Posted on 04/22/2012 5:52:49 AM PDT by Kaslin
A question for the rich: if President Obama successfully breaks the backs of the working middle class, is that really good for you?
And how about this: if over half of your fellow Americans pay no income taxes and are quite happy to have you foot the bill for our wasteful bloated government, will that be good for your portfolios– or anybody else’s?
We’re less than seven months away from selecting either four more years of Barack Obama, or a new President named Mitt. At this point President Obama isn’t running on his track record, so much as he is running against his own characterizations of Congress and his Republican presidential opponent. But is that the stuff that leadership is made of?
The President portrays the Congress as though it is inept and obstructionist. Despite his own party’s control of the entire U.S. Senate, “Congress” is preventing further progress, Mr. Obama tells us, and it is threatening the hope and change that he has already created.
As for Mitt Romney– well, he’s a creature of wealth and privilege, according to President Obama, a man defined by his greed. Ivy League law school grad’s Barack and Michelle understand the struggle of the middle class, but Mitt and Ann are incapable.
But look who’s funding the President’s campaign – overwhelmingly it’s the richest among us. According to a New York Times report last year, Obama’s top donors included many Silicon Valley executives, hedge fund managers, entertainment executives, and former supporters of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Today the President’s campaign is aggressively seeking low-dollar donors, soliciting contributions as little as $3.00 and raffling “dinner with the President” opportunities. Yet his financial support among middle and lower income Americans is miniscule, while wealthy Americans who are willing to pay up to $40,000.00 for dinner and a photo continue to flock to his side. Yes, there’s been a slowdown in the big-dollar donations, as the headlines indicate, but Barack Obama is still the presidential candidate of choice for rich folks.
And why? Are wealthy Americans so easily charmed by the thrill of “hanging” with a U.S. President that they’re ambivalent to the agenda they’re funding? And what part of the Obama agenda do rich people believe is strengthening our country – or even their own personal fortunes?
Consider the recent unemployment data. Thus far this year the U.S. Department of Labor has issued 14 reports on unemployment benefits claims, and 14 times the Department of Labor has revised the number upward, after the initial report was released. The Obama Administration grabs headlines with what appears to be a decrease in government benefits, then after the fact reports that the dependency is increasing. Is this what attracts the rich folks?
And how about the sharp decline in the number of people who are actually trying to work? The labor pool is shrinking (not just the number of available jobs) and the President’s solution to the problem is clear: more “free” services for the lower and middle class, and higher taxes for the rich. But is this our pathway to prosperity?
Reports about fewer people wanting to work have been dismissed as “right wing spin.” Yet it was none other than the Congressional Budget Office that predicted this phenomenon, after the Obamacare bill was signed in to law.
Douglas Elmendorf, the Director of the non-partisan C.B.O., a federal agency within the legislative branch of our government that employs people to analyze government policies, predicted 2 years ago that, given the generous enhancements to Medicaid and the supposed “universal coverage” of Obamacare, lots of us would simply choose to no longer work for a living.
Elemendorf said as much at a little noted conference in October of 2010, held at the University of Southern California’s Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. Nobody paid much attention to him then, but it appears now that what he predicted then is now beginning to happen.
Less productivity and higher taxes on the rich – what part of this spells “success” for rich folks? It’s perplexing that there aren’t more wealthy Americans like Steve Wynn, the successful C.E.O. of the publicly traded Wynn Resorts, Ltd. Last July, Wynn caught national attention for daring to disagree with the President’s agenda.
The headlines at the time stated “Wynn Slams Obama On Business,” but if you had read or listened to any of Wynn’s actual remarks at the time, you would have concluded to that there really wasn’t much of any “slamming” going on.
More accurately, Wynn’s comments seemed very accurate, rational and fair – as if he was simply stating the obvious.
Speaking with a calm tone during a corporate conference call with his associates, Wynn said, among other things: “… This administration is the greatest wet blanket to business, and progress and job creation in my lifetime…my customers… are frightened of this administration… Everybody complains about how much money is on the side in America…those of us who have business opportunities and the capital to do it are going to sit in fear of the President. And a lot of people don't want to say that. They'll say, God, don't be attacking Obama. Well, this is Obama's deal and it's Obama that's responsible for this fear in America…”
More government entitlements and less productivity. Is this good for rich Americans? Is it good for anyone?
