Cost of Tax cut for the Rich

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/18/tax-cuts-rich_n_848933.html?ref=fb&src=sp#sb=782856

That's too intellectual for most people. It's easier to reduce benefits to those without the voice to protect themselves than explain how enriching the rich just enriches the rich. That's higher level economics apparently.

Diane,
perhaps it's a good thing I live where I do. If I were in the States, I would be inspired to lead a revolt. This is tax season. What would happen if hundreds of thousands of people refused to pay their taxes?

Cutting the budget hurts the people who need it most. How much more will they tolerate before they take action?

It's a natural process.

The affluent class's share of the pie isn't a percentage: it's a set number, and they can't be persuaded to take less, no matter how reasonable they may be (and a lot of them ARE quite reasonable, in fact). That's just the way humans are.

If folks were reasonable (the affluent and the pee-ons alike), there would be no need for radical social changes, and even hard-core slavery of old (as in the Roman Empire, for instance) would be a respectable, decent institution. The root cause of slave revolts isn't the humiliating social status of any individual slave, after all: it's sadistic treatment and malnutrition.

In a nutshell, the affluent grab fifty pizza slices out of a hundred. When only seventy slices are available, they still want their fifty. It's not a percentage: it's a set number.

Scramble it any way you like, it's always been like this. The invention of Windows and the plasma TV screen change nothing. Goodness gracious, even Fukushima changes nothing.

Entitlements?
I paid cash for my social security insurance!!!! Just because they borrowed the money , doesn't make my benefits some kind of charity or handout !! Congressional benefits , aka. free healthcare , outrageous retirement packages , 67 paid holidays , three weeks paid vacation , unlimited paid sick days , now that's welfare , and they have the nerve to call my retirement entitlements !!!

What the HELL's wrong???


WAKE UP AMERICA !!!!

We're "broke" & can't help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, Homeless etc.,???????????

The new budget request is asking for $549 BILLION for defense. $128 Billion of that just to buy stuff to kill people with.

Our retired seniors living on a 'fixed income' receive no aid nor do they get any breaks while our government gives Billions to Corporations that pay $0 in taxes. Yes, that is right, $0. BP poisoned the Gulf of Mexico but gets big tax breaks. In addition to billions in subsidies, the company has received $10 billion in federal contracts from the American taxpayer in the last ten years.


They call Social Security and Medicare an entitlement even though most of us have been paying for it all our working lives and now when its time for us to collect, the government is running out of money. Why did the government borrow from it in the first place?

AMERICA: a country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed hungry, elderly going without 'needed' meds, and mentally ill without treatment -etc,etc.

Now the Republicans want to cut out Medicare and Medicaid. Is not helping those that are in need really the road to prosperity?

Tea Party Activist, living on Social Security don’t even see what they are about to lose that “entitlement” Sad isn't it?

4/19/2011


Abe..


..............................


Cheers..Joe...

Ricardo, you said it in simple terms. Abe, you made it clear. Joe, you picked the right emoticom. However, who among us is leading the protest where it counts, to our representatives and in the newspaper editorials?

While I agree with Ricardo regarding the intent of the wealthy to keep their piece; their "entitlement" including congress having the best benefits in the nation (no discussion about them participating in their medical insurance payments), the U.S. did at one time set the example of an emerging "middle class."

I guess as the middle class began to find its power, the wealthy had to destroy it to keep the two class society.

My point was that an emerging middle class wasn't going to be as easily "snowed" into knowing their "place." They might start cutting into the piece belonging to the wealthy class.

I went shopping yesterday at SACS and a few other high end stores. I found some very attractive clothes. The cotton t-shirt with a scoop neck was $348. The cute little jacket was $1,280. I saw a young woman trying on a gold dress that had to be in the thousands.

Some attractive shoes were $648. I'm not sure about the $48. It seems $600 would have been a nice round price - might have appealed to me at that price. At one time you could say, "at least it's made in the U.S." No longer. Nothing is made in the U.S.

There was a time in my life when I shopped in those stores. I found the prices shocking then. However, I was encouraged to spend the price to look the part.

My $1.99 K-mart special t-shirt is just fine for my exercise class.

That's why I like Marshalls, DK.

