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babylonsister

(170,962 posts)
Sun Jan 15, 2012, 08:25 PM Jan 2012

What They Don’t Want to Talk About

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/what-they-dont-want-to-talk-about.html?_r=1

What They Don’t Want to Talk About

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"Fanning resentment of the poor — and deflecting attention from the relentless Republican defense of the rich — is also central to the party’s current political strategy. That’s why so many Republican candidates and lawmakers keep talking so angrily about poor people not paying federal income taxes. That’s how the Tea Party got started in 2009, when Mr. Obama proposed lowering interest rates for homeowners who were behind on their mortgages and conservative activists saw an opportunity to pit the affluent against their struggling neighbors. And that’s why Mr. Romney constantly accuses the president of trying to create “an entitlement society,” which is simply a variant on Ronald Reagan’s welfare-queen anecdotes.

And yet if Democrats dare to point out that the income gains of the top 1 percent have dwarfed everyone else’s in the last few decades, they are accused of whipping up class envy. Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, noted in a speech on Thursday that the median income in the United States had actually declined since 1999, shrinking the middle class while the income of the top 1 percent soared. Such inequality is corrosive. And pointing it out has nothing to do with envy and everything to do with pressing for policies to help America’s struggling middle class."

Anyone who criticizes Mr. Romney’s business practices now faces the absurd charge of putting free-market capitalism on trial. No one is trying to end capitalism, but President Obama is calling for more effective regulation to protect consumers. While Republicans attack a supposed “entitlement culture,” Mr. Obama is calling for strengthening a desperately needed safety net. And he is calling for raising taxes on the wealthy, particularly for those on Wall Street and in private equity, to protect that safety net and reduce the deficit.

Mr. Romney has based his campaign on his business experience. Americans need to know how that experience was gained, and what values — if any — it represents. Class reality has nothing to do with class warfare.
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What They Don’t Want to Talk About (Original Post) babylonsister Jan 2012 OP
As usual, they grabbed too much Warpy Jan 2012 #1
Here's the rub ... GeorgeGist Jan 2012 #2

Warpy

(110,904 posts)
1. As usual, they grabbed too much
Sun Jan 15, 2012, 08:57 PM
Jan 2012

and greatly increased suffering among the majority. While things aren't quite as bad here as they are in Greece, they're getting there fast.

The only question is whether the revolution will be peaceful or violent because it is now inevitable.

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