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By Les Leopold
10 Ways Our Democracy Is Crumbling Around Us
The financial rot is deeply impacting our democratic structures
April 5, 2012
Our democracy is in grave danger. In fact, it may already be fatally
wounded as a financial oligopoly increasingly dominates American politics
and the economy. What’s most remarkable about this new form of oligarchy
is that it has no face. There are no flesh and blood oligarchs, only
unnamed investors. The big financial sharks can swim among our 401ks.
They can flex their awesome power without getting fingered. They can set
the entire direction of government activity without lobbying at all.
Here are 10 reasons to worry.
1. Money and Politics
Our democracy is supposedly rooted in the idea of one person, one vote.
But the introduction of big money into politics distorts, and perhaps,
destroys that ideal. Unlike most advanced democracies, we have failed to
eliminate the destructive impacts of money on politics. The cost of our
campaigns are rapidly rising. The Citizens United Supreme Court decision
further accelerated this trend so that now there are virtually no limits
on how much billionaires can spend on their preferred candidates.
Bankers too are getting into the act. One recent super PAC, “Friends of
Traditional Banking” is seeking races where it can “target the industry's
enemies and support its friends in Congress.”
Of course the obvious result is that all candidates, regardless of party,
spend most of their time begging for money, not legislating. You can’t
get elected without kissing the oligarchs’ rings.
2. Voter Disenfranchisement
At the core of modern democracy is voting – we get to choose who governs
us. If that’s the case, then we should be very concerned about how the
electorate is being dismantled. Let’s start with the fact that if you’re
a felon, you may not be permitted to vote at all. Since we have the
largest prison population in the world, we also have more than 5 million
disenfranchised felons, and former-felons. (The voting rules vary by
state.)
Equally telling is the tidal wave of new voting laws sweeping through
state legislatures. According to a recent report from NYU’s Brennan
Center for Justice, “More than 5 million Americans could be affected by
the new rules already put in place this year — a number larger than the
margin of victory in two of the last three presidential elections.” These
new restrictions include tougher laws requiring photo IDs, proof of
citizenship, removal of early and absentee voting, and making it harder
to restore voting rights after criminal convictions.
The rapid spread of these nearly identical disenfranchise efforts is not
accidental. They come directly from the American Legislative Exchange
Council, which the New York Times reorts is “a business-backed
conservative group, which has circulated voter ID proposals in scores of
state legislatures.” The oligarchs funding this effort include American
Nuclear Energy Council, the American Petroleum Institute, Amoco, Chevron,
Coors Brewing Company, Shell, Texaco, Chlorine Chemistry Council, Union
Pacific Railroad, Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America,
Waste Management, Philip Morris Management Corporation, and R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco. (http://www.alecwatch.org/chapterone.html)
Perhaps the most pernicious efforts involve state legislation to
discourage voter registration. (You would think that in a democracy we
would do everything possible to register voters and to encourage them to
vote.) Take Florida for example. The New York Times reports how the state
has basically eliminated voter registration drives.
“The state’s new elections law — which requires groups that register
voters to turn in completed forms within 48 hours or risk fines, among
other things — has led the state’s League of Women Voters to halt its
efforts this year. Rock the Vote, a national organization that encourages
young people to vote, began an effort last week to register high school
students around the nation — but not in Florida, over fears that teachers
could face fines. And on college campuses, the once-ubiquitous folding
tables piled high with voter registration forms are now a rarer sight.
And then of course, there’s Gore v Bush where the Supreme Court ordered
the halt of a recount in Florida that would have declared Al Gore, not
George Bush, as president.
3. Our Skewed Distribution of Income
Sometimes we forget that money in politics wouldn’t matter if our income
distribution wasn’t so lopsided. Ever since the Greeks invented
democracy, there has been a question about the relationship between
political and economic democracy. Is it possible to have political
democracy if the income distribution is severely skewed? Of course, you
don’t need to have full equality of income to have a viable democracy.
But does there come a point when a skewed distribution of income makes a
sham of democracy? If we’re not already there, we may be getting close.
As this chart shows, we lead the world when it comes to our income gap.
Ratio of CEO Compensation To Average Employee Compensation in 2000
Japan 10:1
Germany 11:1
Switzerland 11:1
Sweden 14:1
New Zealand 16:1
France 16:1
Spain 18:1
Belgium 19:1
Italy 19:1
Canada 21:1
Australia 22:1
Netherlands 22:1
Britain 25:1
Hong Kong 38:1
Mexico 45:1
Argentina 48:1
South Africa 51:1
U.S. 365:1
(Source: Michael Hennigan, “Executive Pay and Inequality in the Winner-
take-all Society,” Finfacts Ireland, August 7, 2005.)
4. Tax Breaks for the Super-rich
You know the oligarchy is rolling along when it wins enormous tax breaks
during good times and bad, under Democrats and Republicans. This shows up
in two important ways. First, we see a decline in the top marginal tax
rate from 91 percent during the Eisenhower years down to 35 percent
today. But what matters even more is the 15 percent marginal rate on
capital gains and similar kinds of income. That’s how Mitt Romney gets to
pay only 13.9 percent of his massive income in taxes.
While we would love to blame it all on the Republicans, the chart below
shows that the effective tax rate on the rich (after all deductions) has
been plummeting no matter which party holds office. And although
President Obama is currently very upset about the Republicans call for
even more tax cuts for the super-rich, he was also unable to raise taxes
on top income earners when the Democrats controlled Congress. In
addition, the Democrats were unable to close the outrageous carried
interest loophole that fattens hedge funds. Nor did they get near passing
a financial transaction tax on Wall Street. Oligarchs don’t like to pay.
And their money makes sure it stays that way. Is that democracy?
5. Wall Street Bailouts
Another sure sign of financial oligarchy is when the national vault
breaks open for Wall Street bailouts and stays open. It’s become clear
that too-big-to-fail banks remain far too large to fail. In fact, they
have grown larger. They can continue to bet with impunity knowing that if
they lose big, we will bail them out again. Under democratic capitalism
this is called a “moral hazard.” But really it’s the ancient morality of
oligarchy.
The sequence of events leading up to and through the financial crash is a
stain on our democracy. First the largest banks and investment houses
went on a wildly profitable gambling spree. They created and sold fantasy
finance instruments that they knew were toxic to the core. They got their
lapdog rating agencies to bless them with AAA ratings. And then they
peddled the trash all over the world. Along the way housing prices were
puffed up to astronomical highs since high-risk mortgages were needed to
create the corrupt securities. Government, after years of ideologically
informed deregulation, aided and abetted the entire process. The toxic
trash created the crash.
For a short time it seemed as if Wall Street would pay for the damage it
had caused – that the large banks would be broken up, that homeowners
would be bailed out, that the unemployed would be put to work, and that
Wall Street gambling would be eliminated with the passage of New Deal-
like controls.
But the oligarchs would not stand for it. They got bailed out, not the
average American. Too-big-to-fail banks used our bailout funds to get
even bigger. And the reforms are weak and yet to be instituted.
That’s not what Americans wanted or expected. But under our financialized
democracy, that's what we’re getting…and more is yet to come.
6. Deficit Hysteria
It’s remarkable to watch how oligarchs shift the national conversation
toward debt and away from themselves. By the summer of 2011, both parties
where clamoring for cuts (which they call “reforms”) in Medicare,
Medicaid and Social Security. As the Democrats moved to the right, the
Republicans went even further, demanding more tax cuts for the rich and
more draconian cuts in social programs – from food stamps to Head Start.
