Posts Tagged ‘corporate welfare’

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Nevada’s New Governor, Foolish as the Last

Monday, January 24th, 2011

Nevada’s New Governor, Foolish as the Last
by
Dave Speck

I just got this in my email from Steven Horsford. It’s a reasonably sane interpretation of Nevada’s disaster of a Governor. Is Nevada flushing down the toilet any hope of saving Nevada from becoming a third-world state?

There are some aspects of the governor’s speech tonight with which I agree: We must work together to pass a balanced budget. We must focus on economic development and put Nevadans back to work.

But tonight Governor Sandoval offered a budget that would gut public education – and our kids’ futures as a result. It would cut our school budgets by more than 14 percent. It would slash colleges by nearly 30 percent.

  • This means laying off literally thousands of teachers and closing entire college campuses.  Worse yet, he proposes to cut our children’s teachers’ pay by more than 10 percent.  That’s just wrong.
  • It means putting our children in classes of 40 students.
  • It means eliminating sports and music, and ending gifted and talented programs.
  • It means we cannot afford real reform to our schools or come even close to a tolerable level of funding for higher education – the engine of a new economy.

In short, this budget would dismantle public education.

I will not accept a budget plan that extinguishes all hope for a new Nevada built on better schools.

I will be looking for the best ideas among my colleagues here at the Legislature – Republicans and Democrats – to produce a balanced budget that leads us forward, not backwards.

This process starts tomorrow morning at 8:30 when we begin our budget hearings. I URGE YOU TO GET INVOLVED BY CONTACTING THE GOVERNOR AND YOUR LEGISLATORS IN THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY IMMEDIATELY.

The future of Nevada depends on you.

Thank you.

Steven

It’s looking pretty bleak, there, Nevada!

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Economy Still Stumbling

Sunday, January 23rd, 2011

Economy Still Stumbling [Updated]
by
David Schlecht

Unemployment in many states is still on the rise. We saw a short glimmer of hope over the holiday season but now we’re back to further and further declines in the economy.

The stock market is improving though, but so what? The stock market doesn’t provide jobs for Americans. In fact, it’s time we quit considering the stock market when remarking on the state of America’s economy. For Americans the things that mean anything when considering the country’s economy is jobs, pay, benefits, and pensions. Also included in evaluating the economy is the state of our social safety net, not the stock market.

All these things affect the economy of Americans. The stock market does not. I know, I know, there many people (one hundredth of of one percent of Americans) who actually make any reasonable money off the stock market but that in no way reflects the state of America’s economy.

This simple difference explains why we haven’t dug ourselves out of the Bush years yet. We’re putting our resources and attention in the wrong things. Did we learn nothing during the last Great Depression? The conservatives are telling us that it was the second world war that got us out of the last Great Depression. Well, now we’re in two and a half wars. Our economy should be the best it’s ever been, right? Well, no, not really. Wars don’t cure depressions. Job do. The stock market doesn’t cure depressions, jobs and benefits and pay do. So when are we going to start addressing these problems?

Want to fix the economy? Here’s how:

  1. Stop with the tax give-aways to the billionaires and multi-national corporations. Put taxes back where they were before Reagan began the destruction of our economy,
  2. Increase the minimum wage to a living wage and keep it there,
  3. Require all major corporations and all multi-national corporations provide substantial pensions to all workers, full time and part time,
  4. Stop the Social Security tax give-away for billionaires. Expect billionaires to pay the same percentage of tax for Social Security that you and I do,
  5. Temporarily create government jobs for Americans (no tax dollars spent on non-American incentives, you know, the bill the Republicans opposed), and
  6. Fix our broken trade policies, get out of NAFTA, GAT, WTO, and all the rest of the trade agreements that are destroying our manufacturing jobs. In other words, protect American jobs.

The nice thing is these don’t have to be done all at once but the more that we enact, the faster our economy will improve.

Now if you see these points brought up over and over in the blogisphere, they must not be rocket science, so why hasn’t our government thought of them? They have, but the big businesses controlling both parties are preventing us from stopping the rape and pillage of America’s economy. Remember, someone is making out like bandits while the rest of us suffer, and those bandits donate to make and break our politicians.

