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He is 100 percent correct. Secret Millionaire I find especially hard to watch, and find it awfully condescending. Working people “rescued” from their miserable lives by a millionaire who had no idea just how hard a person has to labor in order to put food on their tables. Who knew? Terrible. This is not the America I grew up in (in the 80′s), yet it is the America I find myself living in. I wish more of the public would grasp that there is a war against the middle class, and do something to mitigate it.
The rich are quite openly waging class warfare in Wisconsin as we speak. Eviscerating the unions is something the super-rich would love to see, and how do they do it politically? By following the oldest game plan in the book: turn the lower class against the middle class.
A handful of billionaires destroyed the American housing market and threw families onto the street and then walked away with over a TRILLION taxpayer dollars in their pockets. Just as a visual aid — a stack of one million dollars is about 350 ft high. A stack of one billion dollar bills is about 7 miles high. A stack of ONE TRILLION DOLLARS is nearly 70,000 miles high (or one-third of the way to the moon).
And the US TAXPAYERS just put that stack of money 70,000 miles high into Wall Street pockets. And Wall Street and the Republican business interests turn around and try to destroy the bedrock of the American middle class — the unions — and do so by stoking resenting and jealousy among the lower class. “Look, those spoiled people with union jobs can actually see a doctor when they want to! Can you? No? It’s not fair then! Let’s tear them down!”
And then people turn around and give Bill Maher shit because they don’t like how he expresses himself. People, Bill Maher is not the problem in this equation, and if you’re having a hard time understanding that you need to wake the f*ck up.
The Wall Street issue and the union issue are separate. Unions are crippling local and state governments. they served their purpose once upon a time. Now they are mostly corrupt Tammany Hall style orgs. They have bred a generation of workers who think they are owed everything and don’t actually have to do any real work. it has made a group of people who are basically one step up from those who park themselves on welfare. Look what happened in NY during the snowstorms, with the work slow downs and stoppages.
The state unions (such as the state workers) are killing your taxes just as much!
Today’s America was BORN in the 80s.
You don’t know what you’re talking about. Statistically speaking, most people in this country who are wealthy started with very little and worked their way to the top. They didn’t sit at a computer and complain about life, they took risks and made their life better. What’s your excuse? (Ref. Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley for the research)
This class war bullshit is what you get when no one is held accountable for the financial crisis. Everyone who has made a buck in their life is suddenly a plutocrat devouring the poor because a minority of sociopathic thieves made off with the life savings of millions of Americans. And I so love that Bill Maher, who has millions in the bank himself and has a reputation for being a total c**k, is lecturing others about sharing and treating one’s fellow man with decency and justice. How anyone who knows anything can watch this clown prattle on is beyond me. But that’s America. Irony layered on top of irony.
You’re casting an awfully wide net there. The people that middle-class Americans are pissed off at is the super-millionaires, and criminals that thieve from average Americans 401k’s and pensions, and swindled hundreds of millions and in some cases billions from people, only to go completely unpunished.
actually nobody minds a person with alot of money. two groups of folks screwed this country in the past 20yrs: the liberals who said that everyone deserves to own a home, and forced banks to lend to those who COULDNT AFORD TO PAY THE BANKS BACK…
…And the banks who LIED that they were solvent WHEN IN FACT THE BANKS KNEW THAT PEOPLE WERE DEFAULTING ON THEIR LOANS IN RECORD NUMBERS.
So it both the lying lenders/banks(who are run by just as many liberals as conservatives, just ask Obama. Alot of his financial supporters are from the banking industry as well as fannie mae & freddie mack), and those who defaulted on the loans.
i also blame the centrist republicans and “compassionate” conservatives ala G.W. Bush who continued this ridiculous lending practice to those who could not afford to repay the loans.
banks were forced to give out these loans or else the feds would shut them down.
so the “american people” dont hate the “rich”. they hate those who lie and dont pay their bills. also MOST AMERICAN VOTERS HATE TO BAIL OUT BOTH SETS OF LOSERS.
no, i pretty much just hate the rich
Seems weird that you would bother with a blog that publishes so many stories about millionaires raking in millions of our dollars every week at the box office.
I agree with Maher. I’m going to stop giving my money to the movie studios, Apple, etc. We should they get wealthy on my hard earned income?
@JohnDoe — while middle-class Americans are spending time being pissed off at super-millionaires, they should be pissed off at themselves for continuing to vote against their own economic interests.
