Welcome to Richistan, USA
The American Dream of riches for all is turning into a nightmare of inequality. But a backlash is brewing.
NEW YORK - On the surface, Mark Cain works for a time-share company. Members pay a one-off sum to join and an annual fee. They then get to book holiday time in various destinations around the globe.
But Solstice clients are not ordinary people. They are America’s super-rich and a brief glance at its operations reveal the vast and still widening gulf between them and the rest of America. 
Solstice has only about 80 members. Platinum membership costs them $875,000 to join and then a $42,000 annual fee. In return they get access to 10 homes from London to California and a private yacht in the Caribbean, all fully staffed with cooks, cleaners and ‘lifestyle managers’ ready to satisfy any whim from helicopter-skiing to audiences with local celebrities. As the firm’s marketing manager, Cain knows what Solstice’s clientèle want. ‘We are trying to feed and manage this insatiable appetite for luxury,’ Cain said with pride.
America’s super-rich have returned to the days of the Roaring Twenties. As the rest of the country struggles to get by, a huge bubble of multi-millionaires lives almost in a parallel world. The rich now live in their own world of private education, private health care and gated mansions. They have their own schools and their own banks. They even travel apart - creating a booming industry of private jets and yachts. Their world now has a name, thanks to a new book by Wall Street Journal reporter Robert Frank which has dubbed it ‘Richistan’. There every dream can come true. But for the American Dream itself - which promises everyone can join the elite - the emergence of Richistan is a mixed blessing. ‘We in America are heading towards ‘developing nation’ levels of inequality. We would become like Brazil. What does that say about us? What does that say about America?’ Frank said.
In 1985 there were just 13 US billionaires. Now there are more than 1,000. In 2005 the US saw 227,000 new millionaires being created. One survey showed that the wealth of all US millionaires was $30 trillion, more than the GDPs of China, Japan, Brazil, Russia and the EU combined.
The rich have now created their own economy for their needs, at a time when the average worker’s wage rises will merely match inflation and where 36 million people live below the poverty line. In Richistan sums of money are rendered almost meaningless because of their size. It also has other names. There is the ‘Platinum Triangle’ used to describe the slice of Beverly Hills where many houses go for above $10m. Then there is the Jewel Coast, used to describe the strip of Madison Avenue in Manhattan where boutique jewellery stories have sprung up to cater for the new riches’ needs. Or it exists in the MetCircle society, a Manhattan club open only to those whose net worth is at least $100m.
The reason behind the sudden wealth boom is, according to some experts, the convergence of a new technology - the internet and other computing advances - with fluid and speculative markets. It was the same in the late 19th century when the original Gilded Age of conspicuous wealth and deep poverty was spawned by railways and the industrial age. At the same time government has helped by doling out corporate tax breaks. In the Fifties the proportion of federal income from company taxes was 33 per cent, by 2003 it was just 7.4 percent. Some 82 of America’s largest companies paid no tax at all in at least one of the first three years of the administration of President George W Bush.
But who are the new rich? Some of the names are familiar, Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates and savvy stock investor Warren Buffett. But most are unknown, often springing from the secretive world of financial hedge funds. Men like James Simons, who took home compensation of $1.7bn last year. Last year the 25 top earning hedge fund bankers in the US earned an average of $570m each. The average US household income is $50,000.
It is such men - and they are usually men - who feed the outlandish luxury goods economy of Richistan. It is they who are responsible for the rebirth of the butler industry, which was all but dead in the Seventies and is now facing a shortage of trained staff. So keen is the demand that many can expect to earn a six-figure salary when they graduate from booming butler schools.
Then there is the runaway feeder-industry of luxury consumer items. The new ultra rich turn up their noses at Rolexes; the sought-after brand is Franck Muller, which sells a high-end timepiece for $736,000. Or try a Mont Blanc pen, encrusted in jewels, for $700,000. Louis Vuitton’s most exclusive handbag sells for $42,000. Only 24 were ever made and none ever touched a shelf as all were pre-sold to Richistani clients.
In places such as Manhattan and Los Angeles, restaurants and bars outdo themselves in excess. New York’s Algonquin Hotel has a $10,000 ‘martini on a rock’ (it comes with a diamond at the bottom of the glass). City eateries sell burgers for more than $50. One offers a $1,000 omelet. In Los Angeles there is a craze for Bling mineral water - at $90 a bottle.
Then there are the boats. The private yacht industry in America has been caught in an arms race of size and luxuriousness. So far, there has been a clear winner: Oracle-founder Larry Ellison’s 450ft water palace, the Rising Sun. More than 80 rooms on five stories and a landing craft that carries a Jeep, a basketball court doubling as a helipad and a fully-equipped cinema.
Now an Oregon-based company is taking things further: private submarines. An estimated 100 or so private subs are now drifting around the world’s oceans. Then there are the rockets - several notable billionaires are now leading the way in private exploration of space. One of them is Robert Bigelow who has ploughed $500m into trying to build an inflatable space hotel. A miniature prototype model was successfully launched and tested last month. In a scene that perhaps James Bond would find familiar, armed guards now patrol the fences of Bigelow Aerospace’s headquarters wearing badges decorated with an alien as their corporate logo.
But this is not just a world of riches gone mad that the rest of America can ignore. The growth of such a large super-rich class, coupled with a deepening poverty in many communities, is starting to tear at the fabric of society. Even some of the most wealthy - like Gates and Buffett - have spoken openly of the needs to address the massive ‘inequality gap’ that they have come to exemplify. In effect, some of the very richest Americans are calling for themselves to be taxed. In a speech last month Buffett - the third richest man in the world - pointed out that his tax rate was 17.7 per cent of his income while his secretary was taxed at 30 per cent. ‘Many of the new super-rich are looking long term at the world and they see a collapsing US education system and health-care system and the disappearance of the middle class and they realize: this is bad for everybody,’ said Frank.
Defenders of low tax for the very rich point to the theory of trickledown economics - the spending power of the rich benefiting the poor. But while the super-rich have boomed, the earning power of the average and poor citizen has not nearly matched the performance of the elite. In 2005 the top one per cent of earners in the US gained 14 per cent in income in real terms, while the rest of the country gained less than one per cent. The situation is especially bad for the severely poor - those living at half the poverty level - whose numbers are at a 32-year high. The rich are getting richer but are not bringing everyone else with them. ‘If you look at the impact of the last 20 years it seems pretty clear that trickledown just does not work,’ said Paul Buchheit, economics professor at Chicago’s Harold Washington College.
