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All that has to happen to fix this is taxes. The ultra rich tax's need to be raised to a level the US had before Reagan. Instead the people running the US want

by jmclnx 2mo ago

All that has to happen to fix this is taxes. The ultra rich tax's need to be raised to a level the US had before Reagan. Instead the people running the US want the poor and middle-class to pay for everything and enrich the rich even more. Until that is fixed, the US will end up as a banana republic with lots of nukes. > rates on mortgage loans and other long-term lending across the economy – are walloping his popularity, helping freeze the housing market Looking like 2007 again ? The GOP loves flirting with creating a massive depression.

hattmall 2mo ago
2007 was very different. There was an entire industry propped up by artificially manufactured speculative demand. This was a real industry that produced loads of jobs,drove downstream industries and had significant involvement from a huge portion of the population.
- nilamo 2mo ago
  Thank you for describing AI.
- BLKNSLVR 2mo ago
  I was waiting for an "... oh, wait" at the end.
zdragnar 2mo ago
> All that has to happen to fix this is taxes. The ultra rich tax's need to be raised to a level the US had before Reagan. What was inflation like before Regan?
- mmooss 2mo ago
  What does inflation have to do with the tax rate for the wealthiest? Also, IIRC I read the climate cooled a little in the 1970s - can we attribute that to the tax rate too?
  - zdragnar 2mo ago
    That's the point- they're different issues
    - mmooss 2mo ago
      I think the confusion is that, afaict, you brought inflation into the conversation. Everyone else is talking about the deficit. ?
- budman1 2mo ago
  Inflation was really solved when Volker raised the interest rates. Nixon, Ford, Carter all struggled with rising prices. Strange enough, I was alive back then and clearly remember my grandmother applauding Nixon's attempt to 'freeze prices'. Did not work. The numbers published by the government may not reflect how it is felt in the populace. I think the current inflation is 'worse' than the 1970's. One thing is that wages were getting bumped all the time to compensate; not something we see today. Strong agree. Raise taxes for everyone (except those at the bottom, please). Draw the line wherever you want, we can argue about where, but it has to be drawn.
  - zdragnar 2mo ago
    > Inflation was really solved when Volker raised the interest rates. That was my point > Strong agree. Raise taxes for everyone (except those at the bottom, please). Again, what does this have to do with inflation? I'm not even questioning the (de)merits of the current tax rates, but pointing out that the tax rates before Regan were in no way correlated to low inflation.
    - budman1 2mo ago
      I agree. The two are different things. My comments were sidetracked from the discussion.
coredog64 2mo ago
Once again, I'm begging you, with tears in my eyes to learn the difference between statutory and effective tax rates. Do I disagree that there were headline rates of 70%? No. Did anyone pay those rates on any meaningful amount of their income? Also no.
- digitaltrees 2mo ago
  Again I beg you to wipe the tears from your eyes and look at the data. Wealth inequality was significantly lower from 1940 to 1980, the gap between CEO and worker pays was orders of magnitude lower. Taxe rates demonstrably reduced wealthy estates over time We are now at levels of disparity greater than the guilded age. Consumers are about to run out of credit at which point there will be a Great Depression level contraction.
  - rsync 2mo ago
    No, your parent is correct. In addition to the pragmatic point about how nobody actually paid those rates, there is an ideological mismatch as well: Those very high marginal tax rates were not enacted to address inequality or any of the typical social goals that we think of when we advocate for higher marginal tax rates. Rather, they were imposed to combat war profiteering during the WW2 period: "The crisis of World War II led Congress to pass four excess profits statutes between 1940 and 1943. The 1940 rates ranged from 25 to 50 percent and the 1941 ones from 35 to 60 percent. In 1942, a flat rate of 90 percent was adopted, with a postwar refund of 10 percent; in 1943 the rate was increased to 95 percent, with a 10 percent refund."[1] Can you argue for a very high marginal tax rate as a means of wealth distribution and furthering progressive policy ? Yes, of course you can. Have we ever had one ? Not really. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_profits_tax#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_profits_tax#United_Stat...
    - digitaltrees 2mo ago
      Just because people didn’t pay the top rate doesn’t mean they didn’t pay substantially higher percentages than today.

