Walmart's target demographic isn't the 1%
The real issue creating the deficit, aside from rampant, downright retarded spending, is the fact that tax revenues would be much higher if corporations and the elite were paying taxes at the levels they did under Reagan. Another major problem is that the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act made it possible for individuals and corporations to take profits through off-shore holding companies tax-free. My lowball estimate is that we're probably missing out on about $1T a year in tax revenue because of this.
Note that guys like Warren Buffet will 'bemoan' that they aren't 'taxed enough,' but they only do so in reference to their TAXABLE income, and won't say a word about just how much tax-free income they're making. Buffet's position on this issue is particularly hypocritical, since he helped write much of the legislation that killed Glass-Steagall.
Right now, corporate profits are at record highs. Executive compensation has skyrocketed over the last two decades, while wages have stagnated. I know the conservative crowd has drunk the greed koolaid and has all sorts of ways to rationalize this, but the Bible tells us that God condemns those who oppress an employee in their wages. Somehow we can understand that an executive ought to be compensated according to what his work is producing, yet we can't understand that someone who makes 50 $170 sneakers a day should be paid more than $5 a week. This doesn't mean that a cashier at Wal-Mart should be making $300k a year, but the truth is that Wal-Mart could pay them a just wage and still be very profitable.
It's an indisputable fact that minimum wage, for example, as not kept up with inflation in the US, while executive compensation has exploded. More tax breaks for big business will NOT spur growth right now. Apple, for example is sitting on billions in cash while their factories have horrific pay and high suicide rates.
As for communism, I hate to burst the bubble, but every western country IS a communist country already, just in a very sneaky way. Your governments tax you, and then hand that tax money out to their elite cronies... they'll call it 'bailouts,' tax-credits, etc.
What WOULD spur growth would be an overhaul and simplifying of the tax code. Indeed, a flat tax rate would quickly end the deficit... but then the Most Holy 1% would actually have to pay taxes. Yes, the top 10% pay about 50% of the taxes, but they own 90% of the income, so they pay proportionally far lower taxes... as to whether this is beneficial, the results speak for themselves, to say nothing of the trillions in untaxed income afforded by the death of Glass-Steagall.
I'm a former Series 7, 62,63 and 65 Registered Investment Advisor, so I know of quite a few juicy loopholes that exist for the elite while the commoners spend 50-60% of their income on taxes, direct and indirect...
No comments:
Post a Comment