Get involved! Get active. Participate on our political process. Run for the local dog catcher or school board. That does make a difference.

[Update: ] Check out this post at Open Left for an good example of what the economy really means.

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Posted in Finance, Politics | 2 Comments »

A Good Economy

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

A Good Economy
MatthewK

By now most people have realized that when the press reports that the economy is strong or getting better, it mean nothing to them. The working conditions or unemployment problems for the average American are not reflected in the reports on the economy. Why is this?

The answer is simple. The media does not report on the state of labor in this country. The most you will see the press report on is the unemployment rate and doesn’t even care to investigate the real numbers.

So, why is the state of the economy so different than the state of labor? The GDP, or the amount of product produced, used to closely track the income levels. In other words, as we made more in America, both the workers and the rich got richer. Over the past 30 years this has changed. Now the workers pay goes down as the rich get richer.

That is why you will often see the stock market go up as the unemployment rates go up. The more they can squeeze the worker, the more the companies are worth, at least short term.

Of course, when the stock markets go down, wages usually go down as well, so the American worker never gets a break.

What’s the solution?

Germany has a wonderful solution. We should investigate it, but you will never hear about it in our news. In Germany, half of all board members in a corporation must be representatives of the workers. Sounds reasonable doesn’t it? After all, the corporation would be  nothing without the workers. Shouldn’t they have some say in how things are run?

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Posted in Finance, General | 2 Comments »

The War on America’s Middle Class

Sunday, September 26th, 2010

The War on America’s Middle Class
by
David Schlecht

There is an interesting article circulating the Web showing numerous indicators of how America’s middle class is being destroyed. Here are just a few examples:

  • 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.
  • 61 percent of Americans “always or usually” live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
  • Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.
  • Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
  • In 1950, the ratio of the average executive’s paycheck to the average worker’s paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.
  • As of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.
  • The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
  • Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.
  • In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.
  • The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America’s corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.
  • In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.

What policies have caused this mess? One party is hell bent on reducing government (in other words, removing regulations on greedy business). One party wants more tax breaks for the rich. One party is screaming to reduce and remove tax dollars spent on the middle and lower class while voting for more subsidies for the international corporations. Both parties are afraid to protect American industries.

I know, I know, it’s not a party issue, it’s a policy issue. But who is voting for America and who is voting against America and for the multi-national corporations?

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Posted in Politics | 3 Comments »

For Want of a Nail

Friday, August 20th, 2010

For Want of a Nail
by
David Schlecht

For want of a nail the shoe was lost
For want of a shoe the horse was lost
For want of a horse the rider was lost
For want of a rider the  battle was lost
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost
All for the want of a nail.

Have you been to the DMV lately? How long did you spend there? Do you realize that for little more than a $1.25 annually in taxes you could have more offices and shorter waits? But, no, the conservatives have convinced us that we want lower and lower taxes.

So where does this mad race to the bottom end? When we have the cheapest government money can buy? Hello Somalia.

Are we getting to be such cheapskates that we don’t want to pay the price of a nail and will let the kingdom fall? We will gripe and complain about having to spend hours in line at the DMV but will complain even louder about having to pay an additional $1.25 to build more offices.

When will America wake up and realize the conservative ways are not in America’s best interests? Hacking away at our social safety net while giving the billionaires a free ride doesn’t help anyone but the rich. Stripping  our government oversight agencies are giving the billionaire foreign corporations a free ride while we Americans pay for their pollution and illnesses. We feel worse and worse about ourselves as we let the poor, elderly, and sick suffer.

But, still we let the media (representing the rich) get us riled up about considerably less important things like where they’re building a mosque or whether there’s an illegal alien having a baby while hundreds of millions of our jobs are shipped over seas. As long as we’re distracted the billionaires get richer and we get poorer.

When will it end? Will we let the kingdom fall for the want of a nail or will we wake up from this media-induced coma  and start refusing the failed conservative policies?

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Posted in Politics | 6 Comments »

How Big Should Your Government Be?

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

How Big Should Your Government Be?
by
David Schlecht

The republicans and the libertarians are mindlessly chanting for smaller and smaller government. In order to decide how much smaller our government should be, we need to decide how big is big enough and how small is too small.

