Examples of class warfare. Help me with some ideas for an article

[cheezus]

I'm in the middle of writing an article about the true nature of class warfare. Basically boils down to {those whose income is from work} vs {those whose income is from wealth}.

i'd like you guys to give me a bunch of examples (from both the left and right). ie eliminating overtime pay is class warfare

[Fitzovich]

1. Wal Mart

Try Wally World, what they do to small town America, what they do regarding health care and wages for their workers, how they brow beat local governments, how much of their "Made in the USA" products come from overseas, how they brow beat suppliers into constantly lowering prices (thereby forcing more production to move overseas) and on, and on, and on.....

[corporatewhore]

30. If there was a hell it would be wall mart

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. Here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1291779

[rfranklin]

3. Newsweek has an article this week about taxes...

about how all income tax is being fashioned by the Republicans and Bush into a payroll tax. Income from investment has become basically tax-free.

[Ysabel]

4. something i know...

"those whose income is from work" as well as "those whose income is from wealth" are still both tied into the same system which attaches money to class and status...

--------

edit - fixing quotation marks...

[Martin Eden]

5. Destroying Social Security is class warfare

Social Security (SS), as a separate account, has a huge surplus. This is partly due to the foresight in 1983 to raise the SS tax by 2%. The looming retirement of the baby boomers threatened the solvency of the system, and the 2% increase has resulted in a surplus in the trust fund -- created specifically for the boomers' retirement. This "payroll" tax is a separate item on your pay stub, and it is called a "regressive" tax, because as a percentage of personal income it falls much more heavily on the poor and middle class.

But that's OK. We've been paying extra tax these last two decades to finance our retirement. SS is solvent until 2042, then it could be bolstered by small infusions from other sources of revenue.

Unfortunately, when the government runs deficits it borrows from the SS trust fund. We are running huge deficits now, largely created by lowering taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

Now Federal Reserve Chariman Alan Greenspan, who advised the 2% increase in 1983 and who supported the Bush tax cuts, is saying there is no money for SS and that benefits will have to be cut.

Bush can't come right out and advocate benefit cuts because it is political suicide. But make no mistake, Bush and the far right have wanted to destroy SS for decades, and the only way for them to do it is to "starve the beast" (make the program unaffordable by lack of funds).

They've got an incredibly successful scam going on here -- they're taking the SS trust fund (which working men and women have been paying extra taxes into for the last 20 years) and giving it to themselves in the form of tax cuts.

And it is becoming more and more apparent they have absolutely no intention to pay back the money they've borrowed from SS.

It is an unprecedented transfer of wealth from future retirees (working Americans) to the wealthy patrons of the Repuiblican ruling class.

If this isn't class warfare, I don't know what is.

[cryofan]

6. sabotaging the social safety net/welfare state

This is an old old battle that goes back decades. The symbiotic organism that is the corporate/governing/wealth elite and their sheeple wannabe followers have sabotaged the creation of the welfare state for at least one hundred years, but the fiercest battles were fought about 80-100 years ago. Take a look at some of the newspaper editorial cartoons from those years if you want an insight into class warfare, American style.

[leftyandproud]

9. on the flipside..

to play devil's advocate, one could also claim that the welfare state itself perpetuates class welfare...by politicians instituting programs that get more people on the dole, you create two classes...earners, and those who receive entitlements...If we can get 50.01% of the population on the dole, they could vote to enslave the top 49.99% I know some pubs who actually believe this is the idea.

[cryofan]

28. it doesn't work that way in Sweden

Because they implement it correctly. Besides, the people who are on welfare here (almost exclusively single mother, BTW, with a few families) generally DO want off welfare.

[BillZBubb]

7. "Free trade", outsourcing, "death tax", taxes

So-called free trade is the ultimate class warfare. All lower paid jobs that are moveable go out of country. The poor here then have to compete harder for what's left. It is a race to bottom of the barrel wages. It does produce slightly cheaper goods for the well to do and that's how it's sold. The lower classes lose their jobs and their future, the wealthier get to save a few bucks on their clothing, TVs and stereos.

Republican tax policies are another major form of class warfare. Getting rid of progressivity, taxes on capital, and wealth transfer (estate taxes) moves more and more of the tax burden to the less well off. The Republicans hide a lot of this by borrowing the money to pay for the cuts instead of immediately inflicting the pain they would cause. Someday all the debt will have to be repaid, on the backs of the middle class.

