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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPAY ATTENTION: a billionaire opines about the 99%, 'You're the prisoners, we're the guards'
I'm supporting our local Earned Sick Time campaign here in Orlando, and I'm being asked a lot about why I think employers would oppose such a common sense measure. Ostensibly it makes sense to allow workers to earn 1 hour of sick time for every 37 hours worked (up to 56 hours a year). Who wants to be served food by someone with the flu?
In talking to elected officials who're campaigning for re-election, the talking point I'm hearing a lot is "no one should butt-in on the employer-employee relationship." As if your employer is a priest or doctor (while they've got no problem with telling your gynecologist how to practice her business).
By and large big business wants you to be threatened, insecure and unable to do anything about it. They want indentured servants -- prisoners, in effect. And as you'll see below in this blog post from Tiny Revolution, they aren't even ashamed to say so.
Here are the views of David Siegel, timeshare mogul and star of the new documentary Queen of Versailles. He and his wife Jackie first got national attention for their attempt to build the largest house in America, a 90,000-square foot Versailles replica:
David and Jackie have been surprised by the criticism of their lifestyle. So much negativity. You would think they would be happy for someone living the American dream, Jackie says. As for the notion that the divide between the wealthy and everyone else is grotesquely wide, David says: Theres always been rich and poor, the 1 percent and the 99 percent. And then he adds, Its like a prison. If you only have prisoners and no guards, youd have chaos.
So that's pretty straightforward: America is like a prison, and all non-billionaires are the prisoners.
More here -- including how Siegel says he "won the election for George W. Bush"
http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/003634.html
jpbollma
(552 posts)are why Communist revolutions sweep a country. Off with his head! We don't need anymore Marie Antoinette's. They better pray the US/Europe doesn't fall into a worse recession or they may need to worry.
If a RW monarchy is coronated in January, it would seem to spell the end of the 1% reign, and it won't be pretty.
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)1. we have 300,000,000 guns
2. We love our children and won't see them go hungry as these parasites drive by in their fucking mercedes.
3. there are 9,999 to every 0.000001 of them
4. their guards are our family members. They won't kill us to protect them any more than the USSR army stepped up against Boris Yeltsin and the revoluation there.
5. we know where they live. Their fucking houses can be seen from space. Try hiding, parasite.
6. His wife is a parody of a sexy woman. Her flinging around with her thin lipped anger and her silicon boobs is laughable.
They are the deluded ones. Truly.
truth2power
(8,219 posts)I'm not persuaded that the police wouldn't side with the 1%.
Law enforcement is being increasingly militarized and they seem to really get off on it.
DallasNE
(7,403 posts)Mayor's can't even control the police. Contrast police reaction to Tea Party protests and Occupy Wallstreet protests.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)anything confrontational are wasted. it only works to their advantage (as we saw with black bloc tactical "diversity" .
truth2power
(8,219 posts)that if it comes down to it the police will shoot us for just standing on the sidewalk holding a sign. And they won't care if the person they're targeting is their own mother.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)when organized well.
patrice
(47,992 posts)what we want and, hence, what our objectives would be and have some workable ideas about how to go about attaining them. The key is non-violence, because, with that approach, WE are ALWAYS right and they are ALWAYS wrong. Without it, we become them and there is no doubt that we will lose on their turf. They have us completely out-gunned and there are toooooooooooooo many people in this country who are quite comfortable, even motivated, with killing in the name of authority (and are now going into comfortable careers in PRIVATE security/armies), as I am sorry to say the War on Iraq clearly demonstrates, and once the killing starts here, that alone will guarantee those numbers, because too many people will not be able to accept the truth of what is happening.
Violence will not get for us what we want. Yeah, I'm sorry that the fact that the 1% knows that we know that WILL be used against us, so we'll continue to hear from those on our side that we MUST establish our violence bona fides in order to be taken seriously, but none of that changes the numbers. Violence won't work and it WILL be used as an excuse for more violence and indefinite detention and THAT'S what the 1% WANT, because that gives them the run of the field and all future generations of this country will be even more enslaved than we are, waaaaaaaaaaay more.
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)After all, married to him.
One thing about people who need all that money and power: it is true that not so very deep inside, they feel utterly powerless.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)and so there's the feeling that it's being threatened.
Ilsa
(61,697 posts)Jackie that she needs even bigger boobs than the one she married.
