patrick.net

elvis says

Are we still friends?

We never were...

elvis says

And why aren't we friends?

I was making a joke, because according to the Pnet data the user "elvis" has no friends.

You and I are not friends because the only thing we have in common is that we both can be sarcastic jerks, and that is not a good foundation for a friendship.

elvis says

What was it? That we are the ones who control our own destiny? Or could it be that I was poking fun at "leveling the playing field"? Or was it that "the man" is holding us down?

elvis says

Throw off your shackles - workers of the world unite and demand everyone receive equal pay! Obamaphones for all! SNAP cards for everyone over the age of eight! Section 8 housing for Long Island and Beverly Hills! A free car from Government Motors for every licensed American and every illegal alien whether or not they have a drivers license...its only fair. All students, K through graduate school, including law and medical school, to receive straight A's. Come on - LETS LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD ONCE AND FOR ALL! Besides, you didn't build that and you won't lose your existing plan.

It's the logical extreme straw man, that says everything about you. Obviously you were intentionally exaggerating, but the implication is moronic.

What, the fact that there are moderates out there who think it would be to our benefit if taxes went back maybe half way up to what they were in the 60s, makes us commie pinko marxists ? You wish.

You wish you could paint me as a commie that wants a totally level laying field, when actually I'm just one of millions of people with a little common sense. I think we need to pay our bills, and that only then will we figure out how to limit our government spending.

Why don't we just put an end to this thread by proposing we make minimum wage $50/hr, which works about to ~$100,000 per year. Wouldn't that just fix the problem? Why do we have to make it so f'ing complicated??

Or...better yet, the police goes around to everyone making over $200,000 and demand that they write the gov't a check for $15,000, or they go to jail. Then, we just give all that money to the disadvantaged and poor so that they're no longer poor anymore...ever. Oh wait...I think we kinda do that today, don't we?

elvis says

I don't have any friends at Pnet and I don't know why.

Maybe you need to be more honest, Abe.

debyne says

Why don't we just put an end to this thread by proposing we make minimum wage $50/hr, which works about to ~$100,000 per year. Wouldn't that just fix the problem? Why do we have to make it so f'ing complicated??

Or...better yet, the police goes around to everyone making over $200,000 and demand that they write the gov't a check for $15,000, or they go to jail. Then, we just give all that money to the disadvantaged and poor so that they're no longer poor anymore...ever. Oh wait...I think we kinda do that today, don't we?

This is what happens when you mix an authoritarian personality with an IQ of about 80.

Is this that guy, what was his name, Ray ? Or perhaps it's "honest" Abe ? Maybe its a new dim bulb retard venting his nonsense. Hey, maybe it's a celebrity like Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh. Definitely sounds like one of those guys.

Not sure why I don't have him on ignore yet.

He was a proud troll.

sbh says

He's what keeps America great.

He's also likely to love guns, HATE fags, and consider himself a good and spiritually enlightened Christian.

CL says

What else can be done?

Apparently not a fucking thing.

"The World's Billionaires Have Doubled Their Wealth Since 2009"
"There are more billionaires today than there were during the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 -- and they're twice as rich, says a new report released Wednesday."

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/11/06/the_billionaire_census_everything_you_never_wanted_to_know_about_the_uber_wealthy

There is no income inequality.
There is only talent inequality.

CL says

Is it only through taxing the wealthy that we can achieve a more stable distribution of income and wealth?

http://www.youtube.com/embed/rc-bELgAowU

Higher tax rates (symbolism) or higher tax revenue (substance)?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/washington/09econ.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0

July 9, 2006
Surprising Jump in Tax Revenues Is Curbing Deficit

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON, July 8 — An unexpectedly steep rise in tax revenues from corporations and the wealthy is driving down the projected budget deficit this year, even though spending has climbed sharply because of the war in Iraq and the cost of hurricane relief.

On Tuesday, White House officials are expected to announce that the tax receipts will be about $250 billion above last year's levels and that the deficit will be about $100 billion less than what they projected six months ago. The rising tide in tax payments has been building for months, but the increased scale is surprising even seasoned budget analysts and making it easier for both the administration and Congress to finesse the big run-up in spending over the past year.

Tax revenues are climbing twice as fast as the administration predicted in February, so fast that the budget deficit could actually decline this year.

The main reason is a big spike in corporate tax receipts, which have nearly tripled since 2003, as well as what appears to be a big increase in individual taxes on stock market profits and executive bonuses

I like the quote from Keynes paraphrasing: it is possible to raise the taxes so high that they will defeat their own purpose.

No economist has ever uttered the phrase "trickle down theory"

Hard to beat the logic of the Sowell man.