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A record number of people are living in poverty. Meanwhile, politicians bemoan the fate of the "persecuted" wealthy
The housing market has bottomed out faster than at any time since the Great Depression. The job market is so weak that one third of the unemployed have now been without work for more than a year, making unemployment a semi-permanent condition, according to the Associated Press. A record number of Americans are now living below the poverty line including one out of every five children.
Weve reached the economic end times, and were now seeing the deep fissures of our society laid bare. On one side, throngs of protesters have hit the street demanding justice for the 99 percenters otherwise known as The Rest of Us. On the other side, the top 1 percent are complaining about only clearing $400,000 a year, and about throngs of poor people getting between them and their steak dinners.
In a sense, Ann Coulter is right theres a French Revolution quality to it all. Not from the poor but from the ultra-wealthy, who see the upheaval and are now screaming their ancient battle cry even louder: Let them eat cake!
With that preface, we present to you the autumn edition of our ongoing beat coverage of the Let Them Eat Cake movement.
Discriminating Against Unemployed People is Your Corporate Right!
For all the enduring mythology about laziness being the cause of unemployment, this recession has seen the biggest ratio of job applicants to job openings on record. When massive crowds of jobless citizens appear when even a few of the lowest-paid jobs open up, its pretty clear that its not lack of work ethic thats causing unemployment its a lack of jobs, coupled with discrimination against those who are currently out of work. This latter problem is so acute, that President Obama and some states have proposed bills to ban the practice.
Yet, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, is leading the congressional Republican effort to stop the federal proposal. In a House floor speech, he decried creating a new protected class of Americans, and forcefully defending the right of corporate executives to punish people for the crime of being out of work in the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Its Easy to Get Work If You Have $5 Million
If you are unemployed in this crushing recession, if youve filed job applications to no avail, if you cant even get a call back from an employers HR department, never fear: as long as youve got $5.2 million, youve got a great shot at finding a decent-paying job.
In a story that cheerily underscores just how powerful elite privilege is in our stratified economy, the Guardian reports that in what was likely the most expensive job application ever, hedge funder Ted Weschler paid $5.2 million to win two charity auctions to have dinner with investment guru Warren Buffet [and] now Buffett has offered him a job.
While Weschlers job application cash did go to a San Francisco homeless shelter, the spectacle once again reminds us that for all the talk of meritocracy, aristocrats prefer fellow aristocrats more than ever. Indeed, you may think your resume counts for something, you may think a good interview will clinch the job for you, but think again. All the warm-and-fuzzy stories about Weschlers ascent want you to know that all that merit stuff doesnt matter.
Equity Means Everyone Else Must Sacrifice
In a classic piece of bait-and-switch, billionaire hedge funder Steven Schwarzman (the guy who threw himself a $5 million birthday bash) published a Financial Times editorial in September seeming to move away from the Let Them Eat crowd. Calling his dispatch an olive branch to President Obama, Schwarzman insisted that hes ready to share the pain of fixing America, and says that most Americans will be willing to sacrifice for economic stability and a bright future for our children, if the [fix] falls equitably on all shoulders.
What stands out is not the nebulous promise that Schwarzman is open to some form of sacrifice, but the naked attempt to perpetuate a key narrative of Let Them Eat Cake-ism what Ive called the Myth of the Persecuted Billionaire.
First, theres the olive branch framing yet another attempt to suggest that President Obama has been waging a vicious war on billionaires like Steve Schwarzman. Naturally, were asked to forget that Obama is the man who played a key role passing the Wall Street bailouts, extending the Bush tax cuts for the super-rich, opposing serious caps on executive pay and watering down the financial reform bill all while stocking his administration with Steve Schwarzman clones.
By using notions like equity to justify service cuts and tax increases that will hit the middle class the hardest, Schwarzman wants us to ignore the fact that in the recession, the financial sector is the one corner of the economy that is being permitted to avoid sacrifice entirely. Indeed, a glance at this one stunning image recently released by Reuters shows that the Schwarzmans have experienced the diametric opposite of sacrifice theyve been rewarded and pampered while the rest of us suffer.
$400,000 a Year isnt Enough
read more Pitying billionaires as America starves - Salon.com
The housing market has bottomed out faster than at any time since the Great Depression. The job market is so weak that one third of the unemployed have now been without work for more than a year, making unemployment a semi-permanent condition, according to the Associated Press. A record number of Americans are now living below the poverty line including one out of every five children.
Weve reached the economic end times, and were now seeing the deep fissures of our society laid bare. On one side, throngs of protesters have hit the street demanding justice for the 99 percenters otherwise known as The Rest of Us. On the other side, the top 1 percent are complaining about only clearing $400,000 a year, and about throngs of poor people getting between them and their steak dinners.
In a sense, Ann Coulter is right theres a French Revolution quality to it all. Not from the poor but from the ultra-wealthy, who see the upheaval and are now screaming their ancient battle cry even louder: Let them eat cake!
With that preface, we present to you the autumn edition of our ongoing beat coverage of the Let Them Eat Cake movement.
Discriminating Against Unemployed People is Your Corporate Right!
For all the enduring mythology about laziness being the cause of unemployment, this recession has seen the biggest ratio of job applicants to job openings on record. When massive crowds of jobless citizens appear when even a few of the lowest-paid jobs open up, its pretty clear that its not lack of work ethic thats causing unemployment its a lack of jobs, coupled with discrimination against those who are currently out of work. This latter problem is so acute, that President Obama and some states have proposed bills to ban the practice.
Yet, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, is leading the congressional Republican effort to stop the federal proposal. In a House floor speech, he decried creating a new protected class of Americans, and forcefully defending the right of corporate executives to punish people for the crime of being out of work in the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Its Easy to Get Work If You Have $5 Million
If you are unemployed in this crushing recession, if youve filed job applications to no avail, if you cant even get a call back from an employers HR department, never fear: as long as youve got $5.2 million, youve got a great shot at finding a decent-paying job.
In a story that cheerily underscores just how powerful elite privilege is in our stratified economy, the Guardian reports that in what was likely the most expensive job application ever, hedge funder Ted Weschler paid $5.2 million to win two charity auctions to have dinner with investment guru Warren Buffet [and] now Buffett has offered him a job.
While Weschlers job application cash did go to a San Francisco homeless shelter, the spectacle once again reminds us that for all the talk of meritocracy, aristocrats prefer fellow aristocrats more than ever. Indeed, you may think your resume counts for something, you may think a good interview will clinch the job for you, but think again. All the warm-and-fuzzy stories about Weschlers ascent want you to know that all that merit stuff doesnt matter.
Equity Means Everyone Else Must Sacrifice
In a classic piece of bait-and-switch, billionaire hedge funder Steven Schwarzman (the guy who threw himself a $5 million birthday bash) published a Financial Times editorial in September seeming to move away from the Let Them Eat crowd. Calling his dispatch an olive branch to President Obama, Schwarzman insisted that hes ready to share the pain of fixing America, and says that most Americans will be willing to sacrifice for economic stability and a bright future for our children, if the [fix] falls equitably on all shoulders.
What stands out is not the nebulous promise that Schwarzman is open to some form of sacrifice, but the naked attempt to perpetuate a key narrative of Let Them Eat Cake-ism what Ive called the Myth of the Persecuted Billionaire.
First, theres the olive branch framing yet another attempt to suggest that President Obama has been waging a vicious war on billionaires like Steve Schwarzman. Naturally, were asked to forget that Obama is the man who played a key role passing the Wall Street bailouts, extending the Bush tax cuts for the super-rich, opposing serious caps on executive pay and watering down the financial reform bill all while stocking his administration with Steve Schwarzman clones.
By using notions like equity to justify service cuts and tax increases that will hit the middle class the hardest, Schwarzman wants us to ignore the fact that in the recession, the financial sector is the one corner of the economy that is being permitted to avoid sacrifice entirely. Indeed, a glance at this one stunning image recently released by Reuters shows that the Schwarzmans have experienced the diametric opposite of sacrifice theyve been rewarded and pampered while the rest of us suffer.
$400,000 a Year isnt Enough
read more Pitying billionaires as America starves - Salon.com