Sorting out the impact of GOP tax-reform plans
In recent weeks we’ve been confronted by a slew of tax proposals from GOP presidential candidates, ranging from Herman Cain’s “9-9-9″ plan to Rick Perry’s “Cut, Balance and Grow Plan.” For many voters, the details of those various proposals can no doubt get a little hazy and confusing.
To address that problem, I’ve been wanting to put together a comprehensive post addressing all of the plans at once. Thanks to the release of Rick Perry’s plan and a new report on household incomes released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office, I finally have the analytical data I needed to pull it all together.
Before we go further, let’s review the CBO findings:
1.) The overall federal tax system became less progressive between 1979 and 2007, thanks largely to the greater relative impact of payroll taxes.
2.) The share of federal transfer payments going to poor Americans also fell sharply, from more than 50 percent to 35 percent. According to CBO, “that shift reflects the growth in spending for programs focused on the elderly population (such as Social Security and Medicare), in which benefits are not limited to low-income households.”
3. The study also documents the ongoing concentration of national income among the richest 1 percent of U.S. households. It found that the share of after-tax income going to the lowest-income 20 percent of Americans fell between 1979 and 2007, dropping from 7 percent to 5 percent. In fact, income share fell by 2 to 3 percent for almost every income group. It rose only among the most affluent 1 percent. Their share of national income more than doubled, from 8 percent in 1979 to 17 percent in 2007.
(Although those percentage shifts may not sound like much, in real terms it is quite large. For example, the 7 percent shift in household income from the middle 60 percent of Americans to the richest 1 percent represents a shift of $539 billion a year from the 60 percent to the 1 percent. Overall, the CBO reports that income of the highest-earning 1 percent rose by 275 percent in that time frame, after inflation.)
Anyway, as promised the final exhaustive package on GOP tax-reform plans is available HERE. I’ve put it in the form of an info-graphic. Take a look and if you think I’m missing anything, or if you think of a way to make it clearer, let me know.
– Jay Bookman
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609 comments Add your comment
DBCOOPER
October 26th, 2011
12:14 pm
I have a great idea. Let’s just keep the tax system like it is. Even though it is a complete failure. And just increase taxes on successful Americans and business’ that employ people. That makes perfect sense! Even though it will be a drop in the bucket as far as making up for our deficit. Doesn’t it sound really good?
St Simons - we're on Island time
October 26th, 2011
12:15 pm
What did Friedman say, there are 3 major factors that have triggered revolutions throughout history –
1) wealth accumulation in too few hands
2) unemployment in younger people
3) reduced availability of food, by supply or prohibitive price
Congratulations neocons, to borrow a Bushism – you almost got the trifecta
Pretty much all you have left to do is end those ag subsidies and deport those messicans picking the crops. What, you’re on that? Good job….
Bosch
October 26th, 2011
12:15 pm
In the words of Adam….
LUNCH!!!
Gordon
October 26th, 2011
12:17 pm
What’s Obama’s plan?
AmVet
October 26th, 2011
12:17 pm
So Righty, you agree that for the overwhelming percentage of Amerians, real income has flat-lined since Reagan?
So why did it take a handful (originally) of fed up Americans to even get this on the right wing radar?
I have never, ever seen the first con dare approach this topic.
Not once. Never.
And I suspect that you also agree with that fact.
To that extent, I’d say that so far, the rapidly growing OWS movement has been a success.
The toughest part, of course will be to get the now begrudgingly cognizant to take some meaningful action.
Much as the corporal, jm, fast and furious and the other grovelers desperately want it to, this righteous stand for justice is not going to go away.
The American giant has finally been awakened.
And the self-destructive wimps will not be able to stop it…
jm
October 26th, 2011
12:17 pm
Jay. You should read this. At least for consideration.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-25/economists-can-t-be-trusted-on-tax-plans-laurence-kotlikoff.html
AmVet
October 26th, 2011
12:19 pm
…successful Americans…
As you are not one of the super-rich, does that make you a failure?
Jim163
October 26th, 2011
12:19 pm
“The internet was kick-started by the government (no, not Al Gore) and without that, none of those businesses would be as successful as they are today.”
And how many potential business’s have been crippled by the government? Home Depot founder Ken Langone has state publicly that if Sarbanes Oxley was in existence during their start-up they would have never got off the ground. They offered stock options to employees to entice the best workers and those workers made the difference. Sarbanes Oxley stopped the practice of capitalizing stock options.
saywhat?
October 26th, 2011
12:20 pm
Jim163
October 26th, 2011
11:58 am
“Bosch,
Everyone has the same opportunity in our system. JM has already forwarded the example of Apple starting in a Garage. Same with EBAY and MicroSoft.”