There are some signs of a change in attitude. Recent huge Wall Street flotations such as the listing of private equity giants like Blackstone have created a push in Congress for taxes on the instant billionaires they have created. Scandals of excess such as Enron and WorldCom and the trial of Conrad Black have been high-profile. But few politicians, needing campaign cash from new millionaires, will get far preaching higher tax. Calls for more equality tend to have come from men like Buffett and Gates whose fortunes are so enormous that a little extra tax would make no difference. Bush has pushed to phase out taxes like the estate tax, which benefit only the rich. ‘I don’t see it changing. No matter what administration is in power,’ said Buchheit.
But many think it must change. To a large degree, the debate over the booming lives of the super-rich is an argument about the American soul. It is a country that has always worshiped wealth, where the creation of a fortune was seen as virtuous and a source of pride.
But now that huge wealth has started to squeeze the ‘middle class’ out of existence, leaving the haves and have-nots in very separate worlds. It is possible that political will may develop to address the problem or that the problem will correct itself. The notorious end of the Gilded Age came in the panic of 1893 that sank America into depression.
Frank believes the signs of a coming storm are there. ‘The trick is to spot when prosperity turns to excess,’ he said. ‘When a large amount of people make a lot money very quickly it’s a sign you are near the top of the market.’
In a world of mega-yachts, private submarines and space hotels, that peak might be close at hand. And it’s a long way down.
Billionaire’s row
- There are 7.5 million households in America worth up to $10m. A further two million are worth $10m-$100m and thousands are worth more than $100m.
- There is now a two-year waiting list for 200ft yachts. If put end to end, the boats on that list, which cost $50m each, would be 15 miles long.
- Sebonack Golf Club in the Hamptons, Long Island, charges $650,000 for membership. That doesn’t include the $12,000 annual dues, or tips for caddies.
- Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have a private Boeing 767.
- John D. Rockefeller was America’s first billionaire. Adjusted for inflation, he had $14bn - less than the net worth of each of Sam Walton’s five children today. There were 13 US billionaires in 1985. Now there are more than 1,000. There are as many millionaires in North Carolina as in India.
- ‘Affluent’ is Richistani for ‘not really rich’. According to Frank, you need about $10m to be considered entry-level rich.
© Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
The foundation for a majority middle class in this country was based on Roosevelt Legacy taxation, unionization, corporate regulation, and a social safety net. All of this is DEAD rotting meat cooking in the Iraqi desert. No accident. Our middle class was deliberately raped and murdered by the richfilth and their lackeys and WE stood there and watched them do it.
RICHISTAN on the other hand, is founded on slave labor, prison labor, child labor, and sweatshop labor. Enjoy your peasant future, here in our unrepentant genocidal Aryan slave Empire, while it lasts.
The RICHFILTH own you and your children and you are NOTHING to them. You are FOOD for Master and his spawn. Just like the good old days. Prepare yourselves to die from preventable illness. Slaves don’t get health care. Slaves don’t get education. Slaves have no rights that any RICHFILTH animal need ever consider. After all, these animals are “ordained by Jahweh” to devour your flesh. Right?
Another world is possible. Kill them all. Humans have done it before. But then, you’re not humans, you’re slaves, aren’t you.
Paece.
RICHFILTH… a nice name for the American Aristocracy…
GUILLOTINES anyone?
I know I am certainly in the minority in what I am about to say, but I’ll say it nonetheless….
We should immediately CONFISCATE the wealth of ALL of these people and distribute it to the entire population, the former rich included, in the form of health care, free quality education through college and adequate housing for all.
And if they don’t like it they are free to register their displeasure by blogging, protesting and writing their elected representatives.
I say we should follow this path for the next thirty years or so and if things are not measurably better as a whole in this country then we can call it a failed experiment and try something else. Or even revert back to our current system.
The status quo is not working. We have tried the current system since the founding of our Nation.
I say give it a try.
all the best
I second Jeff, land recieved in scam should be given back to the public as public land. It could be traded for land connected to public lands so habitat will be expanded.
We need to grow our habitat!
The problem is that the corporations have declared themselves to be ‘citizens’ with all the rights of humans but with the additional advantage of being all powerful and deathless. They have been buying and selling congress for a hundred years and more and now they have trashed our constitution in favor of a Fascist Dictatorship. Google “Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad” to see how this happened.
NMBill,
Good point!!
It is a very interesting but little known story about how the railroad companies were given land on either side of the tracks as inducement to build the railways in the 1800’s.
Millions upon millions of acres. Sometimes extending many miles either side of the tracks. Those companies became the largest landowners in the country. And remain so to this day as far as I know. Look up USX corporation if you like.
And I like your idea of expanding our natural habitats in this country:)!!
We nurture our environment or eventually perish.
all the best
‘If you look at the impact of the last 20 years it seems pretty clear that trickledown just does not work,’
Trickledown equals graft, more evidence of Reganomic b.s.
Economists know that this is a temporary term for the uber rich. Although this term may be lengthy it will subside. If you look at chaos models of organized systems they all move in a simplified and specific pattern. Everything has its moments of prominence and moves toward decline, take a look at the Bush administration for example. Everything is in a state of change and transition, this too will pass.
What can one say about such pornography? The writer mentioned the “roaring twenties” and we all know what happened then. This greed and corruption will not continue. It cannot. The time is coming where these people will be brought to justice.
These rich fucks and their friend in the white house, and their families and bodyguards and better be keeping a sharp eye over their shoulders - a sharp eye back to France in 1789 or Russia in 1917.
This is not a threat, it is a warning from history.
I am with you, Jeff. This country is setup to rob from the poor and give to the rich through a series of exclusivist doctrines at every single level of society. We need another “new deal,” and this time one that is indestructible.
http://www.dreamingearth.net
“A gang of celebrity burglars is on the loose in Beverly Hills, targeting corporate titans and Hollywood stars. In the past year more than 70 of the smartest homes have been raided by two, and possibly three, men clad in black and wearing ski masks.”
The obscenely wealthy should really start watching their backs. What a great way to live, eh? Always worried that some poor shlub - of which there are 50 million - might just decide he’s been f**ked over long enough… And let’s not forget the pissed off, PTSD million+ rotated through the illegal occupation, from which many multi-millionaire war profiteers have been created thanks to their spilled blood and brains…
Robinhood?