All of this becomes possible because of the national drumbeat about
deficits and debt.
With massive investments in think-tanks and media infrastructure, Wall
Street’s minions successfully persuaded Washington that the American
people, not Wall Street, should pay for the damage that Wall Street
created. That’s the very definition of oligarchic chutzpah.
7. Crumbling Social and Physical Infrastructure
When you’re a financial oligarch, you live in your gated community, you
send your kids to private schools, you go to your own expensive healthcare
providers, and travel on your private jet which leaves from its own
private terminal. You could care less what happens to the rest of
America. You have no interest in funding public education. (In fact, the
very profitable student loan market depends on rising education costs.)
You would think that business leaders would want an educated workforce.
But the real oligarchs don’t care. They can get their workers from
anywhere in the world. What about the decay of our roads, bridges and
public transportation? Doesn’t business need that too? Productive
enterprises do, but the financial elites rely almost entirely on a
privately controlled electronic infrastructure. Cracked bridges don’t
matter.
But financial elites do care deeply about privatization. Turning over the
government to the private sector is a thing of beauty for oligarchs. It’s
a nice transfer of taxpayer money to firms that can use political muscle
to gain contracts. The insecurity of competitive markets is eliminated as
you waltz off with military and civilian contracts worth billions. (See
Colin Greer’s “The Biggest Engine of Economic Growth? 8 Ways Taxpayers
and the Government Are Necessary to Capitalism.”)
When America was competing with the USSR, maintaining some semblance of
substantive democracy was critically important. It’s not an accident that
during the Cold War we invested heavily in higher education,
transportation and social programs like Medicare and Medicaid. We even
supported unions. Oligarchs were constrained in the name of freedom. No
more.
8. The Failure to Create Jobs
Until recently, our democracy would not tolerate high levels of
unemployment. In fact it was suicidal for any politician or political
party to preside over severe recessions that lasted over a year. And even
during the Great Depression, it was expected that government would do
everything possible to create jobs and protect the unemployed. That sense
of urgency is long gone as the oligarchs have flexed their political
muscle.
We are now four years into the crisis and the unemployment rate remains
stuck at around 8 percent. In the past, such levels would have forced
government to create jobs programs left and right. At the very least,
federal money would have gone to state and local governments to prevent
more public layoffs. Instead, we are witnessing an on-going human
catastrophe, especially for the long term unemployed – those without jobs
for 26 weeks or more. These workers will find it extremely difficult ever
to find work again. A vital democracy would not stand for it. Instead, we
are getting far too used to it.
9. The Revolving Door
Democracy is also in peril when financial personnel slide back and forth
between Wall Street and Washington. It’s an unwritten rule that the top
Treasury officials must come from Wall Street in order to “reassure”
markets. Hank Paulson, Bush’s Treasury Secretary, formerly served as the
CEO of Goldman Sachs. Tim Geithner, Obama’s Treasury Secretary previously
was the head of the New York Fed, which is considered the informal board
of directors for Wall Street. These officials truly believe that what’s
good for Wall Street is good for the country.
For example, while Paulson was misleading Congress and the media about
the dire situation at Fannie and Freddie in 2008, he then rushed to New
York to tell his hedge fund buddies (who once worked for him at Goldman
Sachs) that Freddie and Fannie soon would be nationalized. That secret
tip was worth hundreds of millions to those hedge funds which then
shorted the stocks and made a killing. Paulson obviously believed that
the nation was served better by speaking truthfully to the oligarchs
while lying to our democratic leaders.
Then there’s Peter Orzag, the former Obama budget director, widely known
as a deficit hawk. Orzag was in government throughout the bailout period
and was intimately involved in pouring hundreds of billions of dollars
into failed banks like CitiGroup. Two years later Orzag leaves his high-
level government position to take a multi-million dollar job
with...CitiGroup.
Meanwhile congressional members, staff and civil servants also have their
eyes glued on lucrative financial jobs in the very industries that are
supposed to control in the name of the public good. Some already are
auditioning by spending their time in Congress managing their own
investment portfolios. Staff members are behaving like day traders.
This is what the ugly transition from democracy to oligarchy looks like.
10. Worshiping the Market Gods
Perhaps the biggest danger signal comes with the growing worship of
financial markets. For nearly 3,000 years there has been an uneasy
tension between money-lenders and governments of all kinds. But until
recently government usually held the upper hand. Not so today. The
financial markets have more power than ever before, and every political
leader knows it. That power translates into the anthropomorphic qualities
assigned to markets which now have a range of human emotions: Markets
“approve or show their displeasure;” become “jittery or remain calm;” and
“show concern or provide support.” They can take down governments, cause
debt crises and generally veto policies that get them “uneasy.”
How bad is it? Just think about when the rating agencies – the petty
apostles of Wall Street -- reduced their ratings on U.S. government debt
last summer. Politicians and the media actually took them seriously. How
crazy is that? These same rating agencies turned tricks for Wall Street
banks and mis-rated thousands of mortgage-backed securities leading up to
the crisis. They are the walking embodiment of abject failure and they
should have gone under along with their mis-rated securities.
Instead, when the deficit discussion was mounting in Washington, these
same rating agencies had the gall to cut U.S. debt ratings….and we took
them seriously? The “markets” sure didn’t because interest rates remained
at record lows. Yet, pundits asked, “What must we do to get our AAA
rating back?” They should have been asking: “How much do those rating
agencies owe the American people for damage they did to the economy and
how do we get it back?”
Is It Too Late for Democracy?
The game’s not over yet. We still have freedom of expression and the
right to protest – more or less. Occupy Wall Street both showed how the
debate could be altered, and how easily the authorities could end the
encampments. So, it’s an open question whether we have the will to build
and sustain a broad, powerful anti-Wall Street movement.
The financial rot is deeply impacting our democratic structures. It
should worry us when Wall Street and its political minions warn that we
might become the next Greece. They, of course, are referring to the debt
crisis. But Greece is also the very place where finance is crushing
democracy. Austerity is being rammed down the throats of the Greek people
and democratic government can no longer protect the infirm and the
unemployed from the onslaught of the oligarchs. It is both sad and
frightening that it’s happening at the historical birthplace of democracy.
We all are Greeks.
Les Leopold is the author of The Looting of America: How Wall Street's
Game of Fantasy Finance destroyed our Jobs, Pensions and Prosperity, and
What We Can Do About It, Chelsea Green Publishing, June 2009.
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“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution
inevitable” -JFK
10 Ways Our Democracy Is Crumbling Around Us
The financial rot is deeply impacting our democratic structures
April 5, 2012
Our democracy is in grave danger. In fact, it may already be fatally
wounded as a financial oligopoly increasingly dominates American politics
and the economy. What’s most remarkable about this new form of oligarchy
is that it has no face. There are no flesh and blood oligarchs, only
unnamed investors. The big financial sharks can swim among our 401ks.
They can flex their awesome power without getting fingered. They can set
the entire direction of government activity without lobbying at all.
Here are 10 reasons to worry.
1. Money and Politics
Our democracy is supposedly rooted in the idea of one person, one vote.
But the introduction of big money into politics distorts, and perhaps,
destroys that ideal. Unlike most advanced democracies, we have failed to
eliminate the destructive impacts of money on politics. The cost of our
campaigns are rapidly rising. The Citizens United Supreme Court decision
further accelerated this trend so that now there are virtually no limits
on how much billionaires can spend on their preferred candidates.
Bankers too are getting into the act. One recent super PAC, “Friends of
Traditional Banking” is seeking races where it can “target the industry's
enemies and support its friends in Congress.”
Of course the obvious result is that all candidates, regardless of party,
spend most of their time begging for money, not legislating. You can’t
get elected without kissing the oligarchs’ rings.
2. Voter Disenfranchisement
At the core of modern democracy is voting – we get to choose who governs
us. If that’s the case, then we should be very concerned about how the
electorate is being dismantled. Let’s start with the fact that if you’re
a felon, you may not be permitted to vote at all. Since we have the
largest prison population in the world, we also have more than 5 million
disenfranchised felons, and former-felons. (The voting rules vary by
state.)
Equally telling is the tidal wave of new voting laws sweeping through
state legislatures. According to a recent report from NYU’s Brennan
Center for Justice, “More than 5 million Americans could be affected by
the new rules already put in place this year — a number larger than the
margin of victory in two of the last three presidential elections.” These
new restrictions include tougher laws requiring photo IDs, proof of
citizenship, removal of early and absentee voting, and making it harder
to restore voting rights after criminal convictions.
The rapid spread of these nearly identical disenfranchise efforts is not
accidental. They come directly from the American Legislative Exchange
Council, which the New York Times reorts is “a business-backed
conservative group, which has circulated voter ID proposals in scores of
state legislatures.” The oligarchs funding this effort include American
Nuclear Energy Council, the American Petroleum Institute, Amoco, Chevron,
Coors Brewing Company, Shell, Texaco, Chlorine Chemistry Council, Union
Pacific Railroad, Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America,
Waste Management, Philip Morris Management Corporation, and R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco. (http://www.alecwatch.org/chapterone.html)
Perhaps the most pernicious efforts involve state legislation to
discourage voter registration. (You would think that in a democracy we
would do everything possible to register voters and to encourage them to
vote.) Take Florida for example. The New York Times reports how the state
has basically eliminated voter registration drives.
“The state’s new elections law — which requires groups that register
voters to turn in completed forms within 48 hours or risk fines, among
other things — has led the state’s League of Women Voters to halt its
efforts this year. Rock the Vote, a national organization that encourages
young people to vote, began an effort last week to register high school
students around the nation — but not in Florida, over fears that teachers
could face fines. And on college campuses, the once-ubiquitous folding
tables piled high with voter registration forms are now a rarer sight.
And then of course, there’s Gore v Bush where the Supreme Court ordered
the halt of a recount in Florida that would have declared Al Gore, not
George Bush, as president.
3. Our Skewed Distribution of Income
Sometimes we forget that money in politics wouldn’t matter if our income
distribution wasn’t so lopsided. Ever since the Greeks invented
democracy, there has been a question about the relationship between
political and economic democracy. Is it possible to have political
democracy if the income distribution is severely skewed? Of course, you
don’t need to have full equality of income to have a viable democracy.
But does there come a point when a skewed distribution of income makes a
sham of democracy? If we’re not already there, we may be getting close.
As this chart shows, we lead the world when it comes to our income gap.
Ratio of CEO Compensation To Average Employee Compensation in 2000
Japan 10:1
Germany 11:1
Switzerland 11:1
Sweden 14:1
New Zealand 16:1
France 16:1
Spain 18:1
Belgium 19:1
Italy 19:1
Canada 21:1
Australia 22:1
Netherlands 22:1
Britain 25:1
Hong Kong 38:1
Mexico 45:1
Argentina 48:1
South Africa 51:1
U.S. 365:1
(Source: Michael Hennigan, “Executive Pay and Inequality in the Winner-
take-all Society,” Finfacts Ireland, August 7, 2005.)
4. Tax Breaks for the Super-rich
You know the oligarchy is rolling along when it wins enormous tax breaks
during good times and bad, under Democrats and Republicans. This shows up
in two important ways. First, we see a decline in the top marginal tax
rate from 91 percent during the Eisenhower years down to 35 percent
today. But what matters even more is the 15 percent marginal rate on
capital gains and similar kinds of income. That’s how Mitt Romney gets to
pay only 13.9 percent of his massive income in taxes.
While we would love to blame it all on the Republicans, the chart below
shows that the effective tax rate on the rich (after all deductions) has
been plummeting no matter which party holds office. And although
President Obama is currently very upset about the Republicans call for
even more tax cuts for the super-rich, he was also unable to raise taxes
on top income earners when the Democrats controlled Congress. In
addition, the Democrats were unable to close the outrageous carried
interest loophole that fattens hedge funds. Nor did they get near passing
a financial transaction tax on Wall Street. Oligarchs don’t like to pay.
And their money makes sure it stays that way. Is that democracy?
5. Wall Street Bailouts
Another sure sign of financial oligarchy is when the national vault
breaks open for Wall Street bailouts and stays open. It’s become clear
that too-big-to-fail banks remain far too large to fail. In fact, they
have grown larger. They can continue to bet with impunity knowing that if
they lose big, we will bail them out again. Under democratic capitalism
this is called a “moral hazard.” But really it’s the ancient morality of
oligarchy.
The sequence of events leading up to and through the financial crash is a
stain on our democracy. First the largest banks and investment houses
went on a wildly profitable gambling spree. They created and sold fantasy
finance instruments that they knew were toxic to the core. They got their
lapdog rating agencies to bless them with AAA ratings. And then they
peddled the trash all over the world. Along the way housing prices were
puffed up to astronomical highs since high-risk mortgages were needed to
create the corrupt securities. Government, after years of ideologically
informed deregulation, aided and abetted the entire process. The toxic
trash created the crash.
For a short time it seemed as if Wall Street would pay for the damage it
had caused – that the large banks would be broken up, that homeowners
would be bailed out, that the unemployed would be put to work, and that
Wall Street gambling would be eliminated with the passage of New Deal-
like controls.
But the oligarchs would not stand for it. They got bailed out, not the
average American. Too-big-to-fail banks used our bailout funds to get
even bigger. And the reforms are weak and yet to be instituted.
That’s not what Americans wanted or expected. But under our financialized
democracy, that's what we’re getting…and more is yet to come.
6. Deficit Hysteria
It’s remarkable to watch how oligarchs shift the national conversation
toward debt and away from themselves. By the summer of 2011, both parties
where clamoring for cuts (which they call “reforms”) in Medicare,
Medicaid and Social Security. As the Democrats moved to the right, the
Republicans went even further, demanding more tax cuts for the rich and
more draconian cuts in social programs – from food stamps to Head Start.
All of this becomes possible because of the national drumbeat about
deficits and debt.
With massive investments in think-tanks and media infrastructure, Wall
Street’s minions successfully persuaded Washington that the American
people, not Wall Street, should pay for the damage that Wall Street
created. That’s the very definition of oligarchic chutzpah.
7. Crumbling Social and Physical Infrastructure
When you’re a financial oligarch, you live in your gated community, you
send your kids to private schools, you go to your own expensive healthcare
providers, and travel on your private jet which leaves from its own
private terminal. You could care less what happens to the rest of
America. You have no interest in funding public education. (In fact, the
very profitable student loan market depends on rising education costs.)
You would think that business leaders would want an educated workforce.
But the real oligarchs don’t care. They can get their workers from
anywhere in the world. What about the decay of our roads, bridges and
public transportation? Doesn’t business need that too? Productive
enterprises do, but the financial elites rely almost entirely on a
privately controlled electronic infrastructure. Cracked bridges don’t
matter.
But financial elites do care deeply about privatization. Turning over the
government to the private sector is a thing of beauty for oligarchs. It’s
a nice transfer of taxpayer money to firms that can use political muscle
to gain contracts. The insecurity of competitive markets is eliminated as
you waltz off with military and civilian contracts worth billions. (See
Colin Greer’s “The Biggest Engine of Economic Growth? 8 Ways Taxpayers
and the Government Are Necessary to Capitalism.”)
When America was competing with the USSR, maintaining some semblance of
substantive democracy was critically important. It’s not an accident that
during the Cold War we invested heavily in higher education,
transportation and social programs like Medicare and Medicaid. We even
supported unions. Oligarchs were constrained in the name of freedom. No
more.
8. The Failure to Create Jobs
Until recently, our democracy would not tolerate high levels of
unemployment. In fact it was suicidal for any politician or political
party to preside over severe recessions that lasted over a year. And even
during the Great Depression, it was expected that government would do
everything possible to create jobs and protect the unemployed. That sense
of urgency is long gone as the oligarchs have flexed their political
muscle.
We are now four years into the crisis and the unemployment rate remains
stuck at around 8 percent. In the past, such levels would have forced
government to create jobs programs left and right. At the very least,
federal money would have gone to state and local governments to prevent
more public layoffs. Instead, we are witnessing an on-going human
catastrophe, especially for the long term unemployed – those without jobs
for 26 weeks or more. These workers will find it extremely difficult ever
to find work again. A vital democracy would not stand for it. Instead, we
are getting far too used to it.
9. The Revolving Door
Democracy is also in peril when financial personnel slide back and forth
between Wall Street and Washington. It’s an unwritten rule that the top
Treasury officials must come from Wall Street in order to “reassure”
markets. Hank Paulson, Bush’s Treasury Secretary, formerly served as the
CEO of Goldman Sachs. Tim Geithner, Obama’s Treasury Secretary previously
was the head of the New York Fed, which is considered the informal board
of directors for Wall Street. These officials truly believe that what’s
good for Wall Street is good for the country.
For example, while Paulson was misleading Congress and the media about
the dire situation at Fannie and Freddie in 2008, he then rushed to New
York to tell his hedge fund buddies (who once worked for him at Goldman
Sachs) that Freddie and Fannie soon would be nationalized. That secret
tip was worth hundreds of millions to those hedge funds which then
shorted the stocks and made a killing. Paulson obviously believed that
the nation was served better by speaking truthfully to the oligarchs
while lying to our democratic leaders.
Then there’s Peter Orzag, the former Obama budget director, widely known
as a deficit hawk. Orzag was in government throughout the bailout period
and was intimately involved in pouring hundreds of billions of dollars
into failed banks like CitiGroup. Two years later Orzag leaves his high-
level government position to take a multi-million dollar job
with...CitiGroup.
Meanwhile congressional members, staff and civil servants also have their
eyes glued on lucrative financial jobs in the very industries that are
supposed to control in the name of the public good. Some already are
auditioning by spending their time in Congress managing their own
investment portfolios. Staff members are behaving like day traders.
This is what the ugly transition from democracy to oligarchy looks like.
10. Worshiping the Market Gods
Perhaps the biggest danger signal comes with the growing worship of
financial markets. For nearly 3,000 years there has been an uneasy
tension between money-lenders and governments of all kinds. But until
recently government usually held the upper hand. Not so today. The
financial markets have more power than ever before, and every political
leader knows it. That power translates into the anthropomorphic qualities
assigned to markets which now have a range of human emotions: Markets
“approve or show their displeasure;” become “jittery or remain calm;” and
“show concern or provide support.” They can take down governments, cause
debt crises and generally veto policies that get them “uneasy.”
How bad is it? Just think about when the rating agencies – the petty
apostles of Wall Street -- reduced their ratings on U.S. government debt
last summer. Politicians and the media actually took them seriously. How
crazy is that? These same rating agencies turned tricks for Wall Street
banks and mis-rated thousands of mortgage-backed securities leading up to
the crisis. They are the walking embodiment of abject failure and they
should have gone under along with their mis-rated securities.
Instead, when the deficit discussion was mounting in Washington, these
same rating agencies had the gall to cut U.S. debt ratings….and we took
them seriously? The “markets” sure didn’t because interest rates remained
at record lows. Yet, pundits asked, “What must we do to get our AAA
rating back?” They should have been asking: “How much do those rating
agencies owe the American people for damage they did to the economy and
how do we get it back?”
Is It Too Late for Democracy?
The game’s not over yet. We still have freedom of expression and the
right to protest – more or less. Occupy Wall Street both showed how the
debate could be altered, and how easily the authorities could end the
encampments. So, it’s an open question whether we have the will to build
and sustain a broad, powerful anti-Wall Street movement.
The financial rot is deeply impacting our democratic structures. It
should worry us when Wall Street and its political minions warn that we
might become the next Greece. They, of course, are referring to the debt
crisis. But Greece is also the very place where finance is crushing
democracy. Austerity is being rammed down the throats of the Greek people
and democratic government can no longer protect the infirm and the
unemployed from the onslaught of the oligarchs. It is both sad and
frightening that it’s happening at the historical birthplace of democracy.
We all are Greeks.
Les Leopold is the author of The Looting of America: How Wall Street's
Game of Fantasy Finance destroyed our Jobs, Pensions and Prosperity, and
What We Can Do About It, Chelsea Green Publishing, June 2009.
--
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Not dead, in jail or a slave? Thank a liberal!
--
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution
inevitable” -JFK
David Hartung
Apr 7, 2012, 10:21:56 PM4/7/12
to
On 04/07/2012 04:49 PM, 2938 Dead wrote:
> By Les Leopold
> 10 Ways Our Democracy Is Crumbling Around Us
> The financial rot is deeply impacting our democratic structures
>
> April 5, 2012
>
> Our democracy is in grave danger. In fact, it may already be fatally
> wounded as a financial oligopoly increasingly dominates American politics
> and the economy. What’s most remarkable about this new form of oligarchy
> is that it has no face. There are no flesh and blood oligarchs, only
> unnamed investors. The big financial sharks can swim among our 401ks.
> They can flex their awesome power without getting fingered. They can set
> the entire direction of government activity without lobbying at all.
> Here are 10 reasons to worry.
This man has destroyed his credibility with the title to his piece. The
> By Les Leopold
> 10 Ways Our Democracy Is Crumbling Around Us
> The financial rot is deeply impacting our democratic structures
>
> April 5, 2012
>
> Our democracy is in grave danger. In fact, it may already be fatally
> wounded as a financial oligopoly increasingly dominates American politics
> and the economy. What’s most remarkable about this new form of oligarchy
> is that it has no face. There are no flesh and blood oligarchs, only
> unnamed investors. The big financial sharks can swim among our 401ks.
> They can flex their awesome power without getting fingered. They can set
> the entire direction of government activity without lobbying at all.
> Here are 10 reasons to worry.
USA is not, nor has it ever been, nor should it ever be, a democracy.
2938 Dead
Apr 7, 2012, 10:32:45 PM4/7/12
to
But nobody with a brain takes you seriously.
2938 Dead
Apr 7, 2012, 10:32:18 PM4/7/12
to
On Sat, 07 Apr 2012 21:21:56 -0500, David Hartung wrote:
Yes, yes, you fascists always say that.
But nobody with a brain takes you seriously.
But nobody with a brain takes you seriously.
