So much for trickle down economics? What?!?
Dear Cap'n,
According to new IRS data, during the first six years of the Bush presidency, the 400 richest Americans saw their average income double. At the same time, the average tax rate that they paid fell by a third, to 17.2%, the lowest rate since the IRS started tracking this data. Yes, that’s right, if you are a normal middle-class employee who works for a living, you almost certainly paid a larger share of your income in taxes than the 400 richest Americans. And I’d bet you didn’t see your income double during the Bush presidency.
Now, didn’t Reaganomics claim that by cutting taxes for the rich, everyone would benefit? Considering the current (and worsening) state of the economy, isn’t it amazing that Republicans in Congress are opposing Obama’s stimulus package because they want even more tax cuts? Tax rates for the rich are already at their lowest point on record, but that doesn’t seem to be enough for some people.
UPDATE: Robert Reich (Clinton’s Secretary of Labor) points out that up until 1976, the richest 1 percent of the country took home around 9 percent of the total national income, but by 2006 they were pocketing more than 20 percent. Interestingly, and not coincidentally, the last time the top 1 percent took home more than 20 percent of the nation’s income was 1928 (the Great Depression started in 1929).
So you're claiming that
Trickle Down doesn't work? And that 1% has all the money. Okay, fine.
And what happened Sept 15, 2008? The markets fell, money stopped flowing and credit seized. Pretty much just a problem of that 1%, that has all the money anyway, right? When the rich stopped spending - what happened? How long did it take for the lack of their 1% cash to hit the other 99% of us?
By my calculator, in less than a couple weeks people were getting pink slips. If you were lucky, maybe it took an entire quarter. I know about ten people who had their hours cut at Fortune 500 companies. That was in an effort to keep people on through the holidays. Most of them have been officially cut now. How does Trickle Down not work, again? You're going to have to show your work on that math, sir.
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The idea of a tax cut isn't just for that top 1%, it's for small business owners who, if given the chance to write off legitimate business equipment will spend and build. For the most part, they'd rather invest in their own hard work, or replace -say- a copier than help build the Bridge to Nowhere Alaska with their hard earned money. Perhaps they'll even put it in a retirement account that reinvests in the markets - that's called a 401 K.
If spending created the economy that we live in, then we're going to have to SPEND to get things going again. Now, maybe it's all just pointless consumerism, sure - I'm sure we've all been to Target a few extra times that we didn't just need toilet paper. Even if the last 60 years has been just pointless consumerism - that rich guy is more likely to buy a car, a boat, put in new plumbing, the big screen with the full bar and lights, plus all three video game systems and a big honkin' remote to control it all. He might even hire someone to install it all for him so he can't be bothered with it. Maybe he'll invest in a home security system, buy insurance for all that stuff, and a housekeeper. Maybe even a maid and lawn service. Hell, a babysitter so he and his trophy wife can go out to eat at a nice restaurant... just because it's Tuesday. If you let that guy keep his money, he's more likely to spend that money. That's Trickle Down.
The rich folks dollars are spent on goods and services instead of corrupt bureaucrats that think that 10.25% sales tax is a fair amount... and that it should already be raised. Yes, the middle class probably paid more than their fair share. Perhaps they should hire better accountants instead of using the "Free Turbo Tax" that came in the Sunday newspaper?
But the rich NEVER pay taxes. Even when FDR put an income tax of 95%, the rich simply found new ways to avoid paying them. Ask JFK's dad Joseph P. Kennedy how that worked out. He was so good at it, the government hired him to teach them how he did i
t as U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Somebody asked F.D.R. why he had tapped such a crook. "Takes one to catch one," replied Roosevelt.
Why dwell in history? In fact,
Cabinet nominee Tom Daschle apologized for cheating on his taxes (and getting caught) just today.Double standard? No! How dare you! Besides, Joe Biden said
that paying taxes is patriotic. Imagine paying double, how extra patriotic you'd be!
I'm
fairly sure that dodging taxes is exactly what started the American Revolution.
Now if you want to have a discussion on how those tax dollars are spent, or oversight, or fair bidding processes that favor the best work for the least amount of money - instead of who's greasing the right palms and giving kickbacks to brothers and cousins of the committee members who are writing the taxpayer's checks... fine, that's a fair discussion I'd like to have and welcome.
The other argument, that spending gets us out of the economic tailspin needs to be clarified. People and businesses spending grows the economy. The government spending doesn't make any sense. Where is that money coming from? From the people who would otherwise spend it on goods and services - not the State's unemployment insurance. If a person spends dollars, say at a nice restaurant - the waiter and the cook stay employed. Simple. But the government spending didn't work for FDR. FDR spent and spent and spent - especially in WWII. We got out of the Depression because all the competition was bombed to hell. And spending didn't work for George W. Bush either. Bush spent billions upon billions of government dollars on a pile of Wars, No Bid Contractors... and, well, if you've been reading, quite a couple things.
However, saying that Trickle Down doesn't work!? Are you mad? If anything, the last couple months have proven how sound that theory is.
For the first time since it was founded in 1928, the Illinois Sheriffs' Association passed a resolution Tuesday supporting a state concealed-carry handgun law. (more)
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