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Tax the rich

It won’t help but it makes us feel better.

This IRS report paints a gloomy picture. The 8K or so people with income over $10M took in a total of $240B. Or, you know, 1/4 of the paper thin total “cuts*” from the recent debt deal. So, if we confiscated all of their income by taxing them at 100%, that could run the federal government for about 15 days.

* Despite the media talking heads assertion, a reduction in increase is not a cut.

Update: Seen on facebook:

If the US Government was a family, they would be making $58,000 a year, they spend $75,000 a year, & are $327,000 in credit card debt. They are currently proposing BIG spending cuts to reduce their spending to $72,000 a year. These are the actual proportions of the federal budget & debt, reduced to a level that we can understand

Attributed to Dave Ramsey.

34 Responses to “Tax the rich”

  1. Kevin Baker Says:

    And then you have complete moonbats like Ralph Nader claiming that Obama “…made a deal that did not provide for a public works project to create jobs all over the country. All he did was he agreed to cut spending. And that’s what the market is reacting to.”

    Cut. Spending.

    CUT.

    What planet are these people on?

  2. SayUncle Says:

    What planet are these people on?

    I dunno. But I wish they’d go back.

  3. Barron Barnett Says:

    Here’s Joe’s take on the same exact problem. I’m amazed at how few people really seem to be able to grasp and understand what’s going on, then I remember that only 1 in 7 can read what I’m typing. The rest left to just believe what they are told.

    While the internet has helped spread information at a rate never before seen, it’s total benefit has been negated by the destruction of our educational system.

  4. John Smith. Says:

    Sounds like a sure way to make everyone equally poor unless they work for the government…

  5. Joel Says:

    They are currently proposing BIG spending cuts to reduce their spending to $72,000 a year.

    If I’m correctly following the debt “deal,” that’s not even accurate. More like they’re proposing cuts to reduce their spending increase to $85k/yr, when they said they originally planned to increase it to $87k.

    Kinda makes you wish the repo man would show up, don’t it?

  6. metulj Says:

    More “checkbook” economics. This kind of thinking is hysterical. Your daddy’s monthly family budget isn’t the same as a national economy. Big things operate differently from small things. Calculus is not arithmetic. Jupiter is not Earth. So on and so forth.

  7. SayUncle Says:

    Doesn’t matter what context it’s in, spending more than you make eventually leads to ruin. that goes for .govs and the family budget.

  8. Sebastiano Says:

    Is that really true? It seems our govt ran along just fine for quite some time when the deficit wasn’t a 125% of the GDP. Govts can responsibly pay the interest on the debt interminably it would seem…it seems somewhat inaccurate to extrapolate from an overstretched series of govts struggling to pay the bills when there’s a worldwide economic crisis going on that you can’t ever successfully run a budget deficit.

    And please spare us the nonsense folks that the budget deficit created the problem. I don’t even think you’d get Alan Greenspan to agree to that when he’s wearing his Cato Institute tie.

  9. Stuart the Viking Says:

    It’s too late, far too many Americans are more than happy to vote for whoever they think will give them the most free shit. Nobody understands the national budget even though there are plenty of examples like this one that anyone should understand. They just don’t care enough to pay attention.

    There is only one thing left to do. Quietly stock up on Ammunition, put away some extra food, and if you live anywhere where there is likely to eventually be riots (most urban environments), find a fall-back/bug-out position and/or “harden” your home and have a home defense plan.

    History has shown that there are few situations that are more violent than when the clueless realize that they’ve been lied to and everything isn’t ok.

    s

  10. Chas Says:

    Markie Marxist sez: “I don’t know why people are complaining so much. Our plan to communize America is working perfectly, isn’t it? Did you see what we did to the Dow yesterday? Ha! Ha!”

  11. Jeff the Baptist Says:

    “…are $327,000 in credit card debt.”

    Not really. The amount might be right, but the interest rate of federal securities is singicantly lower than credit card debt. Although if we keep going it won’t be.

  12. ZCORR Says:

    “It’s too late, far too many Americans are more than happy to vote for whoever they think will give them the most free shit.”

    That’s exactly right. The only way the government could even dream of having a balanced budget is if everyone were to take cuts but that will never happen. Everyone likes their free gov cheese and expects other to make the sacrifice.

  13. Tam Says:

    metulj,

    Your daddy’s monthly family budget isn’t the same as a national economy.

    And the federal government’s budget is not the same as the national economy. That’s some sloppy terminology there, which makes the train of thought behind it rather suspect.

  14. Erik Says:

    People who say the federal budget and household budgets are different never manage to actually explain why this is so. And they never seem to have any solutions to the problems created by excessive deficits because somehow, they don’t seem to think there are any.

    And yet here we are with our nation’s credit rating at risk, 9%+ unemployment, anemic GDP growth (and the threat of a new recession), and they’re whistling along as if everything is dandy.

  15. Fiftycal Says:

    Look at it this way; Right now, federal spending is $1,500 BILLION more than is taken in. IF the “tax the riche\” plan were implemented, it might bring in $50 billion next year. OK,$1,450 billion to go. Go back to the Klinton tax rates for everybody. $200 billion in a year. $1,250 billion to go. Stop handing out the wealth-redistribution “earned income credit”, $150 billion a year. Maybe the debt interest payment now goes down $100 billion.

    WHERE DOES THE OTHER TRILLION DOLLARS COME FROM? The US burns about 140 billion gallons of gasoline a year. To pay off the deficit would take a HIKE of $5 a GALLON. Of course that would devastate the economy and probably put 10 million people out of work and raise “unemployment” payments more than a trillion.

    We don’t have a REVENUE problem, we have a SPENDING PROBLEM!

  16. Fiftycal Says:

    PS, IF things get turned around and the debt lowered $100 BILLION a year, it will take 150 years to pay it off.

  17. Lyle Says:

    Thank you, joel– the original posted example is wrong. The fed gov will spend more this year than last year, and call THAT a “cut” because they COULD have spent even more. Note too that most Republicans agree with this as being a “cut” and a “step in the right direction”.

    Fiftycal; It’s impossible to make those kinds of predictions. If government could be pushed out of our economy for the most part (capitalism), growth would be rampant, and could in theory wipe out the debt in short order. Capital would be flooding into the U.S. from all over the world like a tsunami, once people were convinced it wasn’t going to be a short-lived circumstance. The socialists of course will die before they allow such a thing to happen. (Hmmm– win, win)

  18. Kevin Baker Says:

    Barron: To be fair, 6 in 7 people can read what you wrote – only 1 in 7 is functionally illiterate. But the rest of your comment is spot-on, because most of the remaining six may be able to read, but probably can’t reason all that well.

  19. Old NFO Says:

    They just don’t get it, and I’m afraid they have doomed the USA…

  20. Kristopher Says:

    That would be reported income, of course.

    The ultra rich don’t have incomes. They control legal entities ( usually not in the US ) that just happen to do the things they want done.

    If Obambam thinks he is ever getting a dime from folks with those resources, he’s sniffing glue.

  21. Kristopher Says:

    And even if they go after that 280 billion … anyone with 10 million dollars in their pocket is more than capable of moving ass and assets out of Uncle Sugar’s reach permanently.

  22. Tam Says:

    Eliminate the capital gains tax, and then everybody’s biggest worry will be how to hold down three jobs at once…

  23. mariner Says:

    metulj,

    Jupiter is not Earth. So on and so forth.

    You’re right, it’s not.

    Please go back to Jupiter.

  24. JKB Says:

    Here is a Mike Lester graphic explanation of the debt (for dummies)

  25. Robert Says:

    “Jupiter is not Earth”

    But the Laws of Physics are the same on Jupiter and Earth.

  26. ketcom Says:

    To quote Dick Cheney: “Deficits don’t matter.”

    Where were all you guys when the Bush administration was running up the bills? You didn’t seem to care then….

    “Let’s start a couple of wars and do them off the books. We’ll confiscate Iraq’s oil to pay for them.” Yeah, right.

  27. SayUncle Says:

    I don’t know where you were but I was here on this blog complaining about it.

  28. emdfl Says:

    #26 – Ummm remind me of who was in charge of WRITING/ SUBMITTING the budgets to Bush for most of his two terms? Thank you.

  29. A Critic Says:

    About that family analogy – the person forgot the 3.2 million dollars in future spending obligations (“unfunded liabilities”).

  30. Dave_H Says:

    @ ketcom

    I cared then. Besides, there is a quantum difference in the amount that we are in the hole now thanks to the moves of the current administration. Your point is meaningless anyway. Just because some folks are late to the party doesn’t change the facts pal.

  31. A Horse Thief Says:

    @Sebastiano

    The “checkbook” analogy for your “it’s ok to run a deficit sometimes scheme” is the guy who banks on a 4% raise and a hefty bonus at the end of every year.

    As long as the company he’s with keeps upping his income, he’s alright running on a deficit because his income keeps up with it. What happens when the company has a pay freeze and no bonus for him at the end of the year? He should adjust his budget and start spending less, not adjust his budget and buy a Lexus LS instead of a BMW 750.

    It’s a bet that income will continue to grow. That’s a bet I refuse to make in my personal life and one I wish Washington would stop making as well.

  32. Tam Says:

    ketcom,

    Where were all you guys when the Bush administration was running up the bills? You didn’t seem to care then….

    Wow, you are new here, aren’t you?

  33. blounttruth Says:

    Balance the budget in 1 year.

    in case you missed it on the other post, forward if you feel so inclined.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNDvLRUevSo&feature=youtu.be

    But but he cant win…. So says the media.
    http://thecaseforronpaul.wordpress.com/2011/07/26/harris-poll-barack-obama-50-ron-paul-50/

  34. blounttruth Says:

    BTW Dave Ramsey has given good advise for increasing holdings in a Keynesian environment, but that is over and we are in uncharted territory. Ramsey; a statist, thinks it could never happen here as proven by his advise not to invest in gold, but then again he cant make money when people abandon the markets, wonder how his portfolio looks after last weeks hit?

Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.

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