The Blind-eyed Marriage of the Conservative Churches to the Excessive & Corrupt Business Practices

How supremely odd it is that conservative Christians--who have hammered and continue to hector the country on certain moral issues (which they find absolute)--have been so silent, so tongue-tied, on the massive corruption and greed that inhabits the world of business all around them.

Turning the Tables on Wall Street: America’s Temple or Torment? 
“Jesus Purifies the Temple” (John 2: 2:13-25) in an engraving
by the German Nazarene artist Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1860)

The failure of social conservative moral leadership to call into account the business practices and aggressive failures of the marketplace - to be fair and honest - is a significant contributor to the escalation of the imbalance of wealth (the 1% & the 99% ers) and the pervasive societal moral decay that comes with trying to keep up with the corporate Jones'.

The blind-eyed marriage of the church to the excessive and corrupt business practices of some corporations and the outright fraud found in so many of the slick practices of the marketplace and especially Wall Street have sold the birthright of many Evangelical Christians into a world of excessive debt, unbearable family financial pressures, and everyday stress producing anxiety created by (and compounded by) job insecurity. It is a world where loyalty and length of service are considered expendable by businesses in the search of greater profits and better bottomlines. Add in a high level of unemployment among these self-same Evangelicals and the staggering debt of their children, young Evangelicals, who have taken on student loans in quest of a step-up career.

All forms of benefits and delayed compensation are now being sucked back into their sources by a new kind of greed-Corporate Givers cum Corporate Takers.

When the church loses its prophetic role in calling the CEO/men of power to task, to account for their disrespect for the underprivileged and the planned, immoral conduct of business, the rampant dishonest practices, it loses the power to speak the truth. 

“Lazarus and Rich Man” (Luke 16:19-31) from a 10th Century fresco in
the Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila in Bulgaria (Reconstructed 1937-1946)

The Biblical story of the rich man and the beggar - the pauper who once was confined to scrounging the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table was eventually released from this mortal realm into paradise. His story illustrates this point.

The beggar, now in Paradise, could name his price for a drop of water to assuage the hellish torment of the eternally damned CEO named in the story. That wealthy man - upon dying - found himself suffering eternal torment in hell for his evil marketplace behavior. Now a torment-bound, abject beggar himself, he pleads for meager humanitarian aid from a higher place. He now pleads "give me just a drop of water!"

Wealth and the where-with-all to have one's way in the greater community do not substitute for character and compassion. Social conservatives would do well to remember this.

Conservative Evangelical Christians Must Divorce Themselves From Corporate Greed & Evil 

Conservative Christians must return to voting in their own best economic interests, and not get caught up in clever manipulation. Evangelicals must act in light of their own history of championing social reform: speak out, and vote in light of the full weight of moral conviction and principles encompassing more than a narrow list of hot button social issues managed by the conniving Svengali mavens on the extremes who inflict on Evangelicals untold pain and suffering via the mega-wealthy, TeaPartisan and Corporatist politics destroying family values and the family itself.

On the Reader:
More on Christian Values and Greed on the Gazette.

Original.

A Shout Out to the Overlords of Michissippian EM Plantations (Michigan Emergency Managerment)

In the New Order under the dictatorial hand of Rick Snyder and Andy Dillon Esq., the world of take-overs and liquidation of Michigan's struggling communities (under Lansing's Central Planning and the undemocratic imposition of Emergency Manager law) is well underway.

Snyder & Dillon have methodically begun their quasi-legal Foreclosure of many Michissippian units of government.

Their plan was to conduct all these discussions and decisions in secret out of the public's purview, without outside perspectives or the impacted peoples' permission, leaving the majority of Michigan's urban minorities to patiently and peacefully await their fate in silence.

Segregation and discrimination by Gubernatorial Decree

However the rights of citizens don't die by fiat - according to the Freep report "Detroit financial review team members to meet in private after all":

"The Detroit financial review team that was told it can no longer meet behind closed doors held its first public meeting Tuesday, and within minutes, it created a subcommittee that plans to hold private meetings."

"In the Detroit case, the financial review team, appointed in December by Gov. Rick Snyder, was ordered by an Ingham County judge earlier this month to halt its meetings after Robert Davis, an open government activist, sued on the grounds that the closed meetings violated the state's Open Meetings Act. On Tuesday, Davis promised to proceed with another legal challenge.

"'For them to try to establish a subcommittee so they can meet in private is ABSOLUTELY ABSURD and a slap in the face to every single Detroiter,' Davis said. 'This is the same group that said they aren't subject to the Open Meetings Act. Who are you going to believe?'"

"The subcommittee is expected to meet and assess the risks and benefits of the appointment of an emergency manager or the institution of a consent agreement, under which state officials and Mayor Dave Bing likely would privatize some services and wipe out union contracts in an attempt to right the city's finances. They are expected to complete a report by March 14 and report findings to the full review team."

The Business Leaders for Michigan (big wealth & corporations), the One Percenters, and the aggressive TeaPublicans who are the new plantation managers under EM; take heed of these immortal words from Sam Adams, founding liberator, warning the citizens of Michigan:

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."

-- Samuel Adams, remarks on August 1, 1776 to the State House delegation Philadelphia.

Long live local freedom! Die now tyranny of the coercive, Jim Crow, and several EM Plantations!

UPDATE: According to the Freep and blogged by EM issue tracker Eclectablog, the judge was not amused by the formation of the Dillon/Snyder 'subcommittee' that is to continue meeting in secret:

"An Ingham County judge this afternoon ordered all 10 members of the Detroit emergency financial review team to appear in his courtroom March 12 to answer why they should not be held in contempt for attempting to evade his finding that the review team is subject to the Open Meetings Act by forming a smaller committee to meet in secret.

Judge William Collette issued the order at the request of attorneys for Robert Davis, the employee of AFSCME who filed open meetings lawsuits against financial review teams in both Detroit and the Highland Park school districts.

Davis said the five-member subcommittee created by the review team on Tuesday is clearly an attempt to circumvent Collette’s finding that review teams are public agencies subject to the open meeting law."

Note: New legislation to get around the repeal petition, and suspension of PA 4 (Emergency Manager Law) is also in the works, this story will continue.



Original.

Michigan View's Gary Wolfram Resurrects 18th Cent. Racial Bigotry in His Vision of Economic “Freedom” (ala Adam Smith)

Response to Gary Wolfram in "The wealth of our nation" in the DetNews/Mackinac Center driven Michigan View on Feb 2, 2012.

"(I)t may be true, perhaps, that the accommodation of an (sic) European prince does not always so much exceed that of an industrious and frugal peasant, as the accommodation of the latter exceeds that of many an African king."

-- Adam Smith Quote from Chapter I from the "Of the Division of Labor", Vol I of "INQUIRY into the NATURAL CAUSES of the WEALTH OF NATIONS" (1776)

According to Gary Wolfram:

"Smith recognized that people coming together to trade among themselves would result in an increase in living standards for all..."

(break)

"Smith's other published book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, is less well known - but it was well read in his time and went through six editions. A powerful work, it lays out his observations of human behavior and an understanding of how and why certain customs lead to greater social harmony. For example, a society in which we can interact with one another peaceably to our own benefit requires a sense of propriety. Smith teaches that traditions are important - and (form) a foundation of conservative thought from Edmund Burke to Russell Kirk.

But 'Wealth of Nations' is his most famous work."

Wolfram:

"'Wealth of Nations' is one of those great books that everyone has heard of but few have read. It was a delight to spend time at Hillsdale with people who had not only read Smith - but had studied him. American(s) would benefit if every Legislator read Smith." (emphasis added)

Wolfram:

"The book was an analysis of why parts of the world were mired in abject poverty while Britain enjoyed 'opulence.' Yet it may be true, perhaps, that the accommodation of an European prince does not always so much exceed that of an industrious and frugal peasant, as the accommodation of the latter exceeds that of many an African king,' notes Smith."

Prof. Gary uses this quote to make his point and doing so telegraphs a backhanded racist statement: Wolfram projects Adam Smith's reference to British "opulence"(which we all are viewing as Downington Abby in the fading, last days of global British Empire) and the ordinary worker in British society in Adam Smith's times.

Make mention then, as Prof. Gary does, concerning the accumulation of many an "African king." So doing Wolfram sites Smith as he brags a "frugal peasant" in Imperial Britain-with its military homogeny over vast sections of the globe-at that time) has a sizable "accommodation." In Smith's estimation, that pot of material things owned by the 18th century working Brit exceeds the wealth of "many an African King", who using the current words of Prof. Gary, lived in parts of the world "mired in poverty."

