Nazzo fast.
What is outdated in Friedman's analysis is that the middle class is no longer the beneficiary of government programs. This in fact is the root cause of the Tea Party/Donald Trump phenomena. As the payoff goes to hold together the Democratic Party's coalition of large business cronies and client voting blocs, the payout will have to increase and the taxes received from the "rich" will have to be less.
And so the economic situation is really much more hopeless than Friedman says. And the political situation is much worse, as the discontent that is driving the Trumpening is a symptom of this dynamic which oppresses the middle class. That will get worse. If the establishment doesn't like Trump, just wait until Hillary dials this all up to 11.
Excellent point!
ReplyDeleteWhen Hillary talks about taxing the "Rich" she is NOT talking about the top 3 or 4%. They have the ability to configure their taxable income to minimize the taxes paid. Have you ever seen their returns? I Have. Hundreds of pages of interlocking trusts, partnerships, S corps and foundations. By the time a good team of accountants and tax attorneys are done, you have no idea how it all fits together, or who paid what to whom. but one thing is clear. not much tax gets paid. ( which is why Trump is in no hurry to release his returns..... you couldn't follow the $ even if you could wade through the 1,000 page return. )
ReplyDeleteNo. She means the top 5 to 20% of tax earners. Basically, anyone with a combined adjusted gross income of more than ~ $ 85,000 . we are the ones who paid about 75% of ALL the Taxes Collected last year. That's where all the tax $ are.
so........ YES!!!! Tax the RICH........
Just a minute ...who are they????
........ Got a mirror???
Ted is correct. People who make from about $60K to about $300K have enough to pay taxes, but not enough to hire expensive lawyers and accountants. That is where your tax base is. The coalition that he refers to is the one that the Democrats have formed:
ReplyDeleteHillary's support mostly comes from two places:
1: Blacks, who are voting for her at about an 80% rate. This is largely due to the fact that 75% of all blacks are on welfare, and they are voting to continue the gravy train.
2: People who have graduated college with a 4 year degree, but who earn a household income less than $50K are a strong source of support for Clinton. This largely includes people with liberal arts and other worthless degrees, IMO. Educated idiots who are professional voters. These people are the ones angry because they have $100K or more in student loan debt, but are waiting tables and flipping burgers because their degree is worthless.
The base has formed a coalition that has been organized by dollars flowing from foreign powers and from opportunistic billionaires like Bloomberg and Soros.