The Unreported Hypocrisy Of Class-Warfare Rants From Super-Rich Leftists

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One of the great untold stories that the mainstream media refuses to cover is the naked hypocrisy of the super-rich leftist demagogues in America and their class-warfare, welfare-state advocating rants, versus their own personal lifestyles.

This thread will address only some of the most grievous examples, particularly from the leftist politicos who are screaming about wages and CEO pay.

Let’s start here: A few weeks ago, the House of Representatives voted 315-116 to approve the first increase in the federal minimum wage in 10 years, from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over two years. Let’s examine these numbers:

Current minimum wage: $5.15 per hour x 2,000 hours = $10,300 per year
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Recently-approved minimum wage hike: $7.25 per hour x 2,000 hours = $14,500 per year

As was reported in today’s Washington Post:

“Former president Bill Clinton, who came to the White House with modest means and left deeply in debt, has collected nearly $40 million in speaking fees over the past six years, according to interviews and financial disclosure statements filed by his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.” Read the rest here.

Let’s see: The article indicates that Bubba “earns” an average of $150,000 for a 1-hour speech ($2,500 per minute). At this rate, Bubba “earns” 29,126 times what a current minimum wage worker does at $5.15 per hour, and 20,689 times what a future minimum-wage worker will, at $7.25 per hour. And if Bubba "worked" 2,000 hours per year, he would “earn” $300,000,000, which would put him in the top .001% of American CEOs.

The average pay for a CEO of an S&P 500 company in 2005 was $13.5 million, or $6,750 per hour (Source: AFL-CIO). This is 1,310 times what the minimum wage worker earns currently, and 931 times what the future minimum wage worker will earn.

Yet the $6,750 that the average American CEO earns per hour is only 1/22 of what Bubba “earns” in the same time period.

And it's worth asking: Who’s producing more tangible value for their “earnings?” Who is creating more wealth, jobs, tax revenue, and benefits for America? Who is providing an opportunity for Americans to rise through the income scale --- and who is acting as a selfish obstruction, and taking more than his "fair share"?

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Now, let’s move along to John Edwards, the pretty-boy leftist demagogue who wants to be president, and who so loudly proclaimed that we are headed for “two Americas,” one of the wealthy, and one of everyone else. As a reminder, let’s revisit Edwards’ stump speech (Try to ignore that oppressive Soviet military marching music you may hear in the background; just because this rant is rooted directly in Marxism, doesn't mean that John actually believes all this... or does it?):

“Today, under George W. Bush, there are two Americas, not one: One America that does the work, another America that reaps the reward. One America that pays the taxes, another America that gets the tax breaks. One America that will do anything to leave its children a better life, another America that never has to do a thing because its children are already set for life. One America -- middle-class America - whose needs Washington has long forgotten, another America - narrow-interest America - whose every wish is Washington's command. One America that is struggling to get by, another America that can buy anything it wants, even a Congress and a President.”

Let’s see: according to the New York Times:

“In the four years before he joined the Senate in 1999, John Edwards made a total of nearly $27 million as a personal injury lawyer who won a string of multimillion-dollar jury verdicts and settlements.”

Rounding that out to $27 million, that means that Edwards earned an average of $6,750,000 per year, which is 655 times the earnings of current minimum wage workers, and 465 times the earnings of future minimum wage workers.

(Oh, and lest we forget, like all good super-rich leftist hypocrites, Edwards exploited numerous tax code loopholes to avoid paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes, which one must assume was part of his "fair share;" read some of the details here)

Again, who is producing wealth, jobs and value for America – and who is taking these things away, via ambulance-chasing litigation and exorbitant legal fees, "earned" through personal charm and manipulation of key audiences?

