Sunday, December 5, 2010
Flames of Hell
Yesterday's vote in the U.S. Senate to reject cloture on the Middle Class Tax Relief bill provided more evidence of the unrelenting greed manifest in the Party of No. In Senator McConnell's panegyric retelling of events during Meet the Press today, no effort was made to conceal the flickering flames of Hell dancing behind his pupils as he explained to his uncritical host how unfair it would have been to continue to tax the ultra-rich while providing tax relief for those households struggling to eke out a living on a quarter of a million dollars or less each year. In his moment of unguarded jubilation, he explained that those "quarter-millionaires", numbering maybe 700,000 industrious Americans, were the mainstay of small business, generating jobs for millions of others. This tragic slip of the lip revealed that the "small businesses" in question may frequently be those little law firms and other small professional associations that undergird the employment statistics that we've all been watching so carefully over the past year. It behooves us to have a closer look at these statistics.
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What I don't understand is why so many of our fellow Americans continue to believe in the "trickle down" economic theory that clearly has not come into play for the past decade. There is no evidence that I've seen that supports this theory. I heard Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and Ted Turner interviewed on "This Week" last week making this very point and explaining the reasons why they believe taxing the rich while providing continued tax relief to the middle class is necessary given the current state of our economy. Senator McConnell needs to be called out on this "trickle down theory" of economics when using it to argue his case. Was David Gregory sleeping or is he just not doing his homework?
ReplyDeleteWell, "demonizing" the esteemed Sen. you scorn may be a feel-good moment, while certainly exemplifying the partisan mistrust and divide, runs the risk of people missing the final point. And it's the final point that I think is the most important-many of the small businesses the Republicans so often trumpet about, are the "S" corporations of doctors/lawyers/accountants, etc. They produce few jobs, but they do produce great tax havens. absolutely. We do need tax policies that support the real risk-taking job producing entrepreneurs who make stuff.
ReplyDeleteGreed? or saying it slightly differently "whats best for me?". It makes no difference if you make $50,000 or $50,000,000 the game is the same, everyone is looking out for number one. Of course it's unfair, especially if you're the one paying the taxes, but we all aspire to become rich therefore we need to protect ourselves in the event we should. This mentality is what supports politicians and allows them to continue to operate in this manner.
ReplyDeleteWere you too harsh? No. The American dream is harsh for some because they won't succeed, unfair? Yes because 95% of the American people don't realize the deck is stacked against them.