John and Yoko Lennon’s 1971 ‘Happy Christmas …’ song begins with “So this is Christmas and what have you done?….”. Well, this holiday season, replete with the usual suspects of mass consumer spending, massive traffic jams and accidents, mass pleas for all types of fundraising (some important and most just to lift our wallets), increased house of worship attendance, keen focus on the plight of the downtrodden (if only for but a few weeks), and of course the ever steady feelings of good cheer and gestures of love for all … excepting of course that son of a ***** who just took our parking spot at the crowded Big Box parking lot!
So many of my fellow citizens, most of them good and decent working stiffs, just stay oblivious to this Military Industrial Empire. The same month that President Cheetos cut food stamps, the ever saluting Bi Partisan Congress voted to increase our already obscene military spending by $ 22 billion. The new spending figure (not including many ‘black projects’ that even Congress knows squat about) will be around $ 740 billion in 2020. The House of Representatives vote was 377-48 in favor. In the Senate it was 86-8 in favor. Great work lackeys! One would surmise that as long as the ‘We are at War’ propaganda continues, the good folk out there will buy into that rhetoric… at their own demise. Why, you ask? What in the hell is wrong with celebrating our troops? Well, for starters, how many crippled and permanently traumatized Korean, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq (phony war) vets do we have to stare at each day until we get the message? How many families that are permanently broken up from the dad or mom returning home in a box? Or how about the myriad of suicides and violent spousal abuses caused by those hornet’s nests overseas? Then of course we come to the millions of foreign citizens murdered or maimed for life by our war machine. Factor in the destruction of their infrastructures by our bombs and missiles. While I am on the subject of infrastructure, journalist Larry Romanoff had a great piece on the great Global Research site on December 18th entitled “The Crumbling of America“. He connects the tragedy of this crazy militarism and military spending to the lack of funds to repair and upgrade our nation’s failing infrastructure. Read that piece!
Since it is Christmas season, let’s now concentrate on the most ridiculous mindset of probably the majority of working stiffs. That being either the celebration or the apathy regarding the super rich. We have such a minute amount of super rich, like less than 1/2 of one percent of our population who earn well over one million dollars a year. Of course, the really select group within that basket earn hundreds of millions, and even billions of dollars per year. This was once simply the CEO community of corporate Amerika. Now it bleeds into our media, sports and entertainment arena: Minions of empire who take to the airwaves earning mega millions a year. Sports athletes and coaches who earn mega millions. Singers, actors, directors and of course producers who match those figures on their paychecks. Working stiffs should finally get it, that these are ALL the people that we look up to… even worship for their talent. How dare any of them speak as if they are part of our world!
Finally, we come to the politicians. Check out how many of them are mega millionaires. It will astound you… or maybe not. It seems that our school system and media have for generations taught us that super rich people should be ‘looked up to’ because they have succeeded and we haven’t … YET! That is how they get away with this con job… the YET. Vote for the super rich person running for office because they must ‘know better’ than us. Oh really? So, we have this total scam of a Two Party/One Party system whereupon many of the top bananas are super rich. Look at this current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, President Cheetos, who loves to use our tax monies to throw at the Pentagon. He has done nothing in the way of helping we working stiffs, while he continually rewards the super rich who run Amerika. Sadly, more and more working stiffs may very well vote again for him. We have a ‘progressive’ running for president like Senator Warren that cannot tell the crowds enough about her brothers who served, as she voted time and again for increases in phony war spending. (In 2017 she actually voted to grant more in military spending than what was requested by President Cheetos). Check it out. Now, running for president, she comes up with this absurd plan to tax the super rich a mere 2%, ONLY of course if they earn at least $ 50 million a year. Wow, she really wants to come down hard on those super rich. Imagine, with tax rates now at a ceiling of 37 %, when they used to be 90% in 1961 and 70% in 1981, her plan is really going to hurt these super rich. And she is the more ‘moderate’ of the candidates, excluding Senator Sanders. Folks, you want to really have that fraction of 1 % of us pay their fair share, then do a 50% Surtax (with Zero deductions) on all income over one million dollars a year, with only their first million being taxed at the current rate.
The empire just loves Christmas. They get everything they want . They have many of us slide back into our houses of worship, looking to help the poor and downtrodden… even if but for the holiday season. They have the suckers fork out lots of money on presents and other holiday spending, along with oodles of gasoline fill-ups for all the visiting we will do. The empire can roll out our military dressed appropriately in camouflage at all the many public events, with of course the giant flag covering the arena or field of play. This is to ‘honor’ our brave warriors who are spending the holidays, most unfortunately (for them, not the criminals who sent them), overseas in some ‘War Zone’. What better advertising for the Military Industrial Empire at the holidays? Of course, the phony retired military brass and chicken hawk politicians who are now working for the Deep State will use that ‘fear card’ to keep the suckers in line.
You say ‘Happy Holidays’. I say…. HUMBUG!
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Philip A Farruggio is a contributing editor for The Greanville Post. He is also frequently posted on Global Research, Nation of Change, World News Trust and Off Guardian sites. He is the son and grandson of Brooklyn NYC longshoremen and a graduate of Brooklyn College, class of 1974. Since the 2000 election debacle Philip has written over 300 columns on the Military Industrial Empire and other facets of life in an upside down America. He is also host of the ‘It’s the Empire… Stupid‘ radio show, co produced by Chuck Gregory. Philip can be reached at [email protected].
Featured image is from Salon.com
