"There's a time when the operation of the machine
becomes so odious—makes you so sick at heart—that you can't take part. You
can't even passively take part. And you've got to put your bodies upon the
gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've
got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to
the people who own it that unless you're free and unless others are free, the
machine will be prevented from working at all."
- Mario Savio, 60’s
Berkeley Student protest leader
Occupy Evolving and Inspiring
Briefly, I want to say just how much I’ve been
inspired by the Occupy Movement. This realization crystallized in
my mind and heart yesterday as I watched the Occupiers evolve their efforts (as
I’ve been saying they’d have to…as the “tent” fight is taking away from the
message) into occupying homes of people (also brilliant are the "mic checks"...in which they disrupt political events) that are being foreclosed on by the
very banks who’s fingerprints, DNA, and wallets are strewn across the crime
scene that brought the world’s economy to the brink.
As I watched the numerous, often tearful, owners of the homes
the banksters were coming to get, talk about how powerful and moving it was to
suddenly have a large group of strangers offer their help in “occupying” their
backyards, and REFUSING to leave when the criminals and their pawns come, hit
me like a bolt of lightning! We are being SHOWN what it means to band together and literally
“fight the power” by this movement. These families, and homeowners, are
strangers to these protesters, but their stories are universal (after all, 3.6
million homes have been foreclosed since August 2007).
And then came the kicker…in one home after another, the occupiers efforts, and the sheer problems they were causing the banks, in Public Relations alone (because the stories of these people are tragic…yet they are being evicted after bailing the banks out for the crimes the banks committed against them…say fucking what???), were resulting in the banks backing down and ostensibly agreeing to negotiate the modification of the loans and allowing, for the time being, these people to stay in them. Watch Rachel Maddow's coverage of this!
And then came the kicker…in one home after another, the occupiers efforts, and the sheer problems they were causing the banks, in Public Relations alone (because the stories of these people are tragic…yet they are being evicted after bailing the banks out for the crimes the banks committed against them…say fucking what???), were resulting in the banks backing down and ostensibly agreeing to negotiate the modification of the loans and allowing, for the time being, these people to stay in them. Watch Rachel Maddow's coverage of this!
I’m not saying every story will end happily, but I am
saying, on a PROFOUND level, the Matrix is starting to be exposed, and the
power of the people is starting, for the first time in my life, beginning to
exert itself. Not exert itself within the constrained confines of a corrupt two
party system election, but in the sense of real, direct, social movement
democracy.
And let’s be clear about just how critical, not just from a
justice perspective, but an economic one, the foreclosure crisis is: There simply is NO WAY to address the economic
crisis our country and state continues to face, be it the recession,
unemployment, wage stagnation, poverty, wealth disparity or debt, if we don't
deal with the foreclosure "problem".
And that doesn't mean letting people - usually through no
fault of their own (actually due to an intricate ponzi scheme that went all the
way from the broker to the appraisers to the banks to Wall Street and to
ratings agencies) - continue to lose their homes, jobs, credit scores, and
savings. If we continue to give banks everything and people nothing, we will
continue to see families facing extraordinary economic pain as Wall Street and
big business make record profits (you're welcome for the bailouts too).
And the foreclosure crisis is nowhere close to being over. A
new report by the Center for Responsible Lending indicates that nearly 9
percent of California homes are at immediate risk of foreclosure. It also
states, "Additionally, seriously delinquent California homeowners and
those currently in the foreclosure process are about half the foreclosures the
state could expect to see."
Add to those facts that nearly a third of homeowners in
California are underwater...and it becomes obvious why Occupy Our Homes is so
needed and just. We gave far more in bailouts to the banks that orchestrated
the crash and this crisis than it would have taken to ACTUALLY help out those
scammed and facing foreclosure...both of which are HUGE drags
on the economy. And, by helping these homeowners, banks would STILL at least be getting mortgage payments...which is more than most deserve.
The question is - as Occupy continues to ask - are we trying
to create an economy that works for people and the public interest, or one that
only works for the corporations and wealthy elite?
As for this particular campaign, David Dayen makes a
critical point too, stating "...it’s up to activists to stop waiting for a
savior and start doing this for themselves. And they have been. This evolution
with Occupy...is more of a merger. There’s been a years-long movement for bank
accountability that has targeted the foreclosure crisis with direct actions.
