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Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

Contrary to what the corporate media wants us to believe, Hispanics were not responsible for President Obama’s victory over Republican candidate Mitt the Twit Romney in the 2012 presidential election. A new study shows African-Americans made the difference because they had a higher turnout than ever before. Had they voted in 2012 with the same turnout as they did in 2004, our president would be Mitt the Twit, regardless of how Latinos voted.

For example, Obama’s victory in Ohio was almost entirely attributable to historic levels of black turnout in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Toledo. The same is true in North Carolina and Virginia. African-American voter turnout represented 13 percent of voters, compared to 11 percent in 2004.

Had African-Americans not turned out in such record numbers, Romney would’ve won even though eligible white turnout was lower in 2012 than what it was in 2004.

Why was white turnout low? Perhaps it’s because Romney is a Mormon, or perhaps white Republicans didn’t want to vote for a guy’s whose platform called for more failed tax cuts for the rich, exporting more jobs, as well as cutting social security, medicare and medicaid for the 99 percent in order to give those tax cuts to the rich. People are not so easy to fool anymore. Such a platform is more and more becoming a recipe for lost causes.

Obama also suffered a loss of white voters. It’s possible that people have discovered he’s some kind of indentured servant to Wall Street since he does their bidding. Like Mitt, he wants to cut social security, medicare and medicaid, and he keeps signing legislation to ship our jobs overseas, as well as signing other legislation that redistributes income from the 99 to the 1 percent.

Latinos played a role in Obama’s victory, but that role has largely been overstated. That’s because there are millions of undocumented Latinos, and they cannot vote. Another factor is the higher percentage of Latinos who are too young to vote. Obama already had California before the election. An increasing Latino population played no role in that victory, and this may be true in the foreseeable future.

As Nate Cohn of the New Republic magazine reported, “African American turnout could be more important to the outcome of the 2016 election than the ability of Republicans to rekindle their support among Latino voters. A 10 point shift among Latino voters toward the GOP is worth a net 1.5 million votes nationally—even if the Latino share of the electorate increases by another 2 percentage points. But between 3 and 4 million new black voters joined the electorate over the last two cycles, and they voted for Democrats in overwhelming numbers. If black turnout returns to 11 percent of the electorate and the next Democratic candidate only wins 90 percent of the black vote, there’s room for a shift of a net 4 million votes in the GOP’s direction. Whether those 4 million voters stay home or return” …to the Republicans “from eight years ago could easily decide a close presidential election, especially in states like Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Florida.”

This suggests that Republican support for some kind of amnesty for undocumented immigrants is suicidal since historically more Latinos will vote for Democrats than Republicans. So why would Republicans want to commit political party suicide? Because Wall Street most likely ordered them to support comprehensive immigration reform.

Why would Wall Street want that? Because it will redistribute hundreds of billions of dollars from the 99 to the 1 percent. Immigration reform will push real wages down for years, probably for more than a decade (like the last time there was amnesty), and the difference between the old higher wages and the new lower wages will travel into the pockets of the 1 percent via higher corporate profits, rising dividends and surging share and bond prices. Add to this something more sinister.

One of the components of immigration reform is that undocumented immigrants will need to pay back taxes. That money, as well as the interest, will be redistributed to Wall Street investment firms, as well the bondholders of the 1 percent. Check out the following link for an explanation of how that will be. Little known Economic Facts About Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Part 2.

By the way, the Democratic Party is also in on Wall Street’s scam against the American people, and they’re in this scheme to make undocumented immigrants become financial indentured servants, as well.

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The collapse of the Rana Plaza building last week in Bangladesh, which housed five clothing factories, is the deadliest disaster in the history of the garment industry, with the death toll likely to keep rising as work crews now use heavy machinery to clear debris from some of the most devastated sections of the building. Over 500 bodies have been pulled out from the collapsed eight story building. A few hours after the 500th body was pulled from the rubble, Bangladesh’s finance minister said the disaster wasn’t a big deal. One has to wonder whose payroll he’s on.

A day before the collapse, the engineer that designed the building tried to have it closed before it collapsed because he decided his engineering was not safe. The mayor who approved the erection of the building has been arrested by Bangladesh authorities.

The collapse, of course, is part of the race to the bottom, except for the 1 percent, who intend to get richer by sucking everybody else dry, which also means lowering safety and environmental standards.

US retailers such as Walmart push work overseas in their quest for cheaper and cheaper labor. Walmart is among those companies that had garments made at the Rana Plaza building. Others include Sears and a Sean Combs fashion line. Some sources are reporting that JC Penney and the Gap also had clothes made there.

