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Perhaps, for my education, you could point out how the chart is misleading. It's my impression that the only misleading element is the additional tax exemptions and benefits the wealthy may enjoy through their investments and savy tax advisors? I can easily be swayed the other direction with good reasoning.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dharma Bum
Do you have a less misleading one to regurgitate?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dharma Bum
Yes, for one, it omits FICA and Medicare taxes -- see the key. Since most of those top out for the wealthy, the lower levels should be higher. And it takes no account of the various loopholes available to certain types of businesses and corporations -- usually very large and international and in favored industries like oil and gas.
The stated "marginal rates" are also highly misleading, because they generally only apply to basic income earners and not to people who can diversify and shield it.
Another good article by Professor Krugman: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/op...nes&emc=tha212
John Cassidy of the New Yorker wrote down all the signs he saw - it's quite a list!
THE NEW YORKER ONLINE ONLY
RATIONAL IRRATIONALITY
Posted by John Cassidy
“APATHY IS FOR ASSHOLES”
“TAX WALL STREET LEECHES”
“They Got a Bailout. We Got Sold Out.”
“**** GOOGLE”
“TURN WALL STREET INTO TAHRIR SQUARE”
“Something has gone wrong in America. We will not be silent”
“Hedge Funds Win When Pensioners Lose”
“STOP ROBBING THE MIDDLE CLASS TO PAY THE RICH”
“It’s my money and I need it now!”
“TAX THE RICH A LOT!”
“RAGING GRANNIES W/THEIR DAUGHTERS”
“WALL STREET WHITE MEN YOU NO LONGER RUN THE UNIVERSE”
“ARREST THE KOCH BROTHERS”
“HEY BANKERS! YOU BREAK IT, YOU PAY FOR IT”
“NO BONUSES FOR THE BAILED OUT”
“QUICK! SELL EVERYTHING AND INVEST IN PEPPER SPRAY’
“BUY STOCKS NOT POLITICIANS”
“GREED IS AN ADDICTION”
“EAT THE RICH”
“I AM HERE TO TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY”
“AMERICAN NURSES SUPPORT OCCUPY WALL STREET”
“FARMERS FOR CLEAN FOOD. NO GMO”
“ENOUGH IT ENOUGH”
“BAN FRACKING NOW”
“LONG LIVE THE SPIRIT OF MADISON”
“STOP THE CUNY TUITION HIKES”
“JP MORGAN IS A KLEPTOMANIAC”
“STOP REWARDING FAILURE. GOLDEN SHOWERS NOT GOLDEN PARACHUTES”
“ERIC CANTOR: AMERICA’S CANCER”
“THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE”
“WHAT’S IN YOUR WALLET?”
“DEVELOP YOUR EMPATHY’
“SUPPORT OUR KIDS”
“FED UP? WANT CHANGE? TAKE ACTION NOW”
“NOT SO FAST YOU GREEDY BASTARDS”
“WHERE ARE MY TAX BREAKS?”
“Capitalism is not healthy for children and other living things”
“OPEN YOUR EYES. THIS IS THE REVOLUTION!”
“I’m all about that 99%. BUTT!!”
“OBAMA = BUSH”
“I’M YOUNG EDUCATED AND ANGRY’
“Due to recent budget cuts, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.”
“CRIME PAYS IN THE USA, ON WALL STREET”
“REGULATE MARKETS, FREE PEOPLE.’
“LISTEN TO THE WARRENS”
“MARX WAS RIGHT”
“BILLIONAIRES YOUR TIME IS UP”
“IMPEACH OBAMA. PROTECTOR OF WALL STREET PARASITE CRIMINALS”
“ANOTHER TRUST FUND BABY FOR THE REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH”
“Tax and regulation irrational exuberance”
“DON’T MACE ME BRO. MY MOM IS HERE”
“Bankers are Cylons”
“This is SO not over”
“MAKE LOVE”
“OCCUPY EVERYTHING”
“ROBIN HOOD WAS RIGHT”
“I’M A BORN-AGAIN AMERICAN”
“JP MORGAN BOUGHT THE NYPD”
“I AGREE”
“JOIN US SAVE OUR REPUBLIC”
“PEOPLE BEFORE PROFITS”
“WAKE UP”
“IMMIGRANTS ARE THE 99%”
“One Nation Under Greed”
“DECOLONIZE WALL STREET’
“WE ARE HERE TO PROTECT THE FUTURE”
“END SUBSIDIES TO BIG AGRICULTURE”
“I’m self-employed and can’t afford healthcare. I am the 99%”
“JAIL THE BANKERS”
“DREAM BIG!”
