Back in early 2005, 3 years before the collapse, I started referring to the worker cohort pridefully labeling themselves “middle class” as actually being the Indentured Class — indentured servants of the banks that owned all the stuff the “middle class” consumers were multiple mortgaging in a frenzy of over consumption, spending far beyond their means in an irrational and irresponsible effort to appear to be rich.

http://www.chenangogreens.org

In Marxist terminology, ‘middle class’ refers not to ‘everybody’ but the sub-elite who serve the ruling class as managers and professionals.  As capitalism degenerates, it’s difficult to say if this class exists any more, although many people have illusions about it and their relation to it.

Nothing upset flatulent “middle class” Democrats more than being exposed for the ruling class enablers in the class wars that they are.

There is a class war, and everyone who has voted for the corporate party’s Republicans and Democrats has waged class war against the working class, with every (R) or (D) vote they cast.

http://www.chenangogreens.org

David J. Cyr, October 3 at 12:52 am Link to this comment

The ruling class keeps winning the class war because so few Americans are willing to think of themselves as being in the working class, and politically act accordingly.
*****************

It’s time to STFU!

The “working class” as jurassic Marxists define it differing from the “middle class” is a 19th century concept that has no place in the modern technical world.  “Middle Class” and “Working Class” have been the same thing since unions were able to force decent wages in America’s industrial plants.  That, of course was shattered by Reagan using our tax dollars to pay those industries to set up shop overseas.

But if the “Middle Class” falls, there won’t be a “Working Class” either because they are the same!  I built houses and later wore a suit and a tie.  Yeah, I didn’t get sweaty but I was just as much a worker, even when I was a manager, as when I was swinging a hammer and a saw.

Cyr, you are simply full of Marxist theoretical shit and don’t have any connection to the real world.  So stop wasting bandwidth and STFU already!

Unemployment was virtually zero in the Third Reich. Jobs alone are not the answer.Why did those jobs evaporate? It began with Ronald Reagen and ended with the demise of Glass-Steagall and the passing of NAFTA without adequate labor and environmental protection during the Clinton administration. It has been class warfare and we lost.

QUOTE, Richard Reeves:

“President Obama came out here last Tuesday to proclaim himself a “warrior for the middle class.” Would that it were true.”
____________________

A “middle class” person rejects “working class” identification and aspires to be a ruling class person, and therefore dedicates themselves politically to the ruling class (e.g. regularly and reliably “nonviolently” supporting the corporate (R) & (D) party candidates’ continuation of the corporate-state’s foreign and domestic violence — perpetual war and ruthless neoliberal economic exploitation).

The ruling class keeps winning the class war because so few Americans are willing to think of themselves as being in the working class, and politically act accordingly.

http://www.chenangogreens.org

Dear Mindy,

Thank and I too think Robert is probably right.

Best
The Worm

gerard—Good that you pointed out how Reeves’s language gives away his establishment-shill role.  The whole lot of them seem to talk like that.  Meanwhile, their political system has frozen up, even considering it on its own terms, in its own framework.

Language:  (last paragraph of Reeves)—“Where is all this going? This is something Warren Buffett and Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, along with lefties like Wolff and Michael Moore, have begun to talk about, violent class warfare—in the streets—if the wealth inequity continues to drive the economy. As Wolff wrote: ‘Then Washington might learn what class war really is.’ (All this aimed at whom? Not at the participants, but at the uncommitted, fearful majority of bystanding readers.)
  “Where ... all this ... going?”  (Raising question about implied danger ahead, fear of unknown ends, and implying that the participants don’t know what they are doing.)
  Mention big names (Buffett,Bloomberg and “lefties”
connected to fear-inspiring phrase “violent class warfare in the streets”
  Raising threat level “If .... such and such”
  “wealth inequity continues to drive the economy”
(does “wealth inequity” drive the economy or destroy it?)
  Raising fear level again—“Washington might learn ...” (as if they don’t already know).
  Raising fear to higher level with “violent class warfare in the streets” as if that is the only
possibility and non-violent peaceable methods are not even worth considering, therefore omitted.
  Please, people. Take note of the details of language which work on your psyche if you remain unconscious of these (more or less subtle) twists
of tongues and minds.
  Language like this is a kind of class warfare in itself, conscious, semi-conscious or unconscious. It is the life-blood of propaganda.  Don’t be a victim of it. People meeting on Wall Street to “petition their government for a redress of grievances” is not “class warfare” and in fact is trying to prevent and avoid “class warfare.”  Besides, that’s what their Constitution tells them they should do and are legally permitted to do.  Police, on the other hand, are not legally entitled by the Constitution to terrorize them, stimulate fear and violence, club them, kick them, pepper spray them and put them in jail. The language of the Constitution is aimed directly at preventing that.

