A DAY FOR THINKING OF ALL THAT WE ARE THANKFULL FOR

This year as each year, will have its own memories for today. I would just like to take the time to say that we all as Americans have so much to be thankful for and for so many though, today was not happy and there was no turkey in the oven, and for many it was just another day in the lives of the working poor. I didn’t mean to imply that we should not still be thankful, just that its also a time to reflect on how we can help others to have as much to be thankful for.

Just a short 32 years ago, CEO’s were paid maybe 40 to 50 times the lowest employee ( I am sure that there were a few who made more) and now those same CEO’s are being paid 300 to 500 times the lowest employee. In plain facts there is not enough money to pay livable wages, because the CEO’s just took almost most of the money for paychecks for the employees. The plight of the working poor in our country is dire, they are overworked, paid min wage and see there paycheck cover less and less. They have no options but to take advantage of the ‘social net’ programs that we still have (not long if left up to those same said CEO’s, who are lobbying to cut all spending on social net programs and of course dismantle Social Security and Medicare) and suffer the pain of shame for not being able to adequately provide for your family. Sure they have a TV, sometimes no cable but if they have a computer, they can still find entertainment.  Too many times, the car insurance (no car- no job in many cases) and rent and utilities eat up all of their paycheck.

In reality the CEO’s are a big part of why we have such a large portion of our country of the working poor. All that is needed is to cut that CEO’s pay and instead pay the employees a livable wage. Our wages have stagnated for all but their elite in our country and they say that now we have less spending power from our paycheck than we did in 1968. If employees min wage had kept pace with the CEO’s, I believe that I read where it would be around 32 dollars an hour. That lack of spending power is what is killing our economy.

If those CEO’s of corporations were made to take the same amount of payroll money and divide it to the point that the CEO’s could only make 50 times the lowest employee, the only way to keep a higher salary is to pay the employees more. That could be accomplished by a penalty tax on those corporations that do not pay livable wages and generous tax breaks for paying livable wages and not outsourcing. There used to be tax policy’s like this before 1980.

We the people of this country came together and elected our president and I have faith that if we put our energy’s together, we can enact the kind of change needed in our country, that would have a future with livable wages and less inequality in our country

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 

PEACE AND MAY JOY AND HARMONY FILL YOUR LIFE

 

TAX THE RICH

One thing that has troubled me lately, is the amount of people that are against taxing the rich. They all spout the same nonsense that if they are taxed, they will just leave and they already pay taxes. Always too, they have to comment that after all its socialism if we tax the rich more. I think that one always makes me laugh the most. Yet at the same time, I am worried and wonder just what it will take to get those still out in ‘fox news zombie land’ to understand that its just been 32 years of the ‘elite’ brainwashing them and lets face it fox news has been the main vehicle for the propaganda.

We need to return to the taxes and regulations prior Reagan, but getting rid of the bush era tax cuts for the rich and large corporations, would be a start. The next important thing to do is to once more tax all earnings as ‘income’, no more lesser tax on carried interest and capitol gains. The ‘elite’ and large corporations make their wealth using our public funded infrastructure and then see no reason why they should help pay for that same infrastructure.

The main question is, how do we change the mindset of those that are still so brainwashed, that they actually believe that those poor rich just don’t deserve to pay high taxes? 

PEACE AND MAY JOY AND HARMONY SURROUND YOU  

NEVER FORGET WE ARE THE NEW MEDIA

NO BARGAINS

I don’t know about you, but I would rather we go off the ‘proverbial cliff’ than have our president bend to any of the GOP demands. The president has the people behind him on this, and I sincerely hope he keeps his promise to raise taxes on the rich, and that would include carried interest and capitol gains going up to 20%(, but the GOP ran on a program that would eliminate all taxes on both of these)

Is it not almost treason to have ‘Grover nor Quist’ comment on fox news on the eve of the election, that in no way were the GOP going to do anything that the president wants and that taxes will not be raised on the rich and large corporations, and we then have speaker Boehner saying the same thing. Is this not almost treason against the people of the united states, that they would put the needs of the top 2000 people in the country over the needs of the 98% of the population?

After signing numerous petitions and sending emails to my senators and reps and to the president, all on the topics of not allowing any cuts to social net programs, to not touch Medicare, social security and Medicaid, what struck me most, is that its important to get as many people as possible to sign these petitions. That’s how we can enact the kind of change that will enable us to reclaim our government from the ‘extremists’ that have taken over the GOP Party. They are in all ways the gods of poverty.

Please do your part and sign those petitions you see on Facebook, or other sites and follow those links and don’t stop. Now is the time that if we keep up the energy, we can do, just as they did in the 30’s, and use our very powerful voice and stop the nonsense that has controlled our government for much too long. We have already accomplished so much, just look at the higher than normal turnout for voting, and that says so much about the will of the people. Now is the time for all of us that continue to research and follow the issues and read the bills and above all, keep up the energy, and keep those around you involved. In the 30’s they had limited media and still they were able to join together and demand and get good changes in our government, and it was good for about 50 years and then the rich started their quest to purchase our government and get the skewered tax policy’s that created a higher inequality of wealth than in the 20’s.

Just think, if they could do that in the 30’s without the internet and cell phones and Facebook and all the sites on the net that allow you to research and share with people all over the world. We have the ability to create lasting change in our country and in our world. We are the new media.

 

PEACE AND MAY JOY AND HARMONY FILL YOUR LIFE   AND THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ

IT MATTERS

I am asked so often, why does inequality of wealth matter? In trying to think of a way to help people understand why its so bad, I came up with this example

 

for my example we will use the fact that the top 400 wealthiest in our country hold as much wealth as the bottom 150 million people

 

Lets say that those 400  people have only a million dollars each (they actually hold of course much more)  which makes 400 million dollars

 

Now we look at the fact that 150 million people hold 400 million dollars (and for our example, we will pretend they all have equal amounts) and that leaves each person with 2.67 to hold and to spend.

