Twice today (that I've noticed) people made comments in the news saying that making $200K isn't really all that much. It's one of those things that hovers in the background, usually said with that fatherly homespun wisdom style that gets people to start nodding in agreement before they even hear what is being said. Never emphasized as the main point but casually dropped in the sentence. Listen to fox news or a GOP speech and you probably will hear it. After working in in every so often for years and years, it starts becoming that 'conventional wisdom' that everybody knows and doesn't need explaining.
It plays on people's, or should I say folks', fantasies and aspirations and what they want to hear -Yeah, it isn't that much money really, and if it's not that much money then maybe I will make that much someday. It's the only way the GOP, whose tax policies shift the tax burden down the economic spectrum, can get people on that low end to tolerate and even support and vote for those policies based on a wish that one day they will have it made and get Uncle Sam off their future selves' back, at their present selve's expense. If it can get a former hippie democrat to believe it and base their vote on it it can convince anyone.
For the record, less than 4% of the country makes over $200K in a year.
I thought I was rich but they told me no
Read My Lips, It's Summer Vacation and You Deserve It
You have probably heard about the gas-tax holiday proposed for this summer. McCain started it and then Hillary quickly latched on. This has to be one of the dumbest panders of the campaigns. To his credit, Obama hasn't let himself get caught up in it. He put it in perspective fairly well on Meet The Press today. This pandering can be expected from John McCain, following the classical republican tactic of raising the tax bogeyman to get what they want, but it it disappointing to see Hillary jumping on the bandwagon. Whether it is medical insurance for kids or ensuring voting accuracy, the tough on taxes shtick works as an effective way to get support for what otherwise would be unpopular ideas. In the case of the gas tax holiday, it can be a faux issue to try and win elections, and cast yourself as 'for the working man'.
Notice that the fiscal conservatism and disdain for giving your hard earned money to Uncle Sam only extends far enough to make a good commercial. When it comes to actually limiting spending, the most recent Republican controlled White House/Congress combination did a horrible job. The lower taxes for everyone mantra invariably turns into giveaways to donors and fellow Bushies, and of course to your 'base' of the most wealthy. While doing the easy part with reckless abandon- telling wealthy people and your friends that they can pay less in taxes-the hard work of controlling spending goes not only undone but seemingly not even attempted. Two foreign military occupations and an outsourcing of government services to the private sector with cost-plus contracts in return for shoddy work, tax evasion, more tax evasion, and probably one of the biggest taxpayer money grabs in recent history. The absurdity and shameless hypocrisy of it is best illustrated by, you guessed it, George W with the simultaneous large tax cuts and starting of two (maybe 3 soon) wars.
