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JimG
Guest
I can’t watch 29 minutes of Michael Moore, but this is certainly good news. I’m glad to hear that the nation is not broke. Now we can stop borrowing and printing money. Good news.
All we have to do is tax the super rich at 100% and all our problems will be solved.
All we have to do is tax the super rich at 100% and all our problems will be solved.
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Uggi
Guest
Unfortunately even if we taxed the top 1% 100 per cent we would still be broke.
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DeniseNY
Guest
I think that if he really believes what he’s saying, he’s lost his marbles.
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JimG
Guest
Unfortunately, there are many who agree with him. If only we can take more money from the rich, there will be enough to go around.
But there won’t.
This is the mantra of all revolutionaries. The rich people have all the money. Let’s take it from them and then we’ll all be equal. That was what the revolutionaries of the French Revolution promised. Yes, there was great disparity of wealth. After they killed off the aristocracy along with a lot of innocent nuns and seized all the wealth, what did they end up with? A new set of elites who had the wealth, and the poor were worse off than ever. And a more malign tyranny.
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JohnAlexander
Guest
The total net worth of the US is around 55 trillion according to wikipedia.
The top 1% own around 36% of that, let’s say 20 trillion.
The National debt is 15 trillion (give or take a few hundred billion). The social security liability is currently around 8 trillion dollars. Medicare liabilities are calculated to be 33 trillion.
The government (state, local and federal) has a underfunded retirement liability of 1-3 trillion dollars, some calculate the number to be closer to 5 trillion. This is retirement money the government has promised people but does not actually save for them, they leave it to future generations to pay for it.
Add the numbers, you get more than $55 trillion. That means if the government confiscated 100% of all the wealth in the country it could still not pay for everything they have promised.
It should be obvious that the government has been promising far more than they will be able to pay. The idea that the rich stole from everyone else is just not supportable.
There is no other option than for the government to scale back on it’s promises. Social security payments will have to be cut, medicare payments will have to be cut, retirement benefits for government workers will have to be cut.
Economic illiteracy is scary. Michael Moore is very illiterate. He is a demagogue.
What is happening in Wisconsin is the governor has realized that the government promised way too much to it’s government employees. He (governor Walker) is taking steps to break the power of the unions. He needs to do this first before he can cut their benefits. The unions are fighting back. They are trying to get the governor removed.
The financial issues at stake have nothing to do with Wall St. or any of the things Michael Moore was talking about. There aren’t too many one percenters living in Wisconsin. It is completely an in state problem.
The state of Wisconsin has simply promised way too much money to it’s employees. It’s easy to do when you are a governor and the people who you give the money to won’t collect for years to come, long after you leave office. Imagine if you had a credit card that anything you charge on it will get paid by someone else (not you or your family) in twenty years? What’s to stop you from spending? That is what former governors have done. They saddled future generations with debts. Well guess what, the future generation is here, it is the current generation.
In the private world if your company is doing badly, employees can get fired or have their salaries cut or their benefits get cut. Expenses are reduced to sustainable levels. The power to match income with expenses is what Governor Walker is trying to achieve. That is why he is trying to break the unions.
The recall failed. I believe it is because a majority of people realize that the tough steps have to be taken.
The top 1% own around 36% of that, let’s say 20 trillion.
The National debt is 15 trillion (give or take a few hundred billion). The social security liability is currently around 8 trillion dollars. Medicare liabilities are calculated to be 33 trillion.
The government (state, local and federal) has a underfunded retirement liability of 1-3 trillion dollars, some calculate the number to be closer to 5 trillion. This is retirement money the government has promised people but does not actually save for them, they leave it to future generations to pay for it.
Add the numbers, you get more than $55 trillion. That means if the government confiscated 100% of all the wealth in the country it could still not pay for everything they have promised.
It should be obvious that the government has been promising far more than they will be able to pay. The idea that the rich stole from everyone else is just not supportable.
There is no other option than for the government to scale back on it’s promises. Social security payments will have to be cut, medicare payments will have to be cut, retirement benefits for government workers will have to be cut.
Economic illiteracy is scary. Michael Moore is very illiterate. He is a demagogue.
What is happening in Wisconsin is the governor has realized that the government promised way too much to it’s government employees. He (governor Walker) is taking steps to break the power of the unions. He needs to do this first before he can cut their benefits. The unions are fighting back. They are trying to get the governor removed.
The financial issues at stake have nothing to do with Wall St. or any of the things Michael Moore was talking about. There aren’t too many one percenters living in Wisconsin. It is completely an in state problem.
The state of Wisconsin has simply promised way too much money to it’s employees. It’s easy to do when you are a governor and the people who you give the money to won’t collect for years to come, long after you leave office. Imagine if you had a credit card that anything you charge on it will get paid by someone else (not you or your family) in twenty years? What’s to stop you from spending? That is what former governors have done. They saddled future generations with debts. Well guess what, the future generation is here, it is the current generation.
In the private world if your company is doing badly, employees can get fired or have their salaries cut or their benefits get cut. Expenses are reduced to sustainable levels. The power to match income with expenses is what Governor Walker is trying to achieve. That is why he is trying to break the unions.
The recall failed. I believe it is because a majority of people realize that the tough steps have to be taken.
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tomarin
Guest
(shortened by Tomarin)
This is exactly the message preached by the Occupy Wall Streeters and the simplistic worldview they hold. People never learn do they?
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revert_jen
Guest
But if they confiscated 100% of the wealth in the country, lots of people would starve to death, thus reducing the Medicare liability. Maybe that is Moore’s hidden modest proposal. :getholy:
–Jen
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GratefulFred
Guest
Great summary, John Alexander.
