The Republicans are coming for Social Security... Again

"As you know, the Social Security System is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy," Ronnie Raygun letter to Congress May 21st 1981.

Glad to be here!

A key plank of the Republican Party platform is destroying Social Security.  Since at least the 1970's Republicans have declared Social Security is on the verge of bankruptcy.  Now, 50 years later the perfidious Republicans have gained control of the US House their first priority is to eliminate social security.

"My friend Jody Arrington wants to look into the budget and also look into entitlements. Do you know social security is going to be insolvent in 2035?" well-known thief and bribe accepting Republican Byron Donalds told Joy Reid as Republicans yet again lie and declare the Social Security Trust Fund on the verge of Bankruptcy.

Republicans always make time to craft a plan to end Social Security because Republican hate that SSI and the Social Safety Net even exists.  Republicans chafe and become incensed at the idea of Americans living long lives after retirement.  What Republicans want is for Americans to go to work as young as possible and work their entire lives before dying quickly immediately upon retiring.  Republicans dream and want you to have the dignity of working yourself to death.  This is the Republican version of the American Dream, and as we've seen for the past 40 years Republican Dreams are Nightmares for everyone else.

Back in 2004-2005, Bush and the Republicans were certain they could swindle American Seniors out of their Social Security, "I earned capital in this campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it,"  Bush declared as he embarked on his plan of stealing Social Security.

In 2010, George W(orst POTUS Ever) Bush famously stated his only mistake while in office (His Only Failure!) was not privatizing SSDI and "In terms of accomplishments, my biggest accomplishment is that I kept the country safe amidst a real danger." (WITH RARE EXCEPTIONS!) 

The Republican Plan for SSDI was to roll it into the Stock Market Balloon, which at the time was expanding and would never burst!  What Republicans knew then was they desperately needed to prop up the Stock Market Bubble with real money to back all the gambles that were about to go full tilt. You see if W(orst President Ever) had managed to put the US backed Two Trillion Dollar Trust Fund into the Stock Market it would have forestalled the Great Republican Recession of 2007 by several years, instead Bush oversaw the destruction of decades of wealth and the worst economic disaster since the Great Republican Depression of 1929.

"Republicans' agenda is what it always was -- turn the Social Security seniors worked hard to earn over to Wall Street," said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Press Secretary Ryan Rudominer. "If Republicans has their way, seniors could have lost 40 percent of their retirement investments when the market crashed. America's seniors deserve better."

After the Tea Party waltzed into the White House on the backs of White Hot Anger over Obamacare and President Obama himself, the John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor (and Kevin McCarthy) Teabaggers aided by the Republicans in the Senate engineered the debt limit crisis and government shutdowns to try and goad, cajole, or convince President Obama to sign a Social Security "Entitlements" reform package slashing benefits for Americans.  How close President Obama came to signing such an agreement is debatable and bad faith dirtbag leftists have been claiming Obama wanted to do it for a decade now and using that as justification for voting against Democrats.  In reality, there was no Boehner entitlement "reform" despite years of the Corporate Media trying to force it happen.

Speaker Pelosi's office released a succinct analysis of John Boehner and Paul Ryan's House Leadership, "Instead of helping seniors," explained Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, "Republicans, backed by their allies on Wall Street, are threatening to privatize and cut Social Security, just as they tried to do under President Bush." 

Now it's 2023 and the Zombie Lies of Raygun refuse to die as we see Bryon Donalds repeat the moldy canard of 'Social Security going bankrupt'.  Meanwhile, every other Republican Congressman can't wait to tell the old people who love Faux News that; 'Why...Yes we are coming for your benefits.  Yes we are coming for your meager medical coverage.  Yes we are coming to put you into the grave.'

"If we really want to talk about the debt and spending, it's the entitlement program that's 70% of our entire budget. So, if we want to talk about big reforms I look forward to hearing that from those folks who are pushing towards a balanced budget," Republican Michael Waltz told Stuart Varney and all the elderly rightwing faux devotees who enjoy cutting their benefits because they know it'll hurt those people more!

