United States Congressman Paul Ryan spoke out today in defense of his running mate’s earlier comments, which had not been well received by…well, apparently no one liked them, not even the guy that said them. Romney, upon reviewing his remarks, didn’t really like what he had said, primarily because he angered almost half of American voters. No doubt one of his strategists told him that he would need to get more than 50% of the votes in order to win. Pity that you can’t simply buy this one, isn’t it?
Ryan stated that “…what we’re trying to achieve is getting people off of government dependency and back to a job that pays well and gets them onto a path of prosperity.” Then he added “We have too many people becoming too dependent upon government because of the poor economic policies of the Obama administration.” Perhaps the young man needs to glance at his own resume. Too many people are dependent on government? Like…um…a certain U.S. Congressman who would like to get promoted to Vice-President? Dude, it’s a government job. Taxpayers pay your salary, provide you with the best health care insurance available, much better than most plans available to the millions of Americans that you would like to have vote for you (so that you can spearhead the drive to deny an inferior level of health care coverage to them), and offers a host of other perquisites. If you get elected to the job of Vice-President, it includes some pretty swanky government housing as well.
What was totally ignored in Ryan’s remarks is that our current President has been trying to put more Americans back to work in the private sector (through his proposed jobs bill), and has been trying to do so for some time now. The problem is that the opposition party has been blocking his initiative in the U.S. Senate, in order to make him look weak. What nonsense, what hypocrisy, what lies are these idiots willing to spew in order to attract the votes of other fools? If you guys want real change, use real facts to support your position because the BS ain’t flyin’.
Ryan went on to say “President Obama said that he believes in redistribution, Mitt Romney and I are not running to redistribute the wealth, Mitt Romney and I are running to help Americans create wealth.”
Well, first things first, as my old Economics professor used to say. The redistribution of wealth through the use of a progressive income tax has been considered a very sound and equitable arrangement for many years. By the way, it is called a "progressive income tax" not because it is favored by liberals, but because the percentage of tax paid increases slightly as one earns a higher income. Personally, I’ve never been opposed to paying a little more than someone else that couldn’t afford it as well as I could at the time. Call it a basic tenant of Judaism, Christianity or Islamic tradition, or call it good Karma, or just call it being civilized. It has always seemed to me to be the right thing to do. I’ve also had the great good fortune to have friends do the same for me in my time of need. A progressive income tax has been considered reasonable for many, many years. It isn’t socialism---it’s called civilization.
What kind of wealth are Romney and Ryan seeking to create? If history is any judge, they seek to enrich the few at the expense of normal, hard working Americans. Romney’s wealth is the result of money made through leveraged buy-outs (I was going to say earned, but he really didn’t earn it through hard work, or even spectacular insight, did he?) He figured out how to scam the system by borrowing heavily, and bankrupting frequently, that all too often left the company they acquired no longer productive.
We need an economically strong middle class and a healthy, functional economic climate. We don’t need people to screw-up functional enterprises. True, not every company deserves to survive. The first ones we need to get rid of are the ones that prey off of the misery of others. One such company is named Bain Capital and it was started by a guy who wants to be our next President. These guys already don’t pay as much tax (as a percentage of income) as a good secretary or a store manager, and yet they whine that they have to pay too much. Boo-freakin’-hoo. America’s top marginal tax rate is lower than it has been for many decades. That means that the very wealthy in this country pay lower taxes than their parents or grandparents ever did. I never heard my grandfather bitch about taxes.
Our country provides opportunity at unequal levels, and likely always will do so. The children of wealthy parents are far more likely to succeed at whatever they try than the offspring of poor parents, or at least have an easier time if they fail. Our system of taxing people who can afford to pay more has been considered fair for a long time. Why is there such a sudden need to change that? A civilized society considers it greedy to desire more than one really needs, especially if you have to hurt someone else to get it.
“Thus did a handful of rapacious citizens come to control all that was worth controlling in America. Thus was the savage and stupid and entirely inappropriate and unnecessary and humorless American class system created. Honest, industrious, peaceful citizens were classed as bloodsuckers, if they asked to be paid a living wage. And they saw that praise was reserved henceforth for those who devised means of getting paid enormously for committing crimes against which no laws had been passed. Thus the American dream turned belly up, turned green, bobbed to the scummy surface of cupidity unlimited, filled with gas, went bang in the noonday sun.”
–Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., God Bless You Mr. Rosewater: A Novel
One Observatory Circle
Official Residence of the U.S. Vice President
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