It seems that many, if not most threads on OD eventually get around to some form of class warfare, pitting the rich against the not-so rich. "Greed" comes in for a large share of the blame.
Greed is blamed for the high price of gas.
Greed is blamed for stock market failures.
Greed is blamed for corporations dumping toxic stuff into the environment.
Greed is blamed for the high cost of nearly everything.

All in all greed is seen as a pretty bad thing.

Question-----Why is greed by government not criticized nearly as strongly? Why is it that continually increasing the % and amount of taxes paid into government is often viewed as good, and the very best thing we should do?

__________________
1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Easy to answer.

People, especially 'rich' people, cannot be trusted individually. They are little more than jungle cats preying on the weak.

However, when the herd as a whole (the Government) takes the money the herd can decide what to do with it in a more 'equitable' manner. The Government IS responsible, after all they have 'experts' and they are elected by the herd to do things for the herd that the herd cannot do itself.

The herd will not be happy until there are no more 'rich' people that stalk the herd and make them buy things like gasoline and products. The herd wants this all provided for free as a 'right'

__________________
"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

Parens Patrie - Government as Parent

well, according to this guy.....

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

Does having stuff change who you are or is who you are the same whether or not you have stuff?

__________________
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

The government is pretty much bought by big business.

When you get enough, well, who am I kidding? You can NEVER get enough.

The love of money is the root of all evil. I forget who first said that.

__________________
83 SD

84 CD

3/4 of the Congress are millionaires. They ARE the rich people.

__________________
Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

and speaking of where some of those millions are going, anyone ever check out the Escort section of the Washington, D.C. yellow pages? what is it up to? 20 pages plus and counting?

Gordon Gekko ("Wall Street", 1987)


Delivered at a stockholder's meeting by a corporate raider and so eerily convincing that it turned lead into gold--and later, of course, back into lead--this speech by Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) persuades the assembled that "greed is good." Stone was reportedly influenced by a similar contention by 1980s convicted inside trader Ivan Boesky that "greed is right." Here's a portion of Gecko's moving speech:

• I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them! The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed--for lack of a better word--is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms--greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge--has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed--you mark my words--will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much •


from wiki:

On October 8, 2008, the character was referenced in a speech by the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in his speech "The Children of Gordon Gekko" concerning the Financial crisis of 2007-2010. Rudd stated “It is perhaps time now to admit that we did not learn the full lessons of the greed-is-good ideology. And today we are still cleaning up the mess of the 21st-century children of Gordon Gekko.”

On July 28, 2009, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone cited Gekko's greed is good slogan in a speech to the Italian senate, saying that the free market had been replaced by a greed market, and also blamed such a mentality for the 2007-2008 financial crisis.

A new species of gecko discovered in 1993 in Lombok, Indonesia by M. Chandi was named after him: the gordongekkoi

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

For the same reason that God is not criticized for wanting everybody to worship him. Can't he just be satisfied with a few hundred thousand?

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Thanks to lobbyists.

__________________
83 SD

84 CD

True but lets look a little further, shall we? Where do the lobbyists get their money? God didn't hand them a suitcase full of $20 bills in random order. It was the special interests that got money from people who felt a certain way about something.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Assuming you are serious.....
If God is as He is revealed in the scriptures, He is the absolute BEST of all possible BEST. Why would He want His creation to worship anything less? Wouldn't that be akin to encouraging people to lie?

The problem is that most people create God as something like themselves, only a little "better". Since it is a human virtue to defer to others, it seems like a good thing for God to defer, and want people to worship something other than the BEST.
Such is the problem of inventing your own God.

__________________
1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Continually increasing? By what measure? Tax rates are generally much lower now than they have been over the years.

I didn't vet the following links, but they seem to reflect what people generally say about taxes in this country:

http://www.truthandpolitics.org/top-rates.php

http://wehrintheworld.blogspot.com/2009/04/effective-tax-rates-over-time-chart.html

I think Americans are under taxed, but would not claim to know what the optimum rate is.

...and no-one ever criticized Santa for that whole naughty and nice thing.