Full site / Mobile. To Top or End. Click Full site for site navigation links at top. Mobile has three-line hamburger menu. Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security all came from Democrats. You pay the taxes while healthier. Republicans prefer you die. 50% in U.S. Fear Bankruptcy Due to Major Health Event. [36]
| Country | Life expectancy 2016 (2) | Under-5 mortality rate per 1000 live births. 2017 | Maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births. 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 82.8 years | 5.1 | 7.3 |
| USA | 78.5 years | 6.6 | 26.4 |
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See videos too. For more photos see: Flat list of event graphics and photos. Alphabetical order by city. There are many more images there than are shown below. Click Full site for images below.
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News. Sources. GMM Facebook. Vote for cannabis! [40]. Ballotpedia: marijuana and minimum wage. US minimum wage has 35% less buying power than in 1969. [41]. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell will not take up minimum wage issue, and Trump says he will veto it. And: ‘A Tale of 2 recessions’: Rich Americans get richer. Bottom half struggles. Skyrocketing hunger in US. [42][43][44]. And: Trump paid no federal income tax 10 out of 15 years. [45][46][47][48]. Remove Presidential veto power. Presidents should not determine legislation.
 2 Dec 2020: Cannabidiol (CBD) in cannabis does not impair driving, landmark study shows.
22 Nov: California cannabis industry banking on bills stalled in Republican Senate. A proposal to ease the federal ban on marijuana could encourage more banks to do business with cannabis companies. 
19 Nov 2020: Vote in Mexico brings world's largest legal weed market one step closer. [56][57][58].
16 Nov: Democrat Northam: ‘We are going to move forward with legalizing marijuana in Virginia’. [59].
12 Nov 2020: Israel announces plan to legalize recreational cannabis within 9 months. [62]. 12 Nov: Argentina to Allow Medicinal Marijuana to Be Grown at Home. Will also allow pharmacies to sell cannabis-derived oils, creams and other products. Insurance must cover the cost of prescriptions.
4 Nov 2020: 1 in 3 Americans now lives in a state where recreational marijuana is legal - POLITICO. "New Jersey, Arizona and Montana passed measures to legalize adult-use marijuana. South Dakota became the first state to authorize both medical and recreational sales at the same time. ... South Dakota and Mississippi voters also approved measures to legalize medical marijuana on Election Day." 30 Oct: Germany firmly rejects recreational marijuana legalization bill as hope fades for reform.
Google searches: Racism and drug war. [65][66]. And: ICU beds at capacity. [67][68]. 2020 Ballot Initiatives.
How to Track Your Absentee Ballot by State. See if ballot received. 26 Oct 2020: Jubilation as Chile votes to rewrite constitution. "Chileans have voted overwhelmingly in support of rewriting their constitution, which dates to the dictatorship of Gen Augusto Pinochet [installed in a CIA-aided coup in 1973 that killed Salvador Allende, a democratically elected President]." 14 Oct: Tampa business, Disco Dolls, joins coalition to raise minimum wage via Amendment 2.
9 and 15 Oct: Bernie Sanders Facebook page graphics below. 7 Oct 2020. Dumping Trump is the only way marijuana legalization will happen | Leafly. 1 Oct 2020: OSU Hemp Trial Could Change Livestock & Hemp Industries. 28 Sep: Top 9 arguments in support of marijuana legalization and regulation.
26 Sep: Biden says Amy Coney Barrett will overturn Obamacare if confirmed to the Supreme Court.
16 Sep 2020: Cannabis Pilot Programs Are Sprouting in Europe. Switzerland's trial legalization.
12 Sep 2020: These US states are voting on cannabis legalization this November. Facebook event: South Africa Global Cannabis E-Protest. September 12-19, 2020. Banner below.
Marijuana on the ballot - Ballotpedia. Scroll down to 2020. How vote by mail works in all 50 states for Election Day 2020 "Here's how each state and the District of Columbia is handling elections this year." 10 Sep 2020: Jimmy Carter says son smoked pot with Willie Nelson at the White House. 5 Sep 2020: Marijuana Is Making Its Mark on Ballots in Republican States. "Republican-led legislatures have opposed legalization measures, so proponents are going right to the voters."
3 Sep 2020: In ‘landmark decision’, Pakistan approves industrial use of hemp and medical cannabis.
1 Sep 2020: Nearly 14% of Americans have wiped out emergency savings during coronavirus.
31 Aug 2020: Republicans stridently oppose Democrats' House bill to deschedule marijuana. Further exposing continuing Republican support of the racist cannabis war.
28 Aug 2020: Nebraska Medical Marijuana Initiative Qualifies for November 2020 Ballot.  21 Aug 2020: Someone turned green lights in Spokane, Washington into pot leaves. Absentee/mail-in voting - Ballotpedia. Scroll down for list of US states offering no-excuse mail-in voting.  6 Aug: NPR. 300,000 Deaths By December? 9 Takeaways From The Newest COVID-19 Projections. If 95% in US wore masks (50% now), 66,000 lives would be saved. Republicans refuse to MANDATE MASKS! 2 Aug: We Should Consider Starting Covid-19 Vaccinations Now. From: Forbes.  31 July: Women Who Use Marijuana More Often Have Better Sex, Study Says. What this really means: Trump supporters overall have worse sex, since they have a higher rate of disapproval towards cannabis.
26 July 2020: Texas House Speaker Says Legalizing Marijuana 'Could Be A Help' To Budget Woes, But He'd Vote Against It. We need to vote out these Republican morons.
16 July 2020: Seth Rogen Says Racist Cannabis Policing Harms Black Community, But Expungement Can Help. From: Forbes.
Countries with more people wearing face masks have much lower Covid-19 death rates. [76]. Chart below from BBC: Coronavirus: Japan's mysteriously low virus death rate. See more charts. [77][78][79]. See Wikipedia: COVID-19 pandemic death rates by country. 
9 July: Canada. Police chiefs call on Ottawa to decriminalize possession of illicit drugs for personal use.  26 June 2020: With 40,000 Americans Incarcerated For Marijuana Offenses, The Cannabis Industry Needs To Step Up, Activists Said This Week. From: Forbes. 24 June 2020: Pentagon Quietly Moves to Make CBD Use a Criminal Offense for Troops.  14 June: Trump has trouble lifting glass of water and walking down ramp at West Point graduation. 
12 June: Readers React: U.S. drug war partly to blame for rift between communities and police. "It is time to treat drug addiction as a public health problem rather than a police matter. Portugal takes this approach and their drug-induced death rate is one-fifth the European Union average." 12 June: Bernie Sanders And Cory Booker Talk Racial Injustices Of Marijuana Criminalization At Virtual Town Hall. 
Republicans have declared War on the Middle Class. 22 Oct 2019: Average French households 'more wealthy than Americans and Germans', new study reveals. See median-wealth chart. See graphic below about how Trump Republicans transferred wealth from average American households to the rich.  Trump signed tax law that gave 83% of benefits to the top 1%.  Germany has a much lower murder rate than the USA. Also, Germany has better health indicators, and its healthcare cost per person is half US cost (all costs, public and private).  US Republicans Voted Often to Kill Coverage of Pre-Existing Conditions. [87][88][89]. Medicare spends less than 2 percent on bureaucracy. 1.4% to be exact. See chart. We need Medicare for All. Nearly a third of our health care dollars go to something other than health care. See also: 
See: More News. And: Cannabis is safer. Vote out most Republicans and their cannabis war. CannabisVoter.info - Click your state to see which anti-cannabis Republicans to vote out.  This news feed may have long lapses.
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- Share links: sentencing - sentences - NRA - handguns. This article was written by Timeshifter.
| Federal mandatory minimum sentencing charts. |
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First mandatory minimums chart below is from an older FAMM report, "Correcting Course: Lessons from the 1970s Repeal of Mandatory Minimum Sentences". FAMM is Families Against Mandatory Minimums. [90]. See Wikipedia: Mandatory minimums. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 increased the amounts of crack cocaine required to trigger 5 and 10 year sentences. [91]. See revised charts since then. Share link to this page. For charts of all federal mandatory minimums (not just for drug offenses), go here. Later chart with revisions, such as the amount of crack cocaine required for various sentences: |
Households with handguns: Canada: 3%. USA: 30%.
Republican/NRA-led drug war
| Timeline: A Crackdown Chronology. Mother Jones. "1995: 24 states now have [NRA's] 3-strikes laws on the books. Drug offenders soon make up 25% of the total prison population, with 10 times as many 3rd-strikers serving time for drug possession as for 2nd-degree murder." |
Jeff Sessions and the Conservative Nostalgia for Harsh Sentencing. A new Republican bill would slap nonviolent criminals with 15-year mandatory minimum sentences. August 15, 2018. By Manuel Madrid. American Prospect.
| Some people don't know that the National Rifle Association had a large part in causing the huge increase in the U.S. incarceration rate. The NRA strongly lobbied state-by-state for mandatory minimum sentences (also known as "Truth in Sentencing"), and "Two and Three Strikes" laws. Mandatory-minimum sentences are the root cause of the astronomical US incarceration rate according to a New York Times article. The majority of people incarcerated in the U.S. are in prison or jail due to drug-related offenses, crimes to get money for drugs, or drug-related parole or probation violations. |
At least $55 million in 2016. Much more if internet ads, member mobilization, field operations, and sham issue ads are counted. Data source. [92].
See source.
Republicans support domestic violence
"the presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide by 500%." This quote is from the article below:
5 Apr 2019: 157 Republicans Just Opposed Renewing The Violence Against Women Act. On HuffPost.
30% of US households own handguns
The demographics of gun ownership in the U.S.. June 22, 2017. Pew Research Center. From the article:
| About four-in-ten adults (42%) report that there is a gun in their household, ... Overall, about seven-in-ten gun owners say they own a handgun or pistol (72%), |
Doing the math (.72 x .42 = .30) shows that 30% of US households own handguns.
Guns are responsible for the largest share of U.S. homicides in over 80 years, federal mortality data shows. By Christopher Ingraham. April 2, 2018. Washington Post. "All told, in 2016 gun homicides made up 74.5 percent of all homicides in the United States — the highest share in well over 80 years of complete federal data."
2.9% of Canadian households own handguns
GunPolicy.org - Canada — Gun Facts, Figures and the Law. From the "Gun Numbers" section of the page: "In Canada, the percentage of households with one or more handguns is reported to be":
| 2005: | 2.9% |
| 1999/2003: | 1.8% |
| 1995/98: | 2.3% |
| 1992/94: | 3.9% |
| 1989: | 5.2% |
Responses are from the 5 sweeps of the ICVS (1989-2005) and the EU ICS (2005), in which victims of crime were interviewed in 31 countries.
- ICVS: International Crime Victims Survey, Vienna, UNODC.
- EU ICS: European Survey of Crime and Safety (2005 EU ICS). Brussels, Gallup Europe.
- http://www.unicri.it/wwd/analysis/icvs/pdf_files/ICVS2004_05report.pdf
van Dijk, Jan, John van Kesteren and Paul Smit. 2007 ‘Ownership of Firearms and Handguns in Countries and Main Cities (percentages): 1989-2005 ICVS and 2005 EU ICS.’ Criminal Victimisation in International Perspective: Key findings from the 2004-2005 ICVS and EU ICS, p. 279. Vienna: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime / UNODC.
Canada's murder rate is 1/3 the US rate
| Medicare-for-all is single-payer, non-socialist, non-government-owned, Canadian-style healthcare. | |
| Charts. USA spent $3.3 trillion on healthcare in 2017. (2.3.4.). Canada got better outcomes, spent half as much per person, and thus has a higher median wealth. So: 55% of Americans support 'Medicare-for-all'. (2.) | Households with handguns: Canada: 3%. USA: 30%.) |
| Country | Median wealth per adult 2018. US dollars | Healthcare cost per person. US dollars PPP. 2017 | Murder rate per 100,000. 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | $106,342 | $4,826 | 1.7 |
| USA | $61,667 | $10,209 | 5.3 |
| US spent 17.2% of GDP (national economy) on healthcare in 2017. Canada spent 10.4%. See: info, charts, videos exposing US Republican myths about Canadian healthcare. (2.) |
| Country | Life expectancy 2016 (2) | Under-5 mortality rate per 1000 live births. 2017 | Maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births. 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 82.8 years | 5.1 | 7.3 |
| USA | 78.5 years | 6.6 | 26.4 |
Israel dismisses NRA claims
Israel dismisses NRA’s claims about guns laws. 2012. The Times of Israel. And: Israel’s gun control laws can make the US safer, too. Feb. 15, 2018. New York Post.
Israel has a LOW rate of civilian gun ownership. Only 6.7 guns per 100 residents. Lower than many European countries. Far lower than the USA at 120 guns per 100 residents. See Wikipedia: Estimated number of civilian guns per capita by country. Israel also has a low homicide rate. See Wikipedia: List of countries by intentional homicide rate. And: Key Gun Violence Statistics* | Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
NRA's part in the drug war
Return to top. See also: Life for pot. And: Republican-led drug war. And: Drug war causes high U.S. incarceration rate.
See main sections below:
| Scaring crazy people into not being crazy, and not killing large numbers of people. That is what the NRA believes long long mandatory minimum sentences are going to do. It hasn't happened. A better idea is universal background checks, and preventing crazy people, violent people, wife beaters, and child abusers from getting legal firearms in the first place. It is important to note that not all classes of the mentally divergent have a higher risk of violence or suicide. So some of the higher functioning ones could be allowed to have guns. |
Most inmates are incarcerated due to the drug war.
| The Big House That Wayne LaPierre Built. "In 1993 [NRA's] CrimeStrike spent $90,000 to put on the ballot in Washington state a new kind of sentencing law called 'Three strikes and you're out', ... Within just a few years, 23 states had enacted variations of the three-strikes statutes." |
| Backed by NRA CrimeStrike, the nation's first "Three Strikes and You're Out" law was enacted by ballot initiative in Washington state in 1993, sending a shock-wave reverberating through legislatures in 21 states and the U.S. Congress over the next two years. ...
