I want the Rich to Flaunt their Wealth

[bleedingheart]

I want the super rich to keep flaunting what they have. I want them to show people their yachts, their many homes and I want people to see how they can blow $5000 on one night out with their sweetie.

I want to have Paris Hilton prance around like a petted poodle making fun of the way average Americans live.

I don't want to have priests and or others to tell them to "tone it down" because I want the working class, average Americans to see what their concessions have gained them.

I want Mr. Joe American to be watching TV and viewing this excess when he and the wife are sitting there worried about how to pay their gas card off and how low can they set the thermostat with the way heating costs have skyrocketed.

I want Joe American to think about how his boss sent them that letter, crying that the company needs the employees to "give up more" in order to keep profits high...and then see on the news that his boss just hosted a debutante ball for his teenage daughter that cost $250,000.

I want people to see the distinctions and then I want to see if people start to wake up.

[Jim Warren]

1. It occurs to me, before the crash of 1929

and the subsequent depression era 1930's came a decade known as the 'roaring twenties', top hats, ostrich feathers and champagne.

[Dora]

12. This same thought struck me recently, too.

And it caused me to wonder about cycles of wealth. For example, if the decadence of the 2000's echoes the decadence of the 1920's, then what period was the 1920's themselves an echo of?

And it made me wonder when the end of this cycle will strike.

[Jim Warren]

20. what period was the 1920's themselves an echo of?

hafta say the 1990's, tech bubble and all.

One thing for sure, it's gonna take a Democrat to address the shortfalls of the working class.......always does.

Interesting enough, FDR was from a well-to-do family.

(oops, sorry didn't read your post well)

[Skidmore]

2. We need to revive that show "The Lifetime of the Rich and

Famous" again. Where's Robin Whathisname? Perhaps he's like to be employed again.

[bleedingheart]

4. last time I saw him on TV he didn't look so great....seemed ill

but I do like the idea...

[Skidmore]

10. Life of debauchery will do that to you.

[acmejack]

13. I'm available!

But I insist on a "no off shoring" clause in my contract.

[devilgrrl]

18. couldn't be happening to a nicer guy.

Robin Leach - Rupert Murdoch's butt boy, as repugnant as they come.

[dretceterini]

38. The most appropriate

last name ever for one of these gooons

[electropop]

66. Murderous Murdoch. Hey devilgrrl,

is the avatar Mary Steenburgen? Kate Bush? Can't quite place her...

[devilgrrl]

77. Kate Bush.... The GOOD Bush

:-)

[electropop]

89. I have lots of her CDs.

"Running Up That Hill" still gives me goose bumps.

[phusion]

61. There's some shows like that

for example, MTV's "Cribs" and other altars to consumption.

[DIKB]

78. That show is not

NEARLY as offensive as another they have, "My Sweet Sixteen" Cribs is about celebrities, athletes, musicians, actors, etc. how they spent their fortune, and what their houses are like.

The "My Sweet Sixteen" show is about spoiled little brats having HUGE parties of excess thrown for them. Children who have NO concept of what it is for someone to truly work for their own money.

I watched part of one episode out of morbid curiousity, and one quote struck me like lightning, "My parents spent more money on my sweet sixteen party then they did on their own wedding, but hey, I deserved it." This was said in all seriousness as the spoiled brat drove off in a brand new BMW after having her little soiree. I couldn't help but think, she deserves it for what ? Surviving to 16 in pampered high society ?

The little bits and pieces of the show that I have caught are sickening. Flying around in private jets, complaining about how much a professional singer wants to perform for a private party, female teenager "Queen bee" attitude worse than any I'd ever seen before (and I'm young enough to remember HS), etc.

I do agree with the initial post, more people need to see the disparity of wealth, more people need to be sickened.

[SheilaT]

3. While you certainly have a point,

an important reason our economic inequality is tolerated by so many is that most people honestly think they have a realistic chance of being rich themselves someday. Or they do not understand how very rich the top 5% really are, let alone the top 1%.

[bleedingheart]

7. the problem is that most people have no chance of being part of

that top 5%.

The reality is that money begets money. If you start off life with the right background and the right connections the sky is the limit but it takes an enormous amount of hardwork and a lot of luck to do it without wealthy and well-connected parents.

Look at Anderson Cooper...he is lucky in birth and I am sure that helped him to further his career....

his mom is none other than Gloria Vanderbilt.

