Foto by tgw, New York City, 2009
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The Good Are Told to Drop Dead While the Bad Are Offered Immortality
This absolutely absurd superCongress committee on reducing the deficit (an idiotic intention in the first place) is fixing to ruin the lives and futures of millions upon millions of We the People, the poorest of us especially; and especially our poorest and most helpless senior citizens, those dependent on some kind of financial aid from a government that taxed their earnings before they ever got their hands on it, ripping out from 25 to 33% of those earnings via something called a "payroll tax," plus outlifting another big chunk for Social Security and FICA; then when they turned 50, Uncle Sam pulled out another hundred or so a month to pay for Medicare A, leaving them with outrageous Medicare B and D supercosts taken away from their monthly SS checks, which as these "unwanted" seniors get older will be reduced as much as 10% a year rather than increased--to the point where a senior who started off getting $1100-a-month at 65 will get less than $1000-a-month when they are 80. Hey, that makes perfect sense to me; that is sense in its most conniving form.
And, yes, definitely, ladies and gents, the superCongress gang is going to steal that 1 trillion-dollar Social Security surplus right out from under our in-the-air noses. Why? Hey, there doesn't have to be any reason why. Our corporate masters (who are people, don't forget) say it's necessary. It's a done deal.
Yes, folks, Social Security has a 1 trillion dollar surplus, as does Medicare, both Federal programs that are working with surpluses stretching decades into the future. Medicare has been working so well it has been adopted by other countries, i.e., China--the Taiwan version of the Republic of China--and here I ingest that I can remember a time when the USA stood solidly behind what we referred to as Taiwan and touted it and defended it as the only true China--I mean we fought for this "Republic of China"--who, by the bye, stole the island from the Formosan people (are they now extinct?))--why, we almost started WWIII with Commie China over the islands of Matsu and Quemoy--we were defending Taiwan against attack from the Mainland, the Commies. Now you hardly hear of Taiwan anymore. We now recognize Communist China as the true China. These are the ironies of human-monkey life I find novelistically fascinating.
[Here's the Wikipedia entry for "Matsu and Quemoy"--it was a pretty serious affair back in those long-gone and now forgotten days:
The crisis started with the 823 Artillery Bombardment at 5:30pm on August 23, 1958, when People's Liberation Army forces began an intense artillery bombardment against Quemoy. ROC forces in Quemoy dug in and returned fire. In the heavy exchange of fire, roughly 2,500 ROC troops and 200 PRC troops were killed.
This was a continuation of the First Taiwan Strait Crisis, which had started immediately after the Korean War. Chiang Kai-shek had begun to build on the two islands of Matsu and Quemoy. In 1954, PRC began firing artillery at both the islands of Quemoy and Matsu focusing most of the attack on Quemoy.
The United States Eisenhower Administration responded to ROC's request for aid according to its obligations in the 1954 U.S.-ROC defense treaty by reinforcing US naval units and ordering US naval vessels to help the Kuomintang Nationalist government protect Quemoy's supply lines. Under a secret effort known as Operation Black Magic, the US Navy modified some ROC air force F-86 Sabres with its newly introduced AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile to provide an edge against more advanced PRC MiG fighters, which had an altitude advantage over the Sabre. Recent research from the National Archives also indicates that the Air Force was prepared for a nuclear strike against the PRC. Also 12 203mm long range artillery guns and other 155mm guns were transferred from US Marines to ROC Army and sent to Quemoy/Kinman to help turn the tide of the artillery duel there. And the PLA thought that the Taiwan/ROC and US forces had started to use nuclear weapons on them.]
