The Long, Dark Shadows of Plutocracy

The truth of big money’s influence on politics

Harry Reid declares war on the Kochs

Are the 99% whiners?

Another Government Is Necessary: The People Can Rule Better Than the Elites

Another Government Is Necessary: The People Can Rule Better Than the Elites
"More people are taking action in their communities to meet their basic needs because of government corruption at all levels that protects the status quo when urgent change is needed. People are moving on many fronts to challenge the system and create the world they want to see."

Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever | Common Dreams

Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever | Common Dreams
"Interest-rate swaps are a tool used by big cities, major corporations and sovereign governments to manage their debt, and the scale of their use is almost unimaginably massive. It's about a $379 trillion market, meaning that any manipulation would affect a pile of assets about 100 times the size of the United States federal budget."

Second-Degree Murdoch: Pollutocrat Kochs Target U.S. Media For Takeover

Second-Degree Murdoch: Pollutocrat Kochs Target U.S. Media For Takeover: The NY Times reports today that the Koch brothers are hoping to become media moguls like Rupert Murdoch: Now, Koch Industries, the sprawling private company of which Charles G. Koch serves as chairman and chief executive, is exploring a bid to buy the Tribune Company’s eight regional newspapers, including The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago [...]/p

America Is Ruled by Billionaires, and They Are Coming After the Last Shreds of Our Democracy | Alternet

America Is Ruled by Billionaires, and They Are Coming After the Last Shreds of Our Democracy | Alternet
"The United States today qualifies as a plutocracy – on a number of grounds.  Let’s look at some striking bits of evidence. Gross income redistribution upwards in the hierarchy has been a feature of American society for the past decades. The familiar statistics tell us that nearly 80% of the national wealth generated since 1973 has gone to the upper 2%, 65% to the upper 1 per cent. Estimates as to the rise in real income for salaried workers over the past 40 years range from 20% to 28 %. In that period, real GDP has risen by 110% – it has more than doubled."

How the Financial Plutocracy Tugs the Leash on the Two-Party Duopoly

How the Financial Plutocracy Tugs the Leash on the Two-Party Duopoly
"The Payoff: Why Wall Street Always Wins explains why fighting financial malfeasance and greed is like betting against a gambling casino where the dealers play with marked cards."

PERRspectives: A Week in the Life of the One Percent

PERRspectives: A Week in the Life of the One Percent
"Judging by the 2012 election result, the one percent is not winning the hearts and minds of the American people. But as a quick glance at the headlines will confirm, the hearts and minds of the American media are a different story."

Pro-Democracy Movement Rises Against 'Disaster Capitalism' in Detroit | Common Dreams

Pro-Democracy Movement Rises Against 'Disaster Capitalism' in Detroit | Common Dreams
"pro-democracy activists in Detroit have no intention of rolling over and playing dead for Kevyn Orr, the city's new 'emergency manager' appointed by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, who will begin his contract to run the city as a one-person government on Monday.
Called a "bloodless coup" by some, the appointment of an 'emergency financial manager' (EFM) will allow Orr to take full control over the city's resources now that the city council and school board have been stripped of their governing powers."

The Plague of Wall Street Banking » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

The Plague of Wall Street Banking » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names
"The economic news this week highlights what happens when governments are unable to confront the root cause of the financial collapse – the risky speculation and securities fraud of the big banks.  What happens? They blame the people, cut their benefits, tax their savings and demand they work harder for less money."

Conservatives...the New Taliban

Conservatives: The New Taliban

Conservatives: The New Taliban
"And don't for a minute think that it's really all about religion. Religion is just used to manipulate the useful idiots. It's really about money, power, and control. And that can only be held by thugs like the Taliban when the people are kept poor and stupid.

Here in America, there's a new Taliban rising. They fetishize guns, just like the Afghan Taliban. They fear women and education. They want to keep the people stupid and in chains.

They're the plutocrats and the billionaires who rose to power on the heels of Reagan's trickle-down economics. And now, what's trickling down to us is their stupidity."

Paul Ryan, a.k.a. Scrooge, Needs Both a Reality and a Humanity Check | Alternet

Paul Ryan, a.k.a. Scrooge, Needs Both a Reality and a Humanity Check | Alternet
"Someone needs to tell Paul Ryan that his party -- and the economic platform of austerity and plutocracy he crafted for it -- lost a national election last year."

Exclusive Talk With Economist Richard Wolff: Sequester Cuts Inch Us Closer to An 'Explosion That Will Take People By Surprise'

Exclusive Talk With Economist Richard Wolff: Sequester Cuts Inch Us Closer to An 'Explosion That Will Take People By Surprise'
"Economist Dr. Richard Wolff warns of the encroaching economic tipping point, past which Americans will not be pushed and answers questions on the potential results of civil unrest. He also breaks down the latest in economic propaganda, details the immense power of the 1% to control the debate, and offers potential solutions to increase economic stability and personal freedom at the same time."

Billionaires 'Losing Hope' For Lower Taxes. Waaaahmbulance Alert!

Billionaires 'Losing Hope' For Lower Taxes. Waaaahmbulance Alert!
"As for the corporate hissy fits, wait them out. They're just trying to scare people into pressuring Congress to do their bidding. There are millions -- even billions -- of reasons not to."

'Fix The Debt' and Pete Peterson's Long History of Deficit Scaremongering | Common Dreams

'Fix The Debt' and Pete Peterson's Long History of Deficit Scaremongering | Common Dreams
"Fix the Debt financier Peter G. Peterson knows a thing or two about debt: he’s an expert at creating it. Peterson founded the private equity firm Blackstone Group in 1985 with Stephen Schwarzman (who compared raising taxes to “when Hitler invaded Poland”). Private equity firms don’t contribute much to the economy; they don’t make cars or milk the cows. Too frequently, they buy firms to loot them. After a leveraged buyout, they can leave companies so loaded up with debt they are forced to immediately slash their workforce or employees’ retirement security."

The Wrecking Crew Is Winning | Common Dreams

The Wrecking Crew Is Winning | Common Dreams
"Once more, the Republican Congress is holding the economy hostage as “leverage” to extort deep and unpopular cuts in the core pillars of family security – Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  Not surprisingly, Americans disapprove in large numbers, with Congress in general and Republicans in particular setting new records in popular disregard.

But make no mistake; the wrecking crew is winning by defining what the national debate is about.  Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell calls the deficit the “transcendent issue of our time,” as if balancing the budget would fix our economy.

No, the fundamental issue of our time is an economy that works only for the few, plagued by mass unemployment, declining wages and increasing insecurity.  But despite the best efforts of the president in his State of the Union address, the fiscal hostage-taking by McConnell and the Tea Party Congress have made deficits the only subject in town."

'Some Cuts Don't Heal!': Simpson-Bowles Face Protest for Attack on Medicare, Social Security | Common Dreams

'Some Cuts Don't Heal!': Simpson-Bowles Face Protest for Attack on Medicare, Social Security | Common Dreams
"the pair's recommended policies unfairly punish the sick, the elderly and working people in the name of a 'deficit reduction' plan backed by the nation's wealthiest beneficiaries and corporate elite."