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The Genocide of the American Middle Class
The title of this blog was prompted by several recent blogs here on TPM that sort of strung themselves together in my mind.
First, from TheraP, came two entries relating the story of Terry-Lynn from another blogger, Doxy. This led to tmccarthy publishing Modern Day Trail of Tears. Today there is Rutabaga Ridgepole's Detroit Demolition Disneyland about the decay of the Motor City, once a bastion of the middle class.
Somehow, in my mind, these blogs melded together for me and it made me think of loss. Loss of life. Loss of ability. Loss of caring. Loss of ourselves.
I don't know what the purist's definition of middle class is; to me, being middle class meant earning enough money to generously cover your needs, have some left to put in a savings account, a little bit to have fun with, but most of all, it meant being able to pay taxes.
I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I've always considered it an honor to pay taxes. To give a portion of my earned dollars to the government in return for the work it does on my behalf. I do not necessarily agree with how government spends every dollar I send them, but I do not begrudge the dollars I send them.
The tax dollars that the Great Middle Class sent off to Washington, D. C. helped to build a strong nation. Oh, yeah, we had problems, but we were solid underneath. We felt secure. We were sure of our identity and destiny. Maybe, just maybe, we were a little uppity on the world stage, but we were kind, too. Generous. I liked that about us.
That's all gone now.
The Middle Class has been wiped out. Genocide. I don't think that is too strong of a term. Genocide, a relatively recent word introduced into our vocabulary, is defined by the United Nations, in part, like this:
Deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy a group. Is this not what happened to the American Middle Class? Were they not deliberately eliminated by a plan of the wealthy to absorb their incomes? I mean, why go after poor people? They haven't got anything worth taking. But, the Middle Class......
When tmccarthy published Modern Day Trail of Tears, the title really grabbed me. The original Trail of Tears story is a cruel one. A lot of people don't even want to think about it, but it happened. There is no escape from history, except by revision, but thankfully there are too many people who will not allow that to happen. I include bloggers in this group.
Thinking about the original Trail of Tears, a deliberate attempted genocide, made me correlate it with what has happened, is happening, with the Great Middle Class of America.
The Middle Class has been systematically removed from its wealth like the Cherokee were removed from their lands. The Middle Class has been force marched into the Poor Class. Families that derived their Middle Class income from two jobs, especially manufacturing jobs, have been decimated with very little hope of recovering. Our manufacturing base has been crippled by greedy owners shipping good paying jobs to where cheap labor abounds. The sentence I just typed has been typed by others a million times, I'll bet. But, has it had any effect? No. Just like protests against the forced removal of the Cherokee from their homes and onto the Trail of Tears, all will be ignored to benefit those behind the scenes that hold the power. And now they hold all the wealth.
Anyway, today, this is what is on my mind. It saddens me. It angers me. An entire class of people, essential to the general welfare of the country, decimated.
If that's not genocide, what is it?
First, from TheraP, came two entries relating the story of Terry-Lynn from another blogger, Doxy. This led to tmccarthy publishing Modern Day Trail of Tears. Today there is Rutabaga Ridgepole's Detroit Demolition Disneyland about the decay of the Motor City, once a bastion of the middle class.
Somehow, in my mind, these blogs melded together for me and it made me think of loss. Loss of life. Loss of ability. Loss of caring. Loss of ourselves.
I don't know what the purist's definition of middle class is; to me, being middle class meant earning enough money to generously cover your needs, have some left to put in a savings account, a little bit to have fun with, but most of all, it meant being able to pay taxes.
I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I've always considered it an honor to pay taxes. To give a portion of my earned dollars to the government in return for the work it does on my behalf. I do not necessarily agree with how government spends every dollar I send them, but I do not begrudge the dollars I send them.
The tax dollars that the Great Middle Class sent off to Washington, D. C. helped to build a strong nation. Oh, yeah, we had problems, but we were solid underneath. We felt secure. We were sure of our identity and destiny. Maybe, just maybe, we were a little uppity on the world stage, but we were kind, too. Generous. I liked that about us.
