Power and Wealth should not be excessively concentrated. It is immoral. PERIOD.

[Armstead]

That is a truism that should be shared by all Democrats -- and all people with integrity regardless of party affiliation. But it has been totally ignored for the most part by the Democratic Party for at least 35 years.

Yes lip service is paid at election time to "if you play by the rules you should be able to get ahead" blah, blah, blah.

Yes SOME Democratic politicians have addressed it in a clear direct manner. (See: Paul Wellstone)

But for the most part they have studiously avoided that core Moral Question. They have kept it out of the national conversation.They have provided cover for the systematic, long term hijacking of our economy, politics and government that has occurred for 35 years.The construction of an oligarchy propped by by monopolistic corporations and Wall St. immorality.

Bernie Sanders has forced that core moral issue that into mainstream partisan poltics. FINALLY.

It makes me ill to see the Democrat Establishment and too many rank and file "Tiger Beat Team Players" refer to his message and the hopes of his supporters to restore a moral balance as "ponies" and "far left ideological purity."....Or dismiss goals to protect and advance the Public Good as "unrealistic."

It makes me angry that the Clinton campaign tries to deflect from the core moral issue by glossing it over by using a couple of stumbles by Sanders in an interview.....And using that to distract from what Sanders DID say in that interview that is much more important.

Daily News: ....in your speech you mention the financial industry and you focused on corporate America, the greed of Wall Street and corporate America. So I wanted to get a sense of corporate America, as the agent of American destruction.

Sanders: General Electric, good example. General Electric was created in this country by American workers and American consumers. What we have seen over the many years is shutting down of many major plants in this country. Sending jobs to low-wage countries. And General Electric, doing a very good job avoiding the taxes. In fact, in a given year, they pay nothing in taxes. That's greed.

That is greed and that’s selfishness. That is lack of respect for the people of this country.

Daily News: And so how does that destroy the fabric of America?

Sanders: I'll tell you how it does. If you are a corporation and the only damn thing you are concerned about is your profits. Let's just give an example of a corporation that's making money in America, today, but desiring to move to China or to Mexico to make even more money. That is destroying the moral fabric of this country. That is saying that I don't care that the workers, here have worked for decades. It doesn't matter to me. The only thing that matters is that I can make a little bit more money. That the dollar is all that is almighty. And I think that is the moral fabric.

To me, what moral is, I've got to be concerned about you. You've got to be concerned about my wife. That's moral to me. That's what I believe in. And if the only thing that matters to you is making an extra buck, you don't care about my family, I think that's immoral. And I think what corporate America has shown us in the last number of years, what Wall Street has shown us, the only thing that matters is their profits and their money. And the hell with the rest of the people of this country.

[PowerToThePeople]

1. About 10 months ago

I posted a summary of the CEO's statement to our company in the quarterly report. It was shown to approximately 30,000 employees.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6826706

At an all employee meeting at my place of employment (a multinational conglomerate) the following was stated by the company CEO (slightly paraphrased because I did not record it)

"There is a new class of investor who does not care about employees, does not care about our families, does not care about what the company is doing, does not care about the environment, and does not care about our local communities. They only care about short term gain on our stock price. We need to do everything in our power to give them their desires. It is essential that every employee at our various companies maintain the same thought process as our investors. Their desires trump all."

This is what the fight is about.

[Armstead]

2. Very revealing...My only quibble is.....

it is not a "new class"....That's been at the core of it for a long while.

[PowerToThePeople]

3. I would agree

It was not my statement though.

[Armstead]

4. Oh I know...I appreciate your sharing it.

[Avalux]

6. This is an example of the idolatry of money.

When human beings elevate money and the acquisition of it above caring for other human beings and our home (earth) - making it THE most important thing in their lives.

Such greed has always fascinated me because in the end, we all die. In those last moments, are the greedy thinking about all their money? As they old adage goes - you can't take it with you.

[Armstead]

7. Clinton's Hampton Quandary

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/style/hillary-clinton-hamptons-vacation.html



For the past several summers, Bill and Hillary Clinton have done what New York City’s moneyed residents have done for decades: They spent their vacation amid the prime beachside real estate of Long Island.

In 2011 and 2012, there was the eight-bedroom, 12,000-square-foot East Hampton rental with a heated pool that the couple took for part of August, the kind of house that typically goes for $200,000 per month, according to local real estate listings.

Then, in 2013, they opted for an equally pricey six-bedroom mansion in Sagaponack with a private pathway to the beach. (Mrs. Clinton worked on her memoir, “Hard Choices,” from a sunny office with an ocean view.)

Last year, when speculation about Mrs. Clinton’s presidential run reached a fever pitch, the former first couple chose the comparatively lower-key town of Amagansett, just up Montauk Highway from the lobster shacks and fishermen at the end of Long Island. The seven-bedroom bluffside estate with sweeping views of Gardiners Bay, the kind of house in that area that rents for $100,000 for the month of August, was next door to the home of the Clinton friend and donor Harvey Weinstein.

