In honor of reading “A Dream Deferred” by Shelby Steele, here’s an interview with him from 2008, following Barack Obama winning the Presidential election over McCain. Enjoy!
Tag Archives: Class Warfare
Envy Politics
Does anyone actually believe that our politicians in Washington have any inkling of sincerity when they talk about eliminating the deficit, and starting to pay off the national debt? Actually, I haven’t heard any of them actually talk about eliminating the deficit, just reducing it. But if the US is running up $1 trillion deficits each year, then “reducing” them could mean going from $1 trillion to $900,000. They’ll all pat themselves on the back, meanwhile, the country is really no better off.
At least they have a plan though – tax the rich. I have yet to hear exactly what defines “rich”, and I’ve certainly never heard anyone define “middle class”. I do know that somehow “millionaires” means $250,000. (Can someone explain this?) And even that $250,000 is for a family, not an individual. So “millionaire” actually means $125,000. Crazy. But to most people, especially those on the left, $125,000 is more than they make, so they don’t care. Tax the rich!
These people refuse to accept the fact that no individual can be taxed, and no single “class” of people can be taxed. Only the economy as a whole can be taxed. This is because all economics is humans interacting with each other. Taxing one person will always have an effect on someone else. Taxing the “rich” means that those rich people no longer can afford to buy a new car. That hurts the car dealer, the car manufacturer, and so on. Most car salesmen don’t earn $125,000 a year, but they too are taxed when taxes are levied on “rich” people.
What about the regular hard working family man who takes home $45,000 a year and depends on his 401k to help during his retirement? As corporate taxes go up, as the economy slows because of excessive taxation, and as heavier capital gains taxes are placed on investors, the stock market plummets. There goes the retirement fund for middle class families. These people can’t afford to retire, so they don’t, and that leads to one less job available for someone just graduating college. No wonder 50% of all college graduates can’t find work.
At least college kids are getting a fair shake, though, right? Not only do they get free birth controls pills and condoms, but el Presidente’ Obama has guaranteed that their student loan interest rates won’t go up. Unfortunately, this acts as a subsidy to high priced schools in general. These schools can afford to raise their prices higher and higher because of government subsides. So, student loan interest rates are low but the loan itself is huge because of government. And these kids will have an awfully hard time paying back their loan when they can’t find a job. Good thing they’re using the birth control that I bought for them, cause they won’t be able to afford a kid.
Taxing the rich, and “giving” things to idiot college kids is not good economic policy, yet this is the way America voted. People traded their country for contraception. This election should have been about big issues, but instead it was about Big Bird, Planned Parenthood, and class warfare. America signs over a little bit more each year to the federal government. As we pass the responsibility onto the government, we pass power to the government.
The vote has been bought. By promising free stuff to people, people vote for the guy who gets them the most stuff. Republicans must learn that they can never win this battle. If Republicans offer amnesty, Democrats will offer amnesty PLUS free college tuition. Republicans must work to differentiate themselves from Democrats and deliver the truth about the direction of our country. More or less liberty for the individual? More or less power given to bureaucrats in Washington? More or less property rights? Totalitarian government or limited government?
Many Republicans assumed that enough Americans had hit rock bottom, and Mitt Romney would automatically win. I played the game myself, doing whatever I could to help get those few extra votes out in my own state. Apparently America didn’t hit rock bottom yet, or maybe, we hit rock bottom and we just won’t be coming back up. Who knows? The fight continues, and I have Supreme Court elections to work on here in Wisconsin. Scott Walker needs a conservative majority in order to pass welfare reform, voter ID, end same day registration, and perhaps make Wisconsin a right-to-work state. The battle continues…
When Reality Strikes You Hard
In the wake of Scott Walker’s win in his recall election, Democrats are scrambling to come up with an excuse as to why they lost. Not only did Walker win, but he won by 7 points (53/46) and over 100,000 votes – a stronger victory than his original win in 2010. This shows that not only does Wisconsin want him as their governor, but that they like him even more after he implemented Act 10, the legislation limiting collective bargaining rights of public workers.
CNN was lucky enough to film a goofball on the streets crying (literally) about how “democracy is dead”. Of course, the fact that there have been 7 elections in the last 17 months disproves his hypothesis about the death of democracy. He went on to say that Walker outspent his opponent by $30 million. Again – when we look at third party expenditures, we see that Walker and his opponents spend about the same amount – each around $60 million since early 2011. A lot of money, no doubt, but not nearly as one-sided as the left would have it seem.
But as the facts start to come out, Democrats still refuse to accept the truth. Instead, (in an article found HERE) they point to the Republicans’ new strategy of “class warfare” – turning the middle class against itself. Non union workers are now turned against union workers and they’re anger is based solely in envy and fear. A ridiculous concept considering the entire 99% vs 1% movement (classic class warfare) was started by the left. The left attempting to explain away their sad loss by saying Republicans are using class warfare is laughable. The article goes on to say that instead of turning union against non union, they say we should be turning 99% against 1%! In one sentence condemn class warfare, and in the next use it yourself. Beautiful.
No, the truth of the matter is that Wisconsin and America are not leftists. In fact, the majority of Americans do not classify themselves as liberals, or even Democrats. When push comes to shove, more Americans call themselves conservatives than liberals. The media would have you believe otherwise. A near monopoly on newspapers, local and cable news, and public radio and television gives the impression that liberal ideas are the norm when in fact they are not. This election told the truth loud and clear – Wisconsin is just not a fan of liberal socialist policies.
But the truth about Scott Walker and elections isn’t enough. Shinning some light on this whole 99% thing could be useful as well. So let’s break it down real quick. The statistics that show a majority of the wealth clumped into the top tax bracket follows on certain brackets (via census). If you want a better picture of who “has all the money”, the IRS tells a very interesting story, due to the fact that it follows flesh and blood individuals, not abstract groups. IRS statistics show that most people in 1% are only there for a year! Not only that, but most people move through a number of different tax brackets throughout their life.
The idea that the 1% or even that “the rich” are an enduring class is simply not true. The same people who were rich and in the 1% 20 years ago are not the same people who are there today. And the people there today will most likely not be the same people there next year. Hating “the rich” is simply hating success. Anyone who is successful enough to get into the 1%, if even for a single year, needs to be punished and taxed endlessly until they fall from the 1%? Now that is class warfare!
I hear it all too often – the rich get richer and the poor get ______. Fill in the blank. That’s right – poorer. Again, its just simply not true. For this one we don’t even need to read off any statistics. Just look around and tell me that the poor today are worse off than they were 20 years ago. The “poor” as government defines them aren’t actually poor, they just don’t earn a lot of money. There are legitimately poor people, no doubt, but most “poor” people have air conditioning, cable TV, video games, cars, and cell phones. How is it that the poor are worse off today than they were 20 years ago?
Capitalism works because even the lowest earning group of people see a raise in their standard of living. The money made up top trickles down, products become cheaper to produce, and more people (including the “poor”) benefit. Those who believe in class warfare ought to take a look around and see how capitalism has raised more people out of poverty than all socialist government programs combined. Equality and prosperity are not the same thing, and forced equality will most certainly lead to a less prosperous society. History has proven it again and again.
