US "Capitalism":

[Talon]

Or as I like to call it... "The Scam of the Century."

Look, the US has a reputation to uphold. We were all raised that the US "free market capitalism" equals "GOOD!" and that the Russians had that evil system of "communism" and that was "BAD!" but what if it was all a lie? What if Americans were simply sold a mythological tale that rivals anything that Dr. Suess could have written?

I'm going to lay out proofs that the whole thing was simply a hoax that was used to get the working class Americans to work themselves to death for the benefits of the socialists at the top, but without any socialist benefits for themselves, and to like it and beg for more. I'm going to lay out proof that the US economy is a controlled, managed, socialist economy that funnels money to the top, and that most of the companies that are held up as capitalist success stories are simply BILLION dollar welfare queens that figured out the subsidy game.

Hey, this wasn't an easy realization for me either. I was raised with the "Protestant work ethic" as my guiding light. That if I just worked harder, took less time off, sacrificed more of my time, that I would be rewarded for it somehow, the only problem is that I noticed early on that the only thing I got in return for hard work was... MORE hard work! That employers would work you until you died if you allowed them, and that American society sold the "work yourself to death" ethic as something that was noble.

To lay my personal cards on the table, I do make a decent middle class living, I coasted through the "great recession" with no problems, and to top it all off, I only work about 6 months out of the year, and that is by choice because I believe in leisure time, and enjoying life. I could work the whole year and make over 6 figures, but why?

Okay, back to the story of the subsidized, socialized US economy that has masqueraded for decades as a "free market." As you will begin to notice by the articles and charts that I'm putting up, subsidies are the bread and butter of the 1%. You know the "1%" they are the rugged free market individualists, that pulled themselves up by their boot straps and now lord over all the lazy, incompetent middle class, proles. They "worked hard" for everything they've gotten (just ask them) and expect the same from you!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/03/17/the-united-states-of-subsidies-the-biggest-corporate-winners-in-each-state/

to be continued...

[Talon]

Get a job you lazy bum!

[Talon]

[Talon]

Yep!

[Talon]

[Talon]

"A subsidy is a benefit given by the government to groups or individuals usually in the form of a cash payment or tax reduction. The subsidy is usually given to remove some type of burden and is often considered to be in the interest of the public."

http://dailycaller.com/2015/03/17/two-thirds-of-federal-subsidies-benefit-big-business-banks/

[Talon]

FARMS:

I always wondered how the local farmers were able to afford those big houses and giant trucks, when I never really saw them doing much...

http://www.economist.com/news/united...king-taxpayers

"American farm subsidies are egregiously expensive, harvesting $20 billion a year from taxpayers’ pockets. Most of the money goes to big, rich farmers producing staple commodities such as corn and soyabeans in states such as Iowa."

[Talon]

Mother lode of socialist subsidies that fuel the US economy. The page goes on and one... With capitalism like this, you don't need communism....

$1,974,042,215,000

programs 1607

http://funding-programs.idilogic.aidpage.com/

[Talon]

The US military is one of the largest subsidies around, but he majority of the money goes to the "DEFENSE INDUSTRY" while they hang the troops out to dry after they use them.

EDIT: I've always said that we should cut the military budget in half and use that money for a single payer healthcare system, but then everyone calls me a "pinko commie" for it...

https://www.nationalpriorities.org/campaigns/military-spending-united-states/

[Talon]

The US "Prison Industrial Complex" is another huge subsidy program for the 1%. Who knew that locking up low level drug offenders and prostitutes could be so lucrative?

https://smartasset.com/insights/the-economics-of-the-american-prison-system

"The American prison system is massive. So massive that its estimated turnover of $74 billion eclipses the GDP of 133 nations. What is perhaps most unsettling about this fun fact is that it is the American taxpayer who foots the bill and is increasingly padding the pockets of publicly traded corporations like Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group. Combined both companies generated over $2.53 billion in revenue in 2012, and represent more than half of the private prison business. "

[Talon]

Foreign Aid:

Or as I call it, subsidizing other countries.

http://mondoweiss.net/2015/11/spends-billion-foreign/

"The United States provided approximately $35 billion in economic aid to over 140 countries* in fiscal year 2014. In the map below the relative size of each country is proportionate to the aid received from the United States and the color of each country indicates GDP per capita."

[Talon]

Great article!

https://pando.com/2014/02/26/fortune-500-companies-receive-63-billion-in-subsidies/

"Similarly, behold the big tech firms. They are often portrayed as self-made up-from-the-bootstraps success stories. Yet, as Good Jobs First shows, they are among the biggest recipients of the subsidies.
Intel, for instance, leads the tech pack with 58 subsidies worth $3.8 billion. Next up is IBM, which has received more than $1 billion in subsidies. Most of that is from New York - a state that is right now in the middle of a full-scale advertising campaign proudly promoting its handouts.
Then there's Google's $632 million and Yahoo's $260 million, most of both companies' subsidies derived from data center deals. Microsoft has pulled in $95 million primarily from Washington State's tax handouts.
There is also Silver Lake Partners, which owns Dell and has by extension benefited from $482 million in corporate welfare payments.
And not to be forgotten is 38 Studios, the now bankrupt software firm that received $75 million in Rhode Island taxpayer cash at the very moment that state was cutting public workers’ pension benefits.
Along with propping up firms that are supposedly free-market icons, the subsidies are also flowing to financial firms that have become synonymous with never-ending bailouts and a perverse kind of corporate socialism. Indeed, firms like UBS, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citigroup - each of which weregiven massive taxpayer subsidies during the financial crisis -- all are the recipients of tens of millions of dollars in additional subsidies tracked by Good Jobs First."

[Talon]

More welfare queens...

http://dirtdiggersdigest.org/archives/2494

"Such subsidies are also a prime example of how this country caters to wealthy individuals and large corporations, and how they in turn demand to be compensated by taxpayers for what they should be doing at their own expense. It’s time for the 1% to do less taking and more giving back."

[Tactical Knightmare]

Everyone has their hand out but me.

Good stuff Talon...you pinko commie.

[Talon]

Welfare queens are sneaky!