Cleaning Up in Aisle Nine.
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- August
- 28
First of all – Aren’t you impressed I didn’t add to the national pile of Denver convention cartoons?
This cartoon was inspired initially by the latest census results which show the chasm between the wealthy and everyone else getting unsurprisingly wider. Add to that fun fact the reality that food costs didn’t just recently inflate. They exploded.
About a year ago, my average family grocery bill was approximately $150 – Now it’s $250. Anyone else notice that? By my scientifically precise calculations, every item has gone up a dollar. For the wealthiest, bolstered additionally by generous tax cuts and aggressive business non-regulation, it’s not really an issue. But for most normal families that has to be causing some pain. And I can’t fathom how hard it’s hitting the poorest members of our communities.
My political GPS points all over the place on this one, but I blame an oft overlooked White House dollar policy, where the laws of unintended consequences are at work once again. A weak dollar policy was encouraged and implemented very specifically to make US manufacturing exports stronger. To be fair to The White House, that is indeed a noble cause. Problem is they forgot that economics doesn’t occur in a vacuum, and the global price of a barrel of oil is tied to the dollar. And, uh, you know the rest. How could something so simple be the root cause of so much pain? Don’t forget that a squirrel allegedly set in motion the complete shutdown of the Northeastern US electrical grid in ‘03…
Oh Well. You know what they say. A receding tide leaves all boats that aren’t deep water yachts leaning sideways in smelly mud.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 9:55 am by Matt Davies.
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Matt, You are correct about the gap between the rich and poor and i know food prices are high, but did you read the
article in the journal news a few days ago about food stamps? It is easier to qualify now for this program. So
easy that it stated that even some home owners can get food
stamps. How crazy is that? the only ones who get screwed
again are the middle class which is going to vanish soon.
Don’t worry though, Obama is sure to get in by a landslide
and when he does he will take from the most wealthy and give to the poor and once again hang the middle class out
to dry.
Hmmm… landslide win, take from those who have too much, give to those who don’t have enough, leave those in the middle alone.
Christ, I’m scared for the future painted with those bleak brushstrokes…
I’m scared for the future too Disasterman. oh, don’t forget
over population of which we are well on our way. over populatiom ruins everything. Just look at the countries that are way to populated and you’ll see what i mean. You
don’t think Obama will win in a land slide?
The income gap. The top 2% earners already pay 76% of the taxes (check the I.R.S. year-end records). Perhaps you would like us to pay 100% of the taxes…or maybe we should try communism…since it worked so well in Cuba, The Soviet Union, China and North Korea. That closed the wealth gap didn’t it? We “redistributed the wealth”. Then everyone was poor. Lights out at 8:00 p.m. anyone? The demand for luxury goods dies. More jobs gone. No demand for arts More jobs gone. I am sure that will go over really well in U.S. homes.
Democracy, capitalism, incentive and an environment friendly to risk produced Microsoft (guy starting in Albuquerque with a dream and bicycle!) which now provides more jobs than we can count, has connected the world…oh and now Bill Gates (and Warren Buffett too!) is giving tens of billions (with charitable accountability – unlike government funding which disappears into a black hole of bureaucracy, cronyism and ego) to lift up the poorest of the world who do not have the opportunity to join the race because there is no education, opportunity or capitalism.
Bottom line: human nature = greed. Close the “wealth gap” by giving the government all the resources and what will you have? Nothing. No incentive, no HOPE and a mind set of “I can’t”. Tax the top 2% more and Atlas will shrug. Innovation and incentive will languish. Jobs will disappear. What will we do to fix it? Lower taxes on innovators – the top 2%.
The things that need to be addressed are cronyism and subsidies which create false market prices and throw money at worthless causes. All of us should be taxed – to provide services to those who cannot take care of themselves. The Democrats have provided no concrete strategy, no plan for anything but to increase taxes on those who make $250k or more.
Let’s look at the reality of that. My friend David, who owns a very successful fountain sales, installation and maintenance store here in Los Angeles told me that if his taxes are raised, it will not make sense for him financially to keep his store open – which employs a total of 21 people. He will sell the real estate where his store is located and close up shop. Move somewhere inland where real estate is less expensive and retire (at 51 years old). 21 people will be out of work.
Capitalism is not the problem. The need to re-align the spending of the trillions of dollars that are already collected in taxes is the problem. Fighting a drug war in South America that is created by a demand from U.S. customers? Farm subsidies? Aid to corrupt countries. Cronyism. Where is the plan for those issues? I have not heard one, have you?
p.s. I anxiously await your cartoon which depicts the hammer and sickle dressed up in a “redistribution of wealth” dress.
I don’t normally comment on blogs but your post was a real help. Thank you for a great topic, I will be sure to bookmark your site and check it out again. Cheers, Amy xXx.