What is the likelihood that anyone reading this hub is a member of the Other 98% of Americans? Pretty damn good...
What is the likelihood that any of us will catapult our way into the stratosphere of the richest 20 percent who control about 84 percent of wealth in America (while the 400 richest people in America account for about 2.6 percent of the nation's private wealth)? Pretty damn slim...
So why the hell do we vote as though our best friends are millionaires and we are in their will?
Newsflash: Unless you are already wealthy, the heir apparent to wealth, marrying into wealth, or on the verge of becoming the next cyber-genius, or the next top Hollywood earner... tax cuts for the wealthy do not and will not ever affect your bottom line!
Interesting, but not germane: "Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, in 35th place with $6.9 billion, is no longer the youngest billionaire on the list -- his colleagues at Facebook, Dustin Moskovitz (in 290th with $1.4 billion) and Eduardo Saverin (in 356th with $1.15 billion) have joined him. Moskovitz is eight days younger than Zuckerberg. Both are 26."
Really, what is the American Dream myth that we continue to pursue or more importantly believe is available to each and every one of us when the truth is... the rich get richer and the poor get poorer every minute of every day of every month of every year!
"In his recent book, After Shock , former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich argues that the economic downward mobility of American workers, has "to do with power...income and wealth in fewer hands." Apparently, many working class Americans want to keep it that way... about 33 percent voting against their self-interest -- higher taxes on the wealthiest would reduce the national debt, facilitate spending on levies, bridges, schools, health-care, and create jobs. Similarly, an AP-GfK poll found that in the upcoming election, 58 percent of white working class Americans favor Republicans who opposed rescinding the Bush tax cut, and fought every Democratic bill benefiting low income earners including extending unemployment benefits." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/myriam-miedzian/capitalism-uber-alles-how_...
I find this profoundly disturbing... middle-class, working Americans who seem not to understand that the dichotomy of tax cuts for the wealthy and tax cuts for the Other 98% are disparately different as is their affect on the deficit.
Except for the fact that if we allow the Bush tax cuts to continue for the wealthy; the deficit, the lagging economy, the highest interest rates, the tight money, the foreclosures, the young people forced to drop out of school, the sick, the indigent, the poorest, the weakest and the most vulnerable will suffer all the atrocities of this economic collapse... while the wealthy will be pissed off about not making more millions at our expense.
It is the unconscionable crushing of the middle-class beneath the heel of the wealthy and those who would promote wealth for the 2% at the expense of the Other 98%.
If you want to have a tea-party... government is not the enemy!
Throw the bastards overboard who don't give a damn about your health, your home, your civil liberties, your family, your future, your children's education, your parents medicare or social security, your job, your interest rates, your opportunities, your sleepless nights, your value as an American!
And anyone who defends tax cuts for the wealthy top 2% and the addition of $700 billion to the deficit... because it's not about the deficit, but they think we are too stupid to figure it out.
"For decades, the wealthy have grown richer while the middle class shrink and poverty increases exponentially. Most Americans are clueless regarding wealth inequality in this nation. FDR fought off the bankers and corporatist in the 30à ‚¬ ²s. Yet today, they thrive more than ever, leaving many of us a paycheck away from destitution" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/23/americans-support-wealth-redist...
Really, do you still not get it?
What will it take to make you understand that the opportunity to win the lottery is not the same as the opportunity to dream and work hard for those dreams to come true.
People who have worked hard all their lives and bounced back from each of life's setbacks are hitting a brick wall this time... and you do not bounce back off a brick wall. You drop like a ton of bricks.
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