yea, right ... don't listen to what they say - watch what they do!
http://rawstory.com/news/dpa/New_Yor..._03292007.html

from time to time our kool aid contingent posts news articles highlighting how great the economy is doing on dubya's watch. noticed this NY Times article which lets us know where those tax breaks went - you know that money we didn't have that will be paid back by our grandchildren. at least we can now acknowledge that it was well spent, making the rich richer.
why do republicans hate average Americans?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Bushfan http://www.politicalforum.com/images...s/viewpost.gif Pelosi calls Mr. Bush a Failure in Eeverything. You just can't hide a public eduation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusticus Rove is s the slime on which this whole administration slid.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raharu Haruha And spending money is nothing more than another form of voting.

Because they do not donate enough to their jihad...er...campaign fund?

I didn't get very far in the story. Once I saw they were comparing the top 1/10 of 1% to the average of the bottom 50%, it seemed pointless to go on.

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Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive. - Theodore Roosevelt

That seems kind of selective reading, 12th.

The story made several related points:

1. The share of income earned by the top 10% -- and within that, the top 1% -- hit levels not seen since 1928.

2. While total reported income rose 9 percent, average incomes for the bottom 90% of earners actually fell -- meaning that entire increase, plus some, went to the top 10%.

3. The gains in fact went largely to the top 1 percent, whose incomes rose 14 percent.

4. As an example of the income chasm, the article notes that the top 300,000 earners collectively earned nearly as much as the bottom half of all earners -- 440 times as much per capita, in fact.

You read all that, and because you think #4 is illegitimate, you ignore the whole story?

There was also this point:

5. The wage disparity is probably even greater, because the IRS estimates that it taxes 99 percent of wage income but only about 70 percent of business and investment income, because those categories rely far more heavily on accurate self-reporting.

Are those all worthy of ignoring?

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Scarred survivor of the April 2008 Mod War.

Pretty much. I don't have a problem with income inequality. I think it's a good thing. Or, would you rather everyone earned the same, regardless of ability or effort?

As I've pointed out in other threads, North Korea has very equal income distribution, but the average "poor" person in the U.S. is far better off than a "middle-class" North Korean. This is because the Bill Gates' and Warren Buffets' that our system enables may widen the gap between rich and poor, but they also ultimately raise the standard of living for everyone.

This widening income gap does not mean that people are getting poor so much as others are getting rich. And there is nothing wrong with this. Or are we now to judge wealth (or lack thereof) by what others have, rather than what we ourselves have?

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One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings. --Diogenes

Exactly how much money do you think the top 1/10 of 1% should get in one year?

If you don't like that question, then tell me exactly what percentage of income they should pay in taxes.

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Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive. - Theodore Roosevelt

Yeah, like I was arguing for complete income equality. It's not a binary question, it's a spectrum. Gross inequality is nearly as bad as state-ordered equality.

When real wages for the bottom 90 percent of earners are falling, your thesis doesn't hold.

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Scarred survivor of the April 2008 Mod War.

People are losing ground. Saving rates are nonexistent. Credit card debt continues to be the foundation of economic activity. The wealthy- whether they deserve it or not- will always be able to move their wealth into the most advantageous currencies or wealth producing products while the rest of us experience the full impact of domestic policies. Power always concentrates wealth.

P.S. the more ancient measurement for a cubit is 20.64 inches (couldn't help myself.)

The details are up to Congress. I'd make a few general points:

1. The tax system that conservatives often criticize as "punitive" toward the wealthy or successful has turned out to be nothing of the sort. Despite such "confiscatory" measures, the wealthy have increased their share of income -- to the point of hoovering money out of the pockets of the less affluent.

2. Given #1, as well as the gigantic federal deficit and the consequences of extreme income inequality, it makes zero sense to prolong or enhance tax cuts for the wealthy.

The estate tax should be retained, and the AMT fixed instead. The cap on Social Security taxes should be removed, and/or income caps on benefits should be added. Marginal rates should be re-examined. Tax enforcement should be beefed up to capture more of that non-wage income.

Perhaps you think this is somehow a socialist redistribution of wealth downward, ignoring the fact that the current situation is a very large redistribution of wealth upward, which simply makes no sense.

Everyone's second $100,000 should be taxed more heavily than everyone's first $100,000. And that principle should be a general rule when it comes to taxation. The marginal rates should not be confiscatory, but they should be more progressive than they are now.

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Scarred survivor of the April 2008 Mod War.

And lest anyone think I'm simply being envious, with my wife working our household income will hit at least $125,000 this year -- possibly much more if she succeeds in her goal of quickly moving to a full-commission job. That's enough to put us into the top 10 percent, according to the article. The only self-interest I've got, pocketbookwise, is the very real possibility that that will be enough to subject us to the AMT.

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Scarred survivor of the April 2008 Mod War.