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There Is Class War, and Rich Are Winning
A University of Chicago law professor created a firestorm of controversy last month when he blogged that he and his wife are barely making ends meet with their $250,000-plus combined salaries.
The 80-year old billionaire said: “There’s class warfare, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” Professor Todd Henderson was protesting President Obama’s plan
to let the George W. Bush tax cuts on income above $250,000 per
couple expire at the end of the year while extending the cuts for
everyone below that threshold.
Needless to say, the good professor didn’t get much sympathy. As well he shouldn’t.
The couple live in a nice house, send their kids to private schools, employ a nanny and a lawn caretaker plus have compiled a sizable retirement account. Lots of folks -- 97 percent of American taxpayers, in fact -- would love to be in that position and most probably wouldn’t mind paying the tax rate they were paying back in 2000 before the Supreme Court made George W. Bush the president.
Yet, thanks mainly to a united Republican minority in the U.S. Senate and a handful of nervous Democrats, Congress cannot bring itself to vote on Obama’s plan that would lock in the tax cuts for a huge percentage of the people and begin tackling the budget deficit by raising taxes on the rich. Republicans claim it is important to reduce the deficit yet hypocritically oppose the Democrats’ effort to do so by letting the Bush tax cuts expire for individual incomes above $200,000 a year and couples’ earnings over $250,000.
Everyone should get their tax cuts extended, insist Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, yet they offer no plan for how they would make up the $700 billion the treasury would lose over the next 10 years if the cuts for the upper echelon are allowed to continue.
Some insist that increasing taxes on the wealthy would hurt job creation in this economy, but that ignores the simple reality that the Bush cuts didn’t do a thing to help the economy the past several years. George Bush left office in 2009 with the number of working Americans essentially the same as it was when he took over in 2001 -- roughly 137 million -- and the economy in a shambles. During Bill Clinton’s eight years the tax rate on the top income bracket was increased, but millions more people went to work. By the end of his second term, the budget deficit had been essentially eliminated.
Perhaps it’s all coincidental, as many Republicans argue, but there is not any more proof that the GOP’s formula of lower taxes on the wealthy creates more jobs and spurs the economy than there is for the Democratic formula seeking to have the wealthy pay progressively more.
Besides, the rich should pay more because they get more from the government. All those Wall Street and S&L bailouts, the funding of regulatory agencies, and the public school training of workers aren’t services used by the middle and lower classes. There are some studies that have estimated that the tax breaks and services that benefit the wealthy add up to $400 billion a year, compared to the $116 billion spent on programs for the poor.
Class warfare?
One of the richest Americans, Warren Buffett, replies to that notion:
“There’s class warfare, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
As Richard Thaler, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed: “The question comes down to whether we want a society in which the rich take an ever-increasing share of the pie, or prefer to return to conditions that allow all classes to anticipate an increasing standard of living.
“Demanding that the rich get a tax cut as a condition for tax relief to others is simply elitist.”
But, hey, as his colleague professor Henderson pointed out, it’s tough getting by on $250,000 a year.
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121 Comments so far
Show AllThe couple featured in this article did not appear to land in their position of relative wealth.
A professor of law at a prestigious university likely had to spend years educating himself for the position.
The author states that lots of Americans would love to be in their position.
Well sure.
But how many of them wanted to do the work that led to that position?
There are different categories of wealth.
Physicians, for example, make a lot of money but if they are educated in America they typically had 4 years of undergraduate education in a difficult major like Chemistry or Biology.
IF they studied enough to get almost perfect grades, they could go on to the next step--4 years of Medical School.
But it doesn't stop there. Then they must spend 3-7 + years in a Residency program.
Only then are they ready for that "great" lifestyle of a very high stress job with people's lives at stake, long hours, being on call, and usually working weekends, holiday and nights.
Also, the Bush years of anti-prosperity can not be blamed on his tax policies.
Two expensive wars means the government printed money to pay for them.
So $250,000 doesn't feel like much money anymore.
On the other hand there is the type of wealthy person, CEO's for example who make millions of dollars a year polluting the planet, exploiting workers, manipulating governments for their own gain and hoarding wealth. The real atrocity is those who make tens of millions even though they run their company into the ground--GM, BP, United Airlines, etc.
Target that type of wealth.
Leave the people who actually earn and deserve their wealth alone.
