1. Stupid question. The rich derive far more benefit from living in this country than do the poor, so they should be expected to pay more taxes. BTW, the indfo on income taxes you righties love to post is nonsense, because the income tax isn't the only tax paid. There are sales taxes, excise taxes, payroll taxes, etc, most of which are taxed on the first dollar of income and every dollar thereafter, which hit the middle and lower classes harder as a percentage of their income. The $100,000 ceiling on SS and medicare taxes means that the guy making $50,000 a year is paying 5.7% of his income on that tax, while the top 1%, who make $250,000 are paying 1.14% of their income, and the guy making $5,000,000 a year is paying (if he has any earned income at all) .057%. When you combine all the taxes into a total tax burden. the middle class pays more as a percentage of their earnings OR their wealth, than the wealthy do. And perhaps you myopic right wing nimrods have failed to notice, but there is a huge transfer of wealth from the poor and middle to the rich. The poor have been losing ground and the middle has been stagnant at best, while the wealthy have been getting richer by leaps and bounds. Do you know why that is? Of course you don't. That would require independent critical thought. The money the super wealthy received in their gift tax cut from Bush? Are they investing it in job creation? Hell, no. They are speculating with it, and destroying jobs, just like they have every time a tax cut has been given to the wealthy.
They also buy tax-free T-bills with their tax windfall. What's wrong with that? You mean beside being stupid for the government to be borrowing and paying interest on the same money they used to take in taxes.
2. Oh, you asshole. Because they are citizens, you elitist prick. And the reason they need support from the government is because they have been getting ripped off by the wealthy. Anybody working 40 hours a week for less than a living wage is being ripped off by their employer. Have you ever heard of enlightened self-interest? Obviously not. It has a lot of names, and it is known to every ethnic group and every religion, and it is the basis for Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract, which should be required reading for graduation from high school, as it was the inspiration for the two chief architects of our republic, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. You should read it. It's a very slim book, which is surprising, given its importance to civilization.
Oh, and one of the other names for enlightened self-interest, in case you hadn't guessed: we call it the Golden Rule. Let me put it to you this way: suppose you suffer a debilitating and long-term illness, and your free-market health insurance company cuts you loose, because the Republican Tea Party took over in congress and made good on their threat to repeal Health Care Reform. You illness eats up your savings, your investments, and your house, until you finally find yourself unable to live with out government assistance. You've been a hard-working, contributing member of society for your entire life, but you got deathly ill and are on SS disability, Medicare, and Medicaid. Your family is drawing food stamps, but none of this is your fault. You just had a bad break (the #1 cause of bankruptcies in this country is catastrophic medical problems). What are you going to say to to the person who tells you that you are no longer eligible to vote because you are a ward of the state?
5 for 5 When can I expect you to answer my post, since I answered your five unanswered questions, one of which I had already covered? You do realize that because your questions were mostly ignorant bullshit, the autoloader is full of double ought rounds, the barrel is sawed off, and i'm in full street sweeper mode.
And you still have your rubber knife.
Your ass is mine.
