Can someone explain to me why the GOP & corporatists would like to kill off the middle class?

[mod mom]

It doesn't make sense to me. Without a strong middle class, who will buy their products or use their services? Why would they want the instability of a nation with so much employment, foreclosures and bankruptcies that there is public unrest? Am I missing something?

[peacebird]

1. China and India are the new consumers?

[mod mom]

2. but what about the public unrest in their own backyard that will occur

because of the breaking of the middle class?

[Rapanui1]

29. The same perpetual reason---Power

Tinpots have used religion as a weapon of choice(Bush telling us that the reason he murdered hundreds of thousands of Iraqi was Jesus) The GOp wants to not have to even fight for elections hence killing off the middle class would ensure a perpetual monarchical state for them.

[LiberalEsto]

63. Oh, they can hardly WAIT for us to rebel, methinks

It would be their perfect excuse for deploying all the new weapons that make blood boil inside veins, pop eardrums, etc. This would eliminate a whole lot of us. And it would enable them to get rid of Social Security and other benefits for those who survive, demolish public education, wipe out environmental laws, cut wages to the bone, and force people to work as virtual slaves, with no rights whatsoever.

[justabob]

10. that has been the only thing I could come up with too

We are disposable. This is the only way I could make sense of the things have been going on... the unsustainability and sheer destructiveness of our current model. The big boys will just move on to the next place like a plague of locusts ad nauseum. The flaw in that is that the big boys depend an awful lot on the US military to protect them... I suppose Blackwater Xe whatever et al can assist with some of that.

[Statistical]

3. My guess is the goal wasn't to KILL the middle class just squeze it.

You know ring all the profit possible out of them. Like a drug dealer doesn't want a "client" to OD. They want the client to hand over the money month after month, year after year.

Except the squeezed to hard and now are killing the Middle Class.

[CanonRay]

4. They live in gated communities

so it's not their backyard.

[FBaggins]

5. I doubt that they do...

...they just don't see the big picture.

When a company sends $70k/yr jobs to India for $25k, they know that they lose the business of the former employee... but that employee didn't give them anywhere close to $45k/yr in business... so they see it as a net gain.

When all the other companies do the same thing, however, the net impact is just what you are asking about.

Each individual decision makes micro-sense... but they lack macro-sense.

[raccoon]

8. Great post. So was the OP. I've been wondering about this for ages.

[high density]

35. In addition it is a focus on the next quarter instead of the next couple of decades

The short term profits are easily increased by offshore labor that costs so much less. Indeed, with their micro-look at everything, they all want somebody else to pay the high wages so that people can buy the $30k cars and $100/mo cellphone plans. These companies don't want to actually facilitate the consumerism that keeps them (and the entire rest of the economy) afloat.

[glitch]

42. Flaw in our system which rewards ONLY short term private profit. nt

[Odin2005]

6. Globalization means they don't need us anymore.

[Echo In Light]

12. Exactly

[earthside]

18. And 'open borders' ...

... there are millions of potential new customers, borrowers and exploitable laborers just to the south of us.

The mega-transnational corporations think they will make up in quantity what they have had through quality (that is a prosperous middle and working class--I'm not judging people) in the past.

Why do you think the biggest, most powerful proponent of "immigration reform" is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce?

It's the hemispheric version of globalization.

[pampango]

34. Not sure how you define "the biggest, most powerful proponent of "immigration reform".

The US CofC doesn't support Obama's framework for immigration reform, because it involves making the millions of "exploitable" illegal immigrants that are here less exploitable by providing them with a way to become "legal" and Obama's framework does not allow for a guest worker program that the Chamber would love.

Politically the biggest proponents of immigration reform are the Progressive Caucus and the Hispanic Caucus. The biggest opponents are, of course, the "Party of No" who are salivating at the prospect of running in the November election against the Democratic Party or, as they will call it, the Party of Illegal Immigrants. I rarely hear Teabaggers or any other right wing groups or organizations pushing for immigration reform. Any time I hear someone pushing for reform, it is invariably someone on the left.

[MrsCorleone]

41. That's it in a nutshell. I wish more understood this.

[old mark]

7. They want to go to a feudal society, rich mega landowners,

lots of poor and a small middle class that is continually struggling to stay out the pit. This leaves little time for any kind of political or social change, the rich become royalty, poor become peasants, the middle stays scared to death.

mark

[Trajan]

13. The point of the OP ...

Is that the Middle Class buys the wares and services that made the upper classes rich ...

If you kill the middle class, you kill the primary source of their wealth ....

The rich STOP getting richer ....

[sojourner]

27. at some point - even they realize I'm sure - the GAINING of wealth declines but

they KEEP the wealth by reason of political and military power. Just like poster above said...feudal society. And don't forget that space was weaponized. Recall those lovely "rods of god" that people were freaking out about during BushII?

