I don't make a point of watching Fox News for obvious reasons. It is misleading, the news anchors talk over those with dissenting views under the assumption that volume and preventing opposing arguments wins a debate. It's fear-mongering at its worst and its high ratings only serve to line the pockets of people who find benefit in playing Americans against one another.
That said, sometimes something is said that is so ridiculous that it deserves to be shared. The entire thing is absurdity, but it takes about fifteen seconds at most to get to the height of the stupidity.
Warren Buffet is a socialist? Because being the third wealthiest man on the planet and arguably one of the best investment minds in recent history is a socialist. All because he stated what has been known to many economists for years and a widely spread criticism of the Bush tax cuts in that the tax code has been rigged to benefit people like him.
You know what, I know there's people starving in Somalia at the moment, but since food aid seems to go directly from the aid plane to the black market I am going to propose a rather cheap charity to invest in. You probably have these things sitting unused in your home. Please, lets donate a dictionary and the 'S' book of the encyclopedia to all the anchors and writers at Fox so they can get the proper definition of what socialism IS. I know there's a conservative version of the Bible out there now as well and likely dictionaries, but those just won't do.
I can assure you that someone as wealthy as Buffet is is decidedly NOT a socialist.
Of course, the video continues from there with the classic talking points of how it is taxing the job creators (a bit of a myth in itself) as well as ignoring the point Buffet made so clear in that even if profits are taxed, any sensible businessman is going to try to get the potential profit out there. If profit is being taxed, it is still a profit and thus beneficial. If that isn't capitalist thinking, I don't know what it.
Then you get a rant about fair share and tossing around that ill quote that ill quoted number that nearly half of Americans pay no federal taxes. That number has been shown according to federal documents to only work if you count every man, woman and child individually. This includes substantial numbers of the retired. The real number when you consider tax units, meaning actual filers, be they single, joint or families, is closer to 38%. According to some data from 2008, roughly 60 percent of those with no tax liability have incomes under 20 thousand a year 1. While everyone is busy decrying how so many people fail to contribute, it hits me that when you calculate that number, roughly 23 percent of American households make less than 20 thousand annually.
Warren Buffet paid 17 and a half percent in federal taxes. Here we have folks sating how unfair it is that those in the 20k range of income ought to be paying more. It's false to say they pay no taxes as they pay all consumer based taxes in addition to property taxes (in these cases, mostly through rent) and for every service rendered. But yes, let's tax those poor folks trying to make ends meet on meager incomes so that those job creators on the top can hire a new maid for the home and treat themselves to a new luxury car or yacht.
And when the young gentleman tries to express that it IS fair that the lowest income earners not have to contribute further, he is cut off because it puts a damper on the fire and brimstone economics speech if those working poor come across as anything other than entitled whiners.
It is times like this where I seriously question my relationship with my own country. And here I was hoping to do a bit of comparative discussion today. Latvia is going to have to wait until I am not quite so enraged.
Link: Distribution of Tax Units with Zero or Negative Individual Income Tax Liability by Cash Income Level, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment