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Title: Inequality Will Go Nuclear If We Don't Raise Taxes On The Rich
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Published: Mar 13, 2012
Author: rr
Post Date: 2012-03-13 09:33:36 by tom007
Keywords: None
Views: 133
Comments: 7
Inequality Will Go Nuclear If We Don't Raise Taxes On The Rich Robert Reich, Contributor | Mar. 13, 2012, 7:39 AM | 705 | 23 A A A inShare3 radioactive joerodz via Flickr Robert Reich, Contributor URL Robert Reich, Contributor is an economist, a professor, and former Clinton labor secretary Recent Posts The Precarious Jobs Recovery ROBERT REICH: American Workers Are Getting Screwed More Than Ever ROBERT REICH: Stop Starving Public Universities And Shrinking the... RSS Feed The Widening Wealth Divide, and Why We Need a Surtax on the Super Wealthy The Precarious Jobs Recovery Bye Bye American Pie: The Challenge of the Productivity Revolution Let Santorum and Romney duke it out for who will cut taxes on the wealthy the most and shred the public services everyone else depends on. The rest of us ought to be having a serious discussion about a wealth tax. Because if you really want to know what’s happening to the American economy you need to look at household wealth. A few days ago the Fed reported that household wealth increased from October through December. That’s the first gain in three quarters. Good news? Take closer look. The entire gain came from increases in stock prices. Those increases in stock values more than made up for continued losses in home values. But the vast majority of Americans don’t have their wealth in the stock market. Over 90 percent of the nation’s financial assets – including stocks and pension-fund holdings – are owned by the richest 10 percent of Americans. The top 1 percent owns 38 percent. Most Americans have their wealth in their homes – whose prices continue to drop. Housing prices are down by a third from their 2006 peak. So as the value of financial assets held by American households increased by $1.46 trillion in the fourth quarter, the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans became $1.3 trillion richer, and the wealthiest 1 percent became $554.8 billion richer. But at the same time, as the value of household real estate fell by $367.4 billion in the fourth quarter, homeowners – mostly middle class – lost over $141 billion (owners’ equity is 38.4 percent of total household real estate). Presto. America’s wealth gap – already wider than the nation’s income gap – has become even wider. The 400 richest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans put together. Given this unprecedented concentration of wealth – and considering what the nation needs to do to rebuild our schools and infrastructure while at the same time saving Medicare and reducing the long-term budget deficit – shouldn’t we be aiming higher than a “Buffet tax” on the incomes of millionaires? There should also be a surtax on the super rich. Yale Professor Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott have proposed a 2 percent surtax on the wealth of the richest one-half of 1 percent of Americans owning more than $7.2 million of assets. They figure it would generate $70 billion a year, or $750 billion over the decade. That’s half the savings Congress’s now defunct Supercommittee was aiming for. Instead of standing empty-handed while Santorum and Romney dominate the airwaves with their regressive Social Darwinism, Democrats need to be reminding Americans of what’s happening in the real economy – and what needs to happen. The wealth gap is widening into a chasm. A surtax on the super rich is fair — and it’s necessary. Read more posts on Robert Reich » Please follow Business Insider on Twitter and Facebook. Tags: Inequality, Taxes, Wealthy | Get Alerts for these topics » Sponsored Link: Download: Microsoft Enterprise Apps on VMware vSphere, NetApp Unified Storage, Cisco Unified Fabric
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#1. To: tom007 (#0)
After that attribution, I refuse to read any further.
The older this guy gets and the less he does, the longer his list of accomplishments. He is another POS who the evildoers made sure was in Clinton's administration. Wake up, America!!!
Insanity. Congress can't manage our money now, what makes any person think that confiscating "wealthy" people's money would do anything other than give Congress more money to mismanage?????? Congress should give back our money, bring our troops home from overseas and close down 99% of all military installations outside of America, abolish all social welfare programs, and get out of the housing and education rackets that they have established. I think a 1% tax for all income brackets is more than enough to run this country. "If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." -Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791 Robert Reich, Contributor is an economist, a professor, and former Clinton labor secretary Recent Posts
#2. To: Cynicom (#1)
After that attribution, I refuse to read any further.
#3. To: tom007, All (#0)
(Edited)
Yale Professor Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott have proposed a 2 percent surtax on the wealth of the richest one-half of 1 percent of Americans owning more than $7.2 million of assets. They figure it would generate $70 billion a year, or $750 billion over the decade. That’s half the savings Congress’s now defunct Supercommittee was aiming for.
-Alex Kurtagic
#4. To: Cynicom (#1)
I can't remember-- is he 4'11' or 3'9"? I saw him on Carson one time -- his feet dangled above the floor when he was sitting in the chair. Robert Reich
"You shall have fun, no matter what you do." -- Turtle
#5. To: Turtle, Phant2000, randge (#4)
Turtle... I can easily tolerate most people, even you, but this guy for some reason makes me want to take action and SHUT HIS MOUTH. A gentleman of your stature will understand and greatly enjoy what I envision for Reichberg. "Tie a rocket to his ass, ignite it, and if he can outrun the rocket he can stay, if he cannot, it really wont matter. At least I believe in giving motor mouth a"chance"...
#6. To: Cynicom, Turtle, randge (#5)
MUHAHAHAHA! By the way, Turtle, I have seen Reich up close and personal and he looked to me be no more than 4'3" ... I will admit my estimate is jaded by the man's words. Tie a rocket to his ass, ignite it, and if he can outrun the rocket he can stay ...
#7. To: Phant2000, Cynicom, Turtle (#6)
I used to have a lot of friends that hung on the words of Professor This or the Former Secretary of That who used to work for administrations like the monkey that wrote this article. Never said an unkind word. Just kind of dropped them one by one.
A people that would and could throw the bums out in the voting booth never has to. - Prefrontal Vortex
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