Can the 1% really pay for ‘free stuff’ Democrats want? Laugh all you want; the numbers might work

[Human101948]

Can the 1% really pay for “free stuff” for everybody else?

For years, the idea that higher taxes on the rich could pay for renewed social spending was a punchline. Republicans have thought it lunacy to ask “job creators” to pay more; until Obamacare, Democrats gave up on new programs after the 1960s. The common assumption was that soaking the rich was a feel-good move that wouldn’t raise any real dough.

...But it’s different now.Maybe the first serious shot at a political economics of redistribution came in a provocative New York Times piece last week, arguing that relatively modest tax increases on the top 0.1% to 10% of all earners actually can pay for spending promises made, mostly, by Democratic candidates for president.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/can-the-1-really-pay-for-the-free-stuff-democrats-want-2015-10-22?dist=beforebell

And this appears on a business website

[RKP5637]

1. This country used to balance runaway capitalism and it worked. Now, those with $$$$'s game the

system and they get themselves into positions of power in government so they can continue the greed for them and their buddies.

What we have today is a failing and collapsing system rife with runaway capitalism and corruption.

Unless the people rise up and vote with brains, it will continue and get even worse as the Koch's and like work to take over all of government. And we've seen before what happens in countries wherein this occurs.

With all of the gerrymandered districts it's getting hard to vote for credible representation.

[PatrickforO]

2. Well, my family intend to take our brains to the elementary school where we have our Dem caucus,

and caucus for Bernie. Following this, our brains will open our secret ballot envelopes (we have vote by mail in my state) and generally pick straight Democratic tickets right on down to the school board.

[RKP5637]

3. K&R!!!

[librechik]

4. the plan will adjust things across the board--there is a bit more than

taxing the 1% involved. As Bernie put it, it might be a little more than the 1% that get an increase. Also loopholes will go away. (theoretically--hard to imagine the House letting that happen.)

[Wounded Bear]

14. I'm fine with that...

and I think most are, too. Clinton managed to kill deficits with a 3% increase on the top bracket.

We need to re-instate some of the higher, marginal tax brackets. It's getting entirely out of hand.

[Octafish]

5. The $32 Trillion Hidden Offshore Needs IRS Attention.

Great idea. Here's where a lot of the money "lost" in the great Bankster Bailout went...

Check Out Who's Hiding $32 Trillion in Offshore Tax Haven Accounts

EXCERPT...

Some $32 trillion has been hidden in small island banking hubs which host a bevy of trust funds, shell corporations and other tax havens, the Tax Justice Network estimates.

SNIP...

The information is still being sifted through, even as it's being released to the public, but here's some of what's been found so far:

■ American Denise Rich, ex-wife of pardoned tax cheat Marc Rich, has been uncovered as the settlor and beneficiary of two large trusts based in the tiny Cook Islands. The ICIJ found that Denise Rich gave up her American citizenship in 2012. Her citizenship was convenient enough when President Clinton had the authority to pardon her ex-husband.

■ French President Francois Hollande, ardent socialist and tireless champion of the 75% marginal tax rate, appears in these documents, mostly by association. His campaign co-treasurer, Jean-Jacques Augier, has been forced to reveal the name of his Chinese business partner in a Caymans-based distribution company. Augier says he used his offshore company to make a large investment in China.

■ Australian actor Paul Hogan, of "Crocodile Dundee" fame, has lost about $35.3 million from an account that he used to offshore his "bonza" film royalties. His once-trusted tax adviser Philip Egglishaw ran off with Hogan's sizeable hidden offshore stash.

■ French banking scion Elie de Rothschild, of the famous banking family, has been named in the leaks. He was instrumental in setting up some 20 trusts and 10 holding companies in the Cook Islands, all extremely opaque in nature. His heirs have, not surprisingly, refused comment.

■ Brigitte Bardot's third ex-husband, Gunter Sachs, a millionaire industrialist, has been revealed as the owner of a huge, obscure wealth-masking machine: trust upon shell company upon holding company, almost ad infinitum, mostly based in the Cook Islands. The ICIJ has constructed an interactive map of Sachs' extensive offshore holdings and business networks. The network is fairly representative of the steps that many on this list have taken to hide their wealth away. You can marvel at its imponderable complexity here.

And these names are barely the tip of the iceberg. The shockwaves have already begun to spread through the corridors of wealth and power all over the world.

How Much is $32 Trillion?

It bears repeating: $32 trillion has been stashed away, off the books, by corporations and wealthy individuals.

CONTINUED...

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article40250.html

Offshore loot also represents money made from trafficking in drugs, guns and people. So...what can we do about it?

On My Mind

Tax Offshore Wealth Sitting In First World Banks

James S. Henry
07.01.10, 09:00 AM EDT
Forbes Magazine dated July 19, 2010

Let's tax offshore private wealth.

