American's have a fetish on low taxes ... and what a price we pay:
Our infrastructure is crumbling.
Our health care system sucks.
Higher education costs are skyrocketing.
Public schools are dying on the vine.
Right ... but I'll be darned if I'll pay more in taxes.
I enjoy driving on lousy roads.
I like to pay astronomical deductibles, and if I can't afford medical care, well I'll just get sick, and then die, but, by gum and by golly, no more taxes.
I love it when youth are saddled with education debt; serves 'em right for getting so uppity.
I can hardly wait to send America's children to private schools, homeschools and charter schools. Enough of this public education stuff; sounds communist to me anyway. And in public schools they teach science, and that's contrary to gawd's word.
I love it when the rich take it all.
You bet.
They know what they're doing.
They're gawd's anointed.
So,
Let's cut health care all over the place.
Cut Social Security, too; what the heck, get rid of it.
Get rid of Medicare, too.
And all the stuff that supports the poor, the underserving, the illegals and all those other kinds of people who talk strange and wear clothes different than my all-American caps and jeans.
It's just socialism, and that means taxes, and that means I don't want it.
Showing posts with label taxes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label taxes. Show all posts
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Can We Tell the Truth About Taxes?
Let's start telling the truth, can we?
1) A society built upon low taxes will never be healthy - it may be good for a very few at the top, but children and schools, bridges and highways and just about everyone and everything else increasingly has a hard time of it.
2) A society built upon taxes, even high taxes, will be healthy - infrastructure will be maintained, education sustained, medical care available to every citizen, and then some. If we have to fight a war, it won't drain the economy.
3) Taxes, even high taxes, are a job-creator - when government is funding and supporting the economy, everyone prospers - from the aerospace industry to the medical worker to the school teacher and to the small business owner.
4) Taxes, even high taxes, narrow the gap between rich and poor, not only for individuals and families but for states and municipalities. Everyone benefits everywhere!
Can we start telling the truth about taxes?
1) A society built upon low taxes will never be healthy - it may be good for a very few at the top, but children and schools, bridges and highways and just about everyone and everything else increasingly has a hard time of it.
2) A society built upon taxes, even high taxes, will be healthy - infrastructure will be maintained, education sustained, medical care available to every citizen, and then some. If we have to fight a war, it won't drain the economy.
3) Taxes, even high taxes, are a job-creator - when government is funding and supporting the economy, everyone prospers - from the aerospace industry to the medical worker to the school teacher and to the small business owner.
4) Taxes, even high taxes, narrow the gap between rich and poor, not only for individuals and families but for states and municipalities. Everyone benefits everywhere!
Can we start telling the truth about taxes?
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
For My Fellow Americans - Taxes
BTW, if I have to pay a little more in taxes to see that every American has access to affordable health care, I'm more than happy to do that.
All of this crabbing about taxes smacks of a profound immaturity, if not anarchism. I write this as a proud and grateful American, and a Christian with a deep sense of our common need to offer help to one another, especially to those who, for whatever reason, find themselves on the bottom or the heap.
And, yes, FDR's SS and Obama's Affordable Care Act can be compared, because both are devoted to the common good, with a special regard for those who need some help. And school is out, or the jury is in, on SS - I worked hard all my life and contributed to SS, and now I'm collecting it.
Hats off to FDR who took millions of elderly out of the poor house and gave them a dignified retirement; and hats off to Affordable Health Care and Obama who has expanded the health care of America, something good for the entire nation, that will save millions of sick days and make everyone healthier and safer, including pregnant women, infants and children.
You bet, I'll be happy to pay more for my fellow Americans.
All of this crabbing about taxes smacks of a profound immaturity, if not anarchism. I write this as a proud and grateful American, and a Christian with a deep sense of our common need to offer help to one another, especially to those who, for whatever reason, find themselves on the bottom or the heap.
And, yes, FDR's SS and Obama's Affordable Care Act can be compared, because both are devoted to the common good, with a special regard for those who need some help. And school is out, or the jury is in, on SS - I worked hard all my life and contributed to SS, and now I'm collecting it.
