More Fake News from the AP

[Edgetho]

Here's more fake news!

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The gap between the super-rich and the poorest half of the global population is starker than previously thought, with just eight men, from Bill Gates to Michael Bloomberg, owning as much wealth as 3.6 billion people, according to an analysis by Oxfam released Monday.

Presenting its findings on the dawn of the annual gathering of the global political and business elites in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, anti-poverty organization Oxfam says the gap between the very rich and poor is far greater than just a year ago. It's urging leaders to do more than pay lip-service to the problem.

That is a lie.

I've shown it to be a lie on several occasions.....

Mostly, it's in the way they measure 'Net Worth' or Net Wealth.

They don't include Primary residence or pensions. Most Americans and many others, have their 'wealth' tied up in Private Property, which isn't included in the lame-brain's estimates.

So, Johnny B Goode, has a house worth $300k and around $20k in the Bank with a Pension coming in -- He's actually considered poor.

His pension might be $7 or $8k a Month, but he's considered to be poor.

But if he sells his house and rents an apartment, he's all of the sudden considered rich because he's got cash in the bank.

Those stories are just so much pablum for the gullible -- IOW, dimocraps

Many are your Bold Assertions, Citizen....

But I'm curious......where did you spend all this time studying the Dismal Science?

It's called common sense. You wouldn't get it

 

[Edgetho]

News from The Associated Press

"We have a situation where billionaires are paying less tax often than their cleaner or their secretary," Lawson told The Associated Press. "That's crazy."

No bed wetter, that's BULLSHIT.

Let's just for the sake of argument say that billionaires really don't pay taxes. Not a fuckin penny.

You still have to ignore all the taxes that come in to any doing any sort of transaction, from the lowly consumer all they way up to the income taxes generated by the CEO's and lawyers and tens of thousands of mother fuckers who work for them.

Billionaires didn't just steal a billion dollars and run off to some secluded island to sit on a pile of money like a fucking dragon in a fairy tale. These assholes generate more revenue when they take a shit than the "reporter" of this bullshit article will pay in taxes.

That doesn't mean they can tell us how to live our lives and scam us on global warming hoaxes.

Here's more fake news!

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The gap between the super-rich and the poorest half of the global population is starker than previously thought, with just eight men, from Bill Gates to Michael Bloomberg, owning as much wealth as 3.6 billion people, according to an analysis by Oxfam released Monday.

Presenting its findings on the dawn of the annual gathering of the global political and business elites in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, anti-poverty organization Oxfam says the gap between the very rich and poor is far greater than just a year ago. It's urging leaders to do more than pay lip-service to the problem.

That's great and there's two starkly different takes on the "with just eight men, from Bill Gates to Michael Bloomberg, owning as much wealth as 3.6 billion people" ...

The pro free-market capitalist take on it: "Hey what are those 8 guys doing that I'm not? Perhaps if I emulated them I'd get wealthier too"
The left wing gub'mint worshiper take on it: "Hey those 8 guys got more stuff than me, how do I get the government to steal their shit and pass it my way? "

"Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal wlth one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?" -- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

Ayn Rand?

Is she the nympho who spent a lifetime pissing and moaning about handouts........only to spend the twilight of her life TAKING those handouts?

What post-adolescent pays any attention to her?

I count well over a hundred. Every last one of them more successful than you --

List of people influenced by Ayn Rand - Wikipedia

Novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand (1905–1982) has had a significant influence on a variety of people, including writers, artists and political figures.[1] Individuals included in this list meet at least one of the following criteria:

• they have identified at some point in their lives as followers of Rand's philosophy of Objectivism; or
• they have been involved with self-identified Objectivist organizations, such as the Nathaniel Branden Institute, the Ayn Rand Institute, or The Atlas Society; or
• they have described Rand or her works as an important influence on their lives.

Individuals who do not meet those criteria, but have mentioned being a "fan" or enjoying Rand's works, are not included.

 

[NightFox]

Ayn Rand?

Is she the nympho who spent a lifetime pissing and moaning about handouts........only to spend the twilight of her life TAKING those handouts?

That's the ticket, when confronted with a quote whose content you cannot rebut with reason and evidence resort to personally attacking the author of said quote, after all, it's what any 4 year old would do.