by jmclnx 2mo ago

hattmall 2mo ago

2007 was very different. There was an entire industry propped up by artificially manufactured speculative demand. This was a real industry that produced loads of jobs,drove downstream industries and had significant involvement from a huge portion of the population.

nilamo 2mo ago
Thank you for describing AI.
BLKNSLVR 2mo ago
I was waiting for an "... oh, wait" at the end.

zdragnar 2mo ago

> All that has to happen to fix this is taxes. The ultra rich tax's need to be raised to a level the US had before Reagan. What was inflation like before Regan?

mmooss 2mo ago
What does inflation have to do with the tax rate for the wealthiest? Also, IIRC I read the climate cooled a little in the 1970s - can we attribute that to the tax rate too?
- zdragnar 2mo ago
  That's the point- they're different issues
  - mmooss 2mo ago
    I think the confusion is that, afaict, you brought inflation into the conversation. Everyone else is talking about the deficit. ?
budman1 2mo ago
Inflation was really solved when Volker raised the interest rates. Nixon, Ford, Carter all struggled with rising prices. Strange enough, I was alive back then and clearly remember my grandmother applauding Nixon's attempt to 'freeze prices'. Did not work. The numbers published by the government may not reflect how it is felt in the populace. I think the current inflation is 'worse' than the 1970's. One thing is that wages were getting bumped all the time to compensate; not something we see today. Strong agree. Raise taxes for everyone (except those at the bottom, please). Draw the line wherever you want, we can argue about where, but it has to be drawn.
- zdragnar 2mo ago
  > Inflation was really solved when Volker raised the interest rates. That was my point > Strong agree. Raise taxes for everyone (except those at the bottom, please). Again, what does this have to do with inflation? I'm not even questioning the (de)merits of the current tax rates, but pointing out that the tax rates before Regan were in no way correlated to low inflation.
  - budman1 2mo ago
    I agree. The two are different things. My comments were sidetracked from the discussion.

coredog64 2mo ago

Once again, I'm begging you, with tears in my eyes to learn the difference between statutory and effective tax rates. Do I disagree that there were headline rates of 70%? No. Did anyone pay those rates on any meaningful amount of their income? Also no.

digitaltrees 2mo ago
Again I beg you to wipe the tears from your eyes and look at the data. Wealth inequality was significantly lower from 1940 to 1980, the gap between CEO and worker pays was orders of magnitude lower. Taxe rates demonstrably reduced wealthy estates over time We are now at levels of disparity greater than the guilded age. Consumers are about to run out of credit at which point there will be a Great Depression level contraction.
- rsync 2mo ago
  No, your parent is correct. In addition to the pragmatic point about how nobody actually paid those rates, there is an ideological mismatch as well: Those very high marginal tax rates were not enacted to address inequality or any of the typical social goals that we think of when we advocate for higher marginal tax rates. Rather, they were imposed to combat war profiteering during the WW2 period: "The crisis of World War II led Congress to pass four excess profits statutes between 1940 and 1943. The 1940 rates ranged from 25 to 50 percent and the 1941 ones from 35 to 60 percent. In 1942, a flat rate of 90 percent was adopted, with a postwar refund of 10 percent; in 1943 the rate was increased to 95 percent, with a 10 percent refund."[1] Can you argue for a very high marginal tax rate as a means of wealth distribution and furthering progressive policy ? Yes, of course you can. Have we ever had one ? Not really. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_profits_tax#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_profits_tax#United_Stat...
  - digitaltrees 2mo ago
    Just because people didn’t pay the top rate doesn’t mean they didn’t pay substantially higher percentages than today.