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The "Fiscal Cliff" Is a Hoax ... and a Mel Brooks Routine

by Richard RJ Eskow
The "fiscal cliff" comedy routine in Washington DC is a staged act where Democrats play the "good cop" who want to tax the rich and cut social welfare programs vs. the "bad cop" Republicans who don't want to tax the rich and promise heavy cuts on social welfare programs. Where is the voice of reason that says maybe this so-called fiscal cliff isn't really such a big deal after all?
We know that ALL politicians are great actors and can read a script better than some folks in Hollywood. In the case of the fiscal cliff Pres. Obama is wearing his Mr. Nice Guy smiley face mask while John Boehner and other Repubs wear the Mr. Meanie masks. By claiming that the fiscal cliff is real, the Dems can justify "lesser" cuts on social welfare programs (including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid) than the Repubs who want to cut more, thus enabling cuts on programs for lower income people where none are even needed.



The "Fiscal Cliff" Is a Hoax ... and a Mel Brooks Routine

Posted: 11/13/2012 11:39 pm

They're dashing through the corridors of power in Washington with appropriately grim expressions this week. Congressional leaders are talking about the upcoming 'fiscal cliff,' which journalists are dutifully describing as a "looming crisis."

In fact, if you do a Google News search for articles containing the words "fiscal cliff" and "looming" you'll get 72,000 hits (as of Wednesday evening). We know because we tried it.

72,000 hits.

But nothing's "looming." Nothing. There's just some language in a law Congress passed last year. If they don't want it to happen they can un-pass that law. It's a simple as that.

And do you want to know something? They don't want it to happen.

Nobody Move

This phony crisis is a lot like this scene in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles, where Cleavon Little as The Sheriff pretends to take himself hostage to escape an angry crowd. You may remember the gag line, which included a word we won't use: "Nobody move or the $^((*&^(* gets it."

Brooks crafts his throwaway lines pretty carefully, too. Look for the earnest man who says "I think he means it," or the woman in the crowd who says "Won't somebody help that poor man?"

Here's how the "fiscal cliff" scam's being played: Congressional Republicans are holding the guns to their own heads. Democrats are the town leaders, dutifully laying their weapons down.

And the American media are the gullible townfolk, carefully writing in their notebooks about the "looming" threat to their sheriff.

Johnny Law

Viewers of MSNBC know that progressives like Chris Hayes and Lawrence O'Donnell are dutifully trying to remove the word "cliff" from the nomenclature, since the effects of this law would be gradual -- more like a "slope," as they said the other night. They're right about the "slope" part.

But it's a tactical mistake to even engage in this kind of discussion, because there's really no "slope" either. There's just a law.

John Boehner's law.

Sure, the President agreed to that law as part of a deal to settle deficit talks last year. At the time the Republicans were about to shut down the entire government. The GOP forced this law into existence.

That means the "fiscal cliff" is theirs. They own it.

Anyone who opposes disastrous, European-style austerity measures needs to stop talking about this in urgent terms. And nobody should characterize it as anything but what it really is: A deed performed by Republicans in Congress, which the same Congress can easily reverse.

That's not just more accurate. It also places the responsibility for this pseudo-crisis exactly where it belongs.

A Gun to the Head

The motives for the hoax are easy to understand. As a Campaign for America's Future/Democracy Corps poll reaffirmed after the election, the public overwhelmingly opposes any of the fiscal measures being negotiated as the result of this fictitious "crisis." A majority of voters, cutting across party lines, opposes virtually all of the ideas being discussed -- including cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits, and reductions in anti-poverty programs.

Voters strongly support some steps that aren't being debated because of this phony "crisis," like increased investment in jobs and economic growth. These negotiations are likely have the opposite effect instead, leading to more cuts in these programs. In fact, of the many "debt deal" provisions being debated today, only tax increases for the wealthiest Americans have the majority's approval.

No wonder Congressional Republicans are holding a gun to their own heads.

Unfortunately it's pointed at our heads too. If Republicans get their way the entire country will be hit with austerity cuts that increase the poverty rates, hurt most people's standard of living, and create even more unemployment.

This phony crisis is the GOP's way of saying "Nobody move or the country gets it." And if the public doesn't make its voice heard, it will.

Manhattan Transfer

Here's more proof that both the "fiscal cliff" and the "emergency" deficit talks surrounding it are a fraud: They include two issues that don't belong in a deficit discussion at all. One's Social Security, which is forbidden by law from contributing to the national deficit.

The other is the scam known as tax "reform" and "tax code simplification" -- which, in plain English, means a lowering of top tax rates for millionaires and billionaires -- supposedly in return for reduced "tax expenditures" and increased "tax revenues" to be named at a later date.

Why would deficit talks include two ideas that won't reduce the national debt, especially when "tax simplification" will undoubtedly increase that debt substantially? That's an easy one: Because this phony "crisis" has nothing to do with deficits.

It's all part of a long-range plan to scam the public into transferring even more of its wealth to the wealthiest among us: first by giving them lower tax rates, and then by cutting a program the public has already paid into. That way there'll be less pressure to increases taxes on the wealthy later on. (They may also want to raid Social Security's trust fund to pay for the deficits caused by their tax breaks.)

These "deficit" moves would transfer even more of our national treasure to the extremely rich -- including those on Wall Street who created our economic crisis in the first place. That, and not a "fiscal cliff," is what's "looming."

The Phony-Crisis Industry

In the past the President has sometimes seemed willing, even eager, to press for a larger "Grand Bargain." He's taking a tougher line today, especially about taxes on the wealthy, and should be applauded for that. He should also be urged to take an equally strong position on Medicare and Social Security, which he hasn't done yet.

