I watched “Meet the Press” yesterday. David Gregory and all the other pundits with the exception of Doris Kearns Goodwin are damn fools. When one pundit suggested that a salary of $250,000 a year is not that much, I had to wonder to whom? I would love to see him or her live on a median income of less than $50,000 a year.
I was flabbergasted when the pundits started discussing Pres. Obama’s remark about “lazy” pundits. Of course none of the pundits considered themselves lazy. Reporting the truth was not important to them. After all what is more important than a good food fight. The truth be damned. They further agreed that doing what is “right” is less important than agreeing to something.
The pundits discussed “entitlement” reform. They neglected to mention that future issues with Social Security can easily be solved by removing the cap on the payroll tax. They acted as if the Social Security trust fund was empty. With respect to Medicare, the pundits failed to recognize that the problems with Medicare are a part of a larger problem of healthcare in the nation. We need to solve the underlying problem of rising healthcare costs. Once that problem is solved; the problems with Medicare will be minor compared to what they are today. The easiest way to solve rising healthcare costs is to move to a “single payer” system; otherwise known as Medicare for all. But the pundits refused to even consider such “truths.”
Moving on to the show “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” I was utterly amazed that none of the pundits seem to think that unemployment was a problem. For me former Gov. Howard Dean was a terrible pundit. He argued that going over the “fiscal cliff” and staying over was good for the nation. In his mind the deficit was the problem. In my mind his thoughts on economics were prehistoric. The only redeeming factor for the show was that Jake Tapper was not substituting for George Stephanopoulos. But, the replacement offered no relief.
What is the world coming to? There is a great deal of work to do. There are many people willing to do the work. Greed is holding us back. While I am not a Christian, I agree with the sentiment “throw the money changers out.” I am sick and tired of hearing the words “shared sacrifice.” People who earning over $250,000 a year are not sacrificing anything by pain a slightly larger marginal tax rate on income above $250,000 a year. I further argue that we need a wealth tax. Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution states that
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.
Amendment 16 states that
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
I believe this clearly gives Congress the right to levy a wealth tax. I believe that a 1% wealth tax on wealth above $100 million will go a long way towards fixing the deficit problem of the future.
Happy new year.