Hey, rich people! Will it be “Hey stupid,” or not?
Which is better, 17% of 100 or 15% of 120? Or 12% of 150? Or 10% of 200?
How are you more likely to get the pot to 120 (or 150, or 200)? By using government to weaken the ability of ordinary people to bargain a fair share of the pot? Or by allowing ordinary people the bargaining power that will get them a fair share?
If only rich people’s income goes up 20%, the pot goes to 103.4. (That’s the recently reported share of all income held by the top 1%, about 17%). So, roughly, your stock goes up 3.4%. Whoop-te-doo! If everyone’s income goes up 20%, the pot goes to 120, and, roughly, your stock goes up 20%.
Ordinary people getting no more in real dollars or even less than they did a generation ago hurts you, too. A genuine rising tide lifts all boats. That includes your yachts, too.
Another way to put it. Which would you rather see, paying 36% of a $1 million (your excess over the top marginal rate), or 39% of, say, $1.3 million? That’s $720 K vs. $800 K left over. If everyone is buying a bigger boat, that means a lot of that extra money sloshing around will come your way, too. After all, you own a piece of the company that makes the boats.
In other words, if you support Republicans, at least at this time in our history, you are biting off your nose to spite your face. How stupid is that?
Democrats: part of winning is weakening your opponents as well as strengthening your own message. Paralyze them with indecision. If you play the poor vs. strong as a zero-sum, to-the-barricades game -- the people win, the aristocrats lose, maybe even their heads if we get carried away -- the strong will continue to band together against the rabble and use all their money to beat you. You know, not just Fox and Rush, but NBC, CBS, ABC, Disney, CNN, the Washington Post. The Times will be lukewarm on your side, too. That’s a tough line-up to crack. Give them pause, weaken them, make them realize that, as illustrated by the contrast between the 1990s and the first decade of this millennium, even the rich do better under Democrats than they do under Republicans. (That’s generally the case since World War II, for both income and equity wealth. You can look it up.) Growing inequality – the “INCOME GAP,” as we will call it in two easy words over and over and over and over – is hurting everyone, even the wealthy in the long run. Some, like Buffet (Warren, that is), Gates and Spielberg already get that. Some never will. But a lot will at least close up their pockets to the Republicans if they can be paralyzed, as they should be. Once again, besides being effective politically, it's the right thing to do, too.
How are you more likely to get the pot to 120 (or 150, or 200)? By using government to weaken the ability of ordinary people to bargain a fair share of the pot? Or by allowing ordinary people the bargaining power that will get them a fair share?
If only rich people’s income goes up 20%, the pot goes to 103.4. (That’s the recently reported share of all income held by the top 1%, about 17%). So, roughly, your stock goes up 3.4%. Whoop-te-doo! If everyone’s income goes up 20%, the pot goes to 120, and, roughly, your stock goes up 20%.
Ordinary people getting no more in real dollars or even less than they did a generation ago hurts you, too. A genuine rising tide lifts all boats. That includes your yachts, too.
Another way to put it. Which would you rather see, paying 36% of a $1 million (your excess over the top marginal rate), or 39% of, say, $1.3 million? That’s $720 K vs. $800 K left over. If everyone is buying a bigger boat, that means a lot of that extra money sloshing around will come your way, too. After all, you own a piece of the company that makes the boats.
In other words, if you support Republicans, at least at this time in our history, you are biting off your nose to spite your face. How stupid is that?
Democrats: part of winning is weakening your opponents as well as strengthening your own message. Paralyze them with indecision. If you play the poor vs. strong as a zero-sum, to-the-barricades game -- the people win, the aristocrats lose, maybe even their heads if we get carried away -- the strong will continue to band together against the rabble and use all their money to beat you. You know, not just Fox and Rush, but NBC, CBS, ABC, Disney, CNN, the Washington Post. The Times will be lukewarm on your side, too. That’s a tough line-up to crack. Give them pause, weaken them, make them realize that, as illustrated by the contrast between the 1990s and the first decade of this millennium, even the rich do better under Democrats than they do under Republicans. (That’s generally the case since World War II, for both income and equity wealth. You can look it up.) Growing inequality – the “INCOME GAP,” as we will call it in two easy words over and over and over and over – is hurting everyone, even the wealthy in the long run. Some, like Buffet (Warren, that is), Gates and Spielberg already get that. Some never will. But a lot will at least close up their pockets to the Republicans if they can be paralyzed, as they should be. Once again, besides being effective politically, it's the right thing to do, too.
posted by KISSWeb | 1:19 PM
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