Everyone involved needs to understand that, thanks to some new fiscal and electoral math, the anti-austerity team is holding the winning hand now.

It's true that a tougher Presidential stand would disappoint some people, especially the highly-paid professional "deficit hawks" from both parties. That includes people like former Clinton White House functionary Erskine Bowles, who ghoulishly described this artificial crisis as a "magic moment" to impose austerity measures on the American people.

Bowles is a director of bailed-out investment bank Morgan Stanley. That means that, unlike most Americans, he would do very well under the lower tax rates proposed in these "deficit" discussions.

A repudiation of this pseudo-crisis would also embarrass professional scaremongers like Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who warned of "big financial market repercussions" if the nation goes over the "cliff." But we haven't seen any repercussions before.

The word for talk like that is "nonsense." (Well, that's one word for it.) Nobody's going over any "cliff," least of all the Republicans.

Dare Ya

Let's be clear: It would be a bad thing if the provisions in this bill took effect for any length of time. But it's time to call Boehner's bluff. Good Democrats can't let themselves be railroaded into austerity by this phony crisis, while the other kind -- the Erskine Bowles Democrats -- shouldn't be allowed to use it as cover.

Boehner knows he's in a weak position, which is why Republicans have quietly been looking for ways to delay the "cliff." Democrats should take note of that and recognize the motives behind it.

The President should go on television and say to Congress: If you won't accept the will of the people, undo your reckless law. Democrats on the Hill should insist on up-or-down votes for provisions that the public wants. This charade won't stop until the GOP's bluff is called.

Boehner insists that Congressional Republicans, along with everybody else, are standing on a "cliff." It's time somebody dared them to jump.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/the-fiscal-cliff-is-a-hoa_b_2127186.html



The "fiscal cliff" fraud


Lance Selfa, author of The Democrats: A Critical History, unravels the myths circulating about the January 1 "fiscal cliff"--and explains what's really at stake.

December 10, 2012


NO DOUBT you've already heard it many times from the media and the pundits: If there isn't a "bipartisan compromise" between the White House and the Republican-led House of Representatives before year-end, the economy will careen off a "fiscal cliff." Recession, economic ruin, a loss of "business confidence" and a host of other evils will be visited on the U.S.

What you probably haven't heard is the way liberal economist James K. Galbraith describes the "fiscal cliff": "It's a crisis that was contrived a year ago...[T]hese deadlines...were established to create a climate of crisis when things could be done that could not immediately be subject to debate as you get before an election."

Galbraith is right. The "fiscal cliff" is the product of two previous deals between the White House and Congress.

In the lame duck session of Congress following the 2010 midterm election--when the Democrats were in charge of both houses of Congress--Obama agreed to extend for two years the massive tax cuts from the Bush years, including on the wealthiest Americans who benefited most. In exchange, Obama won an extension of supplemental unemployment benefits and a temporary cut in the payroll tax that all working Americans pay to fund Social Security and Medicare.

Then, during the debacle over the lifting of the federal government's "debt ceiling" in August 2011, Obama and the Tea Party-addled Republican House agreed, as a condition of lifting the ceiling, on an austerity plan that would force "deficit reduction."

The last-ditch compromise was that Obama and congressional leaders would appoint a "super-committee" of congressional representatives to propose specific cuts for Congress to enact. If the super-committee couldn't come to an agreement, than automatic spending reductions--called "sequestration" in Washington-speak--would go into effect on January 1, 2013. These cuts would affect both military and non-military "discretionary" spending--in other words, just about everything the government does besides paying for "entitlement" benefit programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

As could be predicted, the super-committee, meeting as it did with an election season getting underway, didn't agree on any proposals. So the automatic spending cuts are set to take effect at exactly the same time that the tax increases will come.

Thus was created the "fiscal cliff," as the Federal Reserve President Ben Bernanke dubbed the January 1 deadline.

It's true that raising taxes and cutting spending at the same time is a recipe for an economic slowdown--and maybe even tip the U.S. economy back into recession. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that if the Congress and White House can't come to an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff, the economy will fall into recession for the first half of 2013 before recovering in the second half. That means a drop in job creation, rather than the recent months of modest increases, and everything else associated with an economic slump.

Such an outcome should be unacceptable, but these consequences would take place gradually over the course of 2013. So in reality, the "cliff" is more of a "slope." At any point in 2013, Congress and the White House could agree to roll back many of these deflationary policies.

But politicians and the media keep flogging the "fiscal cliff" metaphor because they want to create a sense of crisis. Under pressure to "do something" to avoid "going over the cliff," the lame-duck Congress could pass legislation with far-reaching and harmful impacts on the social safety net.

That's why the forces most intent on forcing through cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security, while preserving tax cuts for the rich, are hyping the "fiscal cliff."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

AS THE sides have formed, a freshly re-elected President Obama is posing confidently as a "fighter for the middle class" who will carry out his mandate to raise taxes on the richest Americans. He is daring the Republican House to send him a bill that extends the Bush tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans, while making the rich "pay a little bit more"--by letting the highest marginal income tax rates lapse back up to the levels they were at during the Clinton years.

Obama certainly has public opinion on his side. Not only did he win re-election after continuously vowing during the campaign that income taxes on households making more than $250,000 a year would rise, but multiple opinion polls show that about two-thirds of Americans want to see increased taxes on the rich. So Obama appears confident and willing to take the fight to the Republicans.

