For decades, especially since the Regan presidency began in 1980, corporations and the wealthy have been winning their ongoing class war against 99% of Americans. It has become so entrenched and taken for granted by them that any attempt to disrupt it…is ironically and Orwellianally labeled by them, “class warfare”.

That’s right, doing anything to stop their campaign of class warfare they call “class warfare”…and the MSM presents that as a fair criticism.

Imagine if a molester was stopped from molesting and claimed that doing so was molesting him. You get the picture (surrealist as it is).

Many Democratic politicians have fully bought into this doublespeak, they fearfully avoid talking about the ongoing class warfare for fear of being labeled as a perpetrator of it.

And so, the raping and pillaging by the wealthy and corporations of the majority of Americans continues and the cops look the other way.

However, Pres. Obama has repeatedly called for taxing the wealthy. He is now proposing that those earning $1 million or more have their taxes raised. Considering that the wealthy have obscenely increased their earnings and net worth over the past few decades and 99% of Americans have seen their wages stagnate and their net worth decline…it seems not radical but a decent enough first step.

Of course, the puppets of the wealthy, the GOP, howl that such a proposal is…that’s right, you guessed it…class warfare. “Stop interfering with the molester! That makes you a molester!”

This facade has been propped up long enough, the wealthy and corporations (who own the MSM of course) have been getting away with pretending they aren’t at war with the majority of Americans…while assaulting them…for far too long. It is high time that the Democratic Party as a whole steps up and makes a central plank of their 2012 campaign, fighting back against the Class Warfare which the wealthy have been and are engaged in.

There are no facts or figures that refute that the wealthy or winning a class war. There is no morally or ethically justifiable position to take to sustain this. 70% of the public WANT higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations who are indisputably paying the lowest tax rate in recent history and far lower rates than most Americans pay…if, unlike such mega-billion corporations as GE and Exxon, they aren’t even paying taxes but getting subsidies from tax payers instead.

Where is the downside on supporting economic justice and ending the class warfare that’s been ongoing? How many Americans are buying into this BS about all wealthy people and corporations wanting so badly to hire them but they just need more than $2.5 trillion in their pockets and mean ol’ government to quit stopping them from pouring radioactive waste into our drinking water?

And the even more destructive side of allowing the wealthy’s class warfare to continue unabated is that the national deficit will continue to be cut and if the wealthy get to keep avoiding paying their fair share in taxes, 99% of Americans get a huge heaping of social decay on top of their declining wages…if they haven’t already lost their jobs, that is.

Insult to injury…or maybe, plague to injury. Without tax money from the wealthy, on top of everything else, entitlements will be slashed and seniors will pay $6,000 a year more for Medicare, social services will be cut, public workers like firemen, police and teachers will be laid off, spending on infrastructure will be decimated and roads and bridges will keep crumbling, regulation of dangerous corporate behavior will shrink hugely…this is the Republican dream and America’s nightmare.

And while we’re at it, let’s destroy this doublespeak of calling wealthy people “job creators”. Is that really their main focus in life? Do they wake up thinking, “Man, I so want to create jobs today!” or do they wake up saying, “Man, I so want to be wealthier today!”. This propaganda is such garbage and seeing MSM drones using that phrase is outrageous.

The wealthy in America have never been wealthier, have never owned more of the net worth of the nation and we have over 9% unemployment nationally. This “job creator” crap isn’t even factually true at this very moment! They ARE wealthier and there AREN’T more jobs. Two minus two doesn’t equal four.

Enough of the tiptoeing around the criminal activity of the wealthy to rob the majority of their assets. Democrats have worried long enough about being attacked by the wealthy for standing up for the 99% who aren’t. It is not only a winning issue, it is the only democratic position to take.

The wealthy and corporations won’t create more jobs because, as I mentioned in a previous piece (The End of Jobs in America), this is the new normal. You can kill the EPA, gut all financial regulations, lower corporate taxes to zero, give the wealthy everything they could ever want…and it won’t create a single job more than if you hadn’t.

Why? Because corporations used the crash to accelerate their long term strategy which was already in operation well before the crash, to minimize jobs in the US to only those absolutely necessary and build up operations overseas where labor costs, regulations and expenses are far lower.

So, no matter how much you give these greedy SOBs, they can’t hire Americans for $5 a day to work in a factory, why on Earth would they build a factory in the US and pay a worker $100 a day instead of getting 20 workers for the same amount?

The only way to fight back and reverse the economic injustice and assault against 99% of Americans, is to take back some of the unethically acquired wealth from the wealthy, create public sector jobs and pay for the services that benefit all Americans.

Is it wealth redistribution? If one wishes to look that narrowly at it without any context, yes. However, if this is redistribution, so is returning money from a criminal to the people he robbed. Indeed, it does transfer wealth from the robber to the victims but in context, it is merely returning to those who have been robbed, what used to be theirs.

There is no disagreement, even from the wealthy, that they have used their money to elect politicians and get bills passed that transferred wealth from the majority of Americans to them. That is corrupt and criminal in a democracy and they have no moral or principled right to the money that their bribery of public officials has allowed them to siphon off from the majority.

Today, Pres. Obama said that taxing the wealthy…just their fair share!…”Isn’t class warfare, it’s math.”

It is indeed time to do the math. It is indeed time to fight for economic equity. It is indeed time for the Democratic Party to say together that they stand for these things and what benefits the American People.

The Republicans want to call it class warfare? They represent less than 1% of the nation, they want to fight with their troops against ours? Bring it on.

107
Leave a Comment

Please Login to comment
28 Comment threads
79 Thread replies
0 Followers
 
Most reacted comment
Hottest comment thread
18 Comment authors
jjgravitasagrippaAdLibSueInCaAlphaBitch Recent comment authors
  Subscribe  
newest oldest most voted
Notify of
jjgravitas
Member
jjgravitas

And the newest oxymoron of the 21st Century is: ‘Job Creators.’ This notion of ‘class warfare’ gives weight to my opinion that the GOP should be declared a criminal or terrorist organization that is interested only in the destruction of this country. To combat them we should freeze their assets to pay down the country’s debts and to keep the country solvent and we should shut them out of the federal government altogether since they are plainly interested only in making life as cushy as possible for the super-rich and the mega-corporations. The term ‘values voter’ is taking on a whole other meaning that I believe was intended.

jjgravitas
Member
jjgravitas

Who are the MSM?

bito
Member

Another “face” of class warfare and the R’s depending on the voters to be ignorant!

Bachmann Claims Wall Street Reform Is ‘Killing The Banking Industry’ As Banks Post Record Profits

And not only repealing Obamacare, also repealing Dodd-Frank, which is killing the banking industry. I’ve got the bill to repeal both of them.

Huh? Killing the banking industry?

Some banks would be surprised to learn that they are on the verge of death, as they keep on reporting record profits. As ThinkProgress’ Alex Seitz-Wald noted when Newt Gingrich claimed that the banking industry was being killed by Dodd-Frank, “‘bank profits rose substantially‘ in the first quarter of the year, with banks showing the biggest profits since before the recession. Things were sunny in the second quarter as well”:

– Profits at JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s second largest bank, were up 13 percent.

– Third-largest Citigroup’s profits soared 23 percent.

– Fourth-largest Wells Fargo’s profits shot up 29 percent.

– Fifth-largest Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, “disappointed investors” when it merely “more than doubled its profits.”

–Sixth-largest Morgan Stanley’s profits were up an impressive 17 percent.

The actual Dodd-Frank bill was a bit unnecessary if the Bush Admin. would have “extorted” rules and regulations in the TARP bill when the banks were on the ropes. I can semi-blame the Dems (they controlled both houses) but the scenario presented to them was of “Pass this now or the economy will collapse, yesterday.

One “excuse” I have heard is it’s killing the smaller banks, possible, but I have two family members in banking, small regional banks and one said he had reached his payroll tax deductions in May. The Cut-off is 106,800 dollars, you do the math. Small banks suffering?

Khirad
Member

Golden oldie.

Some 3,000 Millionaires Claim Jobless Benefits, IRS Data Show
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-01/almost-3-000-millionaires-claimed-jobless-benefits-in-2008-irs-data-show.html

Now, speaking of douches, one who is apparently not a complete douche.

get so obnoxiously rich that when that tax bill comes, your first thought will be to choke on how big a check you have to write. Your 2nd thought will be “what a great problem to have”, and your 3rd should be a recognition that in paying your taxes you are helping to support millions of Americans that are not as fortunate as you.

~ Mark Cuban

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2011/09/mark-cuban-wants-to-pay-a-lot-of-taxes/1?csp=34sports

agrippa
Member
agrippa

UI is not means tested.
Just as SS and medicare are not.
If you legally qualify for UI, you get it.

justafarmer
Member

As for all this 50% pay no income taxes and segueing into unemployment benefits…
I just double-checked our tax returns for 2009 and 2010 when Mr.Justafarmer was on unemployment for the very first time in his life (he’s 55 now).
Guess what, you “R party of NO!”, unemployment benefits are federally (AND state here in Kentucky) TAXABLE!
gawd… I really hate these people…

KQµårk 死神
Member

Only 50% of Americans paying Federal taxes is a complete lie. Besides paying unemployment insurance like you say. Working people pay the disproportionately much more in payroll taxes not to even mention state and local taxes. The worse part is if Republicans wanted workers to pay more taxes the conservatives that own business would support paying them more. But the fact is they suppress wages and then complain about the effects of suppressing wages.

bito
Member
bito
Member

And just a few more of “those pesky facts” to add to your post AdLib.