David Hartung
Apr 7, 2012, 10:39:11 PM4/7/12
to
On 04/07/2012 09:32 PM, 2938 Dead wrote:
> On Sat, 07 Apr 2012 21:21:56 -0500, David Hartung wrote:
>
>> On 04/07/2012 04:49 PM, 2938 Dead wrote:
>>> By Les Leopold
>>> 10 Ways Our Democracy Is Crumbling Around Us The financial rot is
>>> deeply impacting our democratic structures
>>>
>>> April 5, 2012
>>>
>>> Our democracy is in grave danger. In fact, it may already be fatally
>>> wounded as a financial oligopoly increasingly dominates American
>>> politics and the economy. What’s most remarkable about this new form of
>>> oligarchy is that it has no face. There are no flesh and blood
>>> oligarchs, only unnamed investors. The big financial sharks can swim
>>> among our 401ks. They can flex their awesome power without getting
>>> fingered. They can set the entire direction of government activity
>>> without lobbying at all. Here are 10 reasons to worry.
>>
>> This man has destroyed his credibility with the title to his piece. The
>> USA is not, nor has it ever been, nor should it ever be, a democracy.
>
> Yes, yes, you fascists always say that.
And once more you demonstrate that you have no idea what you are talking
> On Sat, 07 Apr 2012 21:21:56 -0500, David Hartung wrote:
>
>> On 04/07/2012 04:49 PM, 2938 Dead wrote:
>>> By Les Leopold
>>> 10 Ways Our Democracy Is Crumbling Around Us The financial rot is
>>> deeply impacting our democratic structures
>>>
>>> April 5, 2012
>>>
>>> Our democracy is in grave danger. In fact, it may already be fatally
>>> wounded as a financial oligopoly increasingly dominates American
>>> politics and the economy. What’s most remarkable about this new form of
>>> oligarchy is that it has no face. There are no flesh and blood
>>> oligarchs, only unnamed investors. The big financial sharks can swim
>>> among our 401ks. They can flex their awesome power without getting
>>> fingered. They can set the entire direction of government activity
>>> without lobbying at all. Here are 10 reasons to worry.
>>
>> This man has destroyed his credibility with the title to his piece. The
>> USA is not, nor has it ever been, nor should it ever be, a democracy.
>
> Yes, yes, you fascists always say that.
about.
Dänk 42Ø
Apr 7, 2012, 11:21:13 PM4/7/12
to
On 2012-04-07 21:49, 2938 Dead quacked:
half the construction workers were Mexican nationals (The other half
were white, and no blacks to be seen at all).
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Mexicans, but obviously there
*ARE* jobs in the USA -- just none that lily-white liberals and
especially blacks are willing to take.
After 900 weeks of receiving unemployment benefits, YOU still haven't
found a job -- at least not that perfect job stapling cover sheets on
TPS reports in an air conditioned cubicle, with medical insurance, a
401K, and eight weeks of paid vacation time per year. Thus there are
"no jobs." Boo hoo.
Meanwhile, as you sit on your fat ass posting inane rants to Usenet
24/7/365, millions of Mexicans risk their lives every year crossing
deadly deserts and rivers to take jobs that supposedly do not exist.
Care to explain that?
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/818/zeppisafucktard01a.jpg/
> By Les Leopold
> 10 Ways Our Democracy Is Crumbling Around Us
> The financial rot is deeply impacting our democratic structures
> ...
> 10 Ways Our Democracy Is Crumbling Around Us
> The financial rot is deeply impacting our democratic structures
> 8. The Failure to Create Jobs
I walked by a major construction site last month, and it looked as if
half the construction workers were Mexican nationals (The other half
were white, and no blacks to be seen at all).
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Mexicans, but obviously there
*ARE* jobs in the USA -- just none that lily-white liberals and
especially blacks are willing to take.
After 900 weeks of receiving unemployment benefits, YOU still haven't
found a job -- at least not that perfect job stapling cover sheets on
TPS reports in an air conditioned cubicle, with medical insurance, a
401K, and eight weeks of paid vacation time per year. Thus there are
"no jobs." Boo hoo.
Meanwhile, as you sit on your fat ass posting inane rants to Usenet
24/7/365, millions of Mexicans risk their lives every year crossing
deadly deserts and rivers to take jobs that supposedly do not exist.
Care to explain that?
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/818/zeppisafucktard01a.jpg/
wy
Apr 7, 2012, 11:36:38 PM4/7/12
to
wy
Apr 7, 2012, 11:35:30 PM4/7/12
to
and a president you can't do much about for 4 years short of impeach
him or shoot him. At least in a parliamentary democracy like Canada
we can dump the guy and the party at the same time when the House
passes a no confidence vote. It's happened 5 times in the last 50
years, and as soon as 9 months after a conservanut got elected PM back
in 1979. This way, things move and get done, there's no wasting time
on obvious losers who refuse to yield or behave like your Repugnants.
Your way, everything moves like a sloth in quicksand and you end up
having to be miserable for the entire term a president you detest is
in office.
Message has been deleted
Message has been deleted
2938 Dead
Apr 8, 2012, 1:06:10 AM4/8/12
to
2938 Dead
Apr 8, 2012, 1:10:53 AM4/8/12
to
despite the drug wars.
I guess they weren't coming to America because America treated them so
well, after all.
>
>
>
>> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
>> =http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/818/zeppisafucktard01a.jpg/
>
>
>> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
>> =http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/818/zeppisafucktard01a.jpg/
Dänk 42Ø
Apr 8, 2012, 1:26:27 AM4/8/12
to
On 2012-04-08 04:12, Yoor...@Jurgis.net quacked:
>
> What's yer point?
You obviously didn't read the rest of my post, where I said that there
*ARE* jobs, just no jobs that unemployed white liberal Americans like
*YOU* are willing to take.
Mexico has no unemployment benefits -- especially unemployment benefits
for ten years straight. Mexicans who don't work don't eat. As a
result, Mexicans have a strong work ethic, making them highly desirable
to American employers. How you managed to twist my observation into
what appears to be a racist anti-Mexican sentiment is beyond me.
Obama voters seeking day jobs outside Home Depot (not):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsKomYlVoA4
> On Sun, 08 Apr 2012 03:21:13 +0000, Dänk 42Ø<da...@nugget.net> wrote:
>
>> I walked by a major construction site last month, and it looked as if
>> half the construction workers were Mexican nationals (The other half
>> were white, and no blacks to be seen at all).
>
> They pay taxes
>
>> I walked by a major construction site last month, and it looked as if
>> half the construction workers were Mexican nationals (The other half
>> were white, and no blacks to be seen at all).
>
>
> What's yer point?
You obviously didn't read the rest of my post, where I said that there
*ARE* jobs, just no jobs that unemployed white liberal Americans like
*YOU* are willing to take.
Mexico has no unemployment benefits -- especially unemployment benefits
for ten years straight. Mexicans who don't work don't eat. As a
result, Mexicans have a strong work ethic, making them highly desirable
to American employers. How you managed to twist my observation into
what appears to be a racist anti-Mexican sentiment is beyond me.
Obama voters seeking day jobs outside Home Depot (not):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsKomYlVoA4
David Hartung
Apr 8, 2012, 6:27:02 AM4/8/12
to
On 04/08/2012 12:06 AM, 2938 Dead wrote:
> On Sat, 07 Apr 2012 21:39:11 -0500, David Hartung wrote:
>
>> On 04/07/2012 09:32 PM, 2938 Dead wrote:
>>> On Sat, 07 Apr 2012 21:21:56 -0500, David Hartung wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 04/07/2012 04:49 PM, 2938 Dead wrote:
>>>>> By Les Leopold
>>>>> 10 Ways Our Democracy Is Crumbling Around Us The financial rot is
>>>>> deeply impacting our democratic structures
>>>>>
>>>>> April 5, 2012
>>>>>
>>>>> Our democracy is in grave danger. In fact, it may already be fatally
>>>>> wounded as a financial oligopoly increasingly dominates American
>>>>> politics and the economy. What’s most remarkable about this new form
>>>>> of oligarchy is that it has no face. There are no flesh and blood
>>>>> oligarchs, only unnamed investors. The big financial sharks can swim
>>>>> among our 401ks. They can flex their awesome power without getting
>>>>> fingered. They can set the entire direction of government activity
>>>>> without lobbying at all. Here are 10 reasons to worry.
