News of the Weird

According to the "News of the Weird" column by Chuck Shepherd, the IRS records show that residents of the NY Helmsley Hotel - famous because of "Bitch Queen" Leona Helmsley who once said, "only little people pay taxes" - whose average income in around $1.2 million pay less in taxes percentage-wise than do the janitors who clean their rooms.

This shouldn't be considered weird, as it has been noted in many news articles and economic research that most people whose "income" is $1 million or more don't actually receive a paycheck.  In other words, they don't really work for their "income."  They receive the lion's share from investments, which are treated as capital gains and are taxed at a 15% rate.  As Warren Buffet said, he pays less of a percentage of his income than his secretary does - and to the billionaire's credit, he thought this was unfair.

Most people who defend the right for the rich to not share the burden of taxation argue that they are the productive class.  It is these rich altruists who create the jobs so that we all may prosper.  However, they have had Bush's tax cuts for over a decade now, and the unemployment rate has gone up steadily every year the tax cut has been in effect (until recently due to the efforts of the - gasp - Obama administration).

Actually, small business owners are the ones who create the majority of new jobs in this country, and they rarely qualify as rich - if you use $1 million+ as the bar for being wealthy.  The rich tend to invest their money in financial investment packages - derivatives, hedge funds, etc. - which do not create jobs - except in investment brokerages.  Investment brokerages are the one area where incomes do exceed $1 million.  So, the rich create jobs and job stability for the rich.

 Another myth about the rich is that they work longer, harder and smarter than the rest of us so they deserve their wealth as a reward for all their toil.  Having worked in fundraising for the last 20 years, where studying the rich is mandatory, I can say that most rich people I have met or researched are part of what has been called the largest transfer of wealth ever.  In other words, most of the rich got that way by just being born.  Daddy, or more likely Grandpa, actually created the wealth - the current richies just inherited it.

In fact, I have had very few significant contributions from rich people's personal funds go to the nonprofits for whom I worked.  They have foundations - again most likely created by their father or grandfather's wealth.  So, they direct the foundation to make the gift - they get the thanks and the publicity without having to actually whip out their debit card.

And, just to get all moral on the subject, the Bible has literally hundreds of quotes that liken the creation of wealth to corruption, greed and a sure way not to get past the Pearly Gates.  In fact, even the Old Testament indicates that if a person is rich and they don't help the poor willingly then they are violating God's will.  Jesus of course was more detailed about the evils of wealth, but to hear the conservatives talk about Him, He said, "Blessed are they who cutteth the capital gains tax," or "Blessed are the poor, but be sure and verify that they are poor through the most direst of conditions and consequences and are not gaming the system and putting their grubby little hands into the rich person's pocket."

I don't hate the rich.  I do hate the attitude that people of wealth, privilege and power deserve even more of it at the expense of hard working average Americans.  Bill Maher once tried to explain the illogic of an average Joe supporting cuts in the estate tax - which only kicks in after the first million or so is exempted - it's called an estate tax because it taxes people who are wealthy enough to have estates - otherwise known as "not you." This to me sums up all of the support average workaday conservatives provide the rich - they use this support to actually siphon off more of your share of the economic pie, leaving you with less, while they get even richer.  It's like a pig contributing to the More Barbeque Party.  You ain't gettin' nothin' back except more economic pain, but somehow they have convinced you that it is your right and your duty to surrender your share of the economic equation to them.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that the liberal media are all owned by extremely rich corporations - who evidently are too stupid to recognize the socialistic bent of their own TV and radio stations, newspapers and magazines.  But you know they would never use the power of these media outlets to influence Mr. and Mrs. Joe Sixpack that the fact that their share of the economic pie now is over one third, while the rest of us have lost 15% of this same pie.