The Saga of Joe and Molly

[kayjayuu]

Yes, Taxes Really Do Kill Job Creation:

Joe and Molly really have it made. They started their small business and built it up to a real excellent small business. It was a big risk at the beginning. They had to work long hours and make do with small returns for quite a few years. But they’ve finally established themselves in a way that not that many

Comments

[badnewswade]

What happens when Joe and Molly's business gets looted and set on fire partly because of cuts to a demoralised police force?

The truth is that taxes haven't been lower in a long time, and the Bush tax cuts were only meant to be temporary, not permanent. You Yanks need to get over yourselves and stop exporting your failed social model to the rest of the world.

[kayjayuu]

Wow. Way to use empty threats.

The Joe and Molly's of this world don't all reside in the UK, or London, or big cities laden with government-sponsored people who are unsatisfied with owning Blackberries so they'll set fire to your dog. Small businesses run by Joe and Molly are there, yes, but I'd say most of them actually live in communities where nobody burns down shit because they're unhappy with their lives.

You Brits need to get over yourselves and stop exporting your unhappiness with the struggle that's inherent in living a life anywhere to the rest of the world.

Stop threatening to burn down Joe and Molly's business. Can't get a job with them if they don't have one to give you.

Or maybe it's not all about jobs. Is it.

[nebris]

Don't need to burn them out. Some big box store will drive them under.

~M~

[squidb0i]

OMG FREE MARKETS!!!

[alobar]

When I was a kid back in the 1950s, the rich paid a much larger % of income in taxes. And there were no corporate bailouts. We seemed like a much more healthy society back then.

[kayjayuu]

Healthy how? No Great Society? Less older Americans around to use Social Security? More taxes paid, less taxes used, lower population. If we look at an era as "better" we'd better look at the whole picture, I'd think.

Socially, I'd argue we were not healthier.

National Wealth Stats

[nebris]

Top 1% owns 42.7% of the total net worth of the nation
Bottom 80% owns 6.9% of the nation's net worth

Average Net Worth of bottom 80% : $48,600
Average Net Worth of top 1%: $23.77 Million

Average Tax Rate on bottom 50%: 20%
Average Tax Rate on small business owners: 32%
Average Tax Rate on the top 1%: 18.8%
Average Tax Rate on the top 100 corporations: 9.7%

Source FRB Survey of Consumer Finances

Re: National Wealth Stats

[kayjayuu]

And where to Joe and Molly fit in those stats?

[nebris]

Corporatist Talking Point Alert

[kayjayuu]

Whatever. It ain't Joe and Molly, Inc.

[nebris]

No worries. Walmart will service their customers.

~M~

[cieldumort]

The point I think some are trying to make is just that Joe The Plumbers of this country are being used as red herrings. Teh Libruhls aren't trying to take away the hard-earned incomes of small business owners and transfer them to "lazy people" - or, "Godless people," if you prefer Coulter's view. Taxing those a tiny bit higher only on that portion of their incomes above $250,000 is Socialism Lite To The Nth, and really, from what I read of your excerpt, Joe & Molly might not even have to worry about that at all. Combined they are worth $500k, or are they earning OVER a combined $500k/year? See, this does really smack of a Tea Party Inc talking point. Was this snippet penned by "Americans For Prosperity," by chance?

[alobar]

I have noticed something very odd over the years. It is a very well done propaganda ply by the super rich. Many people are convinced that they have more in common with the super rich than with the working class.

This is a delusion foisted upon those of modest income by the oligarchy.

Remember, we are fighting a class war here. And the oligarchy hires lots of propaganda folk to convince the middle class to root for the super rich and not the working class.

[peristaltor]

It's pretty amazing in its scope.

I like what Warren Buffett said. "There is a class war. Our side is winning."

[yes_justice]

Stop Coddling the Super-Rich By WARREN E. BUFFETT

"OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched. . .

These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.

Last year my federal tax bill - the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf - was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income - and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent."

[badnewswade]

Yeah, well, fuck 'em, they're morons and they deserve to live in a shit hole.

Same goes for my own cuntryfolk (pun intended). They voted for the cuts, they get everything they deserve. Democracy entails responsibility, we dont live in a world of do-what-you-please but a very tough reality... mess with it at your peril, rightwangers.

I see what you did there.

[squidb0i]

Actually, unless they each make more than 250,000 per year personally they won't see the ZOMG THREE PERCENT END OF THE WORLD increase when the Bush tax cuts expire.

Much fail.

Re: I see what you did there.

[kayjayuu]

Amazing how that three percent would save the country if given to the government, no?

Re: I see what you did there.

[cieldumort]

Let's see...

US Deficit with the Pre-W (Under Clinton) tax rates vs. US Deficit with the W tax rates:

The Budget and Deficit Under Clinton

Q: During the Clinton administration was the federal budget balanced? Was the federal deficit erased?

A: Yes to both questions, whether you count Social Security or not.

Re: I see what you did there.

[kayjayuu]