Soak the Rich, Week 3

We’re now three weeks into our thought experiment testing Sherrod Brown’s bold new fiscal policy: why cut spending when you can soak the rich?

Starting at the top of the S&P 500 and working our way through the index by market capitalization, we’ve now soaked half a dozen of the wealthiest corporations in the world. Though far-leftists like Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama are rarely specific about their methodology (they’re ideas guys, man, and you can’t, like, lock them in your box of policy specifics), we’ve taken a leap to doubled corporate income taxes and fully "reclaimed" CEO pay.

If these extreme measures won’t work, there’s a tiny chance Sherrod Brown is either ignorant or dishonest to claim the budget could be balanced by making The Rich pay their fair share!

By dramatically increasing taxes on six of America's most successful corporations, we could reduce the 2011 U.S. budget deficit from $1,620,000,000,000 to $1,570,816,376,200. That’s a 3.036% slice of a single year’s deficit pie. Even if soaking a few hundred more companies could cover the other 96.964% of the 2011 deficit, would it be worth it?

Of course it would! As any Progressive will angrily insist, raising taxes on The Rich has no negative impacts. Here’s a list of the things that won’t happen if Sherrod Brown taxes his way to the chart above:

• None of the six corporations’ 1,035,751 employees will lose their jobs.
• None of the funds or individuals holding the six corporations’ 22,514,800,000 shares of stock will be ruined… unless they deserve to be!
• None of the products or services – energy, transportation, iPods, laptops, servers, networking equipment, toothpaste, diapers, detergent, etc. – sold by the six corporations will get more expensive.
• None of the entrepreneurs or executives throughout the country will stop investing in American businesses.

It’s a good thing raising taxes is an all-around win, because Sherrod Brown is the only man who can save us and taxing The Rich is his best idea.

Wait, I nearly forgot – Sherrod Brown would be happy to cut defense spending! Because that isn’t one of the few things the U.S. Congress is actually supposed to spend money on.

Cross-posted at that hero.