I have heard conservatives and libertarians rant and rave about the "entrepreneurial spirit" necessary to promote prosperity. I have also heard about "trickle down" economics. In reality, this is what wealthy corporations and individuals do to our economy. If given tax cuts, they exchange their wealth with other wealthy people and businesses and the wealthy benefit tremendously. Meanwhile, with their bargaining power so high, the empowered plutocrats can cut wages, outsource jobs to countries with no labor laws and they actually feel less need to expand or invest (they are already doing so well) and so unemployment rises while wages and even human rights decrease. Another problem with supply-side economics is that it directly depresses the economy as a whole. How? Consumer spending is a major part of our economy, and it decreases as the number of wealthy people increases, since the wealthy can afford to keep more of their money in the bank, while the rest of us have to spend our money to have basic necessities. Moreover, if you have actually seen what life is like for beggars and "street people", you realize that they are not lazy but rather genuinely disabled, and last I heard our government occasionally has the generosity to pay them $605 per month. This is my taxation plan, which, combined with increased government spending and a stable middle class, would bring both prosperity and social justice. Treating capital gains, dividends and inheritance as personal income, I support implementing this income tax structure:

<$25 thousand, $0
$25 to $75 thousand, $0 + 40% of the amount over $25,000
$75 to $200 thousand, $20,000 + 50% of the amount over $75,000
$200 to $500 thousand, $82,500 + 60% of the amount over $200,000
$500 thousand to $1 million, $262,500 + 70% of the amount over $500,000
>$1 million, $612,500 + 90% of the amount over $1,000,000

I would refund $10,000 per dependent only to those in the $25 to $75 thousand tax bracket. I would tie corporate taxes to a grading system from a private organization like CorpWatch. Do you agree or disagree? Let the discussion begin.

Its really unfair if there is only a 2 dollar difference between two people, but one will pay thousands more in taxes than the other. That is why a flat tax rate is ideal for personal income tax. Tax cuts should work in a similiar way, give everyone a tax cut of the same amount, say 500 dollars, sure that may seem like nothing to a rich guy, but the less money you make, the more it will help you.

I think a flat tax rate would also be ideal for corporations too, but in addition I would propose that corporations should receive relative tax breaks if they keep jobs in the host country. Maybe distributing out tax breaks in accordance with CorpWatch would be beneficial, but I think basing a whole tax system on the judgement of CorpWatch would be negligent.

Raising the minimum wage as well as government assistance checks (social security) should be done in relative to cost of living increases.

Republicans in the United States have for years spread the myth of trickle down economics. Tax cuts for the wealthy not only do nothing for the poor- they hurt the poor. By "empowering" the wealthy, they increase their bargaining power over labor and potential labor and make the rich complacent, lowering wages and raising unemployment. That is why George W. Bush's economic plans have been such an abject failure.

Sounds great but if you were going to tax people that much then the rich would just move to another country where they weren't taxed so heavily and could exploit cheap labour. Your economy would die right there.

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What's this i hear bed? Word has it you and Pam are sleeping together.

If the wealthy tried to emigrate, I would allow them to do so- but in so doing they would forfeit most of what they had made in the United States. I already thought of that problem, and that is how I would reign in Bill Gates and friends.

If you wanted to live like they do in Lesotho. May be great for you, but you can count me out.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

You clearly have been brainwashed by Ayn Rand, stekim. My plan would make our country more prosperous (read some Keynes).

I have a Master's degree in both economics and finance. I worked as an economist and now I work in investment banking. I've read more economics books and articles and papers and journals than you could ever hope to name. INCLUDING THIS MORNING. And I have real world experience to boot. So if there's anyone who was brainwashed by reading a few Chapters of some book it's you. It's clearly not me.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

Force you can't run capitalism and try to achieve equality. As soon as you start taxing, foreign investment is going to die, the wealthy will run away with whatever cash they can squeeze leaving corporations and jobs to wither and die (not all jobs obviously as most are still provided by small business), people then spend less money because they fear they might lose there job or have to take a pay cut to save there boss' bonus. This results in less money business' take in and therefore have to spend which results in more wage cuts etc.

Go for full nationalization. Still hits the economy hard initially but won't send it in a downward spiral and will be viable for economic growth.

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What's this i hear bed? Word has it you and Pam are sleeping together.

As a SOLUTION to something? Interesting.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.