I’m here to tell you that “they” aren’t better than “us”, but it i’s definitely them vs. us at this point. Now – there are plenty of billionaires still left that while maintaining a very big ego still have a big heart as well … so it is important not to paint everyone with the same broad brush. I have a hard time understanding how people can feel “aggrieved” as Paul Krugman put it over having to pay a little higher tax rate … tax rates that would still be less than under either President Clinton or Reagan mind you. The level of selfishness is astounding, but we’re all human.
I don’t fault some rich asshole for being so self-absorbed that he would spend millions to keep what he has; that’s really human nature. I do however feel deep animosity to the imbeciles who fail to understand their “support” for conservatism under whatever guise that might be … guns, god, anti-gay whatever … they’re really just useful idiots for the billionaires that depend on their willful ignorance in order to further their own agenda. Sometimes I just want to shake them with vitriol … maybe a slap or two with a Cher like “snap out of it” thrown in there somewhere.
But – in my gut – I know that’s not going to work. In my gut – I realize that people are deeply polarized right now having disconnected from reality. Now – people believe whatever truths they want to believe. Now there is a conservative truth and a liberal truth and the real truth is floating aimlessly out there on some unwatched NPR or PBS channel; liberal yes – but still truth. Because as we all know – truth does have a liberal bias.
Lastly – Krugman’s comments remind me of this thing someone once told me about the difference between confidence and arrogance. The difference is … it isn’t that an arrogant person thinks so much of themselves as much as they just think so little of others. That reminds me very much of the billionaires Krugman’s talking about.
Paul Krugman writes HERE:
But never mind. Because the rich are different from you and me, many of them are incredibly self-centered. They don’t even see how funny it is — how ridiculous they look — when they attribute the weakness of a $15 trillion economy to their own hurt feelings. After all, who’s going to tell them? They’re safely ensconced in a bubble of deference and flattery.
Unless, that is, they run for public office.
Like everyone else following the news, I’ve been awe-struck by the way questions about Mr. Romney’s career at Bain Capital, the private-equity firm he founded, and his refusal to release tax returns have so obviously caught the Romney campaign off guard. Shouldn’t a very wealthy man running for president — and running specifically on the premise that his business success makes him qualified for office — have expected the nature of that success to become an issue? Shouldn’t it have been obvious that refusing to release tax returns from before 2010 would raise all kinds of suspicions?
