Search results for Social Security

The Master Bait And Switcher

One of the most astonishing things about Con-a-thon 2016 that we just can’t believe was that so many old, white Teabagger patriots voted for Donald Trump and voted to keep a Republican majority in Congress. Although he claims that he won’t cut Social Security and Medicare (like we can believe anything he says) conservative Republicans have wanted to cut Social Security and Medicare since their inception and privatize everything. In ‘bidness’ terms, it’s called the old bait and switch. Yes, CONservative Republicans ‘compassionately’ want humans to suffer and die in horrible ways in their old age like in the good old days before the Great Depression when robber barons could work you more than eight hours a day, often for seven days a week and children didn’t waste precious energy playing, they worked for pennies a day. Does anybody honestly think Donald Trump would side with poor people instead of his fellow billionaires? It’s all about greed and making more money, more money, MORE MONEY.  He’s already stocking his cabinet with billionaires and corporatists. Why would so many low income people vote against their own interests and elect someone who will destroy their lives by getting rid of their safety net that enables them to live? Oh yeah…that’s right…Hillary Clinton used a private email server like Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and the George W. Bush White House did.

Master bait and switcher and American CEO/Dictator Donald Trump vows to cut Social Security and Medicare to get those lazy mooching freeloading Senior Citizens back to work.

Older Teabagger patriots are experiencing a bit of regret about casting their vote for master bait and switcher and new American CEO/Dictator Donald Trump

Con Artists Revealed

We’re still coming to grips with this election but the initial shock is worn off. While it was pretty much a disaster for sanity, science and intelligent people everywhere, there were some minor victories, especially here in Arizona. While grouchy curmudgeon John McCain unfortunately retained his seat, there were some good things happening: Democrats made pickups in the Arizona House and Senate; Democrats maintained their seats in the U.S. House of Representatives; there was an increase in the minimum wage; one of the people responsible for the March primary debacle, Helen Purcell, was voted out of office; and perhaps the biggest news was that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe ‘Just Call Me God’ Arpaio will finally be riding off into the sunset after being defeated by Paul Penzone.

But several interesting and revealing things are happening in the post-election trauma. We’ll address just one in this post and that is the stock market has taken off with Donald Trump taking office. Initially, stocks plunged worldwide and people around the world started to freak out. But the United States stock market stabilized quickly…almost too quickly. That quick recovery and the fact that it’s taken off since then speaks volumes. The sectors soaring are dirty energy companies (coal, oil, gas), pharmaceuticals and banking and financial services.This pretty much confirms what we’ve known all along; America is no longer a democracy, it’s a corporate oligarchy. As long as the President (even if it was Clinton) is friendly to Corporate America and Wall Street has it’s money, then all is fine. The stock market hangs over America’s head like a Damocles sword: Please Wall Street and its investors or else!

This is where the con comes in. Although Trump claimed to be on the side of the little guy, he is a big time supporter of corporatism. He loves money and other people with money…and that doesn’t mean most of us in the middle and lower classes. In any given conflict between corporate America and individuals, Trump will side with corporate America every time. Trump is a plutocrat! Red state Americans have been royally conned! Unfortunately, Trump voters won’t realize they’ve been screwed until after Social Security and Medicare have been taken away (the Republicans have wanted SS repealed since World War II) or they’re paying higher prices for prescription drugs because protective consumer regulations have been stripped (good times coming for the Pharma bros) or they don’t receive assistance after a natural disaster ripped up their property because the austerity crazed Republican government doesn’t want to spend money to bail them out (remember Hurricane Katrina). But then they’ll probably blame it on the Democrats, who instituted these safety net programs and protective regulations in the first place, because Fox News, a.k.a. the Republican Propaganda Network and our new CEO/Dictator Trump tell them it is so.

Fasten your seatbelts America…it’s going to be a bumpy and nauseating ride.

New American CEO/Dictator Donald Trump celebrates his massive job of con artistry on the American people with one of his fellow plutocrats.

New American CEO/Dictator Donald Trump celebrates his massive job of con artistry on the American people with one of his fellow plutocrats.

Rig-or Trump-us

Donald Trump has been claiming the whole summer with his pals from Fox News, a.k.a. the Republican Propaganda Network, that the election will be rigged. Republicans have claimed that voter fraud is rampant despite statistics showing that it is virtually non-existent. This is of course to obfuscate the voter suppression that is occurring at state level by the Republicans. This should be no surprise because ever since the Reagan years, Republicans have been claiming to be something they’re not. They claim to want government out of your lives, but approve of government controlling a woman’s uterus and warrantless wiretapping. They claim to want small government but government has grown incredibly under Republican regimes. They claim to be ‘compassionate’ conservatives, and yet they don’t want healthcare for everyone and want to eliminate Medicare and Social Security. The list goes on and on. So basically when a Republican claims that Democrats are rigging the election, you can pretty well bet that the Republicans are working on rigging the election.

So what happened this past week: a Trump supporter was arrested in Iowa for voting twice. Yes, Donald Trump predicted voter fraud and his supporters are making damn sure his prediction comes true.

A Trump supporter proudly boasts that his idol's predictions of a rigged election will come true.

A Trump supporter proudly boasts that his idol’s predictions of a rigged election will come true.

