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Of course hard work is important, but most of the rich are also very lucky. You need luck AND hard-work to be rich. The problem with setting taxes is that people just assume that the rich's wealth is proportional to their effort. I don't think that's true. I think it's more like after a certain amount of effort, you need luck to be super successful.
That's why I think the rich needs to have more taxes. It accounts for the luck factor.
The book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell talks a lot about how people become successful.
So what? Just because some people catch a lucky break doesn't mean they need to be punished for that. Also, plenty of people catch "lucky" breaks but aren't smart/good enough to take advantage of them when they come. How come the government gets to decided how much of one's own possession's they get to keep? Why should we "account" for anything even it was luck? Why can't people keep what they earn? Everyone's "lucky." It's funny how successful people get all the luck...maybe they know how to create their own luck?
Accounting for "luck" in setting the tax rates is like the College Board marking off for "guessing" on the SATs. Which has happened up until this year.
I really don't know how many taxes are added on by manufacturers and retailers before we buy anything but without them, as in the Fair Tax, things will be cheaper before we buy them. I don't see any way to compare a VAT to the Fair Tax unless you think that the Fair Tax is just a flat tax, which it surely isn't. Study the Fair Tax system at Boortz on boortz.com and see if you have been reading it right.
I've read the fair tax book. It is the right direction, but I disagree with it. I don't like the rebates for certain items and the poor. Putting a 23% sales tax on items tends to make people not want to buy things. One big tax doesn't make sense. A small VAT/plus sales tax broadens the tax base and keeps taxes lower.
One more time. Study the Fair Tax and then compare it to a VAT. As far as I know the only people who want a VAT are left leaning politicians, and, of course, you.
The "left" hates a VAT/sales tax. They call it regressive. Just because Europe uses it doesn't mean it is left leaning. On many issues, Europeans are actually too the right of "conservatives" in the US.
Of course hard work is important, but most of the rich are also very lucky. You need luck AND hard-work to be rich. The problem with setting taxes is that people just assume that the rich's wealth is proportional to their effort. I don't think that's true. I think it's more like after a certain amount of effort, you need luck to be super successful.
That's why I think the rich needs to have more taxes. It accounts for the luck factor.
The book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell talks a lot about how people become successful.
Where you went wrong is
Most people dont assume their wealth is in proportional to their hard work, but clearly its due to their efforts. The rich work very hard to maintain wealth, where the poor work very hard to maintain their poverty.
Its not he richs fault that so many would rather spend every dime they earn rather than invest and to save it..
Accounting for "luck" in setting the tax rates is like the College Board marking off for "guessing" on the SATs. Which has happened up until this year.
Ironically, I just locked in the College Board as a client on Thursday.
So you think Monopoly requires just as much skill as chess?
I'm not rich because I'm only 20 and I'm just a student at a Top 30 (worldwide) university. However, I'm intimate with someone who makes around $500K per year. I'm friends with someone who just bought two new Mercedes convertibles. I'm not sure if those people are "rich" but they definitely are wealthier than 99% of Americans.
Luck had a lot to do with how they become rich or at least their current lifestyle.
I've never said that I'm an expert. That's why I recommended Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers.
Have you ever heard of a random number generator? That's pure luck. The existence of pure randomness can be proven.
My point is not to make a statement about current tax rates, but to say that the concept that everything is determined by hard work is wrong. I just can't stand how the Republicans say that the rich get all their money from hardwork without any luck. Life is unfair, we should accept that rather than pretend that life is fair.
Exactly, so we should accept that life is unfair and not have the government try and avoid reality by creating "equality" and "fairness." The point really isn't whether people get "lucky" or not (if you subscribe to such supernatural nonsense) but why should people get punished for it? There are people who get "lucky" and win the lottery. In a few years they are broke and many commit suicide. How come they couldn't capitalize on their "luck?" The point remains, everyone at some point probably gets a "lucky" break but it takes hardwork, talent, and determination to capitalize on that "luck." Don't tear down the productive to elevate the unproductive. That flies in the face of reality, as you admitted, and will ultimately be our destruction. "Nature to be commanded must be obeyed."
Exactly, so we should accept that life is unfair and not have the government try and avoid reality by creating "equality" and "fairness." The point really isn't whether people get "lucky" or not (if you subscribe to such supernatural nonsense) but why should people get punished for it? There are people who get "lucky" and win the lottery. In a few years they are broke and many commit suicide. How come they couldn't capitalize on their "luck?" The point remains, everyone at some point probably gets a "lucky" break but it takes hardwork, talent, and determination to capitalize on that "luck." Don't tear down the productive to elevate the unproductive. That flies in the face of reality, as you admitted, and will ultimately be our destruction. "Nature to be commanded must be obeyed."
They are doing it in the schools..everyone's a winner, everyone can go to college, everyone can be successful.
If they are doing it in the schools why shouldn't they be trying to do it in society as well ?
Everyone deserves an "equal" share of the pie ?
Don't you see the propaganda ? Now $200K/year is "rich"..all because the President defined that line and the people ate it up hook, line and sinker.
People are being pushed to dislike the wealthy and it seems to be working just fine.
Sure, her name has helped her along, you have no argument from me there. But she did not have to also do any work to have money. She did. Her sister is in the public eye much less and is just as successful, if not more so.
Also, not all rich people have recognizable names (or even just last names). So that point does not really apply to rich people with the exception of celebrities (Bill Gates at this point counts as a celebrity, I'm not just talking about actors and singers, etc. here) and locally known families.
She would be in jail if not for her name Not too many people get caught with coke in their purse then tell a cop that they lent the purse out and it was not their coke and be released.
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Not too many people get caught with coke in their purse then tell a cop that they lent the purse out and it was not their coke and be released.
