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Raging Pencils is an undignified conceit of:

Mike Stanfill, Private Hand
Mike Stanfill, Private Hand
IllustrationFlash AnimationWeb Design

www.privatehand.com

By The Numbers.

Take a look at this:



See that lone black figure up there? That represents the 1% of the American population which currently owns more material wealth than all those blue icons, the bottom 95% of the population. These blue guys also represent, for all intents and purposes, you and me, bucko.

This disquieting image also represents the largest disparity in wealth in this country's history. And, as we all know, this landslide of wealth didn't happen because America suddenly became a manufacturing giant, it's because Bush and his pals spent the last eight years shoveling cash from the Treasury into the pockets of their buddies as fast as possible via endless tax cuts for the rich, a couple of fake wars and muzzling the SEC so that Wall Street could run hog wild with your tax dollars.

(If you're interested in lots of charts graphing who has what and how much, check out the info here.)

Unfortunately for us that "material wealth" includes all the media in this country, meaning basically everything you read, hear or see. And the owner's of said media outlets are not interested in letting you hear, read or see what you should know, which is why American media leans heavily towards entertainment, not news or information. Compare cnn.com with aljazeera.net and you'll see what I mean.

The problem in this country isn't that greedy lone one-percenter, it's the lower 95-percenter's which turn a blind eye to this rapacious greed because they all dream of someday being that one-percent guy. C'mon. Admit it.

But, as good old smilin' George H. W. Bush once said "Not gonna happen." Or it occurs so rarely that it's just a rounding error in the bigger economic picture.

What needs to happen is that we need to stop people from using money simply to make money, capital gains being one of the worst offenders on the list. Instead, alter the rules so that the rich invest money in people and maufacturing so that the money is redistributed and not just socked away under what has become the world's largest mattress.

Also bring back the 35% "real" tax rate for the ultra-wealthy. It's not going to hurt them a bit and the government, which means you and me, could sure use it just about now.

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If you're at all puzzled by this cartoon you can read more about our two favorite war criminals, Bush and Cheney, and their incarceration of hundreds of innocent men for propaganda reasons here.

=lefty=



end rant


Raging Pencils salutes the Mystery Readers of
Wakkerzeel, Belgium
Whoever you are, thanks for reading my brazen little 'toon.


end rant


A blast from the accomplished past. The RP from 3-27-06.

mission accomplished cartoon comic
Suddenly, time stood still. Only the buzzing of
the tse-tse-flies could be heard. The crackling
grass did not reveal a friendly lobbyist, but an
animal who didn't like to be surprised....
and he had a missile launcher.


end rant


Can't make sense of the news? Try our selection of progressive nosh:
DailykosCrooks and LiarsThink ProgressTalking Points Memo


Today's Google Chow.

Network Tool: "Ahmed, you've just been falsely imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for the past five years by the Bush administration. So tell us.. what are you going to do next?"

Ahmed: "I plan on suffering impotently from post-traumatic stress disorder for the rest of my life but compared to daily torture it'll seem like Disneyland! "