Melissa Harris Perry had a most necessary explosive moment on her show after Bloomberg’s Monica Mehta intimated the misguided notion that the risk taken by the wealthy with their capital is so much more risky than what the average middle class or poor person takes comparatively. Most in the mainstream media seem to be intimidated by wealth or tend to believe that their worth is less than the worth of the wealthy and in doing so they provide the information and news through the prism of the wealthy.
Ensuring that the media is populated with both economic and ethnic diversity as well as people with intrinsically strong self-worth like Melissa Harris Perry is essential if we are to get from under the knees of our plutocracy.
While the wealthy take risks with their capital when investing in that oil rig, the middle class and poor workers risk their lives enhancing the wealthy’ s wealth. The refinery worker, the miner, the factory worker, the meat packer, the garbage collector, the police officer, the soldier, the teacher, the fisherman, and all other workers take risks, many of them with life ending possibilities.
The wealthy are not the job creators. They assist in job creation. Here is the reality. There are three components, the consumer, the manufacturer/producer/servicer, and the investor. Note that the owners of capital are just that, owners of capital. The middle class and the poor are the largest consumers and they are the producers of what is consumed. We must get away from the notion that the wealthy is intrinsically worthier. It is a community. In our form of capitalism one cannot live without the other and as such none should get special taxing or any other financial privileges.
Those who equate the risk of losing capital as some major risk relative to what the poor and middle class risks illustrate the inhumaneness of the type of capitalism the Right has made it possible to practice and be comfortable with. Yet they attempt to claim to believe in the sanctity of life and that they have some moral superiority to liberals.
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To Republicans, federal assistance to wealthy individuals and corporations — via bailouts, bankruptcy protection, subsidies, tax incentives, etc. — is an investment in America’s future, whereas federal assistance to the socio-economically disadvantaged — via Medicaid, food stamps, welfare, etc. — is a waste of resources.
In 2008, brokerage firms were begging for federal handouts with one hand while giving their clients and the general public the finger with the other. The banking industry would call this “business as usual”, but middle class America calls it “chutzpah”.
Furthermore, the prejudicial presumptions and favorite right wing talking points — that those who are out of work would prefer to subsist on welfare rather than be gainfully employed, and that only unemployed people need food stamps — are completely baseless and perpetuate the ignorance-based stereotype of people in need as being lazy parasites on society.
We can observe this double-standard held by conservatives regarding government funding toward the poor vs. the wealthy by examining the positions held by Mitt Romney.
A peek into Mitt’s psyche:
“I don’t worry about the problems of poor people … because there is a “safety net” … which I want to defund … because people (including single, full-time moms) who depend upon financial assistance such as food stamps lack dignity … because you must be completely self-sufficient to have self-worth.”
At the same time, Romney is fond of mocking Obama’s comment that government assistance commonly plays a role in the financial success of the private sector. Yet he personally benefitted from this very type of aid while running Bain Capital (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-06/romney-critical-of-government-aid-that-helped-bain-profit.html). And of course, Mitt was born into an environment of substantial wealth and opportunity.
When Ann declared that her husband “was not handed success”, that “he built it” … even Mitt choked on his Kool-Aid.
Ms. Harris-Perry’s shriek, “What is riskier than being poor in America?” is at best insensitive and insulting. At worst it’s so utterly narrow-minded as to be ignorant. Can you imagine how she would be received if she asked that same question – with the same passion – to a group of women living in Taliban ruled areas of Afghanistan? Or a group of fathers trying to protect their families in Syria? Or the spouses of Marines killed in combat? I understand the context of the discussion was about economics. But this kind of bombastic self-righteousness – both on MSNBC AND on Fox – followed by the KOOL-AID drinkers at BOTH ends of the political spectrum – has rendered rational political debate in this country virtually impossible. And if ever there was a time when we NEEDED that kind of considered and reasoned debate – it is now…