EDITOR’S NOTE: Our response is in UPPER CASE below. We invite others to join in this important discussion.
When middle class working people (a group that includes myself and all of my friends and relatives) vote for truly conservative candidates, they are voting in favor of the libertarian principles on which this country was founded, the principles which (until we stopped following them) led America to become the world’s largest exporter of goods and have the world’s largest economy.
WHAT LED AMERICA TO BECOME THE “WORLD’S LARGEST EXPORTERS OF GOODS” AND “THE WORLD’S LARGEST ECONOMY” WAS, IN LARGE PART, BOUNTIFUL NATURAL RESOURCES (MANY OF WHICH ARE NOW DEPLETED) AND OCEANS THAT PROTECTED US FROM INVOLVEMENT IN FOREIGN WARS AND THUS HEAVY TAXES.
They are not voting against their own and their family’s self-interest.
Watchdog, the course you seem to favor is even more of the things that led to the decline in the incomes of middle class workers. Government wage controls, WHAT “GOVERNMENT WAGE CONTROLS”? THE LAST TIME I CAN RECALL WAGE CONTROLS WAS UNDER RICHARD NIXON IN THE EARLY ‘70S.
excessive corporate and personal income taxes,
PERSONAL INCOME TAX RATES ARE AT THE LOWEST LEVEL IN A CENTURY, AND MOST WEALTHY PEOPLE HAVE WAYS OF MITIGATING OR AVOIDING THEM ALTOGETHER. I READ RECENTLY THAT, WHEN ALL TAXES ARE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION (INCLUDING WITHHOLDINGS), THE RICH, THE POOR AND THE MIDDLE CLASS PAY THE SAME 20% RATE. OBVIOUSLY 20% TO THE RICH IS MORE IN ABSOLUTE DOLLARS THAN 20% FOR THE POOR.
and thousands of government regulations resulted in entire industries moving to other countries, depriving millions of Americans of decent-paying jobs. THAT MAY BE ONE OF MANY FACTORS. SEE TOMORROW’S (TUESDAY) FOLLOW UP TO THE “LABOR DAY SPECIAL #2” ARTICLE.
Mr. Johnston laments the “shrinking union movement”, but why did the labor unions shrink? Because excessive demands (from the government and from he unions themselves), drove so many union-labor-employing companies out of business, or led them to curtail their U.S. operations. They were unable to compete against foreign companies, who face no such demands. THOSE ARE FACTORS.
Watchdog and Mr. Johnston think that more progressive policies will help working-class Americans, but how much more progressive can we get? The United States already has the second highest corporate income tax rate in the world, with a combined government rate of 40%. I HAVE NEVER UNDERSTOOD WHY STOCK HOLDERS IN CORPORATIONS SHOULD HAVE TO PAY TAXES TWICE, ON CORPORATE DIVIDENDS AND ON INCOME TAX. I AGREE WITH YOU.
As for personal income, the top 1% of income earners paid 40% of all federal income taxes in 2007 (Source: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/08/tax-reform ). Meanwhile, 47 percent of U.S. households pay no income tax, and forty percent of U.S. families who file a tax return actually PROFIT from the federal income tax: they get more money in tax credits than they owe in taxes, so some of what they call their “tax refund” is, in effect, a government subsidy (Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/07/national/main6372418.shtml ). OF COURSE THE RICH PAY MUCH MORE INCOME TAX THAN THE POOR AND LOWER-MIDDLE CLASS. IT’S A PROGRESSIVE TAX WHICH NOW PEAKS AT AROUND 34%. AS LATE AS UNDER EISENHOWER, IT PEAKED AT OVER 90%. GETTING BACK TO RICHARD NIXON, HE PROPOSED A NEGATIVE INCOME TAX AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR MANY WELFARE PROGRAMS.
RETURNING TO THE CONCEPT OF “LIBERTARIAN PRINCIPLES”, THIS IS OFTEN CITED AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO PRINCIPLES OF “SOCIAL DEMOCRACY.” THE PERIODS OF THE ‘NEW’ AND THE ‘FAIR DEAL, LASTING APPROXIMATELY FROM FDR TO THE TIME OF RONALD REAGAN, BROUGHT GREAT PROSPERITY AND SOCIAL PROGRESS. SUBSEQUENTLY WE HAVE SUBSTITUTED A SENSE OF ‘GREED IS GOOD’, WE HAVE DRAMATICALLY REDUCED THE INCOME TAX AS A PERCENTAGE, CREATED NUMEROUS LOOP HOLES, AND HAVE SUFFERED LAX ENFORCEMENT. FURTHERMORE, WE HAVE FELL PRAY TO A MILITARY / INDUSTRIAL /LOBBYING COMPLEX AS EISENHOWER WARNED AGAINST. THE FEW HAVE PROSPERED DISPROPORTIONALLY AT THE EXPENSE OF THE MANY.
BEWARE THE RATIONALIZATION OF ‘LIBERATARIANISM.’ IT IS A CATCHY NOTION WITH SOME VALIDITY BUT, IN GENERAL, IT IS MORE OF A RELIGION THAN A CONCEPT THAT STANDS UP TO CAREFUL ECONOMIC STUDY AND EVALUATION.
One quick comment…..the “tips” a waitress receives for service is money that has been earned by the customer and taxed by the government. The waitress then must declare the tips and pay a second tax on that money. Therefore, the money has been taxed twice.
It never has made sense to me.