“The vast inequality [the plutocrats] are creating is a death sentence for government by consent of the people. This is the fight of our lives and how it ends is up to us. In the fall of 2001, in the aftermath of 9/11, as families grieved and the nation mourned, Washington swarmed with locusts of the human kind: wartime opportunists, lobbyists, lawyers, ex-members of Congress, bagmen for big donors: all of them determined to grab what they could for their corporate clients and rich donors while no one was looking.
“Across the land, the faces of Americans of every stripe were stained with tears. Here in New York, we still were attending memorial services for our firemen and police. But in the nation’s capital, within sight of a smoldering Pentagon that had been struck by one of the hijacked planes, the predator class was hard at work pursuing private plunder at public expense, gold-diggers in the ashes of tragedy exploiting our fear, sorrow, and loss.
“What did they want? The usual: tax cuts for the wealthy and big breaks for corporations. They even made an effort to repeal the alternative minimum tax that for fifteen years had prevented companies from taking so many credits and deductions that they owed little if any taxes. And it wasn’t only repeal the mercenaries sought; they wanted those corporations to get back all the minimum tax they had ever been assessed…”
From The Plutocrats are winning. Don’t Let Them by Bill Moyers
Well, then, everyone needs to stop whining, get moving & work for Bernie. I--among others who have been working for him--are sick of hearing that "yeah, we like him, but he can't win." "Can't" or "won't"...because we, the people, aren't working hard enough to MAKE it happen. It's been said--again & again--we get the leaders we deserve (when we--who can--don't work hard enough to register voters--when we--who can--don't make phone calls, knock on doors or have petitions signed). How did Rahm get re-elected, for example? Come on, people--heed Bill Moyers' words, "This is the fight of our lives & how it ends is up to us."
ReplyDeleteAs one of my students said, "Stop your whining & start your winning!"
In memory of the fighting spirit of Roberta Rebb.
She would approve this message, I know.
From Prof. Kirill Thompson:
ReplyDelete"Now government education and research policy around the world is increasingly dropping the humanities and social sciences for not creating patents and/or 'commodifiable' products or enhancing national economic competitiveness in global markets. It seems that Red China boldly set this sort of attitude and formulated attendant policies. Now it is rapidly being aped by other countries around the world, even by such 'respectable' countries as Germany and Japan. For the rich, this would mean fewer highly trained critical thinkers in society to question and resist the system and an oversupply of tech nerds which would mean lower salaries."
parmenides
esti lives!