And there is it - just like long-serving Independent Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders predicted, that many investigative journalists and former Government insiders have reported, and that comedian and social critic George Carlin described years ago - the corporations control America.
President Barack Obama has proposed changes in his 2014 fiscal year budget that cut our Medicare and Social Security benefits. Like George said, "it's a big club, and we ain't in it" | "and now they're coming for your social security money" | "they want your fucking retirement money".
From Senator Bernie Sanders, the only senator that I see who's willing to stick up for the American public, regardless of party affiliation or corporate contributions.
ReplyDeleteSay No to the Chained CPI
Anyone know what's going on behind the scenes with TPP? Will it help stimulate job growth here in America?
ReplyDelete"It also seeks to liberalize trade in new and significant ways, giving foreign corporate investors unprecedented rights and protections. It has been described as “NAFTA on steroids.”"
Source: The Hill: Tobacco products should have special treatment in trade deal
What did you expect? The future of banking
ReplyDeleteVia Senator Sanders website- President Obama’s proposal to cut Social Security “has caused a firestorm among supporters who now feel betrayed,” columnist George Curry wrote in The Philadelphia Tribune. “If Obama is serious about dealing with our deficit, he would not cut Social Security which has not added one penny to the deficit,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said. “Instead, he would support legislation that ends the absurdity of one out of four profitable corporations paying nothing in federal income taxes. He would also help us close the offshore tax haven loopholes that enable large corporations and the wealthy to avoid paying $100 billion a year in federal taxes,” Sanders added.
ReplyDeleteHere's the Senator asking the tough questions
If you're a follower of these things like I am, then there's no need for me to explain that corporate pensions are almost a thing of the past, and that state, city, and municipal pensions are under tremendous pressure right now due to (IMO) mismanagement and corruption, and are rapidly being placed on the chopping block too.
ReplyDeleteAnd now that the POTUS has offered up our social security benefits to the Robber Barons, there's a very good chance our lives will be seriously marginalized in retirement through no direct fault of our own. The only other retirement savings plans left are our defined contribution plans (401k, 403b, IRAs, etc.), so it's imperative that we hang on to as much of those contributions as we can.
That's why I want to remind everyone not to miss WHY YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO RETIRE: FRONTLINE INVESTIGATES THE OTHER FINANCIAL CRISIS, Tuesday, April 23, 2013, at 10 p.m. on PBS.
Sens. Bernie Sanders and Tom Harkin on Wednesday introduced a resolution opposing President Obama’s proposed cuts to Social Security and disabled veterans’ benefits, The Hill reported. Harkin and Sanders suggested an alternative to strengthen Social Security. They would lift the current cap on income subject to the payroll tax. Easy and simple fix.
ReplyDeleteI just listened to the President's speech to the graduates at Ohio State University, via The Washington Post article entitled - Obama urges college graduates to reject cynics, engage democracy: ‘I dare you to do better’
ReplyDeleteAccording to an excerpt from this article the President wants the younger generation to.. "..break through relentless cynicism about the nation’s future" by their own vigorous participation in democracy.
I agree with the President, if our nation is to succeed as a better place for the entire younger generation to live and prosper, that the system needs their participation in order to change. We need good leaders, and they're our best hope.
But don't lecture them and other Americans about our cynical attitudes. It's justifiable cynicism.
I voted for you in 2008 & 2012 because I thought you would end the war and shut down the military-industrial complex. Yet, the American people are still falling victim to a continuing unjustifiable and costly war created by the Bush administration.
I voted for you because I thought you would create a nationalized health care system with coverage for all Americans. Now, here we are still held hostage to the corporate healthcare industry, but now with mandatory payments to the same highly profitable corporations that still control health care.
I voted for you because I thought you would prosecute the corporate criminals who brought our economy to it's knees, but yet not one person responsible was ever prosecuted criminally or sent to prison. I thought you would break up the too-big-too-fail institutions, but yet, they've become even bigger. I thought you would protect the American public by instituting legislation that protects us from Wall Street, but five years later derivatives are still unregulated and growing in use. Dodd-Frank is a voluminous regulatory joke, full of loopholes.
I voted for you because I thought you would keep money out of politics, but yet, under your watch, Citizens United was passed, allowing corporations unlimited funding of political campaigns, and essentially giving them full control of the political process. And then you used that same type of corporate funding to finance your 2012 campaign.
I voted for you because I believed that you were on the side of the average American, the people who whole-heartedly supported you in your first run for Presidency. But yet, you offer up cuts to social security and other safety nets as a compromise to the people that even you say seek to do us harm.
So Mr. President, before you try to fill us with some nonsense rhetoric about being too cynical, look at your own failings first. We elected YOU as our leader, and you continue to let us down. Why wouldn't anyone believe that the system is broken?
If you want to lecture us about changing our attitudes and breaking the cycle of continued cynicism, be more specific.
You're our leader. Tell us exactly, step-by-step, what we need to do to fix the problem, who we need to hold responsible, and most-importantly - don't "talk" about being on our side. Show us your loyal support through action and EARN our trust.
Otherwise, I'm going to continue to cynically believe that the people with all of the money control our system of Government, and that the political bickering between the two parties is just a good cop/bad cop routine used to fool the average American, and to keep us fighting amongst ourselves while the robber barons continue to marginalize us.
A sampling of the vanishing pension -
ReplyDeleteThe problem is national. Nearly half of all public plans did not make their required contributions last year and had self-declared unfunded liabilities of around $834 billion, according to Wilshire Consulting.
As economic recovery remains elusive for many quarters of New York state, the number of entities deferring required contributions to two public pension funds has quadrupled since 2011, and the amount deferred has risen by a similar magnitude to a total of more than $2 billion.
That trend may well accelerate under new rules allowing employers to divert even more pension money, and the practice is raising concerns it could undermine one of the country's best-funded public pension systems, which oversees the retirement savings of more than a million workers.
Source: Reuters Insight: New York authorities in wave of pension payment deferrals
Meet a few of the job destroyers and tax evaders that want to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid while lowering the tax rate for the top 2% - Via Senator Bernie Sanders: Top Corporate Tax Dodgers
ReplyDeleteYeah, I see it now. There's no such thing as corporatocracy. It's all a figment of my imagination. There no way our elected leaders would put corporate interests/profits ahead of their citizenry or sovereignty. Obama-Backed Trans-Pacific Partnership Expands Corporate Lawsuits Against Nations for Lost Profits
ReplyDeleteWhat was that George said about them having the judges in their pockets?
ReplyDeleteA federal judge has approved HSBC Holdings Plc's record $1.92 billion settlement with federal and state investigators of charges that it flouted rules designed to stop money laundering and thwart transactions with countries under U.S. sanctions. Again, no one is held criminally-liable, no one goes to prison, and the corporation continues business as usual.
Read more at: HSBC wins OK of record $1.92 billion money-laundering settlement
Today, the same Wall Street crowd that caused the crash is not merely rolling in money again but aggressively counterattacking on the public-relations front. The battle increasingly centers around public funds like state and municipal pensions. This war isn't just about money. Crucially, in ways invisible to most Americans, it's also about blame.
ReplyDeleteIn state after state, politicians are following the Rhode Island playbook, using scare tactics and lavishly funded PR campaigns to cast teachers, firefighters and cops – not bankers – as the budget-devouring boogeymen responsible for the mounting fiscal problems of America's states and cities.
Read more at - Rolling Stone: Looting the Pension Funds and Taibblog: Looting Public Pensions: A New Think-Tank Study