Pedro's Podium: Tax Cuts for the Rich

In part one I discussed small business and the affect of a tax increase. In part 2 the impact on the economy and the myths of the affect on the “millionaires and billionaires” including the moves by the Progressives in government to paint a picture that is far removed from reality. In today’s installment I will try and pull it together. Today I look at the Progressives.

Income disparity: One of the arguments constantly put forward by the Progressives is the idea that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. They point to the disparity in income from the top to the bottom. The problem with this premise is that it really shows a total lack of understanding of economics. Over the last 60 years the Middle Class has exploded. The standard of living in this country skyrocketed past anything ever seen in the history of man. It is clear to anyone who knows and understand just recent history that the citizens of this country have never lived longer or had such comfort, compared to the lives of those who live 100 years ago.

As I stated in Part 2 that historically when the government raises tax rates, tax revenues go down. One example is from 1924 after an increase in the Capital Gains Tax Rate the government collected less than $50 million in taxes on capital gains. The next year after the tax rate was decreased over $100 million in capital gains taxes were collected. When the rates were high more money went into tax-free securities. When the rates were dropped more money was invested in the economy. In addition the highest income brackets in 1920 paid 30% of all taxes but by 1929 with the “tax cuts for the rich” the same income group was paying 65% of all taxes. The numbers have become even more interesting; in 2006 the CBO reported that the top 20% of income earners paid 86.3% of all taxes.

Also it is important to understand that at that time $100,000 was equivalent to more than $1million today. So when comparing those days to today’s economy you need to understand the difference in the value of the money.

Going back to 1900 there were only 144 miles of pave public roads in the US. “According to the Federal Highway Administration 2008 statistics, there are 2,734,102 miles of paved public roads in the United Sates, with an additional 1,324,245 miles of unpaved public roads. This information can be found in Table HM-12 of ‘Highway Statistics 2008.’” This basic fact demonstrates the amazing growth of not only the country’s infrastructure but the ability of the average citizen to exploit such growth.

As another measure of prosperity; consider the life expectancy at birth. In 1900 it was on average 49.2 years old. By 1997 it had increased to an average age of 76.5. This is a dramatic increase in not only the quantity but the quality of life. This has come about due to the rapid increase in advanced medical care that has been lead by so-called “greedy” pharmaceutical companies. Who despite so-called “huge” profit margins have created miracle drugs and cure for diseases that have plagued humankind for centuries. If not for the example of freedom that this country has provided to the world much of the world would be enslaved. How can anyone really think that returning to totalitarian government would ever be able to provide the advancement that the United States have allowed and inspired?

The Progressive: Most progressives see growth as the problem that plagues the Earth. They complain about the amount of natural resources that is used by this country. They then turn around and complain about the difference in incomes between the rich and the poor. This duplicity always seems to be a contradiction of ideas, especially if you refuse to accept the true goals of the Progressives. Their true goal is to shrink the middle class and lower the living standard in this country to match that of the rest of the world.

This week the Cancun “Climate Change” Conference is one of the largest gatherings on the planet. Listen to the goals of these Progressives. They wish to turn the clock back to a time when life was more simple and death came much sooner. Well so much for the progress that the Progressives claim that they support.

There was a song in the 60s with the lyrics of: “Tax the rich, feed the poor, until there are no rich no more.” The next line should have been: “And then the poor will starve.” Well at least that would seem to be the goal. If you make people dependent and then suddenly the source is gone then who will take care of them? The thing that I discussed before and should be pointed out again, is the way that Progressives have defined “rich” down. At a time when a family of four that make just over $44,000.00 is consider to live in poverty, we are told that anyone making $250,000.00 a year is rich. As inflation continues $250K will be worth less and less. The Progressive Socialist are determined to punish everyone until the only rich left are the elite Progressive Leaders.

The President was clear when he debated Hillary Clinton that he was not interested in increasing tax revenues. In this video he states that he is only interested in being “fair.” The only problem with this definition of “fair” is that it really means revenge. He has said that there should be limits on the amount a person could make. This type of thinking from an American President is counter to the theories that made this country great. Such thinking spells the end of the American Dream and the beginning of a new American Nightmare.

Those who subscribe to the Marxist theories believe that the skilled workers and the intelligent hard working people of the world should work and support those less skilled. This is an attractive idea to the lazy. If you don’t want to work or think that you are entitled to the fruits of other people’s labor then you will obviously be very attracted to these principles. The idea of “spreading the wealth around” sounds good to Socialist or as Karl Marx said: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” This is the heart of the Communist Manifesto but it is not in line with the ideas that have made this country the leader of the free world. The repeated experiences in history shows that eventually Socialism/Fascism/Communism all led to total government with the population enslaved to the state.

The Progressives work very hard to rewrite history. They want to say that Capitalism is evil and that the rich exploit the “workers.” But many of the people that they call rich lazy Capitalists are very hard working people who only wish to provide for their families. They use the example of a few bad capitalist or just simply lie about business leaders of the past and present. Sure there are bad rich just as there are bad and evil people at all levels of income. But do we lock up all people when one person robs a bank. Well no but there are people who think that that would be the answer to bank robbery. Actually they would say to take the money from the bank so that people are no longer tempted. So they would rob the bank to prevent bank robbery.

