Monday, October 31, 2011

Wall Street's Tricks & Unequal Justice Must Come to an End

Boys down on Wall Street are up to their Tricks
Because there's always a way to put in the Fix
- Halloween 2009, Loudon Wainwright III

Theft of Property exceeding $1,000,000 in value is a Class X Felony. - Theft as described in 720 ILCS 5/16-1 (b) (6.3)

Theft of Billions garners Stadium Naming Rights. - Bank of America's Legal Code
Woe, be to the petty thief or criminal. Bruce Judson points out thousands of #Occupy Protesters have been forcibly and oft times violently beaten, pepper sprayed and then arrested yet the Bankers and Wall Street Criminals are not only not being paraded to jail in silver bracelets but continue to enjoy the financial fruits of their crimes.
Almost 3,000 people have been arrested for activities that caused minimal, if any, injury to our society. At the same time, no financiers have been arrested for blatant legal violations, probably including extensive fraud, which have led millions of people to suffer and have practically brought our great nation to its knees.
They went after Bernie Madoff only because he stole from the Rich. Remember the Rich operate by a different set of rules. And it's these Different Rules (i.e. Laws) which have allowed these Banking Criminals and DoD Defrauders to amass huge fortunes. It is NOT as the Republican Party would have you believe that Wall Street succeeds by superior drive, work ethic, motivation, talent and gumption.

Matt Taibbi points out Wall Street Hoods and Thieves aren't winning by working harder or smarter, they are getting ahead by Cheating and by paying off Policing agents and by rewriting laws to make their crimes legal.
[I]nequities are what drive the OWS protests. People don't want handouts. It's not a class uprising and they don't want civil war -- they want just the opposite. They want everyone to live in the same country, and live by the same rules. It's amazing that some people think that that's asking a lot.
For instance, the changes I would like to see are:

1) End Corporate Personhood.
2) Tax Capital Gains Income as Ordinary Income, increase and collect taxes from Corporate cheats like Verizon, Boeing, BP, and Halliburton, raise the top tax rate to pre-Reagan era levels.
3) Reinstitute the Stock Trade and Exchange Tax at around 0.25%. Make Banks and Wall Street gamblers pay for their own bailouts. We had one from 1914 to 1966.
4) Empower the Consumer Protection Agency, Security and Exchange Commission, DoD Oversight and any other committee which will enforce laws and actually regulate and hold accountable these corrupt Corporate Criminals.

But, despite the obvious appeal to natural law, US legal precedents, equal treatment, and economic fairness, the 1% are deploying their Rightwing Smear Merchants and handpicked Republicans to obfuscate, distort and Lie.

As every Conservative knows when the narrative doesn't conform to your bigoted rightwing views simply manufacture quotes, attribute them to your liberals and propagate them amongst the conservative blog-o-sphere. Meet Jeremy, 38 year old slacker from Occupy Toronto or Occupy Wall Street,
“It’s weird protesting on Bay Street. You get there at 9 a.m. and the rich bankers who you want to hurl insults at and change their worldview have been at work for two hours already. And then when it’s time to go, they’re still there. I guess that’s why they call them the one per cent. I mean, who wants to work those kinds of hours? That’s the power of greed.”
Ha! Take that Marxist Libtards! Except like all things conservative it's a completely made-up quote from a "satirical" (rightwing code for Lies) piece written by Mark Schatzker.

Of course, that didn't stop Rick Perry from repeating it at an erstwhile campaign stop, and from it becoming Internet Fact amongst Rightwing Liars.

The 1% are not going to stop. They have been oppressing people and stealing for so long, they hold it to be their Right. The Divine Right of the One Percent. We have a chance, a slim chance to reserve the flow and strike a blow against the Oppressor Class now. But, to succeed We the People are going to have to suffer beatings, smears, arrests and the indifference of those who cater to the Rich and Elite.

Don't back down, don't give in. Get off of the Sidewalks and Into the Streets!

Update:
Here's what the 1% think of the 99%, from Oliver Willis:
NY Times columnist Joe Nocera has revealed pictures from last year’s Halloween party for the Steven J. Baum law firm, a law firm that has been a key ally of the big banks in foreclosing on homes and evicting people. They represent Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo. When people attack the Occupy protesters or President Obama or Democrats or Liberals for “waging class warfare” that’s because we’ve only just now joined the war. We’ve been under attack, from the inside, for a long time. We’ve only begun now to fight back.

2 comments:

Joe "Truth 101" Kelly said...

Damn straight about corporate tax rates. The code is written so there is no incentive to create products or innovations that create the demand that creates jobs. Only loopholes and tax cuts and dividend payments that are taxed app. half what regualr income taxes are. I have a few dividend paying stocks. it is no advantage to me as I'm nt in a higher tax bracket. It's a huge windfall for the wealthy large shareholders. Money for nothing.

Grung_e_Gene said...

If Corporations were people they'd have to pay taxes.

As it stands most Corporations pay nothing! They must be the 47% Faux News is always mad about!