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Don’t Know Who Offends Me More, Blitzer or Trump
WASHINGTON - One of Donald Trump's many business interests - his casino company in Atlantic City, NJ - is going belly-up. Bankrupt. Out-o-cash. But, he's assured us all during a lengthy segment on the CNN Wolf Blitzer show that he is more than OK. His other business interests have plenty of cash on hand, Trump told Blitzer. Huh?
Blitzer went on to solicit business advice for America from Trump so we all might benefit from Trump's significant business and real estate acumen. Go buy stock and property, Trump said, as Blitzer fell all over himself taking in the advice of the wizard. Wow.
That's sure as hell not what happened to me and my husband when we went broke. In fact, not one person in our lives now would think we knew "shit from Shinola" where anything financial is concerned anymore. You see, bankruptcy and U.S. bankruptcy law treat the rich and the well-lawyered folks much differently than the average American.
For me and for millions of other taxpaying poor dumb slobs of America, getting sick while covered by the defective product otherwise know as "health insurance" has meant the end of any hope for financial prosperity. And everyone from the arrogant, disgusting Donald Trumps of this land to the arrogant, disgusting political folks who protect them fails us all.
You see, if Trump's businesses were held to the same standard as we were when trouble came, he'd have to drain every available source of money, be harassed by creditors, be unable to borrow any more money from anyone in his life - and certainly not a bank - and then he should get garnished. Finally, he should be put out of his home for being such a failure in terms of money management. That would be how Trump would see the world if our laws treated him as it does the rest of us.
We got to keep nothing going into our bankruptcy and even had a hard time pulling together enough to pay the damn bankruptcy attorney - and now those bankruptcy laws have gotten even worse for the average American, but not for the Donald Trumps and the Wolf Blitzers of this land.
Better yet, big boys, how about we fix the healthcare system without pouring money into the broken, life-robbing for-profit health insurance companies? Because if we let the big boys worshiping at the throne of Trump-like financial giants, they'll craft a healthcare system that will leave more of us exposed financially and make them wealthier and wealthier.
How about we make the bankruptcy laws offer some protection for regular citizens who try really hard to follow the rules and then just cannot hang on? How about some justice in this mess of a financial system we built on the labor of good people like my husband while leaches like Donald Trump sucked more wealth from the system than we have ever even imagined?
My life has to be rebuilt, step by hard-working step, since our bankruptcy due to medical crisis. It will take me years to build out of it, and I will never be sought-after or respected for my money-management skills - though I am betting I kept the ship afloat through some pretty rough waters that Trump has never seen.
Justice? In our financial systems? Come on, let's at least stop glorifying people like Trump who have "gamed the system" more than a thousand average Americans ever could or would? And while we're at it, let's build a publicly funded, privately delivered healthcare system that doesn't let anyone go broke because they get sick. No more medical bankruptcy. None. Don't we at least have that much compassion and justice in our national soul?
I believe Congress can do what is right. I also believe President Obama can. We aren't all Donald Trump, but we all do vote and pay taxes and talk to one another about what the truth is and is not. This awful system of bankruptcy law is most certainly a violation of our civil rights when the sick and disabled are forced into many years living in purgatory and Donald Trump is celebrated on CNN. And we want some equal time and some equal justice under the bankruptcy laws of this land.
- Posted in
45 Comments so far
Show All"This awful system of bankruptcy law is most certainly a violation of our civil rights when the sick and disabled are forced into many years living in purgatory and Donald Trump is celebrated on CNN. And we want some equal time and some equal justice under the bankruptcy laws of this land."
Well, just using the author's line of reasoning, in order to get equal time and justice under any laws of this land, we need to get equal time in our media.
Given the fact that Big Biz owns the media, it stands to reason that the media will not give We, the (little) People, the time of day, much less equal time. So, we must take it. No other way comes to mind other than reinstating the Fairness Doctrine - this time, with teeth.
I know Obama has a lot on his plate, but this one is a biggie and he needs to be pressured to clean up the media, who use OUR airwaves to spew their Blitzer and Trump crap all over us. Let's let our new president know that we demand representation in the media!
I doubt that you can expect much help from Obama, do you think that he even understands the problem you are referring to. After all he put Frankin Raines on his economic team after he ran Fannie mae into the ground and also Jeff Immelt who destroyed GE, a company that has lost 300 billion in market cap under his leadership. With advice from these people do you think the situation will improve.
who use OUR airwaves to spew their Blitzer and Trump crap all over us.
