This is another posting of the 250 such headlines of recent years, from print media. More are appearing weekly, if not daily !!!!!! Tax evasion, wage theft, forced unpaid hours, corporate conspiracies to rig markets, etc. This PATTERN has been a constant effort since at least 1865. An ENTIRE ERA , 1865-1901 has been named ‘The Gilded Age,” in honor of the  numerous “Robber Barons” that corrupted America.  Subsequent eras – 1920s, 1980s, 2000s. forward, have shown the Rich and Corporations have a NEVER ENDING capacity for GREED, CRUELTY, CRIMINALITY, CORRUPTION. Consider the following examples:

1] ”Suffocating in slow motion” ”A New York Times reporter shows how mining companies and their lawyers rigged a system to deny benefits to coal miners sickened with black lung”: ”Soul Full of Coal Dust”. [Chris Serres; Mpls Star Tribune; 8/16/20 ]

2]. ”McDonald’s settles class-action lawsuit”. “McDonald’s has agreed to a $26 million settlement of a long-running class-action lawsuit over wages and work conditions..covers about 38,000 individuals..” [ John Antczak; Associated Press; 11/26/2019 ]

3] ”Top cop SEC must pursue individuals”. “The government appears to be getting tough on corporate shenanigans, securing $83 million in fines..from Bank of America and General Electric for misleading investors.” [ Rachel Beck; Associated Press; 8/9/2009 ]

4]. “The Panama Papers Global Implications”. “A massive leak of 11.5 million documents from a Panama-based law firm offers glimpses into the shadowy world in which the rich and powerful stash their wealth and raises sharp questions about the use of shell companies..The ICIJ said the documents involve 214,488 companies and 14,153 clients..” [David McHugh, Frank Jordans; Associated Press; 4/6/2016 ]

5]. “Ponzi-scheme architect: Political clout was the key” ”..Rothstein described how he used his wallet to curry favor with politicians, lawyers, bank presidents and cops to create the aura of respectability..” [ Jane Musgrave; Palm Beach Post; 2/6/2014 ]

6] ”Medtronic to pay $23.5 M to resolve allegations it paid kickbacks” ”..paid kickbacks to doctors who implanted its pacemakers and defibfrillators.. The lawsuits were filed by whistleblowers..” [ Bloomberg News and Associated Press; 12/12/2011 }

7] ”Former Archer Daniels Midland CEO Dwayne Andreas has died” ”In October, 1996, ADM pleaded guilty to two criminal charges and agreed to pay $100 million..for fixing prices for the feed additive lysine and for citric acid..” [ David Mercer; Associated Press; 11/17/2016 ]

8] ”Purdue Pharma OxyContin settlement lets the Sackler family off the hook” ”There is only one bankruptcy judge in White Plains..if a company decides to file for bankruptcy in White Plains, Drain will preside..dozens of companies have done just that..let’s not mince words here – he did exactly what Purdue and the Sacklers hoped he would. He let the family get away with it.” [ Joe Nocera; Bloomberg Opinion; 9/5/2021 ]

9] ”Are You Paying For Corporate Fat Cats?” ”KBR- a former Halliburton subsidiary and largest Iraq war contractor – admitted to “reducing tax obligations” through two Cayman Islands divisions, reportedly avoiding hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicare and Social Security taxes. A 2004 study by the GAO found..24 of the largest federal contractors used Cayman Islands units to shave their taxes.” [Gary Weiss; Parade Magazine Intelligence Report; 4/13/2008}

10] ”Fox to pay $12 M to settle workplace suit”. “Fox News will pay one of its former producers $12 million to settle her claims..she faced a discriminatory workplace and that the network tried to coerce her into giving false testimony in Dominion Inc.’s defamation lawsuit..” [. 7/1/2023 ] o 

Social Security, and Later Medicare, have been under ceaseless attacks by the FAR RIGHT ever since they were established. Below are some of the lowlights from the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare:
– 1982 – President Reagan attempted to reduce Social security benefits for people who had retired before they turned 65
-1989 – attempt to impose monthly Medicare premium & a surtax for people over 65 with incomes above $35,000
– 1995 – campaign to impose $270 billion in Medicare cuts
– 2003 – attempt to cut Social Security funds by Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment
– 2005 – President Bush’s infamous Social Security privatization plan
-2008 – attempted “Medicare Trigger” imposing arbitrary 45% cap on government funding of Medicare
– 2011 – House Budget Committee Chairman’s infamous plan to privatize traditional Medicare
– 2013 – attempted Social Security “COLA” cut, and increase in Medicare eligibility age
– 2015 – attempted Social Security & Medicare cuts [“massive Soc. Secrty..cuts..52% Medicare premium rate hike”]
– 2017- “Trumpcare” plan to weaken Medicare [“leave millions uninsured & drastically raised premiums..”]
-2018 – attempted Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment {“required deep cuts to earned benefits”]
-2021 – attempted “Trust Act,” “which would establish so-called “Rescue Committees” for Social Security & Medicare and
    set up these programs fro massive cuts in the future to pat down budget deficits”]

