To me, the overreaching question is “can capitalism be reformed?” Personally, I think that question is actually too small. The even larger question is “Is capitalism the best economic system to support a functioning democracy?“
Just the fact that Biden raised $25 million, in two nights from wealthy donors calls the question, where did all that money come from? The answer is, it came from extremely wealthy people who wish to use that wealth to influence Biden and the Democrats when they win the next election. With so much wealth necessary to win an election, then those elected become beholden to who? They become beholden to the wealthy, who have it in their own personal best capitalistic interest to have what THEY consider to be reasonable taxes, and the ability to continue to live as wealthy people. this is no longer the time of Eisenhower; it is the time of insatiable greed. Now is the time to begin to consider an economic system not motivated by greed that can truly support an egalitarian democracy.
One solid step towards a new economy is to emphasize and support employee owned businesses such as cooperatives and Employee Owned Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). For example, in 2004 the former owners of Bi-mart, sold the company to its employees as part of a leveraged ESOP transaction. As a result, the company is now 100% employee owned. Bi-Mart is a discount mass merchandise retailer with 64 stores located throughout Washington, Oregon, and Montana. It successfully competes with Walmart in its local communities. When a customer purchases products at Bi-Mart, the profits go to the employees and therefore that money is circulated back into the community where the employees purchase their goods and services rather than into the pockets of wealthy stockholders who have no interest in the local community or the employees economic well being. The government could provide low interest loans and technical support to encourage the growth of cooperative ownership of businesses taking them out of the hands of the ultra wealthy capitalists.
This is sad. Right now 50% of the voting public in this country believe the election of 2020 was stolen. This means that 50% of the voters in this country are basically stupid. That is sad.
Fay--I follow CNN and they and MSNBC both have the election deniers at about 40% of the voters today believe the election was won by Trump and stolen by Biden. Those numbers haven't changed in some time.
Great points, Marc, and I agree for the most part. Reading many of the other responses feeds and reinforces my personal view, which is; Taxing the extremely wealthy by itself may not "fix" the income distribution problem. I submit that much of their wealth comes from stock ownership (I understand that is way too general, but...) and perks written into corporate profit plans. I feel that many folks, even those of us middle Americans, enjoy our market gains. In my world view, really rich 1%ers will retaliate by reminding millions of investors that they too will suffer from this corporate tax revision. They will be able to manipulate how stock ownership is valued, putting pressure on small investors (like me for example) while maintaining their profit ratio. Basically, they will threaten that a wealth tax will harm us more than them and we will suffer.
Personally, I would love to see more employee-owned businesses. My limited experience informs me that folks will work smarter and harder if their efforts benefit them more and not just the business owners in our current system.
I would also wholeheartedly agree that businesses or corporations should not be allowed to make political contributions. I'm not so sure a corporate contribution represents the will of all or even most of the employees, it simply allows an owner to make yet another donation while remaining anonymous. Not fair at all to the regular registered voter.
Jim, I was surprised to learn that there are more than 40,000 cooperatives of all types in the U.S., supporting jobs that provide more than $25 billion in wages. According to a University of Wisconsin study, cooperatives have an estimated 350 million members.
There are many types of cooperatives. Agricultural co-ops directly employ more than 187,000 Americans in more than 8,800 locations. Gross business volume for ag cooperatives was up $6.7 billion in 2018 compared to the year before, and farmer cooperatives had a record $96.3 billion in assets and a record $44.4 billion in farmer-member equity.
Good post and in the right direction. The question is whether the dog wags the tail or vice versa. Our election and tax systems allow the wealthy to dominate politics and the economic wellbeing of Americans. Get money out of politics by allowing only registered voters to make political contributions; limit political season to, say, 8 weeks, and voila! Problem solved!
I am reading The Scheme by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse about how the wealthy took over our court system. Money is very embedded in our system and they already control so much that it will be very difficult to change to a functioning democracy. If they win the next election, it's game over.
The wealthy right wingers who don't like trump are starting to gather around him because of his tax programs. They are only interested in protecting their wealth.
Exactly, Marc. You said it so eloquently! I don't want Democrats to become like republicans in a thirst for greed and power. We do need an economic system that is truly not motivated by greed!!!
If the Democrats were to win control of the presidency, the House, and the senate, it would sound the death knell for the evasive wealthy in this country when it comes to being taxed on an equitable level. Welcome to the party.
I'm not sure about that. There are many Democrats who like the wealth they have accumulated while in congress. There is corruption on both sides of the aisle.
it used to be just that way until those with money sought to make everyone so stupid! Who owns newspaper, television and all media you get your news from? Do you think the news they allow you to know is accurate? Accurate from whose point of view? Only five families in the world have control of all the news you are allowed to see!
Wrong, Democrats are as interested in riches for themselves as Republicans are! The capitalistic system is the problem, and it can only be changed by its destruction.
Cyril--The democrats are equally as interested but denied the same access to money as the wealthy Republicans. You wish to destroy our current economic system. I'm just curious as to what you would replace it with.
Ok Donald but somehow I've got this weird notion that Corporate Dems gotta do what Corporate Dems gotta do. There will always be a Joe Manchin or a Kristen Sinema clone popping up to save the day as it were. Just sayin.
One of the most important dangers Joyce points out is that he's poisoning the jury pool with fear, that he gets away with directing his rabid followers to go after his "enemies" and no one and nothing can stop him. If ANYONE else pulled these hateful stunts, they'd have the FBI on their doorstep before they hit the send/post button.
Have you considered his New York trial where he owed over a half a billion dollars that was supposed to be paid last week? He appealed that of course. The appeals court dropped it to 175 million and give him another week to pay for it. This appeals court new full well that he was about to be a benefactor of five billion dollars of black money in the next few days. They also said that he and his sons could run their businesses in New York and even get loans from New York Banks. I am surprised, really surprised, but they did not also tell him that he can say anything about anybody he wanted. Why do you suppose this happened? What do you think these judges were doing? What do you think these the judges want this to go?
You ask very good questions and to start with, I think they are better than asking what tax reforms can be made. To me the answer is anti-trust and anti monopoly enforcement, something President Biden has said are goals of his. Capitalism will work better if prices are set by competition rather than CEOs.
As for taxes, they too could address the problem. Have a tax structure that gives more incentive to invest than to pillage... like it was before Reagan. That might reign in Vulture capitalists. Capitalism does push the wealth to the top. We know that so there does need to be wealth taxes. Capitalism is supposed to be about using capital as a tool of productivity. Instead, it is too often used to manipulate laws and control people - see "Koch Brothers" in your dictionary. It can be cheaper to buy tax laws than to pay taxes. That must be stopped. Unregulated capitalism just leads to power that will make an ownership class and a slave class, no matter what you want to call them. There has never been much of a middle class in history, just the wealthy masters, above the law and those controlled by law. Too many want that again and call it conservatism.