Liberals who were bitter about Obama's cave-in on the Bush tax cuts in 2010 are praising the president for standing tough this time. After a rare meeting between Obama and leaders of organized labor and inside-the-Beltway liberal organizations, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters, "We are very, very committed so that the middle class and workers don't end up paying the tab for a party we didn't get to go to, and the president is committed to that as well."

So are the Democrats ready to fight this time for the working-class Americans they always talk about during election season and then forget when they get to Washington?

The Democrats are likely to get their goal of higher taxes on the rich this time around. Even Republican House Speaker John Boehner has conceded that he will allow the GOP-run House to vote for increased "revenues" (a.k.a. taxes) in whatever "fiscal cliff" deal emerges.

The Bush tax cuts expire on December 31 if nothing is done to extend them. So if the White House and Congress can't come to a deal and everyone's taxes go up on January 1, then the Democrats will introduce legislation to "cut" taxes for 98 percent of Americans and dare the Republicans to vote "no" and hold out for preserving lower taxes for the top 2 percent.

Both during and after the presidential campaign, Obama has been careful to keep his promises narrowly focused on winning increased taxes on the rich. He and his lead negotiator, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner--a lame duck himself since he is expected to leave his position, and just plain lame to boot--haven't made firm commitments on much else in the negotiations.

While most of Washington is focusing on the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2 percent, there's far less being said about the expiration of the payroll tax holiday--something that will sock every working person immediately--or the expiration of supplemental unemployment benefits.

The White House has made noises about extending these two measures, but it hasn't drawn any "red lines" around them. So these attacks on working-class living standards could still emerge in a "fiscal cliff" deal, even if taxes on the rich increase.

And anyone who believes a newly emboldened Democratic Party will stand up for working people should consider what Democrats and Republicans have already agreed to. The same bill that set up the automatic spending cuts on January 1, which the politicians are decrying today, established a 10-year-long program of "capping" non-defense discretionary spending.

So Congress and the president have already agreed to cut $1.5 trillion from programs like Pell Grants, housing assistance, Head Start and care for veterans over the next decade.

This was the bipartisan agreement that Obama touted in his first debate with Romney. "I worked with Democrats and Republicans to cut a trillion dollars out of our discretionary domestic budget," he said. "That's the largest cut in the discretionary domestic budget since Dwight Eisenhower." No wonder Obama lost the first debate.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FOR THE Washington establishment, Obama included, the "fiscal cliff" is about much more than "revenues."

Because all sides of the fiscal cliff debate operate under the rubric of "deficit reduction," the short-term issue of the January 1 deadline has become enmeshed in the Washington establishment's long-term obsession with cutting entitlement programs. As David Wooner of Next New Deal wrote in Salon:

[F]or the most part, the public discourse on how to avoid the "fiscal cliff" and fix our economy has been centered not on jobs or the vast structural inequality that now separates the top 1-2 percent from the rest of us, but on the deficit. This is unfortunate, for it means, in essence, that the country's economic agenda is still very much in the hands of the conservative right; that we are still focused not on the cause of our economic woes--a collapsed economy brought on by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression--but on the by-product: the vast fall-off in federal, state and local revenue that naturally came about as a result of this collapse.

It makes no sense for politicians to be talking about changing programs like Social Security and Medicare, which may face fiscal challenges decades from now, in the context of a short-term fix for government fiscal policy. But the austerity-obsessed political leaders of both parties don't want to let this "crisis" pass without exacting a pound of flesh from the rest of us.

The Republican counteroffer to the White House budget plan includes a proposal to "fix" Medicare by lifting the eligibility age from 65 to 67. This would inflict needless suffering and financial stress on millions of seniors--but it likely wouldn't even save the government much money. And it would be an opening wedge in a longer-term assault on entitlements.

The White House dismissed the Republican offer as unserious, but we shouldn't assume that proposals to meddle with Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security are "off the table"--if the White House wants to get a deal.

If history is any guide, the ever-accommodating Obama could still portray an increase in the Medicare eligibility age as a quid pro quo--the unavoidable tradeoff--for the Republicans allowing taxes on the rich to increase...even though the Republicans can't prevent increases in taxes on the rich if the Democrats don't make a deal!

Let's not forget that Obama is already on record as having offered Boehner three historic concessions during the 2011 debt ceiling negotiations: increasing the Medicare eligibility age, cutting cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security recipients and slashing Medicaid payments.

These concessions may raise their ugly heads again if Obama believes that he can obtain the bipartisan "grand bargain" on deficit reduction that he's sought for four years.

The good news is that opinion polls show average Americans to be even more opposed to meddling with Medicare and Social Security than they are supportive of raising taxes on the rich. So if unions, advocates for the elderly and health care activists want to draw their own lines in the sand against the Washington establishment's desire to cut these important programs, they'll have millions standing behind them.

http://socialistworker.org/2012/12/10/the-fiscal-cliff-fraud



Fiscal Cliff HOAX and Con Job




They have NO Shame!"Fiscal Cliff" HOAX is further proof of what a right-wing lying fear-mongering machine US Media is. That is just as "Euro Debt Crisis" was a fear-mongering HOAX as we told you and proven to be the case as per Euro remaining a KINGLY 30% more valuable than US Dollar, "Fiscal Cliff" is just a new fear-mongering HOAX out of US Media.

For this "Fiscal Cliff" BS means lowering the Deficits by by going back to Clinton era Taxes for Top 1%, given the fact that Obama Dems have offered to extend Bush Tax cuts for the Middle class. It also means a slight cut in our Gargantuan Military budget, which cuts can come at NO expense of Jobs here in US by cutting US Military bases in Japan, South Korea, Germany, etc..

