Very curious that this article should appear right on the heels of the "bitter" controversy and the bemoaning of the elite about the suppose slurs against the "non-elite"by Obama. I am certain that the masses of folks in rural and non-metropolitan America are gathering right now to defend their sort-sighted church-going ways and gun-ownership.Yeah, right.But they don't have time to read all this stuff, and only know what their neighbor told them someone "said", and that information their neighbor got from the rich landlord they had to take their rent check to last week. Besides, they are too busy working for a living. Or trying to.

The great divide between the rich and the rest of us gets worse every day, the wealthy are disconnected, greedy and avaricious almost beyond beief and when they are portrayed even somewhat accurately, the backlash is immediate, arrogant and snooty. It is indeed the fuel for the fire that promulgates the political mess we are in, right now.

Laws, decency and common human kindness have become only havens of last resort for most...and those who can afford them. And lately these seem to fail, more often than not. Just read on in this issue of ALterNet about the fallisies of paying taxes and the blatant actions of the Bush administration when it comes to assumptions about torture. It is, in a word, all obscene. The rich seem always to find ways to rise above the common fray and get away with everything, including the dues they should be paying for getting rich and richer, and the guilt they should be feeling for literally walking on their fellow man.

My guess is that the "non-elite" that Obama supposedly maligned would happily stand up and defend themselves, if the rich and the rich in government were not paying a lot of lawyers to make sure they would never be heard.

We are largely awash in high-paid BS and smoke screens. It's getting really hard to breathe.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Basic investment protocol encourages using every dollar of every asset in such a manner that it will return to its "owner" its maximum possible return of income. So if I were to sucessfully accomplish that feat very few people would notice it, but if I had hundreds of millions in assets, every move I made would be felt by someone. It may be irrational, true, but is is great capitalism. And everybody believes that capitalism is "American" and probably designed by our mothers when they were baking us apple pies, and that it is the heart and soul of the free enterprise system - now that's REAL irrationality. So when do you quit? When do you say "that's enough - who's next"?, The problem with that is when you get that much money, you become a potential victim for all the other great money pools which are looking for easy prey - also, the more money you have, the more people you "owe". So not just irrational, it gets sticky and dangerous too.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I have not seen "There Will Be Blood" yet, but it is not for lack of want, it just wasn't there at the video store. The review cited is hardly an artistic review at all just a babbling opinion of sorts.
Being insular because you are extremely wealthy is an interesting opinion and probably pretty factual. When you are lucky enough to obtain wealth you begin to consume many things that you do not need. Things you do not need are: twenty feet wide screen lcd televisions with the at home movie theater that is four hundred feet in size. Or lets say, a piper jet that scoots you back and forth between your business meetings.
Your homes in Miami, Milan and Paris. Your thongs for $49.99. Your haircuts for $400.
In addition to buying all of this stuff you realize that you don't want to do anything anymore.(besides maybe attending to your wealth).So you hire people to; clean your house, make your meals, walk your dog, pick out our clothes, shop for your clothes,tend your garden, clean your pool, drive your cars, take care of your children, organize your papers, tend to your image(pr)and so on and so on.You do this because you can. Plus, you do this because, someone or something has to show others how wealthy you really are.
There are the non spenders types and hoarders, as they tend to brag about the amounts in their portfolio values and tend to isolate themselves because they are in constant fear of others stealing from them.
You validate your efforts that got you to where you are. You made it through good white collar thieving or a family inheritance or just looking good and landing a part in a movie. Some, but not most get it through "real""working hard", that is the real myth-most don't. Some say that it is because they are truly "more intelligent".That part doesn't matter-the proof is that-you have got the stuff and that you can hire others to eliminate the (day to day) chores of life that we all have to do.
The isolation part comes in that when we can buy everything and everyone the people around us tend to behave as confidants (because that is part of their job-not to displease) and do not give opinions that are real and truthful.
These persons usually prefer to hang out with others who are similar to themselves. This part of community or lack thereof is obvious. Overall these richy, rich elite- the 1%ers begin to become out of touch with reality because they isolate themselves in their comforts of their respective opulence.
In addition, if they are the types that actually are self-made, they probably stepped on a lot of backs getting to where they are. These persons also spent grueling 15 hour days year after year ignoring every relationship that they had-so they could get that extra sale or extra dollar to make it big. This attitude usually comes with the overall assumption of money over everything, the all mighty dollar. Then these types believe that they can buy and sell people too. Firing people, cleaning out pensions, corporate slicing and dicing become part of the persons vision of I over everyone else. Interesting most of the people I know recently who are loaded are persons who are really making it on the backs of the publics overall health. Big Pharm and Chemo corporate head honchos with $500,000 salaries. Surgeons in non HMO states with 1 million dollar annuals. -when millions of Americans cannot afford to tend to their health.
Their mantras- "I am better, I am smarter--and mostly I deserve it!"
Alone they like it, for they consider themselves, better! Truth be known they better hide and run because the 99% of us cannot tolerate them anyway.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Its true that most wealthy people are nasty, but its not true of all wealthy people, i.e., the ones who actually earn their wealth.

Money-mad people are deeply insecure and their pursuit of wealth (by ANY means) is nothing but a desperate effort to be 'better' than others and to be 'respected' by others. But of course, no amount of money can buy love, ie., REAL respect!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

But the rich are magical people. Did they not convince the entire population of the US that families getting by on $4,000-$5,000 per year (AFDC) were living so comfortably that they created a "culture of dependency"? Or that the 6% (at its highest, in the 1970's) of the federal budget that went into welfare aid was pushing the US into bankruptcy? Or that people, like pigeons, should not be thrown bits of food because then you'll never get rid of them? And for the first time in the long history of America's Progressive movement, the unemployed/unemployable are not even deemed worthy of mention. It took some very smart thinking to guide progressives to the point where they only grumble a bit about the massive "tax relief" for the rich without drawing any connections between that and the social policy agenda that has created the stunning level of economic disparities that we have today. It took pure genius to convince US progressives to overlook the causes of our poverty, and when you come right down to it, don't we believe that an American could be poor only as a result of their own inferiority or deviance? And should anyone take a closer look at what we are collectively doing to the poor right here, just call them a "bleeding heart liberal", and they'll tuck tails between their legs and run!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]