The lists could go on and on....many people we view as "self-made" are typically the descendents of the top 5% to begin with...

[kestrel91316]

21. With no more inheritance taxes, the way you will get rich in

America will be to inherit it. There will be no way to get rich by hard work and savings. Small businesses started by little people will never be allowed to challenge the big guys. The rich will get richer, and the poor will get poorer, and the middle class will eventually fade away into the mist.

This is exactly what the Republicans want. I just wish the poor and middle class would wake up and figure that out.

[julianer]

25. Your post sparked an association

sorry I couldn't resist it

'Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinct feature: it has simplified class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other — Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.'

From:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm

[mn723]

28. Inheritance Tax

I'm not too educated on the laws and regulations involving the inheritance tax, but from what I understand it doesn't seem fair for people to have to pay taxes because they died. One of my incentives to save money is to be able to pass something down to my children and grandchildren.....the last thing I think would be fair is the government to tax me on savings that have already been taxed.

Also...you have to be good at what you do, but small businesses can compete with and outperform large corporations. The one I work at has survived while competitors 10-15 times our size have closed their doors over the last 20 years. Large corporations tend to get the breaks, but please don't say that smaller businesses will never be able to compete.

[bleedingheart]

30. I have no problem with inheritance taxes and this is why

if you worked for a parent and collected a salary, you would pay taxes on that salary. State, Federal and Local...right?

So if your parent saved up (and this money isn't always intended for descendents..in many cases it is their way of not being a burden to their kids)...what is left is divided among the children...like a one time salary payment...and unless the parent is leaving millions, there isn't any issue with the Federal inheritance taxes and if the parent was really smart..they will have already been dispersing the estate to avoid taxes....although I view tax-dodging as unpatriotic...

To be honest I am sick of people whining that people left them money and they have to pay taxes...poor them....meanwhile most people are left next to nothing if not having to sift through granddad's debts.

[mn723]

33. I disagree

So, should 10 year olds pay a tax on an allowance they get for doing chores? I realize this is a silly question, but it is exactly what you are suggesting. After tax income should not be taxed again, unless you are paying a sales tax or something.

I'm sick of disincentives to be legitimately successful in this country.

[bleedingheart]

34. funny but I am sick of the handouts we give to companies that are

failures.

Why not let bad companies fail?

Why give my tax money to some putz with a golden parachute who is screwing his workers and steering his company into the ground?...and I should be okay with his heirs not paying inheritance tax on that ill-gotten gain?

I say let the wealthy pay their fair share. I also say that let the inheritance tax stand, this is a democracy not a monarchy.

[mn723]

41. I agree

Failing companies should not be given handouts. This has nothing or very little to do with individuals inheriting their parents' after tax income.

Why do you assume someone who inherited something will screw their workers and run the business into the ground? Why do you even assume they have a business? Why do you assume it is a "he"? Why is it ill-gotten gain?

When you make broad assumptions you discredit your argument.

I say let everyone pay their fair share and stop penalizing ethical fiscal success.

[bleedingheart]

49. you misread my statement....

I have no sympathy for those inheriting wealth from their parents ...who screwed their workers.


As for broad assumptions....I have been working for quite a while. Worked with private as well as publicly traded companies and I can tell you that it is just a game and most companies and owners are out to make sure they are taken care of and they don't give a rat's rear end about their workers.

I have been on the management end of strikes and seen the ugly side of management where they call the workers...vermin, idiots, peasants...yes...I have heard it all.

I have watched as people who drive Mercedes argue against paying out sick time for a woman who has suffered through 2 bouts of cancer as a result of benzene exposure in their plant...

The rosey glasses slipped off my eyes a long time ago when dealing with corporate america...

[dretceterini]

59. The only problem with that

is you have the case of the Chryseler Corporation, and the thousands of employees that would have been out of jobs if it wasn't for the bail out.

[bleedingheart]

67. but when Chrysler was bailed out....the US Govt took collateral

I don't think that the current bailouts involve the Govt getting anything...

[More Than A Feeling]

36. So you aren't legitimately successful unless you have millions?

Be sure to let the teachers who educate the future of this country and the police officers and firefighters that guard your life that you consider them failures. Tell that to the clergy who give body and soul to serving their congregations, their communities, and God.

[bleedingheart]

37. great post!

[mn723]

39. Oh please

try to refrain from putting words in people's mouths......I think that strategy was clever in grade school.

