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Chairman-Mao on 25 February 2011
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rocketpig said:
Chairman-Mao said:
rocketpig said:
Chairman-Mao said:

Don't like it then leave. 

I'm sick of people complaining about how uneven wealth is distributed. Maybe its because the top 10% that makes 6 figures (or more) worked harder and are better educated.

Also the wealthy pay way more in taxes already. The answer to every problem in the world isn't "tax the rich more"


This is such a load of shit. If you don't think this country's economic and legislative systems have been manipulated by the wealthy and powerful to benefit themselves, you're just not paying attention.

Anyone who uses the term "well then, leave" has their head up their ass. I love this country as much as anyone but all you have to do is look around at what is happening with partisan politics, turning non-issues into a public fervor to distract from real problems that face the American public to see that something is very wrong with our political structure and how it's influenced.

Did you even LOOK at the graphs? There is a problem when the middle class is sliding backwards and the super-rich are spiking upward at an alarming rate. That's not good for ANYONE in the long term.


Yeah of course there's major problems in society, but the answer isn't to punish people who make more money, it will just give less incentive to actually work hard if you're just going to be taxed way more. And I'm sick of the argument that we should tax the wealthy more because "they can afford it" - anyone who says that I automatically consider an asshole (not saying you said it, but people do). 

The government just needs to get rid of all the loopholes people use to get out of paying tax, and also find better ways to spend the tax money they do get. 

My point isn't to punish them, it's that the American public needs to look at these four things and re-evaluate what their politicians have done to them over the past half century:

1. The percentage of American wealth owned by the top 1% has increased.
2. Tax rates have steadily declined for the top 1% of Americans.
3. The American deficit has ballooned during this time.
4. Adjusted for inflation, much of the middle class makes less than they did.

I don't see how anyone can look at those four things and walk away, saying "yeah, everything is JUST FINE".

What would you do to solve these problems? Increasing the tax rates on the highest brackets will certainly bring in a lot more tax dollars but it won't do anything [significant] to better the lives of the bottom 90%, they'll still be in the same position they are now. This unbalance in wealth distribution can't just be solved by taking money from the wealthy.

I think the US would be better off by doing more to help the lower class get better jobs and find more income and also teach Americans how to handle their money better. Americans need to stop buying expensive shit like big cars, big TV's, etc. that they can't really afford. If people lived inside their means there wouldn't be such a problem with the lower class getting into massive debt and going bankrupt and then begging for welfare.

Also I want to mention the upper class gets no more benefit from public services than the lower class does and yet we pay way more in taxes. How is that fair? My street doesn't get ploughed faster when it snows, my mail doesn't get delivered faster, I don't get better medical services than anybody else, etc. And my family (in Ontario, Canada) is in the top tax bracket meaning we pay 29% in federal tax plus an additional 12% provincially for a total of about 41% in income taxes compared to just 20% (15% federal and 5% provincial) for a guy who makes under $38,000 - and like I said, we get no better services than this lower class guy. Oh but "we can afford it so it doesn't matter..."

I'm all for helping the poor and homeless but it really isn't that fair to slap a 41% tax on a guy just because he makes more money. 

Also I think having tax brackets is retarded. I find it stupid that if a guy makes $83,000 in Canada he will pay 22% in federal taxes but if the next guy makes $83,100 he's bumped up to 26% federal tax which nets him less money overall than the guy who makes that $100 less. I'm all for a flat tax rate to get prevent that sort of stupid scenario from happening. If you want true equality then what's more equal than a flat tax rate?