Links for the Day Greatest Horror Themes, Network‘s Relevance, and the Truth About Taxes

by Sal Cinquemani on May 11, 2010 in Links for the Day

Check out FEARnet’s Top 10 Greatest Horror Movie Music Themes. (In the process, we also stumbled upon this, though we’re wondering how the tyke from Look Who’s Talking didn’t make the cut.)

House reader Chris Lavergne recommended we check out Thought Catalog blogger David McMillan’s new piece on the continuing relevance of 1976’s Network.

According to USA TODAY, Americans currently pay the lowest level of taxes since Harry Truman was president. Teabaggers scratch their heads and continue shouting.

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As someone sympathetic to the Tea Party movement, I think they are remarkably astute and well informed. Of the people I know that have attended rallies and been supportive of the movement, along with the pro-Tea Party pundits I read and listen to, they are speaking out against future tax increases and they base their fear on the exponentially increased spending under Obama. Many of them weren't happy with Bush's spending, either, but they recognize that Obama is an altogether different animal. They weren't fooled by the president's deceitful cost estimates regarding health care nor have they been duped by the pie-in-the sky belief in green jobs or the "merits" of cap and trade. They know where it is leading and who'll be picking up the tab.
Posted by Jeffrey Hill on 2010-05-12 17:41:57 No offense was taken. And I don't think anyone holds typos against people in this context!
Posted by Sal Cinquemani on 2010-05-11 22:50:49 BTW, I apologize for the f'd up grammar in the penultimate paragraph. Can't someone invent an "edit" button for blog comments?! I just don't have time to read it all dammit! :)
Posted by Matt Maul on 2010-05-11 22:36:37 Sal... I assume this to be the case, but hopefully my smileycons demonstrated that despite its length, my diatribe was meant in the spirit of good-natured debate. Switching gears a bit… I simply find the Tea Party people (and conservatives in general) to be wildly misinformed and/or willfully misleading when it comes to the issue of "taxing the rich." I don’t doubt that lots of conservatives talk out of both sides of their mouths. On the other hand, part of my personal conservatism is driven by pragmatism as much as by idealism. The notion, however personally satisfying it may be seem, that raising taxes on the rich is somehow going to solve our debt problem is (IMHO) equally misguided. BTW, JFK was the first Prez to lower marginal tax rates (and he was right to do so). First, no IRS accountant in the world has the skills to match those employed by “rich” folks. Meaning, however draconian the tax codes get, the wealthy will always find a way around them. WORST case, they’ll just hold on to their money because they don’t feel any motivation not to (that’s called rational self-interest). This leads to my second point. The dirty little secret is we need rich folk participating in our economy just like the casino owners need the big players to show up at THEIR hotels. That’s why high rollers get comped suites, show tickets, and the prettiest hookers while the nickel slot players get free watered down drinks. Is it fair? Nope. But it’s not fair that I’m never got to fuck [insert name of hot Hollywood starlet] either. Does that excuse all of the recent excesses leading up to the bursting of the finance bubble. Nope. That’s why I often wonder if ANYTHING’s going to get solved. FWIW, his despite musings that at some point people have made "enough" money, unlike other people in the GOP, I’m not convinced that Obama doesn’t understand this himself. A Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi has written extensively about, many of the president's his key economic advisors are “players” in finance game. This, as you know, has drawn ire from the many Dems who voted for “change.” Just throwing in my two cents and doing it, as Paul Shaffer would say, with “the love.” :)
Posted by Matt Maul on 2010-05-11 22:31:08 Hey Matt. I can't speak for the author of that article or USA TODAY in general, but I can tell you that my purpose for posting that link was not to suggest that the U.S. doesn't have a tax-and-spend problem, or that these figures somehow dispute that, but to illustrate that modern-day taxes (that is, in my lifetime and specifically the highest marginal rate) are extremely low compared to other periods in the last century. In fact, I find these stats to be extremely troubling considering that we're in two wars, have programs on the brink of insolvency, and new programs that most Americans want or demand but which we can't afford as long as we continue to abide by our desire to have everything for nothing. I simply find the Tea Party people (and conservatives in general) to be wildly misinformed and/or willfully misleading when it comes to the issue of "taxing the rich."
Posted by Sal Cinquemani on 2010-05-11 20:41:42 Well, you wanted to "spark discussion"--;) Re: USA Today's article on low Taxes in 2009: I've never been to a rally, so I can't/won't claim to speak for the Tea Party people--"teabaggers" if you insist ;)--nor do I really want to. BUT the USA Today article posted is basically a retread of stats that have been published elsewhere and used before to counter arguments against so-called "big government" (whatever that means). As such, it's basically a straw man. The major flaw in this current meme is in assuming that 2009 numbers somehow disprove the notion that the U.S. government's "taxing and spending" problem is overblown. Which, as I see it, is bullshit. The article rightly points out that much of the reason taxes were down for 2009 was because of the housing downturn and resulting recession. People out of work don't pay taxes. People not buying stuff don't pay sales tax. Devalued homes garner less property taxes. I haven't gotten a raise in years. My wife and I have consciously been buying less "stuff." The value of our home took a hit and, consequently, my property taxes dropped as well. Yeah, I guess I'm paying less in taxes, but there's been no celebrating in my Midwest household. I have no problem laying most (if not all) of the blame on Bush's doorstep. The bucks stops at the Prez's desk and HE was the one there when this current economic cycle started. For example, I'd argue that his fiscal policies (including a ton of spending pumped into a rathole called Iraq) "crowded out" monies that could have been available for a more healthy economy. That said, the current administration has been touting how low taxes paid were in 2009 while at the same time sending up trial balloons about future tax increases. That's called a "contradiction". Does any rational person actually believe that taxes WON'T be going up for more than just the rich? If so, I'd quote Michael Corleone's question to Kay and ask "whose being naive." Regardless of how one feels about the new Health Reform Act, the spending needed to maintain it WILL increase costs further (that's according to the Health and Human Services Department). But even if we did NOTHING on health care, the demographic trends for our aging population promise increased levels of spending on services anyway. We now depend on the kindness of countries like China to buy the T-Bills which prop up our ever growing debt. And every once in a while, they fuck with us by feigning disinterest in the latest t-bill offering. As I watch the situation in Greece, I fear it may be a model for our own future. Frankly, I've never been more nervous in my life (read as scared shitless). And I lack confidence in either party's ability to do anything about it. I hope I'm wrong. In the meantime, stories about our "low taxes" in 2009 remind me of that great song lyric from Crazy Heart: "It's funny how fallin' feels like flyin' for a little while."
Posted by Matt Maul on 2010-05-11 20:22:37