rich people are ruining America, & they're not done yet

[basquebromance]

let me begin by saying this is not a criticism of Donald Trump, but of folks like The Koch Brothers.

while rich folks don't announce their intentions on the front page of newspapers, their goal is clear. they want to move America into an oligarchic form of society in which all economic and political power rests with a handful of billionaire families. they want to make it impossible for ordinary americans to improve their lives. tragically, they are succeeding.

we must make our choice. we either have democracy, or we have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.

 

[francoHFW]

Trump will do the same thing. D'OH! It's the GOP rich.

 

[basquebromance]

in elections, super PACs are playing a more important role than the actual candidates. these candidates are nothing more than paid employees of their sponsors.

for these billionaires, these expenditures are pocket change and very good investments. the policies enacted by the candidates they elect will yield a very profitable return on their investments, many times over.

and by the way, for these oligarchs, Citizens United didn't go far enough. Citizens United doesn't allow rich folks to coordinate with the candidate. the oligarchs want to change the law to be allowed to give unlimited amounts of money directly to the candidate.

 

[Ringel05]

I wanna be rich so I can ruin America also!!

 

[flacaltenn]

let me begin by saying this is not a criticism of Donald Trump, but of folks like The Koch Brothers.

while rich folks don't announce their intentions on the front page of newspapers, their goal is clear. they want to move America into an oligarchic form of society in which all economic and political power rests with a handful of billionaire families. they want to make it impossible for ordinary americans to improve their lives. tragically, they are succeeding.

we must make our choice. we either have democracy, or we have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.

Money is pretty much over-rated in politics. When you have such poor choices, NO amount of money is gonna fix that. Trump showed you don't need focus groups, ad consultants, tons of cash. You need to know HOW to get coverage. Even if the coverage is sometimes ludicrous.

Imagine what principled, focused people could do to run cheaper campaigns that work. There are endless possiblities. ONE is just promise to END the senseless mind-numbing warfare between the Dems and Reps by electing folks that want BOTH parties -- out of town by High Noon...

 

[basquebromance]

when you hear a report from an "independent nonpartisan think tank" telling us that we should give tax cuts to the rich, are their conclusions influenced by the billionaires who fund those think tanks? let's not be naiive. of course they are.

in washington you get what you paid for. the results: the desires of the rich are well attended to. the pain of the middle class is ignored. (higher education is the ticket to the middle class but millions of young people simply can't afford to go to college, while others leave school with suffocating debt. many families have two wage earners working multiple jobs, yet still struggle to pay for housing or child care. many disabled vets are not making it on their $10,000 a year Social Security. 43 million are living in poverty. and on and on it goes...)

 

[basquebromance]

let me begin by saying this is not a criticism of Donald Trump, but of folks like The Koch Brothers.

while rich folks don't announce their intentions on the front page of newspapers, their goal is clear. they want to move America into an oligarchic form of society in which all economic and political power rests with a handful of billionaire families. they want to make it impossible for ordinary americans to improve their lives. tragically, they are succeeding.

we must make our choice. we either have democracy, or we have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.

Money is pretty much over-rated in politics. When you have such poor choices, NO amount of money is gonna fix that. Trump showed you don't need focus groups, ad consultants, tons of cash. You need to know HOW to get coverage. Even if the coverage is sometimes ludicrous.

Imagine what principled, focused people could do to run cheaper campaigns that work. There are endless possiblities. ONE is just promise to END the senseless mind-numbing warfare between the Dems and Reps by electing folks that what BOTH parties -- out of town by High Noon...

there's this thing called "dialing for dollars", a totally humiliating experience for candidates. they are given a piece of paper with the names of potential donors, most of whom the candidate has never met. an aide dials the number to expedite the process. they spend hours and hours doing this, instead of working on behalf of the people.

 

[g5000]

I'm waiting for a party made of actual conservatives. Until then, I will point out the weaknesses of the two major liberal parties.

 

[flacaltenn]

let me begin by saying this is not a criticism of Donald Trump, but of folks like The Koch Brothers.

while rich folks don't announce their intentions on the front page of newspapers, their goal is clear. they want to move America into an oligarchic form of society in which all economic and political power rests with a handful of billionaire families. they want to make it impossible for ordinary americans to improve their lives. tragically, they are succeeding.

we must make our choice. we either have democracy, or we have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.

Money is pretty much over-rated in politics. When you have such poor choices, NO amount of money is gonna fix that. Trump showed you don't need focus groups, ad consultants, tons of cash. You need to know HOW to get coverage. Even if the coverage is sometimes ludicrous.

Imagine what principled, focused people could do to run cheaper campaigns that work. There are endless possiblities. ONE is just promise to END the senseless mind-numbing warfare between the Dems and Reps by electing folks that what BOTH parties -- out of town by High Noon...

there's this thing called "dialing for dollars", a totally humiliating experience for candidates. they are given a piece of paper with the names of potential donors, most of whom the candidate has never met. an aide dials the number to expedite the process. they spend hours and hours doing this, instead of working on behalf of the people.

Nothings free. Podiums and events cost money. And I aint giving politicians blank checks of MINE to spend on winning power. .Use ******* GoFundMe. This ain't the 20th Century anymore. Don't HAVE a reliable press. You can reach MILLIONS for ******* free if you're informative and entertaining and bold.

 

[Dragonlady]

let me begin by saying this is not a criticism of Donald Trump, but of folks like The Koch Brothers.

while rich folks don't announce their intentions on the front page of newspapers, their goal is clear. they want to move America into an oligarchic form of society in which all economic and political power rests with a handful of billionaire families. they want to make it impossible for ordinary americans to improve their lives. tragically, they are succeeding.

we must make our choice. we either have democracy, or we have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.

