[OT]America. The land of the not-so-free (economy)

[Randy Edwards]

 > Unearned Wealth?

   My point about unearned wealth and the inheritance tax was that the wealth 
being passed to the heirs is unearned by those heirs -- it should be taxed at 
a far higher rate.  Public opinion polls report that people support the 
"estate tax" but yet those same polls report people oppose the "death tax" -- 
the magic, as the Republicans have learned, is in the wording of it.

   I've got no problem with someone working hard and enjoying the money they 
earned; but being born into a class where you never have to work a day in 
your life because of your inheritance is a different matter.  The US used to 
have clear distinctions about earned and unearned wealth -- with appropriate 
tax policies to encourage earned wealth -- but this has changed radically 
since the 80s.

 > Oh, so now it becomes a "class war".

   Correct.  There's always been a class war going on; people are just 
actively discouraged from thinking of economics or gov't policy that way.

   Given the shifts that we've seen since the 80s, it's clear that the rich 
are getting richer very fast, the middle income classes are treading water, 
and many of the poor are getting poorer.  This isn't a result of some magical 
economic theory, it's a result of gov't policies which have changed.  When 
you flatten out the income tax, it's obvious who benefits and who loses.  
When you get rid of the estate tax, ditto.  We'll see another large shift if 
Bush manages to privatize social security.

   This isn't a secret.  As the second-richest person on the planet has said, 
"If class warfare is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning."

   Warren Buffett has been very blunt on the changes in the US.  He sees it in 
his own self-interest, fearing a backlash when the vast majority of Americans 
are squeezed too much.

   Among his more blunt statements, "I personally think that society is 
responsible for a very significant percentage of what I've earned[sic]. I 
happen to work in a market system that happens to reward what I do very well 
- disproportionately well." or "I pay a somewhat higher [federal tax] rate 
for my combination of salary, investment and capital gain income than our 
receptionist does. But she pays a far higher portion of her income in payroll 
taxes than I do."

 > Gee, isn't this happening already? And now you know why.

   Sorry, I don't see the huge problem with the overall tax rate in the US.  
What I do see is a problem with who gets taxed and who gets rewarded.

   Having married a European woman and traveled Europe extensively, from what 
I've seen (western) Europeans enjoy a standard of living equal to or *better* 
than what we have in the US, with a social safety net that keeps them largely 
free of worrying about catastrophes (getting sick, losing a job, etc.).  Then 
again, those European countries don't hesitate to tax their corporations or 
the rich in their countries, and they don't spend an insane amount of their 
gov't budget on the military.

 Regards,
 .
 Randy

-- 
"Corporate income taxes in fiscal 2003 accounted for 7.4% of all federal tax 
receipts, down from a post-war peak of 32% in 1952. With one exception 
(1983), last year’s percentage is the lowest recorded since data was first 
published in 1934. Even so, tax breaks for corporations (and their investors, 
particularly large ones) were a major part of the Administration’s 2002 and 
2003 initiatives." -- Warren Buffett