Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden: Leading the Fight in the US Senate to Steal Our Voting Rights and Our Money, and Hand Them Over to the 1 Percent

US Senator of Wall Street Ron Wyden wants to eliminate your voting rights, and redistribute your income to the 1 percent. And he knows exactly what he’s doing, as you can tell by the film below. He doesn’t even deny the accusations on this matter when confronted by a citizen of Oregon at a town hall in January 2015. He simply avoided the answer to the question over six boring minutes.

The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) will steal your voting rights on many issues. It will also redistribute massive amounts of income from the 99 percent, and stuff that money straight into the pockets of the 1 percent. Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden knows this, and yet, he was the right hand man of President Obama to hustle the TPP out of the Senate Trade and Finance Committees. He is also the person who pushed Fast Track Authority through the US senate. Fast Track forces congress into an up or down vote on the TPP, limits debate, and stops the filibuster from being implemented when the TPP comes up for a vote in the US Senate. The final version of the TPP was introduced to congress a week or so ago, and the text of this international income and voting rights redistribution scam are being reviewed.

We know, as has Wall Street and its senator, the TPP will unconstitutionally allow foreign corporations to challenge US laws that the management of these corporations deem to negatively impact their alleged future profits. Such cases will be tried in secret corporate established tribunals.

If the citizen’s of a state or county vote to establish mandatory GMO labeling laws, for example, and a GMO company decides that this will negatively impact their future profits, that company can sue the state in Wyden’s secret tribunals. If the company wins, the state will have two options; pay the difference between what the company says its future profits if the law didn’t exist, and what the profits were before the law goes into effect, or rescinding your voting rights by eliminating the law.

In other words, your vote will be rescinded, or you will need to pay a foreign corporation every year in perpetuity to enact such a law.

So if a company is selling a gasoline additive, and poisoning the ground water of a state, and killing people with it, and the state legislators or the voters decide to eliminate the poison from their state, the same financial situation will crop up. Be poisoned and in the process lose your voting rights on the issue, if you lose in the secret tribunal, or pay forever a foreign corporation to exercise your right to vote, which is nothing more than an illegal and unconstitutional poll tax in perpetuity.

A US trade treaty can override US law, but only if it receives 67 votes in the US Senate. That’s why the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is legally called an agreement, rather than a treaty. NAFTA didn’t get 67 votes in the senate. Don’t ask me why the US Supreme Court has ruled that an agreement between two nations is not a treaty, but it has ruled this way, and don’t ask me why foreign corporations are allowed to sue state and local governments in NAFTA’s secret tribunals, since clearly such a process is overriding US laws, and NAFTA only received 62 votes in the senate. Okay, it’s called the corporate takeover and corruption of the US supreme court.

Regardless, that’s how Wyden is intending to illegally steal your right to vote, and all on behalf of his Wall Street masters. This year he has brought the TPP to the brink of a vote in the US Senate and the US House of Representatives. It’s time for folks to start calling their senators and representatives.

Only an insane or totally corrupted person would want to continue following the same trade policies that have redistributed massive amounts of income and voting rights from the 99 to the 1 percent and brought us to the most massive and destabilizing income inequality and historically high trade deficits in US history. Take your pick. Are the supporters of this income redistribution scam insane or corrupt?

As an aside, and as a final note, since 2009, the 1 percent has stolen 95 percent of all US income growth. In 2008, the 1 percent stole 21 percent of all income produced in the USA, up from 8 percent in 1980. This year the 1 percent is stealing 37 percent + of all the income produced in the United States. What do they do with that money? They corrupt your politicians and Supreme Court justices, and the legislation that flows from the US congress, and the white house. In other words, that money is used to rig the economic, political and financial games against the 99 percent.

Think about these numbers. They mean that the 99 percent went from earning 92 percent of all US income in 1980, to 79 percent in 2008, to 63 percent in 2015.

Do you feel like your working more and earning less? Where has your retirement gone? Where are the jobs? Why haven’t the 99 percent received a raise in pay when factoring inflation since 1980? Why are housing prices so high? The above numbers are the answers to every one of the these questions and more, and Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden is one of the main culprits as to why these negative things are occurring.

As for how Wall Street Ronnie plans to steal your money, see what-the-corporate-new-media-refuses-to-tell-the-public-about-the-trans-pacific-partnership-its-a-massive-income-redistribution-agreement-that-will-drive-the-middle-class-further-into-poverty–JohnHively.wordpress.com

Read Full Post »

The Iranian Nuclear Deal: Was it a clever deal by Obama to weaken the Republican Party?

The Iranian nuclear deal has done something quite wonderful. It has lowered oil prices by ending the US led embargo of Iran’s products, including oil. Iranian oil is now flooding the international markets, driving the price of oil and gasoline down. Some people in the USA are not happy with this deal, notably Republicans. One has to wonder, however, if that’s because of that oil flooding the world’s markets, or if they’re really worried the Iranians will violate the agreement, launch a suicidal nuclear assault on the United States, which would be a calamity for the Iranians since there would be a dust heap afterwards where the nation of Iran once stood, especially considering the success these same people claim for the US missile defense shield.

One has to wonder if the deal to keep Iran embargoed was intentionally to keep its oil off the world market, which drove oil and gasoline prices higher than they would otherwise have been. In other words, the effect of the Iranian embargo was to redistribute money from the 99 percent to investors and executives of Big Oil. The lack of a nuclear deal kept that embargo in place. Was this a strange coincidence? Or a master plan?

Big Oil is a big supporter of the Republican Party. Did the president strike a deal with the Iranians with an eye toward driving the price of oil and gasoline down, as well as Big Oil’s profit margins. The president’s deal may lower campaign contributions to the Republicans from the masters of this sector of the economy.

The Iranians have never been a threat to the United States, and they won’t be even if they violate any agreement to not produce nuclear weapons. The truth is that the Iranians entered the fray against ISIS at the behest of the Americans many months ago. They also offered to join with the US to eliminate Al Queda in Afghanistan after 9-11. However, President George W. Bush found it convenient to paint the Iranians as a dangerous threat to the US in order to jack up profitable military spending. That administration also most likely did not want Iranian oil flooding the world markets.

Perhaps President Obama had this in mind when he sealed the deal, and perhaps lower gasoline and oil prices is just a happy coincidence.

Read Full Post »

Weekend News Dutifully Not Reported by the Corporate News and Propaganda Media: TPP Trade Talks Stall

On Friday, July 31 the negotiators from twelve nations announced in Maui that negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) had reached a roadblock. The TPP is massive income redistribution scam for the 1 percent, and particularly for Wall Street, major corporations and their overpriced CEOs and their shareholders, but it is being falsely marketed as a trade agreement.

President Obama wants to be able to deliver this scam before the upcoming elections so that Wall Street and major corporations who stand to gain at the expense of the 99 percent will open up its pockets more to Democratic candidates. However, as the Democratic base realizes this president and many of his Democratic cronies, such as Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden, has sacrificed their interests and redistributed their income and wealth to the 1 percent over and over again, along with Obama’s Republican party cronies (think Mitch McConnell, Orrin Hatch, John Boehner, etc…, the Democratic base has been abandoning ship.

In other words, the Democratic machine might get the cash to compete on television advertisements with the Republican machine if Obama and his henchmen like Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden can deliver the TPP, but in doing so, the Dems will have fewer and fewer votes on which it can count on. So the party will lose more seats in the US senate and the house of representatives.

That means the party base in shrinking and it doesn’t matter how much money the Democratic leadership can conjure up. They will continue to lose voters as more and more of the base can no longer discern any significant difference between the Democratic and Republican parties on bread and butter issues.

Trying to rally the base with social and international issues, such as the Iran nuclear deal, the liberalization of relations with Cuba, and gay marriage, will be less and less effective in helping to win elections if the sole purpose of the party on economic matters is to continue to impoverish the base with scams like the TPP.

According to CNN the negotiations broke down over the following:

Canada is balking at opening its dairy market for more imports — a key demand not just of the United States but also of New Zealand, where dairy giants like Fonterra are eager to expand the country’s top export.

In Japan, the United States wants easier access for its agriculture and automotive companies, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces a legislature strongly influenced by small rice farmers. Long-standing foreign auto trade barriers are difficult to tear down in that country.

And the United States’ push for 12 years of patent protection on pharmaceutical drugs is tripping up poorer countries — such as Malaysia and Vietnam — that fret they’d face public health challenges without access to cheaper generics.

Critics in manufacturing states have said the deal should include a crackdown on countries that manipulate the value of their currencies to give their exports a price advantage in the United States. That, though, is a non-starter and would halt the deal’s progress entirely, negotiators from several countries have said.

Read Full Post »

Here are a few of the reasons why Canada Surpassed the US to Have the World’s Richest Middle Class

Are the above the only reasons why Canada’s middle class is growing and the US middle class is shriveling? Of course not. Here’s another reason, and the likely biggest factor.

The top 1 percent of Canadians steal slightly more than 10 percent of the total Canadian national income, while the top 1 percent in the US are stealing 37 percent of all income, and this is growing massively since the top 1 percent have stolen 95 percent of all US income growth every year since 2009, thanks to legislation generously supported by US Senators Mitch McConnell and Ron Wyden, such as international income redistribution agreements, commonly and falsely marketed as free trade agreements.

International income redistribution agreements redistribute income from the 99 to the 1 percent by legally paving the way for US corporations to ship jobs overseas, as well as create jobs overseas, rather than investing in the USA. The difference between the old higher US wages and the new lower overseas wages goes straight to the already fat bank accounts of the 1 percent while the job losers get unemployment insurance if they’re lucky, and lower wages when and if they find a new job.

This legislatively induced US income inequality is the reason why the demand for goods and services is so weak in the USA, and why the current business expansion is the weakest on record, which, not so coincidentally, is also following the previous weakest business expansion in US history. The 99 percent only get 63 percent of income in the USA, and now they have less money to spend, resulting less demand for goods and services, in slower and slower job growth, decreasing wages, less tax dollars for schools, roads, fire, the social security trust fund, and police.

According to the Federal Reserve, 28 million jobs were exported from the US from 1990 to 2010, and millions more have been exported since. That means those jobs don’t pay social security taxes any more, as that income has been redistributed to the super rich. And the rich don’t pay social security taxes on their incomes above $118,500 a year. That means hundreds of billions of dollars of US income are no longer paying social security taxes, resulting in the social security shortfall anticipated in twenty years.

In other words, part of your future retirement income has been redistributed by Wyden and McConnell to the 1 percent via their income redistribution scams. And now the pair are pushing through congress the largest international income redistribution scam of all time, the Trans Pacific Partnership, falsely marketed as a trade agreement.

 

 

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

Income Inequality, Now and at the Time of the Great Depression

The Reagan tax cuts for the rich unleashed a ton of money that corrupted government, which launched the war against the middle class by passing legislation that redistributes income from the 99 to the 1 percent, such as deregulation, privatization scams, and income redistribution treaties. The result is a massive redistribution of income and wealth from the 99 to the 1 percent, drops in real income for the middle class, the elimination of retirement for a large percentage of the population, the weakening of the social safety net, historically weak job growth, historically non-existent real wage growth, historically weak growth of US Gross Domestic Product, underfunded schools, and on and on.

Read Full Post »

How Rich Are the World’s Top 85 People Compared to Everyone Else?

Read Full Post »

The Economic Consequences of President Obama’s Immigration Reform

».

On Thursday, November 20, 2014, President Obama announced that he was taking executive action that will allow up to five million undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States. The president promised these immigrants that they will not be deported, that they can seek work legally in the United States, on certain conditions, such as paying taxes.

Much of the news media of the 1 percent are claiming this is good for the economy, that everybody will prosper because of the president’s action.

For example, a study released by the Center for American Progress says, “Once they (undocumented immigrants) attain legal status, immigrants will be able to contribute to the increased consumption of goods and services that boosts business sales and raises the earnings of all Americans. They will pay taxes on their higher wages and increase the gross state product (GSP). Additionally, immigrants will be able to use their new legal status by integrating their skill set and education into creating jobs and raising productivity.”

Common sense, however, tells us that once undocumented immigrants receive legal status, they will consume approximately what they consume today. It is possible that with higher wages they will consume more. That will be offset, however, because the rest of us will be consuming less, according to an analysis of a similar congressional measure by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). According to the CBO, everybody’s wages and job opportunities will decline with the deal, except for the newly legalized immigrants. That means the impact of immigration reform will have little, or no, or perhaps even negative, net impact on the consumption of goods and services. It could even result in a decline of GNP. How could the consumption of goods and services go up if everybody’s wages and salaries are going down? They can’t and so the claim by the Center for American Progress is patently wrong.

According to the CBO, a senate bill similar to President Obama’s executive action which failed in committee last year would have depressed wages of all workers for the next twelve years, “raise the unemployment rate,” and “result in higher interest rates.” Notice the corporate news media hasn’t reported these things to you.

The president’s action will also push the unemployment rate higher than it would otherwise be through 2031. Currently, the real unemployment is somewhere between 10 and 13 percent, which is higher than the official rate of 7 percent. The executive action will force more and more people to compete for a smaller number of jobs, and this will drive wages down.

According to the Pew Hispanic Research Center, 80 percent of undocumented immigrants work under the table, that is without paying income taxes. Most of these people are expected to move into better paying jobs in the legal job market, creating greater labor competition, and driving wages down.

This same process also occurred after the amnesty granted undocumented immigrants in December 1986. Real wages immediately began to plummet for the next six years and didn’t recover to their 1986 level until 11 years later. Check out the graph below from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website. You’ll see a big dip in real wages for everybody beginning in December 1986.

The CBO also reported, “Capital investment would rise primarily because the return that investors would earn on a given amount of investment would be higher under the legislation than under current law.” The rationale for this is given with economic jargon, but basically it boils down to this; lower wages will increase profit margins, and so members of the 1 percent will purchase more corporate stocks, bonds and politicians.

In other words, the president’s executive action ensures the 1 percent benefit by pushing down wages, salaries and other compensation and redistributing the difference between the old rates and the new lower rates into the hands of the 1 percent. Nice scam, but it gets worse.

The president’s action comes at a time of real declining average wages for all American citizens, and so things are now going to become worse for us. On top of this, the 1 percent has been stealing 95 percent of all income growth for the last four years. Now it might grow as high as 96 percent. We are in an economy heading for disaster.

Read Full Post »

The Top 1 Percent’s Share of Income from Wealth Has Been Rising for Decades

The Top 1 Percent’s Share of Income from Wealth Has Been Rising for Decades, thanks to legislation supported by Wall Street senator’s Ron Wyden, Mitch McConnell, and Orrin Hatch, as well as President’s Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. We can’t forget Wall Street executives and the Koch brothers are also keen political supporters of the 1 percent massing more and more of the nation’s wealth, which is mostly accrued by the rich via legislation supported by those listed above, among many others.

By the way, wealth is assets, such as stocks, bonds, gold, houses, and other things of value. Income is money derived from either salaries, wages, dividends or capital gains.

Source: Economic Policy Institute

The result of an unequal flow of political power is an unequal flow of income and an unequal flow of wealth. The result of all of that is an economy tittering on the brink of the next great depression, which will be far worse for the 99 percent than the last recession.

Read Full Post »

Video: US Senator Elizabeth Warren Explains What Happened to the Middle Class

Senator Warren does an excellent job of explaining what has happened to push the middle class down a few notches in the video above. However, she misses some key points. Free trade treaties, for example, have led to the exportation of American jobs by the tens of millions since 1990, according to the Federal Reserve Bank.

The difference between the old higher wages and the new lower overseas wages goes straight into the pockets of the uber rich, which is why Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden supports these income redistribution treaties.

Currently, Wall Street’s favorite senator is pushing the Trans Pacific Partnership, the greatest income redistribution treaty of all time. This is almost entirely President Obama’s treaty, and we’ll never forget that Goldman Sachs was the biggest contributor to the president’s 2008 and 2012 presidential bids. Every major so-called free trade treaty has increased the US trade deficit. Why would anybody in their right mind want to increase that? Oh, that’s right. These treaties are about redistributing income from the 99 to the 1 percent.

That’s just one thing that Warren doesn’t explain. There are many other things in the form of legislation that has redistributed income from the 99 to the 1 percent, but I don’t have time to go into that.

Read Full Post »

How the corporate press, such as the Oregonian newspaper and the Willamette Week, lies and misleads us

In Oregon, ballot measure 92 asks voters to vote yes or no on labeling food products with GMOs in them. There are plenty of studies that show the harmful impacts on animals, but no long term studies have been done on humans.

Syngenta is the 2nd largest manufacture of GMOs in the world, and its own leaked studies show that the GMO grains it produces for milk cows kills milk cows, and yet, it still sells that poison to dairy farmers. There is an ongoing lawsuit in Germany over this issue. Another of Sygenta’s leaked studies demonstrates a tight link between the demise of amphibians (such as frogs in the USA) and one of its GMO herbicides. That story was published in an academic journal in 2001. Since then, numerous other unbiased academic studies have been published showing the same result. There are a plethora of studies showing that rats fed a diet of GMOs have gotten tumors, cancer, deformed genitalia, and more.

Given the mass of evidence, it appears that the primary purpose of the Oregonian newspaper, as well as the local Willamette Week, is to keep people ignorant of these important issues. The editorial boards of both newspapers have recommended a “no” vote on Measure 92 because there are no long term studies showing potential harmful impacts of GMOs to humans. I’ve never known anybody to have volunteered for such an experiments. Neither newspaper have ever mentioned in the ink on their pages, so far as I can find, the academic studies showing the harm GMO poisons do to animals.

Most people don’t know much, if anything, about genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and that 70 percent of our food are made with them. This suggests the purpose of the Oregonian newspaper and the Willamette Week, as well as most media outlets, is to keep people ignorant. Would anybody eat food with this poison in them if they knew about the dire health risks posed by them? Probably not. Perhaps that’s why these propaganda tools refuse to mention the studies showing unhealthy results of eating GMOs, and why they ask people to vote no on Measure 92.

The actions of the editors of both newspapers also show us that they are merely a tool of the one percent that are used to mislead and lie to the 99 percent so as to more easily shape public opinion to support the financial raping and pillaging of the 99 percent by and for the 1 percent.

Vote for your health! Vote for the health of your children! Vote for the 99 percent! Vote against the 1 percent in their war against the middle class. Do something the editors of the Oregonian newspaper don’t want you to do. Vote yes on Measure 92!

Check out the links below if you want more information.

A valuable reputation–New Yorker

Consumer Reports Throws It Weight Behind GMO Labeling–Washington Post

GMO Corn: Killing the Cows Whose Milk We Drink–JohnHively.wordpress.com

Read Full Post »