tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9479398.post8841978200514623458..comments2024-03-28T11:33:16.271-05:00Comments on Adventus: The Poor will always be fodder....Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9479398.post-32732328804123566152012-10-16T06:56:23.953-05:002012-10-16T06:56:23.953-05:00Still, the incredible lack of recognition that not...<i>Still, the incredible lack of recognition that not everyone makes $200,000 a year is hard to believe. </i><br /><br />And those who don't are barely worth acknowledgement as human.<br /><br />Paul Ryan presents a great example of this; "crashing" a St. Vincent de Paul run soup kitchen to wash some already clean pots for the cameras, and chat with three "customers", albeit off camera and off the record, to prove that charity works (or rather, as Bush I put it: "Message: I care."). And the upshot is he put the charity in danger with its donors, for using them as a campaign opportunity.<br /><br />Sherri--thanks, I'll look for that book.Rmjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06811456254443706479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9479398.post-42665917152435372562012-10-15T22:06:45.468-05:002012-10-15T22:06:45.468-05:00There's a marvelous book about Carnegie and He...There's a marvelous book about Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, who was running Carnegie's company at the time of the Homestead strike. Frick felt that Carnegie, already trying to rehabilitate his reputation by then, hung him out to dry, and they had a massive falling out. Carnegie tried to reconcile late in life. "Meet You in Hell" was Frick's rejoinder, and the name of the book by Les Standiford. It's a very good piece of history from the first Gilded Age.<br />Sherrinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9479398.post-75304611555705171772012-10-15T17:40:06.606-05:002012-10-15T17:40:06.606-05:00Sherri--Carnegie had (has) a lot to atone for, whi...Sherri--Carnegie had (has) a lot to atone for, which is one reason he gave away his money. <br /><br />He also didn't say he didn't deserve it, which is a whole other level of criticism of the system that makes some rich by making so many poor.<br /><br />Mimi--I know. I heard the report on NPR this morning, and I really couldn't believe it.Rmjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06811456254443706479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9479398.post-45144107431819374462012-10-15T16:54:32.194-05:002012-10-15T16:54:32.194-05:00Those poor doctors that Cooperman was worried abou...Those poor doctors that Cooperman was worried about? Also in the 1%. The 1% threshold for net worth is about $8.6 million. Just goes to show how incredibly out of touch Cooperman is.<br /><br />I read the New Yorker article, and I'm really annoyed by the idea of finance types as makers and creators. They move money from place to place, and skim some off the top as they do so. At least Carnegie created something.<br /><br />Of course Andrew Carnegie's great philanthropy doesn't obscure his horrendous union breaking tactics at Homestead.<br />Sherrinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9479398.post-77821707928262339862012-10-15T16:43:29.284-05:002012-10-15T16:43:29.284-05:00Well, Rmj, I was thinking about blogging and linki...Well, Rmj, I was thinking about blogging and linking to Paul Krugman's column and the article in <i>The New Yorker</i>, but I see you stole my thunder. Anything I write would be redundant, and my commentary would not be a quarter as good, but you are not to worry, though, for I may never have got around to writing the post.<br /><br />As I read Freeland's article I was jaw-droppingly amazed that the billionaires feel persecuted and under siege, because more people, nay all people don't admire and respect them for being billionaires.<br /><br />I wonder if some of them had grown up poor, they would feel less of a sense of entitlement for their billions and more empathy with those who have little. I grew up poor, and were it not for extended family nearby, we may have sunk into abject poverty. I will never forget, and I have no illusions that I reached the position of being relatively well off without help, that I built my life, such as it is, all on my own. June Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01723016934182800437noreply@blogger.com