There is even a way to reduce greed and protect against it... some. It's not a new problem. I was wondering how so many things in our society got out of balance. I concluded that, so to speak, it is because of, surprisingly, science. Science is great for creating wealth and power, but not understanding or critical thinking. That is the role of philosophy, which we are generally taught is an archaic, obsolete body of knowledge. It is what teaches the logic and reason of critical thinking that can discern truth from falsehood in this age of disinformation. It teaches values and right from wrong, something science simply cannot do. We need to teach philosophy like we teach reading and writing, as it used to be taught. It is what our civilization and society was built upon and it is still needed. Even science needs it, but we have allowed STEM to crowd out every other subject from civics to home economics to manual arts. If greed is to be mastered, it is philosophy that can show us how.
I came to this belief by looking at why there was the worldwide population decline and decided it is because science cannot teach any reason to have a family. It can even suggest against it. Philosophy is what can lead to families. ... I think I better cut this off right here, but it is part of my work for a book called "Strategy For A New Human Ecology".
MikeyB, I like the phrase "It can be cheaper to buy tax laws than to pay taxes.” You nailed the tax strategy of capitalism in one sentence. It is apparently also cheaper to buy the Supreme Court than to obey the laws.
Look MikeyB - of course education should include both philosophy and STEM subjects. No argument there. But to assume that the study of philosophy can lead a citizenry into ethical thinking is unfortunately according a power to education that has not been historically proved. A look at the rise of fascist states is the empirical fact disclaiming such power. For example, Germany pre-WWII was one of the most educated European societies - steeped in philosophy, literature and love of classical music. Sorry but I think education has basically little to do with making ethical choices. Other complex factors must be taken into account, although understanding what exactly they are is proving elusive and remains an unsolved mystery.
You are pointing out one of the problems, but of course I do have an answer.
First though, you are incorrect about "No argument there". There is an argument and those arguing against teaching philosophy have won hands down. Instead of teaching it to children, it is taught to be an archaic, obsolete body of knowledge best left to history or weird academics... and that's the truth.
Ethical choices... not a mystery to me. Because I study it in terms of biology, I refer to it as morality, the combination of moral instincts and moral systems. Ethics are mortality in action. The thing is that evolution gives us two moral instincts.
The commonest survival strategy in nature is one of blind, mindless, endless competition referred to once as "red of tooth and claw". About the time of Lucy (Australopithecus, say 3 million years ago), when humans started walking upright to enter the hunter-gatherer-scavenger ecology, they were poorly adapted to their new ecology. The big cats loved eating them. They were much like us, but small brained. To survive, they needed to develop more social skills and better skills of cooperation. That is shown by the rapid brain evolution that followed. They had to get along and work together in order to survive. Violence in a tribe endangered the whole tribe. About 70,000 years ago was something of an evolutionary event... partly it could be said that the parietal lobe evolved or perhaps it could be said that the brain re-organized. It changed humans so that they were then dominant in the ecology. Art, tools, funerals, social customs, and other behaviors changed. We started killing all those pesky cats and everything else. Violence, the most natural evolutionary competitive behavior, again became a useful strategy because we were efficient enough as a species that it no longer endangered us as a tribe. No other species competed with us. We grew and spread out very successfully. In the West, this type of violent "competitive behavior" sort of peaked with Rome. The violence was so bad that various philosophies and religions arose to try to deal with it or promote peace, such as Buddhism, Stoicism, and Christianity. So here we are now, with instincts for both cooperation and violence. We can see it every day. The future, human survival, will be decided by which instinct we choose to follow.
Take a moment here to find both of those instincts within yourself. It should not be hard. Yes, most of the time you are a very nice person, but you are not human if you do not know about your potentials for less social behavior. You may know just how nasty your instincts can be if you are threatened.
As for the Germans, they followed the simplest, logical path: Social Darwinism.
The key to preventing that from happening again will be for me to finish my Strategy book and convince people to read it. A main point of it is this explanation of the humans having two moral instincts, their corresponding strategies and the consequences of each. Darwinism will not create a future for humanity as more than animals. That is what Darwinian evolution does. We do know an alternative, cooperative moral system that matches our cooperative instincts. It teaches how to avoid the wars that dominated civilization. It probably originated with Zoroastrianism, but only got traction when taught by some obscure philosopher about 2000 years ago. It tells how to avoid wars and make civilization work. If we can do that, humanity has a bright future. His main message was something about forgiveness and love one another.
... As an FYI, I work to describe to figure out how humans could genetically and strategically adapt for long term survival and development in the new world we are creating, as we leave the tribal world, for the farms and cities of civilization. It is a very systematic ecological analysis. What it reveals is amazing. ...Well, to me anyway. My book "Genetics For A New Human Ecology" is more up to date, but if you are interested you could watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjVieFKevMk ... I am currently working on "Strategy For A New Human Ecology" which this stuff above falls under.
Ok MikeyB: First of all, thank you for taking the time to explicate your thinking. Second - a really small detail - but when I stated: No argument there - I meant from me personally. Finally - or maybe not finally - just another thought: Is it not a bit ironic that the followers of this philosopher who was into love, not war should have perpetrated some of the worst violence against humanity - the Inquisition, the Crusades, pogroms against the Jews culminating in the Holocaust? Why would a Martin Luther King, Jr even need to exist if those followers of Christian ideology did not persist in coming up deficient in the morality or ethical choices department? Or the followers of any religious teacher of whatever religion for that matter.? The catastrophe in Gaza comes to mind. Ok. I'm gonna try to read some of your stuff. Maybe the answers are there. Thanks!
As for the violence in the name of Christianity, to start with, it's better than any other system. It is a harsh world though.
The genetic work explains it some more though. There are infinite variations of beliefs, but they only correspond to two instinctive potentials, the blind competition of nature or the cooperation humans needed to develop. Christianity, like it or not, is pretty much the only one that is cooperative. Even Stoicism and Buddhism only said how to cope with war, not how to prevent it. Only Christianity, believe it or not, inhibits war. Yeah, we have a ways to go but Christianity was embraced because the alternative was a strategy of violence and murder... Ma Nature isn't nice.
Anyway, if you want to see anything else, my work are for my strategy book is at http://zagwap.com under BioThink. You can see how much work I've done to figure out the strategy book. Enjoy, M
After years of demonizing Capitalism, I realized a distinction: Capitalism works fine for the *building* phase of an endeavor – being a career, company, or country. But upon reaching maturity, that endeavor needs to shift to a steady-state maintenance model. Nothing can grow forever in a closed system without becoming freakish and destructive.
We never made that shift, so a company like General Motors, in business for over a century, still has to show quarter over quarter growth in profit, or management heads will roll.
It’s an insane cycle Marc. And I believe that we can’t change it enough in our current capitalist economy. There would have to be the strictest regulations but I’m still not confident the regulations would be fool proof.
SeekingReason, I agree with you. That is why now is the time to “think outside the box” and investigate other potential systems of economics that would not disrupt the true functions of democracy. The best system I have come across so far in my own research is called “Economic Democracy.“ You will find some information about it in Wikipedia.
Employee owned businesses are still in existence to make profit, and isn't that the core of capitalism? Aren't small local businesses capitalistic? I do agree that a system that curbs greed may be desirable, but employee owned businesses are still private enterprise and may be subject to greed unless their founding contracts articulate limits that are somehow compatible with making profits using only very carefully specified business practices. But it's still capitalism.
Greed is definitely in small business but employee owned could eliminate exploitation by sharing profits with employees who produce the goods and services with regulation and agreement.
