Torches and pitchforks and guillotines, oh my

Like most people, whenever I read a blog post every now and again a link will capture my fancy and I will click on it.  Most of the time, though, I take the blogger's word for whatever he/she is trying to prove/call attention to and skip it.

That being said, if there is one link you click on this entire year, click on this one.  It's a piece by Nick Hanauer, warning plutocrats of the coming shitstorm that historical levels of income inequality is brewing in America.  The difference in this piece from the usual dire warnings of French Revolution, Part II is it's written by a plutocrat--Mr. Hanauer is richfolk.

While I don't share Mr. Hanauer's unabashed love for capitalism (alas, once bitten, twice shy) or his desire to make it a bipartisan affair (never trust a republican politician), I do share his belief that unless we rebuild the middle class, eventually a whole lot of richfolk are going to end up dead.

And trust me--torches, pitchforks, and guillotines are going to seem quite quaint what with the firepower our best and brightest have developed over the past couple of centuries.

Peace,
emaycee

Nothing up my sleeve...

I'm having a real hard time getting worked up over the President's scandalous week.  Whether it's Benghazi (as President Obama said, it's brutally obvious there's no there, there), the IRS scandal (really?  these Tea Party groups are basically fronts for the filthy rich to make them richer and the rest of us poorer with the government paying for their additional wealth), or the AP scandal (any politician or reporter screaming about this, who wasn't screaming for a  vote against the Patriot Act, should be bitch slapped) it's just a lot of republican bullshit to deflect us from inconvenient facts,

Chief of which would be this:  a recent study showed that from 2009-2011 the net worth of the richest 7% of Americans increased 28%, while for the lower 93% it decreased 4%.  We're not talking we just got less of it than the ultra-wealthy--we got fucking none of it.

And what republicans would prefer that none of us know is that they have done nothing to help the lower 93% and they never will.  It would be easy to blame it on their utter incompetence in governing, but the plain truth of the matter is that they don't give a fuck about ordinary Americans--they haven't since at least Reagan was in the White House.

Sleight of hand is cute when it's Bullwinkle J. Moose, but not so much when people can't feed their families.

Peace,
emaycee

A little good news

You really have to admire the courage of the people who walked out of their jobs at Wal-Mart on one of the busiest days of the retail year, Black Friday--to fight for a better standard of living for all of their co-workers, and maybe even the poor saps at Target and Kmart who don't have it any better. Workers are little more than rabbit turds to the powers that be that run Wal-Mart (and Target and Kmart), and it takes a world of hope to fight back against such callous disregard for the welfare of one's own.

It's a lot like one man fighting a swarm of killer bees with a flyswatter, but as a wise man (Dave Edmunds) once wrote, from small things mama, big things one day come.

Peace,
emaycee

Twenty-five reasons to vote for Obama: #5--Income Inequality

Income inequality in America is the worst since 1774.  A large part of last year's Occupy Movement was to make income inequality a part of the discussion about America's future. A recent piece by Chrystia Freeland in The New York Times stresses that contrary to what the 1% believe, their unlimited wealth is itself under siege because they are killing the golden goose--history has shown that the more people that beneifit from the economy, the wealthier those at the top become, and that the reverse is true (she cites 14th century Venice as a prime example, and I'll, uh, just take her word for it).

I don't believe that if President Obama wins re-election he is going to step behind the curtain, pull a few levers, and the 99% of us who aren't fabulously wealthy are suddenly going to become so.  I do know that the President is at least talking about letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy end.  I know that as the Occupy Movement was in full swing the President was willing to acknowledge that income inequality is a threat to the future of our nation.

Compare and contrast that to republicans, who instead of trying to argue on the merits threw out lame ass sixties rhetoric about dirty hippies and made totally unsubstantiated claims about women being raped by Movement participants and defecating wherever they please.  Compare and contrast that to republicans like Mitt Romney who just wave their hand at income inequality as if it is a non-starter, that those wealthy fuckers at the top are creating job after job (all evidence to the contrary) and we need to just leave them alone and let them be.  Besides, America is a dog eat dog country, and those that don't make it...well, it's nobody's fault but their own.