Same opportunity, huh? Try getting in on the ground floor of the next big Wallstreet IPO.
Butch Cassidy
October 26th, 2011
12:20 pm
RB from Gwinnett – ” Until the bottom 20% starts getting up every morning, showing up for work, doing a good job, provides quality goods and service,”
They do, unfortunately it’s in China and India and Vietnam and The Phillipines where the employees will gladly work for 1 to 2 dollars a day. Until you can get the “lazy” American worker to accept the same pay, we’ll continue to have the same problem. By the way, how’s the HOT lane your GOP buddies built treating you?
Stevie Ray
October 26th, 2011
12:21 pm
I need some help here. The fact that the wealthy are getting wealthier and the “middle class” (depending on how you define same)are relatively flat. Not sure I understand the point unless anyone here is offering a palatable solution that will incentivise small business’ and those making over $250K to continue to do so rather than compensation deferral or other means to limits payments they see amount to Government waste of up to $1 trillion per year.
Isn’t anyone on this forum concerned about waste? Seems that if we can simply eliminate waste then we will have a better read on what the true numbers need to be…This conversation is premature except for this is the millionth time liberals have pointed out this growing difference.
AmVet
October 26th, 2011
12:21 pm
The top 1% were given the opportunity through our economic systems put in place to gather all that wealth.
Much as ty does not want to know, that is absolutely, irrefutably correct.
Peadawg
October 26th, 2011
12:23 pm
RB @ 12:!2
So a single mom working 2-3 jobs to support her and her kid doesn’t work hard enough?
Gordon
October 26th, 2011
12:24 pm
AmVet,
What are the Democrat ideas for changing the flat-lined incomes for middle-class America? I mean other than just voting in politicians who will take it from the rich (even though doing that won’t do a thing).
Butch Cassidy
October 26th, 2011
12:24 pm
Jim163 – “They offered stock options to employees to entice the best workers and those workers made the difference.”
Yes, and then they brought in Bob Nardelli to run the show, and he immediately kicked those same workers to the curb while raking in 36 million a year. Then, after strip mining HD, they had to pay him an addition 200 million just to leave the company. Please tell me, why do you hold the very same people that are financially raping you in such high regard?
Keep Up the Good Fight!
October 26th, 2011
12:25 pm
AmVet…. and the collary… if you are born super-rich and never work in your entire life and merely pay others to manage your money, are you successful?
jm
October 26th, 2011
12:26 pm
“A significant number of them no doubt have inflated costs,” William Short, an industry consultant and former investment banker with Kidder Peabody & Co., said in an interview. “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. This one’s a superhighway.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-26/clean-energy-developers-reaped-excess-aid-under-u-s-program-auditors-say.html
USinUK
October 26th, 2011
12:27 pm
USMC – “How about we implement the FLAT tax or FAIR Tax system, UsinK??”
I’m a flat-tax girl, myself –
flat tax, no deductions
look it up, that’s what I’ve always advocated
ty webb
October 26th, 2011
12:28 pm
“So a single mom working 2-3 jobs to support her and her kid doesn’t work hard enough?”
She’s working extremely hard now, but chances are, at one point in her life(school, career choices) she probably didn’t, hence the predicament she’s in now…Choices(career, family planning, school) have consequences.
Butch Cassidy
October 26th, 2011
12:29 pm
Keep Up the Good Fight – ” if you are born super-rich and never work in your entire life and merely pay others to manage your money, are you successful?”
Yes, because the poor and middle class chose the wrong parents, If they hadn’t been so “lazy” they all would have chosen the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers and Kennedys. Now, kindly take your wealth envy elsewhere!
Granny Godzilla
October 26th, 2011
12:30 pm
“why do you hold the very same people that are financially raping you in such high regard?”
it’s all they have ever known and frankly they like it
besides they look like they are asking for it
RB from Gwinnett
October 26th, 2011
12:31 pm
“Until you can get the “lazy” American worker to accept the same pay, we’ll continue to have the same problem.”
I’m going to assume you haven’t tried employing any of them lately because you don’t have a friggin clue what’s going on. There are MILLIONS of illegals here doing jobs those lazy Americans won’t do and they’re not being paid $1-2/day.
What do you suppose happened to the “less fortunate” back in the 1600’s when they were too dang lazy to get up and work every day? Now they have the likes of you doing the biding for them so they can suck the life out of our society.
Butch Cassidy
October 26th, 2011
12:31 pm
Ty Webb – “Choices(career, family planning, school) have consequences.”
You tell em Ty! While your at it, throw in those “lazy” SOB’s that went to work for Enron and Worldcomm and Countrywide. Bunch of sniveling whiners if you ask me.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
October 26th, 2011
12:31 pm
Well, only a moran would set around wondering about the impact of a tax reform plan. It don’t matter if it’s GOP or librul Democrat. Somebody’s going to wind up paying more and it’s for dang sure it won’t be the people with the big money to give to politicans. And you’re downright touched in the head if you think a new tax plan is going to leave you paying the same or less than you did before.
My advise is to stay greased up and ready to bend over at any time. When there’s a impact you’ll know it. Just think of it as a Dr’s check-up.
Have a good lunch everybody.
Guy Incognito
October 26th, 2011
12:33 pm
ty
“She’s working extremely hard now, but chances are, at one point in her life(school, career choices) she probably didn’t, hence the predicament she’s in now…Choices(career, family planning, school) have consequences.”
Good job. I see these kids in high school everyday. They don’t listen to the teachers. They don’t do their homework. The skip classes…………and then their mother comes in on the last day of school and screams that her darling has been discriminated against because the teacher failed her. Decisions have consequences
Gordon
October 26th, 2011
12:33 pm
USinUK,
You realize that a flat tax with no deductions will raise taxes on all low-income Americans, don’t you?
I don’t understand why the idea of simplifying taxes, which is a good one, has been mixed with the idea of a flat tax. We should have a simple way to calculate our income, and progressive tax rates.
Butch Cassidy
October 26th, 2011
12:34 pm
RB from Gwinnett – “I’m going to assume you haven’t tried employing any of them lately because you don’t have a friggin clue what’s going on.”
Yes, that and the fact that I’ve been retired for the last 5 years and really have nothing for them to do. By the way, I can assure you that my tax margins are signiificantly lower than yours due to the majority of my income being derived from investments. So thanks for the boost RB!
USinUK
October 26th, 2011
12:36 pm
“She’s working extremely hard now, but chances are, at one point in her life(school, career choices) she probably didn’t, hence the predicament she’s in now…Choices(career, family planning, school) have consequences.”
gosh – does that include when husbands walk out on their wives – they become wealthier while their wives and children’s income / standard of living takes a nosedive.
I guess she should be punished for that, too.
Butch Cassidy
October 26th, 2011
12:37 pm
Guy Incogneto – “Decisions have consequences”
And I refer you to my 12:31 post to Ty.
RB from Gwinnett
October 26th, 2011
12:37 pm
“So a single mom working 2-3 jobs to support her and her kid doesn’t work hard enough?”
A single mom without the education to support 3 kids should not be having 3 kids. Choices have consequences and those consequences are not the responsibility of the federal government to bear at the expense of 53% of taxpayers.
Bad choice no. 1 – not having the education needed to support your 3 kids.
Bad choice no. 2 – Having 3 kids you can’t take care of.
In liberal lala land, is anybody ever responsible for their actions?
USinUK
October 26th, 2011
12:37 pm
Gordon – “You realize that a flat tax with no deductions will raise taxes on all low-income Americans, don’t you?”
and it’ll raise it on the rich
in this case, everyone truly DOES share the pain.
Butch Cassidy
October 26th, 2011
12:39 pm
USinUK – “I guess she should be punished for that, too.”
Of course you should. Right along with the employees from Enron who were prohibited from selling their company shares while Ken Lay was shoveling his out the door. Don’t you know that it all comes down to CHOICES?
Keep Up the Good Fight!
October 26th, 2011
12:40 pm
Hmmm… well let’s see, if all you teach in schools is abstinence and that has been proven a failure, then are not the Republicans responsible for those pregnancies?
Jim163
October 26th, 2011
12:40 pm
Butch..I don’t understand how Nardelli is financially raping me? He hasn’t taken anything from me. I would also be willing to bet that a great deal of the original Home Depot employees made it into the 1% through their original stock offerings.
USinUK
October 26th, 2011
12:41 pm
RB – “A single mom without the education to support 3 kids should not be having 3 kids.”
EXCELLENT!!! are you going to start dispensing criteria for breeding??? is it literacy? HS diploma? Bachelors? Masters?? how much is enough???
and, as mentioned, you don’t know if she COULD support the 3 kids when she had them – one illness is all it takes to go from comfortable middle-class exisitence to povery
in conservative “nah, we’d really rather not use the common sense god gave us” land, they leave all observations of reality at the door.
ty webb
October 26th, 2011
12:41 pm
UsinUK,
well then it’s the governments fault for focing her to marry a douchebag…and we as taxpayers should pay for the government’s mistake…oh and we should also pay for her mistakes in not getting a good enough education where as she can survive without the assistance of the former douchebag husband’s income…so many “victims”.