What post-adolescent pays any attention to her?

Apparently those that actually bothered to read her work and haven't lost their ability for critical thinking, in other words people whose nature, methods and purposes would be completely alien to an individual such as yourself.

 

[jc456]

So, because Walmart relies on the state and federal government to subsidize the cost of their labor, people who qualify for means tested support programs should do without?

If you're an adult and the best you can do for yourself is working at Walmart for $8.00 an hour you need to do some serious inner reflection as to where you went wrong in life.

agree. It's a choice and to choose an easy job at 8.00 an hour vs getting a job that pays more seems lazy to me. I really have a hard time feeling sorry for someone knowingly working at a rate they know can't feed their family without looking for a higher payer job.

 

[jc456]

Here's more fake news!

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The gap between the super-rich and the poorest half of the global population is starker than previously thought, with just eight men, from Bill Gates to Michael Bloomberg, owning as much wealth as 3.6 billion people, according to an analysis by Oxfam released Monday.

Presenting its findings on the dawn of the annual gathering of the global political and business elites in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, anti-poverty organization Oxfam says the gap between the very rich and poor is far greater than just a year ago. It's urging leaders to do more than pay lip-service to the problem.

That is a lie.

I've shown it to be a lie on several occasions.....

Mostly, it's in the way they measure 'Net Worth' or Net Wealth.

They don't include Primary residence or pensions. Most Americans and many others, have their 'wealth' tied up in Private Property, which isn't included in the lame-brain's estimates.

So, Johnny B Goode, has a house worth $300k and around $20k in the Bank with a Pension coming in -- He's actually considered poor.

His pension might be $7 or $8k a Month, but he's considered to be poor. Pensions aren't counted and his net worth is technically, $20k....... Not a lot

But if he sells his house and rents an apartment, he's all of the sudden considered rich because he's got cash in the bank.

Those stories are just so much pablum for the gullible -- IOW, dimocraps

dude, most everyone with a 300k home is paying down a mortgage, the cash value isn't 300k. what a goof.

 

[Edgetho]

dude, most everyone with a 300k home is paying down a mortgage, the cash value isn't 300k. what a goof.

Maybe everyone you know, but I live in Florida. A lot of retired people down here that own their homes outright.

I got 4 years and 2 Months to go on mine.

 

[Pete7469]

Because you're walking caricatures who repeat not just each other but yourselves with such redundancy as I pointed out.


Whereas memes are a symbol of contemplation bordering on solipsism?

You've NEVER been paid to think, have you, Pete.....

No, memes are a quick and effective way to ridicule your bullshit.

We know you haven't been paid to think because you'd personally have a larger debt than the government.

 

[jc456]

dude, most everyone with a 300k home is paying down a mortgage, the cash value isn't 300k. what a goof.

Maybe everyone you know, but I live in Florida. A lot of retired people down here that own their homes outright.

I got 4 years and 2 Months to go on mine.

Well me being me, I'll go with the majority of folks with 300K homes, don't own them, they are paying down on a mortgage. Just saying, the lending business is doing quite well right?

 

[Pete7469]

Here's more fake news!

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The gap between the super-rich and the poorest half of the global population is starker than previously thought, with just eight men, from Bill Gates to Michael Bloomberg, owning as much wealth as 3.6 billion people, according to an analysis by Oxfam released Monday.

Presenting its findings on the dawn of the annual gathering of the global political and business elites in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, anti-poverty organization Oxfam says the gap between the very rich and poor is far greater than just a year ago. It's urging leaders to do more than pay lip-service to the problem.

The reason why billionaires buy democrook political whores is so that they'll never have to do more than pay lip service. They know that no matter what there will always be poor people. So they have to own the people who keep them in line.

 

[IcebergSlim]

Here's more fake news!

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The gap between the super-rich and the poorest half of the global population is starker than previously thought, with just eight men, from Bill Gates to Michael Bloomberg, owning as much wealth as 3.6 billion people, according to an analysis by Oxfam released Monday.

Presenting its findings on the dawn of the annual gathering of the global political and business elites in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, anti-poverty organization Oxfam says the gap between the very rich and poor is far greater than just a year ago. It's urging leaders to do more than pay lip-service to the problem.

