Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Fairness My Rear End...

I am sick of hearing Democrats and other leftists the planet over talk about wanting “a more fair society.” They don’t want a fair society. Far from it, they want a deeply unfair society. And their policies are crushing the very middle class they claim they want to treat so fairly.

Whenever leftists want to get their spite on against the rich, they talk about “fairness.” They act as if somehow the rich have intercepted a gift meant for us all, and now the left wants to spread it around fairly. . . to redistribute it. But wealth is not gift. It does not fall from the sky, it must be created through hard labor or risk taking. So tell me what exactly is “fair” about taking away the value of someone’s labor or the benefits they have earned from taking risks? That’s called slavery, even if you don’t take 100%. In fact, I doubt very much the left would suddenly decide Southern slaveholders were morally justified if they’d only taken 75% of what the slave made.

In a truly fair world, everyone would have an equal opportunity to achieve their dreams. But that is not what leftists want. They care so little about equality of opportunity that (1) they stand in the way of school reform to keep kids from being educated, (2) they stand in the way of starter jobs through labor requirements and minimum wages, which keeps kids form learning the important skills they need, (3) they tax the heck out of success, which keeps all but the greatest risk takers from trying to achieve their dreams, and (4) they encourage a system that lets the powerful and connected run roughshod over the “have nots” using the government as a weapon. It’s no wonder they want equality of result with these policies, because there won’t be any opportunity. The fact is, they hate success and they want to cap how successful you can be. And in some instances, they want to stop you from even trying to achieve your dreams in the first place. How fair is that?

And how has all of this worked out? The middle class has been crushed. Check this out.

Using official inflation figures, a dollar today is only worth 32 cents of what it was worth in 1979. That means inflation has eaten 68% of the value of the dollar in 33 years. In that time, the Middle Class has seen their median income rise only 40%. That means they’ve taken a 28% pay cut over those 33 years -- almost a percent a year. The poorest 20% of Americans have taken a 50% pay cut.

Oh, but wait! This is all the fault of Republicans slashing government spending, right? No. Government spending increased 714% in that same period. That’s right, federal spending increased more than seven times in the same period where real people took a 28-50% pay cut. Are you starting to see the problem?

If you want to know how bad this is, consider this: in 2012, Americans will pay $4 trillion in taxes. That is $152 billion MORE than they will spend on housing, food and clothing combined. That’s right, Uncle Sam is now a bigger expense in our lives than the costs of food, housing and clothing combined. So when Obama talks about tax rates being low compared to what they used to be, laugh in his lying face. Sure, rates are lower, but rates don’t tell the whole story. Rates don’t cover tariffs, fees, excise, use and sale taxes, they don’t account for disappearing and fading deductions, they ignore the alternative minimum tax, and they don’t account for a million other hidden taxes and the cost of regulations. Remember this article (LINK) which showed how the number of “economically significant” regulations being issued has been souring. An “economically significant” regulation, according to the government, is a regulation that imposes at least $100 million in annual costs on the economy. Clinton issued an average of 56 per year. “Conservative” George W. Bush issued on average 62 per year. And now his downgrade-ness is issuing on average 84 per year. Here’s a handy chart:

This represents hundreds of billions of dollars in lost freedom. Combine that with the lost income and the excessive tax burden discussed above and is it any wonder that the Middle Class is getting crushed?

As a result of this, the economy stinks. The labor participation rate, i.e. the percentage of people working, is at its lowest level since 1981, with 30 million people unemployed. According to Paul Krugman, we are in a depression. And he’s probably right. . . for a change. If you look at how the Great Depression went from 1929 to 1940, you will see a series of crashes with each followed by a sucker rally. Basically, the economy would crash 70-80% in a year, then would appear to rally for a couple years recapturing almost exactly half of what it lost, only to give it all up again and more. We seem to be in the same pattern now unless something changes.

What needs to change? How about the elimination of these regulations strangling our economy or the taxes crushing our people? No one will hire or start a new business when they know Uncle Sam is lurking out there waiting to pounce.

