Class warfare

We have often heard the Republicans speak about class warfare and wealth redistribution. The truth of the matter is that they are waging that war on behalf of the wealthiest people. It's time that the poor and the middle class started fighting back.

It should prove helpful to reflect on the history of taxation in this country, particularily concerning the top marginal tax rates. I'll provide one that I like because it includes personal inome tax, corporate tax, and capital gains tax rates over a long history, but please to feel free and search and research these rates for yourself.



I'm not sure how that turned out so I'll make it easy so you can just click here, here or here for further reference.

As you can see, there has been a large decline in tax rates for the wealthy over the last fifty years. You may also notice that tax revenue has risen at a much lower rate than the GDP. Where has all that money gone? Not to the middle class and not to the poor.

The truth of the matter is that wealth is being concentrated into the control of too few. Many statesmen have warned us about the dangers of that. It's the inequality stupid argues Mother Jones.
How many billionaires were there 40 or 50 years ago? Click here to view what's been going on. You should also note that there are more than 1,000 billionaires in the world today. Many of those people feel that they have more in common with each other than they do with their fellow country people. Chrystia Freeland wrote an article published in the Atlantic if you'd like to read more. Here's just a bit from that article, "According to the economists Emmanuel Saez of Berkeley and Thomas Piketty of the Paris School of Economics, between 2002 and 2007, 65 percent of all income growth in the United States went to the top 1 percent of the population."

Considering the present situation, I don't think it would be unreasonable for the 99% to rally for a 55% or a 60% top marginal tax rate on the wealthy. That would certainly be less than historical rates 50 years ago. Perhaps we should ask congress to restore the tax structures of the 50's or 60's.

Let's go back even farther and review the Boston Tea Party. Few people today seem to understand what the Boston Tea Party was really about, perhaps you are one of them. Now is the time to get the story straight. The truth is that it was an anti-corporate revolt. Here's a video if you're getting tired of reading....it's the first I've heard of a coffee party. It doesn't have the same pizzaz as a tea party so perhaps we should try something different....how about a tea party 2.2 that might realign the first misguided bunch. Maybe a little schoolhouse rock will help, but I doubt it. Maybe Thom can help, he does his homework. I sure love Thom. He tells us secrets and informs us so well.

Conservative Myths has added content and now has a page concerning Rusticus. So now I wonder....how do we duplicate the good works of the Sons of Liberty and Rusticus? Could we plan a day when many of us post blogs and hang pamphlets and posters on doors....December 16 doesn't seem like a great day to rally comtemporary Americans who will be overwhelmed with the holiday season....hummm, wht to do. It is nice to see though, that Encyclopedia.com has a proper entry about the Boston Tea Party. Good job people!

Wealth and Democracy is another book that I'd like to get my hands on. On a side note, there is a bookswap website, cool! The author is supposedly a Republican. If that's the case, he found a way to reject the con in conservative.

Okay, here we go....lot's of links....

The Case Against Billionaires - thanks to Thom Hartmann and his newsletter....

Article: "World's 100 richest people got $241 billion richer in 2012" by Bloomberg News.

Article: "Who Got Rich This Week: A New Billionaire" by Edwin Durgy.

Article: "U.S. Could Enact More Austerity Than European Countries In 2013" by Travis Waldron.

Article: "Here Is the Full Inequality Speech and Slideshow That Was Too Hot for TED" (Nick Hanauer).

Video: "Hartmann: 1%er - Tax me...I Don't Create Jobs ".

Article: "Essay: THE FUTURISTS: Looking Toward A.D. 2000" by Time.

Article: "The wedges between productivity and median compensation growth" by Lawrence Mishel.

Article: "CHART: Typical Hourly Wage Went Up Just $1.23 In The Last 36 Years" by Laura Pereyra.

Article: "Corporate Profits Hit Record High While Worker Wages Hit Record Low" by Pat Garofalo.

Article: "How Rich is Too Rich For Democracy?" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Scrooge & Marley, Inc. -- The True Conservative Agenda" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "The wealthy are 288 times richer than you" by Tami Luhby.

 

True Patriots

A true patriot is a patriot who knows the truth. There are many people who believe they are patriots, but are merely duped fools and schills for anti-democratic traitors.

The truth is that climate change is a real and pressing danger.
The truth is that corporate power has corrupted our polity.
The truth is that the USA has a gun problem.
The truth is that our country has a militarization problem.
The truth is that corporate media is part of the problem and FOX is an enemy of Uncle Sam

It is time for a True Patriot movement of We The People to push back against the duped fools and traitors. Spread the word

It's important to know that government can be good. Go to governmentisgood.com and you can find a wealth of information on the subject, although the reading is rather long. Monte Asbury gives us a list of gov't goodness that's far easier to read. He also has losts of comments and I'll add my own, good job bro.

Anti-government sentiment is a poison in the body politic and a tool of anti-democratic forces. A true patriot understands that. Do you?

corporate rule

Doing a little homework about how corporations rule the world and what that means for the majority of us...I just have to get a copy of When Corporations Rule the World and start from there. The Global Patriot is my kinda guy. There's dieoff.org which has some interesting stuff....and corporations.org which has a How to Overthrow Corporate Rule, yah, good luck with that. The Brits have a corporate watch spinoff, Corporate Rule which could be useful.

leading from the left

The lack of  a single coherent plan by liberals can be a problem. While the Occupy movement thought that a lack of a definitive leader and the lack of a definitive plan was a strength, it is now obvious that this view was, well, wrong.

Aaron Huertas wrote, "He says liberals should learn to be more decisive and cites the Occupy Wall Street movement and the ongoing European debt crisis as typical liberal discussion-fests lacking clear leadership, focus or a willingness to make decisions. Heck, the occupiers designed their movement to avoid classic leadership. Sometimes one plan, any plan, is much better than endless debate." 

Finding that leadership is part of the mission of Integral Activism. Organizing that leadership is part of the mission of IA. 

Bold Progressives have a plan to take back democracy, but I don't see how they're getting the message out to the greater masses. Perhaps the Save Uncle Sam campaign could help to popularize these efforts. How do we get people to rally together and stop the endless duplicating of efforts? It is our future so ask yourself as I ask myself, how do we coalesce?

The Center for Economic and Policy Research seems like a great resource that I'll have to study more. 
Thom has written another great article, The Real Boston Tea Party.....this is just one more piece that builds the greater narrative of how our political system(s) have been gamed by monied interests. There are lots of good books on the subject and this view is part of the required curriculum. 

The Climate Reality project has produced some great videos. I especially liked Doubt
 

Social Security

Social Security is an outdated notion. Todays' ruling powers prefer social insecurity and favor divide and conquer tactics to retain the undue power and wealth they now exercise or aspire to.

Some people understand that Social Security program has no honorable place within budget negotiations. Most Progressive Democrats understand that too. This is the kind of information that you will never find covered by corporate media. Do you wonder why?

Presdident Dwight D Eisenhower's Cross of Iron Speech is well worth the read, even with the typos.

Ronald Reagan explained to the people that Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit. Watch it for yourself.

hang together

We shall hang together or hang separately.
New rule - if you vote against all abortion then you must adopt an unwanted child.

Looking to create the new Illuminati- here are some possible candidates

Sam Harris
Bill Maher
Thom Hartmann
Robert Reich
Michael Moore - get him to film the new narrative
Paul Krugman

STFU, Conservativescorruptpolitics
46% of Mississippi Republicans say inter-racial marriage should be illegal, to 40% who say it should be legal. I just had to save that.

I watched a Conspiracy Theory show with Jesse Ventura and it was pretty darn wild. I had to follow up on this and found Project Camelot. Aliens as time travelers seems as plausible as anything, I guess. AlienScientist thinks Dan Burisch is a fraud, so he probably is....

I also need to create my own map. Maybe you should make one too.

And here's a site I haven't seen in years, but it is a good one....Disinformation....and there are cool links within

Overwatch does seem scary and here's a forum I need to join...

Bad news is that the powers that be are allowing more media consolidation which means that an evil arm of the right that's way wrong can continue the propaganda that is polluting the American mass mind.
The good news is that there are smart and sane people like Thom who educate us about history and prudent ways to raise revenue and regulate the banksters. Here is an essay that lays out the real plan for the New World Order.

I sure would like real justice for the real culprits of 9/11. I like this site which debunks the debunkers. I'll have to check out some of thier links like the peace team.

How credible is G Edward Griffin's The Capitalist Conspiracy...there sure seems to be a lot of credible evidence....informationliberation says it has the news that the powers that be don't want us to know.