“They bought off Washington and gave us the TAB”
“I’m just another homeless hippie living off my parents’ trust fund. Ignore me no more.”
“EXPROPRIATE THE EXPROPRIATORS’
“LET THEM EAT BIG MACS”
“We Know Who Our Enemies Are”
“I Participate. You Participate. He Participates. We Participate. THEY PROFIT”
“LESS KOCH MORE ****”
“GOLDMAN SUCKS”
“READ MY LIPS: TAX THE RICH”
“WELCOME BACK TO THE FIGHT. THIS TIME I KNOW OUR SIDE WILL WIN.”
“GUILTY BANKERS SHOULD BE IN JAIL”
“END THE FED”
“GIVE MY PROFESSOR HEALTH INSURANCE”
“WALL STREET BANK ROBBERS LOOT THE PUBLIC”
“JESUS WAS THE 99%”
“DON’T ARREST PROTESTORS”
“Our politicians are the priesthood of capitalism”
“BOEHNER & CANTOR: GREEDY BANKSTERS”
“MY KIDS AREN’T PAYING FOR YOUR BONUS”
“The Obama we thought we had elected would be here with us, not ignoring us.”
“DOCTORS FOR THE 99%”
“END CORPORATE FACISM”
“GENTLEMEN AGAINST GREED”
“YOU CAN’T FOOL ALL OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME”
“GREED IS BAD”
“I’m Mad as Hell”
“PROTECT THE COMMONS”
“Hands off Social Security”
“KICK ‘M IN THE JUNK BONDS”
“SAVE A HORSE. RIDE A BANKER”
“WOMEN UNITED AGAINST REPUBLICAN/TEA PARTY SCUM”
“THE MIDDLE CLASS IS TOO BIG TO FAIL”
“DE-PRIVATIZE DEMOCRACY”
“CART WHEELS FOR JUSTICE”
“Corporations are people too?”
“CITIBANK CRIMINALS”
“WE MARCH FOR HOPE NOT HATE”
“ARE WE GOING TO LET A BUNCH OF GREEDY SELFISH FOOLS DO IN THE WHOLE PLANET?”
“TEAR DOWN THIS WALL STREET”
“THE MONETARY SYSTEM IS THE PROBLEM”
“Give Power Back to the People”
“THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED. BUT IT WILL BE LIVESTREAMED, TWEETED, YOUTUBED, AND FACEBOOKED”
“WE ARE THE 99%”
“HEY BANKS. STOP USING THE $s I DEPOSIT TO SCREW MY NEIGHBOR”
“WISE OWLS SEEK ECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR ALL”
“PUPPETEERS BEFORE PROFIT”
“OBAMA. TIME TO WALK THE WALK”
“MONEY FOR SCHOOLS NOT WAR”
“Where is George Bailey when you need him? We’re done with Pottersville.”
“WEED NOT GREED”
“WORKING CLASS AND PISSED OFF”
“PARADIGM SHIFT NOW”
“FORECLOSE BLANKFEIN”
“I OWE SALLIE MAE $25,123.91”
“DROP COPS NOT BOMBS”
“LIBERTE, EGALITE, FRATERNITE”
“I AM NOT PATRIARCHY’S BITCH”
“Wall Stree: ‘The love of money is the root of all evil.’ Jesus”
“TAKE THIS TEA PARTY”
“WITHOUT MONEY WE’D ALL BE RICH”
“CORPORATIONS ARE PSYCHOPATHS. HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE”
“The free market keeps giving me the invisible finger”
“POWER TO THE PEACEFUL”
“ ‘The most important political office is that of private citizen,’ Louis Brandeis”
“BUFFET’S SECRETARY”
“ARAB SPRING, WALL STREET FALL’
“Both parties are beholden to corporate $$. I want my voice back.”
