You are misrepresenting the ACTUAL income at the top. You're talking "taxable income" which is after all deductions - including deducting the bulk of capital gains income, which is where most income at the top comes from. Also money earned overseas, sheltered income... And interest deductions, etc.
So this figure dramatically understates the percentage of income that comes into the top.
But they DO pay taxes. They pay Social Security taxes. What REALLY sucks is that the money THEY pay for Social Security is going out to this tax cut for the rich. The ENTIRE Social Security surplus goes out as a tax cut.
Actually you pay after the first $7000 TAXABLE! So you start with your $30,000 and DEDUCT $7700. Assuming you have no other deductions, your TAXABLE income is $22,300. So you pay 15% of $15,300.
- Why are the REPUBICANS blocking restoring the "Fairness Doctrine?" - Why are the REPUBLICAN members of the FCC voting FOR the big companies and the Democrats against? - When was the last time you saw a representative of the union movement on TV? - Why is every single AM radio station right-wing?
Exactly. I'd go a bit further - putting John Poindexter in charge tells us they INTEND TO use it to spy on Democrats. He has already been convicted of this kind of crime.
It amazes me that the same people who were paranoid about the Clipper chip -- designed to get us all to start encrypting - because there was the possibility that the government could listen in if they broke several laws to get hold of the key -- these same people are ADVOCATING this project which is THE GOVERNMENT COLLECTING ALL THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ABOUT ALL OF US INCLUDING READING OUR E-MAIL AND LISTENING TO OUR CALLS!!!!! It shows the power of ideology and propaganda to manipulate.
The Clipper Chip was an attempt to get us all using encryption. It was an ENCRYPTION chip that would be in computers and phones! EVERYONE would have been using encryption!
If you were afraid of the governemnt listening in (even though your message was encrypted by the Clipper chip) you could just use PGP before sending your message.
The RESULT of the paranoia about the clipper chip is that NO ONE is now using encryption. The Clipper chip was an attemt to get us USING encryption.
"You are a member of the Democratic Party because you are either mean-spirited, or ignorant about the issues."
Your insulting message demonstrates what the Republicans are about, and shows exactly why we should all be nervous about the Republicans having this kind of tool to spy on us. Even if you are a Republican, you might not be a "good enough" Republican for them - like the ones they currently say are "moderates" and are trying to rive out of the party.
Anyone who remembers Nixon KNOWS that this tool is for political use. This is what Republicans have always done - from McCarthy to Nixon to Reagan's Iran/Contra. In fact one of the guys convicted of political crimes for Iran/Contra is IN CHARGE of this spying operation!
"Free markets seek equilibrium. That's a good thing. It means that, over time, we get lower prices on *everything* as people figure out how to wring more goods out of less raw material, and how to make more useful goods, and how to provide better services to their customers."
If you study economics from more sources than just Republicans you'll also learn that free markets in a world with high unemployment means wages also necessarily seek equilibrium - meaning that wages MUST fall to subsistance, until the rest starve off, creating a bit of labor shortage. Only then can any wages rise, and then only to a bit above subsistance.
Is this REALLY such a good ideology to dedicate yourself to?
One point - you're talking taxable income. The rich don't have taxable income. And the taxable income is reduced - capital gains are reduced to the taxable 20% before reporting as taxable income.
A few examples of tax-free income - Income from inheritance. Income from tax-free munis. Soon dividends. Income from accounts in the Cayman Islands. Income from corporations paying your expenses.
Your post brings up a question -- Who is our economy FOR? Is it for US - to have lives - or does our economy exist for all of us to serve a few rich people?
The majority of people who are wealthy did NOT inherit it, at least here in the US.
I know I have read that most wealth is inherited. However YOU made the statement here so YOU should back it up. Can you provide ANYthing to back up that a majority of the wealth did not inherit it?
BUT you probably have a fairly high error rate. Ballots voided, etc.
With an electronic voting system the error rate is reduced nearly to zero. Also, the count can happen immediately after the election.
BUT without a paper backup system there is no reason for the voter to have confidence in the results! SO the solution is to print a paper ballot that the voter verifies and that goes into a separate ballot box just like your current system. If there is a reason someone wants to verify the vote count, those ballots can be checked. Even if a machine just screws up, the machine can be checked.
The existence of the separate ballots would greatly reduce chances of someone trying to commit fraud using the machines. As a programmer I can think of 100 ways to mess with the vote count, without even spending time investigating how. OF COURSE they can screw with the machines, that's why we need paper backups.
But the machines make the voting much better, fewer errors, so there are good reasons to switch to the machines.
And yes, I have also worked as an election official.
The machines reduce the error rate significantly. But without a paper backup there is just too much that can go wrong. There is no reason for the voters to have confidence in the system.
Never mind fraud - without a paper backup, what happens if the machine just screws up -- are all those votes just lost?
Slashdot Mirror
You are misrepresenting the ACTUAL income at the top. You're talking "taxable income" which is after all deductions - including deducting the bulk of capital gains income, which is where most income at the top comes from. Also money earned overseas, sheltered income... And interest deductions, etc.
So this figure dramatically understates the percentage of income that comes into the top.
But they DO pay taxes. They pay Social Security taxes. What REALLY sucks is that the money THEY pay for Social Security is going out to this tax cut for the rich. The ENTIRE Social Security surplus goes out as a tax cut.
You're mostly talking about your Social Security. Actualy that is what is being taking in from you and then handed out to the rich as a tax cut.
