Top 1%

[Erik]

I appreciate what OP is going for but if you align yourself with (R) or (D) instead of looking out for yourself and your family, you have already lost the game. The politicians would like you to believe everything is about picking a side. Simple game theory suggests this benefits the politicians and not the individual. This is known as a false binary. Politicians create false binaries so you will feel like your vote is for a "side". Unfortunately, voting in a false binary climate only hurts the individual.

You should treat every political decision from the perspective of how it benefits you as the individual and hold people to account if you don't like their political philosophy. There's nothing wrong voting differently than you have in the past...this is called freedom of choice. In fact, in a two party system, voting against your historical political alignment, either through primary or general election, is the only way to hold a party accountable.

Consider this when looking at each person you vote for; voting in the margins and against your own historical alignment may benefit you long term.

While we are here bitching about rich people, how many of you have Amazon Prime? ;-) You can also vote with your normal everyday dollars as well as at a voting booth.

[c3products20]

That's one thing I wish we could really change! Get rid of the party BS but there's way too much money in it... Politicians are crooked on both sides of the aisle that's fpr sure... I just wish people would think with their own brain instead of being told what to think!

[Erik]

I just wish people would think with their own brain instead of being told what to think!

Right there with you brother; I really feel this country needs to deprogram itself collectively from traditional thinking when it comes to politics and cable news. If we can frame our political discussions from the perspective of profits/losses as it relates to individuals and then also the macroeconomic perspectives, we can make better decisions and not hate each other.

The other fallacy the politicians want you to believe is that individual rights are limited in nature (also known as zero-sum.) When in fact rights, economic value, and money in general are never zero-sum and are attainable with the wave of a legislative pen.

More of a reason for us to look at politicians and ask...what have you done for me lately?

Full disclosure, I probably lean more left than most of this forum but REALLY love rational discussions that center on moving us forward as a whole and creating more freedoms and fewer criminals.

Thank you for starting this conversation friend!

[c3products20]

[QUOTE=Thank you for starting this conversation friend![/QUOTE]

I really think the numbers I posted, originally, are extremely interesting! If you take out the casino contributions, the republicans would have probably had less than half as much as democrats.. Those rich democrats REALLY wanted Trump out!! While those same rich democrats had astronomical profits the first year in office! ASTRONOMICAL!!!

But yes, we all need to have these discussions mkre often.

[c3products20]

Saw this article and thought it was fitting!! Source is a little questionable though!

[trophyhunter01]

Fake news....lol

[HappyM]

IMHO there are a few reasons the super rich vote for the dems
1) they want the majority of their customers to know they voted dems because a majority of their customers are dems - why else would you know how they voted
2) a fair share are from the left coast which is bewitched with climate change. The dems have done a much better job of marketing themselves as the party of climate change and renewables and therefore to stay in political favor with the lawmakers (read tax man), they need to vote for the dems. The facts of which party is benefitting climate change and how, is much different from the marketing and branding but that does not seem to matter.

Our fed tax system is generally a transaction based system. If you have a transaction - earn paycheck, buy a gizmo, receive a dividend, sell a product, earn a profit - you pay a tax. The more you transact, the more you pay.

Our state and local are combos of transactional and property . The list of tax revenue categories is unreal at the state level. Many are in the form of “fees” because they are much easier to raise and don’t require as much disclosure as taxes.

Point being each of us, rich or poor, pay for the tax burden associated with the goods we buy and those rich enough to own property also get to pay taxes for the privilege of owning that property.

The real point is taxes suck and are impactful to all. If the country would get back to educating our young, building useful public infrastructure and defending this nation and letting capitalism manage the rest, we would all be better off and the Us would be competitive in all we wish to do.

[Landrover]

Yep!

These people got rich by taking risks and created their wealth while creating jobs.

I disagree with you on people don't do anything to help other people. I pay 100% of health insurance for all my employees. I also give away 50% of the profits to the employees. My insurance cost has tripled in the last 10 years , if that means anything. I have never asked the employees for 1 dime of it either.
We have been in business since 1988 and I have never had 1 employee leave me
There is some good people in this world you just have to search for them sometimes

Yessiree!!! Actually there are MILLIONS if not BILLIONS of good people out here. Most folks can't look beyond there echo chambers and miss millions of opportunities.

80% F### it why not give them all the profits and let me just take all the risk??
Seems fair
Am I not suppose to take care of my employees and keep them happy?? I think you might need to find a different career path or open a different business. Ask yourself 1 question, would you work for you, I know I wouldn't. Too each is own I guess. If you are unhappy with your life you are the only one that can fix it, the Gov. sure isnt.

