No, they don't. Why? Because the American people are basically Sally Field in the film Sybil. Check out this recent poll from the Washington Post. Americans say they want limited government but they also think that Social Security and Medicare are very important. The also want the federal government to be involved in schools, reduce poverty, and half of us want them to be involved in regulating health care. Only 39 percent asked in this poll want the government to cut spending. Wow. Really? This is down from 53 percent in 1994 when the GOP took over both houses.
What I found to be quite surprising was this poll showed that 50 percent wanted more government spending to fix the economy...regardless of the deficit. Even I'm not in that 50 percent. Combine this formation with this recent poll about the tax cuts and one wonders just how far Democrat's heads are up their arses. 65 percent of Dems, 64 percent of Republicans, and 63 percent of independents all said that the tax cuts for the wealthy should be allowed to expire. What a stunning campaign opportunity completely lost. Still, it's better to have a disappointing friend than someone who acts in direct conflict with the interests of virtually the entire country. More on this notion later.
There might be a lot of anger out there about entitlements but the majority of Americans do support these programs. As election day draws closer, I'm becoming more of the mind that Tea Party victories could end up being a very good thing. Generally speaking, people don't care about something until it's taken away from them. If the Tea Party gets a decent size caucus in the House and a few candidates in the Senate, we will get to see how they govern. It's not going to be pretty for a number of reasons.
The mischievous part of me can't wait to see the public reaction. It's going to be quite a show. After all, the American people want to have their cake and eat it too:)
8 comments:
The government has done a such a good job of reducing poverty so far. hahaha
The reason things seemed so surprising to you in this poll is becasue this is probably the only poll where a majority of people want more government spending to fix the economy. If government spending fixed economies, our would have been fixed by now.
You've been busy talking yourself into the mindset of having the right back in power be a good thing. 2 years ago you couldn't wait to get rid of them all and now you can't wait for them to get back in power? Hard to keep up really. Flip Flop!
We've discussed lies, damn lies and statistics. Here's a new concept for you, how you ask a question is more important than the answer.
Without knowing how that polls questions were phrased the answers are really irrelevant.
Take the issue about expiring tax cut to the 'rich'.
If the question was asked as such;
"The extremely wealthy currently enjoy a 15 percent tax cut, are you in favor of eliminating that cut so they can pay their fair share?"
May get you the same answer as,
"everybody currently enjoys a 15 percent tax cut, would you be in favor of extending those cuts to those who make less than 250,000 dollars per year?"
Regardless of the answer, the questions and the intent of the answer are different. But when edited and printed newspaper, both questions can correctly be presented as:
"X% of people are in favor of eliminating tax cuts for the rich."
The Big Lie about the "tax increase for the rich" is that they won't get any tax cut at all.
The truth is that if the Democratic proposal to keep tax cuts for everyone making less than $250K is enacted, the rich will indeed enjoy the same tax cut everyone else does on that first $250K. They'll just pay at a higher rate only above that figure.
Consider that the vast majority of people who make millions of dollars a year pay taxes at the capital gains tax rate of 15%, rather than the 30-odd percent the rest of us pay -- and they don't pay any Social Security or Medicare taxes on capital gains.
That means the rich are still getting a fabulous deal, paying far less in taxes than ordinary mortals on the same number of dollars. But of course, ordinary mortals don't really know about all the terrific tax avoidance gimmicks the rich have set themselves up with.
So when the Republicans holler about Democrats raisin' yer taxes, they neglect to mention that the Democrats are actually proposing to keep your taxes low and that people funneling all their money into campaign ads for Republicans and against Democrats are paying taxes at half the rate of regular Joes and want to continue doing so. And that doesn't count all the sweetheart deals corporate execs get: free food, free vacations, free clothes, free housing, free rides to work -- it's great being a member of the American Nobility!
Ahhhh yes, the evil capital gains tax loophole. Where a person is taxed on the money he made off the money he was already taxed on.
And a capital gain is a successful return on an investment. You know, the sort of thing that has the risk of not having a return at all. I wonder what the federal tax bonus rate is for capital loss?
The money people put into investments is a risk, but it is also that investment that builds the, you know, infrastructure of our economy.
By all means, demonize those who risk their money, increase the tax rate on those whose risk pays off, then we can all wonder why the government is the only sector of our economy with job growth.
@rld-Poverty has been reduced a great deal because of government programs. Both Social Security and Medicare have reduced poverty amongst our oldest citizens by quite a bit.
...and that people funneling all their money into campaign ads for Republicans and against Democrats...
Yeah, right. Nobody ever donates to Democrats hoping for or expecting a sweetheart deal. Nah, never happens.
Just ask Chris Dodd.
So the electorate are Sybil-like? That always seems to be the case when they won't vote the way you want. But consider this, what does that say about the electorate that gushed so enthusiastically for Obama in '08? Just another whacked out personality?
Yeah, I remember when people were finally starting to wake up and get involved. Now those same people are back to being stupid. Predictable.
Post a Comment