KRUGMAN: Bush India words show he only cares for Haves & Have Mores

[yurbud]

We need Democrats running for office who can say this so plainly without being mealy-mouthed for fear of offending potential corporate sponsors or being left off the gravy train of the next war.

Feeling No Pain

by Paul Krugman
The New York Times
March 6, 2006

<snip>

Why doesn't Mr. Bush get any economic respect? I think it's because most Americans sense, correctly, that he doesn't care about people like them. We're living in a time when many Americans are feeling economically insecure, but a tiny elite has been growing incredibly rich. And Mr. Bush's problem is that he identifies so totally with the lucky, wealthy few that in unscripted settings he can't manage even a few sentences of empathy with ordinary Americans. He doesn't feel your pain, and it shows.

<snip>


The fact is that we're living in a time when most Americans are seeing little if any benefit from overall income growth, because their share of the economic pie is falling. Between 1979 and 2003, according to a recent research paper published by the I.R.S., the share of overall income received by the bottom 80 percent of taxpayers fell from 50 percent to barely over 40 percent. The main winners from this upward redistribution of income were a tiny, wealthy elite: more than half the income share lost by the bottom 80 percent was gained by just one-fourth of 1 percent of the population, people with incomes of at least $750,000 in 2003.

And those fortunate few are the only people Mr. Bush seems to care about. Look at what he had to offer after asserting, in effect, that workers get outsourced because they don't have the right education: lower taxes, deregulation and fewer lawsuits. Funny, that doesn't sound like "pro-growth" policy to me. Instead, it sounds like a wish list for wealthy individuals and big corporations.

Mr. Bush once joked that his base consisted of the "haves and the have-mores." But it wasn't much of a joke. His remarks in India show that he really can't imagine what it's like not to be a member of a privileged economic elite.

http://www.topplebush.com/oped2590.shtml

[patdem]

1. bush* was born into wealth and priviledge..if he had to earn anything

he would be the first to march against himself. The effing little man would be working at a fast food place and complaining about how the president cares nothing about the little man! :grr:

[yurbud]

2. Yep: "How am I supposed to pay for crack and man hos on $6 an hour?"

[MaineYooper]

5. born on third base, thinks he hit a triple.

...and can't understand (and doesn't care) why everyone else is having trouble.

[yurbud]

6. just goes to show that a C student can become president...

if his daddy was president and his corporate friends and oil sheiks give you lots of money...

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Bush gets along well with nations that have huge social class disparities.

Among latin Americans, he likes the rabi blancos; among the Saudis, it's the royalty; and among the Indians, it's the Brahmans & the wannabes.

[yurbud]

4. So how tall is the fence around yur compound? We got guard towers at

Kennebunkport and Poppy lets me shoot at the Mexican gardeners sometimes.