Not to delve into hyperbole, but THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT VIDEO any American can see today.

[WilliamPitt]

Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, schools, roads, people's retirement, health care, the post office, etc. etc. etc...all on the chopping block.

Because we're out of money, right?

The core of America's social and literal infrastructure on the block, up for sale to private interests, or under threat to simply wither and die.

Because we're out of money, right?

Right?

Wrong.

Watch...and please please please share. I've never seen the argument made quite so well as this.

[SunSeeker]

1. Great video.

Hope everyone sees this.

[Kurovski]

2. First cartoon I ever shed a tear at since Bambi.

This shit has just gone on for too long.

[Zorra]

3. Masters of War ~ This message has been brought to you by liberals since 1963.

Written and originally performed by Bob Dylan.
1963

"Masters Of War"

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks.

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly.

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain.

You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion'
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud.

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins.

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
That even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do.

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul.

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand over your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(AMEN)

[OldDem2012]

24. For a frame of reference, Dylan wrote that song during the winter of 1962-1963,....

...roughly a year before JFK was killed and LBJ escalated the war in Vietnam. Military and intelligence spending exploded at that point and has never looked back.

[freshwest]

49. So true.

[calimary]

35. Some of the best lyrics - EVER.

Certainly sums up my views, and has for a long time.

[freshwest]

48. +1,000. The bitterness in his voice. I never forgot it . Here in the belly of the beast.

I'd post War Pigs by John in Chicago about Iraq, but it's too graphic for most. And the point has been made.

[Egalitarian Thug]

4. K&R. I'd be happier if someone with a megaphone was talking about this, though.

Corporate welfare has gone through the roof over the last 20 years and it was obscene before that, but when the occasional legislator even mentions it, except for Bernie so far, is out the door.

[reformist2]

5. We are NOT out of money. The rich have $50 trillion, more than enough to fund SS & Medicare forever.

[jsr]

6. Great video

[HopeHoops]

7. Spot on. K&R

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. This vital video shows us the obscenity that our military is. I am livid.

Unfortunately, the people who REALLY need to see this, won't.

My. God.

[Kurovski]

10. it's paying for everything Eisenhower warned us about in his farewell address.

hey, baby.

[Voice for Peace]

58. with six degrees of separation, and Facebook, you never know.. maybe they will.

Everybody knows somebody who knows somebody.. I'm hopeful
for the future of humanity.

[beac]

9. Very well done and powerful. K&R!!

[ChazII]

11. Link

I'd like to post this to my FB page. Thanks

ETA: My brain is now functioning and I found the link.

[WilliamPitt]

12. Play the vid above

and you'll see a little 'YouTube' thing come up in the lower right corner. Click it, and it'll open the vid on a YouTube page. Snatch the link there.

[ChazII]

39. William Pitt

Thank you. That is exactly what I did.

[SheilaT]

13. If nothing else, there should be no black box funding of anything.

Every single dollar should be out there and accounted for.

And I've been complaining for years that the military is taking the lion's share of our budget.

[Whovian]

14. Reminds me of Doctor Strangelove. RIP Stanley.

[Dalai_1]

15. Thank You!

Tweeted!

[ejbr]

16. k & r n/t

[ErikJ]

17. US Broke? US millionaire households have at least $45.9 trillion in wealth,

How Much Wealth Do The Economic Elite Have?

While 68.3 million Americans struggle to get enough food to eat and wages are declining for 90 percent of the population, US millionaire household wealth has reached an unprecedented level. According to an extensive study by auditing and financial advisory firm Deloitte, US millionaire households now have $38.6 trillion in wealth. On top of the $38.6 trillion this study reveals, they have an estimated $6.3 trillion hidden in offshore accounts.

In total, US millionaire households have at least $45.9 trillion in wealth, the majority of this wealth is held within the upper one-tenth of one percent of the population.

http://www.alternet.org/story/151999/meet_the_global_financial_elites_controlling_$46_trillion_in_wealth

[ErikJ]

18. We're Not Broke, Just Twisted: Extreme Wealth Inequality in America

[upi402]

22. This crap started in '81

Last edited Wed Oct 31, 2012, 11:49 PM - Edit history (1)

August 13, 1981 – Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA or Kemp-Roth Tax Cut

The House had its tail between its legas after losing the Senate and a few dozen seats in the House -
so it started this whole ball rolling;


The business roundtable was caught flat-footed in the late 70's and caught up in a hurry - it lead with the media.

[Art_from_Ark]

51. Yup, that was Phase I of reducing the top tax rate from 70%

to 28% in just 5 years.

[upi402]

19. Why do you hate 'merica?

Glad the media is all over this fact...

[Uncle Joe]

20. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, WilliamPitt.

[Marr]

21. And of course, that "defense" money doesn't just disappear when spent.

It goes straight into the coffers of the very wealthy people who own the machine.

[Phillyindy]

23. And just think...

They didnt get into the fact that the "entitlements" are all seperately funded through payroll taxes and currently have collected trillions more then they've ever paid out. This is what is so infuriating about how ignorant the average American is to such basic, simple facts.

[calimary]

28. Welcome to DU, Phillyindy!

EXCELLENT point you make. The "entitlements" are programs we PRE-PAY for, with funds taken out of our paychecks - funds that were OUR MONEY. PRE-PAID. And of course, THAT is what the bad guys want to take away first. Figures. That's the republi-CON way. republi-CON. Because all they offer is a CON-JOB!!!!

Glad you're here! We need you.








Now get to work.

[WillyT]

25. HUGE K & R !!!

[JDPriestly]

26. And why do we "need" this enormous war machine?

Two basic reasons:

1. actual defense against invasion. (But of course our war machine cannot defend us against the invasion by polluters, domestic or foreign, who poison the air we breathe and the water we drink.)

2. keep trade routes open so that we can export jobs and import products including raw materials.

Reason number two -- the trade routes -- is what costs so much money. That's mostly what our massive "defense" budget is about.

The multinational corporations benefit a lot from our "defense" expenditures. Our military machine protects their profits, their CEOs' salaries. What do we really get out of it? Very little. And now we are importing qualified workers while our kids can't afford education.

We are fools. If we spent more on our children's education and less on their entertainment and on defense, we would really be a stronger country.

[DonRedwood]

27. brilliant

[TeamPooka]

29. k&R

[Unknown Beatle]

30. 9/10/2001: Rumsfeld says $2.3 TRILLION Missing from Pentagon

People who run the Pentagon are laughing all the way to the bank.

[ErikJ]

31. Defense spending has TRIPLED since 1997; "War Profiteer" CEOs making over $20 million a year

War industry CEOs make tens of millions of dollars a year, putting them in the top 0.01 percent of income earners in the U.S.

•
Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush made $22.84 million last year.
•
Lockheed Martin CEO Robert Stevens made $21.89 million.
•
Boeing CEO James McNerney: $19.4 million.

These guys use their corporations' massive lobbying dollars to keep their job-killing gravy train rolling. Last year, their companies spent a whopping $46 million on lobbying, corrupting our politics and ensuring that their bank accounts continue to fatten at our expense. These executives are some of the main reasons why we're wasting so much on war instead of rebuilding our own nation here at home.
Help us fight their propaganda campaign to protect their profits. Use our list to share this video with your local Occupy group and encourage them to show it at their events: http://warcosts.com/1percent

CORRECTION: Lockheed Martin's CEO is Robert Stevens. The video refers to him as "Martin Stevens" which is incorrect.
===============================================================
Sanders Statement on Defense Authorization Bill

Share This

December 15, 2011
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - The Senate today voted for a Department of Defense bill that authorizes $662 billion for the military, almost as much as last year despite the withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of the year. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) voted no and issued the following statement:

