Tuesday, August 27, 2013

On Draconian Top Marginal Tax Rates

Only a bitter, self-entitled (i.e., gimme oriented), and marginal person who doesn't make coin himself would so cavalierly call for the confiscation of another person's private property like that.

9 comments:

dmarks said...

Such an idea appeals to those who are wroth with one of the worst emotions: envy.

It is also one of the Seven Deadly Sins:

"Like greed and lust, Envy (Latin, invidia) is characterized by an insatiable desire. Envy is similar to jealousy in that they both feel discontent towards someone's traits, status, abilities, or rewards. The difference is the envious also desire the entity and covet it."

Am I hitting the nail right on the head?

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Yeah, I would say that envy has left its fingerprints all over this (and, yes, this is coming from a person who has no problems with the rich paying a higher rate - just not the 70-80% lunacy which, as Duquesnes's Antony Davies has shown, actually brings in LESS revenue).

BB-Idaho said...

Go figure

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Mr. Buffett might want to start with the taxes that he already owes first.......And I knew that wd was going to bring up Robert Reich. Does he honestly think that those 70% rates were going to apply to him? Reich is a fucking academic and former government paper pusher.

BB-Idaho said...

Are you sure the difference between envy and greed isn't that
envy pines away in the backdrop, while greed runs a weird economic system?

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Greed is a constant, BB, and the weird economic system, IMO, is the Federal Reserve system and the virulent type of crony capitalism that both parties seem to have perfected these days.

BB-Idaho said...

My take on the 7 deadly sins isn't so much the damage to society, but the individual: living consumed by one or more has to be self-destructive. Along those lines
Catholic theology presents antonyms, greed/charity, envy/
kindess, etc. which they term the
7 virtues. Just opining here, as
am not good at the sins or the virtues. As you note, greed encompasses higher finance and politics and perhaps is more about
power than case on hand.

dmarks said...

Robert Reich came to town here a couple of weeks ago to preach his advocacy for the downtrodden and opposition to the privilege of the rich. He did so at a film festival marked by $500 per movie ticket events and memberships costing four figures.

dmarks said...

I support this above-mentioned film festival and went to it. Reich was indeed the top "guest of honor". But you really have to spend $$$$ to enjoy it fully....