[socal_parrot]

But the road from poverty to the middle class is well-trodden, provided individuals work hard, go to school and eschew government dependency and certain bad behaviors (drug addiction, teen pregnancy, crime).

The Rats would bristle at such blasphemy.

[EggsAckley]

the disconnect between the rhetoric and the reality

Excellent phrase!

[RicocheT]

"Every election is an advance auction of stolen goods."

Sounds like a summary of the Democrat platform. Just add gay love and kill babies and you have it in full.

[prognostigaator]

bump to register

[Felis_irritable]

Excellent column.

I've seen the "waaahhh, I dwanna pay for my medical insuarance" bleat before. I pay 40% of my healthcare insurance cost, which equates to $3,000 per year. So somebody who doesn't want to pay any can kiss off as far as I'm concerned. They need to get a feel for what this kind of thing really costs.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

"Today, under George W. Bush, there are two Americas, not one: One America that does the work, another America that reaps the reward," said Sen. John Edwards, the multimillionaire trial lawyer who has made class warfare the centerpiece of his presidential campaign.

There are two Americas!

One includes the 70%+ who own their own homes and work hard to maintain or increase their living standards.

The other America includes everyone else who is trying to get there.

The few who try to reap the rewards of others by grabbing government largesse, hopefully will decline in numbers as a rising tide of economic growth lifts all the boats.

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

Mmmmmm....Famous Star

[McGavin999]

I love the way that Edwards and Kerry are always slamming the rich, since BOTH of them are obscenely wealthy. Edwards claims he knows what middle America is like because he's "one of you". Oh really? I don't own 3 multi-million dollar homes, do you?

[.38sw]

"Today, under George W. Bush, there are two Americas, not one: One America that does the work, another America that reaps the reward," said Sen. John Edwards, the multimillionaire trial lawyer who has made class warfare the centerpiece of his presidential campaign.

Uh, yeah. Those who work and shoulder the bulk of the tax burden, while many of the others collect the benefits, like free health care, welfare, etc.

There were a couple of disturbing letters to the editor in yesterday's newspaper (Contra Cost Times - California). As many of you know, California is suffering a huge budget problem and of course, the Dems are proposing raising taxes on the "rich". Some of the folks writing in said fine, go ahead, raise those taxes on the rich, and if they decide to leave the state, then "don't let the door hit in a**". Well, I must stay, these folks have no clue about economics. Raise taxes on the rich, who are already paying carrying the bulk of the tax burden, and they WILL leave, or stop creating jobs, or hire fewer people, or close their businesses. Then what will the tax users do? Who are they going to raise taxes on next? What will they do when the economy inevitably slows down? Stupid is as stupid does.

Even the deposed Governor Gray Davis said last year that there are about 44,000 taxpayers in California paying a large percentage of the income taxes. I don't remember the number, but it high - about 80%. Due to the downturn in the economy, these taxpayers were "failing to perform" (Davis's words), so revenue to the state was down. Well, no duh. So what's the solution? Why, tax them even harder! Yeah, that's the ticket!

[mtbopfuyn]

Roy Rogers is still right - America is the only country who drives itself to the poor house.

[nutmeg]

read later

[Republican Red]

Fat and Unhappy

I thought this thread was about Tim Russert

[Lancey Howard]

Same old socialism. Same old class envy.
This is the best Edwards can do?
What an empty suit.

[lainde]

bttt

[Cicero]

The real problem, IMHO, is smarmy CEOs, trial lawyers, bankers, and other super-rich liberals who pay themselves a hundred times what they're worth by battening on the stockholders of major corporations and financial firms. I don't mean Bill Gates, who has earned his money with his brains and has built an innovative, world-class corporation out of nothing. I mean people like Carly Fiorina, who come along afterwards and suck the blood out of businesses that others have built.

Even this isn't as bad a problem as the socialists and their Great Society taxes. But it's galling. I suspect the great majority of these leaches are Democrats, but somehow they manage to blame the problem of the idle rich getting richer on the Republicans.

[FoxInSocks]

According to a recent study by the Heritage Foundation, 46 percent of the technically "poor" live in their own homes, most with more living space than the average person in Paris, London or Vienna. While 73 percent own at least one car, 30 percent own two or more, and 76 percent have air conditioning. Also, according to the study, 65 percent have a washing machine, 97 percent have a color TV and 78 percent have a DVD player or VCR.

Heard Glenn Beck mention this a few weeks ago.

The FoxNews article is here: http://www.foxmarketwire.com/story/0,2933,109386,00.html

[yoe]

"...The ongoing grocery dispute centers on whether well-compensated, low-skill stockers and checkers (who earn as much as $50 an hour on weekends)

Is there any wonder that many companies and corporations have moved out of the country in order to make a profit for their stockholders? Who is responsible for such disparity among skilled and unskilled labor? Why go to school beyond the 10th grade if you can make $50.00 an hour doing unskilled labor? Nursing homes come immediately to mind where the skilled labor is hard to find due to the low wages...disparity...and where it is desperately needed. The unqualified labor among the federal bureaucrats that daily cost the taxpayer trillions in red rape and waste; but then making jobs is the name of the game regardless of how inefficiently the job is done. Unions are part of the over all problem of people moving else where to make a living.

[nutmeg]

read later bump