WTF?

Now as we face the results of the depraved Republican agenda, the fleecing of America has turned from science to art. The deception which has taken us to the brink of collapse has morphed into a far more dangerous and seductive hallucinogen. The wealthiest 20% of United States Citizens own 80% of the wealth and if we hold to the current trends, they stand to own even more and share it amongst ever fewer people in the future. I have known several millionaires who lost their entire fortunes to even larger interests, so the theory that capitalism is benevolent, even to it's advocates is fiction. The truth is often unpopular, but I have often been unpopular and I have found that if you just persevere, time will bring folks around.

Looking, as we often do through the toilet paper tube of our own interests, beliefs and education, it is hard to see peripherally. What is going on around us is getting easier for people to see, only because the shock-waves that it creates in our educational systems, lifestyles, the economy and our popular culture are becoming undeniable. The ultra wealthy don't seem to know or care about the negative impacts they have on society, because it is all of us poor folk who are sucking it up and doing the suffering for their insular lifestyles.

You may have heard of the protests in Wisconsin. Our Governor, with the support of mega-millionaires is trying to outlaw collective bargaining for public employees. If we understand the concept of, "What is good for the goose is good for the gander." The way that Scott Walker is going about his union busting makes no sense. He somehow feels like it is okay for police and firefighters to retain the benefits of collective bargaining, but not for any other state workers. Two faced. Even China, whose leader recently admitted, has a long way to go in the course of achieving civil rights for it's people required Wal-mart to allow collective bargaining for their workers in their country. Why are we even debating the fact that these rights have been fought and died for, and that they must be freely given to assure workers a decent compensation for their professional commitment to the betterment of our society.

If anything, we need to be expanding the ability of folks to make a living, not reducing the quality of life for those our government hires to keep things running smoothly. In keeping with the fear mongering and hate speech of the right, we are constantly being told that we can't afford to do what is right and good for the middle class, because it is not expedient or rewarding enough for industry. I have mentioned it before but if you look at the balance sheets of the top 500 companies in the US alone, they have enough cash on hand and short term debt (less than 90 days) to finance another bail out equal to the one that we poor taxpayers just put in to float their economy after the republican led crash that took place just a few years ago. Anyone remember?

There is actually more abundance now than ever before, we just can't see it because of the gloom and doom rhetoric foisted upon us by those who seek to clean up on our dislocation and the social upheaval of a continued and worsening downturn. Just like in the movie, It's A Wonderful Life, Potter is buying, and you know why? Because we're scared that's why. The Potters of this world will never be satisfied until everyone lives in their housing in squalid conditions, paying their slumlord rent with no hope of shaking free of poverty. The American Dream still lives amongst smaller and smaller segments of the population and in the coming years, if nothing is done about it, the vast majority will be left fighting over a smaller and smaller piece of the pie.