DC is just today officially jamming us with the woefully misnamed and exceedingly awful “Inflation Reduction Act.”
One of its very many awful aspects – is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) getting an extra $80 billion over the next decade. With which it will hire an additional 87,000 people – more than doubling its current population of 78,000. Oh: And many of them will be armed – and be required to be “willing to use deadly force.” So – good news.
We have been incessantly told that The Rich aren’t audited nearly enough. There are a few reasons for this.
Sure, Big Government doesn’t want to harass their Rich cronies with unabating audits. Except The Rich bribe Big Government – and then write the tax laws to best benefit them.
There really isn’t any need to break the laws – if you wrote the laws. You wrote them – to cater to your needs. So I’m guessing the lack-of-compliance rates of The Rich – are more than a mite exaggerated. Thus less of a need for armadas of audits.
Still, we are being told the IRS is mass-staffing up – to go after rich tax dodgers. Except the government math doesn’t work here either. There aren’t that many rich tax payers – let alone rich tax dodgers. Only 23,000 households in 2020 reported an income of over $10 million.
You don’t need 165,000 IRS employees – to properly police 23,000 Rich taxpayers. The current 78,000 is more than sufficient.
You need 165,000 IRS employees – when you intend to go after We the Not Rich. It’s the only math that makes sense. It’s also hard to pretend that it isn’t their intent – when Democrats voted against preventing it:
“President Joe Biden’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is now begging the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) not to target working and middle-class Americans after Senate Democrats voted down a measure that would have banned such practices.”
Because Big Government is ALWAYS about going after the Little Guy. If only more of us Little Guys realized it.
Big Government is lyingly sold by Big Business as the “solution” to non-existent problems all over the place. Because Big Business knows they run Big Government – and are in actuality its sole beneficiaries.
And, of course, Big Business can deal with – and afford to pay for – Big Government MUCH easier than We the Little Guys can. Thereby crippling Big Business’ prospective competitors. Yet another crony advantage they enjoy.
The Big Businesses that make up Big Tech – have rapidly mastered this crony business model and its propaganda tactics.
Big Tech, Big Cash: Washington’s New Power Players
Big Tech talks a big Little Guy game – and mass-fund lots of Leftist “consumer interest” and “public interest” groups to do the same. Except….
Leftists Don’t Form ‘Public Interest’ Groups – They Form Government Interest Groups:
“The underlying theme throughout is the advancement of as much government as possible – all the while as much as possible disrupting the free market and destroying or silencing those opposed.
“Under the fraudulent guise of advancing the ‘public interest.’
“By which they of course mean government interest.
And why does Big Tech want Big Government? The same reason all Big Businesses do. Because they own government – so there’s more government for them to own.
And, of course, ownership has its advantages. Just as with Big Business and tax policy, Big Tech gets tech policy that benefits them. Just as with Big Business and tax policy, Big Tech dresses up their cronyism as benefitting “the Little Guy.”
Big Tech pushes the exceedingly stupid policy that is Network Neutrality.
Net Neutrality Is All About the Little Guy
Why Net Neutrality Matters to the Little Guy
Why the Little Guy Needs Net Neutrality
Except Net Neutrality is HUGE Big Tech cronyism – at the HUGE expense of the Little Guy.
We’re About to Pay Billions More Per Year for Big Tech’s Latest Government Cronyism:
“Net Neutrality outlaws Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from charging Big Tech companies – Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, etc – anything at all for all the Internet bandwidth they use.
“And Big Tech companies use a LOT of bandwidth. This is a HUGE crony gift from Big Government to Big Tech….
“Government outlawing Big Tech being charged for the titanic bandwidth they use? Means we will be charged exponentially more for the tiny bandwidth we use. Net Neutrality is government forcing us to mass-subsidize Big Tech.”
Big Tech insists upon keeping the exceedingly stupid crony policy that is Section 230.
Section 230 Protects Small Businesses Much More Than Big Businesses
Except that absolutely is not true. Section 230 has allowed a few companies to lock in market dominance – and then murder in the crib any potential competitors.
How Did Big Tech Get So Big? Massive Government Cronyism – Like Section 230
Conservatives Pretending Big Tech Isn’t Anti-Conservative Are an Embarrassment:
“Speaking of unfair…behold Section 230. Which gives Big Tech companies blanket amnesty from libel and slander resulting from third-party actions.
“This is anti-Fourteenth Amendment un-equal protection before the law – that no one else in the history of the country has ever received.
“If I owned a small neighborhood bar, I would have to purchase liability insurance to protect me should one third-party patron punch another third-party patron in my place. Or I would have to go to court and convince a judge or jury that it took place in my place — but not because of my place.
“Why do the biggest and richest companies in the history of Planet Earth get government-imposed blanket third-party-action immunity?”
Having now secured market dominance, Big Tech engages in anti-market practices to keep it.
Big Tech’s ‘Buy and Kill’ Tactics Come Under Scrutiny
Big Tech Companies Snap Up Smaller Rivals at Record Pace
It Looks Like the Big Tech Conspiracy Just Killed Parler
U.S. Lawmakers Detail Big Tech’s Market Abuses:
“A U.S. House of Representatives panel looking into abuses of market power by four big technology companies found they used ‘killer acquisitions’ to smite rivals, charged exorbitant fees and forced small businesses into ‘oppressive’ contracts in the name of profit….
“‘To put it simply, companies that once were scrappy, underdog startups that challenged the status quo have become the kinds of monopolies we last saw in the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons.’”
And Big Tech doesn’t want US to rectify the exceedingly stupid way Big Government taxes to pay for broadband welfare – the Universal Service Fund (USF). Big Tech pretends they’re for the Little Guy – just don’t ask them to help pay for the Big Government programs to connect the Little Guy to the Internet. Including, obviously, to their websites and apps.
Another Big Tech Crony Free Ride That Needs to End:
“What is the USF?:
“‘(A) system of telecommunications subsidies and fees managed by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) intended to promote universal access to telecommunications services in the United States.’…
“Guess who gets taxed?:
“‘Telecommunications companies must pay a percentage of their interstate end-user revenues to the Universal Service Fund….’
“And did you note who pays – and by omission who doesn’t?
“ISPs pay. And by extension – we do.
“But monstrous Big Tech – doesn’t pay a dime. How’s that for even more cronyism?”
So: Whether it’s on taxes, or tech policy, or environmental policy, or….
No matter in what sector Big Government gets bigger?
Big Business benefits – at the exorbitant expense of We the Little Guys.