Political Theater – Tax the Rich

Democracy and Power 103:  Government money

The money taxed and spent by the politicians comes from the labor and ingenuity of millions of working persons.  Politicians spend other peoples’ money.

Political Theater – Tax the Rich

Political Theater continues in Washington, DC.  America is endangered by an enormous debt and continues to have horrendous unemployment.  President Obama has presented a $447billion American Jobs Act, which the President knows will never pass the House of Representatives.  However, the President believes he can use the bully pulpit and bludgeon any Republican that votes against the bill. 

Yes, this is the Political Theater – Part III.  Even though two previous stimuli have completely failed, Part III is somehow different.  What is different?  A few Democratic Senators refused to vote for the President’s revenue increases.  The President purposed eliminating deductions of wealthy people (households making over $250 thousand), oil companies and other companies.

So, the next rendition of Political Theater was for Senator Reid to find an alternative – a 5% surtax on people making over a million dollars.  Patricia Murphy quotes a Democratic aide on Reid’s ploy in the Daily Beast:  

“Reid will modify the bill to either make it easier for some Republicans to vote for it, or make it a better messaging event against those Republicans who vote against it,” the aide said. “Should be a lot of fun in any case.” 

Tragically, this is the contemptible morality of most of the actors in the D.C. Political Theater – Republican and Democrat.  This is worse than Political Theater.  It is Political Theater by Adolescents.

However, in the mind-set of Political Theater, I would encourage the Republicans to add an amendment to the American Jobs Act:

A Member of Congress and the President of the United States guarantee the 5% surtax will fully pay for $447 billion expended for implementing the American Jobs Acton.  In the event the 5% surtax is insufficient, a Member of Congress and the President that voted for or approved the American Jobs Act shall be personally liable for any and all deficiencies.

How could the President or Congress complain?  After all, they make similar guarantees all the time.  Only they make the guarantee at the expense of the American taxpayer and future taxpayers.  Broadly, this is similar to the government’s guarantee in the Solyndra debacle, except this guarantee makes Congress and the President personally liable.

Until Members of Congress and the President are personally responsible for their monetary decisions, debt will plague democratic governments.  America must have a serious discussion on how to structurally make politicians personally responsible for their decisions.

As to today, Americans must express our contempt for the Political Theater by Adolescents. We the People have witnessed enough.  We the People want our politicians to honestly address our serious problems.