What we need to do is raise taxes on the people least likely to spend money.  All we're going to hear about if we do that is "punishing the rich" but the only other option is punishing the poor.  The job of the government isn't to reward or punish you anyway, it is to create an organized civil society.

This post was last modified: 04-26-2012 03:29 AM by d_olson27.

I am not sure who you mean to signify as people least likely to spend money, but that would most likely be people who don't have any to spend...? Not much of a tax revenue there...?

What people don't seem to talk much about is the taxes on earned income vs unearned income.

The taxes on unearned income have been reduced as the newly unemployed, working poor, and middle class has been struggle. The richer someone is, the greater proportion of their wealth is unearned income (money making money).

This would be the place to go, but lobbyists are well paid to guard this wealth.  And 'our' representatives are well paid to listen to these lobbyists (google Congressional "Insider Trading").

Educate yourself then VOTE!

People who have that much money are also less likely to spend it, especially just because they suddenly have more.  For instance, the Bush tax cuts were supposed to get millionaires out buying new houses and new boats and new rich people toys.  This was how the economy would recover.  But that's not how it turned out.  We were still in the same economic trash heap that we were when Bush took office as we were halfway through Obama's first term.  

Trickle Down Economics = giving money to people who are expert at HOLDING ON to money rather than to the people who NEED to buy things.

Hopefully THAT lesson has been learned for an election or two, but people have short memories....

This post was last modified: 04-25-2012 04:22 AM by awiddershinlife.

I don't believe that.  We were able to beat back large corporations before, and generate a populist recovery after the great depression, build a public education system that generated the greatest minds on earth, and do all kinds of things that "we don't have the money for" today.  This did not happen then reverse direction because people are stupid.  State capitalism created the problems of the century before last, the problems of the last century, and it will necessarily create the news problems of this century.  

The corporate owners of our media outlets aren't going to tell us that it didn't work.  CNN will ask politicians if it "really" worked, and the politicians will say that it did.  Fox will say that it did in as many words.  

So people have been lied to.  It isn't their fault.  Unfortunately, the same forces that circulate these lies also control large proportions of the political process as well.  The first step will be to reinstill knowledge as an American value, then to break down the barriers of communication that have been thrown up between the two parties.  If we do that, breaking the power of the corporations (again) will be easy.

I am not sure which thing you don't believe cause you seem to agree

People have been lied to, but it is their fault for refusing to be educated - adults are accountable. A frightening number of people glommed onto ridiculous rhetoric to have their bigotries justified. I live in Arizona and it was mind boggling here (Of course I moved to AZ after 25 years in Vermont).

My sense is that the polarization is abating, and it is good to have fact checkers analyzing speeches and comments of politicians ("knowledge as an American value") and we do influence communication b/t the two parties through our votes.

I doubt we can ever break the power of the corporations, but we can balance it. That's what America is about: checks and balances. Things get out of balance and the people need to bring them back.

We can find our legislators and email them. We don't even need to leave the house to vote, click here

This post was last modified: 04-25-2012 06:08 AM by awiddershinlife.

Self-split from here

I disagree that people have short memories.  We have reacted to the more transparent attempts to control us, and not very favorably either.  

Fox viewers are told that CNN is their liberal lying enemy.  CNN viewers are told that Fox's deliberately skewed reporting is somehow unique.  They each provide alternative fact systems in which people on the left and right operate.  I forget the exact numbers, but Fox viewers are much more likely to believe that we did indeed find WMD in Iraq after the invasion.  CNN did not report on the opposition to SOPA and PIPA at all until Wikipedia shut down.  Their parent company, AOL Time Warner, supported the two measures.  

Trust and truthfulness are also important values for democracy.  

In the interest of full disclosure, I've moved several posts from the original thread into this one.

Roosevelt increased massively the safety net in america......it put millions of people to work in a very short period of time.

Roosevelt knew that in order for  our capitalist market place to survive, it had to have a firm foundation.

The  House republicans under Paul Ryans leadership are doing the exact opposite by shutting down the safety net.

We will all know the results when america comes crashing down around us.

By then the neo-cons will have complete control of the people and we will be at their mercy.

Vote for Obama , and at the very least a democrat controlled House of Represenatives; and we may be able to save the country

This post was last modified: 04-26-2012 04:10 AM by skyblue1 .

Franklin also capped high salaries for executives.

But Franklin had Eleanor, and Eleanor worked tirelessly for the American people. She traveled around the country relentlessly, interviewing people that no one ever thought to care about. It was she who advocated for people who did not have a voice. And she did this as a very shy person. During the war she traveled to the front lines in Great Briton and the south pacific to personally encourage and thank soldiers. The "Tuskegee Airman" unit was promoted by Eleanor Roosevelt to counteract the armed forces assigning blacks only as messmen, laundry workers, or to construction. Her contribution to recognizing every American as important was truly amazing. She was very likely an aspie, naturally.