Corporations do not see Fascism as an end game or some ideological principle, but rather as a convenient and profitable delivery system in order to bolster profits for their stockholders. Corporations are not in business to create jobs, become the altruistic benefactor of society, care for the working class, but only to make money for their investors by any means that they can legally achieve, and in some cases illegally without regard to the health and safety of the consumer or the environment. In the following article I will detail egregious examples of how many of our major corporations have partnered up with dictators, despots, and people who we deem to be a threat to our nation.
There has been a continuing trend, since the Reagan years for all branches of government to favor the corporation and financial sectors over the benefits of the purchasing public. The latest decision by a Supreme Court that has been packed by corporate shills such as Roberts, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and sometimes Kennedy, who ruled that corporations had the equivalent of “Personhood”, was not the intention of the Founding Fathers, nor does this decision inure to the benefit of an open and working democracy. We are seeing corporate favoritism in deference to the benefits of the mass electorate when it comes to consumer protections, stewardship of the environment, and tax payer paid corporate socialism when corporations fail, but free market capitalism when they make money.
My objective is not to malign corporations as a final objective, but rather to bring to the attention of the public that a corporation is like a venomous snake or killer shark that should be watched closely and regulated with reasonable boundaries so that it causes little harm to the public. Corporations should not be allowed to merge and become so big that their financial failure would cause a major disaster to our economy. Snakes, sharks, and corporations perform a useful purpose in society and should not be exterminated, but reasonably contained and regulated.
Corporations, bankers, and even labor unions form favored alliances that do not always benefit the public, with government that we characterize as “Crony Capitalism”. Wars, defense networks, and even the welfare state create a means to transfer tax payer dollars, not necessarily at will, but many times through fear and threats into hands of the corporate denizens. The populace many times will cry out in frustrated reaction to government legislation by demonizing politicians with the word Socialist, Marxist, Communist, or even Fascist many times not really understanding the true definition of the concept or ideology. As with all government stakeholder projects, they were not done by the government, they were done by private companies with funding from the government. This is one crucial difference between fascist economies and socialist economies. In a fascist economy public taxation is used to funnel money to private corporations through the government, whereas in a socialist economy like that of the Soviet Union there is no taxation and industry itself is run by the government for profit.
Corporations have no or little commitment to ideology, patriotism, nationalism, or humanity; they move their capital, hire and fire workers in any country that can maximize their bottom line. As a public relations gesture in order to make their products, services, or branding appear positive and attractive, they will emphasize a few gratuitous positive gestures as a means to gain increased market share.
Some of the primary and more famous American companies and individuals that were involved with the Fascist regimes of Europe are: William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Kennedy (JFK's father), Charles Lindbergh, John Rockefeller, Andrew Mellon (head of Alcoa, banker, and Secretary of Treasury), DuPont, General Motors, Standard Oil (now Exxon), Ford, ITT, Allen Dulles (later head of the CIA), Prescott Bush, National City Bank, Coca-Cola, and General Electric.
I.G. Farben was critical in the development of the German economy and war machine leading up to WWII. During this time I.G. Farben's international holdings along with its international business contracts with companies like Standard Oil, DuPont, Alcoa, and Dow Chemical were crucial in supplying the Nazi regime with the materials needed for war, as well as financial support.
Ford and GM supplied European Fascists with trucks and equipment, as well as investing money in I.G. Farben plants. Standard Oil supplied the fascists with fuel. US Steel and Alcoa supplied them with critically needed metals. American banks gave them billions of dollars worth of loans. American banks and businesses continued to support the Fascist regimes of Europe legally up until the day Germany declared war on America and the activities were stopped under the Trading with the Enemy Act. Despite this, some companies and individuals still maintained a business relationship with the Third Reich.
In Germany, for example, General Motors and Ford became an integral part of the Nazi war efforts. GM's plants in Germany built thousands of bomber and jet fighter propulsion systems for the Luftwaffe at the same time that its American plants produced aircraft engines for the U.S. Army Air Corps....
Ford was also active in Nazi Germany's prewar preparations. In 1938, for instance, it opened a truck assembly plant in Berlin whose "real purpose," according to U.S. Army Intelligence, was producing "troop transport-type" vehicles for the Wehrmacht. That year Ford's chief executive received the Nazi German Eagle (first class)....
After the cessation of hostilities, GM and Ford demanded reparations from the U.S. Government for wartime damages sustained by their Axis facilities as a result of Allied bombing... Ford received a little less than $1 million, primarily as a result of damages sustained by its military truck complex at Cologne...
Due to their multinational dominance of motor vehicle production, GM and Ford became principal suppliers for the forces of fascism as well as for the forces of democracy. It may, of course, be argued that participating in both sides of an international conflict, like the common corporate practice of investing in both political parties before an election, is an appropriate corporate activity. Had the Nazis won, General Motors and Ford would have appeared impeccably Nazi; as Hitler lost, these companies were able to re-emerge impeccably American. In either case, the viability of these corporations and the interests of their respective stockholders would have been preserved.
Perhaps one of the most egregious contributors to the Nazi cause was IBM under the direction of Thomas J. Watson. IBM knowingly helped to setup Nazi census databases through the use of data sorting machines that enabled the Nazis to carry out the Holocaust in a way that they would not have otherwise been able to. Point blank, IBM increased the size and scope of the Holocaust, and did it for profit." Thomas Watson was awarded a medal by Adolph Hitler for his role in assisting in the Nazi regime, and Watson expressed, "the necessity of extending a sympathetic understanding to the German people, and their leader Adolph Hitler." He also expressed, "the highest esteem for Hitler, his country, and his people."
After WWII, corporations such as United Fruit, ITT, BP, Chevron, DuPont, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bechtel, Shell, and many others have been complicit in over throwing democratically elected governments in other countries in order to continue their oppression, rape the land of natural resources, and keep the indigenous populations in slaved in sub-standard wage conditions.
It is easy to put all the blame for a lack of ethical and moral behavior just on the corporations who support Fascist policies, but we as ordinary citizens are also complicit in being part of Fascist policies. We can mostly agree that the corporation is about profit, not compassion, fairness, humanity, or stewardship of the environment. When we own stock in these corporations, supply these companies, work for banks that lend to these companies, seek employment with these companies, or buy their products or services we are culpable participants in furthering Fascism. When we vote, we need to be cognizant of politicians who are owned by Big Business and avoid them. One of the most critical decisions one can make as a voter is who will or will not appoint judges that are owned by corporations. We as ordinary citizens need to set a benchmark for ethical behavior before we jump to just accuse the “Fat Cats” and politicians.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
ACLU works to represent the rights of Californians
How can supporting human rights, individual rights, the 1st and 4th Amendments, and lobbying to outlaw costly capital punishment be Socialistic, Communistic, or anti-American? Some folks refer to the ACLU as though it were a pariah that that was against everything that just, humane, and supported by our Constitution. To the contrary the ACLU has been a staunch advocate for justice, equality, and constitutional adherence.
The ACLU publishes a seasonal newsletter that outlines many of their key projects. The following are issues that appeared in the “Spring 2011” newsletter that are at the forefront of some present day ACLU advocacy:
The ACLU has been a fervent advocate for abolishing California’s costly, inhumane, unjust, and ineffective death penalty. Our state faces a $20 billion plus budget shortfall; ending capital punishment is estimated to save the state approximately $1 billion over 5 years. By converting California’s 710 death sentences to permanent imprisonment, we would insure that each of those death row prisoners would remain in prison with absolutely no possibility of parole, and would be accountable to victim’s families through work and restitution to them.
In a quest to purchase drugs for lethal injections, the ACLU uncovered that the State of California had to go to the UK to find a source for 521 grams of lethal injection drugs. The California Department of Corrections paid a total of $36,415 for these imported drugs that were not available in the U.S. Included in the purchase price was $20,000 in fees, with the explanation of $10,000 in fees blacked out. Last year the CDCR paid only $1,210 for injection drugs purchased in the U.S.
States with the death penalty actually have a higher murder rate; capital punishment has not proven to be a murder deterrent. When do we ever hear of an affluent person being put on death row? Very seldom as capital punishment falls primarily on the poor, mentally handicapped, people color, and those who can ill afford expensive private legal representation. O J Simpson is the “poster boy” that proves that expensive legal advice coupled with sloppy state prosecution is the perfect equation for getting away with murder. ACLU staff attorneys have filed Freedom of Information Act requests for more records from the FDA and Customs and Border Protection to trace exactly where the drugs came from and the highly irregular process used to obtain them. The question begs what other secretive, deceptive, and irregular behavior are state officials employing?