>>>>
>>>> This man has destroyed his credibility with the title to his piece.
>>>> The USA is not, nor has it ever been, nor should it ever be, a
>>>> democracy.
>>>
>>> Yes, yes, you fascists always say that.
>>
>> And once more you demonstrate that you have no idea what you are talking
>> about.
>
> Who holds sovereignty in America?
The voters.
> On Sat, 07 Apr 2012 21:39:11 -0500, David Hartung wrote:
>
>> On 04/07/2012 09:32 PM, 2938 Dead wrote:
>>> On Sat, 07 Apr 2012 21:21:56 -0500, David Hartung wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 04/07/2012 04:49 PM, 2938 Dead wrote:
>>>>> By Les Leopold
>>>>> 10 Ways Our Democracy Is Crumbling Around Us The financial rot is
>>>>> deeply impacting our democratic structures
>>>>>
>>>>> April 5, 2012
>>>>>
>>>>> Our democracy is in grave danger. In fact, it may already be fatally
>>>>> wounded as a financial oligopoly increasingly dominates American
>>>>> politics and the economy. What’s most remarkable about this new form
>>>>> of oligarchy is that it has no face. There are no flesh and blood
>>>>> oligarchs, only unnamed investors. The big financial sharks can swim
>>>>> among our 401ks. They can flex their awesome power without getting
>>>>> fingered. They can set the entire direction of government activity
>>>>> without lobbying at all. Here are 10 reasons to worry.
>>>>
>>>> This man has destroyed his credibility with the title to his piece.
>>>> The USA is not, nor has it ever been, nor should it ever be, a
>>>> democracy.
>>>
>>> Yes, yes, you fascists always say that.
>>
>> And once more you demonstrate that you have no idea what you are talking
>> about.
>
> Who holds sovereignty in America?
de...@dudu.org
Apr 8, 2012, 7:58:45 AM4/8/12
to
On Sat, 07 Apr 2012 21:21:56 -0500, David Hartung <da...@hotmaiil.com>
wrote:
Give it a rest. You people nitpicking the difference between a
democracy and a republic rather than facing the real issues is
pathetic. A republic is a representative democracy, so yes, the US is
a democracy.
wrote:
democracy and a republic rather than facing the real issues is
pathetic. A republic is a representative democracy, so yes, the US is
a democracy.
de...@dudu.org
Apr 8, 2012, 8:00:35 AM4/8/12
to
On Sat, 07 Apr 2012 21:39:11 -0500, David Hartung <da...@hotmaiil.com>
wrote:
Idiot. Why do your kind always think that everyone is as uneducated
as you are?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy
wrote:
as you are?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy
de...@dudu.org
Apr 8, 2012, 8:06:34 AM4/8/12
to
On Sun, 08 Apr 2012 03:21:13 +0000, Dänk 42Ř <da...@nugget.net> wrote:
>On 2012-04-07 21:49, 2938 Dead quacked:
>> By Les Leopold
>> 10 Ways Our Democracy Is Crumbling Around Us
>> The financial rot is deeply impacting our democratic structures
>> ...
>> 8. The Failure to Create Jobs
>
>I walked by a major construction site last month, and it looked as if
>half the construction workers were Mexican nationals (The other half
>were white, and no blacks to be seen at all).
>
>Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Mexicans, but obviously there
>*ARE* jobs in the USA -- just none that lily-white liberals and
>especially blacks are willing to take.
You're an idiot and an asshole.
>On 2012-04-07 21:49, 2938 Dead quacked:
>> By Les Leopold
>> 10 Ways Our Democracy Is Crumbling Around Us
>> The financial rot is deeply impacting our democratic structures
>> ...
>> 8. The Failure to Create Jobs
>
>I walked by a major construction site last month, and it looked as if
>half the construction workers were Mexican nationals (The other half
>were white, and no blacks to be seen at all).
>
>Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Mexicans, but obviously there
>*ARE* jobs in the USA -- just none that lily-white liberals and
>especially blacks are willing to take.
>
>After 900 weeks of receiving unemployment benefits, YOU still haven't
>found a job -- at least not that perfect job stapling cover sheets on
>TPS reports in an air conditioned cubicle, with medical insurance, a
>401K, and eight weeks of paid vacation time per year. Thus there are
>"no jobs." Boo hoo.
>
>Meanwhile, as you sit on your fat ass posting inane rants to Usenet
>24/7/365, millions of Mexicans risk their lives every year crossing
>deadly deserts and rivers to take jobs that supposedly do not exist.
>Care to explain that?
David Hartung
Apr 8, 2012, 8:08:45 AM4/8/12
to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States
[...]
"The United States of America (also called the United States, the U.S.,
the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic
comprising fifty states and a federal district."
[...]
David Hartung
Apr 8, 2012, 8:11:48 AM4/8/12
to
representative democracy and a republic may well spell the difference
between the USA's continuation as a free nation, and becoming just
another "has been". The fact that so many of our citizens to not
understand that ther is a difference, and understand why the Founders
created a republic rather than a democracy is just one of the reasons we
have are where we are.
de...@dudu.org
Apr 8, 2012, 8:35:16 AM4/8/12
to
On Sun, 08 Apr 2012 07:11:48 -0500, David Hartung <da...@hotmaiil.com>
The founders created a representative democracy rather than a direct
democracy simply because the latter could not function effectively in
anything other than small groups (ie communitities). Nothing more.
democracy simply because the latter could not function effectively in
anything other than small groups (ie communitities). Nothing more.
de...@dudu.org
Apr 8, 2012, 8:36:55 AM4/8/12
to
On Sun, 08 Apr 2012 07:08:45 -0500, David Hartung <da...@hotmaiil.com>
Now look up what a democracy is, and look up what a republic is. Find
a liberal to explain the difference to you.
And I just love the way ALL you conservatives think you can cherry
pick simple one sentence defintions that you think they say what you
want, and that somehow proves you are right. You aren't.
a liberal to explain the difference to you.
And I just love the way ALL you conservatives think you can cherry
pick simple one sentence defintions that you think they say what you
want, and that somehow proves you are right. You aren't.
Message has been deleted
2938 Dead
Apr 8, 2012, 10:39:22 AM4/8/12
to
[ri-puhb-lik] Show IPA
noun
1.
a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled
to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly
by them.
2.
any body of persons viewed as a commonwealth.
3.
a state in which the head of government is not a monarch or other
hereditary head of state.
I wonder if David can point to anything in that definition that precludes
America from being a democracy, as well.
2938 Dead
Apr 8, 2012, 10:40:26 AM4/8/12
to
The people.
2938 Dead
Apr 8, 2012, 10:56:47 AM4/8/12
to
He used to be someone, you know.
Phlip
Apr 8, 2012, 11:01:12 AM4/8/12
to
On Apr 7, 8:21 pm, Dänk 42Ø <d...@nugget.net> wrote:
> I walked by a major construction site last month
man those fuckers are all around town. what a NUISANCE
> I walked by a major construction site last month
Phlip
Apr 8, 2012, 11:03:14 AM4/8/12
to
> The founders created a representative democracy rather than a direct
> democracy simply because the latter could not function effectively in
> anything other than small groups (ie communitities). Nothing more.
