Sunday's Doonesbury - the 400

[n2doc]

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Sad , but true

[CTyankee]

2. Doonesbury has gotten pretty bitter lately.

I think Trudeau is in the same despair we are all in...

[Warpy]

3. I'm not in despair any more

I'm too pissed off for that.

[CTyankee]

7. I think I'm in despair because being pissed off didn't do diddly.

There is an old saying: "the only thing you get from beating a dead horse is tired arms." so I stopped just being so damn mad all the time. I certainly don't have any answers to our current dilemma...I wish I did, tho...

[Exilednight]

8. Ironic. I feel pissed on. n/t

[Posteritatis]

13. I'm starting to think "pisspair" should be a word. (nt)

[izquierdista]

4. Not the same

It's a different despair for those who are "comfortably well off" as they sit in the gap between the 400 and the bottom 50%. They can't convince those above them to let go to make the system better and they can't convince those at the bottom to rise up and demand it. The former course would be more peaceful and civilized than the latter, but history has shown it to be much less likely.

I'd count myself as one of the "comfortably well off", but in a strong economy where everyone who wanted to work had a job, I'd be a lot more comfortable.

[1monster]

12. I count myself well off because both my husband and I have jobs and a roof over our heads...

BUT, I don't work for two months in the summer and just as summer tourist season is ending, my husband's job cuts way back in hours. By the time my September paycheck is due, we are scraping the bottom of the savings account. My quarterly home insurance payment is due, my mortgage is due, and my paycheck didn't come in the mail on Friday like it was supposed to... PANIC Miss either the insurance payment or the mortgage payment and my roof over my head is in jeopardy. I was trying to figure out if I had anything to sell, but I already sold my gold -- (for which I didn't get anything near its value)...

Fortunately, my paycheck came the next day. But it was a real wake up call. I used to say that I had at least a month's reserve if either of us lost our jobs. Now we are down to one week before we hit disaster.

Very few of us are really comfortable anymore.

[CTyankee]

19. Yes, but that is always the case. I can't blame my family members who have done well..

They are not to blame for this mess. Plus, my family is all liberal Dems. So I am happy that we have good, strong Dems who work for and vote for good, strong Dems, despite their own family income!

[hfojvt]

31. heck, even I am not in the bottom 50% for wealth

although I am in the bottom 20% for income. In 2002, 47.2% of all households had less than $50,000 in wealth. Using the inflation calculator that becomes $62,000 in 2011 dollars, but median wealth may have dropped from 2002 to 2011 given the housing slump and the recession. So less than $70,000 in wealth should put somebody in the bottom 50%.

Some of that depends on age though. I 50 year old geezer like me has had more time to accumulate wealth than my 30 year old niece. She's far richer than I am by income, but right now, I have more wealth.

[valerief]

18. He's not alone. nt

[SoapBox]

27. I wouldn't really call it bitter...

I think his recent issues are simply about what is going on today.

The Party of Thug and Bully, a minority of Americans, but who have millions and billions, are buying their way as to what they want. The Limp Media is scared (or something) of them and fails to report fact.

At least he has the balls to discuss some of the crap that is happening today.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

5. its sad because its true. k&r

[Greybnk48]

6. The truth is always hard to hear, but important.

And the oppressors "winning" is not a given. We've had a little revolution here in the past, and the powerful lost. (wishful thinking? I hope not.)

[Hydra]

29. If you're talking about the first revolution

Look up Shay's rebellion and tell me that again with a straight face. The Founders were VERY well off and the people who weren't have never done particularly well in this country. Still, better than many were doing in Europe, which is a sad fact all its own.

[Demeter]

9. That's the Typical Hollywood Copout Ending

Ain't gonna end up that way....sorry, 400. No more status quo for the status livers.

[orpupilofnature57]

11. I'm for that

[xchrom]

10. recommend

[HughBeaumont]

14. K & R. Except America isn't the movies.

Without the police and the military, the "400" will be lambs to the slaughter should they start "going rogue".

That's the operative phrase - "without the police and the military". When push comes to shove, you'll see which side they're REALLY on.

[quakerboy]

20. Which side is that?

Which side do military and other martial organizations tend to come down on, most times over most of history?

[HughBeaumont]

24. They defend the wealthy, of course. Just like the willfully stupid poor voters of this country do.

[quakerboy]

26. Ok

Just making sure we were on the same page there. Pro-authoritarian groups and persons seem to flock to authoritarians. Odd how that seems to happen over and over. And it takes one hell of a lot to shake that seemingly inbuilt tendency to follow regardless of how horrific the results.

[Quantess]

15. It's hard to make this topic funny.

And it wasn't funny. But he tried, and I appreciate that.

[nbsmom]

16. Not sure it was meant to be funny

Doonesbury is read by a LOT of people...like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, perhaps Trudeau is really just trying to remind everyone what's at stake.

Look at the word choice in the 4th panel: "In Act Three, the 400 moguls FLANKED BY THEIR SOFT USELESS OFFSPRING, make a last-ditch stand against the angry underclass hordes on a beach in the Hamptons!"

[Honeycombe8]

17. It hits hard 'cause it's true. Except the end isn't a given. nt

[hay rick]

21. But this is second amendment America.

If push comes to shove, the 400 should all be gone in, oh, about 24 hours.

[kenfrequed]

35. Ah...

But thanks to Fox News, the lottery, and false consciousness people stupidly sympathize with the wealthy.

[defendandprotect]

22. Behind all great wealth is great crime -- !!!

[Hotler]

23. I have no hope. I see no future. eom.

[TonyPDX]

30. Yeah, hope can be difficult state to conjure some days.

Don't get lost inside your own head, especially when you're thinking the way you're thinking. It's gonna take everyone on the left to straighten this shitty mess out and hopelessness will just have to wait for later.

[Godot51]

25. Recommend

Actually I meant to "recommend" this, I've already sent the link to everyone I know (both of them). Somehow I managed to hit the wrong button. Sorry about that, Chief.

[MrMickeysMom]

28. You can look at it two ways...

1) This is the end... Jim Morrison music, light up a doob...

2) This is not the end, but it's right at the precipice where we will have some major EVOLUTIONARY changes after something that is not too nice.

I opt for #2, cause, like, it's the only path for me.

Doonesbury has been holding the mirror up to us, and we should look at the prospect if we don't push for the evolutionary changes.

Meet you at the barricades?

[southmost]

32. basically the richest 400 families could easily buy off half of us

[chervilant]

33. Indeed,

they have...

[vets74]

34. And three of them could buy Vermont

and evict every man, woman, child, and cow.