If I hear this one more time....

I am getting tired of hearing "The wealthy already pay too much in taxes - most people pay nothing at all....."

Okay, the wealthy do pay most of the FEDERAL income taxes in this country.  Never mind that when it comes to disposable income, most people who consider themselves middle class pay more taxes that the wealthy, when you throw in sales, payroll, state, property and other misc taxes.

But forget about that.  How do we get the tax burden off of the wealthy and back on the middle class where the numbers are much larger?  Well, let's say that there are 140 million tax payers (returns) in 2008.  The top 1 percent equal about 1.4 million of this.  That leaves 138.6 million others.  Now let's assume the top 1% pay $392.1 billion in income tax paid in 2008.  If you were to take 50 million of the others and they had to just equal the $392.1 billion, that would mean they would have to pay $7840 in taxes.   In going back to the 2010 tax tables, that means an adjusted income of $45,000.  Now assuming normal deductions, that would be about $55,000 in income for an individual.  That is about $26. per hour.  So if you want the wealthy to stop paying to much, all you have to do is create 50 million jobs that pay over $26. per hour.  More that three and a half times the minimum wage. 

Got any ideas???

ChrisZ

The Basis of the Economy

Some people question why I feel there should be higher taxes on the wealthy, even if temporarily.

Well try to follow this:

For years we have been an ultra-consumer society.  We bought beyond our means.  Some of this was greed, some of this was advertising.  Some of it was trying to keep up with the Joneses.  Some was pushed on us (remember one way were supposed to react after 9/11 was to go out and keep buying things like nothing had happened...) and some we brought upon ourselves (I deserve a new car). 

So we kept spending.  We ran up credit card debt, home equity debt, we even borrowed from our 401K to make ends meet.  Yes the economy did well - but it was all based on a bill that had to come due soon.  So, the companies had their money - right from the bank - but where did the bank get it?  From the IOUs that we gave them.  When the day of judgment came and we decided we didn't want to spend anymore, the house of cards came down.  When we decided to keep that car one more year and not buy a new one, auto sales dropped.  When we decided the house we were in was big enough, new home sales stopped.  When we decided to stay home rather than go out to eat, restaurant sales slowed.  In each business, less sales equaled less workers needed.  Less workers means less people with money and less sales.  And the spiral begins.

Now when does it stop?  When all the debt accumulated gets paid down, written off,  or blown away.  When people, not businesses, feel comfortable in spending money again and then instead of a downward spiral, you have a climbing flight.

Now how can the wealthy help?  Well the reason they have the money is that we traded it for debt.  Now depending on who you feel is right or wrong will determine your solution to the problem.  But anyway you look at it, if money does not move from the wealthy to the debtors, the economy will not grow.  How and  why is not for this post.  But somehow we have to figure out how to do it.

ChrisZ

Solyndra - Putting the Puzzle together

I am still trying to put together the pieces of this puzzle together but here is what people want me to believe:

The President - in an attempt to reward one of his campaign donors, forces the DOE to loan 500 million taxpayer dollars to a company that they know will go bankrupt, thus costing the government (taxpayers) and the investors (campaign donor) millions of dollars of losses.  This will discredit the Solar Energy Industry, and at the same time end up giving tax credits to the (campaign donor) who's fortune derives from the oil industry.

How Machiavellian!  And you claim that the President is a Socialist Liberal, when this proves in fact that he is a capitalistic stooge!  Wow!

Here are some things to watch for:

"Under terms of the February loan restructuring, two private investors - Madrone Partners LP and Kaiser's Argonaut Ventures I LLC - stand to be repaid before the U.S. government if the solar company is liquidated.

The two firms gave Solyndra a total of $69 million in emergency loans. The loans are the only portion of their investments that have repayment priority above the U.S. government.

Argonaut is an investment vehicle of the Tulsa-based George Kaiser Family Foundation. Through Argonaut, the foundation holds a 39 percent stake in Solyndra.

George Kaiser, chairman of BOK Financial Corp., raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for Obama's 2008 campaign, federal election records show. Kaiser has made at least 16 visits to the president's aides since 2009, according to White House visitor logs.

Madrone Partners is affiliated with the Walton family, descendants of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. Rob Walton, the eldest son of Sam Walton, contributed $2,500 last year to the National Republican Congressional Committee."


http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=592&articleid=20110917_49_E1_WASHIN711341


So $69 million is ahead of the $535 million of taxpayers money.  Should no be a problem with a company that might be worth a at least $500 million - right?  Not if the first companies buy the full assets under a fire sale which might happen.  This needs to be followed - not to find any scandal, but rather to see how money makes money and tries to make a silk purse out of a sows ear....

There will be incompetence and criminality if you look for it.  It will not rise to the level of an Enron or TRW (if it does it shows that businessmen are the most ego oriented people [It can't happen to me!]  and that we need more regulation not less.)

So keep watching and take it all in but don't expect it to prove anything - on either side.

ChrisZ