[More Than A Feeling]

42. Choose your words more carefully

You said:

"I'm sick of disincentives to be legitimately successful in this country."

The estate tax only affects the very richest estates in America. Therefore, if you think that people will be turned off from being millionaires and billionaires because of it, you must equate being a millionaire and billionaire with being legitimately successful. The implication being that if you aren't a millionaire or billionaire, you aren't legitimately successful. Because the estate tax won't affect that school teacher, that fireman, that police officer. They won't even notice it is there.

[mn723]

44. Misunderstanding

See post #43

[mn723]

43. What I meant by

What I meant by "legitimately successful" was that you became successful through legitimate means

[More Than A Feeling]

45. Really? The estate tax is forcing people into lives of crime?

Is that what you meant by "illegitimate means"? I think I know what you are talking about, though. Last night, I caught Donald Trump breaking into my house, screaming about the estate tax.

Face it, the estate tax doesn't affect the reformed gangbanger working for wallmart. It doesn't affect officer friendly. It most likely will not affect you and me.

It affects The Hiltons and Donald Trump. They made their millions with the estate tax in force, and i doubt their kids will miss the money taken in estate taxes.

[mn723]

48. Are you

just trying to start a flame war with me?

The USA should not create laws and or taxes that penalize people who become monetarily successful through moral, ethical and legitimate work and business habits.

If you disagree with that then you have issues.

[More Than A Feeling]

51. Nope, just trying to bring to light your underlying assumptions

which are false.

Taxes are investment in the future of the country. If these billionaires aren't willing to invest in the future of their country, what kind of citizens are they?

You don't want to get into the ethics of the people affected. Enron, anyone?

[mn723]

52. I can't think of a worse way

to invest money into the future of our country than to give it to the government.....have you seen what Dumbya is doing with our investments???

If you want, please turn over everything you have to the gov't and feel proud that you invested in our country's future. I, like most Americans, see the individual as the future of our country, so I'll prefer to invest in me and my family.

[More Than A Feeling]

55. I guess you don't believe in diversified portfolios

I do, so i will invest in my family, and in the government. IF the estate tax ends up affecting me, I will pay it cheerfully, because I, like most Americans, believe that a hereditary aristocratic elite clinging to power (for money is power) is bad for our society and bad for our democracy. If you like the idea of a country being run for the benefit of They,the Oligarchs, rather than We, the People, well, that's not in keeping with American values.

[mn723]

58. I believe

that We, the People, should be able to keep what we earned.....sounds like a pretty strong American value to me. You realize that we have a tiered income tax system, where those who earn more pay higher tax rates? Why should those dollars, that have already been taxed at a higher rate, be taxed again? We can argue this back and forth for years if we want.....I'll just leave you with this tidbit.....

Socialism was pursued and it fails in the long run because we are all greedy in one way or another, that's just human nature.

[More Than A Feeling]

82. Please understand your terms before you use them

Socialism -N- Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=socialism

[Tsiyu]

53. the USA should not unfairly burden the middle class

and allow the wealthy - who made their money off the AMERICAN SYSTEM - to pay next to nothing, or to actually make more money off the system.

If a corporation sends thousands of trucks over our roads, should it not also help pay for road repairs? Oh, wait. It is successful! Don't make it pay for what it uses!

If a corporation pays so little that its employees must look to their individual States to provide health care, who should pay for that? Oh, wait! The corporation is successful! Don't penalize it!

If a corporation is a huge polluter and causes thousands of babies to need emergency breathing treatments each year, should they have to pay any tax to clean up the air or compensate these children and their parents?

Why, no! They are SUCCESSFUL and should be allowed to pollute at will!

Right.

You try to make it sound as if financial "success" indicates some moral high ground. That money in and of itself confers integrity of the Puritanical sort. Bullshit.

There is nothing moral, correct or "successful" about harming others, using resources, and destroying environments to make a buck. And there is certainly nothing conservative, decent or moral in doing all of the above and then not paying for what you've broken along the way to your "success."

[mn723]

56. So, what do you suggest we do?

Shut down every business in the country? Dismantle evry pollution creating machine, including your car if you have one? Should we destroy any product we have that may one day end up in a landfill?

You are right, those who pollute should be forced to clean up. I believe truckers do pay heavy fees to carry their heavy loads on our roads. Healthcare should be nationalized and or regulated.

