It's not the Democrats vs Republicans anymore...It's the 1% vs the 99%...

[Playinghardball]

Hillary has more donations than any candidate from either party - over $188 MILLION

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/election-2016-campaign-money-race.html?_r=0

[cantbeserious]

1. Oligarchs, Corporations And Banks Own And Control The Politicians And Media That Own And Control Us

Absolutely Correct

[Babel_17]

2. It's like the numbers have a pro-Sanders agenda

But numbers are like money, and they can't be shut up.

[Babel_17]

3. And congratulations on your jury victory

On Sun Mar 6, 2016, 01:25 PM an alert was sent on the following post:

It's not the Democrats vs Republicans anymore...It's the 1% vs the 99%...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511426158

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

Lumping Hillary with the likes of Trump and Cruz

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Sun Mar 6, 2016, 01:36 PM, and the Jury voted 0-7 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: If it's the truth, which sometimes hurts, I don't see it as "disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate", so no reason to hide. Let the Light of Truth shine through!
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: use your words to make your arguments, don't censor your opponents
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: I think Hillary actually got more money than the others.
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Why the hell is this supposed to be hidden? Are Hillary people so freaked out about her nature that they are going to stifle discussion? Don't they have their own site they can run to so that they can avoid the truth?
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Meh on the alert. Logic has been stretched in the past to portray some Sanders votes as being in accord with the Republicans, and worse. The link is to a reputable site, and the numbers look correct. The case against should be argued in the thread.
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Please, stop it! This is not in the spirit of alerting offensive posts..........it stays as far as I'm concerned.

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

Proud to have been part (Juror #6) of its unanimous verdict.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. glad you posted that - I was on the jury as well...real head-scratcher of an alert!

[jalan48]

11. I think the fact that Hillary is part of the 1% is difficult for some "liberals" to reconcile.

[Babel_17]

24. Yup! No hard feelings to the alerter from me though as passions are running high

What "feels right" is going to be highly subjective when it comes to alerting. Hopefully it's water off a duck's back to the OP as well.
Lol, when a top operative like David Brock starts arguing why the Sanders campaign shouldn't fight too hard, you know the opposition has serious worries. Among other things, they know what's in the transcripts, and they know The New York Times has made asking for them to be a legitimate request.

[Playinghardball]

5. Awesome! Thanks!!

[ebayfool]

25. Somebody is gonna hafta sit on their twitchy alert finger for a spell!

Unanimous - awesome!

[Babel_17]

26. I didn't know that was a result of a unanimous jury

Makes sense though.

[ebayfool]

32. Yeah, I believe a 24 hour time-out from alerting.

The alert has to be really bad to win one of those prizes. But it should help cut down on some of the flimsy alert crap. I think. I hope. Nah, prolly not! But a just reward, nonetheless.

People are really abusing that poor little alert button, lately!

[Colorado Rambler]

69. No kidding!

I'm fairly new to DU (lurked for a long time, only been really active past few days), but folks here seem to get a bit thin skinned? I actually got asked to be on a jury yesterday re a post in a gun control thread. It was a pretty acrimonious thread from the OP on and the post that got alerted was actually mild in comparison. I voted to keep it and so did 5 other members. It's like if folks can't think of a good rebuttal, they just alert the post instead.

At any rate, I don't see how anyone can argue that Hillary doesn't have mega corporate backing. The numbers don't lie.

[pdsimdars]

30. Isn't there some way to penalize the people who raise these specious "alerts"?

In many discussions, you come across one of these if there is ever some negative shadow cast on poor little Hillary. Why can they continue to try to disrupt conversations with impunity?
I was thrown out of the Hillary group (I had followed a link and didn't know I was in her group). I commented that she was corporate owned and was tossed out because somehow that was "sexist" and "over the top".
Somehow there needs to be a stop put to this kind of bullying. "sexist" and "over the top" for saying Hillary is corporate owned? How silly does it get?

