Billionaire declares that government workers are a "privileged new ruling class" that must be fought

[Better Believe It]

Public sector workers are a ‘privileged new class,’ says billionaire
January 17, 2011

In the ideological assault being directed today at public sector workers no one has outdone Mortimer Zuckerman — billionaire real estate and publishing mogul, owner of the New York Daily News and chairman and editor-in-chief of U.S. News and World Report — who declared in September that public sector workers are a “privileged new class” dominating U.S. society. Populists, Zuckerman (the 182nd wealthiest American in 2010) pronounced, have long gotten away with their insidious “class warfare speeches” emphasizing “the gulf between the rich and the poor.” The aim has been to divert attention from society’s real ruling class: public sector workers. Forget the corporate rich, forget Wall Street, forget the bank bailouts, corporate bonuses and high-income tax breaks, forget the private jets and mansions. It is the millions of “public servants” with their outrageous five-digit salaries and their galling health insurance and retirement pensions, Zuckerman insisted, who have now become “the public’s masters,” seizing a disproportionate share of society’s rewards and bringing on the failures of the U.S. economy.

Such views might be grimly amusing, if it weren’t for the fact that similar opinions are now widely disseminated in the corporate media and voiced daily by politicians. What we are witnessing is a concerted attack on government at all levels, extending to public sector workers and their unions. It is out of control government spending, we are told, that is at the root of all our economic woes. Public sector workers, it is claimed, enjoy higher salaries, greater job security, and more ample benefits than their private sector counterparts, while continually demanding and getting more. It is time that they shared in the crisis of the rest of the society.

It doesn’t seem to matter to those making such charges that all of this is false — as long as they have the power to spread such misinformation and people are sufficiently gullible.

What then are we to make of the ridiculous claims by Zuckerman and his whole class of billionaires and cento-millionaires (and their hangers-on), incessantly disseminated in the media, that public sector workers constitute a “privileged new class,” the “public’s masters”? This is nothing but the age-old strategy of divide and conquer adopted by ruling classes throughout history, particularly in times of crisis when their own position is most shaky. The answer is to turn worker against worker, under the mantra that “the people divided will always be defeated.” What the moneyed interests fear most is the united political struggle of the vast majority (private and public sector workers alike) in the interest of a more democratic, more egalitarian society — a world of common humanity. But is there any goal more worthy?

Read the full article at:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/voices/public-sector-workers-are-a-privileged-new-class-says-billionaire/6442/#

[villager]

1. You can't really say "their entire politics is based on projection" often enough...

...with these people.

[upi402]

13. Pointing the finger pf blame...

while 3 fingers point right back at 'em.

[tomp]

27. projection is by definition unconscious.

these fucktards know exactly what they are doing. it is lying not projection.

[leveymg]

2. The IMF term for it is "public sector restructuring." Now, it's our turn.

Same restructuring "solution" that's been pushed by the global banks on heavily-indebted nations from Argentina to Zambia for decades. Only this time the guys who designed the program directly rule the same country.

[malaise]

3. Did he say that before or after he looted their

pension funds?

[Fuzz]

4. +1

[gratuitous]

9. Probably after, and now those greedy workers want their money back

Talk about privileged! Zuckerman just takes; he didn't become a billionaire by paying his victims back, you know. It's just soooo unfair to Mort!

[bhikkhu]

38. One good rebuttal in that vein:

the primary role of government is to establish and maintain the rule of law. Without the rule of law, the wealthy are truly and thoroughly fucked.

The passivity of "the masses" would be the first thing to go, and without that there is no conceivable way that 1% of the population could hold onto what they have gathered from the rest of us.

[NICO9000]

45. Unfortunately, the rich do not seem to have to obey the "rule of law" the way us poor people do

Granted, every once in a while, the more egregious acts of the ultra-wealthy are prosecuted (e.g., Madoff). Generally though, they seem to be able to get away with just about everything except maybe murder.

[conspirator]

46. They DO get away with murder. They don't have to do the murders themselves

that's why they are not prosecuted.
Who really killed JFK?
You think cheney could not have you killed, and the hitman never traced?

[sarcasmo]

21. In the process of looting, imho.

[conspirator]

44. LOL nt

[Newest Reality]

5. And this is what it always boils down to

At the very end of the article:

"What then are we to make of the ridiculous claims by Zuckerman and his whole class of billionaires and cento-millionaires (and their hangers-on), incessantly disseminated in the media, that public sector workers constitute a “privileged new class,” the “public’s masters”? This is nothing but the age-old strategy of divide and conquer adopted by ruling classes throughout history, particularly in times of crisis when their own position is most shaky. The answer is to turn worker against worker, under the mantra that “the people divided will always be defeated.”

I think we could and should build our own personal and collective mandates on the destructive and detrimental aspects of that perspective. We are being defeated to the point of no return and a revolution of the mind will be our only remedy ... before it is absolutely too late.

[leveymg]

8. A "revolution of the mind" doesn't pay the mortgage if you're a retired school teacher.

Start thinking the reality-based kind.

[Newest Reality]

16. I agree ...

Lost it all here and living in the land of poverty.

However, one thing leads to another. We start with the mind, (ideas, information, understanding) and solidarity. Then, I think something can emerge and will do so in the way, shape and form that is sound, correct and a true remedy to the tremendous grievances mounting for vast numbers of the unserved classes.

Our reality is influenced and determined by our mindset. Our consensual reality is the sum-total, or at least an amalgamated product of that. Change of mind/heart is in order, or we can assure ourselves of more of the same.

Action will ensue when some form of strong, grass-roots agreement forms. The question is: can it?

[leveymg]

22. It can. But, the "unserved classes" are the un(der)utilized classes, who have the advantage of

a lack of many types of distractions (work pressures, pressures to conform, to overconsume, to "keep up with the Jones"), and have the time to focus their understanding of the world and form well-thought out grievances and solutions.

That is also precisely what scares the oligarchs about retired union and government workers with secure pensions. They also can be troublemakers.

Use your opportunity well. Solidarity, brother.

[Knight Hawk]

30. Unfortunately

The world is run by people of action not thinkers........................

[walldude]

35. Neither does "reality based" revolution.

It's time to shift reality. Because there will never be an agreement, even liberals can't agree that things are so fucked up that something drastic needs to happen.

Personally I'm hoping for a UFO landing.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Ugh! I'm going to be sick.

[MattBaggins]

7. Mort is setting himself up tp be the modern day Gould

"I can hire one-half of the working class to kill the other half"

Fuck you Mort

[JuniperLea]

10. "This is nothing but the age-old strategy of divide and conquer adopted by ruling classes... "

Funny to see this sentiment in print. I think we are seeing a hell of a lot of this, across the board; politically, financially, and socially.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. Does that go for the military? Are GIs among the privileged?

[SemperEadem]

26. there you go!! That is how you push back on this

"Support the Troops" -- fire them because they're privileged government workers.

Btw--- "government workers" is code for "black middle class workers". That is what zuckerman is pissed about. Those darkies don't deserve to make anything over $8.00/hr.

[xchrom]

12. what. a. jerk. nt

[OHdem10]

14. Which Billionaires are the the Pot calling the Kettle black. How

razy is this????

[old mark]

15. K&R-It is amazing how many will believe this shit...nt

[Sheepshank]

18. Oohhhh sounds like someone feels threatended

by a gov't worker making $24/hour. What, is he getting audited or something?

[sarcasmo]

19. Destroying the middle class are these Greedy rich FUCKS! main objective.

[Starry Messenger]

20. Did he say that from his 166 ft, yacht, the Lazy z?

Hard times Mort, old boy, we know how it is.

[Kurovski]

23. K&R. (nt)

[baldguy]

24. The really sad thing is that there are working-class schmucks who believe this shit.

The only difference between them and government workers is that government workers have a union.

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. Thanks - a very good article

Foster has the numbers to back up his arguments; it's not just that it's the hypocrisy of a billionaire accusing others of being 'privileged', it's also that the billionaire, and the Republicans paid to repeat the message in Congress and in the media, are straight-out lying.

[Overseas]

28. Disgusting. //nt

[Enthusiast]

29. K&R

Same old same old, just ramped up to a higher level. And just look at the results.

[sulphurdunn]

31. The argument (hardly a debate)

should be to mock billionaire claims of elitist public employees and demand to know why there isn't a 90% tax bracket to recover some of the national wealth the Suckermans steal annually from the treasury.

[Initech]

32. I think it all boils down to Fight Club.

The billionaires have begun unleashing their own version of Project Mayhem - and it's directed at us.

[midnight]

33. Billionaires are bored and have nothing else to do but meddle in

other peoples life..... They should do the patriotic thing and pay their fair share....

[stubtoe]

34. Classic deflection tactic.

Put the blame on the peons, ignore the oligarchs.

[MedicalAdmin]

36. Let me be blunt - the rich must die.

The sooner the better. The more the better. By any means necessary.

[JVS]

41. You are correct.

[bread_and_roses]

37. I am too late to R, so I'll at least kick it - no time for more (n/t)

[Cherchez la Femme]

39. We're living behind the looking glass

That's the only way to make sense of all this shit...

[euclidianone]

40. Gosh, I feel soooo privileged.....

I just got done doing taxes for my hubby, who is a government employee (supervisor, no less) in a fairly small county.

His AGI for 2010? $32,871, and he supports me (unemployed) and our 2 kids (teenagers) on this salary.

Let me tell you, we're just rolling in it.....:eyes:

[True_Blue]

43. Wow! What an "outrageous five digit salary"

The govt employees will just have to start working for four digits salaries from now on. After all, we can't ask the billionaires to pay another single penny in income tax to support your lavish lifestyle. :sarcasm:

BTW, welcome to DU! :hi:

[BobTheSubgenius]

42. Un-f'ing-believable.

From reading just the header of the OP, I thought it was going to be either RM Scaife or one of the Koch brothers. But what matters the "who"? The fact that such OUTRAGEOUS nonsense gets an audience at all is what really matters.

How ineffably stupid would you have to be to believe this?

(That was rhetorical, obviously. Just as obviously, there are some pretty easy answers to that question.)

Edited for minor typo.