That is a lie.

I've shown it to be a lie on several occasions.....

Mostly, it's in the way they measure 'Net Worth' or Net Wealth.

They don't include Primary residence or pensions. Most Americans and many others, have their 'wealth' tied up in Private Property, which isn't included in the lame-brain's estimates.

So, Johnny B Goode, has a house worth $300k and around $20k in the Bank with a Pension coming in -- He's actually considered poor.

His pension might be $7 or $8k a Month, but he's considered to be poor.

But if he sells his house and rents an apartment, he's all of the sudden considered rich because he's got cash in the bank.

Those stories are just so much pablum for the gullible -- IOW, dimocraps

Many are your Bold Assertions, Citizen....

But I'm curious......where did you spend all this time studying the Dismal Science?

It's called common sense. You wouldn't get it

I take that as a "No, Slim......why would I need to have studied economics in order to expound on the topic? My uninformed opinion has JUST as much right to be entertained as that of anyone actually versed in the subject. My self esteem depends on it, dammit!"

They don't include Primary residence or pensions.

Show me.....Oxfam uses CreditSuisse data for wealth.....CS UNAMBIGUOUSLY includes residence...

I think I know where you've gone so terribly wrong.....are you confusing this with net worth requirements for accredited investors - which SPECIFICALLY excludes primary residence?

 

[IcebergSlim]

News from The Associated Press

"We have a situation where billionaires are paying less tax often than their cleaner or their secretary," Lawson told The Associated Press. "That's crazy."

No bed wetter, that's BULLSHIT.

Let's just for the sake of argument say that billionaires really don't pay taxes. Not a fuckin penny.

You still have to ignore all the taxes that come in to any doing any sort of transaction, from the lowly consumer all they way up to the income taxes generated by the CEO's and lawyers and tens of thousands of mother fuckers who work for them.

Billionaires didn't just steal a billion dollars and run off to some secluded island to sit on a pile of money like a fucking dragon in a fairy tale. These assholes generate more revenue when they take a shit than the "reporter" of this bullshit article will pay in taxes.

That doesn't mean they can tell us how to live our lives and scam us on global warming hoaxes.

Here's more fake news!

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The gap between the super-rich and the poorest half of the global population is starker than previously thought, with just eight men, from Bill Gates to Michael Bloomberg, owning as much wealth as 3.6 billion people, according to an analysis by Oxfam released Monday.

Presenting its findings on the dawn of the annual gathering of the global political and business elites in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, anti-poverty organization Oxfam says the gap between the very rich and poor is far greater than just a year ago. It's urging leaders to do more than pay lip-service to the problem.

That's great and there's two starkly different takes on the "with just eight men, from Bill Gates to Michael Bloomberg, owning as much wealth as 3.6 billion people" ...

The pro free-market capitalist take on it: "Hey what are those 8 guys doing that I'm not? Perhaps if I emulated them I'd get wealthier too"
The left wing gub'mint worshiper take on it: "Hey those 8 guys got more stuff than me, how do I get the government to steal their shit and pass it my way? "

"Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal wlth one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?" -- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

Ayn Rand?

Is she the nympho who spent a lifetime pissing and moaning about handouts........only to spend the twilight of her life TAKING those handouts?

What post-adolescent pays any attention to her?

I count well over a hundred. Every last one of them more successful than you --

List of people influenced by Ayn Rand - Wikipedia

Novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand (1905–1982) has had a significant influence on a variety of people, including writers, artists and political figures.[1] Individuals included in this list meet at least one of the following criteria:

• they have identified at some point in their lives as followers of Rand's philosophy of Objectivism; or
• they have been involved with self-identified Objectivist organizations, such as the Nathaniel Branden Institute, the Ayn Rand Institute, or The Atlas Society; or
• they have described Rand or her works as an important influence on their lives.

Individuals who do not meet those criteria, but have mentioned being a "fan" or enjoying Rand's works, are not included.

Sure......given that I could do the same for

L. Ron Hubbard

and

Iceberg Slim

does that make Scientology something OTHER than the province of imbeciles?

 

[IcebergSlim]

Ayn Rand?

Is she the nympho who spent a lifetime pissing and moaning about handouts........only to spend the twilight of her life TAKING those handouts?

