Wednesday, January 07, 2004
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Redux
It seems that the landlords' bite is much worse than their bark.0 comments
New York Daily News: Tenants Livid at 15% Hike Over 2 Years
New York Times: Tenants Vent Their Anger at Hearing on Rent Increases
I'll address the actual NYC rent regulation issue in a later post. Just be aware when you read these stories that these are the most destitute and vulnerable people in our city that they're talking about here. The same folks who wrung our compassion during the Medicare debacle. These aren't folks with a lot of options.
But there are other issues this dovetails with, which are important to confront today.
Despite all the Republican spin we've been digesting for the last ten-to-twenty years, or so—quietly demonizing people who aren't them (or think as they do) in subtly demeaning-to-grandly dehumanizing and vicious ways—we clearly see the chickens coming home to roost.
We see that it wasn't all just empty rhetoric which could be laughed off.
These people are serious.
Deadly serious.
And, now, they're in control.
Combined with the incredibly nasty new budget that President George W. Bush just floated to Congress this past weekend, this new attack on elderly New York City tenants by landlords and their Republican cronies at the city and state levels shows that basic human decency has long ago disappeared from the membership roles of the Grand Old Party.
This trend may have started on the national GOP level, but as they say, All Politics Is Local. In almost every state, the reins of government have fallen into the hands of people who care solely for privilege, position and power. These elements use greed for fuel.
This is no longer your basically corrupt, cronyism-filled political landscape we're all used to. Things have changed drastically while you were just moving ahead, living your life.
Whether it's California, Texas or New York, Christmas time is over, folks. No one has to be burdened with this "Peace on Earth/Goodwill to Men" crap until next year.
The new Republican America has become:
If you don't have the connections, too bad; if you aren't willing to do what is necessary to make the comfortable income needed to help us create our fully mercantile society, then no one has any use for you.
And yes, it would make us happy if you all would just crawl away somewhere, in private, out of our site and died.
We don't care that you won a Pulitzer in the 1940s and you're now 90 yrs. old, and on a fixed income. Whoopee-twang. That's valuable housing stock you're sitting on there, toots, and we want it. So, get lost and go become someone else's problem. Or just slink off quietly somewhere and die. Just leave us out of it.
I'm not paying any more taxes, period. I'm keeping every cent of my income for my own purposes, dammit. So, go screw yourself. If cops want more money, let'em join the Army. We give them magazine cover stories, we pump'em up, call'em heroes. That's enough. They should now shut up and go protect us from those who threaten us as they're supposed to. If they get shot while on duty, that's a shame. Hopefully, we'll get ourselves a feelgood heroic picture for the papers and Fox News. Then, let them just slink off quietly somewhere and go die.
We can cut housing vouchers. Just wasted money. There's a marketplace working, here. People need an ever-increasing fair return on their investments, and the government can't be raising taxes to pay the freight for deadbeats who claim they can't afford the going rate. Awwwwww. If people can't pay the fare, screw'em, let them move to Zambia or Honduras or wherever. Housing isn't a right; it's a privilege you have to be prepared to pay for. If you can't, won't, or stupidly think you shouldn't be forced to, just slink off quietly somewhere and die.
No one owes anyone health care. Health care is a privilege. The health industry is an important motor to our economy. We need to keep its fires stoked. Besides, the costs of everything will be returned to people in the form of higher stock prices and dividends for their investments. If people are too stupid to invest wisely, or even more stupidly, if they haven't figured out how to raise adequate capital to afford investing, instead of just blindly giving what little they have to various charities—or worse, those cowardly Democrats—then screw'em. If you refuse to pay your fair share for health care these days, just slink off quietly somewhere and go die.
Education is the key to our future. But we're not paying taxes to try to teach your snot-nose how to maybe stay out of jail, or even worse, be a maid, or something dopey like a Forest Ranger or mechanic. Education and training is for our children, so they can learn to follow us and be your betters. So, realistically then, private schools are the only schools which are actually necessary. Because those other children are just going to slink off quietly somewhere and die eventually, anyway.
The days of holding up poor, overly stretched small business owners (as well as corporations) for outrageous salaries in the high-rent $10 - $14/hr. range are OVER, people. Those days are gone. We've found better, cheaper types to perform our functions for us. And please stop your incessant whining about "job training" and "creation of new jobs." There are plenty of good, fulfilling jobs around if you just shut up, get off your shiftless, lazy asses and look. There are garbage dumps that need cleaning, restaurant pots to clean and garbage bags to haul to the curb. Golf courses, and private and country clubs, will always need waiters, cooks and caddies. We would just ask that those who can't manage to secure one of these fine, fulfilling jobs just be quiet as they slink off somewhere and die.
The United States of America
E Pluribus Unum
I've Got Mine
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posted by Gotham 1:39 PM
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