The Tehama-Trinity Chapter of the ACLU and The North State Tea Party Alliance teamed up to protect First Amendment rights. The city of Redding attempted to impose new restrictions on when, where, and how residents may hand out leaflets in front of the public library. The unholy alliance of the “Tea Party” and the ACLU proved successful, with the help of a Tea Party activist Tim Pappas, who is also Shasta’s public defender. Recounted Yost the ACLU representative, “We explained our belief that speech is for everyone, regardless of whether one agrees with their point of view. Everyone listened with interest and respect. There seemed to be lots of agreement”.
“California has some of the best laws in the country to protect students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT), or who are perceived to be. The unfortunate reality is that anti-LGBT harassment is still far too widespread. Schools don’t always have tools or knowledge to adequately protect students from bullying, harassment, and discrimination”.
A tragic case in point is Seth Walsh who was a sweet intelligent, 13 year old boy, who loved his family and was also gay. He endured years of bullying, harassment, and verbal abuse in school. Last September as a result of desperation he hanged himself from a tree in his family’s backyard. After nine days on life support he died. After Seth’s death his family contacted the ACLU to perform an investigation of the local school and board of education. The school was urged to take immediate proactive action to remedy the destructive environment of LGBT harassment. In a national survey, nine out of ten LGBT students reported being harassed at school. According to the most recent California Healthy Kids Survey, 12 percent of seventh graders and 10 percent of ninth graders reported being harassed based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation.
The ACLU is co-sponsoring a new bill in the California Legislature (Seth’s Law) which would strengthen existing state laws by requiring every school district to “Create strong and clear anti-harassment programs, if they don’t have them already”. Passing laws is a positive first step, but without programs to reculturate fearful and ignorant people, human rights progress will not be meaningful.
The ACLU recognizes that with more advancement in internet technology, that users of these technologies become mindful of the inherent risks to personal privacy. In addition, the ACLU also is a strong public advocate for First Amendment rights in the alternative media as well as internet blogs and social networks such as Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.
The ACLU recommends the following ways to upgrade our much needed privacy protections:
• Holds a conversation among industry leaders, the public, and speech and privacy advocates to reinforce the idea that the Internet is a necessary and powerful platform for free speech that benefits all Californians.
• Ensure that companies doing business in California comply with laws requiring them to inform customers about sharing their personal information with other companies.
The ACLU is supporting SB 602, the Reader Privacy Act, in order to safeguard reader privacy in the digital age. This law would help insure that the government and third parties cannot access our private digital reading records without proper justification.
California has the dubious honor of being the world’s leader when it comes to locking up its residents. The state’s budget for corrections now outpaces university spending. California’s criminal justice system, based on independent studies, has proven to be largely ineffective, unfair, and racially discriminatory. In addition, locking people up for non-violent crimes is way too costly and is a poor choice of human resources. Revenge and retribution are not civil or rational solutions to anti-societal behavior.
The ACLU makes the following recommendations to improve the criminal justice system:
• Stop sending non-violent offenders to prison. Tax payers could save millions of dollars by not incarcerating non-criminal drug users. Drug use should be seen as a misdemeanor, medical disability, not a felony.
• Emphasize rehabilitation. Transfer part of expensive incarceration costs to local jurisdictions for drug treatment programs and skills development.
• Ease the way for people with past criminal convictions to move forward and lead positive lives-to find jobs. People who are incarcerated typically are poor, hopeless, undereducated, and suffer emotional disabilities. Having the stigma of being a criminal only adds another unneeded burden of successful integration into society.
• Support efforts to provide services to all victims of crime, even those with felony convictions. This means that many crime victims are deprived of basic support services such as grief counseling or minimal financial or educational support.
• Issue guidelines to regulate police surveillance and intelligence gathering that targets individual or groups engaged in political or religious activities. This will help to reduce racial or religious profiling, or targeting political activists.
• Investigate and begin to remedy patterns of police misconduct in California. The attorney general has the authority to intervene in cases of police departments or officers engaging in misconduct, excessive force, or false arrests.
The ACLU has also set guidelines for immigrant rights. Procedures and guidelines would be set to ensure that racial and ethnic profiling, or excessive and prolonged detainment would be greatly reduced.
It is important that every Californian be they LGBT, an Internet user, or one voicing dissent that their constitutional, individual, and human rights be respected and upheld. Society prospers as a whole when every individual can be the best they can be without censorship, harassment, injustice, and discrimination. It is advocacy groups such as the ACLU that work for our collective behalf for those noble ends.
The ACLU publishes a seasonal newsletter that outlines many of their key projects. The following are issues that appeared in the “Spring 2011” newsletter that are at the forefront of some present day ACLU advocacy:
The ACLU has been a fervent advocate for abolishing California’s costly, inhumane, unjust, and ineffective death penalty. Our state faces a $20 billion plus budget shortfall; ending capital punishment is estimated to save the state approximately $1 billion over 5 years. By converting California’s 710 death sentences to permanent imprisonment, we would insure that each of those death row prisoners would remain in prison with absolutely no possibility of parole, and would be accountable to victim’s families through work and restitution to them.
In a quest to purchase drugs for lethal injections, the ACLU uncovered that the State of California had to go to the UK to find a source for 521 grams of lethal injection drugs. The California Department of Corrections paid a total of $36,415 for these imported drugs that were not available in the U.S. Included in the purchase price was $20,000 in fees, with the explanation of $10,000 in fees blacked out. Last year the CDCR paid only $1,210 for injection drugs purchased in the U.S.
States with the death penalty actually have a higher murder rate; capital punishment has not proven to be a murder deterrent. When do we ever hear of an affluent person being put on death row? Very seldom as capital punishment falls primarily on the poor, mentally handicapped, people color, and those who can ill afford expensive private legal representation. O J Simpson is the “poster boy” that proves that expensive legal advice coupled with sloppy state prosecution is the perfect equation for getting away with murder. ACLU staff attorneys have filed Freedom of Information Act requests for more records from the FDA and Customs and Border Protection to trace exactly where the drugs came from and the highly irregular process used to obtain them. The question begs what other secretive, deceptive, and irregular behavior are state officials employing?
The Tehama-Trinity Chapter of the ACLU and The North State Tea Party Alliance teamed up to protect First Amendment rights. The city of Redding attempted to impose new restrictions on when, where, and how residents may hand out leaflets in front of the public library. The unholy alliance of the “Tea Party” and the ACLU proved successful, with the help of a Tea Party activist Tim Pappas, who is also Shasta’s public defender. Recounted Yost the ACLU representative, “We explained our belief that speech is for everyone, regardless of whether one agrees with their point of view. Everyone listened with interest and respect. There seemed to be lots of agreement”.
“California has some of the best laws in the country to protect students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT), or who are perceived to be. The unfortunate reality is that anti-LGBT harassment is still far too widespread. Schools don’t always have tools or knowledge to adequately protect students from bullying, harassment, and discrimination”.
A tragic case in point is Seth Walsh who was a sweet intelligent, 13 year old boy, who loved his family and was also gay. He endured years of bullying, harassment, and verbal abuse in school. Last September as a result of desperation he hanged himself from a tree in his family’s backyard. After nine days on life support he died. After Seth’s death his family contacted the ACLU to perform an investigation of the local school and board of education. The school was urged to take immediate proactive action to remedy the destructive environment of LGBT harassment. In a national survey, nine out of ten LGBT students reported being harassed at school. According to the most recent California Healthy Kids Survey, 12 percent of seventh graders and 10 percent of ninth graders reported being harassed based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation.
The ACLU is co-sponsoring a new bill in the California Legislature (Seth’s Law) which would strengthen existing state laws by requiring every school district to “Create strong and clear anti-harassment programs, if they don’t have them already”. Passing laws is a positive first step, but without programs to reculturate fearful and ignorant people, human rights progress will not be meaningful.
The ACLU recognizes that with more advancement in internet technology, that users of these technologies become mindful of the inherent risks to personal privacy. In addition, the ACLU also is a strong public advocate for First Amendment rights in the alternative media as well as internet blogs and social networks such as Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.
The ACLU recommends the following ways to upgrade our much needed privacy protections:
• Holds a conversation among industry leaders, the public, and speech and privacy advocates to reinforce the idea that the Internet is a necessary and powerful platform for free speech that benefits all Californians.