But hey, at least it’s fair. . . we’ll all go down together.


Don't forget, it's Star Trek Tuesday at the film site! (Politics of Trek)

95 comments:

DUQ said...

There are a lot of liberal phrases that drive me nuts and this "fairness" crap is one of them. When a liberal says something, you can rest assured they mean the opposite.

AndrewPrice said...

DUQ, The left is good at hiding behind their rhetoric. Almost nothing they say is accurate. To the contrary, as you point out, it more often than not is meant to point out the exact opposite.

In any event, shocking how big government has gotten, isn't it?

ScyFyterry said...

Andrew, I have to say that I honestly am shocked. I knew taxes were high, but I had no idea we pay more in taxes than we do for food, clothing and housing combined! That's insane! When did paying the government become more important that providing for basic needs?

Unknown said...

The interest on the national debt alone would keep much of the world in clover, and is keeping China booming. How "fair" is that? In Obama's socialist world, fairness is comprised of ruining the dollar and crushing wealth with hidden taxes. That harms his beloved poor and marginal Americans most of all, while at the same time pushing the middle class into poverty with them. Equality of opportunity becomes equality of outcome, and that outcome is massive shrinking of American power,prestige and wealth.

As you aptly pointed out, we'll all do down together. Which fits the ancient adage "misery loves company."

DUQ said...

It is shocking Andrew, sort of. The numbers are shocking, but it's not shocking that we've gotten to this place. They keep adding taxes everywhere and on everything. So even though the rates come down now and then (and then go back up) they never roll back the trillions of taxes on everything else. Look what Obamacare added in terms of taxes on medical equipment and medication. We pay those taxes.

What this does is tells us that the whole idea pushed by the left that we don't spend enough is horsecrap.

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

What bugs me the most is Bush not using the veto. All that had to happen with him, was someone say, "It's for the children." Never mind that the bill would outlaw guns that just look mean, or feed kids breakfast at school, or outlaw whatever feel-good movement of the week. The liberals at Capitol Hill knew this and always made sure Bush knew, "It's for the children."

If Bush had vetoed more bills, we would not be in this place we call, Recession. If Bush had understood economics....

AndrewPrice said...

Terry, I was shocked when I saw this the other day as well. I can't imagine the government can't live within its means despite getting more money that we spend on "needs." (And a lot of those are actually wants -- like over-sized houses and dining out).

I think the other serious point to consider is the collapse of real income. That's what people are feeling, the year after year pay cut. That's why people think they are getting poorer, because they are.

AndrewPrice said...

Lawhawk, That's the thing about liberals -- they only ever look at one side of the equation. "Oh, we need to help that guy, ok, here's some money. That's fair." They never ask where the money came from or who got hurt extracting it. And add in a real sense of spite on the left, i.e. they would rather everyone suffer than anyone succeed more than the rest, and you have a recipe for a miserable, poor world.

We are seeing that paid off in spades now with a crushing debt, a bankrupt system, an inept and intrusive government, and a middle class that is taking a bigger and bigger pay cut every year just so Obama and his friends can feel smug.

It's obscene!

AndrewPrice said...

DUQ, That's the thing. That's why the economists are all so confused. They look at marginal rates and say, "gee, this didn't happen under Reagan? Maybe taxes don't matter." They ignore the vast legion of hidden fees and taxes which stifle business, consumption, and employment.

If we cleaned up this system, our economy would fly like an eagle instead of squat like a turkey.

DUQ said...

The work force participation rate is horrible too, that means people everywhere have just given up on the economy. That's bad.

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, I agree entirely. Bush was a sucker for trying to use the government "to help people." He didn't understand economics, he didn't understand incentives, he didn't get finance. It never occurred to him that creating entitlements would bankrupt the government or that spending money everywhere only creates dependence everywhere. He was disastrous for conservatives because he let the government explode sizewise all the while claiming he was a "small government" conservative. Disaster.

AndrewPrice said...

DUQ, That's a horrible sign. That does mean that people have given up hope, and those people will lose skills which they need to be successful in the future. It's like a guaranteed way to get knocked down a class or two.