Those 400 people, just because of their small amount, can not spend enough money to have any impact on our economy, and the 150 million lowest income in our country, do not have enough money to spend, and thus have a negative impact on our economy. 

That is the problem with inequality of wealth  and what it does to the economy. The reason for higher progressive taxation, including carried interest and capitol gains, and inheritance sur charge on very large estates, is to keep the inequality of wealth to a smaller ratio, thus giving more people the money needed to spend and use services, which then propels our economy and leads to job creations.

If the federal government does not institute progressive taxation soon and at the same time also address the problem of CEO vs. employee pay (now at 300 to 500 times) and get it down to a ratio of no more than 50 times, and at the same time jump start our economy with jobs programs and amped up safety net programs, our country will continue its downward spiral. There is no good outcome ever when we have this high inequality of wealth ( we share the dubious honor of having among the 4 highest inequality of wealth in the world. 

Peace

MAY JOY AND HARMONY FILL YOUR LIFE    I would like to add that its up to all of us, to keep up this movement and not stop. That’s why I have been signing petitions and emailing our elected officials and also at the same time reading the bills that they are looking at,  Hopefully, more and more people will do the same and we will reclaim our government , once again, from corporate dollar.   Never forget how important your voice is, it takes all of our voices united to enact the changes needed in our country. I know we can do it

WHAT NOW?

 

I ask that question with true wonder. After this election, I was so hopeful that our country could turn the corner on this election, and was hopeful that all the racist hate filled rhetoric would end. I was so very wrong. On top of that we have the GOP (speaker Boehner) with his ‘ we will raise no taxes on the rich’ rhetoric and we have Grover Norquist on election night, stating that no matter who wins this election, no taxes would be raised on the rich.  Are not they acting in ‘treason against the American people’?

Then today, of course there is the congressional inquiry into the ‘sexual affair’ that somehow trumps all the other issues in our country. What about jobs? What about funding help for the farmers that are suffering from serious drought? What about the veterans job bill? What about any bill that would help our country and the people? When do ‘we the people’ matter to congress? That said, what do we need to do to reclaim our government and enact a government for the people, by the people and of the people?

What this means, is that now is not the time to stop, no, now is the time to keep up the focus on our government and the issues. Now is the time to encourage more and more people to become involved in the issues and the government. We have a good start, now lets keep up the up swell of ‘people involvement’ and keep up with the constant scrutiny of all our elected officials. This has been done before, in the 30’s when the people came together much like now and they won, just like we also can.

What now? I would say, just more of what we have been doing for the last year. Sign those petitions, call those officials, send those emails and never stop searching for truth and sharing what you find. We the people have an ‘awesome voice’ if we but use it.

Keep up the good work everyone, and we will be successful in reclaiming our government from corporate dollar.

PEACE and may joy and harmony fill your life

WHAT MAKES A PRESIDENT?

 

This showed up in my inbox today and thought I would share it.

 

 

VOTER TURNOUT

I am hopeful, that this election will show highest ever levels of voting. That started me thinking, why? When I started thinking about it, it made me think  of how I came to this part of my life, and I realized how many other people like me, there are in our country.  I am no longer on the young side, although I do buy totally into ‘60 is the new 40’, and am ashamed to say, that for decades (like most of the rest of the population) I paid no heed to what went on in our government, and shamefully, there were years I didn’t vote at all. What started this journey for me, was getting my first computer in summer of 2008. At first it took my 10 year old grandson to teach me the basics (like turn it on, and everything from there) and then I ventured into doing surveys (makes extra change) and then my kids, said mom ‘ you need to sign up for Facebook’ and that was the beginning of the journey to political exploration. Did that also start it for others? I would like to think that maybe it did, and so, makes Facebook a deciding factor in this election year. Without the links and ‘ads’ about different issues, I would have stayed ignorant and in total apathy. At first it was just a ‘lark’ and then I got angry. It amazed me, what I and all those like myself(being older) let happen to our country. While we drifted in our apathy and our struggle to survive, which got harder each year, our government and country was slowly being bought by corporate dollar. The more I learned, the more I needed to research even more ideas and issues. I started signing pettion, emailing my senators, governor, and reps and at times even corporate owners and congress and the president. I signed up and had the bills in the house and senate sent each day to my inbox and I read each of them and I then at times emailed different people in congress with my concerns. I joined many different sites that are intent on ferreting the truth and sharing with all.

That’s the real gift we have been given, the gift of uncovering what has been in the dark and behind closed doors. With that information, I and many others have had our eyes opened and have become involved at a rate not seen since the 30’s. There is of course a good analogy to compare the two times, as each was at a time of ‘high inequality of wealth’ and corporate owned government. It took the people then and it will take we the people again, to reclaim our government.

Hopefully, we will stay as involved and on-top of our government as we are now. The best outcome of Obama and democrat control in congress, does not mean we quit, and instead, I think means we need to work even harder and to not let voter apathy be a stain on our democracy. People all over the world fight to be able to vote and have a democracy, and yet we here in the USA are willing to lose our say in government by not voting and for not being an educated voter.

Facebook and twitter and the different alternative internet news and the blogs and sharing of information online has led to a time, when everyone has the chance to know what is really happening in our country and to share and learn from each other.

PLEASE VOTE THIS YEAR    I already voted, we vote by mail in our state, which probably is one of the reasons we have a high turnout of voting in our state.

 

 

      Our vote is like holding the world in our hands    PEACE AND MAY JOY AND HARMONY FILL YOUR LIFE