And certain mayors are out there busting Unions (teachers)

Yet, the banksters got away.

Weird how they keep saying it, even when corporate taxes are at the lowest level since forever and there's still no trickle down. It's like voodoo.

Sooner or later, this ends poorly for the wealthy minority. History proves it again and again.

and they know it.

Case in point, the rich are planning life without steerage after the collapse...

The Really Creepy People Behind the Libertarian-Inspired Billionaire Sea Castles

The stinking rich are planning billion-dollar luxury liners that keep the land-based Americans they've plundered at a safe distance.

AlterNet / By Mark Ames
June 1, 2010

What happens when Americans plunder America and leave it broken, destitute and seething mad? Where do these fabulously wealthy Americans go with their loot, if America isn't a safe, secure, or even desirable place to spend their riches? What if they lose faith in their gated communities, because those plush gated communities are surrounded by millions of pissed-off Americans stripped of their entitlements, and who now want in?

The first such floating castle has been christened the " Utopia"--the South Korean firm Samsung has been contracted to build the $1.1 billion ship, due to be launched in 2013. Already orders are coming in to buy one of the Utopia's 200 or so mansions for sale- -which range in price from about $4 million for the smallest condos to over $26 million for 6,600 square-foot "estates." The largest mansion is a whopping 40,000 square feet, and sells for $160 million.

SNIP...

Both Thiel and Milton Friedman's grandson see democracy as the enemy--last year, Thiel wrote "I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible" at about the same time that Milton Friedman's grandson proclaimed, "Democracy is not the answer." Both published their anti-democracy proclamations in the same billionaire-Koch-family-funded outlet, Cato Unbound, one of the oldest billionaire-fed libertarian welfare dispensaries. Friedman's answer for Thiel's democracy problem is to build offshore libertarian pod-fortresses where the libertarian way rules. It's probably better for everyone if Milton Friedman's grandson and Peter Thiel leave us forever for their libertarian ocean lair--Thiel believes that America went down the tubes ever since it gave women the right to vote, and he was outed as the sponsor of accused felon James O'Keefe's smear videos that brought ACORN to ruin.

SNIP...

While neither Bush nor the Bin Ladens are principals in the Frontier Group, its founding director, Frank Carlucci, is a name they know well, and you should too. Carlucci ran the Carlyle Group as its chairman from 1989 through 2005, right around the time that the wars started going undeniably bad, and floating castles started to look like a viable plan. But Carlucci's past is much weirder and scarier than most of us care to know: whether it's his strangely timed appearances in some of the ugliest assassinations and coups in modern history, or serving as Carter's number two man in the CIA, and Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Defense, if Frank Carlucci (nicknamed "Creepy Carlucci" and "Spooky Frank&quot is the founding director of a firm that's building floating castles, it's a bad sign for those of us left behind.

I'll get into Carlucci's partners in the Frontier Group in a moment, but first, let's reacquaint ourselves with Frank Carlucci. From an early age, Carlucci learned the importance of getting to know the right people in the right places. He studied at Princeton in the mid-1950s, where as luck should have it, Carlucci roomed with Donald Rumsfeld. Both Carlucci and Rumsfeld shared a passion for Greco-Roman wrestling at Princeton, and both went on to serve in the Navy after Princeton. Their paths would split and merge several times over the next few decades, even as they remained close personal friends throughout their lives. In the late 1950s, Carlucci briefly served as an executive at a lingerie manufacturer, Jantzen (the Victoria's Secret of its day), but quickly left to join the State Department.

CONTINUED...

http://www.alternet.org/story/147058/the_really_creepy_people_behind_the_libertarian-inspired_billionaire_sea_castles

They know that even if they leave, not one politician left in America would have the balls to do the obvious solution; that is seize the bastard's assets.

They think that this time they will win and now they have enough power to keep what they have stolen from the rest of us.
And Karl Rove expressed it.

“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”

one day, the majority will realize this.

When any system does not account for finite resources, there comes a point where it peaks, then tumbles to the ground.
Capitalism is no different, by its inference of infinite profits from infinite resources. It is on its way down, and those of us who know that there is an alternative, where we share resources, where workers are owners, will have to pick up capitalism from its ashes if civilization is to survive.

What to do? Just wait for the inevitable?

the top 5% will wonder what happened when people finally hit the streets in anger.

you understand neither power or people.

