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Did a big segment on workers rights vs wealthy/corporations on my most recent show (Original Post) stevenleser May 2013 OP
Feeding the greed monster. hay rick May 2013 #1
I love the example of your two tax plans, that is exactly it. The choice in a nutshell. stevenleser May 2013 #2

hay rick

(7,606 posts)
1. Feeding the greed monster.
Wed May 8, 2013, 02:03 PM
May 2013

Excellent segment.

The wealthy and the corporations are "victims" of their own success- and they are no longer capable of quitting while they are ahead. The real class warfare has been the transfer of income and assets to the super-wealthy. Their problem is that they have accumulated wealth by cutting real incomes for the majority of people. When ordinary middle and working class people lose income, they cut their spending. This reduces overall demand in the economy. Reduced demand means that capacity utilization is reduced. The underutilized economy has less need for labor, so wages can be cut...and the vicious circle is complete.

An economy that is operating with substantial excess capacity to produce goods and services also has no need for additional capital infusions. Because the excessive amounts of capital have been extracted from the demand side of the economy, the virtuous cycle of more production/more consumption/ more capital formation and investment is short-circuited by the inability of consumers to expand purchases. Beyond a certain point, capital formation is excess to the needs of the economy and is just another form of waste. I don't know where that tipping point is, but we are obviously pretty far beyond it and skipping merrily even further away from where a "sensible", humane economy would be. Lowering taxes on the wealthy and businesses will do nothing to create demand or investment opportunities- it will just further harm those who already face declining prospects.

For your consideration- a hypothetical example of two competing tax plans.

Tax plan 1- raise taxes $1 million on a super-wealthy bastard and use that money to increase benefits for just-getting-by seniors who worked hard their entire lives (not those "lazy ass demonstrators&quot . Result: rich guy takes $1 million that he couldn't usefully invest and returns it to the economy. The seniors spend virtually every nickel of that money- they have a very high propensity to consume. The multiplier effect turns that $1 million into more than twice as much demand. Businesses order more goods, factories order more, and even the rich bastard recovers some of "his" money because the other millions he has stashed away can now be invested in a growing economy instead of sitting on the sidelines in a stagnant economy.

Tax plan 2- Reduce social security benefits by $1 million and use that savings to cut taxes by $1 million for the super-wealthy bastard. Result: seniors cut their spending by $1 million and the businesses they deal with also cut their spending because they have less income. Meanwhile, the rich guy has virtually no propensity to consume. He already has everything he needs and practically everything he wants, but he does feel slightly wealthier so he spends $100,000 on another sports car. The rest of the money he throws on top of his money pile because the economy is shrinking and there's no place to invest it.

The rich hire people like your whiny friend Cavuto to beg for more when they have too much already. They want additional income that they didn't earn, don't need, and can't use. They want, they want, they want...

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
2. I love the example of your two tax plans, that is exactly it. The choice in a nutshell.
Wed May 8, 2013, 02:59 PM
May 2013

If the wealthy were either forced, through some new tax policy, or voluntarily returned all 20-30 trillion they have offshored to the economies of their respective countries through spending or investment, global GDP would immediately go up 25%-35% as would the economies of most individual countries. And as your plan 1 points out, a fair amount of the proceeds of that additional output would end up back in the hands of the wealthy, but the difference is that the rest of the population of the world would be much better off.

Edited to add, and the 25%-35% figure that GDP would go up doesn't include multiplier effects through which that would likely become 40%-70% when it was all said and done.

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