Hi Richard,
Reality differs from politics in many ways. The world is not “wholeistic”, as the liberals like to say, its actually paradoxical.
Your comment concerning rich and poor and left and right is a good case in point.
It is thought that the rich are rich because of capitalism. But that is not really the case for all of them. Many rich are rich because of their loose affiliation with such institutions as the public schools, the heavily subsidized medical world, the defense department, or various influence peddling organizations (see trial lawyers). They live well and live that way largely through their relationship with government planning.
Meanwhile, its thought that the poor are poor because of capitalism. This is not really true either. In a majority of cases, they are poor because of socialism. They live at the margins because the planners couldn’t find a place for them, and because they couldn’t find a place for themselves once the government run schools got done with them.
The difference, of course, is that the socialist rich understand that they are rich due to the socialists, but the poor do not know why they are poor. Both vote their divergent interests in the same direction and get more of the same.
Along comes an Obama, who really seems to believe it all. He really believes the poor are poor because of capitalism, and the rich are rich because of capitalism, and decides to rectify the situation. He will probably remain above it all for quite a while – whether reality will ever intrude is really anybody’s guess.
While all that is happening, everyone notices that it is only the rich who pay any taxes. The rich are highly effected by asset bubbles. When bubbles deflate, tax receipts plummet far faster than GDP or incomes.
It is now Mr Obama’s move. Try to push socialism even deeper into the education and medical world, while tax receipts are falling. Maybe he’ll get some reprieve by a new bubble giving the rich a new boost, generating sufficient tax receipts now, and giving a whole new class the blame for “causing” the bubble that is yet to form.
James
