Sterling silver toothpicks for the rich? Seriously, and they complain about taxes?

[chikenwing]

Mt. Pleasant cops probing link between gypsies, $123K in stolen - Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, Weather, Sports

This was a story about a rich neighborhood across town that "gypsies" stole from. Its a group that targets rich homes for metals, like sterling silver, to pawn and sell. Anyway, I couldnt help but notice this. STERLING SILVER TOOTHPICKS? That was listed among the stolen items. People in America are homeless. And others pick food out of their teeth with sterling silver toothpicks?

This is like something you'd see in a cartoon, like the old duck cartoon with the filthy rich duck who swims in his gold coins. That duck would have sterling silver toothpicks in a fictional cartoon.

But no, this really exists. There are people who are so rich, that they have sterling silver TOOTHPICKS. And the rich are bitching about high taxes? Seriously. You just know their neighbors, or somewhere out there in America, the Keepin-Up-With-The-Jones's attitude is driving someone to want GOLD toothpicks, or PLATINUM toothpicks.

I cant help it, everytime I hear the debate about the rich and taxes...........fucking sterling silver TOOTHPICKS are gonna pop up in my head. Hard to be too sympathetic on that one.

Stop blubbering like a child and go get your own.

 

[KnobbyWalsh]

And they invest more, which also feeds the economy.. but don't let truth get in your way.. your rant supporting confiscation from others to feed your need is going SO well

You one of them, DiamondcutterDave, or just a wanna be admirer?

I make damn good money.. the amount being none of your business.. I have had my own company for 2.5 years, which I subsequently sold..

Not that any of that matters you your type

Yup, most business owners think they're part of the 1%, or try and copy that mindset and cap it all off by thinking they're a Republican. Old news. Seen that coming easily.

 

[tooAlive]

You one of them, DiamondcutterDave, or just a wanna be admirer?

I make damn good money.. the amount being none of your business.. I have had my own company for 2.5 years, which I subsequently sold..

Not that any of that matters you your type

Yup, most business owners think they're part of the 1%, or try and copy that mindset and cap it all off by thinking they're a Republican. Old news. Seen that coming easily.

Typical leftist. Can't fathom being successful, and can't imagine others like themselves being successful either.

What a sad way to live.

 

[Erand7899]

Mt. Pleasant cops probing link between gypsies, $123K in stolen - Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, Weather, Sports

This was a story about a rich neighborhood across town that "gypsies" stole from. Its a group that targets rich homes for metals, like sterling silver, to pawn and sell. Anyway, I couldnt help but notice this. STERLING SILVER TOOTHPICKS? That was listed among the stolen items. People in America are homeless. And others pick food out of their teeth with sterling silver toothpicks?

This is like something you'd see in a cartoon, like the old duck cartoon with the filthy rich duck who swims in his gold coins. That duck would have sterling silver toothpicks in a fictional cartoon.

But no, this really exists. There are people who are so rich, that they have sterling silver TOOTHPICKS. And the rich are bitching about high taxes? Seriously. You just know their neighbors, or somewhere out there in America, the Keepin-Up-With-The-Jones's attitude is driving someone to want GOLD toothpicks, or PLATINUM toothpicks.

I cant help it, everytime I hear the debate about the rich and taxes...........fucking sterling silver TOOTHPICKS are gonna pop up in my head. Hard to be too sympathetic on that one.

There are people so rich, that they can luxuriate in multi-million dollar yachts, and you cannot afford a rowboat. Is that their fault, or your fault? You can afford to buy a sterling silver toothpick with the money from your welfare check. They don't cost that much. But, you need that shot of envy to feed the hate that you feel for those who are succeeding in life while you are a failure. What a hoot!

 

[MikeK]

You're so right, Mike..

Because who needs more than $20 million, right? It's not like rich people do anything worthwhile with their money. All they'd probably do is buy more cars, mansions, or silver toothpicks.

I doubt they'd invest their money in businesses or ideas that end up helping other people or changing the way we live in the long run. Who cares anyways. They have too much anyways and it's time they shared some of it with the rest of us.

/sarcasm

Better it continues they way it's going until there no longer is a middle class -- which won't be long.

