When someone rails for years against the millionaires and billionaires

[Eko]

and then abruptly stops railing against the millionaires when they themselves become a millionaire maybe you should stop and take a second and think about that. That person may not have your best interests at heart.
Eko.

[rusty quoin]

1. Who are you talking about?

[Eko]

3. If you are not positive who it is then it doesnt matter to you.

Thanks,
Eko

[sheshe2]

5. +

[rusty quoin]

6. So you're suggesting Warren then. It's ridiculous to say she's not for working people.

[Eko]

8. I dont think you ken what I am saying.

Warren is not the subject of this op.
Thanks for chiming in though,
Eko.

[rusty quoin]

10. And I'm not Ken

[Eko]

13. Sigh.

Look up the Scottish version of "ken". Its always a good idea to do a little research before you start arguing something that you know nothing about, It save everyone some time and helps you grow. Can you ken that?

[rusty quoin]

17. I looked it up and now I know.

The original thing I asked was who you were talking about, but I guess you enjoy feeling superior. I don’t know everything, and if I ask, it would be nice to get an answer. I guess I’m a bit thick.

[Eko]

21. Im glad you know now.

But you didnt ask, you just assumed I was calling you Ken when I didn't do any such thing. I apologize if you were offended but Im a pretty cut and dried person. Hope you have a good night though and keep rocking on!
Eko

[rusty quoin]

29. I asked who you were talking about. You didn't think me worthy of an answer. You rock too.

It really wasn’t about Ken. You could have said Bernie, and then I would have understood. It wasn’t Ken, that being a joke.

[oldsoftie]

42. Oh for gods sake both of you. It Bernie Sanders. Thats who he's talking about

its been covered here before. Sanders speeches always mentioned the "millionaires & billionaires". Then suddenly Bernie found himself a millionaire from his book sales. Now his speeches just mention "billionaires"
End of story

[PJMcK]

43. You're both pretty, okay?

Why are you arguing?

[LakeArenal]

51. Some folks gotta parse every word even if they don't get it.

For what it’s worth, you are in great company.
If they keep coming at ya, you hit a nerve.

[Cha]

20. I recognized "ken" immediately, Eko.. from

watching "The Outlander". Fascinating language.

Does this mean you're Scottish?

[Eko]

22. No,

just read everything I can get my hands on, from cereal boxes to books to whatever,,,, I even still have my senior high school history book that I read about once a year. I watch documentaries, I devour information every second I get. But outlander was awesome!

[Cha]

26. Yes Outlander is Awesome! I'm part Scottish and

love being taken back to those way old days!

Saw Season 1 and 2 on Netflix and was just recently wondering when Season 3 is coming.

You ken so much.. Good on you, Eko!

[BlueMTexpat]

40. It seems that the US version of

Netflix is behind the times with "Outlander," at least.

Here's an article that is probably outdated by now: https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/when-will-outlander-seasons-3-and-4-hit-netflix.html/

But per the article, there is reason to hope that both Seasons 3 & 4 will arrive soon.

Season 4 recently began on Netflix in its various European permutations. Season 3 has been here for awhile now. My only nit - a very small one - is that I am more and more reliant on subtitles as I age. My only ST option for "Outlander" right now is French, which is no problem and is kind of fun, especially when the ST version is expressed somewhat differently.

But there are some Anglophone series that I like where the only ST option is German. My German isn't quite up to that, especially for slang. So I have to go without STs and muddle through with headphones, which seem to help with English when it is not clearly articulated.

I know, poor me, LOL.

[Cha]

49. Very interesting article says this Outlander fan!

Thank you, BlueMT!

I always use CC.. I read it and hear it at the same time.. especially necessary with a series like Outlander when they're speaking their heavy Scottish accent and language of old.

That's excellent you're so fluent in French!

Wondering if Europe gets their seasons of Outlander first 'cause they're closer to Scotland?

[BlueMTexpat]

50. Possibly!

Also possibly because we don't have Starz here. But I don't really know.