This is exactly why the ideology of low taxes is ridiculous. Let’s cut taxes so that the rich can use society’s resources to buy hot tubs for their pets. Government may not be a perfect allocator of resources, but it is far better than individuals.
frank1569,
And let’s not forget the pissed off, PTSD million+ rotated through the illegal occupation, from which many multi-millionaire war profiteers have been created thanks to their spilled blood and brains…
VERY GOOD POINT!!!
I believe that our society as a whole has never taken into consideration the ticking time bomb being generated in Iraq and Afghanistan.
These poor souls who come back wounded in body and spirit, numbed to violence and killing and trained to kill efficiently and remorselessly could wind up a serious problem in the future.
And who could blame them if some of them wind up exploding in violent rampages?
all the best
To strike a positive note, as Richistan expands blown ever larger by the rapine lust of its members, it is only a matter of time before its vastness (both the extent of its holdings and the obscene gap between “them” and “us” will be its undoing).
A way of life built on violence and thievery (as Richistan certainly is) will return upon the heads of its perpetrators the same thing–with a vengence (think sunami, 9.0 Richter scale earthquake, 100 megaton hydrogen bomb type vengence!).
Eventually the multi-national corporate anthem of Richistan will be Bob Dylan’s: “Like A Rolling Stone”.
Like A Rolling Stone
Bob Dylan
Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
People’d call, say, “Beware doll, you’re bound to fall”
You thought they were all kiddin’ you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin’ out
Now you don’t talk so loud
Now you don’t seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
You’ve gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you’re gonna have to get used to it
You said you’d never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He’s not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him do you want to make a deal?
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain’t no good
You shouldn’t let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain’t it hard when you discover that
He really wasn’t where it’s at
After he took from you everything he could steal.
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They’re drinkin’, thinkin’ that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you’d better lift your diamond ring, you’d better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can’t refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You’re invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
If everyone paid their FAIR share we could begin to solve domestic problems that face everyone, poor education, lousy health care, basic urban and rural infrastructure, lack of public transportation, etc. The list is enormous and growing. With no investment in our communities to maintain, sustain and enhance basic services we have nothing left to leave to our children or our children’s children. Perhaps we need a depression to reassess our values and priorities.
probably a blood diamond in the bottom of that $1000 martini. I remember? when a luxury tax was proposed several years ago-the corporate psyops at that time was how the yacht building WORKERS would be harmed because principled fat cats would postpone or cancel their orders in protest of this unfair and burdensome new tax. Around the same time there I saw a TV show about pet products for the wealthy. Bejeweled (more blood diamonds)dog collars and other such “labor-intensive” luxuries. Is there any way to spin that?
Don’t forget who gets hit hardest in a depression.
Now there are those who would say that “dogs” like us should stop complaining and deriding these “successful” people and try to find out how they got so rich. After all, we can do it too. Let’s talk to Anthony Robbins and Bob Kiyosaki.
People like imo that are one reason why socialism hasn’t fully taken root in the American psyche. They’ve conned the public into thinking that someday they too will have a Fabulous Life complete with a Crib.
I was watching a program on MTV recently called “My Super Sweet Sixteen”. It’s a reality show that documents extravagant 16th birthday parties, usually for girls, the majority of them black. Not being familiar with the show, at first I thought that MTV was footing the bill for these parties. That day, a marathon on the program was being shown. I soon discovered that the PARENTS were paying for these parties, which would cost 200 grand or MORE!
One of the girls who was having a party lived in Harlem. She got famous rappers to appear. Everyone interviewed at the party was treating the girl as if she were some sort of pop star. When she made her “entrance”, she was carried out in a box made to resemble one that would hold a Barbie doll, which was held by a number of shirtless, muscled men.
I didn’t watch every episode as each one grew more nauseating. I stopped after watching one installment that featured a black girl in Atlanta (although she sounded like a valley girl) throwing a huge party featuring some guy named G-Unit and a parade that shut down traffic near a hospital. The girl when warned that it would pose a problem, merely laughed it off saying “they’ll have to wait a few extra minutes”.
Oh and the catch phrase of the show is, “But I always get what I want.”
It’s almost as if MTV was trying to con inner-city black youth and youth in general for that matter that they too could achieve that level of wealth, but only in sports or entertainment or via the lottery.
What also disgusted me was how hip-hop, a music of the streets, was now being used as a status symbol, a mark of excess. I’m not into that sort of music, and I know that it isn’t all about “bling” (I hate that word), but that’s what’s being put up as the hottest thing going. It’s materialism being presented to those who are most vulnerable, and it’s made out as if you’re not “down” with that, you’re nothing. Everything else is made to seem irrelevant.
you folks calling for the revolution and the guillotine and the rest, just remember that the national security state is meant for people like you. there is ALWAYS $$ for more “security”.
What gets me is the fact that half of these people are “Limosine Liberals” that are always bitching that the government needs to be doing more for the poor, while ordering that $50,000 dog collar or that $600,000 pen. Brings to mind John Edwards, who made 10’s of millions as a personal injury lawyer, building a 30,000 sq ft house and charging a school 50k to give a speech on poverty!
DISGUSTING!
i’m poor, and i have no envy.
Great article, true comments. i am worried about the black market which has become an equalizer of sorts for the erstwhile soccer Moms and working class Dads…the group think temptation and then economic hardship PRESSURE that corrupts the decency and citizenry of regular citizens is awful!Society is actually disintegrating as regular Joes and Janes are becoming horror purveyors who profit on the side through selling pornography, addictive prescription drugs , sponser illicit gambling on poker, dog and cock-fighting, and prostitution including child prostitution , blackmail of people who succumb, and the like…These are pretty dangeropurs waters and we are not sanely responding to treat this problem effectively and edge out the cartels and old mafia …Our black market economy has has become so terribly dangerous because it is an international enslaved labor industry that spawns oligarchs in many nations. We in the USA are among the prime CONSUMING nations…the flip side of “Legit” Richistan is “Illegit” Richistan and if we have a market crash, the desperate poor and corrupted middle class are going to sell themselves and anyone else just to survive… Global networks are all in place for this to become hellish…We need to seize the day and irradicate the black markets not by legalizing abject slavery in which exploitive people profit from the vulnerability & vices of others but actually strengthen addiction treatment and bolster all legitimate small businesses wherein the remedy to the economic bust can be cushioned…
i hope this is making sense because it is dead true and i wish more people would become alarmed enough to act!!!!
