Monday, June 08, 2009

Rob the Rich: Forced Charity

Yes We Can... fund universal healthcare by taxing the very people who have no need for it. The bourgeoisie have squeezed the juices of the proletariat with their mighty kulak to quench their unpatriotic greed long enough! Now we shall drain the very marrow from their spines (and harvest the stem cells therein)!
We’ll hit them hard on their mortgages. Sure, we're disincentivizing the people who can actually afford to buy a house and create upward momentum in the housing market, thereby generating positive equity for every homeowner organically. Homeowners facing foreclosure and looking for a handout are one of our strongest constituencies, why would we not want to grow it?
We'll cap their investment gains. Markets are the engine of the capitalist machine. We want to keep them going at precisely our chosen speed limit, and we are pouring billions into the enforcement of our arbitrary laws. Of course we see no need to disband the SEC, their peccadilloes, like ignoring evidence of Madoff's scam, pale in comparison to their ability to choke vehement short sellers and regulate other speculators out of existence.
We’ll decide how much the rich give to charity too. The only worthwhile charity is the one the government deems necessary: funding the socialist welfare state.
Oh, and just to make sure that they don't keep trying to persevere and prosper despite the shackles we have put on them we will change tax code so their estate goes to the government after they die. Bourgeoisie progeny can get in the bread line with everyone else.

clipped from www.bloomberg.com
Democrats Weigh Health Mandate as Obama Urges Taxing Wealthy
The president is trying to avoid broad-based levies such as a Senate proposal to tax some employer-provided health benefits Axelrod said. Instead he is urging lawmakers to reconsider limiting all tax deductions for Americans in the highest tax brackets.
Obama is “mindful” about how “ordinary Americans are able to foot the bills.”
Obama’s own proposal would set a 28 percent cap on tax deductions for items such as mortgage interest, investment expenses and charitable gifts
Obama also proposes new taxes on securities dealers and life insurers, and to raise revenue by prohibiting certain estate-planning techniques.

The plan would place new restrictions on private insurers, including a bar on excluding coverage for those with “pre-existing conditions.”
The effort to overhaul health-care would affect a sector that makes up 17 percent of the U.S. economy.

1 comment:

Jeff B. said...

Nice satire; unfortunately, it may not be too far off the mark when all is said and done.