1%ers Secede from the Union; form own Nation/State

With the wealth of funds, and investments growing daily, despite gloom and doom predictions to the contrary, America's top earners, or self-described "Job Creators," have announced that they will secede from the Union in order to form their own Nation/State, ruled by whoever has the most money at any given time.  Fierce competition is underway for the title of Richest person and Supreme Leader, as corporations and individuals vie for the top post.

Ever since the Supreme Court declared that corporations had the same rights as human people, (reinforced recently by the pronouncement by former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney that "Corporations are people my friend"), the scramble to collect and itemize capital worth has begun.

Some of the 1%ers have even been heard to grumble that it's time to stop this corporate personhood stuff, at least for the time being, so as to even out the playing field, and let all rich peole compete fairly.

Other just shrug and say, "tough luck; if you haven't established a multinational corporation all your own, it's your own damn fault."

The battle of the fat cats and the corporate entities is on.  Some predict a two-state solution. Corporations over here, and individuals over here.

"The problem is," confided one wealthy magnate, who prefers to remain anonymous,"is that the Cayman Islands just isn't big enough to divide up that way."  He predicted a blood bath or at least a money fight, and suggested some of those claiming deep wealth may be out in the cold once the corporate assets are toted up.  "The corporations will win this, and the people will lose.  If you haven't got a cushy CEO job yet, you may be out of luck and back in the work force on the mainland," he opined grimly.

As for creating jobs, openings are now being advertised for security guards and top flight CPAs.

"Of course there will be need for the usual service personnel, maids, personal chefs, chauffeurs and the like, " he continued. "We will be creating hundreds of positions once the matter of statehood is sorted out."

Still Talking about Citizens United - Free Speech ain't Free

Debra Saunders, in her latest SFgate column, takes us on a joyride with the corporate spinmeisters now benefiting from the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizen's United, the landmark case that equates speech with money in the most blatant way yet, opening the floodgates to corporations to pour gazillions into ads for their favorite candidates.

But this free speech, says Saunders, merely a level playing field, since labor unions are also afforded this privilege, a comparison that brings to mind the famous quote of Anatole France that "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."  Let's be real, unions may have some clout left on the campaign front, but they are nowhere tipping the scales in their favor when corporate bars of gold weigh down the other side of the political scale.

In this particular column, Saunders' barbed words are aimed at a favorite target of hers: the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who recently joined a growing number of municipalities calling for a Constitutional amendment overturning the Citizens United decision and undoing the concept of corporate personhood (a concept that first appeared in another Supreme Court decision, the Gilded-Age decision called Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railway Company).  

Corporations says Saunders "don't have the same rights as people: they can't vote and they can't run for office."  No but they can buy votes and decide who runs for, and wins, public office, not to mention grease the halls of Congress and state Capitols with their "free speech" dollars.

If you don't believe that,  you are free to look for them under the bridge with the poor people exercising their free speech rights with signs saying "homeless corporation; will peddle influence for cash."