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The Plutonomy — aka. that Top One Percent

I’m just back from seeing Michael Moore’s new movie, “Capitalism – A Love Story”.

It was moving, funny, and educational, all rolled into one. It made me feel both, proud and sad, to be an American. … but it’s recommended viewing if you still want to take OUR Country back, from the Powers that Be.

There are many lessons to be learned from the film — But the one that struck me, the one I’m motivated to write about now —

Is the Lesson of Plutonomy …

Empty Talking Points, Faux Outrage, and The Lie Factory — Exposed.

Ed Schultz: This wasn’t flippant, Grayson just took it to them ‘by the rules’. And he doesn’t have to apologize to nobody for anything. And you know what, there are a lot of Lefties around this Country, in their living rooms tonight saying, ‘YES! this is how you got to handle these folks!’

The Republicans are demanding an apology for the same reason they are offering Amendments about Czars — They have nothing to offer in the Health Care Debate!

[…]

Ed Schultz: Congressman Grayson do you take anything back?

Alan Grayson: Absolutely NOT!  — the people WHO should be apologizing are the Republicans — they’re the ones who should be apologize for dragging us all through the mud here, while we are just trying to improve Health Care in America.

What does 120 People a Day look like?

Finally a Democrat, willing to fight Fire with Fire — I mean extreme Rhetoric with Rhetoric!

Kudos to Alan Grayson who has the guts to dish back to the GOP, the same  “strong language”that they’ve been dishing out for months!!!

Whose Side Are You On?  by Alan Grayson by Alan Grayson:

Last night, I went onto the House floor and did something that the Republicans aren’t used to.  I told the truth about the Republican health care plan.  The plan is simple:

  1. Don’t get sick.

  2. If you do get sick…

  3. Die quickly.

Sounds about right! The Party of No, Knows one thing — How to say NO!

It’s not like Grayson didn’t use any Facts to back it up …

44789 / 365 = 122.7 people per day

Die for “Lack of health insurance” …

What does 120 People a Day look like, anyways?

That about what it takes to fill up 2 city buses …

Corporations Plunder … only Persons Create

Corporate Rights and Responsibilities: Restoring Legal Accountability

Dr Dan Plesch & Dr Stephanie Blankenburg

[pg 4]

Giant corporations have the rights of a person, but none of the responsibilities.

Society needs successful businesses, but today business is taking over society.

51 of the world’s 100 largest economies are corporations

(Institute for Policy Studies, Top 200: The Rise of Corporate Global Power, 2001).

80% of the world’s industrial output is made by 1,000 corporations

(The Economist, 29 January 2000).

https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/570…  (pdf)

Staggering Stats! from nearly a decade ago!

If were not careful, metaphorically at least, that world of Terminator 2 may indeed come to pass … that day “When machines rise up rule the world”.

It may already be too late — despite the Human Face, we like to paint on our neighborhood global Corporate Entities …

Hey GOP — Time to Get-a-Clue-is-stan!

KNOCK, KNOCK!

Who’s There?

Chuck.

Chuck WHO?

Chuck Doesnt-have-any-Guts Grassley!

Grassley: “go work for the federal government” for affordable insurance



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

Great Advice Mr. Grassley! … Yes, ALL of America — Should go work for the Govt, because that way we’ll all get Good Insurance, finally?

Say Chuck, Do you know what they call it, in Countries where EVERYONE works for the Govt?

They call it   Socialism!

Choice is Good — If you’re a Senator!

Senators can afford to wait for Health Care reform — after all they ALREADY HAVE Health Insurance for their Families!

Trigger? — No Problem!

2013? — Who Cares!

Public Option only for the Few — No Worries …  ( — For Them! )

Montana Senators have a wide Menu of Health Care Options, so What’s the Rush?

Health — 2009 Plan Information for Montana

Nationwide Fee-for-Service Open to All

APWU Health Plan (APWU)

Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan – Standard Option

Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan – Basic Option

GEHA Benefit Plan (GEHA)

GEHA High Deductible Health Plan

Mail Handlers Benefit Plan

Mail Handlers Benefit Plan (HDHP)

Mail Handlers Benefit Plan Value

NALC

SAMBA

State Specific HMO, HDHP and CDHP Plans

Aetna HealthFund (CDHP/HDHP) – South, Southeast & Western MT

New West Health Services – Most of Montana

No shortage of Insurance Optionsin Montana!

