What Is Glaringly Wrong With This Picture?

[Playinghardball]

Source: MoveOn.org

[liberal N proud]

1. We can't see the tall dudes head?

:sarcasm:

The chart makes you sick!

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. Bank of America CEO from the looks of it.

LOL

[alfredo]

42. Naw, it would be a picture of a big dick.

[Kurovski]

26. His head is there somewhere.

But what he maybe needs is a guilliotine.

[bengalherder]

53. The Procrustian Graph, LOL n/t

[Kurovski]

57. I blame the Queen of Hearts.

2. Of or pertaining to Procrustes, or the mode of torture practiced by him; producing conformity by violent means; as, the Procrustean treatment; a Procrustean limit

[Divine Discontent]

27. all mgmt and CEO types are tall... lol

I always joke that with friends.


http://www.zazzle.com/republicans_2012_keeping_millions_out_of_work_bumper_sticker-128002960205017719

[Kurovski]

58. Tall tales.

Full of them.

Also see: Shit.

One nice thing about making it to the top is that you no longer are taxed with the chore of providing prostitutes for purposes of landing the sale.

[dickthegrouch]

29. We mere mortals are only fit to kiss his a** /nt

[tblue]

2. I could throw up.

Everything is wrong with it. We are back to the Gilded Age and we have to fight the same fights over again.

[gratuitous]

4. We didn't all choose to be hedge fund managers?

If only more people had the belly to be robber barons with the moral compass of a mercenary, we'd have a dream society!

[Beartracks]

23. Clearly, the rest of us opted to be "failed Americans." n/t

[pkdu]

5. Scale is all wrong.......if the heights of the individuals were truely to

scale ...we would only see the shit on the bottom of the hedge-fund managers shoes.

/sarc off

[Initech]

6. Really disgusting.

I'm reminded of this quote from Fight Club that describes it perfectly:

"Look the people you are after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals. We collect your calls. We haul your trash. We guard you while you sleep. Do not fuck with us."

[kctim]

7. How come the IRS site says the hedge fund manager salary is in the 35% bracket?

[Hosnon]

11. I think the vast majority of a hedge fund manager's income comes from something

similar to capital gains, which is taxed at 15%.

The salary is pennies in comparison.

[kctim]

12. Oh, sorry

I couldn't read the fine print at the bottom and thought they were talking about income brackets.

So what's the excuse they use for firefighters, teachers, policemen and doctors having to pay 25% and 28% capital gains tax, but hedge fund managers only having to pay 15% on their capital gains?

[Hosnon]

13. Dunno. I'm not well-versed in all that. I just remember hearing something along

those lines on NPR.

[kctim]

16. Yeah, me either - thanks for the info though

[Hydra]

14. The current Meme is that those hedge fund managers

Are the "Job Creators."

And if we tax the "Job Creators," then the entire economy will fail overnight...never mind the fact that it already failed.

IMO, it shows that our priorities are skewed. We worship successful criminals instead of the people that make our lives possible.

[kctim]

15. So we have to tax the capital gains of hedge fund managers

less than we tax the capital gains of everybody else, or the entire economy will fail overnight?
I don't care if they pay a higher tax bracket on income, taxing them less than others on capital gains is ridiculous.

[Hydra]

18. The Meme is that it's any kind of "tax increase"

It's Ronald Reagan's failed "Trickle down" theory. If we don't let them keep as much of their well earned(stolen) money, then they won't reinvest and buy more yachts and houses and caviar...which in turn means the little people like us won't have jobs because no one will buy anything or invest in companies.

It's pretty pretzel logic, but what other logic do you ever get from Republicans?

[subterranean]

30. Fund managers carved out their own tax loophole called "carried interest."

They invest other people's money and keep a share of whatever profits they make. That share is classified as "carried interest," and if the fund's investments are held long enough, it can be taxed at the long-term capital gains rate of 15%, even if the manager did not risk any of his own capital. That's how a hedge fund manager like John Paulson can make billions and pay a lower tax rate than a cop or a teacher.

