Santas, For Rich And For Poor

Washington, D.C.
Christmas shopping in Woolworth's five and ten cent store.
John Collier, December 1941.
Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Archive
Naughty or nice?

... Naughty, schmaughty—
for some, it matters not one bit.

Not when bipartisan Santa came early this year, with those gifts of extra special tax rates and no estate tax; delivered to the top tier, which includes plenty of the Not Nice.

So, it comes as no suprise to see Emptywheel report: "Wal-Mart Hikes Toy Prices Just as Congress Gives the Waltons Huge Tax Breaks."

And another big, fat Christmas gift to the corporate masters; the peasants being told they'll receive a net neutrality package.

Thanks to efforts by followers of Republican Jesus, Christmas nearly arrived with nothing for Ground Zero first responders.

Until the last minute, and only after the brilliant shaming by Jon Stewart pushed the story into the media spotlight.

Riveting, too, was the contrast between those sleazy congressional Republicans, and Stewart's guests in a followup segment: some representatives of the first responders—four New York public servants who have made the most incredible sacrifices, and consider it a privilege to have done so.

It was striking because of its rarety, but still impressive to see 8+ minutes of national TV devoted to the stories of some articulate and unbelievably dedicated working people.

The ultimate victory for first responders—albeit with the fund halved, to soothe Republican hurt feelings—followed the thank God Almighty, free at last repeal of DADT, Thom Hartmann said midweek that Reid's threat of extra work days scared a few Republicans into being reasonable. Those two wins, and final ratification of the New Start Treaty sure seem to support that take.

Despite the seasonally inevitable frame of gift-giving—and the Republicans' power to play Scrooge—the DADT and first responder gains are in no way gifts. Not with the first being only one milestone on the road to full civil rights for a segment of the citizenry, and the second only what is owed to people who have sacrificed so much and need care so badly—including many who lost benefits when they became unable to work.

It's years since Woolworth's existed. The overly gifted rich plan to make the remnants of the New Deal disappear, too, and very soon.

Once unthinkable, it's now the direst of threats, what with the consensus of our bipartisan Establishment, the shameful media that serves it, and a broken political system.

After 30 years of bipartisan Reaganism—it could happen all too easily, and in an economic climate that already leaves plenty of people with nothing to fall back on.

Woolworth's is long gone; now there are dollar stores for the lower orders, if they can still afford to shop there.

But the goods at Woolworth's were better quality.

And, for most of the store's history, goods were manufactured by Americans who earned paychecks doing it.