Five Key Reasons to Reject Class-Warfare Tax Policy

[The Rabbi]

Which economists are FOR huge tax hikes??

That bootlicking moron Paul Krugman, for one.

No, he asked about "economists." Krugman is obviously an incompetent.

 

[georgephillip]

According to the U.S. Census, the per capita income in 1980 in 2009 dollars was 19,299. the per capita income in 2009 was 26,530.

You're obviously full of shit.

"Per capita income or income per person is the numerical quotient of income divided by population, in monetary terms. It is a measure of all sources of income in an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It does not measure income distribution or wealth."

Per capita income - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And means WHAT?

Between 1980 and 2009 per capita income in the US increased by $7231; however, that increase was not shared equally across all income levels.

According to this source nine out of ten Americans saw their average income increase by $303 (1%) over those 29 years while the top 1% of US earners saw their average income double to $1.1 million over the same time period.

The question is whether that income inequality was due to productive work on the part of the richest 1% or campaign donations to Republicans AND Democrats to write legislation that favors unearned (FIRE sector) income over wage labor?

 

[bripat9643]

Between 1980 and 2009 per capita income in the US increased by $7231; however, that increase was not shared equally across all income levels.

According to this source nine out of ten Americans saw their average income increase by $303 (1%) over those 29 years while the top 1% of US earners saw their average income double to $1.1 million over the same time period.

The question is whether that income inequality was due to productive work on the part of the richest 1% or campaign donations to Republicans AND Democrats to write legislation that favors unearned (FIRE sector) income over wage labor?

Willamette Week? What the heck is that? The author even admits he performed the calculations, and he doesn't show his work.

Do you really expect anyone to swallow this load of manure?

 

[georgephillip]

How about when the Pentagon gets audited?

How much fraud and corruption takes place in the absence of accountability?

If there is fraud taking place at the Pentagon in a time of war, would that be treason?

The Pentagon gets audited every day. Every program is audited.

"A leading Republican on the president's deficit commission has called, informally, for an audit of the Department of Defense, arguing that without a true sense of what is being spent and where, it will be impossible to achieve significant budget savings

"In a detailed, wonkish and occasionally fascinating 10-page letter sent to commission Chairmen Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles on Wednesday, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okl.) laid out a host of areas where the Pentagon's fat could be trimmed.

"'The single most important step,' however, he concluded, 'is to better understand how the Pentagon spends its money.'"

Obama Deficit Commission Member Calls For Pentagon Audit

 

[georgephillip]

Between 1980 and 2009 per capita income in the US increased by $7231; however, that increase was not shared equally across all income levels.

According to this source nine out of ten Americans saw their average income increase by $303 (1%) over those 29 years while the top 1% of US earners saw their average income double to $1.1 million over the same time period.

The question is whether that income inequality was due to productive work on the part of the richest 1% or campaign donations to Republicans AND Democrats to write legislation that favors unearned (FIRE sector) income over wage labor?

Willamette Week? What the heck is that? The author even admits he performed the calculations, and he doesn't show his work.

Do you really expect anyone to swallow this load of manure?

"David Cay Johnston is a columnist for tax.com and teaches the tax, property and regulatory law of the ancient world at Syracuse University College of Law and Whitman School of Management.

"He has also been called the 'de facto chief tax enforcement officer of the United States' because his reporting in The New York Times shut down many tax dodges and schemes, just two of them valued by Congress at $260 billion.

"Johnston received a 2001 Pulitzer Prize for exposing tax loopholes and inequities.

"He wrote two bestsellers on taxes, Perfectly Legal and Free Lunch. Later this year, Johnston will be out with a new book, The Fine Print, revealing how big business, with help from politicians, abuses plain English to rob you blind."

9 Things The Rich Don't Want You To Know About Taxes

 

[bripat9643]

"David Cay Johnston is a columnist for tax.com and teaches the tax, property and regulatory law of the ancient world at Syracuse University College of Law and Whitman School of Management.

"He has also been called the 'de facto chief tax enforcement officer of the United States' because his reporting in The New York Times shut down many tax dodges and schemes, just two of them valued by Congress at $260 billion.

"Johnston received a 2001 Pulitzer Prize for exposing tax loopholes and inequities.

"He wrote two bestsellers on taxes, Perfectly Legal and Free Lunch. Later this year, Johnston will be out with a new book, The Fine Print, revealing how big business, with help from politicians, abuses plain English to rob you blind."

9 Things The Rich Don't Want You To Know About Taxes

He's a leftwing crank. Why should anyone believe he isn't fudging the numbers? I've never known a leftist who could be honest about the facts when they don't support his position.

 

[georgephillip]

Do you agree with any of the following?

"The very serious deficit crisis that we are in today is the result of the severe recession caused by Wall Street greed, two unpaid-for wars, huge tax breaks for the rich, the bailout of giant banks, and an unfunded Medicare Part D prescription drug program written by the insurance and drug companies."

