Low and behold! Polling on the Trump tax plan shows that most voters are against it.
Well, they would be, of course, because about half of Americans don't pay federal income tax. Why would you be in favor of a tax cut that doesn't cut your taxes?
So even on the American Spectator website the bubbas in the comments section are hollering to cut the payroll tax rather than the income tax that Jeff Bezos is paying, and rightly so.
Sorry fellahs, but when you are evaluating policy change in terms of "what's in it for me" you amount to nothing more or less than the willing dupes of the ruling class. The ruling class likes its subjects to be quarreling about who gets the goodies. It is called Divide and Conquer.
Now I claim a certain expertise on government spending and revenue, 'cos I wrote the book with usgovernmentspending.com and its pal usgovernmentrevenue.com. And I say, cut it. Cut it all. Do not cut until the pips squeak. Cut until the pips stop squeaking.
Let us review federal spending. Out of the total of about $4.1 trillion budgeted for FY 2018, there is $1 trillion in Social Security, $1 trillion in Medicare/Medicaid, $0.8 trillion in Defense, $0.35 trillion on Welfare-other-than-Medicaid, and a trillion for everything from Education to interest on the national debt. You could look it up.
So, apart from Defense, which is the proper function of a national government, there is about $2 trillion spending on geezers like me. Everything else is loose change.
Then there is federal revenue. Out of the total of $3.6 trillion budgeted for FY2018, there is $2.2 trillion in federal income tax, $1.2 trillion in payroll taxes, and $0.3 trillion for everything else.
So the real money is in the federal income tax. You can see that the payroll tax about covers Social Security, and the federal income tax pays for everything else, including most notably geezer Medicare for chaps like me.
Now, I ask you, is it a good idea to spend so much of government spending on geezers like me? I say no, for the following selfish -- I mean deeply philosophical -- reasons.
Of course, the looter culture used to make sense for humans. You invaded the neighboring tribal lands, killed the men, did a Rape of the Sabine Women on the females, and you got a larger food-growing territory. What was not to like?
Not any more. The industrial economy is based on a mutual-benefit equation. You do something for someone and they pay you for it. You invent something that transforms the world and you become insanely rich on a fraction of the present value of the invention to the rest of the world.
So any time that a corporate predator or a government program resorts to the old culture of loot and plunder -- and just about every government program does this -- they are busily impoverishing their fellow men and women, just like Genghis Khan, and they are monsters.
Now I am not hopeless for the future, because I think that the looter culture will gradually fade away. As proof I offer the actions of the West after winning World War II. What did the winners do after getting the unconditional surrender of Germany and Japan?
No, we did not loot them to the bare walls. Instead, after a couple years of futzing around we lent them money to rebuild their economies, and we did not impoverish them with the traditional indemnities that used to be applied to the losers right up to and including World War I. Why? Because the German and Japanese factories were no use to us as loot. Moreover, since we thought of ourselves as humanists, we were faced with the little problem of feeding the Germans and Japanese camping out in the ruins of their empires until they all got a job. In fact, we were right. Within 20 years the German and the Japanese economies were the envy of the world and -- this is important -- their products enriched us all, and challenged us to up our game.
(But the Soviets looted East Germany to the bare walls, transplanting all the factories in East Germany back to Russia in accordance with the reactionary loot-and-plunder philosophy of socialism. A lot of good it did them.)
Yes. I am a true radical. I believe that the only thing the national government should spend money on is defense. All the rest is merely loot and plunder that impoverishes us all.
Oh yes, there are some genuine public goods that cannot be delivered by the private sector. But I would say that the burden of proof, and it should be a heavy burden, should be on the chaps that say that that more government spending is needed to "help."
No, the only thing the government should be doing outside of defense is executing on my Perfect Plan. First, teach the workers and peasants newly arrived in the city how to become middle class. Second, stop ragging on the middle class and stigmatizing them as "deplorables." That is all.
Well, they would be, of course, because about half of Americans don't pay federal income tax. Why would you be in favor of a tax cut that doesn't cut your taxes?
So even on the American Spectator website the bubbas in the comments section are hollering to cut the payroll tax rather than the income tax that Jeff Bezos is paying, and rightly so.
Sorry fellahs, but when you are evaluating policy change in terms of "what's in it for me" you amount to nothing more or less than the willing dupes of the ruling class. The ruling class likes its subjects to be quarreling about who gets the goodies. It is called Divide and Conquer.
Now I claim a certain expertise on government spending and revenue, 'cos I wrote the book with usgovernmentspending.com and its pal usgovernmentrevenue.com. And I say, cut it. Cut it all. Do not cut until the pips squeak. Cut until the pips stop squeaking.
Let us review federal spending. Out of the total of about $4.1 trillion budgeted for FY 2018, there is $1 trillion in Social Security, $1 trillion in Medicare/Medicaid, $0.8 trillion in Defense, $0.35 trillion on Welfare-other-than-Medicaid, and a trillion for everything from Education to interest on the national debt. You could look it up.
So, apart from Defense, which is the proper function of a national government, there is about $2 trillion spending on geezers like me. Everything else is loose change.
Then there is federal revenue. Out of the total of $3.6 trillion budgeted for FY2018, there is $2.2 trillion in federal income tax, $1.2 trillion in payroll taxes, and $0.3 trillion for everything else.
So the real money is in the federal income tax. You can see that the payroll tax about covers Social Security, and the federal income tax pays for everything else, including most notably geezer Medicare for chaps like me.
Now, I ask you, is it a good idea to spend so much of government spending on geezers like me? I say no, for the following selfish -- I mean deeply philosophical -- reasons.
- Average people would do much better if, instead of paying payroll taxes they saved for their own retirement. First, they would have real personal wealth, which could be inherited by their children; second, they could leverage their gradually accumulating wealth for down payments on houses, startup money for a business, education for the kids. Right now the government gets to keep the payroll tax monies until it decides you are eligible to get your Social Security check. Why? You think government can spend your money better than you can? Of course, there would be idiots that did not save a penny for retirement. No doubt they would be thrown upon the mercy of their children, although I read that in China, where there is no Social Security, people save like fiends.
- Are we really doing grandma a favor by throwing money at her health care at end-of-life? They say that we consume one half of our life's medical expenses in the last year of life. Is that just? The truth is that few of us have a clue about what could be done to extend our lives. We go to the doctor and she gives us a pill. Is that really the best treatment? Few people could know unless they have the smarts to research their condition on the Internet.
Of course, the looter culture used to make sense for humans. You invaded the neighboring tribal lands, killed the men, did a Rape of the Sabine Women on the females, and you got a larger food-growing territory. What was not to like?
Not any more. The industrial economy is based on a mutual-benefit equation. You do something for someone and they pay you for it. You invent something that transforms the world and you become insanely rich on a fraction of the present value of the invention to the rest of the world.
So any time that a corporate predator or a government program resorts to the old culture of loot and plunder -- and just about every government program does this -- they are busily impoverishing their fellow men and women, just like Genghis Khan, and they are monsters.
Now I am not hopeless for the future, because I think that the looter culture will gradually fade away. As proof I offer the actions of the West after winning World War II. What did the winners do after getting the unconditional surrender of Germany and Japan?
No, we did not loot them to the bare walls. Instead, after a couple years of futzing around we lent them money to rebuild their economies, and we did not impoverish them with the traditional indemnities that used to be applied to the losers right up to and including World War I. Why? Because the German and Japanese factories were no use to us as loot. Moreover, since we thought of ourselves as humanists, we were faced with the little problem of feeding the Germans and Japanese camping out in the ruins of their empires until they all got a job. In fact, we were right. Within 20 years the German and the Japanese economies were the envy of the world and -- this is important -- their products enriched us all, and challenged us to up our game.
(But the Soviets looted East Germany to the bare walls, transplanting all the factories in East Germany back to Russia in accordance with the reactionary loot-and-plunder philosophy of socialism. A lot of good it did them.)
Yes. I am a true radical. I believe that the only thing the national government should spend money on is defense. All the rest is merely loot and plunder that impoverishes us all.
Oh yes, there are some genuine public goods that cannot be delivered by the private sector. But I would say that the burden of proof, and it should be a heavy burden, should be on the chaps that say that that more government spending is needed to "help."
No, the only thing the government should be doing outside of defense is executing on my Perfect Plan. First, teach the workers and peasants newly arrived in the city how to become middle class. Second, stop ragging on the middle class and stigmatizing them as "deplorables." That is all.
No comments:
Post a Comment