At a recent Obama campaign event masquerading as a town hall, an ex-Google executive begged Obama to raise his taxes, to which Obama responded with an Elizabeth Warren-like argument:
It turns out the guy was a plant by a group called the Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength, which includes a number of wealthy people who are so brave they are willing to sign a letter of support for the group’s agenda only using their initials.
But another thing caught my eye in their banner. These patriotic millionaires want you to donate to their group (circling added):
The Donate button leads to a donation page where these patriotic millionaires are happy to take your credit card billing information or allow you to pay via PayPal to support their efforts.
So how patriotic are these millionaires?
Not so patriotic that they will voluntarily pay extra taxes to the government, and not so patriotic that they will pay for their own campaign to raise other people’s taxes.
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Comments
Oh man … minutes after reading that wonderfully inspiring letter from a young black entrepreneur … you hit us with this.
Having to watch wealthy lefties give themselves goosebumps as they perform their little moral-preening skits in front of other lefties … it’s on par with the BDS dancers dancing in all their greasy-haired glory.
Come on, Professor! We’re eating breakfast out here on the west coast when we read LI.
Have a heart. Coexist with us.
LukeHandCool (who suddenly won’t touch his English muffin).
Bigger question .. why would I donate to a group that wouldn’t have me ? Seems I don’t qualify. Maybe they should donate to me.
They will probably give any donations to the obama campaign. Just another back door campaign funding scheme to entice the stupid or conniving. Could this possibly be another way to skirt any campaign laws? I wonder if they will call this bundling? Look deep and far about anything a dim does or says. There is always a hidden agenda.
Dear “Patriotic Millionaires:”
There is no point in even listening to you until (a) you send sizeable checks to the US Treasury in addition to any taxes paid or owed and (b) release your tax returns.
We await your response.
[…] Bill Jacobson exposes another fraud. […]
And, of course, these patriotic millionaires are writing-off the cost of the air in the tires of the limousine every time it drove them to a lunch where the word “business” was used in a sentence.
Damn the stinking shills!
On the happy side: the video of the day is The Zombies!
Their lead singer, Colin Blunstone, sang some wonderful stuff for the Alan Parsons Project (most notably, the song “Old & Wise”) and his solo albums ain’t too bad either!
Why does nobody point out plainly the specific logic of the Buffet – like pleas? (I am excluding the self-serving, self-enriching govt/business/investor aspect,just talking taxes themselves.)
– A Buffet can easily donate more taxes. Whether he does or does not is irrelevant to this point:
– These pleas are specifically worded as selfless but the actual logic (and intent, I presume) boils down to this:
“GOVERNMENT PLEASE FORCE __OTHER PEOPLE__ (not me) TO PAY MORE MONEY TO YOU.”
I contend that the above demonstrates that there is no other actual content than this line, other than sophistry (e.g. I am heroic; if others are forced to step up, I will, etc.)
I’ve said it before, I’m saying it again, and I’ll say it in the future:
1. The rich who demand to have high-income taxes raised expect something in return: regulatory exemptions, government contracts, stifling of competition, tax loopholes for themselves, etc.
2. A government with a progressive tax code will maximize its revenues & redistributive power if the nation’s income is concentrated in the upper brackets.
This is sickening. Trying to get your way in govt regulations is a dangerous game. Akin to playing dodgeball with daggers. Or training firefighters to use gasoline to burn out a fire. Someone’s going to get hurt.
Then they have the gall to ask for donations? These ‘millionaires’ seem to have lost respect for the value of money as well as themselves.
Try scolding them (the progressive tax apologists) as you would a child who cussed or is caught stealing.
No need to over-analyze their motives or moral premise…there is none. That’s what I did with my younger bro, a Harvard-influenced liberal who makes way more than me and also loves talking about those ‘Roads’….but never contributed a single cent to help our widow mother keep her house from those ‘marauding’ property tax collectors.
Works every time.
This demonstrates a significant part of the cravenness of the Buffett argument — the public demand to be forced into paying more taxes.
Warren Buffett actually takes very little income, but shields huge chunks of his earnings in 501(C)3 organizations, ones which he and his family control.
Lest anyone think I am criticizing him for doing so, I am not. Many of these organizations no doubt perform a host of wonderful social functions to help people in ways that would never be done as efficiently by the government . . . any government. And he and his family make sure that it stays that way.
But the cravenness of the public argument he makes lies in the utterly misleading general suggestion that somehow his billionaire earnings result in him is paying less in taxes than a secretary, and that he is “demanding” to be compelled to pay more.
That argument that is made only to support a partisan preference of his, and it is absolutely false.
Same thing with these Google “millionaires” . . . and THAT is the basic reason neither Warren Buffet nor any of these Google millionaires will ever voluntarily pay extra taxes.
Why would they? Isn’t it better that some 501(C)3 they control provides more efficient, and likely more targeted assistance to people in ways that no governmental agency could ever dream of doing? I applaud many of their efforts and of the work done by many of these organizations. Of course, I don’t applaud the efforts of some of them, particularly those which are targeted at interfering with others’ rights. But that’s beside the point.
These folks like having the effective control over how their funds are expended because they know that virtually any governmental entity would do a worse job. Wise thinking, that!
So, I see this latest effort by these “initialed” Google millionaires, as just taking the extra step of now hawking this new umbrella organization of theirs under a false flag.
Also, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that many of them are eschewing identification . . . no one wants to be publicly identified as a rat swimming out to a sinking ship!
Therefore, this “patriotic” organizational banner seems merely to be the Jolly Rodger of the do-gooder set. The purpose is apparently “frighten” people into caving to an attempted tax grab by the Obama Administration. That is the pathetic issue he will continue to hawk as he seeks reelection — redistribution with a “happy face.”
His own party, however, refuses to rally to that false flag, and it is becoming clear he has abandoned his congressional allies as he heads toward 2012. I still wonder if a more traditional liberal will stepped up to challenge him, such as Kennedy did with Carter.
This whole “pay more taxes” is just the dim meme of the day. Mainly, because their lord and master is advocating it. I don’t know whether they believe this tripe or whether we will fall for it or not. No one, and I repeat, no one is so altruistic as to want to pay more taxes. Paying as little as possible is why accounting firms are so successful. Sometimes I wonder if these people ever grew up or ever will grow up since their points of view are so childish.
I wish Jerry Lewis had called in to this Obama-thon for the Millionaire Democrat Assoc. with a donation. I wanted to see Obama tear up.
I guess there are a few rich people with money to burn…all the others, I’m sure, have their money stored away in a mattress or in a safe deposit box doing absolutely nothing…except for paying a large share of the tax burden and investing in America so Obama can sit in his high chair and whine for more.
“the guy was a plant” AND a poisonous one to boot
These guys definitely deserve the infamous “Dear Rich Bastard” letter
Obama says “we’re successful because somebody invested in our education …” … but Obama is “successful” because unions “invested” a half billion in his campaign, for which they expect a return on investment. Obama gives a 10,000% return from taxpayers … so much better than capitalism where you have to succeed in the marketplace.
Obama just has to con people for their vote, and bludgeon any challengers with federal probes and charges of racism, while preening and “schooling” us on the purity of his socialism/fascism.
This guys didn’t get rich by letting the government manage their businesses. If they’re not 100% invested in T-bills, I don’t buy their “patriotic” label. They could include the government in their estate planning. No, wait, the government has already dealt itself in on that. Why not just donate to Solyndra and shorten the trip for your money?
These guys . . .
*smh*
“These guys definitely deserve the infamous “Dear Rich Bastard” letter”
How does one know they are millionaires? Because they say so? Because they are said to be?
What’s the word or phrase for organizing a group or event which is said to be of one thing but is really of another? It escapes me at the moment. “Astroturf” is close but not it. The word comes from the orbit of espionage/psyops/false-flag operations perfected by Himmler, Goebbels, Beria and Dulles, to mention a few.
[…] himself to be fundamentally unserious about wanting to pay more taxes himself (kinda like those money-grubbing Patriotic Millionaires), but the catchy line he loaned to Obama — that secretaries are paying more in taxes than […]