Lets level with the American people Hillary

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Saturday February 13, 2016 · 9:56 AM PST

2016/02/13 · 09:56

I’m angry that i have to work longer hours for a smaller paycheck, BTW I also work longer hours for fewer benefits. I’ve been laid off because of outsourcing 3 times over the past 15 years. Every time i find a new job, it comes with fewer benefits, right now i work zero benefits as subcontractor.

I’m sick and tired of seeing tent cities and homeless populations growing by the day. I’m sick and tired of driving through towns that are striven with poverty akin to the 3rd world.

I’m disgusted that while almost the entire country lives one paycheck away from homelessness, billionaires have made an extra 1 trillion dollars during the Obama years.

Middle-class families are unable to afford Obamacare without subsidies, banks charge us 4 dollars at the ATM, 20% interest rates on credit cards, and 25 dollars monthly for a checking account.

Elderly and disabled citizens are living in poverty when they earn $15,000 or less yearly.

BTW 401k’s have been a disaster as a retirement scheme, 4 years of gains have been wiped out over the last few weeks.

What’s the status quo? Higher medical costs? Richer billionaires? more outsourcing?

Do you understand how hard it is to live in the modern US economy?

The Status Quo: In 08 Forbes 400 were worth 1.3 Trillion Last year 2.3 Trillion. The working class?

csainvestor

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Wednesday February 10, 2016 · 6:14 PM PST

2016/02/10 · 18:14

In the US 50% of all workers earn less than $30,000 and Household income is about $55,000 give or take.

For profit Obamacare will run a working class household $10,000 or more.

Has the rent gone down over the last few years? The price of food? Has social security kept up with the basic necessities?

The status quo means that the Billionaires will double their networth, the working class will beg for work from Uber.

Want to know one main way Bernie differs from Hillary?

Lets use this as illustrative example. Hillary usually meets with the CEO’s of a company like UBER. In this hypothetical scenario, UBER will brag about how many jobs it has created. The rich business owners will provide talking points from their point of view.

Chances are, she will hear that taxes and regulations are burdensome, and if they had fewer regulations, and if they paid less in corporate taxes they could hire another 50,000 drivers. To sell their pitch, they will put together a nice presentation, in a fancy venue.

Chances are, a company like UBER will contribute to Hillary's campaign.

Bernie will meet with the UBER drivers, and he will understand their point of view. And their point of view is they don’t earn a minimum wage, and they don’t qualify for unemployment or medical benefits working as an independent contractor.

Now who do you suppose understands the working class better?

During Obama’s tenure, the rich have become wealthier than they have ever been. Its no coincidence that workers lost ground during the same time period.

Can we afford the status quo with billionaires making billions and a shared low wage economy for everyone else?

The rich have so much money they now purchase the best investments money can buy- politicians, and they hedge bets buying both sides.

20 Examples of Bernie Sanders Powerful Record on Civil and Human Rights Since the 1950s

csainvestor

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Tuesday July 21, 2015 · 7:26 PM PDT

2015/07/21 · 19:26

Bernie did more than just march- can we please stop that meme now.

http://www.alternet.org/...

And yes, he has done more than 20 things. I hear the common criticism that Bernie is from a Lilly white state, and it is true. But that makes his record even more impressive. He did not need votes from African Americans and other minorities to win, but he still fought for equality.

One could say, fighting for civil rights, when you have nothing to gain, is a positive trait. The white super majority in his state might have actually seen his activism as a net negative, but he did it anyway.

Speaking of civil rights, and diversity.
Does it matter that the democratic candidates are all white?

As far as the republicans go, I know that Bobby Jindal, Ben Carson and Carly Fionarina don't have a shot, but they could share a debate stage with Rubio and Cruz. Think of how diverse that group is.

Even though I enthusiastically support Bernie, and yes, i know that Hillary is a woman, i am disappointed in the lack of choice. After the Obama presidency, we went right back to an all white democratic stage. Does it matter at all to a party with a very diverse base, that the candidates are anything but?

