As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., wrote in 1904, "taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society."
But the wealthiest Americans, who haven't raked in as much of America's income and wealth since the 1920s, are today paying a lower tax rate than they have in over 30 years. Even though America faces a mammoth federal budget deficit. Even though public services at all levels of government continue to be slashed. Even though the median wage is still dropping, adjusted for inflation. Even though the typical American is paying more of his or her earnings in taxes -- including payroll taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes -- than ever before.
I'm not a class warrior. I'm a class worrier. And my worries go to why all this has happened.
I worry about the political power that comes with great wealth -- such as the power of the wealthy to reduce their taxes, cut the public services most other Americans depend on, while at the same time garnering special subsidies and tax breaks for their businesses -- big oil, big pharma, big agriculture, military contractors, big insurance, Wall Street.
I worry about the well-financed big lies that the very rich are the nation's "job creators," that the benefits from tax cuts on the rich "trickle down" to everyone else, that American corporations will create more jobs if only their taxes are lowered and if regulations protecting health, safety, and the environment were jettisoned.
I worry about the increasing dominance of Wall Street over our economy and democracy, and the near political impossibilities of closing the "carried interest" loophole that allows private-equity and hedge-fund managers to treat their income as capital gains subject to only 15 percent tax; of resurrecting the Glass-Steagall Act separating investment from commercial banking, and of breaking up the big banks to protect against another financial crash and bailout of the Street.
You and I have every right to be class worriers -- and to be outraged at what has occurred. But we must get beyond worry and outrage, and do everything in our power to take back our economy and reclaim our democracy.
It was another justice of the Supreme Court, Louis Brandeis, who wrote in 1897, "we may have a democracy or we may have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both."
Robert Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at Berkeley and former
Secretary of Labor, is the author of "Beyond Outrage." His widely-read blog can be found at www.robertreich.org.
Follow Robert Reich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RBReich
Jared Bernstein: What's Fair? Five (or Six) Principles of Tax Fairness
Heather A. Lowe and Clark Gascoigne: Tax Dodging Jeopardizes Society at Home and Abroad
Rep. Jackie Speier: unEqual Pay Day
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins: Let's Use Taxes to Put America to Work
If he knows the answer then you know he's a shill for the 1%. If he doesn't know the answer then you know he's a shill for the 1%.;-) He really has no more credibility. Sometimes I think he's the original "Exasketch Guy"
But the wealthiest Americans, who haven't raked in as much of America's income and wealth since the 1920s, are today paying a lower tax rate than they have in over 30 years. "
And lo and behold, our society is less civilized today than it's been since at least the 1920s , if not ever. You don't even have to do the math to know the truth of Justice Holmes' words.
Then there's the federal government. This is an institution which, under force and law and threat of imprisonement, can confiscate wealth from you in a thousand different ways. Income taxes, gas taxes, and a zillion other things. And if you don't pay, you are an outlaw. We have very little say over how this money is spent. Sure, we have elections, but then the hooligans that go into office do whatever they want and "moderate" their way into whatever the media is cheering for them to do.
A lot of HPers sure didn't want us to go to Iraq and spend money on weapons. I don't like spending money on SNAP, the Department of Energy, and a host of other things. Can we, as with Apple, stop contributing to these organizations and watch them disappear? Nope!
At least with government - if people like TrollDiddy would realize where their interests lie - you can vote the guys sucking up to the corporate world out of office. Try voting out the board and CEO of these corporations that are misbehaving and financing candidates who will legalize it.
But.....everybody got their stuff cheaper. Oh, and by the way, the 1% doesn't shop at Wal-Mart, but the 1% owns Wal-Mart, its a publicly traded company. When you shop there, that is who you are enriching.
You can find websites ad infinitum that will declare the FOX News views. Liberal views are harder to find.
You have about as much conservative thought on HuffPost as there is liberal thought on FoxNews--next to none.
People on "right-wing" sites are just as convinced that the disinformation is on the "left-wing" sites.
Finding liberal or conservative views expressed on the internet is not hard.
Other than that, you are right.
The transfer of assets was never investigated by the SEC. In fact, bills passed the House and Senate calling for a Blue Ribbon investigation of Eastern based on the evidence produced of violations of the SEC, FAA and OSHA. It arrived at GHW Bushs' desk. BUSH 41 VETOED IT. (Just as he pushed for the PATCO employees to be without jobs under the pretend-President Reagan)
The airline was never investigated and Bushs' son went on to loot the entire country.
