The views of the ultra rich nowadays in a nutshell: "I owe the public nothing"

[AZ Progressive]

This was the attitude of the ultra rich in the late 19th / early 20th century and it is true today.

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/marchand-corporate.html

"Beyond their amoral conduct, impersonal size, and lack of a humanizing personality, the intense secrecy and zealous autonomy of many of the largest corporations seemed actually to invite charges of soullessness. J. P. Morgan broke his habitual silence only to comment that "I owe the public nothing," and John D. Rockefeller complacently adopted the maxim "silence is golden" as his response to unwanted public inquiries. Glaring instances of the refusal of corporate leaders to acknowledge any responsibility for public welfare, as in William Vanderbilt's famous "the public be damned" remark, further contributed to the soulless image."

What idiots the American people have been for thinking that the Rich were anything less but a lion waiting for the right opportunity to pounce. They let the trojan horse in when they voted for Reagan and Reagan brought down the shackles that the Roosevelts put on the rich and the Rich took full advantage of the opportunity to start siphoning the money away, eventually buying the government so that the government doesn't work for the people anymore. It's foolishness to the level of giving one's entire life savings away to a con-artist.

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, AZ Progressive.

[avaistheone1]

2. k&r

[Prophet 451]

3. And I wish I could say it was going to get better

But the fact is, the ultrarich and the corporations they own now own 75% of the Democrats, 100% of the Republicans, a 5/4 majority on the SCOTUS and effectively write their own laws. Anything that seeks to restrain them will just be struck down as unConstitutional by that same SCOTUS (absent a constitutional amendment, which has zero chance of happening in the next ever). In due course, the SCOTUS will strike down the remainder of the campaign financing laws and just let the ultrarich donate as much as they like to whoever they like. Shortly after that, they will declare that, since corporations are people, they have the right to kill in protection of their property. Already, the courts dish out harsher sentences to offences against money and property than offences against people or the public. In the next couple of decades, the only crimes will be financial ones. Your punishment for killing a man will not be for robbing the world of him with his own human dignity but you will instead be punished only for robbing his family of his future earnings. This is the basic truth of modern America and, shortly, of the UK as well: Profits matter more than people; money matters more than morals. The poor are to be despised and resented for the pittance that the government gives them to live on. Every penny given to them is a dollar stolen directly from your pocket. That's how it will be sold when welfare is just ended entirely (following on from Clinton's shameful gutting of it).

You might think there would be a revolt but there won't be. The modern populace is too stuck working harder and longer for less, too terrified of unemployment and too pacified by the mindless pablum that passes for entertainment. Keep the people afraid for their security and you can convince them to do anything.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

4. A perfect accompaniment to "The Roosevelts" tonight.

Teddy had to settle for Execurive Orders despite having the Congress. Then his hand picked successor Taft renegged on progressive promises. Sad state of affairs until FDR. Now we have Limbaugh and Co as the mote around them that's got.

[MaggieD]

8. I was just thinking that too!

Great so far.

[Marr]

5. But they expect the public to fight wars for their foreign investments,

to build roads to transport their goods to market, to staff and run those markets, to buy their goods, to keep them personally safe, etc., etc.

[lonestarnot]

6. Soon we will know where they and their money are. They can run, but they cannot hide.

[MaggieD]

7. It's the same as the gilded age

Being a fanatical history buff is kind of a hobby of mine. Particularly as pertains to American political history.

I wish we took the knowledge of history as sort of a civic duty more seriously in this country. On the other hand I understand how one of the corporate objectives is to keep us too dumb and working our asses off to pay attention.

But the bottom line is this country has been through this crap before in the gilded age, and the consequences will be no less severe. It's painful to watch us like lambs led to the slaughter.

As a small aside, reading Discussionist can be very depressing because it tends to highlight just his dumb conservatives are on these issues. My ignorance may have been more blissful.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

12. Any education is old school thinking. Who needs education

when preparing for a return to the plantation economy?

sigh . . .

[pansypoo53219]

9. they want more than nothing.

[Cartoonist]

10. The French Revolution

The wealth disparity now is close to that of France back then in the age of Kings. Still, there will be no revolution here. The rich have learned from history and have done two things. One is to somehow convince the lower class that they too can become rich if they just do what they're told. The other is to provide them with distraction. As long as the poor can download movies on their cell phone, they will never reach the level of despair of the 18th Century.

[kickysnana]

11. Worse than that,

Toddler Rules of Ownership and Sharing

1. If I like it, it's mine.
2. If it's in my hand, it's mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
5. If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
6. If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine, it's mine.
8. If I saw it first, It's mine.
9. If you are playing with something and you put it down, automatically it becomes mine.
10. If it's broken, it's yours.
11. If it is broken, but you are having fun playing with the pieces, it's mine again.
12. If there is ANY doubt, it's mine.

Kevin McHugh

[hifiguy]

13. Kick/Rec!

[pampango]

14. The corollary to the republican motto: "We are NOT all in this together.

We are in this to get rich and then get richer."