Well said...
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Tuesday, March 1, 2016 2:46 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] An Open Letter to the Republican Establishment
Reich writes: "I have some disturbing news for you. You're paying a big price -
and about to pay far more."
Robert Reich. (photo: MoveOn.org)
An Open Letter to the Republican Establishment By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's
Blog
01 March 16
You are the captains of American industry, the titans of Wall Street, and the
billionaires who for decades have been the backbone of the Republican Party.
You've invested your millions in the GOP in order to get lower taxes, wider tax
loopholes, bigger subsidies, more generous bailouts, less regulation, lengthier
patents and copyrights and stronger market power allowing you to raise prices,
weaker unions and bigger trade deals allowing you outsource abroad to reduce
wages, easier bankruptcy for you but harder bankruptcy for homeowners and
student debtors, and judges who will let you to engage in insider trading and
who won't prosecute you for white-collar crimes.
All of which have made you enormously wealthy. Congratulations.
But I have some disturbing news for you. You're paying a big price - and about
to pay far more.
First, as you may have noticed, most of your companies aren't growing nearly as
fast as they did before the Great Recession. Your sales are sputtering, and
your stock prices are fragile.
That's because you forgot that your workers are also consumers. As you've
pushed wages downward, you've also squeezed your customers so tight they can
hardly afford to buy what you have to sell.
Consumer spending comprises 70 percent of the American economy. But the typical
family is earning less today than it did in 2000, in terms of real purchasing
power.
Most of the economic gains have gone to you and others like you who spend only
a small fraction of what they rake in. That spells trouble for the economy -
and for you.
You've tried to lift your share prices artificially by borrowing money at low
interest rates and using it to buy back your shares of stock. But this party
trick works only so long. Besides, interest rates are starting to rise.
Second, you've instructed your Republican lackeys to reduce your and your
corporation's taxes so much over the last three decades - while expanding
subsidies and bailouts going your way - that the government is running out of
money.
That means many of the things you and your businesses rely on government to do
- build and maintain highways, bridges, tunnels, and other physical
infrastructure; produce high-quality basic research; and provide a continuous
supply of well-educated young people - are no longer being done as well as they
should. If present trends continue, all will worsen in years to come.
Finally, by squeezing wages and rigging the economic game in your favor, you
have invited an unprecedented political backlash - against trade, immigration,
globalization, and even against the establishment itself.
The pent-up angers and frustrations of millions of Americans who are working
harder than ever yet getting nowhere, and who feel more economically insecure
than ever, have finally erupted. American politics has become a cesspool of
vitriol.
Republican politicians in particular have descended into the muck of bigotry,
hatefulness, and lies. They're splitting America by race, ethnicity, and
religion. The moral authority America once had in the world as a beacon of
democracy and common sense is in jeopardy. And that's not good for you, or your
businesses.
Nor is the uncertainty all this is generating. A politics based on resentment
can lurch in any direction at almost any time. Yet you and your companies rely
on political stability and predictability.
You follow me? You've hoisted yourself on your own petard. All that money you
invested in Republican Party in order to reap short-term gains is now reaping a
whirlwind.
You would have done far better with a smaller share of an economy growing more
rapidly because it possessed a strong and growing middle class.
You'd have done far better with a political system less poisoned by your money
- and therefore less volatile and polarized, more capable of responding to the
needs of average people, less palpably rigged in your favor.
But you were selfish and greedy, and you thought only about your short-term
gains.
You forgot the values of a former generation of Republican establishment that
witnessed the devastations of the Great Depression and World War II, and who
helped build the great post-war American middle class.
That generation did not act mainly out of generosity or social responsibility.
They understood, correctly, that broad-based prosperity would be good for them
and their businesses over the long term.
So what are you going to do now? Will you help clean up this mess - by taking
your money out of politics, restoring our democracy, de-rigging the system, and
helping overcome widening inequality of income, wealth, and political power?
Or are you still not convinced?
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Robert Reich. (photo: MoveOn.org)
http://robertreich.org/post/140181226720http://robertreich.org/post/14018122
6720
An Open Letter to the Republican Establishment By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's
Blog
01 March 16
ou are the captains of American industry, the titans of Wall Street, and the
billionaires who for decades have been the backbone of the Republican Party.
You've invested your millions in the GOP in order to get lower taxes, wider tax
loopholes, bigger subsidies, more generous bailouts, less regulation, lengthier
patents and copyrights and stronger market power allowing you to raise prices,
weaker unions and bigger trade deals allowing you outsource abroad to reduce
wages, easier bankruptcy for you but harder bankruptcy for homeowners and
student debtors, and judges who will let you to engage in insider trading and
who won't prosecute you for white-collar crimes.
All of which have made you enormously wealthy. Congratulations.
But I have some disturbing news for you. You're paying a big price - and about
to pay far more.
First, as you may have noticed, most of your companies aren't growing nearly as
fast as they did before the Great Recession. Your sales are sputtering, and
your stock prices are fragile.
That's because you forgot that your workers are also consumers. As you've
pushed wages downward, you've also squeezed your customers so tight they can
hardly afford to buy what you have to sell.
Consumer spending comprises 70 percent of the American economy. But the typical
family is earning less today than it did in 2000, in terms of real purchasing
power.
Most of the economic gains have gone to you and others like you who spend only
a small fraction of what they rake in. That spells trouble for the economy -
and for you.
You've tried to lift your share prices artificially by borrowing money at low
interest rates and using it to buy back your shares of stock. But this party
trick works only so long. Besides, interest rates are starting to rise.
Second, you've instructed your Republican lackeys to reduce your and your
corporation's taxes so much over the last three decades - while expanding
subsidies and bailouts going your way - that the government is running out of
money.
That means many of the things you and your businesses rely on government to do
- build and maintain highways, bridges, tunnels, and other physical
infrastructure; produce high-quality basic research; and provide a continuous
supply of well-educated young people - are no longer being done as well as they
should. If present trends continue, all will worsen in years to come.
Finally, by squeezing wages and rigging the economic game in your favor, you
have invited an unprecedented political backlash - against trade, immigration,
globalization, and even against the establishment itself.
The pent-up angers and frustrations of millions of Americans who are working
harder than ever yet getting nowhere, and who feel more economically insecure
than ever, have finally erupted. American politics has become a cesspool of
vitriol.
Republican politicians in particular have descended into the muck of bigotry,
hatefulness, and lies. They're splitting America by race, ethnicity, and
religion. The moral authority America once had in the world as a beacon of
democracy and common sense is in jeopardy. And that's not good for you, or your
businesses.
Nor is the uncertainty all this is generating. A politics based on resentment
can lurch in any direction at almost any time. Yet you and your companies rely
on political stability and predictability.
You follow me? You've hoisted yourself on your own petard. All that money you
invested in Republican Party in order to reap short-term gains is now reaping a
whirlwind.
You would have done far better with a smaller share of an economy growing more
rapidly because it possessed a strong and growing middle class.
You'd have done far better with a political system less poisoned by your money
- and therefore less volatile and polarized, more capable of responding to the
needs of average people, less palpably rigged in your favor.
But you were selfish and greedy, and you thought only about your short-term
gains.
You forgot the values of a former generation of Republican establishment that
witnessed the devastations of the Great Depression and World War II, and who
helped build the great post-war American middle class.
That generation did not act mainly out of generosity or social responsibility.
They understood, correctly, that broad-based prosperity would be good for them
and their businesses over the long term.
So what are you going to do now? Will you help clean up this mess - by taking
your money out of politics, restoring our democracy, de-rigging the system, and
helping overcome widening inequality of income, wealth, and political power?
Or are you still not convinced?
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
