If we think the very rich are indeed different from you and me, it may not be much of a complement to them.
The talk around the Yacht Club these days involves a lot of snickering about Barak Obama and what "that man" will do to the economy. No, I'm not joking, but then neither are they. Perhaps Malcom Gladwell is right that material success has as much or more to do with circumstances than with talent or intelligence. Take the fellow with a yacht worth far, far more than than Joe the Plumber will make in his lifetime; a fellow who thinks that we're seeing a "slowdown" that will "bounce back" shortly and a slowdown that has nothing to do with George Bush, a Republican congress, deregulation or the idea that debt has no consequences if you cut taxes and pour money down a hole. I have as much faith in his genius as he has in the notion that America's success has been the result of its Christian piety.
Obama of course will raise taxes. That's axiomatic because he's a Democrat. Raising taxes will harm the economy, they say, even though it would be as fair to say that a bullet will harm a dead horse and the economy has done better under Democrats since WW II. Supply side economics will work eventually and even if it doesn't, even if the "slowdown" becomes a full blown depression, we have to keep making it easy for the Great Gatsby to keep the twin Diesels fed. Did I mention that Obama is going to ruin the economy by raising my taxes?
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4 comments:
Love those Diesels..
I give the guy credit. He won't back off that "threat" he made to raise income tax levels to the terrifying levels we endured under the pure Marxism of Clinton. And he won't back down on his statement that the payroll tax formula that "sustains" social security and Medicare will change so that Bill Gates and I are not paying identical amount... Walter Mondale didn't lie about those intentions, either, and he lost 49 states, so maybe, just maybe, with the exception of "Joe the Plumber", the supply-side hoodwinkers' faery tales aren't working with the real plumbers out here any longer.
I still don't understand all the whining about "he'll raise taxes" when the alternative is further debasement of the dollar. We're going to get screwed one way or another.
It's like debating whether you want to be killed with a knife or a gun. What damn difference does it make?
I remember the 50's and 60's as being times of strong growth and rising prosperity. We had a top tax bracket of, I believe, 82%
Obama's proposed rates would be similar to what we had under Clinton and of course that was a period that set records for growth and prosperity. I think all the evidence shows that cutting top rates screws up the economy from the point of view of 99% of us.
There's something odd about a nation that would rather starve than make money and be taxed on it.
For what it's worth, I know someone who was both shot and stabbed and she said the knife hurt much worse :-)>
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