I admit it. I'm responsible for the out-of-control national debt.

[Octafish]

The Forbes 400: The Richest People in America

I speak rhetorically, of course.

[originalpckelly]

1. Of course they are.

The rest of us never had enough money to pay up. We're all in debt.

Income and wealth are different things, income can become wealth, but wealth is not income.

However, you can bet that the top 10% are not paying up when they control 71% of the wealth.

[Octafish]

4. When David Stockman, the implementer of Trickle Down Economics, comes out and says 'Enough!'...

...It means things are out of the control of "our" government.

David Stockman on 'The Single Most Drastic Error in Policy in Modern History'

Stockman said most of the wealth created in history has happened in last 30 years at the same time it was transferred from the middle classes who created it to the very top through various fiscal policies (lowered tax rates and increased spending on War Inc).

To fix things, we need some serious change -- and I'm not talking about chopping my parent's Social Security or the homeless kid's Medicaid.

[crickets]

6. Great link- thanks for that. -nt

[Octafish]

8. You are most welcome. Anytime my little tiny company pays more in taxes than GE, I feel very bad.

Especially since we've been talking about the big corporations getting away with tax dodging for a while. From the Memory Hole of 2008:

Most firms pay no income taxes - Congress

Yet, nothing's changed. Big Business gets the breaks needed to get on top. We the People are left to live on what trickles to the bottom.

[Taitertots]

2. Concentration of wealth causes inequality, they are also responsible for poverty

The division of productive gains is zero-sum. There can not be the wealthy without creating the poor.

[Octafish]

5. We need a new model.

The one we've got has done little to make life better for the majority. It's been that way since '81, when Pruneface rode his white horsie into DC. Thirty years of the rich getting richer at hyperspeed.

EDIT to add the link I left out: The Daily Bail: Debt & Deficit Portal. Bailout News. Federal Reserve Corruption. Nice.

[Marblehead]

3. Unregulated Capitalism

[Octafish]

7. Regulations = Law = Government

So, to solve their problems with regulators, they co-opted the government.

Know your BFEE: Phil Gramm, the Meyer Lansky of the War Party, Set-Up the Biggest Bank Heist Ever.

[Festivito]

9. The gold's been stolen, so, our credit is the next target..

Run up the debt, call it in, garner the lost holdings.

Now, make debt a commodity, sell it, then swap it with the real goods, leaving the holder with a paper that says they are owed.

And, I'm responsible for not yelling loudly enough.

[Octafish]

10. Who got left holding the bag?

Glad you put it into those words, Festivito. It's clearly an inside job, a crime with victim, perpetrator, motive, means and opportunity. And trillions in loot.

While War Inc enjoys taxpayer outlays for three freaking wars, We the People get the shaft of reductions in quality of life programs so the Rich can get an extra Lear jet or two. Worse yet, We the People got left a bag full of IOUs, the convuluted and complex and myriad presence of which confuse our Department of Justice to the point of inactivity.

My own version, derived from Goldman Sacked, and better put into words by Dr. William K. Black: The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One