Not my America.  It's about a hand up, not about a handout.  It's about when more succeed, we all succeed.  It's about looking after the least of our brothers and sisters.  It's about understanding that the more egalitarian our wealth distribution is the more it benefits us all in healthier Americans, better educated Americans, and ultimately, happier Americans.

President Obama by far and away gives us the better chance for the best outcome.

Peace,
emaycee

The third world is just around the corner

Digby had another piece today about the disconnect between the 1% and the rest of us--she suggests (to me) that it's only a matter of time before their downfall if they continue to leave the rest of us behind.  I tend to see it in starker terms:  as more and more people (espedially those who have been taught since birth of their right to have a decent economic lifestyle) are unable to feed their kids, pay heating bills, have a place to live, and watch those on the other end of the economic spectrum light cigars with hundred dollar bills, a whole hell of a lot of wealthy people are going to find their property taken from them at best, and their lives end up a morality play the rest of us teach our children ("See the rich man hanging from his chandelier kids?  That's what we do to people who are too greedy!") at worst.

One thing I will say for a Romney victory in November--it will put us just that much closer to the start of the revolution.

Peace,
emaycee

Peace, love, and dopes

A while back I was sent this online training by Move.on for the 99% Spring.  There is the call for non-violent action, training tips on how not to appear threatening, how to peacefully capture the attention of the powers that be, etc., etc.

Frankly, it's a whole hell of a lot of hogwash.

To be blunt, I had a lot of hope for the Occupy Movement, but unfortunately, it was misplaced.  The Occupy Movement is already done.  I think it's really great that here and there they are keeping folks from being foreclosed upon or that they're disrupting shareholder meetings with valid questions, but in the end, it's been about as effective as stopping a flurry of bullets by swinging a baseball bat at them.  You might get lucky and hit one or two, but in the end, you're going to lose.

The powers that be seemed to have little trouble dispatching the Occupy Movements in numerous cities.  As we're seeing right now in Wisconsin (I hope I'm wrong, but I have a feeling this movie is not going to have a happy ending--in fact, I think we're going to lose so bad that it's going to be an embarrassment of major proportions), them that has the gold makes the rules.  Last month's Liberal darling, Ilya Sherman, went down quite easily in Illinois.  This month's, Norman Saloman, is well behind in California. 

Digby noted earlier this week that we're fighting an uphill battle--the truth is, as much as we might not like it, most American just don't hold Liberal views. Don't think so?  House republicans passed a budget that cut 25% from aid for the poor to not have to cut defense spending (where we spend more than the rest of the world combined)--and the outrage, except among the usual suspects (Digby, Daily Kos, Think Progress, etc.) has been exactly where?  David Atkins posits that part of it might be that we Liberals just don't do as good of a job as consevatives of appealing to the masses' hearts.  It may be the massive amounts of money being made by the powers that be--corporations are showing record profits and CEOs have reached a point where the average worker would have to work 244 years to make what American CEOs make in one year.  That kind of money can't just buy material goods beyond the pale, but people's votes and opinions, too.  I'm sure it doesn't help that major media outlets are no longer forces for the greater good (or journalism for that matter) but businesses with managers instead of writers.   How else to explain The Detroit News and The Detroit Free Press both writing editorials within days of each other extolling the urgency of fixing Social Security now, when, even if the economy stays this bad (highly unlikely) we can pay full benefits for the next twenty fucking years.

In addition to the 99% Spring, I was also treated to this post linked by Digby as being a vital read on what should be our election strategy.  Don't get me wrong--the writer makes a lot of good points concerning stealing republican tactics like winning at the local level, taking over the Democratic Party, and being cutthroat with errant members.  In the end, though, the piece is basically an advertisement for Norman Saloman, who sounds like he would be a wonderful member of the House, but unfortunately we need about 175 more of him and about 40 more of Bernie Sanders in the Senate, and one President, to boot.  Meanwhile, in the light years it will take to accomplish this, more and more of the middle class will find the American dream farther and farther out of reach, and for the poor it will become like trying to take a flying leap and landing on the moon.

