[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
Editorial See other Editorial Articles Title: Disdain for Workers Disdain for Workers By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: September 20, 2012 323 Comments By now everyone knows how Mitt Romney, speaking to donors in Boca Raton, washed his hands of almost half the country — the 47 percent who don’t pay income taxes — declaring, “My job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” By now, also, many people are aware that the great bulk of the 47 percent are hardly moochers; most are working families who pay payroll taxes, and elderly or disabled Americans make up a majority of the rest. Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times Paul Krugman Go to Columnist Page » Blog: The Conscience of a Liberal Related in Opinion Campaign Stops: I Know Why the Caged Bird Shrieks (September 19, 2012) Times Topic: Economy Opinion Twitter Logo. Connect With Us on Twitter For Op-Ed, follow @nytopinion and to hear from the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, follow @andyrNYT. Readers’ Comments Readers shared their thoughts on this article. Read All Comments (323) » But here’s the question: Should we imagine that Mr. Romney and his party would think better of the 47 percent on learning that the great majority of them actually are or were hard workers, who very much have taken personal responsibility for their lives? And the answer is no. For the fact is that the modern Republican Party just doesn’t have much respect for people who work for other people, no matter how faithfully and well they do their jobs. All the party’s affection is reserved for “job creators,” a k a employers and investors. Leading figures in the party find it hard even to pretend to have any regard for ordinary working families — who, it goes without saying, make up the vast majority of Americans. Am I exaggerating? Consider the Twitter message sent out by Eric Cantor, the Republican House majority leader, on Labor Day — a holiday that specifically celebrates America’s workers. Here’s what it said, in its entirety: “Today, we celebrate those who have taken a risk, worked hard, built a business and earned their own success.” Yes, on a day set aside to honor workers, all Mr. Cantor could bring himself to do was praise their bosses. Lest you think that this was just a personal slip, consider Mr. Romney’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. What did he have to say about American workers? Actually, nothing: the words “worker” or “workers” never passed his lips. This was in strong contrast to President Obama’s convention speech a week later, which put a lot of emphasis on workers — especially, of course, but not only, workers who benefited from the auto bailout. And when Mr. Romney waxed rhapsodic about the opportunities America offered to immigrants, he declared that they came in pursuit of “freedom to build a business.” What about those who came here not to found businesses, but simply to make an honest living? Not worth mentioning. Needless to say, the G.O.P.’s disdain for workers goes deeper than rhetoric. It’s deeply embedded in the party’s policy priorities. Mr. Romney’s remarks spoke to a widespread belief on the right that taxes on working Americans are, if anything, too low. Indeed, The Wall Street Journal famously described low-income workers whose wages fall below the income-tax threshold as “lucky duckies.” What really needs cutting, the right believes, are taxes on corporate profits, capital gains, dividends, and very high salaries — that is, taxes that fall on investors and executives, not ordinary workers. This despite the fact that people who derive their income from investments, not wages — people like, say, Willard Mitt Romney — already pay remarkably little in taxes. Where does this disdain for workers come from? Some of it, obviously, reflects the influence of money in politics: big-money donors, like the ones Mr. Romney was speaking to when he went off on half the nation, don’t live paycheck to paycheck. But it also reflects the extent to which the G.O.P. has been taken over by an Ayn Rand-type vision of society, in which a handful of heroic businessmen are responsible for all economic good, while the rest of us are just along for the ride. In the eyes of those who share this vision, the wealthy deserve special treatment, and not just in the form of low taxes. They must also receive respect, indeed deference, at all times. That’s why even the slightest hint from the president that the rich might not be all that — that, say, some bankers may have behaved badly, or that even “job creators” depend on government-built infrastructure — elicits frantic cries that Mr. Obama is a socialist. Now, such sentiments aren’t new; “Atlas Shrugged” was, after all, published in 1957. In the past, however, even Republican politicians who privately shared the elite’s contempt for the masses knew enough to keep it to themselves and managed to fake some appreciation for ordinary workers. At this point, however, the party’s contempt for the working class is apparently too complete, too pervasive to hide. The point is that what people are now calling the Boca Moment wasn’t some trivial gaffe. It was a window into the true attitudes of what has become a party of the wealthy, by the wealthy, and for the wealthy, a party that considers the rest of us unworthy of even a pretense of respect. A version of this op-ed appeared in print on September 21, 2012, on page A29 of the New York edition with the headline: Disdain For Workers. Facebook Twitter Google+ E-mail Share Get Home Delivery Get 50% Off The New York Times & Free All Digital Access. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 10.
#10. To: tom007 (#0)
If all the Republicans Party's affection is just reserved for job creators and investors, where do the hell do they think their profit line is generated from? Are they gonna go out there and do the work themselves or pay somebody else to do the work? These Republicans are just as damn stupid and lazy as the Democrats which is why I laugh at both parties. Nobody wants to work anymore. And then those like Romney snub and scoff at the American laborer. Let me give some wisdom here to all those Romney know it all types who think their shit doesn't stink and that American workers should respect these job creators and investors. Job Creators and investors are successful not just because of the risk involved in putting up the financial capital to create jobs and invest in starting up companies but the success is also made by those who contribute to its profit just by their solid work effort everyday. That means the cook,prep cooks, maintenance/janitor, dishwasher, waitresses/waiters/maitre de's, street maintenance, telephone operators, entry level salesperson,etc. Of course, you can never say this to some Republican Party who has never had to work in their lives and despises workers. And when I mention American workers, I'm not talking about illegal aliens working in the United States. I'm talking about the hard working American born workers who do honest labor. What disturbs me the most about these Republicans (and Democrats) Parties, is that they snub the hard-working American workers by referring to them as "slaves". And then these "Job creators" and "Investors" wonder why they get bitch-slapped with hostile working condition lawsuits. They deserve to get sued. Frankly, I am very disgusted with Mit Romney. The first time I saw this guy, I knew he was a genuine phoney son of a bitch. I never never liked him. He is a real phoney. What we need are better selection of candidates cause I don't see any candidates that are worthy of my high esteem and respect for the Oval Office. I'm not voting for anybody.
There are no replies to Comment # 10. End Trace Mode for Comment # 10.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||