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AhimMoonchowsen · 5204 days ago · link ·
Bravo France. Do you think the GOP would still be anti "any taxes" if a huge wave of wealthy Americans made the same plea? What I think is fascinating is that it is often middle class whites that oppose tax hikes for the wealthy. Why? Is it the dream that someday they may be amongst them? Strange days.
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Strange days indeed. Especially in these times when the gap between rich and poor is growing, and the rich don't see themselves as rich. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/04/19/nyt_rich_don_t_...
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AhimMoonchowsen · 5203 days ago · link ·
winning the state lottery is always a viable financial plan.
thenewgreen · 5203 days ago · link ·
As I have progressed in my career, I have been fortunate to steadily earn more each year. I'm not wealthy, but I have noticed that although some of the stresses of life have diminished, increased earnings have not led to the sense of having "more" or being "elite". I think that if you are self made, you will never feel "rich". "Rich" has become something people like me don't aspire to be. I see "Rich" as a person that is draped in gold/fur, driving a 100k car and speaking in the elite tongue of rococo. -Having said this, I can see how if we earned over 250k in our household, I would not consider myself as "rich" but rather just "doing well". By the way, I have no issue paying my share of taxes, I do take issue with how they are allocated.
Thanks for the link.
btw, I just read this: http://news.yahoo.com/warren-buffett-invest-5-billion-bank-a...
-Buffett has already made $ off the investment so it isn't completely altruistic but perhaps others will follow suit. Could help people begin to stimulate spend.
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I don't know if it's true that they pay far less generally than the middle class, but it is unarguable that they pay far less than they have historically. The only serious debate we've had about raising taxes in this country for the last few years had been about letting the Bush tax cuts expire on schedule, and only for the top tax brackets. That would take us back to the same top tax brackets used during the Clinton years, and they would still be about half of what the top rates were when Reagan was elected president. It's hard to argue that such a step is socialism or that it would prevent economic growth. We should be so lucky to have an economy like we had when Clinton was president.
And all through the 50s and the early 60s the top marginal income tax rate was above 90%. Yes, when Eisenhower was president, millionaires were seeing some of their income taxed above 90%. Damn that communist Eisenhower! No wonder the 1950s were a time of economic stagnation in America. Oh, wait...
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I agree 100% on the capital gains tax. It's nothing but a special, discounted, alternative income tax for people who don't actually work for a living.
I wonder if there's an analysis somewhere of how much of the income of the wealthy qualifies as capital gains and how much that affects their total income tax rate if capital gains are counted along with regular income.
Was this in response to this petition: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/ec...
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thenewgreen · 5204 days ago · link ·
Thanks for the link. I would imagine it was directly a result of the petition. Do you think that Buffets call to arms will elicit the same response in the US? http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/internatio...
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thenewgreen · 5203 days ago · link ·
Buffett steps in and "bails out" bank of america: http://news.yahoo.com/warren-buffett-invest-5-billion-bank-a...