Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Let Them Eat Cake By Jerome Grossman Global Research calls it total failure and unscrupulous manipulation but Bush calls it total success!


When it comes to the distribution of America's income and wealth, the disparity between the wealthy and the rest of society is greater than at any time since the Great Depression. A free market under our capitalist system will relentlessly produce inequality of income, and when that inequality is recognized as excessive, political leadership must correct or democracy may fail under the pressure of serious upheavals from below. Wages are weaker, workers’ share of the growing economic pie is shrinking, certainly when compared to the outrageous salaries and bonuses and stock options the top managers receive. The managers have personal relationships with the compensation committees of the board of directors and it shows in the rewards authorized. The wage earner is not an insider. The enormous imbalances demean the workers by crediting the managers for the success of the enterprises when only intense cooperation at every level guarantees improvement and performance. No one builds wealth alone. Private wealth is derived from many factors coming together at the right time under positive conditions: the risk taking entrepreneur, the worker who executes with care as well as the ripe infrastructure of libraries, transportation, education, medicine, etc.

The compensation at the top is creating an aristocracy of wealth, with the resources to buy vast tracts of land, whole cities, thousands of workers, entire political parties, universities, charitable foundations, medical research, media, etc.. In a free market system such as ours, the compensation cannot be controlled: there is no fair price, no accepted level of compensation, only what the market will bear, whatever people are willing to pay. The stockholders, the real owners, are unorganized and ineffective. The situation seems out of control. Nevertheless, there is a growing unease about compensation and the more enlightened billionaires and corporate leaders are speaking out. Bill Gates, the richest American, alerted the Harvard Alumni Association to the problem. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke cautioned that widening economic inequality may make Americans “less willing to accept the dynamism… so essential to economic progress”. Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan occasionally expressed concern about the widening compensation gaps as did Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Ed Lazear of Council of Economic Advisers – and even President George W. Bush.

However, we are a long way from a workable solution. No politician or economist is ever going to dictate salaries in the American economy. The most likely solution would be to recapture part of the high compensation through taxation reform, changing the rates and the exemptions that now favor the rich at the expense of the great mass of taxpayers. Billionaire Warren Buffet told his stockholders that he was embarrassed that his secretary paid a higher tax rate (35%) than he did (15%). Robert Rubin, a former Treasury Secretary, recently made the case for private equity and hedge fund managers paying more than double the low rate in taxes they now pay. Others have called attention to the many loopholes placed in the tax code by Congress under pressure from lobbyists for corporate America and wealthy individuals. Another area of tax advantage is offshore tax -- sheltering by multinational corporations and wealthy individuals. Most rich people can arrange their income as capital gains taxed at 15%, while the wage earner pays 35%! Should the rates be reversed? Will such a change end entrepreneurship? It didn’t in other decades.

Remember the Republican Eisenhower administrations? The top tax rate then was 91% of the last dollar earned by the wealthy.Since then the lobbyists have persuaded Congress that the rich need more encouragement to manage or invest than the working stiffs. That will be difficult to change in this era when campaign contributions at every level to finance mass media appeals are so important for getting elected. A chief executive can persuade 100 friends or suppliers to donate $4600 per couple making the chief a fundraiser of $460,000, enough to enable him to make his case personally on taxation, to any senator, representative, or president. A winner take-all economy is inherently unstable.

As Queen Marie Antoinette said when she learned that the people of Paris had no bread, “Let them eat cake.” Unscrupulous Manipulation of the US Financial Architecture: The Failed Presidency of George W. Bush
A Dismal Legacy. Part II By Prof. Rodrigue Tremblay Global research

This is just one small part of what is happening and what I can't get anyone to understand! There was and is an unscrupulous manipulation of the US Financial architecture but it like everything else that is all coming to a head perfectly right now was done on purpose. You have to remember to our agenda of peace and prosperity Bush's tenure has been a total inept failure.
However people fail to understand why Bush can say he has done well! He has done well. He has been a total success if you realize what his true agenda is. Widening the gap between the Classes is something else he has done purposely and successfully in setting up his new societal order. There is no failure here for Bush, his new America, and new world order! Only planned failure for our societal and world order. It has been total success and it is coming to a head right now as planned and it will not be good

Remember, while Americans are focused on this facade of an election Bushco has been off instigating further war to keep this agenda moving forward. We instigated Georgia and Russia. We failed there and yesterday another attack into Pakistan killed 20 and at the same time Syria was attacked by 4 helicopters and American commandos to kill insurgents supposedly! One way or the other the lie we are living is coming to a head now and it is no coincidence!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com

7 comments:

billie said...

spot on as always! i know that most of us- me included- can't wait for next week. at the very least, we won't have to hear about palin much longer. (fingers crossed) but as mom and i were talking- there are still 2 1/2 months or so until inauguration and bushco has shown no signs of stopping their shenanigans. keep up the good work and keep shining the spotlight!

jmsjoin said...

Betmo
Thanks! What do you have radar? How did you respond to this so quick? Myself I approach the upcoming elect very nervous knowing whatever the turnout the right is going to make this too a wrong and an underhanded hell!
You and your Mother are right as I have said numerous times Bush has yet to do his worst and has until January 20th to do it. They are not going to give up now as they have gone too far! You know I will never stop you just relax take care and stay in touch.
I reiterate We have been wrong about nothing!

One Fly said...

Hate to keep bringing this up but what's going to happen next.

And the key is too as you state that 1/20/09 is a very long time away.

jmsjoin said...

one fly
You know I agree and I was just on Helenwheel's or somewhere and they had a video that the Feds eXpect an uprising if the election is stolen and are prepared for it!
I hate to always sound negative but something is going to happen to keep Obama out and if he sneaks in a just as bad something is going to happen.
The wrong I mean right has gone too far they are not going to give up or relinquish power. We can hope but one way or the other either we lay down and I can not or I see revolution period and I have for years but most thought I was crazy. Too late now! What a friggen mess they created for our future!