Seriously, it would be funny to turn the tables and see if we can control their lives with a little online manipulation.
progressivebydesign
(19,458 posts)whose fake breasts are larger than his head. Those two should avoid posing with him at breast-level, makes his head look tiny!
Ilsa
(61,697 posts)Surgery! They're not big enough!
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I know that's petty, but some people just deserved to be bashed for their ostentatious lifestyle.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)silverweb
(16,402 posts)[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Obscenely opulent doesn't begin to describe it. Can't find it right now, but I'll post it if I do.
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)I'm beginning to think that not only is it possible for a moron to get rich, but LIKELY. And yet this pretense that money = "success = a person who knows what he/she is talking about.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)for nouveau riche vulgaris, it's not enough to be successful, but they have no idea what true success would feel like, so they pursue these obscene displays of "riches," that are supposed to signify and cement their achievement. the blonde, the boobs, the 8 kids, the bowling alley, the 10 kitchens, the full-size baseball field...these are a teenager's fantasy of success. it's driven by the need to believe they're inspiring envy as in "don't you wish you had ALL THIS"?
no we don't, because we're not teenagers anymore. we don't envy Versailles. we think it's sadly laughable. and so the Boy King reminds us that regardless of his vulgarity, his money makes him the 1% which means he gets to run the prison.
everything about this definition of success is malignant.
Myrina
(12,296 posts)nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)Go USA!
Kennah
(14,304 posts)... to avoid the guillotine.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)He is crying because he now has to sell his nine figure mansion.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)with all the attention on their mansion, i wouldn't be surprised if he makes unsound business decisions to keep up the appearance of that albatross.
Zalatix
(8,994 posts)aquart
(69,014 posts)nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)it's this objectified relationship with money that keeps right-leaning 99%-ers in a prison of their own making.
example -- i've heard way too much from low-information, right-leaning colleagues that they don't want universal health care because if everyone had it, then their ability to access it "wouldn't MEAN ANYTHING." as if the point of having health care is to flaunt status, rather than to treat disease.
their point is that health care *should* be scarce b/c at root, health care is a measure of one's worth in society.
Raine
(30,540 posts)of other countries they would have to hire people like us to guard them from the other 99% and drive armoured cars. Otherwise they would be taken down and stripped of their possessions before they reached the end of their driveway. People like that should be so happy they live in America where they can flaunt their goods and not be picked off by the poor. This alone should make them glad to pay their fair share of taxes. If I was them I would worry about the ultimate effect their greed might have on the 99%.
rurallib
(62,444 posts)hfojvt
(37,573 posts)many members of the 99% are enjoying their retirements - people like my parents. My niece is about to get married. Presumably she is pretty happy about that and so is he. What exactly are we supposed to be prisoners of? What would it mean to be free? Presumably there will always be people much richer than others, and there will still be lots of hard work to do.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)Your empathy is quite moving.
Zalatix
(8,994 posts)hfojvt
(37,573 posts)the 14%? (as one blog that I used to read (before he quit blogging)) described the percentage of poor and imprisoned in this country.
But the OP was not about them. Didn't it say that the 1% are the guards and the 99% (in this rich person's view) are the prisoners.
My own nose IS rubbed in the dirt five days a week. I clean toilets and empty trash and pick up after others who are having a good time.
But I still make a decent living at that job, and I probably need to do something for 40 hours (or twenty hours, like I used to before I sorta foolishly decided that I want more money), but others are seemingly happier (and have more reason to be). So if he sees himself as a prison guard and the rest of us a prisoners. Well, I do not get that. I might have bought it when I was 27, but I sorta think my young self was being kinda dramatic.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)Snarkoleptic
(5,998 posts)They're also examples of why we must eat the rich. The excessive accumulation of wealth by the few decreases the velocity of money in the economy. Every extra million they stack up is one less million in circulation in our economy (and possibly stashed overseas). Trickle down truly is voo doo economics.
RagAss
(13,832 posts)roguevalley
(40,656 posts)the drought is going to bring hunger here and frankly, I think eating the rich would be tasty. All those truffles and gold.
TheMadMonk
(6,187 posts)truth2power
(8,219 posts)many years. Can't remember what she kept muttering to herself.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)roguevalley
(40,656 posts)thank you for the awesomeness.
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)i hope that we don't focus our attention too closely on him. he's a signifier, a portent, a vapor.
we have to stay focused on what is possible to do in a democracy, and that's to level the playing field. he's a symbol of how uneven the field has become. i hope we focus on the uneven playing field because that's what they're really afraid of.
limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)But he doesn't.
