October 04, 2007


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY

SOCIALISM FOR THE RICH

Right-wingers frequently foam at the mouth about "socialism" if it involves any kind of program for the working class and disadvantaged. But the system is wonderful if it rewards the very wealthy, who never seem to have enough. George W. Bush's war in Iraq is costing the treasury billions. A few days of war expenditures would pay for children's health care, but Bush vetoed the bill and had the incredible gall to criticize spending by Democrats. This article by Dennis Rahkonen is at www.smirkingchimp.com:

President Bush, a pro-plutocracy ideologue who always opposes anything that doesn't have a profits-before-humanity priority, has vetoed Congressional legislation that would expand so-called SCHIP insurance to a broader segment of US children presently lacking adequate medical care.

He claims the overwhelmingly supported, popular proposal is a harbinger of socialism.

He'd rather see very sick American kids' conditions get alarmingly worse, while helpless parents leave crude signs with coffee cans for donations at supermarket check-outs, hoping against hope that they can avoid not just the loss of dear loved ones, but family financial ruin as well.

Meanwhile, billions are squandered on a totally unnecessary, empire-building war.

THE CORROSIVE IDEAS OF MILTON FRIEDMAN

Milton Friedman was an economist and a member of the "Chicago school" of economists who believe unfettered free markets are just wondrous to behold. Never mind that most wealth tends to accumulate in just a few hands and everyone else is left to live like a peasant. Friedman's ideas, like those of Ayn Rand, have been a corrosive influence on American society. They have created inequality and abject misery for millions of people. This article by Stephen Lendman is at www.smirkingchimp.com:

Rarely had so much praise been given anyone so undeserving in light of the human wreckage his legacy left strewn everywhere. He believed government's sole function is "to protect our freedom both from (outside) enemies....and from our fellow-citizens." It's to "preserve law and order (as well as) enforce private contracts, (safeguard private property and) foster competitive markets." Everything else in public hands is socialism that for free-wheeling market fundamentalists like Friedman is blasphemy. He said markets work best unfettered of rules, regulations, onerous taxes, trade barriers, "entrenched interests" and human interference, and the best government is practically none at all as anything it can do private business does better. Democracy and a government of, by and for the people? Forget it.

He preached public wealth should be in private hands, accumulation of profits unrestrained, corporate taxes abolished, and social services curtailed or ended. He believed "economic freedom is an end to itself....and an indispensable means toward (achieving) political freedom." He thought state laws requiring certain occupations be licensed (like doctors) a restriction of freedom. He opposed foreign aid, subsidies, import quotas and tariffs as well as drug laws he called a subsidy to organized crime (which it is as well as to CIA and money laundering international banks earning billions from it) and added "we have no right to use force....to prevent (someone) from committing suicide....drinking alcohol or taking drugs," while saying nothing about major banks and CIA partnering for profit with drug lords.