Even Liberals Know How to Loot
October 23, 2003
Paul Krugman has found his muse; a gaggle of pragmatically-challenged economists. In an op-ed for the New York Times (aka The Upper Westside Pravda), Krugman questions the fairness of giving tax breaks to those who actually pay the taxes. Why be subtle?
Krugman aims his big gun at the economic heart of America’s real middle class...those who pay taxes. His dumdum ammunition is Nobel economist George Akerlof et al. A critique of Krugman’s trajectory (hopefully we won’t give the surprise ending away) reads something like this, “Except for loving themselves, liberals hate anybody not on welfare.”
Akerlof, for those too busy working to care, was one of three UC Berkeley professors who signed a petition lambasting tax relief for those who pay taxes. In February, that petition became a full page political advertisement in the NYT’s...paid for by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a “nonpartisan think tank”.
Interestingly, EPI, which can afford full page NYT’s ads, pays no taxes...another nonprofit expecting the taxpayer to foot the bill. Oh yeah, one other item...the “nonpartisan” EPI was organized and run by such “nonpartisan” luminaries as Robert Reich, Lester Thurow, Julianne Malveaux and union boss Jay Mazur. It’s funny how the Heritage Foundation is a “conservative” think tank but liberal entrails like EPI are always “nonpartisan”.
Krugman’s position, which he sort of lifts from Akerlof et al, is that Bush’s tax cuts place, “the very solvency of the federal government...at stake.” Of course, Krugman and company never take fault with unrestricted spending on entitlement giveaways for those who don’t pay taxes. Liberals don’t care about the $33 Billion per year giveaway of Earned Income Credits to “the working poor”; it’s the “threat” of a 2% tax cut for the taxpaying middle class that raises their ire. Excuse me...I meant for the taxpaying “rich”.
You have to understand that average people like us upset the hell out of the elites with our ignorance; we just don’t get the reality, as understood by the Krugman-Akerlof cabal, that anyone reporting income of more than $28,000 is “rich”. Curiously, the “rich” pay 96.4% of the income taxes.
Rocket-science boy Krugman and his PhD buddies want to raise your taxes so that America can, “avoid a Latin-American-style fiscal crisis....” Specifically, Akerlof is certain that cutting your taxes, “means that the government will not have the revenues it needs to pay its bills...things like Social Security, Medicare and an effective military.” Conveniently, Akerlof forgets to note that Social Security and Medicare are funded from FICA and Medicare “Employment” taxes, not “Individual” income taxes.
“Employment” taxes are those pesky things like “Social Security and Medicare taxes, and Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA)” that you pay for the privilege of having a job that enables you to pay the “Individual” income tax. There’s salvation in the knowledge that batting .300 can win you a Nobel Prize.
The entire liberal cabal makes the ad nauseam argument that tax cuts will bankrupt the already bankrupt Social Security pogrom...I mean program. Individual income tax cuts have nothing to do with Social Security...a truth the liberals hate to admit. Social Security is funded by an Employment tax which is supposed to be held in trust for your retirement.
The Congress has been looting this trust for decades; they buy votes today with your retirement dollars and give you relatively worthless IOU’s for tomorrow. The Social Security “crisis”, like “homelessness” becomes an issue when a Republican is President. Although the “borrowing” of your retirement dollars has occurred for half a century, people like Krugman only write about it when a Republican is in the White House.
Krugman attacks the Bush tax cuts by explaining that, “George W. Bush is like a man who tells you that he's bought you a fancy new TV set for Christmas, but neglects to tell you that he charged it to your credit card....” At least with President Bush, you actually get the TV. The liberals prefer buying new TV’s for murderers, drug dealers and generally lazy bums...and you still get the bill. The liberal mantra is, “I will give you, I will give you, I will give you.” And they do deliver...by stealing your money and buying votes in an income redistribution scheme that would make Karl Marx jealous.
Krugman justifies his hatred of the Bush tax cuts because they, “...cut taxes on the wealthy (and) to some, but only some middle-income families.” Yeah...both the “wealthy” and “some middle-income families” refer to people who actually pay taxes. The fact that only 50% of the people who even file tax returns pay 96.4% of the taxes is never mentioned by your liberal saviors.
So what’s the big deal? Well, nothing more than the fact that any annual income greater than $28,000 lifts you into the top 50% of tax filers...those who pay all the taxes. Not to beat this to death, but you are also paying $33 Billion in giveaway credits for people who pay no taxes and think your’s should be raised even more.
The liberal solution? Akerlof recommends that your tax cuts should be revoked so that more money can be given to the states. Yeah right! Let’s get this straight. Give more of your income to the politicians in Washington, D.C. so that they can give it to the state politicians who, in turn, will see that as a green light for unrestricted spending à la California. Simply stated, “Just shut up and pay your taxes.” Nevertheless, we must all do our share to help incumbents keep greasing the patronage wheels and stay in office.
I’m only going to tell you about Akerlof’s second solution to prove how nutty these professors are...”I would target a short-term, limited-time-only decrease in the payroll tax — what individuals pay for Social Security and Medicare.” After whining about Social Security and Medicare going broke as a result of the Bush income tax cuts, Akerlof wants to cut the contributions that actually fund the trusts for these programs. That’s like saying that the cure for AIDS is an orgy of unprotected sex.
Krugman believes that, “The future of the nation depends,” on revoking your tax cuts because his buddy, Akerlof, told him that, “What we have here is a form of looting.” Looting the taxpayer with a mouthful of BS is something that the Krugman-Akerlof gaggle knows about. But don’t hate them. They are liberals and liberals just hate people who are neither Upper Westside dilettantes nor dependent on the government. Those of us in the middle are just the “rich” who pay so that the rest may play.
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