Those of you entering fifth grade in September pay close attention during social studies class. You’ll be doing a unit on the feudal system, which was the dominant form of government in Europe during the Dark Ages. Under the feudal system, all property in the country was owned by the king and a handful of dukes, counts and earls. Almost everyone else was a landless peasant for whom life was – in one famous description – “nasty, brutish and short.” Health care was non-existent; charity, what there was of it, was provided by the church and if the church didn’t like you they told you to go to hell – literally. The tax system was straightforward. When the king needed money – usually to pay for a war – groups of thugs were sent out to shake down the landless peasants.
If you sit up straight, take good notes and do the homework assignments, then as a reward, you can take a nap during current events, because you will have already learned it all.
Three weeks before George W. Bush, King George perhaps, signed his $1.3 trillion tax cut, Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill called for what amounts to a return to the feudal system. In an interview with the Financial Times of London, the Duke of Alcoa advocated scrapping the federal government as we knew it in the 20th century.
First, Mr. O’Neill thinks it’s a good idea to do away with corporate taxes. Although American companies are the recipients of untold billions in largesse from the federal government, corporate taxes only account for about 10 percent of the revenue taken in. Lord O’Neill would cut this to zero. The argument goes like this: corporate taxes are really just personal taxes in disguise, because individuals wind up paying corporate taxes in the form of higher prices, lower wages and slower economic growth.
Everyone in fifth grade social studies who believes cutting corporate taxes will result in higher wages for Joe Sixpack, raise your hand. Just like we could depend on the Sheriff of Nottingham to look after the peasants while King Richard was off fighting the crusades.
To avoid higher prices, just buy less stuff. I don’t care if BMW has to pay corporate taxes, I’m never gonna own a BMW, but if Mr. O’Neill gets his way and corporate taxes get shifted to individuals, then I have to pay BMW’s taxes whether I want to or not.
But wait, there’s more. The medieval mind of O’Neill imagines that individual taxes will come down, because the federal government should only collect taxes for national defense and all other expenditures should be subject to strict review. In particular, the Treasury Secretary has it in for Social Security and Medicare. Mr. O’Neill said, “Able-bodied adults who have the ability to earn income have an obligation not to pass part of their own responsibility on to a broader population.” Why sugarcoat it? Come right out and admit that under the O’Neill plan, once citizens turn 65 they’ll be left outside on a cold winter night. Better yet, they’ll be cut open and cabinet secretaries will stick their feet into the entrails to keep them warm.
If you think this is just a case of Paul O’Neill running his mouth to a reporter after he’s had a few nips at the brandy keg, you’re wrong. Mr. O’Neill says the president is “intrigued” by his ideas and in the last month the administration has done nothing to disavow them.
What is truly amazing is how little coverage these astonishing statements have received. Pundits must have written 10 words for every one of the 1.3 trillion dollars in the Bush tax cut and somehow no one managed to get around to mentioning that the guy sitting on top of America’s bank account wants to do a remake of “Braveheart” starring you, me and everyone else.
I’m slowly starting to come to terms with the uncomfortable notion that Cheney and Bush have known all along that they would be a one-term administration, that they planned to be a one-term administration and that the plan is to wreck the country as much as they possibly can in four years.
It’s time for all good people to band together to stop them. I’ve always said I’d do whatever I had to for the cause, but I never thought I’d have to wear green tights.
The Futile System
Those of you entering fifth grade in September pay close attention during social studies class. You’ll be doing a unit on the feudal system, which was the dominant form of government in Europe during the Dark Ages. Under the feudal system, all property in the country was owned by the king and a handful of dukes, counts and earls. Almost everyone else was a landless peasant for whom life was – in one famous description – “nasty, brutish and short.” Health care was non-existent; charity, what there was of it, was provided by the church and if the church didn’t like you they told you to go to hell – literally. The tax system was straightforward. When the king needed money – usually to pay for a war – groups of thugs were sent out to shake down the landless peasants.
If you sit up straight, take good notes and do the homework assignments, then as a reward, you can take a nap during current events, because you will have already learned it all.
Three weeks before George W. Bush, King George perhaps, signed his $1.3 trillion tax cut, Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill called for what amounts to a return to the feudal system. In an interview with the Financial Times of London, the Duke of Alcoa advocated scrapping the federal government as we knew it in the 20th century.
First, Mr. O’Neill thinks it’s a good idea to do away with corporate taxes. Although American companies are the recipients of untold billions in largesse from the federal government, corporate taxes only account for about 10 percent of the revenue taken in. Lord O’Neill would cut this to zero. The argument goes like this: corporate taxes are really just personal taxes in disguise, because individuals wind up paying corporate taxes in the form of higher prices, lower wages and slower economic growth.
Everyone in fifth grade social studies who believes cutting corporate taxes will result in higher wages for Joe Sixpack, raise your hand. Just like we could depend on the Sheriff of Nottingham to look after the peasants while King Richard was off fighting the crusades.
To avoid higher prices, just buy less stuff. I don’t care if BMW has to pay corporate taxes, I’m never gonna own a BMW, but if Mr. O’Neill gets his way and corporate taxes get shifted to individuals, then I have to pay BMW’s taxes whether I want to or not.
But wait, there’s more. The medieval mind of O’Neill imagines that individual taxes will come down, because the federal government should only collect taxes for national defense and all other expenditures should be subject to strict review. In particular, the Treasury Secretary has it in for Social Security and Medicare. Mr. O’Neill said, “Able-bodied adults who have the ability to earn income have an obligation not to pass part of their own responsibility on to a broader population.” Why sugarcoat it? Come right out and admit that under the O’Neill plan, once citizens turn 65 they’ll be left outside on a cold winter night. Better yet, they’ll be cut open and cabinet secretaries will stick their feet into the entrails to keep them warm.
If you think this is just a case of Paul O’Neill running his mouth to a reporter after he’s had a few nips at the brandy keg, you’re wrong. Mr. O’Neill says the president is “intrigued” by his ideas and in the last month the administration has done nothing to disavow them.
What is truly amazing is how little coverage these astonishing statements have received. Pundits must have written 10 words for every one of the 1.3 trillion dollars in the Bush tax cut and somehow no one managed to get around to mentioning that the guy sitting on top of America’s bank account wants to do a remake of “Braveheart” starring you, me and everyone else.
I’m slowly starting to come to terms with the uncomfortable notion that Cheney and Bush have known all along that they would be a one-term administration, that they planned to be a one-term administration and that the plan is to wreck the country as much as they possibly can in four years.
It’s time for all good people to band together to stop them. I’ve always said I’d do whatever I had to for the cause, but I never thought I’d have to wear green tights.