12/9/2011
By Charles Payne

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The Leisure Class is redefined as the top 1%, with the suggestion that not only are they not adding value to the economy, but on the contrary, they are actually taking value from the nation. By invoking "99%" in his newest campaign speech President Obama will clearly try to stoke anger among anyone having a tough time in the country and direct it at people whose actions have zero impact on their lives. Of course lawmakers do have an impact and this administration made grandiose promises that have fallen short.

I hate that when the election is over that no matter who wins we will be left in tatters as a nation that has people that hate each other mostly out of jealousy. It's petty and pitiful.

This Leisure Class we are supposed to hate gets to chill out a lot and take a bunch of vacation time. So it's interesting that a headline yesterday read Mitch McConnell told Barack Obama he might cut back on vacation to get the payroll tax cut extension done. Forgive me, but if not getting this through would wreck the middle class and derail the recovery, then why would there be a vacation scheduled anyway? The 80% of self-made millionaires in this country often took or still take no vacation and in the case of emergencies; the last thing they do is head off to a tropical island. So I'm glad the White House might put off a trip to Hawaii for a few days to save the republic.

The pressing issue is how does the president of the United States get to take 17 days off in the midst of numerous global crises? Heck, even when it's tranquil, there are numerous crises behind the scenes that are not promoted for public consumption or political gain. The overarching theme in this nation should be getting back to work. Instead, the administration has fought for temp jobs, and for billions of dollars to be redirected into the pockets of union workers. Then there is the fight for unlimited unemployment which reaches a tipping point where it hurts more than helps, unless we are trying to create a new lifelong entitlement.

Sure, the top 0.001% take long vacations to islands they own, but the husband and wife that own a roofing company in New Jersey can only skip down to Florida or the Caribbean for a few days, many a week tops, from time to time. But the narrative is never on the 0.001%, which includes the handful of titans on Wall Street, Hollywood actors, Chart-topping singers, and others that could actually buy an island or even afford to pay what Obama is shelling out for his vacation. Of course those folks are also big time donors to politics, especially the reelection campaign. It's more of a head-scratcher. I simply don't get it at all.
The president should have been in this country to push the Super Committee and he shouldn't take vacation or any days off until the payroll tax cut is finished.

By the way, the average person in America takes 13 days vacation a year and not all at the same time. Moreover, the average person spends $84.79 a night for their hotel room; Mr. Obama is spending $3,500.00 - that's the Leisure Class. (By the way, the trip should cost American taxpayers more than a million bucks, too). The fact is America has no statutory minimum vacation or paid holidays.

There is a lot of debate over why this is, with some commentators dismissing our Protestant work ethic and pointing to a lack of legal paid vacation. I know it's the former, but in this war against success, that noble notion of working from inspiration of a higher authority will be turned into something ugly or stupid like believing in the first place. We are paying too many people money to sit at home and discouraging too many people from going to the next level. I keep hearing about moving from being poor to the middle class, but the president never talks about moving from the middle class to being rich.

There are two types of leisure class these days - those that work their asses off for it and those that get it from unlimited support from the government. In the meantime, poor people and the so-called middle class continue to get sucked into this game where their misery is used to drive wedges and rip off more successful people so that government can simply spend more money. If someone is going to fight carrying a banner with my face on it then I want part of the spoils and to do more than taste a hollow victory. Really, taxing investment is going to make the nation wealthier from the bottom up?

Charles Payne
Wall Street Strategies