Critical Thinking

I've been reading +The American Spectator lately in order to educate myself on what conservatives are saying.  I have found that this, as well as similar right wing media outlets (Fox, Rush, Sean H, etc....) are constantly trying to prove their point through the use of statistics.  In some cases, the stats are just wrong.  But even when they are right (or arguably right) the conclusions are incredibly suspect.

As an example, this is an article about how Obama is a Marxist (I know... again).  That conclusion is arrived to by citing statistics that show that the top 1% of Americans pay 39% of federal taxes although their national income was only 13%.  Coupling this with President Obama's statements about the rich not paying their fair share and that the rich don't need a tax cut, the conclusion is that he isn't just liberal, but a Marxist.

Let's play a little thought experiment.  Imagine a society of 100 people of which 1 makes $1 Million and 99 make $10,000 each.  Also, let's say that the cost of a very modest living is $9,500 per year.  Finally, assume the government requires $200,000 per year.  Now let's look at a few tax scenarios:

What would a flat tax look like?  Well each of the 100 individuals would have to pay $2,000 per year in taxes, which would severely hurt the livelihood of 99 people as they would be in a deficit of $1,500 per year.

Let's say we do it based on % of national income, which the author appears to think is the definition of fair.  In this case 99 people have to come up with $100,000 as does the millionaire.  Now the millionaire has a surplus of $900,000 and 99 people have deficits of $500.  This is fair?  

Finally, let's say that the Marxist Obama wants to make it so that 99 pay $500 per year, which would produce just under $50,000.  The millionaire has to now pay $150,000.  So there are no deficits among the 99 and the millionaire still has $850,000 in surplus.

 Does this sound like Marxism?  Only in the Twilight Zone.