Fox News on "high acheivers" and open class warfare (with a unique history lesson)

[underpants]

Neal Boortz leads off
http://www.newshounds.us/2007/01/08/fox_redefines_the_very_very_rich_theyre_high_achievers.php#more
According to Boortz, uneducated, ignorant people like you and me and all of us just don't appreciate how special rich people are:

Democrats manage to still get mileage with the fair-share line because people just aren't educated. They don't understand the burden that the high achievers in this country already pay.

Again, according to Fox, "Dems" are the ones waging a class war and if you "just aren't educated" you just might believe it.



Video seems to be locking up on this one
http://www.newshounds.us/2007/01/08/democrats_friends_or_foes_of_the_middle_class.php#more

JONATHAN HOENIG, hedge fund manager, CapitalistPig.com: "I think that to the extent that preference any group - middle class, blacks, hispanics, women - I think they're enemies to us all. I mean, this country was founded on the principle of equal treatment for all. The government's role is to protect each of our individual rights. Doesn't matter what group we belong to. And I'm sorry. I don't care if you're poor and work at Wal-Mart. You have no more or less rights than a rich hedge fund manager. That includes not having the right to health care, education or whatever entitlement Nancy Pelosi wants to dream up."

CHARLES PAYNE, WStreet.com: "Well, listen. Here's the deal. Ever since the French revolution, the western governments have had trouble appeasing the middle class, you know. And the Democrats, I think, are really playing up this politics of envy, sort of to Jonathan's point and it's really dangerous. First of all, it's divisive. But, it's actually dangerous to say we're going to go after one class of people because they're successful and try to reward other classes of people because they're not successful."

[unpossibles]

1. more proof that the media is RW - John Kerry got crucified (by media exposure)

for his comments that education is one of the factors which decide your fate, and was taken out of context anyway.

This guys is saying that directly and exactly, and a lot of the very people he's talking about - less educated, middle class normal people - will go "hell yeah! Why should my tax dollar go to some lazy bum!" or something similar.

On the other hand, at least they're fair and balanced, and show how social/financial success is as dependant on environment (and luck) as on hard work and provided examples of successful people who did nothing to earn it (such as our "president" as well as hard working people who are not financially successful because they did not get easy breaks from pedigree. They did that, right? Right?

[crud76]

3. The Sad Part

of it is these people actually think it's their hard work and intelligence that made them "successful." They're in total denial about how class works, and they're the chief warriors when it comes to class warfare.

[underpants]

6. Welcome to DU

:hi: if'n I haven't before

[htuttle]

9. “Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.”

[newyawker99]

13. Hi crud76!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[acmejack]

2. Neil Boortz has really got a hold on a lot of people too.

My parents for example, think he is wonderful. I spend all my time try to convince them that the fair tax isn't, etc. He tells these older Americans exactly what they want to hear, after all they're retired, they made out selling their $25,000 homes for $200,000, their retirement packages actually paid out, they are SUCCESSES, unlike all their loser offspring who can't even keep the same job. Heck, they worked at the same place 35 years!

Boortz & Faux News are great. Just ask anyone who is like my parents, they'll tell you all about it.

[mrcheerful]

5. Yep, My mil is one such person, she rants and raves that she is on SS-DI and can't get

food stamps but her husbands homeless drunk nephew can. She ignores the fact that she can't get food stamps because she got a settlement from a drug company after she lost her kidneys because of their drugs she was taking and invested the settlement. She was also complaining its not fair she was paying school taxes and she has no kids, but I guess she forgets she didn't mind those taxes when she was getting her education. Funny how so many of them forget that they too have benefited from other tax payers and seem to think they are self made, self educated people.

[unpossibles]

12. I know the feeling. My inlaws - nice people, but Fox-watchers, started complaining

about having to spend their tax money on poor people (essentially), but my sister in law pointedout to them that they both grew up poor and have been on assistance more than once in their lives! Holy crap!

I look at it this way: if I can afford to eat and have a home and a car, how can I really complain about someone? Yes, I value hard work very much, but having worked a LOT of really crappy butt-busting jobs for almost no pay, I also respect the fact that hard work is not the only factor in success, and that I am really lucky.

Everyone wants to party, but no one wants to buy the beer.

[underpants]

7. The epidome of the K.I.S.S method

It sounds great but as usual it isn't. Yes it works too-people love buying into a little catchphrase rather than the horrifically complicated (and it is, for good reason) tax code.

[mntleo2]

4. Snarf! Envy? Yeah Right!

...as a christian I actually listen to Jesus Who said, "It is harder for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven than a camel could enter through the eye of a needle. ..." I have no envy for being a person filled with greed and envy. I hope I am a better person that that! This grab for wealth is responsible for almost all of the poverty, war and pestilence that is killing our Mother Earth. I have friends of Islam, and friends who are Native American, Jewish as well as Buddhist, all whose sages say the same thing ~ living out of greed makes it impossible to be a contributing and decent human being. Period.

These people are insufferable. And BTW, like the French Revolution where people starved because of the 'let 'em eat cake' attitude, if they don't watch it, the torches and pitchforks will be storming down their gates!

My disgusted 2 cent

Cat In Seattle

[hadrons]

8. "this country was founded on the principle of equal treatment for all" ...

yeah, sure Jonathan

[BuelahWitch]

10. Paris Hilton and the Bush Twins ARE high achievers

Well you have to admit, they're all high an awful lot of the time :rofl: :rofl:

[Solon]

11. OK, What the hell is this link between education and wealth they are making up?

As far as I can tell, the rich just go BS degrees or got lucky breaks, they are barely any more educated than any other American, so what the fuck is with these "high achievers".

[Efilroft Sul]

14. The only rich people I don't like are those who think they're better than us.

Guys like Hoenig and Payne are the first to bleat "politics of envy!" or "class warfare!" when Democrats try to reel in the plutocracy. In truth, the Wall Street culture warriors want a country of lords and serfs, not a representative Republic dominated by the middle class.

Enlightened nations make sure all their citizens are healthy and educated so everyone can become successful. Hoenig and Payne see health care and education as undeserving "rewards" to most families, and it's people like that who have to be ripped from any position of influence regarding public policy.

Don't get me wrong: If you work your way to the top, congratulations. But that achievement doesn't mean you've earned special privileges. You're still a citizen like the rest of us, and you have obligations like the rest of us.

[provis99]

15. so Boortz succeeds on his "talents"?

Only his talents and hard work get him his paycheck? Let's drop his ass off in the middle of Afghanistan and tell him to let his magical talents and hard work make him a million bucks in a war-infested desert. Environment is 90% of the explanation for wealth, and hard work and talent 10%. How about explaining why equally talented and hard-working computer engineers in India make a tenth what American engineers do, doing exactly the same thing? Boortz, you moronic putz.