“The broad mass of a nation…will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.”
-- Adolph Hitler 1889-1945: “Mein Kampf” (1925)
“In our country the lie has not just become a moral category but a pillar of the state.”
-- Alexander Solzhenitsyn 1918- : 1974 interview, in “The Oak and the Calf” (1975)
“And if, to be sure, sometimes you need to conceal a fact with words, do it in such a way that it does not become known, or, if it does become known, that you have a ready and quick defense.”
-- Niccolo Machiavelli 1496-1527
POLITICS:
Have you noticed that Wall Street bankers have given themselves $20 Billion in bonuses? This as the economy goes down in flames, and the government continues to throw good money after bad in bailing out “zombie” banks. And what has Congress done in the face of massive foreclosures, skyrocketing unemployment, and a tsunami of credit card debt? Let’s take the credit card debt first. Sure, legislation has been passed to provide some oversight and regulation on the credit card industry, but these changes won’t take effect for another year. Not coincidentally, this gives Chase, American Express, Citi Bank, Capital One, and the rest of these gangsters, time to pick us clean before help arrives. The circling buzzards are starting to land. All the lofty rhetoric in the world doesn’t change the fact that the credit card bloodsuckers are simultaneously lowering limits and raising interest rates across the board. So much for the idea that we all have to help each other out in these tough economic times.
Unemployment? Get real folks, it’s all about profit, not jobs. Consider the following quote by Erik Gordon, a professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, from the January 24, 2009, New York Times business section: “Most large companies have cut just everything they can. The only way to come up with new cuts without endangering their future is to merge in a way that creates redundancies that give the companies new job-cutting opportunities.” “New job-cutting opportunities!” Wrong choice of words, pal. ” It’s not the “future” of human beings -- the worker -- that these companies are worried about “endangering,” it’s their profit margin. I know, I know, the argument goes something like this: once the companies survive the economic downturn they will be generating more jobs. Bullshit! Free market capitalism has never cared about the worker. It’s like Mother tells Ripley in Alien, “crew expendable.”
Foreclosures? Just see if your taxes go down in tandem with the plummeting value of your house. Let’s also see how much action arises out of the big talk about restructuring mortgages to relieve the homeowner’s burden.
MCGEE-FEST
Regarding McGee-Fest, Bill De Broux wrote:
From:
Bill De Broux
To:
rlt@umich.edu
Subject:
[You Are Here: Disease as Performance] New comment on Tim McGee Benefit 2009.
Show this HTML in a new window?
Bill De Broux has left a new comment on your post "Tim McGee Benefit 2009": I say that there is no way I'm missing this one. Please email me with support requests, monetary and otherwise. Do we want to go completely mental and start a tax- exempt non profiter? You know, have the government kick in a little tax help to all the donators? By the way, nice ass chewing you delivered to the Up Front honks. Later,Bill.
-- Adolph Hitler 1889-1945: “Mein Kampf” (1925)
“In our country the lie has not just become a moral category but a pillar of the state.”
-- Alexander Solzhenitsyn 1918- : 1974 interview, in “The Oak and the Calf” (1975)
“And if, to be sure, sometimes you need to conceal a fact with words, do it in such a way that it does not become known, or, if it does become known, that you have a ready and quick defense.”
-- Niccolo Machiavelli 1496-1527
POLITICS:
Have you noticed that Wall Street bankers have given themselves $20 Billion in bonuses? This as the economy goes down in flames, and the government continues to throw good money after bad in bailing out “zombie” banks. And what has Congress done in the face of massive foreclosures, skyrocketing unemployment, and a tsunami of credit card debt? Let’s take the credit card debt first. Sure, legislation has been passed to provide some oversight and regulation on the credit card industry, but these changes won’t take effect for another year. Not coincidentally, this gives Chase, American Express, Citi Bank, Capital One, and the rest of these gangsters, time to pick us clean before help arrives. The circling buzzards are starting to land. All the lofty rhetoric in the world doesn’t change the fact that the credit card bloodsuckers are simultaneously lowering limits and raising interest rates across the board. So much for the idea that we all have to help each other out in these tough economic times.
Unemployment? Get real folks, it’s all about profit, not jobs. Consider the following quote by Erik Gordon, a professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, from the January 24, 2009, New York Times business section: “Most large companies have cut just everything they can. The only way to come up with new cuts without endangering their future is to merge in a way that creates redundancies that give the companies new job-cutting opportunities.” “New job-cutting opportunities!” Wrong choice of words, pal. ” It’s not the “future” of human beings -- the worker -- that these companies are worried about “endangering,” it’s their profit margin. I know, I know, the argument goes something like this: once the companies survive the economic downturn they will be generating more jobs. Bullshit! Free market capitalism has never cared about the worker. It’s like Mother tells Ripley in Alien, “crew expendable.”
Foreclosures? Just see if your taxes go down in tandem with the plummeting value of your house. Let’s also see how much action arises out of the big talk about restructuring mortgages to relieve the homeowner’s burden.
MCGEE-FEST
Regarding McGee-Fest, Bill De Broux wrote:
From:
Bill De Broux
To:
rlt@umich.edu
Subject:
[You Are Here: Disease as Performance] New comment on Tim McGee Benefit 2009.
Show this HTML in a new window?
Bill De Broux has left a new comment on your post "Tim McGee Benefit 2009": I say that there is no way I'm missing this one. Please email me with support requests, monetary and otherwise. Do we want to go completely mental and start a tax- exempt non profiter? You know, have the government kick in a little tax help to all the donators? By the way, nice ass chewing you delivered to the Up Front honks. Later,Bill.
Bill, is this really possible?
If so, I appeal to all who read this -- Yooper expatriates as well as complete strangers – to contribute tangible (material support) as well as intangible (ideas and advice) help in putting on this Summer’s benefit.
Finally, and this is a somewhat self-serving plea from a man behind on his taxes and feeling the pinch, I have two pieces of land for sale from which I would gladly donate 5% of the proceeds to Tim. One is located between Marquette and Big Bay Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. It covers about 3 acres, with 525 feet of medium cliff frontage on Lake Superior. The other is in Lower Michigan near Manchester. It encompasses 6-7 acres in an association of upscale homes. ANY and ALL offers will be considered! Inquire at rlt@umich.edu
Best – Randy Tessier
If so, I appeal to all who read this -- Yooper expatriates as well as complete strangers – to contribute tangible (material support) as well as intangible (ideas and advice) help in putting on this Summer’s benefit.
Finally, and this is a somewhat self-serving plea from a man behind on his taxes and feeling the pinch, I have two pieces of land for sale from which I would gladly donate 5% of the proceeds to Tim. One is located between Marquette and Big Bay Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. It covers about 3 acres, with 525 feet of medium cliff frontage on Lake Superior. The other is in Lower Michigan near Manchester. It encompasses 6-7 acres in an association of upscale homes. ANY and ALL offers will be considered! Inquire at rlt@umich.edu
Best – Randy Tessier
PS: McGee, you gotta like this pitch. I learned from you, the master!
1 comment:
It is my opinion that this can be done. I have a meeting set up on 02/25 with my CPA and I will get HIS opinion. I'll find out then how to proceed, filing fees & requirements, all that stuff. Late,Bill.
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