McCain's vision for a new 'war on poverty'
By Steve Benen Thursday Apr 24, 2008 7:30amJohn McCain recently acknowledged, “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.” That’s a perfectly accurate self-assessment, but McCain would almost certainly be better off if he didn’t spend so much time highlighting his lack of knowledge on the subject.
For example, yesterday, the Republican presidential candidate had the gall to talk up his concerns about poverty.
Republican John McCain, saying the nation is in a recession and “families are hurting,” retraced Lyndon Johnson’s steps in eastern Kentucky and pledged to mount a war on poverty different from that waged by the former Democratic president.
“I have no doubt President Johnson was serious and had the very best of intentions” in 1964, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said at a town-hall event in Inez today as he continues his week-long courtship of voters in America’s economically hard-pressed areas.
“Government has a role to play in helping people who, through no fault of their own, are having a hard time,” McCain, an Arizona senator, said. He defined that role as offering choices on education, health care and job training, rather than providing handouts.
McCain has a lot of nerve showing up in one of the poorest, most impoverished communities in Appalachia, railing against government handouts, while simultaneously touting one of the most regressive economic agendas imaginable.
Consider this WSJ item that ran earlier this week.
Sen. John McCain is proposing tax cuts that would either cause the federal deficit to explode or would require unprecedented spending cuts equal to one-third of federal spending on domestic programs.
Once thought of as a deficit hawk, the near-certain Republican presidential nominee is now putting more stress on the traditional Republican orthodoxy of tax cuts. Altogether, he proposes more than $650 billion in tax cuts a year, much of it benefiting corporations and upper-income families. That includes the cost of extending tax cuts implemented under President Bush that he voted against twice.
To help pay for it all, the Arizona senator says he would cut $160 billion a year from a federal discretionary budget that totals a little more than $1 trillion. He hasn’t specified where the cuts would come from.
So, on the one hand, McCain wants to cut taxes dramatically to benefit “corporations and upper-income families,” and on the other, McCain wants to cut federal spending. Since spending cuts for the military and national security are off the table — indeed, he’s vowed to increase spending on both — it would necessarily mean McCain would make billions of dollars in cuts in spending that would benefit those who aren’t in “upper-income families.”
But if you’re in Appalachia and living in poverty, forget about a “handout.” In a McCain administration, they’re reserved for the same wealthy interests that have benefited throughout the Bush years.
What’s more, in about five months, Republicans will tell these same people in impoverished areas that they shouldn’t even consider voting for Barack Obama (or Hillary Clinton) because what really matters are flag pins. It’s like an arsonist telling a family whose home is on fire not to trust the man outside in the firetruck.
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Tax breaks for people too poor to pay taxes is the economic design of an imperial asshole.
Offering choices for what, Senator? When so many jobs have left the country, what choices are left for a poor person to climb OUT of poverty. Crime?
What choices for education? Letting them go to a church school instead of public school? How about vocational training? Trade schools? Adult education?
Choices for healthcare??? HAHHAHAAHAAHHAHAAA! Let's see... which of these unaffordable health care plans will I have to forgo in order to put food on the table.
What an out of touch, ELITIST old fool this man is!
If one is paying say a thousand dollars in income tax, and instead of providing healthcare for this/these people you give them a tax credit, how much coverage are they going to get for eighty bucks a month? I dont mind that McCain is a warmongering ultra conservative wife-abuser as much as the fact that he pretends to be human. That galls me.
He should spend a week witha coal miner working alongside him, sleeping in his shack, eating his food. Have a reality show based on it.
I worked in an Alcan Powdered Metals factory once during a summer job when I was in college. I did a week in the powdered copper building. The old men in there had green hair from the oxidized dust. When I woke up in the morning my sheet were green. Mc Cain would look good in green hair, don't you think?
Mc Phony.
It's ok, he'll get elected by the poor so long as he puts out a strong Religious Right message (you know, anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-muslim etc etc etc).
