I have a very good Canadian friend who enjoys "needling" me about being a Democrat, a liberal, and supporter of President Obama. He sends me stuff, as I am sure many of us get, like stupid cartoons about Obama taking more money from the 1% that pay over 50% of the taxes while the lower 50% of the American populace doesn't pay "any taxes". He asked me that with this fact being "true" how it could not bother me.
My response was:
"None of it is true! This is such bullshit and that is a stupid ass cartoon. Figures may not lie, but liars figure. Here’s why! The top 20% own 80% of the wealth. Do you realize that the top 400 Americans together have greater wealth than the bottom 150,000,000 COMBINED? And besides this inequality, the lower portion of the population still pays for every other kind of tax like real estate, gas, sales, state, FICA, Medicare etc. Seriously, how much do you actually believe anyone making $40K/annum (the median income in the US) has left to pay Federal Income tax after they pay for food, gas, utilities, schools? Do you get why there is a 99% movement growing in this country?"
To which I received a much more rational response about governments failing and Obama having squandered the opportunity his mandate afforded him to change the political environment. My response to that response is below the fold.
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