Tag Archives: Wealth

Right Wingers Often View The Hard-Working Poor As “Lazy” !

Big Brother, Business and Industry, economy, Labor and Unions, Politics, United States, , , , , , , ,

Date:  May 16, 2013

Subject:  How Lazy Are Poor People Really?

OP-ED by John

My Dad was poor as a church mouse and he worked his living rear end off for his Right Wing task masters all his working life – - – 8 to 12 hours a day and was on call 7-days-a-week in every kind of weather – - – and he never earned more than $35-a-week digging graves in the Republican-Owned cemetery in the Republican-dominated county and village where we all lived until I was of age and when I left home to go out in the world and become – - – a Democrat!

That’s how “lazy”my dirt-poor Daddy was – - – and yet he idolized the ground the Righties walked on and they looked down their noses at him and treated him like he was nothing but a useful pile of shit.  I will never understand what motivated my Dad to kiss Right Wing buttocks – - – allegorically speaking – - –  with such devotion but he did and that is that!

My Dad and my Grandfather both worked in the same place for most of their working lives and they endured some of the most gruelling and physically demanding work conditions imaginable and they never complained except when they would occasionally come up with some little gem of “wisdom” such as, “The poor man can’t ever hope to make it in this world as long as those rich union SOBs in Detroit keep on getting those raises.  Every time some union dick working in a car factory gets a raise, it makes it that much harder on us poor folks.”

I heard that from both of them until I was old enough to fly the coop and when I finally did manage to escape that form of voluntary slavery for slave wages and killer working conditions you know what I did?  - – -  I went to Detroit and became one of those “rich” SOBs who kept on getting those union raises and you know what else?  - – - I was damned glad I was able to get that union job and make those wages because I was able to give my family a decent standard of living – - – and that is something I had never known for myself growing up in the backward, regressive pit of depression that passed for “The Town” where I grew up.

You know what else?  My Dad was more than happy to have me help him pay off the bills he had managed to run up here and there over the years – - – and I was more than happy to do it with my “rich SOB raises from the car factory where I worked.”

Daddy changed his tune about us “rich SOBs in Detroit” after that but he never did let go of his embrace of what I considered to be the false promises of Conservatism. He remained a staunch Republican til the day he died although I am pretty certain he never quite understood why – - – except maybe it was something that his parents had done before him and he considered it to be the honorable and honest thing to do.

Yes I learned early on that some of those that the Re-thugs consider to be “The Lazy Poor” are the ones who work the hardest and often for the least return.

I decided a long time ago that some of the fat cat Ree-Pug-lickins – - – the ones who spent a lot of their time out on the links or skiing down the slopes of aspen while their lackeys stayed at home task mastering their “Lazy” 47 percenter hourly indentured servants – - – I decided they were the really “lazy” ones and believe me when I tell you that I have also learned that this kind is usually never reluctant to put the demands to those employees whom some of them talk like they are “Taking to raise” or “taking care of.”

In my experience I have discovered that it is some of these “Better Than Anybodys” who are the hardest to work for and who always seem to feel like their employees aren’t worth two cents or that they are – - – somehow – - – stealing from them – - – or aren’t worth the time and effort to keep them on and pay them good hard cash for “what little they do.”

I have had my time being brow beaten by some fat-tailed Right Wingers with a lot of money and a big business where they can Lord it over their employees and trust me when I tell you that a whole helluva lot of them seem to get off on doing exactly that!

Posted by John at 1:45 pm

I am still waiting for my share of the “trickle-down” economy!

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2012 VOTE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT ..BECA...

2012 VOTE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT ..BECAUSE IT DOES (Photo credit: SS&SS)

OP-ED by John

O.K., when is the last time anything worth while “trickled down” to you?

It has been an awfully lot of years now since I first heard of “Trickle Down” economics and I am still waiting for my share.

I am not talking about the “Free Stuff” I am supposed to be getting from the Obama Administration either.

I am talking about the utopian raise in my living standard that I thought I was hearing President Reagan speak of all those many years ago now.

