times out of ten the issues and opinions are frivolous by comparison to our economic issues. Divided by social issues, we cannot be united where it matters on economic issues and the mega-rich know it and manipulate us like rats to work against our own economic self-interests. More than 99 percent of our opinions dont ensure that the American Dream will continue. These opinions dont put food on the table and ensure that American children today and in the future will have food and shelter. For all those that say we can focus upon and accomplish both YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY WRONG! The last 30+ years of financial losses for the middle-class proves that you are wrong. The idea that we can have it all and accomplish it all simultaneously is exactly why nothing has been accomplished to boost the money in middle-class wallets for decades. As noted early on, the mega-rich who currently control our American Monopoly board dont have ANY social or cultural issues. Social issues are for the little people ONLY! What we the little people dont seem to get is every time we allow the mega-rich media minions to divert our attention with yet another social issue to captivate our focus instead of restoring the American Dream via the economy and good jobs were playing right into their hands. Its no conspiracy, just the corporate media playing the role
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of pied piper leading the rats in any direction possible to keep them from focusing on the cheese. It doesnt take a political scientist to quickly see just how deeply ingrained and attached most Americans are to our dysfunctional two-party status quo. Much like survivors clinging to a tree limb in a flood, anything that loosens their grip is felt deeply inside as a threat that will wash them away. Because they have been programmed over decades to hate the other party, any suggestion that in fact there is only one party that serves only the mega-rich is blasphemy. Nonetheless, when you follow the money, look at the voting records, review who wins and who loses within the current political system the megarich always win and the people always lose. That cant just be an accident of chance whereby one party is always outmaneuvered by the other. If we lived in China or some dictator regime, Americans would much more easily believe what youre about to discover, which is: weve been brainwashed into believing closely held beliefs that are just not true. Before exposing the truth, lets first define brainwashing. It is a process in which a group or individual systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator(s), often to the detriment of the person being manipulated. Also called psychological operations, it includes conveying selected information and withholding other information to influence emotions, motives and most importantly objective reasoning. Learning everything about your subjects such as beliefs, likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities is the critical first step. From that point its not that difficult if you can get enough exposure to your subjects because were two legged sheep who will follow each other off a cliff once herded in that direction. If you doubt that reality, even for one second, simply look at the current freedom and liberty cliff millions are lining up to jump off, herded by the false promise of American exceptionalism, that will simply place the boot of the mega-rich more firmly upon everyones neck. According to A.C. Nielson Company, the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day [28 hours per week, 2 months out of ever year], in a 65-year lifespan, a typical American spends 9 years of their life glued to the tube.1 Add to those hours, talk radio and the Internet and we eat sleep and breath media in one form or another like no humans ever before. The enough exposure question, required for brainwashing, is affirmed. Some of the earliest instances of brainwashing were by the Chinese during the Korean War to disrupt the ability of captured U.S. solders to effectively organize and resist their imprisonment. The two elements of fear and duress are almost always part of brainwashing and most Americans would agree, that today were probably more fearful and under more economic duress than any time since the Great Depression. What doesnt seem to exist in America, that exists in almost every brainwashing effort is total control of the subjects to be brainwashed. No where and at no time in the history of mankind has any population had more media outlets and publications, not to mention the World Wide Web, with an apparent environment of absolutely zero censorship of any kind. It would appear that brainwashing is just not possible, with all of our so called free press. Even if someone was feeble minded enough to believe that, somehow via the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), government controls our media, there is complete lack of control of Internet outlets. While this lack of control and censorship is obvious, it is in fact the very
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tool that enables brainwashing. The very freedoms we believe we have is what makes most Americans never mentally deploy any filters or guards whatsoever because we can change channels, stations or click to another website . . . even though most Americans never exercise that freedom. If there were walls and restrictions wed see them, wed recognize we were being limited. Were just not dumb enough to be taken in by some elaborate brainwashing scheme. If we could see the walls and the chains that bind our perimeters of thinking, we could and would resist, but what if the restraints are invisible. What if they are literally hidden within our apparent sense of freedom serving as the primary vehicle to deliver the knock-out punch? Were exposed to the messages of both the so called left and right and we can constantly change channels, go to different websites and read different publications of our own choosing, but we dont. In reality, only a very small percentage of Americans get their information anywhere but the main sources. Just like sheep, were a herd species. Nearly everyone wrongly assumes that brainwashing can only have one singular indoctrination goal. Where is that idea established as fact or reality? The idea that brainwashing must have one singular mindset is just not true. Its simply what we Americans have been led to believe for more than 30+ years. We buy into the game of Party B versus Party A, liberals versus conservatives, good versus evil, us versus them, the good guys against the bad guys and all the while weve been losing our posteriors financially. As long as we have an opponent we can see and fight against, were happy little warriors fighting the battle for social conservatism or liberalism. All the while, for more than 30+ years, trillions of dollars have been sucked somehow from underneath our American Monopoly board and into the pockets of the greedy at the top of the American class pyramid. Virtually every single American wants to trust and believe in our leaders, both political and corporate, as well as our media. From birth, were taught to believe in our nation, to support our nation, to be patriotic, wave the flag and support America. Loving our nation and supporting it, is as it should be, but it is brainwashing nonetheless or at least indoctrination. If that works so well and it appears to, then why would anyone have trouble believing that Americans could have just as easily been brainwashed into believing in two apparent opposing party mindsets? When you think it through, it is far easier to pull that off than brainwashing everyone into one single mindset. We would have recognized that for sure . . . we may be stupid, but were not that stupid! What if the mega-rich were master manipulators that devised a way to herd Americans into acting and heavily investing emotionally in completely opposite belief systems? Could they use such beliefs to further their goals of constant monetary gain? A divided population fights each other dont we? If were divided, does it really matter whether we wear a little liberal or conservative tag? Were going to focus on the apparent adversary . . . the other party. Wealth inequality and some far fetched pyramid scheme thats sucking all the money upward, is and will remain, a nonexistent priority as long as were fighting each other. The only way something this sophisticated, this devious could be pulled off would require all the media to be under the thumb of one controlling force. Well America, that force has been in play for centuries and in the past few decades it has overridden every other force, it is called greed and money. The war strategy being deployed is as old a war
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itself, something that has worked to perfection over and over again throughout history. Once fully accomplished, it has never failed to topple great armies and nations alike. Its called Divide and Conquer and it works in sports, war or any other venue where its critical for people to work together in order to succeed. It doesnt require some grand conspiracy, some new world order, some singular Oz like figure behind the curtain pulling the levers. It simply requires a fairly small group of people to all be on the same page, all working toward the same goal. There is no need to coordinate, no need to draw up an elaborate game plan or have secret meetings. All thats required is to work separately toward either one or two options: push the American people down chute A or chute B [conservative or liberal]. Once thats accomplished and the little people in camp A and B believe 100 percent that some epic battle is taking place for their benefit . . . theyll remain docile, pliable little pups who are easily manipulated by diversion tactics and party propaganda. Behind it all are the mega-rich and their political class puppets, also known as an oligarchy or a plutocracy. They possess all the buttons, levers, stations, channels and websites that we believe were choosing for our news and information every day. While they each vie for more money of course, they have one thing in common. Its a bond stronger than any other force on earth, except survival an unquenchable thirst for more money and more wealth. Their lust for even more money, trumps love of any nation or people and their aim is the exploitation of the entire planet and everyone on it. Please dont confuse the mega-rich with those people across town living in the country club with an inflated ego. This is strictly a discussion of the super-rich, the dynasty families, the transnational corporations and the political class that we have been repeatedly voting into office for decades because it seemed we had no other choice. Essential to their pursuits, first and foremost, is a virtual lockdown and total control of the American media machine. Dont get a lump in your throat or panic now, its too late, it already happened [while citizens were watching American Idol and Dancing with the Stars]. While they were amassing all the important properties on the outside of the American Monopoly board, they bought up virtually all the media and consolidated it into the hands of a few. Over the past several decades we have seen an absolute media explosion of more channels, outlets, websites, radio, cable, satellite communications, mobile communications, books, magazines and newspapers. Never before in history have we appeared to have more freedom in communication channels, outlets and choices. As the outlets have grown something has shrunk while virtually no one was paying attention ownership. Today, revenue producing media to include TV, cable, publishers, websites, newspapers, movie studios and radio are in the hands of a smaller pool of people than ever before in modern history. Most recently, without even a peep from the American people, Comcast used the FCCs APPROVED rubber stamp and $13.8 B to buy a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Company. Philadelphia-based Comcast has about 23 million cable TV subscribers and nearly 17 million Internet subscribers. It also owns a handful of cable channels, including E! Entertainment and the Golf Channel, as well as a controlling interest in the Philadelphia 76ers and Flyers sports teams. Taking over majority ownership of NBC will transform the company into a media powerhouse. NBC Universal owns the NBC and Telemundo broadcast network, 26 local TV stations; popular cable channels including CNBC, Bravo and Oxygen, the Universal Pictures movie studio and
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theme parks and a roughly 30 percent stake in Hulu.com, which distributes NBC and other broadcast programming online. The move simply furthers a disturbing trend, whereby just six companies called the Big Six control almost everything you watch, listen to or read. Independent journalism, objectivity, fair and balanced reporting are now a thing of the past. Its all about control, manipulation, divide and conquer political games, smokescreens and maintaining a status quo political oligarchy in which the mega-rich rule America with their iron fist of oppression. The Big Six Corporate Media Monopolies: General Electric (Comcast) Disney News Corp CBS Time Warner Viacom
Just these six had combined 2009 revenues in excess of $250 B. Just below the Big Six are a second tier of 27 corporations that pretty much own everything not owned by the Big Six media giants. The word everything means EVERYTHING to include: cable, TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, publishers and telecom.
Breakout Resource(s): Who Owns the Media? http://www.freepress.net/resources/ownership
In essence, 33 companies control virtually everything you see, hear or read. Movie studios and the publishing industry are closely aligned, if not owned by this same megarich group of people. A singular small group of elite people [less than 40 companies] control it all! Their annual revenues are half a trillion dollars or more and they have one thing in common: mega money and way too much power, influence and control over everything that happens or doesnt happen in America as well as the world. They officially get together yearly at a media-mogul retreat to ensure that their profits and propaganda machines are fine tuned to benefit their mutual lust for even more wealth. Unlike what the conspiracy theorist fruit loops believe, they do not wear cloaks and meet in darkened caves with a lot of candles, but instead sport Botox faces and designer fashions. What is essential for you to understand is that these media moguls do not have viewers, listeners and readers in mind when they get together. They already know that you are going to watch, read and patronize their garbage machines because A) youre already brainwashed and emotionally invested B) you will cling to anything, like a child to their favorite toy, if it provides any crumb of hope or sense or security and C) at this point youll take any respite or diversion from reality you can get. As long as we remain brainwashed, their profits are secured and not at any risk whatsoever. Sure they compete with each other, but when youre a multi-billionaire losing is subjugated to
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the ultimate goal of taking care of your fellow mega-rich and the political status quo. Its far easier to cry over the loss of a few million dollars on your yacht than to cry with your starving children in a homeless shelter. As long as they are all working toward the same ultimate goal of maintaining the status quo they all win and just cant lose. The American Monopoly board belongs to them and the American people are being played like rats in a maze.
Breakout Resource(s) FAIR http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=100
Keep Them Believing and Waving the Flag For the American mega-rich, their political class and media minions nothing is more critically important to their sophisticated ruse upon the American people than making the little people believe in the current unrestrained free enterprise system within a world economy [as well as our so called democracy]. They wrap it in the flag, encourage you to send your children, not theirs, to fight wars through economic deprivation and promote belief in the current system in every way possible. From TV shows like lifestyles of the rich and famous to tours of celebrity homes, were shown what its going to be like when we arrive at the American Dream. TV shows and talking heads tell us daily of yet another rags to riches story. Autobiographical books are written about how it was done and the individuals are placed on a pedestal and worshiped by the little people with a fervency not seen since Christ walked the Earth. Then, if were fortunate, we even have the privilege of attending How To seminars to detail how we too can become rich as a dog. If we cant make the seminar we can purchase 100s of books on the subject that are published each and every year. America is presented as a beacon on the hill as our political class love to call it, a wonderful land of freedom and opportunity . . . just believe while working really hard and all that you see on TV can be yours as well. If the brainwashing and belief system cracks, the pyramid scheme of the aristocracy is suddenly in jeopardy. Its imperative that youre focused on that carrot that somehow remains just out of reach, but as long as you can see it, youll chase. The American Dream propaganda machine is so subtle at times, that we rarely even notice the brainwashing. Even the most innocuous TV programming, such as brain dead sitcoms, deliver the propaganda and virtually all programming up the cerebral scale reinforces our American Dream belief system . . . perhaps the biggest con game in history. Going back decades to the Sanford and Son sitcom, to virtually everything since that time, the American Dream is alive and well in our corporate media machine. If you recall Sanford and Son, they ran a junk yard, but did they ever want for food, beer, money or a roof over their heads? Nope, they were just good black folks living a media contrived black version of the American Dream. Think about it, while you may see dramas with cancer, crime, terrorism and all sorts of human suffering you rarely if ever see anyone on American television in dire financial straits. It just doesnt happen in America! The mortgage is always paid, food is always on the table and far more often
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than not, everyone is living in a big house, with a swimming pool and driving a big car. If youre not, there is obviously something wrong with you, your character or your work ethic, because this is America! Failure is not an option if you just believe and work 24/7 youll make it . . . even in a junk yard. Why is the show Desperate Housewives all about big houses, white picket fences and prissy shallow women? Does anyone even know an American housewife living on one income? Why has there never been a sitcom or even a drama series based on a foreclosed upon family? The big five banks are reaping the rewards form their greed every single day, but we never get to see a portrayal of American families along with their possessions thrown out into the street with the trash. Why not? Nothing demonstrates just how sick and warped our society has become, more than the wave of crap TV such as NBCs sitcom called Outsourced in which good American call center jobs are held by low wage workers in India. We have reality TV 24/7: shows where cars are repossessed, shows where Americans personal possessions are taken from storage units and sold off and even shows where desperate Americans are pawing all their possessions just to feed their children. In our sick society that is now America this is entertaining and funny for some reason? Instead of empathy, Americans now seem to revel in others financial pain and misfortune and condone the actions of bottom feeding scum profiting from financial collapse. Just like the Great Depression, greedy opportunists are profiting from taking advantage of others financial misfortune, but today, instead of being reviled, they are heralded as entrepreneurs and even present infomercials on how to purchase distressed properties and turn them to make a buck. America was once a nation with some ethics and values, but now greed is as American as apple pie and ice cream. When a fellow citizen is down, instead of offering a helping hand, we kick them! Its all condoned and promoted by a media machine that continues to portray an America that, despite and economic bump in the road, everything is just fine. Just stay with the two-party status quo games, wave the flag and well all be just fine. While were waiting for it to all turnaround, we have the Casey Anthony trial, the Michael Jackson trial and whatever else that comes along to keep our attention diverted from whats important. What about all the so called investigative journalism we view on TV? Race, sexual orientation, medical issues, the ground zero mosque, abortion, school prayer, terrorism, etc. but never ever one single show in history focused upon wealth inequality in America. Why not an investigative report called: Death of the American Dream? Why no reporting on the lost financial ground and jobs over the last 30+ years for 90 percent of Americans? Why no reports on NAFTA or the millions of American jobs that have been shipped off to China and India? When are they going to report on the millions and millions of dollars going into the political coffers of the two political parties . . . then follow the step-by-step pay-to-play votes that are cast in return. That might destabilize our democracy, now wouldnt it? If that happens, the money flow upward may get squeezed . . . they dont want that to happen! If its all about ratings as were told, why not a daily segment on pay-to-play in Washington? Why not report on the complete abysmal failure of our two-party political system as far as serving the people instead of only the mega-rich and political class? Why not graph out the trillions in GDP that went somewhere over the last 30+ years then follow-up to see where all the money went? Wouldnt that bring in viewers and market share, so why no investigative journalism on wealth inequality in America?
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Why no shows on population studies and how were going to deal with 130 million more people in American in less than 40 years? The jobs shortages, the water and food shortages, the link between high fertility rates, lack of education and poverty. Shows that demonstrate the link between legal and illegal immigration, massive poverty in the years ahead and how it is leading to the failure of our public school system that will make America an economic wasteland if not corrected. CNN, for instance, has done multisegment shows on Black in America and Latino in America so where is the show on dirt poor and starving in America? Were told daily that were a melting pot society, so why not a show that explores how the entire pot is melting with the race and xenophobia card as the meltdowns driving force? An exploration on the politics of poverty would make for a wonderful weeklong investigative segment, but that would expose the dirt all over Party B and the media doesnt want that . . . that would be divisive and inflammatory toward their party of choice. Does anyone in America, with an IQ above 90, believe this total lack of coverage and investigation is just coincidence? Virtually none of us are stupid enough to believe we are given the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth via ownership by the megarich of virtually all media outlets. The statistics behind your chances of getting rich have been revealed herein abundantly, but for the suckers still buying the freedom and liberty dog food . . . consider the following. In the Big Box, corporate America we now live within, ask yourself just what business outside of professional sports, acting or rap music will provide you or your children with any real chance of becoming mega-rich? Name one retail business thats not already part of a big box store like Walmart or isnt already part of a corporate chain funneling money to the top? Virtually every business today is under the control of a mega-corporate monopoly that allows no one else in because the efficiencies of size, scale and buying power won't allow competition. They will squash your new business like a bug! Maybe you could try one of those home-based Internet businesses where you invest your meager life savings and work only two hours per day making a million dollars a year? Yea, right . . . It is so critical for the mega-rich and their media machine to play up the one individual out of 311 million Americans that make it big each year that every dime spent on their fame reaps rewards a billion fold, if not far more. Its the most sure fire investment they will every make. How many times have you seen stories on Zukerberg, creator of Facebook? The little dweeb even has a movie out about him. Give it a break already! They rode the Bill Gates myth for 20+ years and now we have another Ivy League brat like Zukerberg being cast as what can happen for you too, if you just believe, wave the flag and trust in freedom and liberty. Now, with the Barack Story, they may have the best rags to riches story of all time. Biracial Hawaiian island boy becomes president of the free world. Son of a single parent, attending and graduating from an Ivy League university and law school has to be the best rags to riches story since Abraham Lincoln. Just short of doing his homework writing with chunks of coal on a shovel like little Abe Lincoln, the story of kid Obama will be programmed into history books by the publishers owned by the mega-rich for centuries to come and the lore will grow with every new edition. The story they will never tell will be how he hooked in with the mega-rich Chicago elite, such as billionaire Penny Pritzker [who was his lead political fund raiser during his presidential run]. Theyll keep the curtain pulled to cover the mega-rich behind his rags to riches story. Guess what, if your black child, currently living within the inner city projects of America hooks up with a
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Pritzker, they too can become president. Anything is possible in America as long as the mega-rich are behind it and approve. Why do you think the mega-rich allowed a black man to play in their game? While president Obamas story and what hes accomplished from humble beginnings is to be admired, its not the complete story by any means whatsoever. Its a contrived story, crucial facts are left out and it serves to further the myth of the rags to riches American Dream mirage. Always remember that reporting selective history is not actually lying, but its also not telling the whole truth. The whole truth is something we will never ever receive from a media machine owned by the mega-rich. Well only hear about the successful entrepreneurs and children from the ghetto that made it big. Well only be told over and over that all you have to do is believe in yourself, study hard, become indebted with huge college loan, work hard and believe in America and all your dreams will come true. Why do the mega-rich via their media machine constantly push this message so hard to brainwash the American people is simple these beliefs are the most essential lynch pin that holds the entire sophisticated ruse together. Remove these closely held core beliefs from the American psyche and the entire thing crumbles like a house of cards. Everyone knows that the system is not perfect. Everyone knows that the political class and mega-rich in our society do not play by the same rules we do. Generally, however, we all still believe in the system and our democracy. In the event that core belief system ever gets even a crack in it the pyramid scheme will crumble and the mega-rich will suffer the consequences, but in actuality far less than the majority of Americans . . . unless were committed to working within the system to end the game. Keep Them Amused, Entertained and Distracted As previously noted, never before has a nation had more media outlets, books, movies, websites and a host of other diversions to keep them distracted from seeking out the truth. Were supplied with reality TV, drama TV, comedy TV, history TV, religion TV, sports channels and 500 other TV variables. Oh top of that, we still have newspapers and more radio than ever, in addition to new vehicles such as websites and mobile communications. All these media vehicles are of course, first and foremost, money machines for the mega-rich, but at the same time they serve as an opiate to keep the masses docile and pliable. Unless youre a political junkie or an economist, political and economic issues are incredibly boring and confusing and stating that fact is just the truth. Why anyone would care or be interested in such arenas, if it were not for the huge financial consequences for every single American, is beyond comprehension. The political arena is ugly and corrupt and economic issues are boring and take a fair amount of time to get informed upon. Tracking voting records and following the money, paying attention to the issues and exploring them in-depth at a level to enable Americans to see well beyond the political parties and corporate smokescreens takes time. The last thing the mega-rich and our political class want is for the American public to be focused and involved. As long as the status quo is maintained by voting for one of their two parties the mega-rich bets to the tune of billions on both red and blue pay off handsomely . . . while all remaining wealth within middle-class America continues to be sucked from beneath the American Monopoly board. Americas absolute obsession with Hollywood, the movie industry, music and the sports world defies all logic, unless it is seen completely through the lens of escape and a population with its head in the sand, afraid to look at reality. While most Americans enjoy
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a good movie, some new music and follow one or more sports teams, were a society completely obsessed with the private lives of actors, musicians and athletes when not engaged in their chosen profession. Celebrity and sports figures alone screw up enough to keep far too many Americans distracted with rehab, jail time, trials, divorces and sex tapes so that paying attention to political corruption seems tame. However, none of that background noise has any financial impact whatsoever upon your life and financial security so why do any Americans bother with it? Why do they care about Tiger Woods sexual kinks and trysts? He still has a billion dollars or more, but were all losing our financial shirt. So why does anyone in American seem to care about Tigers sexploitation of every bimbo he can get his lusting hooks on? Could it be that its simply because the media machine wants you focused on it instead of wealth inequality, tax breaks for the mega-rich and their greed? On the other hand, if a burglar breaks into your home, grabs some money out of your wallet and stole your new big screen TV, you would be on the phone calling 911 whining about missing American Idol. Have you ever made a call to Washington, ever sent a letter or FAX, ever attended a town hall meeting? Since 1979 Washington has enabled thousands upon thousands of dollars to be stolen from your wallet via political corruption, but thats just fine and dandy because its our democracy. Just because politicians arent wearing those little black burglar masks across their eyes doesnt mean they are any less of a thief than the burglar that just crawled out your window with your wide screen TV. Why steal a TV when you can steal millions, wear a business suit and be called honorable? Who wants to be a common thief when you can be a respected politician? Now to the News! If you buy a movie ticket, get your popcorn, take your seat in the dark and there is a movie that depicts a newsroom . . . you get it. Your brain says this is a movie, this is contrived, this is not real, but when you see a newsroom on TV via your remote, the opposite occurs. Your brain says this is the news . . . these are journalists who if they are not telling me the truth the other channel will let me know. Over time these talking heads slowly become our friends. We watch them everyday, grow to trust them and since one political party channel apparently hates the other, were led to believe that balance provides some credibility and validation. Most all the talking heads seem conscientious, trustworthy and sincere . . . whats not to trust? What you must begin to understand, if you dont already, is that EVERTHING you hear and experience via network and cable news is orchestrated and manipulated down to the most minute and smallest detail. The raising of an eyebrow, the cock of the head as they deliver their lines, the sincerity and their subtle voice inflections all the way up the scale to graphics, videos, polls, interviews and timing how they present it is manipulated and controlled by corporations and the mega-rich. This fact is not meant to insult your intelligence by contending that Rupert Murdoch sends the FOX News propagandists their script each day, nor is it meant to say that MSNBC gets theirs from billionaire George Soros all the mega-rich trial attorneys within Party B, but all the talking heads are keenly aware of where their bread gets buttered. They know where the designer clothes and the mansions come from and there is no way are they are going to bite the hand that feeds them. Blame it on that other party, blame it on China, blame it on a bad economy, but just dont blame it on the mega-rich and you get to keep your job,
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the penthouse and vacation home in Malibu. If you were given the choice of journalistic integrity or millions, what would you choose? Since journalistic integrity just doesnt pay the bills . . . virtually nothing gets out via the so called news that the corporations and the mega-rich dont want to get out. The talking heads youre watching are actors playing a role, no less than Clint Eastwood in a western. There is no bang-bang shootout taking place between two main political parties, the good guys versus the bad guys. It is a movie, live at times, with some facts of course but with a lot left out . . . namely anything in regard to wealth inequality, the American pyramid scheme and rule of America by an oligarchy. Just admit it, our media characters are delightful, charming, pretty, handsome, charismatic, sincere, intelligent and appear to be informed. Have you ever met a local or national TV news personality? By and large, they are about one thing and one thing only: their career and making a buck! Any real brains within newsrooms of America are NOT in front of the camera, but instead exists within the heads of writers, producers and the talented people behind the scenes . . . a.k.a. the ugly people that never get on camera. The on camera personalities are in fact nothing less than they have been characterized for years to be talking heads. Meet one in person and the overwhelming majority of them have the depth of a mirror. Just like a mirror, they project what you want them to be. Be it the girl next door the folksy local TV personality, the sophisticated national correspondent or the weighty anchor person. Their goal is to try and either be a reflection of your mirror image in order for you to identify with them, or to appear far smarter than you on all the news and policy issues of the day. Its all about enabling your trust in them. Its a sales technique as old as time and its the essential element in every scam on Earth. The talking heads are 98 percent image and make-up artist and 2 percent substance. For the media, it should be called cake-up instead of make-up since they appear on your screen with something just short of wearing a Halloween mask. If you became romantically involved with one of them, it would be like kissing a prince of princess and waking up with a frog. Our brain knows this of course, but over time after a lifetime of viewing we forget, we let our guard down and our BS filter gets corrupted. After all, these on-camera personalities are pretty, charming and handsome . . . whats not to like? It beats hanging out with our friends or significant others from the real world, who are NOT pretty, charming or handsome. Its the same reason were attracted to Hollywood as false and shallow as it is . . . we actually crave fantasy because reality is getting worse by the day. From our earliest childhood experiences we form bonds and we desperately want to believe in someone or some political party . . . otherwise the world is a pretty scary place. Through experience we form trust relationships simply because we have to trust someone and TV journalists seem especially trustworthy. We can see them, we can watch their facial expressions, we can watch and listen for deception and we can validate what they say by changing channels . . . or at least thats what most of us have believed until now. Do they, along with talk radio, newspapers and news websites tell us outright blatant lies? Of course not . . . you will rarely if ever catch them in a simple lie. After all, were not stupid and require sophisticated lies from silver tongues before well believe. What they dont tell you, however, is just as important, oftentimes far more important, than what they do tell you. They never ever tell you the full complete story on virtually any
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topic. We get opinion journalism with muddy facts and one side only of nearly every story. What we receive is the remaining sum of the addition and subtraction equation in order to keep us divided into either a fruitless Party A or Party B chute of false hope. As long as the mega-rich can keep us from digging any further and funneled into one of the two-parties the status quo is maintained and he money continues to flow upward. Even though the American people have been on a 30+ year financial losing streak, as long we continue to believe there are two sides and two political parties fighting it out on our behalf, well sit complacent and ride it out. As long as we believe its the right or the left killing the American Dream, well fight each other instead of the real adversary. Sex Sells and Always Will Back during WWII in the Pacific, U.S. servicemen were tuned almost nightly to a radio voice known as Tokyo Rose. A sultry female voice that delivered news from home, spoke of servicemen by name and referenced their specific units as she lathered her delivery in sexual tones. She wasnt part of some USO outreach, but instead was a propaganda artist deployed by the Japanese. Our troops were warned not to listen, knew it was dangerous to listen, but they just couldnt resist a sexy female voice as they sat in a battle zone far from home. Her mission was to indoctrinate, make our troops question their resolve and destroy morale. Nothing destroys morale like thinking of sex with no outlet, but nonetheless, men especially, will take what they can get and the voice of Tokyo Rose was hot! Throughout history, women have been known to talk guys into anything. Starting with Eve getting Adam to eat that apple or Delilah getting Sampson to cut his locks men are suckers for beautiful women. All the blood drains out of the brain, heads south and the male brain just simply shuts down . . . it just cant be helped. Take the recent femme fatale Russian spy nabbed in NYC, a drop dead gorgeous redhead named Anna Chapman. Why would the Russians send her? Simple: 99.9 percent of American males would turn over the codes to the U.S. nuclear arsenal to Anna Chapman in a heartbeat. No torture, no bamboo shoots under our fingernails, no mind control or truth serum required, just her powers of persuasion and voila the Russians would posses the codes to our nuclear arsenal. When faced with the dilemma of, nuclear annihilation of the entire world or sex with a hot redhead with a Russian accent . . . 99.9 percent of American males will go with the sex and take their chances on nuclear annihilation. If a man will blow up the entire world for a hot femme fatale, then where is his head when hes watching cable news 24/7? Its the same place it is when hes watching football . . . on the cheerleaders! What to you think the binoculars are for? Why do you think former high school cheerleader Megyn Kelly and former Miss America Gretchen Carlson are on FOX News? Heres a hint, its not their brains. Even the most die hard liberal male will click over to FOX to check out Megyn Kelly [as long as no one will ever know]. They are not tuning in for the news, astute journalism and political insights. Just like the beauty queens masquerading as journalist, working for MSNBC, ABC, CBS and CNN . . . theyre femme fatales just like Anna Chapman. They are working for the adversary just like Tokyo Rose worked for the Japanese. In this case, the hot propagandists are working for the mega-rich in exchange for million dollar salaries and designer clothes. While women may not sell out as easily as men for sex, a closet full of new shoes will get them to say and do anything. We all have our Achilles heel . . .
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Men know better in their minds, but not in their pants and all women know that most of the pretty girls in high school and college were just not too smart. Even the ones that were intelligent didnt bother to exercise their brain. Humans use whatever assets God gave them to their advantage and most people take the paths of least resistance. Did Megyn Kelly earn her law degree? There is no doubt that she did, but there is also no doubt that earning it and getting a job at FOX News was far easier for her, than it would have been for an ugly duckling. Is the point that all beautiful on air news journalists are dumb? No, absolutely not! Many are brilliant, competent and extremely professional who deserve everything they have received in life. In fact, beauty can quite often be a discrimination obstacle to overcome. Oftentimes however, especially in the on air news business beauty alone, with nothing on the journalism ball, can land a pretty face on your TV screen. Almost any bimbo can read a teleprompter filled with material they did not write. In general the not so strikingly beautiful people in this world are far smarter than the beautiful people simply because they have to be. Where is the so called womens movement when it comes to news networks? Where are they when it comes to equality for women? Mega-ugly males such as Charles Krauthammer are allowed on FOX News and plus-sized Candy Crowley is allowed on CNN, but by and large only the beautiful people fill our TV screens. The organization NOW should be out in front of every single news network on a daily basis protesting for the rights of less than strikingly beautiful women in America to get on camera. [If you are waiting for men to rise up and stop it, forget about it . . . NOT going to happen!] The network and cable news business is by far, without a doubt, the most sexist entity in America outside of Vegas and Playboy magazine. Not only is it discrimination at its worst, that deprives highly qualified talented women from working in the industry, more importantly it means America more rarely gets news from anyone thats actually quailed to deliver it. Now more than ever before, America needs real journalists on TV, not drop dead gorgeous former Miss Americas reading a teleprompter . . . The Sky is Falling! Do you remember Chicken Little? The dumb cluck that was hit in the head by an acorn and sent the world into panic because she thought the sky was falling. Now Chicken Little is a TV news journalist all dressed up designer fashions with a million dollar pay check. Almost every single day she squawks the sky is falling, the sky is falling! The stock market crashed, a dirty bomb is in Washington, the ice caps melted while you were sleeping, swine flu will kill every American by spring, every marine life form is dead in the Gulf of Mexico, an Islamic terrorist in the hills of Pakistan issued a jihad, Iran now has the bomb, well have no drinking water by 2015 and on and on it goes day after day . . . hype, hype and more hype! Breaking news, tune in at 7, dont miss this special report!!! As bad as it is when the media does have something vaguely news worthy its even worse during a dead news period. Instead of just shutting up, they eat their young and begin to manufacture some crisis of the day. Although its part of the ratings game, its also part of the way in which the mega-rich who control the media keep the American people on their heels and unfocussed on their insidious greed. If a dirty bomb is rumored to be somewhere in Washington, D.C. which is more likely: A) youll go to the Internet and research how many million America jobs got shipped to
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China this week or B) youll sit glued to the tube to see if the six million people in the D.C. metro area wither and die from radiation poisoning? You know the answer and so do the mega-rich that control the corporate media machine. If they cant keep you sedated with American Idol, action thrillers and cop shows then the next best thing is to keep you in a constant state of fear and panic. If Washington is about to be devastated by a dirty bomb, then American jobs being shipped to China by the mega-rich will be the last thing youll be focusing on. Pushing the panic button as often as possible serves their interest for ratings and revenues, but its also part of a multi-tiered scheme to keep the American public on its heels and distracted 24/7. Otherwise, the little people might actually stop and focus for ten minutes, realize they have been getting screwed for 30+ years and turn on the aristocracy instead of worshipping them. These People are News Journalists? Does anyone remember Walter Cronkite, the distinguished and intelligent CBS news anchor for decades? Can anyone in America answer the question of how we ever got from Walter Cronkite to Katie Couric? How such a bimbo could make $15 million per year, more than any other news anchor in the history of civilization? Any further evidence for just how far journalism in America has fallen is only supplemental to Katie Couric anchoring a major TV newscast for years. Thankfully, CBS finally put an end to the nightly torture, but if Katie Couric was anchor material . . . then CBS News has become a paddle boat. Its as if CBS News played a horrible bad joke upon the public and even though her number of viewers was always the lowest of the big three network newscasts . . . theres was no pay cut and they kept her on the air year after year. How she ever escaped NBC Today where she did soft news and human interest stories is beyond comprehension. Perhaps now, she will go back to playing with puppies on camera or some other frivolous feel good, human interest story and get out of the news business forever . . . lets hope!. For America to have endured this news lightweight in Walter Cronkites chair from the Today Show was the biggest mistake ever made by a news network. Do you recall Y2K . . . the last time the media told us the Earth was about to come off its axis? The media story was that all our computers were going to turn on us and eat us. As the story was spun and told over and over for more than a year beforehand, at midnight or very soon thereafter on January 1, 2000 every computer in the entire world would go bonkers because they had not been programmed to handle the year 2000. Hard to believe that no one had ever thought that far ahead, but it was a clock, date thing of some sort. No one apparently really knew what it was or if it would actually cause any problems, but lots of IT consultants made millions of dollars off supposedly fixing it and the media got millions of eyeballs and ears hyping it to ad nauseam for more than a year. If the HC debate when on past what any human could tolerate, Y2K was like HC on steroids! Everyday from every rooftop, the media screamed Chicken Little hysterics of Y2K doom and gloom to come. Every light bulb in the entire world would go black, all ATMs would fail, all security systems would fail and all stock markets around the world would crash. On New Years Eve instead of drinking in the New Year . . . everyone, it seemed, was on their knees praying to the computer Gods. Anyone who just happened to be watching NBCs New Years broadcast were in for a real insight into the mind of American journalism. Little Katie Couric, known to many back then as Americas sweetheart, was co-hosting the broadcast.
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The seconds ticked down, anticipation driven by all the media hype was at a fevered pitch and every eye in America was glued to the clock. Yikes Y2K was about to happen! What was next? Nothing . . . about like sex was the first time somewhat awkward after all the anticipation and buildup. All of Americas esteemed TV journalists just kind of sat there dumbfounded as if the only thing Y2K had killed was all teleprompter software in the world. Speechless they were, for the first time ever in history they finally shutup for one glorious moment in time, but not for long . . . breaking the awkwardness and confused mumbling was Americas sweetheart Katie. Amid what should have been a massive world-wide celebration [because no one had died from Y2K and not a thing seemed to be amiss] little Katie said, . . . this is kind of boring. To little Katie and the rest of Americas news media, no death and destruction are boring. What else do you need to know about Katie Couric, and the news media in general for that matter, other than that? They are like children, they get bored easily. For us a day without no volcanoes erupting, earthquakes in California killing thousands, no terrorist attacks, no plane crashes and no stock market crashes is a really good day. For Katie and all her news media lightweights, a day where nothing happens is like absolute hell on Earth. The media flop on Y2K was a total bummer to them. These people live for hype and when something fizzles into nothingness they go bonkers, fidget and fall all over themselves looking for thrills and something to hype. To them death and destruction are cool, but in bad way. They are sorry it happened of course, but by God it will make a great story more so called journalism awards. From their somber well rehearsed heartfelt delivery to their folksy every man identity . . . its all a role, no less than an actor on a stage. Once its done, they unplug, go to a penthouse in NYC and live large until its time to put their news face on again. There are no longer newscasts in America . . . what we have today is news theater of the absurd. All scripted, placed on a teleprompter, then read and acted out by talking heads. Its acting, no different than what takes place in Hollywood, except their lines are about the news of the day to some extent. The real question is who decides what makes the news that day, whats put in and most importantly whats left out? Its all about how to push the Chicken Little panic button to distract the public and deliver ratings? How to make the economic devastation look as though its Chinas fault not the fault of the mega-rich media moguls that own the news. Everyday is all about twisting, manipulating and massaging the so called news to ply the minds of the American people into believing we live in a democracy instead of an oligarchy. All the while, money continues to slip from underneath the American Monopoly board and we the people continue to lose at the game. Keep Them Fighting . . . Each Other Never let it be said this book is insulting your intelligence by suggesting that the two political parties and the elite have enough control that they all sit in the same room and divvy up hot button topics and social issues in order to keep the people divided. It is however a fact that all the mega-media moguls meet at lest once per year to discuss their industry, trends, etc. Its also a fact that all the talking heads, pundits and so called TV journalists cross industry paths at such events as the yearly White House Correspondents Dinner and seem to get along just fine in the same room. They are all in
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the same industry which means they network, mingle and even change networks from time to time. So called liberals transform to become conservatives and former conservatives such as Arianna Huffington become liberals. How does this happen and why? The answer to that question is about market share a.k.a. MONEY. Its not like they are walking down a street of NYC or Washington, D.C. one day and are struck down by a bright light . . . suddenly converting from a greedy conservative into a bleeding heart liberal or visa versa. What strikes them in the head is a big bundle of money. Arianna Huffington a so called progressive and cofounder of the highly successful left leaning Huffington Post website was a popular conservative commentator in the 1990s. She was even married to Michael Huffington, a Party A Senator. Before marrying Michael, she was romantically involved with Jerry Brown, current California governor and a Party B liberal. While still married to the senator she promoted Newt Gingrichs contract with America and Bob Doles presidential campaign. Prior to the Huffington Post, she had a website called Ariannaonline which called for President Clintons removal and attracted a conservative audience. Now shes the heroine of the progressive, liberal crowd. Her latest conviction of conscience may last only until she beds another conservative . . . only time will tell? One thing is for sure the $315 M she just got from AOLs buyout the Huffington Post will keep her in designer fashions for a long time to come. If she is now the heroine of the little people, shouldnt she at least dress like the little people? As stated early on herein, follow the money and you will always uncover the truth. Lets take the case of Glen Beck, currently the most hated figure by the left just behind Rush Limbaugh. Thankfully FOX and the American people finally wised up enough to boot this laughing stock off out TV sets, but before Beck arrived at FOX News he was on CNN. Back then, CNN was losing market share a.k.a. money to FOX. What did CNN do? They did research to uncover the issues and percentages within the American public that would garner the biggest numbers. Voila this unknown clown named Glen Beck shows up on CNN with those exact same opinions. Its funny how someone, anyone, would have the exact same opinions that the research showed would grab major market share. Just what was needed to steal market share from FOX. Once he made the move to FOX he underwent yet another metamorphosis into some type of major cult figure [at least in his mind]. The consummate American history expert, constitutional lawyer, economist and last but not least someone that sits at the foot of God himself. From time to time, although rarely, there were some grains of truth to what he had to say, but for the rest of the time . . . anyone with an IQ above 90 had to be saying, give me a break! A master of spin and manipulation who doctored every piece of history, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights this buffoon created what he called Beck University as if were all stupid and need to learn something from him. We can only assume that at the Beck University graduation ceremony, instead of black robes and mortarboards . . . they wear white sheets and dunce caps. If you never watched the show you simply missed out upon a one act daily play within a theater of the absurd we call politics in America. There has never been a bigger charlatan than Beck to crawl upon its belly across the Earth. A former drunk he played
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the part of TV evangelist, history professor and minister of sincerity to a point where it made any sane American want to puke! In one show segment he was raising money for fallen warriors and he pulled out nine pennies from his pocket that he says were sent to him by a poor American that just wanted to help out. With crocodile tears welling up in his eyes and voice cracking this vile excuse for a human made an emotional plea for poor Americans to send more pennies. He may as well have been Jimmy Swaggart, the crying televangelist, reincarnated as a political preacher. On 9/11 all of Americas cried and there is nothing wrong whatsoever with tears, but crying over nine pennies from a poor American is the most laughable buffoonery ever to air on American television. While this book has strived to be objective and balanced, any human under this guys spell is simply not salvageable and beyond help. To his followers this charlatan is no less dangerous than Jim Jones, the pastor that killed off thousands of his parishioners via cyanide laced Kool-Aid. When you mix evangelism, God and politics all in the same cup, the chemical reaction is most often toxic and deadly. To see what it delivers, simply look at Iran . . . Even if you worship and love the guy you have to admit that he reminds you of that fat cheeked, chubby kid in high school the one that just never quite figured out that he was the butt of all the jokes. You remember him, the guy who never had a date, walked like a duck, wore 1950s attire, ran for class president and lost by mile . . . the guy who was always screaming about showing some school spirit! Not much has changed has it? The best part of the show was when he received his visions. Hes looked into the camera speaking from the innermost core of his soul, suddenly pauses, looks up into the sky as if hes receiving a message from God and then returns to Earth to speak to man. The problem is that the message he just received was, I can make millions with this BS! In the 12 months previous to March 1, 2010 Beck made $32 M from his show, books, radio and speaking engagements. Due to the economy, we now have rocket scientists working for minimum wage at McDonalds and this clown is making $32 M? Whereas Beck plays the Mr. sincerity card to ad nauseam, many on the left simply condescend to anyone that is stupid enough not to believe exactly just like them. None do it better than Mr. Snidely himself, Keith Olbermann formerly of MSNBC. Incredulous at the stupidity of anything or anyone even slightly right of center, Olbermann sat as judge, jury and executioner from on high as he spewed his nightly verdicts of condescending phlegm. Obviously brilliant and of superior intellect to the ignorant masses in America, Olbermann sees himself as the pinnacle of human evolution at this point in time just waiting for the rest of us to catch up. A news and political narcissist, its too bad we can no longer worship at his alter each evening unless you can get Current TV a.k.a. the Al Gore version of news. Where and how could one man in a single lifetime acquire such knowledge, intellect and total command of politics, the economy and just humanity in general? A supposed liberal, he briefly dated staunch conservative talking head Laura Ingraham. Opposites attract weve been told, but in the media/political arena the opposites are simply opposite routes to the same goal . . . getting their hands on the almighty dollar via market share. To whom and to what do we have to thank for allowing us, simple minded mortals, to walk the same Earth with a news God and political genius like Olbermann? The answer: sports. You know, dumb jocks. The first twenty years of Olbermanns career were spent in sports journalism including a stint at ESPN. He abruptly left ESPN under a cloud of controversy in what turned out to be a long drawn out saga with the network. In
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November 2002, he published and essay in Salon.com titled Mea Culpa, in which he stated, I couldnt handle the pressure of working in daily long-form television, and what was worse, I didnt know I couldnt handle it. Wow, couldnt handle working a full-time job in sports, but can handle anything and everything political on the entire planet? Thankfully, Olbermann and his snide condescending diatribes have moved on hopefully never to return to prime time. Far from being as snidely, Olbermanns former partner is 100 percent partisan. MSNBCs Chris Matthews got his start in politics as a police officer with the U.S. Capitol Police. From there, he somehow parlayed that into a position as a presidential speechwriter for the Carter administration. Cop to speechwriter for the president? Maybe he had something on the president . . . its the best theory one can dream up of how someone goes from Capitol cop to presidential speechwriter? Not that the partisan cat was ever in the bag, but if it was, it escaped with a roar of laughter when during the 2008 presidential campaign, Matthews said, I have to tell you, you know, its part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obamas speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean I dont have that too often. A news journalist said this? This is who we turn to for our news? Why doesnt the Party B just put him directly on their payroll? What about MSNBCs Andrea Mitchell who is married to the greatest economic genius of our age. You know, Alan Greenspan, former head of the Federal Reserve. The man most every expert believes is the architect of the Great Recession were now living within a man who did the bidding of the mega-rich Wall Street crowd that collapsed our entire economy. If marrying bad were a crime, far too many of us would be in jail and holding that against Andrea is unfair, but on the other hand . . . having her report on the Federal Reserve, bad economic news, etc. has to be considered a big slap in our face. When she reports the absolutely dismal unemployment numbers each month, shouldnt she at last be compelled to say that most experts believe they were brought about by my husbands in competence as head of the Federal Reserve. Probably the two most partisan humans on the planet within the media are MSNBCs Ed Schultz and FOX News Shaun Hannity. These two guys know nothing but Party B or Party A. For Shultz everything wrong with American is because of the Tea Party and Party A and for Hannity he might as well have the word Party A stamped in red on his forehead. They may as well be funded directly by the two dominate political parties . . . they do nothing but spew party dogma and promote their partys candidates. Nothing that comes out of their mouth ever deviates from glowing reviews of their partys candidates and its always the other party that is causing all of Americas problems. While the list could go on and on and on naming people such as ABCs George Stephanopoulus who was Clintons press secretary being allowed to report the news . . . the list would never end. They are all making millions by parlaying direct party affiliations or obvert partisan politics into careers in what we now call journalism. This is NOT journalism! It doesnt even resemble journalism. Its a party propaganda machine designed to play one group of Americans against the other in order to capture market share and maintain the status quo a.k.a. the money flow to the top.
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No review of the joke we now call news would be complete however without mentioning the big daddy of them all. The one and the only king of blowhard gas bags known as Rush Limbaugh. In 2008 he signed a $400 M dollar contract through 2016 with Clear Channel in order to continue emitting his repugnant gas upon the airwaves of America. In attempting to describe this guy where do you start, what do you say? The word charlatan falls so far short in describing Limbaugh that no word or words will do him justice. From a family of lawyers, during his semester and a half of college his mother said, he flunked everything . . . he didnt seem interested in anything except radio. He dodged the draft for Viet Nam with a football injury, but during the Persian Gulf War he hammered peace activists. A known and admitted drug addict, since reformed of course, this guy is the designated face and voice of conservative America? Singing at his fourth and most recent wedding was none other than Elton John, who Rush paid $1 M dollars. Last time anyone checked or cared Elton John was gay or bisexual, wasnt he? Arent so called conservatives, especially Mr. Conservative himself, Rush Limbaugh, anti-gay? The question is who is the bigger hypocrite Elton or Rush? It would have to be Rush dont you think? The only real and unflappable true convictions Limbaugh has are as flappable as his big fat belly and the money in his wallet. Hes the political equivalent of Howard Stern and if he could show and play with boobies on his show, like Stern, under the guise of politics, he would. Limbaugh is a political shock jock and nothing more. His goal is singular with one focus only to make a whole bunch of money while serving his greedy masters of the universe. Does anyone believe, even for an instant, that most of Americas talking heads, pundits or talk radio mouth pieces care in the least about America? They are in this as a business to make a buck and to serve their mega-rich masters who own the entire American media machine. The only true convictions most of Americas media darlings have is money! They want to get their hands on as much of it as they can get, just like the mega-rich for whom they work. Perhaps no evidence is more compelling than the existence of the first couple of politics: Mary Matalin and James Carville. The staunch conservative Matalin and the loquacious southern tongued Carville may have taken the two-party ruse upon America to new heights, a few years ago, when they married. Any and all political credibility they may have had, previous to the marriage, should have gone out the door, once the marriage was consummated. Come to think of it, lets not envision those two consummating a marriage [lets pray there is no secret sex tape]. They epitomize the two-party sham upon the American people that benefits no one but the mega-rich in charge of the game. By allowing your blood pressure to rise from Limbaugh gas or the Matthews Party B love-fest you perpetuate the divide and conquer game being played by the aristocracy. They are the pied pipers leading the mice out of the city and into the country side of a Third World existence. We dart here, and jump there like a cat on a hot stove never landing for more than a moment on any one issue with any focus most especially the issue of our wallet, our money and wealth inequality in America. When do they report on the details of trade agreements sending our jobs to China, India and Mexico? When do they report on how much 90+ percent of Americans have lost in buying power over the past 30+ years? Answer: Never! They just keep turning the stove eyes on and off and we jump from hot button to hot button. The time has come for the little people to focus like a laser on our money and our wallet and stop being played for suckers by media manipulation.
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Blurring the Lines A relatively new phenomenon has occurred with the Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich on the Fox News payroll. In all three cases its impossible to call any of them journalists, but Huckabee has a folksy show that airs weekly and Palin is on from time to time as well. Gingrich comes on to promote his website in a send me money pitch so I can pretend Im running for president and wont have to work. Palin even had a short lived reality show on the Discovery Channel. With all three having quasi presidential aspirations it blurs the lines of journalism, news and campaigning to a level previously unheard of in America. Its millions and millions of dollars in free campaign money contributed by FOX News and Rupert Murdoch. The same Rupert Murdock illegally tapping phones within political circles all over the world. For Palin, justified or not, she quit her job as governor of Alaska to write a book that made millions and has now become some type of pseudo-celebrity political rock star who is difficult to categorize. Unfortunately, raising money for a political presidential run if thats her intention is a necessity in todays reality, but if that is not her intention, then that causes even more head scratching. A pseudo-celebrity political rock star on a network as a journalist, to make money while advocating for political candidates of one particular party, is not positive for the democratic process. Even though Pat Buchanan has written and been a broadcaster for years on MSNBC, he has not been a presidential candidate for years. Palin truly blurs all the lines and now that her daughter has become a pseudo-celebrity by parlaying teen pregnancy into fame and fortune and a spot on Dancing with the Stars . . . the lines have become even more blurred. There was a time in our society when an unwed teen mother was sent off to have the child and then the baby was put up for adoption and nothing was ever heard about the incident. Not to say that shunning is the correct way to handle such incidents, but clearly society is within a downwards spiral, if getting pregnant as a teen makes someone a celebrity. While many couples try for pregnancy in vain for many years, the last time someone checked the actual act required for getting pregnant was not something that requires a whole lot of talent. Once you figure it out the first time, almost anyone can do it and when a teenager and her boyfriend do it, then become famous and rich for it, something has gone just a little whacky in our society. Why dont we make all unwed teenage mothers famous and rich? Its only fair . . . it would save parents all across America a whole lot of money. In the case of Mike Huckabee, this guy has more lives than a cat. A seminary drop out and ordained Southern Baptist minister he became governor of Arkansas by taking over the governors mansion after then governor Jim Guy Tucker was convicted of fraud. The next thing you know the guy is running for president of the United States. Like any good cat, he landed on his feet with his own weekly television show where he plays bass guitar, conducts weekly folksy chats with innumerable guests on topics on everything from aliens, legalization of marijuana, books, Hollywood and everything else that Oprah covers. Then in his spare time he leads tourist groups to the Holy Land. Journalist, preacher, political candidate or what? Does anyone in America remember that, as a nation, we were founded upon the bedrock belief that church and state should always be separate? Just as noted with Glen Beck, when you mix religion, God and politics all in the same cup the chemical reaction is most often toxic and deadly. Again, for evidence, look no further than Iran for your evidence . . .
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Media Conclusions if Any The 2010 Pew Research Study (linked below) speaks volumes about how much so called news Americans get and where we get it. Surprisingly, 86 percent of Americans actually get news every day and on average we spend 70 minutes per day getting it. Even though there are now a multitude of venues and options, as noted in the study, the largest single news venue is now cable news, such as FOX, CNN and MSNBC.
Breakout Resource(s) Pew Research Study http://people-press.org/report/652/
Is there any trend in so called news, other than getting less, that is more detrimental to an intelligent, informed American public than cable news phlegm? From gotcha politics, sound bites only, sensationalism, political-party gamesmanship and party-specific news channels such as MSNBC and FOX News 24/7 . . . cable news is a diet of what can only be called total crap for idiots! They will do anything just short of mooning viewers to get ratings. To simply place two opposing heads in side-bar boxes, them argue endlessly and call that news is an insult to the American public! It is noise only, background static that serves no useful purpose other than to inflame, confuse, baffle and frustrate the American public. Everyone knows that viewers = money and the more people that watch the more money they make. Cable news is therefore forced to conclude, viewers must like this dog food were feeding them because they keep tuning in. What would happen if 1/3 of all cable TV viewers or even far more, sent their network of choice an e-mail that said, as of today, Ive cut you off and will not cut you back on until you report on wealth inequality in America, how much money is flowing upward, tax rates and loopholes for the mega-rich and pay-to-play campaign contributions that are bribing Congress to further the interests of the aristocracy. Just such an effort can happen with some coordination across existing advocacy organizations. Every dime that purchases homes in the Hamptons and designer clothes for the talking heads comes from one source: advertising revenues. We click our remotes to off and advertising revenues dry up like a desert. Guess what happens next? Real journalism, reporting the truth for the first time in decades instead of the total crap were now getting 24/7 from paid propagandists working for the mega-rich. We now know who owns the media, we know who manipulates it and we now know weve all been played for fools and suckers by a contrived media machine run by the mega-rich. It cant be said it enough times that there is no conspiracy behind it . . . just the mega-rich all on the same page. First and foremost its designed to divide and conquer, secondly its designed to keep the button of fear and panic pressed at all times and thirdly its designed to baffle Americans to keep them unsteady, unorganized and jumping from one hot button social issue to another instead of focusing on our wallets. The intention of this entire book, and especially in regard to American media, is
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to expose the big economic picture, to enable Americans to see the forest instead of being caught up and blinded in the trees. Its all just unproductive noise and static that clouds focus and entraps American minds from being able to see the real game behind the media machine. While media reform efforts such as breaking up the media monopolies are one route, in reality the only solution at present may be to simply cut cable news off until they report the news instead of oligarchy propaganda. As long as we allow ourselves to be manipulated and divided as a people by the mega-rich media machine well never be able to focus on the true adversary and that adversary is not each other. High Jacking the Christian Religion To the logical mind, in a nation founded in pursuit of religious freedom and the separation of church and state, it would seem that the topic of religion would be alien to a discussion of wealth disparity, the economy and jobs. In reality within the American political psyche, in terms of how we vote and by what priorities . . . nothing adds up to anything that resembles rational thought. By the time we vote, our minds are so twisted, so warped and so manipulated by the media machine that specifics of economic policy dont even figure into the scheme. If the economy is bad, we simply vote for the other party with nothing whatsoever to back up why. If an alien visited Earth from another planet they would laugh us out of the universe for being uninformed on any economic issues and going to the polls with no financial basis whatsoever for voting. Clearly there is no party platform focused on wealth disparity, the economy and jobs, nor is there any unwavering focus of the three issues by our political class or even the American people. The reason for that lack of focus is intentionally driven by the megarich, but is it is also unintentionally driven by every conceivable need of the people being poured into the political waters. The result is nothing but muddy water clouded by social issues and culture wars with sediment at the bottom of the glass constantly being stirred by our corporate owned media. A constant fire hose of manipulation and misdirection equals missed opportunities for America to focus on bread and butter issues and what actually matters to every average American. Perhaps nothing can muddy political waters, elicit passions and lead to a more illogical economic path via the political arena than introducing religion into the mix. Whether its Black liberation theology being preached by Reverend Wright on the fringe left or the radical right brand of twisted theology . . . religion within the political arena is poisoning rational thinking and blocking the path to real economic solutions. For all its undeniable good, history demonstrates that if religion is high jacked and twisted, it can be a wildly compelling force for evil. Its just such a high jacked and twisted brand of religion that currently has far too many citizens focused exclusively on the ongoing culture wars in America instead of wealth disparity, the economy and jobs. Ever since 9/11, Americans have been told that Muslims as a whole are not evil, but that a radical fringe element within the Muslim religion is responsible for the wars and all the terrorist acts. While most Americans may believe that idea, they fail to see the threads of radicalization introduced into the Christian religion that support evil, greed and avarice on the part of the mega-rich.
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Although subtle, the current wave of prosperity theology being preached from pulpits all across America feeds into the failure of the Christian community to confront greed and avarice on the part of the mega-rich. In truth however, the seeds whereby the Christian religion was high jacked to support the greedy were sewn long ago. The introduction of religion into politics, as alien as that is to our Constitution and Bill of Rights, began several decades ago with the abortion issue. It gave rise to a multi-million dollar business of religion that now funds a multi-media behemoth movement that loosely operates under what was once called the moral majority. Via every issue conceivable, except for wealth disparity, the economy and jobs, this brand of religion has been high jacked via issues such as abortion, gay marriage and unquestioned support for Israel into a voting bloc that unwittingly supports the greed and avarice of the mega-rich. While this book is obviously no fan of Party B, the money funneling power seeded to Party A over the past couple of decades by high jacking Christianity is absolutely repugnant! Today, via decades of manipulation, Party A is seen by millions of Americans as the Party of God. Its almost as if devotees believe that Party As political platform came down form Mount Sinai on a stone tablet along with Moses when he delivered the Ten Commandments. The last time someone checked, chief among the Ten Commandments is the one that says thou shall not steal via campaign finance bribery and political corruption, but thats obviously not part of the radical rights morality platform. The gospel of Party A is preached from pulpits all across America. Its propelled by such media vehicles as the Christian Broadcasting Network and such shows as Pat Robertsons 700 Club. The mindsets tentacles now spread beyond religion to the culture war manipulation being waged by such radical-right propagandist websites such as World Net Daily. Its tentacles even reach into mega-rich backed think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation. Religion has now been so twisted around and intertwined into the political arena that far too many Americans dont even recognize the seeds of deceit being sewn. In total, this politically infected brand of Christianity serves one master and that master is not God! The true master is greed and avarice as practiced by the mega-rich who benefit from this misguided, manipulated and gullible brand of political Christianity. It furthers the sophisticated divide and conquer strategy propelled by the greedy to direct millions of American citizens to work in direct opposition to their own economic self interests. The strategy is straightforward and simple: focus Americans within this voting bloc on the culture wars and not on their money. Tune in some time to the 700 Club and listen for commentary upon the suffering brought about by greed or any mention whatsoever of the massive wealth inequality in America. Anyone that has ever picked up a Bible or knows anything whatsoever about its teachings can easily uncover such versus as: Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. Isaiah 10:1-2 The above is just one verse in the Bible and the intention of this book is not to preach or to create a mini-seminary experience, but instead to lightly demonstrate that the Bible clearly teaches that America clearly has an obligation to the poor, the homeless and the
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downtrodden citizens in out society. There are literally hundreds of versus in the Bible that teach both empathy and compassion and against greed, avarice and materialism, but all those versus were conveniently been deleted from the radical rights Bible. It has become an extremely perverted brand of religion that is being manipulated and twisted against Gods teachings and intentions. The focus is only on abortion, culture wars and so called social conservative issues with zero emphasis or any attention whatsoever on economic issues, massive wealth disparity and the sickening greed within America. In pulpit after pulpit, the 700 Club and too many TV preachers, websites and book stores today it seems that money, greed and avarice are their God. From megachurches to massive money making TV networks, websites, books and the entire religion industry, it has become a money game only. Can anyone in America truly say that the Muslim religion is anymore twisted and bastardized than the radical rights version of Christianity in America? Via the dangling of issues such as abortion and gay marriage along with unquestioned support of Israel and mixed with end times prophesy . . . the religion industry in America is being radically manipulated to support the goals of the greedy aristocracy in America. This isnt to say or contend that Pat Robertson is financially supported by the mega-rich, although some of that exists, but instead he and his followers are woefully misguided and manipulated into a bloc vote for Party A. Social conservative or social liberal hot buttons are just part of the political game no less than religion. To call or believe that Party A is the Party of God is nothing short of blasphemy unto God. Religion is just another way to get elected or stay in office and nothing else whatsoever! Anyone that believes that a big Party A bus, full of members of Congress, will be sitting by the pearly gates of heaven when they arrive are lost puppies. With religion currently being twisted and manipulated to justify war, elimination of a social safety net via deficit reduction and every other party-only ideological agenda imaginable . . . Christianity has been high jacked! What transpires under the name of Christianity within the halls of Congress, the political manipulation of Christianity from pulpits and a vast multi-media network is not just twisted, but instead is an evil poison that furthers the rule of America by a mega-rich oligarchy. It doesnt take a Bible scholar to know that no where in the scriptures does the Bible condone greed and avarice, no where does it support starving poor citizens and the needy in America and no where does it condone religion being introduced into the political arena as a tool to further political power and ambitions. The false prophets and the manipulators currently engaged in what can only be described as a warped and twisted brand of religion for political gain and more money are not working for God. The only people that benefit from this sick and twisted brand of religion are the megarich and an ever growing segment of the political class that stand upon the Bible in order to cheat, steal and engage in political corruption that is destroying the American Dream. Americans buying into this warped brand of religion, needs to get off the tour bus next time they visit Washington and their state capitols. Look no further than the infidelities and sexual misjudgments of Schwarzenegger, Foley, Sanford, Craig, Ensign and Vitter just to name a few of the Party A charlatans who milked the religion and family values game to get into office and stay in office in order to funnel more money to their greedy masters. The well known Congressional fellowship group known as The
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Family has to be the biggest scam and ruse ever pulled on the American people while standing upon the Bible. If it were not so sad and pathetic it is a split-your-sides laughable reality to think that millions and millions of Americans actually believe that members of Party A sit around in Washington, D.C. reading their Bible and praying. They are praying alright, praying that the America people dont wise up to their game of religion manipulation being utilized to screw the American people even more. Basically, the entire political environment in Washington, D.C. is a dogs in heat world. Google Caligula, the Roman Emperor and multiply that depravity by 500 and youll begin to get some real idea of what Washington, D.C. is really like off camera. There is no difference whatsoever as to which political party is more depraved as far as what goes on in Washington, D.C. none, zero, not even a smidgen of difference, yet there is an entire political industry promoting the idea that voting for Party A is the right thing to do as commanded by God. It is blasphemy, it is sinful and it gives the Christian community in America that condones such manipulation of religion for political purposes a very, very, very bad name! There are a large number of Americans that believe morality and religion should not even be part of the political agenda. Whether these Americans are correct or incorrect is actually completely irrelevant because the dominate religion in Washington, D.C. is the worship of money. As documented herein, almost all members of Congress are multimillionaires and Matthew 19:24 clearly says, And again I say to you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, so what else do you need to know about the mix of religion and politics? Anyone that thinks of the halls of Congress are some type of monastery is being suckered far beyond what any sane human can comprehend. Its a lie and its just not true, no matter how many pulpits its preached from or how many Bible verses are quoted at prayer breakfasts by members of Party A it is simply and unequivocally just not true! Does that truth dictate a vote for Party B instead? Of course not! It simply means that Americans taken in by such a twisted and manipulated religion card being played couldnt be any more off base or misguided. This is not Iran and we dont live in a religious state! America was formed to get away from religious tyranny and a state dictated religion, yet millions of Americans vote based upon the political twisting of religion. Religion doesnt create jobs, remove wealth disparity, guarantee a living wage or keep corporations from hiring cheap foreign labor both on shore and off shore. Religion alone only feeds people once they are in the soup kitchen, it doesnt keep them from being forced to eat there. As a member of Congress, at the end of the day all that really matters is how they vote. Most Americans would rather not have a Satanist in Congress, but what if we instead go by the now popular acronym WWJD which stands for What Would Jesus Do. Would Jesus give tax breaks to the mega-rich and balance the federal budget on the backs of poor citizens by starving them to death? No! When you actually apply the WWJD scale to Party A they fall far short by every single measure and criteria to include their professed morality. Religion is killing the economy of Iran and it will kill America if we allow it to dominate the political agenda and be bastardized by false prophets who manipulate it for monetary gain only. In the end, if we continue to follow the path were now on, America may end
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up moral, but her people will be penniless after being sold into slavery just like Gods people were throughout the Bible. Party A plays upon the fear of cultural and social change in order to get votes so they can serve their true master and its not the God of the Bible . . . their only god is the golden calf of idolatry and their masters are the megarich who own them. Table Setting for the Mega-Rich This is the final segment putting into place how the mega-rich manipulate even more wealth while almost all Americans continue to lose their financial posteriors. This segment will dispel any lingering beliefs that some grand conspiracy is required or needed to pull off almost total control of our government. It is the capstone upon which the mega-rich build all their spin, manipulation and propaganda by which they set the legislative table in their favor. For all those Americans who still doubt almost total control by the mega-rich is far fetched and just cant be true, this segment pulls the behind the scenes control mechanisms together for you to grasp. It will also tell you how completely and utterly worthless it is to make comments upon web-based news sites, Facebook and other social networking sites . . . without a clear stated goal of assembling fellow Americans into a force of millions. The political scientists are dead on correct when they detail and document that almost everything political and economic that has ever moved forward in America has been due 100% to organizational structures that make things happen. For the people those organizational structures must be all about amassing huge numbers of people via grassroots efforts, that in turn provide nickel and dime donations that collectively add up to a force with which to be reckoned. Even today, the people collectively have far more financial resources that the mega-rich, but most citizens are disengaged bobbing helpless upon an economic sea of despair. It is why the greedy in control of our America Monopoly board are so hell bent upon keeping America divided into conservative and liberal camps. Divided we fall and Americans have been falling like a rock for 30+ years. The mega-rich and corporate America have been organizing and consolidating for decades to put into place a control structure whereby they set the table. Nothing else but their agenda ever gets heard, much less discussed. They focus on their bottom lines and the America people focus on social conservative and social liberal issues just like weve been programmed like robots to do. To date, weve been our own worse enemy . . . voting and organizing based upon social issues instead of economic issues. As a result, the royalty and serfdom scenario that existed in Europe, previous to establishment of America, are now firmly back in place tightening their grip every day upon the U.S. economy. Any idea that its the government mostly responsible for curtailing liberty and freedom is patently absurd! Thats exactly what the mega-rich want Americans to think so they can finish the job of enslaving every Americans into a repeating cycle of ever more declining levels of prosperity. Once castrated financially, existence can only be about survival and submission to whatever is dished out by the mega-rich. As long as Americans are focused upon the government as the culprits curtailing liberty and freedom, they wont be focused upon the mega-rich and corporate America. Until America gets the fact that the mega-rich are the government via an oligarchy well continue to be led like blind sheep off a cliff on no return. The megarich know they win every time, without any government controls and regulations to
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rebalance the playing field. The last thing brutes and bullies want in a fight is a referee . . . they want liberty and freedom. Even though virtually all the media is owned, controlled and under the thumb of the mega-rich. It is not enough to seal the deal for agenda setting required for total economic domination of the America people. The final pieces to the domination puzzle are intermarriage, corporate boards, think tanks, foundations, academia, institutes and roundtables that form an interlocking control structure within America so pronounced, rock solid and established that no force to date has been able to overcome or challenge it. Its exactly why divide and conquer warfare, along with playing both sides against each other have worked to absolute perfection. The mega-rich have their act together and the American people just dont . . . we instead have little political tags that funnel us into either one or two failed political parties. The organization structures of the mega-rich function while the peoples feeble attempts dont simply because were childish, petty and unfocussed! The mega-rich are all on the same page and reading form the same script to boost their collective bottom line. Virtually no average American is even paying attention to their bottom line . . . were all about social issues, religion or creating some utopian world that is never going to be. While our American aristocracy doesnt actually send their daughters off to other kingdoms to marry for the good of the respective kingdoms not much has really changed via the Ivy League equivalent of kingdom shopping. Through of process of interbreeding, Americas ruling class is almost as full of mongoloids as the castles of old Europe. Yet, we ask ourselves, where are the leaders in government and corporate America? Look no further than Prince Charles to see the type of Americans now leading corporate America and government. A privileged class of silver spoon pukes so inbred and detached from to the real world that they are completely out of touch with average American reality. In 2000, there were 5.5 million corporations and 2 million partnerships in America. Only 8,300 of them had more than 1,000 employees (0.015 percent) accounting for 44 percent of all private sector employees. For that year, just 500 companies accounted for 57 percent of all profits.1 In 2001, 84 percent of the 930 largest corporations in America had interlocking connections to one another within their senior management levels.2 You name it: marriage, country clubs, boards, yachting clubs, the Ivy League, councils, nonprofits, junior leagues, professional associations, political parties, stock ownership and every other conceivable aristocratic relationship imaginable and you have one relatively small group of people. Small groups of people driven by greed are easily managed to focus on core issues that impact their bottom line. To provide a better feel for the interlocks, consider the single example of Citigroup via the link provided below and then multiply that example across all of corporate America and government.
Breakout Resource(s): Citigroup Interlocks: http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/images/corporate_community/Citigrou p_corp_L1.gif
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Approximately 15 to 20 percent of all present-day directors sit on more than one corporate board.3 That interlock alone has at its fingertips nearly every professional communicator, public relations professional, ad agency, PR firm, business reporter, business press outlet, local press and national press minion imaginable. The press is easily controlled by advertising revenues they must have to fund paychecks . . . they simply report or dont report based upon dollars. Especially in todays economy, with virtually all newspapers and business magazines struggling, corporations and the megarich have never had more control. One single e-mail launches a vast communication web that dictates marching orders to every player in the network. All the players are paid well to be good at what they do and they are all dedicated to their craft. Any questions of conscience are quickly overcome by the brief thought of no paycheck. As for journalistic integrity within a so called free press one got left behind in college and the other is shackled by a mortgage and car payments. Beyond massive overlap in corporate board rooms throughout America, many of the same players also sit on one or more nonprofit boards disguised as philanthropists and do gooders taking care of the America people [just like theyre doing when they contribute to democracy when they funnel millions into our campaign system]. Any do gooding they actually accomplish via nonprofits, of course gets full coverage in all local newspapers and oftentimes within the national media just so the folks know what massive wealth at the top is doing for the average American and their community. [Paying a living wage and freeing the average American from slavery for do gooder efforts would pay far higher dividends for society!] Nothing done by the American aristocracy is done without a calculated appraisal of what the do good efforts will ultimately deliver for their bottom line or massive egos. The pennies they give back on rare occasions compared to their unbridled greed and exploitation of their fellow Americans doesnt begin to tip the moral scale of right and wrong in their favor. Nonprofits are just one of their many networking tools whereby they buy influence within communities throughout America. Once they have shipped as many jobs off shore and imported as many low wage new immigrants on shore as possible to depress wages as low as possible dropping by a soup kitchen for a photo op makes them feel good about themselves and relieves their conscience. Its called taking millions from America and giving back pennies on the dollar for an ego boost. While nonprofits of the philanthropic variety are great PR, its the tax-free foundations, institutes and so called think tanks where policy and legislation for all of America is incubated that provides the biggest pay offs. The Ford, Rockefellar and Carnegie foundations have the longest history in America and they are joined by the Brookings Institute and Heritage Foundation as some of the better known foundations and institutes. In 2003, according to the Guide to U.S. Foundations published by the Foundation Center in New York, there were some 58,000 foundations in America . . . almost all created by mega-rich families. Most of these foundations are small and local, with less than 10 percent of them in control of Washington, D.C. via $500,000 or more in funding per year.4 Leading the influence peddling herd in 2003 was the Ford Foundation donating $509 M and the Melon Foundation donating $222 M.5 These highly influential foundations along with Corporate America and some government grants fund the institutes and think tanks that in turn supposedly study and research whats good for America. Chocked full of Ivy Leaguers from our American
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aristocracy, these institutes and think tanks study and develop everything from foreign policy to economic policy. Spend any time inside the Washington, D.C. beltway and youll be inundated with expert opinions from people called fellows who hail from an institute or think tank. Quite often a fellow is a bureaucrat out of a job or a political party loyalist on their way up the ladder, or out of a job. Tossed in with these fellows are a healthy mix of the bow tie crowd from academia, primarily the Ivy League of course [just the type that dreamed up free trade and a world economy.] Corporate America also contributes to the host of fellows via former executives they contribute and fund. Much like the minor leagues of the two dominate political parties, these foundations, institutes and think tanks are the Petri dish of future policy, bureaucrats and political candidates yet to be bestowed their royal scepter. These are the future bureaucrats that crunch the numbers, negotiate future trade agreements and roll out the next economic tsunami to fall upon the American people that will funnel even more money up the American pyramid scheme. Since the mega-rich fund the fellow positions it therefore dictates their findings with twisted numbers, designed of course, to fund the bottom lines of Americas greedy aristocracy. Almost daily youll hear someone from the Brookings Institute or Heritage Foundation, or read a quote, where a member of the media cites their research findings or asks for their expert opinions. Once far more independent, universities and academia, most especially the Ivy League are simply an extension of the elitist system by which the mega-rich exert control of the legislative agenda via propaganda and academic spin. Endowed professorships, appointments to boards and fellowship funding into think thanks and foundations ensures they too align their research and findings with the goals of the mega-rich. Funded and driven by foundations, institutes, think tanks and academia the vast majority of our economic policy and legislative agenda for America is set . . . long before citizens, voters and the American people are even exposed to any bill or policy shift. For all the simpletons in America seeking some grand conspiracy theories behind it all ask your self 'wheres the need for cloak and dagger secret meetings?' Its all done right out in the open with money trails, appointments and propaganda vehicles for all to see. Do some of these foundations, institutes and think tanks and their academic arms do good work that benefit the America people? Yes! Are all their research initiatives, number crunching, policy developments and expert opinions flawed? Of course not! No different than the media owned by the mega-rich, they have to tell the truth on some occasions and when they lie they have to spin the lies with charts, projections and enough volumes of paper and data to shut down the brain of any average American. These are not average people by any means, they are the some of the most intelligent people in America by far and at the end of the day, they work exclusively for the megarich. They know where their bread is buttered and they know who holds the end of their leash no conspiracy is required to dictate their research and findings. Some lean left, some lean right but all work to protect their paychecks, bureaucratic and political careers, academic standing, etc. and it all ties back to the mega-rich who run our American oligarchy. As stated early on, simply follow the money and youll discover the truth. The system has been well established over the course of decades and is so entrenched within the federal government, as well as state and municipal governance, that separating their economic agenda setting for the mega-rich from the good work they do is almost impossible. Most especially when you add in all their political party leanings and biases, the water becomes even more clouded and muddy. Any idea that anything inside the Washington, D.C. beltway is objective, unbiased and not geared to be
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advantageous to one of the two political parties is a complete fallacy. It is political party first, the mega-rich second and the American people way down the list of priorities. Once the institutes and think tanks have performed their magic with funding from the mega-rich and corporate America [with no input whatsoever from the American people] initiatives, legislation and movements go forward up the Capitol Hill. Equipped with all the numbers, along with smoke and mirror tricks from institutes and think tanks, business associations, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, take over. The Business Roundtable is composed of CEOs from a cross section of the American corporate community, but with the top 15 corporations always represented. These CEOs also sit on boards of universities, foundations and think tanks. The Chamber and the Roundtable form a one-two punch that no one in Washington, D.C. dares to confront. Together, between 1998 and 2010 they spent a combined $881,649,680 just on lobbying alone which doesnt include campaign contributions.6
Breakout Resource(s): Lobbying Top Spenders: 1998 - 2010 http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?showYear=a&indexType=s In 2007-2008 alone, the Chamber and Business Roundtable via their Political Action Committee (PAC) donated thousands directly to political candidates in both parties with the top recipients listed below: Chamber: Party A Candidates http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/all_recips.php?id=D000019798&type=C&filter=R&stfed =F&nid=2714 Chamber: Party B Candidates http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/all_recips.php?id=D000019798&cycle=2010&nid=2714 Business Roundtable: Party A Candidates http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/all_recips.php?id=D000032202&type=C&filter=R&stfed =F&nid=0 Business Roundtable: Party B Candidates http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/all_recips.php?id=D000032202&cycle=2010&nid=0
Both the Chamber and Roundtable select issues and form policy groups that have a broad impact on business a.k.a. the mega-rich. Via their combined task force, the two groups were responsible for pushing NAFTA down the throats of the America people and in 2000 they successfully pushed for permanent normal trading status with China. Now that the America people know how both those deals turned out, not much more needs be said about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable case closed . . . guilty of selling out the American people! How any small business owner in America can support the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with their money via dues and contributions is inconceivable. Clearly, the Chamber is
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focused on U.S. mega-corporations alone which fund the majority of their operations. Contributions from small businesses owners are miniscule, but nonetheless, most small business in America still become members of their local chamber and most are members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Some 50 local chambers in America are not and via pressure from the buying public we can force more to join a growing list of chambers willing to stand up for America. The insidious activities of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce span election manipulation, off shore outsourcing, massive on shore immigration numbers as well as wage and salary suppression.
Breakout Resource(s): Listing of Chambers NOT a Member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/issues/local-chambers-vs-us-chamber U.S. Chamber Watch http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/ StopTheChamber.com http://www.velvetrevolution.us/stop_chamber2/
If the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable where the only associations involved in Washington, D.C. pay-to-play (a.k.a. vote buying) it would be one thing, but in fact it is how our entire government is owned and run. The billions that change hands under the guise of lobbying and campaign funds from associations, labor unions and every special interest you can imagine are simply too vast to enumerate herein, but a review of the 2010 numbers in following breakout resource speaks volumes.
Breakout Resource(s): Top 50 Industries: http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/mems.php Top 50: Party A Industries http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/mems.php?party=R&cycle=2010 Top 50: Party B Industries http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/mems.php?party=D&cycle=2010
Most associations, especially their money, work together in unison on most issues that impact and affect industry, our economy and ultimately wealth distribution within America. Both of the political parties are up to their eyeballs in money, lobbyists, pay-toplay, corruption and vote buying. Manipulation of the American people is so deep, so pervasive, so entrenched that casting a ballot for Party A or B every other November
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then sitting back and hoping to change a 30+ year trend in which the American people have been losing financially is completely unrealistic! Each industry has their own power structure and together they form a grand pyramid in which all wealth flows to the top. Everything from wage/salary suppression, stock manipulation, trade agreements, access to off shore labor, massive immigration numbers and tax breaks are conducted within a rigged system of vote buying, cronyism and pay-to-play that are killing the American Dream for all average Americans. It is all in the hands of the few mega-rich elite at the top of the food chain and the voice of average Americans is drowned out by money. Ask yourself if this is that shinning city on a hill politicians speak so highly of when campaigning, or if instead: the American people have been played for fools for 30+ years by the two-party political game? Is this nation worthy of beckoning other emerging nations to follow as a model of democracy with graft, corruption, payoffs and bribery? While herein it is only possible to highlight issues and topics that impact the horrific wealth inequality between the American aristocracy and the rest of us, it was critical to lay out the entire power structure to some degree. Only with the big picture with all the interlocking parts can the American people begin to realize just how difficult the fight ahead is going to be to restore democracy and the American Dream. The challenge is formidable, its all up hill and only a true revolution, working within the system will bring it about. Resist or Continue to Stick Your Head in the Sand? There you have it America. Massive wealth inequality, huge economic challenges, a 30+ year financial losing streak for 90 percent of the American people and a system of government so corrupted by mega-money and manipulation that to many it may seem hopeless. An entire population of people, except the elite few, that have spent their entire lives invested in playing by the rules, working hard and believing in a political class that has sold us all out and failed us. With the 30+ year track record being what it is and all the handwriting on the wall herein that predicts a bleak economic future ahead, how can any sane human in America still believe that an unrestrained, unregulated free enterprise system within a world-wide economy of free trade will work to the benefit of the American people? While much of the economic balance is in our hands as consumers, without political solutions as well the economic predictions laid out for 2030 in the beginning of this book are almost certain. The day has arrived for the American people to own up to our own faults of apathy and blind trust by allowing our nation to be overtaken by the mega-rich who have stomped upon our democracy and killed the America Dream for most average Americans. This entire economic mess is our fault and we the people allowed this to happen. To continue pretending that Washington, D.C. is a shining city on a hill and a beacon to the world is just ludicrous at this point in time. Washington, D.C., as well as state legislatures, works no longer for any average American and is owned entirely by the mega-rich and special interests only! As long as that remains the case, there can be no political solutions for the issues of wealth inequality, jobs and a strong U.S. economy that works again for the American people.
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There will be those that accuse this book of furthering a class war, but it was not average Americans that initiated this war. Instead, it was the mega-rich propelled by greed that launched the attack. America at large has yet to lift a finger in response, but the time has come for that to change. Rest assured America you will fight back its only a matter of when. Americans are just good natured people, slow to anger, gullible to a fault and prone to turn the other cheek whenever possible. All these traits are admirable qualities, but they have worked to our mutual economic disadvantage for more than 30+ years. The America that once was, is now gone, but much is left to be saved and well worth the fight. Our economy, our government, our livelihood and our future is now under the thumb of the mega-rich in firm control of it all. Yet we continue to fight amongst each other over some of the most frivolous issues imaginable by comparison. Weve been played for suckers, manipulated and prodded like rats by a corporate owned media and their puppet politicians. All the strings in are in the hands of a greedy aristocracy that run America from the front porch of their plantation. Americans were already down, beleaguered and struggling via stagnated wages and salaries manipulated over the course of 30+ years as part of a contrived pyramid scheme that works only for the mega-rich. Then the ultimate sucker punch came from Wall Street that has left average Americans holding the bag for $13 T of Wall Streets debt . . . while they have gone back to paying billions in bonuses with no one jailed for their crimes. Ever more worthless homes, 5 million foreclosures and at least 5 million more to come, predatory lending, ruined credit, 8.5 million lost jobs and 30+ million unemployed or underemployed and yet Americans lay on the mat while tolerating more hollow speeches from the political class? Dazed, confused, scared and baffled by a media fire hose the count down is now on and the question looms as to whether we as a people have the guts to get to our feet and fight? Arent we smart enough by now to not be taken in by divide and conquer politics, Constitution and Bible manipulators, race baiters, poverty pimps and a two-party political game that is simply no longer working for the majority of the American people? This is about money, our money and it has been manipulated out of our pockets and funneled to the top for more than 30+ years and yet we continue to play the same game over and over? Enough of change we can believe in platitudes and nice sounding words. The time has come for change we can see and feel economically! Common citizens and only common citizens are Americas only hope to save the America Dream. It has nothing to do with your civic duty and everything to do with your basic survival. While you may have slipped through and be eyeing retirement, your children and grandchildren wont be so lucky unless you get involved. The baby boomer generation more than anyone is responsible for the greed that now rules American. Just think, baby boomers were once the generation that was anti-establishment with high ideals, but it sold its soul to the devil along the way. The me generation will be known as the generation that destroyed America if is does not join the cause. We can have a peaceful revolution now working within the system with the many tools available or a violent revolution later . . . the choice is yours. Should it become violent, its the little people that will suffer . . . not the mega-rich who caused it. Violence is NOT the answer, but neither is continued apathy. As formidable as our opponent is, we have
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the tools to fight back, but weve never used them. The mega-rich have huge advantages which is why this book laid them out to size up. To beat an adversary you must know your adversary. Without our willing and unwitting cooperation every step to the way we cannot be dominated . . . together we cant lose, its just not possible! If we dont react now to work within the system with the many tools we have at our disposal, violence will come because were sitting on a powder keg and its just a matter of time until a spark explodes it into the America 2030 described at the beginning of this book. No sane American wants to see or experience that existence . . . it doesnt have to be, the future can be changed. In reality the mega-rich must be saved from their own greed. If were not successful, its a no win scenario for everyone on our American Monopoly board. The mega-rich along with our political class are doing everything possible to kill off the goose thats being laying their golden eggs and there is no limit to their greed. It wont end, no buzzer will sound to let them know they have gone way too far its up to common citizens to send the message. The Party A or Party B status quo simply cant continue! If they do, it can only be in name only, with all the old faces and all the hollow rhetoric gone for good never to return. The two-party only political system simply isnt working . . . only real change on a massive scale, instead of empty promises, all brought about by the people will bring about the economic changes that must begin now! This is not a fight in which a wine and cheese utopian posture will work . . . mega-rich greed has already devastated the poor and lower middle-class and is now is quickly encroaching upon the upper middle-class. At least 30 percent of America, probably far more, will never read a book such as this or any other material that exposes the reality in which we now live. Therefore it is up to literate and informed Americans to carry the ball forward. It has to be within the class of Americans that still have something to lose, those with some relative financial stability, those that can write, organize and speak. Not silver tongued polished politicians, but real citizens speaking form their hearts with passion and commitment. In street terms, before turning the page to Part II: The Resistance, the time has arrived for all Americans to look in the mirror and ask themselves the question, have we become a door mat for the mega-rich who rule America. No book, no resource, including the sometimes rambling discourse herein called a book can even begin to cover it all, much more is yet to be done. This is but a pebble in the pond. The question now is: what, if anything, will you do with it? Are we going to continue to lie down like sheep walking off a cliff or are we gong to get involved in the fight to restore the American Dream? Even though the obstacles and challenges ahead are absolutely huge and enormous, it is not futile by any means. We will get punched in the mouth at ever turn at the start of this fight. Its all uphill and the battle will continue long after most of our lives are over. If you have no backbone and a couple smacks in the face will put you back on the sofa hiding behind your TV remote then dont even bother turning the page. This is not the fight for you. In colloquial terms its known as the right stuff and most people, quite frankly, just dont have it. They are unable and unwilling to make any sacrifices for the good of America other than to type some feeble words into a Facebook comments box or on a news website and thats it. Feeding like minded Americans the same brand of dog food, never questioning or validating anything we are being fed, is not critical thinking. Being divided and conquered via social liberal or social conservative issues
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doesnt pay the bills. By comparison to food and shelter issues, they are petty and childish. Responding to the latest media contrived issue of the day is but foolishness that plays directly into the hands of the mega-rich. At the moment, its their maze and were the rats . . . only seeing beyond the maze and manipulation techniques will enable Americans to survive their onslaught. They will not relent until every drop of financial blood is sucked out of America . . . greedy swine selling out America and her people to grow their personal fortunes even larger. Make no mistake whatsoever: the adversary is formidable and they own and manipulate everything from our culture of greed, government, the marketplace and the media. Individually, we dont have a chance of beating back the onslaught of mega-rich greed or even fighting them to a healthy stand off, but together we can at least fight them to a draw in order to slow the tide thats washing the American Dream out to sea. We have the tools, we have the numbers, we have the money, we have the vote and we have the power of the worlds strongest economy at our back . . . we just have to begin using them. The battle begins NOW!
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Contents PART II: The Resistance Its Now Decision Time The Road Ahead .. Bring the Top 5 Banks Down to Size Beware Any Moves to Water Down the Pathetic Wall Street Reforms Use It or Lose It: the Power of Your Wallet is Now at Hand . Priority I: Stop Made in China from Destroying America The Biggest Challenge of Our Time Workplace Fairness A Gaping Hole That Must Get Filled The Freedom to Starve . Austerity, No Jobs and Nostalgia Tax the Mega-Rich, Most Especially their Estates Boycotting the Mega-Rich Families Fighting Estate Taxes . Too Many People and No Jobs Curtailing Stock-Based Executive Compensation Reigning in CEO Pay Busting the Monopolies and Ending the Merger and Acquisition Craze Repeal NAFTA, End Fast Track and Retool Our WTO Relationship Fixing a Failed Two-Party Oligarchy . End the Bribery: Comprehensive Campaign Finance Reform, NOW! . Election Reforms and New Political Parties . Voting Your Wallet Dismantling the Two-Party Game . Congressional Reforms . . . Enough Chatter, Lets Do It! . End the Congressional Pension Plan Slam the Revolving Door and Delay Plan B Transparency thats Meaningful Forget Censure or Expulsion Ruled by Congress . Zero Earmarks as in None, Not Ever Again! .. End Senate Filibuster Games Once and for All . Term Limits, No More Career Politicians Ever Again! Where is that Recall Button? Reinvent the Role of Public Servants .. Lets Be Honest about Political Reforms Fixing the Media . . . Dream On! . Setting Political and Economic Priorities . Change and Reformation a How To Guide .. Wanted: Your Input, Feedback and Financial Support .. Early Stage Reviewers Financial Contributions Feedback, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Grassroots Expertise and Resource Needs Moving Forward .. Additional Breakout Resources . Footnotes 233 234 238 243 247 249 252 263 269 270 273 278 282 283 302 305 307 311 315 321 325 329 332 335 336 336 337 339 340 341 342 342 343 345 346 350 359 364 369 369 369 369 370 370
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Its Now Decision Time Now is decision time, what are you going to do? Stay the course or actually become more economically informed and get involved? Sitting in front of the tube with a remote in hand venting and fuming is not involved and its not going to change anything. Sharing political cartoons, making comments on some news website or on Facebook with no direction or purpose are all a complete waste of time. Just as useless in bringing about real change, is the habit of only sharing information with likeminded friends and family instead of evangelizing to the ignorant and uninformed millions required to bring about real change. It all accomplishes nothing except to maintain the current dead end status quo. Perhaps nothing conveyed in Part I hits the mark for you or anything to be delivered in Part II will get your heart pumping. Nonetheless, even if that is your perspective, no one in America with a brain can still believe our nation is on a solid economic course for the future. If you disagree with every word written herein it just doesnt matter thats your prerogative. What matters is what you believe and more importantly what you do going forward. If Americans continue to sit on the sidelines or take their ball and go home any time they disagree on a couple of issues . . . we will remain a nation enslaved and divided and nothing changes. Being herded like sheep by the mega-rich owned media machine into the polarization trap has worked far too well, for far too long. Like children weve been brainwashed and conditioned to turn our backs to one another, place limiting labels on ourselves such as liberal or conservative and go down a two-party tube of massive economic decline. Assuming both liberals and conservatives need to eat and want a roof over their heads were in this fight together . . . like it or not! Virtually no one in America, in either of the two political parties, or any of the talking heads is focused on the American economy. No one it seems is focused on American workers, average citizens, the needs of small businesses and no one is paying any attention to the massive wealth inequality that has ballooned over the past 30+ years. Weve been manipulated to focus on social reengineering, hot button issues, utopian goals, the latest media manufactured crisis of the day and everything but jobs, our American economy and the future. The result is a long steady downward spiral that is picking up speed and momentum like a growing snowball coming down a mountain. Pro life, gay marriage, gun control, the ground zero mosque, airport security, school prayer, saving the planet, health care or saving the whales isnt a focus that will provide bread and butter, jobs, a strong economy or greater wealth equality for the future. Isnt it time we focused and spent most of our time on saving the American economy and our jobs, creating good new jobs, ensuring job security along with food, shelter and the basic necessities of life? It has often been said that Americans vote our wallets, but in truth we focus upon and vote on almost every issue but our wallets. The mega-rich focus on their wallet 24/7 and unless the America people focus on our wallets . . . we will continue to slide financially under the boot of the mega-rich. The greedy powers currently in charge of our American Monopoly board dont want us focused, informed and involved. The same goes for our corrupt political class. The two dominate political parties dont want common citizens running for office. They dont want to hear from you and they dont want you messing up their game. They like things just the way they are. The futility of the status quo has been filling their pockets with money for more than 30+ years while its been draining ours. The political class and the mega-rich will continue doing everything in their power to keep the game going just the
