These are terrible times for many people in this country. Poverty, especially acute poverty, has soared in the economic slump; millions of people have lost their homes. Young people can't find jobs; laid-off 50-somethings fear that they'll never work again.Yet if you want to find real political rage — the kind of rage that makes people compare President Obama to Hitler, or accuse him of treason — you won't find it among these suffering Americans. You'll find it instead among the very privileged, people who don't have to worry about losing their jobs, their homes, or their health insurance, but who are outraged, outraged, at the thought of paying modestly higher taxes.
And when the tax fight is over, one way or another, you can be sure that the people currently defending the incomes of the elite will go back to demanding cuts in Social Security and aid to the unemployed. America must make hard choices, they'll say; we all have to be willing to make sacrifices.
For much more, see The Angry Rich by Paul Krugman, September 19, 2010, at The New York Times.
1 comment:
The thesis of this article contains is a set of unsubstantiated generalizations. The angry people are those who see their chance for moving up stifled by poor economic policy. The tea party people are not wealthy for the most part. The wealthy, on balance, contribute to more to Democratic candidates and party than Republican candidates and party. Look at the numbers. PK's assertion doesn't stand the test.
Post a Comment