Coke/ Koch are Both Bad for US/U.S.

Last night after smiling for an hour watching one of my favorite shows "Dancing WIth the Stars" Natureman flipped the channel to PBS.  There we watched  a PBS program that really riled me. 'Riled' is Southern for it really got me all worked up...

It was called:    Park Avenue : Money, Power  and the American Dream.

I have a feeling when you think of New York's Park Avenue like me you think of those that have made it - THE RICH.

A new game appeared on Madison's Capitol's square

Our lives were illustrated using the game of Monopoly. Remember the game where everybody started out with the same amount of money.  Through luck (roll of the die) and strategy you could acquire property and wealth. BUT what if the rules were different and one player was given twice as much $ as you to begin,  how fair would that be?  Park Avenue was on that board game but reality is that there are two ends to Park Avenue and if you cross the bridge to the other end you'll find poverty with 30% unemployment.

At the wealthy end 470 Park Avenue resides more billionaires than any other building.  People like John D Rockefeller Jr used to live there but now most of the 31 residents are Hedge Fund managers. One of the Koch Brothers even lives there.

A year ago I had never even heard the name Koch.  I remember taking pictures of  political signage  -one one had the outline of the state of Wisconsin and inside it said WISKOCHSIN. There was also a caricature of the Koch Brothers walking a Scotty(our governor is Scott Walker). The truth is these 2 men do own way too much and it's not funny.

The Koch Brothers are so wealthy that they can even buy freedoms -  the Freedom to pollute ( through their oil industry), the freedom to avoid taxes  - heck the freedom to do whatever they want.  They have given billions to Pacs, politicians, the Tea Party, even universities to have programs to teach 'deregulation' and so on and so on. They have also found out it is much cheaper to buy 'state' representatives. Wisconsin's very own Golden Boy Paul Ryan is in their pocket and receives more money from the Koch brothers than any other politician.

His budget program called The Path to Prosperity is now in the heart of the Republican Party and its purpose is to eviscerate social supports.  The more you take from the public sector, the more people are going to suffer. What once allowed people to be able to pull themselves up is now being taken away especially ' education.' Billions from educational programs. Busting unions including teachers unions doesn't strengthen the educational system . It was those unions that guaranteed class size, teacher competencies, etc. It's all about privatization, not the public good.

There just happened to be an article in this past Sunday's paper regarding Kwik Trip , Wisconsin's convenient stores, who say it's unfair competition that Wisconsin Gas and Electric can sell LP gas for LP automobiles because they don't want them in the business. This is the same business that told their employees at company meetings that they had to sign pledge cards to support our illustrious Governor Walker and his party. Kwik Trip just coincidentally happens to sell Koch Brothers gasoline in their gas stations...

The election may be over but this class warfare is not. The Kochs do not have any one's best interest at heart except their own.  Even if I live in the End of the Rainbow Valley  in the middle of nowhere, these people affect my life, our lives, there's no escaping them. So are we going to sit idly by and  let them control the destiny of our country?  Deregulation is NOT the answer.

http://tv.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/arts/television/park-avenue-money-power-the-american-dream-on-pbs.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1&