Armed Liberal
October 26th, 2011
12:42 pm
” I would also be willing to bet that a great deal of the original Home Depot employees made it into the 1% through their original stock offerings. ”
This is quite possibly the dumbest thing I’ve seen on this blog. Ever.
Mr. Right
October 26th, 2011
12:42 pm
The top 1% were given the opportunity through our economic systems put in place to gather all that wealth.
Much as ty does not want to know, that is absolutely, irrefutably correct.
Yea, those bad evil 1% rich people! Who do they think they are getting rich ? Don’t they know they should sit on their butts and get the American dream ” Gov. Hand-outs” ? We have just got to take their wealth and give it to those other 99%! Now that is the American dream !
Gordon
October 26th, 2011
12:42 pm
USinUK,
“and it’ll raise it on the rich”
What flat rate are you talking about? That rate would have to be pretty high to raise it for most of the rich, which would be devastating to the poor. The stories you hear about where the rich don’t pay much tax are the exceptions, not the rule. The majority would love a flat tax.
USinUK
October 26th, 2011
12:42 pm
Butch – 12:39 – dammit, man!! I forgot about the choices of to get cancer or NOT to get cancer (or MS or rheumetoid arthritis or any other innumerable serious illnesses that can make you go bankrupt)
Butch Cassidy
October 26th, 2011
12:42 pm
RB from Gwinnett – “Bad choice no. 1 – not having the education needed to support your 3 kids.
Bad choice no. 2 – Having 3 kids you can’t take care of. ”
You forgot about Bad choice no. 3 – Going to work for a multi billlion dollar company that was being systematically looted from the top, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in company stock suddenly being reduced to nothing because of inflated accounting figures produced by the same people who were raiding the corporate coffers for their own personal gain.
Yeah RB, you tell em about CHOICES!
USinUK
October 26th, 2011
12:43 pm
Gordon – 12:42 – by dispensing with ALL deductions, it’ll raise taxes on the wealthy.
USinUK
October 26th, 2011
12:44 pm
ty – 12:41 – that’s right – when you don’t have a leg to stand on, resort to hyperbole and hysteria. works so much better than real-life examples.
Butch Cassidy
October 26th, 2011
12:46 pm
Jim163 – “Butch..I don’t understand how Nardelli is financially raping me? He hasn’t taken anything from me. I would also be willing to bet that a great deal of the original Home Depot employees made it into the 1% through their original stock offerings.”
Sorry Jim163, I forgot. If it doesn’t personally affect you, then it’s all good.
ty webb
October 26th, 2011
12:47 pm
UsinUK,
and cancer is not a choice…but, again, choices made during one’s life(education, career, planning,) will decide what kind of economic effect it will take on the patient and their family.
RB from Gwinnett
October 26th, 2011
12:48 pm
“By the way, how’s the HOT lane your GOP buddies built treating you?”
About as well as that cluster in the White House.
I’d still like to know what the morons at the DOT were thinking was going to happen when they implemented a plan that wouldn’t pay for itself and wouldn’t improve traffic? Same for the stupid lights on the ramps. And is anybody surprised by this being done by the same clowns who claimed they did a “great job” with snow removal?
Guy Incognito
October 26th, 2011
12:48 pm
“EXCELLENT!!! are you going to start dispensing criteria for breeding???”
Yes…..if you receive welfare………..do not have anymore kids! Or is that to hard to grasp? As far as I know, PP will GIVE you birth control
Butch Cassidy
October 26th, 2011
12:49 pm
Armed Liberal – “This is quite possibly the dumbest thing I’ve seen on this blog. Ever.”
Nope, it was surpassed by this little gem from Ty :
“well then it’s the governments fault for focing her to marry a douchebag…and we as taxpayers should pay for the government’s mistake…oh and we should also pay for her mistakes in not getting a good enough education where as she can survive without the assistance of the former douchebag husband’s income…so many “victims”.”
Normal
October 26th, 2011
12:49 pm
Hey gang,
Just got back from closing out some of Mom’s business. Checked my email and found the below. A truly unbiased report card of president Obama’s 32 months? You decide. BTW: I posted the sources, so you can study them…
Barack Obama’s 32 Month Report Card
by Rich Carroll
Mr. Hope and Change wants to create a nation humbled; humiliated, casting-aside capitalism and individual freedoms for one where ‘we the people’ are government controlled. This would be a system that genuflects mediocrity, steals personal aspiration and opportunity, and punishes those who strive to succeed.
A gallon of regular gasoline the day Obama was inaugurated was $1.79 on average in the U.S. Today that price is $3.59, a 100.6% increase.
The number of food stamp recipients has risen since Obama took office from 31,983,716 to 43,200,878, a 35.1% jump.
Long term unemployment soared 146.2% during the same 32 month period from 2,600,000 to 6,400,000. Staggering ‘hope and change’ isn’t it?
American citizens living in poverty have risen 9.5% from 39,800,000 to 43,600,000.
The number of unemployed has jumped almost 25% from 11,616,000 to 14,485,000 as of August 31, 2011.
The number of unemployed blacks has risen from 12.6% at the end of George Bush’s term to 15.8% today, a 25.4% increase.
Our national debt is up 34.4% from 10.627 trillion to 14,278 trillion *
Keep these figures in mind as we recount the number of ‘firsts’ for this presidency:
First President to refuse to show a valid birth certificate.
First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then deny he was a foreigner.
First President to have a social security number from a state he has never lived in.
First President to preside over a cut to the credit rating of the United States .
First President to violate the War Powers Act.
First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico .
First President to defy a Federal Judges court order to cease implementing the Health Care Reform Law.
First President to require all Americans to purchase a product from a third party.
First President to spend a trillion dollars on shovel-ready jobs and later admit there was no such thing as shovel-ready jobs.
First President to abrogate bankruptcy law to turn over control of companies to his union supporters.
First President to by-pass Congress and implement the Dream Act through executive fiat.
First President to order a secret amnesty program that stopped the deportation of illegal immigrants across the U.S., including those with criminal convictions.
First President to demand a company hand-over $20 billion to one of his political appointees.
First President to terminate America’s ability to put a man in space.
First President to encourage racial discrimination and intimidation at polling places.
First President to have a law signed by an auto-pen without being present.
First President to arbitrarily declare an existing law unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it.
First President to threaten insurance companies if they publicly speak-out on the reasons for their rate increases.
First President to tell a major manufacturing company in which state they are allowed to locate a factory.
First President to file lawsuits against the states he swore an oath to protect (AZ, WI, OH, IN)
First President to withdraw an existing coal permit that had been properly issued years ago.
First President to fire an inspector general of Americorps for catching one of his friends in a corruption case.
First President to appoint 45 Czars to replace elected officials in his office.
First President to golf 73 separate times in his first two and a half years in office.
First President to hide his medical, educational and travel records.
First President to win a Nobel Peace Prize for doing NOTHING to earn it.
First President to coddle American enemies while alienating America’s allies.
First President to publicly bow to Americas enemies while refusing to salute the U.S. Flag.
First President to go on multiple global apology tours.
First President to go on 17 lavish vacations, including date nights and Wednesday evening White House parties for his friends, paid for by the taxpayer.
First President to refuse to wear the U.S. Flag lapel pin.
First President to repeat ‘the Holy Qur’an tells us, ‘ and openly admit ‘the early morning call of the Azan (Islamic call to worship) is the most beautiful sound on earth.’
Remember that 32 months of Obama White House we the people have accumulated national debt at a rate more than 27 times as fast as during the rest of our nation’s entire history, as the Obama’s plan their next extravagant vacation to the Indonesian Island nation of Bali .
Hope and change anyone?
* sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Wall Street Journal, Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dept of Labor, Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller, Federal Reserve, US Treasury, Heritage Foundation.
* sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Wall Street Journal, Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dept of Labor, Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller, Federal Reserve, US Treasury, Heritage Foundation.
This is really wonderful, huh?
Jim163
October 26th, 2011
12:49 pm
From the book Inside Home Depot….”Marcus estimates this system has created as many as 1,000 Home Depot Millionaires.”Alot of the people who made the most money with us do not have advanced degrees’, adds Blanks.”
AmVet
October 26th, 2011
12:51 pm
Gordon, I have listed some of them repeatedly on this very forum.
Address the BIG THREE.
Drastically reduce military spending.
Reign in Social Security and Medicare costs( though I am out of my league on these, admittedly.)
Also:
End the hundreds of billions of dollars of corporate welfare, handouts, bailouts, subsidies, giveaways and “shelters” every year.*
End the billions more in welfare for the wealthy.*
Restore shareholder, consumer and taxpayer protections and rights.*
(*There is a great deal of info I have posted on these.)
And since we have at least got this subject in the very periphery of right wing consciousness, where are their ideas?
No slogans. Specifics.
OK, off to be a good little capitalist.
