I guess the Strike Force is waving the white flag:
When All Is Said And Done
Posted by Francis Cianfrocca (Profile)
Tuesday, March 23rd at 11:15PM EDT
16 Comments
The healthcare law is the first step in what will probably become a sustained movement to shift the balance of economic power in the US from producers to consumers. It’s going to be accomplished by steadily increasing the tax burden on high earners and expanding benefits to those who earn relatively less.
We’ve seen this before. It was more or less the effect of the labor movement in the middle of the last century. In the decades after WW2, we dominated global economic output (about one-half the total, compared to about one-third today), and trade was a much smaller part of our economy than it is now. In this relatively closed system, it was possible for unions to systematically increase the cost of labor. Labor historians, ignoring the effects of technology-driven productivity improvements, will tell you that this shift in wealth is what created the great American middle class.
The Reagan Revolution shifted the balance back toward laissez-faire and a more market-driven distribution of income, which has its own distortions. The Obama Revolution, and I’m not hesitant to call it that unless there’s a sustained backlash that goes well beyond the readership of this site, is a swing back in the other direction.
Since we don’t have strong private-sector labor unions anymore, the shift will come by exempting as many people as possible at the lower end of the income distribution from federal taxes, while expanding the benefits provided to them. Health care is just the beginning.
We’re going to get a more equal society out of this, and there’s something to be said for that. But it’s not yet known whether we’ll get a more prosperous one.
I’m basically ok with penalizing high incomes, especially since resisting this in the current political environment seems pointless. But I’m not ok with penalizing the returns to capital. Capital flows toward the highest risk-adjusted rate of return, just as water flows downhill. If we penalize capital, then the effect of the Obama Revolution will not be to spread the wealth, but rather to spread the poverty.
Unlike the heyday of the labor movement, we no longer live in an economically closed system. We’ve already seen that when manufacturing labor is overpriced, we lose jobs to other countries. If high-end labor now becomes overpriced due to higher taxes, then it’ll be time to consider doing our marketing, engineering, financial analysis, and even our doctoring and lawyering in India and Brazil. The technology is almost ready to enable a move like this.
But this defeatist heresy would not stand!
From the comments:
Karl is that you?
DerKrieger Tuesday, March 23rd at 11:44PM EDT (link)
"We’re going to get a more equal society out of this, and there’s something to be said for that."
If the price of this equality is the robbing of Peter to pay Paul then I’m opposed. All that will accomplish is for Peter to work less so that Paul too has less. Why would anyone work harder if the result is that he takes home less for his work?
If a person is poor because they are lazy, shiftless, unmotivated, etc then they certainly don’t deserve any of the fruits of my labor. As a matter of fact NO ONE outside my immediate family deserves any of the fruits of my labor.
Wow, straight for the Marxist line!
So, You Got Nothin'? Just Give Up?
IJB Wednesday, March 24th at 12:05AM EDT (link)
Because that’s all I’m getting out of this one...
Pretty much. Give up, it's over, we blew it.
A few more posts like this...
jgebo Wednesday, March 24th at 12:14AM EDT (link)
...on the front page and I will stop reading RedState. You are ok with giving up freedom for "equality"? There will never be "equality"...just shared misery.
Health care for all = misery. War for no reason = bliss. What is it like to live in that world over there?
Get the hell out of my country, you f'ing commie puke
Dave Wednesday, March 24th at 12:21AM EDT (link)
"We’re going to get a more equal society out of this."
People like you make me want to puke my guts out.
Little wonder many "real" Americans are wary of RedState.
-Dave
Yes Red State front pager, get out of Dave's Country! Dave goes for broke next:
Too bad, too, because this site had been one of my favorite reads.
Then again, the Johnson’s site was a great read for a while, too, but he punted.
Or maybe he forfeited.
No matter.
I hope Mr. Erickson’s sellout to the Communist News Network was worth it, because in about three years, Amerika will really be a Red state.
-Dave
And with that, Dave started REDDERSTATE.COM
Ahhhhh, don't you love some well deserved schadenfreude?