Many of the groups involved in that movement, like The New Bottom Line and New
York Communities for Change, are also spearheading efforts for Occupy Our Homes.
The Occupy movement provides more shock troops and a higher profile for that
effort. Already it’s winning results. Occupy Rochester in New York just
succeeded in stopping a foreclosure, by securing a 30-day suspension of the
eviction notice. This builds on other successes in Cleveland and Minneapolis.
The courts have been another arena for those fighting illegal foreclosures, with varying degrees of success. The case of Lillie Mae Washington, age 96, is inspiring. But often success depends on the judge or the jurisdiction. Foreclosure defense is difficult work. It’s great to have people in the streets advancing the ball. And it emboldens other efforts. Giving a high profile to the attempted eviction of an 103 year-old woman in Atlanta led sheriffs and movers to refuse the order to evict.
The courts have been another arena for those fighting illegal foreclosures, with varying degrees of success. The case of Lillie Mae Washington, age 96, is inspiring. But often success depends on the judge or the jurisdiction. Foreclosure defense is difficult work. It’s great to have people in the streets advancing the ball. And it emboldens other efforts. Giving a high profile to the attempted eviction of an 103 year-old woman in Atlanta led sheriffs and movers to refuse the order to evict.
The banks are clearly stealing homes. It’s a classic example
of the 99% being brutalized at the expense of the 1%, in this case the big
banks. It’s a fertile ground for protest and direct action. And the Occupy
movement is picking up the mantle, merging with the already existing activism
that has been taking place for years, and providing additional energy and
support. Maybe now we will stop hearing about how the protesters lack an
agenda."
I’ve never been quite so moved or hopeful after seeing the
commitment and intelligence of this movement, and how it’s evolving. And, if
that wasn’t enough, the movement came out with a message…and statement that I
think is just as impressive as their actions have been…I hope a lot of this
sounds like my blogs have over the years...
Occupy Movement Statement
“We recognize that inequality and injustice systemically affect every aspect of our society: our communities, homes, and hearts. To build the world we envision, we commit ourselves to overcoming our personal biases so we can successfully challenge systems of oppression in solidarity.
We are assembled because…
- It is absurd that the 1 percent has taken 40 percent of the nation’s wealth through exploiting labor, outsourcing jobs, and manipulating the tax code to their benefit through special capital tax rates and loopholes. The system is rigged in their favor, yet they cry foul when anyone even dares to question their relentless class warfare.
- Candidates in our electoral system require huge sums of money to be competitive. These contributions from multi-national corporations and wealthy individuals destroy responsive representative governance. A system of backroom deals, kickbacks, bribes, and dirty politics overrides the will of the people. The rotation of decision makers between the public and private sectors cultivates a network of public officials, lobbyists, and executives whose aligned interests do not serve the American people.
- The entrenched two-party system overlooks public interests by pursuing narrow political goals. This climate encourages candidates to polarize voters for individual power and personal gain. Citizens’ meaningful input has been compromised by gerrymandering, voter disenfranchisement, and unresponsive politicians. Residents of Washington, D.C., continue to lack autonomy and legislative representation.
- The 1 percent benefits from economic, political, and legal structures that oppress communities long targeted by displacement, denial of sovereignty, slavery, and other injustices. These persecuted but resilient communities continue to suffer through generations of disproportionately higher rates of unemployment, poverty, criminalization, and homelessness. Facets of the 1 percent campaign to blame these groups for these problems while obstructing healing and restoration.
More Status Quo Extremism
In just the past couple days I’ve been struck by a few
stories that when juxtaposed highlight perfectly my “status quo extremism” (see
last post) meme…and perfectly illustrate WHY Occupy exists, WHY I do what I do, and why so many others are fighting so
hard to change this paradigm too.
First, I saw these three stories (which I'll contrast with another):
1) American Airline is blaming workers for its economic problems, and through bankruptcy, seek to break up the unions and force drastic pay cuts…yet, this
is light of the fact that flight attendants protested against American earlier
this year in response to the big bonuses given to top executives despite
the company having troubles and while workers earned less than $40,000 a year
on average while working schedules of over 70 hours a week. Meanwhile, the top
five execs at American have reaped $100 million in bonuses since 2005, while the
carrier lost more than $4.2 billion. In 2003, the flight attendants agreed to
cuts in pay and benefits worth $340 million annually, which they say kept
American out of bankruptcy.