In California, however, the Three Strikes language was very broad -- with any of 500 felonies counting as a possible third strike to trigger a 25-to-life sentence -- plus it included a doubling of the prison term for a second strike. |
Above quote (emphasis added) from: Getting Tough on Crime: The History and Political Context of Sentencing Reform Developments Leading to the Passage of the 1994 Crime Act. Published in Sentencing and Society: International Perspectives. Edited by Cyrus Tata and Neil Hutton. Ashgate Publishing Limited, Hampshire, England, 2002.
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Firearm death rates in high-income countries
- How US gun culture compares with the world in five charts. By Kara Fox, CNN. Graphics by Henrik Pettersson, CNN. February 15, 2018. Chart below is from the article.
| Gun-related deaths in high-income countries. Deaths per million people. Suicides in gray on the left. Homicides in darker color on the right. USA is the long bloody line at the end. |
Click to enlarge.
NRA demonization of drug users
The National Rifle Association (NRA) has often demonized drugs as a way to distract clueless Americans from restricting handgun ownership as Canada does. For example:
- NRA Ad Envisions War Between Defenseless Middle Class And Drug Cartels With High-Capacity Magazines. By Aviva Shen on Feb 15, 2013. ThinkProgress.
 Hey, angry white male Republican voters! Lighten up, dudes. Jesus' first miracle was turning water into wine. Jesus healed using cannabis [34]. Stop worshiping Ronald 6 Wilson 6 Reagan 6, and "Just Say No", and the NRA's mandatory minimums. |
The mandatory minimum sentencing laws at the federal level, and in many states, apply to marijuana possession above a certain amount, or growing above a certain number of plants. For more charts of all federal mandatory minimums (not just for marijuana and other drug offenses), see these pages.
The "truth-in-sentencing" (mandatory minimum sentencing) and "Two and Three Strikes" laws apply to many nonviolent criminals. At both the federal and state level. See history farther down of the NRA's state-by-state CrimeStrike campaign. With help from ALEC and Corrections Corporation of America.
- Federal Judge Quits, Calls Judicial System Unjust. June 25, 2003. Associated Press (AP) story, National Public Radio interview, and Judge John S. Martin's statement. "The result, he said, is a slew of lengthy prison sentences for low-level drug dealers 'who society failed at every step.' ... While many judges have criticized sentencing guidelines, it is unusual for a judge to publicly cite the frustrations of the job in stepping down." See also: Let Judges Do Their Jobs. By Hon. John S. Martin Jr..
Dissenting Opinions of Judges, Federal Drug Sentencing, Mandatory Minimum Sentences. A list of many articles by judges. At November Coalition site.
Timeline of mandatory minimum sentencing (does not include jail inmates):
Homicide rate is higher in the USA
| See Wikipedia: |
Chart below. Homicide rates of USA (top line), Australia, Canada, Spain (ESP), Great Britain, and the Netherlands.
Above chart is from: OECD "How Was Life?", page 147. And this article.
More people killed by US domestic gunmen (1,516,863) since 1968 than in all wars fought by America (1,396,733). [93]. From June 13, 2016 article in The Express.
Mass Incarceration and high murder rate damage U.S. Global Peace Ranking. June 9, 2016 article in U.S. News and World Report. See: Wikipedia: List of countries by incarceration_rate.
| Washington Post: Oregon dispute arises from small fires and mandatory minimum sentencing. Jan. 4, 2016 article. Irony of white Oregon militias opposing mandatory minimum sentences championed by racist NRA Republicans to target black drug users. And: The Big Lie in the War Against Drugs. "two enemies: the antiwar Left, and Black people." |
Most firearm deaths in the USA are from handguns. [94][95]. Canada has a much lower rate of handgun ownership than the USA. See chart. Canada has a much lower murder rate. See Wikipedia: List of countries by intentional homicide rate.
Number of guns per capita by country
The table at the above link is currently way out of date. For more recent rates look up the individual countries here:
See also:
- How France cut its per capita gun ownership in half. By David Andelman. Feb. 26, 2018. CNN.
Americans are against mandatory minimums
Above chart from here: Here’s how much Americans hate mandatory minimum sentences. By Christopher Ingraham. October 1, 2015. Washington Post.
Papa Bush doubles down on War on Drugs
Number incarcerated in the USA peaked in 2008. Let us not forget about the astronomical increase in the number of correctional officers, too. 469,500 in 2012. See: Correctional Officers : Occupational Outlook Handbook : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Return to top. Share link: Papa Bush.
- 2nd nationwide televised Bush speech on drugs on September 12, 1989: Quote from speech:
Some think there won't be room for them in jail. We'll make room. We're almost doubling prison space. Some think there aren't enough prosecutors. We'll hire them, with the largest increase in Federal prosecutors in history.
- Life sentence for buying weed? 25th anniversary of Papa Bush's War on Drugs escalation speech on September 5, 1989. The first prime time address of his presidency. Result: Life for pot.
- USA. Drug offenders constitute half of federal prisoners. See chart. See articles: [96][97][98].
- See: The U.S. Drug War. Republicans lead.
Life for pot
- See main article: USA. Life for pot. See also: Number of marijuana prisoners in the USA.
- Life in prison for selling marijuana: Meet the people new pot laws forgot. MSNBC. 8 Sep 2015. [99][100]. "At least 67 people are in prison right now, sentenced to die there for selling marijuana". And: LifeForPot.com. And: POW420.com also lists some cannabis lifers. Facebook: Life for Pot. And: Life In Prison For Pot And Other Travesties Of Marijuana Prohibition. 4 Sept. 2014. Forbes.
- Jeff Mizanskey, life without parole: Missouri man freed after spending two decades in prison for marijuana charge. 1 Sep 2015. Guardian. [101]. And: Grandpa Doing Life Without Parole. [102][103]. Nazi Republican prosecutor.
- Saudi Arabia beheads 4 for pot. [104][105][106][107]. Religious Right: Supported Life for Pot. [108][109][110]. Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives Newt Gingrich proposed a law that would execute people for 2 ounces of marijuana.
- Life for Pot Prisoner Larry Duke Released! [111][112][113][114][115][116][117][118].
Buried Alive. Non-violent drug sentencing
- Buried Alive. "The Buried Alive Project works to raise awareness and help eliminate life without parole sentences for federal drug offenses through transformative legislation and litigation."
- Non-violent drug sentencing has left thousands of people buried alive in prison. By Sharon Grigsby. Dallas Morning News. Feb. 21, 2018.
NRA CrimeStrike campaign
He is Howard J. Wooldridge. See Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, and Facebook pages worldwide. Wikipedia: LEAP. Share link.
The NRA must not be proud of their original CrimeStrike program. At the time of this writing, the NRA website (nra.org) does not mention their original CrimeStrike program. See this search of their website for "CrimeStrike". It only finds a television program.
