How did the Republicans convince people that making wealthy people wealthier was a good idea?

[NNN0LHI]

I mean think about that. They damn near had me believing it for a while.

Imagine making a majority of people actually believe that giving tax cuts to the wealthy was good for us. I can't believe it.

I think it must be the use of repetition the Rethugs used. And having a very obedient media helped a lot too.

And by the way. We know how much everyone else makes now. The media darlings reported it to us.

OK, how much do the media darlings make?

I bet most of them are wealthy and have a dog in this financial fight themselves.

Don

[Ardent15]

1. They convinced people that the wealthy will stimulate the rest of the economy

They did it carefully,using social issues to keep the cultural conservatives preoccupied. Then,the media turned a blind eye as the GOP gave tax breaks to the wealthiest few.

And they called anyone who disagreed with them "socialist" or waging "class warfare."

[liberal N proud]

5. It had to be more than that...

I think that they play(ed) on the American Dream implanted in Americans. They exploited the thought however small in each and every American that they one day could be rich.

I think that people actually think that someday they will climb that class ladder and own luxury yachts. By using that thought the GOP convinced that people need to support less taxes for the rich will be to their benefit once they "make it rich"

[Ardent15]

7. Oh no doubt that was a big part of it

[Uzybone]

2. By making people think that they would become wealthy too...eventually

oh and yeah the media will never report on themselves. They will never honestly critique themselves either.

[Johonny]

17. yeah

there is the deep seated belief that some day by working hard they too will be accepted into the wealthy class.

[CTyankee]

21. When non wealthy people would start talking that way to me I always told them

that I raised money for charity in Greenwich, CT and knew lots of those wealthy people. "They're in their own little club and they don't want YOU in it. They're laughing at you all the way to the bank."

I was really sick of hearing their blather. They thought that because they were white, they could make it in the rich, white man's club. It was a way of feeling superior to the black and brown people, cuz for some reason lots of people need to "look down" on SOMEBODY...

[dem629]

3. There's nothing inherently wrong with it.

It DOES matter how one goes about amassing that wealth. Some of us do it without climbing on the backs of others.

[HughBeaumont]

4. Carrot. Stick. Horatio Alger.

Financial independence/lottery winning is one of the most satisfying fantasies of man; one which never fails to have them all refute simple math/odds to believe a story. They don't understand that hard work is about a 5-10% determinant of a person's success, not seeing that connections, family, environment and an insane amount of luck factor in far more when you separate the middle class and the rich.

"You can be rich too, if you simply work HARD enough. Therefore, once you ARE rich, would YOU be happy paying all these silly taxes?"

Another piece is that some working/middle class Repubs refuse to admit they're peasants. They're far too comfortable knowing there's SOMEone they can look down upon, which is what keeps this Reaganite pipe-dream afloat.

[Myrina]

6. "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous"

... and other BS shows like that which started in the 80's, make the Average folks want to be rich, think the rich are to be idolized, and helped set in place the mindset that if you're not a conspicuous consumer living an over-the-top lifestyle, you're a failure as a human being.

[gratuitous]

8. It wasn't the Republicans alone

They were greatly aided and abetted by the popular media and some folks in the Democratic party. And a number of these folks, just coincidentally I’m sure, happened to be pretty rich themselves. Repetition and ubiquity can drive even a stupid message, provided it has some appeal to broader sensibilities. And who is immune to greed? Everyone would like to think that someday they, too, might be making a quarter mil a year. And by golly, they’d want to shelter as much of that money from taxation as possible!

I remember a story from a few years ago about Granny D, the peace activist who walked all over the country. She was in Alabama, I believe, and was talking with a guy working on a garbage truck about the issues important to him. The guy made about $16,000 a year, and swore up and down that the most important issue he could possibly imagine was a complete repeal of the estate tax. He wasn’t worried about union representation, health care, affordable housing, good schools, the high cost of higher education; no, it was the estate tax that was the root of all that troubled him.

Now, where would he get a cockamamie idea like that? At the time, that was a hobby horse being ridden particularly hard by a certain Rush Limbaugh, and this guy working on a garbage truck apparently thought there was a good enough chance that someday he might have an estate worth more than $2 million that those bureaucrats in Washington were going to take it all away from him.

[Ardent15]

10. That is a goo example of the fantasy that cosnervatives have...

..that one day, they too will be rich, but only if those pesky tax-and-spend liberals are out of the way.

[Ardent15]

11. That is a good example of the fantasy that conservatives have...

..that one day, they too will be rich, but only if those pesky tax-and-spend liberals are out of the way.