• Ensure that companies doing business in California comply with laws requiring them to inform customers about sharing their personal information with other companies.
The ACLU is supporting SB 602, the Reader Privacy Act, in order to safeguard reader privacy in the digital age. This law would help insure that the government and third parties cannot access our private digital reading records without proper justification.
California has the dubious honor of being the world’s leader when it comes to locking up its residents. The state’s budget for corrections now outpaces university spending. California’s criminal justice system, based on independent studies, has proven to be largely ineffective, unfair, and racially discriminatory. In addition, locking people up for non-violent crimes is way too costly and is a poor choice of human resources. Revenge and retribution are not civil or rational solutions to anti-societal behavior.
The ACLU makes the following recommendations to improve the criminal justice system:
• Stop sending non-violent offenders to prison. Tax payers could save millions of dollars by not incarcerating non-criminal drug users. Drug use should be seen as a misdemeanor, medical disability, not a felony.
• Emphasize rehabilitation. Transfer part of expensive incarceration costs to local jurisdictions for drug treatment programs and skills development.
• Ease the way for people with past criminal convictions to move forward and lead positive lives-to find jobs. People who are incarcerated typically are poor, hopeless, undereducated, and suffer emotional disabilities. Having the stigma of being a criminal only adds another unneeded burden of successful integration into society.
• Support efforts to provide services to all victims of crime, even those with felony convictions. This means that many crime victims are deprived of basic support services such as grief counseling or minimal financial or educational support.
• Issue guidelines to regulate police surveillance and intelligence gathering that targets individual or groups engaged in political or religious activities. This will help to reduce racial or religious profiling, or targeting political activists.
• Investigate and begin to remedy patterns of police misconduct in California. The attorney general has the authority to intervene in cases of police departments or officers engaging in misconduct, excessive force, or false arrests.
The ACLU has also set guidelines for immigrant rights. Procedures and guidelines would be set to ensure that racial and ethnic profiling, or excessive and prolonged detainment would be greatly reduced.
It is important that every Californian be they LGBT, an Internet user, or one voicing dissent that their constitutional, individual, and human rights be respected and upheld. Society prospers as a whole when every individual can be the best they can be without censorship, harassment, injustice, and discrimination. It is advocacy groups such as the ACLU that work for our collective behalf for those noble ends.
Poverty: Misconceptions and Reality
There are misconceptions that abound that poverty is primarily the fault of the impoverished. Using a simplistic linear mindset one may sometimes be justified in drawing this myopic observation about the poor. There are different factors that contribute to poverty. The challenge on the table is how do we break the chain of generational poverty, and mitigate the maladies of those in situational poverty.
Several months ago my partner and I were invited to be members of the “Safety Net Summit Planning” board of Solano County. This board is overseen by the First 5 Solano Children’s and Family Commission (FFFC). April 27th we attended a symposium in Fairfield sponsored by United Way in concert with FFFC that was attended by many people from Solano County government who in some way affect positively or negatively the lot of the impoverished. The FFFC is a not for profit agency primarily funded by a $6 million dollar yearly grant from United Way. The mission of FFFC, headed up by Christina Arrostuto, is to reduce poverty in Solano County, by 50% in ten years primarily amongst families with children.
The keynote speaker, Dr. Donna Beegle, Phd, told a very inspiring story about how she ascended from a family of abject poverty. She shared with us her personal feelings about what being poor means and how one’s self esteem and personal perception in the community is perceived..Dr. Beegle was one of six children, who’s mother and grandmother was an itinerant cotton picker and who’s father, who was also unskilled scraped by doing odd jobs. Her brothers all suffered from learning disabilities, substance abuse addictions, and a history of incarceration At the age of 15, Dr. Beegle was a high school dropout, pregnant with her first child, without marketable skills who had to survive on $400 a month in welfare and food stamps. Skipping ahead in this story she worked to receive her GED, be accepted to the University of Portland, and ultimately receiving her doctorate in psychology. Dr. Beegle explained the differences in generational and situational poverty. Dr. Beegle is primarily the rare exception to upward mobility than the norm.
Poverty is a complex issue where factors of physical, emotional, environmental, and perceptions of one’s power, or lack thereof perpetuates, hopelessness and desperation. We live in an affluent developed nation where one in eight people nationally live below the poverty level. The poor have very few advocates relative to the wealthy and powerful. Most laws do not promote the interests of the poor. Someone who is poor in our materialistic narcissistic society is seen typically in the abstract, as an inanimate drag on society, who is an uncomfortable reminder that we are all our brothers’ keeper. We sometimes negatively stereotype the poor as a way of assuaging our guilt about having to take more responsibility for solving the problem of poverty.
Poverty does not only effect the poor, but more importantly society in general. Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, and more specifically the Head Start program was successful in reducing child poverty by 23%. In the next administration a societal malaise seemed to affect the electorate any many of these supportive anti-poverty programs were reduced or eliminated, but we had the money for B-52 bombers and thousands of tons of bombs that killed 2 million innocent Cambodian civilians.
Modern European nations are more humanistic and responsible in their views of dealing with poverty. Many people who are in poverty can be advanced out of this suffocating state of affairs by external forces in society if there is a genuine national will and priority to improve the lot of the poor.
My understanding is that generational poverty is where generations of families pass on an acculturated mindset that being impoverished is their prescribed destiny. Many people who are in generational poverty have distinct characteristics that mark them as outcasts in the general populace. For example their external dress, lack of etiquette, poor language skills, health challenges, eating habits, hopelessness, lack of financial skills, and little clear vision of exiting out of their predicament. There is a definite poverty mentality that needs to be broken with the help of external support from society. Many of us who own homes, have money set aside, investments, adequate food, transportation, and a clear plan for our lives cannot fully comprehend what it means to have to sleep in a car, or bounce from relative to friend, or not be able to afford a Costco card or enough money to buy at reduced prices by purchasing in bulk. Try having to move around the Bay Area without a car or adequate money for public transportation? If you have children, envision not having medical insurance and having to wait countless hours in clinic waiting rooms. Think about all the money you have to waste on check cashing services, money order costs, and shopping in local convenience stores because you do not have transportation to the local super market or discount store. Would your child want to attend school regularly, dressed in ragged dirty clothing, and be ostracized by their classmates for being less than? How do you feel when you are in the company of wealthy people, even though you are reasonably comfortable; well a poor persons feels the same way in the company of a working person who has steady financial health?
Out of desperation many of the generational poor self medicate their emotional pain with illicit drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. As a society do we take a proactive role to try to mitigate these diseases that unfortunately are viewed as crimes? The US has one of the highest rates of incarceration in the world. The poor have a much greater chance of being incarcerated than those that are affluent. Many of the people in prison are there as a result of system that deals with drug abuse in a punitive way instead of first using a medical solution. The financial resources used for predominately punitive reasons could be better used to work proactively with many of the poor, who out of hopelessness and desperation become substance abusers.
During economic recessions and with more jobs being outsourced, more and more people are falling into situational poverty. Situational poverty can be caused by being under employed and not being eligible for any or little public assistance. Those without adequate medical insurance, who are unable to work and have no other safety net fall into situational poverty.
Those in continual or prolonged situational poverty have a much greater chance of continuing in poverty because they become conditioned to have no hope. Ironically those poor who come from other countries, and most specifically third world nations perceive a myth about the US that our streets are paved with gold; ergo they have tremendous hope and optimism of exiting out of poverty. Unfortunately those US nationals have lost most hope.
The following is the most recent data on poverty in Solano County:
• The poverty threshold level is $18,310 for a family of four
• High school graduation rate was 75% in 2008-9; in CA it was 79%.
• 34% could not afford adequate food.
• 18% of families with children under 18 live in poverty.
• 21% of children 0-5 were living in poverty (many do not live in families)
• Unemployment is 12% (probably a low figure).
• Approximately 4,000 foreclosures
There are stories of families with children losing the homes in foreclosure, one or both parents lose their jobs, they have to sleep in their car or a cheap one room motel, the children are ostracized in school for being homeless, do not have a comfortable place to do their homework, and have to put their few belongings into mini-storage.
There is something very wrong in a population that sees its way clear to spend over a trillion dollars a year on defense, give tax cuts to the top 1% who many times will invest their money abroad for a higher return, subsidize major corporations, oil and agribusiness. Corporate profits were up 81% over the previous year, the income divide is it at its greatest since the Great Depression. Poverty is a major cost not just to those impoverished, but a loss/cost of over $500 billion per year to our nation as a whole. With all these misallocated resources in this country, how in good conscience can we blame poverty on the lot of the poor?