That's all gone now.
The Middle Class has been wiped out. Genocide. I don't think that is too strong of a term. Genocide, a relatively recent word introduced into our vocabulary, is defined by the United Nations, in part, like this:
The convention defines genocide as any act committed with the idea of destroying in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. This includes such acts as:
- Killing members of the group
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
- Deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to physically destroy the group (the whole group or even part of the group)
- Forcefully transferring children of the group to another group
Deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy a group. Is this not what happened to the American Middle Class? Were they not deliberately eliminated by a plan of the wealthy to absorb their incomes? I mean, why go after poor people? They haven't got anything worth taking. But, the Middle Class......
When tmccarthy published Modern Day Trail of Tears, the title really grabbed me. The original Trail of Tears story is a cruel one. A lot of people don't even want to think about it, but it happened. There is no escape from history, except by revision, but thankfully there are too many people who will not allow that to happen. I include bloggers in this group.
Thinking about the original Trail of Tears, a deliberate attempted genocide, made me correlate it with what has happened, is happening, with the Great Middle Class of America.
The Middle Class has been systematically removed from its wealth like the Cherokee were removed from their lands. The Middle Class has been force marched into the Poor Class. Families that derived their Middle Class income from two jobs, especially manufacturing jobs, have been decimated with very little hope of recovering. Our manufacturing base has been crippled by greedy owners shipping good paying jobs to where cheap labor abounds. The sentence I just typed has been typed by others a million times, I'll bet. But, has it had any effect? No. Just like protests against the forced removal of the Cherokee from their homes and onto the Trail of Tears, all will be ignored to benefit those behind the scenes that hold the power. And now they hold all the wealth.
Anyway, today, this is what is on my mind. It saddens me. It angers me. An entire class of people, essential to the general welfare of the country, decimated.
If that's not genocide, what is it?
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We aren't dead yet but we definitely becoming in support of the rich are getting richer.
November 1, 2009 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oops something got deleted there.
Should read 'We aren't dead yet but we definitely are becoming poorer in support of the rich getting richer.
November 1, 2009 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Correct! We are not dead yet, Sink. We might be coughin' up a bit of blood, but we've still got some life left in us. We're gonna have to stop this forced march, turn around, and make them give us back our standings.
November 1, 2009 8:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Powerful words, flower. This one should be sent to the NYTimes
November 1, 2009 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
They only publish original stuff... Sadly, because this is dynamite!
November 1, 2009 6:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, bwak! Thanks! :o)
Awww, durn it, TheraP! :o(
But, knowing the two of you think this blog is NYT worthy is good enough for me! :o)
November 1, 2009 8:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
An erasure of the American Dream. Fits right into Sleepin's comment today.
It was the destruction of the union in the Free Market Place. All accomplished by the conspirators, the oligarchy that owns and controls everything in this country.
Who is going to be around to buy their 30k cars and hundred fifty thousand dollar homes?
November 1, 2009 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not me, Mr. Day. I didn't own a $30k car even when I could afford one. There's a mighty big echo in that middle class price range these days.
November 1, 2009 8:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can get a home for $150,00?!?!
November 2, 2009 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
You know, flower, I thought I caught a pitchfork glistening in your prayer wheel! And yes, there it is!
This is an OUTSTANDING blog! It is brilliantly reasoned. Sadly....
And this part:
I gotta hand it to you! You've put this whole thing in a nutshell.
Katrina was about abandoning the poor. This financial grab, with so many people made paupers while the bankers grabbed bonuses, this was about sucking the middle class dry. And then abandoning them!
November 1, 2009 6:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Katrina was not only about abandoning the poor, but only rebuilding for the lower-upper class, yes? And all the refugees in Texas and elsewhere Cannot Go Home Again.
November 1, 2009 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
No dispute there. What an indictment that was!
November 1, 2009 7:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep. That's my pitchfork, the one I use in my gardens, broken tine and all. ;o)
November 1, 2009 8:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is about drowning this country in a bathtub. They are stealing from the Middle Class and from the US Treasury. Although one can see that the Treasury is just giving away the money. A self-centered culture bordering on religion, and arguably supported by religion, has completely demolished the social fabric that was formed during WWII. We have become a den of thieves, preying on each other and resenting any legal/gov't intervention that requires fair trade.
November 2, 2009 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I have to say that I don't think the destruction of the Middle Class was willful, as much as reckless and utter disregard, as in: Manslaughter, or criminal negligence. I also think that the drive to remove the social safety nets of the poor (Bill Clinton) and the end of welfare is not discussed nearly enough; that was brought to us by the Good Guys! The statistics resulting from that have been endlessly massaged into having been a good thing.
Believe me, I loathe the people who don't care enough to care about the consequences of their out of control greed, but think how many poor people in the country still vote for the system that is transferring the wealth upward. It is just inconceivable to me.
Megwitch, flower.
p.s. Do you read Louise Erdrich? I think you would love her.
November 1, 2009 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can't figure out why the poor vote for the rich to have more, either. What pleasure is derived from shooting yourself in the foot? It's just mixed up. Need some kind of outreach there. Not out preach....outreach.
I think I might start studying up on rabble rousers.
I do not read much fiction these days, Wendy. Well, except for the transcripts of politicians speeches. ;o)
November 1, 2009 8:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Stockholm Syndrome. Victims eventually identifiy with their captors/abusers, even to the point of sympathizing with them. Also, once you believe that you are totally helpless and powerless you will do almost anything to please your tormentors in the hopes that they will show you some, any, mercy.
I believe you are right. This has been very well thought out and implemented. And actually this all started back in the late 1800's and, except for perhaps FDR, has proceeded quite systematically. As Thom Hartmann likes to point out: Democracy and the Middle Class go hand in hand. One cannot exist without the other. The end game is a two class system: the corporate aristocracy and the rest of us.
November 2, 2009 8:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
The Stockholm Syndrome.
Yes.
Excellent point to add, TJ.
And has been going on since the late 1800's. With all the other points brought forth in the comment section, the whole thing is beginning to grow too large for my mind to wrap around. To have to go back that far in history to find the seeds that has developed into this Middle Class Genocide seems like a daunting journey. But, you have given me some markers. Migwetch (thanks), TJ.
November 2, 2009 9:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific RR, 1886 - the beginning of corporate personhood.
November 2, 2009 1:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n20/david-runciman/how-messy-it-all-is
November 1, 2009 6:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe I read another review of this book not too long ago, Donal. Either that, or an excerpt from it was cited in something I read. I remember the infant mortality statistics comparing Sweden and the UK anyway.
With the chasm growing between the rich and poor here in the U.S. The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better sounds like prophesy. Maybe even prophesy come true.
November 1, 2009 9:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Either with intent to deceive or obtusely, Donal only quotes the beginning of a review of Wilkinson/Picket's silly book. The review continues...
For anyone who understands even enough about statistics to discriminate between a mean and a median, The Spirit Level is obviously garbage, but since the left wants to believe in a correlation between income equality and all good things, this garbage has turned into best-selling garbage, and wasn't there already enough shallow, middle-brow bullshit on the best-seller lists?
By the end of his review, David Runciman has thrown in the towel about "evidence-based" politics...
Ideology instead of evidence! What a clever idea!
It reminds me of George W. Bush.
November 2, 2009 3:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'd recommend people read the entire review and make up their own minds who is being deceptive here.
