Monday, October 10, 2011 by Al-Jazeera-English
The Masters of the Universe evaded responsibility and defiantly demanded more sacrifice from their victims, says author.
by Heather Digby Parton
"Those who own the country ought to govern it."
- Founding father, John Jay
- Founding father, John Jay
There have been rumblings in the corners of the Tea party
movement for some time, but the minute president Obama announced that he
was going to ask wealthy Americans to kick in a small bit more in taxes
to help pay for some infrastructure improvements in his jobs proposal,
the Republicans have been clutching their pearls and gasping for breath
like Aunt Pittypat awaiting the arrival of the marauding Yankees.
GOP leader Rush Limbaugh called for the smelling salts, saying
"If [Obama] would get all of this actually passed, it would represent
perhaps a fatal blow to the US private sector ... I don't know how
anyone could even argue about the fact that this is on purpose anymore.
To boldly lie that it's not class warfare? It is class warfare.
Specifically and purposefully class warfare."
Republican economic guru Paul Ryan dolefully declared, "Class
warfare may make for good politics, but it makes for rotten economics.
We don't need a system that seeks to divide people.
We don't need a
system that seeks to prey on people's fear, envy, and anxiety." Indeed.
What could be more destructive to the average American than to ask the
upper one per cent to kick in what amounts to tip money? The guilt they
will feel at such unfairness is bound to create a profound spiritual
crisis throughout the land.
A false hope
One would have thought that in 2011, the term "class warfare"
would be as out of fashion as Nehru jackets, but after watching the
Republicans spend the first two years of Obama's presidency apoplectic
over what they defined as hard core socialism put in practice, it stands
to reason the old standard would make a comeback. No matter what you
call it, rich people complaining about taxes is evergreen. It is also
completely ridiculous.
The fact is that the mega-rich have been gobbling up a greater
and greater share of the national wealth for several decades now: in
1976 the top 1 per cent of households received 8.9 per cent of all
pre-tax income - by 2008, its share had more than doubled to 21.0 per
cent. Between 1979 and 2009, the top 5 per cent of American families saw
their real incomes increase 72.7 per cent, according to Census data.
Over the same period, the lowest-income fifth saw a decrease in
real income of 7.4 per cent (by contrast, the 1947-79 period all income
groups saw similar income gains, with the lowest income group actually
seeing the largest gains). And perhaps most astonishingly, the tax rate
for the highest earners was 91 per cent in 1960, 70 per cent in 1980 and
only 35 per cent today, the lowest ever with the exception of a couple
of years in the late 80s and early 90s.
And it's not as if these people have been suffering during this
recession. Unlike the bottom 99 per cent, they've quite smartly
recovered from the 2008 unpleasantness. For instance, according to a
recent New York Times report, executive pay at 200 big US
companies last year went up by an average 23 per cent over 2009 - the
median executive salary was 10.8m USD. Meanwhile, the average American
family's household net worth declined 23 per cent between 2007 and 2009.
Considering this somewhat ostentatious disparity, one would
think that those who are doing well would decide to lay low and quietly
count their money so as not to draw undue attention to their good
fortune. One might even have expected them to take up good works and be
especially generous in order to deflect the anger and resentment that
any sentient being could see might result from such blatant unfairness.
But no. They have instead waged a public campaign of extravagant
whining, complaining incessantly that they are being scapegoated for the
nation's economic ills and throwing tantrums at the mere suggestion
that they might need to contribute a little bit more in taxes to make up
for the carnage their bad bets left in their wake.
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