dagblog - Comments for "The Difference Between Them and Us - Why They Hate the Estate Tax"

My former employer used to

Michael Maiello — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:31:46 +0000

In reply to The Difference Between Them and Us - Why They Hate the Estate Tax

My former employer used to say that their family didn't invent nepotism, and didn't perfect nepotism, but they're certainly practicing.

Now that I have a son, I can understand the sentiment. Why wouldn't I want the very best for him and why wouldn't I, given the choice, direct all of my resources to his wellbeing instead of to my neighbor's kids.

Well, we know why. If everybody did that, society would fall apart and no kid, rich or poor, would have a chance at survival. Our familial attachments are necessary for the survival of the species but so is our ability to see and think beyond them.

I think there's another sentiment, though, that's less partisan and more biological and actually speaks well of people who oppose things like estate taxes even against their own interests: we really hate to see people unwillingly lose the continuity of their lives. I think most of us feel like it'd be kind of sad for a kid who grew up in a large family house to lose that house when his parents die because he can't afford to pay the estate tax in order to keep it. And, in a way, isn't it sad that the ability to pay a tax could keep someone from being able to hang onto a childhood home? I'm not making an argument here. What I'm saying is probably so infrequent it's not worth legislating over. But do you see the emotional power of that?

A fine example of the haiku

Donal — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:23:21 +0000

In reply to It's mine!! It's all mine!!!I

A fine example of the haiku gesundheit limerick.

It's mine!! It's all mine!!!I

Richard Day — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:08:25 +0000

In reply to The Difference Between Them and Us - Why They Hate the Estate Tax

It's mine!! It's all mine!!!

I stole it fair and square without being caught.

And so it's mine, all mine!!

Now I can wine and dine!!

Everything will just be fine!!

I won the game.

Now you wish to change the rules.

And that is just a goddamn shame!!

If the new right truly

cmaukonen — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:21:50 +0000

In reply to The Difference Between Them and Us - Why They Hate the Estate Tax

If the new right truly believed in rewarding hard work, ingenuity, and risk-taking, it would support taxing large estates, since the offspring of CEOs, entrepeneurs, and wildly successful entertainers are often lazy, without genius, and risk averse. Rarely do these feckless children of great wealth, under any merit-based calculus, deserve the money that they will inherit.

This is so true. In fact there was a book out calle Die Broke which gave these very reasons why should leave exactly noting to your children. These are the kids that if they should be on the play ground, you want to beat the crap out of them just for being there.

Thanks for the compliment.As

David Seaton — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:52:35 +0000

In reply to The Difference Between Them and Us - Why They Hate the Estate Tax

Thanks for the compliment.

As to the Teabaggers, I'm not sure things are very complicated. What Ayn Rand did is to give an elaborated intellectual structure to simple, mean selfishness, something that was hard to square with Abrahamic tradiditons. People who are able to simultaeously maintain, Objectivism and Christianity are really performing fantastic mental gymnatics. For me that is the fracture point on the right.