Sunday, May 26, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Why Republican investigations are a complete sham and a witch hunt
It would be funny the fake outrage at these ginned up scandals being placed on President Obama if so many people didn’t believe everything the corporate media told them. Yes some are a big deal but the same party who is holding witch hunts now had no problem with them when it was a republican in the White House doing the exact same thing. Here’s a look at some of the “Obama Scandals”
Fast and Furious -
Tthe republicans claim that they knew nothing about gun running but in fact several of them including the lead investigator Darrell Issa voted for the program and again to fund the program. Why didn’t they call themselves to ask why they voted for the program and claimed they knew nothing about it. Nothing could be linked back to Obama so this quickly went away.
DOJ scandal
This one is simple, the republicans are giving up investigating this already and it’s being kept alive by Fox because one of their own was looked into. Republicans know that they can not link anything to Obama that the justice department does because they run independent of the White House. The DOJ keeps the president out of the loop in case the investigation leads back to the White House, the real scandal would have been if the President had known this was going on.
IRS targeting “Conservatives”
Yes this is a scandal if that’s what happened, how quickly republicans and conservative media forget that for 8 years George Bush used the IRS, CIA, FBI and Department of Justice to attack, investigate and harm anyone person or group that spoke out against him especially about the Iraq war or his war on terror. There was several accusations made that this was going on and republicans held no hearings because they wouldn’t investigate their own for the same thing. For 8 years liberal groups were audited, investigated by the CIA and FBI or worse if they were against the president, not to mention the right wing smear machine ruining the lives of Valerie Plame and The Dixie Chicks for not worshipping at the alter of the GOP.
Benghazi -
This is tragic and no matter how hard the GOP pushes or how often Fox gives false information they can not link it back to Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama and it’s driving them crazy. While it is tragic that this happened it’s not the first time including 200 Americans being killed in Lebanon and left to die under Reagan or several embassy attacks under Bush with 9 dead Americans and several foreign workers. None of those were investigated or blamed on anyone so what makes this president different then the 40+ before him?
I would have no problem with congressional investigations if
1. There were standards and the same thing investigated when a democrat did them would have been investigated when republicans did them. If Obama had authorized torture or destroyed emails, videos and other evidence after a federal judge ordered him not to he would have been impeached while Bush DID do those things and didn’t get investigated by republicans.
2. Darrell Issa was not in charge of ethics, the man has a shady past including car theft and is main suspect in his factory burning down so he could collect the huge insurance policy he had just taken out weeks before the fire. When the criminal is the judge you have to consider if it’s a fair hearing or not.
3. Republicans go on Fox and say things like “I have no proof but” or “I have a feeling” or my favorite “Obama knew I just can’t prove it yet”. This is before the investigations even started, the fact that they go in knowing what they want the outcome to be and dig, dig, dig until they try and find that outcome shows it’s corrupt to the core and 100% political. If they were honest they would go in with an open mind, ask questions then draw a conclusion and NOT go win with a conclusion then try to find the facts to verify their delusions.
Fast and Furious -
Tthe republicans claim that they knew nothing about gun running but in fact several of them including the lead investigator Darrell Issa voted for the program and again to fund the program. Why didn’t they call themselves to ask why they voted for the program and claimed they knew nothing about it. Nothing could be linked back to Obama so this quickly went away.
DOJ scandal
This one is simple, the republicans are giving up investigating this already and it’s being kept alive by Fox because one of their own was looked into. Republicans know that they can not link anything to Obama that the justice department does because they run independent of the White House. The DOJ keeps the president out of the loop in case the investigation leads back to the White House, the real scandal would have been if the President had known this was going on.
IRS targeting “Conservatives”
Yes this is a scandal if that’s what happened, how quickly republicans and conservative media forget that for 8 years George Bush used the IRS, CIA, FBI and Department of Justice to attack, investigate and harm anyone person or group that spoke out against him especially about the Iraq war or his war on terror. There was several accusations made that this was going on and republicans held no hearings because they wouldn’t investigate their own for the same thing. For 8 years liberal groups were audited, investigated by the CIA and FBI or worse if they were against the president, not to mention the right wing smear machine ruining the lives of Valerie Plame and The Dixie Chicks for not worshipping at the alter of the GOP.