Hats off to FDR who took millions of elderly out of the poor house and gave them a dignified retirement; and hats off to Affordable Health Care and Obama who has expanded the health care of America, something good for the entire nation, that will save millions of sick days and make everyone healthier and safer, including pregnant women, infants and children.
You bet, I'll be happy to pay more for my fellow Americans.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
GOP Madness and Taxes
As for me and my house, I can't understand why the GOP would be wiling to put Medicare and SS on the chopping block, raising taxes on the Middle Class, but refuse to raise taxes on those who can well afford more, many of whom, real patriots, have made it clear to Congress that the health of this nation rests upon those who can pay more in taxes and should - not in killing the safety net for the Middle Class.
We are not out of money - those in charge of the GOP are just too damn selfish to pay their fair share, hiding behind the nonsense of being "job creators" - not true; most have inherited their money and live off of what mom and dad gave to them, and what the bankers can create through manipulation bordering on criminal.
We've got plenty of money in this land, and we can do it, and do it in style, and there will be plenty left over for big boats and fancy cars; in fact, there will be more. Money funneled through the Middle Class grows; money through taxation on the wealthy provides the means for roads, schools, national parks, and a million other things.
Those to whom much has been given, much is required.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Charter Schools are Terrible
Charter schools are a huge mistake. The truth be told, conservatives have long fought against public education by slashing tax-support, forcing staff reductions, imposing impossible standards, and then claiming that our schools are failing.
Conservatives across the nation were unable to get vouchers, so they went for charter schools instead- as the third leg of their educational reform: private schools, home-schooling and charter schools.
Denying millions of dollars to our public schools, they turn around and give millions of dollars to corporations to run the schools, and their track record is abysmal.
Time to dump charter schools and tell the conservatives to take a hike. Fund public education and support our teachers, and we will have fine schools all across the nation.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Wisconsin Governor Full of Baloney
Says the gov of Wisconsin: "We have to cut the budget. We can't raise taxes; that would cripple the economy even further."
The economy?
For whom?
The top 2%?
This is such a crock of bull, it's hard to describe.
To strip away bargaining rights, to decease benefits that have been hard-won over the years and are wel-deserved, to further jeopardize education (oh, that's right, he doesn't give a damn about that, what with homeschooling and private schools to further the asinine agenda of the far-right), to demean public workers and embarrass the entire state of Wisconsin, is unconscionable ... a shameless display of fiscal insanity furthering the transfer of wealth from the many to the few.
Healthy economies always utilize fair and reasonable taxation to sustain the economy and to insure that maximum numbers of families have access to good jobs and benefits.
Because the money supply is NOT infinite.
Taxation is a form of regulation that keeps the playing field of life fair for the MAJORITY. Our current insanity is crippling the economy, not because of high taxes, but rather foolishly low taxes on the super-rich and the big companies.
Nations never prosper when the wealthy prosper alone. Nations prosper when the middle class prospers.
The madness of low taxation is just that - a madness, a disease, a great evil, part of a strategy long in the planning and dearly believed by t-baggers who have been fooled by the reactionary forces at the top of the food chain. Current fiscal policies are currently designed to kill off the middle class, bust unions, strip away working-class initiative, diminish hope and transform the nation into an oligarchy.
The GOP and its reactionary forces have been bent on dismantling the American Dream ever since Reagan, the Great Liar, took office and said "Government is the problem."
What a crock.
What a bunch of baloney.
What a pack of lies!
The economy?
For whom?
The top 2%?
This is such a crock of bull, it's hard to describe.
To strip away bargaining rights, to decease benefits that have been hard-won over the years and are wel-deserved, to further jeopardize education (oh, that's right, he doesn't give a damn about that, what with homeschooling and private schools to further the asinine agenda of the far-right), to demean public workers and embarrass the entire state of Wisconsin, is unconscionable ... a shameless display of fiscal insanity furthering the transfer of wealth from the many to the few.
Healthy economies always utilize fair and reasonable taxation to sustain the economy and to insure that maximum numbers of families have access to good jobs and benefits.