Experience in the class struggle in the era of imperialism teaches us that it is only by the power of the gun that the working class and the laboring masses can defeat the armed bourgeoisie; in this sense we may say that only with guns can the whole world be transformed.

You really think a popular revolution would occur and it would not be possible to arm the populace, legal or illegal? There's so much wrong with your viewpoint that I don't know where to start. Absolutely ridiculous.

so I won't brother you with reason and stuff like that. Just state my dissension for the record and wish you a good new year.

...like Mao Tse-Tung.

Oh, wait...

or which branch we talk about. Nobody is going to stop it and by now we poor working slaves just need to 'get use to it' is the message Corporate America wants us to swallow down.

Can you believe this shit Octa?

2014 and Disaster Capitalism reigns supreme...the 1% HATE the idea of competition! How many companies own every product we use now? 12?

The only thing that is NOT too big to fail is US the American people. Evidently we are expected now to pay for the plutocracies fuckups. IE the shutdown.

They have "socialized" the risk part, meaning that they can count on the taxpayers to bail them out AND make sure they get their million dollar end-of-year bonuses.

Since the 80's just chugging along with 'mass wealth/resources upward' (as opposed to trickle down) to a handful with no apparent end in site. Banksters privatized the government more or less. Wall Street owns their votes.

The Truth wouldn't be sad if there were Justice: Legal, Economic and Political -- which, as you know, is the point for even bothering.



[font size="1"]The Taming of Evil, painting by Renata Palubinskas.[/font size]

THIS is where a lot of the money "lost" in the great Bankster Bailout has gone:

Evaders. What a joke. The rich guys are laughing and the middle class Americans Abroad are renouncing in droves their American citizenships. They can't afford the specialized tax accountants. They can not file online themselves nor be able to use HR Block. Errors are penalized , 10 k per year. Some are shelling out thousands and now are renouncing. They are not Americans coming back to live in the USA. They are dual citizens and their local banks where they live are considered foreign by the IRS. Most owe nothing to the IRS. Yet the USA has its own tax havens such as Delaware, Nevada, Florida and North Dakota. FATCA is extortion on the rest of the world's
banking systems.

See my journals to get more understanding.
Most DuRs don't give a hoot.

MOST of that time is spent explaining to their own base that it's unrealistic.

From the Roosevelt Institute:

Four Freedoms Center

All it takes to transform the nation -- and the planet -- is the political will. We the People deserve it. It should be the Democratic leadership who DEMAND it.

However, I'd like to see him do much more for Main Street than Wall Street.



The rich already have many champions.

Main street had needed help since Raygun and nothing has happened, yes we have health "Insurance" reform but those bills still need to get paid. In a situation where the USA is desperate for jobs he tries to fast track another TA. The TPP non the less. WTF!? The relationship between this administration and Wall Street is very public and appalling.

Why am I such an Obama hater!? God I can't stand that shit anymore.

I'm looking out for my brothers and sisters at this point.



-p

Thanks for all your reporting on the JFK Assassination Conference and all of your other informative articles speaking Truth and Investigation to Power....

That JFK assassination conference was a life-changing experience. For those interested, here are the OPs I have started on the sad anniversary and on the Duquesne Conference over the last few weeks:

JFK Conference: Amazing Day of Information and Connecting with Good People

After JFK Conference, when I got home, I felt like RFK.

JFK Conference: Bill Kelly introduced new evidence - adding Air Force One tape recordings

JFK Conference: Rex Bradford detailed the historic importance of the Church Committee

JFK Conference: Lisa Pease Discussed the Real Harm of Corrupt Soft Power

JFK Conference: James DiEugenio made clear how Foreign Policy changed after November 22, 1963

JFK Conference: Mark Lane Addressed the Secret Government’s Role in the Assassination

JFK Conference: David Talbot named Allen Dulles as 'the Chairman of the Board of the Assassination'

JFK Conference: Dan Hardway Detailed how CIA Obstructed HSCA Investigation

Noah's Ark - Nov. 22, 1963

JFK Remembered: Dan Rather and James Swanson talk at The Henry Ford

Seven Days in May -- tonight on TCM

Machine Gun Mouth

Octafish to attend JFK assassination conference. Do you think JFK still matters?

