The American People -have been repetitively inculcated by modern RepubliKlan propaganda (talking points). ... it is quite effective propaganda especially since most Americans have NO memory and critical understanding of America’s brief 235 year history since the 1776 revolution. RepubliKlan propaganda is pervasive 24/7 on <s>FOX</s> FAKE, 24/7 on talk radio, 24/7 in thousands of Christian fundamentalist churches nationwide. What is the goal of this propaganda onslaught, and who is funding it? The goal is to turn as many people as possible into Sheepple; clueless dolts who accept authority without questioning the validity or truthfulness of those giving the orders. The goal is to have non-critical thinkers or as Rush calls them ditto heads who will worship & idolize anyone who has “made it”; judging them solely on how many millions or billions of dollars they have accumulated. The goal is to have them surrender their minds, their will, and their future and place them in the hands of an authority figure. We see the most blatant manifestation of this phenomenon in these huge mega Christian churches where thousands gather and give 10% of their income to the pimp pastor; Creflo Dollar, ‘Too Big Jakes’, Eddie Long, Joel Osteen, Rick Warren etc.
As far as who is funding this propaganda onslaught; the answer is corporate America. These are the people who have been <s>lobbying</s> bribing politicians for years to do things like remove ingredient labels from food sold in supermarkets, eliminate the minimum wage, eliminate child labor law restrictions, end collective bargaining (unions), end any corporate income taxes, radically speed-up the FDA (Food Drug Admin.) drug approval process, end the EPA (environmental protection agency), eliminate FEMA (privatize it), allow oil drilling anywhere in the US, kill-before-it-gets-started the Consumer Financial Protect Agency, end any affirmative action goals & timetables, end the ability to sue a corporation if your microwave oven blows up in your face (tort reform), etc, etc. All of the proposals above have been 90% supported by one major political party and 90% not supported by the other major political party. We all know which major political party supports all the retrograde ideas above.
On many of my threads I end with civilization or barbarism — why?? — because in the final analysis when you study the history of mankind on this planet earth, we are either moving toward civilization or sinking into barbarism. Let’s keep it simple. There is NO excuse if you are serious not to thoroughly know the brief 235 year history of the United States of America. In the final analysis it is not about political party labels. It’s about monopoly capitalism versus the words that were written in the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution & the Bill of Rights. The white slave owners —the so-called founders of the United States knew this. The war for US independence was to break away from the stifling monopoly capitalism imposed on the colonies by the English crown (The King). The famous Boston tea party was a revolt against English monopoly capitalism being imposed on the tea business.
Fast forward to today.
The trans-national corporations (monopoly capitalist) in an unprecedented manner are taking over the government of the United States of America and many State & local governments also.
If you disagree with the sentence above then don’t read any further, you can’t be reached.
The battle going on in this country right now, which is a Cold Civil War, is between the citizens of the United States versus the oligarch owned and controlled trans-national corporations. The citizens are losing this battle. They have been losing this battle for 31 years. Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, BuShit, Obama, the people continue to loose. US citizens median wages have declined over the last 31 years. To maintain their living standards US citizens have used debt (credit cards, home equity) and extended payment plans (5 & 6 year car loans and leases). Meanwhile as the CNN Money article I provided the link to points out those with accumulated capital, the top 2% and the mega corporations have seen their wealth exponentially increase.
The corporate media presents the two major political parties to the public in the same manner as they broadcast a NFL football game. Red versus Blue. Such bullshit. No discussion of the destruction of the middle class. No discussion of outsourcing. Just incessantly chattering talking heads spouting bullshit.
With the SCOTUS Citizens United ruling the oligarchs can now see complete victory within their grasp. Complete victory is the complete corporate takeover of the entire government of the United States of America. Using unlimited and now secret money, the oligarchs can buy $$$$$ almost any politician in the US or they can spend unlimited secret $$$$$ money against that politician that they perceive as a foe aginst their agenda. In the recall elections in Wisconsin the oligarchs spend $17,000,000 ($17 Million) to support republiklans in local State Senate races. $17 Million!!!! on state senate districts that have less total people than a ten city block radius around my apartment.
We’re further along this road to corporate takeover (Fascism) than most citizens realize. The $1,200,000,000,000 ($1.2 Trillion) dollars the US Military and National Security Apparatus spends every year is now virtually completely privatized. Private companies charge the US military 47 cents for a twelve ounce can of Coke soda; despite the fact that millions of cans are bought per year. A complete rip-off. The US Military can’t account for a missing $2,000,000,000,000 ($2 Trillion) dollars.
If US citizens continue to view politics like they are watching a NFL football game the megatrend of declining US standard of living will continue. Those wearing the RED republiklan jerseys will oppose anything President Obama proposes despite the facts. If he proposes fixing a crumbling bridge in your neighborhood, NO!!! If he directs the US treasury to loan GM and Chrysler money to save 3 Million jobs, Hell NO! If Nancy Pelosi’s Democratic congress passes a law ending tax breaks for companies that outsource American jobs overseas the RepubliKlans in the Senate kill the bill, the RepubliKlans sitting at home in their RED jerseys cheer and high five, YES YES YES!! Why are they cheering??? They are cheering because they surrendered their minds, their will, and their future and placed them in the hands of an authority figure; they are NON critical thinkers. These are the tea baggers that stand outside of Democratic town hall meetings holding signs saying Keep You Hands Of My Medicare.
Lowering or eliminating corporate taxes does not create jobs.
Lowering our eliminating personal income taxes does not create jobs.
We had NO personal income tax in this country until 1913. How did the US treasury collect revenue? Tariffs on imported goods.
The American middle class was created by careful planning (Government Intervention) in conjunction with American business. So called free markets don’t create a middle class. Complete laissez faire free market economies give you Somalia, Pakistan, Sudan, Haiti, Burma, Jamaica, Panama, etc. — all countries with no significant middle class. The rich rule; everyone else is a landless poor peasant. Rent or buy the Ken Burns DVD New York, or watch it again if you have it. It shows you how America’s greatest city was built, how it was planned block-by-block, the parks, the largest subway system in the world, the university system, the water system, the harbors, the health department, the housing authority, etc etc. Looking out my Manhattan apartment windows on the 35 floor I can many of the things Burns’ documentary shows being built. It wasn’t laissez faire economics that built New York City. Let’s jump down to Atlanta, Georgia. Are you old enough to remember Atlanta Georgia before the end of American apartheid, and before Dr. King’s death in 1968? Atlanta was a hick town compared to todays modern Atlanta. You could not book a direct flight from New York to Atlanta on a big jet…..because…….Atlanta’s airport was too small to handle them. Large fortune 500 firms outside of Coca-Cola were not located in Atlanta due to the apartheid laws. Who wants to have their corporate headquarters located in a place where Black people can’t enter the front door of a restaurant or book a hotel room. Atlanta’s first Black mayor Maynard Jackson built that city into the southern powerhouse that it is today, starting with the airport. City regulations required that Blacks not be excluded from the massive city-wide construction projects that transformed Atlanta from a hick town to what it is today. As a result a Black middle class was created and a small black millionaire class was created in less than 25 years. It wasn’t laissez faire economics that built Atlanta.
Americans need to stop the mindless cheering for their favorite political team; take off the RED or BLUE jerseys and focus on those corporate forces who are determined to circumvent one man (women) – one vote by any means necessary. I agree with much of what Obama is trying to do not because I’m a mindless cheerleader in the gallery. No, not at all. I agree with much of what he’s trying to do because I have analytically examined his proposals and the proposals of his opponents. His opponents want to “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate.” If this sounds familiar then you are a student of American history. This was the advice Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon gave President Hoover after the oligarch capitalists crashed the US economy in 1929. Hoover said :
<blockquote> the “leave it alone liquidationists” headed by [my] Secretary of the Treasury Mellon, who felt that government must keep its hands off and let the slump liquidate itself. Mr. Mellon had only one formula: “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate.” He insisted that, when the people get an inflation brainstorm, the only way to get it out of their blood is to let it collapse. He held that even a panic was not altogether a bad thing. He said: “It will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people”...</blockquote>
In other words social Darwinism. Let the weak starve and die. Let the affluent swoop in buy everything that survives at 10 cents on the dollar. That is today’s modern RepubliKlan party led by the tea baggers policy prescription for American citizens. End Social Security (privatize it & give the money to Wall street) end Medicare & Medicaid, cut all federal programs except the military, close the EPA, close the Department of Education, cut corporate income taxes to 0%, cut personal income taxes to a maximum of a 25% flat tax or even better the ’pizza man’ Cain says 9%. Lower corporate income taxes means increased shareholder value. I’m intentionally using corporate ‘bullspeak’. Increased shareholder value means more money for shareholders via increased stock prices & dividend payouts. Corporations hire people when there is demand. No demand for their products or services, no jobs created.
Henry Ford founder of the Ford Motor company understood this. In economic language it’s called — the velocity of circulation of capital —. Henry Ford in 1914 decided that he would overnight start paying his workers $5.00 per day. The prevailing wage at Ford was $2.00 per day, and most non-auto manufacturers were paying $1.00 a day . The outrage against Ford from his fellow capitalist was intense. They thought he was crazy, the sued him in court to try to stop him. In other words just like today GREED RULES. Ford realized that by paying his worker $5.00 per day that he would increase the sales of his cars. How So? If the workers double and triple their pay they can buy the cars that they are assembling. Furthermore the entire Detroit area benefits as the Ford paycheck money is circulated through the entire Detroit economy— the velocity of circulation of capital —. Ford’s idea worked brilliantly as the entire auto industry had to match his $5.00 per day wage structure and all of Detroit benefitted. Contrast with today’s mega employers. At Wal-Mart when you get your employee package into includes an application for food stamps & Medicaid, because they know you are earning so little money that you will qualify for those programs. A race to the bottom, that’s all it is. At Wal-Mart and Target no overtime is permitted, in fact your lucky if you can get more than 30 hours per week @ $8.00 - $10.00 per hour. At the other side of the labor force you have non-management personal who have been working at Fortune 500 companies (Honeywell, Hewlet Packard, Oracle, General Electric, DuPont etc.) for 10 -20 years, earning $125,000 - $180,000, graduates from America’s top universities, now being fired and being replaced by non employee H1-B consultants or having their jobs outsourced to India where their replacement workers earn $35,000. In the name of the free market RepubliKlans support both the Wal-Mart race to the bottom and the outsourcing of good high paying jobs with benefits to India. Take off your partisan jersey and hatred for Obama and realize what’s going on in this country. We are in a second Great Depression right now. It’s not as steep or look exactly that same as the 1930’s because of the safety nets that we have today; (food stamps, unemployment insurance) that are being used at record levels. Crashing the US economy down into a pile of rubble, which is what republiklan prescriptions would do will not create demand. US sales at Wal-Mart down for nine consecutive quarters; that’s your canary in the coal mine. I’ll stop here.