Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies That Help Iran, and Washington Lobbyists for Foreign Governments Are Scamming Us ... and What to Do About It

348 Pages·2008·1.23 MB·English

by  Dick Morris

FLEECED
How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats,
Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing
Congress, Companies That Help Iran, and Washington
Lobbyists for Foreign Governments Are Scamming Us...
AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
DICK MORRIS
and EILEEN McGANN
To Blanche and Gene Morris,
93 and 97—the Energizer bunnies,
still going strong—and to Doll and Bill
CONTENTS
Introduction ........................................................................................1
1 President Obama: What Would He Do? .................................................13
2 How the Liberal Media Downplay Terrorism...........................................45
3 The Liberals’ Secret Plan to Muzzle Talk Radio .....................................77
4 The Do-Nothing Congress Is Still Doing Nothing! House Democrats
Scale Back the Congressional Workweek—It’s Too Burdensome! .............87
5 Foreign Companies and American Pension Funds that Help Iran
Build the Bomb ...............................................................................103
6 The New Lobbyists: Peddling the Agendas of Foreign
Governments, Oppressive Dictators, and Foreign Corporations
to the U.S. Government and the American Public................................117
7 The Dubai-ing of America .................................................................151
8 The Plastic Fleece: Credit Card Company Abuse..................................163
9 Teachers Are Leaving the Profession—Too Much Stress,
Too Little Pay...................................................................................177
10 Released from Guantánamo, They Kill Again.......................................191
11 How Hedge Fund Billionaires Live Off Tax Breaks................................203
12 How the Teachers’ Union Rips Off Its Members...................................211
13 Re-rebuilding Luxury Second Homes in Flood Areas
Again and Again—at Our Expense......................................................225
14 The Subprime Loan Crisis: Why the Greedy Are Going Free...................237
15 How Halliburton Rips Off the Pentagon:
While Some Fight for Freedom, Others Use War to Get Rich .................257
iv | CONTENTS
16 Blocking Toys That Poison Children from Being Sold in America—
and Being Made in China..................................................................269
17 How the Company Bill Clinton Works for Fleeces
the Vulnerable Elderly ......................................................................285
18 From Movie Lights to Lighting Up:
How Films Induce Teens to Smoke.....................................................291
Conclusion......................................................................................305
Acknowledgments............................................................................309
Notes..............................................................................................311
About the Authors
Other Books by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
INTRODUCTION
FLEECED: Stripped of money or property as a sheep is stripped
of fleece; obtained by unfair or unjust means; plundered; de-
prived of money or belongings by fraud or hoax; swindled
FACT: The mainstream media in America is distorting the news to deliber-
ately downplay terrorism. The Society of Professional Journalists has actu-
ally recommended that reporters “avoid using word combinations such as
‘Islamic terrorist’ or ‘Muslim extremist’ ”!
FACT: Even when terrorists are caught targeting high-profile facilities in
New York City like the Brooklyn Bridge and JFK Airport, The New York
Times—along with the rest of the national media—works overtime to con-
vince us that the threat was artificial and overblown.
FACT: If liberals win the White House and Congress in 2008, they plan to
kill conservative talk radio by requiring stations to balance their content by
broadcasting extreme liberal opinions and forcing stations to install liberals
in top management positions.
FACT: Barack Obama says he will double the capital gains tax rate. This
could trigger a sell-off in both the stock market and real estate market be-
tween election day and the first of the year.
2 | FLEECED
FACT: Barack Obama claims to be fiscally responsible. But he has publicly
proposed tax increases that will amount to more than $1 trillion over the
next ten years. If the Democrats win the White House, Americans making
$100,000 or more could be paying almost 60 percent of their income in
taxes.
FACT: The Do-Nothing Congress is still doing nothing. The U.S. Senate
and House of Representatives held roll-call votes on less than a third of the
workdays between January 1 and March 31, 2008.
FACT: The three major presidential candidates of 2008, all senators, have
virtually stopped doing their Senate jobs. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama,
and John McCain were present on only five of the twenty days of Senate
roll-call votes in the first three months of 2008.
FACT: Under our very noses, foreign companies like Shell, Repsol, Siemens,
Hyundai, BNP Paribus, and others are helping Iran’s repressive regime stay
