blindpig (11,240 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
The lamentations of the rich
The lamentations of the rich
Recent months have seen the eruption of popular anger throughout the United States at the staggering levels of social inequality, with the Occupy Wall Street protests gathering broad popular s
ymp
athy and support.
This development, unforeseen and unscripted by the media, has left Wall Street’s “masters of the universe†wallowing not only in money, but also in self-pity. What have they done, complain these tender-hearted architects of hedge funds, collateralized debt obligations and countless other forms of financial swindling, to merit such popular disdain? The Financial Times web site reported in an article posted Wednesday that the rich are “indignant,†resentful of the “class war†rhetoric that is being heard in public protests.
The protesters, they argue, have been misled into believing that higher taxes and the imposition of limits on the accumulation of personal wealth would have any significant impact on the national debt. The attention being given to their multi-million- and even billion-dollar annual winnings, the indignant rich maintain, is without the slightest economic justification.
According to Steven Schwarzman (CEO of private equity/corporate raider firm Blackstone Group), whose net worth is estimated by Forbes at $4.7 billion, “Just raising taxes on the wealthiest two percent, for example, will not reduce a $1.3 trillion annual deficit enough to restore fiscal balance.â€
more.....
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/dec2011/pers-d22.shtml
ananda (8,878 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
1. Wouldn't it be nice to just occupy . . .
. . . the bank accounts of the whiny 1&ers and
use that money to pay for the college education
of every student, the healthcare of every person,
the retirement of every senior, and so on?????
blindpig (11,240 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
3. That's the plan.....n/t
socialist_n_TN (6,362 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
6. Yep. I say tax the 1% at 99% of their wealth
and take away their ownership of production. We ALL have a MORAL right to the means of production no matter WHO says they "own" that means.
blindpig (11,240 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
7. Once they are separated from the means of production their wealth will dwindle rapidly.
Gonna be hard to keep up them mansions and yachts without stolen labor.
socialist_n_TN (6,362 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
12. Yeah, that's too bad ain't it........
(http://www.democraticunderground.com/emoticons/sarcasm.gif) I'm so ****ing TIRED of these parasitic scum sucking at the teat of labor. The Wobblies were right. We have a MORAL obligation to own the means of production.
carla (299 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
10. I see it this way,
the rich are entitled to the fruit of their labour and ingenuity. They are entitled to entrepreneurship as a facet of their liberty. They are entitled to their opinion regarding others work value. They are entitled to their property.
However, they are not entitled to interfere in the societal web of relations just to secure more wealth for themselves at the expense of an entire class, namely, the middle class. They are not entitled to promote a politics of disenfranchisement and exclusivity of election. They are not entitled to lie to the nation so as to further war aims that fit their bottom line. They are not entitled to be protected from the consequences of their failed financial foresight, especially not when the world economy is affected so negatively by their little games.
Society is a balancing act. The rich need to participate fairly in that act.
blindpig (11,240 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
11. Labor, what labor?
How are the hours they put in worth more than a worker's hours? Why is their 'liberty' to exploit the labor of other humans sacrosant? Did they build the factories themselves, write the software, plant the corn?
Cairycat (457 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
8. Taxing the rich might or might not
restore fiscal balance ... but it would go a certain distance toward creating economic justice!
blindpig
Why is their 'liberty' to exploit the labor of other humans sacrosant? Did they build the factories themselves, write the software, plant the corn?
There's no talking to fools like the blindpig primitive. If you point out that those who built the factories, wrote the software, and planted the corn were all paid for their services, he'll say it wasn't enough money. If you point out that the person who received the money freely accepted the employment at that wage amount, he'll say they had no choice but to take the work and is a slave. There's always an answer that centers on the individual not really having the freedom to choose and/or reject where to work and for how much.
Simple concepts involving the employer-employee relationship which are common sense to most people must be completely turned on its head in order for their world to exist. Should something like they propose ever try and catch hold here in the USA, history clearly teaches that you have to kill them before they kill you.
