Saturday, August 6, 2011

Defining The Middle Class

Joanne Butler is a senior economics fellow at the Caesar Rodney Institute of Delaware.
And here is how her economic perspicacity plays out:
I laughed out loud at the little airplane endlessly circling above the parking lot while towing this banner: “GOV — KEEP CHURCH-STATE SEPARATE FFR.ORG.” It would seem those atheists don’t care about their carbon footprints!

The crowd was well in excess of the 8,000 who had previously registered; the numbers may have reached 30,000. Although most attendees were white, the crowd included significant numbers of Hispanics and African-Americans. It was a younger crowd than I had expected — much younger. While there was a smattering of cowboy hats in evidence (hey, it’s Texas), I was pleasantly surprised to see nobody wearing backward baseball hats or baggy jeans. Another surprise was how few people were texting, checking their emails, etc. If this is Rick Perry’s base, it’s solidly middle class.
We'd guess them them to be solidly lower class, because they can't afford smarty 'phones to check their fucking e-mails or text their inane bullshit to their fellow cretins.

"Actual" research:
Afterwards, I had a fascinating conversation with the manager of a Houston diner. The Washington State native didn’t attend the event but thought it was “nice” that Perry was hosting it. He then talked enthusiastically about how Perry’s policies had kept the Texas economy strong in spite of the recession (one bit of evidence was the diner’s packed parking lot) and said the nation should give Perry a try — and that Perry was going to get his vote for sure.
Just a guess, but the diner may have been awfully close to the event, which might just, maybe, somehow explain the packed lot afterwards, as Joanne & her fellow "middle class," know-how-to-wear-their-baseball-hats (Caps, actually, Joanne.) types don't look as if they like to miss too many meals. Or snacks.

Additional: We saw another of Joanne's little piles some time ago & almost went off.
6:31 PM 05/21/2011
“I used to be a drunk, but now I’m bipolar.” A guy who was applying for Social Security disability benefits once said these words, which sum up the problem with this entitlement program. (more)
Her mastery of economics is matched by her knowledge of psychology, the deal here being that once this guy stopped self-medicating w/ the booze he was able to start dealing w/ the bi-polar disorder he'd previously been dealing w/ by drinking. All a big scam to Joanne, naturally. Not an "entitlement" program, either. It's Social Security Disability Insurance, a payroll tax-funded, federal insurance program of the United States government. What an awful person. Imagine "I used to be a fattie who couldn't stop stuffing my ugly face, but now I'm bi-polar," coming out of her fat yap.

3 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Always be suspicious of right-wing crowd estimates.

(And everything else they do, of course.)
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M. Bouffant said...

Late Editor:

Hey, just wait'll we add other stuff & are finished w/ the damn item before commenting, OK?

We were, of course, quite suspicious of her "numbers," & quite lazy or we might have looked for some ourself. That the big load of shit was held in a stadium w/ seats should make it easier to get truthy numbers. Wonder if they'll provide an actual turnstile count?

Over 2 million drones in the metro area, & they got 30,000 (if they're lucky)? Ha ha.

We lived in Houston for several months (Fortunately during the winter, 1970-71.) & it was a fascist shithole then. Doubtlessly worse now.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

I found this on yahoo (and promptly started wasting time typing wiseass remarks).

Attendance had been in doubt when only about 8,000 had registered. But that number was quickly eclipsed shortly after the doors opened, and buses continued throughout the morning to deliver people to the daylong event at the arena that holds 71,500.

Note it doesn't actually say anything about the attendance, except that it was more than 8,000.

And there's this:

The event was Perry's idea but was financed by the American Family Association, a Tupelo, Miss.-based group that opposes abortion and gay rights and believes that the First Amendment freedom of religion applies only to Christians.

That says it all.

Cynical opportunism and bigotry. In other words, all the G.O.P. has to offer America.
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