The fact that so many successful politicians are shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, it is also a reflection on us. When the people want the impossible, only liars can satisfy them and only in the short run. The current outbreaks of riots in Europe show what happens when the truth catches up with both the politicians and the people in the long run.
Among the biggest lies of the welfare states on both sides of Atlantic and Pacific is the notion that the government can supply the people with things they want but cannot afford. Since the government gets its resources from the people, if the people as a whole cannot afford something, neither can the government. There is of course the perennial fallacy that the government can simply raise taxes on ''the rich'' and use that additional revenue to pay for things that most people cannot afford. What is amazing is the implicit assumption that ''the rich'' are all such complete fools that they will do nothing to prevent their money from being taxed away. History shows otherwise.
After the British government raised their income tax on top income earners in 2010, they discovered that they collected less tax revenue than before. Other countries have had similar experiences. Apparently the rich, were investing huge sums of money in tax-exempt securities and in today's globalized world economy, the rich can simply invest their money in countries where tax rate are lower. It's a No-Brainer.....except for politicians in Labor, Liberal (Democrat) and Socialist leaning governments who have Shit-for-Brains! So, if you can't rely on ''the rich'' to pick up the slack, what can you rely on? Lies!
Nothing is easier for a David Cameron, Barack Obama or Australia's Julia Gillard (see photo) than promising government benefits and generous entitlements that cannot be delivered. The promises that are made are for money to be paid many years from now, (i.e. Social Security, Disability Care, Obamacare, etc) and somebody else will be in power then, left with the job of figuring out what to say and do when the money runs out and the riots start. As the day of reckoning approaches, there are a number of ways of seeming to overcome the crisis. The government refusing to pay what it costs to get things done. Like cutting what doctors are paid for treating Medicare patients is one obvious example. Or like the Australian labor government instituting a Mining Tax, just as this sector is experiencing a downturn in exports and then cynically have a Carbon Tax and use the excuse to "Save-the-World from global warming.'' And now we read that Biden says Obama wants to raise $1 trillion in taxes on the wealthy, just days after the vice president said the ''middle class has been buried the past four years.'' Will these idiots ever learn?
Of course, Obama realizing that the government is running out of money is printing more. A third stimulus is in the making but that doesn't make the country any richer. It quietly transfers part of the value of existing money from people's savings and income to the government, whose newly printed money is worth just as much as the money that people worked for and saved. Printing more money means inflation -- inflation is a quiet lie, by which a government can keep its promises on paper, but with money worth much less than when the promises were made.
The Way I See It....eventually, all these long-run problems catch-up with the wonderful-sounding lies that are the lifeblood of welfare state politics. See the states of Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal as products of stupid Socialist practices. But, no worries, there will be a lot of those elections between now and then and those who are good at political lies can win a lot of those elections.
Is it so surprising voters with no brain to delve into a government's actions on entitements and their consequences, reading only lame-stream media (whose lies are largely passive and lies of omission) and carrying unrealistic hopes that their selfish needs can be met, will elect politicians who lie about being able to fulfill those hopes? Both Australia and America are heading for a bad case of the ''European Disease.''
No comments:
Post a Comment