Counter the Koch Billions…Protect Social Security

Best I can figure out is that these the Koch Brothers want to totally weaken our government and the American middle class so their greed can ran rampant over the country. It is very scary to me.

This video is narrated by Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the few politician fighting for the American people and all that is good and right with this nation.

 

The Facts:

  •  Social Security belongs to you—the workers who contribute to it—not the politicians in Washington.
  •  Social Security will never go bankrupt. Its major source of income comes from the contributions of workers and employers; as long as there are workers, Social Security will have income.  Closing tax loopholes for wealthy individuals will increase the long term financial health of the program, and protect it for decades to come.
  • Raising the retirement age is a terrible idea and a large benefit cut. If you were claiming benefits as a 66 year-old retired worker and the full retirement age was changed from 66, where it is today, to 69 your benefits would be cut 20 percent. A typical benefit would drop from $14,000 a year to $11,200 a year.
  • Privatizing Social Security would be a disaster.  Social Security is so valuable because it provides a guaranteed benefit. Privatizing Social Security would remove this guarantee and have people gamble their retirement savings in the casinos of Wall Street. If the recent financial crisis taught us anything, Wall Street is the last place where our money is safe.

For more information, check out the Strengthen Social Security Campaign.

Gee Whiz…what do you say to this?

As they say, “A rose is a rose, not matter what you call it.”

This picture tells you all you need to know about the ignorance that is the Tea Party… especially at the grass roots level.  The Tea Party is not really a “grass roots” movement.  It is fed and led and by several cynical, greedy individuals working in the background.

Chicken at a Trillion Miles per Hour

When I was around 13 I found myself in a vehicle with a gentleman with a serious drinking problem.  This particular day he was far past intoxicated into stumbling drunk.  At one point he did ask me to drive.  However, having never driven anything more than a bicycle up until that point and being scared to death I unwisely declined.  In retrospect taking the keys away from him and being stranded would have been the better option.

Shortly thereafter I found myself an observer in a game chicken at 70 miles per hour.  From comments spewing from this individual’s mouth, I do not think staying alive was high on his list of priorities.  Someone once said that God watches out for fools and drunks, and there was a double dose going on that day.  No one was injured, no accident ensued, and the destination was arrived at.

Currently in Washington what is transpiring is a game of chicken Continue reading “Chicken at a Trillion Miles per Hour”

Hard Times Are Here Again

Words and Music by Tom Paxton

Some how this song seems so appropriate for the times I am afraid are a-coming.

Hard times are here again.
Folks are hunkerin’ down.
All the lost and lonely men,
Slowly leaving town.
Travelling by their thumbs,
Some are ridin’ blind,
Hoping things are better somewhere,
Somewhere down the line.

Don’t you worry Lucy, love.
See your mama through.
Soon as daddy gets his job,
He’s gonna send for you.

Hard times are here again.
All the wise old men,
Told us there was no way we’d have,
Times like these again.
We gave them all the power.
Gave them our belief.
We listened and we trusted,
And we landed on relief. Continue reading “Hard Times Are Here Again”

A Must Read

“If corporations and households taking in $1 million or more in income each year were now paying taxes at the same annual rates as they did back in 1961, the IPS researchers found, the federal treasury would be collecting an additional $716 billion a year… the federal debt to investors would almost totally vanish over the next decade.”

From an article by Sam Pizzigati — Plutocracy: If Corporations and the Rich Paid 1960s-Level Taxes, the Debt Would Vanish

When everyone has a piece of the pie, you may have seconds. To whom more is given, more is expected. American corporations need to remember that they need to dance with the one that brought them, the US of A.

Our current political/economic crisis is not that hard a problem to solve.  We as a collective group should not let greed rule the day.  We are all in this together, lets act like it.  The American dream should not, must not include la noblesse.  Keep your Marquis and Vicomte where they belong, to history.

Metaphor (Simile??) of the Decade

“Thankfully, for the rest of us, Robertson’s many past predictions of our collective demise were so inane they might as well have been announced on an aircraft carrier with a “Mission Accomplished” banner in the background.”

From the AlterNet.org article For God’s Sake: The Idiocy of “Divine Inspiration” In Politics

The Economy Explained in 135 Seconds

This is video from MoveOn.org. It features former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who IMHO is one best economists we have in the public forum. The other one I like is Paul Krugman. Both are so dead on that it is scary. Unfortunately, money speaks louder than common sense.

Circumcision 2011 – Between a C*#k and a Hard Place

Since we have been going on about uncircumcised tally whackers… John Stewart of the Daily Show is adding to the fun.

New Republican Ad for 2012

Economic Lesson in Hip-Hop

A fictional hip-hop battle over economics between Lord Keynes and Friedrich Hayek.

ENJOY!

Hip-Hop Ecomonic Lesson