Meanwhile, Steve 'David Duke without the Baggage' Scalise gleefully took to the podium to announce to Corporate Media that why yes the Republicans will most definitely Fuck that Chicken of the Debt Ceiling in order to force President Biden into cutting Social Security.  Because "working the refs", i.e. getting the Corporate Media to uncritically repeat rightwing talking points is a successful strategy to advancing the Republican Agenda of Intolerance, Oppression and reducing the American people to Penury and Eternal Wage Slavery.

Advancing the Free Enterprise System upon the backs of the Working Class in 2014

"They don’t have a true free enterprise system." - Representative Paul Ryan. Erstwhile Catholic Paul Ryan shows his true allegiance as he disagrees with The Pope in order to defend his True Lord, the American One Percent.

Paul Ryan's family "made" all their money by government contracts while Ryan himself went on the government dole after a mere 6 months as a "Businessman". Last year during the Republican coup d'état to overthrow Democracy and install Corporate Control of the Nation, Ryan let on to the real reason the Right was and still is trying to sabotage the now wildly successful ACA, "we're not going to give up on destroying the health care system for the American people."

There are three canards which Right-Wingers repeatedly trot out as the be all, end all; Privatization, Deregulation, and Taxpayer Welfare for the Rich.

What the Republicans and their Moneyed Masters really mean when they recite their mantras is the 1% plans to use the Awesome Power of Government to siphon off money from the from the Poor and Working Class and transfer it to the Rich.

What they seek is giving Corporations and the Rich total economic control over the Nation. The great trick, ALEC and the Rich have pulled is stealing from and oppressing people and getting those people to blame the Government for it.

Freedom Industries poisoned the entire water supply for 300,000 Americans in West Virginia an incident which would have Faux News calling for Jack Bauer to torture every brown person he could find and the Impeachment of President Obama if it was alleged to have been caused by muslim terrorists. Yet, since it was due to the criminal negligence and malfeasance of a Corporation, Speaker of the House John Boehner immediately put the blame on Too Much Regulation and... President Obama.

Freedom Industries recently filed for Bankruptcy protection to ensure they are protected from financial responsibility as well as being protected from criminal prosecution.

Meanwhile, the type of American that Republicans love and conservatism breeds is Terry Rupe of Kentucky. Mr. Rupe receives federal assistance especially medical care for his daughter.

"I don't have any use for the federal government," Rupe said, even though his household's $13,000 yearly income comes exclusively from Washington. "[T]hey've never done anything for me. I'm not ungrateful, but I don't have much faith in this health care law. Do I think it's going to work? No. Do I think it's going to bankrupt the country? Yes."

Getting people to vote themselves into Wage Slavery and Corporate Bondage.

"And the Post Office actually has some real assets. They have real estate, they have an overfunded pension fund..."

Here is Steve Forbes licking his chops at getting at the Post Office Pension where Wall Street financiers can clip it and whittle it away, as they have done to other State Pensions, until the workers have nothing and Forbes has several million more in off-shore bank accounts.

Modern Capitalists like Steve Forbes don't create anything these days, and this is the way the Current Robber Barons are different and perhaps even worse than the Rockefeller's, Mellon's and Morgans of the 19th century. That is the Free Enterprise System Paul Ryan wants to implement. A system in which money is taken from the Workers and given to the Capitalists by Republican Goons.

The bigger a Corporation gets the less and less in real dollars they end up paying in taxes.

ESPN the "Worldwide Leader" in Sports Broadcasting has received $260 Million over 12 years in taxpayer Welfare. Big Fish swim for free. Most subscriber packages come with ESPN and since Americans can't customize their cable choices not only do you have to pay a fee for having the privilege to have ESPN but, part of your taxes subsidizes their existence.

From 2011 through 2012, the CEOs of the top six publicly held fast food chains including McDonald's, Yum! Brands, Wendy's, Burger King, Domino's and Dunkin' Brands, hauled in more than $183 million in fully tax deductible "performance pay," lowering their companies’ IRS bills by an estimated $64 million. "Performance Pay" is a euphemism for taxpayer funded welfare for Billionaires.

In 2009, dozens of American Plutocrats sued to keep their names secret as the Department of Justice began investigating the Swiss-based Banking Giant UBS. It turned out that in the last days of the George W(orst President Ever) Bush Regime, 52,000 Americans illegally stole and moved Hundreds of Billions of purloined loot from the United States into Switzerland. 6 months later UBS agreed to pay a $780 million dollar fine (an unheard of event in the history of Swiss Banking) to keep the names and total dollar amounts stolen secret.

Now, RNC propagandists Reince Priebus and Solomon Yue are pushing for a repeal of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which is set to take effect on 07/01/14.

Approved in 2010 after a tax-avoidance scandal involving a Swiss bank, FATCA requires most foreign banks and investment funds to report to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service information about U.S. customers' accounts worth $50,000 or more.

Of course, the Super Rich who control this country want the Law repealed. The Rich in this Nation aren't increasing the wealth through elbow grease and hard work but through byzantine tax laws, legerdemain and political control.

The American Plutocratic Overlords do want a smaller government; small enough to fit in their pocket. And that is what their Wholly Owned Republican and Pro-Business Democratic henchmen are paid to accomplish.

Jet Blue blames the Government for their failures

Record Cold has hampered all manner of travel and business throughout the Nation. Hit especially hard have been airline flights.

More than 400 JetBlue flights were canceled Monday, with another 120 flight cancellations on Tuesday, airline officials stated.

JetBlue didn't blame the weather. JetBlue didn't blame complications which come from arctic cold and huge snow falls. JetBlue didn't blame their lack of preparation. JetBlue didn't blame their failure to hire enough pilots, flight crews, and ground staff. Nope, JetBlue blamed the Government.

"In the midst of us repairing those schedules disrupted by this week's winter storms, we're facing an additional challenge as new FAA rules went into effect for crew rest," JetBlue spokeswoman Tamara Young said. "These rules further impact our ability to operate an already disrupted schedule, causing our pilots to 'time out' even sooner. As a result, additional cancellations are likely to occur as we work to reset the operation."

The FAA announced the final details of the minimum rest period for pilots in December 2011 so JetBlue had 2 years to deal with suspected problems but, why do that when instead they can just blame the FAA.

This has been the brilliant ploy of Corporations for decades. Their fuck-ups and failures are actually the fault of Government! If only the Government allowed JetBlue to fly pilots with no sleep flight after flight after flight these planes would have magically taken off on time. Damn Government Regulations!!! 

And with Republicans constantly hammering their plans of Deregulation and Privatization it's only a matter of time before Republicans convene Congressional hearing to blame Obama for the Cold weather and apologize to JetBlue for interfering in their private business affairs.

Jim Oberweis uses his Government position to make money for his Business

Illinois State Senator Jim Oberweis is mad that the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has not raised the speed limit in and around Chicago to 70mph.

Oberweis said he was upset that IDOT, which had the authority to draw up the speed limit map, left unchanged the 55-mph speed limit across virtually all of the Chicago region

"It's just clear that they (IDOT) are disregarding the will of the people." Oberweis said, adding that the interstates are designed to handle vehicles traveling 70 mph and speed limits were set at that level before the federal government imposed a national 55-mph limit in 1974. That limit was scrapped in 1995, and states across the U.S. have been raising highway speed limits since then.

Of course, Oberweis has a massive dairy production and retail corporation which relies heavily upon the Illinois infrastructure for the distribution of his product. Oberweis also distributes to Wisconsin and Indiana.

Oberweis said he will try to bring his push for 70-mph Chicago-area speed limits to the legislature and may settle on a 65-mph limit.

And the damage to roadways, necessary improvements and construction well those costs will be borne by the taxpayer.

Of course, earlier this month Oberweis voted to steal Teacher Pensions and violate the contracts signed by other Illinois Public employees. Oberweis called the Pension Theft a "step in the right direction" but was worried, "There is no guarantee that the money saved by these reforms will actually be used to pay down debt, instead of being used for new programs." Paying down the debt means transferring taxpayer money to Corporations.

When it comes to making him money Oberweis will use all the power of his Government position to advance his private corporation. Jim Oberweis is planning a run for the U.S. Senate so that he can make taxpayers from across the Nation pay to maintain his Corporation.

This is just another example of American Capitalism, Profits are Privatized and Costs are Socialized.

Snowden showed Booz Allen Hamilton's role in the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Complex

I'm so mad at President Obama for signing that Evil Patriot Act back in October 26, 2001 after he ignored the August 6th CIA Memo about Osama Bin Laden and allowed 9/11 to happen.