How ironic - that a demographic hit hardest by the NeoCon agenda would STILL be so callow as to vote for these preening charlatans.
As for McSame:
"Government has a role to play in helping people who through no fault of their own are having a hard time..."
Read:
But our primary obligation is to those with whom we swap favors, sweetheart land deals, crony business contracts, and rounds at the golf course with. You stupid inbred fucks are an afterthought except around election time.
McSame:
"But government can't create good and lasting jobs outside of government."
Read:
But we can surely find cushy appointments within both existing and newly created shell departments within the government for the friends and relatives of our biggest benifactors.
McSame:
"It can't pay lost wages. It can't dig coal from the earth. It can't buy you a house."
Read:
But can pass laws that ease the task of stealing your savings and retirement funds, healthcare, and moving all of your blue collar jobs to China. And if we could find a way to weasle past the "damned liberal" labor laws of this country, we would be using immigrant slave laborors to dig that coal as well. As for your homes, we are manuvering for the usury hawks to take those away as well. Since you dumb fucks can't do math or read a contract, you shouldn't have to bear the complicated burden of property management or ownership.
What in God's name are these people thinking when they vote for NeoCons...
“The issue of ECONOMICS is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.”
“The issue of EDUCATION is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.”
“The issue of PEACEKEEPING is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.”
“The issue of CIVIL RIGHTS is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.”
“The issue of HEALTHCARE is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.”
“The issue of NOTSUCKINGUP is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.”
“The issue of MINORITIES is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.”
“The issue of POVERTY is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.”
“The issue of LIVING WAGES is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.”
The reslug's idea of offering the impoverished more "choices" means that everything will be for sale and you can shop at any school, church or hospital to get the best deal. If you need help paying for it, loans will be available at reasonable rates.
Neofeudalism is working out for some.
If Hillary or Obama had said these same words that he said, they would be being analyzed on the cable news channels 24/7. But because it's McCain he can say whatever the hell comes to his head and no one pays any attention.
I have come to the very sad conclusion that the media has decided they will bring the Democratic race to an end. They have decided Hillary should be the winner and as of yesterday they are going to push that thought until a whole lot of voters are brainwashed to the idea. If you heard Craig Crawford on Morning Joe this morning, you know what I mean. The Rev Wright story is leading all the discussions right now. The talking heads are saying that Obama looks tired, he's off message, he's lost his spirit. I mean to listen to them, Obama's campaign is in its last throes.
I hope voters don't by into this rhetoric.
Dr. Know @ 6:
Yes what is that about? The reslugs are basically offering more of the same of everything. More poverty, more tax cuts for the rich, more bad government, more dead soldiers, more debt, more war. And less of the things people need, less health care, less funding for schools, hospitals, roads and bridges. Less programs for the needy. Less housing for the homeless. And these people will STILL vote these scum sucking assholes into office!
I'm sorry but anyone that stupid deserves what they get.
"What’s more, in about five months, Republicans will tell these same people in impoverished areas that they shouldn’t even consider voting for Barack Obama (or Hillary Clinton) because what really matters are flag pins. It’s like an arsonist telling a family whose home is on fire not to trust the man outside in the firetruck"
Yes but the same people will fall for it again and vote republican. I am not sure I would blame the republicans or John McCain. These tactics work, thats why the republicans use them. The people get the politicians they deserve. Thats the beauty (or ugliness) of democracy.
I say boycott Budweiser, Cindy's own witches' brew and the source of their millions.
McCain gives me a McPain.
Oh lord, another War on ____?
Dr. Know @ 6:
Excellent translation.
Isn't this what Obama was talking about? To get some people to vote repub, you just have to mention gays, abortion and/or gun control.
Looks like McCain has discovered that he can use the working poor as a backdrop.
Just like his buddy GW Bush uses our troops as one.
In both cases neither do anything but inflict misery on them...