Bernie Sanders: Wealthiest Americans and Corporations Should Pay Their Fair Share for Democracy | BuzzFlash.org

 

[NYcarbineer]

What leftwing propaganda mill did you retrieve this little non-factoid from?

This one:

Michael Hudson: Obama's Greatest Betrayal

"Obama seems to be campaigning for his own defeat!

"Thanks largely to the $13 trillion Wall Street bailout – while keeping the debt overhead in place for America’s 'bottom 98 per cent' – this happy 2 per cent of the population now receives an estimated three quarters (~75 per cent) of the returns to wealth (interest, dividends, rent and capital gains).

"This is nearly double what it received a generation ago. The rest of the population is being squeezed, and foreclosures are rising."

"Michael Hudson is a former Wall Street economist. A Distinguished Research Professor at University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC), he is the author of many books, including Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (new ed., Pluto Press, 2002) and Trade, Development and Foreign Debt: A History of Theories of Polarization v. Convergence in the World Economy. He can be reached via his website, [email protected]"

In other words, he's a committed leftist, and you can't take a word he says at face value.

Counterpunch is a notorious leftwing publication - hardly a credible source.

You are aware that attacking the messenger instead of the message is not a valid argument, right?

 

[georgephillip]

This one:

Michael Hudson: Obama's Greatest Betrayal

"Obama seems to be campaigning for his own defeat!

"Thanks largely to the $13 trillion Wall Street bailout – while keeping the debt overhead in place for America’s 'bottom 98 per cent' – this happy 2 per cent of the population now receives an estimated three quarters (~75 per cent) of the returns to wealth (interest, dividends, rent and capital gains).

"This is nearly double what it received a generation ago. The rest of the population is being squeezed, and foreclosures are rising."

"Michael Hudson is a former Wall Street economist. A Distinguished Research Professor at University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC), he is the author of many books, including Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (new ed., Pluto Press, 2002) and Trade, Development and Foreign Debt: A History of Theories of Polarization v. Convergence in the World Economy. He can be reached via his website, [email protected]"

In other words, he's a committed leftist, and you can't take a word he says at face value.

Counterpunch is a notorious leftwing publication - hardly a credible source.

You are aware that attacking the messenger instead of the message is not a valid argument, right?

Wouldn't you think refuting the content provided by a less-than-credible source would be relatively easy to do?

If there's one big advantage to cyberspace, it's the opportunity to discuss issues of importance with people you probably couldn't spend five minutes with in the same room.

Maybe what's called for is a web site equal parts FrontPage and Firedoglake with its own message board for comments?

 

[Mr Liberty]

How about when the Pentagon gets audited?

How much fraud and corruption takes place in the absence of accountability?

If there is fraud taking place at the Pentagon in a time of war, would that be treason?

The Pentagon gets audited every day. Every program is audited.

Really? Either that's not true or this Senator is wrong.

http://youtu.be/uh3MWCcLTi0 Watch comment at 4:09

Congress proved, they are not serious about cutting spending. When they make serious cuts, then we should talk about raising taxes. The more we give the more they spend.

 

[georgephillip]

Which sounds like another good idea that will never be enacted by Republicans OR Democrats.

Start voting AGAINST all INCUMBENTS in DC and solutions to tax and spend will appear.

 

[editec]

When Reagan promised prosperity through tax cuts in 1980 the average income for nine of ten Americans has increased by $303 or 1 percent.

If those Americans had a dollar in 1980, their income increased to $1.01 in 2008.

The richest 1% of Americans' average income more than doubled to $1.1 million during that same time frame.

The top 0.1% today receive almost $4 for each dollar they earned in 1980, and the top 300,000 Americans now control almost as much income as the bottom 150 million of their countrymen.

According to the U.S. Census, the per capita income in 1980 in 2009 dollars was 19,299. the per capita income in 2009 was 26,530.

You're obviously full of shit.

And you clearly do not understand statistics and why per capita income is a misleading statistic to describe the current state of affairs.

If you want to use any measure to determine what is happening (class wise) to income and wealth distribution you might want to note the MEDIAN income (or assets) by class.

The other thing you must do is consider the effect of inflation on purchasing power for each class, too.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Christ on a cracker, Cato is Koch's mouthpiece.....

You didn't even watch the video did you?

I think Koch is the modern day "Halliburton" for you libs!

Yeah.....what're the chances?

"As a recent Center for Public Integrity report uncovered, Koch lobbied aggressively against Obama’s financial reform bill, particularly on provisions related to transparency in the energy trading market."

Price-At-The-Pump; By Koch​

 

[Agit8r]

Class-warfare is such is such a tired phrase. You cannot freedom in a country that bows to plutocracy. Period.

"legislators cannot invent too many devices for subdividing property, only taking care to let their subdivisions go hand in hand with the natural affections of the human mind. The descent of property of every kind therefore to all the children, or to all the brothers and sisters, or other relations in equal degree is a politic measure, and a practicable one. Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise."

