A Rapid Decline Into Socialism

"For the last seven years we have had the highest corporate profit ever in American history. ...But it hasn't been shared, and that's the problem, because we have been guided by a Republican administration who believes in the simplistic notion that people who have wealth are entitled to keep it. They have an antipathy toward the means of redistributing wealth. And they may be able to sustain that for a while, but it doesn't work in the long run." -Rep. Jim Moran, Democrat of Virginia

This is a big problem for me. A disheartening development, actually. When Barack Obama made his "slip" and said something about how he thinks it's a good idea to "spread the wealth around," I thought that the American people would be outraged. I really did. And I think some of the Obama campaign managers thought so, too -- thus the attempt to destroy Joe the Plumber. But we were wrong... the American people weren't upset - not in vast numbers, anyway. There, instead, appears to be a gleeful acceptance of the notion. Gleeful enough to embolden other politicians to spout the same trash. 

I'm no economist, but it stands to reason (just common sense thinking here) that if you take money from the wealth creators in our society and distribute it to those less willing to create their own wealth, there's going to be a downturn in the growth of wealth. Truly wealthy people don't sit on a pile of cash, they invest that wealth into other wealth building ventures... this is how the wealthy grow wealthier. And in doing this, they create jobs. Which enables other wealth creators the opportunity to begin their own pot of wealth creation. 

I know that Obama's statement was that he wanted to take from the wealth creators a portion of that wealth and hand it out to other people to enhance their ability to create more wealth. But the fact is that every society has its share of sloths. And if you hand a sloth a check for $1000, chances are pretty good that instead of creating wealth with that handout, he's going to go buy himself something truly stupid with it and then hold his hand out again for more. It's a matter of character. (I know, these are not popular words. But they're TRUE.)

Obama's statement that the redistribution of wealth is "neighborly" or that our capitalist system is "making a virtue out of selfishness" are completely offensive to me. And I will be a recipient of the charity if Obama's plan goes into effect! But I have to tell you - I have friends who are in a higher income bracket than I. They already pay $0.50 on the $1.00 in taxes. When they found out this year that they are likely to owe an extra 15K in taxes at tax time, they were faced with the task of either working extra hard to make the 30K it will take to pay that tax bill or to take it from their investment accounts. How is this right?

I'm sorry to see the rapid decline into socialism that our country is making. I wish I could be angry with the Democrats for this, but that wouldn't be very honest of me. The democrats will take us down the highway as quickly as possible... but the Republicans paved the darned road for them.