November 2, 2009 7:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Flower, excellent job, and I fully concur that this has been deliberate (sorry Wendy). The tax law changes and corporate changes in regards to credit cards and bankruptcy were deliberate and transferred wealth while removing protections of the people. The failure to address runaway health care costs, and in fact exacerbate them, has eroded middle class income. The reduction of education funds, and having all activities beyond classes put on a fee basis hasn't helped. Neither is not putting any controls on housing price increases, nor predatory financial practices. This has been a step by step eating of the middle class, and has driven the working and lower classes deeper into the hole.
November 1, 2009 7:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
No apologies necessary, Rowan. Your 'theys' may exceed mine, though. I distrust hyperbole on the right; and I tend to be suspicious of it on the left. Many of the Chicago Boys economists seem to literally believe they are right, and that Congress went along with people like Greenspan who "mumbled" in Congessional hearings, and threw out semi-nonsensical terms and assertions that tended to silence the questioners has had insanely awful consequences. There are still those who believe that the market will take care of fraud, and that's scary, in light of present consequeces.
Individual corporations and banks were beholden to their shareholders to produce income and higher market price. In the bubbles that have occurred, everyone wanted a piece of the easy money. Except for some of the major frauds that wiped out the shareholders, I think it's been the cumulative effects that have wreaked havoc on so many of us. If just Visa, or Mastercard, lent too freely, and hid the effects of their payback policies like "you only need to pay this minimum," and consumers didn't think through the ramifications of never paying down the principal, it's tough on borrowers, and indecent, but legal. But with so very many institutions pushing past sound and fair business pratices, the effects grew. The greed hitting from so many sides all at once is what drove so many under, or onto the streets.
Donal's figures on the more-nearly-equable incomes producing healthier societies in every way shows what we all intuit: the short-sightedness of the oligarchs will be be their downfall. Like Jeezus reminds us, it will have to give at some point, and it won't be pretty. It's a time for extreme expression; but I keep thinking that so many of us have been complicit in the theft of our ultimate well-being; that's the part that really depresses me.
November 1, 2009 9:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wendy, sorry but I believe that the whole scenario was constructed. While individuals made choices, you don't get masses of folks making the same choices unless something systemic is motivating those choices. That's the sociologist in me speaking. There are all kinds of documentation of the plan for this "unfettering" of capitalism and how that would ultimately create a global empire with the U.S. as its natural ruler. One of those is the Powell Memo written by Lewis Powell in 1971 which lays out the detailed plan for the corporate take over of the United States. Yes, this is the Powell nominated by Nixon to the Supreme Court where he served from 1972-1987.
As stated more succinctly than other areas, Wikipedia states:
Project for the New American Century is also a group that received a lot of progressive press at the beginning of the George W. Bush administration. While they have gone on sabbatical, their members and consortium of organizations have not.
November 1, 2009 11:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
The psychologist in me concurs, Rowan.
November 2, 2009 10:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
...as Powell argued, "The most disquieting voices joining the chorus of criticism came from perfectly respectable elements of society: from the college campus, the pulpit, the media, the intellectual and literary journals, the arts and sciences, and from politicians."
How insidious the destruction was and suddenly, these elements were respected no more. Education has been ridiculed and our children now think they know something because someone said something, not because any questions were asked to support what they said. As you later remark here, Rowan, you receive rhetorical replies from students taken from the idiot box, their TV.
Rather then admit they lack education, Limbaugh, Beck and etc., their reaction is to diminish its importance and generate distrust of the intellectuals. A common precursor of fascism.
Pulpits? One step below the idiot boxes, broadcasting ideas that beg for questions. Demanding people take them to heart chalenging their faith.
Media? Bought and paid for by a few corporations now. Thanks WJC! Deregulation really worked out well for those few companies, General Electric, Disney, Clear Channel, et al.
The respect for knowledge has been eaten away, as you note. Our entire social structure is compromised by all these rats gnawinga the base. "Who Stole me Cheese?!?" Indeed.
November 2, 2009 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Okay; Uncle!!! I just read several times the definition of genocide Flower posted, and I could not make the stretch, thinking about many people I know who are doing fairly well still. Plus, the intentionality of it all? Maybe I am listening too much to Eliot Spitzer; he differentiates between ignorant greed and malevolent fraud.
