Who Will Be Romney's VP Pick?

[wautd]

Romney/Ryan: 1% tax for the 1%!

It's nothing wrong with the fact that these guys want to be the spokesmen of the few ultra-rich that run the USA. If they can still sleep at night after helping themselves while screwing over pretty much everyone else, good for them. It's just strange that so many of the 99%, who're getting poorer and poorer by the year (you know, massive income inequality and all) still want to give their support.

[Broomstick]

It's fascinating how people vote against their self-interest.

Just yesterday I was talking to a friend at the laundromat. His family gets health insurance through his wife's job, which is a union job. He was bitching about soaring co-pays and not being able to afford health insurance any more because they took it away from the union. Yet for the past 20 years he's done nothing but dis unions, vote for people who want to break/eliminate unions, and so on. He can't see the connection between how he's voted and his loss of health benefits. OMG! He and his won't have coverage! I pointed out that under a single-payer system he'd be covered. OMG! Socialized medicine is shit! Dude, it's better than no access to health care, right?

He just doesn't get it. He's all for Mittens & Co, Ryan's plan is going to save the economy, etc. He just doesn't get that when the dust settles he won't be in the 1%, he'll be down here with the rest of the serfs. The guy's not an idiot, he's college educated, normally has good sense but he's been swallowing the propaganda and drinking the Kool-Aid for too long.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Part of the problem is that since the boom of the 80's the GOP has been brainwashing Americans into believing that it is possible for everyone to be a part of the 1%.

The reason why so many poor people vote for things that only help the rich, is because they have been fed the lie that they too can become "the rich". I have talked to people who, despite barely making enough to get by, are furious whenever the Dems try to raise taxes on the rich, telling me "When I make it big someday, I don't want to have MY Millions taxed! Would you?"

Like your friend they seem unable to make the connection that because of the policies of the far right, it is impossible for them to ever "become rich" short of winning a lottery.

[Broomstick]

That, too, is part of the irony - he's never been 1%, but he used to be upper-middle-class, perhaps even lower-upper-class (depending on where you draw the line). Now he's sunk to middle-middle class and doesn't get it. Sure, it's the bad economy but he has no understanding of how the people he voted for got us into this mess, nor does he understand that doing more of the same won't fix the problem. He thinks he's in the group the big guys care about when really all they want is his vote and he and his can otherwise go to hell.

[Serafina]

A lot of people apparently think that "1%" refers to the upper-middle class anyway, and that "tax the rich" would apply to the upper-middle class. Typically due to not getting the sheer difference in wealth between upper-middle class and the actual rich people.

[Crossroads Inc.]

That is right on the ball in terms of how effective the brain washing has been.

People's concept of "The rich" under Republicans makes them think "The 1%" is something like most of America. When Democrats say they want to increase taxes on "the rich" they think it applies to the person down the road in a McMansion...
Whats more, is they have also been convinced that apparently this also applies to small jobs and small business owners.
That somehow wanting to raise taxes on multi-billion corporations is going to put Mom and Pops bakery down the road out of work,

There is sadly a whole generation of people who have been spoon fed the lie that if you just lower taxes enough, the rich will magically make everything better by investing their riches. There really is nothing you could do to change their minds that the people they vote for simply do not care about them.

[Broomstick]

That is, of course, how the 1% oligarchs keep themselves in power - by convincing the upper X percent (40? 60?) that they are part of the 1%, or about to be part of the 1%. My buddy thinks he's in the upper 2-5%. The reality is he has never been that. He's been moderately wealthy, millionaire territory, but doesn't seem to understand that to someone like the Koch brothers he's barely better than a homeless guy on welfare, and probably regarded in much the same way.

[Gandalf]

It's fascinating how people vote against their self-interest.

In a two party system it's bound to happen. Obama's policy of drone striking things makes people in the ME angrier, increasing the likelihood of retaliatory attacks against the US.

[Slacker]

Well, statistically if he was in the low millions he was part of the top 2% or so-the difference and key fact here is that the Koch brothers only actually care about the .01%.

[Simon_Jester]

That is, of course, how the 1% oligarchs keep themselves in power - by convincing the upper X percent (40? 60?) that they are part of the 1%, or about to be part of the 1%. My buddy thinks he's in the upper 2-5%. The reality is he has never been that. He's been moderately wealthy, millionaire territory, but doesn't seem to understand that to someone like the Koch brothers he's barely better than a homeless guy on welfare, and probably regarded in much the same way.

Er, "millionaire" as in "a million a year" or as in "A million in the bank?"

Having a million in savings isn't out of reach for the upper middle class, if they save carefully for decades and/or get a nice big inheritance from an ancestor who did the same back when making your fortune was easier for the middle class.*

People in that category may or may not do all right even in CEO-ocracy, it's hard to say. On the one hand there are powerful forces pulling down on them (expensive mortgages and tuitions and medical expenses). On the other hand their jobs are fairly secure, because they're highly skilled labor of types that the CEO-ocrats absolutely need in order to keep the machine running. Oil billionaires need engineers too, and are willing to pay them a lot more than the serfs make.

Making a million dollars a year is definitely upper-class territory: corporate executives, stock traders, and perhaps a handful of top-flight specialists who serve that class. They really are the 1%, and they'd definitely do all right in CEO-ocracy. If we compare CEO-ocracy to feudalism, they are the trusted retainers and vassals who operate the bits of the machine not personally, directly controlled by the ruling tippy-top class.

But except for people in the very specialized professions (engineering, medicine, law), AND who are in sub-fields important to a corporate system... yeah, there's not much on offer.
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*Say, those who bought California real estate in the '50s when it was cheap, and died before the housing crash...

[Lord MJ]

I'm all for capitalism but to the extent that wealth and power in this country is not concentrated in 1% of the population. At some point you are entitled to your wealth that you've earned. Past a certain point, your wealth is less of a right rather something that society tolerates. If the accumulation of power is adversely effecting society, society has a right to curb your wealth.

Heresy to the far right.

[Broomstick]

Er, "millionaire" as in "a million a year" or as in "A million in the bank?"

Owner of a small business that used to make in the single-digit millions per year. Not so much a million in the bank as a million or two in assets, mostly real estate.

The thing is, the oligarchs don't like the single proprietor-ships and very small businesses either. There really is a trend to force everyone into larger businesses. This guy votes for the "pro-business party" without seeming to understand that they aren't pro his business.