So Just think about this: for last few years TEApublican lunatics & right-wing Media were saying that if we do not lower the Deficits then "doom & gloom" BS and now that there is going to be a lowering of Deficits by Taxing the 1% at Clinton era, this is now the "Fiscal Cliff"!

HOW Stupid does the right-wing lying Media think we are?


Steps to convert the Deficits into HUGE Surpluses & Republicans oppose all!

So just think what a HOAX this Fiscal Cliff is, what TRUE ENEMY within Republicans and the right-wing lying Media are that their only answer to this so called Fiscal Cliff, which means to reduce the Deficits, is to KILL American People which would be the result of "Entitlement Cuts" cutting health care available via Medicare. So just think about, they are not calling for:

1- Taxing Rich such as Wall Street bankers that get $40-Million per Year more. Or having the Rich at least pay same FICA Taxes as Middle class.

2- Cut our Gargantuan Military. Such as NO MORE FREE Military for Israel, Germany, South Korea, Turkey, etc.

3- End the Afghan War. Hek they have even started hyping the Syria War.

4- Switch to Government run Universal Socialized health care (NHS), which would give health care to all American People while CUTTING health care spending by 50%, and these INCREDIBLE FACTS are why ALL Conservative parties in Europe, Canada, Australia, including Israel the beloved Nation of Republican lunatics, etc. are all 100% for their NHS. This Step alone will cut health care spending (Deficit) by about $1-Trillion per Year.

etc.

But instead they are calling for KILLING Americans, aka "Entitlement Cuts", aka cut health care due to Medicare.

And further think, of above Steps which would convert the US Deficit into a $5-Trillion Surplus in 10 years, Democrats are only proposing a slight step regarding the 1st Step.

So just think the 4 steps listed alone would replace the current $15-T Deficit with a $5-T Surplus in 10 years, and US Media, aka Wall Street owned right-wing lying Media, from psychos on Talkradio to CBS to NBC to CNN, etc. either does not mention the above steps at all, or when the above Steps are stated by alternative News Media, then they state that they oppose all of these Steps, but instead to cut the Deficits they suggest WHAT? They suggest cutting the so called "entitlements", which means cutting the measly $1500 per Month Social Security benefits that retirees get! Or cutting of health care to elderly provided by Medicare by for example as Bohner proposed increasing the age of eligibility for Medicare to 67.


ABSOLUTE PROOF that this Fiscal Cliff BS is just more fear-mongering Con Job of the Wall Street gang

So you want ABSOLUTE PROOF that this Fiscal Cliff BS is just more fear-mongering Con Job of Wall Street gang via their agents Republican lunatics & HOAX Democrats?

If yes, consider this ABSOLUTE FACT: they state to cut the Deficits we need to "Cut Entitlements" which means for example to increase the cost of Medicare to Seniors.

OTOH, in countries that have Government run Universal Socialized Health Care (NHS), they give health care to all their People FREE for Taxes they pay, while spending 50% LESS on health care. And that is why ALL Conservative parties, repeat for lying US Media, ALL Conservative parties, in Europe, Canada, Israel, etc. are 100% for their NHS. And Republican are such lunatics to oppose NHS and Obama Dems such HOAX to NOT even propose NHS and to add insult to injury they turn around and say we need to cut the Spending/Deficits, when NHS would cut health care Spending by $1-Trillion per Year, but it would do it on the back of Wall Street, the 1%, for the benefit of the Main Street, the 99%.


WHY are poor miserable Americans that are facing the "Fiscal Cliff" providing FREE Military to Rich countries?

So you want another PROOF of what HOAX this Fiscal Cliff is, how Republican lunatics and hoax Democrats are playing a Con Job on US, that is playing "Bad Cop Good Cop" on US, consider these facts:

Neither of them is calling for no more FREE Military protection provided by American Tax Payers for the Rich countries of Germany, Japan, Israel,, UK, etc. at the cost of 100s of Billions of Dollars per year to US.

Neither of them is asking: WHY are poor miserable Americans, so poor that they are facing the " Fiscal Cliff", so poor that 50-MIllion Americans do not have health care, providing FREE Military to Rich countries of Germany, Japan, Israel, UK, etc. whose people all have health care because they all have Government run Universal Socialized health care.

HOW Can you bastards explain to US American People how is it that on one hand we are so broke and poor that we are facing the "Fiscal Cliff" and OTOH we are so Rich to provide FREE Military to Rich countries of Germany, Japan, South Korea, Israel,, UK, etc.. HOW?

HOW Can you bastards explain to US how is it that on one hand we are so broke and poor that we are facing the "Fiscal Cliff" and OTOH we are so Rich that we have a Military budget that is as LARGE as the Military budget of all other countries on Planet EARTH combined! HOW? So given the size of our Military budget we are either the Richest People on Planet Earth with no worry about cutting spending or this Military Budget is the cause of our "Fiscal Cliff".


How about Job losses due to the so called "Fiscal cliff"

Another amazing aspect of this "Fiscal Cliff" fear-mongering BS is that Republicans and the Wall Street owned Media, aka right-wing lying Media, are actually saying, that the cuts proposed to the Military spending due to this so called "Fiscal Cliff" will:
"cause Job losses in the Military related industry..."
which is of course TRUE.

