Welfare for the Rich!

[GodSistah]

This is a funny clip of Wanda Sykes on the Leno Show.

She gives her take on the Bail Out and Palin...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tco5h_ZprMY

:)

[Dee]

Funny stuff, and her observations are spot-on!

[Mary6906]

Right on, Wanda... I love her... she's funny!!

[Wildflower Fever]

http://www.blackcommentator.com/244/244_images/244_cartoon_corporate_welfare_hurwitt_small_over.g if

[aabram]

I haven't really got time to watch this now, but I'll keep for some entertainment after the weekend :) Thanks

Annabel

[diver_boy]

love me some wanda =) she's great.

[Bat]

Just tried to play the clip...it is no longer available. WTH??

[Dee]

Try it again Bat. I just watched it again now.

"Hold on Vladimir." LOL What a riot she is! :p

[hoops]

wanda rocks!
peace
hoops

[MrJoP1975]

Wanda is so funny! I'm going to have to add this to my favorites. Thank you for the heads up.

[DaveM]

"When I was a boy I used to, uh... I used to read all about Edison and the Wright brothers, Mr. Ford... they were my heroes. Rags to riches, that's not just the name of a book, that's what this country was all about. We invented the free enterprise system where anybody, no matter who he was, where he came from, what class he belonged to, if he came up with a better idea about anything, there's no limit to how far he could go.

I grew up a generation too late, I guess, because now the way the system works, the crackpot who comes up with some crazy idea that everybody laughs at, that later turns out to revolutionize the world, he's squashed from above. The bureaucrats would rather kill a new idea than let it rock the boat.

Today, Benjamin Franklin would be arrested for sailing a kite without a license. It's true.

We're all puffed up with ourselves now 'cause we invented the bomb. Dropped the... Beat the daylights out of the Japanese, the Nazis. But if big business closes the door on the little guy with a new idea, we're closing the door on progress and sabotaging everything we fought for, everything that the country stands for. We're going to find ourselves at the bottom of the heap, having no idea how we got there, buying radios and cars from our former enemies.

I don't believe that's going to happen. I can't believe it because... if I stop believing in the common horse sense of the American people, there'd be no way I could get out of bed in the morning."

--Preston Tucker, 1949

[Bat]

That's a wonderful quote, Dave, and it has come to pass...from the lips of a latter-day Prophet, that's what it is! :D

Of course I passed it on!


and I did get the clip, finally...very funny lady, Wanda!

[DaveM]

It may well be a great time to rent the movie "Tucker: The Man And His Dream", which chronicles Preston Tucker's attempt to start a new American auto company and what he got for his trouble from the existing auto companies. The movie sanitizes him a bit, however, the fact is that he invented the first automobile with safety glass, seat belts, and most of the features that have been standard on other cars for a generation or more now (steerable headlights now appear on several luxury cars--Tucker had them in 1948). Alas, he only manufactured 49 Tucker Torpedos before being driven out of business by a phony stock fraud case engineered by legislators who were bought and paid for by "automotive interests".

The quote is from the closing remarks at his trial (he was acquitted, but too late to save his business) which he insisted on giving himself. They appear verbatim in the movie.

Preston Tucker, conversely, went on to become quite well-off selling radios, a field in which American companies were losing interest as they believed the field was no longer profitable.

[DaveM]

Here's a John McCain quote, from an article entitled: "Better Health Care at Lower Cost for Every American":

"Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."

And another Preston Tucker quote, this one from an "open letter" which appeared in a variety of newspapers on June 15th, 1948 (shortly after what he called the "get Tucker" campaign was started by representatives of other auto companies):

"When the day comes that anyone can bend our country’s laws and lawmakers to serve selfish, competitive ends, that day democratic government dies. And we’re just optimistic enough to believe that once the facts are on the table, American public opinion will walk in with a big stick."

I hope he was right.

[hoops]

I’m against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.



Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in

a We Deserve It Dividend.



To make the math simple, let’s assume there are 200,000,000

bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.



Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman

and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..



So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00.



My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a

We Deserve It Dividend.



Of course, it would NOT be tax free.

So let’s assume a tax rate of 30%.



Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.

That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.



But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.

A husband and wife has $595,000.00.

has anyone see this?
peace
hoops

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?

Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved.

Repay college loans – what a great boost to new grads

Put away money for college – it’ll be there

Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs.

Buy a new car – create jobs

Invest in the market – capital drives growth

Pay for your parent’s medical insurance – health care improves

Enable Deadbeat Dad s to come clean – or else



Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks

who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company

that is cutting back. And of course, for t hose serving in our Armed Forces.



If we’re going to re-distribute wealth let’s really do it...instead of trickling out

a puny $1000.00 ( “vote buy” ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President.



If we’re going to do an $85 billion bailout, let’s bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!



As for AIG – liquidate it.

Sell off its parts.

Let American General go back to being American General.

Sell off the real estate.

Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.



Here’s my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn’t.



Sure it’s a crazy idea that can “never work.”



But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!



How do you spell Economic Boom?



I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion

We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC .



And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned

instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.



Ahhh...I feel so much better ge tting that off my chest. Kindest personal regards,
Birk T. J. Birkenmeier, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic


PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it’s either good for a laugh or a tear or a very sobering thought on how to best use $85 Billion!!

[coffeegyrl]

where did you find that Hoops? I know I read it somewhere recently...

[coffeegyrl]

Oh, here it is: www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/dividend.asp

[DaveM]

Sounds good to me....just the $297,000 would suit my needs for a good long time, including traveling to Janis concerts. Come to think of it, the way I live, this would probably relieve me from any further worry about financial problems.

And I could hire some very large guys with square faces to haul my housemate so far away that she couldn't find her way back.

Too bad the math is so far off....the guy must be a Republican.

[Bat]

Yeah, I really liked that idea, until I redid the math.
On second thought, can you spell 'INFLATION'?? Sheesh!

[paularoid]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v25/paularoid/JIMB/rescue-party.jpg

[Dee]

I love how Obama and McCain are as far away from Bush as they can get. Oh, and each other too. :p

[DaveM]

There is a wonderful 1979 novel, "On The Brink" (I cannot recall the author's name) which deals with a then near-future society in which the government attempts to deal with debt by created massive inflation. The idea behind it is that people and companies will be able to pay off their debts with a few days' salary, and all will be hunky-dory. Of course it doesn't work that way....the dollar collapses and a fellow obviously modeled on Jerry Falwell ends up in charge of the United States.

Didn't seem far-fetched then, and it certainly doesn't now.

[paularoid]

There is a wonderful 1979 novel, "On The Brink" (I cannot recall the author's name) which deals with a then near-future society in which the government attempts to deal with debt by created massive inflation. The idea behind it is that people and companies will be able to pay off their debts with a few days' salary, and all will be hunky-dory. Of course it doesn't work that way....the dollar collapses and a fellow obviously modeled on Jerry Falwell ends up in charge of the United States.

Didn't seem far-fetched then, and it certainly doesn't now.
For some unexplainable reason, when I first read this (above) the book 'Elmer Gantry' popped into my head. :confused: There's no parallels that I can pinpoint, at least with this particular situation but the book itself reminds me of the whole McCain/Palin campaign. <shrug>

[DaveM]

The Unknown Citizen
by W. H. Auden


(To JS/07 M 378
This Marble Monument
Is Erected by the State)

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a
saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his
generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their
education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.