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Sure, they might take a slight hit in some of their stocks and other investments, but in the long run, with their vast holdings, and their mixed and varied portfolios, they probably have a point related to financial security.
The people I refer to, earn between $3million-$50million per year in "earned" income. Each owns several high priced, high powered, looking good automobiles. Each own several pieces of real estate and or rental property, and most travel by private jet or first class commercial when they absolutely must.
During this manufactured debt crisis, I have been privy to many conversations related to the "working stiffs" by those who are the so called job creators, the chosen ones, the rich and powerful. They usually start with the comment, "they should have made better choices in life," next comes a comment like "they should all stop smoking crack" (with laughter), then comes the usual, "they should have been born to "better" families," and then the rude comment, "it looks like little people are going to take another hit, this just might really bring out the torches and pitch forks this time," again, (with laughter), some laughing so hard, that they tear up.
These particular entitled, actually believe that nothing can or will effect their lives. They joke about having all their wealth, but when the time comes, they're still taking their Social Security if it's there, if it's not there, oh well, then too bad for those who will suffer, they know they won't.
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid mean absolutely nothing to them, but if they can take even more from a system that has already made them rich, and "if" Social Security is still there, then why not take even more? It's not an earned benefit or an entitlement for them and they don't need it, it's just another thing to take (if it's still there), for those who do nothing but take.
I have also heard discussions about, (if and when the market crashes again), of picking up bargains on wall street that will make them even richer when things once again turn around, especially if the Republicans keep the House, or can take the Senate and the Presidency. With laughter, once again, they talk about a Bachmann Presidency and how easy it would be to further manipulate the office of the Presidency and the "religious wackos" in this country to further push religion into politics for the purpose of causing more division in the country. It is truly sickening to hear these things, especially the laughter, since real lives are involved in this game they play.
They also comment about the possibility of future violence from those in the valleys (as they live high in the hills of hollywood) and how some of those beneath them and farther away to the N,S,E and W, "might at some point riot with each other" (with laughter), but "they will only hurt and kill each other and destroy their own neighborhoods, "that's how stupid they are."
Their homes are well protected and so are the homes they overlook, the homes of the rich and powerful in the flatlands of Beverly Hills, and in Bel Air, in and around Sunset Blvd, Santa Monica Blvd Rexford, N Roxbury, Bedford, Camden Rodeo, Beverly and Canon Drives all the way to West Hollywood. These areas would be well protected from any pitch fork or lighted torch moment which they know, will most likely never come.....so there's laughter and more laughter and not one thought of how obnoxious they sound and how pathetic they look.
So, no matter what happens, the wealthy and powerful who I have had the displeasure of hearing speak their views, believe that they will be the spectators in a Roman Arena watching for sport, angry, scared citizens, possibly fighting and killing each other, because the rich and powerful, and their corporations, control the government, the corporate government gives them more and more tax breaks, tax loopholes, tax subsidies,and all of those tax breaks are tacked on to the deficit for the rest of us to pay, while there are more and more cuts to social program for the poor, middle class and already suffering to pay for these tax cuts for the rich, the powerful and their corporations most likely with more cuts to benefits for the majority.
More and more austerity measures for those who can least afford them, and more and more of our tax money, give to those who don't need it in tax breaks......
So these rich, joke and tell stories, and they laugh at the misfortune of others brought on by their greed, their wars, their push to kill needed social programs, their push to further deregulate for more profit on wall street and banks even when they know, that deregulation allows those in power on wall street and in investment banks, to create situations and products that they know are bad products most likely to fail, where they gain further wealth whether or not these products succeed or fail.
Without regulations, the rich and powerful rig the system so they can gain wealth at both ends when things succeed and when things they know are going to fail, do fail, and crash, as the rest of us get to suffer the results of deregulation and the lack of consumer protections, like the results of the 2008 crash that we are still suffering through, that the rich and powerful caused, and that our tax money was used to bail out, and they laugh. They laugh because they have no compassion, they laugh because they are weak, they laugh because they'll most likely never know a moment in their lives of financial struggle, of poverty, of not being able to afford to feed their families. They laugh because they have health care, they have property, they have investments and their futures are protected. They laugh because they don't fear growing older and having nothing. They laugh because they know the rich and powerful control almost everything and they are part of that gang. They laugh with relief, that they are not one of us.
One of the last things I heard in a conversation last week that really stunned me was, one of these multimillionaires said, "I can't tell you how glad I am for us, that none of us are one of "those" regular working stiffs." With other multimillionaires at the Venue replying: "you got that right," "only in a bad nightmare," another replied, "I'd kill myself first," a third chimed in, "We were too smart, we've got brains and talent thank God," and my favorite, from the biggest mouth of all, "you only get what you deserve in this life." More laughter and more commentary continued, as I continued to direct things from my headset to others, directed to me from those poor pieces of shit, rich only in money and power, but without a shred of human decency or compassion in their bones, no real happiness, most of the time out of control and angry, trying each day to micromanage and control everything and everyone around them, talking behind each others backs, barking out orders, screaming at the top of their lungs at times and crying in despair and not coming out of their house in the hills for days, when they don't win another Emmy Award that they thought they deserved.......... and they're laughing at the rest of us. Lou
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