To even talk of economic disparities provokes outrages. Meanwhile, no one seems outraged when John Stossel and others promote greed as good and as the the factor which made America great. Many Americans do not care that the great dream of financial freedom has now become the winning the lottery dream.

by Richard Mathis (132 articles, 111 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 120 comments) on Friday, Sep 22, 2006 at 2:32:49 PM

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You can rest assured that those of us in my economic strata are furious that there is such a disparity between the richest and the working classes. Just this week I posted on my blog a simple plea for donations to an elementary school in Idaho. Why is it that the Gates Foundation is willing to funnel millions into Africa and I have to plead for money for a little American school? We don't need MORE people on this planet, when we can't take care of the ones we already have.

by webduck (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Saturday, Sep 23, 2006 at 7:31:22 PM

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"In the streets of America there are no mobs of unemployed and low-paid workers demanding government action and economic justice." - No, perhaps not, at the moment. But pretty soon there are going to be, and mostly due to the activities of some of those 400 billionaires. Then you might find more than a little resentment, particularly when the poor realise that they have been impoverished intentionally by the deliberate ruination of the economy in order to make them more controllable by their poverty. That is why GW amd his cronies are so wilfully spending and getting everyone else to borrow so profligately, so the great dumb public will lose their homes and their freedom to do what they think right rather than do what they are told. And the deeply indebted country will lose its freedom to do what it knows is right, rather than any other evil that its creditors want. - Which is only what America is already doing nationally today, eh? Think about it. Think who is doing it. Then act.

by amazin (34 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 400 comments [12 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Sep 24, 2006 at 3:48:02 AM

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I was thinking when I read this article that I might try to sort of answer some of the proposed 'poll' questions you posited: Q-Do Americans feel PRIDE that the economic system has enabled these billionaires to accumulate such massive wealth? A- A- few, yes. None who have any real idea what is involved in the accumulation of this kind of wealth. Q- Do they heap PRAISE on Bush economic policies that have helped make more millionaires billionaires? A- I would hazard a guess to say "No" unless perhaps they happen to be one of the 400. Q- Are they PROUD that these billionaires have paid relatively little taxes to support the government that has helped make them super-rich? A- I am quite certain this question was rhetorical! Only an idiot with G W Bush's IQ would be proud that the working men and women pay all the taxes for the super-rich! Q- Do they AGREE with Forbes that "the creation of wealth" "builds up the human spirit. It strengthens the national fiber." A- Many would agree. I do not! The creation of wealth of the kind Forbes was describing builds up avarice and damages the national fiber by the disparity between those who create the wealth by working and those who receive the wealth by working as a CEO or as a stockholder/investor. Q- Do Americans feel SADNESS for the many, many millionaires who did not make the list? A- Surely you jest! Q- Do they believe that our economic system is FAIR because 261 on the list are self-made billionaires? A- Once again, some would, especially the CEO's and stockholders/investors who receive the wealth. The working person who actually creates the wealth would most likely not be fooled into saying that our system was fair just because 261 people were cunning enough to quit working and live off wealth created by others. Q- Are they ANGRY that the price of a natural Russian sable coat at Bloomingdale's rose 19 percent to $190,000 in 2006 and that a week at the Golden Door spa rose 11 percent to $7,500? A- I, and they, would certainly say why should I care what these items cost the uber-rich who buy them! You know why you don't you see more people loudly demanding massive numbers of working- and middle-class Americans rising up in economic rebellion, ready to do battle against rising economic inequality? The answer goes something like this: In Steinbeck's great novel of the Great Depression, The Grapes of Wrath, Tom Joad is talking to others in the same 'boat' financially with him and his family about the injustice and disparity of pay received for their hard work. Tom Joad says: "...tonight we had meat, it wasn't much, but we had it, and my Pa isn't giving up his meat..." The modern American equivalent is just as real. Americans who are getting their "meat" are not too concerned about those who aren't getting any. Americans are world-famous for being self-centered and competitive. This serves to help prevent unified action to effect change in the enormously unfair system that produces 400 billionaires while others have little food, no home, no work and no health care etc. In short, the 'I've got mine and I'm not giving any of it up' way of viewing life is the culprit here. Sincerely yours, Michael Weaver-Robbins

by Michael Weaver-Robbins (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 30 comments) on Tuesday, Sep 26, 2006 at 6:14:02 AM

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