Wolfram's assertion: That "African King" (who is in Smith's representation the "absolute master of the lives and liberties of ten thousand naked savages") was not as well-off as a British common laborer in Smith's time. 

This sociologically unbalanced comparison was set in a past century when such racially slanted speech was commonly accepted. However braggadocio or prejudiced, the writers in contemporary times of Adam Smith thought nothing of using an "African King" as model-a bold comparison/contrast to the degree of accumulation held by a man of "labour" in Britain-compare and contrasted with an "African King" at the time of Smith's 18th century....
-----


In the PICTURE above, just behind Gary Wolfram (holding book) is Lawrence W. (Larry) Reed, President of the Foundation for Economic Freedom, former Pres (and still Pres. Emeritus) of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and Harry C. Veryser, Jr. professor at Walsh College (past at Hillsdale & Northwood), former Judicial Commissioner (Engler), Board Member at the Acton Institute and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.  From an event on October 13, 2009 at the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies in a a panel of economics to debate the issue of government intervention during economic recessions.

-----

The point Prof. Gary attempts to make in his blog, "The Wealth of Our Nation" is a grand argument for his quaint economic theories. The airy prof utilizes Smith's dated, bigoted example to prove his point- mindless of the racist implications implicit in this select quote. The lines he chose to use. This bigotry only aggravates the imbalance and ignorance of Prof. Gary's proofs offered the reader in his essay's conclusion below.

Wolfram's bromide based on bias and bigotry:

"(T)he gap between the richest and poorest in the United States and other market capitalist states is NOT AS LARGE CLASS WARRIORS WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE." (emphasis added)

Wolfram:

"I tell my students that the difference between their life style and that of Bill Gates is not that great. Like Gates, they live in a house with indoor plumbing and air conditioning (80 percent of all poor households in the US have air conditioning) though his may be bigger. Like Gates, they have a car (three-quarters of all Americas' poor have their own car) though his may be nicer. Like Gates, they can fly to California though he may have a private jet. Like Gates, they probably eat what he eats, and so on. Basically, they live a similar life.

"NOW COMPARE THEIR LIFE TO SOMEONE LIVING IN A REFUGEE CAMP IN SOMALIA."

"That is a stark contrast. In this time of Occupy Wall Street rage Smith's observation is worth repeating. Adam Smith told us that we need in order to achieve the wealth for all, including the "INDUSTRIOUS PEASANT."

"Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: All the rest being brought about by THE NATURAL COURSE OF THINGS."

"Our federal government has grown far beyond this to the point where it regulates our daily life from how much water our toilet may flush to what kind of car we may drive. The massive health care and financial regulation bills of the Obama administration do not fit Adam Smith's prescription for an opulent society. Perhaps in 2012 we will return to the philosophy that brought us the wealth of our nation." (emphasis added)

Wolfram's Thrust: Why are American Blacks mired in poverty? Just read Wealth of Nations. In fact, he says "American(s) would benefit id every Legislator read Smith".


How instructive to compare Detroit's African-American community's economic status with the status of "Someone living in a refugee camp in Somalia." NO VALID COMPARISON!


Comparison relative to the ACTUAL IMPACT OF POVERTY and UNEMPLOYMENT in urban Detroit must be CONTRASTED with status of 1% LUXURIATING in the wealthy Oakland Co.suburbs; that's the REAL CONTRAST. 

Dissect that Prof Gary!


READER: The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (1776)
More responses and posts on Gary Wolfram on the Gazette.

Original.

MLK Day's March on Michissippi's (Michigan's) Dictator Gov. Rick Snyder's gated estate/mansion

Well over a thousand citizens from all around Michissippi (Michigan) rallied to march on Martin Luther King Day to Rick Snyder's gated estate. They were motivated by the racial implications of Snyder's imposition of dictatorial control over predominately Black communities in Michigan.

The Emergency Manager "plantations" established by Snyder's Legal Beavers and legal corporations (under his direct control) have begun the re-enslavement of Michigan's poorest citizens, people largely living in governmental units racially abandoned to minorities. These units are now being systematically stripped of the rights of citizenship-for their "own good" by a business-first Big Boss-Rick Snyder.

-----

It boils down to voting rights, civil rights, and local control of local affairs. The growing sense of inequality imposed by the GOP-dominated Michigan government, having total control of all three branches of state government, is bringing the public outcry to a boil.

-----

Bill Moyers outlines the current national, intense and growing sense of inequality. Moyers writes below that Americans are just now "waking up" to the danger posed by the impacts such Snyder's have on working people, the 99%:

Waking up is right.

Waking up to the reality that inequality matters.

• It matters because what we're talking about is what it takes to live a decent life.
• If you get sick without health coverage, inequality matters. If you're the only breadwinner and out of work, inequality matters.
• If your local public library closes down and you can't afford to buy books on your own, inequality matters.
• If budget cuts mean your child has to pay to play on the school basketball team or to sing in the chorus or march in the band, inequality matters.
• If you lose your job as you're about to retire, inequality matters.
• If the financial system collapses and knocks the props from beneath your pension, inequality matters.

I (Bill Moyers) grew up in a working class family. We were among the poorest in town, but I was rich in public goods.

I went to a good public school, played sandlot ball in a good public park, had access to a good public library, drove down a good public highway to a good public college, all made possible by people I never met. There was an unwritten bargain among the generations - we didn't all get the same deal, but we did get civilization.
That bargain is being shredded.

The occupiers of Wall Street understand this. You could tell from their slogans.

A fellow young enough to be my grandson wore a t-shirt emblazoned with the words: "The system's not broken. It's fixed." That's right. Rigged. And that's why so many are so angry. Not at wealth itself, but at the crony capitalists who resorts to tricks, loopholes, and hard, cold cash for politicians to make sure insiders prosper and then pull up the ladder behind them.
Yes, Americans are waking up.

• To how they're being made to pay for Wall Street's malfeasance and Washington's complicity. Paying with stagnant wages and lost jobs, with slashing cuts to their benefits and to their social services.
• And waking up to the grotesque Supreme Court decision defining a corporation as a person, although it doesn't eat, breath, make love or sing, or take care of children and aging parents.
• Waking up to how campaign contributions corrupt our elections; to the fact that if speech is money, no money means no speech.

So the collective cry has gone up loud and clear: enough's enough.

We won't, as I said, know for a while if this is just a momentary cry of pain; or whether it's a movement that, like the Abolitionists and Suffragettes, the populists and workers of another era, or the Civil Rights movement of our time, gathers force until the powers-that-be can no longer sustain the inequality, the injustice and yes, the immorality of winner-take-all politics.

See Related Interviews on which this Essay is based and a Related Op-Ed:
Jacob Hacker & Paul Pierson on Engineered Inequality (Jan 13, 2012)
America Wakes Up to the Reality: Inequality Matters (Jan 18, 2012)


Original.

Let the government be the government & Let the church be the church.

This exactly the OPPOSITE of what the 16 million member Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land wants from the GOP. Land hopes this election helps RECOVER TO THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT the cozy relationship and power granted them under George W. Bush - the inside track and advantage.

Can Any Good Thing Come Out of the efforts of the Texas Religious Right's 150 meeting?

Often in America "policies are adopted, not because they generate more benefit for the body politic, but because THEY BENEFIT AN IMPORTANT SET OF PEOPLE," writes one economist and political observer.

How does the nation benefit from their elevation of Rick Santorum to be their "blessed" choice for GOP presidential candidate?

What is the actual economic and political impact of the cabal of 150 "secret" neo-moral majority participants in coronating a "righteous choice" for the GOP presidential candidacy - Sen. Rick Santorum?

We have endured a long dark, dangerous tunnel of heavy influence by Rad Right Religionists whose influence on legislation has been ubiquitous: The horrific midnight Terri Schiavo, congressional fiasco, the appointment of an overabundance of uber-conservative Roman Catholics to the U.S. Supreme Court, the steady march of pro-lifers stymieing a woman's right to choice in her own health and wellbeing at the state legislative level; and on other issues such as: the decertification of collective bargaining; along with the Koch Bros. use of a multiplicity of astroturf organizations to roll back environmental rules and regulations (EPA) in order to richly "bless" their monolithic gas and oil holdings, the support of Grover Norquist's "No New Taxes" vow, legislation that is anti-science, etc.

Contrast: The Purity of the Founders Opposition to the "Establishment of Religion"

"To hear the Religious Right tell it, men like George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were 18th-century versions of Jerry Falwell in powdered wigs and stockings. Nothing could be further from the truth.

