| steven787 said:
Again, with stuff that isn't true. First, taxes. Through the '94 senate on, the separation between rich and poor in the US has been shocking. Middle income workers make less now (w/inflation) than they did in 2000. By lowering corporate taxes and tightening the graduated system, the republicans have put the burden of paying for oil wars on the middle class instead of on the stock holders. I'm very sorry, but my practical Democrat and my ideologic day dreamer sides agree. If we're going to have income taxes, which I would prefer that there weren't, higher taxes should be on dividends, inheretence, commodities profits, etc. and not off the sweat and blood of the workers. Next, money is all imaginary, it has no real value. It's a piece of paper backed by a politcal science theory (government). I don't think it should be this way, but that is the way it is. The government prints as much as it needs, creating a deficit and devaluing your money. Deficit spending is important, it's the shock absorber on economic cycles. The problem is that it is out of hand. Either spending has to go down significantly (which it can't as I described above - mob mentality and all... all the bridges to nowhere and pizza parties add up to very little compared to Defense and Social spending) or you have to raise taxes. Second, it's true, that couples get one check, but it accounts for both spouses. Of course SS doesn't pay for everything - it's not supposed to. Remember why we have retirement and SS, in the Great Depression they needed it for two reasons: (1) to get rid of workers to open up positions and (2) because older workers were the first to get cut and had the lowest prospects for finding new work. Senior poverty was out of hand. Old people dying in the streets is depressing, so they had to do something to get them out of view. People didn't retire, they used to work till they dropped. The poor were never expected to save for retirement, modern medicine made it so we would live longer than our bodies would be useful. Also, your parents will probably get more money out of SS than they put in. 20 years at 1500k/month is 360k dollars. 25 years at 1500k/month is 450k dollars. If you make 100k per year and work for 45 years you will put in 1.45% or $65,250, with your employer's contribution that will be $130,500. That would be $276,585.84 to $365,544.70 with interest compounded biannually minus taxes. (Edit: this also doesn't include food stamps, medicaid, local and state medical assistance, etc.) It just is what it is. |
How can you say that what I said isn't true when you failed to provide evidence otherwise? All you did was state how the republicans give corporate tax breaks and assume via some grand ideal that the end result of the cancellation puts money into the pockets of the working class. Of course things have gone downhill since 2000, 9/11 wasn't exactly a prosperous time period and put many companies out of business. Not to mention the backend of the docom crash starting to have a shockwave effect.
Im not saying republicans are much better at managing money, they aren't, sans for Michael Bloomberg, who I direly wish was running as an Independent in this election. What I'm saying is that instead of taxes getting easier for the middle class, a return to a democratic leader with a democrat-run congress is going to allow a lot of "pro-poor" plans to go through, which always results in an increase in taxes. There is absolutely no denying this. If you wish to take a look back in time to the tax differentials from 92 when Clinton first came into office and 96 when his 2nd term around came, you'll see quite a difference in the amount of taxation levied on income. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have had 8 more years of Bill than ever having a Bush in office again from a foreign policy standpoint. The biggest problem is this - too many people are looking to Obama to be their savior. Its like running from Hitler to be taken in by Mussolini. People are extremely misguided in thinking that anything is going to improve for the working class.
Next time you decide to question my statements, come with something more than beating around the bush. No pun intended.
Edit - I forgot to add something to your part on SS - SS is collected at 62 years of age. Ive known 2 people in my life that lived past 80, the others not making your projected 20 year point. You also failed to factor in that 2 people are working, so the amount of money put in doubles.
