There are any number of social scientists and government think tanks that purport to know what life is like for the common man; the working, tax-paying blue collar joe who holds no great wealth and lives from paycheck to paycheck. Bull hockey! Put away the slide rules and computer models, and just get out and walk a few miles in our shoes.
I liken today's American working class to that of a representative group of folks who climb on an American Airlines flight any morning of any week.
Up front is First Class. Twenty or so seats reserved for the wealthy, the famous, the privileged. Before the flight even takes off they are offered French or Sonoma Valley wines and a fruit and cheese tray.
The Flight Attendant has a list so she can address her little warren by name. Once in flight warm towels will be tonged out and the brandy and scotch and soda and fine wines begin to flow. These First Class folks will then recline in wide spacious, down-soft seats, to be awakened later with more warm towels and a gourmet meal, served on real China and with real silverware. And ain't flying wonderful! The cost of these seats range from $5,000 to $7,000 dollars, depending on where you're flying….and these fares will not make even the tiniest dent on the privilege's bank account.
One partition back is Business Class. Thirty or forty seats set aside that provide an extra ten inches of leg room, wide seats, a decent meal and free-flowing booze. They'll be given little "comfort kits" with toothbrush, disposable razor and little travel sized shave cream, toothpaste and cologne. Convenient ports for their iPads and lap tops are provided and the movie and music headphones are free. These seats will go for $3,000 to $4,000 dollars and will be written off as a business expense come tax time.
And then we have "the great unwashed" in Coach class. You are crammed in like cattle. Upon landing at your destination you'll bear the bruises of the clown in front of you trying to recline his seat, right into your precious shins and you'll rise to debark from the plane and find your legs have been numbed from five hours being immobilized in a space smaller than you normally occupy when sitting on the toilet at home. In Coach dwell the screaming babies, the unwashed hippie, the Pakistani man who's kneeling in the aisle, saying one of his five daily prayers while trying to face the general direction of Mecca, the fella from Des Moines with a severe case of the flu, enroute to Miami for a week, all the while spreading a good case of the H1 flu to everyone within ten feet of him.
If those clowns in Coach class get hungry they can pay ten bucks for a turkey sandwich and a small bag of chips and if they want a drink that'll cost them $6 bucks (exact change please)..and that'll be $5 bucks if you want to actually hear the movie, and, god help us, some airlines are now charging to use the bathroom.
And you know what? If it weren't for those 200 sad sack in Coach, the airplane would never have gotten off the ground! Those $7,000 dollar First Class seats won't lift it! Those $3,000 dollar
Business Class seats won't either! No, it's those 200 clowns in the back that keep that airplane aloft! It's those ten buck a seat profits in Coach that makes this plane fly! And the best you can say about their treatment is "benign neglect"…..most often they are treated far worse!
Folks, that's America today. You can throw away your social modelers and climb on an airplane..or walk into a grocery store and see who's buying hamburger and who's buying filet mignon! Or enter a football stadium and see who's in the bleacher seats and who's sitting on the 50 yard line!
And it is these same sad sacks that are footing the bill for Uncle Sam! The businessman can write off many of the things that make his life pleasant…or pass those costs on to his customer. The wealthy pay what they want to pay because their tax lawyers will always be smarter than government tax lawyers. But, sadly, it's the "donkey class", the working class who, locked into a tax table, will pay till it hurts.
And without that "donkey class" big government would never get off the ground.
Sad. Damned Sad.
12 comments:
Advocating for wealth redistribution?
The great chasm grows ever wider and wider between us. I get angry when someone begins to spew the sad situation of the huge profits just getting larger at the upper echelon of the corporate structure. It is usually an argument brought by someone who never got there. I find it hypocritical of those who make these arguments because they usually are the ones who couldn't make it themselves.
I worked very hard all my life, taking every opportunity to take advantage of the capitalist system, but I was never good with money or business decisions, therefore I am relegated to the "Coach" section. I don't mind so much as I am allowed many of the same enjoyments, just not in first class and definitely not as often or as long. There are many things wrong with this economic system but there is none better. No other system rewards innovation and enterprise as richly as capitalism. Sadly, as I watch the 49'rs taking apart the Panthers I am seeing the last bastions of this form of economy playing out. The liberal mindset has taken the notion of competition away in place of equality for all. It is a lot sadder to watch the children of today on the ball field learning to gear their personal accomplishments to the slowest man on the field and the lowest position on the totem pole. A lot needs to be addressed but to let it all go for a socialist mindset is SAD, DAMNED SAD
I don't agree with you, Ken…the hats are not black and white anymore. And you missed my point on "coach"…Coach is the working class, the donkey class, not the non-productive class that lives off of the government dole.
Tell me, Ken, which of those businessmen…which in the wealthy class are standing tall in support of our immigration laws? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports amnesty because business can then exploit cheap labor and fire American workers. The wealthy don't care, except as far as they can keep their Mexican maid and gardner.
The wealthy are mobile; they can move themselves and their dollars wherever in the world most accommodating.
But that shrinking working class, that 30 percent of us who are locked into tax tables and don't have smart tax lawyers still pay…and pay big…to support that huge swath of government tit-suckers who won't work.
We're the donkey class and no one…not the wealthy, not business, gives a shit about us…and the politicians are owned jointly by both.
Soon, the working class will have so much money taken from their middle class income and given to the poor, that they will fall into the lower class themselves. None of this will raise the poor up to the middle class. LBJ's Great Society, which has cost us many trillions of dollars over the last 50 years, has not raised the poor to the middle class, and is taxing the middle class into extinction.
