Jul 01 2009
LeCount to Drones: “Let’s Soak the ‘Rich’”
This past week, Kevin LeCount of the SEANC sent out another Marxist memo to his herd of cattle instructing them to call up their state representatives and demand they rob the wealthiest residents of North Carolina of their hard earned labor. The purpose, he says, is to stave the furloughing of state employees, those who do not produce any wealth for the state, but rather feed off of it. He states that “now is not the time to furlough and lay off state employees” yet it is perfectly acceptable to rape and pillage the productive instead.
Here is the problem with this view. The top wage earners in North Carolina and every other state for that fact are the ones that own the businesses and employee all the people and provide us the goods and services we want. It is also they who pay for all of the “free” hand outs that go to the irresponsible and the non-productive. They are already being taxed more in North Carolina than any other state in the south. This soak the rich, class warfare view, has only one end result. It will push those people and their businesses out of the state. Why live in North Carolina and pay the highest taxes in the south when you can move across the state line and pay less in South Carolina and Virginia, or go to Tennessee which has no income tax at all? It’s the exact same concept experienced in urban flight. The middle and upper classes leave the urban areas run by tax hiking governments to more tax friendly rural areas.
Mr. LeCount would have North Carolina turn into Michigan. Michigan has the worst economy in the nation. It has been completely obliterated in large part due to the parasitic UAW which has played a major role in destroying the American auto industry leaving tens of thousands of people unemployed not just in Michigan, but other places as well.
Let me tell you a quick story about Michigan. My parents live there. My father was transferred there for his job four years ago. My grandfather recently passed away and my parents had to rent a U-haul truck to take some of the furniture from his home that they wanted to keep back to their house. They went to a small mom and pop place near their home that offered U-haul service, however the lady running the place had no trucks and hadn’t had any in months. The reason? Everyone in Michigan is getting a one way rental out of there. They’re leaving the state in droves. Since nobody is moving to the state they aren’t receiving any trucks. They are only leaving. My parents finally found one at an actual U-haul branch some miles away. I also work with a guy who moved here to Charlotte three years ago from the Detroit area. When they moved they had to drive 100 miles to pick up a truck because none of the U-haul places in the Detroit area had any available to rent out.
Is this the future you want for North Carolina? If the answer is yes, then by all means, follow LeCount’s advice. Here is the email.
June 25, 2009
Upcoming News & Events
SEANC Calendar of Events
Compete in the Membership Committee’s Button Contest
Let’s All Make A Call: Raise Income Tax on NC’s Wealthiest and Help Stop Furloughs and Layoffs!
SEANC
PO Drawer 27727
Raleigh, NC 27611
800-222-2758
919-833-6436Dear SEANC member,
Right now the House and Senate are debating the differences between their two budget proposals for our state–the House bill contains a small tax on North Carolina’s wealthiest citizens while the Senate bill does not. That means we have a few days to stress the importance of the essential public services we provide and fight for the jobs that North Carolina needs.
Our message is simple to our senators. With the demand on state services rising, now is not the time to furlough and lay off state employees. We urge all senators to support a tax on North Carolina’s wealthiest to keep vital services for our citizens.
Now is the time to call our senators and request their support for a small income tax increase on North Carolina’s wealthiest citizens. To date, the Senate leadership has refused to consider raising revenue from the richest citizens (or asking cost concessions from Blue Cross and Blue Shield), but had no problem asking each state employee for an additional $600 in out-of-pocket health care expenses.
We’ve all heard about the painful cuts that the budget shortfall will require and more revenue is needed at this critical time to help stop further salary cuts and layoffs.
Let’s call our senators today to request that all senators support the House tax proposal on North Carolina’s wealthiest to keep vital services for our citizens.
Thank you,
Kevin LeCount
Director of Member Action & Politics
Just some scattered thoughts:
From what I have read the ‘rich’ don’t move due to income taxes but do seem to move due to estate taxes. Apparently to the rich some forms of taxation are tolerable others are not.
A line from a recent article:
“I kind of clench my teeth every time Paterson says people will leave,” said Edmund J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a conservative-leaning research group that has advocated for sharp cuts in spending to balance New York’s budget.
