[cgregor]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

So what is your alternate proposal? In the rest of the country, the majority of the population is working in poorly paid service jobs serving wealthy people. You can play Robin Hood and try to confiscate their money but then wealthy people will simply move their wealth somewhere that you can't touch it. Capital flight is a crippling thing.

Here's what Vermont should do: Impose a "Purchaser's Tax" on the sale of any Vermont business, based on the net worth of the parties interested in buying it. The winning bidder pays a tax proportionate to his/her net worth relative to that of the least-capitalized bidder. The tax revenue is partly used to pay re-organization/ re-start costs. The amount is equal to what the least-caplitalized bidder would have paid on the "purchaser's tax." The rest of the revenue from the sale would go into a fund to help employees convert their about-to-be-closed place of work into an employee-owned cooperative.

Vermont should also have universal health care paid through a payroll tax based on the ratio of a full-time-employee's average pay to that of the boss/CEO. Under a system like this, Wal-Mart would in effect be giving each of its slaveys a $5-10/ hour raise.

And workers should unionize, unionize, unionize!

[NOLA101]

Originally Posted by arctichomesteader

We've got people in our state now actively pushing bogus data funded by billionaire Bloomberg yet the press falls all over itself to make it sound credible.

The Koch brothers have nothing to do with Bloomberg. The Koch Brothers are extreme right-wing advocates. Bloomberg is a middle-of-the-road, largely apolitical technocrat.

And that "survey" is garbage. We already have state-specific economic data collected by the feds.

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

So what is your alternate proposal? In the rest of the country, the majority of the population is working in poorly paid service jobs serving wealthy people. You can play Robin Hood and try to confiscate their money but then wealthy people will simply move their wealth somewhere that you can't touch it. Capital flight is a crippling thing.

End free trade. And as for the rest, moving money to offshore banks is one thing but how many of these wealthy people want to live in the third world?

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by NOLA101

The Koch brothers have nothing to do with Bloomberg. The Koch Brothers are extreme right-wing advocates. Bloomberg is a middle-of-the-road, largely apolitical technocrat.

And that "survey" is garbage. We already have state-specific economic data collected by the feds.

Bloomberg is far left. All for big government. The point is both sides love their billionaires.