| steven787 said: I actually mostly agree that income from labor is about fair. It's the income off investments that should be raised, except from retirement accounts and school savings accounts. Sorry, I've explained why a bunch of times. But I'm going to do it again. The two largest expenses in the U.S. budget are SS and the military. The rich benefit more off of the military than the poor. Yes both benefit from both, but the rich substantially benefit more off of the military. Also, I disagree with Obama on removing the S.S. cap, I do not think that it is fair and is just a way to sneak an unfair tax on to the rich. If they are going to raise their taxes, they need to have the balls to do it in an open manner, so the voters can clearly understand the implications. (In other words a gut check for the voters, because most Americans rich and poor do not want the graduated system to get out of hand. Americans have this thing for fairness.) |
Unfortunately we are going to have to do something (and probably a lot of things) to keep SS solvent. These include:
1. Raising the cap on rich people's income that can be taxed.
2. Raising the age people can collect at.
3. Dropping benefits.
4. Dropping benefits for some sections of society (say 20% or higher in the income bracket)
5. Raising payroll taxes in general.
Fortunately, after we get past the baby boomer generation things might fix themselves. But people are going to be living a lot longer period, but at least they will be retiring later too.
If we had universal healthcare then we could probably drop SS benefits some because they wouldn't have to worry about paying for healthcare as much.
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke
It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...." Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson
