And the beat goes on
 

- Huffington Post

The next fight shaping up in Corporate Congress is the extension of the Social Security payroll tax cut. As usual, Republicans are standing up for the oppressed members of our society – the wealthy millionaires and billionaires who have been enjoying tax breaks every since the W. administration.

What amuses me is the double speak that legislators are employing to describe the rich. Everyone who is a millionaire has suddenly become either a “producer” or a “job creator.” If taxes on them are increased, they will all flee to Bangladesh or some other third world country, taking their jobs with them. Why am I having a feeling of déjà vu all over again? Maybe because I just pulled a couple of items at random from my closet to check where they were manufactured. Nicaragua and Hong Kong. Hmmmmm…

As for the “producer” thing, just what have the wealthy produced since they got their tax cuts 10 years ago? Well, they used that extra money to jump into the artificial housing boom, buying bundles of toxic financial instruments and other Wall Street concoctions, thereby creating even more wealth for themselves by the millions and billions of dollars.

So, the producers helped produce the Great Banking and Financial Melt Down of 2008, forcing tax payers to pay millions in bail out money and throwing the country into the Great Recession with unemployment rates still hovering around 9% today.

You’d think these “producers” would take the responsibility of rectifying their former bad behavior by helping out their fellow citizens by paying more in taxes t help us get out of the mess these millionaire producers have caused. Ha Ha Ha! NOT!

Frankly, I'm afraid to see what the producers will produce next.

Not much different than Obama using "teachers, firemen, policemen" ad nauseum, or "Millionaires and Billionaires" and "Owners of Airplane manufacturing complanies" when he really is talking about anyone who makes more than 200K a year, middle class in many large cities in the US.... When he starts attacking rich lawyers and the uber rich in Hollywood he might gain a gram of credibility.

I'll buy that.
Isn't that exactly what you say he's doing above?

This is such a joke. Right now US Corporations are sitting on hundreds of billions in cash. Why aren't they using it to buy equipment and hire more people? One valid reason, there's no increase in market demand, it's just good business sense.

OK, that begs the question, why is there no increase market demand? Easy answer... "it's the economy, stupid". Expanding on that, there are too many people out of work, too many people working but making less than they were 10 years ago, too many people with less buying power than they had 20 years ago.

Seems like a vicious circle, doesn't it? How do we fix it?

I'm really pissed off how the "1%", and big corporations, have corrupted our government. But honestly, that's not the cause of our demise. I've often bitched that the rich only care about money, and don't give a shit about the country. I still believe that, but the bigger problem is YOU, walmart shoppers.

Blue Light Special! Aisle 3! Don't miss out on a chance to buy some Chinese stuff, saving 39 cents and fucking your country. Hurry hurry hurry!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. You couldn't possibly make ends meet without buying the cheapest crap you can find. You couldn't possibly get by with less crap. Plus you'll need those savings to replace it in a few months, because it was made cheap so it can't be repaired.

OK, I'm a dinosaur, a retiree. My "contributing" span was from 1964 through 2009, although I worked part time/paid taxes, for 10 years before that and still pay plenty of taxes. During that 45 year span and from WW II up until then, the economy had ups and downs but there was usually work at a living wage, mostly thanks to the unions.

Oh noes, not those terrible unions that sucked the profits from the benevolent bosses. Yeah those unions, warts and all, that practically created the middle class consumer base which allowed the bosses and the country to prosper.

Nope, technology, high or not, will not save us. Coming up with a brilliant innovation doesn't put people to work... except offshore. Even if the inventor manages to collect a small portion of the royalties due, that makes one more rich person... big whoop for him, his creditors and his gardener, but that doesn't help the millions of unemployed.

Of course I've heard how you, or your cousin's neighbor, became rich by clawing to the top through hard work and sacrifice. Kudos. But it's only possible to do that when you are living in a stable manufacturing/consumer society. Now that we, as a society, only care about me me me, more more more, we've screwed up that stability and ourselves.

By rallying around the extreme left and right political poles, fighting each other, we're distracted from the real problem. Yes, there are welfare cheats. Yes, there are billionaire tax cheats. But they are both peanuts compared to our real problems. Remember the enemy is us.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to drag this soap box to recycling. bump... scrape... screech...

Not at all, because he is singling out a few big businesses but refuses to attack those uber rich that support him, even if he is de facto including them through his broad generalization.

OK. Yes, stumping speeches are tailored to the audience. Instead of referring to the bogeymen, they point out the ones the crowd are familiar with.

The Huffpost says;
Certainly not all legislators are doing that, so it should have been a little more specific. But I think Huffpost is right about the "job creator" bullshit, as I pointed out in my last post.

Agreed. I hear more of it coming from Obama rather than anyone else. I have so far refused to watch any of the Republickin debates. It matters not till more drop out of the race. They are all pandering to their respective base.

orly?

You're going to let other people tell you who to vote for? That doesn't really sound like a good idea. I mean, since you clearly will vote against President Obama, assuming you vote at all, you're willing to let other people decide who you vote for? You've no stake in the Republican primary contest? Anybody, just so long as it isn't President Obama? Like... Hillary Clinton? Barney the Dinosaur? John Huntsman?

