The Belief That the Wealthy Are Worthy Is Waning... (employment, Obama, downturn)
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Great atricle Kerby thank you for posting it. There are some very interesting arguments brought up in it.
Quote:
A bit of history will be useful here. The original case for a progressive income tax -- that is, one levied disproportionately on larger incomes -- was based less on raising revenue for the state than breaking up concentrations of wealth, inherited and otherwise. The nation's Founding Fathers considered these to be undemocratic -- markers of "an aristocratic society, not a free and virtuous republic," as the tax-law expert Dennis Ventry has written.
Recent events validate the Founders' instincts. The craze for financial deregulation in Washington was fomented in part by Wall Street plutocrats brandishing lavish political donations, gifts, offers of employment and other trappings of economic power. Would Wall Street have gotten so far out of control if it had had less power to wield? No one can know for sure, but it's a question worth pondering.
There's also a social value in suppressing income inequality. In a country with only a slightly less ingrained tradition of civility than the United States, the AIG affair would provoke rioting in the streets.
I thought the statement about the founding fathers regarding concentrations of wealth interesting as well.
Quote:
The original case for a progressive income tax -- that is, one levied disproportionately on larger incomes -- was based less on raising revenue for the state than breaking up concentrations of wealth, inherited and otherwise. The nation's Founding Fathers considered these to be undemocratic -- markers of "an aristocratic society, not a free and virtuous republic," as the tax-law expert Dennis Ventry has written.
Democracy - Not "The Free Market" - Will Save America's Middle Class
Thomas Jefferson pointed out, in an 1816 letter to William H. Crawford, "Every society has a right to fix the fundamental principles of its association." He also pointed out in that letter that some people - and businesses - would prefer that government not play referee to the game of business, not fix rules that protect labor or provide for the protection of the commons and the public good.
We must, Jefferson wrote to Crawford, "...say to all [such] individuals, that if they contemplate pursuits beyond the limits of these principles and involving dangers which the society chooses to avoid, they must go somewhere else for their exercise; that we want no citizens, and still less ephemeral and pseudo-citizens [like corporations], on such terms. We may exclude them from our territory, as we do persons infected with disease."
Thanks, kev, I guess it's time the blinders came off some eyes!
I like the paragraph that addresses the Repub bumper sticker "The Rich Create Jobs, repeat after me, The Rich Create jobs".
""Those squawks sometimes take the form of a claim that too much taxation saps the economic value of the wealthy -- their capacity to invest, to create jobs, etc. It's proper to note that years of study have unearthed no consistent evidence that taxation causes the rich to alter their investing behavior much, at least not until their tax burden reaches a point vastly higher than what Obama contemplates""
Maybe NOW they'll notice that the rich did NOT create jobs...maybe...
Democracy - Not "The Free Market" - Will Save America's Middle Class
Thomas Jefferson pointed out, in an 1816 letter to William H. Crawford, "Every society has a right to fix the fundamental principles of its association." He also pointed out in that letter that some people - and businesses - would prefer that government not play referee to the game of business, not fix rules that protect labor or provide for the protection of the commons and the public good.
We must, Jefferson wrote to Crawford, "...say to all [such] individuals, that if they contemplate pursuits beyond the limits of these principles and involving dangers which the society chooses to avoid, they must go somewhere else for
their exercise; that we want no citizens, and still less ephemeral and pseudo-citizens [like corporations], on such terms. We may exclude them from our territory, as we do persons infected with disease."
Read the article, believe author to be horse's behind.
He states that free market wouldn't exist but for government.
Does this boob realize where the currency comes from to pay for government. Government is of the people, by the people, for the people. Government is strictly at our service.
This guy thinks it's the other way around.
This could be the dumbest thread that I have ever enjoyed on this board.
It is the perfect illustration of the abject stupidity of the Left in this country.
You have it ALL wrong!
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