[Mitt] Romney has been attacked over his wealth (and the way he made it) in the past. This time around, Romney’s still playing up his business credentials, but also casting himself as “unemployed” and a member of the middle class.[...]
Citizens for Tax Justice, a progressive-leaning group, estimated Romney’s 2010 tax rate at 14%, based on public records of his income (read the reporting on all that in the Time piece here.) [Paul] Begala cited the CTJ figure and said it shows a huge weakness for Romney in a political climate where many Americans are clamoring for a more balanced tax burden on the wealthiest.
[...]
“Millionaire Mitt thinks he should pay a lower tax rate than maids and Master Sergeants,” Begala said. “And that’s what we’re calling the Romney Rule.”
[...]
Romney is trying hard to showcase a regular-guy image, but Begala says it seems clear he can’t shake off his privileged pedigree and millions of dollars in investment wealth.
“It’s part of the reason that maybe even Republicans haven’t warned up to him,” Begala said. “He comes off, as Mike Huckabee famously said, like the guy who laid you off.”
And speaking of Occupy Wall Street…Appearing on Tuesday night’s edition of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) felt the need to correct former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney on the Occupy Wall Street movement.Earlier that day, the former Massachusetts governor labeled the protest “dangerous” and “class warfare.”
“The irony is that Romney is right, class warfare is being waged in America today.” Sanders said. “The problem is, the wrong side is winning.”
[...]
Sanders added: “With [their] wealth, these economic royalists if you like — which FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt) called them — exercise enormous political power. That is what class warfare is about. A few people on the top exercising enormous power and enormous amounts of money in order to push down the rest of the population.”
The head of the largest federation of unions in the United States released a video on Wednesday in which he announced his support for the “Occupy Wall Street” movement.“Occupy Wall Street has captured the imagination and passion of millions of Americans who have lost hope that our nation’s policymakers are speaking for them,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said.
[...]
“We are proud that today on Wall Street, bus drivers, painters, nurses and utility workers will join students and homeowners, the unemployed and the underemployed to call for fundamental change.”
Protesters who have gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles to show solidarity with the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters in lower Manhattan received 100 rain ponchos from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday morning.[...]
Seven of the 15 councilmembers on Wednesday voted to support “peaceful and vibrant exercise in First Amendment Rights carried out by `Occupy Los Angeles.”‘
The resolution calls for a vote on a proposal to require the city to to divest from financial institutions that have not cooperated with measures to prevent foreclosures.
[...]
Lasting five days, “Occupy Los Angeles” is the third longest ongoing demonstration. “Occupy Chicago” started 13 days ago and “Occupy Wall Street” started 19 days ago.
[...]
“It’s been a very peaceful demonstration,” Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Mitzi Fierro told the LA Times. “They’re out there exercising their First Amendment right, so we’re going to allow them to continue as long it doesn’t become an unlawful assembly.”
And in Chicago and Seattle…
The Chicago offshoot of the anti-Wall Street protests in New York ran up against police resistance Wednesday and protesters dismantled their base outside this city's Federal Reserve Bank, but they vowed to maintain their presence on the corner indefinitely.
Who said they were permanent?Police clashed with some “Occupy Seattle” protesters on Wednesday after the demonstrators refused an order to take down their tents at Westlake Park. At least 10 people were arrested, according to the Seattle Times.[...]
In a statement on Tuesday, Seattle mayor Mike McGinn said he supported the protest, but that the demonstrators could not erect permanent tents in the park.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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