tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499771266402854669.post3494940220925421252..comments2024-02-08T01:44:24.272-05:00Comments on ModeratePoli: Cut-only deficit reductionModeratePolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01721945380057992971noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499771266402854669.post-75284453893513171332011-08-08T15:49:05.690-04:002011-08-08T15:49:05.690-04:00ModeratePoli wanna cracker?
Sorry -- I couldn'...ModeratePoli wanna cracker?<br /><br />Sorry -- I couldn't resist. <br /><br />As you hint around, most of the issue is packaging, although the carnival barkers never let nuance gain any traction. They know without the constant loud distractions people will come to their sense and recognize the no-free-lunch truth and seek reasonable accommodations.<br /><br />But reasonable accommodation loses to absolutism and scapegoating every time. That's one reason I don't have much faith in people in general. (It's with more sadness than contempt, however.) "Tax" is a bad word so let's try "revenue enhancements". Oops. When necessary, the barkers will bark "TAX!! TAX!! TAX!!" anyway.<br /><br />I'm not moderate on this. It's time for the pitchfork-bearers to show up at the gated communities and demand back what they stole from the rest of us. It was all a trick, anyway. Why pay taxes to the government when you can LOAN the money to the government and actually get a return? This was the accidental discovery from the Reagan years, but the wealthy GOP clique really liked it so they went for it in spades with GWB.<br /><br />So definitely get money back from the wealthy, set it up so that they are always paying taxes rather than loaning the government the money, and reduce their return retroactively by, say, means-testing Social Security and Medicare benefits. Let 'em chew on that for a while. I suspect they're put up a ruckus, but in the end they will still be rich, and probably richer because then the rest of us can afford to buy the products the companies they own are selling.<br /><br />You see, in the end the wealthy's plan was foolish and self-defeating. (See: Wall Street the past two weeks.) They gain the most when the economy grows, and it grows when people are employed and have money to spend.<br /><br />Nobody ever said wealthy people are smart.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com