Living in a Material world, The Impoverished Thinking of “Income Inequality”
July 11, 2015 Leave a comment
It’s a mystery to me
We have a greed with which we have agreed
You think you have to want more than you need
Until you have it all you won’t be free
Society, you’re a crazy breed
I hope you’re not lonely without
Though the message of the above song resonates within me throughout and though I have seen others on the same road as Alexander Supertramp I do not recommend walking away…
~~~
Two recent events reveal the impoverished thinking of populist economics and “society’s crazy breed”: A mandated minimum wage increase in Chicago (Chicago-Minimum-Wage-Notice) and Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman’s macro-hypocrisy increase.
Let’s start with the subliminal wage increase.
It feels so “Oprah-kind” to know that the minimum pay for your effort will be set at a fixed rate by Big Brother. Big Brother, of course, is not paying for the increase but he is certainly gaining political capital and tax revenue from your increased paycheck.
The media abets the ravenous pols by constantly bombarding us with income deltas as if materialism is the bread of life. Karl Marx did care about how much someone else made, he dined out on it.
On a daily basis I find some financial webpages and articles written about comparative CEO salaries. OMG! Reporter, get the socialist’s dirty needle out of your arm! Are you reporting these numbers so as to invoke class-ic envy?
“There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest, For I did dream of money-bags to-night.” William Shakespeare
~~~
“Minimum wage laws make it illegal to pay less than the government specified price for labor. By the simplest and most basic economics, a price artificially raised tends to cause more to be supplied and less to be demanded than when prices are left to be determined by supply and demand in a free market. The result is a surplus, whether the price that is set artificially high is that of farm produce and labor.
Making it illegal to pay less than a given amount does not make a worker’s productivity worth that amount….” Quote from Thomas Sowell, economist, “The Thomas Sowell Reader”.
~~~
Nothing happens in isolation. Consider also that the Obamacare/health “coverage” is also mandated. So, a worker’s hours are restricted to ensure that a business remains profitable to ensure employee jobs. And, a worker who doesn’t fulfill the Obamacare mandated-Justice Ruth Ginsburg-and-Justice John Roberts-mandated requirements is fined or taxed-actually, both. Big Brother has the gun law of coercion to your back.
~~~
Under the “People should and do trust me” department…
Hillary Clinton and Income Reality Inequality! Hillary Clinton Broke?
Why “income inequality”? Because good money is thrown after bad.
Paul Krugman Sticks It To Poor People With $225,000 Salary To Study Income Inequality
By Eric Owens, Education Editor:
“This week, trustees of the cash-strapped, taxpayer-funded City University of New York (CUNY) system approved a hefty annual salary as well as the fancypants title of “distinguished professor” for Paul Krugman.
New York City’s public college system pays Krugman $225,000 each year to analyze the vexing problem of income inequality at the CUNY Graduate Center’s Luxembourg Income Study Center, Gawker notes.
Krugman’s $225,000 salary — which is $18,750 per month — does not include his undisclosed earnings from other ventures, the sum of which could be substantial.”
Why “income inequality”? (You don’t have to pay me!)
-Folly: A fool and his money are soon parted.” That’s what state lotteries and casinos count on.
-Government and Progressive Income tax: I made a few dollars as a store clerk at age thirteen. Now I make a whole lot more money closer to retirement. And this is because I have worked a lifetime to obtain skills that have been of value to my employers. Should I be taxed more because I make more money due to the manifest effort on my part to take care of my family and to pay my bills, just to satisfy the ‘social justice” gnosis?