.........anyone believing that is the bane of their existence and success are totally missing the point of being on this BIG blue ball hurdling through space!

Finally. Someone who can do math.

Also, all earners pay taxes...can't get away without it. Maybe corporations pass the cost of those taxes down to the consumer, but Zuckerburg owns STOCK in Facebook. If he sells that stock, he pays taxes on the gains. If he gets a dividend check, he pays taxes on that dividend. Same with Bezos and Amazon, Elon and SpaceX, etc. It's actually laughable that people don't understand this.

I used to laugh but now I actually get sad for some reason.......then I shake it OFF and realize they are not going to be a factor in driving capitalism.

Everyone pays capital gains at a percentage of profit they collect. Again, this is proportional to income. You make more you pay more and so on.. The question is, why do the richest in America prefer a democrat in office over a republican?

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Probably multiple reasons. One that stands out to me is that the overwhelming majority of the goods & services are produced and sold to the middle/lower classes. The #1 employer is TEXAS is not the oil patch or the IT sector...........it is Walmart! In addition, public traded companies are held by shareholders. Shareholders want dividends. Dividends are bigger based on the sheer NUMBER of people buying X product. Bottom line, the largest number is firmly below the TOP 1, 5 or 10% of the population. Heck, 25%!

I appreciate what OP is going for but if you align yourself with (R) or (D) instead of looking out for yourself and your family, you have already lost the game. The politicians would like you to believe everything is about picking a side. Simple game theory suggests this benefits the politicians and not the individual. This is known as a false binary. Politicians create false binaries so you will feel like your vote is for a "side". Unfortunately, voting in a false binary climate only hurts the individual.

You should treat every political decision from the perspective of how it benefits you as the individual and hold people to account if you don't like their political philosophy. There's nothing wrong voting differently than you have in the past...this is called freedom of choice. In fact, in a two party system, voting against your historical political alignment, either through primary or general election, is the only way to hold a party accountable.

Consider this when looking at each person you vote for; voting in the margins and against your own historical alignment may benefit you long term.

While we are here bitching about rich people, how many of you have Amazon Prime? ;-) You can also vote with your normal everyday dollars as well as at a voting booth.

FACTAUL as it ever gonna get! I have practiced this philosophy my entire adult life. I have given up on parties and try my darndest to find something in a platform that is "supposedly" going to benefit either my family or business.....or even citizen when presented correctly.

That's one thing I wish we could really change! Get rid of the party BS but there's way too much money in it... Politicians are crooked on both sides of the aisle that's fpr sure... I just wish people would think with their own brain instead of being told what to think!

I agree but wont be holding my breath. Politics have become a sport and folks don't change teams once folks know they are a fan! #WhoDat4Life

[Russ79]

I have been trying to read thru all of these posts on this and is making my head hurt. All this argument over whether "rich" business owners not really paying for their increase in taxes is a loophole is so much hot air over semantics. Any sustainable business, and the business owner, starts off with a business plan that lays out what percentage markup to put on all goods and services provided that will reap a ROI that will sustain the business and also provide for new equipment and upgrades when needed. If expenses go up, and that includes increased taxes, then costs of said goods and services will go up to maintain the markup. So yes, the cost of the increased taxes goes up and are reflected in increased pricing. No business can absorb increased costs and stay in business. Now if taxes go down does the business owner reduce costs? They can, or they can use the extra income to invest back into the company in the form of equipment upgrades to make the work easier for their employees or possibly increase the number of employees. Come companies can do like the company I work for has done for the last years...pay out an annual profit sharing to employees in the form of a percentage of the profits. This type of thing can help offset a salary or benefits that some may feel is lacking.

The flip side of the argument that the rich don't pay their fair share has to do with the tax cuts that the Trump administration implemented. The liberal, never worked a day in their life, never ran a business, nutjobs like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Barack Obama, et al. that screamed about it being a tax cut for the rich either never took a math class in their life or understand percentages. If you paid $1000 in taxes and got a 10% cut in your taxes you get $100 back. If you paid $1,000,000 in taxes and got the same 10% cut in your taxes you get $100,000 back. To the liberal social justice warriors, because they got back more money, then it was a tax cut for the rich. Same tax cut percentage but different "refunds" back based on what was paid.

I once had a boss that is a yellow dog Democrat, Trump hating, BLM loving person that said that it should be against the law for a business man to be elected President. In my opinion it should be against the law that nobody be elected to federal office (House, Senate, President) not being a business man or have served in the military.

