Edwards Touts Middle-Class Tax Cuts, Corporate Responsibility

[Khephra]

July 10 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards said he and presidential candidate John Kerry, will restore corporate responsibility and cut taxes on middle-class families if elected in November.

``Middle-class families will be able to rest assured that John Kerry will look out for their interests, restore corporate responsibility and put our economy back in line with our values,'' Edwards, 51, a North Carolina senator, said in the Democrats' weekly radio address.

Kerry, 60, a four-term Massachusetts senator, and President George W. Bush, 58, accused each other during campaign appearances yesterday of being out of touch with American values, sharpening their attacks as polls show them tied before the November election.

Edwards, who will campaign later today in his hometown of Raleigh, said working Americans are suffering while ``it took three long years to see Ken Lay handcuffed and indicted for what he did'' at the failed Enron Corp.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aSuBHTACoyys&refer=us

[wurzel]

1. We need to get rid of "Middle Class".

What we had in the sixties was not a "growing middle class". What we had was the most affluent "working class" the world had ever seen. Once they were told they were "middle class" they took on the attitudes of the real middle class. They became anti-union, and voted Republican.

[Cerridwen]

2. Okay, I know I'm not nuts . . .

How many here remember learning in school that America is a class-less society? Not classless, though maybe that too, but there is no such thing as a class hierarchy in America.

Raise your hands, please. I can't have been the only one.

[Solon]

6. Sorry to burst your bubble, but you were taught a lie...

In general terms we have the haves(Growing in wealth if not in numbers), the have-enoughs(Endangered Species), and the have-nots(Growing by leaps and bounds), always been that way, and that is true of ALL human civilizations. They taught you that so you wouldn't complain when you get used and abused by your managers, and to make you a doubleplusgood corporate subject.

[dakine]

3. Enron/Ken Lay..

Bought/donated to politicians of all stripes....not a good thing to raise on campaign trail...

[MasonJar]

4. The amount that he gave to the Dems was small compared to

his buying Cheney and his energy policy. Don't you remember when Bush tried to accuse Lay of being an Ann Richards' supporter when the bad news first came out? He'd given her a few 100 and Shrub 1000's. (not exactly sure on the numbers, but it was a big difference.)

[oscar111]

5. middle class is good term

i agree with your point of view, but ...

Some think "working class" refers to manual labor only. Some/most see middle class as all who are above poverty/below rich. A clerk or burger flipper now calls himself middle, and not working class... because he does not do heavy hand labor like digging ditches.

middle class thus includes all who are employees, and not owners. You may be using the term to apply only to managers/foremen/slavedrivers.

That was the meaning of it perhaps , in the 1800's.

I think the shift to RW since 60's had other reasons for happening... like backlash to the integration of races. Plus buying up all radio for RW Himmlers.

[wurzel]

7. Associating "working class" with "manual labor" is a con.

If you need a pay check to live you are working class I don't care what you do. A plumber does "manual labor" is he middle class or working class? Middle classes are actually the professional classes. Lawyers, doctors etc. People traditionally seeking to associate themselves with the ruling class. The loss of working class identity was the worst thing that happened to working people. They lost their power, and more important, their superior values.

[reprobate]

8. Thomas Frank in "What's the Matter with Kansas" said.....

"I think the shift to RW since 60's had other reasons for happening..."

....that the RW has succeeded in turning the arguement into a battle of Cultures instead of a battle of political ideas.

The RW has talked them into voting against their own interests. Therein lies the secret of success of the right wing. To convince people that cultural interests are more important than anything else.

Only in america could this happen. Ain't it grand?