[Babel_17]

31. Like the Sanders Group, that's a protected one

The Sanders Group would also toss someone for posting disparaging comments. Though an explanation is always nice. Think of the protected groups as the politician's home. What you would say to them at their office isn't what you'd say to them if you ended up at a party at their house.

[Lizzie Poppet]

68. Ouch: an 0-7 skunking!

That's gonna leave a mark...

[brooklynite]

6. Funny how most of the 99% are voting for Clinton

[Babel_17]

8. Fair point (so far), but the level of commitment will matter

Sanders is getting the donations, and the young volunteers, and both are important for our party to grow. Without these young voters our Democratic President will have a much tougher battle.

We need to remember it's not just Republicans dying off. Sanders is our pipeline to the disaffected younger voters.

Regardless, the Sanders wave is growing and it could dominate the later states. That would be a victory of the power of the 99% over that of the influence of the 1%.

[hobbit709]

16. “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.”

[erronis]

27. Love that aphorism, perhaps also: No enterprise can survive without

having a long-term plan for dealing with the vagaries of life.

Restaurants, marriages, presidents and promises.

They can't be measured based on a month-to-month or year-to-year basis. It just takes time and happy customers.

[Depaysement]

44. Actually

Most aren't voting at all, or are voting Republican.

[Dont call me Shirley]

46. Funny how they're NOT!

[brooklynite]

72. So, ghe 60%of Dems who've voted for Clinton so far are sll 1%ers?

I KNEW the Obama recovety was robust, but wow!

[Dont call me Shirley]

78. 93% of all economic gains since the crash have gone to the .01%. 99.9% have to split 7%.

[brooklynite]

79. But the point is that a majority of the Democrats are voting for Hillary.

[Dont call me Shirley]

81. Not really.

[denvine]

63. True, and Hillary and her big donors are laughing all the way to the bank!

[Lizzie Poppet]

67. Um...nope.

A majority of the rather shockingly low number of Democrat voters who have shown up to vote in (less-than-half-of) the primaries so far are voting for her. Even if she wins in November (lol...), the majority of the 99% are still virtually certain not to have voted for her.

Because math.

[ConsiderThis_2016]

7. "Hillary has more donations"?

Shouldn't that be... more big dollar donations, or is she getting close to 5 million like Sanders?

[Rebkeh]

9. Now, we're getting somewhere

[Mufaddal]

10. Indeed, it's a bigger fight

[H2O Man]

12. Recommended.

Thank you.

[AgingAmerican]

13. Which is why the DNC is flailing miserably

Because they have bought into trickle down

[George II]

15. And if Sanders were to get lucky and win the nomination and general election.........

......that would instantly propel him into the 1% that he so loathes.

[hobbit709]

19. And that statement proves you haven't a clue.

Or you are a minion of the 1%.

[George II]

20. And you do?

According to Money Magazine, the income cutoff for the top 1% is $388,000. The salary of the President is $400,000+.

Oooops.

Your apology would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

[hobbit709]

22. I repeat-you haven't a clue.

[Babel_17]

28. $428,713

http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/29/news/economy/top-1-income/

It took just under $429,000 to make into this elite group in 2013, according to the latest data from the Internal Revenue Service. A year earlier, Americans had to have about $435,000 in adjusted gross income to be part of the Top 1%.

http://www.kiplinger.com/article/taxes/T054-C000-S001-your-rank-as-a-taxpayer.html

The latest numbers from the IRS—based on just-released data from 2013 tax returns—show what it takes to be among the top 1% of income earners: At least $428,713 of adjusted gross income.

[hobbit709]

33. The last thing anyone at Club Clinton lets happen is to let facts get in their way.

[Babel_17]

39. I saw other numbers floating around, so it could be a question of sourcing

And we all know that income is affected by costs. That kind of money, in an average suburb, should make a couple quite comfortable.