Ann

Do you mean Saks? Saks is a joke, along with Neiman-Marcus and Nordstrom's. You can get the same look for a lot less (not that it will be "cheap") at Dillard's. And savvy shoppers know about Bluefly and various online member-only places like Ideeli and Haute.

About the original topic of this thread. I don't think the HuffPost is any more competent at analyzing the costs of tax cuts to the rich than any of us are. They hardly even employ writers, most of their "staff" is volunteer bloggers. What I've read is that some legislators feel we need to move from the place we've come to where people look at government entitlements as a comfortable hammock they plan to rock in their whol retirement lives instead of a last resort.

I'm sure rocking in that hammock into which I paid for 51 years. It's not very solid. My friend's sister who made minimum wage all her life is about to retire; her hammock is thinner than mine. When you are one person, the major expenses are the same as for two with half the income (housing and utilities & maintenance).

The Waterside Shops in Naples are pretty to walk in; they are frequented by those who come here from everywhere in the world with unlimited incomes. The rest of us look - and then shop elsewhere :-)

Quote :

My point was that an emerging middle class wasn't going to be as easily "snowed" into knowing their "place." They might start cutting into the piece belonging to the wealthy class.

Hardly, dkchristi.

Unfortunately, it's the population vs. the resources (and the way the resources are utilized). When there's plenty of everything, the greed of the upper class gets "satiated," and the remaining part of the resources is enough to create a "middle class," and this "middle class" starts absorbing the "lower classes," - again, depending on the resource availability.

There hasn't been a single instance in history when the lower classes were completely absorbed by the middle class, even though we have come close a number of times, most notably at the peak of the Roman Empire (even though the across-the-board prosperity was achieved thanks to slave labor) and, to a lesser extent, in the decade following World War Two, in the U.S. and some parts of Europe, thanks to petroleum.

Now that petroleum is running short, we're headed back towards "business as usual," with the "living standard" for anyone but the affluent declining steadily.

The process can and should be halted, though. Unfortunately, we have nerds for leaders everywhere, and nerds don't actually DO anything; they just tinker and futz and tweak and smile fatuously when they complete a "project" and tell everybody how great things are going to be from now on.

If we could get everybody to stop driving pointlessly, invest in public transportation, and ask all "office worker" to please work from home not just once a week, but all the time, we could reverse the trend. Well, that's a whole different story altogether.

One of my biggest concerns in this whole mess is, in fact, the U.S. Constitution. I happen to be very fond of that particular document. Call me sentimental. I wouldn't want it to suffer in the process, nor would I with a light heart accept any administration that would publicly dismiss it as "no longer relevant."

I don't talk much about how things work...who eats at the table, and who sits under the table eating scraps. I write the truth in fiction, because those eating at the table tell fiction to those sitting under the table. It's the only way I can be heard. Remember, the pen is mightier than the sword.

4/20/2011


" It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times."

I believe the second American Revolution is coming !

Cheers..Joe

Nah.

Did you know that we had six different presidential candidates two years ago? One of them a black woman?

Do you know many people who are aware of this? (Cause I don't, and I live in a very large city that pretends to be a cultural Mecca, the ultimate bastion of free-thinking intellectuals, etc, etc).

Is anyone, and I mean anyone other than the actual members and myself (not a member) know what the Constitution Party's program/platform/letter of intent/mission statement is?

There is no need for a revolution. We can have a revolution every four years: legally and without bloodshed. Being a little curious, loving your neighbor, and paying attention is all it takes, really.

Three hundred million people live in this country; and Obama and McCain were absolutely the best we could do? Those two? A pair of career bureaucrats? In this "the best of times, the worst of times"? Goodness.

I'm personally acquainted with a couple of dozen folks who'd look a lot less ridiculous as candidates.

The reason politicians speak the way they do is that "we the people" don't want to hear the truth, and get sarcastic when we catch them lying. What choice do they have? Exactly: talk for an hour in a language that closely resembles English yet is completely devoid of meaning. Our current President gives a truly peerless performance each and every time.

The truth is this: the age of the automobile is over. Someone of national importance who isn't an author (authors are never taken seriously) should say it: publicly, officially, and in so many words. The longer they (we) postpone this, the worse off we'll be. And that's just for starters. There's a lot more to it, but I wouldn't want to bore anybody.

Not boring at all. The beauty of a forum is we have the choice to read or move on; the writer has the opportunity to speak fully.

