While the fortunes of America's Middle Class and the poverty-stricken continue to flag, the fortunes of the über-reich are much rosier:
US luxury stores outperform rest of retail sector
By Jonathan Birchall in New York
Published: October 7 2010 19:09 | Last updated: October 7 2010 19:09
US luxury department stores outperformed the rest of the retail sector during September, underlining the extent to which more prosperous shoppers are leading the recovery in consumer spending.
Neiman Marcus, the top-line retailer, said its comparable sales rose 4.7 per cent during the month against the same period last year....
Saks reported a 6.5 per cent increase in same-store sales, highlighting strength in a similarly broad range of categories.
Nordstrom said its comparable sales rose 7.5 per cent and that transactions at its main stores had increased for the 13th month in a row.
http://www.ft.com/...
Nevertheless, fortunes flourishing, the über-reich can never have enough of everything...
In the year of Our Lord 2009 an organization called Liberty Central was founded by someone with the surname Thomas by marriage. The New York Times found this so interesting that it ran an article on October 8, 2010:
Activism of Thomas’s Wife Could Raise Judicial Issues
By JACKIE CALMES
RICHMOND, Va. — As one of the keynote speakers here Friday at a state convention billed as the largest Tea Party event ever, Virginia Thomas gave the throng of more than 2,000 activists a full-throated call to arms for conservative principles.
For three decades, Mrs. Thomas has been a familiar figure among conservative activists in Washington — since before she met her husband of 23 years, Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court. But this year she has emerged in her most politically prominent role yet: Mrs. Thomas is the founder and head of a new nonprofit group, Liberty Central, dedicated to opposing what she characterizes as the leftist "tyranny" of President Obama and Democrats in Congress and to "protecting the core founding principles" of the nation. ...
But to some people who study judicial ethics, Mrs. Thomas’s activism is raising knotty questions, in particular about her acceptance of large, unidentified contributions for Liberty Central. She began the group in late 2009 with two gifts of $500,000 and $50,000, and because it is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group, named for the applicable section of the federal tax code, she does not have to publicly disclose any contributors. Such tax-exempt groups are supposed to make sure that less than half of their activities are political.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Though the stated goals of Liberty Central are: opposition to "the leftist 'tyranny' of President Obama and Democrats in Congress" and protection of "'the core founding principles' of the nation," the Times has selected an interesting link to the group.
When one clicks the Times link to Thomas' teaparty, the first introduction to the group is a touching video of Thomas railing out against tax increases, seemingly against tax increases for everyone, that link features a comparison ostensibly of how the "Middle Class" will be affected, but the underlying agenda is "Don't by Damn dare to tax the very rich!"
http://www.libertycentral.org/...
I'm not going to question her numbers and conclusions, I'm quite sure they were cunningly constructed, but I simply cannot buy her summons to Middle America to sign her petition.
John Stossel goes so far as to make it a moral issue:
As I've said before, a tax cut is not a handout. It simply means government steals less. What progressives want to do is take money from some -- by force -- and spend it on others. It sounds less noble when plainly stated.
That's the moral side of the matter. There's a practical side, too. Taxes discourage wealth creation. That hurts everyone, the lower end of the income scale most of all. An economy that, through freedom, encourages the production of wealth raises the living standards of lower-income people as well as everyone else.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/...
The ponderously rich and powerful Heritage Foundation rumbles in with:
Seven Myths About Taxing the Rich....
Myth 1: Raising taxes on the rich will close budget deficits....
Myth 2: The rich do not pay their fair share....
Myth 3: The income tax code favors the rich and well-connected....
Myth 4: It is all right to raise tax rates on the rich-- they can afford it....
Myth 5: Higher tax rates in the 1990s did not hurt economic growth, so it is all right to raise them to those levels again....
Myth 6: The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts did not generate strong economic growth....
Myth 7: Raising the top two income tax rates will not negatively impact small businesses because only 2 percent of them pay rates at that level....
http://www.heritage.org/...
Closing with the mantra of the über-reich:
Instead of imposing these economy-injuring tax hikes, Congress should close budget deficits and spur economic growth by:
* Immediately cutting spending, including reforming the Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid entitlement programs, in order to get long-term budget deficits under control;
* Make the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent for all taxpayers; and
* Further cut tax rates on workers and investors.
Raising taxes on the rich will hurt the economy at a time when the U.S. can least afford further damage.
Curtis S. Dubay is a Senior Analyst in Tax Policy in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
Rich and powerful think tanks with oceans of secret funding, proliferating conservative groups to ramp up the arguments against taxing the rich while continuing to exploit the poor, also the ongoing work of organizations like The Leadership Institute:
The Leadership Institute’s mission is to increase the number and effectiveness of conservative activists and leaders in the public policy process. To accomplish this mission, the Institute identifies, recruits, trains, and places conservatives in government, politics, and the media.
Founded in 1979... The Institute strives to produce a new generation of public policy leaders unwavering in their commitment to free enterprise, limited government, strong national defense, and traditional values. Institute graduates are equipped with practical skills and professional training to implement sound principles through effective public policy.
Institute programs prepare thousands of conservatives each year to:
* Form independent conservative student groups
* Publish independent conservative newspapers
* Manage grassroots-oriented campaigns
* Run successfully for elected office
* Formulate policy as elected officials or key staff members
* Succeed in the competitive field of broadcast media
* Communicate a conservative message using the media
http://www.leadershipinstitute.org/...
These folks have been going strong for thirty years -- and I wonder if anyone knows who is backing them financially.
My friends, our wagon train is surrounded by the anti-tax barbarians who seek to further increase the divide between the rich and the poor.