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E.J. Dionne, columnist for the Washington Post, provides us with today’s example of Newspeak. He applauds billionaire Warren Buffett’s call for higher taxes on the rich. Dionne’s introductory sentence declares
Maybe only a really, really rich guy can credibly make the case for why the wealthy should be asked to pay more in taxes.
Do you see the insidious lie? Do you see the one word intentionally used incorrectly as outright propaganda? Do you see the fraud?
Unfortunately, I believe very few see the lie. The lie has been so successfully ingrained in our psyche we believe it to be real. We accept every word in Dionne’s sentence without question.
Joseph Goebbels’ was absolutely correct. He said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”
Do you see the one word lie in Dionne’s blithe deceit?
It is his use of the word “asked.”
Dionne uses the word “asked” when he actually means “forced.” Dionne does not want to ask the rich to pay may taxes. He wants the rich to be forced to pay more taxes.
Do not let this Newspeak go unchallenged. Whenever someone uses the verb “ask” in the context of taxes, correct them. To be asked means one can decline. That is not an option with taxes.
This distinction is not mere semantics. It is truth. Without truth, there is no justice. Without truth, there is no reality. Without truth, we are living a lie.
Destroy the lie. Insist on the truth.
In his April 14, 2011 New York Times column, Nicholas Kristof proudly proclaims, exclamation point and all, “raise my taxes!”
He, and others, use this tactic to show how magnanimous and selfless they are. Of course, it is complete and utter nonsense. It is pure demagoguery and absolutely dishonest. It is the height of disingenuousness.
If Mr. Kristof wants to pay more taxes, no government action is required. The Treasury Department accepts donations. Kristof knows this. What he really means is that he wants the government to raise YOUR taxes.
Of course, this is yet another example of the language of statists, Newspeak: Say something that you do not mean to achieve a hidden purpose. War is peace, night is day. Your money is my money.
Senator Claire McCaskill, (D-MO), in discussing her opposition to extending tax cuts, says the GOP is just “going to pout if we don’t give more money to millionaires.” (See the New York Times article “Tax-Cut Debate turns to Millionaires.“)
This is the perfect example of how “progressive” statists have the world backwards. She has confused letting people KEEP their own money with the government GIVING them money. Her basic belief, therefore, is that the government owns all productivity, and only allows people to keep it out of the government’s benevolence.
Ergo, in her world, allowing people to keep what they have earned is the same thing as a government gift.
(I know, I know: to the “progressive” statist, rich people haven’t “earned” anything. They have exploited the labor of others or they have simply stolen wealth from the proletariat. Therefore, the benevolent hand of government is necessary to correct the injustice. That is a different discussion for a different day. I merely suggest that F.A. Hayek addresses that contention and soundly shows its error in his book “ The Road to Serfdom.”)
Colorado House Majority Leader Paul Weissmann, a Democrat from Louisville, wants to make sure Colorado’s collection of presidential portraits stays current. (See “Capitol may add Obama portrait.”
Colorado has a complete set from Washington to Bush. Props to Weissmann for putting together an effort to raise the money, and not using taxpayer money.
The State knows where you live. They think you have a nice car and a house. You are its subject. And they will find you if you do not comply.
In its zeal to collect more and more tax money, the Colorado legislature recently passed new sales tax regulations for online transactions in the state. They assumed this would have no impact on the number of online sales in Colorado, and the State would take a cut of each transaction, and revenue would be raised for government programs. Oh, the ignorance.
Not only will the State not get a cut of each transaction – because some online companies will no longer do business in the State – but now the State can’t tax the extra income of Colorado residents who are no longer able to transact commercial business online.
So, in its unquenchable desire for money money, the State has driven business out of Colorado and cost Coloradans an untold amount of income.
This letter from one of the largest online businesses in the world shows exactly how this works:
Dear Colorado-based Amazon Associate:
We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to inform you that the Colorado government recently enacted a law to impose sales tax regulations on online retailers. The regulations are burdensome and no other state has similar rules.
The new regulations do not require online retailers to collect sales tax.
Instead, they are clearly intended to increase the compliance burden to a point where online retailers will be induced to “voluntarily” collect Colorado sales tax — a course we won’t take.
