News summary for 05/19/2023
- Thread starter primus
- Start date
Question: if we've spent too much, and hence reached an established debt limit, don't you think it's rational to cut some spending?
If you outspend your credit card limit, does the credit card company allow you to spend more?
If you outspend your credit card limit, does the credit card company allow you to spend more?
Also, 2022 was the biggest year in tax collections from Citizens + Corporations ever in American history, and we still added to the deficit. If revenues were at all time highs, what does that say about the current spending plan(s)?
Yes, we should cut spending by also making the multi millonaires and billionaires pay their fair share. One side wants social safety net cut, which includes social security that people pay for, Veteran assistance and care, millions of job losses etc. The other side wants the multi millionaires, billionaires and corporations pay their fair share of taxes. The other side say no. Remember that most corporations, millionaires and billionaires have not paid a dime in taxes under Trump adm. $3.7 trillion came from tax cuts for millonaires, billionaires and corporations.
We already spent the money, we can't negotiate to not pay it. The time to talk about spending is during the next budget negotiation.
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It tells me that the Defense Department spending is ridculously high. The defense budget is responsible for right around 1/2 of all discretionary spending. If you cut that budget by 10%, we would still be spending more than the next 10 countries combined and it would satisfy everyone wanting cuts, right?
Nope, the House plan raises defense spending, so it is not about spending, it is all about where the spending occurs.
Also, regarding the deficit, the Bush and Trump tax cuts for the very rich are the reason our deficit is so high .
If not for the Bush tax cuts and the Trump tax cuts, revenues would be on track to keep pace with spending indefinitely, and the debt ratio (debt as a percentage of the economy) would be declining. Instead, these tax cuts have added $10 trillion to the debt since their enactment and are responsible for 57 percent of the increase in the debt ratio since 2001, and more than 90 percent of the increase in the debt ratio if the one-time costs of bills responding to COVID-19 and the Great Recession are excluded.
Ever heard of the 2 santa clauses theory?
You do realize all our military leaders are looking for is political positions? Nothing new though right,? Afghanistan withdrawal didn't have to go down the way it did. Good luck.
Any tax plan regarding “fair share” that isn’t a flat tax isn’t a “fair share”
Example billionaire makes 100 million, 10% flat tax, pays 10 mill in taxes
Example American average joe makes 50k, 10% flat tax, pays 5k in taxes
That’s what an actual fair share is
I agree billionaires have too many loopholes to avoid taxes. I do not think you’ll be with me on this, but how much tax revenue do their businesses create? Between corporate taxes, income taxes for employees, and paying into government health systems?
The work they’ve done, the risk they’ve taken on, and the success they’ve had create jobs for countless Americans to provide for their families and makes the economy go round
Flat tax also eliminates all these write offs that billinaires take advantage of. From tax loss harvesting in investing, to depreciation on property and equipment, etc
How many billions of dollars would we save each year just in lobbying if there was a flat tax?
The debt has risen every year since what 1998? We can blame bush, and we can blame trump, but all 4 presidents in that span share the blame for the deficit being where it is. It was 5.6 trillion in 2000 and now we’re at 31.4 trillion
Only the democratic presidents have had a balanced budget over the last 50 or so years.
Reagan took the deficit from 70 billion to 175 billion (ish). Bush 41 took it to 300 billion (ish). Clinton got it to zero. Bush 43 took it from 0 to 1.2 trillion (ish). Obama halved it to 600 billion (ish). Trump took it back to a trillion (ish)
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I mean Joe is pretty much Reaganlite, so my expectations have been pretty low, but I have been surprised how by well the economy is doing (until the effects of the debt ceiling ridiculousness occurs)
Yes, we've been living in paradise for the past two years. And only gittin better.
Well, without people who toil every day for these corporations to rake in all that money, there will be no business. Just as without job, the average Joe suffers. On the other hand, without the workers, there will be no businesses. It's a symbiotic relationship where each benefit from each other and are equally important to each other.
agreed, but the benefits and opportunities that the corporations provide/offer are never mentioned nationally. Surely it's a 2 way street
I don't disagree, but things have changed in the last few decades. Up until the drastic tax cuts for the ultra wealthy over the last 30 or so years, the company owners, and I mean multi-millionaire and now billionaire company owners, would invest the money back into their company because they wanted to avoid high tax rates. This lead to hiring more workers, and paying workers better. In the 1950's the top tax rate was something like 90%. Rich business owners could make the choice between paying taxes or investing in their company. As tax rates on the rich have been cut more and more, they do not invest in their companies (and workers) as much, and instead invest in the stock market, real estate, etc.
Warren Buffet famously said he paid less in taxes than his secretary. Before the drastic tax cuts for the wealthy happened there were not very many multi-millionaires. Now there are billionaires, and they have much more influence on our government than all of the other citizens, resulting in more tax cuts for the rich and favorable laws for the wealthy. The top 1% richest people in the US hold more than 50% of the wealth. Historically when this anything close to this has hapened in a country there has been a revolution; this would not be good. Taxes need to be raised on the rich to the level they were in 1980.