Then there is organized political campaigns by the Far Right to sabotage or eliminate Social Security and Medicare:
– “Advisers to Swift vets hired to shoot down the AARP”….”The lobbying group, USA Next, which has poured millions of
 dollars into Republican policy battles, now says it plans to spend as much as $10 million..assailing AARP. ..[for]..
 opposing the private investment accounts at the center of Bush’s plan.” [Glen Justice;2/21/05; n.Y. Times]
– “Theft from 401[k]s a growing problem” ”There is no..safety net for defined-contribution plans” {W.S.Jrnl; 3/6/05}
– “Economist Sees Private Accounts As Losing Bet” ’..Robert J. Schiller of Yale University found that private accounts
 would be in the red at retirement 32% of the time…analysis..based on stock, bond & money market data from 1871
  through 2004..” [Robert Schlesinger; May, 2005, AARP Bulletin]
- ”Comptroller pans private accounts”. ‘..[private accounts]..wouldn’t shore up the system, he said, if they were financed
  or “carved out” from current Social Security taxes, as Bush proposes..” [ Steven Thomma; WashingtonBureau; 3/10/05}
– “The Business Roundtable..one of two main groups leading the charge for deep cuts in Social Security..is made up of
  CEOS who have average retirement nest eggs of $14.5 million each, according to a report by the Institute for Policy
  Studies and the Center for Effective Government.”…”The powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce has also “rededicated
  itself to an effort to slash Social Security” according to the Washington Post.” [National Committee to Preserve
  Social Security and Medicare; circa 2018]
- ”Debunking the Latest Attack on Social Security” ”For decades, the right wing has been warning..Social security is on
  the verge of going broke..The grand old man of this fable was Peter G. Peterson, an investment billionaire..who spent
  more than a half a billion dollars of his fortune to create the Peter G. Peterson foundation to propagate the myth.”
  [ Robert Kuttner; The Progressive Populist; 12/1/23]

Steve Pressman: ”Fears concerning retirement are..perfectly understandable. for decades, the pillars supporting Americans in retirement have crumbled. Comfortable retirement was possible in the postwar era due to income from three sources – individual savings, employer pensions, and Social Security. Today, people lack adequate savings. They also lack pension plans that provide a steady income during retirement. Meanwhile, Social Security faces its own financial problems.
 ”Instead of trying to fix these problems, Republicans have attacked Social Security as another failed government program that requires large benefit cuts. And they have blamed individuals for not saving enough, even though the problem is the Republican policies that made it harder for people to save.”…
 ”Starting in the 1980s, businesses stopped offering their workers defined benefit retirement plans and began providing only defined contribution plans….In this brazen new world of retirement plans, if workers can’t contribute money, gthey are out of luck.”….
 ”This brings us to Social Security, whose benefits have been cut surreptitiously since the 1980s and are in jeopardy of further cuts in the future.”……..”Starting around 1980, almost all the income gains in the U.S. economy have gone to the wealthy. As a result of the earnings cap. a smaller fraction of total national income gets taxed by Social Security.”
  [Washington Spectator; December, 2019]

The democratic, fair, SOLUTION, which will “promote the general Welfare” [Preamble, U.S. Constitution}, has been known for years: 

        Eliminate the earnings cap, with no change in benefits.

Why have an “earnings cap”????  Because, the excuse. was: millionaires & billionaires would be unfairly taxed!!!
   they would see “no benefits” from being taxed 100% – like. YOU are taxed. !!!!!!!!! 
 No benefits from protection of their fortunes and property by police and fire; no protection from courts and laws; no protection from the U.S. military. Nope – nothing!!!!! 
   If YOUR relatives had been in the U.S. military, were traumatized, wounded, killed – none of this counts as a “benefit” for millionaires and billionaires;  if one of YOUR relatives had been a “first responder”, and was traumatized, injured, killed – none of this counts as a “benefit” for millionaires and billionaires;  if on of YOUR relatives was a construction worker building America’s infrastructure, and was injured or killed on the job - none of this is a “benefit’ to millionaires and billionaires;  if members of YOUR. family. have been loyal, patriotic people just doing their jobs – none of that matters as a “benefit” go millionaires and billionaires.
    The Rich have. “earned all their wealth by themselves.”  They owe NOTHING. to the “undeserving” people in the lower 98 – 95%. - absolutely. NOTHING.  So, THAT is why  they get taxed at a Social Security tax rate less than YOU!!!!!   That and the simple fact, like much else, the Rich have BOUGHT. this tax break. - this is “Campaign Contributions” at work !!!!!!  And for that corruption, YOU. can thank. a corrupt U.S. ”supreme court. The “conservative” ”justices”. were placed on the “court” so they could make rulings like “Citizens United.”
     