[betsuni]

24. I always think of the song "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" from "The Sound of Music":

Timid and shy and scared are you
Of things beyond your ken

[Cha]

28. Ohhh.. wow I caught that.. I never would have

know what that word was if I hadn't have seen Outlander so many times!

Mahalo, betsuni for the Sound of Music Vid!

[tishaLA]

83. The greatest version of that song

[Kablooie]

31. I grok ken. Do you ken grok?

When you're a stranger in a strange land it's comforting to ken that you can grok.

[Beartracks]

33. Lol

[Eko]

52. I grok in fullness

[sheshe2]

12. ken

ken
[ken]

NOUN
one's range of knowledge or sight.
"such determination is beyond my ken"
synonyms:
knowledge · awareness · perception · understanding · grasp · [more]
VERB
SCOTTISH
NORTHERN ENGLISH
know.
"d'ye ken anyone who can boast of that?"
synonyms:
be acquainted with · have met · be familiar with · be friends with · [more]

[Bernardo de La Paz]

41. Being opaque is trolling. You arent trolling, so why be so opaque among friends? What's your motive?

[True Blue American]

32. That one was clear to me:)

But you know what? Being a millionaire is not really that unusual today.

I bet the average middle class is just that.

[MrsCoffee]

46. Approx 3% of the U.S.

If that’s middle class....



The goalposts seem to move with Bernie’s status.

[True Blue American]

56. Bernie made most of his money from books, inheriting

And, of course his above average salary and perks, along with his wife’s income.

[boomer_wv]

65. If

the average middle class are millionaires then I need to find a soup kitchen somewhere because I am incredibly poor in comparison.

[Bettie]

54. NO....being a millionaire is not 'average middle class'

at least not here in flyover country.

Our town's average income is 39k. The 'rich folk' make around 60.

[True Blue American]

55. But you ignore

Those who have sent their Children to College but still managed to accumulate Pensions, IRA’s and investments over the years.

[Bettie]

59. Pensions are not part of my generation's

reality. They don't exist anymore, at least for us peons.

When we hit the job market, raises of more than one or two percent were pretty much gone (my first year of working, I had a 5% raise, after that, 1-2% for exceeding expectations on every review), pensions were being phased out in favor of 401K's which you can only contribute to if you have enough money to meet your basic needs (rent/food/transportation).

My husband has had three different pension plans over the years that sent letters saying "thanks, but this is now gone".

So, we have a small sum in two different retirement accounts. I know very few people who can contribute the max to an IRA annually, especially if they are trying to save for those kids' college funds. Investments? LOL. I don't know who you work with, but most of us can't afford to have an investment account, not having thousands of dollars just lying around gathering dust waiting for us to find a guy who can charge more than we'd make to "invest" for us.

You may be surrounded by people who will be able to retire and live a nice, cushy life with travel and being able to make ends meet, but nearly everyone I know understands that retirement isn't really a thing anymore. You work until you die and hope not to leave too many bills for your kids.

[True Blue American]

60. I am referring to those over the years

Who have lived wisely, encouraged their children to get good grades, Scholarships to help relieve the cost of College. IRA’s, investments. It can be done, but takes planning and choices.

The big point is that 1 million is not that much anymore. 40 years ago it would have been.

[Bettie]

62. And I am saying that

a million may not be much to you, but to many of us, it is.

You can scream all you want that we're just too stupid to invest properly, but there are many who live paycheck to paycheck and don't have thousands to invest.

My kids all get good grades, my oldest is in college and got scholarships. We're not even close to a million in our various small retirement accounts. All together, we have less than 100K. And we're doing pretty well for our geographic area.

But fine, everyone is a millionaire, except us, because we're stupid, obviously, so we should all bow down and worship billionaires as they are 'just like us'. Well, just like you, not me or anyone I know.

[True Blue American]

66. Note here, I started with nothing .

I am saying if you look at all your assets many would ne surprised.

[MarcA]

70. Choices like not having pre-existing conditions, lost jobs, injuries,

parental deaths, etc. but they should have "planned" better. The myths of
the Gilded Age and Horatio Alger now supported on DU.

