Thank God for Rich People

Posted: December 9, 2010 in Columns, Featured, Political Opinion
Tags: accountancy, accounting, america, bernie goldberg, economics rt economy, Fox News, personal finance college planning, political economy, politics, tax cuts for the middle class, tax cuts for the rich, tax cuts for the wealthy, taxation, taxes

I have an idea for a monument in our nation’s capital. I envision a big bronze and granite statue that would honor an entire group of Americans who are true heroes, and unsung heroes at that.

It is time — no, make that long past time — to pay tribute to those this nation of ours owes a great debt; to those who give and give and give and in return get anything but our gratitude.

This is an idea whose time has finally come.

Right there, amongst the sacred national structures that honor great Americans, we need to build a shiny monument to … (this is where the drum roll would come in) The Rich – otherwise known in liberal circles as the filthy, no good, greedy, heartless rich.

The statue could be simple and elegant: a smiling rich guy in a business suit holding hundred dollar bills in both hands, extended toward the blue sky.

President Obama compromises with Republicans and gives the wealthiest two percent of Americans a temporary respite from a tax hike and listening to the yelps of the “progressives” you’d think he just tried to shut down WikiLeaks or something.

The Left is bawling about how “we can’t afford” to give people “who don’t need it” a tax break. This argument makes perfect sense, of course – as long as income re-distribution is a central tenet in your theology. Never mind that liberals weren’t all that concerned about what we could afford when they passed a nearly trillion dollar stimulus package that didn’t stimulate very much or when they poured in billions of our tax dollars to bail out General Motors. It’s only now that they’re concerned about budgets because those nasty rich folks are getting a break. But I don’t want to pick a fight with my liberal friends over whether the wealthiest Americans “deserve” a tax break or not. I have come to praise The Rich, not to bury them.

I offer a few numbers to make my case:

Did you know that the top one percent of American wage earners (adjusted gross income) pay about 38 percent of all our federal personal taxes (according to the National Taxpayer Union)? The top one percent, by the way, account for 23.5 percent of all income — a substantial amount, yes, but considerably less than 38 percent.

Or that the top five percent pay just under 60 percent?

Or that the top ten percent pay about 70 percent of all the personal income taxes collected in this great land of ours?

These “fat-cats” are the ones who do the heavy lifting in this country. They’re the ones whose federal tax dollars pick up a big chunk of the tab for all sorts of noble things, such as: food for folks who don’t have enough to eat … medicine and doctors for people with little money … financial aid to help other people’s kids go to college … milk and diapers for poor babies whose 15 year-old mothers and deadbeat fathers are too irresponsible to take care of their own kids … a safety net for old folks who are retired on fixed incomes … and on and on.

And if they “only” bank their new found savings instead of spending it all over town? Well, that’s a plus too. It means there would be more money out there for businesses to borrow for expansion, which probably would mean more jobs. Or it could mean more money for new homeowners to borrow, which would also give a boost to the limp economy.

No, I’m not saying the wealthiest Americans are all a bunch of selfless philanthropists. But try to imagine an America without those rich people.

By the way, the bottom 50 percent of tax filers pay a paltry 2.7 percent of our federal income taxes. How many poor people do you think their tax dollars are taking care of? If you ask me, they’re the ones not paying their fair share. Every time they pass a “rich” person on the street, they ought to say, “Thank you for everything you do for me and for this country.”

For those of you not already making plans to hang me in effigy – or for real – let me simply say this: The richest Americans may not “need” a break on their taxes, but they sure don’t need being vilified, either. They need our gratitude.

So let’s get busy on that shiny monument in our nation’s capital. And let’s get some unemployed people out there building it. It’s the least they can do for those nice rich people who have been keeping them afloat.

Sue Nolan

Once again, Bernie, I agree with you completely. My only regret is that I am not part of that 1% that pays nearly 25% of the national budget. But I do give them credit and they have my gratitude. You are right. They deserve a monument. Sue
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patricia alexander

weight loss is not as easy as you think. on the subject of rich people they are good but I think everyone should pay taxes regardless of their status.
Darrell L

The Capitalists Movement is to break the back of the unions, so that workers will be underpaid. Once the unions are no longer a threat to the Capitalists, next they can start to lower wages across America. Next if you want to earn the same amout of money, you simply work longer hours. They own the banks, and you want to keep your home, you work longer hours. Without a union, you might go to work, only to find, you have no job, and no one there to help you. Without a union, you might find yourself working 45 hours or more just to earn the same amount of money.

Thank God for the Rich. Don’t you know God is going to listen? God will listen about as much as He would listen to a Drunk praying to God to send a whore over for the night.

You can thank the Rich, if you are looking for a job? Thank the Rich, when you buy something with a tag on it, that says made in China. Thank the Rich when you make a phone call, and someone in India answers the phone. Thank the Rich for the lobbyists, that tell the congress which bills to pass. Just thank the Rich for the mess that George W. Bush left behind. Thank the Rich for all of the damn har headed Republicans in Washington.
Bob

I’m also grateful to the rich for whatever they produce to get rich in the first place. If a man gets rich building houses, for example, we can thank him for his taxes, but also thank him for the houses. Of course he should thank the workers who do the construction, but they should thank him too, because neither could succeed without the other.

It’s a lot harder to quantify than counting taxes, but I’d love to see a study done to see what life would be like without the top 1% or something like that, not just the lack of taxes, but the lack of everything else they contribute.
Rick007

Even Obama’s individual and corporate friends like George Soros and General Electric believe that it is now best to have most of your employees and assets outside of the United States. Now that the Obamaclan has moved its property offshore, is it any wonder that the Obamanator wants to regulate and tax their US competitors? Obama is not stupid, just cunning. Like most politicians from Chicago, he is helping his own gang while hurting his competitors. Stop thinking black and white, Democrat and Republican. Obama is a cunning gangster kingpin, plain and simple.
Drew

One other thought on Mr. Goldberg’s thoughts:

“And if they “only” bank their new found savings instead of spending it all over town? Well, that’s a plus too. It means there would be more money out there for businesses to borrow for expansion, which probably would mean more jobs. Or it could mean more money for new homeowners to borrow, which would also give a boost to the limp economy.”

I read something very similar to this on the Heritage Foundation website, in its argument that stimulus packages and Keynesian economics don’t work and instead you need to essentially let the wealthy invest it so it gets quickly driven back into the economy through investment/lending. But then I read about banks and corporations sitting on trillions of cash. I read that in the Wall Street Journal June and September of this year:
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704312104575298652567988246.html) and (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703946504575469523140220994.html).

I’m wondering how well Mr. Goldberg’s above-quoted process works when trillions are being hoarded according to the WSJ? Most people that I speak to both personally and in business say that it is difficult to get a mortgage or a commercial loan.

I’m a little surprised at the simplification being utilized in Mr. Goldberg’s position. He makes a few valid points, but then weakens his article by including some of these things that I pointed out in my posts.

Paul Courtney

Drew, you obviously read critically, a good thing. Consider this- big cause of the financial crisis was caused by over-leveraging, which is lending too much with too few assets or collateral. Banks were and are required by the feds not to get over-leveraged, even under the supposed de-regulation by those nasty republicans like Phil Gramm. This cause also created an immediate problem- alot of collateral in the system (real estate) was worth about half in Oct ’08 than they thought it was worth in August ’08, further messing up the books. Then the feds said the banks better fix their books, and one fix is to hold onto capital, so maybe banks are just obeying the law. Partisans squawking about banks holding cash typically don’t address this, do your sources?
Corps holding cash are different, but maybe they’re still trying to digest health insurance issues, not just the enacted law but the regulations to come. This is a big motza ball for any employer who provides ins. to employees, current and prospective, do your sources even approach this?
On soc. security, FDR would explain the difference between taxes to fund current gov’t outlays ( income, etc.) and an annuity program. No denying congress has muddied this water by taking ss revenue to pay for current outlays (started by dems, never stopped by repubs). Maybe the figures your source chose are true, but were cherry picked (the top 400?) to fit its narrative, and maybe Bernie’s are true but cherry picked, though that’s not his style. What is undeniably true is his point- income tax revenue is predominately paid by “the rich”, who were vilified in the recent “debates” by the beneficiaries of this system. Bringing FICA into this should raise this question- why are low-end wage earners hammered for 15% skimmed off the top of their paycheck to fund current outlays that don’t benefit them? Do your sources go into that?
Gerald H. Treffinger

They are sitting on the money because they have no way of knowing what catastrophic new taxes or regulations will descend on them . Remember the General Motors bondholders that were stiffed in favor of the UAW ? The rules can now be changed at the whim of Government any time at all. Uncertainty of this nature , when the Feds get to pick winners and losers , is antithetical to the free market . GHT

Drew

Mr. Goldberg also stated:

“These ‘fat-cats’ are the ones who do the heavy lifting in this country. They’re the ones whose federal tax dollars pick up a big chunk of the tab for all sorts of noble things, such as: … a safety net for old folks who are retired on fixed incomes.”

I was under the impression that the social security payroll tax was a uniform tax with a cutoff at a little over $100k. If my understanding is correct then how can Mr. Goldberg be stating that the upper 2% is doing such heavy lifting for the old folks. I found the following link: (http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=223) which is for the 1980′s and 1990′s, and shows the share of Social Security taxes paid by people making over 200K to range between 2.5% and 9.5%.
Drew

After reading this article and some of the comments, I began reading through articles (if supported by data) because I had always believed that the highest income earners should be paying more under a progressive system (I believe these thoughts were shared by Thomas Jefferson/Adam Smith/Abraham Lincoln) and believed that we were trending away from that principle. Mr. Goldberg’s article left me doubting my own belief’s as to the trend.

I came upon an article (http://www.ctj.org/pdf/irstop400.pdf) citing an IRS report that showed that the 400 wealthiest Americans based on AGI (at least $110 million) in tax year 2006 paid an effective tax rate of 17.2 percent in federal income tax. In 2009, I paid an effective tax rate of 21.35%. I fall within the upper tax bracket, although not by much. If one considers the effect payroll taxes have on my income (which is much less than 1/100 of what any of these individuals earn), I pay a much larger percentage of overall taxes to the Fed than these 400 individuals.

I don’t know if this data has stayed true for the subsequent years. If it is, why hasn’t Mr. Goldberg mentioned any of this in his data?
Bob Hadley

“The Rich – otherwise known in liberal circles as the filthy, no good, greedy, heartless rich.”

This is another example of you, at best, building a straw man or, at worst, making a bigoted remark. There are tens of millions of liberals (or millions of “liberal circles”) throughout the nation, not to mention elsewhere. You don’t even know 1% of them. Even from the high profile liberals, I have heard hardly any hate or resentment against “the rich.”

What I have heard is that the wealthy have benifitted disproportionately from the economy and thus should contribute disproportionately to getting it out of danger. This is not derogatory and certainly not spiteful. At worst, the arguments are a little inartfully stated.

This country is nearing financial ruin. The wealthy are most able to pull us back from the abyss. That is not to say that everyone should not contribute in some way.

We need to raise taxes sensibly and to rein in spending. When our deficit is controlled and our debt is greatly reduced, then the rich can get back their tax cuts and, perhaps, then some.

Yes, tax money belongs to the taxpayers. But guess what? The national debt belongs to all of us and threatens all of us. And the rich have much more to lose.

For someone who dishes out harsh criticism, you are laser quick to take offense.
I’m assuming, perhaps naively, that you wrote this column out of sincerity and not to get readership.
Brendan Horn

For some reason a lot of liberals believe that hurting rich people will somehow help poor people. The more rich people there in this country the better the country will be. The government should be working to make it easier for people to become wealthy.
George

Hey Bernie !!!

I follow you on the Factor ALL THE TIME !!!! I think you and Bill are a great team
and you bring much needed insight on the world around us every day.
I have been reading some of the garbage on your comments here and cannot, at times, believe the type of world we are living in.
Where do these people think that assets come from ?? They do not just fall from the sky and land on our front lawns.
They are earned. We were not raised to depend on our Government to carry us through the walk of life !
Government programs were ONLY meant to “ASSIST” in the development of becoming SELF SUFFICIENT in the society.
We are not supposed to DEPEND SOLEY on it forever.

Rich people are rich for a reason. Just like poor people are poor for a reason.
Some rich people became rich the crooked way while others became rich the legal and ethical way.
Just like Oreilly mentioned on the Factor. Oreilly was referring to the rich people who earned their riches legitimately.
Rich people EARNED their stature for being where they are EQUALLY as much as poor people EARNED their stature for being poor.
We should ALL pay EQUAL and FAIR taxes. We should NOT penalize the rich for being rich equally as much as we should not penalize the poor for being poor. Poor people should not be the ones blaming the rich people for not paying higher taxes than they are “supposed to”.
Rich people should not be the ones dictating the tax rates for the poor. We have Government there to do the regulating.

IT SHOULD be SUCH a simple concept that should be easy to understand and we all blow it up into more than it really is.

Keep up the good work BERNIE !! DON’T take any lip from anyone !!!

MarioP

George,

You stated: “We should ALL pay EQUAL and FAIR taxes.”

Since you’re so concerned about equality, how about we have everyone pay those EQUAL and FAIR tax rates as well as getting EQUAL and FAIR salaries? Is that equal enough for you, or are you just going to pick and choose your ideology to fit your liking?

You and you ilk just keep stating that people EARNED their wealth, completely disregarding the rough and dangerous working conditions of the blue collar class as if those citizens do not deserve a higher salary. Yeah, some wealthy did EARN their riches with great ideas like starting Ebay, Google, and Facebook, but others got their wealth strictly because they were at the top of their mountain. At the top there is no one to monitor their performance, like we’ve recently seen with GM and so many banks and financial institutions. Can you tell me what would happen to a blue collar worker if he couldn’t generate a profit for his supervisor. Would Joe-the-Plumber still have his job? Many, and probably most, top hats got to their elevated positions not because they are great at their jobs; they just got lucky a position up high became available and they were there to seize it. Had a more qualified individual appeared on the horizon, and there are plenty, the wiser would have taken the seat. And even if you are that bright mind who did develop a major software company or started a successful talk show, is your wealth completely self-deserving or are you just lucky a brighter mind hasn’t beat you to your idea the previous year?

One shouldn’t view his riches as a result of his hard work and personal drive to succeed. Luck plays a major role in one’s accomplishments. So when you’re at the top, be thankful someone brighter with harder work ethic hasn’t beat you to your place.

will swoboda

Hey Mario,
enjoyed your responce to George. In my life it seemed the harder I worked the luckier I got.
Your friend from Baltimore,
Will Swoboda

chet

Eat shit and die, Bernie! You’re letting everyone in on our secret! You still coming on Saturday?

chet
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http://sujazz79@live.com steve

