As the decadence of the 1980's raged on, America was enamored with Donald Trump, who was at the time a charismatic millionaire gadabout who charmed his way into pop culture, a pro football league, and onto the national newspapers. America had a bizarre obsession with Trump that continues to this day. even though his Islamophobic, quest for unchecked power, and overall true sociopathic personality have come to light. Oh, and paranoia, he's paranoid about the myth of "Stolen elections". yet despite all of this, there are those that remain devout to him, no matter what. He's essentially the evil Gordon Gekko from the movie Wall Street come to life.
Trump is by far not alone. Americans have a rather unhealthy obsession with wealthy people. We'll take Elon Musk for example. While it is great that Musk is making space travel a possibility for the average American (assuming you can actually afford to drop $5,000 for a 30 second trip). Musk has chaffed against the idea of a tax proposal by Sen. Elizabeth Warren that would increase what he pays in taxes. In his tweets, Musk claimed that he pays more in taxes than pretty much anyone else. Something that sounds familiar because it was the rally cry Trump had when anyone suggested that he never paid his fair share of taxes. As far as Musk goes, he essentially set up operations the way Al Capone once did. Several business empires, no taxable income because he hadn't sold off shares. Whereas Capone's empire was totally afoul of tax law, Musk and others are able to game a system essentially put in place by conservative leaders in order to protect their wealthy friends who often donated huge sums to their campaigns. Musk also does not officially draw a salary from either of one of his businesses.
What's insulting about Musk crying poor about paying his taxes is that his businesses were in large part, subsidized by the tax payers. He's essentially making money of the average American, can angered that he has to pay taxes. And we'll table for right now the billions of dollars he's received in tax credits for his businesses, including various governmental contracts regarding SpaceX.
In engaging in a twitter war with Sen. Warren, Musk comes off as a wealthy man that doesn't want to bother paying his fair share, especially to anyone that bothers to do a slight bit of digging and doesn't just passively accept Musk for his word. If anything, our instant gratification society needs to relearn, is the ability to read between the lines.
In the 1980's an idea was born that it was better to tax the middle class and the poor because there were more of them than there were wealthy individuals. Meanwhile, states dangle such carrots as "State lotto" where they have catchy slogans like "A Dollar and a Dream". Essentially passing the message that if you don't want to pay taxes, all you have to do is become wealthy. Setting aside that many of these winners end up poor again, mainly through over extension, bad investments and terrible advice. The only thing this poorly thought out, ill-conceived plan did was in the end, derailing the economy, while the wealthy, no longer baring the brute of taxation, sat on their money, investing just enough to take advantage of the gracious laws put in place by the Reagan administration skirt any true tax liability.
The middle class, which had been the backbone of the U.S. Economy for well over 100 years, now found themselves pinching pennies, earning just enough to survive in most cases. Family trips that seemed like a cool reality now had to be carefully planned, thus any unexpected expense derail the entire system and leave the family searching for vacation option B, which rarely, if ever, satisfied everyone. Base pay for the average American remained flat, while major companies raised prices of goods and services, and again, took advantage of the loopholes. Then came looser restrictions, and all of a sudden, major corporations were buying out the competition, and re-launching their brands as 'competitors" when in fact they aren't. Once again, this limits consumer choice and makes boycotts more a token response, but that's a subject for another blog. However, this does reduce employment, and shrinks the middle class. The very class the Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Donald Trump, et al, expect to take on the tax burden they clearly refuse to shoulder.
By idolizing the likes of Musk, we placate their ego. Despite their wealth, many don't pay any state income tax, something you and I are stuck picking up the tab for. So, if you're ever curious on why your state and local taxes go up, it's because the likes of Musk use the loopholes that allow them to claim no income. And let's be clear about one thing: taxing the rich is not punishment for them becoming wealthy. Let's toss that dog whistle out the window right now. All that is being asked is they pay their fair share, take the burden off the middle class. The middle class can then save or spend more money, which in the end, benefits the wealthy because the middle class can buy more of their products. Sounds simple, right? It can work because a system like that had been the backbone of this country for well over a hundred years, and the country, save a market crash here and there, was prosperous. Prosperous depending on skin color, which yet again could be a topic for another blog. At least families could arrange time for vacations and create memories for a lifetime. Sadly, that has been replaced by stress, early graves, and disruptions of family life. But, hey, that's a really cool pile of money that Elon Musk is sitting on, right? Until the wealthy pay their fair share, we're just going to be stuck on the same hamster wheel, with future generations inheriting growing fiscal troubles, and small amounts of cash to handle them with.
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