Across the Abyss
TimeWatch Editorial
February 11, 2016
It is incredibly disturbing that every time the talking heads begin to analyze the results of the first caucus and first primary of 2016, the emphasis is usually given to the idea that the Democratic Party result has been achieved by the large number of women and millennials, 18-33 year olds, who chose the self described Democratic Socialist. No one seems to be willing to detail the agenda of this self described Socialist. So let us take a look at some of the expressed issues.Jonathan Tasini and Chelsea Green wrote an article entitled: “10 Ways to Make The U.S. Economy Work for Everyone, By Bernie Sanders”
- Stop corporations from using offshore tax havens to avoid U.S. taxes. The wealthy and large corporations should not be allowed to avoid paying taxes by setting up tax shelters in Panama, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas or other tax haven countries.
- Establish a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street speculators. Both the economic crisis and the deficit crisis are a direct result of the greed and recklessness on Wall Street.
- End tax breaks and subsidies for big oil, gas and coal companies. If we ended tax breaks and subsidies for big oil, gas, and coal companies, we could reduce the deficit by more than $113 billion over the next ten years.
- Establish a Progressive Estate Tax. If we established a progressive estate tax on inherited wealth of more than $3.5 million, we could raise more than $300 billion over 10 years.
- Tax capital gains and dividends the same as income taxes. Taxing capital gains and dividends the same way that we tax income would raise more than $500 billion over the next decade.
- Repeal all of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax breaks for the top two percent.
- Require Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry.
- A broken and biased justice system.Jonathan Tasini and Chelsea Green, <strong“10 Ways to Make The U.S. Economy Work for Everyone, By Bernie Sanders”
These are just some of the positions taken by the candidate. He also mentions that the amount of money used to elect politicians suggests that these politicians are therefore beholding to their financial providers. He raises the matter of the number of banking institutions that have been found guilty of fraud. These banks have been allowed to pay a fine that is a negligible percentage of the profit they accrued from the fraud, while no-one has ever gone to jail. There are not many who might disagree with the ideas expressed. The question must now be, how do you correct the existing flaws expressed. How do you coerce the Congress to cooperate in the work that must be done? Those are questions that are not asked.
This article is not intended to justify or attack the points of view expressed. The detail above is provided for one reason; that is to show how well it lines up rather closely with another publicly stated agenda. Here is that other agenda, expressed by on the 27th of November 2013:
“Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized. … some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.”Pope Francis Attacks Capitalism, Calls for State Control, 27th of November 2013:
quoted in September 2013, in a meeting with Gutiérrez, and L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s semi-official newspaper
Cameron A. Bowen
