Thom Hartmann: It Wasn't Always This Way...

Thom Hartmann explains perfectly and eloquently how the 1% got to where they are and why the 99% are languishing. And he's got charts!! And it all started with the election of Ronald Reagan. This explains the "why" of the Occupy Wall Street movement and why changes must be made and why the Republicans are on the wrong side of the issue in protecting the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and the largest corporations. Obviously Dave Ramsey chooses to ignore these facts as he goes on living his life enjoying the benefits of being in the 1% like Bush's tax cuts, while speaking condescendingly to everyone else who doesn't agree with him. So without further ado, Thom Hartmann...

An Open Letter to Dave Ramsey Re: Occupy Wall Street

Dear Dave:

I used to be a dedicated follower of your program. I bought your books, software, envelope system, and I even came to your live event here in Birmingham with my wife in 2007. I wanted to get out of debt and make a better financial life for my family than it was currently projecting to be. Then, well, a year later the whole financial world turned upside down. Unfortunately, I am still in debt, although now making solid progress. I'm working 60 hours per week at nights as an RN, so I am quite busy, as you can imagine. I still get your emails and follow you on Twitter because I still find good insights from you. That said, I just read your message to the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

I have two questions for you...What planet are you living on??!!?? Where have you been for the last 30 years?? I'm only 31 years old and I think I've been a lot more cognizant of what's going on in this country than you in the last 30 years. For someone who talks about "throwing the bums out of Washington" so much you clearly have no idea what's really going on in Washington. So let me provide you with a little history lesson and then maybe you'll understand why folks are occupying Wall Street.

It's simple really. And it's really not so shocking why people are so upset. I'm not even going to get into all the specifics. I've done so before here in my blog and it's well documented elsewhere, not to mention, it's history. This stuff really happened. Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980 and famously said in his inaugural address, "...government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." And thus began the era of "Reaganomics": deregulation of Wall Street firms, tax cuts that were mostly beneficial to the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations, and a promise of "trickle-down" effects for the rest of us. Because "a rising tide lifts all boats." Republicans and Democrats (but especially Republicans) have been responsible for the repeal of many regulations on the financial sector, many put in place after lessons learned from the Great Depression. And why has our government been so interested in the last 30 years in deregulating and tax cutting and creating tax loopholes?


Greed! You were right in this part of your message. Greed is bad. It corrupts. The point of a company is to make money. I get that. Everyone gets that. I'm cool with that. But in the last 30 years these Wall Street firms and largest corporations and the wealthiest individuals have been lining the pockets of Congressmen and women and Senators and donating to their PACs and now, thanks to the Supreme Court's Citizen's United ruling, Super PACs to get their agenda pushed through congress as legislation. Never in the history of America has there been so much special interest and monetary influence in our government and politics. Can you imagine? A corporation is a person? Can a multinational corporation go to the polls and vote? No, but it can donate unlimited amounts of cash to influence that election. Most Americans don't have unlimited amounts of money with which to influence their congressman or Senator. So the corporations line the pockets of the politicians and the politicians craft laws that make the corporations rich beyond their wildest dreams. And the real constituents of the Congress is Wall Street and the corporations, no matter who voted them in. Our government is corrupt, and the Occupy Wall Street protesters know it.


As the corporations have gotten their way with our legislature, they've also become greedy in another way. They've found that they can move production of their products to third world countries where labor is much cheaper. Millions of good American jobs have been slashed and shipped overseas. And the CEOs of these companies, they've earned a nice fat bonus!


You know it's funny, I've heard a lot of conservatives protect these CEOs and their wealth just like you do, saying, "leave them alone, the government shouldn't increase taxes on them, they've worked hard and earned their money." I know a lot of them have worked hard to get where they are and to earn their money. But when an executive uses that money to influence (bribe) their government in an effort to keep even more of his or her money, that executive is corrupt, and is no longer working hard. And sadly, more often than not, this is the case.


