Well, at least the Rich have a realization that a little resentment may be building among the rest of the country.
Of course, they don’t seem to be channeling this in a positive direction by giving back to society. No, they are looking to live in armed camps and hang on to every penny.
I guess maybe they do realize that eventually people may be fed up with them rigging the system in their favor and forcing the little guys and gals to pay for it by giving up luxuries like food, Social Security, Medicare and housing so they can keep their jets and yachts.
Those fools in the Tea Party just may turn nasty once they realize they’ve been used….
From Alternet.com:
In addition to security systems, dogs and armed yachts, the security-conscious oligarch can hire a private spy company—Jellyfish, a spinoff of the notorious private security company Blackwater. Or what about their own personal drone? “Smaller, private versions of the infamous Predator” may be coming to well-heeled private citizens near you, according to the UK’s Daily Mail. So far the private drones appear to only be for spying, but former Navy fighter pilot Missy Cummings told the Daily Mail, “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist from MIT to tell you if we can do it for a soldier in the field, we can do it for anybody.”
So why are the rich getting paranoid? After all, here in the U.S. it looks like they don’t even have to worry about their taxes returning to Clinton-era levels, let alone cope with a truly significant change to their lifestyles. Still, as the rich get richer, it seems, they get more and more worried about the rest of us coming for their wealth—and they’re out to protect it by any means necessary.
David Sirota has noted that “we’re fast becoming a ‘let them eat cake’ economy,” where ostentatious displays of wealth and arrogance seem to be an everyday occurrence as the rest of the country suffers. A private jet traffic jam was big news in the New York Times last week, because the children of the uber-rich have to get to a Maine summer camp, and driving just won’t do. Maine’s Tea Party governor, Paul LePage, took some time off from limiting access to the vote and picking fights with organized labor to gloat over the jet traffic:
“Love it, love it, love it,” Mr. LePage said of the private-plane traffic generated by summer camps. “I wish they’d stay a week while they’re here. This is a big business.”
While the private jet crowd is “big business,” the rest of Maine—and the country—is still suffering. And maybe that’s where the fear comes in.
We’ve seen revolution in Tunisia and Egypt, attempts in Libya, Syria, Yemen, unrest in Greece and Spain, student protests in England, and here at home the occupation of the capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. While nothing yet in the U.S. has approached the level of organized attacks on the wealthy by the have-nots, since the financial crash even the hint that perhaps private jet owners could pay a few more dollars in taxes has been decried as class war. A few protests that actually dare approach the doorsteps of the bankers appear to be all it takes to stoke paranoia among the super-rich.
via $230,000 For a Guard Dog: Why the Wealthy Are Afraid Of Violence From Below | | AlterNet.
Lost in the 21st Century 
My Thoughts: On Tax Day and the Social Contract
Today is Tax Day, the deadline for filing one’s income taxes in the USA. Even though I filed mine a while back, I still always stop and ponder our tax situation on the deadline day.
First of all, I pay a lot of taxes and I really don’t mind it. I’m lucky enough to have a good job, at least for now, so I don’t mind contributing to the good of the country.
I don’t mind paying Medicare and Social Security withholding taxes as they are a part of the social contract we have with the government to support today’s seniors now and ensure we aren’t destitute and without medical care when we get old. I’ve kept my part of this bargain by paying into the system since I was 16 years old and I expect the government to live up to their end of the deal and not change things this late in the game.
I don’t mind paying taxes even though I’m a Gay man who can’t file a joint return with his partner. I don’t mind paying taxes to support education even though we will never have children. I don’t mind paying taxes to build high-speed rail and save our crumbling infrastructure. I don’t mind paying taxes to prevent those people and their children not as lucky as me from starving or doing without medical care. I don’t mind paying taxes to build give poor children a head start or to create jobs by exploring clean energy and energy efficient cars. I don’t mind paying taxes that support internet improvements and expansion so we can link the country to the world. I don’t mind paying taxes to provide benefits to our Veterans who have served our country. I don’t mind paying taxes to enrich our country’s cultural and artistic life.
I do mind that my taxes support unnecessary wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I do mind that I pay more taxes than Exxon Mobile, GE and Bank of America, who don’t pay any. I do mind that my tax rate ended up being higher than the 17% tax rate that most of the wealthiest 1% of Americans paid- if they paid at all. I do mind that so many Corporations don’t pay any taxes and spend billions lobbying Congress to keep it that way.
I guess my thought has always been that we have an obligation to give back. It’s part of the social contract.
None of us will ever be completely happy with how our tax dollars are spent. But we do need to realize the obligation we have to society to pay these taxes. We also need to do our best to elect Representatives that will make everyone pay their fair share and use these tax funds to the benefit of the nation as a whole-not just the lucky few. That is becoming harder and harder to do as the Rich and the Corporations buy the Government piece by piece.
We have an obligation to learn the true positions of the people we elect to manage the nation’s finances. We are not doing our duty as Americans if we fall for public relations campaigns and smoke and mirrors that hide a Candidate’s true agenda. That certainly happened in last year’s Congressional Elections….
So on tax day, don’t resent having to pay. Remember, death and taxes are the only two inevitabilities in life.
Just think about how you can best work to be sure everyone pays their fair share and our nations funds are used wisely.
And I know, that alone, is asking a hell of a lot…..
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Tagged as Budget Deficits, Democrats, GOP, IRS, Medicare, politics, Republicans, Social Security, Tax Day, taxes, Tea Party, The Economy