Page 32 - Affluence News Today

And affluence. it does not equate an absence of empathy as he says in the case of health care law in massachusetts. that does not void you of concern for common man or require you to have the assumption that those who are not successful, lets say, the 47%, are not wealthy because they are not doing something right and you are wealthy because you have this magic touch or somehow you worked harder than the guy who lives on the other side of the tracks. >> thats the problem. the problem with govern...

Affluence and consumerism, had humanity not experienced the dark age of medieval periods and centers of power, not hindered the flourishing of knowledge and constructive thoughts, had the wars of crusade and the ensuing periods of slavery and colonialism not happened and had the inher tors of these dark course followed the humanitarians, the first and second wars in europe, vietnam, america, latin america and in the balkans nod happened and if instead of the occupation of palestine an imposition...

Also has this positive side which i think has gone unrecognized previously. that is under the circumstances, when not much policy is adopted, it doesnt mean that government is doing better, but it does mean those policies that are adopted tend to be more popular. its a bit of a silver lining to an otherwise rather gray cloud. >> youre not that scary after all. martin gilens. author of "affluence and influence" which is terrific. thank you very much for being here. >> my pleasure. attention car...

Closely matched. theres tons of gridlock, and congress is at its lowest approval rating since we started surveying that. doesnt that show the kind of idea that responsiveness is a wise goal for us to strive for? >> its only one element of what we would want from the government. its true that gridlock has negative consequences, and theyre very evident, but it also has this positive side which i think has gone unrecognized previously. that is under the circumstances, when not much policy is adopte...

Many times is martin gilens, the author of the new book that came out sunday, "affluence and influence." professor, thank you so much for being here. >> my pleasure. >> i want to make sure i understood this right. your research shows that when the affluent disagree with the poor and middle class, they cease to matter, is that correct? >> in ordinary circumstances, which is to say most of the time, thats exactly right. when preferences diverge, the government responds pretty strongly to the prefe...

Affluence and then having money, being in the presence of money, thinking about money makes you behave a certain way. i just want to add that its not necessarily the 1% kind of money but just incrementally more. >> uh-huh. there is an interesting test psychological test about niceness that went along with your article that i love so much that i had the whole table take the test earlier in the day. were going to show you how it went down and look out for a little game within the game to see whos ...

Might have a cultural 1% in the making because of this separation that wealth and affluence and good education automatically brings, we might be looking at a generation that has no concept of what the grocery store clerk or gas station -- what their lives are like because of this? >> we moved very inch that direction already. its not probably 1%. its 10% or some larger number. but, as donald murray and others have talked about, there is this considerable class divide in a cultural sense. >> walt...

If theres is indeed an opening for mitt romney, weve seen that at least historically they tend to vote democratic. but it was fascinating to me looking at what richard says. given their feeling about americas moral values and focus on the family and frankly that theyre among the most educated and highest earners, and many of those high earners tend to skew republican, is thas vote, those non-voters, up to this point, who are up for grabs? >> no. theres an argument to be made. theres no question ...

Exxon mobil sees itself as a sovereign, an independent sovereign. i came to think of them in relation to the united states government as sort of like france. sometimes they are aligned with us, sometimes they are opposed. often they are trying to keep their distance and run their own kind of world. and that in part is rooted in their view that they owe shareholders their allegiance, not any state. >> so by definition of their affluence and their obligation to shareholders and their reach, their ...

Rise to a level of affluence. this is a sad moment, and i think the people of this country are going to see through it. there is a rather bold attempt to lift up the already up lifted, and to pull down those already down. and if you look at the budget that the house passed, its clear, its on paper, that the poor are the ones who will be victimized again. theyre already victimized in the poverty, and they will be again should the budget pass. >> the fact is that nearly 75% participants in food st...