Thanks for the kind words about them, KoKo. You and DU mean the world to me. For good DUers, this place is a Truth Machine.

I almost didn't report on the conference. One DUer wondered if I had gotten any funding from DUers to go. I couldn't ask when so many are in real need. I scrapped what little credit I have remaining and made the run to Pittsburgh.

There, I was immediately reminded why it's important to be there and share what I learned -- especially with DUers, Democrats everywhere, and ALL Americans who care about justice -- for JFK and for the nation. For instance: Here's an FBI document from Deke DeLoach to Clyde Tolson that, for some reason, never got brought to the country's attention by the national press corps in all its recent reporting on the recent 50th anniversary of the assassination.

The memo is from 1967, the time Jim Garrison -- the only government official to prosecute anyone in connection with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy -- was trying to make his case without all the new information that's been learned since then. The document was classified until released in the 1990s. In it, President Lyndon B Johnson was reported to have said he agreed with Garrison that there was a conspiracy and that the CIA had something to do with it (note last paragraph):



http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=57085&relPageId=112

I would think this, too, would be on the front page and leading the newscasts every day until the surviving traitors, warmongers and banksters who've benefited were imprisoned. However, we are told to "Move on" and it's business as usual, meaning the rich get richer, our rights continue to vanish, and democracy falls victim to wars without end. But, if enough people realize What's What, Who's Who and What's at Stake for their futures, we've got a real chance for change.

From what I know and have learned: The best is yet to come, KoKo. Happy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year to You and Yours!

Yet, as you have so ably documented on DU, Scuba, Austerity has become a major part of American life.



Happy New Year to You and Yours!

we need policies that will rebuild the Middle Class. We need Government Policy that rewards companies for a structured business models which pays their employees a fair living wage in correlation to the Company's total outlays , profit and executive salaries! All the while, penalizing by denying them their tax loopholes and low tax rates the companies that continue to rape the Middle Class and working poor !

...which is why the GOP hates Keynesian economics (and another reason why I vote Democratic).

http://www.laprogressive.com/guess-what-the-new-deal-worked/

JFK and LBJ knew it. That's why thry wanted the civilian space program to succeed: in addition to advancing technology, it created a new economy with great jobs and an unlimited future.

Nixon and theBig Money GOP hated the civilian space program.

When they said trickle down they didn't really mean money, it was a metaphor the pissing on us we would endure.

The theory "underlying" trickle down was just to get Congress to go along.

Even David Stockman is pissed about the way the greatest concentration of wealth in human history is being squandered. Pruneface's budget guru added up all the GDP and estimated the stuff from the middle ages to the presrnt day. Whatever. His real point is that most of THAT has ended up in the pockets of the greedhead plutocrats' pockets.



http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7009217n&tag=related;photovideo

"In 1985, the top five percent of the households, wealthiest five percent, had net worth of $8 trillion, which is a lot. Today, after serial bubble after serial bubble, the top five percent have net worth of $40 trillion," he explained. "The top five percent have gained more wealth than the whole human race had created prior to 1980." -- David Stockman

SOURCE: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/28/60minutes/main6999906_page4.shtml

And to think there are kids in America who would go to bed hungry every night if they had one.

my own wealth has been steadily growing.

Especially since I started working full time in October 2011. Since then, I have put $18,000 in my IRA.

In 1983, my net worth was probably only about $5,000. I was a junior in college.

The OP says "From 1998 to 2009, fully 80% of American families LOST wealth. They had to borrow to stay afloat."

Again, hard to believe. That would put me in an elite 20%. 1998 happens to be the year I sold my bookstore. I worked about three years, most of the time as a factory temp. Then got a job at a major corporation in August 2001 from which I was fired in March 2002 and was unemployed until August 2002 when I got a part-time janitor job.

This, after I bought a house in November 2001.

And the laundromat/apartments I bought in 1998 for $35,000 I sold in 2003 for about $9,000.

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

And still, I gained wealth over the period from 1998 to 2009. Got a full time job, finally, in May 2004, paid off my house by October 2005.

Still, in spite of a $27,000 loss in real estate, I still gained wealth over the period. The house I put $8,000 down on in 2001 was paid for by 2006. That's the $27,000 back.

It just does NOT make sense that a part-time janitor can gain wealth while 80% of the country loses it.

I think that statistic is mis-leading. That 80% who lost wealth is probably some sort of net. Meaning that within that group, 30% of households lost wealth while 50% of them gained wealth. But if you combine the two, the losses of the losing group cancel out the losses of the gaining group.

I bet the same thing is true of this

"This first fact is nearly ungraspable: In 2009 the average wealth for almost half of American families was ZERO (their debt exceeded their assets)."

Because the 2011 census of wealth showed only 18.1% of households with less than zero net worth.

However, the negative net worth of that 18.1% is more than enough to cancel out the net worth of the next two groups. The 9.1% which had positive net worth less than $5,000 and those with less than $10,000 and more than $5,000, which were 4.8%. So, it is possible that the lowest 38% of households in 2011 had a combined net worth of zero.

BUT

within that group, there is
A - 2.4% - $5,000 to $7,113
B - 2.4% - $7,113 to $9,999

and with 118.7 million households, that means
the net worth of Group A is AT LEAST $14 billion
the net worth of Group B is AT LEAST $20.3 billion

there's even group (A-) - 4.55% - $1,679 to $4,999
which has AT LEAST $9 billion in net worth

Granted $50 billion in net worth is a long way from a trillion, but it is also a long way from zero.

Keep up the good work!

But if a part-time janitor CAN gain wealth over that period, then how is it possible that so much of the rest of the country, many of whom have working spouses and full time jobs. How can they have lost wealth?

Simply compare my income to the upper limit of the bottom 20%

1999 - $14,520 vs. 17,123
2000 - $16,153 vs. 17,911
2001 - $17,464 vs. 17,970
2002 - $15,617 vs. 17,914
2003 - $13,891 vs. 17,981
2004 - $19,704 vs. 18,478
2005 - $24,120 vs. 19,178

For much of the period in question, I made less than 80% of households, often much less. Heck, even in 2005 when I finally got out of the bottom quintile, even then 40% of US households made more than $57,660.

If I CAN save money even at my low income, then how is it that all those higher income households can NOT?

Well, first I don't believe that they are not. I think the author here is being dishonest in combining statistics, as I mentioned.

Second, some on the left are against the CONSUMER lifestyle, but others do not seem to be. Do Americans NOT have enough money, or do they fritter away lots of the money that have on consumer items? Do they willingly buy McMansions and expensive new cars and such?

Granted, people have the choice to do what they want with their own money. What they should not do, or what the author here should not do, is let them complain "I don't have enough money" after they have whizzed away so much of the money they DO have.

I know that the top 10% is taking too much of the pie, but I don't believe that 80% of the country is poor or barely scraping by.

Thank you for the kind words, my Friend!

as long as there is American Idol, Walmart, HoneyBooBoo, Duck Dynasty, Nascar, Beer, and all the other distractions...

just in case...------> for those who do not understand the doctrine of Bread & Circuses

Pruneface Reagan and a bipartisan Congress closed that loophole, for some reason. OK, not the end of the world, but still crummy when contrasted with all the breaks big money gets. Then Smirko Bush and a bipartisan Congess - Hi, Hillary! - made personal bankruptcy a life destroyer for middle class and poor families. That change helped big money, too, though. What a coincidence.

Most importantly: Happy New Year to You and Yours, SoCalDem!

Having interest deductible made car-buying easier for families too. and you did not have to itemize to get the credit ..now everything has to fit with itemization, and the poorer you are, the less likely you are to be able to do it..

HNY to you too

Writes well and good for Salon.com:

http://www.salon.com/writer/paul_buchheit/

"President Obama recently proclaimed that inequality 'drives everything I do in this office.' Indeed it may, but in the wrong direction."

...actually did something to address the inequality, raising taxes on the top one percent (higher than the Clinton rate with the health care tax included) and increasing capital gains to its highest level since the mid 90s. The total effect is significant.

You may remember: create a new national economy, including an "Apollo Program" for Energy, rebuild schools and infrastructure, improve quality of life for all Americans, etc.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16258.html

What happened? The President had a historic mandate and majorities in both houses of Congress.

"You may remember: create a new national economy, including an "Apollo Program" for Energy, rebuild schools and infrastructure, improve quality of life for all Americans, etc."

...2008 article at the link, it sounds like the stimulus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009

"What happened? The President had a historic mandate and majorities in both houses of Congress. "

Well, this (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024259698#post10) and this (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024257660#post42) happened.