"The bill continues to authorize heavy spending on defense despite the end of the 9-year-old war in Iraq. Ironically, the Senate vote came on the same day when Defense Secretary Panetta was in Baghdad officially declaring that our military mission there has ended and that virtually all of the combat troops will leave Iraq by the end of the year. At a time when we have tripled defense spending since 1997 and spend more today on defense than the rest of the world combined, I get concerned that my deficit-hawk friends say we've got to cut Social Security, Medicare, education, health care and other programs that help working families, but when it comes to defense spending the sky is the limit.
"This bill also contains misguided provisions that in the name of fighting terrorism essentially authorize the indefinite imprisonment of American citizens without charges. While we must aggressively pursue international terrorists and all of those who would do us harm, we must do it in a way that protects the Constitution and the civil liberties which make us proud to be Americans."

[progressoid]

36. +1 ^this^

[RadiationTherapy]

32. "When they say 'we can't afford' education...small checks and food stamps for single mothers...

remember, they are lying." Howard Zinn (paraphrased from a lecture on the GDP).

[upi402]

33. kick n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

34. We have million dollar SWAT teams hauling cancer grannies to prison for smoking pot, too

We have plenty of money.

[progressoid]

37. But what about NASCAR?

[colsohlibgal]

38. The Big Swindle, Don't Look There

It's like a shell game on the US Public, and by both parties. They count on not many being high info enough to really research and pay attention beyond clever slogans.

We cut funds for people in need, for all our infrastructure, while we spend obscene amounts on defense and cut revenue so the rich can get richer. What's horrible is that Cheney and his crowd got rich off the Iraq 'war". Why middle class people support this at all will always be a mystery to me.

Cut the defense budget in half and we still are would have more than enough in the 21st century. Legalize pot, slap a tax on it, raise the top personal tax rate to 40%, raise corporate rates some, use the savings and revenue for a new CCC to fix our road, bridges, water lines, and what about moving up from 19th century pole and wire tech for power transmission.

Of course none of this will happen until public funding of elections and tough lobbying policing. I've never understood why bribery is a crime everywhere but in politics.

BTW, with all these CEOs telling their employees they would have to cut staff if any tax increases happen I began to wonder - how come our economy didn't totally crash in the 50s when the top rate was a bit over 90%? It seems like US Steel and others did just fine.

[Yuugal]

40. K&R nt

[spanone]

41. knr

[reformist2]

42. Oh wow, you/that video made me re-evaluate my estimates...

I always used to divide the budget pie into quarters, thinking that the military took 1/4. Now I know better - they take 1/2 - two pieces of that pie! Thanks again.

[lonestarnot]

43. Bookmarking for later! Thanks.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

44. K&R

[vanlassie]

45. I THOUGHT I recognized the voice!

Dennis Bernstein. From KPFA Flashpoints. Very well done. Thanks for posting

[mil_5529dem]

46. excellent vid

[WiffenPoof]

47. Thank You Mr. Pitt

I suppose the only question I have is when will we find a real champion of the Middle Class? A true leader that is not bought and sold and has the courage to FIGHT regardless of the political consequences?

-Paige

[freshwest]

50. When we champion the middle class, the lower class, and stop waiting for someone to do it for us.

If we are not willing to show the courage to change our neigbbors, they will oppose any leader, nay, savior such as that. It's not about political consequences by those we consider better able.

it's about personal consequences dealing with other Americans who make money off of all these things. We are not sheep who don't see anything. Many Americans are willing participants in this.

The fact that their names are not well known enough to curse as the enemy, does not mean they are any less solid. This is up to us, and until we take up the mantle to change our breathren, nothing will change.

[CrispyQ]

52. This is one of the most outstanding vids on the MIC I've seen.

k&r

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

53. We need defense from the "Defense" Department.

[erpowers]

54. Good Video

The video was very informative and very interesting.

[rwsanders]

55. The truemajority one is more fun...

The oreo video has the same message and may be simple enough for a republican (doubtful).
The BB one was also great:
http://www.truemajority.org/fun/

[snagglepuss]

56. to view later

[Bigredhunk]

57. Great Video