Aside from my support of Bernie, i've always feared that Hillary as the nominee wouldn't be able to mobilize the base as effectively as Obama did. The republicans will show up in full force for the republican nominee- are we sure POC will do the same for Hillary?

Does it matter that Hillary thinks $15 is too high a wage?

csainvestor

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Monday July 20, 2015 · 9:31 AM PDT

2015/07/20 · 09:31

Hillary wants to raise the federal minimum wage, she just doesn't how high to raise it yet. She does know that $15 an hour is too high to pay 42% of US workers however- i guess they don't deserve it in her eyes.

Working under the crushing weight of American capitalism, at least 42% of the nation is in dire straights. I know that the Clinton's have earned 160 million over the last few years, so she probably doesn't know how high the rent has climbed. Or how much the payroll tax and state / sales tax reduce a paycheck. Or how expensive medical care and prescription drugs costs can ruin a family budget.

Is the economy supposed to work this way? Are tens of millions of American citizens working under a capitalistic framework supposed to earn so little that they require government welfare to subsidize the basic necessities of life?

I'm trying to understand if she is against a living wage, or if she thinks the free market will eventually increase wages like the fairy tale told us it would.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there is no state in the country in which a minimum wage worker can afford a one-bedroom rental unit while working a 40-hour week without paying more than 30% of their income.

http://mic.com/...

Its a conservative myth that an American can live out of poverty making anything less than $15 an hour.
Zero savings, and one missed paycheck from not being able to pay the rent, is the reality.

Do you think its OK for pay to be so anemic, that half of the country needs government assistance just to get by?
State, and payroll taxes are extremely regressive. And a new car tire costs the same if you make $7 or $17 an hour.

Its been written time and again- over 70% of the nation is living paycheck to paycheck. It doesn't matter if you live in the country or in the city, the vast majority of Americans make such a small amount of income, that they can't afford to fund a savings account. Does this seem right to you? If a plurality of working citizens living in the richest nation on earth, are living so close on the edge would you say the system is working for all of us- or just a few of us?

Hillary is out of touch, hopefully she can change her mind on this important issue.

$15 an hour is only $120 a day, and that is before payroll taxes. This isn't 1955 and this isn't Vietnam. How much does lunch cost? What about transportation costs. 42% of workers make less than $15 an hour, and you think this is a fair wage?

DNC I've Got A Serious Problem, I doubt I am Alone

csainvestor

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Friday July 17, 2015 · 12:34 PM PDT

2015/07/17 · 12:34

Let me make my position very clear. We all know that the CONS are despicable, none of us want any of them to win. With that said, I have zero, nothing, nada, to give to Hillary. By that i mean, i will not write one single dairy to promote her. I won't defend her against critics, and i don't feel the need to recommend her to potential voters.

Before Bernie announced his candidacy, i was despondent at the nations prospects with HRC as president. I was so unenthusiastic at the thought of her running, that i toyed with the idea of not even showing up to vote for Hillary. That was until i saw who was running against her.

Does DWS care that i am pissed that she is playing games with the debates? Probably not.
Does the democratic establishment care about my lack of enthusiasm for HRC? i doubt it.
Does HRC herself care that i think she is only marginally better than a car full of jokers? It doesn't seem that way.

What she has released on Her economic plan touts corporate tax cuts. Is she still living in the late 90's? Because we tried massive tax cuts for corporations and profits increased. What did those corporations do with those extra profits? They laid off workers, they slashed benefits, and they reduced wages. Profits went up again, and they then proceeded to pay the CEO's billions, as this happened the middle class became the working poor.

Clinton seems to be for more corporate tax breaks, and less red tape. She seems to favor granting corporations massive amounts of power with trade policy, and she knows that agreements like the TPP will further enrich the 1% at the expense of everyone else. She has provided nothing specific on how she will strengthen labor laws. What about specifics on how she will strengthen social security?

HRC is talking about governing in the purple. From what i have seen, her foreign policy scares me. She seems to think corporatism can fix the nation. She says she wants to eliminate money in politics, but only after she raises 1-3 billion to run for president. All of this leads me to ask one question. What exactly am i voting for?

I know the odds are against Bernie Sanders, but instead of mocking him, maybe the DNC and HRC should figure out why he is drawing tens of thousands of enthusiastic supporters. If Bernie doesn't win, the best i can hope for is that he moves the DNC away from red purple to the blue left. Unfortunately, that isn't happening. It seems the corporatist establishment is digging in.

It isn't all without hope however, If she moves far to the left, she can win me and others over. So many have said it already, and i can't say it any better. Give me something to vote for, not something to vote against.

Then again, i doubt anyone in power cares.

Democratic corporatism vs. Democratic socialism - What's behind the Sanders Surge?

csainvestor

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Thursday July 09, 2015 · 12:45 PM PDT

2015/07/09 · 12:45

I'm genuinely (and pleasantly) surprised that his campaign has taken off. When i first heard Bernie a few years back, i instantly like him. He came off as honest, empathetic and humble. Other politicians come off as, dirty, corrupt, and elitist. This is what set him apart in my mind. I felt the same way about Senator Warren, and Senator Brown has impressed me as well. Sad that we only have a handful of champions in the senate.

I fall somewhere between the Ed Schultz, Thom Hartman democratic spectrum. However, i do understand that the Democratic coalition is much larger than that, and i love that diversity. I am not an extremist, I'm not against guns, corporations, profits, welfare, rich people, or the military. There are common sense middle of the road solutions to most of the problems we face as a nation. But because of the extreme polarization we face, one party is unable to move to the left, they aren't able to admit that the other side can be more right than wrong. The other party is unable to move further to the left, they are unable to accept that the general populace thinks they are more wrong than right.

Nothing against corporate democrats, we've had a few Clinton, Obama, Hillary is hoping to be next. We tried corporate democratic policies, and they have failed the working class. We need a new, new deal. The rich have run roughshod over the working class over the past few decades. The middle class needs to push back and regain lost ground, Bernie is our quarterback. Don't get me wrong, we need corporate democrats in the party, but they should not dominate the party.

Right now, republican extremism, and excessive capitalism are destroying this nation.
Those living in a bubble may not see it, but working Americans see it every single day. We live in a country where men that are worth tens of billions, live just a few miles away from neighborhoods full of american children that are poverty stricken.

I haven't (YET) reached Chris hedges level of cynicism, nor do i want to. But something big has to change. And a presidential candidate that has earned $160,000,000 from wall street and Goldman Sachs doesn't give me much hope for a fair shot at rebuilding the middle class.

The US military patrols the earth. Why? They tell us its for freedom, liberty, US ideals, and democracy. The US military is there to protect US citizens. But what do we need protecting from? Tens of millions are living in poverty, there are tens of millions exploited by corporations. Tens of millions more are suffering due to government imposed austerity. Government polices aren't helping working citizens, but they are helping billionaires become multi billionaires.

If the US military and US government wants to fix the world, maybe they should start at home.

When scores of citizens have no hope, and zero economic security, they live in fear. What exactly is the US military protecting abroad, when the bulk of the citizenry needs protecting at home from payday lenders, and greedy corporations. Trust in government is at depressingly low levels. But If you don't trust your elected official, what are you supposed to trust? The republicans would have you believe you should trust in corporations. But have corporations and the free market led to a resurgence in the middle class?

A majority of Americans no longer believe in the American dream. Citizens do not believe in government, and they do not believe capitalism is working for them. In the past, If you were to ask anyone what makes America unique, or special, they would mention, capitalism that works for the people, a government that works for the people, and a powerful middle-class foundation. Ask someone today what makes America special...

Is looking out for the middle class extreme?

csainvestor

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Tuesday July 07, 2015 · 12:08 PM PDT

2015/07/07 · 12:08

Listening to the last Bernie Sanders speech, i did not hear a socialist, i heard common sense solutions. Bernie only told the truth, telling the truth is an extremely shocking act for contemporary politicians.

Lets go through a few facts. Ill provide the headlines for thought, you can dig around the web and read more if you wish.

