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TechnoratiMcCain Banking on a Confederacy of Dunces
Is John McCain stupid, or does he believe we are? That's the question as he criticizes Barack Obama for allegedly trying to "redistribute the wealth" with a plan to lower taxes on the middle class and raise them on the super-rich.
Of course, the Democrat's proposal would merely slow down (not fully halt) the less-talked-about redistribution whereby Washington sends middle-class money up the income ladder. Either McCain doesn't know about this kleptocracy and is the dumbest presidential candidate in history, or he thinks America is too ignorant to recognize theft. Which is it?
I'm guessing the latter, since the evidence is so overwhelming.
In the last eight years, we the little people have been forced to provide more and more of the taxes fueling America's redistribution machine. As the Congressional Budget Office reports, the $715 billion in tax breaks that President Bush gave to those making more than $342,000 a year began dramatically shifting the overall tax burden from the rich onto the rest of us. Meanwhile, because of lobbyist-crafted loopholes, most corporations pay zero federal income taxes, according to the Government Accountability Office. The result is what Warren Buffett admits: When counting all taxes (income, payroll, property, etc.), billionaires and Big Business often pay lower effective tax rates than their employees.
The output of the redistribution machine is becoming just as regressive. In the age of Halliburton fraud and ExxonMobil subsidies, our government spends $93 billion a year on corporate welfare. (For comparison, that's roughly three times what it spends on a traditional welfare program like food stamps.) That doesn't include the recent bailout giving $700 billion to the same banks currently doling out $70 billion in executive pay and bonuses -- a scheme the Financial Times says "amounts to a large transfer of resources from lower to higher income earners."
Thanks to these redistributive policies -- policies McCain championed in Congress -- the richest 1 percent today owns a larger share of America's wealth than at any time since before the Great Depression.
The Republican standard-bearer probably knows all this, but his fetish is fact-free fairy tales -- the kind presenting seven houses, a beer-industry fortune and lockstep conservatism as mavericky Joe-the-Plumber populism. When it comes to economics, McCain is banking on Americans believing similarly inane myths -- specifically, those portraying obscene affluence as the commonplace achievement under royalist rule.
During the indigence and socioeconomic immobility of the 19th century's Gilded Age, this meme flourished through Horatio Alger stories. Today, one in five American children live in poverty, and authorities from The Economist magazine to The Wall Street Journal note that our country exhibits the least amount of upward economic mobility in the industrialized world -- less than even Europe's supposedly sclerotic socialisms. In light of that, sustaining the "American dream" narrative requires updated rags-to-riches fantasies like "MTV Cribs," HBO's "Entourage" -- and now McCain '08.
The Arizona senator's pulp fiction packs an extra-nationalistic punch, however. We are not only expected to support regressive redistribution, but also to believe that stopping such robbery is subversive. McCain implies Obama is backing Soviet conquest by proposing to finance tax cuts for 95 percent of American workers with tax increases on the richest 5 percent. When Joe Biden said it is "patriotic" for millionaires to pay their fair share of taxes, Republicans waved the bloody shirt of Reaganism and attacked him -- as if Al Capone-style tax evasion is how aristocrats display their true love of country.
The GOP campaign, in short, is a brew of Red-baiting and free-market zealotry, a concoction with a poisonous purpose: resurrecting the everyone-for-themselves pathologies that perpetuate the status quo. And if we revert to selfish form during this economic crisis, then McCain's cynical calculation is correct: America is a confederacy of dunces.
30 Comments so far
Show AllTime to rent Idiocracy and show it to all the McCain supporters!
Marie Antoinette...
McCain/Palin want to continue "SPREADING THE WEALTH" UP to the 1%centers...the direction it's been going for the last 30 Reaganite/Friedmanite years, while we were all busy consuming, consuming, CONsuming and being CONned by the neoCONservatives into thinking that one day we too could be rich. Welcome to the Emerald City y'all.
THE TRUE SLOGAN OF THE AMERICAN RULING CLASS.
I upped my income, up yours.
Precisely!
Americans are mathematically illiterate. One right-winger who called Stephanie Miller show a few days ago was asked how much he made; "Sixteen dollars an hour," he said. "How much a year?" he was asked. "I don't know, I haven't worked there a year."
That's why it was easy to sell them on the idea that Saddam Hussein had a fleet of drone planes that could spray ricin and anthrax on them, and how they could be persuaded that a couple of trailers were really bioweapons laboratories.
McCain WILL win. I don't give a rat's ass what the polls say. Yes, Obama leads by a large margin. Yes, more Americans will vote for Obama than McCain. Yes, by all logic he SHOULD win by a landslide.
But it ain't gonna happen. In 2004 Bush was the clear loser in exit poll after exit poll, in key battleground states. Ditto 2000. Yet - somehow! Miraculously! - the final vote results showed he had somehow managed to defy all the exit polling numbers and somehow squeeze to victory in the one or two battleground states where he needed the electoral votes to win.
How did it happen?? Most of the people in the exit polls LIED about their votes??
Of course not. It's called "Election rigging." The GOP did it in 2000 and 2004, and they will do it again in 2008. Quit being such optimistic simpletons. McCain will win in November. MARK MY WORDS.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Sinclair Lewis, "It Cant Happen Here", 1935
"McCain Banking on a Confederacy of Dunces"
So is Obama
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"To know, and not to do, is not to know"
I am of the opinion that McCain's 'Confederacy of Dunces' strategy will probably get him elected, sad to say.
Can anyone explain the overwhelming support he has from whites making less than $50K?
But I could be wrong !
"Can anyone explain the overwhelming support he has from whites making less than $50K? "
I read an interesting take on this somewhere recently. This used to be a solid group of Democratic voters. But since say the early seventies, they've tracked over to the Republican side.
While this is often ascribed to some vague 'value voters' idea, the piece I read instead had the idea that this instead tracked with the course of the Democratic Party abandoning its support for this group.
This group used to be a part of the FDR New Deal coalition. The Democrats were strongly on labor's side. And as such they also helped protect labor's right to organize and thus its membership base. The Democrats used to in other ways champion the cause of people who work and are down in this wage bracket.
They don't any longer. The only thing I can think of that this Congress has done for this group was a miniscule rise in the minimum raise. On the other hand, they constantly give the corporations more power and more advantages.
There is no longer any economic or policy reason for this group to pick the Democrats over the Republicans. Both parties now serve corporate power and the wealthy. As such, this means this group can be tilted by silly arguments over church, flag, country, etc.
The counter to this is a strong set of policies from the Democrats that help the lower end of this country. But the Democrats refuse to do that because they instead go after the corporate money and connections.
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"To know, and not to do, is not to know"
It all started during the Regan era, when LABORERS were lured into becoming STOCKHOLDERS. That shift was a clever underhanded way of dismantling the laboring working/middle class. In the traditon of the Bush meme: you're either with
US (the ruling slavemasters) or THEM (the struggling worker). Now given that choice, amplified by all the "rich is good" mantra repeated ad-infinitum to each American citizen---in the form of get-rich-quick, flip houses, day trading, and any greedy activity, etc----24/7 on the media, does anyone wonder where our Democracy has gone? The citizenry is now experiencing a
"morning in America" sickness and realizing that while it was consuming at the shopping mall 24/7, the country was being sold from under it by, among other things, cronyism, no-bid contracts, and bribing--oops, I meant lobbying.
I just read something on this earlier tonight. The Democrats lost the support of many whites when the Republicans began to use wedge social/religious issues to differentiate themselves from the Democrats. But it doesn't seem like it's working anymore.
Here's an example I'm thinking of. There used to be something called Pell Grants for college. If you were from a lower income family, there was grant money to help pay for college. Today its mostly if not all loans that are offered. There used to be grant money available. I know, because this is what helped me get through school.
Reagan killed most of this. And the Dems were probably too outnumbered in Congress to stop it. They didn't enthusiastically go along back then. But they did have a losing streak in the first half of the Reagan years.
But, since then, from 92-94, the Dems had the White House and both halves of Congress. For the rest of the Clinton years, they had the White House. They had the Senate for parts of that time. And of course today they control both houses of Congress.
Notice how the Dems never brought back these grants. Everything stayed loans and tilted more and more towards loans.
This hurts exactly this group. Fathers who don't make a lot of money, but who still might dream of sending their kids to college. But, its harder now than it used to be. If their kids do go, they probably get out of school deeply in debt.
Do the Democrats think that fathers don't notice this? That fathers who have a hard time sending their kids to college are just go to stand up and shout "Whooo-Hoo" because the love this so much? That fathers who see their children struggle with huge debts after they do get our of college are going to look at that and say that its a wonderful world?
These days, the Democrats are on the side of the bankers instead of being on the side of working fathers who want to send their kids to college. Those working dads may not know the history of how it got that way. But they dang sure know the Democrats are not on their side.