there are kids objectifying themselves by selling self porn acts on internet for example…and that is just the very tiny tip of the iceberg
thank you Poet for the Dylan
No, they really are robbing the poor. Those actually in poverty can’t even afford an ipod shuffle. The way they rob the poor is by privatizing the essential services/rights of society (education, housing, healthcare, etc) and thus allowing these things to become so unaffordable that only a certain class of people can have them (and of course, the richer you are, the higher quality education, housing, and healthcare that you can get, thus ensuring you a better life and more respect by society.) In addition, when the poor do get to these things, they are through the screens of more private industry such as student loan companies, mortgage companies, insurance companies, all of which will engage in predatory loans with astronomical interest rates, penalties, or lack of coverage that become unmanageable over time; especially because at their jobs, these people don’t have unions, have pitiful “minimum” wages, no benefits, no paid vacation, no childcare, and no safety net to pick them up if they fall down. Underfunding or privitizing public transportation also occurs so that poor people have to go out and buy their own car, and yet again enter into expensive deals with not only auto dealerships, but auto-insurance companies! And of course, to “help” you out with all of this, there are also credit card companies and later collection agencies who will harass you on a daily basis for seven years for not being able to pay up, and the employers and landlords all look at your credit report now, so if you haven’t paid up to the privatization mob, you can’t get a place to live or a job either. That is not only stealing your money, but your entire life!
People in Sweden have mp3 players; that is beside the point.
http://www.dreamingearth.net
Please let us take a planetary approach.
As the rich get richer and we get poorer eventually we shall all starve to death ,or avian flu will kill the rest ,a few more wars, then all who will be left will be the millionaires and billionaires . Then the 200 million millionaires can get jobs in farming or in the service of the billionaires, global warming will stop and the planet can breathe better.
So these people are all doing us a great public service. Gates and Buffet are wrong ,that has to happen to save the world.
I am shocked at the mean-spirited vituperative invective used to condemn our deserving elite! Where would we be without them?
Don’t we have the best health care in the world?
Haven’t our leaders protected us from Islamo-fascist terrorist harm, given us a place at the table so that we could share in the feast, and employed us in their mercenary armies that despoil the world?
We aren’t victims, we are willing accomplices. We elected a demonstrably dim-witted scion of what passes for aristocracy in our country knowing full well that “conservative” means fewer services for the poor and more privilege for the wealthy. We firmly believe that poor means brown skin and opportunity abounds for us and ours. We rejected the “death tax” because we expect one day to be wealthy enough that it will be our concern, too. We enthusiastically attacked another nation that posed no threat to us because somehow our oil had got under their sand. And wouldn’t have minded how the deed was done, so long as our aggression was successful.
We are responsible for their crimes, and will pay for them. They will find a way out, with their loot.
The real cause of this gross excess is the public. All the middle and working class people who voted for Bush and his gang did not use their heads, did not notice how they were being manipulated on every issue. And they still don’t as their earnings and net worth go down every single day.
Where is the protest? Where is the outrage?
Where is the foresight to know that their children and grandchildren are going to be the servant class for these filthy rich people.
Oh, no, don’t think. Just continue focussing on how you’re against gay rights, stem cell research, choice. Don’t learn anything, believe Fox News and its evil agents of misinformation, don’t worry about where your children are likely to be working when they grow up; don’t get an education; most of all don’t pay attention. Just relax and stay stupid while the GOP robs you blind.
terryb:
Envy is what plutocrats want to give everybody else.
Is there anyone here that would start a petition to promptly implement exile, for those cases in which there is abundant evidence that **damages to the Country en large and Constitution has been made** (such as in Napoleon Times and St Helena as one way ticket - no return..??)
It should be evaluated and implemented, eventually
“Trickledown” is just the superrich pissing on the poor.
I cringe when I hear quotes like this from rich,famous and braindead celebrity douchbag Cameron Diaz
“Life is like high school, and celebrities are the popular kids”
What a dimwit
“I prefer this truth of the majority :
“Life is the slow painful march through poverty to death, and the rich are the ones with the whips”
If you want to understand how this all came to be…check out Riane Eisler’s Real Wealth of Nations….it is a history that shows how the dominator model–abudance for some/scarcity for most–developed over the last 10,000 years to this endpoint…We are all…rich and poor, acting out this story (and the rich are as blind to how this all came to be as are the middle and lower classes!)
Add to this Marjorie Kelly’s The Divine Right of Capital–and you’ll discover there are solutions to this whole mess.
Stop Shopping. Buy only what is absolutely essential to your survival and nothing more.Do not help the corporations prosper. The corporations and our government are one and the same. It’s called fascism. Think Mussolini in 1919.
And just what good does it do him??? Gold is worthless in heaven…….
Terry B, it is not envy to despise criminals. I am PISSED that they have found ways, though maybe not illegal enough to get arrested, WRONG enough to for me to call them criminal, & now they are stinking rich. I dont mind anyone being rich, but becoming rich by screwing the rest of us? Thats not envy I feel, its anger & disgust.. NEXT!
The problem is that the corporations have declared themselves to be ‘citizens’ with all the rights of humans but with the additional advantage of being all powerful and deathless. They have been buying and selling congress for a hundred years and more and now they have trashed our constitution in favor of a Fascist Dictatorship. Google “Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad” to see how this happened.
YES, they have RIGHT just like a person, AND therfore, responsibilities AND legal obligations.Thay can be put to death for treason if they have the rights of an individual. How many of these corporations have injured this country for the almighty dollar? Put the CEO’s & Boards of Directors in Leavenworth.
What many Americans don’t seem to realize is that there is only so much money out there. Even for the super rich mentioned there is a limit, just printing more money won’t work, for long. So if someone has billions many people must have less. It’s that simple. So the rich create poverty and if you don’t understand that then you are part of the problem
Hadden is correct: Stop shopping; near-zero consumption would take the wind out of the sails of Walmart (etc) and the media.
If we are not distracted by consumerism, we can then attend to socializing our work places and standing up to the military-industrial complex.
Politicians would then have few corporate sponsors, and may instead have to rely upon living to a set of ideals.
My goodness, with the newly available tax revenue, we may be able to reinstate social security and implement decent and free health care!
I can’t understand why anyone would complain about the Guatemalization of the United States. Just because all great fortunes are founded on a crime is no reason to whine about our plutocracy. Just look at Bill Gates and Warren Buffett who recently joined hands to cover up their obscene fortunes in a “philanthropic” (translation: tax free) foundation for the betterment of all. We should get down on our knees and praise the Lord for all these worthies who make America what it is today - an aggressively fascist shithole.
Well, you can start (and sign) all the petitions you like, (I sign them, too), but remember that legislation is in the hands of Congress, owned body and soul by the very people whose taxes you wish to raise and whose activities you wish to legislate against.
In the states, there is the chance for the citizenry to legislate by way of propositons that can be added to the ballot. (Do all states allow for citizen-generated legislation?)
Is there a federal parallel? That may be our only hope. The next president won’t do it. The next congress won’t do it. (In addition to being owned by wealthy special interests, they and their families also benefit more directly from the current tax codes, etc.)
We must also institute federally funded elections to reduce the special interests’ influence. Then we need to abolish - or at least radically reduce - the lobbying industry; and we need to end the revolving-door between congress and what’s left of K Street corporations.
However, if there is not way to impose the changes on Congress from without, don’t look for them to be legislated at all.
When you are told that you can always vote out a non-responsive representative or senator, keep in mind that you will only be replacing him/her with another that is much the same.
A new president? You only get to choose from a limited field that the MSM’s corporate owners find acceptable. The rest don’t even get coverage. “US now ranks 53rd in World Press Freedom Index” - Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1027/dailyUpdate.html
It’s called conservatism, Republican tax cuts, de-regulation, market solutions to problems.
Of course, the American people have been fooled once again. These policies have had the effect of making more rich people by restricting others: “right to work” laws, bankruptcy laws, usury, restricting competition (farm bill, export laws, military spending, etc.), Chicago economics, etc.
THE entry which says that the rich create poverty is right.the lynchpin of this whole thing is CHEAP LABOR.the jive banking dog and pony show,the deregulation,corporate personhood,militarism,and imperialism is all part of it.however,the factor i see every day in hardscabble ky is that folks are not paid a fair wage based on their productivity.most of these folks don’t blame richistan,they blame the mexicans.be that as it may,there is one kentuckian buried in the foundation of univ lou lawschool who made the point that we can have great disparities of wealth,or we can have democracy,but not both.even the limited democratic republic we have,depends on a large middle class.connect the dots.this ain’t brain surgery
we need this system of rich and poor. where would the rich get their volunteer army if they did not create a class of superpoor?
the need for troops will only grow larger, so this is a very good system to insure a ready supply of volunteers to fight to protect their wealth.
this is why the cheney/bush tax plan was so brilliant.
And l@@k WHO controls Wall-Mart…..
http://judicial-inc.biz/wal_mart__waltons.htm
Fascism survived nazi germany in the 20 states who have the RIGHT TO WORK LAWS’. The house on unamerican activity during this nations whitch hunt to find communist in America was ran by the American fascist who saved their Nazi friends from death by using the OSS and military intelligence. If FDR had lived he was going to send all of those who help Nazi Germany to prison. The only reason he ran for another term was because the wealthy was going to negotiate with Hitler. He ran to maintain his unconditional surrender! Corporate law was the greatest invention to avoid paying taxes and to avoid gobvernment regulation. JD Rockefeller in an act of utter contemp for america whom he blamed for the break up his standard oil with the Sherman anti-trust act. he sent his hords of un-america employees to search the world for oil. He found paradise in the middle east. He could drill for oil with slave labor while sending oil back to the US for a small fortune. He used countries like Cuba has a tax haven to avoid paying taxes like they do today in America. He did not have obey american labor laws or EPA laws. Rockefellers created poverty were ever they did business over seas. In Iraq oil companies cheated the nations out of tax’s and revenue from their oil fields. they kept Iraqs oil off the market so the Saudi’s could make more money for their own oil. That is why Iraq Nationalized their own oil fields. Oil companies in Iran in 1953 took 80cents on the dollar until they were thrown out. A war is being fought in America to turn back the clock of all the progress of FDR; a man the Reublicans called a traitor and a communist because he cared about the people the wealthy forgot. Now, they are saying Social Security is going broke so they can get hold of this trillion dollar tax supported program for their own benefit. Why should the rich care about FDR’s money any way? I would rather Social Security go broke paying the last dollar to those who chose to participate in FDR’s SS program. Let those young fools who are stupid who think they are safe going on alone! Let them trust the bankers by themsels to see what will happen1 They will end up one day just like those at Enron! Like those who trusted the bankers during the Great depression. When they fall they are on their own! The rich would make Hitler proud! They have done what he could not do! Our democracy is dead! Our elected have economic whores who sell us out to corporate America. What we have is a criminal conspiracy to fabricate the illusion that We the people have a say in our government! We dont. All we have is a deliberate stallmate of utter choas were ideas die in committe. Corporate America are crucifing this nation. It is like the will to live where freedom rings was murdered when JFK died. Public sevants have become our masters who give themselfs every benefit under sun only to tell us that we can not have the same benefits. We pay them to cut our throats, to tell us no! Hard work, honesty,education mean nothing today. Nepotism and the buddy system rules the day. A perfectly good idiot who has to work for nothing in life has become President of the United States. It is corporate welfare and socialism for the wealthy but for the poor it is cold blooded capitalism. Compassionate conservatism is a form of segregationaist who are looking for a polite way to just say NO! The Wealthy are using international corporation to circumvent our democracy, it is a tool of war with its own proganda machine with an army of belivers hell bent on trashing the world. They are creating Gettos all over the worlds.
It’s really very simple. Quit paying the war tax, quit buying useless corporate toys, quit eating lifeless corporate agrifood and this overbloated Leviathan will come tumbling down. We keep it alive by feeding and feeding it. Sadly it ain’t gunna happen on a large enough scale to make a difference. The monster eventually will turn and begin to devour us.
kathyodat: “Don’t forget who gets hit hardest in a depression”
I know. I live from paycheck to paycheck just like 90% of us do. The super rich will be immune from the collective sacrifice brought about by rampant inflation and a worthless currency. I hope Iran bombs (in response to another unprovoked and criminal war instigated by the US) the shit out of all the oil exporting ports in the middle east. Make gas $20 per gallon. Or more. Chevron’s profits will probably hit 100 billion that quarter. But maybe people with empty stomaches and some time to think while standing in soup kitchen lines will begin to retrace the steps that lead to this whole Neocon backlash against egtalitarianism, earth-centrism, racial empowerment, educational opportunity, freedom from sex and gender discrimination, and a move away from religious authoritarianism that arose in the 1960s. It might also finally make sustainable energy sources — that haven’t been on the trillion dollar dole like the nuclear and hydrocarbon industries have — economically “competitive.”
But I have a feeling this kind of en masse chemo won’t work (cf. Zimbabwe and other dictatorships with an enormous expendable underclass) unless we’ve got some enlightened leaders who rise to the top and aren’t murdered for their ability to force the hands of the corporate lackeys posing as politicians in DC
The system is far more perniciously clever than we think. Its most cynically Machiavellian master stroke was in permitting aspirations to rise ,unfettered . Resulting in the creation of a vast middle class.
Most within this class ,aspire to little more than an education , a well paying profession and to each and every one of the material trappings of comfortable middle class existence. Once snared within such a system ,most would be ill-disposed to rock the boat.
And so the rich and the super-rich continue -absolutely unhindered -with their obscene , outrageous excesses.Completely proof against any sin of Hubris.
For the masses -well ,there are always ‘bread and the circuses’ :a recipe well tested and truly tried ,by the ancient Romans .
Very rarely ,do the Gods relent , and come down squarely on the side of the poor , the oppressed and the wretched of the Earth - and let slip the hell- hounds : the French and the Russian Revolutions .
Make it stop!
Our modern horde of Marie Antoinettes will soon discover that thruth of the old adage IF YOU GIVE THEM ENOUGH ROPE THEY WILL HANG THEMSELVES.
You may have noted that the systems to keep what will be the future revolution in check have already been put into law. Thus, the legal foundations to protect the haves from the have-nots are ready and waiting for when the revolution comes (if ever Americans awake from the deep slumber they are content to snooze in).
The building of large detention centers in the south-west, the true intent of legislation like the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act and the Department of Homeland Secutiry, the usurpation of democracy through rigging the election process, the corporatization and privitatzation of the basic necessities and the assault on public (social) institutions (think privatizing of water or the assault on public schools and even social security in these terms), the gutting of the social network to leave those without financial recourse to even find time or resourses to mobilize: all in place to protect those who have from whatever restlessnesses arises from those who have-not.
Those who think Bush and Company idiots should think otherwise. He knows who he is working for and he knows what they want and he is doing exactly what they want.
ezeflyer, ain’t that the truth. money can’t buy happiness. justin, i agree, but give my share to the least amongst us.
We need a GANG of Robin Hoods! I’m in. Anyone else. I say violence - in many different forms - against these scumbags is way over due. Off with their heads. Send their children to Iraq. Make their children’s children attend the poorest public schools in the nation. Bomb their homes. Scrap their cars, SUVs, limos, etc for the metal. Scrap their boats for the wood - to build houses for the poor. Take every cent they earned beyond $150,000 and earmark it for health care, college loan forgivances, and tuition for new college students.
But before we can do that, we must have a full blown insurrection! Time to step up.
I didn’t read all the comments because bitching and moaning doesn’t solve the problem. If anyone is serious about revolution just tell me how many of America’s overstuffed fatso students will have the physical ability to “take to the streets”? We must be the only country in Western civilization to have malnurished 200 lb. citizens. And I’m all for taxing the heck out of Richistanians but do you think for one minute your corrupt government will give that money over to you? Not on your life! No, the best answer to this problem is simple. Stop giving Richistanians your money in the first place! How many poor Americans have computers and xboxs for the kids. Those games cost a fortune but those same parents will tell you they don’t have money for the kids braces or schoolbooks. Sure you don’t want to deprive the kids, but we are all depriving them of a future. And one more thing, I’ve seen that Sweet 16 show and they aren’t all black girls! It’s a mix of races so quit bringing race up. It’s no better for poor white or asian or hispanic kids to see that crap. Stop thinking race and start thinking American! Hate your government if you must, but American people are the best in the world! We ARE the world! We come from all around the globe and we make it work. Let’s not go looking for differences now. And I think we should all start buying gold and burying it in the backyard just to be safe. I’m only half joking.
I agree with bethtoo.
Let’s all please be honest with ourselves and admit that if we had some great idea, then built up a company that eventually takes off (after all of the 14-16-18 hour days), and we suddenly find ourselves filthy stinking rich, that we would rightfully think that we deserved at least some of it. For, after all, that is the American dream. The only thing that matters to me is that they spend it all while they are here. No new aristocracy. Sadly, those in power now do believe in aristocracy. Although when confronted, they would first deny it, if you ask them should they be able to pass along their wealth to their children, they would all defend to the death their right to do so. I guess I can’t blame them, but there should be limits. That was what the inheritance tax was.
It’s what you do with all that money that counts in my book. I too hope to be that wealthy one day soon, and while I would want my children to take up where I leave off, I wouldn’t want to otherwise pass down ludicrous wealth. Let them see my example and hopefully follow it.
People , there is another way to live on this earth. Permaculture science is changing the way nations think about living life with the planet. Living with natural patterns is the readjustment humanity is going to face from natures will. I am trying to build an arch, I do not even want everyone in on the new world design, nature needs to take care of the egos not me.
This is about getting ready, and if your smart enough to get ready that means you were capable of putting yourself in a network to move into a design of community sufficiency. So you treat the ones who show up looking to network with respect, but the rest of them, they need tough love. And Im just the tough they need.
THere is a scene in a movie, Empire of the Sun, where a group of elite English war prisoners are in a Japanese concentration camp. After getting rescued by aircraft, they heard up and walk back to a stadium full of their once riches of furniture and pianos, ect. They all starved to death laying on their pianos. Fuck that shit,. That aint me.
How do you tell the Americans sitting on their pianos to leave their possessions behind, the car that runs on unleaded, the home that needs to consume so much energy, the SUV, the cell phone, the girls and their gucci bags, and chinese toys for christmas. If you want something to redistribute wealth, just wait for peak oil, 2012
Who thinks by giving people a business proposal to better sustainable designs and letting the market do the work is going to get us where we need to be? Your fooling yourself. The market can not shift fast enough, Fucking Armory Lovins and Bill Mcdonough know this. They just are in that self gratitude mode from all the VC coming in, kind of like the Solar industry scam.
Silicon is a 500 million for a new plant, they have known this for decade, if they build another silicon plant they loose their profit margins, and solar would get cheaper. How would Lovins feel if his building efficiency designs became obsolete through living buildings , where cob and strawbale were allowed to pass through permit control and the price of building homes went down ten fold, you think hes game for that? Bull shit.
People wake up to the new way we can come together and create the food we eat, the water we harvest, and the energy we produce in a massive amount of abundance. The new integrated systems that will empower village is the way out of the injustices you report.
for more information, www.ecosutra.com
Just to set the record straight, Sam Walton had four kids, not five. His money was divided five ways between his wife and the four kids before his death so that he could get his name removed from the “richest man” category. Since then, one kid and his wife have died. It doesn’t do much for a story like this to have such sloppy fact checking.
