Too Hot for TED: Income Inequality
Another rich guy trying to persuade average folk that all our problems would be solved if people like him were taxed more. Never mind that the Buffet-rule (minimum 35%) would net $31 Billion over the next 11 years versus $7 Trillion in estimated deficits. (<a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74232.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74232.html</a>)<p><i>Another reason this idea is so wrong-headed is that there can never be enough superrich Americans to power a great economy. The annual earnings of people like me are hundreds, if not thousands, of times greater than those of the median American, but we don't buy hundreds or thousands of times more stuff. My family owns three cars, not 3,000. I buy a few pairs of pants and a few shirts a year, just like most American men. Like everyone else, we go out to eat with friends and family only occasionally.<p>I can't buy enough of anything to make up for the fact that millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans can't buy any new clothes or cars or enjoy any meals out. </i><p>But you can invest... Your money isn't stuffed under your mattress, is it??<p><i>That's why taxing the rich to pay for investments that benefit all is a great deal for both the middle class and the rich.</i><p>Are they really investments or are they just political favors that over-cost and under-deliver? (See the Department of Education, TARP, Medicare, war, etc.)