Whatever can we do?

The first thing we can do is give up on the whole "What's so Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding?" strategy.  Non-violent action worked wonderfully for Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. because there was a solid base of rational people that could be won over to counterbalance those that couldn't be.  Frankly, right now in America, Sarah fucking Palin would draw 45% of the vote for President even though she has as much business being President as Tom Thumb does of being the starting center for the Los Angeles Lakers.  And with the amount of money being tossed around on campaigns, it's not so hard to find a willing media and a few more percentage points on any issue or candidate (Willard Romney being a fine example--as brutal as he is as a candidate for the Presidency of the United States it's nothing short of amazing it's even a race).  Fuck this turning the other cheek--when we get slapped we need to respond with an elbow to their fucking teeth (or, like Sean Connery in The Untouchables, "...the Chicago way.").  Second, it's the economy, the economy, the economy--we spend far too much time gnashing our teeth over saving the planet, gay marriage, or the advantages of being a vegan.  They are all noble goals, they help keep the base together...but honestly, if it comes down to eating Elsie or putting your kids through college, which one wins?  And that comes to our last one--winning hearts.  I see all kinds of well written, fantastically logical, faultlessly researched pieces...zzzzz.  Hell, I'm a believer and I skim or completely skip so many of them because they just don't grab me--how the hell do you suppose those on the fence are going to react?

In the end, though, the only way we'll win is to go medieval on their asses.  Guillotine a few Wall Street bankers, execute a few hedge fund managers, and we'll be amazed at how quickly sharing their wealth won't seem like such a burden.  Marie Antoinette didn't go down in history as a hero for her "let them eat cake" quip.  She ended up on the wrong end of a sharp blade, and a lot of people were a lot better off for it.

Peace,
emaycee

Amateur Hour

Wow--how to do major damage to your political bona fides in just a few short minutes.  Well done, Mayor Cory Booker!  At the start of today, you were a rising star in the Democratic Party, but after appearing on Meet the Press and calling President Obama's attack ads on Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital "nauseating" you've pretty much lost the base--permanently.  You can't be a progressive on some issues and not on the ones that matter most--mainly looking after the 99%--and expect our support.  That's exactly the problem we have with the "Liberal" media.

I have no doubt you'll probably move on to bigger and better things--but today you've cost yourself a lot of money over the years (the base donates) and quite a few votes (the base shows up in huge numbers).  But even more important, you've lost their hearts.  We fight a lot harder when we believe.

Nice try on walking back those "nauseating" comments you made--when you end up as republican fodder for Willard's campaign, it's way too little, way too late.

Peace,
emaycee

The dreams of aging hippies

Digby wrote a nice piece on the anniversary of the Kent State murders, though the piece she referenced by Jesse Kornbluth is actually worth the time and gives a little more detail.

Digby notes that Kent State is a lesson that though it's often long and painful, change does happen.  In one of the few times I'll ever be more negative than she usually is, I think most of the change from that era has evaporated and I don't see it coming back anytime soon.  If the second Depression wasn't enough to swing more Americans into our corner, I don't see it happening again.  The only lesson from Kent State is that the U.S. military will always be forgiven even when they kill innocent Americans.  And maybe that Americans were as dimwitted about the powers that control us as they are now--how 58% of Americans could conclude it was the student demonstrators fault when they were a hundred yards away and retreating is beyond me.

Kornbluth makes the comment that he doesn't believe another Kent State could happen because of the revolution in technology that makes news coverage instantaneous and ubiquitous.  He's either naive or delusional.  All one needs do is read the right-leaning comments posted after his piece and one could easily imagine it happening again, especially with regard to the Occupy Movement. 

I was ten when Kent State occurred and really don't remember much about what people were saying when it happened.  One could only imagine the field day on the right if it happened again--Limbaugh, Coulter, Savage, ad nauseum. 

One great song a revolution does not make.

Peace,
emaycee

Aaaaa...oh, never fucking mind

In another piece of good news for the working men and women of American, CEOs now make 380 times the wages of their employees.  Waiting, waiting, waiting...that trickle down and jobs they're going to create any minute now...not just yet....

