U.S. Treasury being drained?

[checks-n-balances]

Something I've recently read has stated that, in the past, the extreme rightwing in America has had a fairly open agenda of eventually making serfs of us - you know, we who haven't made it to the top of the economic ladder. In other words, that this is being done by design and not just as an unintended consequence of "trickle down," laissez-faire economics. I cannot get in touch with the author to get any citations, but I wondered if anyone out there could help.

Similarly, other reading I've done from time to time has made references to the Treasury being raided in order to pay for the Iraq debacle and to finance these endless tax cuts for the wealthy. Again, I've never seen any kind of actual research/documentation that can point to it as fact. Perhaps there aren't any outright statements out there, since it would be strong evidence of malfeasance and a kleptocracy on the part of certain government officials, but if there are I'd like to find them.

There are still some of middle-class owners of small businesses out there who have such faith in "the free market", especially those who call themselves "libertarians", who may be in for a rude shock when our economy collapses. A few of these people are family or old friends of mine who refuse to believe any of this unless they read or see it from a "reputable" (not a progressive) source. They are literally too busy to do much digging around for real information aside from what they may hear over Corporate Media (or what they may hear others discussing from the WSJ - I'm already warning them about what may happen to that paper). Out of love and a feeling of responsibility to relay additional info to them, I think they should be warned.

So to summarize, I'm looking for: Any documentation out there (internet accessible - including video - or at least internet-referenced, please) that points to

1. historic statements of rightwing intentions of economically crippling the middle- and lower-socioeconomic classes while to shift wealth to economic aristocrats?

2. theft of the U.S. Treasury to finance the endless wars and the privatizing mania that have taken place since the beginning of this administration?

Anyone? Thanks for your help!

[MADem]

1. Al Gore's lock box, you mean... nt

[checks-n-balances]

2. Ahem...yes. Anyone ELSE?

[AdHocSolver]

3. Read Kevin Phillips book titled "Wealth and Democracy: A political History of the American Rich".

Kevin Phillips is a conservative economist who was Richard Nixon's economics advisor. In this book he describes the rise and fall of several empires including Roman, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch. The gist is that the wealthy in all of these empires stole their treasuries, broke their own middle classes through outsourcing (colonization), got involved in wars that bankrupted their governments. Sound familiar? He believes that Bush/Cheney are doing the same thing to the U.S.

Phillips also wrote "American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush."

As to draining the Treasury, that is being done in a round about way. It started under Reagan with a plan set up by Alan Greenspan. The plan was to raise Social Security taxes on the middle class to generate huge amounts of cash. Then, the government withdrew the Social Security cash into the general fund replacing the cash with government IOU's. This makes the U.S. deficit look a lot less than it really is since these "IOU's to itself" are not included in the federal deficit figures. This is why they cry that Social Security is running out of money and they have to lower benefits. Then they avoid drawing on the SS fund to pay benefits, and never have to make good on the IOU's by paying the money back. Another way is to drain the Treasury and declare "bankruptcy".

Why destroy the U.S. government? Up until Ronald Reagan, the U.S. for all its faults, after defeating the corporate, fascist states of WWII, led the world in promoting human rights, civil rights, climate protection, and even allowed unions to survive. This angered the power elite and so they are doing their best to destroy the U.S. government. With China and India offering business opportunities for cheap production and growing markets, the wealthy don't really need the U.S. anymore.

[checks-n-balances]

4. Oh yeah, EXCELLENT! Forgot about Phillips' books

Thanks for reminding me and for suggesting both of those books, especially the first one. I've never read them but I will now or at least send them to the people I was describing.

By the way you ask, Why destroy America? If for no other reason, I think, just Because They Can. And why keep cheating to make megabillions? Also, I think, because these predators are never satisfied with what $$ for these predators and just Because They Can take it from what they have rationalized as the "Undeserving Poor."

Thanks for posting!