Tax and Spend

As long as the rich are rich, Democrats will claim they aren't paying their fair share. They'll keep using that excuse to loot the masses and enrich themselves, their Republican partners in crime, and their cronies. The problem is there won't be any more rich people except our new feudal lords pretty soon.

Mark Steyn apologizes for Boehner and Republicans.

"The politics of the “fiscal cliff” deal is debatable: On the one hand, Boehner got the “Bush tax cuts” made permanent for most Americans; Obama was forced to abandon his goal of increasing rates for those earning $250,000. On the other, on taxes Republicans caved to the same class-warfare premises (the rich need to pay their “fair share”) they’d successfully fought off a mere two years ago; while on spending the Democrats not only refused to make cuts, they refused to make cuts even part of the discussion."

I'm sick of conservatives apologizing for Boehner. All Republicans had to do was run ads of Obama saying it was counterproductive to raise taxes on anybody during a recession. Apologists keep making the case that making the deal, the Republicans averted a worse deal. No they didn't. This claim fails to acknowledge that all tax bills must originate in the House. Boehner could have passed a bill making the existing tax rates permanent, then, if Democrats wouldn't pass the bill, blaming them. Republicans have the parliamentary power here, and that gives them the advantage. They didn't use it because they didn't want to use it. They wanted to raise taxes so they could then increase spending.
"Which of the above is correct? Who cares? As I said, the politics is debatable. But the reality isn’t. I hate to keep plugging my book After America in this space, but if you buy multiple copies they’ll come in very useful for insulating your cabin after the power grid collapses. At any rate, right up there at the front — page six — I write as follows:

“The prevailing political realities of the United States do not allow for any meaningful course correction. And, without meaningful course correction, America is doomed.”"

This is correct, but Steyn is part of the problem. He promotes the divisive position that Republicans are good guys and Democrats are bad guys. Until Americans realize that both parties are bad guys, that coercive government is inherently destructive, that taxes are theft, that printing money is counterfeiting, etc. our country will continue going down the tubes.

"The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the latest triumphant deal includes $2 billion of cuts for fiscal year 2013. Wow! That’s what the government of the United States borrows every ten hours and 38 minutes. Spending two months negotiating ten hours of savings is like driving to a supermarket three states away to save a nickel on your grocery bill."

That's a good line. Steyn points out another Boehner apologist:

"For a good example of how Washington drives even the greatest minds round the bend, consider Charles Krauthammer’s analysis on Fox News the other night:
“I would actually commend Boehner and Paul Ryan, who in the end voted ‘yes’ for a bad deal. But they had to do it.”"

I guess the irony is lost on Steyn.

Democrats are unhappy to learn their payroll taxes rose. I don't feel sorry for people who advocated stealing other people's money only to discover they got their money stolen too.