Tom Toles for February 16, 2015

The note in the bottom says “Take the money and run” and is signed Koch Industries and friends, your only idea guys.

they got a plethora of money thanks to the Koch brothers and ALEC, but ideas are limited to making the present like the past, a cross between the start of the great depression and the ’50’s the way they remember it.Conveniently forgetting the tax rate on the rich was 92%.

It continues to be astonishing to me that so-called “conservatives” are perfectly happy that the Koch Brothers select their candidates for them.

When it’s brought to their attention, their response is ‘George Soros’.

Ignorance is strength, I guess.

Their presidential candidate bin (not shown) similarly contains a whole lotta vacuous nothings. And that bin most certainly will be stuffed with cash.

^^ The women and children will be on sale for (third world) market prices. FREE MARKET!!

Oh, please. The people who filled the money box made sure the idea box was filled first. And if Republicans (or Democrats, it works both ways) want the money box to be refilled, they will make damn sure to use the provided ideas.

It was reported in Sunday’s newspapers that Jeb Bush immediately, and is still aggressively going after the former Romney donors. And he is so far, very successful!

The Koch brothers are tied for being the 8th richest people in the world. One might think that would be enough but they use their riches to impose their political ideas on everyone else. It is interesting to note, Bill Gates is the richest person in the world and he and his wife spend a ton of money trying to improve peoples lives all over the world including improving education in the US. I guess the quality of the ideas count.

Circular logic.

The Democrats REPORT more money, but since reporting isn’t mandatory, the dark money is far more, and more likely to be Republican. Even conservative pundit David Brooks is shocked by the “shamelesssness” of the Koch cabal.

So, Just what should we do then, “SPEND the World!”! Boy, wouldn’t that be good for future generation!!

I wonder how that stray idea got “outside the box”…?

^Idea number one if they go for Jeb: “Don’t just stand there, go kill someone, a lot of someones.”

Note on a new Bush league: you screwed us twice, don’t go for thrice.

$1,000 from real, live human beings only, is the limit. No wonder the corporate media refuses to admit there are Green Party candidates on the ballot.

We need some serious campaign coverage reform. Report based on what they have to say, not what they have to spend, where they stand on issues, not where they stand in the polls. Maybe the half of the country that doesn’t vote would pay attention. Or not…Look! a Kardashian!

festin: Below, I paste part of a magazine article written by Stein Ringen, Professor Emeritus at Oxford University. The whole article is about Britain and the U.S., and how these two greatest democracies are heading down the path that Athens once trod..Meanwhile, the health of the U.S. system is even worse than it looks. The three branches of government are designed to deliver through checks and balances. But balance has become gridlock, and the United States is not getting the governance it needs. Here, the link between inequality and inability is on sharp display. Power has been sucked out of the constitutional system and usurped by actors such as PACs, think tanks, media and lobbying organizations.In the age of mega-expensive politics, candidates depend on sponsors to fund permanent campaigns. When money is allowed to transgress from markets, where it belongs, to politics, where it has no business, those who control it gain power to decide who the successful candidates will be — those they wish to fund — and what they can decide once they are in office. Rich supporters get two swings at influencing politics, one as voters and one as donors. Others have only the vote, a power that diminishes as political inflation deflates its value. It is a misunderstanding to think that candidates chase money. It is money that chases candidates.In Athens, democracy disintegrated when the rich grew super-rich, refused to play by the rules and undermined the established system of government. That is the point that the United States and Britain have reached..I just thought this would interest you, and some other posters.

I just read your Rolling Stone article. Thanks.I especially appreciated the lines:“It’s a vicious circle,” says Stiglitz. “The rich are using their money to secure tax provisions to let them get richer still. Rather than investing in new technology or R&D, the rich get a better return by investing in Washington.”