That's the ticket, when confronted with a quote whose content you cannot rebut with reason and evidence resort to personally attacking the author of said quote, after all, it's what any 4 year old would do.

What post-adolescent pays any attention to her?

Apparently those that actually bothered to read her work and haven't lost their ability for critical thinking, in other words people whose nature, methods and purposes would be completely alien to an individual such as yourself.

Which part of my post was inaccurate?

(Google "Mafia Winsome")

 

[IcebergSlim]

Because you're walking caricatures who repeat not just each other but yourselves with such redundancy as I pointed out.


Whereas memes are a symbol of contemplation bordering on solipsism?

You've NEVER been paid to think, have you, Pete.....

No, memes are a quick and effective way to ridicule your bullshit.

We know you haven't been paid to think because you'd personally have a larger debt than the government.

No....memes are the means by which uninformed slack jawed Drudge devotees flirt with each other....

I rely on data, from official sources....

Ain't no meme on Earth gonna top that.....

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

dude, most everyone with a 300k home is paying down a mortgage, the cash value isn't 300k. what a goof.

Maybe everyone you know, but I live in Florida. A lot of retired people down here that own their homes outright.

I got 4 years and 2 Months to go on mine.

The average house in San Francisco sells for over $900k. Who knew every home owner in San Francisco is a millionaire?

 

[Dragonlady]

You are too stupid to be one person, which is, of course, why you voted for Trump.
Billionaires are stealing your tax dollars via food stamps, and EIC's, to pay their workers. Subsidies paid to Walmart workers increased their bottom line by $9 billion in 2013, most of which went to the Walton Family.

Billionaires pay less tax, as a percentage of income, than their secretaries. That is correct. Since Reagan changed the tax code, wealth has trickled up to the top 5% at a steady clip. The working class has seen their savings melt away, and now the middle class is in trouble. If that's not stealing from the lower classes, I don't know what is.

You should have thought about what would happen with Willy the Rapist started demanding banks make home loans to folks who couldn't afford the payments. And we were called "racists" for trying to stop what was coming. And then your muslim moron let the banksters off the hook for campaign money. Your party is little more than a criminal enterprise.

Evidence that Bill Clinton is a rapist? Charges? Even a sworn affidavit from Anita Broadrick? Anita's sworn Affidavit, entered as evidence at the Paul Jones Trial, swears under oath that Bill Clinton did not rape her, and she's the only person who you allege he raped. So which time was she lying: When she told her both her husband and the man she was cheating on with that Clinton raped her to explain the mouse on her lip? Or when facing a charge of perjury if she lied, she said he didn't? Either way she's a proven liar, so difficult to believe.

The stock market crashes because Republicans passed the Graham, Leach, Bailey Act deregulated the banks and allowed banks to package sub-prime mortgages and sell them. Banks could make a whole lot more money making sub-prime loans, than regular mortgages, so they went whole hog into subprime, discouraging lenders from sending them anything but subprime mortgages.

It had nothing to do with the loans to minorities and everything to do with Wall Street Greed.

Bush bailed out the bankers.:

authorizing the United States Secretary of the Treasury to spend up to $700 billion to purchase distressed assets, especially mortgage-backed securities, and supply cash directly to banks. The funds for purchase of distressed assets were mostly redirected to inject capital into banks and other financial institutions while the Treasury continued to examine the usefulness of targeted asset purchases.[1][2] Both foreign and domestic banks are included in the program. The Act was proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson during the global financial crisis of 2008 and signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 3, 2008.

You got any other lies you'd like to try out on me Sunshine?

 

[Dragonlady]

You are too stupid to be one person, which is, of course, why you voted for Trump.
Billionaires are stealing your tax dollars via food stamps, and EIC's, to pay their workers. Subsidies paid to Walmart workers increased their bottom line by $9 billion in 2013, most of which went to the Walton Family.

Billionaires pay less tax, as a percentage of income, than their secretaries. That is correct. Since Reagan changed the tax code, wealth has trickled up to the top 5% at a steady clip. The working class has seen their savings melt away, and now the middle class is in trouble. If that's not stealing from the lower classes, I don't know what is.

That is a lie and you are an idiot.

