"U.S. Billionaires Grow Wealth By Over $1 Trillion Since Pandemic Began: Report - Meanwhile, millions of Americans are unemployed and struggling to pay mortgages or rents amid the coronavirus crisis."
By Sarah Ruiz-Grossman, HuffPost.com - November 25, 2020
Billionaires in the U.S. have grown their wealth by over a third — or by more than $1 trillion — since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the nation in March, a new report finds.
At the same time, the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has left millions of Americans jobless and struggling to pay their mortgages, rents and food bills.
A report released Wednesday by the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies tracked the net worth of the over 650 of the wealthiest Americans from March 18 to Nov. 24, and found that dozens joined the ranks of billionaires during this period and that 29 saw their wealth double amid the pandemic.
The net worth of this minuscule group is twice the amount of wealth of the bottom 50% of U.S. households — about 160 million people, per the report.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos saw his net worth grow 61% since mid-March, from $113 billion to $182.4 billion. Amazon’s workers, meanwhile, haven’t received hazard pay in months, even as they’ve continued working during the worsening pandemic. Nearly 20,000 Amazon workers have been infected with coronavirus, according to the company.
An Amazon spokesperson told HuffPost that “nothing is more important than the health and safety of our employees,” adding that the company pays workers at least $15 per hour and has provided masks and gloves, as well as on-site COVID-19 testing in certain locations.
Bezos is one of five “centi-billionaires” in the world — people with a net worth over $100 billion — alongside Louis Vuitton chairman Bernard Arnault, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Three years ago, there were no centi-billionaires, according to the report.
The U.S. unemployment rate was nearly 7% last month — with over 11 million Americans considered unemployed — nearly twice the level of February, before the pandemic hit.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s survey of American households found that from Oct. 28-Nov. 9, over 15 million households — or 28% of renters surveyed — had either “no confidence” or only “slight confidence” of being able to make their next month’s payment.
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"Jobless numbers show: ‘We’re facing one of the worst economic crises of our lifetime’"
By Marie Szaniszlo, The Boston Herald, November 25, 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — Gripped by the accelerating viral outbreak, the U.S. economy is under pressure from persistent layoffs, diminished income and nervous consumers, whose spending is needed to drive a recovery from the pandemic.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose for a second straight time last week, to 778,000, evidence that the U.S. economy and job market remain under strain as coronavirus cases surge.
Jobless claims climbed from 748,000 the prior week, the Labor Department’s Wednesday report said. The number of confirmed coronavirus infections, meanwhile, has shot up to more than 170,000 a day, from fewer than 35,000 in early September. Before the virus struck hard in mid-March, weekly claims typically amounted to only about 225,000.
“We’re not enjoying a V-shaped recovery by any means; we’re facing one of the worst economic crises of our lifetime,” said Michael Klein, professor of international economics at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. “We really do need the government to step in.”
Seasonally adjusted, new jobless claims are up 30,000 or about 4%, said Kevin Lang, a Boston University economist. That’s enough to be concerning because of the likelihood that it is related to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic, Lang said.
“The symbiotic relationship between COVID and the economy is a primary reason that (Associated Industries of Massachusetts) agrees with Gov. Charlie Baker that business shutdowns are not an effective strategy for moderating the current surge of the virus,” said Christopher Geehern, executive vice president of Associated Industries of Massachusetts.
Massachusetts experienced some of the highest unemployment rates in the nation over the summer months as a result of the state mandated closure, with small businesses just beginning to hire back workers and regain their financial footing, said Christopher Carlozzi, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business.
“Any additional restrictions or rollbacks hinders the recovery effort and may cause irreparable damage to <i><b>the hardest hit industries like restaurants, retail and hospitality</b></i>,” Carlozzi said.
Making matters worse, he said, Massachusetts businesses are expected to face a nearly 60% increase in unemployment insurance taxes for 2021, further threatening job growth.
Meanwhile, another economic threat looms: The impending expiration of two supplemental federal unemployment programs the day after Christmas could end benefits completely for 9.1 million jobless people.
The lack of any further stimulus is leading to “government-induced layoffs” rather than hiring, said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts.
Most economists warn that without more aid from Congress, hardships will deepen for individuals, small companies and localities and states, which will likely have to slash jobs and services.
“If nothing changes,” said Robert Murphy, a Boston College professor of economics, “that’s going to be a big pull back for the economy.”
<i>Boston Herald wire services contributed to this report.</i>
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November 28, 2020
FACT: One U.S. Citizen dies of Covid-19 every 40 seconds (2,160/day) to one minute (1,440/day) everyday depending on what state one resides in.
FACT: Long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, account for around 8 percent of Covid-19 cases, but greater than 40 percent of Covid-19 deaths.
FACT: The average age of death by Covid-19 is 82.4 years of age; age expectancy in U.S. is 78.6 years of age. 8 out of 10 deaths by Covid-19 are in adults 65 and older.
Please read the following web-site: Older Adults and COVID-19 | CDC
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/older-adults.html
FACT: Men are more likely to die of Covid-19, while Women are more likely to die of Pneumonia.
FACT: Covid-19 is not the #1 cause of death. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and Cancers are still the #1 and #2 causes of death.
FACT: 60 to 70 percent of the population must be vaccinated (emergency two shot regimen) within months for herd immunity to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
FACT: While there are multiple vaccines near approval, there are currently zero (0) approved Covid-19 vaccines.
- Jonathan A. Melle
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Re: Beacon Hill's mystery budget & Facts about Covid-19 - 28November2020
Hello Patrick Fennell,
Did you know that Beacon Hill has not yet passed a temporary state budget for December 1st - 31st, 2020? After today (11/28/2020), Governor Charlie Baker and the Massachusetts State Legislature have only 2 days left to pass a temporary state budget for December. After nearly 5 months, Beacon Hill has yet to pass a very late fiscal year 2021 state budget, which has a budget deficit of $3.6 billion. Moreover, Beacon Hill attached abortion as state law as a budget rider so there are no public hearings and no public input on this major piece of legislation. Nearly all of Beacon Hill's deliberations have taken place in secret behind closed doors. No one has any idea what is going on in the Boston Statehouse. In summary, Beacon Hill has no temporary state budget beginning on December 1st, 2020, the very late and yet to be passed fiscal year 2021 state budget is still in conference committee, the fiscal year 2021 Massachusetts state budget has a $3.6 billion deficit, abortion is being made state law via a budget rider, and nearly all of Beacon Hill's "public" business is being done in secret behind closed doors, which means no one knows what is taking place in under Boston's Golden Dome.
Per your comments on Covid-19, I agree with you that all of the Public Payroll Patriots and do nothing elected officials have not lost one penny during the pandemic and 2020 economic recession. I believe that Governor Charlie Baker really screwed up big with the Holyoke Soldiers Home debacle where 76 Veterans died from coronavirus. I believe that Governor Andrew Cuomo made big mistakes too with his mismanagement of New York State's long term care facilities during the coronavirus pandemic. The federal and state governments have both made big mistakes mismanaging the Covid-19 pandemic. Career Politicians are out of touch with the people they do many disservices to. Let us hope for term limits someday on Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill. I disagree with you about Democrats hating the United States of America and are hoping to push through their Socialist agenda. Donald Trump (bone spurs) and Joe Biden (asthma) both dodged the draft during the Vietnam Conflict.
On the news today, they said that only 50 percent of American Citizens are willing to received a Covid-19 vaccine(s), which means that we won't reach herd immunity because it will take between 60 to 70 percent of American Citizens taking a vaccine in a short time period for us to reach herd immunity from coronavirus. We have spent many billions of taxpayer dollars for a Covid-19 vaccine, but it won't work unless we are willing to be vaccinated (2 shot regimen) within a couple of months of the approved Covid-19 vaccine(s).
Best wishes,
Jonathan Melle
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December 4, 2020
Hello Patrick Fennell,
Beacon Hill passed Police Reform without a veto-proof majority this week (30-Nov - 4-Dec-2020). Instead of the Massachusetts State Legislature passing Police Reform, I believe they should instead pass "Massachusetts State Legislature Reform". I live in southern New Hampshire, but I am in the Boston news media market. The Boston newsmen (& newswomen) say on TV that Beacon Hill has one of the most progressive state Legislatures in the nation, but it is also the most secretive, which means there is little to no transparency in Boston's Statehouse.
State Senator Adam Hinds and State Representative Tricia Farley Bouvier are both on the public record saying they are going to vote to raise state taxes in Massachusetts in 2021. Yet, they are not offering to cut any of their own taxpayer-funded public perks. It is classic "do as I say, not as I do" case of career politicians wanting more money from the private sector without making even one single sacrifice of themselves in big government. Moreover, after over 5 months, they still have not passed a very late fiscal year 2021 state budget (1-Jul-2020 - 30-Jun-2021).
Wall Street is breaking records with all time highs in the top stock market indexes such as the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq. The billionaires are making huge profits. The billionaires have made over $1 trillion since the Covid-19 pandemic that was declared in March of 2020. Meanwhile, the "Have Nots" have lost big with massive job loss, health insurance loss, and falling behind on their mortgages or rent payments.
President-elect Joe Biden's economic team favors Wall Street, while K Street lobbyists are already lining up to give the Democrat Party millions of corporate special interest dollars. Congressman Richie Neal is the most corporate K Street connected delegate on Capitol Hill. Western Massachusetts -- along with other similar regions like it throughout the nation -- doesn't stand a chance against Boston and Washington, D.C.'s special interest big government politics.
In closing, our entrenched top federal leaders on Capitol Hill and the White House are all around 80-years-old, Beacon Hill's state government leaders are openly pushing for state tax hikes in 2021 without offering even one single sacrifice to their own public perks, Wall Street and the billionaires has made over $1 trillion in profits since March (2020), K Street lobbyists are lining up to influence President Joe Biden's administration, along with Congressman/PAC-man Richie Neal who is more than ready to collect millions more in special interest corporate dollars, while the little guys like you and me are going to pay for it all. To be clear, we don't live in a real democracy anymore where the government serves We the People. Instead, we really live in a corrupt and rigged system that only serves the Oligarchs. It is an undemocratic, inequitable, and unfair system of big government at its worst thus far in U.S. History!
Best wishes,
Jonathan Melle
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To the Editor;
On the radio today at least three holiday charities are looking for more money. I went by the St. James Food pantry and it was very busy. Since March everyone in the dreaded private sector have made great sacrifices, too many small businesses are no longer around and people's wallets are much lighter. To many familes this year the holidays will be stressful and in many cases sad.
Meanwhile no elected politician in Massachusetts have made a SINGLE sacrifice. They continue to get paid, haven't lost a benefit, or perk, and in many cases have made more money through at best sleazy means.
Between the local towns, states and the Swamp (Congress), all of our taxpayer money has either been mismanaged, stolen, gone to the wrong people, places or causes, or just been wasted. Ever since Representive Pignatelli, Senator Hinds, Congressman Neal, Senators Markey and Warren,these same holiday charities have asked for bigger donations, more toys, and more help for the holidays. So what have they done to help the poor, vetrerans, elderly and disabled? Poverty, crime and poorly educated children have gone up, especially this year, yet always get a free ride, no bad press or be held accountable for raising our taxes and giving us little to nothing for our money. Remember everyone pays taxes, between sales taxes, user fees, and dozens of other ways for government to seperate citizens from their hard earned money.
Perhaps our elected officials can sacrifice their raises, perks and benefits to help a staving child, disabled veteran or a patient in a nursing home. However they won't.
So keep helping the charities of your choice, drop off food to a Food Pantry and donate a toy, because as always BIG Government is AWOL.
Patrick Fennell
Great Barrington, MA 01230
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"Stimulus desperately needed"
The Boston Herald, Letter to the Editor, December 5, 2020
In a recent article, Herald reporter Marie Szaniszlo describes jobless claims climbing relentlessly. (“Jobless numbers show: ‘We’re facing one of the worst economic crises of our lifetime.’ Nov. 25.”)
In the midst of the holiday season, ABCD and other non-profits see the results of this pandemic-caused unemployment crisis daily at their worksites: thousands lining up for food, elders unable to afford their medications, applications for fuel and rental assistance skyrocketing, reports of children going to bed hungry.
In addition to the steady increase in unemployment, two supplemental federal unemployment programs expire Dec. 26, ending benefits for 9.1 million people nationwide.
The situation is dire, comparable for those in need to the 1930s Great Depression.
ABCD calls for immediate federal passage of a long-awaited economic stimulus/COVID-19 relief bill that will shore up struggling families and boost the faltering economy.
A Biden administration relief bill is months away. People need help NOW.
— John J. Drew, President & CEO
Action for Boston Community Development
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December 7, 2020
I love my country, but I fear my government. The U.S.A.'s #1 non-farm exports are military weapons and related technologies. When the Soviet Union collapsed nearly 30 years ago, the U.S.A. profited off of taking over Russia's market share in arm sales. Since World War 2, after the Allied Powers defeated Hitler's evil Nazi Germany genocidal regime, the U.S.A. has killed millions of foreign Peoples in perpetual wars. The U.S.A. killed over 5 million Vietnamese People alone. The U.S.A. used false intelligence to depose of Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein, who controlled the World's second largest oil reserves in Iraq second only to Saudi Arabia's vast oil reserves. U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower warned us about the military industrial complex prior to leaving the Oval Office. The U.S. Government has supported dictators and authoritarian foreign governments when it fit our national and economic interests. The Patriot Act contradicts the Bill of Rights. The U.S. Government illegally spies on its own citizens, and some U.S. citizens have been denied their due process rights under the U.S. Constitution. Since the 9/11/2001's terrorist attacks, the U.S. Government has used a "Guns and Butter" policy. The U.S. Government has paid trillions of dollars to pay for "forever wars", while passing four major tax cuts in nearly 20 years. Our national debt has skyrocketed to well over $27 trillion and counting. When Wall Street and the billionaires who run the economy lose trillions of dollars, the U.S. Government always bails them out. However, when the wealthy profit, the U.S. Government lets the top 1 percent become wealthier. It is "Heads", the wealthy win, and "Tails", the masses lose. No matter what happens, the wealthy and ruling class does well, while the many "Have Nots" struggle to stay afloat. The U.S. Government has rigged the political and financial system. I asked my brother why Joe Biden is promising to raise taxes on the top 1.28 percent of wealthy citizens and big businesses when they always receive bailouts when they lose money? I guess Biden's tax hike proposal would serve as an insurance policy for the U.S. Government to be cashed in by Wall Street when they need capital to offset their losses. However, Biden's tax hike proposal would only lead to even bigger future bailouts for Wall Street. In closing, We the People are being screwed over by the U.S. Government's pro-military and pro-Wall Street policies that have resulted in millions of deaths of foreign Peoples since World War 2 and a rigged financial and economic system where only the wealthy and political elites win no matter what happens.
- Jonathan Melle
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December 9, 2020
Jonathan,
Sadly, the Gilded Age is here again.
This week, America’s 651 billionaires reached a disgraceful milestone. Since the [COVID-19] pandemic began in March, their wealth jumped by $1 trillion, or more than one-third. They are now worth more than $4 trillion. During that same time, 15 million Americans contracted COVID-19 and 284,000 people died from it.
To put that $1 trillion wealth increase in perspective, that’s enough to send a stimulus check of $3,000 to every one of the roughly 330 million men, women and children in America. A family of four would receive over $12,000.
This new report from Americans for Tax Fairness and our allies at the Institute for Policy Studies, highlights how the wealth gains of America’s 651 billionaires―largely white men―come at a time when low-wage workers, people of color and women have suffered disproportionately in the combined healthcare and economic crises facing our country.[1]
As these extraordinary wealth gains have been realized by a tiny sliver of the population, nearly 67 million people lost work; 98,000 businesses permanently closed; and 12 million people lost employer-sponsored health insurance.
Yet, Mitch McConnell and most Republicans in Congress are blocking new stimulus checks from being included in the modest bipartisan pandemic relief package worth $900 billion―less than the increase in billionaire wealth the last 9 months.
Together, we’re fighting for an economy and a tax system that lifts up working people, and ensures America’s billionaires pay their fair share toward our short-term and long-term recovery.
In the short term, we need a COVID relief package that meets the urgency of the moment, not Senator Mitch McConnell’s skinny bill that does nothing more than offer political cover for congressional Republicans.
We need a lot more aid for state and local services at a time when budget gaps―including for education―are estimated to be at least $500 billion. We need enhanced unemployment benefits for millions still out of work. And we need a lot more money for vaccine distribution so that all of us can quickly get protection from this deadly virus.
In the long-term, we need major reform that taxes the extraordinary wealth of the billionaires and millionaires and [COVID-19] uses that wealth to create an economy that works for all of us.
Since the pandemic began, Jeff Bezos’s wealth grew by $71.4 billion, to $184 billion―an increase of 63%, thanks to his Amazon stock. If that wealth growth was distributed to all of Bezos’s 810,000 U.S. employees, each would get over $88,000 and Bezos would not be any “poorer” than he was 9 months ago.
Elon Musk―the founder of Tesla and SpaceX―has seen his wealth grow by 482% from $24.6 billion to $143 billion. That $119 billion growth in wealth is more than five times NASA’s $22.6 billion budget in FY2020, the federal agency Musk has credited with saving his company with a big federal contract when the firm’s rockets were failing and it faced bankruptcy.
None of this wealth growth is taxed under our current tax system. That’s why we need a tax on wealth to rid us of this scandal like we need a vaccine to rid of this COVID-19 scourge.
At a time when America’s 651 billionaires are worth a combined $4 trillion, let’s fight for a [COVID-19] pandemic response and a fair share tax system that puts working people, communities of color and marginalized communities first.
Together, as we prepare for a new Congress and a new President in 2021, we will make our voices heard and lead the fight for an end to the new Gilded Age.
Americans for Tax Fairness - help us fight for a fair share tax system and a robust [COVID-19] pandemic response that leaves no one behind.
Thank you,
Frank Clemente
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness
[1] “Net Worth Of U.S. Billionaires Has Soared By $1 Trillion—To Total Of $4 Trillion—Since [the COVID-19] Pandemic Began,” Americans for Tax Fairness, Dec. 9, 2020
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December 16, 2020
My imaginary job is being "A Citizen Defending the People" against Oligarchies. I won an imaginary lawsuit against federal government bailouts for the Billionaires who run Wall Street. I said that Uncle Sam should not be giving trillions of dollars to Wall Street's financial institutions and even foreign banks. The underclass, working poor, and retired workers who got screwed out of their hard earned savings and pensions all agreed with me. But in the end, Wall Street, the Billionaires, and the ruling Oligarchy in the White House, U.S. Congress, and court system defeated my lofty argument. The "Iron Rule of Oligarchy" always wins throughout World history because they "Have" all of the money and power. In closing, when the economy grows, the rich get richer, but when the economy tanks, the rich receives bailouts from the "Have Nots" in the form government bailouts, which grows the huge U.S. national debt (+$27.44-trillion and counting higher). No matter what happens, the Oligarchy always wins, while the proverbial little guy is lucky to survive another year under a rigged, inequitable, and totally unfair economic system that used to be called capitalism.
- Jonathan Melle
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December 22, 2020
Hello Patrick Fennell,
I enjoyed reading your letter to the editor. U.S. Congress just passed a $2.3 trillion spending and stimulus bill. The U.S. national debt will soon reach $30 trillion and counting higher. The ruling elites in the Swamp and Beacon Hill are still receiving all of their pay and public perks, while millions of people are without jobs and health insurance. I do not believe the extra $600 will help most people who are facing poverty or near poverty.
Here is my proposal. All ruling elites must live on the average Social Security monthly check of around $1,400 per month with one stimulus check of $1,200 and a second stimulus check of $600, while their health insurance is Medicare and/or Medicaid. Let us see how fast U.S. Congress and Beacon Hill change their tune on Social Insurance programs and stimulus checks.
How many months did U.S. Congress and Beacon Hill take off this year of 2020? Our country and our states and localities are facing crises, while PAC-Man Richie Neal, and career political hack Smitty Pignatelli have been on months-long vacations all year long.
In closing, I agree with you that our career politicians in the Swamp and Beacon Hill have sold us all out, while they have only taken care of themselves with their lengthy taxpayer-funded vacations, pay and public perks.
Best wishes,
Jonathan Melle
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To The Editor;
If you are a transgender person in Pakistan you did better than the average American family in the Unitied Stateds of American. The relief/ save the Swamp is over 5,000 pages with so much pork stimulus checks should at least be doubled even tripled without museum and horse racing handouts.
So make sure you call and thank your worthless House Member or US Senator for again selling out Americans in the dreaded Private Sector.
Don't forget parasites like Senators Markey and Warren and Congressman Neal have NOT lost a penny during the China Crisis, neither has any elected politician in Massachustts.
So don't forget to tank our elected reptiles for again letting America down. Neither party should hold their heads up for this hurtful vote, emotionally, financilly or honestly.
Patrick Fennell
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https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/
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December 28, 2020
Hello Patrick Fennell,
I agree with your letter, below, about U.S. Congress consisting of 535 Pimps. The $600 stimulus checks are a joke. It took them over one-half-year to pass a weak stimulus bill full of bailouts, tax breaks, and giveaways to foreign governments who we want to sell more of our #1 non-farm export - military weaponry - to so that Wall Street will profit off of war.
Trump signed the $2.3 trillion federal budget and stimulus bill on Sunday (27-Dec-2020) night. The U.S. national debt will soon be near $30 trillion and counting higher. The federal government is running up record high federal budget deficits. When big business profits, they keep the money, but when they lose money, they receive bail-outs from U.S. Congress. It is "heads" the "Haves" win, "tails" the "Have Nots" lose. Nothing U.S. Congress does makes any financial sense anymore.
PAC-Man Richie Neal only represents K Street Lobbyist Firms. He receives millions of dollars in special interest corporate PAC funds, while the people he supposedly represents in Western Massachusetts are struggling to stay afloat financially during the 2020 economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
All Beacon Hill cares about right now is Speaker Bob DeLeo stepping down, and installing his anointed successor Ronny Mariano as the next Speaker of the Boston State House of Representatives. There has never been a minority and/or woman as a Massachusetts State House Speaker in the history of Beacon Hill that date backs centuries. That will NOT change in 2021 because Beacon Hill is an insider's game ran by political hacks who shamelessly vote themselves huge pay raises and other public perks, while openly planning to raise state taxes to balance the upcoming fiscal year 2022 Massachusetts state budget.
Best wishes,
Jonathan Melle
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To the Editor;
Remember the movies made in the 1980s where a young country girl runs away and gets off of a bus in a major city? She is greeted by a guy in a bright colored suit wearing a fedora. He sees the look of fear and sadness on her face and takes her in, for a better life.
A week later on a cold night wearing the smimpiest of clothes she is selling her body and giving her profits to the man from the bus station.He sometimes feeds her or gives her a 'fix', but only if she behaves. Ultimely he has a bunch of sad girls that he lives off of.
535 members of congress do the same thing, only they mooch off of the American taxpayers. Behave, follow the laws they have no intention of following and they will allow us to keep some of our money. Lately they have been extra mean, and like a Pimp, they blame everyone but themselves. Unemployment benefits are running out and it is President Trump's fault. The fact they waited until the last minute to supply help to transpeople from Pakistan, help Egypt buy weapons from China and Russia, give aid to countries who hate us, give money for horse racing, while only 'giving?' $600.00 to the same people who are paying for the Relief Bill, gets lost in the MSM messages, they are the Pimps assistants.
President Trump is blamed for all of the China Virus deaths, while Governors like Cuomo, Baker, Newsome, Whitmore and scores of others escape any blame at all, in spite of bad policies, like killing thousands of elderly in nursing homes and other facilities, closing small business while allowing billion dollar business to thrive. Cuomo even wrote a book bragging about his success, in spite of being responsible for thousands of unneccessary deaths. Like a Pimp it is the victim's fault.
But the 535 Pimps in Congress really are to blame for the staring, child abuse, high crime,, suicides,alcohol and drug abuse and yes the deaths of over 300,000 people and destroying millions of small business and putting people on the streets. Pimps like Richie Neal are those well dressed Pimps at bus stations, promising your girls a better life, while they live off of them (US Citizens).
A thought for 2021
Patrick Fennell
Great Barrington, MA
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"10 Billionaires Made Enough Money During The Pandemic To Vaccinate The Entire World" -
"They could save millions from poverty with what’s left over, according to a new Oxfam report on inequality and the coronavirus."
By Amanda Schupak, HuffPost.com - January 24, 2021
The coronavirus recession is over, if you ask the billionaires of the world. According to a report released Monday by Oxfam, the top 1,000 billionaires collectively lost about 30% of their wealth when COVID-19 restrictions stalled global economies in March. By the end of November, they’d made it all back.
For the world’s richest, it took less than 10 months to recover the financial losses caused by the pandemic. For the world’s poorest, the report estimated, it will take more than 10 years.
“While a wealthy minority have amassed vast fortunes before and during the pandemic, the majority of the world’s population have been struggling to survive on poverty wages and without access to decent health care or education,” Paul O’Brien, vice president of Oxfam America, told HuffPost. “Today’s levels of extreme wealth concentration are not sustainable. Billionaires are a sign of economic sickness, not health. They are the symptom of a broken economy.”
The pandemic threatens to undo the progress of more than two decades of declining global poverty. The World Bank has estimated that more than 200 million people may sink into poverty as a result of COVID-19’s economic effects — in low-income countries and in rich ones, including the United States. Startlingly, the Oxfam report found that the cost to prevent people from falling into a life lived on less than $5.50 a day would be far less than the profits made by the world’s wealthiest during the coronavirus crisis.
According to Oxfam’s calculation — based on poverty data from the World Bank and wealth data from Credit Suisse and the Forbes Billionaires list — the world’s 10 richest people, including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Tesla founder Elon Musk, added $540 billion to their collective net worth in the last three quarters of 2020. If they handed over around $80 billion, they could keep those imperiled millions above the poverty line for a year while economies rebuild.
With the remainder of their 2020 profits, these 10 billionaires could pay for both rounds of the COVID-19 vaccine for every person on Earth and still come out ahead. (Oxfam used World Health Organization data to estimate a cost of around $9 per dose, a total expenditure of $141.2 billion for the world’s 7.8 billion inhabitants.)
Oxfam timed the release of the report to coincide with the start of the annual World Economic Forum’s Davos meeting (virtual this year), where industry and government leaders “convene to address critical issues.”
