AlterNet | Election 2004: A Society of Owers

"The Republicans are selling their vision of an 'Ownership Society' to a nation of debtors."
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The notion is to expand private ownership through more tax cuts on capital investments, tax credits for saving and privatized Social Security.
Sounds nice, but here's the problem: The Republican rhetoric assumes most Americans can save and invest. The reality is, most Americans are deep in debt. Before they can join the 'Ownership Society' they've got to pay their credit card bills, their rising variable-rate mortgages and their auto loans. After that, there's no money left because jobs are in short supply and wages are stuck in the mud."

Add the rising poverty level, 3 million more Americans in the past year, and you understand that "ownership" will be for an elite few. Bush is betting that no one cares about that, that the Bubbas all believe that they, too, can grab the brass ring. This kind of irrational belief is what makes the Lotto such a popular game.