. black is good...whitey is bad..
..some of the "rich" are terrified of being called a racist, therefore will risk their life, liberty and property in order to avoid being called one (even if they are)
This is about power. It's about perceiving oneself as The Elite. We really are heading into a new age of serfdom, and the people who believe that they can (and should) play the part of Lords really like Obama.
It's Fascism. The government helps the rich, and the rich help the government. The government receives a lot of tax revenue [from the rich] and the rich receive preferential treatment [from the government].
This is also why political parties don't matter. Obama is an Elitist. Romney is an Elitist. They want power above all else. Political differences are pretty negligible.
Feed the beast. Maybe it’ll eat you last.
There’s an easy answer: $40k is a bargain basement price tag when the gubermint is for sale and what better party to sell it than the RATs? Good grief, add it up ... you shell out in the thousands and down rain the billions. It is just the price of doing business if you don’t have any scruples and again, what better party to approach under those circumstances than the RATs?
I agree somewhat with all the sentiments expressed so far. But what a lot of the rich want is to reduce social mobility. Now that they are in the lifeboat, or yacht, they don’t want to have to worry about competing with all the strivers out there. One effect of Obama’s policies is to freeze people into economic castes.
You may have as much money as you need, but your status is threatened when others strive to have even more than you.
I think you are pretty close to the truth.
In the case of Hollywood liberals they are enthralled with themselves and seek Obama and his presence so that it makes them feel important. Most of them are real life idiots who became rich over night and thinks it makes them smart.
Has anyone gone to jail for any part of the 2008 looting of the US. The case of Don Corzine is instructive. Stole 1+ billion, handed a good part of it over to Morgan and still bundles for Obongo. For the rich, what’s not to like?
Easy question.
First, we note that the 1% in some fields are disproportionately supporting Obama. This means that they are supporting the one who promises to discomfort them with higher taxes and verbal attacks, and who will undermine the system which enabled them (and the rest of the country) to prosper. So why?
It is because people hold opinions which have little to do with the plain evidence before their eyes. Even intelligent and talented people do this. Political belief is a form of religion in today’s world, and one become enculturated in it. I know many smart people, very sensible in their own fields, who have a brain disease when it comes to understanding politics and the larger world. You could explain things to them endlessly, and they do not get it. They substitute for thought parroted lines from the NY Times.
This is why the polls show so few real swing votes. The country can go to the devil, and very few people actually change their minds. The swing votes, such as they are, represent people who know even less than the others, and are not even paying attention. We might as well register for voting a gigantic heap of dice, which will be thrown on election night to determine the outcome.
Elections mean very little, and certainly tell us nothing about truth. The electoral system is useless in running a big, complex government. That is why the only real solution is a very restricted, simple government, with most of it decisions made locally. We have long since outgrown the field of efficiency for the electoral system. As an example, watch the French elections this weekend, and see if you think that they will solve any of the obvious problems confronting that country. You will find that it really makes no difference which of the four parties wins.
The Russians give us an example: after some seventy years of horror and irrational, hellish government, still a large number look back on Stalinism with nostalgic affection. You obviously should not put any trust in people like that. They are still human beings, but culturally sick and feeble ones.
The Chinese had a mass-murdering tyrant as their ruler, who killed as many of the best farmers as he could, dressed everyone (male and female) in blue uniforms and sent them out to build backyard smelters and construct giant dams by hand — and yet they keep his ridiculous flag, and his hateful visage appears on their currency, even after they have almost totally abandoned his teachings. There is almost no one in China leading a Maoist life, and yet almost no one opposes his party and its rule.
So, it is not surprising in this country that many smart people (especially those conscious of their intellect) are unable to sort out politics, even those politics is actually a very simple game, when you get down to the fundamentals.
Agree with both of you. Enlightened self interest in some cases, mass delusion in many others.
I could have written this myself, perhaps less elegantly. This bears rereading and repeating.
It's all spelled out in 'Atlas Shrugged'. '
What John Q. Public sees is just the tip of the iceberg. Few are aware of the vastness of waste, mismanagement, lack of accountability and duplication of effort. This is due in large part to a liberal media that is loathe to report on the failings of their beloved big government even though information is routinely available on the topic.