Lets just say the Democrats had tried to pass something like a major new grants program aimed at children of parents who make less than $50k a year. Do you think these fathers would not have noticed? Even if it had been vetoed by Bush, or filibustered by Senate Republicans, they'd have noticed. Instead, they noticed that these Democrats did nothing for them.
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"To know, and not to do, is not to know"
There are still Pell grants. I'm on it. (A Jew with a Pell grant, only in this economy eh?) I also have a transfer scholarship, state grants to match the federal Pell grant, and federal Stafford loans. I never really used financial aid when I was at community college, my prepaid tuition plan covered pretty much all of it, but since i transferred to my current unviersity I've gotten about 40% grants and scholarships, and 60% loans to cover my costs. Thankfully, during my final semester It's now more like 5% loan, and rest is grant, scholarship, and now work-study. There is still financial aid that doesn't have to be paid back...but I'll owe about 20k once I graduate.
Wow. McCain loses big. Obama wins biggest since at least Clinton over Dole. You won't have to stay up late, even on the east coast, to know the winner.
Obama is about 10% up in the popular vote.
Obama is going to get around 350 electoral votes. (270 needed to win).
-- note, no one state can flip and overcome this margin, so the election would be much harder to steal even if it was going to be. You'd have to steal say both Ohio and Florida in the same year, plus some additional states as well.
When states like Indiana and Virginia are 'in play' as 'battleground states' the Republicans have lost. Those should both be sure Republican wins. Just the fact that they are having to spend money and time defending states they should win means they have less resources to go to places like Ohio and Florida that have determined the last few elections. In 2004, both campaigns had pulled their ads in CO right around this time, becuase Bush was 5 pts or so up on Kerry. Now, Obams is 5 up and McCain was just here in CO and McCain is spending a big chunk of his public funds on ads here. By history he should never have to be campaiging here this late in a campaign. If he's here, he's not in Ohio. If he's spending money on ads here, he's not spending it in Ohio.
In football terms, Obama has moved the line of scrimmage deep into McCain's backfield.
In America, the candidate with the most money always wins. Obama has raked in an incredible $600 million.
Only 20% of that is in donations of $200 or less. So this isn't all college kids giving $20. In 2000 and 2004, this big money was behind Bush. In 2008, McCain is on public financing. This money is the real power in the country. It doesn't lose.
Studies have indicated that elections can be predicted far in advance by economic trends. When trends are up, the party in power wins. When trends are down, the party out of power loses. Trends are definitely down.
Add to that an unpopular war. The effect of this is lessened by the little detail that Obama has pretty much exactly the same war plans as McCain, but still, incumbent parties do not well when there's an unpopular war. The fact that most American voters don't have a clue as to what's going on means they'll blame the Republicans for this despite Obama being pro-war too. Remember, for some strange reason they voted Dem in 2006 thinking they'd stop the war. Same thing again since they don't pay attention enough to notice that didn't work last time and won't work this time.
Wow, so you think McCain is going to win?
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"To know, and not to do, is not to know"
“Is John McCain stupid, or does he believe we are”
We really are.
"Louise" turns toward her husband, "joe-the-plumber" and says: we have to vote for McPalin because they are for tax cuts...and after all we're going to be rich one day and....
Bingo! ezeflyer.
"Crack open a cynic and you will find an angry idealist!"
Is McCain Banking on a Confederacy of Dunces?
Why would the GOP weaken the rules protecting Americans from mind numbing lead polution?
Why would the GOP weaken America's schools year after year?
Why would the GOP fund 'Base Faithed' preachers to tell Americans what to believe?
It seems that the GOP is not only Banking on but creating a Confederacy of Dunces!
BINGO!...and don't forget the anti-depressants that made for a lulled citizenry: "Don't worry, be happy" and just go to Disneyland for a fix. It has almost become "un-American" to be unhappy. They've been at it for 30 years---more than one entire generation!!!
Bingo. He hits the target and the clown falls into the tank.
An educated populace is a foundation stone of a democracy.
A public school system that would educate all members of society was one of the great creations of American democracy.
The rulers of this country do not want an educated, informed, and free-thinking populace. They want docile subjects. So its no surprise that the public schools are attacked. The private schools remain to train the elite, but public schools are attacked and downgraded. Combine that with intense indoctrination through out a life time, and the elites get what they want.
The only error is in saying its the GOP. This is an area again where there's not much difference. The Democrats cooperated willingly with Bush's No Child Left Behind bill which was his big education iniative. And the Democrats haven't really pushed for any changes or spending increase or anything that would really change this while they've had control of Congress.