[atommom]

9. By convincing people that the wealthy are more worthy people, and that

they (the non wealthy viewers) are also more worthy than the "lower classes". So an injury to the wealthy is also an injury to all those other worthy folks who were about to become wealthy too. Those other worthy folks are being deprived of what is rightfully theirs, their opportunity to amass wealth, and it is the fault of the less worthy people and the Democrats. The Republicans have aroused spite and resentment against people who are struggling, even among people who are struggling. It is a masterpiece of doublespeak.

[NNN0LHI]

27. Recommend that post

[LaPera]

32. K&R

[readmoreoften]

42. They foment feelings of superiority to instill ideology in the people they want to control.

Put the middle class in the double bind of "I stake my identity in being superior to the poor and imagine myself as the backbone of the rich to stave off my feelings of inferiority in their presence."

Great post.

[Echo In Light]

12. "Greed is good."

Remember that one?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. Think of Dad with the belt, "This is for your own good."

[guitar man]

14. "trickle down"

That was the big buzzword back when St Ronnie hatched the whole scheme. I can still remember my Dad saying "get ready,that means we're all about to get pissed on" :rofl:

The big idea was that the wealthy are the business owners, employers etc and if they got to keep more of what they "earned", they would, out of a strong sense of moral and ethical obligation, pass some of it down to those who worked so hard to help produce that wealth for them. :rofl:


To quite my recently converted ex-republican brother "what the hell would have been wrong with requiring the fat cats to pass it down rather than relying on faith that they would somehow magically do the right thing?"

[indepat]

15. Even before the gipper's first major tax cuts, 90+% of this nation's wealth was concentrated

among a relatively few and has been much concentrated thereafter for, after all, that was the 'pukes job # 1. At the same time the highest marginal rates were slashed, payroll taxes were increased dramatically, both the rate and the middle-income base subject to the payroll tax, but higher incomes were totally exempt from these increased payroll taxes. Then, let's give capital gains and interest on dividends a much more favorable income tax treatment and phase out the inheritance tax, then let's pilfer what would ultimately be trillions of dollars from Al's lock-box for further tax cuts for the most affluent: it's so simple to pull this off when your entire agenda is but one humongous lie. :P

[Chulanowa]

37. For all the praise we give him, Carter was a big part of that

Cutting top-tier taxes, pumping Military spending, all while making what were frankly toothless gestures towards populism.

[Laelth]

43. Excellent synopsis. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[DrDan]

16. this conservative base will believe anything . . .

the earth is 6,000 years old,
global warming will take care of itself - keep buying the gas guzzlers
the solution for any economic crisis is tax cuts, particularly for the wealthy
class size has nothing to do with the successs of our schools
corporations will police themselves
safety increases directly with the number of guns we own
the is little more entertaining that watching a car making left-turns around an oval
oh for the good old days when slavery was in-fashion and women knew their place

[WeDidIt]

18. Teh same way a landed gentry convinced serfs to keep an extreme minority in the aristocracy wealthy

in Europe for centuries.

SUCKERS!

[Winterblues]

19. Their biggest sound bite, "The poor never hired anyone"

"Trickle down" and "everyone should get tax cuts"....

[Solly Mack]

20. Amazing isn't it? Hard work is supposed to pay off. People are told that

from infancy. Work hard! Achieve success! So when hard work doesn't produce that much expected monetary worth it can't be because your parents were wrong, your teachers were wrong, or your government lied to you about the "American Dream" can it? And it can't be the fault of those who have "made it" - You aspire to be one of those people, so how can it possibly be their fault? They worked hard!

A wealthy person gave me my job! They worked hard and tell me how working hard for them will give me rewards. Sure, they don't want me to unionize and they don't pay a living wage and I don't have benefits - but I'm working hard and one day I can own the company!

Besides, it's all those taxes and poor people making it hard for my boss. Sure, they have tax shelters but they worked hard for that money and should be able to keep it! I'm proud to work for them and to give them all I have so they can make up for all those tax dollars they have to pay out. That's why they can't pay me more or give me benefits - so I work harder for them so they can make more money and that money will trickle down to me eventually. But if it wasn't for all those taxes and lazy poor people getting government assistance, I would have benefits now. I would make more money. When the new boss took over from his father, who took over from his father, he said that only together could we be a success. That if we work hard for him, he would work hard for us. But there are too many government rules and they hurt profits - and without profits, I can't have a raise or have benefits. So I have to vote for those in government who understand that business regulations and safety and labor laws only hurt me and keep me from making more money and having benefits. One day I'm going to own this company. And all I have to do is work hard.

[Hello_Kitty]

22. They played to people's illusory aspirations

Practically every Republican I know thinks that he (usually a 'he') will one day be wealthy and voting Republican is a way to preemptively protect his future wealth from taxes. That's the thinking Joe the Plumber was operating from - he was planning to buy a business that he was sure was going to make him at least $250K a year. No amount of trying to convince him that he ought to vote the pocketbook he has now and not the one he aspired to have was going to get through to him.