It's all spelled out in 'Atlas Shrugged'. '
What about the rich doctors...they do not like or trust Obama. Mine are seething over obamacare. I’ve never seen such anger from them.
.
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I think it was Michael Medved who described this attraction well. The rich and powerful who want to stay that way and prevent others from reaching that level want big government to stymie others and bail them out. Those trying to work their way up cannot buy votes and don’t want government to constrain them.
Because they (the really rich) understand the game and know most of anything Obama says is pure BS, that it won't happen that actually Mr. Obama is one of them - worth millions now if not billions....there is a middle class and that group of Americans are not getting any dividends from their investments because of the Obama rape of their economy....Mr. Obama became mighty powerful and mighty rich in just a few years...and not from playing golf.
I have decided to early-retire in one week...as have many of my over-50-year-old colleagues who can’t fathom practicing under nobamacare. I decided to get out while I have the financial circumstances to do so. Who knows what the advancing statism holds for everyone. Good luck to those you who have medical and mental health needs. nobamacare = stay healthy or die.
I have decided to early-retire in one week...as have many of my over-50-year-old colleagues who can’t fathom practicing under nobamacare. I decided to get out while I have the financial circumstances to do so. Who knows what the advancing statism holds for everyone. Good luck to those you who have medical and mental health needs. nobamacare = stay healthy or die.
You made all my recent talking points - it needs to be repeated over and over agaian until the sleeping (comatose) Silent Majority stirs into full wakefulness. I think it is close to happening and the “elite” is in for a surprise.
Liberalism is a religion. Obama is the high priest of liberalism. One needs go no further than that.
With a bit more elaboration - just about everyone has a natural tendency to do what’s good and what’s right, and most of us lesser beings use our religious beliefs to try to figure out how to do that.
Those too sophisticated (and often too proud) to accept the sovereignty of a Supreme Being tend to look to fulfill that longing of the human spirit in other ways, the most common being humanistic utopianisms, of which various flavors of liberalism are the most common.
Like any sort of belief system, liberalism can lead to otherwise intelligent folks acting in a totally stupid fashion. Academia is full of people who actually are quite smart - and still they commit themselves to a completely failed ideology like Marxism, despite manifest evidence of its continual failure in practice, and what’s more, its detachment from anything resembling actual reality.
Not to mention the "evidence" of hundreds of millions murdered in the name of this "utopia". It's a belief system drenched in human blood.
Reports about fewer people wanting to work have been dismissed as “right wing spin.” Yet it was none other than the Congressional Budget Office that predicted this phenomenon, after the Obamacare bill was signed in to law.”
All of the posts above mind ring so true.
All I can offer is the quote above and remind everyone of the two ladies who said they didn't need to work, pay their mortgages, pay for anything. It was going to come out of “Obama’s Stash.”
Of course they don't worry, Papa Obama will be there for all things necessary, needed, or wanted. Why work.
One of the reasons is because the rich historically enjoy slumming.
A BLAST FROM THE PAST (Lest We Forget)
Years ago I founded, published and wrote my own conservative newsletter which was circulated nationally. Here's an article from the May, 1970 issue:
"Mrs. Leonard Bernstein, wife of the composer/conductor, recently gave a party in her plush Manhattan apartment to raise defense money for twenty-one Black Panthers and other militants indicted on charges of plotting to kill New York policemen and to dynamite midtown department stores, police stations and railroads.
"Mrs. Bernstein, who founded the womens' division of the New York Civil Liberties Union, invited a group of Panthers to the party to talk and mix it up with her elegant leftist society friends.
"The Panthers, who openly despise the wealthy socialites, nevertheless accepted their monetary contributions to aid in the revolutionary movement. During the party, Donald Cox, Panther "Field Marshal" gave a little speech outlining his organization's goals, which include violent overthrow of the government and the imposition of a communist economic system in the U.S.
"Then everyone had a good time amidst the expensive furnishings, the elaborate flower arrangements, the cocktails and the hors d'oeuvres."
