General Discussion

Martin Eden

(12,872 posts) Fri Nov 30, 2012, 04:01 PM Nov 2012

Class Warfare, indeed

I posted this in a different forum, in response to an ongoing debate about how to reduce federal budget deficits:

The mouthpieces for the rich screech CLASS WARFARE!!! when it's suggested that budget deficits should be addressed, in part, by letting income tax on the wealthy revert to the rates when Clinton was president (which were still low by historical standards).

Reagan signed an increase in payroll taxes, which primarily impact low-medium incomes. It was a prudent measure to extend the solvency of the system for the demographics of an aging population.

But there was no "lock box" on these surplus funds, which were used to mask defict-creating policies elsewhere -- like unfunded wars and tax cuts for the rich.

Now their mouthpieces are pushing hard for "entitlement reform" -- meaning, of course, raising the retirement age and cutting health care benefits for working Americans who paid those higher payroll taxes for the last 30 years.

Class warfare, indeed.

This thread has gone into detail about how to tackle deficits by squeezing the poor and the middle class, reflecting the narrative that's been incessantly pushed by the corporate media and has been gaining acceptance as some kind of necessity.

The "shared sacrifice" is to be shared almost entirely among those who can least afford it -- the working Americans who spend most or all of their income and upon whom the economy depends for consumer spending.

Austerity measures will tank the economy.

Instead, I propose giving the rich a different kind of tax haven than the Cayman Islands -- invest that money by actually creating jobs in the United States through modernizing equipment, training the skilled workers they say they need, doing research, producing green energy, etc.

Money put to good use is tax deductable, but for the rest -- 50% income tax at $1m and 90% at 1b. The latter leaves the uber-wealthy with $100m after taxes, which is a mere 2,000 times the median US household income, before taxes!

You want to talk about fair? What has any one person done to earn and keep a billion dollars a year -- have they single-handedly found a cure for cancer or discovered an unlimited sustainable energy source?

What's fair is an economy in which every person who applies him/herself can live that middle class American dream and every child regardless of their parents has a first world opportunity to make the most of his/her life.

If you think we have that now, you're living on a different planet. There are no easy immediate solutions, but austerity for the vast majority while a small handful amass piles of wealth in a game rigged in their favor by lobbyists & politicians bought & paid for is inherently not fair. Such a system will eventually collapse from its own imbalance, or be brought down by the masses when their bread gets stale and the circus fails to keep them distracted.