Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Inequality Of Wealth Distribution In The United States.

This post was a response to a friend at Stumpburners - The Political Voice of the South whose political acumen I have a lot of respect for.  But occasionally he gets an email...




  First, most of the time when an email ends with "If you agree...Pass it on!" you can bet that it's part of the Right's disinformation campaign and while in and of itself it's a valid point, unfortunately this one is just a misdirection to keep attention away from the real problem.

Here's what I posted back to him, and keep in mind that Beast is one of those rare Okies whose principles trumps his political affiliations.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Certainly for the crap job that these people have been doing they are way overpaid.  But they are not the real problem.  However, they have passed the laws that have created the problem.  And they were well paid by the people who are the problem.

OWS has it right, the one percent is the problem, they have a little over a third of this country's wealth and they pay our weak willed lawmakers to pass laws to give them even more.  Talk about "Welfare Queens".

Combine that with the rest of the top ten percent and they have over 70% of this country's wealth.  Which leaves 30% left over for 90% percent.

Now it gets even better for for the well to do.  The next richest 40% have 26% of this country's wealth.  The kicker is that the lower 50% in this country have to make do with what's left over, a whopping 2.5%.  That's not a typo, the bottom half of this country, that means all the working class, the people who generate the economy have to do it with only 2.5 percent of the financial assets of the richest country on the planet.

And the super rich are putting out big bucks to try to get even more of that tiny fraction of wealth for themselves.

Your chart, useful information, is just a smokescreen to hide what the real problem is.  Another big part of the problem is what I like to call the dumba$$itude of a large part of the population of this country.  Tea Party, other people who believe the rich need a tax cut, people who believe the rich create jobs, people who believe Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the Right Wing Propaganda Machine, people who will happily run get the rope to hang themselves with, people who vote against their and their family's own best self interest, people who refuse to think for themselves and let their pastors, bosses or whoever tell them how to vote, "conservative" Democrats, hell, just the general dumbing down of the people in this country.

Here's a chart to show the income distribution inequality in this country.  Believe me, in countries that care about all their citizens the bottom half gets a hell of a lot more than 2.5% and they laugh at us and think we're crazy.  And they're right.



We have the highest income inequality of any developed nation.


Beast, if you'll read the link above and these, you'll be better informed than probably 98% of the people in this country.  BTW, I'm working on a post about the real Ronald Reagan, I'll try to get it out tomorrow, I think you'll like it.  You know most of this problem, not to mention most of the other problems we have today, started with that pathetic, simpleminded old man.

The Distribution of Wealth in America

It's the Inequality, Stupid

Wealth, Income, and Power

Study: Most Americans want wealth distribution similar to Sweden

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know that real Democrats would rather know how things really are, as opposed to, say, burying your head in the sand that is Fox News.  Of course, everything on here is open for discussion or debate.  There's a comment section below, or an even better venue for it;


Later.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

If Your Husband Beats You, Just Remember Why You Loved Him To Begin With.

Totally fricking bat**** crazy, that's about the nicest thing I can say about todays Republican legislators.  And we depend on our gutless, spineless, gelding Democrats to save us from the crazies.  We saw how well our dems in Oklahoma stood up to the Republicans in the "Ram a Probe Up a Woman's Hooha Before She Can Have A Lawful Abortion" law.

Well, it looks like that was just the tip (no pun intended) of the iceberg.  In Wisconsin the Right is going after single mothers;

Quote
In Wisconsin, a state senator has introduced a bill aimed at penalizing single mothers by calling their unmarried status a contributing factor in  and neglect.

Senate Bill 507, introduced by Republican Senator Glenn Grothman, moves to amend existing state law by "requiring the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board to emphasize nonmarital parenthood as a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect."

The bill would require educational and public awareness campaigns held by the board to emphasize that not being married is abusive and neglectful of children, and to underscore "the role of fathers in the primary prevention of child abuse and neglect."

Saying that people "make fun of old-fashioned families," Grothman -- who has never been married and has no children -- criticized social workers for not agreeing that children should only be raised by two married biological parents, and told a state Senate committee that he hopes the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention board, of which he's a member, could "publicize something that's politically incorrect but has to be said in our society."


Never been married or had children, definitely qualifies as a right wing "expert".

Now they want to do away with divorce, even if you believe that your husband will harm or even kill you or your children, too bad.  Their advice is "just remember why you fell in love with him in the first place".

Quote
In Wisconsin -- yes, the same state where lawmakers have introduced a bill penalizing single mothers for being unmarried -- a Republican state representative has come out against divorce for any reason -- even domestic abuse.

Instead of leaving an abusive situation, women should try to remember the things they love about their husbands, Representative Don Pridemore said. "If they can re-find those reasons and get back to why they got married in the first place it might help," he told a local news station.

Pridemore -- who, coincidentally, is a co-sponsor of Republican state Senator Glenn Grothman's "being single causes child abuse" bill as well as a controversial voter ID bill that was ruled unconstitutional earlier this week -- also said that while he thinks women are capable of caring for a family "in certain situations," fathers are the only ones who provide structure and discipline. If they don't grow up with married biological parents, Pridemore says, "kids tend to go astray."

Grothman, for his part, continues to defend his controversial bill. Now, though, not only is single parenthood a factor in child abuse, women in particular are to blame for it.

"There's been a huge change over the last 30 years, and a lot of that change has been the choice of the women," Grothman said.


So ladies remember, in todays Tea Party Republican America that no matter how bad things seem it's your own fault for choosing to be female and worse, unmarried with children.

In their opinion you obviously need a man, a white, conservative, Christian, manly man.  So in the name of fair play I give you just such a man to help you get your hell bound life back on the right track, State Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-WI).

Later.

Rick Santorum stops boy from using pink bowling ball. Really!

I wonder, if in some alternative universe where Rich Santorum became president, would he try to enact laws to match his quaint, 19th century perspective of how the world should be?

Quote
Washington (HRC March 28 News Release) - At a campaign event at a bowling alley in Wisconsin today, GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told a boy who reached for a pink bowling ball: "You're not gonna use the pink ball. We're not gonna let you do that. Not on camera." Santorum went on to say "Friends don't let friends use pink body parts ." The comments were tweeted by Reuters reporter Sam Youngman.

"Fox News Killed My Mother"

Not my Mother, but unfortunately someones Mother.  An elderly lady lost all sense of reality to fear and paranoia, the hallmark of Fox News.

Quote
Hallie Jean Mayes Knauss Culpepper was a vibrant, beautiful woman. She was stylish. She was sharp as a tack. She was good-natured. She was a trailblazer, a businesswoman, a woman who gave to the community and to her country. She was a “dyed-in-the-wool Republican.” She was a mother of three and raised five of her grandchildren. She was an avid watcher of Fox News. Fox News taught the woman of courage a new emotion – fear. She feared the President. She feared the Government. She feared healthcare. She feared Muslims. She feared death panels. On February 16, 2012, Hallie Jean Mayes Knauss Culpepper died at 85 years old because Fox News made her fear her doctor.


To paraphrase the Right, this is acceptable "collateral damage" in the larger war against the truth.

Her son said:

Quote
Fox News Killed My Mother
I know this personally. FOX News killed my precious mother, Hallie. She watched FOX religiously. And when she fell ten days before she died, she refused to go to the doctor because, “I don’t want Obamacare to get all of my information!” she declared, recalling the warnings from FOX News “anchors.” She was emphatic. She was not going to consort with the Muslim enemy. As she made out her will she told her lawyer, “I don’t want any of my money going to the Muslim Brotherhood!” And her last protestation dealt with “Obama’s death panels.” Mother died just days later. I hold FOX News responsible for my mother’s death.
Her mind was sharp and keen. Her father, a lawyer, was elected by the people of Fayetteville, AR to serve as their representative at their state’s first constitutional convention. When Eisenhower ran for office, she drove me to the airport and put me on her shoulders so I could see him when he briefly got off the plane to make a quick stump speech. She was a poll watcher and was serious about her politics, but not fanatical. It was the advent of FOX that began to get her riled up. Out of nowhere she’d throw out a comment about our president being a Muslim. I could see FOX was doing a slow snatch of her brain. It strained our relationship, but I was her “rock” as she called me to the end. I bought her weekly groceries and looked out for her. Prior to FOX my mother and I could talk about politics, but FOX erected permanent barriers where no “meeting of the minds” was possible.


Personally, I can't watch Fox News.  I've tried, but after about two minutes my gag reflex is triggered, which is probably a good thing considering that study after study has shown that Fox News viewers are probably the most uninformed people in the country.

From Forbes:

Quote
A poll by Farleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey showed that of all the news channels out there, Fox News viewers are the least informed.
People were asked questions about news habits and current events in a statewide poll of 600 New Jersey residents recently. Results showed that viewers of Sunday morning news shows were the most informed about current events, while Fox News viewers were the least informed.  In fact, FDU poll results showed they were even less informed than those who say they don’t watch any news at all.
Readers of The New York Times, USA Today and listeners to National Public Radio were better informed about international events than other media outlets.


Ms Culpepper paid a high price with very little in return from the hucksters that run Fox News.

Later.