But then this same Republicans bastards and the right-wing lying Media were saying as Romney did in the 2nd & 3rd Debate that:
"Government does not create Jobs"

So just think about it Republicans and the right-wing lying Media are such lying machines, are such Con artists, such TRUE ENEMY within, that they actually with the same face will say that:

"Government spending on domestic (non-Military) matters does not create Jobs"

while

"Government spending on the Military Industrial complex does create Jobs..."

so much so that the Spending cuts triggered by this so called "Fiscal Cliff" will cause so many job losses to result in another recession! How can someone LIE to such TOTAL extent!


So what is the purpose of this "Fiscal Cliff" BS non-sense?

Its purpose is to Con the American people again to fall for the Con Job they have been running since Reagan era which Con Job was then sold as "Government is the problem and not the solution" and now being sold as "Government has too high a Deficit" the purpose of which Con Jobs are:

1- To give US as little value as possible for Taxes that we pay,

2- To have the Rich not pay their fair share of Taxes. Such as someone like Romney paying 15% Taxes while a typical Middle class pays much higher Taxes.

3- To enable the Wall Street Gang and their Agents to get as rich as they can off the back of the People by not having the Government (of the People) regulate what Big corporations can charge, such as have Government run Universal Nationalized Health Care, as they have in ALL developed nations, as a result of which health care would cost US half of what it costs now while giving ALL Americans having health care for the Taxes that we (already) pay.


Health Care issue alone is TOTAL proof of what lunatics Republicans are and what HOAX Democrats are

So just think what TOTAL Con Job Republicans, Wall Street Owned Media, aka right-wing LYING Media from psychos on Talkradio to CBS to NBC to CNN, to Wall Street Journal, etc., and many Democrats too have been running on US and astonishingly want to still run the same Con Job on US, that they claim they are worried about Debt & Deficits yet they do not even mention the $1-Trillion per Year cost SAVING, that is cut in Deficits, that we can have by operating health care on Government run Universal Socialized basis (aka NHS). Given the ABSOLUTE FACT that in countries that have NHS, which is ALL developed Nations on EARTH, they give health care to all their people while spend 50% LESS on health care than US which does not have Socialized health care and instead has for profit Wall Street run health care. And these ABSOLUTE FACTs are why ALL Conservative parties, repeat for Republican lunatics & lying US Media, ALL Conservative parties, in Europe, Canada, Israel, etc. are 100% for their NHS.

In fact just about the only person that ever mentions the ABSOLUTE FACT that Government run Universal Socialized health care, aka Single Payer health care or NHS, will give health care to ALL American people while cut the Deficits by 100s of Billions of Dollars per Year is Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in his occasional appearances on MSNBC and even then he is quickly muzzled by the MSNBC reporter as if the thought Police were looking over their shoulders and telling them you as the so called "Liberal Media" can talk about increasing the Taxes on the Rich slightly but cannot talk about the fundamental problems of US economy, the major Steps which would convert the US Deficits into HUGE Surpluses, which of course is only to be expected because MSNBC is controlled by the same Wall Street machinery that is behind all the right-wing LIES, behind all the fundamental problems of US economy.

And what do the Republican lunatics, HOAX Democrats and the Wall Street Owned Media, aka right-wing LYING Media from psychos on Talkradio to CBS to NBC to CNN, etc. state for cutting the Deficits, which means avoiding the so called "Fiscal Cliff" BS? They mention we need to cut the "Entitlements"! And when asked what do you mean by "Entitlements", do you mean:

1- Government being "Entitled" to Tax US all our lives
2- Israel being "Entitled" to get Billions of Dollars of our Tax money per Year
3- Japan, Germany, South Korea, etc. being "Entitled" to get FREE Military from US
etc. etc.

They answer NO NO, by "Entitlements" we mean American People being "Entitled" to get low cost health care passed the age of 65, aka Medicare, and NOT the rest of their lives like the rest of the developed World, and also the measly $1500 per Month in SS that they get.

Which is absolute proof of what TRUE ENEMY within these People are, for they oppose Government run NHS which would give health care to ALL Americans while cut Deficits due to health care by $1-Trillion per Year and at the same time these bastards state that we need to cut the Deficits!


Final Proof of above FACTS: CBS interview of Goldman Sachs CEO

Now you want final proof of the FACTS that we are under attack from a TRUE ENEMY within? That this Fiscal Cliff HOAX is just confutation of the same Con Job? And that that the KEY to this enemy having been able to get away with this Con Job on US is that they control most of US Media, and thus have turned it into a right-wing LYING machine, from ultra lunatic right-wing on Talkradio to merely right-wing lying machine of Network TV? Then a great demonstration of these facts was the interview of GoldmanSachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein by CBS News' Scott Pelley on Monday/Nov/19 about the so called "Fiscal Cliff" and how to lower our Debt & Deficits, which you can see here:







1st, keep in mind that this Lloyd Blankfein of GoldmanSachs has been paid on average about $20-Million per year, which salary does not even include the 10s of Millions of Dollars of perks he gets from flying around in a $50-Million Corporate Jet, Corporate Apartments, Corporate provide Limo with driver, etc. etc.

2nd, GoldmanSachs like most of Wall Street was SAVED by Tax payer provided TARP

3rd, Good part of the vast money that GoldmanSachs makes is from Tax payer money (going via Government) to the Military Industrial Complex

4th, Good part of the vast money that GoldmanSachs makes is from the health care industry, paying GoldmanSachs Billions of Dollars in dividends, and other payouts, which payments are due to health care in this country not being operated on Government run Socialized basis as it is in the rest of the developed World, including Lloyd Blankfein's beloved Israel

So in this interview Lloyd Blankfein suggests for cutting the Deficits to cut the pathetic measly $1500 per Month SS benefit of the Average American worker rather than having his $20 Million Dollar per Year Salary Taxed more or rather than having Rich like him AT LEAST paying the same FICA Taxes as avg worker pays instead of what it is now where it is capped at $110K of annual salary! Which means while average American worker pays FICA Taxes on 100% of his income of less than $75K per year, someone like Lloyd Blankfein pays FICA Taxes only on 0.55% of his income, that is NOT EVEN on 1% of his income. And myriad of other ways that Rich such as Blankfein & Romney have devised ways that they actually pay FAR LESS Taxes than Middle class.

And the so called CBS reporter Scott Pelley, with his Square Jaw and Salt Peppered Hair, making him look like he is a man of Wisdom rather than the totally empty suit that he and the likes of him are, that is total whoreeeee of the Wall Street gang that they are, does not ask Blankfein, hey to lower the Deficits why dont we have you Rich paying FICA Taxes on 100% of your Salary as a Middle class American does, or why dont we have you (the Romney Class) paying at least the same Taxes as Middle class set aside much more as is the case in Germany, Sweden, UK, etc.? But instead this Scott Pelley guy, this puppet of Wall Street, just asks the Con Job of Wall Street gang, which was: "Why don't we cut the Deficits by just cutting spending"!

Now if this Scott Pelley guy was real, rather than being just a Puppet of the right-wing Media/Cabal in the right-wing lying Media machine that they have put in place, then he would ask Blankfein:

Mr. Blankfein you state to cut the Deficits we should cut "Entitlements", specifically Medicare & Medicaid?
Mr. Blankfein are you freaking insane or do you think All American people are brain dead or is this the pre Internet age where you & we could lie and lie without having our lies exposed? Because if you care about too much spending, and thus Deficits, due to health care costs, then you would be calling for Government run Universal Socialized Health care(NHS), since in countries that have NHS, which is all European countries, Canada, your beloved Israel, in fact all developed Nations, they spend 50% LESS health care while giving health care to all their People.

Mr. Blankfein, in case you cannot handle Math 101, this means if we had NHS we would cut the Deficits due to health care by about $1-Trillion per year while giving health care to all American people.

In fact Mr. Blankfein, you are Jewish and as a result LOVE Israel and have been there many times. So you know 1st hand that Government run Universal Socialized Health care (NHS), would CUT health care costs by 50%, given the FACT that Israel has 100% NHS. Where all Israeli's have access to same health care from cradle to grave FREE for Taxes they pay. Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Israel

But Mr. Blankfein, you and the rest of the Wall Street gang, from Republican lunatics to HOAX Democrats and the right-wing LYING Media machinery that you have put in place, oppose NHS. You and the likes of you have spent 100s of Billions of Dollars to oppose NHS for American people, as a result of which:
At least 50,000 Americans are KILLED each year due to denial of health care due to pre-existing Condition alone
2-Million Americans go bankrupt each year due to health care costs
while health care costs US 2 Time as much as countries that have NHS, such as your beloved Israel.

And now you FAWKING bastard, you want to cut the Deficits by increasing the age at which Americans can qualify for Medicare, aka "Cut Entitlements", so that more Americans are KILLED and go bankrupt due to health care rather than supporting NHS which would give health care to ALL American People while cut health care spending by 50%, which means cut associated Deficits by $1-Trillion per Year. Who the FAWK are you People? How can you lie and lie against the American people the way you parasites do?

So how can you (bastards) explain your opposition to NHS for American people, resulting in 50,000+ Americans being KILLED each year due to denial of health care due to pre-existing Condition alone, etc. while your beloved Israel has NHS? HOW? And then on top of this turn around and say that "You are worried about the Deficits" when our Deficits are 100% caused by you right-wing Media/Cabal., from opposing NHS to having Rich like you not pay their fair share of Taxes to one Mufti Trillion War after another Mufti Trillion War in Middle East that you spend on which Wars only benefit Israel and have NO benefit for US American people.

Obviously this Scott Pelley guy, as a puppet of Wall Street gang did not ask the above FACT based Questions, because if he did then he would loose his Mufti Million per Year Salary in a heart beat. Instead the next day he interviewed Dave Cote, the CEO of Honeywell, whom got paid $55-Million last year, most of which from Government (Tax Payers) for Military related contracts, whom pretty much repeated all the lies and non-sense of Blankfein about "needing to cut Medicare or we are going to go bankrupt due to it!" Con Job, here:







This Fiscal Cliff HOAX is ultimate proof that we are under attack from a TRUE ENEMY within.

So this Fiscal Cliff BS is ultimate proof that we are under attack from a TRUE ENEMY within. Because this Fiscal Cliff HOAX was the result of Republican and right-wing Media BS that we need to cut the Deficits. But these Republican bastards and the right-wing Media/Cabal that control them oppose all of the sensible steps for cutting the Deficits, such as:

1- Tax the Rich more, such as going back to Clinton era Taxes for the Rich, during which Clinton era US economy had its best performance. Or have the Super Rich such as Blankfien of GoldMan Sachs who paid 0.1% FICA Taxes on his $20-Million pay last year pay the same FICA Taxes as Middle class which means pay FICA Taxes on 100% of his income.

2- Switch to Government run Universal Socialized Health Care (NHS), which would give health care to all while cut health care spending by 50%. And that is why ALL Conservative parties, repeat for lying US Media, ALL Conservative parties, in Europe, Canada, Israel, etc. are 100% for their NHS.

3- Cut the gargantuan US Military, given the fact that US Military is almost as big as the Military of all other countries on Planet EARTH, while US economy is not even 15% of World economy. Or given the fact that we provide FREE Military to Germany, South Korea, Japan, Israel, etc. Rich countries, certainly much Richer than Americans as per all their people having health care because they all have NHS.

Instead what do these Republican bastards and the right-wing Media/Cabal behind them suggest for cutting the Deficits? They suggest "Cutting Entitlements", by for example increasing the eligibility age for Medicare, which means KILLING more Americans due to lack of health care or driving more to bankruptcy due to health care costs.

And of these steps for cutting the US Deficits, in fact replacing it with a huge Surplus, Democrats only propose a slight action regarding the 1st Step.

HOW Stupid does the Wall Street owned Media, aka right-wing lying fear-mongering Media, and their agents that is Republican lunatics and HOAX Democrats think we (The People) are?



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Related Sources:

The real US Military budget is more like $1.2-Trillion and NOT even the reported Gargantuan Military budget of $700-Bill
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-hellman/national-security-budget_b_829676.html

Steps to cut the budget deficit by $15Trillion and create 10Mill high paying Jobs - and Republicans oppose all of these Steps!
http://www.realnewspost.com/sa.php?a=34356

Margaret Thatchers Conservative party is 100% for their Government run Universal Socialized single payer health care system (NHS)
http://www.conservatives.com/Policy/Where_we_stand/Health.aspx

U.S. scores dead last again in healthcare study while spending twice as much on health care than countries with NHS
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/06/23/us-usa-healthcare-last-idUSTRE65M0SU20100623

How does Socialized health care give health care to all while cut health care spending by about 50%?
http://www.realnewspost.com/sa.php?a=59248

CEO Council Demands Cuts To Poor, Elderly While Reaping Billions In Government Contracts, Tax Breaks
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/25/deficit-reduction-council-fiscal-cliff_n_2185585.html



http://www.realnewspost.com/sa.php?a=61963

The elites like Mr. Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, should be wary of encouraging cuts to social welfare programs when there is such a high level of poverty already existing in the U.S. Creating more poverty by advocating austerity and cuts in social welfare would only add to the burden on lower income people. This imbalance would encourage social discord and was exactly the reason for the French Revolution, what led Mr. Maximillien Robespierre to plan for construction of the guillotine.

In 1789, most observers viewed the revolutionary developments in France as the nothing less than the fulfillment of the Enlightenment's promise -- the triumph of reason over tradition, and liberty over tyranny. It seemed that by making a revolution, the French had ushered in the dawn of a new Jerusalem.
The ostensible cause of the revolution was a French financial crisis (the nation was bankrupt thanks to the wars of the Louis XIV). Between June and November 1789 the bourgeoisie, aided by uprisings from the people of Paris, were able to gain control over the state and institute reforms. During this so-called "moderate stage" of the revolution, the bourgeoisie abolished the special privileges of the aristocracy and clergy, drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, subordinated the church to the state, reformed the country's administrative and judicial systems and drew up a constitution creating a parliament and limiting the king's power.

Between 1792 and 1794 came the "radical stage" of the revolution. Three issues propelled the revolution in this direction. First, the urban poor or sans-culottes, wanted the revolutionary government to do something about about their poverty as well as counter-revolutionaries. Second, the clergy and aristocracy had mounted a counter-revolution to undue the reforms of the revolution. Finally, France had gone to war with European powers that sought to check French expansion and to stifle the revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality.

Louis XVI was dethroned and a republic established in 1792. In January of the following year, Louis met his fate at the guillotine. The republic was now faced with internal insurrection and foreign invasion. In June 1793 the Jacobins took power and mobilized the defenses of the nation. To deal with counter-revolutionaries, the Jacobins unleashed the Reign of Terror under the supervision of Maximilien Robespierre. The Terror was responsible for the death of 20-40,000 people, many of them innocent. When moderate Jacobins found themselves in control in the summer of 1794, Robespierre himself fell victim to the Terror and was guillotined.

In the 19th century, the ideals and reforms of the French Revolution spread in waves across Europe. In country after country, the ancien regime was challenged by the ideals of liberty and equality. Not only that, the ancien regime was also challenged by history itself, a history the French Revolution helped to create.

French Revolution Resources

http://www.historyguide.org/europe/revolution.html

by Peter Hart
By Peter Hart


The biggest story in Washington is about something that doesn’t really exist: the so-called ”fiscal cliff.” This manufactured panic is all about politicians and corporate interests getting things they want — things that don’t have much to do with the ”crisis” anyway. But instead of challenging this spin, big media outlets are playing along.

So what’s the not-really-a-cliff anyway? It’s a number of things that are set to happen all at once starting in January. On the one hand, there are budget cuts, more or less equally divided between military and domestic spending. The threat of those cuts was supposed to force Congress to reach a deal last year. It didn’t.

Add in the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts and a temporary cut in the Social Security payroll tax and it starts to really add up. That’s what’s causing these breathless TV reports telling you that if Congress and the White House don’t act in the next few weeks, the average family’s tax bill will go up an astonishing $3,500.

Astonishing, sure. And if it all happened, the country would very likely be thrown into another recession. But will it happen? That’s extremely unlikely. And is it really a cliff? Absolutely not.

A cliff, literally speaking, isn’t something you can fall off only a little bit. But this tax and spending problem could go right into January without much disruption for taxpayers or the economy. And there are plenty of ways to make sure that most Americans won’t see a massive tax increase. Those scary numbers you’re hearing rest on the assumption that no deal is reached for the entire year.