I never said that all financially successful people are morally superior. But, I will say that the majority of "wealthy" people I know did so in an honest and ethical fashon. You can't judge the whole bushel based on one, two or 7 bad apples.

[Tsiyu]

87. From what I've seen in my 46 years

wealth entails sacrifice by somebody.

It isn't always, nor is it most often, that the wealthy themselves make the supreme sacrifices. Not today. Maybe not ever.

EVERYONE should pay a fair share. But not everyone is so inclined, most especially not the wealthy in this society, which makes them less than noble, no matter how they earned those big bucks.

Which is not to say that many wealthy people don't contribute greatly to this society, but Halliburton wealth is more modern "business as usual" than "pulled himself up by his bootstraps" wealth.

[PA Democrat]

57. The estate tax is not imposed on the people who have done the hard work to

amass their fortunes. It is imposed on their HEIRS, who, in most cases, have done nothing except to be lucky enough to be born into the right family. I am sitting here laughing at the thought that Paris Hilton should not have to pay a federal estate tax on her inheritance because she somehow is more "ethical" or "moral".

BTW, the first $1,500,000 of an estate is exempt from the federal estate tax. Next year the exemption goes up to $2,000,000, until it finally completely eliminated in I believe 2010. The law has a sunset clause of 2011, at which time the exemption reverts back to $1,000,000 unless the Republicans are successful in their desire to permanently repealing the federal estate tax.


Edited to add "e" to "estate"

[EstimatedProphet]

85. Guess I have issues

You have been weighed
You have been measured
And you have been found wanting. Begone.

[Dora]

62. Success=Years of Hard Work - OR - Success=Big Ass Inheritance

Which is it?

The problem that I have with repealing the estate tax is that it rewards people for not working. Our "income tax" is no longer a tax on income, but a tax on wages, thereby shifting the largest share of the burden onto the working middle class.

Our lawmakers must return the tax burden to those most able to carry it - logically that would be those individuals with money. It's about proportion. Just because somebody doesn't work for a living doesn't mean they get to live here for free.

IMHO - Corporations are who should be paying taxes, but they aren't. Not only are they coddled and protected by our lawmakers, they do everything in their power to evade their economic, social, and environmental responsibilities. Most publicly owned corporations have become a drain on our socioeconomic system.

Oh, and welcome to DU.

[mn723]

64. It is both

If a parent wants to give their kids lots of money as inheritance that is their choice.....those dollars have already been taxed at a higher than average rate.

One thing I find difficult about the argument that corporations should be taxed is that the workers in the middle class ARE the corporation. A corporation isn't anything by itself, the people who work for it are the corporation. If we levy huge taxes on corporations, who do you think will pay those taxes???? It will be the employees. Think about it people.

[indigo32]

69. If corporations were really the workers in the middle class

then it might follow that they would have the workers best interest at heart.

In reality a corporation has only one group at heart, they are required to by law, and that is investors.

[Avalux]

70. Please explain your pro-corporation stance.

Huge taxes are one thing, but giving corporations tax breaks to outsource jobs and give themselves perks is what's happening now. Do you have a problem with that? I don't buy your statement that the people who work for it are the corporation. People are expendable.

[mn723]

74. If we tax the corporation

who do you think will end up paying the tax? Corporations don't pay taxes, the people who work for them do.

[Dora]

71. I'm not disputing the "choice" of the matter.

What I am questioning is your definition of "success," and you haven't answered it.

Who is more successful? Is it the 32 year old person who inherits a $2.4 million estate or the 62 year old person who has worked full-time for 45 years while never earning more than $30K a year? Who pays more taxes? Who uses more of the services and protections provided by our government?

You assert that the employees of a corporation ARE the corporation, but I hope you come to understand how wrong you are in this regard. It is law that a corporation's first obligation is to its shareholders, not to its employees. I am greatly relieved to see that more and more people are waking up to the knowledge that the majority of publicly traded corporations view employees as inventory, expense, and liability.

The "corporation" is nothing but a legal shell designed to protect the interests of the shareholders and executive powers that be: in other words, a corporation is paper. The tragedy in this is that corporations have been granted the status of personhood, with all the rights thereof, but seem impervious to the responsibilities and obligations that personhood demands, e.g., following the rule of law.

I recommend you read "The Divine Right of Capital," if you haven't already. I found it illuminating.

[mn723]

73. I'll take you up on that recommendation

and read the book......who is the author?

