Tea Party: Are You Serious or Just Bitching?

The Tea Party stands for a few principles that are shared by others. Others they may not like. If they are serious about achieving their goals, or at least some of them, they will need to work with other political groups because this is still a democracy and they don't have a majority.

Some discerned ideas of the Tea Party:

Anger at the banker bailout
Anger at both Republican and Democrat parties
Restoring limited government
Free market boosterism.

Some discerned ideas of Market Socialism:

Anger at the banker bailout
Anger at both Republican and Democrat parties
The means of production are publicly owned, managed, and administered
Democratic socialists do not want to create an all-powerful government bureaucracy. But they do not want big corporate bureaucracies to control our society either. Rather, they believe that social and economic decisions should be made by those whom they most affect.

I propose that the Tea Party, the Market/Democratic Socialists and the Progressives get together to push their common ideas: that the bank bailout was just welfare for the few at the expense of the many, that both the Republican and Democratic parties are owned and controlled by corporate money, therefore neither are really representing us.

If the Tea Party is serious, really serious, about achieving its goals they will be open to this idea of teaming up with other people who don't share their perspective. As long as this is still a democracy, they will have to do that to get anything done at all. That's if they want to in the first place.

Tea Party Revolution Starts Here: Form To Reject Medicare

Below is a handy-dandy form I've created that Tea Party adherents can use to reject Medicare, that odious Government-sponsored health care program. The next time the Tea Party hoses up traffic in Washington, DC, we residents, the true "taxation without representation" citizens, can bring hundreds of these forms for them to fill out. Hooray!




Name ________________ __ ____________________________

ADDRESS ________________________

_________________________________




DATE: _________________


Form TEAPARTY (10-2010) Destroy prior editions

Social Security Administration Important Information
You may also call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048) to renounce government-funded healthcare that is Medicare.

General Instructions for Rejecting Government-Funded Healthcare in the Form of Medicare

How To Complete This Application
Use BLACK INK only;
•Keep your numbers, letters and Xs inside the boxes; use only CAPITAL letters;
• Do not add any handwritten comments on the application;
• Do not use dollar signs when entering money amounts.



Completing Your Application
You may complete the application and send it to:
Social Security Administration Wilkes-Barre Data Operations Center P.O. Box 1020 Wilkes-Barre, PA 18767-9910

NOTE: To successfully submit this form, you must live in one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia.

Applicants Name
First _____________________
Middle Initial ________
Last _________________________
Suffix _____________

Social Security Number __________________
Applicant’s Date of Birth ____________________

By signing this form, I am affirming to the U.S. Government that I am rejecting Medicare coverage in all its forms. Medicare is an evil Government-sponsored health care program in which I will not participate. Withdraw my eligibility for the Medicare program immediately.

Signature ________________________

Print Name _______________________


Tel 800-325-0778 website www.SocialSecurity.gov

Capitalism Has Failed

Our capitalist economic system has failed. Recognizing this, and not willing to be the unthinking arm of tragedy, Cook County sheriff Sheriff Thomas J. Dart is no longer evicting people in foreclosed properties in Chicago.

I would like to meet anyone who says our financial system is working. But in a sense, it is. It's just that the outcome of our current capitalist system is politically unpalatable.

Sheriff Thomas J. Dart's refusal to throw people on the street acknowledges a breakdown of our system of economics and its political implications for the banks. The rhythmic chanting about the marketplace that we've been subjected to for years depends on the enforcement of those mores by society at large.

We, as a society, are no longer willing to adhere to the pure marketplace ideology. The inherent unfairness of allowing bankers and others to make up financial instruments and letting others suffer the consequences is not being tolerated.

This being America, the fancy financial whiz kids can expect to be indicted soon. That will be fun to watch.

So now, following Great Britain's lead, the United States is considering an ownership stake in these wayward banks. NOTE: We are officially Socialists when that happens.

Not that I'm against it. Obviously, we can't let these money guys stray too far from the barn. They can't keep out of trouble. For a group of people who pride themselves on thinking, the financial geniuses need a tutorial on how the world works. They'll find out. All is fine in America until you screw up. And you took capitalism with you this time.

Executive Compensation Under the Bailout Bill

Reclaiming Executive Bonuses

If the executive of a failed financial institution received a bonus based on information later proven to be MATERIALLY INACCURATE, the U.S. Government could go after the bonus money. But not the base salary.

Put another way, if upon valuing a firm's statement of earnings, the federal government decides it is materially inaccurate for 2005 because the value of the mortgage-backed securities was wrong, then the executive bonuses, based on the statement of earnings, can be "recovered."

This bill allows the U.S. Government to go after executive bonus or incentive pay that was based on "materially inaccurate" information. There is no limit on who that applies to. So the executives from two or four years ago who made "materially inaccurate" statements can have their big bonuses taken from them, too, as long as their firm later requires federal rescuing.

So, to get the bonus money back (and not the salary), there would need to be MATERIALLY INACCURATE information from the company, which could be made in a number of ways that Congress has not decided to fully list. And it would not need to be materially inaccurate at the time. It could be "LATER PROVEN TO BE MATERIALLY INACCURATE." The information could be statements of earning, gains, or OTHER CRITERIA. The last item is capitalized because it leaves an open door for interpretation. It could be taken to mean, conceivably, anything a bonus is based on, including media interviews that caused the stock price to move. Yes, it is rather a stretch. But still a possibility.

In short, it is more than I expected in terms of socking it to Wall Street fat cats.

Golden Parachutes

All financial firms that need U.S. Government bailout will not have "golden parachute payments to their executives while the U.S. Government stills holds stock in your firm. The least they could do, I'd say.

See the exact language below.

(B) a provision for the recovery by the financial institution of any bonus or incentive compensation paid to a senior executive officer based on statements of earnings, gains, or other criteria that are later proven to be materially
inaccurate; and
(C) a prohibition on the financial institution making any golden parachute payment to its senior executive officer during the period that the Secretary holds an equity or debt position in the financial institution.

Implications of Bailout

How are the Republicans going to advocate less regulations from now on?

Never again will the cry of "free, unimpeded markets" be the answer to the lack of health care. The teeth of the Republican "no government" stance have been pulled out and tossed away. Liars. Hypocrites. They never meant it to begin with, and the Wall Street gamble paid off.

We have learned through experience that greed is not good for everyone. And the greedy will not take the hit on the chin when they lose because, well, they're greedy cowards.

Now that America KNOWS that they own Wall Street, it's time to start making demands.

A cap on executive salaries with NO golden parachutes.
Compensation tied to performance.
Hiring graduates from state schools.
Diversity.
All investment bankers must run up and down Wall Street once a year in their underwear while people throw eggs at them.

Hey, I bet we could make them do it, they'd sell their own mothers for money, why not volunteer to get eggs thrown at themselves?

Now That We're a Socialist Country ...

Hooray! We're Socialists now! All this "free market" pretense can be dropped forever. Never will I have to listen to drivel about how the marketplace rules. Never will the argument be made about survival of the fittest, sink or swim.

At least for the next week or two.

So, as Socialists, we should expect certain things:

Free basic health care
Very cheap college
Rich get taxed a lot more than the poor.

Economics Explained with Cows

ECONOMICS EXPLAINED WITH COWS

SOCIALISM

You have two cows.

You give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM

You have two cows.

The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM

You have two cows.

The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM

You have two cows.

The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRACY

You have two cows.

The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the

milk away.

CAPITALISM

You have two cows.

You sell one and buy a bull.

Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.

You sell them and retire on the income.

SURREALISM

You have two giraffes.

The government requires you to take harmonica lessons

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.

Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why your cow has dropped dead.

ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM

You have two cows.

You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of

credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a

debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get

four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.

The milk rights for six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a

Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who

sells the rights to seven cows back to your listed company.

The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on

one more.

You sell one cow to buy a new President of the United States, leaving

you with ten cows.

No balance sheet is provided with the release.

The public then buys your bull.

You don't need money to start a dog walking business. Buy The Dog Walker's Handbook

THE ANDERSEN MODEL

You have two cows.

You shred them.

A FRENCH CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads because you want

three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow but

produce twenty times the milk.

You then create a clever cow cartoon image called 'Cowkimon' and market

it worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and

milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.

You decide to have lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You count them and learn you have five cows.

You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.

You count them again and learn you have two cows.

You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION

You have 5,000 cows. None of them belong to you, but you get to charge the

owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You have 300 people milking them.

You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.

You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation, and run him over with a

tank in a large open square area.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION

You have two cows.

Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION

Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.

You tell them that you have none.

No-one believes you, so they bomb the hell out of you and invade your

country.

You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of a Democracy.

A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION

You have two cows.

The one on the left looks very attractive.

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

Business seems pretty good.

You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate