WebsterMark wrote on 03/04/16 at 09:04:44:

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He's a LIAR LIAR pants on fire. He cannot f*cking do math either:

The top 1%, paid 38%
The top 5%, paid 59%
The top 10%, paid 70%
The top 25%, paid 86%
The bottom 50%, 3%

the percentages do NOT add up to 100%. AND THE PERCENTAGES ARE INCLUSIVE OF EACH OTHER.

trying to spin his elitist b*llsh!t. They live off Capital Gains, which is taxed at 10% or less, not "INCOME" tax which is INSANE. That's the loophole for the wealthy elite, be born into wealth and draw a "paltry sum" from investments while crying impoverished.

Absolutely, couldn't agree more. You work, get paid, and that Your money,,, even though it is not Really money, at least it's something that you can trade for things you want.
It's a convenient way to store value.
Carrying fifteen chickens to the shoe store is a hassle.

I've gotta work today, so no time for a lengthy tome.  Consider a few things:
With our "progressive" income tax scheme, the tax code is also used as a means to encourage certain aspects of the economy.  Why is home mortgage interest deductible?  To encourage home ownership and foster the building industry.  This is only one of many examples of how the tax code is used as an incentive to certain industries.
Almost all of Western Europe uses the Value Added Tax, really nothing but a national sales tax, in conjunction with a progressive income tax.  But, the income tax rates are somewhat less than ours are.
Bot's argument about a VAT being regressive has some merit, but it is balanced by the fact that everyone pays something; illegals still buy jeans and shoes, for instance, even though their income may escape taxation since they are paid off of the books.
Next, a poor man buys a used Ford or Toyota; a rich man buys a new Mercedes.  A poor man buys $17 jeans at Wal Mart; a rich man buys $100 jeans as a fashion store.
Food and housing are exempt from sales taxes almost everywhere.  Same with other real necessities.
My cousin in Switzerland who is quite successful pays about 15% in income tax, and of course, pays VAT on everything that he buys.  Poor people there, and here, pay no income tax.
So, my vote is for the VAT, coupled with a small income tax.  No system is perfect, but that combination is the best compromise.

A VAT is a consumption tax, it seems.

Maybe we could all be exempt on our first, say, 30,000 of spending, then after that it kicks in.

I think it would get people to save more, and that empowers them, and removes their dependency thinking on government to provide.
It would require a system to recognize and track each one of us. If you are not in the system, then you lose the exemption and a VAT is enacted upon purchase.
I don't want the gubbermint to have any say in our tax liability, for they will always find an excuse to raise it....
I want it to be within our own power, not theirs, so I am in disagreement with a tax percentage withheld and a VAT, Jerry.

Saving would be great
I remember when I could.
If someone wants to design a system that allows me to save, I'll jump right on it. We don't have Nice anything. Don't go out to eat. And just getting by. Barely. Tapping into savings, not adding to. And my wife is a respiratory therapist, so, she ain't making burger flipping money.

It doesn't make sense to "save" ...    The banks will give you 1/2 % for your savings account or CD.  And the "real" rate of inflation is 3% +..... The dollar you save is worth 97 & 1/2 cents a year from now.......

I remember my stepmother going to the bank and rolling over CDs, she had them set to mature one after another, ten thousand dollars in each, and making , IIRC, around eight percent. Someone who had money and collateral could Borrow money for less. You figure it out...
Now, CD doesn't stand for Certificate of Deposit. More like
Certificate of Desperation.
If I had any money I'd be buying gold, silver and the pre sandwich quarters and dimes. Considering the whole picture, the derivatives, the Admitted debt, knowing how they lie to us about what is obvious, like the unemployment numbers,I'm a bit suspicious of the debt figures. Add all those factors together, in My mind, I see a dollar as a very fragile and over valued piece of paper. That it took only thirty two of them to buy an ounce of gold when I was under thirteen, and now, around thirteen hundred, I Really think it's cheaper than it should be. Based on everything I see, the future of the dollar is grim and that will translate to needing a sack full of them to buy metals. Of course, the First thing that will happen will be cash will be king.
Can't eat metal, food will disappear from the shelves. I don't think the
You need a years supply
thing is correct. If you can survive a couple months, competition for resources will literally die off or go to some goob camp..

When, ohh, not for several years, at least. The dollar HAS to be kept propped up, because Our nation is the one that the globalists are Using to stir up crap and destroy the countries
Not using Their central bank scheme, consolidating power.
Once they are done using us like a mob thug, then we see global economic collapse, one currency.

I'm probably not going to be around to see it. But I would like to leave the grandson prepared.

Again, HOW is it that Libya was on General Wesley Clark s list as a nation that we would Have to engage militarily, Yet, the REASONS we went in came out Years later?

How is that?

I'll use history to help me with my decision.
No fiat currency has ever survived.
Gold has never been worth nothing.
The schools we all went to were as much indoctrination centers as education centers. Unless YOU have taken the time and gone digging into the history of money, you know bupkiss. I was listening to an old man, a mechanic, he solved the Rubiks cube without a book. He was wondering what mechanism actually Created each dollar. If anyone doesn't know, they need to.

Why did Henry Ford say what he said?
http://www.safehaven.com/article/2073/the-disastrous-history-of-money-english...

Those sticks lasted longer than most fiat currencies, because they had value in that they were The accepted form of property tax payments.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tally_stick

Anyone who
Just has an understanding of the dollar based on what information is found in school, newspapers, news on T.V.
is seriously under informed. A desire to know how it Really works has to supplant the idea that you already know.


I'm not saying that I have it ALL figured out. I'm still reading about it.