This is ridiculous

Here is an e-mail from "MoveOn.org" that was forwarded to me...thanks for the great material for the blog.  I was trying to decide between blogging about the huge turn-out at the recent Tea Parties or how Obama et al. are using fear to ram "change/generational theft" down our throats.  Instead, I will pick apart this truly ridiculous e-mail.  Email text is red.

Dear MoveOn member, (I find that it is easier to understand the intentions of the original writer if you read the text in the same voice as the evil Emperor from Star Wars: "Oh, I'm afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive." )

This is ridiculous. 

The media has been obsessing about President Obama's plan to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans—from 35% to 39.6%—even asking if that makes him a socialist.¹ 

Umm (as I scratch my head), the article that is quoted does not state that the media is obsessing about Obama's plan, nor does it state that the media is calling him a socialist.  It does state that a member of the media asked him to clarify whether or not he is a socialist because conservatives have called him a socialist in increasing numbers since he tipped his true intentions with his financial policies (call it like it is).  This question was part of a telephone conversation between a NY Times reporter and the One...and the One couldn't answer clearly enough the first time (which no doubt was teleprompterless),...thus after analyzing his response and formulating a "blame Bush" stance, the One phoned the reporter a second time to "set the record straight."  Which is that um he um was not a um socialist...because he was um just um following after Bush um who um was the real socialist.  (Read the article, that is his argument...pretty weak if you ask me, unless you are the One who can do no wrong).  That makes me think about what moms often tell their children: "Just because Billy did it doesn't mean you have to," or "two wrongs don't make a right."  So if Bush was going all socialist on us...what does that have to do with Obama going all socialist on us?  This is his presidency, and he will have to answer for his decisions, and the consequences they lead to in this country.

Oh, and I don't think Obama is a Socialist for raising the taxes on the wealthiest Americans from 35% to 39.6%.  I think he is a socialist because he thinks it is morally correct to redistribute wealth through taxing the "wealthy."  Setting himself up as the judge of who deserves a certain level of income, and the right to use that income is what makes him a socialist.

Additionally, paying taxes at a rate of 39.6% is pretty much the same as paying 40% of your income in taxes.  That is an old tactic to lull individuals into thinking they aren't "forking-over" that much of their income.  Pretty sneaky if you ask me.

But do you know what tax rate the wealthiest Americans paid on the top portion of their earnings at the end of Ronald Reagan's first term? 50%. 

Under Richard Nixon? 70%. Under Dwight Eisenhower? 91%!

Shocking, right? 

Yes, that is shocking.  Who would want to pay those levels of taxes?  Not me...and probably not the author of this propaganda-e-mail.  What's the point?  "Look how high these taxes were under republicans!"  Why doesn't the author say, "Look at how high taxes were raised on the top earners in America during the New Deal?"  Could it be that the author doesn't want to point out that the New Deal increased the length and depth of the Great Depression?  

Also shocking is that the author of this e-mail "conveniently" forgot to mention that Reagan had lowered the top marginal tax rate from 70% to 50% during his first term...and that in 1986 (second term) Reagan lowered the top tax rate again to 28%.  (Interestingly, tax revenues received from both groups increased after each tax-burden reduction).

And for all the whining about rolling back Bush's irresponsible tax cuts, the truth is that Obama's plan cuts taxes for 95% of working Americans. Further, it closes huge tax loopholes for oil companies, hedge funds and corporations that ship jobs overseas so that we can invest in the priorities that will get our economy back on track.²

There is nothing like pandering for support by creating "class-warfare" and helping the lower "classes" to stick it to the evil rich dude who blows his nose in $20 bills and goes running wearing a jogging suit made of 24k gold thread.  Uhhh, aren't the 5% who are having to pay a higher burden of the taxes in America "working Americans" also?  Oh, that's right, they are evil and obtained their fortunes through oppression and dishonesty...that's why it is just that the most righteous among us (Obama, Pelosi, et al.) tax the dirty rich and redistribute the wealth to the oppressed.  

About those priorities that will get our economy back on track...are you talking about the Stimulus package that is really the Dems dream spending spree?  Well, those aren't priorities...in real life we call those wishes...and in the real world those wishes that the Dems wrote into law are payed for by you, and me, and the next three generations.  (Maybe the priorities spoken of are which level of our posterity will have the highest priority to pay off the debt we are incurring.)

We saw a great chart in The Washington Monthly³ that shows just how absurd Republican complaints about Obama's budget are. Check it out and pass it on:

They saw a great chart...so they reproduced a chart that looks somewhat like the original chart, but is doctored in such a way to fool the eye.  Pay attention to how the MoveOn chart is "3D" and tilted so you are looking at it from a top-down angle.  That vantage point makes the increase from the current tax level to the soon-to-be Obama tax level to be smaller than it actually is...and looks on the original chart.  Who are these people trying to fool?  Oh, wait, they are trying to fool their own supporters.  Sounds like an organization I would want to join...NOT!!!

MoveOn Chart:

Original Chart:

Thanks for all you do.

–Daniel, Eli, Laura, Matt and the rest of the team

I'm surprised that the e-mail doesn't ask for MoveOn members to put sickle & hammer symbols on their cars and front doors.

Sources:

1. "A socialist? Obama calls back to insist no," The International Herald Tribune, March 8, 2009 

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/08/america/barack.php

2. "Tax Cuts," The New York Times, February 26, 2009 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-tax.html

3. "Soaking the Rich (Redux)," The Washington Monthly, March 8, 2009 

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51234&id=15734-3783832-q1q6tQx&t=2 

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No corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs...because they are the devil!! Possible reasons for this:  You think they are evil and won't accept their financial assistance.  Or, they see that your agenda is to demonize them and thus they wouldn't support the organization that attacks them.