American Class System Fueled by Socialist Policies

On September 15, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke got on national television and said six, poorly planned words: "The recession is very likely over." To me, this announcement was like shouting fire in a crowded theater - it's stupid and creates havoc.

Bernanke's statement is just one more example of how far removed government officials are from those of us out here in the real world. The unemployment rate is still soaring, many car dealers have still not been paid for the cash for clunkers fiasco, and home foreclosures are still on the rise - but recession is over? Is he kidding?

I guess when you make $191,300 a year (the salary of the Federal Reserve Chairman), you don't really care that the cost of bread and produce are still out of reach for many of those out of work.

Bernanke and the rest of the Obama elite sit in their plush, leather-upholstered Washington offices - paid for by our taxes - drive around in extravagant foreign cars - yep, government officials tend to drive Mercedes and BMW's - while you and I struggle to figure out how to pay for our kids' school supplies and put gas the tank to get to work. It's appalling - and there's nothing new about it.

This kind of double standard has been going on for decades. America was not supposed to have the social class separations of our English forefathers, but, in my opinion, it's worse now than it ever was back across the pond.

What makes our brand of social classism worse than that of 17^th Century England is the hypocrisy. Today we have a president who is treated like royalty (or the Messiah, depending on your point of view), government programs that only benefit people who really don't need them, and now you can't even say you dislike the president or his policies without being called a racist. Hey, I didn't like Bush either so can't we all just get along?

I really think Barack Obama had some great intentions and there is no question he is a smart and eloquent man, but I also believed he would do good things for America. In that I have been sorely disappointed, especially with all of the excessive stimulus waste and massive overspending all to pad the pockets of billionaires instead of saving the jobs of the people who do the real work.

Then again, I also thought Ted Strickland would make a good governor for Ohio - wow, two bad calls at once. Maybe I should start writing comic strips? At least those characters are meant to be one-dimensional and behave stupidly.

In any case, the class system will always be more enhanced by big government intervention, which happens to be a favorite pastime of the Democratic Party. Hard-line liberals constantly claim that we should all be treated equally, work together for the common good, and blah blah blah - we've heard it all before.

But then, they turn around and label people, sorting them into various classes and categories so they can be counted, evaluated and controlled. What they're really saying is, "we love everyone, so long as they are just like us."

Actually, classification makes it easier to dole out our tax dollars to pointless programs that don't help the general public, but serve only the particular demographic that will support the cause of the week.

Not to pick on the liberals, in reality all politicians do this - Republican and Democrat alike. Sucking up to the right groups is all part of the game; otherwise there would be no lobbyists.

But we need to pay attention to how vastly cavernous the class separations are expanding in the wake of poorly conceived and executed social programs. Designed to help the less fortunate, these programs often serve to keep the disadvantaged in their place, never allowing them to climb out of their situation for fear of losing the help.

As a result, many social reform programs end up hurting the people they are supposed to help by rewarding them for being unproductive. Instead, why not reward people for getting a job and trying to make it on their own instead of giving hand outs to those who manage to manipulate the system to their favor?

Of course lots of people are genuinely in need, but to deny assistance to those who are willing to work is the ultimate double standard. If this persists, the gap in the socioeconomic classes will continue to widen - fueled by liberal, socialistic policies.

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