The Only Issue

by: Tocque Deville

Tue Sep 08, 2009 at 14:37

Did anyone really think that a political system as corrupt as ours could possibly produce anything but a corrupted product? Does anyone really believe another Obama speech is going to alter this fact?

Sometimes miracles do happen. So I've kept my mouth shut as this calamity has played out. But I accurately predicted all the way back in the campaign that a health care reform effort would, at best fail epically, and at worst actually make matters worse.

How did I know this? Am I an oracle from the netherworld? No. I predicted it because I am not insane. And by insane I mean doing the same thing over and over and over again while each time expecting different results. I mean WTF did people expect?

Progressives need to focus on one single issue for the rest of their lives if necessary: banning campaign contributions and other means to bribe politicians.

This is separate from campaign finance reform. There are a thousand ways we could finance elections. I'm sure we could come up with a few hundred that would be just, equitable and of benefit to the functioning of democracy.

The real issue is not how we finance elections. It is how we do not. We need a constitutional amendment to prohibit ever giving a penny to a public servant or candidate for office. It's that simple.

This would be the second American Revolution and this country will continue to fail until it occurs. It will fail on health care reform, it will fail on climate change. It will fail on everything, just as it is failing now.

Removing the money from politics won't solve all our problems. But it will at least eliminate the primary impediment that prevents us from solving those problems.  

Imagine politicians elected on the merit of their ideas instead of their ability to raise cash. George Bush would have never been governor, much less president.

Some day, historians will look back on this era as an absurdity - the way we look back on the days when monarchs enslaved the people or when we enslaved Africans.

Why wait?

Every other issue liberals and progressives care about, with the partial exception of civil rights, has one single source: the corruption of money. And yet we continue to attempt change without addressing this issue.

NOTHING WILL CHANGE until we get the money out of politics. There is no other issue that compares in importance. Not even close.  

Democrats Sell Out Public On Healthcare.

by: NABNYC

Tue Aug 18, 2009 at 22:26

It's suddenly become popular to speculate about what on earth is going on with the Democrats. Why haven't they just written and passed a law to provide all Americans with healthcare. Something simple such as Medicare for All, for example. Anyone who wants to can buy into Medicare, with premiums presumably much lower than what private insurance charges. Also sliding scale or subsidized for low-income people. Anybody who wants private insurance is free to keep it. Why not do what is most obvious, simplest to do, and would solve the problem?

We hear silly speculation while people ignore the obvious. For example, I've heard that the Democrats "have no stomach" for confrontation with the Republicans. Someone has suggested that the Democrats are just too nice, they don't want to pass a law unless their Republican friends will support it. Another theory is that the bedrock of Obama's presidency is a desire for bipartisanship -- a belief that unless the Republicans support a policy, he won't sign the bill. I've also heard that the Democrats have "lost their way," the poor dears, have suffered a "failure of will," or simply "do not have the spine" to stand up to the Republicans. I've now begun hearing that the Republicans have "won" on this issue. Really? How is it possible that the Republicans can win anything when they've only got 21% of the country supporting them?

I actually got an e-mail yesterday from Barbara Boxer's son, who is apparently involved in politics, and is trying to raise money for some Democratic candidates who want to run for office in 2010. He had the nerve to start his e-mail solicitation by explaining to me that the Democrats currently have a razor-thin majority in Congress, a slim advantage, and we must send more money to the Democrats so they can win more seats. And then, when they've got 80%, or maybe 90% control, then maybe they'll actually do something to help the people. My response, too vulgar to be repeated here, was that I would not send one penny to any Democrats, and am seriously thinking about campaigning to throw them all out of office. It's like the rich people on Wall Street whining that their bonuses aren't as big this year. These people just don't understand how bad it is out here in the real world.

But anyway, I have no time for such speculation, nor am I inclined to participate in such nonsense.

The Democrats never intended to pass a program to provide healthcare for the citizens. It was just a slogan for them. Under Clinton, the Democrats abandoned the working people and became the party of the corporation. Corporations give them money, and the Democrats do whatever the corporations tell them to do. The Democratic Party is a criminal enterprise and we're the victims. Their motto should be "Show Me The Money."

Go ahead -- complain to somebody. It's like the cops are coming into your little corner business and shaking you down every week for money. What're you going to do? Call a cop? We're in the same position. The Democrats are involved in a criminal enterprise, looting the treasury, robbing us blind, selling their votes, betraying the constitution and their oath of office, hiring consultants at millions of dollars to prepare slick campaigns to fool us into thinking they really like us.

