Or more importantly, where is the real outrage coming from,  it’s Wall Street! 

The people standing on the street corners with their funny little hats and signs saying,  ”keep government out of my Medicare”,  for the most part don’t even know what they’re protesting about.  Some truly believe they are the second coming of the revolution against tyranny (for them it’s big government meddling in their personal affairs).  As Tea (Taxed Enough Already) Party members, they believe  themselves to be the real patriots of the freedoms that our founding fathers fought and died for.   All very noble, but nothing could be further from the truth. 

First of all, what was the real reason for the original tea party protest?  It was a tax reduction on tea from England (not a tax increase), that put such pressure on small colonial businesses they couldn’t compete with the subsidized East India Company, that sparked the protest.  It was outrage at a monopolistic global corporation that was being subsidized with tax credits by a corrupt government, sound familiar?    But why let facts get in the way of outrage!  

Sixty-four percent of tea-baggers think Obama has raised their taxes, when in fact, 2009 saw a middle class family of four pay the second lowest percentage in the past 50 years.   Again, why let facts get in the way of some good old fashion outrage, but I digress.

Now,  let’s talk reality and who really wants to stop this Renaissance of the middle class and keep the status quo with regards to paying taxes.  In other words, who in this country really pays their fair share?   The 400 wealthiest income earners in the U.S.,  averaged almost $345 million in 2007 and yet their federal tax rate was 16.6 percent, or put another way, even Warren E. Buffett believes  there is something wrong with a nation’s tax system that a billionaire is in a lower tax bracket than a housekeeper or secretary.  Another faction wanting to make money and not pay taxes are the hedge fund managers.   “The professional fund managers of these hedge funds and private equity firms are allowed to treat a substantial portion of their compensation as capital gains, meaning they are most likely taxed at 15 percent rather than the 35 percent rate that applies to ordinary income such as wages and salary.”  What this means, hedge fund managers provide a service just like a doctor or lawyer, and yet doctors and lawyers must indicate their compensation as ordinary income, just like you and I.  Or as Robert Reich stated, “Last year, the 25 most successful hedge-fund managers earned a billion dollars each…when a billion dollars would pay the salaries of about 20,000 teachers.”

But who would want to rip off the American people in such a way?  In 2003, President Bush cut the dividend tax rate from 39.6 percent to 15 percent and the capital gains tax rate from 20 percent to 15 percent.  Now you may say that’s great right, not really, the average middle class family’s savings for retirement is in a 401K and is taxed deferred.  However, the 400 wealthiest individuals “derived 66 percent of their income from capital gains and dividends”, so while they sit on their 200 foot yachts sipping martini’s, you and I sit in hour long traffic and at the end of a 12 hour day we again sit in hour long traffic to go home with just  enough time to put the kids to bed, and then start the process all over again the next day.

But what of this “too big to fail” mantra that you hear.  In 1998, it took 42 banks to control half the nation’s deposits, in 2009, it was 12 banks.  The return of Glass-Steagall Act that in 1933 originally forced banks to separate into “commercial” banking (holding deposits, checking accounts, lending money to borrowers, etc.) and “investment”  banking divisions would go a long way in preventing this.  But the banksters have no intention of going back to the days of regulation, in fact, in the first three quarters of 2009, they spent $344 million, lobbying against financial reform, and in the 1st quarter of 2010, “63 percent of spending by banks’ corporate PACs has gone to Republicans, up from 53 percent last year.”  Making a bet against Democrats in the 2010 mid-term election.

Wall Street and the 400 wealthiest income earners through their talking parrots, try to elicit catchy phrases like “class warfare”, “redistribution of wealth”, “a Robin Hood – steal from the rich and give to the poor”, or “nanny state” talking points to try and focus attention away from what the real facts are.  

And here are the real facts, the 400 wealthiest households , “have seen the share of their income they pay in federal income tax alone plummet from 51.2 percent in 1955 to 16.6 percent in 2007,” while “their average adjusted gross income increased by over 400 percent, after adjusting for inflation: from $68 million to $345 million (in 2007 dollars).”    By contrast the, “statistical middle…paid 15.9 percent of their incomes in total federal taxes in 1960.  This group, in 2004, paid 16.1 percent of their incomes in total federal taxes”.    Certainly, there has been a “redistribution of wealth”, but it has been a, steal from the poor and middle classes and giveth to the rich. 

Wall Street banksters have an “alpha-dog” mentality, an entitlement attitude towards their position in American society.  They equate bonuses with success amongst peers, but the problem with this, these bonuses are our tax dollars that originally kept these assholes from bankruptcy and ending up walking up to clean your car’s windshields in rush hour traffic.  Reality is this, these people are nothing more than addicted to greed and power, and like any addiction, must be cured with some tough love.  Like any addict trying to go clean, they hate it, and vilify you for it, but in the end, they will thank you for it.  Eventually becoming productive players of the system again.

So the next time you see a bunch of people waiving signs of  “keep government out of my Medicare” or the Gadsden Flag with the famous slogan, “DON’T TREAD ON ME”,  throw some of these “real” facts at them, watch their eyes glaze over and get that “deer in the headlights” look.    Because they sure won’t get the facts from FOX News or right-wing talk radio.

Until next time, and remember…stay progressive!

References:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/15-10

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/02/21-2

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20002529-503544.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/business/economy/18irs.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/27/AR2007062700097.html

http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/pm120/

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3151

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3090

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/25-9

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/06/senate-votes-for-wall-str_n_567063.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/financial-reform-a-win-fo_b_587728.html

http://nymag.com/news/politics/66188/

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/04/07

http://robertreich.org/post/624131068/the-challenge-of-closing-tax-loopholes-for-billionaires

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/opinion/24krugman.html