I caught a reference to this little Limbaugh riff on the teevee yesterday (no, I’m not linking to his site):
RUSH: Do you remember that piece by Angelo Codevilla that came out in summer 2010 in the American Spectator called “The Ruling Class”? We spent a lot of time here analyzing it and talking about it. That’s what we face today. And our guys in the upper echelon of the Republican Party want to fashion themselves as members of the ruling class.
We, the country class, are not in the ruling class. We’re the problem. A couple of sound bites, then I’ll illustrate. Let’s just pick a couple at random, but grab number one. Meet the Press during the roundtable. The guest is Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, who authored the John McCain defeat against Barack Obama in 2008. Steve Schmidt, the consultant who came up with the plan that secured defeat in the presidential election, has the answer.
And I couldn’t help but think of one of his past homes, the one that tried for that “ruling class” Versailles feel:
Limbaugh’s Fifth Avenue condominium is 4,661 square feet, with 4 bedrooms, and 5.5 bathrooms. The apartment has 10 rooms in all, with direct elevator entry and spacious living room with fireplace, and huge windows on three sides with views of Central Park opening to a terrace, with similar views and terrace from the formal dining room. The condo has a wood paneled library/den, and a media room with terrace. The East side of the condo has three bedrooms with en suite. The master suite has a private foyer flanked by separate en suites and dressing rooms.
I wonder if, like Marie Antoinette, he has a sweet little home in the woods where he goes to get away from the pressures of his life. Heavy lies the head that wears the crown!
Let’s talk about the military industrial complex and the wealth it generates for the 1%. Most countries spend no more than 2% of their GDP on defense. The US spends more than 5% every year. At $15 trillion dollars the US has the worlds largest yearly GDP (23% of the worlds total yearly GDP). The US budget could easily be brought into balance by cutting our defense budget to 2% of GDP. A savings of $4 trillion dollars over 10 years. Couple those savings with tax increases of $1.6 trillion dollars on the 1% over 10 years and the budget is in balance. With enough leftover to reduce the national debt substantially. Social Security, Medicare and every other social saftey net program is never even in the mix.