Ok, so Robert Reich, who we ALL know is my favorite Keynesian *sarcasm*, wrote an article for The Huffington Post on why we should raise taxes on the top earners in the country in order to get our economy back on track. Now, he isn't the first idiot to suggest this. Socialists have been screaming for years that the rich don't pay enough taxes. Of course, common sense should kick in and say to you, "The only time the government raises taxes like that is when they're trying to pay for whatever they're spending on. If they simply cut spending, there wouldn't be a need to raise taxes on anyone because the tax dollars that we pay in would go further, because the government isn't spending so much, thus it has more money, etc etc."
Of course, expecting Keynesians like Robert Reich and his ilk to have any common sense is like expecting the weather to clear up when you scream STOP RAINING at the top of your lungs. Here is the full article in question. Now, I'm going to debunk this type of nonsense step-by-step, like I usually do.
"My proposal to raise the marginal tax to 70 percent on incomes over $15 million, to 60 percent on incomes between $5 million and $15 million, and to 50 percent on incomes between $500,000 and $5 million, has generated considerable debate. Some progressives think it's pie-in-the-sky."
Umm... that's probably because what you're talking about IS pie-in-the-sky.
"Incidentally, during these years the nation's pre-tax income was far less concentrated at the top than it is now. In the mid-1970s, for example, the top 1 percent got around 9 percent of total income. By 2007, they got 23.5 percent. So if anything, the argument for a higher marginal tax should be even more realistic now than it was during the days when it was taken for granted."
This is a major talking point for the idiots who spew Keynesian nonsense. "The top 1-2% have all of the wealth so we need to distribute income through taxation."
The entire problem with this argument is the fact that the major talking point that is the argument's entire foundation is completely moot. How much money the top 1-2% has is completely irrelevant. Instead of asking, "How much does the top 1-2% have?", you should be asking, "How much does the top 1-2% earn?" Look closely at those two questions. HAVE and EARNED are two different things.
If they're earning their money, then you simply need to stop complaining. If they have this money, but they didn't earn it in the market place, AND THE VAST MAJORITY OF THEM IN FACT DID NOT EARN THEIR MONEY IN THE MARKET PLACE, then you have a problem.
If companies are earning their income, then the income is coming from the consumer. If they aren't earning their income, then their income is coming from, more often than not, the government. And in that case, restrictions need to be placed on the government, not the private sector.
So this clown's argument is falling to pieces already. Most of his article is just "RALLY THE PROGRESSIVES" nonsense, so I'll cut to the next point.
"More importantly, it will soon become evident to most Americans that the only way to reduce the budget deficit, preserve programs deemed essential by the middle class, and not raise taxes on the middle, is to tax the top."
Actually, most of the government programs that we have today are not only not essential, they are failed attempts to meet a certain end. For instance, the Department of Energy was created to rid us of our dependence on Foreign Oil. When the department was first created, our dependence on Foreign Oil was about 60%. Now, it's about 70-80%. The Department of Education was created to increase Test Scores in public schools. We all know how that's worked out so far. They continue to put billions of dollars into these departments, but they not only continue to fail in their purpose, they prevent others from succeeding by taking up valuable resources that could be allocated elsewhere. 0.58 of every tax dollar collected goes to paying for military spending, and only 1/5th of military spending is DEFENSE spending.
It's also worth noting that Keynesians, when they talk about taxes, that they NEVER factor inflation into their equations. Inflation is a form of taxation as well. So factor inflation, these proposed tax hikes, AND all of the spending together. The end result is not good at all.
"Some critics worry that if the marginal tax is raised too high, the very rich will simply take their money to a more hospitable jurisdiction. That's surely possible. Some already do. But paying taxes is a central obligation of citizenship. Those who take their money abroad in an effort to avoid paying American taxes should lose their American citizenship."
I laughed my ass off when I read this, because this quote BY ITSELF reveals the sheer stupidity that Robert Reich and his ilk represent. Saying that you have to pay ridiculous tax rates unnecessarily or lose your citizenship? Forget the fact that imposing such a choice on the top earners will simply make them take the entirety of their businesses to another country, thus costing this country possibly MILLIONS of jobs, thus adding to our already disastrous list of problems, thus decreasing the hope of economic recovery... I'm trying my best not to bang my head against the wall. Seriously. How can someone be this stupid and still be taken seriously?
This guy is making me sick to my stomach. I provided the link to the full article above. Go read it.
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