Well we can see by the # of replys to this opinon,that real workings of the USA is and has been since 1776…in the constitution it says ….We are indoued by our CREATOR to have certain inable rights as to LIFE LIBERTY @ THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS…It dose not say your intitled to live or be given a MILLION Dollars if your born in the US…Question to libs…Have u ever seen a poor person with a shoping cart give a job to any other person???With the exception of picking up after them?? Heres some info to u…READY…. People With money do certain things with there money..First thing ..if they don’t beleave in GOD or someone who is in charge of the GALAXYS is more ap to do eleagle or just take care of them selfs,,but still they have to purchess things through normal business transactions..Witch dose have TAX’S to be paid @ the final transaction…Those who have money do things with it,,such as..BUY HOUSE’S,,CAR’S,,TRUCKS,,BOATS,,REALASTATE,,AMENITYS FOR THERE HOUSES..BUY COMPANYS WITCH PEOPLE WORK…MOST PEOPLE WHO WORK FOR SOMEONE GET WHAT AS KNOWN AS A PAYCHECK…THEN…AMAZING ENOUGH,,,THEY DO THE SAME THING FOR THERE OWN LIFES..REMEMBER WHAT JACOB MARLEY SAID TO SCROOGE,,,THAT MAN Was his LIFE’S BUSINESS,,AND HE TRYED TO GET IT IN TO EBENESERS HEAD..WORK FOR WHAT U GOT,,AND HELP ALLONG THE WAY FOR OTHERS,,BY GIVEING A MAN OR WOMAN THE OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE UP WORDS EVERY TWO WEEKS OR MONTHLY TO HAVE THE OPORTUNITY FOR LIFE LIBERTY @ THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS..WITCH CAN BE A HOME,,FIREPLACE TO BE WARM IN,,AND FEED YOUR FAMILY…THIS IS WHAT THE CONCERIVTIVE,,TEA PARTY MOVEMENT IS ALL ABOUT…NOT BY THIS SO CALLED PRES..WE HAVE,,WERE GOING BROKE,,UNEMPLOYMENT @10% IS THE ANSWER,,@ POPULAR ,thought.. WERE ALL AMERICANS HAVE TO PAY THERE TAXES AND THE GOVERMENT WE ARE UNDER DOSE NOT….OUR FOUR FATHERS WOULD STAND @ THE FLOOR OF CONGRESS AND TEACH THAT THE GIVE AWAY PLAN DOSE NOT WORK..AS WE SEE EVERY DAY AHEAD OF US..THEY WOULD YELL FROM LINCOINS STEPS AND PREACH TO PROTECT OUR BORDERS,,OF OUR COUNTRY,,TURN THE WATER ON FOR PEOPLE NOT FOR A TWO INCH FISH,, IS TO COME FIRST..BUT THE PEOPLE ARE FIRST..TALK ABOUT THAT FOR OVER 210 YEARS THE GREATEST # OF INVENTIONS HAVE COME OUT OF OUR COUNTRY’S INVENTITIVE IDEAS @ DETURMANATION TO GIVE NOT ONLY TO OUR OWN PEOPLE..BUT TO THE REST OF THE WORLD,,AS OUR CREATOR,,JESUS CHRIST WOULD WANT,,THE REST OF MAN KIND TO LEARN @ PROSPER FOR EVERY FAMILY…U EARN AS U GO,,AND BEING GREATFUL GIVES MAN PERSPECTIVE…FOR EVERY ONE…NOT ABSOLUTE POWER TO TELL A MAN WHAT TO DO,,OR BUY,,OR INVENT…MAN GROWS BY LEARNING TO EARN AND CARE ON THERE OWN,,NOT BUY THE GIVE AWAY PLAN,,WITCH MAKES MAN SELFISH,,UNPREDUCTIVE @ UNHELPFUL TO MAN KIND…FOR OVER 210 YEARS HAS BEEN THE MOST PRODUCTIVE,,HELPFUL AND UNSELFISH,,GIVING,,CAREING,,PRIVETELY,,AND GOVERMENT HELPING IN RIGHTCHES NESS..IN THE HISTORY OF THIS EARTH… THE MEDIA HAS BECOME A JOKE…WHEN OVER 6 NATIONAL NETWORKS USE THE SAME SENTENCES TO DESCRIBE THERE STORYS,,EVERYDAY,ALL SAME WORD FOR WORD,,,BRINGS ME TO DICTATORSHIP…HITLER STYLE REPORTING…OUR MEDIA IS L AZY,,,L A Z Y….AND SOMEONE IS PULLING ALL THE STRINGS TO REPORT WORD FOR WORD,,SENTENCE,,BY SENTENCE…THIS IS EVIL… I HAVE NO PROFF,,BUT GEORGE SOROS WOULD’NT SUPRISE ME IF HE IS THE LEADER OF THIS L A Z Y REPORTING..REPORTERS DO NOT INVESTAGATE ANYMORE…THEY DID BEFORE THE 80′S..NO LONGER…BECAUSE LIB NETWORKS WANT US TO PUT THEM ALL ON A PEDADSTIAL…THERE SO GREAT TO TAKE THERE TIME TO REPORT TO US SO WE WONT SEE A DIFFERNT PERSPECTIVE,,BECAUSE IT WOULD COST MORE AND HEAVEN FORBID IT TAKES THEM TO SPEND MONEY@TIME ON THE TRUTH,,LOOK AT THERE NEWSPAPERS NOW..THERE GOING BROKE,,Y BECAUSE THERE PERSPECTIVE IS THERES ALONE…NOT OWR’S TO SEE IN A RIGHTCHES LIGHT..ITS TIME FOR THE CONCEIVITIVE TRUTH,,GIVE OUR TAX’ES BACK TO US AT THE SAME LEVALS,,AND GO BACK TO WORK WERE OUR SMALL BISINESS AND LARGE CAN PROSPER AGAIN IN THE US,,SO THE WORK THAT THE DEMOS HAVE LET GO OVER SEAS BE AMERICAN AGAIN..AND BILL CLINTION SAID THIS ON LARRY KING LIVE,HE GAVE NO INTRUST IN BRINGING BACK WORK FROM OVER SEA’S.. NOT SO WERE POORER THAN MOST AFRICAN COUNTRYS ARE…AND BY THE WAY GREED KILLS..HONESTY THERIVES,,AND HAPPYNESS IS ABOUND…TRY THAT DEMOS AND SEE WERE WE ARE THEN..WE WONT HAVE CORUPTNESS,,POOR AND MORE POOR AS EVERY YEAR INCRESS..AND A HOUSE OF CARDS BUILT WITH CORUPTNESS,,ALLWAYS FALLS….LOOK @ ROME,,WERE DID THEY GO??.LOOK WERE WE ARE NOW GANG….GET THE MESSAGE ….

MarioP

Steve, you scared everyone in the room. Please return to your cage.

http://www.yahoo.com Aida

My thoughts exactly, MarioP!

Phil

I am thankful and grateful to the Founding Fathers for creating such a Republic that anyone with the drive to learn and work hard can achieve what they dream, with the only limit is within themselves. This is why we have people that have achieved the wealth we see. I believe many of the very wealthy, after speaking with good number of them, do what they do with a drive for accomplishment, not money.
The truly greedy are those that are crying to take away the wealth they have worked for to redistribute to those that are undeserving and unwilling to work for it. They are too lazy to learn what it takes and are green with jealousy which is why they fall back on their learned dependence on a government that is more than willing steal from those that work to give to those that don’t.
This country needs to take a step back: NO earmarks, NO lobbyists, NO entitlements, NO central bank, and NO income tax. Everyone should pay the same amount in taxes to pay off the debt the year it is created. What happened to the fight for equality?
Everyone needs to be responsible for the health and welfare of themselves and their families. Those truly in need will be taken care of by the God fearing, charitable people around them, if the thieves let the people keep what they worked for.

MarioP

Wow Phil. You’re …. out there…. in your own (fantasy) world. Your comment “I believe many of the very wealthy….do what they do with a drive for accomplishment, not money.” You believe that, eh? I would believe it too if the wealthy wouldn’t complain about taxes and would donate most of their wealth to charities, since their drive is for accomplishment, and not the money. I would believe it if the ones making buck each year would live in the middle class. One can be an accomplished CEO while choosing to keep only a fraction of his millions he gets each year.

And are those who can’t get health insurance for their pre-existing condition or the ones that had their healthcare cut off due to high healthcare bills “undeserving and unwilling to work for it”? What would you do if you had cancer and all of a sudden lost your job due to the poor economy, who would insure you then? What would you do if you had to fork out tens of thousands in medical bills to keep your wife in cancer therapy? Have you not heard people having to sell their homes to pay for healthcare? Where were those god fearing, charitable people to help them out?

And NO INCOME TAX? So, you’re for way higher sales, property, etc., etc. taxes? Because if you take out income taxes, you’ll have to make up that lost tax revenue somewhere else.

