jay busse's Open Salon Blog

The Men Behind the Curtain of Your Vote Mattering

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:12:32 -0500

I have long sought The Man behind the curtain.

I believe I have found them, before you get all widgety and judgmental. I must remind those of faith, they demand tolerance of "belief".

Americans are, however, under siege. A class war has raged since the beginning of humanity.

The brilliance of the current upper class campaign is convincing the vast majority it's not actually happening. Further, that demanding a fair share for the majority is class warfare and is not fair to the upper class waging the war.

Well, life is not fair.

But let me start with the basics: Capitalism in all it's glorified hypocrisy as served by those that run the show.

If you start a business, you assume risk and therefore expect to profit from its success and also suffer from it's demise.

That's the generally accepted understanding of the American Way.

In the current model adopted by the uber wealthy elite. They conspire to dupe the American public into sub-prime mortgages and bundled swaps into supposed AAA investments.

The conspirators include the too big to fail banks, The Federal Reserve (our central bank), the government and big bank cronies employed by the government (Goldman Sachs former executives for example), the fake rating agencies (Moody's, Fitch, Standard for the Poor).

We have witnessed, and are living through, a conspiracy. No theory. Evidentially, factually, provable conspiracy.

But since the government co-conspirators have chosen NOT to investigate and prosecute their guilty brethren, this becomes a moot point.

The very rudimentary point is: This is not capitalism.

So, it's not anti-rich or anti-successful.

It's pro-capitalism.

This means you take the risk and win you get the reward. You lose, you lose your business.

When you remove risk from the equation you are not dealing with capitalism. This is an irrefutable fact, by definition, for those who love capitalism.

What these rich conspirators did was remove risk from the equation, these few brilliant would-be criminal billionaires did was: Ponzi Scheme the entire globe. Congrats, you heartless bastards!

Several points need to be clear here: Conspiracies do occur, as evidence we're living through (at least) one now.

Why attack these rich, successful people?

Because they circumvented capitalism for their personal "success". They are, or would be treasonous criminals, by the definition of capitalism (and the founding fathers).

IF they didn't also write the laws for their own benefit.

First, they took NO risk. Their brilliant, should've been illegal, scheme privatized profit and socialized risk.

Simple explanation: They kept all the profits and WE THE PEOPLE assumed all their risk. We bailed out their failed banks and businesses and they received bonuses for running their companies into the ground.

To say they were UNsuccessful would be a lie.

They were very successful at re-distributing the wealth to themselves. Unlike Bernie Madoff, their plan succeeded in duping the masses into thinking these piratical psychopaths were the best and brightest and deserve their ill-gotten gains.

Akin to giving a dog a treat for mauling a child AND having the mauled child hand the dog the treat with a stupefied smile.

The mauled child in this is WE THE PEOPLE of the United States.

Upon finishing "Secrets of the Federal Reserve" (I highly recommend) I was surprised to find this headline in the usually Wall Street defensive Wall Street Journal: The Federal Reserve's Covert Bailout of Europe.

First, The Federal Reserve Bank, is a privately owned bank. Which answered one of my central questions as to why the big banks were bailed out, but the American people were left to flounder.

The too big to fail banks they bailed out are the owners of The Federal Reserve Bank. In essence they bailed themselves out to the tune of 7.8 trillion dollars in zero percent loans to themselves in addition to the 780 billion dollar socialist bailout of their risk by the American people.

Now, December 28th, 2011 we are bailing out Europe. But not with loans The Fed would have to report, but with currency swaps.

The more complicated the better, but the point is The Fed doesn't have to report the untold billions it isn't lending to Europe, because it's "swapping" currency.

Now that the Supreme Court has awarded Corporations the rights of individuals with as little regulation as possible is there much doubt as to who is behind the curtain?

This is tantamount to disbanding the police for the people, which would create anarchy.

They have achieved financial anarchy by the design of the financial anarchists.

The fact We The People are fooled into believing WE have power is the curtain we need to peer behind.

Follow the money.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

**** Please note I didn't need to politicize one point. Right, Left, Democrap or Republicant matters not to those in power.

The labels are just another way to keep us divided and conquered.

Frank Capra's Socialist Works

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:11:42 -0500

Most of us have enjoyed Frank Capra's Christmas classic It's A Wonderful Life.

I just re-watched Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Capra appears to be utilizing his propaganda skills, honed in his pro-American/anti-Nazi films to promote socialism.

In Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Jimmy Stewart's character spends the entire movie espousing rhetoric in favor of the masses. He rails against corporate/political greed and malfeasance.

This is, of course, tantamount to a glorification of socialism, communism and Nazism.

It's A Wonderful Life is an overt condemnation of wealth and success. Embodied by Mr. Potter, a wheelchair bound American, vilified throughout the tediously treacly 90+ minutes running time.

It's A Wonderful Life also glorifies Christmas from the compassionate lens of giving. While assailing the all-American pursuit of consuming.

Vis a vis not in support of capitalism. Buying is caring!

This, by present definition, is un-American and hence Capra's films (and the actors participating in Mr. Capra's films) should be viewed in a "socialist sympathizer" light and not bask in the warm glow of Americana.

Nor should a tear be shed for Capra's quest for a faux America lost contention.

I urge America to boycott Capra's heart-warming films of Americana.

Capra, a man who meant well, he was no doubt a delusional socialist, maybe even a humanist. His films speak for themselves, calling for all this insipid "love thy fellow Man" rhetoric. And "your life does matter" irrationality.

It's time we stand up for the Mr. Potter's of the world, the caring corporations that feed and clothe us, and scream from the rooftops (if you don't have a roof, use someone else's):

I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take anymore of Frank Capra's socialist screed! Mr. Potter is my hero! Corporations celebrate Christmas too!