On the plus side, this won't help Obama's reelection, especially with him out there pretending there's good news within that 8.1%. Good grief!

T-Rav said...

One need only look at the new Socialist President of France to see what the Left's idea of fairness is. Draconian taxes on the rich, further control of every aspect of the economy...what a cesspool.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, Tell me about it, he's proposing a 75% tax rate on the rich... who are now moving their money out of France. Still, I hope he puts his whole agenda into place and shows the world what happens when socialism gets its shot.

ScyFyterry said...

Joel and Andrew, Bush disappointed me a lot. He always wanted to please the Democrats and he didn't care if what they wanted was good or not. He never fought back. He let his cronies run wild, just like Obama. He never once stood up for conservative ideas.

rlaWTX said...

Andrew, RE France: they'll just say that he inherited such a mess that it's hardly his fault that he hasn't spent his way out of the hole YET! And if it still fails, they'll have some other reason that "they" didn't do socialism right and that if only the correct people were in charge it would have gone perfectly...

As for the US, see above paragraph.

ScyFyterry said...

Andrew, The collapse of real income is startling. I knew it wasn't growing much, but then you always hear how it's up a couple percent each year and you think that's sounds ok. But to see a 28% pay cut in three decade is a shock and it explains why people are struggling.

AndrewPrice said...

Terry, I have very similar complaints. Bush wrapped himself in the mantle of conservatism, acted as a liberal, and then never once defended conservatism from the left's attacks. If it wasn't for Obama being such a dud, conservatism would be dead today.

AndrewPrice said...

rlaWTX, Very, very true. It's amazing the mental contortions through which the left goes to avoid any blame for their failures. They started in a hole... they were hindered by events or evil conservative saboteurs... they never really got a chance to try out all their ideas... something just went wrong... they hired the wrong leader... etc.

How do you say "it's Bush's fault" in French?

AndrewPrice said...

Terry, It is startling. I didn't know it was that bad, but basically every year, each of us is taking a 1-2% pay cut and has been for the past thirty years. It kind of makes you wonder why you should keep trying, doesn't it?

T-Rav said...

Andrew, what rla said. You know very well they'll never admit that socialism fails. They'll blame it on anything and everything, and then say that "it wasn't really tried."

rlaWTX said...

the conservative's realism can get awful close to pessimism with numbers and trends like this... How does one talk oneself into giving up completely and living off of the few remaining "producers"? Is there a Dummies Guide to getting conservatives to give up and go on the dole?

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, That's true. You do know that socialism's never failed right? That's because no one has ever really implement it. Yep. Plus, it gets undermined by the 1% who can't allow such a great system to succeed.

AndrewPrice said...

rlaWTX, It's fascinating that the only thing which keeps the system going is the people who are willing to keep struggling on as everyone else climbs onto their backs.

That's what Atlas Shrugged was about, the idea that conservatives should finally abandon the liberals to themselves and go build their own world.

Interestingly, that seems to be what is happening in places like California, where the conservatives are all leaving the state and letting the liberals try to make it work for themselves. Naturally, the state has become a basketcase.

Ed said...

This is depressing news. What's really depressing is that this should be very easy to fix, yet no one is offering a plan to fix it. In fact, the only guy with such a plan, Herman Cain, got slaughtered by the system.

How does the Middle Class revolt and change this?

AndrewPrice said...

Ed, It's depressing how easily this could be fixed and yet how hard everyone tries to prevent a fix. Instead, they use the problem itself to justify creating further problems.

In terms of revolting, that's pretty much what the Tea Party is about.

AndrewPrice said...

Sorry Bev, I apologize to turkey's everywhere and offer them a coupon to read Commentarama at a discounted rate for one year! 80% off the newsstand price! :)

United Turkeys of America said...

Hey what you said about turkeys...that was mean.

BevfromNYC said...

The United Turkeys of America agree with me. **cough, cough**

AndrewPrice said...

Ok, dear Turkeys... who I assume are not Bev ;) ... I hereby repeat my generous offer of a coupon for 80% off the newsstand price of Commentarama for one year!