    And , thus, the Far Right continues to STEAL THE. AMERICAN. DREAM,  in addition to being a Threat to Democracy.

Consider the following evidence of the vast scope of abuse, callousness, corruption and criminality by he rich and the corporations they control:

1] $220 million: money spent by banking-securities-insurance industries in 2009 to PREVENT REAL REFORM legislation; 2,500 lobbyists; their army; 350 times: number of times their lobbyists met with banking agencies before a rule was published.
  [ source: ”Freedom to Harm”]

2] In 1948, the top 10% held about 30-35% of American wealth. By 19999, the top 10% held 70% of the wealth…the top 1% not quite 50%.   [source: ”The Big Myth”}

3] 2005 UNICEF’s ”Child Poverty in Rich Countries” report: the U.S. is 2nd from worst; 22% of Americans under 18 are living in households with per capita income below 50% of the national average. [source: $ervants of Wealth”}

4] Between 1980 – 2010, “median family income essentially stagnated” in America. Families had an annual growth rate of .36%. [ source: ”The Price of Inequality” ]
 

5] U.S. health care costs put both employers and labor at a disadvantage. In 1989, a Ford vehicle made in Canada cost Ford Motor Company $49.80 in employee health care. In Michigan, the cost was $311. [source: “The War on Labor and the Left” ]

6] ”The 401[k] is really one huge tax loophole..The annual tax avoidance because of 401[k] plans comes to about $110 billion..{which].. illustrates how America is not prospering because its economic policies violate well-established principles.” [excess costs, risks, inefficiencies]. [source: ”The Fine Print”]

7] U.S.A. is Number One!!!!! – in number of hours worked; most unequal rich nation [2016]; in obesity; tied for #1: “most dangerous roads of advanced industrial world”; for $10,000 U.S. birth cost – Netherlands [#2 spender, health care] birth cost: $2824 [2016]. [source: ”American Amnesia”]

8] $1 billion – total of Amazon subsidies and tax abatements from state and local governments, 2007-2017; Amazon had “a whole department tasked with securing subsidies” [“economic development”] [source: ”Fulfillment”]

9] 100 companies RENOUNCED THEIR U.S. CITIZENSHIP, 1983-2015, to avoid taxes; 30 to Bermuda, 17 to Ireland, 13 to Cayman Islands. [source: ”Flee-conomics,” ; Mother Jones; March-April, 2015]

10]. $50 billion: what the “pass-through” tax beak cost America America EACH year; $331 billion: what “accelerated depreciation” cost America between 2017-2021; $0: what Amazon paid in U.S. federal taxes in 2018 [see page 131]
    source: ”Tax The Rich”]

We, the People, call Morris Pearl for his testimony. Pearl’s net worth was estimated in 2023 to be about $50 million.
His testimony comes from “Tax The Rich How Lies, Loopholes, and Lobbyists Make The Rich Even Richer.”

Pearl: “”I..[want]…to challenge my fellow millionaires to get their heads out of the sand. You are destroying the country…
I’ve got a message – a warning..for my fellow rich people…You cannot continue to sit by and enjoy your riches while the rest of the world falls further into poverty and chaos. We have seen the results of gross inequality over and over again. Reread your history books. Dysfunctional societies don’t end well for rich people either.”…..
 History is riddled with examples of what happens when too many have too little and too few have too much..I’m talking about a revolution. America’s millionaires should know..during the 2016 election, 81% of Trump supporters and 79% of Bernie Sanders supporters said the country needed a political revolution.”

Pearl: “I want to ask my fellow millionaires, Do you really think you can protect yourself from mobs of angry, hungry people? So did King Louis XVI and Czar Nicholas II. You may believe this time is different.”….
 ”I don’t feel being guilty about being rich..I would recommend it to anyone. And I don’t consider myself any more altruistic than the next person. I’m just as greedy as every other rich person I know. I’m just greedy for a different kind of country than a lot of other rich people are.
 ”I’m greedy for a country with a basic sense of fairness for me and my family to live in…I want to live in a country with lots of rich people and a huge middle class, and I happen to believe..lessening inequality by taxing rich people is the only way to create that kind of country.

