Monday, March 9, 2009
Why Wealthy Americans Often Lean To The Right
Many wealthy Americans lean to the Right because they are focused on keeping their taxes low. However, that is a very short-sighted attitude. Low taxes on the wealthy is not what keeps the economy healthy. FDR was fairly wealthy, and aristocratic. He was called "A Traitor To His Class." But he saved Capitalism with programs that spread America's wealth to millions of more people, and that created a strong consumer base for the products the entrepeneurs were creating and producing. It was not a question of low taxes or high taxes, but of fair taxes that allowed everyone to pay their fair share and to keep their fair share. Harry Truman called it The Fair Deal. The Kennedys were also very wealthy people who pushed for broad-based social programs, and Warren Buffet advocates the same thing today. Obama is not as wealthy as these liberal Democrats, but he is following similar policies. This is not Socialism or Communism. This is Healthy Capitalism -- as opposed to the Diseased Capitalism championed by the likes of Rush Limbaugh.
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6 comments:
Dear CJP - On the issue of fairness let me offer these moronic, apelike, de-evolutionary, thieving, capitalist and conniving examples: Here's a hundred dollars for you and a hundred dollars for me. Now here's another $39.60 for you from my pocket. Or, here's another - You just earned $10,000,000 this year and I earned $18,000. Now, let's pay our taxes. You write a check for $4,000,000 and I get a check for $3,500. Just a thought. Thom
@Thom: Ben Stein said it pretty well - rich people have the money. So when we need to pay for programs, we tax the rich at a higher rate, because they can afford to pay a much higher percentage of their income without risking any kind of financial danger. This was entitled, I believe, "An Open Letter to John McCain". Fairness is a non-issue when it comes to social justice and providing for the citizenry. Justice and fairness are not the same thing.
@CJP - the problem with liberals is that they think there's "healthy capitalism". The problem with conservatives is that they see nothing wrong with "unhealthy capitalism". Capitalism is exploitative by nature; it allows societies to become based on the needs and desires of massive, transnational corporations instead of the needs and desires of its citizens.
A friend of mine said it well: "[the government] doesn't exist for us, it exists for companies that don't even operate exclusively in the US, it exists to make life easier for businesses who outsource our labor."
Viva la MAS, friends.
Hey ZAC in CA - Good thoughts, all. Would simply point out that your friend's assessment of why our government exists (for big business and not the average joe/Joanne) is a broad generalization and inconsistent with the reality of this fact: 62% of the annual US Budget includes goes to so-called 'Entitlement Programs' - everything from SS, Medicare, Medicaid, means-tested expenditure and funding the national debt (11%.) These expenditures are cemented into the annual budget and are targeted - for the most part - for the citizenry. Presented without malice - Thom in TN.
That's a fair point, Thom. What concerns me, generally, is the way that solutions are found for our nation's problems.
For example - instead of decreeing that universities (public ones, at any rate) could not charge more than X for tuition, generally the approach has been to spend more money on federal loan programs, which basically tells universities (public AND private): "Go ahead and keep charging more and more money; our kids can afford it!"
I see that sort of solution as short-sighted, as appeasing people with money first, and those with real needs to be met, well, a distant second.
Dear CJP - Since you posted this you may want to listen and watch: http://www.charlierose.com/view/clip/10141
Pal Thom
I have always thought of Democrats as being very generous with money. The only problem is that it is always other peoples money. How much in Taxes do you think FDR and the Kennedy's paid. How much does Pelosi and Reed pay? It is much easier to give away money when it is someone elses.
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