Astonishing number of folks have no idea what rates have historically been; this is a good chart of the last 25 years or so, per rough bracket.
Miscellaneous Heathen
Hold to the now, the here, through which all future plunges to the past.
Astonishing number of folks have no idea what rates have historically been; this is a good chart of the last 25 years or so, per rough bracket.
I never thought I’d say this, but when confronted by the facts illustrated in the chart I find myself left with no choice but to acquiesce once and for all.
Poverty, economic stagnation, and unemployment are caused by undertaxation. I’m not sure if I’m ready to say that the national debt is caused by undertaxation, but I’m almost there.
We need to recognize as a people that if we don’t convert our remaining private capital and savings into public funding, you can pretty much say goodbye to social justice.
(Dow falls another 600 points)
Sarcasm without a counterplan is just dismissive without providing any actual argument, Ricky.
We keep cutting taxes. We keep not having enough money. That suggests we should spend less and make more to reduce the debt. In historical terms, too, our tax rates are INCREDIBLY low, but the GOP seems to think that we’ll fix everything by cutting them further. Here’s the news: that’s not gonna work.
Spending less while we’re in a recession already is unlikely to result in anything but more recession. Let’s raise taxes on those that can afford it best, and spend a boatload more on real infrastructure projects that actually need doing — for example, water systems nationwide are in poor repair, and if you’d seen the story I saw on bridge maintenance you’d freak right the hell out. It’s not welfare if we’re doing things that need doing.
I would suggest that the core problem is not that we do not “have” enough money, but that we are printing, borrowing, and ultimately spending far, far too much of it, thereby increasing the velocity of the destruction of our currency. I don’t think either of us would argue with the horrendous magnitude of the debt problem. There isn’t much there to spin.
I don’t hear the GOP making much noise about big new tax cuts. Maybe they are and I’m just not taking notice of it. I do hear them making a great deal of noise about spending control. Given how close to the edge of ruin we have pushed ourselves, I don’t think it is possible to make too much noise about this any longer.
Interesting that we hear virtually zero uproar with regard to the fact that the USA is poised to surpass Japan in our combined federal and state corporate tax rate. We’re #1! What will it take to knock them off the “debt is 225% of GDP” throne? Yes we can!
If the recent massive stimulus spending had done any of its promised good, wouldn’t we have at least some evidence of that? Shovel ready jobs? LOL. Did anything get built? Did anything get fixed? Bridges, tunnels, highways….anything? I am aware only of story after story of fraud, waste, and failed projects.
If the first ninety octillion (it may have been less) of stimulus didn’t produce anything, how do we rationalize spending even more? We are long overdue for a better answer than “We haven’t spent enough money.” I suggest that we not spend a penny more until what has already been spent is fully accounted for. Somebody show me where my f*cking money went (see: down rat hole), then we’ll talk about the next fat envelope.
I don’t think public funding is the problem, especially when it comes to the school system. The problem is public administration of those funds.
Consider an isolated incident that hints at the issue. George Greanias was recently suspended without pay for one week as punishment for his recent faux pas. It was reported that this tragically cost him “more than” $4000. Has anybody bothered to do the math on this? One week=$4000+?
We’re paying that clown $208,000 a year to preside over the spectacle of waste and failure we call Metro? Are you kidding me? I detect a pattern here.
Chorus: “We haven’t spent enough money.”
Jacking the taxes on the rich won’t build any bridges or put so much as a nano-dent in the deficit; it’ll just put a few more Mercedes in the (insert name of bloated public sector bureaucracy here) parking lot and further fuel capital flight.
Hmmm….might help Germany, and maybe that production facility in Tuscaloosa.
“Stimulus” sounds like a lethal toenail fungus to me. I want peanut butter and meat.
If you don’t hear the GOP clamoring for more cuts, you’re not listening.
I have no idea what you’re on about w/r/t “combined federal and state corporate tax rate,” since most major corporations pay essentially ZERO corporate taxes. Please elaborate.
The stimulus program that was approved was very short on infrastructure spending; I said that at the time, as did a lot of folks on both sides of the aisle. It was a mistake to fail to include it at the time. It’s a mistake not to do it now.
I fucking love your old-man-voice “My money’s going down a rathole” bullshit. Really? How about the roads you drive on? The safety of the water you drink and the food you eat? How about the rule of law, and the fact that you’re relatively safe in your home? How about this very fucking network we’re on? Whine about George Greanias’s salary all you want, but Metro works pretty well in Houston; Erin takes the bus to work every day. How many thousands of others do, too? (And seriously: Who do you think would run an organization that large, and be competent to do so, at less than $200K a year? Seriously?)