“STANDING UP FOR THE CHANGE WE VOTED FOR”
“JOIN THE REVOLUTION”
“SEX WORKERS AGAINST CAPITALISM”
“FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS TAX TODAY”
“USA IS NOT FOR SALE”
“WARREN BUFFET IS SMARTER THAN YOU”
“BILLIONS FOR BANKERS, CUTBACKS FOR WORKERS. HELL NO!”
“WALL STREET NEEDS AN ENEMA. FULL OF CRAP!”
“JUILLIARD STUDENTS SUPPORT OCCUPY WALL STREET”
“WALL STREET HAS THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION”
“THIS IS THE MOST HOPEFUL I HAVE FELT IN A LONG TIME”
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blog...#ixzz1a9vqkBWL
When a variety of media outlets have questioned some protestors on live t.v., asking them "Why are you here and what are you protesting?" -Responses included:
I don't know..seems like the place to be.
Dude..where's my car?
I'm raging man.
This is a silly effort on behalf of the far left to legitimize this "protest". Dems think they can come up with their own sort of tea party. Remember the nasty mess left in the aftermath of Woodstock? These people aren't going to clean up after themselves. They need to go home shower, put on some fresh tye-dye and hemp garments and go find a job.
right. find a job.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm -- no real change in unemployment rate in Sept.
so looks like there's lots of places for 14 Million people counted in that 9.1% to find jobs.
likewise, it might be valuable to note that the rate is based on people who are "in the system" of unemployment -- getting benefits, looking for jobs, or giving up having looked for jobs, or taking part time jobs because that's all that's available to them (or their jobs being cut to part time for economic reasons on the part of the company) -- and not the actual number of unemployed people in the US.
that actual number is higher, looking at the employment-population ratio which takes into account all working-age adults who are not working. Of course, some adults are not working out of choice (eg, stay at home moms), but that ratio has changed dramatically in the past few years -- as an example from the government's own reports. In 2005, that ratio was 78.5%, but today it is at 58.3%. This can't be due to the fact that 20.2% more moms are choosing to stay at home, or that many more are disabled, or what have you since 2005.
it is likely due to the fact that those jobs don't exist, and what jobs do exist are part time, low paying jobs.
not that i'm too proud to take such a job -- i would. but there aren't enough for 14 million people, let alone the remaining uncounted millions.
My 22 year old recent college grad daughter found a job, not in her field, low-paying but she knows it is better to be productive and moving forward than sleeping in the street, chanting, hollering and making mess for the rest of us.
While she was looking for a job, she did odd jobs and pinched every penny.
She also volunteered because she knows it is better to be productive and giving back than sitting around whining and complaining.
kenh- thanks the poster list - I loved reading down to find the ones I identified with.
It's going to be easy for this movement to get dismissed as Flower Power 2 or whatever, but there are some good little nuggets in there though. I'd take the kids into the city today and march with them if there was no chance of us getting hurt. I am so afraid that this may turn ugly -- at some point it seems the city will have to address the congestion, or some super kook will take advantage of the situation.
If somehow you could boil it all down to the main point that people do not want to be infringed upon or 'played' by either Big Gov OR Big Corp - we just want to live our lives in relative peace and be happy --- thus uniting TeaParty and Occupiers --- now there's a movement for the 1% and their gov puppets to fear!
Greed in a Global Economy is proving to be pretty anti-American.
Protesting against “greed” seems almost comically futile. You might as well demand an end to sloth or envy. Human nature being what it is, the likeliest alternative to crony capitalism is crony socialism; and we already have an established political party that has enjoyed some measure of success working toward that end.Quote:
Originally Posted by mtnlaurel