Throughout history economies have always been dominated by the most wealthy. Could you please point to the times in history when this hasn't been the case?

Also, the initial post says "My thoughts on free vs. fair trade", be honest, you don't have any original thoughts.

I guess that Rasta refuses to work for free.

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An informed voter scares the Goverment lackeys.

An American first and always a Conservative.

Rob while you're joking around, just remember a Middle Class Requires Democracy - It won't survive without it.

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AMERICA LAND OF THE FREE HOME OF THE BRAVE--BECAUSE OF OUR CONSTITUTION.

Well, heres a thought for Ya!!!!

What's wrong with recalling a past time many of us grew up in when working people earned a living wage, had good health insurance, defined-benefit pensions secure at retirement, were protected by unions and needed only one family wage-earner to get by on a single job. Those days ended when Ronald Reagan was elected president with about one-quarter of the nation's eligible voters, hardly a groundswell of support in an election that could have gone the other way had events preceding it turned out differently.

The public lost out because they didn't.

The America of the past is now fast disappearing.

Today giant corporations literally run everything.

They control what we eat and drink, where we live, what we wear, how we get most of our essential services like health care, and the information fed us that influences how we think including our view of them, our government and the world. They even now own patents on our genetic code, the most basic elements of human life, and want to manipulate and control them like any other commodity to exploit for profit in their brave new world.

The corporate goliaths also decide who governs, for whose interest, and at whose expense. They control the political process from the White House to the Congress to who gets to sit on the nation's courts.

Corporations have effective control over what laws are written and how they're interpreted by friendly judges up to the High Court. It's called democracy but it's one in name only serving the elite few. It's a corruption of the letter and spirit of a true democracy that influences an unequal and unjust distribution of the nation's resources to benefit an elite minority able to control the political process to their advantage. It operates behind a facade of fairness while working to destroy the very things it claims to represent.

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AMERICA LAND OF THE FREE HOME OF THE BRAVE--BECAUSE OF OUR CONSTITUTION.

Concentrated corporate power and a government in collusion with it has taken its toll on the working public. Adjusted for inflation, workers today earn less than 30 years ago. It also means those earning it fall well below the poverty line, and they still have to pay a growing portion of their health insurance cost if they have an employer giving them any at all.

Also, companies are eliminating defined-benefit pension plans and government is sharply reducing essential social services. At the same time, average inflation-adjusted CEO pay rose dramatically to $9,600,000 in 2004, and is steadly increased since then.

Even without taking into account how much more these top executives get in lucrative stock options and many other perks including the large benefits they receive from Executive Retirement Plans which pay them millions of dollars a year when they become eligible. Another measure of how inequality has widened since Ronald Reagan was elected shows in the ratio of CEO pay to the average working person.

It rose from 42 times in 1980 to 85 times in 1990 and 431 times in 2004. Ummmmm......would you like to guess that Executive pay/benefits/retirement packages have increased since then! we are talking about 2007 now.

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AMERICA LAND OF THE FREE HOME OF THE BRAVE--BECAUSE OF OUR CONSTITUTION.

According to the GINI coefficient, which Storman posted a while back, the greatest rise of disparity between the rich and the poor came in the 1990's. It was far more than the growth rate in the 70's, 80's, and much futher than what it was between 2000-2005. It grew .034 in the 90's and .007 in the five years between 2000-2005. Explain this away if you since you think it is the presidential administrations that influence this. I'll be waiting.

The market is also changing in that 30 years ago people could go out in the work place without a college and sometimes without a high school education and get good paying jobs, that is not the case now as it was then. The market has changed to the effect that the majority of the better paying jobs require education. This has nothing to do with any administration . . . blame technology.