Because the money supply is NOT infinite.
Taxation is a form of regulation that keeps the playing field of life fair for the MAJORITY. Our current insanity is crippling the economy, not because of high taxes, but rather foolishly low taxes on the super-rich and the big companies.
Nations never prosper when the wealthy prosper alone. Nations prosper when the middle class prospers.
The madness of low taxation is just that - a madness, a disease, a great evil, part of a strategy long in the planning and dearly believed by t-baggers who have been fooled by the reactionary forces at the top of the food chain. Current fiscal policies are currently designed to kill off the middle class, bust unions, strip away working-class initiative, diminish hope and transform the nation into an oligarchy.
The GOP and its reactionary forces have been bent on dismantling the American Dream ever since Reagan, the Great Liar, took office and said "Government is the problem."
What a crock.
What a bunch of baloney.
What a pack of lies!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Bubble Up Economics
Money, like hot air, rises.
Eventually ending up at the top.
Some have suggested that, once at the top, it trickles down.
Wrong.
Once at the top, there it stays, as we have witnessed in the last 40 years, with the growing hyper-concentration of wealth in upper ranks of American families.
The wealthiest 1 percent of families owns roughly 34.3% of the nation's net worth, the top 10% of families owns over 71%, and the bottom 40% of the population owns way less than 1% (Click HERE for more info).
Trickle-down economic theories are one of the biggest lies ever perpetrated on the American public. The fact is: once it bubbles to the top, as all money does, it stays there. Period.
Unless the federal government does what good government should do - tax the wealth at the top and put it to work by infusing it into the lower reaches of our society - pumping it into the renovation of our schools with good salaries for our teachers; improving our roads and light-rail systems for our cities; supporting our cities; funding the arts; promoting research on global warming; cleaning up the environment; wind turbines; alternative fuels, and with single-payer health insurance, the money would go directly to the providers of health-care rather than the billions currently siphoned off by the insurance companies and their high-salaried CEOs.
Money always bubbles up.
Unless appropriate taxation helps return billions to the lower reaches of a society, the poor will only grow poorer and the wealthy, of course, will only grow wealthier.
The United States stands alone with its infantile fixation on trickle-down economic theories and its fear of taxation.
We have to pay attention to how the rest of world handles its wealth, by sustaining a positive flow of cash from the top to the bottom, and letting it bubble up through all the layers of a society, and when it returns to the top, appropriate taxation starts the cycle all over again.
In a such a society, there are still wealthy families, and there are poor, as well, but the gap is smaller, as it should be.
The terrible and growing gap in our society between the wealthy and the poor is an affront to God, the deepest kind of violation of justice. If Christians are biblical (and what's the alternative?), they have to face these alarming trends, and as followers of Christ, work to keep wealth flowing throughout a society rather than allow it to rise to the top and stagnating there, even as more flows upward, finally starving the economy for 90% of the population.
As Paul the Apostle wrote:
I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written,
“The one who had much did not have too much,
and the one who had little did not have too little.”
Eventually ending up at the top.
Some have suggested that, once at the top, it trickles down.
Wrong.
Once at the top, there it stays, as we have witnessed in the last 40 years, with the growing hyper-concentration of wealth in upper ranks of American families.
The wealthiest 1 percent of families owns roughly 34.3% of the nation's net worth, the top 10% of families owns over 71%, and the bottom 40% of the population owns way less than 1% (Click HERE for more info).
Trickle-down economic theories are one of the biggest lies ever perpetrated on the American public. The fact is: once it bubbles to the top, as all money does, it stays there. Period.
Unless the federal government does what good government should do - tax the wealth at the top and put it to work by infusing it into the lower reaches of our society - pumping it into the renovation of our schools with good salaries for our teachers; improving our roads and light-rail systems for our cities; supporting our cities; funding the arts; promoting research on global warming; cleaning up the environment; wind turbines; alternative fuels, and with single-payer health insurance, the money would go directly to the providers of health-care rather than the billions currently siphoned off by the insurance companies and their high-salaried CEOs.
Money always bubbles up.
