Growing disparity between rich and poor

Vicious

Electoral Member
May 12, 2006
293
4
18
Ontario, Sadly
Almost all of them support tax cuts for the middle class, that was Obama's whole spiel, thats where "Mike the Plumber" (note, not named Mike and not a Plumber) fits in.

Thats the nature of populism, its not always right either. Zimbabwe's Seizure of White Owned Farms is another example thats very negative.

Supporting the middle against the rich is the Lefty way. The Right Wing method is (in theory) the support of the rich on the grounds that anyone can be rich and they have earned their due. With a well run government this is even possible...in the same way a well run benevolent dictatorship is perfect..if only you had a reliable benevolent dictator.

I have a different definition of left and right. In my definition for a given problem the left believe the solution is the government, on the other hand the right believe the solution is the person. I've tried to stay away from the parties; Democrats and Republics and Liberals and Conservatives because they no longer operate in a left/right big government/small government way.

I still see no reason to demonize the wealthy, they are getting hammered by the crisis as well.


Sure, but you don't stay wealthy that way. If the Rich leave, new people become Rich. Thats the nature of America, that is the American dream. The right wing abandoning the concept of new people becoming rich and the old money fading away is why its losing.

People look at Paris Hilton and say "Why is she still rich? Why haven't a new generation of hardworking American Entrepreneurs pushed her kind to the poor house on their rise?"

The Wealthy are mobile, but wealth is fleeting and requires constant regeneration..

Sounds like we are agreeing that creating wealth and maintaining it is hard work. I'm just saying that if you raise taxes on the rich there is a point where the return for that effort is no longer worth it, or persuing wealth in another country becomes more attractive.

Guess what, they aren't wealthy, they are middle class almost always. When people say "Tax the rich", they almost always level it at a point above what you can get working. This is the nature of how they get in power, that is populism.

If its run right its a fair society, if they do it wrong its just abusing the rights of the minority. Given that the poor and middle class just had to subsidize the rich, they are given certain moral entitltments.

Again this is a matter of definition. Where is the line for rich? Income of $500,000 / year, $1M? or net worth of multiple million or hundreds of million. When you speak about taxing the rich most often that is income tax or business tax, the lines for both are pretty low.

What makes you think society should be fair?
 

L Gilbert

Winterized
Nov 30, 2006
23,738
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50 acres in Kootenays BC
the-brights.net
The people with the highest incomes are taxed at the highest rate They also pay more than 50% of the personal income tax collected in Canada. As far as property taxes, GST, etc. They do the same as everyone else. Sounds pretty fair to me and it's ridiculous that some people think the rich don't do their share.
It is gov't action that widens the gap, IMO, as it seems to like taxing as much as possible the people who are less likely to afford high taxes. Instead of figuring out how to be more efficient and effective, gov'ts up taxes.
 

Zzarchov

House Member
Aug 28, 2006
4,600
100
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Sounds like we are agreeing that creating wealth and maintaining it is hard work. I'm just saying that if you raise taxes on the rich there is a point where the return for that effort is no longer worth it, or persuing wealth in another country becomes more attractive.

No, we are agreeing that it should take hard work. The thing is the first thing anyone smart enough to earn wealth does is change the rules so their children can't lose it all by being stupid lazy snots. Thats why a free market requires regulation to keep it free.