[ritapria]

78. Beautifully Put

I salute you

[fleur-de-lisa]

39. Bernie Sanders

[TidalWave46]

81. This is the one positive of Sanders.

He has brought a small group of people into the mix who have never paid attention before. Welcome aboard and great choice starting with the Democratic Party.

[sheshe2]

2. Oh.

[Eko]

4. Ha Ha Sheshe2, yeah,

I snapped. Interested to see how this plays out.
Eko.

[sheshe2]

7. Good luck...

Few minutes to bedtime for me.

I am thinking about writing a book and need to sleep on it.

[Eko]

11. Thanks,

I expect to wake up and see tons of replies tomorrow. LOL. Have a good night!

[betsuni]

16. That is too cute!

[sheshe2]

19. betsuni!

[emmaverybo]

79. Making me want a kitty and I can't. Criminally cute one and perfect with caption.

[aikoaiko]

9. I feel that way about people who protect credit card companies over working families with debt

and talk about supporting working families.

[Eko]

14. I can understand that, but this is more akin to

someone railing against credit card companies that have a lower interest rate for millionaires and billionaires and then when they become a millionaire they just rail against the low interest rate for billionaires.

[Act_of_Reparation]

63. What's Joe Biden's position on millionaires?

Asking for a friend.

[betsuni]

15. The Mystery of The Disappearing Millionaires.

Hilarious: Bernie's Millionaire Problem by Think Progress.

[Eko]

18. Ha ha.

[Cha]

23. Good ol' Think Progress! So diligent for

so many years!

[betsuni]

25. Waiting for auto-attack-the-messenger to show up.

[Cha]

30. Already thought

of that. lol smh

[betsuni]

38. The bus is late!

Interesting.

[Cha]

48. ..

[myohmy2]

27. I totally agree...

...but it could be understandable and we certainly wouldn't want to encourage hypocrisy...

...I've heard it said that achieving the millionaire level of wealth today is not all that uncommon...


...I have two sisters-in-laws that are reported to have achieved that level of wealth...( they don't look like millionaires )

...they and their husbands ( one had no children ) both had yearly incomes, I would say, around the $60-$80,000 range most of their lives...they saved and invested wisely and over the course of a lifetime they've accumulated wealth...

...now me, I haven't got two nickels to rub together but I don't begrudge them their accomplishment because it was due to thrift and hard work...( the wife and I never had professional jobs nor liked wall street (yucko), but we're happy )

...what would be worse than her sisters achieving honest wealth from honest work would be if they were lie about their income/wealth and pretended otherwise...

...but if I were to spot someone railing against millionaires and then they stopped, I would certainly take a second to think about that...

...thanks for the heads-up...

[Beartracks]

34. But isn't someone railing against millionaires also railing against your sis-in-laws?

So maybe someone railing against millionaires who suddenly stops has just realized a lot of millionaires are just regular hard-working people...?

========

[stopdiggin]

35. good point.

but personally I think someone who has been "railing against millionaires for years" .. was perhaps ALWAYS a bit of a scold.

do I get credit for "scold?" --

[myohmy2]

36. I think...

...you're right...

...maybe the definition and image of it what means to be a 'millionaire' has gone beyond the numbers from a system milking weasel to average hard-working folk...

" So maybe someone railing against millionaires who suddenly stops has just realized a lot of millionaires are just regular hard-working people...? "

...a good realization and a good reason to stop railing...

...maybe those with 10 million or more should be branded a 'millionaire' and railed against...

...or better yet, if you've earn and saved it from thrift and hard work over a lifetime, not by shuffling and milking the system, you should be completely exempt from the pejorative 'millionaire' label...

...something to think about...

[MrsCoffee]

47. 3% of the U.S.

Yeah, your average regular hard working people right there.

Fucking Bernie Math.

SMH.

[myohmy2]

53. you...

...seem to be pissed they have wealth rather than how they acquired it...

...what if someone gained wealth from doing actual good for the masses?

