Reminder: When Wealth Accumulates Into The Hands Of A few, Everyone Else Is Fucked

[stopbush]

Just a reminder that this is what is driving all of the bad news in the economy.

The country is not going broke. It's just that the wealth of the country is accumulating to the lucky few who have it within their power to REWRITE THE RULES TO THEIR OWN BENEFIT. That benefit screws the rest of us.

It is class warfare, and it's the rich who are waging war on the rest of us.

Headlines this week:

• Luxury market surges for Xmas
• BoA Pays Back Tarp $ Quickly So They Won't Need To Curb Xmas Bonuses To Execs
• Flipping Houses Is Back As An Investment Strategy For Speculators With Cold Cash

Here's some other headlines that accompanied those above:

• Indiana Will Dim Street Lights To Save $
• $25-a-week Fed Stimulus Benefit May End For Unemployed
• Millions About To Lose Unemployment Benefits
• COBRA Assistance Ending For Many Unemployed
• Thousands Line Up For Olbermann-Supported Free Health Clinics

The republicans yearn for "the good old days," when people all went to church and Ozzie & Harriet set the standard for what defined the American family. What they forget to mention is that pre-JFK, the top tax rate for the wealthy in this country was 90%. Yep. 90-fucking-percent. Thanks to the R's, the richest people around today (like Warren Buffet) have a tax rate that is lower than that being paid by their administrative assistant (secretary, to those of you who aren't PC).

I say let's go back to those good old days and restore that progressive tax rate. It's amazing how many streets can be lit, how many teachers can be hired, how many states can get into the black and how many American families can do better if we as a country embrace the strategies that made the good old days so good. And if I happen to become one of the lucky few, I'll gladly pay that rate myself.

[gateley]

1. K&R although I don't think it's fair that ANYBODY pays 90% in taxes to a government.

It's my sense that if the government got that extra gobs in tax revenue, they'd spend it on more of the stuff that drives us crazy anyway... Or lose it.

[safeinOhio]

3. No one ever paid the 90%

there were a ton of deductions at the time. Most in that bracket were forced to reinvest or donate.

[Atman]

4. Bingo - "Reinvest or Donate." Now they're encouraged to horde.

By virtually eliminating all taxes on the wealthy -- even the estate tax -- they no longer feel compelled to "dispose" of their otherwise-taxable income by creating museums or foundations or charities. They don't have to. They can just leave it to their snot-nosed spoiled-brat progeny. This has the net effect of dumbing down the pool even further, as those young'uns, who've never worked an honest day in their lives, suddenly find themselves with the incredible power a few billion dollars brings.

While no one actually ever paid 90% of their income in taxes, the progressive tax structure actually created many of the great institutions we have today. The new old rich think they have no obligation to the society that made them rich, and feel an "entitlement" to just say fuck you to the rest of America while they wallow in insane wealth which almost none of us will ever have even the hope of attaining -- hell, most of us would just be happy with a decent job and some health insurance.

.

[NoUsername]

14. You nailed it. n/t

[stopbush]

19. Charitable giving by the super rich in this country is appalling.

I'm in the fund raising biz, where the super rich are defined as people with a net worth of $25MM or more.

Believe it or not, only 14% of the super rich in this country donate to charities. 14%! Most leave their fortunes to their spawn.

Another statistic I've read - though I can't remember the percentages - is that a large number of the super rich don't even bother exploring ways to save their fortunes from the tax man when they die. They shrug their shoulders at the fact that they might pay up to 50% in taxes when they die because they have so much $ that the 50% they have left will be more than enough to see that their spawn never has to work a day in their lives.

What's sad about this is that they could be directing that $ to charities and taking a deduction for the same. They could be supporting a hospital or a university or an arts group, but they can't be bothered, so they let the government take the money. Thus are wars and pork barrel spending funded in this country.

[laughingliberal]

5. Correct. And forcing them to reinvest or donate was a good thing nt

[gateley]

6. Oh --thanks for the education. I just couldn't imagine how it could be fair

for ANYBODY to pay 90 cents of every dollar they made to the government. I get it now. :hi:

[safeinOhio]

8. Lets just say there were incentives

to spend money in ways that helped society, rather than just the rich. Worked very well from the 40s to the 60s. People still got rich, only it was over time. Now the CEOs,etc, think wealth should be acquired over night or with in a year or two. People got rich in the 50s and 60s, but, not overnight. At the same time strong unions helped build a middle class. I had some old pay stubs from a Ford worker in the late 40s. The person never made enough to have any federal deductions.

