4/24/2012

4 Responses to “Jon Lovitz Screams About Taxes”

1. Like a Mummy during the “Cycle of the Full Moon”, the Tea Party Now Arises during each Election Cycle!Specific examples of Tea Party activism mixed in with some great Universal horror movie clips.

   Mutnodjmet (c4995d) — 4/24/2012 @ 8:26 am

   
   

2. I just lovit(z) when Progressivism eats its own.
   Hello?

   AD-RtR/OS! (7aa479) — 4/24/2012 @ 8:30 am

   
   

3. He must need viewers. Good bitch slap, though.

   sickofrinos (44de53) — 4/25/2012 @ 3:00 am

   
   

4. It is nice to see that Jon Lovitz still doing comedy, but he should probably stay out of politics.

   The serious people in this debate–the ones not engaged in magical thinking–understand that our budget problems arose with the tax reforms started under Carter. The analytical people also understand that the stagnation of the average American’s salary started shortly thereafter, as did the phenomenon under which the richest of the rich saw their incomes sky-rocket, both in real terms, as well as in terms of their share of the total pie. There is a connection between these events, which is so simple it should not need pointing out. (I will, in a later post if someone is too dense to get it.)

   This nation has been undergoing a philosophical revolution over the past 40 years, and I think the enough data is in to see where it will shake out. Whereas previously we had been a nation driven by the needs, concerns and sensibilities of the middle class, we have now become a nation which is driven by the needs, concerns and sensibilities of the most affluent among us. We are a nation comprised of the bottom third, who are basically dead-enders–people who live and die without much hope of anything except maybe avoiding homelessness. These people pass fluidly between jail and section 8 housing. The next level up is the newly decimated middle class who live in a constant state of wage-thralldom. They are slowly sinking, with each generation facing dimmer prospects and the bottom end sloughing off into the lower third (logically, making them greater than the bottom third–call it, soon to be bottom 40%). Finally, the top third–that is those with household incomes of $69,000 and up–most of whom are struggling to be able to keep their place–send their kids to college, have some hope for a decent retirement, and some prospects for a good life. Of that top third, only the top 5% or so live life on their terms.

   This is not how it used to be and I think it is worth questioning whether this is really the way we want it to be. Our parent’s parents bore a much greater tax burden than we do, especially at the top. Their willingness–and yes, it was willingness, because they could have engaged in the same abdication of their responsibilities their tax-revolting children engage in– made it possible for this nation to be a nation in which huge swaths of the population flourished. Jon Lovitz falls squarely in this camp. Their tax dollars paid to their community brought us parks, high quality schools, safe streets, and a chance for nearly everyone to live the American Dream.

   The left is willing to meet the right half way. They are willing to make huge cuts in many programs, and nothing is really off the table. In comparison, the right is utterly intransigent about increasing revenue through higher taxation even one penny. They would rather destroy this nation than pay an extra cent in income tax. Is there waste in government spending? Sure. Let’s talk about how to run what we have more efficiently. Are there some programs which create perverse incentives? Maybe. Come to the table, we’re willing to discuss it. But also come with a dose of reality and an acceptance of the facts. Taxes on the richest of the rich, and on all in the top 10%, are at their lowest levels in 60 years, and that shortfall has a lot to do with our deficit.

   Learn (59a5cb) — 4/25/2012 @ 8:58 pm