Make Wall Street Pay

[georgephillip]

Send Them A Bill

"How much did Wall Street's abuse cost you? Find out!

Fill out the form below to see what Wall Street owes you and your state, and tell Congress to collect!

"Our country is facing a revenue crisis.

"There's not enough money in our cities and states to support the investments needed to rebuild America. The good news is this: We know where the money is.

"While politicians might tell you differently, it's not in Grandma's pension.

"It's not in the homes of families fighting off foreclosure. And it's not in the pockets of American schoolchildren or schoolteachers.

"It's on Wall Street.

"The big banks bankrupted our country.

"But we can rebuild America. And the big banks must pay their fair share."

Stop borrowing from the rich.
Tax them.

Make Wall Street Pay

 

[Avatar4321]

Maybe you shouldnt blame others for your problems but instead fix your own problems.

If everyone did that, no one would have any problems

 

[georgephillip]

I didn't inflate and collapse an $8 trillion housing bubble or profit from the nearly $13 trillion bailout of those who did.

What accountability do you expect from those who caused our current economic problems?

 

[Avatar4321]

Sure. you had nothing to do with it. You weren't being greedy. You weren't trying to spend beyond your means. You aren't making excuses for people. You arent trying to merely shift the blame to others.

 

[georgephillip]

Why do you blame me for the sins of Wall Street and congress?

 

[Avatar4321]

Why do you blame me for the sins of Wall Street and congress?

Why do you seek to excuse yourself from responsibility for something caused by everyone?

 

[georgephillip]

"(Bernie) Sanders, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, also said, 'It would be morally wrong for the United States to balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable people in our society while asking nothing from the wealthiest."

"Sanders suggested an emergency surtax on millionaires.

"A 5.4 percent surtax on adjusted gross incomes over $1 million would raise as much as $50 billion a year. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll published last week showed overwhelming support for that concept.

"Sanders also would end tax breaks for big oil and gas companies.

"Over the past decade, the five largest oil companies in the U.S. earned nearly $1 trillion in profits.

"Meanwhile, in recent years, some of the largest oil companies in this country paid nothing in federal income taxes. Ending those tax breaks could raise at least $3.5 billion a year."

Bernie Sanders Calls...

 

[B. Kidd]

I already made 'em pay.
And it felt good.
Real good.

 

[boedicca]

Observation:

This is just a war between the Siphoners of Wealth.

Our society has an ever increasing ratio of those who exist solely to siphon wealth from the shrinking ratio that actually produces something.

Yes, Wall Street does everything it can to siphon away our wealth. So does the Government. So do Public Employee Unions, and the Educational System and so on.

Making Wall Street Pay by shifting the wealth siphon from them to benefit another group of Siphoners does nothing the help The Job Creating Private Sector.

 

[asterism]

"(Bernie) Sanders, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, also said, 'It would be morally wrong for the United States to balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable people in our society while asking nothing from the wealthiest."

"Sanders suggested an emergency surtax on millionaires.

"A 5.4 percent surtax on adjusted gross incomes over $1 million would raise as much as $50 billion a year. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll published last week showed overwhelming support for that concept.

"Sanders also would end tax breaks for big oil and gas companies.

"Over the past decade, the five largest oil companies in the U.S. earned nearly $1 trillion in profits.

"Meanwhile, in recent years, some of the largest oil companies in this country paid nothing in federal income taxes. Ending those tax breaks could raise at least $3.5 billion a year."

Bernie Sanders Calls...

Wow! $53.5 Billion per year? That's almost 4% of the deficit!

How about we get government down to a manageable size first. Then we can reform the oversight so that the government doesn't find opportunities to intrude into finance, it simply referees the structure instead of participating in it. Doing that will cost Wall Street much more than the pittance that this activist group wants to collect.

 

[Skull Pilot]

Wall street didn't cost me anything.

People who took mortgages they couldn't afford and then refinanced every time their homes went up a dollar in value did though.

 

[georgephillip]

"(Bernie) Sanders, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, also said, 'It would be morally wrong for the United States to balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable people in our society while asking nothing from the wealthiest."

"Sanders suggested an emergency surtax on millionaires.

"A 5.4 percent surtax on adjusted gross incomes over $1 million would raise as much as $50 billion a year. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll published last week showed overwhelming support for that concept.

"Sanders also would end tax breaks for big oil and gas companies.

"Over the past decade, the five largest oil companies in the U.S. earned nearly $1 trillion in profits.

"Meanwhile, in recent years, some of the largest oil companies in this country paid nothing in federal income taxes. Ending those tax breaks could raise at least $3.5 billion a year."

Bernie Sanders Calls...

Wow! $53.5 Billion per year? That's almost 4% of the deficit!

How about we get government down to a manageable size first. Then we can reform the oversight so that the government doesn't find opportunities to intrude into finance, it simply referees the structure instead of participating in it. Doing that will cost Wall Street much more than the pittance that this activist group wants to collect.

Wow!

$50 billion here $50 billion there...before long you're talking real money.

How do you plan on shrinking government when Wall Street owns the Republican AND Democratic parties?

Faith-based finance?

 

[B. Kidd]

Faith based finance: In God We Trust....All Others Pay Cash.

 

[asterism]

"(Bernie) Sanders, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, also said, 'It would be morally wrong for the United States to balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable people in our society while asking nothing from the wealthiest."

