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Happy ThanksGetting Day

Philip Farruggio

Yes, we need to finally absolve ourselves, as Amerikans, from the con-job concerning Thanksgiving Day. All the ‘pomp and circumstance’ revolving around this holiday is just that, to quote Ebenezer Scrooge (one month early): Humbug!

Of course, even the southern Colonial slaves and Northern ‘indentured servants’ of that era would be thankful to just have a roof over their heads and enough to eat each day. Yet, it was only the slave masters and owners of property and capital who could kneel in their churches or bow in reflected prayer at their lavish dinner tables in true thanksgiving.

Amerika 2018 consists of well over 100 million of our citizens who are lucky just to stay head above water financially…perhaps a few paychecks from being out on the street…literally! How many families who live next door to me and to YOU (or maybe YOU yourself the reader) who have to have two (or more?) wage earners full time to just be able to function? How many single parents of even just one child need to live with their parents ( if lucky to be able to) in order to function properly? What about a single mom all on her own?

Do the math: How can a single Mom with, let us say, just one child, who works a blue or even white collar full time job on one salary, be able to stay head above water on, let us say, the USA median salary for a woman ($39,900)?

She most likely pays rent, and in my area of North Central Florida even a small two bedroom apt. goes for on average $1200 a month in a somewhat ‘safe’ low crime neighborhood. With her take home pay of $725 plus her health insurance contribution (usually 50%) of $80 a week, the figure is now $645. She would most likely need a car to get around (my area is mostly ‘car driven’ with not the greatest mass transit) and let us say that for even a low end car her payments would be $225 monthly for a new car loan, bringing her take home figure to now $420. Factor in her car insurance of $100 a month, and her take home figure is now $ 320 a week. She and her child need some sort of cable television, and even the low end cable is going to be at least $ 50 a month… and her take home figure is now $270 a week. Her phone/internet cost, even at the low end, would have to be at least $ 80 a month, bringing her figure down to $190 a week. Then you have food costs for her and her child, clothing costs, gas for her car, and God forbid one of them gets sick, or needs dental work, which is not covered….

The CEOs of all the companies that this single mom pays her hard earned money to earn in excess of a minimum of $20 million a year. Some earn double that figure! Within their own companies these CEOs earn in excess of 300 times the pay of their average workers. These folks have lots to be thankful of next Thursday!

Mind you: Where is the outrage? Where is the outcry of millions of working stiffs to say ‘Something is wrong here!?’ This column is just about one tiny example of the unfairness of this current corporate/ capitalist system. Those CEOS and top execs of Amerikan capitalism, who are even much less than what many label The ONE PERCENT, are paying federal taxes of a top rate of 37%. Now that is before their accountants cut it down to much lower figure than that.

Mitt Romney, now a Senator from Utah, admitted a few years ago that he, as a mega mega millionaire, only paid at a rate of perhaps 15%.

Please remember that when JFK was president, in 1961, the top tax bracket was at 90%. Again, with a good accountant, those mega rich may have paid at a rate of maybe 50%. Yet, my late uncle, who was in the 81% bracket then, earning $140k a year, still was able to enjoy two brand new twin Cadillacs for my aunt and himself, his exclusive country club membership and a new home in the burbs.

Folks, for this Thanksgiving it is time for we hundreds of millions of working stiffs to begin to accept the need for Socialism. It may just be the only way for our great nation to turn the corner economically and morally. Reread some of the scriptures, for all of you who adhere (as this writer does) to the teachings of Jesus, and see what he said about the mega rich:

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

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Jim Scott
Jim Scott
Nov 29, 2018 3:44 PM

Thank goodness we are so exceptional otherwise the poverty would be unbearable.

Dr Farr
Dr Farr
Nov 23, 2018 11:51 PM

Phil Farruggio speaks the truth. The capitalist economy (that is Wall St) is doing great for the billionaires and their minions, but not for anybody else. It can’t provide the basic needs for most of its inhabitants, and the situation worsens daily. The good news is that it’s entering its death spiral, albeit too slowly. The bad news is that it’s wreaking death and destruction on more innocent millions as it goes down.

vexarb
vexarb
Nov 23, 2018 5:43 PM

Man from Uncle comes with a new message to Syria:

“US Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey said in an interview with RIA Novosti and the Kommersant newspaper:

“We are committed to a political process that is with and by the Syrian people. The Syrian people get to decide who will lead them and what kind of a government they will have. We are not committed to any kind of regime change.”

The US military presence in Syria does not pursue its break-up, Jeffrey said.

[And Mao said, The U$ is a paper tiger]

wardropper
wardropper
Nov 23, 2018 12:56 PM

It’s just that there’s no need to call it “socialism”. That word has too much baggage from the McCarthy years, since when it has been, in the eyes of many Americans, exactly the same thing as communism.
I prefer to call it decent government. Government based on common decency.

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Nov 22, 2018 9:14 PM

Just look at that common thief in the photo, wrapping himself in the Americal flag and taking up the best part of a whole public bench for a one-person nap. It’s disgraceful. He should be made to return that shopping cart to its rightful owners immediately, then frog marched back to where he came from–Washington Avenue or Palm Beach, whichever is closest–forthwith.

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Nov 22, 2018 9:27 PM
Reply to  Robbobbobin

Oops. Brain fog. Should read “…Pennsylvania Avenue or Palm Beach…”. Where is the “Preview” button when you need it (in my case, constantly)?

bc
bc
Nov 22, 2018 10:05 AM

Interesting stats after two and a bit centuries of tbe Great Experiment in democracy ..

— three individuals (Gates, Bezos, Buffett) hold more wealth than the bottom 50% of the population.

— six in 10 Americans don’t have enough savings to cover a $500 unplanned expense.
https://money.cnn.com/2017/01/12/pf/americans-lack-of-savings/index.html

— even mainstream political scientists concede that American voters have absolutely no influence on political decisions; while in 2015 former president Carter said that the US is now “an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery.”

— the US has 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s imprisoned population.

— despite not having been invaded since 1812, the US spends more on its military than the next ten largest spending countries combined.

— it also has 99% of the world’s overseas military bases and virtually monopolizes the field of regime change and subverting other countries’ elections.

On this eve of Thanksgiving, feel free to add more….

James Connolly
James Connolly
Nov 22, 2018 10:26 AM
Reply to  bc

Some other illustrative vignettes in here

America’s Thanksgivings
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/11/22/amer-n22.html

mark
mark
Nov 22, 2018 4:49 PM
Reply to  bc

America reminds me of the Garden of Eden. The people who lived there went around naked, they had to steal food to eat, and they still insisted they were living in paradise.

vexarb
vexarb
Nov 22, 2018 8:39 AM

by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with The Asia Times on Saker Vineyard by special agreement with the author):

“It was a message, echoing across Eurasia: Presidents Erdogan and Putin, in a packed hall in Istanbul on Monday, celebrated completion of the 930 kilometer-long offshore section of the TurkStream gas pipeline across the bottom of the Black Sea.

This is no less than a key landmark in that fraught terrain I named ‘Pipelineistan’ in the early 2000s. It was built by Gazprom in only two and a half years_despite facing massive pressure from Washington_.

TurkStream is projected as two lines, each capable of delivering 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas a year. The first will supply the Turkish market. The second will run 180 km to Turkey’s western borderlands and supply south and southeast Europe, with first deliveries expected by the end of next year. _Potential customers include Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary_.

Call it the Gazprom double down. Nord Stream 1 and 2 supply northern Europe while TurkStream supplies southern Europe. Pipelines are steel umbilical cords. They represent liquid connectivity at its best while conclusively decreasing risks of geopolitical friction.

Turkey is already being supplied by Russian gas via Blue Stream and the Trans-Balkan pipeline. _Significantly, Turkey is Gazprom’s second largest export market after China_.

Erdogan’s speech strenuously emphasized the benefits to Turkey’s energy security. To witness this geopolitical and geoeconomic breakthrough was particularly enlightening, as I was deep into discussing Turkish geopolitics with members of the progressive Turkish Left.

Turkey-Russia trade connectivity – in energy, in the military domain via the sale of the S-400 missile system, in the building of nuclear power plants – has been conducted with consummate skill by Erdogan.

