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The big lie of Capitalism is that everyone can be rich. This is simply not so. Capitalism only works if there is a wealth differential imposed on society. Only a small number of people can be allowed to be rich; everyone else must be kept poor. If everyone were rich, who would take out the trash, repair the sewers, and fix the roads and bridges, or any of the thousand other tasteless jobs our society requires?
This is what taxes do; keep the masses poor to force them to keep working. The government has always simply printed up the money it needs to spend, called it "debt" and cited it as the excuse to loot the population. Then the government has to find cash "sinks" into which to pour the money to make it look like it is really going someplace useful, which is why the military gets $600 hammers and $1200 toilet seats, etc.
So, if we don’t need an income tax to pay for the federal government, why do we have one? In August, 1942, Meyer Jacobstein, of the Brookings Institution, testified to a Senate subcommittee that “it is necessary to mop up the excess purchasing power of the community . . . because of its effect on the price situation . . . .” There are also a couple of Ohio University economists, Richard Vedder and Lowell Gallaway, whose study showed that for every dollar of increased taxes, Congress increased spending $1.58. In other words, taxes cause spending.
In January, 1946, American Affairs published a speech by Beardsley Rum then Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of NYCl. The title was, “Taxes for Revenue Are Obsolete.”
Under the heading, “What Taxes Are Really For,” Ruml listed three main purposes: “as an instrument of fiscal policy to help stabilize the purchasing power of the dollar”; to express public policy in the distribution of wealth and of income, as in the case of the progressive income tax and estate taxes”; to express public policy in subsidizing or in penalizing various industries and economic groups.” "The necessity for a government to tax in order to maintain both its independence and its solvency is true for state and local governments, but it is not true for a national government.
The big lie of Capitalism is that everyone can be rich. This is simply not so. Capitalism only works if there is a wealth differential imposed on society. Only a small number of people can be allowed to be rich; everyone else must be kept poor.
it depends upon
(A) Your definition of 'rich', and what sort of resources one must have to be rich.
(B) The scarcity of those resources in question.
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If everyone were rich, who would take out the trash, repair the sewers, and fix the roads and bridges, or any of the thousand other tasteless jobs our society requires?
well, rich people would, or their robots.
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This is what taxes do; keep the masses poor to force them to keep working. The government has always simply printed up the money it needs to spend, called it "debt" and cited it as the excuse to loot the population.
No, the need for food and shelter is what forces the poor to 'keep working'
Taxes play zero role in forcing anyone to work.
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So, if we don’t need an income tax to pay for the federal government, why do we have one?
To create demand for dollars, and to serve as a deflationary force against the printing of new currency. It should go without saying that if we printed "infinite" dollars, we'd go into hyperinflation.
You're right that taxation is not required to "pay for" the federal government. The Federal government could literally set your tax dollars ON FIRE and no wealth would be lost, because they can print new, identical dollars to replace the ones they set aflame.
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In August, 1942, Meyer Jacobstein, of the Brookings Institution, testified to a Senate subcommittee that “it is necessary to mop up the excess purchasing power of the community . . . because of its effect on the price situation . . . .”
In other words, taxes cause spending.
No, you have that backwards. When they say that taxes "Mop up the excess purchasing power", what they mean is that taxes simply reduce prices by removing dollars out of circulation.
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In January, 1946, American Affairs published a speech by Beardsley Rum then Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of NYCl. The title was, “Taxes for Revenue Are Obsolete.”
Under the heading, “What Taxes Are Really For,” Ruml listed three main purposes: “as an instrument of fiscal policy to help stabilize the purchasing power of the dollar”; to express public policy in the distribution of wealth and of income, as in the case of the progressive income tax and estate taxes”; to express public policy in subsidizing or in penalizing various industries and economic groups.” "The necessity for a government to tax in order to maintain both its independence and its solvency is true for state and local governments, but it is not true for a national government.
I agree with him.
It's actually shocking how many people don't understand this. Smart people, too, like lawyers and accountants and stock brokers.
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This is what taxes do; keep the masses poor to force them to keep working. The government has always simply printed up the money it needs to spend, called it "debt" and cited it as the excuse to loot the population. Then the government has to find cash "sinks" into which to pour the money to make it look like it is really going someplace useful, which is why the military gets $600 hammers and $1200 toilet seats, etc.
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You are ignoring history. There was a time when the progressive income tax was more sloped so that it reduced income inequality. Those taxes have been changed to now be low on capital gains -- the areas that the rich earn most of their income and higher on wages.
If we magically returned to the tax-rates of the 1950s we would solve what you complain about.
