I looked at how taxes have changed over the past century for the least and most wealthy, and the fact is, a 5% or whatever increase in the lower ranks means the difference between whether you're eating beans or meat for dinner (okay, beans are better for you anyway, but you know what I mean), while raising it 15% for the wealthy doesn't touch them at all! There was a time in this country when, if you made over a certain amount of money (can't remember what it was, I'll post a link to some charts I saw after writing this) you paid 90% of it in taxes!!!! Now, I DO NOT think that's fair, but when you consider that the money earned is either being made through the efforts of the little people employed in a company, or, as Zen wrote about, made through no effort at all but gambling, I don't see anything wrong with requiring uber rich people to live off half what they make-it's not as if they'd be destitute for Pete's sake! How much does a person need to live? Some of us have proven not all that much and still live a decent life!
Besides all that, though, we're being lied to about how money in the federal government works. The people on Capitol Hill are either ignorant, or willfully using others' ignorance to get what they want and to hell with the rest of us...and I include the president in that!
Chart links:
Corporate Tax Rates Then and Now
History of Federal and Individual Income Bottom and Top Bracket Rates
And once again I post a link to a book that, though I still don't understand some of it (economics will never be a subject I can fully grasp without a LOT of study-which will never happen), has helped me tremendously in understanding just how easily we can be manipulated about the way we make and use money. It's in PDF form, so you can download it to whatever device you use and read it. It's free, and actually readable!
The 7 Deadly Innocent Frauds of Economic Policy
Good morning,
Back in March, I was in the room as President Obama spoke to a group of young Americans of different political persuasions in Massachusetts. He spoke candidly and openly about the importance of compromise in our democracy — even from people who care passionately about their position.
Take a look:
One quote stuck with me: “the nature of our democracy and the nature of our politics is to marry principle to a political process that means you don't get 100% of what you want.”
This is a President who believes searching for common ground is the right way to approach solving our problems. And in fact, in the divided government our country has chosen, it’s the only way we can.
Unfortunately, that view isn’t shared by everyone in Washington, DC. And you can see that right now as the President is trying to bring people together to tackle our debt and get our fiscal house in order.
This is a difficult process, and it means Republicans and Democrats need to step outside their political comfort zone and find some common ground. The President is willing to make tough cuts with real impacts, not easy decisions.
But most Congressional Republicans have dug in and demanded that the sacrifice fall only on the middle class, seniors and struggling Americans.
The President tried to make it easy for them by suggesting closing some of the most egregious loopholes for the very wealthiest Americans and special interests — so that hedge fund managers don’t pay lower taxes than firefighters and teachers, corporate jet owners don’t pay lower taxes than commercial airlines, and oil companies don’t get tax cuts at a time they are making record profits.
Congressional Republicans have not yet given an inch even though the American people, regardless of which political party they belong to, overwhelmingly approve of this common sense, balanced approach.
Our nation is climbing out of the worst recession since the Great Depression, and one of the most important things we can do to help the economy is to get our fiscal house in order and reduce our Nation’s deficit. We can’t let this moment pass us by.
Compromise isn’t a dirty word — in fact, it’s the only way our democracy can get big things done.
Sincerely,
David Plouffe
Senior Advisor to the President
P.S. In his Weekly Address, the President calls on both parties to work together to find a balanced approach to solving our nation’s deficit problem. Watch the video.
2 comments:
I hear your pain, my sister - it's frustrating, doubly so because of the two options before us, the Demo position is still the far better option. *Sigh* wonder if we'd ever get more done if we could win back the house... I sort of doubt it... But all we can do is be the ideal we want to see, and to encourage others to do the same.
I was listening to an interview featuring Harold Bloom last night at ABC Radio National, The Book Show. Mr Bloom said he feared that his country's democracy was waning, wilting one might say, in the face of an angry oligarchy. The grubs of never more is enough will not be sated 'till they've firewalled all the money for themselves, I think.
Post a Comment