[The prize, future main lines of connectivity in the ME: U$A K$A I$rael or Russia, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Yemen, China?

tutisicecream
tutisicecream
Nov 22, 2018 8:55 AM
Reply to  vexarb

Well said Pepe. And watch what happens to the Nuland-Pyatt Neo-Nazi project in Ukraine when their umbilical is cut!

John
John
Nov 23, 2018 9:50 AM
Reply to  tutisicecream

The people of Ukraine are having a very hard time at the minute there gas has practically been cut off, they have a swarm of Jewish backed neo nazis on regular arsehole patrols and the eu and the IMF robbed them blind and they still act all superior. Fuck ‘em

mark
mark
Nov 23, 2018 5:44 PM
Reply to  John

People don’t realise what a third world basket case the Ukraine now is. It used to be the most prosperous and developed part of the Soviet Union. The population of the territory controlled by the Kiev Regime has fallen from 52 million at independence in 1991 to about 30 million now. Several million more are scratching a living as cheap labour in the EU, picking cabbages in Poland or working as Natasha prostitutes – the only thing Ukraine produces that the EU wants. In 2010, even before the Fascist Putsch in Kiev and the war, with the loss of Crimea and Donbas, the average income per head was $2,800. This was less than Egypt, $3,000. It is now just a CIA playground. The only future it has is foreign owned agribusiness (Monsanto) and extractive industries (Joe Biden’s son), and if they’re lucky maybe some sweatshop type manufacturing. They seemed to think the streets of the EU were paved with gold. Maybe they should have asked the Greeks about that.

Willem
Willem
Nov 22, 2018 6:32 AM

Dolly Parton was so cool,

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UbxUSsFXYo4

Much cooler than Sheena Easton’s song: (my baby takes) the morning train

This is what I learned, but do not understand

Thanks for posting the article

Willem
Willem
Nov 22, 2018 6:38 AM
Reply to  Willem

Actually, the lyrics are not so bad: Dolly Parton sings:

9 to 5, yeah, they got you where they want you
There’s a better life
And you think about it don’t you
It’s a rich man’s game
No matter what they call it
And you spend your life
Putting money in his wallet

That is true. It is the movie, with the strong women, always winning, always working, that got stuck into my head..

vexarb
vexarb
Nov 22, 2018 6:15 AM

A message from the POTU$A to his sheeple:

“The world is a very dangerous place!

The country of Iran, as an example, is responsible for a bloody proxy war against Saudi Arabia in Yemen, trying to destabilize Iraq’s fragile attempt at democracy, supporting the terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon, propping up dictator Bashar Assad in Syria (who has killed millions of his own citizens), and much more. Likewise, the Iranians have killed many Americans and other innocent people throughout the Middle East. Iran states openly, and with great force, “Death to Israel!” Iran is considered “the world’s leading sponsor of terror.”

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia would gladly withdraw from Yemen if the Iranians would agree to leave. They would immediately provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance. Additionally, Saudi Arabia has agreed to spend billions of dollars in leading the fight against Radical Islamic Terrorism.

After my heavily negotiated trip to Saudi Arabia last year, the Kingdom agreed to spend and invest $450 billion in the United States. This is a record amount of money. It will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, tremendous economic development, and much additional wealth for the United States. Of the $450 billion, $110 billion will be spent on the purchase of military equipment from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and many other great U.S. defense contractors.”

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-donald-j-trump-standing-saudi-arabia/

“The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed” — Dante, Paradiso

mark
mark
Nov 22, 2018 4:53 PM
Reply to  vexarb

Just the latest White House trained goy monkey rattling its tin cup for the kosher organ grinder.

John
John
Nov 23, 2018 9:52 AM
Reply to  mark

Shhhh the truth is anti Semitic

mark
mark
Nov 24, 2018 6:42 PM
Reply to  John

The Orange Baboon is just a ventriloquist’s dummy with Hasbara Central pulling its strings.

tubularsock
tubularsock
Nov 22, 2018 1:33 AM

Well, the first expenditure to be eliminated is the cable channel! No matter what level you are on the income chain.

Free you mind first and then see what happens.

Mloglu
Mloglu
Nov 22, 2018 2:08 AM
Reply to  tubularsock

I haven’t had cable since 2010 and I am an artist, need visuals daily. Done.