That is true, and I didn’t mention it. People of modest means, actually continue to vote in these rich assholes who don’t care about them at all, it’s pretty sad.
False equivalency.
Bill is a c**k. Lucky for us, his wrong headed views are coupled with his insufferably smarmy manner, thereby limiting his effectiveness. I would have a huge jar of pennies if I got one for every one of my liberal friends who shudder when they hear their own opinions expressed by this guy.
So, he’s wrong headed to think that the wealthy aren’t like the middle class or the poor? Other than calling him names and telling us about your so-called liberal friends, what makes him wrong headed in his assessment that a show about the wealthy being like the middle class and the poor is creating the wrong idea of what the classes are like?
You are dead right! A rich guy is not allowed to point out the disparity between the wealthy and the poor! This kind of rhetoric belongs on a tv talk show hosted by the poor!
Like, maybe some public access tv show that no one watches, has no impact and would never be covered by Deadline.
Um…?
V
I disagree that it is “class warfare” to point out the alarming disparity between rich and poor — but OK, let’s not argue that point: I TOTALLY AGREE with you that we should hold people responsible for the financial crisis. Let’s investigate, make people accountable, open up the books. Sunshine is the Best Disinfectant!
Bill is right.
I’m going to have one of my assistants tell my employees how much I care for them.
I love the little people.
Bill hit the nail on the head in this new rule, it was one of my favorites. I about died laughing at the “Shine My Shoes, FUCKFACE”, because I could actually see a show being called that at some point.
Bill should’ve told that Tea Bagger b*tch on his panel to shut the hell up.
The moment she opened her mouth, I wanted ANYONE on the panel to put a foot in it. She is a complete tool. Michelle Bachman? Yikes. That’s all they got?
OMG, I totally agree. I disliked her so much I wanted to just reach through the TV and punch her. She wasn’t controversial, she was just plain mean and an awful human being. Dana Loesch (from CNN)I believe her name was. To me, she is the present face of the Republican party and it isn’t pretty.
She kind of got me hot though.
I appreciate the idea of having opposing views, but that woman was clueless and added nothing to the discussion other than tea-bagger babble.
BTW Maher is one of those rich – why doesn’t he give money? What a hypocrite. BTW I think the whole “bit” hedged on ‘pinata’ punchline. I just love it when Bill laughs at his own stupid jokes….he does it every show. Oh Bill is so clever and….filthy rich.
I think sadly, he was bullied as a child and now he hates everyone including himself.
That’s true that he is rich, but he never brags about his money, or what he does with it. He does several events for charity all the time. Not to mention, he’s not one of the absurdly rich that he is complaining about that make hundreds of millions, or in some cases, billions.
I think our problem is the definition of wealthy or rich. The problem isnt those who make one million a year- or even 10 million a year. It is the corporations and individuals pulling in 100′s of millions a year.
Our corporate laws are unbelievably slanted to help the uber-rich stay rich. The target should be on the walton’s and the getty’s- not so much on the working wealthy.
Funny how the definition of “rich” can conveniently be skewed to include the wealthy you don’t like while excluding the wealthy you do like.
Hi, I’m firmly in the middle class. The real middle class, not the imaginary one the republicans believe begins at $250K a year. I’m regular Johnny Punchclock who makes five digits and has to save up to do nice things for my family.
Pretend I just said THE EXACT SAME THING MAHER DID.
Now refute it.
Joe Average,
I too am from your “real” middle class. I also wonder where the “debate” part of complaining about anything Maher says is going to come from.
Why do bootlickers always seem to think that you’re not allowed to support common-sense progressive taxation if you’re rich?
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that he’s one of the common-sense wealthy who are ok with chipping in a few thousand extra in taxes to dig us out of this mess. You’d be surprised how many there are! It’s the middle-class, you ain’t takin my guns-types who keep voting the Scotty Walkers of the world into office. The former senator on the show readily admitted that most of the rich districts went blue while the poorest went red. If people would quit voting based on abortion, gun rights, and gay marriage, pull their heads out of their asses, and vote based on economics, you’d see a dramatic change.
Well said.
I agree, it’s hilarious that bill maher would rally against the tv show and the rich, when he is one of them… I met him once at he Chateau Marmont, he was there all by himself, and overall is very socially ackward.. then a few months later i heard a howard stern rebroadcast where maher talks abou hiring escorts, etc… I wasnt suprised… guy is a total loser
what’s the wealth disparity between Bill and the wage slaves at his show? Does he pitch in on the $10/hour for the CBS pages where his show is tape?
I’m tried of the blowhards in this business who act labor friendly but then when it comes to their own pocketbooks refuse to follow the law and pay overtime to their employees
He is not pretending he’s like wage slaves. So, you are projecting onto him. He’s saying that he and the rest of the wealthy are not like wage slaves, and, that a show that pretends he and the other wealthy are like wage slaves is b.s. He’s discussing how delusional most Americans are with regard to how the wealthy think. That they are all just sitting around thinking like the middle class think. At bottom, that’s really want shows like Secret Millionaire are about. They about how the middle class (not even the poor) thinks. The middle class thinks everyone is just interested in civility and fitting in. He’s clearly not interested in either civility or fitting in. So, what you are tired of- is something you projected onto his message rather than what he’s actually arguing. He’s arguing that shows like Secret Millionaire are fantasy. That the wealthy want to use you. Not befriend you.
oh yeah & bill is all for the little guy. pfft…
what a hypocrite himself. I think Bill should do his show for free and give all his money away to charity.
how come all these left wing millionaires & billionaire get to tell everyone what to do with their money? why dont they take there own advice & just shut up.
and Maher is on pay per view cable no less. astonishing.
I am not charismatic enough to go on TV so I don’t have a show to air my opinions, but I believe every word Maher said to be true. If I had a show I would say the EXACT SAME THING.
So let’s debate this. Just me – a regular working joe – and you, a guy who seems curiously vested in the interests of the 400 uber rich individuals who posses over 80% of this nation’s wealth.
Hint. It’s going to be fewer people and more of a percentage at this rate. You happy with that?
Or you can go play “kill the messenger” in your right wing echo chamber. Out here you gotta debate ideas not whine about who said them.
“how come all these left wing millionaires & billionaire get to tell everyone what to do with their money”
Because of the 1st Amendment. Now please STFU.
>>Because of the 1st Amendment. Now please STFU.<<
He doesn't have to. Because of the First Amendment.
Hey – cuts both ways, doesn't it?
how come all these left wing millionaires & billionaire get to tell everyone what to do with their money? why dont they take there own advice & just shut up.”
How come all these right wing millionaires and billionares pay politicians to take away my tax breaks, voting rights, school districts, retirement benefits, insurance plans and currency (see how many states want to print their own money). How come billionaires want to break up America? How come they want us to vote for morons and run lying ads around the clock on local TV stations?
The Koch Brothers just can’t get enough of messing with my life. If they don’t shut up…..
The only thing better than this is the pilot LOGJAMMERS!
Ha ha!
He may not be the sweetest guy or have the most friendly disposition, but he is TOTALLY RIGHT on everything. I love his show. That episode in particular was brilliant. Especially when he took on Keith Harrison and radical Islam (Keith has NO CLUE about the facts re: radical Islam).
You are wrong. Mr. Ellison won that argument when Bill couldn’t (for lack of time) respond to the quotes from the Koran by Mr. Ellison which refuted the arguments Bill had. There isn’t enough time in the world to respond to someone whose mind is already made up about religion.
If you have to cherry-pick quotes from your “holy text” to substantiate your assertion that yours is a religion of peace, then what’s the point?
Don’t get me wrong, the Bible isn’t any different. It’s also chock full of nonsense.
Maher is right about this. Secret Millionaire in particular is horrible, for the exact reasons he mentions. He’s also right when he attacks the hypocritical church and conniving politicos. He seems to usually have damn good judgment. Which is why I could never understand his support for the snake Jay Leno. Maher is the only halfway intelligent person I ever saw speak out in defense of Jay. Almost always when someone writes something supporting Leno the writing is littered with misspelled words and ridiculous gramatical errors. The logic is usally that of a retarded third grader.
So, Bill, what did you lose 50% of the support I had for you by supporting the backstabbin’ weasel? I always assumed it was because he provided you a forum on his show. But you’re better than that.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, fuck Bill Maher.
I look forward to more thoughtful, intelligent arguments from you on the DHD comment boards in the future, taxPAYER. Or perhaps you were too busy voting against your own economic interests to craft a more articulate response.
I didn’t vote for Obama, so, no I haven’t been busy voting against my economic interests. I do know, however, that you’ve been very busy critiquing responses. I know that can be really time consuming, but if you get a minute today, go fuck yourself.
How do you know he’s not wealthy enough to be a conservative?? Maybe his IS voting for his own economic interests.
