National Security - Why Rich Folks Bad - Part 7

Hey Barry:

First off - big congrats on the bank reg bill. You and all your team stepped up big time when the chips were on the line. I see your pride when y'all make the announcement. Pride is well deserved Barry - enjoy it.

Wot y'all did was to put some controls on money. An thas goin a long way to keepin the good ol U S of A in one piece. Les be clear here - big money gonna be the doom of us all unless y'all controls it. They is jes as bad as bin Laden far as killin our country goes. Sure dey aint gonna plant bombs or nuthin, but they is jes as big a danger to us all as Al Queda with guns. Sumtimes I think bin Laden was runnin them banks.

Now as far as the other half of the puzzle goes, Barry, Ima gonna give y'all an idea. But I gotta warn y'all Barry, this here idea is kinda like a new strain of virus: gonna start out small an then is gonna grow and take over. When it takes over, is gonna be good for the country, but it may be bad for you, Barry Obama. Caint predict that. So read ahead Barry, but watch yo back.

The good ol U S of A is right now like sum folks drivin on a curvy mountain road at two in the AM and bein more than jes a little stoned - an then sum fool puts a blindfold on the driver. Yo know y'all gonna die, jes don know when.

Here wot Im talkin: we is at the end of a cycle where we rich an powerful. We can go one of two ways - we can change an stay rich an powerful or we can be rigid an die.

An you, thas you Barry Obama, is gonna make that choice for us. Please choose wisely, Barry.

Here sum background - there have been sum other countries in the same place we is now before in history: namely, Spain, Holland and Britain. Jes before they declined to second rate status, dey was jes like we are now: lots of rich folks, big time financial goins on and lotta po folks. See wot make a country secure an safe is when all the folks are doin well. If only a few doin good, den the few don give a rats behind bout da rest and the country go to hell. Jes like Yogi Berra says : "You could look it up."

Les go back to 1970 Barry, thas 40 years ago. We was OK then. But since then what has happened? Well, the average American has seen his living standard decline steadily for them 40 years. At the same time, the rich folks has multiplied like rabbits an they have jes gotten richer an richer. Bill Gates hisself is worth bout 100 billion. Wot the hell Barry, that aint American. It aint even comprehensible - caint git my brain round 100 billion of anything.

Das where all them bankers gittin they fun money - the rich jes rollin in cash like Uncle Scrooge McDuck.

Rest of us is goin downhill steady like.

Here we are wid a few folks settin up a nobility, plutocracy, aristocracy, thas gonna last forever unless y'all changes it. An that will screw our national security and put us in second rate status real soon.

So here wot y'all gotta do, Barry: ya gotta cut them fortunes down to a manageable size. Dat gonna mean ya gotta put a big inheritance tax on and a big income tax on.

When yo do that, then the big fortunes gonna go the US Treasury, we gonna have da cash to fix stuff an the average person gonna be able to have a decent living. Thas when we gonna be secure as a country, Barry. Thas what we need.

Ifn y'all caint git that done, them rich is gonna keep gamin the system an doom us all to second rate, Barry.

Thas the stakes. Plain as the nose on my face.

This tape will now self destruct.

Your pal,

Winston Churchill - Why Rich Folks Bad - Part 6

Hey Barry:

Here's What Winston Churchill had to say in 1908 about England:

"The seed of ...national decay - the unnatural gap between the rich and poor...the exploitation of boy labor, the physical degeneration which seems to follow so swiftly on civilized poverty..the swift increase of vulgar, jobless luxury - are the enemies of Britain."

Sounds kinda familiar, dontcha think Barry.

Your pal,

Corporations - Why Rich Folks Bad - Part 5

Hey Barry:

Les take corporations as examples of rich folks. They aint families, but the rules now is such that the CEO's are definitely RICH.

Corporations have consistently behaved badly over our history as a country - there is no reason to expect corporate behavior will change in the forseeable future. Not all corporations all the time behave badly, but a big enough majority do so consistently. For example, the Sarbanes Oxley Law was pased in response to the Enron debacle a few years ago.

Their bad behavior is consistently designed to enrich their shareholders and executives by manipulating markets, courts and laws to obtain the greatsest possible profit while simultaneously transferring risk and costs to the public - thas us, you and me. Its called privatizing the gain and socializing the loss. An, Barry, its downright Un American.

Since 1998 I have moderated an internet discussion list which attempts to document corporate behavior - both good and bad - from relevant press articles.

The archives are available publicly here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/corp-ethics/messages

The archives are searchable - it is a valuable resource.

Your pal,

Wealth, Poverty and Monopoly

Hey Barry:

Here's James Baird Weaver, Greenback Presidential candidate in 1880 writing as a Populist in 1892:

"If the master builders of our civilization one hundred years ago had been told that at the end of a single century American society would present such meloncholy contrasts of wealth and poverty, of individual happiness and widespread infelicity as are today to be found throughout the republic, the person making the unwelcome prediction would have been looked upon as a misanthrope and his loyalty to democratic institutions would have been seriously called into question. Our federal machine, with its delicate interlace work of national, state and municipal supervision, each intended to secure perfect individual equality, was expected to captivate the world by its operation and insure domestic contentment and personal security to a degree never before realized by mankind.

But there is a vast difference between the generation which made the heroic struggle for self-government in colonial days and the third generation which is now engaged in a mad rush for wealth. The first took its stand upon the inalienable rights of man and made a fight which shook the world. But the leading spirits of the latter are entrenched behind class laws and revel in special provileges. It will require another revolution to overthrow them. That revolution is upon us now."

Your pal,

Platform: American Economic Association 1885

'1. We regard the state as an educational and ethical agency whose positive aid is an indespensible condition of human progress. While we recognize the necessity of individual initiative in industrial life, we hold that the doctrine of laissez faire is unsafe in politics and unsound in morals; and that is why it suggests an inadequate explanation of the relationship between the state and the citizens.'

AEA, Saratoga, New York, September 1885

Homeless Children

Hey Barry:

This is from the US Conference of Mayors in 1986:

'My name is David Bright. I am ten years old. I am homeless. I am often hungry. Right now I live in the Martinique Hotel [a 'welfare hotel' in New York]. The Martinique is a mad house. The hallways are dangerous. Many things could happen to you while you're in the hallways. Like you could be shot or raped. The roaches and rats are a big problem too. But being raped is worse. There are people who rape little boys in the hallways.

I am often hungry because I don't get enough to eat. Homeless kids are taken to schools far away. When the bus comes late I can't even get breakfast at school. When I arrive the bell rings, then breakfast just stops. I just can't think in school when I'm hungry. My mind just stops thinking and this can't go on forever. That's because I want to learn. I want to get a good education. Learning is fun for me.

There are too many little kids in the hotel who never go to school. There just is not enough room in the school for them. Just like there's not enough homes for poor chuildren and not enough food.

When I grow up I will be President of the United States. When I am the President every American will have a home. Every American will have something to eat every day. Everyone in America will have a little money in his pocket. When I am President no ten year old boy like me will have to put his head down on the desk at school because it hurts to be hungry.'

Your pal,