“It is the selling point. It’s also a dumb point,” Mr. McMahon added. “Nobody says your wealthy enclaves will shrink dramatically. What they say is that your economy will suffer.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/nyregion/19leave.html?_r=3
and here:
“Nobody’s going to leave the state because income tax rates go up a point over a million dollars – or whatever it is. It’s just not going to happen,” says Stuart Levine, a Baltimore tax lawyer and adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore law school. “But they do have to leave to some degree because of the estate tax.”
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.hancock22may22,0,6426003.column
As to ‘hard-earned’ money: do you think the likes of Ken Lewis is worth what he earns, that he worked hard for ‘his’ money? Oh, mercy! That says more about skewed values than actual values of human work output. That Lewis’s decisions affect many people doesn’t make him more valuable but it should make him more responsible. The captain of the Exxon Valdese should be a case study for you. Given the mess we are in you should realize the false value of the goods you bought when thinking that people are paid their actual ‘worth’. For me the biblical saying is reversed: ” . . . the rich are always with us.” My complaint about the whole issue is getting value for the money people are paid (think: congressional salaries). There is no real punishment for non-producers, not that people are well compensated for their work. I will say, however, the unrealistic salaries that exist(ed) only show the corruption of the system, the lining up of the hogs at the trough.
What about the cost concessions not being requested from BCBS? Or, do we let that hog continue to feed as it has?
Hmm. The UAW? Had the companies fully funded the retirement plans instead of being allowed time and time again to do some accounting sleight-of-hand there would be a much smaller problem for the auto companies. The companies offered more than they could pay for. It was both parties, the company and the union, not just the UAW. Either you hadn’t thought of that or you are being disingenuous. They should have been allowed to fail.
The adulation of the wealthy, as though they themselves actually produce anything more, are more valuable, than the next man (we all have the same 24 hour day), is simply envy. That you denegrate the services provided by your taxes, provided by state employees is a sad commentary on your values. For you the rich are different. For you they are somehow ‘better’ and worthy of more deference.
If the ship may be going down don’t you ask everyone to help bail?
Just some thoughts. I’d be interested in any replies.
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=b459adc1-22e5-4497-af01-80459e0971e8
Interesting take from Buffet
Hmm. It seems my earlier post (before the above) has been removed.
It’s there now. The spam filter will catch comments with multiple links.
I’m a child of the 50’s and 60’s. I remember very well the recession of the early 1960’s. This was partially brought on by the recovery of Europe and Asia from WWII and partly by union, government, and businesses failing to realize that financial resources are finite.
When JFK took office our economy was in a severe downturn; he lowered the top rate for income tax on all taxpayers. This took money away from government and into the hands of private business and entrepreneurs. Tremendous technological breakthroughs, including those at NASA resulted in a jolt to the economy. Technology was so feared by unions that strikes were commonplace based on job protection and pension guarantees.
Heavy industry began to move to Asia as a government policy and a good business decision. Unions began to lose members as the newly created information jobs did not lend themselves well to unionization. Inventors don’t want work rules.
Unfortunately the USA appeared to be immensely wealthy and relatively speaking this was true. Good Morning Vietnam, the war of Lyndon B. Johnson. The other war was the one on poverty which has also been lost. The USA was verging on bankruptcy when Tricky Dick Nixon took us off the gold standard promising never to inflate the currency. The rest is history except for the anamoly of Ronald Reagan who kicked off twenty years of prosperity following the misery years of Jimmy Carter.
In the USA today it is easier to bash those who achieve than to achieve on one’s own. It requires dedication, hard work, brain power, determination, and pride. All of these virtues are now considered vices. As for jealousy towards Ken Lewis, I have been the president of a small company and it is extraordinarily difficult to keep succeeding year after year. Ken Lewis is a coward in my opinion for letting Ben Bernanke intimidate him and then crying about it later.
Our country is in a tough spot at the moment. We are going to suffer anyway so let’s cut the spending first, the taxes next and wait for things to turn around. Being self sufficient is frightening for most people they want security and will give up liberty to get it. They deserve it. I do not want to be told what to do or when to do it. I did that for fours years of military service (1966-70) and found that it was unsuitable.
Having the chance to fail is an unbelievably wonderful thing. If more people tried it we would have smaller government and happier lives.