The Forgotten Man

[CA renter]

Very much in agreement with esmith here.

Nobody in his/her right mind is claiming that all people should have exactly the same income or wealth, irrespective of their efforts, education, luck, etc. But there should be some more reasonable ratio where the disparity is not so great as to cause great suffering among the greatest number of people.

Ultimately, if you don’t protect those who are less fortunate, you end up with something that more closely resembles Mexico or a number of African nations where the few wealthy live in guarded homes and drive armoured cars and live in fear of their children being kidnapped, etc. That’s what wealth disparity does. It does not make the less fortunate more productive, it makes them more violent.

Progressive taxes are more like buying protection against violent crime and revolutions. It is the wealthy who benefit at least as much as the poor.

[CA renter]

Very much in agreement with esmith here.

Nobody in his/her right mind is claiming that all people should have exactly the same income or wealth, irrespective of their efforts, education, luck, etc. But there should be some more reasonable ratio where the disparity is not so great as to cause great suffering among the greatest number of people.

Ultimately, if you don’t protect those who are less fortunate, you end up with something that more closely resembles Mexico or a number of African nations where the few wealthy live in guarded homes and drive armoured cars and live in fear of their children being kidnapped, etc. That’s what wealth disparity does. It does not make the less fortunate more productive, it makes them more violent.

Progressive taxes are more like buying protection against violent crime and revolutions. It is the wealthy who benefit at least as much as the poor.

[CA renter]

Very much in agreement with esmith here.

Nobody in his/her right mind is claiming that all people should have exactly the same income or wealth, irrespective of their efforts, education, luck, etc. But there should be some more reasonable ratio where the disparity is not so great as to cause great suffering among the greatest number of people.

Ultimately, if you don’t protect those who are less fortunate, you end up with something that more closely resembles Mexico or a number of African nations where the few wealthy live in guarded homes and drive armoured cars and live in fear of their children being kidnapped, etc. That’s what wealth disparity does. It does not make the less fortunate more productive, it makes them more violent.

Progressive taxes are more like buying protection against violent crime and revolutions. It is the wealthy who benefit at least as much as the poor.

[stansd]

Can someone explain to me why paying the same percentages of your income in taxes is equitable. Wouldn’t true equity be that each adult pays the same dollar amount?

If I’m not mistaken, the top 5% of wage earners pay over 50% of the taxes.

The arguments here are ridiculous…amazes me when intelligent people forget that returns on capital actually do effect investment. I spend a lot of time with the CEO of our company…I could care less how hard he works (though he does work harder than 99% of the population), but the guy makes multiple decisions every day that have impacts in the tens of millions of dollars. He’s worth every penny he is paid and more.

Stan

[stansd]

Can someone explain to me why paying the same percentages of your income in taxes is equitable. Wouldn’t true equity be that each adult pays the same dollar amount?

If I’m not mistaken, the top 5% of wage earners pay over 50% of the taxes.

The arguments here are ridiculous…amazes me when intelligent people forget that returns on capital actually do effect investment. I spend a lot of time with the CEO of our company…I could care less how hard he works (though he does work harder than 99% of the population), but the guy makes multiple decisions every day that have impacts in the tens of millions of dollars. He’s worth every penny he is paid and more.

Stan

[stansd]

Can someone explain to me why paying the same percentages of your income in taxes is equitable. Wouldn’t true equity be that each adult pays the same dollar amount?

If I’m not mistaken, the top 5% of wage earners pay over 50% of the taxes.

The arguments here are ridiculous…amazes me when intelligent people forget that returns on capital actually do effect investment. I spend a lot of time with the CEO of our company…I could care less how hard he works (though he does work harder than 99% of the population), but the guy makes multiple decisions every day that have impacts in the tens of millions of dollars. He’s worth every penny he is paid and more.

Stan

[stansd]

Can someone explain to me why paying the same percentages of your income in taxes is equitable. Wouldn’t true equity be that each adult pays the same dollar amount?

If I’m not mistaken, the top 5% of wage earners pay over 50% of the taxes.

