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Nobody is trying to take anyone`s wealth away but we would all be better off if the Walmarts of the world paid their employees enough to get them off welfare. Wouldn`t everybody benefit if employees earned enough to actually buy things and create jobs for others? The billionaires would still have more money than they could ever spend. Spare me the usual nonsense about low paid workers needing to better themselves by earning a degree from Harvard or Princeton. That`s really dumb.
Stop it now, you're talking about America's parasites!
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Originally Posted by Goodnight
You're ignoring the influence that money has in this country, tax structure, corporations backing politicians that return the favor. Explain why the top 1% is growing, they didn't suddenly get smarter and the middle class didn't stop their progression.
I guess that depends on your definition of "earned". If someone handed me $20 million tomorrow for no real reason, would I have earned it? If someone flipping burgers was given $1000 an hour, did they earn it?
Is getting $20 million for acting in a movie really earning it? Is getting $28 million a year for being a third baseman in baseball really earning it? Is a CEO getting $15m in compensation after 5 quarters of declining sales really earning it?
You seem to not understand that people are paid wages for a reason.
I don't think so. I'd use the term "given" before I used "earned" in a large number of scenarios.
Maybe you don't think it is "fair", but yes it was earned.
The New York Yankees pay a lot to their players, because the market demands that. There are only so few players with enough skill to compete at that level and a lot of demand to watch games in person or on TV, wear jerseys and etc...$$$$$$
The New York Yankees pay a sum that they agree to, to the players that also agree to those wages, based on the revenue that that player can help bring in for the team. These wages are influenced in part by what other teams are willing to pay that same player.
The New York Yankees didn't randomly walk up to their players and hand them millions of dollars for no reason. You seem to have typed out a child's view of the economy.
If I had immense baseball skill and could bring in millions of dollars to the Yankees...so they were willing to pay me millions in return...how did I not earn it? Maybe you don't think it is "fair" that the market demands more for an elite baseball player than a burger flipper, but the baseball player did "earn" the money.
Chelsea Clinton and hubby Marc Mezvinksy paid $9,250,000 for a four-bedroom apartment in the celebrity-studded Whitman condominium building on Madison Square Park, city records filed this month show.
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Obama's wealth didn't go from $1.2 million to $12 million since in office!
Barack Obama net worth: The 44th president of the United States, author and the most popular person in the world, Barack Hussein Obama II, has an estimated net worth of $11,830,000, according to analysis of his 2012 financial disclosure forms. Excluding the $1.4 million in Nobel Prize money he donated to charity and his primary home.
Again I got to give this one to you... he's $170k short of $12 million which isn't bad at all for a dishonest political hack who never in his entire life had a real job.
With successful movies such as "Alice in Wonderland" and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films on his resume, Johnny Depp has not only become one of the most sought after actors in Hollywood but also one of the highest paid. On average, Depp makes around $20 million per film. However, the $20 million he is paid per film is the amount just for the film and does not include residuals
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Did you see that "However, the $20 million he is paid per film is the amount just for the film and does not include residuals" part?
First step in addressing this problem is arresting and then reversing the skyrocketing economic injustice
The government won't give up their tax revenue. It will always favor the demographic that disproportionately fills the government's coffers the most. We must REMOVE the government's incentive to promote as wide an income gap as possible by removing government's over-reliance on certain income groups for tax revenue. Change the revenue dependence dynamic, then the outcome can be changed.
The government won't give up their tax revenue. It will always favor the demographic that disproportionately fills the government's coffers the most. We must REMOVE the government's incentive to promote as wide an income gap as possible by removing government's over-reliance on certain income groups for tax revenue. Change the revenue dependence dynamic, then the outcome can be changed.
Will Sutton was asked why he robs banks. He answered, "because that's where the money is." Taxing poor people doesn't raise much money. Taxing rich people a little raises a lot.
Will Sutton was asked why he robs banks. He answered, "because that's where the money is." Taxing poor people doesn't raise much money. Taxing rich people a little raises a lot.
Exactly. That's why it's in politicians' best interest to keep them rich, to keep the income gap as wide as possible.
Economist Anatole Kaletsky states the same:
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Kaletsky argues that over-reliance on progressives taxes creates “a perverse incentive for governments to promote income inequality. If the solvency of the state and the ability to fund basic services for the poorest people in society depends on the rich getting even richer, it is tempting for even the most progressive politicians to support widening inequalities.”
Under our current progressive tax structure, politicians have every incentive to keep the income gap as wide as possible in order to maximize tax revenue, which is then used to buy votes from the much more numerous middle and lower classes by promising them free and/or reduced-cost services. By arguing FOR our progressive tax system, you're willingly participating in your own economic oppression.
Actually, there's a disparity in taxes. The top 1% earns about 19% of the income but pays about 40% of the federal income tax revenue. Their share of the taxes is too high. At the very least, we should redistribute tax liabilities to more accurately reflect actual income share.
You don't think it fair that those that make the most should pay a larger share? If so, you disagree with Adam Smith:
“It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.”
Seems HuffPo has the facts wrong . Here's the truth:
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...it turns out wealthy families already are paying some of their biggest federal tax bills in decadeseven as the rest of the population continues to pay at historically low rates.
President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress say the wealthy must pay their fair share if the federal government is ever going to fix its finances and reduce the budget deficit to a manageable level.
A new analysis, however, shows that average tax bills for high-income families rarely have been higher since the Congressional Budget Office began tracking the data in 1979. It's middle- and low-income families who aren't paying as much as they used to.
...it is clear that for 2013, average tax bills for the wealthy will be among the highest since 1979. It also is clear that federal taxes for middle- and low-income households will stay well below their averages for the same period.
Unless you are suggesting that people who get advanced degrees are lazier than the 1%.
There's an awful lot of Liberal Arts and Political Science majors working at Starbucks....
Just going to college does not guarantee a lucrative career.
Poor planning on your part does not require financial assistance on my part.
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