Barack Obama

DOSW wrote:

That would be great if every wealthy person did that. But not all of them do. A higher tax would mandate it.

And yes, an indeterminate amount would be wasted. That's a downside for sure. But it doesn't outweigh the positives.

Do you equally think the poor should be mandated to help themselves?

Should finishing high school be a requirement for getting help? Should not having more kids than they ccan afford be a requirement for receiving aid? Should we not help people who become poor as a result of their own poor decisions?

jlew24asu wrote:

but no one is asking (or in your case demanding) that your taxes be raised. not one person. you seem to have it stuck in your head that taxes have to be raised. they dont.

A couple of points. I get the feeling that some people think I am trying to pass of my tax burden to the more wealthy. That is not the case. I will gladly pay what I pay now in taxes without complaint. I actually support a slight tax increase on all classes except the poor because of the deficit, the war, the failing schools, the shitty health care, the housing market etc. We also need the next Administration to spend more responsibly so that maybe I'm wrong about the taxes needing to go up.

At the same time if I can handle my taxes going up slightly without complaint then the wealthy can do the same. I guarantee when i get to the wealthy class (and its my goal to do so) I will not complain about the taxes. Seriously we are talking about less then a hundred dollars difference not thousands and thousands of dollars.

My Aunt was always a middle class liberal until she divorced her husband and got a huge settlement. Now shes upper class and votes Republican just because of the taxes. It makes her look really cheap which is probably why I feel the way I do about taxes.

DOSW wrote:

It's based on a simple principle - you have more, you give more. Is it fair? Not really, per se. But it's the right thing to do. The upper class should recognize that they have a responsibility to share some of their wealth because they can afford to do so.

But they ALREADY GIVE MORE. MUCH MORE. Higher raw dollars. A higher percentage of income.

When is enough, enough? When you say so? When the government does? The government is like a fucking crackhead, always wanting more and more money. How about we stop being enablers, and stop feeding the beast? More, more, more. Enough is already enough.

In swear, one day we'll be sitting here going, "The wealthy already give 95 percent of their income to the government. What's five more percent? After all, they can afford it."

jlew24asu wrote:

I'm not talking about multi millionaires fellas. the highest tax rate starts at like 350k I believe? at like 40% of income?? and even lower then that, like 100k a year get taxed at 35%. and you wantt o increase that? no thanks. It took alot of hard work to get where im at and I dont want to continue to work harder and move up only to have to give it back.

not every wealthy person makes as much as Arod and buffet.

The highest tax rate in Australia starts at $150,001, its 45c for each dollar over that. The level below that is $75,001 and thats 40c. We worked 12 hour day/night shifts on a 4 on 4 off roster. More often than not we would have to work our days off because of staff shortages. We would work 12 hours overtime - get paid for 24 hours (double time) and then pretty much lose the extra in higher taxes anyway.

I wouldn't mind paying the extra taxes if i thought it was benefiting someone. But nothing ever changed. Instead of taking the extra dollars raised by increased taxes and actually using it to train extra medical staff so that we wouldn't be faced with nightmare working conditions all the time, nothing ever happened. Things just got worse.

slightofjeff wrote:

But they ALREADY GIVE MORE. MUCH MORE. Higher raw dollars. A higher percentage of income.

When is enough, enough? When you say so? When the government does? The government is like a fucking crackhead, always wanting more and more money. How about we stop being enablers, and stop feeding the beast? More, more, more. Enough is already enough.

In swear, one day we'll be sitting here going, "The wealthy already give 95 percent of their income to the government. What's five more percent? After all, they can afford it."

Again a slight increase would mean a difference of less then a hundred dollars in most cases. If you can't see the difference between a Cal Trans worker giving up 20% oh his 40K vs. a Lawyer giving 35% of his 500K then I don't know what else to tell you. The sad part is the Lawyer could hire an expensive accountant and figure out a way to write everything off paying less then the Cal Trans Worker.

floyd1975 wrote:

The problem here lies in the fact that the lawyer is already giving up more than that 35% plus about 10% to the state, in California, probably an 8.25% in sales tax, 7.85% in social security and medicare (more than all of these if he is unlucky enough to have gone into business for himself). This adds up to over half of what he earns.All of this goes into some big pools of money and is doled out to different organizations who proceed to figure out how to spend a little bit more than what they have so that they can get more next year.

Instead of only talking about those who make $500K+, why is everyone brushing aside the fact that these "upper class" taxes hit those who make just over $100K as well?

Once again, this is not about upper class vs. lower class in the broad picture. This is about getting the money of everyone who makes one dollar more than oneself.

Ok hypothetically if taxes were to go up you think it is fair for the middle class to be effected the same as the wealthier class. If middle class taxes went up say 2% why couldn't it go up 4% for the wealthy? To me that would be equal financial burden.

IF taxes are raised.

Also how is this wanting money from people who make one dollar more then oneself? Do wealthy people really think this way? It sounds so cheap. Maybe that kind of paranoia is what helps the wealthy hold onto there money.

I agree with you, Floyd. My parents are teachers and together make probably about $130k. But they are not what I would classify as wealthy.

jlew24asu wrote:

why are you looking for a specific number? how about enough troops to get the job done?

I think obama's policy is on Iraq is exactly what's needed.

Polls taken of Iraqis time and time again show that they want us out entirely, so how is it that any of us could know better about what is needed?