“How can you defend a country where 1% of the people control 99 % of the wealth?

Wah. Bitch.

If it’s so bad here then why do so many people want to come here?

Go back to Mexico then

The 1% is fluid. Some people were born and will die there. Others are 1%ers for a couple weeks or years and fall back down to the 99%

💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩

@SkiBirther: "Wah. Bitch"
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Typical dumbshit post. But what do you expect from the source?

The thread title is not quite correct. The top 1% control about the same wealth as those with wealth in the 50%->90% range. And those with wealth between 90%->99% control most of the wealth. So the top 1% has about the same wealth as the middle class.

Wealth inequality has a way of snowballing and reinforcing itself. Liz Warren is toast, but her wealth tax was worth exploring. The basic idea was to leave fortunes under $50M untouched and begin taxing wealth over $50M at 2%. There's so much as a society that could be accomplished with that extra money. And at only 2%, there's probably enough incentive for the next Bezos or Gates or Musk. Might be difficult or impossible to collect the taxes in practice and a wealth tax might be unconstitutional. But note that the rest of continue to pay property taxes (which is just another form of a wealth tax).

Berkeley economists Saez and Zucman have written popular books on wealth inequality. That's where Warren got the idea in the first place.

cjk,
Some are more successful than others and some are just lazy fools!
I assume you give almost all you earn, if you even work, to support those that don't wish to work. RIGHT???

I think your topic is an interesting choice of wording.

There is a significant portion of the population that lives very nicely below that 1%. One doesn’t need to be a billionaire to enjoy the freedoms provided here. That is part of what makes this country great!

Defending the freedoms is the important thing - not the wealth. Having those freedoms must not get lost in your concern for others net worth.

If you really think deep about, mans natural state is poverty. No food, no shelter but in the USA everyone lives like royalty. You dont have to worry about food and shelter in the USA. Theres shitty jobs like being a janitor but everyone that lives in the USA believes they are too good for those jobs. You really cant go hungry in the USA unless youre lazy with a drug problem.

Strippers with no skills can make more in a weekend then some people who live in 3rd world countries.

A wealth tax is unconstitutional, but jackasses bray so we hear about it from warren and assholes on this site with a phd for liberalcumstain university. Saez l and Zuckman lol are from Berkely and asking any berkley grad or member to be anything less than left wing scum is silly. Zuckman was denied tenure at Harvard because his research didn't back up his claims, simply because like anything progressive, it is a lie. He then found a home at Berkeley where being a liar and wrong is acceptable because it is the epitome of progressive "thought". Fucking liberals lol, hookers and welfare rats.

Got it, @SkiBirther. You Googled Saez and Zucman for the first time and know absolutely nothing about the subject.

@Random, Ski is actually right here. There's a reason why a lot of European countries that had a welfare tax got rid of it. To say nothing of the constitutionality of it.

I agree that wealth inequality, or rather, the lack of means among the lower classes, is a problem. But the problem with "tax the rich" is that the rich are mobile. See Trump "moving" to Florida. Or companies domiciling in low-tax Ireland. Complexity rewards those with the means to navigate it, the rich and well connected.

@Tetra- There's an entire industry, paid by the ultra-wealthy, to hide or avoid taxes offshore. Whether or not it's possible to implement a wealth tax is entire academic discipline in itself. All of this is radical politics today, but give it another decade to simmer. As we drift into oligargy we may finally get enough people to care about the subject.

And something like 2% of wealth over $50M is not going squeeze the last breath out of capitalism.

I meant putocracy.

This is what happens when your government adds so much pork to their budget for wasteful entitlement projects - folks see the waste and move their money to areas where it won’t be pissed away.

So they add more taxes - and the wealthy hire better skilled tax attorneys - and more money gets squeezed out of the middle class.

The government establishment has failed the country. They won’t take a hard introspective look and make needed cuts. They just pile most pork on in the hope it will stick.

Dems and Repubs are both guilty in the swamp.

@Random, that's exactly my point. As long as that's in place, politics and legality aside, trying to tax wealth is like nailing jello to a wall. Europe tried it and just chased wealth away.

I'm an old school deficit hawk. I'm in favor of uncomplicating the system, eliminating deductions that give anyone--primarily the rich with their armies of lawyers and accountants--places to hide. And keeping the US dollar iron clad.

You really are nothing more than a stupid old man Random. Something really, really wrong with you. Guess what? If its unconstitutional now, its still unconstitutional in 10 years. New York City is now a crime ridden shithole for good because of their taxing of the people who create jobs in this country. They are doomed and that's what assholes like you want, because without a plethora of stupid , lazy people sucking on the Government teat, no one wants progressives in control. Every single shithole in this country is run by people like you Random. By the way the two least educated groups in the United States vote democrat so stfu before you start.

If it wasnt for financial and social inequality and classes 99% of the men on here wouldn’t be fucking gals 30 years younger than you especially CJ because what girl wants to fuck a man with a WAP.

I for one love capitalism, I love working hard, earning a fat paycheck and then using it to bang some hot stripper like a fuck doll.