I’ll check in later…
Butch Cassidy
October 26th, 2011
12:52 pm
ty webb – “choices made during one’s life(education, career, planning,) will decide what kind of economic effect it will take on the patient and their family.”
And again I give you the employees of Enron, Worldcomm and Countrywide. Apparently they were out sick the day that ty got his magic crystal ball which allows him the ability to see which companies are financially stable and ethically managed so that he can make the right CHOICES in his financial decisions.
RB from Gwinnett
October 26th, 2011
12:54 pm
Geezzz…. The level of absurdity you morons will go to to avoid holding anybody responsible for their own actions is just astounding.
You’re the kind of idiots who make ladder manufacturers pay other idiots for falling off a ladder.
Granny Godzilla
October 26th, 2011
12:55 pm
I see Candidate Cain had a wee problem with paying his own Georgia state taxes.
USinUK
October 26th, 2011
12:55 pm
Guy – 12:48 – you act like PP clinics are on every corner – they’re not. In fact, thanks to anti-choice legislation, a lot of them are getting shut down – so enjoy the rising birth rates!!
ty – “but, again, choices made during one’s life(education, career, planning,) will decide what kind of economic effect it will take on the patient and their family.”
you’re missing the point – your life is affect just as much by things over which you have no control – cutbacks with your company, illness, whether or not your spouse walks out on you
getalife
October 26th, 2011
12:55 pm
So the cons will stay bowed down to 1 % power but the real American patriots will get our country back.
Corporate media is fascinated with this movement and so are the American people.
Jim163
October 26th, 2011
12:56 pm
I guess Butch suggests we should have bailed out Enron to protect the employees..Funny, I thought the OWS crowd is all against bailouts.
Peadawg
October 26th, 2011
12:56 pm
“Yes…..if you receive welfare………..do not have anymore kids!”
That’s actually not a bad idea. At all. How you would enforce it though, I don’t know.
USinUK
October 26th, 2011
12:58 pm
Jim – “I guess Butch suggests we should have bailed out Enron to protect the employees”
I don’t think mind-reading is for you
and well done on missing the point – I hope you enjoyed the breeze as it went by
Armed Liberal
October 26th, 2011
12:59 pm
Jim163
October 26th, 2011
12:49 pm
And Jim continues to dig the hole.
Stop Jim, stop!
Do you even understand what the top 1% is?
No, you do not so please just stop it until you educate yourself just a little bit.
USinUK
October 26th, 2011
12:59 pm
“That’s actually not a bad idea. At all. How you would enforce it though, I don’t know.”
wow.
you guys really aren’t happy unless you’re trying to control someone else’s uterus.
Peadawg
October 26th, 2011
1:01 pm
The whole if you’re on welfare, you shouldn’t be having anymore kids is actually common sense, USinUK.
Gordon
October 26th, 2011
1:01 pm
USinUK,
“by dispensing with ALL deductions, it’ll raise taxes on the wealthy.”
There is no flat-tax rate that will both raise taxes on a significant percentage of the wealty and not devastate the working poor. The bottom 40% of income earners currently pay NEGATIVE tax rates. A flat tax is a bad idea, no matter how you handle deductions.
ty webb
October 26th, 2011
1:02 pm
UsinUK,
Everyone is where they are in life due to choices they have made at one point or another.
JohnnyReb
October 26th, 2011
1:04 pm
Jay, your graph reads “give” them more dollars. Therein lies the problem and the root of you and fellow Moonbats being lost in an alternate universe.
All the money belongs to the earner. The government through force if necessary takes the money from the producer and redistributes it. You guys think when a person retains more of his earning due to tax cuts he has received a gift.
You further think it is a “right” for those without to receive from the government the money they have taken from those who have.
Now, I’m not suggesting that those that have turn their backs on those that don’t. However, you are adding fuel to the fire Obama has started. It can lead to nothing good. He’s doing it because he can’t win reelection on his record. Why are you doing it?
Butch Cassidy
October 26th, 2011
1:05 pm
Jim163 – “I guess Butch suggests we should have bailed out Enron to protect the employees..”
Wow.
getalife
October 26th, 2011
1:05 pm
The first comment on this thread is brilliant
Jim163
October 26th, 2011
1:05 pm
Armed..Yes from the CBO report I understand exactly who the 1% are. 13% are Wall Street types. 15% are medical professionals, 8.5% are attorneys. Executives, managers and supervisors working outside of finance accounted for 31%.
SO OWS is protesting 13% of 1% walking with the likes of celebrities that make up the bigger percentage.
Gordon
October 26th, 2011
1:06 pm
AmVet,
“Address the BIG THREE.
