Richard Belzer: Willful Ignorance, Callous Indifference, or Both?

from HuffPost:




Richard Belzer
Willful Ignorance, Callous Indifference, or Both?
Posted November 13, 2007 | 03:13 PM (EST)




What do almost 100 million Americans have in common? They are at -- or perilously close to -- the official poverty line! Yet government officials and most of the so-called punditocracy declare rather impatiently that the economy is just fine and only the misguided masses don't think so. The universally rich television talking heads patronizingly shake their dyed coifes at the public's uniformed naiveté about the complexity of the marketplace in all it's sphinx-like inscrutability.

These overpaid, smug opinionated keepers of Wall Street's gates are, in their view, the only class of people who can explain the confusing riddle of the American economy. The only glaring problem with this conceit is that tens of millions of our fellow citizens have to choose between food, medicine or heating fuel.

They worry about their jobs, if they have one or two. They worry about their children. They worry about their lack of health insurance.

To add insult to injury, they are more than cognizant of the record number of millionaires and billionaires who pay less in taxes than those astronomically less well off.

What are people to think and feel if the "ruling class" pretends that such problems are exaggerated and fueled by the false assumption that there is some kind of "class warfare" at play?

"How absurd! Don't the great masses of these working class, middle class and disenfranchised dolts understand that this is an entrepreneurial society where anyone -- anyone, damn it! -- could and should become rich if only they were more market savvy and industrious?"

There are a few monumental problems with these cold-hearted, morally bankrupt notions. Among them: the economy is mostly dependent on consumer spending; the government takes more from those who have less and gives obscenely more and more to those who have a lot. (You know these people, they're the ones that have multimillion dollar weddings and birthday parties that make caterers and florists richer but do very little for the overall economy, but so what? Right?)

In addition, many Americans are spending nearly ten percent more than they take in every month because they have a little thing called the "cost of living"! To top it all off, the national debt is an incomprehensible nine trillion plus dollars and we are virtually "owned by other countries"... among them the pet killing, toy poisoning, tainted food exporters who could easily blackmail us with the threat of trading in their profoundly weak dollars for the muscular euro, thereby crippling our economy.

So I ask those "in charge": is it willful ignorance, callous indifference, or both?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-belzer/willful-ignorance-callou_b_72457.html

Richard Belzar so much cause he cares about what's going on in our country and I'm sure the world, too.

And, I don't even watch him on L&O..I just catch him on DU!

Richard said.."More People have seen UFOs than WMD".. :)

:applause:

is my take on it.

n/t

It's about Thom's new book, "Cracking The Code"

More fun for Bu**sh** than exploding frogs.

I've been impressed with him for some time.