.
blindpig (11,240 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
7. Once they are separated from the means of production their wealth will dwindle rapidly.
blindpig (11,240 posts)OK...where? I work in a liberal office. NO ONE talked about social inequality in the last 6 months.
Recent months have seen the eruption of popular anger throughout the United States at the staggering levels of social inequality, with the Occupy Wall Street protests gathering broad popular///blah blah blah...
...I am simply amazed at how DU thinks this is some great victory...
There's no talking to fools like the blindpig primitive. If you point out that those who built the factories, wrote the software, and planted the corn were all paid for their services, he'll say it wasn't enough money. If you point out that the person who received the money freely accepted the employment at that wage amount, he'll say they had no choice but to take the work and is a slave. There's always an answer that centers on the individual not really having the freedom to choose and/or reject where to work and for how much.
Simple concepts involving the employer-employee relationship which are common sense to most people must be completely turned on its head in order for their world to exist. Should something like they propose ever try and catch hold here in the USA, history clearly teaches that you have to kill them before they kill you.
.
You can either really compromise and make serious concessions to someone like me, or take your chances on the battlefield against not only those like me, but those like Blind Pig as well.
...
As for "...history clearly teaches that you have to kill them before they kill you," there is a strong possibility that there will come a time within the next decade or so where people like you will face a choice that will make you feel somewhat empathetic to that hypothetical retail employee. You can either really compromise and make serious concessions to someone like me, or take your chances on the battlefield against not only those like me, but those like Blind Pig as well.
...
You can either really compromise and make serious concessions to someone like me, or take your chances on the battlefield against not only those like me, but those like Blind Pig as well.
...As for "...history clearly teaches that you have to kill them before they kill you," there is a strong possibility that there will come a time within the next decade or so where people like you will face a choice that will make you feel somewhat empathetic to that hypothetical retail employee. You can either really compromise and make serious concessions to someone like me, or take your chances on the battlefield against not only those like me, but those like Blind Pig as well...
If history is any indicator, you and Blind Pig will be hard pressed to FIND a battlefield. Communist cocksuckers almost invariably prefer to do their killing when their opponents are tied to a stake and blindfolded. Worthless pussies that they are.
You can either really compromise and make serious concessions to someone like me, or take your chances on the battlefield against not only those like me, but those like Blind Pig as well.
The advantage of liberals starting a civil war is we get to fire on ALL the liberal judges, all the liberal professors, and all the liberal reporters/media people after we win.
FIFY. Remember, headshots. :-) :fuelfire: :tongue:
Sorry, but that's far more humane than what they deserve.
There's also the problem that you'd need a DU 50 cal round to penetrate the skull.
I also was taught to shoot for centre of mass...
If one has the choice of accepting a minimum wage retail job with "flexible" hours or face being evicted, that's really not much of a choice, IMO. And the working conditions are truly horrible, again IMO.
Wow. No doubt where you stand, none at all. As a Socialist, it's not surprising that I agree more with Blind Pig on the issues you raise than I do with you. I will say something on 2 points you made.That might rank up there with the most assinine comments I've ever read.
On this bit,
"If you point out that the person who received the money freely accepted the employment at that wage amount, he'll say they had no choice but to take the work and is a slave."
you really exaggerate. If one has the choice of accepting a minimum wage retail job with "flexible" hours or face being evicted, that's really not much of a choice, IMO. And the working conditions are truly horrible, again IMO.
As for "...history clearly teaches that you have to kill them before they kill you," there is a strong possibility that there will come a time within the next decade or so where people like you will face a choice that will make you feel somewhat empathetic to that hypothetical retail employee. You can either really compromise and make serious concessions to someone like me, or take your chances on the battlefield against not only those like me, but those like Blind Pig as well.
I do not expect to see any agreement here, in fact I expect to see this post swarmed and attacked. That's OK, it's your right to do so, and I won't whine. I also won't stay to do any battle today. For one, I'm hopelessly outnumbered, for another, it's Christmas Eve. I just hope some of you remember what I said in a few years.
Meanwhile, I'm not really trying to piss anyone off or play the troll. And I do have a lot of respect for Frank S. So we disagree. Merry Christmas, anyway.