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Mercnbeth -> RE: Your Contribution To Corporate Welfare; or... (4/11/2008 11:45:41 AM)
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Emperor,
I can't tell you if we fall on different sides of the political spectrum because I have no idea where I fall. I think pragmatism best describes it with a maniacal aversion to hypocrisy in all its forms. Politics brings out the most insidious. They manipulate and use the public education system to indoctrinate and dumb down the average citizen insuring every succeeding generation is less likely to challenge. I don't think it a coincidence that the majority of the top 20% of income earners in the US use private education for their children.
For example, here in my adopted home town of LA. Our esteemed mayor supported a city wide 40 hour moratorium on shooting to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination. The result: quote:
LOS ANGELES—Authorities say at least two people were shot to death Saturday, breaking a symbolic "murder moratorium" to mark the 40th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Civil rights activists had called for the 40-hour moratorium to promote peace. The moratorium began on Friday and is to run through Sunday morning. Police say one man was shot as he sat on his front porch and another was shot as he stood in an alley. Authorities say both shootings may be gang-related. http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_8829448
Meanwhile, he call for law comes out of a different side of his mouth than this call for breaking the law regarding immigration: quote:
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has asked the federal government to review its immigration enforcement priorities, warning that work-site raids on "non-exploitative" businesses could have "severe and lasting effects" on the local economy.
"I am concerned that ICE enforcement actions are creating an impression that this region is somehow less hospitable to these critical businesses than other regions," Villaraigosa wrote in a March 27 letter to Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-raids10apr10,1,298889.story
The link coincidently happened to be in the current news story concerning Jamiel Shaw; an innocent victim of a gang killing alleged to have been committed by a gang member illegally in the country. Ironically the accused was arrested and released days prior to the murder. (Story: http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_8820814 )
The cause of the failure to check the immigration status of this alleged murderer, but admitted gang member is the 'Special Order 40' issued to LA police prohibiting them from checking the immigration status of anyone arrested.
The LA Times had this hypocritical rationalization to add:
quote:
The emotional heat of the immigration debate finally grew so intense that it opened up several alternate dimensions, where fact evaporates and folklore guides what passes for policy discussion. In one parallel Los Angeles, police officers see violent gang members whom they know to be illegal immigrants but can do nothing to stop them because of a politically correct edict known as Special Order 40. It has become common knowledge in this world that the order doomed young Jamiel Shaw II, the high school student gunned down by an illegal immigrant gang member who roamed the streets with impunity after being released from jail because local law protected him from deportation. Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-gangs9apr09,0,7691871.story
One example, of many. People support amnesty for illegal aliens yet wonder why there are lower wages, and corporations have the ability to manipulate union workers. Hey - I'm not in favor of enforcing this at the individual end of the problem. I point to jail time for any individual or corporation employing someone without a legal work status. But that is seen as racist and/or paranoid by the same people wondering why there are decreasing public services and funds available for social programs for US citizens.
Isn't it hypocritical to support amnesty for illegal workers yet at the same time claim to support unions? How about supporting a moratorium on murder, yet encumbering the hands of police with a 'Special Order 40' which could result in the deportation of criminal gang members?
I see the same hypocrisy in the fanatical following of politicians and/or a political party who would put through and con their constituency with this economic stimulus package that ultimately will put $100 million in the hands of the very people who caused the problem in the first place, either directly or from the hands of fools who got the checks and expressed gratitude.
Don't know if that helped or hurt in determining my 'politics' however I digressed and that's not what you asked.
quote:
I was putting together a spread sheet for my partner. In doing so I noted that our payroll just exceeded $4.2 million, $5 MM if I figure in benefits. Wow. We are a little bitty player in a niche medical market. Yet we generate and pay out over 5 MM bucks to about 40 people who go out and spend that money to live. And my people (very few of whom qualify for the "stimulus" because they are highly trained and highly compensated professionals) do as much to inject $$$ into the economy as anyone...but they didn't get the largess. Their college age kids didn't get it (because the "fair plan" cuts out full time students. And many of the people THEY employ (baby sitters, domestics, lawn care people, laundry people) don't get the "stimulus" because it is set up to only go to those who have filed with the IRS. So who is being bought off by this $600? And how cheaply did they sell themselves?
The simple answer is no one person was bought off by $600. The country as a whole was bought off by the propaganda associated with this stimulus package. Proof? How many of the current incumbents will be reelected? Go to any of their campaign speeches or their websites and you'll see their vote for the passing of the Bill sited as a positive. They bought into the 'infomercial' and believed this is what was necessary for the Country to help the 'majority'. They sold themselves to a fraud and the mistaken belief that their suffering would, in the long term, help their own family or situation...someday.
The people in the economic situation you described are the target for every increase in taxes being supported by the current batch of Presidential candidates. They are also the target for corporations if they are unfortunate to be employed by one. Mid-management is a dying breed. Direct sales will someday disappear similar to the check-out clerks at Home Depot. The internet and other technology will kill them all eventually; with end users cheering on the fact that their price didn't go up; when in reality it should have gone down. Without that mid management, direct sales expense, or when service is replaced by self-service price should go down. When it doesn't the Corporation's profits are the beneficiary.
Meanwhile, they are the ones who will be paying the bill. They have nobody speaking for them, and shouldn't expect to. They aren't of the 'entitlement' class, yet they aren't in the corporate class. Their problem is their numbers, which are reducing by the day; mostly downward but for some with a pragmatic eye into the new 'class' of citizens - the 'corporate class'. These are people who have a small company to use to manipulate the impact of political agenda.
Thanks for the regards concerning New Orleans! There are plans to experience at least one sazerac, hopefully with the unique flavor of the local Peychaud's bitters. When we do we'll toast you.
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