[Dora]

76. Marjorie Kelly

Here's the link at Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1576752372/qid=1129667843/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0342548-1440742?v=glance&s=books

-added on edit, copied from Amazon, emphasis mine-

Excerpted from The Divine Right of Capital: Dethroning the Corporate Aristocracy by Marjorie Kelly. Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Why All the Fuss About Stockholders? By Marjorie Kelly In an era when stock market wealth has seemed to grow on trees—and trillions have vanished as quickly as falling leaves—it's an apt time to ask ourselves, where does wealth come from? More precisely, where does the wealth of public corporations come from? Who creates it?

To judge by the current arrangement in corporate America, one might suppose capital creates wealth—which is strange, because a pile of capital sitting there creates nothing. Yet capital providers—stockholders—lay claim to most wealth that public corporations generate. Corporations are believed to exist to maximize returns to shareholders. This is the law of the land, much as the divine right of kings was once the law of the land. In the dominant paradigm of business, it is not in the least controversial. Though it should be. What do shareholders contribute, to justify the extraordinary allegiance they receive? They take risk, we're told. They put their money on the line, so corporations might grow and prosper. Let's test the truth of this with a little quiz: Stockholders fund major public corporations—True or false? False. Or, actually, a tiny bit true—but for the most part, massively false. In fact, "investing" dollars don't go to AT&T but to other speculators. Equity investments reach a public corporation only when new common stock is sold—which for major corporations is a rare event. Among the Dow Jones industrials, many have sold no any new common stock in thirty or fifty years. The stock market works like a used car market, as accounting professor Ralph Estes observes in Tyranny of the Bottom Line. When you buy a 1999 Ford Explorer, the money goes not to Ford but to the previous owner of the car. Ford gets the buyer's money only when it sells a new car. Similarly, companies get stockholders' money only when they sell new common stock. According to figures from the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission, in any given year about one in one hundred dollars trading on public markets reaches a corporation. In other words, ninety-nine out of one hundred "invested" dollars are speculative. And the past wasn't much different. One accounting study of the steel industry examined capital expenditures over the first half of the twentieth century and found that issues of common stock provided only 5 percent of capital.

So what do stockholders contribute, to justify the extraordinary allegiance they receive? Very little. Yet this tiny contribution allows them essentially to install a pipeline and dictate that the corporation's sole purpose is to funnel wealth into it. The productive risk in building businesses is borne by entrepreneurs and their initial venture investors, who do contribute real investing dollars, to create real wealth. Those who buy stock at sixth or seventh hand, or one-thousandth hand, also take a risk—but it is a risk speculators take among themselves, trying to outwit one another, like gamblers. It has little to do with corporations, except this: public companies are required to provide new chips for the gaming table, into infinity. It's odd. And it's connected to a second oddity—that we believe stockholders are the corporation. When we say that a corporation did well, we mean that its shareholders did well. The company's local community might be devastated by plant closings. Employees might be shouldering a crushing workload. Still we will say, "The corporation did well." One does not see rising employee income as a measure of corporate success. Indeed, gains to employees are losses to the corporation. And this betrays an unconscious bias: that employees are not really part of the corporation. They have no claim on wealth they create, no say in governance, and no vote for the board of directors. They're not citizens of corporate society, but subjects. We think of this as the natural law of the market. It's more accurately the result of the corporate governance structure, which violates market principles. In real markets, everyone scrambles to get what they can, and they keep what they earn. In the construct of the corporation, one group gets what another earns. The oddity of it all is veiled by the incantation of a single, magical word: ownership. Because we say stockholders own corporations, they are permitted to contribute very little, and take quite a lot. What an extraordinary word. One is tempted to recall the comment that Lycophron, an ancient Greek philosopher, made during an early Athenian slave uprising against the aristocracy. "The splendour of noble birth is imaginary," he said, "and its prerogatives are based upon a mere word."

Excerpted from The Divine Right of Capital: Dethroning the Corporate Aristocracy, by Marjorie Kelly, published November 2001 by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kelly is co-founder and editor of Business Ethics, a magazine about corporate social responsibility based in Minneapolis.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

[CrispyQ]

81. You are mistaken about corporations & need to educate yourself.

"...the workers in the middle class ARE the corporation. A corporation isn't anything by itself, the people who work for it are the corporation."

