Day: September 10, 2010

The Congressional Budget Office: Growing Inequality Of Wealth Since 1979!

The Congressional Budget Office has released research that shows the tremendous inequality of wealth that has occurred since 1979, coinciding with the Reagan tax cuts of the 1980s and the Bush II tax cuts of the 2000s!

38.7 percent of the income growth went to the top one percent, with 15.6 percent going to the next four percent, and 9.4 percent to the next five percent! That means that 64 percent of the income growth went to the top ten percent of the American population, based upon income! ๐Ÿ™

The bottom 90 percent received the remaining 36 percent of the income growth, with the 80-90 percentile gaining 11.5 percent, meaning a grand total of 75 percent of all income growth was among the top 20 percent of earners! ๐Ÿ™

Is there any way that, in a country which promotes “equality of opportunity” and a so called “level playing field”, we can justify such outrageous inequities, and feel that it is wrong to expect those most successful to contribute more to the betterment of American society through higher taxation rates? ๐Ÿ™

How much wealth and materialism is too much, and how much lack of concern for those less fortunate can a democracy sustain, without wondering about the so called “American Dream” being phony and just a myth? ๐Ÿ™

If the average American, particularly those in the bottom 80 percent fully understood what has been going on in the past 30 years, they would refuse to back a party which promotes MORE inequity and MORE greed and MORE materialism for the wealthy! ๐Ÿ™

The problem again is ignorance is NOT bliss, but rather destructive of the social order and the future economic stability of the United States! ๐Ÿ™

Tax Cuts For The Wealthy NOT Favored, According To Gallup Poll! So Why Are Republicans Favored To Gain Control In Midterm Elections?

It is odd that the Gallup polls indicate a likely advantage in the midterm elections toward the Republican Party, at the same time that their polls demonstrate that Americans do NOT want the Bush tax cuts, which include big cuts for the wealthy, to continue beyond their expiration date in December 2010!

44 percent agree with President Barack Obama and the Democrats that the top two percent of the population, who make more than $250,000 should pay more taxes, that they do not pay enough, and that major social programs, including Social Security, need the extra tax collection from the wealthy to make them function!

Only 37 percent agree with the GOP view on taxes, which would raise the deficit by another $700 billion at a time when the Republican Party calls for cutting spending dramatically in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s!

So the GOP is saying give more money back to the rich, even though that will not promote financial stability, will cause a great increase in the national debt which the GOP condemns, and will further cause a stratification of the social classes in America, already more stratified than Great Britain! ๐Ÿ™

The issue hard to understand in the Gallup polls is how could more Americans want to see taxes increased on the wealthy, and yet seem to be ready to elect Republicans to control of Congress, or at least the House of Representatives! ๐Ÿ™

It seems to defy common sense that the American people could support the Obama and Democratic view on taxes, and yet wish to elect Republicans! It indicates lack of enthusiasm on the part of Democrats, and very possibly, total ignorance of what political parties are all about by many Americans! ๐Ÿ™

It would indeed be a sad state of affairs if the American people, at least by a plurality, want Democratic ideas and end up with a GOP majority in Congress through ignorance and a lack of participation in the electoral process! ๐Ÿ™

It is a strong indication of the dire need to educate the American people on the facts and the realities of political debates and issues, instead of utilizing fear and prejudice and myths to manipulate the voters! ๐Ÿ™

The Republican And Conservative Exploitation Of September 11 :(

On the eve of the 9th anniversary of the most horrific day in American history since Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it is shocking to recognize how the Republican leadership and conservative talk show hosts have utilized September 11 to divide this country by promoting hate, hysteria, and panic on a level WORSE than Joseph McCarthy and his Republican and conservative backers stirred anti Communist “witch hunts” during the late 1940s and early 1950s!

There is nothing that these despicable public figures will not do to promote their agenda, including comparing Pastor Terry Jones’s threat to burn Korans with the Islamic interfaith center that is planned for two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City! The former is designed to promote hate and bloodshed, while the latter’s purpose is to promote interfaith understanding and dialogue!

It is not too much for Newt Gingrich, John Boehner, and Sarah Palin, among others, to exploit this comparison, but also Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck find no problem in exploiting September 11 for financial gain, by holding a gathering in Anchorage, Alaska with highly expensive tickets to be bought on Ticketmaster, and selling liquor as well, to commemorate that fateful day! Any such event should not have a ticket charge, and liquor being served is totally against the somber nature of the event!

But Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck have no shame and no limits to their hypocrisy, as also John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, and many others, including the many Republican leaders who chose to remain silent and avoid taking a stand for principle, on the evil of Pastor Terry Jones and the principle of religious freedom and diversity represented by the interfaith plans near Ground Zero!

Interesting Coincidence: Rush Limbaugh And Pastor Terry Jones Were Missouri High School Classmates And Graduates Of Class Of 1969!

What an amazing occurrence to discover that talk show host Rush Limbaugh and Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, who has created a stir with his threat to burn Korans on September 11, are classmates and graduates of the same high school in Missouri in the year 1969!

Both are a menace to America, and in many ways, Limbaugh has, by his rhetoric, encouraged wing nuts like Pastor Jones, who has managed by his behavior to hold American foreign policy and its war effort as hostages in his insane need to draw attention to himself! ๐Ÿ™

Anyone who is sane can see that Jones is a hateful, sick charlatan, the worst image possible of a Christian pastor! This man was involved in scandal and financial irregularity in a church in Germany that he headed in the 1980s!

Is it really a surprise that he is an obvious crook and certainly went into a career of being a pastor to avoid taxes, a favorite tactic of so called “religious” people who peddle hate and division by becoming pastors without any, or limited, religious training, gain ignorant followers, and meanwhile manage to gain a tax advantage because of their creation of churches, which are often just storefront businesses to raise money! ๐Ÿ™

This man not only has no concern for the damage he is doing to America, but also peddles hate of gays, another favored method of some so called “pastors” who claim to be following Jesus Christ, but totally distort his message of peace and tolerance and harmony!

The right wing talk show hosts and Fox News Channel helped to create this monster by their hateful rhetoric against Muslims, and they have made our national security much more a problem for the President, because they preach a war against Islam, instead of against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, who are the enemy, not one billion Muslims around the world!