"Kurt Ullman" wrote in message
m...
In article ,
"Robert Green" wrote:

We've finally reached a point where the blame is being assigned to the
right
people. The destructive credit-swap and subprime mortgage games created
the
financial crisis. There's a clear trail of blood that leads back to the
early deregulation of the 1980s when the middle class started taking the
hits that have led to their stagnant economic position and to the OWS.

You mean when the Dems were in charge of Congress?

You'll note that I didn't say the Republicans did it. At least in that
paragraph. (-: But you'd have to be living in a deep, dark cave not to
know that they generally support less regulation and believe that the free
market is the perfect solution to all our woes. And yet their hands were
out to Uncle Sam when the free market threatened to collapse the entire
system. Still, they are pushing to roll back or neutralize every attempt at
reform. Why? Because an unreformed market lets them get away with robbery
of the middle class with almost nothing to stop them. People are realizing
this all over the globe.

(Although in the
interests of fairness, I should point out that all of the Nastiness
pointed to in the laws were passed by large bipartisan majorities. As
has much deviltry over the years.

The laws were eased because the big campaign contributors on both sides
demanded it, to be "more competitive with Europe and its far more lax
regulation of high finance. Of course, looking at the European Union these
days shows that it didn't work out too well for them, either. That's what
OWS is all about - changing the system so that corporations and the
uber-rich don't run the government, but that "we the people" do. There was
a very disturbing article in the NYT today where a Wall St. money manager
said:

that New York's two Democratic senators aren't on his side, declaring that
"They need to understand who their constituency is." Actually, they surely
know very well who their constituency is.

They believe that their money gives them a bigger say in how the country is
run - perhaps the ONLY say in how the country is run. OWS is challenging
those perceptions and may, indeed, change the way things are. Only in
America can people give other people (politicians) money by the boatload and
then claim they're not buying influence with it. That's preposterous and I
hope it's one of the things that will be corrected, eventually.

Finally, we're beginning to see economists and upcoming politicos like
Elizabeth Warren decimate Republican arguments that rebalancing the tax
burden means class warfare. The uber-wealthy didn't get rich entirely
by
themselves. They benefited from roads, courts, public safety agencies,
the
military and an education system paid for by taxes. Those who have
benefited the most should give back more than they have. Instead, they
continue to whine that "the rich paying less is good for everyone." The
trickle down BS of the 80's may finally be put to rest as people realize
that Wall Street's game is to privatize profits and socialize losses and
the
only thing that trickles down is economic sewage.

And they pay for them. The top 20% (actually) pay a greater %age of
the income taxes than their %age of income.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say, Kurt. Much more of the wealthy's
income derives not from paychecks, but from investments so fair comparisons
are hard to make. But just like HeyBub claiming our corporate tax rate is
among the highest in the world, the truth is that it's only on paper. GE
pays NO taxes along with a boatload of companies, some of whom even get
money back from the government.

It's a complicated picture, but the bottom line is that people at the bottom
are doing a hell of a lot worse, percentage-wise in nearly every economic
measure while the wealthy get even richer. They pay a greater proportion of
their income in taxes, payroll taxes and sales taxes than the rich. That's
why Cain's 9-9-9 proposal is going to fall flat on its face. It gives the
rich an even GREATER break than they've been getting. That's a recipe for
disaster and widespread social unrest. Ironically, his campaign will
probably fail because he can't raise enough money to be an actual player.

The money came out of the stock market in 2008 because a lot of people (like
me) think it's no longer an investment in America but a way for the
uber-rich to amass even more wealth through means that do not help the
country's economy grow in a productive way. With their access to high speed
trading and other "unfair" maneuvers, they can exit a bear market with far
more skin than the mom and pop investors of the country, who get stuck with
the largest percentage of the loss. Until there's some serious reform on
Wall St. our economy is going to stay flat - or worse.

I want to see Wall St. and Big Business get out of the "how we did this last
quarter" mindset and start thinking about where this sort of thinking had
led us. I want to see them stop rewarding failure and giving outgoing CEO's
enormous golden parachutes when the company's workers haven't gotten raises
in two, three and even five years. I think the OWS has the potential to
shine enough light on such abuses and return the US to functioning as the
world's business leader. Right now, we're heading down the drain, fast.

--
Bobby G.