...found affordable cure for cancer?...solved global warming with simple solutions?...invented new technologies eliminating global hunger?...champion causes that directly benefit the masses...should wealth gain be denied?

...face it, no one can physically EARN a billion dollars, but apparently over the course of a lifetime, an average hard-working frugal individual can earn a million with a little luck...

...I'm okay with the average person gaining wealth as long as they pay their fair share of taxes and don't spend their wealth fucking over people like me...

...I hate being fucked over...

[MH1]

45. You have an excellent point.

Being able to make it to millionaire status is almost always tied to some level of privilege and/or luck ... but that is not an elite level of privilege or luck. Lots of people who work hard for years can accumulate a net worth of a million +.

The attacks should be against the rules that make it harder and harder for a non-privileged person to get there, and the people who fight to make and keep those rules. And of course, billionaires and mega-millionaires who have done nothing but (maybe) leverage what they were born with. But not people who legitimately got there by hard work and playing by the rules.

[True Blue American]

57. Thank you.

I wonder how many who rail against millionaires are one themselves.

[True Blue American]

72. You said it!

Sounds terrible but 1 million today is not really that much.

[pnwmom]

37. If you live long enough and have a paid-for house on one of the coasts, and have an IRA

it's not that unusual to be a millionaire . . . till you have to spend it all on the $10K a month per person nursing home.

[Voltaire2]

44. No shit.

Starter homes are 500k.

[True Blue American]

68. Depends on where you live.

$500,000 would buy an expensive house in my area.

[Voltaire2]

69. "on the coasts"

specifically the metro west coast and east coast regions, almost all of them, housing starts in the 400-500k range. Of course if you are living somewhere else, somewhere that doesn't have a tech-boom economy, housing is much less expensive.

[True Blue American]

71. That is why

Me and my family choose to live in flyover country.

There are plenty of high paying jobs in those parts of the Country, too.

[Voltaire2]

73. Good for you and no there aren't.

But the original point was that the millions of homeowners in the coastal metro regions are frequently technically millionaires.

[True Blue American]

74. So are many of

The workers in the Midwest. Most have College or advanced Degrees and high paying jobs.

Not all work at the local Walmart. You should see the mini and mansions going up all over my area. It is unrealistic to think people who choose not to live on either coast are red neck boobs. They are not, and it is a classic example of elitism.

And I have relatives who live and worki n Silicon Valley.

[True Blue American]

67. You said it!

Reach a certain amount of comfort. Do what you want. MEDICAID is there.

[Tarheel_Dem]

58. I didn't think anyone else noticed.

[Act_of_Reparation]

61. lolwut

Ok.

[NurseJackie]

64. I completely agree. I'm always suspicious of any candidate who has a whiff of hypocrisy around them...

I completely agree. I'm always suspicious of any candidate who has a whiff of hypocrisy around them and whenever he (or she) gives the impression that he (or she) is not genuine or that their issues are conditional... well, my trust level drops to zero and I start looking for a different candidate to support.

[Cha]

75. More than

a whiff.

[Kurt V.]

76. this isn't actually happening.

[beachbumbob]

77. I finding almost disgusting the automatic villification of success by some on the left as their

"go to" point.

Why not just focus on the taxcode issues that people like Sanders and Warren have done little to address in the years they been in Congress? When the last time either pulled a "filibuster" when it came to this subject?

[Buzz cook]

80. So some people don't seem to realize that

Millionaires are in the one percent.

https://dqydj.com/top-one-percent-united-states/

Who are the top one percent by income?

For a household, $434,454.80 is the cutoff for the top one percent by household income.

Here is Sanders criticizing the one percent in Iowa this week. 1:12:30

?t=4361

The OP was a lie back in April when the zombie was first exhumed. Its still a lie now.

A show of hands for people who think Sanders won't raise his own taxes if he gets the office?

Then there is this.
https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/orlando-nightclub-massacre/why-won-t-obama-say-radical-islam-n591196

[LanternWaste]

82. It's effective political triangulation.