[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: Our New Pluto-Theocracy

[Paul Etxeberri]

>
>
>Our New Pluto-Theocracy
>
>by Molly Ivins
><http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0429-21.htm>
>Published on Friday, April 29, 2005 by the Daily Camera (Boulder, CO)
>
>Being of the populist persuasion, I am a terminal fan of
>Thomas Frank, who has gone from "What's the Matter With
>Kansas?" to "What's the Matter With Liberals?" in the
>current issue of the New York Review of Books.
>
>Those of us in the beer-drinking, pick-up-truck-driving,
>country-music-listening school of liberals in the
>hinterlands particularly appreciate his keen dissection
>of how the Republicans use class resentment against
>"elitist liberals," while waging class warfare on people
>who work for a living.
>
>The unholy combination of theocracy and plutocracy that
>now rules this country is, in fact, enabled by dumb
>liberals. Many a weary liberal on the Internet and
>elsewhere has been involved in the tedious study of the
>entrails from the last election, trying to figure out
>where Democrats went wrong. I don't have a dog in that
>fight, but I can guarantee you where they're going wrong
>for the next election: 73 Democratic House members and
>18 Democratic senators voted for that hideous bankruptcy
>"reform" bill that absolutely screws regular people.
>
>And it's not just consumers who were screwed by the
>lobbyist-written bill. The Wall Street Journal shows
>small businesses are also getting the shaft, as the
>finance industry charges them higher and higher
>transaction fees. If Democrats aren't going to stand up
>for regular people, to hell with them.
>
>Now here's some populist lagniappe (that's a word us
>populists often use) for you to chew on.
>
>The Economic Policy Institute reports the economic well-
>being of middle-class families has declined between 2000
>and 2003 for three reasons: the generally lousy economy,
>the Bush tax policies and the cost of health care.
>
>The Tax Justice Network recently reported the world's
>richest individuals have placed $11.5 trillion in assets
>in offshore tax havens to avoid paying taxes, a sum 10
>times the GDP of Great Britain.
>
>The ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay reached 301
>to one in 2003. The average worker takes home $517 a
>week, while the average CEO earns $155,796, according to
>BusinessWeek. In 1982, the ratio was 42 to one.
>
>Dialogue between President Bush and a citizen during a
>February meeting in Nebraska, where Bush was trying to
>sell his scheme to privatize Social Security:
>
>Woman: "That's good, because I work three jobs and I
>feel like I contribute."
>
>Bush: "You work three jobs?"
>
>Woman: "Three jobs, yes."
>
>Bush: "Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is
>fantastic that you're doing that. (Applause.) Get any
>sleep? (Laughter.)"
>
>One out of every two jobs created in the United States
>over the past 12 months was taken by a worker over 55.
>Economist Dean Baker says the flood of older workers is
>caused by the falling value of retirees' 401(k)s and the
>cost of health care.
>
>The number of long-term unemployed who are college
>graduates has nearly tripled since 2000. Nearly one in
>five of the long-term jobless are college graduates,
>according to the Los Angeles Times.
>
>The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has a brand-
>new study out showing the uneven division of the fruits
>of the supposed economic recovery:
>
>"The data show that the share of real income growth that
>has gone to wages and salaries has been smaller than
>during any other comparable post-World War II recovery
>period, while the share of real income growth that has
>gone to corporate profits has been larger than during
>all other comparable post-World War II recoveries."
>
>In previous recoveries, workers got an average of 49
>percent of the national income gains, while corporate
>profits got 18 percent. This time, the workers are
>getting 23 percent and the corporations are getting 44
>percent - about one half as much as the share that has
>gone to corporate profits.
>
>None of that apply to you? Good. Go listen to Tom DeLay
>give another lecture on moral values.
>
>(c) 2005 Daily Camera
>_______________________________________________________
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-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand