comments_image -

Jim Hightower: Are Rudy, Mitt, and Fred Living In Your World? [VIDEO]

Gosh, I want to go to GOPland. What a wonderful place it is: sunny skies every day, bluebirds of happiness everywhere, and an always-booming economy that's spreading wealth to everyone!
October 24, 2007  |  
 
Advertisement
 

Gosh, I want to go to GOPland. What a wonderful place it is: sunny skies every day, bluebirds of happiness everywhere, and an always-booming economy that's spreading wealth to everyone!

At least that's the picture that the top Republican presidential contenders want you to believe. Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson are floating around in a Disney-like bubble that has no room for middle-class anxiety or economic reality. All three are millionaires, and in their bubble, there's a golden economy of low inflation, high employment, free trade, Wall Street wealth, and endless economic growth. As the bubbly Mitt Romney said in an exuberant moment: "Well, I mean, the market is a wonderful thing... the sky's the limit."

Meanwhile, back down here on earth, there's a very different world that America's workaday majority is experiencing. For example, on the very day these pollyannas were enthusing about low inflation, George W's own energy department reported that the cost of home heating oil will jump 22 percent this winter. No inflation? Have any of these millionaires bought a gallon of milk recently, or paid a health insurance premium?

Speaking of health care, has their happy bubble not been pierced by the hard news that 2.2 million more Americans were added to the uninsured rolls last year? That's the sixth straight year that the ranks of the uninsured have grown, leaving 47 million of our people with no health coverage - the highest total on record.

And sure, there's high employment. But at poverty wages! Most Americans have seen their incomes fall in the "boom economy" that these guys are so glibly praising. While they sing zipadedodah together, two-thirds of Americans say the economy is either headed to recession or already there.

Check you own pocketbook. Are Rudy, Mitt, and Fred living in your world?

Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of "Thieves In High Places: They've Stolen Our Country And It's Time to Take It Back." He publishes the monthly "Hightower Lowdown," co-edited by Phillip Frazer.
submit to reddit

-
Email
Print
Share
LIKED THIS ARTICLE? JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST
Stay up to date with the latest AlterNet headlines via email
See more stories tagged with: republicans, economy, election08, hightower, giuliani, romney, thompson
Advertisement
Most Read
Most Emailed
Most Discussed
On REDDIT
On DIGG
 
loading most read content ..
Advertisement
Fox, Breitbart, and Ricketts Try to Bring Back D'Souza's Pseudo-Birtherism

By Steve M | No More Mister Nice Blog

 
 
Activists Speak Out Against Lack of Access to Bradley Manning

By Agence France Presse

 
 
NYPD Catches Sexual Assailant, Then Lets Him Go Free Because He Didn't Feel Like Being Questioned

By Jill F | Feministe

 
 
Gov. Scott Orders Purging of Florida’s Voter Rolls - Just in Time For Prez Election

By Adele Stan | Washington Monthly

 
 
Abortion Clinics Across Country Put On Alert In Wake of Georgia Clinic Arson Cases

By Robin Marty | RH Reality Check

 
 
Former GOP Congresswoman Blasts New GOP Women’s Caucus: ‘They’re Not Voting In Best Interest Of All Women’

By Josh Israel | ThinkProgress

 
 
Debbie Wasserman Schulz is Wrong on Wisconsin

By LaFeminista | DailyKos

 
 
Pro-Coal Group Pays People to Wear Its Shirts at EPA Hearing

By Heather Moyer | Sierra Club

 
 
Kids Inundate NY Governor With Concerns About Fracking

By Seth Gladstone | Food and Water Watch

 
 
Shareholders, Top Doctors Demand McDonald's Assess its Health Impacts

By Sara Deon | Civil Eats

 
 
 
 
 
loading ...
POWERED BY DIGG'S USERS
 
[ page served from web 2 ]