Oxfam: the 62 richest people own as much as the poorer half of the world population (drugs, lawyers)
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I don't understand why anyone cares about the top .0001%. Let me pose a question: Have the ultra rich EVER prevented you from accomplishing things in your life that you set out to accomplish? I believe that for the most part, people are where they are because of decisions they have made in their life. I must admit I find it funny how a certain segment of the population believes their low or middle class station in life is primarily due to the rich holding them down.
I don't understand why anyone cares about the top .0001%. Let me pose a question: Have the ultra rich EVER prevented you from accomplishing things in your life that you set out to accomplish? I believe that for the most part, people are where they are because of decisions they have made in their life. I must admit I find it funny how a certain segment of the population believes their low or middle class station in life is primarily due to the rich holding them down.
So I guess I do have the right to complain since so many of them use tax loopholes and evade their taxes that it causes me (someone who is considered upper middle class) to pay a higher effective tax rate than many of them? Their refusal to pay their share of taxes has to be made up by people like me and we can't afford to pay much more. We have enough money to be stable and do all the things most people think of with the American dream (summer vacations, cover our child's college expenses, have a nice home, newer vehicles, etc.). Yet I look at my effective tax rate and I look at Mitt Romney's and I can't help but scratch my head and wonder how on earth his is so much lower than mine. Then it occurs to me... he no longer works for his money and therefore he is entitled to numerous tax breaks and loopholes that aren't granted to me.
I'm not entirely sure how that's fair in the least.
Nobody is holding me down. I'm quite happy in life, but I'd also like to see a stable government that is fiscally responsible and as long as we allow the ultra rich to make the rules that will NEVER happen.
So I guess I do have the right to complain since so many of them use tax loopholes and evade their taxes that it causes me (someone who is considered upper middle class) to pay a higher effective tax rate than many of them? Their refusal to pay their share of taxes has to be made up by people like me and we can't afford to pay much more. We have enough money to be stable and do all the things most people think of with the American dream (summer vacations, cover our child's college expenses, have a nice home, newer vehicles, etc.). Yet I look at my effective tax rate and I look at Mitt Romney's and I can't help but scratch my head and wonder how on earth his is so much lower than mine. Then it occurs to me... he no longer works for his money and therefore he is entitled to numerous tax breaks and loopholes that aren't granted to me.
I'm not entirely sure how that's fair in the least.
Nobody is holding me down. I'm quite happy in life, but I'd also like to see a stable government that is fiscally responsible and as long as we allow the ultra rich to make the rules that will NEVER happen.
His effective rate isn't lower than yours. You've bought the lie.
His effective rate isn't lower than yours. You've bought the lie.
That is not true at all, overseas accounts, carried interest and creation of partnerships put them at a considerable advantage. Explain to me why a hedge fund managers income is taxes as capital gains while middle class tax payers are taxed based on income bracket.
All that money buys influence and legislation.
"Each of the top 400 earners took home, on average, about $336 million in 2012, the latest year for which data is available. If the bulk of that money had been paid out as salary or wages, as it is for the typical American, the tax obligations of those wealthy taxpayers could have more than doubled.
Instead, much of their income came from convoluted partnerships and high-end investment funds. Other earnings accrued in opaque family trusts and foreign shell corporations, beyond the reach of the tax authorities."
I don't understand why anyone cares about the top .0001%. Let me pose a question: Have the ultra rich EVER prevented you from accomplishing things in your life that you set out to accomplish? I believe that for the most part, people are where they are because of decisions they have made in their life. I must admit I find it funny how a certain segment of the population believes their low or middle class station in life is primarily due to the rich holding them down.
Don't ask us. Ask the super poor -the sort of people that die, from a lack of a couple of dollars worth of medicine.
there again you are stressing over what someone else is doing, and that does nothing but harm YOU. if you are making what you want to be making, and you are covering your nut doing that, and you are happy with what you have, then why are you stressing over what someone else does? i dont give a damn that bill gates, for instance, is worth $50 billion. it doesnt matter to me. i dont care if warren buffet is worth several billion either, again it doesnt matter to me, i just dont care about what they make, so why do you?
if i wanted to be rich, i could have been. i just didnt want the headaches that go along with getting there and maintaining the wealth. too many issues from people like you wanting some government to take away what i EARNED, because you are jealous of what i have, rather than trying to get what you want ofr yourself.
you are the typical self absorbed liberal that want to destroy the rich because they went out and EARNED what they have. you think that because they got rich, they must have been doing something nefarious to get that way. you cant stand others being extremely successful while you are not. and you think that somehow big government should step in and prevent everyone from getting richer than anyone else.
in the end what you want is equal outcomes, and that just wont happen, regardless of what you or some government agency wants. you have yet to learn that life isnt fair, that some people are just not motivated to make a lot of money, and some are. you also forget that at a certain point on the money making scale, that if you are going to be wealthy, you are going to have to spend a lot more time working with your money to just maintain the wealth, let alone increase it.
the fact is that you dont know what they did to get where they are, and what they need to do just to maintain what they have.
so stop stressing over what they do, and stress over what you do about your own situation.
Why would I think that way? Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are liberals.....
once again that is bullcrap. anyone can change their lot in life, but they have to WORK for it, it wont be just given to them. too many people think that because they are poor now, means they will always be poor. too many others think they can spend their way into wealth, but they constantly buy the wrong products. they buy into the consumerism, and spend way too much on such products. the people that make themselves rich are the ones that buy the stuff they need to make themselves rich. for instance, my best friend was no better or worse off than i was in high school, but through hard work, and proper use of his assets, he has made himself quite comfortable over the years.
he now owns six houses, five of them paid off, thee of them he rents out, one he is working on to eventually sell, hopefully for enough to pretty well pay off the last mortgage he has. but it wasnt easy to get where he is today. he had to work for it, and instead of buying the latest and greatest car, computer, or other consumer product, he invested in spackle, tools like olfa knives, and other tools of the tinters trade, and put in a lot of hours daily doing tints for customers.
i have often said that is one is willing to put forth the effort, they can make themselves as rich as they want.
Not at all. People are limited by their intelligence (which is mostly immutable), health, and circumstances (if someone has to spend time caring for ailing parents for example, that takes away time or energy they could otherwise use to focus on developing wealth. Another example, more so true in many developing countries, is corruption and a low level of freedom, economically and/or politically).
Unless they're born healthy, unencumbered, and with a very high IQ, it's unlikely anyone can become a millionaire from scratch.
There's always going to be a ceiling. Some people unfortunately hit that ceiling at a level below what is necessary to sustain themselves.
I don't understand why anyone cares about the top .0001%. Let me pose a question: Have the ultra rich EVER prevented you from accomplishing things in your life that you set out to accomplish? I believe that for the most part, people are where they are because of decisions they have made in their life. I must admit I find it funny how a certain segment of the population believes their low or middle class station in life is primarily due to the rich holding them down.
I'm financially comfortable, but I'd say the main thing holding me back from pursuing potentially lucrative ideas is the inevitable legal maze that everything involves. Especially here in California.
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