Sociopath – A person with antisocial personality disorder. Probably the most widely recognized personality disorder. A sociopath is often well liked because of their charm and high charisma, but they do not usually care about other people. They think mainly of themselves and often blame others for the things that they do. They have a complete disregard for rules and lie constantly. They seldom feel guilt or learn from punishments. Though some sociopaths have become murders, most reveal their sociopathy through less deadly and sensational means. (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Sociopath).
Trickle Down
The idea behind trickle-down economics was that the wealthy were job creators, and that by reducing taxes on the affluent, more jobs would be created, resulting in prosperity for all. Trickle-down economics was christened with an official name, supply side economics, and sold to the American people with a slogan; a rising tide lifts all boats. However, you can’t put lipstick on a pig: the system is called capitalism and it is killing people and the environment.
We now know trickle-down economics was a lie, a fraudulent scheme to redistribute money from the many to a few, and a theft of the nation’s wealth. Rather than a rising tide, thirty plus years of trickle-down economics has brought us the loss of tens of millions of jobs through outsourcing, the devastation of entire cities, the financial collapse of 2008 and an ever widening income disparity and inequality between the so called job creators and the other 99% of the population.
Rather than use tax breaks to create jobs and spread prosperity, the so called job creators have used tax breaks to horde money and then use this ill-gotten wealth to corrupt the government, wage imperialist wars, gain more tax benefits and spend their ill-gotten gain abroad. These so called job creators make their money through various predatory schemes such as for profit colleges, for profit prisons and the privatization of public resources, inflicting misery on millions in the process. This is the financial capitalism.
They have used their illicit wealth to wage war upon the low income by influencing government and public policy to promote cuts to social security, unemployment benefits, food stamps, education and public pensions. They have decimated the public commons. They do this using the government, which they own while at the same time frothing at the lips while claiming government is bad!
Trickle-down economics has resulted in the creation of new class economic predators that have used their wealth to wreak havoc on nations and inflict suffering on millions. Each time they get caught breaking the law, they buy their way out of prosecution. Their behavior by definition is sociopathic.
The New Sociopathic Class
While the mainstream media lauds the mega wealthy as celebrities, their wealth is not the result of being smarter or working harder, it is a result of conduct that is often malevolent, unethical and criminal.
The net result of trickle-down economics has not been a rising tide which has lifted all boats. It has been the creation of a new class of sociopaths emboldened by massive amounts of money they use to wreak misery and destruction. A few examples include:
Paul Singer– is known as a vulture capitalist. Singer buys the debt of foreign nations for pennies on the dollar and then holds them hostage till they pay the debt at full face value.
Pete Peterson – billionaire Obama donor has been promoting a campaign to cut social security, which may explain Obama’s willingness to consider such an idea with is anathema to Democratic Party ideals, or was until the corporate democrats took over the party.
Lloyd Blankenfien – After receiving billions in government bailout money, Goldman Sachs CEO told Americans they need to tighten their belts and accept social security cuts.
John Arnold – has been running a campaign to cut public pensions. Recently exposed for covertly funding a PBS series attacking public pensions.
Jamie Dimond – JP Morgan head has overseen so many deferred prosecution agreements, it is hard to keep count. Morgan has paid out billions to avoid prosecution related to mortgage fraud, fixing utility prices, and laundering Maddoff money.
Art Pope – made millions off of variety stores in low income African American communities in North Carolina. While he promotes cutting education spending and racist policies. Got himself appointed budget director for the State after funding Republican takeover of State legislature.
Tom Perkins – compared attacks on the 1% to Nazi persecution of Jews. He claims millionaires should get a million votes. His public statements reveal paranoia, psychopathic behavior and delusional thinking.
And not one bankster or fraudster has gone to jail as a result of the economic crash of 2008.
Trickle up misery
The premise of trickle-down economics is a fraud, which is why it has been derisively labeled voodoo economics. Consumer spending comprises 70% of the US economy. Therefore the only way to stimulate growth is through (demand) increased consumer spending.
‘Demand’ has now been created through debt. For with wages falling, jobs disappearing due to outsourcing, insourcing and robotics there simply is no work. No work, no play. So, the American people bask in debt servitude and it will trickle-down to new generations. One trillion in student loan debt, one trillion in credit card debt and the new economic bubble: auto loan debt. All this debt is traded on Wall St. making the one percent richer and richer while throwing the rest of us into misery. Of all the economic gains and wealth made in the last 20 years 53% has gone to the one percent. This leaves over 6 billion people scrambling for 47% of the wealth.
The only real way to increase consumer spending is to implement economic policies which favors the bottom 90% of the population: such as raising the minimum wage, raising taxes on the rich, lowering the eligibility age for social security, extending unemployment benefits, reducing the tax burden on the bottom 90% and creating public sector jobs to repair America’s infrastructure, provide universal public education and public health, to name a few items.
All of this could be readily paid for by returning income tax rates to Nixon era levels, lifting the cap on social security taxes and increasing the capital gains taxes on dividend payouts. Not only would this be good economic policy, it would be good social policy by culling the numbers of this new plutocratic sociopathic class of the craven one percent.
It has been reported: “Taxes are being used as a weapon against the nation’s wealthiest 1 percent, and could force their “economic extinction,” according to outspoken venture capitalist Tom Perkins.
Because the so called job creators have not used tax breaks bestowed upon them to create jobs or increase prosperity as promised, there is no legitimate reason to continue these tax breaks. Perhaps the time has come to use taxation to force the extinction of the one percent, as Perkins fears, for it is the one percent who have created the material and subjective conditions that are literally driving people mad.
Take away people’s hope and their chance for a livelihood for themselves and their families and what we see is the rise of the psychopathic mind and authoritarian personality. One need to only witness the horrific weekly shootings: be they at Malls, schools, military bases, post offices, the streets or within families. This and rising suicide rates are all a result of a sociopathic system and a tiny psychotic minority who rule like corporate monarchs.
The American people are literally going mad due to the labyrinth of despair they are forced to trek. Time to wake up America and expropriate the expropriators before they create civil war and fascism.
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