"Sanders suggested an emergency surtax on millionaires.

"A 5.4 percent surtax on adjusted gross incomes over $1 million would raise as much as $50 billion a year. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll published last week showed overwhelming support for that concept.

"Sanders also would end tax breaks for big oil and gas companies.

"Over the past decade, the five largest oil companies in the U.S. earned nearly $1 trillion in profits.

"Meanwhile, in recent years, some of the largest oil companies in this country paid nothing in federal income taxes. Ending those tax breaks could raise at least $3.5 billion a year."

Bernie Sanders Calls...

Wow! $53.5 Billion per year? That's almost 4% of the deficit!

How about we get government down to a manageable size first. Then we can reform the oversight so that the government doesn't find opportunities to intrude into finance, it simply referees the structure instead of participating in it. Doing that will cost Wall Street much more than the pittance that this activist group wants to collect.

Wow!

$50 billion here $50 billion there...before long you're talking real money.

With a total of about $1 Trillion available if we taxed every dime of those making an AGI over $1 Million per year (50,000,000,000/.054), that still leaves the government in a huge deficit but then the hit to the economy would be catastrophic to government revenues.

You cannot tax a country into prosperity.

I would like to clarify though, I want to shrink the size of government in proportion to GDP. We could possibly grow the economy instead.

How do you plan on shrinking government when Wall Street owns the Republican AND Democratic parties?

Faith-based finance?

My plan is to help elect politicians who will pass the FairTax. I don't care if it's a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or Green. If they are for the FairTax, I'm for them. That's the only way we can get a handle on this problem in my opinion.

 

[georgephillip]

"The FairTax is regressive and shifts the tax burden onto lower and middle income people"

The truth: The FairTax actually eliminates and reimburses all federal taxes for those below the poverty line. This is accomplished through the universal prebate and by eliminating the highly regressive FICA payroll tax. Today, low and moderate income Americans pay far more in FICA taxes than income taxes. Those spending at twice the poverty level pay a FairTax of only 11.5 percent -- a rate much lower than the income and payroll tax burden they bear today. Meanwhile, the wealthy pay the 23 percent retail sales tax on their retail purchases."

Sounds like a major improvement over what we have today, depending on how many devils are lurking in the details.

 

[asterism]

"The FairTax is regressive and shifts the tax burden onto lower and middle income people"

The truth: The FairTax actually eliminates and reimburses all federal taxes for those below the poverty line. This is accomplished through the universal prebate and by eliminating the highly regressive FICA payroll tax. Today, low and moderate income Americans pay far more in FICA taxes than income taxes. Those spending at twice the poverty level pay a FairTax of only 11.5 percent -- a rate much lower than the income and payroll tax burden they bear today. Meanwhile, the wealthy pay the 23 percent retail sales tax on their retail purchases."

Sounds like a major improvement over what we have today, depending on how many devils are lurking in the details.

Yeah, it's a major improvement. No solution is perfect but it puts the role of taxation back to funding the government. Then the voters can decide how big they want the government to be and how much they are willing to pay for it.

However, it's actually a 30% tax. The 23% tax rate is calculated as "tax inclusive" which means 23% of a $100 purchase is tax. So that means $77 is revenue. $23 is 29.87% of $77.

Still a far better solution than what we have now and it is a better tax.

 

[georgephillip]

Why do you blame me for the sins of Wall Street and congress?

Why do you seek to excuse yourself from responsibility for something caused by everyone?

Explain how those who never bought a house or a CDO or used a credit card "caused" the inflation and collapse of the housing/credit bubble.

 

[washamericom]

wall street does pay... in fact they've paid really well over the years... thank you wall street !

 

[georgephillip]

I already made 'em pay.
And it felt good.
Real good.

I'm glad to hear someone's been able to make those responsible pay for some of their mistakes. It doesn't seem to be going so well for homeowners looking for help with mortgage modification:

From: ProPublica

"Using new Treasury Department figures, previously unreleased documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, and new analyses of state and industry data, we have assembled the most detailed look yet at how the the mortgage industry [2] and the government's main effort, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), have failed homeowners.

"It provides crucial context to the ongoing government investigation into mortgage servicing practices, which might lead to reforms [3] of how banks and servicers handle homeowner requests for modifications."

And still no federal prosecutions launched for securities or control fraud.

Maybe that explains why Goldman Sachs donated over $900,000 to Obama's 2008 campaign?

 

[georgephillip]

Observation:

This is just a war between the Siphoners of Wealth.

Our society has an ever increasing ratio of those who exist solely to siphon wealth from the shrinking ratio that actually produces something.

Yes, Wall Street does everything it can to siphon away our wealth. So does the Government. So do Public Employee Unions, and the Educational System and so on.

Making Wall Street Pay by shifting the wealth siphon from them to benefit another group of Siphoners does nothing the help The Job Creating Private Sector.

When the Industrial Revolution launched one of the talking points was that eventually the machine would free (some of) humanity from the need to work.

Do you believe someone can be a productive member of society without engaging in wage labor?

CH Douglas and his Social Credit Economy:

"He published his observations and conclusions in an article in the English Review where he suggested: 'That we are living under a system of accountancy which renders the delivery of the nation's goods and services to itself a technical impossibility.' [3]

"The reason, Douglas concluded, was that the (capitalist) economic system was organized to maximize profits for those with economic power by creating unnecessary scarcity."