“A warrior for the middle class” would not have left us with these things:

1.  An insurance company subsidy passed off as ‘health care reform’,

2.  The six biggest banks to be re-enforce­d & now are bigger than ever,

3.  The “Volker Rule” to be downgraded and “postponed”,

4.  Immigration reform tabled, 

5.  EPAs more reasonable standards discarded,

6.  Pension oversight delayed (past 2012),

7.  “War on terror” perpetuated, expanded and escalated,

8.  Gitmo retained,

9.  School scores continue their precipitance decline with more ‘charter schools’
chatter as ‘the answer’,

10.  Tax cuts for the wealthy extended three times in less than three years (twice
with Democratic majorities in both houses),

11. Bonuses for bankrupt companies’ CEOs paid with taxpayer dollars,

12. Cuts proposed for both Social Security and Medicare,

13. Carried interest (no tax) and capital gains (15% tax) remain un-touched and
not discussed for 2 and a half years (80% of the income of America’s richest 400
comes in the form of capital gains),

14. Nuclear energy, “clean coal” blasting, fracking and deep-sea drilling – full
speed ahead,

15. Free- but no Fair-Trade agreements to continue to drive down wages and put
people out of jobs,

16. GE given taxpayer money during a year in which it paid no taxes, then its CEO
appointed head of Obama’s Jobs Council ( % of GEs workforce has been moved
off-shore and it’s profits are hiding there to avoid US taxes),

17. Persistent and un-addressed unemployment,

18. Persistent and un-addressed poverty (highest in 54 years),

19. Persistent and un-addressed loss of middle class assets in the form of housing
and pensions,

20 Bonuses for CEOs of bankrupt companies protected while mortgage holders
abused.

Is Obama a shill? A con man? Simply ignorant? A naif?

Everyone is exhausted trying to figure out Obama’s psyche, but the thing we don’t
have to figure out is Obama’s disastrous aftermath.

Obama is no ‘warrior for the middle class’. Obama has simply ‘gone-along-to-get-
along’.

When Obama ran in 2008, he had the advantage that we didn’t know him and
could project whatever we wanted (our wishes, hopes, etc). Now, we’ve seen him in
action and he is a disaster for the middle class.

Obama is NOT that deep. His class-warfare rhetoric is simply the instinct of a community organizer. Look up “community organizer”—see what they do - they don’t organize communities.

Race baiting, class warfare, polarization and fear mongering are the tools of an activist or community organizer. There is no great depth of thinking here, or any desire to solve revenue problems, in fact the “Laffer Curve” proves exactly the opposite occurs.

It’s a pitiful attempt to convince people by using “Pathos’ or emotional arguments to think in ways that are irrational, when there is no logic or reasoning to support your policies and of course to maintain power.

Obama used it to get the “cult” to follow him in 2008, and was successful even beyond his wildest expectations, remember Hope & Change, no even bothered to ask what kind of change, or hope for what, who when, where, how ?

It’s failing him now because he has record - He had one in 2008 too, but it was so bad the Kool Aid crowd chose to ignore it.

Nothing deep here, just down and dirty street fighting for power - Clear as it gets.

Other than the gullible and the blindly partisan does Obama really think that true progressives who see this nation mired in the clutches of an overarching corporatocracy which owns both faces of our Janus-like duopoly will vote for him again? He is as much a reactionary, verging on fascism, as any of those claiming to be repubs, conservatives, baggers, or what have you! The only reason he is reviled by the “other side” is because of its inherent bigotry and racial hatred! I for one don’t care if he or one of those occupying the “Tiajuana Taxi” gets elected POTUS. The empire is on the skids and the whole world knows it except for all of those benighted believers in the myth of “Amerikan Exceptionalism”.

The tax issue raised by Buffet and Obama is a misdirection - the real issue is the elites’ desire to return to the natural order of things, where wealth is the mechanism that distinguishes the few from the many, and which then maintains that separation. From Plato to Alexander Hamilton to the conservative thinkers of today, rule by the elite remains, in their view, the natural order—money and power in the service of money and power.

“All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and the well born, the others the mass of the people…The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge and determine right. Give therefore to the first class a distinct, permanent share of government. They will check the
unsteadiness of the second.” Alexander Hamilton.

Viewed in this context, the elites consider liberal democracy and the New Deal to be the aberrations of history, not the norm.  And since the term “democracy” does not even appear in the US Constitution, it is the views of Limbaugh, Phillips, Williams and Buchanan that truly animate the them. The monied class has chafed at what they view to be the unnatural imbalance created by FDR, and is poised to reclaim its natural right.

The furor over class warfare based on statements by Obama and Warren Buffett on the tax issue is a misdirection. True, the rich believe in meritocracy, and have managed to shed the burdens of the social contract (the rich will always find ways to shed the burden of the social contract). The real prize is the power that their money has secured, a return to the natural order of things, and their self-proclaimed right to a permanent share of government.

Direct action and public dissent is what is urgently needed. The recent XL Pipeline protests and the ongoing action on Wall Street are a good start, but only a start.

For more, go to: http://corporateconstraint.blogspot.com .

Class is war.

Bring it on? Really Mr. Reeves? Let us know when & where you plan to lead this “revolution”. Now I don’t know you, and don’t want to insinuate your a coward, but I’d be surprised if you wanted to put your life on the line, as you so ardently want others to do.
Barry the Liar called for everybody, (with the CBC), to hit the trail and march, but to where, & when? Just like so many other so-called leaders, He calls for class warfare, put stops short of actually doing anything, because NOBODY wants to be responsible for pulling that particular pin.
Now for those of you who want war, you obviously never experienced it. Add to this the cold truth that any class war would instantly morph into race war - think it through.
This whole class warfare bs is literally a baby playing with a loaded gun, and very few people would be ready for the aftermath.

What has happened to the font/spacing on these recent articles? They are unreadable.

Revolution and class warfare are nice “concepts” here in the U.S.. Here’s the problem:

Even if FDR himself was resurrected today and he had all his wisdom, political weight and power…...my dear friends, there would be no revolution, there would be no fighting in the streets….the reason?

Because Americans themselves are not populists, or revolutionaries, nor do they embody any sort of “anti-establishment” attitudes. Americans are, almost to the person, institutionalized (corporate-created) sheep. They get more worked-up over the prices of ipods vs other tablets than they do about the illegal wars we’ve been waging. They complain that their neighbors are making a good living (via all those mythical over-paid government jobs).

No, there isn’t going to be any class warfare or even a gentle wimper from Americans…..they’re too full of high-fructose corn syrup and Fox news propaganda to even get off the couch.

OCCUPY EVERY STREET.  They are OUR streets.  let the Revolution begin and let us
not backdown until we have sent a clear and concise message to the Plutocrats,
Oligarchs and Facists running this country into a collision course with uprisings across
the country that WE THE PEOPLE still have the voice of power no matter how much
we’ve been kowtowed into believing otherwise.The time is NOW.  Occupy
EVERYTHING.

“You’re killing the engine of small business!”

Small businesses account for 7% of jobs growth.  It’s yet again another Republican lie.

Such statements would have sent the enthusiasm meter though the ceiling in 2008, but now?
Now it is just an indication that he is in campaign mode and we saw how he can step from that to presidential mode with ease, leaving the voters in the gutter.

My father always said *you can’t judge a person by what they say, but you can judge a person by what they do*

Obama’s actions are nowhere near FDR’s *And I welcome their hatred*

If you look hard enough you’ll see a gathering storm. And, if you don’t look at all you might get struck by lightning.

REAL Class Warfare is personified by what the Greeks are doing: Rioting, burning down the fucking banks, organizing and forming popular committees and making the oligarchs tremble behind their high walls.