Two Holiday Movie Classics: Rich v Poor, Republican v Democrat

Yes, there are two holiday movie classics, at least here in America, and not only do we love them, lots of us, but they also show the great struggle of rich vs poor. The first, Dickens' "A Christmas Carol.

It's a very simplified view of the movie but it is, in fact, true and accurate. It's very like a present situation where a man named Bezos is worth 200 billion dollars--and growing--but he doesn't offer all his employees heath insurance. And that's just one current day example.

And the other holiday movie classic? Why "It's a Wonderful Life", of course.

Is there any question, any question at all that George Bailey, fighting for the "little man", the working and middle classes, is a Democrat/Liberal while the obscenely greedy, already rich Mr. Potter is a Republican and conservative? If you do question it, George Bailey's speech should clear it up. 

"Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you’re talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn’t think so. People were human beings to him, but to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they’re cattle.”

Oh, yeah. Both good to great movies in their own ways and both show current day situations of, again, rich v poor and very well.

Happy holidays, everyone. Stay safe out there.

I hope.

Quote of the Day -- From a Founding Father

With this, it seems clear he, Founding Father Thomas Paine, could no way be a member of the present day Republican Party.

What Have Poor People Ever Done For This Country?

So many in America call out the poor as "moochers" and the programs for them as unnecessary and even wasteful. They say having these "welfare programs" keep them poor and "enables" them to be and stay poor.

Being Sunday, I think it an especially good day to examine just what and who the poor are and what, exactly, they do.

What Have The Poor Ever Done For Us

1. They built it. The country was literally built on the backs of poor immigrants and slaves. To this day, construction workers are some of the hardest working people in the country, yet their average wage is only $50,000 per year, which includes management. People that maintain the roads driven by the wealthy (and everyone else) are paid only $30,000 per year.
2. They care for our children. The average nanny is paid only about $30,000 per year, usually without benefits.
3. They teach our children. The average teacher makes around $45,000 a year, which might not sound poor, but for that salary, most positions require advanced degrees.
4. They make the world beautiful. It would be difficult to determine the average salary of an artist, but very few of even the most talented artists achieve financial success.
5. They inform and entertain. Writers, actors and filmmakers are just as likely to live in poverty as visual artists.
6. They create. Inventors are often poorly paid for their inventions, if paid at all.
7. They are entrepreneurs. Two thirds of startup businesses fail. Many of them fail because they were simply out financed (think the big coffee chain moving on to the same corner as the independent coffee house).
8. They keep our world clean. People that do the dirtiest jobs are notoriously some of the least paid, yet can you imagine a world without people emptying our trash and cleaning our toilets?
9. They keep you alive. Without poor people, produce would rot in the fields. There would be no goods on the shelves. There would be no store clerks to sell them to you. Most Americans would most likely starve.
10. They fight for our country. The average starting salary of enlisted personnel is about $30,000 per year.
11. They save the world. Many of history’s most selfless people live their lives in or near poverty. They join the Peace Corps. They work for or start charitable organizations.
12. They pay their taxes. Much is made of the statistic that between 40 and 50 percent of people don’t pay federal income tax. That is typically because they are too poor. But even if they don’t pay federal income tax, they pay taxes. They pay Social Security taxes. They pay state taxes. They pay the identical sales tax on food and clothing as their wealthy brethren. They pay identical gasoline taxes as their more fortunate counterparts. Unlike the wealthy, taxes deeply impact the well being of the poor, yet, unlike the wealthy, they are unable to take advantage of the loopholes that were designed to specifically benefit the wealthy.

What have the poor ever done for this country?

Everything.

Of course, we can debate the definition of the word, “poor”, but the fact is that the gap between the people that have the most and the people that have the least is growing. People are not becoming less valuable. They are simply getting paid less.

Links:

U.S. inequality keeps getting uglier

Growing wealth inequality 'dangerous' threat to democracy: experts

Economic Inequality: It's Far Worse Than You Think - Scientific American

Christianity and Capitalism

People, in this nation, who consider themselves to be both Capitalists and Christians are only Capitalists.

Mark 10:21-22   Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Luke 12:16-21   Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."

And my personal favorite:

Matthew 19:24    Jesus said "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."

Think happy thoughts.

And enjoy your Sunday.

Link:  9 Jesus Quotes About The Poor

To Trump Voters, Supporters

Here's to all of the people who voted for Trump:

Remember when the so-called President said he was going to donate his salary?

He just accepted his second paycheck. Says he'll pay it back later.

Remember when he said Mexico was going to pay for the wall?

He has asked Congress to appropriate the $25 billion of taxpayer money to cover costs.

Remember when he said he was going to divest from his businesses?

He changed his mind.

Remember when he said he was going to release his tax returns?

Again, changed his mind.

Remember when he said he wasn't going to go on vacation or play golf?

5 of the last 7 weekends he went on vacation and played golf, costing taxpayers $11.1 million.

And he's going again this weekend.

Remember when he said he was going to use American steel to build these dangerous pipelines?

Russian steel arrived last week for the Keystone Pipeline XL.

Remember when he said would defeat ISIS in 30 days?

He still has no plan whatever.

Remember when he said he was going to appropriate money to historic Black colleges?

He lied to get a photo-op.

Remember when he said he was going to drain the swamp of Washington insiders?

His cabinet is filled with lobbyists, oil and Wall Street executives.

Remember when he said he wasn't going to cut social security and Medicare?

The Republican bill does just that.

Remember when he said that nobody on his campaign has any communications with Russian govt?

7 in his administration--so far--have now admitted they spoke and/or met with Russian officials, after they lied and got caught.

Remember when he said that the Obamacare replacement would cover more people at lower cost?

The AHCA that the GOP and he are now pushing; they now admit will cover fewer people at a higher cost.

So here's to you, Trump voters, Trump supporters.

Unless you regret that vote and now, that support, the rest of us out here in America have no idea what you're thinking. You got duped but we have to pay the costs for your mistakes, too. And the poor and elderly have to pay a "higher price" than just about any of us.

Kudos.

The US and Where the Republican Party Wants to Take Us (Guest Post)

Great questions--and facts--on our United States today, from one Wayne Stiles  out on Facebook earlier.

Since when did it become acceptable in this country to toss the weakest of us overboard?

There is a political party dedicated to castrating the poorest among us.

It started out by refusing to extend unemployment benefits at a time when we were hemorrhaging 800,000 jobs a month.

Then it was cutting off food stamps to these same families. Taking food off the tables of the hungriest and poorest families.

Then the GOP showed how truly despicable they were.

Laws were passed to keep people from feeding the homeless. People were being arrested for feeding homeless families.

Laws passed to make it illegal to sleep ANYWHERE outside. Homeless people were being arrested.

Then the GOP sank to its lowest depths.

It began cutting off help to our veterans and seniors.

Veterans committing suicide at a rate of 200,000 a year. Seniors deciding whether to eat or pay bills. Denying healthcare to them all.

But the worst atrocity is while doing this, the GOP is taking that money and giving it away wholesale to the wealthiest.

Do we change this or not?

A Senate Republican Speaks Truth to Their Power

At last, long overdue, but we get some truth and honesty from someone inside this political party, calling their "Voter ID laws" what they really are and that is voter suppression.

Most assuredly un-American.  It's shameful. We need to rise up, speak out against this and overturn these efforts and soon as possible.

Quote of the day

The Koch brothers and the Walton family members come immediately to mind:

Here's Your Welfare in America

Quote of the day -- on the job creators

The real job creators are not CEOs or corporations or even entrepreneurs. The job creators are the middle class and the poor, whose purchases cause businesses to expand. If the middle and poor don't have enough purchasing power, businesses won't hire. Which explains why America's job picture continues to be so bad, with the lowest share of the working-age population now employed than in over three decades. Almost nothing has been trickling down to the middle class and poor. 

We don't need tax cuts for the wealthy or for corporations. We need a higher minimum wage, an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, and stronger unions.

--Robert Reich,  American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator

Quote of the day -- Corporate Welfare

The real moochers

Quote of the day -- on the direction of one political party

Well, knock me over with a feather--Kansas does something for the poor

I read it in the Kansas City Star today and could hardly believe it:

New Kansas law helps poor people caught in traffic-fine trap

What the what?

The Kansas, famously (infamously?) Republican-led Statehouse over there in Topeka did just that--did something to help the less financially-fortunate of the state:

TOPEKA — Lawmakers and the governor have corrected a legislative oversight that was making life difficult for poor people who have traffic tickets they can’t afford to pay all at once.

What really got me is that 2nd part--the part that said even Governor Brownback got in on this, too.

Some details:

House Bill 2009 restores a system to allow motorists with suspended licenses to get a restricted license to drive to work, school or other important destinations, while paying off traffic fines over time.

Gov. Sam Brownback signed the bill Thursday.

Here's yet one more wonderful, surprising, rare thing about the whole thing:

The bill was originally the handiwork of two Wichita-area legislators, Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, a Democrat, and former Sen. Phil Journey, a Republican.

Can you imagine that?  

Two government representatives, from different political parties, no less, WORKING TOGETHER, and for the betterment of the people.  

Wow.  

With all the partisanship across the states, singularly, but across the larger nation, as a whole, it's a wonderful, welcome turn.  

Talk about a double-take.

And it's not even Christmas.

There may be hope for those people and that state yet.

Just don't count on it.

From a Catholic nun on Paul Ryan's Republican budget proposal

Quote of the day

 

We could use some "warriors" like this in Washington and our state governments.

Enjoy your Sunday, y'all.

Maxine on the Right Wing

Quote of the day

Republicans and the President need to keep their hands off Social Security

None other than the Republican Party's own saint from the grave, Ronnie the Raygun on Social Security:



Hands off our Social Security, ladies and gentlemen.

Here's where the welfare money goes

Click on picture for better viewing:

Great question

I didn't know it, did you?

Maybe it's because we don't give a damn about children, once they're born?

Maybe because we revile the poor?

The lazy, no good, mooching bums...

Right?

Great Christians, aren't we?