Many Millionaires Do Enjoy Lower Tax Rates
Fact Checking the Fact Checkers at AP

1,470 households reported income of more than $1 million in 2009 but paid zero federal income tax on it.

The average federal income tax rate of the richest 400 people in the country in 2008 was 18.11 percent. In 2007 it was 16.62 percent. That is only a little more than just the payroll tax on wages

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the richest 0.01 percent (those with incomes of $8.6 million and above) paid a combined 17.5 percent in individual income and payroll taxes in 2005, the last year for which such data are available.

Due to the so-called carried interest loophole, managers of hedge funds and private equity funds pay 15 percent capital gains rates, and no payroll taxes, on their profits from managing other people’s money.

Did the AP hire the Heritage Foundation to do their “fact-checking?

KQµårk 死神
Member

Michael Tomasky obviously agrees with your article AdLib.

The GOP calls it ‘class warfare,’ but the president’s proposal to raise taxes on millionaires is actually a move toward fairness and fiscal sanity, says Michael Tomasky.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/19/michael-tomasky-obama-out-to-expose-gop-s-class-warfare-sham.html

KQµårk 死神
Member

Sullivan does not exactly talk about class warfare but he totally understands the need for Obama to pivot on the GOP. In a short piece he chastises Brooks for blaming Obama for the pivot and not the GOP nihilists.

What The GOP Has Done To David Brooks

He’s (Brooks) venting at Obama today for finally absorbing the ineluctable fact that the current GOP will never, ever support increasing government revenues, and thereby cannot get to the Grand Bargain so many of us want. But look: Obama has put Medicare on the table before and got nothing for it. He has even cut Medicare and been pilloried by the GOP for it. He has been open to major tax reform: they are uninterested until they regain the White House. He compromised on the extension of the Bush tax cuts … only to be ambushed by the debt ceiling fiasco, which seriously hurt him.

I agree with David that Obamaism matters; but I don’t think Obama has treated us all like saps for proposing a second stimulus now and less radical ($3 trillion) debt reduction later. Yes, it’s not Bowles-Simpson. Yes, its tax proposals will not radically simplify the system (which is what we need) and are geared for political purposes … but at this point, what’s he seriously supposed to do?

The only way forward to a Grand Bargain is by calling the GOP bluff on taxes and going to the country on it. Once the Tea Party seized the House, this was always the likeliest scenario. Obama tried extremely hard to avoid it – which is what precipitated the last year of humiliations – which have taken a toll on his ratings and, far more dangerously, wounded his authority as president. And so, he has been forced into political contrast. To blame Obama for this seems absurd to me – and is only in the column because David is leerier of saying what needs to be said: that the current Republican party is a radical, extremist, reckless force that is far more concerned with defeating this president than in reforming the country on bipartisan lines.

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/09/what-the-gop-has-done-to-david-brooks.html

Brooks is incredibly dishonest intellectually for saying Obama took people like me who wanted Obama to govern to bring this country together for saps. Obama tried again and again to compromise with these people and they cannot take yes for an answer. The grand bargain was as good as the GOP was gonna get and like a great deal on a car given to a greedy customer, it should be taken off the table as a penalty for their stubbornness.

bito
Member

Again, again, again, the MSM fails! As usual they take these proposals by the President and make it “just politics” without a mention of the policy behind the politics. Not a mention of the economic inequality, it’s just politics, purely a campaign ploy, nothing more.
What a golden moment for them to use this as a “teaching/learning moment” and actually discuss the policy, nope, it’s politics.

What I would give for them to show one of the charts/graphs in the post and discuss that instead of instantly going to “it’s just about Obama’s reelection isn’t it?

“Good Policy makes Good Politics”

I know this is nothing new, just had to rant! 😉

KQµårk 死神
Member

Rant justified brah. When Dems were doing something like passing the ACA bill that was tough politically and good for people they complained about that too.

I’m through with them all even the so called progressive media.

Sabreen60
Member
Sabreen60

Me too!

KQµårk 死神
Member

WOW! One of your best posts AdLib.

As you said class warfare has been raging for decades and working people have been the big losers.

The problem really is too many people live in the delusion that they will be millionaires some day. A recent survey showed 2 in 10 Americans think they will be millionaires within 10 years. I even thought I would at least be in that position when I retired with my 401K until I lost my class warfare battle with the healthcare industrial complex.

Obama focusing on taxing the true wealthy, those making over $1,000,000 is the best political and practical move he’s made so far. All Dems need to have his back on this bold move because like you implied this is one of the crazy third rails in modern American politics.

Even the most cynical progressives need to get board on Obama’s budget plan because it does not raise the Medicare age or touch SS. No more fecking excuses!

Fired up and ready to go!