Inequality and the USA: A nation in denial?

[ginwilly]

Bribery is the result of a broken system? Please indulge, it sounds like you hate capitalism.

Yes, bribery is against the law unless it's labeled a campaign contribution. I would say the system is broke that allows legal bribery.

 

[Padawanbater2]

I don't think we need an amendment as much as we need to fix corporate law.

What do you mean by "corporate law", and how would you fix it sub an amendment?

Do you think adding that 28th amendment that I outlined would be good/bad? Why?

 

[pinkjackyle]

awww bater i didnt mean to hurt your feelings , i tried to be nice , i didnt call u names or the like . i guess this is my very first ignore in 5 yrs

And that's your departure from the adult conversation, nice knowing you..

 

[ginwilly]

What do you mean by "corporate law", and how would you fix it sub an amendment?

Do you think adding that 28th amendment that I outlined would be good/bad? Why?

Because I don't think an amendment is necessary. The tax code is the problem.

I can fly my friends and I to Vegas, stay in suite, and write off the entire trip as a business expense if I name my buddies officers in my company, have a meeting or talk to someone about picking up a contract.

I can buy a home in Hawaii as an investment rental. I could not rent it out, take the losses from not renting off my taxable income as well as charge off any improvements as expense. I can take two trips a year to check on my rental (even though I'm not really renting it) and charge of the cost of the trip.

Our tax code is designed by the wealthy, for the wealthy. I am doing my best to join them since I can't beat them.

I know progressives hate the idea of a flat tax or consumption tax but I feel taxing production to be immoral. There should be no such thing as an income tax and if there must be, it should be flatter.

 

[UncleBuck]

Because I don't think an amendment is necessary. The tax code is the problem.

I can fly my friends and I to Vegas, stay in suite, and write off the entire trip as a business expense if I name my buddies officers in my company, have a meeting or talk to someone about picking up a contract.

I can buy a home in Hawaii as an investment rental. I could not rent it out, take the losses from not renting off my taxable income as well as charge off any improvements as expense. I can take two trips a year to check on my rental (even though I'm not really renting it) and charge of the cost of the trip.

Our tax code is designed by the wealthy, for the wealthy. I am doing my best to join them since I can't beat them.

I know progressives hate the idea of a flat tax or consumption tax but I feel taxing production to be immoral. There should be no such thing as an income tax and if there must be, it should be flatter.

that's a long windup for saying that you want a regressive flat tax.

 

[pinkjackyle]

hey WILLY i got ignored i think will have to see

 

[pinkjackyle]

that's a long windup for saying that you want a regressive flat tax.

long windup throw the best pitches

 

[ginwilly]

that's a long windup for saying that you want a regressive flat tax.

You know there are mock-ups of progressive flat taxes, would you care to open your mind to the possibilities?

There are also progressive consumption tax plans that I favor (as long as it's instead of and not on top of payroll tax).

When I call for a flatter tax system, which is what I said before you bastardized it in your head then puked out your response, it means eliminating the myriad of loopholes (deductions for my non-liberal fellow pot heads) that the poor do not have the ability to take advantage of.

Some day when you support yourself, you'll understand more about how convoluted our tax code is and what problems it is causing.

 

[UncleBuck]

You know there are mock-ups of progressive flat taxes, would you care to open your mind to the possibilities?

There are also progressive consumption tax plans that I favor (as long as it's instead of and not on top of payroll tax).

When I call for a flatter tax system, which is what I said before you bastardized it in your head then puked out your response, it means eliminating the myriad of loopholes (deductions for my non-liberal fellow pot heads) that the poor do not have the ability to take advantage of.

Some day when you support yourself, you'll understand more about how convoluted our tax code is and what problems it is causing.

lol, a progressive flat tax.

does the easter bunny drop off the tax return check?

 

[ginwilly]

lol, a progressive flat tax.

does the easter bunny drop off the tax return check?

I should know better than talk taxes to a housebitch who makes his wife pay him back if he pays any bills.

