"Class" Warfare

This one goes out to all the teachers out there: friends, coworkers and peers; past, present and future, if there is one for this career. We are witnessing the implosion of the educational system in America, and the dismantling of the future by the obscenely wealthy and "conservatives" who pride themselves on their ignorance.

As I mentioned in Tuesday's post re: Republicans most politicians seem to have a vested self-interest in keeping folks as functionally stupid as possible, since that increases their voter base (especially handy in Alaska, where even spelling is optional). Our nation's priorities are seriously out of whack when bombing the shit out of other people has a higher priority is at the literal expense of our most important resources. I may have flunked some math in my day, but even an idiot knows this doesn't add up. Case in point, that teachers are now the current straw-man target for cuts is a new low and an old lie for justifying fiscal insanity, especially considering this:

Top 1% owns more than 90% of us combined. "In 2007, the latest year for which figures are available from the Federal Reserve Board, the richest 1% of U.S. households owned 33.8% of the nation’s private wealth. That’s more than the combined wealth of the bottom 90 percent."

400 people have as much wealth as half of our population. The combined net worth of the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans in 2007: $1.5 trillion. The combined net worth of the poorest 50% of American households: $1.6 trillion. - Dave Johnson/Working Group on Extreme Inequality

from Campaign for America's Future