Majority of U.S. public school students are in poverty

US Labor Force Participation Rate:62.60% for Jun 2015

There's Low Labor Force Participation Because Long Term Unemployment Has Risen

Income inequality has hit crisis levels. The rate at which the rich are increasing their assets is unsustainable. They are accumulating wealth like a snowball rolling downhill. 25 years ago the richest 400 were worth 100 billion. Today, they are worth 2.3 Trillion.
Forty Percent Of Workers Made Less Than $20000 Last Year

Top 1% possess 40% of the nation’s wealth; the bottom 80% own 7%

BOOM: 400 richest Americans now worth $2.3 TRILLION!

On and on we can go, the negative news doesn't stop.

If you are ok with the rich getting richer at the expense of the working class, Bernie might seem like a radical.
76% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck

About half of America has zero net wealth

If you think its great that workers are laid off like trash without just or reasonable cause, Bernie might seem like a socialist.

Fifty Is the New 65: Older Americans Are Getting Booted From Their Jobs - and Denied New Opportunities

It's All Too Easy to Get Fired in America: In 49 of 50 States, You Can Be Fired for Any Reason

If you think its great that Mitt Romney can pay 12% in taxes while the middle class pays 20% and 30%, Bernie might seem like a radical to you.
Virtually every state tax system is fundamentally unfair, taking a much greater share of income from low- and middle-income families than from wealthy families.

If you think its great that over 50% of all workers make such an anemic wage that they qualify for federal assistance, credits, or subsides, Bernie might seem a bit extreme.

Corporate Profits Grow and Wages Slide

U.S. companies hoard record amount of cash

Corporate Profits Are At An All-Time Record Peak

If you think American business owners should pay a living wage, if you think American workers deserve workplace protections, if you think that american children deserve a quality public education, and if you think teachers, and service sector workers deserve a raise, does Bernie seem like a socialist to you or does he seem like he cares about you?

Do you, does anyone think John Boner represents the rich or the middle class? A 15% approval rating for congress as a whole does not bode well for the nation. In 2001 congress used to enjoy an approval rating over 50 percent. Today, John Boehner has a 20% job approval, Mitch McConnell scores the same with a 20% approval rating. Senator Sanders has a 67% approval rating, that score makes Bernie the 3rd most popular sitting senator.

Do you think everything is fine when the two most powerful leaders (Boehner, McConnell) in government are loathed by a majority of Americans? I think its extreme that the America government resembles a for profit business, instead of a government that cares about the social well-being of the average american.

Sanders does not scare the middle class, extreme corporatism is what we really need to fear.

Watching Bernie last night, i was reminded of FDR

csainvestor

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Thursday July 02, 2015 · 10:54 AM PDT

2015/07/02 · 10:54

I never made the connection before, but the comparison is undeniable.

Aside from Bernie, there is no other candidate attacking the economic royalists IE billionaires.

The other candidates are being paid by and greedily taking billionaires money to run for office.

The billionaires aren't giving Bernie any money for his campaign.
If Bernie wins, he will also take the billionaires money, but he will do it through taxation.

Many believe that FDR saved capitalism from itself, and i believe Bernie has been called upon to do the same.

The capitalists have everything they need- but why is the economy still broken?

csainvestor

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Tuesday June 30, 2015 · 10:45 PM PDT

2015/06/30 · 22:45

The capitalist class is winning. No ifs, and's or but's about it.
Lets list what they have going for them.

If you combine the Net worth of 400 capitalists they are now worth 2.3 trillion, 25 years ago they were worth 100 billion.

1-The stock market is at all time highs.
2-GDP and Productivity have soared over the last 4 decades.
3-Union participation has plummeted to record lows.
4-Capital gains are taxed much more favorably than income.
5- Non-financial corporations are sitting on records amounts of cash
6- CEO make 300 times what you make.
7- Favorable Trade agreements have passed NAFTA TPP etc

Wages are stagnant! 40% of all employees do not receive benefits.
The minimum wage is so low, it might as well not exist at all. Across the entire US, The minimum wage can no longer pay for a 1 bedroom apartment. The minimum wage doesn't cover food, shelter, or medical care. When we talk about someone in the 3rd world making $5 dollars a day, that is the equivalent to someone in the US making $7.25 an hour. Take away government assistance IE welfare and what do you suppose would happen as workers starve?

