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Campaign for America's Future / Op-Ed
Published: Sunday 6 November 2011
“And what was most striking was the assumption the elite - the 1%, if you will - have veto power over the democratic process.”
Will Americans be Allowed to Vote on Supercommittee Austerity Plan?
Congress' "supercommittee" of the 1% is preparing an austerity plan for the 99%. Will We, the People be allowed to vote on this plan, or, like Greece, will the elites just tell us how it is going to be? Our deficits were caused by tax cuts for the rich and huge increases in military spending. But instead of addressing these causes the elite supercommittee is said to be preparing to take money out of the economy by cutting the things We, the People do for each other. That's right, at the very time when 99% of us need more we will get less so that the 1% can enjoy record-low tax rates -- and it looks like We, the People will have no say in it.
Last week Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou proposed a referendum on the austerity plan that European governments are preparing for the country. "The markets" -- another name for the 1% -- went berserk in reaction. Pressure was applied, and now the Greek people will not be allowed to vote on their austerity plan after all, they will just be told. Richard Eskow writes about this elite veto power over democracy, in Vetoing Democracy: In Athens or Washington, Elites Still Call the Shots,
And what was most striking was the assumption the elite - the 1%, if you will - have veto power over the democratic process. In most of the commentary that flowed from the powerful and the press, a surprising number of world leader didn't even acknowledge that Greece had the right to its own democratic decision-making process.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, whose nation will benefit from "bipartisan" U.S. actions to create a free trade agreement between the two countries, said that "The world has plunged into fears again because of the Greek prime minister's radical step to hold a referendum." Closer to home, French President Sarkozy said that "the Greek's gesture is irrational and, from their point of view, dangerous."
The first part of that statement is a slur against democracy. The second part is, of course, a threat.
Here we are a year after our first post-Citizens United election, in which corporations were allowed to use money to directly influence our elections (as compared to indirectly influencing elections by funding the conservative movement and their organizations, think tanks, media, operatives, propaganda machine, smear machine, etc.). Here we are with the results, a year with no jobs plan from the corporate-elected House majority and a year of filibusters of jobs plans by the corporate-elected Senate Republicans. Here we are with people in the streets, like in Greece, being met with police force, like in Egypt. Meanwhile our Congress pretends it can just ignore the will of We, the People. Mubarak tried that - didn't end so well for him.
So, will We, the People be allowed to have a say over this austerity plan, or will it be like Greece all over again, told by the 1% how it's gonna be?
Or, maybe, Egypt?
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10 comments on "Will Americans be Allowed to Vote on Supercommittee Austerity Plan?"
November 07, 2011 7:18am
It seems some of the posters are a bit miffed at the tax structure and the power of big money in this country.
There was a call for a general strike the other day. Did YOU stay home?
I agree that we will not have any further voice in the "supercommittee" decisions, but who put the people in office that came up with the idea, totally ignoring the Constitutional method of representative government solving the problems they created on the floors of the House and Senate?
Granted, once that committee makes its recommendations, they will be voted for or against in the houses of Congress... they are not a rubber stamp deal you know! But my feeling is that any modest proposals for taxes, or the closing of loopholes will be filibustered by the Republicans, and even the Democrats will continue to allow the pilfering of the Social Security surplus and wring their hands and try to tell us that our "entitlement" is in trouble and should be cut again.
Johnson put Social Security into the General Revenue fund to pay for Vietnam.
Regan put the income cap on Social Security because those with large incomes complained about having to pay "more than their fair share". He also stopped tax deductions for interest paid on any number of things, including credit cards, automobiles etc. and put tens of thousands of people on disability into Social Security if they were lucky enough to qualify. Those that didn't were just out of luck!
And for years the Cost of Living Index has been toyed with to make it seem that the real cost of living wasn't so bad after all and Social Security and other "entitlement" recipients didn't need a raise.
If any of you think you can live well on $1180 a month I have a bridge downtown I would love to sell you.
Perhaps we should take the cap off Social Security income payments, re-evaluate the cost of living with real numbers based on stuff we all have to have like food, shelter, and clothing, and celebrate the REAL job creators (people who buy stuff everyday) by giving THEM a raise by increasing the minimum wage to reflect the real cost of living.
I'll leave my thoughts about free trade vs. fair trade, currency manipulation, corporate welfare, regulation of various industries (banking comes to mind), and tax policy for another time.
November 07, 2011 6:08am
Of course we won't be allowed to vote on this measure. Here are some proposals I have to reduce the deficit:
How Much Revenue Would Be Realized IF:
• The rich were taxed at 70% or more, as they used to be
• A financial speculation tax of ½ of 1% were imposed on each side of every stock trade? (from Nation of Change 9-26-2011)
• Cuts of 30% on everything paid out to our lawmakers – including salaries and expenses. THEY have received a 25% pay increase w/i the past 3 years. Where are our increases?
• Lawmakers’ staffs were reduced by 25%
• Suspend retirement savings payments to lawmakers until deficit is reduced. Only withhold Social Security and Medicare. JUST LIKE US ! !