Which is why Occupy Wall Street will replace it with social media
> democracy simply because the latter could not function effectively in
> anything other than small groups (ie communitities). Nothing more.
democracy, if we keep shooting at them & stuff.
de...@dudu.org
Apr 8, 2012, 11:10:56 AM4/8/12
to
On Sun, 8 Apr 2012 14:39:22 +0000 (UTC), 2938 Dead <de...@gone.com>
wrote:
>> The founders created a representative democracy rather than a direct
>> democracy simply because the latter could not function effectively in
>> anything other than small groups (ie communitities). Nothing more.
>
>re·pub·lic
>? ?[ri-puhb-lik] Show IPA
issue. One clearly too horrible for him to deal with. So he avoids
reality and tries to mold it to suit his needs. The very definition
of a conservative.
wrote:
>> The founders created a representative democracy rather than a direct
>> democracy simply because the latter could not function effectively in
>> anything other than small groups (ie communitities). Nothing more.
>
>re·pub·lic
>noun
>1.
>a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled
>to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly
>by them.
>2.
>any body of persons viewed as a commonwealth.
>3.
>a state in which the head of government is not a monarch or other
>hereditary head of state.
>
>
>I wonder if David can point to anything in that definition that precludes
>America from being a democracy, as well.
>
>
That's not the point. If he can nitpick definitions he can avoid the
>1.
>a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled
>to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly
>by them.
>2.
>any body of persons viewed as a commonwealth.
>3.
>a state in which the head of government is not a monarch or other
>hereditary head of state.
>
>
>I wonder if David can point to anything in that definition that precludes
>America from being a democracy, as well.
>
>
issue. One clearly too horrible for him to deal with. So he avoids
reality and tries to mold it to suit his needs. The very definition
of a conservative.
David Hartung
Apr 8, 2012, 11:15:42 AM4/8/12
to
lsrlts
Apr 8, 2012, 11:27:41 AM4/8/12
to
Phlip
Apr 8, 2012, 11:00:30 AM4/8/12
to
On Apr 7, 7:21 pm, David Hartung <da...@hotmaiil.com> wrote:
> "The
> USA is not, nor has it ever been, nor should it ever be, a democracy."
Exhibit A, folks.
> "The
> USA is not, nor has it ever been, nor should it ever be, a democracy."
wy
Apr 8, 2012, 11:30:25 AM4/8/12
to
Dänk 42Ø
Apr 8, 2012, 11:38:57 AM4/8/12
to
On 2012-04-08 14:03, Yoor...@Jurgis.net wrote:
> bearing on an inference that undocumented/illegals are a liability.
I never inferred any such thing. Did you eat too many paint chips when
you were a child?
> On Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:26:27 +0000, Dänk 42Ø<da...@nugget.net> wrote:
>
>> On 2012-04-08 04:12, Yoor...@Jurgis.net quacked:
>>> On Sun, 08 Apr 2012 03:21:13 +0000, Dänk 42Ø<da...@nugget.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I walked by a major construction site last month, and it looked as if
>>>> half the construction workers were Mexican nationals (The other half
>>>> were white, and no blacks to be seen at all).
>>>
>>> They pay taxes
>>>
>>> What's yer point?
>>
>> You obviously didn't read the rest of my post, where I said that there
>> *ARE* jobs, just no jobs that unemployed white liberal Americans like
>> *YOU* are willing to take.
>
> That's a given, that's been a "truth" without argument. Still has no
>
>> On 2012-04-08 04:12, Yoor...@Jurgis.net quacked:
>>> On Sun, 08 Apr 2012 03:21:13 +0000, Dänk 42Ø<da...@nugget.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I walked by a major construction site last month, and it looked as if
>>>> half the construction workers were Mexican nationals (The other half
>>>> were white, and no blacks to be seen at all).
>>>
>>> They pay taxes
>>>
>>> What's yer point?
>>
>> You obviously didn't read the rest of my post, where I said that there
>> *ARE* jobs, just no jobs that unemployed white liberal Americans like
>> *YOU* are willing to take.
>
> bearing on an inference that undocumented/illegals are a liability.
I never inferred any such thing. Did you eat too many paint chips when
you were a child?
2938 Dead
Apr 8, 2012, 11:40:31 AM4/8/12
to
Didn't you ever take American history in school?
Dänk 42Ø
Apr 8, 2012, 11:41:46 AM4/8/12
to
of Chairman Obama's trillion dollar "stimulus."
wy
Apr 8, 2012, 11:29:45 AM4/8/12
to
wy
Apr 8, 2012, 11:56:03 AM4/8/12
to
dollars? Was there a sign posted indicating "This Site Is Not a
Beneficiary of Obama's Surplus" to let you know that it wasn't getting
any of Obama's cash?
lsrlts
Apr 8, 2012, 12:36:36 PM4/8/12
to
Dänk 42Ø
Apr 8, 2012, 12:37:22 PM4/8/12
to
On 2012-04-08 12:06, de...@dudu.org wrote:
>> Meanwhile, as you sit on your fat ass posting inane rants to Usenet
>> 24/7/365, millions of Mexicans risk their lives every year crossing
>> deadly deserts and rivers to take jobs that supposedly do not exist.
>> Care to explain that?
>
> To you? You clearly aren't capable of understanding.
Try anyway. I suspect you are incapable of explaining, and any attempt
to do so will degenerate into a rant about George W. Bush and
Repugnants, with maybe some Trayvon Martin thrown in as a distraction.
And I await your attempt to brand me as a "racist," though I criticize
whites above and defend the Mexican work ethic.
The socialist workers' paradise of East Germany built walls to keep its
people from escaping. Our country is so racist and fascist and
oppressive, yet so many Mexicans want to enter that we build walls to
keep them out. AND they find jobs when they get here -- jobs that we
are told do not exist.
Again, please explain why you believe that there are no jobs. Is it
that the jobs the brown Mexicans take aren't good enough for unemployed
white Americans? Is mowing a lawn or scrubbing a toilet beneath you,
because you are an enlightened white liberal who should be working in an
air-conditioned cubicle while they are pinche mestizos who are born to
perform menial labor?
> On Sun, 08 Apr 2012 03:21:13 +0000, Dänk 42Ø<da...@nugget.net> wrote:
>
>> On 2012-04-07 21:49, 2938 Dead quacked:
>>> By Les Leopold
>>> 10 Ways Our Democracy Is Crumbling Around Us
>>> The financial rot is deeply impacting our democratic structures
>>> ...
>>> 8. The Failure to Create Jobs
>>
>> I walked by a major construction site last month, and it looked as if
>> half the construction workers were Mexican nationals (The other half
>> were white, and no blacks to be seen at all).
>>
>> Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Mexicans, but obviously there
>> *ARE* jobs in the USA -- just none that lily-white liberals and
>> especially blacks are willing to take.
>
> You're an idiot and an asshole.
Unable to refute my statement, you resort to personal insults.
>
>> On 2012-04-07 21:49, 2938 Dead quacked:
>>> By Les Leopold
>>> 10 Ways Our Democracy Is Crumbling Around Us
>>> The financial rot is deeply impacting our democratic structures
>>> ...
>>> 8. The Failure to Create Jobs
>>
>> I walked by a major construction site last month, and it looked as if
>> half the construction workers were Mexican nationals (The other half
>> were white, and no blacks to be seen at all).