Ah, yes, the meritocracy. This gets to the heart of the contradictions in liberalism. You approve of a hierarchy, you approve of disparity, you approve of classes, you think that doctors are more important than janitors and "deserve" more status, should have the right to dominate and control others, but you don't approve of the same things when other activities are involved. You can't have one without the other, and what you reveal here is that your only dispute with the right wing is about just whom should be our overlords and superiors, whom should have status and social dominance, not with the corrupt and unjust and inhuman system itself.
I am glad that someone spelled this out, because it usually remains hidden and unspoken. Yet it underlies all liberal thought, and explains all of the irrationality, contradictions, as well as all of the frustration and confusion in these discussions. Anyone who wants to know why we have the excesses and injustices we are seeing look no farther than this liberal apology for the system. Anyone who wants to know why blue collar working people reject liberalism need look no further. It is spelled out right here.
I find this post more morally repugnant than anything we ever hear from the right wing, and this attitude is more the cause of the social and political problems than anything the right wing is doing could be.
Liberal and progressive politics mean say hello to the new boss - the same as the old boss. Not as honest, though.
I don't think doctors are more important than janitors.
I think everyone deserves a living wage.
But who do you imagine will become a doctor if doctors and janitors are paid exactly the same?
THAT depends on the KIND of SOCIETY that is nurtured, generation by generation.
it depends on how and whether a society places supreme importance on its common welfare in which individuals, without at all FEARING to "lose individuality" or "self-worth"
are nurtured according to the capacities and tendencies and interests they display as they are born, grow up and , if a society is WORTHY of the highest ethical principles and REASON for existence as human species, find that the destiny of every human being is to BE not only the BEST one can be in SERVICE TO SOCIETY -- but without coercion...
but because it is UNDERSTOOD that , as Albert Einstein also said: "HUMANKIND can find his GREATEST WORTH and MEANING in service TO society".
a society in which individuals are nurtured to see that THEIR greatest fulfilment is to do as much good FOR OTHERS - with whatever talents or abilities or inclinations they have --
will find the means to not only REWARD every single person for that contribution...not merely with the necessities of life...but even more importantly.,,,, the knowledge and social acceptance that one's work, no matter how "lowly" IS valued for its own sake and for its part in society.
a garbage collector will find great satisfaction in ensuring that the community is clean ....so that he can enjoy the fruits of a musician's work or a doctor's work as THEIR part in that society ...as each of them know that their society can not exist with any decency unless EACH one's work is VALUED...NOT "comparatively"
but simply because it is DONE BY A FELLOW HUMAN BEING..and that contribution by a fellow human being is .....
ENOUGH in and of itself..in fact...it is what gives that person's work ITS VERY ESSENCE and VALUE.
in other words...a garbage collector , or a gardener , in a society that does NOT "overwork" ANY of them ...will find that his particular "specialty" , BECAUSE it is fruitful towards the benefit of society ...is COMPLETELY SATISFYING because he gives of himself or herself FULLY...
in other words:
the Satisfaction of a garbage collector or farmer or gardener derives from HAVING GIVEN one's BEST for society ....
as easily as a poet or actor or scientist would..REGARDLESS of the nature of their particular different "jobs'.
in fact -- that can become a society in which..a scientist or musician might actually find that sharing in GARBAGE COLLECTING one day a week...paid the same as the "regular" garbage collector" who , the latter, is also paid the SAME as the Musician ,
simply for GIVING THEMSELVES to their work at hand.....
can be as satisfying as "composing"...not so much because garbage collecting might compare with "composing" In what the "brain" creates...but because the ACT of DOING something that society will benefit FROM : garbage collecting
is in and of itself the HIGHEST source of "satisfaction".
it is like the satisfaction one derives when one has given a dollar to someone that is starving...how can you "measure" that?
or the satisfaction a musician gets when , singing to a lonely old person, sees a SMILE cross the person's face remembering some nice memory long ago....
how can you "measure" that?
or the satisfaction a good doctor gets knowing that after doing all he can ...he has alleviated the pain or suffering of a little girl....how can you REALLY measure such things?
or the satisfaction of a farmer, knowing that when he carefully, lovingly cultivated a vegetable patch -- its taste and nutrition will give a family that bought the food great joy in LIVING -- with EATING as one of the true, deepest pleasures of life...
how does one measure these things?
BY MONEY?.
no -- one measures these things by the SATISFACTIOn of people giving their ALL , EVERYTHING they have within them -- all their knowledge, their passion, the physical effort, their commitment to doing something as WELL as they could
so that members of society can live well.
money , in that case, is only a means to allow people to live with the FREEDOm to BE as GOOD as they can be for society...and their TRUE value and the value of what they DO is IN the GIVING to society as best they can..without "measurement" in MONEY.
that society would be truly enlightened. just my opinion of course. others will have theirs.
