Class war

Dean Baker:

I was just at a White House conference listening to a lot of people talking about cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits for retirees. How can the same government that hands tens of billions of dollars to Citi's shareholders and top executives cut key benefits for the retirees? Why aren't the news reports calling attention to this massive give away to some of the nation's richest people?

Coming from Dean, this is likely a rhetorical question. But in case anyone is curious, the answer is that bankers are part of a class which administers the economic wealth of the country, whereas "retirees" -- and the public at large -- are not. One can guess which of the two have more influence over politicians, and why the government rallies to the defense of one group at the expense of the other.

As far as the "news reports" -- well, who owns the news? Retirees?

It's worth bearing in mind that what people do not own, they do not control. This holds true for both resources and government.