You are ignoring history. There was a time when the progressive income tax was more sloped so that it reduced income inequality. Those taxes have been changed to now be low on capital gains -- the areas that the rich earn most of their income and higher on wages.
If we magically returned to the tax-rates of the 1950s we would have what you complain about.
No I am not ignoring history, the tax changes have caused more income inequality and the system affords less oportunity for achiving economic independence than in the past.
The big lie of Capitalism is that everyone can be rich. This is simply not so. Capitalism only works if there is a wealth differential imposed on society. Only a small number of people can be allowed to be rich; everyone else must be kept poor. If everyone were rich, who would take out the trash, repair the sewers, and fix the roads and bridges, or any of the thousand other tasteless jobs our society requires?
This is what taxes do; keep the masses poor to force them to keep working. The government has always simply printed up the money it needs to spend, called it "debt" and cited it as the excuse to loot the population. Then the government has to find cash "sinks" into which to pour the money to make it look like it is really going someplace useful, which is why the military gets $600 hammers and $1200 toilet seats, etc.
So, if we don’t need an income tax to pay for the federal government, why do we have one? In August, 1942, Meyer Jacobstein, of the Brookings Institution, testified to a Senate subcommittee that “it is necessary to mop up the excess purchasing power of the community . . . because of its effect on the price situation . . . .” There are also a couple of Ohio University economists, Richard Vedder and Lowell Gallaway, whose study showed that for every dollar of increased taxes, Congress increased spending $1.58. In other words, taxes cause spending.
In January, 1946, American Affairs published a speech by Beardsley Rum then Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of NYCl. The title was, “Taxes for Revenue Are Obsolete.”
Under the heading, “What Taxes Are Really For,” Ruml listed three main purposes: “as an instrument of fiscal policy to help stabilize the purchasing power of the dollar”; to express public policy in the distribution of wealth and of income, as in the case of the progressive income tax and estate taxes”; to express public policy in subsidizing or in penalizing various industries and economic groups.” "The necessity for a government to tax in order to maintain both its independence and its solvency is true for state and local governments, but it is not true for a national government.
Obama went after the upper middle class and because he knows you don't know the difference he called them rich. There is a difference between wealthy rich and income rich.
Have fun trying to get rich in America because as your "income" increases the government will take more of it away making it harder for you to buy other wealth building assets. Obama just made it harder and the poor fools cheered as he did it.
The big lie of Capitalism is that everyone can be rich.
No, the big lie of capitalism is there there is something inherently desirable about being "rich." It's a system that glorifies gluttony. And the socialist system is a system that glorifies tyranny. So why don't we find a better way? Simple. Because we are too goddam stupid.
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Originally Posted by MTAtech
You are ignoring history.
So are you. There was a time when there were NO income taxes -- a time when this nation, in most any economic measure, was better off... or at least solvent.
Obama went after the upper middle class and because he knows you don't know the difference he called them rich. There is a difference between wealthy rich and income rich.
Have fun trying to get rich in America because as your "income" increases the government will take more of it away making it harder for you to buy other wealth building assets. Obama just made it harder and the poor fools cheered as he did it.
As le roi said, Obama has nothing to do with it. We had much more high taxes on the wealthy 50 years ago. Reagan lowered them extensively on the wealthy 30 years ago. Clinton raised taxes on the wealthy but nothing like they were 50 years ago. Bush drastically lowered taxes on wealth and Obama undid SOME of those tax-cuts. We now still live at a time where taxes on the wealthy are very low.
In fact, the top 400 richest taxpayers paid an average of about 17% on their income.
So are you. There was a time when there were NO income taxes -- a time when this nation, in most any economic measure, was better off... or at least solvent.
Yeah, there was a time when we used polished stones as money too. I thought we'd limit the discussion to modern times.
The time that you romanticize, the time before income taxes, was a time of desperate poverty for most of the population. We also had a tiny military that would not suit modern times. That military required tax money.
I would contend that today's America, with Social Security, Medicare and a modern defense is a better America for most Americans than existed 150 years ago.
The point is that the game is fixed.
The ability of people to obtain financial independence is being controlled by government, to the detriment of the people.
The government which was supposed to serve the people, has become their master and in fact now enslaves the people under a system of wage slavery.
In fact the largest single factor prohibiting the average person from obtaining financial independence is the government.
The ironic thing is that they have brainwashed people into believing that they are somehow supporting government and paying for services they receive through these taxes which are really designed only to keep them working for their entire life.
When the IRS imprisons someone for tax evasion, it is not for the crime of denying income to the government, it is for attempting to circumvent a system designed to keep them a slave.
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