It is sad, as one who used to sit in business class and is now firmly in coach... it is truly harder then ever for Coach to progress. Hell, with what this administration has done is a struggle to get by let alone get back to business....signed up now...stupid cell phone. :-)
If us donkey class do not pay our overly fair share of taxes we have our whole lives threatened until every last penny is paid.But the elite shitbags are coddled and allowed to pay a mere pittance.When paying the liberal irs it is recommended to wipe your backside with your check before putting it in the envelope,that way they get the shitty end.
I still arrive at the same time as the FC/BC crowd. I could pay FC/BC prices but prefer to spend my money elsewhere. I don't watch the movie rather I read a book or the WSJ.
whew/weee do we have an argument here!!
I know exactly who is who on the plane. I am in coach because I didn't play the game as well as the first class folks! That is what I am saying, I don't fly "welfare class" thank you very much. It sounds very much like your argument is that of the spoiled child who didn't get what he feels he deserved and now you want "they" to take up the fight for you. That is precisely what we always say is wrong with this country. It sounds as though you have given up when you speak like this, waiting for "Big Daddy" to come around and fix it. It may be the revolution, it may take the Tea Party, what ever but stop the whining and lets kick some ass instead. Tell me, Mr. Scribler, is it over? I do respect your opinion here, I honestly do, so please tell me? You are saying nobody gives a shit about us, and those who can make a difference are owned by the folks sitting in front of us (first class)! I have read your columns for awhile now and this is far and away the most sadly defeatist one I have ever read, and that, my friend, is damned sad! LET'S FIGHT
Rather than waving a white flag, there is this instead:
http://patriotsforamerica.ning.com/forum/topics/operation-american-spring-washington-d-c-in-the-cross-hairs-the?commentId=2734278%3AComment%3A607862&xg_source=activity
First of all, Ken…I don't ask any "they" to fight for me. When 95% of you were attending college or fucking off I was an 19 year old kid in Vietnam. For the next 22 years I would stand the wall for those 95% who didn't think it was cool or convenient to do so. And while I was supervising 30 men and do it for half the pay of a civilian I did so in full faith, and, back when the U.S. government kept their commitments, I had full faith that my pension was safe and that, for sacrificing safety and family time they would honor their commitment to medical benefits.
When my service time was over the government took away my medical and allowed inflation to eat away at my pension and I, having served, didn't have much of a pot to piss in when I retired. So, again I left my family and spent ten years working in Saudi to secure my and my family's future..and I did.
Personally, I fought lung cancer and beat the 86% odds against me living five years..but here I am, fucked up some but still kicking…and still fighting. The idea that you could arbitrarily assign me to the defeatist crowd is absurd….name me one other blogger that put it out there every single day of the year…pointing out the waste, fraud, abuse and corruption of this government.
I've written scores of letters and emails to my Senators and Congressman and fought not only for myself but all of middle America…and I write some pretty damned good letters!
As to those fellas up in "First Class" that you accuse me of being jealous of, well all I can say is you better start saying that everyone who doesn't win the lottery is a loser because a lot of those idiots in first class are rap thugs, lottery winners, movie stars blessed with a "face", fucking politicians and silver spoon bearers.
And I don't envy either Business class or First Class; I just acknowledge that they don't give a shit about me back in coach. That leaves only my government to give a shit and, sadly, they don't either. Instead, they saddle us with a big portion of supporting that huge swath of tit suckers who are rewarded for being non-productive.
Having said all that, my philosophy is right in tune with the Tea Party; the government should leave us the hell alone, attend to what they are responsible by the Constitution to do and stay the fuck out of my life.
I challenged you to name me anyone in Business Class or First Class who collectively gives a shit about 30 million illegals invading….you couldn't because it is blue collar "Coach" Joe who is hurt the worst and is being shit on unmercifully.
I can't help but look on your comments as a bit of the theatrical…no one could read me for three years and be sincere in accusing me of whining..or asking anyone to fight for me.
I will fight my own battles as I did as a child in poverty, as a military man serving his country for the entire prime of his life….all I expect from "they" is a more level playing field.
Yeah, something is damned sad…but it ain't me.
I am with you. perfectly said.
I am also a retire officer. 23 years of Army service. 3 combat deployment, 5 overseas tours.
I also work in corporate america. have a decent job, pay a lot of taxes. I am sick with welfare nation, and government not enforcing its immigration laws. I am hispanic. whats happening to our nation is sad. Unlike my fellow scriber, I lolst all hope already that this will ever get fixed. We will not see it fixed but all I hope is that my kids wont see it colapse during their lifetimes. I am not just fighting these battles.... trying to get politicians, representatives, congressman etc to understand, hell will freeze first. they are not there for the rest, or to serve. But I get it, is their careers on the line. they have to play nice and do whatevere to keep their office..its their livelihood at stake. they are not going to risk it for any donkey on coach class.
I am with you. perfectly said.
I am also a retired officer. 23 years of Army service. 3 combat deployments, 5 overseas tours.
I also work in corporate america, have a decent job, pay a lot of taxes. I am sick with welfare nation. It is sad that our government not enforcing its immigration laws. I am a hispanic agsints illegal immigration. what's happening to our nation is sad. Unlike my fellow scriber, I have lost all hope that this will ever get fixed. We will not see it fixed; all I hope is that my kids wont see it collapse during their lifetimes. I am just not fighting these battles.... trying to get politicians, representatives, congressman etc to understand, hell will freeze first. Most of them are not there for those travelling coach, or to serve with honor. But I get it, it's their careers on the line. they have to play nice and do whatever is needed to keep their offices..its their livelihood at stake. They are not going to risk it for any donkey on coach class.
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