Continued Tax Breaks for the Rich?

[Mr Rex]

Good diversionary tactic...blame this whole economic mess on handouts to the little guy. Whatever the rich are doing to become even more rich seems to be working quite well. Has nothing to do with entitlements and everything to do with greed and political corruption. Don't see them creating jobs either with all their new-found wealth....must just be hoarding it away somewhere. How patriotic. The rich and the politicians do not make this country great...it is the honest, hard-working people who are struggling to earn a living, pay their taxes and raise their children. During the Viet Nam war, politicians and the rich did not send their children to fight. Most of the wounded and killed probably grew up receiving entitlements. Their families couldn't afford to send their sons to college in order to avoid the draft.

Versus blaming the whole mess on the successful? Dude, my grandfather was a sharecropper. My family creed evolves from each successive generation being more successful than the last, not that getting ahead was a bad thing.

Surely there are some curbs needed to the excesses, but when the impetus to succeed is removed, then we are all doomed to failure, or mediocrity at best. What is your opinion of our education system, economic situation, and leadership at this point? Is mediocrity an over sell?

 

[Calvin the Airedale]

Check this link out.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelo...but-unequal-charts-show-growing-rich-poor-gap

So much for Reagonomics and the trickle down theory.

And what are all these rich patriotic Americans doing with their rapidly increasing wealth? Certainly nothing to help their fellow Americans.

OK comrade. What would you suggest?

It's no secret why the wealthy can increase their wealth disproportionately to the middle class or poor: in addition to earning money themselves, they can invest their surplus wealth for greater income.

Have you now become as God, seeing into the hearts of men, to know the extent of their goodness, their greed, and the their virtue?

The truth is you don't know who does what to help whom!

Your umbrage is based on the fallacy that if someone else is doing well, it must mean be at your and others' expense. BS!

 

[TEL2002]

Vetteman, let's assume you hit the lottery for 100,000,000 cash.

Let's assume the average good living, blue collar worker makes 50,000 per year.

Are you willing to chuck over all but 50,000 of your 100 mil to the hard working people in your county that do not make 50K a year??????? If not, why not? If not, aren't you just being greedy? If not, don't complain about others that keep what they have.

You complain about the business man who makes millions, do you also complain about every pro sports player that makes lots of money, what about musicians, what about movie actors, etc.

BTW, during the Viet Nam war, I served with a Navy guy that was worth a couple of million, an Air Force guy that owned 5000 acres in Alabama, another Air Force guy whose family could only be classed as 'rich rich rich', another Air Force guy that lived in Malibu and had some wealthy stars for neighbors....and we were all enlisted slobs. I also served with some poor folk and a whole bunch of blue collar type folks.

I should add that I have met a Navy Seal and he comes from a very wealthy appraiser family .....ROFL.

 

[chad hampton]

Shouldn't the bottom 50% of wage earners pay at least some income tax? Some pay no income tax, but still get a big refund.

What does that say about wages in this country when half the people don't even make enough to qualify to pay any income tax?

Seems to me that that further supports the original poster's viewpoints.

 

[The Warrior Monk]

The wealthy pay a disproportionate share of the income tax, but many people forget that it is only the beginning of the taxes they pay. There are all sorts of taxes they pay that many of us never will, which vary across the country.

 

[The Warrior Monk]

Don't see them creating jobs either with all their new-found wealth....must just be hoarding it away somewhere.

Many are in fact creating plenty of jobs. However, they are doing it in areas where taxes and regulations aren't ridiculously excessive. That would include states like Texas, or overseas.

 

[JSmith43]

It's not a perfect system, but the amount of money a person earns is the best measurement of their productivity that we have.

I'd like to hear of a better way to measure productivity.

 

[Lee Lansford]

What does that say about wages in this country when half the people don't even make enough to qualify to pay any income tax?

Seems to me that that further supports the original poster's viewpoints.

But, if the top 20% of income earners paid 86.3% of all federal income taxes in 2006 (see my earlier post), what percentage would you want them to pay for you to be satisfied?

Once one believes that he or she is entitled to a share of what has been legally attained by another person, we have a thirst which will never by quenched.

Don't get me wrong...I'm not satisfied by the state of this economy, but the amount of the taxes paid by the people of this county is not the problem.

The problem is government (particulary during the past couple of years at the federal level) spends too much and has promised too much for far too long. And to pay for all of this? For too long now--under both major political parties--the day of reckoning has been pushed forward and now the piper is looking to get paid.

Many years ago someone told me that "the problem with government is that too many are addicted to 'opium'!"

"Opium?" I asked.

"No, 'O-P-M': 'Other Peoples' Money'!" Easy to spend...easy to tax...when it's OPM.

 

[Vetteman]

OK comrade. What would you suggest?

Please don't refer to me as a "comrade" because I find that highly offensive. You probably never even served in the military. I find it amazing what cowards will say on a forum.

I would suggest the wealthy invest in THE CITIZENS of this country. If they want to move their factories overseas and put Americans out of work, all in the name of maximum shareholder profits and CEO bonuses, then they can just leave themselves. Heard there are some empty villas in Mexico or Somalia that might make a nice place to raise a family. Don't worry, they will probably be safe...after all, they have enough money to hire their own army for protection.

I know very little about macro economics, but the trillions spent to incur the national debt did not just disappear into thin air...evidently it just trickles up. If it ain't broke, why fix it.

 

[Vetteman]

Vetteman, let's assume you hit the lottery for 100,000,000 cash.

Let's assume the average good living, blue collar worker makes 50,000 per year.

Are you willing to chuck over all but 50,000 of your 100 mil to the hard working people in your county that do not make 50K a year??????? If not, why not? If not, aren't you just being greedy? If not, don't complain about others that keep what they have.

You complain about the business man who makes millions, do you also complain about every pro sports player that makes lots of money, what about musicians, what about movie actors, etc.

BTW, during the Viet Nam war, I served with a Navy guy that was worth a couple of million, an Air Force guy that owned 5000 acres in Alabama, another Air Force guy whose family could only be classed as 'rich rich rich', another Air Force guy that lived in Malibu and had some wealthy stars for neighbors....and we were all enlisted slobs. I also served with some poor folk and a whole bunch of blue collar type folks.

I should add that I have met a Navy Seal and he comes from a very wealthy appraiser family .....ROFL.

In 1985 there were about a dozen billionaires in this country. Today there are more than a thousand. There are more than three million millionaires. These poor, unfortunate people have evidently been just taxed to death. I cannot imagine what their before tax "earnings" were.

I don't go to movies, pay for movies, go to sporting events, watch much TV, go to concerts, listen to the radio or buy music. I refuse to contribute any of my hard-earned money to such unworthy recipients.

I was in the Navy and enlisted to avoid getting drafted. Navy and Air Force did not suffer the casualties that the Army and Marine Corps did, unless they were pilots. The foot soldiers paid a heavy price, and they were NOT the sons of politicians and the wealthy.