Garbanzo Toons

A Dash of Sense from Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom makes a great point on Obama's ridiculous health care plan.

In explaining why it was OK to sock a new 5.4% tax on the highest earners in this country — to pay for health care reform — President Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said this:
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“The president believes that the richest 1% of this country has had a pretty good run of it for many, many, many years.”

Ah. So that’s it. The old “You’ve had it good enough for long enough” policy. That’s why a family earning a million dollars a year should now cough up $54,000 of that — in addition to all the other taxes it pays — to cover health care for people who may not pay a penny of new tax themselves.

and

Presumably, then — unless he’s suggesting they’re all crooks — when Gibbs says “a pretty good run of it” he means in taxes. Hmm. Let’s see. Those high income earners currently shell out around 35% in income taxes, the highest rate, plus state income taxes, local income taxes, property and other taxes that likely chew up between 45% and 50% of their money. If Obama’s tax-related plans all go through, it could, for some, approach 60%.

How is that a “pretty good run”? It’s clearly a bigger chunk than poor people pay. In fact, those evil one-percenters pay about 40% of all income tax in this country.

But

On the other hand, would you tell people who pay no taxes that they’ve had a pretty good run? Would you say it to people who never really look for work, who don’t bother in school, who look for ways to live off the state?

Yet all such people, under Obama’s plan, will get health care — paid for by those lousy, conniving rich people. And please, let’s not imagine that all poor people are noble single mothers with two jobs, three kids, good credit and an ailing mother. Unless you’re naive enough to believe that all wealthy Americans are greedy pigs.

You don’t get a country behind you by pointing fingers. And you don’t inspire effort and ingenuity by always milking the rich. Suggesting that if Americans do too well they’ll be resented is not how this country became a prosperous nation. After all, the dream of being rich is often being dreamed by the poor.

I've reprinted about half of his piece, but you should go and read the entire thing. He's right on.

I would like to add one thought. Throughout history, tyrants, despots, and "heroes of The People" like Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, etc., have convinced "The People" that they could be wealthy and free from worry if they, "The People" got together to battle the evil (are there any other kind?) rich and redistribute their ill-gotten gains amongst those who really deserved it, you know, the ones who didn't earn it, but want it anyway. If we examine those man-made utopias, it becomes pretty clear, that everybody suffers. The rich are rich no more . . . well except for Lenin, Mao, Castro, etc., and their cronies, and the rest of "The People" are all joined together in common misery looking for the next scapegoat to pin their troubles on.

And then there's the fact that there are never enough of the rich to cover all of the economy busting programs these heroes of "The People" have in mind.

Hope and change, indeed.

Labels: Mitch Albom, Obama, Universal Health Care

posted by Harry @ 6:42 PM