 September 2001
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Patrica Watson, Editor Sara Burke, Assistant Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
Super-Rich Celebrate Lock Box Jubilation spread through the ranks of the super-rich after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) today announced a $9 billion deficit for this year. The Billionaires for Public Plunder are also elated that President Bush has declared the Social Security surplus no longer off limits. Gathering in town squares across the nation this morning, members of Billionaires for Public Plunder symbolically smashed lock boxes, tossing thousand dollar bills in the air as startled passersby stared. "Why raid our own trust funds when we can raid yours?" asked spokesbillionaire Robbin DeHood. "Giving us the bulk of the tax cut was a good start. Dropping the lock box campaign promise was a great next step. But in our quest to put everything up for sale, we won’t stop until we can rake in fees from every single private Social Security account. After all we’ve done for this government by buying it only the best politicians, why should millions of baby boomers retire without us getting a cut?" The Billionaires for Public Plunder are sending a solid gold lock box, symbolically open and empty, to the White House as a thank-you gift to President Bush. "This is what we plan to tell the president: Pay no attention to those alarmists at the CBO," said Phil T. Rich. "They are totally beholden to the voters, which skews their priorities toward pedestrian concerns such as education and prescription drugs. The surplus has gone just where it should have—into our pockets." At the Republican and Democratic conventions last summer, the Billionaires
were out in full force, holding a Million Billionaire March to demonstrate
their influence over the candidates and show off their fiscal prowess.
They were featured in the Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer,
Boston Globe, BBC, and Time Magazine. Once election season
was over, the Billionaires began to focus on winning tax cuts for themselves,
declaring victory when the estate tax was repealed for the year 2010.
Robbin DeHood, Phil T. Rich, Millie O’Nair and other representatives of Billionaires for Public Plunder are available for interviews. Billionaires for Public Plunder is a non-partisan spoof created by United for a Fair Economy (UFE) to draw attention to the connection between the Bush tax cut, the shrinking surplus, campaign finance, and economic inequality. UFE spokespeople are also available to discuss their latest humiliating defeat by the Billionaires. Contact: Millie O’Nair (AKA Betsy Leondar-Wright), 617/423-2148 x13 <bleondar-wright@ufenet.org>
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