Peter Burnett, I don't see how Gates or Jobs are evil and selfish. Matsoshita I know only a little about, and his philosophy seems to he a derivative of Japanese culture, and I can see how that could be distorted to create a toxic workaholic culture, but I don't know if he was evil. I ask this because your comment leads me to think you f…
Peter Burnett, I don't see how Gates or Jobs are evil and selfish. Matsoshita I know only a little about, and his philosophy seems to he a derivative of Japanese culture, and I can see how that could be distorted to create a toxic workaholic culture, but I don't know if he was evil. I ask this because your comment leads me to think you feel that all ultra wealthy people must be greedy and evil, which sound either religious or Marxist.
I suspect you're not at all a zealot, so I'm wondering how you've come to this opinion. If I'm wrong in my interpretation, just tell me I'm full of shit. I won't take offense, and still buy you a beer or a soda just to have a serious conversation.
Thank you, TC. Paying their responsible share of taxes will still leave them with plenty to spread around according to their interests and interpretation of what society needs. Their contributions are welcome but the first responsibility is to contribute fully to the public good via taxation. Of course, there are fair criticisms of government spending, but it is the surest way to lift everyone, not just those on the radar of the non elected super wealthy. (Not to mention that not all the super wealthy consider themselves trustees of funds for societal welfare ala Carnegie …. Hence the even greater need for fair taxes.)
If there were a 100% tax on everything above a certain amount, the rich would have to find different ways to compete with each other rather than increasing their takings.
Not sure about 100% tax, but we have (I think) mostly forgotten that only a "short" time ago (1950s) the top tax rate was 95% (I believe after $5,000,000 earned per year). People extol the expansion of the middle class in the 50s which indeed happened, partially because of the post-WWII boom but also because of the top marginal tax rate which discouraged significant capital hoarding as it didn't make all that much sense. Once this was dropped over the next 30 years, first to 90%, then 75% then 50% and finally into the 30s in the 1990s, the benefits to hoarding capital became much greater. And thus the number of billionaires (which was very low until then) started to grow astronomically. With the concurrent reduction in inheritance taxes, large amounts of capital became centered in a very small number of hands, compared to the 1950s.
Even a return to a top tax rate of 75% would dramatically reduce the amount of accumulated capital the richest part of society would be able to keep, and a much larger part of those earnings would make their way into (wait for it!) the federal and state budgets! The rich would actually pay more while the poor would be able to pay less.
No, Jerry, you have totally, but totally, misread me, and I wonder how or where I can have been so unclear that this should have been possible.
Ah... now I understand... I mentioned Gates and Jobs immediately after Henry Ford who, as I said, had serious downsides including anti-Semitism that got him involved with Hitler. At the same time as remembering the company in which Ford's political and social beliefs, including eugenism -- beliefs all too common in men of his time -- landed him up, I am very aware of the man's great positive contributions to America and to the world...
I'll correct the layout now to eliminate that misunderstanding.
Peter Burnett, I don't see how Gates or Jobs are evil and selfish. Matsoshita I know only a little about, and his philosophy seems to he a derivative of Japanese culture, and I can see how that could be distorted to create a toxic workaholic culture, but I don't know if he was evil. I ask this because your comment leads me to think you feel that all ultra wealthy people must be greedy and evil, which sound either religious or Marxist.
I suspect you're not at all a zealot, so I'm wondering how you've come to this opinion. If I'm wrong in my interpretation, just tell me I'm full of shit. I won't take offense, and still buy you a beer or a soda just to have a serious conversation.
Eat the rich. Lightly sauteed with a nice Chianti.
Proper taxation may make them "less rich," but they'll still be rich.
Thank you, TC. Paying their responsible share of taxes will still leave them with plenty to spread around according to their interests and interpretation of what society needs. Their contributions are welcome but the first responsibility is to contribute fully to the public good via taxation. Of course, there are fair criticisms of government spending, but it is the surest way to lift everyone, not just those on the radar of the non elected super wealthy. (Not to mention that not all the super wealthy consider themselves trustees of funds for societal welfare ala Carnegie …. Hence the even greater need for fair taxes.)
Absolutely!
If there were a 100% tax on everything above a certain amount, the rich would have to find different ways to compete with each other rather than increasing their takings.
Not sure about 100% tax, but we have (I think) mostly forgotten that only a "short" time ago (1950s) the top tax rate was 95% (I believe after $5,000,000 earned per year). People extol the expansion of the middle class in the 50s which indeed happened, partially because of the post-WWII boom but also because of the top marginal tax rate which discouraged significant capital hoarding as it didn't make all that much sense. Once this was dropped over the next 30 years, first to 90%, then 75% then 50% and finally into the 30s in the 1990s, the benefits to hoarding capital became much greater. And thus the number of billionaires (which was very low until then) started to grow astronomically. With the concurrent reduction in inheritance taxes, large amounts of capital became centered in a very small number of hands, compared to the 1950s.
Even a return to a top tax rate of 75% would dramatically reduce the amount of accumulated capital the richest part of society would be able to keep, and a much larger part of those earnings would make their way into (wait for it!) the federal and state budgets! The rich would actually pay more while the poor would be able to pay less.
What a concept!
Sad that 1950s history isn’t better known. Sad, too, that many people see their taxes as “theft” rather than payment for services they use.
No, Jerry, you have totally, but totally, misread me, and I wonder how or where I can have been so unclear that this should have been possible.
Ah... now I understand... I mentioned Gates and Jobs immediately after Henry Ford who, as I said, had serious downsides including anti-Semitism that got him involved with Hitler. At the same time as remembering the company in which Ford's political and social beliefs, including eugenism -- beliefs all too common in men of his time -- landed him up, I am very aware of the man's great positive contributions to America and to the world...
I'll correct the layout now to eliminate that misunderstanding.