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From an economic standpoint, to me, it means increasing taxes on productive people and redistributing it to people who haven't earned it.
The unemployment rate - high as it is - is only about 6%. Therefore, 94% of the worker pool is (financially) productive.
We're all productive. Even the non-earning housewife/husband is productive.
"Productive" seems to be a code-word for "rich."
Many people earn millions without ever lifting a finger. Who's more productive? The person living off a trust fund that "earns" an income, or the mother of five, who "earns" no income?
The unemployment rate - high as it is - is only about 6%. Therefore, 94% of the worker pool is (financially) productive.
We're all productive. Even the non-earning housewife/husband is productive.
"Productive" seems to be a code-word for "rich."
Many people earn millions without ever lifting a finger. Who's more productive? The person living off a trust fund that "earns" an income, or the mother of five, who "earns" no income?
It's not a function of government to determine this. It's best left to the private sector/free market. Sorry.
It's not a function of government to determine this.
To determine what? Whether someone is productive?
Quote:
It's best left to the private sector/free market. Sorry.
Again, I'm not sure what you mean. Please explain.
It is most certainly the govt.'s job to provide for national defense, as well as many other areas. These things cost money, so taxation is a necessary evil.
The question I'm asking is related to productivity. Production requires labor and/or ideas. Simply moving money around is not productive. "Paper" wealth is false wealth, which we are finding out now.
Again, I'm not sure what you mean. Please explain.
It is most certainly the govt.'s job to provide for national defense, as well as many other areas. These things cost money, so taxation is a necessary evil.
The question I'm asking is related to productivity. Production requires labor and/or ideas. Simply moving money around is not productive. "Paper" wealth is false wealth, which we are finding out now.
To be able to retain your earnings in a greater percentage should be the consequence for your productivity. When government's greedy hand swoops down, and strangles you around the neck until the third week of April each year (when you begin to work for yourself) this is tyranny. Our founding fathers authored the Constitution to break free from the tyrannical grasp of King George III. As you've mentioned, the Constitution 'provides for the defence, and to promote the general welfare'. When you interpret this very important first phrase of the Constution, it means that our federal government was to collect taxes to provide for our national defense (military), police, and the court system. Shuffling money around to re-distribute to another citizen was not the intent. Unfortunately, we elected 4 times over a president that wiped his ass with the Constitution, and in that period of time, irreparable harm was imparted into our society, in the form of programs that were never intended by our founding fathers. The Department of Health and Human Services wasn't founded until 1952, and it alone consumes over 15% of our GDP. This is what I am talking about, when it comes down to what constitutes a liberal, when it comes to economics.
It's not a function of government to determine this. It's best left to the private sector/free market. Sorry.
Prove it. Prove that the future of America will be better if the private sector/free market keeps a quarter of our children growing up in poverty.
Nvexplorere, Mike was referring to who determines the definition of "productive". At least, that was the point he was responding to. H wants the least productive minority to re-define "productive", so the definition will fit his needs of his argument.
To be able to retain your earnings in a greater percentage should be the consequence for your productivity. When government's greedy hand swoops down, and strangles you around the neck until the third week of April each year (when you begin to work for yourself) this is tyranny.
In most states Tax Liberation Day is actually in May. What's less certain is the exact date on which Government Spending Liberation Day arrives. That's the day on which you will have earned all that you're going to for the year as the result of federal, state, and local government expenditure of every penny of taxes collected right back into the economy. And then some, lately, so it has to fall after Tax Liberation Day sometime.
It's easy to forget about that side of the equation, and a lot of people do. Nevertheless, the public sector supports about 20% of GDP, meaning that a significant part of virtually everyone's paycheck or earnings results from the good graces of government. Shouldn't really overlook that part...
. . . seven out of nine witnesses have said they testified falsely: several couldn’t accurately identify the shooter; two said their testimony was coerced by police, and at least three now blame the murder on another man.
One witness who signed a statement identifying Davis as the killer later said, “I did not read it because I cannot read.” Another said that the police “were telling me that I was an accessory to murder and that I would…go to jail for a long time . . .
From an economic standpoint, to me, it means increasing taxes on productive people and redistributing it to people who haven't earned it.
My taxes would not go up and I'm a very productive person, I just don't make over $250,000/yr. Those people had their taxes REDUCED by Bush, Obama is just ending their undeserved tax break.
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