Rich Hypocrites

2 Responses to Rich Hypocrites

1. K2 says:

   February 23, 2021 at 14:47

   The 80s and 90s Milton Friedman influenced Republicans made it much easier for big business, including the super rich investor class, to succeed – this lowered unemployment and drove growth. Then the digital revolution then occurred and a monopolistic big tech was born which, like Bill Gates, thrived under 20 percent profit rates. These weren’t your classical conservative business executives but were generally left wing entrepreneurs who became so rich that they now are a major malignant political tumor on the polity.

   I will just note that in the 30s and 40s, when the tax rate for what then were millionaires – but now would be billionaires – was in the 90th percentile, most of them were quite conservative and fearful of big government.
   • Pascal says:

     February 23, 2021 at 18:57

     Indeed K2. Back in my younger days I bought the Libertarian line that there was something unAmerican about the graduated tax code. It certainly was clear that the earlier robber barons were able to keep their wealth before the Fed and IRS were created. We survived that, so why not lower the tax rates and give another generation a chance?

     What happened next was the rewarding of “all the correct thinkers” with cushy jobs and stock options and bonuses and to hell with the lowly stock holder. The road to riches was getting appointed to one board of directors after another and the tax man took less of a bite.

     And then of course there were the out of control tort cases (That Bush 2 promised to reign in — another big lie) rewarding the next lowest scum of the earth (after pols).

     Result? We have an “elite” who knows nothing except how to keep their fellow travelers from dumping on them. Donald Trump was once one of them. Look what happens when you bite into club members’ prerogatives.