Our tax code is broken. We have significant fixed costs we can’t escape, including both debt and entitlement spending unless you think a way to fix our economy is to cut foodstamps, Medicare, and Medicaid. Someone please explain why we’re still in Afghanistan, and while we’re at it explain why we let that Connecticut chucklehead take us to war in Iraq.
Now we have faux-populist nitwits whining about the spending who don’t realize their social security checks are government money, and whose primary grievance is the color of the dude living at 1600 Pennsylvania, and for some reason we’re letting them drive the goddamn bus even though they couldn’t find their own ass with both hands, a flashlight, and Googlemaps.
Historical tax rates, particularly in a time or war, have been very high on the top income groups (low 80’s to mid 90’s on top income bracket vs today’s 35). http://www.hkmscpa.com/hist%20tax%20rates.htm
I find it interesting that everybody focuses on personal income tax rates (35% for top bracket) while neglecting the much bigger pie slice associated with capital gains (15% across the board).
In 2004, the wealthiest 25% of US households owned 87% ($43.6 trillion) of the country’s wealth, while the bottom quartile held no net wealth at all. The middle 50% of the country held 13% or $6.5 trillion of the total household net wealth. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_in_the_United_States)
Since Reagan, there has been a substantive shift of wealth from the middle class to the upper class. This shift continues to this day and is actually accelerating over time.
These are well documented facts. Draw whatever conclusions you wish from them.
What difference does wealth concentration make? Seriously, look at wealth concentration around the world and see where we stand. Further to that, this argument has little bearing in fixing the budget deficit. We have spent more than we make on the premise that US GDP will grow and can service past and future debt. This in and of itself is lunacy. It does not matter, it is Two Minutes to Midnight and the War Pigs are running amok (go dust off your tapes). In order to stop this mess we need to figure out how to employ people and create growth so we can tame debt. Ricky is right about stopping spending, Chet is right about Afghanistan, and likely Iraq. There are many other Wars we fight that are costly and useless but that may be my pipe talking. Of course we conveniently skip the bit about Libya. The bottom line is treasure. Waging war costs treasure. We don’t have the stomach to seize oil fields, or poppy fields. You can’t fix the financial problems we are in by spending more money or by raising taxes. These are all short term gains that cost more in the long run, as they destroy the ability for the US economy to grow. Without a sustained 3% growth in GDP our finances will be overrun by borrowed credit. GDP=C+I+G+∆T Tax more and diminish Consumer spending and Investment thus putting Government spending at risk as they spend more on Debt and gain less taxes. Not much we can do on the Trade deficit unless we use our own fossil fuels and that won’t happen with all the CO sequestration laws coming around. It’s about jobs, not paying banks not to go under. Ricky’s money is at Citi, and they still have not paid for the stupid loans they booked, notice banks are firing people even though they had free money for two years. They still can’t absorb the losses on the bad loans.
When somebody claims to be “poor”, consider their marginal propensity to consume (expect it to be at or near 100%). They’re not poor because rich people are rich. They’re poor in most cases because they’re financially illiterate and utterly without adult discipline.
When envying the “rich”, consider their marginal propensity to save. That’s how the unassuming millionaire next door gets there in most cases. They didn’t steal their money from poor people, old people, or children.
Exceptions exist. They are few.
I’m really not particularly conservative in the political sense. When I talk about “being conservative”, I’m usually referencing conservative financial principles. Apply those principles consistently over time, and you stand a good chance of joining the ranks of the wretched greedy rich. Do the opposite and you’ll most likely end up desperate and ruined, like our government. No fancy figurin’ required here.
HISD just had an unexpected $18.5 million fall in their lap. What a great opportunity to set aside some money for future unexpected needs! Instead, they immediately allocated every single penny to be spent as quickly as possible (5-3 vote). That’s just irresponsible and inexcusably dumb. They’ll be after us for more soon, and even more after that.
Speaking of HISD, I was grateful for the opportunity to design and install the graphics for the brand spanking new HISD Police Dodge Chargers and fully pimped out Ford EXPEDITIONS just encase you’re wondering where your tax dollars are going to “help the children”. Won’t you think of the children?
P.S.- They never bothered to check if you could fit perps in the back seats of the Chargers. You can’t. Upper-level HISD Police administrators now drive those Chargers around as their personal transportation, and that’s just the tip of the fetid iceberg, believe me.
Think of the children.