50% of all workers make less than $30k a year, 70% make less than $50k yearly. Have you seen the price of milk? Regressive taxes and fees at the state and city level eat away at the gross. While some may think $50k in the US seems decent, after you take inflation and taxes into account, its a near poverty wage.

Lets do the numbers.

Most citizens pay 20-30% of their gross pay in payroll, federal, state, local, sales tax, and excise taxes. After tax that $50k is now $40k. How much does a worker have to pay for medical insurance per paycheck? How much is the rent? Food isn't cheap, can a single person eat on less than $10 dollars a day? Gasoline, car insurance, car maintenance costs etc etc. Then we are left with savings. Workers are supposed to be able to invest $10- 15$ yearly into a 401k IRA investment account. After its all said and done, that $50k amounts to nothing. And this brings me to my next point.

The federal government and the states are in debt to the tune of 23 Trillion dollars. Government has had to borrow 23 trillion dollars (above and beyond what it collects in tax revenues) to directly inject into the economy. The government spent 3.5 trillion last year in order to prop up capitalism. If capitalism delivered the goods, do you supposed working Americans would make enough to live without welfare? The ultimate question, What do we have to show after spending 50 trillion over two decades? Multi Billionaires and multi millionaire politicians.

The Republicans fight ruthlessly for the nomination - why give Hillary a free pass?

csainvestor

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Monday June 29, 2015 · 10:27 AM PDT

2015/06/29 · 10:27

This has been bothering me for a long time, but it needs to be said.

There was a recent New Yorker cover Mark Ulriksen’s “Suiting Up”
http://www.newyorker.com/...

The cover art depicted all the republican candidates suiting up for the big game, and looking into the locker-room was Hillary by herself. The republicans have to battle, but Hillary has already been anointed. Why? Who made that choice for me, or for millions of other democrats?

I do like Bernie Sanders, but that doesn't mean i just want the field of choice to be narrowed down to Hillary vs. Bernie. Where are the other candidates? I like choice, and i vehemently disagree with how easily people have made a decision for me. Worse yet, it seems they don't care about my input, because they think i am a child. Then they have the gall to get angry at me if i dare to disagree with what they are force feeding me.

Ill support Hillary, if she wins my support, but why am i supposed to just acquiesce and let others make the decision for me?

I assume all of you have already seen Lawrence Lessig TED talk on Lesterland.
https://youtu.be/...

If you have not seen this speech, please watch it. Hillary as Lester is everything that's wrong with our political process writ large.

The Republican field is wide open but on the Democratic side, Hillary is a behemoth.

She has all the money, all the press, and it seems she has already been pre selected by the party. Facing this much opposition, its going to be very hard to convince another A lister to genuinely oppose her.

It shouldn't be such an uphill battle for another D to oppose her. Compare and contrast Hillary with Jeb or Mitt. Jeb and Mitt have tons of corporate, and insider firepower, but it is possible to effectively challenge them. The Republican party encourages potential candidates to join, and the party moves to the right in response.

The Democratic party discourages potential candidates from running because they might move the party to the left. It seems the Democratic establishment likes the center right, and they might have found their soul-mate in Hillary.

Here is the ultimate irony, the republican primary is more democratic and open ended for 2nd tier candidates. The barriers to entry on the democratic primary side are very high, its more of an elitist romp than a democratic process.

In Lesterland there are two elections, same as in our land. The first election is held in secret by the elites. Only after you win the first election can you run in the general election.

In our party, only Hillary can raise 1 billion dollars. She has already won the elites election, and they have pledged 1 billion so that she can win the general.

They are rubbing it in our noses by expressly telling us that only Clinton can raise that much cash- but we need to ask ourselves, why is she the only candidate on the left that can make that much money? Does the DNC have a problem with this arraignment? DWS doesn't seem to have a problem by this lopsided funding arrangement since it will only benefit one corporate candidate.