I had such high hopes 6 months ago but now I see America can not and will not change. It seems the only thing people believe in is fear, fear of terrorists, fear of blacks, fear of science, fear to be educated. Our dropout rate in our schools are on the rise and the dumbing down of America continues at a frantic rate. People will flock to a clown like McCain and the repugs who will play on all those fears.
MargeAggedon @ 10:
The only problem with that notion is that we get it too. Frankly i'm tired of it.
Wow. Just when I was thinking that I couldn't possibly be marginalized anymore . . . I just got back from a trip to the grocery store with my 10 year old son. We bought a gallon of milk with 3 one dollar bills and paid the other $1.46 with change I have been saving up. I am hoping that the gallon of milk will last my kids and husband the rest of the week, I don't even drink milk anymore.
We're really broke right now, because my husband was forced to quit running his small business (drafting) and take a corporate job because he and I are don't have health insurance. The kids are on SCHIP, but it seems like I can't count on that lasting. The job pays him literally 1/2 what he made on his own, but of course, owning a small business, we owe the government thousands in taxes.
Meanwhile, I come home to read the news and see this. Coupled with the knowledge that 60% of corporations in America pay no taxes at all; I could just cry.
BTW, I live in Alabama. People are poor everywhere.
Is there such a thing as disappointment fatigue? Being sick and tired of being disappointed time after time after time?
pissed off patricia @ 14 Says:
Thank You. But I'm only extending what they are saying with what they are thinking...
Yea, PoP, I was gonna cover that as well, but didn't. But again, isn't it ironic that a party that so vehemently eschews gays and claims to embrace "family values" is actually comprised of closet homosexuals, pedophiles and Newt Gingriches. When I moved to Florida it was Democratic. I then watched in horror as KKKRove and company shoved these NeoCon hacks into office around the state, and then watched in glee as their careers went down in flames - on the odd occation that the authorities actually did their jobs, or the press actually ran with a story. The list of Bush appointees and supporters reads like a who's who of perversion.
And PoP, I thought you were going to take a few days off and cool down? Yet here you are...
kablooie @ 12:
I have been boycotting piss for decades. Try a micro brew and see what you have been missing.
If you want to go back to poorly made beer boycott Coors as well. Adolf Coors brought us the Heritage Foundation, Ronald Reagan and Scalia.
On a side note it is interesting to note that after all these decades of making a fortune selling a substandard product to the American Public the family behind Budwieser has yet to spend a single penny on a charitable cause. It gives nothing back.
Nothing at all.
The surge in poverty seems to be working, lets stay the course.
pissed off patricia @ 19 Says:
Well if there is, I've got a severe case of it.
20 years worth of let downs - from the judiciary, lawyers, state governments, and the Feds. More inclined to think of it as the prelude to pitchforks, tar and feathers, and 4 horses.
Carol @ 18:
I feel your pain, I lost my job to cut backs in Feb and there are no jobs to be had. The sad thing is that states like Alabama will end up going for McCain and the repugs, even if it goes against there own interest. They will end up voting on fear, instead of voting to make a better life for themselves and their kids. America is falling into the abyss.
xoites (Bitter Before Country Was Cool) defends Constitution @ 17:
Agreed.
Poverty is just as violent as war and it effects women and children the most. Same as war.
Dr. Know, I am taking a few days off from posting about politics at Morning Martini. I wanted to let the site get some fresh air for a little while. So I'll be posting about other things than the pain of politics. But C&L is a different story. I'm addicted to the site and the great commenters here. Love it! This is my favorite "get it off your chest" site. :)
There is something about McCain. He has his stock sentences about the war etc. But he seems to be using his "straight talk" reputation to make the republican talking points sound like they are something new from him.
kablooie @ 12:
We have saying here. 'American beer is like making love in a canoe..... it's f-ing close to water.'
:D
Wouldn't drink that piss anyway. Probably a good rule of thumb not to drink anything that tastes the same going in as it does coming out. LOL!
not only is he touting it, he will make it fly with these people and win their vote. It's not about substance or reality, it' all about perception. And the Republican party is great at selling snake oil to the impoverished and downtrodden.
I hope mccain doesn't conduct the war on poverty like they did Afghanistand and Iraq.
pissed off patricia @ 27:
PO'd Pat,
I agree. I have all but cut politics out of my life but for this site. I still read linked blogs and articles but this is the only site where I read and post regularly. I think I've got politics PTSD. I've been tempted on several recent occasions to make a small 'goodbye for now' post and stop all together but I just can't seem to do it.
C&L I just can't quit you. XD hehehe. I'd miss it too much.
Afghanistan
BaScOmBe against Bitter Elitist Bullshit @ 193:
BaScOmBe against Bitter Elitist Bullshit @ 189:
Here's where the job training starts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XmOPHEL_3Q
BaScOmBe against Bitter Elitist Bullshit @ 191:
diamondmc @ 16:
I absolutely agree. And I'm angry that I've become/continue to be so cynical. The Repubs are really great at grabbing and owning the best, and simplest domains such as God and religious issues, the flag, fear of real and created evils, and holding on to the "greatness of the American Way" even as they do their best at subverting and ruining what made America great.
I worked 2 jobs in 2007, nothing so far this year. I just paid my income taxes from a home equity loan! Sure seems like a downward spiral. I work to catch up, rather than stay ahead. Our car hit 200,000 miles last year.
I encourage everybody who can to plant the biggest garden you can manage. We are fortunate to have enough land for animals too. My small effort at self-sufficiency is what keeps me sane. We saw this coming 10 years ago, when we cashed out our suburban house and moved to an area where property taxes don't sting (even if the politics do!).
pissed off patricia @ 27:
Thanks for turning me on to morning martini. I always look forward to your comments here on C&L. Another voice of reason.
pissed off patricia @ 27:
more importantly, the media is absolutely complicit.
This crazy old fuck's idea of a "War on poverty" is to shoot anyone who doesn't earn 100,000. McWar' 08.
xoites (Bitter Before Country Was Cool) defends Constitution @ 17 Says:
Tell me about it. How have you been? Due to a series of odd occurances, I live in Redneck Cobb County, GA. (a filthy place I vowed to never set foot in again - damned women...).
The lowest common denominator is dragging us all down by our ankles.
As an aside, I won't drink Coors - ever. I avoid the Anheuser-Busch Companies' crap like the plague - especially since they changed Michelob into pisswater. Local microbrews, imports, and small Kentucky distillery bourbon are about all I'll drink on the rare occasion I bother. Southern women don't interest me in the least (so far, they've all been insane), I'm too worn out and battered to bother anyway, so what's the point of going out? As PoP mentioned, dissapointment - for $5 bucks a glass.
Do you think McCain was exploiting the "bitter people" that Obama was talking about.
Left&Left @ 40:
McCazys idea of the war on poverty, is to build more prisons.
xoites (Bitter Before Country Was Cool) defends Constitution @ 26:
Poverty affects EVERYONE. Men are usually the first to die, especially after feeling forced to act, either out of bravado or out of desperation. The suffering of women and children is more visible because it simply takes more time to die of starvation and disease. Their is no comparative level of suffering in this case.
diamondmc @ 38:
Sneezer the Cat says hello to Fred the Cat! He has a lovely patio.
diamondmc @ 38:
Oh my! Thank you so much.
The party of the huns, will need to do something because so many of the middle class are experiencing significant downward mobility.
To end poverty, they will just redefine the term.
Presto chango, no more poor people.
Look, it seems to have worked for torture, even for 'war', why not poverty.
They have always been very good at hijacking the language to distort reality.
Dr. Know @ 41:
Ouch! I'm a southern woman, born in Georgia. I have, as yet, not been declared officially insane. ;)
Dr. Know @ 41:
I must be one of those true elitists McCrazy is talking about because I don't drink any beer, vodka only.
MargeAggedon @ 45:
Fred the Cat sends his regards right back attcha, Sneezer.
MargeAggedon @ 10:
I was actually pretty ticked off the other day and said to my husband 'If it comes down to the two warmongers (John 'Keating 5' McCain and Hillary 'the Obliterator' Clinton) maybe I'll just be happy to let the working class elect someone who will keep my gigantic tax cuts in place, screw them if they are that stupid. But it won't be fair to my kids (if McCain or Clinton didn't start WWIII and destroy everything), at some point someone will have to pay up, and there aren't going to be many Americans left with the ability to foot the bill.
“Government has a role to play in helping people who, through no fault of their own, are having a hard time,” McCain, an Arizona senator, said.
I guess then he will be all in favor of reducing Corporate Welfare Subsidies, right? Like for the Oil Companies who have made record profits since Iraq 2.0 and the bailout of Bear Stearns... letting the "free-market" do it's job, what?
Alice (formerly Hussein, live free of the Borg or die) @ 48:
I'm not sure there IS a middle class any more, at least not in terms of wealth. Everybody has been encouraged to accumulate debt up to the limit of their ability to pay it. I think this is why the housing/mortgage crisis hit so hard - you can't jump ship any more. Bush is essentially running a monarchy where money = royalty. You're either part of the elite or you can eat shit.
pissed off patricia @ 27 Says:
I have great difficulty posting here, or even reading this site. I can get to all other sites without problems, but this one remains problematic. I believe the new WordPress (Ajax?) arrangement is causing problems - I dislike it. Or maybe the locals don't want anyone upsetting their retarded beliefs and try to block it. Even Dr. Know doesn't know. ;-) I do some computer programming / systems support work from home, and it ain't a problem on this end.
As for McSame - I used to respect the guy, but his status as a war hero/POW hardly relates to progressive problem solving skills. He has embraced PNAC/NeoConism and I soundly reject both it and those who embrace it. He's just an irrelevant old fart recycling proven failures at this point.
LibertyLover @ 54:
Aahhh! the barely hidden snark! Your Kung Fu is strong!
ysbaddaden @ 30:
I think Reagan started the War on Poverty, and W has been glad to continue it. Unfortunately, neither of them really understood what that is supposed to mean. McCain will continue the approach of killing the poor in order to save them.
This man is human trash. If America elects him, I'm leaving the country. I live in Hastart's old district in IL. This district had been republican for over 50 years. We just voted a democrat in. Sure, that doesn't sound so hard in a mostly blue state, but for the most republican district in the state to vote a democrat in, in a special election, counts for something. I can only hope...
Another conservative trying to be "compassionate" -- it's a laugh riot. A clear and absolute oxymoron -- from a moron.
*
To add insult to injury, Inez is also the site of a massive coal slurry dam failure that occurred in October of 2000, spilling 6 times the amount of waste that was leaked during the Exxon-Valdez spill into rivers and streams in eastern and northern Kentucky. The investigation of this took place during the Bush Administration, and Bush and his lapdog McConnell made sure the investigation went no where.
People often think that Kentuckians are all conservative, bible-thumping hicks, but in the areas of the state where the working people that have seen the damage the GOP can do to are pretty solidly Democrat.
McLame - you can't pretend to care about the middle classes or the poverty stricken at the same time that you are working assiduously behind the scenes to destroy them.
*
49 pissed off patricia Says:
Oops! Sorry PoP - what a faux pas. For some reason I thought you were in MA. Are you still in GA? Actually, many years ago, I knew two sane southern women. Grace Payton and Cheryl Smith. All the rest were crazy though - especially the nutjob politician daughters who turned me off to the entire region and everything in it. Call it a knee-jerk reaction to continual collusion and political insanity. I've just determined that the odds are extemely bad, and stay away. My car chunked a water pump coming back to FL from NJ one year, and I kinda got mired in here when I stopped moving long enough to fix it. I should have kept going...
What you really need is a War On The Upper Class.
When you win that war then there will be some social justice.
I guess pot smokers and the poor are easier to beat in a war though......distractions from the root of the problem.
Oops again. The moderators should remove the name references in my last post, please. My fingers are typing faster than my brain and forgot this is a public forum littered with enemy agents who watch all. Thank You.
How about having the rich wife finance some more liquor stores and beer distributorships for the downtrodden? Not a true solution, of course, but most of the poor can't even afford crack these days.
xoites (Bitter Before Country Was Cool) defends Constitution @ 21:
Any recommendations?
Terrible. But hey, that's the warped American Dream now.
pissed off patricia @ 19:
It's funny you mention that. In the past 5 years I think I've been turned in to a harder cynic than a rock at a cemetery. It's terrible, it's like a feeling that you hate what's going on but you have no real power to stop it.
So I end up looking the other way.
"In the past 5 years I think I’ve been turned in to a harder cynic than a rock at a cemetery. It’s terrible, it’s like a feeling that you hate what’s going on but you have no real power to stop it.
So I end up looking the other way."
It's the feeling of helplessness. I tried to read the newspaper last night and became so disheartened. I can't imagine what life will be like if McCain wins. And I can see the corporate powers in the media working very hard to make that happen. They have gained SO MUCH power over the past 7 years it's frightening.
It takes me 5 hours just to earn a tank of gas. Takes me 75 hours to earn the money to pay the family health insurance premium, 2 week's of my pay. Takes another week and a half to earn the food budget. Not much left for rent and utilities is there? I'm sure glad we'll have choices of which crappy jobs we might want. And you know, charter schools will REALLY help me pay the health insurance premium. Fucking republicans.
fastfeat @ 66:
Have you noticed that the price of everything keeps going up, yet booze has pretty much stayed the same. Keep the poor high, and they won't know they are getting fucked.
Well McSame did say he wants to "balance" the budget and "stimulate" growth as Prez Stargazer (Regan) did. That means....more money for the rich, and it'll trickle down to the middle and lower classes. And will they believe that again? Sure they will.
McCain will no doubt have a new take on the "war" on poverty: he'll get us entangled in conflicts across the globe and then the poor will have no where to turn but the military. The McCain plan kills—literally—two birds with one stone.
What would Zeus do? @ 71:
Good point. And by not supporting the GI bill that is in congress now, the poor will have to stay in longer to get anything. That is, if they live long enough.
Ali @ 68:
Exactly. It's a downward cycle and I'm just looking up for a way out.
McCain’s vision for a new ‘war on poverty’
Poverty of thought?
Is it just me or does paucity sound like the name of the town Underdog should be from?
Slaw @ 58:
The war on poverty to find solutions and relief was Johnson (a real Texan), but ray gun declared war on the poor themselves.
ysbaddaden @ 75:
Got a joint, lock 'em up.
diamondmc @ 69:
So true. For something that uses so many grains, one would think the price would fluctuate more.
As a Tanqueray drinker myself, however, I would hope the price of juniper berries can survive these fluctuations in grain demand and pricing...
McCain would shoot his mother in the face if it guaranteed he be President.
Dr. Know @ 6:
Patriotism, religion, sex...but those are so passe now. Poor whites now have the ultimate excuse to vote Republican. Barack is MUSLIM! Look at his name! He's BLACK!!!
You know, I bet there are people in developing countries that would do the jobs of these crooks in DC for a quarter of the price. Why don't we outsource THEIR jobs? We can cut government labor costs and not have to raise taxes. There are plenty of intelligent, educated people in India, let's get a move on it.
Tracing LBJ's route? Johnson's dream of a "Great Society" withered because of the expense of the Viet Nam quagmire. So here's my question to Sen. McCain:
"How ya' going to pay for it?"
Admitting that you aren't up to speed on economics is a nice bit of honesty, but it doesn't explain how you could vote for and against taxes and expenditures for all those years (of experience) in the Senate without comprehending the consequences.
pissed off patricia @ 9:
Peole don't look at Hillery when she loses. (she looks like a over used woman of the night)
McCain’s vision for a new ‘war on poverty’
bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb pov er ty.
