I don't know about you but I'm sick of multi-millionaires deciding what is best for the rest of us.

[devilgrrl]

Most of those people were from wealth to begin with, never had to worry about anything ever. They will not create more jobs but ship them overseas for even more money. MSM news anchors that make tens of millions a year acting as if they have their finger on the pulse of the nation. Incessant coverage of an intellectually vacant dolt like Sarah Fucking Palin, etc... This is such bullshit!

:nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke:
:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

[joeybee12]

1. And I am sick of them being the ONLY ONES Congress seems to listen to! knr

[daleanime]

2. Amen, brother, Amen...

:grr:

[txlibdem]

6. Yes, but look up the wealth of our congress critters. They ARE the rich.

Some of them may have started out poor but through some miracle of sitting in a seat in government they're multi-millionaires now.

Look at Charlie Rangle. He has over $6 million. And he cheats on his taxes: a criminal. But is he going to jail? Aaaaa-NO.

[roguevalley]

59. now that the mess is coming to a head, there will be violence

mark my words. people are not going to peacefully sit in a tent and watch their kids suffer.

[txlibdem]

3. Bravo!

You are right on with this OP! Thank you for voicing my feelings. Even Obama was a multi-millionaire by the time he took office. Does he show much intention to champion the poor and middle class (after bailing out the big banks, letting their executives off the hook for their crimes, giving over $12Trillion in loans but not one rule or reg about what they have to do with that money -- so they're investing it overseas and NOT giving loans to any US businesses that want to hire workers or expand right here in the US).

I say you can't become rich without cheating, lying, stealing, overcharging, or being a con artist at some point. Jail the rich! Jail them all and confiscate all their ill-gotten gains.

[badtoworse]

17. What do you consider rich?

You are painting with a very broad brush and I'd like to know where you draw the line.

[txlibdem]

22. Someone who makes $1 more than you do, is that ok?

You are here to defend the thieves, liars, con artists, and ripoffs? Good luck with that.

[librechik]

25. There are statistics for that. It's not a matter of opinion.

Anyone who makes more than $250,000/year NET is "rich"

They are slightly less able to afford a fabulous life in Manhattan than the rest of the richer rich. But they are far above the MEDIAN income for Americans, which is about $50,000. It's nothing personal. It just is.

[badtoworse]

33. I was actually thinking more in terms of net worth...

One of the biggest problems in the current economy is that so many people do not have a net worth that allows them to ride out a period of unemployment. You can make lots of money and still live hand to mouth - if you're making $250K a year and spend it all, you won't have a pot to piss in and you're not rich.

Are you rich if you can survive without a job or unemployment for a year? How about 2 years? Five?

[librechik]

34. ok, but that's a different sort of comparison. You can't make an equivalence with that sort of frame

It's an interesting thought though. You could get zero income and stil be rivh if you had 5 years survival money in your sock. But almost no one does.

[RaleighNCDUer]

56. The guy with an income of 250k living hand to mouth lives in the same

town as a guy make 35k who is still putting aside $300/mo toward his retirement.

Anybody who is living hand-to-mouth on 250k is a fucking idiot who, like most rich people, has no idea of the vagaries of life and thinks that because he's doing well now he will always do well.

Somebody making 250k can live like a rich man on 200k and put back that other 50k, on which he could live very well for a year - better than most fully employed people.

Don't give me that hand-to-mouth bullshit unless you are talking about people who have to pay out every cent that comes in on basic necessities.

[slackmaster]

4. Multi-millionaires and career politicians, a self-perpetuating "ruling class"

Not at all what the founders of the country intended.

[txlibdem]

10. Not at all what the founders intended

So true. In those days you could get on a horse and ride all 13 colonies to get elected. You didn't need a dime (technically).

But now they spend $20 million, $50 million, $100 million to get a job that pays $176,000 a year?!? Something is wrong with this picture.

[slackmaster]

19. In the early days, people went back to their normal careers after serving in Congress

Going into politics as a career was not the norm.

[txlibdem]

23. True. Ditto the Presidency.

Nobody wanted to be a politician, they just felt it was their duty to make sure the country was going in the correct direction.

