The narrative most republican candidates subscribe to is a variation on the 47% theme. Namely, many of us belong to the nation of "takers". We are lazy moochers who look for government programs to live a life of leisure, while the "makers" and job creators labor tirelessly and are taxed inordinately to make everyone else's life easier. That's Ayn Rand 101 and the policy prescriptions which drives Jeb Bush to say American workers must work longer hours to drive economic growth, and Scott Walker to justify the destruction of labor unions as a centerpiece of his program. Never mind that Americans work up to 30% more hours than Germans and retire later than in almost every other industrialized economy. It will be interesting to hear Hillary's economic prescriptions later today. They will probably stand in stark contrast to Walker and Bush's plans for the average Joe Paycheck. Increased minimum wages, more worker re-training and a more progressive income tax would be a good start, but even Clinton won't have the moxie to challenge the orthodoxy of modern capitalism; namely that the winners of the economic lottery should get the lion's share of the spoils and the rest of us must be content with scraps, despite providing the labor which enables the gains.
As for those lazy seniors, we need to raise the Social Security retirement age and keep them on the job and producing during those golden years, otherwise we will wind up like the Greeks!
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