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Sacrifice

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Other Politics
Posted on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:25:46 AM EST
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Paul Krugman:

[W]hen the tax fight is over, one way or another, you can be sure that the people currently defending the incomes of the elite will go back to demanding cuts in Social Security and aid to the unemployed. America must make hard choices, they’ll say; we all have to be willing to make sacrifices. But when they say “we,” they mean “you.” Sacrifice is for the little people.

I was reviewing the Peter G. Peterson Foundation's website and their fancy brochure from their "Fiscal Responsibility" summit to see if there was anything there on the rich sacrificing by NOT getting a tax cut. A big nothing. But that silence won't last. Wait till after the election when they demand cuts in Social Security benefits.

Speaking for me only

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    Sacrifice | 23 comments (23 topical)

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    Truer words were never spoken (5.00 / 4) (#1)
    by MO Blue on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:41:22 AM EST
    But when they say "we," they mean "you." Sacrifice is for the little people.

    Meanwhile, back in D.C., the congresscritters will sit on their fat a##es enjoying all their many perks while they make sure that their fortunes increase at the expense of the poorest among us.

    Now really... (5.00 / 3) (#2)
    by Dadler on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:42:21 AM EST
    ...how hard is it for the Obama administration and Democrats in general to use Krugman's language to their own advantage? Everybody is supposed to sacrifice but the wealthy. Simple and biting and right to the bone. Pound it home: why are the wealthy not required to sacrifice when everyone else is? They must not care about America. They must see themselves as greater and more worthwhile than the country itself. Evil, evil, evil.

    Pound it home.

    They (5.00 / 3) (#4)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:43:43 AM EST
    are too invested in being approved of by the likes of David Broder who would sniff and say "class warfare" if such a statement was issued by the Dems.

    Parent
    They (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:43:43 AM EST
    are too invested in being approved of by the likes of David Broder who would sniff and say "class warfare" if such a statement was issued by the Dems.

    Parent
    Hard to pound that message (5.00 / 2) (#6)
    by MO Blue on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:52:59 AM EST
    home when the President and many Dems in Congress have come out in favor of "fixing" the so called entitlement programs. The most popular "fix" for SS among the Dems is raising the retirement age.

    Parent
    cat food, baby! (5.00 / 1) (#14)
    by kmblue on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 01:29:53 PM EST
    It's what's for dinner!

    Parent
    i agree with boat a ya's (none / 0) (#9)
    by Dadler on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 12:29:55 PM EST
    i'm merely pinching the dems in the jelly rolls. krugman, and many others, have given them strategy and great lines and all the rest.

    if only so many in power weren't the very wealthy we are talking about.

    Parent

    as for class warfare (none / 0) (#10)
    by Dadler on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 12:31:14 PM EST
    i'll repeat the line i think an appropriate response: you're damn right it's class warfare; we're at war with people who have no class.  

    Parent
    I love (5.00 / 4) (#3)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:42:40 AM EST
    that statement "sacrifices are for the little people" So simple but so true.

    "Let them eat cake" (5.00 / 2) (#7)
    by jbindc on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:58:41 AM EST


    Parent
    Paul Krugman for President please. (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by Dr Molly on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 11:04:02 AM EST
    God, do I enjoy him.

    Dr Molly: We agree (none / 0) (#16)
    by christinep on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 01:56:23 PM EST
    Krugman--who foresaw even the $$ domestic travail of the Iraq invasion and who cautioned that a larger stimulus was necessary early on--is a wonderful, compassionate spokesperson on the economy. And, this great economist can disagree with the WH at times and, as evidenced by his colums, strongly support President Obama over the increasing wingnuttery that may well be taking over in November.

    Listen, I don't even resent the "1" feedback. (Being stubborn, it makes me try all the more.) While I may be off-putting in style or belief to you, then please consider Krugman's advice in November. I've had pyrrhic victories before; and, they feel like a tomb.

    Parent

    I need neither Krugman's advice nor yours (none / 0) (#18)
    by Dr Molly on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 02:44:51 PM EST
    on whom I should vote for in November actually. That's a personal decision and, IMO, it might be nice if you ceased lecturing people and/or testing them on what their vote should and/or will be. It's no one's business but the voter's.

    While I may be off-putting in style or belief to you, then please consider Krugman's advice in November.


