Let Me Ask the Looters Some Questions
This article talks about how the looters in 10 states are going to increase income taxes.
- I thought state spending stimulated economic growth. Isn’t that what we are being sold on? So why do you need to even collect any taxes at all? Shouldn’t you be able to borrow from just about anyone at very low rates if what you spend your money on is so useful and productive? Or is there just a small possibility that government spending does not do anything for prosperity? Is it just possible that you are transferring wealth from those that have created it, to those that do not, or even worse to those that destroy it? No, you would never do something like that. It must be something else. I have no idea what.
- For all of the bashing you do of private enterprise and economic progress, you sure are hypocritical when times get bad. Where do you think all of your tax “revenues” come from? Do goods and services just drop out of the sky? Does a pizzeria make money just by wishing for it? Does paper get produced just by commanding trees be cut and processed? Do kids learn how to read and write by osmosis (that might be a better strategy than funding public schools, but that is for another date and time to talk about)? No, these all happen because of the tireless efforts of people trying to improve their lots in life. And the way to do that is for folks to produce things of value. Not things that you looters deem valuable, but things that millions of individuals get satisfaction from. But look what happens to your “loot” when something happens to make it more difficult for people to produce goods and services that are valuable … it diminishes … rapidly. And your “solution? To make it even less likely for folks like me to increase their work effort.
- Do you really have to resort to scare tactics every time you face a shortfall in loot? If we don’t steal more of your money, we’ll release “real” criminals from prison! If we don’t steal more of your money, we’ll have to cut down on
subsidized day care the school year! If we don’t steal more of your money, the roads will crumble and fall into the ocean! Hogwash, hogwash, hogwash. When “we” all have to tighten our belts, then you should too. But beyond that, you could deliver virtually the same quality and quantity of services we are getting for half of what you spend now. How about thinking hard about the sweetheart deals people get by working in government? How about rethinking the ratio of school administrators to actual instructors? How about rethinking how transportation services are provided and funded? How about ending your spending on the hundreds of things that are not “essential” governmental projects? Nah, you could never do that … so instead, you use outright lies and scare tactics into convincing people they need to cut off a few more fingers to save their hands from falling off.
- Don’t most of you looters thing that we as individuals are greedy, spend too much, are impulsive, abusers of the environment? So shouldn’t a decline in economic activity move us closer to a world vision that you prefer? And according to those ends, shouldn’t government be held to the same criteria as us? If you spend less, you would be less greedy and you would have less of an environmental impact? Why are you trying to undo all this “progress”?
It’s time for folks to say ENOUGH.