Join the effort to build "The People's Lobby"

The majority of the American people understand, according to this Associated Press POLL: Tax the rich to pay for health bill, that the wealth they have created, they have not been able to share in by way of benefiting from socially necessary and universal social programs like health care--- and this has got to change.

This is called redistributing the wealth through progressive taxation.

I find it interesting that the worthless, high-paid union leaders who have been taking the dues of the members and living high-on-the-hog as part of a very well-heeled middle class are crying about the intent to tax health care benefits of their members but in the end will do nothing as Congress and Obama do just that.

Their talk-tough, scream bloody murder, give-in, do-nothing, non-struggle approach to "defending" the gains made through difficult struggles spanning several decades is all being taken away and eroded incrementally by the very Democratic politicians they used the dues and funds contributed by their members to elect--- a bunch of Dumb Donkeys who suck up to Wall Street lobbyists offering bribes.

In the very same way they have sold out their dues-paying members--- John Sweeney, Richard Trumka, Leo Gerard, Ron Gettelfinger and their underlings like David Foster, Bob King, Bruce Bostick, Ray Waldron, Shar Knudson and Mark Froemke--- they have sold out the entire working class in helping Barack Obama and the Democrats kill off single-payer universal health care, which, not coincidentally, has the same majority support as TAXING THE HELL OUT OF THE RICH.

And, again, not coincidentally, the same majority support is for ending---immediately--- these dirty imperialist wars for Wall Street's oil and Wall Street's regional domination and control over the Middle East.

And, once again, not coincidentally, the very same majority of the American people want an end to the nuclear arms race and they insist on a policy of "beating swords into plowshares" meaning that they want the military budget--- not incrementally "reduced" (which Obama calls an incrementally increased military budget)--- they insist in an overwhelming majority on the reordering of this country's priorities away from military spending towards meeting the needs of the people.

These pollsters were shocked at the results of their last honest poll asking people what they thought about capitalism and socialism; now they have become too timid as a result of those answers so they are not asking the American people the real ^4 million dollar question:

Are you for vastly expanding socialized health care in the United States so that everyone will have the kind of health care system offered by the popular socialized health care programs like VA, the Indian Health Service and the National Public Health Service and many of the small and limited county health care services and very limited but successful and popular government funded hospitals and nursing home care?

One has to wonder what all these so-called "progressives" supporting Obama are thinking when they follow behind these union "leaders" who continue to provide their services to the Democrats and their Wall Street partners by refusing to free up resources needed to launch a massive "people's lobby" pushing a real progressive, working class agenda in this country in opposition to Wall Street's thoroughly reactionary agenda of making the working class pay through the nose for the problems created by the rich.

The time has come to launch the building of a "people's lobby" by starting out holding Barack Obama and the Democrats accountable.

Accountability is the foundation upon which democracies are built.

If working class voters give up their right to demand accountability from those they cast their votes for, democracy becomes a sham and a farce.

Accountability can only be attained by working people insisting they have a right to get something in return for their votes.

What working class Americans want is:

Single-payer universal health care based upon Canadian-style health care COMBINED with a vastly expanded public health care that can be explained as---

No-fees/no-premiums, comprehensive, all-inclusive, universal health care; publicly financed, publicly administered and mostly publicly delivered.

Which means:

Tax the hell out of the rich to pay for progressive health care reform and tell the profit gouging doctors and the American Medical Association to go to hell because we can replace them easier than Ronald Reagan replaced the air-traffic controllers when they went out on strike.

What is it that Obama and these Dumb Donkeys don't understand about the messages coming from these polls?

Obama and these Dumb Donkeys will get the message real quick if we organize by way of a "people's lobby" and tell them we want something in return for our votes:

No peace; no votes.

No real health care reform; no votes.

Tax the rich to do what needs to be done; or no votes.

The time has come for the American people to organize to back up their votes.

Minnesota's socialist United States Senator who went on to become Minnesota's socialist Governor--- Elmer Benson--- had it right when he said to Minnesotans: "I can't do anything without your help and support. These rich son-of-a-bitches still control our State Senate; the only way you are going to get what you elected me to do is 'join my Minnesota People's Lobby and pack the state capitol.'"

Workers and Farmers did what Elmer Benson asked them to do to back up their votes for the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party.

The "Minnesota People's Lobby" worked in 1937 and it it will work if organized across the United States today.

I don't think anyone doubts that we need a powerful "People's Lobby" to counter the corporate lobbyists who are bribing the politicians today when it comes to health care reform.

No peace; no votes.

No real health care reform; no votes.

Tax the rich to do what needs to be done; or no votes.

The time has come for the American people to organize to back up their votes.

The American people "get it"... Obama and the Democrats don't: Tax the hell out of the rich!

The time has come to organ!ze to make these Dumb Donkeys understand what job it is they have to do--- and to understand that they work for us, not the other way around... we need to serve notice on these Dumb Donkeys that we are not satisfied with what the sparrows leave behind.

