If the economy is so good, why doesn’t the public feel good about it? That was the question posed by the Sunday-morning news pundits, who know statistics but don’t know very many real people. We are an abstraction to the Beltway experts, percentage points in a public opinion poll. There are lots of new jobs created every day and eventually the good news will trickle down to the masses, a confident George Will said at the time, at least in words to that effect. Now the economy is not so good, and those once-confidant experts don’t know what to think.
Maybe they ought to go into any office or plant around the country and talk to people who work for a living. Even when the economy was supposed to be humming, many workers weren’t seeing the benefits. The CEOs and other top executives were getting big bonuses while the Bush administration and the pro-business lobby did its best to whittle away the safety net, while giving tax breaks to the wealthy. Now that the economy is in recession mode, the CEOs and other top executives are still giving themselves big bonuses. The idea the bonus is a reward for improving the business is revealed as one more lie to keep workers from storming the corporate suites.
While the fat cats complain any criticism of this sad state of affairs is "class warfare," it is the working class that is really under attack in this country. The gap between rich and poor has become a yawning chasm, not even the lackeys on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal can deny it anymore. The rationale has switched from denial to justifying the transfer of more wealth to the already wealthy as their just due. The mythical hero of capitalism deserves to keep more of what he earns. But look around in the business world and you won’t find too many of these heroes, mostly just chubby white men in pin-striped suits whose only talent is they kissed enough butt along the way to make it to the top floor. They have no particular knowledge of the product sold by their company because they move from company to company, product to product, without gaining any particular knowledge except how to survive in a sea full of sharks. The key to that survival is apparently becoming a shark yourself.
This is not to speak of the enormous amount of wealth that is not earned but simply passed on, those who were born on third base and keep telling themselves, "I hit a triple, I hit a triple!" Even Paris Hilton doesn’t delude herself into thinking it was she who created the successful hotel chain, but most others have convinced themselves they have the right to inherit this money tax free, while working people pick up the tab. The elimination of the so-called death tax as the plank in a Party platform is obscene.
For awhile we all suffered under the delusion the wealthy could have their big tax breaks and we would be happy with our paltry share — the couple hundred dollars Washington tossed at us to keep us passive. Most of us didn’t realize how cheaply we could be bought. But, the war screwed up this happy picture. How can you finance a war and keep cutting the taxes of your rich friends? Well, you can’t, that is unless you find other places to save the money. The easy way for those who hate government almost as much as they hate terrorists (but not quite), is to dismantle your safety net. Privatize Social Security. Cut Medicare. Lower your wages. If you want a job, this economy has a job for you, slinging hamburgers or joining the happy family at Wal-Mart. If you need an extra paycheck, join the Reserves or National Guard. We’ll teach you a trade and show you the sounds and sights of Baghdad. Love that All Volunteer Armed Forces. They plan the wars in Washington and your sons and daughters fight them. And if they get wounded, well, the care might not be the best because we’re cutting corners.
The administration is just building your self-reliance, weaning you off Big Government. It’s really for your own good, they say, as they outsource your job. They are good at protecting their rice bowl and their rice bowl has never been so big. Let’s get a flat tax in here, get rid of that progressive stuff. Whoever came up with the idea the more you make off America, the more you should contribute? Why that’s not patriotic, son, that’s damn socialism! Global warming, well, that’s just some cockeyed notion cooked up by radicals who want to tax your gas and ruin our economy!
They are right, you know, this is class warfare. Only you’re the one who is being attacked. I’m betting you’re not going to take it anymore.
