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Fred Sanders

(23,946 posts)
Thu Jan 30, 2014, 03:29 PM Jan 2014

Why The Rich Feel Besieged: A CheckList For The 99%

"1 Over the past few decades, the rich have been accustomed to being lionized: splashed on the covers of magazines as the movers and shakers of the economy and feted in ballrooms for their philanthropy. That's largely a thing of the past. You don't have to feel sorry for them to understand that once you get used to something like that, it's unnerving when it goes away.
2 Even worse, the rich have come in for a lot of abuse since the financial crash. Fairly or not, they feel increasingly socially ostracized, and few things promote a feeling of indignation and persecution more than that.
3 Most of them have a feeling that they personally have done nothing wrong. Even within the financial industry, 98 percent of the players can argue that the bad actors were limited to the mortgage side and the derivatives brokers. The rest of them have clean hands. They were just playing by the rules, and they happen to have gotten rich fair and square.1
4 They have a belief that the protestors against the 1 percent are mostly just unreconstructed lefties who want to demonize the business class and shake them down for a handout. It's the sixties all over again.
5 They've been made to feel guilty for their success. Hell, even the pope is lecturing them. Again, fairly or not, nobody likes feeling guilty. It almost universally provokes defensiveness and defiance against the guilt-mongers.
6 Some of them have a genuine belief that the government is trying to intimidate them from speaking out. This is what's behind their
mania for keeping political contributions secret."



http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/01/why-rich-feel-besieged-checklist

To which I would add:

7. They have a sense of divine entitlement, as if THEY have been deemed worthy by a Higher Power to their success, and nothing of their success is owed to the OTHERS.



10 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Why The Rich Feel Besieged: A CheckList For The 99% (Original Post) Fred Sanders Jan 2014 OP
The simple truth is that history shows that societies upaloopa Jan 2014 #1
I would say that history shows precisely the reverse of that. Donald Ian Rankin Jan 2014 #2
Study Russian history French history the New Deal history upaloopa Jan 2014 #5
Take a look at Russia, France and the Mid East. Donald Ian Rankin Jan 2014 #9
Income inequality is a pendulum kind of thing upaloopa Jan 2014 #10
"Born rich.com" marions ghost Jan 2014 #3
The rich are motivated by greed. Fuck them. Rex Jan 2014 #4
With the TPP it could mstinamotorcity2 Jan 2014 #6
They bought the repeal of laws that prohibited their crimes. Waiting For Everyman Jan 2014 #7
k&r for exposure. n/t Laelth Jan 2014 #8

upaloopa

(11,417 posts)
1. The simple truth is that history shows that societies
Thu Jan 30, 2014, 03:54 PM
Jan 2014

do not permit income inequality to exist for ever.
The rich know that. It is in their own self interest to help grow the middle class. That would reduce the pressure on them and would create more demand for products and services that their money is invested in.

Donald Ian Rankin

(13,598 posts)
2. I would say that history shows precisely the reverse of that.
Thu Jan 30, 2014, 04:05 PM
Jan 2014

Income inequality has been with us since the year dot, and is still here

upaloopa

(11,417 posts)
5. Study Russian history French history the New Deal history
Thu Jan 30, 2014, 04:32 PM
Jan 2014

Study the Mid East "Springs"
Study Cuba and most Latin American countries Study revolution theology. Study The Black Power movement in urban cities. These are all clashes with income inequality as motives.

Donald Ian Rankin

(13,598 posts)
9. Take a look at Russia, France and the Mid East.
Thu Jan 30, 2014, 06:07 PM
Jan 2014

All those clashes *failed* to end income inequality in the long term, and usually even in the short term.

marions ghost

(19,841 posts)
3. "Born rich.com"
Thu Jan 30, 2014, 04:07 PM
Jan 2014

This is how you keep up with the lifestyle....

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Rex

(65,616 posts)
4. The rich are motivated by greed. Fuck them.
Thu Jan 30, 2014, 04:11 PM
Jan 2014

They want the middle class to disappear, for education to become impossible to get for the working poor, that we should all work and die for a dollar and be happy about it!

Fuck them.

Waiting For Everyman

(9,385 posts)
7. They bought the repeal of laws that prohibited their crimes.
Thu Jan 30, 2014, 04:56 PM
Jan 2014

That doesn't make their theft ok, and it doesn't mean they earned what they took. It just means they can't be prosecuted for it, and they can continue doing it until the public replaces those repealed laws and puts a stop to it. That, is what they're worried about. And they should be. It's high time to do it.

Just one example? Glass-Steagall, repealed in 1999, at the last minute, buried in a massive budget bill, over the Christmas holiday. It enabled the mortgage meltdown, and trillions in phony paper creation, which is still "out there". Google Phil and Wendy Gramm, a lovely couple.

The super rich need to be arrested for their crimes. Then we'll see if they're still in a mood to bellyache about how much they're disliked. In an earlier century, they wouldn't be wearing their heads at this point.

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