06.23.10
Millionaires rule — Socialism, not so much
Good news, lads! Good news!
The number of millionaire households in the world has bounced back to boom-time levels, according to a new study.
The 2010 Global Wealth Report by The Boston Consulting Group says there were 11.2 million millionaire households in the world at the end of 2009, a 14% jump from 2008. That puts the millionaire count about where it was in the good old days before the global financial crisis.
The U.S. had especially strong growth, with the number of millionaire households rising to 4.7 million — still the largest number of millionaire households in the world …
The global growth at the top — driven by last summer’s rebound in financial markets — marks a stark contrast with the continued malaise at the middle and bottom. As a result, inequality around the world has widened.
From the WSJ.
Also looted from the WSJ:
New-home sales plunged in May to a record low, as buyers faced a lackluster job market without a longtime government subsidy for purchases. Sales tanked by 32.7% from the previous month.
And from a Cinncinnati newspaper:
I don’t support Obama. If I did, I would be a Democrat,” [a socialist political candidate named] La Botz said. “I find it astonishing that people would think he’s a socialist. He’s given trillions of dollars to bankers, billions to General Motors, created a health care system that supports the health insurance companies … his foreign policy is consistent with Bush’s foreign policy.”
Since President Obama was elected, “socialism” is a word on the lips of many conservative politicians, tea party supporters and political pundits. A CBS News/New York Times poll in April showed 92 percent of tea party supporters believe Obama is moving the country toward socialism – while 52 percent of all Americans held the same belief.
Socialists shake their heads – but they don’t really mind the attention.
“If folks like Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh make their careers off of using the word socialism as a slur, how bad could it be?” asks 35-year-old Shane Johnson of Corryville, a union electrician who helped revive Cincinnati’s International Socialist Organization chapter this year, which has about a dozen members.
“We should be fighting for full employment. End wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan,” La Botz said. “We should immediately take over BP. What they own is too valuable and too powerful to be in private hands.”
Xavier University political science professor Mack Mariani believes Americans are frustrated with government leaders and skeptical of big business, but he’s not convinced socialist thought is spreading.
“I haven’t seen anything that would seem the Socialist Party is having a resurgence,” Mariani said. “Even though I think capitalism as a concept has taken a hit in terms of public approval … it wouldn’t translate into support for the Socialist Party.”
Which makes Glenn Beck’s recommendations for a book on socialist serfdom and his own Overton Window substantial proof that some deity has a great but very dry sense of humor. Plus, if you’re a believer, anyone who would bless the country with a Glenn Beck is sending the message that we’ve been rewarded with what we deserve.
Reads a Mediaite blurb:
Glenn Beck Makes Anti-Socialist Book From 1944 A Topseller In 24 Hours
Writes Media Matters by way of the Weekly Standard:
The plot of The Overton Window is one big conspiracy theory in which the United States government, Wall Street, Madison Avenue, and the Trilateral Commission are all plotting an antidemocratic coup.
Why would they bother when things are already going so well?