The report paints a stark portrait of the divide between CEOs at the top and laborers at the bottom, many of whom have continued to work in dangerous circumstances, without the option to stay home to avoid the virus.
Raj Sisodia, a business professor at Babson College and co-founder of the Conscious Capitalism movement, likened standard corporate structure to India’s caste system. At the top: generously paid professional, college-educated people with benefits and stock options, supported by the “chew them up and spit them out workforce” — people locked into low-paying hourly jobs, without health care, paid leave or retirement benefits.
“That needs to change,” Sisodia said. “There has to be a modest ratio between pay at the top and pay the bottom.”
That’s not currently the case. In the last 40 years, executive pay has increased by 1,000% while worker pay has budged less than 12%.
Amazon logged record sales as nearly 20,000 Amazon workers contracted COVID-19 between March and September of 2020. With the wealth he accumulated over the same period, the Oxfam report found that “Jeff Bezos could have personally paid each of Amazon’s 876,000 employees a one-off $105,000 bonus ... and still be as wealthy as he was at the beginning of the pandemic.”
But handouts won’t bring about the fundamental restructuring that is needed, said O’Brien: “Asking the wealthy to be charitable is no substitute for taxing them and the companies whose profits have soared in past years.”
Oxfam recommends implementing wealth taxes as an important step toward creating a fairer, more equitable economic system.
“The super-rich use a network of tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of tax and an army of wealth managers to secure sky-high returns that are not available to an ordinary investor,” he continued. “Big corporations are dodging taxes, driving down wages for their workers and the prices paid to producers, and investing less in their business in order to maximize returns to their wealthy shareholders. Both big business and the super-rich use their money and connections to ensure government policy works for them. This has to stop.”
The report’s other policy recommendations include investing in social services and guaranteed income, moving away from using gross domestic product as a metric for economic growth, and making fighting inequality central to pandemic recovery.
“The most effective way of getting people back on their feet in the wake of this pandemic is to build fairer, more sustainable economies that work for everyone and not just a fortunate few,” said O’Brien. “The Davos set, including corporate executives, must join efforts to make this a reality.”
HuffPost’s “Work In Progress” series focuses on the impact of business on society and the environment and is funded by Porticus. It is part of the “This New World” series. All content is editorially independent, with no influence or input from Porticus. If you have an idea or tip for the editorial series, send an email to thisnewworld@huffpost.com.
Jeff Bezos could have personally paid each of Amazon’s 876,000 employees a one-off $105,000 bonus ... and still be as wealthy as he was at the beginning of the pandemic.
A protest outside of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ New York City apartment in December. Since the start of the pandemic, he has made hundreds of billions of dollars thanks to the labor of tens of thousands of people working in unsafe conditions.
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January 27, 2021
The U.S. Senate is going to hold a trial on the Impeachment of Donald Trump soon. But what about Joe Biden and his alleged "crime" family who are all worth tens of millions of dollars without reasonable explanation? What about Hunter Biden who is under federal law enforcement investigation for his foreign business dealings with adversarial countries such as Communist China, and his alleged money laundering? They are all alleged crooks! In order to be in the big leagues of national politics, you have to raise enormous sums of money each and everyday. Some people believe that K Street is the real Capitol Hill because corporate lobbyists write a lot of the legislation that most Members of U.S. Congress don't bother to read before they vote on various bills. Most citizens do not understand most public policies that keep Wall Street at record highs, while Main Street is at record lows (the K-shaped recovery/recession). Lastly, there is only one real political party in American politics: The career politicians who are Incumbent Office Holders for Life, such as over 3 decades long PAC-Man Richie Neal who raises so much money from K Street lobbyist firms that anyone who challenges him can't compete with his millions of dollars in his campaign coffers. The system is rigged in favor of the wealthy and ruling elites! The rest of us have no choice but to pound sand.
- Jonathan Melle
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January 27, 2021
Hello Patrick Fennell,
How do I feel about PAC-Man Richie Neal and the rest of the Swamp? I feel that they do NOT represent the people who live in their respective Congressional Districts. Instead, Members of U.S. Congress spend most of their time raising enormous amounts of campaign dollars each and everyday from K Street lobbyists backed by Wall Street. We are in a "K-shaped" recovery/recession. Wall Street is near record highs, while Main Street is at rock bottom. Capitol Hill is putting band aids on major wounds in a distressed economy for millions of workers who lost their jobs and health insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic. We live in a time of severe economic inequality. In Western Massachusetts, Richie Neal and the rest of the Democrats are enriching themselves, while the working people are falling behind. Adam Hinds, Smitty Pignatelli, and their corrupt colleagues on Beacon Hill just received up to 3 legislative pay raises earlier this month of January of 2021. Now, the Massachusetts Legislature is planning on raising state taxes, despite Governor Charlie Baker low-balling his fiscal year 2022 state budget proposal today (27-January-2021). Then there is the Holyoke Soldiers Home debacle (78 dead Veterans from COVID-19), and the botched vaccine rollout. To be clear, the politicians are well taken care of, while the people who pay for their well heeled lifestyles are still getting the proverbial shaft. In closing, I like it when little guys like you and me get to complain about all of the disservices We the People receive from our lousy politicians, but I dislike the complete disconnect between the ruling elites and the financially distressed masses.
Best wishes,
Jonathan Melle
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Re: PAC-Man Richie Neal and the costly health insurance racket
NEWS ARTICLE:
"One big reason your health insurance costs so much: political cash"
By Kate Bettino, The Fulcrum, January 27, 2021
Imagine emerging from a life-saving medical procedure only to receive bills totaling $80,000 — despite having health insurance. Or, like Californian Tom Saputo, getting a surprise bill for $51,000 after being air-lifted to a hospital for an emergency double-lung transplant. After insurance, he still owed $11,000.
Many of you may not have to imagine these nightmare scenarios, but they're all too real. And whether or not you've experienced horror stories like these, we've all been victimized by the exorbitant costs of health insurance. Legalized bribery is the reason.
The United States now has the only profit-driven health care system in the world, so it's unsurprising we also have the most expensive medical care of any country. In fact, 18 percent of our entire economy ($3.2 trillion) went to health care in 2015, averaging about $10,000 a person.
Why is health care and insurance in this country so much more expensive than elsewhere? It's the intrusion of big money in politics.
We use the euphemism "campaign contributions" to disguise the nefarious truth. Corporations can now make unlimited contributions to elected politicians through the use of the political action committees.
Four of the biggest health insurance companies — Blue Cross Blue Shield, UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health and Cigna— and their employees gave $4.5 million to 2020 presidential and congressional campaigns, with just over half of the cash to Democrats.
Paco Fabian, director of campaigns at Our Revolution, told The Hill, "they're influencing both sides and they're doing it so that regardless of who wins, they continue to influence politics and policy." The same was true four years before, when Donald Trump received $1.3 million from the insurance industry while Hillary Clinton brought in a cool $3.3 million. Donations from the health sector at large were gargantuan: $26.4 million for Clinton and $5.8 million for Trump.
Donations made to politicians are not random charity; they are strategic and expected to procure a hefty return on investment. Recipients are not naïve to this, and they frequently cater to the interests of their most generous donors.
How do "campaign contributions" impact health costs? Quite directly, it turns out, in the form of legislation. In each of the previous two years, the Trump administration allowed insurance companies to raise their premiums 15 percent with no explanation, increasing the likelihood of price spikes for consumers. The previous president, backed by Congress, also weakened regulation of insurers, increased their allowed profit-margins and permitted more flexibility in scaling back benefits — all policies promoted by the health insurance lobby.
$$$$$
Chairman Richard Neal of the House Ways and Means Committee, a gatekeeper of all health legislation, has been the third largest recipient of insurance money in the House. But health insurance companies aren't the only ones with a vested interest in health care industry profits: Private equity group Blackstone and various for-profit hospital groups were major contributors to the Massachusetts Democrat in the last election. Blackstone has lobbied hard to prevent a resolution on surprise medical billing because it owns the physician-staffing company TeamHealth, which profits mightily from this practice.
In 2019 Neal blocked a bipartisan bill aimed at controlling hospitals' ability to send these huge out-of-the-blue bills to patients. In early December Neal once again defended the interests of his private equity donors, putting forth a proposal they endorsed as an alternative to the more aggressive original bill.
$$$$$
As the unfortunate truth of our corrupt system, politicians acting on behalf of their donors is the rule, not the exception.
The average deductible for Americans in 2019 was $4,544, meaning millions of insured patients still paid almost $5,000 out-of-pocket for their health care. Furthermore, many plans don't cover mental health, dentistry or life-saving surgeries deemed "elective" by the insurance companies. For families, the cost of health coverage now exceeds a whopping $20,000. In the past decade, health insurance costs skyrocketed 55 percent, almost double the increase in the median wage over the same time period.
Predictably, health costs are the number one reason Americans declare bankruptcy. It was estimated in 2019 that two-thirds of all bankruptcy filers cited medical expenses or illness-related work loss, not dissimilar to rates before implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The health insurance companies, meanwhile, raked in $35.7 billion in profits the same year.
Regardless of your preferred solution for outrageous health insurance costs, we can all agree that progress is not being made. To address this and all the issues we face, my organization is tackling the root cause: political corruption. Most Americans agree that big donors have outsized influence and want to limit campaign spending. With the grip special interests have on Congress, an amendment to the Constitution ensuring elections free from corruption is the only proven solution.
*****
Kate Bettino is a volunteer in White Plains, N.Y., for Wolf-PAC, which seeks to build grassroots support for a constitutional amendment permitting more regulation of money in politics.
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Political cash is one big reason health care costs so much - The Fulcrum
https://thefulcrum.us/campaign-finance/health-care-costs
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January 29, 2021
Hello Patrick Fennell,
Thank you for sharing your political email letter with me today (29-January-2021) about American taxpayers paying for walls or fences around Capitol Hill, and Congress giving billions of dollars in aid to countries that hate us. I remember back in 2008, U.S. Congress not only bailed out Wall Street, but they also bailed out foreign banks, and all of the big banks and insurance companies we gave our taxpayer dollars to was used by domestic and foreign bank executives alike to give themselves huge bonuses and other lucrative perks after their risky speculation or gambling crippled the financial system and global economy. The U.S.A. is now at its most economically unequal point in 100 years. The shrinking middle class pays taxes to Capitol Hill, which redistributes our hard earned tax dollars to foreign countries that hate us, as well as foreign banks that speculate or gamble with our public dollars. I believe that we give aid to foreign countries and bailouts to foreign banks around the World because our number one non-farm export are military weapons and technologies to foreign governments that buy our weapons. Congress tells us that we give foreign countries federal aid for humanitarian reasons, but I believe it is really about the U.S. government selling arms to the World. The U.S. and other powerful military countries fight proxy wars, which leads to heartbreaking humanitarian crises, such as the one in Yemen. When common people ask Congress about it all, our corrupt politicians tell us that if we don't sell arms to the World, then the U.S. government will lost market share to Russia, China, and like foreign countries. World War I was supposed to be the war that ended all wars, but then Hitler rose to power in Nazi Germany less than two decades later, and ever since then, the military industrial complex became Wall Street's big moneymaker. When I was a student at Pittsfield High School from the Fall semester of 1989 - the Spring semester of 1993, the Soviet Union disbanded or came to an end and Russia's economy collapsed. What did Congress do? Instead of standing for peace, the U.S. government took over Russia's lost market share of arm sales. The U.S. economy soared to new highs in the 1990's, and Bill Clinton rode the good economic news to two terms in "the Oral Orifice" (Oval Office). After George W. Bush succeeded Bill Clinton in early-2001, he passed three federal tax cuts, 9/11/2001 occurred and the post 9/11 War on Terrorism began, which we are still fighting today, and we disposed of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship in Iraq, which has the World's second largest oil reserves second only to Saudi Arabia. Over the past two decades, the U.S. government's economic policy has been "Guns and Butter", which means our tax dollars fund the military industrial complex, while the Billionaires, Wall Street, and the ruling elites on Capitol Hill, K Street, and state capital career politicians and greedy lobbyists all made a lot of money by the U.S. government giving them four (Trump's tax cut) huge tax cuts to the top 1 percent. Joe Biden wants to raise taxes on the top 1.28 percent of high income workers, while promising to give tax cuts to the bottom 98.72 percent of working Americans who haven't lost their jobs during the "K-shaped" recovery (for Wall Street) or recession (for Main Street). The problems with Biden's plan are (a) raising federal taxes on the top 1.28 percent of American income earners won't cover or even make a dent in the ever growing federal budget deficit, (b) the very wealthy have offshore accounts to hide or shelter their money from the IRS, (c) the U.S. government almost always bails out big business when they lose money, (d) it will eventually get filled with loopholes, and (e) big business will turn around and invest more of their money in foreign countries with lower tax rates. The U.S. national debt is nearly $28.9 trillion and growing larger. The U.S. government is borrowing and printing money at a record pace, which means future generations of American taxpayers will mostly only inherit public debts unless they are born into a wealthy family that leaves them generous trust funds and/or other lucrative assets. As for "PAC-Man" Richie Neal, who has been in Congress since 1989 or for over 30 years now, he is best known for his close ties to K Street lobbyist firms that donate millions of dollars of special interest money into his campaign coffers year after year. Congressman Richard E. Neal is called the most corporate friendly Democrat on Capitol Hill. Nancy Pelosi is the first woman Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and she impeached Donald Trump twice. In 2020, U.S. Congress took months off at a time, while our country was in a COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession.
Best wishes,
Jonathan Melle
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The biggest phonies in the world are democrats. Nancy Pelosi, the women who is responsible for making the entire US suffer so she could get rid of President Trump, wonders why people Hate Congress. The fact that millions of Americans are constantly lied to, businesses are folding, suicides (especially by students) have skyrocketed, food pantries can't keep up with demand, prices have gone up, including gas, crime has risen, healthcare is in trouble, the southern border has been opened in spite of high unemployment, and has yet to send the poor their 'stimulus' checks, yet wonders why over 100 million Americans are angry with her.
Either Nancy is a complete moron, or so guilty of treason, she feels the need for extra protection. A Wall and over 5,000 troops to protect her and parasites like Richie Neal. Meanwhile people along the Mexican border are on their own, and most without any form of relief.
We didn't ask for these lockdowns, loss of rights and freedoms, but we are expected to dish out more tax money to protect Congress. Last I looked my House rep only cashes his unearned checks and pimps his way around K and Wall Street.
When will Congress ever serve the American people? Biden just sent a fat check to Central America, in spite of forgetting to send checks to the needy citizens of the US. It seems to get any form of US aide at all you have to HATE the USA. They certainly don't care about Joe and Jane Average.
So why does Congress rate extra protection and a Wall? If they actually did their job, they wouldn't need any protection at all.
So Nancy why do you need a Wall and extra protection again?
Patrick Fennell
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February 2, 2021
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker failed the 78 Veterans who died of coronavirus in Holyoke Soldiers Home. I believe Baker's failed leadership should mean that he should resign his office in disgrace. After all of the tragic deaths, along with the botched vaccination program, Baker has not yet changed anything because he is more interested in politics than governing.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo intentionally sent COVID-positive patients back to his state's nursing homes in the early days of the pandemic. As a result, New York has a dismal record on nursing home deaths, even with a reporting system that doesn't include LTCF (long-term care facilities) residents who die in hospitals in their totals. New York State has the second-highest death rate per capita in the country.
Does it surprise you that state governments put convicted felons in state prisons first to receive vaccinations for COVID-19, while Veterans, seniors, and other at risk law-abiding citizens are still dying in large numbers? If you are an illegal immigrant, you are put ahead of Veterans, seniors, and other law-abiding citizens who are struggling to survive during the "K-shaped" economic recovery (for Wall Street, K Street, ruling elites) or recession (for Main Street). What happened to our country?
- Jonathan Melle
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Hello Patrick Fennell,
Thank you for sending me two emails this morning (February 4th, 2021) about (a) President Biden stopping the Keystone Pipeline and the alternative transportation of oil being more costly and polluting, and (b) Hunter Biden's sexual deviancy and substance abuse.
The U.S.A. is the #2 polluter of greenhouse gases in the World. Between China and U.S.A., the two countries account for nearly 50 percent of all greenhouse gas pollution in the World. China and U.S.A. should come together to stop polluting the World with greenhouse gases.
Hunter Biden is a troubled middle-aged man who has a sordid history of sexual deviancy, promiscuity, crack cocaine, and alcoholism. He has at least 5 children with at least 3 women. He slept with his late-brother's widow. He lied to a Judge about not fathering a child with a young college student who worked as a stripper. After a court-ordered paternity test, Hunter Biden was the father of the young woman's baby. He allegedly had sex with Russian prostitutes who may have been sex trafficked. His foreign business dealings with adversarial countries such as Russia and China are under federal law enforcement investigation, along with his alleged money laundering. Joe Biden's family is sarcastically called "The Biden Crime Family" because they are all worth tens of millions of dollars each without any reasonable explanation. Critics question if Joe Biden should even be U.S. President given all of these issues.
As we are both Veterans, what do you think of the new Secretary of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs being the first person to head the VA who is not a Veteran? Will he understand the needs of Veterans who have been screwed over by the VA for many years on end? Why hasn't Governor Charlie Baker made needed changes to Holyoke Soldiers Home after 78 Veterans from around the Northeast died of COVID-19 there? Why are politicians always for War and Soldiers, but when it comes to the VA, they fail Veterans?
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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February 6, 2021
What about Baker's Holyoke Soldiers Home debacle where 78 Veterans died from COVID-19? The Climate bill Governor Charlie Baker is reviewing sets its benchmark date in 2050 for zero carbon emissions. That is nearly 3 decades from now when all of the phony Boston Pols will be retired or in the afterlife (if there is such a thing as life after death). Smitty Pignatelli is pushing for GE to put a toxic waste dump full of GE's industrial chemicals called PCBs in Lee (Mass.), while Smitty is also pushing for a climate bill that will raise taxes on the working class while Smitty is making over 6-figures per year and he accepted 3 legislative pay raises last month. Smitty Pignatelli has been a career politician in Boston for nearly 2 decades now, and by 2050 when his climate bill meets its lofty goal of zero emissions, Smitty Pignatelli will have been long collecting his 6-figure state government pension and other public perks. Smitty Pignatelli has a business college degree in finance, but he supports the corrupt EPA and GE's nearly year old settlement that has no financial commitment from GE for a $1 billion cleanup of the Housatonic River that will take 15 years to complete. I would like to know if Smitty Pignatelli can put together a financial statement that could explain how GE's math adds up with zero dollars and cents put forth by GE, which has tens of billions of dollars in toxic corporate debts and a paltry net market capitalization of around $4 billion. It is a recipe for disaster, but Smitty Pignatelli likes to make empty promises decades into the future. Then there is the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill debate on Capitol Hill that has no support from the Republican Party. The U.S. Government is printing money out of thin air, and borrowing records amount of money it will never pay back, while our country is in "a K-shaped" recovery/recession, which means the top 1 percent is getting richer, while the bottom 99 percent are getting poorer. One of the hold ups with the new stimulus bill is the proposed $15 minimum wage. From what I understand of the plight of the working poor is that money no longer matters to most of them because many poor workers received social services and social insurance public benefits. What really hurts the working poor is the cost of health insurance, which is much worse than the minimum wage for low income families. Obamacare's health insurance costs on low to middle income families is so high that most of the recipients cannot afford to use it unless it is a last resort. It is a joke to for the millionaires on Capitol Hill to debate the minimum wage without addressing the cost of health insurance. Helping the working poor is not rocket science! Pay workers a living wage, provide affordable housing, provide affordable health insurance, educate the youth in fully-funded public schools, and provide pension plans for workers when they become senior citizens. I do not believe that Capitol Hill really cares about the working poor. Members of U.S. Congress literally have to raise thousands of dollars each and everyday - mostly from K Street corporate lobbyist PACs - to be able to keep their seat, such as "PAC-Man" Richie Neal, who has been in U.S. Congress since 1989 - or for over 3 decades now. Politicians speak out of both sides of their mouths, but at the end of the day, they only care about money and power.
- Jonathan Melle
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February 6, 2021
Hello Patrick Fennell,
Thank you for responding to my email letters to you, blogger Dan Valenti, and many other people who write about politics.
Today, I present you with the people who supposedly represent you where you live in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Smitty Pignatelli - He writes op-eds about Berkshire County's drastic losses in population and living wage jobs without looking at himself in the proverbial mirror after serving decades in state and local politics. What is worse, Smitty voted for his own 40% legislative pay raise (early-2017) and he accepted 3 legislative pay raises last month (January 2021).
Adam Hinds - His first vote on Beacon Hill was for his own 40% legislative pay raise in early-2017. Like Smitty, he accepted 3 legislative pay raises last month (January 2021), while he openly supports raising state taxes later this year (2021) to be able to balance and pass Beacon Hill's fiscal year 2022 state budget. Oh, the hypocrisy!
Richie Neal - He is the Democratic Party's most corporate friendly "PAC-Man" for K Street's lobbyist firms. Richie Rich brings in the big dollars for the Dems. The people who live in his Western Massachusetts C.D. are totally disconnected from the wheeler dealer named Richard Edmund Neal.
Ed Markey - He really lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, which is a wealthy suburb of Washington, D.C. His radical progressive platform will never happen, but at least he says lofty things in the United States Senate that the radical progressive people who live in Massachusetts like to hear.
Elizabeth Warren - She says she fights for Main Street, but we all know that we are in "a K-shaped" economic recovery/recession. Wall Street is at record highs, while the Main Street economy is at rock bottom. She is full of hot air!
Kamala Harris - She is a political Chameleon who changes her political views like we all change our underwear. She called Joe Biden a racist, which is true if one looks at Joe Biden's public record over nearly 5 decades in the Swamp, but now she is Joe Biden's loyal Vice President.
Joe Biden - He has spent nearly 5 decades in the Swamp. His public record was racist, including his support of the mid-1990s crime bill where the Democrats called black youth "Super Predators", which was a coded word for the "N-word". He and his alleged crime family are all worth tens of millions of dollars each without reasonable explanation. His son Hunter is under federal law enforcement investigation for his foreign business dealings with adversarial countries such as China and Russia, along with Hunter's alleged money laundering. Hunter Biden's personal life includes being a crack cocaine addict and alcoholic, paying sex workers for sex, frequenting strip clubs, not providing sufficient financial support for his families, lying to a Judge by saying he did not get a young college woman who worked as a stripper pregnant, but the court-ordered paternity test proved that middle-aged Hunter was the father, having at least 5 children by at least 3 different women, among other serious allegations. Joe Biden says he is proud of his only surviving son, Hunter Biden. Joe Biden's judgment is unsound. Joe Biden has ended tens of thousands of jobs within the first few weeks of his presidential administration. Energy prices are increasing, which is similar to a tax hike on the working class. Joe Biden's spending plans will set record federal government deficits. The U.S. national debt will soon be well over $30 trillion and counting higher.
Best wishes,
Jonathan Melle
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February 13, 2021
According to the Washington Post, only 11 percent of the U.S. population has been vaccinated so far (as of 12-February-2021), and 29.5% of the prioritized population. We are a very long way from reaching herd immunity from COVID-19 through mass vaccinations. We do not even have vaccines for children yet. The infectious disease coronavirus mutates daily and its variants become even more contagious and deadly by the day. What if we someday achieve mass vaccinations, but the coronavirus variants render it useless for herd immunity? We are in the stone ages when it comes to public health. State governments spend over one half of their budgets on public health, while the federal government spends over 34% (and rising), but we are still way behind protecting the public from many illnesses and infectious diseases. We the People are literally spending trillions of tax dollars per year on public health, while our state and federal government if failing to protect us from the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Jonathan Melle
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February 13, 2021
Hello Patrick Fennell,
I agree with you, Patrick Fennell. I should not have used the word "leadership" when describing Beacon Hill Committee Chairs and Vice Chairs. Thank you for pointing that out to me. The 182 Beacon Hill Committee Chairs and Vice Chairs are not real leaders. Please note that there are 200 members of the Massachusetts State Legislature.
Hunter Biden is no good. He is a crack cocaine addict and alcoholic who spends his money on drugs, alcohol, sex workers and strippers. Hunter Biden is 50 years old now. He has multiple families. Hunter Biden has at least 5 children from at least 3 different women. I thought polygamy has been illegal for a long time, but in Hunter Biden's case, he fathers children from multiple women. Hunter Biden lied to a Family Court Judge by telling the Judge that he did not father a child with a young college student who worked as a stripper that was half of his age. After a court-ordered paternity test, Hunter Biden was the father of the young woman's baby. Hunter Biden tried to weasel out of paying child support, but in the end it didn't matter to him because he is worth tens of millions of dollars for which he is being investigated for his foreign business dealings with adversarial countries such as China and Russia, along with his alleged money laundering scheme, by federal law enforcement agencies. When Hunter Biden was in Russia, the U.S. Senate reported that Hunter Biden had sex with Russian prostitutes who may have been sex trafficked. The Russians love to video record people having sex with their prostitutes and then blackmailing people about it. What does Putin have on Hunter Biden? How is Hunter Biden's father, U.S. President Joe Biden, worth tens of millions of dollars when he spent nearly 5 decades as a career politician on Capitol Hill and in the White House? It does not add up? How are the Biden alleged "crime" family all worth tens of millions of dollars each? There has been no reasonable explanation for the Biden alleged "crime" families new found wealth.
Donald Trump was acquitted of his second impeachment trial today (Saturday, February 13th, 2021). 5 innocent people were killed during the January 6, 2021, Capitol Hill mob riots, including a Capitol Hill Police Officer who was only 42 years old. What kind of message did the U.S. Senate send to our country and the World by acquitting former U.S. President Donald Trump of inciting a mob riot that resulted in multiple deaths and injuries? Donald Trump praised hate groups, including neo Nazi's who wore anti-Semitic clothing that said "6MWE: 6 million weren't enough" and "Camp Auschwitz". Shouldn't Donald Trump have condemned the neo Nazis and Confederate flag waiver who breached our nation's Capitol Building? Instead, Donald Trump loved every minute of it. The Republican Party proved today that they are mostly horrible politicians who vindicated Donald Trump's fringe politics.
