The rich have been getting richer and the poor and middle have been getting poorer in the U.S. recently. Here are seven examples that show how the US is going through Robin Hood in Reverse.
Between 1948 and 1979, the richest 10 percent of families in the US claimed 33 percent of average income growth. Between 2000 and 2007, the richest 10 percent claimed a full 100 percent of average income growth in the U.S., according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Business taxes were cut from 46 to 34 percent 25 years ago, according to ProPublica. But today 115 of the big 500 companies listed on Standard and Poor's Stock Index paid federal and other taxes of less than 20 percent over the last 5 years according to David Leonhardt of the New York Times.
General Electric's tax rate for last year was 7 percent, according to ProPublica.
The top 5 percent U.S. households claim 63 percent of the entire country's wealth. The bottom 80 percent hold just 13% of the growth, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Last year, John Paulson, a hedge fund manager "earned" $4.9 billion, according to the New York Times. Ten years ago it took 25 such managers to collectively earn that much. Last year the top 25 hedge fund managers pocketed (a much better word) a total of $22 billion. It would take over 440,000 people each earning $50,000 a year to match that amount.
A federal development program intended to help poor communities, the New Market Tax Credit, instead funnels up to ten billion taxpayer dollars to big corporations like JPMorgan Chase & Co, Goldman Sachs and Prudential to build luxury hotels, office buildings and a car museum. Bloomberg Markets Magazine pointed to the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago which was renovated for $116 million. Prudential got $15.6 million in tax credit from the US Treasury for helping fund the project because the hotel was in a census zone that included two colleges which housed a lot of lower income students.
According to the Financial Times, there are now more people living in poverty in the US than at any time in the last 50 years. Foreclosure filings were nearly 4 million in 2010, up 23 percent since 2008 according to RealtyTrac.
"In 2010, a family with poverty level wages ($14,570) and two children under age 17 can increase its income by more than 50 percent with tax credits. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is worth $5,036, a Child Tax Credit (CTC) totals $2,000, and a Making Work Pay (MWP) credit provides an income boost of $400 for a single parent or $800 for a married couple with at least one worker."
"In cases where a family does not owe income taxes, refundable credits are received as a tax refund. If the CTC reverts back to being largely nonrefundable, few low-income families will benefit from it since they do not have positive taxes that the credits can offset."
Wait a minute, if the tea partiers and the neocons all get their way, WE WILL ALL BE POOR BEFORE YOU KNOW IT!
Any comparison between a democratically-elected government that VOTES upon what its taxes will be....and an authoritarian, hereditary ruling aristocracy that simply IMPOSED taxes upon a populace that had no recourse and no rights whatsoever....
....is an absurd argument.
Our government is rich honey, they are also greedy with no end in sight for their appetite for even more money.
Your're right, we do have recourse. It's called "The Tea Party"
The IRS has records of our income, but not our expenses. It has records of our realized gains and losses, but not our unrealized ones. Reporters and agencies do not know whether we lose $10K on new cars every year, or are still driving the used one that cost $8K 15 years ago.
It appears to me that the loss of pensions means that people need to be somewhat rich to afford retirement. We see a lot of declarations about the state of affairs. Government may know the values of 401K's and IRA's, but reporters cannot invade privacy and make declarations about individuals, not even in aggregate. I can imagine that a bank might be required to reveal data to the IRS, but how would they know about after-tax savings at a brokerage, or collectible ownership, for instance? I see assumptions about retirement preparedness based on aggregate 401k figures, but paying taxes as you earn instead of delaying is a legitimate hedging and saving tactic, so who knows, really, how many are rich?
extend bush tax cuts
outlaw collective bargaining
also called: sheriff of nottingham
Whoa! $35 per day for each American is $12,000 per year for everybody.
The average household has 2.3 people so that $35 per day amounts to $29K per household.
30% of households make less than $29K so spreading those 500 CEO salaries would DOUBLE the annual income of about one hundred million people!
That's a BIG DEAL.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts.
Sorry!
Nice work.
You just beat one of the oldest propaganda tricks in the book: chop the data into such small pieces, that the Big Picture falls apart....and the propogandist then uses it to say whatever he wants it to say....
...figuring that no one would do what you just did. Put the pieces back together again, and put them back into context.
Twelve thousand dollars, annualized is NOT a big deal for someone earning millions or billions of dollars per year.
But to someone who is middle-class, that money can mean the difference between a child being able to afford to go to college....
....or not.
Be able to afford a home...
...or not.
Being able to live in a neighborhood with good schools....
...or not.
That money IS a big deal, and it is why life is getting harder and harder for most people, as more and more of our wealth is allowed to concentrate in the hands of fewer and fewer people.
oh, yes, they have!
I'm reading over the CBO's 29-page letter to Rep. Paul Ryan. In that document...
...convert the current Medicare program to a system under which beneficiaries received premium support payments
...People who turn 65 in 2022 or later years and Disability Insurance beneficiaries who become eligible for Medicare in 2022 or later would not enroll in the current Medicare program
...Beneficiaries of the premium support payments would choose among competing private insurance plans
...The premium support payments would vary with the health status of the beneficiary.
...The payment for 65-year-olds in 2022 is specified to be $8,000, on average, which is approximately ... blah blah blah.
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/121xx/doc12128/04-05-Ryan_Letter.pdf
I think I'm going to be sick. It's all very clear to me now. We are being shafted. Those of us who have been paying into Social Security and Medicare for decades, they just keep moving the carrot. The banks already wiped out the middle class investments that would have allowed us to be financially independent (with our taxpayer dollars - you're welcome, banks!), then the government turns around and says "and don't come looking to us for handouts, either!" While all the fat cats stroll away to play bocce ball or go yachting or whatever the idle rich do to while away the hours.
http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/ryans_budget_would_undermine_economic_security_for_millions
Ryan's budget would undermine economic security for millions
"...This plan puts money directly into the pockets of insurance companies, which are much less efficient than Medicare. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has noted on a few occasions that spending for beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage plans—the program on which Ryan’s proposal is modeled—is higher than spending for beneficiaries in traditional Medicare plans. In a June 2007 report, CBO noted that “Medicare’s payments for beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans are higher, on average, than what the program would spend if those beneficiaries were in the FFS [fee-for-service] sector—so shifts in enrollment out of the FFS program and into private plans increase net Medicare spending.”2 In a letter in August 2007, CBO also noted that “the federal government spends about 12% more on beneficiaries in [Medicare Advantage] plans than it does on beneficiaries in FFS.”3 Ryan’s plan prioritizes sending funding directly to insurance companies over pursuing efficiency in Medicare..."
We really need to be talking about what people and companies really PAY in taxes, just not what the tax rates are. Note this link outlining the difference in the marginal tax rates for the 400 richest Americans, the long term capital gains rate, and what tax rate they actually paid -- the 16.5% effective tax rate the wealthy pay is really pretty close to most of ours -- or even lower. That's how you accumulate wealth, and until the wealthy understand that this is wrong, we will never fixer deficit problem.
We will not get ourselves out of this problem until we realize that everyone who enjoys the fruit of our country has to pay their fair share -- that includes individuals like corporations and the very wealthy. If corporations have the right to donate all they want to election campaigns, they should pay their fair share of the tab. Right now , they aren't.