Several months ago my partner and I were invited to be members of the “Safety Net Summit Planning” board of Solano County. This board is overseen by the First 5 Solano Children’s and Family Commission (FFFC). April 27th we attended a symposium in Fairfield sponsored by United Way in concert with FFFC that was attended by many people from Solano County government who in some way affect positively or negatively the lot of the impoverished. The FFFC is a not for profit agency primarily funded by a $6 million dollar yearly grant from United Way. The mission of FFFC, headed up by Christina Arrostuto, is to reduce poverty in Solano County, by 50% in ten years primarily amongst families with children.
The keynote speaker, Dr. Donna Beegle, Phd, told a very inspiring story about how she ascended from a family of abject poverty. She shared with us her personal feelings about what being poor means and how one’s self esteem and personal perception in the community is perceived..Dr. Beegle was one of six children, who’s mother and grandmother was an itinerant cotton picker and who’s father, who was also unskilled scraped by doing odd jobs. Her brothers all suffered from learning disabilities, substance abuse addictions, and a history of incarceration At the age of 15, Dr. Beegle was a high school dropout, pregnant with her first child, without marketable skills who had to survive on $400 a month in welfare and food stamps. Skipping ahead in this story she worked to receive her GED, be accepted to the University of Portland, and ultimately receiving her doctorate in psychology. Dr. Beegle explained the differences in generational and situational poverty. Dr. Beegle is primarily the rare exception to upward mobility than the norm.
Poverty is a complex issue where factors of physical, emotional, environmental, and perceptions of one’s power, or lack thereof perpetuates, hopelessness and desperation. We live in an affluent developed nation where one in eight people nationally live below the poverty level. The poor have very few advocates relative to the wealthy and powerful. Most laws do not promote the interests of the poor. Someone who is poor in our materialistic narcissistic society is seen typically in the abstract, as an inanimate drag on society, who is an uncomfortable reminder that we are all our brothers’ keeper. We sometimes negatively stereotype the poor as a way of assuaging our guilt about having to take more responsibility for solving the problem of poverty.
Poverty does not only effect the poor, but more importantly society in general. Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, and more specifically the Head Start program was successful in reducing child poverty by 23%. In the next administration a societal malaise seemed to affect the electorate any many of these supportive anti-poverty programs were reduced or eliminated, but we had the money for B-52 bombers and thousands of tons of bombs that killed 2 million innocent Cambodian civilians.
Modern European nations are more humanistic and responsible in their views of dealing with poverty. Many people who are in poverty can be advanced out of this suffocating state of affairs by external forces in society if there is a genuine national will and priority to improve the lot of the poor.
My understanding is that generational poverty is where generations of families pass on an acculturated mindset that being impoverished is their prescribed destiny. Many people who are in generational poverty have distinct characteristics that mark them as outcasts in the general populace. For example their external dress, lack of etiquette, poor language skills, health challenges, eating habits, hopelessness, lack of financial skills, and little clear vision of exiting out of their predicament. There is a definite poverty mentality that needs to be broken with the help of external support from society. Many of us who own homes, have money set aside, investments, adequate food, transportation, and a clear plan for our lives cannot fully comprehend what it means to have to sleep in a car, or bounce from relative to friend, or not be able to afford a Costco card or enough money to buy at reduced prices by purchasing in bulk. Try having to move around the Bay Area without a car or adequate money for public transportation? If you have children, envision not having medical insurance and having to wait countless hours in clinic waiting rooms. Think about all the money you have to waste on check cashing services, money order costs, and shopping in local convenience stores because you do not have transportation to the local super market or discount store. Would your child want to attend school regularly, dressed in ragged dirty clothing, and be ostracized by their classmates for being less than? How do you feel when you are in the company of wealthy people, even though you are reasonably comfortable; well a poor persons feels the same way in the company of a working person who has steady financial health?
Out of desperation many of the generational poor self medicate their emotional pain with illicit drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. As a society do we take a proactive role to try to mitigate these diseases that unfortunately are viewed as crimes? The US has one of the highest rates of incarceration in the world. The poor have a much greater chance of being incarcerated than those that are affluent. Many of the people in prison are there as a result of system that deals with drug abuse in a punitive way instead of first using a medical solution. The financial resources used for predominately punitive reasons could be better used to work proactively with many of the poor, who out of hopelessness and desperation become substance abusers.
During economic recessions and with more jobs being outsourced, more and more people are falling into situational poverty. Situational poverty can be caused by being under employed and not being eligible for any or little public assistance. Those without adequate medical insurance, who are unable to work and have no other safety net fall into situational poverty.
Those in continual or prolonged situational poverty have a much greater chance of continuing in poverty because they become conditioned to have no hope. Ironically those poor who come from other countries, and most specifically third world nations perceive a myth about the US that our streets are paved with gold; ergo they have tremendous hope and optimism of exiting out of poverty. Unfortunately those US nationals have lost most hope.
The following is the most recent data on poverty in Solano County:
• The poverty threshold level is $18,310 for a family of four
• High school graduation rate was 75% in 2008-9; in CA it was 79%.
• 34% could not afford adequate food.
• 18% of families with children under 18 live in poverty.
• 21% of children 0-5 were living in poverty (many do not live in families)
• Unemployment is 12% (probably a low figure).
• Approximately 4,000 foreclosures
There are stories of families with children losing the homes in foreclosure, one or both parents lose their jobs, they have to sleep in their car or a cheap one room motel, the children are ostracized in school for being homeless, do not have a comfortable place to do their homework, and have to put their few belongings into mini-storage.
There is something very wrong in a population that sees its way clear to spend over a trillion dollars a year on defense, give tax cuts to the top 1% who many times will invest their money abroad for a higher return, subsidize major corporations, oil and agribusiness. Corporate profits were up 81% over the previous year, the income divide is it at its greatest since the Great Depression. Poverty is a major cost not just to those impoverished, but a loss/cost of over $500 billion per year to our nation as a whole. With all these misallocated resources in this country, how in good conscience can we blame poverty on the lot of the poor?
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Taxes down for the rich, Incomes down for the working class
“Rising tides lift all ships” is a metaphor used by supply side economists, Reagonomic worshippers, and those of wealth who attempt to fraudulently convince the working class electorate that tax breaks for the wealthy are good for all. When billionaires such as Warren Buffett publicly say that taxes for the uber wealthy are too low, then there is great trouble in River City. When international corporations such as General Electric who made $14 billion last year paid no taxes, it is obvious that the great lobbying efforts of the wealthy and major corporations have paid off handsomely for our pimping politicians in Washington. When the Wall Street “Sharks” get special tax treatment on their ordinary earnings on special hedge fund brokerage sales the system is broken for the masses, but not the elites. Earning ability is also a function of purchasing value ability. For example if Warren Buffett is in a much lower tax bracket than his secretary, also he can borrow money at rock bottom rates, and afford to hire the best lawyers for tax avoidance, then Buffet’s purchasing ability is also greater, not only because he has a much greater income, but also that he is receiving more value per dollar of income.
The divide of earning and purchasing ability is greater today than it has been since the Great Depression. Not only have tax breaks been so skewed in favor of the rich, but earning ability in terms of adjusted dollar value for the working class has actually decreased. For example, IKEA the big box discount furniture dealer is opening up a factory in Danville, SC, but not for the ability to get the highest quality workers. The big difference is that the Europeans enjoy a minimum wage of about $19 an hour and a government-mandated five weeks of paid vacation. Full-time employees in Danville start at $8 an hour with 12 vacation days, eight of them on dates determined by the company.
One cannot necessarily fault GE for paying no taxes in the US last year. GE’s income gains in the US for 2010 were offset by previous year’s losses in their financial sector businesses. The US has a high corporate tax rate of 35%, while other developed nations tax their corporations at around 25%. Ireland has a corporate tax rate of 12.5% to encourage corporate investment. This draconian high corporate taxation by the US is mistake number one because multi-national corporations have an incentive to minimize their proration of income low and expenses high for US operations. The tax burden should be higher on the individual investor and not the corporation.
In addition, our capital gains rates are too low at 15% and should be increased to previous rates of 20 to 25%. Taxes on dividends should be taxed at ordinary income rates, with no special deductions. Corporations will just pass their taxes on as a cost of operations, such as insurances, permits, and property taxes.