When the superCongress committee says, "Mr. President, you've got to turn that Social Security pool over to Goldman-Sachs. It has to be done so we can kick that stock market into a bear market rocket ride--there's billions to be made quick...and tax-deducted down to fucking zero taxes...and don't worry, Mr. President, those Goldman-Sachs thugs are gonna cut you and Michelle and the girls in for a nice little slice of this pie...besides, who were your biggest financial backers in your 2008 presidential victory? So, you see, Mr. President, you've got to kiss our big fat white asses...." And our Mr. President gets the point and comes out in favor of privatizing Social Security and Medicare, a Republican victory that took them from 1932 until now to accomplish. Another Republican "Mission Accomplished."And there goes our Social Security surplus--though I've already pondered a guess that G.W. Bush has already borrowed all that surplus and replaced it with worthless IOUs--remember now, G.W. Bush is our two-term stolen-election faux president, the president who lost 4 trillion dollars--which, like the oil from that BP Gulf-of-Mexico biggest-ever oil spill in US history, just seemed to disappear into thin air!
So far our backwards-thinking Congress nabobs have chosen the absolutely WRONG people for this superCongress committee. I mean Max "Healthcare Insurance Industry Bribed" Baucus is back--from the backward, low-populated, rich-boy-owned land, state of Montana; and, oh my God, John "the Heinz Ketchup Widow's Husband" Kerry is on this committee. Kerry's stupid statements were all over teevee. "This is a structural problem...," Kerry blurted out in his talking about the need for an immediate debt reduction. These numbskulls (the same old bunch back over and over again) are out to gouge 1 trillion dollars out of the hides of those of We the People who only have pennies in their pockets compared to the big bucks in the bulging-with-bucks pockets of their well-to-do brothers and sisters who have managed (by hook or crook) to navigate their careers into jobs earning them over $200,000-a-year; and the nest-egg-lined pockets of our Power Elite, most of whom got their original bankrolls from their fathers or grandfathers or great-grandfathers (Bootlegger Joe Kennedy's worthless family; Warren Buffett (his daddy was a Washington, District of Corruption, political highroller); Donald Trump (his daddy the original Trump City real estate tycoon); the Bush Family Empire (G.W. may have stolen that 4 trillion he lost into thin air; Neil stole his fortune via the Silverado Bank); the Harrimans (backers of the early Bushes); the Rockefellers; the Morgans; the Fords; the Fricks, etc., etc.); and the new-money-lined pockets of our new-rich Power Eliters like the Koch Brothers and the Tom DeLays and the Romney Family, the Ayn Rand Paul Brothers, and the Slick Willie Clintons (now both Arkie hillbilly multimillionaires--I mean, daughter Chelsea has an expensive wine collection enracked at 21 in New York City); and finally the junk bond-rich-lined pockets of the crooked likes of Carl Ichan (now so respected, New York City named a stadium after him), Mike Millikin (remember, Big Mike did some jail time for his junk bond shenanigans), Kenny Boy Lay (his crooked success killed him in prison), and the very evil and very much alive T. Boone Pickens (now promoting big time this natural gas scam that is taking our Power Eliters and Corporate Citizens (Exxon-Mobil is a people now) by storm).
This superCongress committee of fools, and, folks, they are fools because We the People are fools--we elected these idiots to office--in some cases we elected them over and over--i.e., John Kerry, the poor little rich boy, ex-phony Vietnam hero, ex-district attorney, ex-wimp who could have been president of the USA but rather than fight the ruthless Bush Family Empire he went to bed early that night, the night G.W. Bush stole the Ohio election right out from under Kerry's well-heeled sleepy ass, G.W. another poor little rich boy (a Skull and Bones asshole buddy of Kerry's), ex-ruinous governor of Texas who personally saw to the executions of 157 (mostly Black and Latino men; one woman, however, to his equality credit) people (a world record) during his terms of office...I mean, folks, do you see the Flowchart here?
My point being, this superCongress committee is going to ruin those of us who were never lucky enough to own a pair of boots much less boots with straps on them, those straps that have allowed our Power Elites to pull themselves up by their boots--boots all of our wealthy and powerful political freaks are wearing: highly polished very expensive boots; in fact, these assholes are able to afford several pairs of them since they are all "earning" over $200,000 a year and none of them are having to pay into Social Security and all of them are getting the best FREE healthcare (they and their families) in the world; all of them getting their salaries for life even if they serve only one term in Congress; all of them on the take from the corporations and lobbyists and industry and foreign trade associations and the Chamber of Commerce--they travel thousands of miles a year on paid-for vacations, industry golf outings; they have two and three homes, none of which are under threats of foreclosure. [NOTE: Gabrielle Giffords, the Congresswoman from Arizona who got shot in the head by that rightwing nutjob Arizona "patriot" (remember, this nut had his defenders) was flown immediately from the site where she went down (and several around her were killed) in Arizona to Houston, Texas, where she got immediate specialized treatment that saved her life and perhaps restored her brain functioning capacity to almost 100% (though in her reappearance in Congress to vote "Yes" on the debt-ceiling fraud she seemed very childlike)--all FREE--charged to her Congressional healthcare package.]
The actual cause of our deficit! That ironically is NOT on the table.
In the meantime, I awoke Thursday (Aug. 11) morning to the blaring headlines that announced so seriously and deserving of 5 minutes of punditizing that George "Sorry" Soros (he stole his fortune through the money exchange markets (the Foreign Exchange game)) is being "divorced" by his hot little minky Brazilian soap-opera Grade B actress--who in her bio besides being a soap-0pera actress gives one of her professions as real estate developer. And you ask, why is she suing old Sorry George Soros (never forget, no matter his claiming to being progressive politically, he's still a crook and thinks like a crook)? Why, you see, Georgie Boy reneged on buying this sweet little piece of Brazilian ass (and that's all she is to old horny George) two apartments somewhere--probably Manhattan, where else?--both 20-million-dollar apartments. It was noted on all the exclusive reports on commercially canned television that this little minky and old Sorry George had been a hot couple among the jet-setters for the past several years.
Doesn't reading and watching news like this Sorry Soros affair make your skin crawl? Imagine people with so much abundant monies they can blow millions going around buying 20-million-dollar Manhattan apartments--ten at a time in some cases--I mean these people own more houses and apartments than they need--you see hoarding is very important to wealthy people.
This is the kind of backward thinking We the People have to get used to. It's par for the Washington, District of Corruption, course. Yes, these backwards-thinking assholes's agenda will send most of us into poverty--THOUGH WHAT DO YOU BET, We the People will elect the worst of these clowns and reelect the worst of these clowns come the end of the 2012 elections--what do you bet me?
Eventually these creeps will get their filthy crooked mitts on that 1 trillion-dollar Social Security surplus and they will reduce Medicare to simply a kind'a cheap/expensive form of pay-or-die regular old healthcare-for-profit insurance. Insurance is simply covering your bets--you dig? Insurance is you betting against the house that you're gonna live a huge damn long time without being hit by a serious illness. Say you are hit by this illness and you are covered--soon in your mail will come an increase in your healthcare payments--plus you'll owe your friendly Dr. Mengele 20% or copay monies (and a part of this austerity plan makes sure our doctors continue to reap huge salaries--how scandalous is that?). Insurance or not, if you can't afford to live, you'll be left to die....
thestillpissedoffgrowlingwolf
for The Daily Growler
From Signs of the Times: Some Pirates Made Big Bucks Off S&P's Downgrade
The US Security and Exchange commission is now investigating the Standard & Poor's Rating Agency over allegations of insider trading before America's rating change was officially announced.
At the time S&P received a furious response from the US Treasury, which accused the agency of making a $2-trillion mistake.
As The Market Ticker financial analyst Karl Denninger says, this is just the start of a full-scale probe into the activities of credit rating agencies and that the path does not necessarily begin or end with S&P.
"My guess is that the investigation is going to find - if it is not just an arm-waving show - that there was an external party having nothing to do with the S&P that made a great deal of money on Friday [August 5]," the analyst shared.
"There is clearly a political element to this. If you know that downgrade is coming and you short the market prior to that, you can make a great deal of money. There is a serious concern that there are leaks within the system," Denninger observed.
The good question now is why this insider trading been investigated in a general sense, said the analyst, recalling Lehman Brothers and some of its counterparts that were technically bankrupt, but continued functioning despite that fact for some time before going under for real.
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