“Republican Theory of Evolution: Survival of the Richest”
- J Todd
oldtimer, good to see anti-semitism is alive and well here…
Anti-Semitism appears frequently here. It’s why some of my friends won’t read Common Dreams.
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has broken longstanding gubernatorial tradition here. Apparently the job description was to fix highways and nothing else. Blagojevich instead proposed to tax corporations with profits of $5m or more using a gross receipts tax. Very tricky to evade and spreads the accompanying price increase quite thin, requiring only a small overall price rise for multistate companies to fund it. He is working very hard to get universal health insurance at affordable rates in IL and made it legal to buy drugs from Canada here. The Dems are in the majority in both houses of the IL legislature, and he is still having the fight of his life to pass these mildly populist bills. People in other states should know what an unusual governor Illinois finally has.
If we want a peaceful, more compassionate country we should be careful about resorting to foul behaviors. We know too that using religion as justification for hatred is an oxymoron. We hate the obscenities of their wealth. Lets not jump into that gutter. There are still a few(count them if you have 2 hands) wealthy citizens who give back. It is true that the middle class are being shut out so that their will be more slaves to serve the wealthy. Many are kept too busy working to organize and show Washington our power, this is why the wealthy are out of control, this will be our downfall. It is easy to write this comment. It is harder to take off from daily life and demonstrate for Health Care, or for more taxation of the wealthy without loop holes. We are guilty of sitting back, watching and name calling. However, it is even more disheartening to know that beyond these comments, most would not bother to educate themselves by reading, and many more have given up. It seems that there will be no marching the street until it is too late. Moving 2 or 3 million people to the avenues of Washington for a 2-3 day stay is the only ‘wake up’ call. Showing strength in numbers will remind the meek that they have power and move them to action. All else is vanity and distraction. It is we who care, who are called to action. We have more than enough information to march. The question is when?
Wouldn’t it be an interesting world if those in the police and others in law enforcement started to understand and embrace working class solidarity concepts and maybe did not try so hard to solve crimes where the “victims” were the ultra-wealthy predators?
I don’t have much wealth or power myself, so I’m not sure of this, but I suspect that the reason that people command great wealth and power is that they have a rough idea of how to get it and maintain it. A lot of cops, soldiers, judges,secret police and so on are a part of that system. So I don’t see much being done by ordinary American citizens, or anybody else, about obscene accumulations of wealth by the few in hte foreseeable future.
Wealth,powerful elites have a tendancy ot protect their interests fairly efficiently.
And one of the best ways to get us fighting with each other about race, status, sports teams, jobs,…and generally whipping up suspicions and fears of each other.
Just look at how successfully Islamophobia and suspicion of Arabs has been.
I just don’t know how these depraved rich can look at themselves in the mirror each day without feeling some guilt. How can they buy so many useless luxuries when there are millions of AMerican children living in squalor and dangerous neighborhoods. who never know what it is to have quality healthcare, who are lucky to survive the bullets before the age of 10, who can never dream of a college education, and certainly have no idea what it would be like to live in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. I wonder if the richer one becomes, the more callous; or are these decadent rich just born callous and greedy to begin with.
I, too, have watched this development with trepidation. I have lived from paycheck to paycheck. When my coworkers asked me why I cook for myself using fresh, local, and organic food, I would say: “I don’t have healthcare. I’m trying to stay healthy because I can’t afford to get sick.” I, too, wonder how the super-rich can look themselves in the face, knowing that what they have means that everyone else has less.
What is the answer? I’m not sure a violent uprising is the way to achieve a peaceful, egalitarian society, but I know that in the past violent revolution has been the last resort of the populace against the abusive elites. If things don’t change, it may happen.
What can we do? I think that in this atmosphere, we have two radical strategies — Love each other, and Don’t Be Afraid!
Love is a radical strategy because it affirms equality and values human life above wealth or the propagation of corporations.
Don’t Be Afraid is a radical strategy because it is a courageous response to all of the propaganda that uses fear — fear of terrorism, fear of people who are different — different religion, different culture, different life choices — to divide us. When we refuse to be afraid, terrorism loses its bite. When we refuse to be afraid of our neighbors, we are more likely to lend a hand, even if it is to just ease the burden on already stressed households. Communal action is the only way we will find liberation, and communal action demands that we reach beyond fear.
Your ‘depraved rich’ would put even the reputed excesses of Caligula or Nero in the shade. One example ,in particular, is far more telling in its sheer egregiousness than anything I’ve ever come across thus far in the Media.
Catherine Zeta Jones (one really couldn’t get more ‘British ‘than her) regularly has her hair massaged with fresh Beluga caviar -especially flown in from Iran . Thereafter ,it ( her hair) is shampooed with a fabulously expensive truffle-based shampoo.
In the world-wide Depravity Sweepstakes this would be hard to top.
(One shudders to think of the irreparable damage to her lustrous locks should Dick Cheney ever give the green light to nuke Iran. Thereby cutting off her ( and the rest of the West’s) supply of Beluga Caviar.)
Come to think of it: the spine -chilling prospect of destroying the West’s ( and Israel’s) supply of Beluga Caviar ,is the only thing that stands squarely in the way of Irans getting nuked into oblivion.
On this the slenderests of threads ( Beluga Caviar )does hang the fate of an entire nation and the very existence of several millions.
“And one more thing, I’ve seen that Sweet 16 show and they aren’t all black girls! It’s a mix of races so quit bringing race up. It’s no better for poor white or asian or hispanic kids to see that crap.”
I agree with you, it wasn’t all young black girls, and it is bad for all kids to see that. I was just bringing that up because by showing all of these wealthy spoiled black girls, it seemed to me as if they were trying to disguise racial inequities.
“Stop thinking race and start thinking American! Hate your government if you must, but American people are the best in the world! We ARE the world! We come from all around the globe and we make it work. Let’s not go looking for differences now. And I think we should all start buying gold and burying it in the backyard just to be safe. I’m only half joking.”
I agree with you there also.
“And one of the best ways to get us fighting with each other about race, status, sports teams, jobs,…and generally whipping up suspicions and fears of each other.”
Ditto on that.
“Catherine Zeta Jones (one really couldn’t get more ‘British ‘than her) regularly has her hair massaged with fresh Beluga caviar -especially flown in from Iran . Thereafter ,it ( her hair) is shampooed with a fabulously expensive truffle-based shampoo.”
Is that true? My God. If so it’s especially sad considering her working-class roots.
“Anti-Semitism appears frequently here. It’s why some of my friends won’t read Common Dreams.”
I’ve said this before, but I apologize if I have come off that way in my criticism of Israel. I am not one of those people who believes that jews are holding all the money or that any ethnic group is “evil” for that matter. Anyone who does buy into that needs to read Will Eisner’s The Plot: The Secret Story of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Jews have been through hell too and understand struggle as well as anyone.
I also apologize if it seemed as if I was bashing black people in my post regarding the show My Super Sweet 16. I just don’t like materialism being targeted towards people who are disenfranchised, as if everything’s ok since P. Diddy hangs out in The Hamptons. Anyone can make it right? Just work “hard”. Learn how to sing, steal someone’s technology, jump higher, run faster, hell…just look damn good and you’ll be on your way to the promised land.
Oh and don’t give back to you community. Move to a mansion in an exclusive suburb and forget your roots.
It’s those things imo that help keep socialism from fully occurring in this country. So many people want to be rich and famous. They want that dream to stay alive.
iwarrior:” Catherine Zeta Jones..Is that true? My God. If so it’s especially sad considering her working-class roots.”
Well her excesses were the subject of a very recent and very prominent feature in our mainstream print media -with a daily circulation of well over 10 million. One got the distinct impression that she was almost bragging about it.
If you ask me it is her mind set -and not her working class roots - that seem to be the problem. A classic case of too much too soon for her.
Anti -semitism : even the most hardened anti -Semite would change his or her opinion were he or she to read the writings of the likes of truly noble and enlightened people like Norman Finkelstein, Ilian Pappe and Uri Averni.
And what about Daniel Barenboim , who ,utterly heedless of censure by the Israeli establishment, has reached out through his music ,to touch the hearts and the minds of thousands of Palestinians on the other side.
The Lord knows, the world could certainly do with more Daniel Barenboims - than Uzis and cluster bombs.
Some bloke after spending a world record price on an artwork, Gustav Klimt I think, was asked afterwards why he bid to such a high price for that work. He replied that he always wanted to own the most expensive piece of art in the world.
Love is a radical strategy because it affirms equality and values human life above wealth or the propagation of corporations.
Don’t Be Afraid is a radical strategy because it is a courageous response to all of the propaganda that uses fear — fear of terrorism, fear of people who are different — different religion, different culture, different life choices — to divide us. When we refuse to be afraid, terrorism loses its bite. When we refuse to be afraid of our neighbors, we are more likely to lend a hand, even if it is to just ease the burden on already stressed households. Communal action is the only way we will find liberation, and communal action demands that we reach beyond fear.
I usually live by that motto, but if push comes to shove like it has with the Iraqi’s or Vietnamese, or indigneous Mexican’s……I don’t know if that will work. With what is going on with this administration today, I am seriously having second doubts.
Who are you kidding? For a “revolution” to start there has to be a large group of people who think that there is a problem. Hardly anyone in amerika feels that way. We see opportunity just around the corner. Maybe it will be the lottery, or maybe we’ll buy the next Microsoft at pennies per share. Maybe we’ll get promoted. It’s kind of exciting to think of just how the promise of your personal gold mine will play out.
We have religious leaders not focusing on the poor, the suffering, the weak, the needy. Instead their sermons focus on how Jesus will make you rich if you just believe hard enough and send them (the millionaire Falwells, Dobsons, Hinns, Grahams, Jacksons, and other atheists) money while asking Jesus for more. Don’t forget the all important social issue of preventing gays from marrying each other…
We have lost the written word in a swirl of apathy, electronics, and illiteracy. We don’t read radical writings because we would have to admit that the amerikan dream turned out to be a bad idea for the poor average worker. The rights of people who have to stand in lines have been trimmed back to where we are hardly a “free country” compared to many other countries worldwide.
Where are the angry writers? Who cares? We’d rather be reading Harry Potter. The media machine is controlled by just a few owners. Our music is controlled by Clear Channel and a few other corporations.
Want drugs to ease your life? Get ‘em from Lilly, Pfizer, Merck, Budweiser, Coors, or Miller or be prepared to spend time in jail.
The internet, a possible light shining in all of this is just ripe for privatization in amerika. The only hope is from overseas.
Face it, we have our limp amerikan dream and we’re not going to give it up for anything. god bless amerika!
I have been reading that the greed of owning a cell phone is supporting Corporate America. I happen to disagree with that. I have a cell phone which has replaced my landline. It actually costs me less than my landline. I don’t consider having a phone as being extravagant.
In fact, I think when a woman leaves the house alone in this day and age for safety measures she should have one.
My concern with corporate America is the fact that neccessities such as clothing and food are all being produced by people for slave wages.I have a problem with corportates profiting at the expense of people’s lives.I have a problem with people being killed and their natural resources confiscated for profit. I have a problem with people controlling other people as if they are of NO value or as if they are not an equal human being worthy of living a healthy decent life. To me, there lies the problem.
My problem is Corporate Welfare. Our illegal income tax is what is being used to support war all over the world. The Federal Reserve just prints money to our government and we as citizen’s are paying for it. We are paying corporates interest on the national deficit. The Federal Reserve is out of control which is why the cost of living is so high so that we are actually being forced to buy products made by slave wages to live. That is what has to stop!
The way I see it there are two choices either Congress takes the power away from Federal Reserve which isn’t very likely or people quit paying it.
We as American’s are enabling our government and corporates to do what they are doing. There is only one non-violent solution to the problem.
http://www.freedomtofascism.com/
The eye-popping $9 trillion gross national debt is owed by the “General Fund.” That’s the part funded by our income taxes. Half of that goes for the military and to pay interest on the debt. Fortunately two huge parts of the budget, Social Security and Medicare, are running huge surpluses.
http://zfacts.com/p/461.html
Sorry BoyGod, I don’t believe God put us on this green earth to suffer. People are just lost in consumption for they have been brainwashed into it from practically the moment they are born.
Flowers do have right to bloom!
How can the average income in this country be $50,000.00 ? That sounds very high.
Did anyone catch the “middle eastern businessman” that ran up a $210,000 drink bill for 15 people in London yesterday? Several of our “hollywood” elite were there, Including Orlando
Bloom who drank a $30,000 bottle of champagne. And I’m getting lectured by this bunch?
Holy Crap! How much will the urine be worth?