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Apparently, you can't comprehend your own link. As of publication date, the top 1% had 21.3% of all income.
That has changed, and the latest IRS data reports that the top 1% had 16.93% of all income. And they paid 36.73% of the federal income tax revenue, more than TWICE their share of the income.
You're right. I was looking at the "net worth and percent of wealth" figures.....like it makes a huge difference or changes the point being made!
REGARDLESS, the point still stands. To whose benefit does the entire securities and exchange commission, civil court systems, etc.? Whose interests are REALLY being protected when we use the military industrial complex to "secure resources" and shipping lanes in far away lands?
Is it the street sweeper, or the financiers?
Who has more to lose if the governmental, legal and business framework is no longer operational? The guy making minimum wage, or the plutocrat?
Face it: The top people in this country derive the biggest benefits from our government. They own a vastly disproportionate amount of the nations' resources, real estate, assets and especially, wealth. The maintenance of our capitalist and legal framework is not cheap.
Also, funny that you should use "2009" as your metric. That was when income at the top actuallY DID fall. But in the past two years it has risen sharply again. In 2010, it was back to 24% of all income earned.
And even in 2009, the top 1% earned more than the bottom 50% COMBINED! (1.32 trillion compared to 1.06 trillion).
And let's not forget the big picture:
Of course, we have a progressive tax in this country, because "tax burdens" are felt differently and borne differently by different segments of the population. Capitalism NEEDS poor people. Deal with it.
I don't have a LOT of money, but I have 2 great kids, a wonderful grandchild. I have a home to come to, and a way to get around when I need to. Food to eat, things to do. A good job, and good employer.
Why should I be angered, upset, bitter or anything else by someone who has more money. I have a good life and I don't need anything else. Rich doesn't always mean money.
I don't have a LOT of money, but I have 2 great kids, a wonderful grandchild. I have a home to come to, and a way to get around when I need to. Food to eat, things to do. A good job, and good employer.
Why should I be angered, upset, bitter or anything else by someone who has more money. I have a good life and I don't need anything else.
Great attitude! I feel the same way. Life is not fair all the way as we actually may want it but when you look at the big picture, I feel the same way and not waste my energy on the rich having more than I do. Take care.
No. But does it bother you that Obama has never held a real job in the real world yet is very rich ?
What bothers me is to see a rich politician who has always been a politician. Makes you want to go hummm.
He has worked a regular job before. Baskins and Robbins is one when he was a kid. He is rich but not in the same league as Romney, who never held a real job except liquidate American companies and send others off to China in which he dictated their infrastructure in order to place those jobs without the suicide nets....yet. The guy never got his has hands dirty, like hold an M16 in Vietnam. Oh, I believe he blessed Staples into existence, selling all Chinese products, padding his Swiss bank accounts. That is why you've got Obama again, get it yet?
You're right. I was looking at the "net worth and percent of wealth" figures.....like it makes a huge difference or changes the point being made!
REGARDLESS, the point still stands. To whose benefit does the entire securities and exchange commission, civil court systems, etc.? Whose interests are REALLY being protected when we use the military industrial complex to "secure resources" and shipping lanes in far away lands?
Union pension funds and IRAs, 401k's, etc.
"This shift of business ownership from rich people to working people may be the greatest economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution. ...So what does all this mean? Well, for starters, it should lead to an end of complaints about the profits of corporations and allegations about 'greedy corporations.' After all, much of that profit now goes toward the current and future retirement incomes of working people." Business Ownership & Labor Day
Read the entire article, and open your eyes.
Everyone who contributes to or benefits from a 401k, pension fund, mutual fund, annuity, or whole life insurance policy, etc., is an investor, en masse. Theirinterests are protected.
And guess who the US's biggest investor is?
CalPERS, the California public employees union retirement system.
Pension systems and retirement accounts hold HUGE ownership positions in equities, stocks, and bonds. Perhaps you believe those should be raided and emptied of their value because benefitting from the system is unfair. Are you on board with that?
"This shift of business ownership from rich people to working people may be the greatest economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution. ...So what does all this mean? Well, for starters, it should lead to an end of complaints about the profits of corporations and allegations about 'greedy corporations.' After all, much of that profit now goes toward the current and future retirement incomes of working people." Business Ownership & Labor Day
Read the entire article, and open your eyes.
Everyone who contributes to or benefits from a 401k, pension fund, mutual fund, annuity, or whole life insurance policy, etc., is an investor, en masse. Theirinterests are protected.
And guess who the US's biggest investor is?
CalPERS, the California public employees union retirement system.
Pension systems and retirement accounts hold HUGE ownership positions in equities, stocks, and bonds. Perhaps you believe those should be raided and emptied of their value because benefitting from the system is unfair. Are you on board with that?
This is all really irrelevant nonsense.
Even where investment products are "collectively owned," there is still that class of people on top who profit most handsomely from the "management" of that investment product! Again, THEY have the most to lose as THEY profit the most! Bonus for them, as they actually make and control the laws and rules that govern the investment process!
Stop shilling for the rich. It's embarassing. They would NEVER return the favor! They are NOT hurting. In fact, they're doing better than at any time since the guilded age, yet you want more and more and more concentration of wealth! Let's just revert to feudalism and get it over with.
As long as the rich provide us with football and cheap crap made in China, we should just look the other way, and be thankful! Pathetic.
A hypothetical: You and I own a farm together. I own 99% of the farm, and you own 1% of the farm. What percent of the farm's operating expenses should I pay?
Even where investment products are "collectively owned," there is still that class of people on top who profit most handsomely from the "management" of that investment product! Again, THEY have the most to lose as THEY profit the most! Bonus for them, as they actually make and control the laws and rules that govern the investment process!
Fine. Eliminate the pension and retirement funds that they're earning a small profit on. No pensions or retirement plan for anyone other than what they can save themselves during their working years. Deal?
Quote:
A hypothetical: You and I own a farm together. I own 99% of the farm, and you own 1% of the farm. What percent of the farm's operating expenses should I pay?
99%. Good. The top 1% owns less than 17% of the income. What percentage of the federal income tax should they pay?
I'm happy to hear you advocate a flat tax. Everyone pays their fair share.
I have more money than some people and others have more money than me. According to the current "in thing" it is ok to feel jealousy and hatred toward people who have done better than me but I never did do the "in thing". Instead of filling my head with hatred toward those richer than me I choose to keep learning and moving forward to my definition of rich.
Hatred, jealousy and expecting the government to do for you and hoping the government will hurt others will not get you ahead and I see it as just an excuse for the government to take more money and therefor more control. Yes the rich will pay more but there will be consequences that those filled with hate and jealousy can not see. They may cheer in their efforts of hurting others but in the end this poor me attitude will keep you poor. If you jumped on the Obama's bandwagon I'll bet that years from now, you will still be poor.
Fine. Eliminate the pension and retirement funds that they're earning a small profit on. No pensions or retirement plan for anyone other than what they can save themselves during their working years. Deal?
Why is this your (il)logical conclusion?
Quote:
Originally Posted by InformedConsent
99%. Good. The top 1% owns less than 17% of the income. What percentage of the federal income tax should they pay?
I'm happy to hear you advocate a flat tax. Everyone pays their fair share.
No. Do not conflate "flat tax" with "fair tax."
Flat tax creates an unconscionable and disproportionate burden on lower income workers, who are forced to carry and support a greater share of the operating expenses of the nation and government than they receive benefit from.
Again, if the rich OWN 80%+ of the entire country's assets, wealth, real estate... then they should PAY for at LEAST 80% of the expenses associated with maintaining the country in good working form.
That an income tax is the way this maintenance money is extracted is just coincidental.
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