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AJTheMan

(288 posts)
Thu Jun 14, 2012, 04:01 PM Jun 2012

James Carville: What if the rich lost 40% of their wealth?

(CNN) -- Let's imagine that yesterday there was a front page story in The New York Times that read the following:

"The recent economic crisis left the top 1% of Americans in 2010 with no more wealth than in the early 1990s, erasing almost two decades of accumulated prosperity, the Federal Reserve Monday.

"A hypothetical family richer than the median net worth of the top 1% of the nation's families had a net worth of $77.3 million in 2010, compared with $126.4 million in 2007, the Fed said. The crash of the stock market, in addition to the collapse of housing prices in Greenwich, Connecticut, the Upper East Side of New York City, Beverly Hills, Highland Park in Dallas and the North Shore of Chicago, directly accounted for three-quarters of the loss."

<snip>

The elite would call for the suspension of habeas corpus, the government would call out the National Guard, invade Honduras and the Supreme Court would announce that it is in session 24/7 to take any action deemed necessary to help their friends.

The Wall Street Journal would have a black border on the newspaper. The Financial Times would go from pink to gray. CNBC would play funeral music for nine months. Steve Schwarzman would compare it to the H-word. Cable networks would roadblock all coverage.

The rest of James' compelling article can be found here.
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Zalatix

(8,994 posts)
1. The GOP will sound the alarm about Main Street losing 40% of its wealth
Thu Jun 14, 2012, 04:05 PM
Jun 2012

right when they're ready to blame Obama for it.

AJTheMan

(288 posts)
4. I'm from Louisiana as well and I think Mr.Carville is just great.
Thu Jun 14, 2012, 04:07 PM
Jun 2012

From one Louisiana Democrat to another, go James!

JaneQPublic

(7,113 posts)
6. They would have when Wall St. crashed, but the Middle Class bailed them out.
Thu Jun 14, 2012, 04:22 PM
Jun 2012

Remember the saying back in 2008? "It's Socialism for the rich (or corporations), but Capitalixm for everyone else."

LuckyLib

(6,823 posts)
11. Best quote in the article:
Thu Jun 14, 2012, 06:04 PM
Jun 2012

In the words of Warren Buffett, "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning."

Nye Bevan

(25,406 posts)
12. In 2008-2009, many of them did.
Thu Jun 14, 2012, 06:11 PM
Jun 2012

The rich own the vast majority of stocks, and the market dropped by over 50% during this time.

 

Marr

(20,317 posts)
15. You can bet your ass that their unofficial political party would be shouting about it,
Fri Jun 15, 2012, 01:22 PM
Jun 2012

and doing everything in their power, legal and otherwise, to rectify the situation. The media would be bleating about it round the clock.

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