President Bush says we need to move to an Ownership Society
If you are not in the Democratic camp now, you should think long and hard about getting there. Too lefty for you, consider the libby camp or maybe just independant for this next go around.
The nice warm fuzzy sales pitch is that everyone has a stake in everything. Sounds good doesn't it? What happens when your stake is small, like most everybodys is going to be? The answer to that is simple; namely, those with a big stake are going to call the shots and the rest of us just deal.
Increased corporate ownership of America is simply setting up fiefdoms for each area of our lives. Those that own the fief will get to set policy as a matter of corporate operation, not legislative policy in the traditional sense. It's an end run around the inherent limits the Founding Fathers built in to our government to keep this sort of thing from happening.
Big business is not your friend. Ever disagree with a large company over matters of policy? Have any success waiting hours on the phone only to talk with a lacky delivering the bare minimum lip service? Companies exist to make money. Competition exists as a check on abuses, but what happens when the government grants monopoloies? What happens to the incentive to act in our interests instead of the shareholders?
When you hear the word "privatize", think "work outside the rules".
When you hear the words "free market" , think "just let business do what it wants to make more money at your expense".
When you hear your own government refer to you as a "consumer" instead of citizen, know you are being exploited.
When you hear our President say, "Promote Freedom" , think "help the other nations to start hosing people just like we are doing here".
When you hear spend political capital, know the Republican party is doing what it wants to, despite the will of the American People.
When you hear values, know they are trying to legislate morality.
When you hear culture of life, know thats code for a nation living under a growing theocracy.
UPDATE: Small content changes for relevance today, post-election. Added a few submissions to the list!
Enjoy these? Send me a few of your own! If they fit, I'll add them to the list above.
The nice warm fuzzy sales pitch is that everyone has a stake in everything. Sounds good doesn't it? What happens when your stake is small, like most everybodys is going to be? The answer to that is simple; namely, those with a big stake are going to call the shots and the rest of us just deal.
Does that sound American to you? It sure doesn't to me.
Increased corporate ownership of America is simply setting up fiefdoms for each area of our lives. Those that own the fief will get to set policy as a matter of corporate operation, not legislative policy in the traditional sense. It's an end run around the inherent limits the Founding Fathers built in to our government to keep this sort of thing from happening.
We will be accountable to non-elected people, who are not statesmen, but businessmen looking to make a quick buck to finish the quarter, not serve the public interest.
Big business is not your friend. Ever disagree with a large company over matters of policy? Have any success waiting hours on the phone only to talk with a lacky delivering the bare minimum lip service? Companies exist to make money. Competition exists as a check on abuses, but what happens when the government grants monopoloies? What happens to the incentive to act in our interests instead of the shareholders?
When you hear the word "privatize", think "work outside the rules".
When you hear the words "free market" , think "just let business do what it wants to make more money at your expense".
When you hear your own government refer to you as a "consumer" instead of citizen, know you are being exploited.
When you hear our President say, "Promote Freedom" , think "help the other nations to start hosing people just like we are doing here".
When you hear spend political capital, know the Republican party is doing what it wants to, despite the will of the American People.
When you hear values, know they are trying to legislate morality.
When you hear culture of life, know thats code for a nation living under a growing theocracy.
UPDATE: Small content changes for relevance today, post-election. Added a few submissions to the list!
Enjoy these? Send me a few of your own! If they fit, I'll add them to the list above.
posted by Doug Dingus at 10:13 PM
3 Comments:
I love some of those "when they say this...they are really says that" comments. FYI: I quoted you on my website: http://www.pdatoday.com/pdaviews_more/2193_0_4_0_C/
--Bill
I think you totally missed the point of what is meant by 'ownership society'. YOU inserted the word 'corporate', Bush didn't.
He's talking about PERSONAL ownership of things in our lives, like homes, retirement funds, etc. Like having 'ownership' over our lives. His Social Security plan wasn't about giving money to Corporations (as was Clinton's proposal 8 years ago...). Bush wanted to set up a plan where you could accumulate and KEEP your own money. You could even leave it to your wife/kids or a charity when you die. With the current plan, YOU 'own' nothing. You die, money gone. (It was never really there, you see...)
Well anonymous...
I'm well within my rights to use the word corporate. This president is all about corporate.
You seem to be focused on social security so I'll stick to that. Social Security is not an investment, it's an insurance policy against old age and poverty. Honestly, you will have less benefit if corporate entities are put in charge of your social security insurance than you would otherwise.
See, corporate does fit in there because corporations will be handling the money under the Bush plan. And they won't be doing it for free. That's a handout to the financial community that will cost us plenty.
If you want to build wealth, you do that today. Just like you said, homes, retirement plans, small business, etc...
We don't need to change social security to get more money in our pockets. (And that change just won't put much more there actually.) We need to control spending so we and our kids are not deep into debt at birth.
Want to leave something for your kids? Vote for a president, next time, that will actually curb spending and reduce our national debt. Your kids start out 30K in the hole before they even have earning power.
If you want to have more of a discussion, get an identity so I know who I am talking to; otherwise further comments will be deleted.
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