Margaret, I’m not sure capitalism necessarily leads to fascism, but history does show that capitalism does well under authoritarianism. A good recent example is what occurred in Brazil during the term of President Bolsonaro where rainforests were burned to further the capitalistic interest of cattle ranchers.
Hitler was very successful because the capitalists loved the money they made with his war preparations. They couldn't resist the greed just like they can't resist it now. Our huge budget for the military keeps our capitalists happy.
The question is not is capitalism the best, but what are the alternatives. In the very earliest days of hominids, each leader of the family and each member of the family hunted or gathered according to their strength and skills. Later as we edged toward "agricultural civilization" would come trading. Some early hominids learned to make tools, for easier hunting and food preparation. These hominids could trade the tools they made for something another hominid had the toolmaker wanted. That's capitalism. The trick is, the more complex this trading became the more need to regulate to prevent rampant greed.
That is what we face today. Unregulated capitalism coupled with uncontrolled greed and you have the top 1% ripping off the bottom 99%.
Socialism without control is no better - you have the greed of the Oligarchs rivaling the greed of the corporation.
Rule of Law is the only long term answer, and we let it slip through our fingers. Our job now is to reinforce that regulation and control.
When the results of the November election show that the Democrats have control of the House and Senate and the Oval Office the many issues that need to be addressed can be met with the public good in the forefront.
One of the burning issues is campaign finance law reform.
Public financing of political candidates is one of the most important fixes that need to be enacted. That can not be done without a real battle for sure but it would be so good for our democracy. I smile when I think about it and hear others talk about it. Citizens United was the worst thing that ever happened to our nation.
Hm. Remember that Trump received money from Big-Money, and wasn't beholden to donors?, who were stumped by their LACK of influence in an election that they THOUGHT they had paid for. For example, the Koch Brothers, it's my understanding was a group that thought they would hold influence--but not surprisingly Trump (having said he'd drain the swamp), Trump, "WHO did you say you are?" beholden to none (as much because his mind didn't have room for anything more than untethered surprise and self-admiration). Big donors, who might have steered rudderless Trump, for good or for evil--but no one told Donald Trump what to do, and moment-by-moment Trump couldn't even know what would fall from his mouth next! Trump-whisperers, like Steve Bannon, anyone, "the last person he spoke to," might influence what Trump might do or say. But like the game of telephone, it seemed even when somebody told him something and pushed Trump onto stage, handed him a mic', still didn't know whether Trump would get-it right OR go off script, with momentary garbage that caught his interest (attention span of a gnat).
We need to eliminate big money and dark money from our politics or America will continue on the path towards a country that is controlled by a bunch of corrupt oligarchs! Repealing Citizens United would be advantageous to our democracy.
Agreed. I've been hammering on that the >real< loss of the '16 election >wasn't< the presidency. It was the SCOTUS. It's the only thing I'll always hold against Hillary and the Democrats - their piss poor judgement in running a candidate against whom a general nationwide animus was well known.
Dr. Yexley, what would that change look like? Do you mean we need more justices, term limits? If that change occurred, would the Supreme Court then be able to repeal Citizens United?
I believe the Supreme Court will change Citizens United only when a majority of justices are liberal, however that were to happen. Increasing the number of justices or replacing justices who retire would work equally well as long as the new justices result in a liberal SCOTUS majority.
We will NEVER eliminate big money or dark money from our system that is CAPITALISM, this is what the capitalist system was created for! Nothing has ever been rescinded once started in America except rights for poor people, equality for black people!
Keith you are absolutely right the biggest rip off of the American public once and is Citizens United. Thanks to the Supremes totally corrupt inferior cord Court black money not only from the American right wing but from which oligarchs like Putin and a great number of other dictators throughout the world is flooding to Trump's coffers without us being able to really know where the money is coming from. That's not so what the 5 billion that he just received. That was all a total black money conspiracy. He was given 5 billion dollars by somebody to expedite this fraud with truth social and to laugh in the face of Americans- that is true Americans.
I honestly feel many of us will work hard to push Sen. Warren's wealth tax because so many are fed up with this crap!! I believe in my heart that when President Biden wins his second term and Democrats win the House and Senate, trump's tax cut will not be extended. Politicians need to wake up to the unrest being felt in our country because of corporate and billionaires' greed and hunger for power. I know that I am fed up with seeing these "white collars" abusing our legal system and skating off with just a slap on the wrist while the rest of us go to jail, do not pass go, and are penalized to the max!! Our system needs a change and many of us in the middle and lower classes are becoming much more vocal about it. These corporations and billionaires consider us fodder to use to keep their operations going so the money keeps rolling in and that just needs to stop. I know, as I am sure so many in the middle and lower classes know, the reason the republicans want to cut our Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid is so they will be able to use that money to funnel to the rich. That is where so many Americans need to draw the line. These greedy politicians need to be voted out because all they are there to do is to line their own pockets. I am tired of supporting the rich who do not give a tinker's damn about me!! These republicans tout how religious they are, but they are guilty of pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth every single day they draw breath! As far as the bridge collapse and the republican take on it, I expected they would create all kinds of conspiracy theories about it. The truth which they are so unwilling to accept is that the people working on that bridge were doing work those republican idiots would not even consider!!! All I care about is that men lost their lives and it was a tragedy.
To help accomplish your goals, I recommend Members of Congress, staffers, and their families not be permitted to buy equities. Their portfolios must be managed by others. Raise the capital gains rate to 28% or the same as ordinary income. Improve Medicare's program integrity. Expand the program that underwrites the cost of medical education of medical care providers (physicians, nurses, nurse midwives, etc.) in exchange for several years of service to Medi-Caid recipients via FQHCs, EDs, Birthing Centers, and other facilities.
Raise the net investment income tax from 3.8% to 7.5% for investment income above $1m (paid on top of capital gains tax) to reduce the preference on carried interest and capital gains income.
Voters are constantly complaining about prices. Who do you think is raising those prices----corporations that got a huge tax break under Trump! Scream at them; boycott their products, whatever it takes for them to realize you can't keep taking advantage of buyers. The compensation that CEOs and top executives get borders on greed and a avarice. This has nothing to do with Biden and voters who keep blaming him need to re-think where the greed began----from Trump! Terri Quint
A significant portion of executive compensation are stock options, the capital gains on which, when realized, are taxed not at the rate of ordinary income, but at the rate of capital gains plus the next investment income surcharge of Lane Ringlee describes.
Profit sharing with the workers producing the profits of any business or corporation, by law, should be introduced and passed immediately upon Democrats taking the majority’s in both the House and Senate! This along with a truly fair system of taxation, is absolutely necessary to stabilize our Democracy/Society!
"What sort of tax reforms are possible if Biden is reelected and Democrats take over both houses of Congress?"
Forest and trees. If we don't win, all of the discussion about IF is for nothing. Nada. Zilch. Nichevo. BIDEN MUST WIN! Top priority!
To protect American democracy, reach out to millions of unregistered likely Democrats using a dedicated database using every outreach method possible (phone and text, postcard, email and targeted ad, and in-person too), where new Democratic voters will make the most impact – in the most flippable states and districts.
