"They got bailed out; we got sold out!"
The chant rang in my ears as I marched with my 12-year-old daughter and thousands of my fellow citizens through the streets of Oakland last week. But that $700 billion bank bailout is only part of the way the government takes our taxes -- money that should be paying teachers, building clinics, ensuring a healthy environment or feeding poor kids -- and gives it to big corporations that aren't helping build a better future.
Every year the government gives billions of our tax dollars to resource-consuming, pollution-spewing, dinosaur industries -- oil and gas, coal mining, industrial agriculture, waste incinerators -- while investing far less in better, cleaner and ultimately cheaper alternatives. Yet whenever I talk about the promise of developing clean energy, safer chemicals or other innovative ways out of the environmental mess we're in, I hear the same thing: Those things would be nice, but the country's broke.
That is, to put it delicately, bull.
We're not really broke -- our public money has just been hijacked. Our new film, The Story of Broke, shines a light on the dumb choices our elected so-called leaders are making with our money: handing out tax breaks for oil companies reaping record profits; paving public roads that only go to one place -- a new Walmart; granting permits to mine public lands at prices set in 1872; cleaning up toxic messes made by giant chemical companies; and offering public funds for corporations building nuclear reactors and other risky ventures.
Here's how it's supposed to work in a democracy: Every year, you and I pitch some of our money into the shared public account. Our government is supposed to use this money for the public good: public safety, education, environmental protection, and helping those in need. Some public money also gets used to help businesses -- to encourage job creation or spur technological innovation, for instance.
I'm all for the government using some of my money to help businesses grow and innovate -- as long as I and my fellow citizens also benefit. Unfortunately that's not always what happens. And we usually don't see it happening because most of the handouts take the form of hidden subsidies -- tax breaks, government contracts, access to public land and water.
If a member of Congress came to your house and asked for money to build a garbage incinerator in a low-income neighborhood, to mine uranium near the Colorado River, or boost the balance sheet of an oil company that just posted record profits, you'd tell him to get off your lawn. But thousands of lobbyists in Washington and billions in campaign contributions keep the subsidies flowing -- and hold America back from the sustainable economy of the future.
So as we balance our personal bank accounts each month, let's remember that there's a whole other pot of money we're responsible for as well. It's both our right and our responsibility to help determine how that money is spent and we should be making sure its helping build a better world.
We know that a better future is possible -- that we can make Stuff in ways that are safe and healthy and fair. We know that clean energy and non-toxic chemicals exist. Better alternatives have been around for decades.
It's high time we gave a leg up to the kinds of cleaner, healthier industries we need for the century ahead. It's time we put our money behind businesses that will help build a better future.
That means stepping out of our consumer selves and occupying our citizen selves. It means reminding ourselves and our governments of the power we have when we unite as citizens.
That's why what was happening in Oakland and other cities last week was so exciting. Because together, getting out of the shopping mall and into the streets, we do have real power to make a better future. And we have enough money to get started right now.
Clarence B. Jones: When Does the Preferential Treatment of Banks Become Obscene?
55% of the federal budget is devoted to entitlements, about 30 percent to defense, and the remaining goes to everything else, like the EPA, FDA, and all those subsides that she's complaining about.
While I would agree with her about the wastefulness of subsidies, only the willfully ignorant would conclude that cutting that alone is going to solve our fiscal problems.
We have over 50 TRILLION dollars in unfunded liability from various entitlement programs. Even if we outright confiscated all the wealth of all the billionaires in this country, we wouldn't hardly make a dent in that figure. Add to that the 14.5 trillion we already have to pay, and you get the picture.
There are two ways out of this: we can either reform entitlements, or we can default on our debt (which of course means eliminating entitlements when we reach that point 10 to 15 years from now).
Even if you CONFISCATED ALL OF THEIR MONEY, you couldn't make a dent in the unfunded liability that we have.
When I was in High School, they called that plagiarism, and it got you a failing grade. Please see what I wrote in response to the "Other Guys" comment. I'm sure you two are acquainted.
Corwin. Cruel. Kind. Because I can.
Cities like Harrisburg, PA and Detroit, MI are clear harbingers of what's in store for most of our communities, if we continue to let our money be burned up the smokestacks of dinosaur industries, as you say: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dont-trash-my-city-harrisburg-activist-warned-2011-10-19?reflink=MW_news_stmp
Time to throw down with the 99% - Not with Our Money!
Ananda
Is there a thread you might notice if you had a 3 digit-or even high 2 digit IQ ?
Corwin. Cruel to be kind. But,it's for your own good
Annie Leonard for President?
The banksters didn't just rob us with TARP,
the FED gave the banksters who crashed the economy another 14T$ for free .004%.
Multiple that by ten using the fraud of fractional reserve, and the Banksters got 140T$.
