Your Government is Robbing You Blind

Well, if you live in the United States, it is. I don't know about any other countries.

Today, Timothy Geithner is going to testify before Congress about whether he helped cover up the fact that AIG did some mischievous shit to get it's bailout moneys. What that really means is that Congress will huff and puff and ask really lob-ball, neutered questions to Geithner, who will lie through his teeth and answer with non-denial denials. And while it might make some financial analysts and some of the American people content and hopeful that things will change, absolutely nothing will happen. Because what really is going on is that the same guys who helped get AIG its money are the same that are running the Fed and the same that are filling the coffers of all of Congress' re-election funds. So, while Congress might act tough and make it seem like they're actually doing something today, they are really doing nothing except blowing hot air at a guy they will be golfing with once everything is said and done.

At least since Reagan, but probably even before so, the government, both at a federal and state level, has been a shill for corporations in the United States of America. Heads of corporations and their government liaisons have been pulling the strings since the beginning of the Reagan deregulation era. Basically, what has happened is that working as an elected official at the state and federal level has become a job, a career, rather than a public service. As such, those who are elected to office, just like anyone else who has a job, does whatever is required to keep that job. As an elected official, one must campaign constantly to win re-election and thus, keep one's job. To campaign, one needs money. And while there are plenty of small donors out there who contribute to the person they desire to see in office, the majority of money comes from extremely wealthy donors and friends of the elected official, and corporations and their lobbying groups. To get said money from lobbyists, corporations and wealthy individuals, the elected official must then look out for the best interests of all of these groups over the interests of the majority of the elected officials constituents. What does that mean? Well, for the lobbyists and corporations, that means government contracts, tax breaks and incentives, voting down any regulation and restriction on those respective businesses, voting against any investigations into misgivings by these businesses and corporations. What does that mean for the wealthy individuals? Tax breaks, government contracts for their respective businesses, more tax breaks, and finally, tax breaks. What does that mean for you if you are not a corporations or wealthy individual? Well, tax revenue has to come from somewhere. So, while you might not have nearly enough money as a wealthy individual or as much profit as a corporation (especially ones who create complex mechanisms and schemes to dodge paying taxes on profits), your tax burden has done nothing but increase over the last 40 years.

This is just a small tiny little piece of the wonderful lot of information in the book, Perfectly Legal, by David Cay Johnston. I highly suggest you read it and revolt accordingly. Really, it makes me sick and will probably make you sick. Tomorrow: the de-pansting of the IRS!