You no doubt know, this, but for length, did not state it. At issue is:
WHO should decide how money is made and spent? And how should they go about making those decisions?
The more the government taxes and spends, the more control the government has in our lives. Less control in my life is less Freedom.
Because the government has unlimited taxing power, there is no real need to spend wisely. The government, over the past 50 years, has decided to provide as much government support as they can. They ended up spending way more than what they can get in taxes so that now, nearly 40 cents of every dollar spent is borrowed. So we are $15 Trillion in debt which is growing rapidly.
But 50 years ago was 1962. Back then America was truly the GREATEST country on earth. Just how did we get there without all this government support these past 50 years? Is America acknowledged as the greatest today?
We have eroded our moral core and have abandoned any semblence of fiscal prudence.
M Moore and a number of current office holders are Pied Pipers. The foolish follow them gleefully.
You no doubt know, this, but for length, did not state it. At issue is:
WHO should decide how money is made and spent? And how should they go about making those decisions?
The more the government taxes and spends, the more control the government has in our lives. Less control in my life is less Freedom.
Because the government has unlimited taxing power, there is no real need to spend wisely. The government, over the past 50 years, has decided to provide as much government support as they can. They ended up spending way more than what they can get in taxes so that now, nearly 40 cents of every dollar spent is borrowed. So we are $15 Trillion in debt which is growing rapidly.
But 50 years ago was 1962. Back then America was truly the GREATEST country on earth. Just how did we get there without all this government support these past 50 years? Is America acknowledged as the greatest today?
We have eroded our moral core and have abandoned any semblence of fiscal prudence.
M Moore and a number of current office holders are Pied Pipers. The foolish follow them gleefully.
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Mickey_Finn
Guest
Thats unreasonable. Lets say 75%.
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Mickey_Finn
Guest
Ha, ha, ha. Speaking of mantra’s. Your replaying an old one. Taxes are how our government goes about it’s business. The less tax income, the less it’s able to accomplish.
You don’t like paying taxes? Tough.
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ACCT
Guest
What do expect a socialist to say? The gospel of socialism is envy. It is all a lie. Deal with reality, not false promises and envy.
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ACCT
Guest
Recent peaceful demonstrations — like the Wisconsin teacher protests earlier this year — are only the tip of the iceberg, because** the real crisis hasn’t even hit yet. **
Remember, in Wisconsin the teachers showed up in droves to protect just a small reduction of benefits.
What do you think will happen when credit is shut off for good… and the government is forced to cut thousands of public jobs completely?
What do you think will happen if they’re forced to permanently shut down military bases… veteran’s hospitals… and schools?
What do you think will happen if states are forced to close prisons because they don’t have the money to operate them?
It’ll make the peaceful Wisconsin protests look like child’s play.
In response to this crisis, the government will try anything and everything it can to desperately raise money: they’ll pickpocket your wealth through new taxes… they’ll propose weird new fees… even conduct “fire-sale” efforts of state-owned roads and buildings.
You think it’s maddening getting pickpocketed by airlines for everything from bags to snack fees? Wait until your local government wants to tap into your savings to try to balance its books.
Now, before you dismiss this message as “gloom and doom,” know this: Each and every day, one of the things I’ve just said is already happening in select American cities.
Remember, in Wisconsin the teachers showed up in droves to protect just a small reduction of benefits.
What do you think will happen when credit is shut off for good… and the government is forced to cut thousands of public jobs completely?
What do you think will happen if they’re forced to permanently shut down military bases… veteran’s hospitals… and schools?
What do you think will happen if states are forced to close prisons because they don’t have the money to operate them?
It’ll make the peaceful Wisconsin protests look like child’s play.
In response to this crisis, the government will try anything and everything it can to desperately raise money: they’ll pickpocket your wealth through new taxes… they’ll propose weird new fees… even conduct “fire-sale” efforts of state-owned roads and buildings.
You think it’s maddening getting pickpocketed by airlines for everything from bags to snack fees? Wait until your local government wants to tap into your savings to try to balance its books.
Now, before you dismiss this message as “gloom and doom,” know this: Each and every day, one of the things I’ve just said is already happening in select American cities.
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JimG
Guest
If that happens, everybody will blame it on the rich and on the banks, and on wall street, never on government spending too much.
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Mickey_Finn
Guest
Can the government spend too much? Considering all of the work that needs to be done. We certainly are no where near that point. Assuming there is such a point.
ATB
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_Abyssinia
Guest
France is getting a 75% tax on millionaires and French millionaires are leavingThats unreasonable. Lets say 75%.
businessweek.com/news/2012-05-10/entrepreneurs-in-france-flee-from-hollande-s-rejection-of-wealth
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livingwordunity
Guest
More propaganda (lies) from the left.
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ringil
Guest
aww.
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ACCT
Guest
Have a dime over $10,000 overseas, even if for just one day, and you better report it, or you’ll face criminal charges by the Internal Revenue Service.
In Europe, they are taking similar measures, all designed to hunt down every euro its citizens have, to track them and to tax them.
It’s all part and parcel of the sovereign debt crises infecting the western world. Thing is, it’s been tried before. Before the collapse of the Roman civilization. Before Byzantium collapsed. Before Weimar Germany collapsed. And more.
All in the name of using your money and your wealth to pay off debts that government leaders incurred.
It’s also the reason why more Americans than ever before are now giving up their U.S. citizenship, a very sad commentary on our country.
I don’t like any of this, one bit at all. I believe it will destroy our economy and our country.
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tabycat
Guest
There is nothing stopping the left (ie Michael Moore) from handing over all of their money over to the goverment. :tsktsk:Good ol’ Michael Moore also claims that Cuba has a better Medacal system then the US, but where does Moore live? One hint: it is not Cuba. 
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