The biggest story you've never heard about today's federal debt

[dajoki]

The biggest story you've never heard about today's federal debt
America's wealthy used to pay taxes to support the nation. Now, they lend it money and collect interest from the rest of us

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-biggest-story-youve-never-heard?publication_id=365422&isFreemail=true

//snip//

The biggest recipients of these interest payments are not foreigners but wealthy Americans who park their savings in treasury bonds held by mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds, banks, insurance companies, personal trusts, and estates.

Hence the half-century switch: The wealthy used to pay higher taxes to the government. Now the government pays the wealthy interest on their loans to finance a swelling debt that’s been caused largely by lower taxes on the wealthy.

This means that a growing portion of your taxes are going to the wealthy in the form of interest payments, rather than paying for government services everyone needs.

So, the real problem isn’t America’s growing federal budget deficit. It’s the decline in tax revenue from America’s wealthy combined with growing interest payments to them.

Both are worsening America’s already horrific inequalities of income and wealth.

What should be done? Reduce the debt by raising taxes on the wealthy.

This back story needs to be told. Please spread the word.

[IbogaProject]

1. We need to levy an assesment

I posted this to the other thread about this article.

In HOA, condos and Co-Ops when it's time to do a big repair or upgrade every owner gets an assesment. We need to counter the GOP suggesting spending cuts with a proposal that we levy a progressive assesment and reduce the amount currently owed. Bring the focus to each and every major GOP tax of the last 50 year's. Make this 'ceiling' look as stupid as it is. We make our proposals to be either Asses The Wealthy or Repeal the GOP Ceiling. And remind people that pro German Republicians passed that law 100 years ago to weaken our military. Its their artifice and it's their created mess.

[JohnnyRingo]

2. The entire op-ed is short, and there's no pay wall.

I suggest everyone take six minutes and read it.

Bob Reich for president.

[dajoki]

11. It is always a good read...

he posts them almost every day, some things are for paying subscribers only, but most of it is available for free.

[BSdetect]

3. Why not repeal trump's tax changes? Seems like that was at least hinted at when he introduced them.

[Wounded Bear]

4. K & R...nt

[MichMan]

5. Lots of people buy treasury bonds

If fact it is widely encouraged here as a safe investment by people who claim the entire stock market is rigged and a scam.

[Farmer-Rick]

6. Exactly right

I was just posting this.

It's all about the money. It's all about profits and capital. It's a feature of capitalism and can be seen in many of our financial crashes.

Austerity was used as a way to get the middle class and poor to pay for the failures of the filthy rich. And everyone loved it...... except the middle class who lost their houses and the poor who are used almost as slave labor.

[jaxexpat]

7. T-bill holders are America's perpetual "investors".

Funny thing about investors is that over time they come to think they run the business and "own" the company. Was America's takeover a leveraged buyout or a hedge fund raid? During the first battles of the corporate takeover did not a single person, sworn to protect the nation and the constitution blah-blah-blah, so much as raise their fist even once?

Tell Uncle Sam it was nothin' personal, it was just business.

[aggiesal]

8. A couple of weeks ago I suggested that Biden should only agree to ...

getting rid of the Pendejo45's tax cuts.

[AllaN01Bear]

9. i thought we had one at one time but ronald raygun took it out.

[CrispyQ]

10. At the individual level, they made the same half-century switch.

They took away our good union wages & replaced them with cheap, easy credit. Now we're all in hock up to our ears & basically debt slaves. 21st Century Feudalism is right on track, ahead even, thanks to the Trump tax cuts & the pandemic.

Benefits for the people always have to be paid for but tax cuts for the rich don't.