"Unlike many of today's candidates, the founders didn't find it necessary to constantly wear religion on their sleeves. They considered faith a private affair. Contrast them to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (who says he wouldn't vote for an atheist for president because non-believers lack the proper moral grounding to guide the American ship of state), Texas Gov. Rick Perry (who hosted a prayer rally and issued an infamous ad accusing President Barack Obama of waging a "war on religion") and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum (whose uber-Catholicism leads him to oppose not just abortion but birth control)."

Source: Rob Benson of Americans United.

The Corrupt Practice of Marrying the Church to the State, as has been the thrust of the Rad Religious Right now for well over 30 years. Doing so has made a mockery of many of its own various doctrines, standards, and moral edicts. This "marriage" has made a circus out of the political ethical high ground to which these advocates publically and loudly aspire.

The Economists' term "Public Choice" is "Politics without romance"
Wishful thinking...presumes that participants in the political 'Public Choice' act in a beneficial manner.

"As (economist) James Buchanan has so artfully defined it, 'PUBLIC CHOICE' IS 'POLITICS WITHOUT ROMANCE.' The wishful thinking it displaced presumes that participants in the political sphere aspire to promote the common good. In the conventional 'public interest' view, public officials are portrayed as benevolent 'public servants' who faithfully carry out the "will of the people." IN TENDING TO THE PUBLIC'S BUSINESS, VOTERS, POLITICIANS, AND POLICYMAKERS ARE SUPPOSED SOMEHOW TO RISE ABOVE THEIR OWN PAROCHIAL CONCERNS."

Source: "Public Choice" by William F. Shughart II.

HOWEVER: Politicians are not glowing angles of virtue-Not even former Senator Santorum

"'Public choice' is the application of economic models of self-interest to political science. The central assumption is that politicians are not glowing angels of virtue but prone to the same self-interested behavior as we might expect from anyone else. Basically public choice is, in the words of James Buchanan, "politics without romance".

"Studying 'public choice' is vital because people are susceptible to misconceptions. The moment economists admit that the market is imperfect due to problems such as public goods provision or externalities there is mass zeal for corrective interventions such as subsidies and taxes. Yet, this may not always be a good idea. The more legitimate question to ask is not whether the market is perfect; but, whether the political process is better."

Source: "Wise as serpents" posted February 2, 2011.

In the quest for constructive economic answers, the so-called "values voters"-blind followers of Right Wing Religious leaders, such as the Texas 150-are lost sheep.

Religion as a motivation for running secular government, a very bad idea
The concept of the use of taxes to punish by withholding the revenues from things this group does not support, or by taxing things that this select group wishes to undermine or limit is an antique idea that still holds promise for some who believe themselves to be morally superior to American society.

The debate over Taxes serves many purposes - including ignorance

"Alfred Cecil Pigou was the father of the idea that taxes could be used to correct negative externalities. An idea that Bruce Yandle (Senior Fellow Bruce Yandle, Clemson Alumni Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus and Interim Dean of Clemson's College of Business & Behavioral Science) points out is gaining significant popularity in a myriad of arenas: taxes on soda (to curb obesity) and taxes on large banks (to curb risky behavior). But, EVEN PIGOU DID NOT BELIEVE THAT POLICY HAPPENED IN A VACUUM. He offered this valuable insight:

"[W]e cannot expect that any public authority will attain, or will even wholeheartedly seek, that ideal. Such authorities are liable alike to ignorance, to sectional pressure and to personal corruption by private interest. A loud-voice part of their constituents, if organized for votes, may easily outweigh the whole."

"In short, 'public choice' is worth studying because we need to understand: VOTES ARE TO POLITICIANS WHAT PROFITS ARE TO BUSINESSES.

"Sometimes policies are adopted, not because they generate more benefit for the body politic, but because they benefit an important set of people. Finally ---and this speaks to Pigou's statement that "authorities are liable alike to ignorance"--- even if politicians were well-intentioned, there is no single Great Mind that could calculate the social costs or benefits needed to arrive at a corresponding tax or subsidy."

Source: Economic and Compassion - Wise as Serpents February 2, 2011.

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The American people, if allowed to think for themselves outside the intense media and propaganda world of "spin," care intensely about themselves and their families. They even care about local community and their nation. However, if their emotions and personal sense of ethics can be sidetracked by promoters of single issues and raw emotional religious fervor and are counseled against raising taxes, then they won't "vote their pocketbooks" and the benefits to themselves and the nation will be dashed.

This the situation we face in the 2012 elections-during a time when not nearly enough attention is being placed on a satisfactory national recovery, all the while Congress acts in TeaPartisan gridlock. To suggest and recommend to the large block of "values voters" that Rick Santorum represents the best "values" choice for the American presidency masks the clear threat that Santorum's Opus Dei devotion to expanding Roman Catholic influence over the United States (Santorum's highest goal) remains a very serious threat to the nation's basic secular freedoms.

Voting the Texas 150's "values" and ignoring everyday economic reality spells disaster. Voting "values" and ignoring the threat that Santorum represents to the preservation of Jeffersonian separation of church and state is unconscionable.

Purposeful blindness to the condition of the economy
This is the situation we face in the up-coming 2012 elections. And that is exactly what a "pledged vote" and endorsement from the Religious Right delivered in year 2000, a disastrous outcome: A "right wing religious" block vote (based on its leadership's vetting and endorsement process) resulted in electing a clearly under-qualified, mentally confused and burned-out George W. Bush. This man endorsed by the "Christian" Religious Right as a "bornaganiner" brought down the nation: Bush's lack of proper presidential attention to known terrorist threats (as indicated in CIA presidential daily briefings) led directly to 9/11, failure to curb federal spending (scant vetoes of run-away deficits), a war of 'choice' not paid by foreign debit, also Bush's complete inability to sense and prevent widespread corruption (WorldCom, Enron, Abramhof/Reed) and catastrophic Wall Street, mortgage, and banking collapses.

Normal citizens consistently "vote their pocketbooks"-favor of their own "best interests"

"In modeling the behavior of individuals as driven by the goal of utility maximization-economics jargon for a personal sense of well-being-economists do not deny that people care about their families, friends, and community. But public choice, like the economic model of rational behavior on which it rests, assumes that people are guided chiefly by their own self-interests and, more important, that the motivations of people in the political process are no different from those of people in the steak, housing, or car market. They are the same human beings, after all. As such, voters "vote their pocketbooks," supporting candidates and ballot propositions they think will make them personally better off; bureaucrats strive to advance their own careers; and politicians seek election or reelection to office. Public choice, in other words, simply transfers the rational actor model of economic theory to the realm of politics." 

Source: Presentation on Decision Making: Theories & Concepts.


The problem of church rule over and against state secular sovereignty
The injection of religious sectarianism, proscribed human moral behaviors or acts, strict prohibitions on drug substances and alcohol, and advantage given to certain fundamentalist ideology moves the "rational actor model" of politics in a very particular direction: Religionist hoping to run or rule the public square and legislate intend to coerce (by government police powers under their control) certain "values" or "defined moral behaviors" in ways that skew and distort the public realm in many ways not in the greater public's present or future best interests, especially, economic well-being.

Seeing the huge advantage and loop hole created by this Evangelical/Pentecostal/Fundamentalistic/Opus Dei power grab; corporations and internationalists have moved in to logically and systematically work against the "economic and social well being" of these true believers and glean huge profits and relief from their release from onerous regulations and rules corporations constantly complain are the overreach of government; deregulation has become a basic goal (value) for the far right religious coalition.

If it were that the "true believers" were the only part of the population effected by this distortion, so be it. But such is not the case.

Why must the entire nation be forced, by a powerful and hell-fearing faction, to vote and work against their "own best interests"?

Again...Ask the secret Texas Religious Rightist 150.


Original.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, and No Jobs in Michissippi (Michigan)

"The freest government cannot long endure when the tendency of the law is to create a rapid accumulation of property in the hands of a few, and to render the masses poor and dependent." 

-- Daniel Webster, 1782-1852

If the greedy Corporatists won't take a hint from the protests sweeping state houses across the land, then take it from a Founding Thinker and Patriot, extreme inequality between the OnePercenters and the 99 Percenters is a foreboding omen of coming disaster.

Be Glad and Give Thanks for the Occupy Movement: Light is shining in the darkness, and exposing the Wall Street deeds, and the Corporatocracy (an unhealthy alignment between business and political power) of the Koch brothers-so corrupt and evil-via A.L.E.C.'s 'plug and play corporate state legislation". It's all coming into that laser light.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, and No Jobs... this quote is from Pat Buchanan, Member the Conservative Caucus, during his campaign for the presidency:

"What is an economy for if not so that workers and their families can enjoy the good life their parents knew, so that incomes rise with every year of hard work, and so that Americans once again enjoy the highest standards of living in the world? Our American the most productive in the world; our technology is the finest. Yet, the real incomes of American workers have fallen 20 percent in twenty years. Why are our people not realizing the fruits of their labor?

