[From Rick Marken (2006.04.08.2020)]
Bryan Thalhammer (2006.04.08.1040 CDT)
Fred Nickols (Friday, April 7, 2006, at 06:44 PM)
Thanks for the comments, you guys.
What ticks me off even more than the Iraq fiasco (to the extent that that''s possible) is the fact that there has been absolutely no shared sacrifice expected from citizens while this war is going on. You might imagine that a president would ask citizens to contribute to this costly endeavor by paying more rather then less in taxes. But not only has this creep of a president not asked for any sacrifice, he has called for far less sacrifice from those who can afford a great deal than from those who can't. When I read this article I nearly puked.
Study: Bush tax cuts making rich richer
Report: The wealthiest Americans are reaping huge gains from reduced taxes on investment income.
April 5, 2006: 12:24 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - President Bush's tax cuts for investment income have significantly lowered the tax burden on the richest Americans, reducing taxes on incomes of more than $10 million by an average of about $500,000, according to a report Wednesday.
An analysis of Internal Revenue Service data by The New York Times found that the benefit of the lower taxes on investments was more concentrated on the very wealthiest Americans than the benefits of President Bush's two previous tax cuts.
The Times analyzed IRS figures for 2003, the latest year available and the first that reflected the tax cuts for income from dividends and from the sale of stock and other assets, known as capital gains.
According to the study, taxpayers with incomes greater than $10 million reduced their investment tax bill by an average of about $500,000 in 2003, and their total tax savings, which included the two Bush tax cuts on compensation, nearly doubled, to slightly more than $1 million.
These taxpayers, whose average income was $26 million, paid about the same share of their income in income taxes as those making $200,000 to $500,000 because of the lowered rates on investment income.
Americans with annual incomes of $1 million or more reaped 43 percent of all the savings on investment taxes in 2003. The savings for these taxpayers averaged about $41,400 each.
The newspaper's tax cut analysis showed that more than 70 percent of the tax savings on investment income went to the top 2 percent, about 2.6 million taxpayers.
And the savings from the investment tax cuts are expected to be larger in subsequent years because of gains in the stock market.
When will you be a millionaire? Click here ...
Congress is now debating whether to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.
Stephen Entin, president of the Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation, a Washington organization, told the Times that the tax cuts did not go far enough because the more money the wealthiest had to invest, the more that would go to investments that produce jobs.
Opponents told the newspaper the cuts are too generous to those who already have plenty. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, the senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said after seeing the new figures that "these tax cuts are beyond irresponsible" when "we're in a war; we haven't fixed Social Security or Medicare; we've got record deficits."
Notice in particular the comment by Stephen Entin, another person with a severe case of being a creep (the condition, in PCT, of having lousy reference signals) who says that the tax cuts for the rich should go even further. This, of course, is complete bull (like most everything that comes out of anyone in, related to or supportive of this administration). Even if the rich did invest their tax savings, we already know that there is _no_ empirical evidence that investment leads to economic growth. If anything, the reverse is true: when the economy starts growing, investment follows. Which makes sense: why would anyone invest in increasing supply until there was clear evidence of increasing demand? Republican economics (and Republican policy in general) is just an attempt to make greed sound good.
These fascists have been able to cut taxes on the rich and keep the economy growing by borrowing like crazy. So to make their rich friends richer (while a damn war is going on) they are mortgaging my (and my children's) future. What creeps. This is the party of values? Oh, I remember, values mean not lying about a blow job, not getting married if you're gay and not getting an abortion if you're raped by your father.
Based on the events of the last 5 years of so, I have developed a patented 2 question values test that works like a charm. Here is is:
1. Did you think President Clinton should have been impeached?
2. Do you think that President Bush should be impeached?
Here's how you score the test:
Your answers Your value score.
···
____________________________________
1. Yes 2. No You have horrible values.
1. Yes 2. Yes You have horrible values.
1. No. 2. No You have OK values.
1. No. 2. Yes You have excellent values.
For those who scored low, there is still hope. My advice is to stop trying to get your values from ancient books (or Republican taking points) and start trying to experience the world from the point of view of those systems in you that set the references for your values.
Best
Rick
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Richard S. Marken, PhD
Psychology
Loyola Marymount University
Office: 310 338-1768
Cell: 310 729 - 1400