American Socialism; For Corporations & Capitalists Only

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching. It unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. The money powers preys upon the nation in times of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me & the financial institutions at the rear, the latter is my greatest foe. Corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed." - Abraham Lincoln, letter to William Elkins, Nov 21, 1864 "Don't Worry. The Idea is To Get Rid of Welfare as They Know it (Poor & Needy,) Not as We (Corporations & Rich) Know It." This country has a $7 trillion national debt, a growing deficit and is borrowing money from the Social Security Trust Fund in order to fund government services. We can no longer afford to provide over $125 billion every year in corporate welfare - tax breaks, subsidies and other wasteful spending - that goes to some of the largest, most profitable corporations in America. *Congressman Sanders on US Corporate Welfare Giveaways ... if we eliminated corporate welfare, that alone would allow for the income tax to be reduced by nearly 1/2 for those making between $27,682 and $55,225, and abolished entirely for those making below $27,682. This would benefit wage-earners enormously by offsetting the regressive nature of the payroll tax, and would benefit small businesses by eliminating the anticompetitive nature of corporate welfare spending. The death of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown in a Balkans plane crash exposed the real reason President Clinton sent American troops to Bosnia: to make the world safe for corporate welfare. Standard American Fighter Sections built by "NBC, Exxon, ConAgra, Monsanto, WalMart, Pfizer" (May 2004 - Over the past hundred years our government has sent troops into battle on foreign soil numerous times. A reason frequently given to the public is that it was necessary to bring freedom and relief to an oppressed people, or more recently to protect the homeland. With a few exceptions like World War II and Afghanistan, the actual underlying reasons have usually been corporate economics.) *Subsidizing Corporate Economics Thru War An aspect of the so-called Dayton Peace Accords, which led to the deployment of U.S. troops, was an initial installment of $600 million in U.S. foreign aid, much of it for construction contracts. As was the case in Vietnam, Kuwait, Panama, Somalia, Haiti, and now Bosnia, America's corporate elite are shamelessly bilking the taxpayers and putting American lives at risk, all under the guise of patriotism and "nation building." *Ron Brown's Corporate Welfare Scam *Why We Need to Abolish Corporate Welfare Corporate welfare describes the billions (if not trillions) of dollars in grants, subsidies, padded contracts and other government assistance handed to corporations by the U.S. and other governments. Corporate welfare in the United States likely started in earnest with the distribution to railroad companies of lands, often including those used by indigenous nations. Universities also were granted vast tracks of land, from which timber and other resources were sold below market price to the universities' industry friends. Mining companies in the United States are among the largest beneficiaries, granted the privilege of mining private and even public lands without paying so much as an excise tax in many states. The United States is among a very few nations where mineral resources can be privately held and where mineral development is not taxed. While the United States complains loudly about "trade barriers" when other nations impose a tarrif to protect agricultural interests, America's corporate leaders enjoy durable wealth from one of the largest corporate land-and-resource grabs in world history - the seizure of the American West. Some sites, like the Black Hills of North Dakota, are being contracted as corporate welfare handouts to mineral companies even before the native residents agree to an imposed settlement intended to quiet their complaints. Using the Halliburton Company as a prime example of Corporate Welfare, the Center for Cooperative Research says "Manipulating U.S. foreign policy isn't the only strategy in Halliburton's repertoire of means to securing profits. Another method that has apparently proven extremely successful is doing business with the government and bidding on contracts financed by U.S. dominated bilateral and multilateral aid agencies. Although Dick Cheney had once lashed out at Joe Lieberman saying that his success at Halliburton "had absolutely nothing to do with the government," the real facts have shown otherwise. Corporate welfare may not always involve direct transfers of cash to companies. It may take the form of laws that offer below-the-radar tax write-offs and corporate tax evasion schemes, as several articles here *demonstrate *Corporate Welfare Research Index Get Tough So Corporate Welfare Can Prosper Whilst the Poor & Disenfranchised Disappear Onto the Streets Corporate leaders have abandoned the old fashioned methods of social control which were embodied in the New Deal and Johnson’s Great Society. Beginning in the Early 80’s , corporate elites have been relying increasingly on a fundamentally different “get tough” approach or strategy designed specifically to strengthen corporate power over people by making