The Constitution Club:
Never knew cats and pizza were units of economic measure
From all reports, it sounds like Democrats are going to go with the tried and true strategy for winning votes at the national level: class warfare.
Or, as the spin-meisters have christened it “Income inequality.”
Forget the hamburger flippers, what about those of us who are employed to make the boss, who happens to be an early baby boomer liberal, complete with not owning an ironing board, only dressing like a boss when a visit with funders is scheduled (flannel shirts and stretch pants on an executive director?) and superficial hand dirtying. Happens everywhere I work.
Congress is a reflection of the national mood — divided, polarized, unhappy with the status quo, but lacking a majority to do a thing about it.
As we head into the 2014 midterm elections, one thing is certain: Class warfare will be the campaign stage again — it is the only way this president knows how to win, by dividing and conquering — with the tea party, Main Street and businesses large and small cast as the villains. Real Clear Politics
Oh, goody, we get to be the bad guys again.
Psst: the people on Main Street, aka, business owners, are the ones doing the employing. Drain them of cash, and there will be no jobs. Yes, it’s that simple, morons.
BUT, and here’s the kicker, in order for the divide and conquer strategy to work, the political right has to stay true to form and stay home on election day if the perfect candidate(s) don’t survive the primaries:
So while Republicans are girding for what may be the most brutal rounds of primary fighting yet, Democrats are building their bases and uniting the party around “eat the rich” politics. It worked for Obama in 2012, and if it just works a little bit in 2014 it might be enough to save the day. If Democrats do it right, a few thousand votes in a few races could mean preserving the president’s agenda and keeping the health law lurching forward.
Combo platter: Welfare and wages – Republicans who dismiss this thinking will do so at their own peril. Senate majority leader Harry Reid will start the barrage on Monday with a call to restore federal benefits to those who have exhausted their state unemployment insurance. And soon thereafter, expect a strong push on raising the federal minimum wage, a popular policy offering. Republicans decried “class warfare” in 2012, but ended up getting clobbered anyway. The midterm electorate will be different, but just a few races on the bubble could change the arc of history this year. FoxNews
The fallacy behind the illustration is that using a pie implies that ”wealth” is only so big and each person can only get what some other person has not taken.
Not true.
Wealth is not physics…..it is not a zero-sum-situation.
Wealth can be created making the pie bigger and bigger and bigger.
Thus our ”poor” compare favorably with the ”rich” of many other countries!
Our ”poor,” have air conditioners, cell phones, vehicles, well-built homes, nice clothes, etc.
If Obama really wanted to redistribute wealth he’d be giving really poor people in India, China, Africa, the Middle East a huge chunk of what our ”poor” people have.
Our ”poor” are way better off that our poor of 100 years ago, too.
Obama’s hatred for ”colonialism” stemming from his highly romanticized ideas about a father he never knew, lead to his idea (false) that the USA is only filled with wealth because it exploits (or did in the past) other countries.
Actually, history shows the USA giving away its money over the past century than any other country.
And since we are wealthier now than in the past, where does wealth REALLY come from?
Not thin air.
I remember when my high school chemistry teacher broke down the value of the human body in the 1960’s.
Just a couple of dollars’ worth of chemicals.
Now it is worth tens of thousands!
We recognize the value of bone marrow, transplanted organs, rare blood types, even sperm and eggs from the right people.
Technology created value where there was little of value before.
Sand used to be of little value, too. But now that silicon is the basis for modern technology it, in the hands of experts, is of high value.
Obama seeks to set us all in stone right now.
No more forward progress.
The ”rich” of today will be divested.
The ”poor” of today will be given scraps from the table.
The feast will be eaten by gov’t employees.
That’s his real plan.
A few random thoughts.
You cannot make the poor rich by making the rich poor.
Income is not to be distributed, it is to be earned.
We are all pie makers (the gov’t doesn’t make them ) and some will make bigger pies than others. With gov’t involved they confiscate pies and redistribute them in exchange for votes. Those getting free pies have no reason to make their own. They will only show an interest in pie making when the free pies stop showing up.
Having ones work taken from them to be redistributed, meaning pies, discourages the creation of more pies. So the idea of unemployment boosting the economy is suspect at best. After all, the money to pay for it comes from somewhere. And that money spend on UI therefore cannot be spent on something else.
If what Obama says is true then everyone should be on unemployment and food stamps as it is such a great boost to the economy. Yet on the other hand the Obama recovery is supposed to be going so well so we shouldn’t find a need for more unemployment checks and more food stamps. With his continued laser focus on the economy we should all be in tall cotton by now.
What is the drop dead cutoff date for extending unemployment benefits that the Dems and Obama will accept? Who in the press will ask that question?