Warren Buffet

Tax The Rich!

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taxrichOh those millionaires, they suffer so. Seems Obama has dusted off some past campaign rhetoric and is now proposing to tax millionaires to pay down the deficit.

President Obama on Monday will call for a new minimum tax rate for individuals making more than $1 million a year to ensure that they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings as middle-income taxpayers, according to administration officials.

Details are sketchy yet it seems to be some sort of alternative minimum tax so millionaires aren't paying glorified capital gains tax rates on their yearly income. Shame Obama caved on letting the Bush tax cuts expire when he had a Democratic Congress.

When investment managers, hedge fund managers receive compensation, it's in the form of stocks, options, which are taxed at a 15% capital gains rate, not the top tier 35% income tax bracket.

Additionally, millionaires don't pay additional social security contribution taxes past $106,800 of their yearly earnings.

To wit, Populist House Democrat Peter Defazio has introduced legislation to raise that cap on social security contributions and stop the attacks and social security defunding attempts:

Saturday Reads Around The Internets - It Could Have Been Worse

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shocknews
Welcome to the weekly roundup of great articles, facts and figures. These are the weekly finds that made our eyes pop.

 

It Could Have Been Worse

About the only thing Populist Progressive Democrat Congressman Peter DeFazio can say about Obama these days is it could have been worse. Long slide down from the irrational exuberance of 2008.

 

Why something should be done

I'll be honest, I never wanted to write up a diary piece like this. A week ago, like many of you, my feelings on "bailing out" Wall Street was equally negative. Why? Why in the name of all that is decent should we clear up the bad judgment of folks who really do not care about the common folk?

For years, folks who would be identified as the type who would get the jobs of running organizations like Goldman Sachs or Lehman Brothers, were considered "Masters of the Universe." For them, we, you and I, were the dirty lowers against their kind. We existed to supplement their income. But now the veil has been lifted, and we see now that they are not masters of anything but their own greed and stupidity.