Meanwhile, Willard Mitt Romney (did YOU know his first name was Willard?) paid a lower federal tax rate than I did in 2011.
Meanwhile, GE and nearly three dozen other major corporations got away with paying ZERO federal taxes in recent years.
And yet, according to the GOP -- and a whole bunch of not-rich people who vote for these politicians -- the rich should pay even lower taxes. Even though they currently enjoy the lowest tax rates they've seen in decades.
Meanwhile, unemployment rates among college grads are higher than they have been in years. Nearly 50 percent of new grads are unemployed or underemployed while working in fields outside their majors. And yet, college costs keep going up, up, up. And Congress dares to play political ping-pong with college loan rates.
The good news: overall unemployment rates have been slowly dropping. But slowly, slowly. A lot like the instant gas price jumps that take forever to come back down. Trickle down is what it is...a trickle. And the first five letters of that word say everything you need to know about how the masses will benefit from GOP economic policies.
I'm not sure what it will take for large numbers of voters to realize that Mitt Inc. is not even remotely working in their interests. But I see the arrogance of the upscale set continuing, even at the local level. Here in Cincinnati, a bunch of well-meaning rich people want to "save" several local icons -- the Museum Center, the Zoo, Music Hall, etc. -- by jacking up a sales tax on the poor. And they say the taxes must rise for the arts while screaming and howling against proposals to raise taxes for silly things like schools. And a poll says a majority of people SUPPORT this idea? Really?
Hey corporate titans and assorted pooh-bahs, you are the folks with the cash to actually go to a bunch of symphonies and plays while treating the grandkids to casual $100 jaunts to museums and zoos. The rest of us plebes are lucky the kids get to go once a year, and some only if they go as part of a school trip. (Trips that few school budgets can tolerate anymore. Yay culture.)
So how about writing some bigger checks instead of pushing yet another entertainment tax upon the public? How about donating some of those record profits and fat stock gains to your civic cause-du-jour? How about paying even just a percentage of the tax savings you've enjoyed from epic-low rates? Call it a tip. Y'know, like the loose change you expect waitresses to raise their kids on.
And if you feel anything after reading this rant...try reading this one by a far better, and richer, writer -- Stephen King. He knows a horror story when he sees one.
I think it's time for all of us to "Scream."