And finally since you’re for such equality, you must be for equal salaries as well, like in Communism, right? You span yourself so fast with your wild theories, you unknowingly twirled past your extreme capitalism and came up on the other side in Communism.

Let me guess… you belong to that Tea Party, correct?

I would love to hear your views on the cause of this economy, the bailouts, the Iraqi war, and your feelings about W.

http://sujazz79@live.com steve

Here’s an example that u libs could finaly understand..Hostest years ago would put a rack of cupcake’s on the front near the regester.On the regular rack they could only put 8 maybe 12 cupcakes on the shelf.So they put there rack up- everyday the sales man would have to fill that rack with about 50 or so,,everyday…That extra sales would bring extra tax’s every day…Investing into bis give the State and fed more money…This is how u run bis and get out of dept…SALES SALES SALES,,BOTH BIG AND SMALL are needed to put people back to work,,like in 08 the houseing bubble was starting but our congress never went to biss class’es in collage,,thats y we have the problems we have..And if u say it is not them,,are they not so post to be the smartest people we can have in Washington?? So we tea party people want people working,,succeding and make people feel moving forward everyday..in my state the unenployment rate was 4.5% the city was 3.2,,,THATS WHAT I WANT BACK AGAIN,,THERE WERE MORE HELP WANTED SIGNS IN OUR CITY THAN PEOPLE COULD FILL THEM..THEN IT PRODUCED A DIFFERENT PROBLEM..LOWER WAGE BISS HAD TO RAISE THERE WAGES,,BECAUSE HIGHER PAYING BISS WERE MAKING WAGES HIGHER FOR THEM AS WELL…UNDERSTAND.. WORK NOT GIVE AWAY PLANS..LESS CORUPTION TO..

MarioP

Steve, let me get this straight. You belong to the Tea Party?

http://sujazz79@live.com steve

i suport the tea party,,because it works to the line of were our four fathers bring to start and develop this country,,witch has given 210 + years of more inventions,,charty to the rest of the world,,and more than any of the countrys put together And has produced more for man than any time on this earth’s history.. …And know one has been to duplacate it,,because it is the work to total freedom,,witch is endoed by our CREATOR.. By the way,,we can not give everything to everyone for free,,,it is inpossible to do so..Add up how many people live in your city,,think we can use the give away plan to the rest of the nation to at the same cost.??..Go back to school and learn A.B.C together takes learning were they start and STOP..Not like the chaves from Venezuela were he gets all the money,,and decides who the have and the have nots are…THATS SCARRY,,JUST LIKE HITLER…MAY HE REMAIN IN HELL…

http://www.yahoo.com Aida

btw, MarioP, in case Phil doesn’t answer, I have some answers for your questions to him:
And are those who can’t get health insurance for their pre-existing condition or the ones that had their healthcare cut off due to high healthcare bills “undeserving and unwilling to work for it”?
- Answer: MEDICAID. All 50 states have it and this person would qualify, if their income was “low” enough (e.g., in NY, $88,000 total household)
What would you do if you had cancer and all of a sudden lost your job due to the poor economy, who would insure you then?
- Answer: MEDICAID. I was an oncology nurse. I have seen this situation many, many times.
What would you do if you had to fork out tens of thousands in medical bills to keep your wife in cancer therapy?
- Answer: Hopefully you saved enough for that “rainy day” which costs the same as a new car. Otherwise, get a “paper divorce” and declare that you are not willing to pay for her cancer care. Then she will get MEDICAID. (I’ve seen that many times too, just ask any hospital social worker.)
Have you not heard people having to sell their homes to pay for healthcare?
- Answer: So what? Is your house more important than the family that lives in it? Owning a house is not so important in the scheme of life. Just be glad you even have a house to sell to help pay for healthcare for a loved one. Get your priorities straight!
Where were those god fearing, charitable people to help them out?
- Answer: PLENTY. Just ask any hospital social worker. They are a WEALTH of up-to-date information on getting financial and social assistance from foundations/charities set up by RICH PEOPLE TO HELP YOU IN YOUR TIME OF NEED.

http://www.yahoo.com Aida

btw, MarioP, in case Phil doesn’t answer, I have some answers for your questions to him:
And are those who can’t get health insurance for their pre-existing condition or the ones that had their healthcare cut off due to high healthcare bills “undeserving and unwilling to work for it”?
- Answer: MEDICAID. All 50 states have it and this person would qualify, if their income was “low” enough (e.g., in NY, $88,000 total household)
What would you do if you had cancer and all of a sudden lost your job due to the poor economy, who would insure you then?
- Answer: MEDICAID. I was an oncology nurse. I have seen this situation many, many times.
What would you do if you had to fork out tens of thousands in medical bills to keep your wife in cancer therapy?
- Answer: Hopefully you saved enough for that “rainy day” which costs the same as a new car. Otherwise, get a “paper divorce” and declare that you are not willing to pay for her cancer care. Then she will get MEDICAID. (I’ve seen that many times too, just ask any hospital social worker.)
Have you not heard people having to sell their homes to pay for healthcare?
- Answer: So what? Is your house more important than the family that lives in it? Owning a house is not so important in the scheme of life. Just be glad you even have a house to sell to help pay for healthcare for a loved one. Get your priorities straight!
Where were those god fearing, charitable people to help them out?
- Answer: PLENTY. Just ask any hospital social worker. They are a WEALTH of up-to-date information on getting financial and social assistance from foundations/charities set up by RICH PEOPLE TO HELP YOU IN YOUR TIME OF NEED.

MarioP

Aida,

I am shocked to hear the Right say to go on Medicaid. Aren’t you guys trying to limit, if not eliminate, social services? You’re calling for more governmental spending. That’s unbelievable.

Of course owning a house is not as important as saving a life, but why should a family lose their home to pay for medical bills? The proper and effective healthcare system should take care of the medical expenses without loosing the family home. Imaging one selling their home to take care of the mother’s breast cancer. She then passes away and now the children are without their mom and their home. Other 1st world nations take care of their people way better than the US does. If we are the #1 nation on earth, how can we not be #1 at taking care of our citizens?

