'Three Fifths of a Person' & Slavery

[WhiskeyGirl]

I keep hearing the '3/5's of a person' phrase invoked by many on TV.  They seem to leave a lot out - those being counted at less than a whole person, did not get to vote, they were not free people.  Who benefited from the inclusion of those counted at 3/5ths?  The slave masters and their states.  Slaves were property in the US, much like property that was used and abused for thousands of years, in a global fashion.  Nothing new to see in the US. 

The more 'people' in a state, the more votes in Congress and in our new nation.  Property can't vote, why should any state get more votes because they own property? 


This is a good article and includes some tapes that explain the concept and why it was an important antislavery concept -

"America’s Black Founding Fathers "
http://www.dakotavoice.com/2010/05/americas-black-founding-fathers/

[WhiskeyGirl]

Apparently, many people, including Frederick Douglas understood the real antislavery reasons behind the "3/5ths of a person" rule.

What would they make of Washington's political class today?


We'll let you be 'free' men...but...

The harder you work, the more of your labor will be confiscated through a complex system of taxation...if you work real hard, we'll let you keep 10% and take the other 90% of your labor.  Out of the 10% WE let you keep, WE'll let you buy food, energy, and housing that is taxed or regulated to keep the price artificially high.  What will we do with the 90%?  Never fear WE'll spend your money wisely, according to our priorities.  What priorities - vote buying, helping the poor through never ending entitlements, educational systems that make school longer and longer and graduate people less and less able to compete in the 'global' society WE've created for YOU...

WE won't be content spending just the 90% (plus) WE take from you, WE'll borrow from nameless foreigners at loan shark rates, and you will need to work harder so WE can pay them back in your name.  Can't miss a payment to the loan sharks...  WE'll borrow, borrow, and borrow so that your children, grand children, and great grandchildren will live in BONDAGE to debt forever. 

DEBT BONDAGE - not a new concept, but one that make the elite richer - WE'll do all this in YOUR name, because WE want you to be a FREE man.  WE'll decry DEBT BONDAGE and generational debt practices in third world countries, we'll 'out' poor parents that sell their children in slavery and sexual torture, and we'll call it 'investing in our future' so that it sounds NICE when we do it to YOU and YOUR children.

YOU won't be a slave, WE'll count you at 100%, but take everything you own anyway.  We'll take ALL the fruit of your labor.  It's not really yours anyway...  If you manage to have accumulated ANYTHING at your death, we'll take that too.  We'll start the taxes at a small 35% and go up and WE need more and more of your LABOR to support the 'nation's spending addiction. 

WE'll still be rich because we're special.  WE're smart.  Who are the DEBT CEILING/BONDAGE millionaires?  Billionaires?  The world may never know.  Their names and account numbers remain secret...

Any conflicts of interest?  How would anyone know, as those that profit from the misery of slavery in America today remain hidden by foreign investment accounts. 

Why can't Americans see WHO takes all that money?

Why isn't Obama renegotiating that DEBT?  Just saying NO?  Working FOR American families instead of foreigners?  Illegal aliens?  DEBT CEILING BILLIONAIRES?

Anything think America's abolitionists wouldn't recognize the problem in America today?    Sure...we'll 'let' you be free men, we'll just tax and regulate away all the fruit of your labor, and keep your children forever in bondage to massive and growing debt...

Just my humble opinions.

[WhiskeyGirl]

In another thread, someone brought up liar loans and other misdeeds that helped created the faux or real 'financial crisis' of 2008.

Why hasn't anyone gone to jail?

Why doesn't the world know who made the decision NOT to check the identity of borrowers?  Work records?  Earnings?  I imagine someone held a meeting or two...someone sent an email.  Who made these awesome decisions?

What did all those TRILLIONS do for Main Street?  Anything?  Joblessness?  Theft of savings and investments due to the devaluation of the dollar?

In the early 2000's there were lots of red flags at Freddie/Fannie and lots of accounting irregularities, and MILLIONS spent on highly educated/high brow management, politically appointed.  Why didn't any of them go to jail? 

In 2004/2005 McCain and others wanted to reform the twins and some, like Barney insisted that they were SOUND and that reformers didn't want poor people to have houses.  Why didn't anyone STOP the madness in 2004/2005?

Did the problems REALLY start at the banks?  Or, were the banks given a WINK and NOD to continue to pass the BAD DEBT to taxpayers?  Knowing that the DEMOCRAT CONGRESS would bail them out in 2008?

The same folks that said the twins were sound GAVE more regulatory power to some of the SAME folks that DIDN'T stop the MADNESS. 

As president Obama recently wondered out loud, how can the same folks that caused the problem, fix it?

Did he look in the mirror?  What did he see?  Decades of Clinton appointees at the Freddie/Fannie?  Making millions in compensation while the twins became riddled with debt?  Bad business?

Banks were not the only ones writing mortages.  There were lots of little mortgage brokers and originators that wrote business too.  I remember seeing all those adds of TV.  Who did they sell to?  Why didn't the buyers, like Freddie/Fannie insist on a good paperwork trail? 

I would imagine that someone had to have kept up reports on all that business and notice it was going bad from the get-go.  How many decades of bad business went unnoticed?

Where are the reports?  Those that ignored the reports?  It seems like all that bad business had to show up somewhere...someone's pocket book...

Was it a Madoff like ponzi scheme?  Keep writing new mortgages and collecting fees hoping to keep the catastrophe days or weeks away?  Knowing that at some point, the tsunami of BAD debt would catch up?  Madoff went jail.  Why hasn't anyone gone to jail for the TSUNAMI of bad debt that finally caught up with the financial system in 2008?

I think someone should have seen this TSUNAMI coming.  The warning systems went off when Rahm Emanuel was at Freddie/Fannie, and again in 2004/2005, and were ignored by Democrats in Congress.

Why isn't Obama outraged?  Why wasn't his Democrat controlled Congress outraged?  Why didn't they just say NO to the DEBT BONDAGE?

Who profits from this madness?  Rich, nameless, global players, and loan sharks.

Who pay for it?  Generations of Americans.

We'll let you be 'free' men, but...we'll keep you in bondage to DEBT forever...

The rich will continue to get rich and prosper off the backs of the working class in America.

Just my humble opinions.