Fortunately, Google finds the history of CrimeStrike elsewhere:
- Google Books: "CrimeStrike".
- Google Scholar: "CrimeStrike".
Getting Tough on Crime: The History and Political Context of Sentencing Reform Developments Leading to the Passage of the 1994 Crime Act. Published in Sentencing and Society: International Perspectives. Edited by Cyrus Tata and Neil Hutton. Ashgate Publishing Limited, Hampshire, England, 2002. Quote (emphasis added):
At the start of the Clinton administration in 1993 (and in the face of Clinton's strong expressions of support for gun control) the National Rifle Association announced it would launch a national campaign to get tough on criminals (Balz 1993). This was seen by many as a ploy to divert support away from Democratic gun control initiatives. NRA CrimeStrike -- a division of the National Rifle Association which had been founded in 1991 to "focus on the failures of America's criminal justice system" was then headed by Steve Twist, a close associate of Bob Corbin, the former Arizona Attorney General who had served as President of the NRA. According to its internet advertisements, NRA CrimeStrike has worked to pass "truth in sentencing" laws in Arizona, Mississippi, and Virginia; and "Three Strikes and You're Out" laws in Washington, California, Delaware, Georgia, North Carolina, Vermont, and Pennsylvania. ... Backed by NRA CrimeStrike, the nation's first "Three Strikes and You're Out" law was enacted by ballot initiative in Washington state in 1993, sending a shock-wave reverberating through legislatures in 21 states and the U.S. Congress over the next two years. ...
In California, however, the Three Strikes language was very broad -- with any of 500 felonies counting as a possible third strike to trigger a 25-to-life sentence -- plus it included a doubling of the prison term for a second strike.
The book chapter discussed above mentions this NRA report from the early 1990s: CrimeStrike Special Report: Elements for an Effective Criminal Justice System. Author: CrimeStrike, A Division of the NRA.
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Showing Holes. By Peter H. Stone. Mother Jones. January/February 1994 Issue. Quote from article (emphasis added):
The NRA also made the major blunder of taking on Joseph McNamara, the well-known former head of the San Jose, California, police department. The NRA ran an ad, headlined "So You Want Legalized Drugs in America?", that distorted McNamara's beliefs and angered many law enforcement officials. CrimeStrike, which combines state lobbying with national advertising and direct-mail blitzes, appears to have been launched partly to woo back the police community. It is also aimed at diverting public attention from gun-control measures and focusing it on NRA-backed campaigns to pass tougher sentencing laws and build more prisons in several states. This past election season [1993], CrimeStrike succeeded in pushing initiatives through in Washington and Texas.
NRA and Charlton Heston Criticize Safety Valve. DRCNet Activist Guide, Issue: #2, August 1994. Quote (emphasis added):
In a highly dishonest advertisement by the National Rifle Association on CNN last Tuesday, actor Charlton Heston criticized the Crime Bill, claiming that it would let 10,000 drug dealers back out on the streets.
The NRA Strikes Back. By Chris Bryson, In These Times, March 17, 1997, pp. 18-19. Click "full page" link for full-size pages. Quote (emphasis added):
the NRA formed CrimeStrike in 1991 as a division of its lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action. ... CrimeStrike logged its first victory in November 1993 when it backed Washington state's "Three Strikes and You're Out" initiative, the nation's first. ... That success was rapidly followed by similar victories in California and Virginia, where NRA lobbyists again provided essential money and manpower to "three strikes" campaigns. In Virginia and Mississippi, according to CrimeStrike state legislative affairs director Susan Misiora, the NRA was "instrumental" in passing truth-in-sentencing measures which lengthened average prison sentences.
When Misery Means Profit: Immigration Enforcement, the Prison Industry and ALEC. 2011 article by AZ resists ALEC. See Wikipedia: American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Article quote (emphasis added):
In the early 1990s, the NRA, an ALEC member, initiated a campaign called CrimeStrike designed to win passage of ALEC’s “Truth in Sentencing Act” and “Habitual Violent Offender Incarceration Act” in state legislatures. Between 1993 and 1995, truth-in-sentencing laws were adopted by twenty states and by 1998 ALEC could declare victory as truth-in-sentencing bills had become law in 40 states. In addition, 25 states now have three-strikes laws similar to ALEC’s model legislation. Of course, the result of this legislation is predictable and well documented: during the 1990s, prison construction boomed, the incarceration rate doubled driven by a prison population expansion of one-half million people and private jailers secured lucrative new contracts to house thousands of inmates from overcrowded public facilities.
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Not for Praise, but for Principle. August 18, 1995. An address to the 17th Annual NRA National Shooting Coaches and Instructors Conference. By Thomas C. Wyld, Director, PR & Communications, National Rifle Association. Institute for Legislative Action. Fairfax, Virginia. Quote (emphasis added):
That's why, in the first six months of this year alone, NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, through its CrimeStrike Division, has worked toward criminal justice reform and victims' rights in fifteen states -- from "Three Strikes You're Out" in Vermont to the "Hard Time for Armed Crime" Initiative in Washington state. Think about that. Criminal justice reform. And victims' rights. In fifteen states. In just six months. By one citizens' group. Yours. The National Rifle Association. NRA is working for -- and passing -- Two and Three Strikes laws to ensure that repeat offenders are kept behind bars for life. NRA is working for -- and passing -- truth-in-sentencing to require violent criminals to serve eighty-five percent of sentences imposed.
Corporate Con Game. June 21, 2010. By Beau Hodai, In These Times. Quote (emphasis added):
In the early '90s, the ALEC's Criminal Justice Task Force was co-chaired by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the country's largest private prison company. During those years, the National Rifle Association (NRA), another task force member (and the current task force co-chair), initiated a campaign to introduce two pieces of ALEC-inspired legislation at the state and federal level: the so-called "truth-in-sentencing" and "three-strikes-you're-out" laws. Truth-in-sentencing called for all violent offenders to serve 85 percent of their sentences before being eligible for release. Three strikes called for mandatory life imprisonment for a third felony conviction. The NRA campaign, dubbed "CrimeStrike,"...
10 Myths of Gun Control. March 1996, NRA Institute for Legislative Action. Quote (emphasis added):
NRA is meeting that challenge with its CrimeStrike division, established to advance real solutions to the crime problem while protecting the rights of all honest citizens. Working in states across the nation, CrimeStrike has worked for passage of "truth in sentencing laws" which require that criminals actually serve at least 85% of time sentenced, "Victim's Bill of Rights" constitutional amendments, and "Three Strikes You're Out" laws.
Disenfranchised from voting, college, jobs
This racist drug war is triply hard. People convicted of misdemeanor cannabis offenses, and other drug offenses, are blocked from getting much college financial aid. Drug convictions of all kinds can block job opportunities. And worst of all felons can be blocked permanently from voting. It is the epitome of Nixon's drug war racism and the "Southern strategy". See Wikipedia: Felony disenfranchisement. See map of U.S. felony disenfranchisement laws by state. See news.
