A Collage of Facts and Images of the 1% and 99

Dear Folks,

We need to continue paying attention to the facts and images of our two national groups, mainly the l %. Elizabeth Warren on the Daily Show: 30% of our largest companies pay more to lobbyists than federal taxes. Even the old very conservative Senator Grassley complained that so many lobbyists appeared at congressional offices to fight off company's like Romney's Baines being required to pay over 30% taxes than l5%, that the bill, he also supported, failed. Warren added that whatever benefit one seeks financially, lobbyists will get such for you in Washington.

John Stewart, said in a whisper: "the poor have no lobbyists." Elizabeth also noted: China invests 9% of GDP on infrastructures, we, 2%. During this week's Republican primary, we learned that Romney earns - without working, only drawing on his investments - $57,000 per day, better than the Middle Class earns. Rachael Maddow also showed the following diagram: First she pictured all presidents from JFK on and including Obama, she then noted that their combined wealth multiplied by two equals Romney's. Further, the superpacks are now so loading up Romney's coffers that in Florida and for several months he had thousands of adds, some amount like 2500 to Gingrich's roughly 500. This is political madness.




Rita and I also watched the movie, Margin Call, which describes an investment company, loosely modeled on Lehman Brothers. Over a 36 hour period, the company as in the 2007-8 crisis faces a decision. Workers have discovered that its mortgage-based securities (that is, derivatives) are so inflated and threatening to blow up so that if their prices decrease by 25% that amount lost would exceed the company's actual market capitalization, that is, its real wealth. So what to do? The president (Jeremy Irons) ---opposed by floor head (Kevin Spacey)---decides to sell off the toxic assets before the market can react to their worthlessness. He knows that the company will lose its reputation and such could be fatal. Also he tells all salesman that if they can maintain a 93% on supposed market price that each wil be gifted in seven figures. The result was an international calamity, because so many others had been selling similar worthless derivatives, as we know. We had to save several of these investment companies and the banks.

SO WE THE 99% PAID FOR SAVING THEM, WHILE MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS OF US LOST OUR JOBS, OUR INVESTMENTS AND OUR HOMES. What about us now, here and all over the world? There is evidence --negatively speaking-- that both in Egypt and here we are seeing, respectively by the army in Egypt and here by the police --the protestors being attacked. Unfortunately some stupid leaders or anarchists went crazy in Oakland and so four hundred were arrested. OWS will lose its political power if it loses its nonviolent methods. We must be careful even in Chicago as our mayor prepares stringent controls. Meanwhile we need to connect with blogs that support the movement and allows for dialogue such as MoveOn.Com and NationofChange.org and Amy Goodman (democracynow.org). Chris Hedges points out in Nation of Change how Canada, now under a conservative party is restricting protestors and diminishing citizen services.

We need to take lessons from a woman in Liberia who is featured in a powerful documentary, called "Pray the Devil Back to Hell." Liberia was a hell hole a few years back with Robert Taylor as a tyrannical president fighting an insurgent army. Both armies were raping women by the thousands and signing up young boys to carry guns and kill. The woman, with a name like Gweeby I believe, had a dream that she would bring peace to her country. She began to mobilize mothers, Christian and Muslims as "Women for Peace" so written on tee shirts. Using Gandhi-like tactics, the numbers protesting grew into the thousand and their street sit-downs were so disruptive that they forced a meeting with Taylor. The upshot was that Taylor's many destructive actions so came to a fore that Taylor was driven out of office, and for the first time a female became president of that country. In this last month these two women --along with a third --received the Nobel Prize for Peace.

Meanwhile, in an article by Charles Blow (NY Times, Oct 29 2011) we learn that of 3l countries in the world we are 27th in term of all social care indexes. Below us are Turkey, Greece,Chili and Mexico.

This is why, now on the 99% side, we must have a constitutional amendment, not only to reject the concept that a corp or union is a person but also to require only government- supported Federal electoral processes Meanwhile we need to help OWS remain peaceful, enlarge its numbers into the millions and help elect a Democratically committed House and Senate, state legislators, governors and even judges. Millions of monies go into electing all these politicians. The voice of people must overcome the voice of money and adolescent ads.

John G