This year, let's make a stand. Just say no to Nativity Scenes...

Erect shrines to the oft maligned corporate America and buy, buy, buy!

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Next Week: The Commie Dickens and why Timmy should kiss Scrooge's butt for the ability to afford the healthcare that gave him those crutches.

Following Week: I chat live, via podcast, with the author of The Bible and ask the gotcha question: Why does The Bible's message confilct with capitalism?

My Personal Info for Eh-Harmony and Match.Com

Thu, 6 Oct 2011 22:10:48 -0400

I've decided I want a beautiful, sweet, rich, intellectual philanthropist as my "match".

In return I'll provide: I'll provide~~~~~what the hell will I provide?

I'll pro-vi-

be right back.

(pregnant pause)

~~I like long walks into~~ - I don't like long walks.

I enjoy stimulating conversation (Okay, if you start to bore me, I will bore you back. I am also quite capable of preemptive boring).

What the f*#k is with these sensitivity questions?

No, I have not witnessed an ashram. I don't cook endangered species.

God does not speak to me. Since we argued and HE owes me an apology.

Where are the questions about sex? Are these sites for eunuchs?

So, if you're my perfect match at least you'll know I'm relatively honest, since -

I bring little to the table. I count on my perfect match to keep me in the lavish lifestyle I'm unaccustomed to.

I drink socially. Meaning, if there's no one around when I'm drinking I invent imaginary friends.

I smoke. Drinking and smoking help ward off the evils of reality (of course this does not include my perfect match).

When drinking and smoking don't work I go to a doctor for drugs.

Religious views? Um, really? I'm spiritually mythical, like a sprite or gremlin or unicorn.

It's probably best to stop here. Ya' know, leave the audience wanting more.

Thank you eh-armony, match.com, et. al. for distilling humanity to a few questions.

Humanity can be so complex.

Please refer to my aforementioned demands (what I'm looking for) and disregard my faults when choosing my perfect mate.

I'll be sitting right here by my computer 24/7 awaiting your response... Since I also sit here 24/7 awaiting responses to my 1007 resumes.

This will show my ability to multi-task to prospective employers. Hopefully it will outway my lack of skills and teeth.

Dammit, tha's infuriating. The fathct I know I mithspelled "outweigh" and am too lazy to go back and fixth it fortheth wind through my missthing teeph.

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I'm still waiting.

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Seriously, I don't any anger issues.

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But, this is pissing me off.

Okay, I'll entice you with a video pic:

Capitalism: A Tool for Tools

Tue, 4 Oct 2011 04:10:30 -0400

Capitalism is nothing more than a tool.

No better, no worse than any other tool. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it.

The classic western Shane included a man of self-restraint, self-regulation, level headed logic.

Today, Shane is as common as pixies, or common sense or honest politicians.

Humans are flawed, we need to be policed, regulated.

Most crimes occur at the poles.

The poorest and the wealthiest.

Humans need to be policed/regulated to avoid anarchy.

Police are needed for us lower income dudes.

Regulation is needed to police the upper crust. Regulating sounds more upper crust.

Velvet handcuffs would be preferred, if we could possibly catch those darn criminals that collapsed the world's economy... We know their names and whereabouts. We simply can't catch them.

They're so elusive.

"Soak the rich"?

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 18:08:57 -0400

In response to: Taxes and Fairness 8/24/11

"Soak the rich"? "Labeling" (employing a negative connotation) is "in the air" (and on the air) in these days of sound bite news.

The wealthiest top 10% of taxpayers provide 70% of tax revenue. That seems a little low, considering they own in excess of 83% of all wealth in The United States.

The bottom 80% of taxpayers own 7% of America's financial pie.

Delving into the convoluted tax codes is an exercise in futility. And my futility is already robust.

We'd literally have to re-define income, much like the tax loopholes do for the benefit of the wealthy. Averaging out several websites statistics on what the wealthy pay in taxes as a proportion of their income I arrived at: 16% of their income as tax.

The United States Corporate Tax Rate is 39.2%. The major reason trillions sit offshore. Further, American corporate tax dollars reside in other countries with favorable tax rates. Stimulating their economies for the simple price of setting up their (dummy) corporate headquarters in said countries. So, lowering the corporate tax rate seems a reasonable consideration.

The tax code is signed-off on by Congress, although they're not necessarily the sole author. Lobbyists representing those with the wealth to pay them influence much of the Tax Code.

We, the people, have no lobbyists. As we count on the people we elect to represent the majority's interest.

"There are very few such people (overpaid CEO types) in the country". True, because America can't afford too many more wealthy people.

The wealthiest 1% control 43% of the wealth. Leaving 99% of the people with 57% of the American pie.

The Wealthy are not one in the same (true of all social strata). There are good wealthy and bad wealthy. We need only look at the perpetrators of the current global financial collapse for proof.

The disparity of wealth distribution in America will reach critical mass. A cursory glance at history and current global events gives us an idea of what we can expect.

As much as we need the wealthy, the wealthy need us. America needs to be healthy as a society, bridging as many divisions as possible, to allow Americans the opportunity to become wealthy.

The sound bite mania oversimplifies complex issues deserving of thought, civil discourse and debate. As even in this single issue's complexities we only skim the surface, due to space limitations.

It's generally accepted that politicians lie. Yet we vehemently defend "our" politicians to the point we, the people, are divided and easily conquered.

This may be by brilliant design, but I leave you to judge. Don't be fooled by their words, it's their actions that give their true intentions away.

Or we will be forced to suffer fools, as the fools will be us.