Mayor Mike Bloomberg, speaking for 2% of the richest Americans, was reported to be in opposition to the tax increase for the most comfortable of his fellow citizens. He suggested that it would have a negative trickle-down effect…meaning less money being spent by the entitlement people. That would translate into fewer jobs for the little people – the teensy, weensy people who work a 40-hour plus week for much less money that the 2-percenters. Mayor Mike’s theory is that there just wouldn’t be enough crumbs to pass down.

 

Let’s follow this scenario. Currently, a CEO pulling down, let’s say $10 million a year before bonuses is being taxed about 35% of what he pulls in. All these figures are guesstimates because, I betcha, the CEO has a team of CPA’s figuring out a multitude of ways not to give money to the government. Not like the little people who have to pay right to the penny. So the $10 million a year CEO would have about $6.5 million (before bonuses) to feed his family. Under the Obama proposed tax plan, expanded and targeting 2-percencters, it would move up a couple of more percentage points, leaving the mythical CEO with only about $6 million for buying household necessities. But he could still afford to go restaurants and hotels which keep the little people employed.

 

Six million left, that is if he pays it all…because many of those dinners and concert ticket and hotel suites will be paid for his company and billed to the clients. If not, the CPA will be able to write off a great deal of the pleasurable diversions and the little people  will still be getting their crumbs, taking care of the CEO and his cohorts every time they step into a hotel or a restaurant.

 

From what I understand of the Obama tax plan, the money gained from the rich man’s tax increase would be to create jobs building up the infrastructure, repairing bridges, tunnels and highways…and there would be funds for education and training so that the little people would be more able to compete in the new economy that is so dependent on the new technologies. A great many of the little people who have been serving and buffing the 2-percenters might get trained for a career, rather than just having a job. Their salaries would increase and there would be more tax dollars and money to spend, increasing the economic totality of the nation.

 

In John Grisham’s latest novel, the best-selling The Associate, he once again exposes

the sense of entitlement and extravagance of some of the 2-percenters. Mr. Grisham tells

us about a part of the world that only exists in fiction for some of us. The new lawyer, a

recent law school graduate has a clear picture of the law. It is in the area of billing clients

that he has a great deal to learn.

 

The young attorney asks “Did he say to estimate my hours?” There was nothing in

orientation, nothing in the handbook, nothing anywhere about estimating hours. Just the

opposite. They had been trained to treat billing as the most important aspect of their

practice. Pick up a file…look at the clock. Make a phone call…record the time. Sit

through a meeting…count the minutes. Every hour has to be accounted for and the

billing was done on the spot. It was never to be delayed and it had to be precise.

 

“How does one estimate hours?” Kyle asked carefully.

“Look at the file, check the hours you billed on it. It’s no big deal.”

At $800 an hour it was indeed a big deal.

“Don’t be stupid boy. It happens all the time. And since we’re now talking about

a bank, bill them for this lunch.”

The young lawyer said “I was planning on getting the check.”

The older man responds “Of course not. I’ll put it on my credit card and bill the client. I’m talking about our time.”

 

Later he tells the young man “Our biggest client is the seventh largest ?????in the

world, last year worth $200 billion. Very smart businessmen who have a budget for everything.

They live on budgets. Last year the budget for legal was off ????1 percent of about $2 billion.

Guess what happens if they don’t spend the amount they budgeted…if their legal fees fall

short? Their in-house lawyer monitors our billing and if our numbers are low they call up

and raise hell. The point is they expect to spend the money. If we don’t take it, it screws

up their budget. You follow?

 

In that atmosphere of 2-percenters, they arrange for and expect corporate trips to Hawaii

and Paris for meetings, conferences on golf courses… It’s all part of the entitlement

package…tax-free and absorbed into a corporate budget.

 

And then a legislator suggests raising the minimum wage or increasing taxes that won’t

affect the lifestyle of the rich and famous…but will create new jobs and opportunities.

The well-paid PR firms rush to Rush and O’Reilly and they, with their entitlement

contracts with the same corporations start crying “socialism”.

 

So far as I can see it Mayor Mike, the 2 percent tax increase will not be so damaging for

little people. The danger is, and has always been, when the little people smarten up and

realize what side of the bread is buttered they may start looking up at the socialism for

the privileged. Isn’t that what started the French Revolution?

 

 

I’m David Rothenberg, Socialist at-large, out on a limb.