And lest we forget, part of Edwards' "skill" is his ability to manipulate jurors through emotional appeals, including his winning claim that he was channeling the thoughts of a little girl afflicted by cerebral palsy:

"I have to tell you right now -- I didn't plan to talk about this -- right now I feel her (Jennifer), I feel her presence," Edwards told the jury, according to court records. "[Jennifer's] inside me and she's talking to you ... And this is what she says to you. She says, 'I don't ask for your pity. What I ask for is your strength. And I don't ask for your sympathy, but I do ask for your courage'."
Source: CNSNews.com

(Gee --- I wonder... could such a skill be used to manipulate an entire population to vote for an eminently unqualified propagandist? Hm.)

Next, consider that Edwards has nearly completed construction on his brand-new 28,200-square-foot super-mansion in North Carolina that is expected to be valued at more than $6 million.
(Source: Carolina Journal)

Contrast this with the fact that the average American home in 2000 was 2,200 square feet, with 2.6 occupants.
(Source: Population Reference Bureau)

Edwards’ new mansion, on the contrary, is 12.8 times the size of the average American’s home, and "features an indoor basketball court, a squash court, two stages... a swimming pool, a four-story tower, and a room designated as 'John’s Lounge'.”

(And let's not even discuss the "environmental footprint" that such a super-mansion will have on the pristine North Carolina woodlands in which it is built... WHOOPS... Edwards is also an outspoke advocate of "environmental protections"; see www.johnedwards.com)

"Two Americas," indeed:

One consisting of super-rich Democrats and leftists, who preach from on high about the “greed” of corporate CEOs, while they merrily go about earning their exorbitant fees and salaries, negatively impacting the environment with their super-mansions, limousines, yachts and private jets, without a whimper from the fawning mainstream media that they count on to treat them like rock stars who really "care" about the little people that they preach to. (For as we all have been taught, only non-leftists and non-Democrats are “greedy” and “selfish” and “take more than their 'fair share'.”)

And the other America, which consists of people who do not bemoan what others earn, who admire productivity and achievement, who don't ask for or want special governmental favors, who just want to do the best they can for themselves and their families without being taxed to death to pay for endless Ponzi-based welfare-state schemes, and maybe leave a little something to their children.

For more information on the hypocrisy of super-wealthy leftists, and where and how they got their money, see The Left Wing Millionaire’s Club.


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Finally, lest we forget the class-warfare rant of the Democrats’ new golden-boy, Senator James Webb, who obviously has been studying diligently at the "John Edwards School of Political Demagoguery, Economics and Hypocrisy."

In his rebuttal to President Bush’s 2007 State of the Union Address, Webb rehashed the same talking points:

“When one looks at the health of our economy, it's almost as if we are living in two different countries. Some say that things have never been better. The stock market is at an all-time high, and so are corporate profits. But these benefits are not being fairly shared. When I graduated from college, the average corporate CEO made 20 times what the average worker did; today, it's nearly 400 times. In other words, it takes the average worker more than a year to make the money that his or her boss makes in one day.”
(Source: CBS News)

See James K. Glassman's exceptional dismantling of and rebuttal to Webb’s rants here.


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Maybe someday, Katie Couric, Charles Gibson, Brian Williams or one of their fellow super-rich, blow-dried mainstream media figures will devote some time to exploring this leftist hypocrisy (and its Marxist roots) in detail.

Maybe, once Anna Nicole Smith's decomposing body, Britney Spears' decomposing psychological balance, and American Idol are no longer commanding their lead stories, they'll get around to covering this aspect of leftist politics.

Maybe, before November 2008?

I won't be holding my breath.


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UPDATE, MARCH 6: TWO AMERICAS, INDEED!:

Straight from the files of the Bush Derangement Syndrome pop-star rant file... singer Kanye West ("They're going to shoot us! Bush doesn't care about black people!") will be the beneficiary of a $3,900 luncheon that will contribute the most to global warming in history... see this article at HotAir (from CNN). Bon apetit, eh?

Original content is © Copyright 2007 by Jon Quixote. Email jonquix@hotmail.com

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