Redistribution of Wealth
Good ideas never get old.
USSR, 1928:
… Stalin’s enthusiasm for collectivization seems to have been based on two cardinal principles …. One was that large units of production, organized along the lines of industrial enterprises and with access to mechanized equipment, were far more efficient and would permit the extraction of greater surpluses than the traditional strip farming practiced by Russian peasants. The other was that kulaks represented a counterweight to Soviet power in the villages and by their very nature constituted a “class-alien” element that had to be eliminated … Thus, collectivization was to proceed in tandem with “dekulakization.”
USA, runup to 2008:
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that every child born in the United States should get a $5,000 “baby bond” from the government to help pay for future costs of college or buying a home.
…
The New York senator did not offer any estimate of the total cost of such a program or how she would pay for it. Approximately 4 million babies are born each year in the United States.
I have an idea. Take it from the kulaks!
Harvard brainiac economist weighs in:
How might this be funded? There are only three groups that could be asked to pay for the new entitlement with higher taxes (or lower benefits): the current elderly, those currently of working age, or the same future generations who are getting the new benefit and are slated to pay for existing unfunded entitlements. Which group do you think Senator Clinton has in mind?
Like I said, the kulaks! Great minds think alike.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:00 pm on Friday, September 28, 2007
14 Responses to “Redistribution of Wealth”
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September 28th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Hillary! is buying votes at $5 grand each. Openly. Such chutzpah.
September 29th, 2007 at 1:41 am
“Universal” health care. check
National smoking ban. check
$5,000 Bond for each child. check
(They’re going to get into a hell of a battle with the states over the tax revenue extorted from smokers.)
Boy, I can see why Hillary warned us that she wasn’t going to “let” us keep the tax cuts. She has decided that she needs it, instead, to buy the presidency. I think the campaign finance reform focused on the wrong things.
September 29th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Yup. Keep fighting the commies. Maybe we can have a war or something so them dominoes don’t fall. Next thing you know, the commies will buy a newspaper and one of its editors will write a right-wing wack-job blog and then when the paper loses a libel suit and then gets hammered on the appeal it will follow its victim around with a reporter and photographer while ignoring thousands of “disabled” public retirees living and romping a few miles from its rotting headquarters, and “trap” the victim as he takes in the races at Saratoga Springs, pejoratively referring to a trip to what is generally considered the most respectable of all hoss tracks as a gambling junket and then send the right-wing wack-job off to blog about it almost before the ink is dry while cutting off any potential response from readers. This will lead to the inevitable comment that the right-wing wack-job went to the races himself and engaged his fetish for war souvenirs, taking an ample supply of such souvenirs from the stables as inspiration for yet another blog entry.
Yup, fight them commies! Let freedom ring!!
September 29th, 2007 at 10:15 am
I wonder if Hillary’s calculations take into consideration the added lure a “free” five grand will be to the third world below our southern border. Nancy Pelosi said just yesterday a fence is a dumb idea. With Hillary in the White House and Nancy running the House, the Mommy Party would go on a spending spree that would make both FDR and LBJ envious.
September 29th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
OK ABIO, you pay for it if you’re such a compassionate altruistic person. I’m a little short from paying for my own kids’ future. If that don’t suit you, move to Sweden and see how you like it.
September 29th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Well, guess what, Hillary old girl. Mr. H and I managed to put a $5000 nest egg in each of our grandchildren’s names for just that very reason. It was a struggle and a sacrifice for us, but it was our own frigging money that we worked for over the decades. No one “gave” it to us. We didn’t ask anyone to help out. We couldn’t do it for our own children, but we did it for theirs. And we would resent to the bone being taxed to pay for such a nest egg for the children of people who don’t work, or the children of people who make far more money than we’ll ever see.
God, I hate Democrats more every day.
September 29th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Unfortunately, defeating a whole country of communists, along with the failed statists systems all over the world, hasn’t made a dent in what passes for thinking among our own statists. They are loathe to give up such a lucrative rice bowl, no matter the death and destruction–as long as the loot lasts.
September 29th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
I wonder how many “anchor babies” are included in that 4 million .. and that’s just for ONE year !!
September 29th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Opinion Journal, 9/29…
“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” said Rep. Stephanie Stubbs [sic] Jones, an Ohio Democrat who attended the event and has already endorsed Clinton. “Every child born in the United States today owes $27,000 on the national debt, why not let them come get $5,000 to grow until their [sic] 18?”
Uhh, maybe so they won’t owe $32,000 on the national debt?
September 29th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
The government do get their taxes from the poor. Smoking and the lottery are surefire ways for the government to take back all those benefits and tax credits doled out to the poor and put it back into the government coffers.
Forget about eliminating tobacco and smoking - politicians and the health lobby can restrict it and pass all the nanny-state laws they want, but they’re just as addicted to all the juicy tax revenue cigarettes bring in. The states and the federal government would lose billions in tax revenue.
And how about the lottery? Yes, the slogan is “You Have to Play,” but it really means, “Give Us Your Poor, Your Stupid, Your Uneducated, Yearning to Break Free of Poverty (Getting Their Money Is Easy).” Win over $600, pay 5% withholding on the spot. Win over $5,000, the government gets their slice at 25%. And tax time, you may graduate to the head of the income tax class with the 35% tax bracket.
Sooner or later, that $5,000 the FCPOTUS (Former Co-president of the United States, 1992-2000) is proposing will return to the government. It depends on how smart people are in hiding it away from the Wicked Witch of the Midwest.
September 29th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Actually, this sort of idea has been kicking around for a while. Charles Murray, who is not usually thought of as a liberal, wrote a book about his version of the plan about 28 months ago.
March 27, 2006, Moving Ground: How to dismantle the welfare state with $10,000 a year…in your pocket, Q&A by Kathryn Jean Lopez.
September 30th, 2007 at 7:41 am
Actually, this is similar to the old McGovern plan in 72 to give every adult $2000(?).
Oh, and amused, I am still fighting the commies. Look in the mirror for an example.
September 30th, 2007 at 9:07 am
These people know nothing of economics, much less human nature. They would make neighbor a parasite on neighbor, all on all. Can’t you just imagine the brotherhood and love?
September 30th, 2007 at 11:25 am
snelson134: McGovern was offering $1,000 (worth about $4,800 today) to all adults.
I forgot about one other tax that’s also regressive, and that’s the gasoline tax. Currently, it’s 18.4 cpg* federal and 21 cpg state, but it applies to ALL drivers, and the less you earn, the more taxes you pay
Example: If you fill your 20 gallon tank for $53 ($2.65 per gallon), $7.88 goes to both the feds and the state. On a $250 per week paycheck, this is a tax bite of 3.1% and 20% of your weekly paycheck. If you earn $500 per week, it’s a tax bite of 1.6% and 10% of your paycheck.
So even if the “working poor” get all these goodies and benefits from the state and federal governments, the same can get their money back through these taxes.
*cents per gallon - for more information, see http://www.bostongasprices.com/tax_info.aspx