In fact ironically the above headline is a quote from David Stockman (who was Ronald Regan's budget director). The best reason to vote today is that the American ultra rich have declared class warfare on the American working class. One thing they're afraid of is one person one vote. Don't let the plutocrats owned elite media demoralize you into staying home.
From 60 Minutes interview
The Battle Over Taxing The Rich
"In 1985, the top five percent of the households, wealthiest five percent, had net worth of $8 trillion, which is a lot. Today, after serial bubble after serial bubble, the top five percent have net worth of $40 trillion," he explained.
"The top five percent have gained more wealth than the whole human race had created prior to 1980." (David Stockman)
http://www.cbsnews.com/...
http://www.cbsnews.com/...
(Written by an American expat living in the European Union)
Your only defense against class warfare is election day, one person, one vote! It is the only thing the plutocrats are afraid of. It is the only power the American working class has left. Please vote today!
The quote in the introduction from David Stockman and the quote below from Bill Gates Sr., (are taken from a 60 Minutes interview) the latter of which refers to a tax the rich initiative in WA state (I-1098 - this initiative is designed to tax the wealthy). Resistance in the approval of I-1098 is indicative of class warfare by the ultra rich against the American working classes in WA state, which is indicative of what is happening all across the United States. Your only defense and the only thing the ultra rich are afraid of is one person one vote. Do not let the plutocrat owned elite media demoralize you into staying home. Let's be clear about something right now, this is a pushed to the wall class warfare battle for economic survival.
Your only defense and your only source of power is one person, one vote exercised by the working class today on election day! Your future and that of your community depends on you taking action today at the polls along with your family and friends, otherwise the plutocrats and the Tea Bag haters will continue their class warfare march of destruction on the American dream.
From The Olympian (Oct.21, 2010)
Bill Gates Sr., the retired lawyer and wealthy father of the Microsoft co-founder, thinks Washington's tax system is out of whack and needs repair. The poor pay too much tax; the rich pay too little, Gates says.
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More recently, Gates cites data from the national Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that show Washington’s poorest 20 percent of earners pay the equivalent of 17 percent of their income in sales, property and other taxes. By contrast, the wealthiest 1 percent pay less than 4 percent of their earnings in taxes, which makes Washington the most "regressive" – or easiest on the rich, hardest on the poor.
And the gap between rich and poor tax burdens is more dramatic here than in California, Oregon or Idaho, three nearby states with income taxes that take a larger bite out of earnings than anything in I-1098, Gates says.
http://www.theolympian.com/...
In the European Union where there is a strong social safety net, working people find themselves less demoralize by the media than their counterparts in America. Therefore voter turnout is usually one third higher in the European Union than it is in the US and this is another reason why we should strengthen the American social safety net. The best way to do that is to get out and vote for the Democrats on November 2nd, 2010.
International differences
Voter turnout varies considerably between countries. It tends to be lower in the United States, Asia and Latin America than most of Europe, Canada and Oceania. Western Europe averages a 77% turnout...United States 54%
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
The GOP and the Teabaggers want to turn back the clock on progressive America's march on health care reform and a European style social safety net.
As an American expat living in the European Union, I know what the benefits are firsthand of living under a European Union social safety net with universal health care for all. Therefore I know how important it is for the American dream that progressives win this election. They want you to believe that the fight for health care reform is over. The truth is, it's just getting started. If the Republicans get control over the Congress, they will withhold funding for health care reform and that will kill health care reform and leave 50 million American uninsured. That is why we all have to vote today.
To that end, let's look at what benefits you voting today can bring in the march towards a European style social safety net for working Americans.
Were You Born on the Wrong Continent?
How the European Model Can Help You Get a Life
BY THOMAS GEOGHEGAN
THE NEW PRESS / AUGUST 10, 2010 —Publishers Weekly
There’s been a lot of throwing around of the term "socialism" by critics of President Barack Obama, who has been maligned as a European socialist by conservatives even though his administration’s agenda isn’t close to that of a European social democracy. But if you really think about it, perhaps we would be happier in cozy Germany or France, where there is a socialist-type government to catch us, than in the wide-open, free-fall United States.
This was exactly what was on Chicago labor lawyer and author Thomas Geoghegan’s mind as he began to sneak out of his workaholic American life to see what life is like in Europe. Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? is his report to his fellow captives here in the U.S. It’s not just that European social democracy is "nicer." It’s not just that, under European-type socialism, many of us would perhaps be happier. It may be that only with some form of it can our own country, with its ballooning trade deficit, globally compete—or even just keep going without repeated financial crashes and crack-ups.
High-wage Germany, which offers the most bottom-up worker control of any European country, nearly ties with China as the leading exporter in the world, well ahead of the United States. But in China and America we work until we drop while in Germany, they take six weeks off a year (with a shocking number of four-day weekends along the way). It’s not just that the Germans can out compete us, but they seem to be doing it with one hand tied behind their backs.
http://tomgeoghegan.com/...
We can do better than this. That's what elections are for.
We do not have to allow the plutocrat owned media into demoralizing us to stay home on election day. President Obama is right when he says that if everyone who voted in 2008, votes again in 2010 then we will win. Your vote to support President Obama's agenda and to support the Democrats will mean hope of badly needed health care reform for the 50 million of Americans who do not have health insurance insurance.
It will mean the hope for the 60 million Americans who do not have any paid sick leave wherein every country in Western Europe provides universal medical access by law as well as paid sick leave, paid annual leave and paid maternity leave for everyone.
The purpose of this diary is to ask you to post words that will inspire our fellow kossacks and progressives into extending themselves to make it to the polls. Vote today and win back the American dream!
PS: If we are going to make the ultra rich pay their fair share of tax, shouldn't we work to repeal Dynasty Trusts as a modus operandi of circumventing virtually all taxation legislation. For information on Dynasty Trusts please click on the link below:
http://www.savewealth.com/...