Also, this:

In September 2011, Republicans blocked the American Jobs Act and up to 2 million jobs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021294027

Krugman: Obstruct and Exploit
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021310637

They Blocked that!

by jamess

When it comes to the GOP -- they didn't Build that.

Most times They Blocked that ...







- more -

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/30/1126128/-They-Blocked-that

"Why is that 'everyone else' share so big and what can we do to change that?"

Lest we forget:

The record shows aggressive, proactive pursuit of a corporate agenda...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3152360


...in every policy area important to the One Percent.

This list does not show the President trying to enact a more liberal agenda and being obstructed. It shows him working aggressively and proactively, over and over again, to install corporatists into his administration and to enact a corporate agenda.

Corporate and bank-cozy appointments, over and over again, including major appointments like:
A serial defender of corrupt bankers for the SEC; the architect of "Kill Lists" and supporter of torture, drone wars, and telecom immunity for the CIA; and a Monsanto VP who has lied and been involved in extremely disturbing claims regarding food safety for the FDA. An Attorney General who has not prosecuted a single large bank but wages war against medical marijuana users and *for* strip searches and warrantless surveillance of Americans. Tim Geithner. And now Penny Pritzker.
Bailouts and settlements for corrupt banks (with personal pressure from Obama to attorneys general to approve them),
Refusal by Obama's DOJ to prosecute even huge, egregious examples of bank fraud (i.e, HSBC)
signing NDAA to allow indefinite detention,
"Kill lists" and claiming of the right to assassinate even American citizens without trial
Expansion of wars into several new countries
A renewed public advocacy for the concept of preemptive war
Drone campaigns in multiple countries with whom we are not at war
Proliferation of military drones in our skies
Federal targeting of Occupy for surveillance and militarized response to peaceful protesters
Fighting all the way to the Supreme Court for warrantless surveillance
Fighting all the way to the Supreme Court for strip searches for any arrestee
Supporting and signing Internet-censoring and privacy-violating measures like ACTA
Support for corporate groping and naked scanning of Americans seeking to travel
A new, massive spy center for warrantless access to Americans' phone calls, emails, and internet use
Support of legal immunity for telecoms/warrantless wiretapping
Support of legislation to legalize massive surveillance of Americans
Militarized police departments, through federal grants
Marijuana users and medical marijuana clinics under assault,
Skyrocketing of the budget for prisons.
Failing to veto a bipartisan vote in Congress to gut more financial regulations.
Passionate speeches and press conferences promoting austerity for Americans
Bush tax cuts extended for billionaires, them much of it made permanent
Support for the payroll tax holiday, tying SS to the general fund
Support for the vicious chained CPI cut in Social Security and benefits for the disabled
Social security, Medicare, and Medicaid offered up as bargaining chips in budget negotiations, with No mention of cutting corporate welfare or the military budget
Advocacy of multiple new free trade agreements, including The Trans-Pacific, otherwise known as "NAFTA on steroids."
Support of drilling, pipelines, and selling off portions of the Gulf of Mexico
Corporate education policy including high stakes corporate testing and closures of public schools
Entrenchment of exorbitant for-profit health insurance companies into healthcare, through mandate
Legal assault on union rights of hundreds of thousands of federal workers
New policies of targeting children and first responders in drone campaigns,
New policies of awarding medals for remote drone attacks,
Appointment of private prison executive to head the US Marshal's office
Massive escalation of federal contracts for private prisons under US Marshall's Office



Chilling Legal Memo From Obama DOJ Justifies Assassination of US Citizens
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101654954

Study: "Trade" Deal Would Mean a Pay Cut for 90% of U.S. Workers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023661805

Obama Appoints Bain Capital Consultant Jeff Ziets to Top Post
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023662209

Obama selects former Monsanto lobbyist to be his TPP chief agriculture negotiator
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023662210

White House: No Subsidies for Union Health Plans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014594512

Wall Street Deregulation Garners Bipartisan Support Despite Devastating JPMorgan Report
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/19/wall-street-deregulation-_n_2910168.html

The USDA’s Reckless Plan to Decrease Food Safety
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023670859

This is a complete list of Wall Street CEOs prosecuted for their role in the financial crisis
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3653154