2nd Amendment supported slave patrols
Just like the NRA uses the second amendment to support mandatory minimum sentences to fight the racist drug war.
- The Second Amendment was ratified to preserve slavery. By Thom Hartmann, AlterNet. 22 Feb 2018. The Raw Story.
Shoulda Robbed a Bank
Drug Sentences Driving Federal Prison Population Growth, Government Report Finds. By Phillip Smith, Sept. 13, 2012. StoptheDrugWar.org - A comment:
| What I saw during my 5 years in Federal Prison. by UndertheRadar (not verified), September 20, 2012, 12:33pm. I stayed 5 years in Federal Prison for a marijuana offense. While I was there, I watched armed bank robbers come and go in as little as 17 months. One lad was in for armed Post Office robbery with a sawed off shotgun...his stay, 20 months. When I went to the parole board after 3 years 'behind the wall,' I pointed this out to the panel members. Their response, "You must understand that yours was a very serious offense." I laughed about that for 2 more years (as I still sat in prison), then wrote my book: Shoulda Robbed a Bank. When I was in, the entire Federal Prison population was just over 28,000. Drug offenders made up 53% of that number. I see today that population has risen to over 218,000. Prison is big business. It used to be called 'slavery.' Please read Shoulda Robbed a Bank. I need the money... It's available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. |
- Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Smashwords (multiple formats). See more info from the author, Hugh Yonn.
People incarcerated for drug offences
- See main article: People in prisons and jails in the USA for drug-related crime. And: Number of marijuana prisoners in the USA. And: Drug war causes high U.S. incarceration rate. And: The U.S. Drug War. Republicans lead.
489,000 in 2013 (see chart below). For drug offenses alone.
Need to add in drug-related burglary, robbery, murder, etc..
All to get drug money, defend turf, etc..
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Obama helped turn around the Reagan-Bush War on Pot, mandatory minimums, mass incarceration. See: US incarceration peaked in 2008.
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USA: Peak of 7.3 million people in 2007 under adult correctional supervision: On probation or parole, or incarcerated in jail or prison. About 3.2% of the U.S. adult population, or 1 in every 31 adults. More info here. See template.
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In 2009 26.4% of those in federal and state prisons, or on probation or parole, were in due to drug offenses. Jail numbers are not included below.
More articles and links
Truth in sentencing:
- Google search: truth in sentencing.
- Google search: mandatory minimum.
- Google search: three strikes laws.
- Truth in Sentencing Laws | eHow.com.
- See Google News: mandatory minimum. And sorted by date.
- Holder's Legacy: Steering Away From the Drug War and Mass Incarceration. 25 Sept 2014. Huffington Post. [119][120].
- The head of the DEA is still quite fond of mandatory minimum sentences. 19 Sept 2014. Vox. Useful charts, too.
- DEA Chief Michele Leonhart Struggles To Explain Position On Drug Sentencing Reform. 18 Sept 2014. Huffington Post.
- Federal Agency Approves Early Release Of Some 46,000 Drug Prisoners. 18 July 2014. ThinkProgress. More info: [121] [122].
- Drug Offenders Constitute Half of Federal Prisoners: A Chart. 11 March 2014. By FAMM. [123] [124].
- Attorney General Eric Holder Slams U.S. Mass Incarceration At Security Ministers Conference in Medellín, Colombia. 22 Nov 2013. Drug Policy Alliance.
- How Eric Holder Bypassed Congress To Reform America's Draconian Drug Sentencing. By Erin Fuchs. 12 August 2013. Business Insider.
- Special Series: The Legacy And Future Of Mass Incarceration. February 2013. NPR, National Public Radio. Working with Prison Time: 40 years of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, a service of NCPR: North Country Public Radio.
- GUEST OPINION: Elderly prisoners pose little risk, big cost - Fall River, MA - The Herald News. By Vanita Gupta. 15 June 2012.
Handguns, firearms, deaths. By country
- Wikipedia: List of countries by incarceration rate.
- Incarceration rates of European countries.
- Wikipedia: Estimated number of guns per capita by country.
- Wikipedia: List of countries by intentional homicide rate.
- Wikipedia: List of countries by firearm-related death rate.
- Gun Ownership By Country 2015: US Ranks First As Obama Calls For 'Common Sense' Laws. 24 July 2015. By Sarah Berger. International Business Times.
Chart below: Household ownership of handguns and firearms by country. For U.S, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and European nations.
2004-2005. See info.
Source: Page 18, Figure 11. International Statistics On Crime and Justice. European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control. Affiliated With the United Nations. Edited by S. Harrendorf, M. Heiskanen, S. Malby.
Handguns equal high murder rate
2004-2005. See info.
The U.S. stats for shootings are startling. Above graphic is old. For more recent info: About Gun Violence | Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence:. See Wikipedia: Brady Campaign. See table of CDC stats: Gun Death and Injury Stat Sheet 2008 & 2009.
In 2005 almost 3% of households in Canada possessed handguns, compared to 18% of U.S. households that possessed handguns. See chart. Canada has a much lower homicide rate than its neighbor to the south, the USA.
In 2011, 72% of the 8,583 homicides committed using firearms in the United States were committed using handguns. See: Expanded Homicide Data Table 8 - Murder Victims by Weapon, 2007-2011. By the FBI (U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation)
Nearly all of Western Europe bans or severely restricts handguns. Rifles and shotguns are legal to own. The murder rates are much lower than in the USA. See Wikipedia:
- List of countries by intentional homicide rate.
- List of countries by firearm-related death rate.
- Gun politics and Gun politics in Canada.
- Gun politics in the United States.
GOP wants easy way to buy silencers
- GOP Lawmakers Want To Make Gun Silencers Cheaper, Easier To Buy. 23 Oct 2015. By Nick Wing. Huffington Post.
- Gunmakers and the NRA Bet Big on Silencers. What Could Go Wrong? 19 Mar 2013. By Stephanie Mencimer. Mother Jones.
- Silencers: The NRA’s latest big lie. 30 Dec 2012. By Alexander Zaitchik. Salon.
Lower gun death rates via gun control laws
- The Top 10 States For Gun Deaths — Guess How Many Are Blue With Strict Gun Control Laws. By Charles Topher. Dec. 7, 2015.
Handguns and long guns. By country
- A minority of Americans own guns, but just how many is unclear. Pew Research Center. June 4, 2013.
- Self-Reported Gun Ownership in U.S. Is Highest Since 1993. By Lydia Saad. October 26, 2011. Gallup report. "Forty-seven percent of American adults currently report that they have a gun in their home or elsewhere on their property. This is up from 41% a year ago and is the highest Gallup has recorded since 1993, albeit marginally above the 44% and 45% highs seen during that period." ... "The new result comes from Gallup's Oct. 6-9 [2011] Crime poll."
- Table 18 (below) on page 279 of Criminal Victimisation in International Perspective, by the International Crime Victims Survey.