Somehow it doesn’t seem that my boat has been lifted by the weight of other heavier boats in the economic waters.  If anything, I sometimes feel like my little insignificant boat might be swamped by the wake of some of those bigger, heavier and more expensive boats as they sail by thumbing their noses at me.

Have the exorbitant riches of the wealthiest 1% of the American Population raised your standard of living substantially lately?  Have they made you any richer or despite their own enormous wealth are you still feeling like you are in a lower class than some of them?

The truth sucks sometimes, doesn’t it?  Trickle-down Economics is a line of crap.  It has never worked, never had a chance to work, isn’t working now and never ever will work no matter how much fecal coating some of the Rightie radical propaganda experts want to coat it with.  The exact same is also true of “Supply Side” economics as far as I am concerned.

If the “trickle down shid – - (feces) – - (crap) – - was gonna work at all, don’t you suppose economic inequality in this country would have taken a dive instead of becoming more prominent as the years pass by?  As someone who once aspired to much and turned out to be less than expected once said, “You bet’cha!”  But it ain’t happenin’ is it?  It ain’t happenin’ at all – - – not no how, not no way!  But it did get some votes at one time, didn’t it?

Oh we should all know by now that if the rich get bigger and better tax breaks and financial incentives – - – at the cost of the social safety net – - – if the rich get bigger and better tax breaks they will certainly create more jobs so that everyone who can work will be able to work and earn a living and all will be peaches and roses, right?  Friggin’ wrong!

I have a sneaking suspicion that when the “job creators” get those tax breaks they stick them into some investment somewhere so they can earn even more money on them.

I have yet to see any business person worth their salt who ever started a business for the purpose of creating more jobs.  If anything, I find that astute business people are usually looking for ways to trim expenses and eliminate unnecessary jobs so they can increase their bottom lines.  That has been my experience anyway.

You wanna know where I think most of those tax breaks really go?  I think a whole helluva lot of them go to The Cayman Islands – - – that’s what I think!

So then along comes the ridiculous right wing argument that the rich give the most to charities that do the most to help – - – people.

You wanna know where I think the money that rich people give to charities go?  I think it goes to – - – “charities” – - – that help other rich people – - – that’s where I think it goes.  I think it goes to elite educational institutions like highbrow, ivy-leaguer colleges and to high-class art programs – - – but I doubt that too many of those big charitable gifts by the rich ever get down to the nitty-gritty social programs that help the middle class or the poor or anyone like that.  Correct me if I am wrong and I will repent in sack cloth and ashes.

I think Henry Ford used his wealth to help the poor and the middle class when he started his car factories and instituted the $5 work day.

I think Andrew Carnegie used his wealth to help the poor when he gave money for all those libraries.

I know there are a select special few modern billionaires who give scads of money to help programs that help the poorer classes – - – but I think these modern icons of human decency are not at all representative of the vast majority of America’s wealthiest 1% and I wish the right wing radicals would stop pushing their line of bull chips about how trickle down economics is so good for everybody – - – because it simply isn’t – - – period!

Like some of the Rightie trolls who pop up here from time to time, I will make a challenge:  ”Show me the facts that prove how “Trickle Down” and “Supply Side” benefits anybody but the big money biggies – - – do not present to me some line of C-rap from some revisionist right wing propaganda source either – -  show me something from a reputable independent,non-partisan research facility or a university ( a traditional mainline university . . .not some newly-minted right-winger psuedo-education college) – - – show me government figures – - – show me, show me, show me the facts and not somebody’s opinions!  I am not above listening if I can be convinced.

The rest of America hasn’t yet swallowed this Right Wing malarkey and neither have I but – - – show me – - – prove it – - – I will listen and observe.

Posted by John at 3:29 pm

Is “Having It All” Worth The Hassle?

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Mississippi River from Fire Point in Effigy Mo...

Mississippi River from Fire Point in Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa, USA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My Dad never earned more than $35-a-week in his life but we never went all that hungry, we managed to clothe and shelter ourselves and we kept relatively clean with generous use of soap and water.

Nevertheless, I did often cast a wary eye toward those “Rich Bas***ds” (That’s what Dad called anyone who actually made more than he did) and hoped that some day, by hook or crook, I might ascend the socio-economic scale and have, at the very minimums, an indoor bath room.

