10. Stagnating worker wages and the emergence of a new monied aristocracy. Of all the income growth of the entire country of the United States in the Bush years, the richest 1 percent of the working population, about 1.3 million persons, grabbed up over two-thirds of it. The Reagan and Bush cuts in tax rates on the wealthy have created a dangerous little alien inside our supposedly democratic society, of the super-rich, with their legions of camp followers (sometimes referred to as ‘analysts’ or ‘economists’ or ‘journalists’). The new lords and ladies are the Dick and Liz Cheneys and the people for whom they shill. They are the Rupert Murdochs and the Richard Mellon Scaifes, and they are guaranteed to own more and more of the country as long as more progressive taxation (i.e. pre-Reagan, not pre-Bush) is not restored. They are the ones who didn’t want a public universal health option, did not want the wars abroad to end abruptly, did not want the Copenhagen Climate convention to succeed. They are driven by pure greed and narrow profit-seeking for themselves. They always get their way, and they always will as long as you poor stupid bastards buy the line that when the government raises their taxes, it is taking something away from you. It is the alliance of the Neoliberal super-rich with the new lower middle class populists led by W. and now by Sarah Palin that produces clown politics in the US unmatched in most advanced industrial countries with the possible exception of Italy.
http://www.alternet.org/story/144755/the_ten_worst_nightmares_bush_inflicted_on_america
Tag: Bush
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The Ten Worst Nightmares Bush Inflicted on America
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SHOE for SHOE-Reuters Fellow Iraqi turns tables on Bush shoe-thrower
PARIS (Reuters) – An Iraqi reporter imprisoned for throwing his shoes at President George W. Bush found himself on the receiving end of a similar footwear attack in Paris Tuesday.
Muntazer al-Zaidi, whose flare-up against Bush last December turned into a symbol of Iraqi anger, was speaking at a news conference to promote his campaign for victims of the war in Iraq when a man in the audience hurled a shoe at him.
It hit the wall next to his head and a scuffle ensued in the audience, television footage showed.
French media said the attacker was an exiled Iraqi journalist who spoke in defense of U.S. policy, accusing Zaidi of siding with a dictatorship, before throwing his shoe.
Zaidi’s own outburst summed up the feelings of many Iraqis about the U.S. military invasion of their country and the ensuing bloodshed and sectarian killing.
Millions of people around the world saw images of him shouting “this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog,” during a news conference by the former U.S. leader, before throwing his shoes at him.
Zaidi, a television reporter, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for assaulting a head of state. This was later reduced to one year and he was released in September.
He has alleged that he was tortured by guards after his arrest.
(Reporting by Sophie Hardach; editing by Andrew Dobbie)
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE5B15F920091202
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