-- Thomas Jefferson; Letter to James Madison, (Oct. 28, 1785)

 

[Mr. Shaman]

"To put it another way: Forget what you learned about supply and demand. Everyone agrees the oil market is more rigged than.....

.....a truckstop slot machine."​

​

​

 

[bripat9643]

Class-warfare is such is such a tired phrase. You cannot freedom in a country that bows to plutocracy. Period.

I'll be thieves think the term "thief" is a "tired phrase" as well.

You cannot have freedom in a country that confiscates what you earn.

 

[Agit8r]

Class-warfare is such is such a tired phrase. You cannot freedom in a country that bows to plutocracy. Period.

I'll be thieves think the term "thief" is a "tired phrase" as well.

By no means! I always call the plutocracy thieves

 

[teapartysamurai]

Well now, the picture of Rabbi becomes clearer; knowing he's a liar one rarely wastes time wondering why. The fact he is dishonest to the core seems sufficient. Yet under the theory it's best to keep one's enemies (that maybe too strong a word, but it fits the example) ... I read Rabbi's posts out of curiosity - much as I look at a traffic accident even though it may distrub me.

Here we have an example of a useless post, an ad hominem attack on a straw man. Of course there's no truth or reason within the words he offers, simply the usual bias and hate for men and women of straw.

RWers who accuse anyone of being "statists", a favorite word second only to Fabian Socialists by the echo chamber crowd and 'leftists' as "useful idiots of big government" fail to see themselves in a mirror. The RW under GWB increased governments size (and imcompetence) during his eight long and painful years in office and such expansion and deficit spending was never an issue. What is thy name Rabbi, it is Hypocrisy.

What we have here is the left's typical modus operandi.

When they can't debate the SUBJECT, they ATTACK the debater.

You can't debate the issue, so you have to attack personally.

This is typical of liberals, and when you see something like this directed at you (personally) don't be insulted, feel complimented.

What the liberal is really saying is you made an excellent point, and he can't refute it.

It was refuted, you simply didn't understand. Rabbi is a liar, of that there can be no dispute by anyone who has read his comments and watched, when confronted, him cut and run. He presented a straw man argument, one so obvious even a dullard would get it.

You are simply a troll, not a very bright one, but a troll. Not bright might be considered an ad homimen (personal) attack, but your many posts belie any other conclusion.

This is liberal for, "it's refuted in that I called him a liar!"

Like I said. You can tell when a liberal is losing an argument. They just attack you personally. When they do that, don't be insulted. Feel complimented. That's a liberal telling you, you won the debate, they know it, and all they can do in the face of that, is attack you personally.

 

[teapartysamurai]

What we have here is the left's typical modus operandi.

When they can't debate the SUBJECT, they ATTACK the debater.

You can't debate the issue, so you have to attack personally.

This is typical of liberals, and when you see something like this directed at you (personally) don't be insulted, feel complimented.

What the liberal is really saying is you made an excellent point, and he can't refute it.

It was refuted, you simply didn't understand. Rabbi is a liar, of that there can be no dispute by anyone who has read his comments and watched, when confronted, him cut and run. He presented a straw man argument, one so obvious even a dullard would get it.

You are simply a troll, not a very bright one, but a troll. Not bright might be considered an ad homimen (personal) attack, but your many posts belie any other conclusion.

Liar=Someone I can't argue with.
Yes, given that definition you are correct. You cannot argue with me because you are wrong every single time. And then I demonstrate it. Over and over. And you slink away only to ooze up again in some other thread and spout the exact same nonsense that has already been debunked.

It's hilarious! Wry is telling us he did refute your argument, because he called you a liar!

Oh, that's some solid debating there!

 

[teapartysamurai]

How did 1% get all the wealth. That's the elite class, Billionares. Most of that is old money.
most of the wealth comes from realestate. And inside information. And scamming people.
And yes there is always fame. But most people just plug along. There was a time not to long ago when you put money in the bank, you were given a fair return, not today, Today you make money by investing overseas, that's where all of our wealth has gone......... Or you can do like my ancestors in the old days and steal it. Good luck with that one. Start an escort service.

And here is an example of exactly what I have told you about liberals.

THEY ARE DRIVEN BY GREED. As much as they profess to care about the poor, and the old, blah blah blah . . . that's all a cover for their main dring force and THAT IS GREED!

All that MONEY out there, and it isn't theirs! It SHOULD be theirs. And if they can't have it pesonally, they can, at least, CONTROL IT via the government!

The next best thing to having all that money in your hands is the CONTROL OF IT! That's what drives liberals.

And they have to RATIONALIZE why they deserve that control. And, of course, that's that the rich don't really deserve that money. They cheated to get it, they connived to get it. The rich did all kinds of eeeeeeeeeeeevil things to get that money.

So, the left is riding to the rescue against these eeeeeeeeeeeeeevil rich people. To take that money and do what's "fair!"

This is how the left thinks. They will rationalize and twist anything in their minds to get control of YOUR MONEY that YOU EARN.

You don't deserve it, in the left's mind. It really belongs to them.

That is how they think.