Minute Musings: Two Subjects

Two episodes of Minute Musings go up today. The first one is on the "Bush Tax Cuts" also called the "Bush Era Tax Cuts," as if Bush has an entire era devoted to him like the Victorian or the Edwardian eras. The Bush tax cuts are NOT tax cuts. They were tax cuts only the first year they were introduced, after that they became the normal tax rate. Letting them expire is not letting tax cuts expire, it will be the largest tax increase in history (so says the Heritage Foundation, among others).



Some people think that taxing the rich will increase tax revenue, but the rich can just put their money in secret Swiss bank accounts and other tax shelters and pull out of the economy, so increasing taxes won't hurt them. Do you really think Warren Buffet or George Soros or other super rich people (mostly men) ever pay taxes, or do they find slimy underhanded ways around having to pay taxes, like starting ficticious charity organizations and donating to them? It worked for Howard Hughes. He started the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1953 to avoid having to give his vast fortune to anyone when he died. He created HHMI as a ficticious charity organization, which eventually became a real charity organization years after his death.



Wasn't it John Kennedy who cut taxes for the top income class and increased total tax revenue? You would think people would actually learn from history, but in a country where 26% of people don't know we won our independence from Britain what kind of history do you expect people to be learning from?



Bush Tax Cuts Video




The second video is about the Charles Rangel censure. Censure is supposedly so bad only 6 representatives have been given this punishment in the past hundred years (5 Democrats and 1 Republican; Democrats make up 16/23 total representatives censured ever, nearly 70%). I expected them to pour water on his face to simulate drowning, but all that happened was the Speaker got up and, nearly in tears, said something like "the House censures you." Then Rangel gave a speech that shows he's as cockey as ever and didn't learn a thing and then he left. That was it? He had a team of lawyers ready to fight this "punishment" and that was it? It was the biggest non-event of 2010.



Rangel Video