Posted on 04/30/2012 11:03:16 AM PDT by pabianice
The iconic writer scolds the superrich (including himself—and Mitt Romney) for not giving back, and warns of a Kingsian apocalyptic scenario if inequality is not addressed in America.
Chris Christie may be fat, but he ain’t Santa Claus. In fact, he seems unable to decide if he is New Jersey’s governor or its caporegime, and it may be a comment on the coarsening of American discourse that his brash rudeness is often taken for charm. In February, while discussing New Jersey’s newly amended income-tax law, which allows the rich to pay less (proportionally) than the middle class, Christie was asked about Warren Buffett’s observation that he paid less federal income taxes than his personal secretary, and that wasn’t fair. “He should just write a check and shut up,” Christie responded, with his typical verve. “I’m tired of hearing about it. If he wants to give the government more money, he’s got the ability to write a check—go ahead and write it.”
Heard it all before. At a rally in Florida (to support collective bargaining and to express the socialist view that firing teachers with experience was sort of a bad idea), I pointed out that I was paying taxes of roughly 28 percent on my income. My question was, “How come I’m not paying 50?” The governor of New Jersey did not respond to this radical idea, possibly being too busy at the all-you-can-eat cheese buffet at Applebee’s in Jersey City, but plenty of other people of the Christie persuasion did.
Cut a check and shut up, they said.
If you want to pay more, pay more, they said.
Tired of hearing about it, they said.
Tough **** for you guys, because I’m not tired of talking about it. I’ve known rich people, and why not, since I’m one of them? The majority would rather douse their dicks with lighter fluid, strike a match, and dance around singing “Disco Inferno” than pay one more cent in taxes to Uncle Sugar. It’s true that some rich folks put at least some of their tax savings into charitable contributions. My wife and I give away roughly $4 million a year to libraries, local fire departments that need updated lifesaving equipment (jaws of life are always a popular request), schools, and a scattering of organizations that underwrite the arts. Warren Buffett does the same; so does Bill Gates; so does Steven Spielberg; so do the Koch brothers; so did the late Steve Jobs. All fine as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough.
What charitable 1-percenters can’t do is assume responsibility—America’s national responsibilities: the care of its sick and its poor, the education of its young, the repair of its failing infrastructure, the repayment of its staggering war debts. Charity from the rich can’t fix global warming or lower the price of gasoline by one single red penny. That kind of salvation does not come from Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Ballmer saying, “Okay, I’ll write a $2 million bonus check to the IRS.” That annoying responsibility stuff comes from three words that are anathema to the Tea Partiers: United American citizenry.
And hey, why don’t we get real about this? Most rich folks paying 28 percent taxes do not give out another 28 percent of their income to charity. Most rich folks like to keep their dough. They don’t strip their bank accounts and investment portfolios, they keep them and then pass them on to their children, their children’s children. And what they do give away is—like the monies my wife and I donate—totally at their own discretion. That’s the rich-guy philosophy in a nutshell: Don’t tell us how to use our money; we’ll tell you.
The Koch brothers are right-wing creepazoids, but they’re giving right-wing creepazoids. Here’s an example: 68 million fine American dollars to Deerfield Academy. Which is great for Deerfield Academy. But it won’t do squat for cleaning up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, where food fish are now showing up with black lesions. It won’t pay for stronger regulations to keep BP (or some other bunch of dipshit oil drillers) from doing it again. It won’t repair the levees surrounding New Orleans. It won’t improve education in Mississippi or Alabama. But what the hell—them li’l crackers ain’t never going to go to Deerfield Academy anyway. F--- em if they can’t take a joke.
Part 1 of 3 disappointing parts
Hey, Stephen, paisan...if you want less of something, tax it. That’s a fact.
On the other hand, if you feel this strongly about wrong-headed economics, go ahead and stroke a really BIG check.
You go first. OK? OK.
Another rich guy screaming to be taxed more but strange how not a single one of them has led by example yet.
Hey, King, WRITE A FREAKING CHECK AND STFU.
“Should it be the same amount for each person?”
###
Yes it should.
I’ve been saying that for years.
This MUCH more fair and rational system would solve SO much that is wrong with government and public policy.
How about if DETERMINATION, DRIVE AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY are not address, hmmm?
Feed a man a fish.......
All net worth over 5 million will be taken by government on behalf of the people. So if Stephen King is worth 1 billion he will need to write a check to the IRS for 995 million leaving him with the maximum allowed net worth of 5 mil. As long as he or anyone else maintains a net worth of 5 mil then ALL earnings will be taxed away and made payable to the federal government on behalf of the people.
This is a fair system because no one actually needs more than 5 million to live. The money in excess of 5 million is "the peoples" money. Oh, and If you don't pay, we slap the cuffs on you, march you off to prison and take everything.
Sound good Mr. King?
I have $20 that says King doesn’t fill out a 1040EZ so he can maximize his taxes to his Uncle Sugar.
Not surprising at all...King has been a part of the loony left for years. What is curious, is that so many of his books have conservative to semi-conservative themes...self-reliance, individual worth, suspicion of big government, etc. In his book, "Cell" (which I believe was his first post-Katrina book) he almost talked himself into rationalizing the right of people to keep and bear arms.
Got a better idea, Mr. King.
Set up a foundation promoting something useful, like literacy. Leave yourself a comfortable stipend to live on and assign everything else to the foundation. Then you can feel smug and superior AND you won’t need any extra taxation.