Off topic, Rick, but I'm curious. As a native Texan who still lives in her home state, how long have you lived in New York? Do you live in NY City? What part of Texas are you from? Do you feel your avatar expresses your perspective?

Just curious to know where you are coming from so I can get a better a feel for where you are going with your posts.

Ann

Adj, I'm a Texan in spirit. I've lived in New York most of my life.

As for where I'm going with my posts: I don't have a specific agenda. There are topics I feel ... hmm ... passionate about, and those include, but aren't limited to, history, natural sciences, art, architecture, linguistics, literature, verismo opera, the Bible, blues, anthropology, theatre, the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, space, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Civil War, Coney Island, public transportation, and women.

As for the avatar, I'm a lot taller and thinner in real life. I don't have a mustache; nor do I habitually wear any sort of headgear.

Being a Texan in spirit does not mean you have to reside in Texas (as a Texan, you probably know this).

As a Texan, Rick, I see that there is much diversity of outlook and perspective here. There are five specific regions, each with its own speech pattern and culture, and even within those areas, there are lots of perceptions.

I have lived in three very different places, all within this state, and don't find all that many similarities between them.

What is your concept of "Texan"?

Ann

I have a concept of Texas; I once read that Texas is sort of a separate country...but Texas will aid the United States in time of need. And, there are many good jokes about Texas I like. They have the best steaks in the world. Hail is the size of baseballs. I like the shape of Texas...without Texas, a map of the United States would look funny. Besides, without Texas, who's eyes would be upon us?

And we made an agreement with the US, as the only independent nation to ever become a state, that we would be allowed to divide into as many as 5 states (those 5 geographical regions). We get to keep our natural resources. That one came up before oil was discovered, but it still holds true, as far as I know.

There are those here who believe we ought to become a separate nation once again. (I am not one of them.)

We are technically a Red state, as opposed to a Blue one, but the gap is narrowing, on the average it is about 52-48% in most recent elections. As the Hispanic population increases, we just might tilt the other way.

But people here are all very different, so the stereotype of "Texan" doesn't fit very many people I know.

Ann

4/20/2011

Rick..

Glad to see another New Yorker here, what borough
were you born in ? Me, Brooklyn, Lived in Manhattan all
my life till 12 years ago, moved to Santa Fe...


Cheers..Joe

Ann -

Quote :

, as the only independent nation to ever become a state,

There was also "The Bear Republic," but that's debatable.

However, to answer your question:

The stereotype of "New Yorker" doesn't fit many New Yorkers. The stereotype of "Frenchman" doesn't fit anyone on this planet. Most Germans do have a sense of humor, and intelligent Canadians constitute approximately two percent of that country's population: Canada's no different from any other country in that respect, their obsession with hockey notwithstanding.

Not all Bostonians are snobs; not all Minnesotans are blond; not all Californians slow; and very few Alaskans are frost-proof. Etcetera.

I dropped by New Orleans once to do some research (this was before Katrina). Spent four days. Spoke with a few dozen residents. Two thirds of them were not New Orleans natives.

There is an image that is associated with Texas in most minds. There's nothing you, I, or anyone else, can do about it. Nor should we.

... And I don't mean Sam Houston, either.

There was a brief period of time, between the Reconstruction and the discovery of the big oil fields, during which the Texan spirit as we know it today emerged. It may or may not have disappeared since then.

I cannot possibly govern people: I could never go into politics: the idea bores the living daylights out of me. I don't like giving orders. I don't like taking orders either.

I have this agreement with the powers-that-be that I will honor their laws and pay taxes, and they won't tell me how I should talk, write, paint, nor whom I should eat/drink/sleep with.

In my little cozy universe there's a colonial-style church servicing a small town somewhere north of the Rio Grande. Most folks are sinners, since nobody is perfect; and no Commandment is safe, except, curiously, the Second Commandment. We are not eager followers. Now and then we get an invitation, and sometimes we accept it; never instantly; always reluctantly.

Oh, and - nothing ever holds true when oil is discovered. Other than what I've just described.

Joe:

I wasn't born in New York. However, thirty years is a nice round number.

I've been all over the five boroughs, but mostly Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Here's some news for you: they've extended the Q line to Astoria now. Carnegie Hall used to be the final stop on the Q.

Why did you have to move to Santa Fe? How not at all elegant of you!