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Envy: The most powerful weapon being used against those who are loyal to the American way of life is Envy. As I’ve visited various sites that I maintain or my blog is posted, I see comments like: “The rich have stole their money; we should take it all away from them.” Of course reading many of these posts makes me believe that the person behind them must be a teenager or younger. From the time they spend online they are either very young or unemployed. Either way they’ve bought into the entire socialist dogma and have no idea of the reality of what the history of Progressive Socialism. With a large number of people who have bought into the underlying cruelty and hate that drives this movement, there is a danger to the country far beyond what many people want to believe.

This envy of the accomplishments of other is human nature for someone who feels inadequate, but it should not be that way. We should return to a day when people took pride in not only their possessions but their life and liberty. Independent people don’t covet the property of their neighbors. They live their lives to earn a living and pick themselves up and dust off when they fall. They will accept a hand but not a handout.

Revenge: The biggest danger that we face is the desire of many in this movement and their wish to extract revenge upon those that they see as rich. They are told that the rich built their fortunes on the back of the poor. They are told that life will be fair when wealth is destroyed. But as you should be able to see, they keep defining rich down. Just like in the Communist nations that have failed, the officials continued to demonized others to maintain the power base of the rulers. If there is one less that the world should have learned from the history of the Communist movement is the killing fields of Cambodia.

Don’t forget the there are many Progressives that are affluent. People like George Soros have made billions from the suffering of people. Mr. Soros is well known for his total lack of ethics in his drive to grow his fortune. This man is a hero of the Progressives. This is due to his willingness to support Progressive goals. Considering his track record I can only say that those in the movement are fools for trusting that him. Such a person is willing to us anyone for his selfish goals. How do they know what his real goals are, when he is know for his total lack of a moral compass. He is a powerful man and in my book qualify as an evil rich person.

The Elites: Consider for a moment that a couple of years ago former Presidential candidate and multi-millionaire Progressive John Kerry was praising the Communist takeover of South Vietnam in an interview. He said that it was not that bad, but of course there were re-education camps. I can only wonder how long after he had been elected would he have opened the first re-education camp in the US. He seems to be saying that “re-education” is a good thing. It makes me wonder when a President Kerry would have opened his first re-education camp if he had won the election. I think we missed the bullet that time.

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri said during the debate on “earmarks” that they only account for $19 billion, which is not a lot of money. Well Sen. McCaskill if $19 billion is not a lot of money; then why are we worrying about raising tax on billionaires when history has shown that raising rates on the rich decreases tax revenues? Could it be that those in power are more interested in punishment then actually collect the money need to run this country?

The Leader: Many Americans know that the nation’s problem is not that the government is “under funded” but the problem is spending. The tax cut in the 80s caused tax revenues to increase. But the Democrat controlled Congress spent the money faster than the government could collect it. Ronald Reagan worked for 8 months against all odds to pass those tax rate decreases, over the objections of the Democrat control Congress. Those tax rate cuts were responsible for one of the most dramatic economical turn around in this country’s history. As soon as President Reagan left office, the Democrats pushed and pressured President Bush, 41 into raising taxes. Many credit this breaking of a campaign promise for his defeat to Bill Clinton.

Bill Maher and other Progressives may think the American people are stupid, but some times we are just not informed. That is changing. We are awake now and beginning to understand what has been taking place, while we were busy running our lives. We must not fall for the class warfare being pushed by those who would divide us only to allow them to continue to grab power. We must understand and identify our real enemies. Those who would enslave the world under the Socialist banner are the enemy of every freedom loving American who still believes that they should be rewarded for their hard work.

The Progressives are well organized. They are arrogant and believe that they can regain the power that they have lost. We out number them, but they have obtained much power and have created havoc around the world. It is time to let the politicians in Washington understand that we will no longer sit silently while they continue to loot the treasury and rob our children of their future. The hard working Capitalist so-called rich are not our enemy. They are the ones who know what it takes to create jobs and prosperity. The enemy is the idle rich Socialists who are working to preserve their fortunes while destroying the ability of the rest of the country to prosper.

UPDATES: As I was writing this episode of "Tax Cuts for the Rich" the President announced a deal to delay the Obama Tax Increase for 2 years. He apparently made his announcement before he discussed it with the majority party in Congress. From the reaction that has been coming from his party it is not a “done deal.”

After this announcement we’ve began to hear from the Progressive Media some wild claims. Not too long ago the story being repeated was that the cost of extending the “tax cut” would cost $700 billion over the next 10 years. Then they started to just say $700 billion. Today it has become $900 billion over the next 2 years. I wish they would get their stories straight. I expect to hear any minute, from some talking head, that “we will be losing $900 billion every day if the tax rates are extended.” Of course they must try to get the American people to demand that we raise the taxes on our fellow Americans if they expect to destroy the nation and create their “Socialist Paradise.”

Read part 1 and part 2.