Sunday, June 29, 2008
Advice for presidential candidates
American politicians take note: By big majorities, we still believe that it is more important to make a bigger pie than to slice it more evenly. I'll go one further: We make a bigger pie because we do not try to slice it evenly.
5 Comments:
By 
, at
Sun Jun 29, 10:38:00 PM:
Why are these options mutually exclusive, how do we know that Americans do not want some kind of synergy, and how do we know how this general opinion will play out on individual issues where contextual factors arise? Anyone who believes that the richest of the rich should pay more taxes that the poorest of the poor (and even the flat tax has a low-end Pigovian refund) theoretically believes in income redistribution, but no one seriously pitches the opposite. Without the influence of context, this poll seems speciously relevant.
By , at
Sun Jun 29, 10:59:00 PM:
I thought is was interesting that the poorest, who get the most from the government, think the government should do more, while the rich and middle class, who get the most taken away, think the government should do less. That helps to confirm that the poor in this country have come to believe that they are "owed" something just because they are poor. Apparently, the socialists are winning. We have our work cut out for us.
By , at
Sun Jun 29, 11:40:00 PM:
There will always be a lowest economic quintile that believes the ohter 4 owe them something whether they're willing to contribute or not. Elections are won with swings of the 3 middle quintiles.
Unfortunately even in a capitalistic USA it's the top quintile that pays 94% of federal income tax. go figure! It reeks of socialism to me...since 1932.
RiverRat
By , at
Mon Jun 30, 09:19:00 AM:
Somewhere in his effects, there is letter from the US government to my father that says that the income tax will never go above 2%. Slippery slope? Super slide!
By 
D.E. Cloutier, at
Mon Jun 30, 12:45:00 PM:
Re: U.S. Federal Income Tax
The top bracket was 7 percent in 1913-1915. It never went lower.
The lowest bracket was above 2 percent from 1918 to 1923, and from 1932-1933 until today.
The top bracket was about 70 percent when Reagan became President. That's your future under the Democrats, boys and girls.
Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Income_tax