–Time and experience: Over the course of decades I have had “income inequality” every year of my life. Should I demand equal pay because someone is making more at some point in time? No way! I need to make myself of more value to my employer and then ask for an increase in pay or find a better paying job. This brings me to my next point…
-Denial: Degreed Millennials, as an observation, think that their academic credentials buy them a ticket to ride without much effort on their part. Some even think that blue-collar labor is beneath them. This denial of reality of their situation and a lack of healthy self-awareness is the result, in part I believe, of the effects of psychotherapy’s delusional self-awareness pharmacopeia on our culture. Psychotherapy provides the illusion that you can live an existence free of any tension over time, through endless sessions of… therapy. An analysand’s every thought must be reviewed, be given equal doses of “hmmm” and then before the open-ended session’s time is done, be given equal value. “You are not to blame yourself. XYZ is responsible. Look, our time is up. See you next week. Pay up front.” And, psychotherapy’s moral deficit is not a cure for a person’s lack of awareness of the obvious-many a Millennial thinks he is entitled. And, of no value is the politician’s “Hope and Change” pharmacopeia. A Minimum wage is not a cure at all. It is a placebo that generates no economic health whatsoever. In fact it denies the existence of bad economic choices an individual has made. Yet, perverse politicians say “it’s not you. You didn’t build that problem. The institution of big business is the problem. It must take our ‘medicine’ for your cure.
-Misdirected Self-awareness: Millennials tend to think of only what they need and not what an employer needs. Naiveté.
-Some people have a spending problem: Some people reinvest their money and create jobs. Others will spend their money and ask “Why am I ‘poor’ when others are rich?” The makeshift poor will demand the doctors of politics to up their dosage of cornucopian wealth.
-Lack of wisdom: “He that wants money, means, and content, is without three good friends.” William Shakespeare
-Lack of wisdom: “It is senseless to pay tuition to educate a fool, since he has no heart for learning.” Proverbs 17:16
-Lack of wisdom: “Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper.” Proverbs 13:4
-Lack of wisdom: “Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty!” Proverbs 14:23
~~~
In a twist of a Thomas Sowell quote, ”It is amazing how many people seem to think that the government exists to turn their prejudices into law.” I say, ”It is amazing how many people seem to think that the government exists to insure them against their bad decisions.”
~~~
Added 7-15-2015:
Thomas Sowell – Minimum Wage Exploitation (Economics 101)






Be Wary of Progressives in Finance Article Clothing or Down Where the Tax Meets the Bone
November 15, 2014 Leave a comment
Let’s talk taxes. Be wary of Progressives in finance article clothing.
The illustrative article/video, “Income taxes are lower than you think” posted on the Yahoo! Finance webpage uses the good finance cop/bad finance cop ploy to get the reader to come around to their terms. This type of social manipulation could be one reason why America’s Judas MIT con artist Jon Gruber spoke of voters as “stupid”, suckers for any ivory tower talking talking-head in a suit bloviating about the glories of redistributive economics. .
The article begins: “You probably think your taxes are too damn high. Chances are, you’re wrong.”
Whoa! I am not wrong! No matter how much they spin this clay argument will my taxes ever appear small and sought-after. Caveat emptor mi amigos! And don’t forget, taxes are the coercive means (ala “Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.00”) used by government to fund more out-of-control deficit spending.
Let’s see. There is the personal income tax, the payroll tax, FICA, MICA, property taxes, sales taxes, Obamacare mandate and “Cadillac” taxes (thanks for memories Justice Roberts), the differential tax of government wage and price controls and stagnant wages. Wage controls include the minimum wage tax placed on employers. I now buy a more expensive to sell hamburger as does the teenager earning minimum wage. Nothing happens in isolation. And, of course, there is the let’s pummel evil business CORPORATE TAX which depresses all forms of economic growth. The direct and indirect taxes are too numerous to mention. I am not cheap or stupid. I am tired of being taxed to the bone.
Forty percent of the nation pays taxes for the remaining recipient sixty percent. Twenty percent of the forty percent pays most of the tax burden. Progressive tax rates, among other redistributive programs, are making the U.S. into a socialist European bankrupt-susceptible entity where the individual is no longer important. The individual is just another “stupid” number on Jon Gruber’s chalkboard.
The video screen reinforces the manipulation of the Progressive dialogue: “Your taxes aren’t as high as you think.” I think both speakers are high on government fumes.
The article refers to the “nonpartisan “CBO to soften its social engineering blow: “ The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office just published its annual analysis of Americans’ income and taxes, and guess what–American taxpayers continue to get a pretty good deal. The average household pays 19.3% of its income in federal taxes, CBO estimates.” Isn’t that special!
We are TOLD that we are getting a pretty good deal. That’s Progressives for you! They think they know you better than you know yourself! And, that’s when they begin their snake oil salesmanship…
The article goes on to tell us that the currently low (in their minds) tax rates “ought to be good news for consumers, except there are three problems (only three?!?) that explain why Americans don’t feel cheery at all about the government they pay for.” (Here they sweet talk us hoping to play on Progressive ‘sensibilities’.)…
First, while federal tax rates have fallen over time, incomes have stagnated. For middle-class earners, real income, adjusted for inflation, has risen just 16% since 1979, and it has actually fallen by a few percentage points since peaking in 2007. That means the typical middle-class family has experienced declining living standards during the last 7 years—which makes the sting of taxes much sharper.
Next up, they pivot to take a pot shot at the 1%: “The only exception to this pernicious trend of flatlining incomes is among the top 1% of earners, whose incomes-nobody will be surprised to hear-have risen 174% since 1979. Tax increases that went into effect in 2013 actually impacted the wealthy more than everybody else, which is why even the 1% earn less than they did several years ago. But nobody needs to worry about America’s millionaires.”
How nice of them to again tell us what to think!
Listen to the words being used to sell their ‘product’: “Pernicious flat lining,” “Exception,” “(the1%) Incomes …have risen.” With a know-it-all Jon Gruber-like condescension they reassure us that they are looking out for us. (“Our ends justify deceitful means.”)
Well, I care about the 1%. The 1%’s money creates industry, jobs, wealth, stockholder dividends, overall economic growth and lo, and behold, personal dignity from an individual’s labor. Besides philanthropy the 1% investments help feed 401K, IRA and pension retirement accounts. The 1% and I pay for the other 50% of the country that doesn’t pay any tax. It is very short sighted to demonize the 1%. In fact, to do so is a form of social manipulation meant for already in place redistributive ends. Progressivism’s Politburo ‘think tank’ of course do not want you to know this, again in Jon Gruber-like fashion.
“Second, while federal tax rates have stabilized at relatively low levels, state and local taxes have risen in many areas. Property taxes, often levied to fund schools, have become a particular burden, because education costs have outpaced inflation.”
The talking heads left out the nonpartisan national debt. Each us, (our children and grandchildren will not be debt free when we die) now owes ten of thousands of dollars.
They also left out that the U.S. dollar is worth less because of the fiscal and monetary policies (printing fiat money for bailouts and financing losers (i.e., Solyndra) to name only two bad GOVERNMENT economic choices) of which these knuckleheads would gladly support. I have no doubt. It’s only money. They go on with the good finance cop talk:
“The third reason Americans are glum about taxes is they don’t feel they’re getting their money’s worth from the government. The Republican sweep of Congress in this year’s midterm elections was an expression of frustration with the economic status quo and the Democrats most associated with it. Poll after poll shows satisfaction with government to be at or near record lows. In Gallup polls, nearly as many people say the government is the nation’s biggest problem as cite the economy. Most people would rather pay a little bit more for something that works well than pay rock-bottom prices for a lemon.” (Yes, government is the nation’s biggest problem along with the nation’s moral bankruptcy.)
Their last line kills me! Be careful! It is a subtle trap. These financial ‘cognoscenti’ are toying with us commoners! Of course, nobody want’s to pay for garbage! But their words imply that we will gladly pay more, just not for a lemon government (read: “It is the institution of government that needs more of your hard earned money to make it less lemony.”)
Our lemon government has paid Jon Gruber $5.9 million for various analyses including The Sting operation known as Obamacare and Amnesty.
Heard at the WH door: “Knock, knock.” “Who’s there?” “Jon Gruber.” “Jon Gruber who?” “Jon Gruber with an invoice for the snake oil you ordered.”
Gruber is listed on the WH visitor list multiple times. He was paid $400,000 to bury the financial truth about Obamacare and to abuse the trust of the American people. Now you want more tax money from me to pay for more abuse? Frick and frack are implying that I should gladly bend over for more of the same.
No, I do not desire to pay more for more bureaucracy, morons! I want a miniscule government and more of my own wages-my personal property-to keep and to give charitably as I see fit. Along with higher aspirations I also seek to be the 1%, at least in the coffers of my mind.