We and many others strongly opposed this legislation, known as HB 10-1193, but it was enacted anyway. Regrettably, as a result of the new law, we have decided to stop advertising through Associates based in Colorado. We plan to continue to sell to Colorado residents, however, and will advertise through other channels, including through Associates based in other states.
There is a right way for Colorado to pursue its revenue goals, but this new law is a wrong way. As we repeatedly communicated to Colorado legislators, including those who sponsored and supported the new law, we are not opposed to collecting sales tax within a constitutionally-permissible system applied even-handedly. The US Supreme Court has defined what would be constitutional, and if Colorado would repeal the current law or follow the constitutional approach to collection, we would welcome the opportunity to reinstate Colorado-based Associates.
You may express your views of Colorado’s new law to members of the General Assembly [ http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics/CLICS2010A/csl.nsf/directory?openframeset=]
and to Governor Ritter [ http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/GovRitter/GOVR/1177024890452 ], who signed the bill.
Your Associates account has been closed as of March 8, 2010, and we will no longer pay advertising fees for customers you refer to Amazon.com after that date. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to March 8, 2010, will be processed and paid in accordance with our regular payment schedule.
Based on your account closure date of March 8, any final payments will be paid by May 31, 2010.
We have enjoyed working with you and other Colorado-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program, and wish you all the best in your future.
Best Regards,
The Amazon Associates Team
Two Denver city councilmen agree that medical marijuana sales in the city should be taxed. (See “Two on council back medical-pot sales tax.“)
One of them, Councilman Chris Nevitt said, “We’re leaving a lot of money on the table.”
What he means is that the city should take a cut of every transaction. If there is profit to be made, the government needs a taste.
Kinda like Tony Soprano.
The front page of today’s Denver Post announces “City lands solar plant – The world’s top maker of inverters will employ about 300 in Stapleton.”
An accompanying chart lists the government subsidies that helped lure the company.
It reads: “SMA Solar Technology should receive about $3.6 million, possibly more, in incentives for locating its new manufacturing plant in Denver.”
If the Post wished to be more accurate, it would read “SMA Solar Technology should receive about $3.6 million, possibly more, from your paycheck and others like you for locating its new manufacturing plant in Denver.”
Fortune 500 company DaVita is relocating from El Segundo, California, to Denver. According to the Denver Post article “Dialysis giant Davita zeroing in on Colorado site:”
Kent Thiry, DaVita’s chief executive, has said metro Denver’s central location, lower costs and desirability as a place to live factored into the company’s decision.
A “necessary lubricant,” Thiry said, is a new state income tax credit of 3.8 percent for up to five years to companies if they select Colorado over competitors and create at least 20 jobs.
An even more effective lubricant would be a state income tax credit of 100 percent for up to forever. Fewer taxes equal more jobs.
Leftists have mocked the Laffer Curve and what they derisively call “trickle down economics” for decades. When they do so, they demonstrate palpable ignorance. They might as well mock gravity. Indeed, they would, if it conflicted with their utopian vision of “fairness.” California’s current state of economic disarray is a direct result of the implementation of leftist’s utopian vision. Their belief that government employed social engineers are better equipped to fairly distribute the fruits of production is demonstrably wrong.
When confronted with the facts, the leftist will reply that the social engineers didn’t quite get it right that time, but next time they will. Their faith in the government nearly surpasses the faith most Christians have in Jesus.
It only makes sense, then, that Obama is the left’s Newest Messiah.
Aurora voters get to vote on whether or not their property taxes should be raised. Supporters of the measure say the money is necessary to keep libraries open.
This is not correct.
The government of Aurora has scapegoated libraries. The local government made a decision to cut library funding specifically because many have a visceral reaction to the thought of shuttering libraries. The government could have chosen some other, less glamorous government service to cut that no one would have really cared about.
Today’s Denver Post’s headline is simply wrong and falls for the very trap set by the pro-tax lobby.
It’s the local government’s job to decide what to do with the tax revenue it receives. They do not have to close those libraries.
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Today’s Denver Post article on Aurora ballot measure 4A, which would raise property taxes, includes this paragraph:
On a recent day, patrons at the Mission Viejo library were reading books, newspapers and searching the internet.
The article does not include this paragraph:
On a recent day, a 72 year old widow was sitting at her kitchen table, trying to figure out how to pay her electric bill on a fixed income.
If 4A passes, that widow’s life becomes that much harder. But some kid will be able to surf the net.
That’s your choice.
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