Is U.S. Capitalism On The Brink Of Collapse?

[bae]

I propose we soak the rich with luxury taxes. Any flight departing to or arriving from an international destination such as Israel, Uruguay, Cuba, Iceland or southeast Asia should have a $5000.00 tax on each passenger each way. That would raise a lot of money.

Hilarious.

[Alan]

Really, Alan and Iris, no need to worry or be bothered at all. You guys have this thing in the bag. There will be no Bernie style revolution or policy changes in that direction. This game is all played out. You won the trophy.

Oh? Was there a contest?

Perhaps you could have gotten a participation trophy for yourself although I'm not sure heckling from the sidelines qualifies.

[Yppej]

LOL, or cause the rich to drive over the Canada/Mexico, take a boat to Cuba, etc. and fly from there.


All while, the rich celebrity coming over to sings, raised ticket prices enough so the average persons ticket goes up. (gets passed on to those with lesser income)

Watch out with the boat. There are already luxury taxes on yachts, because some forms of overprivilege are sanctioned by limousine liberals and some are not. Yachts get bashed a lot.

[ToomuchStuff]

If the economy can be rigged to benefit the wealthy, could it not be rigged to benefit working families?

I don't see how?

The wealthy would then just buy off the working families, if they weren't working themselves. (not sure how many leisurely rich there are, as most still work, just don't have to "work for the man")

[Teacher Terry]

Yes the system is rigged for the rich. When there is no more middle class people will revolt.

[pinkytoe]

When there is no more middle class people will revolt.

That is my concern too. Disgruntled humans can do horrible things.

[Williamsmith]

Can we agree the current way we address poverty in the US ...through layered welfare programs.....isn’t working. You’ve got temporary assistance for needy families, food stamps or SNAP, Medicaid, housing assistance, women Infants and Children (WIC), energy assistance (LIHEAP), and general freebies. In most states, it all adds up to more than a minimum wage job. In some states it adds up to more than a $15-$20/hr job.

Even poor people aren’t stupid enough to leave welfare for a job that pays less. Especially, if they lose their Medicaid coverage. It demonstrates just how hard it is for the poor to escape the system. And not only does the system work against them, it also provides an opportunity for wealthy or secure people to suggest the poor are lazy because they won’t get a job.

We have applied an anti poverty program for our citizens that does nothing to lift people out of poverty. That’s a system that needs to be replaced. There is only one way to accomplish the guaranteed national income and that is a significant tax increase.

[LDAHL]

Tax rich people. Other first world, stable nations do it. You know this. Your opposition to taxing rich people is ideological, not based on whether or not it works.

Sling some capitalist apologetics at us now. Defend the faith! lol

They also tax everyone else. There simply aren't enough rich people to find Utopia on their own.

[iris lilies]

Really, Alan and Iris, no need to worry or be bothered at all. You guys have this thing in the bag. There will be no Bernie style revolution or policy changes in that direction. This game is all played out. You won the trophy.

Oh yay, we are the Champions! Of the World! Or maybe we are Sparticus!

[jp1]

I think part of the problem with all the various programs that Williamsmith mentions is that no one consulted an economist when designing them. As WS points out, an economically rational person isn't going to get a job if it means having less income. If we actually want people to work we should design these programs so that benefits go down gradually as a person's earned income increases. We do that with the EITC so you'd think we could do that with SNAP or any of the others. Or if we decide to replace all of them with something new we need to use the same concept when setting benefit levels. Otherwise we'll have the same problem, just with a simpler structure.