....
Yeah, that about wraps up my feelings on the topic.
(Sorry, I'm dead tired.)
I'll try to get something more substantial out on the topic tomorrow.
The super brief version:
Our congress artificially manufactured a crisis and then spent the last few months trying desperately to "solve it," which really meant that congressional Republicans wanted an excuse to enact more austerity measures targeting people who are already in need in lieu of raising taxes on the wealthy.
And instead of compromising, they collectively shoved their heads back up Grover Norquist's ass.
Being the pushover he is, Obama opted to compromise despite having basically all the power in the situation. If the crisis hadn't been averted, all blame would have rest squarely on the Republican members of congress, effectively ensuring even more bad publicity behind them (not that that seems to be doing any good). So, it was in the Republicans' best interest to do whatever the Democrats wanted.
This continued war over taxation on the wealthy is dumb.
It's already been proven most of these people are not small business owners (as speaker Boehner likes to claim), so the claim that they need the money is drowned out by the sound of number of yachts owned by these few rich folks.
If you take money out of social security and safety net programs, you're taking away the very necessary food and medicine that many people desperately need to help get them out of poverty.
If you tax the wealthy more, they can only take six family vacations instead of five each year (WARNING: Totally made-up consequence. In reality, wealthy people being targeted are not often at risk of running out of money, so they can still do whatever the hell they want because that's how being wealthy works).
I'm tired and I know I'm being exceedingly critical of wealthy people (intentionally geared towards the top .1% rather than simply the top 1%), but they have more than they will ever need or ever use.
The ultimate argument ends up being thus:
Should people have the freedom to be greedy jerks or not?
I'm all for the freedom to pursue happiness within reasonable bounds. If you're happiest murdering people, I have a problem with you.
If you're happiest amassing wealth solely to safeguard it and you have no plans on lubricating the economy by actually spending it, then I have a problem with you.
It's like sitting down to play a board game and creating your own win condition that makes everyone else miserable.
[I'm making a million bad arguments, and I realize this. I'm sorry, I just don't have the mental capacity right now...]
-
Wad
No comments:
Post a Comment