After completing my hitch in The Air Force, I managed to land a job with a small manufacturing company in the Midwestern United States and ended up as their credit manager earning the grand total of $135.00-a-week.  At the time I was married, had one child and was living at home with my Mom. (Dad had passed on earlier.)

My wife was something of a “spender” and so it wasn’t very long before I was toeing the line of possible bankruptcy and actually would spend nights praying to God, “Please let me find one of those jobs that pays $300-a-week.”

It came to pass when an old Air Force buddy appeared out of thin air and convinced me to take a leap of faith and go to Michigan with him to get a job at the automobile manufacturing plant where he worked and where his whole family before him had worked.

To make a long story shorter, I got the job with the auto manufacturer and my personal income skyrocketed by 300% in one fell swoop and I was, for all intents and purposes suddenly “In the money” as it were.  It was a heady experience.

Suddenly there was no need to worry about how to pay bills anymore because, having been thrust solidly into the Middle Class, and working a lot of overtime at my new job, I was making enough that I never had to worry about whether I could pay my rather meager bills and it was a comfortable feeling.

Did I mention that my new job was a Union job and that healthcare was provided for all the family – – there was time off – – paid vacation – – all kinds of good things – – job security – – you name it.  It was good.  These were the days before all the good jobs for people like me got shipped overseas.  We lived well according to what we were able to do before I got the new job.

But there were some changes in the air.

It seemed after a while that life became more centered around the income and the money and the increased purchasing power than anything else.  It was a subtle, slow and creeping kind of thing – – but money slowly and surely edged into the center of our lives and we desired more and more and more and my wife even went to work in another booming factory and our income doubled.

Our list of friends increased dramatically and it soon became clear to me that our friends somehow judged us according to the money we were making and a kind of competitive spirit developed that I later learned was something that people once referred to as “Keeping up with the Joneses” and I can tell you the pressure began to build to have bigger and better and more than other people and that is when the real problems began.

Material possessions suddenly didn’t matter as much as they once did and we got to the point where we didn’t even want to appear in public unless we could “Put on the dog” with the best and latest fashions, the biggest, loudest car, a flashy ring, all the accoutrements of “Pretense” and “Show” and everyone seemed to be doing it so it appeared to be the acceptable thing – – but ominous sensations in the pit of my stomach were growing.

By this time we had three children and the older of them had started to grow into early teens and was becoming a little rebellious and hard to manage.  He was also becoming a little too demanding because, to be frank, we had spoiled him and I guess he got the idea that we were all somehow better than other people because we had more money than a lot of folks or something of that nature.  It was not pleasant.

Suddenly there were school hassles because of mis-behavior, there were counselling sessions and child development programs and all the other things that go with becoming slightly dysfunctional in a society that apparently wanted to stick their nose into private affairs in a bureaucratic manner that somehow seemed invasive and even oppressive.

There was no way of knowing it at the time, but we were unable to handle the sudden prosperity that had been thrust on us a couple of years before and the cracks in the foundations of our lives were beginning to grow and spread and in 1978, the whole structure of our new lifestyle came tumbling down in a devastating bankruptcy, separation and divorce – – and looking back now, I can judge that the whole collapse centered around that damnable money!

Since those days, it has been my good fortune to have gotten re-established in life.  The wife has passed on, the kids are all grown and gone and on their own and I am alone – – but I live comfortably now on the residuals from a new career that I undertook after wandering in poverty for about three years.

But money is not the epicenter of my focus anymore and never will be again.  I learned a hard lesson having gone from absolute poverty to having everything a person could desire and then losing it all through selfish stupidity and greed and then working my way back again.

Actually I do believe there are more important things in life than having a lot of money and in my case my good health is one of those treasures.  I am 74-years-old now and in great shape and who could ask for anything more?

If having to accept a little less in this life is a requirement because of someone’s politics and their ambitions, then I have gotten to the point where that is alright with me.  I tend to get by somehow.

Did I mention that I am a die-hard Liberal Democrat?

Posted by John at 5:47 AM