Posted on 04/30/2012 11:03:16 AM PDT by pabianice
The iconic writer scolds the superrich (including himself—and Mitt Romney) for not giving back, and warns of a Kingsian apocalyptic scenario if inequality is not addressed in America.
Chris Christie may be fat, but he ain’t Santa Claus. In fact, he seems unable to decide if he is New Jersey’s governor or its caporegime, and it may be a comment on the coarsening of American discourse that his brash rudeness is often taken for charm. In February, while discussing New Jersey’s newly amended income-tax law, which allows the rich to pay less (proportionally) than the middle class, Christie was asked about Warren Buffett’s observation that he paid less federal income taxes than his personal secretary, and that wasn’t fair. “He should just write a check and shut up,” Christie responded, with his typical verve. “I’m tired of hearing about it. If he wants to give the government more money, he’s got the ability to write a check—go ahead and write it.”
Heard it all before. At a rally in Florida (to support collective bargaining and to express the socialist view that firing teachers with experience was sort of a bad idea), I pointed out that I was paying taxes of roughly 28 percent on my income. My question was, “How come I’m not paying 50?” The governor of New Jersey did not respond to this radical idea, possibly being too busy at the all-you-can-eat cheese buffet at Applebee’s in Jersey City, but plenty of other people of the Christie persuasion did.
Cut a check and shut up, they said.
If you want to pay more, pay more, they said.
Tired of hearing about it, they said.
Tough **** for you guys, because I’m not tired of talking about it. I’ve known rich people, and why not, since I’m one of them? The majority would rather douse their dicks with lighter fluid, strike a match, and dance around singing “Disco Inferno” than pay one more cent in taxes to Uncle Sugar. It’s true that some rich folks put at least some of their tax savings into charitable contributions. My wife and I give away roughly $4 million a year to libraries, local fire departments that need updated lifesaving equipment (jaws of life are always a popular request), schools, and a scattering of organizations that underwrite the arts. Warren Buffett does the same; so does Bill Gates; so does Steven Spielberg; so do the Koch brothers; so did the late Steve Jobs. All fine as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough.
What charitable 1-percenters can’t do is assume responsibility—America’s national responsibilities: the care of its sick and its poor, the education of its young, the repair of its failing infrastructure, the repayment of its staggering war debts. Charity from the rich can’t fix global warming or lower the price of gasoline by one single red penny. That kind of salvation does not come from Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Ballmer saying, “Okay, I’ll write a $2 million bonus check to the IRS.” That annoying responsibility stuff comes from three words that are anathema to the Tea Partiers: United American citizenry.
And hey, why don’t we get real about this? Most rich folks paying 28 percent taxes do not give out another 28 percent of their income to charity. Most rich folks like to keep their dough. They don’t strip their bank accounts and investment portfolios, they keep them and then pass them on to their children, their children’s children. And what they do give away is—like the monies my wife and I donate—totally at their own discretion. That’s the rich-guy philosophy in a nutshell: Don’t tell us how to use our money; we’ll tell you.
The Koch brothers are right-wing creepazoids, but they’re giving right-wing creepazoids. Here’s an example: 68 million fine American dollars to Deerfield Academy. Which is great for Deerfield Academy. But it won’t do squat for cleaning up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, where food fish are now showing up with black lesions. It won’t pay for stronger regulations to keep BP (or some other bunch of dipshit oil drillers) from doing it again. It won’t repair the levees surrounding New Orleans. It won’t improve education in Mississippi or Alabama. But what the hell—them li’l crackers ain’t never going to go to Deerfield Academy anyway. F--- em if they can’t take a joke.
Part 1 of 3 disappointing parts
Dear Mr King,
Did you know we can download all of your books off of the torrents and not have to pay you jack, leaving you with less wealth so you wont have to be burdened with giving it to D.C.?
Sleep tight.
Trust me, he'll be paying more...
So we now know how Buffet suddenly became a Hussein stooge — Buffet owes BILLIONS and is fighting it, but what does Hussein have on King?
Did Hussein’s ghost writer tell him that Stephen King hasn’t written a book in 20 years?
Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he’ll feed himself and his family for the rest of his life.
But give a man a welfare check, a 32-ounce bottle of malt liquor and a crack pipe and he’ll be a loyal Democrat voter for the rest of his life.
LOL. Sadly, that's all too correct.
Just go online to pay.gov, and you can have the government take it directly out of your bank account anytime you want.
Sai King, you have forgotten the face of your father.
Did anyone ask him whether he takes a tax deduction for all that charitable giving?
Please use this string for reasoned replies. Every personally-directed flame post simply reinforces King’s negative view of conservatives. He writes floridly — that’s his style. Be better here.
Rose Kennedy declared herself a resident of Florida sense 1960 because of taxes.
Conservatives believe in Charity to care for all the unfortunate in this country. And Charities can do that. Liberals believe in the government taking care if everything. I would prefer that our extra money, that which we wish to donate , go to causes and charities of our choosing. It has been said to me ‘but you aren’t necessarily donating to the right people/places’. My answer is: it should be MY CHOICE where my Charitable contributions go! They want control of everything and, in the end, that is just Communism.
However, let me say this. There is nothing stopping him from paying more. He can cut a check to the government tomorrow, and they'll gladly accept it.
I wonder what his well-compensated accountant, or team of accountants, thinks about his comments?
Increasing taxes on the rich is an assault on savings which is an assault on capital accumulation which is an assault on productivity of labor which means less economic progress.
Egalitarianism is an abolition of cost in the spending of income and the abolition of causality in the earning of income. It cause people to demand everything and do nothing.It is also is an assault on saving, investment, and capital accumulation.It also leads to an assault on natural rights by the increased use of force.
I’ve seen a few of the movie adaptions of his books and liked them. Silver Bullet comes to mind.
The first actual King novel I tried to read was Cell. Fascinating premise.
IMO the sentence structure, vocabulary, is eighth grade.
If that’s his usual writing, forget it. I couldn’t get past chapter 2. Might not have been that far.
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