The War Against the Producers - Victor Davis Hanson

The incomparable Victor Davis Hanson has a post up at PJ Media that is a must read. So, um, why not go read it. A sample:

Ponder a simple fact: The Obama administration is dispersing income lavishly to those who do not pay taxes and it will have to be paid for by those who do. For all the talk of that awful percentile who make over $200,000, this administration has not distinguished the hyper-rich 1% that make untold money (e.g., the Buffets, Soroses, Turners, Gateses, Kerrys, Gores, etc), from the much more demonized, larger 5% of the population whose income does not come from investments and insider influence and deal-making, but rather from providing more tangible goods and services — the family doctor, the plumbing contractor, the small lumber company owner, the car dealer, the local family-held insurance company, the airline pilot, the car-leasing firm, the patent attorney, etc.

You Get Less of What You Tax......

.....and if what you happen to tax is productivity (or you're threatening to), this is what you get.

We've seen before that almost no matter where marginal tax rates are set, receipts to the treasury will not deviate significantly from 19.5% of GDP. If you do something to decrease GDP, such as say, suck money out of the productive economy by raising tax rates, you get less tax receipts. What we are going through right now is an entirely predictable result of simply the threat of higher tax rates on our most productive people. Wait until it actually becomes law.

Wealth envy is no basis for devising a tax system. A progressive income tax is not egalitarian, it's tyrannical

(Via Instapundit)

Atlas Shrugged - Maybe More Prophecy Than Fiction

Stephen Moore penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, pointing out some eerie similarities between the events in Ayn Rand's classic Atlas Shrugged and our current economic/political situation. It's a long (1,000+ pages) book, in rather small type and can be heavy going at times, but it's worth reading. If you don't have the patience for that, at least go read the article. A sample:

"For the uninitiated, the moral of the story is simply this: Politicians invariably respond to crises -- that in most cases they themselves created -- by spawning new government programs, laws and regulations. These, in turn, generate more havoc and poverty, which inspires the politicians to create more programs . . . and the downward spiral repeats itself until the productive sectors of the economy collapse under the collective weight of taxes and other burdens imposed in the name of fairness, equality and do-goodism."

and

"The current economic strategy is right out of "Atlas Shrugged": The more incompetent you are in business, the more handouts the politicians will bestow on you. That's the justification for the $2 trillion of subsidies doled out already to keep afloat distressed insurance companies, banks, Wall Street investment houses, and auto companies -- while standing next in line for their share of the booty are real-estate developers, the steel industry, chemical companies, airlines, ethanol producers, construction firms and even catfish farmers. With each successive bailout to "calm the markets," another trillion of national wealth is subsequently lost. Yet, as "Atlas" grimly foretold, we now treat the incompetent who wreck their companies as victims, while those resourceful business owners who manage to make a profit are portrayed as recipients of illegitimate "windfalls." "

A Wake-Up Call on Job Losses

The American Thinker has an article up, penned by a small business owner who is about to permanently shutter his business and "go John Galt", and he's not shy about telling us why.

"Like many business owners, we are no longer willing to take all of the financial and legal risks and put up with all of the aggravation of owning and running a business. Not with the prospects of even higher taxes, more regulation, more litigation and more emboldened bureaucrats on the horizon. Like others we know, we are getting out while the getting is, well, tolerable. Many who aren't getting out are scaling back.......

Most of the kind of people who start and run businesses are by definition trying to opt out of depending on anyone else -- be it a large corporation or government -- for their welfare. We take on tremendous risks and responsibilities. We do so expecting a better than average return. Since we require nothing from government, most of us deeply resent and resist being pestered by government.

For nearly 30 years, I have been one of these business people. It was an amazing journey and literally involved blood, sweat and tears. But now I am done. This election screams that we are going to see a deterioration of the risk-reward equation and the ability to be left alone. Apparently, any appreciation of our crucial place in the economy is lost on over 50% of the voters as well as those they elected."

Read the whole thing.
(via Instapundit)