Pepper @ 81:
Amen to that! With the traitors we have in Washington now, I am sure we could get something better by outsourcing them. Constitutional requirements for congressmen and president wouldn't matter - the Constitution's trashed anyway now.
Next to a revolution and a complete cleansing of the government, this is a great idea.
are people so stupid as to buy into mcdoofus's bs?
why did lbj's great society programs fail?
because the repugs gutted them
where were the programs during the past 8 years? where was mcassholes support for any programs during the past 8 years?
are people gonna continue buying into this "compassionate conservative" crap?
we have had a compassionate conservative in the wh....he started a war, played air guitar while people died in nola, and tap dances while people try to figure out how to pay for gas at the pump
diamondmc @ 24:
The sad thing is that states like Alabama will end up going for McCain and the repugs, even if it goes against there own interest. They will end up voting on fear, instead of voting to make a better life for themselves and their kids. America is falling into the abyss.
Oh, I wouldn't write Alabama off so quickly. Typyically, I would agree with you; but we have many, many African Americans down here. It's difficult for me to understand why anyone would vote for McCain, but it's especially difficult for me to understand why an African American would vote for him. I am hopeful that the strength of their vote, plus the more educated counties in North Alabama, like Madison and Jefferson, we might be able to win this thing for Obama.
Did somebody say A War on Poverty???
*starts waterboarding the poor*
Okay. Mission accomplished.
What's next?
It's astonishing that conservatives like McCain continue to ignore the economic woes of everyday Americans while advocating policies that help corporations who, despite the current recession, are doing well enough to continue to lavish exorbitant paychecks on their executives.
Even when times are good, it's hard to believe that corporate CEOs can look you in the eye and tell you that they've truly earned their outrageous $10 million, $50 million, $100 million or more pay packages.
And right now, times aren't good.But this week I saw another round of stories on corporate CEOs getting multi-million dollar "bonuses" even as their companies lose millions of dollars.
This is just another outrageous example of a corporate culture that is out of control and out of touch with most Americans. These corporations fight any kind of regulation designed to protect workers, the environment, or public health, yet when their irresponsible behavior bites them in the ass, they come crawling to us begging for a bailout, while continuing to lavish hefty paychecks on their top executives.
Who are these CEOs earning unfair millions and making our economy less secure? I didn’t have to look far or wide – I found one in our hometown of Denver.
The homebuilder M.D.C Holdings’ Larry Mizel last year pulled in a $2 million bonus - on top of a substantial multi-million-dollar pay package – despite driving down his company’s share price and depleting returns for shareholders like public pension plans. If that’s not enough, overbuilding of homes by M.D.C. and other homebuilders is a major cause of the current housing and mortgage crisis that’s threatening American jobs and the economy. In Colorado, many of M.D.C.’s houses are now vacant and in foreclosure.
It's time average citizens whose lifestyles have been effected in big ways by the waning economy speak out against this economic climate that favors the already well-off. That's why Progressive Future has launched its "Give It Back" Campaign, focused on targeting poor-performing CEOs who nonetheless receive exorbitant bonuses, and asking them to take these bonuses and give them back to the community. Our supporters emailed Larry and asked him to donate his undeserved bonus to a local homeless shelter, and Mizel responded by de-activating his email address.
We have since changed tactics to a petition, which will be delivered to his offices in person. Sign Progressive Future's "Give It Back, Larry" Petition, and fight for the economic security of everyday Americans, not the coddling of wealthy corporate bigwigs.
moondancer @ 1:
Well said!!
P.K. McBurroughs @ 88:
mcspacecadet* is lost in the space between his ears.
I can just envision a GOP "War on Poverty".. they'll send anybody below a certain income level to death camps, certain that that'll solve the problem. Then they'll come up with a Department of Recipes so that they can use the dead from the death camps to feed the hungry in their "War on Hunger".
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