The arguments here are ridiculous…amazes me when intelligent people forget that returns on capital actually do effect investment. I spend a lot of time with the CEO of our company…I could care less how hard he works (though he does work harder than 99% of the population), but the guy makes multiple decisions every day that have impacts in the tens of millions of dollars. He’s worth every penny he is paid and more.

Stan

[stansd]

Can someone explain to me why paying the same percentages of your income in taxes is equitable. Wouldn’t true equity be that each adult pays the same dollar amount?

If I’m not mistaken, the top 5% of wage earners pay over 50% of the taxes.

The arguments here are ridiculous…amazes me when intelligent people forget that returns on capital actually do effect investment. I spend a lot of time with the CEO of our company…I could care less how hard he works (though he does work harder than 99% of the population), but the guy makes multiple decisions every day that have impacts in the tens of millions of dollars. He’s worth every penny he is paid and more.

Stan

[HarryBosch]

A lot of distaste for the “rich” on this board. I can only offer one personal experience.

I was screwed out of about $120,000 to $400,000 depending on the value of the particular stock today.

I used to work for a computer appliance startup several years ago. I was one of about 50 employees. I worked for them for two years. There were times when I worked three days straight with about 3 hours sleep one night and another 3 hours sleep the second night. I worked at least 60+ hours per week to help that company be successful. One day upper management began forcing about 16 of us out of the company. I had never had a black mark on my record from anywhere I have worked during the last 30 years.

Six months later the company announced they were being bought by a big fish. I had vested 80,000 shares of common stock. But the Board of Directors of the company I used to work for voted that common shareholders such as myself and the other 15 ex-employees would get nothing, ZERO, from the buyout deal. The BofD voted that only PREFERRED shareholders such as themselves would get paid anything. I exercised my option to buy my vested shares right before I left the company.

I helped those assholes. They were already rich. They just didn’t want anyone else to move up the ladder with them. Those are the only rich people I know. Bunch of scumbags.

[HarryBosch]

A lot of distaste for the “rich” on this board. I can only offer one personal experience.

I was screwed out of about $120,000 to $400,000 depending on the value of the particular stock today.

I used to work for a computer appliance startup several years ago. I was one of about 50 employees. I worked for them for two years. There were times when I worked three days straight with about 3 hours sleep one night and another 3 hours sleep the second night. I worked at least 60+ hours per week to help that company be successful. One day upper management began forcing about 16 of us out of the company. I had never had a black mark on my record from anywhere I have worked during the last 30 years.

Six months later the company announced they were being bought by a big fish. I had vested 80,000 shares of common stock. But the Board of Directors of the company I used to work for voted that common shareholders such as myself and the other 15 ex-employees would get nothing, ZERO, from the buyout deal. The BofD voted that only PREFERRED shareholders such as themselves would get paid anything. I exercised my option to buy my vested shares right before I left the company.

I helped those assholes. They were already rich. They just didn’t want anyone else to move up the ladder with them. Those are the only rich people I know. Bunch of scumbags.

[HarryBosch]

A lot of distaste for the “rich” on this board. I can only offer one personal experience.

I was screwed out of about $120,000 to $400,000 depending on the value of the particular stock today.

I used to work for a computer appliance startup several years ago. I was one of about 50 employees. I worked for them for two years. There were times when I worked three days straight with about 3 hours sleep one night and another 3 hours sleep the second night. I worked at least 60+ hours per week to help that company be successful. One day upper management began forcing about 16 of us out of the company. I had never had a black mark on my record from anywhere I have worked during the last 30 years.

Six months later the company announced they were being bought by a big fish. I had vested 80,000 shares of common stock. But the Board of Directors of the company I used to work for voted that common shareholders such as myself and the other 15 ex-employees would get nothing, ZERO, from the buyout deal. The BofD voted that only PREFERRED shareholders such as themselves would get paid anything. I exercised my option to buy my vested shares right before I left the company.

I helped those assholes. They were already rich. They just didn’t want anyone else to move up the ladder with them. Those are the only rich people I know. Bunch of scumbags.

[HarryBosch]

A lot of distaste for the “rich” on this board. I can only offer one personal experience.

