This is an old post of mine from MarkGanzersBlog.Blogspot.com
Well, why the hell not.
Sure, this country was founded upon the principle
That NOTHING was more sacred than private property
Especially not to the private property owners
And the founding fathers, most of them
Set about to keep theirs (their private property)
Which, of course, included slaves
(and take everything else in sight - just ask the Native Americans
Y'all remember the Declaration of Independence
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed
Okay, so, that was what they WROTE
And when Jefferson penned the words
"all men are created equal"
we can rest assured that when he said MEN, he meant MEN, and not women
and he really meant this to apply only to WHITE MEN, because
BLACK MEN, where in fact, PROPERTY, chattle, like cattle
and BLACK WOMEN, where in fact, sperm receptacles
for those times, when Mrs. Thomas Jefferson, got headaches
CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED, applies, of course, only to
those who had a say in government, and as envisioned
by the signatories to the Constitution
this meant, property-owning white males
(except "the South", which based on the recent political
(alliance with "the West" actually had retaken the advantage
(lost on the battle fields of the civil war
(in this nation's more recent and better advertised "culture wars"
(and the republican party's co-option by the
(theocons, neocons, wealth elites, corporate elites, media elites and academic elites
But, as my dearly departed brother John was so 'oft wont to day,
I digress.
In a previous post, I performed some number massaging in
an attempt to quantify this nation's distribution of wealth disparities
between the top 1%, top 2-5%, Blacks & Hispanics, and the rest
On a per capita basis, after adjusting out the cost of the HIDDEN HIT
(hidden health insurance tax, upon which I have MUCH more to comment, later)
[PLEASE .. don't EVEN get me started on the differentials between men and women]
[That's just wrong. Y'all know it, and I know it. In my white collar professional field,
[the women who succeeded were WAY better than the majority of the men
[who were hired into the actuarial science community.
[Of course, they HAD to be.
[My long time lady friend, SBG, was also an actuary
[We lived together almost six years
[Ultimately, we became managers of equal rank
[Reporting to the same boss
[Although, I was three years younger than her
[Had three less years of experience
[Supervised far fewer people, ever than did she
[I made more money than she did
[After 8 years in the profession to her 11
[And quite frankly, she was a FAR more competent professional
[Than was I
[BUT ... I was a cute white suburban kid
[who felt that his role on earth
[was to please everybody, all the time
[this sometimes happens
[to the grandsons of alcoholic fathers
[whose youngest daughters take it upon themselves
[to be the in-house peacemaker
[to be Pollyanna, and to ensure
[that all is well in the world
["If I say all is well in the world
["Then, all will be well in the world
[Back to SBG getting hired out of a small liberal arts
[college in Indiana ... DePauw University
[Sue and a guy were hired at the same time
[They hired the guy at about $1,500 more
[Explaining to Sue, that because she was a woman
[She could get pregnant, and quit her job
[and that this was likely
[the year was 1970
[and our company, Bankers Life and Casualty
[was about as liberal a place to work
[as you can possibly imagine
[hiring minorities long before any federal legislation
[because John D MacArthur foresaw the sweep of events
[and wanted to make sure to hire into that market early
[in order to have the pick of the best of the minority candidates
[Blacks, Hispanics, Women, Asians ... etc
So, I grew out of it, and dropped the baggage.
I'm no longer cute, that's a promise
Although suburban, I prefer rural America
And, as for white .. well ... I am a traitor to my race
I REALLY am appalled by the untold misery
the white race has inflicted on the human race
(and upon itself, from time to time, of course)
The average US per capita share of the GDP is $ 42,000
There is a hidden health insurance tax (HIT) per capita of $ 3,500
The adjusted GDP, after the hidden HIT is thus $ 38,500
Trouble is, averages are misleading, quite misleading sometimes
Adj per capita share of the GDP (reduced for Hidden HIT)
Top 1% ........... $ 1,567,000
Top2-5% ........ $ 225,666
BH ................... $ 4,583
PWT ............... $ 17,601
An interesting thing happens, if, by public policy, the federal government were to enact legislation mandating a tax on the top 5% of the wealth elites in this nation to raise revenues sufficient to "reimburse" the lower 95 for the Hidden HIT. This involves a transfer (tax) on the top 5% sufficient to raise:
285,000,000 * $3,473 = $ 0.990 T
Because, if a mechanism could be put into place to get an additional $3,473 per capita into the hands of the lower 95, THEN, the PWT per capita would increase to:
17,601 + 3,473 = 21,074, about HALF of the per capita wealth in the US, with no adjustments
........................... for the hidden HIT.
But, from where to get the $ 0.990 T ... well, TAKE it from the rich
IF the poor people of this country were to ever wake up and arise
As did the French people during the French rebellion
With 43% of the country owning firearms. that's about 129,000,000 people
and with adequate leadership
that's enough to win a revolution
in France, of course, the cut off the heads of the elites
which, of course, I would never advocate
all human life is sacred
all animal life is sacred
all plant life is sacred
all mineral life is sacred
to me
But .. if one were to consider the potential downside
Of having 129 million armed pissed off poor people
roaming the streets, pillaging and plundering
well .. it might give one pause enough
to consider voluntarily surrendering some assets
for the betterment of the commonweal
and with the military bogged down in the middle east
and the national guard too
it would only be necessary to convince local law enforcement officials
that the RIGHT side of such a contest
would be on the side of the poor
(of course, blackwater and all the other mercenary corporations
(would get a LOT of funding to quell such a revolution
(so ... it's unlikely to happen
(still, actuarially speaking, the probability of such an event, is NOT zero
........... Just saying, ya know.
And, heck, you wouldn't have to take it all out of the pockets of the rich
Just open up a dialogue with Iran, "the most dangerous nation in the world"
which spends $91 per capita on defense
talk to their defense experts, learn what it is they spend their money on
and say, "okay, we have four times as many people as you have
"and we'll be willing to spend two and a half times per capita on defense
"what you Iranians spend on defense, get us up to about $230 per capita
"and we'll take the residual of the $1,500 or so the U.S. presently spends
"on defense, the extra $1,270 and use THAT as an offset
"and then go over the budget some more to raise the extra [$3,473 - $1,270 =
"$2.203 per capita, maybe by eliminating the oil depletion allowances
"we been feeding like slop to the pigs at the trough
"from the oil industry
"and we can get it from the pharmacuetical industry, which for more than
"20 years running has been the most profitable sector of the U.S. economy
"and then what we need to make up, THEN, we can tax the rich
Now, aren't those some revolutionary concepts?
Beatles - Revolution Lyrics
You say you want a revolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be alright?
Alright?
Alright?
You say you got a real solution
Well you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well you know
We're doing what we can
But when you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell you is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be alright?
Alright?
Alright?
You say you'll change the constitution
Well you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well you know
You better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know know it's gonna be alright?
Alright?
Alright?
Alright! (repeat X number of times)
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