Actually you pay after the first $7000 TAXABLE! So you start with your $30,000 and DEDUCT $7700. Assuming you have no other deductions, your TAXABLE income is $22,300. So you pay 15% of $15,300.
No, because you pay zero taxes on the first $7,000. The 15% applies to amounts over that, up to $28,400.
If the big media is "leftist" then:
- Why are the REPUBICANS blocking restoring the "Fairness Doctrine?"
- Why are the REPUBLICAN members of the FCC voting FOR the big companies and the Democrats against?
- When was the last time you saw a representative of the union movement on TV?
- Why is every single AM radio station right-wing?
"His conviction was thrown out as invalid; a mistake."
Man, what kind of Republican ideological mind-warping has gotten to YOU?
Poindexter's conviction was overturned on the grounds that his CONFESSION ON NATIONAL TV while "immunized" might have predjudiced the jurors.
I do not know of a single person using encryption, including for business correspondence. Are you claiming that masses of people are using encryption?
Exactly. I'd go a bit further - putting John Poindexter in charge tells us they INTEND TO use it to spy on Democrats. He has already been convicted of this kind of crime.
It amazes me that the same people who were paranoid about the Clipper chip -- designed to get us all to start encrypting - because there was the possibility that the government could listen in if they broke several laws to get hold of the key -- these same people are ADVOCATING this project which is THE GOVERNMENT COLLECTING ALL THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ABOUT ALL OF US INCLUDING READING OUR E-MAIL AND LISTENING TO OUR CALLS!!!!! It shows the power of ideology and propaganda to manipulate.
The Clipper Chip was an attempt to get us all using encryption. It was an ENCRYPTION chip that would be in computers and phones! EVERYONE would have been using encryption!
If you were afraid of the governemnt listening in (even though your message was encrypted by the Clipper chip) you could just use PGP before sending your message.
The RESULT of the paranoia about the clipper chip is that NO ONE is now using encryption. The Clipper chip was an attemt to get us USING encryption.
"You are a member of the Democratic Party because you are either mean-spirited, or ignorant about the issues."
Your insulting message demonstrates what the Republicans are about, and shows exactly why we should all be nervous about the Republicans having this kind of tool to spy on us. Even if you are a Republican, you might not be a "good enough" Republican for them - like the ones they currently say are "moderates" and are trying to rive out of the party.
Anyone who remembers Nixon KNOWS that this tool is for political use. This is what Republicans have always done - from McCarthy to Nixon to Reagan's Iran/Contra. In fact one of the guys convicted of political crimes for Iran/Contra is IN CHARGE of this spying operation!
"Free markets seek equilibrium. That's a good thing. It means that, over time, we get lower prices on *everything* as people figure out how to wring more goods out of less raw material, and how to make more useful goods, and how to provide better services to their customers."
If you study economics from more sources than just Republicans you'll also learn that free markets in a world with high unemployment means wages also necessarily seek equilibrium - meaning that wages MUST fall to subsistance, until the rest starve off, creating a bit of labor shortage. Only then can any wages rise, and then only to a bit above subsistance.
Is this REALLY such a good ideology to dedicate yourself to?
Free markets as religion.
Man, you have bought it hook, line and sinker!
You should have known to sell your stock, pocket the pension fund, and bail before the loss was reported to the public.
One point - you're talking taxable income. The rich don't have taxable income. And the taxable income is reduced - capital gains are reduced to the taxable 20% before reporting as taxable income.
A few examples of tax-free income - Income from inheritance. Income from tax-free munis. Soon dividends. Income from accounts in the Cayman Islands. Income from corporations paying your expenses.
one of the many offers I keep receiving from headhunters
The post should be modded as FUNNY, not INTERESTING -- doesn't anyone recognize sarcasm?
Your post brings up a question -- Who is our economy FOR? Is it for US - to have lives - or does our economy exist for all of us to serve a few rich people?
I think everyone reading this today knows what you'll be saying after you get laid off.
The majority of people who are wealthy did NOT inherit it, at least here in the US.
I know I have read that most wealth is inherited. However YOU made the statement here so YOU should back it up. Can you provide ANYthing to back up that a majority of the wealth did not inherit it?
The top 25% and the top 1% are generally there for a reason.
Rich parents?
Right. Next we'll be hearing about how Internet Appliances are going to be the next big thing.
BUT you probably have a fairly high error rate. Ballots voided, etc.
With an electronic voting system the error rate is reduced nearly to zero. Also, the count can happen immediately after the election.
BUT without a paper backup system there is no reason for the voter to have confidence in the results! SO the solution is to print a paper ballot that the voter verifies and that goes into a separate ballot box just like your current system. If there is a reason someone wants to verify the vote count, those ballots can be checked. Even if a machine just screws up, the machine can be checked.
The existence of the separate ballots would greatly reduce chances of someone trying to commit fraud using the machines. As a programmer I can think of 100 ways to mess with the vote count, without even spending time investigating how. OF COURSE they can screw with the machines, that's why we need paper backups.
But the machines make the voting much better, fewer errors, so there are good reasons to switch to the machines.
And yes, I have also worked as an election official.
The machines reduce the error rate significantly. But without a paper backup there is just too much that can go wrong. There is no reason for the voters to have confidence in the system.
Never mind fraud - without a paper backup, what happens if the machine just screws up -- are all those votes just lost?
Not just fraud - but what happens if the machines ust screws up? Without a paper backup, are the votes just LOST?
There's a good piece on this, What's Wrong With This Picture over at Seeing the Forest.