I bought a 36" TV.
I can't understand why CEOs are paid so much money, but... whatever. Hopefully they'll spend it and invest it here.
The super-rich understand that a large and stable middle class is in their best interests. I was told in college that most of the super rich are actually liberals, but I don't know that to be fact. While it seems odd for the rich to be liberals, there are reasons for it to be so.
The capitalist system that developed during the Industrial Revolution was ugly. Marx, observing that, estimated that people would not stand for such conditions for long. If the sweatshop work conditions and rigid class structures hadn't changed during the last century, we would probably all be comrades right now.
Of course, it was the development of the middle class that Marx did not foresee, and which has extended the longevity of the capitalist system. So long as we are all fat and happy, few will call for drastic change.
Concentrating wealth in the hands of a very few, while the masses are impoverished, would result in a very unstable, and unprofitable, situation for the super-rich. The producers need a market in which to sell their goods. We need to have money to buy those goods and they know that.
Marx argued that the worker must always be alienated from the product of his labor; that is, he won't be able to afford the stuff he makes because the owner will always get his profit (the rich get richer and the poor get poorer). Two thing that prevent this from happening: an "ever-expanding pie" so that we can all get a larger and larger piece (rich get richer and poor get richer, too), and employee discounts.
Whenever politicians pander to the crowd with talk about increasing taxes on the wealthy, putting up protectionist barriers, raising the minimum wage, expanding gov't regulation/bureaucracy, etc..., I immediately question their motivations. Just trying to get elected? (that's it most of the time). Stupid? (hardly ever the case). Possible non-believer in the principles upon which this country is based, IOW - a communist? (sometimes!).
IMO, Clinton, Kerry and Edwards all fall into that first category. That Kucinch (sp?) guy falls into the last category.
This is fun. Don't get mad.