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way it is. Weve been suckers and currently the mega-rich and political class have us right where they want us . . . believing in some political party, politician and babbling talking heads as we head to the polls every two years to vote . . . for what? The lesser of two evils, the same futile political ping-pong match, childish political games, pompous posturing and the same inept and completely pathetic leadership that has gotten us no where financially for 30+ years? Be forewarned, change is very difficult and in the political arena its all up hill because the political class like things just they way they are 50/50 party odds of them enriching themselves at our expense. Nonetheless, as stated repeatedly herein: the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Again the question must be asked, does anyone in America think our two-party only political system and their stewardship of the economy is working for the people? The status quo is not going to get it any longer. The same tired old faces in Washington, D.C. blabbering on and on with same old politics of division designed to line their pockets with more gold must come to an end. With all the current talk about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, you would think that someone would remember that America was designed to be run by the people, for the people instead of by the mega-rich who have bought Washington, D.C. and have all branches of government neatly tucked in their back pocket. The only change we can believe in from here on out is the change and dollars in our pockets we can spend! The most important change of all are the dollars we feel in our wallets and see piling up in our bank accounts . . . instead the off shore accounts of the mega-rich. Change that creates a more fair and balanced playing field upon which an average American has fighting chance to not to just survive [within a downward economic spiral], but to thrive once again! We must have change that forces politicians to look out for the economic interests of all Americans . . . not just the mega-rich. It must be change that delivers complete transparency and accountability, instead of backroom pay-to-play deal making with horrific economic consequences for the people. For more than 30+ years we the people have been sold-out by the political class, played and manipulated by the media machine owned by the mega-rich and now the time has come for the people to fight back! The Road Ahead Welcome to a new beginning and a new way of living, thinking and most importantly acting. This, the rebirth of the American Dream, is about one thing more than anything else: FOCUS! That focus requires that you train your mind to ignore the all the bright lights of the two-party casino game and focus on the money your money and how its being drained by the mega-rich. From simple diversion techniques to far more sophisticated, political and economic spin the mega-rich have succeeded in getting the American people over and over to focus on anything and everything but money, the economy and American Monopoly board on which we all play. Simply by following the money motivation for everything being said youll see the truth going forward. The issues laid out in PART I of this book shout one clear undeniable conclusion: were doomed unless we act now, in unison together in order to protect our wallets and our way of life in America. No longer can we worry about poverty in Third World nations because the mega-rich, their multi-national corporations and the political class now have us steered toward a Third World existence of our own. It was slow for a couple decades
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but now, with almost every lever and gear in place, their greed pedal is on the floor. If we continue on the present course the America, 2030 vision as described at the beginning of our book will come to pass. Just continue the status quo, just continue to vote back in the same crooked incumbent, election cycle after election cycle, just continue to allow the two major political parties to lock-up all the avenues for real change and just continue to allow the mega-rich and their mega-corporations to buy off our elected officials under the guise of campaign money. Our entire government environment is one of cronyism, revolving door political mirror games that deliver winkand-a-nod lucrative positions in government and the private arena for family and friends. Everyones back gets scratched and all palms get oiled except those of average Americans. Its easy to blame it all on the political class, but were the fools that shop at Walmart and just continue thinking made in America products are too expensive or not trendy. If we just continue to keep buying Made in China products, theyll never have to fire a bullet to bring down America. Simply continue on this present path and the America, 2030 described herein will come to pass just as surly as the sun is going to rise tomorrow morning . . . The manipulated hate mongering between left and right in America has to end and has to end now! Divided as America is at present, she will fall . . . its only a matter of time. The adversary is not that other party, liberals or conservatives the adversary is the greed that currently owns our American Monopoly board. Admittedly, many of our fellow Americans are misinformed, confused and taken in by the propaganda machine, but they are still our fellow citizens. They are not to be hated, they are to be educated and its the job of all economically tuned-in Americans to perform that education effort. We the people are responsible for allowing the mega-rich to overthrow our democracy and place us in an oligarchy. Weve voted in the corrupt politicians over and over and laughed at their antics. Weve allowed the two-party political games to be played for 30+ years. Weve voted for the rich, the lawyers and the political families all our lives. No one forced us to buy imported cars, the euro-styled must have objects of conspicuous consumption and the off shore mass produced garbage from China. We tolerate listening to so called English when we call off shore call centers in India. We bought from the big box stores as every business in our local communities went under. We watched as corporation after corporation made acquisition after acquisition cutting more and more American jobs with every consolidation as they went along. We watched as more and more corporate money went to Washington to buy vote after vote. We sat there with the TV remote like zombies as media giants bought up our free press and turned them into corporate propagandist instead of journalists. we the people have destroyed what America once was by our own actions and apathy. Assuming you believe that America is worth saving, we have but one choice left. We either come together NOW as Americans and act as one unified force or we will collapse divided. There will be no more America . . . at least nothing that resembles what we once had, or what still exists today. People that live in Third World nations dont bitch about abortion, school prayer, same sex marriage, the religious right, the liberal left, womens rights, minority rights, saving mother earth or the whales. They dont discuss the Constitution as if it just got discovered. They dont watch the John Daly Show and Stephen Colbert and laugh at political antics, corruption and stupidity.
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No, people that live in the Third World bitch about not enough rice in their bowl. Then they awaken the next day and bitch about not enough rice in their bowl and the day after that and the day after that. In the Third World there are no social issues, there are no alternative political parties with any muscle and no one worries about the fate of a tree or a whale because they are too busy worrying about food. In the Third World there is no middle class, there are only two classes of people: the rich and poor. Any chance of removing yourself from the poor is almost zero because the greedy own and control the entire game board. The same momentum that is now well underway in America, to take total control of everything to include the government, the media and the economy. If PART I of this book didnt convince you that the mega-rich have almost accomplished their goal of total domination then youll never be convinced. Anyone with brain waves can see the table is tilted in one direction and the middle-class is sliding down it into the mouth of a greedy viper class waiting to put their fangs into our necks. For those Americans that are convinced, the questions are A) is it hopeless? and B) if its not hopeless what can be done about it? There is no single magic bullet and the struggle to win back our American Dream will be far from painless, but rest absolutely assured we are not doomed and this is NOT hopeless! In fact, it is far from hopeless. Now that you see where America is heading and how its being consumed by a megarich class of greedy, blood sucking vultures . . . YOU can stop it! Seeing it is the most critical step of all . . . most Americans just dont yet get it. The truth is that at least 30 percent of Americans are never going to get it, read any book, including this one, or do anything but suffer the consequences of a stacked deck that is tilted exclusively toward only toward only the mega-rich. Half of Americans doesnt even bother to vote. Whatever number that remains are what we have to work with at present. Subtract from that number, the political party and cable channel zombies and you have X percent of the American population enlightened and informed enough to see the game being played. Whatever that number is, it will grow through our efforts to educate and enlighten which will bring about the change required to end rule of our nation by a mega-rich oligarchy. The time has come where enough people are now ready to wise up to the two-party political game manipulated by the mega-rich and return power to the American people. PART I was the big picture perspective that laid out the myriad of weapons the megarich and political class have been utilizing to slowly drain the American pot of money that is destroying the American Dream for you and your family. Surly, by now, you understand that the left versus right polarization that exists is a game . . . a divide and conquer strategy of the mega-rich media machine. No conspiracy theories in place, just the fact that if the American people are split and fighting each other . . . instead of the real adversary we the people lose and greed wins. Its a fact of course that a certain segment of the American population are true fringe left anarchists or closet socialists and there is a clueless radical right group of Americans that actually believe in trickle down economics and Santa, but most Americans . . . are somewhere in between those two wild extremes. More often than not, if the economy is bad, Americans simply vote the other party into power with no regard whatsoever to policy, issues or reality. In turn, the economy most often bumps upward slightly . . . simply because its a cyclical animal and NOT because of the party just voted in. Then, as long as there are no major economic up evils for a few years, we assume we made the right choice in political parties. Its a temporary mirage and the truth is that 90 percent of Americans were losing their shirt, long before the Great Recession. The Great Recession was just our big wake-
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up call and still too many Americans just dont get it? Now the question is whether were now awake and will we stay awake or be lulled back into the status quo policies and practices that got us into this economic mess? Its time to stop focusing on the two failed political parties and the useless treadmill thats done nothing but suck money out of our wallets, on a daily basis, for more than 30+ years. Focus instead on the two-party performance . . . its horrible, its not working and that has to change! It wont happen overnight, but it can happen, but only if were now done with sitting like zombies in front of our manipulated media and buying into what were spoon fed by so called political pundits and economic experts. Only if were done with reaching into our wallets everyday and freely handing more of our hard earned money to the mega-rich will anything change. Collectively we have the money and the power to topple the oligarchy and turn back the tide currently destroying our American Dream. We have the tools to turn back the tide of greed and re-level the playing field. You have to believe, but more importantly you have to act. Belief without action, day in and day out, will not work. As you read the solutions in PART II much of which you may have already figured out from just reading PART I go ahead and put the wheels into motion and begin taking action today! Some goals such as breaking up the two-party political strangle hold on America will take time, years in fact. Other efforts such as moving all your banking and money into small local banks and credit unions can be done tomorrow. Begin to think of this as a war. Imagine millions of Americans marching down the streets of America demanding complete campaign finance reform now! Imagine atheists shaking hands with evangelicals as they fall into line with each other and march rank and file toward one goal. Then imagine gays and straights, abortionists and those that are anti-abortion, blacks, whites and Hispanics, Democrats and Republicans, rednecks and intellectuals, Confederates and Yankees, tree huggers and tree cutters all coming together to act in unison for one cause and one effort . . . saving the America Dream and returning our nation to economic prosperity for the good of every wallet in America. It can happen, it must happen and it must begin now! We simply cannot succeed as a divided nation . . . its just that simple! Americans can still fight our fights and spew our distain of the left or the right on social issues, but now we absolutely must focus 100 percent upon economic priorities as job one! The social liberals or social conservatives are not the adversary that will wipe you off the face of the Earth or force you to live under a bridge or in a homeless shelter. If we dont put all the other battles in second place and fight the dark, greedy forces killing the American Dream . . . well not just lose the battle against the mega-rich, but all the other battles as well. Your chances of saving unborn babies from abortion or acquiring the right to marry a same sex partner are almost ZERO if youre doing it from a homeless shelter. There are now only two priorities: national defense and jobs, the economy and wealth disparity . . . every other priority now must become a very distant third. To all those Americans that say we can walk and chew gum, a.k.a. fix wealth disparity, provide jobs and strengthen the economy while fighting over social issues and culture wars . . . 30+ years of massive economic decline prove such thinking is pure folly for fools. In politics, business or our personal lives, we achieve only what we are focused upon with unwavering passion and persistence!
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As stated early on, there will be no utopia in this lifetime for most Americans and any idea or illusions of Americans coming together to sing Kumbaya is a pipe dream. Its NOT going to happen and anyone that thinks it is . . . probably has a medical marijuana prescription working for them. The goal of writing this book is not to fix the world and right all the wrongs on Earth. The strategy herein is to combat exactly what put us in this economic mess we now face . . . to correct a complete lack of focus. Anyone that is on Facebook can clearly see that Americans have zero focus and way too many causes and issues. If that were not the undeniable fact, there would not be so many issues and causes because some would have gotten fixed by now. Bantering back and forth on Facebook, making comments to online articles and cursing the TV are worthless without a focus to educate and amass millions of Americans focused on the economy, jobs and wealth disparity. Were a nation with way too many good intentions and causes that fractionalize, marginalize and minimize all our efforts into nothingness. There is only one priority that matters above all others going forward: economic survival and combating the stranglehold greed now has upon America! Working together we can not only just survive, but instead thrive once again, but we cant do it divided into left and right camps. We can take back America from the greedy swine that are destroying our America Dream and sucking the life out of every single American and their family. There are of course moves and accomplishments that will deliver a bigger impact for our cause than others, but there is no sequence and step by step plan . . . nor is there some easy, painless magic bullet. It all has to be pursued simultaneously with the realization that some measures will take more time to accomplish than others. It was a struggle as to what sequence to roll out a comprehensive set of initial solutions, but it seemed most wise to roll them out and enumerate the solutions currently well within our control and then move on toward the longer term goals. In Part II, since the background surrounding the issues and the case for change were already made in Part I only a brief refresher will be made as reference point. The goal in Part II is to be far more concise in order to deliver only the impetus for massive change and political revolution. To whine about greed without moving to change the system and power structure is worthless. So lets get started! Bring the Top 5 Banks Down to Size In the case of Wall Street and the too big-to-fail banks, no industry and no group within the aristocracy is more responsible for stealing the American Dream, ruining our economy and taking over our government. Their unbridled avarice and greed reduced the value of individual homes by tens of thousands of dollars and put millions and millions of America homeowners underwater a.k.a. owing more than the home is worth . . . not to mention putting at least 8.5+ million Americans out of work. As a result, average Americans are left holding the bag for Wall Street with some 13 T trillion dollars in debt and financial losses. In truth, its not our debt at all because we didnt cause it, but generations of Americans will have to work like slaves if they are fortunate enough to find a job to pay of Wall Streets debt. What is amazing is that Americans are still passive, still docile, still willing to take whatever is dished out . . . while Wall Street pays itself billions of dollars in bonuses? Wall Street and the banks, because they own Congress and Washington, D.C. were able to blackmail U.S. taxpayers, through fears of a total economic collapse, into a massive bailout of almost at trillion dollars. Then, instead of showing humility or any contrition, Wall Street twisted arms in Washington to deliver a Wall Street reform bill
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with the teeth of a baby mouse. Not only is the legislation virtually worthless, it made the banks and the Wall Street investment houses that were deemed too big to fail previous to the Great Recession even larger behemoth pigs. Now that the American people are left holding their debt and living within their ruination of our economy, Wall Street is back to business as usual. While all of the top 5 investment banks and smaller banks on down the list in size are responsible for the meltdown; one more than any other is not only more responsible but benefited more financially than any of the other banks. In a highly recommended book, called Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World, author William Cohen details the worst-of-the-worst banks role in the meltdown and in doing so reviews the banks long and sorted past of corruption. In the 1920s Goldman ran a Ponzi-like scheme involving investment trusts. In the 1970s they peddled soon to be worthless commercial paper for the soon to be bust Penn Central Railroad and then leading up to the meltdown that caused the Great Recession they sold highly suspect mortgagebacked securities to clients and investors while all the while betting against the solvency of those investments. Nonetheless, when Washington, D.C. needs a financial advisor or regulator, they turn no where but to former Goldman Sachs employees and CEOs almost exclusively. Most noteworthy, Hank Paulson within the Bush II administration who made sure that Goldman Sachs came out of the financial meltdown as an even larger bank in a group of behemoth too big to fail financial monopolies with no competition whatsoever. If too big to fail led to the last financial disaster, then the next disaster to come based on bank size alone . . . should put the final nail in our economic existence. Goldman Sachs paid out an average employee bonus of $430,700 in 2010.1 The very people who are directly responsible for destroying our American economy were paid more than 8 times the average total income of U.S. households.2 Separate to that money, Goldman employees received and additional $36 M windfall via stock options granted during the 2008 financial collapse.3 To pour even more salt in the wound Goldman Sachs inflicted upon America, they announced in June 2011 they are firing 1000+ American financial professionals and moving their jobs to Singapore to skirt new Wall Street reform regulations. While some of the radical right in Congress want to label the reforms a jobs killer, 1000 fewer Goldman Sachs crooks on our shores is a blessing in disguise. Maybe the fired employees can get a job as real estate agents in the industry they destroyed? Across Wall Street as a whole, bonuses in 2010 were $20.8 B, with an average of $228,530 . . . a record year.4 As for the slithering Wall Street CEOs, primarily responsible for the Great Recession were now living within, heres just a sampling of their 2010 pay and stock options they received in 2010:5 Lloyd Blankfein, CEO Goldman Sachs Group Jamie Dimon, CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Laurence Fink, BlackRock CEO, Brian Moynihan, Bank of America Corp.
* Restricted stock only, salary not included
$14.6 M $17 M $13 M* $9.1 M*
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The real question is how is it that Wall Street is still standing? How is it that the branches of these banks on nearly every corner are still in tact? How can the CEOs of these banks even walk the streets without an army of bodyguards to keep them alive? How dare any of them even show their face? Where are the investigations from the Department of Justice? Where are the Wall Street CEOs behind bars? Why are prisons and jails only for the little people? These are the questions that all Americans need to be asking themselves . . . allowing Wall Street crooks to walk the street is a crime, an affront to every Americans sense of justice and fair play and yet, nothing to date has been done to put any significant Wall Street executive behind bars? Clearly understand there are two justice systems in America and only average citizens go jail in America for stealing. For Wall Street and the mega-rich its all about utilizing their get out of jail free cards a.k.a. negotiated settlements such as the $67.5 M deal former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo got from the SEC to stay out of jail. More recently, Bank of America [as part of the Countrywide scam] agreed to payout $8.58 B to 22 institutional investors, but to date nothing has been done to relieve American homeowners underwater. Why? Institutional investors such as BlackRock Financial Management, Metropolitan Life and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York who were included in the settlement, are part of our America aristocracy and America homeowners underwater are just chumps a.k.a. suckers! Now, with a settlement in place, most analysts believe that all Bank of America homeowners who have been sitting in foreclosure limbo will now be tossed out into the streets at a greatly accelerated pace going forward. Violence is never the answer, but instead of violence, Americans, the good natured lot that we are, have just shrugged our shoulders and said oh well, we got screwed by the banks and there is nothing we can do but pay off their debt. We even still carry their credit and debit cards in our wallets and we still have our money in their banks? The real question is, are we insane? Are we the most stupid people to every walk the Earth? Do Americans have any backbone whatsoever? If we do, its time to show it by enacting our collective vengeance upon the top 5 banks! Not next month or next year, but today this week, if you have even one single penny in any of the following banks, then be one of the proud Americans that fires the first shot over the bow of the mega-rich aristocracy by closing ALL your accounts and refinancing ALL your loans away from the following banks and Wall Street firms: Bank of America Citigroup Goldman Sachs Group J. P. Morgan Chase and Company Wells Fargo & Company (Wachovia)
Its simple and easy: 1) open a new account at a small local bank or credit union tomorrow 2) give a voided check to your payroll department to start direct deposit and 3) allow all checks to clear from the big bank and then close the account . . . with a really big smile on your face! The time is long past due to show these behemoth greedy pigs that we Americans do have a long memory, we do feel the pain delivered via their greed, well never forget what they did and from this day forward we will enact our own form of vengeance. Theyve bought off our government, hit us with nickel and dime fees just to access our money, financed mergers that destroyed good American companies,
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engaged in predatory lending and pursued greed beyond what any human conscience should allow . . . all contributing to destroy our economy and put millions of Americans out of work. Any American that maintains business with the top five and other large banks (provided via the breakout resource below) is complicit 100% in their greed. You are just as responsible and just as accountable as the banks in which your deposits and loans now reside.
Breakout Resource Top Banks Listing via the Federal Reserve http://www.ffiec.gov/nicpubweb/nicweb/top50form.aspx
Please dont stop with the top 5 banks in pulling your deposits and loans, all the large banks are the greedy vipers responsible for the Great Recession within which we now suffer. Move every single penny you have to small local banks and credit unions tomorrow! Its a small request in the grand scheme of things and it can be done in less than an hour. Unfortunately, it must be done in person on most occasions, simply because the banking industry has stacked the deck with red tape, potential fees and a prickly mine field to navigate when closing your account. The Freedom and Mobility in Consumer Banking Act that is currently stalled in Congress would remove many of these obstacles, but nonetheless, dont allow a few minor obstacles to stop you from closing your account today. Use your small voice via e-mail, snail mail, Facebook and every other social networking vehicle to make this a national call to action for every single America alive . . . to remove every single dime they have in the big banks. Dont think for even a moment that our collective action, involving millions of Americans, in this regard will not have a massive impact upon their power. Vengeance feels good, but as stated repeatedly, this book is all about the future. To reward the banks that destroyed our economy with your money is just sick! Its as if youre asking to be raped again. Go to the breakout resource above and look at the deposit dollars and estimate what percentage comes from people just like you. Its HUGE!!!!! Billions and billions of dollars sitting there to be yanked from their greedy clutches. Once this effort is up and running, dont buy their spin and whining . . . make them squeal like the pigs that they are. Their spin will be the same BS they used to blackmail the American taxpayers into bailing them out . . . they will claim that such a run on the banks will destroy the economy, lessen Americas power as the financial hub of the world . . . bla, bla, bla. They will whine, cry and plead with the American people to once again come to their aid. Theyll spend billions on commercials and public relations campaigns along with pleading to their cronies in Congress to pass some bill to come to their aid. Let them starve in the streets, like the American families they have foreclosed upon, let them feel hunger and unemployment! Who at the banks have heard the pleas of American families thrown out into the streets to starve as their homes were foreclosed upon? Who at the banks have heard the pleas of American small business owners as theyve begged for loans to expand their businesses or just to survive a down economy? No one at the big banks heard the pleas from America as they used their new found weight and power after the bailout to simply
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buy up all the faltering small banks ravaged from their greed. The swine of Wall Street have simply used a down economy, of their own creation, to tighten the screws upon the American people even more. Rest assured, once we the people have taken our vengeance along with our billions of dollars in deposits, life will go on. There will be some empty bank buildings on some corners as money shifts to smaller local banks and credit unions, but theyll be bought up and reopened by smaller banks. The mega loans currently being made by the megabanks will simply be made in conjunction by a couple of the smaller banks. Dont buy the spin that our entire financial system will collapse, because its total crap! The mega-rich used their spin game once and we bought into it like suckers, but were not gong to be suckered twice by the same game. Its time for America to finally wise up! The idea that what is good for Wall Street is good for America and average citizens is total complete BS! That thinking and those days are over . . . America has wised up! Dont put if off for even another day, pull all your deposits and refinance all your loans while interest rates are at rock bottom and get it done this week! Then encourage everyone you know to do the same and do it now! The goal is to launch a run on the big banks like nothing ever before witnessed in American history. Once we get this effort moving in earnest, we can put a stop to the billion dollar bonuses in a month. We can downsize the big bank CEO pay in a heartbeat, along with their palatial estates. We cant starve them as they have done the American people, but we can sure punch them in the stomach! More than anything, we can remove the millions of dollars in bribery money they are now using to buy Washington, D.C. to pay off our political class. Just as important, if not far more, is an all out effort by every American voter to remove every single member of Congress and state legislature that has ever taken one single dime of campaign money from Wall Street. If you think its not your party of choice, or not your representative taking the bribes, then think again America! Review the listings below via the breakout resource of the top 20 senators and members of the House and if there is a party difference, it is miniscule! No. 7 on the House bribery list taking money from Wall Street is Chair of the Party B National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. So what else do you need to know about Party B and Wall Street bribery? While a massive and complete overhaul of campaign finance in America will take time and more than likely will require the American people taking over Washington, D.C. and shutting it down completely to achieve it . . . rooting out all money from Wall Street can be done in one or two election cycles. A single dime of campaign money from Wall Street must become the ultimate kiss of death for all politicians going forward, regardless of political party. Living within the Great Recession, delivered by Wall Street greed, as far into the future as anyone can foresee and allowing even more bribery money to go into the pockets of our corrupt political class . . . is like trying to get your only daughter a date with Tiger Woods.
Breakout Resource(s) Top 20 Senators Receiving Wall Street Bribes http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?ind=F03&cycle=2012&recipdetail=S& mem=Y&sortorder=U
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Top 20 Members of the House Receiving Wall Street Bribes http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?ind=F03&cycle=2012&recipdetail=H& mem=Y&sortorder=U Commercial Bank Pay-to-Play Contributions to Congress http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=F03++&goButt2.x=11&goButt2.y= 6
It is far more important, than any act of mere revenge, that we remove the money big banks utilize to bribe our Congress. If you dont get anything else from this book understand clearly that Wall Street and the big banks OWN our Congress and government just like you own your dog. Now, when Wall Street calls, your members of Congress wag their tails and roll over on their back while asking for their belly to be rubbed. The only evidence needed to prove that reality is the bailout that occurred. No more evidence needs to provided or added. Your deposits and loans are funding bribery and calling it by the name of campaign finance is just lying to your self. It is bribery and much of it is being done with your money. End the lie and stop the bribery today by pulling every dime of your loans and deposits from the big banks and encourage every single America to do the same. Vengeance can be ours if we act together . . . make these pigs pay for their greed!!!
Breakout Resource(s): WallStreetWatch.org http://www.wallstreetwatch.org Breaking Up the Banks http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=2509 Make Wall Street Pay http://www.makewallstreetpay.org/ Freedom and Mobility in Banking Act http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-3077
Beware Any Moves to Water Down the Pathetic Wall Street Reforms As detailed in Part I, the Wall Street reform bill passed in 2010 was a joke! It was the most pathetic, watered down piece of legislation imaginable, yet it was a step in the right direction. Insider trading, derivatives, naked short selling, collateralized debt, credit default swaps, sub-prime mortgages, currency and futures trading [betting] and the entire scheme of corruption and legalized stealing that goes on within Wall Street . . . is one of the foremost challenges our nation faces. Every American has an obligation as a citizen to do some reading and rent at least one of two documentaries: Inside Job and Plunder, The Crime of Our Time. What led to the Great Recession was not a bad economy, but nothing more than pure unmitigated greed and insane risk taking. What was going on previous to the meltdown has not stopped and it has nothing whatsoever
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to do with banking and investments and everything to do with an outright casino environment. They make outright bets and insure each other against losing those bets and when that blows up, as it did with the Wall Street meltdown . . . the American people are forced to pick-up their loses and pay them off over the course of generations. The stock market crash, mortgage loan meltdown, Bernie Madoffs billion dollar Ponzi scheme and the insider trading conviction of Martha Stewart should still be fresh in the minds of all Americans and should stay firmly implanted until each of us leave this Earth, but not so in America. We forgive and forget. We have the shortest memory of any humans to ever walk the planet. A humble trusting people, Americans desperately want to see and believe in the good of man even when every piece of evidence to the contrary says its just not true. Wall Street and especially hedge funds demonstrate the absolute worst level of greed that exists within mankind and it is a cancer that is not in remission and will reoccur if not constantly monitored by the American people. Along with the new Congress of 2011, as expected came a big dose of freedom and liberty. No sooner did the new Congress take their seats, the Wall Street lobbyists began their assault upon the pathetic Wall Street reform package. Led by the U.S. Chamber of Congress, the Chambers president Tom Donohue said, We spend about $1.7 trillion a year on regulation and put out much of it. Much of it is needed and we support it. But a lot of it, particularly in the last three years, has moved from a government of the people to a government of the regulator, or the regulating agencies. If you were to pin Donohue down [the leader of the most financially powerful lobby in Washington, D.C. by far] as to just what government regulation he does in fact support, hed be mute, befuddled and at a complete loss for words. If there was ever a poster child representing government corruption that needs reform, its the U.S. Chamber of Commerce who rules Washington, D.C. with a big stick. Playing bad cop, bad cop their sinister kid brother, the Business Roundtable, came out of the gate spewing their predictable job creation spin as they launched their assault on the Dodd-Frank financial reform provisions, such as: 1) a new federal right to access corporate proxy statements, 2) disclosure ratio of CEO pay to the average workers salary, 3) payments to whistle blowers who report securities law violations to the SEC and 4) regulation of derivative trading and other rules governing executive compensation. All these are seen by Wall Street, the Chamber and the Business Roundtable as onerous, overreaching government regulation and want the American people to believe they are job killers. Does anyone in America remember that it was Wall Street that killed 8.5+ million jobs, not government regulation? Were still living in the Great Recession caused by Wall Street and the Chamber and the Business Roundtable want America to just forgive and forget . . . go back to business as usual. How stupid to they think we Americans are? Just where was it, during the 2010 election cycle that the American people asked for any of these provisions to be repealed? Nowhere were these specific repeals discussed with the American people who had just been gang raped by Wall Street. These repeals, were suddenly led to believe, fall under the nebulous heading of onerous job killing restrictions . . . a violation of the Constitution restricting freedom and liberty. Where is it in the Constitution that says Wall Street should have the freedom and liberty to screw every citizen in America? What is it that America didnt learn the first time around from the Wall Street freedom and liberty poison? Just look at the ever declining value of your home, if youre lucky enough to still own one, thats called Wall Street freedom and liberty. Now, were being told over and over that if Congress will just lift those onerous big government restrictions upon Wall Street that these wonderful humans will return
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America to greatness. The swine on Wall Street wont even lend money to start or expand a business [unless you can prove 100 percent that you dont need to borrow], but were now being told that if we lift oversight, they will take America to the promised land of milk and honey? America is stupid, but surely we cant be that stupid . . . can we? Instead of the liberty and freedom that wrecked our economy already via deregulation, we need far more restrictions upon Wall Street greed. Just one of many examples, lets take speed trading . . . if the average citizen cant speed trade to buy or dump stocks then why should the swine on Wall Street be allowed to do so? Wall Street behemoths, such as Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan take speed trading to new speeds by operating what are called dark pool private markets that trade away from the Big Board often invisible, these private marketplaces are not open to other NYSE member firms and especially average American investors. High frequency traders, setup highly sophisticated computer systems that cost millions in order to buy or sell automatically, based upon triggers, at warp-speed that no one else in America or even NYSE member companies can match. It provides an unfair playing field when a stock price is rising and most especially cuts loses when a stock is plunging. Its rife with insider trading abuse which all Americans know is the norm on Wall Street. Many believe it led to the massive one day flash crash in May 2010. By a strict definition, insider trading is any and all information to which an average American does not have access. With 50 to 70 percent of all trading now high-speed computer trading, ask yourself the question, what percentage of that volume, by a strict definition of insider trading, is unethical at a minimum or even illegal under SEC law? If your answer to that question doesnt give you a sinking feeling in your stomach, you guessed wrong. The poorly staffed and grossly under-funded SEC is still scratching its head on what led to the flash crash. Nonetheless, you dont have to be a Wall Street genius to understand that billions of dollars in stock value can literally disappear in seconds and toss America into yet another Wall Street meltdown. Whenever allowed by the American people, Wall Street will play fast and loose in a delicate high-wire dance of greed and when they fall: we the people pay for generations while the swine of Wall Street just continue to dance. Again, speed trading is just one example of so many unfair, unethical, insider-only Wall Street activities that take place every day that no book such as this can even begin to detail. The enormous risks and volatility from Wall Street has already been demonstrated for our entire economy. Yet, Party A is pushing already to give them a longer leash via deregulation under the pretense of job creation. In the midst of the Great Recession well all be struggling to recover from for decades, how fast and lose do we want Wall Street to play with our economy? With the top 10 percent of Americans owning virtually all the stock, the long held idea that what is good for Wall Street is good for America . . . is now officially DEAD! The next time you hear that the stock market is up today, you now know that the mega-rich just became even richer and the only real impact is within the top 10 percent of Americans that own all the stock. What was once a somewhat respectable profession involved in banking and investments, Wall Street has been converted into a casino for Americas mega-rich money whores. Simply add cocktail waitresses and pit bosses to the Wall Street trading floor and well have a real casino with almost no difference whatsoever. What they call exotic investment tools the average American calls criminal. Just how stupid can America be if we ever fall for more freedom and liberty for Wall Street? Quite the opposite is needed, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), long under
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funded, should have even more personnel and resources at its disposal to constantly investigate Wall Street and the banks with scrutiny never before seen in America.
Breakout Resource(s) A great resource tool for information on financial regulations, Wall Street reform and the ownership of Congress by Wall Street . . . Citizens United http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=2554
Anyone that believes that the stock market and financial arena operates above board without massive insider trading, behind the scenes manipulation, unscrupulous deal making and highly illegal activities has to be the most nave person on Earth. By comparison, Wall Street makes Washington, D.C. look like a church. Any and all conversations on American greed must begin and end with Wall Street and without a strong, fully funded SEC the corruption and greed that brought about the Great Recession will simply continue and happen once again. Anyone that believes the weak pathetic Wall Street reform bill did anything significant to rein in these greedy swine simply dont understand the nature of greed. Greed is what they live for, its what drives their every movement and its what they dream about when sleeping. Gutting and repealing the pathetic Wall Street reforms now in place, under the pretense of job creation are now priority No. 1 for Party A. What they cannot repeal, because the financial wounds to America are still too fresh in the minds of citizens, they are working already to gut by playing political games and withholding funding. Perhaps the only significant legislation to come about from the Wall Street reform bill was creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), but to date via gamesmanship, Wall Street blocked the appointment of Elizabeth Warren to head the bureau and along with Party A have worked behind the scenes to gut funding to keep the bureau from getting off the ground. In short, the CFPBs role is to keep Wall Street from screwing all of America, but Party A views that role as onerous big government regulation and are cooking it with their freedom and liberty side dish to poison creation of the CFPB in the feeble minds of Americans. Party A doesnt want the SEC funded and they dont want the CFPB funded. They are using the federal budget deficit as the reason to withhold adequate funding, but only the feeble minded freedom and liberty crowd is dumb enough to eat that dog food. While robust funding of the CFPB is absolutely critical to all Americans, it points to a much larger issue taking place in Washington, D.C. under the guise of fiscal responsibility. Party A hawks wholeheartedly approve of hundreds of cruise missiles, at $60 M a piece, being launched like Fourth of July fireworks into Libya where we have zero strategic interest whatsoever . . . they disapprove of funding the CFPB? In truth Party A doesnt give a damn about fiscal responsibility or federal government red ink, unless it fulfills their political objectives for power and control. Some $60 M a piece for cruise missiles to look out for the oil companies, but nothing for the CFPB in order to protect the American people from Wall Street tells you everything you need to know about what is ahead from the radical rights liberty and freedom agenda going forward.
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Their vision of liberty and freedom is only about the freedom to crush the American people into the ground with budget cuts that fulfill their political power agenda and debts they owe to the mega-rich that put them into office. Without constant and extreme public scrutiny along with outcries from voters, the recent pathetic restraints placed upon Wall Street via reform measures will be repealed under the guise of freedom and liberty. Any voice or finger lifted to repeal any of the new Wall Street reforms needs to have all hell unleashed upon them from the American people. Far more needs to be done to reign in Wall Streets casino games and the Dodd-Frank reforms are just a weak starting point for more to come as the American people finally get educated and wise up! Use It or Lose It: the Power of Your Wallet is Now at Hand Just like mega-money now owns Washington, D.C. and makes the world go around, we often forget that together, united, we the people have almost as much money power as the mega-rich. We have no weapon more powerful at our disposal, at present, than the power of our wallet. Every time you open your wallet you either affect change or work to maintain the status quo. Every dollar you pull out of your wallet is the most powerful vote youre ever going to have and collectively it can change our economy as well as the political structure. You set the balance of power and you control the American Monopoly board. The goals are simple: keep American money on the American board and keep our money out of the hands of the mega-rich. The concepts of buy American only, dont buy from China and the mega-rich are not complex, but in practical execution pursuing those goals are a challenge . . . at least at first. Going forward, upon being funded, better resources and information will be provided to make these goals far easier to accomplish. In its simplest form, contentious Americans must set purchasing priorities in the following declining order of importance: #1 buy American goods and services whenever possible, #2 never buy anything from China whenever possible and #3 never buy products and services from the mega-rich a.k.a. private family holdings and multi-nation mega-corporations unless it is unavoidable. The easiest of these goals at present, simply because at least some information resources exist, is to buy American. Toward that goal, because it is vitally important and critical for our common economic survival, the breakout resources are provided in the hope that you will use them extensively going forward and share them with every American you know. [In addition, it is hoped and anticipated that early draft readers will forward their information and websites to enable everyone to buy American. Please forward your links and information to: JKaneTheResistance@hotmail.com ]
Breakout Resource(s): National Association of Manufacturers http://www.nam.org/ Public Citizen: Global Trade Watch http://www.citizen.org/trade/
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There should be a federal government focused nationwide initiative to promote buying American goods and services, but thats prohibited by restrictions our political class agreed to as part of WTO agreements. The last thing the mega-rich and the powers in charge want is for Americans to pay attention to country of origin and simply refuse going forward to buy off shore goods and services. It cuts their profit margins and deflates their goal of a free flowing world economy where Americans are reduced to Third World subsistence. Therefore, we the American people have to take charge of buy American initiatives because were going to get little or no help from the political class and even less from the mega-rich profiting from our current shopping habits that are buying our nation into economic oblivion. Consider the damage to our economy when you buy an iPhone, made in China, supporting a billionaire like Steve Jobs, who in turn imports that product and markets it though a retailer bottom feeder like Walmart? It equals jobs lost in America, money for China, more money in the hands of the mega-rich and more power in the hands of Walmart to dominate the retail landscape, which in turn pushes down wages for all Americans. At every economic turn, such a single purchase is a losing proposition for America at large. It increases the rolls of the working poor, which in turn increases the need for public assistance, higher taxes, crime, etc. Its all tied together. Money leaves local communities, the tax base dwindles and only the mega-rich and China benefit from such a purchase. Once you give it some real thought, buying American is as simple as doing a one time review of all the products and services you purchase on a regular basis: groceries, drug store, etc. along with the companies that sell those products. You switch some brands out for others and switch out the large companies that sell your products for as many small and local companies as possible. In a book, we simply cant provide elaborate details on companies, brands, etc., but once we launch a website well be able to do far more to make it much easier. Again, buying everything possible local in your community from local small store owners, restaurants, etc. instead of mega-corporate chains puts tons of money back into your local community and begins to balance out the playing field. Since tons of vegetables and produce now come from off shore, a simple stop off at your local farmers market trims some money from going off shore. Its about chipping away, purchase by purchase, to collectively take money out of the pockets of the greedy families, the huge corporate conglomerates and the mega-monopolies. Buying and sourcing local is the biggest win-win possible. Often herein, the focus has been on the big picture, but its the small picture of every day actions and every week purchases that send the most American money off shore. Think about it, what if 100 million Americans, 1/3 of the population, trim just $20 per week from going off shore? Thats $2 B we kept on our Monopoly board in one single week and over the course of one year thats $104 B in American jobs we just saved. While focus is often on big ticket items, its the $20 per week that over time will make the most difference. Once you have your game plan in place for the repeat purchases, all you have to do then is pay attention and do a little research on big ticket items. No Volvos from China and no Land Rovers from India for instance. we the people now own way too much of General Motors (GM) so buying their cars and trucks is the biggest no brainer purchase of all. Even though in reality, GM just walked away from billions in debt and we the taxpayer picked up the tab, were now stuck with them until they can repay the rest of what they owe us. In reality [because of the global economy,] big ticket items are far more complex to nail down because almost nothing any longer is 100 percent American made. Ford, for instance, is now beginning to make some of their engines in China so you have to research and nix buying those specific models.
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Quite honestly, this high level overview provides only the most embryonic guidance for buying American and not from the mega-rich. Imagine for a moment, a comprehensive website with a database of nearly every product of service imaginable. Then imagine a search engine within that website where you plug in whatever product or service you can imagine and hit enter. Several levels of information come up on your screen: 1) a ranking in descending order for both buy American and 2) sourcing to exclude the greedy families, the multi-national corporate conglomerates, companies that contribute to PACs, lobbyists, etc. This is not a dream, it can be done, but only with funding and absolute credibility as to research that is free from all political influence such as political parties, etc. Think of a website that is much like the magazine/site Consumer Reports that not only provides rankings, but also provides impartial analysis of how each ranking is achieved. Once up and running, utilized by Americans by the millions on a mass scale, youll see real economic change in America far, far beyond what we will ever get from Washington, D.C. or state capitols. Today, the mega-rich and the mega-corporate multinational conglomerates dont want this type of information provided to the American public. Nonetheless, we have to start somewhere and for the moment, doing some significant research before purchasing to keep as much American money on our Monopoly board as possible and out of the hands of the mega-rich is critical for our economic future. Our political class until replaced will continue to sell us all out by signing agreements governed by the WTO, but they cant force Americans to take money out of our wallets and spend if off shore or give it to the mega-rich . . . without our complicity. We the American people still have the largest economy in the entire world and, for the moment at least, we can still take charge of this global economy game being played by dictating via our dollars that average Americans win. Going to vote every two years or so, is just one means to change the system or disrupt the pyramid scheme that is now America. While informed intelligent voters will help turn the 30+ year tide of decline, money from our wallets going into the correct pockets instead of the wrong pockets will do far more quickly that voting will for the foreseeable future. Money talks and it always will! Priority I: Stop Made in China from Destroying America First off, understand that China is not going away . . . its not going to happen, but anything we Americans can do to stop as many of our American dollars and jobs from going there is absolutely critical going forward! Its a national security issue, its an economic issue, its a human rights issue and its an environmental issue just for starters. The case was clearly made for not buying MADE IN CHINA in Part I and if you dont get it already belaboring the massive number of issues involved with purchasing Chinese goods and services again in Part II will not serve to ensure your commitment. Bottom line, it is absolutely un-American to buy MADE IN CHINA unless it is absolutely necessary. Pretending that avoiding MADE IN CHINA is easy or the least costly alternative would be a lie, but we no longer have any other choice but to boycott Chinese products and services. Were trillions of dollars in debt to China and our trade deficit with them as of 2010 is now at an historic -$267 B per year. We simply have to find viable alternatives to buying anything from China and it can be done! Yes, for some products you are going to be forced to source them from off shore,
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but anything is better than buying MADE IN CHINA! Some rare exceptions may exist, but its hard to imagine any product or service that can only be sourced from China. What is needed beyond buy American websites and information are supplemental websites and information for avoiding buying from China in order to promote a nationwide boycott across the board of all Chinese products and services. Such information and sources will be one of the main focal points to develop or link to once funding is received to launch a website. From here on out, shopping has to begin with an ABC mentality . . . Anywhere but China! As for a legislative agenda from Washington, D.C. to confront China and the selling out of the American economy to China . . . we have a spineless, inept political class that is corrupt with cronyism and political donations that have sold most all of America, especially our manufacturing sector, off to China. It starts with Chinas currency manipulation that makes everything that comes out of China even more dirt cheap than it already is. Currently, the Chinese currency is at least 40 percent undervalued, but our political class has overspent and has us so indebted to China that they now lack the will and political backbone to demand that China stop artificially deflating their currency. Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2011: The bill was introduced in September 2011 in the U.S. Senate primarily to address currency manipulation by China. Working through the WTO and the IMF, as well as onshore entities such as the Federal Reserve and tools such as tariffs, etc., the bill authorizes U.S. actions to correct artificially devalued currency. Before such action occurs, the bill mandates a semiannual evaluation of foreign currencies against the dollar to determine if a nation such as China is cheating a.k.a. devaluing their currency to gain competitive advantage in the world marketplace with artificially cheap goods and services. The bill delivers a series mandated escalating steps to apply pressure to a nation such as China to bring about a fair currency evaluation within the world marketplace. Right out of the gate, China played the protectionist card, much like the radical right who want America to believe that unrestrained free trade within a world economy came down from Mt. Sinai with Moses. "By using the excuse of a so-called 'currency imbalance,' this will escalate the exchange rate issue, adopting a protectionist measure that gravely violates WTO rules and seriously upsets Sino-U.S. trade and economic relations," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement posted on China's official government website. "China expresses its adamant opposition to this."1 Too funny if it were not so delightfully warped that China greed seems to work just like megarich greed within America . . . both play the protectionist card to enable stealing and massive exploitation of people. Give China a little credit however, they didnt deploy the Buddhism card to legitimize stealing, unlike their U.S. counterparts. Instead, China actually uttered the words gravely violates WTO rules. For China of all nations on Earth to talk WTO rules when it hasnt honored a WTO rule in its entire history, except when it was to Chinas advantage, is even worse than playing the Buddhism card. As of this writing, the bill is in the early stages and the spineless Obama administration is urging diplomacy instead, while it remains to be seen what the radical right House of Representatives will do with the bill. If the bill moves forward, it will be at the urging of the American people by the millions, otherwise it will either be watered down or die a slow death within the glacial speed at which Congress moves forward on anything. Could it spark a trade war with China? Absolutely!
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According to all analysts, a trade war with China is coming at some point in time. There is no good time for a trade war and with the volatility of European markets and potential government debt defaults this is hardly an optimal time for a trade war with China. Think of it as a global poker game. A game in which America has been getting its posterior kicked ever since president, Clinton pushed for China to be allowed into the WTO. The question now is whether we fold to China once again and allow them to continue clearing chips from the table, or do we now play our ace in the hole? The day has finally arrived to play our ace in the hole and see who blinks. As detailed in Part I, our ace in the hole is that a dictatorship like China is not in a position to piss off more than a billion citizens, most especially the 6+ million college graduates coming out of their institutions of higher learning each year. Without Americans, still the largest economy in the world, buying their products and services . . . China is toast! The problem with education is along with it comes very high expectations for increased mobility and standards of living. If China cant deliver upon those expectations, they will have massive discontent, political uprisings and calls for a revolution to deliver democracy. It is their regimes biggest fear and even though we owe them a couple trillion dollars at least, they are over a much bigger barrel than we are simply because they absolutely must export in a massive way or their economy will collapse. They simply do not yet have a large enough middle-class to support millions upon millions of new college graduates and the extremely high expectations that come with education. The only way they can survive is to export to the U.S. and take our jobs via continuing to steal our manufacturing base and encourage American companies to employ the Chinese instead of Americans via Internet-based jobs. By buying MADE IN CHINA, we Americans are enabling the strategy to the tune of billions of American dollars each year. Bottom line, trade conflicts with China are coming, just as sure as the sun will rise in the morning. Its inevitable and its why controlling our population numbers are so critical and vitally important to our economic well being. The fewer the number of people we have to employ and support, the greater advantage we have. Neither nation can afford an all out trade war, but if it comes to pass, it will hurt China far more than it will hurt us because they are sitting on a billion people powder keg they cannot afford to rile. Even as stupidly and rapidly as we are growing our U.S. population, as if there was some economic advantage, we still have only 311 million people, but China has a billion plus people to keep economically happy. Why do you think that China has worked diligently for decades at population management, while the U.S. stubbornly clings to Ellis Island myths? The answer to that question is actually quite simple: China is smart and we are stupid. That fact actually speaks to a much larger economic issue of why China is excelling while we are failing miserably. Democracy pretty much sucks as a means to run a smooth free enterprise economy within a global marketplace, while a stable longstanding dictatorship is capable of making intelligent moves . . . instead of pandering for votes every two years. China is all about educating their workforce, investing in the future and they dont have to pander to the shrill voices screaming racism and xenophobia over the immigration issue in order to hold power and keep the economic engine humming. Nonetheless, even with all its flaws and inefficiencies, a nation ruled by democracy is a much cooler place to live than a dictatorship. Nonetheless, the question as to whether a divided nation, ruled via a democracy can come together to make intelligent economic decisions is an open question. Somehow, while dealing with our own internal issues and divisions, the time has come to play economic hard ball with China.
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The mega-rich and the multi-national American corporations making billions off cheap Chinese labor [by outsourcing American jobs] will of course cringe at such an idea because they want access to that Chinese marketplace and they will sell their soul and America with it in order to get that access. Anything that potentially disrupts their game plan to sell us all out . . . will be an uphill battle since the mega-rich and the American multi-nationals own Congress, but nonetheless, America can no longer afford to play games with China and even though we owe them a couple trillion dollars they are in a far less enviable position than we are . . . for the moment at least. A get tough with China policy must extend to the WTO by renegotiating and even threatening to pull out entirely from their auspices, rules and regulations . . . if American patents, trademarks, copyrights, etc. are not strictly enforced along with all flawed trade agreements renegotiated and strictly followed to the exact numbers and the letter of WTO law. The days of America playing fair and China cheating, all condoned by the WTO and every other nation on Earth must end now! America is a sovereign nation and this global trade game run by the WTO and the mega-rich behind the global multinational corporations is a game the American people have been loosing for more than 30+ years . . . most especially to China. Because we are still the biggest and strongest economy in the world, we still have the clout and the financial pull to call the shots. If however, we fail to act now, while we are still in that enviable position . . . the door will soon shut for good. The adage, use it or lose it . . . has never been more appropriate than now when dealing with China as well as the WTO. Clearly understand that this is not a call for haphazard, reckless moves upon the world economic stage to wreak havoc or to make our economic plight even worse than it is already. It is instead a call for America to stand up as the No. 1 player upon the world economic stage and use that enviable position to take care of average Americans instead of only the mega-rich and the multi-national America corporations.
Breakout Resource(s): Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2011 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s112-1619
The Biggest Challenge of Our Time At the core of this book, everything leading up to this segment and everything thereafter centers around solving what can only be termed as The Biggest Challenge of Our Time namely, unemployment, underemployment, poverty and massive wealth inequality within America. What average Americans need to get their heads around is that America is far from broke, despite all the talk about austerity measures, a down economy, etc. If any reader didnt get from Part I that b-zillions of dollars are sitting at the top of the American food chain in accumulated wealth over the past 30+ years . . . than just stop reading! In addition to all those trillions, corporate America, as of March 2011, was sitting on $1.9 T in cash . . . more than at any time since 1984.1 The 13 biggest cash-hoarders among the S&P 500 had more than $300 billion in cash by the end of 2010 . . . among them: Cisco
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Systems with $40.2 B, Microsoft with nearly $40 B and google with nearly $35 B.2 Even overall household net worth in America as a whole grew 3.8 percent in 2010 to $56.8 T, but most of that was due to stock market gains and of course that stock is concentrated at the top of the food chain.3 While the fringe left believes that all that $1.9 T in corporate cash should be absconded with to pay off government red ink, only an economic neophyte would advocate such a move. On the other hand, the radical right buffoons are even more out of touch with the times and economic reality. Believe it or not, most every, if not all Party A candidates for president in 2012 are advocating tax cuts for corporations and billionaires as the way to create jobs and spur the economy. This wide divide in economic thought demonstrates just how loony and insane the fringe left and the radical right really are. It is true that if you take all the corporate cash and individual wealth via taxes that there will be no jobs created, but any American that believes there is not enough corporate cash and individual wealth at the top of the food chain to create millions of America jobs . . . is nothing but a damn fool! Continued stupidity on the part of the America people that actually believe the mega-rich and corporate America dont yet have enough money to create America jobs simply defies all the numbers and all the economic logic that exists. Its Party A propaganda 100 percent with zero merit whatsoever and any American still believing in it, trickle down economics and the idea that we cant tax the job creators [billionaires and mega-millionaires] BS is completely unaware of the massive wealth disparity that exists in America. Heres the bottom line . . . everyone in America that wants to work and is willing to work, no matter their intellectual and mental capabilities, should be able to find a job in America that pays a living wage. Furthermore, no matter someones intellectual and mental capabilities there is human dignity in every type of work, be it a sanitation worker or a brain surgeon. In a wildly rich nation, where extraordinary wealth has been manipulated and accumulated only within the very top percentage of citizens over the past 30+ years, due to political corruption of our democracy . . . no one who is willing to work should be allowed starve. As stated early on, those Americans with God given mental capabilities along with drive and ambition should be rewarded handsomely within our free enterprise system, but the amount of wealth now accumulated at the top as the result of corruption, monopolies, off shore cheap labor and imported immigrant labor has reached a point where it is starving out opportunity for American citizens to survive. Until the damage done to the middle-class, over the last 30+ years, is well down the road toward repair, Americans must now for the first time in decades focus on what actually matters! That laser focus must now be about bread and butter for all citizens and the future of the American economy . . . NOT political party games. The frivolous by comparison, social issues along with the ongoing culture war issues hyped and manipulated by the mega-rich to divide and distract Americans while they continue to hammer their greedy death nails into the coffin of our collective American Dream. Monopolies, mergers, mega-corporate entities and exploitation of cheap outsourced and immigrant labor from all across the globe in order to deliver ever higher profit margins have pushed the American middle-class off an economic cliff. Clearly, virtually no one in American despite all the noise about voting our wallets is focused on the economic road ahead. We have a failed two-party political system and zero leadership whatsoever focused on the new world in which we all now live. Antiquated political
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parties living in the past, previous to a global economy and the Internet are simply not capable of restoring prospects for the American Dream. Furthermore, as long as the political class can continue to ride the magic carpet of incumbency to remain part of the aristocracy . . . America will starve! Until and unless a sanity stake is hammered firmly in the ground that FREE MARKET forces will NOT equalize the employment playing field for Americans in the foreseeable future we will continue to lose jobs, lose pay and continue down the road of losing the American Dream. Anyone that views the free market, free enterprise system as something holy and perfect that will protect American jobs without government intervention is an absolute fool! Buying into the free market alone mentality, with no government intervention, is a complete load of manure no matter how many Harvard economists, politicians or business leaders that try to sell it. When it comes to looking out for Americans, American jobs, our American economy and our American standard of living trusting in some unrealistic ideal of some unregulated free market equilibrium being achieved to solve all issues related to full and gainful employment for all Americans is for gullible idiots! Tied to such absolute stupidity, just as foolish if not even more insane, is the idea of American exceptionalism . . . whereby Americans are sold and buy into the freedom and liberty dog food being pushed by the mega-rich media machine. Waving the flag, telling the American people that we are the best and the brightest workers in the world that can compete with anyone on an unregulated playing field is nothing more than shear propaganda designed to put even more money into the pockets of our American aristocracy. If Americans are exceptional as the propagandists of our aristocracy want us to believe, then why does the American aristocracy build plants and hire as many overseas workers as possible? It just doesnt add up, now does it? Its called a scam, a pyramid scheme whereby propaganda, combined with political payoffs work together to exploit the American people in order to line the pockets of the mega-rich. No one in America, with a brain, can read the loosing statistics for the American middleclass laid out herein and not see whats ahead if it is not stopped a Third World America with two classes of people, the mega-rich and the dirt poor. If measures are not taken to protect the U.S. economy and more importantly the American workforce, both white collar and blue collar the America 2030 vision described in the beginning of this book is just a matter of time before it comes to pass. Whether it is just a slow steady decline with massive starvation or it is combined with massive social unrest, crime, curfews and lawlessness . . . the America ahead were facing is absolutely bleak if we do not awaken now as a nation and unite to address our economic future. Were well down that road already and the time has come to stop pretending via some collective American ego, spurred by freedom and liberty propaganda that an American worker can compete with someone living in a grass hut in India or in a 10 bunk room in a Chinese sweatshop making iPhones. The idea that an American worker can compete with either scenario is total and complete BS! Just as ludicrous is the idea that Americans can now afford to educate themselves to a level within a competitive global economy landscape whereby the next generation exceeds the U.S. standard of living of the last. Until the undergraduate degrees, MBAs and PhDs now being acquired in China, India and other developing nations rise to a compensation level equivalent with the American educated . . . the value of an education will continue to fall. Americans can learn all the math and science that want, but until the math and science skills of
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professionals in the developing world pay what those skills pay in American . . . the compensation level for those skills in America will continue to stagnate. The bill of goods, world economy propaganda that continues to be sold to America via the mega-rich media machine is for fools that simply dont understand basic supply and demand economic theory. As long as a supply of people [workers] from all over the world is available to the greedy aristocracy . . . all things being equal, the greedy megarich at the top will hire the cheapest available talent. If we could compete, the average wage for Americans would not have remained stagnant for the past 30+ years. The reason we cant compete is called overhead and Americans have it and the developing world doesnt. The Harvard economists know what overhead is and so do the mega-rich and political class who have been blowing free-trade smoke up our posteriors for 30+ years. Over and over again, the media machine, the political class and the corporate exploiters keep telling us that America has the brightest and best workforce in the world. That part of their propaganda is true, but when in the same breath they say we can compete with anyone in the world its an absolute lie designed to get Americans to maintain a status quo course toward the economic oblivion of middle-class America. Americans, at least for the moment, have houses, cars, boats, big screen TVs, furniture, computers, clothes and we dont eat rice three meals a day. Thats called overhead a.k.a. a high standard of living. Even though that standard is falling like a rock and has been for 30+ years, the mega-rich, the corporations and our political class expect us to just continue the status quo and remain on the present course. Neither failed trickle down economic theory from the disco era, nor unemployment and welfare checks from our two-party failed political class address the core economic issues we now face or re-level the playing field for all Americans to compete for the American Dream. Defunct political parties owned by the mega-rich and dead ideas from an era long past are not what America now requires. The two looming questions that must be addressed are: 1) given the numbers and wage/salary disparities laid out in Part I, does any American believe that, left unrestrained, that so called world-wide free-market forces will do anything but continue sucking average Americans financially dry within the foreseeable future? Does anyone believe that with the overhead of an American worker [whether they a professional or blue collar American] that we can compete with anyone in the developing world and 2) is the so called free-trade world economy inevitable, smart and worthwhile for Americans to engage in, or does it simply benefit the mega-rich alone? Question #2 is not to suggest that economic isolationism is reasonable or feasible, but a policy of full and gainful employment for all Americans is reasonable and feasible. Were still the No. 1 economy in the world; therefore we have the power to make it happen. While much of what is needed to bring that vision to reality requires government intervention, the first step is for Americans to act in their own economic self interest by drastically curtailing the purchase of imported goods and services. Moreover, buying from the American aristocracy and the mega-corporations a.k.a. feeding the American pyramid scheme is just as detrimental to restoration of the American Dream. Much, if not most, of the solutions to return the American Dream are directly in the hands of each American. If we cant come together as a nation and act in our own self interest economically, then how can we whine about a corrupted political system that serves only the mega-rich?
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The real looming questions are not the two asked above but one far more critical, can the American people finally see through the smokescreens of political division in order to come together and act in our own economic self interest? Apathy, disengagement and continuing to sit by playing the same old status quo two-party political games are not going to restore the American Dream. Protecting the American workforce and standard of living has to become a steadfast priority in America, right behind national security. There simply are no other government functions or priorities ahead of those two critical priorities. In most economist circles, especially within the Ivy League aristocracy, as well as with all members of the radical right . . . a sacred line was just crossed with use of the word protect. With no tether whatsoever to todays economic realities, modern commerce, the technological revolution or the 6 billion hungry mouths in the developing world they all preach from a dead pulpit from a by gone era that protectionism is a recipe for economic failure. In unison, they all thump their free market Bible and preach the perils of protectionism learned from the Great Depression. While they may be living in the 1930s, most Americans live in the real world and times have changed. There was no Internet or comparative technological revolution in the 1930s, nor were there thousands and thousands of massive ships, twice the size of football fields, delivering cheap imported goods to our shores. The economic playing field has changed and therefore the economic rules must change as well. Intelligent Americans, now finally realize that the term free market capitalism is code for free labor from everywhere in the developing world to pad the pockets of the American aristocracy. The mega-rich propaganda machine says we must participate in this free-market world economy. To some extent that is true, but with political clout once we replace the Congressional puppets owned by the mega-rich, well compete on our terms. In short that means, we Americans have the biggest economy, therefore we call the shots to the benefit of American workers . . . not to the benefit of the mega-rich. We didnt have to buy into the free-market world economy 30+ years ago, nor do we have to buy into it now if we were to choose not to. We could be virtually self-sufficient within our shores once again, but thats not what is being suggested or advocated herein. A free-market world economy with all its downsides was no more natural an inevitable than the creation of rail roads. It is a creation of man, contrary to those on the radical right who want Americans to believe that God created the free-market world economy. Man created it, specifically the mega-rich created it. Why they created it is simple: greed! [Last time someone checked greed was not Godly.] There is nothing whatsoever natural or inevitable about a free market global economy. It has been allowed to happen by Americans who volunteered to walk off the free trade cliff like zombie sheep leaping to their economic death. Well America, hows that unrestrained free trade world economy working out for you? As stated previously, there is no problem whatsoever with companies and corporations making money . . . lots of it! If they dont make money, were all going to starve to death because none of us will have jobs. The question however at hand, is: whether were going to allow American corporations doing business in America and foreign corporations shipping in goods and supplying services to suck the lifeblood out of every living American under the guise of free-trade and a global economy? Have you seen either political party, any member of Congress, the president or any government
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bureaucrat lift even one finger to stop it? Of course not, because campaign contributions and massive corruption ensure they will not lift a finger. Their palms have been well oiled, their children are all well employed in government, corporations or on Wall Street . . . in other words our political class loves things just the way they are and rocking their money boat isnt going to happen unless the America people rise up to force the issue. Its called selling out the American people for pieces of gold. Nothing short of a peaceful revolution is going to turn back a 30+ year free-trade tsunami in favor of American people. What are the alternatives to just simply allowing the American economy, along with the American Dream, to just slowly decay and die? There are many, the alternatives are vast and some have not yet even been conceived. When industry changes, technology changes and new inventions come upon the scene . . . its the job of government to react to changing business environments to protect the people, but were receiving nothing whatsoever in the form of protection. We the people have instead been sold out to the mega-rich like slaves in the Old South. While most Americans are not proponents of economic isolationism for a myriad of reasons, we have to at least be intelligent enough to make sure free trade works for Americans via full employment at good pay. Otherwise its time to balk, dig in our heels and say, nope, were done playing this game this way. If it takes replacing every member of Congress and every member of every state legislature in America to make that happen . . . then so be it, lets get started! Were going to reclaim our nation from the clutches of the mega-rich and participate in the world economy it must be rewarding to the majority of the American people not just the mega-rich slave owners. The first four things that must happen is for Americans to come together now with a laser focus upon 1) any existing jobs in the U.S. that are leaving 2) off shore new hires by any American company that could and should sourced in the U.S. 3) new hires by foreign companies doing business on U.S. soil that should be American citizens and 4) illegal immigration must finally be stopped, yearly legal immigration and H-1B visas numbers must be drastically curtailed and tied via legislation to the unemployment rate. It can not be emphasized enough that grassroots public pressure and scrutiny from the American people has to play a critical role going forward to compel companies doing business in the U.S. to hire and maintain American citizens at all levels of their company. Through publicity efforts, both negative and positive, along with buying only made in America whenever possible is absolutely the strongest tool the American people currently have at our disposal to restore the U.S. economy and our American Dream.
Breakout Resource(s): Job Tracker http://www.workingamerica.org/jobtracker/
Clearly however, public pressure, scrutiny and buying made in America are just the starting point to turn the tide. Ultimately, the American people are going to have to put aside their political tags and differences and come together as one unified force that dares any company doing business in the U.S. to hire off shore instead of hiring an American. To date, far too many Americans have taken the attitude of Ive still got a job,
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its not my problem. Weve been divided by political party, class, race, religion, white collar, blue collar and every division possible to just look the other way while our fellow American citizens have been screwed. Thats not going to work going forward, were going to have to hold our little political noses and work together or were all going to suffer the consequences of our petty selfish political tags. Starving people are neither liberal nor conservative . . . they are just hungry. Lets take just one single example from a Whirlpool plant in Evansville, Indiana that closed in 2010. They made refrigerators and thanks to NAFTA and all our wonderful politicians that voted for it, the plant shuttered its doors and moved to Mexico for cheap labor. The president of the AFL-CIO and a measly 1,500 people showed up to stop it, but that was about it. Did you even hear about it? Did it make the news . . . more than 1,100 Americans out of a job and it wasnt even newsworthy. Peeled off by the antiunion element of America and a white collar class that said its not my problem, we once again just allowed another plant go to Mexico. We could have stopped it, just like we could have stopped most of the other plant closings over the past 30+ years. What if America had risen up and supported those 1,100 Whirlpool workers by showing up 50,000 strong with millions of letters and telephone calls made to Whirlpools CEO that said, you move that plant and we will die before we buy another Whirlpool refrigerator. What would have happened America? That plant would still be here and all those 1,100 American citizens would still have a job. Self-centered American apathy is the reason those 1100 Americans are now flipping burgers at McDonalds for minimum wage. The point to that one single example is that going forward its got to be you that stops American plants from being shuttered and moving to Mexico and China. The political process is slow and we can no longer afford to stand by idly and allow our fellow American citizens to be slaughtered by either off shore slaves or new immigrants willing to work for nothing on shore. We of course need a Congress and state legislatures that are receptive to enacting economic initiatives that keep factories from being shuttered and more jobs from leaving. However, getting political help is going to take time and until that help arrives, we have to use our wallets to fight back instead of just voting every two years and then kicking back and hoping something good will happen. Has the voting strategy alone worked over the past 30+ years? No! When the political class is paid off and the fix is in, we cant depend upon a corrupt political class to come to our aid. There are many fronts that must be fought simultaneously to bring about real change to compel companies to hire and retain American citizens, but legislatively it ultimately comes down to either a carrot or the stick. In September 2010, the Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act, S. 3816 was introduced in the Senate. The bill would have amended the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to create American jobs by offering tax incentives. Specifically, employers would have been given a two-year payroll tax exemption for replacing a foreign employee overseas with an American employee. The bill would have also eliminated the ability to defer paying taxes on income that is secured overseas. While the bill was not an end all solution, it was a step in the right direction, but because the American people did nothing to support it and the corporate media machine silenced advocacy, it failed miserably and never got legs.
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It does demonstrate however that we the people when galvanized, have a myriad of tools at our disposal to encourage companies to hire American citizens. It is critical to point out at this juncture that any legislative measures to combat offshore hiring practices must be thoroughly thought out . . . knee jerk legislation without balance can have dire consequences for our economy. The American aristocracy will of course continue to push the free trade dog food down our throats with zero constraints because it delivers more money in their pockets at the expense of the American people. Nonetheless, any legislative measures imposed upon American companies alone, such as tax penalties or import tariffs will create an unfair advantage for foreign companies doing business in the U.S. While its paramount that Americans stop buying imported goods and services, hoping it will happen without government teeth and intervention is nave. We cant whine like children, pass legislation to penalize U.S. companies for not hiring U.S. citizens and then go out and purchase imported goods and services. As far as the WTO dictating what we can or cant do on American soil, as far as government efforts to compel buy American . . . the WTO was not voted into office by American citizens. The WTO is owned and run by a world aristocracy that works for the mega-rich alone. There are literally a multitude of legislative measures that can be undertaken to compel U.S. job growth and retention of American workers, but all have interlocking and complex upsides and downsides that must be thoroughly examined and thought through. Step one is to enact a marginal raising of taxes (tariffs) on any product and service within selected industries coming into America. It brings more money into the federal coffers to reduce the financial deficit and more importantly makes those goods and services more expensive to enable more highly paid American workers to compete. With emphasis on the word marginal increase, any foreign company gaining access to the American marketplace, the biggest economy in the world, should have to pay for that privilege. Secondly, any American company producing products offshore, such as Apple making iPhones and iPods in China, should pay a premium for using foreign labor to make outrageous profits. To those Americans that contend their iPhone toy will cost an extra $40 to bad! If you can afford an iPhone then you can afford the $40 . . . if you cant then you dont need an iPhone! The ultimate point is that foreign companies or American companies delivering products or services from off shore dont get access to the biggest economy in the world without paying a small tax for that privilege. To the free traders and Harvard economists of the American aristocracy who contend that even a small marginal increase in such taxes/tariffs will create trade wars such fears are way over hyped and alarmist. Will there be friction? Yes! So be it, the time has come to turn the tide back in a more favorable posture toward the American workforce. Since it will cost more to import into America, the incentive to produce in America will rise for both American companies producing off shore and foreign companies doing business in America. If they dont like paying the tariffs, then they can move their jobs to America . . . or they can drop out of the American economy and sell their crap somewhere else . . . which to you think they will do? Its a win-win either way it goes, jobs and better wages for the American people or money via taxes and tariffs to lower the federal deficit. America is still, for the moment at least, the big dog in the world economy. Name them: China, Brazil, India or any of the other emerging economies need to sell within the American economy far worse than we need their products or services. They simply cannot survive without America buying their goods. No way, no how and while we still
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have that advantage, we better use it to our advantage NOW before its too late. Until the American aristocracy can get a consumer class built in China and Asia to buy their goods and services . . . they have to have us, the American people and the American economy [continuing to put money into their greedy pockets]. In order to screw us and place the last nails in the coffin of the American Dream, we have to cooperate with them. They simply cant pull off selling out their fellow American citizens without our help . . . it simply cant happen unless Americans act like sheep and continue on the present path toward oblivion. While a small marginal increase it taxes/tariffs is warranted, its far smarter to be strategic in the approach to gear and redouble taxes/tariffs for specific American industries. As noted in Part I, for example, the cut-n-sew industry within America simply cant possibly be competitive in America, plus the pay across the board pushes that industry down the list of priorities for protection via taxes/tariffs. Thats certainly not the case for many, if not most, American industries. Front of mind is the green industry sector, with American companies currently investing heavily in R&D and technology development, then shipping all the manufacturing jobs to China. [At the same time China is subsidizing their green industry with billions of dollars and manipulating their currency to gain financial advantage] The time has come for Americans to stand up and say, No! to such BS. Any foreign company shipping in green products and technology, or any American company sourcing such products and services from off shore . . . need to have taxes/tariffs imposed upon them that are through the roof! If it takes something outrageous such as a 50% tax/tariff to keep green goods and services from being sourced off shore then thats what it has to be! The aristocracy, mega-corporations and Harvard economists will of course cry foul to such thinking and proposals . . . again, too bad! The message is that until America is at full employment at a living wage, the aristocracy is not going to be allowed to source green products and services from off shore. The choice belongs to the aristocracy, hire Americans or pay hellish outrageous taxes/tariffs to bring green products onto American shores. There are other alternatives, much harder to administer, but whatever it takes is the mission of the day to force companies to hire American citizens and pay a living wage. The American people must make a stand now to prohibit our greedy aristocracy from bleeding the America people dry. If you recall in Part I, it was advised that we not levy ill advised taxes on corporations that inhibit hiring American citizens. Instead, corporate taxes and tariffs should be largely based upon the percentage of Americas they employ. First we close all corporate tax loopholes and then we cut the corporate tax in half. For American companies who employ 100 percent American workforces the rate remains at 17.5 percent instead of the current 35 percent. Then for every 1 percent upward in foreign nationals employed by U.S. corporations we raise that tax rate by 1 percent. For example, as company such as Caterpillar who has 15 percent of their workforce off shore would pay a corporate tax rate of 32.5 percent with no loopholes which would actually be far higher than what they currently pay because their loopholes would be closed. For a few industries and companies, such as UPS and FedEx we would have to apply a corporate tax rate somewhat arbitrarily since the nature of their business dictates somewhat they hire off shore since they cannot hire a U.S. citizen living in the U.S. to deliver packages in China or Brazil.
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Anyone alarmed by the idea of cutting the current corporate tax rate in half must realize that A) virtually no U.S. corporation pays the current 35 percent rate because of loopholes and B) whatever corporate taxes they do pay are passed on to buyers of their products and services. [No matter how much the fringe left economic neophytes want to contend otherwise.] This way the America workforce, instead of the aristocracy, receives the benefit and in reality the federal government receives almost just as much in tax revenues because the loopholes are closed. In addition, because more people will be working and paying taxes the tax base within the U.S. will rise to reduce government red ink. The big multi-national corporations would of course pay the highest percentage in corporate taxes, but to reduce those taxes they would for the first time ever have a real incentive to hire American citizens. Currently these companies have zero incentive whatsoever to do so. U.S. corporations are currently paying one of the highest corporate tax rates in the entire world which puts them at a competitive disadvantage. At ever alarming rates, they are incorporating off shore to avoid paying those taxes. This system encourages them to stay incorporated within the U.S. and to hire American citizens. Furthermore, factories and operations currently off shore will have a huge incentive to move back to the U.S. because labor is typically the biggest corporate expense. Any U.S. company contemplating opening operations off shore will think twice because of the tax disadvantages. We cannot put U.S. corporations at a competitive disadvantage to foreign companies playing on our Monopoly board who operate at lower tax rates. To balance out the playing field, foreign companies in selected industries selling within the U.S. must pay tariffs based upon the number of American workers they employ. Its our Monopoly board and if you want to play here you hire American citizens or pay the price in tariffs. Since we are going to protect our green industry sector going forward, a Chinese company shipping solar panels into the U.S., who have zero American workers, would pay tariffs that are through the roof! Its a win-win-win policy to A) protect designated American industries and workers B) help to pay down the federal deficit with increased revenues and C) force the trade deficit with foreign nations to close by raising the prices of cheap foreign products. The aristocracy and the Harvard economists will of course laugh off such a proposal as an idea from an economic neophyte. While it is not an across the board solution for every industry and sector, it is tenable and doable for protected industries and segments of the American economy. Unrestrained free-trade simply isnt working for the majority of the American people, but only works for the elite at the top of the food chain. The vast majority of Americans arent benefiting from American exports to other nations as evidenced by the massive trade deficits we have with almost all other nations most especially low wage nations. America must have economic policies to balance out the massive U.S. trade deficit that is devastating the middle-class via job losses and lowered standards of living a.k.a. being bled out financially to the benefit of the mega-rich alone. The elite who run America already know what Americans havent figured out, which is an unrestrained free-trade world economy only benefits the mega-rich global players. Its why the media machine and the political class preach free-trade with evangelical fervor 24/7 to indoctrinate the American people into working against their own economic self interest.
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If you dont get it by now, here is the truth. American companies and foreign companies will continue to hire anyone, anywhere except in America for every job possible until they are forced to do otherwise. That is the reality and it will continue to be the reality far into the foreseeable future until the standard of living and wages rise to the level of America or we are forced down to the level of emerging economies. That reality is exactly why the average American has been on a 30+ year economic losing streak and that trend is not going to change unless it is mandated to change by law. Lets be honest, if you were a greedy CEO who answers only to stockholders and possess no love for America or her people . . . would you hire an American when you can get the same job done for slave wages in an emerging economy? To not do so is illogical and goes against the entire reason a business operates . . . to make the biggest profit possible. Our boys in harms way as they love to call them, protecting the operation of their world economy, cant even find a job in American when they return home. So the chances of them looking out for average Americans are zero if they are not compelled to do so. If on the other hand, we the people were able to find cheap off shore politicians to replace our members of Congress or to force their salaries downward, how long would it take for Congress to take action? Do you see or hear of any proposals from our so called political leaders in Congress? Of course not, people perform the way they are paid to perform and being owned by the mega-rich dictates that Congress serves only the needs of the American aristocracy. The mega-rich want access to cheap labor via an unrestrained world economy and the flood gates to remain opened to massive immigration even during a period of massively high unemployment and underemployment in order to drive down the cost of labor in America to levels of the Third World. The more people starving and looking for work in America, the better is it for the mega-rich and Congress is simply doing what they are being paid to do . . . provide and ever larger pool of starving consumers to buy services and products along with cheap labor and talent. Do you see any game plan whatsoever from Party A to provide jobs for the American people to replace the millions and millions of jobs lost during the recession and the millions of jobs soon to be lost within federal, state and local governments? Of course not, their answer to the issue is nostalgia. Theyre going to play disco music, show videos of Ronald Reagan and give the mega-rich even more money. Preaching the gospel of American exceptionalism and following an already failed economic policy of trickle down economics praying some crumbs will fall from the table of the mega-rich is not a game plan! Assuming that all things remain as is and not worsen, which is a big assumption, the public sector will stop bleeding jobs at some point in a decade or so which will only reduce government deficits a miniscule amount. When you add in legal and illegal immigration and the unknowns of potential of wars, financial collapse of nations or institutions, natural disasters along with trade wars and the scenario could grow far worse in the years ahead. As the jobs deficit balloons, the value of human talent in the marketplace continues to shrink to further exasperate a 30+ year financial losing streak for 90 percent of the American people. Now, if view of these potential jobs deficit realities, isnt it time to take down the flag of American exceptionalism and ask Party A to step down from the podium and get real for a change?
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Since Party A obviously has no workable plan, surly the other side of the aisle must have a jobs game plan, right? Wrong! If history is any indicator, their plan must be unemployment and welfare checks, because to date they have done little or nothing to rebalance the playing field or to protect American jobs from cheap off shore labor. In fact, they advocate adding even more people at the low end of the labor pool via continued uncontrolled legal and illegal immigration. These ever burgeoning numbers simply guarantee cheap labor, poverty, a permanent class of the working poor and dependency on Party B that guarantees a monolithic voting bloc. By increasing levels of poverty via legal and illegal immigration, Party B is ensuring an even bigger voting bloc by the day. Worse yet, they are buying the votes with your tax money that is mailed out in checks to 57 percent of households headed by an immigrant [legal and illegal] with children (under 18) and 71 percent of illegal immigrants. The checks take the form of SSI (Supplemental Security Income for low income elderly and disabled), TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), WIC (Women, Infants, and Children food program), free/reduced school lunch, food stamps (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Medicaid (health insurance for those with low incomes), public housing, and rent subsidies. Just imagine a Party B brochure being mailed out to all the nations on Earth that details just how wonderful America really is. Move to America or slip in illegally, vote for Party B and they will mail you a check to feed the children you couldnt afford to have, provide housing, free medical care and even help out when you get old. With a deal like that, the only question remaining is why everyone hasnt moved to America? To speak about the plight of the poor and unemployed out of one side of their mouth, then out of the other side of their mouth to add even more competition to the low end of labor pool is completely disingenuous. Its a big game being played by poverty pimps to ensure they get votes and they have about as much vested interest in reducing the poverty level in America as corporations who continue to benefit from an ever growing pool of cheap onshore labor. Party B has accomplished nothing whatsoever to rebalance the playing field via the tax structure, to stop the merger and acquisition craze or to reign in corporate monopolies that create poverty and unemployment in the first place. American citizens arent seeking food stamps, welfare and unemployment checks . . . they want to work and earn a living in a more fair and equal economic environment that delivers prospects for upward mobility. With that as the yardstick for success, Party B is a complete absolute failure! The point is that there is no plan to create jobs and there is no leadership from the American political class who are being bribed by the mega-rich to keep labor costs at an absolute minimum. As detailed in Part I, our political class is focused only on taking care of themselves, their families, their bank accounts and their campaign contributors. Any real efforts to create jobs, provide solutions and restore the American Dream are simply going to have to come from the American people . . . willing to do whatever it takes to install citizen representation in Washington, D.C. instead of an elitist political class that is deaf to the economic needs of the American people. There simply is no other way and any idea that without a peaceful revolution its going to happen is absolutely and completely nave! Workplace Fairness With the American economy in shambles and at least 30+ million Americans underemployed or unemployed, an aging workforce [with retirement savings wiped out] being put out to pasture in every increasing numbers, legal and illegal immigration by the
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millions pushing the cost of labor ever further downward and six billion people waiting off shore to take American jobs its an employers market. Every single day throughout America hundreds of our fellow Americans have their office belongings or lockers boxed up as they are herded to the front door via a plant closing, downsizing or some trumped up poor performance evaluation to cut overhead costs. Typically these workers are being replaced by someone off shore, younger or anyone that will work for less pay, such as contractors, temps or new immigrant arrivals into the U.S. The line for every single job opening is at least five or six deep and for good jobs the resumes come in by the thousands. If an applicant is somehow fortunate enough to navigate the hurdles of age, sex, handicap and race a new hurdle to employment awaits in the form of employment credit checks. Assuming that humongous hurdle is leaped, whatever the job, Americans are now faced with a take it or leave it salary/wage offer. In just a few short years since the beginning of the Great Recession the starting wage/salary number at the low end of the labor pool has plummeted by thousands and at the high end, starting salaries have dropped off a cliff to the tune of $10 or $20 K . . . if not far more. Its a tough economy phrase is contained within every pathetic job offer, even though corporate America is sitting on a couple trillion dollars in cash and record profits are the norm once again via increased productivity with fewer workers [a.k.a. money being funneled to the top]. The people fortunate enough to still have a job are now doing the job of two or three former employees and new people being hired will be doing two or three jobs for even less money than existing employees. It has nothing whatsoever to do with a tough economy and everything to do with being able to get away with paying less money to spur higher profits. Never before, since the Great Depression, have the mega-rich and employers had their boots more firmly placed on the neck of the American workforce and under its thumb of control. Luckily, the Obama administration moved early on to beef up the EEOC with more funding and staffing. Unless youre a member of a labor union, or can afford an employment attorney, the EEOC is about an Americans only hope in the event of an employment dispute or case of discrimination. Make no mistake America, the mega-rich and the corporations see employment laws and discrimination as onerous rules and regulations a.k.a. big government intrusion into their domain. Especially in states that operate under employment at will laws, the American worker has few if any real rights and protections other than laws barring discrimination on the basis of age, race, sex or handicap. These weak existing restraints are now being stomped upon by far too many companies in America simply because employers now have the upper hand like never before in modern history. That cant repeal the discrimination laws because the American people would actually pay attention to such a move. The next best thing to repealing workplace protections and employment discrimination laws, are moves to castrate the EEOC, by withholding funding and blocking key appointments. Once again, under the guise of freedom and liberty and pushing back onerous big government intrusion expect an all out assault upon the EEOC. As weak as the present laws are, any move to stomp upon what little power the EEOC now has must be met with an uprising from the American people with an anger never before seen. If the EEOC is castrated youll see every workplace in American become a slaughter house where the aged, handicapped and racial minorities and women are pummeled into the ground. Are frivolous lawsuits filed by lazy non-performers trying to game the system on occasion? Absolutely! Nonetheless, without a strong and well funded EEOC the middle-class gains acquired over the course of 50+ years will be removed in a matter of only a few years
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under the guise of deficit reduction. By tilting the table even further in favor of the mega-rich and employers in America, by castrating the EEOC, it will simply further the economic rape of the American people that has taken place over the past 30+ years.
Breakout Resource(s): EEOC http://www.eeoc.gov/ Workplace Fairness http://www.workplacefairness.org/ Catalyst http://www.catalyst.org/ UnemployedWorkers.org
www.Unemployedworkers.org
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse https://www.privacyrights.org/
The Equal Employment for All Act must be passed in Congress to boost an already beleaguered American workforce with its back to the wall. In the early 1990s the big three credit bureaus TransUnion, Experian and Equifax had their massive wings clipped by Congress with regulation that limited somewhat their intrusive reach into the lives of Americans. In response they needed a new way to make a buck so their marketing geniuses dreamed up the idea to create the perception in employers minds that anyone with a poor credit report was a thief, fraud risk, untrustworthy, undependable and basically the lowest life form on Earth. Guess what? Spin masters and millions of dollars in marketing campaigns later . . . nearly every employer in America runs employment credit checks on well over 60 percent of new hires. Many run ongoing checks on current employees, especially when considering them for promotion. In essence, employment credit checks are the equivalent of death sentence. If you cant pass an employment credit check in America . . . you dont work, period! At least not at any job that pays a salary or a living wage. The good news however is that plenty of jobs exist where a credit check is not required, such as migrant workers, septic tank technicians, landscapers or shoveling manure. Every other job now requires good credit in order for the right to work and earn a living. Over the course of decades, ever since Reaganomics, Americans had been piling up even more debt year after year because they were being squeezed by the mega-rich via no real salary and wage increases. At the peak of all that debt, credit cards, home equity loans, etc. the banks and Wall Street led by the pursuit of greed collapsed like a house of cards. At that point, the credit reports (solvency) of Wall Street and the banks were far worse than that of private citizens. Congress, however, came to the rescue of their greedy friends on Wall Street with our tax dollars to bail them out a.k.a. fixed their credit reports. As a result of Wall Streets greed the economy was destroyed, 8.5+ million Americans lost their jobs, home values plummeted some 20 percent and are still Copyright 2011
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falling in most markets and as of this writing more than 14 million homes are under underwater. Added all together Wall Street damaged or destroyed millions upon millions personal credit reports. By April 2010, Fair Isaac and Company (FICO) reported the damage exceeded at least 43.4 million Americans, out of 170 million consumers who had credit scores below 599.1 Previous to the Great Recession the percentage with scores under 599 was 15 percent but by April of 2010 it was 25+ percent and growing wildly.2 Worse yet, FICOs benchmark for bad credit is anything less than 650 and anything under 700 is considered moderate credit. The number of Americans under the 700 figure by 2010 was more than 75 million or 44.1 percent of consumers.3 Now, primarily due to Wall Streets greed, 75 million Americans cant change jobs or get a job if they happen to be unemployed. Because of the catch 22, bad credit = no job and no job = bad credit, more than 1.4 million Americans were forced to file bankruptcy in 2010 alone after a rise of 9 percent in filings in 2009. Instead of just bad credit, now these Americans have a bankruptcy on their public record. Wall Street is once again paying billions of dollars in bonuses by blackmailing U.S. taxpayers to fix their bad credit, but in return 75 million Americans are barred from changing jobs or getting a job because they now have bad credit? Dont you just love America? Wall Street and the mega-rich are never allowed to even scuff their knee, much less do jail time, but the little people whose credit was ruined from their greed are not even allowed to work in order to pay their bills, improve their credit scores or stave off bankruptcy. Clearly there is one standard for Wall Street and the mega-rich and quite another standard for the little people. The only reasonable and sensible thing to do is to pass legislation whereby employers can only pull credit reports for an extremely restricted segment of job openings, in the financial arena only. As of this writing, five states now have laws in place restricting credit checks somewhat, but two of the 5 states, Illinois and Maryland have exclusions to their laws that make them almost null and void for any real protections for working Americans in need of a job. The single individual most responsible for watering down the two states legislation and for keeping legislation from moving forward at the national level is a silver spoon billionaire named Penny Pritzker, chair of TransUnion. Far worse than that, she actually sits on president, Obamas Economic Recovery Board . . . an entity that is supposedly focused on creating jobs and getting Americans back to work? Pritzker is an old personal friend of president, Obama who headed his 2008 presidential campaign fundraising efforts. Its called pay-to-play America and its yet another blatant example of how Washington, D.C. works for the mega-rich only. In fairness to Pritzker, shes not the only mega-money player blocking passage of the legislation . . . added to her strongarmed money tactics are the other two credit reporting agencies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and at least 20 other business lobbying groups and associations making campaign contributions a.k.a. bribes to keep the legislation stalled. Perhaps we should just give Pritzker, our president and all the lobbyists the benefit of the doubt, even though far more than 70 percent of all Americans support passage of the legislation, perhaps the mega-rich and the lobbyists know whats best for America. By starving a few million Americans to death along with their families via a scarlet letter
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of bad credit and bankruptcy, the numbers of the unemployed will drop and make the Party B look as if they are succeeding in turning the economy around. If those Americans with bad credit stave to death before the 2012 campaign season, it will be a win-win for both Pritzker and president, Obama. How did a number formerly required for getting a loan become a number with which to issue a death sentence? How do tens of thousands of business declare bankruptcy each year and then just start all over, but a private citizen isnt given the same opportunity in America? Simple, we live in an oligarchy, owned by the mega-rich, run by the mega-rich who pay-to-play for every piece of legislation that is passed or not passed. The time has come to override their veto power on both the Equal Employment for All Act and the use of personal bankruptcies to discriminate against American workers.
Breakout Resource(s): GovTrack.us: H.R.321 http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h321/show Credit Catch 22 http://www.creditcatch22.org/
Paycheck Fairness Act must be passed to address the pay inequality between men and women doing the same job. Look no further than the U.S. Congress to see American women making the exact same salary as males and ask why these women in Congress arent pushing on behalf of their female counter parts in the American workforce? How can any member of Congress, most especially female members, let stand the pay inequality between men and women in America? According to the Census Bureau, in 2009, women who worked full-time, on average, earned only 77 cents for every dollar men earned. The earnings disparity is even worse for women of color. On boards of directors and within the top echelons of senior management within the S&P 500, there are only a few token women represented. As of 2009, only 16 percent of S&P 500 boards have women and 47 companies (9.4%) dont have a single woman on the board.4 Decades ago, women were forced to enter the workforce, necessitated, in large part, by the economic table being tilted during the 1980s to favor wealth accumulation at the top at the expense of the middle-class a.k.a. trickle down economics. Today, we are far down the road from the days of June Cleaver who raised her fictional 1950s era television family . . . never worked a day in her life and spent her days baking pies and sewing clothes for Wally and the Beaver. Today, most women want to work and those that dont have to work. Its required just to make ends meet in a global economy where the American standard of living for the middle-class has been under attack for more than 30+ years. Professional women didnt go to college and make huge sacrifices, both personal and financial, so they could be paid less in order to boost the profit margins of corporate America. By the same token, women working in retail or more traditional male oriented jobs arent working for fun and excitement. All things being equal, education, experience, etc. there is absolutely no reason whatsoever that a woman should not be paid the same as a man. The pay
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disparity that currently exists between men and women exists for one reason only . . . it boosts the profits and bottom line of corporate America. The Paycheck Fairness Act will help secure equal pay for equal work for all Americans. The bill would update the Equal Pay Act of 1963, a law with inadequate enforcement tools and remedies to bring about equal pay for women. Upon passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act, critical changes to the law would include: 1) employers would have to demonstrate wage differentials are based on factors other than sex, 2) retaliation against workers who inquire about their employer wage practices would be prohibited, 3) reasonable comparisons between employees within clearly defined geographical areas would be used to determine fair wages and 4) penalties would be strengthened to penalize companies that violate the law. At its core, the Paycheck Fairness Act is about food a.k.a. bread and butter, clothing, shelter for children and the necessity to work in order to survive as a single parent or as part of a family unit. It has little or nothing whatsoever to do with the womens liberation movement of old and everything to do with basic fairness . . . women doing the same job as men should get the same pay as a man. That concept is not some utopian ideal, but instead should be a basic human right. Not only is passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act long overdue, but the dollars put into womens pockets would be a huge stimulus to the U.S. economy. Since the No. 1 economic issue in America is no money in the pockets of everyday consumers, via stagnated wages over the course of 30+ years, the Paycheck Fairness Act is a win-win for both women and our U.S. economy.
