Dicks.

Oilfieldguy @ 147

I am not comfortable with the idea of government redistribution of wealth. But laws need to be obeyed and enforced on tax collection.

Ask yourself, then, about how effective the economy (and the political system) was–for everyone–before the genuinely progressive tax system was gutted.

Stock markets are more volatile because capital gains taxes are so low that speculation is the norm.

The heyday of the unions was the `50s and `60s, and the middle class–economically and politically–was never stronger. The very top tax rate then was 91% going down to 70% in 1963.

Manufacturing and exports at that time were at an all-time high. Productivity was higher than anywhere else in the world. Now, our ranking in that category is well down the list.

The tax structure encouraged long-term investment at that time, which fueled the computer and technology boom of the `60s.

We had more leisure time than we do now–Americans now spend more time on the job than workers in any other country.

And, finally, the tax code is being used to redistribute wealth. Upwards. As Molly Ivins said, “this is class warfare, folks, and they’re winning.”

Yes, but the tax system was rife with so many loopholes, it was a rarity that anyone paid that high a percent in taxes (Can’t say I blame them, I can’t imagine anyone willingly paying 91% of their income in taxes. I’d be putting $ in foreign banks myself!) I have a book here by Philip M. Stern named The Rape of the Taxpayer. From it I learned that of the big 5 steel companies, none of them paid taxes at all. All were able to find loopholes and tax shelters. I come from a steel town, and I can tell you, they’d squeal like a stuck pig if you asked them to pay even local taxes. They said since they provided the population with jobs (along with terrific pollution and sickness due to all that coal dust in the air,) and the whole economy was based on steel production, well, you know the drill. Imagine that, no taxes at all, and this was when steel was still profitable! The book was copyrighted in 1972, but I still remember that another way to avoid taxes was to put all your money in municipal bonds, or some other similar investment vehicle, since none of the money would be taxable. So you had multimillionaires with a sizeable income and no taxes to pay on it. That’s why we got an alternative tax. They’re currently trying to end that tax, I think, because they say it’s taking money out of too many people’s pockets. I can’t figure why they just don’t fix it if it’s become no longer equitable. But to tell you the truth, I don’t really consider it a redistribution of wealth to ask for a minimum amount of taxes on six or seven figure incomes produced just off the interest from the bonds and that was not earned income. How, then, do you justify charging taxes to the guy who earned his income with the sweat of his brow?

I am not comfortable with the idea of government redistribution of wealth. But laws need to be obeyed and enforced on tax collection.

Ask yourself, then, about how effective the economy (and the political system) was–for everyone–before the genuinely progressive tax system was gutted.

Stock markets are more volatile because capital gains taxes are so low that speculation is the norm.

The heyday of the unions was the `50s and `60s, and the middle class–economically and politically–was never stronger. The very top tax rate then was 91% going down to 70% in 1963.

Manufacturing and exports at that time were at an all-time high. Productivity was higher than anywhere else in the world. Now, our ranking in that category is well down the list.

The tax structure encouraged long-term investment at that time, which fueled the computer and technology boom of the `60s.

We had more leisure time than we do now–Americans now spend more time on the job than workers in any other country.

And, finally, the tax code is being used to redistribute wealth. Upwards. As Molly Ivins said, “this is class warfare, folks, and they’re winning.”

Ann in AZ,

I give you Bernie Sanders:

Mr. Speaker, today the wealthiest 1 percent own more wealth than the bottom 95 percent. One percent own more wealth than the bottom 95 percent. The CEOs of large corporations today earn more than 500 times what their employees are making. While workers are being squeezed, being forced to pay more for health insurance, while their pensions are being cut back, the CEOs of large corporations make out like bandits.
Mr. Speaker, the Nation’s 13,000 wealthiest families, which constitute 1/100th of 1 percent of the population, receive almost as much income as the bottom 20 million families in the United States. One one-hundredth of 1 percent, more income than the bottom 20 million families. That, to my mind, is not what America is supposed to be.

Hopefully these guys will do more than just vote on some non-binding resolutions.

I agree, but I still want to know who will be able to afford to buy the goods and services that produced that kind of wealth. For instance, restaurateurs may be wealthy now, but with a diminishing % of the population still able to go out to dinner, won’t their income suffer? Same for hotels, etc. I guess my bottom line is, why don’t seemingly smart people realize it’s counterproductive to crash the middle class. They say Nixon used to think of the economy as a big pie: the more of the pie that he got, the less there was for everyone else, and to hell with them. He wanted the biggest piece. (Is that “supply side” economics?) It seems that’s what’s going on now. I think the more wealth in the hands of the more people, everyone is better off for it.

And everytime I here some wingnut yakkin it up about bootstraps and self-reliance I naturally assume he endorses stiffening the inheritance tax.

Make little lord fauntelroy find them bootstraps.

Trouble is that most people can’t create wealth as fast as the wealthy can steal it from em.

The worst example of it, without exception, is the Walton family. Millions of low-pay jobs, health-care obligations shunted off to the states, and fully 40% of the profits from the largest retailer in the world go to just five people….

One of the biggest funders of the Swiftboaters for Slime project was Alice Walton.

rwcole @ 133

Benito was also smarter than a broken pop up toaster.

Wouldn’t know it from the way he ended up….

his kharma ran over his dogma ……

A group of more than 50 active-duty military officers will deliver a petition to Congress on Tuesday signed by about 1,000 troops calling for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq. “Any troop increase over here will just produce more sitting ducks, more targets,” said Sergeant Ronn Cantu, who is serving in Iraq.

Under the 1988 Military Whistleblower Protection Act, active duty military, National Guard, and Reservists may communicate with any member of Congress without fear of reprisal, even if copies of the communication are sent to others.