Bizzaro Land
Dimensions have shifted. A rift has opened in the fabric of the time-space continuum. Worlds are colliding and universes are inverting. No, I have not suddenly developed an abiding interest in quantum mechanics. I am a blue state professional living in a post-11/2 world. And that world is one in which almost nothing, politically speaking, makes sense. I almost expect Ralph Reed to start working for Planned Parenthood and Clinton to join a Fransiscan order.
Since Ronald Reagan , the Republican Cabal has wisely induced working and middle class voters to vote against their economic interests through the incentive of so-called moral values. Though the choice is not necessarily advisable from a financial perspective, I suppose one can understand why some vote with their hearts and not their wallets (even if their hearts are wrong and their wallets can scarcely afford the mistake). And for the wealthier classes, trending Republican made even more sense (even if in the long-run they're financially better off with a high-functioning economy, no matter what their tax burden, and besides, no amount of money can buy civil liberties). The marriage is not made in heaven, no matter what Bob Jones might have you believe - moral values do not feed and clothe children and the din of the proletariat evangelicals is bound to rub the rich the wrong way eventually. Still, we could divine, and perhaps even respect, the sense, the cosmic order, of this union, however short-lived we hoped it to be.
Many progressive professionals, who had something of a financial disincentive, at least in the short run, in voting Democratic, believed that at the very least the Republicans would not harm us financially, and that we were standing up for those who were less fortunate and who needed greater support from the state. Not only are we not going to benefit in any way from George Bush's re-election, but our tax burden will increase, in some cases to a very large extent, and we may even lose our health insurance. I am not talking about the deficit or some distant future in which we resemble Argentina or Indonesia, after our currency and our market tank. The future is here in the form of a massive tax code overhaul in which the only winners are the idle rich and the major losers are professionals who derive almost all of their income from work (rather than investment), live in states with high state and local income taxes (which is virtually everywhere but Texas), and have employer-provided health care. This means you.
According to the Washington Post, the administration is stepping off its flat tax or national sales tax scheme and moving to:
Since Ronald Reagan , the Republican Cabal has wisely induced working and middle class voters to vote against their economic interests through the incentive of so-called moral values. Though the choice is not necessarily advisable from a financial perspective, I suppose one can understand why some vote with their hearts and not their wallets (even if their hearts are wrong and their wallets can scarcely afford the mistake). And for the wealthier classes, trending Republican made even more sense (even if in the long-run they're financially better off with a high-functioning economy, no matter what their tax burden, and besides, no amount of money can buy civil liberties). The marriage is not made in heaven, no matter what Bob Jones might have you believe - moral values do not feed and clothe children and the din of the proletariat evangelicals is bound to rub the rich the wrong way eventually. Still, we could divine, and perhaps even respect, the sense, the cosmic order, of this union, however short-lived we hoped it to be.
Many progressive professionals, who had something of a financial disincentive, at least in the short run, in voting Democratic, believed that at the very least the Republicans would not harm us financially, and that we were standing up for those who were less fortunate and who needed greater support from the state. Not only are we not going to benefit in any way from George Bush's re-election, but our tax burden will increase, in some cases to a very large extent, and we may even lose our health insurance. I am not talking about the deficit or some distant future in which we resemble Argentina or Indonesia, after our currency and our market tank. The future is here in the form of a massive tax code overhaul in which the only winners are the idle rich and the major losers are professionals who derive almost all of their income from work (rather than investment), live in states with high state and local income taxes (which is virtually everywhere but Texas), and have employer-provided health care. This means you.
According to the Washington Post, the administration is stepping off its flat tax or national sales tax scheme and moving to:
"...push major amendments that would shield interest, dividends and capitals gains from taxation, expand tax breaks for business investment and take other steps intended to simplify the system and encourage economic growth."And now the part about you:
"The changes are meant to be revenue-neutral. To pay for them, the administration is considering eliminating the deduction of state and local taxes on federal income tax returns and scrapping the business tax deduction for employer-provided health insurance."The sky is not blue, Rush Limbaugh is not a big, fat idiot, and the Republicans have become the party of tax and spend. Under this new cosmological infrastructure, I am not a limosine liberal but a fiscal conservative. I guess Bush is showing us what political capital really means - the power to upend the natural order of things. He never did like science anyway.
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