The Death of the Middle Class & The Rise of Racism
By Thom Hartmann A...
According to new data from the federal reserve, if current trends of the rich getting richer and the middle class getting poorer continues at their current rate, in 33 years the top 10% of Americans will own one hundred percent of all American wealth. Everyone else will be in poverty and in debt. Right wing billionaires like Donald Trump are cheering this on, calling for more tax cuts on rich people and less power for working people through the continuing destruction of unions and fighting the minimum wage.They tell us that the problem is not corporate monopoly and rich people taking everything for themselves, but instead brown people from south of the border, black people wanting affirmative action, and women wanting equality, what Limbaugh calls "feminazis." They are more than willing to tear up the fabric of American society in exchange for what they think will be a permanent position of wealth and power.
By destroying the American working class, they're fueling class, regional and racial resentment, and then they use that resentment to split us apart and encourage us to hate each other - all so long as we don't point our fingers at them.
-Thom
Comments
#2
As well as some having less empathy as they get richer, there are others who rise through the ranks by being ruthless from the start,
#3
Glad you're back. :)
#4
Thanks :)
Does Trump "Tweet" When His Staff Says No?
By Thom Hartmann A...
Lev Parnas tells the story of how Donald Trump fired ambassador Marie Yovanovitch at least "four or five times," and that they were afraid that he would "fire her with a tweet." This is not the first time we have heard from White House insiders that the president often gives irrational or stupid orders that his staff then ignores.Latest Headlines
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Images of Thom
At Mondragon - both the mountain and the cooperative city - in Spain (written about in "Threshold" book)
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Thom Hartmann is a creative thinker and committed small-d democrat. He has dealt with a wide range of topics throughout his life, and this book provides an excellent cross section. The Thom Hartmann Reader will make people both angry and motivated to act."
From Screwed:
"Hartmann speaks with the straight talking clarity and brilliance of a modern day Tom Paine as he exposes the intentional and systematic destruction of America’s middle class by an alliance of political con artists and outlines a program to restore it. This is Hartmann at his best. Essential reading for those interested in restoring the institution that made America the envy of the world."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Never one to shy away from the truth, Thom Hartmann’s collected works are inspiring, wise, and compelling. His work lights the way to a better America."
Societal mechanisms that create wealth disparity span all cultures and all time. The bane of human psychology is innate selfishness that disconnects one's mind from the larger phenomenon of life as a holistic movement, including all things and all beings.
Credible studies (e.g., 1, 2, 3) have shown how, in certain individuals with certain personality traits, a lack of empathy -- a basic disconnect from one's humanity -- increases the wealthier they become.
Evidently, the more they gain the more they fear to lose. "Others" (the lesser classes) therefore become natural enemies, perceived as chipping away at concentrated wealth for no good purpose. In the petty mind of a greed-monger, "good" is subconsciously defined as only that which increases personal wealth, usually at the expense of others in a game of zero-sum economics. (Mindless materialism -- compulsive hoarding -- is a mental disorder.)
Homo sapien selfishness is destroying the planet; to survive, we need to evolve.
In honor of John Lennon, imagine a world where we only take what we need, where we preserve and replenish, where we live in harmony with nature and all other human beings -- a world without economic predators feasting on our corpses.