Pearl: “Taxing our richest citizens is not the only thing we have to do..but it is not optional. Think of it as entirely necessary… So I plan to do everything I can to ensure we tax people like me as substantially and effectively as possible. 
I don’t want to be a rich man in a poor country… I don’t want to live in a country with a few extraordinarily wealthy people and millions of poor people…I don’t want to live behind barbed-wire fences. I don’t want to ride around in a bulletproof car with a trained security guard. I don’t want to worry that my children or grandchildren are going to get kidnapped, or worse.”…

Pearl: “..I’m not alone. Ten years ago, with a few dozen other millionaires, I signed a open letter to America’s leaders to protest the extension of the Bush tax cuts for people like us with incomes of over $l million a year and/or assets of at least $5 million. Since then, this group of “Patriotic Millionaires” has grown to over two hundred people from thirty-three states.”…
 ”At the time we released our initial letter, the disparity between..rich and..poor in America was highest it had been in a hundred years..reached a point..history proved was really problematic. It has only gotten worse..inequality continuing to rise even faster, destabilizing our society and eroding the foundation that..kept us strong for so long. We decided to focus our attention there, on the cancerous inequality at the center of our shared experience.”

Pearl: ”The tax system was our first target. but we expanded our fight beyond tax policy to include two other areas ..essential for our long-term stability and prosperity: first, a top-to-bottom reform of our political system to limit the power of millionaires in our lawmaking [starting with taking a hatchet to our corrupt campaign-finance system],..and second, a reset of our wage and labor laws to ensure..working people, including those in the new “gig” economy, are guaranteed a fair share of the proceeds of business and paid a wage they can actually survive on
 ”If we achieve all our goals – higher taxes on millionaires, equal political representation for all Americans, and a living wage for working people – we will become a more equal and more stable nation over time..a more prosperous nation overall as well..”

Pearl: ”..there are still quite a few things standing in our way, not the least among them several thousand millionaires who totally disagree with us. but we know the game – the lobbyists, the loopholes, and the lies…We know..if you look closely at the tax code, you will see nothing but layers upon layers of corruption and campaign contributions….because a lot of politicians actually want you to be confused. the less the average person knows about taxes, the easier it is for the rich and powerful to rig the system in their favor.”

Pearl: ‘ I’m proud to be called a “traitor to my class.”..I don’t want to live in a country where people can funnel their income through fake Irish corporations to cut their tax bill..a nation where investors like me have lower tax rates than people who need to work for a living have..a nation where children like mine..receive millions of dollars in inheritances tax free..I don’t want to continue to pay low taxes into a system that ensures rich investors like me will get richer and richer while the middle class gets smaller and the poor get even more desperate. And I don’t want to live in a system where my fellow millionaires are able to do all those things with impunity.”

Mayer has been often honored for her reporting and her books. ”Dark Money” is yet another investigation into the often hidden alternative world of the Far Right.

We, the People, call to the stand as our next witness, Jane Mayer:

Mayer: “During the 1970s, a handful of the nation’s wealthiest corporate captains felt overtaxed and overregulated and decided to fight back..they launched an ambitious, privately financed war of ideas to radically change the country. They didn’t want to merely win elections; they wanted to change how Americans thought..to “save” America..by turning the clock back to the Gilded Age…Charles Koch[‘s] ambitions were..even more radical: to pull the government out “at the root.”
 ”The weapon ..of these wealthy activists was philanthropy..the conservative rich created a new generation of hyper-political private foundations..to invest in ideology like venture capitalists, leveraging their fortunes for maximum strategic impact. Because of the anonymity ..charitable organizations provided, the full scope of these efforts was largely invisible to the public..”
 ”..their war spread from “beachheads” in academia and law to corporate front groups purporting to represent public opinion..they hired the smartest and slickest marketers money could buy..skilled at popularizing the agenda of wealthy backers by “framing” their issues in more broadly appealing terms.
 ”They exercised their power fro the shadows, meeting in secret, hiding their money trails, and paying others to front for them. The dark money groups masquerading as “social welfare” organizations during the Obama era were..the latest iteration of a privately funded, nonprofit ideological war that had begun forty years earlier.”

Mayer: “Mike Lofgren, a Republican who spent thirty years observing how wealthy interests gamed the policy-making apparatus in Washington..decried what he called the “secession” of the rich in which they “disconnect themselves from the civic life of the nation and from any concern about its wellbeing except as a lace to extract loot.”
    [ Mike Lofgren: “Revolt of the Rich”; American Conservative; August 27, 2012 ]

Mayer: “The Republican National Committee..assess[ed]..its failings. In an unusually candid and self-critical public exegesis, it found..out-of-control spending by outsiders was overwhelming the candidates, giving rich donors too much influence. ”The current campaign finance environment has led to a handful of friends and allied groups dominating our side’s efforts. this is not healthy. A lot of centralized authority in the hands of a few people at these outside organizations is dangerous for our Party..”

Mayer: Charles Koch’s “grand strategist” admitted “..free-market conservatives had lost the all-important “middle third.”
This segment..tended to believe..liberals cared more about ordinary people like themselves. In contrast..”big business they see as very suspicious…They’re greedy. they don’t care about the underprivileged…Fink readily conceded..these critics weren’t wrong..”….
 ”..the government-slashing agenda of the Koch network was a problem for these voters. Fink acknowledged,”We want to decrease regulations. Why? It’s because we can make more profit, okay? Yeah, and cut government spending so we don’t have to pay so much taxes.”