When I flipped on the last debate, Obama was channeling Ronald Reagan in attacking teachers and calling for holding teachers accountable. He sure as heck wasn't proposing major education improvements to improve our democracy.
Obama of course went to private schools like Harvard. Interesting that he attacks instead of supports public school teachers.
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"To know, and not to do, is not to know"
Oops.
I do believe Obama is marginally better than McCain and Bush, and that modest improvement may prove to be the difference between a worsening kleptocracy, possible nuclear war and human extinction, continued environmental degradation, and increasing wealth polarization on the one hand and possible diminishment of the kleptocracy, mundane ordinary murder for plunder, some improvement in environmental protection, and a deceleration of wealth polarization on the other, but I do not expect him to act in a progressive manner. However, I do wish that Obama would recognize the political realities for his benefit and ours.
Obama just needs to look at the history of the Clinton administration. First Clinton gave the Republicans 50 percent of what they wanted, and they still came after him with everything they had. He then gave them 60 percent, then 70, then 80, and then 90 percent of all they wanted, and it did not make any difference. The Republicans and their allies in the corporate media still came after him as if he were Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Karl Marx rolled into one. The Republicans and the worst of the corporate oligarchs in the corporate media and elsewhere proved that it is impossible to appease them, and so only a fool would try. And given that the corporate media will be tearing Obama down no matter what he does, I wonder whether he will be smart enough to turn left and try to get the people on his side like Chavez has done in Venezuela (not that there is any chance Obama could ever resemble Chavez) while facing a hostile press.
Obama is a smart guy and does want history to view him kindly. So maybe there is some small chance he will figure out that turning left offers him his best chance for reelection, but I am not really expecting it.
Obama is a smart guy who's on the same side as the Republicans.
The Democratic party is built on power from corporate money. Its how Obama is winning this election. The odds of him breaking that deal and that system once elected seem miniscule. Why wouldn't he just say, 'this is what got me here' and keep doing what had just made him a wealthy and powerful person? That is almost certainly what he'll view as his best chance for re-election.
Sucking up to the rich and powerful just took him from being a lowly state senator to president of the united states in an incredibly short span of time. So, now he's going to stop?
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"To know, and not to do, is not to know"
"We" just gave those creeps $700 billion? No, Congress did that. We just watch in horror, unable to influence the outcome of this train wreck.
And, right away those creeps turned around and handed out $70 billion, 10% of the emergency bailout money, in bonuses to their minions. It is now so astoundingly "in your face". What are you going to do about it? They laugh at us.
-- EKATON --
As the much missed George Carlin said "They call it the American Dream because you have to be fucking asleep to believe it."
What can I say but anyone who votes for McCain who isn't in the top 5% of earners then they deserve to be called morons!
On the other hand there Obama who will probably rescind on his promises like any other politician once he is elected.
Any person with any sense will vote third party and for a candidate who will end the senseless wars, bring the troops home, shut down the military-industrial complex, get the financial vultures under control and invest in the good of all - however the sad truth is that there are too many entranced by the mainstream media to think for themselves and end up voting for either Tweedle-Dee or Tweedle-Dumb and the rest of us suffer for another four years of fear, corruption, war and having our earnings given to the Ruling Elite.
Sadly, it looks like whatever the result the idiots rule.
'A Confederacy of Dunces' - by John Kennedy Toole, the term originally from an epigraph of Jonathan Swift.
The book starts out slowly (IMHO) but continues on hilariously. I recommend it highly, but be ready to invest some real time.
Here are some other titles to be used in discussions of America:
Silence of the Lambs
The Ugly American
The World Wreckers
The Grifters (a Palin family biography)
Either McCain doesn't know about this kleptocracy and is the dumbest presidential candidate in history, or he thinks America is too ignorant to recognize theft. Which is it?
It's the latter, of course. The Repimplicans have been openly, blatantly, stealing this country blind since Reagan (that includes Bill Clinton, a crypto-Repimplican) and all Americans do is bend over and grab their ankles and beg for more. Dr. McCain, the proctologist, keeps telling us he has performed an extensive examination and everything is hunky dory . . . our rear ends look like Snow White. Perhaps this time, America will get a second opinion.
“Is John McCain stupid, or does he believe we are”
Well, he can’t even count how many houses he has and you just gave his and Obama’s top “contributors” an extra seven hundred billion, so well…