Whilst I was enjoying my morning repast today my man called my attention to a startling item in the newspaper. It seems that the obscenely wealthy people who actually run this country have proven willing to give up part of their next tax cut to the merely incredibly wealthy people. Well, I have to say that is extraordinarily (what is the word I am looking for?) extraordinarily white of them.
I have decided to write to Mr, Trump informing him of my approbation for this move by the obscenely wealthy people who run this country. At the same time, it occurs to me that it would be unfair to make them bear the burden for their largesse. I believe that the tax cut should be enlarged so that they can, whilst sharing with their less fortunate incredibly wealthy neighbors, continue to receive the tax cut they so richly deserve. I shall ask Mr. Trump to have that Mike fellow who works for him make such provision in the final tax bill. Surely there is still some money earmarked for widows and orphans that could be used for the purpose. So using it would, as Paul Ryan never tires of pointing out, restore to the widows and orphans the dignity of getting by without government help. My plan seems like a winner all the way around, what?
Well, these tax breaks are predicated on the great ones being job creators. I would propose structuring the tax so that their taxes are reduced if they create lots of well paying jobs, and increased if they don't.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone still believe in trickle down? Someone usually just ends up getting trickled on.
DeleteEnough people must believe in it to keep re-electing these yahoos. I think the brainwashing of the last forty years has calcified it in.
DeleteTom,
ReplyDeleteA belated acknowledgement of your list of comments on my gun suicide post. I have been very busy the last several days.
Maybe you should consider a blog "Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics" with your comments on charts and graphs. Maybe its only us data people who would read it, but I think a lot would enjoy it.
I shall be looking for more charts to serve as a catalyst.
Jack, I heard an expert on Tom Ashbrook's show today saying that gun deaths have been decreasing. And, yup, Vox showed (with an uptick at the end) a decrease in gun homicides paralleling the decrease in crime generally -- which no one knows about because it occurred on Obama's watch. But since the subject of the program was mass killing, and since the show was a response to recent events, the comment didn't prove anything other than that the true believers in the Supreme Court's crabbed interpretation of the Second Amendment will say anything to avoid connecting gun violence to guns.
DeleteFrom what I've seen on the news, the tax change will make the poorest pay a bit more and will benefit the richest, including Trump. One can only wonder how they will pay the bills without those taxes on the rich .. oh, right, cut all benefits to those less fortunate.
ReplyDeleteCrystal, You got it.
DeleteI am reminded, as in so many other ways, of the Byzantine Empire. The main economic reason that the empire fell was that the ruling class had found so many ways to exclude their large landed estates and monopolistic control of trade (which themselves had displaced everything else) from taxation. The tax receipts for the central government fell to a point where it could not support or defend itself. Of course, as invaders took over more and more of the empire, the former Byzantine nobles and officials switched sides. If they weren't killed outright.
ReplyDeleteThe rich have been extracting themselves from society, but they want the benefits that affect them directly, paid for by someone else. The Right can't see this. The Right takes our society for granted, like the babies they are.
I can't let the Church off the hook here either. My general sense is that despite the little Catholic Social Teaching says about they economy (kumbaya everybody!!) people talk about things like a living wage and "redistribution" (as though the rich should simply share their justified profits) like an advanced form of charity. If fact, what we are seeing are nothing more than rich parasites and this tax bill proves it. Again.
In the meantime, everyone is fighting over a heightened tax burden created by our declining wages and not at all focusing on what caused this.
YES! "What caused this." Several of my students tell me they want to teach college. I have arranged to meet them at an offsite location and explain things to them, just so they know what they're getting into. What is happening in higher ed is happening in K-12 public education and private enterprise: We're all under employed, under paid, and responsible for cobbling up a life out of two or three jobs while the rich keep more of the fruits of our labor and then bitch about taxes.
DeleteI would like to apologize for my poorly written almost incoherent post. I'm brain dead. And the reason is that I am almost dead for real. I've been out of work for more than two years now, with no insurance and without eating much the last few days of each month.
DeleteHowever, if someone wants to give me access, I would be happy to post here. I have a lot more to say on this topic and would love to leave this world on the back of one more outraged screed.
Patrick, I don't think your post was incoherent at all. And it's just fine (speaking for myself) if you want to post more on this subject, or any other. When you speak of leaving this world, I hope you don't have something serious going on which makes that likely to happen soon.
DeleteJesus, Patrick, what's going on? I know you've had health problems. Are things worse? Can I help or make some calls for you? Lord knows I'm not firing on all cylinders these days either, but together we might be able to work up enough wattage to get you some help. Email me: raber1954@gmail
DeleteWell, I certainly think that we need more posters on this blog. I am very busy getting all my garden and yardwork done before I have my hernia operation in November. So I am hard pressed to keep up my civic duty of a post a week and a comment a day.
ReplyDeleteI always look forward to Unagidon's posts. Never before saw anything about tax cuts and the fall of an empire and that's interesting. The western empire saw concentration if wealth in the form of land before its fall. Question with this empire is, what'll get US first?
ReplyDeleteThere's a holdup in the Bronx,
Brooklyn's broken out in fights,
There's a traffic jam in Harlem
that's backed up to Jackson Heights,
There's a scout troop shirt a child,
Krushchev's due at Idlewild,
CAR 54, WHERE AAAARE YOU?
Unagidon is Patrick Shannon, see above. And THANKS A LOT for that ear worm.
DeletePatrick,
ReplyDeleteI thought your comment was great. Especially the Roman part. The Catholic part was a little more vague, but I got the general point. Despite the philosophical accomplishments of Catholic Social Thought, namely the ability to be specific in a philosophical language that could potentially be accepted by those outside Christianity, our preaching has failed to target the core of the economic system. Hence Francis return to more biblical and prophetic language and gestures.
Patrick, I'd be happy to see more posts from you. Sorry things are so worrisome for you right now.
ReplyDeleteWill someone please get Patrick access? If I could remember how to do it, I would. Or does it take the Administrator now?
ReplyDeleteCan someone find him a job, too? Every company needs its own Sir Charles Peckerwood, and there seems to be a shortage of them these days.
The method for becoming an author/contributor is described in one of the initial posts here
ReplyDeleteIf making a comment on that post gets you in, Patrick did that on May 7th much later than the rest of us; so perhaps David did not see it.
I got my ticket because I was sent an e-mail by David. But David got my e-mail address because I was part of the e-mail conversation between the Commonweal Blog and this Blog. Patrick was not part of that conversation, maybe David does not know his e-mail.
If someone has Patrick's e-mail and knows David's e-mail forward it to David. Maybe that will solve the problem.
As I commented in another thread, if Patrick or anyone else will send me his address at david.nickol@gmail.com, I will most definitely send him an invitation to sign up as a contributor!
ReplyDelete