Even though that I am not the best friend of some large multi-national corporations, I would be in favor of eliminating corporation taxes all together and increasing taxes at the personal capital gain and income level to individuals. The US has invested around $3.2 trillion outside this country. On the other hand foreign companies such as Siemens and ABB have invested $2.2 trillion here. We need to encourage investment in the US. Many European companies located in the US, who are used to a more progressive society, have been known to treat American workers better than their US counter parts.
The alternative minimum tax was setup to catch the incomes of high earners who used tax loopholes to greatly participate in legal tax avoidance. The AMT should be in effect for high income earners without the benefit of tax avoidance loopholes.
The working class employee making less than $106,800 per year are at another disadvantage, they are taxed for FICA and Medicare at 7.65%, or up to $8,170 per year, while the CEO making $2 million per year and still only paying a maximum of $8,170 is effectively paying .04% of his income into government pension and Medicare funds. Unearned income from rents, stocks, bonds, etc, are not subject to FICA/Medicare taxation; more money to go into the investors pockets.
The sales tax falls disproportionately more on low income earners. The average worker is able to save very little money after paying for housing, food, transportation, and medical costs. The person who has a large income is able to travel to other locals many times avoiding sales taxes. One can argue that the wealthy stimulate the economy by buying expensive cars, houses. and boats. I know of a yacht broker who sells multi-million dollars boats to the wealthy. In order to avoid California State sales/use taxes the buyer will take delivery outside the US or in a state with a lower tax rate. If the average person buys a car in California they are in effect paying a use tax on purchase equivalent to the sales tax. A wealthy business investor wishing to but an expensive Ferrari or Mercedes can travel to a foreign land where there is minimal tax, purchase the vehicle for their multi-national corporation as a depreciable asset and bring it back to the US as a used much less valuable asset. As a bonus the investor may chose to expense his world wide jaunt as a business opportunity and marketing cost.
Donating ones art collection and building a museum with ones name above the door is the ultimate legal tax avoidance game. Let’s say my name is Don Fisher the founder of the Gap stores. I love to collect modern art and as a result, I built up a vast art collection that is valued at $1 billion. Over the years my investment in this collection has only been say $200 million, now turned into a 5 fold increase by market appreciation. I donate this collection to MOMA in San Francisco for a $1 billion write off, which will easily offset $400 million in taxes from my estate or earnings from my trusts. So this art collection has given me great pleasure, caused me to be the cultural envy of my peers and community, and lastly has given me a great return on my original investment just on the tax avoidance benefits.
Foundations are other great legal tax avoidance schemes that bring their benefactors great public adulation, still allow control of assets, and create tax sheltering way into the future. I speculate that Warren Buffett and Bill Gates will pay no or very little income taxes or estate taxes due to their use of the tax system. The Rockefellers have given much of their wealth to foundations that own stock in major corporations on which the Rockefellers sit on boards or have proxy agents who still continue to control the enterprises.
At the end of day it is about the ratio of all taxes and living expenses relative to total income. The wealthy are able to move their investments to the locals of best return. Capital creates more capital and has no patriotism or nationality. Increasing the taxes on the wealthy will not materially affect their standard of living, it will only affect their level of more wealthy building. So maybe to encourage wealth building we should give new wealth builders a moratorium on taxing bank interest, dividends, and small capital gains, and tax them at a higher rate when their net worth (excluding their home) exceeds $1 million or their taxable income exceeds $150,000. It would not hurt my feelings to eliminate the $106,800 ceiling on FICA deductions; let’s get the full amount from those fat cat CEO’s and Wall Streeter’s. When the richest nation in the world has a poverty level of 12%, and the working class is barely getting ahead something does not compute.
The divide of earning and purchasing ability is greater today than it has been since the Great Depression. Not only have tax breaks been so skewed in favor of the rich, but earning ability in terms of adjusted dollar value for the working class has actually decreased. For example, IKEA the big box discount furniture dealer is opening up a factory in Danville, SC, but not for the ability to get the highest quality workers. The big difference is that the Europeans enjoy a minimum wage of about $19 an hour and a government-mandated five weeks of paid vacation. Full-time employees in Danville start at $8 an hour with 12 vacation days, eight of them on dates determined by the company.
One cannot necessarily fault GE for paying no taxes in the US last year. GE’s income gains in the US for 2010 were offset by previous year’s losses in their financial sector businesses. The US has a high corporate tax rate of 35%, while other developed nations tax their corporations at around 25%. Ireland has a corporate tax rate of 12.5% to encourage corporate investment. This draconian high corporate taxation by the US is mistake number one because multi-national corporations have an incentive to minimize their proration of income low and expenses high for US operations. The tax burden should be higher on the individual investor and not the corporation.
In addition, our capital gains rates are too low at 15% and should be increased to previous rates of 20 to 25%. Taxes on dividends should be taxed at ordinary income rates, with no special deductions. Corporations will just pass their taxes on as a cost of operations, such as insurances, permits, and property taxes.
Even though that I am not the best friend of some large multi-national corporations, I would be in favor of eliminating corporation taxes all together and increasing taxes at the personal capital gain and income level to individuals. The US has invested around $3.2 trillion outside this country. On the other hand foreign companies such as Siemens and ABB have invested $2.2 trillion here. We need to encourage investment in the US. Many European companies located in the US, who are used to a more progressive society, have been known to treat American workers better than their US counter parts.
The alternative minimum tax was setup to catch the incomes of high earners who used tax loopholes to greatly participate in legal tax avoidance. The AMT should be in effect for high income earners without the benefit of tax avoidance loopholes.
The working class employee making less than $106,800 per year are at another disadvantage, they are taxed for FICA and Medicare at 7.65%, or up to $8,170 per year, while the CEO making $2 million per year and still only paying a maximum of $8,170 is effectively paying .04% of his income into government pension and Medicare funds. Unearned income from rents, stocks, bonds, etc, are not subject to FICA/Medicare taxation; more money to go into the investors pockets.
The sales tax falls disproportionately more on low income earners. The average worker is able to save very little money after paying for housing, food, transportation, and medical costs. The person who has a large income is able to travel to other locals many times avoiding sales taxes. One can argue that the wealthy stimulate the economy by buying expensive cars, houses. and boats. I know of a yacht broker who sells multi-million dollars boats to the wealthy. In order to avoid California State sales/use taxes the buyer will take delivery outside the US or in a state with a lower tax rate. If the average person buys a car in California they are in effect paying a use tax on purchase equivalent to the sales tax. A wealthy business investor wishing to but an expensive Ferrari or Mercedes can travel to a foreign land where there is minimal tax, purchase the vehicle for their multi-national corporation as a depreciable asset and bring it back to the US as a used much less valuable asset. As a bonus the investor may chose to expense his world wide jaunt as a business opportunity and marketing cost.
Donating ones art collection and building a museum with ones name above the door is the ultimate legal tax avoidance game. Let’s say my name is Don Fisher the founder of the Gap stores. I love to collect modern art and as a result, I built up a vast art collection that is valued at $1 billion. Over the years my investment in this collection has only been say $200 million, now turned into a 5 fold increase by market appreciation. I donate this collection to MOMA in San Francisco for a $1 billion write off, which will easily offset $400 million in taxes from my estate or earnings from my trusts. So this art collection has given me great pleasure, caused me to be the cultural envy of my peers and community, and lastly has given me a great return on my original investment just on the tax avoidance benefits.
Foundations are other great legal tax avoidance schemes that bring their benefactors great public adulation, still allow control of assets, and create tax sheltering way into the future. I speculate that Warren Buffett and Bill Gates will pay no or very little income taxes or estate taxes due to their use of the tax system. The Rockefellers have given much of their wealth to foundations that own stock in major corporations on which the Rockefellers sit on boards or have proxy agents who still continue to control the enterprises.
At the end of day it is about the ratio of all taxes and living expenses relative to total income. The wealthy are able to move their investments to the locals of best return. Capital creates more capital and has no patriotism or nationality. Increasing the taxes on the wealthy will not materially affect their standard of living, it will only affect their level of more wealthy building. So maybe to encourage wealth building we should give new wealth builders a moratorium on taxing bank interest, dividends, and small capital gains, and tax them at a higher rate when their net worth (excluding their home) exceeds $1 million or their taxable income exceeds $150,000. It would not hurt my feelings to eliminate the $106,800 ceiling on FICA deductions; let’s get the full amount from those fat cat CEO’s and Wall Streeter’s. When the richest nation in the world has a poverty level of 12%, and the working class is barely getting ahead something does not compute.
Capitalism is not societies benign cure all
Some folks live under the myth that private enterprise, using free market capitalism can be the remedy for all of society’s ills and a magic pill to fill everyone’s needs. In an ideal world where every capitalist balanced the long term needs of society with a generous dose of ethics and magnanimity the utopian formula just might work. Unfortunately human nature many times works in extreme self interest with little regard for the general needs of society, environmental stewardship, or transparent communication about products and services.
I have been a free market capitalist my entire adult life having owned and run businesses that included construction, real estate development, real estate syndication and investment, food service, and now industrial surplus sales and liquidation. My resume includes a summary general education in business law, accounting, and finance as well as engineering and construction. I started my first business when I was fifteen years old repairing appliances, providing plumbing and electrical repairs, and doing general handyman services for many of my neighbors, family, and friends. With over 50 years of business experience I can easily say that my experience includes marketing, putting together investor syndication packages, hiring and managing employees, dealing with many government agencies, borrowing from banks, and doing all the administrative jobs that are necessary to run a business. My message is that I have a very good grasp of what capitalism can achieve as well as its short comings.
When I say that the capitalist does not always have the best interests of society on their “To Do” list, I will cite some concrete examples of where capitalism has fallen short. Now having been a capitalist for five decades my intention is not to totally defame free enterprise or throw the “Baby out with the Bath Water”. I believe that a mixed economic model with regulated capitalism and some government services is best for the overall needs of society. For selfish reasons the staunch elites and moneyed classes will say that the Socialistic delivery of services is a pariah on the nation and we must guard against it at all costs.
Our health care, food, finance, and energy industry delivery systems are prime examples of how minimally regulated capitalism does not serve society well and in many cases is overtly harmful. In today’s society with everyone on information overload and rapidly changing technology it is not realistic or reasonable to expect the average consumer to know the entire strengths and weaknesses of every product and service available. Those people who have the added benefit of a higher education and the economic resources to vet the what vendors are selling have some degree of greater advantage, but are still not in a position to perform thorough due diligence on their own. The old adage, “Caveat Emptor” meaning let the buyer beware is an apathetic free enterprise attitude; but is this insensitive requirement realistic or humanistic?
If we had long term energy policy that could not be squashed or corrupted by big oil or coal, I believe that today we would be a lot less dependent on fossil fuels. If we were a lot more alternative energy independent I believe our need for oil imports and imperialistic intervention in the Middle East would be greatly decreased. Unfortunately fossil fuel producers have tremendous political influence that derails movement away from our dependency on them. The metrics have proven that we are a having a major increase in Global Warming since the beginning of the 20th century when the industrial revolution, expansion of automobile use, and technological development cause a great increase in fossil fuel energy consumption. The fossil fuel producers have hired sophisticated think tanks and PR organizations to try to down play man made Global Warming. Delaying a mitigation solution for curtailing GW and the increase in green house gases is already proving to have a disastrous effect on our planet.
Bechtel Corporation in concert with pressure from the IMF pressured Bolivia to privatize its water utility system, as a result the poor Bolivians water cost tripled and the people had to revolt in desperation. Bechtel fortunately turned the water system back to the people.
Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who many capitalists decry as the devil incarnate, in reality has been a savior for his countries people. He has nationalized the predatory oil producers, using the revenues for universal health care, improved housing, better education, and providing improved services to the general population. He enjoys over a 60% popularity rate and is very re-electable. Venezuela under Chavez now grows it own corn and grains, whereas before it was solely dependent on imports from countries such as the US. The bottom line is that with a mixed economy the people are happier and fairing a lot better than they did from totalitarian money lords.
Utility companies such as PG&E charge some of the highest rates. There costs of doing business are shareholder profit distributions, political lobbying costs, taxes, and other expenses that increase their rates to the consumer. Utility districts such as Alameda and Modesto provide lower utility costs to the consumer without subsidy, because they do not have the added expenses of a private utility such PG&E.
China using the long term planning and the mixed economy model seems to be developing very well. Granted, China has human rights and environmental stewardship issues it quickly needs to amend, but they are a picture of the US one hundred years ago when there were little worker rights and industry was totally irresponsible about environmental stewardship.
The pharmaceutical industry is grossly responsible for increased health care costs and marketing products that are unhealthy and sometimes death threatening to people’s health. For example poor mothers in Harlem are encouraged to buy sugar dense Similac baby formula by Abbott Labs, one of the major pharmaceutical companies, instead of breast feeding which has been proven to be much healthier for child development. Those infants ingesting Similac instead of mother breast milk will have a greater degree of obesity sometimes resulting in diabetes and heart disease. Breast milk is also more beneficial for proper brain development. Do we want to have an increased population of learning disabled children and adults? Society will pay for the greed of Abbott Labs dearly with increased health care costs. Doctors are given perks such as free vacations, entertainment tickets, and gourmet restaurant meals in order to encourage and prescribe drugs and products for patients that are destructive and not cost effective. Without proper regulations this capitalistic delivery system for drugs is destructive to society.
The not for profit health care model of the Kaiser Permanente system is out pacing all other private systems. Their quality of care and patient satisfaction has greatly improved in the last ten years and has become a benchmark model for many private for profit systems. The day is coming when the greedy Wall Street system and doctors earning one half million dollars or more per year will be coming to an end. The government needs to subsidize medical education so that we can attract bright medical school candidates who will easily work for $250,000 per year, as doctors do at Kaiser. Private for profit insurance providers and people wanting to go into medicine for big dollars will go by the wayside.
Capitalism without long term planning, reasonable oversight and policing in certain industries such as healthcare, energy, food, transportation, finance, consumer products and services will not properly serve the needs of society. Government absent crony capitalism is an unfortunate ingredient that is necessary to foster and protect the needs of society. Public banks serve the entirety of nation state, while private banks only serve the stockholders. There is plenty of room in our economy for the capitalistic delivery of goods and services, but some essentials such as health care insurance, basic housing, some transportation, utilities, and police and fire protection are best delivered by the quasi private/public sector.
I have been a free market capitalist my entire adult life having owned and run businesses that included construction, real estate development, real estate syndication and investment, food service, and now industrial surplus sales and liquidation. My resume includes a summary general education in business law, accounting, and finance as well as engineering and construction. I started my first business when I was fifteen years old repairing appliances, providing plumbing and electrical repairs, and doing general handyman services for many of my neighbors, family, and friends. With over 50 years of business experience I can easily say that my experience includes marketing, putting together investor syndication packages, hiring and managing employees, dealing with many government agencies, borrowing from banks, and doing all the administrative jobs that are necessary to run a business. My message is that I have a very good grasp of what capitalism can achieve as well as its short comings.
When I say that the capitalist does not always have the best interests of society on their “To Do” list, I will cite some concrete examples of where capitalism has fallen short. Now having been a capitalist for five decades my intention is not to totally defame free enterprise or throw the “Baby out with the Bath Water”. I believe that a mixed economic model with regulated capitalism and some government services is best for the overall needs of society. For selfish reasons the staunch elites and moneyed classes will say that the Socialistic delivery of services is a pariah on the nation and we must guard against it at all costs.
Our health care, food, finance, and energy industry delivery systems are prime examples of how minimally regulated capitalism does not serve society well and in many cases is overtly harmful. In today’s society with everyone on information overload and rapidly changing technology it is not realistic or reasonable to expect the average consumer to know the entire strengths and weaknesses of every product and service available. Those people who have the added benefit of a higher education and the economic resources to vet the what vendors are selling have some degree of greater advantage, but are still not in a position to perform thorough due diligence on their own. The old adage, “Caveat Emptor” meaning let the buyer beware is an apathetic free enterprise attitude; but is this insensitive requirement realistic or humanistic?
If we had long term energy policy that could not be squashed or corrupted by big oil or coal, I believe that today we would be a lot less dependent on fossil fuels. If we were a lot more alternative energy independent I believe our need for oil imports and imperialistic intervention in the Middle East would be greatly decreased. Unfortunately fossil fuel producers have tremendous political influence that derails movement away from our dependency on them. The metrics have proven that we are a having a major increase in Global Warming since the beginning of the 20th century when the industrial revolution, expansion of automobile use, and technological development cause a great increase in fossil fuel energy consumption. The fossil fuel producers have hired sophisticated think tanks and PR organizations to try to down play man made Global Warming. Delaying a mitigation solution for curtailing GW and the increase in green house gases is already proving to have a disastrous effect on our planet.