But the Clintons’ go-to vacation spot for the last several summers now seems problematic, as Mrs. Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, delivers a populist economic message that the deck is stacked in favor of the wealthiest Americans and that she plans to “reshuffle the cards.”.....more

[Avalux]

8. It is quite a quandry for the money grubbers, isn't it?

I love this little gem from the article:

“Some of us will go into catastrophic withdrawal if we’re not tapped to raise money for one of the Clintons,” said Ken Sunshine, a veteran Democratic activist and public relations executive with a home in Remsenburg.

[Armstead]

9. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ -- 24/7

[DanTex]

11. LOL. "Slightly paraphrased."

[Armstead]

14. You disagree with the premise....Read some economics history

That has been a core of the problem for decades

[Armstead]

5. Succinct summary by Naomi Prins

[tabasco]

10. That's the inevitable result of unregulated or under-regulated capitalism

By using a stack of $100 bills as the income measure and a football field to indicate the array of U.S. incomes from lowest to highest, the size of the stack on the far right hand side of the graph—and the difference in the relative size of the stacks even between the top 1 percent and the top one tenth of one percent—is made splendidly apparent to all.

http://www.remappingdebate.org/article/better-way-show-income-inequality

[DanTex]

12. Does that apply to Bernie's pals Ben and Jerry too? Should Bernie cut his

ties with them?

[Armstead]

13. Thanks for the kick

I appreciate it.

[libtodeath]

15. You really need to throw down the shovel.

Or are you on the Clinton payroll like the sites owners are?

[Armstead]

20. It gets hard digging for ponies to attack

[CharlotteVale]

16. K&R

[pat_k]

17. It also transforms constitutional democracy into oligarchy. (nt)

[Armstead]

18. We're seeing that first hand unfortunately

[Avalon Sparks]

23. Yes

[mmonk]

19. Recommended.

[Jitter65]

21. Just tell me a time and place in history when this wasn't the case?

Doesn't make it right. But it does suggest that we must live and learn to deal with this reality. For Christians, even Christ said the "poor shall always be with you." But the his message was that we should treat everyone justly and with compassion. I don't think there will ever be no wealth gap or everything human need met freely. But those with wealth should not trample on the freedoms and justice of the poor or not-so wealthy. If we could TREAT ALL people humanely and with compassion and understanding and be not just fair but just to them, a wealth gap would not even be a problem for most people.

[Armstead]

22. If no one ever stood up to this stuff we'd be living like ancient Rome

Slavery would be an accepted part of everyday life, and a key to the daily economy.

Or perhaps we would have stopped at the Gilded Age, and allowed families to suffer so much they had to work seven days a week, and kids had to go to work at 10 years old, and still lived like dogs while the Oligarchs lived like royalty.

And we don't have to put up with the backward slide of economic and political equality (i.e. movement to increased concentration of wealth and power at the expense of the majority) that has occurred in my lifetime.

[mythology]

24. What is excessive?

And is the immorality a sliding scale? If lets say that having more than $1 million is "excessive", does somebody who has $999,999 become less moral than somebody having $200,000?

And what impact does one's own situation have on the subject? For example a person making $15,000 in the U.S. is going to be poor. But compare that to a farmer in parts of Africa and $15,000 may be more than they could earn in a dozen lifetimes. Are you immoral because you make more than they do? Is is the line for immorality always above your income?

[Armstead]

25. Legitimate questions. But we never even discuss that.

You are certainly correct that there is no one standard for what is reasonable differences of wealth and what is excessive. And people are going to have differing opinions and there are many nuances.

But it's a conversation we never have as a nation. Any criticism of the trend towards ever widening gaps has been smothered by GOP/Right Wing talk about Commies and Socialism and by Democratic/Centrost variations of that in a slightly "kinder and gentler" facade.

Sanders is bringing out the moral issues that we should have been debating and discussing and doing something about in the 80's, 90's and 00's. He is also injecting what is basic common sense -- because this is not a sustainable situation.

The 2008 crash did force it somewhat more in the open. But it got buried under the usual "team" spats between Dems and the GOP that continued the ingrained systemic corruption that has led to the hollowing out of a middle class while continuing to enable the abuses of Wall St. and Corporate Monopolies that have continued to drive the tone and response.

Meanwhile -- to use one of the grossest examples,we have fostered a world in which six siblings of the Walton family have a net worth of about $150 BILLION, while people who work for them have to scrape by on food stamps. Their corporation has overwhelming monopolistic power over the economy, and they have ruined small business network in communities and forced production to China to satisfy the corporate imperatives of Wal Mart. THAT is immoral.


http://www.demos.org/publication/not-made-america-top-10-ways-walmart-destroys-us-manufacturing-jobs#_edn4

[cantbeserious]

26. Bernie Is The Only Antidote For The Corrupt Nation Once Known As America

eom