The Rich Wasp

This post by Og brought back to me a post I have been thinking about writing for some time.

First some background as to what I think Christianity is.  I believe that we all fall short of our God given potential.  In other words we sin.  A pastor friend of mine once told me the the word sin is derived from a Hebrew word that means to miss the mark.  I further believe that God loves sinners but hates sin.  I also believe that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die for our sins.

Many on the left would have you believe that we should help the less fortunate because they deserve it.  I think that Christian Charity is something far different.   I believe that we should help the less fortunate not because they deserve it.  We should instead help them because they don’t deserve it any more than I deserve to enter Heaven or have Christ die for my sins.

There is more to not sinning than simply obeying a list of thou shalt nots.  I believe we have to use those talents God has given us to make the world a better place.  I have been coasting through much of life instead of using my God given potential. This is in my opinion a much greater sin than those events in my mildly misspent youth which are more blatantly obvious as sins.

Christianity is about dispensing mercy not justice.  Do you want to live in a world where everyone gets exactly what they deserve, or do you want to live in a world where everyone is treated better than they deserve?  If you prefer the former, and find yourself one day in front of a closed set of pearly gates, I suggest you think twice before pounding on the pearly gates and demanding Justice.  For if you do this, I believe that God will respect your wishes and open those pearly gates to let you out.

If you would care to repeat the Great Depression, please go out and vote for Barack Obama next Tuesday November 4th.  If you would prefer another early 80′s or 90′s recession instead, please vote for John McCain instead.

The Great Depression was made siginificantly worse by the policies of Herbert Hoover and FDR.  Republicans have learned their lessons since the mistakes of Herbert Hoover.  However, the Democratic party has learned nothing from the mistakes of FDR.  Herbert Hoover made two mistakes, signing the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act into law in 1930 and changing the tax rate the richest Americans pay from 24% to 65% in 1932.  FDR’s mistakes are too numerous to list, I will simply include the largest of which was increasing the top tax rate from 65% to 90% in 1934.

Thanks to Instapundit, I just listened to this YouTube clip.

This clearly leads me to believe that Obama believes in wealth redistribution.

November 4th, we aren’t just deciding who our next President will be.

We are deciding the most important political referendum in the history of these United States.

Should the United States implement redistributionist (Marxist or Communist) policies?

To vote Yes, vote for Obama.

To vote No, vote for McCain.

The Venezualan people faced this same question ten years ago.  They chose to elect Hugo Chavez, and made the choice for redistributionism and have come to reget it.  Will the people of the United States make the same mistake?

Everyone is talking about the liquidity crisis.   I looked at my mailbox the past two weeks, and I have to wonder what is this liquidity crisis that everyone is talking about.   Lots of people want to loan money to me.  Just yesterday I got two credit card offers in the mail.   Both offered great low interest rates on balance transfers.  One was 0% until January of 2010 and the other one was 3.99% until November of 2012.  I tore up both offers before throwing them away.   In the last couple of weeks, Bank X has sent me at least 3 offers for a Platinum Visa card.   The irony here is that I already have a Bank X Platinum Visa card and they have increased my credit limit twice in the last 18 months.

What we really have is not a liquidity crisis, because it appears there is plenty of money to lend.  What we have is a credibility crisis.  What banks are saying is that they are concerned that some Fortune 500 companies may not be able to repay the money that these companies are wanting to borrow.   In other words, banks think I’m more credit worthy than some other banks and some Fortune 500 companies.

If that doesn’t concern you, it should.  It really concerns me.

Those few Americans who are truly wealthy probably won’t be affected by the tax increases that Senator Obama is proposing.  Much of Bill Gates wealth is in Microsoft stock which has massively appreciated since he started the company.   Unless he decides to sell some of his stock, Gates won’t be the least bit affected by Obama’s proposed capital gains tax increase.  In other words the only truly voluntary tax is the capital gains tax,  because if you don’t want to pay the tax you just hold on to the appreciated asset instead of selling it.

If you are wealthy and interested in investment income, then the logical response to Obama’s tax increase proposals is to buy municipal bonds.  The interest from municipal bonds is generally not taxed as federal income.  High quality municipal bonds are paying between 3% and 4%.  So a hypothetical wealthy person with five millon dollars can have a tax free income of $150,000 to $200,000 per year and not have to do anything.

So if you are truly wealthy, and don’t want to pay Obama’s tax increase, then there are at least two ways you can choose not to pay and best of all, they’re perfectly legal.

Glenn Reynolds has a link to this National Review piece which contains this wonderful idea:

It would be much more interesting to hear Governor Palin spend an hour with Glenn Reynolds than with Katie Couric.

Not only do I not think this is an excellent idea, I think it needs to be taken to its logical conclusion. I’d like to see Senator McCain, Senator Obama and Senator Biden spend an hour with Glenn Reynolds as well. I think that Professor Reynolds would be a fairer interviewer than anyone in the traditional media.

I wish that Glenn would invite all four candidates to do an hour long interview, and that the candidates would accept. Sadly at this late date, I doubt this is going to happen before the election. And I don’t know if any of the candidates would agree to it.