The collapse of the Rana Plaza Building

“Deaths in modern garment factories tend to be different from plane crashes or many other catastrophic traumas in the slow-motion extravagance of their pain. For minutes, or even hours, workers’ lungs fill up with smoke. For days, even a week, workers struggle to survive under rubble until someone digs them out.”

For example, a mother in a rural village got a call from her son during a garment fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 117 died in that fire in 2012 at a factory called Tazreen.

“Mom,” he’d said, “there is a fire in the factory. I’m trying my best to escape, but smoke is filling my lungs.”

“Run to the stairs!” his mother told him. “Run to the window, and I’ll hop on a bus to come and get you.”

Ten minutes later, he called again. The stairs were jammed by a stampede. “Mom, I’m trying my best. There is no way I can get out.”

“Go to the toilet,” his mother told him, “and run the water so that it clears the smoke and you can breathe.”

The son said, “O.K., I’m doing that.” He tried this, without luck, then returned to the factory floor, where his colleagues’ bodies were piling up in the dark.

Finally, he called home once more. This time, he rang with an apology.

“Mom,” he cried, “it will be my last call—I’m dying for sure. I am sorry. I tried my best. I cannot breathe.” He wanted to convey a message. “I’m removing my shirt from my body, and I will tie it to my waist, so you can find me.” So he ripped off his shirt, made a knot around his torso, and collapsed so as to be found the next day by his mother.”

The body bags of the Tazreen fire.

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Who ruined the US Economy?

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The Legislature of Maine on Tuesday joined twelve other states that have called on Congress to overturn the controversial Citizens United ruling, which unleashed an unprecedented level of political spending.

“United States Supreme Court rulings, beginning with Buckley v. Valeo and continuing through Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and others, disproportionately elevate the role of wealthy special interests in elections and diminish the voices and influence of ordinary Americans,” a symbolic resolution approved by the Maine legislature said.

The resolution was approved by a 25-9 vote in the state’s Senate and a 111-31 vote in the state’s House.

The resolution calls on Congress to approve an amendment to the U.S. Constitution “that would reaffirm the power of citizens through their government to regulate the raising and spending of money in elections.”

Click the link below for the full story from Rawstory.com.

maine-calls-on-congress-to-overturn-citizens-united-ruling–Rawstory.com

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Tens of thousands in May Day Protests

May day protests occurred all over the world today. Above, workers and protesters hold a huge banner march to the government office during a May Day rally in Hong Kong, Wednesday. Hundreds of workers, local labor right groups, and striking dockworkers join the annual rally to demand better wages and working conditions.

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Torture is all about corporate profits for the 1 percent. It’s a big welfare program for the rich. Much of the US torture taking place around the world is under the direction of US corporations, which are called contractors, which is short for mercenaries. In fact, the torture corporations “that supplied the interrogators and interpreters” and who ordered the torture of prisoners, continue “to reap billions in federal contracts” and have seen “their stock prices rise.” In a nut shell, that’s what torture is all about. Profits before people, and Obama knows all of this.

The US Constitution expressly uses the word “persons.” It doesn’t use the word “citizen” in either its singular or plural meaning. Yet somehow the Koch Brothers wing of the US Supreme Court has ruled that if the US government says you’re a suspect in terror, then it can torture you, regardless if you’re a person. Why? Because it’s profitable and an income redistribution scam from the 99 to the 1 percent.

The only redress victims of US corporate torture have is in civil courts. “Recently, in a case called Al-Quraishi v. Nakhla, filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), 71 survivors of US torture received a $5.28 million settlement – the first time a private military contractor has been held accountable in any fashion for its role in torture. Another CCR case, Al Shimari v. CACI, filed on behalf of four Abu Ghraib survivors of torture, is currently proceeding in federal court. With the discovery phase of the litigation completed, Al Shimari may mark the first time a case against a private military contractor for torture goes to trial.”

Check out the story in the link below.

Seeking Corporate Accountability for Crimes at Abu Ghraib — Truthout.org

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Why Wall Street, Rush Limbaugh, the Republican Party, Most Democrats and the Koch Brothers Want to Eliminate Organized Labor

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Did Mark Twain Say It Best?

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Our tax systems has been broken by the corrupt US government, which is currently owned by the 1 percent.

“Conservatives like to point out that the richest Americans’ federal tax payments make up a large portion of total receipts. This is true, as well it should be in any tax system that is progressive — that is, a system that taxes the affluent at higher rates than those of modest means. It’s also true that as the wealthiest Americans’ incomes have skyrocketed in recent years, their total tax payments have grown. This would be so even if we had a single flat income-tax rate across the board.”

