We're ruled by stupid, evil people

Off to work for a late shift, but here's a couple of must reads I ran across today. First, relative to a new organization that is targeting the real villians in this kabuki pagent we call a political system, it is useful to remember that just fighting the politicians doesn't really get to the heart of the problem:

In this insecure moment for most Americans, conservatives have forcefully advanced a narrative that names government as the problem. But when we look into the heart of the crisis we find massive and unaccountable corporations driving wages down and health insurance costs up, shipping jobs overseas and failing to contribute their fair share in taxes. Government is not the problem but rather the prize, and right now it sits in a trophy case on Wall Street.

But the money funding this campaign to destroy the middle class isn't just on Wall Street:

"Business shills whine that America's corporate tax rate--35%--is one of the world's highest. But that's pure BS. Our real corporate rate--the rate companies actually pay, after taking advantages of loopholes and deductions--is among the world's lowest! According to The New York Times, Boeing paid a total tax rate of 4.5% over the last five years. (This includes federal, state, local and foreign taxes.) Yahoo paid 7%. GE paid 14.3%. Southwest Airlines paid 6.3%. 'GE is so good at avoiding taxes that some people consider its tax department to be the best in the world, even better than any law firm's,' reports the Times" David Leonhardt. 'One common strategy is maximizing the amount of profit that is officially earned in countries with low tax rates.'"

Of course all of these loopholes were invented by bought off politicians. And now the corporate financed propaganda tour, eagerly promoted by the pols who see welath and power in their future if they play along, is hellbent on destroying the social safety net and the middle class, along with the last vestiges of democratic governance.

I'm taking the ongoing and ever growing working class protests as a sign that they finally went too far. This is one time I really, really care about being right about a prediction. The consequences if I'm wrong are too horrible to contemplate.

(Yes, I stole the post title from Atrios)