    Parent
    I was just electioneering. Nothing personal. (none / 0) (#19)
    by christinep on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 02:46:22 PM EST


    Parent
    Can I get a witness! (none / 0) (#22)
    by Rojas on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 07:47:48 PM EST


    Parent
    "...the rich are different from you and me: (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by KeysDan on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 12:35:39 PM EST
    they have more influence.  It is partly a matter of campaign contributions, but it is also a matter of social pressure, since politicians spend a lot of time hanging out with the wealthy."(Krugman).

    I think that the latter is sometimes underestimated in importance--it has been said, for instance, that Dwight Eisenhower admired rich people too much.  And, I thought of that in a contemporary sense when seeing today's NYT an article about MIchael Bloomberg's golfing obsession along with a picture of the president, Bloomberg, and, the all around guy, Vernon Jordon, golfing on Martha's Vineyard last month.  Perspectives may get distorted in those environs.

    Perspectives definitely get (5.00 / 3) (#13)
    by MO Blue on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 12:49:01 PM EST
    distorted in D.C. IIRC Rep. Clyburn said he and his congressional colleagues enjoy working into their 70s and beyond so it should be no big deal raising the SS age to 70. Other Dems (Hoyer, Durbin etc.) seem to agree. Personally, I would like to see every congresscritter who is in favor of raising the age to 70 or "fixing SS", be required to work and live off the wages of a manual labor job. Those under the age  of 65 should have to work at least 2 minimum wage manual labor jobs to fully experience what many of the people in the U.S. do each and every day.  

    After 6 months, let them come back and tell the country that it is a good idea for people to have to chose between working until they keel over or experience a 20% cut in benefits.

    Parent

    Krugman is wrong (3.00 / 2) (#12)
    by Slado on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 12:39:22 PM EST
    LINK

    Both parties are wrong if they only want to "raise taxes" or "reduce spending".

    We must do both and Krugmans fantasy theories are simply a waste of time.  

    Rajan (5.00 / 1) (#15)
    by kmblue on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 01:31:29 PM EST
    has already been schooled by Krugman, and more than once.

    Who has the Nobel Prize?  Krugman, the guy who's been right all along.

    Parent

    Rajan completely schools Krugman (3.00 / 2) (#17)
    by Slado on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 02:38:56 PM EST
    as his detailed article suggests.

    Would that be the same Nobel given to great men such as Carter, Obama and Gore?  I thought so.

    Here's an even better link on whats wrong with Washington.

    It's the Spending Stupid!

    Parent

    I'm sorry (5.00 / 3) (#20)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 03:19:10 PM EST
    but the GOP inherited a surplus and squandered it on every pet thing George W. Bush wanted. No one cares what conservatives think about spending. They are not serious on this issue because they had a chance to do everything they've ever promised and failed spectacularly.

    Parent
    Apparently (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by NYShooter on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 09:59:53 PM EST
    You just don't get it. But you can't fool, sharp-as-a-tack, Slado.

    You see, if you go back through all the Nobel winners who ever lived and find one you think didn't deserve it then, naturally, all Nobel winners are frauds.

    Gee, it's so simple....even simpletons "get it."


    Parent

    Older folks are really getting a raw (none / 0) (#21)
    by MO Blue on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 03:41:41 PM EST
    deal.

    Patricia Reid is not in her 70s, an age when many Americans continue to work. She is not even in her 60s. She is just 57.

    But four years after losing her job she cannot, in her darkest moments, escape a nagging thought: she may never work again.

    College educated, with a degree in business administration, she is experienced, having worked for two decades as an internal auditor and analyst at Boeing before losing that job.

    But that does not seem to matter, not for her and not for a growing number of people in their 50s and 60s who desperately want or need to work to pay for retirement and who are starting to worry that they may be discarded from the work force -- forever. NYT


    Remember, this is a time when the cat food commission is considering raising the retirement age and denying full benefits to people until the age of perhaps 70. Yet at the same time, the unemployed from ages 50 and up in particular have the bleakest hope of finding a job in recorded American history, at least going back all the way to the Depression, a time before Social Security. And if people have to wait a decade or more to achieve full benefits, the nest eggs they may have built their entire lives making aren't likely to stretch, especially because things like the stock market and real estate have become so volatile.

    link
    Sacrifice | 23 comments (23 topical)

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