Wall Street will get away with massive wave of criminality of 2008 - Statute of Limitations
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022516719Obama seeks longer PATRIOT Act extension than Republicans (December 2013)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x380450

When it comes to civil liberties, apparently Democrats are just as bad as Republicans.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022101960

NSA's Massive New Spy Center to Track Your Emails, Internet Activity, and Phone Calls
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101620852

Obama Quietly Signs Abusive Spy Bill He Once Vowed to Eliminate
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022104861

Obama repeals Magna Carta, asserting powers our forefathers denied to Kings
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101655620

Obama's Memo on Killing Americans Twists 'Imminent Threat' Like Bush
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101654919

Obama no better than Bush when it comes to security vs. civil liberties.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022355307

Obama Admin Seeks Permission TO LIE In Response To FOI Requests - Even To The COURTS
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2185303

NDAA on trial: Obama Administration fights ban on indefinite detention of Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101748688

Obama administration complicit with private prison industry: President Obama's IncarcerNation
http://www.nationofchange.org/president-obama-s-incarcernation-1335274655

Obama, Democrats Push to Make Bush Spying Laws Permanent
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022084702

NDAA, signed by Obama, is a direct attack against legitimate protest and dissent
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022064803

NSA Whistleblower: All Americans under constant surveillance, all info. stored, no matter the post
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002193487; http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021935289

Bipartisan Congress Disgracefully Approves the FISA Warrantless Spying Bill for Five More Years
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022087323

While Public & Media Focused on 2nd Amendment, 5th Amendment Quietly Dismantled
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022390581

How the Obama administration justifies extrajudicial killing of Americans,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022318187

Judge Says Under Law Executive Branch Can Commit Acts That Sure Do Seem Unconstitutional
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022122464

Obama Justice Dept. says wiretap lawsuit should not proceed
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014337039

NDAA Lawsuit- Hedges v. Obama, The Last Thin Line of Defense
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022357078

Federal authorities step up efforts to license surveillance drones for law enforcement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022383596

Big Banks and FBI worked together vs Occupy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022095056]

FBI Investigated 'Occupy' As Possible 'Domestic Terrorism' Threat, Internal Documents Show
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022061578

FBI Documents Reveal Secret Nationwide Occupy Monitoring (Updated the OP)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022057064

Public Buses Across Country Quietly Adding Microphones to Record Passenger Conversations
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021965291

Street artist behind satirical NYPD 'Drone' posters arrested
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021920967

The Obama DOJ urged the Supreme Court's endorsement of strip searches.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002521527

Obama Administration Fights to Allow Warrantless GPS Tracking
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1074474

Anonymous to FBI: hey, dudes, maybe you could take a break from...investigating activists....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022145621

Half a billion dollars for drones to spy on Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021876414

From Bradley Manning to Aaron Swartz -- The Government's Inhumane Persecution of Brave Truth Tellers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022276941

The sight of Army helicopters and the sound of gunfire...on Houston's south side
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022276742

Kiriakou and Stuxnet: the danger of the still-escalating Obama whistleblower war
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022275570

Can the DEA Hide a Surveillance Camera on Your Property?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022237059

Social Media and the Stasi
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021888029

Homeland Security Wants to More Than Double Its Predator Drone Fleet Inside the US, Despite Safety/Privacy Invasions
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014312823

CIA Behind Bizarre Censorship Incident At Alleged 9/11 Plotters’ Gitmo Trial
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022280285

“I Am Wearing My Conviction As A Badge Of Honor.”
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022275128

Meet the Contractors Turning America's Police Into a Paramilitary Force
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12525281

How Secrecy Corrodes Democracy
http://election.democraticunderground.com/101655009

Obama Quietly Issues Ruling Saying It's Legal For The FBI To Break The Law
http://election.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7545687

US Pulls Plug on Iran Cable News (Press TV)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014394770

DHS Watchdog OKs 'Suspicionless' Seizure of Electronic Devices Along Border
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022339091

The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street from prosecutions
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022246632

Obama Orders Pay Raise For Congress
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022095402

Why is Social Security Under Attack from Obama, when it ADDS NOTHING to the deficit???
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022065493

The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street from prosecutions
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022246632

Guess what? Chained CPI is the bright idea of Third Way, the (Corporate) Dem "policy shop."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022021626

...Obama explicitly campaigned on opposing Social Security cuts -- and he just endorsed them (AGAIN)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022019860

