Category Archives: Taxation

Update II: What Do You Know? We Are Not All Keynesians

Ann Coulter, Barack Obama, Economy, Inflation, Iraq, Israel, Media, Republicans, Socialism, Taxation, War

The Royal “We” is unwarranted; and it’s not only me. The following statement was signed by more than 200 academic economists, and posted by the Cato Institute. The Wall Street Journal buried the statement among a list of economists touting the stimulus package–and the “principle” of printing and borrowing the country out of a depression:

“Notwithstanding reports that all economists are now Keynesians and that we all support a big increase in the burden of government, we the undersigned do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance. More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s. More government spending did not solve Japan’s ‘lost decade’ in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today. To improve the economy, policymakers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth.”

Update I (Jan 30): I always give credit where it’s due. Michelle Malkin is the only conservative writer that I know of who’s consistently protested the bailouts and assorted ‘stimuli’—not only the porky parts. And not because she is familiar with the Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT), but because she is a true fiscal conservative. Good enough:

Stimulus Slush Fund for Housing Entitlement Thugs

The UAW’s Money-Squandering Corruptocracy

The Paulson Putsch: Time For A Fiscal-Conservative Counterinsurgency

Update II (Jan 31): Malkin’s moniker for her party: The Bend Over Republicans (BOR).

Malkin has incurred my libertarian wrath, expressed in “Internment Chic.” However, she deserves the credit Ann Coulter undeservedly gets.

The Canadian conservative writer Kevin Grace captured the core of Coulter’s “craft”:

“The secret to becoming a successful right-wing columnist is to echo the mob while complimenting yourself on your daring. That’s all there is to Ann Coulter’s craft, the rest is exploitation of the sexual masochism of the American male—he just can’t get enough of the kitten with claws.”

Or, as I’ve put it, “The secret to success is to keep the masses euphoric, moronic, and pheromonic.”

Coulter is an attractive GOP cheerleader, who has never opposed The Party in any meaningful way. When matters get heated, she further escapes into her formulaic, “Liberals This; Liberals That.” A recipe that works well for her.

Neocon-Style Social Engineering

Economy, Energy, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Neoconservatism, Socialism, Taxation

However you slice it, what you have in Charles Krauthammer is a crypto-leftist. Here he proposes an elaborate tax scheme to shape consumer conduct. After all, that’s why we have know-it-alls like Krauthammer—to lead us toward the light:

[BLOVIATION BEGINS]

“Here is how it works. The simultaneous enactment of two measures: A $1 increase in the federal gasoline tax–together with an immediate $14 a week reduction of the FICA tax. Indeed, that reduction in payroll tax should go into effect the preceding week, so that the upside of the swap (the cash from the payroll tax rebate) is in hand even before the downside (the tax) kicks in.

The math is simple. The average American buys roughly 14 gallons of gasoline a week. The $1 gas tax takes $14 out of his pocket. The reduction in payroll tax puts it right back. The average driver comes out even, and the government makes nothing on the transaction. (There are, of course, more drivers than workers–203 million vs. 163 million. The 10 million unemployed would receive the extra $14 in their unemployment insurance checks. And the elderly who drive–there are 30 million licensed drivers over 65–would receive it with their Social Security payments.)

Revenue neutrality is essential. No money is taken out of the economy. Washington doesn’t get fatter. Nor does it get leaner. It is simply a transfer agent moving money from one activity (gasoline purchasing) to another (employment) with zero net revenue for the government. …”

[SNIP]

Incentivizing good behavior (“drive less and shift to fuel-efficient cars”), and penalizing bad is in the purview of the big, overweening neoconservative government. This has been the Bush mandate. And it’s of a piece with Obama’s impetus.

Hear it straight from the ass’s mouth: “The whole idea is to reward those who drive less and to disadvantage those who drive more. … we support such incentives because … Decreased oil consumption is a … desirable national good.”

Who is this Royal “We” you speak of, Krauthammer, you statist?

Inoculate yourself against the gaseous one with “The Goods On Gas.”

GOP Sticks With Karl (Marx)

Barack Obama, Communism, Democrats, Elections 2008, Republicans, Socialism, Taxation

“To get a Democrat to admit to practicing socialism is a lot like frisking a wet seal.

To get Republicans to confess to their role in socializing America is an equally slippery affair.

The latter have been grandstanding about the plan of the wily pitch-man Obama to plunder taxpayers (the minority) so as to pay tax consumers (the majority). For the edification of GOP grandstanders, America has a tax system that energetically distributes income.

The progressive income tax is a good example of Karl Marx’s maxim, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” It is socialism by any other name.

Obama is an adherent of this socialism; as is McCain. And so is George Bush, who, as a campaign ploy, had promised to reform America’s steep tax system, but decided to stick with Karl.

Indeed, America, the cradle of capitalism, clings to Karl. Russia, the cradle of communism, has abandoned him in favor of a flat—and very low—tax on income. …”

Read the complete column, “GOP Sticks With Karl (Marx)“, on WND.com

Trash Trash ‘Joe the Plumber’

Elections 2008, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Political Philosophy, Taxation

The trashing of “Joe the Plumber” by the Left is uncanny. The defense Republicans offer of Joe is hopeless (like the defense offered up by the woman with the worst voice on TV and radio: Laura Ingraham.) When you have no first principles you are powerless to coherently defend a man’s right to his property.

Of course, proponents of natural rights suffer no such debilities.

Smear #1: “He’s not licensed”

State licensing is a guild system deployed to restrict entry into a trade, so as to keep the wages of a protected group artificially high. Licensing is ludicrous, especially in the case of trades.

Joe, who represents everything that’s good about America, says he doesn’t need a license to make a living. Unlike the ponces in politics, he is not forcing anyone to employ him. That’s the spirit. Don’t you hate those fat cats who want to control Joe’s destiny with meaningless stamps of officialdom?

Obama says no plumber earns so much as to worry about his tax plan. Hogwash. A plumber can look forward to earning a lot of money; they are never outsourced and are always in demand.

Smear #2: “His name isn’t even Joe!”

His name is Samuel Joe Wurzelbacher. I believe that in some parts of the US, people go by their middle names. Even if he were not “Joe,” why would that make him the object of derision and smears from parasites—politicians who’ve never done an honest day of work in their lives, and who live off others?

Smear #3: “He owes taxes”

The IRS is the criminal entity in the business of taking what is not theirs to take. In the process of preying on Americans, it has destroyed many lives. The 16th Amendment ought to be repealed. If generic Joe has taken on the IRS, he’s a hero. If he has held on to what is his for a little longer, well, then, he will soon be forced to hand it over.

The idea that a politician would make fun of his employer—Joe Citizen—is repulsive. Pitchforks anyone?

One more thing: The Republicans are grandstanding about Obama’s tax plans amounting to socialism. For the edification of GOP grandstanders, progressive taxation is socialism. In case Republicans don’t know it, we have a steep taxation system that distributes income. (Russia, I believe, has a flat tax.)

Although they could have lessened the socialism, they have not–life under the Republicans has seen a “slouching toward socialism,” perhaps not in direct taxation, but in borrowing and money printing. That’s how Republicans have funded their orgiastic spending. These stealth-like means are no different to taxation. One might argue that they are more destructive because more clandestine, allowing a greater increase in the national debt and deficit spending. The proof is in the Republicans’ record spending.