Class warfare costs, but not the people at whom the rhetorical mortars are aimed.

The drumbeat of anger by the many at the few who travel on private planes and live in big houses is having a negative effect on those who don't.

USA Today recently carried a story about conventions that have been canceled, at least in part, due to the public's negative reaction to seeing some people having a good time while they are not. Management fears condemnation from the public, so they cancel meetings rather than risk negative media attention and public scorn.

This might make some of the enlistees in the class war feel good for the moment, but it does not improve their station in life. It is not the rich who suffer in this war. It is the middle class.

The U.S. Travel Association, according to USA Today, says meetings account for "about 15 percent of all travel spending, creating 2.4 million jobs, $240 billion in spending and $39 billion in tax revenue."

Incentive and motivational meetings generate 40 percent of the business at Marriott hotels, which reports a 12 percent decline. A spokesman blames this on the public vilification of meetings. Marriott says thousands of jobs have been lost due to reduced business. Presumably none of the newly unemployed fly on private jets or live in big houses. Continued...