Bernie Sanders has been saying this. So has Elizabeth Warren, Obama, and others.
I agree with them. The system is rigged. Has been for a
long, long time.
Liberal Democrats claim it’s rigged to benefit the rich and powerful.
Because it’s always good to have a victim, they like to add: “at the expense of the poor and middle class.”
However, like much of what they say, that’s only half true. And hypocritical, for sure. Many of their revered liberal “lions” are
rich and powerful themselves and got that way by working the system or by using
every tax loophole available to protect vast inherited fortunes.
Do you think the current Kennedys – like Caroline, who got
to be ambassador to Japan simply because she’s a Kennedy – made their fortunes
by babysitting, mowing lawns or painting houses? Do you think a dim-witted sniveling weasel
like Harry Reid went from being an amateur boxer to now a multi-millionaire on
pure intellect alone? What about
Hillary, who parlayed $100,000 into millions overnight on her first futures
trade?
It takes big ones to grandstand against a rigged system
that’s payed off big time for you.
But before you think it’s only the Democrats, think again.
Republicans are no better. They rig the system for the same reasons as
Democrats.
While claims that the system’s rigged at the expense of the
poor and middle class may make for good stump speeches, these ignore why
the system’s rigged in the first place.
The system is rigged for no other reason than to keep things
exactly as they are – the poor comfortably poor and compliant; the middle class
increasingly dependent and docile; and the rich comfortably protected from the
poor and middle class.
Politicians in both parties have rigged the system
shamelessly to these ends.
The poor get just about everything they need to make poverty
not only less painful, but also more respectable. Between the subsidies and expansion of
entitlements, most “poor” families can now enjoy what used to be a middle-class
lifestyle. In some cases, they’re actually better off than their middle-class
counterparts when it comes to healthcare and phone and internet services. And with credit-card-like EBT cards good at
ATMs, there’s no embarrassment being on the dole.
The middle class has been made docile by Federal tax credits
for just about everything. With all the available exemptions and credits,
hardly anyone pays any Federal income tax. When they see how much they could
have to pay, and then see how little they finally have to pay – or how much
they’ll get back in many cases – they think it’s a great deal. The idea that
the Feds are merely sending back some of their own money never seems to
register.
Meanwhile, despite all the vilification of the rich by some,
the rich are enabled to stay rich. Artfully crafted parts of the tax code
protect them and their assets. And who crafted these loopholes? Why, Republicans and Democrats together.
Despite the rhetoric about the rich not paying their fair
share, the rich and near rich foot the bills for just about everything already.
The poor and lower middle class pay the least and get the most benefit in
return. You’ll never hear anyone in the political establishment admit this but
it’s true.
In reality, a relatively tiny fraction of the population
pays the overwhelmingly majority of what the Feds get in personal income
taxes. Almost half the population pays
little or no Federal income tax at all because of various credits and offsets –
some actually get “refunds” greatly in excess
of whatever, if any, Federal income tax they paid. And it’s all completely
legal.
So, far from being rigged exclusively to benefit the rich at
the expense of the poor and middle class, the system’s actually rigged for
the benefit of the poor and middle class, at the expense of the rich.
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