How can we get the world's wealthiest scoundrels--arms dealers, dictators, drug barons, tax evaders--to help us pay for the soaring costs of deficits, disaster relief, climate change and development? Simple: Levy a modest withholding tax on untaxed private offshore loot.

Many aboveground economies around the world are struggling, but the economic underground is booming. By my estimate, there is $15 trillion to $20 trillion in private wealth sitting offshore in bank accounts, brokerage accounts and hedge fund portfolios, completely untaxed.

SNIP...

This wealth is concentrated. Nearly half of it is owned by 91,000 people--[font color="green"]0.001% of the world's population[/font color]. Ninety-five percent is owned by the planet's wealthiest 10 million people.

SNIP...

Is it feasible? Yes. The majority of offshore wealth is managed by 50 banks. As of September 2009 these banks accounted for $10.8 trillion of offshore assets--72% of the industry's total. The busiest 10 of them manage 40%.

CONTINUED....

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0719/opinions-taxation-tax-havens-banking-on-my-mind.html

Not only would that money balance the budget, erase the debt and fix the nation and world's problems from hunger and homeless to energy and education; it would free humanity to do better things than make war all the time.

Thank you for the excellent OP and thread, Human101948! For some strange reason, this outstanding story hasn't popped up on my television screen.

[Dustlawyer]

8. +1!!! There is sooo much out there they get away with.

If we audited the Pentagon (they say it cannot be done, kinda like Wall Street banks are too big to jail), the waste and fraud alone would pay for every social program, education through college, environmental initiatives...

Taxing the very rich is the only place to increase taxes because that's where all of the money goes! I for get who the famous bank robber was who said this, but when asked why he robbed banks his reply was, "...because that's where the money is!"

[JDPriestly]

11. The gains from the growth we have enjoyed over the past approximately 30 years have gone

to the top 1 or so percent. That's where the gains have gone. That's where the money to pay for the losses of the rest of us has to come from.

They have gained. We have lost.

We need to get the better economic equilibrium that we once had.

They can have a good share. They just can't have it all.

Not when our children are saddled with debt so that they can work more efficiently and make more money for the very rich.

Not when our grandchildren are in day care that is unhealthy for their bodies and minds.

Not when our parents have to spend their last days in the squalor of some nursing home in which the staff is overworked and underpaid.

Not when wages have not risen over the past more than 30 years.

[Dustlawyer]

15. As long as we allow them to make campaign donations, have Super Paks, and use their corporate media

to spew their propaganda we will NEVER have a level playing field and economic opportunity. We live under corporate rule right now! They run our government top to bottom, but give the appearance of Representative Democracy! We must demand and fight for Publicly Funded Elections. Everything stems from this!

[JDPriestly]

18. Yes. Well Said.

[Wounded Bear]

16. I always thought that was John Dillinger...

[TBF]

6. I'd focus on the "free stuff" the corporations and ultra wealthy are getting -

tax loopholes, off-shore accounts, protection from our military for themselves and their companies, etc.

If I were president all of that would end Day 1. Anyone not cooperating with it would be immediately and permanently deported. Don't want to pay taxes - fine, go live in Somalia with the rest of the "no-regulation" believers.

We have put up with the bullshit from the corporate class long enough. It is killing both people & planet.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

7. Their tax cuts were supposed to go into PAYROLL.....

They were supposed to have some RESPECT for the rest of us too.

They've gotten so contemptuous of the rest of us that if you do something NORMAL like buy a car (even a used one) your boss might think, "Why should I pay for your car?"

[JDPriestly]

9. My father used to explain the "miracle" of the loaves and fishes in the New Testament thus:

People shared what little they had brought.

We have enough money to fund health care for everyone, good, regulated day care with teachers trained in early child development and college, etc. for everyone.
a social
We are spending it on salaries for sports stars, tickets to ball games, alcohol and cigarettes, the drug war, military bases all over the world, citizen surveillance, trips for members of Congress -- the Bahamas, etc., more TV stations that can possibly be watched, conservative talk radio, etc.

Harness just part of the money we spend on that stuff and fund the things we really need that we aren't paying for, and we can still have ball games and some drugs (the ones we need), adequate military, a good government, entertainment, all of it, but just spend less money for these "extras."

We overspend on things we don't really need and neglect paying for things we really need -- like mental health care and dental care and smaller class sizes.

