Posted on 09/20/2011 7:46:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
President Obama and the Democrats are finally happy. Liberated from thoughts of compromise with Republicans, they can fully indulge their most lascivious pleasure — trashing rich people. “We simply cannot afford these special lower rates for the wealthy,” President Obama declared in his Rose Garden message Monday.
“Give ’Em Hell, Barry” cheered Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker. Hertzberg was chipper. Not so Paul Krugman of the New York Times, the Democratic party’s choleric scold: “The rage of the rich has been building ever since Mr. Obama took office,” he glowered. “And among the undeniably rich, a belligerent sense of entitlement has taken hold: it’s their money, and they have the right to keep it.” Imagine.
The president, brimming with indignation, asserts that “hedge-fund managers” are paying taxes at a lower rate than “teachers and firefighters.” “How can you defend that?” he demands.
You don’t have to defend that, because it isn’t true. This synthetic outrage about the taxes paid by the super-rich — the so-called Buffett Rule — is the greatest waste of political time and energy in recent memory.
As Stephen Moore, an economics writer for the Wall Street Journal, has observed, we cannot know with certainty what Warren Buffett paid in taxes (and he is certainly free to write a larger check to the IRS). But “according to the Congressional Budget Office, middle-class families in 2007 (earning between $34,000 and $50,000) paid an effective 14.3% of their income in all federal taxes. The top 5% of income earners paid 27.9% and the top 1% paid 29.5%. And what about the highest earners? Americans with annual incomes above $2 million paid an average 32% of their income in federal taxes in 2005 (the most recent year for which data are available).”
In 2008, Charlie Gibson questioned Barack Obama about his desire to raise the capital-gains tax. Gibson reminded candidate Obama that presidents Clinton and Bush had reduced the capital-gains tax rate. “And in each instance, when the rate dropped, revenues from the tax increased; the government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down. So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?”
“Well, Charlie,” Mr. Obama replied, “What I’ve said is that I would look at raising the capital-gains tax for purposes of fairness.”
So it isn’t a matter of raising revenue — and by most estimates, the amount raised by a millionaires surtax would be trifling compared with the size of the national debt — it’s a matter of sticking it to those guys with the “belligerent sense of entitlement” to their own property.
Well, I’m for the rich, and not just because the top 1 percent of earners in America paid 38 percent of income taxes in 2008. And not just because I suspect that attempting to tax the rich more will only lead to more tax avoidance, not more tax revenues for the federal government. I’m for the rich because, with some exceptions, they’ve earned their money. A Prince and Associates study found that only 10 percent of multi-millionaires had inherited their wealth.
In the process of earning their wealth, the rich have created products, services, and whole industries that have dramatically improved my work life, my family life, and my health. I’m so grateful to them for the GPS, iPads, non-drowsy antihistamines, smartphones, XM radio, and The Teaching Company courses — to name only a few advances of the past decade or two.
I’m for the rich because nearly all of the rich people I’ve met are extremely public-spirited. They volunteer. They form committees to improve things in their communities. And they are incredibly generous with their money. As Arthur C. Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute notes, “The top 10 percent of households in income are responsible for at least a quarter of all the money contributed to charity, and households with total wealth exceeding $1 million give about half of all charitable donations.” In general, I think they probably make wiser choices in their charitable giving than the federal government would make if it took their money and spent it.
I’m for the rich because they create the dynamism and energy of a growing economy. The rich create businesses and hire people.
A wealthy person gave me my first job. And I’ll bet the same is true of you.
I’m for the rich and for all the people who simply want an opportunity to become rich — opportunities that are becoming scarcer with every passing day of Mr. Obama’s presidency.
— Mona Charen is a nationally syndicated columnist
My first job was with a nonprofit, but I think I am part of a very small minority there.
One of the things I learned was that I did not want to ever work for a nonprofit company again.
Liberals always get their jobs from poor people. After all, liberals would never work for evil people like the rich.
Many years ago, someone told me...Give a poor man a dollar and he spend it. Give a rich man a dollar and he’ll turn it into two.
Too bad Barry got rich by Running for President and writing a couple of books.....And will get richer after his Presidency(I’m guessing at least 1 more book and lots of money for giving speeches!)
RE: My first job was with a nonprofit
Your nonprofit receives its money from many people who have the money to donate. Many of them are rich. So, indirectly you got from first job from the generosity of the rich as well.
When’s the last time anyone got a job from a homeless person?
I have never worked for a poor person. Even when I was in the Navy.....if I’m not mistaken, the owner of the Navy is very rich.
The greedy poor like to sponge off the rich and not so rich.
I work for the ultimate capitalist enterprise - a small start up company where we all own a chunk of the company (the VCs own most of it). We all hope to make some money on it someday. I’m amazed at the ultra liberals in our enterprise — those who love taxing the rich and punishing success. I just don’t know how they survive the cognitive dissonance. My brain would disolve into quivering mush if I had to simultaneously believe in two such diametrically opposed ideas.
I know rich people, middle class people, and poor people. Of the 3 groups, the rich people are the ones that are willing and able to create jobs.
And most of my jobs have involved working for rich folks (rich by oBama’s definition).
They are looking forward to getting rich so they can pay huge taxes and support our great nation. [/sarc]
You need to work on your "doublethink", this is a necessary survival skill in the post 1984 era.
Regards,
GtG
and yes I worked for many wealthy before I worked for my self..
if not for the wealthy where would this country be??? obama needs to loose it all and try starting all over..he would be lost and he will be lost when he leaves office on Jan. 20, 2013...
OH HAPPY DAY THAT WILL BE
The premises behind a ‘non-profit’ are intellecutally dishonbest and morally bankrupt.
Also - I’ve never been hired by a poor individual.
Where do these morons think wealth comes from?
Those with wealth are important engines within an economy since they are able to invest, sponser, expand and start new enterprises.
What I loathe is the attitude of hating the rich because they are rich.
I believe this comes from two primary feelings:
The first of these is driven by the idea that wealth is limited and so for someone to be rich, they must have made others poor.
The second I think is just simple jealously. Individuals look at the possessions of another and, unable to buy their own, want to tear that person down.
They work for the poor people, or so they say. They most likely have a job because of a rich businessman providing the opportunity for them. They will never say they are rich, because they despise the rich. If for some reason they do either make or come into some money, they FEEL guilty. They want the rich people (even though most of them are conservatives) to feel guilty as well. My Dad always said the quickest way to turn a liberal into a conservative is to let them have a little money. It’s easy to spend other people’s money, but it’s a lot harder if the money being spent is your own.
"Rage of the rich"? Really?!
The only raging I've heard is from the parasite class and the Øbongobots. They are fiscal crack-whores looking for another fix and completely indifferent to who they damage in their craven pursuit.
If you don't make a profit, you're doing it wrong.
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