Not so today. Once you get into office, just like magic, the extra side deals (like a condo in Jamaica?) just start rolling in. And you can lie, cheat on your taxes, and misuse public funds (hello Mr. Rangle) and get nothing but a "tsk, tsk" from congress. Oooh, ouch. I'll just take my ill-gotten millions and hang out at my condo on a tropical island...

[woo me with science]

41. Look at these pampered, disconnected buffoons.

Compare them to Jefferson. Compare them to Lincoln.

They have no fucking clue about our lives, and not a shred of concern. None.

[Cherchez la Femme]

46. Lobbyists were certainly bad enough

--now with this effing Supreme Court ruling... OMF'ingG

If corporations have the rights of personhood (which I don't feel they should) they should also have the legal responsibilities of any U.S. citizen
and that includes the entire panoply of crimes --with the same punishments-- any human citizen can
(but if you're powerful enough, won't)
be charged with.


If I ever go before a court, being accused of something, I'm going to quote precedent and move for dismissal because we should look Forward, not Back at my crime(s). What better precedent than the POTUS declaring, and acting, so?

[Radical Activist]

5. National news personalities live a very different life than most of us.

It's one reason why I don't pay much attention to them.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. To The Bastille, mes Citizens!

[HowHasItComeToThis]

8. BOO

:nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
http://www.cafepress.com/Teabagger_Ltd :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
http://www.cafepress.com/Teabagger_Ltd :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
http://www.cafepress.com/Teabagger_Ltd

[L0oniX]

9. Rich machiavellian sociopath corporatist's have destroyed the USA.

[WingDinger]

11. Secular calvinist religion makes it OK.

[unblock]

12. we need to remove the influence of money on politics. but how?

the moneyed interests are heavily entrenched and all benefit from the ability to fund campaigns and effectively bribe legally.

so how can we get publicly funded campaigns?
how can we restrict the income of ex-congresscritters and ex-presidents?
how can we prevent congresscritters' family members getting hired undeservingly into lucrative jobs?
how can we prevent the bribe-via-book-deal charades?

unfortunately, getting this sort of reform passed requires the cooperation of the very people most opposed to this sort of change.


ironically, the only path i see is if the moneyed interests become more balanced, e.g., if the left-wing actually gets a real media empire. then both sides would benefit from the influence of money, which would likely make things worse, but would also make it possible to reach a deal.

[awoke_in_2003]

44. but how?

ask the French, circa 1789

[unblock]

47. ok, interesting fantasy. now, in reality, how are we REALLY going to remove the influence of money?

[awoke_in_2003]

52. we never will. nt

[EFerrari]

13. I'm sick of the sheep that defend it all, no matter what,

even though their lives get cr@ppier every year.

[Hannah Bell]

14. ditto.

[slay]

15. Me too!

I will NEVER be a millionaire and I'm fine with that - in fact I'm happy about it in a way cause if you are making that much money you have to be ripping somebody else off or screwing somebody over - in general.

But yes - most of them are so far detached from what it's like to struggle to survive on a daily/weekly/monthly basis that in reality they really do not represent us at all. Thanks to massive amounts of money and total control of the MSM we have little chance to fight them though. Every once in a while a decent person will sneak through, but it's never enough to challenge the super corrupt and powerful at the top.

In short - we're are indeed being screwed by the rich and powerful in congress - again - as usual. :grr:

[Ozymanithrax]

16. Then elect the poor and give them a chance. nl/t

[spin]

18. How do the poor afford to run for office?

[Ozymanithrax]

20. Get involved in local party politics...

Make friends there, and then when a seat opens up, declare a run. Check out state laws, to know what they need to do to get on the ballot.

Then, they must get donations form people and run for a seat. Most candidates, even the wealthy, do not self fund their campaigns.

Quite a few people between the poverty line and that $250,000.00 a year number run for office and win. It is more difficult for the poor because they will find it difficult feeding their families while running for office.

[spin]

28. My daugther considered this for a while ...

but her concern was her children. She feared exposing them to all the bad publicity that comes from a negative campaign from an opponent.

The campaign adds probably discourage many people like my daughter from running. Add to this the fact that often women face far more unfair criticism than men. They get ridiculed for their clothes, their makeup, their style of dress as well as any faults in their lives from high school up.

How many good women do we eliminate from running for office because of the way we target their faults more than the faults of their male opponents?