Table 18 heading: "Ownership of firearms and handguns in countries and main cities (percentages). 1989-2005 ICVS and 2005 EU ICS." From the report intro: "A large portion of the latest data in this report comes from the European Survey on Crime and Safety (EU ICS), organised by a consortium led by Gallup Europe, co-financed by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Research and Technology Development."
The percentages in table 18 below are by household (click to enlarge).
NRA, handguns, youth murders in Chicago
Return to top. See above chart for household possession of firearms and handguns by country.
The NRA refuses to acknowledge that countries with low rates of handgun ownership have much lower murder rates. Only nationwide handgun restriction works well.
The statistics do not show the terror and post-traumatic stress of living in the war zones where many urban high schools in the USA are found.
- Harper High School, Part One. Feb. 15, 2013. This American Life.
- Harper High School, Part Two. Feb. 22, 2013. This American Life.
"We spent five months at Harper High School in Chicago, where last year alone 29 current and recent students were shot. We went to get a sense of what it means to live in the midst of all this gun violence, how teens and adults navigate a world of funerals and Homecoming dances."
NRA's heroic gunslinger myth
- Tactical Experts Destroy the NRA’s Heroic Gunslinger Fantasy. 5 Oct 2015. The Nation.
- More Combat Veterans come out to call NRA gun myths "insane". 7 Oct 2015. Daily Kos.
- Combat veterans shoot down NRA ‘fantasy world’ of ‘good guys with guns’. 7 Oct 2015. Raw Story.
10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot Down
- 10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot Down. By Dave Gilson. Jan. 31, 2013. Mother Jones.
High-capacity magazines should be banned
New Zealand bans types of semi-automatic weapons, high capacity magazines after mass shooting. 21 Mar 2019.
High-capacity magazines for rifles make some sense, but not much, in making the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution more effective as a bulwark against tyranny. But they cause far more damage in mass shootings. They should be banned. Both for handguns and long guns. See this article explaining why a single rifle shot is so much more deadly than a handgun shot:
- What I Saw Treating the Victims From Parkland Should Change the Debate on Guns. By Heather Sher. Feb. 2018. The Atlantic.
The proliferation of handguns is far more important in causing higher murder rates than long guns. Getting rid of handguns is what is necessary. Rifles and shotguns do not need to be banned. An "assault rifle" that is legal in the USA is just a semi-automatic rifle. Many hunting rifles are semi-automatic.
Fully-automatic rifles (machine guns) are no longer legal in the USA for the most part.
Handguns are laughable weapons for defending against tyranny. They should be banned since most murders in the USA are committed with them.
For more info and points of view:
- Wikipedia: Magazine (firearms). Magazines and clips.
- David Gregory Held Up A High-Capacity Magazine To See If The Head Of The NRA Would Budge On Anything. By Brett LoGiurato. Dec. 23, 2012. Business Insider.
- NRA Chief Calls For National Database Of The Mentally Ill And Says: If You Want To Call Me Crazy, Then Call Me Crazy. By Brett LoGiurato. Dec. 23, 2012. Business Insider.
- Why We Must Ban High-Capacity Gun Magazines. By Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy. April 6, 2011. Huffington Post.
Bump stocks should be banned
The elephant is the mascot of the Republican Brownshirts. See: Holy War on Drugs, Republican-led mass incarceration. Share link.
More cops, more guns, more jails
Whatever good the NRA has done is far outweighed by its part in creating an incarceration nation. See Drug war charts and maps. See Wikipedia: Mandatory minimum sentencing, and Two and Three Strikes laws. On the day of the Mayan apocalypse, Dec. 21, 2012, the NRA marched in: "LaPierre announced that former Rep. Asa Hutchinson [ex-DEA chief], R-Ark., will lead an NRA program that will develop a model security plan for schools that relies on armed volunteers." Many of them trained and indoctrinated by the NRA. NRA Press Conference: Wayne LaPierre Calls For Armed Police Officers At Every School. Huffington Post, Dec. 21, 2012.
George Orwell, rifles, and tyranny
| George Orwell: "The totalitarian states can do great things, but there is one thing they cannot do: they cannot give the factory-worker a rifle and tell him to take it home and keep it in his bedroom. That rifle hanging on the wall of the working-class flat or labourer's cottage, is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there." -- January 8, 1941 in an article for the London Evening Standard. See source. |
The Republican Party (GOP) and the NRA are responsible for mass incarceration, and removing rifles and voting rights from millions of drug users and non-violent felons across the United States. See: Can Convicted Felon Purchase or Possess a Firearm?.
Handguns don't defend against tyranny. That is laughable. Rifles defend against tyranny. And the country of Orwell, the UK, bans handgun ownership for the most part. See Wikipedia: Gun politics in the United Kingdom. All handguns do is greatly increase the murder rate.
Canada versus USA
American Exception. Inmate Count in US Dwarfs Other Nations'. April 22, 2008. New York Times. Page 1, section A, front page. Archive. From the article (emphasis added):
Still, it is the length of sentences that truly distinguishes American prison policy. Indeed, the mere number of sentences imposed here would not place the United States at the top of the incarceration lists. If lists were compiled based on annual admissions to prison per capita, several European countries would outpace the United States. But American prison stays are much longer, so the total incarceration rate is higher. ... "Rises and falls in Canada's crime rate have closely paralleled America's for 40 years," Mr. Tonry wrote last year. "But its imprisonment rate has remained stable."
Wikipedia: Danny Zuker. His Twitter feed. Canada has a much lower rate of handgun ownership than the USA. See chart. Much lower incarceration and murder rates too.
New York Times: "Rises and falls in Canada's crime rate have closely paralleled America's for 40 years," Mr. Tonry wrote last year. "But its imprisonment rate has remained stable." [125] [126]. April 22, 2008.
Youtube video. Pot and Politics: Chris Bennett at Occupy Vancouver (15 Oct 2011). The Harperization of the Drug War in Canada (one minute into video). Speech discusses Prime Minister Stephen Harper's attempts at slavish imitation of the U.S. drug war and mandatory minimum sentencing.
See source article. By The Huffington Post. See image info. [35].
Finland's open prisons
Listen to the audio too.
- In Finland's 'open prisons,' inmates have the keys. April 15, 2015. Reporter Rae Ellen Bichell. Public Radio International. From the article (emphasis added):
"By the end of this period of 'decarceration,' Finland had one of the lowest rates of imprisonment on the continent. Lappi-Seppälä says crime didn’t increase as a result. 'The lesson from Finland was that it was perfectly possible to drop the use of imprisonment [by two-thirds,]' he says, 'and that did not disturb the crime trend development in Finland.' What did work was a gradual reintroduction into normal life, the kind that the open prisons offer. About a third of Finnish inmates are housed in open prison, and Finland’s Criminal Sanctions Agency says inmates who go through open prisons are less likely to be arrested again. The reoffending rate drops almost 20 percent. Open prisons also cost less."
Germany's kinder and safer prisons
Germany has much lower incarceration and murder rates than in the USA.
