Let Them Get Sick - Just Don't Raise My Taxes!

Guest blogged by Brian

On Saturday's Cashin' In (11/14/09), the panel whined about higher taxes to pay for health care. Although they claimed to be concerned about the effects a tax hike might have on the job market, none of the regulars, including host Cheryl Casone indicated an iota of concern about what effect not passing the health care bill might have on the national health or even the national pocketbook. None offered an alternate suggestion about how to bring down the costs of health care and bring up the number of insured. Guest Christian Dorsey of the Economic Policy Institute, and a News Hounds Top Dog, once again did an excellent job holding his own as the lone progressive, outnumbered 6 to 1. With video.

Wayne Rogers called the tax hike a job killer. "It hurts the job market… Anytime you raise taxes historically, it has hurt the job market. You can't create jobs by raising taxes. You lower taxes, that’s what creates jobs... In 2004… when the taxes were lowered, jobs were created, revenue to the federal government, by the way, increased too, because more people got up into brackets where they could pay taxes." Comment: Rogers should do a little research. When Clinton raised taxes in the 90's, the economy boomed!

Dorsey had a good response "That’s just wrong. We had in the 2000’s, a jobless recovery even though tax cuts were given predominately to wealthier folks… What we're talking about in the Senate is maybe increasing the payroll tax by half a percent. What that would mean to somebody making $250,000/year is an extra $1,250 in taxes over the course of the year. That’s less than a Starbucks latte a day. I don't think they're going to fire the nanny or fire the gardener over that."

Host Casone showed which side she was on. "They might." Comment: How does she know?

Jonathan Hoenig said, "They earned it. It is their money, and it's not yours to redistribute to anybody… In 1935, Social Security started out, I believe, as a 2% tax. That’s 12% now." Comment: The Office of the Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration says in 1937 the tax was 1%, now it's 6.2%.

John Layfield said, "This is a massive populist message. It's so easy to say, ‘Hey free pizza for everybody, we're just going to get the rich kids to pay for it.’ It is so stupid. It does not work."

Tracy Byrnes said, "What bothers me the most about it… is that everyone is so glib about taxing the so-called wealthy. It’s not like they're multi-millionaires. The Obama administration is calling people who make not a lot of money, especially in areas like New York and California, those high expensive states, they’re calling us wealthy, and meanwhile, we’re living paycheck to paycheck. They’re wealthy – why? They work… You're saying it's my responsibility, it’s our responsibility to pick up the slack."

"It is our responsibility," Dorsey said.

"Why is it my responsibility when I get up every day and come to work and I’m here and I miss dinner with my kids? Why?" Byrnes asked.

“Because you're going to go on Medicare someday, and someone's going to pay for it," Jonas Max Ferris said. He went on to say that the only thing worse than taxing the rich is taxing the young to pay for Medicare and hinted he thought it should be abolished.

It seems like every regular is hostile to every social program. How fair and balanced is that?