Arrest the Banksters for the Fraud: SWAPS and CDO's. Federal reserve system. Watch "the Money Masters"
http://www.themoneymasters.com/
http://webskeptic.wikidot.com/money-masters-transcripts-part-24
Bankster now literally own us.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Estimated_ownership_of_treasury_securities_by_year.gif
The citizens safety net, green energy investments and infrastructure, did not bankrupt us.
The MIC, the Banksters and the rich robbed the citizens and the world.
That's three time the value of all the businesses in the world.
The banksters own us.
Corporations are not people and money is not free speech.
http://kenburridge.com/corporate-personhood-begs-ows-for-death-sentence/1653
getmoneyout.com
But to do that, we need to see through the polished well financed politicians, and for smart.
Vote for the Kucinich, Grayson, CPC progressives in the primaries and the dems including Obama in the general, since the GOP/Tea are much worse.
This may be the last time we get to vote if the GOP/Tea win.
Interest rates are as close to zero as I have ever seen in a relatively long lifespan.
Our infrastructure is crumbling from 40 years of neglect. Over 25% of it is functionally obsolete.
Unemployment in the construction trades is near 26%.
The US isn't broke, but a large contingent of those now in Congress are morally bankrupt.
When push comes to shove, they want Corporate campaign money, more then they want to help the American working class.
Because a gullible populace, believes their lying ads, and keeps on re-electing them.
"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.' -Abraham Lincoln-
Too bad we don't get the "truth' anymore, and don't have leadership the likes of Lincoln.
Watch the world go by, as we spiral down the drain.
Thanks for the inspiring ideas for how we can rebuilt our economy to be stronger, healthier, and fairer for the 99%
So can we form a Citizen's Super Committee?
What color is the sky in your world? In the first place we don't have a democracy, we have a republic. We don't "pitch in", taxes are collected, at gun point. Our government is supposed to use this money to defend our rights, mainly to protect our property while we are at work, and protect us from foreign invasion. All this pie in the sky socialism does is create slaves. People are not smart enough to engineer utopia. The best we can do is depend on market forces to deliver goods and services where they are needed most, at the lowest price.
First, a "democracy" is one form of a "republic." It happens to be the form that we have in the U.S. A republic is a form of government where the people or some subset of people run the government or elect their leaders. A democracy is a government where all the people have a say in governmental functions or election of leaders. The other forms of republic are aristocracy (the form that existed when our nation was founded, where land owners have a right to make decisions or elect leaders) and an oligarchy. Thus, your distinction between "republic" and "democracy" carries no weight. They are not mutually exclusive.
Next, taxes are not collected at gun point. They are compelled by law, but no one will ever hold a gun to collect them. You may have assets frozen, you may have wages garnished, if you defraud the government you may even go to jail. You will not have a gun pulled on you.
Finally, the government is "supposed to" carry out the duties it has under the U.S. Constitution. One point of the Constitution, as outlined in the document itself, is to "provide for the general welfare." Before you opine on what the government is "supposed to" do, you should really give the Constitution a read.
What color is the sky in your world, homie?
First, a democracy is one form of a republic. A republic is a form of government where people have a say in their government. A democracy is a government where all people have a say, we have a representative democracy. An aristocracy is a form of republic where the wealthy (or in the case of the early U.S., landowners) have a say in their government. An oligarchy is the final form of republic, where only an elite few have a say in government. A democracy is a type of republic.
Second, although taxes are compelled by law, they are never collected at gun point. Asset seizure? Yes. Wage garnishment? Yes. Not gunpoint.
Finally, the federal government is not limited to protecting our property and protect us from foreign invasion. It's powers are well defined in the U.S. Constitution, I suggest you read it. It includes language like "to promote the general welfare" and "to regulate commerce" and "to promote the progress of science."
And seriously, you still buy that market forces stuff? What color is the sky in your world, homie?
http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/nuclear_power_and_global_warming/nuclear-power-subsidies-report.html
Be cautious, however, when suggesting that Big Solar and Big Wind are not parts of the Dinosaur Economy, because they absolutely are. The fine folks at Chevron, BP, Goldman Sachs, StatOil (tar sands), Morgan Stanley, Bechtel, etc. are the primary recipients of "renewable" energy subsidies while they permanently kill off millions of acres of PUBLIC land, using PUBLIC money to churn their own IPOs and profits.
Decentralized, democratically-owned rooftop solar and efficiency upgrades are the future - the built environment can provide all the clean energy we need. Big Solar and Big Wind are just lateral moves from expensive, destructive and wasteful Big Energy to expensive destructive and wasteful Big Energy.
thanks for doing this and keep up the great work!
It is not determinable from the website. I just question where the outrage over using government money for film and other media/entertainment projects is.