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, I'm saw that. You have powerful friends! ;)

Ed said...

Wait a minute, turkey's can fly? When did this happen? Why wasn't I informed?

BevfromNYC said...

A. Turkeys are like parrots who can actually repeat the most intelligent things

B. Yes, deregulation is a major issues of the Tea Party and we are a "middle class" revolt (if you don't count all of the vast sums of super secret money we are paid by the Koch Brothers).

AndrewPrice said...

Bev,

A. I did not know that. They should paint themselves like parrots, that would be cool.

B. That's been my observation too. When I look at Tea Party people, I don't see the normal political types at all. They all look like middle class people and they bring middle class sensibilities. And I suspect they won't give up because of numbers like the ones in the article which show that the middle class is getting crushed by the government on behalf of the rich and the poor.

On the Koch Brothers, I wish they would float us some money. We must be doing something wrong. :(

AndrewPrice said...

Ed, Wild turkeys can "fly" but it's more of a short range floating jump. And you would know this if you watched W.K.R.P..

LINK... a classic.

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

The reason why we aren't getting any money from Koch Brothers is because our "Bros" called the wrong numbers and couldn't find us. George Soros supplied our phone numbers through Holder to Biden and then to a drunk Hillary and somehow they were lost or garbled. You know, you just can't get good help these days. This is one time Obama had absolutely nothing to do with it.

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, Well now I'm depressed. I knew we shouldn't have hired Sorassbidenholder, LLC to handle our mail. Grrr.

I want my million dollar grant dammit! Heck, I'd take $20,000 a year if any Koch brother just happens to read this. Yes indeedy! :)

United Ducks of America said...

Oh, so you're a speciesist then, are you? No privileges for us?

T-Rav said...

Guys, I have it on good authority that our checks from the Koch brothers are getting rerouted to a PO Box in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Something about a "spud gun of death," I think.

United Union of United States Eagles said...

By apologizing to the Turkeys, you have implied that your statement about eagles is not true. By such implied slander, you have injured the delicate feelings of this magnificent creature. As such, reparations will be required. Immediately.

AndrewPrice said...

United Ducks, Wait a minute... let me be clear. I love duck. Yum.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, A spud gun of death? Interesting. A weapon of mashed destruction? ;)

AndrewPrice said...

Man, it's interest group Tuesday around here!

UUUSE, What kind of reparations? Is it not enough that we made you our beloved national symbol instead of eating you? Would you rather we ate you at Thanksgiving and put the turkey on our money... right next to all the Masonic crappola?

Fine. You can have 80% off the newsstand price as well.

United Union of United States Eagles said...

Such unnecessary grandstanding! We accept your puny reparations since you obviously see the grave error of your ways and called us "beloved". Please point us to the nearest newsstand.

AndrewPrice said...

UUUSE, Glad to hear we could settle this peacefully. The nearest newsstand would be right next to "Eagle Killer Bob's Firing Range" out on I-94.

Ed said...

Parrot-colored eagles. LOL! Who says Commentarama doesn't cover a lot of bases!

rlaWTX said...

Turkeys, and Ducks, and Eagles, and Parrots, oh my!

AndrewPrice said...

rlaWTX, LOL! Well played! :)


Ed, We do get around (intellectually).

T-Rav said...

Andrew, if you ask me, it's a really twice-baked idea. ;-)

BevfromNYC said...

Hey wait. Does this mean even our national symbols are in public unions??

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, Sadly, it apparently does.


T-Rav, Equally sadly, my arsenal of potato- related jokes is exhausted.

AndrewPrice said...

OT Update: Sen. Dick Lugar has lost in the primary. Hurray!

BevfromNYC said...

Let's hope Richard Mourdock isn't a looney-tune.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, I haven't looked into it, but I doubt he is because even a lot of moderates finally jumped on his bandwagon before the election. So I suspect he's fairly sane.

Jen said...

