May We Assist You?

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Its part of a long term strategy: break the bank to justify the end of all social services.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

I know! I'd love to punch him in his coked-up nose. Wouldn't take much to get his rotted out septums to implode.

[Sibling Chatty]

He's had at least one nasoseptal repair and reline already. Not sure when it was in his drug history, but...

-----------------

The whole thing of tax and return?? That's the way the system's set up.

Wanna FIX the situation? DO NOT put in place someone who has as an overarching philosophical goal the idea of eventually eliminating the need for a federal government.

The government has NO idea about what a 'small' business is. The SBA is set up to make multi-million dollar loan guarantees on loans made to people that already HAVE multi-million dollar businesses. That's "small business administration". They don't WANT to deal with real, genuine 'small businesses' because that's NOT giving money to their cadre of insiders and cronies.

If you WANT a government that's responsive to the people, then it needs to be a government NOT put in place by the moneyed interests.

Start NOW by calling as often and as loudly as possible for campaign finance reform. Demand it of your elected officials. Stringent campaign finance reform. Right now we have the best government that money can buy. CORPORATE money. They've bought it, they own it, they reap the benefits. We have to stop it. Hobbling all government (which will work for the benefit of the wealthy, who control it already) will not help contain the rot or return the government to the people.

It's their government, they can do what they want with it.

WalMart, Dell, Disney, and other corporate giants are profiting enormously by moving the manufacturing of their consumer products to China. Not content to profiteer, however, the top executives of these giants insist that they should get credit for serving the moral good. Look, they say, we are helping American families by bringing cheap products to them.

What these moral exemplars don't mention is that the goods are only cheap because the lives of Chinese factory workers are treated so cheaply. Child labor, 16-hour days, constant exposure to lead and other poisons, wage rip-offs, and other abuses are common in factories that stock the shelves of our stores and line the pockets of our corporate CEOs.

You want cheap? What's a finger worth? A study of factories in just one area near Hong Kong found that workers there lose or break 40,000 fingers on the job every year.

Or consider the cheap treatment of a 16-year-old boy in China who works from six am to six pm, six days a week, on a plastic molding machine to produce stuff for Wal-Mart stores. His hands are covered with blisters, because, as he explained to a New York Times reporter, the machines are "quite hot, so I've burned my hands." He also says, "It's quite noisy, and you stand up all day, 12 hours, and there's no air conditioning." The boy's reward is to be paid even less than China's poverty-level minimum wage of 55 cents an hour. If inspectors show up, he's given the day off – factory owners tend to get advance notice of audits.

Corporate executives here claim that they're appalled by these conditions, but they shrug and say they simply can't keep track of what goes on in all these factories. BS! They're the ones demanding cheap production, even if it cheapens lives, and they certainly manage to track every dime that flows from the most remote Chinese factory to their own bottom line.

"Reform Stalls in Chinese Factories," New York Times, January 5, 2008.

http://jimhightower.com/node/6314

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

I bet you could still get a spectular display of gore if you punched him just right.

I've gotten to the point that I'm inclined to think the government's effed no matter what we do.

[Sibling Chatty]

I'd put money toward somebody punchin' him, but the Secret Service wouldn't like it. Maybe a baseball to the fare? Oh, wait, he's afraid of balls being thrown at him, too.

True, the government is pretty screwed up, and the more corporate control there is, the worse we are. And, the way the DLC has the Democrats going, there's not a lot of hope there, either. If Clinton and Obama manage to push Edwards and Kucinich both out...the Dems are just offering a choice of 2 Repub Lite candidates.

The Democratic Party, once again preparing to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Only thing worse? A capitulation to the Republicans.

(Watch the R's go for McCain at their convention, with Jeb as VP. John McCain then will have the shelf life of the guy in the red shirt when Spock, McCoy and Kirk, et al beam down onto the alien planet.)

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

I dunno about that with Obama.

There's really no good candidates who have much chance of winning.

[ivor]

That centralized base of power with that huge income is the reason things are corrupt.  There's too much power and money in one place.  The only way to get rid of the crooks is to reduce the amount of money and power.

Ron Paul doesn't want to get rid of government.  He wants to restore government to the way it used to be, the United States "are" not the United States "is".  The United States "is" should be a grammatical clue that something is wrong.  The "United States."  Say it with me, "United States."   Plural right?  I don't understand why that's so frightening.

[Sibling Chatty]

To me it's frightening because I have met him, have seen him in action, have experienced his mercurial attitude changes, his laxities about what happens around him and his ability to absolutely deny the existence of problems with the alligators as the alligators are biting his ass.

Without THAT... He allowed YEARS of racist bullshit to be published under his name. No one or two instances, YEARS. And then he claimed he didn't know it was being done. Hmmm, so this means that--he'll not notice WHAT when he's got 10 times as much going on around him. And it'll all be in HIS name. Given that there will be TONS of hold-overs (Republicans, remember) from this administration--I don't think so.

