Dear Friends,
It seems to me, when a politician claims the government needs more revenue, what they really mean, is that you and I will have to lower our standard of living, so they can raise theirs… and we are called greedy if we complain about it! When taxes go up people must lower their standard of living. There can be no other result. Taxes are raised so that some government official, living in the lap of luxury at our expense, either doesn’t want to make a hard decision or they want to raise their political power with more spending. The political Elite always seek more revenue, there is no limit to their lust for the fruits of our labor, it is incumbent upon us to protect our wealth and liberty else we will forfeit both, to the ravenous maw of greedy politicians.
Power in government is directly tied to spending. Every dollar, Peso, Euro or any other unit of currency spent by government, is a form of power. Not only the power to take the money but of the political favor the spending results in. Sometimes spending is to repay political favors given, and sometimes it is to garner political favor, but even if no overt political favor is bought or sold, spending, by the very fact that it is a form of inducement, carries power, political, economic and social. Political and economic are obvious…
Social, in that when large amounts of money are spent on a social program, it must warp the natural incentives and feed backs for our behaviors, that allow us to understand on a personal level what is right and what is wrong behavior. Government social spending is always to mitigate the negative effects of negative behavior. Government seeks to become the father in the family, the results of which have pushed out the real father from many households, to the great detriment of our economy and the social structure. But don’t worry, government will be there with more regulation and spending to solve this latest crises, caused by government.
When any money is taken from the market economy and put into the political favor economy… us real people have to lower our standard of living. This should be self evident, but to a large portion of the electorate in every country, it is lost in the haze of rhetoric and sophistry. Have you ever noticed that the debate is always about, this or that wealthy segment of society, having to pay their “fair share?” But after the debate is over, and the new tax structure is in place, your taxes always go up? When your taxes go up, where do you get the extra money, to make up for the lost personal revenue? You don’t. You and I have to stop buying something to make up for the loss in our personal income.
We must go without so that some member of the political Elite can have something extra. The politician is always against any cut in spending. You could never tell by their rhetoric but their actions speak louder than any political platitude. They will argue that spending must be cut, but not now… later. The economy is too weak to cut spending, and thus demand, (equating government spending to private demand, a typical sophist argument, comparing like with unlike). There is no limit to the logical calisthenics the political Elite will go to, to convince us that our loss and their gain, is somehow better for us.
The last thing an overseer wants, is to have to make a difficult decision, especially one that may threaten the cushy lifestyle they have rotted into. They seek every possible way to slither out of having to make a decision of moment. They wait, like a cat, for the opportunity to present itself to announce the we must loose more of our money or liberty, else some problem they created will get worse. The politician never seeks to actually solve a societal problem… that would reduce the need for lawmakers and bureaucrats. They endeavor to appear, to try to solve problems, while all the time making themselves powerful and wealthy in the process, and in fact making those problems worse.
Clearly when a politician calls this or that person, who begrudges government seizing his or her property, greedy, it is a statement of the lengths the political Elite will go to, in their unquenchable thirst for the fruits of our labor and the liberties our forefathers died and worse, to bequeath to us. They don’t loose a moment’s sleep, at the thought of someone making the choice to turn of cable TV, because the payroll tax went up. They will raise more revenue and subsidize cable TV for those who cannot afford it next year. That tax increase will force families to decide if they really need a second car to get to work…
Sincerely,
John Pepin
