Still Digging On Bill Maher

The man is magnificent.

He's a thinker. If I had a brain I would think too. But I gave it up for Lent.

His commentary during the New Rules segment of last Friday's show was dead on. Talking about the shrinking middle class. Of which I am one.

He pointed out that stores like Sears and J.C. Penny's and restaurants like Applebee's and Olive Garden are struggling. These are businesses that cater to the middle class. The middle class ain't got no money, baby.

On the restaurant thing he said they are struggling "because they've lost their best customers: people with a little money who fill up on bread."

I loved that. I always felt that "unlimited salad and bread stick" thing was stupid and insulting. I go to your goddamn restaurant and you expect me to fill up on salad and bread sticks? You think I am stupid?

I go to restaurants for food.

Maher pointed out that for Gucci's, Cartier and Tiffany's, business is booming.

He also pointed out the unchecked proliferation of dollar stores. There is one on every corner now. Right next to Starbuck's. Just kidding.

But they are everywhere. I hate dollar stores. I feel dirty when I go in one. But I do it because even the prostitutes charge a buck.

Here's a Maher quote/stat for you to chew on: "Fifty years ago, America's biggest employer was GM, where workers made the modern equivalent of $50 an hour. Today, America's biggest employer is WalMart, where the average wage is $8 an hour."

That gives you a good feel for how the morality of big business has evolved.

He points out that Alice Walton, a Walmart owner just spent over a billion dollars to build an art museum in Bentonville, Arkansas. This is a place where people have no teeth and men scratch their balls in church in the presence of the lord.

Her quote: "For years, I've been thinking about what we could do as a family that could really make a difference?"

Maher's response: "How about giving your employees a raise, you deluded nitwit?"

He highlighted the fact that the American "work ethic" of working hard and playing by the rules is now being challenged by people victimized by income inequality.

Maher: "At a McDonald's in Pittsburgh, an employee was arrested for selling heroin packed right in with the Happy Meals. And she didn't do it because she likes heroin, although it's probably no worse for you than the Filet o' Fish."

She did it because she's raising two kids on $7.72 an hour.

He talked about a Duke University freshman who acts in porn films so she can pay her $61,000 tuition.

Maher: ".....this is what the Paul Ryans of the world don't understand, that this is not a country of lazy people and good people, so much as it is a country of rich people and desperate people."

The unfortunate thing about all this is that we are past the tipping point. It is too late to turn back.

Decades ago wealth was tastefully expressed, or at least did not get right up in your face to tell you how poor and what a loser you are. The wealthy had mansions and limos to make that point.

Now they blatantly connive to steal from the working stiff any shred of decency and to rig the game so only the winners can win. There is no consideration of decency. They openly grab everything they can while defiantly putting boots on the necks of anyone trying to evolve.

This country is one of lofty ideals polluted through greed, and twisted by contempt for this thing called humanity.