We have a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference, a government that does not listen anymore to the forgotten men and women who work in the forges, factories, and plants and businesses of this country. We have instead, a government that is too busy taking the phone calls from lobbyists for foreign countries and the corporate contributors of the Fortune 500."

Source: Presidential announcement speech of Patrick J. Buchanan at the Manchester Institute of Arts and Sciences on March 20, 1995

One Buchanan supporter shares a vision: "Imagine a Ron Paul / Pat Buchanan ticket. I would cry with joy. But I can dream."


Original Part 1 and Part 2.

Nerdonomics on Stifle: Rick Snyder's Michigan Dashboard Disaster

No new jobs, no new jobs action, more taxes for many, fewer discretionary dollars to spend in the Michissippian Economy.

Across the state a stark realization is dawning in these early days of 2012.

The Raw Truth:

"Many companies will see significantly lower tax bills or pay no business taxes at all in 2012, thanks to a switch from the Michigan Business Tax to a new 6 percent corporate income tax that kicks in Sunday and falls mostly on large corporations with shareholders. Businesses can expect to pay $1.1 billion less in taxes this year and $1.7 billion less in 2013, according to estimates. Two-thirds of companies will pay no state income tax at all."

Source: Kathy Barks Hoffman, Associated Press in "New state tax rules good for business: Some residents, though, will end up paying more this year".

So a raft of second tier businesses in Michigan will escape paying any business taxes (THAT'S ZERO BUSINESS TAX) in a continuing crucial season of low revenues and serious budget shortfalls for all Michigan units of government.

On the other hand the LARGE CORPORATIONS WILL PAY MORE. In other words the manufacturing sector, so vitally important to Michigan's future and long-term well-being will be paying more. What sense does that make? Ask the Nerd. Snyder's Relentless Corporatist Action has fissures and fault lines. This state is in for a crude and rude economic ride, inflicted by Snyder's muddle-minded self-delusion.


The Nerd's A Victim of His Own Unreality
Snyder's policies are NOT positive; they are stubbornly False-Positive Snyder style. Can we afford a neophyte governor who is in deep denial and suffers from self-delusion? Snyder's abysmal approval rating tell it all!

We think Not.

Michigan according to A.P.'s Hoffman:

"Residents born between Jan. 1, 1946, and Dec. 31, 1952, will have all retirement income liable to tax whether it's from a public or private pension, 401(k) or IRA. Exemptions can be claimed for up to $20,000 for a single filer and up to $40,000 for joint filers. Above those levels, retirement income will be taxed at the state income tax rate of 4.35 percent. When these residents turn 67, the $20,000/$40,000 exemption applies to all income, not just retirement income. The exemption is eliminated if a taxpayer claims a deduction for a military or railroad pension. This will affect about 230,000 returns."

"[Michigan] Residents born after 1952 will see all retirement income taxed as regular income until they turn 67, at which point they'll qualify for a senior income exemption of $20,000 for single filers and $40,000 for joint filers on all income. A taxpayer can forego the $20,000/$40,000 exemption and instead deduct 100 percent of Social Security income. A taxpayer claiming the $20,000/$40,000 exemption can't claim the deduction for Social Security or the standard personal exemption. This will affect about 150,000 returns."

En total this means 380,000 returns will be under the gun of Snyder's re-invention: The Nerd has hatched a scheme: UPWARD INCOME RE-DISTRIBUTION.

CATCH THIS: IT'S A Snyder Invention: RADICAL UPWARD RE-DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME-BILLIONS GIFTED TO SNYDER'S BUSINESS CRONIES.

What could be more insulting, unfair, or cripplingly regressive in Michigan's hour of need?

Those who follow these prognostications criticizing Nerdonomics will credit this blogger with accuracy on the issue of Snyder's corporate and Chamber of Commerce pandering. The results in a profound hit on Michigan's retail commerce and customer demand; at least $1.1 BILLION LOST, BILLIONS OF LOST PURCHSES IN 2012 AND $1.7 BILLION LESS CUSTOMER SPENDING ONGOING INTO 2013.

The more frequent confused and sad look on the Nerd's public face elicits neither sympathy or support. More loss of family spending power, more costs for such things as college tuition and services are bone grinding. And at the same time; the chocolate on the DeCon: Amid this historic one state depression Snyder and the heartless and stoneheaded rampage by the TeaPublican Know Nothings, comes down to this sad blow. Michigan deductions for community foundations, food banks and university services...Summarily eliminated. Insult added to injury!

Snyder's Re-Invention: Relentless Aggressive Political Stupidity: It's Michissippi Rising RAPS !


Original.

Discover Michissippi’s (Michigan's) Corporate Bosses: The Elites Who Now Run Snyder & the GOP Super Majority Legislature

These Business Leaders for Michigan Run and ran/created Snyder and put him over on an unwitting public. BLM pulls the strings on their sock puppets in the GOP Super Majority Legislature. Get to know who they are: they are openly listed on p. 46 the Business Leaders for Michigan pdf which can be found online in the Michigan Business 'Turnaround Plan'. The LIST is BELOW.


It's been THE BUSINESS LEADERS' TURNAROUND PLAN FOR MICHIGAN that has been the punch card/script for the unprecedented, dramatic, and entirely dangerous 2011 Legislation that has driven Rick Snyder and the largely inexperienced and incompetent TeaPublican Super Majorities in the Michigan House and Senate into dangerous malicious "mischief"

The BLM are betting heavily, thinking they know best and can dictate nearly everything for Michigan's 99%ers: wages, contracts, health coverage, working conditions. They believe the divine economic right right to "pickpocket" the poor, the kids, the retired at-will. As they say: "Money talks, everything else walks." Or as Mitt Romney has alluded to the old saying: "If you owe the bank a thousand dollars, the bank owns you; if you owe the bank a million dollars, you own the bank."

Keep a highlighter in hand when you scroll down the list of nearly 80 BLM Board Members and underscore those among the BLM leadership who are or are closely aligned/allied/family to the list of Michigan OnePercenter honor roll (via Forbes Magazine). Six of Michigan's OnePercenters are there. No surprise!


List of 1% in the Business Leaders for Michigan:

DAVID W. JOOS
CMS Energy Corporation

JOSÉ MARIA ALAPONT   
Federal Mogul Corporation

G. MARK ALYEA
Alro Steel Corporation

THOMAS A. AMATO   
Metaldyne Corporation

GERARD M. ANDERSON   
DTE Energy Company

JON E. BARFIELD   
The Bartech Group, Inc.

ALBERT M. BERRIZ   
McKinley, Inc.  

MARK J. BISSELL
BISSELL Inc.

DAVID P. BOYLE     
PNC Financial Services Group

KIETH COCKRELL 
Bank of America  

MARY SUE COLEMAN 
University of Michigan

ROBERT S. CUBBIN
Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc

KURT L. DARROW
La-Z-Boy Incorporated

DAVID C. DAUCH   
American Axle & Manufacturing

DOUGLAS L. DeVOS
Amway

J. PATRICK DOYLE
Domino’s Pizza, Inc.

JAMES E. DUNLAP
Huntington

ANTHONY F. EARLEY, JR
DTE Energy Company

JEFF M. FETTIG
Whirlpool Corporation

WILLIAM CLAY FORD, JR
Ford Motor Company 

YOUSIF B. GHAFARI
Ghafari Associates, LLC

DAN GILBERT
Quicken Loans

ALFRED R. GLANCY III  
Unico Investment Compa

STEPHEN E. GORMAN
Delta Air Lines, Inc

JAMES P. HACKETT
Steelcase Inc.

RONALD E. HALL     
Bridgewater Interiors, LL

RICHARD G. HAWORTH
Haworth

CHRISTOPHER ILITCH   
Ilitch Holdings, Inc.  

MICHAEL J. JANDERNOA
Perrigo Company

MILES E. JONES
Dawn Food Products, Inc

HANS-WERNER KAAS   
McKinsey & Company

JOHN C. KENNEDY
Autocam

BLAKE W. KRUEGER
Wolverine World Wide, Inc.

TIMOTHY D. LEULIETTE   
Dura Automotive Systems, Inc. 

ANDREW N. LIVERIS
The Dow Chemical Company

DANIEL J. LOEPP     
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

STEPHEN P. MacMILLAN
Stryker Corp.

BEN C. MAIBACH III   
Barton Malow Company

RICHARD A. MANOOGIAN   
Masco Corporation  

FLORINE MARK   
The WW Group  

SARAH L. McCLELLAND   
Chase  

CHARLES G. McCLURE   
ArvinMeritor, Inc.  

HANK MEIJER
Meijer, Inc.

MICHAEL MILLER
Google, Inc.

JOHN T. MONTFORD
General Motors Company

MARK D. MORELLI   
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc.

MARK A. MURRAY
Meijer, Inc.

ATHLEEN H. NASH
Citizens Bank

JAMES B. NICHOLSON   
PVS Chemicals, Inc.

JERRY JAY NOREN  
Wayne State University

THOMAS D. OGDEN  
Comerica, Inc.

JAMES O’LEARY   
Kaydon Corporation  

WILLIAM U. PARFET
MPI Research

CYNTHIA J. PASKY  
Strategic Staffing Solutions

ROGER S. PENSKE  
Penske Corporation  

WILLIAM F. PICKARD
Global Automotive Alliance

SANDRA E. PIERCE  
Charter One  

GERRY PODESTA
BASF Corporation

CHARLES H. PODOWSKI
The Auto Club Group  

STEPHEN R. POLK  
R. L. Polk & Co.  

JOHN RAKOLTA, JR.    
Walbridge   

CARL D. ROEHLING   
SmithGroup

ROBERT E. ROSSITER
Lear Corporation

DOUG ROTHWELL  
Business Leaders for Michigan

RICHARD F. RUSSELL 
Amerisure Mutual Insurance Company

GARY D. RUSSI  
Oakland University  

ALAN E. SCHWARTZ 
HONIGMAN

J. DONALD SHEETS
Dow Corning Corporation

BRAD SIMMONS
Ford Motor Company

LOU ANNA K. SIMON, Ph.D.  
Michigan State University

DONALD J. STEBBINS   
Visteon Corporation 

ROBERT S. TAUBMAN
The Taubman Company
   
SAMUEL VALENTI III   
TriMas Corporation   

STEPHEN A. VAN ANDEL
Amway

MICHELLE L. VAN DYKE
Fifth Third Bank  

TIMOTHY WADHAMS   
Masco Corporation  

BRIAN C. WALKER
Herman Miller, Inc.

WILLIAM H. WEIDEMAN
The Dow Chemical Company

EDWARD E. WHITACRE, JR.
General Motors Company

WILLIAM C. YOUNG   
Plastipak Holdings, Inc.



Original.

Michissippi (Michigan) 2011 in Review: Political & Commercial Oppression Inverts Local Control

Michissippian TeaPublican Super Majorities have struck a death blow to the heart of Local Control/the sovereignty of Local Option-freedom whereby local political jurisdictions, typically counties or municipalities, can decide by popular vote...and govern concerning issues within their borders. C. G Bateman, in Nicaea and Sovereignty:

"For centuries past, the idea that a state could be sovereign was always connected to its ability to guarantee the best interests of its own citizens." .

Thus, if a state could not act in the best interests of its own citizens, it could not be thought of as a "sovereign" state." Michigan is no longer a sovereign state (by this standard: "the best interests of its own citizens"). State government that acts in the best interests of its citizens honors and respects local control at the community level.

Michissippi has backslid downward into a state run by, for, and in control of the demands of big business (Business Leaders for Michigan & The Michigan Chamber of Commerce), rich One Percenter elites, and heartless inexperienced and under-qualified political hacks.

Heed the warning of Ayn Rand in this regard:

"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force."
-- Ayn Rand

TeaPublicans have established Lansing Central Planning and Dictatorial Control in this terrible year of reckless and extravagant partisan/corporate legislative advantage. The rights of Michissippi's minority have been trampled into oblivion- popular sovereignty has been legislated away.

In our republic government is under the control of the people, or some significant portion of them, the citizens retain sovereignty over the government not vice versa.

Michissippi has in one tragic year reached what Ayn Rand would call a state of "inversion." All is not well as we enter the new year and more radical right mischief and corporate merrymaking at working people's expense.

Original.

Silent Night: From the Forbes 400 Counting House to Yours: Michigan’s One Percenters

Michigan's One Percent: The Mega-Wealthy or Ultra High Net-Worth Michiganders

The Michigan 1% Given Listed by Forbes: Rank, Name, Age, Michigan Residence, Company/Industry

1. #60,   Richard (Rich) DeVos Sr., $5 B, Age 85, Holland, Amway
2. #60,   Frederik Meijer (deceased at 91), $5 B, Grand Rapids, Supermarkets
3. #159, Alfred Taubman, $2.5 B, Age 87, Bloomfield Hills, Real Estate
4. #171, Ronda Stryker, $2.3 B, Age 57, Portage, Medical Technology
5. #212, Michael & Marian Ilitch, $2 B, Bingham Farms, Pizza
6. # 293, Daniel Gilbert, $1.5 B, Age 49, Franklin, Quicken Loans
7. # 293, Manuel Moroun, $1.5 B, Age 84, Grosse Pt Shores, Transportation
8. # 375, William Ford, $1.1 B, Grosse Pt Shores, Ford Motor Co.
9. # 375, Jon Stryker, $1.1 B, Age 53, Kalamazoo, Medical Technology

Sort them out. Ideological and Political Billionaire Bullies or Grand Noblesse Oblige Benefactors/Genuine Contributors to the Greater Good??


Original.

Confessions of A Well-Known One Percenter Scion of a Robber Baron

"For more than a century ideological extremist at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents...to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure-one world, if you will.

If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it."

-- David Rockefeller, 'Memoirs' 2002, p. 405

Original.

Princetonian Henry Payne: The Paupers Hank Abjures & The Marauding Business Welfare TeaPublican Benefactors Hank Adores

Hank Takes His OnePercenter Cartoons & Cartoonish Opinions on Parade

Hank Payne made a pilgrimage from Detroit to Naples, Florida (12.9.11) the very day following the appearance of Doug DeVos' OnePercenter presentation to the Detroit Economic Club (12.8.11). Hank was apparently an invited guest/fill-in presenter to the One Percenters in South Florida.

Just think, our own Hank Payne is a featured speaker at the Forum Club of Southwest Florida Inc. thanks to a long-time buddy in charge. The Forum's mission: to be Florida's premier non-partisan political and public affairs organization.

What a heady thrill for Hank to be a last-minute speaker; sandwiched in between appearances of such notables as:

William M. Isaac, Chairman, Fifth Third Bancorp, Former Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, John H. Noseworthy, M.D., President & CEO, Mayo Clinic, and General Michael V. Hayden, Former Director, Central Intelligence Agency. Into the winter and spring the following notables will be on the dais: Steve Moore, Economist, Wall Street Journal, Lord Charles Powell, Diplomat, Politician & International Businessman, E. Gordon Gee, J.D., Ed.D., President, The Ohio State University, Tom DeFrank, Washington Bureau Chief, New York Daily News, Robert Gagosian, Ph.D., President & CEO, Consortium for Ocean Leadership, and Gregory R. Page, Chairman & CEO, Cargill.

The Forum's historic accolades and achievements include:

"Over the past twenty-one years, the Club has attracted many outstanding guests, including three Supreme Court Justices; Harry Blackmun, Byron White and Clarence Thomas. The Club also prides itself on identifying and presenting speakers before they become household names. A good example would be General Norman Schwarzkopf, who gave a program about the Middle East to the Club on February 2, 1990 - some six months before he took command of the Desert Storm operation in the Persian Gulf."

There's Hank, at the podium (actual AUDIO), the very same graced by U.S. Supreme Court Justices. Holy Smokes!

So it would appear that Hank was chosen prior to the time when he will "become (one of our national) household names." That leads one to wonder: Just what it is that Hank brings to such a wealthy, all-powerful fraternity, mavens of "household name" presenters and grand poopahs?

So what did Hank regale the grand poopahs with: According to the local newspaper, The Naples Daily News, 12/9/11, Hank trumpeted a twisted Paynesian view of the growing impoverishment in Snyder's "reinvented" New Michissippi:

"(Governor) Rick Snyder turned a $2 billion deficit into a balanced budget in less than half a year," said Henry Payne, cartoonist for the Detroit News. "So it can be done. All's you have to do is concentrate on the fundamentals." More honestly and completely accurate is this set of facts, Nerd Snyder stole from the poor, the disadvantaged, the retired, the cautious price-checking customers deprived of honest individual item pricing, the school children and their mentors to gift his business cronies with monies that belonged to honest, hard working, superannuated citizens. Cutting off the needy, defrauding the social contract with public employees rights and remuneration without their involvement, consent, or even open and above-board opportunity to collaborate: Is that what Payne lauds as "all's you have to do" --begin "concentrating on fundamentals?"

Source: Article by Pete Bishop "Cartoonist draws on experience, current events at Forum Club talk" December 9, 2011.

Are these kinds of "fundamentals", as per Snyder's Michigan Miracle, worth their beggarly bragging rights?

When Hank was being introduced, his lead-in/presenter said that Hank has the strange idea that Michigan can be "fixed" which brought on a hearty belly laugh from the Naples OnePercenters in the audience. Is that telling, or what?

Ebenezer Scourge be Praised !
One Michigander took a cue from Hank's roadshow; decided a trip to Naples/Ft. Meyers should go a long way to inform readers of The Michigan View as to what is the current wave of thought is at Naples; that bastion of gated communities and One Percenters, as presented by the local 99 Percenters.

Hank brought to Naples his conclusions: His hit-&-Run, on-site & personal observations of Detroit's Occupy movement are well known in Detroit. On the local streets, Hank took hurried snapshots/snippets of Occupy Detroit -- part of a national/international movement that scares the bee jeeus out of Rupert Murdock's spinmeister, Frank Luntz.

Perhaps Payne could bring the Naples One Percenters up to speed on the benefits for high-powered legal firms, "Too BIG to Fail" banks, and insurance/realty management & investment corporations, stemming from the establishment of Rick Snyder's greatly enhanced Emergency Managers (EM) and how there is great profit and opportunity in the deconstruction of public investment and the takedowns of unions and contracts under the new and much stronger dictatorial and anti-public powers of Michigan's Snyder boosted EM's. Inquiring minds need to know. Such EM powers are appealing to corporations and legal firms across the nation.

Payne thinks he's in the catbird's seat.
Perhaps Payne briefed the august Naples Forum members on the status of Occupy Detroit and the full impact of Michael Moore, whom he mocks in his presentation. Payne has formed a personal opinion and make his own unique estimate of the impact and danger he sees in Occupy. From what we are told, Hank's content included a bifurcated assessment of Detroit:

"Despite Payne's optimism concerning Michigan's future*, HE PAINTED A BLEAK PICTURE OF THE STATE'S RECENT PAST AND PRESENT. Detroit in particular has suffered from the disappearance of a middle class and the destruction of traditional family structure..."
--The Naples Daily News

* Note: Based hypothetically on his belief that Snyders' summary removal of well-over $2 billion in normal economic activity from 2012 and billions more in subsequent years, which will obviate consumer buying power and greatly lower commercial demand.

This is exactly why Payne announced he is giving up his cynical cartooning and bloviating about low-class living and the happy-hollow laziness of welfare recipients and is going to join the Salvation Army organization in search of the true Spirit of Jesus and economic & social recovery for his beloved Detroit. NOT!

In fact, Payne was skillfully devious in failing to report (as a highly paid Gannett Newspaperman) that subsequent to Gov. Snyders' sweeping grab of monies from vital Michigan civic functions; children, elderly, retirees, and welfare safety nets; American Axle completely ignored Snyder's "Michigan Miracle" with its new business goodies and announced it's closing down an important Michigan operation by which over 500 high-paying jobs will be lost-with a negative multiplier in the economy; That number may rise to 3,000 or 6,000 additional jobs lost across Michigan's depression economy! This negative footprint will increase Michigan unemployment rolls now at over 800,000. With his shabby approval record- dropping like a millstone (currently at 19%), the Nerd governor Snyder isn't any kind of big hero here in Michigan; only perhaps in Hank's ideological universe of "hard" conservative luminaries does the Nerd achieve "star" billing.

Travels to Naples to Follow-Up Payne's Visit to This OnePercenters' Enclave
One Michigander's report back to Detroit from Naples/Ft. Meyers -- via The Michigan View -- what Occupy Ft. Meyers/Naples has in its organization, activity roster, and on its agenda(s); giving feedback to News readers about current thinking around Naples/Ft.Myers-paradise of the One Percenters.

A Local Opinion:

"The public seems to understand very clearly what we are talking about," said Naples' Karanja Gacuca, former bank analyst who took up with Occupy Wall Street. "It's quite simply about economic injustice and control of corporations on government and all our systems." Gacuca worked until recently on Wall Street.

Hank could have told the Forum how corporate and Michigan Chamber of Commerce control of Michigan's 2011 Legislative session allowed a corporate-created and empowered TeaPartisan supermajority (with the backing of One Percenters like Amway and Walmart, and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) promoted and funded by the Koch Brothers, et al) to have undue, direct influence on bill introduction and passage.

Occupy Southwest Florida's Bill Coughlan, adjunct professor of ethics and philosophy, Edison State College, explained:

"I think it's an issue of human rights. It's a catch all in the 99 percent: basic human rights, opportunity to earn a living, opportunity to share in the profits, opportunities for women and minorities. It's all the same issues we've been fighting for, like in the 60's."

One outstanding sign carried in rallies there stated:

"Show me what Democracy looks like!"
"This is what Democracy looks like!"

Individuals interviewed locally:

1. Dave Ebert was raised as a Quaker and is anti-war, but also sees himself as "staunchly middle class" His intent is to "stop corporation's undue influence on politicians. His sign read: "Revoke Corporate Personhood."

2. Alex Flynt is a retired teacher and fireman. He reports that he is financially well off, but laments: "I'm not sure what kind of future we'll have for our kids." He expanded: "The thing they can learn (from earlier protest movements), especially the young people, is they have to prepare themselves to take over some of the positions they've been criticizing...I don't know if the younger people in this movement have a vision," for themselves personally, as well as the movement in general. "Many are just trying to cope with life."

3. Ellen Hemrick, 42, is a Naples single mother. Her occupation is as a Speech Language Pathologist, but she is "stifled from running her own business, like she used to do, because (of high) health care costs for herself and her 2 year old son." Her statement; "I'm not against capitalism per se-I used to own a business-but there are certain thing capitalism isn't good at. It's not good at justice. It's not good at health and education. You really don't want the people in charge of your health care trying to figure out how much money they can make off your being sick-it just doesn't make sense. And with education, the same thing. We want to educate our children not run them through the mill and meet productivity standards. I think (Occupy) is going to be a long-term movement because it has to be. It's not going to any of its goals in a short period of time. Getting money out of politics and corruption out of government and returning the country is an extremely long and difficult process."

So there you have it Hank, a smattering of insight you missed on your brief sojourn to Naples -- One-Percenter-Land.

As one 99 Percenter's poster carrier down here in Naples poked back at Newt Gingrich:

"HEY NEWT, I SHOWER & HAVE A JOB. ANYTHING ELSE?"

Sources: The synopsis of the situation there in the Naples area (as drawn from real people) uses excerpted quotes from the local paper, Florida Weekly in "Occupy: The 99% Movement Will Not Remain Silent", and from person to person contacts.

Original.

The President Joins Teddy’s Spirited Charge Up Greed Mt.

President Obama has joined the charge up the slopes of massive greed and elitist's gated power mountain.

Review these his towering speech, presented-via Robert Reich - as follows:

"The President's speech today in Osawatomie, Kansas (12/8/11) - where Teddy Roosevelt gave his "New Nationalism" speech in 1910 - is the most important economic speech of his presidency in terms of connecting the dots, laying out the reasons behind our economic and political crises, and asserting a willingness to take on the powerful and the privileged that have gamed the system to their advantage."

(break)

"Some background: In 1909, Herbert Croly, a young political philosopher and journalist, argued in his best-selling The Promise of American Life that the large American corporation should be regulated by the nation and directed toward national goals. "THE CONSTRUCTIVE IDEA BEHIND A POLICY OF THE RECOGNITION OF THE SEMI-MONOPOLISTIC CORPORATION IS, OF COURSE, THE IDEA THAT THEY CAN BE CONVERTED INTO ECONOMIC AGENTS...FOR THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC INTEREST," Croly wrote. Teddy Roosevelt's New Nationalism embraced Croly's idea"

President Obama in his Speech to the Nation:

"For...(The New Deal), Roosevelt was called a radical, a socialist, even a communist. But today, we are a richer nation and a stronger democracy because of what he fought for in his last campaign: an eight hour work day and a minimum wage for women; insurance for the unemployed, the elderly, and those with disabilities; political reform and a progressive income tax.

