The "10 Percenters" - Who Are These People?
We Americans are now pretty clear on who makes up the 1-percent - the wealthiest elites who feel entitled to profit at the expense of us 99 percenters.
But who the heck are the 10 percenters?
We Americans are now pretty clear on who makes up the 1-percent - the wealthiest elites who feel entitled to profit at the expense of us 99 percenters.
But who the heck are the 10 percenters?
According to pollsters at Gallup, a mere 10 percent of Americans today have "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in Congress. That's the lowest rating ever, not only for our nation's august legislative body, but for any institution in America. Gallup reports that public trust in lawmakers has tumbled all the way down to dead last among our nation's major establishment organizations, ranking even lower than the greedheads of big business and fluffheads of TV news.
Of course, that's really no surprise, especially given the know-nothings who control the do-nothing nuthouse that claims to be our House of Representatives. Hailing from perversely-gerrymandered districts, most of them get elected by an extremist fringe in low-turnout, no-contest races, then come to Washington - not to govern for the common good - but to prance about in ideological dances designed to titillate the faithful fringe.
Thus we have the ceaseless spectacle of a House that won't even consider passing a jobs program, a future-minded green energy initiative, or even an urgently-needed bill to repair and expand America's dangerously deteriorating infrastructure. BUT, in a buffoonish and totally fruitless political stunt, they have voted again and again (37 times, so far) to repeal Obamacare - all without offering any health-care alternative to replace it.
So the surprise is not the public's deep distrust of this Congress, but that 10 percent say they have faith in it! Who in the world are those people? I'm guessing staff members, family dependents, lobbyists, and the unhinged fringe that foisted this bunch on us.
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We Americans are now pretty clear on who makes up the 1-percent - the wealthiest elites who feel entitled to profit at the expense of us 99 percenters.
But who the heck are the 10 percenters?
According to pollsters at Gallup, a mere 10 percent of Americans today have "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in Congress. That's the lowest rating ever, not only for our nation's august legislative body, but for any institution in America. Gallup reports that public trust in lawmakers has tumbled all the way down to dead last among our nation's major establishment organizations, ranking even lower than the greedheads of big business and fluffheads of TV news.
Of course, that's really no surprise, especially given the know-nothings who control the do-nothing nuthouse that claims to be our House of Representatives. Hailing from perversely-gerrymandered districts, most of them get elected by an extremist fringe in low-turnout, no-contest races, then come to Washington - not to govern for the common good - but to prance about in ideological dances designed to titillate the faithful fringe.
Thus we have the ceaseless spectacle of a House that won't even consider passing a jobs program, a future-minded green energy initiative, or even an urgently-needed bill to repair and expand America's dangerously deteriorating infrastructure. BUT, in a buffoonish and totally fruitless political stunt, they have voted again and again (37 times, so far) to repeal Obamacare - all without offering any health-care alternative to replace it.
So the surprise is not the public's deep distrust of this Congress, but that 10 percent say they have faith in it! Who in the world are those people? I'm guessing staff members, family dependents, lobbyists, and the unhinged fringe that foisted this bunch on us.
We Americans are now pretty clear on who makes up the 1-percent - the wealthiest elites who feel entitled to profit at the expense of us 99 percenters.
But who the heck are the 10 percenters?
According to pollsters at Gallup, a mere 10 percent of Americans today have "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in Congress. That's the lowest rating ever, not only for our nation's august legislative body, but for any institution in America. Gallup reports that public trust in lawmakers has tumbled all the way down to dead last among our nation's major establishment organizations, ranking even lower than the greedheads of big business and fluffheads of TV news.
Of course, that's really no surprise, especially given the know-nothings who control the do-nothing nuthouse that claims to be our House of Representatives. Hailing from perversely-gerrymandered districts, most of them get elected by an extremist fringe in low-turnout, no-contest races, then come to Washington - not to govern for the common good - but to prance about in ideological dances designed to titillate the faithful fringe.
Thus we have the ceaseless spectacle of a House that won't even consider passing a jobs program, a future-minded green energy initiative, or even an urgently-needed bill to repair and expand America's dangerously deteriorating infrastructure. BUT, in a buffoonish and totally fruitless political stunt, they have voted again and again (37 times, so far) to repeal Obamacare - all without offering any health-care alternative to replace it.
So the surprise is not the public's deep distrust of this Congress, but that 10 percent say they have faith in it! Who in the world are those people? I'm guessing staff members, family dependents, lobbyists, and the unhinged fringe that foisted this bunch on us.

