Politicians love to pander to voters by saying things like, ” The American people have spoken.” Or “The American people want…(whatever).” The American people have no idea what they want.
From Free Money Finance:
An MSN-Zogby poll says most Americans want the next president to make the government live within its means. But they don’t support cuts in programs and aren’t willing to pay more taxes.
Okay. Sure. No problem.
And then there are these gems:
- Most Americans oppose cuts in major government programs, but 50% also said they wouldn’t vote for a candidate who proposed higher taxes to balance the budget. Only 35% said they would be willing to pay more taxes to maintain the current level of spending.
- Social Security is the government’s most expensive program, which experts say could soon overwhelm other spending. Yet 80% of Americans said they oppose cuts in it, and 62% said they wouldn’t vote for a candidate who proposed cuts.
- In general, people were more accepting of cuts if they wouldn’t be affected.
So the American people do not mind higher taxes as long as it’s someone else’s taxes that get raised. And they don’t mind less spending as long as it doesn’t affect them personally.
And we wonder why politicians are cynical.
