A really smart guy in another thread posted this:

"I never claimed to know a lot about the economy. I know what I know because I happened to learned some of these things through studying international policy and because my mind finds flaws in reasoning pretty well.

I understand where you are coming from in your opinion. I won't try to rationalize my opinion about why one type of work deserves to be taxed more, anymore than I already have. I'm just going to rephrase it. Those types of mental worker are the major benefactors of naval and air power, the internet and telecommunication, and foreign diplomacy. The U.S. isn't getting invaded, because of geography. Yes, the middle class workers benefit by having those goods and services but the upper class gets that as well as the profit from selling those goods in services provided in part by government sevices.

I study politics, so I am going to get a little more political science-y. Typing fast so I can get back to Warhammer, so please excuse typos.

Everything in a sovereign nation is ultimately the governments. Whether we like it or not, we allow them to use force to control us. We have a government, that has rules that they must follow, the constitution. The governments gave up certain powers.

I understand the difference between federal, state, and local gov'ts, but I am going to keep this simple.

I used to own a restaurant. The land lord paid property tax, because the government lets him use the land. I want to put up a sign, so I have to pay to uglify the city and have it inspected so the sign doesn't fall and kill a tax payer or block a road (another source of revenue). Suzy Eaters buys a cheeseburger, they pay sales tax and I pass it on to the gov't because they used a road, a sidewalk, or a train to get to my restaurant. Joe Burgerflipper, works, the government paid for his ability to read those tickets and taught him how to follow rules, so he pays some taxes and I pay some employment taxes because I am gaining as much as he from his education. At the end of the year, I add add up all my sales, subtract all my costs, and I have my profit or income. The grain for those buns came on federal train tracks, the power came on power lines on land leased from the state. The uniforms and nametags came from China, on a boat protected by the Coast Guard and the Navy. The paychecks came from Fedex on a plane, from an airport protected by the TSA and the Airforce. Etc. etc. etc. Out of that income, there is significantly more of my income that is provided by the government through infrastructure, defense, and diplomacy then Joe Burgerflippers income.

Why should Joe Burgerflipper or Suzy Eaters have to pay the same share of those programs as I used to, when they get less of a benefit from those programs than I do?"


In other words, the very rich are the ones who have the most to gain by taking care of the place where they live.

Or, in other, other words, "don't shit where you eat".

Well then you're an elitist, and now you're actually the minority, so you can drop your "love it or leave it" argument. In fact, if YOU want to earn a bunch of money, keep it all to yourself because everybody else is too stupid, too lazy, or too unlucky to earn it themselves, they can fuck off and die, then YOU can move to another country sir.

I'm guessing that you weren't talking to me.  I have to say that the open discourse is part of what makes this country work so well.  Flairing tempers over slight differences in degree is nothing new to the Anglo Tradition of government.  The slight nudge from left to right, then right to left and the willingness of Americans to elect the people needed for the time is a great strength.  Telling someone of a different opinion to leave isn't the answer. 

Even with the pain of all those with out health care , without jobs, or in any other horrible situation.

(right now I can't afford to get my teeth fixed because it's going to cost more than my savings, my car, and everything else I own combined, and no freaking dentist in FL will let me pay on payments because I'm a student. Apperantly my pain isn't an emergency, so I can't go for emergency dentistry.  But it doesn't matter; I can't miss days at work anyways because I had just finished my vacation right before it started hurting and can't take days off... but I'm not complaining, I'm just saying I understand... My job doesn't offer a dental plan and the school insurance is crap with high deductables and low coverage it would only save me a couple thousand on the precedure.  He'll just say that I was irresponsible for not saving more than the 10% I've been putting in the bank since I was 18 minus the down payment for my car and the money I put into my restuarant.    The president told me to spend.)

Oh no, I was trying to post that in time to have it be a response to tokilamockingbird, but my computer's super slow now because I still haven't defeated my virus.

And I was kidding about the "love it or leave it" argument, because I think it's always been a stupid argument and I'm drunk and thought it was funny to throw it back at him.

I know it wasn't about me...

All I read when I see things like Krauthammer's latest article or random internet threads, is "I can't believe y'all are gonna vote for a black guy"

My transition to Democrat is complete.

Personally, I don't think baseball players deserve millions a year. I don't think basketball players deserve millions a year. I don't think football players deserve millions a year. Do lawyers deserve $500 an hour for destroying families, ruining lives, and helping the guilty? Should doctors make half a million a year, sure they save lives but at an enormous cost to their patients families, does that seem right? How about them "actors", do they deserve millions because they are attractive? Or because they can remember a few lines at a time?

And I have no problem having their money become mine. Because they do not deserve 50,000 square foot homes, or 4 lamborghinis in the driveway, or an olympic size swimming pool in their house, while the rest of the population struggles.

I mean shoot, 90% of America's wealth is owned by 10% of it's people, you can see an obvious problem with that, can't you?

I can't believe the words are being typed on my keyboard, but I think Obama has the right idea on taken money from the rich and giving it to the ones in need.

I believe his cutoff for "rich" and "not rich" was $250,000 and I don't think you could give me one single reason anyone, and I mean anyone, would need more than $250,000 a year.

If I made $250,000 for just one year, I could pay off my college loans and then pay my rent, all my bills, and pay for groceries, and have some extra spending money for games and booze, FOR 20 YEARS.

I really just did all the math. I was shocked it came out to a nice number like that. And that would be 20 years without a job, and without inflation. But I'd have a job to counteract the inflation, and have a 20 year head start.

I take it back Rubang, there are people who need to be told to leave the country...

Username: I hope you're joking.

So you think Shaq should make millions a year because he's 7ft tall? Do you think a lawyer deserves $500 an hour for keeping a murderer out of jail? Do you think Harrison Ford deserves millions because he's Indiana Jones? You think a doctor that's suppose to save lives should allow families to suffer just so he can go home and watch his 100" HDTV?

I think the amounts of money some people make for the things they do is ridiculous.

Like I said, 90% of the money belongs to 10% of the people... And that ain't right.

The funny thing is Oprah made $275 million last year. That is just nuts. She's voting for Obama. Most insanely rich people are somehow Democratic, because they're wealthy beyond the point of counting the zeroes on their payczechs. She already gives dozens of cars away at a time anyway. Even Warren Buffet and Bill Gates (the world's 2 richest people) are both for progressive tax rates and are both for an inheritance tax.


But saying "I want to make their money mine" is not the right idea. We already have a progressive tax. It's not like we're jumping ship from a pure free market to pure communism. We'll hopefully never have to deal with either of those in America. We're just moving the numbers around a little bit due to a GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS.