Wednesday, October 11, 2006

We have the best government...That money can buy

I was reading an excellent article by Lou Dobbs earlier, and I wanted to share it with all of you. We are know in the middle of a major class war initiated by the wealthiest people in this country. The middle class is stuck in the middle and for some reason hasn't stepped forward to say "ENOUGH DAMN IT!"

The money and power grabbing elite of this country care nothing about the rest of us and have done everything they can to control this country. We currently have over 34,000 lobbyist in Washington who are not just influencing legislation, but actually taking part in writing legislation. Lou Dobbs says that this is because BOTH PARTIES are out of touch with the common American, and suggested that we should ALL change our party affiliation to INDEPENDENT to send a message to these asshats in DC.

Please read the rest of the article:

Dobbs: Middle class needs to fight back now

9 comments:

BlackLabelAxe said...

Yes, our government is full of shit, and out of touch. They are irresponsible and arrogant with their spending habits. Both parties are hopelessly fucked (as of now), and we need to look elsewhere for representation.

The middle class can only fight back if they look in the mirror first. This is a hard realization that I was made aware of by the books of Robert Kiyosaki and Dave Ramsey.
_______________________________

There are three basic economic classes of people, almost exclusively defined by their spending habits. Consider this example:

Three people work the same job, and they get the same paycheck. Person 1 blows it on stupid shit that he doesn't need like strippers, bartabs, and a platinum grill. Person 2 buys goods like big screen TV's, cars, and a house, but finances each purchase instead. Person 3 lives on only what he needs to survive, putting the balance of his check in the bank into an interest-bearing savings account or a mutual fund.

After several years of this cycle, Person 1 and Person 2 are both still living paycheck to paycheck. Person 3, who now has a sizable nest egg, spends the capital required to open his own business, and becomes very successful.

Person 1 constantly bitches about how unfair it is that Person 3 makes so much money, and feels like that money should be re-distributed and everybody should share the money that everybody makes. He also feels like the government is the right tool to make sure that everything is "fair".

Person 2 bitches about how stupid person 1 is, but he doesn't beleive it's possible to be as successful as Person 3 without inside connections, and justifies his above-his-means lifestyle as "realistic" or "The American Way".

Person 3 didn't get on his soapbox about the stupid spending habits of Persons 1 and 2, he just took the same money and put it work for him. He respects the decisions of others, but knows that only reason why people aren't rich is because they don't know how to handle money.

Hopefully this example makes the ideologies of these people, average Joes, brutally obvious. Person 1 is a Democrat, Person 2 is a Republican, and Person 3 is a Libertarian.

This is a very plain example, oversimplified to demonstrate that your financial status is and always will be determined by YOU, the person in charge of YOUR money.

Obviously, I've excluded archetypes such as the Trust Fund Hippie or Robin Hood, but you get the point. I grew up as person 2, but I'm learning now that I will only be middle class so long as that's what I aim for. Middle class people tend to teach their kids middle class habits, and rich people tend to teach their kids the same habits that earned them a fortune in the first place.

Class warfare is as old as society itself, and hasn't really changed much. Robin Hood's gifts never made anybody rich, nor did it promote a permanently successful society, either.

B.L. Sabob: Not amused said...

and you also left out the type who spends his extra cash hobnobbing with high rollers, making them believe he is one of them so he can then hit them up for capital to run various scams. This kind of person is industrious, yes. and he is a risk taker. Both admirable traits, in a vaccume. But he is also a dishonest snake in the grass who should probably be beaten on sight by anyone with an ethical bone in their body.

These types of scam artists make up the bulk of the world's political and business leadership class.

I have th utmost respect for anyone who makes an honest living, whether or not they get rich or make any kind of impact whatsoever on the world. Likewise, I respect most people who earn a living by producing a product or a craft or are engaged in scientific discovery and invention. But for the most part, people involved in deal-making and sales professions and marketing or public relations are scum on shit who should di penniless and sodomized in an abandoned Newark toxic waste dump.

BlackLabelAxe said...

B.L. Sabob,

I understand your point about the people who deal money like it's a game. The true industrial strength of any nation is generated by the folks on the front lines- the construction workers, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, engineers, and janitors, etc., and not the stock brokers or investment bankers.

I also share your respect for people regardless of their economic statues.

However, I have a special paddle I use for people who are irresponsible stewards of wealth that bitch and moan about rich people being rich. The average millionaire buys a two-year-old automobile, because he knows that it's already experienced the most depreciation. New cars are for your Person #1 who wants to act like Person #3. Except for Trust Fund Hippies, most rich people are rich because they learn about money, and make it a hobby to learn how to make wise decisions with it. Not everybody cares about money, and that's fine, but don't covet those who do.

Also, I'm in strong agreement that politicians are usually the scam-artists among us, and gained popular favor not from the content of their ideas, but from the deals they made with the people they know.

Lefty Metalhead said...

In a perfect world, living like person #3 would be so attainable. However, this isn't a perfect world, and factors such as race, gender, and even social class tend to sneak up on some people. I'm a different type of person, a number 4 if you will, who thinks that everything has to be going just right for you to become as successful as person 4.

BlackLabelAxe said...

Lefty,

I know that life isn't as simple as everybody getting the same paycheck for doing the same job. It's a shame that people descriminate by race, religeon, or other factors that don't have anything at all to do with the job that you get paid for. This has been a problem since the beginning of time, and nomatter how advanced our society becomes, racism will always play a part, because people will always fear what is different from them.

B.L. Sabob: Not amused said...

I guess my point that the basic slant of the piece, as examplefied by the "Person 1 is a Democrat, Person 2 is a Republican, and Person 3 is a Libertarian." conclusion is hopelessly biased and utopian. All people who open their own busineses are Libertarians and all drunks who frequent strip clubs are Democrats. Right

Sometimes one person is poor because he's had to spend a sizeable portion of his income on health issues for himself or his family. And quite often another person is wealthy because he's a dishonest fuck.

BlackLabelAxe said...

Yeah, my example was way too simple to represent anything but a very basic idea.

Not all Democrats hate people who make money, and not all Republicans have good credit and tons and tons of debt. Not all Libertarians own businesses.

It's extremely ironic to look backwards through history, and see how the two parties have completely reversed sides on the battlefield of the class war. Republicans used to be the common man's party, in the days of Thomas Jefferson, and Democrats used to be Klan members and suppress civil rights. The fact that it's so different today just shows how fucked up Washington is, and how heartless the politics of our country have become.

Anonymous said...

blacklabelaxe said it best. my coworkers ridiculed me when i bought a 2005 ford with low miles instead of a nice beemer. these same tools then steal food from the fridge cause they cant afford it. why? cause the car payment is too high!
to add, i dont really see there being 2 parties anymore. the line b/w the dems and republicans is way too blurred.

then again, we could always vote for a 3rd party canidate...

B.L. Sabob: Not amused said...

this is no time to vote third party.

The entire neocon-artist republiscum leadership needs to be soundly and badly defeated this year. If the rank and file repugs see how badly their leaders lead them astray, hopefully they will purge the party of these assholes once and for all.