Originally Posted By fkurucz <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/15/news/economy/payroll_tax_holiday/index.htm?iid=RNM" target="_blank">http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/1...?iid=RNM</a> Headline: "Tax cut deal: 51 million will take home less" From the article: "The main culprit: The proposed payroll tax break would not be as generous for many low- and middle-income households as the tax cut it is replacing (the Making Work Pay credit). So there you have it.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Yet none of the MSM talking heads are discussing this. I read about it on HuffPost. Glad to see it mentioned on CNN's site. So the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The song continues to remain the same. Get ready for the dissolution of Social Security and Medicare by the year 2020.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 But wait, there's more: <a href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/taxes/income-inequality-record-estate-tax-cut-wealthy/19765558/" target="_blank">http://www.dailyfinance.com/st...9765558/</a> "Income Inequality On Course to Hit Record Levels Thanks to Tax Compromise With a tax bill tilted to benefit the wealthiest Americans poised to pass Congress this week, U.S. income inequality will exceed the records set in the months preceding the crash of 1929 and the financial crisis of 2007. " Think about that for a second. "One key to that shift -- a tax code modification that will enable people with larges estates pass them on to their heirs at the lowest tax rates in decades. Income inequality is already extreme even within the highest level of incomes. According to The American Interest, in 2004, the top 25 hedge fund managers combined to earn more than all of the CEOs from the entire S&P 500. In short, America is becoming a country where a handful of people get extremely wealthy, while the other 99% tread water at best. But thanks to some clever spin, the party that is pushing tax relief for that tiny fraction at the top has been able to convince a big chunk of that 99% to support tax policies that aren't in the best interests of the majority of Americans. Because let's be clear: If the wealthy aren't paying their fairs share of taxes, the rest of Americans will have to make up the difference." (snip) "In a supposedly democratic political system, how do economic policies flourish that favor a few thousand individuals at the economic pinnacle at the expense of the majority? It is simply a matter of creating effective myths and causing them to be repeated over and over on TV, radio and the Web, in newspapers and magazines." So there you have it. We really are back to the gilded age. Starting with Reagan, they've been chipping away at the New Deal piece by piece (and the New Deal, essentially, was "average people aren't going to get shafted as bad as in the past"). In the 50's, we saw high levels of unionization, the GI Bill was going strong, most of the excesses of the early part of the century were history, and we had the strongest middle class we'd ever had. The American Dream still wasn't quite there if you were black or female or gay, but the 60's and 70's extended it to a far greater extent to greater numbers of people. Then in the 80's the backlash took over, and the gap between rich and poor started to grow again. In this past decade that has accelerated big time. And people STILL vote against their own interests.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<"In a supposedly democratic political system, how do economic policies flourish that favor a few thousand individuals at the economic pinnacle at the expense of the majority? It is simply a matter of creating effective myths and causing them to be repeated over and over on TV, radio and the Web, in newspapers and magazines.">> This. <<And people STILL vote against their own interests.>> Because most American voters are undereducated. They haven't been instructed in critical thinking skills. They're mostly swayed by emotional rhetoric vs rational logic. Just a quick glance of the various posts from Republican supporters on WE proves this out. Until the American voting public finally wakes up and realizes that they're being played by the uber rich in this country via their political puppets in the GOP, things will only get worse. Handing back the Senate to the Republicans in 2012 would be a nightmare. Ask yourselves this, Republican supporters: If the GOP cares soooo much about the deficit, then why do they want to add to it by the BILLIONS with tax cuts to the super rich? Is this what you voted for, by casting your ballot for Republicans last month?
Originally Posted By fkurucz "Handing back the Senate to the Republicans in 2012 would be a nightmare." And Caribou Barbie in the White House.
Originally Posted By plpeters70 >>Until the American voting public finally wakes up<< Only gonna happen when the population becomes more educated - and I just don't see that happening any time soon. Our politicians and media organizations have basically demonized educated people for years - they've become the "elites" that are so despised by the masses. It's amazing when you thin about it - the educated have become the "big, bad elites" while the super rich are "the victims" being attacked by the evil liberals. Crazy, upside-down world, isn't it!!
Originally Posted By fkurucz ^^^The working poor will continue to vote for their oppressors. Meanwhile the dismantling of the middle class will contunue unabated. In another thread DaveWasBaloo asked "what's next? The end of public eductation?". I fear I see this coming as well. Vouchers will be used to dismantle it, but won't be enough to cover the cost of private education, with the working poor once again caught in the bind while all sorts of for profit private schools pop up to replace the dismantled public education system. The working poor will have to get into debt, probably via a federally insured loan program, to pay for their kids K-12 education while taxes are cut even further on property and on high earners' income. It is sobering to watch our country turn into a 3rd world nation in real time. The reality is going to settle in when the long term unemployed exhaust their unemployement benefits in 2011. Food banks are already reeling from the unprecedented demand, which is going to get worse as many of the unemployed will be ineligible for public assistance. I think we will probably see the return of depression era style soup kitchens and breadlines as the rug is pulled out from under more and more people. And to add insult to injury we will probably be facing hyperinflation once the rest of the world decides it no longer wishes to finance our trillion dollar annual deficits and we have to resort to printing money to pay for them. Of course the working poor will suffer the greatest brunt of that, but they won't be alone as it will also ravage the middle to upper middle class.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***it's amazing when you thin about it - the educated have become the "big, bad elites" while the super rich are "the victims" being attacked by the evil liberals. Crazy, upside-down world, isn't it!!*** Amazing, yes. And brilliant. The right wing and their masters have suckered literally MILLIONS into supporting them for no valid reason. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with poor friends which begin with "why are you unfairly attacking the rich, when the deserve our respect!?". Yeah, brilliant is the term I would do with. They have pulled it off...somehow.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Getting close to time for pitchforks and torches me thinks*** Mr. Yoda, if you could throw in some Jedi and some lightsabers I think we'd be better off! But the pitchforks will only work when a MAJORITY of Americans decide enough is enough. As long as 50% or so support the folks who are harming and killing them, we're screwed.
Originally Posted By mawnck And most of the pitchforks belong to people who are on the side of the corporations.