Your whole section on "Wall Street is Evil" is disingenuous, and you know it. These people do understand what is going on in this country. People understand history. The protesters understand the corruption in our government and that our government is bought. They want money out of politics. They want their voices to be heard through their votes, not their pocketbooks. But no matter how much they vote, they know their politicians will never legislate in a way beneficial to them. The tax cuts and loopholes are being kept for the rich. 


I'm calling bull-crap on your "wealth redistribution" nonsense. I am sick and tired of hearing that the poor and the democrats and the liberals and President Obama are a bunch of socialists who want wealth redistribution from the rich to the poor. Again, what planet have you been on for the last 30 years? The last 30 years have been nothing but Republican tax policies that have redistributed all the wealth from the poor and middle class to the rich. Wages for the working class have been stagnant for the last 40 years while CEOs' pay has increased 300%. It's sick that the top 0.1%, 400 individuals, have more wealth, than the bottom 150 million Americans combined. None of this was true in the 1960s and 1970s. It all started with Ronald Reagan and tax cuts and tax loopholes for the wealthiest Americans and the largest corporations and financial firms. And now, since the meltdown of 2008, the wealth gap is at its widest since the 1920s! Just like it was before the Great Depression. Corporate profits are at an all time high, and so is executive pay. You can quit this "wealth redistribution" crap. It's been redistributed in the last 30 years all the way to the top. So when we say "Tax the Rich", it's because they've got all the money! Or should I say, You've got all the money! This country has been great to you in the last 30 years, I think it's time for you and the rest of the 1% to contribute back to the country that made you so wealthy, to the recovery, to the debt repayment, and to the shattered economy that was caused by the 1%. Yes, it was caused by the 1%


If I had to name one law that was repealed, in the name of deregulation, that had more to do with the financial meltdown of 2008 it would be, of course, Glass-Steagall. The repeal of this law allowed the formation of the financial giant Citigroup and many that followed, financial centers that provided consumer banking services as well as asset management services, ie. playing the stock market. It wasn't long before these banking giants were taking consumer deposits and betting them on complex derivatives and credit default swaps and making bad loans to people who had no business getting them for houses they could never afford. Before we knew it the bottom fell out and all the banks had all these toxic assets on their balance sheets. These mega-banks didn't have our money, the money we deposited for safe keeping, because they had squandered it betting it junk. Then Hank Paulson and George Bush and our bought Congress forced us, the taxpayers, to bail out these same greedy, self-serving elitists, because these banks were now "too big to fail." And once they were bailed out, these executives had the gall to give themselves MILLIONS of dollars in bonuses each! They said they had to keep the best and the brightest on their staffs! And then when a few members of congress decided to stand up and put their foot down, these same executives spent more money and sent more lobbyists to Washington to water down or altogether stop reform legislation on Wall Street. And now these same greedy executives are implementing charges and fees on people's accounts just so they can access their own money. Dave, people are down there on Wall Street protesting these abuses that are systemic in our financial system and aided and abetted by our government, and you're telling us to boycott McDonald's. You insult my intelligence and the intelligence of everyone who is occupying.  No one is trying to take McDonald's profits, and if that's what you really think, then you're the clown.


In your letter you said, "This is the greatest country on the planet, but even here, you're not guaranteed wealth, talent, fame, a full head of hair or six-pack abs." I'm here to tell you that most people don't want any of those things (although personally I would like to be debt free and have six-pack abs). But they would like a government that truly represented them, not the corporations that buys them off. They would like to be taxed fairly in relation to those in higher tax brackets. It really isn't fair that Warren Buffet pays only 17% tax while his secretary pays 35%! These people are not envious at all. They've been knocked down and kicked after doing everything right. It's a statistical fact that there are 5 job applicants for every 1 job available. So when you say grow up and go get a job, I ask, what do you think brought them to march on Wall Street? You might be surprised to learn that many, if not most, of these have graduated from college and cannot find a job, no matter how hard they've looked. And not even McDonald's is hiring that many college graduates for even entry-level jobs. These people just want a fair shake.