But in case you're interested, confiscation of personal assets in excess of twenty million does not preclude freely investing the excess in any venture -- or just giving it away, the objective being equitable redistribution of the Nation's wealth resources.

The rich stay rich (twenty million is rich) and the middle class survives. It's neither capitalism nor socialism but a little of both -- and everybody is happy except the obscenely greedy bastards you right wing Tories seem to like so much.

You completely missed the point.

It is you who either have missed or ignored the point. That being my recommendation does not call for the confiscation of all wealth but specifically personal wealth, which would not have interfered with Morgan's business enterprises in any way (personal wealth being separate from corporate wealth).

$20 million may seem excessive to you, but when it comes down to doing "big" things, it's really just pocket change. And I'm not taking a jab at you, just trying to broaden your perspective a little.

Twenty million dollars is great personal wealth in the language of any but the most greedy. Without any imposed limitation, as in the example of Chris Christie's appetite for calories, the result is plainly obvious Greed and gluttony know no boundaries and must be forcibly constrained.

For example. Lets go back a couple of hundred years to the time of Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Vanderbilt. Back when people were lighting their homes with kerosene, J.P. Morgan (the banker) was set on trying to start his own empire from scratch.

He saw an opportunity in Thomas Edison's electric light, and bought into his idea. Long story short, the entire United States had electric light in a pretty short time. This not only changed the US, but also revolutionized the world. Now, do you know how much capital Morgan had to invest for this to happen? Tens of billions in today's money.

My point is that by limiting someone's income to only $20M (or any amount for that matter) you're severely limiting what they can ultimately achieve. The world would be very different today if that had been the case throughout history. Not to mention it was Morgan himself who bailed out the US government when they ran out of money. That also required a couple billions.

Even though some people will be rich and only spoil themselves, by penalizing them for their greediness you're also penalizing those that actually utilize their excess wealth to improve and ultimately change the world. Even if the greedy far outnumber the noble, that is still a tradeoff we can't afford to live without. Personally, I don't mind ultra-wealthy people spoiling themselves. It's their money and I believe they're entitled to do what they please with it. Regardless of how much it is, and what they do with it. I'll stick to concerning myself about what I can do; not what I think others could be doing.

Please reconstruct your argument from the perspective that personal wealth and corporate assets are, by law, two separate entities. And try to understand that such technological advances as electric light were phenomenon whose time had come and were it not for such individuals as Edison, Tesla, and Morgan, its development was simply that -- a matter of time.

 

[Erand7899]

Individual Wealth should be outlawed and all currently held Private Wealth should be confiscated. America would be better overnight.

Better for who? If it wasn't for those rich people paying taxes, you would have to get off your ass and go to work. Be careful what you wish for.

 

[Erand7899]

My goodness, the reason the right lost in 2012 is so obvious. The point of this thread was the image and messaging of the right wing and the rich. I never said they shouldnt be able to own sterling silver toothpicks- as stupid and pretentious as it may be- it is their money.

My point was that...we see stuff like this, and the right wing harbors the image of the rich whining about how taxes are hurting them. But the general public isn't buying it, obviously, and images like this are why. The right wing has a branding problem. They've been branded as whining rich people- who live so large that they pick their teeth with sterling silver toothpicks- and the regluar Joe struggling with bills is being told to sympathize with them. Its not working.

The fact that you guys can't pick up on that message about imaging and perception is why you lost the election.

I don't know anyone in the right wing whining about high taxes hurting the rich. We are concerned that high taxes on the rich hurt those at the bottom of the income scale. The rich have capital to invest in the economy, and those investments create jobs that help the people who do not have capital to invest. When government takes that capital, it cannot be invested in the economy, and the people who get hurt the worst, are those on the edge of the work force.

Rabid left wingers, who envy and hate the rich, desire to punish them with high taxes. Not because it will bring in large amounts to government, but because it makes them feel good to stick it to those rich bastards. Envy and hatred are not virtues.

 

[bendog]

My goodness, the reason the right lost in 2012 is so obvious. The point of this thread was the image and messaging of the right wing and the rich. I never said they shouldnt be able to own sterling silver toothpicks- as stupid and pretentious as it may be- it is their money.

My point was that...we see stuff like this, and the right wing harbors the image of the rich whining about how taxes are hurting them. But the general public isn't buying it, obviously, and images like this are why. The right wing has a branding problem. They've been branded as whining rich people- who live so large that they pick their teeth with sterling silver toothpicks- and the regluar Joe struggling with bills is being told to sympathize with them. Its not working.

The fact that you guys can't pick up on that message about imaging and perception is why you lost the election.

I don't know anyone in the right wing whining about high taxes hurting the rich. We are concerned that high taxes on the rich hurt those at the bottom of the income scale. The rich have capital to invest in the economy, and those investments create jobs that help the people who do not have capital to invest. When government takes that capital, it cannot be invested in the economy, and the people who get hurt the worst, are those on the edge of the work force.

Rabid left wingers, who envy and hate the rich, desire to punish them with high taxes. Not because it will bring in large amounts to government, but because it makes them feel good to stick it to those rich bastards. Envy and hatred are not virtues.

Sooo, are you asserting the lack of private capital available for investment outweighs any potential for benefit from reducing the deficits by highter taxes on .... people like Romney?

I should have added a link rather than trying a trick

http://www.scpr.org/news/2013/03/06/36234/us-factory-orders-that-signal-investment-surge/

 

[Erand7899]

Let's say all personal assets in excess of twenty million dollars should be confiscated. There is nothing wrong with wealth. The problem rests with excessive wealth.

And excessive wealth is what Bucs is talking about -- silver toothpicks being symbolically representative of precisely that -- along with gold-plated toilet fixtures and 30 room mansions.

True to form, it always follows that the toadies of the super-rich, most of whom haven't a pot to piss in, seem obliged to defend excess and the vulgar symbols of greed.

You're so right, Mike..

Because who needs more than $20 million, right? It's not like rich people do anything worthwhile with their money. All they'd probably do is buy more cars, mansions, or silver toothpicks.

I doubt they'd invest their money in businesses or ideas that end up helping other people or changing the way we live in the long run. Who cares anyways. They have too much anyways and it's time they shared some of it with the rest of us.

/sarcasm

Better it continues they way it's going until there no longer is a middle class -- which won't be long.

But in case you're interested, confiscation of personal assets in excess of twenty million does not preclude freely investing the excess in any venture -- or just giving it away, the objective being equitable redistribution of the Nation's wealth resources.

The rich stay rich (twenty million is rich) and the middle class survives. It's neither capitalism nor socialism but a little of both -- and everybody is happy except the obscenely greedy bastards you right wing Tories seem to like so much.

The only thing hurting the middle class is left wing meddling in the economy. Get the hell out of their way, and the middle class will take care of itself.

Equity means that you have a legitimate financial interest in that wealth, and you don't. You didn't earn it, you didn't contribute to it, and you therefore don't have any right to any of it. So don't mention equity in your attempt to rob someone of their wealth.

The only thing you are entitled to is what you earn with your brains, your brawn, your own capital investmensts, or what is endowed to you by a benefactor.

All greedy, envious left wingers amaze me with their dumbass rationales for having someone else support their lazy asses.

 

[Erand7899]

Top 1/10th of 1% make 60% of all Capital Gains Earnings

Forbes opinion columnist notes:

Make no mistake; the battle that is to be fought over the coming attempt to reverse this reduction in capital gains will be bloody and intense. The facts are clear according to the Congressional Budget Office. More than 80% of the increase in income inequality was the result of an increase in the share of household income from capital gains. In fact, you can go so far as to claim that Capital Gains income is the most unevenly distributed—and volatile—source of household income, according to Laura D’Andrea Tyson, UC Berkeley business professor and former chair of Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton.

Yes, capital gains are unevenly distributed, because one first has to risk what they have in some enterprise to actually realize capital gains. Except for the house they live in, the vast majority of Americans do not risk their savings in the market. Why? Because they are afraid of losing those savings.

Consequently, there has to be ample reward to induce people to take the risk. The dumbasses of the left wing want to grab a larger share of that reward, and do not realize that by doing so, they reduce the inducement to take the risk. Our economy needs those people to take the risk. American workers need those people to take the risk. The poor need those people to take the risk.

 

[bendog]

OMG corp profits are so low no one will take risk!

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Mt. Pleasant cops probing link between gypsies, $123K in stolen - Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, Weather, Sports

This was a story about a rich neighborhood across town that "gypsies" stole from. Its a group that targets rich homes for metals, like sterling silver, to pawn and sell. Anyway, I couldnt help but notice this. STERLING SILVER TOOTHPICKS? That was listed among the stolen items. People in America are homeless. And others pick food out of their teeth with sterling silver toothpicks?

This is like something you'd see in a cartoon, like the old duck cartoon with the filthy rich duck who swims in his gold coins. That duck would have sterling silver toothpicks in a fictional cartoon.

But no, this really exists. There are people who are so rich, that they have sterling silver TOOTHPICKS. And the rich are bitching about high taxes? Seriously. You just know their neighbors, or somewhere out there in America, the Keepin-Up-With-The-Jones's attitude is driving someone to want GOLD toothpicks, or PLATINUM toothpicks.

I cant help it, everytime I hear the debate about the rich and taxes...........fucking sterling silver TOOTHPICKS are gonna pop up in my head. Hard to be too sympathetic on that one.

Last I checked, it was their money and they can buy what ever the hell the want with it and it is none of your fucking business.

You're the one always whining that government employees like yourself should be allowed to raid the treasury, so what makes you any better than the "rich?"

 

[Political Junky]

We should be like Venezuela where the ruling political class has all the wealth
/quote]
We're getting there.

 

[Erand7899]

\

Fuck 'em. It's not a stereotype when it's true.

On second though............no, forgive me. I forgot about that FLOOD of trickle down they infuse back into society!

Spending by the rich does fuel economic business.. to think otherwise is foolish

But since you did not get success to the degree that you wanted while those rich may have gotten richer, does not mean you have the right or freedom to take from them because of it.. that is AGAINST freedom

Not to give any credit to your imaginary fears of class warfare, but your post makes no economic sense. The rich, however you define that, spend less a % of disposabile income than do ... say people getting UI. To protect tax cuts for the rich while cutting UI decreases aggregate demand.

So, don't try to justify your ideolgoy with bogus economics.

I know it might shock you, but investment is just as important as consumerism in real economics. You cannot have a supply/demand chart without both sides of the economic picture. You wouldn't be down at the local target store, buying what you want, unless a whole lot of other people did not risk their capital to ensure that the things you want to buy is available.

That trucker that delivers the merchandise to Target, either invested his own money in that truck, or is working for someone else who invested his own money in that truck. The driver is deserving of his wages, and if he owns the truck, an additional amount for the risk he is taking to his own capital.

The enterprises that he is delivering from, were created by people risking their capital in what they hope to be a profitable venture. They deserve the reward when they are right, and pay the penalty when they are wrong.

 

[g5000]

I cant help it, everytime I hear the debate about the rich and taxes...........fucking sterling silver TOOTHPICKS are gonna pop up in my head.

Every time I hear about blacks....fucking welfare and food stamps are going to pop up in my head.

Every time I hear about homosexuals....fucking AIDS is going to pop up in my head.

 

[Erand7899]

You one of them, DiamondcutterDave, or just a wanna be admirer?

I make damn good money.. the amount being none of your business.. I have had my own company for 2.5 years, which I subsequently sold..

Not that any of that matters you your type

Yup, most business owners think they're part of the 1%, or try and copy that mindset and cap it all off by thinking they're a Republican. Old news. Seen that coming easily.

I don't own a bank, but I am opposed to bank robberies. I don't think they are good for a stable economy. Does that make me a Republican, or just a common sense citizen? Greed and envy are not virtues. Why is it so hard for some of you to understand that?

 

[Erand7899]

My goodness, the reason the right lost in 2012 is so obvious. The point of this thread was the image and messaging of the right wing and the rich. I never said they shouldnt be able to own sterling silver toothpicks- as stupid and pretentious as it may be- it is their money.

My point was that...we see stuff like this, and the right wing harbors the image of the rich whining about how taxes are hurting them. But the general public isn't buying it, obviously, and images like this are why. The right wing has a branding problem. They've been branded as whining rich people- who live so large that they pick their teeth with sterling silver toothpicks- and the regluar Joe struggling with bills is being told to sympathize with them. Its not working.

The fact that you guys can't pick up on that message about imaging and perception is why you lost the election.

I don't know anyone in the right wing whining about high taxes hurting the rich. We are concerned that high taxes on the rich hurt those at the bottom of the income scale. The rich have capital to invest in the economy, and those investments create jobs that help the people who do not have capital to invest. When government takes that capital, it cannot be invested in the economy, and the people who get hurt the worst, are those on the edge of the work force.

Rabid left wingers, who envy and hate the rich, desire to punish them with high taxes. Not because it will bring in large amounts to government, but because it makes them feel good to stick it to those rich bastards. Envy and hatred are not virtues.

Sooo, are you asserting the lack of private capital available for investment outweighs any potential for benefit from reducing the deficits by highter taxes on .... people like Romney?

I should have added a link rather than trying a trick

US factory orders that signal investment surged in January | 89.3 KPCC

You need more than a link, you need some economic knowledge. Economics works on the margins, just like most all other private enterprises. Taking more out of the investment pool leaves less to be invested. That is not too hard to understand, is it? Raising the cost of investment, means less inducement for investment. That is also not too hard to understand. Romney is not sitting on his money, waiting for the government to take it away from him.

 

[KnobbyWalsh]

I make damn good money.. the amount being none of your business.. I have had my own company for 2.5 years, which I subsequently sold..

Not that any of that matters you your type

Yup, most business owners think they're part of the 1%, or try and copy that mindset and cap it all off by thinking they're a Republican. Old news. Seen that coming easily.

I don't own a bank, but I am opposed to bank robberies. I don't think they are good for a stable economy. Does that make me a Republican, or just a common sense citizen? Greed and envy are not virtues. Why is it so hard for some of you to understand that?

Stealing IS wrong. I wish our politicians would learn that - or we'd truly stand up to them.

 

[bendog]

Spending by the rich does fuel economic business.. to think otherwise is foolish

But since you did not get success to the degree that you wanted while those rich may have gotten richer, does not mean you have the right or freedom to take from them because of it.. that is AGAINST freedom

Not to give any credit to your imaginary fears of class warfare, but your post makes no economic sense. The rich, however you define that, spend less a % of disposabile income than do ... say people getting UI. To protect tax cuts for the rich while cutting UI decreases aggregate demand.

So, don't try to justify your ideolgoy with bogus economics.

I know it might shock you, but investment is just as important as consumerism in real economics. You cannot have a supply/demand chart without both sides of the economic picture. You wouldn't be down at the local target store, buying what you want, unless a whole lot of other people did not risk their capital to ensure that the things you want to buy is available.

That trucker that delivers the merchandise to Target, either invested his own money in that truck, or is working for someone else who invested his own money in that truck. The driver is deserving of his wages, and if he owns the truck, an additional amount for the risk he is taking to his own capital.

The enterprises that he is delivering from, were created by people risking their capital in what they hope to be a profitable venture. They deserve the reward when they are right, and pay the penalty when they are wrong.

YOU are attempting to justify ideology under the guise of economics. The FACTS are that TODAY the econ had more than sufficient private captial to expand. I already gave you link. However, there's insuffient aggregate demand to consume all that can be produced. The proof of that is historic low rates and still depressed consumer confidence, though debt is declining and confidence slowly coming back, and even the housing market shows signs of bottoming.

None the less, you attempt to justify the gop's refusal to consider revenue inorder to limit the cuts in govt spending, and govt spending increases aggregate demand.

This is not a dem/gop issue aside from ideology. you embarass yourself by trying to mix it into economcis.

And that is not to say that overall, and overtime, public spending is too high.

 

[bendog]

I cant help it, everytime I hear the debate about the rich and taxes...........fucking sterling silver TOOTHPICKS are gonna pop up in my head.

Every time I hear about blacks....fucking welfare and food stamps are going to pop up in my head.

Every time I hear about homosexuals....fucking AIDS is going to pop up in my head.

And on the thread yesterday of who is to blame for everything, I distinctly avoided chiming in "Jews" in fear of PC overriding sarcasm.