2) Then I saw a story about new estimates from the U.S.
Census Bureau showing the number of school-age children living in poverty in
California swelled by 30 percent from 2007 to 2010. But its not just here of
course, the number of poor children from age 5 to 17 grew by nearly 2 million
during that time nationally, up to 20 percent.
3) And then I saw that the US and NATO killed nine children back
in a March 1 airstrike, which resulted in ONLY two network news stories on the
evening or morning newscasts, and two brief references on the PBS NewsHour. And
then, on November 25, the New York Times reported - on page
12 - that six children were killed in one attack in southern Afghanistan on
November 23. There were, on the other hand, several pieces about U.S. soldiers
eating Thanksgiving dinners. Of course, these are two example of many that go
totally unreported...regarding the hundreds of thousands of civilians WE ARE
KILLING, and have killed, over the last decade…and yes, its thanks to your and my
tax dollars at work.
As Glenn Greenwald
observed, “We're trained simply to accept these incidents as though they carry
no meaning: We're just supposed to chalk them up to regrettable accidents
(oops), agree that they don’t compel a cessation to the war, and then get back
to the glorious fighting. Every time that happens, this just becomes more
normalized, less worthy of notice. It's just like background noise: Two
families of children wiped out by an American missile (yawn: at least we don't
target them on purpose like those evil Terrorists: we just keep killing them
year after year after year without meaning to). It's acceptable to make
arguments that American wars should end because they're costing too much money
or American lives or otherwise harming American strategic interests, but piles
of corpses of innocent children are something only the shrill, shallow and
unSerious--pacifists!--point to as though they have any meaning in terms of
what should be done.”
VERSUS $7.7 TRILLION BANK BAILOUT
Now juxtapose those HORRIFIC stories, that are COMMONPLACE
nowadays in this country, with the revelation (though I’ve been saying this is
what happened for years…including on my interview on KGO back when TARP first
happened) that the Fed didn’t just give $700 billion through TARP, but rather $7.7
trillion (always keep in mind how we are treating the victims of this crime
versus these perpetrators).
And of course, the six criminal syndicates that have
destroyed the lives of millions - JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup
Inc. (C), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), Goldman
Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Morgan Stanley - accounted for 63 percent of the
average daily debt to the Fed.
But it gets worse…as we know, these banks didn’t use these
interest free loans to renegotiate mortgages and lower principals, nor did they
use it to invest in communities or loan to small businesses. No, what they did
instead was buy up smaller banks, foreclose even MORE on the people they
scammed, buy up their OWN STOCK to inflate its value, spent MORE OF THAT MONEY
to lobby congress and buy influence through larger and larger campaign
contributions (to weaken regulations and protect their crimes) and lavish even
more benefits and bonuses to the criminals at the top of these syndicates.
Worse than that, this LITERALLY secret banking government,
kept the size and use of these loans/bailouts even secret from Congress…at the
very time they were debating the Dodd/Frank Act.
As Robert Eskrow points out the real moral hazard (in
contrast to the Big Lie that the moral hazard is in helping homeowners), “The
cost of borrowing for so-called too-big-to-fail banks is lower than that of
smaller firms because lenders believe the government won’t let them go under.
The perceived safety net creates what economists call moral hazard -- the
belief that bankers will take greater risks because they’ll enjoy any profits
while shifting losses to taxpayers. Byron L. Dorgan, a former Democratic
senator from North Dakota, says the knowledge might have helped pass
legislation to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, which for most of the last
century separated customer deposits from the riskier practices of investment banking.
Total assets held by the six biggest U.S. banks increased 39 percent to $9.5 trillion on Sept. 30, 2011, from $6.8 trillion on the same day in 2006, according to Fed data. Employees at the six biggest banks made twice the average for all U.S. workers in 2010, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics hourly compensation cost data. The banks spent $146.3 billion on compensation in 2010, or an average of $126,342 per worker, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s up almost 20 percent from five years earlier compared with less than 15 percent for the average worker. Average pay at the banks in 2010 was about the same as in 2007, before the bailouts. Lobbying expenditures by the six banks that would have been affected by the legislation rose to $29.4 million in 2010 compared with $22.1 million in 2006, the last full year before credit markets seized up -- a gain of 33 percent, according to OpenSecrets.org, a research group that tracks money in U.S. politics. Lobbying by the American Bankers Association, a trade organization, increased at about the same rate, OpenSecrets.org reported.”