Mayer: “A breakthrough..was the creation of some two dozen privately funded academic centers, the flagship of which was the Mercatus Center at George Mason University..private academic centers within colleges and universities were ideal devices by which rich conservatives could replace the faculty’s views with their own. ”Money talks loudly on college campuses”..the report profiled the trailblazing record of John Allison..former Cato Institute chairman, who had overseen grants to sixty-three colleges..All of these programs were required to teach his favorite philosopher, the celebrator of self-interest Ayn Rand.”….
 ”Students complained..the Koch influence was nefarious and omnipresent..”We learned..Keynes was bad, the free-market was better..sweatshop labor wasn’t so bad..the hands-off regulations in China were better than those of the U.S.”
…The Kochs were also directing millions of dollars in online education, and into teaching high school students, through a nonprofit..the Young Entrepreneurs Academy…which taught students..Franklin Roosevelt didn’t alleviate the Depression, minimum wage laws and public assistance hurt the poor, lower pay for women wasn’t discriminatory, and the government, rather than business, caused the 2008 recession.””

Mayer: “The [2014] election was as big a victory for ultrarich conservative donors as it was for the winning Republican candidates..Four years into the “Citizens United” era, the numbers were more numbing than shocking The only suspense..was the factor by which spending had multiplied..”We have reached a tipping point where mega donors completely dominate the landscape.”..
 ”Let’s call the system that “Citizens United” and other rulings and laws have created what it is: an oligarchy..The system is controlled by a handful of ultra-wealthy people, most of whom got rich from the system and who will get richer from the system.”

Mayer: “By 2015, [the Koch’s] antigovernment lead was followed by much of Congress. Addressing global warming was out of the question. Although economic inequality had reached record levels, raising taxes on the runaway rich and closing special loopholes that. advantaged only them were also nonstarters. Funding basic public services like the repair of America’s crumbling infrastructure was als seemingly beyond reach. A majority of the public supported an expansion of the social safety net. but leaders in both parties nevertheless embraced austerity measures popular with the affluent. Even though Americans overwhelmingly opposed cuts in Social Security..the Beltway consensus was that to save the program, it needed to be shrunk.”   o

WE, the People, present the following evidence of abuse, cruelty, criminality, corruption on the part of the rich and corporations to subvert America, the American economy, American government, American society:

1]. “Crypto firm Binance is fined $4 billion”. ”CEO admits not stopping money laundering.” [Lindsay Whitehurst, Gene Johnson, Fatima Hussein, Eric Tucker; Associated Press; 11/22/23]

2] “Palm oil labor abuses linked to world’s top brands, banks”. “..millions of laborers from some of the poorest corners of Asia, many of them enduring various forms of exploitation..child labor, outright slavery and allegations of rape.” [Margie Mason, Robin Mcdoweel; Associated Press; 9/25/2020]

3]. “Amazon ends controversial tipping practice for its drivers”. “..were surprised to learn..the e-commerce giant would at times dip into their tips to cover their promised wages..”The problem most drivers have with Amazon is there is zero transparency about our wages..” [Johanna Bhuiyan; Los Angeles Times; 9/11/2019]

4] ”Panama Papers Mossack Fonseca Linked to 1,000-plus U.S. Companies”. “In 2012, a federal judge..ordered former hedge fund manager Chetan Kapur to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission $4.9 million in a suit alleging Kapur and his fund “engaged in a pattern of deceptive conduct..” {Steve Reilly, Brad Heath; USA Today; 4/16/2016]

5]. Boeing improperly influenced Max Tests”. “The 101-page report, based on a whistleblower account, alleged..the FAA and Boeing officials were attempting to create “a predetermined outcome..by coaching plots..” [Keith Laing; Bloomberg News; 12/20/2020]

6] ”Goldman allegedly giving stock tips to certain clients”. “..providing the early information only to certain clients hurts customers who aren’t given the opportunity..” [Stephen Bernard, Marcy Gordon; Associated Press; 8/25/2009]

7] ”Billions are hidden beyond reach”. “..perhaps the wealthiest American whose offshore holdings are detailed extensively, Smith agreed last year to pay a fine of $139 million and admitted to hidden funds offshore..The agreement calls for Smith to cooperate in a case against Robert T. Brockman, a Texas billionaire who backed Smith financially and has been charged with hiding $2 billion in income..” [Greg Miller, Debbie Cenziper, Peter Whoriskey; Washington Post; 10/4/2021]

8]. “Brazil court fines Cargill over child labor”. “..as indemnity for buying cocoa from farms where child labor or forced work has been identified”. [Marcello Teixeira, Anan Mano; Reuters; 9/28/2023]

