by The Other Katherine Harris
Featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Glitzqueen
August 1, 2011
Image by littlegreenfroggy via Flickr
No “Super Congress” should be acceptable to anyone who claims to be a Democrat. This is fascism on a plate! It’s bad enough we’ve got five kinglets running amok on the Supreme Court.
My son and I, life-long Democrats who always voted in the past, will never vote again for any politician who votes for a deal that cuts Social Security, Medicare and/or Medicaid, or sets up a band of tyrants to force the hand of our elected representatives. We mean it; we’ll stay home until there are candidates worth voting for! It would be better for Republicans to win, so people will wake up faster to the need for REAL change. President Obama has gotten away with more of the same old mischief than George Bush could have. That’s because people understood what Bush was, whereas Obama confuses them.
As for “shared sacrifice,” hearing supposed Democrats speak of it is making me crazy. The working people of this country ALREADY GAVE. Not one cent more should be wrung out of ordinary citizens who earn less in real terms than they did in 1970 and work much longer and harder to get it; who pay more for the essentials of life (disguised by cooked inflation statistics); who lost jobs, benefits, homes, businesses and savings to the “free” trade boondoggle and a series of financial bubbles that made the rich far richer; and who in the past decade were bilked out of trillions that were shoveled at war profiteers and bailed-out banksters.
The transnational grillionaire class has robbed working people around the world for 40 years. Now that we have to borrow from them so heavily (due to failure to tax them fairly, plus ruinous wars and bailouts), they’ve turned to deficit extortion in hope of eliminating every program that actually benefits taxpayers! They want it ALL — and expect us to doff our hats to them again and politely beg for nothing more than “shared sacrifice” on their part. This is total bull, especially as they continue deliberately bringing down companies, currencies and entire countries via their insane derivatives casino — where the bets total more than all the money that exists and in most cases have no insurable basis. Expecting taxpayers to turn those worthless paper bets into spendable profits was a crime. So is paying any heed whatever to crooked rating agencies that collude with the banksters (and could be easily put out of business, if our own investment regulations didn’t make us their captives).
I”ve completely had it with so-called “Democrats” who support plutocrats instead of their constituents; who are willing to cut social programs that are already laughably inadequate by the standards of other advanced societies; and who would even consider ceding their own power (granted rightfully by election) to a new, unelected and unconstitutional legislative body.
Super Congress = Fascism. There’s no other way to understand it.
***
[DS added the Action Alert.]
Take Action:
Kill the Budget Bill
Democrats.com
Petition
Dear Senators and Representative,
As Paul Krugman writes,
the deal itself … is a disaster, and not just for President Obama and his party. It will damage an already depressed economy; it will probably make America’s long-run deficit problem worse, not better; and most important, by demonstrating that raw extortion works and carries no political cost, it will take America a long way down the road to banana-republic status.
The budget deal does not tax the rich, or even allow temporary tax cuts for the rich to expire. Nor does it end any wars. Yet it requires cuts of nearly $1 trillion now, and over $2 trillion in this decade.
What will get cut? Everything we care about: health care, education, unemployment insurance, environmental protection, consumer protection, and a thousand other important programs.
The cuts will be decided by a new 12-member “Super Congress” that is empowered to force a rushed vote with no amendments on whatever it proposes to Congress.
And if that anti-democratic procedure fails, cuts will happen automatically – especially Medicare.
There is another option that has broad support: Congress can kill this budget bill, and President Obama can invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the artificial debt ceiling by himself.
As my Representative, I urge you to vote no.
via Kill the Budget Bill | Democrats.com
[DS added the video and press release.]
Immoral, Grotesque, Unfair
SenatorSanders on Aug 1, 2011
***
Statement of Sen. Bernie Sanders on Why He Will Oppose the Deficit-Reduction Proposal
August 1, 2011
Sen. Bernie Sanders today issued the following statement on why he plans to vote against a deficit-reduction deal proposed by the White House and congressional leaders:
“The wealthiest people in this country and the largest corporations who are doing phenomenally well today are not being asked to contribute one penny in shared sacrifice toward deficit reduction. On the other hand, middle-class and working families who are suffering terribly in the midst of this horrible recession are being asked to shoulder 100 percent of the human cost of lowering our deficit. This is not only grossly unfair, it is bad economic policy.
“This two-part deficit-reduction legislation is complicated, and it is impossible to predict exactly which programs will be cut and by how much because the process requires action by appropriation committees and a new super committee in months to come.
“But it is very clear that there will be devastating cuts to education, infrastructure, Head Start and child care, LIHEAP, community health centers, environmental protection, affordable housing and many, many other programs. I am also concerned that when we hear that ‘everything is on the table’ in terms of what this super committee deals with it will certainly include devastating cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ needs, while protecting the interests of the wealthy and large corporations.
“This country needs deficit reduction, but we need to do it in a way that is fair and which will result in economic growth and job creation. This proposal does neither and I will oppose it.”
via Newsroom: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont)
see
The Debt Ceiling Set For Progressive Repealing by Michael Hudson
Forget Compromise: The Debt Ceiling Is Unconstitutional by Ellen Brown
Michael Hudson: GOP Cries Wolf on Debt Ceiling In Order To Impose Radical Pro-Rich Agenda
Semantic Propaganda Feeds Stupidity by Joel S. Hirschhorn
Exclusive: Derivatives for Dummies by The Other Katherine Harris
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It’s gonna be astounding how much money corporations are gonna throw at this super committee. They should just make a reality show so we can see who sponsors it during the break and what we should buy or be distracted by next.
Very good point, rodzero.
dear ms. harris,
i applaud your thoughts, passion and anger at the Democrats who are part of the same ‘ One Party ‘ con job for generations. yes, generations!
what really saddens me is how even a ( so called ) leftists, progressives and socialists like bernie sanders FAIL to even mention the real cause of our dilemna: AN OBSCENE MILITARY SPENDING AND PHONY WARS AND OCCUPATIONS!
you see, even HE cannot do so because it is a Democrat President and Democrat party that ‘ goes along to get along ‘ with the Military Indusrtrial complex, which controls both parties… and ALWAYS HAS! Bernie needs the Democrats to stay in power so he can do the same.
yes, we need to tax the REALLY RICH and not those of us who are fortunate to earn $ 300k a year. we need to SURTAX the millionaires and billionaires and cut this miltiary spending by MINIMUM 25% ASAP.
finally, good folks like you , who bought the Democratic party crap for so long, need to WALK AWAY COMPLETELY FROM ALL OF THEM, UNTIL THE GOOD ONES WALK AWAY AND RUN AS INDEPENDENTS.
thanks
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