Diegetics

I don't agree that government has a proper role in probably half otr better of the things it does. However, I do believe that if you got something, you pay for it. Lobby against the service, kill the program, whatever, but while it's on the meter, you pay the man.

It's getting just as hard to defend current tax rates for the rich as it is incarceration rates for the poor. Oddly enough, based on Washington's farewell addresss, the FF's would have been really pissed at the idea of people getting a comparatively free ride. The answer to the current problem is not taxes, but it is part of the solution.

So how does the government decide who to make rich and who to not make rich? Sounds like some very mean people, this government thing. Keeping certain people poor.

I think Table 1 is interesting. Ask the average Joe, how much do you have to make to be in the top 25% of income earners? My guess is that they will guess at least $150,000.

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All I am saying is that the house is burning down, it's an unsustainable path, it's ruining the future- and yet it's not worth going back to the tax rates of " I like Ike". > Two wars+ all the other bennies, Medicaid D, etc, & etc. But don't raise rates to historic norms.

Ok.

But D, have you looked into any tax scheme that would have a meaningful impact on the debt? I asked for some detailed plans on that because of the obvious deficiencies that I covered in the link below, and nobody came up with anything.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1636

Well the GOP did something that nobody has ever done in history, they cut spending over several years by two trillion and rammed it through a Dem Senate and WH. That was truly without precedent. Imagine what could be done with a GOP Senate and WH with this kind of orientation. The Democrats say the GOP is ready to slash budgets and so forth in historic manner. I say let's find out. BTW, I don't by any of the austerity hysteria, mostly nobody will be able to tell. Will probably help the economy because less wealth will be converted to waste.

I'd like to see a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of different plans for government scale back by someone in the conservative establishment. I mean, looking at impacts across the board. It's all well and good to let 'em die, but that's going to have reverberations. We need to be aware.

And FFS, I totally was not aware the drudge headline was screaming about a lost generation. I have been isolated from news for a few days and it disgusts me to see my thinking mirrored in mainstream media. It looks like its reverse, and I don't generally follow trends of thought. Concerns of the day, yes. but not this time. I feel cheap.

Holy shit. It's happened twice in one night. Just read NYT piece by Krugman - Krugman!- that uses similar language to what I have used.

Can you commit hara- kiri with an iPhone? Is there an ap for that?


I have no ideas as to the numbers. Could be total bullshit. I have come to a point of humility on economics( well, slightly). I tend to think anything can be understood, but I just keep finding layers on taxation and finance. It requires a full time investigation and I just can't do it. Ya gotta sleep.

There are of course many problems with the furball's analysis, as always, namely that "rich guys" who are free riding are paying corporate income tax on their privately held corporations (which Krugman conveniently does not count)and then paying whatever other taxes on top that.

There are people free riding of course, I free ride just for fun, but very few people know how, including the very top. I learned how just for fun. You do need a handful of business activities to do it, so if you don't have that going on don't bother asking how it's done. However, the point is simply that the top percentiles do pay most of the taxes and provide most of the revenue to the government. The current myth the left is trying to portray is largely false, as is so often the case.

But of course there is that 1/2 of 1% that freerides. I am one of them. I know how to do it, and I do it for fun. The problem is that you will never stop it. Ever. Democrats will make sure of it. The way you structure entities to get there is protected by Democrats. Democrats are my greatest protectors. They designed all of the stuff that protects pensions and what not to make a long story short. And it is a long story.

But you would have to radically re-alter legal entities in order to make this happen (end free-riding), which in turn would destroy a portion of the economy. So they will never do it. We just had record number of socialist democrats and they didn't even touch it. There will never be that many socialists in office again, and they didn't touch it.

And for what? So that 1/2 of 1% (or less) pay more taxes? It's no money. It's high work low return. So feel free to continue pawn leftists. Would rather you fight hard at losing battles than fight for something you can win.

Has anyone ever suggested that we mobilize the youth in a civil draft to do many of these social jobs?

How about a draft for loan sort of thing where people looking for education help has to put in time working in some sort of community capacity.

Think of all the money to be saved and all the experience gained from this sort of program. You can have four kids do some of these jobs at a cheaper rate than one employee the gov't can't afford to hire anyway.

And unlike the trope, college aged kids should be responsible enough to do these things, college is a time for learning; not the navel-gazing it is often portrayed as.

From this graph Elizabeth Warren is roughly correct in her estimate of Bush the youngers debt.

The next election seems to be a test on how much Republican debt Kool-aid people can drink.