Beautiful post, thanks. I think our posts complement one another well. "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Thank you.
I have always (or at least have grown to think of) considered that what any human being does towards a contribution to society is or should be a GIFT to society ...just as society's GIFT to the person or individuals is to show that that person's contribution is valued for the very PERSONAL gift that it is...that is valued as the "creation" of a garbage collector , or a gardener, or a poet or a doctor or musician or painter or carpenter.
without a hair dresser -- what would many women look like who don't have time for their hair to look as stunning as they can be?
doesn't a hairdresser take joy and pride in her work as much as a composer having written "one of my deepest, most profound and challenging works?"
and doesn't that make a woman , looking better than "normal" , take pride and joy in that her female beauty has been made to shine even more by the work of the hairdresser?
isn't the work of "stage hands" -- who toil and measure and watch carefully that curtains are clean, ropes are strong, cables and stage panels are secure, the paint is dry , the planter is positioned properly - so that the violinist , the singer and the pianist will walk out on the stage for their performance confident and HAPPY to see the audience do so with the Ambience and "backstage" work provided by the Stagehands, the janitors who prostrated themselves on the floor to make it shine but not slippery...?
so that the "director" of the concert can pay attention to encouraging the audience to applaud its support for the musicians...?
aren;t each of them IMPORTANT...whether it's the STARS or the "background" people?
a DECENT society , if it has the means and/or BUILDS the MEANS , ought to be able to provide the BASICS of existence and decent living so that each member, no matter what his or her contribution and specialty -- is FREED to GIVE that specialty with JOY and Satisfaction
FREED from WORRYING whether that "specialty" or occupation is "worthy enough" .
Well said. It starts with "the hand that rocks the cradle" - and changes the diapers, and cooks the food, and keeps the house in order. It is almost as if the more vital and important the work the more it is devalued and unpaid, and the more useless and destructive the work the more status and pay and power is granted to those doing it.
while they are clearly "isolated" examples in human civilization there are actually societies in which these kinds of behaviors are ALREADY and HAVE for a long time been in practice.
I forget the exact cultures...but roughly:
there is one in , i think, NEPAL...in which the members of society show that their greatest satisfaction is in any kind of contribution they each make to their communities..some social researches became very curious about them because , according to all the "paradigms" of studying societies...this one seemed to pass the highest "marks" in "happiness and joy"..and when the people were asked..invariably...they only talked about ONE THING: GIVING to their society . the researchers were actually very astounded that the people there , not having much of the modernities, were smiling or laughing at just about ANY excuse .
there is another, i think in the pacific ocean...tahiti? or something similar...where the communities' members , while each having their particular interests, alwasy seemed ready to contribute their efforts and energy to ANYTHING of a "communal nature"..whether it's going out to the sea or the beach to fish - or to DIG in teh sand for cooking what they caught...or cleaning ...or taking care of the children while others went fishing, or singing, or dancing, or fixing the hut of someone...and again...when individuals were asked..they TOO came up with similar remarks:
that giving of themselves to their COMMON efforts was not only normal but very satisfying..
it reminds of the way the "emperor penguins" in Antarctica behave:
for 4-5 months a year...after the females lay eggs , they LEAVE them in the care of teh MALES..so the females will trek hundreds of miles out to the ocean to feed and fatten themselves DURING the winter months...to prepare themselves for going back inland for teh SUMMER months.
and part of their long life in the sea was also to eventually FILL their stomachs with fish ...and then trek back to inland...to regurgitate for their "husbands" and by-then-hatched little penguins.
MEANWHILE - in those bitter, complete darkness winter months...the males..warm and protect the EGGS in a special pouch between their legs...and to survive the winter months...they basically HUDDLE together TIGHTLY , hundreds of thousands of them...with some kind of "organic" ebb-and-flow in movement so that each member has a chance to be "comfortably" warmed INSIDe the pack while others are the "wall"..etc...
in these 4-5 winter months, it is complete darkness...the coldest imaginable..winds, etc...NO FOOD whatsoever...and these males are literally STARVING...and it is during these winter months that the little penguins will HATCH..and whatever the males or "fathers" have in their stomachs -- like in a kind of "refrigerator"...they will carefully regurgitate over that long period....just enough to keep the babies alive and growing...and eating nothing themselves....