When Ronald Reagan was the U.S. President, he used to proudly say that our country was founded on Human Rights. What happened to the conservative and principled Republican Party? President Reagan worked with Democrats on legislation and policies. Reagan did not vilify his political opposition like Trump did. I was happy when I read that Joe Biden returned our country to the UN Human Rights community. I understand that both Reagan and Biden have a history of racism during their storied political careers, but Donald Trump's racism is far worse than any modern U.S. President. Donald Trump had neo Nazis work for his presidential campaigns and administration. Donald Trump's immigration policies and programs were inhumane, and I believe he committed crimes against humanity by separating infants from their mothers' arms. Donald Trump is facing criminal and civil lawsuits in multiple states and from multiple women. Donald Trump is the worst of the worst when it comes to national politics. If I was a U.S. Senator, I would have voted him guilty today.
I believe our recent and current federal budgets and spending parallel when Napoleon ran the printing presses in France over 2 centuries ago. The federal government is borrowing and printing money at record rates. This current fiscal year, U.S. Congress is on pace to produce the large federal budget deficit in U.S. history. The U.S. national debt will soon be well over $30 trillion and counting higher. The economic and income inequality ratios are the worst in one century's time. Wall Street and the super-rich billionaires are at record highs, while Main Street and the rest of us are at record lows. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the economy won't get back to normal until next year of 2022. But, even when the economy is not in "a K-shape", the rich still got richer, while the poor still got poorer. How does that comfort a person or couple trying to raise a family with the hope of having economic and financial security? If I was married with children, I would be totally stressed out right now. I feel bad for all of the millions of American people who have lost their jobs and health insurance during the Covid-19 pandemic. I resent Wall Street, the billionaires, the corporate elites who received taxpayer bailouts and/or tax breaks from U.S. Congress, K Street corporate lobbyist firms, and the ruling elites who are benefitting from the hard hit taxpayers who have lost so much over the past year.
In closing, the government is supposed to serve the people, but in reality, We the People are being screwed over by all of the disservices we receive. All we can do is pound sand under a rigged system that we have to pay for. I hope someday that good people will be our nation's leaders, but I am not going to hold my breath. Instead, I will hold my nose so I don't have to smell the corruption and greed, and hear all of the heartbreaking stories of innocent people being hurt by the inequitable economic, financial and political system.
Best wishes,
Jonathan Melle
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February 14, 2021
Hello Patrick Fennell,
I respect you and your political views, including your support for former U.S. President Donald Trump. I am a Democrat who supports the ideals of law-abiding, rational conservatives in the Republican Party who believe in Human Rights and the U.S. Constitution. I support the ideas of limited government in the lives of American Citizens and Business. I hate political extremism, Communism and Authoritarianism, Fascism and Big Brother totalitarian government, and demagoguery to incite mob violence.
My views on Donald Trump is that he is a Nazi who had neo Nazis work for his presidential campaigns and administration. Trump's immigration policies were racist and his programs were inhumane. I believe Trump's immigration policy of taking infants from their mothers' arms was a crime against humanity. Trump praised hate groups. Trump said that the neo Nazis who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia "very fine people on both sides". Trump's baseless claims of election fraud targeted black voters in swing state cities in Atlanta Georgia, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Detroit Michigan, and Milwaukee Wisconsin. Trump spent over 4 years disparaging black inner cities, and they in return voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris last Fall. What did Trump expect after insulting these people for so long?
My view of Joe Biden is that his political record is corporate-friendly, was racist at various points, and filled with questions about his alleged "crime" family's unexplained wealth. Hunter Biden is being investigated by federal law enforcement, including for money laundering. Hunter Biden's personal life is scandalous. Kamala Harris is a political Chameleon who has changed a lot of her political views over the years. Her personal life has scandals, too. Although, I believe she is an improvement from the religious nutcase named Mike Pence.
My view of Beacon Hill is that the Boston state lawmakers only do disservices to the people of Massachusetts. Beacon Hill's leadership is top-down, undemocratic, secretive, corrupt and greedy. Massachusetts has a lot of severe economic inequality in its regions and communities, and public education system. Beacon Hill lawmakers vote themselves huge legislative pay raises, and last month they received up to 3 legislative pay raises on January 1st, 2021. Over one million Massachusetts workers lost their jobs and health insurance over the past year during the Covid-19 pandemic, but Beacon Hill lawmakers have enriched themselves at the public trough. Retired Beacon Hill lawmakers, such as Dan Bosley, Peter Larkin and Stan Rosenberg, are all registered lobbyists in the Boston Statehouse who shakedown Massachusetts taxpayers for their 6-figure lobbyist salaries on top of their taxpayer-funded state pensions and other public perks. Beacon Hill lawmakers and lobbyists are profiting, while the working class taxpayers are paying for their largesse.
My view of Pittsfield politics is that the lovely Linda Tyer rules by fear, strong-arm tactics and retribution - same old decades-long nasty Pittsfield politics. Matt Kerwood sits on a +$10 million slush fund, while he taxes the hell out of the city's shrinking tax base. Mayor Linda Tyer and Matt Kerwood have passed the largest municipal budgets in the history of Pittsfield politics. Pittsfield has one of the highest commercial tax rates in Massachusetts. Pittsfield and Berkshire County is one of the most economically unequal regions in the state and nation because there are scarce living wage jobs there for the average working class family. The lovely Linda Tyer lives in a wealthy gated community with her millionaire accountant husband Barry Clairmont near the Hancock border. Inner city Pittsfield is exhibited as "A City in Decay" in large photos by Gregory Crewdson in upscale art galleries and museums in London, NYC, and L.A. The Boston Federal Reserve Bank funded a case study on inner city Pittsfield's entrenched, intergenerational poverty. PEDA's so-called business park will turn 23 years old this upcoming Summer of 2021, and it is Exhibit A as a failed brownfields cite that is mostly vacant and polluted with industrial chemicals called PCBs left behind by GE. Pittsfield's inner city public schools are rated Level 5, which is the worst possible rating by the state. The obvious question one would ask the lovely Linda Tyer is, "What are the taxpayers in Pittsfield paying for other than failed leadership?"
Best wishes,
Jonathan Melle
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Letter: "The lessons to take from this pandemic"
The Berkshire Eagle, March 22, 2021
To the editor: Now that President Joe Biden has signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, it is appropriate to take stock and consider the lessons learned from this pandemic.
Here are four principal ones:
First, viruses are oblivious to political boundaries in our interconnected world. Within a few months of being identified in Wuhan, China, COVID-19 spread to nearly every country, a reminder of just how much our world economy and society are interconnected on so many levels. Variants of this virus from the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil and Denmark have invaded America — and vaccines might not be as effective to combat them.
Second, pandemics exacerbate social and economic disparities. As a result of this pandemic, more than 10 million Americans remain out of work. Feeding America, the nation’s largest anti-hunger organization, experienced a 60 percent increase in food bank users because of it. During this period of economic despair, the stock market is booming, widening the gap between the rich and the poor in this country. Billionaires’ collective wealth increased by $1 trillion — a 36 percent increase — since the beginning of this pandemic, which has also unveiled health disparities between the rich and the poor. As Dr. Anthony Fauci noted: “If ever there is going to be a real incentive for us to now make a commitment to address the social determinants of health, it’s got to be now.”
Third, humans are resiliently adaptive when confronted with pandemics. The most remarkable example is the development of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines with unprecedented speed. We have learned to wear masks, socially distance, avoid indoor gatherings and wash our hands frequently. People who lost jobs found creative ways to pay their bills; many people started working from home; schools turned to virtual learning; physicians offered telemedicine.
Fourth, this is not the last pandemic, so we must prepare for the future. The arms race between humans and viruses has existed for millennia, and will continue well into the future. Our bodies contain the very nutrients and cellular reproduction capability viruses exploit. COVID-19 is just one in a series of zoonotic pandemics. We must prepare for the next one. As Archibald MacLeish observed, “There is only one thing more painful than learning from experience, and that is not learning from experience.”
Stewart Edelstein, Stockbridge
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April 3, 2021
Covid-19 cases are rising again as we enter Spring of 2021. Like neighboring Massachusetts, New Hampshire is also seeing a rise in coronavirus cases. At the state government level, over 50 percent of state taxpayer dollars go to public healthcare. Where do all of the taxpayer dollars go? Why is public healthcare so expensive? The cost of public healthcare rises higher than many other inflationary items. What will happen when state governments pay 60 percent, then 70 percent, then 80 percent, and so on, on public healthcare? Why isn't Capitol Hill and President Joe Biden doing anything about the rising cost of public healthcare? On the federal level, public healthcare eats up a little over 1 in 3 federal taxpayer dollars. All of the trillions of taxpayer dollars per fiscal year that our country spends on healthcare, and we have rising Covid-19 cases and failed nursing home debacles that resemble Nazi-era death camps, with over 40 percent of coronavirus deaths occurring in long term healthcare facilities. Our country's life expectancy is dropping lower in the 21st Century. I don't believe that we can blame China for all of this. I also blame the out of touch career politicians who take months off of so-called work at a time, let K Street corporate lobbyists write our tax and healthcare laws, deregulate long term care facilities that are sold and resold for profit instead of providing humane living conditions for our nation's elderly, letting serious illnesses be the number one cause of bankruptcy, and banking on millions of dollars in special interest dollars to fill their campaign coffers so they can stay in political office for life.
- Jonathan Melle
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Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021
Hello Patrick Fennell,
I agree with you about the government and politicians doing many disservices against the people they supposedly serve in the State House and Capitol Hill. The VA and state governments mismanagement killed many Veterans who died in the CLCs or Nursing Homes or long term care facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic. So did Medicare and Medicaid. NY State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who allegedly asks his young women staffers if they like to play strip poker and if they are interested in romantic relationships with older men like himself, lied about and covered up his role in sending senior citizens to their deaths in coronavirus plagued nursing homes. Some Republican Governors are not following CDC safety protocols for Covid-19. The state and federal government collectively spend trillions of taxpayer dollars per fiscal year on public healthcare, but nearly everything is getting worse in public healthcare outcomes so far in the 21st Century. K Street corporate lobbyists are at record high numbers, and they are giving record high amounts of special interest dollars to Members of U.S. Congress - who are also called "PAC Men". Some critics say that the real power in state and federal government is on K Street or K Street-like lobbyist firms in the state capitals. In the current K-shaped economic recovery/recession, the corporate elites and ruling elites are doing better than ever, while the people they supposedly serve are mostly struggling to stay financially afloat. Joe Biden's foreign policy with Russia and China is a disaster so far. Joe Biden's plan to raise taxes on less than 2 percent of the wealthiest taxpayers won't make much of a difference in the federal government's multitrillion dollar record high budget deficits. In 2008, U.S. Congress bailed out Wall Street, as well as foreign banks. What is the use of raising taxes on less than 2 percent of the population when Uncle Sam always bails them out - even foreign banks in 2008 - when they lose money? It is all a financial shell game where big business and big government moves large sums of money around and around to help themselves at the expense of the masses. From what I understand, most money and financial information exists mostly on computer screens where numbers and data bounce around virtually - none of it is real except in the make believe world of Wall Street and big government.
Best wishes,
Jonathan Melle
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April 5, 2021
Hello Pat,
All politicians are pathological liars. Democrats, Republicans, and the rest of them. The oldest profession is sex work. The second oldest profession is politics. Both sex workers and politicians sell people fantasies for money. I do not understand why you, Patrick Fennell, only say that Democrats are liars when they are only one of many political parties out there that lie. The Founding Fathers mostly owned slaves and stole land from the native American Indian tribes. Yet they fought the British Empire in the name of classical Liberty. They knew they were wrong the whole time when they argued for classical Liberty while owning slaves and stealing land from native American Indian tribes - tens of millions of native Americans were killed in the 18th and 19th Centuries by White landowners. It is always lies, lies, and more lies century after century after century.
The U.S. government lied about WMDs to take over Iraq's second largest oil fields in the World next to Saudi Arabia's largest oil fields in the World. The USA's #1 non-farm export are military weapons and technology. When the USSR collapsed 30 years ago, the USA took over a big chunk of Russia's market share in military weapons and technology exports. The USA is the #2 polluter of global warming emissions in the World. The US government keeps saying that we are fighting climate change, but our country's global warming emissions keep increasing year after year. China, who is the number 1 polluter of global warming emissions in the World, and Russia, who is selling more and more military weapons exports than ever before under President Putin's dictatorship, are at odds with the U.S. State Department and Pentagon. The US government is raising its defense levels because China and Russia are saber rattling and threatening international boundaries against international and U.S. national interests.
Trump's disingenuous arguments that Trumponomics helped lift the tide of the working poor and minorities was another big lie. If a working class person makes a little extra money, but pays more for healthcare insurance, housing, state and local taxes, and so on, then it is a net loss for their low to mid income family. If I pay you an extra couple hundred dollars a month, but charge you more for everything else, then I am really screwing you over. A majority of Trumponomics treasure went to the already very wealthy businesses and very rich people. That is another hard truth for Republicans to swallow!
Joe Biden's disingenuous arguments that giving the working poor and minorities stimulus money and subsidies is a temporary fix to an inequitable economic system that is driving the working class into the ever growing underclass. Joe Biden's federal budget deficits will be the largest in U.S. history, and Bidenomics will result in rising inflation. Some critics believe Bidenomics will benefit China's economic interests instead of our own country's economic interests. Hunter Biden's business made around $224 billion with China. The Biden "crime" family members are all worth tens of millions of dollars each without reasonable explanation. Did China buy off Joe, Hunter, and the rest of the Biden "crime" family? Is that the real reason why Joe Biden is so openly proud of his last surviving son Hunter Biden, who is really a recovering crack cocaine addict, alcoholic, adulterer, father of many children by different women, and an accused money launderer and business dealer with adversarial countries such as Russia and China and other countries?