Breakout Resource(s): GovTrack.us: Paycheck Fairness Act http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-3772
Big Box Minimum Wage: The current minimum wage set at the federal level is $7.25 with many states having instituted a slightly higher minimum wage for their state. Just to wrap your head around what a minimum wage really is . . . it equates to a little over $15 K per year before taxes a.k.a. the working poor. Its why we have welfare rolls, its why social services are strained in every city and state, it contributes to the cycle of poverty and its why children go hungry across America. Nonetheless, those most against welfare are the foremost opponents of raising the minimum wage and now, as unbelievable as it may seem, many of these same opponents are advocating that the minimum wage be abolished completely. It is true in some rare instances, that a minimum wage requirement precludes hiring and some jobs getting done, but anyone that advocates for no minimum wage standard whatsoever in a nation owned and run by a greedy aristocracy are advocating slavery. During this, a still very fragile economy, advocating for an increase in the federal minimum wage standard across the board is problematic and would in fact, in some rare instances, knock even more of the working poor out of a job. That is not the case at all for big box stores such as Walmart, Target and others, nor is it the case for many other
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industry sectors. As detailed in Part I, nothing has impacted and devastated the American retail landscape as well as driven down wages in America like Walmart and other big box stores. Perhaps only off shore labor, combined with unrestrained immigration numbers is more responsible for creating the ever more powerful vortex pulling lower socio-economic Americans down into a poverty toilet. The day has arrived to establish a big box minimum wage of $12 per hour. It will greatly serve to reverse the giant sucking sound pulling down both the consumer retail economy [that accounts of 70 percent of our economy] and just as importantly the endless cycle of poverty within the working poor of America. Using Walmart as an example, this increase in minimum wage would cost them a measly 1 percent of their annual sales and the Walmart shopper 45 lousy cents per shopping trip. So they may raise prices a few cents to compensate, so what? It would serve to enhance the competitive landscape in small and mid-sized towns all across America and give small business owners a better change to compete. Any efforts, previous to breaking up Walmart, and reducing the economic influence of the big box trend is a major win for America at large, small businesses and within 70 percent of our economy. With Walmarts money, lobbyists and current ownership of Congress, getting such legislation passed at the federal level will be a challenge. In keeping with this books mindset of viable, realistic solutions, it may therefore be required to start the effort at the state and local level and move it forward. While pushing the effort at the federal level is required, all that is really needed is for one forward thinking city council or county government to pass such legislation to start the snowball. Then we can push that snowball to communities all across America.
Breakout Resource(s): How a Higher Wage Standard Would Impact Walmart http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/research/walmart.shtml
The Gaping Hole that Must Get Filled In general the weak laws protecting American workers are at best marginal with pathetic penalties for violations for discrimination, wrongful termination, etc. As noted in Part I, labor unions have to date filled a vital role in protecting their represented workers and have been a positive force at large to educate and advocate. However, the conclusion that many, if not most, political scientists have that labor union resurgence alone is the only hope and viable solution for the challenges ahead couldnt be more wrong! Just like much of the short-term, antiquated thinking from the two major political parties, old ideas and organizational political structures are now pass. Furthermore, many Americans are anti-labor unions due to perceptions, correct or incorrect, that were formed long ago. With a paltry level of support and labor union membership at an all time low . . . labor unions cant possibly be our only answer for the future, but at best, can only hope to be part of the conversation. First off, labor unions are all locked into the Party B dogma, hook, line and sinker . . . even though, as documented herein, it was president, Clinton who opened the flood gates to off shore labor with the signing of
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NAFTA. It was the ultimate stab in the back that led to the demise of labor unions and possibly sealed their fate forever. The labor union model and its history to date is largely a force for protecting only rank and file workers with little if any history into the echelons of white collar workers and middle management roles. That leaves a huge gaping hole for protecting the interests of the American workforce at large. In part I, the forces, technologies and means by which these members of the American workforce are yet to be ravaged by corporate greed and the mega-rich were clearly laid out, but no one it seems is looking ahead. This entire segment of American workers have their heads in the sand with a false sense of security, but their heads are already on the chopping block from a new workplace tsunami yet to hit America shores with its full power. Again, just to reiterate, if your job does not require that you be located on American soil . . . your days are numbered! The writing is clearly on the wall and if you refuse to read it, act now to stop whats coming, then you have only yourself to blame when your personal belongings are boxed up and you are walked out the front door of your place of employment. Virtually all American workers have already been subjected to downward pressures on salaries for some 30+ years now via new hires coming from off shore and immigration into the U.S., being aged out and manipulated via downsizing or replaced with contractors at pathetic pay rates never before seen in America. Going forward, there will be almost no white collar profession thats immune, including engineers, accountants, middle managers, purchasing, planning, logistics and a host of other professional roles in an onslaught that has yet to begin in earnest. White collar Americans are being picked-off one by one, every single day, in a fashion that gets no press or attention from anyone in America. Its primarily because there seems to be no organization, no group and no organized effort to band this wide-ranging group of American professionals together into a cohesive force for political combat. As we in America stupidly, allow foreign nationals from China, India and other emerging economies to study in the U.S. [show them our play book] and as their respective education systems in their own nations continue to progress, the labor pool of white collar professionals willing to work for less money grows by the day. Who benefits . . . the mega-rich and the multi-national corporations who are consuming an ever larger slice of the world economic pie as their wealth continues to grow. Its a big world and the time has come for Americans to get their head around the big picture. This big picture reality presents a huge gapping hole and traditional organized labor approaches arent going to work for this group of Americans because they are too diverse and are spread across too many companies. While absolute concrete solutions dont yet exist, one thing is for sure, without solid efforts to organize these millions of Americans into groups with political clout . . . they will drop like flies at an ever increasing rate going forward. Corporate America will of course deploy the buzz words competitive pressures within a global economy to further erode salaries and any sense of job security for this unrepresented segment of Americans whos jobs will disappear. The solutions may be professional organizations growing some teeth or it may be organizational efforts yet to be conceived, but without a combative organized force, the Human Reaper (HR) will be knocking on more and more doors and cubicles in the years and decades ahead serving up lower labor costs with every swing of their blade. Whether it is anti-union sentiment, divide and conquer politics, manipulation that pits white collar against blue collar or taxpayers against government workers . . . its all
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driven and furthered from greed at the top of the food chain. Until and unless middleclass Americans, along with the poor, realize that we are all in this together, we will continue to sink divided . . . doomed to an inevitable future of Third World existence. The Freedom to Starve The social fabric of America is already unraveling and the so called social safety net is allowing an ever burgeoning number of Americans to fall through holes and splat upon the Earth. An estimated 50 million American children go hungry everyday in America, homeless shelters are bursting at the seams and more and more Americans are living in tent cities and under bridges circa Great Depression images. Privately funded initiatives such as churches, the Salvation Army, food banks, urban ministries and outreach efforts are failing miserably . . . as our Hollywood celebrities pose for photo-ops in the Third World while their fellow Americans starve. A prime example is a billionaire media-mogul like Oprah opening and supporting a girls school in Africa as almost half of African American students never make it out of high school. America is fast becoming a Third World nation and the Hollywood set is 100 percent focused off shore, just like corporate America. Publicly funded initiatives such as welfare, food stamps, Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) and government grants that head the efforts to feed Americas impoverished are grossly inadequate nor will they ever be adequate as long as legal and illegal immigration numbers are at their current levels. Just like the paltry government efforts at job training and education to lift impoverished Americans out of the cycle of poverty, they too will fail miserably as long as immigration gasoline is continually poured upon the burning fire of poverty in America. When coupled with uncontrolled immigration, both legal and illegal, and the massive number of both the underemployed and unemployed . . . wages have been pushed so low to benefit the mega-rich, that Americans on the lower end of the socio-economic ladder are destined to spend a lifetime trapped in poverty. The blame for immigration driven poverty lies primarily with Party B. but also upon corporate America that feeds off the cheap labor like a blood sucking vulture. The mega-rich and the radical right have gone to great lengths to create an idea that millions of deadbeats are playing the system drunks, drug addicts and neer-do-wells who are sucking the American taxpayer dry. Even the unemployed have been cast as losers who are sitting on their lazy posteriors drawing a check instead of getting a job. Even though it was Wall Street and the political class that put millions of Americans out of work, its the unemployed getting a couple hundred dollars a week for a few months that are being blamed . . . not the bankers who are now making billions in bonuses as reward for killing the American economy. How dare the mega-rich, the bastards on Wall Street and far right members of our political class blame the American people for what they brought about! The mega-rich and the far right want every taxpayer believing that anyone not working, or earning enough to put a roof over their heads are just sorry excuses for Americans, losers, unworthy of any assistance whatsoever. The liberty and freedom spinners want as many Americans as possible focused on the downtrodden in society as if they are the cause of their problems as well as all the current budget deficits at both the federal and state levels throughout America. Their strategy is to simply paint all American struggling with one broad brush as drunks, drug addicts, losers and lazy manipulators of the system as if there are no unemployment issues in America, as if wages havent been
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driven down and stagnated by the mega-rich for 30+ years, as if jobs werent continuing to go off shore and new immigrants werent taking jobs at a record pace, as if temps and contractors werent replacing workers at an ever escalating rate. The mega-rich want Americans to blame the victims instead of the real culprits behind it all . . . the greedy aristocracy sucking the lifeblood out of every working American and all those that want to work. The actual statistics, well documented herein, demonstrate all too clearly that such a perception is just an outright lie! With nearly 14 percent, 43.6 million (1 in every 7) Americans now living below the poverty line . . . logic clearly dictates that there are not this many people playing the system, drinking and smoking pot all day. Did a certain small percentage make some poor life decisions? Yes! The majority, however, were born into a cycle of poverty or have been sucked down toward the level of poverty via a 30+ year Reaganomics drain and a mega-rich manipulated labor market to where the prospects of upward mobility are as likely as a camel passing through the eye of a needle. If these 43.6 million Americans had pooled their nickels and dimes to buy the services of a K Street lobbying firm they would have fared far better than they have by depending upon either of the two existing political parties . . . most especially Party B who perpetuates a cycle of dependency just to get votes. Even worse, these 43.6 million Americans are far less likely to even vote than the more affluent, much less have a lobbying firm working on their behalf. The result is that the victims are being painted with the brush of evil, instead of those that are evil and greedy . . . the rarified segment of Americans at the top who now own our government and the entire Monopoly board. Their radical right-wing talking heads, via a heavy dose of freedom and liberty, are moving toward plunging even more Americans into the streets via austerity measures that include ripping any remaining safety net from beneath Americas needy and impoverished. With no game plan or progress whatsoever to create jobs by limiting or curtailing the hiring of off shore white and blue collar labor, closing our borders to illegal immigration and limiting legal immigration, tax incentives to encourage the hiring of Americans, the retooling of trade agreements, etc. they are moving full steam ahead with cutting as many dollars and workers from government payrolls as possible. Where are the millions of soon to be displaced government workers supposed to work? Whats the game plan for that reality? The truth is that there is no game plan whatsoever to re-employ Americans. The only plan underway it simply to just cut as much money as possible from federal and state budgets in order to throw as many Americans as possible out into the streets. Its a great deal for the mega-rich and corporate America who benefit from an even larger desperate workforce willing to work for nothing, but bad, really bad for the American people who will lose more homes to the banks and starve as a result of the cuts. These millions of Americans will simply join the ranks of those being unfairly vilified as too lazy to work and people who are gaming the system by living on unemployment checks and welfare. They will be called losers, drunks, deadbeats and lazy by the very people that tossed them out into the streets. America is being told that if these were good Americans, instead of deadbeats, they would just pick themselves up by their bootstraps and pursue the American Dream . . . buy a mule, plow up 40 acres, plant some corn and grow ethanol or better yet, open a retail business and compete with Walmart. In a nutshell, Marie Antoinettes famous quote of let them eat cake has merely been replaced by liberty and freedom. Via salary and wage cuts, massive underemployment, unemployment, outsourcing, temps, contractors and every means
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possible the mega-rich have used them all to drive every member of Americas lower socioeconomic population into desperation mode. The worst is yet to come as the acid sea of greed and avarice is rising fast to consume ever higher rungs of the economic class ladder. Austerity measures are delivering cuts to welfare programs, government grants and every measure that make-up an already fragile social safety net. The game plan driven by the mega-rich that own Congress and every state legislature is to balance the budget on the backs of the middle-class and the poor. No tax brackets for billionaires even exist, yet the middle-class are supposed to pay their share of the tax load? Were supposed to be stupid enough to buy into the we all have to tighten our belts propaganda as the billionaires and multi-millionaires live like kings in the lap of luxury? It is only a matter of time until austerity measures with no initiatives whatsoever to create jobs and reduce wealth inequality will be like gasoline being poured onto the inner cities of America . . . and one spark will ignite social unrest the likes of which America has never seen previously. The poor and impoverished within the inner cities of America wont be the ones reading this book, so they wont know that their suffering was brought on by uncontrolled immigration to get votes for Party B or government corruption to reward the mega-rich with even more money. The mega-rich wont be the ones to suffer theyll sit in their estates and watch it all on a big screen TV as the butler delivers another cocktail. Strange as it is, Americas poor and impoverished will burn and loot their own neighborhoods and kill each other when they are hungry. To prove it, do you recall any Wall Street CEOs being drug out into the streets and hung? When Americans are angry, we just strike out at the closest human available . . . be they a spouse, child or neighbor and never seek out those actually responsible. The greedy culprits that poured the gasoline on the poverty fire in America will be the first to call for massive law and order measures, the National Guard and martial law to quell what their unmitigated greed started. Unless we the people take back control of our government from the mega-rich that now own it, the worst is yet to come. As stated in the introduction of Part II, the question is not if you will fight, but when you will fight? Will it be now, or after the chaos has ensued?
Breakout Resource(s): Half in Ten Campaign http://www.halfinten.org/
Austerity, No Jobs and Nostalgia A large part of our American population just refuse to believe the truth: the federal government is way over budget to the tune of trillions, many states are over budget by billions and local governments by millions. Anyone who states these facts to this fringeleft clueless segment of the population is either labeled a whacko member of the Tea Party or an alarmist. Well American its true and saying so doesnt make someone a member of the Tea Party. Whats more, the pain hasnt even begun to be felt and the worst is yet to come! Remaining in denial, hoping that massive government job cuts at the federal, state and local level are not coming is simply a refusal to face reality
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government job cuts are already well underway and its only the tip of an iceberg with millions more to come. Even the most conservative estimates are that at least 2+ million public sector workers will need to be transitioned to private sector jobs in the very near future. The real number to come is far higher . . . As mind boggling as this denial from the fringe left is, it is even more insane for the radical right to believe that an unrestrained free enterprise system within a free trade world economy will replace the 8.5+ million jobs lost in the Great Recession . . . in addition to providing work for the millions of former public sector employees soon to be tossed out into the street. For this insane group of radical right ideologues constraining American corporations from sending jobs off shore or compelling companies doing business in the U.S. to hire Americans via legislative measures is seen as blasphemy toward the flawed free trade/free enterprise system they worship as if was some perfect god that requires no management or government intervention. With no game plan whatsoever to either create or protect American jobs, Party A along with conservative members of Party B, have just begun to slash budgets and put millions of former government workers out on the streets. Post Labor Day 2011, president Obama finally focused on jobs and the economy, after his HC legacy was secured along with tax cuts for the rich he allowed to go through in December 2010. Although some positive moves were in his plan, such as tax incentives for hiring, payroll tax cuts and incentives to hire our boys in harms way once they return from war . . . the plan also contained federal funding for more temp jobs just like his failed stimulus package two years before. Federal spending and government jobs, even if they are temp jobs are always the solution du jour for Party B. Americans dont want temp jobs, we dont want unemployment checks, we dont want welfare checks . . . we want to work at real jobs for real pay! On the other side of the failed political isle, Party As game plan to create American jobs is called Reagan nostalgia and as far as any job creation plans, Americans voted in nothing but nostalgia in the 2010 midterm elections. Party A is channeling Ronald Reagan via a daily sance where he supposedly speaks through politicians, talking heads and takes over talk radio stations. Even though Reagan has no bearing whatsoever on todays economic scenario [other than all the money in America now sitting at the top of the food chain], channeling him via sance put the political ping-pong ball back on the other side of the net in 2010. The reasons why are not too complex: short memories from America voters and antiquated dead ideas trying to be retrofitted for a new reality a.k.a. free trade and a global economy. Humans always remember the past as better than the present. Theyve forgotten the Savings & Loan financial debacle under Reagan, with a mirror resemblance so close to the collapse of Wall Street in 2008 that its undeniable. His tax policies did create some millionaires, but it began the 30+ year period of massive wealth accumulation at the top income levels . . . without a single dime of actual wealth trickling down to average Americans. As for unemployment numbers: Reagan inherited a 7.6 percent unemployment rate and by his first summer, the unemployment rate hit 9.8 percent. The number remained at that completely unacceptable level for two entire years! By the time he left office, the unemployment rate was 5.5 percent . . . a grand total reduction from start to finish of 2.1 percent. If you are wowed by that performance, then cut off the lights, join hands and have your sance while you kiss your own financial posterior good-bye.
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Turn the lights back on America and bring the nightly Reagan sances to an end. Instead, lets try bringing the great magician Harry Houdini back via sance. At least he could pull a rabbit out of a hat to keep us amused while we starve to death. No America, Reaganomics is a myth, only nostalgia and more of the same old manure voters have been fed for 30+ years. No less a myth than the idea that America can bake our cake and eat it too [spend money to abandonment] that has been pumped into feeble voters brains, mostly by Party B, for 30+ years. Money doesnt grow on trees behind your house or the White House and there is no Santa. There is no myth behind the fact that there are going to be a lot more unemployed Americans in the years ahead if we dont wake-up. There are no rabbits in the Washington, D.C. magic hat! We have a pompous, pretentious political class who are pumped full of their own hot air and nothing else. They are bloated, gluttonous members of the aristocracy in dire need of Gas-X and your votes to bring them back to live within the hell on Earth they created. The very same Americans that realize massive government jobs cuts have to be made to balance federal, state and local budgets, are the very same Americans that have no solutions whatsoever to create and protect American jobs. Had these Americans not embraced a 30+ year free ride of token taxes upon multi-millionaires and billionaires the job cuts in the public sector coming wouldnt be so horribly severe, but they will of course take no responsibility whatsoever for that crime. Whatever the problem, their solution is always the same . . . give more money to the mega-rich. No jobs . . . give more money to the mega-rich. Record federal deficits . . . give more money to the mega-rich. Monopolies and too big to fail banks . . . give more money to the mega-rich to enable them to grow even larger. The austerity mushroom cloud is still at ground level and the number of jobs lost at the federal, state and local levels will explode going forward. Party A and those screaming for massive budget cuts are the same as those who believe the free enterprise system is something holy that was delivered with the Ten Commandments. How that bizarre idea became intertwined in the minds of many American voters speaks volumes about the power of the corporate owned propaganda machine. Millions of Americas actually believe, even in the face of massive wealth disparity in America that unrestrained free trade within a global economy is something ordained from some divine source. Such thinking is a lie and it is no more in touch with todays reality than dead nostalgic solutions from the Reagan disco era. Nonetheless, to even mention Reagans name and the words federal deficit reduction in the same sentence is so absurd and out of touch with historical reality that its laughable! The main point to get across is that it simply doesnt matter at this point, but just for the sake of accuracy, it was Reagan who started this entire deficit snowball rolling down the hill. He cut taxes for the mega-rich even though we couldnt afford it, just like we couldnt afford it in 2010 when Party B who controlled Congress and the executive branch cut taxes for the mega-rich. Provided below in living color is the national debt history by president and the biggest culprit of them all was president, Reagan.
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Party B will of course seize upon the above chart and scream like children, see they did it! With such typical political rhetoric, American goes right back where we have been for 30+ years gotcha politics from the playground. He started it and the other party is the problem. What does such rhetoric solve? Nothing! Party B can loosely claim that Clinton balanced the budget, but thats simply not true. He happened to be president, at a time when Republicans were in control of Congress, and the debt did not grow worse for a short period of time. Nothing whatsoever was accomplished to pay down the debt or deal with the looming debt tsunami to come. For fiscal responsibility he gets a D and all the other administrations get an F. Across the board, both economically and as far as fiscal responsibility the political class in America is an absolute failure! To channel Reagan of all presidents as our guiding savior to deal with the fact that the federal government is way over budget is as about as sane as bringing back disco music and dancing until dawn. Pointing to a grade of D - by one president in Party B is just as ridiculous as channeling Reagan. Both Party A and Party B are complete abysmal failures when it comes to any fiscal responsibility whatsoever. Obama came into office just like all the rest, intent on spending money we dont have. You cant make excuses by saying we had to have the failed stimulus package to save the economy or condone any other spending done by Obama nor can you condone the excessive spending of any other president or administration. President, Bush knew he couldnt fight two wars and give mega-millionaires and billionaires tax cuts at the same time, but he did it anyway. Just like candidate Obama knew the federal government was essentially broke when he was making campaign promises that cost money, but just like Bush I and Bush II, he took the job anyway and continued to spend like a child that had just broken into a big federal piggybank.
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Just like our American medias contrived obsession with the two-party ping-pong game that goes no where and solves nothing, two paragraphs were wasted going over ancient history. It simply doesnt matter who started it and whos the most responsible. Such discussions are wasted breath and about as worthwhile as dancing to disco music and wallowing in nostalgia to address a new world economic reality in which the majority of the American people are on a 30+ year financial losing streak. More than anything it speaks to our inept and pathetic political-class that dominates America via a two-party monopoly. When you go into your bosss office each year for your performance review, what gets reviewed? Performance! If your job is at risk, all the excuses in the world arent going to save your job nor are you going to get a raise if havent performed. Nonetheless, when it comes to the pathetic performance of our two dominate political parties they get to keep their jobs? It is completely illogical, but we stay with the status quo anyway. If a business operation had only two employees and both were losers and non-performers, what would happen to the business? It would fail and go under, just like average American citizens are going under. The two dominate political parties simply havent performed and at a minimum its long past time for all new faces within the two existing parties, a host of independents taking office and new political parties emerging and actually getting elected. A massive peaceful revolt at this critical juncture in time is now mandated in order to take back our nation from the megarich who put us on this 30+ year loosing streak. Priority I in that revolt must be a total and complete reform of campaign finance laws to reduce the bribery in Washington, D.C. and return rule of America to the people. The projected federal deficit, as projected in the chart above, is around $12 T according to most budget analysts. The questions are where did all that money go and why does it seem that no one in Washington, D.C. can add and subtract? The radical right propagandists would have you believe that the $12 T went to welfare recipients and abortion clinics. In fact, much of that $12 T went to the mega-rich American aristocracy who didnt pay their fair share of the tax load over the course of 30+ years. The millionaires that Reaganomics is credited with creating got there with the same government money that the welfare recipients are charged with receiving. Welfare recipients got little checks, while the mega-rich got billions in tax breaks America could not afford. Those billions now sit off shore in banks in Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and elsewhere. It bought billions of dollars in stock that have enabled the mega-rich to now essentially own the entire American Monopoly board, not to mention much of the world economy. The political class and the mega-rich all knew long ago this red ink day of reckoning was coming. They can all add and subtract, they could all see baby boomers getting older along with the looming mountains of red ink. Nonetheless, tax cuts and loopholes for the mega-rich were allowed to continue year after year, decade after decade. Worse than even both those crimes was the manipulation of estates taxes, whereby we now have an American aristocracy worth more than kings and queens with massive financial dynasties as millions of their fellow Americans starve. The old world feudal system of peasants and lords has replaced the American Dream. As for the overspending by the federal government, dont even go there! Yes, it exists and the size of the federal government expenditures must now be radically cut, but compared to the money funneled to the mega-rich it doesnt even register! Pointing to deadbeats playing the system by receiving a few hundred dollars a month via welfare
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as the root of all our financial problems is an absolute joke! Its simply a radical right diversion tactic. Just as ludicrous is channeling Reagan, blaming only Party A or B or thinking that either of these two parties responsible for getting us into to this financial mess will be capable of having the backbone to solve the federal red ink under a current political system which operates as an oligarchy. Continuing to play political ping-pong and party games between Party A and Party B, who have already proven themselves pawns of the megarich, isnt going to work! Austerity that will place millions of Americans into the unemployment lines only further serves to drive down salaries and wages for the benefit of the mega-rich who brought most of this deficit about via not paying their fair share in taxes for 30+ years. Allowing austerity measures to be implemented without legislative measures to protect American jobs and compel the hiring of American citizens is no different whatsoever than Hitler sending Jews to the showers to be gassed to death. If you believe that is an extreme metaphor, then think again . . . if you die slowly via no job after being thrust into a cycle of poverty, how is that any different than being gassed to death? One method is slow and the other is fast thats the only difference. The mega-rich have turned America, a once free nation, into their own concentration camp where they rule with an iron fist of total marketplace control. For those people that accurately point out that Americans are not in prison camps slated for genocide, answer the question, what are you going to do, sail off on your yacht? Unemployment checks along with depressed wages and salaries dont buy yachts. We have no real choice but to play on this American Monopoly board and that means we have to stay and fight! Given their performance over the past 30+ years, does anyone in America actually believe that our current corrupt political class is capable of rebalancing the playing field in order to feed America going forward? Both political parties have participated in a system of class genocide that has eroded and devastated the American middle-class to the benefit of the mega-rich. Austerity measures are just another tool in the mega-rich toolbox to continue tightening the noose around the neck of middle-class Americans and the poor. Tax the Mega-Rich, Most Especially Their Estates If nothing else comes across, the fact that there is no silver bullet to stop austerity measures and balance the federal budget should be clear by now. In a 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll released in January 2011, 61 percent of Americans advocated raising taxes on the rich to balance the federal budget.1 The sad thing is that most of that 61 percent have ever even looked at the federal budget or examined the interest payments alone being paid on borrowed money, much less the looming crisis with so called entitlements, such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The term entitlements was introduced years ago and is craftily used by the radical right to create the perception that Social Security and Medicare are handouts instead of earned income benefits. They are both earned benefits as a result of paying into the Social Security fund and just merely living as a citizen within the richest nation on Earth. Successfully labeling these as entitlements demonstrates the power of the radical right propaganda spin machine to create the perception that these earned benefits are not justified or warranted by the people that receive them. In a nation this rich, full of millionaires and billionaires, you dont allow the poor or the elderly to die from lack of medical care, nor do we allow the elderly to go without Social Security benefits that only provides the minimum of what is required for basic survival.
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Even so, taxing the rich, at this late stage of the game, wont even begin to put a dent in the federal budget shortfall, but nonetheless its long overdue and its not the rich that are the issue because its the mega-millionaires and billionaire families more than anyone that put America into this financial strangle hold. Just to reiterate, 91.9 percent of Americans receive nothing, zero, not a dime of inheritance when their parents estate is settled. A mere 1.6 percent receive more than $100 K and only 1.1 percent receive more than $50 K in inheritance. Those statistics add up to the undeniable fact that 94.6 percent of the U.S. population gets little or nothing in inheritance as reward for a lifetime of their parents sacrifice and hard work. That also means that only 5.4 percent of Americans actually catch the carrot that is marketed as the American Dream. Instead, only a sliver of Americans acquire anything during their lifetimes and its the billionaire families more than anyone that dominate the American Monopoly board via massive inheritance monies that are passed down and grown into even larger wealth monopolies with every generation that passes. When Americans talk taxing the rich 99 percent are thinking income taxes, but with almost $12 T in red ink skirted over past 30+ years, via political corruption that reduced taxes on the mega-rich when we couldnt afford it we now have to place the most focus on inheritance taxes in order to recoup some of those trillions. Their fear of such a backlash, from the American people, is why inheritance and gift taxes are the intense focus of so many mega-rich funded smokescreens. The mega-rich could care less if the tax system is adjusted to increase the income tax structure because most of their money is already safely tucked away off shore. Much of that money is now gone, hidden and cant be touched. With the laughable inheritance tax laws currently in place, the mega-rich dont need a dime of income from a job ever again in order to own and dominate the American Monopoly board. The Walton family is sitting on more than $100 B and if you closed every Walmart and Sams Club tomorrow theyll still have more than enough money to continue their aristocratic monarchy until the end of time. Its Sam Waltons money, not theirs, but just like all the American aristocracy they will double it and triple it via the stock market even if all their monopoly business activities were to be curtailed tomorrow. To have an inheritance or gift tax of 35 percent for billionaires or even the 55 percent rate increase that Party B who controlled Congress stopped in 2010 . . . is warped and sick in the face of massive unemployment, trillion dollar federal deficits and millions of children across America starving. The massive loopholes and billionaires being taxed at the rate of Americans with only a few million dollars says one clear thing: we live in an oligarchy and are ruled by the mega-rich. Within a true democracy, the concept would be simple: those who receive the most benefits from living in America pay a far higher percentage in both income and estate taxes. The concept is simple . . . you get the most you pay the most in taxes! To those citizens who have been advocating for years for a flat tax . . . lets hope Americans are never stupid enough to fall like suckers for that ruse upon our nation. With a flat tax the billionaires and their monopoly dominance and massive wealth . . . the only thing flat will be the American people stomped flat under the boot of greed and control. Simply forget about the bottom end of the millionaire level inheritance tax code, such as a $3.5 or $5 M exemption or a potential 55 percent rate for mere-millionaires that failed to pass in 2010 . . . thats spare change and much ado about nothing! Its exactly those
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Americans with a few million dollars tied up in land value that the mega-rich, who are sitting on billions, want Americans focused upon because it plays into their manipulation game that is destroying the American Dream for all Americans. If a mere-millionaire is sitting on a farm they inherited, let them pay the 35 percent and be done with it. Its the billionaire and mega-millionaire big fish that are destroying economic opportunities for all Americans via monopoly wealth holdings. Once you hit a billion dollars in wealth the ceiling for acquiring even more monopolistic wealth with which to crush the little people must become ever more difficult to achieve a.k.a. a progressive tax for billionaires and mega-millionaires that today doesnt even exist. There simply are no estate tax brackets for billionaires! Nothing exists, its not part of the American tax code. It is not some big woops on behalf of the IRS it is rule by oligarchy. The mega-rich via their propaganda machine now believe they have the ball in their court and can essentially do away with all estate taxes via taking Congress further to the radical right and by playing the trickle down game a.k.a. you cant tax the job creators BS scam. Wise up America, billionaires kill jobs via monopolies and stock ownership, whereby they drive down wages and push for mergers and acquisitions to bring about short-term stock gains. They play on a global stage to acquire the cheapest labor possible wherever they can find it . . . and it is NOT in America! Nothing could be worse for job creation, a living wage and upward mobility in American than megabillionaires passing billions down to the next generation of a silver spoon American aristocracy. Most Americans cant even think in millions, much less billions because they are struggling to come of with the $100 to keep the electricity on for another month. If families, such as the Walmart aristocracy are collectively sitting on $100 B, then America needs inheritance tax brackets that encompass multiple billions. To allow any family to pass down $50 B at a mere inheritance tax rate of 35 percent or even 55 percent is insane given todays government red ink and economic realities. Start the rate at 55 percent for $1 B and add a one percent for every $100 M thereafter . . . then close every single loophole that exists! Make no mistake whatsoever America a sane inheritance tax structure for billionaires is critical to recoup the money they manipulated from America via a 30+ year track record of political corruption, but more importantly . . . its required to rein in an American aristocracy that has taken over America and our government. We simply cant have $50 or $70 B dollars passed down to another silver spoon generation at a 35 percent income tax rate. Those billions merely double repeatedly via the stock market and monopoly business interests that gobble up opportunities for the little people. Such massive wealth at the top corrupts our government, creates a banana republic and kills the American Dream for all Americans. Every American must understand however, that these greedy billionaires didnt get rich by being stupid. Just look at the wealth they have acquired, over the course of just 30+ years or less, while virtually every single American was sinking like a rock. Understand that billionaires are smart and they have no national loyalty whatsoever to America or our citizens . . . unlike you, they can hop on a yacht and just leave, incorporate in another nation, buy an island or whatever they wish in order to evade paying their due. In regard to estate taxes, just like income taxes, there is a pivot point of diminishing returns. That point, however, is far, far higher than what the radical right, working on behalf of the mega-rich, wants you to believe it is. Nonetheless, far too many Americans naively believe that the mega-rich will just take what we dish out via the tax structure . . . these Americans are wrong! Rest assured America, at the moment, in regard to
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inheritance taxes were no where near any pivot point of diminishing returns not even close, but there is a limit and going beyond that limit will not balance the federal budget and can have catastrophic economic consequences. As far as income taxes versus inheritance taxes, income taxes were well covered in Part I and the solution is as simple as the solution for estate taxes: create progressive tax brackets that encompass the top end of income earners. With $7 M seeming to be around the top income [except for CEOs, rap stars, pro athletes, hedge fund managers and the beautiful people in Hollywood who live within a cloud of rarified greed], take the tax rate for $7 M back to a 1970 rate of 70 percent. Raise the rate 1 percent for every million earned above $7 million. Drop the rate by 10 percent for every million going downward and allow someone bringing in a mere $3 million to pay at the 35 percent rate in order to create jobs. Billionaires and mega-millionaires dont need income tax breaks to create jobs . . . its just that simple and straight forward! Its just as critical that all the tax loopholes must be closed across the board for all upper tier income brackets. Most especially, stock awards and dividends being taxed as capital gains instead of at the income tax rates. Going forward, when you owe taxes, you pay them with no wiggle room just because you are mega-rich. As noted in Part I, previous to the Reagan tax cuts, massive wealth inequality in America, relatively speaking, didnt even exist. Furthermore, previous to Reagan, incomes for all classes, especially the middle-class had seen a stead rise for decades. While there are outside factors, such as cheap offshore labor and immigration into America, the parallel between massive wealth accumulation at the top and stagnant, or non-existent wealth accumulation as you move down the scale are clear and undeniable. It has been proven out over the course of more than 30+ years that instead of trickling downward, wealth accumulation at the top has the exact opposite impact . . . it stifles opportunity and wealth accumulation for everyone in American except the elite aristocracy. What else do you need to know? You can take all the trickle-down economists, from every Ivy League school, and line them up a thousand deep to start spinning. Give them all an hour each to present all their charts and economic models and 1000 hours later the following facts, as a direct result of trickle down economic theory, cannot be explained away. In exchange for a lifetime of toil and hard work, 91.9 percent of Americans receive not a dime of inheritance money when their parents estate is settled. The bottom 90 percent of Americans own a grand total of 10 percent of all the stocks, bonds, trusts and business equity in America and only 25 percent of the non-home real estate.
If these bullet points represent trickle down prosperity and wealth accumulation, then guess what? The gullible trickle downers in America need to practice burger flipping because what they know about economics you can put into a thimble. The massive amount of red ink now in the federal budget is merely symptomatic. The tax structure [to include the loopholes covered in Part I] have created an American aristocracy of megarich billionaires that have robbed U.S. citizens of their right to compete for their share of the American Dream. Through ownership of Congress as well as every state legislature Copyright 2011
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in America, the mega-rich have manipulated our political system over the course of 30+ years to tilt the tax structure and the economic table in their direction only. Boycotting the Mega-Rich Families Fighting Estate Taxes There is no comprehensive way to list, investigate and expose every mega-rich family in America working behind the scenes to corrupt government and our democracy in order to evade paying their fair share of our nations tax burden. Nonetheless, where they are found, they must be exposed and we must now have a nationwide boycott of ALL their products and services until such time as the estate tax system in America is rectified to balance the financial interest of all Americans. At present, with wealth inequality so far out of balance, the forces of oligarchy rule within America are so pronounced that government, the justice system and the tax system works only for the mega-rich with one set of rules and a completely different set of rules for the rest of America. The following families were nailed red handed in the 2006 report Spending Millions to Save Billions (published by Public Citizen; Congress Watch and United for a Fair Economy) for spending millions of their silver spoon money on lobbyists, lawyers, political parties, candidates and propaganda. All designed to either remove estate taxes altogether or maintain the current rate of only 35 percent on the mega-rich a.k.a. tax evasion. Hardly alone in skirting their fair share of Americas tax burden, these greedy families are the worst of the worst, within a class of privileged aristocracy who buy the political system in order to screw the American people. When you are in a war, you fight with what you have and we the people are a Resistance insurgency that now must fight with our wallets because our political clout is currently almost non-existent. Where do these greedy families get the money to bribe, manipulate and spew their vile propaganda? From us the American people of course. Basically, we the people open our wallets and give them our money and ask them to screw us. Guess what, were getting what we asked for! Instead of thanking them for creating billions in massive red ink in both federal and state budgets, why dont we instead create some red ink for the families pushing the hardest to evade estate taxes? Upon website launch, more extensive information will be provided on what companies, products and services to avoid. Some play in an arena that average consumers cant impact, but many if not most, are ripe for a boycott of all their products and services. Just to name a few of the most easy to boycott are: Mars Candy, Campbell Soup, Amway, BET, Gallo Wines, Nordstroms, Wegmans and of course the biggest bottom feeder company of them all Walmart. Please go to page 31 of the report cited above (via our breakout resource below) and do your research to remove every single product and service you currently purchase from the family companies listed. Then pass the word on to every single American you know to do the same. When were through, not only will these families not ever lobby against estate taxes again, but they will be begging Congress to raise estate taxes in order for the American people to stop the nationwide boycott. Just wait and see America, we the people have the power in our wallets to bring these mega-rich families to their knees. Well add more to the boycott listing down the road, but for now lets get started with the following: Allyn-Soderberg Family (Welch Allyn, Inc.) Blethen Family (Seattle Times Co.)
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Cox Family (Cox Enterprises, Inc.) DeVos and Van Andel Families (Alticor/Amway) Dorrance Family (Campbell Soup Company) Gallo (E&J Gallo Winery) Harbert Family Johnson Family (BET, RLJ Development Co.) Koch Family (Koch Industries) Mars Family (Mars, Inc.) Mayer Family (Captiva Resources) Nordstrom Family (Nordstrom, Inc.) Sobrato Family (Sobrato Development) Stephens Family (Stephens, Inc.) Timken Family (The Timken Company) Walton Family (Walmart) Wegman Family (Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.)
Breakout Resource(s): Nationwide Boycott of Every Company on Page 31 http://www.faireconomy.org/files/pdf/millions_billions.pdf
Too Many People and No Jobs As extensively explored in Part I, population management is an economic issue entirely, but far too few Americans are able to see the issue in such a stark objective light. Be it birth control and sex education being widely available to anyone, most especially the poor, or the economic impact of uncontrolled immigration Americas economic boat is taking on a population explosion that will sink it if not alleviated. Obviously no economic issue impacts the future livelihood and quality of life for American citizens more than population management, yet Americans continue to sit by idle and apathetic as the problem of overpopulation in the U.S. continues to explode.
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Just the shear number alone of a projected 130 million more people living inside the U.S. being added by 2050 is horrifying, but when you examine the demographics by education levels and job preparedness it becomes a virtual Armageddon scenario. While our public education system is failing at all levels for all races, it is most especially pronounced in the minority community. When 45 percent of African Americans and 46 percent of Hispanics born in America (between the ages of 18 to 29) do not have even a high school degree it doesnt take a crystal ball to foresee a horrific economic future for these individuals and America at large . . . unless major change occurs. While this generation struggles, another generation right behind them is following in the exact same path to poverty via lack of education and high fertility rates. To call it an economic and population problem doesnt even begin to describe, what is in fact a national crisis! When the absolute reality is that a lack of education equals far higher fertility rates and you do the down the road math another decade or more the crisis becomes a mushroom cloud of poverty which will lead to social unrest the likes of which America has never witnessed previously. While poverty is the symptom, culture and lack of educational aspirations and opportunity are the drivers of the poverty. While Party A cuts funding for planned parenthood, teachers, safety nets, grants and student loans along with education and workforce preparedness programs to swell the crisis even more, Party B asks for even more government money and programs . . . while doing everything in their power to add to the crisis via legal and illegal immigration into the U.S. in order to buy a larger voting bloc to secure political power. With 60 percent of illegal immigrants having only a high school degree or less being added like a fire hose to the millions of Hispanic and African Americans with a high school degree or less the minority community as well as the entire lower socioeconomic population is in crisis. For African Americans at large, the unemployment rate hovers at twice that of Caucasian Americans.1 The net worth wealth disparity for both black and Hispanic Americans and that of white America, as noted in Part I, is a chasm so wide that no American can morally justify the disparity. As of 2009, 7.2 million Americans or 3.1 percent of all adults in the U.S. were under the jurisdiction of the prison and corrections system.2 Within our prison system, nearly 40 percent are black, even though blacks make up only 13 percent of the American population.3 African Americans are six times as likely to be in prison as whites, and three times as likely as Hispanics.4 There are more African Americans under correctional control today in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began.5 Because the incarcerated are not counted in unemployment numbers until they are released from prison, the unemployment rate for black Americas, especially black males, is actually far higher than the dismal numbers already reported.6 When you add it all up, education levels, unemployment numbers, wealth disparity, prison population, poverty, malnutrition and high fertility rates within black America our nation has a colossal, absolutely humongous economic problem on its hands that simply can no longer be ignored! While the reasons are almost too vast to enumerate, to include education, culture, a cycle of poverty, etc. . . . one of, if not, the foremost reason is glaringly omitted by almost all status quo black civil rights advocates and leaders legal and most especially illegal immigration into America. As if black America didnt
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have enough economic challenges with an average net worth of only $5,677, status quo black civil rights leaders have rested upon the accomplishments of MLK and done nothing whatsoever in regard to erasing the legal and illegal immigration issue that impacts their constituency more than any other group of Americans by far. In short, Main Street black America has been sold out by their leaders to benefit the political power goals of Party B. Nonetheless, African Americans, by an extremely large margin, get it, as evidenced by the following bulleted polling statistics: In direct sharp contrast to virtually all status quo black civil rights leaders and advocates, 68 percent of African-Americans say immigration numbers are too high.7 Only 16 percent of African Americans believe the number of legal immigrants allowed into the U.S. is too low, while 70 percent believe that our immigration issues are due to inadequate enforcement of current laws.8 When it comes to filling unskilled job roles in the U.S., 81 percent of African Americans believe there are plenty of American citizens available.9
Do any of these overwhelming statistics in regard to African American opinions on legal and illegal immigration ever get reported in the media? Are they ever put forth by the NAACP, the Urban League, the Congressional Black Caucus, Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton or any other black civil rights groups or leaders? No! The reason is simple: for status quo black civil rights leaders when it comes to the immigration issue its all about the power of their political-party of choice first and the economic wellbeing of their people a very distant second. The race card being dealt from the bottom of the political deck is only allowed when it benefits Party B . . . never when it exposes and inconvenient truth. On October 16, 2011, the long overdue Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial was dedicated amongst great fanfare in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the life and legacy of the greatest civil rights leader in our nations history. During his remarks, president, Obama who received $23.7 M [63 percent of all the Wall Street money during the 2008 presidential election] said, Dr. King would want us to challenge the excesses of Wall Street without demonizing those who work there.10 Obviously playing to the ears of the Occupy Wall Street movement and black America, does our president not think that $23.7 M that left Wall Street and when into his pockets in 2008 alone would not be considered excessive by Dr. King? Would Dr. King think the millions president, Obama is piling up from Wall Street for his 2012 campaign [en route to what most are projecting to be a $1+ B war chest] to be excessive when black America is literally starving? Great questions dont you think? A far, far better question would be what Dr. King would think about the Obama administration and Party B doing everything within their power to absolutely drown black America economically with immigration, most especially illegal immigration into America? We know what the vast overwhelming majority of black Americans think, dont we and its highly unlikely that Dr. King would break from that majority opinion, unlike the status quo black civil rights leaders of today. Martin Luther King, III, the son of Dr. King, said during the dedication ceremony, "The problem is the American dream of 50 years ago ... has turned into a nightmare for millions of people."11 That nightmare for black America is driven in very large part by legal and most especially illegal immigration Copyright 2011
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which has flooded the playing field to increase onshore economic competition and decrease opportunity most especially prominent within the population of our working poor in America. With 40 million foreign born new immigrants now living in America and some unknown number of new illegal immigrants arriving just since president, Reagan granted the last amnesty . . . guesstimated to be between 12 and 20+ million, black America has been deluged with onshore economic competition since Dr. Kings death. Just like the millions upon millions of Wall Street dollars in Obamas pocket, the immigration reality and actual facts when exposed present an inconvenient truth for the administration and Party B, dont you think? During the memorial dedication, Dr. Kings older sister, Christine King Farris, speaking to young people in the crowd, said King's message is that "Great dreams can come true and America is the place where you can make it happen.12 Despite the lofty words about great dreams, one huge number was conveniently left out as the status quo black leadership in America fell all over themselves trying to get a speech or a quote onto the public record: $5,677 a.k.a. the median net worth of African American households in 2011. A net worth squashed, pushed downward and absolutely pummeled by immigration into America, most especially illegal immigration. If youre the first black president [with a white mother] who is raking in millions of dollars in campaign money from Wall Street or Al Sharpton raking in millions from MSNBC while playing the role of poverty pimp or one of the hundreds of status quo black civil rights groups and leaders . . . you can blame the meager net worth of African Americans on Wall Street, white America, corporate America, etc., but just please dont blame it on illegal America! That as we all know would be divisive toward Party Bs power goals and inflammatory rhetoric within the poverty pimp game being played upon black America. Just like insulting more than one third of Hispanic Americans, if not far more, who clearly understand basic supply and demand economics when it comes to human capital, the status quo black establishment is completely out of touch with virtually all of Main Street black America when it comes to the immigration issue. If youre waiting for Al Sharpton to come on MSNBC with an investigative report on the politics of poverty and the impact that immigration, most especially illegal immigration, has had upon black poverty in America . . . dont hold your breath. Poverty is just too good for Party B, as well as the moneyed pockets of the status quo black civil rights community and advocacy groups. Resting upon the accomplishments of MLK from long ago is just too easy and filling the voting booth via poverty is just paying off too well to expose the game being played upon black America by the status quo black establishment. It was black Americans that built this great nation on the back of manual labor, sweat, toil and years of slavery . . . not illegal immigrants and new immigrant arrivals into the U.S. Has the black civil rights community forgotten this reality, as they rest upon the accomplishments from long ago by MLK? We now have a MLK memorial in Washington, D.C. and each year, black civil rights leaders gather in Selma Alabama to commemorate Bloody Sunday, on March 7, 1965 when 600 civil rights marchers tried in vain to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Monuments, civil rights march reenactments and nostalgia are a wonderful thing when people have jobs and food, but with black Americans having
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a medium net worth of only $5,677 and the highest rate of unemployment in America . . . it seems there is much more actual work to be done! Who more than black America deserves the first crack at any job they are qualified for, rather than it being taken by an illegal alien or new immigrant that will work for almost nothing? Clearly, no group of Americans have been more ravaged and entrapped in a never ending cycle of poverty due to legal and illegal immigration more than black American and yet . . . the status quo black civil rights community and its so called leadership has stood by silent for decades as their people have floated down a financial drain via an immigration tsunami that they have helped step-by-step along the way to fulfill the political party power objectives of Party B. In America, even across racial lines, it is always the power of political-party and advocacy groups first and the people second. No sooner than this book publishes, such talk will be called divisive and inflammatory by the status quo black civil rights establishment . . . yet 81 percent of African Americans believe there are plenty of Americans available to fill unskilled job roles in America? So just who is it that is out of touch with Main Street black reality in America, the Congressional Black Caucus living in the soft confines of the Washington, D.C. beltway, those unveiling MLK monuments and reenacting Bloody Sunday or the 81 percent of African Americans that demand the immigration issue be about jobs and opportunity and not about political party power? The old status quo black civil rights leaders now feed from the cup of the aristocracy that demands more cheap labor and more struggling U.S. consumers. Led by a group of leaders that kicked their feet up long ago and rested upon the accomplishments of MLK, black America has been raped by legal and most especially illegal immigration. When advocacy groups, such as the NAACP, the Urban League and even La Raza abandon economic opportunity and the desperate need for jobs within their constituency via open borders advocacy and a continued fire hose of legal and illegal immigration only one simple conclusion can be drawn: they are more concerned about the political power objectives of their advocacy groups and Party B than about their constituencies. Most Americans, most especially within the minority community, have yet to open their eyes to such truth. Early herein, it was advised that many things Americans have believed all their lives are just not true and the political manipulation of poverty for power is at the top of that list. As is usually the case in life and in politics . . . the truth usually hurts. Does even one single person in America believe that the average net worth of black Americans would be only $5,677 and $6,325 for Hispanic Americans if somewhere around 8+ million illegal immigrants were not currently in the workforce and half of the 40+ million new immigrants we now have in America were not here? Does anyone in America believe that as of June 2011 that black unemployment would be at 16.2 percent and Hispanic unemployment would be at 11.6 percent if legal immigration had been cut by more than half decades ago and illegal immigration did not exist? Does anyone believe that 40 percent of the U.S. prison population would be black without the massive influx of legal and illegal immigration into America? Does anyone in America believe that corporate America, the mega-rich and radical right would allow public schools to fail in America if they were not allowed to legally import workers and employ illegal immigrants by the millions? Everyone in America, most especially black Americans, know the answer to all these questions and yet we continue forward with immigration policies that promote unsustainable population growth that disadvantages our minority population more than anyone in America because it benefits the aristocracy in charge of the
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game. If youve read this far and havent figured it out by now, youre hopeless . . . nothing is allowed to happen in America unless it is sanctioned and approved by the mega-rich. Once again America, follow the money and the power objectives and you will always uncover the truth. Now, because of political party games from both sides of the aisle, America is sitting upon a tinder box of social unrest that is awaiting a spark to explode. A creation of both political parties, most especially Party B, America has a challenge ahead that wont be fixed by more race baiting or legal and illegal immigration. Only with a united, stupendous effort and sacrifice by all Americans of all races and socio-economic backgrounds, will we evade the economic consequences and social unrest that lies ahead. None of the solutions are easy, straightforward or fool proof and they are all expensive and require massive investment, but when compared to the overall long-term economic costs to America the required investments amount to nickels and dimes. What America at large doesnt yet realize is that the downside costs of continuing to do nothing in regard to the uneducated masses in America go far beyond what most can fathom. Just the prison population alone coupled with welfare and maintaining a social net that is now disintegrating has already cost America unknown billions upon billions of dollars. The drag upon the economy and upon the federal budget from an uneducated, unskilled workforce that numbers well over 30+ million cant even be calculated. It includes Medicaid, unemployment insurance, welfare, healthcare costs, prison populations, drug usage, alcoholism, homelessness, child abuse, spousal abuse, foreclosures, productivity and our overall GDP . . . just to name a few of the real costs. As America continues to sweep the poverty issue under the rug, most especially among our minority population of Hispanic and African Americans, the population balloon of Americas poor just continues to explode. Much of an entire generation is now lost to massive high school dropout rates and another generation is following directly in the exact same footsteps. You simply cant make it todays modern economy without more than a high school education and nearly half of minority students dont even get through high school. As if we dont have enough of a poverty issue already, were importing even more uneducated to the tune of millions via legal and illegal immigration. Trying to combat our home grown poverty issues while importing even more and growing that by massively high fertility rates to the tune of millions . . . is like sticking our finger in a leaking dyke that is holding back an ocean of poverty. By failing to see the big picture and the true economic costs, far too many Americans dont see the issue as their problem, but instead see it as only a black or brown problem. The implications for the future, far beyond economic costs, will most certainly erupt in social unrest if not alleviated, but that will pale in comparison to the economic costs of an unskilled workforce. As an evermore poorly educated, disenfranchised community of the poor grows, so too does the level of discontent. Anyone in America that doesnt already see the tinderbox that already exists awaiting a spark or the ever growing population of poor to follow if something is not done is living in denial completely detached from reality. While its easy to see the glass of progress as half empty, instead of half full, in regard to education high school dropout rates are declining in some states in some schools. For most Americans, the issues associated with dropout rates and a lack of higher education is not seen as the national crisis that it actually is. While programs, most pushed by civil rights groups, exist, they fall far short of what is needed. With
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government budget cuts for education and teachers the hole for what actually is needed is widening, not shrinking. While funding and money are only a small part of what is needed to rectify our failing public education system, nothing happens without it and the amounts coming from government will continue to shrink. Therefore, the money must come from corporate America, philanthropists, foundations, Hollywood, pro sports and anywhere else it can be found. To those Americans that say we cant afford it . . . the reality is that you can pay a little now or a hell of a lot more later on in economic costs, but we will pay as a nation either way. As a wonderful example, billionaire mayor, Bloomberg of NYC along with billionaire hedge fund mogul, George Soros announced in the summer of 2011 a $60 M contribution that will be combined with the citys budgeting of $130 M to specifically address the citys dropout issue among young black and Latino men. This shining example of what mega-wealth can and should be doing for America must be replicated all across America in every community, but unfortunately such efforts to date are islands in a sea of despair. Companies and corporate America must adopt schools and get involved in hands-on mentoring efforts in addition to a wide-range of other activities. Hands-on engagement and involvement are far more important than money, but America at large has yet to step up and get involved. Just where is the American exceptionalism that the radical right preaches from their pulpit as another generation of minority students flow under the bridge of poverty via lack of education? Until America comes together and actually demonstrates that exceptionalism by recognizing the education issue is a crisis poverty, imprisonment and the economic burdens associated with an unskilled workforce unable to compete in a world economy will just continue to balloon. When it bursts upon America in the form of massive social unrest and a breakdown of society at large, the politicians, corporate America and Tea Party types will ask why . . . as if blind to the economic realities we now live within. Its about priorities and if we can spend a trillion dollars to bring democracy to a stone-age hell hole like Afghanistan then surely we can spend that much or more on educating our American citizens in order to create a workforce with a bright economic future ahead . . . instead of Third World existence and massive poverty. While the issues and solutions are complex, nothing is exacerbating the issues of poverty, lack of education and job skills more than immigration, most especially illegal immigration. Far too many of those calling for attention, money and aid to confront the poverty and education issue are the exact same Americans advocating for open borders and a continuation of the fire hose of legal new immigrants coming into the U.S. Its like trying to put out a raging fire on one side of the border while fueling the fire from south of the border with gasoline. With school systems all across America already under siege with overcrowding, language barriers, budget cuts and teacher layoffs we just continue to add massive numbers of students from challenging backgrounds of poverty and lack of education via legal and especially illegal immigration. Even in good economic times, if government at all levels were not bleeding red ink like never before in history, it would be virtually impossible to absorb and turnaround the issues of poverty and lack of education delivered by both legal and illegal immigration. In this environment, with todays massive economic problems, the weight from illegal immigration most especially is a drain upon our economy and government budgets that we simply cant afford. As a nation, we can not stand upright economically with the weight of continued massive immigration on the back of America.
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The job creation hole that America is in, as documented in Part I, is so deep than only a miracle over the course of well over a decade can even begin to enable America to dig out. No where is the job creation hole more horrifying than at the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder, yet only shrill voices yelling abstinence, racism and xenophobia dominate the discussion. Nothing could be more racist, cruel and uncompassionate than to continue piling more job competition upon the working poor while perpetuating a cycle of poverty in order to maintain a voting bloc for Party B. Statistically, as education levels rise birth rates fall along with unemployment and poverty, but at the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder the high school dropout rate is absolutely abysmal. With education levels of parents, culture and home stability being the primary predictors of childrens educational attainment the challenges to breaking the cycle of poverty are immense. As if America didnt have enough poor and working poor already who are uneducated and ill prepared to contribute within a modern economy, were adding millions more via immigration. How America can be expected to solve the economic issues of the poor and working poor with the highest birthrates and lowest education levels by far . . . while at the same time continually adding to the numbers via immigration defies all logic and sense of responsibility. The intellectual disconnect between brain and heart for many advocates for the poor fail to connect the economic dots arising from their so called compassion. While fighting against budget cuts and for protection of a social safety net, most advocates push for a ballooning of our home grown poverty issues in America via open borders and continued immigration rates that our nation cannot possibly absorb economically. While poverty is an education issue first and foremost, it is just as much a job competition issue. To continue adding even more poorly equipped and uneducated to the poverty balloon at the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder is a recipe that will explode one day into tent cities, massive poverty and more than likely social unrest. Nonetheless, the immigration fire hose, most especially illegal immigration, just continues to add fuel to an economic catastrophe at the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder with no solutions on the horizon. Those playing the race and xenophobia card are pushing America off an economic cliff to serve only the self-centered power ambitions of advocacy groups and Party B. All polling data by a wide margin indicates that Americans demand that our political class respond NOW to the immigration issue: 88% of Americans say more federal law enforcement officials are needed along Mexican border.13 61% of American adults believe that there would be less poverty in the United States if immigration laws were enforced. Only 19% disagree.14 62% of Americans believe that illegal aliens are a cost burden on U.S. taxpayers, while only 32% of Americans believe that illegal aliens pay their fair share in taxes.15 67% of likely U.S. voters believe that states should enforce immigration laws if the federal government fails to do so.16
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66% of likely U.S. voters support strict government sanctions on employers who hire illegal immigrants.17 59% of likely U.S. voters favor cutting off federal funds to sanctuary cities, with just 28% opposed.18 60% of likely voters believe that the "policies and practices" of the federal government encourages illegal immigration.19
In a so called democracy, just the polling data above should tell the political class where the American people stand on the issue of immigration most especially illegal immigration. However, upon closer examination, the numbers opposing massive immigration, including legal immigration spike even higher. In June 2011 an article by Keene Trial Consultants entitled Immigration Polls and Lying College Grads and Liberals was published that cited a study published in the Social Science Quarterly. The study examined a 2010 Gallup Poll that indicated that 45 percent of Americans believe that immigration into the U.S. should be decreased, 17 percent believe it should be increased and 34 percent said it should remain the same. At UC Berkley [not exactly a right-wing institution] sociologist, Alexader Janus dug further into the poll numbers by asking questions indirectly in order to uncover hidden bias. Janus uncovered that instead of a mere 45 percent believing we should cut off immigration into the U.S. the number spikes to 61 percent of all Americans. The real jaw dropping conclusions of the study [that differ dramatically from everything the media is trying desperately to force down the throat of America] are that opinions do not differ markedly within Party B, college graduates and so called liberals. Janus reports that, the most remarkable finding is that levels of opposition to immigration appear to be very similar across the population much more similar than public opinion polls would lead one to believe. Support for immigration restrictionism is just as high among liberals, Democrats and college graduates as it is among conservatives and less-educated respondents. The researcher estimated that about 6 in 10 college graduates and more than 6 in 10 liberals hide their opposition to immigration when asked directly, using traditional survey measures. 20 Why members of Party B, college graduates and so called liberals hide their opposition to immigration, on one hand is simple to answer: they dont want to be unfairly labeled as racist, xenophobic and ignorant. Far worse than any of those manipulation tags, the last thing a member of Party B, a college graduate or a so called liberal can stomach is being labeled as unprogressive. In sociology terms such caving-in forces are called social desirability pressures, but in high school terms it is just called good old peer pressure a.k.a. a desire to be one of the cool kids. The overwhelming power of Americas brainwashing media machine, which even so called liberals have to admit possesses a left leaning bias, dictate and indoctrinate that anyone who opposes immigration limits of any kind are ignorant, uneducated, xenophobic, racist and unprogressive. In short, members of Party B and so called progressives know how they are supposed to answer the polling questions despite the fact that at least 61 percent are opposed to continuing policy of massive immigration into the U.S. Good old peer pressure coupled with massive media manipulation delivers the medias desired response. Why would the media care? The same reason Walmart cares, for the media its all about eyeballs no matter how many of those eyeballs are starving to death and for
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Walmart its all about consumer dollars as paltry as they may be. The media will take eyeballs to increase advertising rates and market share from anyone that can afford a TV. Millions of starving people eating rice from Walmart while tuning into MSNBC is a win for the aristocracy that runs the American Monopoly board. The fact that is fulfills the political power strategy for Party B simply makes it a win-win for both the aristocracy and the poverty pimps. The only problem is that the picture presented by the media is not accurate in the least since more than 60 of all Americans, liberals included, oppose the continued massive numbers of new arrivals on our shores. With a third of Hispanic Americans, 60 percent of Party B and a wildly overwhelming majority of African Americans opposed to a continued massive influx of new immigrants arriving on American soil . . . Party B, civil rights leaders and the main stream media are completely out-of-step with the overwhelming will of the American people in regard to curtailing immigration into America . . . both legal and illegal. The political class in general is only capable of playing the race and xenophobia card for political advantage . . . instead of answering to the demands of the American people, within a melting pot context for the overall good of our American economy and her people. Despite billions spent on border security already, with some success, the flow of illegal immigrants from the south just continues. With Mexico as the top source of both legal and illegal immigration into the U.S., poll results reveal that people in Mexico believe the following: * A majority of people in Mexico, 56 percent, believe giving legal status to illegal immigrants in the United States will make it more likely that people they know will go to the U.S. illegally.21 Just 17 percent think it will make people in Mexico less likely to go illegally. The rest are unsure or believe it would make no difference.22 * Of people in Mexico with a member of their immediate household in the U.S., 65 percent said a legalization program would make people they know more likely to go to America illegally.23 * Interest in going to the United States remains strong even in the current recession, with 36 percent of people in Mexico (39 million people) saying they would move to the United States if they could.24 What else does America need to know and understand about the illegal immigration problem from the south other than it will not end unless it is stopped once and for all! If you were to run the exact same poll in India, Pakistan or any other impoverished nation on Earth, you would get the same results. To have any chance whatsoever of enhancing the lives of the poor and working poor in America, most especially the minority community in America, our nation must erase the magnet drawing ever larger numbers into the pool of citizens that can least afford the job competition. We can build fences and enhance border security until it bankrupts America, but as long as people can find work illegally in the U.S. they will continue to cross the border by the millions. Between 1998 and 2004, 1,954 people died crossing the U.S. Mexico border and in 2009, 417 deaths were reported.25 Most experts agree that these numbers dont even begin to encompass the real number of deaths that occur each and every year. The reason they die and are willing to die is quite simple: if they reach the U.S. they can find jobs.
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Now, in view of that cruel and harsh reality, only one of two probabilities is possible going forward: A) the economy will experience a colossal turnaround within a decade or more, the overwhelming polling data within America that is opposed to illegal immigration will change and America will embrace open borders with Mexico or B) hundreds of illegal immigrants will continue to die each year trying to cross the border. Even though groups such as La Raza and other civil rights groups, the fringe left and Party B refuse to face reality . . . all the probabilities laid out in A above are extremely remote and against all the odds most especially in a horrible U.S. economic environment. Therefore, unless we as a nation want hundreds of people to keep dying while trying to cross the U.S. Mexico border, there is but one alternative left. That alternative is to remove the magnet that makes people willing to risk their lives in order to enter the U.S. illegally. That magnet is job opportunities within America for illegal immigrants and as long as it exists people will continue to needlessly die by the hundreds each and ever year. Those deaths primarily fall upon the hands of greedy American employers who hire illegal immigrants to make higher profits and cheat U.S. citizens out of fair pay. Almost just as culpable are sanctuary cities, government agencies that circumvent the laws against illegal immigration for political gains and the civil rights advocates that encourage the laws to be broken by lobbying for workplace protections. For the uneducated and unskilled, there simply are no longer any open jobs in America outside of agriculture. For illegal immigrants, it is callous and self-serving for activists and a political party to lure them into a lifetime of poverty, second class existence and even potential loss of life by breaking the law. Americans from all ideologies and political persuasions must finally understand that the only decisions ahead for our nation going forward are nothing but extremely difficult decisions to make. Be they federal and state budget decisions and everything that impacts our U.S. economy and quality of life for all U.S. citizens . . . its all going to be up hill and extremely difficult going forward. Putting off the tough decisions and allowing circumstances to fester like an open sore draining Americas economy will solve nothing and only make the issues with immigration far worse. Therefore, the day has finally arrived for those responsible for the deaths of immigrants crossing the border each year to be held accountable and for the magnet of a potential job for an illegal immigrant to be erased once and for all! Passage of the Legal Workforce Act that would require all employers nationwide to verify an employees identity with federal data via the E-Verify program is the only sane and compassionate solution for Americas illegal immigration issues. By ensuring that all jobs in the U.S. go only to those citizens with valid Social Security numbers or to foreign nationals with a temporary visa and worker permits will guarantee that pay will rise almost overnight for all American citizens living within the sinking boat of poverty. It is simple math, using the 2009 figures referenced in Part I, that 30+ million people in America are among the working poor with an average slave wage of $8.31. An estimated 8+ million illegal immigrants are currently in our U.S. workforce to artificially deflate wages via a willingness to work in the shadows for nothing in addition to creating an overabundance of human talent for the few jobs that exist. Once again America, no PhD from Harvard required, just basic supply and demand marketplace dynamics. The unemployment rate will drop like a rock along with the eventual drop in welfare usage as
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illegal immigrants return home due to lack of work and the working poor in America receive larger paychecks. The federal deficit will be greatly reduced, tax revenues will increase with the advent of the working poor earning more money and most important of all . . . the working poor citizens of America will receive a much needed monetary lifeline during the second worst economic disaster in our nations history. Although the cost of some goods and services will increase slightly, so what! If dirt cheap goods and services are acquired via slave labor, poverty and malnutrition of starving children . . . then the costs need to rise in keeping Americas moral compass of basic right and wrong. Americans are quick to point the finger toward Third World sweat shops, but seem to condone U.S. slave labor working in the shadows to deliver artificially deflated lower prices subsidized by U.S. taxpayers via welfare programs. Unlike tax breaks for the mega-rich, the additional money in the pockets of the working poor citizens of America will get spent immediately to stimulate the economy. The Legal Workforce Act must be coupled with a robust guest worker program that allows foreign nationals to enter the U.S. for short 90 day periods of time to perform labor in the agricultural arena and ONLY! Contrary to what our media spews every single day in order to grow poor eyeballs and market share . . . outside of the agricultural arena, there simply are no worker shortages whatsoever within the lower socioeconomic rungs of America. There are however vast pay shortages from greedy employers who have exploited the illegal immigrant labor pool to pad their pockets and uplift their profits via poverty, no benefits and malnutrition of children. Instead of exploiting illegal immigrant labor to drive down the cost of labor for everyone in the lower socioeconomic strata, U.S. employers will be forced to pay a living wage along with increased benefits if they want to get their business missions accomplished. When we have hoards of employers paying $15 per hour and begging for workers . . . then we have a worker shortage, but not until. If youre an employer who pays nothing, then you should expect nothing . . . its just that simple! Employers can in turn pass most of the additional costs on to consumers just like every other business in America and if things get really bad they can sell off a boat or a vacation home. America must now demand that no more boats and vacation homes be purchased with exploited slave labor a.k.a. illegal immigrants. All those Americans complaining about welfare payments to all those deadbeats in America will be the same ones complaining about a couple of dollars more at the cash resister. Pay now or pay later America . . . the choice is up to you! Passage of the Legal Workforce Act will do more overnight, to stop the flow of illegal immigration, than all the billions spent thus far on border security. If you cannot find work, virtually no one except for the independently wealthy will come to America illegally. Its just that straightforward and simple! The lackluster demand for low skilled labor that currently exists will continue to exist far into the future and the time to face that reality is now! No group of people would be helped more than Hispanic citizens in America who currently have a household net worth of only $6,325. Since illegal immigration primarily feeds directly into the Hispanic pool of economic opportunity they are the citizens held back the most by a continued dilution of their earning power. How any political party or civil rights advocacy group can play the race card in order to make the plight of their people even worse defies all economic logic associated with basic supply and demand forces. Nonetheless, Hispanic
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civil rights groups are doing just that every single day in America. To penalize Hispanic citizens by adding even more job competition via illegal immigration is disingenuous, racist and discriminatory. What chance do these citizens have to improve upon a meager net worth of only $6,325 if a continued unrelenting fire hose of illegal immigrants is washing away their future? Current laws and illegal immigration policy only increase the odds of a lifetime of poverty that essentially creates a caste system, much like what exists in India, instead of providing a pathway to the American Dream. America can simply not have any discussion whatsoever about paths to citizenship for illegal immigrants as long as anyone in America can work without their identity passing through the E-Verify program to ensure they have the right to live and work in America. Whether the Legal Workforce Act is passed previous to immigration reform, or as part of the immigration reform discussion, without such legislation firmly in place . . . any discussion only serves to greatly exacerbate the already horrible problems associated with poverty, workforce preparedness, a social safety net, government red ink, overpopulation, urban sprawl and the environment. In 1986, president, Reagan signed Senate Bill 1200 that made more than 3 million illegal immigrants eligible for amnesty. The bill was signed with typical Washington, D.C. hyperbole about how the legislation would crack down on employers who hired illegal workers and secure the border once and for all. The program that eventually granted 1.7 million illegal immigrants amnesty was rife with fraud from the start as is typical with anything that comes out of Washington, D.C., but far worse, it did nothing to crack down on employers or to secure the border. The fact that, somewhere between, 12 and 20+ million more illegal immigrants have arrived in the U.S. since the 1.7 million were granted amnesty should tell any objective reasoning human one thing: amnesty only encourages illegal immigration instead of stopping it. With 56 percent of residents in Mexico saying it is true, surly no American citizen can argue with them. While immigration reform must move to the top of the agenda in Washington, D.C., which includes some extremely limited pathways to citizenship [instead of blanket amnesty for millions], but any and all discussions that do NOT include passage of the Legal Workforce Act are a nonnegotiable, immovable, nonstarter! America can simply not outrun the economic drain and challenges associated with illegal immigration, such as lack of education and language skills, until the fire hose of illegal immigration is brought down to zero . . . it is simply not possible! With plannedparenthood and birth control education at the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder in America already falling far short in quelling the poor and pregnant cycle of poverty . . . immigration, most especially illegal immigration consumes and kills off any progress being made and multiplies our poverty problem exponentially across generations. While it might be remotely possible to handle the current influx of new immigrants, its absolutely beyond all reasonable odds that we can handle the fertility rates they bring with them. If for even one second you dont believe the wildly high fertility statistics on new immigrants coming into America, be they legal or illegal, versus native U.S. citizens . . . then conduct the following sociological experiment. Arise next Saturday morning, grab some breakfast and coffee on the way, and pull into the parking lot of a Walmart or Sams Club anywhere in America around 11 a.m. Dont go in of course, but instead park
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near the front door for a couple of hours and start counting children. Remembering that we are sitting upon an absolute population explosion, every family you see with more than 2 children equals massive poverty, starvation, lack of opportunity, horrible stagnated wages, urban sprawl, overcrowding, horrible environmental consequences, etc. by 2030. Then as youre counting, remember that if you are poor basic common sense and logic dictates that as a parent you should hold the number of your offspring to two children or less [assuming that you can afford to feed them without government assistance, unlike 57 percent of new immigrant households who today require some sort of government assistance]. Now do the math of what you are looking at in one single Walmart parking lot and multiply that singular reality across all of America. Plug the following realities into your calculations: a continued high fertility rate within this population across multiple generations, along an exploding welfare use rate that is already at 57 percent for legal new immigrant households and 71 percent for illegal immigrant households and you get the America 2030 described at the beginning of this book. If you want to see into Americas future, a Walmart or Sams Club parking lot on a Saturday morning is far better than any crystal ball. The America 2030 vision you will see for yourself will be devoid of fringe left utopian ideals and devoid of Walmart commercials with happy little consumers pursuing the American Dream [as they walk out with only a bag of rice because the American Dream is already almost dead . . . due to an overabundance of humans within the U.S]. Just to get America 2030 implanted firmly in your mind, go home and google poverty in India, Pakistan and Africa and you will see America in less than 20 years. Fear mongering, you ask? No! It is just short of an absolute certainty unless America rises up now to stop the flood of new immigrants arriving into the U.S. The mega-rich and many in corporate America want as many people as possible allowed into America for the same reason they advocate for unrestrained free trade within a world economy: cheap labor, higher profits and more consumers. In their warped minds, anyone with the strength to crawl across a Walmart parking lot to buy a bag of rice is considered a new consumer. The powers in charge of the Monopoly board could care less about the poverty levels and quality of life issues exacerbated by overpopulation in the U.S. The bulging population numbers, via more people immigrating into the U.S. legally each year than all other nations on Earth combined equals slave labor willing to work for nothing. That drives down salaries and wages for all Americans, but as long as they have two nickels to rub together they are considered consumers by the American aristocracy, such as the Waltons of Walmart fame. Even with the current massively high unemployment numbers and realistic projections of even more to come, the open jobs in America that do exist are white collar professional positions. With homebuilding and construction off as much as 80 percent from prerecession levels, an already dead manufacturing sector only now beginning to make some tepid signs of recovery and low end jobs fueled by American consumers who are all broke . . . spells one clear reality: we have way too many unskilled, uneducated workers competing for an ever shrinking number of jobs in America. If youve grasped nothing else from this book, one thing by now should come across more blatantly than any other: politicians, or political parties, civil rights groups, radical right and fringe left ideologues will do literally anything to achieve political power and hold it. Party B seems to be content with unrestrained illegal immigration for one reason
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only: the votes they will bring once a path to citizenship is maneuvered somehow. While immigration policy should be about whats good for America, her people, American citizens who are poor and our struggling economy . . . their mindset is only about what is good for their political party in an effort gain or maintain political power. The reason for that is simple, if they are not in office, they cannot funnel money to enrich themselves and their political cronies. How many Americans, who are pushing for open borders and unrestrained legal and illegal immigration, have been to a soup kitchen in their lifetimes? How many have been to a homeless shelter or an inner city project and seen starving children with their own eyes? If you havent then you simply dont know just how cruel and uncompassionate an open borders mentality really is. The truth is that such misguided compassion couldnt be any more cruel or unjust towards impoverished America citizens. The time has come to rethink the party line and understand that just like a house guest you dont invite outsiders to dinner when you cant even manage to feed your own family a.k.a. our U.S. citizens. Taking care of impoverished American citizens first is compassionate and allowing even more hungry mouths into the U.S., both legally and illegally is NOT compassionate whatsoever . . . instead it is absolutely cruel and completely selfish especially if it is all designed to benefit a political party with new voters, the media with more poor eyeballs and the American aristocracy with more consumers. With wages in America driven to such rock bottom levels by the aristocracy, it now takes 2 or 3 new consumers imported into America to replace the buying power of one consumer from a decade or two in the past. With this scheme, the aristocracy makes money and we the people are driven further down into the dust by way too much job competition. Hiring only U.S. citizens or authorized foreign citizens is the law in America and it is not optional. The governments E-Verify system makes checking someones status easy, cheap and fast. In Arizona, Georgia and Alabama, state law now requires the system be utilized before any worker is hired. Everywhere else, at this point in time, U.S. employers are simply not being forced to comply and the solution for the undocumented worker issue is higher fines, revocation of business licenses and even jail time if necessary. Not until employers are bankrupted by fines or go to jail will the problem be solved . . . its just that simple. To those Americans that contend that without illegal workers certain jobs in America will not get done they are simply wrong! Will it cost employers in some business arenas more money to get their missions accomplished? Yes! So be it because it will put more money into the pockets of the working poor in America, stimulate the economy and reduce the welfare burden upon our federal deficit that everyone claims to be so concerned about. As reality stands now, U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing employer payrolls via welfare payments instead of forcing employers to pay a living wage by hiring only people authorized to work in the U.S. Why we allow U.S. taxpayers to be forced into subsidizing the profits of corporate American via Medicaid to replace healthcare benefits not supplied by employers and welfare payments to replace a living wage . . . tells you just how insidious the radical right propaganda machine really is. How dare they scream about the deadbeats who are gaming-the-system and living off taxpayers when it is corporate America that is gaming the system more than anyone by having you the American taxpayer pick up the employer tab for healthcare and lack of a living wage for their employees as they profit wildly from the government subsidy. While a robust guest worker program is desperately needed in America within the agricultural arena there is no job other than agriculture that wont get done . . . to include picking grapes in the baking hot California sun. Will mega-rich vineyard families,
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such as the Gallo family, who spend every dime they can on lobbyists to avoid estate taxes have to pay more to get those grapes picked? Yes! Nonetheless, it doesnt mean that any job in America that needs to be done will not get done if it pays a living wage. The American consumer has to be willing to pay a little more for certain nonessential items, such as wine in order to reverse the downward forces of an ever spiraling economic vortex that is sucking America into a Third World toilet. Pay a little now or pay a lot later via welfare, crime and social unrest . . . the choice is yours America. Our sole focus on low price alone for every product and service we buy is killing our entire U.S. economy and it must end for certain products and services that are not life essential. Does passing the Legal Workforce Act solve all the residual undocumented worker issues, such as a path to citizenship which some call amnesty? No! Does it need to be addressed at some point in time? Yes! Can we do that during a period of record unemployment or to benefit a political party? No! With more than 350,000 undocumented workers coming into the U.S. just between 2008 and 2010 alone and finding work during the worst economic period since the Great Depression tells you everything you need to know. Despite all the billions spent on border security, etc. the problem is clearly not solved. Does that lead to sad tragic situations for undocumented workers? Yes! However, it leads to far more sad and tragic economic situations for legal American citizens at the low end of the socioeconomic labor pool. The issue is not about misguided compassion for people that broke the law when they entered America, but about the economy and a fraying social safety net that will lead to massive starvation and social unrest if not addressed. America can turn and face the issue now, or run from it and watch our nation burn at some point in time. All we are doing at present is adding even more fuel to the fire come. While Party B uses the issue of undocumented workers to its political advantage, have you ever heard any calls from party A to reduce the number of legal new immigrants that are coming into the U.S. to drive down white collar salaries in order to deliver bigger profits for corporate bottom lines? No! Why? Its what Party As mega-rich campaign contributors dictate. During the 2 year period between 2008 and 2010 of economic tribulation noted herein, while 350,000 undocumented workers slipped into America, more than 750,000 foreign nationals were given permission to immigrate into the U.S. legally. What percentage of those 750,000 new immigrants took jobs away from U.S. citizens? Did they fill a critical economic need that an American citizen couldnt provide or were they just willing to work for far less money? What percentage of these legal new immigrants is now gainfully employed and paying taxes versus the percentage that will be drawing welfare benefits just as soon as they are eligible? The bad news is that no one knows the answers to these questions, no one in our political class seems to care and almost no one is tracking it. There are no hard and fast economic bars to hurdle for legal eligibility to immigrate into the U.S. and there are no systematic criteria whereby only the economically qualified are allowed in. Instead, it is just and endless flow of millions of new arrivals on our shores as if the U.S. was some wildly successful job creating engine that can absorb all the new arrivals we can get. Obviously, for anyone that is even the least bit tuned into economic news, unemployment and underemployment numbers . . . that is NOT the present economic reality in America. In case you havent figured it out, America can no longer afford to take in the worlds tired and hungry through legal or illegal immigration any more than we can solve the worlds poverty issues through foreign aid. When our nation was founded we needed more people, but now we dont. Now legal immigration must be about economic
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contributors almost exclusively. If you want to relocate your business to America and hire American workers . . . come on in! If in the rarest of instances you have expertise and a skill set that an American citizen doesnt have or cant provide . . . come on in! However, if youre coming to look for a job or to work cheap to increase the profits for corporate America . . . forget about it! Just based upon these tightened legal immigration criteria there will be thousands who are allowed to immigrate legally into the U.S. each year. As to the question of whether the U.S. should continue educating foreign nationals in business, engineering and science via our crme de la crme universities, a.k.a. showing China and other developing nations our play book that question needs to come to the tip top of the discussion agenda within academia. In a Kauffman Foundation for Entrepreneurship study published in May 2011, 153 Indian and Chinese citizens who had formerly studied or worked in the U.S. and returned to their native countries to start companies were surveyed 8 months after their return. The majority of the entrepreneurs are doing better in their home nation than they believe they would be doing in the U.S. had they not returned home. Whether America benefited from their study in the U.S. is an open question, but what is not an open question is that once educated here, we would be better off economically if they had stayed in the U.S. The question is if we couldnt absorb them economically and make use of their education and talents . . . what were we thinking by allowing them to be educated within the U.S.? Just for example, in 2010 alone, 134,800 Chinese returned home after receiving a foreign education. Not all those foreign educations were acquired in the U.S. but the vast majority did come to the U.S. which begs two questions for America: 1) do we want China, our foremost economic competitor, educating future economic stars in our universities and 2) if they are educated here, do we want them returning home to shine for Chinas economy? Does that make any sense whatsoever in a competitive world economy? Of course not! The best and the brightest foreign nationals being educated in fields that impact economic success shouldnt be forced to leave America, but the question is how many and from where? Americans havent yet figured it out that economically the world has changed and we are in a massively intense competition . . . we play nice while emerging economies are copying our play book and taking advantage of our education system to beat us at our own game. Our standard of living is falling like a rock while the standard in many emerging nations, most especially in China, is rising like a rocket with our educational assistance . . . much of it supplemented by U.S. tax payer dollars at state universities. Just like everything else that makes the world go around, immigration is about money, your money! Its our nation, our American economy and it doesnt belong to employers hiring undocumented workers or corporations hiring cheap imported professionals to increase their profit margins. More than anything, immigration shouldnt be about political party maneuvering to gain votes or to reward campaign contributors with cheap labor and more consumers. Tie Legal Immigration Numbers to Unemployment Figures: The time is long past due to greatly constrict legal immigration into the U.S. based upon unemployment numbers and economic realities . . . instead of Ellis Island nostalgia. While passage of the Legal Workforce Act is mandated now to finally curtail illegal immigration into the U.S., it is far short of being enough to solve our issues of overpopulation, massive unemployment, wage stagnation and wealth disparity. We must also pass legislation
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now that strictly limits the number of legal new immigrants coming into America to 300,000 per year until and unless the actual unemployment number drops below 4 percent. Entry must be based solely upon economic criteria, such as relocating a business to the U.S. that will hire American workers, well financed entrepreneurs, investors and critical economic skill sets unable to be supplied by American citizens. Tired, hungry, huddled masses, as well as cousins and neighbors, need not apply until and unless America becomes the jobs creation engine once again that she once was. Since no one in the U.S. has any faith whatsoever in the unemployment and underemployment numbers supplied by the federal government . . . for good reason a highly scientific formula and validation process to determine both the actual unemployment numbers as well as the underemployed numbers must be devised as part of establishing a firm legal immigration ceiling. At the same time, we must also establish a firm ceiling of 100,000 per year for H1-B visas so that corporate America is not allowed to simply circumvent the legal immigration limits by acquiring cheap labor via manipulation of the H1-B visa program. Currently, corporate America, the mega-rich and our political leadership have no incentive whatsoever to invest in the education of America and our disadvantaged citizens. Weve created a class of throw away humans at the bottom of the socioeconomic spectrum and instead of being forced to invest in education and training efforts for our native citizens, corporate America and the mega-rich are allowed to simply import cheap labor for higher profitability while leaving millions of American citizens behind. There are no upward pressures whatsoever on wages and salaries of American workers who are now as plentiful as grains of sand willing to work for any slave wage that is offered with zero benefits whatsoever. Lest we not forget that it is U.S. taxpayers that are picking up the tab for the shortfall in wage and benefits by corporate America via welfare, Medicaid, healthcare costs, etc. Our current political class is doing everything possible to suck the America workforce dry at both ends via no pay, no benefits, no social safety net and no legislative support whatsoever. No pay and no benefits are not due to economic pressures, but instead are due in large part to a wild overabundance of humans available that are willing to take whatever corporate America is willing to dish out. With a continued massive flow of new arrivals into America, the issues of pay and benefits just worsen by the day. Finally, the bow tie utopians in academia must be forced to realize that the free enterprise system is a competitive game. Look no further than the example of Duke University opening a campus of their business school in China in 2012 to realize just how detached from economic reality the ivory towers in America really are. Perhaps we should just give anyone in China a paid scholarship to any U.S. universitys business school and just hand China the keys to America? We can all learn Mandarin and just await the day that America is annexed as Chinas newest province. For all the reasons enumerated in Part I, with our education system in America being about the only competitive advantage we have within the world economy, most especially with China . . . our current policy of educating the world in business, the free enterprise system, engineering and science is economically tantamount to sticking a gun in our ear and pulling the trigger.
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In case you havent noticed, the rest of the world gets this free enterprise system that we created, most especially China, India and Brazil . . . just to name a few of our major competitors. Admittedly, as a nation they invest in their childrens education, their kids make it out of high school and a Duke professors patience would be tested if forced to teach Americas academically unprepared, but to locate a U.S. university campus in China in order to teach them how to kick Americas economic posterior . . . is just a little stupid dont you think? There is good will, sharing, playing nice and then there is something called absolute stupidity! Educating the Chinese on how to kick Americas economic ass within this wonderful free trade world economy . . . in case you dont get it, falls under the heading of absolute stupidity a.k.a. economic suicide. The Ivy League bow tie crowd already slipped a free trade world economy up our posteriors via the idea that they were geniuses and we were all too stupid to understand the intricate workings of the economy. Now the bow tie crowd is telling us that it is to our advantage to educate the world in business, engineering, math and science. Lest we not forget America, as noted in Part I, if it sounds stupid to YOU, even though you dont wear a bow tie, it more than likely is stupid! America has followed the Ivy League breadcrumbs of academia far enough and its now time for some good old common sense. Once again America, as repeated herein too many times to count, follow the money and you will always arrive at the truth. Who pays for the endowed professorships at places like Duke, all of the Ivy League and every university in America? The buildings, the grants, the research projects, the football stadiums, etc. are all funded at least in part by the mega-rich and corporate America. The very same people that brought us the wonderful free-trade world economy that was supposed to be the greatest boon to the American economy since the cotton gin. Let America not forget that is was the same fringe left intellectual crowd that pushed the passage of NAFTA through, the same crowd that played upon the collective American guilt complex to make us believe that we had an obligation to raise the standard of living for the entire developing world even though were only 5 percent of the worlds population. It was that same bow tie crowd that lied through their teeth when they told us we could raise the worlds standard of living without losing our own high standard. Now, with almost 90 percent of Americans experiencing stagnated wages and salaries for 30+ years . . . perhaps its time the Ivy League bow tie crowd along with our failed political class got a real job within the America they created? Instead of the economic boon they promised, were all now closer than ever to picking cotton for the plantation master once again. Just like staying with the political status quo, repeating the same mistakes over and over is the definition of stupidity. Trusting the bow tie crowd [that brought us the free trade world economy] in regard to educating the world and then sending them home to compete with the U.S. is nothing more than displaying our stupidity once again. They are smart, really smart and we are dumb, really dumb, but can we really be that dumb? It doesnt take a 1600 on the SAT and a bow tie to get this one America. Even a dumb jock that dropped out of high school knows you dont show the other team your play book and then expect to beat them. Student visas in the arenas of the arts, literature and poetry are wonderful let the ivory towers ring out with utopian ideals of one world living harmoniously in rich intellectual grandeur, but for the rest of us . . . those of us who live in the real world that understand economic competition, the cutthroat world of business and the nation of scoundrels
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called China it is time to forget about educating foreign nationals and then sending them back home to kick our economic ass. Surely, even with a crumbling public education system in America . . . we cant possibly be that stupid! Student visas are fine for the arts if they return home, but for business, engineering, science and math . . . educating more foreign nationals than we can absorb into the U.S. as a boon to our economy has to come to a screeching halt! No matter how many bow ties, PhDs, deans, college presidents and the like tell you otherwise . . . our current academic policies of educating the competition and then sending them home is nothing short of absolutely stupid! In summary, do the math America, get out that little calculator you got in high school and start adding up the legal and illegal immigration numbers and multiply by wildly high fertility rates over the course of several generations. Plug in massive government red ink to the tune of trillions as far out as anyone can see and then calculate in a crumbling U.S. infrastructure, failing public education system, a disappearing social safety net, swelling welfare rolls and malnutrition already as historic proportions. Real issues with no solutions on the horizon, yet as a nation were still falling prey to the race and xenophobia manipulation card in order to make an already horrible nightmare scenario worse than anyone living today can even imagine. When it arrives if not stopped, the current political class that sold us out, as they have been doing for more than 30+ years, will be long gone . . . writing memoirs and eating caviar on yachts with the mega-rich that own them. While party B and civil rights leaders apparently believe that the end justifies the means a.k.a. sacrificing Americans at the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum to get or keep the reins of power via uncontrolled illegal immigration most Americans disagree with that cruel and inhuman trade off. All U.S. citizens should be given the opportunity to make a living wage and no segment of Americans, including the working poor, should be sacrificed to gain voters for a political party. If we are the exceptional nation that the political class spews on endlessly about, then we will move now to not only curtail immigration, but just as importantly . . . to address the education and workforce preparedness issues that face our nation. These issues wont be solved by playing the race card, they wont be solved via divide and conquer politics and they wont be solved in a nation that is not a true melting pot in which we all come together now to wage war on ignorance by reducing the high school drop out rates and increasing the enrollments in technical schools and universities. In a nation this rich, money should never be an obstacle to achieving a quality education. If we can afford $60 M for one cruise missile and billions of dollars in Wall Street bonuses after they screwed everyone in America . . . then we can afford an education for anyone and everyone in America that is willing to sacrifice and apply themselves, but only if we stop the fire hose of immigration that is adding to the woes of an already failing education system. It is time that we educated our citizens in our university system once again, instead of educating the world to compete with America economically.
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Breakout Resource(s): POLL http://cis.org/ZogbyPoll-EffectsOfAmnesty?popup=false An Examination of Minority Voters Views on Immigration http://www.cis.org/Minority-Views-Immigration Public Opinion Polls on Immigration http://www.fairus.org/site/PageNavigator/facts/public_opinion.html On Immigration Polls, a Lot of People Lie http://www.miller-mccune.com/politics/on-immigration-polls-a-lot-of-people-lie-31859/ Legal Workforce Act http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-2164 Center for Immigration Studies http://www.cis.org/ NumbersUSA http://www.numbersusa.org/ FAIR http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer
Curtailing Stock-Based Executive Compensation As detailed in Part I, corporate board rooms of America are manipulated over time to place the CEO into some God-like post surrounded only by yes men [and yes women] who simply rubber stamp whatever the CEO wants. At the top of the CEO wish list are millions upon millions of dollars in free stock as well as a golden parachute escape hatch to ensure the CEO never bumps their financial knee no matter what. While CEO pay is the issue that gets all the press, it is how they are paid as much as the outrageous amounts thats destroying the American Dream for all average Americans. Once a CEO gets their hooks on stock they can quickly sell off, via free or reduced price stock options, their focus is all about getting the stock price up and almost nothing else. If their efforts to get the stock price up results in everyone in the company loosing their job and the company ceasing to exist the CEO walks away with millions in a prearranged no way to lose scam. In return for this deal, the CEO in turn rubber stamps outrageous compensation packages for all board members in good favor to ensure they go along with the scam. Once the fox watching the hen house scenario is firmly in place, the CEO and board go about raiding the company to push up the stock price at the expense of the workforce. Mergers, acquisitions and downsizings are the order of the day to ensure stockholders, the CEO and board members walk away with millions. Once the scam is completed, the CEO is set for life even if they never head another company and board members take their pay off and simply find another company host-beast to
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begin sucking dry. To see how it works, look no further than Richard Fuld, former CEO of Lehman Brothers and Angelo Mozilo, former CEO of Countrywide who both after mismanaging their respective companys business operations and running them into the ground are now sitting on millions as former employees suffered for their greed, as well all of America. At the core of this insidious scenario, repeated over and over throughout corporate American, are free stock and stock options awarded at a fraction of their value to CEOs and board members. Once the stock is in hand, its a rape and pillage free-for-all by all members of the board and the CEO with only one goal GET THE STOCK PRICE UP! To get the ball rolling, a good downsizing will make Wall Street react positively and then its on to possible mergers and acquisitions for the same sole purpose. Once the stock price is up, the CEO and the board starts cashing in by selling off their stock. Americans and workers have sat idle for more than 30+ years as they watched the same game in corporation after corporation take place as workforce after workforce is decimated and thrown into the streets. With stock in hand, the long-term prospects for the company its employees are dead last on the list of CEO and board member priorities. Who benefits? Obviously the CEO and board benefits, but its the top 10 percent of Americans that now own 90 percent of all stock, who benefit handsomely as well. Primarily, its Wall Street, hedge funds and our American aristocracy who reap the most money from stock ownership and corporate bleed-out techniques. Who pays for their greed? America at large, starting with employees and every community in which a raided company operates via the local and state tax base as well as the wider economy. There is a simply fix, not perfect, but a fix that will go further than any measure in decades to help block boards and CEOs from rape and pillage raids: NO FREE STOCK or REDUCED PRICE STOCK OPTIONS for CEOs and members of the board! In theory, such legislation seems like a simple fix, but in truth it may encourage even more corporations to incorporate off shore just to skirt the law. Nonetheless, such legislation needs to undergo serious consideration and analysis. What doesnt need any further consideration is a change in the accounting rules whereby corporations simply issue stock or reduced options to boards and CEOs off the balance sheet as payroll expenditures. Free stock and options are pay, no less than the payroll checks you receive. Therefore, when millions of dollars in stock are bestowed to boards and CEOs they must be accounted for on the books out of the corporate bottom line just like your paycheck. Furthermore, CEOs and board members must be compelled to pay income tax on the stock awards in the year they are received instead of deferring the income to another year or counting it as capital gains income to lower the tax burden to around half of the income tax rate. Once legislation dictates a change in accounting practices and tax treatment of such stock awards, youll see far fewer free stock awards and reduced price options for board members and CEOs. In turn CEOs will again have a long-term vested interest in keeping their job instead of bleeding their corporate host-beast dry like a vampire and flying off into the night. Since the top 10 percent of Americans now own 90 percent of all stock with 44.1 percent owned by the top 1 percent average Americans who own only 10 percent collectively have virtually no say whatsoever in corporate stock awards to CEOs and board members. Nonetheless, assuming its a safe investment, if you work for a publicly
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held company and dont own as much of their stock as possible [along with your fellow employees], youre blowing in the wind. If youre not attending stockholder meetings, voting against cronies of the CEO from being on the board and fighting tooth and nail against excessive pay and stock options for your CEO . . . then you should at least be sending out a lot of resumes. The percentage of stock owned by employees in America is nothing short of pathetic and few if any even pay attention to whos on the board, merger and acquisition rumors or anything else that actually matters. Heres a hint, nothing significant to your financial well being over the long hall is going to arrive via your company newsletter. In there youre going to get one message: everything is just dandy, the CEO is a wonderful human and just keep your head down, keep working 14 hour days and the company will look out for you. Yea right . . . Admittedly, if all employees buy up all the stock they can get their hands on, for most companies it pales in comparison to the number of shares owned by the top 10 percent of Americans, but employees owning stock carries far more clout than a 1 to 1 ratio of stock owned by outsiders. CEOs and corporate boards dont want their employees at stockholders meetings, they dont want you paying attention and they dont want you voting against cronies of the CEO from sitting on your board. They dont want you communicating with each other and they sure dont want Wall Street rumors circulating within the rank and file. A partial solution to changing the game is all about buying stock as well as organizing and communicating within the employee network. On the other hand, if you are not wise enough to conduct such activities under the radar . . . you also know all too well that your personal items will be boxed up and youll be escorted to the front door by the Human Reaper (HR). Create a pseudonym and start a Facebook page or launch a website or blog to get the word out. Be a thorn in their side and just like everything else going forward, verify everything before you trust. If people are being cut in a division, rumors of a merger are in the air expose it to every single employee! With the history of American CEOs, anyone that blindly trusts senior management and the CEO, are quite frankly . . . an idiot! In far too many cases, the CEO is simply waiting out the vesting time period for their stock options . . . once in place, it will be time to take the money and run. Its the system by which corporate America now functions to the detriment of the American workforce and unless we fight it tooth and nail going forward . . . the American workforce and America at large will continue to lose out to the aristocracy. Reigning in CEO Pay While we as Americans admire and respect success, in no other nation on the entire Earth do CEOs and the other 4 levels of corporate management make what they do in the U.S. Its not just immoral, especially at a time or record unemployment and actual starvation in America, its debilitating to the economy at large. Any Americans that believe that legislation, currently being enacted via Wall Street reforms, will change the egregious pay scales of American CEOs and top level management are delusional. Much like the reforms in general, nothing has changed, nor will they change without a continued unwavering push from the American people to deliver real change. For American CEOs the reforms now offer stockholders a vehicle to vote on the pay, but such so called votes are absolutely worthless for two reasons: 1) they are 100
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percent non-binding, have no teeth and even if every single stockholder voted against a proposed level of CEO pay . . . it can still go through if passed by the board [a board hand-picked by the CEO] and 2) institutional investors, mutual funds and the top 10 percent of the food chain own almost all the stock, leaving employees and average Americans with almost zero voice whatsoever in regard to CEO pay. This reality is no surprise to Congress and they knew when they passed the pathetic reforms on CEO pay that it was just a joke to humor the American people just raped by Wall Street greed. Nothing is going to change with the reforms and to prove it, the U.K has had such reforms in place since the 1990s and nothing has changed there. There are however a number of real reforms that can take place that will actually bring about more reasonable CEO and executive management pay. Congress can simply pass legislation that prohibits the top five levels of corporate management being paid via stock awards or reduced price stock options. At a minimum the percentage of their pay via stock must be dramatically curtailed. By no longer allowing corporate America to pay the top 5 levels of senior management with stock awards, under the tag of incentive pay, senior management will have to pay taxes on their pay at the level of average Americans. The result will be that excessive pay will be reduced and more importantly all of America will have a more stable corporate environment in which to pursue the American Dream. Its not rocket science or complex tax code to require that when the incentive based stock award is achieved, the corporation pays their required share of the tax for the full market value of the stock in the year it was received without the current $1 M exclusion for the top 5 levels of management. Furthermore, the top 5 levels of corporate management must be forced to pay income tax on all the stock they are awarded in the year they receive the award . . . instead of only capital gains taxes years later which is about half of what they would have paid in income taxes without other tax loopholes. In a supposedly classless society that we continue pretending that we have in America, why would there be a special tax code only for members of the aristocracy, namely the top 5 levels of corporate management? The answer to that question is simple: government corruption! Anyone in America that contends these millions and millions of dollars in CEO and senior level pay should be subsidized by U.S. taxpayers via billions of dollars lost in tax collections from the federal treasury are not fiscal conservatives, but instead are crooks. Its as if U.S. taxpayers are creating an incentive for the top 5 levels of corporate management to move jobs off shore and layoff American workers. Its called legalized crime via a massive tax loophole only available for a select slice of the American aristocracy. If that truth were not the case, then why would the incentive only be available to the top 5 levels of senior management within corporate America? While removing the incentive pay tax loophole for the top 5 levels of senior management is one option, there is another option far more dynamic and more far reaching in its scope and implications for American workforce at large. Not to overstate its significance, but in fact this idea could be the best idea anyone in America ever came up with to restore the American Dream. Succinctly speaking, we revise the tax code to give favorable tax treatment to compensation systems that link incentive pay to company performance ONLY if ALL the companys full-time employees are included and if the value expended on the top 5 percent of employees by salary is also expended
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on the bottom 80 percent of employees by wage and salary. In other words, instead of only rewarding the CEO and the top 4 levels within a company, the tax law would force everyone in the company to be rewarded by uplifting company performance. [Yet another great way to stimulate our struggling economy by putting money in consumers pockets while increasing the tax base.] Today, only the top 5 levels within a company are rewarded and the rewards are grossly disproportionate to any contributions they make to the company. After all, no matter how stellar a CEO may be, compared to all the employee contributions to success the CEOs contribution by comparison is infinitesimal. Somewhat similar to profit sharing plans of old, this dynamic new idea ties down the numbers and dictates that if the CEO and senior members of corporate management are rewarded, then employees too are rewarded on a more equitable scale that is propelled by law. Even with current profit-sharing schemes, there is no tax law that dictates the proportions and percentages of compensation that ties directly to the CEO and senior management pay. Employees are thrown a few extra nickels and dimes and the CEO still walks away with a grossly unfair level of compensation with no tie whatsoever to their performance and role within the organization. What about the employees that do the actual work . . . shouldnt they reap some of the rewards of good performance? Arent fair play and a more equitable distribution of wealth part of what America stands for, or are we nation in which the free enterprise system only works for the aristocracy? The day has arrived within which the American people finally say NO! to the greed and excesses that have existed for far too long in the corner office of the American CEO. When the executive compensation levels in America resemble only banana republics or highly corrupt nations such as Mexico . . . something has gone completely wrong within the moral compass of America.
Breakout Resource(s): Inclusive Capitalism for the American Workforce http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/03/worker_productivity.html http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/03/pdf/worker_productivity.pdf Inequality.org http://inequality.org/t/executive-pay/
Busting the Monopolies and Ending the Merger and Acquisition Craze Americans that believe we can put the genie completely back into the bottle when it comes to ever larger corporate entities are dreaming. Any vision of the old Mayberry sitcom where little shop owners and businesses operate autonomously and dot the landscape throughout America is nostalgia alone. Its not going to happen! Profits driven by economies of scale are simply too alluring for the mega-rich to abandon. With that said however, we have existing business monopolies that must be broken up, or at least held at bay, before they consume every man, woman and child in America like a ravenous monster. The first and foremost behemoth monster on that list is Walmart. As
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noted in Part I, they have single handedly destroyed the retail environment across all of American, have expanded into the grocery and drug store business and now are selling cars, car repair and insurance for home and auto. Where does it end America? Just how far are we going to allow the Walton family to expand before we say enough already! Is anyone in America even paying attention to the ever expanding list of behemoth mega-corporations taking over even more companies in order to squeeze out any idea of free enterprise competition? Did anyone in America rise up to stop the recent acquisition of NBC media holdings by Comcast? We currently have 6 mega-media corporations owned and run by the mega-rich who now control virtually everything we see and listen to on a television, hear on a radio or read in a newspaper. Where does it end America? At the rate were moving toward media consolidation, well soon have some Oz like figure in charge of every single media lever and button that exists. Is anyone in America still nave enough to believe we have a free press if ownership of all the media is in only a few mega-rich hands? In the business sector it is the job of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to regulate, control and dismantle monopolies along with the DOJ Antitrust Division. In the communications sector, its the job of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ensure we have a free press that is free from monopoly control. Based upon performance, both agencies may as well not even exist, most especially the FTC. Without competition, prices rise, workers have no options whatsoever for whom they ultimately work and Americans, across the board, are crushed under the boot of megamonopoly control. To be clear, what some company, such as a Walmart, does outside of the U.S. is not a concern or focus of this book. To date, the overwhelming evidence suggests that we cant even fix the economic problems of America so worrying about what happens elsewhere is not a concern until that track record changes. If Walmart takes over China and puts every Chinese shop owner out of business, thats Chinas problem, not ours and it may actually be good for the American economy since it would bring money back to America, albeit to Bentonville, Arkansas. [All bets are that China officials are not as stupid and corrupt as ours and would put a stop one single company taking over their entire nation before Walmart achieved the absolute monopoly they now possess within America.] Our American problem is that 70 percent of our economy is based upon consumer spending and far too much of that spending is going into the pockets of the Walton family offspring and other major Walmart stockholders. When it comes to doing the job of ensuring competition, breaking up monopolies and removing the boot of even larger corporate entities from the neck of America the FTC has been absolutely worthless for more than 30+ years. When it comes to mergers and acquisitions they have one large rubber stamp that reads, APPROVED and no stamp with the words that read, REJECTED! If the mega-rich, Wall Street and the hedge fund swine want a merger or acquisition approved . . . it gets approved! No questions asked, no comprehensive studies conducted to evaluate the impact upon the competitive landscape or American workers and worst of all ZERO outcry whatsoever from the American people who are tuned into American Idol instead of their wallets. When there is pushback from the American people, our greedy aristocracy simply utilizes their prepaid vote cards to bend Washington to their will . . . the result is APPROVED every time out, no matter the consequences to America or her citizens. Typically its all done under the guise of progress, having to compete in a global marketplace, bla, bla, bla. Every time the rubber APPROVED stamp gets used, millions
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of Americans suffer the consequences of increased wage stagnation and thousands of workers who had a good job are thrown into the streets because the job they previously had becomes a redundant function or role. Far worse than either of those two economic maladies . . . even more control of the America monopoly board is placed into the hands of the greedy aristocracy. In turn, even more money flows upward within the American pyramid scheme into the hands of an even fewer number of elite American aristocracy members. As far as breaking up any monopoly once its formed, without a massive public outcry you can forget almost about it! They dont call them monopolies for nothing. They monopolize Washington, D.C. via K Street lobbyists and they monopolize campaign contributions via a system of political corruption not seen since the Robber Barons plunged America into the Great Depression. The last significant break-up of any monopoly in America of any note was way back in 1982 with the breakup of AT&T a.k.a. the Bell System divestiture. The department of justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T in 1974 which resulted in the Bell System agreeing to divest its local exchange service operating companies. The company was split into seven independent regional holding companies a.k.a. Baby Bells. Prior to the break-up all broadcast networks relied exclusively on AT&T's infrastructure and the break-up gave birth to so many companies and innovations [to include mobile phone and satellite-technologies] that its absolutely impossible to calculate the billions of dollars created for the U.S. economy. Since that time, much has happened on the technology front [the Internet, satellite communication and mobile phones just to name a few] all spurred, at least in part, by the break-up of AT&T. Far more important, than the technology wonders created, are the millions of good jobs created, via companies such as MCI/Sprint and Verizon, just to name a couple. The break-up allowed this segment of our economy to get oxygen in order to innovate and grow outside of a fat behemoth AT&T monopoly. The result was countless new jobs, massive tax revenue, strong communities and a golden age within our American economy. In short, monopolies, mergers and acquisitions kill competition and jobs, yet for all the noise and talk year after year in Washington, D.C. not one significant move has been made to stop the acquisitions, mergers or to break-up monopolies. Why is simple. There is way too much Monopoly play money at the top, way too many too big to fail entities and way too many mega-sized multi-national corporate monopolies that engage in blatant bribery via cronyism, massive campaign contributions and K Street lobbying. Its called an oligarchy, a banana republic in which a former democracy is overtaken and manipulated to operate to the benefit of the aristocracy alone and not the people. The scam is all massaged by massive advertising and PR campaigns to manipulate the American people into believing these mega-corporate behemoths are the good guys . . . while all the politicians say that is small businesses that are the engine that drives the America economy and creates good American jobs. Well which is it? A positive environment for small business owners to operate or an oligarchy that serves only the desires of the multi-national mega-corporations? Part A, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable love to talk the small business game 24/7, but all three entities do everything within their massive power to crush every small business in America at every turn. It is why we have a lousy economy, why we have no hiring, why we have stagnated wages and a lack of business innovation, but nonetheless, small business owners across America support both Party A and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to work 24/7 against the interests of small business owners. If
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small businesses are the job creators, then where is the political support to breakup and dismantle the behemoth mega-corporate gorillas sucking the life blood out of every small business in America? In Washington, D.C. it is all just talk about small business support in order to get a vote and nothing else whatsoever! While for some companies, in a very few industry segments, there are competitive pressures within the so called global economy to grow large in order to compete, however, in most cases it has very little to do with the competitive pressures of the global economy and everything to do with greed and exploitation via monopolization of the American Monopoly board and that of the entire world. The trend towards ever bigger corporate behemoths, if not stopped, will someday lead to virtually everyone in America ultimately working for or buying from just a few megacorporations such as Walmart and GE. The question for Americans to ask is whether that is a nation and future you want to live in, or one you want to leave as a legacy for you children and grandchildren? Admittedly, every case is different and all mergers and acquisitions are not evil or unwarranted. On extremely rare occasions when a company is struggling financially, an acquisition is permissible to save jobs, but rarely is that the case in most acquisition scenarios. Primarily mergers and acquisitions are based upon pure unmitigated greed and a desire to monopolize commerce in America and the world. The APPROVED rubber stamp of the FTC must be taken away by average citizens who rise up to end a political system of bribery that allow the mega-rich and their monopolies to dominate the marketplace. That is not going to happen as long as the American public continues to be led like sheep off the bigger is better cliff of no return. Stop AT&Ts Acquisition of T-Mobile! Even attempting to list the number of big mergers and acquisitions over the last 30+ years that have been detrimental to the American people would take its very own book. The most recent extremely large merger/acquisition debacle that got the APPROVED rubber stamp via campaign money bribery and lobbying was the NBC/Comcast deal in 2010. It should have been stopped by American citizens, but virtually, no one noticed and even though a meek battle was fought, we the people lost yet another battle and the deal went through further consolidating Americas massive media holdings and propaganda machine into the hands of our mega-rich aristocracy. In a very telling and typical scenario of just how crooked Washington, D.C. really is, consider that in spring 2011 Meredith Attwell Baker one of the FCC commissioners that approved the acquisition of NBCs media holdings by Comcast got a big VP job with Comcast to do lobbying for Comcast. The deal was approved in January 2011 and by late spring the same year she received a fat cat lobbying job working for the company she just approved a deal for? In Washington, D.C. such pay-to-play cronyism is called democracy and for our so called civil servants its called an upward career path back within the private sector. Such obvious revolving door pay-to-play schemes are so prevalent that almost no one even pays attention any longer. Its just how our government works were told and it makes you wonder how many commissioners are negotiating a good lobbying job with AT&T previous to the hearings on the acquisition of T-Mobile. While monopolies can be broken-up and mergers and acquisitions can be undone, it is far easier to stop them from occurring in the first place. That reality makes stopping the
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upcoming acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T absolutely critical! As detailed in Part I, AT&T has already been broken up once and now they have reassembled themselves again into a massive behemoth corporation that owns much of Americas monopoly board already. In short, they are big enough and the deal to by T-Mobile, if allowed to go through, will give AT&T the largest cell phone company in the U.S. Approximately 65% of all wireless subscribers and revenues are already controlled collectively by AT&T and Verizon who take in 80 percent of the industry profits.1 If allowed to take over T-Mobiles U.S. business, AT&T would control 40 percent of all subscribers and together with Verizon would control 78 percent of all U.S. subscriber revenues.2 It would reduce the number of national cell phone carriers from 4 to 3 and Ma Bell as AT&T was formerly known before being broken up decades ago will essentially be reformed to reverse years of consumer choice, competitive prices in the mobile industry as well as squashing all innovation going forward via a monopoly. Ultimately, the deal would give AT&T and Verizon almost a two-headed mega-monopoly that in short time would kill Sprints ability to compete and almost overnight we will only have 2 nationwide mobile phone carriers. If we act together now, we can stop this acquisition from essentially recreating the AT&T business monopoly of old. It wont happen and it wont get blocked without you and millions of other Americans standing up to say NO! Clearly, the time and day has come to send a message that the merger acquisition craze that has been destroying jobs and our nation for more than 30+ years must end. The time to make a stand is now by stopping AT&T from acquiring T-Mobile!
Breakout Resource(s): Public Knowledge Sees AT&T Purchase of T-Mobile as Unthinkable http://www.publicknowledge.org/public-knowledge-sees-att-purchase-t-mobile-unthin AAI Comments on AT&T Acquisition of T-Mobile http://www.antitrustinstitute.org/sites/default/files/AAI%20Comments%20ATT%20TMobil e.pdf Federal Trade Commission (FTC) http://www.ftc.gov/index.shtml Federal Communications Commission (FCC) http://www.fcc.gov/ DOJ Antitrust Division http://www.justice.gov/atr/ Recent and Pending Major Mergers and Acquisitions http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/major-corporate-mergers-andacquisitions/2010/10/12/AFt8xMXB_gallery.html#photo=1
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Repeal NAFTA, End Fast Track and Retool Our WTO Relationship Repeal NAFTA Now: As detailed in Part I, NAFTA was the lynch pin whereby the megarich pulled the plug at the bottom of the pool of middle-class wealth, upward mobility and prosperity. So called leadership in both political parties, two presidents and the support and signature by president, Clinton stand today as the second biggest sellout in history of the American people by our nations political class [just behind the Reagan era tax cuts]. Make no mistake whatsoever, that, even though president Bush I and congressional members of Party A and many within Party B may have loaded the gun it was president, Bill Clinton that pulled the NAFTA trigger upon the American people. It was he that fired the first shot and it was he that set the wheels in motion for the financial rape of the American people, via the free trade tsunami that has flushed middle-class Americans down the free-trade financial drain. Furthermore, his signature on the NAFTA agreement did more damage to the organized labor movement in American than any legislation previous to that date or since. Nonetheless, organized labor continues to stick by party B like an abused wife that has been beaten to a pulp, but loves her husband from the security of a homeless shelter. Revisionist histories now being written that NAFTA was an experiment that went wrong, or that it was a mere mistake are an insult to the intelligence of all Americans. It was the academic community and the so called intellectuals, with their utopian vision of economic equality for all that was just as much behind the push for NAFTA as the money changers on the so called right. As unbelievable as it is, the stupefied idea still exists today that we the American people owe people and nations less fortunate our wealth at the expense of our standard of living. Let it now be written . . . the idea that America has the money, economy and the financial resources to float everyones boat in our hemisphere, or the entire world . . . is now officially dead! Let the record also show that the so called intellectual community of utopian believers who believe that America has an obligation to raise another nation out of poverty at the expense of our own citizens are dead wrong! While Reagans gush upward money scam, sold to the American people under trickle down economics, started tilting the table wildly in favor of the mega-rich it was freetrade that started with NAFTA that sealed our fate. Since that first horrible trade agreement, with many others that followed thereafter, millions of Americans have had their good jobs shipped off shore. Americans were reduced to burger flippers or stocking shelves at Walmart while being told they should have studied more math and science and across the board, wages, salaries and communities all across America have paid the price. Even if you want to be kind and overly generous by calling NAFTA just a big mistake, why hasnt the mistake been corrected? Simple, the mega-rich that pushed NAFTA through in the first place, who own our government, dont want it corrected. The day for a complete total reversal and repeal of NAFTA is now at hand. To be ABSOLUTELY CLEAR, there is to be no tweaking, no renegotiation or lengthy review to forestall crushing NAFTA, but instead we must have a complete repeal of the entire bill that will take American back to pre-NAFTA trade law existence. Any bill, measure or talk of anything short of an absolute, complete repeal of NAFTA is just more of the same double talk and sellout of the American people that has been occurring for more than 30+ years. We shipped millions of good American jobs to Mexico via NAFTA and since then have allowed Mexico to export their poverty problems to the U.S. While China has become our largest competitor, Mexico has become Americas biggest financial drain.
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Only after NAFTA has been completely removed from the books as law, under the watchful eye of American citizens, not Congress, we can move forward to renegotiate and establish trade agreements that work for the American people instead of only Mexico and the mega-rich. As part of the repeal, every penny of federal money promised, earmarked and manipulated for any further work on a so called NAFTA Super Highway must end, no government manipulation or money to acquire private land, no NAFTA toll roads, etc., America will not be gutted down the middle to ship our jobs and our prosperity south. The time has come for Mexico to stand upon it own economic feet, stop stealing jobs from the U.S. and dumping their poverty issues upon the U.S. End Fast Track Forever: As explained in Part I, it is the job and role of Congress to investigate, legislate and approve any and all trade agreements. Nonetheless, via a maneuver called Fast Track, that responsibility was dropped by Congress and handed over to the executive branch to negotiate. Even though Fast Track authority has now expired and trade agreements are now back in the hands of Congress where they belong, agreements that began to be negotiated previous to Fast Track, still fall under Fast Track authority. The just passed trade agreements with S. Korea and Columbia were greased by Fast Track as well as the impending CAFTA agreements. The American people has yet to pay attention and yet to rise up to force Congress to do its job by opening up all the numbers, negotiations and implications to for a massive, lengthy debate to be held out in the open before the American people. America has had enough of trade agreements negotiated behind closed doors to the benefit of campaign contributors only and a sell out of American industries and U.S. citizens that desperately need to work at good paying jobs. For every trade agreement that is slipped through without massive public scrutiny, another generation of American burger flippers and Walmart stockers are born with the only benefactors being the greedy who get their hands on even more cheap slave labor. Retool and Renegotiate WTO Relationship: In short, America a once sovereign nation is now under the rule of the WTO as far as international trade. At the top of the list of reforms must be that our government must have the right to promote and facilitate any and all formal and informal programs and initiatives to promote the buying of American goods and services. No matter what has previously been negotiated, singed, agreed to or whatever nation on Earth that may get bent our shape . . . we own America, we decide what we can or cannot do within our borders, not the WTO! Secondly, patent and copyright infringement issues [a.k.a. blatant stealing by China] must be stopped by the WTO or we pull out! Virtually no emerging nation within the WTO honors such established business norms and ethical business behavior and it is costing American businesses billions of dollars per year and millions of Americans good jobs. The entire host of trade functions and rules supposedly under the enforcement of the WTO are primarily only honored by America and a few European nations. When nations, such as China, are caught red handed breaking agreements nothing whatsoever happens, there are no significant penalties and the only WTO response is nothing more than a please stop plea with no teeth . . . the time has come to give the WTO a wake-up call when dealing with America! The message is that the American people have had enough of the WTOs double dealing games that are killing the American economy. The WTO has no teeth, no backbone and at present is merely a tool whereby all the other nations on Earth skirt the rules in order screw America. The time has arrived for we the people to review the entire American relationship within the
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WTO. Either it begins to work to our advantage, as the biggest economy on Earth, or we pull out and go it alone . . . doing what we please, when we please just like China operates within the world economy. We are a sovereign nation and no where within our Constitution [that Party A just uncovered from a time capsule], nor in the ballot box, did we agree to be ruled by the WTO. Since the radical right is now suddenly all about adhering to the Constitution when it suits their political manipulation purposes, lets have their so called Constitutional experts and esteemed historians explain to us ignorant masses where the Constitution allows for America to be ruled by the WTO. Just another wonderful opportunity for silencing the laughable buffoons who are manipulating the Constitution 24/7 for the cause of greed . . . as if we the people are too stupid to interpret the Constitution without their infinite wisdom and expertise). While it is not being suggested that such a pullout will happen, or even that it should as an absolute certainty, but it should be on the table as a bargaining chip going forward. America can do without the WTO, but the WTO cannot yet do without America. The real issue is a corrupted system of government whereby the mega-rich or some foreign policy need dictates our bureaucrat negotiators posture and behavior within the WTO. Since our negotiators are not negotiating on behalf of the America people, the WTO doesnt work for the American people . . . its actually no more complex than that. Just like everything else, the WTO works at the bequest of and for the mega-rich and rarely if ever for average Americans. In 2010 the Trade Reform Accountability, Development and Employment Act was introduced into the House of Representatives. In short, it would have forced a comprehensive reform of both WTO and NAFTA, but it of course got no where simply because the mega-rich called in their pre-paid vote cards to kill the legislation. Likewise, several attempts have been introduced over the years to repeal NAFTA. As a candidate, president, Obama whispered a few words in support of killing NAFTA, but youve heard nothing since have you? Again, pre-paid vote cards played by the mega-rich dictate that NAFTA is still in force. Neither a repeal of NAFTA, comprehensive reform of our WTO relationship, nor the roll back of all the other horrid trade agreements passed since NAFTA will occur as long as the American people remain impotent and divided against ourselves and working against our own financial self interest. Such a posture has to change, we have to wake up to trade agreements, the WTOs fleecing of America and all free-trade implications upon our citizens and economy going forward. Weve been sold out by political corruption, no less than a slave on a slave block and we have to wake-up and stop the free trade tsunami that is killing the America Dream for us all! Breakout Resource(s): H.R. 3012 Trade Reform Accountability, Development and Employment Act http://www.citizen.org/documents/TRADEActFactSheet2009.pdf Turnaround the WTO Petition http://www.wtoturnaround.org
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Fixing a Failed Two-Party Oligarchy All the numbers, statistics, data and historical record revealed in Part I say one thing: our political system and the two major political parties are a failure if measured by the ability to deliver upon the goal of economic prosperity for the vast majority of the American people. Stagnated wages, a declining standard of living and a cavernous wealth disparity between the mega-rich and the rest of America are a 30+ year record of failure that simply cannot be denied. In short, our political system just isnt working any longer for the people. Instead, it works only for the mega-rich and special interests. While almost all Americans would agree with the statement that stupidity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result . . . it is exactly what we continue to do election cycle after election cycle as we watch in horror as the American Dream continues to die right before our eyes. Pinpointing the reason for failure may be almost as simple as political corruption via cronyism and billions of dollars in campaign spending that create a pre-paid vote card for the mega-rich that average Americans just dont have. Setting aside that reality as one sure culprit in the failure, the other clear culprit has to be a complete lack of focus by either of the two political parties and American voters on the economy, jobs and the massive wealth disparity that exists in America. Whether the two parties have failed by trying to be all things to all people with no priorities, or whether all those competing priorities are merely the manipulation tools of the mega-rich and political class are now the questions to ask and resolve. One thing is for sure, if you step back and look at the myriad of issues tossed onto our political plate to resolve, it seems like nothing short of bizarre to have ever thought that this could work. Democracy is messy while a Communist dictatorship like China is streamlined and efficient when making economic decisions. Sad, but true, which could be why they are kicking our economic posteriors. In China the idea of religion and politics, along with the terms social liberal or social conservative dont even enter into the economic equation. They are focused instead on kicking our economic posterior and providing jobs and upward mobility opportunities for their people. What a concept, just imagine if America was focused on such things instead of religion, social conservatism and social liberalism, unattainable utopian ideals, saving the planet and creation of a nanny state. To even attempt to pull out and diagram the strict economic agenda of either of the two political parties is almost impossible because neither have a clear cut goal that is stated. Both claim to be looking-out for the economic interest of the people, but nothing that impacts that nebulous objective ever gets accomplished. Performance is measured by accomplishments and when a job review is conducted on our government and the two parties the performance says nothing but failure. The most glaring failure is the ruination of our economy and the loss of trillions of dollars in personal wealth by Washington, D.C. being in bed with Wall Street. Even before that failure erupted, however, the American political class has a 30+ year record of creating massive wealth disparity by continuing to funnel money to the top. If it can be assumed that the goal of government is wealth accumulation and prosperity for the largest number of citizens, then why is that NOT the No. 1 focus of the two political parties? The rapidly declining standard of living in America is the bottom line that must be addressed in the performance review of our two political parties going forward. To date, with that as the measuring stick, both of the two political parties are complete failures who deserve an F on their report card. When you add in, trillions of dollars in red ink to the performance review of our political class their F grade falls off the charts.
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Most Americans now view our political quagmire as a disgusting mess, an entwined ball of string that cant be untangled so most have just given up, stopped voting, tuned-out and are resigned to ride an American economic boat that is going down the toilet. The idea that a vote for any party but A or B is a wasted vote is, quite frankly, hard to disagree with at this juncture in time, but as long as were locked into that status quo failed system were doomed! Its exactly because were in that lock-down, with no alternatives, that Party A and Party B continue to get a pay check even though they continually fail to perform their No. 2 job priority. They believe that we the people are simply stuck with them and have no option to hire anyone else. That belief by them and the majority of the American people is the force that has created a downward sucking vortex a.k.a. the political toilet taking all of America downward financially, except for the elite in the top 10 percent that receive all the economic benefits of government. As long as the mega-rich can keep us locked into two parties dominated by their money, we the people are going to lose. While no one of course can see into the future, most people would predict that the two existing political parties are going to be with us far into the future simply because they are so engrained into our psyche and governmental system. If thats the case, then their performance has to change or were doomed to ride the down escalator economically. That conclusion is no longer up to conjecture, but is now a foregone fact. This so called system just isnt working any longer and its not going to work as long as we stay with the status quo. Bringing about that change in performance will not be simple or easy. There is no silver bullet and there is no easy painless fix, but if you expect the children in Washington, D.C. to suddenly grow up and stop playing political games at our expense without a massive outcry for revolution from the American people then you know nothing whatsoever about the city and how completely dysfunctional it really is. Its nothing but a political game 24/7, its how the place exists, its how it functions, it what it lives for and it has been a part of the citys DNA for so long that the American people have grown to accept it. Our political class, at the urging of the mega-rich, are marching the American people into the sea of poverty, day-by-day, week-by-week, year-by-year. The economic playing field has never been more monopolized and tilted in favor of the mega-rich at any time in our nations history and yet the political class has done nothing whatsoever to correct that trend over the course of 30+ years. Neither of the two parties has done anything whatsoever to dismantle the American pyramid scheme whereby all the money flows upward to be amassed by the mega-rich who own both political parties. A completely flawed tax structure, a corrupt campaign finance system that is blatant bribery and economic monopolies in the marketplace answer all questions the American people may have as to whom both political parties serve the mega-rich. Our political class has operated for well over 30+ years with one singular focus, reward campaign contributors at the expense of the people, then lie to the people by pretending youre looking out for them. Now, as a result of their singular focus, we have a mountain of red ink and oligarchy form of government, instead of a democracy, that now intends to pay off the red ink on the backs of middle-class Americans and the poor. All the statistics in Part I say one thing: THIS ISNT WORKING! As far as the financial wellbeing for the majority of the American people, the two-party political system is an abysmal failure! No further discussion required the facts are the facts and can no longer be denied. Its all corrupt, its fixed and its we the people that have been
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screwed while the greedy have been wildly rewarded in such disproportion that it is unconscionable. There are those who will of course measure success by the fact that we are not yet killing each other in the streets and burning Washington, D.C. to the ground as a yardstick for success. If that is the measuring stick almost anything short of complete anarchy is a success. Were not yet at this low point, but without a doubt were heading in that direction! Picture a playground seesaw where the fat posteriors of the mega-rich are at the ground level of an economic seesaw and our entire nation is dangling up in the air . . . that is the present picture of America. If not leveled, at some point that untenable scenario will lead to violence, chaos and destruction and it wont be the megarich that pay their greed . . . it will be the little people who suffer. The reasons our current two-party political system is a colossal failure are many, but first and foremost it is primarily due to the money running the system. In an atmosphere of obvert bribery that we call democracy for some reason, almost zero real transparency and voter apathy by half the population . . . what else would anyone expect? With almost no supervision whatsoever, the mega-rich are doing what every fat kid in a candy store will do . . . eat all the candy and leave nothing for anyone else. The problem is that the system itself hasnt been reformed to any significant degree since its inception. There are of course those who will say, once again, that it works, but its like watching sausage being made, its ugly to watch. Cute clich, but trite little sayings dont speak to the fact that virtually nothing is being made and when it is made its done in an atmosphere of back room deal making and corruption with the undeniable finger of the mega-rich dictating that every piece of sausage that comes out is in their favor. Nothing gets passed into law unless the mega-rich say it can be passed . . . period! Every winner or loser in every piece of legislation that determines any money flow [be it business or government related], is determined by bribery in one form or another. The only concern for the people comes in a smoke and mirrors bamboozling game in front of the cameras to make it appear Congress and state legislatures are working for the people. Members of Congress work for themselves, their families, their mega-rich handlers and their political party. The party always comes first because without it, theyre locked out of the political system and without the mega-rich they have no money to run for office because the current election system makes if cost prohibitive. In turn, the American public at large is stupid enough to vote for the candidate that runs the most commercials, no matter how manipulated and contrived the message may be. The corruption is systemic via the money required to run and absolute loyalty to the party required for political survival with no adherence to convictions as to what is good for the majority of the American people. When political parties come before the peoples business, it is time for those parties to go! Currently in Congress, as of this writing, there are three independents and one socialist. Why? Simple: because party A and party B have a monopoly on our political system. In front of the cameras at least, they supposedly hate each other as they fight for the people, but when the cameras are off they both have the same huge fear. Both parties are afraid the American people might finally wise up and figure out whose work is really being done in Washington, D.C. Once that happens, assuming anarchy doesnt occur, hundreds of independents, a strong third party or multiple parties will emerge. That
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change would threaten the money flows, via the two-party status quo, and thats their real fear. It always comes down to the money and how to get their greedy hands on as much of it as possible to funnel to their political party backers. In the current system [assuming the corporate media can maintain the smoke and mirrors game to keep the people docile with a steady drip of two-party morphine] prospects for more independents, a strong third party or multiple political parties are remote. As evidence, look no further than the two-party lockout system currently in place. If we are supposed to be living in a democracy, where all ideas are welcomed and encouraged, then why is a candidate required to acquire thousands and thousands of signatures within a short time window just to get on the ballot to run? Perhaps previous to electronic voting the printing costs of having more names on the ballot may have been somewhat cost prohibitive, but not any longer. Surely you need some bar for signatures to get on the ballot, but why wouldnt it not be only a few hundred, instead of thousands? The answer to that question is because it is all fixed for the mega-rich to always win via a two-party only lockout game to control the American Monopoly board. Its to guard the money flow by protecting the status quo. If independents get elected and new parties get voted in, what happens to the money flow? At a minimum it gets diluted, more flows to the people instead only into the hands of the political establishment or better yet the political money will disappear all together to restore a true democracy. While the two parties fear such a change to their sophisticated game, its the mega-rich behind the political two-party establishment that shake in their boots when they consider such a change. Its all about their ability to control, manipulate and funnel even more wealth into their pockets. With more parties and more independents they lose control of the Monopoly board. They no longer get to set all the rules. They no longer get to say our way or the highway. As long as the mega-rich can manipulate us down either one political party chute or the other to keep us divided they can continue to control the Monopoly board because they own and control both of the two existing political parties. The game and pyramid scheme that funnels all money to the top simply remains in place. Just look at the recent evidence with the Tea Party. No sooner did the Tea Party come into existence than Party A reached out and snatched them under their wing with a youre one of us pitch. Behind the scenes, the Party A establishment was absolutely freaking out until they were able to blow smoke into the Tea Party beehive in order to make the Tea Party docile enough in order to move the hive under Party A control. It remains to be seen however whether the Party A establishment can actually control their Tea Party beehive. Almost any challenge to the existing two-party political establishment is a move in the right direction and within Party B, there is virtually no force whatsoever to challenge the status quo except little chirping peeps from some Progressive Party and rumors of a Green Party both lined up like zombies under the Party B establishment. What will become of the Occupy Wall Street movement in America is difficult to say as of this writing at this early juncture, but one thing is for sure: an already failed Party B is making their play just like Party A did for the Tea Party. With much of the Tea Party being comprised of small business owners, they were sucked up like gullible little kittens by Party A whos only goal is unrestrained free trade and growing already behemoth U.S. corporations into Godzilla creatures that consume every small business in America. The words anti-trust violations and breaking up monopolistic Godzilla corporations that
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are killing every small business in America is not on the Party A agenda whatsoever, but the Tea Party has already been had and played for suckers. The looming question now is whether the Occupy Wall Street movement will be played for suckers by Party B? As noted in Part I, from 1999 to 2008 leading up to the mortgage loan meltdown, the financial sector spent $1.738 B on campaign donations within federal elections and 45 PERCENT OF THAT $1.738 B WENT TO PARTY B. What else does the Occupy Wall Street movement need to know? Thus far, the corporate owned media has marginalized the Occupy Wall Street movement by describing them as unfocussed and disorganized with no clear objectives. Those descriptions may or may not hold some validity, but well soon see if they are completely stupid by being suckered into Party B the way the Tea Party was suckered into Party A. Following upon the status quo failures, of either of the two existing political parties, is just more of the dog chasing its tail path to futility. While fun for the media and great for the power objectives of Party B, a marginalized Occupy Wall Street movement operating under the influence of failed Party B opiates is a complete waste of time, energy and most importantly opportunity for a true political revolution. As for the Libertarian Party, forget about it, a brain dead group misguided by only liberty and freedom dogma with zero justice that will have us all even more dominated and under the boot of the mega-rich like never before in our history. One thing is absolutely clear, at present, no existing political party is focused at all on our economy, stagnated wages and salaries, workers rights, opportunities for upward mobility, off shore jobs outsourcing, the hoards of new immigrants, trade deficits or the massive wealth inequality in America. The American people are blowing in the wind and no political leader or party is looking ahead or delivering any new world economic solutions for the American people. Dead parties, dead ideas and zero political leadership whatsoever! Both political parties, as any review of opensecrets.org will reveal . . . are owned by the same mega-rich money masters in charge of the American game board. The game is simple, you cow tail and answer to the mega-rich or you dont get elected because the people have no money and if you have no money . . . you just cant win political office under the current fixed political system. Even if you had money, without the media machine owned exclusively by the mega-rich, your chances for exposure to voters are almost zero. With the campaign finance laws now in place, as in no laws whatsoever, its just that simple. Somehow Party B manages to promise everything to everyone who is not on the right of the culture war or still believes in fairy tale stories of trickle down economics. That creates such a fragmented and schizophrenic political party with so many competing agendas that its unmanageable and incoherent beyond comprehension. While Party As solution to every issue is to give the mega-rich more money, God only knows what Party Bs economic platform is based upon? Stimulus money, unemployment and welfare checks and seeing how many pregnant, uneducated new immigrants they can dump upon Americas poor and add to the welfare roles in order to get more votes . . . seems to be their economic platform. While party B manages to throw the people a bone with a little meat left on it from time to time such as HC reform or an unemployment or welfare check the majority of their money and backing come from the exact same place that Party A gets their cash. Party B simply has more greedy trial lawyers contributing than Party A, but essentially
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its the same mega-money. Rather than working to fix the system and rebalance the economic playing field by busting monopolies and rejecting mergers and acquisitions, taxing the mega-rich, penalizing U.S. corporations that ship jobs off shore, raising tariffs on imported goods and services . . . Party B is focused solely upon increasing their base of poverty voters via immigration and prolonging dependency upon their party for basic survival with such initiatives as a social safety net. The only real question is which party devotees are the biggest suckers: those that believe in trickle down economics or those that believe there is an endless pot of money in Washington, D.C.? Neither party has any intention to re-lever the playing field, which is at the core of our economic problems. Whereas Party A somehow snatched God on high as their perceived party leader, Party B is constantly stirring the pot of social issues to keep their voters coming back for more opium. Not too dissimilar than addicts looking for a fix . . . as long as the economic table is unleveled there will always be a need for another shot in the arm. If Party B were to bite the mega-rich hand that feeds them and work to re-level the playing field . . . unemployment checks, welfare and a social safety net wouldnt be desperately needed and neither would the party of poverty pimps. At the end of the day, American voters have only two really bad choices: the far left fringe or the racial right option and nothing in between . . . where most Americans reside. We Americans just want a descent job and to make a respectable living where we can put food on the table, send our children to college without incurring massive debt and to live our lives. Are either of the two political alternatives were given focused on that basic desire? Hell NO! The two parties are focused solely upon liberal or conservative ideology and getting or keeping their party in power so it can funnel more money to their true masters . . . the mega-rich that own both parties. Its a huge manipulation game thats been played over and over for more than three decades with the American people being used as pawns for political power. This shell game of lies and manipulation in the face of well documented financial losses for the vast majority of the American people just continue election cycle after election cycle . . . as we the people sit idle, apathetic, stupefied and dumbfounded. Yea, were stupid, half of us dont even make it out of high school now, but even so, can we really be this stupid? What will it take to get America beyond the present two-party political toilet that is sucking us all down the drain? There is absolutely no way it can happen with the same old faces within the two existing parties that got us here. Even if you stay with your beloved party, ALL the incumbents and existing leaders have to go! True change for the better will unfortunately take a lot of work, grassroots organizational structures and a few small wins here and there. We dont like political work, were all about quick fixes and instantaneous gratification and its why weve made the mistake of voting in the other failed party election cycle after election cycle instead of taking back the reigns of political power and returning rule of America back to the people. Make no mistake, the political scientists are absolutely correct on at least one point when that they conclude that political change is all about well oiled organizational structures and networks. Without it, no political change will ever occur . . . its just not possible to combat the media machine of the mega-rich without it. An extensive multilayered organizational structure is exactly how the mega-rich now own us like dogs in a total and almost complete lockdown that resembles prison. Via their organizational structures and their intertwined overlapping networks the mega-rich set the table.
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They dictate the issues to be discussed or prohibit issues from being discussed, namely the massive wealth inequality in America that is never allowed to get any air. As long as they own the dialog and own our political class and the media we the people will continue to lose economically. This reality beckons the question, can we the little people actually win? David beat Goliath didnt he? There was a French Revolution wasnt there? Dictators in the middleeast are falling arent they? So the short answer is yes we can win, but the word win should be tempered with caution just a bit. Without going the bloody route of the French Revolution, we can only at best hope to greatly re-level the playing field. If we go the bloody route, it will be the little people that will pay the consequences, not the megarich. Chaos and anarchy are NOT the answer! We will never have utopia or true equality, but a more equalized playing field is a win because only anarchists are stupid enough to want to bring the entire house down upon our own heads. Admittedly, to see some of the greedy bastards on Wall Street hanging with their tongues and eyeballs bulging out would be fun in a virtual world via a gaming console, but most Americans dont have the stomach for that reality. If we react now by reading the writing on the wall we can simply fix the system and dispense with the hanging and mayhem, but if we dont its coming just a sure as the sun will rise tomorrow morning. Google the French Revolution and youll quickly see parallels to today that are so blatant and so absolutely clear and undeniable that only a fool cant see whats coming if we remain on the present path. One member of Congress has already been shot by a madman, New Orleans, during Katrina, could have quickly spiraled out of control, South Central L.A. along with every major inner city area in America are one spark away from erupting. Add in austerity measures levied against the middle-class and the poor, to pay off greed at the top, and America is now standing upon a powder keg. The root to it all is money and greed at the top and corruption of our political system. End the Bribery: Comprehensive Campaign Finance Reform NOW! Two major political parties, 535 members of Congress and 311+ million citizens and no one it seems can come up with a viable way to fix the bribery, corruption and ownership of our government by special interests and the mega-rich? Our campaign finance system will never be perfect, but with the present system nothing even resembling a democracy exists. The background and rationale were clearly laid out in Part I to justify six straightforward steps that will greatly help to return rule of America to the people as it was envisioned by our founding fathers. These straightforward steps are as follows: 1) Overturn the Citizens United versus the Federal Election Commission Supreme Court SCOTUS ruling that gave corporations, labor unions and other organizations the right to spend money from their general treasury to back or oppose specific candidates running for office. That will still leave the door almost wide open for electioneering type spending that does not name specific candidates. Going forward however, any and all money behind any effort with implications upon the function of our government or the election of officials must disclose the individual donors behind the effort . . . no more secret funding from anonymous donors manipulating our political system for their own agenda or financial gain.
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2) Create a campaign contribution ceiling of $10 K max per calendar year across all avenues, parties, committees, and candidates. That would be a total ceiling of $10 K per year across local, state and federal elections. Amounts for electioneering [non candidate specific spending] would remain as is, but with the strict stipulation that all contributions must have full and complete transparency, with individual identities and contribution amounts for the American people to audit, see and document via complete sunlight and regulation. 3) No more PAC spending whatsoever on specific candidate campaigns either for or against. PACs should be strictly limited to electioneering spending only. Although not perfect, at present, bundling money into PAC contributions for specific candidates is nothing more than clear and undeniable vote buying that must end completely! Its blatant bribery to procure a pre-paid vote card to use to push for or block legislation. 4) No more bundling whereby rich fat cats solicit political contributions to be earmarked under their name for the purpose of buying political favors, government and White House appointments and government loans for green industry scams upon U.S. taxpayers. All political contributions must become individual contributions only! 5) Abolish and eliminate all 527 groups and entities, be they headed or sponsored by a member of Congress to bribe their fellow members of Congress, or more germane electioneering 527 groups engaged in electioneering activities. Both are a tool that introduces even more millions of dollars into the political system to buy votes on legislation in Congress. Buying votes is illegal at polling stations and it therefore must become illegal within the halls of Congress. 6) Full transparency and financial disclosure of every single dollar, over $5000 per year contributed to any 501(c)(4) entity. The names and contributed amounts must be accessible via every single 501(c)(4) website and if no site exists, available via e-mail request. No more billionaires operating behind the scenes to fund 501(c)(4) publications, articles, websites, mailings, etc. to bend the feeble minds of Americans to work against their own economic self interest via floods of propaganda. At a minimum, Americans should clearly be able to follow the money to see who is behind the curtain, pulling the strings so citizens can make up their own minds in an atmosphere of complete sunlight and transparency. Voila its done, campaign finance reform delivered, problem largely solved. No debates, no posturing, no lobbying, no 24/7 smoke and mirror media manipulation . . . just one clean sweep, write it up and were done . . . move on to the next challenge. The resulting political environment will still of course be far from perfect, but the six simple straightforward measures above would do more to return rule of our nation back to the people, via the vote, than any reforms in perhaps 50 years, if not longer. Yes, we would still have the corrupting roaches on K Street, a.k.a. lobbyists, but they would now have to lobby instead of buying Congressional votes outright via bundling their massive wealth into PAC donations. Millions and millions of dollars would be removed from the vote buying game by slashing the total amount of individual contributions to specific candidates to a maximum of $10 K per year. By banning the money and ability of 527s to buy off members of Congress and exert party and senior
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member control of junior Congressional members we would remove even more of the mega-millions lottery that presently makes the individual vote of a common citizen virtually worthless. Most important of all, at present, by overturning the Citizens United versus the Federal Election Commission Supreme Court ruling, the most egregious blow to democracy in our lifetime, millions more dollars would be removed from what now amounts to a political sledge hammer of political corruption and manipulation that favors corporations and the mega-rich alone. Finally, by legislating identity and contributions disclosure for all 501(c)(4) organizations and groups, Americans would at least know who is doing the funding. The pay-to-play political corruption and bastardization of our American political system and democracy has gone on for far too long, as the American peoples legislative needs interests have been trampled by the greed of our aristocracy. With the Obama 2012 campaign expected to raise and spend a billion dollars and the Party A candidate expected to try and follow suit plus the millions upon millions that will be spent in Congressional races, state legislatures and local elections . . . the poisonous, radioactive waters of political corruption and vote buying have finally come over the dam. Enough! The American people of all political persuasions must now step up to demand an end to the outlandish political spending, along with full and complete disclosure of all players manipulating the political deck of cards. Clearly, there is no other issue more important to America, than massive and comprehensive campaign finance reform! Without it, the mega-rich alone own and control America, our government and our future. If allowed, they will do nothing more than continue to march middle-class Americans into a sea of poverty by off shore job outsourcing, massive numbers of new immigrants and budget balancing on the backs of those who can least afford it. At a time when America is on the brink of financial disaster, everyday citizens are literally starving, losing their homes to foreclosure and their jobs. For either party, or candidates of either party, to spend billions on political campaigns in this economic environment is repulsive and sickening beyond comprehension! How many people could those billions feed, how many budgets could be brought closer into balance and how many people could be re-employed with money that is currently spread like manure upon the American people with gotcha politics and negative political advertising to support a status quo political system that has to date failed the American people economically? The time has come for the political establishment to understand that we the people demand performance! Were done with the two-party only BS and their games at the expense of the people. The days of kissing babies, bus tours, lavish conventions a.k.a. multi-day drunk-fests wearing stupid hats are over! Hollow speeches that promise change we can believe in via some ideological head in the clouds social liberal manure doesnt feed people or put a roof over peoples heads. From here on out its all about bread and butter, wealth disparity, jobs and a strong U.S. economy! We the people are no longer buying the smoke and mirrors manure being spread! We now know who owns and runs America and we demand that control be returned to the people via cancellation of pay-to-play business as usual and complete political reform! Americans, via the Internet, now have alternative sources of political information at their fingertips. In the 2008 election cycle, 24 percent of Americans got most of their political news and information from the Internet.1 As a whole, 73 percent of all Internet users, a number representing 54 percent of all U.S. adults, went online for political information.2
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While not everyone has access to the Internet, the vast majority of Americans do and that number will only continue to grow. Just like any other communication medium, the Internet has its share of misinformation and political propaganda, but compared to corporate owned news sources and TV based political ads, the Internet is far superior! At least if Americans deploy their brains and engage in critical thinking, they can find accurate news and political information on the Internet. With TV ads and corporate owned media outlets, Americans get only sound bites, gotcha politics, hysteria, hyperbole, manipulation, talking points and only perspectives from the two major political parties. Such limited vehicles only serve to perpetuate ignorance and ensure Americans stay with a failed two-party only system of government. By removing the billions of dollars now in our political system, both candidates and voters will be forced somewhat to rely less on mindless TV ads that are now obsolete and only for the gullible. Instead of relying on the staid good guys versus the bad guys game and culture wars, candidates will be forced to take clear legislative positions, state what they will vote for and why in the event they are elected. Presently, candidate websites are only red, white and blue donkey or elephant games with as few actual position details as possible. Its total crap! Its vote and hope that always delivers the same result . . . the mega-rich becoming richer and average Americans getting screwed. The time is long past for American voters, who are supposed to be adults, to rely only on little animal characters to decide the future of our nation. Our lives are not a cartoon and the political games being played ceased being funny a long time ago! At present, as far as examining the issues, being informed and engaging politically, Americans are woefully negligent and were now living a hellish economic existence as a result. Were taken in and played like suckers at a political carnival whereby the big money wins and those without it lose. At present its all about marketing, advertising, flag waving, image making and massive money based propaganda machines run by an elephant or a donkey. As long as billions of dollars are allowed into the system, it will continue to be a pay-to-play carnival game with the mega-rich owing the entire game. Presently, the aristocracy has their system fine tuned with money to function exactly the way they molded it over the course of decades. Their goal is to keep the masses ignorant and uninformed so they will continue buying into the propaganda that furthers to divide the people and keep them conquered . . . while they continue to exploit it all to their economic advantage and laugh all the way to the bank.
Breakout Resource(s): The Internet and Campaign 2010 http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1931/online-political-use-2010-over-half-US-adults
Once reformed, those that violate the forthcoming campaign finance reforms, go to jail without possibility of parole, period! No slaps on the wrist, no commutation of sentences, no looking the other way. Otherwise theyll work the system and walk the streets until a new administration is voted in and ask for a commutation of their sentence. As a great barometer for just how corrupt our political system really is and politicians really are, consider the attitude of our former House Minority leader. In 2010, upon conviction on charges of illegally funneling money to influence elections in Texas, former U.S. House Minority Leader Tom DeLay said, This criminalization of politics is very dangerous. Its
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dangerous to our system. No! Mr. DeLay, whats dangerous to our system and American at large, is the pay-to-play political corruption that exists and goes on every single day in Washington, D.C. and every state legislature in America. Just the legalized corruption alone, via our campaign finance system, is horrible enough, but if the truth were known, if the focus and resources were available to pursue it . . . the illegal cash money, political favors and backroom deal making that transpires would set Washington, D.C. and state capitols literally ablaze if it were to all be uncovered and exposed to the American people. When the political class and the mega-rich rule our nation with money, walk on every criminal and civil charge, skirt all the laws via high powered attorneys, but a kid in the inner city does massive jail time for a small rock of crack cocaine . . . we have no America any longer! We now exist in an oligarchy and a banana republic where the middle-class is shrinking ever smaller by the day, millions of children starve and the greedy become even richer as they gain even more control of our government, our economy and continue to hammer a death nail into the American Dream. The day for a complete reform of our campaign finance system is now at hand and it must be at the top of the list of political objectives pursued by the American people going forward. Breakout Resource(s): Fair Elections Now http://fairelectionsnow.org/
Election Reforms and New Political Parties As explored in Part I, while the two dominate political parties supposedly hate each other; theyre united 100 percent in locking down the election system into a two-party only dictatorship of ineptitude. Each election day, most Americans, outside the fervent party devotees, are given what they consider to be two horribly bad choices: voting for a millionaire in Party A or one in Party B. Since both candidates are backed by the megarich via campaign contributions and influence peddling that amounts to bribery the end result is always the same: NO RESULTS toward re-leveling the playing field to resolve the economic issues of the people who are supposed to be in charge. The outcome equals an oligarchy not a democracy! Currently we have a political system much like major league baseball: a National League and the American League in which political puppets play act upon a stage where all the puppet strings are connected to the mega-rich above the stage. Each party has a farmleague system that fields rich players who start out on city councils or county boards, then they move to state politics and eventually slither up I-95 into the federal big leagues. At any point, any player that bucks the mega-rich oligarchy, a.k.a. the two-party system, gets sent home and is out of the game. Because it typically takes years to make it to elected office at the federal level, by the time they arrive theyre so indoctrinated with party dogma and the politics of money . . . theyre worthless as far as responding to the needs of the people. Their alliance is to their party that put them in the game and their only priority is keeping their party and themselves in office.
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Every state has a different set of election laws and criteria for getting on the ballot and running for public office. Although different in every state one thing is the same: Party A and Party B have joined hands, over the course of decades, to make it virtually impossible for anyone thats not in either of the two parties to get elected. In other words, its rigged for either Party A or Party B to win every election. As evidence, as of this writing there are only four members of Congress who are not a member of one or the two dominate parties. That fact speaks for itself. The current system spits in the face of democracy by ensuring that only the rich ever get elected to office. Party B hates to lose to party A and vise versa, but as long as someone from the political class wins they can live with it. Its all about ensuring that the status quo money funnel continues to be channeled in only two directions and the odds for the political class only winning are kept at 100 percent. Party A and Party B do not fear voters, China, the economy, the media or anything else, nearly as much as they fear any encroachment upon their two-party only money/power funnel. They are desperate at all times to maintain the idea that it has always been a two-party game and therefore it is set in stone that is must always be only a two-party game. This highly flawed misconception has America in prison lockdown via the idea that a vote for anyone outside of the political class [Party A or B] is a wasted vote. In truth, if youre seeking any real positive change in America, a vote for either Party A or B is a wasted vote! As long as the puppet strings to the mega-rich remain uncut, nothing will ever change. Clearly nothing is seen by both parties as more of a threat than deviating from the scripted game thats been played in Washington, D.C. and in state legislatures for more than 30+ years. Its exactly why the Tea Party was quickly hugged and gobbled up by Party A and its why Party B is desperately reaching out to the Occupy Wall Street movement with the kiss of Judas that will do nothing whatsoever to bring about any real change. The emergence of hundreds of independents and or a Party C, D and E would first and foremost interrupt the flow of money to Party A or Party B, but for the people it would help to restore democracy to America. Its about dismantling the oligarchy and demanding performance form Washington, D.C. instead of 24/7 party games. Its just like running a business, if you currently have two employees, one lazy and the other psychotic, what happens to the work dynamic if you hire a new employee that is motivated and passionate? The performance of the company increases via competition between all three employees. As long as the two employees can keep anyone else from being hired, they can do nothing and still get paid. Doing nothing and accomplishing nothing on behalf of average Americans and still getting paid is what Party A and Party B are extremely good at. Continuing to promise the world while deliver nothing has been the status quo political standard in American for more than 30+ years. They have big extravaganza conventions, talk a really good game, dominate the corporate owned news media 24/7, give great speeches, talk about Washington, D.C. being a shining city on the hill, etc. and thats it! Nothing ever changes, while the megarich get richer, the little people get sold out and the middle-class continues to disappear right before our eyes. If we are still stupid enough to continue to believe the speeches and buy into the hollow rhetoric spewed from the mouths of the political class about how this big charade is all
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about a fight for the interests of the little people then why not allow more parties, candidates and players into that noble fight? If its all about whats good for us, then more competition is far better than only two parties that owe their existence to the megarich, right? If thats the case, ask yourself the following questions to the following facts: It takes 675,00 petition signatures for an independent or minor party presidential candidate to get on the ballot in all 50 states (26 times the number needed if you are the Party A or Party B presidential candidate).1 Requirements for a minor party candidate to get on the ballot increased tenfold form 1930 to 1980 (while the population merely doubled).2 Filing fees in most states only apply to independent or minor party candidates.3 Ridiculously high petition signature requirements and time windows exist in most states just to get on the ballot, such as: CA 140,149 within a 15 week period; OK 58,552; MD 69,500 or NC 43,601.4
Take just one case study from Georgia which the Supreme Court [appointed by either Party A or B] refused to hear in January 2011. In Coffield v Kemp, 10596 Coffield an independent candidate running for the U.S. House in 2008 filed a case that challenged the onerous, ridiculous walls put up by the two main political parties to ensure no one ever gets on the ballot unless they are sanctioned by the mega-rich who own our two existing parties. The State of Georgia requires a petition signed by 5 percent of all registered voters in a district. All signed petition sheets must be notarized and all petitions must be collected on over-size paper. To preclude anyone not from the leisure class [rich] from running as a candidate they cannot begin getting petition signatures until six months before the July petition deadline. In even a small voting district, that means tens of thousands of signatures must be obtained in just six months. Added to that almost impossible wall to climb, a filing fee of 3 percent, approximately $5 K must be paid. Way back in 1964, an independent Georgia candidate actually completed the ridiculous requirement to get a petition signed by 5 percent of registered district voters, so Party A and B in Georgia put their heads together and shrunk the petition period to July . . . instead of October as it had been for decades. Then they added another level of onerous criteria by making it mandatory that the petitions be notarized. To date, since the two political parties colluded to ensue no one else runs but their two parties not one single candidate since 1964 has overcome the ballot hurdles and been able to run for office as an independent candidate. Its the same story in every single state, the onerous rules, fees and ridiculous requirements vary, but the intent is the same no one gets to run for office except members of our elite out of touch with reality political class. Why are there any significant requirements whatsoever for getting on the ballot for any office in any state? Whats the purpose of a narrow six month time period for the petition or notary seal once the signatures have been obtained? What difference does it make what size paper the signatures are submitted on? Its called worthless red tape to keep anyone not from the political class from running for office . . . professional politicians
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from either Party A or Party B only! Perhaps there should be some criteria for getting on the ballot, but the petition should have a deadline only and no limit window in which to acquire signatures. A constrained tight time window only means that candidates with existing organizational structures and financial freedom are allowed to run for office. As for the number of signatures required on the petition; how about a 100 or so, instead of a ridiculous 5 percent number? As far as the size of the paper and a notary . . . forget about it! Typically today, ballots are electronic which means with a few simple key strokes someone can be added to a ballot and even if the ballot is printed, it takes less than a penny to print another name that is not a fix for Party A or B. Its time for all Americans to ask themselves just what the two dominate political parties are so afraid of . . . could it be missing out on some campaign bribes? Perhaps its the positions on boards for themselves and their family members or the influence over decades to convert Congressional office into backroom deals, perks and money. Further complicating the prospects of independents or any party candidates, other than the big two, is the fact that the corporate media machine sees to it that only Party A or Party B candidates get any coverage. All debates include only two candidates and no independent or emerging party candidate is ever even interviewed by the media. Its a lockout and censorship deployed by the powers behind the two main political parties to ensure that no winds of real political change ever get air. Given this reality, the paranoid measures and walls put up by the two main parties are even more puzzling. Could it be that the two main political parties dont want anything that resembles a true democracy? Thats exactly their true intent and nothing else whatsoever could explain the onerous measures they have installed in every state over the course of decades to preclude independent candidates and new political parties from emerging. In other words, the election system in America is fixed! Far from a silver bullet that will solve all of Americas challenges economically and politically independent candidates and new parties in Washington, D.C. and in state legislatures all across American are a key to dismantling our current oligarchy form of government. The two dominate political parties are tools manipulated by the mega-rich that are easily controlled by money and their media machine. State laws barring any candidate other than someone from the main two parties must be overturned and rewritten to allow air into the political process. Anything less is a dictatorship run by two political parties backed by the mega-rich. Just like the marketplace, competition breeds success and better options for all Americans. If free markets are good for the economy, then why would they not be good for the political system? With a two-party only political monopoly, the mega-rich can simply buy off both parties . . . then lock down media coverage to those two parties only and continue to control the game board. If ever America needed independent candidates and political parties free from political bribery its now! The time is long overdue for new voices and common citizens serving in political office instead of only the rich. Why do we have military leave laws for Americans in the National Guard or the Reserves to go die for our nation, but no laws whatsoever to allow for a common citizen to run for political office? If Americans are good enough to die for America and the agenda of the mega-rich, arent we good enough to run for political office? The mega-rich and the two political parties know that a common citizen with only two weeks of vacation time [assuming they are not now working two or three
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jobs just to make ends meet] simply cannot run for political office. It is part of the sophisticated tool kit to bleed out the American middle-class and kill the American Dream for all. If we really want a democracy, then pass laws that allow for a political leave program, whereby candidates that arent rich are given leave from work to run for political office just like going off to war. If an American is good enough to die for America in war, then they are good enough to hold political office in Washington, D.C. and in state capitols. In the end, as long as Americans sit by and continue to be drained day-by-day by the status quo and dont get involved to change state ballot restrictions and create laws that allow common citizens to run for office well continue to live in an oligarchy that now resembles a banana republic . . . whereby the greedy get richer, the American middleclass ceases to exist and the poor starve to death. Not since 1991 in Norman v Reed, an Illinois case won by the Harold Washington Party, has the Supreme Court even heard a ballot access case. A 20+ year lockdown where no one is even allowed to challenge the onerous laws in place to maintain a two-party only system simply points directly back to the two parties that put our Supreme Court judges in place. None of the major players in the two dominate political parties, nor any judge on the Supreme Court, want anything that even resembles a true democracy. They have an oligarchy built and they intend to protect it at all costs. A two-party only political system is not what our founding fathers envisioned, its not a system in which the American Dream can gain life again and it is surely not a part of the liberty and freedom mantra now being spewed from every rooftop in America. True liberty and freedom is all about allowing for new political parties and creating an environment where new candidates and independents can actually get elected. As long as the two main political parties can aptly claim that any vote for anyone but them is a wasted vote then well never get out from under the current two-party only political dictatorship that is ruining America and destroying opportunities to achieve the American Dream. Breakout Resource(s): Coalition for Free and Open Elections http://www.cofoe.org/ Ballot Access http://www.ballot-access.org/
Voting Your Wallet At present, the truth is that any concept of voting our wallet is extremely difficult for reasons almost too many to spell out, but going forward is must now become Americas singular focus. First and foremost, toward the challenge of voting our wallet, is that there are currently no good options because if were honest we all now know that nearly every candidate is rich or placed into office by the mega-rich who own them. Thats why the campaign reforms detailed herein are so absolutely critical, but even with reforms in place there is no magic bullet beyond a lot of grassroots work ahead by informed American voters. Becoming informed via the breakout resources provided herein, with
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more to come, have to part of a massive underground effort that educate America by spreading the word. As noted, virtually every conversation at present is political party focused, biased and tilted toward maintaining the status quo . . . including many if not most of the resources provided herein. Nonetheless, they are almost all better than whats provided via billionaire backed news propaganda outlets. As pitiful as the two political party choices we now have really are, Americans must begin to vote again instead of just giving up and allowing America to be owned and run by the mega-rich. As things stand today, with miles to go before we can actually change our highly flawed political system, Americans have to vote in an order of descending priorities and it has to be wallet first with almost everything else, including all social issues a very distant second. Making that descending order of voting priorities challenge even more difficult is that what may work for one political race, may not fit or work for another race. Take just one example where Perot ran against Bush I and Clinton and its clear than voting only against the mega-rich would have kicked Perot out of the mix even though in regard to NAFTA and a strong U.S. economy for the future Perot was clearly the best option we had. America stuck with the status quo and now were paying the price for president, Clintons signature on NAFTA and his push to get China into the WTO. First and foremost from this day forward, Americans have to become economically informed and keep themselves informed on every issue that impacts America and our wallets. That challenge speaks volumes about the difficulty in covering the wide breath of issues addressed in the writing this book. A book such as this can only lightly touch on an entire universe of topics that impact the American economy, in varying degrees, as well as our wallets and our common financial livelihood going forward. In writing, it was a constant battle to not be lured into drilling down too far into any particular topic or sphere of economic influence. No book can possibly cover it all [much less in any real detail] and this book fell far short as well. Americans want a quick fix, a silver bullet, an easy and completely painless way out, which exactly why we are so easily taken in by some cult of personality or some charismatic figure that gives a good speech. Its why we repeatedly fail miserably in bringing about and real change whatsoever. Slick, polished professional political snakes are certainly not going to change anything, nor are incumbents or party ideologues. They are heavily invested in the status quo, owned by a party and will do everything possible to keep the mega-rich in control . . . because it is the mega-rich that keep their party in control. One hand washes the other in a never ending cycle of cronyism, bribery and political corruption. The closest thing to a silver bullet is massive and complete campaign finance reform and a change in every state to make it easier to get on the ballot. As long as no average citizen can get on the ballot and our political system is based upon outright blatant bribery were doomed to rule by the mega-rich. Once we remove the ballot access and campaign money road blocks in the corruption wall, we can begin bringing about real political change, but not until. Nonetheless, only a multi-tiered, multi-faceted attack plan on all political reformation and economic fronts simultaneously will deliver any real change and improve prospects for restoring our American Dream birthright. Within the complex set of wallet voting priorities are any and all trade agreements, tariffs, all favored nation trading agreements, imports and exports, currency evaluations, the WTO, the Federal Reserve, Wall Street and the entire economic arena. If it sound like a big headache, thats because it is. If it sounds interesting, its not. Watching American
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Idol and going to Hollywood movies as opiates for suffering are far more fun. Thats exactly why the American people abdicated their political responsibilities long ago and handed over the keys to the mega-rich. To date however, all these entities and issues have been in a black box that only the political class and the Ivy League economists were allowed to delve into and speak upon. Any average citizen, via a little research, can now get their head around any of these formerly black box issues and this book proves it 100 percent! After reading this book, its hoped that youre going to feel compelled to provide funding whereby the time frames for your research can be shortened via a website which will serve as a conduit to resources and unbiased experts. The goal will be to provide a one stop link pool along with commentary and a knowledge base to assist Americans with deciphering all the black box economic issues. Most importantly, the website will be a free as possible from the sickening two-party political spin game that is killing America economically. At a high level, at the moment, any candidate that is pushing for repeal of NAFTA should be top of our list for support. Candidates focused on saving American jobs and limiting imports must be high on our support list. Efforts to prevent mergers and acquisitions, except in rare cases, are a high priority. Anything that takes us one step further down the dead end road of free trade, without some protections for American jobs for specific industries such as the green industry, is a non starter. Perhaps more than any effort, continuing to allow more than a million new immigrants into America, more than all the other nations on Earth combined, in order to drive down wages and raise welfare rolls to benefit a party power must end now! If not alleviated now, it will bankrupt our entire nation and lead to massive starvation within America the likes of which our nation has never witnessed. By comparison, the suffering and starvation during the Great Depression will look like Disneyland by 2030 if not long before. While many economic issues are simple, such as repealing the NAFTA agreement, most require some research and thought and the plan going forward is to assist with that effort via a website that constantly provides new information. On economic issues, America is an uninformed, unfocused population that supposedly votes their wallets when in reality nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, we simply vote for the other failed party when the economy is bad . . . with zero economic basis or logic whatsoever to shape our voting decisions. In regard to candidate evaluation, once you get past the strict economic issues, it becomes more straightforward. As you may have guessed, voting out all incumbents, until we get term limits in place, should be priority one. The old guard, all the same old tired faces in Congress [in both political parties] simply have to go every single one of them! They got us into this economic mess and they are not the candidates that can be trusted to get us out of it. They neglected the American people while they stuffed money into their own pockets and bank accounts. Keeping anyone in Washington, D.C. that has been there for any period of time is just a recipe for more of the same corruption that took us down this disastrous economic road. The entrenched political class isnt going to change their stripes anymore than a tiger. If you should choose to stay with one of the two main political parties, then you simply have to push for political system reformers into each race to replace every single incumbent! We simply cant succeed with our currently flawed political system of corruption. Its just not possible! Every few years or so, until term limits are in place, all incumbents have to go! If they have been in Washington, D.C. for any extended period of time, they are poisoned by the environment and allowing any incumbent to fall into a comfort zone is a recipe for corruption.
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Voting priorities have to be formed on a descending path of reverse priority for removal, if a politician has a high net worth, the higher the chance is that they are NOT working for you or your wallet. As stated in PART I, birds of a feather stick together and the rich take care of the rich. The unrelenting tide going forward must be representation by the people for the people and the mega-rich are not people they are members of the American aristocracy. Does that mean that we should vote in welfare queens so they can vote money into their pockets? Of course not, but it is time that average working Americans took the reins of power in Washington, D.C. and all state capitals. Average citizens who have been downsized by acquisitions, had their small business closed by Walmart, been put out on the streets because of their age, those barred from holding a job in America because their personal credit rating was ruined by Wall Street and those making nothing because new immigrants arrived to drive down the costs of labor throughout America . . . just to name a few of the new breed political candidates who much step forward and take charge of our common future. Along with the rich and megarich, toss out any and all political families that have ruled America for generations as if by birthright. We dont have kings and monarchies in America and we sure as hell dont believe in or support the putrid concept of royal bloodlines unless were buying a dog. Nothing could be more un-American than voting in a family name over and over. Its time they got a real job or just play golf or polo 24/7. Law school . . . if they have ever been near one, even as a groundskeeper, they have to go! While a significant amount of progress has already been made in this regard, much more has to be done to remove every single attorney from any and all elected positions in government. Nothing whatsoever about holding public office requires a law degree. While much of the criteria above may seem to be a non-starter as far as practical application, its a 535 game in Congress with somewhere around 532 of the wrong people now holding office. Some can be flipped into working for the American people instead of the mega-rich, but most have to be replaced with new faces. Independents, new parties and an entire new way of thinking about the political arena will bring about citizen government instead of the oligarchy we now live within. Its not going to happen overnight and its not going to happen via passive citizens and voter apathy, but it can and will happen with millions of citizens mobilized and rabid with burning passion for real change with a complete and total reformation of our current so called political system, how it works, how it is financed and who it serves. Dismantling the Two-Party Game Erasing monopoly control of government by two deeply corrupt political institutions such as Party A and Party B will be the most difficult fight in the war to save our economy, provide jobs and reduce wealth disparity in America. While one is willing to bankrupt government and plunge us off a debt cliff via spending and hoards of new immigrants to acquire votes, the other is hell bent upon grinding the people into dust by tilting the economic playing field to a full 90 degrees. Both pools have the same construction . . . an ideological deep end that will drown all average Americans. As demonstrated in PART I, nearly everything is set-up in a divide and conquer strategy by the mega-rich to continue funneling all the wealth to the top. As long as the majority of the American people continue to believe that two political parties are fighting it out for the good of the little people the two-party game will maintain the vast pyramid scheme that will
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continue sucking every dime possible out of every living American who is not a part of the aristocracy. Conscience buying every time you open your wallet or pocket book is the first step toward restraining the money hose thats buying off our government. Coupled with comprehensive campaign finance reform such measures will create an environment whereby one or both of the two dominate political parties can be reformed, but a tiger doesnt generally change its stripes once he has tasted the blood of corruption that is our current political system. As evidenced by the data and statistics in Part I, both of the two political parties and a two-party only system of government have been absolute abysmal failures when it comes to looking out for the American people and protecting the American Dream for all Americans. Bite into the lure and completely swallow the extremely poisonous ideological dogma of either of the tow existing parties and America is completely doomed beyond reclamation. Its the same cliff of no return, no matter which part is driving the bus. For more than 30+ years, the strangle-hold of two-party rule by the greedy has been maintained with one simple mantra: a vote for any other political party is a wasted vote. In reality, its akin to a dog chasing its tail in an endless exercise in futility. Under the current political system a vote for either party delivers more cheap foreign labor, depressed wages and salaries and only monetary rewards for the parties and the megarich. Are all 535 members of Congress corrupt to the core and only working to further the goals of the mega-rich? No, but a 2010 poll gave Congress an overall approval rating of just 13 percent, so 87 percent have to go. The problem is that no one in America will get rid of their incumbent and replace them with a political reformer to fix the system. While the two pathetic parties are horrible, its the political system that is at the heart of our economic problems. Can a few of the corrupt 87 percent in Congress be flipped to work for the people instead of the mega-rich? Yes, but its far easier to just replace every old face and every old name in Congress and just start over. Unfortunately, you can no longer vote for political pork for your district delivered by incumbency and earmarks, but instead must put the financial needs of America first. It has to include fiscal responsibility, but it must also include good private sectors jobs and a reduction in the massive wealth disparity in America. Only a true and complete political revolution in America can stave off the America 2030 vision described at the beginning of this book. The mega-rich now firmly in charge of our American Monopoly board will not one day simply come to the conclusion that they now have enough caviar, yachts and billions in their Swiss bank accounts. Greed simply has no limits and unless an uncorrupted government is put into place to regulate and limit greed . . . the mega-rich will starve us all to death. Virtually every mechanism and tool is in place right now for the mega-rich to simply pull up on the noose to finish hanging the middle-class by the neck and only we can stop them. It will take time and it will take great courage, but with millions of Americans engaged economically and politically it will happen. Reform of the political system as well as the two parties is part of the solution, but just as much, so too is a groundswell new political parties and independent candidates in every political race all across America. The new parties cant get sucked into one of the big two as we saw happen with the Tea Party becoming part of the status quo GOP. If the Occupy Wall Street movement is suckered into Party B . . . then just write them off now as a dead cause not worthy of any attention whatsoever. A revolution must be all about destroying the establishment and replacing it
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with voices of average Americans. New parties have to stand alone and we the American people have to say good bye to the status quo by voting in new faces in the two existing parties, independent candidates and candidates from new political parties. Were currently traveling down a futile dead-end road and we have to turn the wheel away from the status quo cliff of no return. Whatever parties emerge, they must develop full and complete political platforms that address the full economic realities of the world we now live in. A good example is a Green Party cant be just about saving Mother Earth, but must have a full and complete economic platform beyond environmental issues. Any platform must address wealth disparity, the economy and creation of good private sectors jobs or it is irrelevant and out of touch with reality. Just as important, it must be about restraint and fiscal responsibility when it comes to government spending. Saving trees doesnt feed people, nor does it restore the American Dream unless that dream is an America free from all humans and just one huge forest and healthy planet. We need new parties with realistic solutions to real economic problems, not the utopian visions that have dominated the political discussion on the fringe left for far too long. First comes national security and after that, the agenda has to be all about basic bread and butter issues 24/7 instead of social issues or some grand vision of an utopian world. Stop for a moment and look around, does this look like anything approaching utopia to you? Utopian thinking is largely responsible for the economic abyss we now find ourselves living within. Wine and cheese intellectualism devoid of reality checks that dream of a world we wish could be, when in truth weve never been further away, doesnt feed people . . . good private sector jobs do! By the same token, if youre lazy, unwilling to get an education, learn English and unwilling to work hard . . . no one is going to mail you a check going forward because the government is now officially broke. While it would be fun to just play video games all day and go to the mailbox to pick up your check, its not going to work because there will be no one paying taxes. The American people must become politically involved like never before, they must volunteer, organize, rally, write books, blog, e-mail and most importantly vote! What will happen from there, no one can truly predict, but anything will be more productive than staying the two-party course of futility. Any effort that dilutes the strangle hold that the mega-rich dominated two-party system currently has on America is progress in the right direction. Independent candidates have won elections before and many would argue that if Ross Perot has won when running against Bush and Clinton we would be far better off as a nation today, especially economically. At least we would not have been raped by a NAFTA agreement that Bush I pushed and Clinton actually signed. Perot wouldnt have put his signature on NAFTA even if he had been water boarded by the CIA. Thats the type of political leadership we must now have in place. If youre asking yourself if multiple parties would confuse things in Washington, the answer is yes! Confusion in Washington is good if it threatens the two political parties by forcing them to worry and become extremely uncomfortable. They currently live in a cushy beltway cocoon thinking their world cant be touched or dismantled. At present, Party A knows they are going to get all the votes right of center and Party B knows they will get all the votes left of center. Once they are in office, they vote however the megarich that put them into office tell them to vote. We simply must introduce a game changer into the status quo environment of corruption whereby we have lost our democracy and now live in an oligarchy ruled by greed.
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The political class has been playing the exact same game for more than 30+ years and we the people have been the ones losing while the mega-rich and the political class win it all. Allay any fears that upheaval will allow some radical fringe group to get into office and take over the government. We already have a radical fringe group in charge of our government: a political class that answers only to the mega-rich. What could be more radical than that? Their clear platform is as straightforward and simple as exterminating the middle class until America becomes a two class nation of ultra rich and dirt poor. They intend to continue plundering the American economy for their own gain, sucking it ever more barren by the day. When they are done, if we allow it, slavery will look like a step up for quality of life, because slaves at least had food, we the American people will not. Starvation is radical, political reforms, new parties and new independent candidates are not! Does anyone in America, with any brainwaves, anyone awake for the past 20+ years, think this the current political system is working? Again, stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. Its a dead tired clich, but the evidence of our collective stupidity couldnt be more clearly demonstrated by now. This just isnt working and its time for radical change! A peaceful revolution via political channels . . . before the violent revolution described at the beginning of this book comes to pass. The clock is ticking and the time for change is now! America can continue on this passive path of manipulation by the mega-rich, or we can change whats coming by taking back America from the greedy and restoring democracy. Only actions, activism and multitudes of Americans energized and ready to fight can change our present course. Congressional Reforms . . . Enough Chatter, Lets Do It! When it comes to implementing solutions and reclaiming our democracy from the megarich, we the people have a massive chicken or the egg conundrum. The question of what comes first, congressional reforms or the solutions to massive wealth inequality, a teetering economy and a lack of private sector jobs growth is impossible to answer. Because of our two-party only monopoly, at present there is little if any real pressure on the political establishment to deliver any solutions. While you may be starving, they continue to feast like pigs in Washington, D.C. As stated at the beginning of Part II, there is no sequence to this peaceful revolution. Some initiatives are more critical than others, but to think that congressional reforms are not an egg that must be hatched before many, if not most, solutions can take place is pure folly. The status quo, the same old faces along with the same old games and rhetoric are simply not going to work! Congress as well as state and local governments are as dysfunctional and flawed for the role of serving the people as they can possibly be. Via the corporate media machine, the America people have been led to believe that the dysfunction of government is because of bi-partisanship and infighting across the aisle when in fact that dysfunction has been manipulated over time to work for the mega-rich. The political class and the mega-rich designed the game and as long as we the people play their same old game repeatedly well never win. We must force game changer initiatives, parties and candidates into the political system that are focused on wealth inequality, the economy and jobs. There is no political price to pay whatsoever for poor performance by our political class because its now a 50/50 proposition. There is no governmental watchdog with teeth and our so called political system is rife with corruption and holes that that stymie radical political reforms and invite even more cronyism and pay-to-play political corruption. Any American that views Congress as some beacon on a hill for the rest of the world to emulate has simply not given the true reality any real thought. Its an
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apple full of worms, not some beacon on a hill and the worms must be removed in order to fix the political system! End the Congressional Pension Plan As detailed in Part I, the Congressional Pension Plan is abhorrent, excessive and completely out of touch with modern American reality. It may even be unconstitutional, in that within the Constitution, Congress was only given a somewhat nebulous perimeter of naming their pay . . . not their retirement package and certainly nothing about a pension was ever mentioned. A pension is old and outdated versus 401k plans and a guaranteed 16 percent per year via the CSRS, in addition to all the medical benefits and perks, received by Congress is more than enough. In our lifetimes, the Congressional Pension Plan will easily cost U.S. taxpayers more than a billion dollars at a time going forward where every billion counts to reduce the federal budget. Far more important than the dollars are the issues of job performance and accountability to the American people. If youre guaranteed $87,000 per year after 20 years in Congress or even $43,500 after 10 years . . . who cares what the voters and people think? After a decade in office, their nest is so feathered via connections and perks from influence peddling that their feet never again touch the ground. They glide through the rest of their lives as a former member of Congress and their entire extended family is able to ride their political coat tails for generations. Ending the Congressional Pension Plan is but one of many critical first steps that will work toward returning of the rule of America back to the people as it was designed by our forefathers. If members of Congress know they may have to actually live within the America they create . . . they will begin to think twice about selling out America to the mega-rich. It will serve to depose rule of America by Congressional kings and queens who operate under the moniker of honorable when virtually nothing they do is honorable. The move to kill off the Congressional Pension Plan will begin to create an environment of citizen legislators who go to Washington, D.C. to serve short terms and then return to live within the America they created . . . instead of living the rest of their lives as part of the American aristocracy who they spent their entire career to enrich. Slam the Revolving Door and Delay Plan B We the people have almost zero accountability from elected members of Congress once they are in office for only a few years and not much previous to serving only a few years. There is no real downside whatsoever to being voted out of office and all start planning their plan B exit strategy as soon as they take their seat in Congress. If a former member of Congress can simply walk to K Street to collect millions as a lobbyist or collect millions of dollars sitting on several corporate boards of directors as payoff for votes . . . all while collecting a Congressional pension where is the accountability to voters? Even without a Congressional pension, any good lobbying job pays far more than the $174+ K received as a member of Congress. Serving as a member of Congress is just the big money minor leagues, a political internship en route to the major leagues of lobbying or serving on corporate boards. Its crooked, its corrupt and it should be illegal. As long as the current system exists, the American people can forget about living within a democracy . . . it simply doesnt exist!
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There is no silver bullet and there will never be a utopian political environment in Washington, D.C. that is perfect. Allowing senior administrative officials and former high ranking government bureaucrats to become lobbyists is bad enough, but to allow somewhere around 348 former members of Congress to simply drop off the key to their Congressional office and walk to K Street where they make millions as lobbyists makes almost anything a voter does in the ballot box virtually null and void. That is NOT an extreme view, but the reality! Furthermore, to allow a member of Congress to vote on any legislation that impacts any industry or business and then once out of office to serve on a board of directors for a company within that industry is nothing more than flat out pay-to-play bribery a.k.a. vote buying. Such a political system is not representative of American values. It is not worthy of American families sending their sons and daughters off to fight wars to protect and it is surely not the shining city on a hill the political class loves to boast about to the rest of the world. Although not perfect, at a minimum, the American people must force the passage of legislation whereby no former member of Congress works for a lobbying firm in any capacity whatsoever [even as an errand boy] or serving on any corporate board of directors that was impacted by any vote they took while in Congress for a period of time that spans the amount of time they spent in Congress. Be it 5, 10, 15 or 20 years no former member of Congress can be allowed to use their Congressional connections to influence votes and be paid for it. Period! The time has come that members of Congress became citizen legislators and former members are removed from influencing our political system once they are out of office. Again, this is NOT a perfect solution by any means and work around tricks and under the table payoffs will inevitably come to pass with even with such a reformed system in place. Therefore, criminal prosecution that includes jail time must be part of the legislation as well. Without teeth for violating the laws of our political system . . . you can forget about having a democracy. Its just that simple! The time has come to make political corruption a crime and force those convicted to do the prison time upon conviction.
Breakout Resource(s): Revolving Door http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/index.php