He thinks he "earned" it all on his own. But he didn't.
He owes us all some money back right now.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)to start a violent revolution? Does he actually think he and his silicon bimbo start a chance of surviving it if it happens?
Piles of money sure don't cure stupid.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)they've come together in clubs like ALEC to crush our ability to affect democratic change...and that's why they fear and hate Obama. we have all the tools we need to stop them within reach. that's what keeps them awake at night.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)Could you please explain what those tools are? From my perspective, things are growing steadily worse. I had huge hope that things would turn around 4 years ago for my family, they haven't and show no sign they will. We don't have another 4 years or even 1 to wait. We need our situation addressed yesterday. There are literally MILLIONS of others in the same boat. So, please please please tell me what it is that is going to be different this time.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)much attention, but is doing the work that is required for real change. it doesn't come from casting a vote for president -- it comes from identifying the target, organizing toward it, and mobilizing for change. the last 4 years of the Obama administration has proven to most of us on the left that this isn't something we can trust the political elites to -- it's something we have to press ourselves.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)... but that doesn't help understand what tools you were talking about. I was very much involved, both in '08 for Elwyn "El" Tinklenberg and for Tarryl Clark in'10. I'm unclear as to how we go about "pressing" those that basically either ignore us, belittle us, or just plain tell us to quit complaining. I'm doing good just to survive. I have almost no resources to effect what these people do when they are for sale to the lobbyists once they do get into office. I keep hearing that 'we" can make a difference, but I see no evidence in the real world that it's true. It's like we are invisible to them unless we can pony up the $$$$$s. I'm about at the end of my rope.
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)No leader(s) no matter how well-intentioned, will effect the changes we all need.
mckara
(1,708 posts)DocMac
(1,628 posts)Bolo Boffin
(23,796 posts)Um, no, I don't think so.
eShirl
(18,502 posts)Their parents raised some spoiled brats.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)i love where she says, "this is the staircase i'd use IF i were going to the childrens' rooms."
LibertyLover
(4,788 posts)that the kids have their own wing with a stage to do whatever it is that kids do. WTF? He's got 8 kids and he doesn't know what they do?
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)CoffeeCat
(24,411 posts)I'm sure those kids have learned a great deal from listening to their "father" wax poetic about his guard status in this country full of prisoners.
Maybe the kids will present "Shawshank Redemption" for their summer series and "Escape From Alacatraz" for their holiday presentation.
"Daddy watch! Billy is about to say his "I suppose Andy just disappeared like a fart in the wind" line!"
drm604
(16,230 posts)And you are nobody's guard.
How silly of you to think otherwise.
Amonester
(11,541 posts)http://entertainment.time.com/2012/07/19/the-queen-of-versailles-how-the-biggest-house-in-america-became-a-brokedown-palace/#ixzz22dpz5G8i
I am more concerned for their kids... these two fucksticks shouldn't procreate...
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I can't believe they have 8 kids - poor things.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Millions will be wage slaves until the day we die, working long weeks with little or no benefits, well into our 70's or even later, in order to afford food and shelter and keep our heads above water in the debt traps that have been carefully constructed for us.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)be the last nail in the coffin for workers, as they take over state and local positions that have immediate effect on people where they live.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Purchasing our government means the ability to restructure society and our laws so that every aspect of our lives can be used as a source of profit.
Expect to work longer for less, expect to pay more for every aspect of your life from birth to death, and expect safety nets to be gone. Those who can no longer generate profit for the top will be considered expendable.
We become little more than farm animals on a vast corporate plantation, to be used and discarded.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)again. hope they're enjoying their rapid descent.
Honesty, these are not the people with money that you need to worry about.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)and that that's the situation we need to deal with.
it's a little depressing that the response to this has been bring out the guillotines. we need to instead address the issues of inequality and worker protection. the guillotine solves nothing. laws that protect us from people like this are what we need.
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)Like the politician who crowed that voter ID laws would hand his state to Romney.
It's not about someone being obscenely rich or obscenely tasteless.
It's about the power differential conveyed by obscene wealth. This turkey wants to live in a shopping mall -- fine. What's noteworthy is he believes it is entirely just that this makes him one of the "prison guards."
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)to manipulate the political activity of his employees.
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)confused, and he's a asshole with a free-spending bimbo for a trophy wife.
people with too fucking much money.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Too bad that the maniac mass killer people with guns don't focus on better targets. Is Batman rich?