The local liberal fishwrap recently had an article where King was lauding his government-subsidized Chevy Volt and it included a picture of him plugging it into a “free” outlet (provided by the taxpayers) in a Sarasota city parking garage. King has a mega-mansion somewhere in the Sarasota area.
Funny how rich liberals don’t have any compunction about using other taxpayers’ dollars—and seem to hate being taxpayers themselves ala Geithner.
Very hard to argue with that logic. Apparently, the mass of enormous wealth creates such a huge gravitational tug on the brain that the brain mashes-up on the inside of the skull closest to the money. This, of course, seriously interferes with the higher brain functions, like reason, memory, and sense of humor. I see the problem.
The ability of the feds to put cash on the street will degrade rapidly in the next administration. March 2012...60% of the federal budget was borrowed....and most of the borrowing went out the door to “Federal beneficiaries”
so when all these rich guys scream about increased tax rates being needed...at some level its their own pocketbooks starting to get pinched.
Well then Steven, write a $#@&ing check!
Stephen King needs to release his tax returns for the last several years for public inspection. If he has never voluntarily paid additional taxes from all of the money he doesn’t want - or has ever taken deductions, etc. and accepted a tax return check, then this is hypocritical and not to be taken seriously. Write the check to the IRS or to charities - etc. And if you don’t like making money why do you keep selling books trying to make more of it?
Write that address on a standard size envelope,place the appropriate first class postage on the envelope and *in* that envelope place a personal check,made out to the Treasury.*You* pick what you think is the appropriate amount of the check....$1000,or $10,000,or $100,000,000 or any other amount you wish.
Problem solved.You will have paid "your fair share".And for the first time in years you'll be able to sleep at night.
Dear Mr King,
Did you know we can download all of your books off of the torrents and not have to pay you jack, leaving you with less wealth so you wont have to be burdened with giving it to D.C.?
Sleep tight.
Trust me, he'll be paying more...
So we now know how Buffet suddenly became a Hussein stooge — Buffet owes BILLIONS and is fighting it, but what does Hussein have on King?
Did Hussein’s ghost writer tell him that Stephen King hasn’t written a book in 20 years?
Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he’ll feed himself and his family for the rest of his life.
But give a man a welfare check, a 32-ounce bottle of malt liquor and a crack pipe and he’ll be a loyal Democrat voter for the rest of his life.
LOL. Sadly, that's all too correct.
Just go online to pay.gov, and you can have the government take it directly out of your bank account anytime you want.
Sai King, you have forgotten the face of your father.
Did anyone ask him whether he takes a tax deduction for all that charitable giving?
Please use this string for reasoned replies. Every personally-directed flame post simply reinforces King’s negative view of conservatives. He writes floridly — that’s his style. Be better here.
Rose Kennedy declared herself a resident of Florida sense 1960 because of taxes.
Conservatives believe in Charity to care for all the unfortunate in this country. And Charities can do that. Liberals believe in the government taking care if everything. I would prefer that our extra money, that which we wish to donate , go to causes and charities of our choosing. It has been said to me ‘but you aren’t necessarily donating to the right people/places’. My answer is: it should be MY CHOICE where my Charitable contributions go! They want control of everything and, in the end, that is just Communism.
However, let me say this. There is nothing stopping him from paying more. He can cut a check to the government tomorrow, and they'll gladly accept it.
I wonder what his well-compensated accountant, or team of accountants, thinks about his comments?
Increasing taxes on the rich is an assault on savings which is an assault on capital accumulation which is an assault on productivity of labor which means less economic progress.
Egalitarianism is an abolition of cost in the spending of income and the abolition of causality in the earning of income. It cause people to demand everything and do nothing.It is also is an assault on saving, investment, and capital accumulation.It also leads to an assault on natural rights by the increased use of force.
I’ve seen a few of the movie adaptions of his books and liked them. Silver Bullet comes to mind.
The first actual King novel I tried to read was Cell. Fascinating premise.
IMO the sentence structure, vocabulary, is eighth grade.
If that’s his usual writing, forget it. I couldn’t get past chapter 2. Might not have been that far.
IMHO, over the course of decades, he's continued trying to reach the lowest common denominator to sell books. As the American public has become decreasingly literate, King has continued to try to sell books (and screen plays) by writing to the bread, circuses and shiny object crowd.
As much as I dislike his politics, he's certainly a capable story teller, and I think any aspiring writer would do well to read his On Writing, in which he openly admits to writing "schlock" to pay his bills, and indulging his more serious pursuits elsewhere, often under pseudonym.
It will be interesting to see how history regards him. Much of his horror is immediate and strikes a chord by taking a common place object, device or situation and making it dangerous (i.e. "Cell", "Christine," "Cujo" etc.) When those objects or situations grow obsolete, the horror will most likely lose its effect. On the other hand, I think his Dark Tower books will have a lot of staying power...JMHO
Your point well made - King writes the same book over and over again.
As far as setting up a literacy foundation, as someone suggested above, literate readers would not stoop down to read the kind of penny dreadfuls that King produces.
He’s at best a third rate author. I read a few of his books years ago, and gave up on him.
Some of his earlier stuff was good. But the writing style was familiar and he ran out of gripping ideas/images...more noodles, less sauce.
These days I pretty much despise everything formulaic, no matter how well written, and pass on the horror genre altogether...
After several days of agonizing reading, I managed to get through King’s “Tommyknockers”. Reading it was sheer torture.
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