“Drastically reduce military spending.
Reign in Social Security and Medicare costs( though I am out of my league on these, admittedly.)”
Totally with you on these, but I see no effort from either side to do either one. And you might as well have stopped here, because the rest of the things you listed don’t amount to a hill of beans compared to these. And when you attempt to reign in entitlement costs, the middle class is going to take an even bigger hit. But that is the reality.
Peadawg
October 26th, 2011
1:06 pm
Aw come on Jay, take my very first comment out of moderation. It’s all in fun.
Party pooper……
Butch Cassidy
October 26th, 2011
1:07 pm
ty webb – “Everyone is where they are in life due to choices they have made at one point or another.”
True, but if the individuals ability to make the right choice is hindered due to circumstances BEYOND their control, how, pray tell, can you arbitrarily lecture someone about their situation based on the chioces that they have made?
getalife
October 26th, 2011
1:08 pm
Haha pea.
Gotcha
Granny Godzilla
October 26th, 2011
1:10 pm
Gordon
May I suggest you take a peak at the plan just released by the democrats on the super committee.
Peadawg
October 26th, 2011
1:11 pm
getalife, watch the first 10 seconds of this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyKLzBus4h8 – Jeff Dunham and Peanut
Without me this blog would suck-cku-cku
.
Granny Godzilla
October 26th, 2011
1:11 pm
Granny Godzilla Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 26th, 2011
1:05 pm
“Everyone is where they are in life due to choices they have made at one point or another.”
Half truth at best
As the vulgar yet popular colloquialism goes
“Sheet” Happens.
Jimmy62
October 26th, 2011
1:12 pm
Sorting out the Democrat’s Tax plans:
Option A: Raise taxes on rich people, redistribute money to those that didn’t earn it, bail out failures big and small, punish success, spend far more money than we have and ignore anything said by anyone who disagrees with these policies. Oh, and give out waivers to the more onerous rules to all big Democrat donators.
Option B: There is no option B, Obama doesn’t make mistakes!!! Any failures are the fault of the world, not Obama!
Granny Godzilla
October 26th, 2011
1:12 pm
I fixed the “sheet”…..not want to offend blog gods….
md
October 26th, 2011
1:12 pm
The choices argument? Not around here…….those three fingers are never pointing back with these folks.
Any OWS sympathizers may want to send out an sos on Mr Moore…….I can empathize with many of the concerns, but this guy as a spokesperson will stop that movement dead in it’s tracks.
Asked last night on CNN to apportion blame between corps, DC, and those that overextended themselves, and his comment “100% corporations”.
He’s killing the movement with that kind of idiocy………….
JohnnyReb
October 26th, 2011
1:13 pm
One more comment, then back to work. A manufacturing partner of ours recently entertained a business man from Saudi Arabia. The arab stated during conversation that there are basically two classes of people in his country: the well off or rich, and those on entitlements. No middle class. He has to bring in labor from the Phillipines to work in his factory. Arabs on entitlements won’t work for another Arab, plus the government continues to pay the entitlements even though there is work for those receiving it.
Sound familiar?
getalife
October 26th, 2011
1:13 pm
The super corrupt congress has a plan.
The 1% have the cons, corporate media and most of corrupt congress fighting for them.
Guess who will lose?
We, the people.
ty webb
October 26th, 2011
1:14 pm
Butch,
Ive been ignoring you, but since you persist..making the wrong choice(regardless of what you’re “hindered” by) is still a choice…don’t know why you keep addressing comments to me…afterall, I’ve been awarded the “dumbest” comment of the day by you, so what do you care what I think.
RB from Gwinnett
October 26th, 2011
1:15 pm
“True, but if the individuals ability to make the right choice is hindered due to circumstances BEYOND their control, how, pray tell, can you arbitrarily lecture someone about their situation based on the chioces that they have made?”
What’s an example of that?
md
October 26th, 2011
1:15 pm
Oh, and when asked about himself being a member of that 1%, his response….”I’m spending MY money to help the folks”……note the emphasis on my.
Why do folks that believe in “share the wealth” not practice what they preach unless others are forced to do the same??
Aquagirl
October 26th, 2011
1:16 pm
.I don’t understand how Nardelli is financially raping me? He hasn’t taken anything from me.
Jim’s problem is he thinks Home Depot created money and economic growth. Like nobody bought building supplies or widgets before we had ugly orange boxes staffed by low-paid workers, with a few rich guys at the top.
The moms and pops run out of business by Home Depot are now dependent on your tax dollars.
Jim, honeybunch, Nardelli left you bleeding from the rectum and you are still clueless.
