Budget talks: This is getting nasty

Expiration of Bush-era tax rates = ritualistic murder of animals.

That's <i>my</i> kind of false equivalency right there.

 

Let's go back to greed for a bit.

Azrael & Doctorquant discussed it earlier. And, while companies are -- almost by their nature -- greedy, we know that going in. Their job is to make money. It's there only purpose.

Government is viewed as more altruistic. It's charged with leveling the playing field and with doing the right thing.

It helps people.

But here are a couple of stories from 24 hours from just my neck of the woods:

Maggie Daley charity got $6.5-mil. city contract 4 days before Mayor Daley left office

http://bit.ly/rsiFi4


Ald. Ed Burke: Not Apologizing for Expensive Security Detail

http://bit.ly/piy35O


Former welfare director admits stealing almost $200K in tax money

http://trib.in/q0w1FE


Company sues after losing O'Hare concessions contract

http://trib.in/nr1c7E

Corruption, theft, excessive spending, contracts to the politically connected. And I didn't have to search for these. And this was 24 hours in one city.

They don't spend your money like they would spend their own.

(When it's their own money, they also avoid taxes, like when John Kerry registers his foreign built yacht in Rhode Island.)

But, even when they do try to do the right thing, they often waste money. They don't get the intended results. And, they help one business, person, group at the expense of others. They pick winners and losers.

That's not the function of government.

 

It is 99 percent richer than all the world. It is rich by any useful measurement.

Our economy isn't about what's affordable in NY, LA or SF. Those cities can and will fend for themselves.

 

I don't know how you can equate taxing income to taxing achievement.

You can achieve a lot in life and never make more than $100,000. You can achieve little and make much more. Either way, the easier you can pay for basic needs, the higher taxes you should pay.

You talk about this relationship between income and achievement as if desire and hard work are all that separates anybody from all the money they want. To me, this self-serving bias is a fundamental flaw with so many Republicans.

 

Let's talk some more about greed.

Companies are greedy. OK. Is that a bad thing? Did it hurt our economy?

Who else is greedy, and what did it do to our economy?

Are the people who bought homes they couldn't afford greedy?

What about the people who bought condos as investments in places like Florida, Vegas, Arizona, the South Loop of Chicago? Were they greedy? Did they contribute to the current state of the economy?

What about the people who walk away from their kids? Who put themselves first and don't support them? Is that greed? Has that contributed to the problems we have?

Everyone wants to put the blame somewhere else. On big, bad corporations. On the banks. On the politicians.

A lot of people need to look in the mirror.

And, no one wants to live with the consequences of their decisions and actions. They'd rather tax the rich guy.

 

No, sending your kids to college . Good. Pay for it yourself and don't let it impact how much you pay in taxes.

I would like to go on lots of trips to Europe and island so can I have a lower tax rate?

 

It's not necessarily about how hard anyone works.

But, it can be about what they did to prepare themselves for a career and what they chose to do.

A sports writer or a teacher might not make as much as a corporate VP. But, people know that going in.

If you choose to be a photographer's assistant, or a sculptor, or a writer (New York Times profile and examples Nancy Pelosi used to sell ObamaCare) more power to you. Maybe you work very hard. But it's the path you chose.

Doctors, lawyers, engineers, CEO's chose a different path. They often worked very hard to achieve it. I'm not sure why their achievement should be taxed to subsidize the poet or the sculptor -- no matter how hard working they are.

 

Make more money and you can go.

 

So, given that attitude YF, why should I have to pay more taxes because someone makes $250,000 or more and has five kids, needs to send them to college and buy them braces?

 

Boom, I make enough to go and have. This argument is so inane I'm bowing out.

 

If you're paying more in taxes than somebody making $250,000 a year you need a better accountant.

 

Much of Nancy Pelosi's constituency is made of of poets and sculptors.