[gateley]

9. So, the higher 'contributions' from the mega wealthy enabled the Ford worker

to not have to pay tax while still making a livable wage?

Who changed this -- and why?

We need the unions and the middle class to rise again. We're teetering on the edge, in some places we've already toppled over.

[NoUsername]

16. That's an interesting bit about the pay stub from the late 40s.

About 15-20 years ago or so, I remember a conversation with my Dad where he was kind of wondering why I wasn't able to save money at my salary. (I didn't earn a whole lot by ANY means but coming from abject poverty, it probably seemed like a lot to him.) So the next time I went home, I brought along a pay stub to show him. (Dad was a farmer and, as such, hadn't really seen a "pay stub" for quite a few years.) He was absolutely astounded at how much was deducted even BEFORE Federal and state taxes. After seeing my pay stub, he not only agreed that it would be pretty much impossible for me to put money aside, he was actually wondering how I was even able to get by.

Such is the lot of the working class in America. That much hasn't changed over the past 15-20 years.

[stopbush]

13. The rich still have many deductions that they can take for charitable contributions.

The difference is that they're now able to lower their tax rate from 38%, rather than 90%.

I would guess that it was near impossible to get yourself down to a 40% tax rate when the top rate was 90%. Now, they start below that rate and take deductions that make their real rate even lower.

And let's not forget the other taxes that the rich don't pay. "Taxes" that are imposed on the rest of us when we buy things on credit and carry a balance. I run into quite a few millionaires in my line of work, and I can't tell you how many of them paid cash for their homes. No mortgage. The average 30-year mortgage will cost you three times the original price of your home. Same thing with buying a car. Pay cash and there's no interest to pay. The rich people I know all have credit cards, but they don't carry balances. They use them for convenience.

[leftstreet]

2. K&R

[CalifornioRick]

7. The rich weren't content with 90% of the wealth,

they want it all. It's incredible how short sighted they are, they don't seem to understand that their 'luxury' items are made by regular folks who have a life beyond the mindless accumulation of money. I support increasing the minimum wage to at least $10 an hour so that the average working folks have some disposable income beyond necessities. If a business is doing well enough to hire employees, it is doing well enough to pay those employees fairly and provide benefits, including dental and vision care. Unfortunately, employers are allowed to get away with avoiding paying for coverage for their employees, and the best solution anyone can come up with is for the government to let them off the hook? Congress needs to pass a law that requires providing health benefits to anyone who is an employee, just like workers comp and other withholding is mandatory. If the people working can all be insured by their employers, there are more resources available to help those that aren't.

[lib2DaBone]

10. Good article. Yes, a "depression" (among other things)

...is basically when there is no cash flowing in the system. When the money stops moving.. for whatever reason... (the wealthy are hording it, regressive taxation, bad trade policy, bad legislation, theft, insider trading).

When there is no money (credit) to buy products, build factories, buy raw goods, pay for roads, put gas in the trucks, hire workers.. the whole thing collapses.

This is what has happened. George Bush and Big Oil have drained every last drop of blood from the veins of the United States.

Now , instead of ordering a transfusion and emergency CPR, Obama is busy handing over what little we have left to the very people who caused the problem in the first place!

I don't know what to say. I love Obama and worked very hard for his campaign.. but what is going on now is just INSANITY.

[keep_it_real]

11. Fucked right up to death we are fucked in this life.

And if there is only one life, this one, we are really, really, fucked.

[Mithreal]

12. K&R

[Union Yes]

15. Time is ripe for a worker uprising!

[deutsey]

17. k&r

[chill_wind]

18. K & R

[saltpoint]

20. This is why I revere Zorro.

Seriously. I think the characters of Zorro and Robin Hood are important in the culture because they feature the notion that wealth should not be accumulated and contolled by the arrogant few but rather shared by the needy many.

Plus Zorro's horse is awesome.

[WT Fuheck]

21. 1. That's what's wrong with America, in a nutshell.

2. That's what happens inevitably under the yoke of capitalism.