A corporation is an entity in & of itself. Since 1886, corporations have had personhood rights just like you & me. In fact, because corporations have accumulated wealth, because they never die, because they can split themselves into two or more entities, because they can change their nationality in the time it takes to file a legal paper, & mostly because (due to their personhood rights) they are able to get involved in our political process, corporations have unequal influence, unequal rights & unequal protections.

Please, do yourself a favor & google corporate personhood or visit the site in my sig line & learn about the travesty to democracy that is corporate personhood. ---on edit: I see sig lines aren't available, so here is the link: http://reclaimdemocracy.org/personhood/

Also, I highly recommend "We the People: A Call to Take Back America" by Thom Hartmann. It is an excellent book & will describe how corporate personhood came to be & the terrible consequences of it.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

65. Redistribution of wealth is necessary if we want the middle class

To survive.

BTW, the exemptions on inheritence taxes were already so high that only estates in the top 1% (and probably less than that) had to pay taxes anyway.

Also, the incentive for giving money from your estate to charity is gone.

[SoCalDem]

72. Inheritance taxes are NOT death taxes, and most people do not even

have to pay the tax..

The tax results when the PROPERTY is liquidated..

Let's say Gramps has a 500 acre "farm".. He farms it by himself, with a little help.. When Gramps croaks, are the grown up sons & daughters going to move back to the farm and run it?? hell NO. Gramps made sure he sent those kids to college.. They have high-powered jobs and McMansions ..They will want to each get their fair share, so the property must be sold and portioned out to the "kids"..

Gramps got subsidies and tax write-off all during his lifetime..It was how he could AFFORD to "keep farming" and live the lifestyle he chose.

When he died, the taxes that were forgiven during his lifetime, came due.. His heirs did not EARN what he left to them, so they should have no qualms about paying up the taxes that were deferred by Gramps for all those years he held the property..

and somewhere back in the family tree, if you shake it hard enough, you will probably find a relative who got land grants or land for pennies an acre..

Why is it fair to not pay a fair share of taxes, for all the benefits Gramps received during his lifetime?

[MN ChimpH8R]

90. The people who receive large inheritances should be taxed

(and heavily) for the same reason that lottery winners are taxed. They have done nothing to earn the money, and it's purely windfall income. They won the genetic lottery, not Powerball. I support exemptions for family owned businesses and farms, because it requires intelligence and effort to keep those things running and generating profit.

But the Paris Hiltons and Bush families of the world should be taxed at confiscatory rates when they inherit money and investments. Generation after generation of parasitical morons are protected from ever having to do anything to make an honest living when huge piles of cash can be transferred between generations.

[lostnfound]

47. Bigger problem is that the bottom 25% can't feed their children

or pay the doctor or have a safety net to not end up homeless with a little bad luck

[Raster]

5. the masters of greed want racial conflict in this country. It's easier to

control all of us if they can keep us perpetually pissed off. So they fan the racial fires. They fan the sexist fires. The fan the ageist fires (social security). They feed the fires of homophobia. Anything to detract us from what we really should be pissed off and fighting mad about: economic inequality and class discrimination. A very small but powerful segment of our society is literally fleecing the rest of us to further feather their nests. For example, look at the walmart trolls. Five of the richest people on the planet, but yet refuse to pay their employees a living wage. There is no health care for walmart workers, because they can't afford it. They have to rely on government and society for help, and the walmart trolls get richer and richer. Right now they are spending MILLIONS to repeal the estate taxes so they can pass their ill-gotten billions to their heirs and create dynasties.

[bleedingheart]

9. You have that right....

nothing like having the peons fighting amongst themselves so that they don't turn the pitchforks on the rich.

I can't stand WalMart and the way it is destroying our society.

[katinmn]

6. Last night I watched Ted Kennedy talking about the min wage

He was on the Senate floor and C-Span was carrying it live.

He did a great job as usual. What an advocate for the poor.

I have no illusions that Congress will support the minimum wage increase making it a livable wage.

But it will make me angry all over again when they vote against it.

Congress members quietly gave themselves a $3,000 annual raise a couple months ago. It was the sixth year in a row they voted themselves pay increases. Rank and file members now earn $160,000 annually. Leadership "earns" considerably more.

Strange how 45 million-plus people that they are supposed to represent don't even have health coverage.

Strange how representatives are now making plans to cut Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and other important survival safety nets, but plan to retain the tax cuts for the wealthiest, and to repeal the estate tax which will solidify the wealth and power of the ruling class. They give themselves pay raises every year, but have frozen the federal minimum wage at $5.15 an hour for years and years.

