I’ve never met Matthew Goldstein, but judging by his bio I don’t think it’s something I’d like to do. It reads like a stereotype of the elitist, leftist intelligentsia. A B.A. in English and History, an M.A. in World and Comparative Literature (whatever that means) and a Ph.D. in English, all from über-liberal universities, and a job at a community college in Oakland, California.
Dr. Goldstein has commented about blogs written last week criticizing Warren Buffett’s recent pronouncement that he doesn’t pay enough taxes (like mine):
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett heated up the blogosphere with a recent New York Times op-ed piece, “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich.”
. . .
But when the Sage of Omaha starts offering old-fashioned soak-the-rich rhetoric, people take notice. And support from those who stand to lose the most from a tax hike can only help the cause of so-called class-warriors, right?
Well, maybe.
When taxes on the nation’s highest earners become an expression of noblesse oblige, they may only reinforce existing economic inequalities. Doesn’t any middle-class society worthy of the name need to make the super-rich pay their taxes?
Well, actually, no. You see, middle-class societies depend on the “super-rich”. Those super-rich people are the ones investing the money in job-creating new businesses, like the investment groups behind Google and Twitter. They invest in existing corporations, like the people buying out the shares of GovernmentGeneral Motors and yes, investors in Berkshire Hathaway. Their money, sitting in banks, is loaned to mom-and-pop stores and workshops, and to middle-class families buying new homes. When that money is ripped-away in the form of taxes to pay for phantom “green jobs”, nanny-state policies and to “protect the poor”, it’s not available to create new or grow existing businesses and hence, new jobs for poor and middle-class workers.
Aaron Gardner
Steve Maley
KnightsofMalta