Most of you agree on this, so I will cease. {bows down...}
November 2, 2009 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
You don't have to say uncle, Wendy. Undoubtedly there are pockets of Middle Class distributed around the country. Elimination of a group of people isn't usually total.
But, when you travel down the residential streets of Detroit or Flint or Saginaw, MI, or any industrial town, and every third house is vacant, left in disrepair with a broken down 'for sale' sign in front, you cannot help but ask, "Where did all these people go?"
(The chickadees are returning from their summer vacation. :) Time to lay in a supply of black oilers.)
November 2, 2009 7:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I took a break to watch Masterpiece.
Where the Evil comes into the equation is knowing now, and not caring, that taxpayers will pay for the bailouts, that job losses are epidemic, social safety nets are being used up, and still not acting to change it.
But to tell you the truth, I am heartened that there are a few valiant souls on the case; some in Congress, some formerly in finance speaking up, and some on cable and public radio and PBS. It may turn out that MSM will have to cover some of the stories, and maybe people will pressure Congress for more fraud investigations and regulations. Credit card happened, and it was lame and any good changes won't take effect until 2012 or something.
We have to keep pushing our way into the venues for change, and kicking up dust.
November 1, 2009 11:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you, friendly Manatee.
As you listed the causes of Middle Class Genocide, I realized this could have been stopped or even reversed at any of these points along the way. We did nothing. Maybe that's too harsh. Many of us did do something, pushed issues, voted for or against, but we didn't win.
More and more, I'm taking that as a personal failure. I didn't used to...cay sera, sera or however you spell it. I accepted the voice of the people. But, it's hard to accept that voice when it calls for your own destruction.
November 1, 2009 9:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Unfortunately, a lot of the "middle class" supported the changes. Such as the bankruptcy changes. After all, those lazy SOB's shouldn't be able to bail out on their debt. Forget that 60% of those bankruptcies were due to medical debt, and forget the fact that those laws were in place to keep lenders from predatory lending. Oh yeah. That "death tax" where the changes really only benefited the 600 richest families - well it just wasn't "fair." The so called "middle class" has consistently supported policies that were not in their best interest. However, to be fair, the pitch on the changes were such that those who did not look critically at the changes would think that they were beneficial.
One might argue "fool me once..." but the "public" seems to have an endless capacity to be taken for a ride. I think a few more are waking up with the current debacles. However, they aren't in my classes. I am constantly stunned by how uninformed my students are. They can spit out rhetoric, but they have no grasp of the issues - or current events. A handful do, but the overwhelming majority do not. Most do not even watch the MSM news, much less delve beyond that. I suspect that much of the public is the same - or worse.
Now, some are starting to realize how deep the shit is, but most are in denial. Surely we have just a few "bad actors," and a lot are saying that it's the stupid, greedy folks who went after sub-prime mortgages and ARMs that are at fault. SURELY it can't be a problem with capitalism. We LOVE capitalism. Most don't even have a clue what "systemic failure" means. A surprising number think that Canada is a socialist country because they have universal health care. (And socialist is the new communist).
OK, now I'm depressing myself so I'll stop.
November 1, 2009 11:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
It was the Reagan Democrats here in MI that supported some of those changes you write about, Rowan. It was the UAW that fought for the higher wages that brought middle class dollars to workers, but as soon as they got those dollars in their hands, they didn't want to share their good fortune with the poor they had left behind and they fell hook line and sinker for Reagan and his bullshit trickle down theory. So, under the delusion they were on the road to wealth and about to be adopted into the family of the elite, they voted for every one of those changes that benefited the wealthy and stuck it to everyone else.
That attitude lingers today but, like you mention, I think some of them are coming back around. I hope, anyway. I hope they talk to their kids because I think your students are a reflection of their Reagan Democrat parents.
