Pass on it!

I spotted the following drivel being passed around on face book today.

"Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401ks, took trillions in taxpayer funded bail outs, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billions in bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah, me neither.... Pass it on."

(sorry, I noted the image didn't fit properly on my blog, so I included the text)

Which inspired the following response:

I don’t either.

I do, however, remember when teachers and public employees captured unreasonable pensions and pay increases from taxpayers through lob-sided union negotiations.

I also seem to recall Planned Parenthood being the focal point of an abortion/murder business.

It seems to me I recall NPR and PBS being politically slanted, yet publically funded entities taking advantage of their taxpayer funded bully pulpit to spread their agenda.

Oh, and I seem to remember the stock market crashed because of loose home mortgage practices encouraged by several administrations and politicians on both sides of the aisle. Oddly enough, I too had money in the same market which also was pummeled during the crash.

And didn’t the billions (not trillions) lent to banks in the height of the crisis actually stop a meltdown of the banking system, and the occurrence of another Great Depression. And I seem to recall the majority of the borrowers have already paid back the money they borrowed.

It seems to me the oil spill in the Gulf, which was indeed tragic, is one of the risks we take to enjoy the benefits of a modern economy. We could all avoid the risks if we just gave up our cars, and other energy gobbling conveniences. I don’t, however, recall BP being happy or flippant about the situation.

Last time I checked, boards and shareholders give corporate employees their bonuses. It seems they have this crazy notion that paying competitively to attract top talent is important to their long term success. If you’re not a shareholder, I’m not sure why you care anyway, other than pure envy. Oh, and bonuses were severely limited while any of the “bailout” funds were still borrowed by the large banks during the crisis.

And what world do you live in where you believe people at the top of the economic pyramid pay no taxes? That’s an urban myth. Wealthy people pay the vast majority of federal income taxes, and plenty of other taxes, too. Sure, some foreign corporations pay little U.S. tax – they pay in their home countries.

The persistent desire people from both sides of the aisle seem to have to communicate in sound bites, and not thoughtfully consider their outlandish statements drives me crazy… Pass on it!