The Right always says to plan for the bad times or take care of your own family, but the conservatives in the poor and middle classes run really quickly to government’s social services when help is needed. That’s the typical hypocrisy we so often see from the Right.

Terence

Aida, you’re suggesting people “work the system” and let the government pick up the tab. Therein lies the problem, too many insurance companies are selecting their customers and letting the government hold the bag on risky customers. I would much rather see more people with “skin in the game” and more people with access to Healthcare.

All the while, I’m guessing you’ll complain about government spending when the primary drain on the annual budget deficit is: Defense, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Phil, try and get your information from a different source.

And MarioP, I’ve been watching you … I like the way you think, kudos.

Regards,
Terence A. Craig

http://www.yahoo.com Aida

Why do you peg me as someone on the “Right”? I may be right (as in correct) but right as in party doesn’t define my political views. I am independent in my views and think for myself, after observing the trends in American behavior for quite a few decades. And contrary to what Terence thinks, he should read my comments and realize that I have never stated I am against all taxes, or government spending on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and ESPECIALLY defense. I support them all but with LIMITATIONS. Like many on the political right, I believe that there should be a support system for people who are truly in need, but it needs to be a TEMPORARY support system, unlike what we have now, which is generations of American-born folks living off the system. Let’s take health care (an area I am vastly experienced in.) I believe that all children should have their medical needs cared for, and the statistics show that the cost of children with astronomical health care costs are quite rare. Additionally, Medicaid for kids cuts off when they are 18 y/o, and is therefore self-limiting in its theory. And, MarioP, contrary to what you assume, the CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid) statistics do not show that Medicaid medical costs for adults are what is consuming most of our national health care dollars (as opposed to Medicaid coverage of nursing home care which is a completely separate category.) In your example of someone with breast cancer, that coverage is self-limiting in that that patient will either die or go into remission and coverage for that care will be done. In fact, it is the MEDICARE (care for the elderly and ESRD) patients that is the health care budget-buster. I have several proposals for lowering Medicare costs, which I won’t bore anyone here with, but clearly you should do your research if you (and Terence here) are going to make claims about the health care process rather than sticking to philosophical viewpoints like robbing the rich and using the government to do it, etc., which is what we were discussing.
And, FYI, Medicare is not a pure entitlement program but a form of insurance that all taxpayers HAVE PAID INTO in order to have it. Thus, if you never paid into the system through your taxes, you will never get it. The real problem with Medicare costs skyrocketing is that the clueless bean-counters in Washington have completely miscalculated future costs of care because they don’t keep up with medical advances. In addition, Medicare covers costly items that are completely unnecessary such as hoverrounds when a wheelchair will suffice. I have no problem with increasing the amounts working Americans pay into Medicare because we will all get that back in excellent insurance coverage when we are old. In this case, we are taking care of ourselves. As for Medicaid, if you left-wing liberals would keep the threshold qualifying amount low, as it was intended when the entitlement was created, then it would continue to cover only poor folks. But instead, it is YOUR support of these liberal politicians, that keep increasing the amount of household income to qualify for Medicaid. ($88,000 per household in NY??) That clearly enables the MIDDLE CLASS to “milk the system”, as Terence states. But WHO allows that? Certainly not the right-wingers! Oh, and another fact: the budget-busting part of Medicaid happens to be all the MIDDLE INCOME folks who fraudulently transfer all their elderly parents’ assets to themselves so they can stick their moms/dads into nursing homes using Medicaid and not paying anything for that care. It certainly isn’t the rich doing any such thing! Funny how the libs here love to scream about the rich leaving their assets for their own children, but when the middle income folks face the possibility that they might lose Mom’s house and her bank accounts, they are right up there committing fraud to make sure they get her money.
MarioP

Thank you Terence for your compliment and thank you for your help here. I truly appreciate it.

Ron Sell

Bernie, your one of the few sensible media people. THANK YOU! I sometimes have a hard time believing how many ignorant, Progressive brain washed people are out there. They need to study history. Good stuff like our Constitution and Federalist Papers. And the facts about where those Socialist dreams really lead. They conveniently forget millions of starving Russian peasants, and the killing fields of Cambodia. How very sad.
Barry Tekirian

Bernie , your always right on the mark. Any negative comments you’ve been receiving only goes to show me that uneducated Americans are growing at an alarming rate. Enjoy the holidays and I always look forward to your appearances on The Factor for your commentaries exploiting the journalism industry .
Eric

This is one of the most disgusting articles I’ve ever read in my life.

The sheer greed of America has truly reached a tipping point.

MajorB

You sound like one of those people who believe America is going to hell in a hand-basket. Instead of lambasting the greed, how about if we focus our efforts getting this new Congress and President to reduce the deficit, debt, and spending. We have the power! Furthermore, we need to hold our elected officials accountable to restore, repair, and improve the infrastructure of this country. Bernie has a point. These rich people have worked hard and provide us jobs…period. You deny that and you deny gravity. The last thing we need is government trying to make them pay for making too much. Social engineering doesn’t work. Hasn’t these last two years taught you anything? By the way, Merry Christmas!!!

PeeJ

“reduce the deficit, debt, and spending”

GREAT IDEA!

By not restoring the historically low, temporary, top marginal tax rate (which, while it has been in place, has seen the deficit “increase” from a surplus to ther frightening amount of today) to the previous historically low top marginal tax rate (which was in place during the longest and largest economic expansion in US history and led to that surplusI just mentioned) will “decrease” the deficit by at least negative 700 biliiion dollars. BRILLIANT!
MarioP

MajorB,

You’re a MajorBozo. You are asking to reduce the deficit, but I’m sure you’re for extending the tax cut, correct? You’re the typical Right wing hypocrite, calling for responsible spending and balanced budgets, yet you keep voting in the most wasteful spending political party. Reagan, Bush1, and Bush2 racked up over 70% of the total national debt. And I don’t want to hear your lame excuses that it’s the liberal Congress’s fault, because before Reagan took over, that liberal Congress was pretty stingy. As soon as Reagan came to power with his mixed Congress, the deficits exploded. Later Bush2 with his Republican Congress set a new low for wasteful spending, without funding a major war against a super power or recovering from an economic disaster. What a joke!