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There's NOBODY on CD who is a bigger advocate of restoring the Fairness Doctrine (with new teeth).
But Blitzer was spewing his crap on CNN, a cable t.v. channel, brought into a person's home by a paid subscription.
Thus it's no different than buying a book, video or magazine and bringing it into your home.
It's a private matter and should not be subject to government regulation. (However, monopolies control much of cable t.v. content and should be broken up).
This is different than content broadcast over the FREE airwaves, owned by the public, such as AM/FM radio and free television, for which a new and better Fairness Doctrine should be the guiding law.
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Whoever controls the media controls the country. Period.
All dissenting opinions should be heard as long as they are lawful and represent a discernible segment of the public.
So the answer is YES, to your Klan question.
I believe that the more the public hears the Klan's beliefs the sooner they will disappear.
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I will gladly trade republicans 1/2 the time on the 5,000 watt radio stations liberal programming is forced to broadcast on in exchange for 1/2 the time the 50,000 watt radio stations republican programming is on.
When can we sign the deal?
The Klan is a terrorist organization and by law would be refused any air itme.
Guess that leave out the State and Defense Departments, then?
The OPs confusion is easily cleared up. Blitzer is clearly the more offensive of these two individuals. Trump is just a businessman trying to promote the best public image of himself that he can; we expect him to be full of shit.
Blitzer is "supposed to be" a journalist with the professional distance and skepticism that used to be characteristic of that profession. In truth, he's just another cheerleader for corporate America's beauty pageant.
q
Oh, and indeed bankruptcy is awful -- but just for some of us. Not for everyone. Not by a long shot.
Donna Smith, American SiCKO
Corporations are allowed to form because of laws written by men.
Many of us here believe corporations should not be allowed to form at all, or that their charter should be time limited.
The question you avoid answering is why corporate bankruptcy law is without teeth when personal bankruptcy laws are devastating?
Great comment -- and I think every American should form an LLC for personal health business at birth. At least until the law changes and medical care is truly honored as a human right and not a commodity.
Donna Smith, American SiCKO
"bankruptcy is awful -- but just for some of us".
Thank you Donna - I agree.
Just like being sick is awful....but just for some of us.
When I had my spinal injury I had back surgery as an outpatient because I could not afford the hospital stay, because I was underinsured.
When I was finally able to walk again I went to my bank to tell them that I'd lost my job and could I work with them on a refianace loan? - the bank officer said "Oh, my mother just had that same surgery! She was in the hospital for four days." ...Loan denied.
This bank was recently bailed out by taxpayers.
Says who?
Bankruptcy laws are written by men.
I believe bankruptcy law should be written to allow individuals to recover as quickly as possible so they can rejoin society with minimum pain and delay and begin contributing again.
And NEVER should a person have to go into bankruptcy for medical reasons.
Prior to 2005 the Bankruptcy law was much kinder.
But the bankers got together and wrote a new law that the congress obediently passed (pay no attention to the cash stuffed in their pockets).
Did you know that V.P. Joe Biden sponsored the 2005 bankrupcy bill. He is also the writer of bills for the Credit Card companies.
And you voted for Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden.
So don't whine how unfair it all is.
Do you suppose the author of the article is really in need of your "news flash," which is rather moralizing? Even at its least complicated, the stipulations of Chapter 7 Bankruptcy are specific enough to prevent the kind of scenario you imagine--people filing for bankruptcy "at the first sign of trouble." I wonder if Ms. Smith was busy signing those preliminary forms when she was overtaken by whatever medical crisis it was that precipitated her family's financial ruin? If there is any moralizing to be done here, it should be on the part of those who work, pay taxes, live within the law, and yet are shut out of the health care system for any number of reasons (foremost: it is far too costly for most families and individuals who do not receive such benefits from employers).
I do not think anyone expects compassion from the sector that deludes themselves into taking a morally-superior stance in matters that have nothing whatsoever to do with morality. The author never asked for sympathy; rather, she called for a more egalitarian approach not even to bankruptcy law and procedure but to the way that health care is administered here in the U.S. Furthermore, your own juvenile, ill-informed response to a crisis that is not particular to Ms. Smith but to MILLIONS of Americans divulges what seems to be your sole intention in this forum: to perpetuate the ridiculous notion that those upon whom tragedy befalls (if they are not among the super wealthy, that is) were somehow deserving of it.
