We all heard him say it:
“People should work longer hours,”Actually what he said was:
“My aspiration for the country and I believe we can achieve it, is 4 percent growth as far as the eye can see. Which means we have to be a lot more productive, workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows. It means that people need to work longer hours” and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families. That's the only way we're going to get out of this rut that we're in.”The takeaway from a comment like this is "we’re poor because we don’t work hard enough". Of course he later went on to chastise the media for “taking it out of context” when others point out what a horrible thing he had just said. OF COURSE he didn’t mean what he said. How could we not see that?
Well that was a couple of weeks ago. Now he’s going after Medicare. At a Koch Brothers sponsored event he said:
"We need to make sure we fulfill the commitment to people that have already received the benefits," he said, "that are receiving the benefits. But we need to figure out a way to phase out this program for others and move to a new system that allows them to have something, because they're not going to have anything."Now that all SOUNDS benign, doesn’t it? Of course not. We know better.
What Jeb doesn’t understand about poverty is that it’s institutional. The poor aren’t lazy, they’re exhausted. If Jeb needs a few million for his campaign, he picks up the phone and calls his rich friends. If the tires are bald on single-mom’s car, she’s got to pick up another job to make some extra cash to buy a new tire—or take the risk as long as she can. If Jeb needs anything, he’s got sycophants all around him ready to do his bidding. If the strapped-for-cash father needs anything, he just has to learn to do without. Jeb can outsource most of his chores. Families have to do their own: pick up the kids, meet with teachers, doctors, dentists, grocery shopping, all while working two jobs.
Jeb’s comments have nothing to do with employment or Medicare. It's about men like Jeb Bush and his Koch bosses who see every dollar that isn’t going to them as some kind of failure on their part. Their greed is overwhelming and it’s terrifying watching them buy up the Republican Party.
Jeb is a man who never knew want. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth. So, alas, he doesn’t understand the suffering of the poor—nor does he want to. It’s hard to know if his ignorance is deliberate, but if he wanted to understand, he could. All he would have to do is get to know America’s working poor. There are lots of them out there.