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I'm willing to concede how rich corrupt union management sold out US workers during the Cold War, but when we discuss other countries we should also consider German labor unions which had voting members sitting on the boards of directors of the corporations they worked for. When ultra-rich Germans suggested moving "their" factories to China, German Democracy said "No!"Middle class demand creates jobs, something the ultra rich find more profitable for them to create in places like Brazil and China and India.
There is truth to that, George. But to carry that discussion further, we would have to talk about unions and how they initially drove the manufacturing base to other countries.
All the conservatives here just came in their pants at the thought that though hard work they too can become billionaires and treat people like worthless trash also.
All the conservatives here just came in their pants at the thought that though hard work they too can become billionaires and treat people like worthless trash also.
All the conservatives here just came in their pants at the thought that though hard work they too can become billionaires and treat people like worthless trash also.
Would you agree with Hedges that greed is responsible for our current state of affairs, and that we need to rediscover the language of class warfare?Its NOT THE RICH who are screwing over us and our nation.
It is a very select group of people (some very wealthy, of course,) and their TOOLS in GOVERNMENT who are responsible for our current state of affairs.
A curse on the leaders of OWS for turning what should have been public examination of the specific crimes of SELECT GROUP OF BANKSTERS into a CLASS WAR against the "1%".
Would you agree with Hedges that greed is responsible for our current state of affairs, and that we need to rediscover the language of class warfare?
All the conservatives here just came in their pants at the thought that though hard work they too can become billionaires and treat people like worthless trash also.
If the rich treat you like worthless trash, there is no doubt in my mind that you gave them plenty of ammunition.
All the conservatives here just came in their pants at the thought that though hard work they too can become billionaires and treat people like worthless trash also.
I could treat you like trash without a dime in my pocket.
I suggest you start you research with Aristotle:"'The rich are different from us,' F. Scott Fitzgerald is said to have remarked to Ernest Hemingway, to which Hemingway allegedly replied, 'Yes, they have more money.'
"The exchange, although it never actually took place, sums up a wisdom Fitzgerald had that eluded Hemingway.
"The rich are different.
"The cocoon of wealth and privilege permits the rich to turn those around them into compliant workers, hangers-on, servants, flatterers and sycophants. Wealth breeds, as Fitzgerald illustrated in 'The Great Gatsby' and his short story 'The Rich Boy,' a class of people for whom human beings are disposable commodities.
"Colleagues, associates, employees, kitchen staff, servants, gardeners, tutors, personal trainers, even friends and family, bend to the whims of the wealthy or disappear.
"Once oligarchs achieve unchecked economic and political power, as they have in the United States, the citizens too become disposable."
Like Fitzgerald, Chris Hedges spent his early years among the rich and famous. At age 10 Chris earned a scholarship to an exclusive New England boarding school, and he spent some of his vacation time in the homes of his classmates:
"I spent time in the homes of the ultra-rich and powerful, watching my classmates, who were children, callously order around men and women who worked as their chauffeurs, cooks, nannies and servants.
"When the sons and daughters of the rich get into serious trouble there are always lawyers, publicists and political personages to protect themGeorge W. Bushs life is a case study in the insidious affirmative action for the rich.
"The rich have a snobbish disdain for the poordespite well-publicized acts of philanthropyand the middle class.
"These lower classes are viewed as uncouth parasites, annoyances that have to be endured, at times placated and always controlled in the quest to amass more power and money."
Chris Hedges: Let?s Get This Class War Started - Chris Hedges - Truthdig
"The inability to grasp the pathology of our oligarchic rulers is one of our gravest faults."
When I was poor (and I was from a good family of means but struck out on my own because that was expected of me) I had two very wealthy and powerful women blessedly come into my life.
They never looked down on me.
Unless you're a canuck you won't know one. A Ridgepath. Maybe some of you will know the other. Sylvia Tyson.
Neither ever treated me like I was a slave or a servant as we worked together. And they both brought me into their worlds. And they raised me up. Both and we are talking richie rich here women made me not only equal but surpassing themselves. And they loved it.
I'm getting sick of these stories of "rich" being cruel and horrendous to others.
"When the sons and daughters of the rich get into serious trouble there are always lawyers, publicists and political personages to protect themGeorge W. Bushs life is a case study in the insidious affirmative action for the rich.
I am glad for the OP.
I'm going to spend the rest of the weekend finding out every thing I can about this asshole (Chris Hedges) because I can truly say I never met in all my travels and life journeys a wealthy person that was cruel and unkind.
I've just not met them.
As if the poor aren't ruthless.
I have friends that are very rich. They live in a concierged, guarded, high rise luxury apartment building where everything is done for them by an army of workers dedicated to nothing but their comfort. Sofia Vergara is a neighbor. I saw her in the lobby screaming and swearing at the workers because the valet wasn't fast enough in bringing her car around. She was speaking to these people like they were dirt. Her celebrity gave her license, not her wealth. I commented to the concierge about this crass display to which the concierge replied "She's always like this".
As if the poor aren't ruthless.
much more, for that matter, because of many factors involved.
Do you believe Dubya would have been elected president if he had not been born rich?Karl Marx wrote "(t)he ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal expression of the dominant material relationships..." do you think it's likely the Kennedy family embraced that notion any less than the Bush family did?Once upon a time there was a man called Joseph Kennedy Senior. A flawed man. A sinful man.
But he gave America gifts in two of his sons.
One was a good child who loved his land and wanted every one to succeed.
One child was torn between his two brothers. But had great promise. Sadly he could not fulfill his destiny.
The son left could never fill the shoes of his older brothers He became a liberal. And gave America a legacy of hell.
"The fact is, if you're poor, you only get one chance. If you're wealthy like Bush, you get chance after chance after chance after chance. So you're a C student at Andover, and you go to Yale, and you go to Harvard Business School, and you're AWOL from your National Guard unit, and you're a cokehead, and it doesn't really matter. You don't even really have a job till you're 40 and you become president of the United States."
The Pathology of the Rich - Chris Hedges on Reality Asserts Itself pt1
"The fact is, if you're poor, you only get one chance
Bullshit. Big time bullshit.
I've had so many lives. I'm like Lazarus or Freddie. I keep coming back. That's my nature. And my nature is to be a winner at whatever I do.
It's called spirit. And wanting to be the best you can be. Now I hit the top. That's me.I rocked.
So do others.
Someone though might be out there tonight being a good waitress, just doing her job but being extra special nice to the poor mom with three kids coming home from dad's place.
With all the kids saying "Daddy gives us this".
And the waitress without adding it to the bill gives all the kids and the mom the pumpkin pie saying "you won today; you're our winner".
You see? You never just get one chance. Every minute you breathe is a new chance. Every day is a new chance.
This is the difference between a progressive than me. I keep breathing. And I believe in tomorrow.
Why? Because it's a new chance.
Conservatives sometimes find it hard to let go of old mistakes:All the conservatives here just came in their pants at the thought that though hard work they too can become billionaires and treat people like worthless trash also.