Total assets held by the six biggest U.S. banks increased 39 percent to $9.5 trillion on Sept. 30, 2011, from $6.8 trillion on the same day in 2006, according to Fed data. Employees at the six biggest banks made twice the average for all U.S. workers in 2010, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics hourly compensation cost data. The banks spent $146.3 billion on compensation in 2010, or an average of $126,342 per worker, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s up almost 20 percent from five years earlier compared with less than 15 percent for the average worker. Average pay at the banks in 2010 was about the same as in 2007, before the bailouts. Lobbying expenditures by the six banks that would have been affected by the legislation rose to $29.4 million in 2010 compared with $22.1 million in 2006, the last full year before credit markets seized up -- a gain of 33 percent, according to OpenSecrets.org, a research group that tracks money in U.S. politics. Lobbying by the American Bankers Association, a trade organization, increased at about the same rate, OpenSecrets.org reported.”
If these contrasting stories…from rapidly increasing child
poverty to more American murders of children abroad to Airline workers that
make $40,000 a year being attacked as their management makes record salaries
with the $7.7 trillion bailout of the banks so they could use it AGAINST US and to enrich themselves doesn’t
PERFECTLY illustrate why Occupy is happening, must happen, and must be
supported, I don’t know what does.
The Tax Debate and GOP Crime Family
First, let me just say, as I watch the fascist GOP Clown Car
bigots and knuckle dragging contestants lie, cheat, sexually assault, and bumble
and stumble their way out of their parties nominations, at the same time the
GOP Congress is trying to simultaneously BLOCK a payroll tax cut extension
(that helps WORKING PEOPLE…though I don’t like its being taken out of social
security…AT ALL) and the extension of unemployment benefits (which WILL kill
people), I keep asking myself the question: How does this fucking party remain
viable? Do they have to eat puppies on live TV to finally lose that critical
mass of support?
I’m being serious here…this is the party of the 1% by the 1%
and for the 1%...while being ignorant bigots, liars, sociopaths, and yes,
terrorists. And they don’t even hide it anymore! My god, Gingrich is going around advocating ending child labor laws so poor children can become janitors at their schools!! Santorum and Bachman are nothing more than wanna be cult leaders. Herman Cain should be in jail for sexual assault. Mitt Romney - a schizophrenic Ken Doll, and world class liar with no discernible convictions except his lust for power. And Rick Perry is the Stupid version of W. Bush...only he's put a lot more people (many innocent) to death.
I have to think that as
peoples' economic security continues to decline, there will have to be a big
light bulb (and Occupy is helping turn that on…for both parties in fact) that
turns on. Thankfully, after I posted this blog, I found this clip from Rachel Maddow entitled "The GOP's 1% problem..." Ya think??? Still, great to see her on this...
I mean, here they are, after DECADES of supporting every tax cut for
corporations and the rich without paying for it, suddenly demanding that a
payroll tax cut for workers be offset by (thanks to David Dayen for listing
these like this) 1) firing hundreds of thousands of people, 2) freezing their
pay (the opposite effect of a payroll tax cut, which operates as a wage
increase), 3) putting no-strings, volunteer peer pressure on millionaires to
pay additional taxes (I’m sure there will be a high takeup for that), 4) means
test a number of programs to ghetto-ize them as welfare, including unemployment
benefits, which is particularly cruel, because once federal benefits kick in
and you’ve been out of work 6 months, it doesn’t matter what you earned before,
you’re in trouble.
As for these Republicans…it does appear that Gingrich is
winning the most important endorsement of all…Fox News and Rupert Murdochs. Watch
Maddow’s outstanding breakdown of the power and influence of this network
and man…
And whatever you say about Democrats, at least they’re
trying to extend unemployment, and they’re trying to pay for the payroll tax
cut (which does benefit the economy and help working Americans) by taxing
millionaires. Greg Sargent at the Washington Post got some new data from
Citizens for Tax Justice on this millionaire surtax being proposed and the
payroll tax extension:
The surtax would impact around 345,000 taxpayers, roughly
0.2 percent of taxpayers, or one in 500 of them. Those people would pay on
average an additional 2.1 percent of their overall income, or just over 1/50th
of that overall income, in taxes. In a majority of states, only one-tenth of
one percent, or one in 1,000 taxpayers, would pay this surtax.
