The stupid, stupid rich.

[Jakes Progress]

America has some of the stupidest rich people ever. They are hell-bent on returning our country to the gilded age. They want low wages, high unemployment, and low taxes. The middle class will shrink and the truly poor will expand.

They have accomplished their goals by three decades of attacking government and Washington, all while using government and Washington to not only guarantee their privilege but to add to it steadily with a rigged tax system. They want all of us trembling in fear of losing crappy jobs, jobs they dole out if you are quiet and meek. They want to bask in the huge difference between their lives and ours. They love it that half the poor and middle class actually serve as foot soldiers for their war on the “lower” classes. Those foot soldiers are anyone who ever voted republican or settled for Democrats who voted like republicans.

But these power elite are truly short-sighted and stupid. The world they wish to create cannot last. Had they been satisfied with only limitless wealth and privilege and allowed the middle class to continue, they could have prolonged their position at the top for generations. Their greedy grab for everything without limits on suffering for the other 98% will result in their destruction. They know nothing of history, ancient or recent. From the French Revolution to the Watts riots, we know what is coming.

To quote a movie line from one of their biggest supporters: “Damn you. Goddamn you all to hell. “

[YOY]

1. They've got the police force more than ready to protect their interests.

The law enforcement industry! Still growing!!!

[asdjrocky]

8. +1

You almost always say it first.

[YOY]

9. The first sign that something is wrong with your legal system: what are the purposes of your jails?

Dostoevsky was right...take a look at how a culture treats prisoners if you want to see what a society is really like. Some Animal rights activists will substitute "animals" for "prisoners" but that's not the point.

Does it use the prison system to quash dissent like China? To warehouse them for short and brutal lives, possibly giving up their lives unwillingly so that their organs can be farmed?

Does it use the prison system to rehabilitate those who can be rehabilitated like Iceland?

Does it a tool of analysis to garner the causes of crime and therefore to prevent it as in Japan?

or is it a money making system taken over by private organizations that thrives on maximizing the number warehoused from as many revenue sources as possible...at best a profitable oubliette.

Says a lot. about. a culture.

[walldude]

2. K&R... seems to me that the current crop of "rich people"

didn't really earn their money. Most of em' either inherited it or made their fortunes shuffling money around on Wall Street. They don't really serve any function, they do nothing useful and if the shit hits the fan they'll be standing there with handfuls of worthless paper wondering how they are going to survive.

[Political_Junkie]

3. K & R

Karma's coming, baby!

[Cal33]

4. It's more like the sick, sick rich. Sick because they can't help

being the way they are. Their thinking is like that of programmed robots.
They no longer have free choice in thinking. They can only carry out
what they've been programmed to do.

[Bonhomme Richard]

5. What they care about is short term retuns. Period.

They couldn't care less about "down the road" thinking. Get the money and run, the hell with everything else. Toss .00001 percent of what they steal towards charity and they are media hero's.
Zero consequences for them.

[L0oniX]

6. They seem to have no fear. That is stupid!

[valerief]

7. They have Wall St. doing unrecorded trades. Yeah, it'll last for them. nt

[HillbillyBob]

10. I wish i could rec multiple times.

[Initech]

11. They're not stupid, they know exactly what they're doing.

Since Reagan usurped power in the 1980's, they've been hell bent to take every single last cent they can from us. Of course the practice now is just rearing it's ugly head. To quote the great Lewis Black: "The greediest of the greedy got together in this country and said "Wow, that's pretty fucking greedy!". Greed is their motivation. Fear and stupidity, not to mention recklessness and arrogance, are by-products of it.

[Silent3]

12. The stupidity of what's happening should be enough...

...to convince some people that the wealthy aren't all evil geniuses able to orchestrate the huge and elaborate Grand Conspiracies that many seem to think are required for the middle class and the poor to get screwed, and for the environment to suffer so much.

All it takes is short-sightedness, greed, loose agreement on a few different bad agendas among a few different, only sometimes overlapping groups of the rich and powerful, ordinary, uncomplicated, and not always particularly well-executed graft and corruption. That's enough for plenty of damage to be done, no Grand Conspiracy to orchestrate every news story, every vote, every assassination, or the fall of each sparrow required.

[Mz Pip]

13. The Bush tax cuts have been in place

for nearly a decade. So where are all those jobs the Republicans insist businesses create when they have a lower tax base?

If it's not working now, how will extending the Bush tax cuts guarrantee it will work in the future? If businesses haven't donew much in the past ten years why should we believe that they will do anything in the future?

The rich just want to keep their money. I seriously doubt there is much intention in doing any job creation.

[Lorien]

14. Works for them in Mexico

They live in huge gated estates with multiple armed guards while the rest of the Nation barely scrapes by. Nothing has upset that status quo for generations. It could well happen here, with no backlash of any kind from the bottom 99%...in fact, they're counting on it.

[Canuckistanian]

15. Good example

Oh, and don't fight the drug dealers, work with them. They're profitable and they know how to handle anyone who protests.

It's the next step, wait and see.

[wiggs]

16. It's not them, it's the system. It's the natural consequence of under-regulated capitalism

combined with the worship of materialism and the dollar. You can't really expect global corporation A to leave money on the table for global corporation B to snatch up. Corporate executive #1 isn't going to tell his salespeople to stop deceptive sales practices when his stock options, his salary, his mansion, his job, and his kids' inheritance in on the line.

[Doctor_J]

17. There won't be any revolt this time

The French Revolution, even the Watts riots, aren't coming back. Too much cable TV and hate radio to keep the proletariat trembling, sedated and clueless.

...confused about all of the rec's for this

[Orsino]

18. The rise of the middle class inevitably diluted their power.

They will correct this error as soon as it can be arranged.

[KharmaTrain]

19. When You Get Your Way All The Time...

I heard a report that over 3.5 BILLION was spent on lobbying last year...and you can only imagine the money flows like water right now. Our political system has been totally bought and paid for as politicians need the money more than the votes. The rich weren't stupid here...they've invested wisely.

Where they are stupid is by destroying the middle class they've destroyed the engine of their riches...the labor and the consumers. All the money in the world can't buy you things that aren't being manufactured or services that no longer exist. Unfortunately our politicians and punditry is also part of the corporate welfare system and no longer have any connections nor care about the rest of us.

[Jakes Progress]

20. Some time ago

I read a comparison of the rape-the-country type of ruling class and the maintain stability type. The book talked about the rich Japanese who for a long time sought order and peace and prosperity for everyone in the country because that meant they could keep their wealth, be safe, and pass that position of privilege on to their heirs. Today's billionaires don't seem to even like their kids, let alone want them to a part of a long dynasty. Just get it now and spend it now and burn up the country in the process.