Mitt Romney is to be commended for finally bringing into focus the economic divide emerging in America.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the Winner’s Camp are people who own and control the wealth. It starts with the very richest, a tiny sliver at the top, less than one percent.  This camp also includes the affluent classes, the bankers, accountants, lawyers, executives, innovators and politicians who preside over the modern economy. They provide the brainpower to monitor, preserve, and increase the wealth.

You also find in the Winner’s Camp a large number of people who are crucial for the operation of the economy.

They’re the well-paid productive elite, including engineers, computer programmers, researchers, factory managers, farm managers, highly skilled technicians, doctors and nurses, and such.

Finally, the Winner’s Camp includes the hired workers who do the grunt labor in every sector of the economy. I count service workers who earn enough to survive and pay income taxes as residents of the Winner’s Camp.  They’re the clerical workers, truck drivers, trash collectors, personal servants, wastewater treatment plant operators. The list is long. But the lowest rung of workers, the minimum wage earners and others whose income falls below the poverty level, obviously don’t qualify as Winners, even though their low-paid jobs are necessary.

The Winner’s Camp is constantly evolving in the fast-changing economy. For instance, teachers are in a precarious position, not quite valued among the productive elite. Teachers are on the verge of joining the service workers class.

The second camp — the “other” camp — is, of course, the Loser’s Camp.

The Loser’s Camp will soon be the larger camp. It’s a big pain in the ___  for the Winner’s Camp.

The Losers Camp includes the retired, the unemployed, those displaced by automation, the incapacitated, the uneducated and unskilled. By definition, Losers are not productive, and certainly not necessary.

Losers consider themselves “victims,” and think they’re “entitled,” according to the honest but witless Mr. Romney.

The Losers pay sales taxes, but not much in the way of income taxes. Losers are a drain on the economy.

Two major camps, or classes, if you will. Simmering class warfare. What to do?

— John Hayden

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