Le Sequoit

The Poor Had Their Fifteen Minutes of Fame

There seems to be a breather in the news cycle. It's been days since a senior administrative official has been subpoenaed or indicted, and it will be days more before the next big hurricane. This one's called Wwwwwilmmma! Don't be thinking global warming now, we're just in one of those cycles, ya know, it happens. Yeah, I remember Carla and Camille. I don't remember no Wilma!

On Point had an attempt at a discussion going today about poverty, introduced to be about whether the supposed increased awareness to poverty issues brought about by Hurricane Katrina is in fact ironic considering that social programs are to suffer the deepest cuts in the attempt to offset the costs of rebuilding. Quickly this mess turned into five or six talking heads talking trash, rambling on as one might expect those of such a carefully culled cross section to do.

"Quit cutting the programs and knock off the tax cuts for the rich," goes A.

"Tell them to quit having babies out of wedlock and get a job," goes B.

Very informative.

Everybody was right of course, but oh, so cold on the key reason why America is backsliding on the poverty front. It all does have to do with entitlement, and nannies, and coddling, as it turns out.

Never, nowhere in the history of the world have so many haves felt so entitled. I will make it as simple as it can be. Divide all the wealth in America into three parts. One third belongs to the top 1%. One-third belongs to the rest of the top10%, and the rest is ours.

The 1% is in charge, and has given itself a 10% tax break, purportedly so they can give us all better jobs and raises by someday investing their little windfalls in something other than factories in Brazil and China. The next 9% is very, very busy maintaining the favor of the 1%, not in the least by convincing the majority of us morons that we may be just like them some day if we just vote for them and do their dirty work.

2.5 million Uncle Scrooges feel absolutely entitled to one-third of everything while their mouthpieces woe the unaffordability of Medicare and Social Security. 25 million more suck up the next third and complain about the taxes on their 3,500 square foot barns that push up the heating bills of the poor, and the luxury tax on their BMW 745's that push up the transportation costs of the poor.

They want it all. They deserve it all. If you don't play along, they'll take their ball and go home.

Fine. Give them a one-way ticket outta here, and let them raise their next generation of spoiled brats in Buenos Aires.

posted by sequoit @ 10:23 PM