So why call it a cliff then? To make it seem like an immediate response is essential. There are powerful interests looking to use a ”crisis” to push for policy changes that have nothing to do with the current problem. So you might turn on the TV and hear the millionaire CEO of a major corporation say the cliff is really about the ”need” to cut the earned-benefit programs Social Security and Medicare.

Oh, they don’t call them ”cuts” — they prefer to talk about ”reforming” our ”entitlement programs.” But they’re talking about cuts that aren’t a required part of what it will take to get the country’s fiscal house in order. Social Security and Medicare spending isn’t, in fact, what’s causing the fiscal problems we’re told must be solved.

And the fact that some of these CEOs are the same Wall Street wizards who played a key role in creating the housing crisis and the Great Recession, which actually did cause fiscal woes by depressing tax revenue at the local, state and federal levels, doesn’t come up. We’re supposed to see them as responsible stewards of the economy.


Cutting Medicare is the part of the plan these austerity-loving chief executives are happy to talk about on TV. ”The big nut is going to have to be Medicare/Medicaid,” Honeywell CEO David Cote said in a CBS-broadcast interview. ”At the end of the day, you can’t avoid the topic.”

But that’s not all they have in mind. Wouldn’t you know it, their prescription for the country’s debt problem calls for an array of tax breaks for corporations. In other words, these CEOs are aiming for tax breaks for themselves, at the expense of Social Security and Medicare. They’re putting two of the country’s most effective and popular social programs arbitrarily at risk, under the guise of shrinking the federal budget deficit.

If journalism is to do us any good at all, the major media must expose this selfish agenda.

While a few skeptical reports have begun to appear in The Washington Post, New York Magazine, and on CNN, just about everywhere you turn you find stories about the dreaded but dubious fiscal cliff. Don’t believe the hype.

Peter Hart is the activism director of Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting.


http://otherwords.org/the_fiscal_hoax/

http://www.disinfo.com/2012/12/fiscal-cliff-fiscal-hoax/





The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Is A Hoax

2012/12/15

By Mikki Israel

Fiscal Cliff

Enough with the fiscal cliff hyperbole–the latest stratagems U.S. politrickcians want to sell to the American people. It is akin to the latest pop song you’ve heard played on the radio so many times you come to despise it. In the beginning you wanted to hear more of it, enjoyed it. But now the sound of it repulses you. Instead of music to your ears it is now cacophony–a harsh discordance of sound. Such is the case with the fiscal cliff rhetoric. And even more inflaming its disingenuity.

I do hate–actually I don’t–being the bearer of bad news but it’s all a hoax, a sham. As Malcolm X said, “you been had, hoodwinked, bamboozled”. Or as my grandmother, God rest her soul, used to say “the devil is a lie!”

There are some devils sitting on Capitol Hill, e.g. Chief Devil John Boehner, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) who would have us to believe America is going to collapse if the already impoverished somehow don’t manage to restrain themselves, exercise some financial discipline and become abject impoverished. All of you factory workers, teachers, waiters and waitresses and especially you burger flippers at fast food joints and price scanners at low-end super retail stores have got to stop this lavish lifestyle you have been living. No more balling and swaggering. It’s time to sacrifice for the good of your country.

Last year in a debate over an Ohio labor referendum that called for ”sacrifice” by teachers and other government workers in the form of pay cuts, collective bargaining and other rights the question was raised as to why elected officials won’t practice what they preach and join hands in this sacrifice. GOP state Rep. Lou Blessing’s response,

Because it’s not merited. I earn my pay. I think that was just political
baloney. So they can say in an ad, `Gee , you know, they didn’t support a pay
cut.’ Well, no, I don’t support a pay cut. Republicans earn their money.
Apparently Democrats don’t. They feel they should be paid less. That may be
true. Maybe we’ll just cut the Democrats’ pay.

Responding to his vote to privatize Medicare Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA) said, “All the important votes that I cast as their representative that are directed toward putting the country’s fiscal house back in order will be difficult. It requires tough choices.

Will some Democratic Congressman, Senator, Governor, any “leader” on the left please grow a pair, tell the truth and shame the devil? The only fiscal cliff that exists is the one of the avaricious plutocrats have concocted. The American economy is not on the brink of destruction due to “entitlements”. And for the record, yes I, you, we are ENTITLED to social security, Medicare and/or Medicaid because after all we EARNED it. We’ve worked all of our lives, paid into a system and yes are now ENTITLED to reap the harvest of our labor.

The true reason the American economy is in such perilous danger is much more sinister and rarely spoken, especially in the mainstream media. The real threat to the American economy are the banksters and corporate oligarchs–the Jamie Dimons, Stuart Gullivers, Mike Dukes and company, aka, the new mafia. And Al Capone or Frank Costello pale in comparison to the new crime bosses. Lloyd Blankfein and his ilk make Capone look like a choir boy. The new mafia is 100 percent unscrupulous. They know no boundaries or limits. They have no regard for those who do not share their space and they are driven by an insatiable greed that comprehends but one word–more. They have hijacked the economy, bought off 99.9 percent of the politicians and are holding everyone hostage. The ransom is our very livelihood, our existence. And if we the people do not begin to seriously push back, to stand up and resist by any means necessary and demand a different trajectory we all will be driven off a deadly cliff with zero chance of survival.

The fiscal cliff lie being peddled by the politicians, no matter how many times repeated, is still a lie. Do not believe the hype. Stop sipping the kool-aid. It ain’t grape. It’s blue number 4 and red number 5.

Rob Johnson, Director of the Economic Policy Initiative at the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute explains the mistruths behind the fiscal cliff on The Real News Network in the video here;

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/12/15/the-fiscal-cliff-is-a-hoax/


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