The rich are almost always rich because they pick the pocket of their workers. No single man does 500 million dollars worth of work. I would contend that the most anyone can make individually is a few million at the absolute most (if they are a brilliant lawyer/doctor or author). Even in those cases they're not really doing it alone...
Where is the millionaire lawyer without the bailiff, the police, the judge, the county clerks, the paralegal, the law firm janitor ect ect ect.
Where is the millionaire doctor without the nurses, the receptionist, the resident med students (who do a lot of the crap work), the insurance adjustors ect ect.
Where is the CEO who pulls in 300 million dollars without the 50,000 workers underneath him? How much would he be making on his own?
When someone at the top of a company pulls in 300 million or more it is often because he is paying his workers really bad wages, especially in the middle and at the bottom of the corporate chain. Having worked in such an enviornment I can tell you at 3 out of 3 businesses I worked at (mid size 100-500 person businesses) the CEO and President were almost always among the first to go home, then the SR VPs left, then the middle mangers, the last people to leave in a lot of cases? Surprise! the people doing the actual work! That means the inventory analysts, the accountants, the design people ect. Yes, in part, they are working hard to advance to higher paying jobs further up the chain, but even still, it is certainly not the case that the CEO is the workhorse and all the rest are hangers on, often it is quite the contrary.
That is not to say CEOs should not be rewarded at all, but making 20 times more then the median worker seems enough. A million dollars seems like plenty to do just about anything, even after 35% taxes. What can't you do with 650k? That is enough for a 3 million dollar house mortgage, a boat, 2 luxury cars, sending 2 kids to college and a month trip to the french riviera staying in 5 star hotels. Is it really more important to give one guy who already has millions 500 million more then to give people scraping by at 30k a 10k raise? Should one man make 300 million or should 3,000 employees that make the company work make 10,000 dollars more?
Did you know what the republican hero, Reagan, set taxes to at the top millionaire bracket? about 50%. That's right Reagan agreed we should tax the super rich at a 13% HIGHER rate then they are being taxed right now. Even Mr. Trickle down wasn't that fiscally irresponsible.
I don't know what you're talking about with JFK or any post 80s politician. In the first 3 quarters of this century after world war two taxes on the richest were above 50%, often well above 50%, which is why we had so much shared prosperity for so long.
The very rich, multimilionaires, they tend not to spend money, not to drive the economy. They invest, sure, but usually overseas or on foreign goods. The middle class guy making 40k, give him a few thousand more, he will go buy a TV, a car, some food...all the things that make the economy run.
They have even done studies and found that under democrats, with more progressive tax policies, in fact ALL boats rise. Even the rich do better since the middle class has more money to buy the things the companies of the rich CEOs make. Warren Buffet, the richest man in the world, in fact says quite plainly that the super rich should be taxed at a higher rate. Look it up, he says it without hesitation.
The idea that somehow the rich are victims is just ridiculous propaganda. Someone has to pay for the police, the roads, the schools and all the rest; the rich, with their huge salaries, are clearly getting a very large benefit from the public infrastructure and the public order, more so then the guy making a few thousand a month as a janitor for sure, and it is very fair they pay a bigger share since they are using a much bigger share of public goods.
My parents started out as teachers and worked their way up to the top income bracket, they realize they have been blessed and are not greedy sons of bitches who think they should have everything and be given even more, I respect that as I respect Warren Buffet and his creed of even the richest living to reasonable means (he drives a Lincoln Town car, 40k, and lives in a nice 4 bedroom house in Omaha, 500k current value....he is worth over 60 billion dollars)
Fat cat millionaires who think they need even more money at the expense of their workers to buy a 2nd yacht or what have you are about as rational as McCain, who is calling Obama a terrorist, crying about being called out as the dishonorable man he has become. Those crocodile tears about being reprimanded for being a douche by congressman Lewis were disgusting.