This is an article from the NYT today. “A prop door from the movie “Titanic,” on which the character Rose floated, sold at auction for over $700,000”. This is the problem. Who has $700k to buy a movie prop door?? And he/she was bidding against other people who were willing to buy it for big bucks. President Biden should tax the shit out of these people for the common good. Schools, food programs, healthcare. I remember never hearing a public entity saying “we don’t have the money for that “. Now that’s all I hear. I don’t have to wonder why?
Wishful thinking bothers me - not helpful to determine action. There are two issues to consider. First, some kind of wholesale change in the economic systems is neither possible nor desirable. That's called a revolution (of one sort or another) and you are just as likely to get Lenin and Stalin as any other outcome. Second, actual change is incremental, both in the direction of getting worse and the direction of getting better. Daniel Solomon tells us what to do - elect Democrats who are more amenable to being pushed in the directions more favorable to the majority of Americans. The arc of history bends slowly, but it bends in the direction of justice.
Right Ben. The task to to get Dems elected everywhere we can. Biden and Dems and all of us need a compelling story to address the primary economic concerns of voters--which is rising costs of, in priority order,
food
gas/transportation
housing
utilities
healthcare
prescription drugs
clothing
fees
education
child and childcare
Right now independents have much uncertainty about who- the Dems or Repubs- will best look out after their economic interests. The narrative of the "middle out" Biden approach to the economy beats "trickle down" although not as much as one would like to see.
To learn more go to https://winningjobsnarrative.org/ which has teamed with several orgs and done extensive survey work to develop winning narratives on jobs and the economy.
This narrative has been shown to move independents (and others) as much as 10 points toward favoring Dems on their economic approach.
@Margaret. Yes, justice is working. Not as fast and efficient as we sometimes wish. But in consideration of everyone else who gets caught up in legal tangles, our system allows and tolerates a robust defense. I don't like the fact that Trump has made himself an expert on obstruction and avoidance of consequences, but I trust that our system (flawed, slow, etc) will finally get him for his crimes!
Tax reform that really matters would focus on eliminating all preferential treatment of capital gains, including getting rid of step-up in basis at death, deferral of taxes on capital gains until assets are sold, and lower marginal rates. These tax breaks help create American oligarchs.
I agree about tax reform, but be careful with it. Most of the common people's only asset is their homes. Sticking their children with a huge tax bill when the parents die would be a big mistake.
Yes, we could exempt certain amounts of certain assets, such as, exempt the first million (pick your favorite number) of gain on the primary residence. But we certainly ought not to apply step up in basis to Jeff Bezo’s Amazon stock!
I agree we should tax capital gains as ordinary income. I would not tax unrealized gains because it is impractical. Allowing for a stepped-up basis of assets on death is OK because we have an estate tax on the very wealthy. It makes sense to allow one to inherit a family home at a stepped up basis. An increase in value of the home to due inflation would pose a problem under your proposal.
I voted that the tRump tax cut will not be extended ....It s a variation on the saying " It's easier to beg forgiveness than it is to ask permission!". It would be Great to also raise the tax rate on the obscenely wealthy! A windfall profits tax on wealthy corporations, too. End stock buy backs As well!
Respectfully, Laurie Blair, I disagree. Stock buybacks are not a problem. The lower capital gains tax rate on realized gains from stock options is a problem. The stock options are compensation. When exercised, the gains should be taxed as ordinary income. An increase in the marginal income tax rate should be debated. Wealthy pay a surcharge tax on investment income, which must be considered.
Yes. I don't find a problem should a corporation wish to repurchase its stock. If it has the money, why not? Maybe investing in itself is a good investment? A corporation is allowed to decide how many shares to issue. I have read many people feel preventing corporation from buying previously issued stock is somehow a problem, but I disagree. It does add more purchasers to the stock. So what? There is no guarantee that the repurchased shares will hold their value.
It certainly is nice to imagine sanity returning, However, while I envision an add campaign that builds through October to show Trump bully-splaining to the police to not protect the heads of the accused as they are put into a police car, and then cut to the riots that occurred during his tenure, and then the smashing of the glass door at the capital, and the policeman being crushed in the door, etc., with the commentary that educing mob violence is not a substitute for leadership and ending with Trump stating "You knew I was a serpent, and still you took me in." all akin the the Johnson/Goldwater campaign of the girl with the daisy being vaporized by a nuclear bomb, Biden is vastly underestimating his own unpopularity at the potential loss of human civilization.
The wealth disparity in the US is outrageous and much of the recent rise is due to trickle down taxation policies. It’s obscene and needs to be reversed. Lower and middle income citizens are hurting and no longer trust government.
As for Trump, he's like a summer cold that just seems to hang on forever. Except the chills you get from hearing Donnie Boy speak have nothing to do with any physical disorder.
To be fair, a justice overhaul. Western systems need to be able handle white collar crime. It is a widely accepted economic adage that white collar crime costs the economy much more than blue collar crime and that a huge % of white collar crime never gets prosecuted because we can't even catch the criminals.
Tax evasion is a white collar crime. Rich people have the resources to evade taxes and then wear down the courts should they actually get caught. Tax reform will NEVER have teeth unless western nations address the glaring holes in our justice systems.
To me, the overreaching question is “can capitalism be reformed?” Personally, I think that question is actually too small. The even larger question is “Is capitalism the best economic system to support a functioning democracy?“
Just the fact that Biden raised $25 million, in two nights from wealthy donors calls the question, where did all that money come from? The answer is, it came from extremely wealthy people who wish to use that wealth to influence Biden and the Democrats when they win the next election. With so much wealth necessary to win an election, then those elected become beholden to who? They become beholden to the wealthy, who have it in their own personal best capitalistic interest to have what THEY consider to be reasonable taxes, and the ability to continue to live as wealthy people. this is no longer the time of Eisenhower; it is the time of insatiable greed. Now is the time to begin to consider an economic system not motivated by greed that can truly support an egalitarian democracy.
One solid step towards a new economy is to emphasize and support employee owned businesses such as cooperatives and Employee Owned Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). For example, in 2004 the former owners of Bi-mart, sold the company to its employees as part of a leveraged ESOP transaction. As a result, the company is now 100% employee owned. Bi-Mart is a discount mass merchandise retailer with 64 stores located throughout Washington, Oregon, and Montana. It successfully competes with Walmart in its local communities. When a customer purchases products at Bi-Mart, the profits go to the employees and therefore that money is circulated back into the community where the employees purchase their goods and services rather than into the pockets of wealthy stockholders who have no interest in the local community or the employees economic well being. The government could provide low interest loans and technical support to encourage the growth of cooperative ownership of businesses taking them out of the hands of the ultra wealthy capitalists.
@Marc. Chickens before the eggs. First WIN. https://www.fieldteam6.org/actions
This is sad. Right now 50% of the voting public in this country believe the election of 2020 was stolen. This means that 50% of the voters in this country are basically stupid. That is sad.
It’s not 50% There aren’t that many republicans out there.
Seeking--I was just repeating what I've seen posted on numerous news outs. Sorry
Might they be right wing media?
Not stupid, just hypnotized and members of the cult.
Emotionally connected. The antidote is visceral:
"Trump hates dogs."