Unless appropriate taxation helps return billions to the lower reaches of a society, the poor will only grow poorer and the wealthy, of course, will only grow wealthier.
The United States stands alone with its infantile fixation on trickle-down economic theories and its fear of taxation.
We have to pay attention to how the rest of world handles its wealth, by sustaining a positive flow of cash from the top to the bottom, and letting it bubble up through all the layers of a society, and when it returns to the top, appropriate taxation starts the cycle all over again.
In a such a society, there are still wealthy families, and there are poor, as well, but the gap is smaller, as it should be.
The terrible and growing gap in our society between the wealthy and the poor is an affront to God, the deepest kind of violation of justice. If Christians are biblical (and what's the alternative?), they have to face these alarming trends, and as followers of Christ, work to keep wealth flowing throughout a society rather than allow it to rise to the top and stagnating there, even as more flows upward, finally starving the economy for 90% of the population.
As Paul the Apostle wrote:
I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written,
“The one who had much did not have too much,
and the one who had little did not have too little.”
Monday, February 16, 2009
California Repubs
Am I nuts?
Is there something I'm missing?
All across the nation, Repubs are digging in their heels and "just saying no" to recovery, to stimulus, to spending and to taxes.
Am I deluded by ObamaNation, am I a thoughtless bleeding-heart liberal who loves to tax and spend?
California's in trouble, and for months now, we've been trying to frame a state budget, and last night, one Republican pulled a vote and the measure failed. It seems that it was an issue of raising some taxes. Governor Schwarzenegger would have signed off on it, but his own party failed to stand and be counted.
Not that I'm pleased with the taxes to be raised: sales and gasoline among others, which hit the poorest of the poor the hardest.
But at least it's a beginning to replenish spent coffers and save the jobs of millions of Californians who depend upon state construction projects and state jobs.
At what point does principle become bullheadedness?
When that principle is held in isolation from all other factors! Even the greatest truth, when held in isolation from other truths, becomes a lie!
Having lost the election and taken a beating in the polls, the Repubs are knee-jerking back to their so-called principles, after violating them for years.
They cut taxes for the wealthy and borrowed hundreds of billions from the world to fund our way of life, fight two wars, despoil the environment, deny health care to children and threaten the wellbeing of millions of seniors across the land.
Repub philosophy has taken this nation downward, and much of the world with it. We are teetering on the brink of disaster, and the Repubs seem paralyzed - rather than thinking their way through the past, they now seek some bizarre form of redemption by retreating into a "principled" recalcitrance further adding to our woes.
There are no easy answers to our present predicament, but just saying no is no answer at all.
P.S. check out "watching Republicans grieve" - a new HBO documentary.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Daschle and Taxes
Who are these guys?They get away without paying their taxes ... but if my wife and I missed a year, they'd be all over us.
As much as I have liked Tom Daschel, I'm glad he pulled his name, whether by choice of pressure. We need women and men of character, who love this nation enough to pay their taxes, who can set a model of behavior worthy of the name American.
Why would a man like Daschle not pay taxes?
Is it greed?
Is it carelessness?
Whatever it is, it's wrong.
Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes said, according to Justice Frankfurter, "I like paying taxes. With them, I buy civilization."
Biden was right: paying taxes is patriotic, and more importantly, taxes go way beyond charity, which is a good thing, but only rarely can charity confront and change the sources of human suffering, a task only good government can bring about.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Hope
The Republican Party is in a state of total collapse.
It's principle literary energy - The National Review - is without moral compass with the loss of the two Buckleys, one by death (Bill) and the other by resignation (Christopher) after his endorsement of Obama.
Palin continues to flap her wings, a parody of herself.
Mike Huckabee has a new book coming out - click here - but it's full of old ideas. Though he tries to move beyond the ideology and orthodoxy of the GOPalin group, preliminary reviews indicate that the GOP is very tired, and very irrelevant to the times.
He proposes a sales tax rather than income tax. Sound simple? I suppose it is, but it's discriminatory toward the poor, because in a sales tax structure, the poor always pay more than the rich - ten dollars out of a hundred is a whole lot more than a hundred out of a thousand, and so on. The biblical observation holds true: of those who have much, much is required.