Benghazi -
This is tragic and no matter how hard the GOP pushes or how often Fox gives false information they can not link it back to Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama and it’s driving them crazy. While it is tragic that this happened it’s not the first time including 200 Americans being killed in Lebanon and left to die under Reagan or several embassy attacks under Bush with 9 dead Americans and several foreign workers. None of those were investigated or blamed on anyone so what makes this president different then the 40+ before him?
I would have no problem with congressional investigations if
1. There were standards and the same thing investigated when a democrat did them would have been investigated when republicans did them. If Obama had authorized torture or destroyed emails, videos and other evidence after a federal judge ordered him not to he would have been impeached while Bush DID do those things and didn’t get investigated by republicans.
2. Darrell Issa was not in charge of ethics, the man has a shady past including car theft and is main suspect in his factory burning down so he could collect the huge insurance policy he had just taken out weeks before the fire. When the criminal is the judge you have to consider if it’s a fair hearing or not.
3. Republicans go on Fox and say things like “I have no proof but” or “I have a feeling” or my favorite “Obama knew I just can’t prove it yet”. This is before the investigations even started, the fact that they go in knowing what they want the outcome to be and dig, dig, dig until they try and find that outcome shows it’s corrupt to the core and 100% political. If they were honest they would go in with an open mind, ask questions then draw a conclusion and NOT go win with a conclusion then try to find the facts to verify their delusions.
Friday, April 19, 2013
How the Government helped banks screw hard working Americans out of their homes AGAIN
My parents bought a house in 2002, they were talked into taking out a mortgage in 2007 for 40,000.00 and figured they could use the money to pay off all their other bills. It wasn’t long before their 200.00 payment went up and after my father had his stroke leaving him mentally and physically disabled they fell behind. In 2009 HSBC Beneficial started their foreclosure and send a letter saying they need 5500.00 in full to stop the process. I saw the notice and wired them the money they requested (to their lawyer who was handling the case now). We didn’t hear anything and about 3 weeks later the money was returned to me in 11 cashiers checks for 500 each.
I called them and the lawyer told me that since they sent the notice that the total owed at time I sent payment was 5535.00 with interest and since it wasn’t full amount they couldn’t take it and would have to foreclose on the house. I contacted HSBC and they told me the lawyer had no right to refuse that and they would stop the foreclosure if I sent them the money. When my mother was diagnosed with cancer on St. Patrick’s day 2012 I took over paying their bills and was shocked to see their mortgage payments are now 706.00 a month on a 30 year mortgage for 40,000.00 and after 5 years of payment they still owed more on the mortgage than original balance.
I did my best to keep up but currently we are 4 payments behind with no hope or money to catch up. We got a letter from the independent foreclosure review saying we would be awarded a settlement for the banks actions from 2009-2010 and after seeing the chart we should fall in the 2,000.00 payment which would be enough to keep their home since we spent so much time and money making it handicap read for both them.
Now here is where the fun begins, I called Rust Consulting to see if my payment was sent out on April 12th and they told me no. I then asked the lady if my 2,000.00 payment would go out anytime soon so I could use it to pay up the mortgage and keep us in the house and she said “I don’t know the date and can’t tell you the amount but can tell you it’s a lot less than that”. So we are getting the shaft and only getting the 300.00 check so I looked at how they decided this and that’s where it gets interesting.
The decision on which group you fall in and how much you receive was made by the bank that held your mortgage at the time, the same one who ripped you off those years. I thought this was odd so did a little more digging and the person who was in charge of this settlement left the OCC and is now at a high paying job with one of the banks. So that leaves us with the 6 billion in aid to troubled homeowners that the banks were supposed to put up and again the home owners were given the shaft by the big banks.
Turns out the banks don’t have to do anything until 2015 and that billions they were supposed to pay will only be a few million dollars. The banks got to write their own punishment again and the loophole is if they modify a 500,000.00 mortgage by reducing the mortgage 1.00 they get credit for the whole mortgage. That’s right if they knock 1.00 off your 500.000 dollar mortgage they get credit for the whole 500.00 against their fine while you get the shaft.
With both parents disabled and over 65 their only income is social security and w/ me not being able to work because they need 24/7 care that leaves us no choice but to walk away from our home over 2,000.00. While the bank gets loopholes to screw us again we get to live in our car but it’s ok because they will be sending us a 300.00 check for our troubles, as soon as they get around to it.
I called them and the lawyer told me that since they sent the notice that the total owed at time I sent payment was 5535.00 with interest and since it wasn’t full amount they couldn’t take it and would have to foreclose on the house. I contacted HSBC and they told me the lawyer had no right to refuse that and they would stop the foreclosure if I sent them the money. When my mother was diagnosed with cancer on St. Patrick’s day 2012 I took over paying their bills and was shocked to see their mortgage payments are now 706.00 a month on a 30 year mortgage for 40,000.00 and after 5 years of payment they still owed more on the mortgage than original balance.
I did my best to keep up but currently we are 4 payments behind with no hope or money to catch up. We got a letter from the independent foreclosure review saying we would be awarded a settlement for the banks actions from 2009-2010 and after seeing the chart we should fall in the 2,000.00 payment which would be enough to keep their home since we spent so much time and money making it handicap read for both them.
Now here is where the fun begins, I called Rust Consulting to see if my payment was sent out on April 12th and they told me no. I then asked the lady if my 2,000.00 payment would go out anytime soon so I could use it to pay up the mortgage and keep us in the house and she said “I don’t know the date and can’t tell you the amount but can tell you it’s a lot less than that”. So we are getting the shaft and only getting the 300.00 check so I looked at how they decided this and that’s where it gets interesting.
The decision on which group you fall in and how much you receive was made by the bank that held your mortgage at the time, the same one who ripped you off those years. I thought this was odd so did a little more digging and the person who was in charge of this settlement left the OCC and is now at a high paying job with one of the banks. So that leaves us with the 6 billion in aid to troubled homeowners that the banks were supposed to put up and again the home owners were given the shaft by the big banks.
Turns out the banks don’t have to do anything until 2015 and that billions they were supposed to pay will only be a few million dollars. The banks got to write their own punishment again and the loophole is if they modify a 500,000.00 mortgage by reducing the mortgage 1.00 they get credit for the whole mortgage. That’s right if they knock 1.00 off your 500.000 dollar mortgage they get credit for the whole 500.00 against their fine while you get the shaft.
With both parents disabled and over 65 their only income is social security and w/ me not being able to work because they need 24/7 care that leaves us no choice but to walk away from our home over 2,000.00. While the bank gets loopholes to screw us again we get to live in our car but it’s ok because they will be sending us a 300.00 check for our troubles, as soon as they get around to it.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Americas Return to a Slave Nation
For 100 years after Abe Lincoln freed the slaves America has built a strong middle class and lifted people of all races out of poverty. Strong unions helped pass many pro worker laws and regulations that insured that hard working people were treated fair and paid for their services. This worked well until the 1980’s when Ronald Reagan rode into power, since then the corporations and republican party has worked non stop to turn America back into a slave nation.
The 1960’s and 70’s saw strong work forces and people making a good living working hard, factories were flourishing and people were living well even with one parent staying at home raising the family. Then came the 1980’s and corporate America installed a puppet in the White House and slowly began the genocide of the middle class, it was not done all at once but over time and slow so no one would notice.
1. Destroy the Unions and weaken labor - this has been done the last 30 years and republicans have spent millions on slandering unions in hopes of turning public opinion against them and making Americans forget all the great things they have done for America. Then came “Right to Work State” laws that allowed company workers to work in union plants and enjoy all the perks of the unions but not have to pay the benefits. This led to a rapid decline in membership from around 25% in the 1980’s to about 10% today.
2. Convince people that attacking the rich was a mistake because this was America and if they work hard and play by the rules they could be one of those rich people. This again is all talk as America ranks near the bottom in class mobility behind most industrialized nations. Like with many things in the GOP plan it has more to do with marketing than actual facts. Since the 1980’s peoples incomes have stayed the same while the rich have increased their wealth at record levels.
3. Put people into debt - With the “new” economy a college degree is a must, so most Americans have to get loans to attend even the cheapest university. After graduation that starts your corporate life with about 100,000.00 in debt and it only gets worse from there. Then you need a car and a roof over your head costing a large chunk of your income, add in health care costs and it barely leaves people any money and causes them to live paycheck to paycheck.
4. Cut the safety nets - Right now Medicare and Social Security allow seniors to retire and enjoy their golden years, this is the white whale of the republican party. If they can sever these safety nets then people will not be able to retire and will be forced to slave away until they are put in a grave.