Canada is a socialist country. Holy crap. What are they teaching these kids in high school these days? You know what high school class is missing from most curricula these days? Current Events.
I hated that class.....back then. ;o)
November 2, 2009 9:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Uh... Flowerchild... I just noticed that a pitchfork has appeared in your peace symbol. I presume this is for agricultural purposes. ;>
November 1, 2009 9:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I sorta encourage you in your presumption, though not really because you never know, eh? ;o)
But...
...what would you think about me adding a few flames to my avatar? You know, for when I get the hot brain. Too much?
November 1, 2009 9:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
A flaming peace symbol would be quite pretty. However, I fear that the flames AND the pitchfork might be incorrectly interpreted as "satanic."
November 1, 2009 11:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Have to admit, "satanic" didn't even cross my mind. Chi migwetch for the save, friendly Manatee.
November 2, 2009 9:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's a funny thing about taxes. How much and who pays them is always contentious and remains, at least for now, mostly an unsettled dynamic.
There is a peculiar thing about how the issue of taxes has actually ended up in practical terms. We know of the pressure to reduce taxes and subsequently lessen the role of government. We know that has reduced federal revenues, increased the federal deficit, hampered government operational effectiveness for critical operations, and reduced government services in general.
We also know of a nonsensical concept having crept into the regulatory context where self regulation of the economy has produced an undesirable and absolutely predictable result. And which has ended with a multi-trillion dollar tax hit to all taxpayers but which has also, very illogically, produced immense profits for a select few.
I would be remiss in not commenting further upon additional influences of regulatory policy which have enhanced revenues and profits for a select few but which have increased costs for end users of products while simultaneously compromising the quality of goods and services delivered. This is quite evidently contrary to what one might logically seek to achieve and exposes a flawed policy scheme which gives the appearance of delivering an explicitly devised result explicitly tailored to achieve that illogical outcome.
The above has the effect of being an indirect tax where the tax bypasses government and is handed directly to a unique constituency. This is a policy driven tax which is broadly applied to all taxpayers and is a complete net minus to taxpayers. This is an insidiuos tax which we can see applied all across our economy and which is measurable against other industrialized economic units and informs us we are receiving less and paying more for particular goods and services and which decidedly lessens our ability to compete in the global marketplace. This in turn influences availability of jobs for Americans and cuts tax receipts even more.
So what does this all mean? We see there is a clear and intimate relationship between tax policy, fiscal policy and regulatory policy. We are informed that these things can be devised to create a condition of competing goals where the individual devisements can result in specific outcomes that skew the overall notion of taxation in ways that are decidedly deceptive and which modify the tax burden in numerically illogical and unjust ways.
A broad examination of this interaction gives the unmistakable appearance of a corrupt scheme of applied financial policy. At the very least it is logically and morally corrupt and possibly legally corrupt. It provides a condition where there is a cost levied which, while not explicitly named a tax, effectively is a tax. It clearly modifies the overall cost structure for goods and services and directs monies from the implementation of the structure to a specific purpose which truly has no honest accommodation in commerce or governance.
November 2, 2009 2:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
It occurs to me to acknowledge that this is all exceedingly complex. However, I must also acknowledge that the outcome is exceedingly and conspicuously one sided.
November 2, 2009 2:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Complexity? I dunno. It's looking a little simpler to me all the time, tpc. It's looking like the Genocide of the American Middle Class is just the beginning. Could it be that the Killing Off of the American Government is the ultimate aim? I mean, all that 1776 stuff from the Revolutionary Era, the Constitution, Bill of Rights, et al. is and has been under attack. The documents that define "We the People" are being marginalized and "We the Business People" are surging forward.
I think I might need to get more scared about this than I already am.
November 2, 2009 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
I didn't mean to scare you but I guess I made my point. Actually, I am scared because the scope of what I see is very broad based and unmistakable in the short sightedness and consequence. Most societies fail because of inequities and excess.