What should shock and outrage us is that as the top 1 percent has grown extremely rich, via redistributing income from the 99 percent, the effective tax rates they pay have markedly decreased. Our tax system is much less progressive than it was for much of the 20th century. The top marginal income tax rate peaked at 94 percent during World War II and remained at 70 percent through the 1960s and 1970s; it is now 39.6 percent. Tax fairness has gotten much worse in the 30 years since Ronald Reagan lead the revolution of the 1 percent of the 1980s.

Here’s what conservatives and Corporate Democrats don’t want you to know. Citizens for Tax Justice, an organization that advocates for a more progressive tax system, has estimated that, when federal, state and local taxes are taken into account, the top 1 percent paid only slightly more than 20 percent of all American taxes in 2010.

The United States has among the lowest top marginal income tax rates for developed nations. These low rates are not essential for growth. In fact, they destroy growth and jobs. Consider Germany, for instance, which has managed to maintain its status as a center of advanced manufacturing, even though its top income-tax rate exceeds America’s by a considerable margin. And in general, our top tax rate kicks in at much higher incomes. Denmark, for example, has a top tax rate of more than 60 percent, but that applies to anyone making more than $54,900. The top rate in the United States, 39.6 percent, doesn’t kick in until individual income reaches $400,000 (or $450,000 for a couple).

The same is true of US based corporations. General Electric, for instance, has become the symbol for multinational corporations that have their headquarters in the United States but pay almost no taxes — its effective corporate-tax rate averaged less than 2 percent from 2002 to 2012. Many US corporations don’t pay any taxes, yet get rebates and refunds from the government, meaning they have negative tax rates.

One reason for the poor US economic performance is the large distortion caused by the tax system. The one thing economists agree on is that incentives matter — if you lower taxes on speculation, say, you will get more speculation. We’ve drawn our most talented young people into financial shenanigans, rather than into creating real businesses, making real discoveries, providing real services to others. More efforts go into “rent-seeking” — getting a larger slice of the country’s economic pie — than into enlarging the size of the pie. But the rich also use their money to push legislators to enact laws that redistribute income from the 99 to the 1 percent. That’s precisely why the US economy is performing so badly.

Because this legislatively enacted income redistribution scam is a continuous process, incomes for the middle class have stagnated and declined for the last thirty-three years. Their incomes and wealth are being redistributed to the 1 percent.

The consequences of our broken tax system are not just economic. Our tax system relies heavily on voluntary compliance. But if citizens believe that the tax system is unfair, this voluntary compliance will not be forthcoming. More broadly, government plays an important role not just in social protection, but in making investments in infrastructure, technology, education and health. Without such investments, our economy will be weaker, and our economic growth slower.

Society can’t function well without a minimal sense of national solidarity and cohesion, and that sense of shared purpose also rests on a fair tax system. If Americans believe that government is unfair — that ours is a government of the 1 percent, for the 1 percent, and by the 1 percent — then faith in our democracy will surely perish.

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Who Says We Should Tax the Rich?

A man wrote and said that if tax rates were raised on corporations, they would pass on the cost of that to consumers. I disagreed. His position was not logical. Because I so easily refuted him, I made him mad and now he’s not reading this blog. However, I would like to point out what another reader wrote with respect to the man’s comment, and he is wonderfully logical.

“If your correspondent were at all cued in he would recognize that as corporate tax revenues have declined for the last fity years, his expectation would be that the prices of everything would be cheaper. If prices are linked to corporate taxes, that is. I don’t think the data support that.

Statistics I have seen, which I cannot corroborate, was that in 1950, $3 in corporate tax revenues were collected for every $1 of personal income taxes. Currently, for every $1 collected in individual taxes, corporations pay $0.11. So, while the corporate tax rate remains fairly high, the tax codes are such that almost no corporations pay anything near that effectively. In effect, the owners of the economy have transfered the federal tax burden off of corporations and onto individuals.”

I thought he was spot on, but I also thought he could’ve said a little more about this issue. So my comments are below.

“How dare you use your mind and make sense! However, one other point needs to be made. Many corporations pay no federal taxes at all, and in fact, many get federal tax rebates on taxes they’ve never had to pay. That means they pay a negative tax rate. Statistically, if memory serves me correctly, while on paper US corporations appear to have high tax rates, US corporations actually pay among the lowest in the developed world. Geez, what do you expect when they’re writing the tax laws?” (more…)

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