And how many people would benefit from the payroll tax cut?
According to the group, around 113 million tax filing units — either single
workers or families that include more than one worker — would see their payroll
tax cut extended. That’s a lot of people — well over 113 million workers, in
fact.
The Democrats better stand strong on this...just as they would do well to stop taking the payroll tax cut out of social security too. There's no reason to do that...the time is over, as it should have been for a long while now, to continue to give Republicans (domestic terrorist network) gifts in hopes of support.
VIDEO SECTION
Watch one of the Dylan Ratigan’s greatest rants…
Robert Reich on CEO’s now being paide 300 times the average
person’s salary:
Olbermann on Obama’s CRITICAL threat to veto (but he must do
it, not just threaten it) of the most civil liberties destroying legislation
since the Patriot Act…that would allow for the government to indefinitely
detain American citizens…for simply being SUSPECTED of having ties to
terrorists (I will write about this in a future post…but see Will Pitt’s
article I have for you today):
A great new theme song for the Occupy movement...
FROM C&L: Stephen Colbert takes a shot at the talking
heads at Fox complaining that President Obama supposedly left Jesus out of the
Thanksgiving holiday and at Mitt Romney for his lying campaign ad which took
President Obama's words out of context as only he can.
Scott Olsen, the Iraq War veteran nearly killed at the Occupy
Oakland by cops has since been released from the hospital...while he still has a speech impediment, he's right on...listen to him talk with Rachel Maddow:
ARTICLE SECTION
A Gut-Check Moment for Mr. Obama, by William Rivers Pitt
A FEW CLIPS:
When George W. Bush left office, and John McCain went down
to defeat, there was a sense among a great many Americans that a tremendously
dangerous nightmare was over, that years of wildly violent,
constitutionally questionable, unbelievably expensive and morally appalling
over-reaction to 9/11 were behind us, that an America which didn't use the NSA
to spy on virtually anyone, an America that didn't indefinitely detain people
without due process of law, that didn't torture, that didn't consign millions
to death and maiming by way of wars based on lies and the desire to make money
while winning elections...a lot of people thought that America might show its
face again.
But that was Hope and Change and all that stuff. The dreary fact of the matter is that the slash-and-burn attitude taken towards the US Constitution by the Bush administration did such tremendous damage to the most basic underpinnings of this society that it was widely feared there would be no going back. After all, any politician who has gotten to the point where the office of the President is even a possibility is a politician absolutely drenched in hubris, ego, and a desire for personal power.
But that was Hope and Change and all that stuff. The dreary fact of the matter is that the slash-and-burn attitude taken towards the US Constitution by the Bush administration did such tremendous damage to the most basic underpinnings of this society that it was widely feared there would be no going back. After all, any politician who has gotten to the point where the office of the President is even a possibility is a politician absolutely drenched in hubris, ego, and a desire for personal power.
SNIP
The gut-check moment has been set in motion [4] by Senators Levin, McCain, and the Senate
Armed Services Committee… Amnesty International makes it plain as day [6]:
The new National Defense Authorization Bill (S1867) presented to the Senate by the Armed Services Committee is such a disaster for civil liberties and human rights it is difficult to know where to begin.
The Bill does not set any territorial limits on where this conflict is being fought. The presumption is that US forces can engage terror groups with kinetic weapons systems wherever they find them - London, Copenhagen, Istanbul and Kampala are all fair game and to hell with consequences for any citizens of those countries who get caught in the middle.
SNIP
Even if an individual is exonerated of any wrongdoing, Section 1033 of the Bill requires that they continue to be held in Gitmo if there is a confirmed case of detainee recidivism in that individual's country of origin. Imagine if your personal freedom depended on the lawful behavior of every single one of your fellow 350 million US citizens - we'd all be in jail.
The new National Defense Authorization Bill (S1867) presented to the Senate by the Armed Services Committee is such a disaster for civil liberties and human rights it is difficult to know where to begin.
The Bill does not set any territorial limits on where this conflict is being fought. The presumption is that US forces can engage terror groups with kinetic weapons systems wherever they find them - London, Copenhagen, Istanbul and Kampala are all fair game and to hell with consequences for any citizens of those countries who get caught in the middle.
