STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 20 September 2012

[Demeter]

62. It Takes One to Know One By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/opinion/kristof-it-takes-one-to-know-one.html

As I watched a video of Mitt Romney scolding moochers suffering from a culture of dependency, I thought of American soldiers I’ve met in Afghanistan and Iraq. They don’t pay federal income tax while they’re in combat zones, and they rely on government benefits when they come back. Even if they return unscathed, most will never pay lofty sums in federal income taxes. No, all they offer our nation is their lives, while receiving government benefits — such as a $100,000 “death gratuity” to their wives or husbands when killed.

Maybe I’m being unfair, for I’m sure that when Romney complained in that video about freeloaders, he didn’t mean soldiers. But the 47 percent (more accurately, 46 percent) of American families whom he scorned because they don’t pay federal income taxes includes many other modestly paid workers or retirees who have contributed far more meaningfully to America than some who can shell out $50,000 to attend a fund-raiser like the one where Romney spoke in May. What about the underpaid kindergarten teacher in an inner-city school? What about young police officers and firefighters? What about social workers struggling to help abused children? WHAT ABOUT MOTHERS? AS A CLASS, THEY DON'T GET PAID, PERIOD.

One lesson is the narcissism of many in today’s affluent class. They manage to feel victimized by the tax code — even as they sometimes enjoy a lower rate than their secretaries and ride corporate jets acquired with the help of tax loopholes. While self-pitying Republicans focus on federal income taxes (mostly paid by the rich), what’s more relevant is the overall tax bill — including state, local and federal taxes of all kinds. According to Citizens for Tax Justice, the majority of American families pay more than one-quarter of incomes in total taxes — and that may be more than Romney pays.

Romney is a smart man and, his friends say, a pragmatist rather than an ideologue, so what possessed him to say these things? There’s an underlying truth there — we do have a problem with entitlements and with freeloaders — and he inflated it beyond recognition. Perhaps he has passed so much time in a Republican primary bubble, hearing moans about the parasitic 47 percent, that he didn’t appreciate how obtuse and arrogant such comments appear.

The furor also reflects the central political reality today: the Republican Party has moved far, far to the right so that, on some issues, it veers into extremist territory...

NO, NICK THERE'S NO SOFTENING THE BLOW. HE SAID EXACTLY WHAT HE MEANT TO SAY, BECAUSE HE KNEW HIS SUPPORTERS WANTED TO HEAR IT PUT EXACTLY THAT WAY. IF THEY ARE CRAZY, IT'S A MASS HYSTERIA AND DELUSION. I JUST THINK IT'S A MORAL, CHARACTER FAILING. THESE PEOPLE ONLY LOOK HUMAN. INSIDE, THEY AREN'T.