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

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (749152)	10/24/2013 5:15:09 PM
From: SilentZ	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573887

>When did I say that we shouldn't have taxes? You didn't. But you're playing in the same sandbox as that statement... >Some of the biggest gaps between rich and poor can be seen in the so-called "blue states." Yes. You're absolutely right. But here's the list: en.wikipedia.org Looking closely at the list, there are pretty much two things that make a state much more likely to have higher inequality than others. 1. Having a really high percentage of blacks -- Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina -- because we've treated blacks terribly for centuries 2. Having a huge city or region (relative to the size of the rest of its population) that has historically (going back centuries) been a financial center of the U.S. -- New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut -- because we're in (I think our fourth -- couple of decades after the War of 1812, three decades after the Civil War, Roaring Twenties, and 1980ish until now) period where for an extended period of time the financial sector has managed to achieve the critical mass where they make themselves richer and richer and richer in perpetual fashion. DC has the double-whammy of essentially having both factors, so it's no surprise that they're the most unequal. And all of the bleach-white states are the most equal! The combined black population in the top 12 is probably, well, less than 12. >Some of the biggest failures in urban politics have been in cities controlled by Democrats. You just said why, yourself. "Urban politics." Almost all big cities are controlled by Democrats. The likelihood of voting Democratic correlates incredibly strongly with population density. Make of that what you will. And the red states are bastions of political ethics. >Warren Buffett, one of the highest profile advocates for "higher taxes on the rich" already dodges them and doesn't have the faintest idea how these higher taxes will impact the middle and upper-middle classes such as the secretary he brings up. You'll rarely hear a good word about Warren Buffett from me. >The way most of us build wealth is by saving and investing wisely. Progressive tax rates punish those who try to do just that, The way most people in say, the top 5-10% build wealth is by saving and investing. The average American never makes enough to save. >because it treats windfall income like lottery winnings. How many people get "windfall income?" What percentage of people make significantly over $400,000 in any one year of their lives? Three percent? Five percent? >The only way to growth your wealth now is to speculate. And most people can't speculate. Except through the lottery. -Z