[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11149-11150]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   THE MASSIVE TRANSFER OF WEALTH FROM THE MANY TO THE HANDS OF A FEW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio 
(Mr. Kucinich) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KUCINICH. The rancorous debate over the debt belies a fundamental 
truth of our economy: that it is run for the few at the expense of the 
many, that our entire government has been turned into a machine which 
takes the wealth of the mass of Americans and accelerates it into the 
hands of a few. Let me give you some examples.
  Take war. War takes the money from the American people and puts it 
into the hands of arms manufacturers, of war profiteers, of private 
armies. The war in Iraq, based on lies, $3 trillion will be the cost of 
that war, at least. The war in Afghanistan, based on a misreading of 
history, half a trillion dollars in expenses already. The war against 
Libya will be $1 billion by September. Fifty percent of our 
discretionary spending goes for the Pentagon. A massive transfer of 
wealth into the hands of a few while the American people lack 
sufficient jobs, health care, housing, retirement security.
  Our energy policies take the wealth from the American people and put 
it into the hands of the oil companies. We could be looking at $150 a 
barrel for oil in the near future.

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  Our environmental policy takes the wealth of the people, clean air, 
clean water, and puts it in the hands of the polluters. It's a transfer 
of wealth not only from the present but from future generations, as our 
environment is ruined.
  Insurance companies, what do they do? They take the wealth from the 
American people, in terms of what they charge people for health 
insurance, and they put it into the hands of the few.
  We have to realize what this country's economy has become. Our 
monetary policy, through the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, privatized 
the money supply, gathers the wealth and puts it in the hands of the 
few while the Federal Reserve can keep creating money out of nothing, 
give it to banks to park at the Fed, and our small businesses are 
starved for capital.
  Mark my words: Wall Street cashes in whether we have a default or 
not. And the same type of thinking that created billions in bailouts 
for Wall Street and more than $1 trillion in giveaways by the Federal 
Reserve today leaves 26 million Americans either underemployed or 
unemployed. And 9 out of 10 Americans over the age of 65 are facing 
cuts in their Social Security in order to pay for a debt which grew 
from tax cuts for the rich and from endless wars.
  There is a massive transfer of wealth from the American people to the 
hands of the few, and it's going on right now as America's eyes are 
misdirected to the political theater of these histrionic debt 
negotiations: threats to shut down the government, a willingness to 
make the most vulnerable Americans pay dearly for debts they did not 
create. These are symptoms of a government which has lost its way, and 
they are a challenge to the legitimacy of the two-party system.

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