The person I am referring to in the title is the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s very own Cynthia Tucker. How this lady won a Pulitzer Prize is beyond me. She basically does the same thing I do: put up a link (in this case she copies and pastes most of an article) while giving her two cents. Regardless, this is one of the most well known liberal columnists in the entire Southeast. Typically, her articles are either about race or wealth envy – just about every liberals favorite two topics. In the last couple of days, Cynthia has been much more vocal in attacking the evil rich due to the recent ruling on extending the current tax rates. I’ll highlight some of her interesting commentary and then give my rebuttal. Strap on the headgear.

Yesterday, Cynthia published an article entitled, “OMG! What if the Wealthy Have to Pay More?” Clever. Liberals have absolutely no problem with other people paying more in taxes. Even the liberals who are in that highest tax bracket claim they would have no problem having their taxes raised. Well, why don’t you lead by example and start writing checks to the IRS on the amount that you feel comfortable being taxed? That way, people who feel that they should be able to enjoy the money they earned can actually do so.

“Apparently, something akin to panic has set in among the richest Americans, who are contemplating the possibility (although it seems increasingly remote) that they may be asked to make a small financial sacrifice to restore fiscal health to the nation that has given them so much. That’s right: Many among the wealthy are anxiously eyeing news from Washington about a possible tax increase.”

And this is where liberals play class warfare. “Those evil rich people are concerned that they might lose more of their income. See how greedy they are! They are only looking out for themselves instead of the good of society! They’ve been given everything!” Yep. Successful people don’t earn anything. Society just hands it over to them. They didn’t put in the hours to study in high school, college, or graduate school. They didn’t use their spare time to brain storm on an idea or a product that people might want. They didn’t continue to push themselves after failing multiple times. Nope. Those evil rich people inherited everything and therefore they must give it back!

But, raising income taxes is just a small financial sacrifice? Are you kidding me Cynthia? The top 1% of incomers, those making over $200,000 a year, are currently paying roughly 36% of their income in federal income taxes alone. Add in Social Security, Medicare, FICA, State Income, Property Tax, Sales Taxes, Alternative Minimum Taxes (and the list goes on), one can make the easy assumption that the top 1% of income earners are paying well over 50% of what they make in total taxes. Nothing like working for free half of the year right? It’s only a small financial sacrifice.

Today, Cynthia had another column out going after the evil rich: “Rich Get Their Tax Cuts, so Let the Jobs Start Raining Down!” Let’s give Cynthia a round of applause for somehow believing not raising someone’s tax rate is the equivalent of giving them a tax cut. That’s the kind of analysis that will land you a Pulitzer Prize any day of the week. Using her logic, everyone in America just got a tax cut. Celebrate we will! And, nobody has been saying, at least to my knowledge, that keeping the tax rates steady will create an economic boom. What people have been warning is that if tax rates go up, the recession will only get worse.

“The Bush tax cuts have been in effect for a decade. That decade happened to be one of the worst for job creation since World War II.” What happened during Bush’s tenure? You had the technology and stock bubble burst, 9/11, and the biggest corporate scandals in American history hit within Bush’s first two years of office. However, just how much job creation can one have when unemployment was already near all time lows? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate when Bush took office was around 4%. In 2003, it rose to about 6.5% after the dust was settling from the 2000 recession. In 2003, Bush passed a large tax cut for capitol gains and dividends. Between 2003 and the beginning of 2007, unemployment went from 6.5% back down to roughly 4%.

We all know what happened in the fall of 2006. Democrats took back control of both the House and the Senate, and then were sworn in starting in January of 2007. Unemployment has gone from just about 4% to nearly 10% in that short time period. Obviously, the financial crisis had its hand in the unemployment jump. One can thank government’s never ending quest for every family to own their own home as a big player in that situation, but that’s for another day.

Let’s move quickly over to our debt. This deserves some attention. So, try this little nugget on for size. In just one day this year, one whole day, Obama increased the national debt by almost $166 Billion – bigger than the entire annual deficit of 2007. That was reported by the Washington Times. The Times also had this to say regarding the spending binge:

Daily debt calculations jump and fall, and big shifts are common. But all three of the biggest one-day debt increases have occurred under the tenure of President Obama, and all of the top six have been in the past two years – an indication of just how quickly the pace of deficit spending has risen under Mr. Obama and President George W. Bush.

So, what should Cynthia Tucker really be saying when observing past economic data? Tax cuts do in fact help. Remember Reagan’s economic policies that began after the tumultuous 1970s which brought unemployment from 10% to 5%? But what is the bigger picture? It is government spending which causes the greatest burden on an economy. Look at Europe. Look at individual states. Look at the USA as a whole and what is the biggest issue facing everyone? It is massive amounts of debt from runaway government spending. Many of these European welfare states, which have the kind of income tax rates that give American liberals wet dreams, are in much more dire situations than we are. If only Cynthia would let us know her thoughts on that.