if walmart paid a living wage

[jms62]

Unfortunately I think as a country we are headed towards bloodshed. The sky has been falling for sometime.

http://www.priceactionlab.com/Blog/2...y-bull-market/

[Rudeboyelvis]

Originally Posted by jms62

Unfortunately I think as a country we are headed towards bloodshed. The sky has been falling for sometime.

http://www.priceactionlab.com/Blog/2...y-bull-market/

Be careful there, you'll be labeled a conspiracy theorist

This has been the FED model ever since the collapse of the economy and subsequent "propping-it-back-up" with borrowed money.

You never see Obama talking about restoring the middle class, only "creating good paying jobs". It is not in the government, nor the FED's interest to create policies that restore the middle class. Quite the opposite, actually. We discussed Thomas Pikkety's book in the last thread this topic came up in, I'd really suggest anyone that has an actual interest in the fundamental cause/effect of Capitalism run amok take some time to read it. There's only like 800 years of data that points out precisely what happens next (believe it or not, we're not the first ones to be in this current state)

Of course it is sooooo much easier to blame the big ole' meanies that run Walmart because they hate 'Merica.

[Pants II]

the rule makers don't care. The choice was made.

Technology won. We lost. The end.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

Be careful there, you'll be labeled a conspiracy theorist

This has been the FED model ever since the collapse of the economy and subsequent "propping-it-back-up" with borrowed money.

You never see Obama talking about restoring the middle class, only "creating good paying jobs". It is not in the government, nor the FED's interest to create policies that restore the middle class. Quite the opposite, actually. We discussed Thomas Pikkety's book in the last thread this topic came up in, I'd really suggest anyone that has an actual interest in the fundamental cause/effect of Capitalism run amok take some time to read it. There's only like 800 years of data that points out precisely what happens next (believe it or not, we're not the first ones to be in this current state)

Of course it is sooooo much easier to blame the big ole' meanies that run Walmart because they hate 'Merica.

Was going to order that, thanks for reminding me.

[jms62]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

Be careful there, you'll be labeled a conspiracy theorist

This has been the FED model ever since the collapse of the economy and subsequent "propping-it-back-up" with borrowed money.

You never see Obama talking about restoring the middle class, only "creating good paying jobs". It is not in the government, nor the FED's interest to create policies that restore the middle class. Quite the opposite, actually. We discussed Thomas Pikkety's book in the last thread this topic came up in, I'd really suggest anyone that has an actual interest in the fundamental cause/effect of Capitalism run amok take some time to read it. There's only like 800 years of data that points out precisely what happens next (believe it or not, we're not the first ones to be in this current state)

Of course it is sooooo much easier to blame the big ole' meanies that run Walmart because they hate 'Merica.

High stakes musical chairs where 95% of Americans don't even have a chance to chase the remaining chairs.

[Rudeboyelvis]

Originally Posted by jms62

High stakes musical chairs where 95% of Americans don't even have a chance to chase the remaining chairs.

The first thing I'd recommend investigating and am personally considering is changing 401K / IRA contributions to after tax. If you think the current tax rates on investments are high relative to income, think about the full blown Marxist/Socialist state you will be retiring into when they hit you for 74%.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

The first thing I'd recommend investigating and am personally considering is changing 401K / IRA contributions to after tax. If you think the current tax rates on investments are high relative to income, think about the full blown Marxist/Socialist state you will be retiring into when they hit you for 74%.

I don't think the current tax rates on investments are high relative to income at all. In fact, they are much too low, relative to income. Yet another way the rich stack the deck. They pay 20 percent tax for sitting around while money their great-grandad made ensures they don't have to do anything with their lives.

Lower tax rates on capital gains is merely welfare for the already wealthy.

[Rudeboyelvis]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

I don't think the current tax rates on investments are high relative to income at all. In fact, they are much too low, relative to income. Yet another way the rich stack the deck. They pay 20 percent tax for sitting around while money their great-grandad made ensures they don't have to do anything with their lives.

Lower tax rates on capital gains is merely welfare for the already wealthy.

My fault - I worded my thought improperly. The point I was trying to make is that when saving for retirement most financial advisers will recommend investing pre-tax dollars; the wisdom of course being that you will be taxed less on it in retirement (as you make a lot less money, the taxable rate will be much lower when you are not accruing an annual income).

My point was that this seems logical now, but in 15-20 years, well after the scale has been tipped (between workers paying into the income tax base vs. those not) the tax rates will have to rise exponentially to pay the massive debt + fact that 65 -70% of the people in the country will be retired, on welfare and not paying into the system, or on a government funded disability.

The number of people on disability, as Jim pointed out in a previous thread, is at an all time high. Sure, a lot of this is fraud, but alot of this has to do with 10 years of maiming our kids (physically and mentally) in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Our defense is spending is 37% of our GNP. By comparison, China is 11% and Russia is similar.

The point of all of this is that we are beyond any chance of correcting and fixing our problems. We will have no choice at this juncture but to eventually devolve into a sort of Marxist Apocalypse where we will be taxed at rates that will compare to most Socialist regimes, though we will reap none of the benefits (healthcare, retirement, etc.)

So you may be ahead paying 25-28% tax on it now as an adjunct to your income, rather than a flat 70-75% of it in 20 years.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

My fault - I worded my thought improperly. The point I was trying to make is that when saving for retirement most financial advisers will recommend investing pre-tax dollars; the wisdom of course being that you will be taxed less on it in retirement (as you make a lot less money, the taxable rate will be much lower when you are not accruing an annual income).

My point was that this seems logical now, but in 15-20 years, well after the scale has been tipped (between workers paying into the income tax base vs. those not) the tax rates will have to rise exponentially to pay the massive debt + fact that 65 -70% of the people in the country will be retired, on welfare and not paying into the system, or on a government funded disability.

The number of people on disability, as Jim pointed out in a previous thread, is at an all time high. Sure, a lot of this is fraud, but alot of this has to do with 10 years of maiming our kids (physically and mentally) in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Our defense is spending is 37% of our GNP. By comparison, China is 11% and Russia is similar.

The point of all of this is that we are beyond any chance of correcting and fixing our problems. We will have no choice at this juncture but to eventually devolve into a sort of Marxist Apocalypse where we will be taxed at rates that will compare to most Socialist regimes, though we will reap none of the benefits (healthcare, retirement, etc.)

So you may be ahead paying 25-28% tax on it now as an adjunct to your income, rather than a flat 70-75% of it in 20 years.

Ah, thank you for the clarification. I don't disagree with this. Outsized defense spending (which does little other than make those with government contracts wealthy) and frankly, too low of taxes on the wealthy over the past 35 years have indeed screwed the pooch. I don't think it's paranoid at all to think it will end in violence. There's a reason kids in school don't learn much about the history of the labor movement in this nation- it's because most of it through the 1930s was written in blood. We didn't learn anything the first time around, clearly.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

Of course it is sooooo much easier to blame the big ole' meanies that run Walmart because they hate 'Merica.

I don't think they hate America; they just love it less than they do their bank accounts.

We blame Big Business because Big Business IS the government. They bought it; they own it.