[jgraz]

32. You're assuming we stay in a consumer-driven economy

A consumer economy is a very recent development. Basing an economy on a large middle class buying crap they don't really need is ultimately unsustainable. It also requires a large, healthy middle-class and that translates into a large, powerful -- and dangerous -- electorate.

In a feudal society, the rich simply take what they want and employ a lucky few peasants as guards, servants and workers. The rest are kept in abject squalor as a warning to the others. Believe me, the uber-class is not at all interested in how many Sham-Wows or iPods we buy.

[old mark]

53. Precisely. The Feudal rich have zero interest in the welfare of the peasants,

till they need to raise a large army or fuck someone's wife or daughter.


mark

[bbgrunt]

57. exactly right, jgraz.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

52. A caste system - like Louisiana and the Old South.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

9. Some kind of virulent, pervasive greed, that rots them from within

and removes all sense of empathy, morality, decency and humanity.

They believe in Social Darwinism and the ultimate goal is to belong to the I Got Mine club where no bonus is too large,and no payoff unwelcome and if they have to build a ladder to the top of the mountain using the bones of those they have crushed as steps, no problem, that's what they will do.
********
edit: I'm not giving the Dems a blanket pass, either. I don't see them fighting or fighting hard to pass the kind of laws and regulations we need to protect consumers and citizens. If anything, the Blue Dogs fight for the other side.

[hvn_nbr_2]

43. Greed is Republican angel dust.

It makes them stupid and violent but they're addicted to it.

[unpossibles]

11. because they are idiots. They don't want to kill it, but the problem is they just don't care

about the long term. get in, get rich, and get out fast is the mantra, and they don't give a shit about consequences for anything they do.

[fasttense]

14. Unconscious greed.

Greed and profit have no minds. They don't think further than where they are going to get their next dollar from.

As Adam Smith stated…"where there is no moral framework, no ethical sensibility (meaning no regulations on capitalism), the market ends up devouring all the other sectors and then devours itself."

The middle class is merely being devoured by the free market.

The free market had eaten most everything in sight and then it ate itself as the banks/Wall Street/insurance corporations began to collapse in 2008. But then Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, the bushes and Obama came to the rescue and fed them, instead of letting them starve to death. So they reproduced.

[Bonhomme Richard]

15. They don't want to kill it off per say. They just want to pick........

our pockets clean while the picking is good. They know that they will be long gone and retired when there is nothing left to pick. It's the problem with all of Wall Street. All they care about is how much they made this quarter and that's it.

[Lerkfish]

16. rent the "killing fields" about the Kmer Rhouge

they exterminated anyone with an education, because they can employ critical thinking.
If you have everyone except the elite barely making subsistence wages, they don't have time or energy to mobilize against tyranny.

[raccoon]

17. Or weapons, unless somebody provides them. nt

[GoCubsGo]

24. Exactly right.

That's why they're so critical of public education, and so hell-bent on destroying it.

[cbdo2007]

19. The weird thing is that so many of the GOP are middle class....

I know most people here think they're all super rich...but the majority of the GOP are middle class just like everybody else. That's why it's so strange that they fight so hard to lower taxes on the rich yet don't care that there are millions of people who can't afford health care. In fact I know a few middle aged couples who are hardcore repubes and constantly complain about tax hikes for the rich but THEY THEMSELVes can't afford health insurance!!

[Echo In Light]

21. It's crucial for slave owners to coax the slaves into *thinking* they're 'on their side'

[cbdo2007]

39. Actually, I think census data proves most of them are middle class.

[butterfly77]

20. They don't really care about us..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTvyFmo6Sfs

[W_HAMILTON]

22. They don't think that far ahead.

They're like corporate executives, disregarding the company's long-term future so they can achieve a short-term goal that will earn them a bonus.

Needless to say, I guess it's not surprising that the younger crowd leans more Democratic, while those that look like cousins of the Crypt Keeper are the GOP types.

[safeinOhio]

25. They'll keep saying "let them eat cake" until

we start screaming "off with their heads". It's an old story.
Behind it is power, not so much money.

Democracy is our friend. Keeping $ out of elections has to be our main struggle. Once the vote is gone, all we are left with is torches and pitchforks.

[iceman66]

64. This is the correct answer.

It is all about short-term gain with no consideration of the long-term consequences.

[fascisthunter]

23. because they are brainwashed into a theory that has already failed

therefore these people are either stupid, brainwashed or just plain whacko.

[Froward69]

26. To make them selves feel superior.

[KittyWampus]

28. Why do tumors and ticks kill off their hosts?

[earth mom]

30. They don't need us anymore. Better for us to die and stop using up all the food and gas

and natural resources.

They can make their money off of foreign countries and not have to worry about all of us eaters being a drain on THEIR country. :grr:

[cali]

31. they don't want to kill off the middle class

they're just stupid, shortsighted and overwhelmingly greedy.

[Romulox]

33. Apply Occam's Razor: unfettered greed is the answer.

(I still chuckled at the poster "Occam's Bandage", who appeared to style himself as the opposite of the Razor!)

[kctim]

36. You are missing the "conspiracy theory"

that people must use in order to justify their own personal beliefs on the matter, no matter how little sense that theory makes.
The far-left wants govt to run things how only the far-left believes things should be ran, so they create nonsense to confuse, scare and even discredit those who dare hold a differing view.
The far-right wants govt out of things so that the far-right can run things how the far-right believes things should be ran, so they create nonsense to confuse, scare and even discredit those who dare hold a differing view.
Meanwhile, the majority, us moderates, want an effective govt that works for us without controlling us. That is why the far-right and far-left have not yet been able to hold power on the national level long enough to destroy the country. That is why Obama is now President Obama and why he will win again in 2012.

If you want it to make sense, stop accepting excuses for facts.

[Fading Captain]

37. And some Dems too. They're drinking the CATO KoolAid

SOme of them actually believe that a free market will work best.
Some are just mean spirited dickwads.

[Demeter]

38. Because If There Was a Middle Class, the Corporatists Could Be Pushed Into It?

They think that eliminating the middle keeps them from falling in stature...wait until they find out what REAL poverty is like, come the Revolution they have incited!

[Skidmore]

40. Ah, but there are new markets to be made and developed.

China and India have millions and millions of people between them. What's a piddly 200 million Americans?

[glitch]

44. All of the above.

edit: okay almost all of the above.

[arcadian]

45. They're going to be going after a bigger dollar, the emerging global middle class.

Or so they think.

[area51]

46. Because they're stupid and short-sighted.

They view the abject poverty of Haiti as a role model for how they want the U.S. to be.

[PassingFair]

47. Short-term crime spree. Get it while you can.

The psychopaths DON'T CARE about the long-term
implications or consequences of their "bonanza".

They don't care.

[Echo In Light]

50. ..or the exact opposite: they DO know what's around the bend, while the populace remains aloof

... smugly dismissing "conspiracy theories" about globalization

[PassingFair]

54. I'm not saying that they don't KNOW....

I'm saying that they don't CARE.

Just like the NeoCons didn't CARE what
happened after we invaded Iraq.

They're DO'ERS...not THINKERS!

:crazy:

[RaleighNCDUer]

48. Because quarterly reports are more important than long-term viability. nt

[ddeclue]

49. because money is power and when only THEY have money the rest of us become peasants..

check out Mexico if you want to understand what they want.

[KayLaw]

56. That's what I think.

And they want us to be desperate for money and work so they can pay us slave wages with no benefits, earning just enough to pay taxes for roads and whatever they need to make their fortunes, and then fork over whatever we have left to them - aka company store.

[guitar man]

51. because parasites

don't give a damn about their host. A tick will keep sucking blood from a dog until it gets so fat it finally falls off. You think the tick gives a shit about the dog?

that's all they are, short sighted, bloodsucking parasites. What they can pot in their coffers today is all they can see and they could give a damn about what lies ahead, as long as they are ok.

:grr:

[southernyankeebelle]

55. China and India are growing but I wouldn't want to be a american business in

owner and unrest happens then the country takes over and kicks the business out. I think it would be the best thing to happen to those corporations.

[Javaman]

58. Just look back to history, during the gilded years. company stores...

no unions, no benefits, no health care, no SS, no medicare, etc.

They want all the glory without the overhead.

It's not about eliminating the middle class per say, but making them more subservient.

[Stinky The Clown]

59. The reason: To get their stuff

They want everything you own

[Juche]

60. I dont' think they do

I think they are just so short sighted that it isn't a concern. I don't think they sit around and maliciously try to destroy the middle class. I think they are just so obsessed with supply side economics and short term thinking that it just happens as a consequence.

Same with their attitudes on climate change. They really don't care about anything but supply side economics and short term thinking. If this leads to massive problems down the road, meh.


However there is a benefit to having a scared, insecure middle class. They are easier to control. Like Tony Benn said in Sicko, if you have a nation of educated, self confident, secure people they are harder to control. If people will drop to their knees and beg to keep their jobs for fear that being fired means their kids will lose health coverage, people can be controlled easier. Scared people who are deep in debt are easy to threaten.

Imagine how much harder we'd be to control if we had reliable health care, a high savings rate and economic security. It'd be much harder to threaten us by threatening to take those things away.

[starroute]

61. Sometimes I think they expect a massive population dieback

About 2/3 of me finds that way too tinfoil -- but the other 1/3 is convinced that a lot of rich people are hoping for an environmental crashout that would reduce the human population to a few hundred million at most, after which they would enjoy vast feudal estates largely operated by robots and with just a few human servants kept around for them to bully.

