The sequester and class warfare
Posted: Thu May 02, 2013 7:26 am
I was running 'round the internet today, and found this (image too large for NSG, sorry), which perfectly lampshades the level of different treatment afforded to the wealthy when it comes to implementation of the sequester.
Medicare cuts force cancer clinics to turn away thousands of patients?
Meals on Wheels cuts force tens of thousands of poor seniors to live off canned food, at least until Congress gets its arse into gear?
Unemployment benefits cuts force many thousands of unemployed people onto the streets?
Federal-State aid cuts force public transport to shut down or cut back in cities across America?
FAA cuts force slight delays to travel for Congressmen and their rich donors?
If there is anything that demonstrates the utter lopsidedness of American lawmaking and how it grossly favours the wealthy over the non-wealthy, it's the sequester. The sequester doesn't affect the parts of the Government the rich rely upon the most, what few areas touch on the lives of the rich at all are immediately (and unanimously!) fixed in extraordinary votes and the poor are told to suck it up.
American plutocrats, it's 1787 and you're the Ancien Regime. Your play - do as you please (you have all the formal power there is, after all, and the entire governmental apparatus as your captive), but don't expect the people to put up with this shit too much longer. As Warren Buffett famously observed: "There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning." Well, if that goes on much longer, the wealthy of America will have created a massive underclass that has next to nothing left to lose....and if that's not fertile grounds for revolutionary sentiment, I don't know what is.
So, NSG: Do you believe that the sequester has been primarily a tool of class warfare by the haves against the have-nots? Do you believe that the government is the captive of the wealthy, and do you believe that (however slowly) America's sliding toward the class-based revolution that the New Deal averted?
Medicare cuts force cancer clinics to turn away thousands of patients?
Congress wrote:Meh. Serves 'em right, anyway - profiteering poor people!
Meals on Wheels cuts force tens of thousands of poor seniors to live off canned food, at least until Congress gets its arse into gear?
Congress wrote:Meh. Serves 'em right, anyway - they shoulda saved when they worked.
Unemployment benefits cuts force many thousands of unemployed people onto the streets?
Congress wrote:Meh. Serves 'em right, anyway - they shouldn't have lost their jobs.
Federal-State aid cuts force public transport to shut down or cut back in cities across America?
Congress wrote:Meh. Only poor people use public transport anyway.
FAA cuts force slight delays to travel for Congressmen and their rich donors?
Congress wrote:EHRMERGAWD We have to do something about this horrific situation!!!!one!!!eleven!
PS: Pay no attention to my campaign donations, you peasants!
If there is anything that demonstrates the utter lopsidedness of American lawmaking and how it grossly favours the wealthy over the non-wealthy, it's the sequester. The sequester doesn't affect the parts of the Government the rich rely upon the most, what few areas touch on the lives of the rich at all are immediately (and unanimously!) fixed in extraordinary votes and the poor are told to suck it up.
American plutocrats, it's 1787 and you're the Ancien Regime. Your play - do as you please (you have all the formal power there is, after all, and the entire governmental apparatus as your captive), but don't expect the people to put up with this shit too much longer. As Warren Buffett famously observed: "There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning." Well, if that goes on much longer, the wealthy of America will have created a massive underclass that has next to nothing left to lose....and if that's not fertile grounds for revolutionary sentiment, I don't know what is.
So, NSG: Do you believe that the sequester has been primarily a tool of class warfare by the haves against the have-nots? Do you believe that the government is the captive of the wealthy, and do you believe that (however slowly) America's sliding toward the class-based revolution that the New Deal averted?