Have you ever known teenagers who truly believe that some teen heartthrob "likes" them. They can tell because when they saw the heartthrob, it seemed like he was looking right at them? Harmless fantasy. But our whole society is infected with it, well past the teen years, it has passed from amusing distraction to psychotic delusions. If you think that anyone in the Democratic party "really" cares about you or your life, or your credit card bills that you can't pay down, or your old refrigerator that is making such weird noises but which you cannot afford to replace, about the aching tooth that you can't get fixed, about the soft tires that may kill you on your commute, about your aching back and insomnia and grinding despair because you cannot dig out of this hole -- if you think the Democrats, or even one of them, cares at all about you or your problems, you are delusional.

The criminal enterprise works like this. First, No-Change Obama held secret (they called them "private") meetings with the big-money boys in the Medical Industry. First he met with the health insurance big-boys in a secret meeting. What was discussed? Is it possible, dare I be so cynical as to suggest that they negotiated a shake-down, a pay-off. The insurers agree to give a certain amount of money to the Democratic politicians if the politicians promise they will not even consider single-payer, Medicare for all, or anything that will cut into the profits of the insurance industry. Is that what was discussed? If not, why was the meeting secret?

Next, No-Hope Obama held secret (they called them "private") meetings with the Drug Dealers of America, who call themselves the Pharmaceutical Industry. Another shake-down and sell out. I believe there were also meetings with God -- the AMA, the representative of all the doctors in this country who think they are God because they have succeeded, through propaganda, in convincing the public that they are God, and they need to steal millions every year from every community in this country while providing routine, uninspired services to the local population, and bribing politicians to pass laws so they can't be sued for their too-frequent malpractice.

The Democrats refuse to pass any law to provide healthcare for Americans because they have taken so much money in bribes from the Medical Industry, and have been promised millions more in the future. The Democrats are corrupt. They are criminals. They are running a criminal enterprise, deceiving and selling out the public while they make themselves rich. So sad, but ultimately true.

We can't afford to buy the Democrats' loyalty because we're not as rich as the corporations. The only way we can get anything out of our government would be massive civil disobedience -- massive work shut-downs, a general strike, a confrontation between millions of our citizens and the bureaucrats who are selling us out. There is no other way.

(From the Center for Responsive Politics):

The group of people known as "Health Professionals" give more money to politicians, as a group, than all but four other categories. Health Professionals include doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, everyone providing health-care services as well as their "profesional" associations. What do they want? More Money. That's why they keep paying so much in bribes to our politicians. They want to be paid more from Medicare. They want the government to pay them more for everything they do.

They want laws passed making it impossible for any victim to sue any doctor or healthcare professional for malpractice, even if they cut off the wrong leg, even if they kill somebody, even if they were drunk at the time they provided the services. And most important of all, they want to prevent the government from setting up a program that would provide healthcare for all Americans, subject to a compensation scheme established by the government. These people paid $82 million to politicians during 2008. What did they get for their money? We're seeing the results right now: no healthcare program to help the citizens of this country.
http://www.opensecrets.org/ind...

But that's not all. The insurance industry paid $47 million to the politicians in 2008. What is it they wanted in return for that money? Well, just to start, they don't want a single-payer healthcare system which would put them out of business. They don't want a public option which would allow Americans to opt out of the private insurance field. And guess what? For $47 million, it appears that they were successful in bribing the politicians to do exactly what they want. http://www.opensecrets.org/ind...

But that's not all. This is like one of those game shows where they keep telling the winner about more and more prizes that they've won. That's not all. In addition to all the bribes paid to our politicians as described above, they also got a whole bunch of money from the Drug Dealers of America aka the pharmaceutical companies. You know. The ones that keep telling us that they're going to cure cancer, but instead we keep seeing commercials on TV with supermodels pushing drugs that will make our eyelashes thicker. They kicked in an additional $30 million in bribes to the politicians in 2008 to make sure that nobody passes a law to require discounted prices on any drugs sold to Americans. Or maybe, better put, would be to say that Congress could pass a law saying the Drug Dealers can no longer charge Americans three times, or ten times what they charge people in other countries. http://www.opensecrets.org/ind...

I hope the progressives voices in the media stop all this silly speculation about what might explain the refusal of the Democrats to do what is right, obvious, apparent, and most cost-efficient: let everyone buy into Medicare.

The reason the Democrats won't do it is because they have negotiated shake-downs with the big-boys from the medical industry, they have taken bribes and arranged for future bribes of hundreds of millions of dollars, and they don't care that Americans cannot afford healthcare and so end up living in pain and misery, suffering, and dieing young.

Why is it the Republicans keep showing up at public meetings, often brandishing weapons to suggest they will violently overthrow the government if some of us are allowed to buy into Medicare? How did this get so crazy so fast? Why aren't these people being arrested and who is encouraging Americans to bring guns out in public to terrorize their neighbors? All of this is happening because the Democrats have allowed it to happen, I suspect they even want it to happen, so they can now go back to the public in September and say "Well, we tried to pass healthcare reform, but the Republicans wouldn't let us.

