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Lessee, how does that troll refrain go, “gimmee stuff! gimmee stuff! gimmee stuff!”

Yes, indeed.

The juvenile yawping of our resident troll, and the more generalized and (even crazier) screechings over at (un)SP about the ‘takers’ and the ‘makers’ and ‘free stuff’ all underscore the same point – the very wealthy and their enablers and acolytes have gotten that way by ruthlessly exploiting ‘free stuff’ – inefficiencies and irrationalities in our market system.

These are the people relentlessly focused on getting “MORE!!” and are willing to do what it takes, morality or society or the environment be damned.

There is a strain of sociopathy in our culture, perhaps common to humanity in general, in which traits of malleable honesty, greed, aggression and the willingness/ability to manipulate and exploit combine to produce a Romney or a Koch or a Pete Peterson, or more commonly, the nasty coworker or mid-level boss, seeing their compatriots and coworkers as mere rungs on the ladder to step on on their way up.

There was a wonderful ‘American Masters’ episode on PBS last night, about Woodie Guthrie, in which his friend Pete Seeger said (paraphrasing), “When money tells you what to do, it gets in the way of the truth telling you what to do.”

http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/13/15147228-as-fbi-investigated-petraeus-he-and-allen-intervened-in-nasty-child-custody-battle?lite

Employer-paid health insurance: $180 billion
Mortgage interest deduction: $101 billion
Lower capital gains rate: $77 billion
Retirement savings deferral: $62 billion
Charity deduction: $49 billion
Deduction for state and local taxes: $46 billion
Exemption of municipal bond interest income: $36 billion
Exemption of capital gains on sale of home: $23 billion
Property tax deduction: $22 billion

(Source: NBC News)

Here’s a nauseating propaganda piece from The Fiscal Times, reproduced by the “liberal-biased” CNBC media outlet.

FYI, The Fiscal Times is billionaire investment banker Peter Peterson’s baby, who advocates eliminating deficits by getting rid of entitlements.

Here’s what FT says about people making over $250,000 a year who would pay higher taxes under President Obama’s deficit plan:

“Discretionary consumer spending is the engine that drives the U.S. economy. And high-income earners drive it more than middle- and low-income earners. Gallup’s daily tracking of consumer spending showed a dip last month among upper-income consumers — an average of $116 per day, down from $126 in September. If that dip continues into the holiday buying season, the economy could suffer a setback.”

But wait! There’s more:

“Two years ago, The Fiscal Times asked … a national tax accounting firm, to compute the total state, local and federal tax burden of a hypothetical two-career couple with two kids, earning $250,000. … The analysis assumes that this hypothetical couple — let’s call them Mr. and Mrs. Jones — are each on company payrolls, with professional positions. … They have no credit card debt, but … racked up … student loan debt … and … also have a car loan … and a mortgage for … a typical home in their communities for a family of four, which includes one toddler and one school-age child. … For folks like the Joneses who live in high-tax, high-cost areas, who save for retirement and college, pay for child care to enable two incomes, and pay higher prices for housing in top school districts, $250,000 does not a rich family make.”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/49807529

Roger Rabbit Commentary: Gee, if only we all could live in top school districts, afford child care, and save for retirement and college. But since we can’t the people making under $250k should pay higher taxes so the people making over $250k can afford all that stuff. Lessee, how does that troll refrain go, “gimmee stuff! gimmee stuff! gimmee stuff!”

“Had gas stations been allowed to raise their prices to reflect the increased demand for gasoline, only those most in need of gasoline would have purchased gas, while everyone would have economized on their existing supply.”

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2012/11/12/ron-paul-says-post-sandy-%e2%80%9cprice-gouging%e2%80%9d-would%e2%80%99ve-helped-solve-the-gas-shortage/

Roger Rabbit Commentary: Here’s how Ron Paul’s “market based solution” would work in practice: The richest would get all the gas they want for their cars and generators, and everybody else would shiver in the dark. It follows, of course, that your sole ambition and goal in life should be to pile up as much money for yourself as possible, because you never know when a storm might hit your neighborhood. As for me, there’s something about this guy’s values that rubs my fur the wrong way.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/13/technology/mobile/papa-johns/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Early exit polls released on Tuesday evening show that about half of voters still blame President George W. Bush more than President Barack Obama for the country’s economic problems and most cite the economy as their top issue in the election.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83422.html

http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/directory/c/custer_s_last_stand.asp