Lunatics Run This Asylum

I've been teaching it for years. The students don't get the idea of a progressive income tax. No one ever explains it to them in 12 years of public schooling. They express disbelief when I tell them 43% of Americans pay no federal income tax. Well, here's proof that I was wrong:

47% of American Households Pay Zero Federal Income Tax

But, don't worry. As the article clearly points out, the top 10% of Americans are bearing 73% of the total income tax burden.

What a perfect situation. Stand before the electorate and tell them you will give them more and they won't pay a penny for all of that largesse. We will simply tax "them", the wealthiest Americans.

And, it should be obvious that 10% of the population will not be able to unseat the robber barons of the government.

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.

Loose fiscal policy? Us? How long since 1789? That would be 221 years. Close enough to the average, I guess.