When Congress Becomes a Subsidiary of Corporations, Democracy and the Free Market are Dead and Buried

clare1945-1980 were Great Middle Class Years. Affordable Education-Homes-Health Care-Jobs Jobs-Unions-Pensions Each percentile gained, percentage, in Income and Wealth almost evenly Reagan and Neo-Cons came on in 1981. Ir was intentional ENRICH Wall Street ditch Middle Class. 1945-1% owned 30% Total Financial Wealth 1980-1% owned 20% 1989-36% (Ron big tax cuts for 1%) 400 richest had 104M average income in 2002 and 214 Million in 2005. 2008--Bush Finished the Job 1%=43% Total Financial Wealth 10%=70% 20%=93% 80%=7%-=120,000,000 workers=SHAFTED 20 years 3 Conservative presidents 18 years Conservative Senate 12 years Conservative House 6 years TOTAL CONTROL Bush 8 let Wall Street go into Big Time Gambling Instead of using investors money to create new businesses and increase current ones and create Jobs. Disgrace. They created 31,000 Net New Jobs per Month. A shame. Prior were Carter 218,000--Reagan 175,000--Clinton record 237.000 31,000 was an insult to working America. Rich got ultra rich without adding Value to our economy During Bush 8 Wall Street shipped 2,300,000 of our jobs to China. It will take creation of 250,00 new jobs per month for five years to get back to full employment (95%) The Conservative ideology of Market knows best gave us Great Depression and Great Recession. Even Ultra Conservative Alan Greenspan had to admit it. WHAT DID THEY DO?? Since 1980 60% Tax Cut to Top 1% 47% Tax Cut to Gamblers on Wall Street in Unearned Income Tax Huge Estate Tax Cut Revenue Sharing costs to rich in income taxes transferred to Middle Class in property taxes. Fed gave Bush 1% Interest and big increase in Total Money Supply 1920's Deja Vu. Banks rushed to borrow and lend lend lend to Developers to build homes too large-too expensive for middle class declining disposable income Increased Middle Class Payroll Tax Taxes SS income Five Cent Tax On Gas Spending Spree on Defense which enriched Rich Investors in Defense stocks,. The Big Three took a 1000B of Debt from Carter and added on 8000B in 20 years of Spend + Borrow Our kids Can Pay Tomorrow. Carter left Reagan a 600B Budget to which he added on 80%. Carter left Reagan a less than 1000B of Debt and he added on 1700B Clinton left Bush an 1800 B Budget which Bush took to 3600B.. Clinton left Bush a Surplus as far as an eye could see and Bush added on 6000B Debt or more than we had after 220 years. Grover Nutquist had a party.. Three so called Conservative presidents since 1980 added 99,000 net new jobs per month to Carter-Clinton 222,000 per month Folks! It was intentional. Grover Nutquist of ATR made 127 visits to White House in Bush first term. He was one who wanted to drown Government in a bathtub..How! Spend and Borrow to force us to eliminate Social Programs. He has us, in 2010, exactly where he wanted us. Facts hurt. Democrats are just dumb to not preach it over and over 8 more of Neo-cons And American World Status will disappear to number two or three or worse. Neo-con ideology destroyed Rome-Spain-Holland-England and now America? cswinney old ugly mean honest prove me wrong please with facts and numbers not opinions nce swinney clarence swinney

Mr. Karlin is like most Americans, a day late and a dollar short when it comes to OBUMMRER and his corporate crime family. Many of us progressives tried to warn the Obamabots that their hero wasn't who he was portraying himself to be, but as usual nobody would listen.

The OBUMMER himself gave it away soon after announcing that he was running for President. One day he was sitting around with a gaggle of reporters when he started telling them about how much he admired Ronald Reagan. I'm sorry, but any person who is portraying themselves as a progressive Democratic Presidential candidate is not going to gush about their admiration for the man whose policies started our country on it's slow thirty year slide into mediocrity. Of course that didn't mean anything to the OBUMMER crowd, who weren't listening to what there candidate was saying but were busy chanting Yes We Can.

A true Progressive candidate having seen the actions of the Republican Party over the last ten years or so, would not of entered the Presidency spouting kumbaya, especially when the leadership of the opposition said that they would oppose anything the incoming President would put forward to the Congress. Even after all of this, the OBUMMER is still talking about a bi-partisan energy bill. Do we need to even go here? We have seen  the Presidents strategy before, in healthcare and financial reform, GIVE A LOT TO GET A LITTLE. And enough of this crap about looking forward, not back. A smart person will learn from the mistakes of the people that came before them. OBUMMER didn't learn anything from the fact that Bill Clinton looked forward and not back, and he paid a very heavy price for allowing the criminals from previous administrations to go free.

 And finally folks, when the ship of state is sailing through an ice field, you want the captain of that ship on the bridge in command, not down on the Promenade deck playing chess!

It is time for the people on the left to pull their heads out of their behinds and rejoin reality. Their are way too many Republicans in the Democratic Party. We need to do something about that right now, during the primaries, not in November when it will be too late. Or you can go along like several moderate TV and radio personalities who say that they are eternal optimists, and that they are going to hope and pray that OBUMMER does the right thing. To those celebrities I say. hold out both of your hands, hope and pray in the one hand, crap in the other, which one fills up first?

It is indeed frustrating to realize there is almost NO ONE among government officeholders in Washington who dares to represent the Public Interest.  "Some people are more equal than others," and the Supreme Court have decided to re-affirm the 'personhood' of corporations.  Too many REAL persons hate "our" federal government; but they seem to have no idea of what makes "our" government such a disaster.  The first order of business for progressives is to explain that this government that they hate is no longer "ours", and that the real reason it has become the Enemy is that it is owned and operated by those pseudo-persons which have resources far beyond what We The People can match. This fact is blatantly demonstrated to anyone among us who pays any more than cursory attention to the machinery of elections and legislation.  Not surprisingly, the corporatocracy (aided and abetted by its client politicians) sees to it that this state of affairs remains the best-kept secret since the Manhattan Project....thanks to the diligent efforts of the corporate media (which have nurtured their image of being dangerously liberal).  Consequently, the media (instead of informing and analyzing) have become nothing more than conduits for gossip, innuendo, and trivialities.  Their primary function is to build dramatic narratives out of "issues"--critical issues such as whether Obama is a closet Muslim or whether a Supreme Court nominee plays on a women's softball team or whether so-and-so 'owes' an apology for this-or-that rhetorical mis-step.  Hours and hours of 'gotcha' silliness crowds out any serious reporting.  Political campaigns are treated like horse races...polls are analyzed like racing forms...and talking heads (under the guidance of their sponsors) handicap political contests to tell us who "has a chance" of winning.  The same political consultants show up every night to tell us why "the other guy" deserves to lose.  It all amounts to little more than mud wrestling or low-brow entertainment.

It is critical that We The People come up with--and disseminate--INFORMATION that the corporate media do their best to ignore or trivialize.

One Big Union

Mark says "no violence is wanted or needed". That may (I say "may") be true. But, if you look around the world where people are taking on their oligarchies, they are taking to the streets, shutting down government facilities, blocking transportation systems, and demanding the change that they want; demanding resignations and changes.

We may not want to experience the side effects of a violent revolution, yet civil disobedience appears to be the only thing left. Elections are a very sad joke with computer voting and counting at the core of voter fraud and manipulation. Voting gets us no where (i.e. - Obama & Co.). 

So, I call for a national strike. Shut the country down. Demand that Obama and Congress resign. Demand that ALL military personnel be brought back from ALL foreign bases for good. Demand no more computer voting or counting. Demand that corporations be stripped of "personhood". Demand that ....... (fill in the blank).  

Otherwise... just sit back and watch the show, because NOTHING is going to change.

Obama is all bark and no bite.  The only change we got when he was elected was a few new people in the White House...most of the Bush policies are still in place.  Dump Obama in 2012 so we can get a REAL progressive in the White House.

Yes, "The current corporate oligarchy is radically destructive."

Millions of Americans sense your very correct analysis without being able to see or label the source of their distress themselves.

Obama promised change, but has failed to deliver and never will.

Maybe the Obama adminsitration is better than what would have been offered by the McCain/Palin slate, or not. Clearly much of what Obama has said and done so far is an exact extension of Bush/Cheney fascsim. For example:

"There may be a number of people who cannot be prosecuted for past crimes, but who nonetheless pose a threat to the security of the United States. . . .  As I said, I am not going to release individuals who endanger the American people. . . .  We must have a thorough process of periodic review, so that any prolonged detention is carefully evaluated and justified."

 -- President Barack Obama standing in front of the U.S. Constitution in the National Archives, a Constitution that reads "The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended."

From: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/rutherford

I'm afraid computer keyboards or protesting in the streets is no longer be enough to liberate America. All we can do is let the corporate puppeteers destroy our country, destroy what's left of our freedom, destroy the economy and when all is destroyed the fascist masters of  will retreat and America will be reborn one brick, one nail, one word, one thought at a time.

We are going down because we must. There is no other choice.

Yes, my friend, we're on the eve of destruction...

this is the fault within ourselves as they are the only game in town..granted it is like the old cowboy movie where the homesteaders hire gun slingers to meet the cattlemen's gunslingers...they are there for the money...we have the vote and minds all we have to do is manage both...organize and it takes time and waste shoe soles going out there and make the change...woody allen said 80% showing up...websites and tweets help and that takes time and determination...corps got all the money so did the british in 1776

Thank you, Mark, for your comment.  I read PM because he makes me "think".  I can read reams of other writers with whom I agree entirely, and this is fun, but, in the end, I WANT someone who makes me "think" for the simple reason that is all too easy to get "one-tracked" in one's mind and end up not considering all the angles.

 Getting "one-tracked" into a certain, absolutely convinced, way of considering something is a danger that is pointed out during every "professional" training program.  Medicine, for example.  Again and again, physicians are reminded to beware of a too certain conclusion.  Always leave the door open for the notion that something you just don't know about is taking place.  Do the best  you can, but, don't stop thinking about the idea that maybe, just maybe, you've got it wrong.

   And, so too, in a perfect world of course, it would be with our citizens who listen to our leaders, those who "lead" what we're supposed to be thinking about and considering and making decisions about.

   I am grateful to Buzzflash for offering PM to us.  Keep it up.