CelticNorth
Joined: 22 Sep 2005 Posts: 755 Location: East of Eden
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 11:40 am Post subject: |
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Those are good points, Friend James. The Atlantic, September 2011 issue tore into these issues in a article, " Can the Middle Class Be Saved" ?
Few people today can remember when, in 1960, the top income tax rate was 91%; in 1980, 70%; in 1986, 50%; in 2000, 39.9%; and currently at 35%- except for investiment income, which is taxed at 15%. I percieve this ineqaulity much like a run away freight train, resulting in the current estimate of 43 cents of every tax dollar paid being needed to reduce a 16 Trillion dollar deficit. There will centainly be no lack of dung and other baryard fodder for Presidential candidates to sift through as they explain their own positions on the the federal deficit and taxation, but we should all remember and be mindful that the top 1% EARNED as much as the bottom 60% in the economy, and who POSSES as much household weath at the bottom 90%. The authors of the Atlantic article coined a term, "plutonomy", to describe this phenonenom of concentrated weatlh accumulation. I think we can all agree it is deliberate, systematic and negates a commonly held belief in meritocracy as a economic reward model for wealth accumulation by individuals. There are some very sobering discernments that the electorate will have to confront in this uncoming election. |
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