Sunday, July 13, 2008

What about the Poor?







They gave the Wealthy two tax breaks! They gave the poor a tax increase!

Lower Representation and Increased Taxation!

Higher tuition fees, Higher gas and energy prices, high food prices! Higher rents and higher homeowners fees! Stagnant wages!

The Rich got Richer and the Poor got the shaft! - Jaycee

Sen. Jesse Helms died on the 4th and my spiritual upbringing and current spiritual practices and beliefs would not allow me to dance and sing songs and burn incenses and fireworks! Darn, spiritual upbringing! Jesse Helms passed on the 4th and let that be the only thing Jaycee Williams ever noted on that subject.

This week the FISA telecom immunity bill passed! As I stated in an earlier post, we are being conned! The Democrats did not resist this policy! Obama, stated in earlier speeches that he would filibuster any effort to give telecommunications companies retroactive immunity for helping the Bush goverment illegially spy on us. He led no such effort! In fact Bam-Bam, voted for it! So much, for the constitution and protection from unreasonable search and seizure! Fourth amendment!

Speaker Pelosi, when faced with Kucinich's second impeachment proposal stated that she would consider it. Wow! What's changed? Why now? Could it be that the voters are angry and disappointed in your leadership? The troops have not been brought home barring war injuries or death. There is no time table for withdrawal! What's changed Nancy? What's changed?

In my May 7th post, I stated that no one except Sen. John Edwards was speaking on behalf of the poor and the working poor. No other candidate was doing that then and no other candidate is doing that now. Obama and McCain are speaking only on the wealthy and the middle class. The middle class as I said then is a nebulous term because it does not actually define its meaning in a concrete form. Most people who claim to be middle class are in fact poor or working poor!

They are using this incorrect and nebulous catch all term and getting fooled! When politicians speak of the middle class, they are speaking of couples who make 200 k or more a year, are educated professionals, and are property owners and investors. If you are not making that then they are not talking about you! And don't fool yourself with terms like lower middle class, upper middle class, catch all, feel good, nebulous terms that can be applied to anyone willing to take the label. Social values and religious mores do not make you middle class! Well behaved and responsible citizens maybe but not middle class! Politicians are happy not to define the meaning of middle class. They fool the poor with this feel good term but their policies benefit everyone except the poor.

So who is speaking for the poor and working poor? The gap between the Wealthy, Rich, Poor and Working poor is widening further and further everyday. People are losing their homes, Jobs are going overseas, factories are closing and infrastructure is falling down. Home loans are being defaulted and the government is talking bailout that the tax payers will have to foot.

I'm sorry but I gotta talk real. A loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, a jar of peanut butter and a dozen eggs can not be purchased for twenty dollars at the local supermarket. Twenty dollars will not fill your gas tank. Electricity and Natural gas prices are up and why? Some say it's the oil speculators, some say it's because we are running out of oil. Could be but Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and BP Oil are hiring right now not downsizing or cutting back so if they are growing and expanding while state and local governments are slashing their staffs and budgets then something don't add up!

These same oil companies and the politicians that they pay to represent them all say we should drill in all these places that have been off limits for years but that they are always trying to gain access to in order to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Con! Ask any mining town that allowed big business to come in, set up shop, drill, mine, explode or whatever how their town or land and local economies look now? How much useless land was left, how many health problems are they still dealing with? How many folks can get jobs there now that the steel, coal, chromium, oil or uranium is gone?

The Energy industry is out for itself and itself alone. It's not about nationalism or patriotism at all! If it were then we would have very different language being used like real conservation, nationalized price controls, tax breaks for the working poor on energy and rebates, and tax breaks for auto manufacturers that buy back vehicles like the Expedition and the Hummer and recycle them into new smaller cars with great gas mileage. How about 45 MPG? How about bringing back those wonderful electric vehicles that were only lease able a few years ago?

How about enforcing federal mandates against large publicly traded companies like MTA who have judgements against them for reducing the number of bus routes and buses in large metropolitan areas that serve the working poor and the poor. Oh, there are other solutions! But of course we are not hearing them from the congress, the senate, Obama or Mccain! We are being conned!

I am so disappointed in Bam-Bam and Old-cain as well. Bam-Bam is moving towards the center which was already skewed too much too the right and Old-Mac has just sold out whatever principles he espoused for the past thirty some odd years. Who suffers for that?

Oooh Oooh! I know! We do!

Be Careful! Be Mindful! Be Prayerful!

Jaycee

2 comments:

Ann Brock said...

You know how people love to quote "you will have the poor with you always". Some body wants us to believe it's alright to be poor.

achoiceofweapons said...

It is alright to be poor as long as you are hardworking, which most folks are, and are a righteous person. Black folks were poor but pro-education, spiritual and pro-ourselves, investing in our peoples upliftment. Now we are richer, more educated and more successful than ever and we still have no apparatus for our uplift. Where are our Black Businesses? We don't make anything, we are not hiring ourselves, investing in our own institutions. We are the only folks we refuse to be pro-ourselves, we are always looking to be universal and it's cost us. The NAACP used to be pro-ourselves, now it's universally controlled. Example, There are china towns, greek towns, all over but where are the Kongo Squares, lil Afrika's, The Rosewoods?
Last, we need to be real careful with our church leadership. Some have built their ministries up into mega churches but....again, to what end. The Poor are with us, it is us! We need to vote our interests. Our real interests which is anything that helps us rise!
Respectfully
Jaycee