Dave, I hope you will read and consider my letter. I hope you will change your views. You constantly call yourself a Christian. Do you believe Christ would agree with the wealthy having lower tax rates than the poor? Do you believe Christ would approve of corporations' influence to write the tax code to benefit them while doing economic harm to this country's working class? Do you believe Christ would approve of your disingenuous letter to these Occupy Wall Street protesters? There are injustices in this country. They are waged by an elite minority at the very top. I have two jobs as an RN and I thank God everyday that I can provide for my family. But I have eyes that see and ears that hear. If I could be there in Zuccotti Park, I would be the most vocal protester. You can live in denial since you live at the top and have your radio show and sell your products. But don't you dare insult the intelligence of the people who are out there and now spread all across this country protesting the injustices of the last 30 years! We will no longer be silent and stand idly by while our futures are torn and shredded by the 1%! We are calling for change and reform and we will not be silenced by the 1%!


Sincerely,
Joshua LaDeau

Occupy Wall Street: What the Tea Party Should Have Been

Finally, the movement America has been waiting for, the movement this country needs, the movement the Tea Party should have been. And it is spreading faster than the Tea Party ever did, and it has become more popular than the Tea Party ever was. Why? Because this movement is directed at the right people in the right places and it is not backed by the very people who have benefited from 30 years of deregulation, market manipulation, sweetheart tax cuts and loopholes, and industry specific taxpayer subsidies. I wrote about who is funding the Tea Party in a previous post. The Tea Party should have been protesting against the very people who were funding them: Wall Street, the Koch brothers, the oil and gas industry, the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries, and all the large corporations who have lobbyists in Washington, D.C. These are they who are writing the legislation that our Congress has been passing for the last 30 years! These are they who have benefited from the tax code and the tax cuts. These are they whose incomes have skyrocketed nearly 300% while the middle class income has stagnated. These are they who contribute large sums of money to our legislators and to whom our legislators are beholden. These are the 1%. These are the constituents of our legislators. Our congress is bought and paid for by these wealthy individuals and large corporations. And if we are to have a government of the people, by the people, for the people, we MUST get the money out of politics.

Dylan Ratigan, an MSNBC host, is spearheading an effort to return our government to the people of the United States and to get money out of politics. I have written many times about the egregious Supreme Court Citizens United decision and the immediate impact it had and continues to have in our elections. Corporations are not people! People are people. Corporations cannot go to the polls and vote, people can. But corporations can give a whole heck of a lot more money towards campaigns than people can. I encourage everyone to go to his site, http://www.getmoneyout.com/, and sign the petition. I applaud Mr. Ratigan and wish there were many more in our media with his fire and passion for transparency and ethics in our elections. The ability of Wall Street firms and corporations to buy off our elected officials, both Republican and Democrat, has created an atmosphere in this nation in which, well, look at the charts in the previous link, unemployment is at its highest level since the depression, but corporate profits are at an all time high. Wealth inequality is the highest it's been since the 1920s. As I've been saying for years, it's all thanks to the Republican policies of trickle down economics.

When the GOP cut the taxes at the top and deregulated, CEOs and Wall Street did not find ways to invest and create more jobs to put more Americans to work or to improve the education system in America. They kept the money, shipped the jobs overseas where the labor was cheaper and pocketed the difference. They created news outlets like FOX news to dumb down the average American so they would listen to their carefully prepared propaganda and never realize where the blame should be placed. Then they created complicated derivatives markets and credit default swaps that eventually led to toxic assets that crashed the economy in 2008. Then the American taxpayers were forced by the paid-for congress to bail out these same firms and corporations that caused, through their own greed and lack of discipline, this economic meltdown.

This is where the Tea Party should have said ENOUGH! But instead, they took funding from the same corporations. They kept getting their information from FOX news because it was comfortable. They brought guns to their rallies and blamed their problems on "the black guy" and called him a Nazi. They wanted to "take their country back". The Tea Party was a joke from the beginning of its inception, because they were only a pawn in the hands of the 1% to keep the status quo going for a while longer. And since the election of 2010, the new Tea Party members of Congress have done more to obstruct and hurt the poor and middle class than any Congress in this country's history! Why else do you think there have been so many recall elections? These folks came in promising to do something about jobs, jobs, jobs, and have YET to do ANYTHING to help a single American citizen find a decent wage earning job. In fact the legislation they have introduced, if passed, would have caused millions to lose their jobs.

Finally, Occupy Wall Street! This is the rally, the movement that the Tea Party should have been. These brave people are angry at the right people, in the right place, and have the right message. That message, in part, is this: those greedy pigs caused the economic meltdown, they've taken our jobs and our futures, and they’ve taken our bailout. They've repaid us with higher credit card rates, exorbitant and extraneous fees, and massive amounts of student loan debt without any prospect of ability to repay. They've kicked us out of our homes. They've taken $3 trillion dollars out of the economy and it's sitting in their private accounts not helping anyone or contributing any good to this country. They took that much money out of our economy because our government is complicit with them and has been bought off by them and has legislated into existence an atmosphere in our nation in which this sort of greed is possible. We are the 99% and we will not be ignored anymore!

President Obama: Pass This Bill

As many good Americans do before the first game of an NFL season, I too made time to watch President Barack Obama give his speech to the joint session of Congress and the American people, in which he laid out his plan to grow jobs and the economy. Okay, so a Presidential address before a joint session of Congress before a football game is not the norm, but it did get a lot of hype in the last week. The game, by the way, was a very good game between the Packers and the Saints and I hope is a foreshadowing of a competitive and entertaining season in the NFL. If you were unable to watch the speech, you can view the video here, or read the transcript here.

Just a few observations as I watched the President outline The American Jobs Act. There is a lot in the President’s proposals that are fundamentally Republican ideas, including tax cuts for businesses and payroll tax holidays for employees. The President’s plan also includes very sizable tax credits to businesses who hire veterans or the long term unemployed. These seems to me to be very sensible, non-controversial measures, particularly to the GOP. And yet, most of them sat there, stone faced throughout the speech, even for their own ideas and policies, being endorsed by a Democratic President.

President Obama laid out plans to get 2 million construction workers back to work improving roads and bridges, railways and airports. In 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave a score of a “D” for the state of decay of our roads and bridges. Our infrastructure is literally crumbling as we speak. We have a duty to ourselves and future generations of Americans to improve our infrastructure now. Why should China have a better transit system than the United States of America?

Construction workers would also go back to work renovating and modernizing our public schools. How can our children begin to receive the best education to prepare them in a world economy against the best and brightest across the globe in dilapidated buildings with outdated facilities and equipment? Another thing his plan will do is prevent the layoffs of or rehire hundreds of thousands of teachers. Our kids deserve the best and we must invest in their education if we are to remain a dominant player in an ever smaller world. And yet, Republicans in that hall sat on their hands, blank stares on their faces, as if they wanted our kids to grow up uneducated and uncompetitive.

The greatest thing that should make Republicans happy is that the whole plan is paid for and will not add a penny to the deficit. The President will seek addition cuts to the budget by the Super Committee formed by the deficit reduction bill signed into law in July. Yet Republicans sat coldly.

I’m sorry, but if I were an independent trying to decide on who to vote for in the next election, I’d have to say, these Republicans in Congress would be completely turning me off right now. It is clear they have no interest at all for improving the economy or creating a single job if it would seemingly be to the benefit of this President. He might just get credit for it. That just might get him re-elected. And as has been expressly stated by Mitch McConnell and others in the Republican leadership, their number one goal is to make President Obama a one term President. And it is clear that if that means keeping the economy in the tank by whatever obstruction in Congress necessary, they are not only willing, but have been very successful now for three years at doing just that. It’s time that Republicans quit being subservient to their wealthy benefactors and campaign donors and do what is right for ALL the American people. If tax cuts for the rich worked, there would be no shortage of jobs right now. Those horrendous unpaid for Bush tax cuts for the rich that ballooned our deficit have done only that, ballooned our deficit, and in the mean time destroyed American jobs, shipping them overseas, while corporations and CEOs saw the biggest profits and pay increases in history! I am proud to say that Obama’s plan revives closing loopholes in the tax code for these corporations and the wealthiest Americans. I have no problem with the rich or the fact that they have worked hard all their lives (well those who didn’t inherit everything they have anyway) to build up what they have earned. But in the last 30 years, they have seen unprecedented wealth accumulation while the middle class and poor have seen a decline in their standard of living. Wages have stagnated or declined for this group. This is now a time when the largest corporations are not creating jobs, although they are sitting on literally trillions of dollars in cash. It is time for these corporations and wealthy individuals to pay their fair share and to be part of the economic recovery with the rest of the American people.

President Obama will deliver a bill early next week to Congress and has urged our elected representatives to “...pass this bill right away.” I urge all to contact your Senators and Congressmen and Congresswomen and urge them pass this bill now. Tell them to put aside their partisan politics and put our fellow citizens back to work. Even the President admits this bill may not solve all our problems, but it is a large step in the right direction. As people go back to work, they will again be able to pay their mortgages and purchase the goods and services that will directly stimulate and spur further economic growth. Tell Republicans that the well-being of the American people is more important than the next election. And if Republicans will not support this jobs bill, and if they will continue to obstruct the growth of American jobs, the middle class, and the economy for the benefit of the wealthiest Americans or for their political agenda including unseating President Obama, then we will collectively work to unseat these same self-serving Republicans who do not care about their fellow Americans, but their own bottom line and campaign donations from the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations. Call them, write them, email them. Make your voices heard loud and clear. We want jobs and a decent standard of living and a revival of the American dream. This is not beyond our reach, but the government does have a role and a function, and at this time, this bill must be signed into law to get America working and the economy moving forward.

Eric Cantor is The Worst Person In the World

Folks, I'm not even going to sugar coat it, qualify it, or come up with some clever anecdote to illustrate my point. Eric Cantor is evil. He is a Republican congressman from Virginia and the House majority leader. Let's just cut to the chase, I've said Cantor is evil for a long time, but this just takes the cake. In my 31 years, anytime there has been a hurricane, earthquake, or tornado, the federal government has stepped in and provided funding for cleanup and rebuilding. Over the weekend, Eric Cantor said on Fox "News" that in order for the federal government to step in after Hurricane Irene and do what it has always done, there will have to be cuts in other areas in the budget. This is outrageous! Millions of Americans have been affected, and as of this writing, 35 Americans have lost their lives, across several states. And now this man, who time and time again has fought and continues to fight to cut taxes for the richest Americans and largest corporations, who has voted to dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and privatize Social Security, a man who has investments that literally bet against America and would have profited him big time had America defaulted on its debt. And during the whole debt ceiling debacle in July, Cantor was trying really hard to block any deal from happening. And let it be remembered that the whole whole debt ceiling crisis was a manufactured crisis created wholly by Republicans in Congress, with none other than Eric Cantor taking a leading role. This evening, Keith Olbermann declared Cantor today's Worst Person in the World. Keith, none have been more deserving of the honor. To tie your extreme right wing political agenda to the suffering of Americans due to a natural disaster makes Eric Cantor the Worst Person in the World, the least Christ-like person in the world, the most un-American person in the world, and completely evil. People of Virginia, I hope you will not tolerate this evil man to represent you for another term. I cannot believe the majority of people in his district are as heartless as he is.

Update: I just learned exactly what programs' budgets Mr. Cantor would like to cut. According to ThinkProgress.org, On Fox "News" the majority leader said he "supported $1 billion in disaster relief funding as part of the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, which includes massive cuts to FEMA and first responders." Now I ask, what in the world kind of sense does that make Congressman? You mean to tell me you are going to slash funding to the very agency that is responsible for assisting in cleanup and reconstruction? And you want to slash funding to those who are trained to go out and find the injured and bring them aid and take them to the hospital? Are you mad? Are there people in your district who are actually as heartless as you and who will still vote for you? For the love of all that is good in this world, I hope not. I hope your constituents are better people than you are and will remove you from your position in the next election.