Billionaires pay taxes on Corporate Profit, Stock Distributions or Dividends at a lower rate BUT, the money they received has already been taxed at the CORPORATE LEVEL

Before th Billionaire receives his or her Stock Distributions, Capital Gains or Dividends distribution, the money has already been taxed at the Corporate Income Tax rate...... Usually around an effective rate of 18% with a nominal rate of 39.5%

So it's being double taxed. Corporate Profit distributions are also minus ALL expenses and losses

You people are imbeciles. True, honest to God, mental defectives

No you are. Income should be taxed in the hands of the receiver.

If I earn interest, I am taxed, even if I paid tax on the income I invested. Even if the corporation paid tax on its net income. All income is to be taxed.

According to you, if I go to the store and buy something, the store should not be taxed on the profit of that sale because I already paid tax on the money when I earned it. If money flowing from individuals to corporations is taxed, why shouldn't money flowing from corporations to individuals?

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

You are too stupid to be one person, which is, of course, why you voted for Trump.
Billionaires are stealing your tax dollars via food stamps, and EIC's, to pay their workers. Subsidies paid to Walmart workers increased their bottom line by $9 billion in 2013, most of which went to the Walton Family.

Billionaires pay less tax, as a percentage of income, than their secretaries. That is correct. Since Reagan changed the tax code, wealth has trickled up to the top 5% at a steady clip. The working class has seen their savings melt away, and now the middle class is in trouble. If that's not stealing from the lower classes, I don't know what is.

You should have thought about what would happen with Willy the Rapist started demanding banks make home loans to folks who couldn't afford the payments. And we were called "racists" for trying to stop what was coming. And then your muslim moron let the banksters off the hook for campaign money. Your party is little more than a criminal enterprise.

Evidence that Bill Clinton is a rapist? Charges? Even a sworn affidavit from Anita Broadrick? Anita's sworn Affidavit, entered as evidence at the Paul Jones Trial, swears under oath that Bill Clinton did not rape her, and she's the only person who you allege he raped. So which time was she lying: When she told her both her husband and the man she was cheating on with that Clinton raped her to explain the mouse on her lip? Or when facing a charge of perjury if she lied, she said he didn't? Either way she's a proven liar, so difficult to believe.

The stock market crashes because Republicans passed the Graham, Leach, Bailey Act deregulated the banks and allowed banks to package sub-prime mortgages and sell them. Banks could make a whole lot more money making sub-prime loans, than regular mortgages, so they went whole hog into subprime, discouraging lenders from sending them anything but subprime mortgages.

It had nothing to do with the loans to minorities and everything to do with Wall Street Greed.

Bush bailed out the bankers.:

authorizing the United States Secretary of the Treasury to spend up to $700 billion to purchase distressed assets, especially mortgage-backed securities, and supply cash directly to banks. The funds for purchase of distressed assets were mostly redirected to inject capital into banks and other financial institutions while the Treasury continued to examine the usefulness of targeted asset purchases.[1][2] Both foreign and domestic banks are included in the program. The Act was proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson during the global financial crisis of 2008 and signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 3, 2008.

You got any other lies you'd like to try out on me Sunshine?

The stock market crashes because Republicans passed the Graham, Leach, Bailey Act deregulated the banks and allowed banks to package sub-prime mortgages and sell them.

Banks didn't lose hundreds of billions because they sold mortgages.
They lost hundreds of billions because they held mortgages.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

News from The Associated Press

"We have a situation where billionaires are paying less tax often than their cleaner or their secretary," Lawson told The Associated Press. "That's crazy."

No bed wetter, that's BULLSHIT.

Let's just for the sake of argument say that billionaires really don't pay taxes. Not a fuckin penny.

You still have to ignore all the taxes that come in to any doing any sort of transaction, from the lowly consumer all they way up to the income taxes generated by the CEO's and lawyers and tens of thousands of mother fuckers who work for them.

Billionaires didn't just steal a billion dollars and run off to some secluded island to sit on a pile of money like a fucking dragon in a fairy tale. These assholes generate more revenue when they take a shit than the "reporter" of this bullshit article will pay in taxes.

That doesn't mean they can tell us how to live our lives and scam us on global warming hoaxes.

