Now that the Bush tax cuts are really set to expire, we start to hear about "economic fairness" from those whose worst experience of this mega-recession has been the loss of their 2nd Bentley or the repossessing of their 4th boat. New York City Mayor Bloomberg argued that these tax cuts should be extended so – get this - that they can help the economy recover.
Except that in his own backyard, the boom of Wall Street led to a near-collapse of our entire financial system while hundreds of billions were being gambled (and earned as bonuses for such gambles) with exactly what job creation or "help" to everyone else whose jobs and homes were lost? While these tax cuts were in place, the economy was wrecked by greed and reckless behavior – and jobs were lost everywhere – not added.
They argue about how it is a massive job-killing tax increase. except that it isn’t a job killer and a full 98% of Americans still pay less in taxes with the expiration. Many (including my super hypocritical Rep. Scott Garrett) whine that this would be the biggest tax increase evahhhhhh - except that EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN VOTED AGAINST the largest middle class tax cut in history.
This isn’t new, nor should it be news.
But think about how hard these struggling and entitled super rich feel. Their taxes were cut drastically in a time of war (for the first time in history). Tax rates on investments were drastically cut at a time when most Americans could barely pay their current bills. The estate tax was eliminated entirely for 2010, and only 14,000 taxable estate tax returns were filed in 2008 IN ALL OF AMERICA.
At no time over the past 10 years have these poor coddled people living it up been asked to sacrifice while many others had to choose between food and medicine and heat. But it is hard to live the high life on "only" a few hundred million in net worth or a trust fund of $10,000,000. Or for those corporate executives that lost their jobs – how can you NOT feel bad for a mere $25,000,000 buyout after three whole months of work?
I mean, seriously, how heartless can we be to expect the super rich have to be in any way accountable for the ramifications of their massive wealth grab when everything comes crashing down?
That’s just silly talk.