On Rick Perry, Warren Buffett, and Jobs

So today is my birthday, and just in time, and for great comic relief, Rick Perry, governor of Texas has entered the Republican primaries to become the GOP nominee for President in 2012. He immediately made a huge gaffe, threatening Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and at the same time exposing his own complete lack of understanding of monetary policy. Really, if this guy is threatening people 4 days into his campaign, I can't wait to see what else he comes up with. This is a guy talking about how much he LOVES America. But as I recall, this is the same guy who, on several occasions in the last year, also threatened to take Texas and secede from the United States. Where's the love, huh? I'd love for this guy to get the nomination and run against President Obama. That could be fun.

Speaking of President Obama, he's out on a bus tour encouraging folks to hold their congressional representatives accountable for last month's debt ceiling debacle and to push them to get busy to work on legislation that might produce some jobs to finally help that 9.1% unemployment rate. I mean, since all the tax cuts for the rich have clearly not worked, I think it's time to try a completely different angle. Even Warren Buffett understands that he and those in his tax bracket, as Americans, have not had a whole lot asked of them in the last 30 years,  "My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice." He knows that millionaires and billionaires will continue to invest and will continue to get richer even if they do have to pay a little more in taxes.

It's time our "representatives" actually started representing us, the people who go to the polls and do the voting, and not the big corporate donors to their campaigns. Americans are hurting. It's time our congressmen and women went to congress not as Democrats and Republicans, but as Americans, to work out real solutions for the American people they represent who are hurting in this economy. It's time to quit playing games and quit playing politics. It's time to fund the projects that have been proposed that will put Americans to work. 

Maybe I'm just a simpleton, but it seems to me that if you fund a bridge in Missouri, you have to employ people to build the bridge, all kinds of people. From engineers to contractors to builders, there are a lot of disciplines needed to build that bridge. Then you have to get steel from Pittsburgh, and now a steel plant in Pittsburgh needs to hire a couple of guys, then you have to transport the steel, so you have to hire a guy to transport it. What I'm saying is, if you fund one project, it's going to stimulate a lot of economic activity. If Congress would get off it's collective butt and start approving and funding all these proposed projects, instead of trying to destroy each other's political careers (Mitch McConnell I mean YOU), joblessness would decrease and economic activity would increase. You see, when the rich are not creating jobs, and the people don't have money to buy stuff, it is good for the government to step in and either directly or indirectly, create jobs. It puts more money in the hands of the poor and middle class who will go out and buy the stuff that will improve the economy. All government spending is not bad, contrary to what the "Tea Party" may think.

And as far as the rich creating jobs, Warren Buffett had something to say about that too, "And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation." Congress and the President must allow the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of 2012, no ifs, ands, or buts. Buffett says he would raise rates immediately, so I'm being generous with my time frame, particularly since it's already law. I would encourage everyone to read Warren Buffett's op-ed piece in the New York Times, and then write a letter to your Senator and Representative encouraging him or her to read it and take it to heart.

As I said at the beginning, today is my birthday, I'm 31 today. And if you'll notice on the right, there is a place where anyone can make a contribution to the blog. Any donation is very appreciated and helps me to keep it up! Thanks to all my readers!

Dylan Ratigan Rant - Bought Congress

Now this is the kind of honesty that is so desperately needed in our media. This is the kind of passion that I wish we were seeing from our media. This is what media is supposed to do: expose what is going on in the government and how it is affecting us, the American people, in our everyday lives. We do have a bought Congress. I have been saying it for years, and the wealthy and corporations are pulling all the strings in our political process on Capitol Hill. And the Supreme Court's Citizen's United ruling last year ensures that now we'll never know who is spending the money in our political process, how much they are spending, or where it is coming from. That's right, money could be coming from China, India, Venezuela, Iran, or Russia, influencing our elections! Here's the rant:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Keith's Special Comment: The Four Great Hypocrisies of the Debt Deal

I'm mad! And it's time we all were. And it's time that our government governed "of the people, by the people, for the people." I will not sit around idly while our "leaders" continue on a path to make the wealthy pay nothing while the middle class and the poor are left destitute. The only class warfare going on in this country is by the wealthy and corporations against those who have no representation in our government, the poor and middle class. Thank God for voices like Keith! We need more like his and we need to be organized and there is no time to lose.