A class society, you say?

Unlike Britain that has a class society—top dog class (the Royals), upper class, middle class and lower class—in which its citizens are stuck, for the most part, in whichever station they are born—America has depicted itself as a classless society. Until now, that is.

America has touted itself as the “land of opportunity” where anyone through hard work, ingenuity, (corruption, but we don’t mention that) and plain luck or the right associations can rise to the top. Until now, that is.

Americans didn’t see old money, new money, some money or no money as being class distinctions. Then, Americans have turned a blind eye to many things as they bought into the myth of the “American Dream”—a myth that has been sold worldwide, bringing hordes of immigrants to these shores in pursuit of that “American Dream”—many of whom realized it and others suffered in the harsh reality that for them it’s a myth. But Americans love myths. Can’t say until now, that is, on this one.

With the economy in the dumpster—we’re not supposed to say Great Depression II—22 or more percent of American workers find themselves unemployed, with no health insurance and an ever-shrinking social safety net, thusly, once middle and upper middle class persons find themselves slipping into the poor lower class. Did I mention the underemployed?

But it’s not the Americans who have seen the good jobs offshored, so the greedy capitalists can exploit other peoples and their resources, and are trying to hang on to what little they have, keep food on the table, a roof over their heads, clothes on their backs and pay medical bills without filing for bankruptcy who are screaming, “Class warfare!”

No, it’s the rich Republicans who are screaming, like stuck pigs, “Class warfare!” because President Obama wants them to pay a few more dollars in taxes.

Why multimillionaire Congressman John Fleming (R-LA), whose businesses made $6.3 million last year, had the audacity last week to tell MSNBC’s Chris Jansing that after he paid ““pay 500 employees, you pay rent, you pay equipment, and food,” his profits “a mere fraction of that”—“by the time I feed my family, I have maybe $400,000 left over.” Makes you want to cry for him. How, after paying the bills, can anyone survive on a paltry $400,000 in disposable income?

Fleming along with his congressional Republican colleagues and the clowns seeking the GOP presidential nod have come up with a fanciful tale—an utter lie, actually—that higher taxes on the rich hurt “job creators,” when their rich masters are collectively sitting on trillions of dollars, instead of creating jobs. In fact, the most jobs were created during the period of the highest taxes on people making over $250,000: 91 percent from World War II until 1964, when it dropped to 70 percent and held at that rate until 1982, when it dropped to 50 percent. So much for tax rates killing job creation.

If the millionaires in Congress and their billionaire masters had their way, they’d paid no taxes. Oops, some of the big transnational corporations aren’t paying any taxes. In 2010 alone, Bank of America (which received $336 billion in bailouts in 2009 and made $44 billion in profits in 2010), Boeing, Citicorp (which received $446 billion in bailouts), Exxon/Mobil, GE, Google, Merck, Pfizer, News Corp., Verizon, Wells Fargo (which received $107 billion in bailouts) paid no US taxes.

The corporations got their personhood, though, from their buddies on the US Supreme Court, so they can toss about billions buying politicians. and mega TV commercials and print ads, so no pesky reporter upsets his/her corporate master by telling the truth.

Oh, it’s class warfare all right. It’s class warfare on us not them.

Bev Conover is the editor and publisher of Intrepid Report. Email her at editor@intrepidreport.com.