THE HIGH FLYING RICH
A day or two ago the San Francisco Chronicle's website sfgate.com had an article about the reporter flying in a private jet to get a taste of how the very rich travel. These jets cost millions and they ferry the very rich hither and yon where they do the things the very rich do.
A study was just released saying that 85 people at the top of the economic pyramid have as much wealth as the poorest one-half of the world's population. Then we had some guy on TV saying that he thinks it's fantastic that there is such wealth disparity because it "motivates" people.
The crassness of the very rich and their defenders is almost beyond comprehension.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
WE SHOULD GET RID OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
All those years of the Cold War we worried about a nuclear missile attack by the Soviet Union while never really considering the danger of having nuclear weapons in our midst.
All those years of the Cold War we worried about a nuclear missile attack by the Soviet Union while never really considering the danger of having nuclear weapons in our midst.
Eric Schlosser has written a non-fiction book that is in many ways as terrifying as a Stephen King novel.
Schlosser reveals that a nuclear device was accidentally dropped over the United States just days after President Kennedy was inaugurated. We were very close to a nuclear blast. We've had other incidents when we've come perilously close to a nuclear detonation.
Now we find out that the Air Force has suspended security clearances of 34 missile launch officers for cheating on exams to measure their qualifications and for illegal drug use. How do you feel about a missile launch officer being high while on duty?
The book is called Command and Control. Check out this article at Mother Jones at http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/interview-eric-schlosser-command-control-nuclear-weapons-accidents.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION
I was just observing a forum that has a debate about taxes on the rich.
You usually get a few standard defenses of the status quo. The rich "earned" their money. The rich "pay most of the taxes." I never got a job from a "poor" person. You generally will also get a few other homilies such as claims the rich create jobs and higher taxes are "job killers."
Why are people defending a system that makes most of us servants to the rich and powerful? The rich don't give anyone a job because they're benevolent folks with good hearts. They give someone a job because that person can create a profit and more riches for the rich person.
The rich pay most of the taxes, not because they're treated so grossly unfairly, but because they have most of the money and property. Just where would people collect taxes to pay for the infrastructure that makes a civilized society possible? Do you collect it from the people at the bottom who don't have anything? And who benefits most from the infrastructure we have? Is it the poor or the people at the top of the wealth pyramid?
The rich "earn" their money because of the collective efforts of lots of other people who make it possible. And a good part of what they "earn" is interest and other perks that come with having lots of money. They aren't earning it by hard work or creativity.
There's nothing wrong with people having wealth if that wealth is created honestly and with integrity. There is something very wrong with a system that exploits the majority of the people for the benefit of a few.
I was just observing a forum that has a debate about taxes on the rich.
You usually get a few standard defenses of the status quo. The rich "earned" their money. The rich "pay most of the taxes." I never got a job from a "poor" person. You generally will also get a few other homilies such as claims the rich create jobs and higher taxes are "job killers."
Why are people defending a system that makes most of us servants to the rich and powerful? The rich don't give anyone a job because they're benevolent folks with good hearts. They give someone a job because that person can create a profit and more riches for the rich person.
The rich pay most of the taxes, not because they're treated so grossly unfairly, but because they have most of the money and property. Just where would people collect taxes to pay for the infrastructure that makes a civilized society possible? Do you collect it from the people at the bottom who don't have anything? And who benefits most from the infrastructure we have? Is it the poor or the people at the top of the wealth pyramid?
The rich "earn" their money because of the collective efforts of lots of other people who make it possible. And a good part of what they "earn" is interest and other perks that come with having lots of money. They aren't earning it by hard work or creativity.
There's nothing wrong with people having wealth if that wealth is created honestly and with integrity. There is something very wrong with a system that exploits the majority of the people for the benefit of a few.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION
Happy New Year. And let's hope we can make some progress against the forces of darkness this year. It has always been a struggle and progress has been achieved with considerable pain. We've come a long way, but there is a long way to go.
I've been reading a book called The War of the World by Niall Ferguson. It's pretty heavy reading at times. He talks about the mass atrocities that occurred during the 20th century, which included pogroms against the Jews in Russia, the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Turks, the barbarity of Josef Stalin, and the Holocaust conducted by Nazi Germany.
I hadn't thought about it, but Hitler got many of his ideas about eugenics from laws that existed in the United States. For years and years interracial marriage was actually illegal in many parts of the United States.
Ferguson notes that forty-one states used eugenic categories to restrict marriages of the mentally ill. Twenty-seven states even had laws mandating sterilization for some categories of people.
In many ways the United States has been the light of the world, but we have some dark blotches in our history.
Happy New Year. And let's hope we can make some progress against the forces of darkness this year. It has always been a struggle and progress has been achieved with considerable pain. We've come a long way, but there is a long way to go.
I've been reading a book called The War of the World by Niall Ferguson. It's pretty heavy reading at times. He talks about the mass atrocities that occurred during the 20th century, which included pogroms against the Jews in Russia, the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Turks, the barbarity of Josef Stalin, and the Holocaust conducted by Nazi Germany.
I hadn't thought about it, but Hitler got many of his ideas about eugenics from laws that existed in the United States. For years and years interracial marriage was actually illegal in many parts of the United States.
Ferguson notes that forty-one states used eugenic categories to restrict marriages of the mentally ill. Twenty-seven states even had laws mandating sterilization for some categories of people.
In many ways the United States has been the light of the world, but we have some dark blotches in our history.
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