One of the main things people don’t account for when they complain about income inequality is how a person’s earnings potential grows as they age. The reason for this is obvious being that (with a few exceptions) an individual is likely going to develop valuable education and experience over their life, are going to become more mature, and are generally worth more money. What I would expect to see (and I believe was demonstrated in an economics course I took in university) if you control for age, incomes for the young are generally fairly low and uniform, and over time the incomes increase and the distribution spreads out. More often than not, the top quintile of income earners are also in the top age quintile; and the top earners of those are generally the individuals who built their own business, or developed rare and valuable skills over their life.

Clearly your ranting with no documentation trumps actual given statistics.  The US has a lot of problems... but there is PLENTY of room to build success from nothing... that much can be shown by the IRS statistics that are freely available.

Really large problems tend to be most people don't know all there options.

I don't really care to provide documentation/statistics.  If you care to contradict anything I have said then so be it (and gladly do so I would like to be proven wrong).  I have spoken from what I have learned over my lifetime being a USA citizen and from stats/reports.  IRS statistics lol....  IRS should be disbanded.  There are obviously better ways to tax citizens than their bullshit ways.  Prove me wrong on one point I have stated then I will listen.  Otherwise, you have proved nothing.  Of course I ranted but when rational debate gets you nowhere in USA political scene then the only thing to do is to show how much bullshit is everywhere.  By wiping out USA political system, I mean installing a multi-party system and wiping out the two party system rules/practices.

What Buffet means when he talks about taxes, is percentage. I am sure he pays over 100 times more in taxes each year, then his secretary makes. He just might pay a smaller percentage due to tax loopholes.

But look at what he has to do in order to qualify for many of those loopholes. Most of it, is to re-invest in something that creates jobs. So it helps more then it hurts.

Also, while I think the % of money paid for all should be the same (so if he pays less then another demographic, that should be corrected), bitching about it is like being a waiter at a restaurant, and waiting on two families. One who makes $50,000 a year and gives you a 15% tip on a $30 bill, and the other making $3,000,000 a year and tipping you 100% on a $30 meal, and then being pissed at the rich guy because he paid a lot less % with respect to his income.

While I think everyone should pay the same % of there efforts (flat tax), bitching at the guy who due to his qualities gave you 1000X more money then the guy with no earning potential, just seems odd.

@Therealmafoo, I wasn't bitching about Buffet more of using him as an example.  If one the richest guys in USA says the tax system is flawed (flawed in the ability for him to find loopholes all over the place) then you know something is up.  I am more in favor of a flat tax myself but still haven't looked into it entirely to know for sure...

It's already been rebutted before you posted... a lot of the statistics were already in stickballs posts.

Sure though, if you think you can't do shit ever, you aren't going to because your not going to try.

Besides, IRS statistics has NOTHING to do with the current tax system... which does suck.  There shouldn't be any incentives.

The IRS keeps statistics on everybody and there ups and downs financially... this is what's being quoted.

@Kasz, so do those stats take into account any personal debt.  Someone can be considered above poverty line due to job but in head over heals in debt.  Those stats prove nothing cause debt isn't considered.  I was stating that debt controls people.   Most people work in dead in jobs barely getting pay increases while the CEOs get huge increases.  It is like Congress giving themselves pay increases each year for doing nothing (sure some CEOs actually do things but I highly doubt they deserve the wage increases they get compared to their workers that help the company the most).

This process is self-reinforcing though. Many moderates think that getting the Republican nomination was the worst thing that happened to John McCain, and there's a reason for that. As a member of a given political party, you are beholden to the constituency that that political party espouses. Democrats have to be Union-lovin' Tax-hikin' gay lovers, and Republicans have to be bible-thumpin' gun-totin' xenophobes, or they risk losing favor within their own party to people who hold more true to those core values.

I respected Arlen Spector as a Republican, for instance, but i would never ever have voted for him (had i had the opportunity to do so), because ultimately he was more answerable to a group of people whose views are utterly opposed to mine. It's not a problem with America, it's a problem with parties.

enjoy New-Zealand I hear its the 2nd most beautiful country on Earth.

Wheres more beautiful?

Also to all the people saying that everybody has the ability to improve their position, the truth of the matter is there must always be people on the bottom. If somebody goes up in the world it almost always means they're taking the position of somebody else who was already up there and that somebody else is going to have to take their place below them.

Not everybody can have high paying jobs, there simply aren't enough of them.