The Soul of America

In America today, we have the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country on earth, and more inequality than at any time period since 1928. The top 1 percent owns 42 percent of the financial wealth of the nation, while, incredibly, the bottom 60 percent own only 2.3 percent. One family, the Walton family of Wal-Mart, owns more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of Americans. In terms of income distribution in 2010, the last study done on this issue, the top 1 percent earned 93 percent of all new income while the bottom 99 percent shared the remaining 7 percent.
~ Senator Bernie Sanders

Bernie wants things to be more fair. So do I. Lets all talk to our Congressmembers and say this is NOT the American dream. We need an economy that works for all or at least most of us. Speak up. Please.
(For the whole article, see The Soul of America on CommonDreams.org.)

PROOF: Romney Doesn't Know How to Create US Jobs!!

This is an unpaid political ad re Romney Economics:

He wrecked Massachusetts and now he wants to wreck the USA!! WTF!

Mitt Romney ran for governor of Massachusetts promising more jobs, less debt, and smaller government. Here’s what Massachusetts got instead:

• Jobs: 47th out of 50 states in job creation
• Taxes and fees: Increased by $750 million per year
• Long-term debt: Increased more than $2.6 billion
• Outsourcing: State jobs outsourced overseas
• Manufacturing: Jobs declined at twice the national rate

Romney Economics didn't work then, and won't work now.

Thom Hartmann & Robert Reich: Ransom Paid...

Thom Hartmann elicits more insight from Robert Reich on President Obama and the GOP debt ceiling fiasco.

Olbermann Speaks to Obama for Me

Keith Olbermann speaks for me in his Tuesday night comment. That is it in a nutshell but I have also left this msg at WhiteHouse.gov/contact:

NO DEAL -- I do NOT want a tax decrease at the expense of going so far into debt. I want to fund my and everyone's social security directly. I am tired of giving more and more money to people who do NOT need it. (Especially when we have to BORROW to give it to them, thanks to these terrible wars you still support.) Your capitulation to the GOP Bush tax extension demands is outrageous. We're getting too little for too much.

STOP this DEAL NOW!!

Call your Congressional Representative and Senators and tell them that you agree with Keith. The Congressional switchboard number is 202-224-3121.

(And why doesn't the President save his sarcasm for the Republicans?)

Chris Hayes: Strategic Mortgage Defaults - contracts are for...

Great reporting from The Nation's Chris L. Hayes and reason for follow-up: Wealthy people strategically walk away from underwater mortgages [when a homeowner owes more than the place is worth] but big banks want to force the rest of us to sink or swim in deep water and pay up so they can make money on OUR backs. "Contracts are for 'little people'." (When Chris is there, I don't miss Rachel Maddow quite so much. He does great stuff!)

Rev. Lawson on Today's Economic Crisis

Laura Flanders of GritTV and Firedog Lake did an excellent interview of Civil Rights great Rev. James Lawson at the March on Wall Street this past Saturday. He contends that there is a link between plantation capitalism and our current economic crisis.

Tasini: We Have Plenty of Money. The Rich are Killing Us

Jonathan Tasini posted an excellent article with a terrific related memo at WorkingLife.org

This is one of those moments when I feel like I live in la-la land. It's possible that I am insane, stark-raving mad and delusional. Either that or there is a staggering moral obscenity underway in our country. We have plenty of money to fund what needs to be done--but our political leaders, on both sides of the aisle, seem unwilling to go where the money is: the rich. I know where Republicans stand on this issue. But, where in the hell is the Democratic Party? MORE

In essence, Jonathan backs up Thom Hartmann's contention that we should roll back the REAGAN tax cuts. "We have plenty of money," indeed. And as Jonathan adds, "We can either have the rich pay—or borrow from the Chinese. It’s a choice." It is an obvious choice. Please spread this message and hope others are smart enough to join in using the frame, "We have plenty of money." Obama has a big road ahead and it is up to us to limit the roadblocks.

Wealth in America: the Hard Facts

"Wealth has become even more concentrated during the Bush years. Today, the richest one percent of Americans has 22 percent of all income and about 40 percent of all wealth. This is the biggest concentration of income and wealth since 1928. In 2005, average CEO pay was 369 times that of the average worker, compared with 131 times in 1993 and 36 times in 1976. At the pinnacle of America’s economic pyramid, the nation’s 400 billionaires own 1.25 trillion dollars in total net worth - the same amount as the 56 million American families at the bottom half of wealth distribution." MORE

Great and eye-opening statistics quoted by Peter Dreier in his essay Bush's Class Warfare posted at CommonDreams.org and at Huffington Post. Dreier refers to this To-Read book by Robert Kuttner: The Squandering of America.