[Lone_Wolf]

8. Unemployment...

Conservatives love high unemployment because:

1. People are willing to work humble tasks for low wages.
2. It allows the children of the upper-middle and upper class avoid the draft because unemployed people join the volunteer army.
3. Unions are less demanding.
4. Workers are less likely to demand costly safety eqipment.
5. Corporations do not have to pay their fair share of taxes because local and state governments give them concessions to lure them to their area.
6. It keeps inflation down

[strategery blunder]

10. Read Howard Zinn's

A People's History of the United States.

Zinn focuses almost exclusively on class conflict in telling his unfreeped version of U.S. History.

[Ksec]

11. Outsourcing

is middle class destruction.
I believe dissing Unions is class warfare by killing our strong orgs and replacing them with corporate whores.

[pearl]

12. I'm on the front lines here

A vicious class war is being waged on the sick and the
elderly. I really do have to chose between food and
medicine. The executive branch has a lot of power in
administrating these programs.

I, after two life threatening illnesses and a divorce,
have dropped below poverty.

[corporatewhore]

17. yep i know what you mean my mother had a seizure and she didnt want to

go to the hospital but we made her go and she is 5000 more dollars in debt. I wouldnt have insurance if my father wasnt in the army

[corporatewhore]

13. Globalization it is family farmers call it bill of rights for Big Agribiz

and you can take a million other bad thingsfor your article about it

[corporatewhore]

14. and anti globalization protests i saw steelworkers participate

in Direct Action alongside a black bloc in miami for the ftaa protests in miami also check out kilometer zero

[lostnfound]

26. Effect of trade pacts on city/state/national sovereignty: only $ talks

If democracy means each person -- whether rich or poor--has an equal vote in decision making, trade agreements wipe that idea out and replace it with a playing board (secret courts, capital protection, profits-over-people rules) that heavily favors wealth.

[corporatewhore]

15. murders in cuidad juarez

[lostnfound]

16. Deficit spending, especially for war profiteering

To be paid by all taxpayers, to the debtor -- which will be the 'capital class'.

[lostnfound]

18. Toppling / trying to topple nations with poor, populist democracies

like Haiti, Venezuela, Chile (Allende 1971), Brazil (Goulart 1964). Any place that tries to nationalize its resources or accomplish land reform is in hot water. Or a nation like Haiti that tries to set a higher minimum wage for its sweatshops.

Poor people are not allowed political power.

[corporatewhore]

19. south korea

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/EL04Dg01.html

[Snow]

32. This seems to be from a North Korea perspective....

and doesn't really jibe very well with what I know is going on there. In fact, it's downright mendacious.

[corporatewhore]

20. chinese govt evicting 300000 people for olympics preperation

[lostnfound]

21. Privatizing water & electric utilities & other public infrastructure

The infrastructure that was paid for by previous generations' taxes is now being handed off cheaply to corporate buddies (capital class) for them to begin to turn a profit.

In Latin America, the result has been water bills tripling or more, and many people getting their water shut off.

[corporatewhore]

33. patenting crops that have grown in a third world country for ages

[corporatewhore]

22. oh and how can i forget Bolivia

[lostnfound]

23. Public risk, private profit schemes via the Ex-Im Bank, IMF, etc.

Many risky international loans are made with the backing of the US government (i.e., taxpayers). Taxpayers get no ROI, only risk.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. Businesses that prey upon the poor

Rent to own agencies, check cashing agencies, fake correspondence schools.

Rich people moving to exclusive suburbs so that their property tax dollars go exclusively to support schooling and other public services for people like themselves

Union busting, and right wing talk show hosts and magazines that teach working class people that unions are evil

[lostnfound]

25. Specific limits on medical/prof./corporate liability & SLAPP suits

'Actual damages + $250,000' -- 'Actual damages' depends on the victim's 'earning potential'. A high-salary executive who gets incapacitated might be able to claim millions, while a low-or-no-salary person is limitied to far less.

Also, while there are plenty of moves to limit corporate liability from claims by individual citizens, there seems to be no limit to what corporations will claim in SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) suits to harass the public.

[corporatewhore]

27. sweatshops in the feilds/exploitation of immigrants check it out

www.ciw-online.org

[ret5hd]

29. school vouchers, privatization, flat tax, elimination/decrease of ...

taxes on dividends, elimination/decrease of inheritance tax, tax breaks for relocating corporations, public financing of private sports arenas, IRS auditing guidelines, union busting/avoidance, U.S. healthcare system, deregulation of utility/banking/insurance industries, etc etc etc. God, it's too many to list. Our ENTIRE system is built on exploitation, graft, greed, and destruction.

[rucky]

31. google Grover Norquist

everything he does is motivated by class warfare