We have a government agency devoted to groping old women and babies.

[shadowdrums]

Ok I'm gonna make this my last post, I don't wanna lock horns with you and I've had a lot of air time already

The students are protesting for the sake of future students, so they are selfless

Everyone's going to feel the pinch and many more protests will happen. My point is it would be more effective if it was coordinated

We need to speak as one voice to say to the government tax the rich not the poor

The students are just doing what EVERYONE needs to do which is recognise what the government are trying to do which is squeeze the poorer half of society, because they work for the rich. This means both the 'working class' and the 'middle class' are gonna get squeezed

As I have made the point, this doesn't need to happen, the money is there to put this right, but it is held by the super rich.

The bankers have made off like bandits and are still handing out massive bonuses.....why should they have a reward culture that rewards failure.....because they are not rewarding anyone....they are simply lining their pockets!

The students are not the guilty party here. the media does its best job to deflect the anger of the public. They will make the public angry at: students, muslims, the poor, benefit cheats, immigrants....they will blame anyone but the people who are really to blame and that is the super rich who are exploiting all of us in many different ways

Good luck to you, i hope you ride it all out ok

Am I the only one seeing this contradiction? "Everyone is going to get affected" "They are squeezing the poor not the rich" First off your contradicting yourself because if everyone is affected, that includes the rich doesn't it? Or do they not matter since they are rich and can "afford" the loss.

Now don't get me wrong, my economics knowledge only comes from a high school class that most of the kids didn't pay much attention to, but we were taught to avoid this "rich vs poor" thing. It was something like the bottom 50% got ALL their money back in refunds. Another thing the teacher said was that the top 10% pay 90% of the taxes. How is that "squeezing money from the poor and not the rich?"

We were also shown who is considered "rich" under the tax system. This included my teacher. I don't remember all the numbers but I remember him being part of the top 10%. So forgive me if I don't buy into the class wars.

Maybe it's because that class is the limit of my knowledge, but it seems to me that you are contradicting yourself.

 

[muir]

Rich is a relative term. There are many people who think they are rich but i would not classify them as rich. That is why i keep using the term 'super rich'

I think the concept of 'middle class' and 'working class' are false anyway

I think the only real distinction is between the capitalist class (those that make their living from investments) and the working class (those that make their living from their labour or from welfare)

The government are representatives of the capitalist class. They will help the capitalist class at the expense of the working class

Sorry if i didn't explain myself very well before

 

[shadowdrums]

Rich is a relative term. There are many people who think they are rich but i would not classify them as rich. That is why i keep using the term 'super rich'

I think the concept of 'middle class' and 'working class' are false anyway

I think the only real distinction is between the capitalist class (those that make their living from investments) and the working class (those that make their living from their labour or from welfare)

The government are representatives of the capitalist class. They will help the capitalist class at the expense of the working class

Sorry if i didn't explain myself very well before

Yeah, that makes more sense. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[~jet]

The 'elite' class typically are 'elite' because the ride upon the backs of the working class, and there is not dis-incentive for them to do anything but widen that margin and take more and more; and in a world of limited resources and overpopulation, that cannot be done without worsening the lives of everyone else involved.

At some point the question has to be asked... 'how much money/stuff does a person REALLY need in order to live a high comfort, high quality, happy life' and tax the dickens out of any income higher than that.

Oh wait; prior to reagan, we used to do that... and wait... those were the most golden years of america's entire existence. And things have been on the decline ever since that changed. I guess having anti-dynasty measures in place really are terrible... for dynasties. And pretty good for everyone else. History is a funny thing.

 

[bamf]

[MENTION=3399]shadowdrums[/MENTION]

Also, the wealthiest people pay the highest in taxes because they own so much of the wealth (at least in the United States). In 2007 the bottom 80% owned 7% of the financial wealth of the nation, whereas the top 1% owned nearly 43%. The bottom 80% also were in "ownership" of 73% of the debt in the nation.

Kinda long, but interesting read
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

 

[~jet]

Also, the wealthiest people pay the highest in taxes because they own so much of the wealth (at least in the United States).

Actually a great many of them aren't paying ANY taxes, what with the system being so friendly to wealth. Exxon, for example, got 156 million last year from the US in refunds... made 19bil in profit... paid 0 taxes. And since the citizens united case, yes, it is now technically a person.

Anyhow; they're still paying a lot of taxes, they're just not paying as much as they should... while 30% of YOUR money paid in taxes is not as much as 15% of THEIR money being paid in taxes (when any at all), it still goes to show that we're gouging the working stiffs more far more than the upper crust. Warren Buffet himself commented on the bizarreness of this (and somewhere in the same ballpark donated billions of his wealth.)

 

[MrWindUpBird]

Actually a great many of them aren't paying ANY taxes, what with the system being so friendly to wealth. Exxon, for example, got 156 million last year from the US in refunds... made 19bil in profit... paid 0 taxes. And since the citizens united case, yes, it is now technically a person.

Anyhow; they're still paying a lot of taxes, they're just not paying as much as they should... while 30% of YOUR money paid in taxes is not as much as 15% of THEIR money being paid in taxes (when any at all), it still goes to show that we're gouging the working stiffs more far more than the upper crust. Warren Buffet himself commented on the bizarreness of this (and somewhere in the same ballpark donated billions of his wealth.)

I'd rather rich people donate their money than feed it to the disgusting, bloated, inefficient, Jabba-the-Hutt slug that our government is. His money probably went to a useful education program or to people in starving countries or something rather into the Social Security/Medicare money-hole.

EDIT: Oops, forgot to be on-topic.

I think the TSA is fine doing what they're doing. If you'd rather get blown up by Richard Reid than let some TSA guy brush your boobs accidentally while frisking you, that's fine. Just stay the hell away from my flight, because I don't like being incinerated at 35,000 feet.

As for the new scanning machines... come on, people. The only people I see complaining are the ones hiding 4 fat rolls under their sweaters or are scared of someone seeing a blue clay mock-up of their genitals. Get over it already. The same people bitching about this are the left-wingers who think nudity and profanity are fine on day time TV.

As for "America being paranoid," well, gee... can you blame us? There doesn't seem like much of a threat now. People would've thrown a tantrum if the same measures were implemented on September 10, 2001. Hindsight's 20/20. And before you say "but there's no organization like the Taliban to threaten us now," can you back that up? Do you know every active terrorist organization plotting against the US? No? Than sit down. Better safe than sorry.

DOUBLE EDIT:

An interesting perspective on the topic...

 

[muir]

Sadly i think that all the encroachments on citizens civil liberties will leave you less safe and definately sorry

I would worry more about what trouble your government is stirring up for your country abroad then about what any 'terrorist' organisation is doing