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Originally Posted by JP5";p="
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Originally Posted by gmb92";p="
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Originally Posted by JP5";p="
Jim Webb sounds like a border-line Communist. I thought he was supposed to be a moderate. Obviously, whoever told me that was wrong.
I'm betting the people of Virginia---after reading this---will feel like they were snookered: BIG TIME!
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are hanging on to the talking point that "conservative Dems" beat the Republicans. It makes them feel better in the short-term but it's not reality. In the Senate, Webb, Tester, Brown, Whitehouse and McCaskill are all solid liberals and of course Bernie Sanders (socialist) replaces a moderate independent. Casey is the only conservative Dem and he replaces the most far right loon in the Senate (Santorum).
Webb is a Richard Clarke type. Once a Reaganite, his stances have moderated over the years and his party status switched on the Iraq issue - seen to be one of the greatest foreign policy blunders in our history. |
Webb ran as a "Reagan Democrat." IF that's not presenting himself as a moderate, I don't know what would be. But this article sounds anything but moderate. Here's some of the flaws in what he says:
At least 1/2 of Americans own stock---either directly or through pension funds. So "our" stocks are not owned by the elite.
Yes, "fewer people send their loved ones to fight wars"----because you don't get "SENT" anymore. Our military is ALL volunteer.
Webb complains about corporations and CEO's pay; but doesn't mention what sports stars make; what Hollywood stars make for ONE movie; or what Union bosses make.
Webb whines that the rich don't send their kids to public schools. George & Laura Bush did; the Clinton's and the Gore's did not.
Webb says it's unfair that the top 1% now takes in an 'astounding' 16% of national income. But this same 1% pays over 1/3 of all federal taxes taken in each year. How about that for unfairness?
More Americans than ever before have college degrees.
More Americans than ever own their own home.
In our country, People like me-----a carpenter's daughter--is able to put themselves through college (first one in family) and through hard work and playing by the rules, eventually make it all the way to the top 1%. Not some "evil" person who had it handed to them, as the Democrats constantly portray!
It's time for Democrats like Webb, Al Gore, and all the rest to stop playing the class warfare. It just doesn't work anymore. There is too large a middle class and upper middle class, who started from the bottom, who KNOW better!! |
and I also KNOW better. "Class warfare" is a political term designed to dismiss debate off-hand.
The top 1% do not pay 1/3 of all taxes. This has been debunked countless times. As a regular poster, you should know better. You qualified this by saying "federal taxes" when in fact it applies only to federal income taxes, and only as a percentage of AGI. AGI, of course, is income after all deductions. Since the wealthy usually have huge deductions, this percentage would dive if this numbers were calculated based on total income.
In addition, federal taxes include SS/Medicare taxes and excise taxes, which disproportionately burden the poor. Regressive state taxes reverse that percentage as well, since many are dealt in the form of fees, state sales tax, property tax, and state lotteries (which in an economic sense is a regressive tax). Your "top 1% pay 1/3 of taxes" is completely inaccurate.
While many Americans own equities, the vast majority of shares are concentrated at the top. The average American owns a grain of sand compared to what the super-wealthy own.
Webb recognizes the need to even the playing field. I moved up from the bottom in part because of federal student aid and public schools. We need to open doors for all classes of society and one way to do this is through progressive measures that lowers the total tax burden on the poor and middle class while shifting it towards the wealthy.
11-16-2006, 04:37 PM
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