The more I reflect and read about Edward Snowden's revelations the more I want to be clear I have no desire to engage in a character assassination of him. Sure, he's got some short-comings and some sketchiness but, let's look at what his message contains.

The Obama's Department of Justice working inside the "legal" framework established by the FISA Courts, the Patriot Act, going back to Harry Truman and the 80th Congress' 1947 National Security Act felt entirely comfortable in going to multiple Internet/Phone Companies and pressuring them/serving them with Court Orders allowing the NSA to collect data.

Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and others have stated (whether one believes it or not) that no direct access and no backdoor servers were created allowing the NSA et al unfettered access. Facebook Legal released a statement claiming that only 9000-10000 user-data requests were made by all levels (muncipial, county, state, federal) of Government pursiuant to about 20,000 FB accounts.

This is important to note because Glenn Greenwald's initial assertion was the NSA had direct access regardless of warrants or any other constraints. However, it's unimportant to the overall point of this post.

Now, if there is one thing Libertarians get correct it is that the Power of Government is different than other types of power. Facebook, Target Stores, Google Inc. may collect data on me but if I refuse their services I am free of their yoke*. The Government has the "legal" authority to collect information to detain or incarcerate me.

What makes Snowden's claims all the more troubling is that he wasn't a sworn Government employee but was working for Booz Allen Hamilton, a Corporation which made $1.3 Billion in Government contracts for "Intelligence Work. MotherJones has an analysis of the steady infestation of Private Contractors into the Intelligence Analysis side of the MIC.

It appears the data collection/analysis wasn't being done by nefarious Obama Bureaucrats looking for dirt on Teabaggers but, because of the Republican Legacy of Outsourcing and Privatization is being done by Corporate Stooges who work for the MIC.

The biggest Coup pulled off in US History has been the outsourcing of Government functions to Private Contractors. And those Corporate employees seem to have access to the information easier than Government Workers.

What's been going on for the last 33 years has been the steady erosion of the Progressive Advances of the 20th Century Government by the Reactionary Neoliberals and Warmongering Neoconservatives to be replaced by the Neo-Feudalist State controlled by the 1% and interested only in using Government Power in Quelling Domestic Dissent and Opening up Foreign Markets for Exploitation.

Hey it's Saturday where's my mail? The Republican Plan to eliminate the USPS

Thank You for all those Cards and Letters - Wun'erful, Wun'erful! The Lemon Sisters, Stan Freberg Comedy Show

The Republican Plan to eliminate the Post Office is proceeding very nicely. The US Postal Service declared they will be stopping mail delivery on Saturdays.

Now, Republicans do want to have a USPS but it would be a rump left to handle the unprofitable deliveries in Outer Wyoming and the Nevada Nuclear Waste Sites.

Incredibly lucrative mail routes, in Manhattan or along the Magnificent Mile in Downtown Chicago will be just handed over to UPS, FedEx, DHL and other private services. And as is their wont, those Corporations will slowly and surely turn the screws, raise prices and add delivery fees for letters which used to cost a stamp.

Gone will be the days when you could mail a post card from the Big Island to Chicago unless, you're willing to pay $20 USC for the privilege of having your mail carried by FedEx.

Privatize, Deregulate and Cede control to Corporations.

Of course, the Republicans plan is to destroy the Postal Workers Union because of the Unions strength and the solid Middle Class opportunities provided by a job with the USPS. 

Republicans loathe the Middle Class. A Middle Class is a hamper to their political power and proves to fickle for the Plutocracy to control. Republican political maneuvers are directed by their Plutocratic Masters to end the American Dream and bring about a Neo-Feudalist Dream State. As John Nichols of The Nation points out Postal cuts are Austerity on Steroids.

What the Plutocracy wants is a pliant work force with no disposable income. And they aren't disguising their actions, otherwise they wouldn't have run one of the scions, Le Dauphin of Bain Capital W. Mitt Romney for President in 2012.

It's a multi-pronged effort to steal away capital from the Middle and Working Classes. Every Republican tax scheme ends up increasing taxes on the Middle and Working Classes (while decreasing them on the Rich) and slashing government benefits for the American people.

And now by steadily eroding the Post Office (and it's Jobs) and sending that work to cutthroat Capitalists who'll pay less, disband Unions and raise prices the Republicans will cede more and more of your life to Corporate Hegemony.

It's all part of the plan to tie up your meager income so that at the end of the year, you've gained Nothing and are treading water, forever doomed to an endless life of labor, while the Upper 1% see their wealth spiral exponentially higher and higher.

Update:

A working mom could work overtime this month and use it as time off next month without having to worry about whether she’ll be able to take home enough money to pay the rent. 

- Republican Eric Cantor explains to the American Enterprise Institute on 02/05/13 how to get Working Class people to vote for their subjugation to the Republican Neo-Feudalist state. Additionally, there's a nice undercurrent of "the Nightmare" of the last couple of years that President Obama and his *cough* black *cough* Thugs have just ruined America!

The Paul Ryan and Republican Budget is a Trojan Horse by a Flaccid Party

“Yes, I’ve found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I’ve been very distressed by that fact,” conceeded by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

Paul Ryan's budget has been accurately described as "Social Darwinism". Although I hate the term because the magnificent, venerable and kind Charles Darwin never proscribed any of the political doctrines labeled today as "Social Darwinism" anymore than Jesus proclaimed the Spanish Inquisition during the Sermon on the Mount.

"If it prevents a Debt Crisis..." Congressman Paul Ryan began when asked by the loving Corporate Media about his Path to Penury. However, Ryan's Budget doesn't address the Debt but immediately goes to cut taxes on the 1% and Corporations. And how do "we" pay for the estimated $4.6 Trillion in Tax Cuts for the Super Wealthy? Why by eliminating any Government function which aids or helps the poor, sick and old.

- In order, to pay for lowering the tax rates to 10% and 25%, those making less than $100,000 will pay a higher effective rate than they do today. While the "average" millionaire will see a tax cut of roughly $150,000 plus.

- According to the CBO, 17 million people who gained Medicaid and CHIP coverage, thanks to Obamacare, would lose that coverage as a result of Ryan Plan of repealing the Affordable Care Act.

- It cuts a total of $1.7 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade, and according to CBO, is on track to cut the program by 75% by 2050.

- Reduces Pell Grants by more than $1,000 for 9.6 million students in 2014 and could eliminate Pell Grants for over one million students over the next decade.

- Kicks 60,000 low-income children out of the Head Start program in 2013 and 200,000 low-income children out of the program each year over the next decade.

- Cuts funding for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

- Cuts the WIC program, Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children, Each year over the next decade, the cuts would kick 1.8 million women, infants, and children off the WIC program.

[More information can be found at: A Choice of Two Futures: A Look at How the Republican Budget Ends Medicare, Destroys Jobs, Benefits the Wealthy]

"You know that budget was a joke, doesn’t balance the budget for years,” Republican Congressman and Senate candidate Connie Mack stated of the Ryan budget plan during a weekend Orlando Tea Party forum. Mack, who missed the vote in Washington last week while he was fundraising in Florida for a Senate run, later said through a spokesman that he would have voted for it anyway.

But, Mack is correct that the Ryan is a joke because any plan which doesn't address and slash the outrageous Military spending is doomed to fail or a dishonest doublespeak sham. And no Republican Budget would be complete without Orwellian Language. A section is titled "Repairing the Social Safety Net", by which Ryan and his 1% Masters mean the Safety Net's destruction because destroying Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid "repairs" them for the 1%.

As James Surowiecki notes in The New Yorker,

The Budget is, as many have said, an act of political theatre, a way for Republicans to demonstrate what they stand for.

And what do the Republicans stand for? Wars and the very, very Rich.

It's obvious Paul Ryan and the Republicans are going to be promoting these Reverse Robin Hood plans every year. Back in 2011, Paul Ryan's Deathcare passed in the U.S. House because 235 of 240 Republicans voted for it. 40 of 45 Republican Senators voted for the Paul Ryan Deathcare Budget, Rand Paul voted in opposition but only because the Ryan spending cuts did not go far enough. Fortunately, it was defeated.

The Government isn't bankrupt and isn't bankrupting you. But, a Government enthralled to the 1% is already morally bankrupt and will seek to drive you into wage slavery at their Plutocratic Masters. And the rapacious never satisfied Wall Street, Banking Conglomertates, Oil Industries and DoD Contractors are the biggest receivers of U.S. Government monies. By Far. We're talking 10 Trillion Dollars over the last decade at least. There is your deficit and your debt. Languishing in the bank accounts of Warmongers having been sifted through the deserts of Iraq, HOA and Afghanistan.