Yeah, right.

David Atkins had a nice piece in Hullabaloo outlining the lies being told American workers concerning their wages being competitive with those overseas, and how apparently that only applies to the little people.  He also talks about how progressive taxation is an important tactic to combat the every widening income inequality in America.

The AFL-CIO--for my money the most progressive major union in America--has started a nice website to bring this to people's attention....

Education and taxation are all well and good, but they won't put food on the table.  Fully one-sixth of Americans now live in poverty.  I see no reason to believe that number will get any lower--it's only going to grow.  What is the level of Americans in poverty at which American take up arms to feed their families?  Is is a quarter?  A third?  One-half? 

Time will tell--meanwhile, those CEOs might want to start investing in well stocked underground safe havens.  My guess is people will have even less empathy than these CEOs when they're starving....

Peace,
emaycee

You, too, can pay zero in taxes

...if you're a mulinational corporation that makes billions in profit.  As noted in Think Progress, 26 out of 30 major coporations have paid zero in taxes over the last four years.  This despite the fact that your taxes paid for the roads their products traveled on, the police and firemen that protected their plants and office complexes, the military that kept them safe from foreign threats...you get the picture.

I'll be damned if I can figure out, if as Citizen's United declared that corporations are people, why in the hell they don't pay taxes just like ordinary people.  Methinks it's probably the all too often left unsaid truth that in America there are aristocrats who are just a little more special than the little people like you and me.

It's not enough that we're forced to shop at the company store--they want us to run the fucking register and clean the place up, too.

Peace,
emaycee

Bring it on, Willard

Now that it looks as if we're pretty darn sure that just maybe old Willard has a good shot at the republican nomination for President (and yes, the media is about that non-committal, even after Santorum dropped out), it's good to see that Mr. Has The Best Chance to Beat Obama is the favored nominee of labor unions.

While I'm sure that the collapse of the economy caused by businesspeople of Mr. Romney's ilk has a lot to do with it, the Occupy Movement probably helps even more.  I mean, labor unions have to love having a poster child for the 1% to compare and contrast with the travails of the working men and women of America, now that income inequality is a viable issue.

One has to assume the Demcratic party will do its usual duck and cover routine, so it's good to know the unions, as usual, will be out there fighting for those of us doing the actual work that keeps this country running.

Peace,
emaycee

Pretty please?

So the republicans want to bring extending the Bush tax cuts to a vote before the elections in November...

...Oh, please, please, please, please, please, please do.  With income inequality in the American people's consciousness for perhaps the first time ever (thanks to the Occupy Movement), and a solid majority of Americans in favor of taxing the wealthy more than they currently are, I think the time is ripe for republicans to hand over even more money to millionaires and billionaires.

And, by extension, give the Democrats an even better shot at holding the Senate and taking back the House.

Peace,
emaycee

Home of the Brave

I have to admit that I was more than a bit skeptical as I read this piece--and I probably still am.  But...the idea of doing what I want by doing away with money has more than a bit of appeal.  Everyone according to their needs, indeed.

After nearly thirty years of killing myself for corporations, in the end I'd be no worse off financially.  And at least I'd be doing something I enjoy--a perk I'd share with 50% of my fellow Americans.

Fuck it--bring it on.  Haven't heard any ideas in a long time that are much better.

Peace,
emaycee

Billy Bummer

In 2011, corporate profits reached highs not seen since 1950.  Between 2009 and 2011, 88% of our national income growth went to corporate profits, and only 1% to wages.  In 2011, American wages increased a whopping 1.4%, while inflation rose our prices 3.2%.  With 4.2 unemployed people for every job opening, Americans are not in any kind of bargaining position these days.

Forty percent of American households are less than three months from poverty should a personal crisis arise--and I was kind of surprised it was that long.

Turns out, state tax breaks to corporations in return for jobs doesn't always work out so well.  Job creation is often minimal to non-existent, and all too often it's for poor paying jobs.  Or the corporations end up cutting jobs anyway--ask the good folks of Illinois how they feel about Sears Holding Corp. and its tax breaks....