Strange indeed.

I was wondering why Senator Kennedy was up there by himself pleading for an increase for the working poor, when oops! They had to break for a quorum call. Not enough members in the Senate to continue. I waited for 15-20 minutes but had to turn it off. So disheartening. No one wants to hear about minimum wages.

I switched over to the House of Reps which C-Span was also carrying live. The place was a beehive of activity. They were voting on declaring National Chemical Industry Recognition Week.

Shame on all of them.

[Theres-a]

8. Shame.

[Child_Of_Isis]

19. Wow! That was a good post.

"Congress members quietly gave themselves a $3,000 annual raise a couple months ago. It was the sixth year in a row they voted themselves pay increases. Rank and file members now earn $160,000 annually. Leadership "earns" considerably more."



Why in the world do Americans put up with this I wonder? Why do republicans put up with it? And they want to bitch about the poor getting a penny! This is our tax money!

[flygal]

27. Oh that makes me sick

What is congress approval rating now - in the twenties. pieces of shit.

[lectrobyte]

11. Yeah, keep spending $20,000 for those after-prom parties in the Hamptons

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/18/earlyshow/living/parenting/main951098.shtml

[elehhhhna]

14. You're getting your wish.

I lol at every humvee that goes by. Especially the Pepto-pink ones.

[bleedingheart]

16. I haven't seen the pink ones...

Mario Lemieux (Penguin hockey...repuke) drives a big orange one around the community he lives in...it is obnoxious.
...but of course he wants taxpayers to build him a new hockey arena...

[elehhhhna]

22. Bright yellow is the second-ugliest.

the pink one looks like a Barbie car on steroids.

[holboz]

54. How about 16 year olds driving the humvees?

A couple of years ago I worked for a school. Imagine our shock when we saw a 16 year old kid pull up in a brand new humvee that his parents bought him for his birthday.

What an absolute disservice his parents are doing. I mean, where do you go after you buy your kid a $50k car? They set the bar and now this kid won't expect anything less than that the rest of his life.

I hate those blasted cars. Obnoxious and ridiculously over the top.

[elehhhhna]

91. I haven't seen a teen behind the wheel yet but

the Sugar Land Soccer Moms I HAVE seen all look alike. Not joking. They must have an official uniform and grooming guide.

I suspect they can only bear thundering around in those shakeboxes because excess Botox numbs the senses. Xanax probably helps them get through the pain of gassing up.

[prescole]

15. Progressive taxation is all I want

That way, those who benefit the most from our infrastructure also pay the most, as it should be.
Example: radio talk hosts benefit from the public airwaves, all those listeners driving on public roadways, and so on. Why shouldn't they be happy to pay a little more in taxes?

[porphyrian]

17. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet. - n/t

[earth mom]

23. Most middle class and poor people think they're gonna be RICH one day....

which in all likelihood for the majority of us just AIN'T gonna happen. Until the middle class and poor start getting pissed off and disgusted with "ALL THEY'VE HAD TO GIVE UP" in order for the rich to "HAVE IT ALL", nothing will change.

What will it take?

Great Depression #2.... :grr:

[Ron Green]

31. I think the tide may be turning on that point ...

middle-class people have been chasing a more and more phony dream of riches for a long time, but I think these promises, accompanied by Las Vegas-style images of white limousines and swimming pools, are wearing thin. Perhaps most middle-class couples have now had their fling with Multi-Level Marketing, or a real estate scheme, and are starting to realize that now, as throughout history, the small group at the very top will oppress the masses. And unless they don't have to go to work for their money, THEY are the masses.

[adigal]

24. I think the heating bills this winter

will dissuade many middle and lower class Americans of their dream of being rich. I think many will just be hoping to be able to pay their heating bills. I feel the resentment of the wealthy beginning already.

I can't say I have a great deal of sympathy for the freezing Bush voter this winter, but I do hope the elderly and young don't suffer.

[MountainLaurel]

26. A relevant quote from Napolean

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."

As long as the poor hear in their churches (the one place they can find any semblance of hope) that it's their fault they're poor because God is punishing them for their laziness, their sin, whatever, there will be no class uprising in this country.

[flygal]

29. That's the old Amway spiel

they tell you if you don't keep giving them money you're lazy and if you drop out you're a loser. And surprise - they infuse a whole lot of religion in their motivation speeches.