You are too stupid to be one person, which is, of course, why you voted for Trump.
Billionaires are stealing your tax dollars via food stamps, and EIC's, to pay their workers. Subsidies paid to Walmart workers increased their bottom line by $9 billion in 2013, most of which went to the Walton Family.

Billionaires pay less tax, as a percentage of income, than their secretaries. That is correct. Since Reagan changed the tax code, wealth has trickled up to the top 5% at a steady clip. The working class has seen their savings melt away, and now the middle class is in trouble. If that's not stealing from the lower classes, I don't know what is.

Billionaires pay less tax, as a percentage of income, than their secretaries. That is correct.

Still waiting for your proof.
Tell me how much their secretary makes and I'll show you your error.

 

[usmbguest5318]

[Fake] News from The Associated Press

"We have a situation where billionaires are paying less tax often than their cleaner or their secretary," Lawson told The Associated Press. "That's crazy."

I don't think you actually know what "fake news" is.

1. The passage you quoted is not the AP's premise, inference, conclusion, or opinion. They are the words of Max Lawson. The article from which you took the quote clearly states that.

_____________________

You've slyly taken that one quote from the article and presented it so that it appears as though the reporter is talking about taxes; however, the theme of the article is not about paying taxes, it's about the control of wealth.

It is obscene for so much wealth to be held in the hands of so few when 1 in 10 people survive on less than $2 a day

Max Lawson does make the statement you quoted in your OP, but the point of his making it is to amplify the thing which he sees as the primary problem: that the eight richest people on the Forbes 400 control as much wealth as 3.8 billion people do. That's over half the planet's wealth (not income) in the hands/control of eight people.

If it be so that those eight individuals do not pay taxes, what you have is eight people who:

• receive cash payments from millions of taxpayers,
• receive whatever governments provide to make it possible for those eight people to safely and profitably establish and operate their businesses, for example:
  • banking system
  • civil legal system
  • criminal legal system
  • free trade treaties and legislation
  • protectionist legislation
  • transportation infrastructure -- road, rail, ports, and airways
  • physical safety at home, in the air and on the high seas
  • stable political environment
  • trash pick up
  • snow removal
  • emergency medical services
  • police and other law enforcement
  • varmint control
  • parking enforcement
  • public education
  • public utilities kept inexpensive
  • parks and museums
  • elected representation
• receive the benefit of the whatever the government does to it possible for their tax paying customers to safely and efficiently conduct business with those eight people's companies
• receive the benefit of educated workers to work for these billionaires

Thus, we have these mega wealthy people receiving the very same benefits we all do, yet paying for none of them because, as goes the assumption, they either (1) don't pay taxes or (2) pay income taxes at rates below those of non mega rich people. If the former is so, those rich folks are fully subsidized by everyone else, and if the latter is so, the people who are most able, without material impact on their lifestyles, to pay taxes pay disproportionately less.

• Person earning $75,000/year pays at 15% --> Take home after taxes = $63,750
  Same person paying 5% --> Take home after taxes = $71,250
• Person earning $20,000,000,000 pays at 15% --> Take home after taxes = $17,000,000,000
  Same person paying at 30% --> $14,000,000,000

Which individual will experience/feel a lifestyle difference by dint of their income tax burden? I realize that at a certain wealth level, unless one pays at >70% rates, one is not going to feel a lifestyle impact. I'm not at all suggesting such high rates. I'm merely saying that the income tax code should not have provisions that allow really, really rich people to deduct their income tax burden (effective rate) to something lower than non-rich people's.

I'm not suggesting that we should tax billionaires (hundred millionaires even) into the poor house. I'm saying that we should at least require that they pay at a rate comparable to that paid by the average upper middle income taxpayer does. I'm saying that it's not right for 14 times over billionaires (and their ilk in the millions range) to enjoy the lifestyle that comes with that, and receive the same benefits we all do, yet pay for them at a pauper's or median middle class person's rate. Why? Because as things stand now, assuming little to no income taxes be paid by the super rich, we apply to them neither of the two principles of tax fairness.

The reason is because the degree of inequality we observe is, economically speaking, a form of market failing. Imagine we were all behind a veil of ignorance, not knowing what talents we’d be born with. Isn’t it plausible that, behind such a veil, people would agree to enter into insurance contracts such that if they got lucky or talented they would pay out to the unlucky and untalented?

