Most People Agree with Obama About Sharing the Wealth

[vanlassie]

If not, they should take a close look at this video (3.37 min)

The L-Curve: Income Distribution of the U.S.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woIkIph5xcU


The income distribution of the United States is far more unequal than most people realize. In fact it is so lopsided, it is hard to represent on a single graph. For more see http://www.lcurve.org.

[stray cat]

1. Just read that share the wealth to many means money from middle class to poor

Its not what Obama is saying but thats McCains spin

[vanlassie]

That's why the L-Curve is so instructive. I wish every voter got a copy of it...

[VoodooGuru]

2. There are lots of ways to share the wealth, too

It's not just what McCain tries to scare people into believing, namely unmerited wealth transfer. Commerce is, at its base, sharing the wealth, and Obama's "bottom-up" philosophy of economics taps the redistributive power of commerce to achieve the goal just as much as his fairer tax policy does.

[vanlassie]

3. "Wealth" is also the bounty of the earth (read: oil?) Since when do WE get to share that wealth?

[hay rick]

4. Obama's sharing the wealth remark.

You will recall that Obama's sharing the wealth remark was in response to Joe the Plumber's question about a hypothetical flat tax- it was not about either Obama's or McCain's current tax plan. The remark was ripped out of context by the McCain campaign and the media, the official custodians of public ignorance, have avoided commenting on the fact ever since.

If you think about it for half a second, you will realize that any tax system that doesn't tax everyone an identical amount is "redistributionist." In the real world, the issue is not whether a tax system should be progressive, but to what extent.

The current media nattering on "redistribution of wealth" in the proposed tax rates is matched by its silence on the redistribution of wealth in incomes that has occurred in recent years. In 1980, the top 1% of households accounted for about 8.5% of all income. By 2006, they were acquiring 22% of all income. And as the excellent video in your link demonstrates, the incomes of the very rich are now literally "off the charts." No wonder median household incomes have declined (about $2,000) during the Bush years.

My recent post on essentially the same subject:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7705386&mesg_id=7705386

[vanlassie]

6. So if the top 1% are acquiring wealth at such a rate...

upon who's LABOR are they benefiting? I wish people could see how the fruits of their labor are systematically sucked upward. No working person would ever vote for a Republican.

[Cresent City Kid]

5. Thanks for the link

Much like the top income, it is hard to graph how much I appreciate this information. It's nice to have numbers to back up what I believed. The lack of understanding of this by the general public is astounding. We have been led to believe that giving to the poor caused the struggles of the middle class, when in fact even those making 6 figures are closer to being poor than rich.

I think we need a new highest tax bracket for the top 1%. This would bring our progressive tax structure closer to reality.

[vanlassie]

7. Ha Ha...that's true- I know of so many 30 Somethings who make $80-100K a year

and they think they are "wealthy" and they identify with Republican nattering about their taxes being too high. They vote for Republicans "Because They Will Lower My Taxes." They WANT to think of themselves as part of the "upper income" class, and they think you do that by being a Republican. Sheesh.

[hay rick]

8. Top marginal rates in not too distant past.

Here's a link to top marginal tax rates over the years:http://www.truthandpolitics.org/top-rates.php

Note the 91%+ rate from 1951 to 1963. And top rates remained at at least 70% through 1980. Top rates declined after that and the giant sucking sound of upward wealth redistribution was heard throughout the land.

[Gabi Hayes]

9. don't forget what Reagan did with SS taxes

biggest tax increase ever, right?

that was the killer, for many reasons, perhaps chief amongst which was the approx $80K cap on taxable income