With these steps the GOP master plan of returning America to a slave nation was underway, now all they had to do was get rid of all those pesky pro worker laws that unions got passed. Over the last 10 years you have seen a massive attack on those laws including a recent attempt to do away with overtime pay for people who worked more than 40 hours a week. There was even a recent attempt to justify corporations giving people cancer or other diseases if their “cost benefits” shows that it’s best for America.
This is why you will see republican fight to the death over things like Healthcare for all and raising the minimum wage, they are afraid if you save money and don’t need the health care you may not need to keep that job you don’t like. Millions of Americans stay in low paying jobs they do not like so their family can have healthcare even if it means they need to find a 2nd or 3rd job to put food on the table. This is also why the scream about the “takers” and “welfare state” because they don’t like the idea of people getting assistance and not having to rely on their corporate masters.
While Lincoln freed the African American from slaves Reagan and the GOP has spent 30 years trying to return to what they would call the “glory days” and allow corporations to control Americans. As long as they can keep us sick, uneducated and poor they can run every aspect of our lives and the day that people wake up and demand fair treatment for their hard work it will keep getting worse until the day we find ourselves working for food and needing a loan to see the doctor. We need to return to the days of strong unions and workers rights and stop watching the rich get richer and the poor hard working Americans being driven to an early grave. They want us to work until the day we die, sadly we hang on because in America no one can afford to die anymore because it will just leave their family and loved ones with more debt to pay for the funeral.
When you see or hear of republican laws being passed that they say will “create jobs” and help the “job creators” take a hard look at them and see what they really do. I’m betting it puts the working class further into death or danger while helping the rich get richer. When you hear them say “it’s about jobs” point out that it really isn’t but it’s about income. Slaves had jobs and unless we wake up we will all become slaves and that’s what republicans want the end outcome to be.
The 1960’s and 70’s saw strong work forces and people making a good living working hard, factories were flourishing and people were living well even with one parent staying at home raising the family. Then came the 1980’s and corporate America installed a puppet in the White House and slowly began the genocide of the middle class, it was not done all at once but over time and slow so no one would notice.
1. Destroy the Unions and weaken labor - this has been done the last 30 years and republicans have spent millions on slandering unions in hopes of turning public opinion against them and making Americans forget all the great things they have done for America. Then came “Right to Work State” laws that allowed company workers to work in union plants and enjoy all the perks of the unions but not have to pay the benefits. This led to a rapid decline in membership from around 25% in the 1980’s to about 10% today.
2. Convince people that attacking the rich was a mistake because this was America and if they work hard and play by the rules they could be one of those rich people. This again is all talk as America ranks near the bottom in class mobility behind most industrialized nations. Like with many things in the GOP plan it has more to do with marketing than actual facts. Since the 1980’s peoples incomes have stayed the same while the rich have increased their wealth at record levels.
3. Put people into debt - With the “new” economy a college degree is a must, so most Americans have to get loans to attend even the cheapest university. After graduation that starts your corporate life with about 100,000.00 in debt and it only gets worse from there. Then you need a car and a roof over your head costing a large chunk of your income, add in health care costs and it barely leaves people any money and causes them to live paycheck to paycheck.
4. Cut the safety nets - Right now Medicare and Social Security allow seniors to retire and enjoy their golden years, this is the white whale of the republican party. If they can sever these safety nets then people will not be able to retire and will be forced to slave away until they are put in a grave.
With these steps the GOP master plan of returning America to a slave nation was underway, now all they had to do was get rid of all those pesky pro worker laws that unions got passed. Over the last 10 years you have seen a massive attack on those laws including a recent attempt to do away with overtime pay for people who worked more than 40 hours a week. There was even a recent attempt to justify corporations giving people cancer or other diseases if their “cost benefits” shows that it’s best for America.
This is why you will see republican fight to the death over things like Healthcare for all and raising the minimum wage, they are afraid if you save money and don’t need the health care you may not need to keep that job you don’t like. Millions of Americans stay in low paying jobs they do not like so their family can have healthcare even if it means they need to find a 2nd or 3rd job to put food on the table. This is also why the scream about the “takers” and “welfare state” because they don’t like the idea of people getting assistance and not having to rely on their corporate masters.
While Lincoln freed the African American from slaves Reagan and the GOP has spent 30 years trying to return to what they would call the “glory days” and allow corporations to control Americans. As long as they can keep us sick, uneducated and poor they can run every aspect of our lives and the day that people wake up and demand fair treatment for their hard work it will keep getting worse until the day we find ourselves working for food and needing a loan to see the doctor. We need to return to the days of strong unions and workers rights and stop watching the rich get richer and the poor hard working Americans being driven to an early grave. They want us to work until the day we die, sadly we hang on because in America no one can afford to die anymore because it will just leave their family and loved ones with more debt to pay for the funeral.