[bleedingheart]

32. ah the Van Andel and DeVos clans....bunch of crooks

my father in law handled the bankruptcy of one of the sheeps that got stuck in that scam....she was so ashamed...offered him cleaning supplies to help relieve his fees....

Their brand of christianity preys upon others...rather than praying with people...

[pitohui]

35. well it hasn't worked so far

since they've been acting like this since the mid 80s at least then it's safe to say that yr idea is incorrect

watching rich make asses of themselves only gives the middle class more fantasy material since they believe that "anyone" will be a millionaire if they invest in 401(k)s for 20 or 30 yrs

go to a financial site such as motley fool, every idiot making $30K a yr believes she's gonna be a millionaire in her old age because she has an IRA

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

40. Low income and middle income Americans love their celebrity worship

and love their rich people... Most people just enjoy the "bread and circuses" aspect of wealth and celebrity worship and don't make the connection between their own circumstances.

It's just like poor people in England being into the royalty. I mean, WTF.

[Cleita]

46. They won't wake up.

Eva Peron flaunted her minks, jewels and designer clothes in front of her descamisados. When told to tone it down, she said nonsense, they wanted to see her looking good. Of course Eva threw some of her largesse back to the poor, which I haven't seen with this crowd. The point is that we want to drool over what we don't have.

If you ever looked at the movies made during the depression, they were mostly light-hearted romantic musicals about rich heiresses and eligible rich bachelors preferably with a title or two. The poor wallow in the escapism and the rich know that. They have no problem flaunting it because it works for them.

What they don't like is to discover that their rich and famous are mean, or immoral in unacceptable ways like suspected of being pedophiles, then they wake up to what excesses their money is buying. Since most of these rich conservatives like Rush Limbaugh have a lot of skeletons in their closets, the best way to knock them off their pedestals is to drag those skeletons out of the closet for all to see the hypocrisy and what they are spending their tax cuts on.

[tabasco]

50. Bring on the revolution !!

[pnorman]

60. During the 1902 coal strike,

a prominent coal operator uttered thusly:
"The rights and interests of the laboring man will be protected and cared for. Not by radical labor agitators, but by the christian men to whom god has given control of the property interests of the country. Pray earnestly that right may triumph, always remembering that the Lord God omnipotent still reigns, and that his reign is one of law and order." --George F. Baer.

That arrogant statement triggered a wave of disgust throughout the nation, and probably tilted popular support towards the strikers. Needless to say, he caught particular hell from his fellow "christian men to whom god has given control". They all believed it completely, but had the wit to realize that the rest of the country didn't.

pnorman

[bleedingheart]

68. that quote made me wanna puke

:puke:

[roguevalley]

63. I do too so that when the revolution comes, I'll know whose houses

to rob. seriously.

[Jara sang]

75. Good post

:thumbsup:

[bleedingheart]

86. thanks...I used to spend so much energy trying to convice people

that voting against their best interests was a bad idea...but no...they don't listen...

So I want to watch as the Neo-Gilded Aged Robber Barons suck the life out of the economy and how Mr. Dell is living large while a lot of Americans have no money to pay for Timmy's asthma medication or the mortgage...

[ChickMagic]

79. Great post

However, people are lulled into believing that they, too, can share in that debauchery. It's the American Dream. If they just pick the right numbers in the lottery, it's all theirs.

[Ikonoklast]

80. In the 80's ,the family-owned company

that I worked for asked the union membership for contract concessions, citing competition, slow economy, the high cost of health care, whatever the reason, or they said that dire things would happen. You know, Raygunomics. We knuckled under, like the bunch of saps that we were.

Right after contract negotiations ended and the deal was signed, my boss (the owner's oldest son) came around to all the departments with the pictures of the brand new 44' Searay that he just got. He was so proud.

The guy was so dim he had no clue that he made everyone he showed the pictures to furious for taking a wage and benefit cut.

Three years later, they tried the same tactic, no money, tough times, blah, blah, blah. We took a strike vote and walked that same day. Boy, he taught us a lesson. Fuck 'em, they are all liars.

[RagAss]

83. Joe American is a cretin...he voted Bush/Cheney...

[castiron]

84. Me too.

And I want them to keep losing their jobs in vast numbers, because Paris Hilton's dog ain't gonna affect voting patterns.

[rucky]

88. Ever watch "My Super Sweet 16" or "Laguna Beach"?

on MTV. it'll make you sick.