Well, actually I suspect that some of them really are thinking in those terms -- but only the craziest megalomaniacs among them. The rest probably aren't thinking any further ahead than "gimme, gimme."

[MisterP]

66. I dunno, their trend has been ultra-natalist (outside "liberish" weirdo richies like Rockefellers)

after all, they gave us the Mexico City policy and their wurlitzers relentlessly deny overpopulation: I'd think that more people and less ecological "breathing room" would let them tighten their grip, rather than threatening it
on edit: they're also shortsighted little douches

[EFerrari]

62. The wealthy don't need us for any reason at all since globalization

and deregulation.

They can skim our resources with impunity. And they don't believe we can do anything about our captivity.

[Political Heretic]

65. There are serveral answers, but the main reason: short term vs. long term thinking.

First of all, even though the book is a decade old, I'd recommend looking at Michael Hudson's Merchants of Misery: How Corporate America Profits from Poverty. It describes the multi-billion dollar industry bill around feeding off the poor.

However, that describes a sector of business, not all business. So why would the financial elite and their political representatives support policy that hurts the middle class?

#1 They don't claim that it does hurt the middle class, and thus don't accept your premise. Some are lying, but some are true believers in the purest tradition of Friedman, Lucas, Norquist, etc. They believe it is government interference that throws the economy into disarray. They fully believe in the trickle-down economic model that a completely unfettered business class will lead to higher employment rates and better conditions for everyone.

#2 For those who are not true believers like that, it can come down to simple greed. Short term gains vs. long term consequences. There are many in places of financial and political power who care about nothing more than getting in, making billions, and getting out before the system crashes. Long term health of the state is unimportant. Lives of others is unimportant. Simply exploiting the system to reap as much profit and power from it as possible is the only concern. Some people truly believe they have wealth and power because they are "destined" to be so, they "deserve" it. And they believe those who do not have such things "deserve" what they get too.

[Kievan Rus]

67. Because corporatists are selfish cretins that are pure, unadulterated evil

[Political Heretic]

68. Chomsky: Businessweek answers your question for you

"The major factors that have led to the global economic crisis are well understood. One is the globalization of production, which has offered the masters tantalizing opportunities. The business press frankly warns the "pampered Western workers" that they must abandon their "luxurious life styles" and such "market rigidities" as contracts, pensions, health and safety in the workplace, and other outdated nonsense, even the very concept of a job. Economists talk of job flow, pointing out that it is hard to estimate -- and also largely beside the point. The threat suffices to force working people to accept employers' demands. The end of the Cold War, returning most of Eastern Europe to its traditional Third World service role, places new weapons in the hands of the rulers, as the business press has reported with unrestrained glee. GM and VW can shift production to the restored Third world in the East, where they can find workers at a fraction of the cost of the "pampered Western workers," meanwhile enjoying high tariff protection and the other amenities that "really existing free markets" provide for the rich. The U.S. and U.K. are leading the way in grinding down working people and the poor, but others will follow along, thanks to the globalization of production. Inequality is back to the depression days in the U.S., back to Victorian times in England, though Latin America still wins the prize for worst record in the world, thanks to our kind tutelage over many years.3 "

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Chomsky/Rollback_Part4_Chom.html

In other places, Chomsky identifies the source of the "pampered western workers" quote to be BusinessWeek. The whole quote basically goes, (paraphrase) the problem with our economy is that american working class expectations are too high, the middle class expects "luxurious" life-styles like health care or pensions or fair wages and opportunities for growth. And we need to work to recondition Americans to accept lower wagers and poorer working conditions like the rest of the world.

[Political Heretic]

69. More Chomsky in answer:

"....The lessons are spelled out by Business Week. Europe must "hammer away at high wages and corporate taxes, short working hours, labor immobility, and luxurious social programs." It must learn the lesson of Britain, which finally "is doing something well," the Economist announces approvingly, with "trade unions shackled by law and subdued," "unemployment high," and the Maastricht social chapter rejected so that employers are protected "from over-regulation and under-flexibility of labour" (job security). American workers are barely a step behind. "

http://www.chomsky.info/articles/199312--.htm

[ThomWV]

70. Did no one tell you the tale "The Goose that laid the golden egg"?

They squeezed that goose until they killed it, not because they hated the goose - hell no, they loved the goose. No, it was greed; trying to get that one more golden egg out of the goose that caused its death.

[applegrove]

71. Cause they are going to get rich by owning corporations that make their profits from

countries around the world. The rich don't need the middle class anymore so they want to shrink it and grow the rich people (which also means the # of poor people grows too). They want the US to have the distribution of wealth of Mexico (1/3 rich, 2/3 poor with the poor misinformed and politically neutered). That way the rich will not have to pay taxes and can get richer and richer.