Estate Tax, and Minimum Wage

In two recent attempts, the super wealthy and their congressional lackeys tried to screw the average American even more than they have already. One attempt fell short for them. The other they won. Just this past week The Republican “leadership” took up the issue of repealing the estate tax. Some have called it the “death tax.” Some of the super rich feel that their heirs should not ever have to consider the unfortunate annoyance the rest of us call work. They feel that they have no obligation whatsoever to pay back into the system that has seen to reward them so well. Some of the more responsible realize that they do owe a debt to the commons of society and the infrastructure that enabled them to make so much money. Others think that what they have made, no matter how they have made it, is all for them and their family. Paris Hilton has become the poster child for the idle rich that waste more in food and oxygen just existing than they would ever contribute to the world in any other capacity. There are 18 families that have been the biggest behind the scenes forces in their attempt to buy enough votes to hide their money. In a sign that there is at least a little hope for the Senate (the house is hopeless, at least until the election) the attempt at estate tax repeal failed. They even tried to frame the argument in the context of the family farmer, saying that they would lose their farms if the tax repeal failed.

http://www.citizen.org/documents/EstateTaxFinal.pdf is a website that lists all of the 18 families that have been involved in the fight for repeal since the 90’s. It includes (of course) the Walton family of Wal-Mart fame, the family behind the Mars candy fortune, the family behind Nordstrom’s, and many others. take a look, and ask yourself if you are doing society a favor patronizing such companies. I don’t intend to. I think it would be good for all progressive minded people to boycott them altogether.

And in a pathetic showing of just how beholding many in Washington are to corporate interests, the Republican Party was able to block a proposal to raise the minimum wage. For the last nine years, the minimum wage has been a meager 5.15 per hour. The self-serving bastards could find it within themselves to raise the minimum wage for the lowest paid workers. As Jon Stewart said on the Daily Show “Kudos to Congress, for literally taking a giant shit on the poorest people in the country.” The vote was all the more shameful because it actually passed. 52 Senators voted for the raise. It took a parliamentary trick by Lamar Alexander to save the far right agenda. America, wake up! If you don’t personally make more than a large six figure income, the Republican Party thinks of you as nothing else but a cog in their machine. They don’t give a rats ass about you or your concerns. And if you are dumb enough to keep voting for them, you might actually deserve what you get. Another good Jon Stewart quote: “Seriously, the House of Representatives is filled with insane jackasses.”