More details:
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2010/03/15/100315ta_talk_surowiecki

[True Earthling]

47. Exactly... even though they have no capital of their own invested...

they pay the capital gains rate of 15% on the fees they charge for their labor...

http://www.epi.org/publication/pm120/

Tax treatment distorts economic incentives
There are two things economically wrong with this special tax provision for hedge fund managers. First is its impact on economic efficiency. It creates inconsistent economic incentives (i.e., distortions) for some labor income to be treated as ordinary income while other labor income is treated as capital gains, and the work done by investment advisors is undeniably a professional, laboring activity.1 Fund managers at pension funds, trusts, and endowments who provide similar professional services are paid a salary and possibly a bonus, and these are all treated as ordinary income. Only because hedge funds and private equity firms are organized as limited liability partnerships—which are already treated favorably for tax and liability purposes—are these same professional services taxed differently. The result is a distortion in the compensation and after-tax income between these super rich hedge fund managers and millions of others in the workforce.

The second thing wrong with this exemption is that these super rich fund managers do not need and certainly do not deserve special tax breaks. Alpha Magazine reports the compensation for hedge fund managers each year. The top earner for 2006 received $1.7 billion, the second highest received $1.4 billion, and the third $1.3 billion. That adds to $4.4 billion for three people. The top 25 hedge managers received, on average, $570 million for a total of $14.25 billion.

[krispos42]

32. Capital gains are from profits on investments, supposedly.

So, the theory goes, if you lower taxes on investment profits, you'll get more investments in business, and thus more jobs and stuff.


Of course, it's proven bullshit... it's an incentive for the owners of companies to pull money OUT of the business because the tax rate is so low! And buying used stock and real estate isn't helping business hardly at all.


But money is free speech, so the wealthy have the ear of the legislators.


Besides, firefighters, teachers, and policemen are UNIONIZED, and by definition overpaid and over-protected and EVIL!!!!!! So we have to tax them! :crazy:

[hfojvt]

33. the graph is talking about income

The teachers, firefighters, police, and doctors are paying that tax on their salaries, not on their capital gains. Whatever capital gains they had would be taxed at a lower rate, either 0%, 5% or 15%. My own capital gain was taxed at 0%. But capital gains are not typically a large portion of their, or my, income.

[JDPriestly]

37. teachers, firefighters, police, and doctors and the rest of us

pay property taxes, sales taxes, all kinds of taxes. Personally, I think that capital gains on sales of assets held less than say 10 years -- not just one year -- should be taxed as income -- same rate.

That would encourage more stability and discourage a lot of speculation in certain kinds of markets such as real estate or certain stocks.

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc409.html

[indepat]

52. Taxing income as capital gains is pure cockamamie bullshit, compliments of a

corrupt and venal Congress and successive administrations. It is pure de sucking at the government welfare teat by a government that would rather gut social security and Medicare benefits rather than impose a fair and equitable income tax on hedge fund managers and their ilk. Refutation invited. :patriot:

[Township75]

8. What is glaringly wrong to me is that while 4 people's tax rates are shown...

the 5th gets a bar that states "as low as..".

To be a fair comparison, they all should have their tax rates shown, or they all should have their potential lowest tax rates shown. No apples and oranges.

[tuvor]

34. +1

[HowHeThinks]

39. That stuck out to me as well......

if we're ever going to convince Mr. and Mrs. Middle America that they're being royally screwed we can't leave a glaring hole like that in the argument for the right-wing to exploit. There are enough instances of class warfare available that have irrefutable evidence. We shouldn't leave the right-wing an inch of room to maneuver , and that's exactly what that chart does. "As low as" for one should be "as low as" for all.

