inflation

Goldang ed, you are making me look pretty warm and fuzzy, almost moderate in my views unlike the flaming
radical that I am. You showed up just in time.
Live long and prosper

JG

[KB]

John, I was just thinking the same thing

[FlowGirl]

Doesnt that seem sort of inequitable though Ed? *Since I have only the same rights and whatnot as everyone else and the same opportunities...why exactly am I supposed to shoulder this increased burden again?

(And before any quacking about the opportunities goes on, I have no formal education past high school, was on my own since I was 15 and got no help or special treatment from anyone).

Isn't there something of a paradox here? If there's truly nothing special about your background or skills, and you received no special assistance along the way, then isn't this an admission that a lot of your success was simply a matter of "right place, right time." I fully admit that hard work, determination, personality, and good life choices play a role in success -- my own extended family climbed from absolute poverty to middle class by having these traits in abundance. But I also don't see how working harder (or even smarter) would catapault them into the multi-millionare category.

Not picking on you specifically TH, and have no idea if Ed's plan would be better than what we already got, just trying to come to grips with the mix of hard work and random chance in my own success. I don't think the matter of equity in taxation is an easy one.

Inflation is a general increase in prices across the economy over a period of time. *

However, most things go up in price over time. The only question is how much.

I think the biggest inflation factor is what people consider is what they 'need'.

We just bought another house that was built in the 50's. It was a normal middle class home at that time and just over 700 sqft in size. When I see my colleagues nowadays buying their first home, it is a brand new 4000 sqft house. (luckily Rooms-To-Go etc. has buy now pay later to fill up that monster). That is the size of a 4-6plex, little big for a starter I think. When there is a baby on the way, the car must be upgraded to a Volvo or Lexus SUV for minimum safety. And there are so many wants perceived as 'necessary'. Of course it will be difficult to RE if material expectations beat inflation over and over again.

Vicky

[Nords]

But I also don't see how working harder (or even smarter) would catapault them into the multi-millionare category.

The harder I work, the luckier I get. (Samuel Goldwyn)

Chance favors the prepared mind. (Louis Pasteur, commenting on exploiting unexpected failures in laboratory experiments.)

I think that there's always a random element of chance in everyone's life. But being ready to recognize & exploit each one of those opportunities is analogous to being given 10,000 lottery tickets to the next random-chance drawing...

[lets-retire]

Ed--I agree with your opinion on marijuana only. It is essentially the worst parts of tobbaco and alcohol the rest of the drugs are too easily taken to excess and death as a result.

As far as taxes goes typically the rich own some sort of business if you tax them at a higher rate they will not take the pay cut and will raise their prices to cover the costs. I do think the tax code needs to be changed however I support a national sales tax on retail sales only. If you don't have a EIN you still pay the taxes on all purchases. This would dramatically increase the tax base while at the same time taxing the rich more than the poor. You could even go one step further and set a minimum amount on spending before you start taxing. So the minimum amount to live is not taxed. Similar to the customer curtesy cards at most stores, provide the card and no taxes until the minimum is met. If you forget your card enjoy your taxes.

[laurence]

Ed,

I feel your pain on a lot of your points, disagree with others. As a moderate GOPer, I have to take exception with your broad brush strokes that liberals are all hypocrits, I know plenty who stick by their guns (part of the reason they are getting left behind) and there is plenty of hypocrisy on both sides. It's funny how each side sees the other as blind slaves to the party, while they see themselves as free thinkers in a big tent, all the while, the party heads change their platform around with the political winds, and claim that was always their position. I'm a republican because I want smaller government and fiscal responsibility, and I haven't gotten either under the last three GOP Presidents! Frankly the extreme right scares the crap out of me and I think it's taking over the party. When I hear all those Ditto heads kiss the butt of Rush who on the one hand says "all drug users in jail!" then gets caught being a druggy himself, and please don't tell me there is a difference, the only difference is he could afford to buy off doctors instead of buying from the corner drug dealer.

As far as taxes. Right now we have a stealth regressive tax, where only the poor and middle class pay social security, and then that fund is raided to keep our "progressive" tax system at artificially low rates. Good step: raise the SS and medicare roof to a million, or whatever.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Isn't there something of a paradox here? If there's truly nothing special about your background or skills, and you received no special assistance along the way, then isn't this an admission that a lot of your success was simply a matter of "right place, right time." I fully admit that hard work, determination, personality, and good life choices play a role in success -- my own extended family climbed from absolute poverty to middle class by having these traits in abundance. But I also don't see how working harder (or even smarter) would catapault them into the multi-millionare category.

Not picking on you specifically TH, and have no idea if Ed's plan would be better than what we already got, just trying to come to grips with the mix of hard work and random chance in my own success. I don't think the matter of equity in taxation is an easy one.

No picking detected. Chance and happenstance play at least a major if not dominant role in ones life. But you do make your own chances sometimes and take advantage of the opportunities given to you.

Some people make things happen and some let things happen to them. I made things happen.

I think the matter of taxation can be made very easy. Set a fixed rate on every person thats acceptable, and thats the budget the government gets to spend. Its only made complicated because the govt doesnt like that answer...

The harder I work, the luckier I get. (Samuel Goldwyn)

Yes, I hear a lot of very, very successful people say this.

However, some of the hardest working, honest people that I know, that were dealt a very bad set of cards, never accumulated much wealth.

Hence, they were never given a Bully pulpit to broadcast their 'story'. So, you are only hearing from the very rich and successful. No one asks the guy that worked his As* off, was honest to the core and was screwed by a buisness associate, and is barely making ends meet. No one wants to hear his story.

The people that I know personally that are worth over $10 Million have repeated this often quoted phrase in my presence. But, I do know personally the people that they have screwed, used and run over. If this is what they are referring to as 'working hard' then I agree with them.

If you have ever seen a man digging in a ditch in the hot midwest summer sun, then you know that no matter how fast he digs or much he sweats, he will never be rich!

Duplicate

[retire@40]

...I support a national sales tax on retail sales only. *If you don't have a EIN you still pay the taxes on all purchases. *This would dramatically increase the tax base while at the same time taxing the rich more than the poor. *You could even go one step further and set a minimum amount on spending before you start taxing. *So the minimum amount to live is not taxed.

So under your plan I can avoid paying all taxes if I get an EIN or just buy smaller units of things? What would be the minimum spending you would set?

When I say take the taxes up on the rich, I am talking about the ultra rich, the people that make money that is not deserved, a sports star that signs a 130 million contract, and someone that is in the street with no home, fair? I think not, how about a us private dodging bullets in afghan, for 1200 a month, to keep some asshole who can dribble a ball and throw it in a basket? fair? I think not, so why should the person making that kind of money pay for helping to keep someone in a home or in school? when someone is dodging bullets to keep the terrorists from putting burkas on our liberal women? the answer is they should pay and pay big. they are imo getting a free ride. I have not now or ever taken a nickel from the government, or any other person or org. I worked for what I have, I saved, when others were spending and having a good time. I watched others go on extended vacations, work when they only needed money, and screw the future. I never did, I always saved half of what ever was brought in for the week. I learned a trade and put it to use, and when the government takes a nickel out of my pocket it pisses me off. when some asshole can run around on a football field, or movie set, and make in 6months what several men will never see in a lifetime, fair? I think not.
that is why I think that people making a living wage should not have to pay taxes. because the country is like a car, the people like ceo's and sports stars movie stars, ect, are driving it 6 days a week, they get more use of it than the man who gets if for 10 min, a week. so they should have to pay for what they use.
If I was one of the ultra rich, I would not want to increase taxes. As far as the argument that people who make big money have businesses that keep people in jobs, true, and as long as they invest the profits into the business they should be able to deduct it, and not pay taxes on it. but when the helmselys of the world buy rare art, and Chippendale furniture for their apartments, and with it off, or a 175 foot yacht for "business"? fair, I think not. and as long as this goes on we have no national health care, another point I disagree with the right, when rush says that health care is not a right, I say bull ****, it is a basic human right, that is like saying that if you see someone on the sidewalk bleeding you have no responsibility to help. then what do we need a government for? to keep us safely in poverty? so congress can sip on 20$ martinis?
I don't believe in socialism but we do need to change things in this country. and the right and left are off. If a party could rise up that truly was for the people, they would wipe the right and lefts ass.

[haha]

Yes, I hear a lot of very, very successful people say this.

However, some of the hardest working, honest people that I know, that were dealt a very bad set of cards, never *accumulated much wealth. *

Hence, they were never given a Bully pulpit to broadcast their 'story'. So, you are only hearing from the very rich and successful. No one asks the guy that worked his As* off, was honest to the core and was screwed by a buisness associate, and is barely making ends meet. No one wants to hear his story.

The people that I know personally that are worth over $10 Million have repeated this often quoted phrase in my presence. But, I do know personally the people that they have screwed, used and run over. If this is what they are referring to as 'working hard' then I agree with them.

If you have ever seen a man digging in a ditch in the hot midwest summer sun, then you know that no matter how fast he digs or much he sweats, he will never be rich!

Great post, Cut- Throat. Another example of history being written by the "winners". Did the American Indians lose their homeland becasue they didn't work hard?

Not the way I see it.

Mikey

[lets-retire]

Retire@40-- To start let me say I'm a small fish in a small pond, heck I'm even afraid of shrimp, and everything eats shrimp. The point is it's just an idea and I'm not an accountant or have any business type background so there are bound to be flaws in my thought.

If we went to a national retail sales tax then many of the current IRS employees would suddenly find themselves out of a job. Some of these people could be used to review the quarterly or yearly statements from a business. If they discover a plumber is buying say $100 in clothes every month using their EIN to avoid taxes then obviously there's probably scamming going on.

As far as the amount that can be spent without incurring sales tax the government already has a standard amount set for food, clothes, what not. If you ever file bankruptcy they'll tell you three people need about $650/month in food. These standards could be used to determine the exemption amount.

[Nords]

When I hear all those Ditto heads kiss the butt of Rush who on the one hand says "all drug users in jail!" then gets caught being a druggy himself, and please don't tell me there is a difference, the only difference is he could afford to buy off doctors instead of buying from the corner drug dealer.

"I used to have a drug problem, but now I make enough money to afford it." -- David Lee Roth.

Speaking as a veteran of the "war on drugs", I have to agree with legalizing marijuana. Even without taxes it'd save the military a ton of time & money. And it'd make it a lot easier to explain Cheech & Chong to my kid.

I'm not so sure about heroin, cocaine, MDMA, methamphetamines, and the rest. Making cocaine a test case would probably teach us all a lot.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Given the damage cigarettes and alcohol do to people and families, I doubt legalizing any of the other drugs with controls, taxation and legal limitations would really make that big of a difference.

Realistically you can get almost anything you want, almost anytime.

What you would eliminate is the organized crime and violence that surrounds the 'drug scene'.

Taking the tax dollars wasted having FBI agents rappelling into pot fields here in northern CA (thank heavens we've completely solves all of our other problem so we can focus on those pesky pot farmers), and collecting some nice tax revenues, we could offer some substantial services to help people lessen their addictions.

The big catch to it though is the legal limitations. Almost every illegal drug remains in your system for at least several days and up to several months in trace amounts. Almost every single state already has a zero tolerance law for driving under the influence of any drug. Hence, nobody that did drugs could ever drive legally without suffering loss of their license, paying thousands in fines, and being on probation for 2-4 years if they were caught. We already have laws on public intoxication. Workplaces already have rules about working under the influence.

Be nice to turn a net money loser and a war that cant be won into a money maker and address the root causes of the 'problem' rather than perpetuate the prohibitionist conundrum.

[Nords]

Yeah, I think cocaine legalization would go a lot better this time than it did last century.

I hated counterdrug ops. At one point it seemed more cost-effective to surface the submarine, drive alongside, and just buy the entire shipment... especially when I was in white-knuckle shallow-water areas watching San Miguel beer barges drive by. As you can imagine, though, I never found a receptive wardroom where I felt that I could articulate these musings.

Then I met CAPT Neil Byrne. He's retired now, but he still makes John Birch, Attila the Hun, John Wayne, and the Klingon Empire look like a bunch of soft-hearted wussies. He enlisted during Vietnam and he survived earning the Legion of Merit as a young O-3 so I guess he's entitled to his opinions. As the PACOM "drug czar" in the late 1980s he used to coordinate military forces in the Pacific drug war. It took him about two weeks to decide that legalizing & taxing marijuana & cocaine would pay off the national debt in less than a decade. As long as the Navy kept doing urinalysis, he didn't think it'd change much...

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Just remember that whenever you're in urine, you're in for a bad day...

I disagree with the Idea that the American natives lost there land because it was taken from them, they did not know how to use what they were living on.
Some will no doubt argue with me, but I tell you to go to the north woods and start making spears and live in teepees, give you your DVD players. and the like.
It is in my opinion just like south Africa, any one who knows any thing about this country, can not argue with this; the country was a gem, in the middle of a wild untamed continent, when they stupidly gave power to the "people of color" the country went to hell in a hand basket.
It is worse than east LA.
I don't make the truth, it just is.
How come 90% of crime is committed by blacks? I know you libes will blame the white man, you always do.
fat blacks are victims of the white burger and Twinkie factories, drunk blacks are the victims of the distillery companies. and blacks with drug problems are the victims of the CIA. lol
and the blacks in prison have been railroaded, you know FREE MUMIA, he did not shoot the cop, he was just defending him self from a white cop.
from what has happened in the last elections since 94 it looks like the people of the good old usa are sick of the bash the white man, and blame usa first. liberals going down down down. lol, we do need liberals to give the rest of us something to make fun of.

[Eagle43]

Its foolishness and tyranny of the guvmint telling adults what they can/can't put into their own bodies. And if you think Iraqi war is bad, then war on drugs may last forever.

Hey, here's an idea. Legalize and let the users fix social security. Get GWB on the phone! I mean, what a fix. The users pay huge taxes on their daily fix, die early, and don't get any or very little social security. Voila!