If I had enough money I could avoid having to deal with everything that makes me unhappy. But like anything else, the law of diminishing returns applies. That’s why the super-super-rich being so strongly against tax hikes is so stupid: is your life really going to be altered by having 12 billion dollars vs. 11?
THE ONE PERCENT?!?!
Give them some tax breaks for hiring. Give them incentives for innovating and investing in new technology.
New technology is a double-edged sword though. At least in the corporate world, the main interest I’ve seen from companies in new technology is how it can replace workers and reduce headcount.
QFT. It seems like they are there for drum circles and bong hits. Its a shame that this is going to be wasted when nothing changes. Damn hippies ruining it.
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Also QFT.
rcxd inbound?
shits cray
Those that have money worry about how to keep it or maximize it. Those that have no money focus on how they wish they had money. Americans are obsessed with keeping score and we keep score with money. Nobody wants to have the smallest TV or shittest car on their block. Everyone is so worried about appearance and net worth over a more true merit of moral character. People will sell their soul to the devil for a lil cash and a 50’ plasma. People go to great lengths (and debt) to pretend to be wealthy.
That’s my biggest issue with America…the way we pretend to be wealthy yet every man, woman and child is bound to $50k of national debt. People love when the stock market rises and want to die when it crashes. The nest eggs of the country are tied up in perceived value items like stocks, bonds and mutual funds. As those go…so goes the prosperity and retirement of the nation. We have people that actually believe they earned a lifetime of health care and pension payout…and that the system is reasonable. We are simply cogs in the fucking wheel of “capitalism” as they claim it to be.
That top 1% also PAYS 40% of the TOTAL income tax in the US.
To put that in perspective. You and 99 of your buddies go out to lunch and eat $20 worth of food each.
$2000 bill comes
1 guy pays $800
The other 99 pay $12.12 each.
Then the 99 go outside and when they notice their one buddy who paid $800 drives a really nice car they protest that he didn’t chip in enough.
I think we should ship all of these occupiers off to China to teach them to unionize. That would bring about the results they desire a lot faster than standing around bitching about everyone and everything but not actually producing anything.
Don’t get me wrong. I fully recognize that the shrinking of the middle class and the polarizing of wealth is getting to be a big ugly problem in this country, but I just can’t imagine personally sitting around protesting the general conditions of things when I don’t have a job and can’t pay my bills.
I also fully support their right to assemble and protest and don’t think anything should be done to stop them, even though I think they’re all goons.
It’s not fair to look at just the amount of taxes payed. Look at TRUE income and you’ll paint a very different picture.
Buffett actually made $63 million and paid to you and I a SHITLOAD of taxes in dollar terms at $7 million. What’s the issue then? That $7 million was based on about $40 million as his other income was at a lower rate or sheltered income. That’s a $20+ million dollar disparity in taxable income. That’s HUGE and he’s far from the only one benefiting that way. He’s the only one speaking out on the issue and in the past I was critical of him but think I’m warming up to some of his commentary.
What happened to good ol’ tear gas? That will get rid of them in a hurry.
When the protest first started and it was about big bank bailouts and the CEO’s of those banks still getting their million dollar bonuses I was all for this cause. IMHO one of the stipulations to accepting bailout money should have been that your CEO and board of directors all be replaced and until the bailout money was paid back in full bonuses for top execs were canceled.
But now the protests are 95% bullshit and 5% about the original cause.
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No, it’s perfectly fair to look at how much X paid versus how much Y paid because that’s the bottom line. When you get your cable bill it doesn’t really matter that phone was X, internet was Y and TV was Z. All that you really care about is the big number at the bottom. For that 40% it doesn’t matter what percentage of income it was, or how much income was sheltered. Bottom line, 1% pay a 40% of the TOTAL, and 99% (or at least the small part of the 99% that make up these protestors) think that’s not enough.
We ship these ‘occupiers’ out all the time. Not everyone in this movement is as many people in this thread has labeled them…
^ Unfortunately for every 1 of them, how many more are useless? Probably 99, making their 99% thing kind of ironic.
Now you’re just making assumptions…(just like Rush did) you don’t know the background of everyone out there.
A bit much dont you think?
I’m sure that between the 3 of you one of you will end up as poorly off as those in the link. Heck, i am doing very well for myself but like each of you i’m still one catastrophe away from poverty for me and my family. Some of the people in those links have legit concerns. some less so. But overall, probably not worth laughing at.
On one hand people suggest joining the military, on the other hand (no pun intended) one of the links in that link is of a man who was injured in the military and his vetern’s benefits combined wtih that injury will keep him in poverty for the rest of his life.
I agree with the criticism that the protests lack focus and are attracting questionable allies (unions) but the fact remains that change does need to occur.
I like the girl holding the sign ‘so it begins’.
This just needs to grow a hundred fold a couple times, get too big to manage with cops and then get violent.
Tradersbase, DJdstar, and Joe - I’m with you. I just don’t have the drive to put a lot of effort into posts like these anymore.
By the way, that picture of the WWII vet is really, really, powerful. Something is to be said for someone who can barely walk, but believes so much in the cause that they’re willing to march with everyone else.
EDIT:
I’m posting this article again just in case all the people in here who are against these protests didn’t see it:
