The thumb belongs to the 44th President of the United States; the note was written by one of the Occupy groups. The 99% tells truth to power.
Here's Tendown 103. 102 is here.
1. Tax Cuts
From the Citizens for Tax Justice consider the following:
The Bush tax cuts, extended last December, resulted in an average 2011 tax savings of 66 grand per household for the top 1% of income earners in the US.
For the other 99%, the savings was a little less than 1500 bucks.
The average household income for that 99% is 58 grand (I'm below average). This means that, in the United States in 2011, the tax cuts for the average household in the top 1% are more than the income for the average household in the 99%. If you make less than 66 grand, that's the position you and I are both in.
That's why, in Michael Moore's 10 point policy proposal this week, ending the Bush tax cuts comes first:
A Proposal for Occupy Wall Street
Submitted by Michael Moore
1. Eradicate the Bush tax cuts for the rich and institute new taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on corporations, including a tax on all trading on Wall Street (where they currently pay 0%).
2. Assess a penalty tax on any corporation that moves American jobs to other countries when that company is already making profits in America. Our jobs are the most important national treasure and they cannot be removed from the country simply because someone wants to make more money.
3. Require that all Americans pay the same Social Security tax on all of their earnings (normally, the middle class pays about 6% of their income to Social Security; someone making $1 million a year pays about 0.6% (or 90% less than the average person). This law would simply make the rich pay what everyone else pays.
4. Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, placing serious regulations on how business is conducted by Wall Street and the banks.
5. Investigate the Crash of 2008, and bring to justice those who committed any crimes.
6. Reorder our nation's spending priorities (including the ending of all foreign wars and their cost of over $2 billion a week). This will re-open libraries, reinstate band and art and civics classes in our schools, fix our roads and bridges and infrastructure, wire the entire country for 21st century internet, and support scientific research that improves our lives.
7. Join the rest of the free world and create a single-payer, free and universal health care system that covers allAmericans all of the time.
8. Immediately reduce carbon emissions that are destroying the planet and discover ways to live without the oil that will be depleted and gone by the end of this century.
9. Require corporations with more than 10,000 employees to restructure their board of directors so that 50% of its members are elected by the company’s workers. We can never have a real democracy as long as most people have no say in what happens at the place they spend most of their time: their job. (For any U.S. businesspeople freaking out at this idea because you think workers can't run a successful company: Germany has a law like this and it has helped to make Germany the world’s leading manufacturing exporter.)
10. We, the people, must pass three constitutional amendments that will go a long way toward fixing the core problems we now have. These include:
a) A constitutional amendment that fixes our broken electoral system by 1) completely removing campaign contributions from the political process; 2) requiring all elections to be publicly financed; 3) moving election day to the weekend to increase voter turnout; 4) making all Americans registered voters at the moment of their birth; 5) banning computerized voting and requiring that all elections take place on paper ballots.
b) A constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are not people and do not have the constitutional rights of citizens. This amendment should also state that the interests of the general public and society must always come before the interests of corporations.
c) A constitutional amendment that will act as a "second bill of rights" as proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt: that every American has a human right to employment, to health care, to a free and full education, to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat safe food, and to be cared for with dignity and respect in their old age.
2. Or You Could Take Mitt Romney's Policy Plan
He pledges not to put money in people's pockets.
Apparently he forgot that corporations are people, as his economic plan would include a 6.6 trillion dollar tax cut.
3. Working America's Wealth
More important than income is wealth. Here's a briefing paper from the Economic Policy Institute.
• The wealthiest 1% of U.S. households had net worth that was 225 times greater than the median or typical household’s
net worth in 2009. This is the highest ratio on record.
•The median net worth of black households was $2,200 in 2009, the lowest ever recorded; the median among white
households was $97,900.
4. Remember, it's Not About Race
Michelle Obama got booed at a NASCAR event. You know, like Laura Bush always got booed by left leaning sports fans. Booing first ladies is a time honored American tradition. When she threw out the first ball in an 1882 game between the Worcester Ruby Legs and Wilmington Quick Steps, Ellen Arthur was so roundly jeered over Standard Oil's control of 90+% of the nation's oil market "you're nothing but a Dollymop, madame" that she had to be escorted from the diamond by future Hall of Famer John Clarkson. The two began a torrid affair foreshadowing Mickey Mantle's notorious decade long dalliance with Bess Truman.
Rush Limbaugh explained the NASCAR fans curious (and maybe singular) reaction to a first lady by saying that Michelle Obama was, wait for it, uppity.
Not at all about race. Not at all.
5. They Don't Want Small Government
Megyn Kelly, physically flawless water carrier for authoritarianism, dismissed last week's pepper spraying of Occupy protesters, it's a food product, essentially.
Better than that is this Pepper Spraying Cop tumblr.
6. If You Have Children.
My Ladygal picked up a nice writeup for one of her many projects this week. This one geared to parents of young children. Consider forwarding the link to someone who might order one or a dozen and one.
7. Happy Thanksgiving.
Pick whichever video most suits you.
The Chinese dog who won't leave his owner's grave.
or
The Little Rock Walmart Waffle Maker Riot.
8. Who You Should Be Following on Twitter
The cast and crew of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
9. Moratorium
Let's shut down two things this week.
-the phrase, "brother from another mother." Hermain Cain's shoutout to Batman villains the Koch Brothers needs to be the point where we leave brother from another mother behind.
-and advertising the start of a television series over a month away.
Hell no, Bravo. Once we pass December 2 we can talk. But it wasn't even Thanksgiving and you were pimping your 2012 lineup. Absolutely not.
10. USC 50 UCLA 0
No matter who plays LSU in the title game, you won't see the two best teams in the country.
That's all for this time. I'll be back next time. If there is a next time...
Your pal,
Jim
