Of course, society isn’t very civilized anymore.
Op-Ed Columnist – The Angry Rich and Taxes – NYTimes.com
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: September 19, 2010
[A]mong the undeniably rich, a belligerent sense of entitlement has taken hold: it’s their money, and they have the right to keep it. “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society,” said Oliver Wendell Holmes — but that was a long time ago.
The spectacle of high-income Americans, the world’s luckiest people, wallowing in self-pity and self-righteousness would be funny, except for one thing: they may well get their way. Never mind the $700 billion price tag for extending the high-end tax breaks: virtually all Republicans and some Democrats are rushing to the aid of the oppressed affluent.
You see, the rich are different from you and me: they have more influence. …
And when the tax fight is over, one way or another, you can be sure that the people currently defending the incomes of the elite will go back to demanding cuts in Social Security and aid to the unemployed. America must make hard choices, they’ll say; we all have to be willing to make sacrifices.
But when they say “we,” they mean “you.” Sacrifice is for the little people.
Op-Ed Columnist – The Angry Rich and Taxes – NYTimes.com
After showing a quote from Newsweek where Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman had the nerve to say this:
"It’s a war," Schwarzman said on the struggle with the administration over increasing taxes on private-equity firms. "It’s like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939."
Obama responded.
Well I don’t know where that comes from. That’s my point… I guess. It is a two way street. …
[T]he notion that somehow me saying maybe you should be taxed more like your secretary when you’re pulling home a billion dollars or a hundred million dollars a year, I don’t think is me being extremist or being anti-business. [mjh: Or Hitlerian.]