Kamala Harris says anything and everything the Democratic Party wants to hear. She has changed her political positions on many political issues over the past year. She even once called Joe Biden a racist for his racist public record over his decades on Capitol Hill. Instead of Kamala Harris, she should be called Kameleon Harris. If Kamala Harris really believed that Joe Biden is a racist, then why is she now so loyal to him? The answer is that all politicians lie, lie, lie, and lie some more to get ahead.
In closing, all politicians and all political parties are LIARS! That is what politicians do and have always done for a living. Yet over the centuries, there are always people who believe the ruling elites' propaganda. Stop believing Trump's bullshit, please. Stop believing Biden's bullshit, please. It is all lies!!!!
Best wishes,
Jonathan Melle
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April 14, 2021
Pittsfield politics city government will receive $41.6 million in Biden Buck$ over the next 2 years. The $34 million figure is direct federal aid to the Lovely Linda Tyer and the Pittsfield City Council. The $7.6 million figure in direct federal aid will go to the Lovely Linda Tyer and the Pittsfield School Committee. (Let us all not forget Matt Kerwood's estimated $14 million slush fund). Where I live in southern New Hampshire, I read that some municipalities will hold public input sessions so that local taxpayers are able to say where their municipal government and school district will spend the Biden Buck$ over the next 2 years. I do not know if that is the case in Pittsfield politics and other Western Massachusetts municipalities and school districts. I asked my dad, a former Berkshire County Commissioner (1997 - mid-2000), if state and local taxes will either go down or stay the same over the next 2 years given that state and local governments are all receiving Biden Buck$. My dad answered me by saying that taxes never go down. I read that NY State government just raised $7 billion in new state government taxes on the wealthy after they were told they will receive $24 billion in Biden Buck$ over the next 2 years. Pittsfield State Representative Tricia Farley Bouvier wrote and published op-eds in the Boston Globe and Berkshire Eagle arguing for Massachusetts state taxes to be raised on the wealthy. Pittsfield State Senator Adam Hinds has openly supported state government tax increases on the wealthy, too. I asked my financially astute friend if raising taxes on the wealthy helps the moderate to low income American consumer. My friend responded that it all eventually trickles down, meaning higher prices and inflation. The U.S. government can only deficit spend and give out stimulus funds for so long before it doesn't work anymore. Our government's financial management system is financially unsustainable. The sad fact is that every other country is in the same boat of huge debts. Eventually interest rates and inflation will rise to a high enough level that many people and entities will go insolvent and bankrupt. We live in a time of great economic inequality that last peaked around 100 years ago in the 1920s, which is when Adolf Hitler began his rise to power in Germany. The parallels from 100 years ago to today are very similar. The government needs economic stability for political stability. When the economy crashes and people go hungry, the government has to deal with economic and political instability like what happened in Germany 100 years ago. Politicians from Joe Biden on down to Andrew Cuomo to Adam Hinds and Tricia Farley Bouvier are all supporting deficit spending and building support to increase taxes on the wealthy to pay for their record government spending. The problem with Biden's plan to tax the wealthy is that it won't make much of a difference in his record setting deficit spending ways. Lastly, I always wonder where all of the government spending really goes? The rich keep getting way richer, while the middle class keeps shrinking and the underclass keeps growing! To be clear, the government (and business, too) is NOT investing in the working class anymore like it did post-World War 2.
- Jonathan Melle
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Hello Patrick Fennell,
The economic answer is that government and business should go back to the post World War 2 era and invest in the working class once again. The Christmas classic movie from 1946 - 75 years ago now - showed George Bailey's Building and Loans business invest in the working class who lived in the mythical town of Bedford Falls, while Henry Potter's bank screwed over the working class in the mythical town of Pottersville. To me, it is classic in public and business administration because it shows how giving Have Nots economic and financial security leads to a nice community while screwing them over leads to a nightmare community. Today, everyone is out for themselves and when a politician and/or business leader supports working class policies and programs, they are called a Socialist. I do not understand why. A strong working and middle class is the American Dream and what made millions of immigrants move to and invest in the USA. I believe that big business can still make healthy earnings with a strong working and middle class like it did post World War 2.
I believe that it was Socialist when the U.S. Congress and Bush 2 then Obama White House bailed out Wall Street (trillions of U.S. tax dollars) and even foreign banks (hundreds of billions of U.S. tax dollars) during the financial markets crash in 2007 - 2009. When the wealthy lose money, they get bailed out, but the same is not true for the working and middle class who also pay local, state and federal taxes. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the billionaires made record earnings and are way more wealthy than ever before. The ruling elites are still getting their generous public pay and perks, too. The ratio of greedy lobbyists to elected politicians is huge. To illustrate, if I called a state representative or Member of U.S. Congress, they would give me lip service, but if I was a high roller K Street corporate lobbyists, they would sit down and talk to me after I donated thousands of dollars to their campaign coffers. That is NOT how government is supposed to work! The government is their to represent and serve the people instead of the greedy lobbyists who are bought and paid for by big business special interests.
Joe Biden should denounce his son Hunter Biden's new book where Hunter says he used to smoke crack cocaine every 15 minutes and drown himself in alcohol. What kind of message is the 46th U.S. President sending?
Best wishes,
Jonathan Melle
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April 23, 2021
Donald Trump's whole political movement was modeled after Adolf Hitler's "Make Germany Great Again" White Nationalist Nazi movement in the 1920s and 1930s. Trump had White Nationalist neo Nazis work for his campaigns and presidential administration. Trump was not as clear as Hitler about his messages of hate, racism and violence, but it was well understood by most people. The irony of Trump's Vice President, Mike Pence, is that Trump was never religious and Trump is a total moral hypocrite. Pence calls his wife "Mother" and Pence won't be alone in a room with any professional woman who isn't his wife. Pence believes in fundamental Biblical laws that would take away legal rights from women/or and homosexuals alike. Adolf Hitler's Nazi ideology took away legal rights from Jewish People and anyone else who didn't believe in Hitler's fascist rule over Nazi Germany. To be clear, Trump and Pence were a scary pair of extremists in the White House for 4 long years. I will never support Donald Trump or Mike Pence in politics. I will never support political or religious extremists on either side of the political spectrum. I will always support Human Rights for All Peoples and people of our Planet Earth. I will always say that those with no rights have rights under and/or with me - past, present and future. I believe that we should love our country, but fear our government, especially when extremists serve in government. The real U.S. history is the genocides of tens of millions of native American Peoples during the 18th and 19th Century. The real history of the U.S. is slavery and most of the Founding Fathers owning slaves while fighting the British Empire and King George III for classical Liberty. The real U.S. history is the Chinese Exclusion Act, the detention of Japanese Americans during World War 2, Jim Crow laws until the 1960s, the U.S. military killing millions of foreign Peoples after World War 2, the huge underclass and working poor with no social mobility, growing economic inequality, the 2008 - 2009 Wall Street bailouts that cost working taxpayers trillions of dollars, including the bailouts of foreign banks that cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations mortgaging of America's future so that Wall Street indexes are at record highs while Main Street is at rock bottom, and the list goes on and on with the U.S. government screwing us little people over time and time again. In closing, I do not understand what ruling elites are all about over the past 100 years that included the rise (and fall) of Hitler, World War 2 and the Holocaust, systemic racism, post-World War 2 endless war, Wall Street dominating our economy, and most of us getting left behind by the billionaires, multimillionaires and corrupt government.
- Jonathan Melle
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April 29, 2021
Hello Pat,
I read Berkshire Eagle journalist Amanda Burke's news article that Pittsfield's School Committee voted to increase its fiscal year 2022 budget by several million dollars based on state education funds in the fiscal year 2022 state budget that has not yet been negotiated and passed. I find that interesting because local officials have no idea what amount of state funds they will receive from Beacon Hill lawmakers for their local budgets. The fiscal year 2021 state budget wasn't passed by Beacon Hill lawmakers until December 11th, 2020 - or 5 months and 11 days late. Why does Beacon Hill make local government in Massachusetts pass their local budgets prior to the passage of the state budget? It makes no sense to me.
On the Covid-19 global pandemic, some countries are doing well right now, but other countries are not. This is a global pandemic, but the World is not working together to solve this deadly and mutating virus. The World is facing rising sea levels and global warming, while the USA and China together account for nearly 50% of greenhouse gas emissions. The 21st Century is looking like it will be the century of deadly viruses along with a warming planet with sea level rise that will someday submerge coastal areas with acidic ocean water.
From what I am reading, every bill that the Democratic Party controlled U.S. House of Representatives passes this year of 2021 has many riders attached that have little to nothing to do with the bill, which makes it difficult to pass in the split U.S. Senate. That is NOT bipartisanship, but a political chess game to push the country to the far left. President Joe Biden gave his first national speech last night (Wednesday, 28-April-2021) about investing federal dollars in an expanded social safety net and infrastructure by soaking big business and the rich, but what he didn't say is that every bill that U.S. Congress tries to pass or passes has many riders attached that has little to nothing to do with his agenda.
PAC Man Richie Neal does NOT represent the people who live in his Western Massachusetts legislative district. PAC Man Richie Neal only represents K Street corporate lobbyist firms who help big business and wealthy to not pay federal taxes. I do not understand how PAC Man Richie Neal gets away with this charade other than he has millions of campaign dollars to win reelection every 2 years. Also, let us not forget the homophobic smear campaign Boston Democratic Party Officials - all of whom are still in their positions - ran against Alex Morse to give PAC Man Richie Neal an unfair advantage close to the 2020 primary election.
Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden gets a free pass in national politics. Rudy Giuliani, Matt Gaetz, and other questionable figures in national politics are treated harshly, while Hunter Biden recently published his new book showing off all of his bad boy behaviors to the World. Joe Biden openly says that he is proud of his last surviving son, Hunter Biden. Joe Biden is proud that Hunter Biden has multiple children by multiple mothers, that Hunter Biden used to smoke crack cocaine every 15 minutes and would drown himself in alcohol, that Hunter Biden had a drug dealer street criminal point a loaded gun to his head, that Hunter Biden is being investigated by federal law enforcement agencies, and the list goes on and on. I would understand if Joe Biden said that he loves his son, Hunter Biden, but I believe Joe Biden showed poor judgment and leadership to openly say that he is proud of him.
Lastly, the problem with Joe Biden's multi-trillion-dollar spending schemes is that when inflation and public debts increase to unsustainable levels, the working class will no longer have a financial and economic incentive to work anymore because their pay and perks would be close to worthless. When the government becomes too big and indebted in relation to the real economy, the masses turn to the government for economic and financial relief. That is when someone such as Adolf Hitler is able to rise to power because the masses are powerless to resist the all powerful government. Joe Biden and the Democrats in U.S. Congress should be careful about making promises to the masses to give everyone a lot of free stuff and living wage jobs while growing government and shrinking private wealth. It has been and always will be an economic formula for disaster!
Best wishes,
Jonathan
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May 1, 2021
When John Forbes Kerry was a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, he was always ranked as the wealthiest Member of U.S. Congress. When John Kerry ran for U.S. President in 2004, he used to brag that he married up into the Heinz Ketchup family fortune. The old joke about presidential candidate John Kerry had 57 flip flops a day. Now, the old billionaire flip flopper John Kerry is at it once again. John Kerry invested millions of dollars in oil and gas companies before joining the Biden White House. Am I surprised by this? No, I am not surprised because the USA is the number 2 polluter (behind China) of global warming greenhouse gasses in the World, and John Kerry saw it as a profitable industry to invest in.
I remember back in 2004 that U.S. President George W. Bush and V.P. Dick Cheney were known as the oil men from Texas, while John Kerry was a Wall Street man from the old wealth financial industry in the northeastern U.S.A. If Bush and Cheney won, big oil would win, while if John Kerry won, then the financial companies would win. By 2008, Wall Street collapsed, while the U.S. government had control of the World's 2nd largest oil fields in Iraq under Bush and Cheney. Bush then Obama had to bail out Wall Street with trillions of U.S. taxpayer dollars - even foreign banks that did business on Wall Street received hundreds of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars in federal government bailouts. Fast forwarded to 2021, and we are now in a K-shaped economic recovery where Wall Street is at record highs, while Main Street is at record lows. Joe Biden wants U.S. Congress to spend trillions of dollars in the name of the Green New Deal to fight climate change. John Kerry is President Biden's salesman. Now we all know what John Kerry is selling: More hot air!
Jonathan A. Melle
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Overall, billionaires in the U.S. added $1.6 trillion to their net worth during the coronavirus outbreak, according to an Americans for Tax Fairness analysis released on April 15. Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett's net worth, now $103.7 billion, increased 50% during the pandemic, the report found.
The ultra-rich accumulated that wealth while tens of millions of workers have lost their jobs, exacerbating inequality that had already reached heightened levels before the pandemic.
The wealthy prospered during the coronavirus-induced recession — thanks in part to a heathy stock market and the fact that many industries like tech were unscathed by the coronavirus.
