quite afraid US may impose million-dollar tax

[Scataphagos]

Quote from BernankeOffDuty:

"... Startup money is important and many poor simply don't have it.

Well gee, isn't that just LIFE? Of course the rich have an advantage... which is why one should strive to be rich if interested in that sort of thing.

You believe the poor are ENTITLED to startup money?

 

[Scataphagos]

Quote from Eight:

Do you play golf? Own a small plane perhaps? Those things are very heavily subsidized by the public sector...

Neither.

 

[oldtime]

Quote from bigarrow:

From wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_of_wealth#Statistical_distributions
***
According to the Congressional Budget Office, between 1979 and 2007 incomes of the top 1% of Americans grew by an average of 275%. During the same time period, the 60% of Americans in the middle of the income scale saw their income rise by 40%. Since 1979 the average pre-tax income for the bottom 90% of households has decreased by $900, while that of the top 1% increased by over $700,000, as federal taxation became less progressive. From 1992-2007 the top 400 income earners in the U.S. saw their income increase 392% and their average tax rate reduced by 37%.[15] In 2009, the average income of the top 1% was $960,000 with a minimum income of $343,927.[16][17][18]

In 2007 the richest 1% of the American population owned 34.6% of the country's total wealth, and the next 19% owned 50.5%. Thus, the top 20% of Americans owned 85% of the country's wealth and the bottom 80% of the population owned 15%. Financial inequality was greater than inequality in total wealth, with the top 1% of the population owning 42.7%, the next 19% of Americans owning 50.3%, and the bottom 80% owning 7%.[19] However, after the Great Recession which started in 2007, the share of total wealth owned by the top 1% of the population grew from 34.6% to 37.1%, and that owned by the top 20% of Americans grew from 85% to 87.7%. The Great Recession also caused a drop of 36.1% in median household wealth but a drop of only 11.1% for the top 1%, further widening the gap between the 1% and the 99%.[19][20][21] During the economic expansion between 2002 and 2007, the income of the top 1% grew 10 times faster than the income of the bottom 90%. In this period 66% of total income gains went to the 1%, who in 2007 had a larger share of total income than at any time since 1928.
***

If this is true then the 1% paying 40% (if this figure is correct) of the taxes is proportioned fairly.

edit: should of said proportioned correctly, fair is subjective.

this ignores the fact that I am no longer allowed to settle on free land and fish and hunt to feed my family. So, when it comes to resources, it really is a fixed pie. If you are going to occupy my hunting grounds, then you need to compensate me.

 

[zdreg]

Quote from BernankeOffDuty:

no everyone made their money fair and square, rich have an advantage over the poor.

Startup money is important and many poor simply don't have it.

more important is the mentality of people. you have to have the ability to think outside the box and to persevere.

it is a lot easier today to create a business today thanks to the internet. the internet has eliminated the need in many cases for a physical store. it also makes it much easier to raise money e.g. kickstarter.com.

the old saying think rich be rich is still true.

 

[oldtime]

barrier to entry

crony capitalism

excessive regulation which benefits the established

Macy started with a wheelbarrow peddling goods on the street

How would that go today?

true, internet levels the playing field somewhat, but not enough

2 years of government paid for unemployment compensation, then you get a wheelbarrow and are exempt from all government regulation

You can even set up 20 feet from the entrance to Macy's on the day after Thanksgiving

 

[tradewiz50]

I pay a shit load in taxes, because....

 

[zdreg]

Quote from oldtime:

barrier to entry

crony capitalism

excessive regulation which benefits the established

Macy started with a wheelbarrow peddling goods on the street

How would that go today?

true, internet levels the playing field somewhat, but not enough

2 years of government paid for unemployment compensation, then you get a wheelbarrow and are exempt from all government regulation

You can even set up 20 feet from the entrance to Macy's on the day after Thanksgiving

"2 years of government paid for unemployment compensation, then you get a wheelbarrow and are exempt from all government regulation

You can even set up 20 feet from the entrance to Macy's on the day after Thanksgiving"

didn't u just show that barriers to entry are low?

 

[oldtime]

Quote from zdreg:

"2 years of government paid for unemployment compensation, then you get a wheelbarrow and are exempt from all government regulation

You can even set up 20 feet from the entrance to Macy's on the day after Thanksgiving"

didn't u just show that barriers to entry are low?

no, just the opposite, barriers to entry are extremely high, that's why the guy in Tunisia just simply set himself on fire

 

[bigarrow]

Quote from oldtime:

this ignores the fact that I am no longer allowed to settle on free land and fish and hunt to feed my family. So, when it comes to resources, it really is a fixed pie. If you are going to occupy my hunting grounds, then you need to compensate me. [/QUOTE


Sorry the quote was too long, my only point was the 1% have 40+% of the assets so them paying 40% of taxes is no big deal.

 

[oldtime]

Quote from bigarrow:

Quote from oldtime:

this ignores the fact that I am no longer allowed to settle on free land and fish and hunt to feed my family. So, when it comes to resources, it really is a fixed pie. If you are going to occupy my hunting grounds, then you need to compensate me. [/QUOTE


Sorry the quote was too long, my only point was the 1% have 40+% of the assets so them paying 40% of taxes is no big deal.

yes, and like I said, those making less than 250k a year pay less than 3% of total tax revenue. So I agree, the tax split is more than fair. That's not the issue. The issue is access to opportunity. And that has been blocked by those in power who have the politicians in their pocket. This is nothing new. It's been going on from the beginning of time. Sometimes, Like in the case of USA, it goes good, and other times like in the case of USSR it goes bad.

The point is, there is always a fight between the weak and the powerful. If you are bored with politics, you can just watch it on the National Geographic channel.

Like the man said "Everything is cool, until you start seeing patterns in randomness."