Here is a good example why raising taxes on the rich won't work

[il Padrino Ute]

I understand your motives, but you'll be money ahead if you just call him an effin' commie parasite and move on. Logic and reason play no role in his world or the world of his comrades.

Truer words have never been spoken.

[byu71]

I understand your motives, but you'll be money ahead if you just call him an effin' commie parasite and move on. Logic and reason play no role in his world or the world of his comrades.

I know. I would like someone of liberal persuasion to present an answer to my question. Robin and folks like Waters have some kind of resentment of the rich that goes beyond logic. Sure there a rich SOB's and some I would like to see taxed at 97%. Several movie stars and journalists come to mind. Several corporate CEO's and Wall St. types come to mind. However, there are a vast number of American entrepreneurs who want to create and perhaps become the next Bill Gates, Larry Miller, etc. Why choke them to death as they are climbing that ladder. Perhaps a reasonable liberal not filled with hate could answer the question.

[beelzebabette]

I've heard this somewhere before. "We must destroy this village in order to save it" or some such.

Worked on Little House on the Prairie for the Hero Township.

[RobinFinderson]

This is what scares me about liberal thinkers such as yourself. You ramble in terms of platitudes and yet have no real concrete way to reach those platitudes. It is full of we should's, we can's and very lacking in "here's how". Let's not have a concentration of wealth. Perhaps your example is North Vietnam, oh wait, there is a concentration of wealth there. Perhpaps it is the Europeans, oh wait, they do have a concentration of the rich aristochracy. Perhaps you can point to this place where there isn't the wealth concentration you desire.

Look, I can understand how you may not feel you are being rewarded for the contribution you make. You deserve a seat at the front of the bus too. However, if you don't want to do what it takes to get to the front, you think others shouldn't have that choice. Your choice is to flatten the tires.

I've heard this somewhere before. "We must destroy this village in order to save it" or some such.

And there I go, ignoring my own advice. Effin' commie parasite

I like video games. I don't play them as much as I would like, for lack of time, but I like them. Sometimes a new video game will come out and get rave reviews, and I will want to pick it up, even though I haven't finished Bioshock and GTAIV. Do I really need the new game?

Some times it feels like we are racing to use up the planet's resources when we haven't even finished GTAIV. Slowing down a bit may not prove to be such a bad thing. Shrinking the scales of economy will prove to be conservative in the long run.

[tooblue]

Who cares if wealthy SOB's invest or not? It is a travesty, in a world of finite resources, that anyone is able to amass the kind of privilege you describe. We might not be able to take that liquid privilege back so easily, but we needn't perpetuate the environment that allowed that kind of wealth concentration in the first place. Innovation and material 'progress' are overrated. The world needs to slow down and figure out how to manage a finite set of resources before we self-destruct. A few steps 'backwards' may prove in the long run to be a giant leap 'forward.'

As an individual who lives in a much more socially liberal country let me spell it out for you ... when you place a greater tax burden on the wealthy you in fact place a greater tax burden on every one else except the very very poor. And then you simply introduce lottery's to get at their money.

It is not possible to --simply-- heavily tax the wealthy. You must also heavily tax the middle class. That is life in Canada where citizens are more prone to simply grin and bear it.

[il Padrino Ute]

I like video games. I don't play them as much as I would like, for lack of time, but I like them. Sometimes a new video game will come out and get rave reviews, and I will want to pick it up, even though I haven't finished Bioshock and GTAIV. Do I really need the new game?

Some times it feels like we are racing to use up the planet's resources when we haven't even finished GTAIV. Slowing down a bit may not prove to be such a bad thing. Shrinking the scales of economy will prove to be conservative in the long run.

Here's a solution for you: save money to buy a piece of property somewhere in the middle of nowhere; put up a fence around your property to disallow anyone from setting foot on your property; live your life the way you want to live it and stop demanding that people live life the way you want them to live it.

You'll be away from those you despise and you'll be away from those who despise you.

It's a win-win.

[byu71]

I like video games. I don't play them as much as I would like, for lack of time, but I like them. Sometimes a new video game will come out and get rave reviews, and I will want to pick it up, even though I haven't finished Bioshock and GTAIV. Do I really need the new game?

Some times it feels like we are racing to use up the planet's resources when we haven't even finished GTAIV. Slowing down a bit may not prove to be such a bad thing. Shrinking the scales of economy will prove to be conservative in the long run.

