The War On The Poor Spin With Update

The Mainstream media or at least 90% of it is owned by 7 companies. In many ways it has become nothing more than a propaganda arm for the financial system. In the past year I have seen a very disturbing trend where it has been used to demonize the unemployed, college students and the poor. I have seen this not just in America; but, in the western world as a whole. I want to look at some of these spin games.

Yahoo - How Complainers Wreck the Economy. I will sum up the video. Basically, if you went to college and don't have a job it is because of you. It doesn't matter that there are no jobs to be had, the problem is that this upsets people.

NY Times - Dealbook - Considering the Fairness of JPMorgan’s Deal. Here is the short on this, JP Morgan and companies it took over were involved in fraud. They defrauded investors and supported mortgage fraud by others to make a profit. They were being sued by the government and others and have agreed to pay $13 billion in fines. Some on Wall Street have complained that JP Morgan is being picked on. Really? They made hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars by rigging markets and lying to people. They caused the worldwide economy to crash, have caused millions to lose their jobs and houses and were given massive bonuses for taking a bailout from the government. Oh, by the way, their settlement is tax deductible which means that you and I will suffer the burden of the tax loss.

The "City of London" is a small part of what most of us think of as London, it is the financial district and has it's own laws. The head of it is called the Mayor of London and is currently a man named Boris Johnson. He was born to wealth and privilege and was a member of a group known as the Bullingdon Club, a group of wealthy students who are known for taking over restaurants, destroying them and then paying the cost of repairs afterwards. NY Times - London Mayor Raises Eyebrows, and Ire. Basically he said that people are poor because they are stupid and that greed is good and that inequality was good. He also said that the 10 people making the most money in England should all be knighted regardless apparently on whether or not they were guilty of crimes.

Steve Jobs said that he didn't make Apple products in America because we were too stupid to make them. What? We build the highest tech planes and bombs and spying devices; but, we cannot build a phone?

So what is going on, it is pretty simple. The economic inequality in America is at an all time high and getting worse. Millions who want to work cannot get a job and millions more are losing their homes and savings because of actions by the Federal Reserve and the big banks. People are upset by these things and whether it be Tea Party members or Occupy members, they are talking about it. Each of these groups may disagree on the solutions; but, they are clear on the problems and want to see an end to the privilege and corruption by those in charge. That is scary to those who have benefited from the market rigging and insider trading.

If you are in Manhattan and get caught with a joint, you will probably go to jail. It should be noted that New York has a policy of stop and frisk and that it is disproportionately used against blacks and other minorities. During the Occupy Wall Street movement the big banks and investment firms gave the city money to pay the police overtime to watch the group. Yet, nobody has gone to jail for all of the Wall Street fraud. When the collapse comes, probably next year, they will be even more scared and they know what is coming.

Warren Buffet has tried to get the wealthy to contribute more to the nation. I know not everybody likes Mr. Buffet; but, I think both Mr. Buffet and Mr. Bill Gates are honorable men, I may not agree with their spiritual beliefs (they have none) and I may not believe in transhumanism as Mr. Gates does; but, I believe they are basically honest, decent and concerned about others. Mr. Buffet said that this is class warfare and that his class (the rich) are winning. He did not say this to brag, he was trying to tell the rest of us that we are under attack by the wealthy.

Now I want to say right here that I do have some wealthy friends and they worked hard and appreciate what they have or they would not be my friends. The struggle is not really against wealthy people, it is against those in power who rig the system to benefit friends rather than the deserving. Why would anyone attack new college graduates for complaining that they cannot get a job? Remember that first video where the speaker claimed that people don't work because they can get paid on unemployment to lay around the house? New college graduates don't get unemployment, they get nothing and want to work. How do you criticize young people for wanting jobs and then criticize others for not having jobs?

Consider how the media let the wealthy be called "job creators", where are the jobs for these young people with college degrees. When I graduated Law School the nation was in a recession and jobs were hard to find; but, I found two full time jobs that each paid $4 an hour. I had a doctorate and was working in factories for bare minimum wage. I believe in hard work and had a heart attack to prove it. I cannot make fun of young college grads who are willing to work at McDonalds; but, cannot get a job. It is actually harder to get a low paying job for someone with a college degree than it is for someone without one. I know this from personal experience, when I graduated I couldn't get a job if they knew I had a college degree, I was told that if they gave me the jobs I would just leave for a better one if I had the opportunity. I had worked since I was 12, I worked during college, got laid off once and couldn't get unemployment because I was in college. I got my jobs through a temp agency because the people that hired us didn't care about our experience or education and left that up to the temp agency to determine.

I want to go back to the garbage that was spewed by Boris Johnson. He claims that the rich are basically genetically better and smarter. He doesn't accept that the game is rigged even though there have been numerous cases of market rigging in the City of London, LIBOR being just one of them. When I was in college and Law School I regularly beat everyone else; but, I did not come from money. In Law School, 95% came from money, were renting nice places, had tutors and additional resources and still I kicked their little rearends; but, the game was still rigged, we did not compete evenly or they would have lost even worse.

Lets take two kids, both with IQs of 100 (the standard and average IQ for people). Now have one of them be born to a Mexican who lives in the city dump for Mexico city and the other is the child of wealthy person living in New York. Is that an even playing ground, is it not obvious who is more likely to succeed? Exceptionally brilliant people do well in any situation; but, how many people are truly that brilliant? There is no way to even the playing ground; but, the rules should not benefit one group over another. It shouldn't be legal for the wealthy to riot and destroy someone's restaurant and not go to jail. That is what Mr. Johnson and his friends did.

I remember when the automakers came to congress to get bail-outs. The media made a big deal about how they used private jets. I didn't care about the private jets, I cared about the bonuses they received for getting the rest of us to bail them out. We bailed out the banks and they gave even bigger bonuses. We have been told that they have paid the money back; but, at 0 interest. We give money to banks at 0% interest; but, charge college students high interest for their student loans and then blame them because they complain that they cannot get jobs. How can any college graduate support any mainstream media that would say they are all lazy when they cannot get a job? Turn them off, stop watching Fox or any other channel that blames you for not having a job if you are looking for one.

UPDATE:

I was just reading different news stories when I came across this. Yahoo - Kiplinger - 10 Reasons You'll Never Be Rich. Another example of what I was writing about earlier. You are not rich because you are not good enough. The article lists ten things that "prevent" people from being rich. Wait a second, if everyone did these things, would everybody be rich? Remember where I quoted Boris as saying that we need inequality to motivate people? I actually agree that we need inequality; but, I am consistent. People should benefit as they contribute unless they cannot contribute.

The argument is skewed and misrepresented in the media. It is not a fair fight if I am given a pointy stick and my opponent is given a machine gun. I could be rich if I wanted; but, that is not my goal. Knowing that I can be rich does not mean that everyone should or could be rich. To claim that the system is other than it is, is just a lie. We cannot all be rich unless there were very few of us and everything was done by robots. What a sad world that would be.

During the economic meltdown someone contacted me and presented me with a question. They, in a very Ayn Randesque manner, asked me if I had the chance to leave and just be around others who are accomplished, would I stop wasting my time with worrying about the less fortunate. Basically, would I just look out for me if I had the chance to have everything. My answer was no. Recently, one of my relatives complained that I helped others too much. Hmmmm. I think I should be free to help whoever I want and do.

If the people in charge really believed in this Social Darwinistic garbage, they would design and insist upon a system free of privilege and equal reach to education. They would wish to prove that they truly were genetically gifted and not be afraid of competition.