There have been some "clarifications" about what Obama said regarding Wall Street bonuses.
Now, what he said was partially stupid just because of the optics... the messaging. The messaging of this administration has been horrendous, and this is just another example. Every time they try to get some narrative rolling through the media, someone comes out and derails it in a big way by, well, directly contradicting it. And this time it was the president himself.
Their new found populist tilt? Well, that was a little derailed, wouldn't you say? Bad messaging!
But even in context, on the merits, I disagree with what he said.
I do begrudge their wealth. I don't begrudge the accumulation of wealth in general. If someone works hard and earns money, that's spectacular for them. If someone provides a talent, or a great idea, or a valuable skill, then they should be wealthy. And yes, if someone runs a company, they should earn their due as well.
But these men are not earning their due. They are earning their due, and the due of their employees, who are not earning it and have not been increasingly for the last generation. These men, even if you take out all the considerations of taxpayer bailouts and lemon socialism, are earning way too fucking much. They earn so much by exploiting their labor. They earn so much by exploiting their shareholders. They earn so much by exploiting the entire system.
Executives today earn hundreds of times what their employees earn. That didn't used to be the case. Things used to be in balance.
The president, even if you take what he said in the way he probably intended to say it, is still selling the bill of goods that the neoliberal economists have been selling for 30 years. That it's ok for there to be an upper crust on society that earns more than 90% of the rest of the population combined. He's accepting that premise, and that is the most basic problem underscoring all of his problems. He can't change what he doesn't disagree with. He can't shift the economic paradigm because he's a student of that paradigm.
I'm not writing this to slam the president. I'm not writing this to insult him. If he is acting on what he believes in good faith and honesty, then that's more than we usually get out of politicians. And I do think that he's certainly a step above the others that agree with that basic economic premise, so I'm not saying he's exactly like the rest of them.
But you have to understand, when you clarify what he said, even if you're right, I don't like it, and I don't support it.
I do begrudge their wealth. As far as I'm concerned, they've been stealing that money from the middle class for 30 or so years, and it's having horrific effects on our society and economy.
I don't begrudge all wealth, but I do begrudge theirs.