Obama's Promises on Social Security: His OWN WORDS
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022031544

Bernie Sanders: Chained CPI: An Economic and Moral Disaster
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022381690

wall street pulls the strings: social security under attack in february
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022155427

Obama signs bill cutting 2.2 billion from food stamps
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x309

Obama's New Treasury Secretary Pushes Austerity That Spreads Global Misery
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022652850

Obama appointed Alan Simpson & Erskine Bowles to his goddamned catfood commission...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022633714

Why does President Obama keep Appointing Monsanto Shills to Key Gov. Positions?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022592785

Penny Pritzker..The Subprime Queen...Obama's Pick for Dept. of Commerce
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101665148

Obama's Betrayal of Public Education, Arne Duncan and the Corporate Model of Schooling
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x366410

How can we NOT feel betrayed? These are just ONE day's headlines:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x366410

Obama Approves New Cross-Border Pipeline Benefiting Canadian Oil Sand Producers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112758698

Pres. Obama: Why are you pushing the Koch Supported Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023563816

The Trans-Pacific Partnership: A Global Attack by the One Percent
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101634573

TPP: A pact designed to increase the wealth and power of crony capitalists
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023936342

The Obama administration's legal battle against whistleblowers, federal unions.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022672473

Obama’s Escalating War on Freedom of the Press
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023312251

Why Is President Obama Keeping a Journalist in Prison in Yemen?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023300531

Former Top NSA Official: “We Are Now In A Police State”
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024197266

Obama administration asserts that NSA spying cannot be challenged in court
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023296209

The Obama administration is aggressively growing private prisons
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2670142

When you hear "Third Way", think INVESTMENT BANKERS
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024127432

The Rightwing Koch Brothers fund the DLC -- article from '06
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x498414

You do know how the DLC/Third Way was formed? (corporate money, corporate infiltration)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024150961

Third Way VP indicates they fear Elizabeth Warren's influence on the party.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024168867

Majority of Third Way support from Wall Street
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024164622

The Democratic Party's deceitful game
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3928692

Oh, wait .....

...and it's all still at the top. "Mission Accomplished" for the anti-FDR set.



Baron de Rothschild and Prescott Bush, share a moment and some information, back in the day.

while cuts in social programs necessary for plain old everyday survival are cut.

The rich are getting richer by impoverishing the middle class. Smirko McCokespoon put it well:

"What an impressive crowd: the haves, and the have-mores. Some people call you the elite, I call you my base."

Here's a big part of how they accomplish that:

Know your BFEE: Phil Gramm, the Meyer Lansky of the War Party, Set-Up the Biggest Bank Heist Ever.

Believe me, if anything has gone financially wrong for you this last decade, you are screwed. In my case, I was the first in my family to crawl from working class to lower middle class then... BOOM!

Now I'm on disability. My food stamps just got cut by $60.00 and my doctor just put me on a med with a $250.00 co-pay. Chained CPI my ass. They can't even calculate CPI properly for middle class people let alone the disabled.

What else? Oh yeah... I'm also trying to take care of an 88 year old grandmother that the government expects to live on $400.00 a month. Seriously, that's what she gets for being a dedicated wife and mother. Stay at home parents... that is your future.

Unfortunately, similar times and conditions have existed in the nation's past, the Great Depression being one example. Then, the Republicans as a party wanted to do nothing, expecting things would take their natural course and the economically weak would fall by the wayside. Led by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Democrats took the opposite approach, using the powers of government to build a better economy that better served all Americans.

In my time, I saw how John F. Kennedy continued the New Deal as the New Frontier. The peaceful exploration of space was the best thing to happen to jobs in history. At its peak 400,000 Americans were employed in the Apollo Project.



Imagine if President Kennedy had lived, where the nation would be today? I believe, if we could figure out how to the moon and back, we could face any problem on earth and solve it -- from ending hunger, poverty and ignorance to creating a lasting peace.

Problems today's GOP considers intractable (see Poppy Bush inaugural "More will than Wallet" inaugural speech) such as joblessness, poverty, crime, would be tackled, instead of ignored, like they've done with public education. And the treasures accumulated since would be used to make life better for everybody on earth instead of sitting in a secret Swiss bank account.

But, no. The conservatives killed the New Deal after LBJ and the Great Society. For the space program, it started with Nixon. Instead, they gave the store away to War Inc, who sank the national treasure into the "Money trumps peace" crowd.

Today, we know what needs to be done: Jobs. Housing. Health Care. Education. Infrastructure. Research. And all the rest that helps build a stronger nation.

What we lack are leaders -- D, R, I, none, etc. -- with the courage to do what it takes, part of which is taxing those who've most benefited from the greatest wealth in human history and the trickle-down, low tax economics that help them accumulate more at the expense of the great majority of Americans.

In my skirmishes with parrot-headed Wingnuts, the Faux Propaganda Network’s talking point that “OBAMA is for REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH” has been the one I’ve been flat-footed to parry. With all the news junkie access I have every day I had often heard that the gap between the top and bottom income levels is humongous and growing and all in favor of the TOP, but it had not occurred to me to confront the “REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH” wingnuts with, “Yeah, the wealth is being redistributed all right!”

Happy Days are here again for the 400 wealthiest:

That says it all.

Here's a UCSC prof who's studied the issue:

Wealth, Income, and Power

by G. William Domhoff

EXCERPT...

This document focuses on the "Top 1%" as a whole because that's been the traditional cut-off point for "the top" in academic studies, and because it's easy for us to keep in mind that we are talking about one in a hundred. But it is also important to realize that the lower half of that top 1% has far less than those in the top half; in fact, both wealth and income are super-concentrated in the top 0.1%, which is just one in a thousand. (To get an idea of the differences, take a look at an insider account by a long-time investment manager who works for the well-to-do and very rich. It nicely explains what the different levels have -- and how they got it. Also, David Cay Johnston (2011) has written a column about the differences among the top 1%, based on 2009 IRS information.)

SNIP...



CONTINUED w LINKS:

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

I mentioned this to my Sales Manager who replied in an offhand way that the rest of the world don't have to follow the rules businesses in the West follow. I remember wondering how much longer those rules would be in place once the movers and shakers realize that their lifestyle paled in comparison to images coming out of the mideast.

BFEE gets bankrolled, in big part, by such.

PLUSH: THE DINING FACILITIES ON BOARD SAUDI PRINCE AL-WALEED BIN TALAL’S PRIVATE BOEING 747



The Prince: Meet the Man Who Co-Opted Democracy in the Middle East

by Robert Scheer
Published on Tuesday, August 27, 2013 by TruthDig.com

Now that the Arab Spring has been turned into a totally owned subsidiary of the Saudi royal family, it is time to honor Prince Bandar bin Sultan as the most effective Machiavellian politician of the modern era. How slick for this head of the Saudi Intelligence Agency to finance the Egyptian military’s crushing of that nation’s first-ever democratic election while being the main source of arms for pro-al-Qaida insurgents in Syria.

Just consider that a mere 12 years ago, this same Bandar was a beleaguered Saudi ambassador in Washington, a post he held from 1983 to 2005, attempting to explain his nation’s connection to 15 Saudi nationals who had somehow secured legal documents to enter the U.S. and succeeded in hijacking planes that blew up the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. How awkward given that the Saudi ambassador had been advocating that U.S. officials go easy on the Taliban government in Afghanistan, where those attacks incubated.

The ties between Saudi Arabia and the alleged al-Qaida terrorist attacks were manifest. The terrorists were followers of the Saudi-financed branch of Wahhabi Islam and their top leader, Osama bin Laden, was a scion of one of the most powerful families in the Saudi kingdom, which, along with the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, had been the only three nations in the world to recognize the legitimacy of the Taliban government in Afghanistan that provided sanctuary to al-Qaida. Yet Bandar had no difficulty arranging safe passage out of Washington for many Saudis, including members of the bin Laden family that U.S. intelligence agents might have wanted to interrogate instead of escorting them to safety back in the kingdom.

But the U.S. war on terror quickly took a marvelous turn from the point of view of the Saudi monarchy. Instead of focusing on those who attacked us and their religious and financial ties to the Saudi royal family, the U.S. began a mad hunt to destroy those who had absolutely nothing to do with the assaults of 9/11.

CONTINUED...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/08/27



It's not like the PetroMonarchs don't share the loot. Remember how BFEE top turds got a lot of medals, gold necklaces, swords, all matter of bling and stuff after both Gulf Wars?