Bye-bye, Lugar!!! I turned on the TV to watch some of the election results come in, and a while later, the local news broke in saying that Lugar lost, even though not all of the precincts had reported--the margin between the two was great enough to declare Murdock the winner. When I got to my polling place, I said "Bye-bye, Lugar", and went inside to cast my vote against him!

K said...

"Bush was a sucker for trying to use the government "to help people."

If his past record is any indication, wait till you get a load of Romney. :(

tryanmax said...

André, C'est la faute de Bush

T-Rav said...

Yay, Lugar's gone! Mourdock appears to be a much more reliably conservative pol than ol' Dick, so this is good.

Incidentally, the Wisconsin primaries for the recall are today as well, which are worth watching, if only to compare party turnout.

AndrewPrice said...

Jen, I've never been a fan of Lugar so I'm pretty happy he's gone. He's just been too wrong too often. And now is a great time to replace people like Lugar because I think we're looking at a Republican wave.

AndrewPrice said...

K, We'll see.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, No results up yet on Wisconsin. Let's hope it turns out well.


tryanmax, I knew it was something like that... or "Obama's connerie". (Assuming Google did that right.)

USArtguy said...

I did my civic duty today and helped little old Dick Lugar cross the street to retirement.

Mourdock has served one term as Indiana's Treasurer and previously a Vanderburgh County Commissioner. He has worked for and with both Big Oil and Big Coal. He is conservative and pro-life.

You can check out his views
here.

Someone has already updated hi Wikipedia page!.

I think he'll do a fine job.

Joel Farnham said...

What!? K doesn't like Romney? Hmmm, join the crowd. Unfortunately, he is what we got and he aint too bad. He is far more conservative than I ever thought. He doesn't have any drug, women, or addiction problems. He has this laid back killer instinct that is totally deceptive. He has so many people complaining that he is a moderate and that seems to calm the nervous nellies.

AndrewPrice said...

USArtguy, I haven't looked into him too much, so thanks for the update. I get the feeling a lot of people joined you in sending Lugar into retirement.

T-Rav said...

Let the record show, I said nothing.

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, I don't think any of us are under the delusion that Romney is a Tea Party conservative, but I think he will shock people and be one of our more conservative presidents. Everything he's said in the debates told me that his instincts are in fact conservative (Tenth-Amendment conservative) and, as I've said before, I expect his man plan will be to follow Congress's lead while bringing a business sense to the Executive.

That should turn out to be a good combination.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, The record shall so show. ;)

T-Rav said...

Oh, and probably Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett is going to beat the other person for the Dems' nomination. Which is somewhat worrisome as he makes it a much closer race with Walker than otherwise, but it was expected, so.

Also, WV has its primary tonight. I read on the blogs that on the Dem side, Obama's challenger is managing to pull a healthy 30 percent of the vote...and he's, um, done time in federal prison.

DUQ said...

No surprise, Romney has won all the primaries except tonight -- WVA, NC and Indiana.

Still waiting for Wisconsin results on the recall.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, Prison is not an impediment to higher office in West Virginia, and no I'm not kidding.

I'm not surprised either that Obama is having problems in West Virginia. As I've noted several times, the Democratic voters there are racists and hate the national party... they just want the Federal money to keep coming.

T-Rav said...

Andrew, I know, I know, but I still find it highly amusing.

DUQ, so far the aforementioned Barrett is leading, though it's still early. However, one interesting thing of note is that so far, Republican turnout is nearly as high as Democratic turnout--and Walker is running unopposed.

DUQ said...

North Carolina banned gay marriage and civil unions by 69 - 31. That's a huge margin.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, Oh trust me, I find it amusing to. One of the governors I got to know did 10 years. A judge I practiced before couldn't take office until he got out of jail. It's a strange state.

Illinois said...

Clearly we've got to play some catch-up with those Mountaineers.

T-Rav said...

DUQ, I happen to have a large cohort of NC natives (mainly liberals) as my grad school colleagues. I plan on checking their Facebook statuses later, to get a healthy serving of schadenfreude from their wailing.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, My guess is that they're going to be beside themselves with the horror that their home state isn't what they thought it was.

Ha ha.

West Virginia said...

