Paul Krugman fancies himself part of the “little people” --just a guy without influence. Yes, Krugman, actually mourned his lack of influence, doing this in context of his rant against American success and the Tea Party backlash against overly large government. Now imagine you are Krugman and the world is at your feet. You get a boatload of bucks for saying mean things about capitalism while you benefit from capitalism. Whachagonna do, but rant that folks ought to pay more so you don’t feel so damn guilty for being so freank’n lucky. In the meantime I've got to run a household on a few hundred dollars a month after my federal, local and state taxes and property taxes and sales taxes and service taxes are paid..and pay taxes on what I spend out of that few hundred dollars.

I think of all the Hollywood types who make $15 million a picture and opt for Obama –style redistribution of wealth politics. Hey, sure when you have 4 homes in the best locations in the world and can have as many kids as you want because you can hire as much help as you want or if you are Bono and have so much money you don’t even have accountants who can keep up counting it for you anymore…or, if you are Bill Gates and your kids will have so much capitalism-earned money to play with for the rest of their lives that you worry that when you die the God being will judge you harshly for not pissing on other’s capital gains.

So the thing is, why is it that when the ultra rich get guilt pangs they don’t give away all their money but instead make it very hard for those of us who are truly the little people to make it to the stage of truly comfortable that IS the American Dream.

The American Dream is not to work so you can remain just one paycheck away from disaster. It is the ability to weather the storm of unemployment, to pay off your house early, to save for retirement, to have enough money to give your kids a college education and to pad them in times of distress so if they lose a job they don’t have to lose their house to foreclosure, but rather can turn to their parents for some help.

That is the American Dream.
Overly taxed is NOT the American Dream and oppressive taxation by tax lords is the crux of the Tea Party issue. That is what has the freaky deaky of the Loon FAR left so frightened: they have never met a tax they didn't like.

Here is what Mr. Obama and his redistributive ilk want from us little people:

Look at your paycheck. If you are of the type who has a college degree or two it will show that you are giving a full third of you pay to the government already. So that is 33%. If you have a house, it is likely another 10% of your income will pay those property taxes that NEVER hold steady but go up several percentage points per year. So now you are paying out 44% of you income to taxes. For all the other taxes you pay over the course of a year you can add in another 10%. And if you had the temerity to prosper with capital gains you can add more to your tax burden. It is estimated that for those earning over 100K per year their taxes actually add up to almost 60% of their income.

Now, when just my income after taxes is given to me, I have enough to pay my mortgage with property taxes and after paying just that single bill, I’ve ~$1,400 dollars left over to pay all my other bills (utility, phone, cell phone, cable, gas for the car, groceries and child care, and anything else that pops up.)

I have to save for those times between jobs or for maternity leave because in the brave new world of things we often change jobs like shoes.

But when I am out of work for a time, when I use my savings to pay for keeping me in the middle class that I’ve worked so hard to attain, it is of no tax break to myself. My current salary of, say, 100k will be taxed at the full rate. (I’d love to see those who have been out of work for a time be able to prorate their tax rate to account for savings spent to keep them afloat and off the government dole.) I’ve no union boss to make sure I’ve kept my job despite my employer’s wish I’d not. I am the woman who has to pay so much of her money to reward those who have decided to take paths of instant gratification. I have to work very very very hard to keep my boss happy and for that I’m given a wonderful reward: I get to keep about 45% of what I earn to pay my bills.

The Tea Party is about the little people wanting government to stop taking so freaking much of the fruits of their labor. I could have my child go to public school where they will spend a lot of time mingling with the culture of children brought to being by those who have VERY different work ethics than myself, where children are brought up by essentially illiterate parents and who don’t spend hours a night with their children reading and talking to them and helping them with homework.. I could also read Run Spot Run over and over, but I opt not to because I wish to be intellectually challenged and want the same for my children—you know the American Dream that involves sending my kids to schools where children thrive amongst those who can read at their level, who have grown up with more that Law & Order as their nanny.

I am the little person, who is not only warring against tax hikes for anyone, but warring for a substantial lowering of my tax bill. I am far less concerned with tax hikes actually then the need to cut government down to a place where I can keep more of what I earn so that I can have some rewards for all the time I put in.

My local Democratic State Senator brags about keeping my property taxes from going up, although she has NEVER accomplished this. I want to hear her say, Hey: guess what!...this year I’m going to make sure than your taxes are lowered to the point where they are no more than one-tenth of your monthly mortgage payment, versus the one-third they are now.

Instead I have the super rich and the super privileged promoting Obama and his “grow government to the point where in the future my tax burden will be far higher than it is now.”

Yeah yeah, so Obama says with is unctuous smile: I promise not to raise taxes on those earning less than… whatever. But any fool knows what that means to Mr. Obama: it means he will put in place a government so big and hungry that taxes will eventually go sky high..er…sky higher. Obama has designed this to happen once he is out of office, but the smart know spending now means more taxing later. I already work two weekends a month to pay my property tax hikes. But Krugman and the Bono’s and the rest want to expand government because life is not fair to the little people.
Ah to be guilt stricken by success of capitalism or worse paid to bash Capitalism.
Safety nets are fine, but the danger is that we are moving away from Saftey Nets to anti-enterprise policy that will damage what America is and has always been!

Here’s a simple message.:
It’s the middle class stupid. Almost universally the middle class made hard choices of delayed gratification and hard work to get into the middle class. When the Angelina's and Brads who wallow in their millions have their Obama lovefest for redistribution of Middle Class wealth, I say hey..make them live on my middleclass paycheck for a minute and then they will lose their mega-wealth guilt trip that has eyes on my prize. And, perhaps we can make Obama’s kids go to public school. That’s a change you will NEVER see happen. Mr. Obama might be willing to take a hit to his wallet for his redistributive dogma but he’ll never let his kids future take that hit. But for other middle class folks, too bad for you. Run Spot Run is pretty good literature anyway, right?

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A link that is funny and makes the point that the Tea Party is not a bunch of Fat Cat Uber Rich, but folks who see the mantra of "hard work should pay off" becoming "work hard so others don't have to."

http://www.splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/paul-krugman-finally-flips...