Are cons rich or are they stupid?

It is not an either/or choice.

It's both.

There is a very small, very elite cabal of very wealthy, very powerful, VERY SMART elites that benefits from having poor and middle class working people work harder to get paid less and make them richer.

This is a very hard sell in a democracy where “majority [supposedly] rules” - to convince the majority of hard working people to work harder for less, so they can have more wealth.

THEY KNOW THE TRUTH IS NOT THEIR FRIEND.
The only way they can convince poor and working people to make them richer is to LIE.
Hence, the “misinformation.”

They do not need to convince everyone.
Just enough.
The suckers.
The losers.
The gullible.
Hence: the STUPIDITY.

Again, I refer to my example on the current new season of Survivor.
If you are not a Survivor fan, I suggest you go back and watch the first two episodes (you can watch the entire segments on the CBS website).
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/?season=19
It is a study in conservative strategy.

Russell Hantz is a multi-millionnaire TEXAS OIL COMPANY OWNER.
Most of the contestants are young, struggling wannabees.
He is smart in dealing LIES AND MISINFORMATION; they are gullible and STUPID.

Russell has been open and candid in his sidebar interviews that he knows poor, struggling young people will never vote to give a rich oil company owner a million bucks, so his entire strategy is based 100% on LIES and cheating and he is open about it (to us, via sidebar interviews).

Sad part?
It works!

A couple of people, including a police officer, easily saw thru his lies.
These are like liberals, the smart people.
He simply arranged to have them voted out.

It is not a question of MISINFORMATION or STUPIDITY.
It is the combination of intentional MISINFORMATION from a few smart by evil liars, targeting the STUPIDITY of enough gullibe suckers for them to take advantage of.