SNIP
Even if an individual is exonerated of any wrongdoing, Section 1033 of the Bill requires that they continue to be held in Gitmo if there is a confirmed case of detainee recidivism in that individual's country of origin. Imagine if your personal freedom depended on the lawful behavior of every single one of your fellow 350 million US citizens - we'd all be in jail.
SNIP
So there it is. If this bill finishes wending its way
through the Senate and passes, it will be greeted by the warm embrace of the
Republican majority in the House, and will then be on its way to Mr. Obama's
desk, where his veto threat will be waiting for it. Whether or not he follows
through on his threat and slaps this dreck down is the question now before us
all. One way or another, we will soon learn a very large truth about the man in
the Oval Office, and whether he has the integrity to do what is right and
follow through on his word. We shall see.
6 Shocking Revelations About Wall Street's "Secret
Government", By Les Leopold, AlterNet
A FEW CLIPS:
We now have concrete evidence that Wall Street and Washington are running a secret government far removed from the democratic process. Through a freedom of information request by Bloomberg News, the public now has access to over 29,000 pages of Fed documents and 21,000 additional Fed transactions that were deliberately hidden, and for good reason. (See here and here.) These documents show how top government officials willfully concealed from Congress and the public the true extent of the 2008-'09 bailouts that enriched the few and enhanced the interests of giant Wall Streets firms.
SNIP
So what does this all mean?
1. The big banks and hedge funds were in much more trouble than we were led to believe. As many of us suspected, all the big banks were on their knees begging for help – secretly – while telling their investors, the public and Congress that all was well. They had gambled and lost. Under the rules of ideal capitalism, they should have suffered some “creative destruction,” and seen their shareholder value eliminated through bankruptcy, and their managers replaced. The entire banking system should have been reorganized from top to bottom as well. Instead, these colossal failures were secretly rewarded.
2. Wall Street’s secret government made sure the largest banks would grow even larger, aided by the secret funding. While Congress was debating legislation to break up the large banks and reinstitute Glass Steagall (to separate risky investment banking from insured commercial banking,) the secret government was using public funds to grow even larger through mergers and acquisitions. Because Congress and the public were unaware of the secret funding and ill-health of all the banks, the legislation was easily defeated. As the chart below makes painfully clear, too-big-to-fail banks grew even bigger.
1. The big banks and hedge funds were in much more trouble than we were led to believe. As many of us suspected, all the big banks were on their knees begging for help – secretly – while telling their investors, the public and Congress that all was well. They had gambled and lost. Under the rules of ideal capitalism, they should have suffered some “creative destruction,” and seen their shareholder value eliminated through bankruptcy, and their managers replaced. The entire banking system should have been reorganized from top to bottom as well. Instead, these colossal failures were secretly rewarded.
2. Wall Street’s secret government made sure the largest banks would grow even larger, aided by the secret funding. While Congress was debating legislation to break up the large banks and reinstitute Glass Steagall (to separate risky investment banking from insured commercial banking,) the secret government was using public funds to grow even larger through mergers and acquisitions. Because Congress and the public were unaware of the secret funding and ill-health of all the banks, the legislation was easily defeated. As the chart below makes painfully clear, too-big-to-fail banks grew even bigger.
SNIP
5. Wall Street is a clear and present danger to democracy. Usually, I am not an alarmist. In fact, I often argue
against facile conspiracy theories. I want to believe that our democracy still
has promise. But, the Wall Street-induced crash and the government’s response
to it has me very worried. The Bloomberg News revelations suggest that Wall
Street’s secret government has enormous disdain for what remains of our
democracy. The financial elites obviously believe that Congress cannot be trusted
to do the right thing even when it is bought and paid for by the very
banks it supposedly regulates. As for the rest of us? We’re just a
financially illiterate mass to be manipulated through the mass media. Our minds
too can be bought and sold through careful marketing.
This financial arrogance and corruption is enormously corrosive to our democratic values. Already, many Americans, and for good reason, no longer trust their government. Already, many Americans, and for good reason, no longer vote. Already, many Americans, and for good reason, believe that democracy as we know it is a sham. Wall Street couldn’t have written a better script to maintain its domination.
This financial arrogance and corruption is enormously corrosive to our democratic values. Already, many Americans, and for good reason, no longer trust their government. Already, many Americans, and for good reason, no longer vote. Already, many Americans, and for good reason, believe that democracy as we know it is a sham. Wall Street couldn’t have written a better script to maintain its domination.
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