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Stealing from the Poor, Giving to the Wealthy

7/5/2016

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​Have you ever wondered why “developing” nations are still mired in great poverty although they have received enormous amounts of aid for infrastructure? Or why the United States is engaged in an endless stream of small wars and conflicts? And, after we bomb and destroy any country our next budget item is reconstruction? 
Meet John Perkins:  a former “Economic Hit Man” whose job was to help U.S. intelligence agencies and multinational corporations cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business.  That system has spread to now become the dominant means of business and government within the U.S. as well.
John’s book, New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, puts the pieces of the puzzle together so that we can understand “corporatocracy” -- how businesses serve the wealthy and continue to impoverish the poor through systemic blackmail, assassinations and more.
Defense spending facts:  Military spending is projected to account for 54% of all federal discretionary spending; and, the U.S. spends more on defense than China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, United Kingdom, India, France and Japan – COMBINED!

These expenditures are financed by future debt and a taxpayer burden that our children will never be able to repay – and this money does not help developing nations, nor does it create more peace and security for the United States.  It does provide enormous economic growth and profit for the large multinational corporations that direct the economic hit men/strategists.
 
John Perkins is willing to “spill the beans.”
  • Out of the top ten international arms producers, eight are American.  The arms industry spends millions lobbying Congress and state legislatures; and, few lawmakers dare to challenge these powerful corporations. 
  • Coal, oil and gas industries benefited from subsidies of $550 billion – four times the amount given to renewable energy.
  • Walmart workers are subsidized by US taxpayers with more than $6 billion a year in public nutrition, health care and housing assistance – while their owners are listed among the wealthiest billionaires on the planet.
These facts make me cringe; and, at times I feel overwhelmed and don’t know what to do.
But I take heart that others are also reading, learning and speaking out – just as John Perkins is doing, and I am, and now you.
Knowledge provides the means to solve the problems that we face. 
I don’t know how we are going to take down this system of corporatocracy that steals from the poor and gives to the rich but I do know that we need to take the first steps – together.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?
  • Get educated – read New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins, or read his blog.  www.JohnPerkins.org/blog
  • Engage in letter writing, boycotts and other actions to impact large corporations creating the transition from a “death economy” to a life giving economy – a consciousness revolution. 
  • Get together with your neighbors together, build communal structures and discover the power that comes when we raise our voices, speak truth, and demand change – together!
  • Speak up, act up, and give voice to the future that you want for future generations.
“It’s 3:23 in the morning – and I am awake…. because my great, great grandchildren ask me in my dreams – “What did you do when the planet was plundered?.... Did you fill the streets with protests?” Drew Dillinger
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