When you see or hear of republican laws being passed that they say will “create jobs” and help the “job creators” take a hard look at them and see what they really do. I’m betting it puts the working class further into death or danger while helping the rich get richer. When you hear them say “it’s about jobs” point out that it really isn’t but it’s about income. Slaves had jobs and unless we wake up we will all become slaves and that’s what republicans want the end outcome to be.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Who Really Ran up the Debt?
While I could make a case that most of debt run up today on defense is due to the failed policies of Ronald Reagan I’ll just stick with the facts we know and can prove.
Bill Clinton left office in 2001 with four years of surplus and the debt was projected to be paid off by 2009. So if Bush would have done nothing we would not only be debt free but have a huge surplus right now. When you say Bush added 5 trillion to the debt and Obama 6 trillion that is a flat out lie.
Bush - He did add 5 trillion in new debt but when you take into account that the debt was projected to be paid off when he left office you can add the original 5 trillion in debt to his total. Instead of having a nation debt paid off in 2009 it was 10 trillion dollars. Add onto that 10 trillion that by just continuing the spending from 2008 we would have added an additional 4 trillion to the debt so that’s a total of 14 TRILLION that can be linked to the policies of President Bush.
Obama - when he took office the debt was 10 trillion, by doing nothing it would be over 14 trillion dollars today just by keeping the policies that were in place when he was sworn in. today it stands at 16 trillion meaning he has added to the debt but only to the tune of 2 trillion. When he came into office the deficit was over 1 trillion dollars a year and this year due to spending cuts and a stronger economy it will only be 750 billion meaning he has actually slowed down the growth of debt and cut the deficit.
So using facts it can be argued that
President Bush is responsible for 14 Trillion
President Obama is responsible for 2 Trillion
Bill Clinton left office in 2001 with four years of surplus and the debt was projected to be paid off by 2009. So if Bush would have done nothing we would not only be debt free but have a huge surplus right now. When you say Bush added 5 trillion to the debt and Obama 6 trillion that is a flat out lie.
Bush - He did add 5 trillion in new debt but when you take into account that the debt was projected to be paid off when he left office you can add the original 5 trillion in debt to his total. Instead of having a nation debt paid off in 2009 it was 10 trillion dollars. Add onto that 10 trillion that by just continuing the spending from 2008 we would have added an additional 4 trillion to the debt so that’s a total of 14 TRILLION that can be linked to the policies of President Bush.
Obama - when he took office the debt was 10 trillion, by doing nothing it would be over 14 trillion dollars today just by keeping the policies that were in place when he was sworn in. today it stands at 16 trillion meaning he has added to the debt but only to the tune of 2 trillion. When he came into office the deficit was over 1 trillion dollars a year and this year due to spending cuts and a stronger economy it will only be 750 billion meaning he has actually slowed down the growth of debt and cut the deficit.
So using facts it can be argued that
President Bush is responsible for 14 Trillion
President Obama is responsible for 2 Trillion
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
The Real American Story
We hear how you can be anything you want in America and that may be true from people who can afford to get the education they need or from foreigners who are used to third world countries but the truth is that there is no “American Dream”. Most stories end like the one you are about to read and while it hasn’t been written there is no happy ending.
Background
Ruth and Robert had worked their whole lives and played by the rules, they never asked for or received a “handout”. Robert joined the military and served during the Korean War, sorry “conflict” as we would later find out it wasn’t a war. After getting out he married the women he loved and went to work in a powdered metal plant. Things were good and we were living the dream until the 80’s. After Ronald Reagan became president things started to change and you could no longer take care of a family with one income, with the prices of everything rising and incomes flat not most families needed both parents working full time jobs just to live the life they were used to. Ruth got a job at the same powered metal plant as her husband until he retired in 2001 at the age of 63 and having put in over 20 years of hard labor. In 2004 he went in for routine surgery and due to a medical issue came out disabled both mentally and physically. Ruth took up extra shifts and was working 60 hours a week or more until she went into the hospital on March 17th 2012 and was diagnosed with colon cancer. Again thanks to a screw up by the doctors and hospital she spent 8 months in the hospital and now is permanently disabled and can no longer work.
