Whitman To Protestors - "If You Want Change, Vote For It!"
The former New Jersey Governor weighs in on the OWS debate, but like all other corporate hack pundits, she tries to deflect the blame. by Bill Gee
(centrist)
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Christine Todd Whitman, 65, former Republican Governor of New Jersey, has officially decided to weigh in on the Occupy Wall Street debate with a predictable Party-Line address. While she does so more eloquently than others in the main stream, she continues the line that somehow the occupiers are shiftless, non-participators in public life whose only desire is to tax the wealthy and look for a government handout.
Again, like her fellow moderate Republican colleagues, she misses the point, but that’s the point, isn’t it?
The 25 Richest Americans
First she points out that only four of the 25 wealthiest Americans are so-called “Wall Street Investors”. That the other 21 on the list were people that were brave enough to create an innovative product that everyone wanted to buy, and in the process created millions of jobs.
If only that were true… While I can count three of the top ten as possessing some degree of personal integrity and desire to create jobs here in America, all are ultimately self-serving and all have extremely strong ties to Washington where their money is gladly accepted to influence public policy despite the fact that only one of them currently holds an elected office.
While we can applaud Mr. Gates for his recent philanthropic work, we have to remember that under his tenure as Microsoft’s CEO the company engaged in very aggressive anti-competitive practices while locking the market to his own ends. The only thing hurting Microsoft these days is Microsoft itself as its hubris as the world’s software leader has led to the creation of some of the worst software on the market. Even Mr. Gates’ charitable work involving the foundation of technology-based Charter Schools are ultimately self-serving as its brightest graduates are sucked into the Microsoft juggernaut.
The “Prophet of Wall Street” has done extremely well during the current economic downturn by purchasing otherwise profitable companies from foolish parent companies that gambled and lost during the recession. To his credit, Mr. Buffet's son has been one of OWS’s most vocal supporters and when his father dies, he plans to leave almost all of his wealth to charity.
The intrepid leader of the world’s largest computer hardware company has been a very strong supporter of Washington’s efforts to infringe on the Freedoms of everyday Americans. He has been accused of Insider Trading of his own company stock, and uses his riches to live the life of a feudal lord. Like Microsoft, Oracle is a company built upon the creativity of others and through the acquisition of rival companies. Its 2009 merger with Sun Microsystems resulted in the loss of over 3000 thousand jobs both in the US and Europe.
#4: Christy Walton (Wal-Mart)
#7: Jim Walton (Wal-Mart)
#8: Alice Walton (Wal-Mart)
#9: S. Robson Walton (Wal-Mart)
Wal-Mart – need I say more? Doesn’t it simply blow your mind that four out of the ten wealthiest people in America all belong to the SAME job-killing company? Does the world’s largest discount retailer actually MAKE anything in America? When a single superstore can decimate an entire downtown shopping district, putting thousands of hard-working small business owners out of business, is that creating jobs? What does it say about a family of business owners who allowed the systematic hiring of illegal aliens in their warehouses, denied medical coverage to its workers, and historically treated its female employees like second-class citizens?
Brothers Charles and David made their fortunes in the mining and engineering industries, but are both most famously known for their activism on behalf of the Libertarian Party. Although neither brother holds an elected office, their outspoken opinions on public policy has an undue influence on the national dialogue. In other words, their money gives them more "speech" than the rest of us, yet we're supposed to be okay with that?
The current mayor of New York City seems to have the ultimate self-serving philosophy, “if you can’t get the media to say what you want, own the media outlet”. The investment banker-turned media mogul-turned politician at first glance appears to be the storybook of the American Dream. However, upon closer inspection we see a man who was elected on his Wall Street credentials and ultimately serves that constituency. The only difference between Bloomberg and his Corporatocracy brethren on the numbers 1-9 slots on this list is that he has dropped all pretenses and has actually taken over America’s corporate capital.
Taxes (Again!)
Christie Whitman then points out that the Top 1% contribute to 37% of the Federal tax revenue, but again neglects to point out that they pay the lowest taxes as a percentage of annual income than any other income group. When Michael Bloomberg agreed to take a salary of $1 as Mayor of New York, he was actually LOWERING is overall tax bill because he could then declare a higher percentage of his annual earnings as Capital Gains, which is taxed at 15%.
Everybody’s Greedy
Then she makes the case that it was all of us, with the help of the Big-Bad Federal Government that created the current economic downturn! After all, nobody held a gun to our heads when we signed for mortgages we couldn’t afford, or refinanced our mortgages to cover our ever-growing consumer debt. She claims that it was Fannie & Freddie Mac that overpriced the housing market and that the investment banks were somehow the victims in all that mess that followed!
Markets are not created out of thin air. If it wasn’t for the deregulation of the securities industry, the securitization of mortgage debt by the investment banks would not have gotten out of hand. If the structured debt bond market didn’t get out of hand, there wouldn’t have been a runaway market for sub-prime lending. If there wasn’t a runaway market for sub-prime lending, there wouldn’t have been a market for Swaps and other insurance products on that securitized debt. And if it wasn’t for that absolutely insane real estate market, houses wouldn’t have been overpriced by 500% of their actual value.
To blame the people who trusted the government without also blaming the banks who control the government, the SEC and the Federal Reserve is like blaming the trees for burning down your house instead of blaming the idiot with the match who started the fire.
Don’t Demonstrate, Vote!
Ms. Whitman closes here critique of the movement by repeating the party line that assumes that OWS demonstrators don’t vote, and if they did, they wouldn’t be so angry.
Today’s demonstrators are understandably angry, scared and frustrated, but they are focusing on the wrong place. Instead of marching on the homes of the wealthy, they would effect real change by going to the polls every time they can.
Translation: “Who cares if you have a college education but no job, no home, no prospects, and no hope? If you would just go to the polls and vote every second Tuesday in November, you’ll feel so much better! Who cares that the airwaves will be filled with political advertizing bought and paid for by the very same people who want to keep you poor and miserable? Who cares that democracy has been restricted to a one-party contest that only takes place one day a year? Who cares that our electoral system is wrought with voter fraud, misinformation, and character assassinations? That’s what America’s all about and you should be happy with that.”
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