|
|
Post by coachdoc on Mar 28, 2015 3:29:11 GMT -5
A very interesting and perhaps clear eyed look at who's got what, and what that means. Not your general 98% hysteria. Keeping up with the Joneses |
|
|
|
Post by brucemacneill on Mar 28, 2015 5:50:24 GMT -5
I didn't go looking for part 1 or 3. Are they out there somewhere? Is there something in this article you didn't already know?
|
|
|
|
Post by brucemacneill on Mar 28, 2015 6:48:26 GMT -5
Hey, Doc, catch these guys if you get a chance, the-continentals.com/schedule , not country but a good show. My nephew is the drummer. They've been playing up there for 30 years. |
|
|
|
Post by coachdoc on Mar 28, 2015 6:56:51 GMT -5
I didn't go looking for part 1 or 3. Are they out there somewhere? Is there something in this article you didn't already know? It's part 2 of a five part series in the Concord Monitor. Apparently the guy wants to write a whole book. I was a little surprised that 40% are in negative balance, but even more surprised the middle 20% are just breaking even. |
|
|
|
Post by millring on Mar 28, 2015 7:48:42 GMT -5
I was a little surprised that 40% are in negative balance, but even more surprised the middle 20% are just breaking even. In terms of distribution and taxation? Not me. If nothing else, the subsidies from the ACA instantly moved a huge segment of the population from makers to takers. With one act of congress, I became a net drag on the economy. With one act of congress, I instantly started taking more than I was putting in in taxes. |
|
|
|
Post by brucemacneill on Mar 28, 2015 8:11:55 GMT -5
As a former member of the top 10% of incomes, I figure I paid in enough over the years to not feel too bad about being on the receiving end now.
Incomes vary over your lifetime and taking a snapshot of the current distribution on any given day, month, year, ignores the people who passed through several levels during their lives. Few of the very rich today are from rich backgrounds and few of the future rich will be from today's rich. So, sure, the top 20 percent pay all the bills but they're different people generation to generation mostly. To quote Sinatra, "That's life".
|
|
|
|
Post by millring on Mar 28, 2015 8:45:40 GMT -5
As a former member of the top 10% of incomes, I figure I paid in enough over the years to not feel too bad about being on the receiving end now. It doesn't work that way any more than it would work that way to assert the same thing about a household budget. |
|
|
|
Post by brucemacneill on Mar 28, 2015 9:00:09 GMT -5
As a former member of the top 10% of incomes, I figure I paid in enough over the years to not feel too bad about being on the receiving end now. It doesn't work that way any more than it would work that way to assert the same thing about a household budget. I don't understand what you're saying there. Budgets get changed as income changes. While I was "Rich" I budgeted enough savings to pad my now lower income so that essentially I can now have the same living budget I had except not saving now, taking from savings instead. My plan was to start withdrawing from savings when I was 67. I'm 67 now. The only other trick is to keep the income down below that $58,000 or whatever it was magic number where you don't pay taxes. |
|
|
|
Post by coachdoc on Mar 29, 2015 8:42:10 GMT -5
And social security isn't an entitlement. It is a return on a lifelong investment from paying your SSI taxes your entire working life. Like putting aside in your household budget for retirement as well.
PS, my first SSI check comes next month. Looking forward to it.
|
|
|
|
Post by Cosmic Wonder on Mar 29, 2015 17:03:31 GMT -5
I don't know if this is reflected in the data but when I get some money somehow my wife ends up with it.
Mike
|
|
|
|
Post by brucemacneill on Mar 29, 2015 17:15:17 GMT -5
I don't know if this is reflected in the data but when I get some money somehow my wife ends up with it. Mike You've heard of "The Marriage Penalty"? That's it. |
|
Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,845 
|
Post by Dub on Mar 29, 2015 18:17:02 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by brucemacneill on Mar 29, 2015 19:47:28 GMT -5
Well, part 4 cinches it. The guy's a far left socialist, nearly communist and since he's a retired teacher we may assume he taught his version of truth to his students thereby leading them gently into the entitlement society he espouses. He even uses "Democracy" as a synonym for Socialism. Democracy is a political system not an economic system. The U.S. isn't a democracy where everyone gets what they want. Theoretically, it's a democracy where majority rules and everyone who qualifies can vote for their representatives in the government but that's the limit of the democracy of the country. Beyond that, by design, this is a federation of independent states (Note that on a global scale, France is a state, Somalia is a state), who have banded together for common defense and trade under a Capitalist system. If he, or you, want to live in a Socialist State, try Sweden or California. New Hampshire's license plates still say "Live Free or Die" I believe.
|
|
Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,845
|
Post by Dub on Mar 29, 2015 20:43:38 GMT -5
Funny thing is I haven't actually read any but the part two that Doc originally linked. Getting the links for the other parts used up my monthly allotment of free articles at the Web site. I didn't realize there was a limit until it was too late.  May I can read them on Wednesday. |
|
|
|
Post by brucemacneill on Mar 30, 2015 5:04:53 GMT -5
Funny thing is I haven't actually read any but the part two that Doc originally linked. Getting the links for the other parts used up my monthly allotment of free articles at the Web site. I didn't realize there was a limit until it was too late. May I can read them on Wednesday. I think you should protest having to pay for articles on a socialist paper's site. |
|