Dave Dubya said...

They are already stealing the election. Did you see this story from West Virginia?
---

More W.Va. voters say machines are switching votes

In six cases, Democratic votes flipped to GOP

By Paul J. Nyden October 18, 2008

Staff writer http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200810180251

WINFIELD, W.Va. -- Three Putnam County voters say electronic voting machines changed their votes from Democrats to Republicans when they cast early ballots last week.

This is the second West Virginia county where voters have reported this problem. Last week, three voters in Jackson County told The Charleston Gazette their electronic vote for "Barack Obama" kept flipping to "John McCain".

In both counties, Republicans are responsible for overseeing elections. Both county clerks said the problem is isolated.

They also blamed voters for not being more careful.

"People make mistakes more than machines," said Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright.

Shelba Ketchum, a 69-year-old nurse retired from Thomas Memorial Hospital, described what happened Friday at the Putnam County Courthouse in Winfield.

"I pushed buttons and they all came up Republican," she said. "I hit Obama and it switched to McCain. I am really concerned about that. If McCain wins, there was something wrong with the machines.

"I asked them for a printout of my votes," Ketchum said. "But they said it was in the machine and I could not get it. I did not feel right when I left the courthouse. My son felt the same way.

"I heard from some other people they also had trouble. But no one in there knew how to fix it," said Ketchum, who is not related to Menis Ketchum, a Democratic Supreme Court candidate.

Ketchum's son, Chris, said he had the same problem. And Bobbi Oates of Scott Depot said her vote for incumbent Democratic Sen. John D. Rockefeller was switched to GOP opponent Jay Wolfe.

"I touched the one I wanted, Rockefeller, and the machine put a checkmark on the Republican instead," Oates said of her experience Thursday.

She said she caught the mistake, called over a worker in the county clerk's office and was able to correct her vote. But she worries other voters may not catch such a mistake.

When asked if she is sure she touched the box for Rockefeller, she said, "I'm absolutely positive."

Putnam County Clerk Brian Wood said on Saturday that he is upset there are "so many negative stories out there and not enough positive ones. We want people to vote. People need to know the facts.

"But we haven't had any major issues. We try to explain to voters how the machines work then they come in," Wood said.

In Putnam County, early voters have the option of asking for either touch-screen machines or optical scan ballots -- paper ballots on which people mark in their election choices.

Wood said some voters might not realize that touch-screen voting machines may take a few seconds to record their choices.

"The reaction time [on the machines] may be different. And when you hit the screen a second time, it cancels your vote," Wood said. "When you get in a hurry, if you go to fast and hit it again, you can cancel what you just did.

"The main thing people need to remember is that when you are done voting, make sure everybody you wanted to vote for has a check mark beside them," Wood said.

Ketchum said, "I am educated person. I know what I wanted. I am anxious to see who wins.

"My son Chris said, 'Mom, I didn't vote for the people who came up on that machine. I wanted to go back and vote again. I called the lady at the polls and she said it was my fault because of the way I was punching the buttons.'

"I want a paper ballot. I think it was very bad when they did away with paper ballots. I wish you had something in your hand that is a record of how you voted.

"I never felt that way before. It was early voting, so we went over there to get it over with. We won't do that again," Ketchum said.

Last week, three Jackson County residents said they experienced similar problems when they cast early ballots at the county courthouse in Ripley.

Virginia Matheney, one of those voters, said Friday, "When I touched the screen for Barack Obama, the check mark moved from his box to the box indicating a vote for John McCain."

Retired factory worker Calvin Thomas of Ripley said he experienced the same problem.

"When I pushed Obama, it jumped to McCain. When I went down to governor's office and punched [Gov. Joe] Manchin, it went to the other dude.

"After I finished, my daughter voted. When she pushed Obama, it went to McCain. It happened to her the same way it happened to me," Thomas said.

Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright, a Republican, said 400 other people voted without reporting any problems.

Wood said he and Waybright are both very careful to guarantee people's votes are recorded properly.

Wood said, "Voting machines are very reliable. I hate the fact that stories like this are printed. It makes everybody get scared.

"That is not good for anybody. Where the fault is, I don't know and the voter doesn't know. There needs to be good communication between the voters and the poll workers."

Wood offered this advice to voters: "The best way to solve this whole problem is that before you leave the voting booth, make sure on the review screen that everybody you want to vote for is checked."

More than 1,000 voters from 48 local precincts in Putnam County cast early ballots in the past three days, Wood said. Putnam County has 36,000 registered voters.
---

This is looking to be an ugly election, folks.

Also, do not vote straight ticket. That's where glitches occur.

jmsjoin said...

Dave
You son of a gun! I just watched it on CNN! Before I read what you wrote in depth here is what I said! I was just watching on CNN all the voting problems all over the country with Democrats all of a sudden being told they are not legal to vote.
Not enough Identification, stolen ballots, Dems in Virginia being told Republicans vote on Tuesday and Democrats Wednesday. They are doing their damnedest to steal this! The legal system better stand up loud and clear against tampering of any sort and right now. This is going to be really bad! You're alright Dave let me see what you said now!

jmsjoin said...

Dave
I saw that the other day and they kept showing it happen. They have R on the top D on the bottom and it is so close if you hit the D you hit the line between the two and it automatically registers Republican. I'm telling you this will be stolen!
I saw this morning that McCain's camp is doing their own poll and saying they are going to win at the last minute. This sucks! Go to Rick Sanchez on CNN he just did a show on all the underhanded problems around the country and only for Democrats. This really sucks!