I read all that trash and I realize just what the problem with liberals is. They are linear thinkers. That thread proves it. They focus on the yacht and what it represents to them and not on the actual point that NU is attempting to make. The point as I see it was that higher taxes causes people to alter their spending in ways that are negative to the economy. Raise taxes on the rich and they will find ways to avoid the taxes and the economy is negatively impacted. Raise taxes on the middle class and they will spend less on luxury items. Again the economy is hurt. NU was illustrating this by pointing out that is better to build yachts in America so that the money that enters the economy via the purchase of materials, the hiring of builders and sales people, the rental of property to sale the yachts stimulates growth. Tax a market past the breaking point and the money will find its way into other economies benefiting them.
Liberals don't see this because they are blinded by their desire to punish the rich. If they can deny a wealthy person an American made yacht screw the economy because in their view some greater moral justice was served. Serving some ideological version of social justice is all well and good, but the landlord wants cash.
This is an oldie, but a goodie and should be repeated often (this version is from
https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/the-tax-system-explained-in-beer/):
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this…
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing
The fifth would pay $1
The sixth would pay $3
The seventh would pay $7
The eighth would pay $12
The ninth would pay $18
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59
So, that’s what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball.
“Since you are all such good customers,†he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20″. Drinks for the ten men would now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men ? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?
The bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.
And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% saving).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% saving).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% saving).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% saving).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% saving).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings.
“I only got a dollar out of the $20 saving,†declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,â€but he got $10!â€
“Yeah, that’s right,†exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!â€
“That’s true!†shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back, when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!â€
“Wait a minute,†yelled the first four men in unison, “we didn’t get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!â€
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