The last two years taught me that I prefer a Democratic president over what we have seen the prior eight years. Bush2′s economic record is the worst of any president in at least the last half century. Go buy his book and figure out why he failed so miserably. People like you can’t admit that just because a politician has an (R) behind his name, he can not be an economic failure. It takes more than being a Republican with morals to run a country effectively, yet some ignorant voters believe that is all that’s needed. Be honest and tell your children that our nation is in such a mess because the voters don’t know what’s right for the nation. The three biggest political idiots of recent years, Quale, Bush2, and Palin, just happen to have that (R) by coincidence? The majority of the moronic Tea Partiers are former Republicans just by chance? The reason most business owners are Republican is not because of their brain power, it’s because of their relentless drive fueled by greed and their lack of yearning for a strong family life. Instead of being there for their wife and children, their excuse is that they are providers for their family. If you’re that good at your job, you should be able to provide for your family working the regular 40-hour week. I’m able to do it and I live very comfortably; it’s not that difficult.

MajorB

Resorting to name calling and liberal talking points…great! FYI, I voted for Jimmy Carter. The fact of the matter is this: until now, the voting public has never been as informed as they are at this point in history. Thus, they are voting for/against what they believe is in the best interest of the country. The 90′s was an anomaly and Clinton got the credit. Good for him. Furthermore, it’s not just the president in charge that has caused the current mess. It has been years of the educated elite in both houses. So, it should be the intent of all Americans to stay on top of our elected officials. Make sure they stop spending, reduce the deficit, and keep taxes low. By the way, I’m glad you are comfortable and are able to provide for your family within the 40 hour framework. You are an exception and not the rule. However, whichever party initiated all these “get money for nothing programs” are not good for anyone. Additionally, do you have any facts to support your fueled by greed and their lack of yearing for a strong family life” assertion? Sounds like your emotions are taking advantage of your reason.

MarioP

MajorB,
I apologize for the name calling, but your previous post really got to me.

The voting public has never been as informed, and misinformed, at any time in the past as it is today. Thanks to the internet, people can look up and verify facts quicker than ever before. But at the same token, emails spread false rumors that people do not properly vet out and pass the lies to others. Do you recall back in 2008 an email with photos of a modern prison was being circulated, calling it a waste of money by the Democratic presidential candidate from Illinois? Some morons just passed it on without checking the facts. Had they researched it a bit they would have found out that the prison was actually in Austria. More recently an email was being circulated showing Obama “praying with Muslims at the White House”. Again, had the uninformed voter used the internet to verify that email, he would have found out that that incident took place in Turkey and it wasn’t a praying session. The internet is a double-edged sword; some became more politically educated while others became more misinformed.

You stated that “it should be the intent of all Americans to stay on top of our elected officials”. Then please explain to me how Bush2 got elected the second time? Didn’t everyone who voted for him the second time see what type of a person he was? Can anyone disagree Bush2 is an arrogant, ignorant, and self centered persona, surrounded with an incompetent cabinet?
Many voters do not care about getting the right people into, or the wrong people out of, our government. All those voters care about are lower taxes. Then they are surprised the deficits are massive.

And finally regarding my accusations about working more than 40 hours and poor family life, Iuckily I come from a family that values strong family bond. I’m passing that onto my children. But many are not. I see and hear of many people working and “providing” for their family. Well, many of those marriages ended in a divorce or are at the brink of one. The husband completely neglected his family because he HAD to work 60 hours a week to PROVIDE for his family. Well, even though his wife asked him to spend more time with his children, he chose to bring in nearly $250K. Could he not have enjoyed his life with $150K? That’s plenty to live on. Well, now his savings and all the property is being divided in a divorce. Good job providing for your family buddy!

http://www.yahoo.com Aida

Uh, wrong on the facts again, MarioP. The people that are most “not there” for their female partners and children are the middle class and low-income men in America (44% of children in those households are living with one parent) compared to 7% of upper-income households. That’s a double whammy when you think of the middle-class dollar that is now stretched even further between two households (two rents, two sets of food, two sets of utilities, higher child-care costs, etc.) It’s a TRIPLE whammy when you think that over $5 BILLION in non-paid child support from these middle and low-income Deadbeat Dads is being pushed into the current entitlement programs (Section 8 housing assistance, food stamps, Medicaid, government-paid child-care vouchers) all funded by taxpayers. Being a “good provider” is defined by however the married couple agrees it should be. There is no one way to to have a strong family life. Whether one parent is home full-time while one works long hours or both parents work and are home part-time, is far better than having a single parent (hardly home b/c they have to work full time) and having a dad you just see on weekend visits…or so ALL the child development studies state.

MarioP

Aida,

What do you mean “wrong again”? When was I wrong before? Please point me to my previous misinformation, error, or lie.

And please reread my post about the broken up marriage example. I wasn’t talking about classes. I was talking about the drive to succeed, working way beyond the 40-hour week. I was talking about overworking to generate extra income that many do not need, especially when their family life is on the line. Many marriages in lower classes end in divorce for the opposite reasons, too little income. But I talked about when the provider for the family chooses money over his wife and children, even if his sacrifice was not necessary and was only chosen for his own greedy satisfaction.

