After Decades of Redistributing Wealth to the Rich ...

[Sandy]

[ET]

[Bruce Gourley]

[KeithE]

[ET]

[Bruce Gourley]

[Jonathan]

Have you learned your lesson about assuming Bruce is interested in (or is capable of) actual debate yet ET?

[Howard V]

It would seem from history that all governments [I'm not aware of an exception], regardless of the well intended beginning, tend to be based on control [lack of freedom] or to slowly slide into control [lack of freedom] as time passes - and sometimes it is a very short time indeed. This is not an argument for anarchy. It is merely a recognition of the pernicious nature of human beings. That is how we do things.

Some of us decry the greed and heartlessness of [big] business. Others of us decry the greed and heartlessness of [big] government. It is right that both be decried. And, as either grow [become bigger] their power to do the 2 things decried increases. Power does tend to corrupt. As power approaches being total the corruption increases likewise. This seems to hold true for people, even "good" people also.

I trust neither business nor government to do the right thing. Both are always - yes I said always - seeking to grow themselves. Both have to get bigger to do more, and that without much regard as to the goodness or the morality of the "more." Such growth leads to less freedom [at least that is historically true].

G. K. Chesterton's quip still stands. "Civilization is a marvelous idea. Someone ought to try it."

Howard

[ET]

[Bruce Gourley]

[KeithE]

[KeithE]

[ET]

[KeithE]

I'll let you know about Southaven. Might be a weekday night when and if work allows. I suspect Thursday April 22 may be such an opportunity (will most likely have a friend with me - very fun loving 73 year old). Maybe you can tell us your tax credits/deductions - I owed $3000 this year (probably due to a lucky break with my adjustable LIBOR loan which stayed at about 1.5% all last year).

One other point I shoud have made about the tax policy, is that even poor people pay state sales taxes. I suspect that most everyone pays some taxes considering fed/state/local. In Alabama, the poor actually pay more percentage wise than the rich since we have a blanket 5% income tax.


I know TN has no income tax (i.e. it could be worse).

[Dave Roberts]

One of the pieces of information I do not see in these statistics is which 42% of Americans did not pay taxes. The assumption here has been that it was the lowest of incomes, but the actual statistics could just as easily relate to some on the high end of the income spectrum who have legal and accounting talent available to help them avoid taxes from time to time. Ever notice that there are folks who make large contributions to their churches about every three years and limited ones at other times--bunching deductions to those years when they have enough to make a real difference?

[ET]

[KeithE]