Money is pretty much over-rated in politics. When you have such poor choices, NO amount of money is gonna fix that. Trump showed you don't need focus groups, ad consultants, tons of cash. You need to know HOW to get coverage. Even if the coverage is sometimes ludicrous.

Imagine what principled, focused people could do to run cheaper campaigns that work. There are endless possiblities. ONE is just promise to END the senseless mind-numbing warfare between the Dems and Reps by electing folks that what BOTH parties -- out of town by High Noon...

there's this thing called "dialing for dollars", a totally humiliating experience for candidates. they are given a piece of paper with the names of potential donors, most of whom the candidate has never met. an aide dials the number to expedite the process. they spend hours and hours doing this, instead of working on behalf of the people.

You voted for a billionaire who packed his cabinet with billionaires and yet you believe they will run the country to benefit the middle class.

Trump is lining his own pockets as fast as he can.

 

[flacaltenn]

when you hear a report from an "independent nonpartisan think tank" telling us that we should give tax cuts to the rich, are their conclusions influenced by the billionaires who fund those think tanks? let's not be naiive. of course they are.

in washington you get what you paid for. the results: the desires of the rich are well attended to. the pain of the middle class is ignored. (higher education is the ticket to the middle class but millions of young people simply can't afford to go to college, while others leave school with suffocating debt. many families have two wage earners working multiple jobs, yet still struggle to pay for housing or child care. many disabled vets are not making it on their $10,000 a year Social Security. 43 million are living in poverty. and on and on it goes...)

You think the "think tanks" at the other end of the spectrum operate on Bake Sales??

Tax policy is HIGHLY debatable. It should be. Because it doesn't always work the same way twice..

 

[Mac1958]

It's not the rich people who are ruining the country.

 

[whitehall]

The left wing rhetoric is so stale that it's no wonder they lost almost every major election in the last ten years. Hillary accepted a quarter of a million dollars each for a series of 15 minute speeches to Wall Street bankers and the crazy incoherent left suddenly decides that "the rich are ruining America" after she loses.

 

[basquebromance]

the rich's curtailing of our democracy should offend the conscience of every American.

we spend trillions of dollars to defend this nation. we can and should spend money to DEFEND democracy from those who want to spend money to subvert democracy. it is incumbent on politicians to make sure there is funding to make sure there are sufficent polling places and poll workers to prevent long lines from forming at the polls.

 

[francoHFW]

It's rich GOP people who are ruining the middle class and the country. It's they who finance the GOP propaganda machine (almost all the fake news, dupes), and keep the GOP cutting taxes on the rich and refusing to invest in policies that help the nonrich. End of story. If you don't know the Dem rich are for raising taxes on the bloated rich (themselves), cutting them on the rest, and for increased services NEEDED and infrastructure/jobs, you are duped, like 46% of the country..

 

[ABikerSailor]

The left wing rhetoric is so stale that it's no wonder they lost almost every major election in the last ten years. Hillary accepted a quarter of a million dollars each for a series of 15 minute speeches to Wall Street bankers and the crazy incoherent left suddenly decides that "the rich are ruining America" after she loses.

You idiots thought that because Hillary took money for speeches, she's somehow in cahoots with Goldman Sachs and Wall St.

Got news for you..Hillary didn't put Goldman Sachs CEOs into her cabinet. Trump did. Five to be exact.

 

[francoHFW]

The left wing rhetoric is so stale that it's no wonder they lost almost every major election in the last ten years. Hillary accepted a quarter of a million dollars each for a series of 15 minute speeches to Wall Street bankers and the crazy incoherent left suddenly decides that "the rich are ruining America" after she loses.

You don't SEE their policies- you get only character assassination- and controversy on corporate news. Humbug. All Pols get all the money they can for speeches and books. Your heroes just got nothing to say.

 

[basquebromance]

let me get to The Koch Brothers.

they have a private political machine that rivals, & threatens to subsume, the Republican party.

the Kochs spent $750 million in 2016, more than both the RNC & the DNC combined.

the Kochs want to abolish ALL TAXATION. that's one of their stated goals. here are some of their other goals (these are from the 1980 Libertarian Party platform, written by the Koch Brothers themselves):

_"we favor abolishing Medicare & Medicaid"

_"we favor abolishing the oppressive Social Security system"

_"we support abolishing the minimum wage"

_"we oppose all government welfare"

the next time you see a glitzy ad funded by the Kochs professing to care about the issues facing ordinary Americans, remember what they really stand for and what kind of America the Kochs want.

 

[Dragonlady]

let me get to The Koch Brothers.

they have a private political machine that rivals, & threatens to subsume, the Republican party.

the Kochs spent $750 million in 2016, more than both the RNC & the DNC combined.

the Kochs want to abolish ALL TAXATION. that's one of their stated goals. here are some of their other goals (these are from the 1980 Libertarian Party platform, written by the Koch Brothers themselves):

_"we favor abolishing Medicare & Medicaid"

_"we favor abolishing the oppressive Social Security system"

_"we support abolishing the minimum wage"

_"we oppose all government welfare"

the next time you see a glitzy ad funded by the Kochs professing to care about the issues facing ordinary Americans, remember what they really stand for and what kind of America the Kochs want.

But you voted for Trump and he wants most of these same things. He just endorsed legislation cutting 25 million people off their health insurance. He uses H1N1 visa workers in his hotels and has been fined for using illegals on his construction sites.

 

[basquebromance]

in the US, the only industrial country in the world where it happens, drug companies can charge any price they want for drugs. as a result we pay the highest prices in the world by far for medicine. there are 435 members of congress. there are 1,400 pharma lobbyists. i cannot remember the last time Big Pharma lost a major legislative battle. they contributed $50 million to both parties in 2016. they win, the american people lose.