November 2, 2009 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
A Wall Street insider, Nomi Prins, tells it like it is:
"An interview with Prins, former managing director at Goldman Sachs, now a razor-sharp financial muckraker and author of the new book, 'It Takes a Pillage.'"
Full Text: http://www.alternet.org/workplace/143573/former_wall_street_player_reveals_the_inside_world_behind_shady_bailouts_to_bankers/?page=1
Excerpts:
Page 1: "It wasn't reckless borrowers and their subprime loans that built the house of cards that has come crashing down around us over the past two years, but an out-of-control finance sector running on a perverse set of incentives that made it incredibly profitable to essentially throw caution to the wind and take on incomprehensible amounts of risk.
Prins exposes the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington and shows how it led to a Wild West mentality on "the Street" that allowed the whole casino to flourish for a time.
And she follows the trillions in direct bailouts, subsidized loans and guarantees shelled out by the taxpayers when the whole thing went belly up, shining a bright light on the shadowy deals that decided which institutions would crash and burn and which others would receive the support needed to stay afloat, feast on the corpses of the fallen and then go on to the record profits and fat bonuses Wall Street's survivors enjoy today."
Page 4: "We need to get out to more "showdowns in Chicago" to make it clear we won't stand for this, and we need to make it absolutely clear to our Congresspeople and President Obama that cosmetic regulations don't cut it -- that keeping the power players on Wall Street as they are, on our dime, is ethically, morally and economically wrong!
I hope readers will come away with more information and a renewed fighting spirit."
November 2, 2009 9:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
An excerpt from the interview:
That's why I get so enraged at the bizarre notion that a 10-year, $900 billion health care option is somehow egregious and government interfering with our lives. We should all take $90 billion a year to sustain our health and access to health care over lavishing trillions on the banking system any day, no matter what our political party affiliation is.
Holy cow.
This woman rocks!!!! She should have been tapped to run the Fed. I'm bookmarking her website.
http://www.nomiprins.com/bailout.html
Migwetch (thanks), kfreed.
November 2, 2009 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmm. Operator error. I must have cut off the first part of the above quote. This is what I meant to blockquote:
November 2, 2009 11:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
This evaluation has been revealed time and again, but I do not think it has really sunk into the minds of people. It is almost unfathomable. Yet, there it is.
November 2, 2009 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
The convention has this text, which you quoted:
"Deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to physically destroy the group(the whole group or even part of the group)"
You then alter that text so that it becomes this:
"Deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy a group."
and then you ask:
"Is this not what happened to the American Middle Class?"
The answer is: these two things are not the same.
Stop doing that. The middle class in America has not suffered a genocide.
If you are going to abuse language like that, you should register as a Republican and try to get a job at Faux News; or whatever it is budding demagogues do.
November 2, 2009 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
It might have been a problem had I not quoted the exact text from the convention and provided a link to said convention text directly above my paraphrase.
If I had paraphrased the text without reference, or made something up, you might have a legitimate complaint with my blog that I would take seriously.
Within the blog I made reference to the term genocide as being strong. If you don't like that language, you don't like it. You can disagree with what I write but you do not have permission to tell me to stop writing what I write. Neither do you have permission to direct me as to which political party I should register for, nor am I in need of your career advice.
Your displeasure with my blog is noted.
November 2, 2009 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rotary flower puppies! Faraway swooningly ponies!
Misunderestimated fraplebunnies!
Genocides from the latter decade of the last century:
Yugoslavia, 1992-99
Rwanda 1994: April 6, 1994, and for the next hundred days, up to 800,000 Tutsis were killed by Hutu militia using clubs and machetes, with as many as 10,000 killed each day.
Nothing like either of these happened to the American middle class.
November 2, 2009 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obviously you have read one or two of my previous blogs and found them worthy of ridicule. By now, you should be able to recognize my name/avatar as a blogger that displeases you and as such, you might want to pass over my blogs and leave them unread....as I have learned to do with yours.