In 2001 Ruth inherited an estate with 2 houses, 2 cars and about 200,000.00 in cash. While the estate was at the lawyers office the secretary spent the 200,000.00 in cash. When ordered to pay it back she wrote out checks for 165,000 which bounced so she was taken to court for the bad checks. The court ruled in Ruth’s favor and the women was given 7 years probation and ordered to pay back the money 150.00 a month. While there was no money and the it was being held up in court the bills on the homes and cars still needed paid so one of the houses was sold and a mortgage taken out on the other one.
Today
Today they both need constant care and need help doing the things most people take for granted like getting in and out of bed or going to the bathroom, Ruth has a colostomy bag which needs constant care. They went from living on their own and bringing in over 5,000.00 a month to needing assistance and living on their social security which is about 2,000.00 a month and while their income has cut in more than half their bills have only gotten bigger. After living over 60 years independently they finally bit the bullet and asked for some help just to find all the doors closed because they own a home and make too much money.
Asking for Help
First we applied for help with the veterans office and were denied because Robert wasn’t active during “war time” since Korea was considered a police action and not a war.
We applied to the welfare office for any assistance and got help for Robert with his prescription drugs and to pay a home care worker 3 hours a day to take care of him, this lasted about 3 years until Ruth had to apply for assistance. The inheritance Ruth had fought 10 years for was settled in 2011 and she officially inherited the cam which she gave to her son but could not put in his name because of the mortgage. The welfare office notified her that because of the camp she does not qualify for any assistance and because it wasn’t reported for Robert he would be dropped from any help himself (even though the camp was not owned when Robert filled out the paperwork). On top of that they still have the option of going after Ruth and Robert for any assistance he has received from them.
So now we are still paying all the bills that were paid when they made over 5,000.00 a month but have the added price of over 20 prescription between them which will no longer be subsidies through the welfare office and monthly doctors appointments and the threat of having the home care worker terminated. This has made me realize that working hard and playing by the rules doesn’t pay in America, you think your life is great but one sickness can take it all away from you. I often here politicians say America is the greatest country in the world but I say we could be but are far from it. Until people lose the threat of being homeless or having to choose between food on the table or pills in the cabinet we will always be a second rate country. You can not call yourself a great nation and turn your back on citizens who helped build and defend it while coddling and sucking at the tit of corporations and big business. When I hear people cry “ I build this” it pisses me off, without the generations who came before you who won our independence, built the road and bridges you wouldn’t have anything.
Instead of bragging about what you have and what you think you built how about helping all the men and women who worked themselves sick and are now suffering or the men and women in uniform who put their lives on the line day in and day out so you can buy a new plane or hire a new maid. Remember while you’re receiving a free dinner or drinks at a club because you’re rich or famous all the people who will go without food and children who will go to school hungry or sick because their parents can not afford to feed them or allow them to stay home. If you judge a country by it’s poorest and most vulnerable than America is far from the greatest country in the world and until people wake up and see that America is no longer “we the people” but currently “we the rich and powerful” nothing will
Background
Ruth and Robert had worked their whole lives and played by the rules, they never asked for or received a “handout”. Robert joined the military and served during the Korean War, sorry “conflict” as we would later find out it wasn’t a war. After getting out he married the women he loved and went to work in a powdered metal plant. Things were good and we were living the dream until the 80’s. After Ronald Reagan became president things started to change and you could no longer take care of a family with one income, with the prices of everything rising and incomes flat not most families needed both parents working full time jobs just to live the life they were used to. Ruth got a job at the same powered metal plant as her husband until he retired in 2001 at the age of 63 and having put in over 20 years of hard labor. In 2004 he went in for routine surgery and due to a medical issue came out disabled both mentally and physically. Ruth took up extra shifts and was working 60 hours a week or more until she went into the hospital on March 17th 2012 and was diagnosed with colon cancer. Again thanks to a screw up by the doctors and hospital she spent 8 months in the hospital and now is permanently disabled and can no longer work.
In 2001 Ruth inherited an estate with 2 houses, 2 cars and about 200,000.00 in cash. While the estate was at the lawyers office the secretary spent the 200,000.00 in cash. When ordered to pay it back she wrote out checks for 165,000 which bounced so she was taken to court for the bad checks. The court ruled in Ruth’s favor and the women was given 7 years probation and ordered to pay back the money 150.00 a month. While there was no money and the it was being held up in court the bills on the homes and cars still needed paid so one of the houses was sold and a mortgage taken out on the other one.
