The Corporation for Enterprise Development recently released a scorecard for all 50 states...that includes overall tax rates. Data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that in the median state (Mississippi, as it turns out) the poorest 20 percent pay twice the tax rate of the top 1 percent. In the worst states, the poorest 20 percent pay five to six times the rate of the richest 1 percent.... There's not one single state with a tax system that's progressive. read more
In the most impressive job surge since the middle of last decade, the United States added 243,000 jobs in January. The job gains dropped the unemployment rate to 8.3 percent, the lowest it has been in three years. "The stock market is already off to its fastest start in 15 years as more investors start to believe the economic recovery is finally for real and will only get stronger," AP reports.
Howard Schweber---George W. Bush shared their values. Newt Gingrich shares their resentments....So what is going on? Simple. Gingrich does not share the evangelical or the Tea Party voter's values -- he shares their resentments. He resents the media, "elites," the rich, the leadership of his own party, the Democrats, educated people, people who live in big cities, liberals, and of course, Obama, just as they do. Gingrich and his supporters do not oppose Obama, they resent the fact of his existence. He will speak for his constituents by articulating their resentments in more strident, more combative, more articulate terms than they can themselves, which is why they find him brilliant. read more
More than 40 Catholic leaders and theologians across the country are calling on Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum to stop using divisive rhetoric about race and poverty on the presidential campaign trail. "We challenge our fellow Catholics Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum to stop perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes on the campaign trail," they state in an open letter. "Labeling our nation's first African-American president with a title that evokes the past myth of 'welfare queens' and inflaming other racist caricatures is irresponsible, immoral and unworthy of political leaders." read more
Aided by comparison to the vastly unpopular Congress, Barack Obama has advanced to a 49 percent job approval rating in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll - his best showing since spring, and one that, if it holds, that may put his re-election prospects back within reach.
Obama's rating, while still (barely) under 50 percent, is up from his career-low 42 percent in October, and back at the level at which he could run competitively for a second term. George W. Bush had 47 percent approval as close as three months before he won re-election in 2004.
States have the flexibility to design their own tax rates and structures to fund public services. Most states rely on three types of taxes: personal income, property and consumption (sales and excise) taxes. Whether the state's tax system is regressive (taxes the poor more heavily than the rich) or progressive (taxes the rich more heavily than the poor) depends, in part, on how much the state relies on each of these three types of taxes. Income taxes are usually progressive, whereas property taxes and consumption taxes are usually regressive. In almost all states, the poor pay a higher proportion of their income in taxes than wealthy residents do.scorecard.assetsandopportunity
.org
A few facts for the clueless:
The economy has been growing now for 10 straight quarters. It has even made up the ground lost from the recession, and the United States now churns out more goods and services than it did before the downturn began in 2007. But that output is being produced with six million fewer workers, despite population growth.
As a result, the share of income produced in the country that is flowing to workers' bank accounts has been steadily shrinking.
Of every dollar of income earned in the United States in the third quarter of 2011 -- the latest period for which data is available -- just 44 cents went to workers' wages and salaries. That is the smallest share since the government began keeping track in 1947....
On the other hand, American businesses are doing extremely well.
Tepid job growth, stagnant wages for existing employees and growing international demand for American products have all helped corporate profit margins reach all-time highs. economix.blogs.nytimes.com
So I guess more policies skewed toward the "job creators" will being those employment numbers right back up to where they used to be, eh? Big bad government is keeping them down....
What, exactly, is conservative about a tax system stacked so that the ultrarich make massive profits from it, while working men and women pay a much higher rate on their income? Is the essence of conservatism protecting the privileges of the few at the expense of the many? If so, we lose. We are not egalitarians, and justice doesn't require economic leveling. But soaking the rich isn't what we're talking about here; we're talking about making them pay the same rate of tax as most ordinary people. You're not supposed to talk about this on the Right, but why not? Why is this a question only liberals and Democrats are allowed to ask?---Rod Dreher--The American Conservativewww.theamericanconservative.co
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Answer the man. Can you?
That's what I've been asking in other forums. But it's about Romney only, not about tax law, which benefits the wealthy regardless of party affiliation.
No, the issue has never been about Romney. Its about the disparity between the tax code for the majority who labor compared to those who's money does the work for them.
Its about someone who admits to being "unemployed" yet earns more money in one day than the average American makes in a year, having to pay a lower percentage in federal taxes than those who toil for their living. And this same person advocates changes in the tax codes that will further DECREASE the amount he contributes while shifting more burden upon those that work for a year to make what he accumulates in a single day.
* Since 1985, the federal tax rate for the 400 wealthiest Americans dropped from 29 percent to 18 percent. www.nytimes.com
Shouldn't those reaping the vast majority of this nation's economic benefits contribute a fairer share in righting our fiscal imbalance?
The one thing we will know is that we're removing the biggest incompetent we've seen in years that is bringing down this country faster then the "Joker" could.
* Since the last SOTU, the economy has created 1.9 million private sector jobs. [Source]
* The top 1 percent take home 24 percent of the nation’s income, up from about 9 percent in 1976. [Source]
* Private sector job creation under Obama in 2011 was larger than seven out of the eight years Bush was president. [Source]
* Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 2.5 million young adults gained health insurance. [Source]
* 2.65 million seniors saved an average of $569 on prescriptions last year thanks to the Affordable Care Act. [Source]
* In 2011, the United States killed Al Qaeda’s most effective propagandist, Anwar al-Awlaki; its operating chief, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman; and of course its founder, chief executive and spiritual leader, Osama bin Laden.†[Source]
* Unemployment benefits have lifted 3.2 million people out of poverty. [Source] thinkprogress.org
If that is the definition of "incompetence", the GOP is hard-pressed to find someone similarly inclined to deliver even minutely what has already been done.
Not a single GOP candidate has any plans to bring about positive change for the majority of Americans that doesn't start with further exploding the deficits by giving even more tax breaks to those who've benefited the most over the last three decades.
This has been debunked. Nice try dorks.
#3 | POSTED BY GLASSHOUSE
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When and where?