There is also the fact that we live in a culture that worships and valorizes the wealthy. They are demigods who mustn't be punished for their awesomeness. It doesn't matter that in reality most wealth is inherited or acquired through very little effort, the belief is that the rich are smarter and work harder than the rest of us.

[AllentownJake]

23. The 401(k)

By getting pretty much all of a middle class America to have ownership in the stock market which is primarily something the wealthy would use to gamble some of their money (not their entire retirement like the middle class) they were able to get the middle class to buy into the idea that the wealth's interest and their interest were the same.

It also got people to buy into the notion that corporations sending jobs over seas was not a bad thing (as long as it wasn't their corporation) because they would have more profits and better returns on their 401(k)

That one little investment vehicle was the biggest lie and most destructive thing to the middle class. More so than any Reagan tax cut.

[No.23]

24. Bullseye.

Good archery there.

I vividly recall seeing the foam of anticipation on the lips of my middle class coworkers, when they were informed that their pensions will be converted to 401K based ones.

Companies and governments played it up big, with projections of what they could make by speculating in the stock market.

And most of my coworkers bit into it.

But it only worked because greed fueled it.

They spooon-fed it, but many were more than willing to swallow the stuff.

I even recall asking a union rep about the forced transformation of the pension plan.

And he gave me a puzzled look.

As if it was unAmerican for someone not to be interested in speculating, but preferred saving.

So here we are today.

[AllentownJake]

25. Yep and it tied the employees to the market

So when the market went down it was easy to sell what's good for Wall st. is good for main st.

It also took capital out of bonds a traditional saving mechanism for pensions that actually creates capital and moved it into what I call base ball cards. The capital provided from a stock was created a long time ago unless you bought it in an IPO.

And in a super nice touch it moved the middle class to the last in line of creditors when a company fails for assets. Beautiful isn't it how the rich took the tax code and wrote it in a way to finally steal the middle class's retirement. Remember the movie Wall St. That was Gecko's goal along.

[spanone]

26. how do they get people to protest tax cuts that are aimed at them and NOT the rich?

it's beyond me

[Marr]

28. They convinced some middle class people that they were wealthy.

Then they point at their neighbors, who make maybe $10k-$20k less per year, and said "those people want you to support them". You know, the usual divide and conquer bullshit that wealthy pricks have always used.

[blindpig]

29. Mebbe this had something to do with it.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Looking beyond the usual roster of right-wing Christians, anticommunist neo-cons and disgruntled working-class whites, this incisive study examines the unsung role of a political movement of businessmen in leading America's post-1960s rightward turn. Historian Phillips-Fein traces the hidden history of the Reagan revolution to a coterie of business executives, including General Electric official and Reagan mentor Lemuel Boulware, who saw labor unions, government regulation, high taxes and welfare spending as dire threats to their profits and power. From the 1930s onward, the author argues, they provided the money, organization and fervor for a decades-long war against New Deal liberalism—funding campaigns, think tanks, magazines and lobbying groups, and indoctrinating employees in the virtues of unfettered capitalism. Theirs was also a battle of ideas, she contends; the business vanguard nurtured conservative thinkers like economist Friedrich von Hayek and his secretive Mont Pellerin Society associates, who developed a populist free-market ideology that persuaded workers to side with their bosses against the liberal state. Combining piquant profiles of corporate firebrands with a trenchant historical analysis that puts economic conflict at the heart of political change, Phillips-Fein makes an important contribution to our understanding of American conservatism. Photos. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
<...> Combining piquant profiles of corporate firebrands with a trenchant historical analysis that puts economic conflict at the heart of political change, Phillips-Fein makes an important contribution to our understanding of American conservatism.

See all Editorial Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Class War., March 3, 2009

First, given my response, I should state explicitly that, no, I do not know the author from Adam, I am not a scholar in American political history, and I am at the moment just over halfway through the book.

I am nonetheless leaping to tack some gold stars onto this Amazon listing because I would like to see this excellent, timely chronicle in as many hands as possible. This is exactly the history of modern conservatism and the GOP we need at the moment, one that swats away all the cultural-religious distractions and traces the programatic efforts by businessmen, bankers, and economic libertarians since FDR to equate America and Capitalism, with the former being merely the means and the latter the true end.

While liberals of my generation have been fretting over gay marriage, deconstruction, and identity politics, the state has been completely retaken from the New Deal compromise in decisive class warfare waged from above. Class warfare? While the author does not harp on the term, I insist on calling it by its proper name, as Lewis Mumford used to say. The facts should be brutally obvious by now. Can anyone deny that the middle class is caught in a veritable Dresden of class war, raining debt, fear, obscurantism, and havoc from above?

