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Whirring propaganda machines: USA Today article seeks to gin up class hate and animosity towards the rich and successful
American Thinker ^ | 12/13/2023 | Jack Hellner

Posted on 12/13/2023 8:42:50 AM PST by SeekAndFind

There’s apparently no end to how far the mainstream operatives will go in their quest to destroy the virtues of the West, and a USA Today article published last week is a prime example.

The man behind the piece, Daniel de Visé, essentially implies that anyone not born into tremendous wealth doesn’t have a chance at success, and those who are rich only got that way by mere circumstance and birthright, overtly implying that capitalism has caused this problem and that, we must work harder for equality.

There are huge problems with de Visé’s article, but I will do my best to tackle a few of them to explain how the premise is entirely wrong. (The italicized blurbs are excerpted from the item.)

Over the years, the rich have grown steadily richer. The top 1% caught and passed the middle class in collective wealth in late 2020, Fed data shows.

This article covers the years 1979 through 2021; the problem with this statement is that the top 1% of people in 2021 are not the same as the people in the top 1% in 1979. Capitalism has always allowed people to move up the economic ladder. The richest 1% of people are always getting richer in a growing economy.

And who are the top 1%? The category includes flashy billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, of course. But many 1%-ers are low-profile multimillionaires, living quietly among us.

This is a true statement but since Bezos and Musk weren’t very rich twenty years ago it shows how capitalism, invention, and creativity allows people to create wealth regardless of circumstances.

This is a true statement but since Bezos and Musk weren’t very rich over twenty years ago

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: classwarfare; inequality; usatoday
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To: SeekAndFind
‘People who owned homes, who owned stocks, who owned retirement accounts, they did very well,’

Yes. What you choose to do with your money matters. Long term thinking has a different outcome from short term thinking.

Buying a used Toyota has a different outcome from taking out a loan on a new Lexus. Buying stock has a different outcome from buying bling. Cooking at home most days has a different outcome from eating at restaurants most days.

Choose wisely.

21 posted on 12/13/2023 9:19:49 AM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: 1Old Pro

Owned first home in 1966.

WAS making about $6 + an hour. Used Inheritance of $5,000 to buy home.

Owned my own car.

DID NOT OWN STOCKS

DIS NOT HAVE A “RETIREMENT ACCOUNT”.

Had that home 29 years.

Bought next home on rural acreage out of foreclosure.

Cleaned it up, fenced, etc.

Sold it 16 years later with enough profit to buy this property for CASH...free & clear.

NO STOCKS OWNED

NO RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS-—just Soc Sec.

BUT have OLD IRON & NO CAR PAYMENTS

Have retired life style-—

NO medical issues that I am aware of-—and do NOT ‘go to doctors’ to look for such.

IF my INHERITANCE of $5,000 is considered wealthy-—so be it.

BUT the last car I bought was USED—and my last car payment was 1981.

NOT ego-driven enough to want NEW CAR/TRUCK. Car & truck I have are just fine.

IF average car turnover is 5 years-—then I have SKIPPED 8 such cycles & all those costs.

Also skipped the high costs of registration/ insurance/ repairs and DEALER ONLY repairs.

That ALL represents ALOT OF MONEY.

NO CELL PHONE/NO PAY TV/NO CONCERTS/ NO EATING OUT/NO FANCY CLOTHES/ NO JEWELRY, etc.


22 posted on 12/13/2023 9:21:42 AM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: SeekAndFind

The rich vote Democrat now.


23 posted on 12/13/2023 9:25:01 AM PST by cowboyusa (YESHUA IS KING OF AMERICA! DEATH TO MARXISM AND LEFTISM! AMERICA, COWBOY UP!)
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To: ridesthemiles

Someone a couple of years ago told me “I WAS RICH” because I owned my property.

THEY ARE CLUELESS about spending $$$$$$$.


24 posted on 12/13/2023 9:25:15 AM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: TheBattman

Yes, I heard the other day that Marxist in USA tried to use class as a weapon, but it did not work. So they tried race and discovered it worked very well.

Evil...these people.


25 posted on 12/13/2023 9:34:10 AM PST by Karoo
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To: SeekAndFind

Rich people who own media companies tolerate those companies hate for them. At some point they will realize that it is not in their own best interest to be leftists.


26 posted on 12/13/2023 9:45:03 AM PST by webheart
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To: SeekAndFind

And professional athletes? Taylor Swifts?

The author is a loser who did not keep trying.


27 posted on 12/13/2023 10:02:09 AM PST by TornadoAlley3 ( I'm Proud To Be An Okie From Muskogee)
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To: Obadiah

Most of the rich are liberals anyway, screw them.


28 posted on 12/13/2023 10:05:09 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: SeekAndFind

One of the reasons for this, is we no longer enforce Anti-Trust laws, effectively creating a few oligarchies to rule over us.


29 posted on 12/13/2023 10:05:58 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: SeekAndFind

.


30 posted on 12/13/2023 10:31:43 AM PST by sauropod (The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly.)
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To: Karoo

Therein lies the rub - their magic formula has long been class AND race (linking the two together being particularly beneficial to their agenda).


31 posted on 12/13/2023 10:51:28 AM PST by TheBattman (Democrats-Progressives-Marxists-Socialists - redundant labels.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I started out with almost nothing in the 90s and it was possible to afford a place to live, eat quality food and also have the time/money to get an education and better yourself while working basic jobs (like a taxi driver or kitchen laborer).

Eventually I became an engineer and run my own firm now.

Today if you compare the costs, the math simply does not work out to follow this same path. Even for kids starting as engineers today without student loans, the market is bleak compared to skyrocketing costs.

We can debate why this happened to the moon but the American dream as I lived is a fantasy for most poor people now


32 posted on 12/13/2023 11:44:12 AM PST by varyouga
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To: nonliberal

Agreed...and why is that? Part of the reason is because our kids are not being taught to think, but rather to accept as fact whatever drivel is being offered in our schools as doctrine according the to the Left. I just has a discussion with my granddaughter, a straight-A HS Senior at the time, who was taught that Climate Change killed the dinosaurs. She was never exposed to the theory that a meteor struct the earth. causing nuclear Winter and blotting out the sun, which starved them to death. She was never told about the layer of Iridium, a mineral often found in meteors, that encompasses the earth and is covered with 60 million years of detritus that has been timed with the extinction of the dinosaurs. Parents should be ashamed that this kind of indoctrination is allowed to persist in our schools.


33 posted on 12/13/2023 12:58:20 PM PST by econjack
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To: SeekAndFind
Most millionaires in America are small business owners and the are conservative.

Most Billionaires in America are rabid leftists committed to Global Socialism.

Y’all know who these people are…
34 posted on 12/13/2023 1:16:27 PM PST by Jan_Sobieski (Sanctification)
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To: dfwgator

The news and entertainment media are supprted by advertising. The advertisers are supported by consumers. Consumers are supported by federal spending. This is why corporations are leftist.


35 posted on 12/13/2023 1:29:15 PM PST by webheart
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To: SeekAndFind

You can start out poor or middle class and become a billionaire because of a brilliant invention. Or you can become a Democrat politician and become a near-billionaire at least. LBJ, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and many others.


36 posted on 12/13/2023 2:00:48 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: Jan_Sobieski
Most Billionaires in America are rabid leftists...

They've made theirs...now they want to raise the drawbridge so none of the hoi polloi can get inside the castle.

37 posted on 12/13/2023 2:02:38 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus

Capitalism - The rich become powerful
Socialism - The powerful become rich


38 posted on 12/13/2023 2:04:57 PM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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