If you are on ANY form of public assistance (welfare, food stamps, WIC, or whatever) or are taking the benefit of any government financial program, and that includes social security, Medicare, Medicaid……how can you possibly be FOR that, and AGAINST a business world that pays those bills? How can you possibly be FOR a government that allows you to feed off of the money makers and AGAINST the money makers themselves?
Let’s suppose that I live on a street, and you live on that same street, but nobody else lives on that street (which would be ideal for me). And let’s suppose, for the sake of argument, that you are receiving unemployment (which I have done on occasion), or welfare, or receiving your healthcare through the federal, or state government, food stamps, and you do not work, or work at a minimum wage job. Now, you have a car, you live in a house, you clearly have a computer or you wouldn’t be on multiply or Facebook……you definitely have a television. You smoke (or drink) daily, and you eat three meals a day (BTW…if you fall into the above category, studies show that you probably eat overpriced, unhealthy food). Now…that might not be the life you WANT, but it is a life……
…..provided by me, your neighbor. And I have to pay for my house, my cars, my TV, my computer, my ISP, my food, my family, my booze (once upon a time), AND pay the taxes that allow you to live the life you live…..which may not be perfect, but it IS life.
And in my WILDEST imagination, I cannot get my mind around a philosophy that endorses, approves a system, a GOVERNMENT system that allows my neighbor to live as she does, and simultaneously abhor her neighbor, and the government system that ALLOWS her to live like that.
This is the first year since its inception that retirees will draw LESS from social security than they paid into the system. The Medicare and Medicaid are in even worse shape. From where does my neighbor think the money will come to continue the social welfare state? And how does the left think that it can pull off this massive Ponzi scheme? I mean, the government can continue to print money, and only the federal government can, but if we as a people have any hope of paying it back, how will we do it? We won’t drill for our own energy that could make us gazillions. We no longer produce steel in any appreciable amount. I know that we produce BMW’s, Hondas, Nissan’s here in the US but the profits of that go overseas. As a matter of fact, we only have one vehicle tire manufacturer that is actually headquartered here, whose economy STAYS here. The only way to pay for my neighbor, who is in the bottom 50% and pays no federal taxes and lives off our taxes, is for the government to RAISE our taxes.
Let me cast this in this manner. Norway is considered to be the perfect model of an effective, socialist nation (they also have huge oil reserves which service a good part of Europe). That nation has an almost $600 billion surplus in their budget, their savings. But, government largess comes at a necessary price. If I go to a café in the US and order a glass of wine, it costs me $3-$5. If I go to Norway and order a glass of wine it costs me $30. That is the cost of the socialist welfare state…..and that is the cost of doing business.
Now….I am not going to delve into how we got here, I think we all understand that it is the nature of the socialist revolution itself, which has dumbed down our society so greatly that we can elect an Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Wassermann-Schultz. But I do want to answer this…..
…How is it that my neighbor doesn’t understand that? I mean, she may not drink wine at $30 a glass, and not care…..but she does smoke a pack a day, does have the computer and TV and a house to live in……how in the hell does she think that this will end up when those of us that actually DO pay taxes are wiped out on the low end because the government takes all of our money, when they themselves oppose a system that allows people to make money in order TO PAY FOR THEM. Who do you think PAYS for these people? If you are in the bottom 50%, you had better be PRAISING the rest of us.
The money makers in society are not to blame for those that make none…… The money makers are not responsible for their position in life. That neighbor of mine? The money makers did not cause her to have a child in high school, and then drop out of high school. The money makers are responsible for ENABLING her to do that. And she bitches BECAUSE there are money makers.
I give up.
H/T to Batman
Debate about whether the top marginal tax rate should be 33% or 37.5% isn’t the stuff of socialist revolutions.
OK….
“Debate about whether the top marginal tax rate should be 33% or 37.5% isn’t the stuff of socialist revolutions.” (JE)
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No, it isn’t even “socialist” at all.
It’s Corporatist.
Higher marginal tax rates are an unfortunate hallmark of Corporatism as Corporations ALWAYS petition the government (in such systems) to shift more and more of the ever increasing burden onto the people – the wage earners.
There is ONLY one “socialist” economic scheme, as “socialism” is a “one trick pony.”
Socialism requires the Command Economy (which DOES NOT work), it ALSO requires the eradication of private property, because private property IS the primary factor in the “unequal distribution of wealth.”
The greater a country’s dedication to private property rights, generally, the more inequitable the wealth distribution.
While that is, of course, true, NO ONE has yet effectively argued that “highly unequal wealth distributions make nations more unstable,” or anything like that.
Moreover, the eradication of private property ALWAYS requires murder on a massive scale – Hitler slaughtered 11 MILLION Germans, Stalin 52 MILLION Soviet citizens, Mao nearly 100 MILLION Chinese. Such slaughter requires two things a competent and ruthless liar at the top AND a skilled and determined machinery of destruction at the bottom levels.
Without that, the enemies of property find themselves at a distinct DISADVANTAGE! Most of them tend to be humanistic and property owners are wont to hire mercenaries and Hessians. The humanists are tragically prone to hesitate, where paid mercs never do.
The ONLY way that any of the above tyrants were able to pull off their incredible mass murders was by getting the largest property owners (the titans) on their side, for asset protections), sadly many such people choose the easy way out.
“The greater a country’s dedication to private property rights, generally, the more inequitable the wealth distribution.”
Most measures place inequality as being much higher in the banana republics, the poor nations of African and Asia. There is not much concept of private property rights in most of those countries.
“While that is, of course, true, NO ONE has yet effectively argued that “highly unequal wealth distributions make nations more unstable,” or anything like that.”
They do that pretty frequently. It was cited as a factor in the Arab Spring. Part of what helped to drive monarchies out. The oresence of a large , prosperous middle class is generally seen as stabilizing.
Steve
“how can you possibly be FOR that, and AGAINST a business world that pays those bills? How can you possibly be FOR a government that allows you to feed off of the money makers and AGAINST the money makers themselves?”
I dont know anyone or read anyone who is against business doing well.
“Who do you think PAYS for these people? If you are in the bottom 50%, you had better be PRAISING the rest of us.”
Victimhood is unappealing.
Norway. Your piece did prompt me to look up some stuff on Norway. I compared cost of living in Oslo with that of Philadelphia, our closest very large city. Consumer prices in Oslo, including rent, are 47% higher. However, if you look at purchasing power, it is stronger in Oslo by 9.4%. You can compare by other cities in the US if you want. Many US cities have better purchasing power and many worse. What you forget is that income is high in Norway. (Wine can als be expensive in Sweden, and they dont have oil like Norway)
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&country2=Norway&city1=Philadelphia%2C+PA&city2=Oslo
For further comparison, you can look at the next link. Oslo ranks 28th out of 73 listed cities.
http://www.citymayors.com/economics/usb-purchasing-power.html
You can easily find wine at $30 per glass in the US. I think you have engaged in a bit of hyperbole. I think if you were interested in being fair, you would ask the Norwegians if they think they get a good return on their increased tax load. The following link from Matt Welch, an editor for libertarian magazine Reason points out some benefits of what you call “socialism”.
Steve