The salon party gave me the inspiration to compose a poem to accompany the article:
THE ELEGANT SLUMMERS
Mrs. B. sat on the floor, clad in pantsuit by Dior
As she welcomed all the Panthers to her upper-crust soiree
It was a social plummet for Mrs. Sidney Lumet
But one must admit the whole affair was charmingly chi-chi
Dear Mrs. Peter Duchin learned gobs of revolution
As she nibbled pate d'foie gras dipped in rare imported cheese
Noveau Riche and Broadway Star stuffed themselves with caviar
As they ooh-ed and aah-ed at all the Marxist theo-ries
Midst the cocktails and canapes, chandeliers and velvet drapes
The Panthers knocked the Country and the System and the Pigs
Socialistic plans were told, Communism was extolled
And the ones who cheered the loudest were the wives of rich big-wigs
Then somebody passed the hat and out came the wallets fat
And the guests donated to the rev-o-lutionary crew
Mrs. Lumet gave a sigh, "Oh, these fabulous Masai
"I haven't had so darn much fun since making my debut"
They do have fun and games, these addled New York dames
As they undermine the system that provides them with their dough
But there is a shining ray - if the Panthers get their way
The fortunes of these dilletantes will be the first to go
Peter Duchin was a piano-playing entertainer to the rich and famous. He was the son of Eddy Duchin, the famous band leader. His mother was a rich NY socialite.
Mrs. Lumet was heiress Gloria Vanderbilt. She was the wife of Hollywood film producer, Sidney Lumet who was her fourth husband. Her next marriage produced her son, CNN anchor, Anderson Cooper.
Today the same old New Black Panthers patrol the streets of Sanford, Florida, issuing threats of violence and extortion with impunity. In 1970, the well-off Hillary Rodham was a law student activist in support of the Panthers. Today, the wealthy Eric Holder openly supports the Panthers.
Why do the decadent wealthy support Obama? I guess the more things change, the more they remain the same....and the rich still love to slum and feel superior to the riff-raff they mix with......and whom they support with donations.
Leni/MinuteGal
Remember: most of the rich inherited that money. They lack the talents of their forebears and they know it. They need the government to assure that they maintain their station and rid them of competition from those pesky middle class wannabes.
Our rich liberal elites are the same type found in South American banana republics. They keep their power by paying off the criminal class...
Absolutely positively correct...Ive been say this for years and it seem many do not get it...
And what is Washington and the Left about...the concentration of power in a few...
The illusion of "redistribution of wealthy" is the pretext for a concentration of power
It how the left plays the useful idiots; they play on their own petty greed and envy
Screw redistribution of wealthy... redistribute power back to the individual... AKA Freedom
Only Madoff.
I agree with everything in your post but I think you've failed to mention another very important element of this delusion. Many of these people want to be "cool" and "hip." They want to be included in the trend-setting social group which is overwhelmingly liberal.
I call them "PBS Intellectuals." They want to adopt fashionable ideas, be seen with the "right" people, be invited to elitist parties, etc. They want to be seen to laugh in the right places during SNL, The Daily Show, the Letterman and Colbert shows, etc.
Being rich or successful in business does not equate to being wise. In my experience such people are often the most intellectually and educationally shallow.
>>>More government entitlements and less productivity. Is this good for rich Americans?<<<
Sure it is. Rich Americans are the ones who can command and control (to use a phrase on purpose) the decisions of the federal bureaucracy. The rich have the time and the knowledge to manipulate the rules and laws on their behalf.
In the old Soviet Union, the party apparatchiks created a nation filled with entitlements that wasn’t very productive. However, they were on the top, so they didn’t mind. They had their dachas and trips abroad. Our bifurcated system has evolved a little more naturally, but it means the same thing. The rich can go back to McLean and Westchester County, and if they run into tax problems, they know a guy who’s an expert in these kind of things.
The difference between Obama and Mittens is then a matter of approach, not degree. Obama takes the academic approach, in which people attend endless meetings and glacial change ideology to eventually overwhelm all opposition. Mittens takes the business approach, in which people use money and influence to affect government rules to their benefit. It’s elite vs. elite.
Like Charles Murray says in his recent book “Coming Apart” (on my bedstand right now), the rich live in a bubble insulated from most of the American people. Sadly, I’d probably be in that same bubble if it wasn’t for my job - I work as a high teacher in the Alaskan Bush, so I’m obligated each day to meet, greet, and interact with everyone. However, if I had the same job in suburban New Jersey, for instance, I could teach rich kids and go home to a swank house and never run into working class or poor people at all. I have family in that rich category, and their ignorance of the rest of the country is astonishing; Murray backs up my observations.
