The super-rich are destroying democracy

Democracy... what a concept!

Yup, one person, one vote! What could be more egalitarian than that?

If you're one of those unfortunate Americans toiling at the official minimum wage, you're going to toil well into your eighties before you've made a million bucks.

A billionaire, on the other hand, has made that million at least a thousand times over.

Now, it's not my place to say that's not right. Maybe that billionaire is a thousand times smarter than the schmuck drawing down the min wage. Maybe that billionaire works a thousand times harder... who knows?

But I think we can all agree that this situation threatens democracy. One person, one vote?...

To my way of thinking, the Citizens United case of 2010 put the final nail in the coffin of America's "democracy." True, it may have been in trouble before, but it's long gone by now.

Here's a little nugget from the Washington Post; Eleven donors have plowed a billion dollars into superPACS...

And here's a rundown of what billionaires spent on the 2018 midterms.

And, according to the New York Times, the Koch brothers political network had almost 900 millions to spread around for the 2016 presidential election.

Bear in mind that Putin threw the 2016 election with just a few Facebook adverts. Imagine what 900 millions could do!

Ya, you'll get the occasional aberration, like Tom Steyer talking about a $15 min wage, or Richard Uihlein tossing some spare change to AOC's campaign, but that doesn't change the fact that billionaires look out for their own interests first.


Plutocracy is not democracy.

Are the Koch brothers looting Alberta's tar sands?

I'm speculating here, but bear with me.

As is well known, the Koch brothers are amongst the biggest players in Alberta's bitumen patch.

As is also well known, the Koch brothers operate refineries in the US, where we want that bitumen to go, because it is apparently impossible for us to figure out how to refine the stuff ourselves.

So, about that price differential in the US vs. Canadian oil price. I was reading just the other day this discount is costing the Canadian economy 80-100 million dollars per day.

Per DAY!

Hmm... if we're losing, who do you suppose might be winning?


Where can you find a decent investigative reporter when you need one?

Republican Kochsuckers gather in California to kneel before the Kochs

The Koch brothers have let it be known that they've got a billion in play money available for the 2016 White House race.

They've summoned their favoured candidates  to California to figure out who they're going to bless with their generous financial support.

You'll notice that the Republican front-runner was not invited.

Maybe it's because he doesn't need their money?

CNN's desperation propaganda tries to make Dems look different than GOP

What else can you possibly make out of this hatchet job?

Dems take on Koch brothers?

Believe me, the only quibble Harry Reid and the rest of the Koch-bashers in the Democratic elite have with the Koch brothers is that they haven't been spreading their political contributions to the Democratic Party.

The mere fact that that there exists such an artefact as a "billionaire" tells us only one thing; the tax code is way fucked up.

Beyond that, whether those billionaires support the billionaire-loving Democratic Party or the billionaire-loving Republican Party is pretty much a moot point.

Fact is, both parties are totally owned by the millionaires and the billionaires. If Harry Reid is having a conniption because the Koch boys are funding his GOP rivals, that's tough luck for Harry.

It's got nothing to do with democracy in the USA.

Powerful labor union tramples on citizens' rights

Oh my God! Did I just write that?

Yes I did. If you've followed the Falling Downs blog at all you know we're totally pro-labor here. Or pro-labour if you happen to be reading this in England or Canada.

So I'm feeling more than a little conflicted. Looking on the bright side, maybe that title will get me some funding from the Koch brothers or the American Enterprise Institute. I'm like Newt; I'll take the money wherever it comes from.

But it's true, and it's happening not an hour's drive from here, in Port Elgin, Ontario.

The CAW wants to put up an industrial scale wind turbine at their "education center" in Port Elgin. Many years ago Bob White took the Canadian auto workers out of the UAW and birthed the CAW. I have nothing but respect for Bob White and the CAW, but they've failed to test the wind on this one.

Alternative energy is a great idea, but given the present state of technology it can't exist in the Ontario market without massive government subsidies. These subsidies run rampant in Ontario, and the CAW has organized the workers in a few foreign owned branch plants that assemble components for both solar and wind technology. So I can see the thinking of the union guys; let's support policies that keep our membership employed.

Unfortunately, the industrial scale wind turbine developments that have been sprouting up all over the province in the last ten years have pissed off a lot of people. Generally, the closer you are to a wind farm the more pissed off you'll be. And the CAW wind turbine is pretty much in the middle of a small vacation community where people go to get away from it all.

They're not happy with the proposed CAW wind turbine.

So I hope my union friends figure out which way the wind is blowing. You can bulldoze over the objections of the locals and put up your windmill, as a show of support for a government policy that might keep a few of your members employed in the short term, but is doomed to failure in the long run.

Or you can do the right thing, be a good neighbor in the community, and scrap that wind turbine.