>>
>> Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Mexicans, but obviously there
>> *ARE* jobs in the USA -- just none that lily-white liberals and
>> especially blacks are willing to take.
>
> You're an idiot and an asshole.
>> Meanwhile, as you sit on your fat ass posting inane rants to Usenet
>> 24/7/365, millions of Mexicans risk their lives every year crossing
>> deadly deserts and rivers to take jobs that supposedly do not exist.
>> Care to explain that?
>
> To you? You clearly aren't capable of understanding.
to do so will degenerate into a rant about George W. Bush and
Repugnants, with maybe some Trayvon Martin thrown in as a distraction.
And I await your attempt to brand me as a "racist," though I criticize
whites above and defend the Mexican work ethic.
The socialist workers' paradise of East Germany built walls to keep its
people from escaping. Our country is so racist and fascist and
oppressive, yet so many Mexicans want to enter that we build walls to
keep them out. AND they find jobs when they get here -- jobs that we
are told do not exist.
Again, please explain why you believe that there are no jobs. Is it
that the jobs the brown Mexicans take aren't good enough for unemployed
white Americans? Is mowing a lawn or scrubbing a toilet beneath you,
because you are an enlightened white liberal who should be working in an
air-conditioned cubicle while they are pinche mestizos who are born to
perform menial labor?
Dänk 42Ø
Apr 8, 2012, 2:42:46 PM4/8/12
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"stimulus" money -- which Chairman Obama promised would be spent on
"shovel-ready" PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE projects -- is actually being spent
to build private shopping malls?
wy
Apr 8, 2012, 3:16:16 PM4/8/12
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bet. Labor in America is heavily subsidized by taxpayers in order to
get things done because a lot of private enterprise is either too lazy
or too broke to do it all by themselves.
The largest share of the money, $244 billion, went to provide a
variety of tax cuts, both for individuals and businesses. For
instance, $90 billion will cover a variety of business expensing tax
breaks. A total of $25 billion will go toward the earned income tax
credit, while an additional $20 billion will go toward supporting the
renewable energy tax credit. Finally, $10 billion will support the
cost of a wide range of tuition tax credits.
Next comes aid to state and local governments, which comprises a total
of $217 billion. Of this, $87 billion goes toward Medicaid cost
sharing and $79 billion to state grants. A total of $42 billion goes
toward state and local bond tax credits, while $5 billion and $4
billion go toward community development and rural development.
The stimulus plan allocates $120 billion toward general relief
programs. This includes $42 billion to cover extended unemployment
insurance, $40 billion for health insurance for the unemployed, $20
billion for expanded food stamps, $11 billion for housing assistance,
$4 billion for supplemental Social Security payments and $3 billion
for welfare programs.
The country’s crumbling infrastructure will receive an additional $101
billion. This includes $30 billion for new highway construction, $20
billion for school renovations, $17 billion for health information
technology, $13 billion for transportation projects, $8 billion for
water projects, $7 billion for the construction of military and
Veterans Administration hospitals and $6 billion to cover the
accelerated deployment of broadband technology.
The stimulus plan also allocates $59.5 billion for projects that
increase energy efficiency throughout the country. Included in this is
$22 billion for energy-efficiency grants, $11 billion to develop a
smart electric grid and $8 billion for renewable-energy loan
guarantees.
Finally, the plan provides $45.5 billion for human capital needs. This
includes $25 billion for education programs, $15 billion for new Pell
grants, $4 billion for job training and $2 billion for new scientific
research.
http://www.creditloan.com/infographics/obamas-economic-stimulus-plan-mapped-out/
What, you actually thought all $787 billion was going to be spent on
just dirt work? Boy, you're stupid.
David Hartung
Apr 8, 2012, 4:36:05 PM4/8/12
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Our leaders and lawmakers are elected by the body of voters. Not
everyone is a voter, thus it is those who vote who are sovereign.
It is the difference between a democracy and a republic which may spell
the life or death of our nation.
David Hartung
Apr 8, 2012, 4:50:19 PM4/8/12
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When our republic was first founded, the vote was limited to those who
were vested in the community. In our nation's early day's one generally
had to own a certain amount of land, to be able to vote. In other words,
only those who were citizens of substance, and could reasonably be
expected vote in a thoughtful manner.
Until 1913, when the 17th amendment was ratified, senators were selected
by the state legislatures.
In the long run, these two practices, the limit of the vote to people of
substance, and the selection of senators by the legislatures, would tend
to prevent the possibility that the people could vote themselves largess
from the coffers of the central government. Largess which would be
funded by those of substance.
The ability of the "proletariat" to vote themselves benefits paid for by
others will result in the destruction of democracy. It is this little
fact that those on the left refuse to see, or at least to admit.
wy
Apr 8, 2012, 5:14:17 PM4/8/12
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On Apr 8, 4:50 pm, David Hartung <da...@hotmaiil.com> wrote:
> On 04/08/2012 10:10 AM, d...@dudu.org wrote:
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> > On Sun, 8 Apr 2012 14:39:22 +0000 (UTC), 2938 Dead<d...@gone.com>
And why shouldn't people have the largess of governement coffers when
the coffers are filled with people's money to begin with? If you're
being taxed, then you should demand democracy. If you're not being
taxed, then you should just shut up and let those of means rule over
you and decide what's best for you. I guess you believe in being a
lowly proletariat with no say in any matter.
> On 04/08/2012 10:10 AM, d...@dudu.org wrote:
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> > On Sun, 8 Apr 2012 14:39:22 +0000 (UTC), 2938 Dead<d...@gone.com>
the coffers are filled with people's money to begin with? If you're
being taxed, then you should demand democracy. If you're not being
taxed, then you should just shut up and let those of means rule over
you and decide what's best for you. I guess you believe in being a
lowly proletariat with no say in any matter.
David Hartung
Apr 8, 2012, 5:30:28 PM4/8/12
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pay little or no tax, have to demand the payment to them of tax monies
whcih were paid by others?
wy
Apr 8, 2012, 5:43:20 PM4/8/12
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everything, sales, local and federal, in a typical year) out of a
salary of $25,000 as paying little or no tax when, in fact, it's a
burden to that earner amounting to a deduction of 20% of his salary,
while someone paying $10 million in taxes (again on everything) out of
a salary of $100 million isn't even a spit in the bucket to that
earner when it amounts to just 10% of his earnings, half that of the
struggling Joe Shmuck. So when you look at who pays what, it's not
the total that counts, it's the percentage, because it's the
percentage that determines if you'll be struggling or still sailing
smoothly. So if Shmuck is paying a rate that's twice as much as Rich
Guy, then he deserves to get double in return by why of benefits over
the Rich Guy, who can get his own benefits just on the excess money
he'll never end up using for himself. You Americans are just plain
dumb when it comes to basic math.
David Hartung
Apr 8, 2012, 5:51:03 PM4/8/12
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2938 Dead
Apr 8, 2012, 10:56:28 PM4/8/12
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wealthy would never have been able to accumulate such wealth.
There's no such thing as a 'self-made man'. Only a moron thinks otherwise.
David Hartung
Apr 8, 2012, 11:37:27 PM4/8/12
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wy
Apr 9, 2012, 1:25:19 AM4/9/12
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can't refute. Come on, refute it. If struggling Joe Shmuck ends up
paying 20% of his earnings in taxes and filthy Mr. Rich Guy pays only
10% of his, who has the greater burden of taxation and who should
deserve to get in return more for the share they paid based on their
income? If you really believe in something that can blow my argument
away, then let's hear it. Until then, you have nothing you can
believe in that can blow the argument away.
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