Class Warfare is ON, baby!!!

The BBQ Pit
1

Are we in a class war?

As the old saying goes:

Once is an incidence
You’ll remember that the first thing the Bush Administration did when they took office is push a law through Congress that gave a huge tax break to the rich and forced the middle class and the poor to shoulder a larger portion of the tax burden

Twice is coincidence
Bush is now launching a “reform” of social security, which is designed to gut the program by taking money out of it and putting it into private accounts, thus making the shortfall worse, not better

Three times is Enemy Action:
The Bush Administration and the Republican Congress is pushing through bankruptcy reforms that will make it much harder and more expensive for poor people to declare bankruptcy. They’ll owe more money to their wealthy creditors and their wealthy lawyers

Four times is BOHICA*:
4) The Republican Congress and the Bush Administration have pushed through a bill limiting damages on lawsuits to $250,000. One is reminded of the scene in “A Tale of Two Cities” when a nobleman’s carriage runs over a child in the street, killing him, and the nobleman in the carriage “compensates” the grieving parents by tossing a few coins out the window.

It’s obvious … the Class War is ON my friends, and it’s been on for the five years, more if you count all the things the Republicans were doing when they didn’t control the White House. The wealthy and their advocates have been making a concerted attack on the middle class and the poor. The war is on big time now and you’ve voted to give your opponents ALL the best weapons. As a voter, you belong on the special bus.

The middle class and the poor aren’t fighting back. And whenever some worthy such as myself proposes that we DO fight back, THAT’S when the conservatives cry “class warfare.” It’s total hypocrisy but I absolutely cannot blame conservatives for thinking you will fall for such an obvious ploy, considering what you’ve ALREADY demonstrated you’ll fall for.

And don’t give me that guff about 911 scaring you into voting Republican despite the economic damage you KNOW they are doing. I guess I’ll address you in the way such a claim indicates you need to be addressed: “Awwww, did bad ol’ Dubya scare widdums by showing you the picture of the bad ol’ nasty man with the beard who blew up a building? Did that scare widdums so bad widdums hadda mortgage away widdums’ children’s future? Oooooh, poor baby, losing widdum’s ability to think and reason all of a sudden like dat. Must be AWFUL!”

Hey, you’re in a class war whether you like it or not. Right here. Right now. The only question is whether or not you are going to fight back. Maybe it WILL make wealthy conservatives and their defenders mad, but this business of trying to subdue them by going after their fists with your face – which is exactly what voting Republican is all about if you’re poor or middle class – is not working.

I am sorry, but if you are poor or middle class and vote Republican for any national office in the next election, you are a damned fool. There is no nice way to say it. But hey, it’s not so bad because you’re already a damned fool for voting for Bush in 2004. You were warned. Everybody knew it would happen. Didn’t stop you though, did it? You damned fool.
*Bend Over, Here It Comes Again

2

yawn

3

I was with you until here. Hate to break it, but the class war has always been “on.” The Bush administration is just less subtle about it, which could turn out to be a good thing, if it provokes a backlash.

4

A truly semi-devestating response. I am floored.

5

It’s always been on, but from the 60s to the 80s it was more like a cold war. Since Bush has been elected, they’ve been hauling out the nukes. Can debtors’ prisons be far ahead?

6

American poor and middle class dream or beleive they will become rich… and therefore don’t object much to their “future class” getting benefits. :slight_smile:

Well… besides sheep don’t complain… until your either bankrupt or retiring… it will be too late to notice you’ve been fucked over.

7

Indeed - one weeps for the oppressed pauper who can now merely get unlimited economic and punitive damages and up to a quarter of a million dollars in pain and suffering damages.

Hang on, what?

8

If a doctor commits a gross act of malpractice and accidently lops off the testicles of a guy who went in for wart removal, yeah, I’d feel pretty bad for him when he only gets $250k (it’s not like he’s being economically damaged by not having balls, after all).

9

In a strange way, our prosperity has worked against us.
Just like girls today cannot imagine that women were denied credit cards and admittance into certain degree programs(and so don’t see the need to support equal rights), folks today truly think that since it isn’t happening to them (yet), it isn’t happening.
Another example: I cannot tell you how many (yes, I can, 5 and counting) Republican friends have told me that the guys in Gitmo don’t deserve any civil liberties and that “bad things happen in prison, so Abu Graib is just like that.” These are college educated, white collar people who read papers and follow stories–if it hasn’t threatened them, personally, they truly don’t care.

IMO, the middle class (and the upper middle class) is in for a big shock–the current admin doesn’t give a shit about our concerns. And the working poor and outright poverty stricken? Suck it up, losers. Those local “faith based” organizations will take care of you…

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The scenario I have heard is that you go in to have your right leg amputated and the doctor cuts off your left leg by mistake – but the right leg STILL needs that pesky amputation procedure. So you’ve lost both legs, cost to the doctor and his insuranced company, $250,000. Cost to you – priceless.

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I LIKE three of the four things you listed. Only the SSI privitization isn’t a good idea, IMHO.

When dealing with a politician, three out of four ain’t bad!

PS: Read up on the bankruptcy thing a little before you complain. “Poor people” are exempt. I realize that kinda’ spoils the whole “class war” theme for you, though. Sorry.

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That’s as may be, although punitive damages are still unlimited, remember. My point is that I have no idea how this constitutes class warfare, since I see no language in the bill saying “except for rich people - they can have more if they want.” Do poor ball-less people suffer more than rich ones?

13

Your points are largely valid, but it is a bit more complex than an ‘us’ and ‘them’ class war. There’s no ruling aristocracy in the US, so in order to fulfill your agenda, you somehow, some way, need to build a simple a majority consensus.

Here’s my take on it. To some this is going to look like republican bashing, but it isn’t intended to be, and no doubt you can find similar examples with democrats.

The ultra-wealthy (because, let’s face it, even the middle class is well-to-do by world standards) have an agenda, and legislation they would like passed to protect their wealth. But they are a minority. What to do? How about form a symbiotic relationship with a group that could give them a majority. These are the people for whom guns, and same-sex marriage, and ‘values’ are important. Without passing judgment on these values, and acknowledging that democrats do of course have values of their own, let’s move on. Ultra-wealthy republicans build a platform that includes these planks, and in exchange for the votes of the conservative [non-wealthy] republicans, they also get to advance their own agenda. It really boils down to marketing; and yes, the democrats do it too. They just appear to suck at it.

However, your class warfare thesis falls apart here. Conservative [non-wealthy] republicans are still supporting the platform as a whole.

14

A few questions:

When the fuck did I become rich? Apparently that tax break I got should be considered formal notice of my new “oppressor” status.

Private Social Security accounts for a portion of contributions may not be ideal, but it beats the holy fuck out of the broken Ponzi scheme we have now. Don’t like the privatization proposal? Fine, propose something else that might work.

Bankruptcy laws as they currently exist are appaling, and the real beneficiaries aren’t poor people. My girlfriend’s brother went bankrupt, but because he lives in Florida he got to keep his huge house, boat and Cadillac. You do realize that most of the time taking stuff without paying for it is called theft, right?

Limiting pain and suffering damages may not be the best approach to tort reform, but it’s hardly outrageous. You know that it doesn’t affect actual damages, right? How righteous do you feel paying for inflated insurance premiums so some asshole who slips and falls can sue for $10 million? Sorry your lottery went away.

What a dumbassed rant.

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Nope. Didn’t happen, except in the minds of liberals. The tax break helped everyone. It helped me and I’m sure as hell not rich.

Social Security is a giant Ponzi scheme that has been doomed to failure from day one. Anything that gets any of my money out of it and back into my hands is a Very Good thing. Only a fool would want to keep pouring money into that black hole. Or a liberal.

Totally disregarding the fact that the bankrptcy system has been raped and pillaged by people exploiting it out the wazoo, which is why it needs to be tightened up. I don’t know about you, but I’m more than a little tired of having to carry the burden of deadbeats who ran up bills with no intention to pay at all.

Again, totally disregarding the obvious, and that is that lawsuit abuse is so incredibly rampant that reforms like this have come about. If some jackass can be stupid enough to put a cup of hot coffee between her legs, then spill it and sue McDonald’s, blaming them for her stupidity, and win, then it is long overdue.

Yawn. Same ole wild-eyed liberal bullshit rhetoric. Same verse, different day. Yawn.

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I haven’t read any responses, or bothered with any more of your OP. This is a flat out lie.

The new bankruptcy law specifically excludes families making less than the median income of their state.

Specifically excludes families making less than the median income.

Excludes families making less than the median income.

Excludes.
Poor.
Families.

Clear enough for you yet? Or are the facts going to get in the way of your rant?

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You know what else, you dirty little fucker, you participated in the GD thread on bankruptcy where it was mentioned over and over again how the poor were excluded from the changes.

Disingenuous doesn’t even begin to describe you. Is there anything between your ears other than hatred for Bush?

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Others are addressing the alleged “factual” parts of your sick, people-hating socialist lies, so I’ll just handle the end.

In essence, this explains your whole post. You think Americans are stupid. You think they are “gucks” to be manipulated by shit-stains like yourself. You think that if only they would receive wisdom from “worthies” such as yourself everything would be OK for them. Well guck you, gasshole.

If you’d like to say that to somebody in person let me know when you’re coming to New York. I’ll take you by the Ten House on Liberty St. so you can discuss your remarks.

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As an immigrant, college educated, piss-poor and working-class to the core, I think I have a couple of things to add to this. But I guess the best way is to directly reply to the outright bullshit posted by the following.

You sure as fuck cannot be poor either. Tax break equates to a lof of bread - if we are lucky

Far better to throw it at a fickle marketplace. What do you reckon that a couple of years ago, if this half-assed scheme had been in place, a shitload of money would have been lost, in say, Enron? Only your typical conservative fuck-knuckle would say it is a good thing. By the way, nothing is stopping anyone investing their own money now.

[/quote]
Totally disregarding the fact that the bankrptcy system has been raped and pillaged by people exploiting it out the wazoo, which is why it needs to be tightened up. I don’t know about you, but I’m more than a little tired of having to carry the burden of deadbeats who ran up bills with no intention to pay at all.
[/quote]

Got to protect all those wonderful credit card companies anyway. You know, the ones who would never never never try to foist cards on people who really cannot afford the things.

[quoteAgain, totally disregarding the obvious, and that is that lawsuit abuse is so incredibly rampant that reforms like this have come about. If some jackass can be stupid enough to put a cup of hot coffee between her legs, then spill it and sue McDonald’s, blaming them for her stupidity, and win, then it is long overdue.[/quote]

You do know this has been done to death here, right? And that McD’s … never mind, look it up yourself.

Same ole sneering conservative bullshit. Same chapter, different recording. Go smoke monkey-pole.

20

I really should have previewed :smack: