Banana Republic?

Saw this online earlier today.

Doug Antelman

We are a Banana Republic. 

Don't believe it?

• Extremely stratified social classes-check
• Large impoverished working class- check
• Ruling class plutocracy comprised of business political and military elites- check
• Kleptocrats who maximize their financial gains on the backs of the every day workers- check
• Elimination of accountability and oversight- check. (White House ethics officer quit, Inspectors General being fired, Intel heads fired, Attorneys General fired, refusal to comply with subpoenas from Congress, refusal to recognize authority of the legislative branch)
• Nepotism- check.
• Cronyism- check (see Elaine Chou and Betsy DeVos)
• Policies designed to benefit the wealthiest- check
• State run news- check
• Attacks on the free press and journalists - check
• Weaponize justice through Department of Justice- check
• Enemies list- check
• Attacks on free and fair elections - check
• Dismantle checks and balances- check
• Eliminate all internal opposition within the cabinet, agencies, their staff, National Security Council, Generals etc- check.

This is where we are, folks This all happened in the past three short years, right under our noses with this President and his administration.

Thanks, Mr. President!
Thanks, Republicans!

What shall we do about it?

Republican Party Song of the Day, Week, Month, Decade. Century?

That these Republicans today are outraged, OUTRAGED! at the treatment of this, their party's nominee for the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court, this Brett Kavanaugh, in these hearings when they didn't even allow---remember that--didn't even ALLOW hearings for the previous President's pick for the court is the epitome of chutzpah, irony and hypocrisy, all.

I thought Trump gaining the White House would be the worst that could and would happen.

I was wrong.

So deeply wrong.

Arguably the Most Important Thing An Adult American Could Read Today

I ran across this article over the weekend. As said above, I think it is, arguably, one of the most, if not the most important thing an adult American could read today about America, about us, about who we are, what we're doing and what may well happen.

The Coming Collapse

Here is but one snippet, dealing with only one of the issues the writer, Chris Hedges, and his article, touch on.

The Trump administration did not rise, prima facie, like Venus on a half shell from the sea. Donald Trump is the result of a long process of political, cultural and social decay. He is a product of our failed democracy. The longer we perpetuate the fiction that we live in a functioning democracy, that Trump and the political mutations around him are somehow an aberrant deviation that can be vanquished in the next election, the more we will hurtle toward tyranny. The problem is not Trump. It is a political system, dominated by corporate power and the mandarins of the two major political parties, in which we don’t count. We will wrest back political control by dismantling the corporate state, and this means massive and sustained civil disobedience, like that demonstrated by teachers around the country this year. If we do not stand up we will enter a new dark age.

Go. Read.

Think We Don't Need to Raise the Minimum Wage?

Many people say we don't need to raise the minimum wage in America. I see it repeatedly.

It made me think.

I remember, distinctly, how I was proud of making $21,000 per year as assistant manager of a men's retail store I worked at in 1979. It didn't make me rich, no way, but I very clearly remember that wage landmark at that time.

So I took that amount and time and put it in a inflation calculator online. The results were stunning.

It showed that that amount, $21,000 per year in 1979 would be the equivalent of earning over $74,000 today. In fact, it would be nearly $75,000 in today's money.

Don't believe it? See for yourself.

CPI Inflation Calculator

Mind you, a great, great deal has changed since, what with retail stores continually being hit and hit hard by "big box" and now online stores, these wages, at least from retail positions, are no longer possible. That said, other industries could, in fact, pay far more reasonable, fair and living wages.

The statistics prove this out.

For most workers, real wages have 

barely budged for decades

2014 Continues a 35-Year Trend 

of Broad-Based Wage Stagnation

The Average American Worker 

Earns Less Today Than 40 Years Ago

And corporations have made out very, very well.

Corporate Profits Grow and Wages Slide

As have the CEOs and executives.

CEO Pay Has Grown 90 Times Faster 

than Typical Worker Pay

Corporate Executives Are Making 

Way More Money Than Anybody

The problem is especially American, too.

American CEO pay: U.S. executives are paid 

way more than foreigners

It's pretty outrageous what is happening and what we're letting happen to and with the nation's wealth.

The Richest 1% Have Captured 

America's Wealth

The Top 1 Percent's Share of Income 

from Wealth Has Been Rising for Decades

We need to fight. We need to fight back. We need to end the Citizens United ruling and end campaign contributions entirely. It's the only way we'll get it back where the government and nation work for the people again, for all the people and not just for the already-wealthy and corporations.

Links:

This is why your CEO makes more than 300 times your pay

Rich People | IT - International Times