The .01% – Ultra-Rich ($100 million and up) and the Impoverishment of society

(on a local, national and global scale, such inequality is the breeding ground for revolution)

The U.S. Declaration of Independence ~

“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands that have connected them with another… a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which propel them to separation.”

David DeGraw‘s new book “The Economics of Revolution” will be released Sept. 17, 2014.

      DeGraw states: “an extensive analysis of economic conditions and government policy reveals that the need for significant systemic change is now a mathematical fact. Corruption, greed and economic inequality have reached a peak tipping point. Due to the consolidation of wealth, the majority of the population in the U.S. cannot generate enough income to keep up with the cost of living.  In the present economy, under current government policy, 70% of the population is now sentenced to an impoverished existence.”

      Look at some of DeGraw’s evidence: “To see how corrupt the United States government has become, just follow the money.  According to the most recent Federal Reserve Flow of Funds report, US households currently have an all-time high $82 trillion in overall wealth.  If that wealth were spread out evenly, every US household would now have $712k.  However, as of the end of 2013, the median household only had $56k in wealth.  From 2007 – 2013, overall wealth increased 26%, while the median household lost a shocking 43% of their wealth. If median wealth continues to decline at this rate, over 50% of US households will be bankrupt within the next decade.

      “The fact that the majority of households are losing so much wealth in a time of record-breaking overall wealth demonstrates how systemically corrupt the economy has become.  To begin to grasp the scale of corruption, let’s analyze how much wealth has been consolidated within the economic top .01% of the population. An individual must have over $100 million in wealth to be in the .01% –Ultra-Rich. Since 1980, the .01% have more than quadrupled their share of overall wealth. Meanwhile, households who fall between the top 10% and the top 0.1% have actually been losing their share of overall wealth. As the ultra-rich .01% amasses unprecedented wealth, they are forcing the overwhelming majority of the population into extreme economic insecurity and ever-increasing debt… If you are struggling to get by and running up debt to make ends meet, it is not your fault.” Government policies and the economic system need to change. Organize! Unite! Work for justice and a new economic order!

Justice is the Foundation of True Peace!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622. Email:ja@malu-aina.org  http://www.malu-aina.org

Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (August 29, 2014 – 675th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

War Is A Crime!

Top 9 Reasons to Stop

Bombing Iraq

1. It’s not a rescue mission.  The U.S. personnel could be evacuated without the 500-pound bombs.  The persecuted minorities could be supplied, moved, or their enemy dissuaded, or all three, without the 500-pound bombs or the hundreds of “advisors” (trained and armed to kill)…

2. It’s going to make things worse, again.  This bombing will aggravate the Sunni-Shia divide, increase support for ISIS, and create a lasting legacy of hostility and violence.  President Obama says there is no military solution, only reconciliation.  But bombs don’t reconcile.  They harden hearts and breed murderers…

3. Bombs kill.  Big bombs kill a lot of people.  Massive bombing campaigns slaughter huge numbers of people, including those fighting in the hell the U.S. helped to create, and including those not fighting — men, women, children, grandparents, infants…

4. There are other options.  The choice between bombing and doing nothing is false… The U.S. could do some good but must first do no harm..

5. More bombs and weapons equal more deaths.  The U.S. accounts for 79% of foreign weapons transfers to the Middle East. In many cases U.S. weapons end up on all sides of a conflict.

6. This is going to cost a fortune.  The world spends $2 trillion and the U.S. $1 trillion (half the total) on war and war preparations every year.  The wonders that could be done with a fraction of military money are almost unimaginable and include responding to the dangers of climate change…

7. Bombs are environmental disasters. The poisoned ground and water, and the disease epidemics can be widespread and long lasting from war…

8. There go our civil liberties.Civil liberties have continually been eroded in the U.S. since 9-11 and endless war. The intrusion of government spying on citizens has become all encompassing along with the militarization of U.S. Police Departments.

9. War is illegal.  War is illegal under the Kellogg Briand Pact and the United Nations Charter, Domestically, under U.S. law, the president cannot launch a war.  The U.S. House voted three weeks ago to ban any new presidential war on Iraq. Obama waited for it to go on break, and then attacked Iraq.

The above is an adapted version of an article by David Swanson. See the full article here:
http://warisacrime.org/content/top-9-reasons-stop-bombing-iraq

Build a World of Justice &

Peace!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
 Phone (808) 966-7622. Email:ja@malu-aina.org  http://www.malu-aina.org

Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (August 22, 2014 – 674th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

“A Slaughter of Innocents”

Rabbi Henry Siegman, Leading

Voice of U.S. Jewry, on Gaza

“When one thinks that this is what is necessary for Israel to survive, that the Zionist dream is based on the repeated slaughter of innocents on a scale that we’re watching these days on television, that is really a profound, profound crisis — and should be a profound crisis in the thinking of all of us who were committed to the establishment of the state and to its success,” Siegman says. Responding to Israel’s U.S.-backed claim that its assault on Gaza is necessary because no country would tolerate the rocket fire from militants in Gaza, Siegman says: “What undermines this principle is that no country and no people would live the way that Gazans have been made to live. … The question of the morality of Israel’s action depends, in the first instance, on the question, couldn’t Israel be doing something [to prevent] this disaster that is playing out now, in terms of the destruction of human life? Couldn’t they have done something that did not require that cost? And the answer is, sure, they could have ended the occupation.”

 Rabbi Siegman served as executive director of the American Jewish Congress, one of the nation’s largest Jewish organizations. See full interview with Amy Goodman http://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/30/henry_siegman_leading_voice_of_us

It’s “Bombs Away” again for the U.S. in Iraq in the name of “coming to help.” The U.S. helped create the Islamic State (ISIS) by dropping bombs that killed and injured a million Iraqis and made refugees of millions more. And now we are told more bombs will be a solution? Don’t buy it. Stop bombing! Open up the U.S. to refugees fleeing violence and pledge to never bomb again!

 Justice, Peace and Equality

for All!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc. 5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622. Email:ja@malu-aina.org  http://www.malu-aina.org

Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (August 15, 2014 – 673rd week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

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Today’s peace vigil will go forward!

Aloha Peace Ohana,
I hope and pray all of you survived hurricane/tropical storm Iselle and that you had no damage to property. It was quite a night. Several trees down here.
The 672 consecutive weekly Hilo Peace vigil will go forward today from 3:30-5PM at the downtown Hilo Post Office.   If possible please join and pass the word to others.  Last night we learned that Obama has ordered further bombing in Iraq.  He said the “U.S. is coming to help.”    The U.S. has “helped” Iraq enough killing and wounding more than a million people, creating massive refugee problems, and devastating the country’s infrastructure.  In short the U.S. “help” is mass chaos which seems to be the main business of the U.S. empire.
Jim