S&P Downgrades US Debt

Easy turnaround I think.
Stop investing in destruction in other countries
and invest in construction in ours.
Make everybody happy.
Deficit lowering. Economy boost. Lower unemployment...get
people working and then....
tax everybody the same, 10% across the board.

I am nobody and I approve this message.

Vote Spacey.

My tax solution is this:
First a few premises:
On the supply of money side
Saving money is crucial to employment growth.  If money goes into the bank, banks lend that money to people to buy houses, cars, start businesses.. all of these tend to create jobs.
If money goes into the stock market, then it increases the pool of cash that can be drawn upon to fund business growth
But the current system double taxes investment and savings.  If you make $1000, you get taxed on it.  IF you invest it and make it worth $1500, you get taxed on the $500 you made.  That discourages investment.  That is bad.  

On the demand for money side
Certain things are necessary for all.  Food, clothes, medicine, basic housing...
Certain people do need a break. 

My solution
Tax all purchases beyond necessities.  
Define the difference between necessities and luxuries.  
Maybe you need to have dinner.  You can have Rice-A-Roni or Foie Gras and Caviar.  One of them is a necessity.  

What you create is a voluntary progressive tax system.  
If you are low income, and if you pay basic rent and food and medicine, you pay NOTHING
If you are rich and live life like the world's most interesting man, you pay 25% or something like that.
BUT
If you are rich, but you save (and therefore increase the capital pool for investment in companies and homes and stuff), YOU PAY NOTHING.
So the system becomes a progressive tax based on consumption, not on income.  Everyone pays the same tax on buying an Escalade.  Nobody pays any tax on buying clothes from Old Navy.  Or from eating Spam.  

It also picks up tons of income that is not ever reported
Money earned illegally - not taxable right now.  Would be with my system if you moved from necessities to luxuries.
Money earned by those who are not supposed to be in this country, again, if they buy an Escalade, TAXES!

You could fire almost everyone at the IRS.  Some people would have to debate what qualified as a necessity versus a luxury.  

But there is NO FRIGGIN WAY that system could be as complicated as the one today.  

I have a BS in Electronics Engineering (think lots of math and physics) and worked on about 4 different masters degrees before throwing in the towelie and getting an MBA.  

I do not understand the tax system.  

Most people do not.  

As such, an entire industry exists specifically to be the interface between the IRS and the general public.  

One important issue though
If we ever get to the point where 51% pay NO taxes yet can vote whatever they want from the 49% who pay ALL taxes, there is a disaster coming.  We are getting close.  

Speaking of taxes, I'd like someone to explain to me how I was out of work for more than half the year in 2010 and I ended up paying $1500 in Federal taxes. Talk about kicking someone in the balls when he's down.

space_cowboy


Bub it is probably that interest income on the billions you have in savings.

:)

Yeah
I am all about 
1) Balanced budgets!
2) fair taxation

While the press likes to rail on the wealthy, in fact the number of people paying NO taxes has risen dramatically.  

For those of you who do not do economics, the lack of balance in the budgets means 
 - more borrowing
 - ultimately higher interest rates
 - declining dollar purchasing power
 - rising prices since we import tons of stuff.

In otherwords - rising risk of stagflation - one of the hardest to tame beasts on the economic terror grid.  

All of that is really really bad if you buy food or use electricity or drive or have anything plastic in your house.  

yep.  That comes from oil - which will be like $174,545.77 per thimble by the end of the year.  

too dangerous.  The thimble needs to be hermetically sealed in a vacumm tight carrier.  

and the seals don't like it either.

philz

space_cowboy

 
What do you suppose the credit rating would be if that were the debt of a corporation (assuming the same balance sheet)?

Bernie Maddoff comes to mind. 

The business bankrupt and the doors locked, the stockholds with the short end of the stick, and the CEO's in prison.....

Hey... what a great idea! I'm all for sending our leaders that got us into this mess to that prison that makes them dance to MJ..... a fate worse than death.