How America's Middle Class Was Eviscerated by Bushco, the CIA, and the Republican Overclass

Sarah Scaife Foundation

Smith Richardson Foundation

Between 1992 and 1994, these foundations gave $210 million to conservative causes. Here is the breakdown of their donations:

$88.9 million for conservative scholarships;

$79.2 million to enhance a national infrastructure of think tanks and advocacy groups;

$16.3 million for alternative media outlets and watchdog groups;

$10.5 million for conservative pro-market law firms;

$9.3 million for regional and state think tanks and advocacy groups;

$5.4 million to "organizations working to transform the nations social views and giving practices of the nation's religious and philanthropic leaders."

The political machine they built is broad and comprehensive, covering every aspect of the political fight. It includes right-wing departments and chairs in the nation's top universities, think tanks, public relations firms, media companies, fake grassroots organizations that pressure Congress (irreverently known as "Astroturf" movements), "Roll-out-the-vote" machines, pollsters, fax networks, lobbyist organizations, economic seminars for the nation's judges, and more. And because corporations are the richest sector of society, their greater financing overwhelms similar efforts by Democrats.

Besides creating foundations, the CIA helped organize the business community. There have always been special interest groups representing business, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, and the CIA has long been involved with them. However, after 1973, a spate of powerful new groups would come into existence, like the Business Roundtable and the Trilateral Commission. These organizations quickly became powerhouses in promoting the business agenda.

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-overclass.html

How Bushco Strengthened the New Overclass Hegemony, at Everyone Else's Expense

Bush inherited massive budget surpluses but immediately turned those into massive deficits, adding $3 trillion of new indebtedness in his first five years. This spiral of debt, driven by tax cuts for the rich, is now out of control, even as the nation stands on the threshold of its 77 million Baby Boomers retiring, needing fiscal solvency more than ever.

Poverty is up 43% since Bush took office. More than five million people have lost their health insurance under Bush. Real median income has declined five years in a row, the first time since the Great Depression. Income inequality is the highest since the 1920s. More than a quarter of all manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2000. Oil costs more than twice what it did when Bush took office. These are the symptoms, not of economic might, but of decay, even collapse.

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