Market forces are much better at shrinking the scales of the economy. As nasty as it would be and as unpopular as me saying this might be, I am not so sure we souldn't have let more things crash around us. That would have been the "markets" way of doing things. A lot more of those riskers takers would have gotten hammered. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. If you take the risk and are wrong, you deserve to get hammered. Out of the ashes come those who truly should make it. It is a basic liberal philosophy. Survival of the fittest. It is evolution. The stronger ones made it. Over time it is better that the strong lead.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124329282377252471.html



Dumbass governor... who is he to determine what their "fair share" was. Now the middle class of Maryland will be paying for a governor who doesnt understand incentives.

Up to a certain point, I just don't believe the wealthy with eschew riskier ventures just because the tax rate has been increased. Possibly getting a significant return on $1 million through the investment in a small business and paying 10% more in taxes than a few years ago is still better than investing in some paltry return municipal bond portfolio. I personally have yet to see a situation where someone just throws their hands up in the air and puts all their money in CDs and munis simply because the prospect exists that the federal government may tax 40% of their income instead of, say, 35%.

However, the wealthy WILL forum shop and that's what's happened in Maryland- though I do think some of the decrease was due to a faltering economy and not entirely due to millionaires either packing up and leaving or monkeying with their residency and declaring their second home in Florida as their primary residence.

Tax-wise, the best place I've ever seen is Vancouver, Washington. No income tax in Washington state, and you can drive into Portland in about ten minutes, do your shopping, and pay no sales tax on anything. The property taxes might suck in Washington, I don't know.

[landpoke]

I like video games. I don't play them as much as I would like, for lack of time, but I like them. Sometimes a new video game will come out and get rave reviews, and I will want to pick it up, even though I haven't finished Bioshock and GTAIV. Do I really need the new game?

Some times it feels like we are racing to use up the planet's resources when we haven't even finished GTAIV. Slowing down a bit may not prove to be such a bad thing. Shrinking the scales of economy will prove to be conservative in the long run.

Instant gratification and an ever expanding economy are what made this country great. I'll not stand by idly while the likes of you try to turn us into some sort of France writ large. No sir. And again, no sir.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

I like video games. I don't play them as much as I would like, for lack of time, but I like them. Sometimes a new video game will come out and get rave reviews, and I will want to pick it up, even though I haven't finished Bioshock and GTAIV. Do I really need the new game?

Some times it feels like we are racing to use up the planet's resources when we haven't even finished GTAIV. Slowing down a bit may not prove to be such a bad thing. Shrinking the scales of economy will prove to be conservative in the long run.

GTAIV? Hell, I don't even own a PS3 or XBOX 360 and even though I bought San Andreas, I've barely scratched the surface on that game despite owning it for over two and a half years. I mastered Vice City to the point where I would raise my wanted level to five stars, get the military after me, snipe the soldiers in the tank and then carjack the tank. I also found carjacking buses and launching them off the ramps was pretty fun.

[byu71]

Up to a certain point, I just don't believe the wealthy with eschew riskier ventures just because the tax rate has been increased. Possibly getting a significant return on $1 million through the investment in a small business and paying 10% more in taxes than a few years ago is still better than investing in some paltry return municipal bond portfolio. I personally have yet to see a situation where someone just throws their hands up in the air and puts all their money in CDs and munis simply because the prospect exists that the federal government may tax 40% of their income instead of, say, 35%.

However, the wealthy WILL forum shop and that's what's happened in Maryland- though I do think some of the decrease was due to a faltering economy and not entirely due to millionaires either packing up and leaving or monkeying with their residency and declaring their second home in Florida as their primary residence.

Tax-wise, the best place I've ever seen is Vancouver, Washington. No income tax in Washington state, and you can drive into Portland in about ten minutes, do your shopping, and pay no sales tax on anything. The property taxes might suck in Washington, I don't know.

I agree that it won't stop all, but it will stop some. Each time the tax increases some more will drop out of the pool.

The faltering economy is what makes the risk taking less inviting. Couple that with rising taxes and you have investors going to money markets and CD's.

[wuapinmon]

Human greed (you know, the chorus that all you Friedman lovers sing) is all the motivation that the rich will ever need to invest in increasing their income.

[il Padrino Ute]

Human greed (you know, the chorus that all you Friedman lovers sing) is all the motivation that the rich will ever need to invest in increasing their income.

A fair point; however, if the risk is too high and the reward too little, human greed will search for a better investment elsewhere.

[Mormon Red Death]

Human greed (you know, the chorus that all you Friedman lovers sing) is all the motivation that the rich will ever need to invest in increasing their income.

Friedman also understood about backward bending wage curves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backwar...urve_of_labour

In short, people will get to a point where its not worth it anymore to make that extra marginal dollars so they cut back on working.

[tooblue]

In short, people will get to a point where its not worth it anymore to make that extra marginal dollars so they cut back on working.

That's called France!