tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559661241465229945.post2038379430909081213..comments2023-10-20T10:22:39.636-04:00Comments on Workingclass Conservative: Robert Reich Caught in a Lie...er...Mis-Statement of Fact???JMKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281344324964417974noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559661241465229945.post-77183715274670371762008-03-30T12:20:00.000-04:002008-03-30T12:20:00.000-04:00"I don't know if it's sad, funny, or just ironic t...<I>"I don't know if it's sad, funny, or just ironic that blue-collar pukes like us understand this better than most of Congress."</I> (Roadhouse)<BR/><BR/><BR/>It'd be one thing if they really DIDN'T understand, but it seems more a matter of the "political class" constantly trying to convince free and independent-thinking, working people that they really NEED government to take care of them and that more tax revenues are better, because more government is better.<BR/><BR/>The big problem, at least from my perspective, is that politicians like Newt Gingrich (who actually made good on cutting government spending, to GREAT results - the late 1990s boom, not just the Tech Bubble) are very rare.<BR/><BR/>After Gingrich, Frist, Delay and Hastert all saw themselves as "members of the political class" FIRST, and everything else, second.<BR/><BR/>In a sense, that's where the tendancy for government ALWAYS to grow comes from. Even the Republicans, who supposedly stand for LESS government and LESS regulation, err far more on the side of more government than not.<BR/><BR/>That's the dilemma we face.<BR/><BR/>Franklin answered the woman who asked, "What kind of government have you given us," with, "A Republic mam, if you can keep it."<BR/><BR/>Which was completely correct, they gave us a government heavily shackled by a rigid Constitution and over the last nearly 100 years, a bunch of effete, "fancy-boys," who imagine themselves "smarter than America's Founders" have fought tirelessly to erode those constraints.<BR/><BR/>And we, the American people, have NOT done a very good job of "keeping it."JMKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281344324964417974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559661241465229945.post-64575633981252292482008-03-29T22:57:00.000-04:002008-03-29T22:57:00.000-04:00I don't know if it's sad, funny, or just ironic th...I don't know if it's sad, funny, or just ironic that blue-collar pukes like us understand this better than most of Congress.Roadhousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398602327654883509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559661241465229945.post-43346634894701580812008-03-28T01:01:00.000-04:002008-03-28T01:01:00.000-04:00Well, they're basing their calculations on the Cen...Well, they're basing their calculations on the Center for Tax Policy and other such economic forums that calculate the revenues from the Estate Tax and other taxes.<BR/><BR/>The conventional wisdom is that it's harder (for regular folks) to circumvent the Estate Tax because it takes it cut in probate.<BR/><BR/>Of course, it's sold as a way to keep the rich from perpetuating wealth, but the truly wealthy (those who don't rely on income for wealth) are able to transfer vast amounts of REAL wealth via Foundations and Trusts.<BR/><BR/>The reason the Estate tax is so insidious, is that it taxes ALREADY taxed monies that are private property that BELONGS to the person bequeathing that inheritance to the heirs of their own choice.<BR/><BR/>It is a basic violation of our one of our most basic Liberties.JMKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281344324964417974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559661241465229945.post-80608743011119266272008-03-27T23:06:00.000-04:002008-03-27T23:06:00.000-04:00Actually, Mankiw and Reich are both wrong. Unless...Actually, Mankiw and Reich are both wrong. Unless they are asserting that people are going to burn their inheritance in a big trash barrel in the back yard. They are both forgetting the basics of supply-side economics. When people have money, they will spend it, or invest it. Both create more returns to the fed than if the initial inheritance is taxed.<BR/><BR/>Bottom line: Tax cuts work wherever they are implimented.Roadhousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398602327654883509noreply@blogger.com