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An Open Letter to the Republican Establishment

Discussion in 'News & Current Events' started by Crabtownboy, Mar 1, 2016.

  1. Crabtownboy

    Crabtownboy Well-Known Member
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    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.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/an-open-letter-to-the-rep_1_b_9344914.html

    "They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind.
     
  2. Don

    Don Well-Known Member
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    Is there a plan to send the same letter to the democrats? Or is it only republicans who are "captains of industry"?
     
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  3. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    HIllary knows the answer to that as she has lot's of ties to wall street.
     
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  4. Alcott

    Alcott Well-Known Member
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    Lad, you and that other communist need to move to North Korea.
     
    #4 Alcott, Mar 1, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 1, 2016
  5. church mouse guy

    church mouse guy Well-Known Member
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    Big Business is all Democrat nowadays.

    As for business taxes, corporate taxes are the highest in the world--which means that no one can afford American goods nowadays.
     
  6. Zaac

    Zaac Well-Known Member

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    Well said.
     
  7. Alcott

    Alcott Well-Known Member
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    Whoever changed that-- he calls himself CrabtownBOY, not CrabtownLAD.
     
  8. Don

    Don Well-Known Member
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    So I guess the same question goes to you: Are they sending the same letter to the democrats? Or are democrats not "captains of industry"?
     
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  9. Don

    Don Well-Known Member
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    And, of course, no answer.
     
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  10. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    Alcott, his BB nickname is Crabby.
     
  11. Squire Robertsson

    Squire Robertsson Administrator
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    Or CTB, "Boy" can take on racist meanings. Back in the day to keep the peace, my boot camp cadre called us "lads."
     
  12. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    If I posted, what we were called in Army basic- you would have to ban me......
     
  13. Squire Robertsson

    Squire Robertsson Administrator
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    Oh, there were adjectives used to describe "lad(s)".
     
  14. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    Some were adjectives, some were nouns
     
  15. Squire Robertsson

    Squire Robertsson Administrator
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    The key is "boy" was never used in addressing any one.
     
  16. Alcott

    Alcott Well-Known Member
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    That comes from the name he chose for himself, and so does boy... except yours adds to one of the syllables and mine doesn't.
     
  17. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    Both of these assertions are patently false.

    Companies are not borrowing money and buying back stock. Those companies that are buying back stock are doing so because they are sitting on cash from profits. And there aren't very many of them buying back stock.

    The government is not running out of money, they are spending too much. The government can always tax more to get more money.

    Corporate taxes are not being reduced. Subsidies come and go.
     
  18. revmwc

    revmwc Well-Known Member

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    If there are sooooo many loop holes for the rich industrial Giant and the current President is a Democrat and he had nearly 6 years with a Democratic Congress and Senate why didn't HE stop the loopholes Crabby? Why didn't the congress work with him to stop the loopholes? Could it be that they are in the pocket of these industrial giants. Could it be that they too are the riches of the rich who claim to be for the poor man when in fact they do all they can for the Rich? Why do you tink Donald Trump gave over $650,000.00 to people like Hilary Clinton and Harry Reid in the past, also to Dick Durbin, Tom Dachle, Chuck Shumer, the Kennedy's and to the Democratic Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Not because they would curtail big business but make the loopholes bigger. That's why Democrats persuaded Trump to Run as a Republican so they would have a Liberal Democrat (Trump) running against a Liberal Democrat (Hilary) and if Sanders happened to get the DEM nomination then a Liberal DEM vs A Socialist, a win win for the Democratic Party but a loss for America.
     
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