Typical rightwing rant as usual. When you're done getting braindamaged by Rush Limbaugh and Donald Trump, let us know. Until then, your idiotic rightwing brown shirt mentality doesn't fool anyone.
Terrance Mitchell
Redfield, South Dakota
Best to ignore nwfisher, joe hope, and their ilk. Continue to respond and they will continue their mindless commentary. Ignore them and after awhile they'll go away. I hesitated to even write this in regard to their kind, but couldn't help myself. I sincerely hope nothing like a health care incident resulting in bankruptcy happens to old "nw" but at least its good to know that if it does he, or she, or it, won't be asking for any help from the public, won't expect any assistance but for whatever he, or she, or it, can provide for himself, herself, or itself.
-- ekaton aka d.k.shaw
So, the banks, the automakers, the Geithners, the Rubins, the Greenspans, are children whining and crying and expecting somebody else to solve their problems for them?
Glad you cleared that up then.
Question for you constitutional scholars out there: doesn't the disparity in bankruptcy laws for individuals vs corporations violate the equal-protection clause of the 14th amendment?
But you forgot to mention that big companies have "special" privileges and less strict guidelines compared to individuals.
Terrance Mitchell
Redfield, South Dakota
We should always remember that corporations are merely legal constructs and we need to look beyond the surface to understand what is going on. Basically the disparity is between individuals hiding behind corporations (using corporations to minimize risk so their personal assets are insulated no matter how much harm they cause), often sophisticated well-heeled individuals, and individuals who do not have that luxury. And the detection of violations of the EP clause have more to do with the membership on the SCOTUS than with the facts of the case.
Wealthy well-educated sophisticates make up the rules for the benefit of wealthy well-educated sophisticates and they hire sophists to try to justify such rules, which usually involves bamboozling the little people so they do not resist the domination and plunder.
Donna, I am so sorry this ever happened to you and your husband. The point in your article being..it happened because of a medical crisis. MEDICAL problems should not translate into the collapse of a persons entire estate and business. The only reason it does is because some immoral, unethical capitalist minds saw exploiting people at their most vulnerable time, as a grand way to make money!
The simple trurh is, the elite in this world do not want a middle class! Do not want people to have entitlements! Do not want the sick to survive! It's survival of the fitest...and they believe that money makes them the fittest!
HOW DO WE OUTSMART THEM!?
STOP GIVING THEM MONEY.
You can start by not adopting their language.
Start with "entitlements."
The reason people like Donald Trump are where they are today is our country is filled with too many "Joe The Plumber" minded folks. They think that they'll get as "rich" as Donald Trump and delude themselves with the wrong ideas people such as Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'LIEly, Neil Boortz, etc ... tell them. They keep dreaming that they'll make over 250k per year even as their yearly salary currently around 50k per year is unlikely to reach 250k for at least a decade. Trust me, I know this having once been a former rightwing shill who always blamed high taxes for everything and not the real culprits until I gave up conservatism after losing my home and my job. I did finally make it back to a better job that doesn't outsource and a good home but only after I became more moderately liberal minded. I'm sorry but at least half the electorate are too addicted to Donald Trump and that must stop.
Terrance Mitchell
Redfield, South Dakota
Welcome to the U.S.A.
Been in Freedom's Land long?
There is absolutely no reason not to restore the Bankruptsy laws back to exactly where they were before they were changed by the Banks and Credit Card companies. No rational argument against it.
As the Bankruptcy law stands now its legalized theft. Its a shame Congress didn't change this instaed of spending millions on Mouse habitat. But there are apparently priorities.
Again Donna, great article....keep kicking them where it hurts. And keep the articles coming, please.
Until this changes, I will keep writing about it and working hard to change it. Thanks for the comments.
Donna Smith, American SiCKO
Donna, please accept my sympathy about your financial woes stemming from your health-care system - you should have been born in Canada.
In 1999, I went to Emergency with what I thought was some kind of weird indigestion - it turned out to be a heart attack. Within 60 seconds I was being treated by a team of nurses and doctors who arrested the attack. I then spent four days in the cardiac care unit where I got the most professional of care. The cost of that in the US - many thousands of dollars. The cost to me here in Canada - ZERO.
Last year, owing to a defective heart valve, I had to undergo open-heart surgery. A team of heart surgeons, anaesthetists, profusionists and nurses (at least twelve people) performed the eight hour operation. Afterward, I spent two weeks in post-op care. The cost in the US - many tens of thousands of dollars. The cost to me here - ZERO.
Apart from our health-care system, Canada is very much NOT a socialist country.
What is wrong with you people down there - TELL THEM TO STUFF THEIR BULLSH*T ARGUMENTS AND DEMAND A PROPER HEALTH-CARE SYSTEM!!
Couldn't agree more... thank you.
Donna Smith, American SiCKO
Come on now, people, get real. You know we can't afford a single-payer health care system. We'd have to cut military spending to the tune of at least a trillion dollars a year. It takes a bunch of cash to fight wars in three countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan) and to maintain a far flung network of well over 700 bases in more than 120 countries. And we need more fighter planes and nuclear subs. You can never have enough nuclear subs. Think! We have to garrison the world, you know. Can't afford a national health care system. Wouldn't be prudent. Wouldn't be compassionate conservatism. We need more bombs, not more preventive health care. Geez. Some people, y'know?
-- ekaton aka d.k.shaw
Sad to say, President Obama will do next to nothing to address the core issue.
How do you get leadership that acts in the interest of the majority of citizens, when the mother's milk of our politics --money -- assures that the laws will only benefit those who finance the lawmakers?
Stop whining. You voted for the plutocracy in Congress and the President.
There is no hope for the subjects of the plutocracy to become citizen of their own nation until the election system is transformed.
So stop whining and grow up.
Thanks for the advice. wish you all the best in transforming the election system. That will be an incredible victory for us all.
Donna Smith, American SiCKO
The start is to get informed of the pols records; don't vote for people who don't vote your way, or think your way. Give money to people who are new and of "outside" parties. For example, who do you think would have been a better choice in S.F? Pelosi, the arrogant traitor, or Sheehan, the good heart underdog? Sheehan had no chance cause she had no money.
Organize---like the National Rifle Association. I dislike that organization, but they know how to get in the people who will vote their way.
It's always better to vote for 'integrity' rather than political calculation. Who cares what others do, if you're truly following your heart? What we don't seem to understand individually and as a race is that though nature, God, Reality (or whatever you wish to call It) has allowed us the option of destroying ourselves through ignorance (whether economic, militaristic, religious or otherwise), it does not NECESSITATE such action. On the contrary, It offers us the opportunity to turn away from our self-destructive dictates, if we could only see it. I suppose the question for mankind (as well as individually) is: will it/we see this before it's too late?
If we do not 'see' the change that will set us free, we cannot BE the change that will set us free (free from both inner and outer destruction; they go hand in hand).
Hint: this necessitates a lot of self work, starting with becoming aware of how we may be contributing to the mess individually. Painful to see? Yes, but so what? Stop blaming others and get to work.
There is no intellectual solution for the mess we're in, only a spiritual one (where insight leads logic), and time, I fear, is running out for mankind.
"And everyone from the arrogant, disgusting Donald Trumps of this land to the arrogant, disgusting political folks who protect them fails us all."
The only way to accomplish this is finally to be rid of the Repelicans and the Damnocrats. Short of that, those MoFo's and vampires will effortlessly continue to rule this ruined land. Washington, D.C. has been a totally corrupt Fantasy Land for so long there is no way reality can penetrate the minds of the pinheads and poobahs who control and/or influence our government. Obama increasingly appears to fit this description. Get rid of them, once and for all! Perhaps this will finally happen when we're all in the gutter.
2005 BANKRUPTCY LAW
WRITTEN IN 2005 !!!!!! HOW CONVENIENT
SO IN 2005 THE BANKS ACTUALLY KNEW WHAT AND WHERE THE SUB PRIME LOANING WAS GOING TO LEAD TO DOWN THE ROAD WITH FORECLOSURES AND BANKRUPTCIES AND YET STILL LET THE PREDATORY LOANING TO GO ON. Hyenas all of them.
TO BE GARNISHED AFTER BANKRUPTCY LEAVES YOU INDEBTED FOR WHAT? ...FOR EVER?
WHAT A SET UP AND CON GAME BY BUSH, BIDEN AND WHO KNOWS WHO ELSE.
ETHICALLY AND MORALLY DESPICABLE. I AM NOT RELIGIOUS BUT IF THERE WAS A HELL THE ABOVE MENTIONED WOULD BE FIRST IN LINE. DAMN THEY HAVE LOUSY KARMA