[Ætheling]

I dont know what the percentage number is but I think we all know that the political class and their heaviest contributors are not “effectively” paying many taxes. Whatever they may be paying are offset by legally and ethically questionable methods of revenue and tax shelters (PACs, Charity Funds and Trusts).

[stickerpatch59]

I started thinking the other day about the sort of people who voted republican vs democrat. After a little research, it's pretty obvious who the party of the common man is! Capitalresearch.org states that the highest earning zip codes nationwide representing the top 1.4 percent of socioeconomic status show that democrats raised $71 million compared to republicans $47 million. In the, "big four" metropolitan areas of
New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC, We see the top 5% by socioeconomic status donated $77 million to democrats compared to $42 million republican
In the "big four" central city areas we see the top 5% of the socioeconomic status donated $48 million to democrats compared to $21 million to republicans.


If that's not enough. In 2020 of the people/groups donating more than $100,000.00 to individual candidates the democrats received $5,194,746,426 where the republicans received $3,251,670,389.
That is 62% of all contributions over $100,000.00

One other staggering stat is for the presidential candidates in 2020. Democrats raised $3,197,811,311 where Republicans received $776,700,410....... That's an astounding difference!!

In the 2016 presidential raise Democrats raised $800,059,726 where Republicans raised $647632,717. Interesting right?

According to Forbes.com the 400 richest people in America are now worth $3.2 trillion up from $240 billion just one year ago!!!!!!!

Just a few of the richest people in America who just happen to vote democrat......
Jeff Bezos. Amazon
Warren Buffett
Bill Gates Microsoft
Larry Page Google
Mark Zuckerberg
Larry Ellison Oracle Software
Steve Balmer Microsoft
Elon Musk 50% Democrat
Sergey Brin Co-Founder of Google

One more mind blowing stat!
Jeff Bezos' value increased from $114 billion to $179 billion from 2019-2020

Bill Gates $106 billion in 2019 - $111 billion in 2020

Mark Zuckerberg $69.6 billion in 2019 - $85 billion in 2020 estimated current net worth in 2021 according to Forbes is $111 billion!!

Jack Dorsey $4.8 billion in 2019 - estimated current net worth by Forbes $14.2 billion

I'll ask you a couple of questions. Why do you think all these big tech companies spent billions and billions and billions of dollars to get Biden elected? What do you and I, the common man have in common with the Forbes top 400 list of the richest people in America? What promise/hope are people seeing in supporting the democratic party of the elite? It's the same game they have been playing since the days of the plantation......... The rich don't pay taxes, the poor man does. One way or another the load falls on the common man.... Whether that be through direct taxes or indirect loopholes. We will always foot the bill so at least know who your enemy really is instead of letting them stab you in the back!!



Capitalresearch.org
Opensecrets.org
Forbes.com

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Yeah, in their world (D) the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
sad deal how the bamboozle the poor folk, and the uneducated.

[stickerpatch59]

That's because people in NY and Cal keep voting for the idiots who keep raising taxes.

those states will collapse, it is because of the welfare burden on them.

those folks who work hard for a living are getting tired of the B.S. and moving.... soon there won't be anyone to pay into the system; KABOOM!!

[stickerpatch59]

Yes, the term "loophole" was a poor choice of words. It wasn't meant as a technical loophole but a means in which taxes can be diverted.

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doesn't matter; it's not illegal to follow the tax law.

and they will change it.

after that we will see what happens; probably won't be good.

[Hogmauler]

If your a multi billionaire your not impacted as much (despite paying millions in taxes or billions) as Joe Middleclass. I don’t have a problem with folks making money as long as it honest money. I do have a problem with these people somehow becoming anointed when they make it big. Then they take it upon themselves to start affecting our (working class people) lives. George Soros for instance. A filthy rich bottom feeder living here and literally trying to destroy the country. These people know something we don’t. Apparently they know or believe that when the country falls they will be inducted into the oligarchy hall of fame and life will go on for them. And sadly enough they are probable right. On this side of eternity anyway.

[Hogmauler]

If your a multi billionaire your not impacted as much (despite paying millions in taxes or billions) as Joe Middleclass. I don’t have a problem with folks making money as long as it honest money. I do have a problem with these people somehow becoming anointed when they make it big. Then they take it upon themselves to start affecting our (working class people) lives. George Soros for instance. A filthy rich bottom feeder living here and literally trying to destroy the country. These people know something we don’t. Apparently they know or believe that when the country falls they will be inducted into the oligarchy hall of fame and life will go on for them. And sadly enough they are probable right. On this side of eternity anyway.