It isn't so much that others can't run against her in the general. The problem is they won't garner any media attention, and they sure as hell won't be able to raise one billion. And in our bought and sold democracy, if you can't raise one billion, you might as well not exist. Anyone that is telling me we have a choice between Billiondollar Hillary VS. someone that can barely raise 20 million isn't living on planet earth.

csainvestor

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Sunday June 28, 2015 · 11:49 AM PDT

2015/06/28 · 11:49

Marriage for all might be one fissure too far.

Let me give you a personal anecdote. For most of my working life, I've worked in the belly of the beast, IE massive multinationals. And in that time, I've seen thousands and thousands of layoffs. Myself, I've been outsourced, in-sourced, trained my replacements, and been converted from full time with benefits, to contractor status with no benefits. I was laid off multiple times from the late 90's to the late 2000's. Since i was a healthy young man, without kids or a mortgage, i was able to handle the massive transitions, i was able to bounce back. Others that were older, and not as healthy, with larger bills, were not as lucky. It's one thing to get laid off at 21 or 25, and quite another at 45 or 53 years or age.

Employees that had worked for these corporations for decades were discarded as if they were trash. I've seen people battling cancer laid off, women that just gave birth laid off. Employees with sick children laid off. Unfortunately, many of these workers weren't able to bounce back as quickly as i had, and some never recovered at all.

As I moved from one company to the next, and the next after that, the mass layoffs happened in the same way, and i began to notice a trend. The men that laid off thousands of people wore christian crosses, and they had prominent american flags pinned to their walls. But these same men were laying off sick, elderly, and loyal Christian Americans, then they proceeded to replace them with non Christian foreigners en masse.

Now here is where it gets interesting. Before i entered the work force, i considered myself a christian, a patriot and a capitalist, the American trifecta. After watching too many lives shattered by my capitalist bosses, i began to question everything i thought the USA stood for.

Being naive, i tuned into fox news to see if they had answers, and i learned about a war on Christmas, and on marriage. You see fox news pundits were pissed that people were saying "happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" but they didn't seem pissed about massive american corporations that replaced loyal Christian Americans with non Christian foreign labor to increase profits.

Keep in mind, these corporations were profitable when they laid off Americans, they just weren't profitable enough to satisfy personal greed at the top. The people that laid off Americans grew their wealth from millions to billions, but they did it in an unchristian, unpatriotic fashion.

So if the Christian American way is to kick sick American workers to the curb, and spit on them as they suffer, why would that coalition not crumble?
Christians have wasted years fighting marriage equality, when they should have been fighting income inequality.

Capitalism has beaten Christianity to a bloody plup, and as Christians continue to lose influence and power, i wonder what's next.

Why do people think a government form/marriage license has anything to do with religion?

csainvestor

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Friday June 26, 2015 · 12:11 PM PDT

2015/06/26 · 12:11

You can go to your local government office / branch / location and get a passport, a library card, a drivers license, a replacement social security card, or a marriage license.

If you want to celebrate your drivers license or marriage license, you are free to have a great party. And you are free to hire a religious figure to say some nice words, but thats on you, it has nothing to do with the state.

A religious figure can be authorized by the state to perform a marriage, but that same religious figure can also apply to be a notary, and its the state that will grant them the authority to certify documents, or to perform a marriage. Non religious figures can also be granted the power to perform a marriage, and when you fill out your taxes, it doesn't matter if you were married with a religions representative sanctioned by the state, or in city hall by a clerk also sanctioned by the state.

In all instances, your personal religion is meaningless when you apply / file for unemployment insurance, or when you wish to get married by the state.

The state isn't forcing religions institutions to marry people, so i don't understand the uproar. State Marriage is a legal contract / form / document, it has nothing to do with religion.

If you choose to equate marriage with religion, or include a religious ceremony into your marriage, thats your personal preference. It seems that people need to be reminded of one simple fact, Religion is not necessary at the DMV, and it isn't needed for a marriage license.

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