"You deserve to pay higher taxes."

Flame » in reply to Quit yer whining n bitchin

"You deserve to pay higher taxes."

TB — 10/21/2008 3:58:20 PM (archived)

"You have it. I don't. I need it more than you do. So I get to take it from you."

This is the moral code of liberal economics. It is also the moral code of the guy who holds you up at the ATM.

The only difference is that political theorists have actually managed to re-engineer this action into a virtue. Politicians who take other people's money and pass it around are heroes, and regarded as examples of unselfishness and great generosity. Ironically, the people they actually created the wealth are sneered at, held in moral contempt, and their right to even possess their own wealth in the first place is questioned. The latter, of course, is essential to maintaining the former.

The Robin Hood Principle. Step one is convincing people that the rich don't morally deserve what they have.

The ATM robber only wishes he could pull off THAT trick in front of a judge.

The whole thread (102 posts)

It was late in the day... - SDAI-Tech1 - 10/20/2008 11:34:02 PM
- Incidentally... - SDAI-Tech1 - 10/24/2008 4:42:40 PM
  - Short-term thinking - Mary Anne - 10/24/2008 6:58:59 PM
- Interesting . - Jody - 10/21/2008 12:37:55 PM
  - "my circle" - Mary Anne - 10/23/2008 12:36:45 PM
    - re: "my circle" - Lindy - 10/23/2008 9:54:47 PM
    - re: "my circle" - TB - 10/23/2008 5:38:55 PM
      - They dug deep once. - Mary Anne - 10/23/2008 5:55:52 PM
        
        re: They dug deep once. - TB - 10/23/2008 6:50:37 PM
        
        OK, I found something to support you. - Mary Anne - 10/24/2008 1:19:06 AM
        
        re: They dug deep once. - Lindy - 10/23/2008 9:56:59 PM
        
        You're not the only one who's tired. - Mary Anne - 10/23/2008 7:43:12 PM
    - "my circle = my choice" - Jody - 10/23/2008 4:26:16 PM
      - "MY circle" - Jody - 10/25/2008 2:38:38 PM
        
        And I, for one, am proud to call you my friend. - Eri - 10/25/2008 3:52:42 PM
        
        re: And I, for one, am proud to call you my friend. - Jody - 10/25/2008 6:20:17 PM
        
        I'm hoping thin. Or thinner. Heh. - Eri - 10/25/2008 8:49:54 PM
        
        He he...are we ever thin enough?? - Jody - 10/25/2008 9:21:49 PM
        
        Well, yeah - Eri - 10/26/2008 2:10:22 AM
        
        THIS is why - Jody - 10/25/2008 3:16:03 PM
        
        And yet... - Mary Anne - 10/25/2008 6:06:06 PM
        
        re: And yet... - Jody - 10/25/2008 6:40:54 PM
        
        Holding grudges vs. learning by experience. - Mary Anne - 10/25/2008 6:48:23 PM
        
        Yep. - Jody - 10/25/2008 7:51:00 PM
        
        Pax. I apologize. (n/t) - Mary Anne - 10/25/2008 8:51:08 PM
        
        Sorry you guys are having a spat. But I'm still not reading Tech's post that started this to find out what it's about - Eri - 10/25/2008 8:56:45 PM
        
        Neither am I (n/t) - Fox - 10/26/2008 2:17:38 PM
      - Fine - Mary Anne - 10/23/2008 5:43:37 PM
  - re: Interesting. - TB - 10/21/2008 3:58:51 PM
    - Manacles - Mary Anne - 10/23/2008 1:01:00 PM
      - re: Manacles - TB - 10/23/2008 3:21:04 PM
        
        Two questions: - Mary Anne - 10/24/2008 2:38:05 AM
        
        re: Two questions: - TB - 10/24/2008 4:51:27 AM
        
        re: Two questions: - Mary Anne - 10/24/2008 1:06:56 PM
        
        re: Two questions: - TB - 10/24/2008 5:01:46 PM
        
        Tom, you can't "peel off" my life. - Mary Anne - 10/24/2008 6:47:33 PM
        
        Just an observation - Yeti - 10/26/2008 1:55:18 AM
        
        Secure funding can be kind of important. - Mary Anne - 10/23/2008 4:16:54 PM
        
        "poor people are venal" - TB - 10/23/2008 5:33:53 PM
        
        I know you never *said* that. - Mary Anne - 10/23/2008 6:11:29 PM
        
        Mary Anne... - TB - 10/24/2008 2:07:21 AM
        
        Chocolate chip, fresh out of the oven (n/t) - McFly - 10/24/2008 3:15:58 AM
        
        lol - Mary Anne - 10/24/2008 3:21:28 AM
        
        Of course it has. - Mary Anne - 10/24/2008 2:58:31 AM
        
        Tom thinks that " nurturing the potential of the poor with public money is a bad use of the money." - Lindy - 10/23/2008 10:12:25 PM
        
        Hardly. - SDAI-Tech1 - 10/24/2008 1:45:26 AM
        
        "If one can treat different citizens differently based on wealth..." - Lindy - 10/24/2008 2:44:21 AM
        
        Individual responsibility & true freedom. - SDAI-Tech1 - 10/23/2008 6:51:06 PM
        
        Oh please....do tell! - Lindy - 10/23/2008 10:15:33 PM
        
        Yeah, I'll share that at Toddler Time. - Mary Anne - 10/23/2008 7:46:22 PM
    - Promising. - SDAI-Tech1 - 10/21/2008 4:59:45 PM
  - Morality & Money - SDAI-Tech1 - 10/21/2008 2:29:18 PM
    - Sentimental about poverty - Mary Anne - 10/23/2008 12:50:32 PM
- Quit yer whining n bitchin - Lindy - 10/21/2008 3:04:16 AM
  - "You deserve to pay higher taxes." - TB - 10/21/2008 3:58:20 PM
  - C'mon Lindy. - SDAI-Tech1 - 10/21/2008 7:34:01 AM
    - Where did you learn math? - Eri - 10/21/2008 3:49:34 PM
      - re: Where did you learn math? - SDAI-Tech1 - 10/21/2008 4:54:08 PM
      - Where did you learn economics? - TB - 10/21/2008 4:02:47 PM
        
        What idiocy! - Eri - 10/21/2008 5:52:33 PM
        
        It's trickling just fine. - Lee - 10/21/2008 11:30:34 PM
        
        re: percentages and actual amounts - TB - 10/21/2008 10:37:11 PM
        
        "Almost all of the income taxes in this country are paid by the wealthy" - Laurie Street - 10/22/2008 6:13:40 PM
        
        See, this is the paradigm gap I can never get past. - TB - 10/23/2008 4:27:18 AM
        
        Now that's socialist. - Lee - 10/22/2008 9:56:42 PM
        
        re: Now that's socialist. - LS - 10/22/2008 11:03:01 PM
        
        I could work with something like that. - TB - 10/23/2008 5:01:05 AM
        
        Taxing food. - Mary Anne - 10/23/2008 6:27:47 PM
        
        re: Taxing food. - azstrummer - 10/24/2008 9:04:11 PM
        
        Wow Art, I'm impressed. - Lee - 10/26/2008 1:07:02 AM
        
        At first I didn't understand where you were coming from. - Mary Anne - 10/24/2008 10:34:21 PM
        
        I was using the word "taxed" as a metaphor - azstrummer - 10/26/2008 12:29:42 AM
        
        OK, I get you now. - Mary Anne - 10/26/2008 4:33:15 PM
        
        re: Taxing food. - Laurie Street - 10/23/2008 9:14:34 PM
        
        That's the real kicker. We'd end up paying both taxes. (n/t) - TB - 10/24/2008 1:44:11 AM
        
        Cluelessness. - SDAI-Tech1 - 10/21/2008 6:19:35 PM
        
        If "trickle down" is working, why the ever growing income disparity? - RobVG - 10/22/2008 5:30:02 AM
        
        re: If "trickle down" is working, why the ever growing income disparity? - SDAI-Tech1 - 10/22/2008 6:46:44 AM
        
        Ya know, this is like arresting junkies to win the "War on Drugs". - Mary Anne - 10/24/2008 12:44:16 AM
        
        Can't argue with that (much) (n/t) - RobVG - 10/23/2008 1:48:36 AM
        
        re: why the ever growing income disparity? - TB - 10/22/2008 5:43:50 AM
        
        Would 'non-union' wage earners work for you? - RobVG - 10/23/2008 2:00:32 AM
        
        The only clueless party here is you. - Eri - 10/21/2008 7:21:47 PM
        
        What staggering... - McFly - 10/21/2008 5:30:08 PM
        
        Oopsie...sorry McFly... - Tinkerbell - 10/21/2008 11:54:59 PM
        
        I'm a little more concerned about the leftist running for president than anyone on this board. (n/t) - TB - 10/21/2008 10:38:10 PM
        
        To "all too many leftists" wealth is manna from the sky... - SDAI-Tech1 - 10/21/2008 6:46:09 PM
        
        McFly... - Jody - 10/21/2008 5:40:30 PM
        
        When a remark applies to the things I believe, or to the groups with which I affiliate, it applies to me. - Mary Anne - 10/22/2008 12:26:03 PM
        
        You are entitled to your opinion. I disagree. (n/t) - Jody - 10/22/2008 12:38:25 PM
        
        As always, you're much too kind - McFly - 10/21/2008 8:23:53 PM
        
        I was not offering you a cookie. - Jody - 10/22/2008 12:51:07 PM
        
        I understand. I took one while you weren't looking, though (n/t) - McFly - 10/22/2008 1:39:32 PM
        
        Oh, you're not one of THOSE leftists.... - Tony - 10/21/2008 5:34:51 PM
        
        Well, all that really means is... - McFly - 10/21/2008 5:50:58 PM
        
        Awww..McFly..I'll save you - Jody - 10/21/2008 6:23:00 PM
        
        yes, poor McFly, having been so pilloried... (n/t) - Yeti - 10/21/2008 9:19:24 PM
        
        Yow!! Well, I *do* try to keep abreast of things (n/t) - McFly - 10/21/2008 7:37:06 PM
        
        A titular requirement - Yeti - 10/21/2008 9:17:28 PM
        
        Na nee na nee booby (n/t) - Jody - 10/22/2008 3:27:54 PM
        
        Hey...this is a FAMILY board. - SDAI-Tech1 - 10/21/2008 6:57:33 PM
        
        okay.. - Jody - 10/22/2008 3:30:16 PM

Recent posts

On this day in Flame

The whole thread (102 posts)