Let me tell you something … I’m one very calm, cool and collected person but it doesn’t take a fucking genius to see what’s happening here. And this new reality … this post-Citizens United reality is very much radicalizing me. The following billionaires spent heavily to ensure a defeat for middle class workers … and Wisconsin really let down the rest of the country when they voted with the plutocrats. Having a “win” under their belts – you can look forward to a more fervent investment from the very small community of billionaires looking to buy democracy.
Obviously – “Divide and Conquer” works; the working class better figure out the game before time’s up.
I can’t legally articulate the proper solution for how Americans should take back their country from these plutocrats, but I will tell you that all of these people have broken the social contract that we have maintained throughout a generation. That contract implicitly allows for the safety and security of all of those controlling capital in return for shared prosperity with the working class. If one side breaks the contract … over time … and at some point – all bets are off. History has a way of repeating itself. That could come through pitchforks and torches or simply another economic collapse brought about by income inequality and a rigged economic system. Either way – desperate people do desperate things.
Forbes gives us the list of Governor Walker’s Billionaire donors HERE:
- Diane Hendricks , Wisconsin resident, Owner of ABC Supply donated a total of $510,000.
- Sheldon Adelson, Las Vegas casino tycoon and prolific right-wing donor, gave $250,000.
- Christy Walton, Arkansas resident, Wal-Mart heiress and world’s richest woman, pitched in $50,000.
- Thomas Peterffy of Greenwich, Conn. firm Interactive Brokers donated $10,000.
- Robert McNair, owner of the Houston Texans, gave $25,000 towards the cause.
- Joseph Craft of the billionaire Tulsa oil family donated $25,000 to Walker’s reelection.
- Rich DeVos, founder of Amway and resident of Michigan, offered up $250,000.
- Stanley Hubbard, the Minnesota billionaire behind DirecTV, wrote a check for $10,000.
- Bernard Marcus, Home Depot founder and Atlanta resident, put up $50,000 for the case.
- Joe Ricketts, patriarch of the billionaire family who own the Chicago Cubs, donated $100,000.
- Trevor Rees-Jones, an oil and gas mogul from Dallas, pitched in $100,000 to Walker’s campaign.
- Bruce Kovner, New York’s hedge fund legend, also gave $100,000.
- Louis Bacon, also a New York billionaire and CEO of Moore Capital Management, put in $100,000.
- Patrick Ryan, founder of insurance giant Aon and resident of Illinois, donated $100,000.
The Guardian points out HERE:
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz writes about the Walton family in his new book, The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future. He notes, “the six heirs to the Walmart empire command wealth of $69.7bn, which is equivalent to the wealth of the entire bottom 30% of US society.” That is almost 95 million people. Stiglitz told me:
“We’ve moved from a democracy, which is supposed to be based on one person, one vote, to something much more akin to one dollar, one vote. When you have that kind of democracy, it’s not going to address the real needs of the 99%.”
