Great set of charts from Zero Hedge and David Rosenberg under Creative Commons license (nice!)>
The End of the End of the Recession
Note to Tyler and David (entered as comment at ZH):
by Anonymous
on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 09:42
#15890It was so good until... you blew it:
"Reagan's lesson" was that you could use fake economics ("supply side" fairy tales) to justify more "government by greed"--lowering taxes on rich people.
You miss the point! The rich have manipulated the system from taxes to trading to clubby CEO compensation! AMERICA HAS FALLEN TO GOVERNMENT BY GREED AND MANIPULATION! THE SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE SOCIAL CONTRACT HAS BEEN DESTROYED! When you talk about "Reagan's lessons" you're siding with the bad guys! The libertarian solution at this point is totally heartless. You're still in love with your money.
Come up with a better plan. The rich in America need to give back a little. We need a new social contract. Read Strauss and Howe's The Fourth Turning for starters.
Agreed. I was profoundly disappointed by that bullet point. Your response is 100% dead on.
ReplyDeleteSimple solution - wealth tax.
ReplyDeleteSame answer as last time: wealth generates income, and we've already got an income tax. The whining over a 5.3 percent surtax on incomes over $1 million is deafening....
ReplyDeleteAlso, in fairness, a lot of paper wealth is about to be destroyed, so it's a moving target, while realized income is a measurable flow.
I just don't know how you feel OK about the following scenario: individual A made $50m from 1998-2008 trading MBS - his is now retired and his nest egg is in municipal bonds. Tax bill going forward is essentially $0 under your plan.
ReplyDeleteIndividual B graduated a dual med/MBS program a few years ago with $300k in debt. Individual B starts a business and makes $2m in 2010. His tax bill would be >$1m under your scenario.
Individual A sits and laughs as B bears the burden of fixing A's math. If we are going to re-write the social contract, some notion of fairness needs to be employed.
typo: "fixing A's mess"
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 7:19
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I am simply pointing the direction. There are lots of loopholes that need to be addressed.
And remember, that I am advocating increasing *marginal* tax rates on very high incomes, not *average* tax rates.