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Perhaps they see the writing on the wall. The people are in the streets now and are not going to tolerate the greed that has destroyed our economy. Now if only Congress would get the idea.
Perhaps they see the writing on the wall. The people are in the streets now and are not going to tolerate the greed that has destroyed our economy. Now if only Congress would get the idea.
how is it that you don't understand that congress is part of the 1%?
how many bailouts will it take?
how much inflation?
how many 5,000 page bills need to be written?
how many prosecutions that are avoided?
how many government "replacements" around the world?
i fear that the people are going to tolerate the loss of freedom because they do, indeed, want a nanny state-many of them.
peter schweizer has a new book out called throw them all out, which details IN DEPTH the corruption on both sides and how public servants are becoming very rich.
how is it that you don't understand that congress is part of the 1%?
how many bailouts will it take?
how much inflation?
how many 5,000 page bills need to be written?
how many prosecutions that are avoided?
how many government "replacements" around the world?
i fear that the people are going to tolerate the loss of freedom because they do, indeed, want a nanny state-many of them.
be careful what you wish for.
The only freedom is for the 1%. You don't really believe they provide anything for anyone elese? The GOP wants to reduce America to a third World Country with a collappsed infraastructure to provide cheap labor for the new masters, the Chinese
So now it's "patriotic" to want to pay more taxes?? What's next - party dues, ID papers and weekly politcal meetings with your comrades? Funny how the term patriotic has been twisted over the years. Patriotism is love of country, not love of government. Anyone who wants to pay more in taxes than they should have to is not patriotic at all. In fact, given how America was founded and the principals of the founding fathers, every true patriotic American should do everything they can, within the law, to pay as little in taxes as they can. Our founding fathers defined the term patriotic as love for country and a healthy fear of government. Not far from where I live, Rhode Islanders burned the British revenue sloop HMS Gaspee several years before Bostonians dumped tea into Boston Harbor in protest of tea taxes. Were these heros unpatriotic because they didn't want to pay taxes? And don't tell me that they were protesting taxation without representation, because none of us today are being represented by our so called leaders any better than the colonies were represented in British Parliament.
It's time people started waking up and remembering what these terms truly mean. THINK PEOPLE!
This is a disingenuous argument that is frequently advanced by diehard conservatives opposed to any tax increase. Let me point out the obvious, individual effort--without systemic change--is not going to result in any real improvement. If I follow the logic you are using here, I shouldn't advocate any changes in any laws at all even when I see great injustices being perpetrated. Rather, I should simply try to conform my own personal behavior to some personal moral standard. Fat chance that will fix anything.
Groups of all sorts frequently lobby the government for changes in laws that affect all of us. Should they be prohibited from doing so? Heck no. If a legislator feels the law they are suggesting is inappropriate, he should vote against it. I'm sure many legislators will oppose any tax increase. If a majority are in favor, let the majority rule on that issue.
Finally, do you feel the portion of government spending being used for Social Security, Medicare, and Defense is wasteful and unnecessary? That plus the interest we pay on the nation debt is approximately 70% of the money your federal government is spending.
If I take your numbers and our spending for interest, Social Security, Medicare and Defense is approximately 70% of the money we are spending, then we are in more deep poo than previously thought. The fact that people are getting more in benefits from social security and medicare than they put in shows the system will never survive and makes no sense. The fact that basically we are borrowing money just to pay our bills and interest is a huge problem. We are essentially taking out more credit cards just to pay old ones.
Would you keep giving someone money or let them borrow money from you if they spent more than they made? Of course not, so why would you let the government do the same.
And the answer to your question is yes, I do think the a ton of money spent on interest, social security, medicare, and defense is unnecessary. I could list pretty much every department and area of the government that needs to be cut.
Warren Buffett was leading this parade, but he's been fighting the IRS for the past 8 years. Fine, Warren, walk the walk and scribble out a check for what you owe.
Here's the thing. All these guys love to saw pious things, but guess what? They have battalions of tax attorneys and accountants laboring day and night to shelter their assets. Meanwhile, the relatively successful small business owner is the one getting screwed, literally paying the price for someone else's posturing.
regarding taxes being "the answer" to our spending problem, here are some sobering statistics:
(they may actually be worse now since this was recorded)
only 34% of households make more than 65,000.
only 10% of households make more than 118,200.
only 2.67% of households make more than 200,000.
this should put it into perspective, shouldn't it?
half of all americans make less than 33,000 dollars, and tax collection was down for 2010 compared to 2009:
http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/article/0,,id=171961,00.html (broken link)
these millionaires are so disingenuous it is laughable! Most of their income is in dividends and capital gains and they know it, so raise income taxes who cares, it is not going to affect them but rather will affect ALL OF US... as someone else said before me if they care so much why can't they write a check for the extra and send it in right now? I am sure the IRS will gladly accept their contribution!!
I have said it again, make the capital gains rate progressive as well, exempt capital gains from taxes upto the level of ordinary income - this encourages the middle class to invest and save which is what we need, then since the rich are begging to be taxed, start hiking up the capital gains rate. Exclude capital gains on income that can be shown to be re-invested back in business and has created long term jobs here in the United States (the jobs need to exist on a continuous basis for at least 6 months out of the year the exemption is being claimed to prevent fraud), all others get taxed at a progressive rate.
The capital gains shelter is the most egregious shelter that is liberally exploited by wealthy people to pay a pittance in taxes.
Yeah, just force the lower classes to pay taxes instead of them.
It would be nice if the lower classes actually paid income taxes.
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