President Joe Biden wants to increase federal taxes on the wealthy to (a) pay for his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, and (b) his $2 trillion infrastructure proposal. Joe Biden and U.S. Congress already passed into law (c) the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. The sum total of all three plans would cost: $5.7 trillion.
Source: Charlie Munger: 'Bernie Sanders has basically won' on income inequality, By Max Zahn, Yahoo! Finance, May 1, 2021
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May 3, 2021
Willard Mitt Romney ran for Prez in 2012 with tax shelter accounts in the Cayman Islands. Joe Biden ran for Prez in 2020 with his troubled son Hunter's business taking in many millions of dollars from China. Hunter Biden is under federal law enforcement investigation for money laundering from his business dealings with adversarial foreign countries such as Russia and China. The Romney and Biden families are all fabulously wealthy from their political connections and business/tax schemes. It must be nice to live in the Swamp with all of the corruption and big dollars. Sarcasm: $100 is still a lot of money to someone like me, but I don't live on Wall Street, in the Swamp, or in China or Russia.
- Jonathan Melle
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May 4, 2021
Hello Patrick Fennell,
Thank you for sharing your letter to the editor, below, as well as your thoughts about Hunter Biden getting a free pass by the Chinese-influenced with billions of Chinese dollars mainstream news media, while several Republican Party figures are being constantly covered for their alleged political transgressions.
First, your letter about government discrimination against common people, Veterans, the elderly, the disabled, and the like, tells me that the government mostly does disservices to the people who pay the government's excessive bills. I believe that the government does not want to hear from little guys such as you and me. I believe that the government only wants to serve themselves and their wealthy corporate donors.
Second, Senator Ed Markey lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, but says he is the U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. He supports a far-left political agenda that will never happen in the divided U.S. Congress. From what I have been reading, the Democratic Party is going to lose a lot of seats in both chambers of U.S. Congress in the 2022 midterm elections. Joe Biden wants to spend nearly $6 trillion this year of 2021 on his so-called new deal legislation, which is in addition to the multi-trillion-dollar federal budget. Even PAC Man Richie Neal would not commit to raising federal taxes on the wealthy, and he is the U.S. House of Representatives' Chair of the Ways and Means Committee. Everything American consumers are paying for is substantially increasing in inflationary costs, and now Biden wants to raise taxes on the wealthy on top of it. I predict Republican politicians are going to sound off about how expensive the Biden administration is making everything cost in 2021 and in the future.
Third, Hunter Biden is a horrible example of character and judgment, but since he is Joe Biden's son and a de facto business agent of the Chinese Communist government, the mainstream news media lets Hunter Biden go under their biased radar. If Hunter Biden was the son of a Republican U.S. President, the opposite would be true. Let us not forget that the Chinese Communist government has invested billions of dollars into most of the mainstream news media's coffers. Money talks, even if it is from China.
Fourth, W.E.B. DuBois was born and raised in Great Barrington, but he ended up hating Great Barrington and the U.S.A. W.E.B. DuBois was a registered Communist who praised Stalin, who killed millions of more innocent people that Hitler - of course, they were both scary war criminals. What is Great Barrington's leaders teaching the children who go to school there? "Hey kids, you're middle school is named after a local black man who hated our town and our country, and he praised Stalin who killed between 20 to 60 million innocent people and (Stalin) was a scary and ruthless war criminal similar to Hitler and other ruthless 20th Century authoritarian dictators. We could have named the middle school after a brave Veteran and/or Civil Rights leader who loved the U.S.A., but we want you to hate Great Barrington and the U.S.A. like the late registered Communist W.E.B. DuBois".
Fifth and lastly, Brazil and India are dealing with the Covid-19 crisis right now, while Joe Biden is taking credit for our country's progress. Doesn't Joe Biden realize that the new and deadly coronavirus variants and crises in Brazil and India will soon overtake the U.S.A. if we don't help other countries now? It is a global pandemic, and we are still seeing global crises and new and deadly coronavirus variants. We are not out of the woods yet, and it is being predicted that we are still a very long way from reaching herd immunity in the U.S.A.
Best wishes,
Jonathan Melle
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May 23, 2021
Hello Patrick Fennell,
As I wrote many times before, there are 3 main kinds of conflict or violence:
1. Interpersonal: Verbal and/or Physical assaults
2. Structural: Poverty, Homeless, Jobless, No healthcare Insurance, Lousy Public Schools, etc.
3. Cultural: One person or group believes they are superior to another person or group
All 3 forms of conflict or violence are wrong. I believe that conflict or violence should either not happen at all or it should be a last resort with a serious study of why it happened in the first place. Cultural conflict or violence is the WORST of the 3. The reason why is that it never ends after it starts. You can stop and/or end Interpersonal conflict or violence. You can stop and/or end Structural conflict or violence. But, you cannot end hate, racism, sexism, and the like, once it is started. The only solution to it is multiculturalism where we all learn and then teach tolerance of ourselves and those who are different from us. That is NOT happening the Democrat and Republican Parties in the Swamp. Instead, our nation is more divided since the Civil War with cultural conflict or violence.
My theory is that the ruling and corporate elites are using "Divide and Conquer" to enrich themselves through big business and big government, while dividing the people of our great country cultural conflict or violence. Our country is the most economically unequal in nearly 100 years. We are in a K-shaped economic recovery for the rich and powerful, while we are in a K-shaped economic recession for the working class and underclass. The last time economic inequality got this bad, Adolf Hitler had fertile ground in Germany to rise to power. Hitler used cultural conflict to devastating effects to take away everyone's human rights, and persecute and kill anyone who stood in his way.
China made the Biden Crime Family fabulously wealthy. China invested many billions of dollars in Big Tech and MSM. China is an authoritarian Communist country that systemically violates human rights on a huge scale that rivals Stalin, Hitler, and their beloved Chairman Mao. The U.S. government's foreign relations with China are not going well in 2021. The U.S. government is also at odds with Russia in 2021.
Biden wants to spend trillions of federal taxpayer dollars on social services government programs that he is calling infrastructure. I always ask, where does all of the money really go? The U.S. government's social spending cost taxpayers many trillions of dollars, but all of the economic wealth in our country mostly goes to the very top 1 percent, while the working class and underclass are either stagnant or poorer than ever before. My theory is that the U.S. government uses its military industrial complex and war machine to run the American economy. The U.S.A.'s #1 non-farm export are military arms. The U.S. has engaged and fought in continuous wars since the end of World War 2. The U.S. government does not really care about the plight of the common people who rely on wages and social services programs. Rather, the U.S. government only cares about selling arms to the world and fighting continuous wars around the world where many millions of foreign people have been killed since the end of World War 2.
In closing, I wish everyone was able to see what is really going on in the Swamp! The rich and powerful are using "Divide & Conquer" to distract us from the U.S. government's use of economic inequality and war profiteering.
Best wishes,
Jonathan Melle
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May 28, 2021
The political establishment uses discrimination and sexual harassment to scare off the little people - the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family - from questioning their power and authority in government. When Anita Hill alleged she was sexually harassed by Clarence Thomas, the political establishment went nuts about it. When Paula Jones claimed she was sexually harassed by Bill Clinton - who was ultimately convicted of 2 felonies and impeached (but not convicted on impeachment) - the political establishment made him into a celebrity with high polling numbers. It is all a game to the political establishment.
Kamala Harris called Joe Biden a racist during the Democratic Party debates, but now she is proud to serve him as Vice President. Donald Trump called out Joe Biden's decades-long history of racism in Swamp politics during their debates, but the political establishment only focused in on Donald Trump's overt and dog whistle racist language. Four years earlier, Donald Trump called out Hillary Clinton's hypocrisy of defending her husband Bill Clinton during his sexual harassment scandals, and Donald Trump also called out Hillary Clinton's use of the word "Super-Predator" - which really meant the N-word - in the mid-1990s crime bill that Joe Biden helped write in the U.S. Senate, but the political establishment favored Hillary Clinton for U.S. President.
The irony of it all is that the real socioeconomic injustice is that our country's growing underclass and working class is at the bottom of the K-shaped recession, while the ruling elites and top 1 percent are at the top of the K-shaped recovery. Our country's biggest injustice is classism and class warfare. Racism, sexism and other injustices are real, but when they are politicized by the political establishment they are used for nefarious agendas. The slogan from Animal Farm comes to mind: "All Animals are created equal, but some Animals are more equal than others". To put it another way, "Who is doing what to whom?"
As for Pittsfield (Massachusetts), it is one of the most economically unequal areas of the state and nation because there are little to no living wage jobs there for the average working class family who lives there. Pittsfield's inner-city public schools are rated Level 5 - the worst rating possible - by the state government in Boston. Pittsfield politics' budget always increases its municipal spending by 5% per fiscal year, and its taxes and fees cause severe financial pain to the city's shrinking working and middle class tax base. The Mayor of Pittsfield - the Lovely Linda - lives in a near million dollar mansion in a wealthy gated community with her millionaire Accountant husband Barry Clairmont near the Pittsfield/Hancock border, while dangerous downtown Pittsfield is sarcastically called "Social Services Alley" instead of a bustling business district like it was in the 1950s and 1960s. Pittsfield - or Palookaville - gets away with politicizing discrimination and sexual harassment - similar to the political establishment in the Swamp - because the local people who live there know all to well that they will face retribution if they sound off about all of the injustices that the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski face by the state and local one political party establishment.
- Jonathan Melle
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May 28, 2021
Hello Pat,
When we file our state and federal taxes, we should be able to check the box for "Our state or federal lawmaker wanted to pinch the pretty lady's fanny slush fund". Maybe K Street's corporate lobbyist firms can set up a "Members of U.S. Congress wanted to pinch the pretty lady's fanny PAC"? Let us all reward our state and federal lawmakers who wanted to pinch the pretty lady's fanny! New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is 63, asks his 25 year old pretty lady staff members if they like to play strip poker, and if they like to be in romantic relationships with older men. We should reward Andrew Cuomo with millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded "I want to pinch the pretty lady's fanny" slush fund, too. I wonder if I was a big wheel on Beacon Hill, Capitol Hill, or in the White House if I would want to pinch the pretty lady's fanny, too? If I did that, would I want the taxpayers to pay into Lawmaker or President Jonathan Melle's I want to pinch the pretty lady's fanny slush fund? What is about pretty lady's fanny's that powerful men want to put their hands on them anyways? Whatever it is, the taxpayers pay for the lawmakers who give in to their desire to pinch the pretty lady's fanny.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
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May 28, 2021
Hello Pat,
I liked it when the joke about President Bill Clinton's blow jobs from his intern Monica Lewinsky was that the 42nd U.S. President turned the Oval Office into the Oral Orifice. I remember a political cartoon where President Clinton was sitting behind the resolute desk in Monica Lewinsky's cum stained dress and Bill Clinton says, "I was wearing the dress". Remember the tagline from O.J. Simpson's double murder trial where his Attorney Johnny Cochran said, "If the gloves don't fit, you must acquit"? The joke about Bill Clinton's sexual harassment trial against Paula Jones and his impeachment was, "If Monica Lewinsky's dress is a mess, then the President must confess".
From what I understand about the political elites on Capitol Hill is that they all like receiving blow jobs (and more) from their youthful staff members. When they impeached Bill Clinton, porn producer Larry Flynt paid women money to come forward with stories of their sexual affairs with Members of U.S. Congress, and plenty of women received financial rewards from Larry Flynt for their stories of blowing (and more) Members of U.S. Congress from both the Democratic and Republican Party. I believe part of the reason why some people want political office is to have youthful staff lick their balls.
I love how the religious right and social conservatives love Donald Trump when he openly cheated on all 3 of his wives, and paid women to not speak out about his love affairs with them. Donald Trump weighs over 300 pounds, but he is a billionaire celebrity and former President. There are plenty of women (and some men, too) who like to have sex with powerful and wealthy men. I often wonder if I was a celebrity, wealthy and powerful, if I would be able to keep myself in check with youthful women who wanted to have sex with me. I would hope so, but it is always different when one is in the heat of the moment.
In closing, I wish that politicians like Bill Clinton and Donald Trump didn't act so moral when they are mostly moral hypocrites with young women (and young men) and sex. It is always, always, always, "Do as I say, NOT as I do" when it comes to these types of powerful people. It is really all a game and propaganda show that we common people watch with amusement, disgust and recalcitrance.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
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May 28, 2021
Hello Pat,
Did Donald Trump break the law by using his funds and/or his campaign funds to payoff Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal to not legally speak out about his adulterous love affairs with them when he ran for U.S. President against Hillary Clinton in 2016? How were Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal paid by Trump and/or his campaign? Was it reported in Trump's undisclosed taxes and/or his campaign financial documents? If not, did Trump and/or his campaign break tax and/or campaign finance laws?
Bill Clinton was convicted of 2 felonies for perjury and suborning perjury (Monica Lewinsky). Why is Donald Trump not being investigated by law enforcement agencies for his aforementioned actions?
I agree with you that most Member of U.S. Congress are lawbreakers instead of lawmakers! One has to raise millions of dollars per year from K Street corporate lobbyist firms and billionaire-backed SuperPACs to hold federal elected office that pays a 6-figure public salary. There has to be a hidden reason why any politician would spend millions of dollars per year to be elected and reelected to a federal elected office that only pays a 6-figure public salary!