9]. “Checking the Price You Pay for Corporate Food” ”It’s plain ol’ price fixing by avaricious food monopolies. Top executives even brag abiut it when talking to their bankers and stockholders. McDonald’s..recently told investors..”strategic menu price increases”..had boosted profits by 63%..Chipotle..also jacked up prices..manufacturing an 84% profit increase.” [Jim Hightower; The Progressive Populist; 6/15/2023]

10] ”UnitedHealth to pay $15.7 million in settlement”. “The government said insurer improperly denied mental health coverage”. [Jonathan Stempei; Reuters; 8/14/2021]

11]. “Report: Apple used subsidiaries to avoid $44 B in taxes” ”..in an elaborate web of offshore subsidiaries to avoid paying at least $44 billion in U.S. taxes in the past four years..three of its subsidiaries..claim to have no responsibility to pay income taxes to any country..” [Jim Puzzanghera, Chris O”Brien; los Angeles Times; 5/21/2013]i

Nancy MacLean testifies from the text of her acclaimed “Democracy in Chains The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America”

MacLean: ”..the utterly chilling story of the ideological origins of the single most powerful and least understood threat to democracy today: the attempt by the billionaire-backed radical right to undo democratic governance. For what becomes clear as the story moves forward decade by decade is..a stealth bid to reverse-engineer all of America, at both the state and..national levels, back to the political economy and oligarchic governance of midcentury Virginia, minus the segregation.”
 ..”it wasn’t until the early 2010s..the rest of us began to sense..something extraordinarily troubling had..entered American politics..every so often, but with growing frequency and in far-flung locations, an action would be taken by governmental figures on the radical right that went well beyond typical party politics, beyond even..extreme partisanship…Wisconsin in 2011..in New Jersey..several GOP-controlled state legislatures to inflict flesh-wounding cuts in public education..also took aim at state universities..Then came a surge of synchronized proposals to suppress voter turnout..all-out campaign to defeat the Affordable Care Act..
 ”Numerous independent observers described such stonewalling, vicious partisanship, and attempts to bring..normal functioning of government to a halt as ‘unprecedented..William Cronin[‘s]..investigations convinced him..what had happened in Wisconsin did not begin in the state. ’What we’ve witnessed is part of a ‘well-planned and well-
coordinated national campaign..he suggested others look into..the American Legislative Exchange Council..producing hundreds of ‘model laws’ each year for Republican legislators..to enact..Alongside laws to devastate labor unions..others would rewrite tax codes, undo environmental protections, privatize many public resources, and require police to take action against undocumented immigrants.”

MacLean: In a January, 1997, speech at George Mason University, “Charles Koch signaled his desire for the work he funded to be conducted behind the backs of the majority. ”Since we are greatly outnumbered,’ Koch conceded to the assembled team, the movement could not win simply by persuasion. Instead, the cause’s insiders had to use their knowledge of ‘the rules of the game’ – that game being how modern democratic governance works – ‘to create winning strategies.’..Koch warned, ‘The failure to use our superior technology ensures failure.” Translation: the American people would not support their plans, so to win they had to work behind the scenes, using a covert strategy instead of open declaration of what they really wanted.”

MacLean: ”..what exactly constituted that ‘free society’ where ‘liberty of the individual’ was preserved? Buchanan found it in an earlier time when government was unusually weak. there were, consequently, few rules to constrain how a man might get wealthy, and great restraints on..government in asking for some part of that wealth..’        “What animated Buchanan..was the seemingly unfettered ability of an increasingly more powerful federal government to force individuals with wealth to pay for a growing number of public goods and social programs they had no personal say in approving..To Buchanan, what others described as taxation to advance social justice or the common good was nothing more than a modern version of mob attempts to take by force what the takers had no moral right to: the fruits of another person’s efforts. In his mind, to protect wealth was to protect the individual against a form of legally sanctioned gangsterism.”

“The goal of the causer, Buchanan announced..[was].. no longer who writes..The focus must shift from who writes the rules to changing the rules. For liberty to thrive..the cause must figure out how to put legal ..constitutional – shackles on public officials, shackles so powerful..they would no longer have the ability to respond to those who used their numbers to get government to do their bidding. There was a second, more diabolical aspect..one that..influenced Koch’s own thinking. Once these shackles were in place, they had to be binding and permanent. the only way to ensure the will of the majority could no longer influence representative government on core maters of political economy was through what he called “constitutional revolution.'”

MacLean: “A similar cynicism ruled Koch’s decisions to make peace – at least in the short term – with the religious right..the organizers who mobilized white evangelicals for political action..were entrepreneurs..so common cause could be made..religious entrepreneurs were happy to sell libertarian economics to to their flocks – above all, opposition to public schooling and calls for reliance on family provision or charity in place of government assistance..ther Koch team learn[ed] how to leverage wider corporate backing..”

MacLean: “The Koch team’s most important stealth move..the one that proved most critical to success, was to wrest control over the machinery of the Republican Party, beginning in the late 1990s and with sharply escalating determination after 2008..while these radicals of the right operate within the Republican Party and use that party as a delivery vehicle..the cadre’s loyalty is..to their revolutionary cause.”

MacLean: “..what this cause really seeks is a return to oligarchy..to reinstate the..political economy that prevailed in America at the opening of the twentieth century, when..mass disenfranchisement of voters and the legal treatment of labor unions as illegitimate enabled large corporations and wealthy individuals to dominate Congress and most state governments..and feel secure..the nation’s courts would not interfere with their reign.”

WE the People all as our next witness in this trial, Pope John Paul II.

“Pope John Paul II in 1981 issued an encyclical called “Laborem exercens,” or “Through Work.” He attacked the idea, fundamental to capitalism, that work was merely an exchange of money for labor. Work, he wrote, could not be reduced to the commodification of human beings. Workers were no impersonal instruments. they were not inanimate objects.
work was about more than wages and profit. It was essential to human dignity and self-fulfillment. It imparted a sense of purpose, empowerment, and identity. It allowed workers to bond with society and contribute to social harmony and cohesion.
 ”The pope castigated unemployment, underemployment, inadequate wages, automation, and a lack of job security as violations of human dignity. These conditions, he wrote, were forces that destroy self-esteem, personal satisfaction, responsibility, and creativity. The exaltation of the machine, he warned, reduced human beings to the status of slaves.
He called for full employment and a minimum wage large enough to support a family. He called for women to stay home with children and for the disabled to receive a living wage. He advocated for universal health insurance, pensions, accident insurance, and work schedules that permitted free time and vacations to build strong families. He wrote that every profession should be represented by unions with the right to strike.”
    note: the above quotes from Pope John Paul II courtesy of Chris Hedges, “America. The Farewell Tour”]

The following quotations are from “Take Them At Their Words,” by Bruce Miller and Diana Maio:
1]. “In 1990, then-Republican House Whip Newt Gingrich [later Speaker..] hired a pollster to devise a lexicon of demonization. In a memo Gingrich circulated, “Language: A Key Mechanism of Control,” Republicans were instructed that “words and phrases are powerful” and that the list that had been test-marketed should be “memorized.”
 ”Apply these to the opponent, their record, proposals and their party:  decay…failure [fail]…collapse[ing]…deeper..
crisis…urgent[cy]…destructive…destroy…sick…pathetic…lie…liberal…they/them…unionized bureaucracy…”compassion”
is not enough…betray…consequences…limit[s]…shallow…traitors…sensationalists…endanger…coercion…hypocrisy…
radical…threaten…devour…waste…corruption…incompetent…permissive attitudes…destructive…impose…self-serving
…greed…ideological…insecure…anti[issue]: flag,family,child,jobs…pessimistic…excuses…intolerant…stagnation…welfare
…corrupt…selfish…insensitive…status quo…mandate[s]…taxes…spend[ing]…shame…disgrace…punish [poor..]…bizarre…
cynicism…cheat…steal…abuse of power…machine…bosses…obsolete…criminal rights…red tape…patronage”
  note: reread this !!! ”test-marketed,” ”hired a pollster,” ‘A LEXICON OF DEMONIZATION,” you wonder why Congress is dysfunctional??? YOU wonder why there is so much division, and even hate? The Far Right PLANNED it 1

2]. “I w





ant you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good.” [Randall Terry, “Demagoguery in America,” ”The New Republic,” 8/1/94]

3] “Two things made this country great: White men & Christianity The degree these two ingredients have diminished is in direct proportion to the corruption and fall of the nation.” {State Rep. Don Davis [R-NC e-mail – “E-mail miffs legislators,” Fayetteville Observer, 8/22/01]

4] “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. they should get a liquor store and practice robberies.” [Rush Limbaugh, Eric Alterman, “Little Limbaughs and the fire next time,” The Nation, 9/27/99]

5] ”Ideally, it would have been nice to have a few phalanxes of policemen with machine guns and mow them down.”
S[Talk Radio Host bob Grant, WABC, New York, discussing New York’s annual Gay Pride parade. Boston Globe, 4/29/95]

6]. “The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons. The Iraqi regime is building the facilities necessary to make more biological and chemical weapons.” [George W. Bush in the Rose Garden, 9/26/02. Dana Priest and Walter Pincus, “Bush Certainty on Iraq Arms Went Beyond Analysts’ Views,” Washington Post, 6/7/03]

7]. “Even fanatical Muslim terrorists don’t hate America like liberals do.” [Ann Coulter at the Conservative Political Action Conference 2002, Crystal City, VA. PFAW.org, 2/26/02]

8] ”I believe that the homeless people should essentially be put to sleep. they should. I don’t see any reason for them to exist. They are more of a burden than anything else.” [Emiliano Limon, talk radio host, KFI-AM, Los Angeles, 11/17/94]