"Today, over one hundred years later, our economy has gone through another transformation. Over the last few decades, huge advances in technology have allowed businesses to do more with less, and made it easier for them to set up shop and hire workers anywhere in the world. And many of you know firsthand the painful disruptions this has caused for a lot of Americans.

"Factories where people thought they would retire suddenly picked up and went overseas, where the workers were cheaper. Steel mills that needed 1,000 employees are now able to do the same work with 100, so that layoffs were too often permanent, not just a temporary part of the business cycle. These changes didn't just affect blue-collar workers. If you were a bank teller or a phone operator or a travel agent, you saw many in your profession replaced by ATMs or the internet. Today, even higher-skilled jobs like accountants and middle management can be outsourced to countries like China and India. And if you're someone whose job can be done cheaper by a computer or someone in another country, you don't have a lot of leverage with your employer when it comes to asking for better wages and benefits - especially since fewer Americans today are part of a union.

---

"Now, just as there was in Teddy Roosevelt's time, there's been a certain crowd in Washington for the last few decades who respond to this economic challenge with the same old tune. "The market will take care of everything," they tell us. If only we cut more regulations and cut more taxes - especially for the wealthy - our economy will grow stronger. Sure, there will be winners and losers. But if the winners do really well, jobs and prosperity will eventually trickle down to everyone else. And even if prosperity doesn't trickle down, they argue, that's the price of liberty."

---

"It's a simple theory - one that speaks to our rugged individualism and healthy skepticism of too much government. It fits well on a bumper sticker. HERE'S THE PROBLEM: IT DOESN'T WORK. IT'S NEVER WORKED. IT DIDN'T WORK WHEN IT WAS TRIED IN THE DECADE BEFORE THE GREAT DEPRESSION. IT'S NOT WHAT LED TO THE INCREDIBLE POST-WAR BOOM OF THE 50S AND 60S. AND IT DIDN'T WORK WHEN WE TRIED IT DURING THE LAST DECADE."

President Obama expands on this:

"...(T)his isn't just another political debate. This is the defining issue of our time. THIS IS A MAKE OR BREAK MOMENT FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS, AND ALL THOSE WHO ARE FIGHTING TO GET INTO THE MIDDLE CLASS. At stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, and secure their retirement."

This speech will occupy the minds of those who were/are privileged to hear or read it for a long time.

It's time to occupy our own courage and meet eye to eye the hoary mass of obstructionism and fawning deference to the imperial 1%ers - whose days of plunder will include sunset- a massive revolt-the very kind that scares rad-right word-monger Frank Lunz ; who says he's "SCARED TO DEATH" of the power and ability of the 99%ers who literally occupy every part of America.

Our President expands:

"Now, in the midst of this debate, there are some who seem to be suffering from a kind of COLLECTIVE AMNESIA. After all that's happened, after the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, they want to return to the same practices that got us into this mess. In fact, they want to go back to the same policies that have stacked the deck against middle-class Americans for too many years. Their philosophy is simple: we are better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules."

President Obama's memorable concluding summation:

"Well, I'm here to say they are wrong. I'm here to reaffirm my deep conviction that we are greater together than we are on our own. I believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, and when everyone plays by the same rules. Those aren't Democratic or Republican values; 1% values or 99% values. They're American values, and we have to reclaim them."

"In 1910, Teddy Roosevelt came here, to Osawatomie, and laid out his vision for what he called a New Nationalism.

'Our country,' he said, '...means nothing unless it means the triumph of a real democracy...of an economic system under which each man shall be guaranteed the opportunity to show the best that there is in him.'"
(random emphasis added)

Well said, and Timely.


Original.

Occupy America: Finding a Way to Free Citizens of the 99% from the “Mastery of the Ignoble elite.”

The hand-cranked memographers failure at the mighty propaganda mill - Mackinac Center for Public Policy - to do "the right thing" has caused it to lose all claim to pro-active philosophy, a sustainable fairness and renewal direction for Michigan.

This is profoundly sad and frightening.

It is the Mackinac Center incessant pounding of the legislature with proto-lobbying and the hectoring of the public to achieve their privatization and for-profit goals (while destroying and undermining the necessary order of Michigan and the everyday lives of its working people) that is creating ugly Michissippi - a newly decimated state pushed to be run over by TeaPublicans "gone wild" under the tutelage and direction of the Koch Bros., Amway, big oil, American Legislative Exchange Council put-and-take legislation and other mega corporations. These have put their demands well before the needs of Michigan's struggling populace.

The Mackinac Center is not conservative. The Mackinac Center is not moral. The Mackinac Center has lost all sense of religious mores. The Mackinac Center is a blight on traditional conservatism as led by Michigan's own Dean of Conservatism, the late Russell Kirk. The 'ignoble' mega-wealthy who back and propel Mackinac Center are not worthy of statesmanship and honor. They and their goals are ignoble.

Read this assessment of Russell Kirk's impact as relates to TRUE CONSERVATISM:

"First among the concerns of modern conservatives is the regeneration of spirit and character, by which Kirk means the renewal of religious ideals, the one sure foundation for a life worth living.

"Kirk cautions that political Christianity, in which God is a means to an end, will not suffice. Rather, spiritual renewal must be done for its own sake.

"The conservative is also concerned, as Kirk has mentioned before, with the PROBLEM OF LEADERSHIP, which has two aspects: the preservation of reverence, order, discipline, and class and the cleansing of our system of education, so that it can become liberal in the best sense of that word.

Stated Kirk "ONLY JUST LEADERSHIP CAN REDEEM SOCIETY FROM THE MASTERY OF THE IGNOBLE ELITE."
(emphasis added)

Excerpted from "Russell Kirk: The Conservative Mind".

America Faces Coming Judgment for Its Unbridled Worship of Pagan Mammonism

The Mackinac Center stands squarely with the Godless paganism of Ayn Rand, Friedman, Greenspan and others who exult the individual above the community and the congregation of the righteous, and still too, the common good, must be seen for what it actually is, a pagan libertarianism: Mammon whose fixation on "freedom" has degenerated into a raid on the foundations of our Republic; its banking and investment services, and yes, upon the distinctly religious basis given American life by the Framers of the Constitution.

Occupy America with righteousness and restore probity to the government and its institutions; stand with those who demand that business abide by moral standards. Too many of the "smartest men in the room" would have us believe that in America, if something has the force of law - a proposal is made into legal statues it bears the impress of morality, not so. All that is called 'legal' is not all moral. Legal is not necessarily 'moral.'

Americans suffer under many laws and corporate designer regulations that are anything but moral and righteous; beneficial to the common welfare.

Join Kirk's fight against twisted ideology and the corruption of real conservatism by the greedy usurpers mentioned above. Be genuinely 'Conservative.'
________

It is said that mankind faces judgment by God in the afterlife. Nations, however, receive their judgment and punishment in this life. America stands to face harsh judgment from God in the here-and-now. Repent.

Will repentance now be too late to save our fair land?

For more on the 1% follow the "Mega-Wealthy" and "Wealthy Elites" tags on the Gazette.

Original.

Is Michael Moore God’s Man for This Hour of National Crisis?

Michael Moore's Focus on "Social Justice" Arises Directly out of His Catholic Education: Praise God!

"Progress has brought us both unbounded opportunities and unbridled difficulties. Thus, the measure of our civilization will not be that we have done much, but what we have done with that much. I believe that the next half century will determine if we will advance the cause of Christian civilization or revert to the horrors of brutal paganism. The thought of modern industry in the hands of Christian charity is a dream worth dreaming. The thought of industry in the hands of paganism is a nightmare beyond imagining. The choice is between the two."
-- Theodore Roosevelt

Michael Moore was schooled a Catholic. His sense of social justice is derived from his religious training and beliefs as a Catholic.

"Is there anyone here who, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone?"
-- Matthew 7:9

Let's look at Moore's Roman Catholic Catechism for some insight:

"Here is a quotation from the official Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church which illustrated the Church's position regarding the economics of poverty. This is to be found in Article 7 "The Seventh Commandment: You shall not steal," paragraphs 2401 through 2463. Notice that the seventh commandment establishes the right of private property, for without some recognition of private property there could be no such thing as stealing for everything would belong to everyone. Hence one cannot accuse Catholic doctrine of supporting views expressed by French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his book 'Property is Theft.'

"Article 2402 of The Catechism states that 'The goods of creation are destined for the whole human race. However, the earth is divided up among men to assure the security of their lives, endangered by poverty and threatened by violence.'

"Article 2403 of The Catechism states that 'The right to private property, acquired by work or received from others by inheritance or gift, does not do away with the original gift of the earth to the whole of mankind. The universal destination of goods remains primordial, even if the promotion of the common good requires respect for the right to private property and its exercise.'

"Article 2406 of The Catechism states 'Political authority has the right and duty to regulate the legitimate exercise of the right to ownership for the sake of the common good.'

"Consider the exercise of 'eminent domain' when highways must be constructed. Consider the anti-trust laws which prevent any single Corporation from becoming so powerful that it would exercise unfairness in the competitive market place..."

Thus concludes William Buell, blogger.

America Has Been Too Long Under the Sway of a Cult of Mammon and Unrelenting Greed: Our Present Day Paganism

The ongoing press of libertarians and malcontents in defense of rampant greed rides in large part on the atheism and anti-humanitarian dementia of Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, Alan Greenspan, et al. These powerful influences have co-opted and sanctified the financial barbarism which is the basis of many of their fortunes (not all) and the power-lust of the top 1%; who find little shame in their dominance and suppression of the 99% - including the working poor, the disadvantaged, the handicapped, the mentally addled; nor do they recant their shortcuts which took them to this haughty pinnacle.

"In what other land or age does one find selfishness enshrined as a virtue and a whole population of individuals drinking their self-worship neat, unadulterated by any idolatry of tribe or class? Where, but here, and when, but now; could "I DID IT MY WAY" be the music most often played at funerals?" 

-- Commenter from FirstThings.

The Detroit News/Mackinac Center charges against Michael Moore's motives lie squarely askew God's Plan.

Note the brilliant summation of Roman Catholic Archbishop Dom Helder:

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint, But when I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist."

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The great experiment in liberty we enjoy in America: a deliberate attempt to establish a conservative order of stability, justice and honor

The "hard" ideology, Hard America, Soft America, that Michael Barone ('Hard America plays for keeps.') has so much encouraged as the bedrock of 'conservatism' in the mindset of the present day GOP, is corrosive and deleterious to the present and future of our country. The harshness encouraged by a select cadre of mega-wealthy-to be ensconced as a standard of suppression for the 99 %, the rest of us--is the sure road to national disillusionment and collapse.

While the many foundations and so-called Think Tanks they back: Koch/Cato, Amway/Heritage, Sarah Scaife, John M. Olin/ Lynde and Harry Bradley & ExxonMobil/Heartland make ardent efforts to shape public policy and mold legislation; they continue to actively undermine freedom and personal liberty in aggressive ways. One group, the American Legislative Exchange Council, having come out of the shadows and into the harsh light (via Walker in Wisconsin) has already done equal, irreparable harm to Michigan and other states by directly enacting corporate designed bills directly introduced by A.L.E.C. member Legislators and moved seamlessly into state laws (Michigan has upwards of 200 present or past members of the legislature who are in league with the American Legislative Exchange Council.) Best known currently is Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester; albeit there are many others, willing "tools" in the present legislatue.

The recent revelations of the impact of the "front group," The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, highlight and ring alarm bells as to the untoward and aggressive "programming" such groups in league with A.L.E.C. have had in service of an elite group of mega-wealthy and corporatists in hot pursuit of their own well-being and advancement, the public be damned. Such revelations are a renewed warning that such private serving "think tanks" are too much in control of America, and Michigan in particular. The damage they are doing with devolution of law and standards of living and common sense are rightfully alarming as they are extremely dangerous to Michiganians' "pursuit of happiness" and economic and personal freedoms.

The Real & Abandoned 'Conservative' Idealism

'The great experiment in liberty we enjoy in America was a deliberate attempt to establish a conservative order of stability, justice and honor. The tremendous freedoms that we exercise were thus carefully secured against the arbitrary and fickle whims of men and movements by the rule of law. Our social system was not designed so as to depend on the benevolence of the magistrates, or the altruism of the wealthy, or the condescension of the powerful. Every citizen, rich or poor, man or woman , native born or immigrant, hale or handicapped, young or old, is under the standard of unchanging, immutable , and impartial justice.

'As Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense, the powerful booklet that helped spark the War for Independence, 'In America, the law is king.'

'If left to the mere discretion of human authorities, even the best-intended statues, edicts, and ordinances inevitably devolve into some form of death-dealing tyranny. There must, therefore, be an absolute against which on encroachment of prejudice or preference may interfere. There must be a foundation that the winds of change and the waters of circumstance cannot erode. There must be a basis for law that can be depended upon at all times, in all places, and in every situation.

'Apart from this uniquely Christian innovation in the affairs of men and nations, there can be no freedom. There never has been before, and there never will be again. Our Founding Fathers knew that all too well. The opening refrain of the Declaration of Independence affirms the necessity of that kind of absolute standard upon which the rule of law can be established:

"'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; and among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.'

"Appealing to the 'Supreme Judge of the World' for guidance, and relying on His 'Divine Providence' for wisdom, the framers committed themselves and their posterity to the absolute standard of 'laws of nature and of nature's God.' A just government exists, they argued, solely and completely to 'provide guards' for the 'future security' of that standard. Take away those guards, and the rule of law is no longer possible."

"G.K. Chesterton once quipped that 'America is the only nation founded on a creed.' Other nations find their identity and cohesion in ethnicity, or geography, or cultural tradition. But America was founded on certain ideas-about freedom, about human dignity, about social responsibility.

"It was this profound peculiarity that most struck Alexis de Tocqueville during his famous visit to this land at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He called it 'American Exceptionalism.'

"Thomas Jefferson asserted that 'the chief purpose of government is to protect life. Abandon that and you have abandoned all.'"

So wrote conservative author George Grant in his book "Buchanan: Caught In The Crossfire".

Certain ideas-about freedom, about human dignity, about social responsibility are indeed at stake in America, and more acutely for us, here in Michigan. When the law is bent to serve business and corporations at the exclusion of all others, this is wrong. This present Michigan TeaPublican legislature is spinning flat, out of control of the citizens of this state, hell bent to serve the immediate and long-term needs of the Corporatocracy and the elites; 1%ers and wannabees who have the cash to move a "hard" agenda ...all others excluded.


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Confusion Over Free Enterprise & Private Property

A SHARP FOCUS:
The Promulgation of Theft by the 1%ers v. the Right of Preservation & Expansion of Personal Property by the Victimized 99% Long Deprived of Fair Compensation for Honest Labor

"A pickpocket is obviously a champion of private enterprise. But it would perhaps be an exaggeration to say that a pickpocket is a champion of private property. The point about Capitalism and Commercialism, as conducted of late, is that they have really preached the extension of business rather than the preservation of belongings; and have at best tried to disguise the pickpocket with some of the virtues of the pirate."

― G.K. Chesterton, in his book "The Outline of Sanity" (1927)

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Ayn Rand Speaking With Precision for the 99 %

The Evil of Supplicating to Men Who Produce Nothing, in Order to Produce:

"When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honestly becoming a self-sacrifice - YOU MAY KNOW THAT YOUR SOCIETY IS DOOMED."
(emphasis added)

-- Ayn Rand (1905-1982) Author

Source: Atlas Shrugged, Francisco's "Money Speech"


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Rothschilds as One Percenters

"The Rothschilds, and that class of money-lenders of whom they are the representatives and agents -- men who never think of lending a shilling to their next-door neighbors, for purposes of honest industry, unless upon the most ample security, and at the highest rate of interest -- stand ready, at all times, to lend money in unlimited amounts to those robbers and murderers, who call themselves governments, to be expended in shooting down those who do not submit quietly to being robbed and enslaved."

-- Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) Political theorist, activist, abolitionist

Source: "No Treason #6" (1870)

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Worldwide Super-Rich Stash: Now $25 Trillion

Wealth X has out a New Report: There are 185,795 Individuals Worldwide Worth at Least $30 Million

Sam Pizzigati from the Institute for Policy Studies in "The Global Super-Rich Stash: Now $25 Trillion" writes:

"For the first time, thanks to Wealth-X, we can compare the barely ultra with the comfortably ultra and those super ultras who can make the comfortables seem pinched.

"Our report maps exactly where the biggest money is located," Wealth-X CEO Mykolas Rambus boasted at a Geneva news conference last week, "and just how much there is."

"The Wealth-X research answers "how many" as well. The firm counts 185,795 individuals worldwide with at least $30 million net worth. These ultra high net-worth individuals - UHNWs (Ultra High Net-Worth) - hold $25 Trillion in combined wealth."

Tax the One Percenters? Yes or No ?

"If America's ultra [wealthy] averaged returns on those (vast assets they already hold) investments not that far above 5 percent over the next ten years, they could pay the wealth tax and still end the decade with higher personal net worths than when the decade began."

So Why Not ask the ultra rich to pay their fair share?


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