Industry has power and has had power from the time they began to employ massive amounts of people. FOTM, the economy does depend upon industry and there is no denying this. The United States does have one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, and that is the truth. So what is your plan, get rid of corporations? Where will all those people work? Unions still hold massive amounts of power, especially since in many places a person can't work unless they join a union. Are unions an example of democracy? Doesn't it make sense that unions such as the UAW will suffer in the past thrity years since the US share of the world auto market has suffered even more so? You and I both complain about the US bailing out the airline industry, but where do all those people employed by the airline industry work if the government doesn't bail them out?

Now, tell me again where there was an economy in world history that was not dominated by the wealthy. Where is the example we should learn from?

Like the GINI coefficient that Storman posted says, inequality rose .034 in the 90's and grew .007 from 2000-2005. That is a scientific measure of growing inequality, and it states that it grew at an unprecedented rate in the 90's under Clinton. I am not blaming Clinton as administrations have very little to do with this. Look at what has been going on in the last thirty years. Look at the massive growth in technology to explain some of the growth of inequality, that I remind you, was much more prevelant in the 90's.

I have never advocated getting rid of Corporations! In fact why kill the golden goose (right)!

Point is, those in power today want to destroy what the Founding Fathers believed in, created, and handed down for all those who followed them to preserve. In its place, the current ruling class wants to replace that vision with an imperial presidency supported by a submissive Congress and compliant courts that's no different than the repressive monarchy and aristocracy the American Revolution overthrew in the first place.

The new US corporate aristocracy is getting richer and more powerful, of which it only can do at the expense of the public and especially the middle class it wants to destroy. All this due to over 25 years of Reagan and Bush I & II. This does not let Clinton off the hook as well! Clinton pushed thru NATA and WTO to appease the Republican Congress back in the 90's.

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AMERICA LAND OF THE FREE HOME OF THE BRAVE--BECAUSE OF OUR CONSTITUTION.

But that was then and this is now. With the election of Ronald Reagan, the Golden Age of prosperity and middle class (1933-79) was suddenly transformed into a Dark Age of government of, for and by the special interests that mainly are corporate ones and the rich overall.

Reagan used the false rhetoric of "morning in America," a "shining city on a hill," and despite the fact he was a former grade B actor, he was able to sway 10's of millions of voters to actually vote against their best interest. Who can ever forget the "Reagan Democrats"!!!

Enter senior Bush he's the one who first uttered/spoke of "the new world order", however Bush I didn't explain it was based on imperial expansion and the rich and powerful would greatly benefit; while everyone else just received "Trickle Down Crumbs".

Then Bill Clinton (a stealth Republican) began with the slogan "it's the economy, stupid," then told us how he felt our pain and went on to dissemble on almost everything from his mangled "managed competition" notion of health care to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and WTO that destroy the lives of working people everywhere under their one-sided trade rules favoring the corporate giants.

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AMERICA LAND OF THE FREE HOME OF THE BRAVE--BECAUSE OF OUR CONSTITUTION.

Those with the money have always wielded enormous amounts of influence throughout history and it is likely to continue. Now, you blame Reagan and Bush, but the inequality grew at it's fastest rate under Clinton in the past thirty years, that according to the numbers. Your blame game takes away from what could be an effective argument, but you are too blinded by partisan politics to realize that! Even when you criticize Clinton you blame the Republican Congress, what about the overwhelming Democratic Congress - you know, the guys who actually pass the fucking laws - which was present in the 80's. Your blind partisan hatred doesn't mention them at all, why is that?

The current Congress is Democratic, are those the guys you are saying the corporations put in power? Be consistent.

Who wants to destroy the middle class? It would be contrary to good business practices to do so anyway since corporations and other businesses need consumers. You seem upset that unions have lost power, if so, look at the unions and see why some of that has happened. Not to mention, like I said earlier and you don't seem to recognize, the market has changed and people can't expect to be able to enter the market place and get a good job without an education like they once were able to. What nation is the model for you? Tell me what system is the model for keeping a vibrant middle class? Before you answer look at the spending power of our average citizen (ie middle class) compared to other nation's citizens. The Scandinavian countries are often cited . . . until spending power is figured in.