A Message to the Peasants – Jeb Bush Says Americans Need to Work Longer Hours

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Over the past several years, as the U.S. economy has transitioned more and more into a corrupt oligarchy, we’ve seen an increase in statements by certain members of the so called “elite” class, in which they condescendingly lecture the average American. The message is always a variant of, “you need to work harder,” or “prepare for tough times ahead.” Of course, there’s never any reference to the fact that the entire U.S. economy has morphed into little more than a rigged fraud, intentionally set up to result in the current neo-feudal environment we see before us.

I first picked up upon this trend after witnessing a disgustingly ignorant appearance by real estate mogul Sam Zell on CNBC. It prompted me to compose a lengthy post titled, An Open Letter to Sam Zell: Why Your Statements are Delusional and Dangerous. Here’s an excerpt:

Your misdiagnosis of the root cause of the current dissent in America is a result of your obliviousness to the actual concerns of the 99%. A group about which you speak with such certainty, yet certainly know almost nothing about. In fact, my website is dedicated to highlighting all of the destructive trends happening in this nation today. From record high food stamp participation, to declining real wages and the reality that young people need to take on so much debt they become indentured serfs from the moment they enter the workforce. From a loss of 4th Amendment rights due to illegal NSA spying, to the militarization of the police force. From oligarch immunity from serious financial crimes that average citizens would be thrown in jail for life for, to trillion dollar bailouts with zero strings attached for the financial community. From the over-prosecution of some of our bravest citizens such as Aaron SwartzBarrett Brown and Private Manning to a fraudulent two-party sham political system entirely controlled by your socio-economic class.

Then, earlier this year, billionaire investor Charlie Munger chimed in by telling Americans they need to “prepare for a harder world.” Here’s some of what I had to say about that in the post, Another Oligarch Preaches to the Peasants – Charlie Munger Says “Prepare for Harder World”:

There’s a staggering amount of offensiveness in such few words. First off, he says that: “We should all be prepared for adjusting to a world that is harder.” Who is included in the word “all” here. Certainly not his fellow oligarchs, who already bailed themselves out in incredible fashion and have been spending the years since protecting themselves from the horrible future they’ve created. No, he is speaking to the masses, the plebs, the serfs, the peasants, the ruled. He is telling them tough luck, just try to avoid cannibalism in the future. Meanwhile, if you get close to my castle I’ll have you shot down like a dog.

It’s one thing for a few disconnected billionaires to run their mouths off. It’s quite another when a U.S. Presidential candidate does it, particularly when he is the brother of a former President and the son of another. That’s exactly what Jeb Bush did the other day in New Hampshire.

He said that the way to grow the U.S. economy is for Americans to work more. He didn’t say anything about the parasitic oligarchy controlling Congress. Nor did he mention the devastating economic impact from the destruction of the rule of law (see: New Report – The United States’ Sharp Drop in Economic Freedom Since 2000 Driven by “Decline in Rule of Law”). Not a soundbite about crony capitalism (which he engaged in with great enthusiasm while governor of Florida), or the rampant white collar theft all around us. No, he simply said you need to work harder. This is his worldview, and the pervasive worldview of the status quo in general, throughout D.C. and elsewhere. They will never admit that they are the problem. The problem is always you. It’s always the public who’s to blame, never them or their idiotic, reckless policies.

From ABC:

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Wednesday that in order to grow the economy “people should work longer hours” — a comment that the Bush campaign argues was a reference to underemployed part-time workers but which Democrats are already using to attack him.

During an interview that was live-streamed on the app Periscope, Bush told New Hampshire’s The Union Leader that to grow the economy, “people should work longer hours.”

He was answering a question about his plans for tax reform and responded:

“My aspiration for the country and I believe we can achieve it, is 4 percent growth as far as the eye can see. Which means we have to be a lot more productive, workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows. It means that people need to work longer hours” and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families. That’s the only way we’re going to get out of this rut that we’re in.”

In a statement, a Bush aide clarified that he was referring to the underemployed and part-time workers: “Under President Obama, we have the lowest workforce participation rate since 1977, and too many Americans are falling behind. Only Washington Democrats could be out-of-touch enough to criticize giving more Americans the ability to work, earn a paycheck, and make ends meet.”

While I don’t trust Ted Cruz for a moment, he is a very good politician. He actually hit the nail on the head with the following:

“The problem is not that Americans aren’t working hard enough. It is that the Washington cartel of career politicians, special interests and lobbyists have rigged the game against them.”

Moving along, the most interesting thing about Bush’s comments is that while I agree a growing percentage of part-time jobs in the U.S. economy is problematic, this is a symptom of the governing class’ cronyism and corruption, it is not the root cause of our woes. Moreover, as Vox shows, “working more hours” doesn’t necessarily lead to a strong or a weak economy. For example, check out these charts:

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If hours worked per worker was a key variable, then Mexico should be the economic juggernaut, and Germany a third world country. He also failed to mention wages. Real wages in the U.S. haven’t increased in decades, while oligarch income has gone through the roof, but of course, you won’t hear a peep from Bush about that.