MB, you know I love you, but remember your buddy that came in and was pretty much blown away by the fact that nobody was going along with his line of thought? You're listening to him and assimilating too much of it. There are reasons that libertarianism MUST be tempered by being neither too far right or too far left. Ron Paul is too far right. As a libertarian, I am too far left. Difference is?? I KNOW it. I admit it isn't optimal for the populace. AND I recognize the RIGHTS of the populace as more important than my ideology. According to Dr. Paul, the populace has the right to STFU and do what he says.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

That was BC's friend, Chatty, not MB.

I've lost the ability to really support Paul, but I will note that with as little as Paul likes BushCo, I doubt very many people would be left from Bush's days.

[ivor]

I love you too Chatty.

You're talking about MelloElf right?  He's not a Libertarian, he's a full on Anarchist.  Anarchy is not my cup of tea.  I know a lot more about anarchy now.  It's not as bad as it sounds.  I still have too much socialism in me left for anarchy.

Ron Paul isn't going to win anyway, so it's pointless to discuss it.  The Simpson's have it right, all we have to vote for is Kodos or Kang. 

[Sibling Chatty]

I'm just praying for ANY upset.

I want Hillary and Obama to "Gingham Dog and Calico Cat"* each other. That would leave the Dems with Edwards, Kucinich and Draft Gore.

Of course, Chuck Norris just showed the true colors of a lot of Repubs...he's supporting Hustleabuck because McCain's too lod...

*Gingham Dog and Calico Cat reference
http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/field01.html

The Duel

      THE gingham dog and the calico cat
      Side by side on the table sat;
      'Twas half-past twelve, and (what do you think!)
      Nor one nor t'other had slept a wink!
          The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate
          Appeared to know as sure as fate
      There was going to be a terrible spat.

                 (I wasn't there; I simply state
                 What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)

      The gingham dog went "bow-wow-wow!"
      And the calico cat replied "mee-ow!"
      The air was littered, an hour or so,
      With bits of gingham and calico,
          While the old Dutch clock in the chimney-place
          Up with its hands before its face,
      For it always dreaded a family row!

                 (Never mind: I'm only telling you
                 What the old Dutch clock declares is true!)

      The Chinese plate looked very blue,
      And wailed, "Oh, dear! what shall we do!"
      But the gingham dog and calico cat
      Wallowed this way and tumbled that,
          Employing every tooth and claw
          In the awfullest way you ever saw-
      And, oh! how the gingham and calico flew!

                 (Don't fancy I exaggerate-
                 I got my news from the Chinese plate!)

      Next morning where the two had sat
      They found no trace of the dog or cat;
      And some folks think unto this day
      That burglars stole that pair away!
          But the truth about the cat and pup
          Is this: they ate each other up!
      Now what do you really think of that!

                 (The old Dutch clock it told me so,
                 And that is how I came to know.)

          Eugene Field

[ivor]

The Fed (you know that US banking entity that isn't really part of the government) just cut interest rates by seventy-five basis points.  Now we'll see if the Saudis follow our lead and cut their interest rates or unpeg the Riyal from the dollar.  This could be the difference between an economic collapse or a depression.  If the Saudis unpeg the Riyal from the dollar I expect the dollar to slide dramatically causing other foreign countries to unpeg their currencies leading to an economic collapse. Thank you King George!  Happy Black Tuesday! *sigh*

[beagle]

Personally I'd worry more about this.

Suddenly the ratings agencies are doing their job...

[Sibling Chatty]

Panic is setting in.

This is going to be spectacularly ugly.
================

http://www.alternet.org/stories/73763/

How to Pull Out of a Recession: the Ethical Way, Not the Bush Way

Even Bush has finally figured out that the economy is facing "some challenges," as he so delicately put it.

As a solution, he is sure to propose making permanent the tax breaks for the rich that he's already put in place.

But there are two problems with this: one ethical, the other economic.

The ethical problem is that the top 1% has already made out like bandits. Their slice of the income pie has grown dramatically over the past few years, while the slices for almost everybody else have shrunk.

The economic problem is that extending the tax cuts won't do anything in the here and now, because those cuts are already in place for the next two years.

On top of that, the economic stimulus from giving the superrich some more money would be next to nothing compared with the stimulus you'd get if you gave almost everybody else some serious tax relief right now.

It is a good idea to cut taxes in a recession.

But those breaks should go to the people who need them, and who will then turn around and spend the extra money they have.

Another way, other than just relying on the Fed to lower interest rates, is for the government to spend more money on urgently needed domestic projects, like rebuilding bridges, which should be an easy sell, given the St. Paul disaster.

Several examples are given of sane, real world, workable ways to try to change the course, all impossible when the economy is under the control of madmen.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I'm just praying for ANY upset.

I want Hillary and Obama to "Gingham Dog and Calico Cat"* each other. That would leave the Dems with Edwards, Kucinich and Draft Gore.

Please don't, if they go at each other they will surely turn off the voters needed to win the white house to the dems, and I am not convinced McCain will be the man selected by the repugs nor I'm sure he is better than the current dems.

Do we want an 'All for corporations' with Mitt 'Mormon' Romney?
A religious fundie with the Huckaburger?
Or an all out fascist with Ruddy '9-11' Giuliani?

Choices, choices...