If we said taxes will be 20% flat on income over 50K, that means no deductions. If we said it would rise to 30% flat over a million, that means no deductions. So you have 0-50k at 0%, 50K-1M at 20% and 1M+ at 30% at a flat rate.

Would you describe that as progressive or regressive?

This is not my suggestion by the way, just showing you how you can make a flat tax progressive. You can do the same with a consumption tax. No tax on food items under 30 bucks, no tax on clothing items under 50 bucks, the consumption tax could increase for items over 1M, over 10M, over 1B etc.

Just because your little brain can't see the possibilities doesn't mean we can't. Our tax code needs an overhaul.

 

[UncleBuck]

I should know better than talk taxes to a housebitch who makes his wife pay him back if he pays any bills.

If we said taxes will be 20% flat on income over 50K, that means no deductions. If we said it would rise to 30% flat over a million, that means no deductions. So you have 0-50k at 0%, 50K-1M at 20% and 1M+ at 30% at a flat rate.

Would you describe that as progressive or regressive?

This is not my suggestion by the way, just showing you how you can make a flat tax progressive. You can do the same with a consumption tax. No tax on food items under 30 bucks, no tax on clothing items under 50 bucks, the consumption tax could increase for items over 1M, over 10M, over 1B etc.

Just because your little brain can't see the possibilities doesn't mean we can't. Our tax code needs an overhaul.

lol, describes a progressive tax and thinks he's talking about a flat tax.

 

[ginwilly]

lol, describes a progressive tax and thinks he's talking about a flat tax.

Just showing how you can make a flat tax progressive. I really didn't think you'd understand though, you didn't disappoint.

 

[UncleBuck]

Just showing how you can make a flat tax progressive. I really didn't think you'd understand though, you didn't disappoint.

you described a progressive tax almost exactly like the one we have now with different numbers on it.

 

[ginwilly]

you described a progressive tax almost exactly like the one we have now with different numbers on it.

So... you've never graduated past the 1040EZ? What I've described is nothing like the tax codes we adults use.

 

[UncleBuck]

So... you've never graduated past the 1040EZ? What I've described is nothing like the tax codes we adults use.

yeah, taxing a certain percentage at certain earning levels that goes up as earnings go up is nothing like the progressive tax system we have now.

 

[NoDrama]

So... you've never graduated past the 1040EZ? What I've described is nothing like the tax codes we adults use.

The actual reason for Bucky not doing the 1040 standard form is the complicated arithmetic involved in adding and subtracting. Besides, just writing zeroes in for everything on the income side is boring i'm sure.

 

[reasonevangelist]

And here you still are, 20 years later. You survived. Who promised more to anyone?

You missed the point, again.

I don't want "to merely survive."

I want to Prosper.

And no, actually i didn't survive. I'm only alive today because others chose to help sustain me when i no longer could. I don't think they've ever realized that by helping me "survive," they're actually only perpetuating my misery, because there is no option, no means, no access, to what i would need, in order to thrive. But before i can ever thrive, i have to heal all the damage i've accumulated, which has surpassed my ability to cope, and has eliminated my ability to survive, and thrive, without help. I dislike the idea that people are helping me survive just to be miserable. I've been real close to checking out, many times... but, as always, there are a few things i still want to do, before i quit this game forever. If things go wrong and those things become impossible, i will push that goddamn button so fast, heads will spin.

I would gladly erase the last 20 years of my existence, and just die then, instead of having to waste time, effort and resources, to accomplish nothing but perpetuating my own misery.

As soon as i get a visit from the ghost of christmas past, i'm totally taking him up on the offer to never have existed in the first place.

Anyway, weren't we talking about the "American Dream" earlier? Something about hard work equaling prosperity? I've done shit loads of hard work. Any position i've ever held, i've excelled at. But the wage has never matched the work, and the money we make is worth less tomorrow, than it is today. So really, we're all making less than they claim to pay, and for more than most of us actually want to give.

