Posted by
Bill Crawford on Sunday, December 19, 2010 4:40:28 PM
These are oddball things that have cropped up in conversations in the past, and I'm laying them out here because three of them keep popping up. All of them are about understanding premises before accepting them wholesale.
Here's the first one: in the great lame duck Congress debate over the Republican "hostage takers" holding up the works so the rich can avoid getting their tax rates hiked, many Democrats (notably the outgoing House Speaker) brought up the Keynesian notion that giving them more money "would do nothing to create jobs". Here is the silly question:: what the hell do you think rich people do with their disposable income? I'm talking about whatever income they have that isn't taxed, doesn't go for food, shelter or yacht storage and is thereby part of their investment portfolio? If they are not sending that money to a Mexican cartel to feed a humongous cocaine habit and that money ends up in the market, how exactly do you think capital formation works? Do companies leave a note under the pillow for the "expansion fairy"?
Here's the next one: how twisted has the definition of "tax cut" become? I'm not even talking about how the act of passing legislation to keep marginal tax rates the same will soon be labeled the "Obama tax cuts". I bring up instead his ubiquitous talking point of his "tax cut for 98% of working Americans"- the one he so dryly brought up when discussing the Tea Party people, and how they should be "grateful" for his actions. That tax cut was a jiggering of the tax withholding tables to give everybody an extra $12-$15 a week, until they reached $400- which is where Uncle Sam decided he was tapped out. This was supposed to get the Keynesian gears going, folks. All of you who were worried about the economy and your own debt, you were supposed to go shopping with this money, not pay down your bills with it.
No, wait, it gets sillier. When you do your taxes this year, you will be accountable for that extra net income. Your tax rates didn't change, it will come out of your refund. The silly question is, if the tax rates didn't change at all, how the hell is it a "tax cut"?
Now for the silliest of all: this White House has been pushing electric cars for all it is worth. In fact, your tax money is now going to R&D at GM and Chrysler, and certainly is helping to fund the rollout of the Chevy Volt.
Mind you, these cars come with a price. They are more expensive, they are slower, they don't have much range, and require hours at a time to recharge. This is all in the high-minded chase for a smaller carbon footprint.
Here is the silliest question for today: When you plug you car in to a source of electricity, how the hell does that electricity get produced?