4 ms·

My salary is 240k. This is enough to afford me so much luxury as to render any complaints about people having more than me laughable. This is why the upward w

My salary is 240k. This is enough to afford me so much luxury as to render any complaints about people having more than me laughable. This is why the upward wealth gap from the upper middle class is not meaningful and the gap below is.

sangnoir 4y ago
Congratulations, but what does your income level have to do with your opinion/advocacy - or lack thereof - for changing the status quo? Even billionaires like Buffet are saying things are not right on billionaire taxation, how much more laughable are their "complaints"?
- fallingknife 4y ago
  I don't hear them complaining, though. But I do hear people making the same money I do. I mean like non stop woe is me can't afford blah blah blah, billionaires have so much more than me upper middle class (lol at the "middle" part) whine. It's all just envy.
- megaman821 4y ago
  I pretty sure what he is saying the the gap upwards is near meaningless. If you drive a Civic or a Ferrari, you still arrive to your destination in about the same amount of time. If you can't afford a car and have to take a bus it takes you 2-4x as long. There is utility in owning a car and almost no further utility in owning a luxury car. Same for moderate-sized house vs mansion. Southwest vs a private jet. Walmart clothes vs designer. The US has one of the most progressive tax systems. What Buffet is pointing out that at the .1 level it plateaus out (even falls in some cases) when it should still be going up.
  - sangnoir 4y ago
    We may be having completely different conversations. When people like me say the billionaires ought to be taxed more, we're not complaining that "people richer than us" exist. > If you drive a Civic or a Ferrari, you still arrive to your destination in about the same amount of time We're on the same page on the diminishing marginal utility of wealth[1]. > If you can't afford a car and have to take a bus it takes you 2-4x as long. Perhaps if we taxes the billionaires at the same rate we tax those earning $240k, we could afford to improve bus services so it only takes 2x as long. 1. Incidentally, I hold that to be a strong an argument for higher-than-average tax rates for the ultra wealthy - but that's an argument for another day

sangnoir 4y ago

Congratulations, but what does your income level have to do with your opinion/advocacy - or lack thereof - for changing the status quo? Even billionaires like Buffet are saying things are not right on billionaire taxation, how much more laughable are their "complaints"?

fallingknife 4y ago
I don't hear them complaining, though. But I do hear people making the same money I do. I mean like non stop woe is me can't afford blah blah blah, billionaires have so much more than me upper middle class (lol at the "middle" part) whine. It's all just envy.
megaman821 4y ago
I pretty sure what he is saying the the gap upwards is near meaningless. If you drive a Civic or a Ferrari, you still arrive to your destination in about the same amount of time. If you can't afford a car and have to take a bus it takes you 2-4x as long. There is utility in owning a car and almost no further utility in owning a luxury car. Same for moderate-sized house vs mansion. Southwest vs a private jet. Walmart clothes vs designer. The US has one of the most progressive tax systems. What Buffet is pointing out that at the .1 level it plateaus out (even falls in some cases) when it should still be going up.
- sangnoir 4y ago
  We may be having completely different conversations. When people like me say the billionaires ought to be taxed more, we're not complaining that "people richer than us" exist. > If you drive a Civic or a Ferrari, you still arrive to your destination in about the same amount of time We're on the same page on the diminishing marginal utility of wealth[1]. > If you can't afford a car and have to take a bus it takes you 2-4x as long. Perhaps if we taxes the billionaires at the same rate we tax those earning $240k, we could afford to improve bus services so it only takes 2x as long. 1. Incidentally, I hold that to be a strong an argument for higher-than-average tax rates for the ultra wealthy - but that's an argument for another day