Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/11/08/lucky-ducky-finally-benefits-f.html
Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH Lucky Ducky, the poor little duck who’s rich in luck, takes advantage of Hollingsworth Hound’s Republican-style tax plans.
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Painfully true.
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How are conservatives supposed to know those tax schemes won’t actually solve the problem? They’ve only never worked all the times they’ve tried them.
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But they’ve lost so much from all the other times. This time they will win big.
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The tax plans are working great. They let them manufacture a crisis and then use that crisis as an excuse to cut services. It has worked perfectly time and time again. As an added bonus the rich get even richer. Why should they stop doing something that’s working perfectly?
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oh they worked all right. they worked exactly like they wanted them to. They made the rich richer and got to tell their base they were looking out for them.
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The whole “trickle-down” theory is so completely contrary to natural behavior - nobody expands their business, takes on new workers based on their tax burden. You do it based on what you see as reliable demand, and if capital is not on hand, you acquire it through investors or borrowing - you don’t wait for a windfall tax break.
The whole premise is based on the assumption that the “masses” have a fundamental ignorance of the motivations and actions of employers and businesses, and so will be willing to accept the crazy story we tell them about this.
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Not only can Lucky Ducky eat the books, they are also useful to wipe up later. Also useful for fire, perhaps as insulation, even building materials if there are enough of them. C’mon look on the bright side!
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Hence the myth of the job creator. A business hires when they need to, when their ability to profit more is limited by a lack of sufficient personnel. The people who create the demand that opens up the opportunity for more profits that creates the need for the increased hiring are the job creators.
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I’d say that that all depends on desired outcome.
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Aha! The old “You can learn them and learn them, but all they want to do is eat the books” joke. Clever usage!
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I’m a sole proprietor whose income varies quite a bit year-to-year. When I have a good year and am facing a higher tax burden, I actually start looking for ways to plow more of my profits back into my operation as tax-deductible expenses. So higher personal income taxes incentivize me to spend more on expanding my business, not less. Based on my limited experience these trickle-downers have it ass-backwards.
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let’s not forget that some people are hoping for the modest savings of a few hundred dollars off their tax bill. things are so tight for them, and they have zero faith in government fixing things, that even a sliver of money back is all that matters.
it’s a really vicious cycle. not dissimilar to the idea that arming ourselves is the only way to protect from mass shootings.
in some ways it seems to make sense: protect your own at all cost. it needs to be looked at in the longer view – that by agreeing to play by the same rules – gun laws, tax laws – we can help each other and ourselves in ways that none of us can do individually.
people need to have trust in each other and government, though. and wing-nuts have been systematically undermining that trust for decades. ( heck, even i don’t trust the trump government with public money. but, in the long game, i get that it’s better not to let tax policy become even worse. )
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Not so much in Kansas, at least. Weirdly, most of those involved ended up seeming surprised by the outcome, with the Republicans who had enacted the tax cuts eventually repealing their policies when it was such a disaster for the state. It seems the Republican party - or parts of it, anyways - have been brainwashed into believing their own propaganda.
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Ultimately, the real job creators are the consumers.
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Indeed - perhaps this could explain the way that businesses in 50’s through the late 70’s during a timeframe with up to 90% tax rates somehow managed to heavily invest in all that basic research and development that we’ve been coasting on for the last 30 years. There will never be another Xerox PARC or strong US based manufacturing resurgence if we continue to incentive cash hoarding.
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I wonder if the Kochs profited from it? I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a setup, and as sneaky and conniving as they are, they didn’t give a damn who got hurt as long as it wasn’t them.
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If you ask them, they’ll probably tell you that Reagan slashed taxes, this created a great economy until Bill Clinton wrecked it, and then Shrub and Obama repeated the pattern.
Yes, it’s all bullshit, but so what? They’re watching Fox and Infowars, reading Brietbart and Stormfront. History is rewritten.
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Dunno about any link between low trust and higher regulation as far as the US is concerned, though.
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that’s a tantalizing article. ive always been fascinated by systemic societal corruption. why does the us have asset forfeiture and violent policing: but it doesn’t have road side bribery to get out of tickets like some counties do?
is it all just “culture” ( what is deemed just and lawful ) or do laws themselves really change things ( by creating systems which force people down the straight and narrow )?
i suspect it’s both: one feeding back into the other.
to answer your question, what i think is that quite a number of americans are the target of regulations and forces that they associate with big government.
they see - and are encouraged to see - government as adversarial to the lives they lead. in other countries where governments have similar regulation but provided meaningful services in exchange: people get the connection.
true story: two house inspectors. one a naturalized german, the other born and bred deep south american.
the american was constantly grumbling and apologizing about all the code violations they were unconvering; the german was like: isn’t it great we have all of these things to check, you will be much safer now in your new home.
it’s a world of difference for the exact same facts.
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