A Country Divided??

[therising]

It sounds cliche.

But, doesn't the Country truly seem more polarized now, than at any time in recent history?

We've had some major events over the past 5 years:

9/11
Iraq
Katrina

Every one of these events seem to have truly polarized the Country. (Sure 9/11 brought everyone together for a short while, till the blame game started)

The 10 years prior to that, biggest events were probably

1st Iraq War
Monica Lewinsky

Seems like times were good in the '90's. I don't remember there being such an outrage at the 1st Iraqi war.

I'd rather not have this thread turn into a "who's right and who's wrong" debate, or a Repub vs. Democrat squabble - there are plenty of other threads for that.

But, is it my imagination? Or am I right? Seems like every major event in the US splits people virtually right down party lines.

Or is it simply a product of us all having so much information today (internet, cable), giving us more outlets to express our disagreements?

[300miles]

The first Iraq war did have it's controversies. There were protesters, oil and gasoline spiked, people made the usual claims we were fighting for Big Oil instead of freeing Kuwait. But the war ended much more cleanly, so it died down afterwards.

Also there was The Balkans in the mid-90's and yugoslavia in the late 90's. There was controversy between us and the Europeans (they complained how we did it; we complained they were useless allies) Remember we bombed the Chinese embassy? All the finger pointing...

Other events that were not very partisan: the LA riots, the first bombing of the World Trade Center in NYC, and the bombing of the Olympics in Atlanta.

Monica Lewinski was only one piece of the whole Impeachment fiasco... Remember Clinton launched all those cruise missles just as he was about to be impeached setting off a wierd partisan/patriotism set of tirades...

There was that moment went he launched missles into Sudan and Afghanistan.

The Early 90's were very partisan with the election between Clinton and Bush, then the Republican "contract with america", rush limbaugh became really big, and Hillary's medical insurance plan.

I think the 90's battles between the Clinton Democrats and the Newt Gingrich Republicans set the stage for all the partisanship we have today.

[avet]

Without the internet, this kind of information would not be "readily" available to the public

Labor Day Report:
CEO: Worker Pay Ratio Shoots Up to 431 : 1
Biggest Defense Contractors Raise CEOs’ Pay 200% Since 9/11

http://www.faireconomy.org/press/2005/EE2005_pr.html

The ratio of average CEO pay (now $11.8 million) to worker pay (now $27,460) spiked up from 301-to-1 in 2003 to 431-to-1 in 2004.

If the minimum wage had risen as fast as CEO pay since 1990, the lowest paid workers in the US would be earning $23.03 an hour today, not $5.15 an hour

The report found that CEOs are individually profiting from the Iraq War, with huge average raises at the biggest defense contractors.

At the 34 publicly traded US corporations among the 2004 top 100 defense contractors with 10% or more of their revenues from defense contracts – companies such as United Technologies, Textron, and General Dynamics – average CEO pay increased 200% from 2001 to 2004, versus 7% for all CEOs.

For example, David H. Brooks, CEO of bulletproof vest maker DHB Industries, earned $70 MILLION in 2004, 13,349% more than his 2001 compensation of $525,000. Brooks also sold company stock worth about $186 MILLION last year, spooking investors who drove DHB’s share price from more than $22 to as low as $6.50. In May 2005, the US Marines recalled more than 5,000 DHB armored vests after questions were raised about their effectiveness. By that time, Brooks had pocketed over $250 MILLION in war windfalls.

Since September 11, the ratio between median pay for defense CEOs and pay for military generals has nearly doubled to 23-to-1, up from 12-to-1 just three years earlier. The pay ratio between defense CEOs and army privates soared to 160-to-1, up from just 89-to-1 in 2001.

Gross pay: Over the last 15 years, the cumulative pay of the ten highest paid CEOs in each year together totals more than $11.7 BILLION.

Inducted into the CEO Hall of Shame in this category is Citigroup’s Sandy Weill, whose $1.1 BILLION in cumulative pay since 1990 topped all others
_______________________________________________

Just a little more readily available information that divides people:

Exxon Mobil Corp., which earned a record profit in 2003, rewarded chairman and chief executive Lee R. Raymond with a pay package worth $27.8 million

Exxon Mobil Gave CEO Raymond $38M Package In 2004

------JUST FOR "FUN"-----------

That's about $18,270 AN HOUR (based on a normal 40\work wk)

He makes more money before "lunch time" than many "well" paid do in a YEAR ($73,080)

Good thing that he gets ..."tax breaks".