WASHINGTON MAKES ME WANNA PUKE

Wall Street needs you to sacrifice

Fairfield Daily Republic / The Other Side July 28, 2011

By Kelvin Wade

If you’re like me you’re angry and disgusted by what you’re seeing in Washington during these debt-ceiling negotiations.

I’m angry with President Obama for going to the trouble of putting together a debt commission and then dithering on the results. I’m tired of the audacity of hope. I want to see the audacity of action.

Add to that a pandering Democratic Party that wants to keep feeding the fiction to voters that we can have meaningful deficit reduction and not touch entitlements. Good luck with that.

Finally, we have an impotent Speaker of the House, John Boehner, who can’t control this crop of freshman tea party congressmen who act more like suicide bombers than statesmen. They’re ready to reduce the republic to rubble if they don’t get their way.

The most disgusting thing is the Republicans have been willing to drive the country off the cliff to protect one thing: the wealthiest Americans. Yes, there’s class warfare going on. And you’re the ones being slaughtered.

A CBS News poll finds that 66 percent of Americans believe a debt ceiling bill should have a mix of tax increases and cuts. The fact that a majority of Americans approve of higher taxes on gas/oil companies and those earning more than $250,000 a year has been consistent across polls since last year.

Astonishingly, according to Forbes, the top 400 Americans have nearly the wealth of the bottom 50 percent of Americans. Let me say it a different way. Four hundred people have nearly the wealth of 57 million households, a wealth disparity never before seen in America. The wealthiest have seen their incomes double since the Bush tax cuts were enacted. Has yours?

Why can’t we ask those making more than $250,000 a year, (that’s the top 2 percent) to go from a 35 percent rate to the Clinton tax rate of 39 percent? Keep in mind that under President Eisenhower the top rate was 91 percent. Even under Ronald Reagan for six of his eight years the top rate was 50 percent or higher. Is this sacrifice too much to ask?

We’re warned by GOP talking points not to “punish” the “job creators.” If they were the job creators and their incomes have doubled since the Bush tax cuts were enacted, then where are the jobs? There’s no question wealthy investors aid an economy but if you want to see who the job creators are, go look in a mirror. Two-thirds of the economy is consumer spending. When we spend, companies hire. No one is hiring because we don’t have the disposable income to spend.

Cutting spending is a must. And there’s no getting around entitlements. We’ve all got to sacrifice. But if there are no revenue increases on the people most able to afford it right now, that means the budget will be balanced on the backs of the middle class. It’s your family that will be affected by those necessary cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, student loans, education and more. At the same time, a Wall Street fat cat who helped screw this country isn’t asked to sacrifice anything. How fair is that? This is light years beyond a partisan issue.

The ironic thing about those who oppose increasing revenues is that if we default or suffer a credit downgrade, we’re all going to be paying more. And that’s a tax hike for everyone.

There’s class warfare going on all right. And it’s the middle class being screwed again. Peace.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

ADDITIONAL NOTES: I didn't want to write about this but it was just inside my gut. Roiling. I've laid out what I think. I'm not trying to change the minds of Tea Party "patriots" or people who read Republican talking points like the bible. It's all just disgusting. I wanna puke. I don't hate rich people. Don't hate the player. Hate the game. I definitely hate the game. I don't think we should "punish" the rich. I do think we should ask those of us who can pay more at this time in our history to pay more. The mechanism doesn't matter to me. If the government wants to raise marginal rates or do what is outlined in the debt commission report and that's lower rates but tighten loopholes so we're taking in more revenue. We could use some of that revenue to keep the payroll tax cut in place for the middle class or somehow use a portion of those revenues to put more money in the pockets of folks who will spend that money and drive this economy. Long term, most economists and even Republican commentators like David Brooks believes that taxes will have to go up for everyone. Just not now when the economy is so shaky.

Among the top 400, they're paying an 18% tax rate because taxes on dividends and capital gains are low. You're really rich in this country when your money makes money. It's not penalizing someone to ask them to contribute more. They can do it in this economy.

While it's true the Republicans are blocking any tax increase, of course, that's not the whole story. Yes, the Tea Party-led Republicans are economic terrorists. This goes back many years. Read THIS. And to Grover Norquist's antitax pledge. But while the Republicans are unashamed slaves to their corporate overlords, don't think the Democrats are much better. These parties are owned by the same people. If you look at the current administration and go back administration after administration, you'll see this revolving door of Wall Street/government leaders.

No question we have to cut spending. Raising taxes alone ain't gonna get it done. Not out to bankrupt some millionaire. Let's just balance this out.

They're eating the pie and we're fighting amongst ourselves for the crumbs in the tin.