1811/0311
October 26th, 2011
1:16 pm
“Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society.”
Justic Oliver Wendell Holmes
jm
October 26th, 2011
1:16 pm
“you guys really aren’t happy unless you’re trying to control someone else’s uterus.”
Reversion back to the womb desires….. it was fun for 9 months…..
1811/0311
October 26th, 2011
1:17 pm
Ooops ! ……………. he forgot the tell the “OCCUT*RDS” !
Gordon
October 26th, 2011
1:17 pm
Granny,
I would love to take a look. Can you give me a link?
1811/0311
October 26th, 2011
1:21 pm
“you guys really aren’t happy unless you’re trying to control someone else’s uterus.”
……………… AND …………… when I was in my prime the government controlled a man’s ENTIRE BODY for two years ……….. and sent him to a place he didn’t want to go ………….. where other men tried to kill him !
It was called the DRAFT, and it’s still Constitutional ………….. and draft registration is still required.
So don’t whine to me about women and “control of their bodies” until draft registration also includes women (so far the Supreme Court has ruled against drafting women).
Armed Liberal
October 26th, 2011
1:21 pm
Jim123: now, with that new found knowledge do you still maintain your assertion regarding HD employees being in the 1% due to stock options?
Guy Incognito
October 26th, 2011
1:22 pm
“you guys really aren’t happy unless you’re trying to control someone else’s uterus”
UnU
Not just someone’s…….everyone’s, Right or Left. In a perfect world, you’d have your reproductive abilities turned off, and then when you reach 21, or can prove that you have a job(s) that pay enough to support a family, you can have them turned back on.
The left is all about Social Engineering. This should appeal to many
Granny Godzilla
October 26th, 2011
1:23 pm
Gordon
Front page of Huff Poat
md
October 26th, 2011
1:24 pm
“Like nobody bought building supplies or widgets before we had ugly orange boxes staffed by low-paid workers, with a few rich guys at the top. ”
Ding, ding, ding………and the operative word…..”bought”. If folks had not bought from Home Depot, one couldn’t blame them for paying low wages…………..and the mom and pops may still be around.
But as usual, the finger points elsewhere………
Libertarian
October 26th, 2011
1:25 pm
“In liberal lala land, is anybody ever responsible for their actions?”
Um, no. Also, in liberal lala land, everyone who is rich only got that way because they were in the right place at the right time or because our economy gave them the opportunity to become rich…it has absolutely nothing to do with hard work and/or making the right choices.
getalife
October 26th, 2011
1:27 pm
The Italians pols are fighting:
“There is a climate of violence and intolerance,” said Amedeo Ciccanti from the centrist UDC party. “We need to calm down because Italians are more irritated than us about this.”
The EU thingie has Germany saying they should not take peace for granted.
Yeehaw.
Gordon
October 26th, 2011
1:27 pm
Granny,
Never mind. I looked it up myself. They want 1.2 trillion over 10 years with a balance between revenue and cuts, with much of the cuts coming from defense. All that’s fine with me. But the only reason that can request balance is that the amount of deficit reduction is so small. That is also why they can leave entitlements basically untouched. Unfortunately, $120 billion a year is chump change when you have a 1.4T deficit and a 14T debt. If anyone on either side ever really gets serious about deficit reduction, the kind that will actually get spending under control, entitlements will have to be cut and there will be $10 in cuts for every $1 in revenue increases. Depite all the talk about the wealthy, taxing them to death doesn’t raise near enough revenue to make a dent in the deficit, and that’s assuming there is no adverse effect on the economy.
Sorry, I’m not impressed. Next….
St Simons - we're on Island time
October 26th, 2011
1:28 pm
all the ideology aside, there are actually some pretty good tax ideas in the comments, by both groups, i’m taking a few notes
RB from Gwinnett
October 26th, 2011
1:28 pm
If it were the Klan camping out down in the park, would all you OWS sympathizers still be preaching their “right” to be there?
Armed Liberal
October 26th, 2011
1:29 pm
md
October 26th, 2011
1:24 pm
But how did HD’s founders find themselves with the potential to do what they did?
In a vacuum?
Or perhaps it is because we’ve paid for roads, education, infrastructure and the like?
Without all that and more, HD would not exist.
Two men alone did not create HD.
USinUK
October 26th, 2011
1:30 pm
“UsinUK,
Everyone is where they are in life due to choices they have made at one point or another.”
ah.
no.
many people are muddling along just fine until a serious illness happens and drives them to bankruptcy
many families are doing just fine until someone dies or abandons them
sorry, but your statement doesn’t hold water – not 100% of the time