I've got a better idea. Let's just have a general strike. The Democrats keep ignoring us. I don't have enough money to bribe them, but I'm sure willing to go sit down somewhere, in a road or an office or in front of a building, and see if I can get their attention that way.

http://NABNYC.blogspot.com  

Credit Card Companies Are Criminal Enterprises - Loan Sharks - Who Pay Off The Cops.

by: NABNYC

Thu Apr 23, 2009 at 20:27

In order to understand credit cards, we need to recognize that most banks will loan people money for a modest interest rate. If the borrower has some assets -- a house, for example -- as collateral.

But for working people with few assets, the only loan they can get is from the credit card companies or the loan sharks -- same difference -- at outrageous interest rates. The interest charged does not reflect the "risk" of the loan, the number of defaults, the difficulty in collection, or any of the other stories they always tell us. They charge it because they can get away with it, just like the mob does.

Every once in awhile, some leading Democrat has a press conference and insists they're going to "get tough" on credit card companies. But it's all just a show -- a circus to divert the public from the truth, which is that most of the Senators and Representatives take bribes from the credit card companies. Take bribes to look the other way when the credit card companies steal everything from the working people of this country.

Most countries in the world have laws about usury. We do too. They prohibit people from charging excessive interest on a loan. For most of us, for example, if we loan money to somebody, we can only charge a certain amount of interest -- around 10% in most states.

So why don't the credit card companies have to obey the laws about usury? Because they paid bribes to the politicians in Congress to get a special law saying that they don't have to obey those laws. It's just straight-up corruption.

Credit card companies are thieves, the same as the street hoodlums who hide in alleys and knock people over the head on their way home from work, steal their wallets. The credit card industry is responsible for stealing trillions of dollars from working people in the U.S. every year.

We need serious new regulations of this industry. The absurd "disclosure" additions to the law, put into place by Wall Street's favorite Senator Chuck Schumer, does absolutely nothing to help the people. So what if the Loan Sharks have to "announce" what they plan to do right before they break your legs? Disclosure does not cure or solve theft and fraud. Chris Dodd recently announced his own "get tough" new rules, which are also garbage. From now on, when they send you a statement, they have to put it in 9 point instead of 8 point type. Just absurd "reforms" which do nothing to help the people of this country.

When working people's wages are being crushed by corporations sending jobs outside the country, when the cost of everything is artificially raised by corporations manipulating the markets (i.e. the oil companies), most people need to borrow money to pay for emergencies. When the only loans available come from the Loansharks, then having a law that makes them "disclose" that they will charge obscene amounts does nothing to help working people. Thanks for nothing Chuck Schumer and Chris Dodd. And Congress, which just this week asked President Obama to "talk" to their biggest contributors, ask them to please be nicer. Yeah, that'll do it.

Here's some shocking numbers on the Loan Shark industry in the U.S.:

http://www.parade.com/hot-topi...

http://www.hoffmanbrinker.com/...

Let's talk about a few of the biggest problems. This is what Congress needs to change. Now.

1. Usury. Credit cards should have a maximum interest of 10%.

2. "Late" Fees. Late fees should be illegal. If someone is late, the interest keeps running so the credit card company loses nothing.

3. Over-limit charges. Straight theft. They lose nothing if somebody charges over the limit.

4. Cash advance charges. Absurd. Enormous charges on top of the obscene interest rates for, essentially, somebody borrowing a couple of hundred dollars.

5. Dragnet clauses. If you default on your car loan from another lender, then the credit card company will "drag" that default into the credit card account, and raise your interest to 25%. Ridiculous. The two things have nothing to do with each other.

6. Mailing location for billing statements. They tell people the due-date is, for example, the 28th of the month (more below). Somebody in California puts the check in the mail on the 25th or 26th, but their payment center is in God-knows-where Maine, rural, with poor mail service, to maximize late fees.

7. Due-dates chosen to maximize late payments. Due-dates are generally the 28th of the month, or the 13th, around there. They know people get paid on the 15th and 30th, will write the check out the next day, and are more likely to be late. All due-dates should be on the 20th of the month.

8. Interest independent of what the loansharks pay us to borrow our money. Credit card companies borrow my money, taxpayer's money, from the federal government, and pay less than 1% interest per year. Then they turn around and charge 25% per year on credit cards. Their total "costs" consist of paying some 12 year old girl in a third world country about $1.00/day to sit in front of a computer and process payments, issue new bills. They're making a killing off of us. And Congress knows it, and they let them because they get kick-backs. Interest for credit cards should be capped at 10% but also tied to the federal discount rate -- say 5% more than the lowest federal discount rate for the preceding 6 months -- which means today's rate should be 6% on credit cards.

http://NABNYC.blogspot.com