Distractions, Distractions

The biggest topic in liberal circles, actually two topics overlapping, are Mitt Romney’s wealth and increasing taxes on the rich. The latter is for the purpose of solving the budget deficit and resolving social ills which pervade this country due to the preciousness of income inequality. Presumably, taxing the rich with a 3.6% higher rate will impoverish them to a degree that will makes incomes sufficiently equal as to eliminate the social ills of income inequality.

The degree to which all of this is a distraction raised by the White House incumbent to avoid letting voters face the fact that he has not done, is not doing, and will not do anything for the poor slob who needs a job to feed his family escapes, of course, liberals of pretty much every stripe.

For one thing, the 3.6% tax rate increase on the rich will raise enough revenue to resolve about 1% of the deficit that this nation is running, and it will have essentially zero effect on the debt, so forget that. And “income inequality” is a long way from being the biggest problem this nation faces. Take the 10,000 largest incomes in this country and change them to zero, put those people on the street, and you still have 20 million people who don’t have jobs and 50 million whose jobs pay too little to live on. Make that 100,000 of the top incomes, make it one million, and you then have 21 million unemployed and 50 million underemployed.

The latest Gallup Poll examined what voters care about and taxing the rich is actually the last item on a long list; twelfth. Creating jobs is first, and reducing corruption in government is second; that’s reducing corruption in our government, not Afghanistan’s government. Income inequality is not even on the list.

We are talking about taxing the rich not because it has any real value, not because the average voter cares about it, but because Obama would rather talk about it than about things that really matter to this nation and that don’t make him look as good.

A little off topic, but interesting, is that in the partisan part of the poll the first priority for the next president, topping the Democratic list is “Making healthcare available and affordable.” It’s even more popular then “creating jobs.” What do they think that was that Congress fought about for an entire year in 2009-2010? Apparently a large number of Democrats share my opinion of Obama’s “signature accomplishment” in passing the “greatest piece of legislation in generations,” because they still think that what it purports to do is still in need of being done.

“…sounding brass; filled with noise and fury, signifying nothing.”