@ Bruce ... THAT type of post from you has been sorely missed.
Not discounting all your others, but I love the way you put some things out there.

@Merc - "I hear more of it coming from Obama rather than anyone else."
I call BS on this one. I hear it FAR MORE from the R's than I do anyone else.
Its a real turnoff to voters outside their closed minded base as well.
My filter for that which they have to say is peaking out to the point where
I almost cannot hear them at all anymore. Their message has been "not him" so much more than "me because" ...
I'm really sick of it - from both sides, but far more the R's than the D's.

The R's have created a problem for themselves. This presidential campaign that started way too early has already created too much irrelevant press. Given to much credence to people who are big on image and little on basic leadership. It has created too much coverage for the R's and too much attention to their fissures.

It has done a disserve to their image. Especially when the resulting soundbyte is not very becoming. “Anyone but Romney”.

Thats the way it always is for he party not in power. It just happens that this time its the R's.
And which of the current crop does NOT fit into this, in your opinion.

ftfy

That soap box gets heavy.;)

Then leave it out!

That's NOT what she said. :lol:

:D

Bruce, its wonderful to read one of your posts again. As always, your thoughts are much appreciated.

I would like to address the Wall Mart issue you raised. Wall Mart has the nasty habit of moving into smaller communities and driving the small business man out of business. I agree that the members of the community should never have supported Wally World in the first place, but they did, and here we are. In my town Wall Mart got rid of Main Street so fast, it made your head spin.

People who live here have the choice of shopping at Wall Mart or the Dollar Store. We do have one independent hardware store remaining and I try to support them, but they don't carry all the items that Wall Mart does. The only other alternative people in this area have is driving 75 miles to the nearest town of any size or shopping via the Internet.

I try my hardest to buy items made in the US. I just purchased via the Internet a pair of clogs made by Merrill which I thought was a true blue American outfit. Wrong! My clogs were made in China. I notice that both catalogs and the Internet have a way of not telling you where something is manufactured. I would love to hear of a laptop computer made in the USA. I'm in the market for one and have been researching them on the Net - none seem to be American made.

Just to set the record straight, I was the one who said that - not the Huffpost. And thank-you. ;)

My bad, sorry.

I tried to use wallmart generically by referring to the blue light special which I think is Kmart. Of course wallmart took the evil to a whole new level, but they would not have been successful without the cooperation of the sheeple that haven't a clue how, or how much, they're getting fucked.

Unfortunately, we've slid the slippery slope so far, even the people that loathe wallmart with every fiber of their being, have lost most of their options.
The bigger problem is the majority still haven't a clue, and now walmart has the money to change legislation to reinforce their choke hold on America.

We as a nation may have lost, and even if not, my actions don't amount to diddly squat. But as a matter of personal pride, I'll never surrender.

What? Have you secretly been a spammer for Token all this time? :lol:

just as monocultures in agriculture are especially vulnerable to catastrophic failure, vastly more exposed to such failures than polycultures that have more diversity, including more options for resistance to a "fatal single bullet", monocultures in economics are just as vulnerable.

They aggregate power and capital to themselves, which is great for the shareholders, I suppose, but they're still vulnerable and when they fail, they fail big. Being maximally efficient in every possible way is not always best. One man's superfluity and excess is another man's crumple zone. One man's duplication of effort is another man's redundancy and backup. Buying local has numerous advantages, not the least of which is helping to keep your neighbor, who may well be your customer as well as your vendor, solvent enough to stay in business, and keep you in business.

This weekend I went shopping with my BD and told her these things. She's very sharp, but still feels she can't "afford" the extra cents to shop locally instead of the big box stores. This is primarily because she's not been informed about the complete costs for the slightly cheaper retail price for the widget she's buying.

Nope, but I can damm sure tell you who I am not going to vote for and there are a whole lot of us out here who are going to do the same....

Meaning, you'll vote in the primaries?

We've long since established your antipathy toward President Obama and your expressed desire to vote him out of office. I get it. My point is that you also make a very big deal about caring nothing for the process to decide who it is that faces President Obama in the general election. Abdicating your responsibility in the primary is tantamount to letting other choose who you'll vote for.

You're letting others pick your vote for you.

Or, if I'm wrong, tell me now who you want to vote for, not just who you'll vote against.

Why should I tell you anything? :lol2:

You shouldn't. You should just shut the fuck up. Really? What are you, twelve?

I'm just going to continue to evaluate you on what you say. If you say nothing, then that's the impact you'll have. Whatever.

Why is that so important to you? What is with all the name calling? Just because I choose not to answer your question you have the right and power to say that my statements will have "no impact"? Really? You are the judge?

And the beat goes on

Yes. If you do not answer, your statements, the lack of a statement has "no impact". But you don't have no statement, you dance and dodge, you say with great emphasis what you're against, but not what you're for. No Obama. Got it. No Democrats and No Republicans. Ok. In a way, you have already answered the original question, who will you vote for. You've made it clear you'll vote for whoever opposes President Obama in the general election next November. I was asking you to be more specific, you demurred.

How in the world do you expect to have an impact, here in the cellar, if you don't make a statement? Yes, I have the right and the power to say that your silence has no impact. I am the judge.

And name calling? You're accusing me of name calling? Do you mean "twelve"? "shut the fuck up"? What's with it? I'm responding to you, in kind. You asked why you should tell me anything after I asked you to do so--fine, I agreed with you (that didn't work either). An exchange like that is the kind of thing I'd expect to have with a petulant twelve year old.

Best question: Why is it so important to me?

I am interested in learning, mercy. I like knowing more stuff. You have a very different perspective than I do, most especially when it comes to politics. Learning about that difference interests me. How else am I supposed to learn and grow if I only pay attention to the stuff I already know about? And another thing, I like you. I know a bit about you after hanging out with you for years, and I think you're a good guy. We don't see eye to eye on everything, but I am interested in you. Now you might not want to reveal your voting preference, fine, whatever. Just another of life's mysteries to me. But I still read your posts because learning is important to me.

Say who? You? I don't care what you think about my thoughts.

So what? I can say what ever I wish, just as you.

Ok, well you have that much right.

I chose not to answer, you resulted for the second time to name calling.

Often no statement is a statement. You don't have to accept that. It is not important to me if you do or do not do so.

In your own narcissistic mind.

Again, not important to me. Just calling you out as you have tried to call me out in the past and then resulted to the same thing. Eh, not really all that important, like your opinions.

Great. I would applaude you and encourage you to continue on your path of self exploration. Well done.

If that is true, you have a really funny way of showing it. I have lost a lot of trust in your approach to me. But that should not be important to you.

Do you? Not until we sit down for a few nights over your choice of poison.

Great. Stay tuned. Right now I am not feeling your love and have not felt it in many months. Peace. Out.

:lol2:

Just the Pot calling the Kettle ~~~~> Black. Don't call me out on it and then turn around and do the same to me.

When the shit splatters it will get on everyone in close proximity. Ducking will not help.

... ... ... and the beat goes on

If we could have a cease fire on the name calling for a moment – think Spirit of Christmas, people – events in corporate congress are turning out just as predicted by the Huff Post:

Link

Again with the “job creators” thing. It IS time to "stop the nonsense." Why do we continue to let Boehner and the rest of the corporate sycophants get away with this blatant misnomer? The rich are not and have not been creating jobs in the US for quite a while now. Why do people continue to pretend that they do? How many are simply ignorant and how many Congressmen are simply paid off? :mad:

Frankly, I agree with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's proposal that the Senate continue with its holiday recess as planned and leave House Republicans to stew in their own venom.

C'mon. This bill was designed to fail by Harry Reid.
Why in hell would they need to do this again in 8 weeks?
Obama wanted a 1 year deal. Congress wanted a 1 year deal.
EVERYONE wanted a 1 year deal... Out of all that "negotiating, they come up with an 8 or 9 week plan? Spare me. This is political posturing by BOTH SIDES and in this case primarily the D's.
None of these fucks give a rats ass about us. They are all the 1% you so often scream about Sam.

I scream, you scream, we ALL scream... Oh, never mind. The Senate achieved a bi-partisan agreement. The tea baggers in the House are ignorant of the terms "compromise" or "bi-partisan." They offer only obstructionism and make no effort to come up with viable solutions. I agree that both parties are in the thrall of corporate America, its just that Boehner and Co. don't even make a pretense of being on the side of the American people, and we don't even call them on it.

Eventually, no one will play with (work with) the bully, the one who continually tries to get their way by bluffing. None of these idiots are accomplishing anything constructive for this country. Don't they realize that? Don't they know that they will be up for re-election at some point?

I'm appalled by the state of our government. All of it.

And I will be expressing this sentiment at the poll booths next year.

Thats the problem. We have to vote for someone and the options ALL suck.

Indeed. What the occupy movement need to do is occupy the ballot paper. Register, nominate, campiagn,and then ordinary folks vote for them.

Politics is and will be a shitty job. It will be even worse because if the current parties grasp that a movement like this is underway, they will throw any amount of mud (and everything else) to stop it. But if ordinary folks don't step up and take it on, it will be left to professional politicians, i.e. status quo.

I have been known to blanket the Colorado State Legislature with mass e-mailings when I get upset enough over its antics. State legislatures are much more responsive than those in D.C., needless to say, and I actually get replies. I was able to start up a dialog with a couple of Colorado Legislatures, talked on the phone with them, etc. One was on the Republican side of the aisle and the other was on the Democratic side. I liked and respected them both very much. I even told the Republican guy that if he ever decided to run for higher office, he had my vote. :eek:

Unfortunately, both these men ultimately decided to drop out of politics. One told me, "The entire system got me completely fed up. The word from above would come down and we were all expected to vote the party line, rather than for what was best for the people of Colorado. I am so disgusted with party politics that when this current session lets out, I'm going to go camp in the mountains for a month and wash my hands of the entire business."

If that's the response of honorable people - just on the State level - what hope can there be to get people with integrity into Washington, DC? Its very discouraging. :(