Why is Obama so hell bent on raising taxes on "rich" people, when it doesn't even remotely help our deficit?
We're projected to add something like 7 trillion to the deficit over the next ten years. Obama's "Buffett Rule" will collect something like 70 billion extra dollars in revenue. That's like a drop in the bucket, or a fart in the wind. A whole year's worth of revenue from that rule doesn't even pay for one day of Federal borrowing!
Clearly he's stuck on this for some reason other than fiscal concerns. I doubt he hates "rich people", since he's one of them. Is it purely an election tactic then? What's your opinion?
-Mike
We're projected to add something like 7 trillion to the deficit over the next ten years. Obama's "Buffett Rule" will collect something like 70 billion extra dollars in revenue. That's like a drop in the bucket, or a fart in the wind. A whole year's worth of revenue from that rule doesn't even pay for one day of Federal borrowing!
Clearly he's stuck on this for some reason other than fiscal concerns. I doubt he hates "rich people", since he's one of them. Is it purely an election tactic then? What's your opinion?
-Mike
Here was his response:
You asked a couple of Questions here:
1) Why raise Taxes on "rich" people if it doesn't help our Deficit
2) Is it an Election tactic?
Short Answer:
It's an Election Tactic.
Long Answer:
First there's 2 books you should read if you haven't yet.
1) Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky
It basically outlines tactics that the Democrats use and have been using for years.
a. Freeze and Personalize an issue
Take a look at what happens when you start to point out facts that completely destroy a liberal's argument.
They resort to the personal attacks: "You're too stupid to understand", "You don't care about others", "You're a racist", "You're greedy", etc.
b. Accuse your opponents of what you are doing.
These are two common tactics the democrats use.
2) Liberal Facism by Jonah Goldberg
This book basically outlines how the Liberals' policies and positions are more aligned with Fascism than they are willing to admit, yet who is it the liberals are always accusing of Fascism? (1.b above)
Basically, it all really comes down to: Psychology and control.
Psychology
The basic psychology is that people do not always think logically. People are emotional in nature so they will act and react out of emotion.
People have a hard time owning up to their own mistakes and realizing they are, not always but most likely, in the situations they are in because of choices they have made. This is partially due to our Education System, where kids are no longer taught how to think, but instead are taught memorize/regurgitate.
Take a look at how many kids today struggle with higher math like calculus. I saw this when I was in college in Calculus 3. They had never been taught how to think through a problem. The education aspect is a separate topic though.
So, when people are emotional and have a hard time owning up to their own mistakes, when they are given an easy out (Blame the Rich in this case), they often take it.
It then starts to become a belief system for them that feeds on itself. "You don't have X because Rich people won't let you have it.", "Green Energy isn't successful because of those evil rich oil companies". They then take that belief and teach their children that and repeat it over and over. Essentially a form of brainwashing.
The saying is "You can't reason yourself out of a position you didn't reason yourself into."
So when people are on hard times, the politicians don't want to take the blame for their policies or own up to the things they have done. So instead you want to tap into people's emotions and focus their anger on someone else. In this case the faceless "rich".
Just like wall street and the banks were blamed for the housing crisis. Blame the faceless, non-human entity for the mess. That way no one has to take responsibility for their poor decisions. It's the old magicians trick: Watch my left hand over here, while I pick your pocket with my right.
This again is also an old political trick/political theater. The sad thing is the Nazis used it to great effect in the late 20's and early 30's to get themselves elected. The art of Politics has been described as: blame others for your mistakes and take credit for others work.
The reason that this seems to work so effectively with the intelligentsia in academia, is because they are in an echo chamber where only their own views are taught, rewarded and espoused. Therefore they are not confronted with the reality of the effects of the things they advocate for. Which also leads back to the Belief system. Changing someone's belief system is extremely difficult.
It doesn't matter the facts that you show them, they will ignore it, because they believe they are doing the right thing. Which is why Carl Marx wrote that organized religion must be destroyed as the population must place all belief in the State.
In order for that to occur the State cannot allow any competing belief systems.
This leads to the Control portion of the Tactic that is being used.
Control
The main driving factor for politicians is getting re-elected. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote:
"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money."
and
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship."
Politicians want power, and in order to constantly get more power, you need to get more and more control. If you can establish a system where people are completely dependent on the Government for subsistence, then you can also control every aspect of their life.
This is why liberals are so antagonistic and resentful towards the wealthy. Because these people are examples of those that are not dependent on the Government. If you are not dependent on an organization or person, when they are doing things you don't agree with, you can either leave or oppose them.
This another aspect of why Obama is using the class warfare rhetoric. If those that are dependent on the Government for subsistence, learn that through hard work they can become independent and successful, they will stop being dependent on the Government. That is loss of control. With the Control the liberals feel they can remake the country into their utopian vision. They forget the fact that their vision of Utopia is not the same as others'.
Summary
Essentially Obama is using the Class Warfare rhetoric to appeal to the emotional states of those that have, either already or are starting to, buy into the belief system that the government is there to provide all their wants and needs in a cradle to grave society. It is also being used to obfuscate the fact that his economic policies haven't worked and as history has shown, will never work. It is a Roman military tactic of Divide and Conquer. Get the people fighting with each other and blaming each other for the current economic mess that way they don't look at who instituted the policies that have caused the mess.
1) Why raise Taxes on "rich" people if it doesn't help our Deficit
2) Is it an Election tactic?
Short Answer:
It's an Election Tactic.
Long Answer:
First there's 2 books you should read if you haven't yet.
1) Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky
It basically outlines tactics that the Democrats use and have been using for years.
a. Freeze and Personalize an issue
Take a look at what happens when you start to point out facts that completely destroy a liberal's argument.
They resort to the personal attacks: "You're too stupid to understand", "You don't care about others", "You're a racist", "You're greedy", etc.
b. Accuse your opponents of what you are doing.
These are two common tactics the democrats use.
2) Liberal Facism by Jonah Goldberg
This book basically outlines how the Liberals' policies and positions are more aligned with Fascism than they are willing to admit, yet who is it the liberals are always accusing of Fascism? (1.b above)
Basically, it all really comes down to: Psychology and control.
Psychology
The basic psychology is that people do not always think logically. People are emotional in nature so they will act and react out of emotion.
People have a hard time owning up to their own mistakes and realizing they are, not always but most likely, in the situations they are in because of choices they have made. This is partially due to our Education System, where kids are no longer taught how to think, but instead are taught memorize/regurgitate.
Take a look at how many kids today struggle with higher math like calculus. I saw this when I was in college in Calculus 3. They had never been taught how to think through a problem. The education aspect is a separate topic though.
So, when people are emotional and have a hard time owning up to their own mistakes, when they are given an easy out (Blame the Rich in this case), they often take it.
It then starts to become a belief system for them that feeds on itself. "You don't have X because Rich people won't let you have it.", "Green Energy isn't successful because of those evil rich oil companies". They then take that belief and teach their children that and repeat it over and over. Essentially a form of brainwashing.
The saying is "You can't reason yourself out of a position you didn't reason yourself into."
So when people are on hard times, the politicians don't want to take the blame for their policies or own up to the things they have done. So instead you want to tap into people's emotions and focus their anger on someone else. In this case the faceless "rich".
Just like wall street and the banks were blamed for the housing crisis. Blame the faceless, non-human entity for the mess. That way no one has to take responsibility for their poor decisions. It's the old magicians trick: Watch my left hand over here, while I pick your pocket with my right.
This again is also an old political trick/political theater. The sad thing is the Nazis used it to great effect in the late 20's and early 30's to get themselves elected. The art of Politics has been described as: blame others for your mistakes and take credit for others work.
The reason that this seems to work so effectively with the intelligentsia in academia, is because they are in an echo chamber where only their own views are taught, rewarded and espoused. Therefore they are not confronted with the reality of the effects of the things they advocate for. Which also leads back to the Belief system. Changing someone's belief system is extremely difficult.
It doesn't matter the facts that you show them, they will ignore it, because they believe they are doing the right thing. Which is why Carl Marx wrote that organized religion must be destroyed as the population must place all belief in the State.
In order for that to occur the State cannot allow any competing belief systems.
This leads to the Control portion of the Tactic that is being used.
Control
The main driving factor for politicians is getting re-elected. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote:
"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money."
and
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship."
Politicians want power, and in order to constantly get more power, you need to get more and more control. If you can establish a system where people are completely dependent on the Government for subsistence, then you can also control every aspect of their life.
This is why liberals are so antagonistic and resentful towards the wealthy. Because these people are examples of those that are not dependent on the Government. If you are not dependent on an organization or person, when they are doing things you don't agree with, you can either leave or oppose them.
This another aspect of why Obama is using the class warfare rhetoric. If those that are dependent on the Government for subsistence, learn that through hard work they can become independent and successful, they will stop being dependent on the Government. That is loss of control. With the Control the liberals feel they can remake the country into their utopian vision. They forget the fact that their vision of Utopia is not the same as others'.
Summary
Essentially Obama is using the Class Warfare rhetoric to appeal to the emotional states of those that have, either already or are starting to, buy into the belief system that the government is there to provide all their wants and needs in a cradle to grave society. It is also being used to obfuscate the fact that his economic policies haven't worked and as history has shown, will never work. It is a Roman military tactic of Divide and Conquer. Get the people fighting with each other and blaming each other for the current economic mess that way they don't look at who instituted the policies that have caused the mess.