ANOTHER JOHN GALT

From the Letters to the Editor page of the Los Angeles Times, another taxpayer goes Galt:

I have employed about 50 people during the last 20 years, and my family’s taxable income is about $300,000. In order to avoid paying a higher percentage of taxes on all of my income, I will decrease output, lay off some staff and still end up keeping the same amount.

I have no incentive to hire people or expand my business, because the more I make, the more President Obama will take to expand government. This discourages expansion of the private sector. It will backfire with disastrous consequences for all.

It is repulsive that Obama is being allowed to take this country backward by pickpocketing the very people who run the private sector through their energy, money and creativity.

Kay Santos
Diamond Bar

Michelle Malkin reported on this letter on her website, eliciting the following comment:

Comment #11 on March 4th, 2009 at 2:00 pm

lgm said: Both you and the LATimes have been punked. This letter is a hoax. As long as his marginal return is positive he has an incentive to make more money. If he really were in business he would know that.

Uh, sorry lgm, although I have no direct knowledge of its authenticity, the letter is quite likely real. My wife and I are “going Galt” on much less income. With a $300,000 pre-tax income and a marginal tax rate approaching 70%, I’m rather certain that Kay Santos, like myself, can find more rewarding things to do in the time it would take to earn the 30 cents that marginal dollar is worth.

You might want to consider re-taking Economics 101 at your local community college.

EMBRACE THE FAILURE

Following the attacks on Rush Limbaugh, David Harsanyi asks “Is it inherently unpatriotic or immoral to want to see a president fail?”

After eight years of seething hatred -- plenty of it deserved -- for George W. Bush, this brand of contrived indignation touches a new level of creative dishonesty.

[M]any of us are hoping that all those in power fail, because those in power have a grating habit of being annoyingly self-righteous, hopelessly corrupt, resolutely incompetent and completely apathetic about the freedoms that they have sworn to protect.

Embrace the failure. It's patriotic.

Nothing personal.

THE DOW WOKE UP

Unfortunately.

DJIA is down 75 points at 1 pm. I expect it to close down around 120 points.

I hope I'm wrong.

[Update @ 4:30 pm] Whew! that was close. The DJIA rose almost 150 points in the last half-hour of trading to close up 30 points for the day. Never have I been happier to have guessed wrong.