Saturday, August 20, 2011

Good Video from Jon Stewart on "class warfare"

I see that from this video, the spokesmen of the elite are doing their "woe is me, being crazy rich" routine in the media, especially Fox News.  This is partly due to a statement from Warren Buffet that the top 5 percent should have to pay more in taxes.  Stewart calls them out on their ridculous name-calling (of course, anyone who suggests that they give their fair share is a "socialist" and waging "class warfare"), and shows an eye-opening chart on how far down we rank in terms of income equality (we barely pass by Uganda, and finish behind many other countries, including Iran and Cameroon). 

What really got me was the end.  He shows a segment of spokesmen and talk show hosts, each spouting off about how higher tax rates on the wealthy will not get us out of this fiscal hole that we are in.  This is likely true.  However, what if higher tax rates on the wealthy get us 10 % out of the hole?  Or 20%?  That's something, isn't it?  Combined with other reforms, like closing corporate tax loopholes, among many, many other things, significant progress might be possible.  But many rich do not love their country, the only thing they love is making more money.

Bill Maher had a great closing monologue on his show a couple of months ago.  He showed a recent front page photo in The Wall Street Journal that was titled "The Ultimate Sacrifice".  It was of a soldier who got gravely injured in combat, with an artificial arm, and he was being presented with a medal (whether it was a Medal of Honor, Purple Heart, etc., I don't know) by Mr. Obama.  The irony was that such a photo, and its captain of an "ultimate sacrifice", is so vastly at odds with the people who publish the Wall Street Journal and many who read it.  The ultra-wealthy will not budge on tax cuts or anything else.  Their way of life is non-negotiable.  When the wheels fall off the global economy, and governments begin to unravel, they will continue to eat while we starve.




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