You got nothing us youngin.

But you shur gots a perty sister.

T-Rav said...

Dear West Virginia: What's the matter? Does your own sister have a headache or something?
Sincerely, T-Rav

tryanmax said...

Watching Jon Lovitz on Piers Morgan. I feel truly sorry for him because I can tell he's thinking and feeling some very conservative things, but he's having trouble expressing them in words.

Meanwhile Piers keeps hounding the guy why the rich shouldn't pay a higher rate than the poor "in times of economic stress" as if something else happens to be the current case. I understand that CNN is trying to pass this off as some kind of real debate about the issues instead of discussing real solutions to the economic crisis.

West By God Virginia said...

She's done 5-10 for meth distribution.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, I was going to give you a hillbilly joke, but have decided against it. :(

tryanmax said...

Ah, that's better. Lovitz rallied after the break and Piers asked the same question about 28 times like a doofus.

Jen said...

I just checked election results with almost all reporting at 100%. Romney came way out ahead, Paul second. Newt, and Rick were still on the ballot for some reason.

The guy running for state rep in my district also won. I met him last year while he was knocking on doors. He was here again last month asking if he could put up a yard sign. I'll have to send an email of congrats to him as he was up against an establishment pick. I asked him a question the other day, and he wrote back about how his opponent's campaign copied him in the ads that were run.

ArtGuy, I'm glad you helped assist Lugar in his retirement! I was more than happy to do so myself.

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, I've seen that in real life from liberals, when liberal friends suddenly realize that their next couple words will involve spitting out conservative beliefs. They look all confused and upset and soon you see the denial written in their eyes... then they say it and try to pass it off as "different" from what conservatives believe.

AndrewPrice said...

Jen, It sounds like it was a good nice in Indiana!

Tennessee Jed said...

I haven't had time to read all the comments--pretty much just glanced, but a nice article, Andrew. I think our progressive friends get equality of result mixed up with freedom to pursue happiness. Life is not fair and the promise of the United State was never meant to imply equality of outcome. This kind of thinking comes from people who relish exerting control over everybody else. People who truly believe their own brand of bullshit.

There is a place for regulation in our society, but as you point out, the government governs best that can regulate least. Catch you next week.

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks Jed! I think you're right that they are mixing concepts, and you're right, leftist equality is all about control and nothing else.

Have a nice vacation! :)

Tea Party Eagles said...

Not all of us, just the ones in Washington, Oregon, California, and on the tops of flagpoles.

International Featherhood of Parrots said...

Rise up brothers! Squawk for your rights! We demand a livable wage and seven days off a week!

And Polly wants a cracker!

Jen said...

Andrew, in your response to Tryanmax about liberals being in denial with conservative beliefs, I know all about this behavior. I've already mentioned a certain person who has been known to do this. The one time I called him on it directly, he acted like it was the biggest insult he'd ever heard, and then gave me his non-political definition of "conservative" (and thanks, by the way for pointing this out a while back--the non-political/political definition).

AndrewPrice said...

Jen, It's amazing how similar liberals are isn't it? It's like their stamped from the same mold -- the same defective mold.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Superb post, Andrew!

I'm slao sick n' tired of watching the left saturate yet another word, but more than that I'm pissed at the rising inflation and the hidden costs of insane regulations!

Everything liberals do discourages competition and small businesses.

As I heard others say, not sure who originated it, and I may be paraphrasing:
"The left breaks a lot of eggs so where's the omelette?"
Unfortunately, leftist economics only knows how to destroy not how to create or produce.

The results speak for themselves. Even liberals are beginning to see it like Jon Lovitz.

Welcome to the party pal. :^)

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Um...slao should read also. LOL.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Ed said...
"Wait a minute, turkey's can fly?"

Not in Cincinnati.
"As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." LOL.

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks Ben! I'm sick of the way the pounce on words and ruin them. They soil everything they touch.

I like that quote about the eggs. How accurate.

Poor Jon Lovitz, he's exposed himself to the wrath of the collective.

I love that WKRP episode! LOL!

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