Tax cheats run this country. How do you feel about that?

In today’s New York Times we learn that so far this year 14,700 Americans have applied for amnesty under an I.R.S. program. They are not prosecuted for tax evasion if they come forward acknowledging that they have offshore secret bank accounts set up by foreign banks in order for them to evade American taxes. The story is here.

The reason this is important is many-fold but from the point of view of veterans, it exposes the problems we have in this country with making the super-rich and powerful pull their fair share of the weight relative to the financial and civic burdens of citizenship. It can be damned near impossible to do that. They are wealthy enough to get out of their responsibilities to the rest of us. This affects veterans greatly.

Roughly 1% of our population has annual earnings of a million dollars or more. They alone could carry the Veterans Budget every year. They don’t pay their fair share of taxes however when they hide their earnings like this.

This affects American veterans directly. The super wealthy are literally stealing from us.

In short, the super-rich rarely serve in the Armed Forces which means they rarely suffer the consequences of the wars that are started in order to enhance their portfolios.

This is why Reagan’s "trickle down" economics is so dangerous. It does not exist but the very wealthy have a vested interest in insisting that it does. This is a basic platform of modern GOP thinking. It is extremely cruel because it is a lie and the poor, the working class and the disenfranchised suffer greatly because of it.

The argument is simple:"let us make Big Money whenever and where ever we can and we will employ people." As you can see, it is not happening now and in fact, never did happen. It is the ultimate economic Big Lie.

Simply put, this "Big Lie" of trickle-down economics causes wars. Oil cartel magnates, war industry captains and "emerging markets" financial pirates would all fall into this group of big time tax cheats at the highest levels of earnings.

They don’t fight the wars that they start and they don’t pay their fair share of taxes either. So what exactly do they see as their civic duty?

How do you feel about that as a veteran? As a disabled veteran? As an out of work veteran with no prospects for a good job in the near future? How do you feel about trickle down economics now that you see the high and mighty hiding their money from the I.R.S. ?

This question is important for you to answer as a veteran and involved citizen.

This manipulation of Big Money has been going on, in one way or another, since long before this republic was founded. European colonies that later became states here in the U.S. were specifically founded and funded by foreign monarchs so that North America’s natural resources could be syphoned off by the super wealthy of 16th, 17th and 18th Century Europe.

This is not a new situation here on this continent. This is simply a new twist to an old and bitter story. There are still Viceroys, vicious princes and robber barons among us. And they are more powerful and more secretive than ever.

The entire idea of raping resources for the benefit of the mighty few by enlisting the help of the disenfranchised many is an old story on our soil.

How do you feel about sending working class kids to fight and die in Iraq and Afghanistan while Dick Cheney’s friends get so rich from it that they have to hide their money offshore? I hasten to point out that they don’t send their kids to fight either.

Does this color the entire phony war situation in the Middle East a little darker for you now? Are you starting to see the connection between "Big Money" and "Big Lie" and "Big Tax Cheats" ?

This has caused death and lifetime maiming for tens of thousands of Americans who were killed, injured, maimed or mentally broken in these senseless wars in western Asia. It was all over money. And it was fought by the disenfranchised for the benefit of the wealthy few who hide that money that was made so as not to pay taxes on it.

It is a bitter pill to swallow isn’t it?

Do you see why old, gray haired malcontents like me who have spent decades in uniform on active duty get so bitter at this constant and never ending mashugana that the super wealthy foist upon the hapless citizen that has no choice but to either go hungry or do their bidding? Do you see the hypocrisy here now?

Just asking.

Just remember this the next time you go to the polls. It is your only chance at "even-ing up" the ante here.

You might also think twice the next time you feel like "waving the flag" or screaming "my country right or wrong" the next time this Great Nation’s elites decide to wage a war of opportunity like the two travesties we are funding and fighting now. Are you beginning to understand now how badly you have been used? Are you beginning to see the deception here? You have been lied to by experts with Ivy League educations and more money than God.

Working class kids were killed, maimed and mentally stripped clean so that Big Money could be made and then hidden in off shore accounts.  Aren’t you proud?

So let me ask you as an American veteran, how do you feel about that?

In other news we learn that China simply did not budge on major issues brought up by President Obama in his visit there. We don’t have the leverage to force them to look at their own incongruities within society and the world market place.

We owe them a trillion dollars that we borrowed to wage these wars and so we must basically sit there on our hands with our mouths shut. Not very pleasant to be the poor visitng cousin is it? Here is the story.

In this story we find out that Obama’s entourage refused to meet with Chinese liberals, the Chinese free press advocates or the average Chinese citizen while in China. We owe the Chinese elites too much money to offend the government. How do you feel about that? I don’t feel good about it.

In this story we find that the Pakistani Army’s apparent success in forcing the Taliban to flee in the South Waziristan region of Pakistan could have a direct bearing on how many troops Obama sends to Afghanistan. The Pakistani Army is claiming success in scattering the Taliban out of the province.

Frankly, I do not see this as much of a victory by anyone over anything. This just pushes the problem back a few more months. The Taliban fled whole and intact.  That is not a victory. That story is here.

Remember, your duty as an American veteran and a citizen is to get informed and stay informed and then use that informed opinion to help govern this nation. You served in uniform for that to happen. Don’t throw away that basic right of participative government. You paid too high a price for it.

Contact your congressman or congresswoman today. Say something that is important to you. Say anything…but say something. You earned the right to do this, so use it.

CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.)