I have a couple of proposals on this Labor Day, and some random thoughts to go along with them...
First, the proposals, then the the thoughts, and then some explanation of the proposals.
The proposals:
- We should raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, and even more on the large corporations.
- We should spend some of the money generated by the proposal above to create a large tax cut for small businesses which hire employees.
The random thoughts:
- While it is possible to have a society without Capitalists, it is not possible to have a society without workers.
- America did not become the great nation it is because of people who inherited wealth, or made their wealth trading on the stock market or by creating and selling worthless derivatives to their clients, or playing games with people's mortgages. America was built by hard work—eight to ten hour days, put in by average working people day in and day out for most of their lives.
- The current recession is not a function of taxes on the wealthy—who are doing quite well and still not hiring—or of too much too much government regulationSee: Regulations, taxes, aren't killing small business, owners say—which is actually good for small business.
- It's time to admit that the super-wealthy did not get a million times more money than the average worker by working a million times harder and personally producing a million times as much.
They got their wealth either by inheriting it or by figuring out how to profit from the work and production of others.
So any idea that taxing them at the same rate, or even a higher rate than the rest of us is somehow unfair, or stealing what rightfully belongs to them is absurd. - The pooling of wealth at the top ends up hurting everyone, not just the middle class.
It hurts the country as a whole, and eventually it will hurt the wealthy as well, because they will find themselves living in a declining state.
For money to do it's job (which is to facilitate the exchange of goods and labor) it has to circulate. - Raising taxes and closing loopholes for the richest among us will not make them poor. Many of the wealthiest families in the country got much of their wealth when tax rates were much higher than they are now.
- But recirculating some of that money will boost the economy and strengthen the middle class, which will, in turn, help our nation to solve some of the problems facing it (like the deficit).
- Check out: The Limping Middle ClassThe recession is a function of wealth pooling at the top, where it doesn't recirculate. And this is bad for the middle class because it means less opportunity to work and less income, but it is also bad for the country as a whole because it means less productivity, and eventually a poorer and weaker nation. Anyone who cares about America should care about this.
- We need to fix this situation: not just for now, but permanently.
Next: The proposals in detail...
