Let's get this "class warfare" thing straight
Fact check: Plumber Joe's taxes (CNN Money)
I can just imagine the cries of Republican supporters elsewhere about how the media is once again going out in support of a Democrat with this. But facts are facts.
Some conservative outlets have been crying about this for a while now, and claiming that Obama's plan to only raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans is "class warfare", which John McCain alluded to at one point in the last debate. Frankly, I think this claim is absurd anyway - we already have class warfare and taxes are only the salt on the wound with it.
CEOs make over 344 times what average workers make, up from a factor of 42 back in 1980, according to the Institute for Policy Studies and United for A Fair Economy. They've been notorious for the golden parachutes while employees who get laid off are lucky to ride off with a month's severance pay. Lou Dobbs has noted that the middle class pays the majority of taxes in the U.S. despite controlling much less than that amount of wealth. And all the while, CEOs who have financed campaigns have basically made policy - policy which, by and large, has done nothing but further line their pockets. How else do you think we got to the very hostile environment for consumers that we currently have?
Think about it: CEOs have made out like bandits, while those with four-year college degrees have seen their real pay stagnate since 2000. Banks continue to nickel-and-dime consumers to the tune of billions of dollars per year, often victimizing folks who can least afford all the fees they tack on. They aren't alone, as cell phone companies, cable providers, now airlines, and many others do the same thing, basically abandoning the idea of pricing. And let's not get into customer service - that's another story altogether and I've discussed some of it in this space before.
While CEOs ride off into the sunset with millions, the rest of us are left holding the bag - and that's before the bailout from a few weeks back. Many common folks are quite understandably upset; me personally, I wouldn't shed a tear if a bank executive that led us into this mess got robbed cold by someone. I don't wish that on them, but if it happens, I call it karma - for the way they've basically robbed the rest of us over the years.
And yet Republican supporters want to talk about class warfare as if it's not already here. Talk about not having a clue...
This isn't out of jealousy. The anger common folks feel is from CEOs getting star treatment while the rest of us are basically shown that we don't matter. Sure, I'd love to get Bob Nardelli's golden parachute upon being laid off, but that's not the point - the point is that "pay for performance" never seems to be applied towards executives, but Jack Welch turned it into an art form while at GE with employees, complete with layoffs included, and others are following suit. In the process, as I described before, they've managed to pit customers against customer service people.
So to all the Republican supporters accusing Obama of class warfare, let's get something straight: we already have class warfare going on and have for years, and it's a war on the middle class, as Lou Dobbs states and sums up in his book.
I can just imagine the cries of Republican supporters elsewhere about how the media is once again going out in support of a Democrat with this. But facts are facts.
Some conservative outlets have been crying about this for a while now, and claiming that Obama's plan to only raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans is "class warfare", which John McCain alluded to at one point in the last debate. Frankly, I think this claim is absurd anyway - we already have class warfare and taxes are only the salt on the wound with it.
CEOs make over 344 times what average workers make, up from a factor of 42 back in 1980, according to the Institute for Policy Studies and United for A Fair Economy. They've been notorious for the golden parachutes while employees who get laid off are lucky to ride off with a month's severance pay. Lou Dobbs has noted that the middle class pays the majority of taxes in the U.S. despite controlling much less than that amount of wealth. And all the while, CEOs who have financed campaigns have basically made policy - policy which, by and large, has done nothing but further line their pockets. How else do you think we got to the very hostile environment for consumers that we currently have?
Think about it: CEOs have made out like bandits, while those with four-year college degrees have seen their real pay stagnate since 2000. Banks continue to nickel-and-dime consumers to the tune of billions of dollars per year, often victimizing folks who can least afford all the fees they tack on. They aren't alone, as cell phone companies, cable providers, now airlines, and many others do the same thing, basically abandoning the idea of pricing. And let's not get into customer service - that's another story altogether and I've discussed some of it in this space before.
While CEOs ride off into the sunset with millions, the rest of us are left holding the bag - and that's before the bailout from a few weeks back. Many common folks are quite understandably upset; me personally, I wouldn't shed a tear if a bank executive that led us into this mess got robbed cold by someone. I don't wish that on them, but if it happens, I call it karma - for the way they've basically robbed the rest of us over the years.
And yet Republican supporters want to talk about class warfare as if it's not already here. Talk about not having a clue...
This isn't out of jealousy. The anger common folks feel is from CEOs getting star treatment while the rest of us are basically shown that we don't matter. Sure, I'd love to get Bob Nardelli's golden parachute upon being laid off, but that's not the point - the point is that "pay for performance" never seems to be applied towards executives, but Jack Welch turned it into an art form while at GE with employees, complete with layoffs included, and others are following suit. In the process, as I described before, they've managed to pit customers against customer service people.
So to all the Republican supporters accusing Obama of class warfare, let's get something straight: we already have class warfare going on and have for years, and it's a war on the middle class, as Lou Dobbs states and sums up in his book.