[rhett o rick]

40. Wake up and smell the oligarchy.

I have tried the local politics. Good in theory but look at what happened with Obama. We, at the local level, worked our asses off to get him elected. And then what? He spit on us. We thought we were participating in a democratic process. But just like 2000 and 2004, we got fucked. "Thanks for the help, now sit down and shut the fuck up". Can you spell O L I G A R C H Y ?

[awoke_in_2003]

45. "Wake up and smell the oligarchy"

that may become my new sig line.

[rhett o rick]

48. Please do. I think it should catch on. In fact I may add it to mine. nm

[Luminous Animal]

43. Hmmm. Run for office or feed your kids. I choose run for office! Sorry kids.

[badtoworse]

21. Why would that make a difference?

Do you believe a poor person would be less likely to be corrupted by money and power than a person who was rich to start with?

[Ozymanithrax]

27. No, but if people are sick of multi-millionaires that is the easiest..

answer.

People sick of multi-millionaires in office should never vote for a person who makes more that $250,000.00 a year, or some other arbitrary number.

Ted Kennedy was a multi-millionaire who did far more good than harm as a legislator. FDR was banker and would have qualified at the time as part of the rich, and he was a hell of a President. Jimmy Carter was a millionaire. But if we want to exclude people by how much money they make, then electing the poor is the viable choice.

By the way, Bill Clinton was not a millionaire until after his he left the Presidency. An interesting site that covers the networth of Presidents in 2010 dollars.

(http://www.businessinsider.com/the-net-worth-of-the-american-presidents-from-washington-to-obama-2010-5?slop=1)

(Bill Clintons Net worth is after he left the Presidency, not at the time of his election.)

[Laelth]

35. That's a very interesting link. Thank you. n/t

-Laelth

[Greyhound]

24. I agree with your sentiment, but Americans are just not wired that way.

One of the first lessons a small business person learns is that pricing your product too low guarantees a quick death. It defies logic but it is absolutely the way it is.

[Ozymanithrax]

30. Unless all other choices are abysmal, I will not vote for a candidate...

that proclaims himself or herself a businessman.

People who want to run government like a business generally run government into the ground, and for the benefit of their investors.

[leftstreet]

26. K&R

[Retrograde]

29. Economic problems? What economic problems?

As I wrote in another thread, IMHO one of the root problems is that the people in charge are cocooned among others of their ilk. Unemployment? All their friends are well off. They look around and they see all the lobbyists and congressional aides who are employed and doing well. And the tinted windows in the limo make it hard to see those annoying masses.

Of course the majority of Americans can keep working until 70 - look at all the senators over that age! Renew unemployment benefits - let 'em find work! I have such trouble finding undocumented aliens that I can pay a pittance to to clean my house and mow my garden, surely there are jobs for everyone if they just lowered their requirements a little!

At least the Romans remembered that bread was just as important as circuses.

[Still Waters]

37. +1

[Obamanaut]

31. You mean congress? nt

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

32. I'm sick of Chris Mathews and others...

...letting these f'ers repeat their meme, "The American people want..."

Hardball my ass! More like Stanley tool.

[rhett o rick]

39. So what? You're sick about it. So what? Seems lots of people are sick of it.

But that's as far as it gets. Let's have a Starbucks and tell each other how sick we are of "it". When are we going to get up off our fat asses, put down our Starbucks and really do something?

[WillyT]

36. HUGE K & R !!!

:kick:

:hi:

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Wednesdays]

42. Yup.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

49. K&R

[rhett o rick]

50. I am rec'ing and kicking this thread. My earlier response was not intended to be aimed at the

OP, but at all of us that continue to "be sick" about what is happening. My response should have said, "Oh Yeah! What are WE going to do about it".

I would love to see some of this "sick-ness" harnessed and converted into action. We need leaders, strategy and tactics.

[Angry Dragon]

51. kick and rec

[lunatica]

53. The jobs will come back when they can pay us less than what they pay

in other countries. Just hang in there.

:sarcasm:

[lonestarnot]

54. You know how sick I am of the motherfuckers! You know!

K & R!

[indimuse]

55. KNR! Thank you! n/t

[Shining Jack]

57. Sick too! n/t

[paparush]

58. The French devised a clear cut solution.

[pansypoo53219]

60. CEOs have to be paid minimum wage.

unless they hire. they get $10,000 for every person they hire.