What the Ryan Budget stands for, and what 99% of the Republicans in the U.S. government will vote for, is a shackled Government bonded to do the work of the Thieves, Vultures and Murderers of Wall Street. Once the Republicans have the Government shackled those shackles will be fastened onto you, too.

Related:
The Resurrection and Immaculate Deception of Paul Ryan by PERRspectives.

Call it Ryan's Book of Non-Revelations. And the result is a fiscal Armageddon. Of course, by now Paul Ryan's economic apostasy is Republican orthodoxy. The only surprise is that it took so long: in the world according to the GOP (if no one else), tax cuts magically pay for themselves and enable so-called "job creators." Three years after he first brought them The Good News, the GOP faithful have embraced Paul Ryan's cruel vision, if not the meek and the least of these.

Ryan, Obama, and Deficits by Paul Krugman.

The Closer: The Ryan proposal would lead to bigger, repeat bigger, deficits than the Obama proposal.

The 1% Hate Uncertainty

“Socialism, communism, whatever you want to call it, is never the answer.“ - Hank Steinbrenner, who received $1,200,000,000 Billion dollars in Taxpayer money to finance his baseball stadium. From which those profits will neatly land in his pocket.

The 1% of this Nation hate uncertain elements. What they would rather have is the certainty of the economic model they are confident in; Neo-Feudalism, in which their profits are privatized and protected by Government and their losses are socialized and paid for by the 99%.

But, there are also elements of modern life, pensions, Medicare, the EPA, freeways and schools which represent huge areas of Uncertainty. Your pension would be better off as a private account inside their Wall Street casinos where they can gamble it away and tell you, 'Oops! The Free Market just swallowed your life savings! Sorry, but that's Freedom.' As Republicon Jeb Henserling told America, "I don’t think we can figure out how to outlaw recessions any more than we can outlaw tornadoes or outlaw hurricanes. Economic growth has never gone in one straight line up. It’s a part of freedom."

Schools represent another area of Uncertainty. Schools and Teachers teach the 99% things the 1% does not want them to learn. Note how often this is the cry of David Horowitz, Michele Bachmann, Faux News listeners. Schools are awful places where children learn to make up their own minds instead of absorbing the Neo-Feudalist vision of America. And now unlike what George Carlin observed, the 1% don't even need Americans to be "just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passably accept all these increasingly shittier jobs", for they can increasingly go anywhere in the world to find their labor pool.

So, if it's revealed 1 in 2 Americans live in "Poverty"? The 1% funds Think Tanks to produce the kind of education they want you to have. Poverty? Harumph! Why that doesn't exist in America! Here is this Study which clearly shows the 99% "have an adequate and reasonably steady supply of food". This comes from the mouths of the puffy faces of those who've never, ever missed a meal.

You see the modern One Percenter has fully absorbed the Ayn Rand Economic Philosophy. They are Great Atlases bestriding this Land, this Nation, this World with their awesome Minds. The 99% are to be feared and controlled because, as in Rand's vision, the Common Man is nothing more than a potential Parasite. And once you've started viewing your fellow man as a "worthless eater" it becomes apparent why increasingly, the 1% is comprised of Sociopaths, people unable to express or recognize human emotion.

Why would a One Percenter want a functioning infrastructure? They no longer need the American worker or American factory. It's often pointed out we aren't a Manufacturing country anymore but a Financial one, and what the Financial Exploiters want is the ability to move "their" capital anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice, to engage in predatory lending, usury and eliminate all banking/financial regulation. The 1% do not see American workers, companies or factories as assets but as giant pools of liquidity waiting languidly, for them to drain and thus quicken themselves with Naked Credit Default Swaps.

Why would the 1% want EPA restrictions? Their water isn't going to be filled with the toxic run-off from fracking. And BP can't be certain a Government inspection of the BP Whiting, Indiana Oil Refinery Plant which routinely dumps a dozen toxic byproducts from oil refining, including benzene, toluene and suspended solids containing mercury, lead, nickel and vanadium, into Lake Michigan will cost them some of their beautiful money. And Massey Energy has to face the uncertainity of how much money the Government will demand they pay for killing their miners by their rampant criminal negligence.

