Yes, yes, I know. I'm on a business trip out of state. But I just couldn't resist after seeing this Dean Baker article in the Huffington Post. You can thank Paul Rosenberg at Open Left for turning me on to it here.
The livelihoods of, essentially, all of us who aren't in the upper 2% of income earners are but mere expenses to those above that threshold, and must therefore be cut/reduced/"externalized". One can never accuse our elites of farsighted thinking - for them to project their collective thought process beyond the next quarterly earnings statement, or their own noses for that matter, would be a victory unto itself.
Here is an argument where the tables can, and should, be turned - loudly and forcefully. Their "upper 2%" lifestyles and incomes are expenses to those of us below that threshold - insurance company executives with billion-dollar golden parachutes, the bonuses for the bankers whose decisions played a significant role in the economic crisis were in now, and on, and on, and on. This goes to the messaging issue that the Left (and those that put on the costume of the Left around election time) has had for decades - whether we like it or not, we're going to have to learn some of the same messaging techniques that the Right has used to get and maintain power. The right can do the bumper-sticker sloganeering like nobody's business - and we're going to have to get a lot better at it. Thom Hartmann is one of the few media personalities on the Left that consistently address this issue - I'd like to see more doing the same.
And don't expect those we elect to pay much heed to the issue or to us save for lip service - they don't work for us, so why should they?
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