Friday, September 23, 2011

Elizabeth ! Warren !! is back !!!!!!!!!!

Back in 2010, a writer named Brent Budowsky almost put himself in the hospital from just thinking about the nomination of Elizabeth ! Warren !! to a Consumer Protection boondoggle of some sort. 

Most of the rational world had a great time with his piece, an editorial in which Budowsky imagined peace in Israel, justice in this life, the lion laying down with the lamb, the Democrats rallying behind Obama, and other unlikely scenarios - all from the nomination of Elizabeth ! Warren !! to a bureaucracy. 

Elizabeth ! Warren !! is back, and she's running for the Senate.  Here's something she had to say a few days ago at a political rally:
There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there — good for you!


But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that maurauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea — God bless. Keep a big hunk of it.

But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.
Ok, let's look a little closer.....
Tax units in the lowest quintile (20%) pay 0.4 percent (of the total tax burden), while those in the second, third (or middle), and fourth quintiles pay 2.3 percent, 7.7 percent, and 17.6 percent respectively.


The top quintile pays 71.9 percent. The top 10 percent pays 55.9 percent while the top 0.1 percent pays 12.3 percent.
What it boils down to is that some very rich people have a lot of money, and Elizabeth ! Warren !! wants more of it.
Here's the pic that's currently making the rounds on Facebook, which I think sums up the situation nicely:


But wait !!!    It keeps getting better.  I found this parody here
Enjoy. 


2 comments:

Hot Sam said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sam Duncan said...

“You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate.

Only because that's the way statists have made it. The roads round here - and a couple of rather impressive bridges over the local river - were built by the British Linen Bank (acting as a property developer) and the Great Western Turnpike Company, although later seized by the state (some of the residential streets within my own lifetime). I, and many of my friends, were educated in schools for which our parents paid fees (over and above the taxes they were paying for everyone else's kids).

“You didn’t have to ... hire someone to protect against this”

Really? I don't know about the US, but it'd be an unusual industrial site in the UK without extensive private security. Certainly they're an adjunct to the Police, but they exist, and are clearly deemed necessary. Private businesses don't hire people they don't have to. But I wouldn't expect a politician to understand that.

So sure, she's right, up to a point. But, even allowing for the major flaws you point out yourself, it's a flimsy argument.