So, much Uncertainty facing the 1%! How does the Melting Pot benefit the psychopathic 1%? They don't need a Nation, they gate off their communities, they hire their own private police services, they have 24 hour Propaganda Networks. If they have bigger problems they band together and instruct their wholly owned Congressmen and Senators to adopt their Views and pursue their issues. The 1% are constantly pushing their Republicon Guards to eliminate Medicare, Medicaid, and steal Social Security. Because those SSA funds represent the last Great Pool of liquidity waiting for them to tap.

The 1% don't need you. But, what they do need every so often is to eliminate Uncertainty. And that is why the filthy 1% who deliberately caused the economic collapse and the housing bubble are now trying to convince enough people that it was caused by social programs for the poor and middle class.

Because they need to get their Wholly Bought and Paid for Republicon Party and Pro-Business Democrats elected to eliminate Uncertainty so that they may turn all of America into a Galt's Gulch. But while, they live as Lords, the 99% will live as serfs and wage slaves mining their gold, picking their arugula and quietly dying off when their working years are over.

Because that is Certainty the 1% are Striving towards and Rand's Ultimate Vision for the 99%, for the Common Man, that he toil unobtrusively underneath the feet of the 1% Colossuses and have the courtesy to die quickly and quietly.

N17 OccupyChi Mass Action, Rahm Emmanuel's Budget and the 1%

"You really started something here. Hope on the streets..." - Batman Begins

The N17 #Occupy Mass Action was powerful. The March in Chicago followed by the General Assembly (GA) at the Thompson Center is an indication the bitter Chicago Winter will not be enough to dissapate the Occupiers.

Attending OccupyChi GA's is informative and inspiring. It's a functioning example of Direct Democracy what the 1% now appears desperate to stop. However, unlike, the other #OccupyMovements, Chicago has not had a large long lasting entrenched Protest site. For that reason, Chicago has also not seen the massive over-the-top paramilitary sweep and clear bulldozer operations Oakland and New York and now several other cities have experienced.

46 arrests were made, but The Full-Lockdown 1% Solution has yet to be applied to OccupyChi.org. Although the previous arrests of almost 50 little old ladies, members of the Jane Addams Senior Caucus, was bad enough.

At the N17 OccupyChi GA, the big item on the agenda was Rahm Emmanuel's 2012 Budget. It was correctly pointed out this budget, like all Austerity Plans, is solely for the benefit of the 1% and at the expense of the 99%.

The Stack, which included a CTA member, a CPS teacher, a long time striker against the Congress Hotel, an OccupySouthSide leader, an off-topic Ron Paulian, and several others focused on specifically condemning Rahm Emmanuel and his budget, and the decision to close of 6 of 12 Mental Health Facilities in Chicago while the others will be privatized. Of all the 99%, those suffering from mental illness or disability are the least able to defend themselves.

Several Beautiful Protesters from the November 15th Mental Health Care Action held at City Hall also spoke. Those protesters spent over 10 hours outside Rahm's office denouncing his budgetary decision to close the clinics.

But, here's the problem. While I fully support condemning Rahm's 2012 Budget, Emmanuel is a tool. Rahm is merely the pruning shears for the 1%. The key is to identify his holders. Who are the Companies which will control these privatized mental health hospitals? Who's on the boards of the Companies? How much will they reap from rationing care to the disabled? What kind of exclusive contracts have they signed to provide mandatory care? What expenses will these private companies be able to illegally slough off onto the people, as Illinois Blue Cross Blue Shield did*, while the profits are funneled to their off-shore accounts?

Rahm's budget is akin to Paul Ryan's Coupon for HealthCare or Scott Walker's Union Busting. The 1% will always be able to find a willing political tool to carry out their orders and steal the wealth of this nation. The key is not to break the tools but to "break" the hands of the 1% thus loosening their stranglehold on the Nation and We, the People forever.

*- Illinois Blue Cross Blue Shield, the states' largest health insurance company, paid $25 million to settle allegations that it denied coverage to sick children in need of nursing care by "fraudulently" shifting their claims to the state's Medicaid program.