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<DIV>Or maybe Freddy Krueger's politics. Anyway, it's someone who always comes
back.<BR><BR>Old farmer Johnson had troubles of his own. <BR>He had a yellow cat
that wouldn't leave him alone. <BR>He tried and he tried to give that cat away;
<BR>Gave him to a man going very far away. </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV>But the cat came back the very next day,<BR>The cat came back, we thought
he was a goner,<BR>The cat came back, he just wouldn't stay
away.</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV>He gave it to a little boy with a dollar and a note. </DIV>
<DIV>Told him to go up the river in a little boat. </DIV>
<DIV>To tie a rope around its neck and a weight of 20 pounds. </DIV>
<DIV>Now they tell the tale of the little boy that drowned. </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV>But the cat came back the very next day,<BR>The cat came back, we thought
he was a goner,<BR>The cat came back, he just wouldn't stay
away.</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV>The bombs started dropping just the other day. <BR>The missles were fired
in the very same way. <BR>Russia went, China went, and the USA. <BR>The human
race perished with hardly a chance to pray. </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV>But the cat came back the very next day,<BR>The cat came back, we thought
he was a goner,<BR>The cat came back, he just wouldn't stay
away.</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
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size=2>----------------------------------------------</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>From: Chris P <BR>Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 5:41 AM<BR>To:
urth@lists.urth.net <BR>Subject: Re: (urth) Gene Wolfe's
Politics<BR><BR><BR>> > brunians@brunians.org wrote:<BR>> >> This
is why 'raising taxes on the rich' doesn't work, for those of you<BR>>
>> who have been paying attention.<BR>> <BR>> >>>> I'm
talking about the gummint going bankrupt, silly boy.<BR>> <BR>>
>>> Gummints don't go bankrupt, having produced nothing in the
first<BR>> >>> place. They may print money, which will devalue all
the goods and<BR>> >>> services of the society and bring about its
ruination, of course.<BR>> >>> They have that power, but they don't
have the power to create money<BR>> >>> in the original sense of the
word, as a store of value. You may or<BR>> >>> may not be aware that
businesses don't pay taxes either, individuals<BR>> >>> do.
Businesses pass them along to their customers to pay.<BR>> <BR>> > Who
do estate taxes get passed on to?<BR>> <BR>> As far as I know, estates are
only left by natural persons, that is, they<BR>> are not paid by
businesses.<BR>> <BR>> Estate taxes are basically a means of limiting
social mobility: the idea<BR>> is to prevent middle-class families from
becoming upper-class. The way a<BR>> middle-class family becomes upper-class,
of course, is by increasing<BR>> wealth from generation to generation. This
can be useful in limiting the<BR>> influence of undesireable ethnic groups
with a demonstrated ability of<BR>> making money.<BR><BR>Putting aside
contentious interpretations about what the estate tax is "intended" to do, this
does not seem to me to be a good model for social mobility (that is, having it
done by building from generation to generation rather than for the individual).
Telling someone who starts out poor that, if he plays along well and works hard,
perhaps his children or grandchildren or great grandchildren might not be poor
smacks a bit of telling the untouchable that perhaps if he accepts his lot in
life, he'll come back as a higher class in a future life.<BR><BR>Before I make
any judgment on the last part of what you said, please clarify what you mean
about undesirable ethnic types. Are you claiming that some ethnicities are taxed
different amounts for the same size estate? Or that some ethnicities have more
money than others (and thus get taxed more)? Or that some ethnic groups are
inherently more capable than others (thus deserve to get more money, and thus
will be taxed more)? Also, which ethnic groups are you referring to - I thought
perhaps you might be referring to anti-Semitism but this may not be the
case.<BR><BR><BR><BR>Internet Explorer 8 – Get your Hotmail Accelerated.
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