Coddle the rich

[McGiver]

America and citizens united
Europe with austerity measures.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/05/02/chomsky-u-s-and-europe-committing-suicide-in-different-ways/

[odeon]

Hi McJ. How you?

[McGiver]

Thinking about listening to Clapton.  Thanks for the suggestion.

[Pyraxis]

Come back in honor of May Day?

[McGiver]

MAYbe.

[Kapkao]

I see Chomsky found something to take up his blogspace, again. 

[Kapkao]

Here's the problem with Chomsky's gripe: if you can't pay for someone else's welfare, you can't pay for someone's welfare.

Sure, slashing medical and retirement benefits is never popular with common folk, but it allows this basic concept called "Law and order" to remain functional. Without slashing the less-than-essential stuff, you end up being like America, who borrows one to two thirds of every dollar spent,  or your government implodes and "Survival of the Fittest" reigns supreme shortly afterwards.


I'm not necessarily a fan of Citizens United, but it's moot what I think about it.

[RageBeoulve]

I'd rather slash things that rich people need, rather than the common folk. There are more common folk than the rich.

[Kapkao]

what do "rich people" need from the government, necessarily, that the middle and lower class doesn't?

[Bastet]

what do "rich people" need from the government, necessarily, that the middle and lower class doesn't?

Tax breaks where they pay a significantly lower percentage rate than their help.

[Kapkao]

You're not thinking this through, Duckie. What governmental "help" do the rich get, on average?

There's another thing: with income taxation set up as it is now in the states, most "rich" people keep their respective federal government afloat in terms of finance. That billionaire who invested all his money in gold? His yearly income keeps thousands medicated, sheltered and fed through 'welfare', because of the taxes he pays. Something to consider before going off on an "Eat the Rich" tangent, huh?

The socialites and inheritors that keep offshore assets are the exception, here. They get the privilege of hiding their wealth from Uncle Sam, which is a privilege most can't actually manage.

Corporation taxes are also a different story, but corporations are not "rich people". Yes, some corporations do NOT play by the same taxpaying rules that every other business and individual plays by, and it's really fucked up when it does happen. Mostly because Securities and Exchange Commission-esque corruption/kleptocracy enables entities like Bank of America to have gotten away with paying the grand total of a dollar a year in taxes.

  you SEC.

[skyblue1]

You're not thinking this through, Duckie. What governmental "help" do the rich get, on average?

There's another thing: with income taxation set up as it is now in the states, most "rich" people keep their respective federal government afloat in terms of finance. That billionaire who invested all his money in gold? His yearly income keeps thousands medicated, sheltered and fed through 'welfare', because of the taxes he pays. Something to consider before going off on an "Eat the Rich" tangent, huh?

The socialites and inheritors that keep offshore assets are the exception, here. They get the privilege of hiding their wealth from Uncle Sam, which is a privilege most can't actually manage.

Corporation taxes are also a different story, but corporations are not "rich people". Yes, some corporations do NOT play by the same taxpaying rules that every other business and individual plays by, and it's really fucked up when it does happen. Mostly because Securities and Exchange Commission-esque corruption/kleptocracy enables entities like Bank of America to have gotten away with paying the grand total of a dollar a year in taxes.

  you SEC.

Fuck the rich

And if I was rich I would be saying fuck you, for making me pay more, but I would work twice as hard to make more money. Cuz thats what rich folks do.

[Callaway]

You're not thinking this through, Duckie. What governmental "help" do the rich get, on average?

There's another thing: with income taxation set up as it is now in the states, most "rich" people keep their respective federal government afloat in terms of finance. That billionaire who invested all his money in gold? His yearly income keeps thousands medicated, sheltered and fed through 'welfare', because of the taxes he pays. Something to consider before going off on an "Eat the Rich" tangent, huh?

The socialites and inheritors that keep offshore assets are the exception, here. They get the privilege of hiding their wealth from Uncle Sam, which is a privilege most can't actually manage.

Corporation taxes are also a different story, but corporations are not "rich people". Yes, some corporations do NOT play by the same taxpaying rules that every other business and individual plays by, and it's really fucked up when it does happen. Mostly because Securities and Exchange Commission-esque corruption/kleptocracy enables entities like Bank of America to have gotten away with paying the grand total of a dollar a year in taxes.

  you SEC.

Fuck the rich

And if I was rich I would be saying fuck you, for making me pay more, but I would work twice as hard to make more money. Cuz thats what rich folks do.

You might, but if the marginal tax rate is high enough, some people wouldn't work twice as hard for more money when they don't even get to keep very much of it anyway.

They would prefer other perks to more money like more vacation time or stock options.

Where is the line that divides "the rich" from the rest of us, anyway?

[skyblue1]

I think you know where that line is.

Are you part of the 1% or the like the rest of us, amongst the 99%

Best solution, Flat tax rate, no loopholes. Everyone pays according to a set schedule

Different tax rate for business, but no loopholes, no hiding money or assets off shore.

No more subsidies for anyone.

[Callaway]

Well, obviously I'm not in the top 1% of income for Americans, but, like most Americans, I'm probably in the top 1% of income for the world as a whole.

Much of the world lives in poverty that's difficult for us to even imagine.