Best wishes,
Jonathan
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June 4, 2021
Nick Russo got a little Kapanksi Ka$h for himself for downtown Pittsfield bike lanes and the like, while Matt Kerwood is sitting on his huge slush fund that is estimated at between $10 million to $15 million dollars. The Lovely Linda will receive $41.7 million in Biden Buck$ direct aid over the next 2 years. Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski will pay for Pittsfield politics' predictable 5% per fiscal year increase in operational budget spending starting next month on July 1st, 2021, while the Mayor and Matt Kerwood has tens of millions of extra public dollars sitting in city coffers.
Beacon Hill lawmakers and Governor Charlie Baker are sitting on billions of federal stimulus dollars, too. Yet, Chrome Dome (Adam Hinds) and Trippy Country Buffet (Tricia Farley Bouvier) are openly supporting raising state taxes, especially on the wealthy.
I understand that I do NOT understand financial management beyond the household or personal finance level, while financially astute people in my life try to explain big government and big business finance to me to no avail. But, I really am beyond confused about why Pittsfield politics (and other local governments) and Beacon Hill are sitting on so much public money - slush funds and stimulus funds - while still raising taxes on the people who are at the bottom of the 2020 and 2021 K-shaped economic recession.
In 2008, U.S. Congress and the White House spent trillions of taxpayer dollars bailing out Wall Street banks - and hundreds of billions of dollars bailing out foreign banks who do business on Wall Street - after the big banks brought the global economy to near collapse. Now in 2021, the U.S. Government and foreign governments are all in record debt territory.
I am reading that increasing inflation may cause the economy to tank later this year or next year. 2008 was the worst recession, and 2002 was the second worst recession, since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Economists are saying that the bottom 98% of Americans are currently in a K-shaped economic recession, while the top 2% of Americans are in a K-shaped economic recovery. I have never seen anything like this in my lifetime of nearly 46-years.
Jonathan A. Melle
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June 20, 2021
Hello Rinaldo,
Below, there is a letter in today's New Hampshire Sunday Union Leader about fatherlessness and how it impacts the children who grow up in New Hampshire. I thought you would find it interesting because for years you wrote and spoke out about the issue in Massachusetts. I learned a lot from your fathers' rights legal essays.
My thoughts on the issue is that it costs a lot of time and money to be married and have children. The average home where I live in Southern New Hampshire is over $400,000 and up. The average home in nearby Boston's wealthy suburbs are all over $1,000,000. How in the hell does the average working stiff afford to get married and have children and buy a home in a nice community where the streets are safe and the public schools are well performing? I know I could not afford it all in the area where I live!
Someone like me who is moderate income would take a huge financial risk if I got married, nonetheless had children. For me, it would be like putting all of my proverbial eggs in one basket. It would only work if the woman I married also put all of her proverbial eggs in one basket with me. Then, if we stayed married for the next 30 to 40 years left in my life - I am almost 46 years old - we may be able to live a financially secure life together. BUT, BUT, BUT...., if the woman I married decided to leave me, I would be drowning in debts for at least the next 20 years of my life, which would make me almost 66 years old, which is my retirement age and supposed Golden Years of financial security. I would be starting from scratch in my mid-60's in the year 2041.
If I was married and had children around 15 to 20 years ago, I would be taking extreme financial risks with my life. It would only work if I had outside family financial support, the woman I would have married invested her time and money with me, and our would be children were well taken care by us. If by now - I am turning 46 next month - it did NOT work out that way, I would live the rest of my life in debts and would have little to no chance of ever being financially secure for the rest of my life.
The other issue is that our ruling elites stopped investing in the people, such as myself, since the time I was born in 1975. Instead, people such as myself are seen by big business and big government as costs to be controlled in their billion dollar and trillion dollar yearly budgets. They take my money, but they don't invest in my financial well being like they did post-World War 2 when the American middle class actually grew in size; now only the underclass is growing in size in the U.S.A. In 2021, we are in a K-shaped economic recovery for Wall Street and the Swamp (as well as the political parasites in Beacon Hill's Statehouse), but the rest of us are in a K-shaped economic recession where Main Street is at rock bottom. Today, things are worse for someone like me than ever before post-World War 2 America.
In closing Rinaldo, it is nearly impossible for someone like me to survive in the 2021 American economy if I got married, nonetheless had children 15 to 20 years ago. The ruling elites all know this, and they are still NOT investing in the American people, leaving the rest of us to be fed to the proverbial wolves of working poor and underclass lives of economic and financial pain and misery.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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Letter: "Children raised without fathers endure disparities" - "Children raised without father suffer disparities"
The New Hampshire Union Leader, Opinion: Letter to the Editor, June 20, 2021
To the Editor: Fatherlessness is the main cause of the social ills that I read about in the New Hampshire Union Leader, and no amount of taxpayer money spent on hospital beds, addiction treatment, racial equity, homeless shelters, and online counseling will ever replace a child having his or her own dad at home.
We know children growing up without their dads in the household are twice as likely to commit suicide, 32 times as likely to run away from home, nine times as likely to drop out of school, 20 times as likely to have symptoms of behavioral disorders, four times as likely to experience poverty, five times as likely to suffer physical abuse, and 10 times as likely to enter a chemical abuse treatment center.
Four out of 10 children in the U.S. are born to unwed mothers. Black families have been hit particularly hard by the crisis of fatherlessness, with seven of 10 children being born out of wedlock. The resulting disparities between Blacks and Whites has resulted in frustration and calls for forced redistribution of wealth and power.
Girls and boys need their dads. Our state and municipalities would be wise to recognize Father’s Day, and to encourage fathers to raise the children they create by promoting natural marriage so that children are raised by the men who helped create them.
STEPHEN SCAER
East Hobart Street, Nashua, New Hampshire
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"Money Is Piling Up For America’s Family Dynasties: A new study warns of rapidly growing fortunes being concentrated in fewer hands that have never known hard work."
By Mary Papenfuss, U.S. NEWS via HuffPost.com - 06/21/2021
The wealth of America’s 50 richest family dynasties has soared at 10 times the rate of typical U.S. families over the last four decades, according to a new study that warns of the increasing concentration of riches.
The report from the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank, found that the collective wealth of the richest 27 families on the Forbes billion-dollar dynasties list and Forbes 400 list grew by 1,007% from 1983 to last year, from $80.2 billion to $903.2 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars. Wealth grew less than one-tenth of that — just 93% — for the typical American family.
The five wealthiest family dynasties — the Waltons, Kochs, Marses, Cargill-MacMillans and Lauders — saw their wealth soar 2,484% since 1983, noted the study, “Silver Spoon Oligarchs: How America’s 50 Largest Inherited-Wealth Dynasties Accelerate Inequality.”
The 50 wealthiest U.S. clans were worth a total of $1.2 trillion at the end of last year. The 65 million families at the bottom economic half of all households shared a combined total of just $2.5 trillion.
The study noted that wealth among America’s richest family dynasties ends up vastly rewarding family members who had nothing to do with earning the fortune, defying the defense that riches are an incentive for hard work and innovation. Instead, the riches are plowed into protections for family wealth, providing fewer benefits for society.
“In healthy, equitable democratic societies, great fortunes dissipate over a few generations as initial wealth holders have children and grandchildren, pay their fair share of taxes, and make charitable gifts,” the report says.
“But our country’s wealth is accumulating in fewer hands, including among people who may be up to seven generations removed from the original source of their family’s wealth. At a certain stage, some of these wealth holders — or their descendants — shift resources to consolidate their wealth, fend off competition, and create monopolies.”
Even the coronavirus pandemic has been a boon for some of the richest families. As ordinary families struggled with job loss, plunging income and increased health costs, the top 10 families on the Forbes dynasty list basked in a median growth in their net worth of 25%.
In the first two months of the pandemic, the total net worth of more than 600 billionaires in the U.S. grew by 15%, or $434 billion, according to a report last year by the Institute for Policy Studies. In 2018, the wealth gap between the rich and everyone else was the widest ever since the census began tracking it a half-century ago.
https://ips-dc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Silver-Spoon-Oligarchs-Americas-Wealth-Dynasties-2021-Full-Report.pdf
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July 13, 2021
Hello Patrick Fennell,
Thank you for sharing your letter to the Editor about the Democrats in the Swamp making Voting Laws a major issue after Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 presidential election, and the Democrats took a narrow victory by winning control of the U.S. Senate in the aforementioned 2020 federal election. My response is that the major issue is MONEY in federal elections. Billionaire-funded Super PACs, K Street's corporate lobbyists, and PAC Man Richie Neal are the main dish, while Voting Laws are the side dish. American Democracy should really be called American Monied Interests.
If one runs for U.S. Congress in the U.S. House of Representatives every two years, he or she must raise millions of dollars every year to be a viable candidate. If one runs for the U.S. Senate every 6 years, he or she must run tens of millions of dollars every year to be a viable candidate. The Voting Laws issue may sway a few percentage points in a Congressional election, but MONEY will determine the winner and loser most of the time.
As for my native Berkshire County, Massachusetts, my dad was a Berkshire County Commissioner over two decades ago now, and it was known then as it is known now that Western Massachusetts gets screwed over by both Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill - or the Swamp. Boston's "Big Dig" consumed billions of state taxpayer dollars for years, public education is underfunded by $1 billion per year, and the Berkshire delegation - Chrome Dome: Adam Hinds, Trippy Country Buffet: Tricia Farley Bouvier" Paul Marx: Paul Mark, Shitty PIGnatelli: Smitty Pignatelli, and "the Mayor" John Barrett III - to Boston's Statehouse are all useless and political hacks to the powerful Boston Democratic Party leadership.
Lastly, just look at the Holyoke Soldiers Home debacle where 76 U.S. Veterans were killed by Covid-19 under Governor Charlie Baker's watch. Governor Baker refuses to apologize for his mismanagement, and he is being hurtful to our nation and the families who lost their loved ones.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 13, 2021
To The Editor;
Vice President Harris is either stupid or not getting memos from her staff. To add insult to injury based on the silence of the western Massachusetts elected politicians they either don't remember what Berkshire County looks like or don't care. Apparently Democrats don't understand basic technology, and what Berkshire County offers.
We have stores, government buildings and some people have their own copying machines, scanners and can drive, get a ride or take a bus to get to those locations. Anyone who wants a photo ID have a photo ID. Liquior stores, pharmacies, "FEDERAL BUILDINGS' require a photo ID and ever airports won't let you on a plane without guess what? A photo ID.
We know Representative Neal, Senators Warren and Markey only vist us on election years, but with a Smart Phone can take pictures to remember what the First Congressional District looks like.
The Democrats are not just reaching, but insulting people in rural areas the same way as they insult minorities, women and even transsexuals. Thinking someone is too stupid to get a photo ID, find a place to register to vote, their polling location and pretend they will die of thirst or hunger waiting to vote is ridiculous.
Should the idiot who can't figure out how to get a photo ID be allowed to vote? Do we really want someone that stupid choosing our elected leaders. Dead voters are making bad decisions already.
The simple soultion to fix voting is a photo ID, paper ballot and people smart enough to figure that out.
Democrats just want cheating to continue.
Patrick Fennell
Great Barrngton, MA 01230
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August 23, 2021
Hello again, Patrick Fennell,
While Beacon Hill is very top down and secretive and full or corrupt career politicians who only do DISSERVICES against the people who live in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I believe the SWAMP is far worse because Members of U.S. Congress each have to raise millions of dollars per year to win reelection and therefore they only serve the K Street and Wall Street corporate lobbyists and elites who pump millions upon millions of special interest dollars into the Swamp's campaign coffers. I received an email from Sludge earlier today saying the Speaker Nancy Pelosi is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and that the Swamp is making huge returns on their investments in the military industrial complex that has caused the nightmarish debacle in Afghanistan, millions upon millions of foreign Peoples being killed by the U.S. War Machine since the end of World War 2, and record funding for Pentagon pork barrel spending.
What kind of country has the United States of America become with the Swamp and Pentagon profiting off of WAR? The U.S. Government makes huge profits off of its number one non-farm export: Arms Sales. The huge federal debt, record budget deficits, record federal budgets, and so on, do NOT matter in the Swamp anymore. The only thing that matters is ARMS SALES! Wall Street is at record highs, while Main Street is at record lows. The ruling elites in the Swamp are cashing in, while the people they supposedly serve are falling ever deeper into our country's ever growing underclass. The U.S. War Machine is causing millions of people to die, humanitarian crises around the world, the U.S.A. to be the number two polluter of greenhouse gasses in the world only behind China, and the like. When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early-1990s, the U.S. Government quickly took their market share in arms sales. Now, both Russia and China are building their countries' respective armed forces to record levels in a new arms race. What if World War 3 happens? The answer is that the elites will live on Mars, the Moon, Space Stations, and so on, while the rest of humanity is destroyed.
To be clear, it is CLASS WARFARE where it is us common people versus the SWAMP, K Street, Wall Street, and the foreign authoritarian dictators in Russia and China. The ELITES are winning on a level never seen before in modern times, while the rest of us are watching in horror as we all fear for our very survival during the global Covid-19 pandemic. Finally, yes, Patrick Fennell, Erin Leahy, and everyone else out there, Beacon Hill is part of the problem and I support your work telling off all of the corrupt career politicians and Statehouse Lobbyists in Boston.
Best wishes,
Jonathan Alan Melle
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