Victor Davis Hanson: Hardly the Best and Brightest

realclearpolitics.com ^ | February 12, 2009 | Victor Davis Hanson

[kellynla]

Most historians agree that earthquakes, droughts or barbarians did not unravel classical Athens or imperial Rome.

More likely the social contract between the elite and the more ordinary citizens finally began breaking apart -- and with it the trust necessary for a society's collective investment and the payment of taxes. Then civilization itself begins to unwind.

Something like that has been occurring lately because of the actions on Wall Street and in Washington, D.C. The former "masters of the universe" who ran Wall Street took enormous risks to get multimillion-dollar bonuses, even as they piled up billions in debt for their soon-to-be-bankrupt companies.

Financial wizards like Robert Rubin at Citicorp, Richard Fuld at Lehman Brothers and Franklin Raines at Fannie Mae -- all of whom made millions as they left behind imploding corporations -- had degrees from America's top universities. They had sophisticated understanding of hedge funds, derivatives and sub-prime mortgages -- everything, it seems, but moral responsibility for the investments of millions of their ordinary clients.

The result of such speculation by thousands of Wall Street gamblers was that millions of Americans who played by the rules, and put money each month away in their 401(k) plans and elsewhere, lost much of their retirement savings. Many likely will have to keep working well into their 60s or 70s, and delay passing on their jobs to a new generation awaiting employment.

[kellynla]

I thought I’d help you out today.

[Perdogg]

I was told 20 years ago that I didn’t have enough experience coming out of college to work as an investment banker on Wall st. Now I can say I have never endangered my country’s economy.

[gogogodzilla]

PING!

(I don’t have anything to add. Mr. Hanson has written another knockout.)

[RexBeach]

Once again, Dr. Hanson is right on target.

I’d like to buy HIM a beer...not the president.

[Tribune7]

ping

[caseinpoint]

Good article. I know I am feeling less “patriotic” these days.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Do we have a President?

I thought Congress was in charge now.

[kellynla]

“I know I am feeling less “patriotic” these days.”

When you have HALF the population dependent on the government for their livelihood, HALF the population who don't pay ANY income taxes and a government & private industry full of crooks...there's not much to cheer about...

[TADSLOS]

No, all the stupid ones are stuck in Iraq, remember? /s/

[RexBeach]

You got that positively correct!

I cannot believe that Mr. Obama did that with drafting the so called Stimulus Bill.

“You do it, I’m busy.”

Change we can bleed in.

[caseinpoint]

And let’s remember Senator Reid said on camera that paying taxes is voluntary.

If the IRS comes after me for being less than patriotic, I have a few role models to point at. It will be truly interesting to see what happens to the fed treasury as the collections go down and down due to this financial situation and less patriotism.

[Kakaze]

Good article. I know I am feeling less “patriotic” these days.

I have little faith in those that lead us.........my faith is in god and the constitution he inspired.

It's not unpatriotic to have no faith in our current government, look to your heart and do whats right, that won't fail you.

[RU88]

Is there a VDH ping list? How do I get on it? I’ve always enjoyed his writings. He’s a very intelligent man with a unique insight into the heart and soul of America.

[kellynla]

Whatever you do, just remember to file...everything else is negotiable.

[BBell]

"Ads on radio now blare out to the rest of us how to renegotiate our mortgages, how to avoid paying the IRS and how to walk away from freely incurred credit-card debt. We hear not to trust in mutual funds or even banks -- but instead, like medieval hoarders, to revert to the age-old safety of gold."

So these ad's are everywhere, not just in my neck of the woods.

[GoodDay]

“Good article. I know I am feeling less “patriotic” these days.”

Yes, a good article...but I certainly don’t agree that paying income tax is the “glue” that holds our society together, or that income tax — or taxation in general — provides the “much needed revenues” for the federal government. Anything beyond the night-watchman function of the state (i.e., defense) is illegitimate and represents an encroachment of the state into personal liberty, which DOES hold our society together.

The reason the elites’ non-payment of taxes is unacceptable is not that it proves they are unpatriotic; it is unacceptable because it implies that only they are permitted to live as free citizens while the rest of us are expected to be serfs.

[Tolik]

Thank you! Incoming

[Tolik]

NRO subtitle: The institutions run by our elites aren’t trustworthy, so why should we put any faith in them?

... Take your pick—on the one side, we have free-market capitalists who took huge amounts of money as their companies eroded the savings of tens of millions; on the other, we have supposedly egalitarian liberals who skipped paying taxes.

The result is the same. Our best educated, wealthiest, and most-connected in matters of finance proved our dumbest—and our political leaders were less than ethical in meeting their moral responsibilities as citizens.

If ordinary Americans were to follow the examples of Wall Street and Washington elites, the nation would neither collect needed revenue nor invest its capital. All that is a recipe for national decline and fall.

    Victor Davis Hanson Ping ! 

       Let me know if you want in or out.

Links:    FR Index of his articles:  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=victordavishanson
                His website: http://victorhanson.com/
                NRO archive: http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp
                Pajamasmedia:   http://victordavishanson.pajamasmedia.com/

[GoLightly]

Whatever you do, just remember to file...everything else is negotiable.

The trust between the governing & the governed is busted. I'd like to write in a "Presidential Cabinet Application" deduction that wipes out all tax liability & see what happens.