My person is my business, and my labor is one of my many products. But if i keep absorbing the losses inherent in a buyer's market, i will have nothing left to sell, and will lose the business of my Self. In fact, i'm already much further along than that. I guess people who haven't been there, can't see it. So why bother discussing it? I should just stop communicating with anyone, and wait to die; right? Idk, i get tired of that life. I stay tired of pretty much everything. There are very few things actually accessible to me, that i actually want.

The part i feel guilty about is how i've developed a desire for lack of obligation, lack of requirement, lack of responsibility for anything i didn't choose, above all else. It's ironic, because that's the attitude that leads to a government taking over and making everyone's decisions for them. I'm constantly astonished that they managed to socially engineer the exact problem and reaction they needed, to manifest the solution they planned to implement.

But, knowing i likely won't live much longer, i can't really stay deeply interested in much of anything, because i know none of it will matter after i'm dead. Soon enough, i won't have to be part of any of this, anymore... so why bother to learn anything else? I will pursue exactly the knowledge required to do the few things i still want to do; everything else is pretty much irrelevant.

 

[reasonevangelist]

You are fundamentally wrong. The feds keep printing more and more money. Our economy is bigger than ever. The pie keeps growing.

If you go buy land for 50K and build a house and it costs 100K to do it and you sell the house for 200K you just CREATED 50K out of nothing. That is how wealth is created.

Every age thinks it is the greatest age. I am nowhere near foolish enough to think that this tiny little sliver of history will be remembered at all, much less as the peak of anything.

No. Cutting the same 100% Pie into more pieces, does not make the pie larger. It just makes the pieces smaller.

You are fundamentally wrong. The feds keep printing more and more money. Our economy is bigger than ever. The pie keeps growing.

If you go buy land for 50K and build a house and it costs 100K to do it and you sell the house for 200K you just CREATED 50K out of nothing. That is how wealth is created.

Every age thinks it is the greatest age. I am nowhere near foolish enough to think that this tiny little sliver of history will be remembered at all, much less as the peak of anything.

No. If you sell something to another person, for more than you paid for it, you did not "create wealth out of nothing," you Convinced someone to Trade Their Wealth To You, in exchange for something you had, which they wanted. That money didn't just magically appear just because you decided to charge more than you paid for your parcel. That money already existed, and was transferred, not "created."

 

[NLXSK1]

i'm just repeating your numbers.

you said you made $100k in four years, then sold it for $50k, thereby making $200k in profit.

that means that you had negative $50,000 in operating expenses, taxes, and the like.

we all really wanna know how you did that.

that is your interpretation of what I have said over 6 months piecing together statements taken out of context.

I am not surprised an unemployed pot grower cannot do basic math...

 

[NLXSK1]

No. Cutting the same 100% Pie into more pieces, does not make the pie larger. It just makes the pieces smaller.


No. If you sell something to another person, for more than you paid for it, you did not "create wealth out of nothing," you Convinced someone to Trade Their Wealth To You, in exchange for something you had, which they wanted. That money didn't just magically appear just because you decided to charge more than you paid for your parcel. That money already existed, and was transferred, not "created."

The fed printing money is just a representation of the growing wealth in America. The wealth is in the buildings, assests, infrastructure and business relationships developed over time.

No. If you sell something to another person, for more than you paid for it, you did not "create wealth out of nothing," you Convinced someone to Trade Their Wealth To You, in exchange for something you had, which they wanted. That money didn't just magically appear just because you decided to charge more than you paid for your parcel. That money already existed, and was transferred, not "created."

The money is a representation of wealth. You create wealth by creating buildings, machinery, assets.

When we arrived on the shores of America there was NOTHING. Now we are a superpower worth trillions. Where did all that WEALTH come from if it was not created?? You seem to be missing a basic understanding of the economy.

I have the income I want. I make my own wealth by providing products and/or services. My needs are met. I am simply trying to explain to people who have not had the benefit of an education outside the public school system that the American dream is still possible. What they dont want to hear about is that it is still hard work to achieve.