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I would really like this to be true. At least in my country the younger population (e.g. under 25s) is moving extreme-right instead of anti-capitalism. The amount of Andrew Tate fans that apparently do not even oppose human trafficking is insane.
Are they pro corporate though?
Sometimes these right leaning people are mad and are expressing things wrong but they still are aware how most companies are abusing the system.
I was libertarian right put of high school. I was rightfully upset with what the government does. It wasn’t till later I realized it was the 1% controlling it, and that was a nig problem.
These days I just want to self select into a 2000ish person commune. (Studies shoe that peoplestart viewing each other as strangersonce you approach 2000 population)
Who needs a state? Oh wait, the need is that other nation states will assault you instantly if they sense weakness. Must be a cultural issue that we cannot live in “peace” without having a massive authoritarian nightmare hovering over every aspect of our lives.
The American Dream of the middle class imploded under Nixon/Reagan.
President Johnson made the mistake of thinking he could win the Vietnam War with one huge, swift punch. When that plan devolved into a long, messy quagmire he had to print tons of paper money to pay for the mess without raising taxes.
Nixon was elected on a peace platform, but instead he dragged out the war and kept the money machine rolling. The war mean a lot of jobs in the steel industry because America was dropping about three Hiroshimas a day on the jungle.
The Oil Boycott of 1972 tripled energy prices overnight. This meant a lot of small companies were wiped out or had to move overseas to stay competitive. Housewives had to get jobs to keep the homes going. And American industry took a giant hit, because the newer steel mills and auto factories in Germany and Japan could make cars much more cheaply than Detroit.
By the time Ford became President, things were so bad that he had to ask people to wear ‘Whip Inflation Now’ buttons, because he had no idea what else to do.
Carter and Volker had a plan that worked, but Carter was out by the time it began to gain traction. Reagan kept Volker and pretended it was all his idea.
Reagan cut taxes for the rich, pretending that this would ‘trickle down’ It didn’t work.
In 1968, when Nixon was elected ‘Middle Class’ was defined as one good Union job supporting a family of four with a house and money to send the kids to college. By the time Bush Sr. was done ‘middle class’ was two jobs to keep a house going.
I’m nearly fifty, now. Why am I disillusioned by capitalism? Because the illusion is thin and flimsy. I really hope the disillusionment of millennials isn’t just because they don’t have a good enough retirement plan, or anything else that can be easily fixed. I hope that they are waking up to realize that giving unelected, unaccountable, private owners of capital control over the production and distribution of goods, services, and information, is an extremist, antidemocratic idea, that is driving the global climate crisis, and the slide toward fascism.
I love this comment. You put into words what I’ve been trying to convey to others. Thank you.
I believe that all concentrations of power are potentially dangerous because you never know into what hands that concentration of power is being put. Too often it’s concentrated in the hands of those personality types of the dark triad: narcissists, machiavellians, psychopaths. Those people should never have any authority or control over any human beings, and they should be prohibited from being in powewful positions. They are far too dangerous, and I believe that most of our world problems derive from these personality types.
I’m describing Cluster B personality disorders. The science is there and it’s real. All these people should never be in ANY positions of power or over people. That is my point. They are too dangerous.
They’ve played Monopoly enough to recognize it’s their turn to roll, holding $6 and no property, and the board is covered in hotels.
Bring back tax rates of 90% again for the obscenely rich - it was that way up until the late 1900s. Back when the US actually funded things that benefit most people not just tax breaks for already rich people.
Not even caring about the specific number:
- why do tax brackets end at about the 5%? Basically wealthy and ultra-wealthy pay same rate as upper middle. We need more steps
- why are there so many non-salary sources of wealth with lower tax rates, when only the wealthy can take advantage?
The bottom half of r tax system is reasonably progressive, so why not the top?
Federal Tax Rates 2024 Tax Rate | For Single Filers
10% $0 to $11,600
12% $11,600 to $47,150
22% $47,150 to $100,525
24% $100,525 to $191,950
32% $191,950 to $243,725
35% $243,725 to $609,350
37% $609,350 or more
Plus state/local taxes on top of that.
Ok, fine, there’s a step or two in the ”wealthy” category, but my point holds.
- Why is someone who makes $X income taxed at the same rate as someone who makes (1,000 * $X) income?
- Why can more wealthy pay lower taxes for different sources of wealth, and claim that “it’s not income”
Plus state taxes usually have few to no brackets, and I’ve only heard of one having a millionaires tax
You’re talking about income tax rates, and I agree that the top tax rates should be higher, but this won’t fix the problem because billionaires don’t make their money from salaries. Most of their money is theoretical and tied up in ownership of shares of a company.
They can sell shares or earn dividends to make money, so capital gains should also be taxed at a much higher rate. But billionaires often choose not to sell shares either because they have a better option…
They take out low interest rates loans using their shares as collateral. The interest rates they are charged are generally going to be far lower than the interest on their stocks that stay invested,. This is where most of their liquidity comes from, because loans aren’t taxed, and in some regard is almost an infinite money glitch for billionaires.
I think we need to make it illegal to use financial holdings as collateral for loans, at least for starters.
You could tax them at 100% but it wouldn’t fix the problem. There are simply just not enough of them. While wealth inequality is a problem, this alone don’t fix it. It is just a crutch.
no, increasing taxes on the wealthy, while simultaneously funding the IRS to go after white collar tax cheats, would 100% fix the problem.
And this would somehow cause a significant number of houses to be built? And if people have more money thru distribution of some sort, would they work harder to build more houses? If they don’t, how does this help?
So if it’s not a perfect solution it shouldn’t be done?
You may be right that a 90% tax on certain amount of wealth may not solve all the problems but that is a ton of money this country is leaving on the table that could really help people that need assistance.
If you read my post, I did say wealth inequality is an issue. Bit to directly answer your question, if everyone suddenly recieved more money, would they differently be motivated to build more houses or create more cogs to make it lives better? And if they don’t, how does this help us?
So, we can’t tax their “unrealised gains” on stocks, but they can borrow against these same gains?
It was 50% before Reagan reduced it to 38%. The tax brackets aren’t nearly as large a contributor to inequality as the loopholes in tax law. Accelerated depreciation, tax credits, and the expensing rules for employee stock options are largely to blame for corporate tax evasion.
While Fink correctly identified a key problem, his proposed solution wasn’t to bring back pension plans. It was a new BlackRock product that helps people better manage their retirement spending. In other words, it’s a way for BlackRock to likely make more money.
