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kerrywins Donating Member (864 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-31-09 08:52 AM
Original message
Tax the Real Rich
Obama and his public relations team have made it appear that his trillion dollars in higher taxes will fall only on "the rich." Obama stresses that his tax increase is only for the richest 5 percent of Americans while the other 95 percent receive a tax cut.

For Obama, being "rich" begins with $250,000 in annual income, the bottom rung of the top 5 percent. Compare this "rich" income to that of, for example, Hank Paulson, President George W. Bush’s Treasury Secretary when he was the head of Goldman Sachs.

In 2005 Paulson was paid $38.3 million in salary, stock and options. That is 153 times the annual income of the "rich" $250,000 person.

Despite his massive income, Paulson himself was not among the super rich of that year, when a dozen hedge fund operators made $1,000 million. The hedge fund honchos incomes were 26 times greater than Paulson’s and 4,000 times greater than the "rich" man’s or family’s $250,000.


For the most part, $250,000 incomes are located in large cities where the cost of living is high. For example, a husband and wife who are associates at major law firms, each of whom works 60-hour weeks and has no job security, earn $125,000 each. They might both have student loans to pay down. For the Obama administration to lump these people in with Hank Paulson or billionaire hedge fund operators is propagandistic.

What is the difference between the $250,000 "rich" income and the $245,000 "non-rich" income? After Obama’s tax scheme goes into effect, the $245,000 income will benefit from a tax cut, and the $250,000 will have a tax increase. Will people in the 96th percentile ask for pay cuts that will drop them into the 95th percentile?

In America, the truly rich are those in the top 0.5% of the income distribution. These are the people with yachts, private airplanes, and who are still rich after they lose half their wealth in a stock market collapse caused by government policy that accommodated financial gangsters.

"Oh well, I was worth $600,000,000 last year and only $300,000,000 this year. Perhaps we should stop drinking $1,000 bottles of rare vintages and move down to $100 a bottle wines. Probably shouldn’t buy that new yacht or that villa in the south of France."


Obama is attacking the only income class that has any independence – the upper middle class professionals. The real rich are few in number and seldom present any opposition to government. Recently, the New York Times reported (March 23, 2009) that the 400 richest Americans’ "share of the nation’s total wealth has nearly doubled to more than 22 percent." The average income of the 400 richest Americans is $263 million annually. That is 1,052 times the income of the "rich" $250,000 income.

What the Obama administration is really doing is taxing ordinary people in order to bail out the super rich. The 95% of Americans who get the tax cut will find that it is offset many times by the depreciation in the dollar and the raging inflation that will result from monetizing the multi-trillion dollar budget deficits made necessary by the bailouts of the banksters.

In the United States, government has become expert at manipulating both left-wing and right-wing ideologies. It keeps those on both ends of the spectrum set at each other’s throats in order to ensure the government’s continuing independence from accountability.

Historically, the definition of a free person is a person who owns his own labor. Serfs were not free, because they owed their feudal lords, the government of that time, a maximum of one-third of their labor. Nineteenth century slaves were not free, because their owners could expropriate 50% of their labor.

Today, no American is a free person. The lowest tax rate, not counting state income, property tax and sales tax, is 15% Social Security tax and 15% federal income tax. The "free American" starts off with a 30% tax rate, the position of a medieval serf.

In medieval Europe, when tax rates reached beyond 30%, serfs rebelled and killed their masters.
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FormerDittoHead Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-31-09 09:29 AM
Response to Original message
1. "Wealth" is not "income". We SHOULD tax wealth. (yes, it's possible!)
As the article says, but I will take it one step farther.

The VAST MAJORITY of EXPENSE of the federal government is the MILITARY. (social security are transfer payments, when you exclude them from the federal spending 'pie' the military is far and away the greatest expense)
source: http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechart.htm

Ask yourself: what does the military provide? SECURITY FOR WEALTH!

So it's logical, IMO, that THOSE WITH THE WEALTH SHOULD PAY TO HAVE IT PROTECTED!

The military protects our lives and our way of living (which is income) but there is no provision for taxing WEALTH on a federal level (states and localities do tax things such as property and cars, so again, IT CAN BE DONE)
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Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-31-09 09:34 AM
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kerrywins Donating Member (864 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-31-09 10:30 AM
Response to Reply #1
4. \'VAST MAJORITY of EXPENSE of the federal government is the MILITARY\' - True
Edited on Tue Mar-31-09 10:32 AM by kerrywins
Absolutely, get rid of our empire overseas and stop the unjust wars.
And then get rid of the tyranny here at home against our own citizens.
The government owns our wages and tells us each year how much we are allowed to keep.

They own and force us to use government currency which they can depreciate year after year.

None of these things are compatible with a free society.

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dan_32 Donating Member (20 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-31-09 09:42 AM
Response to Original message
3. RICH POLITICIANS
You know, we as a nation tax the creation of wealth. I wonder why that is? Perhaps it is because the politicians are already rich?!?!

Just a thought...they tax us who are trying to improve our way of life...to pay for their pork spending...because the pork spending helps them gain political power...and it doesnt really hurt them because they have existing wealth which is NOT being taxed.

Dan...a guy who can put 2 and 2 together
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kerrywins Donating Member (864 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-31-09 10:39 AM
Response to Original message
5. Tyranny example
Not long ago we heard of the battle against dairy and now we get news that government inspectors at farmers markets are giving the Amish a hard time for selling some products without government approval. How dare they!?
http://somdnews.com/stories/08062008/indybus181054_32213.shtml

An Amish farmer, who wouldn’t give his name, said the farmers are trying to obey the laws but it’s difficult to keep abreast of new developments. There are also the high costs of new wells and licensing, and the reluctance to change centuries-old baking and production practices.

State officials reiterated products that can be sold without oversight include grains, unflavored jams and jellies, unflavored honey, whole, fresh fruits and vegetables, breads, pastries and cakes that don’t contain custard or cream cheese.

Products that require licensing through the state include relishes and pickled products, butter, milk, cheese and yogurt, and canned products. Canned products require additional training from the state. Eggs must be clean, with no cracks, fresh, labeled and in cartons, and refrigerated. This posed a concern for the Amish, who do not refrigerate eggs but said they never sell those more than seven days old. Poultry can be sold directly on the farm, but meat must go through a U.S. Department of Agriculture-certified facility. Eggs must be labeled on each carton, but only once on a case from a wholesale seller.

Each processing license for products sold costs $350. Vendors must also submit a recipe for each item’s different sizes. For example, a 12-ounce jar of grape jelly needs a separate recipe and a separate fee than the same grape jelly in a 16-ounce jar, and for each vendor. Some of the Amish women voiced concerns that the dozens of baked good recipes they use would cost thousands of dollars and lots of precious time.

Both the sellers and buyers suffer from this. The winner? The government, which further extends its control over lives. They also get more revenue.
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kerrywins Donating Member (864 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-31-09 11:21 AM
Response to Original message
6. Another example of Clear Cut Tyranny
Edited on Tue Mar-31-09 11:23 AM by kerrywins
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/05/01/2008-05-01_raw_milk_lovers_upset_over_amish_arrest.html
Brooklyn raw milk enthusiasts are crying over the loss of their supplier - a horse and buggy-driving Amish farmer from Pennsylvania.

Mark Nolt of New Line, Pa., was arrested and shut down last Friday for selling the contraband.

The Brooklyn outcry came after six Pennsylvania state troopers raided Nolt\\\'s farm and confiscated his illegal dairy.

\\\"They swooped in on Friday morning like a bunch of Vikings, handcuffed me and stole $30,000 worth of my milk, cheese and butter,\\\" Nolt told the Daily News.

Nolt is a devout Mennonite who sells raw dairy products at his farm and has them transported by truck to customers in Delaware and across New York City, where the raw goods are illegal.

It is a violation of federal law to transport raw milk across state lines with the intent to sell it for consumption. Nolt was arrested for not having a permit to sell the goods in Pennsylvania, where they are allowed.

What free market? What free trade?
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JustCommonSense Donating Member (33 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-31-09 05:29 PM
Response to Original message
7. :) serfs rebelled and killed their masters
What the French have been doing to protest layoffs lately is quite entertaining. I wonder if it will catch on over in the USA.

I suspect the string pullers have or will shortly be leaving the USA.

They have milked this puppy dry - time for the "world currency" and repeat everything once again

That is if folks keep drinking the fluoridate water and listening the the 24/7 propaganda called the news.

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kerrywins Donating Member (864 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-01-09 09:11 AM
Response to Reply #7
8. I am actually afraid of the coming revolution
but history does repeat itself. And the new world order knows this.
I quote from an article you probably already read:

"Historically, the definition of a free person is a person who owns his own labor. Serfs were not free, because they owed their feudal lords, the government of that time, a maximum of one-third of their labor. Nineteenth century slaves were not free, because their owners could expropriate 50% of their labor.

Today, no American is a free person. The lowest tax rate, not counting state income, property tax and sales tax, is 15% Social Security tax and 15% federal income tax. The "free American" starts off with a 30% tax rate, the position of a medieval serf.

In medieval Europe, when tax rates reached beyond 30%, serfs rebelled and killed their masters."

Problem is, if they really needed to wipe out the rebellion, they already have the infrastructure in place. I assume they would just switch whatever they spray us now with (chemtrails) to something lethal, be it a poison or a biological weapon.

Again, I am afraid of the coming revolution. We need to do our best to look at any other alternative to dissolve the federal government without a war.
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