Those who are incapable of thinking about the facts or are unwilling to admit the facts would argue that no government at all is the best target, well, maybe no government except the military. These same people will refuse to even let you talk when you explain that the military consumes the vast majority of our government. We spend more than 50% of our national tax dollars on military, not to mention the silly little pet projects like Iraq and Afghanistan that aren’t even included in the total.

If you add in all the local police, county police, state police, and state military reserves, it come up to way over 50%.

So for these unthinking zombies, they want to cut out the little things but leave the nanny state (military) untouched. Not too bright, huh?

How much military is too much? Face it! The bigger the military becomes, the more protection we need because the more of the world hates us because we’re so violent and militaristic. Personally, I’d like to see us reduce our military expenditures to no more than the international average.

Beside military, how big should the rest of our government be?

Should We The People ever be weaker than the strongest and richest corporations in America? Of course not. If a business gets stronger than our government, they become the government. The only protection we have from big business is government, is We The People.

The best way to reduce the size of the non-military government is to reduce the control business and aristocracies have in our country. We need to start enforcing our laws against monopolies. That would be a good start. We need to re-enact the taxes that were implemented to stop the landed gentry from becoming stronger than our country.

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Massey Mine Murder

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Massey Mine Murder
by
Captain Jack

So, what does the Massey Mine disaster tell us about the need for unions? Are you still believing the corporate marketing on how bad unions are for America? Would this have happened if it was a union mine?

Was this willful neglect on the part of the mine. Should this be tried as murder? Over 3.000 violations. This is the mine’s standard mode of operation. It’s cheaper to pay the fines than to protect the workers.

Should Massey Mine CEO be tried for murder?

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Posted in Politics | 16 Comments »

Is it Revolution Time Yet?

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Is it Revolution Time Yet?
by
David Schlecht

No, I’m not talking about a violent revolution. But is it time for another American revolution?

The American colonists were in almost the same position we find ourselves in today. We have a foreign government controlling and taxing our people that is unresponsive to us. Why do I say foreign? Most of the corporations that control our government today are multi-national corporations. The original Tea Party was a revolt against unfair corporate control, mainly the Honorable East India Trading Company.

If not us, then who, if not now, then when? Well, look around the world and see what people revolt against their governments. Note that it is not the destitute and down-trodden. If we wait till it gets to that point, it will never happen. Revolution happens when the middle class loses faith in the government and it happens BEFORE they’re all poor.

The current tea-baggers have the right idea but they’ve been taken over by the very corporations that are the root of the problem. Today’s tea-baggers are only so very anxious and happy to force through legislation that hurts them and helps the corporations. Just look at tort reform as a very obvious example. This reform only helps the corporations and hurts the people they destroy.

Is it time for a peaceful revolution? It sure seem to look that way. Enough corporate welfare.

Should national and international corporations have the right to spend as much money as they like to influence elections?

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Posted in Politics | 9 Comments »

Selling America to the Highest Bidder

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Selling America to the Highest Bidder
by
David Schlecht

A letter to my readers…

Dear Friends,

If you’ve been paying attention to the news today, you have heard about the horrific ruling by the Supreme Court. With this ruling, they have perpetrated the greatest attack on our country that we have witnessed in our lifetimes. With this ruling, corporations (including international corporations) have the right to buy our political races and nothing will stand in their way.

Take as an example, the 2008 presidential elections. Between the two leading candidates, they spent $1.1 billion in advertising, and that’s a record expenditure.  Divide that by a four year term and it’s about $270 million per year.

This year, the bankers on Wall Street received over $30 billion in bonuses alone, not including regular income. This means they could spend just one tenth of one year’s bonus and completely drown out everything all other candidates can say. This is not free speech. This is selling our country down the toilet to the richest and most ruthless and most unethical buyers. Just think what the oil companies will do. Three billion dollars in deceptive campaign marketing and they can realize hundreds of billions in subsidies. There’s no better return on investment than buying a politician or two.

If you think business has too much control over our government now, just wait and see what this brings.

This is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue or a conservative issue or a liberal issue, it’s an American issue. The only way we can repeal this is if we work together.