in power, even though it is developing nuclear weapons. And it’s our state
pension funds that invest in these companies, enabling them to come to the
ayatollah’s aid.
FACT: Credit card companies made $30 billion in profits last year by charg-
ing interest rates that would make Mafia loan sharks blush. And they collect
a hidden fee of 2 percent on virtually everything sold in the nation—a fee
that’s then folded into the cost of almost everything we buy.
FACT: One third of all cardholders pay interest rates above 20 percent, and
late fees and other penalties have tripled in the last ten years.
FACT: Hedge fund billionaires—like George Soros—make astronomical
incomes each year and pay only the lower capital gains tax rate on their in-
come. Hedge fund employees pay less in federal taxes than other Ameri-
cans: on average, they pay only 15 percent of their income in taxes, while
other Americans pay up to 35 percent. And it’s the Democrats—yes, the
Democrats!—who are protecting them.
INTRODUCTION | 3
FACT: EADS (European Aeronautics Defense and Space), the French com-
pany that owns Airbus, recently won a huge U.S. defense contract, beating
out Boeing and costing Americans tens of thousands of defense jobs. So
now our tax money is going to create their jobs.
FACT: Lobbyists and lobbying firms close to the presidential campaigns of
Hillary Clinton and John McCain were paid millions of dollars to lobby for
EADS and to use their influence to steer the contract away from the Ameri-
can company.
FACT: Each year, foreign governments, including Venezuelan president
Hugo Chávez, spend millions of dollars lobbying our Congress and trying
to persuade the American public of the validity of their often troublesome
positions.
FACT: While record numbers of homeowners were forced into foreclosure,
Angelo Mozilo, the former CEO of Countrywide Financial Corporation—
one of the largest providers of subprime home mortgages—was paid $100
million in 2006. When he was forced out in 2008, he left with a pension and
retirement package estimated at more than $60 million.
FACT: Countrywide announced a $1.2 billion loss in the third quarter of
2007 and another $422 million in the fourth quarter. By the end of the year,
the price of the company’s stock fell by 80 percent. During the same time,
Mozilo received a $1.9 million annual salary and $20 million in stock
awards and sold $121 million in stock. He told Congress that his shares had
grown in value by 23,000 percent.
FACT: Countrywide subprime loans for 120,000 homes were in foreclosure
at the end of 2007, and the company laid off 12,000 workers.
FACT: The FBI is investigating Countrywide for alleged securities fraud for
misrepresenting its financial position and the performance of mortgage
loans in securities filings.
FACT: Bill Clinton is a partner in a global investment fund with the emir of
Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) states. His recently released
tax returns suggest that his income from involvement with the fund could
be as much as $15 million.
4 | FLEECED
FACT: Hillary Clinton says that the United States should retaliate against
Iran if it attacks the UAE, Kuwait, or Saudi Arabia. No other president, pres-
idential candidate, or senator has ever suggested that we go to war under
these circumstances.
Is it any wonder that Americans feel fleeced at every turn?
And it could get even worse. If the Democrats win the 2008 presidential
election, you’d better hold on to your shirt. Because, without a doubt, you’re
going to be fleeced! There’s no question that federal taxes will go up—
income taxes, Social Security taxes, capital gains taxes, and estate taxes.
Spending will go way up, too, and the size of the bureaucracy will likely
swell. About the only thing that might go down is your morale.
Our presidential candidates spread the message of optimism, of the “au-
dacity of hope.”Yet unnoticed in this inspirational rhetoric are plans to pass
the largest tax increase in history; to introduce rationing to our health care
system; to weaken our defenses against domestic terrorism; to cripple our
efforts to reform education; to let criminals and crack dealers out of prison;
and to send our economy into a downward spiral.
Once the Democrats’ health care programs are implemented, it will
mean the beginning of socialized medicine in the United States. If a politi-
cian like Hillary Clinton should ever have her way, the government will
even garnish the salaries of workers who don’t have health insurance. Big
government and big brother will be on patrol.
There’s more to be concerned about: Democrats will be pouncing on
social and cultural issues, too. One of their first priorities will be to reinstate
the Fairness Doctrine. They won’t be happy until they destroy talk radio by
requiring a liberal response to every conservative program. Imagine a pol-
icy that would require ABC Radio to give Alan Colmes a three-hour daily
talk show to offer a contrasting view of Sean Hannity’s opinions. Or compel
Fox News to offer an hour a day to Rachel Maddow to disagree with Bill
O’Reilly. No thanks. But that’s what they want.
The first chapter of this book describes in great detail what you can ex-
pect from a Barack Obama presidency—in short, how we’ll all be fleeced by
spending and taking policies and plans for bigger and bigger government.
This book is really about the far too many ways Americans are routinely