Bechtel Corporation in concert with pressure from the IMF pressured Bolivia to privatize its water utility system, as a result the poor Bolivians water cost tripled and the people had to revolt in desperation. Bechtel fortunately turned the water system back to the people.
Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who many capitalists decry as the devil incarnate, in reality has been a savior for his countries people. He has nationalized the predatory oil producers, using the revenues for universal health care, improved housing, better education, and providing improved services to the general population. He enjoys over a 60% popularity rate and is very re-electable. Venezuela under Chavez now grows it own corn and grains, whereas before it was solely dependent on imports from countries such as the US. The bottom line is that with a mixed economy the people are happier and fairing a lot better than they did from totalitarian money lords.
Utility companies such as PG&E charge some of the highest rates. There costs of doing business are shareholder profit distributions, political lobbying costs, taxes, and other expenses that increase their rates to the consumer. Utility districts such as Alameda and Modesto provide lower utility costs to the consumer without subsidy, because they do not have the added expenses of a private utility such PG&E.
China using the long term planning and the mixed economy model seems to be developing very well. Granted, China has human rights and environmental stewardship issues it quickly needs to amend, but they are a picture of the US one hundred years ago when there were little worker rights and industry was totally irresponsible about environmental stewardship.
The pharmaceutical industry is grossly responsible for increased health care costs and marketing products that are unhealthy and sometimes death threatening to people’s health. For example poor mothers in Harlem are encouraged to buy sugar dense Similac baby formula by Abbott Labs, one of the major pharmaceutical companies, instead of breast feeding which has been proven to be much healthier for child development. Those infants ingesting Similac instead of mother breast milk will have a greater degree of obesity sometimes resulting in diabetes and heart disease. Breast milk is also more beneficial for proper brain development. Do we want to have an increased population of learning disabled children and adults? Society will pay for the greed of Abbott Labs dearly with increased health care costs. Doctors are given perks such as free vacations, entertainment tickets, and gourmet restaurant meals in order to encourage and prescribe drugs and products for patients that are destructive and not cost effective. Without proper regulations this capitalistic delivery system for drugs is destructive to society.
The not for profit health care model of the Kaiser Permanente system is out pacing all other private systems. Their quality of care and patient satisfaction has greatly improved in the last ten years and has become a benchmark model for many private for profit systems. The day is coming when the greedy Wall Street system and doctors earning one half million dollars or more per year will be coming to an end. The government needs to subsidize medical education so that we can attract bright medical school candidates who will easily work for $250,000 per year, as doctors do at Kaiser. Private for profit insurance providers and people wanting to go into medicine for big dollars will go by the wayside.
Capitalism without long term planning, reasonable oversight and policing in certain industries such as healthcare, energy, food, transportation, finance, consumer products and services will not properly serve the needs of society. Government absent crony capitalism is an unfortunate ingredient that is necessary to foster and protect the needs of society. Public banks serve the entirety of nation state, while private banks only serve the stockholders. There is plenty of room in our economy for the capitalistic delivery of goods and services, but some essentials such as health care insurance, basic housing, some transportation, utilities, and police and fire protection are best delivered by the quasi private/public sector.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Quotes by Harvey Rifkin
"It is not the big powerful people that I fear most; but the many ignorant childlike fearful masses who find safety in delusion, and who are so easily led like sheep, while allowing themselves to be deceived by government propaganda and religion"
"My ultimate loyalty is to Truth, not Nations, Political Parties, or Religions"
"One man’s conquering hero is another man’s imperialistic barbarian"
"Institutions of Religion, Family, Government, Loyalty, and Finance are like drinking water; they should be consistently tested and questioned so that the users are not infected or poisoned"
"G.O.D= Gold/Guns, Oil, Drugs"
"Love your Capitalism, but don't like some of your Capitalists”
“Being cheap is not putting oil in your car; being frugal or thrifty is buying the best oil at the lowest price and putting it into your car”
“Buy when the fearful are selling, and sell when the greedy are buying”
“No one can make you angry, happy, or defensive; the choice is totally in your hands”
“There was never a good war”
“The apes must be really shaking their heads realizing that they evolved into such a destructive and evil animal as humans”
“Boundaries without flexibility are like valves that cannot be opened or closed”
“My best course of action for positive change is to look at me first, not them”.
“Pride in ones work and ethics is a virtue, pride that supports the ego and lack of clear self introspection is a disease”
"My ultimate loyalty is to Truth, not Nations, Political Parties, or Religions"
"One man’s conquering hero is another man’s imperialistic barbarian"
"Institutions of Religion, Family, Government, Loyalty, and Finance are like drinking water; they should be consistently tested and questioned so that the users are not infected or poisoned"
"G.O.D= Gold/Guns, Oil, Drugs"
"Love your Capitalism, but don't like some of your Capitalists”
“Being cheap is not putting oil in your car; being frugal or thrifty is buying the best oil at the lowest price and putting it into your car”
“Buy when the fearful are selling, and sell when the greedy are buying”
“No one can make you angry, happy, or defensive; the choice is totally in your hands”
“There was never a good war”
“The apes must be really shaking their heads realizing that they evolved into such a destructive and evil animal as humans”
“Boundaries without flexibility are like valves that cannot be opened or closed”
“My best course of action for positive change is to look at me first, not them”.
“Pride in ones work and ethics is a virtue, pride that supports the ego and lack of clear self introspection is a disease”
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
America: A land of dispirit misconceptions and hypocritical contradictions
Unfortunately many times, “We do not walk the talk”. It is disappointing that in America, as in many developed nations, we beat our chest with nationalistic hubris and arrogance, but do not deliver the goods. We propagate many myths through a partnership of religious institutions, major corporations, government and mass media to dumb down our population and to create a euphoric atmosphere of disinformation and mass delusion.
Some folks will say I am negative and down on America, to the contrary I want to realistically identify the short falls and frame alternatives to make our nation stronger in order to better serve the majority of our population. When less than one percent of our population holds almost one half the wealth and receives forty percent of the income then we are not a very balanced nation, but an Oligarchy controlled by a few elites. There is for the most part justice and leniency, superior healthcare, palatial housing, gourmet nutrition, access to opportunity, quality education, and immunity from hazardous military service, and quality of life for those of means and position. When our presidents arrogantly circumvent congressional approval, and take us into preemptive wars there is a blatant disregard for our Constitution and our moral standing as a nation. The following are examples of how our “Actions” as a nation does not join in concert with our “Speak”:
Over one eighth of our citizenry live below the poverty line. Programs for education, environmental stewardship, aid to dependent children, health care and other human need programs are being cut in the midst of high corporate profitability and tax avoidance. Corporate and Wall Street profits, in the midst of a recovering economic recession are at an all time high. The US enjoys one of the lowest income tax rates in the developed world. The biggest corporations such as GE, B of A, Chevron, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, etc paid no corporate taxes, but shifted their US tax liabilities through foreign subsidiaries. The corporations are not to blame; it is our system that allows corporate person hood that is to blame.
Germany and Japan’s manufacturing account for 21% of their GDP, but in contrast the US ratio is only 13%. All three countries are developed nations. The US actually imports to a greater degree than Germany and Japan. The US actually produces some its oil and most of its gas, which means less dependency on energy importation, but our balance of payments is much greater. Germany and Japan have embraced alternative energy to a much greater degree than the US. The major difference for a greater degree of export/import balance by Japan and Germany is their dedication to quality education, skill building, manufacturing innovation, product innovation, and quality control. For example the US imports a great deal of hi-tech manufacturing and medical equipment that should be produced in our country.
The cost of public university education and tuition has vastly increased greatly in part, because our priorities for imperialistic defense and incarceration of non violent drug offenders, is more important than having a skilled and professional work force.
We like to believe that we are land of the best freedoms and fairest democratic systems, but in reality specifically with the invocation of the Patriot Act many of our First and Fourth Amendment rights are in jeopardy.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has recently reported that there are over 1,000 hate groups in America. If we are a land of fairness and justice why have these hate groups increased by 20% over the last five years? Is there such a degree of fear, ignorance, and misunderstanding in our country that these dangerous divisive groups continue to grow?
“Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through”. There is a degradation of justice in our Supreme Court system. A past example of injustice was the Bush/Gore voting fiasco, but a present example is the treatment of John Thompson. “Thompson” was wrongly convicted of murder and spent 14 unnecessary years on death row. He won a $14 million judgment against the state where he was convicted. Justice Thomas of the conservative Supreme Court set aside the award completely, saying that this was just an aberration. Thompson received nothing and was just written off entirely. The Thompson case is an example of when the defending party is a large corporation or a government entity, that the “Little Guy” has little chance of receiving justice. Justices Scalia, Alito, Roberts, Thomas are owned by the major corporate and government interests.
Defense spending, plain and simple, is socialism for the protection of international industrialists and bankers. Other than jobs that have been created in defense industries and some educational benefits, the resources that have been wasted on death and destruction could have been better spent creating jobs in beneficial technology, education, health care, the arts, alternative energy, and improving public transportation and infrastructure. The working class bears the negative brunt of defense through their being predominantly serving on the front lines and having to pay one half of their taxes toward war related expenditures.
Our Constitution states that we as individuals should have the freedom to practice the religion of our choosing. We should also have the freedom to be non-observant, overtly Atheist or Agnostic. Prayer and God are religious based concepts that have no place in our public schools, military regimen, public lands, or on our money. If someone in the military chooses to be observant they should have that right. Those who are not religious should not feel coerced or ostracized, because they chose to be non-observant.
Our US leaders preach using such words as, “Freedom, Democracy, Human Rights, and Liberation”, but in reality the US has been, directly or indirectly, one of the biggest supporters and financiers of Fascist dictators. A short list includes: Marcos, Franco, Pinochet, Suharto, Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussein, Mubarak, and even Hitler through our multi-national corporations and banking arms. True capitalism is created by an atmosphere of unfettered competition, regulation against fraud and deceit, and allowing enterprises that are not efficient or solvent to go out of business.
Whenever a corporation gets a tax break or subsidy it is rationalized as a job creator. In reality jobs are created when there is demand or where the least expensive labor can be procured. When help is given to the needy, our educational system, the arts to improve our quality of life, or other non-corporate entities it is demonized as welfare. I dollar in the hands of the poor is always spent immediately in the US to create purchasing demand and more jobs. A dollar in the hands of the wealthy does not necessarily go to create jobs in the US. Many times a dollar in the hands of the wealthy will go to another country or just sit idle producing no purchasing demand.
Support for alternative, not for profit media sources is essential to our democracy and national enlightenment. Why is that when certain human rights organizations and non-commercial media sources report sordid behavior by certain public and private groups that they are demonized as being Left Wing? Is it because they are reporting painful truths that reveal the bad behavior of certain individuals or groups?
How can we expect to have a nation of transparent politicians who are forthright and act with ethics and morality if we as the electorate allow ourselves to support dispirit interests and delude ourselves as to the destructive actions of our countries leaders and populace.
At the end of the day I would like to say that I am proud of the behavior of my government officials including all branches of government, but unfortunately I cannot. I find it difficult knowing that Supreme Court justices, congress people, and our commanders in chief can be bought off by the corporate elite and greedy powerful financiers.
Some folks will say I am negative and down on America, to the contrary I want to realistically identify the short falls and frame alternatives to make our nation stronger in order to better serve the majority of our population. When less than one percent of our population holds almost one half the wealth and receives forty percent of the income then we are not a very balanced nation, but an Oligarchy controlled by a few elites. There is for the most part justice and leniency, superior healthcare, palatial housing, gourmet nutrition, access to opportunity, quality education, and immunity from hazardous military service, and quality of life for those of means and position. When our presidents arrogantly circumvent congressional approval, and take us into preemptive wars there is a blatant disregard for our Constitution and our moral standing as a nation. The following are examples of how our “Actions” as a nation does not join in concert with our “Speak”:
Over one eighth of our citizenry live below the poverty line. Programs for education, environmental stewardship, aid to dependent children, health care and other human need programs are being cut in the midst of high corporate profitability and tax avoidance. Corporate and Wall Street profits, in the midst of a recovering economic recession are at an all time high. The US enjoys one of the lowest income tax rates in the developed world. The biggest corporations such as GE, B of A, Chevron, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, etc paid no corporate taxes, but shifted their US tax liabilities through foreign subsidiaries. The corporations are not to blame; it is our system that allows corporate person hood that is to blame.
Germany and Japan’s manufacturing account for 21% of their GDP, but in contrast the US ratio is only 13%. All three countries are developed nations. The US actually imports to a greater degree than Germany and Japan. The US actually produces some its oil and most of its gas, which means less dependency on energy importation, but our balance of payments is much greater. Germany and Japan have embraced alternative energy to a much greater degree than the US. The major difference for a greater degree of export/import balance by Japan and Germany is their dedication to quality education, skill building, manufacturing innovation, product innovation, and quality control. For example the US imports a great deal of hi-tech manufacturing and medical equipment that should be produced in our country.
The cost of public university education and tuition has vastly increased greatly in part, because our priorities for imperialistic defense and incarceration of non violent drug offenders, is more important than having a skilled and professional work force.
We like to believe that we are land of the best freedoms and fairest democratic systems, but in reality specifically with the invocation of the Patriot Act many of our First and Fourth Amendment rights are in jeopardy.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has recently reported that there are over 1,000 hate groups in America. If we are a land of fairness and justice why have these hate groups increased by 20% over the last five years? Is there such a degree of fear, ignorance, and misunderstanding in our country that these dangerous divisive groups continue to grow?
“Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through”. There is a degradation of justice in our Supreme Court system. A past example of injustice was the Bush/Gore voting fiasco, but a present example is the treatment of John Thompson. “Thompson” was wrongly convicted of murder and spent 14 unnecessary years on death row. He won a $14 million judgment against the state where he was convicted. Justice Thomas of the conservative Supreme Court set aside the award completely, saying that this was just an aberration. Thompson received nothing and was just written off entirely. The Thompson case is an example of when the defending party is a large corporation or a government entity, that the “Little Guy” has little chance of receiving justice. Justices Scalia, Alito, Roberts, Thomas are owned by the major corporate and government interests.
Defense spending, plain and simple, is socialism for the protection of international industrialists and bankers. Other than jobs that have been created in defense industries and some educational benefits, the resources that have been wasted on death and destruction could have been better spent creating jobs in beneficial technology, education, health care, the arts, alternative energy, and improving public transportation and infrastructure. The working class bears the negative brunt of defense through their being predominantly serving on the front lines and having to pay one half of their taxes toward war related expenditures.
Our Constitution states that we as individuals should have the freedom to practice the religion of our choosing. We should also have the freedom to be non-observant, overtly Atheist or Agnostic. Prayer and God are religious based concepts that have no place in our public schools, military regimen, public lands, or on our money. If someone in the military chooses to be observant they should have that right. Those who are not religious should not feel coerced or ostracized, because they chose to be non-observant.
Our US leaders preach using such words as, “Freedom, Democracy, Human Rights, and Liberation”, but in reality the US has been, directly or indirectly, one of the biggest supporters and financiers of Fascist dictators. A short list includes: Marcos, Franco, Pinochet, Suharto, Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussein, Mubarak, and even Hitler through our multi-national corporations and banking arms. True capitalism is created by an atmosphere of unfettered competition, regulation against fraud and deceit, and allowing enterprises that are not efficient or solvent to go out of business.
Whenever a corporation gets a tax break or subsidy it is rationalized as a job creator. In reality jobs are created when there is demand or where the least expensive labor can be procured. When help is given to the needy, our educational system, the arts to improve our quality of life, or other non-corporate entities it is demonized as welfare. I dollar in the hands of the poor is always spent immediately in the US to create purchasing demand and more jobs. A dollar in the hands of the wealthy does not necessarily go to create jobs in the US. Many times a dollar in the hands of the wealthy will go to another country or just sit idle producing no purchasing demand.
Support for alternative, not for profit media sources is essential to our democracy and national enlightenment. Why is that when certain human rights organizations and non-commercial media sources report sordid behavior by certain public and private groups that they are demonized as being Left Wing? Is it because they are reporting painful truths that reveal the bad behavior of certain individuals or groups?
How can we expect to have a nation of transparent politicians who are forthright and act with ethics and morality if we as the electorate allow ourselves to support dispirit interests and delude ourselves as to the destructive actions of our countries leaders and populace.
At the end of the day I would like to say that I am proud of the behavior of my government officials including all branches of government, but unfortunately I cannot. I find it difficult knowing that Supreme Court justices, congress people, and our commanders in chief can be bought off by the corporate elite and greedy powerful financiers.
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