Krugman's Social Contract and the Coming Class War

Coming to the defense of Elizabeth Warren, and foreshadowing the go for broke rhetoric that is to come in 2012, Paul Krugman become a class warfare denier.

The Social Contract

This week President Obama said the obvious: that wealthy Americans, many of whom pay remarkably little in taxes, should bear part of the cost of reducing the long-run budget deficit. And Republicans like Representative Paul Ryan responded with shrieks of “class warfare.”

OK. Stop right there. Could someone please first make the case that the rich do not pay their fair share? Could someone please tell me what that fair share is?

I guess not. Paul Krugman doesn't even make an attempt to answer either of these question. He does cite a meaningless statistic though.

Meanwhile, over the same period, the income of the very rich, the top 100th of 1 percent of the income distribution, rose by 480 percent. No, that isn’t a misprint. In 2005 dollars, the average annual income of that group rose from $4.2 million to $24.3 million.

So what? That means such an individual's share or tax burden increased by 480 percent. Right? Good for everybody!

From the Wall Street Journal

Let's actually look at some hard data, and make the case that top earners pay more than their fair share.

If we were really talking about a fair share, then everybody would pay the same percentage. A flat tax. And as you made more money your contribution would rise proportionally. But, as you can see from the chart nearby, the data bears out that the more you make, the larger your piece of the pie becomes.

So we already have the system that Paul, Elizabeth and the other Marxists are haranguing for.

How much is enough?

There isn't enough. There will never be enough. Why? Because this is a class war.

Paul goes on to say:

Which brings us back to those cries of “class warfare.”

Republicans claim to be deeply worried by budget deficits. Indeed, Mr. Ryan has called the deficit an “existential threat” to America. Yet they are insisting that the wealthy — who presumably have as much of a stake as everyone else in the nation’s future — should not be called upon to play any role in warding off that existential threat.

I can't decide whether this is extraordinary hyperbole, or an out right lie. THEY DO CONTRIBUTE Paul!

I am so sick of the class warfare, whinny sanction of the victim crap that if it would actually solve everything, I would capitulate. Fine. Sorry rich people, I know it's unfair, but we have to shut these people up and fix all of our problems.

The fact of the matter is that it would not even come close. There just aren't enough rich people to pay for the prolific spending the government is doing. This turns out to be further evidence that this is class warfare. These people are un-serious about solving problems. It is class warfare, and if you think "so what? I'm not rich", guess what. They are coming for you next.

From the Wall Street Journal

Like I said. There just aren't enough rich people to pay for the prolific spending the government is doing. So where will they go next?

So to all of you 'tax the rich' cheer leaders, what are you going to say when the political class turns around and says 'OK, now it's your turn to pay your fair share'?

The Class Warriors won't be happy until we are all unhappy.

Right, Wing-Nut!: A Tale Of Two Pulitzers....

Right, Wing-Nut!: A Tale Of Two Pulitzers....

Another good post over at the JerseyNut's blog.

This one is interesting because one of the subjects of the posts stops by the blog to leave a reply in the comments section. David Cay Johnston.

If you are a fan of Ayn Rand, or just of her tome "Atlas Shrugged" then it's worth stopping by and soaking in what people who are not fans of Rand think.

And if you are not a fan of Rand, it's worth stopping by to see how fans interpret her work.

Atlas Shrugs Tomorrow

I have already purchased my tickets on-line for tomorrow night.

There was a very good article in the WSJ today about Ayn Rand.

Remembering the Real Ayn Rand 

When Rand created the character of Wesley Mouch, it's as though she was anticipating Barney Frank (D., Mass). Mouch is the economic czar in "Atlas Shrugged" whose every move weakens the economy, which in turn gives him the excuse to demand broader powers. Mr. Frank steered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to disaster with mandates for more lending to low-income borrowers. After Fannie and Freddie collapsed under the weight of their subprime mortgage books, Mr. Frank proclaimed last year: "The way to cure that is to give us more authority." Mouch couldn't have said it better himself.

So true. So true.

I have pointed out more than a few times on this blog that being a Conservative Libertine means that you are embraced by neither the Left or the Right. In this article the author, Donald Luskin, reminds us that Ayn Rand also rankled the Left and the Right.

Rand was not a conservative or a liberal: She was an individualist. "Atlas Shrugged" is, at its heart, a plea for the most fundamental American ideal—the inalienable rights of the individual. On tax day, with our tax dollars going to big government and subsidies for big business, let's remember it's the celebration of individualism that has kept "Atlas Shrugged" among the best-selling novels of all time.

Not to get carried away with labels like our liberal friends tend to do, but I prefer the term Conservative Libertine over individualist. Individualist does sound a bit selfish, and that's not what Ayn Rand was advocating. Conservative Libertine I think better conveys the message that your ideology puts you on both sides of the fence. It just depends what the issue is.

Atlas Shrugs Posts

It's Happening.............
Another Victory for the looters.
Mediocrity Trumps Winning
Going Galt
Reason.com: She’s Back!
Atlas Shrugged - The Movie! Finally!

Update: And, this post would not be complete without some references to the WhoIsJohnGalt blog. It seems as though John has returned from the far side of Galt's Gulch just in time for the movie.

Welcome back John!

 

 

Atlas Shrugged - The Movie! Finally!

I am so psyched! I loved the book. I just hope the movie doesn't suck!

Atlas Shrugged references appear on these pages somewhat regularly.

I am keeping my hopes high. Perhaps that's a bad idea.

I can't wait!

"Who is John Galt"

"Who is the destroyer?"

Do you think this might spark some philosophical reflection among the dumb ass I get my news from John Stewart liberals? Will they finally see the ruse that is the "Sanction of the Victim"?

Probably not. They don't even see their own hypocracy when one week they are whining about violent Tea Parties and the next week they are parading around with Hitler signs, and gun scopes trained on the Governor of Wisconsin.

But I am going love having some video cuts to help out on this blog!

Visit the Official Atlas Shrugged Movie Web Site!

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Thank you god for answering my prayer. Now, if I may ask for one more thing, could we please have a blockbuster movie production of "It Can't Happen Here" by Sincair Lewis? Please?

Reason.com: She’s Back!

Good read.

She’s Back! - Reason.com

Tea Party protests have been chock-a-block with signs such as “Atlas Is Shrugging” and “The name is Galt. John Galt.” Sales of Rand’s classic Atlas Shrugged have soared in 2009, 

Ed Hudgins, director of advocacy with the Atlas Society, an organization that promotes Rand’s philosophy, says that when he looks at House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and federally owned mortgage lender Freddie Mac, he thinks of another Atlas Shrugged character: banker Eugene Lawson, who in Hudgins’ words “destroys his bank and a good part of the state of Wisconsin because he’s making loans based not on sound business practice but on the basis of need.”  


Many political bloggers this year have preferred to invoke one of Rand’s heroes by spreading the idea that more and more people may soon be “going Galt”

Ahem, yes....they have.(Going Galt)

More than ever, Rand’s uncompromising and unconservative (though hyper-free-market) vision rubs violently against the realities of contemporary American politics of both right and left. 

I have the same problem. If you are truly a conservative libertine, then both the right and the left hate you.
As for the movie......

With Rand fan Angelina Jolie, long rumored to star as railroad heroine Dagny Taggart, begging off the project, the producers are now preparing to turn Atlas Shrugged into a mini-series on the new cable channel Epix, possibly starring Charlize Theron. (In Hollywood, nothing is fact until the cameras roll—or until after they finish rolling. Atlas Shrugged is not yet at that stage and may never come to fruition.) 

I doubt that liberal Hollywood would ever let this movie get made. Too many careers would be ruined. Or, they would intentionally screw it up and cast it in the light of Wall Street 'fat-cats' walking around like they deserved everything because of their sheer arrogance, a la Marie Antoinette "Let them Eat Cake".

recognition of certain Randian truths. These include “asking in the face of new taxes and government controls, ‘Why work at all?’ ‘For whom am I working?’ ” The Atlas Society also suggests that Rand lovers should start by “recognizing that you’re being punished not for your vices but for your virtues,” “recognizing that you do not need to justify your life or wealth to your neighbors, ‘society,’ or politicians, or bureaucrats,” and “taking the moral high ground by explicitly rejecting as evil the premise of ‘self-sacrifice’ that they sell to you as a virtue.”  

I proclaim these truths to be self evident, but it's important to point them out to the looters!

given that most of Obama’s initiatives have been driven by deficit spending, not taxation, it’s unlikely we’ll see any statistically detectable signs of tax avoidance of the sort you’d expect from a Galt-leaning culture.

Wait for it. Just wait........

That kind of smarminess of bureaucratic-speak— ‘we’re doing this for your own good’—is very much in evidence these days.” 

Amen

Going Galt

Is it starting to happen? Is Atlas beginning to shrug? As government inflicts itself and imposes it's political desires on big business and critical industries, are the captains of industry giving up?

Mostly I want to know if it was John Galt or Francisco d'Anconia that showed up and convinced ex-GM CEO "Fritz" Henderson of the futility of it all. Which one of them convinced Fritz that the looters have arrived and they intend to take what others produce? Were they the ones who got him to embrace his Sanction of the victim?

U.S.'s Role Expands in the Boardroom - WSJ

Boards crammed with government appointees have prompted the departure announcements of three CEOs in the past two months: Mr. Henderson, Kenneth D. Lewis at Bank of America Corp. and Alvaro de Molina at GMAC Financial Services.


The departures, and friction at other government-backed companies, raise a sticky question: Whose interests are these boards serving?

Is there a destroyer loose in the world? Some evil creature that is deliberately luring away the brains of the world for a purpose we cannot understand?

Is Hank Greenberg, the former CEO at AIG, the contemporary Hank Reardon? Both Hanks were chased away by the government because it wanted their riches. Eventually the government run businesses wants Hank to come back and take the wheel.

All very interesting parallels.

My last question is; who is John Galt?

Mediocrity Trumps Winning

Yet another sign of the times. Even Donald Trump has cashed in his capitalist principles, and thrown his empire on the mercy of the ideology of the new regime. said another way, "you don't have to win to win"

This seasons Celebrity Apprentice was like a microcosm for what is going on in America. Just like the last election where the cult of personality won out over practicality, where Barry Obama's greatest accomplishment was either voting 100% party line or voting present on any given issue, he was elected president because "well? we like him".

In last nights Celebrity Apprentice we saw the cult of personality win out over results and performance. Even though Anne Duke won more board rooms than Joan Rivers, and even though she raised more money for charity (by more than double) on the final challenge, the winner was............Joan Rivers. Why? Because we like her.

The other lesson we can take away from the election and this seasons Celebrity Apprentice is that the way to winning is demonizing your opponent. To paraphrase Gordon Gekko "Hate is good". The politics of personal destruction is the way to win. Calling John McCain "George Bush" (even though he is not. Actually or ideologically) and you can be swept into power, even though you have no accomplishments of note. Demonize your opponent, spew venom and hatred in an emotional meltdown, call them a capitalist, and despite clearly losing by all other counts of scoring, you can win. Yes you can.

Emotion Trumps reality.

Another take away from our analysis of this microcosm is what we learn by observing Dennis Rodman's role in this Season's Celebrity Apprentice. You need not worry about your bad behavior. You might even say, bad behavior is rewarded. Why? We like Dennis, we feel bad for him. Don't worry if you took out a mortgage you clearly cannot afford. Personal responsibilty is over-rated.

Celebrity Apprentice is called a reality show. Lo and behold I believe that the changes we saw in what you need to do to win, are in fact changes that we are seeing in our society. Now that's reality!

Is this the change you hoped for?

When Joan and Obama come and ask you "how'd you get so rich?", tell them you have been Trumped. Tell them you too are throwing in the towel.

Another Victory for the looters.

So this is how it works; The government shows up in your office one day and says "take our money, or give us common stock, or renounce your claim to your bonds and their debt", or any of the other demands they might make in their effort to quietly nationalize a company.

You're a smart person, you have been successful in the past and sure, you are experiencing some tough times, and you love your country. You politely decline the governments "offer" (which they perceive as help). Oh no no no. This is an offer you can't refuse! If you do, then you will be torn apart by the white house press corps. The press proceeds to villafy you in a 24hr news cycle, and then a rented tour bus with 40 homeless people in orange shirts (paid for by your tax dollars) shows up at your home. Your children are horrified, your neighbors are not amused, and the circus in your front yard strikes you as even more bizarre than you could have imagined because there are more press people than protestors. When you see the images on the news that night you cannot believe what you are seeing! Somehow it looks like there were hundreds of people, just like the tea party you attended and was NOT on the news, on your fron lawn! You put your head in your hands, then put your children to bed, and then try yourself to retire for the night.

The next day, you go into the office, pick up the phone, call your government contact (who you call Cuffy Meigs), and you beg for mercy.

Welcome to our new reality. Directive 10-289 is is being executed. We saw what happened at AIG. While $14 Billion in earmarks and pure pork are not worth fighting about because they amount to less than 2% of the budget, we will spend 3 days in congressional hearings for $156 Million amounting to less than 1% of the TARP funds that were authorized.

AIG caved, and now GM and all of their suppliers and bond holders have caved. The people who invested in the company and hoped for them to make returns have caved too. They saw what happened at AIG, and they don't have the stomache to stand up to the orange shirts for what is rightfully theirs. Ironically it's the people who brought them down who will reap the benefits of the fire sale that is the bankruptcy of GM. The Goenrment restrictions on emisions and so forth makes it difficult to compete, and the gold plated compensation contracts that the unions have extorted make it difficult to compete. Despite all that there were bond holders and suppliers who believed that GM could still turn a profit, and those are the people who are left in the cold.

Who will get the money from the fire sale at GM? The Government and the Unions.

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God Bless Your Tom Lauria

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It's Happening.............

Atlas is about to shrug.

Right, Wing-Nut!: Geithner, Starring as "Atlas Shrugged" Villain Wesley Mouch

Right before your very eyes!

It's him! Wesley Mouch! Totally!

Mr. Thompson must be very proud!