Philip A. Farruggio -- World News Trust
July 12, 2014
Remember the film Jaws? Remember how the whole town was affected by the presence of the predatory Great White?
Well, all we working stiffs out there in America are just as terrorized by the multitude of sharks that run this country. We have the corporate sharks and their political "Two Party, One Party" shark allies who run our government.
Either way, if you work for someone else or have a small Mom & Pop business… you are meat for these economic predators!
As a reminder of how much worse things have become, in 1965 the ratio of CEO to worker pay was 20-1. In 2000 it was as high as 382-1. Isn’t it time for some righteous anger by our labor force? Isn’t it time for our politicians to be held accountable for doing absolutely nothing to correct this obscenity?
While we are on the subject of obscenities, how about the biggest one of them all… the record breaking military spending? Under the right wing war mongering Bush gang we saw 50 percent of our federal taxes go for military spending. Under Mr. Hope & Change Obama that percentage is now around 56 percent (2011 fiscal budget).
We have more than 800 bases in more than 100 different countries at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. We have soldiers in Afghanistan that cost taxpayers more than $1 million yearly for each one! We send out drones that kill more and more civilians each time they go after some "so-called" terrorist in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan or who knows where else.
How would those of you who support our drone program feel if this scenario became real: A neighbor, let us say a Palestinian engineer who lived right next door, was on an Israeli terrorist watch list. Let us say that he was found out to have donated money for suicide bombers’ families. So, Israel, with not even asking the approval of our government, sends a drone to blow him up in his home… and it takes out not only his house but the two on each side of his… meaning yours? What would happen if your family was home at the time? Food for thought when the "chickens come home to roost."
While we are focusing on right here at home, see how the basic services we all took for granted are now under attack. Our libraries, ambulance services, police and fire services, hospitals… everything we need for safety nets are being cut down. Yet, our cable bills, phone bills, insurance bills (home, auto and health) all go up.
Local governments, in order to raise revenues, are nickel and diming we working stiffs all the time… in every means possible. Why? Well, Uncle Sam is no longer sending back a piece of our hard earned federal tax dollars in the form of Revenue sharing or Block grants. These funds historically have paid for many of the local services we required. No more! Now states are actually looking towards becoming sports bookies to make up those revenue shortfalls. Great! Entice more working stiffs out there to gamble more with the legalized state bookie instead of bent nosed Joe downtown.
Here is the better and easiest solution to this mess:
Anyhow, there is so much that needs to be changed in the shark infested waters of our economy, government and just plain way of life. I hope I offered a few instances and solutions to consider.
PA Farruggio
July 12, 2014
{Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. He is a free lance columnist (found on Truthout.org, TheSleuthJournal.com, Worldnewstrust.com, The Intrepid Report ,Nation of Change, The Peoples Voice, Information Clearing house, Dandelion Salad, Activist Post, Dissident Voice and many other sites worldwide). Philip works as an environmental products sales rep and has been an activist leader since 2000. In 2010 he became a local spokesperson for the 25% Solution Movement to Save Our Cities by cutting military spending 25%. Philip can be reached at