So we had general elections today in Germany, and whilst it will take some hours until we see the official results, it is obvious that the majority of the voters preferred a coalition of parties that told them oh-so-good-to-believe lies: The main messages of the to-be ruling parties is that they will lower the taxes. Good – everybody loves to have more money in his/her pocket. The bad thing only is, there is no money left to be distributed after that crisis. Furtheron that agreement on abandoning atomic energy is at risk, to say the least, in spite of the now accessible proof that in research for an ultimate disposal place truth was the first victim. Fine.
But it seems that nobody cares about this. Better than facing reality is an illusion like in today’s picture: behind the reflection of middle-class houses wait the mercedes-benz cars for everybody.
Avoidance of reality, I’m afraid, is most people’s first priority. Politicians the world over promise lower taxes, people vote for them, and then the hard fact that things still need to be paid for – things like education, roads, hospitals, police, fire departments – shows up to spoil the party. In America, California is a prime example of what happens when the real world catches up with people’s fantasies.
Indeed! People love their illusions. Politicians can espouse change, sweeping changes that would cost trillions of dollars, but they feel free to say that it won’t cost much at all. Only later, when they get into office, do they say: Oops, it’s gonna cost a lot more than I thought! We’re going to have to raise taxes, but we’ll take it out of the hide of the rich!
Paul, at least in this case it is expected to be different: Since more than a decade it is monitored that the difference in the net income of upper and lower classes is consistently growing. And the last tax law changes did not change this fact. Two things could happen now: either the new government says ‘Hey, sorry, we didn’t think that the tax revenue is as bad as it turned out just today, so we can’t lower taxes as promised’, or they might just borrow more money – hey they spent hundreds of billions on saving the banks, so some 10 billions won’t matter – and then they can lower the taxes, which again because of the progression will inevitably favor the not really poor. And the car makers will sell more mercedes benz…
great statement with clear words and a very well fitting image … bravo!
The world economy is definitely in a crisis. Wonderful image for the subject matter.