More Inequality

[KeithE]

I know I have griped about American inequality before herein (as Bruce G has with the book "Winner Take All Economy"), but I'll continue to do so because it is getting worse.

by Joe Stiglitz, one of the nation's leading economists.

Note also on large corporations paying no taxes.

Our budget crisis would be solved if the top individuals coughed up more (wealth and income) and the top corporations coughed up at all.

And now we have Obama hoping to spend $1B on campaigning. If he ever was a "common folk", he has lost it.

And we have the Citizens United SCOTUS decision, which will aid the large corporations in obtaining their every desire.

If you agree with these trends and claim to be Christian, I guess are imagining that Jesus said:
"Blessed are the rich, for they should get more".

If you are as bothered as I am, let your voice be heard.

[Dave Roberts]

Part of the cure for Social Security and Medicare is to apply payroll taxes to all salary income, not cap it at just above $100,000 annually. Of course, that gets at the high dollar earners, so it won't happen.

[KeithE]

[Sandy]

If you take Bernie Sander's list of top ten tax evaders, and just recover the subsidies given to the wealthiest of the wealthy, it would be more money than the Republicans are asking Obama to cut from the budget. If the Republicans have their way, they'll sell the country piece by piece to the highest bidder, and leave those of us who have to work at a job to earn a living with low wages, substandard housing and little hope for improvement.

I noticed that Mit Romney has eked his way to the top of the list of potential GOP presidential candidates. That would be the end of the American middle class as we know it. Romney supports an economy in which corporations and businesses pay no taxes at all,because of the false pretense that they just raise their prices and costs to cover them. If he gets elected, you'll see your personal income taxes rise to the 50% level. His "theory" is to allow the private sector to keep unemployment high, in order to keep wages (cost of doing business) low, and tax imports to make up the difference.

What is really tragic is that the conservative evangelical community has been sucked into supporting this kind of thing by a few carrot-dangling promises GOP leaders have made regarding a few social issues that they have yet to deliver on. We've been hearing about all of this stuff ever since Reagan made that silly statement, "I know you can't endorse me, but I endorse you, at the Religious Roundtable back in 1980. In exchange for millions of votes, Reagan delivered on nothing. In fact, all three Republican presidents since 1980 have nominated a "swing voting" (translated: Pro-Choice) justice to keep the Supreme Court balance in favor of Pro-Roe v. Wade. The fact that a Mormon can get endorsements and support from conservative evangelical leaders over a fellow conservative evangelical is evidence of the bill of goods that has been sold to a lot of sincere Christian voters.

[ET]

[Sandy]

[ET]

[Dave Roberts]

Revolution would be making the rich equal to the rest of us in Social Security payments. Maybe if companies had to also pay on their overpaid executives, they would reign in some of those ridiculous bonuses.

[Lamar Wadsworth]

We already have a system of redistributing wealth--it is being redistributed from the working poor and the middle class (many of whom have slid from the middle class into the ranks of the working poor) to the top fraction of 1%. How many underpaid workers living paycheck to paycheck, often without health insurance or the prospect of a decent retirement, does it take to support one CEO's multi-million dollar salary package?

[Sandy]

[ET]

[Sandy]

You're right, ET, I don't listen to Ramsey. Aside from the fact that I don't have that kind of time to waste, you're not going to convince me that someone who makes a seven figure salary off of advertising doesn't say what the advertisers want him to say. He's found a niche, gained an audience and makes money off it. He's therefore not an independent voice, and I'm not going to waste my time.

[Dave Roberts]

I read the Ramsey piece above and the things about wealth distribution going back the way it was because people lack the habits to acquire wealth. That is a typical word from the upper class. I know people who have worked their entire lives, often holding more than one job, who still cannot make ends meet. They do not have wasteful habits or make impulsive purchases. They simply haven't made enough money to have investments, and the interest they receive on their miniscule savings will never lift them at all. They are barely paying their mortgages each month, and they are dependent on scholarships or work grants for their kids to get an education. Perhaps the most struggling underclass of our society is the families of enlisted personnel in the military. I have seen the mobile home parks around Fort Bragg in NC where these people who can't get on-base housing for their families. They are certainly not the example you want to cite as being poor managers, but take a trip to the areas where you find those glorified as the bravest and finest of America and see how much chance those enlisted personnel ever have of owing a fine home or having a financially successful life.

[ET]

[ET]

[Sandy]

[ET]

It's interesting to me that what I would have thought would have been a legitimate observation about human behavior has become an issue that Ramsey makes too much money and can be dismissed based on that.

[Dave Roberts]

I'm really curious why no one is willing to address the question of applying Social Security payroll deductions and employer contributions to all wages. It seems that advocates of the "flat tax" would want to start there immediately and not exempt larger incomes from contributing on all earnings to the diminishing trust fund of Social Security. Am I missing something that makes this subject unadressable?

[Cathy]

[Dave Roberts]

[KeithE]

[Dave Roberts]

It will be interesting to see where Obama wants to apply a scalpel tonight to counter the Ryan efforts to attack with a broad ax.

[ET]

[ET]

[Dave Roberts]

It's obvious looking at your pie that there has to be more income for the government as well as reductions in the outgo. Either it has to come from adding to the rates for the richest or tightening the corporate tax code so there are fewer loopholes for GE and company.