"Trump stole from kids with cancer."
Daniel...I wouldn't be surprised if both those are true. But his cult would find some reason to admire it.
Alan--Yes, but in order to join you must first prove your stupidity.
Not true. You need a case of Hopium, Simon Rosenberg. The target market for Field Team 6 is not included in any polling.
Plus, what people tell pollsters is not what they say under penalty of perjury.
Daniel--Exactly, that's why polls mean squat.
50% is too high, at best it is 30% and probably of true believers, lower.
Fay--I follow CNN and they and MSNBC both have the election deniers at about 40% of the voters today believe the election was won by Trump and stolen by Biden. Those numbers haven't changed in some time.
Ok, Donald, 40% I can accept, but not 50% - and I still don't believe in polls. (:-)
Daniel, no eggs equals no chickens! We need both chickens and eggs, particularly the blue ones.
Great points, Marc, and I agree for the most part. Reading many of the other responses feeds and reinforces my personal view, which is; Taxing the extremely wealthy by itself may not "fix" the income distribution problem. I submit that much of their wealth comes from stock ownership (I understand that is way too general, but...) and perks written into corporate profit plans. I feel that many folks, even those of us middle Americans, enjoy our market gains. In my world view, really rich 1%ers will retaliate by reminding millions of investors that they too will suffer from this corporate tax revision. They will be able to manipulate how stock ownership is valued, putting pressure on small investors (like me for example) while maintaining their profit ratio. Basically, they will threaten that a wealth tax will harm us more than them and we will suffer.
Personally, I would love to see more employee-owned businesses. My limited experience informs me that folks will work smarter and harder if their efforts benefit them more and not just the business owners in our current system.
I would also wholeheartedly agree that businesses or corporations should not be allowed to make political contributions. I'm not so sure a corporate contribution represents the will of all or even most of the employees, it simply allows an owner to make yet another donation while remaining anonymous. Not fair at all to the regular registered voter.
Jim, I was surprised to learn that there are more than 40,000 cooperatives of all types in the U.S., supporting jobs that provide more than $25 billion in wages. According to a University of Wisconsin study, cooperatives have an estimated 350 million members.
There are many types of cooperatives. Agricultural co-ops directly employ more than 187,000 Americans in more than 8,800 locations. Gross business volume for ag cooperatives was up $6.7 billion in 2018 compared to the year before, and farmer cooperatives had a record $96.3 billion in assets and a record $44.4 billion in farmer-member equity.
Cooperative and employee ownership is a move in the right direction to reform.
Post this .
Good post and in the right direction. The question is whether the dog wags the tail or vice versa. Our election and tax systems allow the wealthy to dominate politics and the economic wellbeing of Americans. Get money out of politics by allowing only registered voters to make political contributions; limit political season to, say, 8 weeks, and voila! Problem solved!
Then create a fair tax structure!
I am reading The Scheme by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse about how the wealthy took over our court system. Money is very embedded in our system and they already control so much that it will be very difficult to change to a functioning democracy. If they win the next election, it's game over.
The wealthy right wingers who don't like trump are starting to gather around him because of his tax programs. They are only interested in protecting their wealth.
Exactly, Marc. You said it so eloquently! I don't want Democrats to become like republicans in a thirst for greed and power. We do need an economic system that is truly not motivated by greed!!!
If the Democrats were to win control of the presidency, the House, and the senate, it would sound the death knell for the evasive wealthy in this country when it comes to being taxed on an equitable level. Welcome to the party.
I'm not sure about that. There are many Democrats who like the wealth they have accumulated while in congress. There is corruption on both sides of the aisle.
Margaret--If the wealthy were taxed on an equitable basis the fundamental structure of this country would be changed. I feel for the better--
it used to be just that way until those with money sought to make everyone so stupid! Who owns newspaper, television and all media you get your news from? Do you think the news they allow you to know is accurate? Accurate from whose point of view? Only five families in the world have control of all the news you are allowed to see!
Cyril--In that case why fight it.
Absolutely, Donald!! Let's hope it happens!!
Peggy--I've crossed everything I have that is long enough to achieve that act.
Hahahahahaha!! Me, too!!
Wrong, Democrats are as interested in riches for themselves as Republicans are! The capitalistic system is the problem, and it can only be changed by its destruction.
Cyril--The democrats are equally as interested but denied the same access to money as the wealthy Republicans. You wish to destroy our current economic system. I'm just curious as to what you would replace it with.
Why am I dubious?
dankarr--Because it's the right way to approach anything new.
Ok Donald but somehow I've got this weird notion that Corporate Dems gotta do what Corporate Dems gotta do. There will always be a Joe Manchin or a Kristen Sinema clone popping up to save the day as it were. Just sayin.
dnkarr--I have words to describe both Manchin and Sinema and they aren't very nice. Their party of choice starts with an "R" not the old familiar "D."
@Marc. "who wish to use that wealth to influence Biden and the Democrats when they win the next election."
I donate. So do most of our peers. We aren't that rich. We do not get anything but democracy and equity from it.
I just watched an MSMBC episode that compared Trump 2020 donations with current donations. He's not getting much from big donors.
IMHO we have an opportunity to highlight Trump's insanity, his obscenity. https://joycevance.substack.com/p/we-need-to-talk-about-this?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=607357&post_id=143088642&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=zc69i&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
One of the most important dangers Joyce points out is that he's poisoning the jury pool with fear, that he gets away with directing his rabid followers to go after his "enemies" and no one and nothing can stop him. If ANYONE else pulled these hateful stunts, they'd have the FBI on their doorstep before they hit the send/post button.
Have you considered his New York trial where he owed over a half a billion dollars that was supposed to be paid last week? He appealed that of course. The appeals court dropped it to 175 million and give him another week to pay for it. This appeals court new full well that he was about to be a benefactor of five billion dollars of black money in the next few days. They also said that he and his sons could run their businesses in New York and even get loans from New York Banks. I am surprised, really surprised, but they did not also tell him that he can say anything about anybody he wanted. Why do you suppose this happened? What do you think these judges were doing? What do you think these the judges want this to go?
He has no hope -- except for "jury nullification." https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/jury_nullification
Thanks for that link, though it's stomach-churning.
Need to get rid of the “Citizen's United” ruling. And get rid of $ in our elections.
You ask very good questions and to start with, I think they are better than asking what tax reforms can be made. To me the answer is anti-trust and anti monopoly enforcement, something President Biden has said are goals of his. Capitalism will work better if prices are set by competition rather than CEOs.
As for taxes, they too could address the problem. Have a tax structure that gives more incentive to invest than to pillage... like it was before Reagan. That might reign in Vulture capitalists. Capitalism does push the wealth to the top. We know that so there does need to be wealth taxes. Capitalism is supposed to be about using capital as a tool of productivity. Instead, it is too often used to manipulate laws and control people - see "Koch Brothers" in your dictionary. It can be cheaper to buy tax laws than to pay taxes. That must be stopped. Unregulated capitalism just leads to power that will make an ownership class and a slave class, no matter what you want to call them. There has never been much of a middle class in history, just the wealthy masters, above the law and those controlled by law. Too many want that again and call it conservatism.
There is even a way to reduce greed and protect against it... some. It's not a new problem. I was wondering how so many things in our society got out of balance. I concluded that, so to speak, it is because of, surprisingly, science. Science is great for creating wealth and power, but not understanding or critical thinking. That is the role of philosophy, which we are generally taught is an archaic, obsolete body of knowledge. It is what teaches the logic and reason of critical thinking that can discern truth from falsehood in this age of disinformation. It teaches values and right from wrong, something science simply cannot do. We need to teach philosophy like we teach reading and writing, as it used to be taught. It is what our civilization and society was built upon and it is still needed. Even science needs it, but we have allowed STEM to crowd out every other subject from civics to home economics to manual arts. If greed is to be mastered, it is philosophy that can show us how.
I came to this belief by looking at why there was the worldwide population decline and decided it is because science cannot teach any reason to have a family. It can even suggest against it. Philosophy is what can lead to families. ... I think I better cut this off right here, but it is part of my work for a book called "Strategy For A New Human Ecology".
MikeyB, I like the phrase "It can be cheaper to buy tax laws than to pay taxes.” You nailed the tax strategy of capitalism in one sentence. It is apparently also cheaper to buy the Supreme Court than to obey the laws.
Yeah, it's so sad that such an important and respected institution as the Supreme Court now seems compromised and partisan.
Sadly, that ought to be "once-respected."
Look MikeyB - of course education should include both philosophy and STEM subjects. No argument there. But to assume that the study of philosophy can lead a citizenry into ethical thinking is unfortunately according a power to education that has not been historically proved. A look at the rise of fascist states is the empirical fact disclaiming such power. For example, Germany pre-WWII was one of the most educated European societies - steeped in philosophy, literature and love of classical music. Sorry but I think education has basically little to do with making ethical choices. Other complex factors must be taken into account, although understanding what exactly they are is proving elusive and remains an unsolved mystery.
You are pointing out one of the problems, but of course I do have an answer.
First though, you are incorrect about "No argument there". There is an argument and those arguing against teaching philosophy have won hands down. Instead of teaching it to children, it is taught to be an archaic, obsolete body of knowledge best left to history or weird academics... and that's the truth.
Ethical choices... not a mystery to me. Because I study it in terms of biology, I refer to it as morality, the combination of moral instincts and moral systems. Ethics are mortality in action. The thing is that evolution gives us two moral instincts.
The commonest survival strategy in nature is one of blind, mindless, endless competition referred to once as "red of tooth and claw". About the time of Lucy (Australopithecus, say 3 million years ago), when humans started walking upright to enter the hunter-gatherer-scavenger ecology, they were poorly adapted to their new ecology. The big cats loved eating them. They were much like us, but small brained. To survive, they needed to develop more social skills and better skills of cooperation. That is shown by the rapid brain evolution that followed. They had to get along and work together in order to survive. Violence in a tribe endangered the whole tribe. About 70,000 years ago was something of an evolutionary event... partly it could be said that the parietal lobe evolved or perhaps it could be said that the brain re-organized. It changed humans so that they were then dominant in the ecology. Art, tools, funerals, social customs, and other behaviors changed. We started killing all those pesky cats and everything else. Violence, the most natural evolutionary competitive behavior, again became a useful strategy because we were efficient enough as a species that it no longer endangered us as a tribe. No other species competed with us. We grew and spread out very successfully. In the West, this type of violent "competitive behavior" sort of peaked with Rome. The violence was so bad that various philosophies and religions arose to try to deal with it or promote peace, such as Buddhism, Stoicism, and Christianity. So here we are now, with instincts for both cooperation and violence. We can see it every day. The future, human survival, will be decided by which instinct we choose to follow.
Take a moment here to find both of those instincts within yourself. It should not be hard. Yes, most of the time you are a very nice person, but you are not human if you do not know about your potentials for less social behavior. You may know just how nasty your instincts can be if you are threatened.
As for the Germans, they followed the simplest, logical path: Social Darwinism.
The key to preventing that from happening again will be for me to finish my Strategy book and convince people to read it. A main point of it is this explanation of the humans having two moral instincts, their corresponding strategies and the consequences of each. Darwinism will not create a future for humanity as more than animals. That is what Darwinian evolution does. We do know an alternative, cooperative moral system that matches our cooperative instincts. It teaches how to avoid the wars that dominated civilization. It probably originated with Zoroastrianism, but only got traction when taught by some obscure philosopher about 2000 years ago. It tells how to avoid wars and make civilization work. If we can do that, humanity has a bright future. His main message was something about forgiveness and love one another.
... As an FYI, I work to describe to figure out how humans could genetically and strategically adapt for long term survival and development in the new world we are creating, as we leave the tribal world, for the farms and cities of civilization. It is a very systematic ecological analysis. What it reveals is amazing. ...Well, to me anyway. My book "Genetics For A New Human Ecology" is more up to date, but if you are interested you could watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjVieFKevMk ... I am currently working on "Strategy For A New Human Ecology" which this stuff above falls under.
Ok MikeyB: First of all, thank you for taking the time to explicate your thinking. Second - a really small detail - but when I stated: No argument there - I meant from me personally. Finally - or maybe not finally - just another thought: Is it not a bit ironic that the followers of this philosopher who was into love, not war should have perpetrated some of the worst violence against humanity - the Inquisition, the Crusades, pogroms against the Jews culminating in the Holocaust? Why would a Martin Luther King, Jr even need to exist if those followers of Christian ideology did not persist in coming up deficient in the morality or ethical choices department? Or the followers of any religious teacher of whatever religion for that matter.? The catastrophe in Gaza comes to mind. Ok. I'm gonna try to read some of your stuff. Maybe the answers are there. Thanks!
As for the violence in the name of Christianity, to start with, it's better than any other system. It is a harsh world though.
The genetic work explains it some more though. There are infinite variations of beliefs, but they only correspond to two instinctive potentials, the blind competition of nature or the cooperation humans needed to develop. Christianity, like it or not, is pretty much the only one that is cooperative. Even Stoicism and Buddhism only said how to cope with war, not how to prevent it. Only Christianity, believe it or not, inhibits war. Yeah, we have a ways to go but Christianity was embraced because the alternative was a strategy of violence and murder... Ma Nature isn't nice.
Anyway, if you want to see anything else, my work are for my strategy book is at http://zagwap.com under BioThink. You can see how much work I've done to figure out the strategy book. Enjoy, M
And the over ruling of Citizens United is an absolute must immediately.
After years of demonizing Capitalism, I realized a distinction: Capitalism works fine for the *building* phase of an endeavor – being a career, company, or country. But upon reaching maturity, that endeavor needs to shift to a steady-state maintenance model. Nothing can grow forever in a closed system without becoming freakish and destructive.
We never made that shift, so a company like General Motors, in business for over a century, still has to show quarter over quarter growth in profit, or management heads will roll.
It’s an insane cycle Marc. And I believe that we can’t change it enough in our current capitalist economy. There would have to be the strictest regulations but I’m still not confident the regulations would be fool proof.
SeekingReason, I agree with you. That is why now is the time to “think outside the box” and investigate other potential systems of economics that would not disrupt the true functions of democracy. The best system I have come across so far in my own research is called “Economic Democracy.“ You will find some information about it in Wikipedia.
Yes, limit the amount individuals and especially corporations can make for political elections.
Employee owned businesses are still in existence to make profit, and isn't that the core of capitalism? Aren't small local businesses capitalistic? I do agree that a system that curbs greed may be desirable, but employee owned businesses are still private enterprise and may be subject to greed unless their founding contracts articulate limits that are somehow compatible with making profits using only very carefully specified business practices. But it's still capitalism.
Greed is definitely in small business but employee owned could eliminate exploitation by sharing profits with employees who produce the goods and services with regulation and agreement.
Yes, capitalism leads to fascism so we must find a better system.
Margaret, I’m not sure capitalism necessarily leads to fascism, but history does show that capitalism does well under authoritarianism. A good recent example is what occurred in Brazil during the term of President Bolsonaro where rainforests were burned to further the capitalistic interest of cattle ranchers.
Hitler was very successful because the capitalists loved the money they made with his war preparations. They couldn't resist the greed just like they can't resist it now. Our huge budget for the military keeps our capitalists happy.
🙏🌎🙏
The question is not is capitalism the best, but what are the alternatives. In the very earliest days of hominids, each leader of the family and each member of the family hunted or gathered according to their strength and skills. Later as we edged toward "agricultural civilization" would come trading. Some early hominids learned to make tools, for easier hunting and food preparation. These hominids could trade the tools they made for something another hominid had the toolmaker wanted. That's capitalism. The trick is, the more complex this trading became the more need to regulate to prevent rampant greed.
That is what we face today. Unregulated capitalism coupled with uncontrolled greed and you have the top 1% ripping off the bottom 99%.
Socialism without control is no better - you have the greed of the Oligarchs rivaling the greed of the corporation.
Rule of Law is the only long term answer, and we let it slip through our fingers. Our job now is to reinforce that regulation and control.
When the results of the November election show that the Democrats have control of the House and Senate and the Oval Office the many issues that need to be addressed can be met with the public good in the forefront.
One of the burning issues is campaign finance law reform.
Public financing of political candidates is one of the most important fixes that need to be enacted. That can not be done without a real battle for sure but it would be so good for our democracy. I smile when I think about it and hear others talk about it. Citizens United was the worst thing that ever happened to our nation.
Hm. Remember that Trump received money from Big-Money, and wasn't beholden to donors?, who were stumped by their LACK of influence in an election that they THOUGHT they had paid for. For example, the Koch Brothers, it's my understanding was a group that thought they would hold influence--but not surprisingly Trump (having said he'd drain the swamp), Trump, "WHO did you say you are?" beholden to none (as much because his mind didn't have room for anything more than untethered surprise and self-admiration). Big donors, who might have steered rudderless Trump, for good or for evil--but no one told Donald Trump what to do, and moment-by-moment Trump couldn't even know what would fall from his mouth next! Trump-whisperers, like Steve Bannon, anyone, "the last person he spoke to," might influence what Trump might do or say. But like the game of telephone, it seemed even when somebody told him something and pushed Trump onto stage, handed him a mic', still didn't know whether Trump would get-it right OR go off script, with momentary garbage that caught his interest (attention span of a gnat).
We need to eliminate big money and dark money from our politics or America will continue on the path towards a country that is controlled by a bunch of corrupt oligarchs! Repealing Citizens United would be advantageous to our democracy.
Agreed, but accomplishing that requires a change in Supreme Court composition.
Agreed. I've been hammering on that the >real< loss of the '16 election >wasn't< the presidency. It was the SCOTUS. It's the only thing I'll always hold against Hillary and the Democrats - their piss poor judgement in running a candidate against whom a general nationwide animus was well known.
Dr. Yexley, what would that change look like? Do you mean we need more justices, term limits? If that change occurred, would the Supreme Court then be able to repeal Citizens United?
I believe the Supreme Court will change Citizens United only when a majority of justices are liberal, however that were to happen. Increasing the number of justices or replacing justices who retire would work equally well as long as the new justices result in a liberal SCOTUS majority.
the predicate to everything is to WIN. Pass it on. https://www.fieldteam6.org/actions
Justices are a life-long occupation!
We will NEVER eliminate big money or dark money from our system that is CAPITALISM, this is what the capitalist system was created for! Nothing has ever been rescinded once started in America except rights for poor people, equality for black people!
Keith you are absolutely right the biggest rip off of the American public once and is Citizens United. Thanks to the Supremes totally corrupt inferior cord Court black money not only from the American right wing but from which oligarchs like Putin and a great number of other dictators throughout the world is flooding to Trump's coffers without us being able to really know where the money is coming from. That's not so what the 5 billion that he just received. That was all a total black money conspiracy. He was given 5 billion dollars by somebody to expedite this fraud with truth social and to laugh in the face of Americans- that is true Americans.
Keith, the only path there is to win this next election with a vote proof Congress.
Yes!!
I honestly feel many of us will work hard to push Sen. Warren's wealth tax because so many are fed up with this crap!! I believe in my heart that when President Biden wins his second term and Democrats win the House and Senate, trump's tax cut will not be extended. Politicians need to wake up to the unrest being felt in our country because of corporate and billionaires' greed and hunger for power. I know that I am fed up with seeing these "white collars" abusing our legal system and skating off with just a slap on the wrist while the rest of us go to jail, do not pass go, and are penalized to the max!! Our system needs a change and many of us in the middle and lower classes are becoming much more vocal about it. These corporations and billionaires consider us fodder to use to keep their operations going so the money keeps rolling in and that just needs to stop. I know, as I am sure so many in the middle and lower classes know, the reason the republicans want to cut our Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid is so they will be able to use that money to funnel to the rich. That is where so many Americans need to draw the line. These greedy politicians need to be voted out because all they are there to do is to line their own pockets. I am tired of supporting the rich who do not give a tinker's damn about me!! These republicans tout how religious they are, but they are guilty of pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth every single day they draw breath! As far as the bridge collapse and the republican take on it, I expected they would create all kinds of conspiracy theories about it. The truth which they are so unwilling to accept is that the people working on that bridge were doing work those republican idiots would not even consider!!! All I care about is that men lost their lives and it was a tragedy.
To help accomplish your goals, I recommend Members of Congress, staffers, and their families not be permitted to buy equities. Their portfolios must be managed by others. Raise the capital gains rate to 28% or the same as ordinary income. Improve Medicare's program integrity. Expand the program that underwrites the cost of medical education of medical care providers (physicians, nurses, nurse midwives, etc.) in exchange for several years of service to Medi-Caid recipients via FQHCs, EDs, Birthing Centers, and other facilities.
Raise the net investment income tax from 3.8% to 7.5% for investment income above $1m (paid on top of capital gains tax) to reduce the preference on carried interest and capital gains income.
Voters are constantly complaining about prices. Who do you think is raising those prices----corporations that got a huge tax break under Trump! Scream at them; boycott their products, whatever it takes for them to realize you can't keep taking advantage of buyers. The compensation that CEOs and top executives get borders on greed and a avarice. This has nothing to do with Biden and voters who keep blaming him need to re-think where the greed began----from Trump! Terri Quint
A significant portion of executive compensation are stock options, the capital gains on which, when realized, are taxed not at the rate of ordinary income, but at the rate of capital gains plus the next investment income surcharge of Lane Ringlee describes.
