Disdain for Workers -- by Paul Krugman

[Jessy169]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/opinion/krugman-disdain-for-workers.html?_r=0

For the fact is that the modern Republican Party just doesn’t have much respect for people who work for other people, no matter how faithfully and well they do their jobs. All the party’s affection is reserved for “job creators,” a k a employers and investors. Leading figures in the party find it hard even to pretend to have any regard for ordinary working families — who, it goes without saying, make up the vast majority of Americans.

Am I exaggerating? Consider the Twitter message sent out by Eric Cantor, the Republican House majority leader, on Labor Day — a holiday that specifically celebrates America’s workers. Here’s what it said, in its entirety: “Today, we celebrate those who have taken a risk, worked hard, built a business and earned their own success.” Yes, on a day set aside to honor workers, all Mr. Cantor could bring himself to do was praise their bosses.

...

Where does this disdain for workers come from? Some of it, obviously, reflects the influence of money in politics: big-money donors, like the ones Mr. Romney was speaking to when he went off on half the nation, don’t live paycheck to paycheck. But it also reflects the extent to which the G.O.P. has been taken over by an Ayn Rand-type vision of society, in which a handful of heroic businessmen are responsible for all economic good, while the rest of us are just along for the ride.

In the eyes of those who share this vision, the wealthy deserve special treatment, and not just in the form of low taxes. They must also receive respect, indeed deference, at all times. That’s why even the slightest hint from the president that the rich might not be all that — that, say, some bankers may have behaved badly, or that even “job creators” depend on government-built infrastructure — elicits frantic cries that Mr. Obama is a socialist.

Now, such sentiments aren’t new; “Atlas Shrugged” was, after all, published in 1957. In the past, however, even Republican politicians who privately shared the elite’s contempt for the masses knew enough to keep it to themselves and managed to fake some appreciation for ordinary workers. At this point, however, the party’s contempt for the working class is apparently too complete, too pervasive to hide.

[jonpaulprime]

1. Krugman

Krugman is the best! An invaluable resource.

[Lasher]

2. Love America, hate Americans.

Love the soldier, hate the veteran. Love the fetus, hate the baby.

[Zoeisright]

3. They don't love America or soldiers or fetuses.

If they did, they wouldn't suppress voting and lie and cheat. They wouldn't send soldiers to die for a lie. AND they wouldn't cut prenatal research funding. They love power. Period.

[Lasher]

5. That's right.

But they must find a way to approve of themselves and that is what their rationalization looks like.

[TXDemoGal]

4. Krugman is a national treasure

Last edited Sat Sep 22, 2012, 10:48 PM - Edit history (1)

His columns are required reading, and many of the comments tend to be excellent, too.

The fucking gall of Cantor re: his Labor Day message...what an as*wipe!