Don't Extend the Tax Cuts

The next time you hear someone say that cutting taxes creates jobs, punch that person directly in the face. Or, if you are want to be a little less confrontational, ask them if they believe in leprechauns, unicorns, and the tooth fairy as well. Because the idea that tax cuts—specifically, that cutting income taxes for people making more than $250,000 a year—is totally ridiculous, and completely unfounded.
The Bush era tax cuts have now been in place for nearly a decade, and yet, we are looking at the highest rate of unemployment since 1983. If these tax cuts were going to make such huge difference for our economy—if tax cuts always stimulate the economy, just where in the fuck are the jobs?
Nowhere to be found. In fact, the richest 1 percent of this country have never been richer, but for some strange reason I can’t fucking figure, they aren’t out there investing and creating jobs. The money never trickled down because it’s currently feeding trust fund babies or building factories in India and China; or worse, simply sitting around in some rich fuck’s bank account, doing nothing but collecting interest. The real irony is that a huge number of corporations have a ton of money on hand, available to build factories, increase production, increase efficiency, and in turn, hire workers. But right now they’re sitting tight. Why?
Because no one has any fucking money to spend. It’s all trickled up and away from the lower and middle classes, and what money we do have is spent paying mortgages, student loans, medical bills, tuition, etc. This is precisely why supply side, trickle down, Reaganomics—whatever you want to call it—doesn’t work. People can’t buy up the supply if they don’t have any money. Companies and investors know that, so they aren’t going to spend money trying to build more shit—they’re going to sit on it, which is exactly what is going on now.
So how Republicans, like Jack “douche-nozzle” Roberts, whom the Oregonian likes to publish, can sit there and argue that we just can’t raise taxes on the rich is just unconscionable. According to Nicholas Kristof’s recent New York Times article, extending the Bush tax cuts to the richest 0.1% of Americans would grant them an extra $370,000 a year. Given that they probably already take care of a pretty lavish lifestyle with what they have, to assume that they are actually going to spend all of that in one fiscal year, or use it to hire more workers, is pretty naïve.
The bullshit meter really hits a high note when you realize that these same fucking assholes don’t want to extend unemployment insurance. This, despite the fact that recent studies show that we can reasonably expect approximately $1.60 to $1.70 of economic activity for every $1 paid out in unemployment or food stamps. It’s baffling how bad these people are.
I guess the next question is: how long can our society sustain this type of malfeasance without just completely crumbling? If I had to guess, not much longer. Even if the economy shows signs of improving in the short term, we can’t expect it to continue to improve without significant changes to how our government functions. And that is just the problem: we can’t make changes for the better. We aren’t ever willing to tell the richies and the corporations to pay their fair share, or to take responsibility for the state of our country. We’re never willing to force the stakeholders to let go of their stakes—even when it’s clear they’ve abused their power. And every corporation, organization, politician and individual is only thinking about their own selfish best interests, rather than taking into account that their interests often align with the interests of those around them.
If you’ve ever seen A Beautiful Mind, recall the scene where the main character, Steve Nash, and his friends go to the bar. Nash has an epiphany while all of his buddies are drooling over the most beautiful blonde girl in the bar. He realizes that if they all try to hit on the blonde, all of them will fail, because they will end up blocking each other, and moreover, they won’t be able to be successful hitting on any of the other girls, because the girls will feel second best after seeing the boys fall all over themselves to get the blonde. What Nash finally concludes is that if they go hit on the other girls in the first place, and ignore the blonde, they won’t insult the girls, won’t block each other, and consequently Nash smiles, “we all get laid.” In so doing, Nash ends up proving that Adam Smith and the fictional character from Wall Street, Gordon Gecko (“greed is good”), are wrong—or, incomplete—when they argued that everyone acting in their own best interests serves the common good. Ultimately, everyone acting in their and the group’s best interest is truly what serves the common good, and yields the best results for everyone.
The problem is that the nature of a two-party system doesn’t foster this type of cooperation or leadership. Republicans go for the blonde every damn time, and Democrats are still sitting at the table trying to think of a line. But Republicans aren’t ever going to get her because women aren’t interested in all talk and no action, and Democrats won’t ever get up the balls to go speak to the woman, let alone ask her out. And we, the American people, just want to get laid—who gives a shit about the blonde? Brunettes and redheads are better in bed anyway. But, until our politicians think about solutions that work for all Americans, no one is getting anything.
OK, so that was officially a tangent. But I still think we shouldn’t extend the Bush tax cuts for people making more than $250,000 a year. Just because the Democrats are too ball-less to hit on the blonde, doesn’t mean they should sit there and do nothing while the Republicans rape her.