Saying so doesn’t necessarily make it so, but all of the tax rate statistics Thom threw at Matt Welch does have some sort of point. Welch repeats the hollow shibboleth that the principle motivation of people in a capitalist society is to get rich, and without these visions of great wealth they will cannot be productive—and this motivation will wane if they must pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes. That still leaves the question of does this desire for wealth create jobs and drive the economy.

That may have been true during the peak of the industrial revolution when making things could make people rich beyond all reason. But today, many people want to make lots of money now, they can’t wait. Instead of investing in companies that make things, they spend it on lottery tickets, or phony get-rich-quick real estate schemes. Business graduates would rather play the Wall Street gambling casino that get rich the “old fashioned way.”

Then there is the question of the rich investing their excess in ways that are driving the economy forward. The average Joe or Jane who do so may be investing whatever cash they have available in “safe” companies like Microsoft or IBM; the rich, however, are more often to be found investing in tax exempt bonds, hedge funds, real estate, private equity, private endowments, art work, gold, and if they are feeling particularly generous, start-up companies that for most people seem high risk, since they don’t have access to the “inside” information the rich have. Most of these investments have nothing to do with the potential for job creation, and that could not be more obvious during this period of time when federal bail-out money is failing to do what it was intended to do—help banks help people, instead “helping” the rich stay rich.

Because so many people are out of work, and the spending power of the dollar decreases by the year, the average person cannot be counted on to drive the economy. But if at the same the rich are getting richer, shouldn’t they be expected to pick up the consumer demand slack, if they can buy so much more than you me, let alone the people thrown out of work to subsidized their so-called earnings? Well, that’s just plain silly; they cannot buy ALL the new cars, refrigerators and shoes that the under-paid or jobless do not have the ability to buy.

But does taxing the rich have a positive effective on the economy? It might, in a way people might at first look askance at. While increased taxes help the government stay solvent by paying for needed public services without going excessively into debt, Congressional pork projects also help the economy. Pork may have a bad reputation because people have this idea that it is wasteful (and no doubt some of it is), but most of these projects create work and jobs; more tax income, more pork, more jobs. What’s not to like about that? Isn’t the stimulus package just one big pork project?

P.S.: There are around 52 Blue Dog Dems in the house and a number of Senators who would be the equivalent of Blue Dogs in the Senate.

Even though it might be wrong, if I had a ton of money, I would send thousands of yellow roses to President Obama for trying to ban Fox News. As soon as we restore fairer laws to the news industry, then we can stop playing dirty tricks. For goodness sakes-- we are in a street fight with Fox and ordinary rules don't count here, basically because the laws don't actually exist any longer. I love the cunning tactics President Obama isn't afraid to use. He's doing the right thing is so very many ways. He is fighting for the lives of millions of people right now.

"Censorship" complaints from Fox be damned. What a farce they are. But that said, we need to quickly reinstate fairer laws for the news industry. It's very hard on earnest reporters to have their ethics destroyed by corporatists who force hard working journalists to lie or refuse to print stories that the public needs to read.

On a lighter note, the day after Federal agents were told to stop arresting owners of medical marijuana growing operations, I walked from SE Portland to NE Porltand and the streets were filled with the lovely aroma of pot on every other corner. It was hilarious and heartwarming. I don't have the brain chemistry to be able to smoke pot, but I got a little high just walking down the street that night. It was really really cool! We ahve been living in insanity and President Obama is truly chipping away at ignorance to restore some humanity to our country. Fox News can kiss my...

@ Mark

I really enjoy your thoughtful and well reasoned posts. Today's offering made me think about what has changed in American business over the past 50 years. My perspective is informed by personal experience rather than scholarship. I grew up the son of a "businessman". My father's story serves as an example and baseline for comparison to where we now find ourselves. His story was once fairly typical but now seems outdated. The things that now seem quaint are the things that are most sorely missed today, in my opinion. Broadly speaking, the things about which I'm talking about are values and motivations. In most cases if not all, these things are developed in each of us as we grow up and gain personal experience. Some we learn in our home and some we absorb from our time and communities.

My father's life was marked by several life changing events which colored everything that followed. He was orphaned at the age of 12, the second youngest of six siblings. Five years before losing his mother, his father had suddenly died just weeks before the 1929 crash. He went from living in a three story mansion with maids and a third floor ballroom to living in a garage of a relative. The Depression was a formative experience not only for him but for most everyone who lived through it. World War II was the other shared experience which imprinted the lives of all those who lived through it. His generation had two climactic shared experiences which seems to have resulted in broadly shared traits by the majority of the people. Pulling together and working cooperatively for the good of all was a necessary and ubiquitous value. Shared sacrifice was expected and accepted as nothing terribly special.
Not so very surprisingly, security and stability became my father's primary concerns during the rest of his life. Experience is a stern but effective teacher.
Life and death has a way of focusing priorities.

After the war, my father, now married, finished graduate school with an engineering degree and began his life working his way up the corporate ladder. We moved a lot. By the time I was in High School, he had reached the "top". He was the head of a large company that employed thousands of people. After a time his company was purchased by a much larger multi-national corporation. He became one of several vice presidents there. I began to learn about his new frustrations with work at the nightly dinner table. Dad was what was called a "belt and suspender man", a term for engineers. During the fifties and sixties many if not most companies were led by his type. They knew how to build things and sell things. Dad complained that more and more his fellow executives were MBA's and "bean counters". They didn't know much about building a better mouse trap but rather about moving money around. It angered him that R&D was being short-changed in order to bolster stock prices and earnings. Research & Development for manufacturers was the equivalent to seed corn for a farmer. Short term greed at the expense of a secure future. My dad was becoming "old fashioned" in this new world.

Now days if you listen to any number of cable networks you'll see some young beauty talking about economics and business and you'll hear them state with confidence as fact that a business's sole responsibility is to serve their share holders. I heard a group discussion on CNBC several months ago about companies that operated without ethical lapses or complaints versus those that had histories of repeated violations. Melissa Francis of CNBC stated that she didn't see why that should matter as long as they made money. Her values are pervasive amongst young business types today.

My father had a longer list of responsibilities for business leaders. There is a responsibility first to the owners, second to the employees, third to the community and country, and fourth to the future survival of the business. By his reckoning none should suffer at the hands of the other. All depended on the health of the others. Honesty and integrity were essential to fulfilling the civic duty of being a good corporate citizen. You see, he saw corporations as having a sort of person-hood too. Not because of the rights that could be conflated but rather because of the responsibility to be reliably dependable and answerable to values greater than mere greed. Stewardship to the future was a value he learned at an early age through the shared hardships of Depression and War. Subsequent generations seem to have less shared concerns and less interest in delaying immediate gratification.
Every man for himself! He who dies with the most toys wins! Personal choice, Personal responsibility, Personal freedom, Personal everything! etc. In many ways I am ashamed of my generation and several that have followed. My hope lays at the feet of this newest generation. Hopefully they will revisit some values from the past that we abandoned so carelessly and foolishly. Greed is not good. It may even eventually be deadly. I see signs that they may be motivated by more worthy ideals than just self. I hope so.

Story in Politico wrong- surprise surprise. And maybe Obama is pretending he is with the Corporatists so that he will go back to them and say - oh sorry folks, wall st. I tried, but the people rose against me.

@mstaggerlee,

Re: Taxes and Punishment

Soda/soft drink tax combined with grasping at straws? Very clever! ( I had to acknowledge it.)

I got an idea for a pre recorded holiday show for when you are on vacation. Us progressives should be able to adapt Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol to exactly what is going on to today with the US Chamber of Commerce and GOP Senators etc-- Could be fun!

@Loretta,

Thank you for your thoughtful words. One good thing you can say about my generation, (boomers) half of us tuned in and dropped out....the other half took over business and politics and led us to the edge...so at least we demonstrated for the children the ways they didn't want to go. That some generation would finally decide we are a-holes and not to be emulated was inevitable.

@Food Fascist

Good to see you back here. I missed you. I am afraid I don't understand your question. Tapped? After what? and... how did you know I was obese and diabetic? :-)
p.s. What the hell does soda pop and taxes do to the water supply? :-)
I didn't even take a walk with Loretta and sniff the fragrant air of Portland today. I must be dense. again

@ Food

Sorry, I misread your post. I thought it asked if I had been Tapped. You said SEEN Tapped. never mind... I'll check it out. BTW I'm weird, I like taxes,,, OK. They are nothing more than the dues we owe to belong to the best of clubs. Fair is fair.

Part 2:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/ns/msnbc_tv-countdown_with_keith_olb...

Please listen to the above 3 parts in the REVERSE order (i.e., 3, 2, 1.)

B Roll,

Please translate (I'll probably slap my forehead in recognition, but I don't know what this means):

krauQ

Thanks!