Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!

[shu09]

More on Perry:

The following are 14 reasons why Rick Perry would be a really, really bad president....

#1 Rick Perry is a "big government" politician. When Rick Perry became the governor of Texas in 2000, the total spending by the Texas state government was approximately $49 billion. Ten years later it was approximately $90 billion. That is not exactly reducing the size of government.

#2 The debt of the state of Texas is out of control. According to usdebtclock.org, the debt to GDP ratio in Texas is 22.9% and the debt per citizen is $10,645. In California (a total financial basket case), the debt to GDP ratio is just 18.7% and the debt per citizen is only $9932. If Rick Perry runs for president these are numbers he will want to keep well hidden.

#3 The total debt of the Texas government has more than doubled since Rick Perry became governor. So what would the U.S. national debt look like after four (or eight) years of Rick Perry?

#4 Rick Perry has spearheaded the effort to lease roads in Texas to foreign companies, to turn roads that are already free to drive on into toll roads, and to develop the Trans-Texas Corridor which would be part of the planned NAFTA superhighway system. If you really do deep research on this whole Trans-Texas Corridor nonsense you will see why no American should ever cast a single vote for Rick Perry.

#5 Rick Perry claims that he has a "track record" of not raising taxes. That is a false claim. Rick Perry has repeatedly raised taxes and fees while he has been governor. Today, Texans are faced with significantly higher taxes and fees than they were before Rick Perry was elected.

#6 Even with the oil boom in Texas, 23 states have a lower unemployment rate than Texas does.

#7 Back in 1988, Rick Perry supported Al Gore for president. In fact, Rick Perry actually served as Al Gore's campaign chairman in the state of Texas that year.

#8 Between December 2007 and April 2011, weekly wages in the U.S. increased by about 5 percent. In the state of Texas they increased by just 0.6% over that same time period.

#9 Texas now has one of the worst education systems in the nation. The following is from an opinion piece that was actually authored by Barbara Bush earlier this year....

?  We rank 36th in the nation in high school graduation rates. An estimated 3.8 million Texans do not have a high school diploma.

?  We rank 49th in verbal SAT scores, 47th in literacy and 46th in average math SAT scores.

?  We rank 33rd in the nation on teacher salaries.

#10 Rick Perry attended the Bilderberg Group meetings in 2007. Associating himself with that organization should be a red flag for all American voters.

#11 Texas has the highest percentage of workers making minimum wage out of all 50 states.

#12 Rick Perry often gives speeches about illegal immigration, but when you look at the facts, he has been incredibly soft on the issue. If Rick Perry does not plan to secure the border, then he should not be president because illegal immigration is absolutely devastating many areas of the southwest United States.

#13 In 2007, 221,000 residents of Texas were making minimum wage or less. By 2010, that number had risen to 550,000.

#14 Rick Perry actually issued an executive order in 2007 that would have forced almost every single girl in the state of Texas to receive the Gardasil vaccine before entering the sixth grade. Perry would have put parents in a position where they would have had to fill out an application and beg the government not to inject their child with a highly controversial vaccine. Since then, very serious safety issues regarding this vaccine have come to light. Fortunately, lawmakers in Texas blocked what Perry was trying to do. According to Wikipedia, many were troubled when "apparent financial connections between Merck and Perry were reported by news outlets, such as a $6,000 campaign contribution and Merck's hiring of former Perry Chief of Staff Mike Toomey to handle its Texas lobbying work."

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/14-reasons-why-rick-perry-would-be-a-really-really-bad-president

 

[HALL85]

By entering the race, there will be a whole bunch of fact checking going on re: Perry, so if the data is bad, he'll be dismissed as a candidate.

Pawlenty is a quick casualty which is no surprise; couldn't see him surviving very long.

 

[Section112]

It's too bad if you are boring you can't get elected President. I'd love a boring, reasonable, common sensical president like a guy like Pawlenty. Years ago I thought Bill Bradley would have been good too. Both are not the most charming guys but very bright and IMO would have brought some real solutions to America - something we really need right now. None of the current candidates including our Community Organizer In Chief excite me.

 

[HALL85]

CBS News Poll....27% of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling the economy.....

 

[cernjSHU]

Obama has not been a good President because he is weak and the Republicans take advantage of him at all phases of the game. But he has has had his own problems as well. Stimulus package should have been given to improve infrastructure in this country.