Profit sharing with the workers producing the profits of any business or corporation, by law, should be introduced and passed immediately upon Democrats taking the majority’s in both the House and Senate! This along with a truly fair system of taxation, is absolutely necessary to stabilize our Democracy/Society!
Heather and Robert:
"What sort of tax reforms are possible if Biden is reelected and Democrats take over both houses of Congress?"
Forest and trees. If we don't win, all of the discussion about IF is for nothing. Nada. Zilch. Nichevo. BIDEN MUST WIN! Top priority!
To protect American democracy, reach out to millions of unregistered likely Democrats using a dedicated database using every outreach method possible (phone and text, postcard, email and targeted ad, and in-person too), where new Democratic voters will make the most impact – in the most flippable states and districts.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/actions
Please ask Liberation in a Generation to partner with Field Team 6.
Also check this out: https://playbook.galvanizeaction.org/
@Martha. This is great. I'm adding it to my repertoire and will pass it on. BTW my Facebook persona was hacked and I am off it. Please pass that on.
I would like to send you an email. But you need to send me your email address. You can send it to me @marthature@sbcglobal.net
This is an article from the NYT today. “A prop door from the movie “Titanic,” on which the character Rose floated, sold at auction for over $700,000”. This is the problem. Who has $700k to buy a movie prop door?? And he/she was bidding against other people who were willing to buy it for big bucks. President Biden should tax the shit out of these people for the common good. Schools, food programs, healthcare. I remember never hearing a public entity saying “we don’t have the money for that “. Now that’s all I hear. I don’t have to wonder why?
Wishful thinking bothers me - not helpful to determine action. There are two issues to consider. First, some kind of wholesale change in the economic systems is neither possible nor desirable. That's called a revolution (of one sort or another) and you are just as likely to get Lenin and Stalin as any other outcome. Second, actual change is incremental, both in the direction of getting worse and the direction of getting better. Daniel Solomon tells us what to do - elect Democrats who are more amenable to being pushed in the directions more favorable to the majority of Americans. The arc of history bends slowly, but it bends in the direction of justice.
Right Ben. The task to to get Dems elected everywhere we can. Biden and Dems and all of us need a compelling story to address the primary economic concerns of voters--which is rising costs of, in priority order,
food
gas/transportation
housing
utilities
healthcare
prescription drugs
clothing
fees
education
child and childcare
Right now independents have much uncertainty about who- the Dems or Repubs- will best look out after their economic interests. The narrative of the "middle out" Biden approach to the economy beats "trickle down" although not as much as one would like to see.
To learn more go to https://winningjobsnarrative.org/ which has teamed with several orgs and done extensive survey work to develop winning narratives on jobs and the economy.
This narrative has been shown to move independents (and others) as much as 10 points toward favoring Dems on their economic approach.
Not lately! Justice is becoming hard to find these days. Just look at Trump!
@Margaret. Yes, justice is working. Not as fast and efficient as we sometimes wish. But in consideration of everyone else who gets caught up in legal tangles, our system allows and tolerates a robust defense. I don't like the fact that Trump has made himself an expert on obstruction and avoidance of consequences, but I trust that our system (flawed, slow, etc) will finally get him for his crimes!
Tax reform that really matters would focus on eliminating all preferential treatment of capital gains, including getting rid of step-up in basis at death, deferral of taxes on capital gains until assets are sold, and lower marginal rates. These tax breaks help create American oligarchs.
I agree about tax reform, but be careful with it. Most of the common people's only asset is their homes. Sticking their children with a huge tax bill when the parents die would be a big mistake.
Typically houses are exempt I don't know where you live, but in most states the most important public employee is the inheritance tax appraiser.
Yes, we could exempt certain amounts of certain assets, such as, exempt the first million (pick your favorite number) of gain on the primary residence. But we certainly ought not to apply step up in basis to Jeff Bezo’s Amazon stock!
Yes, there are and they need to be plugged too.
Pour over trusts, key (wo)man life insurance, lots of ways to transverse inheritance impact.
I agree we should tax capital gains as ordinary income. I would not tax unrealized gains because it is impractical. Allowing for a stepped-up basis of assets on death is OK because we have an estate tax on the very wealthy. It makes sense to allow one to inherit a family home at a stepped up basis. An increase in value of the home to due inflation would pose a problem under your proposal.
There’s been a lot of thinking about this issue. See, for example, my discussion at https://www.winwindemocracy.org/p/2022-07-taxing-capital-gains-as-ordinary-income.
I voted that the tRump tax cut will not be extended ....It s a variation on the saying " It's easier to beg forgiveness than it is to ask permission!". It would be Great to also raise the tax rate on the obscenely wealthy! A windfall profits tax on wealthy corporations, too. End stock buy backs As well!
Respectfully, Laurie Blair, I disagree. Stock buybacks are not a problem. The lower capital gains tax rate on realized gains from stock options is a problem. The stock options are compensation. When exercised, the gains should be taxed as ordinary income. An increase in the marginal income tax rate should be debated. Wealthy pay a surcharge tax on investment income, which must be considered.
Stock buybacks can inflate the "Value" of the stocks,
Yes. I don't find a problem should a corporation wish to repurchase its stock. If it has the money, why not? Maybe investing in itself is a good investment? A corporation is allowed to decide how many shares to issue. I have read many people feel preventing corporation from buying previously issued stock is somehow a problem, but I disagree. It does add more purchasers to the stock. So what? There is no guarantee that the repurchased shares will hold their value.
I wonder how much tax on investment income ; 2%?
It certainly is nice to imagine sanity returning, However, while I envision an add campaign that builds through October to show Trump bully-splaining to the police to not protect the heads of the accused as they are put into a police car, and then cut to the riots that occurred during his tenure, and then the smashing of the glass door at the capital, and the policeman being crushed in the door, etc., with the commentary that educing mob violence is not a substitute for leadership and ending with Trump stating "You knew I was a serpent, and still you took me in." all akin the the Johnson/Goldwater campaign of the girl with the daisy being vaporized by a nuclear bomb, Biden is vastly underestimating his own unpopularity at the potential loss of human civilization.
The wealth disparity in the US is outrageous and much of the recent rise is due to trickle down taxation policies. It’s obscene and needs to be reversed. Lower and middle income citizens are hurting and no longer trust government.
As for Trump, he's like a summer cold that just seems to hang on forever. Except the chills you get from hearing Donnie Boy speak have nothing to do with any physical disorder.
Actually o wanted to vote for 2, 3 & 4, but could only vote for 1 of them!😩
To be fair, a justice overhaul. Western systems need to be able handle white collar crime. It is a widely accepted economic adage that white collar crime costs the economy much more than blue collar crime and that a huge % of white collar crime never gets prosecuted because we can't even catch the criminals.
Tax evasion is a white collar crime. Rich people have the resources to evade taxes and then wear down the courts should they actually get caught. Tax reform will NEVER have teeth unless western nations address the glaring holes in our justice systems.