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Thom's blog
The Middle Class is not “Normal”
There’s nothing “normal” about having a middle class. Having a middle class is a choice that a society has to make, and it’s a choice we need to make again in this generation, if we want to stop the destruction of the remnants of the last generation's middle class. Despite what you might read in the Wall Street Journal or see on Fox News, capitalism is not an economic system that produces a middle class. In fact, if left to its own devices, capitalism tends towards vast levels of inequality and monopoly. The natural and most stable state of capitalism actually looks a lot like the Victorian England depicted in Charles Dickens’ novels
At the top there is a very small class of superrich. Below them, there is a slightly larger, but still very small, "middle" class of professionals and mercantilists - doctor, lawyers, shop-owners - who help keep things running for the superrich and supply the working poor with their needs. And at the very bottom there is the great mass of people - typically over 90 percent of the population - who make up the working poor. They have no wealth - in fact they're typically in debt most of their lives - and can barely survive on what little money they make.
So, for average working people, there is no such thing as a middle class in “normal” capitalism. Wealth accumulates at the very top among the elites, not among everyday working people. Inequality is the default option.
-Thom
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Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 9pm... Is Sean Hannity going to get somebody killed? (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)
Watch the video 'Last Hours' narrated by Thom Hartmann about the "time bomb" that is ticking underground, underwater and under ice… frozen methane that is now escaping and could trigger runaway climate change. www.lasthours.org
Have a question or comment for Thom? Grab your phone, hit record and send your video to YourTakeMyTake@gmail.com and we may air it on "The Big Picture."
Need to Know: Is Sean Hannity going to get somebody killed?- America's Lawyer Mike Papantonio, Ring of Fire Radio 
Lone Liberal Rumble:- Kris Ullman, Conservative Commentator/Activist. - Horace Cooper, National Center for Public Policy Research
Daily Take: The middle class is not "normal"
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Tuesday's Daily Stack 
Hour One: Sheriff Mack wants the women out front- Sheriff Richard Mack
Article: " Constitution of the United States", article 4 section 3. " The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State." Letter: " To Isaac H. Tiffany, 4 April 1819" by Thomas Jefferson. " ... rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will, within the limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’; because law is often but the tyrant’s will ..." Letter: " To Charles Hammond, August 18, 1821" by Thomas Jefferson. " When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated."
Law: " The Constitution Of The State Of Nevada", 1864. " That the people inhabiting said territory do agree and declare, that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within said territory, and that the same shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposition of the United States"
Hour Two: Was Bundy Ranch Attack A 'Harry Reid Inspired' Hit?- Richard Viguerie, Conservative HQ
Article: " 5th Amendment" (double jeopardy, witness against self, due process, due compensation).
Hour Three: Why ordinary citizens have no say
Article: " 10th Amendment" " The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people". Article: " Acre" by Wikipedia. Excerpt: 7. The Bean-Field - " Walden" by Henry David Thoreau.
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Wednesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET
Hour One: Is Sean Hannity going to get somebody killed?
Hour Two: No more unhealthy food at school!- Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA
Progressive Roundtable- Michael Lighty, California Nurses Association/National Nurses United
And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...
The Thom Hartmann Program...your media support group for "we the people"...
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Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET
We'll have the best of the rest of the news...all the latest news & information you won't be hearing from the corporate owned news media...
Plus, I'll be talking issues of the day with America's Lawyer Mike Papantonio, Ring of Fire Radio...
And, my favorite segment of the week...geeky science together with your calls right here on...
The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"
And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...
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Thom's Poll
Should Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy & his supporters be arrested?
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Watch & Listen to Thom
Why Ordinary Citizens Have No Say
Politics Panel - Can journalists be traitors?
Politics Panel - Bundy and the right wing fringe
How do we stop paying for foods that are killing us?
While the World Watches the Ukraine - South Sudan is in conflict
The perfect storm for the right wing fringe
America No Longer has a Functioning Democracy
How to have orgasmic meditation?
How big of a risk are rising seas?
Or watch the Full "Big Picture" Show...
Full Show 4/15/14: Why Isn't America Leading on Climate Change?
Tonight's "Politics Panel" discusses the Koch brothers' role in supporting the Cliven Bundy "range war" in Nevada, "The Guardian" and "The Washington Post" being awarded the Pulitzer Prize for their role in publishing the Edward Snowden NSA leaks and Sen. Franken's thoughts on the Comcast-Time Warner merger. Thom talks the extreme famine taking place in South Sudan with Radio Host Joe Madison and how are tax dollars are being used to treat preventable diseases with Union of Concerned Scientists' Jeffrey O'Hara. In tonight's "Daily Take" Thom discusses the real barriers that's preventing America from becoming the leader in the fight against climate change.
There is a Rot at the Core of American Democracy!
Caller: Nevada Constitution says Feds Own Land
Caller: Cliven Bundy is Nothing but a Squatter!
No Federal Government: What's to Protect us?
The Thom Hartmann Program - April 15, 2014
Was Bundy Ranch Attack A Harry Reid Inspired Hit?
Sheriff Mack Weighs in on the Bundy Standoff
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Show Info
Call Thom on the show at 1-866-987-THOM (8466) (0870 974 9686 from the UK).
Sign up for Thom's podcasts.
Come on over to the free chat room, where Thom hangs out during the show.
Join in the discussions on Thom's free message board.
Blog or upload videos or audios at Thom's community.
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Thom and Louise Hartmann founded the New England Salem Children's Village (NESCV) in New Hampshire in 1979. With states delaying payment for the children they entrust to the village, they need help with cash flow. Can you help? Now on Facebook. |
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