To me, this highlights the dangers of single issue voting. I appreciate his shooting videos and I find them entertaining, but he misstates some things. Like, saying I've never seen a tax go away, only get bigger.
I guess he is conveniently forgetting that tax rates dropped under President Trump. Compared to the 1960s, every single president since, has enacted or continued lower income tax rates. When it comes to corporate taxation, we have rather high rates, but tons of loopholes. Compare this to FDR who essentially threatened companies to pay their taxes or risk nationalization. And what resulted was the largest economic period of growth in American history.
But tax rates are not the only things to be aware of. While a tax loophole is arguably what created the most popular retirement investment; the 401K (so named for its passage in the tax code) the downside is that the traditional pension has gone by the wayside, much to the detriment of the American worker. If you are a working class guy, you would likely find yourself better off with a guaranteed pension rather than a 401K.
Miculek's stated disdain for government regulation doesn't really mesh with reality. Nobody has ever been forbidden the opportunity to work through regulation. What we have done, however is fail to regulate large corporations who are happy to lobby and make campaign contributions. Today, we find companies abusing the patent system to stifle competition, rather than to protect IP. We find them buying up other companies solely for patents rather than actually innovating. Now we see corporate consolidation taking place in front of our very eyes in the nation who created anti-trust regulation as we know it. The Republicans who detested big conglomerates are now gone and the new Republicans are happy to let them consolidate power. Democrats meekly poke their heads up from time to time asking for paltry concessions which end up either ignored, or weakly enforced, or invalidated entirely. Banking regulations would have mitigated the 2008 recession, but the SEC either didn't act when they should have, or had no authority because previously illegal things were now legal. When you need a strong ally in government to speak up for the little guy, you get lip service from the GOP while they sell you out in another way, and you get ignored by the DNC who long ago forgot that they were supposed to be the pro-labor party and won't push anything serious that would actually benefit the working family at the expense of corporate donors.
I certainly value my freedom to own and shoot my guns but watching the ever-increasing corporate influence in the US Government signals to me, a much greater threat. And I tend to find the Republican 'comin fer yer guns' argument pretty hollow when I see them taking massive contributions from banks and pharmaceutical providers. I may be free to buy whatever firearms I want, but that's a pretty meaningless thing when I could find myself still working in my 70s to afford food (to say nothing of ammo) because a bank failed and took my IRA with it. I'm not going to be rebelling against anyone at 73 years of age. I will still need to eat.
So, long story boring, I don't buy Mr Miculek's argument. It ticks the ideological points nicely but seems to fall pretty flat in practice.
)