[Creideiki]

48. I personally love when Democrats protect the uber-rich

Warms the cockles on my hearts. Teachers, first responders, and working class? Nope. Hedge fund managers...hang on Timmy, we'll be right there!

[begin_within]

9. "Only the little people play taxes" - Leona Helmsley

[The Wielding Truth]

56. ...of course you mean... pay

[begin_within]

59. oops

yes you're right

[Aerows]

10. Those that serve the people pay the most

Those that do the least, pay the least.

[PA Democrat]

17. Several of our friends who were in sales have been switched from an

employee to an "independent contractor" by their employers.

Big savings for the corporation: they no longer have to pay their share of Social Security and Medicare taxes and they also no longer pay for ANY benefits like retirement plans and health insurance.

The former employees get screwed big time because they have to pay the full 15% self-employment tax, pay for their own health insurance and fund their retirements.

[JDPriestly]

38. I don't know whether the law has been changed, but this

re-categorizing an employee as an independent contractor can backfire in California if the employer has not made sure that the employee really meets the legal test for an independent contractor.

This problem arises when the employee is injured on the job and needs Worker's Compensation insurance benefits. It can also be a problem if the employer is not following overtime laws. Those are just a couple of the traps for the unwary employer.

The term "independent contractor" actually means something or at least used to in California.

An employer (or employee) should check with a lawyer to be sure that he or she is complying with the law on this.

[Jack Sprat]

19. The trickle is missing. So are the unemployed

who were supposed to get trickled down on.

[PETRUS]

20. K&R Also...

Tax policy is only one aspect of the story, albeit an important one. The rules of the road funnel money toward the top even before Uncle Sam (or your state government) takes their cut. Dean Baker's new book (available to download for free, by the way) very nicely explains a few things about all that.

[Jackpine Radical]

22. You really oughtta post the link to it if it's handy.

[PETRUS]

24. d'oh!

You can find it here:

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/books/the-end-of-loser-liberalism

I don't know if I agree with his prescriptions (when he offers them), but it contains excellent information about the policies the ruling elites use to tilt the playing field.

[Snotcicles]

21. They're faceless. nt

[KOfan]

25. FOB's

Friends of Bush. Nuff said.

[Kurovski]

28. His "base".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn4daYJzyls

[DeSwiss]

31. K&R n/t

[orbitalman]

35. K & R

[DRoseDARs]

36. It's blurry and difficult to read the numbers?

I mean really, white borderless text on horizontal light-blue-and-white stripped background?

Before someone clutches their pearls and/or gets on their high horse, yes I know what it's showing. I'm criticizing the poor-presentation of the information, not the information itself.

[Enthusiast]

40. I agree.....nt

[Yon_Yonson]

41. GREED

[Sherman A1]

43. K&R

:kick:

[mntleo2]

44. How about adding low income workers?

As I have testified before the Ways and Means Committee, while the Feds cut taxes, then taxes "trickle down" to the working poor in their states where state lawmakers continue to add regressive taxes in order to make up for what the Feds refuse to grant. The poor pay the highest taxes of anyone in all states, thanks to this.
http://itepnet.org/state_reports/whopaysfactsheets.php

Cat in Seattle

[blindpig]

45. Ain't capitalism grand?

k&r

[Major Hogwash]

46. Rachel had something like this on her program the other day.

But tea party politicians didn't see anything wrong with it.

[grattsl]

49. It doesn't include self employed - which is highest rate of all

regardless of actual income, self employed means you pay more.

[judesedit]

50. Thank you for showing the true picture even a kindergartner can understand

You're the best, Move-on.org. Please don't stop. Something's got to get through the skulls of the brainwashed. Hope it's not when it's too late for all of us.

[fascisthunter]

51. the least productive amongst us all are being rewarded

while screwing America at the same time. That's what this tells me.

[Starry Messenger]

54. They forgot to put the vampire fangs on the teacher.

Everyone knows we are blood-sucking childhaters.

[ToonTheNews]

55. K&r nt