So......under Frank Lorenz0, the state of the art computer system was sold off for a fraction of it's value and then leased back to our carrier for an ungawdly amount. An Atlanta based air carrier that had already gone bankrupt had their psgr records mysteriously appear in our reservation offices in corrugated boxes and the President of that bankrupt carrier began to call and be booked for travel on our secret P3 desk using coupons he was given. The records had no ticket numbers, nothing to indicate if the reservation holder had a ticket, yet we were made to call these people and offer them free travel on Eastern "as a courtesy'. Some argued with the agents saying they didn't have tickets, but we were instructed to book them positive space (meaning it was not a standby status) that could not be sold and was in fact preventing us from selling the seat for revenue. This was also the case with travel agent tickets that would have been on a standby status too. We, the employees, were literally made to GIVE our airline away as we were stockholders and profitsharing employees. It was in our interest to have an excellent and honest product. That ended under Frank L0renz0.
The IAM, International Association of Machinists, had a contract that was in effect. The organized workers gave up pay for a profit sharing program. The union had PARITY written in for all the non-organized workers (reservationists, ticket counter agents, etc) , so that all work groups would be able to share in their productivity that was goal oriented and determined by management. It was very, very modest amounts awarded once a month. $40 if you were a top performer. In that contract it also allowed the IAM union representative of EAL to have a seat on the board and the ability to examine the carriers financial books. When fraud and unexplainable figures began to be discovered, the management closed the books, stopping the audit. (The contract had failed to stipulate the amount of time the books could be audited. Plus the President of Eastern Airlines, Frank L0renz0 was married to a family member of the Rockefeller banking dynasty and he sat on the board of a major competitor airline. The computer system was solf off at a fraction of it's value and then leased back at a cost intended to drive EAL into bankruptcy......cont.
Since deregulation, airlines have a roulette wheel of fares. Multiple fares, hundreds in many markets, that are supposedly based on travel on a particular day of the week, times, minimum stay, maximum stay, class of service, advance purchase, blackout dates, refundability, passenger type (senior, military active duty, military on leave, childs fare, person accompanying another passenger on a reward coupon, special convention/company discount fares, fares set up with the carrier by the company sending private contrtacted psgrs to Iraq, Afghanistan (Blackwater), travel agent fares, etc. The list and fares are mindboggling. Bumped psgrs from overbooked flights) And here is a kicker....those coupons for getting off the flight and take the next flight are written off at MANY times the cost of your regular ticket because the airline explains it as a ticket that allows no advance purchase and travel allowed at anytime and without a minimum or maximum stay. In other words, the airline creates revenue by forcing (or allowing) psgrs off the flight and then gets the U.S. taxpayer to pay for the free travel as it is excluding the carrier from paying tax.
It is impossible, literally impossible, for the IRS to conduct an audit of U.S. commercial psgr carriers.
U.S. banks that own these aircraft (which is peanuts) and the fluidity of the constant stream of cash is why you will NEVER see an airline investigated for fiscal reasons.
but just add this.....the air carriers ARE Wall Street and are the banks.
The technology is already available for air travel without having a pilot on board....and your tickets will not be any cheaper.....as you can see, the price of air travel will continue to rise BECAUSE IT CAN.
That's called deregulation. Lap it up.
"In the OECD, the United States also has higher-than-average effective average and effective marginal tax rates,..." http://www.aei.org/article/economics/fiscal-policy/taxes/report-card-on-effective-corporate-tax-rates/
I worry about this: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TOMOeWPuTvE/TsQR4KXKqZI/AAAAAAAABg0/S0GvdbCNRMs/s1600/cbo%2Bproj.gif
I worry that spend, spend, spend, tax, tax, tax Keynesians such as Reich never realize they are not the solution, they are the problem.
Ratio of the entire U.S. federal budget in 1957, adjusted for inflation, to the amount spent so far on the Iraq war: 1:1
Estimated amount Bush-era policies will cost the U.S. in new debt and accrued obligations: $10,350,000,000,000 (see page 31)
Percentage change in U.S. discretionary spending during Bush’s presidency: +31
Percentage change during Reagan’s and Clinton’s, respectively: +16, +0.3
End capitalism and the process of concentrating of wealth stops.
Let the capitalists go to China and work their magic there.
You can go to Europe
Now folks like RR scream about austerity if anything is cut from the $3.8 trillion dollar budget.
That took Bush to get started and Obama to continue.
What a tag team.
Clinton's contribution to the mess was his dealings with the banks.