I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its "one percent," namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the "rich."
From the Occupy movement to the demonization of the rich embedded in virtually every word of our local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, I perceive a rising tide of hatred of the successful one percent. There is outraged public reaction to the Google buses carrying technology workers from the city to the peninsula high-tech companies which employ them. We have outrage over the rising real-estate prices which these "techno geeks" can pay. We have, for example, libelous and cruel attacks in the Chronicle on our number-one celebrity, the author Danielle Steel, alleging that she is a "snob" despite the millions she has spent on our city's homeless and mentally ill over the past decades.
This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendant "progressive" radicalism unthinkable now?
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Only a complete moron would compare the Occupy movement to the nazis.
Feeding more money to the 1% is just taking that money out of circulation with the end result of those having it bad, getting worse!
Look to the best countries int he world and you will see that the 1% have no real influence the same way they do in the US.
See How Swedes and Norwegians Broke the Power of the "One Percent" .
You might learn something!
Funny, I don't recall anyone saying anything about a "final solution" for the rich.
This has got to be one of the stupidest Godwins put forth.
Strange, the "1%" in Nazi Germany were, in most cases, poor or middle-class. Unlike the wealthy 1%, they had no power, no senators and congressmen on their speed-dial, no easy access to places where they could buy citizenship, nor were they able to move their money overseas. They didn't make their workers rely on food stamps in order to survive. They had no tax havens and they paid the government every last pfennig that it demanded; they were even charged for their own deportation. I've not seen such animosity to the 1% who pay their taxes, let alone Warren Buffett, who says they should pay more. They were hated because of who they were, not what they were; they could change their religion, abase themselves in every which way, but they were still Jews as far as the Nazis were concerned. I've not seen any hatred towards those that give their fortune away to help the less fortunate, but one person calling Danielle Steel a snob makes for genocide? Certainly, there's an element of schadenfreude, but America isn't St Petersburg in autumn 1917. As for comparisons to Kristallnacht, on Holocaust Memorial Day, he needs to get over himself. Interestingly, to see the company he founded has dissociated itself. from his remarks.
I may have my issues with Progressives and the Political Left at times (especially the far left), but I think that I like them a lot more than Right-Wing Clowns who'd write offensive tripe like this.
That something like this can GET published in a Mainstream News Source should be a concern to anyone.
>> despite the millions she has spent on our city's homeless and mentally ill over the past decades. <<
So tell us, how much did you get?
WAAAHHhhhh! Just because I'm rich those miserable working swine that make me this way want me to pay taxes and stuff. HITLER!!!
I think they're being "demonised" because of their greed and lack of compassion for their fellow human, not just because they've got money. Also, I wouldn't define them as "successful" if they are fucking up society just to feather their own nests.
"Gosh Bunkie, they're threatening our sense of entitlement again!"
"Oh Thurston, why does the riff-raff have to be so... riff-raff?"
There is a parallel between the rise of Nazism in Germany and in the poor in the US rising against those who keep them poor. The Great Depression had made people destitute and desperate; willing to listen to scapegoating agendas. The poor people in the US are kept poor by the ultra-rich, and they are also destitute and desperate, and have been willing to listen to the Teabaggers' scapegoating. But, most of them have now realized that the ones telling them to blame someone else are the exact ones who are the cause for their poverty. That's where the Occupy movement and similar movements comes from. Some Teabaggers are calling for the death or incarceration of Liberals, Communists, feminists and homosexuals, very similar to what happened in WWII Germany.
It’s definitely a dangerous drift of American thinking, Tommy-boy
What, are we actually going to eat the rich?
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You know, if the rich say "let them eat cake" enough times the peasants may have to do something about it... There is a difference between the issues with wealth inequality in the US and the Holocaust. If the wealthy and their supporters can't understand that, then there are no words.
I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its "sodomites," namely its gays, to the teabagger war on the American sodomites, namely the "gays."
This POS actually appeared in the WSJ? OMFG!
OK, first, has this dipwad ever heard of The United States of America vs. Carl Krauch, et al., or The United States of America vs. Friedrich Flick, et al or The United States of America vs. Alfried Krupp, et al? Maybe Perkins should check those out before going on about how wonderful the wealthy are.
And Kristallnacht was not unthinkable in 1930. Hitler's rich supporters made it all possible.
In a society where money rules supreme, those who possess the money in turn control the reins of the State. In a nation with economic disparities such as those which exist in the United States, the "top 1%" can be said to hold a near-monopoly on political power.
A group that possesses almost complete control of the state apparatus cannot claim to be persecuted, regardless of how outnumbered that group might be or what "vile" rhetoric might be thrown at it. The reverse is actually true -- when a small but powerful group such as the American 1% begin to spout cries of persecution, one can be certain that the de facto rulers are growing tired of having their governance criticized.
Incidentally, it often seems to be overlooked that one of the key propaganda techniques utilized by the Nazis was to convince the German people that they were the persecuted minority. The Germans were told that they were victims -- victims of Versailles, victims of Jewish conspiracies, victims of a world that wanted to keep Germany in its place out of fear of its innate superiority.
If anyone is rekindling Nazi rhetoric, it is Perkins and his ilk.
The hatred is directed at the guys who take, never give back, and lobby in their own interests.
People like Bill Gates, who has given fuckloads to charities are viewed as generally good people in my eyes.
The people who sit on piles of cash because they can are the ones I dislike.
> I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its "one percent," namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the "rich."
Pfff.
You note that (mostly left-wing) people who are genuinely critical of capitalism tend to have some kind of a good view of just what's wrong with the system - all the power imbalance that always results as the consequence of unrestrained capitalism. Which is why everyone's clamoring for government regulation.
All the while there are certain (mostly right-wing) people aren't exactly against capitalism and its incontestable bad sides per se, they're just against the nebulous "international banking elite" and the conspiracy they run, which is where the all bad stuff comes from. Hmm, sounds like a code phrase for...?
Also not covered in any of the news stories is this claim that all the Jews in Germany were the 1% or even upper class, sure some of them were but so were many Germans or and non-Jewish immigrants. Analogy fail.
The "demonization of the rich" is entirely justified by the Occupy movement, there are several bank CEOs and upper staff that SHOULD be in jail for fraud. They were bailed out of a self-generated recession with taxpayers money, they gave themselves huge bonuses for nearly destroying the economic base and they've violated agreements to rewrite morgages since.
What you have in America right now is a class called the 1% who are above the law, who refuse to follow the laws, frauduantly blew peoples money (hid it, had to go somewhere), took more of it and effectively bought off the authorities with pennies on the dollar.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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