People would, surely, agree to pay out a proportion of the $2M-plus a year they would earn as very highly paid workers in order to soften the misery of being born with no marketable skills. You can therefore regard redistributive taxation as, in effect, the sort of insurance payments that would be made, if such contracts were feasible. In this sense, the tax merely fills in for the missing market. That doesn't get us to a precise tax rate. But it does suggest a case for some degree of progressivity (i.e., application of at least one tax fairness principle) in the taxes.

Let's just for the sake of argument say that billionaires really don't pay taxes. Not a fuckin penny.

Narrow that to federal income taxes and you may be able to make a case. Every billionaire pays taxes -- sales, property, excise, etc. Whether they pay local, state and/or federal income taxes is a different matter.

You still have to ignore all the taxes that come in to any doing any sort of transaction, from the lowly consumer all they way up to the income taxes generated by the CEO's and lawyers and tens of thousands of mother fuckers who work for them.

Because there's no handy way to estimate the extent of non-income taxes such large and disparate groups of people pay, let's go with federal income taxes and "ball park" test it for a few billionaires whose businesses are privately held, and see if your claim holds up.

Assumptions:

• Billionaires pay zero federal income taxes
• All their employees earn $75K/year and pay at the corresponding full marginal tax rate.
• The federal government's main source of discretionary (non FICA/FUTA and other payroll (not income) taxes) income/revenue comes from federal income taxes.

Billionaires under consideration:

• Charles & David Koch - $84B -- 200,000 employees
• Rick Cohen -- $30B -- 15,000 employees
• Ridley and Brandon Bechtel -- $37B -- 53,000 employees
• Michael Dell -- $59B -- 110,000 employees

The math:

• Regular People:
  • Number of "regular" people: 378,000
  • Gross Employee Earnings: $27,840,000,000
  • Marginal tax rate: 15%
  • Federal Income Taxes paid: $4,176,000,000
• Billionaires:
  • Gross Billionaire Earnings: $210,000,000,000
  • Assume they were to pay at the same marginal rate as their employees.
  • Billionaire federal income tax revenue not available for use by the government: $31,000,000,000

That's six billionaires. If we were to consider the whole of the Forbes 400 -- worth some $2.4T (I realize that's not income) -- and required they all pay at least 15% of their income in taxes, just how much closer do you think we'd be to having a smaller national debt? What about when 400 of them pay at 15%?

Billionaires didn't just steal a billion dollars and run off to some secluded island to sit on a pile of money like a fucking dragon in a fairy tale.

Literally no, they don't, but figuratively, economically, financially, that's exactly what they do.

• 10 Accounting Tricks the 1% Use to Dodge the Taxman - The Accounting Degree Review
  
• https://thinkprogress.org/billionai...ax-rates-to-1-percent-3401c496855e#.o4zvhj4lk
  
• Four Ways Rich People Can Still Hide Their Money
  
• America's Billionaires All Got Cribs in South Dakota to Dodge Taxes
  
• https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/30/...t-private-tax-system-saves-them-billions.html
  
• How to Pay No Taxes: 10 Strategies Used by the Rich

I'm not holding it against most of them for doing it; nobody wants to pay more rather than less in taxes. I blame our legislators for creating a system that makes it possible to do it.

That doesn't mean [billionaires] can tell us how to live our lives ...

I agree with that.

 

[NightFox]

Ayn Rand?

Is she the nympho who spent a lifetime pissing and moaning about handouts........only to spend the twilight of her life TAKING those handouts?

That's the ticket, when confronted with a quote whose content you cannot rebut with reason and evidence resort to personally attacking the author of said quote, after all, it's what any 4 year old would do.

What post-adolescent pays any attention to her?

Apparently those that actually bothered to read her work and haven't lost their ability for critical thinking, in other words people whose nature, methods and purposes would be completely alien to an individual such as yourself.

Which part of my post was inaccurate?

(Google "Mafia Winsome")

Nobody questioned the accuracy genius, the fact that what you posted is completely irrelevant to the content of the post you were responding to is the salient point.

(Google "Irrelevant" and "non sequitur")

Do svidaniya Comrade.