It's not going to get better anytime soon--and while Democrats are going to be marginally better on issues concerning working Americans than republicans, it's no guarantee that their first priority will be helping the rest of us with better paying jobs.

And that's why we need to keep looking for the union label.

Peace,
emaycee

Fair and square

The utter tone deafness of the republican party and its enablers can often be mind boggling.  Witness the Detroit News regurgitating for the umpteenth time (yawn, yawn, yawn) how "fairness" can't be legislated  through our tax code.

Horseshit.

Even worse, they drum up the usual republican fearmongering about how taxing the wealthy their fair share will put a stake in the economic recovery, despite all evidence to the contrary.  Tax cuts do not stimulate the economy.  Tax cuts for the rich do not trickle down.  The greatest economic boom of many of our lifetimes--the Clinton economic expansion of the nineties--occurred after taxes were raised on the wealthy.  But the piece de resistance of the News's idiotorial is their claim (typo or outright lie, you decide!) that the Bush tax cuts in 2003 created 8 million jobs--which is truly a miracle since the record shows Bush created just three million jobs over the course of his Presidency, the worst job creation record since W.'s mentor, Herbert Hoover.  Tax cuts for the wealthy don't create jobs either.

But the one idea emanating from their idiotorial that I did really like was their idea that Willard should pounce all over Obama over his idea that millionaires should pay more in taxes.  What a sight that would be--the two hundred million dollar man with his tax shelters in the Caymans and Swiss bank accounts telling those of us who live paycheck to paycheck why he should pay less in taxes than we do.

And when we've finished laughing we can vote to re-elect Obama and go back to whining about how moderate he is.

Peace,
emaycee

Little piggies

I could probably think of a few hundred reasons why I will never vote for, or be, a republican, but Nolan Finley's commentary in last week's Detroit News is a microcosm of all those reasons.  Finley's basic assertion--that since Gov. Snyder is loathe to sign a bill that makes Michigan a right to work for a lot less state (because it's "divisive") and the republican legislature is unwilling to build a second bridge from Detroit to Canada (ostensibly because they're in the pocket of the first bridge's owner, Matty Moroun--and don't even get me started on how, if the shoe were on the other foot, Finley would be excoriating Democrats for being beholden to their special interests) the two sides should be willing to hold their noses and make a trade that will be beneficial to both.

This kind of partisan gamesmanship is repulsive on so many levels, but is specifically endemic to the republican party and its enablers.  At a time when Michigan is beyond hurting for jobs to hold jobs hostage so that working men and women can be paid less to further line the pockets of the wealthiest of the wealthy is class warfare at its ugliest and disgusting.  This isn't about disagreements over policy--this is about winning at all costs and the people be damned.  As an acquaintance of mine recently told me, "You have to be a fucking idiot to vote for a republican."

Nolan Finley is a pig who cares not a whit for Michigan or its citizens.  He is exactly what the republican party is and what it stands for--and we need to hammer this home on a national, state, and local level from now until Election Day.

Peace,
emaycee

14 days since I don't know when

Leave it to Kos to put Mitt Romney's attempt to fire up his base in its place--the only uniting of Americans that republicans want is with the ones who agree with their agenda unconditionally.  Everyone else can leave the country.

My concern, though, is what Mitt Romney meant by this:

"But you know what?  America is right, and you're wrong."

What the fuck?  Is this keeping with Mitt's "Corporations are people, my friend" remark?  Is America a person?  As far as lame retorts go, this one's right up there with "So's your old man!" and "I know I am, but what are you?"  For Christ's sake, there are over 300 million different versions of "America."

And is someone who thinks this poorly on his feet really the man we want with his finger on the trigger of the most powerful nation in the world?

Peace,
emaycee

The True Legacy

On a day when republicans tried to co-opt the hope that Martin Luther King, Jr. brought to all of us (and good luck with that--fifty some odd years on this planet and I never met a republican that wasn't at the very least a closet racist), it's important to remember that not only did  Dr. King fight for civil rights, but for labor rights as well.