By concerted effort and planning, as this book details, a relatively small cadre of blueblood patroons, capitalist absolutists, Hayek disciples, and Chamber of Commerce hacks have succeeded in reversing the New Deal, which they regarded as criminal collectivism, and returning us right back where we started, back in the Great Depression, briefly interrupted. I had read bits of this history elsewhere, but the author does an excellent job of weaving it together. While she can't resist colorful zingers about the zanier zealots (who could?), this is largely a calm, level-headed history without that tone of outraged, preachy sarcasm that inflects so many liberal polemics.

While this dismantling of the New Deal is at one level a perfectly rational act of capitalist self-interest, the book also illuminates its scarier, conflicted, nihilistic side. There is a philosophical lineage leading from Goldwater's expressed willingness (in his ghost-written manifesto) to defend capitalism to the very point of nuclear extinction and Rush Limbaugh's hopes for the failure of our present government. Capitalism is a promethean faith and no one should believe for a second that the true believers are phased in the slightest by our present state of destruction. To the true heroic capitalist a destroyed nation is just one more market opportunity.

Perhaps the most chilling episode in the book is Ayn Rand's internecine attack on Milton Friedman for his all-too-moderate moral compunctions. Rand saw not only government but morality itself as a limitation on the capitalist, whose duty it was to crush the weak parasites and "losers" who feed through the tax system. Note well: Rand is possibly the bestselling pseudophilospher in America, as well as the siren and mentor of the youthful Allen Greenspan. (Makes you wonder. Perhaps an economic Katrina to rid the country of parasites was his plan all along.)

An illuminating, valuable, briskly-paced book. Unless you are already very well versed in this history, I highly recommend it, and do pass it along! It might even up the odds in our current class war, at least to a sporting level, if both sides were clear on who the enemy is. A lot of determined idealists paid a lot of money to get us into our present crisis, and if we ever manage to crawl out they'll be only too happy to do it again.

[Ardent15]

31. Thanks for bringing that up, that sounds like a must read

[GreenTea]

30. Limbaugh has his under-educated ditto-heads believing someday they too will be filthy rich, IF

they just don't listen to the democrats.....and do what's "good" for themselves by voting republican (i.e., voting against their own best interest) instead be a republican in favor of corporate subsidies, reject governments corporate regulations & restrictions & support corporate tax cuts -

Because they too (the undeserving ditto-heads as they are taught to believe) won't want those same restraints when they get rich, SOMEDAY....

The slimy republicans have been saying and pounding away with this bullshit for decades....Unbelievable, pitiful & shameless!

[galloglas]

33. This is how they did it.

They (in Reagan's Day) convinced the upper 75% of income earners that all of them were in the upper 50% of income earners and convinced them to be greedy and vote their pocket books as a defense against the epidemic of welfare queens in Cadillacs who were eating up all of their tax money.

Hope they have it right this time.

[Captain Hilts]

34. Men think that they will be rich. They buy into it to a degree women do not. nt

[Skittles]

35. there's a lot of stupid people around

[burythehatchet]

36. Because brain dead centrists a/k/a Reagan democrats enabled it.

[robinlynne]

38. They lied.

[johnlucas]

39. Wannabe-ism, basically

Everybody wants to become rich & nobody wants to be poor. They just tapped into your greed drive, that's all.
Even if you were poor currently you would be rich "some day" so you preferred to identify with the rich at the expense of everybody else.

It usually takes some personal crises to snap that spell with the realization that a society must care for all of its citizens not just its wealthy ones.
This takes many forms from a killed soldier son in a war, a bout of cancer & the battles with the medical establishment, watching your parents deteriorate in a nursing home, your child playing with a gun & shooting a neighbor, even urban sprawl ruining a pretty forest. It usually takes something that will trigger the empathic drive in us to snap out of it.
John Lucas

P.S.: Oh & also some ethnic-tribal superiority overlays have something to do with it, too. But it's only the glaze on top of this ham.

[quiet.american]

40. I hear you -- through lies. Wedge issues. Distraction. And masterful framing. nt

[VOX]

41. Popular falsehood: "A rising tide lifts all boats."

Regrettably, this quote is attributed to JFK. Other Democrats have used it as well. That said, this is now a favorite right-wing chestnut.

In an ideal world, the phrase would be true, but it holds no water (or money) in today's me-first-and-the-hell-with-you world.

[GeorgeGist]

44. Greed maybe the oldest obsession ...

of anti-socialists.

[NorthCarolina]

45. When they talk Tax Cuts they intentionally never say WHO would receive them

and of course the bulk of our Fair and Balanced MSM never presses the issue. Everybody likes a tax cut....right? :eyes:

[santamargarita]

46. People who vote Republican will believe anything

:crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

[The Gunslinger]

47. thats easy

Full control of the media and public airwaves and then catapult propaganda to the dumbed down masses, and declare any opposition as socialism.