Keith Ellison (Bill’s guest)was a great guest, unfortunately I cannot say the same for the panel
Actually, I was impressed by the Conservative former senator who often agreed with the more common sense points coming from the Dem and Bill.
Where does the the line form to become filthy rich? Behind Oprah?
I feel the only reason these rich folks are doing the show is to try and show all of their Facebook and Twitter fans how great they are. These people that are in awe of these particular millionaires, would kiss the ground they all walk on and this show only make the millionaires way richer than before. It is FUCKED!
How do you ID the tea partier’s (aka GOP with new title), look for those that attack the messenger (Bill) rather than the message (rich don’t care about those beneath them regardless of what fake TV shows depict). The GOP’s true agenda “Make the rich richer, hell with the rest.” is truly handled so well that even those that will never, ever be rich will defend that idea to their own bitter end. After all, if we just make the upper class rich enough, they might just do nice tings for us. Sure hasn’t happened in over 30 years (or really all of human history) but maybe this year will be different!
The other posters are right, only poor television personalities should dare to say anything against the income disparity in the U.S. How dare a successful person have the audacity to lecture his well-heeled, pay-television watching audience? Doesn’t he know his place? This is the type of thing I expect from public television.
Heh, I love how whenever there’s a dumb conservative on Real Time, they don’t realize Bill is doing a monologue and just start spouting talking points in the background.
My question is this: If the premise is that the system excessively rewards the wealthiest, what would Bill Maher say to his salary being leveled to a resaonalbe rate – say 100k per year – still a very comfortable living…. we all know what his answer would be…. It’s easy to cast stones from a hilltop.
if millionaires thought like the middle class they wouldn’t b millionaires… i dont know him personally but Mr. Maher is a very knowledgeable person and he fights, or should I say stands up for the commoners and some of them don’t even kno it. (I can tell by the hater comments) but hey, everyones got an… umm… opinion on them, don’t they?
btw, how do I get to c Bill Mahers take in those shows?
My issue with Bill Maher is that he rarely has top flight conservative or libertarian scholars on his show. For example, Thomas Sowell or Sean Hannity (I’m kidding on that one). But the point remains, he brings on people he can rip to shreds, like a big bully. Even a smart man like Dennis Prager is rarely found on his show.
Furthermore, I do not understand exactly what the war against the middle class is nor who is waging it. Simply because we have rich people does not mean that the middle class is oppressed. If anything Maddoff was waging a war against his own kind. I am glad rich people exist, like James Cameron, who makes movies that employ thousands of middle class people.
And finally, secret millionaire is a patronizing, terrible show.
Do you honestly have no idea what the war on the middle class is or who is waging it?
Crawl out from under your rock and turn on a TV and watch what’s happening in Wisconsin. That’s a war on the middle class. The billionaire Koch brothers and Fox news and a Republican legislature are waging it.
You could also try paying attention every time (it happens rarely) a President or Congress tries to do something like raise the minimum wage or lower prescription drug costs. You see the businesses flushing money into the system to make sure that doesn’t happen? You see the politicians taking their money and voting against it? Those are the people waging the war.
OK, the fight to keep minimum wage from rising is really a war on the lower, not middle, class, but it’s the same people waging it.
This stuff isn’t that hard to follow, just try to pay attention every now and then.
Bill is a blowhard who approaches everything in a condescending and arrogant manner to everything he doesn’t agree with.
Just remember that gas prices are out of control not because of Arab countries wanting more, but because of out of control Wall Street speculators that jack up the futures market so they can profit off your suffering.
But Wall Street folks want you blaming your local gas station for the $4 a gallon you’re pumping into your car tomorrow morning. Don’t look at them getting extremely rich. And politicians want that too – why? Because Goldman Sachs funds their campaign chests – not the cashier working at a Sheetz.
The only show I want to see about filthy rich people meeting the poor is “Who Peed In Your Soup.”
Undercover Boss is such a fluff job. “Make me look like I have a heart!” is the mandate. I’ve had pals work on that show and it’s a complete fraud. Everybody is onto the secret. The boss figures out creative ways to screw up his job. And Secret Millionaire is a rip-off of a Family Affair episode.
Good points…I just hate that preening, condescending, terminally-unfunny Bill Maher. I used to suffer through his show if a sharp mind like Christopher Hitchens showed up to clean his clock, but having cable news hacks like Paul Begala on hand made me cancel all of my HBO channels.
And aren’t the Teabaggers a bunch of pissed-off lower-to-middle class people?