them less secure. This new strategy, economic warfare against the working class, is what motivates corporate leaders’ new unbridled enthusiasm for the so-called “discipline” of the free market, which they frequently use to justify not only market-driven health care but also downsizing and attacks on the social safety net. *Economic Warfare On the Poor For Social Control WELFARE FOR THE RICH – In America the Free Market System is treated like a sacred principle. Don’t be fooled, it’s a fucking hoax. The US economy is rigged. Our Economics textbooks tell us that all our economic problems will be cured by the functioning of the free market which through natural competition will cause the best products and the best prices to prevail for the betterment of all. It’s total bullshit!! Remember all that crap you learned in civics class about “laissez faire” economics. Well forget it. The reality is quite different. Government intervention has always played a central role in the modern capitalist system. (think of it as “socialism for the rich”, & “laissez faire” economics for the rest of us) Government subsidies for private corporations are disguised under the Pentagon System or “DEFENSE’ which takes half of every tax dollar. Public subsidies(taxes paid by us) subsidize R & D (research & development) in the computer, electronics & aeronautical industries, just to name a few. Other examples of industries which rely upon public subsidies are the biotechnology, pharmaceutical industries, & agribusiness. In other words, “a complex system of tax laws, government manipulation of public money, regulations and other magic tricks insure that certain businesses will thrive regardless of whether the free market will support them or not.” *Downsize This Right after President Clinton signed the new welfare reform bill, its full meaning became crystal clear. This new law isn't just about weakening the labor movement in the United States. It isn't only about lowering workers' wages overall. It isn't even just about kicking impoverished women and their children off welfare assistance. It's also about transferring billions of dollars to Big Business as an entire sector which was once in the public economy and publicly managed passes into private hands. Clinton's signature on the legislation to abolish federal welfare assistance in America has created a feeding frenzy among private corporations seeking to profit directly from the destruction of social benefits. For business sharks in America, welfare "reform" is being viewed as a lucrative new field that promises to become a multi-billion-dollar enterprise. It is, no doubt, becoming one of the largest transfers of public sector operations into private hands, giving one new meaning to the term "corporate welfare." "The new welfare law has many corporate welfare provisions. The changes open up new markets for companies to sell their services, while providing a pool of free labor. As the government moves to restrict welfare for poor people, they're expanding it for the corporations," stated Cecilia Perry, public policy analyst. *Whispering In Clinton's Left Ear Welfare Reform is becoming one of the largest transfers of public sector operations into private hands. *Striking It Rich in the Welfare-Biz You may be thinking, Well, at least my taxes are going to help catch terrorists ($200 billion worth), right? Wrong. the $100 billion extra we scrimped from other programs to hand the military? Most goes to contractors who sell the U.S. overpriced and sometimes obsolete weapons systems. So the military budget (before the extras, $393 billion in 2003) that we authorize so that we’ll be protected is really being used to pad contractors’ pockets and secure oil in the Middle East. And it’s not the people driving gas-guzzling hummers who pay for this. Instead of being sanctioned for increasing our dependency on oil, they enjoy a $25,000 tax break. *TAKE THE RICH OFF WELFARE IF YOU THINK that practically everybody favors getting people off the dole, breaking their dependence on the government and making them earn their own keep, think again. Our number one political cliche when it comes to social policies-"get them off welfare"-applies only to the poor, the weak and the vulnerable. Welfare for the rich is thriving in these days of giant deficits, shifts to users' fees and workfare. Corporations pay no taxes, and get yours? You pay their expenses, they keep the profits. Resources .... *The Empire Of The Pigs *High Tech Splat *How to Become a Top Banana *Stop Corporate Welfare! *CORPORATE WELFARE THE FACE, THE CASE, THE REMEDY The battles between Republicans vs. Democrats is a farce to distract the public from the slow usurption of global power, involving all top officials (both parties), top military, mafia, weapons manufacturers, cocaine/opium traffickers, and international bankers. *Gore Vidal Welfare State Audio In the near future, multinational corporations will own everything, from information to cover scanland to social services. The cost of food, fuel, and services will be prohibitive. Cities will become chaotic and dangerous. Climate will be extreme and unpredictable. Environmental protection will become a convenient excuse for corporations to appropriate land and resources. Youth will feel that the greed of older generations robbed them of their future and their present. Stumble It!