THEN when the FEMALES finally arrive...there is a HUGE, Earsplitting uproar of greetings...
in their hundreds of thousands...somehow the "families" find each other by sound...some of course fail...some babies may have died. so too "mothers" and fathers...etc.
but ONCE they find each other...the FEMALES immediately try to claim the baby from teh father...the fathers are SO attached to the baby , they will sometimes take more time before they relinquish the baby...but it's done eventually...and in a matter of seconds, the baby is within the mother's pouch between her legs...QUICK!! before the baby freezes in that cold wind.
and then the Mother FEEDS the Father the regurgiated fish..and then feeds the baby..
and then the "couple" have a long, quiet "love" dance...standing quietly, craning their necks here and there in elegant movements...piping to each other, caressing each other...in COMPLETE SATISFACTION that they are together again with their baby....
weeks later -- the FATHERS will LEAVE for the sea to feed THEMSELVES and return months later to make the next generation....etc....
in that whole process...some babies will be orphaned...and the mothers can not accept them as there is only room for ONE baby in her pouch...
but some orphans if they are LUCKY -- might be found by other MOTHERS (or fathers)
who themselves have LOST babies..and their instinct to NURTURE is so strong they will COMPETE furiously to take the orphan in their pouch..sometimes even resulting in the orphan being TRAMPLED to death!!!
but the point is :
WE , humans have MUCH to learn about "satisfaction".
but if there is ONE lesson in "having a satisfying, fulfilling life and society"
CAPITALISM DOESN"T DELIVER IT. if anything it makes people not only DISSATISFIED with the gifts of the Mother Earth..it also makes them dissatisfied with BEING human...
and only teaches the WORST evil of humanity:
GREED and selfishness.....that even the lower life forms can not compete with.
Who would become a doctor were they not paid more than others? Only the most dedicated, those who are truly committed to healing others, rather than those interested in social status and domination and control over others. That would probably result in more doctors, and better ones, too.
I think that an hour of work by a janitor is equal to an hour of work by a doctor. In fact, I know that it is.
We determine who is more important, who can dominate whom, in this culture according to how much money they make or have. Could there be any possible basis for disputing that? When you say doctors should be paid more, you are saying - and every powerfully and unambiguously - that they are more important than janitors. Could there be any possible basis for disputing that?
What you are illustrating here so that all can see it - finally! - is the fundamental flaw in liberal and progressive politics, the underlying inconsistency and hypocrisy that distorts all further thinking. You are paid more as a physician, not for your medical skill and training. You are paid more - all professionals are - so long as you promote the idea that some are more important than others, and should therefore have power over others. (After all, money is power in this culture, that is the basis for the system.) Why is that of value to the ruling class, why do they bribe professionals so long as they are willing to do that? Because that supports the system that allows them to pillage and plunder. Where does that extra money that you are paid come from? By reducing the wages to the janitor.
There was a time not so long a go when the physician in a village would not have been paid more than his neighbor, let alone twice, 5 times, 100 times more than what others were making. There was a time not so long ago when those laboring in the field to make sure everyone ate, or cutting wood or making clothes so people would not freeze were seen as just as important as the local doctor. They were, and are. Do you see this otherwise? Do you think some people are more important and valuable than others? If so, you are responsible for the billionaires on Wall Street and you are promoting and defending their interests and desires, in a very powerful and effective way.
The basis for justifying that you should make more than the janitor and the mechanism by which that happens, and the underlying social arrangements and conventions that protect and advance that ides, are all absolutely identical to those that created the billionaires on Wall Street and nurture and protect them. Could there be any possible basis for disputing that?
What a Beautiful statement!!
If one career requires 4 years of college, 4 years of graduate school and 7 years of further specialization and another career requires no time spent in college, there has to be some extra compensation for the extra time and money spent in education.
But time spent in education is not the only factor.
HIghly stressful jobs, dangerous jobs, jobs that require long hours and off hours-- all of these things must be compensated or very few people will choose them.
The training should be publicly funded, of course. You are talking about your career as though it were an investment for your own selfish gratification rather than a commitment to public service - "I put X amount of money and time into it, and so I deserve a higher return." What sort of physicians would we get from your formula? It makes me shudder.
By your criteria for who deserves more, nurses should get 5 times higher income than doctors. How about teachers? The list goes on and on.
Your contention that unless people are bribed they will not take on difficult or unpleasant jobs is simply ludicrous. Why does anyone raise children? Why does anyone work in elder care? Why does anyone teach children? That may be how your mind works, and how you operate, but I find your attitude rare and it is anti-social and morally unjustifiable.