Bush Tax Cuts: a Handout to the Rich, but at What Cost to Society?

How to save $1.3 trillion a year, get healthcare reform, and lose weight doing it

Michael Lemke, Special Interests Examiner – Sept 3, 2009

Ending the Bush tax cut for the top 1% would save $132 billion next year alone.

While the rich have been getting richer at a staggering rate both under Clinton and under Bush, the lower 80% of US households have been stagnating or getting poorer. We have reach the highest level of income inequality in US history, surpassing even the obscene levels of the late 1920s.

http://www.examiner.com/x-1908…

Well, that’s one sure fire way to help pay for Health Care —

Repeal the Bush Give-Away to the Top 1%, or just let them sunset, as the legislation requires!

January 1, 2011, is one Sunset, that can’t come soon enough!

Ron Wyden: Public Option Doesn’t Go FAR Enough

Wyden amendment gaining support

By Tony Romm, The Hill – 09/22/2009

An amendment to the Senate Finance Committee’s healthcare bill that would permit employees to shop around for health insurance policies is slowly gaining momentum on the Hill.

The idea, pitched by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) last week, would open the proposed “insurance exchange” — where consumers can compare and purchase insurance plans — to Americans who already receive coverage from their employers.



What has made Wyden’s proposal especially appealing today, however, is the Congressional Budget Office’s recent cost estimate. By their math, his amendment would reduce the bill’s impact on the deficit by about $1 billion over the next 10 years.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-…

Cat — Meet Nip … Press, Meet President!

Since pulling random Definitions, out of the air, during Presidential Interviews, seem to be topic de jour …

Here’s another Definition we might want to get up to speed on …

catnip definition

* cat-nip (-nip’)

noun

an herb (Nepeta cataria) of the mint family, with downy leaves and spikes of white or bluish flowers that are used in flavorings and tea: cats like its odor

http://www.yourdictionary.com/…

Interesting, cats like the odor of catnip ???

Well what happens if we give the People what they want?

IF we get the Public Option, WHO will Get the Choice?

Health Reform’s Missing Ingredient

By Ron Wyden, Senator D-OR, NYTimes Op-Ed

September 17, 2009

The various bills making their way through Congress would, as the president explained, provide some consumer choice by establishing large marketplaces where people could easily compare insurance plans and pick the one that best suits their needs.

[…]

The problem with these bills, however, is that they would not make the exchanges available to all Americans. Only very small companies and those individuals who can’t get insurance outside of the exchange – 25 million people – would be allowed to shop there. This would leave more than 200 million Americans with no more options, private or public, than they have today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09…

Wait a second, I thought the Public Option, would give us a Choice —

give US ALL a Choice?

The Insurance Exchange will be closed to “more than 200 million Americans”?

that must be a typo!?!

Doctors strongly In Favor of the Public Option, just like the Nation

Poll Finds Most Doctors Support Public Option

by Joseph Shapiro, NPR — September 14, 2009

When polled, “nearly 3/4 of physicians supported some form of a public option, either alone or in combination with private insurance options,”

[…]

Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, conducted a random survey, by mail and by phone, of 2,130 doctors. They surveyed them from June right up to early September.

Most doctors – 63 percent – say they favor giving patients a choice that would include both public and private insurance.

[…]

another 10 percent of doctors say they favor a public option only; they’d like to see a single-payer health care system. Together, the two groups add up to 73 percent.

http://www.npr.org/templates/s…

Hmmm? I wonder if Doctors, know anything about our Broken Insurance System?

Ya think!?

Elizabeth Warren: Lobbying on behalf of the American People

We have been told that Wall Street Investment firms are “Too big to Fail” — But that does NOT Mean they are “Too Big for Accountability”!

The Question boils down to,

Who Does the Congress Represent anyways

The American People, or the Global Bankers (and their Lobbyists) ?

And Will the People bother to care about Wall Street Regulation this time around?

Since I’m assuming we will, here’s some essential background on the Wall Street Meltdown mess:

Credit Default Swap (CDS)

What Does Credit Default Swap (CDS) Mean?

A swap designed to transfer the credit exposure of fixed income products between parties.

http://www.investopedia.com/te…

CDS’s are an easy way to transfer Credit Risk — Check!

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