Sadly, the current situation is actually pretty good for rich Americans. When it collapses due to its own intertia, though, God help them, and us.
Obama will ratchet up the class war rhetoric tenfold from now until November. And despite all the filthy rich Dem donors. Strange, people still fall for that. So and so has a dollar more than I do, AND IT’S NOT FAIR!!! When I was young we had eight of us living in a basement house on one small income. I never thought that our financial problems were due to the fact that people like the Kennedys had scads of dough. There always was jealousy of people who had more, but now it’s getting worse.
Obama will ratchet up the class war rhetoric tenfold from now until November. And despite all the filthy rich Dem donors. Strange, people still fall for that. So and so has a dollar more than I do, AND IT’S NOT FAIR!!! When I was young we had eight of us living in a basement house on one small income. I never thought that our financial problems were due to the fact that people like the Kennedys had scads of dough. There always was jealousy of people who had more, but now it’s getting worse.
Three words...POWER, MONEY, SEX.....the top three things mere man wants but does not know how to use them unless they are a Christian......twas a great sermon we heard only months ago...
They don't work at all, anymore, but in some moments they become very passionate, hateful progressives.
They don't have kids, and seem to be in a kind of disgusted contempt for anyone who does have kids...they donate hundreds of thousands to Planned Parenthood. My big curiosity...why do they care so much? It's not like any of this kids are any kind of problem in their lives, at all. Why the hate? Why the passion to see so many unborn get *dead*?
Somebody explain this.
Why do they want Obama in power so badly? It's not like he's ever done any favors for them, or for anyone.
They *identify* with him very strongly, however. It's like they see themselves in him, and insist that the rest of us love and worship him like a god. And if we refuse, watch out. They don't have a lot of restraint on their own behavior...
The right side of the wealth bell curve fears the left side of the wealth bell curve. Rioting mobs with torches and pitchforks scare them the most. They do not fear offending Republicans or conservatives at all. This graphic explains why they support Planned Parenthood:
There are two motivating forces: Liberalism as Religion, and Fascism -- where Fascism is defined as a partnership of government and elite interests, like in China, for an accumulation of wealth and power. Every one of Obama's elite donors expects to be another Solyndra.
What is not clear is whether Obama is using Fascism as a means to achieve Socialism, or vice versa. Or maybe he just wants to destroy the US.
I don't think it's fear of pitchforks. They are smug and safe in gated communities, and are not only blissfully certain that the demographics won't bother them...they like the idea of pitchforkers going after white people with children.
I've been around and around with it for many years. There's something about children that liberals just hate, and feel threatened by in some madly irrational and hateful way.
Hate comes from envy, which comes from vanity. Leftism is fundamentally driven by envy. The nature of envy is not to have what someone else has, but to destroy what they have. The stereotypical liberal is too vain and selfish to have a big family but that doesn't stop them from envying the big families of their neighbors. The baby on board signs on cars and the rear window family size stickers really anger them. They believe they can never be truly happy if others have more of anything than them. They secretly work to destroy their neighbors perceived advantages, all the while with a contrived smile on their face. Leftists hate people in general because each person in the world is another person to envy, another obstruction to total equality and Utopian happiness.
The way to counter leftist envy is to point it out publicly at every opportunity and laugh at them. Satan, the vain spirit, and his associates cannot sustain mockery.
I am an attorney in NYC and I tell people stories of what I see in the court system and legal system as far as waste and abuse goes and most think I am making it up.
FYI - I am not an ambulance chaser, but a construction litigator.
Politics has nothing to do with it.
“I am an attorney in NYC and I tell people stories of what I see in the court system and legal system as far as waste and abuse goes and most think I am making it up.”
It’s hard for many people to wrap their minds around the massive scale of waste and mismanagement. At the federal level (in Washington DC) I’ve personally seen tens of millions of dollars go down the drain, on multiple occasions. The agency generally finds a way to recharacterize the problem as a “partial success” and moves onto phase two and repeats the same mistakes. Nobody is ever held accountable.
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