What to do with the Rich

The New Mexico state legislature has been sitting in special session in the Roundhouse in Santa Fe in an effort to resolve projected budget deficits due to the Endless Recession.

The Legislature is controlled by the Democrats, and the Governor is former Clinton apparatchik Bill Richardson. So rather than simply cut the budget, as Republicans demanded, the legislature chose to both cut the budget and raise taxes to raise revenues to cushion the blow of budget cuts.

But this is how they've done it: They chose to raise the Gross Receipts Tax (Sales Tax) by 1/8th percent, to raise cigarette taxes 75 cents a pack and to reimpose a 2% sales tax on food.

These tax increases, of course, affect the poor far more than they do the rich, and New Mexico progressives have been expressing their outrage, disgust, and contempt for the Democratic legislature and the governor. Why do moms going to the grocery store have to pay an extra 2% to the state, while big-box stores and the wealthy continue to receive tax breaks they have been benefitting from since 2003? It is assumed that Richardson and the legislative leadership simply would not accept any tax increases on the big-box stores, corporations and the wealthy. Increased taxes on the poor and working classes, fine.

A minor adjustment to a loophole that allowed the wealthy to deduct their federal tax payments from their income will result in slightly higher tax payments from the very well-off, but the basic problem with the income tax in New Mexico is that it is essentially a flat tax of 4.9% for all incomes from about $25,000 to infinity. While some progressives wanted to add a higher tax bracket for those making over $200,000 a year, the Governor would have none of it, according to reports.

Those least able to afford an increase in taxes will be paying them in New Mexico, and the Democrats -- according to all reports -- will suffer for it in the fall. They will probably lose control of the legislature and the governorship.

I think we know why neo-liberals like Richardson prefer neo-liberal tax-the-poor and hold-harmless-the-rich solutions to budget problems.

The question is, when the only political alternative is worse -- ie: the Republicans -- what are the People to do?

Already, the rich in New Mexico live as nearly as possible apart from the People, behind walls, gates, and often private guards and surveillance cameras. The People have been long-suffering, but this action by the legislature -- and the Governor when he approves the budget and tax increases -- is a forthright slap in the face of the People.

They are to pay. That's all there is to it.

Just as the People are to pay off the gambling debts of the Banksters.

The rich are to be protected.

No matter what.

Oh, New Mexico ("Why Not Bill?" edition)

I arrived at our place in New Mexico last Sunday and have been continuing my projects while here. Old adobe ranch houses require a lot of maintenance, to say the least. There's still plenty to get done before winter comes on, but about as far as I got this time was to gravel the front walk so it isn't as likely to be a path through the big muddy when the rain or snow or slush comes, make arrangements with Critter Control and the neighbor lady to deal with the skunk infestation (this is an ongoing challenge. I will say these skunks are really beautiful, and everyone claims they make great pets if you get them when they're little), and mow some of the dust.

Well, there's been a real drought here, not like the pseudo-drought in California that has had everyone in hysterics for the past year or more. There hasn't been any rain in this part of New Mexico, not even close to normal, though it's been tropical up in Santa Fe, downpours all the time, and our unlandscaped property looked rank and dry and sere. So I mowed the dust. Looks better. I guess. Have to do something about xeriscaping eventually, but I'll have to have more time to do it.

My internet here is now dialup as the source of the high-speed that used to work from time to time has disappeared. I think I know what happened, but cannot be sure. Many of the neighbors have moved, new ones moved in, my next door neighbor is moving out at the end of the month, and yet things aren't really as bad here as in many other places.

It's just that in rural anywhere, but especially rural NM and regions contiguous, it's tough all the time, and when a recession like this hits, it can be devastating.

But to the topic, I was listening to NPR, and one of the local persons had an editorial opinion to the effect that all this hoo-hah over Obama's Nobel Peace Prize was keeping people buzzing, to be sure, but real Worthies weren't being mentioned as substitutes for the President. "Why not?" he said.

"Why not Bill?" Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico, in other words.

The guy went on at some length about all of Richardson's many peace-making accomplishments (quite a list), and yet, he said, nobody much knew about it and it seemed like fewer people cared.

I've got plenty of issues with Richardson (Wen Ho Lee, anyone?), but when it comes to actually doing something, accomplishing something, sticking to something, in the realm of what you call your mediation and your peace, Richardson is right up there with some of the giants in the field, and his neglect (apparently he's been nominated several times) by the Committee tells you pretty much all you need to know about them and what they're up to.

And, no, I don't hold it against them. You see, I don't get a vote on the Nobel Prize Committee, and neither do you (well, I assume!). They make their choices based on whatever they think is important at the time, and they don't consult us about it; they consult one another.

Yes, Richardson is worthy of Honor -- at least for some things -- and there is nothing to stop anyone at all from honoring him appropriately.

Why wait for the Nobel Committee to get its Norwegian ass in gear?

I never understood that.