Dr. King understood--as in some ways, I believe, the Occupy Movement does as well--that America could only reach its potential, could only be at its best when we all stood to gain from our labor.  When we are paid wages to ensure a decent living--food on our tables regularly, basic healthcare, a decent education for our children.  Today we see a situation similar to what Dr. King saw--only now it's not just minorities, but all of us.  The American dream is growing farther and farther out of our reach.

It would behoove President Obama as well as his Democratic allies to review Dr. King's legacy as they gear up for this year's elections.  Now, as then, this is our issue and our strength.  The future of this country as a land where even the least among us can make a decent living may very well depend upon it--God knows republicans couldn't care less if we starve or not.

Peace,
emaycee

The Omega Grub Station--An Uplifting End to 2011

Everyday on my way to work I pass dozens of small (lower case s) businesses.  The Bread Basket Deli.  Motel McGuire's.  Joe's Country Oven Restaurant.  The Hot Spot (not what you might think--sign says they offer coffee and company).  Mel's Grill.  La Bella Salon.  Dawn Donuts (which offered ice cream and lotto--some definite outside the box thinking for a doughnut shop).  Uncle Ed's Oil Shoppe.  And the tiny restaurant mentioned in the title--The Omega Grub Station.

The one thing that always amazes me (other than the fact that they've all survived the Great Recession, lest, sadly, Dawn Donuts which closed in the past couple of weeks) is the gumption it must take to start your own business.  I pass auto shops, electrical shops, and plumbing shops on my way to work, too, and while I imagine it takes a certain gumption for them as well, they're selling a skill that most of us lack (just ask us--we've tackled two minor plumbing problems since we bought our house in the fall and thoroughly botched both).  But what nerve it must take to think to yourself  "I can make coffee good enough and provide a pleasant enough atmostphere that I can make enough money to pay not only the rent on the building that houses my business, but one for a roof over my head as well."  Or to think you can make a breakfast good enough (as The Omega Grub Station's sign proclaims), that enough people will want to buy, so that the fears of failure and bankruptcy and unemployment don't overwhelm your confidence in your abilities.  Or to think you can make doughnuts so good that they will overcome the name recognition and powerful ad budgets of Dunkin' Donuts or Krispy Kreme.   What about health insurance costs?  The safety of working for a large corporation?  Like I said:  lots of gumption.

And it's a good thing, too.  Surprisingly, 99% of American businesses employ less than 500 people--and 52% of Americans work for those companies.  (There's that 1% again!)  Small business provides more opportunities for women and minorities in entry level positions.  And frankly, as I drive past these little businesses everyday I think they are the future of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

William Deresiewicz ran a piece in The New York Times a couple months back that has stayed with me concerning the millenials, those born from the late 1970s through the 1990s.  He calls them Generation Sell, but sees in their desire to run and create businesses that offer real value and transformative products a starting point for the 99%.  In the end, despite conservative misreading of the Occupy movement (and what a surprise that was), isn't that what the fuss was all about?  Businesses that are about people--both customers and employees--as much as profits?  Businesses that bring about all of our better selves?

From Isaiah 11:6:  "Wolves will live with lambs. Leopards will lie down with goats. Calves, young lions, and year-old lambs will be together, and little children will lead them."

The future is in the rearview mirror and gaining on us...and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy 2012!

Peace,
emaycee

A Dyslexic Heart

This is about as disheartening of a poll as I've read in quite some time--64% of Americans think Big Government is a major threat to the future of America, while only 26% think Big Business is.  A mere 8% think Big Labor is a major threat (thank heavens for small miracles).

You have to wonder if there is any hope for the poor and the middle class in America at all.  If after Enron, MCI, Lehmann Brothers, the Wall Street meltdown, Citizen's United, ad nauseum, which resulted in millions of jobs lost and an ever decreasing standard of living for 99% of us didn't make us question the motives of Big Business, maybe nothing ever will.

I've said it before:  Big Government may oftentimes be inept, but Big Business is vrtually always evil.  And when mortals dance with the devil, eventually Mr. Lucifer will get the better of them.

Peace,
emaycee