But all that's to the side. Through our representatives, we the people settled on that salary. We don't see it, imo, as making our President a member of the 1%. The money is to keep the POTUS from worrying about bills, and not thinking about who can help him/her out after POTUS is out of office.

That's why there is also a generous pension. That helps a guy like Jimmy Carter concentrate on his charitable work. Though he was pretty well off from his farm.

Last thing we want is a POTUS looking to line his pockets down the road, just to provide for his family. Truman took a principled stand regarding that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman#Post-presidency

Post-presidency

Upon leaving the presidency, Truman returned to Independence, Missouri, to live at the Wallace home he and Bess had shared for years with her mother.[186] Once out of office, Truman quickly decided that he did not wish to be on any corporate payroll, believing that taking advantage of such financial opportunities would diminish the integrity of the nation's highest office. He also turned down numerous offers for commercial endorsements. Since his earlier business ventures had proved unsuccessful, he had no personal savings. As a result, he faced financial challenges. Once Truman left the White House, his only income was his old army pension: $112.56 per month.[187] Former members of Congress and the federal courts received a federal retirement package; President Truman himself ensured that former servants of the executive branch of government received similar support. In 1953, however, there was no such benefit package for former presidents,[188] and he received no pension for his Senate service.[189]

Truman took out a personal loan from a Missouri bank shortly after leaving office, and then set about establishing another precedent for future former chief executives: a book deal for his memoirs of his time in office. Ulysses S. Grant had overcome similar financial issues with his own memoirs, but the book had been published posthumously, and he had declined to write about life in the White House in any detail. For the memoirs, Truman received only a flat payment of $670,000, and had to pay two-thirds of that in tax; he calculated he got $37,000 after he paid his assistants.[190] However, the memoirs were a commercial and critical success;[191][192] they were published in two volumes in 1955 and 1956 by Doubleday (Garden City, N.Y) and Hodder & Stoughton (London): Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Year of Decisions and Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Years of Trial and Hope.[193][194]

The former president was quoted in 1957 as saying to then-House Majority Leader John McCormack, "Had it not been for the fact that I was able to sell some property that my brother, sister, and I inherited from our mother, I would practically be on relief, but with the sale of that property I am not financially embarrassed."[195] The following year, Congress passed the Former Presidents Act, offering a $25,000 yearly pension to each former president, and it is likely that Truman's financial status played a role in the law's enactment.[188] The one other living former president at the time, Herbert Hoover, also took the pension, even though he did not need the money; reportedly, he did so to avoid embarrassing Truman.[196]

[hobbit709]

41. Clinton certainly did not emulate Truman.

[alan2102]

38. global 1%

Global 1%, in terms of income, starts at ~$32,000/year:
http://www.globalrichlist.com/

[ThePhilosopher04]

17. This is TRUTH. Preach it brother.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

18. Is it about the 1% vs the 99%

or about donations?
The one with more money wins the game?
I would like to think the one with the better solutions for the 99% would win out, but as you know, we have went down the wrong road before.

[All in it together]

21. Big donor Smithfield meat

Was bought by China or a Chinese firm. What corners will they cut? Another reason not to buy from them.

[George II]

23. That graphic is false - corporations are forbidden by law to contribute to political candidates.

[Dont call me Shirley]

50. .....

Citizens United fixed that pesky law.

[Recursion]

74. No, it doesn't. They are forbidden by law from contributing to campaigns (nt)

[Populist_Prole]

29. Deeper than "anymore": It always has been

It's just that the PTB were able to to add such a thick hide of wedge issues to delay the rendering/boiling down/peeling back the BS to get to the essential truth.

[Auggie]

34. K&R

[Jopin Klobe]

35. "It's the 1% vs the 99%..." ...

... since before the Pharaohs ...

[PatrynXX]

36. think thats one of best ways of puting it in english

Oligarch as a word goes over most peoples heads but 99 % even the Tea Party understands that number. Bad or good. Grassroots Tea Party I can handle but the head of. usually not. because they have nothing in common.