• Require lawmakers to pay at least 50% of health care insurance costs out of pocket
• Make Wall Street repay the billions (trillions?) they bilked us out of
• Reinstall all controls that were eliminated on Wall Street
• Eliminate subsidies to Big Oil
• Audit tax returns/payments of Big Oil, Big Business
• Eliminate subsidies to mega farms
• Make Big Business pay their share of taxes.
• Heavily tax goods coming back into the US from abroad by Big Business (goods produced from outsourcing, not free trade items) Make them 20% more expensive than good produced in the USA
Form a “Federal Bank” in direct competition with the big banks, to back smaller community banks in making loans to small businesses, making mortgages, and in general, stimulating growth. This would be run as a bank (not like the ones “We, the people” bailed out so they could turn around and screw us), and help us in growing our economy.
Social Security and Medicare are NOT entitlements. They are fully funded, in an account separate from the general fund used to run our country. It was raided by the Reagan administration (I’ve heard - $2T), but it is still solvent. For now.
Since these funds belong to “We, the people”, and our lawmakers are trying to steal them from us, can we bring a class action lawsuit against those that are trying to steal them?
By the way, the no administration had the right to steal my money. I want my money replaced.
November 06, 2011 3:32pm
HEY 99%! Are you angry? Use it!
We have POWER! “Buying Power.” And, it’s about time we used it. Here’s how.
STOP BUYING THINGS. STOP BUYING…EVERYTHING.
WE CAN INSTANTLY STOP THE FLOW OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
STRANGLE THE COMPANIES THAT ARE KILLING US!
Companies want our money, but they don’t want to help America get back on its feet?
We are being starved, now let’s starve those greedy corporations who took our money.
We want companies to hire us, politicians to vote for us, and this is how to force it.
We have an incredible mobile army of millions and millions and millions of people!
Let’s combine the power that we all have. VOTE, by NOT spending.
Stop buying as much as you can. Stop buying from ALL of the big corporations, retailers and banks; Wal-Mart, Walgreen’s, CVS, Rite Aid, Kroger, Costco, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, Sears, Lowe’s, Supervalu, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Georgia Pacific, RJR, Brown & Williamson, Kraft Global, Sara Lee, Tyson, BP, Shell Oil, Exxon Mobile, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, Sprint, Dell, Microsoft, Dow Chemical, Chevron, Kimberly-Clark, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One, Ford, Chrysler, GM, Disney, Macy’s, Kohl’s, The Gap, Penny’s, Colgate, Nike, Staples, Office Depot, Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Avon, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Kellogg’s, Dean Foods, General Mills, etc., etc., etc. All of them!
Add your own companies to our list and pass it on.
Don’t use global banks. Move your money from a big bank to a neighborhood bank.
Don’t use your credit cards or ATM’s…at all.
Don’t shop any retail chain stores. Shop local, or mom and pop shops.
Don’t buy gasoline. Walk, take a bus, car pool, or ride a bike.
Don’t buy any extras like music, movies, electronics, or toys…nothing.
BUY AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE, FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.
STOP SPENDING OUR BILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND WATCH WHAT HAPPENS.
Greedy global companies will be left in shock not knowing what to do.
Wall Street, the oil barons, corporate fat cats, stockholders, executives, marketers, retailers, politicians, and President Obama, will be asking us, the 99%, what we want!
“WE” WILL FORCE WALL STREET AND CORPORATIONS TO HELP AMERICA!
We have already started.
V
November 06, 2011 6:58pm
I've been doing this for some time now
November 06, 2011 6:36pm
Also stop paying those damned school loans! They can't hurt you, but we CAN hurt them!
November 06, 2011 3:21pm
Super Committee my rear end! They are no more than corporate puppets.
The Supreme - less Court and the bought-off politicians should be lined up against a wall and shot for treason. Their treatment of "WE, the people" is absolutely treasonous.
THEN we go after the corporations and big banks - make them pay their fair share of taxes, bring jobs and factories back to the USA - if they don't want to, tax their goods so they are 25% more than USA made goods.
November 06, 2011 6:38pm
Booyah! You go Ronni85!
November 06, 2011 12:50pm
"Supercommitte." HA!! What a misnomer. "Superscam" is more like it. We won't know what's going to happen until the heads of the major corporations have made their decision. Until that time, we, along with the members of the "Superscam" committee, will have to wait.
November 06, 2011 12:41pm
Of course we will not have a say! In a country where the Congress is made up of multimillionaires who are there just for the power and those who aren't rich yet have big paying lobbying jobs to look forward to and where a majority must now be 60%, where the Supreme Court of the United States is run by a majority of right wing, big business owned characters, where corporations are now considered individuals, where people are too ignorant to find out the truth but depend on the likes of Limbaugh and Beck, the 99% has little say about anything.
-- "If you want to picture the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever." George Orwell
November 06, 2011 6:59pm
Amen