American Socialism; For Corporations & Capitalists Only

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching. It unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. The money powers preys upon the nation in times of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me & the financial institutions at the rear, the latter is my greatest foe. Corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed." - Abraham Lincoln, letter to William Elkins, Nov 21, 1864 "Don't Worry. The Idea is To Get Rid of Welfare as They Know it (Poor & Needy,) Not as We (Corporations & Rich) Know It." This country has a $7 trillion national debt, a growing deficit and is borrowing money from the Social Security Trust Fund in order to fund government services. We can no longer afford to provide over $125 billion every year in corporate welfare - tax breaks, subsidies and other wasteful spending - that goes to some of the largest, most profitable corporations in America. *Congressman Sanders on US Corporate Welfare Giveaways ... if we eliminated corporate welfare, that alone would allow for the income tax to be reduced by nearly 1/2 for those making between $27,682 and $55,225, and abolished entirely for those making below $27,682. This would benefit wage-earners enormously by offsetting the regressive nature of the payroll tax, and would benefit small businesses by eliminating the anticompetitive nature of corporate welfare spending. The death of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown in a Balkans plane crash exposed the real reason President Clinton sent American troops to Bosnia: to make the world safe for corporate welfare. Standard American Fighter Sections built by "NBC, Exxon, ConAgra, Monsanto, WalMart, Pfizer" (May 2004 - Over the past hundred years our government has sent troops into battle on foreign soil numerous times. A reason frequently given to the public is that it was necessary to bring freedom and relief to an oppressed people, or more recently to protect the homeland. With a few exceptions like World War II and Afghanistan, the actual underlying reasons have usually been corporate economics.) *Subsidizing Corporate Economics Thru War An aspect of the so-called Dayton Peace Accords, which led to the deployment of U.S. troops, was an initial installment of $600 million in U.S. foreign aid, much of it for construction contracts. As was the case in Vietnam, Kuwait, Panama, Somalia, Haiti, and now Bosnia, America's corporate elite are shamelessly bilking the taxpayers and putting American lives at risk, all under the guise of patriotism and "nation building." *Ron Brown's Corporate Welfare Scam *Why We Need to Abolish Corporate Welfare Corporate welfare describes the billions (if not trillions) of dollars in grants, subsidies, padded contracts and other government assistance handed to corporations by the U.S. and other governments. Corporate welfare in the United States likely started in earnest with the distribution to railroad companies of lands, often including those used by indigenous nations. Universities also were granted vast tracks of land, from which timber and other resources were sold below market price to the universities' industry friends. Mining companies in the United States are among the largest beneficiaries, granted the privilege of mining private and even public lands without paying so much as an excise tax in many states. The United States is among a very few nations where mineral resources can be privately held and where mineral development is not taxed. While the United States complains loudly about "trade barriers" when other nations impose a tarrif to protect agricultural interests, America's corporate leaders enjoy durable wealth from one of the largest corporate land-and-resource grabs in world history - the seizure of the American West. Some sites, like the Black Hills of North Dakota, are being contracted as corporate welfare handouts to mineral companies even before the native residents agree to an imposed settlement intended to quiet their complaints. Using the Halliburton Company as a prime example of Corporate Welfare, the Center for Cooperative Research says "Manipulating U.S. foreign policy isn't the only strategy in Halliburton's repertoire of means to securing profits. Another method that has apparently proven extremely successful is doing business with the government and bidding on contracts financed by U.S. dominated bilateral and multilateral aid agencies. Although Dick Cheney had once lashed out at Joe Lieberman saying that his success at Halliburton "had absolutely nothing to do with the government," the real facts have shown otherwise. Corporate welfare may not always involve direct transfers of cash to companies. It may take the form of laws that offer below-the-radar tax write-offs and corporate tax evasion schemes, as several articles here *demonstrate *Corporate Welfare Research Index Get Tough So Corporate Welfare Can Prosper Whilst the Poor & Disenfranchised Disappear Onto the Streets Corporate leaders have abandoned the old fashioned methods of social control which were embodied in the New Deal and Johnson’s Great Society. Beginning in the Early 80’s , corporate elites have been relying increasingly on a fundamentally different “get tough” approach or strategy designed specifically to strengthen corporate power over people by