What’s The Real Goal?
It Isn’t Economic Growth
Posted: December 3, 2012
We listened to Eric Cantor as he emerged from yet another round of talks on the looming “fiscal cliff.” We appreciated what the House majority leader had to say, which — roughly paraphrased — was this:
“We in the GOP do not want to raise taxes on the wealth creators. We don’t want to raise taxes on the job creators. What we are pursuing is a growth agenda.”
All well and good. That’s what we want, too. That’s what other Americans of a like mind want as well. But not all Americans. A recent ABC News-Washington Post poll shows that 60 percent of the populace believe that, yes, the time has come to levy heavier taxes on “the rich.” Sensing such a mindset, President Obama has asked his base to lobby fellow Americans in support of such a goal.
It all goes to show that even Americans are susceptible to falling for falsehoods if such little white lies are told ad nauseam. The truth is that President George W. Bush did not successfully champion “tax cuts for the rich.” He pushed for, and achieved, across-the-board reductions. And, by the way, Republicans today are not advancing tax “cuts” for anyone; they simply want the current rates to remain the same — for everyone.
What’s more, we aver, they are not advocating said maintenance of current rates merely to avoid the wrath of anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, but because it’s the right thing to do in this economy. Look at it this way: If economical revival is your intent, why heap higher taxes on the very people most likely to fuel the engine of growth? Remember, a goodly number of those folks who earn $250,000 or more annually are small-business owners who file their taxes as individuals. They are the Americans who hire other Americans.
So we’ve posed the question about intent and facilitation of said intent. But what if growing the economy is not, in truth, what Mr. Obama has in mind?
That’s an even bigger question, the biggest one of all.
“We in the GOP do not want to raise taxes on the wealth creators. We don’t want to raise taxes on the job creators. What we are pursuing is a growth agenda.”
All well and good. That’s what we want, too. That’s what other Americans of a like mind want as well. But not all Americans. A recent ABC News-Washington Post poll shows that 60 percent of the populace believe that, yes, the time has come to levy heavier taxes on “the rich.” Sensing such a mindset, President Obama has asked his base to lobby fellow Americans in support of such a goal.
It all goes to show that even Americans are susceptible to falling for falsehoods if such little white lies are told ad nauseam. The truth is that President George W. Bush did not successfully champion “tax cuts for the rich.” He pushed for, and achieved, across-the-board reductions. And, by the way, Republicans today are not advancing tax “cuts” for anyone; they simply want the current rates to remain the same — for everyone.
What’s more, we aver, they are not advocating said maintenance of current rates merely to avoid the wrath of anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, but because it’s the right thing to do in this economy. Look at it this way: If economical revival is your intent, why heap higher taxes on the very people most likely to fuel the engine of growth? Remember, a goodly number of those folks who earn $250,000 or more annually are small-business owners who file their taxes as individuals. They are the Americans who hire other Americans.
So we’ve posed the question about intent and facilitation of said intent. But what if growing the economy is not, in truth, what Mr. Obama has in mind?
That’s an even bigger question, the biggest one of all.