Plus those whose earnings are all dividends,interest and capitol gains pay nothing into SS as well as enjoying a special lower tax rate lower than those in the 30%+ brackets getting a W-2 form. But thats another story.
65 % of americans not preparing for retirement.
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sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
Didn't know I was looking for a solution.
But that is interesting..not that I have to 'worry' about making that much.
Since we vote our representatives in, and they in turn decide if a tax stays or goes, I would say they are fair, and not unforced. Fire insurance, and fire companies used to be private. If you didn't pay, they'd let your house burn, while protecting your neighbor's house who paid.
Regulatory fees are imposed by unelected officials and therefore unfair imo.
sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
The fire thing still happens. It’s more about funding districts but they’ll watch your house burn.
I don’t plan to depend on ss but would be happy to accept my fair share to strengthen my position.
Not long after college, I assumed that if I got SS it would be bonus and I sure didnt plan on it. I plan to wait as long as possible to claim it if it exists as its an inflation protected annuity (a lot better than TIPS)
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Time to move. That would not happen, here. Volunteer firefighters have a gene that does not permit them to sit and watch someone suffer.
Has anyone read Democracy in Chains? Our presumptions both economic and social are based on the past. What is coming could change that all except for the very wealthiest.
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/05/meet-economist-behind-one-percents-stealth-takeover-america/
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/05/meet-economist-behind-one-percents-stealth-takeover-america/
sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
I made it to here before I started laughing.
"In 2010, she moved to North Carolina, where a Tea Party-dominated Republican Party got control of both houses of the state legislature and began pushing through a radical program to suppress voter rights, decimate public services, and slash taxes on the wealthy that shocked a state long a beacon of southern moderation."
Then I gave it a second chance...and burst out laughing again..
"time when economist John Maynard Keynes’s ideas about the need for government intervention in markets to protect people from flaws so clearly demonstrated in the Great Depression held sway."
Keynesian failed economic theories are almost everything wrong with the very issue we are discussing, in regards to the devaluation of our currency, manipulation of markets, and crony-capitalism.
There is nothing better for the lower and middle class than a free market system where people are left alone to work hard and keep a very high percentage of what they make.
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Did you read the full article or book? Whether one agrees with an economic theory or not it doesn't change the underlying premise. The book is about the Buchanan school and it's eventual influence on the US. Wealth has become concentrated in the hands of a few. Our leadership is now a group of millionaires. Corporate lobbying in all its cloaked disguises can buy influence and even elections easily and it does every minute. This is not democracy. It is a plutocracy. It is getting worse and the back story is that it has been funded by some of the wealthiest with the intent of making it permanent.
http://fortune.com/2017/08/01/wealth-gap-america/
![[Hearth.com] 65 % of americans not preparing for retirement.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/227/227278-12bbe50b86a961f5e182df9ad4ff4eac.jpg?hash=JyB2EbG1rO "[Hearth.com] 65 % of americans not preparing for retirement.")
http://fortune.com/2017/08/01/wealth-gap-america/
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I knew when the supreme court allowed corporations to contribute unlimited amounts of money to politicians ,nothing good would come out of that. Power corrupts, but money corrupts just as much.
In our society, money is power. The founding fathers recognized this pitfall and tried to put in safeguards, but when all branches are working for the wealthiest, there are no checks and balances.
Thats why they had 90% tax rate on the super wealthy. While that is excessive IMO now it has flipped to a lower rate than salaries of 15% or 20% for dividends and capitol gains which are traditionally the income sources for teh super wealthy. This is one of the biggest reason why the wealthy are able to buy up the whole country.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
You must be kidding. You are so off base this is laughable. By estimated net worth, a full 12% of our population is those “evil millionaires” you spend so much time maligning on this forum. That’s 36 MILLION Americans, not the “wealthy few”.
If you want to stay on this false mantra, at least start using the term “billionaire”, of which there are STILL about 630,000 Americans.
This is the land of prosperity, and you could have very easily been one of those “group of millionaires”. Very, very easily... if you split that 12% of US population by age demographic, you’ll find a very large fraction of your age peers are millionaires. I respect anyone’s choices, until they start whining about the choices or circumstances of others in the rear view.
sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
If you are talking about the disparages of the government elite taking bribes and then using those bribes (through lobbying) to influence elections, policy and taxation, I'm 100% with you.
The best solution is small limited government. A big government will abuse its power in a big way. Those lobbyists would have zero power if the government didn't have such a big stick to swing and was invading every area of our life. Is the problem the lobbyist or the corrupt politician waiting for someone to buy his vote? Both of course, but this is a chicken and egg situation.
We're on the same page there. Lobbyists would have little power if Citizen's United is overturned or eliminated by amendment. And they would have zero power if lobbying was made illegal like they did in Colombia. Unfortunately it took them a long civil war to finally get legislators that would do the right thing.
CaptSpiff
Minister of Fire
In reality the effective tax payments for the super wealthy were never close to 90%. That was a false flag.
The wealthy have always had the means to shelter and grow their fortunes.
What is different today is wage stagnation for the mass population, and their excessive assumption of debt.
Thats true but you really cant defend a lower tax rate on dividends and capitol gains. Money you made while sleeping ,to salaries and earned income you bust your butt for. You can try but i just dont see the fairness in that. Other than that i think this country has such a large population of Billionaires and Millionaires precisely because we are well rewarded for creative thinking and hard work ,the opposite being socialism and communism. So thats a good thing. Iv noticed most of the innovation seems to come from this country ,at least starts here before its hijacked.
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This post is what I like about Hearth. There are so many people coming from different angles you never know what will pop up. Millionaires by age... never thought to look it up. I'm shocked by what I found.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/300527/us-millionaires-generation-age/
19% of millionaires are millenials? The only age demographic that doesn't surprise me is that baby boomers have the highest number of millionaires. I never would have guessed that the other 3 groups would be roughly equal.
I'd be in favor of a flat tax. Income tax would be simple. Income from all sources * X%= pay this amount. No deductions. Taxes paid on fair value of any welfare received too.
I've always heard the phrase wage stagnation. It seems like the idea of job hopping would beat that. I'd assume the hop entailed a raise.
Keep your wood splitting fingers off of my dividends and cap gains. Old people gotta eat. And butt was busted to buy those shares.
Ha ha BB It s pretty easy to level the playing field. All they need is a floor for the special low grandma rate of, say the first 10K at the low rate ,everything over that gets the same rate as everyone else,s(salaries,wages) So the Warren Buffets of the world pay the same rate on the lions share of their income as you an i. As always your only taxed on NEW INCOME not your principal which you busted butt for.Keep your wood splitting fingers off of my dividends and cap gains. Old people gotta eat. And butt was busted to buy those shares.
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People set their own wage. If your job is going nowhere, thats where it will take you, upgrade!