Transparency thats Meaningful For decades, as America has been sold out by our political class to the mega-rich, Washington, D.C. has talked transparency. Nonetheless, virtually little or nothing to date has been accomplished as far as any true transparency in government. While there are a few somewhat unbiased sources for openness in government almost all are funded by the public and nothing approaching whats really needed actually exists. For the most part, whats existing today are only political party backed entities to further the game of gotcha politics with one of the two political parties as their true master. If that is all we have, then who is watching the political system at large in which the two parties operate? The sad thing is that American voters, by and large, dont even use the feeble watchdog
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resources that are available [a major focus this book hopes to rectify] and then we complain that our government is dysfunctional and doesnt work? Not monitoring every move of Congress, between trips to the ballot box, is like telling your child to keep the lawn mowed and then waiting until two years later to see if it got accomplished. The results of such an approach for your lawn are weeds as high as the rooftop and with our children in Congress it equals even greater wealth disparity via the selling out of the American people to the mega-rich. If you want something accomplished, you monitor and supervise and the same approach that works for getting your lawn mowed will work for Congress if the American people are ever vigilant and extremely involved. We the American voters are the adults and its our responsibility to deploy some draconian tough love for our children in Congress. Going forward, far more exposure is needed for office holders at the federal, state and local levels of government. A member of Congress, for instance, already foregoes many of the same rights to privacy held by a private citizen, but it doesnt even begin to be high enough scrutiny. Loss of privacy goes with the political territory and any members of Congress that take issue with that are simply in the wrong place. If they dont like $174 K per year for their horrible job performance, then let them replace that income in todays economy they created. They will find that outside of the Washington, D.C. beltway the rose garden is now full of only thorns. Although the billions in bribery that take place via campaign donations are public record, most of the real bribery takes place via cronyism behind closed doors, on yachts, private jets, during extravagant vacations and at cocktail parties with the beautiful people. Its the promise of a job for a spouse, sibling or child, freebies, discounts, the future position on a board, the intermarriage between political dynasties and Wall Street insider trading information where the cash register gets rung all in exchange for votes and influence peddling to secure contracts, legislation, tax breaks and regulations favorable to only the mega-rich. For members of Congress it all adds up to millions in unnatural personal wealth gains in an unseen, unmonitored game of pay-to-play. While some of it gets attention from watchdog groups and the media, its a far cry from what is actually needed to restore our democracy. Instead, every meeting, every lunch or dinner engagement, every phone call, every vacation, trip, physical possession, renovation, purchase and activity should be available for audit and part of the public record. Family members, have a right to privacy, but only the extent that every job, contract, deal, monetary gain and physical possession is scrutinized for under the table graft, corruption and pay-to-play connections. Such scrutiny and reporting can no longer be left up to citizen groups alone, nor can investigations be left up to the Justice Department or FBI in an unfocussed, under funded atmosphere where such investigations are not a high priority. Without such reforms, any idea of a democracy is tenuous at best. In other words, in more colloquial average citizen language our government is crooked as hell and stinks to high heaven!
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Breakout Resource(s): Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) http://www.citizensforethics.org Democracy 21 http://www.democracy21.org/ National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) http://nlpc.org/ Project On Government Oversight http://www.pogo.org Political Corruption.net http://www.politicalcorruption.net/ Center for Public Integrity (PRI) http://www.publicintegrity.org MapLight.org http://maplight.org
Forget Censure or Expulsion Ruled by Congress The time has finally come for the American people to stop pretending that the few members of Congress brought up upon ethics violations from time to time are the exception rather than the rule. Its also time to admit that Congressional efforts to police their own, via such entities as the House and Senate Ethics Committees, are an absolute laughable joke! The only way a member of Congress is ever caught doing anything improper is if they flaunt it and are just plain stupid. If they are smart enough to maneuver themselves into Congress, then they are smart enough to cover their tracks from entities as toothless as ethics committees. There is no dedicated investigative entity in place solely focused and well funded to stop Congressional corruption, malfeasance and pay-to-play such as what occurred in the Abramoff case. Abramoff and his crew were so over the top that they couldnt help but get caught and when they were caught . . . they were slapped on the wrist with a little jail time. We can leave the current ethics committees in place, that amount to a paper tiger, for sexual exploits such as that of Ensign, Vitter and Foley, but for any violation that involves monetary gain for a member of Congress . . . the time for criminal prosecution and real jail time has arrived. Everyone can remember the hollow words in 2006 of former House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi who said that Party B was going to drain the swamp that is Washington, D.C. Now, more than a half a decade later, virtually nothing has been accomplished to change how Washington, D.C. works only for the mega-rich. The swamp wont get drained until and unless there is a full-time well funded arm of the Justice Department or FBI that is solely dedicated to investigating Congress 24/7. If for
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instance, its proven that a member of Congress had a conflict of interest they did not divulge or took action as a member of Congress that resulted in personal financial gain for themselves, a member of their family or close political contributor . . . they go to jail for a long time! The days of censure or potential expulsion by Congress as the only means to police the activities of members of Congress must come to an end! If it involves financial gain it is criminal not ethical and it should not be left up to Congress to police their own. Does anyone in America believe that Senators Dodd or Conrad did not gain financially when they received VIP loans from Countrywide Financial? No! In a criminal court of law they would have been found guilty, but nothing resulted when investigated by their fellow members of Congress. There are some in America that say or believe that we dont want our public servants locked-up or behind bars when they commit crime because it impacts our national psyche, faith in government, etc. Many, far too many, think the corruption is funny and good material for the Comedy Channel. Even in the face of massive campaign donations from Wall Street as evidence of them being in bed with Washington and the millions of Americans left holding trillions of dollars in loses, not to mention 8.5+ million being unemployed . . . many still find the antics of Congress funny? The massive wealth inequality, the feeble economy and no job prospects for Americans are NOT funny and it all ties back to corruption within Congress and state legislatures. Nothing that goes on in Congress is either funny or amusing and as long as the fox is allowed to watch the henhouse the confidence of the American people in government will remain at an all time low. Any Americans who believe that Congress is not rife with criminal activity if financial gain is the measuring tool are beyond nave and clueless. In todays environment, its why most members of Congress go into politics and to pretend otherwise or not work to correct it . . . is criminal on the part of American citizens. Furthermore, its a big part of the system by which the greedy have taken control of America and our government. Zero Earmarks as in None, Not Ever Again! Like much about Capitol Hill, some solutions are so simple that even a child could fix them. Earmarks, just in case you dont know, are spending measures attached to legislation. They typically go to a district of a particular member of Congress. Why do they call them earmarks? Simple, the word earmark sounds better than the word bribe. In Washington, D.C. they are bilingual, they speak only two languages: bribery and corruption. Unless a member of Congress or one of their campaign contributors makes money from it it generally doesnt happen. In this case, the member of Congress makes money off the earmark in two ways: 1) they are able to funnel your tax money to their district which gets them reelected in order for them to continue to amass unnatural wealth gains and 2) they are oftentimes able to steer the money into projects for their cronies and buddies in exchange for campaign contributions. Both are called corruption and stealing and both if you are a true American patriot should bother your greatly since our government is broke and this is wrong. It is no less wrong even when it benefits your community. Wrong is wrong even if your state or community are the ones that benefit. Although earmarks are currently off the table because of the deficit environment in Washington, D.C. they will return just as soon as the American people become less vigilant. That cant be allowed to happen and must be banned 100 percent by law.
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End Senate Filibuster Games Once and for All With the term, filibuster most Americans understand that the term means taking the Senate floor and talking endlessly to keep a bill from passing by blocking it from being voted upon. Nothing demonstrates the immaturity of the so called adults in the Senate than use of a filibuster [taking over the floor and endlessly talking] when a person or party opposing a bill already knows that the votes exist to pass the legislation. The ploy is one inch above the childs game of sticking a finger in both ears and shouting I cant hear you . . . when someone is saying something they disagree with or dont want to hear. The people in Congress are supposed to be adults, but the filibuster game has to make you wonder? The tactic doesnt exist in the House of Representatives because they were adult enough long ago to outlaw the practice. In the Senate it currently takes only 51 votes to pass a bill, but if a party merely threatens a filibuster it takes 60 votes to invoke cloture [ending the discussion] . . . which basically is a filibuster override to pass the bill and get on to other business. Now here is the funny part, if there is one, the person or party members dont have to actually get up and talk endlessly, hour after hour, day after day . . . they just have to merely threaten to do it. Once the threat is made, it takes 60 votes instead of just 51 to get a bill passed. If this isnt the most stupid, infantile exhibit of childish behavior in all of politics, what is? At a minimum it should take more than a mere threat of filibuster to block legislation. If anything, the person or party members should at least be forced to stand on their feet and talk 24/7 until they fall over from exhaustion . . . at least their bluff should be called, but our Senators are so lazy that if a mere threat is made they take the rest of the day off to work behind the scenes to get 60 votes instead of only 51. Why not at least force them to work on getting the 60 votes while the person of party filibustering is actually forced to babble endlessly . . . [at least it makes for good theater]? Instead, why dont we the people mediate and force our Senate children to grow up, just like the House of Representatives did long ago, by killing the filibuster tactic all together. Then just maybe, the Senate can actually get something accomplished by using the sensible method of passing bills with the 51 votes required . . . instead of getting paid for doing nothing year after year. Clearly nothing demonstrates the pettiness of our current political system, whereby, the peoples business is held up, by childish games being played by adults. Just like when your child quarrels with a playmate or refuses to share a toy, we the people have to step in and finally put an end to the childish behavior from the Senate by ending the tactic of a filibuster. Without a doubt, the Senate is the most do nothing political entity in the entire World except for Iraqs legislature and the filibuster tactic simply makes an already inept, dysfunctional political branch of government a laughable group of buffoons. America has major economic issues such as no jobs and massive wealth inequality and filibuster games are a waste of critical time we just no longer have.
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Term Limits: No More Career Politicians Ever Again Political office is not a career, it is not a profession and as everyone in America who doesnt live in the Washington beltway knows, being a politician is not a real job. If you do consider it to be a profession, surly at this point you cant still believe it is an honorable profession. As the saying goes, there is no honor amongst thieves. To lessen the chances of them becoming good thieves the time has finally arrived to install term limits upon members of Congress. Even Cuba is now discussing term limits, but in a so called democracy the idea has been off the table since Party A promised term limits during the Newt Gingrich era, but did nothing once they got the power. The time has arrived for the American people to force term limits upon Congress, even if we have to force their greedy mouths open and ram the legislation down their throats. Heres how it would work: were going to limit any member of the House of Representatives to three two year terms and all Senators to only two six year terms. The magic threshold would be that once you cross a 12 year threshold in Washington, D.C. youre no longer allowed to run for office as a member of the House or Senate. Once someone has been in the House for six years, they have to be elected to the Senate or they are out of the game. It doesnt have to be consecutive, but there does have to be an absolute strict limit of 12 years maximum. It may play out to where a member of the House would be elected once, reelected twice and then be elected to one six year term as a Senator or a Senator could simply serve two six year terms, but once they cross the 12 year threshold theyre gone from the House and Senate forever! Combined with the legislation proposed herein to prohibit lobbying by any former member for the exact period of time served in Congress, well force our public servants to finally leave cushy Washington, D.C. beltway and live in the real world they created. To those that contend well lose what some like to call legislative expertise and experience with such a term limit system . . . Hooray! The less experience they have in the Washington, D.C. beltway, the more experience they will have in the real world. To those that contend that term limits are not necessary because citizens can simply vote out whomever they wish . . . it rarely ever happens because an incumbent currently has the financial campaign advantage to crush any and all contenders for their office. As you will learn in the following section, once a member of Congress is in office were stuck with them for at least one full term be it 2 in the House or a miserable 6 in the Senate. As long as we have a detached political class and career politicians who live in the utopian beltway bubble, well suffer under their let them eat cake political tyranny where were ruled by the mega-rich in an oligarchy. Once the political class knows they cant all become lobbyists and will have to return to living in the world they create . . . we the people will be far better off. Where is that Recall Button? While laws for recall elections vary wildly state by state, the states that do permit recall elections only have jurisdiction over state and local holders of political office. Just for example, California has the recall button and they used it in 2003 to recall governor, Gray Davis. In some states its a fairly easy and straight forward process by just by getting enough names on a petition and in other states its not possible at all. Going forward, the option needs be easy, straight forward and readily available in every state.
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Now, what about at the federal level for members of Congress? Are you sitting down? If so, prepare to be sick! If youre searching for the recall button and cant find it, theres a reason. It does NOT exist! No you didnt misread . . . its NOT possible to recall a member of Congress. There is no option, there is no button, there is no law and there is no way other than by lynch mob to recall a member of Congress. Similar to the current joke of ethics committees and the idea of Congress policing itself . . . its only Congress that can get rid of a member of Congress. [So much for the idea of a government for the people, by the people] No matter what a member of Congress does, to include treason, espionage, accepting bribes, being on Chinas payroll, etc. we the people are stuck with them until A) they die or B) their term is up. Oh yea, if two thirds of either the House or the Senate vote to remove one of their members it can happen as well. Thats like going to your local prison and allowing 66 percent of prisoners to vote on who should be set free. Just like in prison, everyone in Congress is innocent, were entrapped, temporarily insane or abused as a child. As we know already the rich take care of the rich, there is no honor among thieves, birds of a feather stick together and Congress as a whole may be the most corrupt group of humans in America, excluding of the course the mega-rich who own them. Its bad enough there is little, if any, oversight or investigative due diligence of Congress, but to discover that it takes 66 percent of a corrupt group of people to remove one of their own with no other option leaves the American people with only one option. The current no ejection button for Congress scenario, supposedly backed by the Constitution, must be challenged in the Supreme Court now! Believe it or not, the fact that we the people dont have the right to remove a member of Congress has never been challenged. Much like the political class in general who have received a free pass for decades we the people have been asleep at the wheel, apathetic, far too trusting and if were honest with ourselves . . . just plain stupid! So pick a state or multiple states, a member of Congress or multiple members and lets get moving on creating an ejection button for Congress. It will take awhile to work its way through the courts to make it to the Supreme Court, or enacted by Congress, so there is no better time to get started than now! If and when a Congressional recall is ruled unconstitutional, well either amend the Constitution or in time change the mix of Supreme Court justices until they rule in our favor. If you can get fired at your job, but no one in Congress can get fired by their employer a.k.a. voters in their district . . . tells you everything you need to know about the political class and accountability in government. While disheartening to know that, at present, once a member of Congress is in office, they are going to stay in office . . . it at least signals to the American people that it is time to strongly question: yet another vote for any incumbent, member of one of the two failed parties and the status quo dead end road we are now on. The inability to recall a member of Congress simply reinforces the mountain of evidence that once in office . . . a member of Congress has little if any need whatsoever to respond to the needs of the people. Reinventing the Role of Public Servants Americans are sick to their stomachs of our failed political class referring to themselves as public servants as they run for office, banter endlessly and play political games that are only about their party and never about the people. In truth, we know all too well that the only people served by the political class are themselves and the mega-rich who put them into office. Our forefathers never intended for America to have a permanent
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political class full of forked tongue professional politicians. Back when our nation was founded, members of Congress left their farm or business went to the capitol to debate and cast votes and then went back home to work for a living like the rest of America. Today, none of our political class in Washington, D.C. work for a living, never return home and live as members of the American aristocracy that rules America. We have a class of people in Washington, D.C. who consider themselves above common citizens and actually consider their job and career path to be professional politician. They get elected into office, move to Washington, D.C. and never return home. Even if they are voted out of office, they milk the system, milk the American people, milk the political arena and live within the Washington, D.C. beltway bubble for the rest of their lives. From government job appointments, government jobs for their spouse and children, pseudo-media jobs for political kids such as Ron and Michael Reagan [just to name two], lobbing jobs that pay millions of dollars, envoys, White House staff positions, etc. Their singular goal is to do whatever it takes to stay in Washington, D.C. and never work again, never associate with average citizens again and to never be exposed to petty Main Street issues of commoners ever again. These are the people that run the government, pass the legislation, run the two political parties and decide our future. For instance, take Newt Gingrich, former House Speaker who left office in 1999 and still lives in Washington, D.C. to this day. He continues to milk the political system writing books, appearing on Fox News as an expert and pretends to run for president every four years to sucker Americans into sending him money so he wont have to work. The guy has as much chance of ever getting the nomination to run for president as Mickey Mouse, but hes somehow able to milk the fact that he was once the Speaker of the House into sitting on his fat posterior for the rest of his life? Take another great example, Senate majority leader, Harry Reid who except for a couple of years as a city attorney [which most people would consider a political office] has never worked at a real job in his entire life. Never! He went into politics almost straight out of college, local and state political office, served two terms in the House of Representatives before his first election to the Senate in 1986 and has been in the Senate ever since. Perhaps no example typifies a political class that live a lifetime of aristocratic existence out of touch with the American people more than Reid. Does either Reid or Gingrich represent anyone the American people would want in Washington, D.C. having anything whatsoever to do with our future? What is it that a professional politician knows about Main Street, working for a living, fearing the loss of a job, the impact of a bad economy, loosing a job to China or anything else that impacts everyday Americans? They live and exist in the beltway bubble, they have a Congressional pension plus a retirement plan, they have enough political escape hatches to where they are set for life . . . all based upon being a professional politician and nothing else whatsoever. They are completely out of touch with the real world, are party and political ideologues only and their experience and brains know nothing else but life inside the warped unreal world of Washington, D.C. Only an American that worships the political class [of which we have far too many], one who is enamored with politics, the games, the hoopla and the absolute manure and manipulation that is now our political system can believe that professional, life-long politicians should have anything whatsoever to do with the future of America. If anything points to why our political system has failed so miserably, its the same old people and the same old faces that never seem to fade into history or go back home to Main Street reality to live amongst us commoners.
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A true public servant goes to Washington, D.C. for only a few short years contribute to America by cleaning up the system, restoring an economy that works for the people instead of only the mega-rich and then returns home to live in the America they created. Just a quick review, via the breakout resource below, tells any American that far too many members of Congress have held office, via rubber stamp incumbent voting, for far, far, far too long. America claims it wants change, yet over and over again, election after election cycle we send the same people back to Washington, D.C. Once again, the definition of stupidity . . . repeating the same mistakes and expecting a different outcome. If America wants change, then obviously all the players must change and the new members of Congress must be kept on an extremely short leash forevermore by the American people. In the next election cycle and every cycle thereafter, via term limits, via prosecution for corruption, via exposing every unscrupulous move and connection they have . . . the time has come to replace Americas political class with real Americans, everyday citizens, people who have worked for a living, lost homes to foreclosure and jobs to mergers and China and who are in touch with Main Street America. We were never intended to have kings, queens and royalty in America, our forefathers intended America to be for the people ruled by the people, but we have badly lost our way since our inception as a nation. The time has come for us to find our way back and removal of the political class is the first step on that journey.
Breakout Resource(s): U.S. Senate, Current Seniority List http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seniority_in_the_United_States_Senate#Current_seniority_li st U.S. House, Current Seniority List http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Representatives_in_the_112th_Congr ess_by_seniority
Lets Be Honest about Political Reforms Many of the reforms listed in Part II have been suggested for years and frail and wildly splintered advocacy efforts deployed to date have failed to bring them to fruition. If all were passed tomorrow, we would still live in a world in which the mega-rich have huge advantages politically, but today, as things now stand . . . they have every advantage! They own federal government, every state legislature, every city council and most importantly of all they own our Congress like a dog on a leash. To see where such corruption leads, look no further than the catastrophic results of Wall Street owning Washington, D.C. Anyone in America who believes that the mega-rich are suddenly going to lay down and give up control of our government and their monopolies, system of corruption, the payto-play game, influence peddling and complete domination of our Monopoly board is living in la, la land. Just as nave are any ideas that they will suddenly develop a
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conscience, love of America and her people or feel guilty for their greedy mega-rich dark hearts that beat within their body. They know but one pursuit greed and lust for even more money no matter the cost to the American Dream for all Americans. We live in one of the most corrupt democratic systems of government in the entire world and yet, we continue to pretend that it is some shining city on a hill. Rest assured, just as they started this class war upon the American people more than 30+ years ago, the mega-rich will fight like hell to keep us from taking back our nation. They will use every trick in the book, every manipulation game and put even more money into the correct palms to halt political reforms at every turn. As long politicians can be bought, they will be bought and only transparency along with an American population monitoring every move they make will end rule of America by a greedy oligarchy. America has talked on and on about reforms for years, decades in fact, yet nothing has changed. Understand that this will take a massive, concerted effort from a newly united America to force a change in our completely corrupted system of government. The mega-rich will not take their poisonous fangs out of our flesh until we pivot as a nation and fight like hell! We no longer have any other choice but to fight this fight . . . otherwise they will simply continue to tighten the noose they now have around our collective neck until we have no will or strength to fight. Fixing the Media . . . Dream On! Media reforms were saved for last in Part II for a reason: while their performance can be vastly improved upon, reporters and their handlers are not going to bite the hand that feeds them. With 6 massive multi-billion dollar corporations owning almost all the media universe and what little remains being owned by as few as 35 or so corporations the American people will never get anything but a mega-rich sanctioned version of the truth. Some reporters and outlets are better than others of course, but as long as the mega-rich own virtually all the media and write the paychecks the American people will be spoon fed a steady stream of manipulated garbage. Any idea or vision of a truly free press free to fight the oligarchy we now live within is nave. The idea is probably just as nave as believing a publisher can be found for this book without grassroots financial support from the American people. The last thing the mega-rich and their political puppets want is for this book to get published and be read by millions. We now live in a locked down society and nothing whatsoever is more locked down than the media. The media was all bought up and consolidated into the hands only a few for two reasons. While an obvert profit motive is obvious, its the profits and monetary gains from mind and heart control that is not obvious to most Americans. Own and control all the media and you own and control the people, the government and everything that transpires within a society. There is simply no need for a state owned media dictatorship when in fact . . . the mega-rich are the state. Virtually nothing gets out they dont want to get out, period! Nothing proves that fact more than the media blackout of any issues surrounding the massive wealth disparity in America and the 30+ year financial losing streak of the middle-class. Within the media lens, America is still being presented, even today, as the land of milk and honey with glowing prospects of upward mobility when in fact the idea is a complete joke! In America, you work for the mega-rich within their vast pyramid scheme or you starve . . . its just that straightforward and simple. The masses must be controlled and the absolute best control mechanism is to keep the rats
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focused on the mirage of cheese via a contrived 1 in 311+ million success story such as yet another aristocrat Ivy Leaguer, such as Facebooks Zukerberg. For the rats bright enough not to be completely focused on the cheese, it is critical to create the illusion that two political parties are engaged in some epic battle for the good of the people. Too funny! As of this writing, the talking heads owned by the mega-rich are gearing up for Campaign 2012, via the latest wow them news rooms, push button video and chart technologies. So called award winning journalist who all know the game and how it is played, just as much as you now do, but journalists who sold their souls long ago for designer fashions and the latest pair of cute shoes. They cover every puff of wind from both partys campaigns as if were all still stupid enough to buy into the media game. To perpetuate the charade, well get an endless blast of fire hose spin jobs, polling, electoral break downs, red states, blue states, donkeys and elephants, bus tours, baby kissing and enough manure and political theater to numb the mind of Einstein. It is all designed for one thing and one thing alone, to keep the people docile and pliable, to keep us coming back for more of the status quo in order to mask who is behind the curtain pulling all the puppet strings, pushing all the buttons and in control of the game. As much as you may hate to admit to being manipulated like a rat in a maze you at least have to give the mega-rich credit . . . they are absolute masters of the propaganda game. Only an absolutely brilliant group of people could have dreamed up and executed a sophisticated divide and conquer strategy whereby the people are polarized and fighting each other, rather than the greedy force behind the curtain. It cant be said enough times, there is no conspiracy just all the mega-rich on the same page, working toward the same goal. Who would have thought of betting heavily on both red and blue and being able to win no matter what color the election wheel lands upon? Who would have though of buying up all the media, then perpetuating the false faade of a free press thats covering all the issues from both sides? Certainly none of us are that smart, so you have to give the mega-rich credit for being absolutely brilliant! All generals in war throughout history have stood on one hill and looked across to the other while they pondered the workings of the mind of opposing generals. The American people are now so confused, manipulated and over worked, that any clear perspective from atop a hill is almost impossible. Until Americans can see the forest, instead of just the trees, well lose this battle. In any war effort you must know the adversary in order to beat the adversary and our corporate owned media has manufactured the perception of a battlefield upon which we believe a political battle is taking place. There is no battle taking place with a goal of improving the financial security of average Americans. The only war taking place with is the war upon the American people that began 30+ years ago and the mega-rich have won every battle to date via the status quo two-party game. Via their divide and conquer warfare played out within their media the middleclass in America has been destroyed via tax breaks for the mega-rich that amassed even more money at the top, the creation mega-corporate monopolies, the idea of a global economy and political corruption so deep, so entrenched that the American people no longer even pay attention to it. What takes place within the media is nothing more than an elaborate contrived illusion, just like the theater of the absurd that takes place in Congress via your big screen TV. The mega-million dollar bets on both red and blue are already placed by the aristocracy, so what happens on stage is just for gullible voters to take in. On election night, we may as well replace the beauty queen news bimbos with Vanna White from the Wheel of Fortune. We can call the show, the Wheel
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of Misfortune and Vanna can strut her stuff and shake her money maker across stage all evening turning states to red or blue. No matter the color of the game board at the end of the night all red or all blue the winner is always the same . . . the mega-rich of course. Havent we been played for suckers long enough? Please dont think there are not a multitude of other objectives that take place via the media machine beyond political control and maintenance of the status quo . . . there are of course. With market share being chief among them, as long as the people are polarized and divided, the rest is gravy in the form of profits and big money. If ever there was a win-win for the meg-rich, their media machine is it. Complete political control and even more money . . . whats not to like? You watch, they feed you the brand of comfort food you brain has been conditioned to crave and they charge their buddies in the corporate world big bucks for access to your brain. The ideologues both progressive and conservative alike must get their daily fix in order to remain blinded to the divide and conquer game being played. United we win and divided we fall and economically, we the people have been falling to for 30+ years. Liberals, conservatives, progressives, evangelicals, black, white, brown, gay, straight, white collar, blue collar, union, non-union and what you have is an American ripe for the taking by the mega-rich who are 100 percent united. Their ranks dont bend, their ranks dont fold, they stay on message and they march forward everyday in their efforts to march us all into the sea of poverty. While a cornucopia a media watchdog groups provide the people with a sense of balance, in truth, most all are party-only mouthpieces that keep the people divided. As far as balance or objectivity with both sides of any economic issue being presented, its pretty much just their brand of dog food only. As far as fixing the media by legislating some grand utopian vision such as the fairness doctrine, whereby both sides of every issue get equal air time . . . forget about it . . . just more utopian worthless BS! Money gets ink and air time and thats not going to change as long as you watch, read and buy the products and services being pushed. All media operates via advertising and all advertising is driven by market share a.k.a. YOU. You watch or read, the media charges advertisers for your eyeballs and that money funds the so called news you get. Who are the advertisers . . . the mega-rich and their multinational corporate holdings who of course dictate one version of news promoting a wonderful global economy, a failed two-party political system with never any focus whatsoever on the massive wealth inequality that exists within America and how the money is maneuvered politically out of the hands of the middle-class. Why anyone would find that surprising is beyond comprehension? You get what you pay for within the currently corrupted political system know as that shinning city on a hill in political circles. While media watchdog and media reform advocacy groups are a critical component of reform, they are almost all so political party only biased that everything you read, everything they present must be scrubbed thoroughly to wash off the red or blue stain. As far as true change with immediate impact, heres a better idea: just cut the media garbage machine off! Just stop watching, stop filling your brain with the daily dribble of cable news manure. Stop and think about it. What does taking in such manure, banter, talking head babble, pundits, so called experts and the endless back and forth contrived arguments do to inform you or further any solutions whatsoever to solve the massive economic problems we now have? Answer: Nothing! Sound bites, gotcha politics, political theater and breaking news hysteria are the only thing that arrives via the cable news pipe coming into your living room. Who needs it, what purpose does it serve?
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Its all about revenues via market share and its we the people that give them the power to fill our brains with more inflammatory gotcha politics manure. Whether its MSNBC pushing the Sarah Palin button yet one more time or Fox News pushing the birther button on president, Obama it is all contrived garbage designed to pull in market share a.k.a. making money. The American people of course take the dog food, go off to their respective camps and chase their own tails in an exercise of absolute and total futility. What changes do polarization and manipulation games bring about, when were prodded to fight each other instead of the true adversary? Sarah Palin is a media creation who doesnt have a chance in hell of ever being elected again to any political office including dog catcher and where Obama was born, or not born, has no bearing whatsoever on the future of the American Dream. For any feeble minded American to be taken in like suckers by wasting any time whatsoever upon such manipulation hot buttons being pushed just furthers the game being played the media moguls. Strip them of their market share a.k.a. money and well begin to get something that more resembles the truth. Just as important, if not more, the American psyche and collective brain will actually function once again, instead of being constantly short circuited via cable news static. While events such as Comcast acquiring most of NBCs media holdings to further consolidate all of our media in the hands of only a few is alarming and should have be stopped putting the brakes to the media garbage machine is located on our fingertips via the remote. The button is marked off now push it! Yes, of course America will still tune in for brief periods to get the latest news event, but then cut if off! Every hour that cable news runs on your TV, is another hour of eyeball market share the mega-rich media moguls can bill out to corporate advertisers to perpetuate the cycle of manure spreading. Just send your cable news vehicle of choice an e-mail that says, Start reporting on the disappearing middle-class, wealth inequality in America, the oligarchy, government corruption and alternative political movements to the two-party game and until you do, Im hitting the off button! Then, just cut if off . . . Just imagine the joy, in a year or so, when you tune back in and all beauty queen news bimbos are wearing the same rags youre wearing instead of designer fashions. Imagine actual investigative journalism where the mega-rich hold on America is exposed, the pay-to-play connections, the cronyism, the corruption of our political system and the political spin games are put to rest. Imagine wow them charts that show just how many good American jobs have gone off shore and how many are leaving by the day as well as the mega-rich CEOs behind the efforts being exposed. Imagine, investigations into every corrupt trade agreement negotiated and passed over the past 30+ years to benefit the mega-rich and every member of Congress who voted for them being exposed. How about an extensive week long investigative report on the politics of poverty, the immigration issue, the driving downward of wages by new immigrants and how the media and Party B benefit from the race and xenophobia game being played? Thats called news America! What we now get, via the cable pipe, doesnt even resemble news, most especially news we can use to fight back the oligarchy and restore the American Dream. As long as we participate, feed the politics of division and settle for mindless drivel and react to the latest manufactured hot button issue of the day well continue chasing our tails in futility. Accurate information exists, as demonstrated via the many breakout resources herein, but the American people have to search them out instead of eating contrived dog food and more importantly . . . use what we have! Its about a singular
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focus, instead of being taken in by the diversion tactics deployed by the mega-rich media machine. Its about trusting and supporting each other with alternative news sources, blogs, micro-websites with citizen journalist behind them. Obviously such alternatives have to be tethered to reality, validated and verified to preclude becoming yet another source of misinformation, but that comes down to critical thinking by the American people. There seems to be yet another feeble minded conspiracy theorist around every corner and with blogs and cyberspace it just gets worse by the day, but with some balance critical thinking and effort to validate accurate information exists. When we ask, whats the money motivation behind everything viewed, read or listened to . . . truth becomes clear. Whether its the mega-rich, utilizing culture wars or dead economic solutions for a time long past [circa the industrial revolution], or a political party willing to deploy any means to either gain or hold onto power its always about the money!!!!! Follow the money trail to unravel the spin and the truth will always become clear. The sad thing is that virtually nothing exists within the media that is not a thinly veiled political party mouthpiece. What is progressive news or conservative news? What ever happened to truth news with objectivity and balance? The federal government and most states are broke and in red ink up to their necks. Its a fact and stating that fact doesnt make someone a conservative or member of the Tea Party. Americans are suffering and starving by the millions, are unemployed and desperately need jobs. Does stating that truth make someone a progressive or does it just indicate they are in touch with reality? Clearly, we no longer live in a democracy and are ruled by the mega-rich with their boot on the throat of every American. Does speaking that truth make someone unpatriotic, a radical and a rebel rouser? No! It simply means they are engaged enough to understand the issues and see the truth . . . nothing more. To hell with all the trite, mindless little tags dividing America from focusing on our real economic issues! In between all these truths are enough spin, manipulation, political party dogma and manure to muddy any water . . . it divides, it distracts and diverts attention from the real issues and stands as a roadblock to any real solutions. Only with informed judgments, accurate information and critical thinking will America recover in time to save the American Dream. When it comes to the media, the time has come to take off the blinders, see the mega-rich and political party first objectives behind every news and information source only by reviewing both sides of every issue and following the money path do we have any chance to actually arrive at the truth!
Breakout Resource(s): FactCheck.org http://www.factcheck.org/ Free Press Net http://www.freepress.net/
Setting Political and Economic Priorities Any American concerned and committed enough to have trudged this far into this book, has to realize by now that the oligarchy referred to as our government is so entrenched, so pervasive and so formidable that only a true revolution by the people
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will bring about change. While the term revolution conjures up images of bloodshed, no where herein has this book called for any efforts outside of peaceful means working within the system to bring about a revolution . . . nor are any efforts outside of peaceful means required. However, please do NOT associate the word peaceful to mean easy, because nothing about this transformation is going to be simple or easy! If we had the time and luxury to focus only upon political reforms and then move on to the beginnings of a legislative agenda to address the U.S. economy, jobs and massive wealth disparity . . . it would be far easier than what we are faced with confronting. Understand that because our political system is so corrupt that in many cases we cant get the legislative reforms until and unless we achieve the political reforms. We have to confront both agendas simultaneously and every step of the way well confront a corrupt political class of incumbents that will resist every single change we must now force through. Understand that Party A and Party B along with their mega-rich handlers like this game just the way it is and have no intentions whatsoever of allowing it to be changed. More importantly understand that most, if not all, of every single position, piece of legislation, focus and initiative laid out and called for herein are backed by the majority of the American people according to polling data . . . whether you agree with them or not. That should clearly tell you two undeniable things: 1) Our political class in America is completely out of touch with everyday Americans and 2) The loose platform as laid out herein neither matches that of Party A or Party B. That simply means that we cannot achieve the overwhelming will of the people if we bite and swallow the current lure being dangled either Party A or Party B. Both of the two failed political parties must be thrown under the bus and a massive transformation must take place in order to achieve the economic objectives of the people in order to save what is left of the American Dream. While the media and the world focus on the so called Arab Spring, the day is now at hand to deliver an American autumn unlike any change witnessed in America since the Revolutionary War. The day has arrived for the true patriots to rise up and reclaim America from the greedy and return rule to the people the way it was envisioned by our founding fathers. If not accomplished, America will enter an American winter ice age of no return. Much of the transformation will require replacing the political class ruling both political parties, the emergence of new political parties along with hundreds of independent candidates who owe little or nothing to any political party or the mega-rich. Clearly the very people and political system that got us into this economic quagmire cant be the people tasked with getting us out, nor are they the people we can trust to reform government and return rule of America to the people. Nonetheless, we cant just go vote for the lesser of two evils until someone good comes along . . . then work for change. Instead we have to force change down the throats of the existing political class, while working to replace them with citizen government . . . in order to win and to bring about change that will improve the financial lives of all Americans. The first step is that we the people must set aside the culture wars, the religious and social issues and focus only on financial survival a.k.a. the money! Were being played and manipulated like rats in a maze via a propaganda machine run by the mega-rich that has us fighting each other and working against our own self interest economically. The monetary losses, the financial damage, the 30+ year losing streak for 90 percent of the America people are facts! They cannot be denied, they cannot be glossed over and when communicated in the absence of culture wars, social issues, diversion tactics and
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smokescreens they ring true with almost every single American. We the informed have however lost the propaganda war and will continue to lose that war as long as we allow to political class to focus on anything except the economy, good jobs and the massive wealth disparity in America. Only the brain dead can be presented with the facts herein that document the massive wealth at the top of the American food chain and believe that tax cuts for the mega-rich are the key to restoring our economy. Yet, millions of Americans continue to buy into the idea that the mega-rich just dont have enough money and if we give them even more, they will come to our rescue. When the top 1 percent own 40 of America and take in half of all the yearly income within our entire nation . . . only an idiot would vote to give them even more money via tax breaks as the key to correct our economic course. The American people simply dont know the facts and they will never know the facts as long as we sit by idle and passive and wait for it to be reported on cable TV. It is not going to happen because the mega-rich own the airwaves and the TV pipes. Therefore it is up to every informed American to do their part to overcome the billions being spent to obscure the truth and divert the focus of America on anything but the massive wealth disparity in this nation. Understand that this communication effort simply cant be won in a nation divided with trite little political tags such as progressive, liberal and conservative. Facts are facts, statistics are statistics, hard data is hard data and none of the facts and statistics herein constitute progressive, liberal or conservative facts. Its a fact that almost 90 percent of America has been losing their shirt for 30+ years. Its a fact that the vast majority of new immigrants into America arent able to make it without government assistance. Its a fact that nearly no one in America inherits one single dime when their parents estate is settled. Its a fact that government red ink at all levels threatens to bankrupt our entire nation. Its a fact that the top 1 percent of Americans now own 40 percent of all the stocks, bonds and property in the U.S. Its a fact that supply side economic theory a.k.a. trickle down is and always has been nothing but a huge money-grab by the mega-rich. Over the course of 30+ years, all the data, all the statistics and all the facts surrounding wealth accumulation for average Americans prove trickle down economics to be a complete abysmal failure! The reason that message doesnt get through is quite simple and succinct it is delivered with a liberal and progressive tag that includes a social re-engineering agenda and nothing that resembles fiscal constraint that many Americans simply cant stomach. As long as that is the reality, average Americans will continue to be marched financially into the sea by the greedy. The only solution is for the left and right ideologues to be kicked to the curb and replaced with average citizens holding political office who are focused on providing legislative solutions. As long as the typical messenger is someone that labels themselves as a liberal or conservative instead of discussing economic solutions alone we the people will lose the propaganda war. This is about money and only about money and has zero to do with culture wars, social re-engineering agendas or progressive, liberal or conservative tags! Until and unless that message is delivered, free from all the inconsequential by comparison issues outside of money . . . the mega-rich will continue to win the propaganda war. As long as America clings to their trite, small minded political tags, we will continue being washed out to sea by the mega-rich in charge of this game. Its just that straight forward and simple! Without a singular focus on jobs, the economy and wealth disparity . . . we the people will continue to lose. No sane, logical human can look at all the data, statistics and the numbers and still believe in supply side economics and trickle down theory. No one can look at the almost
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$13 T in debt and financial losses the American people are now sitting upon [due to Wall Streets greed] and agree that less regulation of Wall Street is good for America and the economy. Nonetheless, if you label such history, facts, data and statistics as progressive and or liberal and muddy the water even further with a culture war agenda to include religion, gun control, abortion, gay rights and everything else under the sun . . . many in America will die, literally, before they accept the economic truth that supply-side economic theory is a hoax. We can agree to disagree on everything else, but we can no longer disagree on economic issues. The evidence is in, the facts speak for themselves and the noose around the neck of the American people is tightening by the day. America must be forced to simply drop the trite political tags and just confront the facts. Its why all the culture war issues have to put aside and instead we must now focus on our economic issues 24/7/365. The culture wars and a strong U.S. economy, jobs and massive wealth disparity have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with one another. They dont fit together, they dont go together, that dont relate to one another and the economy and culture wars have nothing whatsoever in common! Culture wars, social issues, God, guns and the flag are simply the manipulation tools of the mega-rich to squeeze more money from under the American Monopoly board. This book is focused upon the same exact thing that the mega-rich are focused upon the money! Until and unless average Americans becomes focused on their money a.k.a. a strong U.S. economy, jobs and the massive wealth disparity . . . well continue to lose financially as a population. Culture wars have nothing whatsoever to do with the money, except as a manipulation tool abscond with more wealth. No different than the immigration issue has nothing whatsoever to do with compassion, but instead is an economic issue entirely . . . manipulated into a tool to gain political power for money. The economic well being of people within a society cannot be secured with an unregulated flow of new immigrants competing for an ever fewer number of good jobs. Because we have no clean political parties, with no clear economic agendas or policies to re-level the economic playing field, were stuck with two horrible alternatives. Even though both political parties are responsible for the massive red ink at all levels of government, no one in their right mind has any real faith that Party B is capable of making the very difficult fiscally responsible decisions now mandated. On the other hand, if Party A were given carte blanche political control they have already aptly proven their cuts will be made only along the lines of their ideological political control agenda. That agenda will crush the people and place them even more firmly under the boot of the mega-rich. Pick your poison America . . . we the people are sitting in the back seat of a vehicle while Party A and Party B fight for the political wheel as we drive off a cliff of no return. If allowed, they will fight their ideological wars at our expense and kill us all in the process. There is a missing political party and political agenda in America that is somewhere in the middle. A party that is NOT focused upon dependency, such as Party B which perpetuates poverty and a wealth divide by playing the immigration race and xenophobia card to gain and hold the reigns of power instead of working to re-level the playing field. A party thats answer to every problem in America is NOT giving more money to the mega-rich. A party that is NOT all about removing sensible regulations, most especially from Wall Street, in the hope that some nickels and dimes trickle down to the peasants via an environment of greed and corruption.
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While Party A and B fiddle, America burns. Just like with the HC debate for more than a solid year, now its the red ink debate 24/7 and nothing whatsoever about anything else. The word multitasking is not in the vocabulary of Congress and anything that diverts Americans attention from the wealth divide the media machine of the mega-rich is all too happy to perpetuate. All the air sucked out of the room once again with zero emphasis on a strong U.S. economy, jobs and reduction of the massive wealth disparity in America. Different issue, same lack of emphasis on what really matters a.k.a. an inept disconnected political class living within the Washington, D.C. beltway completely out of touch with Main Street America. The reason that neither party will take on and confront the economic issues, job creation and massive wealth disparity in America is because, in most cases, it requires biting the mega-rich hand that feeds them. Repealing NAFTA or any of the other horrible trade agreements with low wage nations cut profits for corporate American and trims the stock dividends for the mega-rich. The same goes for raising tariffs for selected economic segments of imported goods and services sourced or produced off shore by cheap slave labor to benefit corporate America and the mega-rich. Congress could compel the hiring of Americans almost overnight with either a carrot or stick tax/tariff legislation, but again, that will impact the mega-rich who own them. They will debate health care, red ink, dont ask dont tell or anything else possible before they will finally confront the real issues behind job creation, a strong U.S. based economy and massive wealth disparity in America. The real issue is not the economy, jobs or massive wealth disparity, but instead it is the fact that we are now governed via an oligarchy. We have a system of government that has been overtaken by the mega-rich and two political parties that are beholding to them for their existence. Furthermore, both the political parties are living in the past with extremely antiquated economic views of a world that has changed while their brains are still somewhere back in the industrial revolution that ended long before the 1970s. Strict adherence to an unrestrained free market for labor that sources from anywhere in the world simply dictates that the majority of Americans will lose out for decades to come, just as we have lost out for more than 30+ years. If hiring can go anywhere, via the avenues of imported goods and Internet based labor pools, sound business 101 principles dictate that it will always go to the lowest cost source possible. Selected industries exporting into the U.S. marketplace must be forced to hire Americans if they want access to this market and corporate America must be forced to hire Americans whenever possible. Some nebulous idea of cutting the corporate tax rate in the hope they will hire Americans and pay them a living wage . . . is a proposal for fools. Without teeth and strict measurements in place, corporate America will simply take the money and run to hire elsewhere . . . as they have done for 30+ years. What is it that America doesnt get? What is it that Congress doesnt get about this post industrial revolution reality? While the world has continued to spin and change more rapidly by the day, the political class in America is stuck in a pre 1970s era hell bent on fighting their ideological battles at our expense no matter how many Americans suffer the financial consequences of unemployment, poverty and starvation. Its always about the party and political careers and never about the American people! As long as Congress and state legislatures are allowed sell out American citizens for personal and political gains they will. As long as America at large continues to be baffled, confused and remains unfocussed on a strong U.S. economy, jobs and
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correcting the massive wealth disparity the political class will be allowed to skirt the issues and continue to deliver no solutions. Furthermore, as long as the American people still believe we live in a democracy, where their voice and vote counts when nothing could be further from that truth well continue down the dead status quo road weve been on for decades. Gaining and maintaining that one singular national focus is not going to arrive via the cable news bimbos in designer fashions, nor is it going to come voluntarily from the halls of Congress. The mega-rich who own both are hell bent on keeping the American people divided and distracted with any issue possible except for what actually matters. As a result, the average American knows only two things: they either dont have a job or are worried about losing the one they have and they are more financially challenged than at any time previously. They dont know why, they dont know the issues and most dont have the slightest clue as to what has been happening to middle-class Americans over the course of the past 30+ years. It is high time that readers of this book and other books and resources on the topics . . . got the word out to our fellow citizens. Despite all the books, websites, news vehicles, cable TV, etc., we are the most uninformed nation on the face of the Earth when it comes to economic issues, jobs and the massive wealth disparity that exists in America. Each enlightened America must now understand that it is their job to educate and disseminate the information herein as well as from other sources. If not, no change will occur and we as a nation will continue down the path of a financial train wreck. Wealth disparity will only increase along with unemployment, homelessness, wage stagnation, poverty and starvation. Since corporate America and the mega-rich own the media pipes, the information has to come from what constitutes an underground movement in America to inform and enlighten fellow citizens as to what is really going on. As a nation, our collective economic IQ must rise markedly and quickly in order for average Americans to understand what monopolies and massive wealth only at the top really mean for average citizens. They must be forced to see where pay-to-play and unhinged political corruption has gotten us. America at large has to be shown the manipulation techniques, trained to see through the freedom and liberty smokescreens and most of all . . . America has to be smart enough to follow the money and or political power grabs behind every single game being played by the political class. Once America finally understands that all the noise, the political posturing, the games and both political parties are about only two things: money or political power to funnel money . . . all becomes clear. We have a completely corrupted system of government that no longer serves the needs of the people. Its an elaborate pyramid scheme whereby the mega-rich always win and the people always lose financially. These realities must be disseminated in blogs, e-mails, websites, Facebook, etc. until the American people at large finally realize that weve all been had and played for fools for well over three decades. Its you that has to get the word out, you that has to take the data, statistics and information herein and spread it far and wide and its you that has to be the information conduit to bring about change. Otherwise its not going to happen. First and foremost, change is about information and education. There is virtually nothing countering the massive propaganda fire hose owned by the mega-rich. To see just how powerful their fire hose is, consider that Wall Street pulled off the biggest scam upon the American people in history and left average citizens holding the bag for almost $13 T in
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damages . . . yet we are still fighting amongst ourselves instead of against the American aristocracy. How can that be? How can anyone in America be advocating for repeal of the pathetic Wall Street reforms before they even become implemented? Even in view of the Wall Street heist that ruined our entire economy, consider just how many Americans are currently buying into the freedom and liberty propaganda to roll back regulations upon Wall Street and you can clearly see just how powerful the force we are fighting really is. We the people are fighting a propaganda monster, a behemoth media machine that can make Americans believe absolutely anything whatsoever because no force in America is confronting their lies with truth, facts and hard data that simply cannot be denied. Just as insane as rolling back the pathetic Wall Street reforms, are the freedom and liberty simpletons preaching American exceptionalism while all average Americans are being murdered economically within a free trade world economy. The only people winning at this game are the mega-rich, yet Americans by the millions are being brainwashed to work, vote and purchase against their own economic self interest. Is it we, the enlightened, that have to counter the propaganda. We have to set the agenda, we have to control the conversation and we have to ensure that the present political class along with the American people focus on nothing other than jobs, a strong U.S. economy and the massive wealth disparity in America. In doing so, we have to combine that message with the reality that it is political corruption, the status quo, payto-play, cronyism, PAC money, 527s, massive campaign contributions, revolving doors, lobbyists and the entire business as usual environment that dominates Washington, D.C. and state legislatures . . . that is responsible for hanging all average Americans by their financial necks. It is massive political corruption and cronyism that is responsible for our economic plight, not China or all the other scapegoats and smokescreens being thrown at the American people. The corruption, via Wall Street ties to Washington, D.C., almost wiped out our entire U.S. economy and yet America still doesnt seem to get it? This, system of government is simply no longer working and the time for massive reforms in the way business is conducted in Washington, D.C. and state capitols is NOW! If not now, then when America? While the mountain to be climbed is tall and formidable, perhaps the most disheartening fact of all is that parents and grandparents who have brought children into this world are the most apathetic of all. It is unconscionable, irresponsible and a gross failure of duty to continue supporting the status quo and to leave an oligarchy form of government in place for our children and their children. With the trends documented herein, left to fester without a revolution, what do parents and grandparents think the future holds for employment, the economy and wealth disparity going forward? If the existence of an oligarchy didnt impact prospects for personal financial security and upward mobility going forward or American families were giving birth to puppies instead of humans it wouldnt matter. How can any informed American parent sit at the dinner table and look into the eyes of their children and do nothing to change a corrupt government structure that is destroying the American Dream? Virtually no one in America currently foresees a better financial life for their children than what they had yet apathy and resignation prevails throughout America. How can that be?
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Americans seem to believe that getting their child to school and soccer practice is as far as their parental obligation goes. Doesnt political activism do more to ensure the future wellbeing of your child or grandchild than soccer practice? In school, children get a steady dose of Valley Forge, George Washington and the idea that we live in a democracy. At a minimum shouldnt we at least include a chapter on lobbyists, cronyism, pay-to-play and the massive government corruption that currently exists rather than have our children brought up on antiquated history lessons? Even better than that, shouldnt we work to ensure that the history books reflect the truth by bringing about a political revolution that delivers upon the ideals set forth in the history books? Otherwise, we should just tell our children the truth which is that we are one nation ruled by the mega-rich and all will suffer under their well heeled boot of slavery. We should teach them that upward mobility is a remnant of the past and they cannot be anything they want to be when they grow up. Instead they should expect an ever declining standard of living until such time as the pay and standard of living for 6 billion other inhabitants of the planet rises to our level. We should teach then that we have no representative form of government and the best way to make it in the world ahead is to kiss the feet of the mega-rich in charge of the game. Almost no one in America wants to face the truth, much less tell their children the truth. We all want to pretend that everything is A-OK and that even though were going through a tough economic time that its just a bump in the road. Well America it is NOT a bump in the road, but instead is a mountain to climb! Furthermore, any American that believes that the status quo, the two political party ideological games and continued massive corruption at all levels of government will get us over the economic hump may as well the kiss the American Dream for all future generations good bye! The solutions put forth in Part II are just a rudimentary beginning of what needs to be accomplished in order to restore the American Dream. Yet those solutions alone constitute a mountain to climb in light of the political realities we face. We certainly cant climb that mountain, much less the others to follow, as a divided nation tagged as progressive, conservative, liberal, evangelical, social conservative or social liberal. We also cant climb the mountain by playing partisan political party games that only serve the interest of the two political parties and never the people. Clearly America is the most confused, unfocussed, splintered and uninformed population imaginable when it comes to economic issues, jobs and wealth disparity. When you consider that more than 8.5+ million jobs were lost during the Great Recession, some 30+ million Americans are underemployed or unemployed and that millions and millions more jobs will be lost via austerity measures . . . how is it that our political class is allowed to focus upon and discuss anything that does not encompass private sector job creation in America? How did health care reform suck all the air out of the room for more than a year? It happens quite simply because we the people allow it to happen and the political class doesnt have the willpower and backbone to confront the mega-rich that own them. Whatever your political tag, no matter your political party affiliation, if our political class hasnt yet figured out that America needs at least 20+ million new jobs to be created or brought back to America and without that becoming reality almost overnight thousands of people will literally starve to death . . . then we are a rudderless nation with no political leadership whatsoever. Fight all you want over budget cuts, but it will do little
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to change the reality that we must have millions and millions of private sector jobs created to fill the void left from budget cuts. The political class simply cannot be allowed one moment longer to focus upon anything whatsoever other than the economy, jobs and wealth disparity. Were so far behind the curve in replacing the millions of jobs lost to the Great Recession and the millions more that will be lost to austerity measures that if legislative measures were put into place tomorrow, to begin plugging the private sector jobs hole, it will take years to bear fruit. Yet our political class is discussing nothing, doing nothing and passing nothing to even begin the process of filling the jobs hole. Nothing demonstrates the reality of a political class more out of touch with Main Street reality more than zero movement whatsoever on the jobs front. Only an elitist political class living in the beltway bubble of Washington, D.C. could be this out of touch with the American people. Therefore it is we the people that have to bring the focus, we have to drive the dialog and we have to both educate and deliver the solutions. Otherwise our current political class will do nothing but continue to play partisan political games, cater to the mega-rich and allow millions of Americans to starve via even more unemployment driven by austerity measures. The America people no longer have a choice to be non-political, passive and apathetic. Anyone that trusts the political class to drive the discussion or to lead us forward is waiting on something that is not going to happen. It all starts with average Americans, just like you, getting the information, data, statistics and issues out to their fellow Americans. The communication vehicles we now have at our disposal via social media, blogs, Facebook, websites and e-mail are so vast and so powerful that no efforts by the mega-rich can stop the truth from getting through. Individually and as a nation, the average American is sinking financially like a rock and the worst is yet to come if America at large is not awakened. While there are a myriad of individual issues such as off shore labor and trade imbalances that have impacted the financial losses for middle-class America for more than 30+ years the American people dont understand that it is greed by the mega-rich that is propelling it all. Until America awakens and learns to follow the money and disentangle the political rhetoric from the quests for political power well continue being blinded by smokescreens and political ploys. Until it becomes all about the people and not about the political party, well continue down a divided path toward economic devastation. As things stand now, the America of the future will have no middle-class, but instead will be ruled by only a few mega-rich individuals and families. Everyone else will live in Third World poverty among the unemployed or working poor a.k.a. slave labor. In the best case scenario it will occur in a continued fairly slow progression that is picking up momentum by the day. In the worst case scenario it will occur along with a massive and complete breakdown of society that includes lawlessness and violence the likes of which America has never before witnessed. Americans by the millions must be forced to see what has occurred already via ownership of our government by the mega-rich and they must be forced to look down the road ahead. As ugly as it is, average Americans must now be forced to look at the numbers, the data and the statistics before it is too late! That is not going to happen without enlightened Americans reaching out beyond their comfort zones and trite political tags to quell the misinformation, propaganda and diversion tactics being fed to America like a fire hose by a media machine owned by the mega-rich. Be it the dead economic theory of trickle down economics, the bending of the Bible by the radical right to further more greed or the twisting of the immigration issue by
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the fringe left to make it appear to be about racism and xenophobia instead about economic opportunity for America citizens its all about political power, greed and money and not about what is best for the America people. Its all about the money, its always going to be all about the money as long as we are ruled by an elitist political class and until America gets that fact, were doomed. The mega-rich, the two dominate political parties and 99 percent of the entire political-class are all about the money and until and unless the American people focus on the money, well lose! Whether it is a diversion issue, or actual legislation that impacts our wallets, everything that goes on politically is all about the money. As long as the American people believe it is about anything else, well continue to be led down the road of financial ruin. Love should make the world go around, but wishing that were so doesnt make it so. Democracy should be about the good of all Americans, but we dont have a democracy and wishing for change and dong nothing to bring about that change is about as worthwhile as awaiting the arrival of the tooth fairy. No political savior is coming and as long as we leave change up to someone else, we will only continue to slide into an economic and financial abyss by staying the status quo course with a dial that is currently set upon economic doom for all average Americans. Change and Reformation a How To Guide Write your members of Congress/state legislatures, join/support advocacy groups and dont forget to vote . . . and the issues of wealth inequality, jobs and a strong U.S. economy will be solved, right? Wrong! The political class and the mega-rich who own them would love for America to buy into, or continue buying, the idea that the three steps above will bring about a revolution and actually change the reality in Washington, D.C. and in state legislatures. For many Americans, perhaps even most, even the three simple steps above would be far more than they have ever done in their lifetimes to participate in the democratic process. Yet they wonder why this democracy thing isnt working, why all the wealth has been accumulated at the top, why there are no jobs and why average American citizens continue to get screwed by the mega-rich and our political class. While the steps above are now an absolute must for economic survival, the reasons why they are not going to be enough are so numerous that its almost impossible to enumerate, but lets try anyway. First and foremost, the above steps dont work and wont work if those are the only efforts put forth by the American people because were currently given no choices but to vote in the rich and members of the leisure class [who have the time and resources to participate in politics]. In other words America, the political system is rigged, fixed and it is currently a foregone conclusion that only a member of one of the two parties can get elected. As long as the two dominate political parties can keep it a 50/50 proposition only backed by the mega-rich we the people will continue to lose financially. As the political system is currently set-up, almost no one can get into Congress or state legislatures without first selling their soul to the devil a.k.a. the mega-rich . . . simply because the costs of campaigning are too extravagant. Because the mega-rich own the media, no one but their hand chosen candidates get any face and air time to be exposed to the voting public. Essentially, the mega-rich allow us to either pick someone from Party A or Party B and those are the only choices allowed. The two parties, in every state, have fixed the system to keep independents and third parties out of the game, but that can be overcome and changed.
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Tied to that reality is the fact that most Americans still see incumbency as good for their district and incumbents almost always have the financial advantage. Here is the biggest problem in a nutshell: as of June 2011 the approval rating of Congress was 18 percent and their approval has been in the pits for years and years, however, when asked about their respective members of Congress, most Americans approve. The result is that election cycle after election cycle we get the same crooks with longstanding ties to the mega-rich because almost no one in America will vote anti-incumbent or replace their party incumbent with someone new. We go with the status quo over and over and then we wonder why our economy is horrible and why we have been sold out? We, as a nation, are so economically uneducated, so misinformed, so pliable and so easily manipulated by media whoever runs the most commercials usually wins. Virtually no one in America goes to a website such as opensecrets.org and looks up the campaign financing of their candidates . . . then when the candidate does exactly what they are paid to do via campaign contributors we act surprised and wonder why democracy doesnt work? Were a nation whose brains have been cooked by political marketing and massive media manipulation. As your guide for this book, I stated early on that a vast background in marketing and advertising made me uniquely qualified to write a book of this type . . . you undoubtedly questioned that assertion. Well America, if you havent figured it out by now, youll never get it . . . the truth is that to date, for more than 3 decades, all political maneuvering is nothing whatsoever but a marketing, advertising and propaganda fire hose directed by our greedy aristocracy. Thats it, nothing else, total and complete BS!!! Decade after decade of nothing but spin via marketing blitzes and PR campaigns masquerading as the political process and democracy and we have all been total suckers! Its a carnival game where someone is allowed to win every once in awhile so more suckers will line up to play. As long as someone like Mark Zukerberg of Facebook walks away with a big stuffed bear every once in awhile . . . we fail to see who is behind our economic carnival game and continue lining up to play a game that is fixed for Ivy Leaguers such as Zukerberg. Here is the truth America. If you have enough money, enough spin masters and can control what people see, hear and talk about . . . you can sell anyone anything and there is no limit whatsoever as to what can be sold to include ice to Eskimos or anything else. It is just a fact of marketing and advertising and that is all politics is . . . pure unmitigated marketing spin. If marketing and advertising can convince a fat middle-age man that he will find hot young love if he buys a BMW and Viagra . . . why, for even a moment, would you not believe that advertising, marketing and control of the media could not put anyone in the White House or in any seat in Congress? If that is possible, then manipulating Americans to work directly against their own economic self interests is a piece of cake with the advertising and marketing expertise at the fingertips of the mega-rich who have unlimited funding and budgets. We are a nation that loves to be lied to and weve been lied to over and over for more than 30+ years by a political class that will promise anything to get elected into office . . . just so they can sell us all out while laughing all the way to the bank. In all advertising and marketing if you simply tell people what they want to hear and do it enough times they will buy. It is marketing 101: buy enough exposures and the suckers will line up at your door. In politics its a simple message of requiring no pain, no
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sacrifice, no reality checks and promising to return America to the land of milk and honey. Add in a good speech writer, some compelling video, patriotic music, wave the flag and voila youre elected or re-elected. Since no network or news vehicle is allowed to cover any candidate that is not a member of either Party A or Party B . . . its a locked in 50/50 proposition for the mega-rich puppet masters [since most Americans delve no further than TV or obvious newspaper and Internet outlets]. Once a candidate has overcome the 50/50 game of chance, theyre almost set for life unless they really screw up big time. If they make it to the Senate they are set for 6 years no matter what and even with a two year term in the House, most will get elected to at least another term or two. Since there is no Congressional recall button for American voters and only the possibility of expulsion by their fellow band of thieves via laughable ethics committees there is no heat in the kitchen until the next election season. As long as a member of Congress has a little common sense, covers their tracks and isnt too outlandish the chances for a Justice Department or FBI investigation into their activities are minimal . . . most especially since most political corruption is presently categorized as ethical as opposed to criminal. After all, criminal prosecution is for us commoners . . . not the aristocracy. Now, with such a cushy position inside the Washington, D.C. beltway secured [for at least a couple of years at a time], consider that thousands and thousands of e-mails, letters, petitions, etc. arrive into Congress every single day to the tune of at least a couple hundred of thousand per year if not more. All from lowly constituents or slightly elevated slugs such as citizen advocacy groups who have, by comparison, paid little or no money for attention from the political class via campaign contributions and cronyism. On average, a member of Congress has around 14 staff members. Typically a couple of interns or the kids just out of college handle all the phone calls e-mails, petitions, etc. that arrive from lowly constituents. Its the job of the interns and the kids just out of college to simply pat citizens on the head like children and make them go away. In order to accomplish this lowly mission, they are fully equipped with form letters and canned responses to any and all issues and pieces of legislation that may be on the citizen agenda. In most cases, the citizen gets a letter or a canned e-mail and they go away with pride, no matter the response, because a letter arrived on congressional letterhead or a mass e-mail was sent to make it look individualized. Even for the rare citizen that is still impressed for a time with congressional letterhead, etc., after awhile frustration with the same old games of corruption and cronyism mount and the citizen just goes away. While a responsive member of Congress and true concern over any citizen issue is rare, simply because it is special interest and lobbyists that get attention in Washington, D.C. a new phenomenon has emerged to make it even worse. In the beltway its called clicktivism and most Americans who are even a little engaged politically have participated. Its the e-mail from some advocacy group that provides a click here to send an e-mail or to sign a petition, etc. Behind all the clicking are well intentioned companies selling software and database management tools to make all the click here political activism happen with ease. The problem is two fold: A) to much clicking on far too many issues a.k.a. a lack of focus on a strong U.S. economy, jobs and wealth disparity and B) the assumption by the American people that clicktivism is actually an effective lobbying tool.
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Bad news America, its going to take a lot more effort to bring about change and a revolution than sitting at your computer and clicking your mouse. In an average year, more than $3.5 B is spent in Washington, D.C. alone on lobbyists, not to mention the billions spent in state capitols.1 So America has to understand that clicktivism is great and far better than doing nothing, but far more has to be done before a member of Congress will throw a lobbyist under the bus and do the right thing for the American people. Even if we were operating in a democracy, which of course were not, a lack of focus would hurt and merely clicking would have little effect, but this book is about facing up to actual reality and changing that reality . . . not about making readers feel good via lies and unrealistic expectations. Understand that there are thousands of advocacy groups all focused on a thousand different agendas attacking in an uncoordinated fashion. Thats just simply not going to work! Secondly, while this book documents that many groups are focused on the economy, jobs and wealth disparity there are far too few advocacy groups focused strictly upon the economic issues in America that truly matter. The reason for that is America has had it too good and too easy economically and weve never had to fight previously. There was plenty of wealth to go around and the economy was just left up to the political class and the Harvard economists. Advocate efforts could be vague and non-specific and the American people didnt have to educate themselves on issues such as trade agreements and trade imbalances. Well America those days are gone!!! Even though your voice will absolutely achieve far more volume via one or more advocacy groups, the individual groups cant be allowed to take your money and waste your time with splintered advocacy efforts that oftentimes distract or even compete with one another. If all or even most groups came together to push for campaign finance reform or repeal of the NAFTA agreement for instance . . . how long do you think it would be before we had movement in Congress? We could repeal NAFTA in less than 60 days. Instead of only pushing members of Congress, the time has come for citizens to push the thousands of advocacy groups to come together upon more common economic and political reform agendas. Its time these diverse groups were forced to grow up and focus on overcoming the bread and butter issues facing America instead of working toward utopia or their own individual niche issues. How do you get their attention? Easy, you put them on notice that you will be withholding your contributions and support until you see an effective coordinated strategy, working with other advocacy groups on common priorities to bring about change, instead of only talking 24/7 about change. Someone once said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and economically hell is the road were now on. Therefore, now is the time for some tough love and realistic expectations for advocacy results! Good intentions dont pay the bills . . . Simply tell all the advocacy groups not focused on a strong U.S. economy, jobs and wealth disparity that youll have to get back to them at another day and time. America now has far bigger issues to confront and overcome. As for the groups that are focused on the issues that count, ask them what happens to the clicktivism letters and petitions that supposedly travel through cyberspace to Congress? Who receives them, who do they go to, how high are their contacts within each congressional members staff and most importantly ask if all the letters, petitions and e-mails are physically hand delivered in duplicate to their cyberspace outreach? All advocacy groups are not created equal and its yet another reason why they must be forced to come together to work on
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common economic and political reform objectives. Millions of dollars per year go to advocacy groups and the time has come for those dollars to start paying huge economic dividends for the American people! Advocate groups need to feel the heat to deliver just like members of Congress. Since clicktivism obviously isnt working for the American people, the day and time has come to shut down Congress for a few days, via activist groups coming together to amass millions to takeover the capitol until they listen. A great issue to begin with would be campaign finance reform, the most important issue in America today by far! Clicking your mouse is simply not going to be enough to create the required revolution and the sooner America realizes this reality the better. Although it is clich to say that all politics are local, it is true that far too much emphasis is placed on national advocacy efforts. At the end of the day, either your individual member(s) of Congress is tuned in with your overall economic and political reform agenda [most especially when it comes to sponsorship of specific legislation], or they are not. The problem is that getting a politician to take a position on anything is like nailing Jello to tree. While some will give you a position, most will hedge while waiting to see what their party and the mega-rich that own them will allow. So when you receive their form letter saying how concerned they are about whatever issue it may be, if it doesnt give you a firm yes in support and more importantly their name as a sponsor of a specific bill you can quickly uncover if you should waste anymore of your time with them. Simple go to opensecrets.org or some other source and look up their campaign contributors, then look up their party line on the issue. At that point you pretty much know their position and potential vote should the legislation come to a vote. Nine times out of ten, they currently vote how they are paid to vote and in areas where there are not firm dollars, cronyism and paybacks on the table they will vote with their party 90 percent of the time. Its called democracy and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the people or the majority of citizen opinions expressed. Nonetheless, as you move through your series of issues, if you havent attained their position via news sources or research, youll over time learn if they are a keeper or its time to launch your personal campaign to oust them in the next election cycle. Via blogs, Facebook and e-mail, start your campaign immediately to move them out by exposing their campaign money sources and their voting record. If they voted for NAFTA or they take one single dime from Wall Street they have to go . . . this is not complex! You simply cant wait until November of the election year to make a difference. Bring the heat and bring it NOW! Understand that this review can no longer be just about specific economic issues and legislation, but just as importantly going forward, it must now be about congressional reforms and the way Washington, D.C. does business. When you combine the two arenas, youll quickly see that most of the incumbents in both political parties must now go most especially if they resist congressional reforms! This nation simply cant move forward and address the vast number of issues we now face with the present broken system of massive political corruption now firmly ruling America. We have a completely broken and corrupted system of government and the time has come for America to face up to that reality and do something about it! Once you know the positions of your member(s) of Congress, all is not lost within interim periods between election cycles even if all your positions and pieces of legislation are opposed. There is still much work that can be accomplished at the national level via blogs, advocacy and Facebook groups to garner attention and votes from other members of Congress for your issues and pieces of legislation.
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Also, dont discount the legislative initiatives that can be accomplished at the state, or even the local level, when movements fail at a national level. A great example are the initiatives to ban employment credit checks that have stalled in Washington, D.C. thus far, but have passed in 6 states and are being considered in at least 20 more. Where there is a will, there is a way as the saying goes and Americans have to learn that apathy and resignation to living under the boot of the mega-rich will be an uphill fight every step of the way. Over the course of more than 30+ years, they put the mechanisms, the tools, the media domination, the campaign finance system, the cronyism, the smokescreens and the games into play to own us. Each one will have to be overcome and dismantled step by step, fight by fight until we return control of America to average citizens within a true democracy. The mega-rich and the political class will only go kicking and screaming and this war is only for true American patriots with fight and backbone. This fight cannot be fought and won from only your computer or the ballot box, but instead will require far more if it is to be successful. Civil disobedience, taking to the streets of Washington, D.C. and state capitols in peaceful protest efforts must be part of the game plan. The American people have been lulled to sleep over the course of generations with media and technology toys, while the mega-rich have slipped their noose around our necks and plunged their fangs of greed into our juggler veins. Weve been taken in by the idea that two political parties are fighting it out on our behalf, when in fact . . . nothing could be further from the truth! Lofty speech after lofty speech, as the flag waved in the background, the American people have been fed lie after lie, election cycle after election cycle and the only change that occurs is more financial ruin for average Americans. Promises and good intentions are meaningless and the time for massive change has arrived! The time is now for an American-autumn, much like what were now seeing sweep through the middle-east under the moniker of an Arab-spring. We are not facing an economic bump in the road, but instead were facing a massive mountain that has been constructed and put into place by a greedy aristocracy that is sucking the life blood out of every single American and their family. If we dont fight now, there will be nothing left for which to fight . . . the mega-rich will not stop, their greed will not cease and they will not remove their boot from our necks until we are all marched into a sea of poverty one by one, family by family until all future generations are born into slavery and servitude under rule of an even stronger, more well entrenched oligarchy. The table has been tilted as far as it can be tilted and now we must fight in order to return the American Dream to the people . . . out of respect for past generations and respect for those that follow. This is our war, we allowed this downfall to happen to America and this is our day and our time to fight! Wanted: Your Input, Feedback and Financial Support As stated in my foreword, to this book, Im not an anarchist or a radical seeking to unfairly attack the mega-rich or overthrow the government. Instead this book is all about reining in the mega-rich and fixing our government so it works for the people instead of only the mega-rich. Ultimately its all about rebalancing the playing field. Its not going to happen without people power, but radical and anarchists and ardent two-party devotees need not apply. This movement is fully and completely committed to working within the existing political framework to bring about the downfall of the American oligarchy. With input, feedback and financial support from all Americans committed to restoration of the American Dream, we can change the very certain horrific economic future that presently
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lies ahead. At present, the future is one of continued American decline, the disappearance of a middle-class, massive social unrest, Third World poverty levels and only one class of fabulously wealthy people sitting atop a mass of rubble . . . once called America. If we continue on the present path of infighting, polarization and political party games all propelled by massive propaganda machines fueled by the mega-rich we will awaken one day in a nation in which the few Americans that still have a job will work for slave wages for only a handful of mega-corporations owned and controlled by megarich stockholders. There will be no other options, no possibilities of entrepreneurship or upward mobility whatsoever and no way out. The slow steady decline that has taken place over 30+ years will continue to pick up speed as the war by the mega-rich upon the middle-class continues to suck the lifeblood out of the American Dream. The homelessness and starvation were presently just now starting to see will someday seem like the good old days by comparison. The numbers and the data presented herein simply dont lie, its reality, they are the truth and they point only in one direction toward continued decline. There will be no charismatic political figure that comes along to stop it, nor will it be stopped by either of the two completely corrupted political parties that now exist. The political system is horribly flawed and corrupted and any idea that youre going to fix either of the two parties, within such a system, with the same old faces is completely nave. As long as a politician can be bribed they will be bribed and as long as they can make false promises and lie to the American people to enrich themselves they will . . . its just that simple and straightforward. The time to change the political system to remove the culture of corruption must be now! The time to develop and deploy a buying conscience whereby we support America and each other [the little people] has now arrived! Nonetheless, none of the data and information herein will reach the American people without your thoughts, feedback and most importantly financial support. Understand this is only a book draft and it will undergo hundreds of changes, such as edits, rewrites, updates, additions and deletions before we actually publish. Thats exactly why your input and ideas are needed to complete the work. Its why this grassroots review effort was launched to be taken viral to as many American citizens as possible. Simply send your input and PLEASE forward this draft [in its entirety with no changes whatsoever] to every American e-mail inbox possible. Please forward to fellow political activists, friends and family concerned about the economy as well as American citizens that have tuned out and just given up. The best hope for getting this draft to press, along with a launching a subsequent website is by playing the numbers game. The more inboxes it arrives within, the greater the chances for publication. As stated in the foreword, this book effort was not and is not about making money, but instead is a calling with a much higher purpose. While no book, website or writer alone can change anything this is one citizens small pebble in the pond in the anticipation that millions of other American citizens will see the futility of continuing with the status quo and toss their pebbles in the pond for change as well. We are not alone as is demonstrated by all the information, activists groups and organizations provided via the breakout resources herein. While many are still being taken in by political party dogma, thinking that the only way out is continuing down the status quo road the resources, information conduits and most importantly their organizational structures can and will pay major dividends to our war effort going forward. Once America at large realizes that we all must get beyond the social issues and the ongoing culture wars and focus on the money, our money and our common economic future instead the small trivial issues that divide us . . . we can rebalance
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the playing field, but not until. We need Washington, D.C. and state legislatures focused on private sectors jobs and the economy along with the massive wealth disparity in America and NOTHING ELSE! We simply cannot afford any more diversion tactics to move the focus to anything else outside of national security on rare occasions. At present, this draft is simply a framework being worked within and nothing else almost nothing within is cast in stone. Its has a working title and almost everything is up for input and direction from you. The principles adhered to herein will not change, rest assured of that, however many elements may change en route to publishing. How it may change, what may change before publishing is difficult and impossible to predict at this early point. It will depend a lot upon feedback, buy-in and encouragement received from the American people. Just to get to this point was a long lonely road to travel, but a belief in the American people kept propelling the effort forward. Now it will be determined if that faith and belief was nave and misguided. Nothing herein was written with any delusions of grandeur whatsoever and in fact, a continued anonymous life as a private citizen would have been much preferred. In the event that no grassroots support comes forth, then that wish will be granted, however, someone has to finally expose the truth behind the political party and media games being played upon American as a nation, we can no longer continue down this dead end status quo road of no return. Outside of the multitude of absolute facts and statistics supplied herein, everything else is simply an opinion. I believe they are informed opinions based upon the facts and statistics, but every single American is going to disagree with some of the opinions and solutions put forth herein. Thus is the nature of economic and political discourse. Writing a book leaves no time for e-mail debates, but it does open the door to considering any and all perspectives seriously. Opinions, backed only by I think X or Y wont carry any weight whatsoever. This book is about data, statistics, historical facts and track records and only conclusions based upon such evidence will merit serious consideration for changes and additions to this book en route to publishing. If you believe I have it wrong on certain issues, then send your data, facts and resources to back it up. I want push back and I want dialog in order to move the ball forward, but I have no time or patience whatsoever for mere opinions, conspiracy theories, anarchists, political loons and ardent two-party devotees. Rest assured, however, that every credible e-mail will be read and reviewed if it is provided in a civil tone with an objective to build up and contribute to completion of this book and subsequent website. Where trends across multiple inputs are seen or viable alternatives are provided, content will of course be revised with that in mind. Additional breakout resources, groups and advocacy channels are desperately wanted, so please contribute your links and avenues. In Part II: The Resistance its a given that fixes such as legislative proposals, political reforms and a host of other resources, proposals and initiatives exist that I am unaware of and I desperately want all the information I can get so please send it in! I only know what Ive researched and know to be true, now I want to know what youve researched and know to be true. This book is about a national dialog to turn things around and restore the American Dream for all American citizens. Your input and financial contributions are critical to that effort. America desperately needs for citizens to focus upon what we do agree upon in all areas especially economic issues! That same mindset is needed from all readers of this book. After you forward your input, simply forget about everything herein that you disagree with! If you disagree with 9 out of 10 solutions herein, then fantastic, lets work
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together on the one solution we do agree upon. Americans can no longer take their ball and go home because their political tag reads liberal or conservative. Like it or not, were all in this economy together and both liberals and conservatives need to work, eat and have a roof over their heads. When it comes to bread and butter issues the overwhelming majority of Americans agree. Solutions will of course differ, but Americans who still believe that this current political scenario is working or that an unchecked, unrestrained free enterprise system in a free-for-all environment will do anything but put the majority of Americans even further in the financial hole and under the boot of the mega-rich are simply out of touch with reality! This book is all about solutions and being a catalyst for massive positive economic change which requires political change as part of the means to get there. You simply cant have one without the other. This book is NOT about political parties, especially failed ones! If a politician or candidate is on the right track, Ill gladly note the individual and the solution they are backing, but cant at this point ever foresee buying 100% into either of our two failed political parties. This book is about economic results, reducing wealth disparity and creating jobs and neither of the two existing political parties has delivered on any of these three critical issues in the last 30+ years. Therefore, I vote at present, just like most Americans . . . for the lesser of two evils. Americans must now be given a choice in between fringe left and radical right. . . either of which will drive America off an economic cliff of no return. I couldnt be any more nonpartisan and that will never change! I dont care about any political party, but I do care deeply about my fellow Americans, the nation of my birth and the restoration of the American Dream. What any politician may say is meaningless . . . it is how they vote and what they push forward that matters nothing else! This book and subsequent website is not about furthering the career of any politician or to promote any party. It is about deposing the American oligarchy from their perch. This book and subsequent website will deal in the real business of economic and political facts, not hyperbole, spin, political party dog food or the politics of division that only serve the goals of the mega-rich. The facts may sometimes disappoint you and deflate your faith in a party or politician, but youll get it straight-up every time out. If you dont want the truth, dont look in this direction. The American public has been baffled, misled, manipulated and led down a 30+ year road of financial ruin with lies and deception. The time has come to follow the money, stick with the facts, do our own research and make up our own minds. Providing the tools and resources to make that possible is what this entire book and effort is all about. There is no desire here to recreate the wheel, nor spin wheels going no where with overlapping work and information available from other sources, organizations or information conduits. The website envisioned will monitor every move of the mega-rich to bend government to their will, whether it be offshore job sourcing, a continued massive flow of new immigrants to lower wages, tax breaks and loopholes for the megarich, monopolies, campaign donations, corruption and efforts to further cement the oligarchy the mega-rich now have firmly in place. This effort is all about turning back the tide of greed and corruption! The goal is clear and concise: make government and the American economy work again for the people via a true democracy that adheres to the will of the majority. Where valuable information, organizations and initiatives already exist, the website just like this book will do noting more than push the information out and link to it. Where
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original journalism is required, well solicit investigative journalism from experts as well as common everyday Americans with writing backgrounds or expertise in particular fields. Most importantly, the website will serve as a hub to link and network likeminded Americans to facilitate amassing huge numbers of Americans to work for positive economic change in whatever areas they have an interest. Informed Americans fully engaged by the millions are the only avenue for positive economic change and it must happen now before it is too late to fight. The website and content wont come near any of the social or cultural issues dividing America, but will focus on bread and butter economic issues alone! If we had a political party in America with such clear focus such a site would not be necessary, but its clear that the political class in America is focused on everything but jobs, the economy and the massive wealth inequality in America. Someone has to focus on these issues, begin thinking ahead and force the political class to perform when it comes to the economy, jobs and the massive wealth disparity that exists in American. The site will not focus on creating utopia, a perfect world or frivolous issues that are a waste of time and energy. Lastly and most importantly the site will not be partisan, rife will talking points and political spin from either of the two failed political parties. Youll get both sides, the ins and outs, of every economic issue of our time that impacts American citizens financially. To deliver upon these objectives, the site will need your expertise, research skills and financial support. When, for instance, we target an industry in which jobs are going to be brought back to America, by unleashing a collective uproar from the American people upon public officials and the mega-rich . . . it wont be some knee jerk reaction to further some labor union or political party objective. It will be all about delivering results for our economy and jobs for the American people. Those types of efforts require expertise and extensive research from strong economic minds and this book is part of that search for that type of talent and background. The same goes for tax accountants, please come forward so we can close all the tax loopholes that exist only for the aristocracy. Lets expose how the game is played so we can change the game with specific reforms. As the book publishes, the website launches and efforts move forward, a governing board of 5 [based upon experience and expertise] will be convened to ensure the longevity of our fight and adherence to the principles set forth herein. Only true nonpartisans need apply we will not be marginalized or silenced by any political party! This board and process will take some time to roll out so a little patience will be required, but rest assured this effort is all about inclusion, working with either of the two existing parties when they perform and developing expertise that will deliver a restoration of the American Dream. Just as soon as we receive seed money via your financial contributions, well move to legally operate as a 501(c)4 organization. In accordance with principles established herein, all donations above $5 K will be public. Once that quick hurdle is leaped, funding will focus exclusively on completing this book and getting it published. What route that will take is impossible to say at this early juncture in time. Due to this books content, the adversary who now owns America as well as all the major publishing houses its anticipated that finding a publisher will be all uphill. Understand, the mega-rich dont want this book published and what they might be willing to do in order to stop it from being published is, somewhat unnerving, but with your financial assistance of small grassroots donations it will publish!
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The goals and objectives laid out herein can simply not be accomplished without your financial assistance. Together, at the moment at least, we the people have far more money than the mega-rich could ever dream of having. We of course cant outspend them, but we can get a book published along with a website launched and then utilize the Web, e-mail and social networks to outsmart them. While they are playing polo and gorging themselves on caviar well be innovating and utilizing our nickels and dimes, along with true free speech, to turn back the clock and restore the American Dream. Understand that we simply cannot do any of this without your financial assistance. Whether its $5 or $10 or $50 K all contributions count. We wont be bribed however to back-off any power structure that may need to be reformed or called to answer to the American people. Bribery is for Washington, D.C. not us! Early Stage Reviewers: If you always wanted to be a book reviewer, heres your chance. While all input, links, detailed feedback, etc. are much desired and appreciated, a semi-formal review written by you and e-mailed in will help with our publisher and publicity efforts. Even if your review is worst book I ever read and I disagreed with every word of the entire book send it in. This limited time pre-release review stage is all about learning, gaining feedback, direction and clarity no matter how brutal it may be. Let it rip! Financial Contributions: Early stage financial contributions can be made through PayPal via the link below. For personal checks and a mailing address shoot out an email and the address and payee information will be provided. All donations of at least $25 will receive a copy of Monopoly when it publishes, but every nickel and dime donation is critical to move the cause forward. Please be sure to forward a mailing address with your $25 contribution. Acquiring 501(c)(4) status is a the top of our early stage agenda, but nonetheless donations are NOT tax deductible nor will they be under current election/tax law operating as a 501(c)(4) entity. Once we get up and rolling well move to accept credit card contributions, but for the moment were not yet at that stage. Please know that all your contributions, no matter how small, are vital to our efforts and very much appreciated!
Financial Contributions:
http://theresistancejkl.blogspot.com/2011/10/contributions-feedback-contact.html Contributions via personal check: e-mail JKaneTheResistance@hotmail.com for mailing address and payee information. Feedback, Input and Questions: JKaneTheResistance@hotmail.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JKaneTheResistance Twitter: http://twitter.com/JKTheResistance Grassroots Expertise and Resource Needs Moving Forward: Tax accountants, re: tax loopholes for the mega-rich, income taxes and especially inheritance\gift taxes a.k.a. death taxes Trade agreement expertise, the ins and outs, the legalese, WTO, etc.
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Webmaster(s), designers/graphic artists, illustrators, hosting services Writers, editors, journalists Potential book publishers as well as self-publishing avenues Experts in federal and state election law
Additional Breakout Resource(s): Office of the President http://www.whitehouse.gov U.S. Senate http://www.senate.gov/index.htm Senate Majority Leader http://reid.senate.gov/index.cfm Senate Minority Leader http://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Home U.S. House of Representatives http://www.house.gov/ Speaker of the House http://www.speaker.gov/ House Minority Leader http://pelosi.house.gov/
Footnotes:
America Year 2030
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Dennis Cauchon, More Americans leaving the workforce, USA Today, April 13, 2011
The Writing Is On the Wall 1 G. William Domhoff, Class and Power in America, Fifth Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2006), p. 10 2 G. William Domhoff, Class and Power in America, Fifth Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2006), p. 10 3 Stephen Webster, Corporate America has best quarter in US history as real unemployment rate soars, The Raw Story, November 23 2010 4 Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, Winner-Take-All Politics, (Simon & Schuster, 2010), p. 22 5 Income Inequality: It wasnt always this way, Economic Policy Institute, February 9, 2011 6 Eric Dash, Recession officially over, but US incomes kept falling, MSNBC/NYT, October 10, 2011 7 Individual bankruptcies rose 9 percent in 2010, MSNBC/Reuters, February 15, 2011 8 Bankruptcies rose 9 percent in 2010, MSNBC/Reuters, February 15, 2011 9 John Schmitt and Dean Baker, The $1 Trillion Dollar Wage Deficit, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), December 2009 10 Alexandra Alper, Jobless 99ers have fallen through the safety net, Reuters/MSNBC, July 8, 2011 11 Christian E. Weller, The Consequences of Conservatism Loss of Wealth Stunning During Great Recession, Center for American Progress, March 25, 2011 12 Lisa Myers, Rich Gardella and John W. Schoen, Housing Downturn worsens foreclosure crisis, MSNBC, May 9, 2011 13 David Streitfeld, Foreclosure backlog give some reprieve, MSNBC/NYT, June 19, 2011
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14
Roben Farzad, The housing slump is far worse than you think, MSNBC/Bloomberg Business, July 14, 2011 15 Christian E. Weller, The Consequences of Conservatism Loss of Wealth Stunning During Great Recession, Center for American Progress, March 25, 2011 16 Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News, September 2011 17 Lisa Myers, Rich Gardella and John W. Schoen, Housing Downturn worsens foreclosure crisis, MSNBC, May 9, 2011 18 David Streitfield, Housing index expected to show new low price, NYT, May 30,2011 19 11 Long-Term Trends That Are Absolutely Destroying The U.S. Economy, The Economic Collapse Blog, October 5, 2010 20 11 Long-Term Trends That Are Absolutely Destroying The U.S. Economy, The Economic Collapse Blog, October 5, 2010 21 11 Long-Term Trends That Are Absolutely Destroying The U.S. Economy, The Economic Collapse Blog, October 5, 2010 22 11 Long-Term Trends That Are Absolutely Destroying The U.S. Economy, The Economic Collapse Blog, October 5, 2010 23 Hope Yen, Poverty is becoming a suburban problem now, MSNBC/AP, October 7, 2010 24 11 Long-Term Trends That Are Absolutely Destroying The U.S. Economy, The Economic Collapse Blog, October 5, 2010 25 Alexandra Alper, Jobless 99ers have fallen through the safety net, Reuters/MSNBC, July 8, 2011 27 Mike Brunker, Wealth in America: Whites-Minorities gap is now a chasm, MSNBC, July 26, 2011
A Profile of the Mega-Rich 1 Kate Snow, Is college still a good investment, NBC News broadcast, September 2011 2 Kate Snow, Is college still a good investment, NBC News broadcast, September 2011 The Career Ladder Unclimbed
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Joseph E. Stigutz, Of the 1%, for the 1%, by the 1%, Vanity Fair, May 2011
Wealth Redistribution
Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2, 2011 Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery, All Work and No Pay: The Great Speedup, Mother Jones, July/August 2011 3 Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery, All Work and No Pay: The Great Speedup, Mother Jones, July/August 2011 4 Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery, All Work and No Pay: The Great Speedup, Mother Jones, July/August 2011 5 Joseph E. Stiglitz, Of the 1% by the 1% for the 1%, Vanity Fair, May 2011 / Inequality.org, May, 2011 6 WealthInequality.org 7 G. William Domhoff, Class and Power in America, Fifth Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2006), p. 9 8 Drake Bennett, The curious politics of income inequality, Bloomberg Businessweek MSNBC, October 25, 2010 9 Steven Pearlstein, The costs of rising economic inequality, The Washington Post, October 6, 2010 10 Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, Winner-Take-All Politics, (Simon & Schuster, 2010), p. 14 111 Eva Pereira, Malcolm Gladwell On Why Income Inequality is the Next Big Issue Facing America, Forbes/Development Wire, February 16, 2011 12 Inequality.org, June 8, 2011 13 G. William Domhoff, Class and Power in America, Fifth Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2006), p. 9 14 Allison Lynn, Another year, another million or so millionaires, MSNBC,.June 9, 2011 / Dont Ever Bet Against Americas Wealthy, Inequality News, Inequality.org, May 7, 2011 15 Stephen Webster, Corporate America has best quarter in US history as real unemployment rate soars, The Raw Story, November 23 2010
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Historical Context to Massive Top-Only American Wealth

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Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, Winner-Take-All Politics, (Simon & Schuster, 2010), p. 15
Budget Basics and the 800 Pound Gorilla

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Defense Systems Staff, Top 20 Defense Contractors, DefenseSystems, June 8, 2011 Defense Systems Staff, Top 20 Defense Contractors, DefenseSystems, June 8, 2011
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Death and Taxes are Avoidable
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Tory Newmyer, Tiny but Powerful: The estate tax lobby, CNN Money, December 21, 2010 Spending Millions to Save Billions, Public Citizen/UFE, 2006 Report Page 11 3 Tory Newmyer, Tiny but Powerful: The estate tax lobby, CNN Money, December 21, 2010
Corporate Taxes . . . Not So Fast!

CEOs say they would give up tax breaks, Reuters/MSNBC, July 27, 2011 2 60 Minutes, CBS, October 9, 2011
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Worshiping the Gods

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Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, Winner-Take-All Politics, (Simon & Schuster, 2010), p. 16 Robert Frank, Where Will Tomorrows Billionaires Come From, WSJ, September 23, 2010
The Great Game Changer with More to Come

Sam Williford, Is Silicon Valley the next Detroit?, EconomyInCrisis.org, November 8, 2010 Is College Worth It?, Pew Research Center, May 15, 2011 3 Pallavi Gogoi, Many U.S. companies are hiring overseas, AP/MSNBC, December 28, 2010 4 Pallavi Gogoi, Many U.S. companies are hiring overseas, AP/MSNBC, December 28, 2010 5 Pallavi Gogoi, Many U.S. companies are hiring overseas, AP/MSNBC, December 28, 2010 6 Pallavi Gogoi, Many U.S. companies are hiring overseas, AP/MSNBC, December 28, 2010 7 Pallavi Gogoi, Many U.S. companies are hiring overseas, AP/MSNBC, December 28, 2010 8 Zaid Jilani, Top U.S. Corporations Outsourced More Than 2.4 Million America Jobs Over The Last Decade, Think Progress, April 19, 2011 9 Zaid Jilani, Top U.S. Corporations Outsourced More Than 2.4 Million America Jobs Over The Last Decade, Think Progress, April 19, 2011 10 The 2009 Strategic Outsourcing Conference: Maximizing Outsourcing Strategies in Challenging Times, The Conference Board 11 The 2009 Strategic Outsourcing Conference: Maximizing Outsourcing Strategies in Challenging Times, The Conference Board 12 Scott Keyes, After Taking a $10 Billion Bailout, Goldman Sachs Announces It Will Outsource 1,000 Jobs to Singapore, ThinkProgress, June 28, 2011 13 Christa Case Bryant , Surging middle-class eclipsing global poverty, Christian Science Monitor/MSNBC, May 17, 2011
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Facing Up to the On Shore Numbers Reality