And since you’re back on line and because you’re the expert on working overtime, could you please finally explain to me how a CEO or other top hats deserve tens of millions a year for their hard work? You equated hard work and education to financial reward. How much harder are CEOs working than the blue collar class, or the citizens with a college degree already working overtime?
Obviously hard work and education alone aren’t the factors that determine a salary, especially at the very top. Please educate me how Rick Wagoner of GM got $14.4M for 2007, while the company has been loosing money for years and the car maker eventually declared bankruptcy in 2009. Wagoner spent 6 years in college and has an MBA in Business, which is nothing special.
Or how about United Healthcare CEO getting $102M for 2009. How hard did he work for that money?
http://www.yahoo.com Aida

MarioP:
In answer to your question, “could you please finally explain to me how a CEO or other top hats deserve tens of millions a year for their hard work? You equated hard work and education to financial reward. How much harder are CEOs working than the blue collar class, or the citizens with a college degree already working overtime?
Obviously hard work and education alone aren’t the factors that determine a salary, especially at the very top. Please educate me how Rick Wagoner of GM got $14.4M for 2007, while the company has been loosing money for years and the car maker eventually declared bankruptcy in 2009. Wagoner spent 6 years in college and has an MBA in Business, which is nothing special.
Or how about United Healthcare CEO getting $102M for 2009. How hard did he work for that money?”
You should already know the answer to this since you are an American consumer and it should be obvious by now. CEOs of this pay level, which constitutes less than .001% of all corporate CEOs, are paid in accordance to market forces. Who ultimately determines how much these executives are paid? YOU, the American consumer/ shareholder. That’s right, MarioP, hate to burst your bubble but the responsibility for picking the CEOs and determining their pay scales lies ultimately with regular folks like us so there is no one to blame but ourselves for poor or winning choices. How? Let’s equate this with sports stars. How are the equally impressive pay scales for star ballers like LeBron James or Michael Vick determined? Not only by ball club owners (though everyone likes to think so). A multiple of factors are involved. Namely, TICKET SALES. Is that person, a draw for the team and stadium? Is that player going to FILL THE SEATS? Are they going to get people like you to buy tickets (and all the related stuff like beverages and food?) Now, how is that? Because he has WORKED HARD, harder than most other folks like us, at honing his skills. While the rest of us were either spending our time studying in libraries or watching TV at home, this young man was out on the fields in his youth, in his high school days, getting pounded on the local field or playing basketball until midnight, EVERY NIGHT. These guys sacrificed everything in their youth, time with their friends and families, studying other subjects, and every other waking moment to perfect their skills. So YES, they have in essence, worked much harder than you or I to get that good. So do they deserve their pay in the tens of millions? That’s up to the rest of us. Stop buying those tickets and watch that pay (and lucrative endorsements drop). Proof: LeBron leaving Cleveland has devastated that entire team, the stadium is much less filled, and the city vendors/jobs/revenue suffer because of it. Similarly, shareholders vote in their board members and that board determines the CEOs pay. You want to watch that CEO’s contract not get renewed? Don’t buy their products (like GM), sales drop, shareholders are pissed, CEOs get blamed, change CEO. So the next time you fill out your 401k or pension fund’s board member voting form, now you know how you directly share in the responsibility for decision that “overpays” (in your opinion) these people.
MarioP

Aida,

Again I have to reply to this post to debate your last post.

You claim the customers and stock holders are responsible for picking CEOs. In Wagoner’s case, the stock holders were sending their message to GM for years because as soon as Wagoner became the CEO in 2000, the stock started it’s decline from it’s all time high of $90pps that year. By the time 2007 rolled around the GM pps was down to $30. By spring of 2009, the price dropped to $1.
The car clientele also responded to Wagoner’s failure. Although at first many near-sighted car owners jumped on the Wagoner’s philosophy of bigger is better, once gas prices hit above $4/gallon, sales turned sour. Although GM lost $80B in its last four years, Wagoner still gave himself a hefty $14M salary for 2007, even as the stock holders and shoppers were giving him the boot.

Regarding professional athletes (and actors), I too do not agree with their huge salaries. But the best athletes (and actors) get paid so much because that is what it takes to make a successful team (or a blockbuster movie), and that is what’s needed to rack in the money from the public. They are the best of the best, and there is no one better at what they do. But a failing CEO who doesn’t work hard or constantly makes poor decisions can easily be replaced by someone else who’ll do a better job for less money.

Talent and intelligence also play a major role in determining a salary, but you only brought up hard work and education. And of course we have that entitlement of being at the top as probably the most important factor that sets the salaries for the top hats. Do you think a auto repair shop mechanic would last four years at his job had he not turned a profit for his owner for that long? He would be lucky to finish a single year with that kind of a performance. I’m telling you, it’s the ENTITLEMENT!

http://www.eschatonblog.com/ Wil Burns

” People the “Class War” is over. Guess which side won? “

Tim N

Bike paths in Illinois won. They’ll get $2.5 million from the new bill!

MarioP

Good! Now the fatties of Illinois can ride their bikes and lose some weight. That $2.5M will return to the citizens 10 fold via lower health insurance, medicare and medicaid costs.

Tim N

Mario, do you really think the fatties are going to get their bikes out? You can’t be serious.

MarioP

Well, it’s just wishful thinking.

http://www.eschatonblog.com/ Wil Burns

These tax cuts to the wealthy did nothing to create jobs over the past 10 years. As a matter of fact, an article written in the WSJ showed GW had the worst “jobs record” on record. More private sector jobs were created in the 1st nine months of 2010 because of the Obama Stimulus than were created in all 8 years of GW Bush.

These supposed “temporary tax breaks” for the wealthy were “crammed down the throats of America” by a Republican Congress using the same reconciliation process that they attacked Dems for using to pass the healthcare bill. You want us to believe that extending these costly tax cuts to the wealthy will suddenly work to create jobs – after 10 years of failure?

Don’t blame the democrats for creating class warfare – that war was started with Reaganomics and has been waged by Republicans for decades now. Face the facts and stop the Republican “Marxist” “socialist” rhetoric including the lie that the stimulus “did not work”. It did as intended by stopping the hemorrhaging of 700,000 jobs a month and helped states sustain basic services for police, fire, and schools. It’s easy to play Monday Morning quarterback by looking at the current situation and saying the stimulus did not “fix” the economy – but any economist will tell you it would be far worse than it is now and that unemployment would be double today’s figure without it.