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
You'll NEVER hear Warren Buffet develop that theme of how the rich are winning the class war so long as upper-middle-class media toady to the upper-class PBS Charlie Rose remains the sole U.S. media platform for any even half-intelligent press interviews of the dominant regressive plutocrats.
Consider the source - the University of Chicago which spawned Milton Friedman school of greed economics that dominates the World Bank, the IMF, the Federal Reserve. It has bankrupted almost every country that embraced it. Therefore, I find it logical that a U of Chicago law professor can never have enough.
Until the educational system is improved this will continue. Knowledge is power. We have to admit that the US has a disproportionate amount of ignorant people and a lot of that has to do with the pathetic school system. The corporations need a poor performing school system so that way they are guaranteed a steady flow of minimum wage workers. If this were to change it would be like throwing a wrench into the gears; the system would be severely affected and of course that is not in the interests of those on top. Like most things in life capitalism has its good things and bad things, but in my opinion it just needs to be better regulated and at least give us the impression that in the government they, the corporations, are not the ones running the show.
Death and taxes are the only certainties in life, so if its for the health of the country and our people we should pay what is fair.
We need to encourage our future generations to be critical thinkers and this is obtained through knowledge, so tell them to pick up some books and stay away from most of what is on TV, which now more than ever seems to rot your brain even faster.
Almost all of the couple hundred top officials in the German government in the 30's were highly educated people.
When bankers and CEOs hang by the thousands from lamp-posts across America, change will come.
Remember what Jesus said: "The stench of the corpses of stinking bankers is a sweet aroma in the nostrils of the LORD."
On December 11, 1995 a fire burned most of Malden Mills in Massachusetts to the ground and put 3,000 people out of work. Most of the 3,000 thought they were out of work permanently.
Aaron Feuerstein the CEO and owner of Malden Mills spent millions keeping all 3,000 employees on the payroll with full benefits for 3 months.
Feuerstein when asked why he did this, said: "I have an equal responsibility to the community. It would have been unconscionable to put 3,000 people on the streets and deliver a death blow to the cities of Lawrence and Methuen. Maybe on paper our company is worth less to Wall Street, but I can tell you it’s worth more. We’re doing fine."
If I recall correctly, he took flak form some in the business community for doing that..
Why do you think we're working so hard and spending so much money to automate warfare?
We don't need EVERYBODY on our side, just the majority of soldiers and police. If the rich don't have the military to defend themselves then class war, rather than mere class genocide, is a real option.
But the fewer people it takes to run the weapons, the fewer loyal supporters they need.
US HAS THE LARGEST INEQUALITY IN THE WORLD!
US had least inequality in 1963.
US Average real wage 2010 is LOWER THAN IT WAS IN 1972
THE GOVERNMENT AND/OR EMPLOYERS OWE THE WORKING PEOPLE COST OF LIVING PAY FOR 38 YEARS.
US WORKER IS 38 YEARS BEHIND IN WAGES
WHERE DID THE WAGE INCREASES GO? MILLION/BILLION CEO SALARIES AND CRIMINAL BUSINESS PRACTICES, LOBBYISTS/BRIBES/OFF-SHORE
FROM REAGAN TO BUSH2 THE WEALTHY WERE SELFISH AND LAWS WERE NOT ENFORCED AT SEC/JUSTICE--WHY IS NO ONE FROM WALL STREET IN JAIL? THEY ARE NOW
IN CHARGE. EVERYONE WAS DOING A MADOFF, BUT HONEST WORKERS.
WHAT DO THEY CALL THE UNITED STATES WORKERS NOW?
WE ARE CALLED SLAVES, PEASANTS, SLAVE WAGERS AROUND THE WORLD INSTEAD
OF THE BEST LIKE FROM 1942 TO 1972. THEN THE CORPORATIONS SOLD US OUT.
DOES WASHINGTON WANT ITS PEOPLE TO PROSPER, GROW AND BE THE BEST IN THE WORLD
LIKE IN THE 1950? NO. THEY ARE TRYING TO KILL US WITH FOOD, AIR, PAUPER WAGES AND
INADEQUATE HEALTH CARE AND HOUSING AND FINANCIAL SCAMS.
TAX THE RICH LIKE IT WAS DONE AFTER WWII. 90 percent.
PEOPLE BROKE. NO MORE MONEY TO SPEND. TAX THE RICH. WE ARE BROKE. IT'S
YOUR FAULT RICH CORPORATIONS--YOU TOOK ALL THE MONEY AND LEFT US
POORER BY 38 YEARS!
The rich have ALWAYS been the war makers, a severe minority at that!