Ben Stein spoke last night in my town. Now, I don't agree with him on almost everything, but

he said something very interesting.

He said the economy has become politically charged because growth has been stagnant after bursts of productivity that date back to the Civil War.

Now, adjusted for inflation, he said hourly wages haven't gone up since 1973.

"The thing I keep waiting for," Stein said, "is for a populist candidate to come along and stoke those fires."

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-04-06/story/steele-steele-ben-stein-has-issues-gop-chairman

Ben Stein only gives a shit about his portfolio.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/business/yourmoney/07every.html?_r=1

You're Rich? Terrific. Now Pay Up.
By BEN STEIN

snip...

But if they are superrich, they derive special benefits from life in the United States that the nonrich don't. For one thing, they can make the money in a safe environment, which is not true for the rich in many countries. It is just common decency that they should pay much higher income taxes than they do. Taxes for the rich are lower than they have been since at least World War II — that is to say, in 60 years.

This makes no sense in a world at war, in a nation with so many unmet social needs, in a nation with so many people without health care, in a nation running immense and endless deficits.

America is becoming a nation of many rich people. I recently read that there were close to 10 million millionaire households. I read that there were hundreds of thousands who made more than $1 million a year. Good for them.

But it's unlovely for them to pay as little tax as they now pay. The real problem in this country is only temporarily about oil. That will right itself, or we'll get used to it and adjust.

The real problem is saving a nation that is beset by terrorism, and we cannot do that unless we feel that we are all in the same boat, pulling at the oars together. That includes the rich.

Whatever rationale there may have been in 2001 for lowering their taxes is long gone. It's time for them — us, because it includes me — to pay their (our) share.

It's not about oil. It's about fairness.

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I'm waiting for a populist candidate too. Unfortunately, you have to be rich or well funded to have a serious chance at winning office & the PTB aren't going to fund a populist candidate. And the recent SCOTUS ruling has made it even more difficult for the People to wrest our government from the control of the rich.

for the R's, always has been.

-p