making them less secure. This new strategy, economic warfare against the working class, is what motivates corporate leaders’ new unbridled enthusiasm for the so-called “discipline” of the free market, which they frequently use to justify not only market-driven health care but also downsizing and attacks on the social safety net. *Economic Warfare On the Poor For Social Control WELFARE FOR THE RICH – In America the Free Market System is treated like a sacred principle. Don’t be fooled, it’s a fucking hoax. The US economy is rigged. Our Economics textbooks tell us that all our economic problems will be cured by the functioning of the free market which through natural competition will cause the best products and the best prices to prevail for the betterment of all. It’s total bullshit!! Remember all that crap you learned in civics class about “laissez faire” economics. Well forget it. The reality is quite different. Government intervention has always played a central role in the modern capitalist system. (think of it as “socialism for the rich”, & “laissez faire” economics for the rest of us) Government subsidies for private corporations are disguised under the Pentagon System or “DEFENSE’ which takes half of every tax dollar. Public subsidies(taxes paid by us) subsidize R & D (research & development) in the computer, electronics & aeronautical industries, just to name a few. Other examples of industries which rely upon public subsidies are the biotechnology, pharmaceutical industries, & agribusiness. In other words, “a complex system of tax laws, government manipulation of public money, regulations and other magic tricks insure that certain businesses will thrive regardless of whether the free market will support them or not.” *Downsize This Right after President Clinton signed the new welfare reform bill, its full meaning became crystal clear. This new law isn't just about weakening the labor movement in the United States. It isn't only about lowering workers' wages overall. It isn't even just about kicking impoverished women and their children off welfare assistance. It's also about transferring billions of dollars to Big Business as an entire sector which was once in the public economy and publicly managed passes into private hands. Clinton's signature on the legislation to abolish federal welfare assistance in America has created a feeding frenzy among private corporations seeking to profit directly from the destruction of social benefits. For business sharks in America, welfare "reform" is being viewed as a lucrative new field that promises to become a multi-billion-dollar enterprise. It is, no doubt, becoming one of the largest transfers of public sector operations into private hands, giving one new meaning to the term "corporate welfare." "The new welfare law has many corporate welfare provisions. The changes open up new markets for companies to sell their services, while providing a pool of free labor. As the government moves to restrict welfare for poor people, they're expanding it for the corporations," stated Cecilia Perry, public policy analyst. *Whispering In Clinton's Left Ear Welfare Reform is becoming one of the largest transfers of public sector operations into private hands. *Striking It Rich in the Welfare-Biz You may be thinking, Well, at least my taxes are going to help catch terrorists ($200 billion worth), right? Wrong. the $100 billion extra we scrimped from other programs to hand the military? Most goes to contractors who sell the U.S. overpriced and sometimes obsolete weapons systems. So the military budget (before the extras, $393 billion in 2003) that we authorize so that we’ll be protected is really being used to pad contractors’ pockets and secure oil in the Middle East. And it’s not the people driving gas-guzzling hummers who pay for this. Instead of being sanctioned for increasing our dependency on oil, they enjoy a $25,000 tax break. *TAKE THE RICH OFF WELFARE IF YOU THINK that practically everybody favors getting people off the dole, breaking their dependence on the government and making them earn their own keep, think again. Our number one political cliche when it comes to social policies-"get them off welfare"-applies only to the poor, the weak and the vulnerable. Welfare for the rich is thriving in these days of giant deficits, shifts to users' fees and workfare. Corporations pay no taxes, and get yours? You pay their expenses, they keep the profits. Resources .... *The Empire Of The Pigs *High Tech Splat *How to Become a Top Banana *Stop Corporate Welfare! *CORPORATE WELFARE THE FACE, THE CASE, THE REMEDY The battles between Republicans vs. Democrats is a farce to distract the public from the slow usurption of global power, involving all top officials (both parties), top military, mafia, weapons manufacturers, cocaine/opium traffickers, and international bankers. *Gore Vidal Welfare State Audio In the near future, multinational corporations will own everything, from information to cover scanland to social services. The cost of food, fuel, and services will be prohibitive. Cities will become chaotic and dangerous. Climate will be extreme and unpredictable. Environmental protection will become a convenient excuse for corporations to appropriate land and resources. Youth will feel that the greed of older generations robbed them of their future and their present.