Wake up Tommy. It is "us" vs. "them."
The wealthy in America started the class war. The problem now is that those who formerly self-identified as "middle-class" no longer feel middle-class and have joined the other side.
In terms of the percentage vs income argument, people can do simple math and realize things are bullshit. If someone sees their executive making $200k, even assuming he pays 50% of his income to taxes, he's banking $100k. If that person, making say, $50k is paying 25%, he's banking $37.5k
One of those guys is living far more comfortably than the other, despite paying double the tax rate.
Who are you to determine who's living comfortably or not? What do you know about that guy's situation? His mortgage? Debts? Kids in college? Etc. You know nothing. You're just doing the "Someone makes more than me, so they're obviously better off" bullshit.
Besides, what the hell do you know about what it takes to run a multi-billion dollar company? If you were in charge of a company that brings in nearly half a TRILLION dollars in revenue each year and employs over 2 million people, that you wouldn't deserve to be the highest paid CEO in the world? Come on, man. I've seen you defend NFL players for wanting to be the highest paid at their position so long as a team is willing to pay for them, so why is it so bad for CEOs to do the same?
And before you spout the "what happened to aspiring" garbage again, 1) the idea of the American Dream being equal ground is only believed in by rich white guys, and 2) those "low totem pole" employees see the BS those executives pull to keep their jobs while they do all the "real" work.
Ah, I see. You do a excrement load of work, probably more than your superiors, but they get paid more. Boo hoo for you. If you don't like it then start your own business, or try and become one of those executives. Also, every company is different. I've worked for executives who were under a excrement ton of pressure, and who worked their asses off. But of course if you're an executive and making more than the hardworking grunts, then you're obviously a piece of excrement who doesn't deserve his position. Thanks, Alio.
Now factor in things like TARP. The public watched the Federal government bail out billionaires who supposedly "earned" their salaries (while driving their corporations into the ground). They also watched banks who were served by that money come and seal their front door shut.
TARP didn't bail out the hedge fun guys, it bailed out the financial institutions that employ millions of people. Also, TARP was completely paid off PLUS interest.
Now people are watching the minority in Washington attempt to overturn a law that was developed by a President they voted for, written by a Congress they voted for, re-affirmed by the Supreme Court, then re-affirmed by the people who re-elected that same President.
A law which benefits far more of those people than it does those they already feel have too much.
This country already has socialized health care in the form of Medicare and Medicaid. I wrote this on the other board, but nearly a quarter of government spending goes right to government health care, and people are still uninsured -- to compare, Canada's federal budget allocation for healthcare as a percentage is actually almost half ours, and they have much more coverage. Those programs need to be reformed. We shouldn't just be adding new inefficient programs just because.
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