You have listed two examples of genocide from the 1990's. I can list thousands of examples that have occurred over the centuries as well as more recent attempts. I have seen the effects of genocide up close and fucking personal and there were no fraplebunnies anywhere around.
My use of the word 'genocide' was not made lightly.
November 2, 2009 7:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your vocabulary is the issue. Anthropomorphically speaking, your vocabulary is not up to the task of describing what you see.
It's like it's possessed by some limp, feckless, meme of fake progressive outrage.
This group is probably a genocidal entity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janjaweed
You cannot cite one single instance of such acts committed by any group active in America today.
Not one.
Nor can you develop a definion of a single, unified, middle class in America. That's a necessity of the definition you cite: it requires a people with something like a unified identity; and it requires another group to identify that group as the object of violence. And that's just for starters. You've not even started to overcome the hurdle of defending the notion of class in American culture: Middle, Upper, or Lower.
Even if you could demonstrate the existence of class in American culture, you'd have to point to some sort of unitary, or singular, Middle class.
The models I've seen are disputed. India? Now that, in my understanding, is a class based culture.
But all that is a red herring anyway; because whatever it is that you see, or think you see, it is not genocide.
November 2, 2009 8:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's a lil hook for yer fish:
My vocabulary is a non-issue.
If I was writing a position paper, then it would be an issue.
But, I was writing a blog.
Perhaps you are confusing the blogosphere with academic presentation.
And, what I see is what I see. I do not require outside interpretation.
November 2, 2009 9:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
You wrote: "My vocabulary is a non-issue."
Thankfully, the definition of non-issue continues to be "something that has no relevance."
November 3, 2009 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good grief!
You can't define a "middle class," eh? Well, you seem to be one of the few who can't. Or perhaps your problem is that you refuse to accept that it is disappearing. Funny, a lot of people refuse to use the term genocide even as it is happening. Some never admit that it happens. I suggest you google "disappearing Middle Class." I got about half a million hits, so I would think that a lot of people don't have a problem with the definition, or with the fact that it is disappearing, rapidly, as in genocide.
Flower used the word 'genocide' because it is a powerful word, and it was an apt and powerful allegory.
Perhaps you've heard of the term, allegory? Really smart people use it. They use words like "slavery" to describe corporate America's hold on wage earners. That's an apt description as well.
Why not go quibble with Paul Krugman, he seems to agree with Flowerchild, and frankly, I have a lot more respect for the two of them.
BTW, complaining about form or syntax is the lowest form of criticism. Surely you can do better.
November 2, 2009 10:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is, as far as I know, some debate on whether or not class exists in America. The debate looks legitimate.
Then there is the inapt use of a "powerful" word and calling it allegory when it's actually the wrong word, even for an allegory.
It's the kind of thing done by a person who, finding that a particular piece of music lacks any appeal, or is grating, labels the piece of music "torture".
Or the kind of thing multiple local bloggers post in reaction to Orly Taitz's labelling a judges rebuke as a conspiracy; or in response to Michele Bachmann's labelling affordable, accessible healthcare as something like a socialist tyranny: these local bloggers basically say that their use of language demonstrates a (possibly profound, opinions vary) lack of contact with reality.
Whatever it is that Flower Child thinks he sees, it's not genocide. Not even close.
But hey...don't let me discourage you from exiting the room where words have meaning as you elaborate your fake progressive ire; and please: don't let the door hit your asses as you leave.
Finally, I did not criticize the grammatical form of his sentences, AKA syntax.
November 3, 2009 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
flower, I want to thank you for your generosity in sending me your spare keyboard. As you can see, it's working beautifully. Blessings upon you.
November 2, 2009 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let me assure you again, Ripper....there was no hardship on my part giving up that keyboard. ;o) I'm glad someone is getting use out of it.
November 2, 2009 7:05 PM | Reply | Permalink