We have horrendous roads, bridges and an aging electrical grid. If money went into infrastructure, this is a job creator. Not only construction but all the other areas that feeds the infrastructure like engineers, manufacturing of steel and cement etc. There was a great opportunity to do something to advance our country while creating jobs but that was lost. No way will small minded people want the government take on more debt even though we desperately need this

The fact that people making over a million dollars a year does not get taxed more is an incredible joke. Even more incredible are the yahoos that don't want tax increases of any kind when they make 40k a year. The tax loopholes for millionaires and billionaires is sickening. How does a billionaire pay less tax percentage than I do? How can any person not want to take that away?

Bill Clinton suggested that corporations be given a tax amnesty to bring money back into the cow try that is oversees on the condition that certain percentage of that money be used to create jobs in this country. Sounds like a valid idea.

We don't make anything in this cow try anymore. That is the problem. Nike has no problem giving Jordan, Woods or any other athlete millions of dollars a year for endorsements. But God forbid they pay an American worker $12 an hour to make their sneakers. No they have to pay a dollar a day. The system is out of wack. Quite frankly, Obama is like. republican. His health care system does nothing but give insurance comapnies more customers. If you do Heath care, the only way to do it is single payer. Any other system doesn't work. But Obama gave in. Obama gave in to raising taxes on the rich. Now, his definition of what is rich is ludicrous. $250000 a year is not rich and that figure must be raised to at least 750,000

Bill Clinton has stated that the billions of dollars from corporations sitting overseas

 

[SPK145]

Originally posted by cernjSHU:
The fact that people making over a million dollars a year does not get taxed more is an incredible joke. The tax loopholes for millionaires and billionaires is sickening. How does a billionaire pay less tax percentage than I do? How can any person not want to take that away?

Those are lying talking points not facts. The facts from the IRS website for 2009:

Number of individual tax returns with more than $1 million in taxable income = 235,665
% of all individual tax returns filed = 0.2%

Taxable income of individual tax returns with more than $1 million in taxable income = $626,464,479,000
% of all individual taxable income = 12.3%

Taxes on individual tax returns with more than $1 million in taxable income = $182,369,749,000
% of all individual taxes paid = 19.0%

Average tax rate of individual tax returns with more than $1 million in taxable income = 29.1%

Not even close to unfair.

And I highly, highly doubt you have a federal income tax rate of 29.1%.

Pure B/S and these lies only serve to further divide us, IMHO.

2009 Tax Rate and Size of AGI

 

[Merge]

That data is only showing AGI range and then taxable income. I think cernj is talking about total income since he is talking about deductions that rich people don't need, no? Also he didn't say federal taxes, add in the payroll taxes and there are situations where rich are paying less taxes than the middle class.

In the AGI range of 1,500,000 - 2,000,000, the average taxable income is less than 1,500,000. DO you have the total AGI for each range of income? Then we can see how much people are writing off.

 

[cernjSHU]

SPK, you talk out your ass on this. As Warren Buffet stated he pays 17% on his earned income. He pays less than me. FACT. How you can even think that this is proper in this country is an absolute joke. what is wrong with you. this is not talking points. Some of the richest people in this country are people who head up hedge funds. they pay the capital gains rate on income at 15%. this is not a talking point. It is a fact. If you think they should pay lower taxes than me, then come out and say it. Don't hide it. The only thing that divides us that people like you sticking up for the mega rich while the rest of the country suffers for it. the middle class is the one who is taking the brunt of all the economic woes, not the mega rich.

 

[SPK145]

Originally posted by cernjSHU:
As Warren Buffet stated he pays 17% on his earned income.

More lies from you. Nearly all of Buffett's income is non-earned income, ala capital gains.

Originally posted by cernjSHU:
He pays less than me. FACT.

I'd bet your average federal tax rate is lower than 17%.

Originally posted by cernjSHU:
Some of the richest people in this country are people who head up hedge funds.

Some, but it is an infinitesimally small percent. Almost can't be calculated. Like 0.00000001%. What would your retirement account look like without all of that extra capital boosting returns (over the long-term)?

Originally posted by cernjSHU:
If you think they should pay lower taxes than me, then come out and say it. Don't hide it.

Nope, don't think that. Everyone should pay their FAIR share. Not soak the rich, but FAIR. Buffett uses the same amount of government services that you do. Why is it fair for him to pay a million times more tax than you do? Why don't you concern yourself with trying to better yourself than whining all the time about the rich? (That's a rhetorical question, I'm sure you do.) This class warfare rhetoric is the one of the banes of American existence today. An offshoot of the entitlement mentality and it is highly destructive. Why not control and cut all of the wasteful and needless unconstitutional government spending and give everyone a tax break? Why do 50% of Americans pay no tax? Wouldn't we have a better dialogue and pressure to control government if more people had skin in the game instead of living here free?

 

[Merge]

Originally posted by cernjSHU:
SPK, you talk out your ass on this. As Warren Buffet stated he pays 17% on his earned income. He pays less than me. FACT. How you can even think that this is proper in this country is an absolute joke. what is wrong with you. this is not talking points. Some of the richest people in this country are people who head up hedge funds. they pay the capital gains rate on income at 15%. this is not a talking point. It is a fact. If you think they should pay lower taxes than me, then come out and say it. Don't hide it. The only thing that divides us that people like you sticking up for the mega rich while the rest of the country suffers for it. the middle class is the one who is taking the brunt of all the economic woes, not the mega rich.

Actually found this for the argument. Capital gains taxes are tricky though. There is certainly a point when it should be treated as income but I am not sure where that is or how to do it.

 

[SPK145]

Merge,

Flat tax, no deductions. Capital gains, interest income, employer-paid benefits included as normal income. Dividends not taxable.

 

[Merge]

Originally posted by SPK145:

Why do 50% of Americans pay no tax? Wouldn't we have a better dialogue and pressure to control government if more people had skin in the game instead of living here free?

Instead of being outraged that people don't pay taxes, why aren't we ashamed that more and more Americans are so poor that they qualify to pay no federal taxes.

The gap between the median and the average salaries keeps rising because the richer people are earning a tremendous amount more, and the poor have very little mobility.

The most bothering number to me is that the amount of executive salaries as compared to a companies average employee has NEVER been higher at any point in time in our history than it is today. That's why we need to tax the rich more. They pay themselves more, and their employees stay flat.

and fwiw, the majority of people not paying taxes are earning under $20,000. How much federal taxes do you pay on your first $20,000?

 

[SPK145]

Originally posted by Merge:
Instead of being outraged that people don't pay taxes, why aren't we ashamed that more and more Americans are so poor that they qualify to pay no federal taxes.

Because we keep on dumbing down the tax rates to pander for votes, perhaps?

Originally posted by Merge:
The gap between the median and the average salaries keeps rising because the richer people are earning a tremendous amount more, and the poor have very little mobility.

Maybe that's because of the failed "War on Poverty" which is designed to keep the poor poor as wards of the state.

Originally posted by Merge:
and fwiw, the majority of people not paying taxes are earning under $20,000. How much federal taxes do you pay on your first $20,000?

And what percent of those are full-time employees, heads of households, etc. Seems like a straw-man argument there.

The poor stay poor because that is where the government wants them to stay.

 

[Merge]

Originally posted by SPK145:
Merge,

Flat tax, no deductions. Capital gains, interest income, employer-paid benefits included as normal income. Dividends not taxable.

Unfortunately our economic foundation is built on deductions. Starting phase out programs would help, but over many years.

Mortgage deduction for example should be capped at $300,000 or so. Encourage people to purchase homes at lower/middle incomes, and don't completely destroy our real estate market. Then phase that out over 20-30 years.

Taxing benefit plans would also only hurt the poor and middle class. If my Benefit plan is 10% of my income, but .05% of my boss's... that'll hurt quite a bit, but only for me.

Work towards getting it flatter and depending where we are adjust it from there. I think we would still need a cost of living deduction since it would be more beneficial to have the couple thousand dollars that poor people would pay back into the economy rather than collecting those taxes.
This post was edited on 8/26 11:51 AM by Merge

 

[SPK145]

There would still be standard deductions based on family size and situation (single, married, etc.) but should have a cap on dependent deductions. (ie, if you want to have 10 kids, why should you get a tax break for that and have everybody else pay for it?)

 

[Merge]

I agree with that, although it is politically almost impossible to go there.

 

[SPK145]

Would raise more revenue while bringing certainty to the situation.

 

[cernjSHU]

Nice pick up Merge. This chart places things into perspective.

 

[SPK145]

What a completely misleading and lying chart that is. Including employer portion of social insurance taxes as part of individual tax rates for lower incomes to try and make a point that does not exist. What a crock!!

Here's a more accurate chart: