Thereâs been an affluenza outbreak in the U.S.
And yet my âwealthyâ relatives blame everything on this guy they once saw using food stamps while wearing name brand high tops.
It appears that the trend began in the mid nineties and has moved steadily in the top 400âs favor ever since, through the second Clinton term, Bush, and Obama.
At this point, they have natural selection on their side. Anybody with a conscience simply canât get rich. Iâm wondering why nobody has sent assassins for Sanders and Warren yet. Most likely they canât do any real damage, and the rightâs hatred of them is a show.
âThereâs a secret, separate US tax system that rich people use to save billionsâ
Itâs not a âsecretâ, it has been going on for many decades, as well no end in sight for US Corp. Welfare & M/Billionaire Welfare.
Reminds me of this passage from Vonnegutâs âGod Bless You Mr. Rosewaterâ
The Money River ⌠We can slurp ⌠to our heartsâ content. And we even take slurping lessons⌠From lawyers! From tax consultants!
âItâs still possible for an American to make a fortune on his own.â
Sureâprovided somebody tells him when heâs young enough that there is a Money River, that thereâs nothing fair about it, that he had damn well better forget about hard work and the merit system and honesty and all that crap, and get to where the river is
I left my home at fifteen
I wore this very same coat
My mama said,
âSon, if you stay on the path,
Youâll find a river full of money
Where the rich fish float.â
I said, âIâll catch me them fish,â
And I searched low and searched high
Well, Iâve seen more water than Columbus had seen.
I found me this lake that was greener than green.
I said âMama, I know this is what you mean,â
But when I bent for a sip, the river ran dry
No, the river wonât flow for me,
No, no, no.
The river wonât flow for me,
No, no, no, no.
I live my life on the up and up,
And this is where I was meant to be
But the river donât
The river wonât
Flow for me.
maybe we read different posts?
Its also not separate. They are using the same tax system as other people, just spending a gob of money on lawyers and financial manipulations to avoid or evade paying a larger gob of money in taxes. Edit: OK this is nearly useless symantics.
Note also that a lot of it boils down to turning all income into long term capital gains deferred as long as desired (including until inheritance eliminates the capital gains tax and resets the cost basis).
Note also the article doesnât seem to be to be a âdoesnât matter who you vote forâ article. It is pretty clear that the republicans are overwhelmingly strongly supportive of the policies that make this possible, and regularly expand them while the democrats halfheartedly go in the opposite direction.
It is an âmany rich people aggressively dodge taxes, regardless of politicsâ article, however. But really, almost everyone behaves that way. You play the game by the rules that are written, but you donât necessarily have to agree that those rules are ideal. I have my strongly encouraged half dozen separate investment and tax sheltered accounts because the tax system pays me to do so, even though I am annoyed by the complexity and think the whole mess is bad policy and we would be better off without any of these accounts.
I dunno, they donât need that, because Iâm sure no one expects them to be able to forge real changes anyway.
Flat tax time.
The corporatists canât kill Bernie Sanders because theyâll create a powerful martyr. The blowback would be incredible.
However, if you think their hatred of Sanders is âjust a showâ then you havenât been paying close enough attention to all the rampant, desperate corporatist actions they are very actively taking against his campaign.
Also keep in mind when people in power fear someone, they do their best to dampen their ideas.
Thatâs why the DNC is blatantly rigging the debate schedules to hide Bernie as much as possible. Thatâs why the corporate media will continue to only cover Bernie Sanders as little as possible.
They fear the living hell out of a grassroots administration thatâs for the people and by the people.
They very much fear Bernie Sanders.
Bitcoin transactions are a game changer.
Which will, of course, be a regressive tax. Because the rich can eat the cost of paying a portion of their income (which will no doubt be income on wages, not on other kinds of wealth, because taxing capital gains is âunAmericanâ) while the poor can not do so.
How so? It seems like only well-off rich dudes have bitcoin.
Plastics.
I will vouch for this. I have built a company that grows more than 30% per year, and yet my family is losing ground. Between Federal taxes, States taxes, Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security, and the ACA, our earnings are taxed at a rate higher than 50%. Itâs socialist-level taxation, but split up into small pieces so that we god-fearing commie-hating Americans have plausible deniability. Also, most countries with taxation like this have very good infrastructure, free high-quality education and high quality of life. Not so in this kleptocracy.
You might say that the ACA isnât a tax, but I would counter that itâs part of the tax code. Youâd be right though, in the sense that normally taxes pay for services. Not the ACA, though. With the ACA, my family will pay $10,200 for health insurance in 2016. If one of us gets sick, weâll get to pay for that out of pocket until our $6500 deductible is met, then our insurance will pay possibly as much as 70% of the claims they donât arbitrarily reject. If weâre in network.
This fucking place.
You didnât mention the size of your family, but it sounds as if youâre paying full price, which doesnât happen until family income breaks $95,000.
You may be shocked to learn there are others in even worse financial straits.
