Reply #105: Bush wouldn't be going to all the trouble if there wasn't something

[AP]

valueable to take from the masses in the UK.

In the US, Bush desperately had to win in 2000 because Clinton had built up so much wealth in pension funds, and had driven up wages (which were cutting into profits too much) and people put a lot of money into real esate -- it was a big pot of gold, and the Republicans coveted it.

There has been an 800 billion dollar shift from surplus to deficits in the last three years. I don't know what the actually number is, but I'm going to guess that that 1.2 trillion dollars over three years has gone right into the pockets of Bush cronies -- and that's largely just in regressively accumulated tax money (breaks for the rich and contracts for Haliburton). If you add in the 401(K) money which mostly went into corporate insiders' pockets, and the friendly asbestos legisltion etc., , oh, and don't forget the unemployment and downward pressure on wages which, along with friendly tax laws, represent all the new "profit" companies have gotten this year (which allows them to inflate their stock values temporarily), we're talking about a HUGE transfer of wealth. It might rival the S&L crisis, which was the last big Republican reverse Robin Hood handout to the wealthy cronies.

I think the UK is engaged in a similar moment. I don't think you can deny that 97-03 has been a great time to be middle class in Britain. I think things are just to the point where now there's something to steal from people, and the Tories are coveting it, and Blair is standing in defense of the people. (Not to mention all those international corporations in London who might think the have more to gain by getting on the Bush crony bandwagon.)

Look at it this way, Bush is using Iraq to give 87 billion to haliburton, right? Everybody's complaining about the dossier. Right? Well, I could be totally wrong about this, but does Blair have his own Halliburton? And I don't mean, do you believe that Blair is doing this for BP. I mean, is there concrete evidence that Blair is using this event to transfer wealth to the pockets of any private company? This isn't speculation here. We can see the money going to Haliburton and Bechtel.

No, in fact, I believe, Blair is doing this to make sure that the EU and UK economy doesn't tank, and can't be manipulated by the US (which is the US's usual ploy in places like Argentina, Venezuela and Chile when the liberal governments are more interested in making the majority -- rather than the wealthy minority -- of their citizens wealthier, happier, and healthier).

I know it's a shite state of affairs when the difference between a liberal and conservative is when you have a different attitude about who should get richer, the rich or the people who are working hard. But the right wing is extremely powerful, and if the left doesn't fight battles against them, recognizing that the ONE thing they're interested in is money, then we might as well all call it a fucking life, and roll over for the fascists. If we can't recognize that politicians like Blair and Clinton, imperfect though they may be, are the only ones putting their necks on the line for us in this battle, and are using strategy which could actually lead to victory, and if we can't recognize that, if we destroy them, our last defenses are gone, then we're doomed.

Just my opinon.

I could be wrong.