And Biden was right - it IS patriotic to pay taxes, just like it's right to pay for your groceries. The Reagan lies - that we can have everything we want, without strings, without cost, without taxes - is the greatest lie every told, and the greater story, however, is that so many of us believed it.
The Greedy Old Party - for now, put it to rest and let it alone. Who knows, in another ten days, Palin will have disappeared from the media - let her hunt moose (hope she misses like she did in the campaign - the moose deserve a better life than being a trophy for her raging ego and limited intellect).
It's time for thoughtful and mostly liberal folks to understand that we've won a major victory, crossed a bridge no one knew to exist five years ago, and it's time for a new vision for America - not an ideological vision, but a NEW New Deal fit for the times - a globalized economy, environmental degradation, wars and rumor of wars on a regional scale rather than some post-Depression world war; the need to narrow the gap between the haves and the have-nots, health care, education and a well-regulated Wall Street.
Toward this end, I believe that Obama will bring a depth of thought and creativity - not to mention, civility - with the persona of authentic conviction long needed in the White House.
It will take years - the New Deal required a lot of time, and incurred a number of missteps along the way, but the New Deal rebuilt the nation - though a World War likely contributed mightily to the renewing of the economy.
As for the bailout, we need to put a lot of cash into the public sector - mass transit, bridges, school, playgrounds - to put folks back to work. Even an auto bailout, with plenty of strings, would be far better than paying the bills of Wall Street's greedy stupidity.
We have a chance.
America has a chance.
The world has a chance.
Let's make it work.
It's principle literary energy - The National Review - is without moral compass with the loss of the two Buckleys, one by death (Bill) and the other by resignation (Christopher) after his endorsement of Obama.
Palin continues to flap her wings, a parody of herself.
Mike Huckabee has a new book coming out - click here - but it's full of old ideas. Though he tries to move beyond the ideology and orthodoxy of the GOPalin group, preliminary reviews indicate that the GOP is very tired, and very irrelevant to the times.
He proposes a sales tax rather than income tax. Sound simple? I suppose it is, but it's discriminatory toward the poor, because in a sales tax structure, the poor always pay more than the rich - ten dollars out of a hundred is a whole lot more than a hundred out of a thousand, and so on. The biblical observation holds true: of those who have much, much is required.
And Biden was right - it IS patriotic to pay taxes, just like it's right to pay for your groceries. The Reagan lies - that we can have everything we want, without strings, without cost, without taxes - is the greatest lie every told, and the greater story, however, is that so many of us believed it.
The Greedy Old Party - for now, put it to rest and let it alone. Who knows, in another ten days, Palin will have disappeared from the media - let her hunt moose (hope she misses like she did in the campaign - the moose deserve a better life than being a trophy for her raging ego and limited intellect).
It's time for thoughtful and mostly liberal folks to understand that we've won a major victory, crossed a bridge no one knew to exist five years ago, and it's time for a new vision for America - not an ideological vision, but a NEW New Deal fit for the times - a globalized economy, environmental degradation, wars and rumor of wars on a regional scale rather than some post-Depression world war; the need to narrow the gap between the haves and the have-nots, health care, education and a well-regulated Wall Street.
Toward this end, I believe that Obama will bring a depth of thought and creativity - not to mention, civility - with the persona of authentic conviction long needed in the White House.
It will take years - the New Deal required a lot of time, and incurred a number of missteps along the way, but the New Deal rebuilt the nation - though a World War likely contributed mightily to the renewing of the economy.
As for the bailout, we need to put a lot of cash into the public sector - mass transit, bridges, school, playgrounds - to put folks back to work. Even an auto bailout, with plenty of strings, would be far better than paying the bills of Wall Street's greedy stupidity.
We have a chance.
America has a chance.
The world has a chance.
Let's make it work.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Joe Biden - True Patriot
The following was written in reply to a ton of snotty remarks made about Biden's take on patriotism and taxes - see original story HERE.