I was screwed out of about $120,000 to $400,000 depending on the value of the particular stock today.

I used to work for a computer appliance startup several years ago. I was one of about 50 employees. I worked for them for two years. There were times when I worked three days straight with about 3 hours sleep one night and another 3 hours sleep the second night. I worked at least 60+ hours per week to help that company be successful. One day upper management began forcing about 16 of us out of the company. I had never had a black mark on my record from anywhere I have worked during the last 30 years.

Six months later the company announced they were being bought by a big fish. I had vested 80,000 shares of common stock. But the Board of Directors of the company I used to work for voted that common shareholders such as myself and the other 15 ex-employees would get nothing, ZERO, from the buyout deal. The BofD voted that only PREFERRED shareholders such as themselves would get paid anything. I exercised my option to buy my vested shares right before I left the company.

I helped those assholes. They were already rich. They just didn’t want anyone else to move up the ladder with them. Those are the only rich people I know. Bunch of scumbags.

[HarryBosch]

A lot of distaste for the “rich” on this board. I can only offer one personal experience.

I was screwed out of about $120,000 to $400,000 depending on the value of the particular stock today.

I used to work for a computer appliance startup several years ago. I was one of about 50 employees. I worked for them for two years. There were times when I worked three days straight with about 3 hours sleep one night and another 3 hours sleep the second night. I worked at least 60+ hours per week to help that company be successful. One day upper management began forcing about 16 of us out of the company. I had never had a black mark on my record from anywhere I have worked during the last 30 years.

Six months later the company announced they were being bought by a big fish. I had vested 80,000 shares of common stock. But the Board of Directors of the company I used to work for voted that common shareholders such as myself and the other 15 ex-employees would get nothing, ZERO, from the buyout deal. The BofD voted that only PREFERRED shareholders such as themselves would get paid anything. I exercised my option to buy my vested shares right before I left the company.

I helped those assholes. They were already rich. They just didn’t want anyone else to move up the ladder with them. Those are the only rich people I know. Bunch of scumbags.

[gary_broker]

TheBreeze..Dude… are you on crack???
Have you ever seen a break down of how much more the affluent pay in taxes? Here are some stats you may want to review before you repeat the dem’s standard “fair share” mantra;

According to data from the IRS, the bottom 50% percent of income earners pay approximately 4% of income taxes
The top 25% of income earners pay nearly 83% of the income tax burden, and the top 10% pay 65%.
The top 1 percent of income earners pay almost 35% of all income taxes.
The top 400 richest Americans paid 1.58% of total income taxes in 2000.

Maybe you need to further define fair.. perhaps instead you should look up the definition of jealousy.. seems to fit here.

You are right about one thing though, under Obama’s plan there will be big reward for the supposed winners of the tax hike.. it is called a LAYOFF and my company will be one the first that is forced to have one.

“No doubt you would have been just as successful in Russia or China.” Hmmm I have been going to China every year for many years and I see the same thing that I see here.. hard working risk takers and job providers are rewarded for their efforts… it is a global phenomen.

[gary_broker]

TheBreeze..Dude… are you on crack???
Have you ever seen a break down of how much more the affluent pay in taxes? Here are some stats you may want to review before you repeat the dem’s standard “fair share” mantra;

According to data from the IRS, the bottom 50% percent of income earners pay approximately 4% of income taxes
The top 25% of income earners pay nearly 83% of the income tax burden, and the top 10% pay 65%.
The top 1 percent of income earners pay almost 35% of all income taxes.
The top 400 richest Americans paid 1.58% of total income taxes in 2000.

Maybe you need to further define fair.. perhaps instead you should look up the definition of jealousy.. seems to fit here.

You are right about one thing though, under Obama’s plan there will be big reward for the supposed winners of the tax hike.. it is called a LAYOFF and my company will be one the first that is forced to have one.

“No doubt you would have been just as successful in Russia or China.” Hmmm I have been going to China every year for many years and I see the same thing that I see here.. hard working risk takers and job providers are rewarded for their efforts… it is a global phenomen.

[Author]

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