An Oompa Loompa Christmas

Well, Congress has adjourned for the holidays and surprise surprise, no progress on the looming ‘fiscal cliff’. Speaker of the House, John Boehner (pronounced bo-ner), who seems to be under the illusion that the Republicans won the election, has stubbornly insisted that he gets his way. That means keeping his precious tax cuts for his rich handlers and cutting funds for the social safety net programs like Social Security and Medicare, which benefits most elderly Americans. Of course, most people seem to think this ‘fiscal cliff’ is baloney anyway (note how it’s always referenced in quotations) and to President Obama’s credit, he’s playing hardball with the Republicans (finally!). It’s not the first time that the great Oompa Loompa of negativity, John Boehner, has bungled up negotiations. It’s business as usual for the Republicans.

Republican Speaker of the House and Chief Oompa Loompa, John Boehner, offers Americans his prescription for avoiding the ‘fiscal cliff’.

 

 

The Ryan Hypocrisy

In the words of Ricky Ricardo, Paul Ryan has some “‘splaining to do”. It seems that Spiff Romney’s new GOP Vice Presidential candidate has some conflicting beliefs that need some clarification. On the one hand, he’s supposedly a staunch Catholic, which means he’s a follower of Jesus, who preached to share and care for your fellow human beings. On the other hand, he’s a staunch fan of Ayn Rand (an avowed atheist), who preached that one should be selfish and be concerned only for yourself and that caring for others is weak and undesirable. These two philosophies seem to be contradictory.  It seems to us that Mr. Ryan and those other conservative christian Republicans, who tout the prosperity gospel while at the same time want to deny basic healthcare to some people in our country, may be hypocrites. Make no mistake: if Romney and Ryan get in, senior entitlements like Medicare and Social Security are gone, while corporate entitlements will be handed out like candy at Halloween. I wonder what Jesus would say, because we all know how much of a capitalist he was.

Capitalist Jesus, who is also very Republican, has nothing but praise for GOP Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan and his Randian philosophy.

Rewind: Punxsutawny George

It’s Groundhog Day so we thought we’d flashback to those halcyon days of the Bush Administration. Remember how the Republicans were always trying to privatize Social Security and Americans threw bloody fits against their efforts? Oh, that’s right: they’re still doing it. This photo-toon, from our February 13, 2005 issue, shows Dubya, fresh from his ‘mandate’ victory in November 2004, injecting fear into the hearts of millions about the last days of Social Security.

President Bush gives his State of the Union address on Groundhog Day, predicting six more weeks until Social Security goes bankrupt, while Vice President Dick Cheney and Speaker of the House Dennis 'Jabba' Hastert show their approval.

Teabaggers Spew Forth…Wisdom?

The Occupy Wall Street movement has entered it’s fourth week and appears to be gaining strength. Demonstrations against Wall Street greed have broken out in many major cities. Even major media outlets have taken notice(albeit reluctantly). But of course, these demonstrators can’t compare to those darlings of patriotic protesters, the Teabaggers (we here at the Bucket choose to use their original moniker instead of their Foxified name, the Tea Party movement).

The Teabaggers have been quite a media sensation the last couple of years. This group of supposedly cheezed off ‘patriots’, supported by business interests and media outlets such as Fox News a.k.a The Republican Propaganda Network, have stated that they are against anyone paying more taxes(even the rich) and against socialized medicine (except Medicare) and against entitlement programs (except Social Security and corporate entitlements) and against socialism and for more christianity (forget that Jesus was a socialist). To anyone who doubts that this group is full of **it, it’s interesting that during the Bush administration, which increased the size of government, increased the deficit, increased military spending, and increased the national debt, these bastions of conservatism didn’t protest one bit. But the second, President Obama took the oath of office, these ‘patriots’ are all up in arms about fiscal responsibility. To top it off, their ideal person to solve all our problems is none other than … Ms. Ubetcha herself, Sarah Palin. Which also brings to mind, if the media is so ‘liberal’ like El Rushblo claims, then why was there a joint CNN/Teabagger debate for Republican candidates recently? We would think a ‘liberal’ media would be doing exactly to the Teabaggers what they’ve been doing to the Occupy Wall Street protesters and that would be ignoring them. Things that make you go hmmmmmmm.

The text in the word balloons in this photo-toon is actual verbiage from Teabagger protest signs. To see more examples of these insightful, intelligent, witty signs, click here. The Teabaggers write their own jokes by just being themselves.

Cactus Corner residents and Teabagger Patriots Harold and Martha Kowalski spew forth pearls of wisdom to their fellow patriots.

 

Rejected Indiana Jones Movie Titles

We saw a blurb online this past week about a possible fifth Indiana Jones movie. Now Harrison Ford is in incredible shape for 69 years old. He’s also still at the top of his game acting wise. But lets face it folks, he is a senior citizen in an action adventure franchise.  It may be time to ride off into the sunset. Which brought to mind one of our favorite BilgeBucket Lists from our September 10, 2007 issue. It names the rejected titles for the fourth Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which of course became a blockbuster when released in 2008.  Maybe they could use one of these titles for the new fifth installment of the series.

  • Indiana Jones and the Raiders of Social Security
  • Indiana Jones Has Fallen and He Can’t Get Up
  • Indiana Jones and the Jewels of the Senile
  • Indiana Jones Adventure at Luby’s Buffet
  • Indiana Jones: Prostate of Fury
  • Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Medicare Form
  • Indiana Jones and the Search for the Lost Car Keys
  • Indiana Jones and the Dentures from Hell
  • Indiana Jones and the Diaper of Doom
  • Indiana Jones: Dude, Where’s My Preparation-H?
  • Indiana Jones and the Quest for Low Cost Health Insurance
  • Indiana Jones and the Treasure of Viagra Madre