"Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%," "Robin Hood in Reverse," and Arrested at the White House

I just want to share a few links real quick that relate to the topic of this blog and the current crisis here in the "freest country on earth," "the land of democracy and opportunity," the good old United States of America...

This first video is from Democracy Now; it is an interview with Nobel prize winning economist, author, and professor at Columbia University, Joseph Stiglitz, to discuss his recent article in Vanity Fair, entitled, "Of the 1 Percent, by the 1 Percent, for the 1 Percent," wherein he addresses the growing class divide and social inequality in the United States. During the interview they talk about, among other things, the current assault on social spending, the pro-rich tax cuts, and the incentive the wealthy have for carrying themselves the way that they do, with, what seems, little or no concern for the masses. The interview also promotes Joseph's new book, Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy, which obviously deals with this same topic.

Here are some enlightening excerpts from the interview:

"Americans have been watching protests against oppressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few, yet in our own democracy, one percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nations income, an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret."

“There are only two ways to address the budget deficit: raise revenues or cut spending. And with this one percent getting so much, there’s only one place really to get that extra revenue. The good news is it’s relatively easy. You have 25 percent—almost 25 percent of the income in the upper one percent, you raise their taxes by a few percentage points, and you get an awful lot of money. And in many of these cases, we don’t even have to raise the taxes; all we have to do is to say they ought to pay a fair tax rate.”

“If you have a divided society, you start worrying more—if you’re in the wealthy and you have an electorate system that can use your wealth to affect the politics, you say, "I’d rather have a small government that isn’t able to redistribute money, take money away from me. I don’t need public schools; I have private money. I don’t need public parks; I have private—you know, my large land." So, what you have then is an erosion of the kind of collective action, and that makes a society less efficient, less productive.”

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/7/nobel_economist_joseph_stiglitz_assault_on

The second link I would like to share is a Truthout article, entitled, "Robin Hood in Reverse in the US: Seven Examples." The title is self explanatory.

Here is a very revealing quote from this article that imparts a disgusting fact about our society:

“Between 1948 and 1979, the richest 10 percent of families in the US claimed 33 percent of average income growth. Between 2000 and 2007, the richest 10 percent claimed a full 100 percent of average income growth in the US.”

http://www.truthout.org/robin-hood-reverse-us-seven-examples

The third link is a YouTube video of the protest I attended down in D.C. a few weeks back. The video documents the reason we gathered as well as the outcome. It is both inspiring and sad, as it shows that people are still willing to gather and protest, and even get arrested if need be, to express their views and be heard; but it also shows how are “benevolent” police force deals with such blatant freedom of expression, which incites not only anger but a kind of hopeless sadness as well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYhoSjLMKis&feature=player_embedded

Oh, I just came across this one, so I'm going to add it real quick, it's even worse than the last one... and I'm sorry, I'm a pacifist, just like these protesters, but when I see this, It angers me to the point where I feel that each of these riot police should be put down, for their robotic, anti-empathetic, intolerant insolence. How are these men any different than the storm troopers from Star Wars, honestly, how are they any different, and don't tell me they're human, because they're not, they're nothing but machines, mindless robots who possess a singular programming, obey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUHVOu6X21Y&feature=player_embedded