Today
Today they both need constant care and need help doing the things most people take for granted like getting in and out of bed or going to the bathroom, Ruth has a colostomy bag which needs constant care. They went from living on their own and bringing in over 5,000.00 a month to needing assistance and living on their social security which is about 2,000.00 a month and while their income has cut in more than half their bills have only gotten bigger. After living over 60 years independently they finally bit the bullet and asked for some help just to find all the doors closed because they own a home and make too much money.
Asking for Help
First we applied for help with the veterans office and were denied because Robert wasn’t active during “war time” since Korea was considered a police action and not a war.
We applied to the welfare office for any assistance and got help for Robert with his prescription drugs and to pay a home care worker 3 hours a day to take care of him, this lasted about 3 years until Ruth had to apply for assistance. The inheritance Ruth had fought 10 years for was settled in 2011 and she officially inherited the cam which she gave to her son but could not put in his name because of the mortgage. The welfare office notified her that because of the camp she does not qualify for any assistance and because it wasn’t reported for Robert he would be dropped from any help himself (even though the camp was not owned when Robert filled out the paperwork). On top of that they still have the option of going after Ruth and Robert for any assistance he has received from them.
So now we are still paying all the bills that were paid when they made over 5,000.00 a month but have the added price of over 20 prescription between them which will no longer be subsidies through the welfare office and monthly doctors appointments and the threat of having the home care worker terminated. This has made me realize that working hard and playing by the rules doesn’t pay in America, you think your life is great but one sickness can take it all away from you. I often here politicians say America is the greatest country in the world but I say we could be but are far from it. Until people lose the threat of being homeless or having to choose between food on the table or pills in the cabinet we will always be a second rate country. You can not call yourself a great nation and turn your back on citizens who helped build and defend it while coddling and sucking at the tit of corporations and big business. When I hear people cry “ I build this” it pisses me off, without the generations who came before you who won our independence, built the road and bridges you wouldn’t have anything.
Instead of bragging about what you have and what you think you built how about helping all the men and women who worked themselves sick and are now suffering or the men and women in uniform who put their lives on the line day in and day out so you can buy a new plane or hire a new maid. Remember while you’re receiving a free dinner or drinks at a club because you’re rich or famous all the people who will go without food and children who will go to school hungry or sick because their parents can not afford to feed them or allow them to stay home. If you judge a country by it’s poorest and most vulnerable than America is far from the greatest country in the world and until people wake up and see that America is no longer “we the people” but currently “we the rich and powerful” nothing will
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Corporate Slavery 2012
Let me first say this isn’t to demean slavery in any way, it was the darkest time in America and one that should be apologized for. This is just my opinion and if it offends anyone I am sorry.
Return of Slavery?
Beginning in the 1980’s after the corporate president took office we have seen the destruction of middle class and a vast expansion of the poor. Reagan came into office and immediately rammed through any legislation that Wall Street and big business demanded he pass even at the expense of the majority of Americans. All the work done in the previous 50 years to help raise people out of poverty and create a fair playing field were systematically dismantled creating a new slave class.
For 50 years, and with the help of unions, Americans had begun to build a good life for themselves. A family could have one parent work and one stay home to raise the children and live in comfort and for the first time be able to own their homes, cars and even take vacations. This was the American dream and a majority of families were living it.
Starting in the 1980’s that dream slowly started to become a nightmare as legislation after legislation was passed first weakening unions than strengthening corporate power. It was no longer possible for 1 parent to work and support a family and in some cases both parents had to work just to live the same life they were accustomed to. Health care was no longer a right that everyone had access to and was slowly becoming a privilege that most couldn’t afford. This was the first shots that began a decades long genocide of the middle class.
For years the republican party fought to give tax breaks to the rich and powerful putting more money in their pocket while cutting aide to the poor, elderly and disabled and fighting with every breath to keep the minimum wage low and prevent people from making a good living anymore. The nuclear family exploded and we saw a huge increase in single parents struggling to get by and record homelessness, the republican solution to this problem was to act like they didn’t exist.
You have to look no further than Mississippi to see what happens when republicans are allowed to put all their programs into place and run things like they want. The citizens are kept poor, uneducated and have little access to healthcare, add this with loose gun laws and you see the state also ranking near the top every year in gun violence. This is the final step that was stared by President Reagan and later continued and still be fought for today.
While it’s not slavery in the horrible sense that we have know it in the past it is what I call corporate slavery. With all the cuts in food stamps and insurance for the poor Americans have no choice but to take jobs they hate or are overqualified for but need it to put food on the table and have health care for their family. Many no longer have the luxury to find jobs they want or like because if they leave the ones they have they will lose their homes or worse.
Republicans have made most Americans slaves to the corporations that fund their elections and thanks to the supreme court it will only get worse. Corporations can now spend billions to get the people they want elected and keep us slaves to the corporate machine. If we stand up to the rich and powerful who have enslaved us we immediately hear “Class Warfare” and are put down as being jealous of the rich.
How do they get away with this? They keep us divided on issues like abortion, gun control and make people who work think those who are too sick or disabled and receive welfare do so because they are lazy. Republicans have been promoting a middle class civil war for years and until we wake up and unite we will keep fighting amongst ourselves when we should fight against the people keeping us down. The sad thing is that the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street have things in common but due to the corporate media you will never hear that on TV, the media is owned by the same ones who want to keep us indentured servants who are just glad to be getting the little we are getting. Until America wakes up an unites we will always be in debt and under the control of a small group - We are not the United States of America right now we are the United States of Corporations and have become a plutocracy were the will of the few is cherished over the will of the people.
Return of Slavery?
Beginning in the 1980’s after the corporate president took office we have seen the destruction of middle class and a vast expansion of the poor. Reagan came into office and immediately rammed through any legislation that Wall Street and big business demanded he pass even at the expense of the majority of Americans. All the work done in the previous 50 years to help raise people out of poverty and create a fair playing field were systematically dismantled creating a new slave class.
For 50 years, and with the help of unions, Americans had begun to build a good life for themselves. A family could have one parent work and one stay home to raise the children and live in comfort and for the first time be able to own their homes, cars and even take vacations. This was the American dream and a majority of families were living it.
Starting in the 1980’s that dream slowly started to become a nightmare as legislation after legislation was passed first weakening unions than strengthening corporate power. It was no longer possible for 1 parent to work and support a family and in some cases both parents had to work just to live the same life they were accustomed to. Health care was no longer a right that everyone had access to and was slowly becoming a privilege that most couldn’t afford. This was the first shots that began a decades long genocide of the middle class.
For years the republican party fought to give tax breaks to the rich and powerful putting more money in their pocket while cutting aide to the poor, elderly and disabled and fighting with every breath to keep the minimum wage low and prevent people from making a good living anymore. The nuclear family exploded and we saw a huge increase in single parents struggling to get by and record homelessness, the republican solution to this problem was to act like they didn’t exist.
You have to look no further than Mississippi to see what happens when republicans are allowed to put all their programs into place and run things like they want. The citizens are kept poor, uneducated and have little access to healthcare, add this with loose gun laws and you see the state also ranking near the top every year in gun violence. This is the final step that was stared by President Reagan and later continued and still be fought for today.
While it’s not slavery in the horrible sense that we have know it in the past it is what I call corporate slavery. With all the cuts in food stamps and insurance for the poor Americans have no choice but to take jobs they hate or are overqualified for but need it to put food on the table and have health care for their family. Many no longer have the luxury to find jobs they want or like because if they leave the ones they have they will lose their homes or worse.
Republicans have made most Americans slaves to the corporations that fund their elections and thanks to the supreme court it will only get worse. Corporations can now spend billions to get the people they want elected and keep us slaves to the corporate machine. If we stand up to the rich and powerful who have enslaved us we immediately hear “Class Warfare” and are put down as being jealous of the rich.
How do they get away with this? They keep us divided on issues like abortion, gun control and make people who work think those who are too sick or disabled and receive welfare do so because they are lazy. Republicans have been promoting a middle class civil war for years and until we wake up and unite we will keep fighting amongst ourselves when we should fight against the people keeping us down. The sad thing is that the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street have things in common but due to the corporate media you will never hear that on TV, the media is owned by the same ones who want to keep us indentured servants who are just glad to be getting the little we are getting. Until America wakes up an unites we will always be in debt and under the control of a small group - We are not the United States of America right now we are the United States of Corporations and have become a plutocracy were the will of the few is cherished over the will of the people.
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