Corporate Welfare is Killing America

Corporate welfare is killing America. It is smothering our democracy and with it the once-vaunted American middle class. As Kevin Phillips observes in his new book, Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism, the elected leadership of both parties has gamed our system to fatten the profits of corporate capitalists, while shifting the risks of their failures on the rest of us.

Over the last 25 years, the Federal Reserve has catered to the financial industry, which contributes hundreds of millions of dollars to Washington politicians, by collectivizing the risk of big investors. As Phillips says, we citizens take all the risk "of collapsed currencies, flawed speculation, busted hedge funds or the greedy misjudgments of large banks or brokerage firms" (think Bear Sterns) while they keep all the profits when times are flush. Combined with upper-tier tax cuts, this corporate corruption has led to the widest divide between rich and poor since the pre-crash 1920s, a most ominous sign of a shrinking middle class.

Adding to this chicanery, the Bureau of Labor Statistics understates inflation by excluding from the Consumer Price Index such expensive items as gasoline and food. The real rate of inflation is 6 percent to 9 percent, not the officially reported 2.7 percent. This under-reporting allows the government to avoid automatic COLA (cost-of-living adjustments) to Social Security benefits, thus cheating deserving citizens out of billions of dollars of their rightful money. It also allows the Fed to set imprudently low interest rates, thus opening the spigot to the cheap money that greedy speculators turned into the subprime mortgage crisis.

Corporate capitalists love to preach "free markets," ignoring the fact that markets corrupted by such government manipulations are anything but free. They shout "personal responsibility!" when opposing government aid for the rank-and-file Americans who sweat for them, yet hypocritically reject it for themselves with the golden parachutes they use to flee the failed companies they helped sink.It is this wolf-guarding-the-henhouse phenomenon throughout our government that destroys our democracy.

When big money dictates government policy, including deregulation, bail-outs, kickbacks, no-bid contracts, war-making and even the brazen ability to write the laws that benefit them instead of the public interest (the ruse Bankruptcy Protection Act, for example), America ceases to be a free democracy, thus imperiling the middle class that so depends on it.America's middle class needs a government that acts in the best interest of all, not just those at the top.

Publicly financed elections, strict control of lobbyists and a prohibition of even the appearance of impropriety are essential reforms.

But, like a good doctor tending a sick patient, government must first do no harm.

When to Celebrate Killing--When to Condemn it

The MSNBC teletype flows across the bottom of the screen. Here’s the flow: Obama leads nationally by 9%, Jimmy Carter will meet with Hamas in Syria, Catholics happy with Pope Benedict’s leadership, Dalai Lama speaks of vision of hope in Seattle but does not mention Tibet, Chinese leaders call Nancy Pelosi most hated person in China for stance on Tibet, Chinese arrest monks allegedly using a homemade bomb at a government building in Tibet, A bomb kills at least 12 and injures over 100 in a mosque in southern Iran, A roadside bomb in Baghdad kills another American soldier capping the bloodiest week of the year for US troops in Iraq, 15 killed in US raid on Sadr City.


How appropriate a name—SADr City. And how macabre that we should celebrate deaths, the more of them we kill, the further along the road to success we apparently are.

This concept really got me to thinking. What is truth? Does the death of some people truly lead to a better state of affairs on earth, indeed does it get us closer to “doing on earth as it is in Heaven?” One need only look at the world’s bloodiest war in history, WWII, to see that at least for that war the answer is a resounding “YES!” That is, the mounting deaths and attrition of the Nazis and the Japanese led to the eventual end of that horrible war. If there truly is such a phenomena as morality, as “right or wrong” then WWII was a perfect black/white example of it.

The Nazi and Japanese warlords were truly evil. The allies were the white-knighted saints, forced into battle by the evil side’s aggression. WWII was a literal battle to the end. There was no compromise, no truce, no arrangements possible except the utter destruction of one side or the other. The Greatest Generation is termed so because they recognized the stakes they were called to defend, they did so eagerly with little thought to their individual, selfish ways, instead melding as a unit for the defense of not only their country, but for freedom everywhere.

To me, a very self-oriented, life-of-leisure liberal, idealist romantic, such heroism and sacrifice is the apex of service. I would hope beyond hope that if I were in their shoes I would have readily traded them for boots and so rise to their level of dedication. Looking back it seems such a tremendous effort that I can only be honest by saying, “I don’t know that I would.”

While today’s battlefields are no less bloody, they are fought over causes with far less moral clarity. Starting with Vietnam and now Iraq an objective and neutral observer might very well see the United States as not only the aggressor—that is undoubtedly true—but also one without just cause, making this aggressor “the bad guy.”

If so, what must we therefore make of the deaths we now inflict?

The Day I said Yes to Everything

I’ve been reading a lot of positive attitude stuff lately. Not necessarily searching for it, more just by chance—an article here, a long lost book there. So I woke up today and said to myself, “Say YES to everything, act positively and with faith and make people HAPPY!”

My morning run, shower and shave refreshed my body as my mind was full of joyous optimism, and off to work I drove! Greeting co-workers on the way to my office, a steamy cup of coffee by my side I fired up the laptop to check the morning mail. What’s this—“Please help the hungry in Botswana, YOUR donation of $16.50 will provide a bowl of rice for a YEAR for a starving child…” “YES” I said, and gladly responded with my credit card payment.

Ah, my vendor friend writes, leads off with a joke…what’s that—FUNNY! —Uh oh, here it comes… "Please confirm that order for the purple suits with the yellow stripe—after all, you said you wanted to be different,” he pled. “Sure” I responded, and add the purple pants to boot. Oy ve! How did HE know this was my day to say yes?

Next email, from a saintly, sweet-sounding lass who I did not recognize named Christina St. Marie, but she seemed to know me for she wrote in the subject line “Hello Richard!” So I opened it up to see GENERIC VIAGARA—GETTHETASTEOFGENUINESEXUALPLEASURE. Well, this is your lucky day, Christina, here’s my order. Another came from Tiffany with a cryptic subject line promising MALE ENHANCEMENT, HUGE, NIRVANA blah blah. Hello! This was my day to say yes after all

Then there was one from Buffy,”YOUR Cialis order ready to ship.” It is? Great, and boy was my American Express getting a workout today. Then Angel Gonzalez emailed me, another stranger, but such a nice greeting in the subject line, “Richard I miss you”, so I opened it to find, SUPER HOT EXPLICIT BABES WAITING TO -----YOUR----.” Come on, I thought, what timing, first Viagra, then “Male enhancement” followed by Cialis, now this—but what choice did I have. I had a feeling that more than my credit card would be getting a workout.

The emails poured in, as if they all knew Richard Dawahare must say yes today. There were the political campaigns, “Say yes to Ralph Nader,” “Tell Hillary you’re for her!” “Sign on to Obama.” Then the moment of truth, “Support Senator McCain. Oy ve, okay, OKAY, yes, yes YES to you all! . I even responded to an email in Russian, I have no idea what, can you translate “Клиентская поддержка”? I dunno, but I responed “Da!” Lord knows what I did, but I was consistent at least.

And of course, I got three free credit scores, lowered my debt twice, opened four more checking accounts and started buying various “meds” from a trusted new on-line pharmacy, for they warned, “YourLocalDrugStroesDon'TSellMedsWitohutPrecsrpition?” Good thing today was my day to say yes or I’d have never answered such a helpful, potentially life-saving offer. Bless them!

Once on the streets there were the usual askers of help, who I never refuse. Good lord, did they know, too, that I was bound to say “yes”? Would they ask this day for a small fortune? With joy and relief did I answer, “Sure!” to a request for $5 and another for spare change.

Then there were the petition drives. First, a drive to impeach Bush and Cheney. Then one to restore voting rights to released felons. There was a Pro Peace, Pro Israel, Anti-divestment petition, then a Pro Peace, Pro Palestinian, end the Occupation petition just down the street. I signed them all, for this was my day to say YES!

I opened new charge accounts at Target and Meijer’s, redeemed coupon offers for products I never use, including for feminine hygiene and makeup removal. And in the mall I even stopped at the “Dead Sea” skin care kiosk and said “Yes” to the girl with the big smile--the one I just knew was reserved exclusively for me--as she asked “Pardon me sir, can I ask you a question?” I Gave her my hand and let her rub it raw with the so-called healing salts. Lucky for me that she didn’t ask me to buy anything, only to ask if she could try that sandpaper substance on my hand.

The day was ending and I thought I’d said my last ‘yes’ when in the car ride home Dave Oreck asked me to try the Oreck XL for a free test. Yes! I said as I jotted down the number, even though I have a Beam central vac system.

Now, while I go with fate and whatever karma holds, I do subscribe to the philosophy that God helps those who help themselves. So in order to avoid any further opportunities to say ‘yes’ I switched from the AM to commercial-free FM public radio. To prove that there is NO escaping Karma the last thing I heard just before the whirr of the garage door closing was, “So PLEASE, call in your pledge NOW…”

In all it was a day of liberation—‘YES’ to all, without prejudice or judgment, remorse or elation. For today at least I had all the answers and great peace of mind.

Yes I did.

McCan't

NY TIMES Headlines: 81% in Poll Say Nation Is Headed on the Wrong Track.

Doesn't matter if a toaster ran against McCain, he wouldn't win.

McCan't.