Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Tax the Rich

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he's not engaging in "class warfare" -- he's just doing the math. But House Speaker John Boehner (BAY'-nur) says class warfare is exactly what Obama is engaging in -- and he says that's not the same as leadership. (End Quote)


President Obama promised to veto any budget plan that cuts Medicare without closing loopholes which create tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.  Speaker Boehner said, "Tax the rich, tax the rich.  That's really not the American way."  Then he went on to say that balancing the budget requires more people on the tax roles, more jobs.


So let's think about this.  What we need is more people working at Wal-Mart, earning less than a living wage and paying higher taxes.  We need more elderly going without medical care because they can't afford it.  We need to keep giving the wealthiest people "incentives" to get richer because "they deserve a break today."  We need to crush unions and collective bargaining because it's all those teachers and fire fighters and police officers being greedy that actually is behind the deficit.  That's the way the Sherriff of Nottingham reasoned and why Robin Hood is still a popular folk hero!


Yet it's President Obama that is accused of "class warfare" and not people like Boehner and the Tea Party?  


I think the "Trickle Down Theory" hasn't actually worked.  Nothing ever "trickles down".   It hasn't worked in the recent past.  It didn't work in the days of Rockefeller.  But speaking of Rockefeller and the Robber Barons, maybe Boehner has a point.  Maybe class oppression IS the American way, it's just not what I learned America was about when I was in grade school.