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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan3 who wrote (153229)	10/13/2002 10:14:15 AM
From: i-node	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1585146

Yet, somehow, their share of the "pie" keeps going up at the same time their crooked and incompetent work is ruining the economy and sapping our nation's strength. Crooked & incompetent? Isn't that painting with a broad brush? Do you feel Steven Speilberg & Babs are "crooked and incompetent"? Do you feel that pro sports players are "crooked and incompetent"? What about Warren Buffet? Or Bill Gates? Are ALL these people incompetent? When those transfer payments are excluded from the income statistics, the bottom 20% of the population receives 0.9% of national income (rather than just under 4%). Well, you need to think about how "income" is defined; it excludes some significant amounts that are, by any reasonable definition, "income". The group to which you refer receives FREE healthcare from their state Medicaid programs (I pay $1,000/month for my family's healthcare). A large portion of that group receives, at retirement, social security benefits far beyond those that have accrued actuarily to them. In addition, there is AFDC for the children of these people. There is the EITC, state food stamp & WIC programs, and, of course, unemployment compensation (paid by former employers). As it turns out, being in that bottom 20% pays pretty damned well. I am not opposed to a certain level of welfare giveaways. Newt Gingrich's Contract With America made great progress in dealing with the welfare problem in this country. But the chronic call by liberals for redistribution of wealth is counterproductive in an economy in which productivity is rewarded with wealth. I do believe that some of the payments to corporate CEOs are ridiculously high and not truly representative of their capabilities. But this is a market-based economy and we don't need to meddle; this problem will take care of itself. If you eliminate the incentives (for example, as had been done prior to Reagan's election) you will do more harm than good. I'm in favor of a reasonable wealth redistribution. But a Death Tax in which 55% of one's property is handed to the government at death is indisputably wrong. Worse, middle income persons like myself bear the brunt of the redistribution. Example: In Arkansas, the children of families making less than $50,000 have generally been eligible to receive $5,000 in free college tuition benefits. But because my income is over that amount, my children don't receive that benefit. IS THIS FAIR? It isn't. If that level were $250,000, it would be different. But even though I make more than $50,000, it is no easier for me to put my kids through school than it is for someone making $50,000. They have to work their butts off. I don't complain about my kids having to work; I do complain about them having to work harder than the kids of someone making $25,000 a year just because their parents make less than I do. It is stupid. We give plenty to those with lesser income. As a CPA I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've had clients come in and say, "Hey, you mean to tell me if I earn an extra $5,000 I've got to pay half of it in taxes? They [the government] can just go to hell. I'll stay at home at watch TV". If you take the incentive out of work in the United States you end up with an economy equivalent to that of the Cold War Soviet Union.

To: Dan3 who wrote (153229)	10/14/2002 7:05:57 PM
From: Joe NYC	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1585146

Dan, Yet, somehow, their share of the "pie" keeps going up at the same time their crooked and incompetent work is ruining the economy and sapping our nation's strength. Ok, this evil fifth quintile that you are denouncing, I would not be surprised if you yourself were not a member. All it takes is income of $83,500 to be in the highest quintile, and if you have a working spouse, it is not something that is that difficult to achieve. Especially in high cost / high income parts of the country. When those transfer payments are excluded from the income statistics, the bottom 20% of the population receives 0.9% of national income (rather than just under 4%) There must be something wrong with your math here. I have studied the tables, and it is not that much. I could believe 0.9% reduction from 4.0%. Joe