[Rebkeh]

37. Great Meme! Occupy people, please give this a read

I wrote an OP last week that is relevant to this thread. Basically, it's about alliances and coming together. There are a few hurdles, one of them racial, and I am convinced that it's nothing we cannot handle.

From Venn to Circle: Economic Populism and Social Justice for POC

Let me break it down for you:

The first priority of business is to make a profit.

The first priority of government is supposed to be to serve its people.

When big business “merges” with government, its priorities take over. People no longer matter, then democracy starts to become more perception than reality.

We know this. But, hang on…

PEOPLE ARE NOT COMMODITIES! Black people know this better than anyone, seeing that this is how most of us ended up here on the continent in the first place.

The wealthy class needs “others” to be a peasant class because that’s how we were taught. “I get mine, you get none” or the softer version, “I get more, you get less.”

But how have the people up top kept this trick going for so long?

Easy. They break our legs and then call us lame, and people believe them. They blame the poor for being poor, like they had nothing to do with it. Please. They use bigotry, in all its forms, to keep people down.

But now? Their wealth has expanded so much, there aren’t enough poor black folks to support it. Not enough poor white folks either, they need MORE. They need new “others,” so what did they do?

They broke up the unions.

Now blue collar middle class folks are part of the peasant class. They are getting a little taste of what poor blacks been feeling for generations and they don't like it. Nobody likes it.

See, structural racism secures this model that keeps people commodified, income inequality is a result of that model. Now that the pool of the people getting screwed has grown, we need to come together.

The working poor getting fucked and the poc that have always been getting fucked should be natural allies. They should have been allies a long time ago but now… we REALLY got to do this. Our government has been taken over by our “friends” in big business. Nobody is safe anymore, not even the semi-rich. They will be next if we don't put a stop to it. Everyone has a dog in this fight.

Bottom line:

The commodification of people – when business merges with government and profit comes before people – is a terrible model for everyone.

Long held patterns of exploitation of poc (from slavery to now) for profit is still exploitation.

Newer patterns of exploitation of middle class whites for profit is still exploitation.

It’s the exact same model. http://www.democraticunderground.com/1280132543

Also, for more depth and an expanded explanation about the issue - read a different OP from a few weeks ago:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511193813

Let's do this!

[jhart3333]

40. That's how I see it. And I will vote accordingly.

[moondust]

42. The 1% plus

a lot of small investors gamblers who believe the stock market will make them rich someday as long as a Wall Street crony gets elected and keeps shoveling the benefits their way.

[Rebkeh]

47. How did you do the strike through in your post? nt

[moondust]

58. Like this:

]strike]text]/strike] but reverse the one bracket before the first "strike" and then the one before "/strike" to get this text

[Rebkeh]

61. Like this?

Testing 123

Got it, thanks.

So... trying again

If When Bernie becomes President...

[moondust]

65. You got it.

Despite my dumb explanation.

[Rebkeh]

66. Not so dumb

Thank you. This new knowledge will come in handy.

[pansypoo53219]

43. i'd say only a portion of the 47%ers get that. toryism seems genetic. a few of the 53%ers get it too

[metroins]

45. Bernie is the top 1-5%

Sanders earns 179k/year+ receives Social Security and his wife had earned 200k+ in income for years.

[Rebkeh]

49. Are they buying politicians?

I seriously doubt that. A lot.

[metroins]

53. Heck if I know. nt

[Trust Buster]

48. I don't agree with alerting on this thread.

I would simply say that the majority of Democrats, Independents and Republicans would not agree with the OP. There are many abuses by corporations and the tax code. But, we can't ignore the fact that the world went global when we had the highest standard of living. Unless one was to accept an all out trade war, we were going to hurt until world wages rise significantly.

[orpupilofnature57]

51. He's the only person in the race who isn't a Fascist .

[TIME TO PANIC]

54. +1,000,000

[Uncle Joe]

52. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Playinghardball.

[BernieforPres2016]

55. It has been like this for a long time

I have been trying to communicate this to conservative friends since about 2010, that the "Obama is a socialist" line they've been fed by Fox News and the Rush Limbaughs of the world is a joke. I ask them, other than the Affordable Care Act, what has he done that could be described as even vaguely socialist? Has he proposed any big tax increases? Have any banksters been prosecuted? Have any big corporate mergers been blocked? I have never gotten an answer.

I tell conservatives and liberals that beyond a few social wedge issues that both parties use to keep their supporters riled up, there's little difference between the two major parties. They're both out to take care of the top 1% that own them and to screw the rest of us.

[Go Vols]

56. Top 10 Corporate Tax Dodgers Have Donated to Hillary Clinton

As it turns out, all ten of those same companies are some of Hillary Clinton’s biggest donors, whether to her campaign or to her family foundation.
1. General Electric

According to data from the nonpartisan group Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ), GE posted $33.9 billion in U.S. profits, yet somehow got $2.9 billion in refunds in that same time period. According to the book Clinton Cash, then-Secretary of State Clinton lobbied the Algerian government for a GE power plant contract. After Algeria awarded the contract to GE, Jeffrey Immelt — CEO of GE — gave a donation to the Clinton Foundation. Sanders also pointed out that while Immelt sat on the board of the New York Federal Reserve, the Fed gave GE $16 billion in financial assistance.
2. Boeing

Boeing is one of the nation’s biggest corporate tax dodgers, making over $20 billion in profits between 2008 and 2012 and paying an overall income tax rate of negative one percent during those years. Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer noted that after Secretary Clinton successfully lobbied the Russian government to enter into a $3.7 billion contract to buy Boeing’s aircraft, the aerospace company gave the Clinton Foundation a hefty donation of $900,000.
3. Verizon

http://usuncut.com/politics/each-of-the-top-10-corporate-tax-dodgers-donate-to-hillary-clinton/

[TIME TO PANIC]

57. The line has been drawn, there is no middle ground.

You are either with the 99%, or you are with the 1%.

[orpupilofnature57]

60. + 1000000000000 !!!!!!!!!!!

[great white snark]

59. Blah blah third party rallying cry blah.

Take it to Independent Underground we support Democrats here.

[TIME TO PANIC]

64. It's not the name of a party that's important.

It's the values and policies a party represents.

[Lizzie Poppet]

70. Perhaps YOU do. Me, I support progressives. I support liberals.

I don't support Third Way corporo-crats. I'm not going to start now.

Yeah, I'll abide by the rules and not criticize the Democratic nominee after that has been officially determined, and not one fucking moment sooner. If someone has a problem with that, unless their name is Skinner or EarlG, I give not a single, solitary fuck.

[MineralMan]

62. Not even close.

In fact, so far from reality that it is laughable.

[mmonk]

71. It really shows how free tv exposure helps Trump

BTW. It should show how even a TV network that many think is a left leaning network, MSNBC, is a total fraud.

[felix_numinous]

73. Kick!!!!

[quantumjunkie]

75. K&R

[colsohlibgal]

76. No Doubt About It

Too bad Bernie's last name isn't Clinton or Bush.

There is no doubt HRC is preferable to Trump or any possible republican this time around. But not preferable enough sadly other than her evolving stances on social issues.

We need to hold a Wall Street and the MI Complex accountable. We need to reset the highest marginal tax rates back to where they were for decades prior to the old B actor Reagan. And corporations.... The days of a filthy rich corporation getting massive refunds must end.

The TPP needs to fail too...the one Hillary was all in on, despite her clever hedging at this point.

Oh thing will change, the question is when, how soon the dumbing down of this nation starts going the other way. The young have a head start by not so much getting spoon fed the company line by the MSM.

[Enthusiast]

77. Kicked and recommended!

[ibegurpard]

80. yup

And we have a nice big racial wedge driven right into the middle of the Democratic Party courtesy of the Clinton campaign. 1% wins either way.