I signed this petition and encourage everyone to do the same and then to forward this message off to everyone you know.

It’s not too late but it soon will be. You and I are the only hope America has of surviving this attack.

-David

This morning, I watched five Supreme Court Justices stab at the heart of democracy, our electoral system.

They overturned over 100 years of statute and precedent, and declared that corporations can spend all the money that they want to buy elections. In fact, these five men in robes declared that they have a constitutional right to do so.

I was there. I saw it. And one seat away was Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who could barely contain his glee.

If you signed our petition, you were there, too. Right in the courtroom. Because your petitions were with me, and I delivered them to the Supreme Court. If you signed our petition, you were one of almost 15,000 people who told these judges that “we cannot have a government that is bought and paid for by huge multinational corporations.”

And now, we have to fight. We have introduced six bills to prevent the sale of our government to the highest bidder. The “Save Our Democracy” package must pass. As Lincoln said in his first inaugural address, the war is forced upon us. And if we fail, then as I said yesterday, “you can kiss your country goodbye.”

Forward this message to your friends now. Tell them to sign the petition at SaveDemocracy.net to support the “Save Our Democracy” package now.

Regards,

Alan Grayson
Member of Congress

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Posted in Politics | 12 Comments »

Shrinking Tax Dollars

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

Shrinking Tax Dollars
by
Captain Jack

Expanding on David’s great post about Welfare for the Rich, I see services in our state shrinking and drying up. Snow plows are just one of numerous examples. Our entire country has been seeing infrastructure crumbling around us which is a direct result of lower tax revenues caused by tax breaks for the billionaires. Reagan’s and Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy are destroying our once-great country.

And, that was before the Bush recession.

Now that we’re suffering further reduction in tax revenue, the services we are paying for with yours and my tax dollars are shrinking. We’re getting less for our money. But, your taxes aren’t going down and neither are mine. So all you smart readers out there are probably wondering where your tax dollars are going since your services are being curtailed.

We’re seeing services stripped for the middle class and the needy but the services for the wealthy are still being provided, now, out of our tax dollars. That means there’s less left over to provide services to the real tax payers.

It is time to start expecting the wealthy to start paying their fair share.

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Posted in Finance, Politics | 1 Comment »

More Examples of Welfare for the Rich

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

More Examples of Welfare for the Rich
by
David Schlecht

This week I’ve seen a scenario played out in Nevada that I’m sure most Americans will recognize in their their own neighborhoods. In Nevada, we’ve had a week of cold and snow, the same cold and snow affecting most of the country about now. So what have we noticed during this weather?

In Nevada, the ability of the towns to clear the snow has been greatly diminished, mostly because of budget cuts. Many of the businesses are paying fewer taxes and the rich have been paying fewer taxes for 30 years now, and the tax revenues are drying up, so the civic services, like snow removal, are greatly reduced. But, who is getting the services and who is not? Look around your town and you will notice what I see here in Nevada.

The businesses get plowed first, followed by the wealthy neigborhoods. And, if at all, the middle class and lower class neighborhoods get plowed last. Is this because businesses and the rich pay a higher percentage tax than the real Americans? Of course, not, they’re paying considerably less. Corporations now pay less than 7% of the country’s tax burden. Who pays the rest? You and I do. The Rich have seen insane tax breaks over the last 30 years, down form 92% to as low as 15% in most cases.

How much do you pay? 25%? 30%? 35%? Include your income tax and your property tax and your sales taxes and you can bet you’re paying a higher percentage than the corporations or the rich. So, aren’t you glad that your neighborhoods aren’t getting plowed but theirs are?

Isn’t it time to start getting enraged by this theft? Isn’t it time to say enough?

The Tea-Baggers have it right. Something stinks in America and we have to get motivated to get it fixed. Unfortunately for the Tea-Baggers, though, nobody is telling them that it’s the rich that are stealing their money so they think it’s the Mexicans or the Liberals or the illegal aliens to blame. But, eventually they will realize, and we all need ot be ready to stand beside them and demand that this mess get fixed. Or better yet, it’s time we stood up ourselves and let the Tea-Baggers join us. Get motivated!

NO MORE WELFARE FOR THE WEALTHY!

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