- German Prisons Are Kinder, Gentler, and Safer Than the Ones in America. July 10, 2015 by Maurice Chammah. Vice magazine. From the article:
"Inmates live in rooms and sleep in beds, not on concrete or steel slabs with thin padding. They have privacy—correctional officers knock before entering. Prisoners wear their own clothes, and can decorate their space as they wish. They cook their own meals, are paid more for their work, and have opportunities to visit family, learn skills, and gain education. ... There is little to no violence—including in communal kitchens where there are knives and other potentially dangerous implements. And the maximum time inmates spend in any kind of punitive solitary is eight hours. ... In Germany, prosecutors and judges are not elected. As career civil servants, they are insulated from public opinion."
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Cannabis is safer.
Return to top. See article: Cannabis is safer.
16 Dec 2019: Majority Of Americans Support Marijuana Legalization, Two More New Polls Show. "Voters who supported President Trump in the 2016 election expressed greater opposition to the policy than Republicans and Republican-leaning independents as a whole."
| 2 May 2019: Time to Admit It: Trump Opposes Cannabis Legalization. He opposed latest 3 bills for veterans’ access to medical cannabis. |
23 Feb 2019: Trump Continues to Flip-Flop on Medical Marijuana.
See: Reagan's war on cannabis. And: Holy War on Drugs, Republican-led mass incarceration.
| Ronald Reagan, 1980 campaign speech: "Leading medical researchers are coming to the conclusion that marijuana, pot, grass whatever you want to call it, is probably the most dangerous drug in the United States, and we haven't begun to find out all of the ill effects, but they are permanent ill effects. The loss of memory for example." |
Share link: Obama.
- Obama correctly said that cannabis is safer than alcohol. See: Cannabis is safer. He also said marijuana should be treated more as a public health issue than a criminal one. And: Obama signals support for legalizing medical marijuana. [127]. See video.
- USA. 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults are alcohol-related (disease, overdose, car crashes, falls, violence, etc). 87,798 per year, 2006 to 2010. [128][129][130][131][132].
See longer article: Cannabis is safer.
- Imagine if Mitt Romney had been elected President in 2012 instead of Obama.
- Obama on marijuana legalization. [133]. "My suspicion is that you’re gonna see other states start looking at this". The Washington Post. Jan. 22, 2015.
Above quote is from Sanjay Gupta interview of Obama on April 15, 2015. Interview aired on CNN on April 19, 2015. [134][135][136].
- Obama administration asks Supreme Court to reject lawsuit filed by Republican governments in Oklahoma and Nebraska to stop legal marijuana in Colorado [137]. December 2015.
 Obama helped turn around the Reagan-Bush War on Pot, mandatory minimums, mass incarceration. See: US incarceration peaked in 2008. |
- Holder's Legacy: Steering Away From the Drug War and Mass Incarceration. [138]. Attorney General Eric Holder (2009-2015) under President Obama. 25 Sep 2014.
Vote out most US Republicans and their cannabis war.
Register and vote for cannabis.
Trump's far-right Republicans
Return to top. See: Happy alternatives to Republican-led poverty, mass incarceration, food insecurity, debt, ill health, intense concentration of wealth, endless wars.
| News: Americans want universal healthcare and progressive taxation. Democratic Presidents Roosevelt and Truman worked for both. Roosevelt and Truman, followed by Eisenhower, a progressive Republican, had steep progressive taxation where the prosperous middle class paid less taxes as a percent of their income, because the rich paid more. All 3 Presidents increased the minimum wage, [139], which pushed up middle class wages too. Under Trump, inflation-adjusted wages are declining [140].
|
For info to continue below click Full Site link:
GOP taxes screw middle class
Trump signed tax law that gave 83% of benefits to the top 1%.
Chart below. 2017 Republican tax and individual mandate repeal bill. Yellow is for an average increase in cost for people in those groups. Higher costs hitting more people each year. Up to incomes of $75,000.
| Republican tax bill hurts the poor more than originally thought, Congressional Budget Office finds. | "By 2019, Americans earning less than $30,000 a year would be worse off under the Senate bill, CBO found. By 2021, Americans earning $40,000 or less would be net losers, and by 2027, most people earning less than $75,000 a year would be worse off. On the flip side, millionaires and those earning $100,000 to $500,000 would be big beneficiaries". |
| 2 polls: Only 29% of Americans approve of Republican tax plan. 2. | |
Falling inflation-adjusted wages
- Return to top. See: Income inequality and drug war. And: Under Trump, inflation-adjusted wages are declining (especially for Republican states with low minimum wages).
The Trump Matrix. Wage slaves waking up.
28 Feb 2020: PolitiFact: Rep. Mark Pocan is on point that wages haven't moved much in the last 30 years. "The cost of everyday goods like rent, groceries and cars have outpaced median wage growth. ... Accounting for inflation, the median wage has only increased $3 since 1990 — and the cost of living expenses has far outpaced that number."
| Real pay data show Trump's 'blue collar boom' is more of a bust for US workers, in 3 charts. 7 Feb 2020. |
25 Sep 2018: Real Wage Growth Is Actually Falling. Forbes.
| 14 Aug 2018: Stagnating salaries: Real US wages are essentially back at 1974 levels, Pew reports. Daniel B. Kline. USA Today. |
In U.S., wage growth is being wiped out entirely by inflation. 10 Aug 2018. Washington Post.
| 7 Aug 2018: For most U.S. workers, real wages have barely budged in decades. Pew Research Center. |
Top line in timeline below is hourly wages adjusted for inflation. It is flat: Bottom of chart below says: "Data for wages of production and non-supervisory employees on private non-farm payrolls."
US has stingiest minimum wage
Return to top. See: More charts.
2 Jul 2019: There’s More Evidence That Raising the Minimum Wage Won’t Cost Jobs.
"The U.S. has one of the stingiest minimum wage policies of any wealthy nation." Dec. 29, 2017. Washington Post. Chart below is from the article.
Chart below. USA. Inflation-adjusted federal minimum wage over the years.
Source. See also: Wikipedia: List of minimum wages by country.
17 June 2019: US federal minimum wage has 35% less buying power than in 1969. 10 years since last increase. A record. CNN. [141].
- 2020 State Minimum Wage Rates. Plus map showing lower minimum wages in Republican states. [142][143].]]
US federal minimum wage timeline below. Top line is adjusted for inflation. Middle class prosperity peaked under Truman and Roosevelt in the 1950s due to steep progressive taxation where the middle class paid less. And the minimum wage was increased. That also pushed up middle class wages.
US has high wealth inequality
See the median wealth by country chart:
Wikipedia: List of countries by wealth per adult - 2019 publication: The average median wealth per adult for Canada ($107,004) is much higher than that of the former great nation, the USA ($65,904). It's due to Republican trickle-down voodoo economics: Giving tax cuts to the rich instead of to the middle class and poor who actually need them. Plus predatory mortgage loans and foreclosure. And predatory unforgivable student loans. Google News search: student debt.
Republicans waste $$-trillions on health insurance companies, and ground wars ($5.6 trillion). Instead of paying higher wages, and higher minimum wages. As Canada does.
US middle-class wealth has collapsed. [144]. See chart below. See: Income inequality and drug war. And: Wikipedia: List of countries by wealth per adult.? Median wealth is exactly in the middle. 50% of adults have more, and 50% have less. Wealth is all assets (money, stocks, property, etc.) minus all debts.
- Middle class wealth collapsing. [145]. And: Just 8 men own same wealth as half the world. See Wikipedia: Wealth in the United States.
-
Median wealth per adult. Credit Suisse. 2019 report. Country links are to Wikipedia articles. Click red column headers to sort. Link.
Country Median wealth
per adult.
US dollars1 Switzerland 227,891 2 Australia 181,361 3 Iceland 165,961 4 Hong Kong 146,887 5 Luxembourg 139,789 6 Belgium 117,093 7 New Zealand 116,433 8 Japan 110,408 9 Canada 107,004 10 Ireland 104,842 11 France 101,942 12 United Kingdom 97,452 13 Singapore 96,967 14 Spain 95,360 15 Austria 94,070 16 Italy 91,889 17 Malta 76,016 18 South Korea 72,198 19 Norway 70,627 20 Taiwan 70,191 21 Qatar 69,671 22 United States 65,904 23 Denmark 58,784 -
US has high income inequality
Timeline below of real (inflation-adjusted) average US household income by quintile and top 5 percent in 2018 dollars. Note that the bottom 60% of households (bottom 3 quintiles) have had little improvement in real income. While the top 20%, and especially the top 5 percent, have had large, even exceptional, increases in real income.
Median income by country charts:
- Median GDP per capita: how much does the typical person earn in different countries? A look at Global Inequality - the Giving What We Can Blog. By Hauke Hillebrandt. 25 May 2016
- The World Bank’s Poverty Statistics Lack Median Income Data, So We Filled In the Gap Ourselves — Download Available. February 6, 2016. Anna Diofasi and Nancy Birdsall. Center for Global Development.
- Above chart. United States leads in income inequality, and lack of economic mobility. Increasing income inequality on the horizontal axis. Increasing economic immobility on the vertical axis. Note the Scandinavian countries on the bottom left.
26 Jul 2018: As Workers' Wages Continue to Fall Under Trump, Analysis Shows CEO Pay Is Way Higher Than Typically Reported. Jake Johnson, Common Dreams.
17 Jul 2018: Bernie Sanders: Trump’s economy is great for billionaires, not for working families. By Bernie Sanders. USA Today. 17 Jul 2018: If the economy is 'roaring', why are so many Americans still struggling? Bernie Sanders. The Guardian.
Real wages are not just flat, they are falling. 15 Jun 2018. Jeff Stein and Andrew Van Dam. Washington Post.
| Workers’ wages fall after Republican tax cuts. 13 Jun 2018. Tax cuts went mostly to the rich. Should have gone mostly to the middle class who would have had more money free to plow back into the economy. For the biggest group of American workers, wages aren’t just flat. They’re falling. June 15, 2018. Washington Post. [146][147][148]. |
Increasing income inequality over time. Chart below from:
17 Dec 2017: A Republican Tax Plan to Turbocharge Inequality, in 3 Charts. New York Times.
1 Jul 2016: Income Inequality Is At The Highest Level In American History. By Bryce Covert. ThinkProgress. "Incomes for the 99 percent have only recovered about 60 percent of what they lost. But the rich are doing great. ... They captured more than half of all the income growth in the country."
- Commons: Category: Median income. Charts, graphs, maps
Massive US household debt
Return to top. See Wikipedia: Household debt.
US household debt at all time high. Chart below is from the PDF.
Total household debt. From 1st quarter 2003 through recent times.
Total Household Debt by Type:
- Click to enlarge. Timeline is by quarters.
Massive US medical debt
Return to top. See: Canadian single-payer universal healthcare versus US healthcare.
This doesn't happen in Canada, due to single-payer universal healthcare.
17 Jan 2019: US. 34 Devastating Stories About How People Are Still Crushed By Medical Debt. By Venessa Wong. BuzzFeed News.
Progressive Republicans:
President Eisenhower. 1953
Wikipedia: Dwight D. Eisenhower. President: January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961.
Viral meme says 1956 Republican platform was pretty liberal. Article by PolitiFact says it is mostly true. See Wikipedia: PolitiFact.
President Eisenhower followed progressives like President Roosevelt. Roosevelt and General Eisenhower had worked together to crush the far-right of their day, the Nazis.
Quote source: Franklin Roosevelt's Statement on the National Industrial Recovery Act. June 16, 1933. "No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country."
Unlike today's Republicans, Eisenhower understood that trickle-down economics does not work.
14 Oct 2018: Bernie Sanders video: Trickle-Down Economics Does Not Work.
12 Oct 2018: Bernie Sanders video: Disney Heiress Abigail Disney Says The Wealthy Don't Need Another Tax Break.
His 91% top marginal tax rate
Equaled prosperity for more
Eisenhower, the progressive Republican President, had a 91% top marginal income tax rate.. He participated in one of the greatest eras of economic prosperity-for-more in the US in the 1950s.
That era had lower overall taxes on the middle class.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Hires Former Marijuana Lobbyist As Senior Advisor. By Kyle Jaeger. January 7, 2019. Marijuana Moment. From the article: "Both believe that marijuana should be legalized at the federal level".
Ocasio-Cortez floats 70 percent tax on the super wealthy to fund Green New Deal.
7 Jan 2018: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is floating a 70 percent top tax rate — here’s the research that backs her up. And: Haters. And: Dancegate.
As Poll Shows Majority Back 70% Top Marginal Tax Rate for Ultra-Rich, Ocasio-Cortez's "Radical" Proposal Proves Extremely Mainstream. [149][150].
Chart below. Highest marginal income tax rates over time.
- Above chart source. And: Source 2.
USA. Since 2001, labor’s share of national income has suffered a sustained decline. 11 Sep 2018.
- See above chart source. [151]. And source article.
Chart below: Top 10% of earners receive 50% of all income. When capital gains are included.
- Above graph source. And: Source 2.
| 10 Jul 2018: National (US) Pay Trends. "Since 2006, wages have risen 12.9 percent overall in the US. But when you factor in inflation, real wages' have actually fallen 9.3 percent. In other words, the income for a typical worker today buys them less than it did in 2006." |
2 Jul 2018: An Update for 2018: More Evidence That Half of Americans Are In or Near Poverty. Paul Buchheit. Common Dreams.
For most U.S. workers, real wages have barely budged in decades. 7 Aug 2018. By Drew DeSilver. Pew Research Center. Chart below is from the article. Bottom of chart says: "Data for wages of production and non-supervisory employees on private non-farm payrolls."
The top line in the chart below is for hourly wages adjusted for inflation
President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln. From a message to the U.S. Congress, 3 December 1861:
"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."
More sources: [152]. The full speech. See: Facebook image.
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