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By Christine Hall
Ever since the laissez-faire capitalist all but completely took over our economy, we’ve been told that we have absolutely no right to regulate business. If the Enrons of the world want to keep their houses of cards propped-up by breaking the back of Californians, we’re supposed to be perfectly fine with that – after all, it’s a free country and they should be allowed to do whatever they want. Likewise, if Walmart wants to employ practices that force their suppliers to move their factories overseas in order to stay in business, who are we to complain? After all, what’s the lifeblood of American towns and cites compared to the Walton’s or the Koch clan’s right to do whatever they like?
After all, it is their money.
Continue reading Who’s Money Is It Anyway?
By ITBT Staff
Editor’s note: Evidently the powers that be are trying to keep this on the down low, but people in Spain have been taking to the streets for the last four days in something that looks very much like what we’ve seen in Egypt and Tunisia. This video is exceptional, upbeat and full of hope…
By ITBT Staff
Editor’s note: The Coffee Party movement posted this on their Facebook page today with the following intro: “Since Planned Parenthood has become ground zero in the fight over the budget, please watch this powerful, viral video. Imagine a reality-based, not an ideology-based, discussion about the budget!”
Co-incidentally, showing up on our wall right next to this video was the following status update by our friend Matthew Arnett with KRKC News in King City, California: “Maybe if Republicans read the study on unwanted babies becoming democrats, they will leave the funding to planned parenthood alone and quit holding the budget hostage over stupid petty politics.”
Needless to say, we “liked” Arnett’s update.
By Christine Hall
We haven’t always been a nation of consumers.
I remember when Americans were customers. We bought things because we wanted them or needed them. We would have laughed in the face of anyone with the audacity to suggest that it was our patriotic duty to consume, as Bush did after 9/11. If we were faithful to a brand, that faithfulness was brought about by value or product superiority. Companies worked hard to persuade us to become their customers, and they knew better than to insult us by assuming we were forced to use their products no matter what.
Continue reading When Customers Became Consumers
By ITBT Staff
Editor’s Note: This video makes a well told powerful statement of truth. Although this video has been avaliable on YouTube since 2009, we feel it needs to go viral. If you’re an old hippie from the sixties, don’t be afraid to shout, “We tried to tell you so!” If you grew up in this post hippie world, don’t be afraid to question why all of this is still going on, even though we tried to warn the world over forty years ago. We urge you to post this on your Facebook page, and to send it to every one of your friends!
By ITBT Staff
Editor’s note: We just don’t get it. You would think that the people at the helm of companies ruled by greed would be aware that when they pollute, they’re not only pumping your earth and my earth with poisons, they’re also poisoning their earth as well. Do they not care about the world on which their children and grandchildren will live?
By Reg Hartt
“There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.” – Thomas Jefferson
We live in a world that runs on a war based economy. Wars create jobs. When we have peace people find jobs scarce.
I first discovered this several years ago when a man at one of my screenings of Leni Riefenstahl’s film, Triumph of the Will, after hearing me speak, gave me a copy of Jerry Mander’s book, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television.
Continue reading “The man who speaks of the enemy is the enemy himself.”—Bertholt Brecht.
By ITBT Staff
This video contains some facts for you to add to your arsenal the next time you need to convince someone who thinks we’re in great financial shape. Warning: don’t watch this if you’re having a bad day or are depressed.
By ITBT Staff
This interview by YouTube shows that Clinton still has a keen insight on the problems facing us. Since an ex-president is no longer shackled by polls, special interests, and the need to be re-elected, we can now hear thoughts that are no longer as filtered through personal political necessity as they were when he was in office. However, Clinton is still concerned with his “legacy,” so his answers can still be self serving.
By Christine Hall
To hear the conservatives tell it, our economy will nosedive if the rich are required to pay an iota in taxes more than they do now. Indeed, we are led to understand the rich already pay more than their fair share, that their taxes need to be lowered so the middle class and the poor can shoulder more of the burden.
It’s understandable why folks under 30 might believe this argument. If the tax rate on the rich, defined by the Obama administration as those earning more than $250,000, is rolled back to nearly 40%, the rich just might not have the money to invest in businesses and create the jobs our country so badly needs. Never mind the fact that the rich aren’t investing in businesses and creating jobs anyway, even though the tax rate for high rollers is historically low.
Continue reading The Rich & Taxes: A Post-Modern Myth
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