It's all about "accountability." Getting something in return for our votes.

Remember:

No peace; no vote.

No health care; no vote.

We are all fed up with politicians telling us there is never any money for the things we need like health care, education, housing, jobs at real living wages.

Tax the rich; slash the military budget and put an end to these senseless wars.

Democracy: use it or loose it.

Wall Street is our enemy.

We don't want the Wall Street coupon clippers to continue to profit from health care the way they profit from war.

Look around you in your community and in the mines, mills and factories where you work--- are you able to find the kind of leaders capable of leading the class struggle fighting for what is right and just? If not; it is up to you to become that leader.

We don't need "Tea Parties;" what we need is a citizens' initiative: "The People's Lobby."

Something to think about around the dinner table this evening as you ponder "accountability".



Alan L. Maki





AP POLL: Tax the rich to pay for health bill



Nov 17, 2009

By ERICA WERNER


WASHINGTON (AP) - When it comes to paying for a health care overhaul, Americans see just one way to go: Tax the rich.

That finding from a new Associated Press poll will be welcome news for House Democrats, who proposed doing just that in their sweeping remake of the U.S. medical system, which passed earlier this month and would extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans.

The poll found participants sour on other ways of paying for the health overhaul that is being considered in Congress, including taxing insurers on high-value coverage packages derided by President Barack Obama and Democrats as "Cadillac plans."

That approach is being weighed in the Senate. It is one of the few proposals in any congressional legislation that analysts say would help reduce the nation's health expenditures, but it has come under fire from organized labor and has little support in the House.

Lawmakers also are looking at levying new taxes on insurance companies, drug companies and medical device makers. But the only approach that got majority support in the AP poll was a tax on upper-income Americans.

The House bill would impose a 5.4 percent income tax surcharge on individuals making more than $500,000 a year and households making more than $1 million.

The poll tested views on an even more punitive taxation scheme that was under consideration earlier, when the tax would have hit people making more than $250,000 a year. Even at that level the poll showed majority support, with 57 percent in favor and 36 percent opposed.

"You know, I mean, why not? If they have that much money, it should be taxed," said Mary Pat Rondthaler, 60, of Menlo Park, Calif. "It isn't the same way that the guy making $21,000 is."

Not everyone agreed.

"They earn their money. And they shouldn't have to pay for somebody else. It doesn't seem fair," said Emerson Wilkins, 62, of Powder Springs, Ga.

The latest survey was conducted by Stanford University with the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Overall, the poll found the public split on Congress' health care plans. In response to some questions, participants said the current system needed to be changed, but they also voiced concerns about the potential impact on their own pocketbooks, preferring to push any new costs onto wealthier Americans.

For example, 77 percent said the cost of health care in the United States was higher than it should be, and 74 percent favored the broad goal of reducing the amount of money paid by patients and their insurers. But 49 percent said any changes made by the government probably would cause them to pay more for health care. Thirty-two percent said it wouldn't change what they pay, and just 12 percent said they would end up paying less.

With lawmakers searching for new revenue sources to pay for their overhaul legislation, upper-income taxes may be increasingly gaining favor.

Legislation passed by Senate committees did not go that route, but now Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has a free hand in merging two committee-passed bills, is considering raising the payroll tax that goes to Medicare on income above $250,000 a year, officials told The Associated Press last week. Current law sets the tax at 1.45 percent of income, an amount matched by employers.

The Senate Finance Committee bill would tax health insurance plans costing more than $8,000 annually for individuals and $21,000 for families, although those numbers could rise. Union members are lined up against that approach because they fear their benefits could be hurt, and the public doesn't like it either, the AP poll found. Fifty-six percent were opposed and only 29 percent in favor.

Other payment methods being contemplated on Capitol Hill also met with disapproval. Participants in the poll didn't support new taxes on medical device makers, drug companies or even insurers - even though they said in response to different questions that drug companies and insurance companies made too much money.

Forty-eight percent in the poll were opposed to new taxes on insurance companies, and 42 percent were in support. Fifty-one percent opposed raising taxes on drug and device makers, while 41 percent supported that approach.

But 72 percent of people polled said insurance companies made too much profit, compared with 23 percent who said they made about the right amount of profit. And 74 percent said drug companies made too much profit, versus 21 percent who said they made about the right amount of profit.

People who told pollsters they generally supported Congress' health care overhaul plan were also more receptive to new taxes to pay for it. Taxing health care companies, drug companies and equipment manufacturers eked out majority support from that group.

The payment approach that met with least approval by far in the poll was borrowing the money and increasing the federal debt, something Obama has repeatedly vowed not to do. Just 6 percent of people polled said they could support that approach, while 88 percent opposed it.

The poll was based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,502 adults from Oct. 29 to Nov. 8. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. The interviews were conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media. Stanford University's participation was made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which conducts research on all facets of the health care system.