I wrote:
Americans are sick when it comes to taxes, and we can thank Reagan, the Great Liar, for the disease. We expect the moon, and keep borrowing money like an adolescent child, putting off responsible policy for another generation. Yes, it's patriotic to pay taxes. All of us need to pay a little more and spend a little less on our toys and personal pleasures, most of which end up in next summer's garage sale and leave us wondering why in the world we ever bought it.
Corporations need to pay more in taxes, to make them lean and thoughtful - do they really need billion dollar mega-buildings, and tens of millions paid out to executives who are just as inept and clumsy as the rest of us?
The sickness of greed always results in disdain for the poor ... but I wonder how many of the blather-heads who've written their scalding notes about poverty know anything about it, how infected our economy really is, and the sickness of greed.
Patriotism?
We don't know what it is, and we haven't known for 50 years ... we've been on a silly lark of spend, spend, spend. Even as the Trade Towers were falling, Bush said, "Go out and shop." Shop till you drop, and we've dropped now.
Can we really be patriotic? Can we stand together with one another? Can this nation recover its regard for one and for all? Can we spend less on ourselves and more on our infrastructure, health care, education, and green technology?
Patriotism is all about sacrifice, and it's been a long time since we've had any help in learning the lessons of patriotism. We’ve settled for a fake instead: flag-waving and god-bless-america stuff without thought about the flag and what it really means, and what it really means to invoke the divine for our wellbeing.
Joe Biden is right. But the truth hurts, and the snotty retorts reveal just how tender the spot it. We’re selfish as hell. Our raw capitalism has fed the coffers of the wealth while depleting our treasury.
It's time to undo the lies of Reagan; it's time to recognize the falsehood of the Repub/Neo-con mantra, a philosophy of lies that has undone our greatness, ruined our reputation, sunk our economy, mired us in a senseless war, filled our minds with empty rhetoric and worsened the infection of greed.
It's time for us to pay attention to someone who has the guts to tell the Bible thumpers and the so-called shoot-'em-boys the sobering truth.
Joe Biden is a patriot of the highest kind!
I wrote:
Americans are sick when it comes to taxes, and we can thank Reagan, the Great Liar, for the disease. We expect the moon, and keep borrowing money like an adolescent child, putting off responsible policy for another generation. Yes, it's patriotic to pay taxes. All of us need to pay a little more and spend a little less on our toys and personal pleasures, most of which end up in next summer's garage sale and leave us wondering why in the world we ever bought it.
Corporations need to pay more in taxes, to make them lean and thoughtful - do they really need billion dollar mega-buildings, and tens of millions paid out to executives who are just as inept and clumsy as the rest of us?
The sickness of greed always results in disdain for the poor ... but I wonder how many of the blather-heads who've written their scalding notes about poverty know anything about it, how infected our economy really is, and the sickness of greed.
Patriotism?
We don't know what it is, and we haven't known for 50 years ... we've been on a silly lark of spend, spend, spend. Even as the Trade Towers were falling, Bush said, "Go out and shop." Shop till you drop, and we've dropped now.
Can we really be patriotic? Can we stand together with one another? Can this nation recover its regard for one and for all? Can we spend less on ourselves and more on our infrastructure, health care, education, and green technology?
Patriotism is all about sacrifice, and it's been a long time since we've had any help in learning the lessons of patriotism. We’ve settled for a fake instead: flag-waving and god-bless-america stuff without thought about the flag and what it really means, and what it really means to invoke the divine for our wellbeing.
Joe Biden is right. But the truth hurts, and the snotty retorts reveal just how tender the spot it. We’re selfish as hell. Our raw capitalism has fed the coffers of the wealth while depleting our treasury.
It's time to undo the lies of Reagan; it's time to recognize the falsehood of the Repub/Neo-con mantra, a philosophy of lies that has undone our greatness, ruined our reputation, sunk our economy, mired us in a senseless war, filled our minds with empty rhetoric and worsened the infection of greed.
It's time for us to pay attention to someone who has the guts to tell the Bible thumpers and the so-called shoot-'em-boys the sobering truth.
Joe Biden is a patriot of the highest kind!
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