It may be "mathematically impossible," but social progressives (read: Left Liberal Democrats, Marxists, Euro-style socialists, the Congressional Black Caucus, La Raza, the labor unions, et al.) act as if they are blissfully ignorant of this fact.
In fact, these people don't have much use for facts in general, including historical facts. Despoiling the engines of creativity, innovation, risk-taking, job creation — the "wealthy" — not only fails to raise sufficient revenue to put the merest dent in the structural debt problem; but these revenues are being drained out of the productive sector of the economy, and placed into the hands of the political class, which creates nothing, but only redistributes the wealth to its cronies and favored constituents — the utterly unproductive "tax-consumer class" of which Calhoun was speaking in A Disquisition on Government. This being, of course, the reliable way to get reelected in America these days.
Meanwhile, the economy languishes, and the American middle class is being squeezed from two directions: (1) higher taxation/over-regulation and (2) the "opportunity cost" that comes when one drains resources away from productive economic activities to political boon-doggling purposes.
In simpler words, declining business formation/job creation results from policy prescriptions like this. When the "wealthy" are made "poor," there is no way to generate a vibrant economy. Not only that, but the revenue trajectory goes down, not up, at higher marginal tax rates.
Why the federal government is pursuing such self-defeating policies right now is beyond my comprehension. The only way any of this makes sense to me is to conclude that the political class is intentionally trying to destroy America and its capitalist economic system....
Since the capitalist U.S. economy is the linchpin or anchor of the world economy, the effects of U.S. fiscal policy spread out through the entire international community. It has been said that "when the U.S. sneezes, the rest of the world gets a cold."
In short, the economic destabilization here spreads globally, like the ripples on a pond....
Cui bono? Who, exactly, benefits from this?
Thank you ever so much, Matchett-PI, for your outstanding essay/post and the valuable links!
You wrote: “Cui bono? Who, exactly, benefits from this?”
Funny you should ask :) This is what I just sent out to my email lists not 5 minutes ago:
I wrote:
Spread it!
PS: B.O. will be trotting out to move his lips again around 1:30 today. Let’s see who he blames this time for his failures. [ Want your eyes opened? Just go to Google and type in 2 key words: Obama blames ]
Who made a billion dollars on 10/1 bet that U.S. credit rating would be downgraded?
Daily Mail ^ | 8/8/11 | Mark Duell
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2023809/Did-George-Soros-win-10-1-return-S-Ps-US-credit-rating-downgrade.html
A mystery investor or hedge fund reportedly made a bet of almost $1billion at odds of 10/1 last month that the U.S. would lose its AAA credit rating. Now questions are being asked of whether the trader had inside information before placing the $850million bet in the futures market. There are mounting rumours that investor George Soros, 80, famously known as ‘the man who broke the Bank of England’, could be involved. He made more than $1billion on currency speculation when the British pound left the Exchange Rate Mechanism on Black Wednesday in 1992.
[snip] Continue reading at above link.
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2004:
Soros: Is he a god or a madman with money?
Houston Chronicle ^ | 10/8/04 | RACHEL EHRENFELD and SHAWN MACOMBER
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1241000/posts
“If truth be known, I carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood, which I felt I had to control, otherwise they might get me into trouble,” [Soros] once wrote. When asked to elaborate on that passage by The Independent, Soros said, “It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of God, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.”
Right from the horses mouth.
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Obama-messiah is Soros-groomed “front man”
http://bigjournalism.com/kashiver/2010/01/27/awaiting-the-soros-obama-sotus-the-state-of-the-re-making-america-revolution/
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Soros is the man behind the funding of the media and DemocRAT attacks on Conservatives and conservatve businesses and organizations
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It’s Not Easy Being God: The Real George Soros
Analysis of the man who thinks he’s God—radical billionaire George Soros. ...
This book traces his life from his involvement with the Nazis during World War II, to his present dealings in world economic manipulation. The book describes how he acquired his fortune and how he has set up various organizations meant to hide how he uses his wealth to influence foreign economies and political causes. A must read for those that care about the future of our country.
Joy Tiz in her own inimitable way has once again pulled back the curtain, as did Toto in the Wizard of OZ, to unveil the evil that is attempting to radically transform our great country! Interestingly enough this evil, George Soros and his left wing cronies, use the same tactics as modern day radical unions ` to achieve their objectives in the guise of social justice. Unfortunately the poor sycophants who eagerly buy into Soros’s distorted vision truly believe it is about eliminating class distinction and redistribution of wealth. In reality it is all about power and money.