We Americans just loved it, didn’t we, when Obama threw ‘green’ money at Solyndra and then the company went almost immediately into the ‘red’, bankrupt. Most likely, then, the ‘green’ money was laundered into Democrat campaign donations. BTW: When you mix green and red you get a dirty brown color, the color of you know what.
At this moment in time we are paying a huge, huge price for lemon government. You can see this with your own eyes. Our increasing national debt alone is a huge breach in our national security. Frick and Frack don’t mention that government’s revenue collection, via the Founder’s written intention, was intended to provide mainly for our national defense. Our government has failed to do so.
Our government has failed to do so. By creating a national debt payable to other nations, nations that would like to put us under their thumb and make us submit to their will. And, don’t forget the lack of border security that weakens our national security. Taxpayer money is diverted to climate change nonsense or to some inane study of every deviant specter. Sufficient taxpayer money is not headed to secure our sovereign borders. Instead Obama wants to offer taxpayer funded amnesty, offering your taxpayer dollars to buy votes and popularity with his peeps. You, America come last.
Our government with the aiding and abetting of good finance/bad finance cops and the likes of NYT’s Keynesian economics columnist Paul Krugman ‘cook the books’ ala Jon Gruber, ala ad hoc CPI calculations, ala serendipitous GDP calculations, ala smoke and mirrors unemployment numbers and other snake charming incantations. They consider you ignorant and therefore produce junk videos to charm you into paying more taxes, to demonize the 1% and to redistribute your wealth to a ‘higher cause”–bureaucracy
The demand of the collective: “Government give us jobs that pay more!”
In 2016 we will vote again. We vote for a leader of our nation.
One leader may demand more direct and indirect taxes to implement crony policies, he or she may redirect your income to pay for bankrupt ideas like climate change fix-its, college debt bailouts and other Christmas wish-list items. The choice, most likely, is between one of two untrustworthy progressives: Hillary Clinton or Elizabeth Warren
OR, we vote for a leader who would unleash the power of the American people to create wealth.
Litmus test: How do you tell political non-leaders from leaders? Those who do not lead will denigrate opponents; divide the nation up into special interest groups. They will make excuses, lie, pronounce judgment on the 1%, raise taxes as the means to greater government and talk about ‘fixing’ government waste while creating more uncontrollable government.
Those who lead will propose the growth positive reforms necessary to create wealth (not redistributive-wealth as implied in the Yahoo! Article)-for all individuals, not just the Progressive’s chosen elite1%. Leaders have real-life experience in creating wealth and not by deceiving others.
You will know a leader not by the swagger or their buff BS. You will know them by their sworn duty to uphold the rule of law, by their common sense to reduce the burdens put on the people of this nation and by their stand against corruption in any form.
The Yahoo!Finance article ends with them salivating about their main talking point-“the taxman cometh”: “It’s a good bet tax increases of some kind are coming. For all the dissatisfaction today with underperforming government and the price we pay for it, these could seem like the glory days once tax rates go back up to the more sustainable levels of the past.”
Up yours! (“Up your own taxes” is a nicer way to say this.)
Sincerely, Taxpayer Hadden Nuff
Here are some book recommendations. These books are written in plain, nongovernmental, non-Jon Gruber English. They will give you insight into how our tax system came about (e.g., the 16th Amendment and the Federal Reserve were both created in 1913, fancy that.).
These books will give you the taxpayer a basic and I consider necessary understanding of economics apart from the saccharine Yahoo!Finance articles.
“Free to Choose” by Milton and Rose Friedman
“The Real Crash: How to Save Yourself and Your Country- America’s Coming Bankruptcy,” the latest revised edition by Peter Schiff
George Gilder’s “Knowledge and Power: The Information Theory of Capitalism and How It Is Revolutionizing Our World”
Required reading:
Obamcare’s Three-Legged Stool of Deception Regarding Employer Health Plans
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Filed under Economics, Political Commentary, Politics, Progressivism Tagged with Cadillac Tax, Elizabeth Warren, employer Health care, fiat currency, finances, government, Hillary Clinton, Jon Gruber, Keynesian economics, Paul Krugman, politics, progrssivism, taxes, the 1%