Edwin Rubinstein, Immigration Drives U.S. Population Growth: Part 8, The Social Contract Press, 2010 2011 2 Edwin Rubinstein, Immigration Drives U.S. Population Growth: Part 8, The Social Contract Press, 2010 2011 3 Mark Nowak, Immigration and U.S. Population Growth: An Environmental Perspective, NPG, July 2011 4 Unemployment Disproportionately Affects Lower-Educated and Minority Racial and Ethnic Groups, Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success, August 3, 2011 5 Lawrence Mishel and Heidi Shierholz, Sustained High Joblessness Causes Lasting Damage to Wages, Benefits, Income and Wealth, EPI Briefing Paper #324, August 31, 2011 6 Lawrence Mishel and Heidi Shierholz, Sustained High Joblessness Causes Lasting Damage to Wages, Benefits, Income and Wealth, EPI Briefing Paper #324, August 31, 2011 7 Roland Jones, Latino child poverty sets a record, report shows, TheBottomLine/MSNBC.com, 9/28/2011 8 Roland Jones, Latino child poverty sets a record, report shows, TheBottomLine/MSNBC.com, 9/28/2011 9 Roland Jones, Latino child poverty sets a record, report shows, TheBottomLine/MSNBC.com, 9/28/2011 10 Roland Jones, Latino child poverty sets a record, report shows, TheBottomLine/MSNBC.com, 9/28/2011 11 Shane Cohn, Illegal immigration focus of minority unemployment, VCReporter Online, March 9, 2011 12 David Degraw, Sing of Things to Come: Riots in Milwaukee, AmpedStatus website, September 2011 13 Kate Snow, Is college still a good investment, NBC News broadcast, September 2011 14 Ed Stoddard, More than a million immigrants land U.S. jobs, Reuters/MSNBC, January 20, 2011 15 Ed Stoddard, More than a million immigrants land U.S. jobs, Reuters/MSNBC, January 20, 2011 16 Ed Stoddard, More than a million immigrants land U.S. jobs, Reuters/MSNBC, January 20, 2011 17 Ed Stoddard, More than a million immigrants land U.S. jobs, Reuters/MSNBC, January 20, 2011 18 Ed Stoddard, More than a million immigrants land U.S. jobs, Reuters/MSNBC, January 20, 2011 19 Ed Stoddard, More than a million immigrants land U.S. jobs, Reuters/MSNBC, January 20, 2011 20 Karrie Kahn, Report: 5 Percent of Labor Force are Ilegal Immigrants, NPR Website, September 6, 2011
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Mark Hugo Lopez, Illegal Immigration Backlash Worries, Divides Latinos, Pew Hispanic Center, October 28, 2010 22 Mark Hugo Lopez, Illegal Immigration Backlash Worries, Divides Latinos, Pew Hispanic Center, October 28, 2010 23 Mark Hugo Lopez, Illegal Immigration Backlash Worries, Divides Latinos, Pew Hispanic Center, October 28, 2010 24 Mark Hugo Lopez, Illegal Immigration Backlash Worries, Divides Latinos, Pew Hispanic Center, October 28, 2010 25 Low-paying jobs not spread evenly across workforce, EPI: State of Working America.org, June 14, 2011 26 Low-paying jobs not spread evenly across workforce, EPI: State of Working America.org, June 14, 2011 27 Low-paying jobs not spread evenly across workforce, EPI: State of Working America.org, June 14, 2011 28 Low-paying jobs not spread evenly across workforce, EPI: State of Working America.org, June 14, 2011 29 Low-paying jobs not spread evenly across workforce, EPI: State of Working America.org, June 14, 2011 30 Low-paying jobs not spread evenly across workforce, EPI: State of Working America.org, June 14, 2011 31 Brian Williams, The State of Education in the U.S., NBC Nightly News, September 2011 32 Steven Camarota, Welfare Use by Immigrant Households with Children, Center for Immigration Studies website, April 2011 33 Steven Camarota, Welfare Use by Immigrant Households with Children, Center for Immigration Studies website, April 2011 34 Steven Camarota, Welfare Use by Immigrant Households with Children, Center for Immigration Studies website, April 2011 35 Heidi Shierhotz, Issue Brief 307: The Facts About the Recovery, EPI, July 6, 2011 36 Heidi Shierhotz, Issue Brief 307: The Facts About the Recovery, EPI, July 6, 2011 37 Heidi Shierhotz, Issue Brief 307: The Facts About the Recovery, EPI, July 6, 2011 38 Heidi Shierhotz, Issue Brief 307: The Facts About the Recovery, EPI, July 6, 2011 39 U.S. Adds Just 18,000 Jobs in June, Unemployment Up, International Business Times, July 8, 2011 40 Private sector job creation, at a glance, FoxNews.com/AP, June 3, 2011 41 Hope Yen, Census: Recession taking toll on young adults, MSNBC/AP, September 22, 2011 42 Hope Yen, Census: Recession taking toll on young adults, MSNBC/AP, September 22, 2011 43 Edwin Rubinstein, Immigration Drives U.S. Population Growth: Part 8, The Social Contract Press, 2010 2011 44 Edwin Rubinstein, Immigration Drives U.S. Population Growth: Part 8, The Social Contract Press, 2010 2011 45 Edwin Rubinstein, Immigration Drives U.S. Population Growth: Part 8, The Social Contract Press, 2010 2011 46 Edwin Rubinstein, Immigration Drives U.S. Population Growth: Part 8, The Social Contract Press, 2010 2011 47 Edwin Rubinstein, Immigration Drives U.S. Population Growth: Part 8, The Social Contract Press, 2010 2011 48 Edwin Rubinstein, Immigration Drives U.S. Population Growth: Part 8, The Social Contract Press, 2010 2011 49 Edwin Rubinstein, Immigration Drives U.S. Population Growth: Part 8, NPG, The Social Contract Press, 2010 2011 50 Edwin Rubinstein, Immigration Drives U.S. Population Growth: Part 8, The Social Contract Press, 2010 2011 51 Edwin Rubinstein, Immigration Drives U.S. Population Growth: Part 8, The Social Contract Press, 2010 2011 52 Steven Camarota, Welfare Use by Immigrant Households with Children, Center for Immigration Studies website, April 2011 53 Wikipedia, H-1B visa, August 11, 2011 54 Wikipedia, H-1B visa, July 11, 2011 The Two-Party Mirage 1 Warren Buffett, Stop Coddling the Super-Rich, NYT, August 14, 2011
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Pulling Back the Curtain

Sold Out How Washington and Wall Street Betrayed America, WallStreetWatch.org, March 2009 Christian E. Weller, The Consequences of Conservatism Loss of Wealth Stunning During Great Recession, Center for American Progress, March 25, 2011 3 Christian E. Weller, The Consequences of Conservatism Loss of Wealth Stunning During Great Recession, Center for American Progress, March 25, 2011
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So Why Would Our President Sign Such a Bill?
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Opensecrets.org Sold Out How Washington and Wall Street Betrayed America, WallStreetWatch.org, March 2009 3 Sold Out How Washington and Wall Street Betrayed America, WallStreetWatch.org, March 2009 4 Sold Out How Washington and Wall Street Betrayed America, WallStreetWatch.org, March 2009
The Federal Reserve

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Mark Pittman and Bob Ivry, U.S. Taxpayers Risk $9.7 Trillion on Bailout Programs, Bloomberg.com, February 9, 2009 2 Mark Pittman and Bob Ivry, U.S. Taxpayers Risk $9.7 Trillion on Bailout Programs, Bloomberg.com, February 9, 2009 3 Mark Pittman and Bob Ivry, U.S. Taxpayers Risk $9.7 Trillion on Bailout Programs, Bloomberg.com, February 9, 2009 4 Craig Torres and Scott Lanman, Fed Names Recipients of $3.3 Trillion in Crisis Aid, Bloomberg, December 1, 2010 5 Craig Torres and Scott Lanman, Fed Names Recipients of $3.3 Trillion in Crisis Aid, Bloomberg, December 1, 2010
If You Think Wall Street is Greedy . . . Welcome to Corporate America

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G. William Domhoff, Class and Power in America, Fifth Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2006), p. 73 Maritz Research Hospitality Group 2011 Employee Engagement Poll, June 2011 3 Maritz Research Hospitality Group 2011 Employee Engagement Poll, June 2011
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CEO/Executive Compensation: A Recipe for Even More Economic Disaster
Rana Foroohar, Stuffing Their Pockets, Newsweek, September 4, 2010 Dr. Mark Kroll, CEO Pay Rates U.S. vs Foreign Nations, November 17, 2005 3 Dr. Mark Kroll, CEO Pay Rates U.S. vs Foreign Nations, November 17, 2005 4 CEO Pay Database: 100 Highest-Paid CEOs, AFL-CIO, June 17, 2011
Humans are NOT Stock

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Roland Jones, CEOs lay off thousands, rake in millions, MSNBC, September 1, 2010 Roland Jones, CEOs lay off thousands, rake in millions, MSNBC, September 1, 2010 3 Floyd Norris, Stock Options: Do They Make Bosses Cheat?, NYT, August 5, 2005 4 James Parks, CEO Pay Loopholes Cost Taxpayers $20 Billion Each Year, AFL-CIONowBlog, August 26, 2008
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Its an Employers Market

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StaffingToday.net (American Staffing Industry website) June 17, 2011 StaffingToday.net (American Staffing Industry website) June 17, 2011 3 StaffingToday.net (American Staffing Industry website) June 17, 2011 4 Paul Wiseman, The economic recovery turns 2 feel better?, AP/MSNBC, July 4, 2011 5 Paul Wiseman, The economic recovery turns 2 feel better?, AP/MSNBC, July 4, 2011 6 Paul Wiseman, The economic recovery turns 2 feel better?, AP/MSNBC, July 4, 2011 7 Heidi Agustin, Job Discrimination Claims Hit Record, CTI Career Search, January 11, 2011 8 Retaliation surpasses race as most frequent EEOC charge, The St. Louis American, June 30, 2011
Labor Unions: the Antithesis of Corporate America or Not?

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Lydia Saad, Labor Unions See Sharp Slide in U.S. Public Support, Gallop, June 17, 2011 Lydia Saad, Labor Unions See Sharp Slide in U.S. Public Support, Gallop, June 17, 2011 3 Union Facts.com, 1/1/2011 4 Bureau of Labor Statistics, Press Release, January 21, 2011 5 Bureau of Labor Statistics, Press Release, January 21, 2011
Wally World the Evil Empire 1 Anne DInnocenzio, Like Wal-Mart before it, Target becomes villain, MSNBC/AP, July 14, 2011
Ken Jacobs, Dave Graham-Squire, Stephanie Luce, Living Wage Policies and Big-Box Retail: How a Higher Wage Standard Would Impact Walmart Workers and Shoppers, University of California at Berkley, April 2011
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Ken Jacobs, Dave Graham-Squire, Stephanie Luce, Living Wage Policies and Big-Box Retail: How a Higher Wage Standard Would Impact Walmart Workers and Shoppers, University of California at Berkley, April 2011 4 Ken Jacobs, Dave Graham-Squire, Stephanie Luce, Living Wage Policies and Big-Box Retail: How a Higher Wage Standard Would Impact Walmart Workers and Shoppers, University of California at Berkley, April 2011 5 Ken Jacobs, Dave Graham-Squire, Stephanie Luce, Living Wage Policies and Big-Box Retail: How a Higher Wage Standard Would Impact Walmart Workers and Shoppers, University of California at Berkley, April 2011 6 WalmartWatch.org, June 2011 7 WalmartWatch.org, June 2011 8 WalmartWatch.org, June 2011 9 WalmartWatch.org, June 2011 10 WalmartWatch.org, June 2011 11 WalmartWatch.org, June 2011 12 WalmartWatch.org, June 2011 13 WalmartWatch.org, June 2011 14 WalmartWatch.org, June 2011
3
That Sleeping Dragon is Now Wide Awake!

Jeremy Warner, China may be bigger economy than US within two years, The Daily Telegraph, November 10, 2010 2 Jeremy Warner, China may be bigger economy than US within two years, The Daily Telegraph, November 10, 2010 3 OpenSecrets.org, June 18, 2011 4 Nick Carey and Jane Kelleher, US and China on collision course for trade war?, MSNBC/Reuters, April 27, 2011 5 Nick Carey and Jane Kelleher, US and China on collision course for trade war?, MSNBC/Reuters, April 27, 2011 6 David Barboza, China Poised to Lead World in Patent Filings, Economx, October 6, 2010 7 David Barboza, China Poised to Lead World in Patent Filings, Economx, October 6, 2010 8 C.J. Ciaramella, Bankrupt solar company with fed backing has cozy ties to Obama admin, The Daily Caller, September 1, 2011 9 Robert E. Scott, Chinas Subsidies to Green Industries Lead to Growing Trade Deficits in Clean Energy Products, EPI, October, 2010 10 Robert E. Scott, Chinas Subsidies to Green Industries Lead to Growing Trade Deficits in Clean Energy Products, EPI, October, 2010 11 Nick Carey and Jane Kelleher, US and China on collision course for trade war, MSNBC/Reuters, April 27, 2011 12 Nick Carey and Jane Kelleher, US and China on collision course for trade war, MSNBC/Reuters, April 27, 2011 13 Statistics on Counterfeiting and Piracy, UNC.edu/ACG 14 Statistics on Counterfeiting and Piracy, UNC.edu/ACG 15 David M. Dixon, China holds more U.S. debt than indicated, Washington Times, March 2, 2010 16 Little hope in sight for Chinas university graduates, rt.com, June 18, 2011 17 Little hope in sight for Chinas university graduates, rt.com, June 18, 2011 18 Robert E. Scott, Costly Trade With China: Millions of U.S. jobs displaced with net job loss in every state, EPI, May 1, 2007 19 Robert E. Scott, Rising China Trade Deficit Will Cost One-Half Million U.S. Jobs In 2010, EPI, September 20, 2010 20 John Gress, US and China on collision course for trade war, MSNBC/Reuters, April 27, 2011 21 Dustin Ensinger, Trade Deficit with China Could Cost Half-a-Million Jobs, EconomyInCrisis.org, October 4, 2010 22 Robert E. Scott, The China Trade Toll, EPI, July 30, 2008 23 Nick Zieminski, Made In the U.S.A. may be staging comeback, MSNBC/Reuters, May 5, 2011
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A Balance of Power Largely in Consumers Hands

Martin Crutsinger, Emboldened China to meet with U.S. this week, MSNBC, May 8, 2011 Robert E. Scott, Rising China Trade Deficit Will Cost One-Half Million U.S. Jobs In 2010, EPI, September 20, 2010 3 Neighbors fret as China boosts defense spending, MSNBC, March 4, 2011
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Trade Agreements and the WTO
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Robert E. Scott, U.S. Trade Deals With Columbia and Korea Will Be Costly, EPI, February 25, 2010
The North American Free Trade Agreement

1 2
Jeff Faux & Robert E. Scott, NAFTA at Seven, EPI, 2001 Scott Malone, Surging China costs forces some U.S. manufacturing companies back home, Reuters/MSNBC, June 29, 2011 3 Scott Malone, Surging China costs forces some U.S. manufacturing companies back home, Reuters/MSNBC, June 29, 2011 4 Chris Wolski, NAFTA Trade Agreement, Demand Media, June 21, 2011 5 Jeff Faux & Robert E. Scott, NAFTA at Seven, EPI, 2001 6 NAFTAs Impact on Employment, FactCheck.org, July 7, 2008 7 Trade in Goods with NAFTA with Mexico (Consump), Census.gov 8 Trade in Goods with NAFTA with Mexico (Consump), Census.gov
The Media Game: How Its Played and Who Wins

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Norman Herr, PhD, csun.edu, June 21, 2011
Table Setting for the Mega-Rich

1 2
G. William Domhoff, Class and Power in America, Fifth Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2006), p. 26 G. William Domhoff, Class and Power in America, Fifth Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2006), p. 26 3 G. William Domhoff, Class and Power in America, Fifth Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2006), p. 26 4 G. William Domhoff, Class and Power in America, Fifth Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2006), p. 21 5 G. William Domhoff, Class and Power in America, Fifth Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2006), p. 21 6 OpenSecrets.org
Part II: The Resistance Bring the Top 5 Banks Down to Size
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Joan Gralla and Clare Baldwin, Average Wall Street cash bonus fell to $128,530, MSNBC, February 23, 2011 2 Goldman bankers received $15.4 billion in pay, Bonuses, MSNBC, January 19, 2011 3 Goldman bankers received $15.4 billion in pay, Bonuses, MSNBC, January 19, 2011 4 Clare Baldwin and Jonathan Stempel, JPMorgans Dimon get $17 million package, MSNBC/Reuters, February 18, 2011 5 Clare Baldwin and Jonathan Stempel, JPMorgans Dimon get $17 million package, MSNBC/Reuters, February 18, 2011
Priority I: Stop Made in China from Destroying America

1
Currency spat: China threatens trade war with US, MSNBC, October 4, 2011
The Biggest Challenge of Our Time

Dave Carpenter and Jeannine Aversa, Americans net worth is continuing to rise, MSNBC/Associated Press, March 10, 2011 2 Dave Carpenter and Jeannine Aversa, Americans net worth is continuing to rise, MSNBC/Associated Press, March 10, 2011 3 Dave Carpenter and Jeannine Aversa, Americans net worth is continuing to rise, MSNBC/Associated Press, March 10, 2011 4 Heidi Shierhotz, Issue Brief 307: The Facts About the Recovery, EPI, July 6, 2011 5 Heidi Shierhotz, Issue Brief 307: The Facts About the Recovery, EPI, July 6, 2011 6 Heidi Shierhotz, Issue Brief 307: The Facts About the Recovery, EPI, July 6, 2011 7 Heidi Shierhotz, Issue Brief 307: The Facts About the Recovery, EPI, July 6, 2011 8 U.S. Adds Just 18,000 Jobs in June, Unemployment Up, International Business Times, July 8, 2011
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Workplace Fairness
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J. Kane Latta, One Less Privacy Intrusion: Bill to End Pre-Employment Credit Checks, Truthout, September 15, 2010 2 J. Kane Latta, One Less Privacy Intrusion: Bill to End Pre-Employment Credit Checks, Truthout, September 15, 2010
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J. Kane Latta, One Less Privacy Intrusion: Bill to End Pre-Employment Credit Checks, Truthout, September 15, 2010 4 Joel Stonington, Boys-only boards: Where the women arent at the top, MSNBC/Bloomberg Businessweek, June 27, 2011
Tax the Mega-Rich, Most Especially Their Estates

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Poll: Tax the rich to balance the budget, MSNBC/Reuters, January 3, 2011
Too Many People and No Jobs

Andy Kroll, The persistent black-white employment gap, Salon July 5, 2011 Andy Kroll, The persistent black-white employment gap, Salon July 5, 2011 3 Andy Kroll, The persistent black-white employment gap, Salon July 5, 2011 4 Andy Kroll, The persistent black-white employment gap, Salon July 5, 2011 5 Andy Kroll, The persistent black-white employment gap, Salon July 5, 2011 6 Andy Kroll, The persistent black-white employment gap, Salon July 5, 2011 7 , Steven Camarota An Examination of Minority Voters Views on Immigration, Center for Immigration Studies, February 2010 8 , Steven Camarota An Examination of Minority Voters Views on Immigration, Center for Immigration Studies, February 2010 , 9 Steven Camarota An Examination of Minority Voters Views on Immigration, Center for Immigration Studies, February 2010 10 Brett Zongker, Thousands honor MKK at memorial dedication in D.C., MSNBC/AP, October 16, 2011 11 Brett Zongker, Thousands honor MKK at memorial dedication in D.C., MSNBC/AP, October 16, 2011 12 Brett Zongker, Thousands honor MKK at memorial dedication in D.C., MSNBC/AP, October 16, 2011 13 Public Opinion Polls on Immigration FAIR website, August 2011 14 Public Opinion Polls on Immigration FAIR website, August 2011 15 Public Opinion Polls on Immigration FAIR website, August 2011 16 Public Opinion Polls on Immigration FAIR website, August 2011 17 Public Opinion Polls on Immigration FAIR website, August 2011 18 Public Opinion Polls on Immigration FAIR website, August 2011 19 Public Opinion Polls on Immigration FAIR website, August 2011 20 Rita Handrich, Immigration Polls and Lying College Grads and Liberals, Keene Trial Consultants website, June 2011 21 Steven Camorota, Public Opinion in Mexico on U.S. Immigration, Zogby Poll Examines Attitudes, October 2009 22 Steven Camorota, Public Opinion in Mexico on U.S. Immigration, Zogby Poll Examines Attitudes, October 2009 23 Steven Camorota, Public Opinion in Mexico on U.S. Immigration, Zogby Poll Examines Attitudes, October 2009 24 Steven Camorota, Public Opinion in Mexico on U.S. Immigration, Zogby Poll Examines Attitudes, October 2009 25 Wikipedia, Migrant deaths along the Mexico United States border, September 29, 2011
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Busting the Monopolies and Ending the Merger and Acquisition Craze
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Richard Brunell, AAI Comments Before the FCC, AAI, May 31, 2011 Richard Brunell, AAI Comments Before the FCC, AAI, May 31, 2011
End the Bribery: Comprehensive Campaign Finance Reform NOW!

1 2
Aaron Smith, The Internet and Campaign 2010, Pew Research Center, March 17, 2011 Aaron Smith, The Internet and Campaign 2010, Pew Research Center, March 17, 2011
Election Reforms and New Political Parties

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Cofoe.org, June 22, 2011 Cofoe.org, June 22, 2011 3 Cofoe.org, June 22, 2011 4 Cofoe.org, June 22, 2011
Change and Reformation a How To Guide

1 Jake Brewer, The Tragedy of Political Advocacy, The Huffington Post, October 25, 1010
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DRAFT #1, Dated 10/20/2011

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Breakout Resource(s): Productivity Statistics http://www.bls.gov/lpc/prodybar.htm GDP Growth http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/GDP.aspx?Symbol=USD

Breakout Resource(s): Top 20 Defense Contractors http://www.defensesystems.com/articles/2010/05/27/top-20-defense-contractors.aspx

Breakout Resource(s): Federal Individual Income Tax Rates History http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/fed_individual_rate_history-20101220.pdf

Breakout Resource(s): NBC Interview with Warren Buffet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu5B-2LoC4s

Breakout Resource(s): Job Tracker http://www.workingamerica.org/jobtracker/

Breakout Resource(s): Economy In Crisis http://economyincrisis.org/

Breakout Resource(s): Sustainable Immigration: American Workers https://www.numbersusa.com/content/nusablog/beckj/august-17-2011/sustainableimmigration-part-1-4-american-workers.html

Breakout Resource(s): Welfare Use by Immigrant Households with Children http://www.cis.org/immigrant-welfare-use-2011

Breakout Resource(s) Retirement Benefits for Members of Congress http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30631.pdf

CEO/Executive Compensation: A Recipe for Even More Economic Disaster

Breakout Resource(s): Ellen Page Cisco Advertising Field Trip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHFUwFgu5w4

Breakout Resource(s): Who Owns the Media? http://www.freepress.net/resources/ownership

Breakout Resource(s) FAIR http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=100

Breakout Resource(s) Pew Research Study http://people-press.org/report/652/

Breakout Resource(s): Citigroup Interlocks: http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/images/corporate_community/Citigrou p_corp_L1.gif

$14.6 M $17 M $13 M* $9.1 M*

Breakout Resource(s): Job Tracker http://www.workingamerica.org/jobtracker/

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse https://www.privacyrights.org/

Breakout Resource(s): GovTrack.us: H.R.321 http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h321/show Credit Catch 22 http://www.creditcatch22.org/

Breakout Resource(s): GovTrack.us: Paycheck Fairness Act http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-3772

Breakout Resource(s): Half in Ten Campaign http://www.halfinten.org/

Breakout Resource(s): Nationwide Boycott of Every Company on Page 31 http://www.faireconomy.org/files/pdf/millions_billions.pdf

Breakout Resource(s): The Internet and Campaign 2010 http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1931/online-political-use-2010-over-half-US-adults

Breakout Resource(s): Revolving Door http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/index.php

Breakout Resource(s): FactCheck.org http://www.factcheck.org/ Free Press Net http://www.freepress.net/

Historical Context to Massive Top-Only American Wealth

Budget Basics and the 800 Pound Gorilla

Corporate Taxes . . . Not So Fast!

Worshiping the Gods

The Great Game Changer with More to Come

Facing Up to the On Shore Numbers Reality

Pulling Back the Curtain

The Federal Reserve

If You Think Wall Street is Greedy . . . Welcome to Corporate America

CEO/Executive Compensation: A Recipe for Even More Economic Disaster

Humans are NOT Stock

Its an Employers Market

Labor Unions: the Antithesis of Corporate America or Not?

That Sleeping Dragon is Now Wide Awake!

A Balance of Power Largely in Consumers Hands

The North American Free Trade Agreement

The Media Game: How Its Played and Who Wins

Norman Herr, PhD, csun.edu, June 21, 2011

Table Setting for the Mega-Rich

Priority I: Stop Made in China from Destroying America

The Biggest Challenge of Our Time

Tax the Mega-Rich, Most Especially Their Estates

Too Many People and No Jobs

End the Bribery: Comprehensive Campaign Finance Reform NOW!

Election Reforms and New Political Parties

Change and Reformation a How To Guide

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