HOLD BUSH AND CHENEY ACCOUNTABLE


THE WEALTHY HAVE WAGED CLASS WARFARE ON US


Now that President Obama has released his first budget and the budget contains provisions for raising taxes on the rich we will hear the caterwauling from the right about "class warfare" and "redistribution of wealth." But for decades the right-wing policies pursued by our government have effectively been transferring the wealth to the richest people in this country and systematically destroying the working and middle class. We have had policies that ship jobs to other countries. The minimum wage has barely budged in comparison to the explosion in CEO salaries and perks. There has been an active effort to destroy the union movement. The rich have received massive tax breaks that in many cases mean their effective rate of taxation is lower than that of working people. I have no sympathy for these creeps. This article by Jamison Foser is at mediamatters.org:

But the real problem with Cummings' article -- and with the rest of the week's news reports about "class warfare" and "redistribution of wealth" -- is that they frame Obama's proposals in such negative terms. It's hard to think of a single example of tax or spending policy that doesn't in some way "redistribute wealth." Some redistribute wealth upward, some redistribute wealth downward. But the media only seem to break out the "class warfare" and "redistribution of wealth" pejorative when the wealth in question is heading to those who are not already wealthy.

(At this point, it should be noted that big-name political reporters earn considerably more money than most of the people who read and watch their reports. According to Sean Quinn at FiveThirtyEight.com, one reporter asked after Gibbs' briefing yesterday: "Did you notice all the questions about taxes came from reporters making over $250,000 a year, especially the TV guys?")

THE FREAKS OF THE FAR RIGHT

Sometimes when you look at the denizens of the Far Right in this country you have to wonder why they aren't in a circus sideshow somewhere next to the three-headed chicken. Their idea of "Americanism" is for a few people to have everything and everyone else to have nothing. They claim that God is on their side. They talk about "freedom" while doing everything in their power to suppress freedom. Smoke a joint and go to prison, but engineer a massive Ponzi scheme and you're paying homage to the "free market." This article by Bob Cesca is at www.huffingtonpost.com:

After nearly three decades of Reaganomics in which the wealthiest two percent have grown exponentially wealthier while middle class wages have remained stagnant, a growing faction of super rich Americans is seriously pissed off -- and their Wingnut Revolution is upon us.

Sure, the interests and influence of the wealthiest two percent make them more responsible than most for the free market policies that created this current economic crisis. But if there's one thing we've learned about those responsible for this recession, it's that the concept of accountability is about as foreign as their live-in au pairs. Instead, they're trying to pin this on Barney Frank and a legion of "losers" (read that: working class minorities) even though Ben Bernanke himself has debunked this myth.