9] ”I would eliminate the payroll tax and institute a national sales tax to cover Social Security and Medicare. the sales tax would slide depending on need…” [Bill O’Reilly, ”The No Spin Zone,” NY: Broadway Books, 2001, p. 175} {note: a
sales tax would be – IS – regressive, one more way the rich and corporations would escape ANY duty to help the less
fortunate than them; let alone whether this would even come close to funding necessary for the programs]

10] ”…but this tax cut, there is no tax cut that needs to be paid for. That, please shelve that. Please sweep that from your lexicon. Tax cuts do not need to be paid for. If, if, if any of you continue to look at tax cuts that way you may as well be under the Svengali mind-control of the Democrats. Tax cuts don’t need to be paid for…” [Rush Limbaugh, 5/23/03}
  [note !!!: this is FALSE. – think – if this was true, then we’d need no taxes!!! the tax cuts of Reagan, Bush II, and
Trump are being paid for – in a variety of ways – the U.S. national debt has exploded from the less than $1 trillion it was when Reagan took office, to now over $30 trillion – so we are WASTING hundreds of billions on interest EVERY year; WE pay for it in reduced services to Americans; YOUR taxes are higher – just so the Rich and corporations can escape taxes;
the 2017 Trump tax cut – for the rich and corporations was passed KNOWING IT WOULD BE DESTRUCTIVE….]

The Far Right, Rich and Corporations lave no stone untouched in their perpetual GREED for ever more wealth. A major effort is reducing and eliminating their taxes – which means YOU. will pay their share !!!!. 
   Consider the following article by Brian Riedl: ”Cuts to the IRS aren’t conservative,” which appeared in the 12/24/23 Washington Post Weekly, Scrooge is once again revealed!!!

“Last year, President Biden and congressional Democrats enacted $80 billion in new IRS finding for the next decade.
During the debt limit debate earlier this year, Republicans successfully negotiated a $20 billion cut in that funding. And now, in the appropriations showdown, they’re going after the rest of it.
 ”The IRS has long been an easy and popular target, because few of us enjoy paying taxes. And the agency has invited criticism with its history of overzealous audits, including a heavy-handed targeting of conservative nonprofit organizations during the Obama administration that fueled the latest round of GOP cuts.
   [note: YOU may wish to ask what/who are the “conservative nonprofit organizations.” Exactly what were they doing? Some “conservative” nonprofits have included highly partisan political groups, among other things pushing for more tax cuts for the rich and corporations, and defunding the IRS]

“However, defunding and weakening the IRS is not conservative. To the contrary, it will ultimately drive up deficits and raise middle class taxes.
 ”Between 2010 and 2021, the inflation-adjusted IRS budget fell by nearly one-quarter, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Tax enforcement staff declined by 31%, and the number of revenue agents collapsed to 1954 levels – even as the taxpaying population doubled, and the tax code grew vastly more complex. During the 2010s, audit rates fell by 54% for large corporations and 71% for millionaires. {obvious note: for GREEDY rich and GREEDY corporations – this would be “good” – so let’s keep doing it !!!]
 ”The amount of unpaid taxes has jumped to $625 billion per year, driven heavily by the underreporting of corporations and pass-through business income. Unpaid personal income taxes are vastly concentrated among the highest-earning 5% of taxpayers…
 ”Nevertheless, House Republicans recently proposed “paying for” emergency aid to Israel with IRS cuts. When the Congressional Budget Office showed that the bill’s $14 billion in IRS rescissions would REDUCE tax collections by $26 billion, House Speaker Mike Johnson [R-La.] dismissively responded that “only in Washington when you cut spending do they call it an increase in the deficit.” [read this again – does Johnson believe You are that dumb?}
 ”Populist pandering aside, lawmakers understand that collecting money requires staff and salaries. The original $80 billion in new IRS funding – to be split between taxpayer services, operations, modernization and enforcement focused on upper-income taxpayers – was projected to bring in $180 billion over the decade.” [note”: remember what was said earlier – $625 billion A YEAR, not 10 years – is currently NOT being aid – thus America has an increasing national debt, and some, mostly “conservatives” – want to cut programs, including Social Security and Medicare.  S. – the real “trade off is this: America doesn’t enforce its tax collection for millionaires and billionaires and corporations -so therefore, we “must” cut programs and services to ordinary people. - thus THE Threat to Democracy by the rich and corporations.]

  So, dear people – here it is – in black and white – either America enacts real progressive taxation – AND ENFORCES THOSE TAX LAWS – or we have what Justice Brandeis warned many decades ago: a GREEDY plutocracy by the rich and the corporations they control. More will be said; more numbers provided, in future posts.
     The unspun data prove without any doubt aren’t even paying close to their fair share – every year. If this doesn’t bother YOU – then maybe America is already dead as a “democracy.”