Mitt Romney blames the "victims"

[flabbybody]

I think about my little world of family and friends and find it funny that the biggest Romney supporters are themselves in the 47% safety net that he despises.
So many people I know get to see doctors because of their Medicare coverage. They collect public pension benefits that they never contributed to. They have a disabled child getting financial assistant via a Medicaid benefit program. Maybe because they're white and middle class they just don't see themselves as takers.
But Lord do they go on about that damned Obama and the illegals who take our jobs. Its got to the point that I've banned political discussions from family get togethers. If people are feeble minded and uninformed I don't want to hear it over my brisket and mashed potatoes.

[trish]

Republicans believe down is up!!

The whole trickle down theory is constructed on a metaphor...the metaphor of gravity. The wealthy are high above us in the mountains and the clouds and their money will fall downward the way raindrops trickle down or the way streams flow along gradients.

But let's think about this metaphor. How does gravity work in real life. Massive objects attract less massive objects. The Sun pulls the Earth. The Earth attracts pennies, which is why they fall from your hand when released. Yes money does indeed flow along a gradient, just like water does. But in the case of the economy it's wealth and power that attract wealth and power. Just as planets and stars gravitationally accrete matter, powerful and wealthy families and corporations accrete wealth and power by attracting wealth and power. Money flows from customers into the pockets of stockholders, not the other way around. Without regulation huge fortunes come to resemble black holes that literally pull money out of your pocket as you walk past them. If you live in a rural town, did you ever wonder what happened to all the little stores and shops that used to inhabit your town square? That money is now in the form of Wallmart stock and it's accruing more money as we speak, and the capital gains earned by the stockholder's is taxed at a lesser rate than the wages laborers earn by working hard. Wealthy families and corporations are the heavy institutions. They sit in the valley. We live in the hills. It's our money that rolls down into their safes and vaults.

But in the world of the Reaganites, down is up and up is down.

If you want sound economic policy, don't vote for the trickle down guys. They're just totally confused.

[BluegrassCat]

Republicans believe down is up!!

The whole trickle down theory is constructed on a metaphor...the metaphor of gravity. The wealthy are high above us in the mountains and the clouds and their money will fall downward the way raindrops trickle down or the way streams flow along gradients.

But let's think about this metaphor. How does gravity work in real life. Massive objects attract less massive objects. The Sun pulls the Earth. The Earth attracts pennies, which is why they fall from your hand when released. Yes money does indeed flow along a gradient, just like water does. But in the case of the economy it's wealth and power that attract wealth and power. Just as planets and stars gravitationally accrete matter, powerful and wealthy families and corporations accrete wealth and power by attracting wealth and power. Money flows from customers into the pockets of stockholders, not the other way around. Without regulation huge fortunes come to resemble black holes that literally pull money out of your pocket as you walk past them. If you live in a rural town, did you ever wonder what happened to all the little stores and shops that used to inhabit your town square? That money is now in the form of Wallmart stock and it's accruing more money as we speak, and the capital gains earned by the stockholder's is taxed at a lesser rate than the wages laborers earn by working hard. Wealthy families and corporations are the heavy institutions. They sit in the valley. We live in the hills. It's our money that rolls down into their safes and vaults.

But in the world of the Reaganites, down is up and up is down.

If you want sound economic policy, don't vote for the trickle down guys. They're just totally confused.

[MacShreach]

Republicans believe down is up!!

The whole trickle down theory is constructed on a metaphor...the metaphor of gravity. The wealthy are high above us in the mountains and the clouds and their money will fall downward the way raindrops trickle down or the way streams flow along gradients.

But let's think about this metaphor. How does gravity work in real life. Massive objects attract less massive objects. The Sun pulls the Earth. The Earth attracts pennies, which is why they fall from your hand when released. Yes money does indeed flow along a gradient, just like water does. But in the case of the economy it's wealth and power that attract wealth and power. Just as planets and stars gravitationally accrete matter, powerful and wealthy families and corporations accrete wealth and power by attracting wealth and power. Money flows from customers into the pockets of stockholders, not the other way around. Without regulation huge fortunes come to resemble black holes that literally pull money out of your pocket as you walk past them. If you live in a rural town, did you ever wonder what happened to all the little stores and shops that used to inhabit your town square? That money is now in the form of Wallmart stock and it's accruing more money as we speak, and the capital gains earned by the stockholder's is taxed at a lesser rate than the wages laborers earn by working hard. Wealthy families and corporations are the heavy institutions. They sit in the valley. We live in the hills. It's our money that rolls down into their safes and vaults.

But in the world of the Reaganites, down is up and up is down.

If you want sound economic policy, don't vote for the trickle down guys. They're just totally confused.

Beautifully put, Trish. Best demolition of trickle-down I have heard.

[trish]

Hi MacShreach, haven't seen you for awhile...that or I just haven't been paying attention. In any case, good to see you again.

[MacShreach]

Hi MacShreach, haven't seen you for awhile...that or I just haven't been paying attention. In any case, good to see you again.

Hi Trish! Great to see you too. Been very busy and only dropping in occasionally to lurk...Very remiss and it's bad manners to treat friends that way but I am sure you know how HA can, shall we say, occupy more than its allotted time? Apologies to you all.

[GroobySteven]

I keep waiting for Mormonism to come up.

I don't know why people aren't making more of this? I'd question any leader who is devoutly religious but their cult is one of the stranger ones.

[fred41]

I don't know why people aren't making more of this? I'd question any leader who is devoutly religious but their cult is one of the stranger ones.

Probably because he was born into it. It may or may not really mean anything to him anymore, but his family is rooted into it...and that's where his wealth comes from...so.

On another note...they all seem like cults to me now. I used to be religious...then agnostic...then religious again. Now I'm totally atheist and it all seems totally ridiculous to me. All of it.
Mormonism seems more ridiculous because the closer time span makes it easier to disprove...so it seems you'd have to be stupid to believe in it, but I think, like many religions...it's more about power and social networking.

To me, actual belief seems silly...like believing in ghosts.



(that being said, I never understood dabblers either ..."I believe in ancient written scriptures...but only the parts I have the will to follow"...what's the point?)

Anyway..rant over....back to the thread...sorry.

[dabaldone]

I think about my little world of family and friends and find it funny that the biggest Romney supporters are themselves in the 47% safety net that he despises.
So many people I know get to see doctors because of their Medicare coverage. They collect public pension benefits that they never contributed to. They have a disabled child getting financial assistant via a Medicaid benefit program. Maybe because they're white and middle class they just don't see themselves as takers.
But Lord do they go on about that damned Obama and the illegals who take our jobs. Its got to the point that I've banned political discussions from family get togethers. If people are feeble minded and uninformed I don't want to hear it over my brisket and mashed potatoes.

This is what I simply cannot understand. How the hell can people vote against their own interests?

[GroobySteven]

I'm thinking about starting a Church of Atheism. It would be good for the tax breaks. I'd even open schools which would only teach religion as history and the Darwin's Fact of Evolution (stop calling it a theory!).
We'd meet every Friday around tea time for Happy Hour and discuss how to make the world a better place - and then go on a pub crawl.