Furthermore, it appears that hours worked per week is basically back up to pre crisis levels. See chart below:

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Naturally, the only person in America capable to giving Jeb a run for his money when it comes to cronyism and disconnected elitism, Hillary Clinton, was the first to come on the attack. Proving yet again what a pathetic nepotistic, money fueled fraud U.S. Presidential elections have become.

For related articles, see:

Another Tale from the Oligarch Recovery – How a $1,500 Sofa Costs $4,150 When You’re Poor

Just Another Tale from the Oligarch Recovery – $100 Million Homes Being Built on Spec

The Face of the Oligarch Recovery – Luxury Skyscrapers Stay Empty as NYC Homeless Population Hits Record High

Use of Alternative Financial Services, Such as Payday Loans, Continues to Increase Despite the “Recovery”

Portrait of the American Oligarchy – The Very Troubling Income and Wealth Trends Since 1989

In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

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7 thoughts on “A Message to the Peasants – Jeb Bush Says Americans Need to Work Longer Hours”

  1. What a sad, sad state of affairs for all humanity, driven by a 1945 decision to “save society from annihilation” by hiding from the public the source of energy that destroyed Hiroshima – NEUTRON REPULSION in cores of
    _ 1. The universe
    _ 2. The galaxies
    _ 3. Ordinary stars
    _ 4. Some planets
    _ 5. All atoms heavier than ~150 amu (atomic mass units) including atoms of Uranium & Plutonium that destroyed Hiroshima & Nagasaki on 6 & 9 AUG 1945.

    “Oh what a tangled web we weave,
    When first we practice to deceive!”

    Reply
    • Insanity: Lack of Contact with Reality

      After WWII nations and national academies of science were united into a giant, worldwide Orwellian Ministry of Consensus Scientific (UN)Truths on 24 Oct 1945 to prohibit public knowledge of NEUTRON REPULSION – the source of energy in cores of galaxies, ordinary stars, some planets and all atoms heavier than ~150 amu (atomic mass units), including atoms of uranium and plutonium that vaporized Hiroshima and Nagasaki and mentally crippled leaders of nations and national academies of science with fear-based insanity (loss of contact with reality).

      https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10640850/Introduction.pdf

      AGW is only one of four major Nobel Prize-winning falsehoods disguised as consensus science after Joseph Stalin emerged victorious from WWII and united nations (UN) and national academies of science (NAS) into a giant, worldwide Orwellian Ministry of Consensus Scientific (UN)Truths!

      1. Anthropologic Global Warming
      2. Standard Nuclear Model
      3. Standard Solar Model
      4. Big Bang Cosmology

      These falsehoods are designed to hide NEUTRON REPULSION – the source of energy used to power the cosmos, the Sun and to endow mankind with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

      Loss of contact with reality threatens the ability of humanity to survive and prosper 1AU (astronomical unit) from the pulsar-centered star that sustains our lives.

  2. Oh Jeb, Jeb, Jeb…you and your buddies have no idea how many honest Americans are getting ready to work harder. You just have to read column after column, tweet after tweet, blog after blog to get a real sense of it. It’s all there.

    We’re going to be working a lot harder in the not-too-distant future all right. But fat fucks like you aren’t going to like what the object of our prodigious efforts will be. It’s going to take some real teamwork and strong backs to hoist all the criminals that have bred like termites in the rotting woodwork that used to be a great country. Let 10,000 lampposts bloom, to borrow from the Chairman–no, not Sinatra, the other guy.

    Reply
  3. Carlyle Group’s Paradigm Precision Downgraded by Moody’s

    This will hurt employment as Carlyle sheds expenses in order to make principal and interest payments on $330 million in debt. The question is how much? Carlyle won’t tell and if Florida Governor Rick Scott is like Texas counterpart Rick Perry, expect any number to be a whopper of a lie. Government aided employment numbers are like fish tales.

    The company will add jobs in Poland according to a recent press release.

    The drive to produce in lower wages countries is clear from this part of their press release.

    TurboCombustor/Paradigm gets 30% of sales from the U.S. Military.

    Bloomberg reported the company received a nearly $10 million contract in May for afterburner flame holders. Carlyle’s sponsorship reveals a number of PEU practices.

    Uncle Sam part of the revenue stream? Check

    Sending work to cheaper parts of the globe? Check

    Getting $ millions to add U.S. jobs? Check

    Let’s hope it’s not another Vought where Texans gave Carlyle $1 million per job lost over a period of six years.
    http://peureport.blogspot.com/2015/07/carlyle-groups-paradigm-precision.html

    Reply
  4. Jeb Bush, please let us voters know what your stance is on recognition of and the how you plan to stop over sixty years of the abusive application of the state secrets privilege and related doctrine, act, executive order, regulation and related policy abuses. The rest of your platform is meaningless without providing your stance on this abuse of power issue.

    Reply
    • Jen Bush was born into privilege and is not to blame for the situation that Stalin and the winners of WWII set up before he was born.

      We do not have time for retaliation. We need to get our government working for the people again, ASAP.

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