[w0nderer]

13. Old swe story

a hobo comes to a village, he carries only aside from the clothes on his back a
pot
and a
nail

he arrives at a village
he asks for food but the headmen of the village claim being poor and not having any food
to even feed their own, everyone is starving

he says...it is a good thing, i have a magic nail, start me a fire and i will make a soup to feed all!
so a fire was started, the pot was put over it and water filled in, the nail was thrown in
the hobo says "it's a nice soup but some carrots would make it nicer'
a villager finds some carrots in the basement and adds them to the soup
it simmers, then the hobo says, some onions, turnips, peas, potatoes would help but it is a good soup
(people find onions, turnips, potatoes and toss them in)
it simmers and everyone gets more hungry
hobo says, some smoked meat or sausage might work here
(villagers find this) and throw it into the soup
sometimes the nail needs bread to make us feel good says the hobo
and bread is found

the hobo pulls the nail from the pot, serves soup of (carrots, peas, carrots, onions, turnips, potatoes, meat) and bread to all
everyone is fed fully

the villagers offer the hobo a year worth of salary for the magical nail

[JDPriestly]

20. I love that story.

There is power in working together. Children from well managed, large families learn that early.

Clean the bathroom? No problem if two children ar applying themselves to the task.

Wash dishes? Four children make it easier, especially if they are singing while washing them.

Nowadays I think children don't learn to work together at home. They need to learn that at school, and I don't think it is part of our curriculum. It should be.

[w0nderer]

22. :-)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Soup
found the sorta origins of it, in scandinavia called nail soup, in portugal called stone soup (recorded sometime during 1500 or so)

i cut the version i posted down, it's one of those one can spin out over an evening if one wants

---
yep, working together does help a lot

coming from outside the US i've frequently wondered at lack of teamwork in the US

it seems (seems..so i could be mis observing)
that Americans need to be told to play as a team and give up the 'self'
Nordic people need to be told to give up the team sometimes, and develop some 'self'
neither is right, neither is wrong, both have advantages, sometimes a 'self star' (outstanding player) is critical, sometimes being a cog of the machine is important

most movies(culture) now adays don't stress teamwork
pre Reagan movies even US ones often had multiple 'heroes' or 'good guys'
after that
action movies became 'one good guy' against overwhelming odds
(rambo, commando, bourne, predator, missing in action..the list is endless)
very few movies stress the complexities of teamwork


they can't learn it only at school, it needs to be taught at home as well

my generation in the nordic country i come from learned it at home, in highschool PE (mandatory) and mandatory military service
'work together or fail individually, but if one fails, all fail' (exercises were set up to demand multiple people to pass obstacles, and often the criteria was 'whole group must pass')

perhaps a mandatory year after highschool or so of 'service' would be an idea (peace corp,building for habitat for humanity, military service, rescue work (coast guard, mountain ranger, SAR, so on)) it might also increase understanding of people elsewhere (beyond the far corn field)

*shrugs* i don't have many answers, i have many w0nderings and questions, but the right question gives the right answer or so i hope most of the time

anyway glad you enjoyed story

[Recursion]

10. Depends. The global "1%" starts at about $34K

And, yeah, we probably could pay for potable water, vaccinations, and basic literacy education for the rest of the world. But time and time again we say we don't want to.

[JDPriestly]

21. We got those things here because we had a democracy, we taxed imports and with those taxes

taxed the luckiest, wealthiest people, added income taxes and then taxes the luckiest, wealthiest people even more and pooled the money and built the infrastructure.

We worked together to clean water and transport it in pipes through our cities. Same with gas for heating in our big cities. Same with education. And when it came time to share medical discoveries like vaccinations, we made sure everyone or just about everyone could get those too.

We were not a rich country. My ancestors cut trees in virgin forests to make themselves houses. They made their own barges, their own horse shoes. They settled in villages and organized community life. They not only built their homes but their churches, their own public schools. Even in my grandfather's time, the farmers organized the harvest time amongst themselves deciding in what order they would use the machines that did the reaping. I remember shucking corn as a child with my cousins, herding sheep with them. People worked together.

Why can't people in other countries do what Americans did? Work together, pool their resources and create towns and cities with clean, running water, etc.?

We did it for ourselves. What is wrong with, say, India or Pakistan that they haven't just up and done it like our ancestors did?

Is it the way they hold title to land? That can be changed.

Is it lack of education? That could be easily changed to if people there just did something about it?

Is is their religion? Their values?

No one "developed" this country for my ancestors. Why do we have to go to other countries and "develop" theirs? Doesn't development require a change in culture? Isn't that why they need to be developed by others in the first place? Because something in their culture stops them?

Essentially, why are other, poorer countries not taking the issue of development into their own hands and just doing it? It did not take that many outside resources or that much money for my ancestors to do that. I know it didn't because they didn't have outside resources or money.

What do you think? I am not asking this as a put-down. I really would like to know what makes it so that some countries find it so difficult to do the most basic things. My ancestors literally had nothing. Absolutely nothing but democracy and their own will.

[w0nderer]

12. K & R N/T

[jtuck004]

17. Not free stuff. We worked, labored for it. The 1% and their lapdogs took it. Our money. n/t

[dreamnightwind]

19. K & R for th OP and for the Octafish post below.